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kernel saga continues
by avedis＠rcn.com 23 Dec '02

23 Dec '02

I managed to get my online connection working again. Just had to change "ippp0" to "ppp0" in my firewall config file. I was also able to make a lilo boot floppy from command line, and it worked, exept for my initial menu. I rebooted back and forth a few times between the two floppies, and they both seemed to be working, and then when I went into x-session, I had no mouse. WTF??? Why did I lose kernel support for other stuff when all I messed with was "sound"? Then I made the mistake of going into XF86Setup. Now, I can't get into x at all. Questions 1. Can anyone tell me where the problem is? (other than "user") 2. Is there someplace in make xconfig or make menuconfig to provide support for xfree? At one point, I got an error message about not being able to load a module when trying to get into x. 3. Would it make sense to go back to the distribution disks, remove and re-insall xfree? Thanks. Greg

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Linux top gun
by Chuck Haines 23 Dec '02

23 Dec '02

I just saw this article and thought to myself, "wouldn't this be something interesting for WLUG and WPILA to put on." Its a competition where teams take turns attacking and defending a linux server. This particular server happens to be running apache, but it could be anything really. I think this would be a neat little event to run. What does everyone else think? The URL for reference is: http://linuxtopgun.org/ -- --------------------------------------------------------- | Chuck Haines | AIM: CyberGrex | | chaines(a)wpi.edu | Yahoo: CyberGrex_27 | | http://www.linux-xtreme.net | ICQ: 3707881 | --------------------------------------------------------- | ECE Sytems Administrator | Box 1531 | | WPILA Lab Manager | 100 Institute Road | | GDC Developer | Worcester, MA 01609 | | Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity | | --------------------------------------------------------- GNU Privacy Guard Key Fingerprint E12E 09BE 14B2 4AA4 EA36 27EB 72A4 FDDD 8E3E 741D

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Linux too much like windows?
by Chuck Haines 23 Dec '02

23 Dec '02

I found this article while reading my daily dose of slashdot. It brings some questions to mind. Is linux becoming too much like windows? Does it need to in order to compete in the desktop business? One of my friends was commenting that for servers, linux is the best, however it just loses when it comes to the desktop market. What do you guys think about that? I'm not a gamer and primarily do systems administration work as well as php development and I love my redhat 8.0 with gnome2. What do others out there feel? Just my thoughts, -- --------------------------------------------------------- | Chuck Haines | AIM: CyberGrex | | chaines(a)wpi.edu | Yahoo: CyberGrex_27 | | http://www.linux-xtreme.net | ICQ: 3707881 | --------------------------------------------------------- | ECE Sytems Administrator | Box 1531 | | WPILA Lab Manager | 100 Institute Road | | GDC Developer | Worcester, MA 01609 | | Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity | | --------------------------------------------------------- GNU Privacy Guard Key Fingerprint E12E 09BE 14B2 4AA4 EA36 27EB 72A4 FDDD 8E3E 741D

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kernel - Help!
by avedis＠rcn.com 22 Dec '02

22 Dec '02

I'm in windows right now, which is where I automatically boot to if I don't use the floppy. I only get a choice of boots with floppy. Tried recompiling the kernel with sound, added the lbn32(?) line to /etc/lilo and the cylinder error went away, but somehow I lost support for ipchains and lost the suse firewall. Also lost support for vfat. I went back into make xconfig and started messing around with ppp support, vfat and dos support. Got my vfat back ok. Also had to go in and re-edit /etc/rc.config and /etc/rc.config.d/firewall- somethingorother.config. I think I need to review my selections in those files. At first, I could dialup and as soon as it would connect, it would disconnect, and pppd would give error message 4, no support for ppp in kernel. I went back in and selected netfilter with ipchains support, and ppp with async support. Now it will connect and stay connected, but I can't send or receive anything (mail or web). Oh, and I removed the sound support from the kernel, but I'm still getting error messages about trying to load the sound modules. Let me know if I did something obvious. Meanwhile, I'll review what I did. Thanks, Greg

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"LN" question
by Michael LaPointe 21 Dec '02

21 Dec '02

I just recently upgraded my hosting plan to include sub domains, shell access and a few other goodies. My original site had all of the images in an images directory. To avoid copying all of the images to each new sub domain/directory I created an images directory for each sub directory and ran ln *.* /path/to/sub/images from within the real images directory. This worked great but is it only a one shot deal? I.E. if I add another image to the main directory do I need to run ln again? Server is FreeBSD 4.7 with Apache/1.3.27 I didnt try hard linking the directories since my books say that you need to be root to do so but I think that is what I really needed. Thank you, ~ Michael LaPointe

