March 2003 Archives

     I try to give credit where it is due and in this case, I was ridiculously excited about iacas at nslog.com for pointing this out (see my comment on his post). There are a few things I like about Synergy:
a) It is small - I like small, simple programs.
b) it works - I like programs that work
c) it hasn't broken my PowerBook - I like programs that don't break my PowerBook
You might wonder why I would make ridiculously obvious statements like those above. Well, with many years of computer use under my belt (between Windows, Unix and Mac, I think I have had a good amount of exposure), I have encountered my share of programs that you would think were simple, but simply sucked. That people continue to insist on bloat and options they will never use is beyond me, but hey, this is Amiland (the German nickname for America) and we like things big... (Take that any way you want to, by the way.) Well, I've learned my lesson and I like things simple... big only when necessary (or when it is a car).
     Anyway, I digress. Thank you iacas for pointing this one out to me!

YOU NEED TO ENABLE INETD (inetd_enable="YES" in /etc/rc.conf) in order for any of the services located and configured therein to work... Dohhh... I have been dinking around with a new amanda installation on a server and couldn't figure out why the amanda service (incoming port 10080) wouldn't work. Well, after noticing that running netstat -a didn't reveal any running amanda service, I checked on the latest status of inetd (I had a gut feeling something was different in 5.0 RELEASE) and lo' and behold, you need to enable inetd... Make sense from a security standpoint, but I had gotten so used to it being enabled by default (can you feel me whining?)...

     A plugin or something for MT that will allow me to record or track all of the places I've been to lately - i.e. a type of bookmarks rolodex for MT? I know I could set up a category for links, but the work involved in posting every time I want to keep track of a link... well, it is my only possibility for now. If you know of something better, please speak up. (Assuming anyone reads this site ;))

     I am mobile and so is my whole family - i.e. we use cell phones quite a bit because of the convenience of calling one another in the car - no one seems to have time otherwise. One of my biggest complaints, however, is the horrible background noise that tends to be the most frustrating part of mobile phones. I hope technology like this continues to be worked on:
Mobile calls sounding better - BBC News

     Although qmail is ridiculously simple - and usually requires a host of plug-ins for expanded uses (like IMAP4 and virtual domains - see my qmail HOWTO translations of Oliver Lehmann's original HOWTO), but the MTA in itself has never had a bug/security hole since I implemented it 2 years ago. If you don't find this amazing, then this post won't make any difference anyway. Come to think of it, I haven't upgraded one of my implementations since 2 years ago... As sendmail issues yet another warning, I sit comfortably, sipping coffee and reading the news. Thank you Dan!

     I learned my lesson, or rather, I finally figured this one out: RSS feeds that are only partials of your entries don't make any particular sense - to me. Jay reminded me of this with a recent entry of his. I still haven't completely grasped the concept of RSS and how it programmatically functions, but I do see the importance of proper implementation. One of the beautiful things about RSS is the fact that I can download the latest from my fav. websites, disconnect and read at my leisure - net or no net connection.
     If you feel okay hacking around with your own MovableType implementation to make sure you are giving full feeds of your entries (and not simply cropped descriptions), here is a site to visit for a quick and dirty explanation:
My RSS feeds - Unix Gal

     Essentially, the US politicians should be supporting US businesses and people, not the opposite. (And one can argue that NAFTA has helped the Mexican population more than the US because of the movement of jobs to Mexico.) In the case of rebuilding Iraq after the war, the same should apply. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal - Online entitled Cellphone Fight Raises Issue of U.S.'s Postwar Priorities points out the future questions our politicians will be answering regarding things as simple as what type of cell phone the Iraqis will be purchasing. I think that it is our duty to support technology invented and manufactured in the US if our money is to be used. It makes no sense to me that we should be spending taxpayer money on technology not developed or manufactured in the US. If the EU wants to supply the cash for rebuilding Iraq's telecommunications network, then it is their prerogative and responsibility to support European manufacturers and technology. The question of which technology - GSM or CDMA - is better, is a wholly different issue.

!!!WARNING!!!

