ch02.htm

linux-unix130.linux.and.unix.ebooks130 linux and unix ebookslinuxLearning Linux - Collection of 12 E

	the book Linux: Unleashing the Workstation in Your PC.<BR>

	n Yggdrasil<BR>

	Yggdrasil Plug-and-Play Linux is a complete eight-CD-ROM distribution of the Linux

	operating system. It includes a great deal of software covering nearly every package

	you would expect to find on a complete UNIX system.<BR>

	Yggdrasil also offers the Linux Bible, a full library of Linux and UNIX documentation--including

	three books from the Linux Documentation Project--the Yggdrasil installation manual,

	and the complete set of Linux <TT>HOWTO</TT> guides.<BR>

	Contact:

</DL>



<P><I>Yggdrasil Computing, Incorporated</I></P>



<P><I>4880 Stevens Creek Blvd., Suite 205</I></P>

<P><I>San Jose, CA 95129-1034</I></P>

<P><I>[phone]</I></P>

<P><I><TT>http://www.yggdrasil.com</TT></I>





<BLOCKQUOTE>

	<P><I><TT>[e-mail]</TT></I><TT></TT>



</BLOCKQUOTE>





<UL>

	<LI>Caldera Network Desktop 1.0

</UL>





<DL>

	<DD>This distribution comes with two floppy disks and a CD-ROM. Thus, you don't have

	to create your own boot disks. Caldera's version of Linux is based on the Red Hat

	kernel. The installation package and programs offered by Caldera are custom designed,

	though. This means that you get some features with Caldera that you cannot get anywhere

	else. The window system from Caldera looks a lot like Microsoft Windows, including

	the toolbars. Also, Caldera is designed to work smoothly with NetWare. If you are

	looking for a system to integrate with your current NetWare network, this is the

	system to look for.<BR>

	Contact:

</DL>



<P><I>Caldera, Inc.</I></P>

<P><I>633 South 550 East</I></P>

<P><I>Provo, UT 84606</I></P>

<P><I>[phone]</I>





<BLOCKQUOTE>

	<P><I><TT>http://www.caldera.com</TT></I><TT></TT>



</BLOCKQUOTE>





<UL>

	<LI>Craftwork Solutions

</UL>





<DL>

	<DD>The Craftwork Solutions Linux (2.0) comes with a boot/root floppy disk and a

	CD-ROM. The Component Replacement And Fabrication Technology (CRAFT) is Craftwork

	Solutions Inc.'s solution to providing dependency checks for files and packages.

	Related packages are grouped in Component Packages facilitating the installation

	process. Package selection is important only if you want a custom installation. The

	installation process does not prompt you after it is started. (Other versions of

	Linux installations pester you with questions intermittently.)<BR>

	Contact:

</DL>



<P><I>Craftwork Solutions Inc.</I></P>

<P><I>4320 Stevens Creek Blvd., Suite 170</I></P>

<P><I>San Jose, CA 95129</I></P>

<P><I>[phone]</I></P>

<P><I><TT>http://www.craftwork.com</TT></I>





<BLOCKQUOTE>

	<P><I><TT>[e-mail]</TT></I><TT></TT>



</BLOCKQUOTE>





<UL>

	<LI>Debian 1.1b

</UL>





<DL>

	<DD>Debian is developed by many volunteers. This version has a strong dependency

	check for packages. If you select one package, Debian's installation script installs

	all related modules. Debian's home page contains more information at <TT>http://www.debian.org.</TT><BR>

	n InfoMagic Developer's Resource CD-ROM kit<BR>

	The InfoMagic Linux Developer's Resource is primarily the Slackware 96 release including

	a complete snapshot of the <TT>sunsite.unc.edu</TT> and <TT>tsx-11.mit.edu</TT> archives.

	It also includes the complete GNU software collection (in source form). The following

	Linux distributions are included: Slackware, Debian, SLS, TAMU, MCC, and JE (Japanese

	Extensions).<BR>

	The Linux <TT>HOWTO</TT> documents have been formatted for use with the Microsoft

	Multimedia Viewer (which is included) to enable browsing and full text search under

	Microsoft Windows.<BR>

	Contact:

</DL>



<P><I>InfoMagic</I></P>

<P><I>11950 N. Hwy 89</I></P>

<P><I>Flagstaff, AZ 86004</I>





<BLOCKQUOTE>

	<P><I><TT>http://www.infomagic.com</TT></I><TT></TT>



</BLOCKQUOTE>





<DL>

	<DD>The contents of the CD-ROMs can also be found at the site <TT>ftp.uu.net</TT>

	in the directory <TT>/vendor/InfoMagic/cd-roms/linux</TT>.

</DL>



<P>There you have it. This list of locations where you can get Linux is incomplete.

In fact, I should apologize to the folks whose company names didn't get listed here.

I did not have enough time to fully review all the distributions before this book

went to press. If you want a more complete list, look at the newsgroups <TT>comp.os.linux.announce</TT>

and <TT>comp.os.linux.misc</TT>.</P>

<P>The document <TT>Distribution-HOWTO</TT> is archived on various Linux FTP sites,

including <TT>sunsite.unc.edu</TT> in <TT>pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO</TT>.