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[Off-Topic] Free Software Consortium in search of Consultants and Agents in your area.
by Consorcio Software Libre 21 Dec '02

21 Dec '02

We would like to invite you to be a founding members of the FSC either as a Consultant and/or an Agent. http://www.fsconsortium.com On the main page you will find links to subscribe as consultant and/or agent. Free Software Consortium is a multinational consortium established to link the companies and the independent consultants that use and promote free software. One of the bigger obstacles to the development of the free software services market is the fear of many companies to establish contracts with independent consultants who do not have support of a well known Company, Corporation or Consortium. Questioning quality, support, experience and capability to successfully complete a project are the companies manager's main concerns when considering the option of migrating their systems to free software. Like you, we know the excellent quality that Free Software offers. We have complete confidence that Free Software is going to be the platform of the future. That is why it's so important to work and consolidate together to solve the problem mentioned above. Free Software Consortium intends to fill this void joining the best free software companies and consultants at the national and international level. By joining to Free Software Consortium you or your company will have the following benefits: 1. Possibility of being hired by other Consortium members. 2. Possibility of hiring other Consortium members. 3. Use of the Consortium image and name with your clients. 4. Use of the Consortium's resources like Publicity Brochures, Business Cards, Banners for presentations and events, financial presentations, publicity articles for the press and magazines, support via mailing list and forums with the Consortium's members, marketing and communication assistance, CD's and manuals from the Consortium, site and mail hosting (yourarea.fsc.cc) and other future services. 5. Representation of the FS Consortium in your area to share administrative, legal and marketing resources between the Consultant members in your area. Free Software Consortium will establish a contract with an Agent company which will have exclusive representation in it's area, in charge of organizing the consultants in the area. This Agent company will provide the administrative services, marketing and sales with the local customers.

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kernel questions
by Gregory Avedissian 21 Dec '02

21 Dec '02

I'm trying to get oss sound modules compiled into kernel. make xconfig was easy enough to get through. instructions say to then make dep and make bzImage or bzlilo. 1. I get errors on this, because I'm above cylinder 1023 on my dual-boot drive. I boot linux from floppy with lilo. Error message suggests using lba32 option, but it doesn't say where or how to use it. How do I get around this? 2. Instructions say next to install the kernel. Is that done by typing make install? In addition to the make install that comes after make modules? (see below) 3. I haven't been able to create a lilo boot disk for awhile. I'm using Yast2 to configure boot mode, and it keeps telling me that my floppy is write protected and it can't access the boot sector. I've tried this with new floppies that have been formated with fdformat /dev/fd0. Thanks for any insight. Here are the instructions I'm looking at: > 1. To make the kernel sound modules, cd to your /usr/src/linux > directory (typically) and type make config, make menuconfig, > or make xconfig (to start the command line, dialog, or x-based > configuration tool). > > 2. Select the Sound option and a dialog will be displayed. > > 3. Select M (module) for "Sound card support". > > 4. Select your sound driver(s) as a module. For ProAudio, Sound > Blaster, etc., select M (module) for OSS sound modules. > [thanks to Marvin Stodolsky <stodolsk(a)erols.com>]A > > 5. Make the kernel (e.g., make dep ; make bzImage), and install > the kernel. > > 6. Make the modules and install them (make modules; make modules_install).

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The Package Chase
by Gregory Avedissian 21 Dec '02

21 Dec '02

OK, I've been going along merrily with my SuSE 7.2 for about a year, and I just now ran into a problem that a lot of you folks must know all too well. Install a new program and it calls for a package you don't have. You've all seen the lists, I'm sure. I'm trying to install ecawave and ALSA 0.9, and I've had to install some gtk and gnome stuff, and I went to look at upgrading the whole gnome package. There's a list of more than 50 things to compile, and they must be done in the correct order. Do people actually do that? Is there any advantage of doing that over upgrading the whole distribution?

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bioswriter
by Wes Allen 20 Dec '02

20 Dec '02

Has anyone ever used bioswriter or a similar utility to get your bios settings from CMOS? I'm trying to read it with bioswriter with little success as I'm not sure what to do with the image file. I'm wondering there is a way to hack this bios to let me turn "plug and play os" off, as I'm fairly certain it's on by default and the given interface is pretty limited. Or am I breaking the law to edit my bios settings.... on the computer I OWN. Wes -- ------ This message may be signed using GPG, for my public key please send me a message with "Key Request" in the subject line.