This HOWTO (which should be named "misleading install guide that is too old to be taken seriously) no longer matches Oli's at pofo.de. Please direct your attention to lifewithqmail.org for better help and more details. (I'm only leaving this up until I can figure out how to gracefully remove it.)
SF - 2005-11-30

!!!WARNING!!!

This HOWTO (which should be named "misleading install guide that is too old to be taken seriously) no longer matches Oli's at pofo.de. Please direct your attention to lifewithqmail.org for better help and more details. (I'm only leaving this up until I can figure out how to gracefully remove it.)
SF - 2005-11-30

     As promised, I finally got around to updating the qmail HOWTO/FreeBSD docs (take a look at the qmail archives). I also spent the better part of my time trying to get the formatting to come out neatly on the website. CSS has become a love, but whoa... what a pain if things go wrong.
     Well, that's really all I wanted to say. I'm tired. Enough of this for the day.

!!!WARNING!!!

This HOWTO (which should be named "misleading install guide that is too old to be taken seriously) no longer matches Oli's at pofo.de. Please direct your attention to lifewithqmail.org for better help and more details. (I'm only leaving this up until I can figure out how to gracefully remove it.)
SF - 2005-11-30

!!!WARNING!!!

This HOWTO (which should be named "misleading install guide that is too old to be taken seriously) no longer matches Oli's at pofo.de. Please direct your attention to lifewithqmail.org for better help and more details. (I'm only leaving this up until I can figure out how to gracefully remove it.)
SF - 2005-11-30

Chapter 1. Installation of the Necessary Programs

Copyright 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 by Oliver Lehman

Translation 2002 by Steven N. Fettig
Modified: 6 August 2002 - Steven N. Fettig
Modified: 25 November 2002 - Steven N. Fettig
Modified: 21 January 2003 - Steven N. Fettig
Modified: 27 March 2003 - Steven N. Fettig
Modified: 18 February 2004 - Steven N. Fettig

The following HOWTO is provided for the installation of an email server. POP3, POP3 over ssl, IMAP4, and IMAP4 over ssl are the different service configurations in this document. Mail transport is done using SMTP. The authentication for the roaming use of SMTP is taken care of through a preauthorization check done when one authenticates via IMAP4 or POP3. It is assumed that for the purposes of the installation, one is using a current version of FreeBSD.

(Translators note: The translation of this document is more of a "recreation" of the original, not a true translation. It would have taken me much more time to use the exact language structure that Oliver Lehman has used, and I decided that the better purpose of this document would be to give non-German speaking peoples the opportunity to take a look at this wonderful HOWTO in English. So, this is a Steve-ization of Oliver's original writings and I offer my apologies where I have butchered his original document. I only hope to make this thorough and as close as possible to his original, but offer no promises ;) . I will also offer some personal notes, as I have found some issues with the setup of some services. Those notes will be in itallics and enclosed by [ ] brackets.)

This HOWTO was written with great care, however, there may be errors in the following document. I cannot be responsible for erroneous directions and their results and will not be held to any judicial proceedings. I am thankful for any suggestions or corrections.

     I know this is late (plus the fact that this is the 5th time I've seen it reported on a news related site), but I found the following statement somewhat humorous:

"You have broken the law by posting illegal ads. You must immediately stop this activity and go to the Hangzhou Urban Administrative Bureau for punishment."

Now, if I could use this method to punish those who send me SPAM, maybe that would get me somewhere...

Brought to you by: China nabs illegal advertisers with spam

     The picture should say it all:

     The Inquirer has an interesting article on the value (or cost of running Linux on the Desktop). There are two points relating to the article (Can Linux break through to the commercial office desktop?) that I would like to make:
1) Cost, cost, cost... People continue to talk about the small cost difference between running Linux vs. Windows. While there may be a similar cost associated with Windows and Linux for a large company, smaller companies (like the one I work at) are hit hard by the latest pricing scheme for Windows. On top of that, unless support packages are purchased for Windows (on top of the cost of the OS), support is non-existent. Please! Compare apples to apples (and with that, I did not necessarily mean Apple). Essentially, what Microsoft does is sell a car, that has a life-expectancy of 1 1/2 years and no service. The further expectation is that you upgrade software and hardware at intervals defined by them. The issue of Linux having no support is a tricky one, indeed. You overcome this issue by simply ponying up the bucks to pay for a good admin. (In an article I posted to some usenet group a long time ago, I mentioned that it is likely that any good *nix admin will also be a good admin of Windows - this is a gross generalization, but in my circle of friends, it definitely applies.) I think the long-term cost of Linux (or other flavors of *nix) are much lower than Windows, but have yet to see any conclusive studies that would indicate this either way.
2) Application support - i.e. applications that can read the current de-facto standards: This does and does not exist. With the newest versions of Open Office and StarOffice, I have found much better compatibility and navigation, but it still is not Office. But, does that really matter? I have found that 98% of the formatting options available in Office are not used by anyone except presentation nuts. In fact, the more someone needs specialized formatting, it seems the more that one will rely on programs like Acrobat and not Word. So, do we really need ultimate compatibility? My answer, no. What we absolutely need is ease of use... this is something yet to be attained by any system. Just ask my Dad why he hated the switch-over from Win98 to WinXP on our office internet computer... (As I fall asleep at night, all I can hear is, "why the heck do they always have to change things?")
     So, Linux on the desktop? You betcha' - just as small businesses make the economy turn, they will also make the switch to Linux as Microsoft keeps stabbing them in the back with new pricing schemes.

This thought brought to you by: Can Linux break through to the commercial office desktop?

Oh, and by the way, if I didn't own (and like) my Mac PowerBook, I'd already be there...

     The Register has a great article on the reality of combining WiFi hotspots into 3G networks. While companies have fought over the control of the networks and equipment themselves, it may be time to simply provide the pipeline and let the market decide where hotspots are to be installed. Take US's Sprint PCS for example: with mother Sprint having a whole host of data offerings (from DSL to T1's, T3's, etc.), Sprint could easily provide the backbone and you provide the Hotspot equipment. It is unlikely that there will be longevity in the existence of the location for many providers (like myself) mainly because people move, businesses fold and life goes on. But the liquidity and consistency of demand will produce more hotspots than are needed (in my estimation) and all that Sprint is really forced to provide is the pipeline and IP space (which it already has). People like myself, who are already paying hefty sums for high speed service, would be more than willing to switch to a network that offers them the option of providing services supported by a big network provider - and heck, if I go under or move my business, maybe the next person will pick up where I left off.

No, the real value - and wealth - comes from the services that we use, not from fighting over the plumbing. The last thing the USA needs - it's already handicapped by three incompatible air interfaces (GSM, CDMA, IDEN) - is another infrastructure war.

See: Sprint to meet WiFi halfway

I had intended to blog CeBIT, live. What happened? Simply put, I couldn't. The price for data over my GPRS phone from T-Mobile Germany was like getting *expletive* over a barrel. On top of that, I wasn't allowed to take pictures of any of the things that really interested me because apparently I looked like a company spy from that other company. What I still would like to do is show two products that I really liked. One was a hard drive attached to a mini file server (weighing about double what the hard drive would normally weigh) and a power brick (external battery) for laptops. The cool thing about the brick was that it can be used for pretty much any brand and the only thing you needed to do was get a different adapter for your specific laptop and it would adjust for the flavor (i.e. voltage) of electricity your unit needs. I may get around to that this week still. First, however, I want to finish my HOWTO (for qmail) translation.

The title of this little diddy says it all. Check out: inter7 Oh, yeah, and the fact that they are close to my neck of the woods... makes them that much better.

Not to overpromise and underdeliver, but I finally have gotten off my rumpkus and finished two very important projects related to FreeBSD: 1) Review the latest qmail HOWTO from Oliver Lehmann (www.pofo.de), test the installation on FreeBSD 4.7 and 5.0-RELEASE and start re-writing my translation. 2) Get a few other inter7 programs to work - namely: vqadmin and vQregister. The vQregister program is the one that has interested me the most, as it will finally allow me to create a fully automated email account registration process for fettig.org (my project to give free email and web services to those with the last name Fettig). So, hopefully, in the next few days, you will see new qmail/vpopmail/courier-imap resources and even some extras regarding the installation of vQregister.

