New Messages
Correction:
In Larry Reznick's article, "Scheduled Rebooting,"
in the Nov/Dec 1995
issue of Sys Admin, a line of code in the section entitled
"rebootsys
Script" (p. 117) lost its back quotes. The line
should have printed as
follows:
`echo`cat\\`echo $PROGS | cut -d" " -f2\\\`\``
We apologize for any inconvenience our mistake may have
caused our
readers.--mm
Editor's Note:
Some time ago, I asked for help locating public-domain
stacks and
utilities for TCP/IP on DOS. Several readers responded
with suggestions
and pointers, and recently I've done a little web-surfing
of my own. I
thought I'd share a few links that you might find useful:
For a nice overview of TCP/IP packages, both commercial
and not, for
both Windows and DOS, ftp
/pub/dos/info/tcpip.packages
from
ftp.cac.psu.edu.
For an incredible compilation (over 100 pages) of everything
you ever
wanted to know about (PC) NFS, ftp
/pub/tcpip/pcnfsfaq.txt
from
seagul.rtd.com.
(If this site is no longer valid, just do a web search
on pcnfs and faq
-- the faq is available from a number of sites.)
This document says that there are no free or shareware
NFS clients
available. In fact, there is a shareware NFS client
named XFS available.
Unfortunately, I haven't yet found a URL for that package.
If one of my
readers knows where to source XFS, please drop me some
email.
For some components that may not be indexed in the above
materials:
merit.edu
see /pub/ppp/pc and /pub/ppp/etherppp.zip.
Thanks to Ed Lott, Jim Niemira, Frederic DeMees, and
our own Kevin Taute
for helping with this information.
--rlw
From: Doug Smith
Subject: UNIX, TCP/IP, and Macs (May/June 1995
I manage a system similar to the one Donald Stone described
in his
article about networking UNIX and Mac ("UNIX, TCP/IP,
and Macs,"
May/June 1995). There are a few other good possibilities
for
point-and-drag file transfer that may have been overlooked.
The GatorBox has software available called GatorShare
that allows UNIX
directories available through NFS to be mounted on the
Macintosh just
like any other networked drive. The Mac users can transfer
files without
learning any new techniques. I believe GatorShare ships
with the
GatorBox but may be an extra cost item on some models.
Another good way to handle the problem is with one of
the shareware ftp
clients available for the Mac. The two most popular
are Anarchie and
Fetch. Both offer a friendly Mac interface for browsing
and ftping
files. Anarchie even allows drag-and-drop ftp when used
with recent
Macintosh system software.
One other thing. The NCSA Telnet software includes ftp
capabilities.
It's not friendly for the Mac user but I've used it
to automatically
transfer files to a local Mac hard disk under control
of a UNIX shell
script. For example, the user selects a report from
a menu on the UNIX
machine. Moments later a file appears on his hard drive
ready to be
imported into his Excel spreadsheet. There are even
ways to have the
spreadsheet start up, load the file, and run a macro
to manipulate the
contents. Very slick!
Doug Smith, SGA
Loves Park, IL
dougs%sga@wheaton.wheaton.edu
Thanks for the extra information. I'm particularly grateful
for the
Mac-related information, as I haven't had much personal
experience with
Mac products. -- rlw
From: Ed Schaefer
Subject: USNO update
In our article, "Time Services from the US Naval
Observatory" (Jul/Aug
1995), Steve Friedl and I gave a phone number for the
clock at the
Observatory. We've since learned that at some point
in the future the
phone number for the clock will change from 202-653-0351
to a new
number: 202-762-1594. When the change will occur is
not known. Readers
can consult the web page at
http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/phones.html
to find out the current phone number.
Dear Robert Ward,
I could not help but notice that your advertisement
conspicuously
excludes Linux from the list of "All versions of
UNIX."
Our network runs on a mix of SunOS, Solaris, BSDi, SystemV,
SCO, Linux,
and Windows NT/3.x/95. I believe there are a great many
shops using
Linux in a production environment. In fact, one of our
criteria for
hiring system personnel involves that they do not make
the mistake of
ignoring Linux when they discuss the systems with which
they are
familiar.
I might subscribe to your magazine despite this, but
not without first
knowing your opinion of whether Linux belongs in the
list of "All
versions of UNIX". Come to think of it, you see
fit to mention PICK and
Xenix... but not even BSD? I find that strange and it
has made a first
impression on us of your possible cluelessness, or perhaps
that your
advertisers control your content. Please help me resolve
this question.
Sincere regards,
James McGill
fishbowl@bilbo.pic.net
Well, I hope the theme on this issue assuages some of
your doubts.
Yes, Linux belongs in the list. (Frankly I'm wondering
how PICK got on
it?) I wouldn't extrapolate too much from the copy in
a direct mail
piece -- not even if it has my name on it.
Are we clueless? I don't really think so, but I'd rather
let the
magazine speak for itself. Check it out. If you find
something useful,
then we've done our job.
But thanks for pointing out the marketing gaffes, anyway.
--rlw
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