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recording in linux
by Gregory Avedissian 20 Dec '02

20 Dec '02

Someone asked about recording under linux recently, and I recall that several of us said we'd never been able to do it. I just did it. In alsamixer, space bar sets the channel you want to use for capture. (line in is a reasonable choice) Had to manually edit /etc/asound.conf to turn on the input gain and set the level to 10,10. It looks like this: element("Input Gain Switch",0,101,Switch2(on)) ; Voice 0 : Min 0 Max 15 ; Voice 1 : Min 0 Max 15 element("Input Gain Volume",0,200,Volume1(10,10))

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Cross Compile Question
by Marc Hughes 19 Dec '02

19 Dec '02

I'm trying to make a cross-compiler on an i386 linux box to a ppc darwin (OSX) box. I downloaded binutils, configured them with ./configure --target=powerpc-apple --prefix=/usr/local Build them, and installed them. Then I went and got gcc (with g++), configured it with: ./configure --target=powerpc-apple-darwin --prefix=/usr/local I also made a symlink from /usr/local/powerpc-apple -> /usr/local/powerpc-apple-darwin since it seemed to fix a problem in the gcc compile. When I try to build gcc, it goes for a minute or so, and then I get this towards the end: libbackend.a(varasm.o): In function `assemble_alias': /data/hughesm/tmp/gcc-3.1/gcc/varasm.c:5184: undefined reference to `ASM_OUTPUT_DEF' collect2: ld returned 1 exit status make[1]: *** [cc1] Error 1 make[1]: Leaving directory `/data/hughesm/tmp/gcc-3.1/gcc' make: *** [all-gcc] Error 2 I'm not really asking for the exact cause of the error... I'm just trying to figure out if I'm even going about this the correct way. The documentation on cross compiling is a bit sparse. It seems odd to me that the targets don't match (but there is no powerpc-apple-darwin in binutils, and no powerpc-apple in gcc) All that being said, I'm doing this so I can add my linux boxes to my OSX build farm. Check out distcc.samba.org for a wicked cool and easy way to distribute compiles. -Marc

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Apache, PHP, MySQL on Debian
by jose sanchez 19 Dec '02

19 Dec '02

Hello everyone: I would like to know what would be the way to install and configure APACHE, PHP (with Oracle support), and MYSQL on Debian 3.0? Should I get the latest tarball versions of all these and just compile it or should I just get the debian packages and install them? How well do these servers run on Debian? Is there a better distro for them? Thanks in advance for all your help and sorry for all the questions in one post. You input would be apreciated. ===== "An ounce of gold cannot buy an ounce of time." - Anonymous www.whmicro.com __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com

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Re: Help installing Apache on Debian
by jose sanchez 18 Dec '02

18 Dec '02

> apt-get install libc6-dev After installing libc6-dev the configuration now works. Now I have another problem. I'm trying to configure PHP with Oracle 8i support: ./configure --with-apache=../apache_1.3.27 --enable-track-vars --with-oracle --with-mysql --enable-url-includes and get this error: checking for Oracle-ORACLE support... yes checking Oracle Install-Dir... checking Oracle version... configure: error: Oracle needed libraries not found Do I need Oracle server installed on the same box Apache and php are or could I just install a third party library to support Oracle? I have Oracle 8i installed on a different box running RH 7.2 and I would like to connect to this box through a php webpage from the Debian box. I did a search "installing php with oracle support on debian" and didn't get much on it. Can it be done? Thanks everyone for your time and input. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com

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Help installing Apache on Debian
by jose sanchez 18 Dec '02