Well, my friends and I made it through the flight to Amsterdam. We originally had seats next to one another (there are three of us on the trip), but because we were 5 minutes after the 3:00 pm deadline for checking in (yes, only 5 minutes) we lost those seat reservations. I was jammed against a window over the wing (anyone who has ever flown with me knows that I no longer like sitting by the window... talk about feeling like you are a sardine), my friend was behind me in an isle seat and his acquaintance was about 20 rows ahead of us jammed against a window also. <--begin rant-->I can't believe that seats on planes are continually getting smaller as time goes by and people are physically getting larger (I am not referring to obese people). I am 5'10" 180lbs and felt like I was in stuck in a large suitcase in the fetal position. It was absolutely ridiculous! When are the airlines going to realize tha they are only hurting themselves by making travel so ridiculously cheap and yet so unbearably uncomfortable?<--end rant--> I can't complain at this point in time, however, as we are traveling (very comfortably, I might add) in the ICE (for those of you familiar with German trains) heading from Amsterdam to Hannover. One of the things that I am interested in seeing are some of the different technologies being worked on directly related to wireless technology. I see a need for improved speed and security as a whole, but at the same time, they need to figure out how to make portable computers more mobile. The TabletPC does a decent job at attempting that goal, but still has the trouble of recognizing normal handwriting and being much too expensive. So, I hope that some of the [typically] inventive European and Asian companies have anything up their sleeves that we in the US aren't aware of yet... Here's to the beginning of a good trip!

I was surfing through the logs of searches made on this site and noticed a few simple entries for abe. Abe Fettig is not directly related to me, but by coincidence appears to be as passionate about open source-ware as I am. His website can be found at fettig.net. I vaguely remember writing him a while back... I hope that someday we will be able to meet up. His work on HEP appears extremely interesting.
Cheers!

As a side note: as far as I know, all the Fettigs in the US are distant relatives of one another. We seem to have all emmigrated from Germany and Russia (although the Russians were really from Germany) around 1900... So, I guess I could say we are honestly related... except I have no idea how.

     I was hoping to spare others the pain that I have endured this weekend while trying my hardest to get the Jakarta/Tomcat server installed on my latest machine. You would think that having installed this port umteen times before this weekend would have been enough, but nooo... Well, I'll make this short. Here are the tricks necessary to install Tomcat on FreeBSD:

- go to /usr/ports/www/jakarta-tomcat41/ and run 'make install all clean'

OpenBSD Journal

Design and Performance of the OpenBSD Stateful Packet Filter (pf)

How to set up MRTG on your FreeBSD box!

    It is probably me... I don't care. I like Linux now enough to use it on the desktop, but not enough as any type of server. FreeBSD still remains god in that world o' mine. I had so many problems with RH because of the apparent mentality in their component list (i.e. gotta' have the newest and best) which goes against the grain of my use what "just works" ethic. I am happy to see how usable RH has made linux over the past few years, but I am left with my original conclusion (which I probably never wrote here): use FreeBSD as a server, use OS X as a fancy-schmancy destkop/laptop... because they just work.

    I have worked hard to make a great number of changes to stevenfettig.com. I am on the verge of being done with version 5a - I still have to work on the guestbook and transfer a number of articles from the old site to the new one, but the most important ones are already here. I hope you, the visitor, enjoys and will leave comments. One really exciting part of the new site is that after each article, there is a comments section that will be visible. I hope that people will use the comments section for correcting or commenting on the technical articles. Perhaps other's observations can help you in making FeeBSD and the associated programs work for you! Thanks for visiting and have a great day/night!

The following is an article I wrote in August of 2002 on how to construct an Access Point using FreeBSD 4.6. The concepts still remain vailid, although I plan to update this howto in the summer of 2003 to make appropriate changes for FreeBSD 5.0. Please email me with any comments or questions.