<H4 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading5<FONT COLOR="#000077">Other Linux Information

Sources</FONT></H4>

<P>If you like magazines, you will love Linux Journal (LJ), a monthly publication

covering the Linux community. Most material in LJ is new (that is, derived from a

bunch of Usenet newsgroup topics). Each issue includes columns and articles on Linux

programming, GNU, Free Software Foundation issues, systems administration, questions

and answers, interviews, and more. This is a darn good magazine with a great Web

site. You can reach the publishers at: <BR>

<BR>

<I>Linux Journal</I></P>

<P><I>P.O. Box 55549</I></P>

<P><I>Seattle, WA 9815</I></P>

<P><I>[phone]</I>





<BLOCKQUOTE>

	<P><I><TT>http://www.ssc.com</TT></I><TT></TT>



</BLOCKQUOTE>



<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading6<FONT COLOR="#000077">Finding Linux Updates

on the Internet</FONT></H3>

<P>As I mentioned earlier, a CD-ROM is not the only place for you to get Linux or

information about Linux. After all, you might not have a CD-ROM reader. If you don't,

you aren't out of luck. You can still get Linux goodies from the Internet sites in

the following listing. The catch is that you have to be on the Internet.</P>

<P>So why am I showing you how to get Linux from the Internet when you already have

it on a CD? Well, some of the files referenced on the CD might be different a year

from now. In fact, some of the locations you see listed here might be different too.

After you've learned how to uncover more information, you can use the archie method

later to locate updates to Linux.</P>

<P>If you want to learn more about the Internet and archie, read The Internet Unleashed

<BR>

(<I>Sams Publishing</I>, 1994).</P>

<P>The first place I look for new releases is on the World Wide Web. Using search

engines such as Yahoo!, Web Crawler, or Lycos, I can use the keyword &quot;Slackware&quot;

to find many locations where I can get Slackware Linux. Of course, going to <TT>sunsite.unc.edu</TT>

via ftp and looking in the <TT>/pub/Linux</TT> directory will almost certainly get

you the latest versions of software for Linux.</P>

<P>The World Wide Web is not the only place to search for Linux. Good old programs

like archie still serve well in this endeavor. I used the telnet program to log into

<TT>archie.internic.net</TT>, a good site from which to use the archie program. The

archie program is a searching utility for locating files on the Internet by specifying

keywords. I logged in with the name <TT>archie</TT> and didn't have to provide a

password. (See Listing 2.1.)</P>

<P>The <TT>archie&gt;</TT> prompt is where I issued the <TT>find Slackware</TT> command.

The <TT>search type of sub</TT> means that we'll ask archie to search for all strings

in its database with the word Slackware anywhere in them.

<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading7<FONT COLOR="#000077">Getting Slackware

from the Internet</FONT></H3>

<P>The Slackware release of Linux can be found on any number of FTP sites worldwide.

The Linux META-FAQ lists several of the Linux FTP sites. To reduce Net traffic, I

suggest that you try to find the software on the FTP site nearest you. Two of the

major Linux FTP sites, however, are <TT>sunsite.unc.edu</TT> and <TT>tsx-11.mit.edu</TT>.



<DL>

	<DT></DT>

</DL>





<DL>

	<DD>

<HR>

<A NAME="Heading8<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>CAUTION: </B></FONT>Be sure to use

	binary mode when you download any Linux installation disk set files from the Internet.

	You can do this by typing <TT>set binary</TT> at the FTP prompt.

<HR>



</DL>



<P>The Slackware release can be also be found on the following FTP sites: <TT>sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/distributions/slackware</TT></P>



<P><TT>tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/distributions/slackware</TT></P>

<P><TT>ftp.cdrom.com:/pub/linux/slackware</TT>





<BLOCKQUOTE>

	<P><TT>ftp.cdrom.com</TT>, which is Slackware's home site



</BLOCKQUOTE>



<P>Before you download from your nearest FTP site and put the files on floppies,

keep in mind what you want from each release. Note that some releases give you only

the kernel and a few utilities, and others give you everything you need (including

X11, GCC, and more). In the latter case, you must download more than 50 big files.



<DL>

	<DT></DT>

</DL>





<DL>

	<DD>

<HR>

<A NAME="Heading9<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>NOTE: </B></FONT>If you're new to

	the UNIX world, Linux (as with any UNIX clone) is difficult to understand at first.

	Not a lot of real documentation is out there. Linux was never meant to be the hugely

	popular free UNIX that it has become, and the lack of documentation doesn't bother

	UNIX wizards who can figure it out from just poking around.

<HR>



</DL>



<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading10<FONT COLOR="#000077">More on the Slackware

Distribution</FONT></H3>

<P>Now you should have enough information to be able to obtain future releases of

Linux in your sleep. Let's get on with the matter of the Linux CD-ROM included with

this book.</P>

<P>The Slackware distribution is the release on the CD-ROM. This release is also

available on floppy disks as sets. Each set is a collection of floppy disks containing

related software. The following disk sets are available on the CD-ROM for Linux:



<UL>

	<LI>Disk Set A

</UL>





<DL>

	<DD>This set is the base system for Linux. These disks contain enough to get you

	up and running and have elvis and communication programs available. They are based

	around the 2.0.0 Linux kernel and the new file system standard (FSSTND).

	<DT></DT>

</DL>





<DL>

	<DD>

<HR>

<A NAME="Heading11<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>NOTE:</B> </FONT>Disk Set A is known

	to fit on 1.2MB disks, although the rest of Slackware won't. If you have only a 1.2MB

	floppy, you can still install the base system, download other disks you want, and

	install them from your hard drive.

<HR>



</DL>





<UL>

	<LI>Disk Set AP

</UL>