18 Dec '02

Hello: I'm trying to install Apache on Debian 3.0 and I'm getting an error when trying to configure it. ./configure -v --prefix=/usr/apache + Module setenvif: yes cd ..; gcc -DLINUX=22 -DUSE_HSREGEX -DUSE_EXPAT -I./lib/expat-lite -DNO_DL_NEEDED `./apaci` -o helpers/dummy helpers/dummy.c -lm /usr/bin/ld: cannot open crt1.o: No such file or directory collect2: ld returned 1 exit status make: *** [dummy] Error 1 Creating Makefile in src + configured for Linux platform + setting C compiler to gcc + setting C pre-processor to NOT-AVAILABLE + checking for system header files + adding selected modules + using builtin Expat + checking sizeof various data types + doing sanity check on compiler and options ** A test compilation with your Makefile configuration ** failed. The above error output from the compilation ** test will give you an idea what is failing. Note that ** Apache requires an ANSI C Compiler, such as gcc. ======== Error Output for sanity check ======== cd ..; gcc -DLINUX=22 -DUSE_HSREGEX -DUSE_EXPAT -I./lib/expat-lite -DNO_DL_NEEDED `./apaci` -o helpers/dummy helpers/dummy.c -lm /usr/bin/ld: cannot open crt1.o: No such file or directory collect2: ld returned 1 exit status make: *** [dummy] Error 1 ============= End of Error Report ============= Aborting! I have gcc installed... What is causing this? ===== "An ounce of gold cannot buy an ounce of time." - Anonymous www.whmicro.com __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com

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Debian Packages
by jose sanchez 17 Dec '02

17 Dec '02

Hello: Is there a website to download debian packages like there is for rpms (rpmfind.net)? Thanks ===== "An ounce of gold cannot buy an ounce of time." - Anonymous www.whmicro.com __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com

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Speaking Of Mac G4's...
by Sands Fish 16 Dec '02

16 Dec '02

I've got a G4 dual-proc here at work. Boss wants me to throw Linux on it. I've been trying to find the best solution for a distro. SuSE seems to be the best choice to me so far, but I want to tap the deep dark depths of the WLUG knowledge before I go making a decision. Little Help? -Sands --------- "An electric toothbrush is an excellent choice if you are such a lazy f##k that you can't even move a toothbrush up and down." __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com

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Linux on a dual headed mac
by Marc Hughes 13 Dec '02

13 Dec '02

Hi all, I got a dual headed G4 sitting here that's just itching to be a linux box. I can get X up on the primary video card, but am having problems getting it to work on the secondary one. (I figure I should get that working, before I try to get them both working). Unfortunatly, I can't figure out how to get the second video card to work. I try specifying a busid in the XFree86Config-4 file. It seems to always be trying to use my primary card. Is there a way to get fb support on bootup on the second display? Primary card: Geforce2 MX with a 17" apple studio display using the Apple Display Connector (not the vga one) - PCI bus 0:16:0 Secondary card: ATI Radeon Q with a 19" generic monitor - PCI bus 0:20:0 Any ideas? Thanks, -Marc

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Re: ipaq
by Dean M. Deaver 13 Dec '02

13 Dec '02

> From: Wes Allen <wallen(a)charter.net> > To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > Subject: Re: [Wlug] Re: ipaq > Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 14:21:24 -0500 > Reply-To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > > Is there a way to install another ethernet card? > I read the specs, this would be fun to play with/break/fix/break again. > > Wes Not without at least a soldering iron and a set of skills I don't possess. So I'd have to say no. BTW, I had > 1 request for the device, so it's either lottery, combination of coin tosses, or raffle. I'll figure something out probably next week when I'm not overloaded with real work. ...Dean

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RE: [Wlug] Some old stuff hanging around that I'm giving away too
by Simoncini, Matthew 13 Dec '02

13 Dec '02

Hi all, I received quite a few emails from interested folks for both the books and the computers. I'll inventory everything and post a message by the end of the month with what exactly I have. I'm leaning more towards a raffle (to benefit WLUG) for most of the hardware stuff and probably giving away the books. Matthew > -----Original Message----- > From: Mike Frysinger [mailto:vapier@gentoo.org] > Sent: Thursday, December 12, 2002 3:11 PM > To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > Subject: Re: [Wlug] Some old stuff hanging around that I'm giving away > too > > > On Thursday 12 December 2002 14:55, Simoncini, Matthew wrote: > > I also have some programming and other computer related > books that are > > anyone's for the taking as well. > > i might be interested in some books that you have ... > anyway i can see what you have ? > -mike > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

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capture card
by Wes Allen 13 Dec '02

13 Dec '02

Hi all, I'm really toying with the idea of picking up one of those $200 machines from walmart and rolling out my own pvr. If for no other reason than it would be a good hobby. However, I want it to be able to do the one useful thing that I can't do with digital cable, watch one show while taping another. My wife and I have one tv (and one converter box), and often have shows that conflict with one another (we flip coins in the metaphoical "who's there first" way). So, I assume that I need a capture card with the ability to tune digital signals, no problem. Are there any that work with Linux? THAT'S my problem. So, anyone know of a digital tv-capture/tuner card that works with Linux? Wes -- ------ This message may be signed using GPG, for my public key please send me a message with "Key Request" in the subject line.