If you are looking for the original site -- which you very well might want to look at -- it still exists at the following link:

http://www.stevenfettig.com/qmail/

I am in the process of updating the document alltogether and will be removing the old site once that takes place. In the mean-time, I think that the docs at the link above will be easier to read...

Steve

Please sign in if you please!

I completely hosed my original css and color design yesterday evening when trying out a new nav bar and color scheme. So, for the past 12 hrs. I've been going around and around implementing different css schemes and testing some include scripts - which I can't seem to get to work. I'm going to take a break for now. At least the categories archive is working to my liking and the navbar above is almost there. Please let me know if you have any suggestions or comments. I know that on some of the individual archive pages that the title bar which includes links is almost impossible to read, so I'll be working on that first thing tomorrow.

Yes... this site is currently a disaster! I deleted my original css file that keeps everything looking nice and clean. So, for the time being, please bear with the absolute mess!

Chapter 3. Administration of the Mail System
3.1 vpopmail
3.2 autorespond
3.3 ezmlm-idx

Chapter 2.  Configuration of the Programs
2.1 Qmail
2.2 vpopmail
2.3 courier-imap
2.4 qmail-conf
2.5 daemontools

QMail HOWTO
Copyright 2000, 2001, 2002 by Oliver Lehman
Translation 2002 by Steven N. Fettig
Modified: 6 August 2002 - Steven N. Fettig
Modified: 25 November 2002 - Steven N. Fettig
Modified: 21 January 2003 - Steven N. Fettig

The following HOWTO is provided for the installation of an email server. POP3, POP3 over ssl, IMAP4, and IMAP4 over ssl are the different service configurations in this document. Mail transport is done using SMTP. The authentication for the roaming use of SMTP is taken care of through a preauthorization check done when one authenticates via IMAP4 or POP3. It is assumed that for the purposes of the installation, one is using a current version of FreeBSD.
(Translators note: The translation of this document is more of a "recreation" of the original, not a true translation. It would have taken me much more time to use the exact language structure that Oliver Lehman has used, and I decided that the better purpose of this document would be to give non-German speaking peoples the opportunity to take a look at this wonderful HOWTO in English. So, this is a Steve-ization of Oliver's original writings and I offer my apologies where I have butchered his original document. I only hope to make this thorough and as close as possible to his original, but offer no promises ;) . I will also offer some personal notes, as I have found some issues with the setup of some services. Those notes will be in itallics and enclosed by [ ] brackets.)

This HOWTO was written with great care, however, there may be errors in the following document. I cannot be responsible for erroneous directions and their results and will not be held to any judicial proceedings. I am thankful for any suggestions or corrections.

Chapter 1. Installation of the Required Programs
1.1 Qmail
1.2 ucspi-tcp
1.3 daemontools
1.4 vpopmail
1.5 courier-imap
1.6 courier-imap Hack
1.7 ezmlm-idx
1.8 autorespond
1.9 qmail-conf

    I learned an important lesson this week: using software (that goes for OS's, too), that just works is less frustrating than trying something new... I know the internal database we are using in our purchasing department runs on FreeBSD - and best on a PII 300+ machine -- which = a machine collecting dust in my basement. But, I wanted to do better. I tried 14 different installations of RedHat 8.0 (and the apache 2.0/php 4.x combo) on 3 different machines and it only worked once - and even then, veerrrryyyy sloooowwwwwllllllyyyy. My fault? Probably. But, I knew that it would work on FreeBSD and wasn't satisfied.
    Something in the RH 8.0 installation and subsequent updates is fudging the php/mySQL tandem team. I don't have time to figure it out (because it may even be something relating to apache 2.x), though. I am writing this post because I want to say that better isn't always better. I am not saying that I don't like RH anymore. I am saying that I know my database runs (and runs well) on FreeBSD w/ old-school apache 1.3.x, mySQL, and php 4.x. I dislike FreeBSD as a workstation - i.e. something I need a gui on and would like to work with regularly. I liked RedHat a lot. But, with my Mac hanging around, I have no need for both... so, I say goodbye to RH for the time being. It was fun knowing thee.