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Linux/document source control MS Word
by Ritacco, Alan 13 Dec '02

13 Dec '02

Does anyone know of a logical way to allow users of MS Word to access a single document from a linux server that will manage source control on the document? These users are home users for a non-profit sports orginization creating a document for end users. These people will be editing this document via there home pc's. There is currently already a server they use for statistics and such, which is a Linux box. They must us MS Word as they are the most basic of basic users who can barely use PC's. I know there are commerical software(s) available or co-location sites to do this, but I was not sure if anyone had ever run across anything that is specfic to MS Word docs and document/source control management on Linux (or other OS's, Solaris, etc.) Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Al

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Lightweight Linux installer
by Andy Stewart 12 Dec '02

12 Dec '02

HI Everybody, The discussion about old used hardware got me to thinking about a recent experience. I was trying to put SuSE Linux 8.1 on a P90 with 32 MB of memory. SuSE was smart enough to jump into the ncurses installer instead of the fully graphical installer, but the installer was incredibly slow. No, not the part where the packages load slowly due to old, slow I/O devices, but the parts which ask the questions before the installation. This got me to wondering if there are any generic lightweight installers available for vintage hardware such as this. I don't see why I should be limited by a bloated installer when Linux itself works just fine on older hardware. Later, Andy -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org

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Some old stuff hanging around that I'm giving away too
by Simoncini, Matthew 12 Dec '02

12 Dec '02

FYI: I've got a few PC's laying around at home that I'd like to donate to the WLUG raffle or anyone else who thinks they can use one. These are by no means powerful machines, but could probably be used as a firewall or low end mail server. 2 - HP Vectra (I think XM's) Pentium 100 64 mb of memory sound, graphics, NIC one has a hard drive (1GB I think) 4x cd-rom ?? ** These used to be business desktops, but were retired a few years ago. 1 - Compaq Presario mini tower Pentium 75 64 mb of memory sound, graphics, NIC 850MB or 1GB hard drive 8x cd-rom ?? 13 or 14" color monitor All of these at one time or another were going to be re-built by me and donated to schools in my area, but work and my family took priority. I also have some programming and other computer related books that are anyone's for the taking as well. If anyone is interested, I'll can email more specific information after I invertory the stuff. If this sounds like some stuff that can be raffled off at the January meeting, I'd be willing to bring it all down. Matthew

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Re: ipaq
by Dean M. Deaver 12 Dec '02

12 Dec '02

> Message: 1 > From: brad <maitre(a)ccs.neu.edu> > To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > Subject: Re: [Wlug] Meeting Ideas... > Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 12:12:40 -0500 > charset="iso-8859-1" > Reply-To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > > A meeting like so would probably be best suited for January. That would give > me time to get kitchsync working. Also i hope i can i have a ipaq to install > linux on (mine has already been ..... well, exorcized). Wes has been wanting > to do for some time, let's hope he can make it January's meeting. > > Are there any other ipaq owners which would like to have this done? > Speaking of ipaq, I have a 'Shark' Network Appliance that is now gathering dust in my attic as I no longer have the time to fiddle with it. Basically, it's a StrongARM SA-110 based device as described on handhelds.org / platforms . Might be useful for ipaq development. It's up for grabs, for free. Reply if you want it. If I get more than one reply within the next week (i.e. by noon next Thursday), the giveaway will be done by some form of lottery (or it could be done by meeting raffle if wlug still has those). Disclaimer: The last time I tried -- ~ 2 years ago -- it would boot linux via bootp. I also had something of a useful distro (?) "installed", with binaries cribbed from a mix of stuff from handhelds.org and netwinder rpms. But it will probably take some doing to get it up and running since I have no documentation for the current firmware; and, the last time I checked, I wasn't greeted by a 'may I help you' prompt upon powering it up. [I would power it up now but I cannot find the power supply :) ] ...Dean

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synce, is a wonderful thing
by Wesley Allen 12 Dec '02

12 Dec '02

Hi all, I've actually managed to get my iPAQ connected to my linux laptop using my usb cable....and I've even gotten some files off it and opened them up with OOo. All-in-all, I'm happy. But I would like to back up the address files and convert them into something Linux can use. What files does pocket-pc use to keep their addressbook data in? Wes

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