This chapter covers the many types of Linux systems and distributions available. I strongly recommend that you read this chapter at least once before starting the installation process. Included in this chapter are the following topics:
There are many independent releases of Linux, each with its own list of unique features. Some of these releases are available free of charge if you have access to the Internet. Some releases are available for a nominal fee ($20 to $90) for distribution
on CD-ROM or disks. Typically, the CD-ROM versions are cheaper and are easier to use than the floppy-disk distributions because the cost of one CD-ROM is less than the cost of 30 or more floppy disks. Another plus for the CD-ROM is the convenience of
having everything on one source media. It beats swapping disks!
A Linux release is a set of files for a complete Linux system. Various changes made by the Linux community are incorporated into each release.
Linux releases are identified by numbers. These numbers are of the form X.YY.ZZ, where X is between 0 and 9, and YY and ZZ are numbers between 0 and 99. Generally, the higher the number, the newer the release. Some release numbers also include pNN,
where NN is a number between 1 and 20. These refer to patches to a specific Linux version (a patch is a fix or an update to the software). For example, 0.99p15 would mean the fifteenth patch to the Linux release 0.99.
A release consists of several components called series of disks, or a collection of disks. For example, the X series of disks comes on 10 disks. Each series is referred to by its name. A name generally tells you who put the software together and what
its date is.
Some of the releases of Linux are as follows:
There you have it. This list of locations where you can get Linux from is incomplete. In fact, I should apologize to the folks whose company names didn't get listed here. There was not enough time for me to fully review all the distributions before this
book went to press. If you would like a more complete list, please look at the newsgroups comp.os.linux.announce and comp.os.linux.misc.
The document Distribution-HOWTO is archived on a number of Linux FTP sites, including sunsite.unc.edu in pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO.
If you like magazines, you will love The Linux Journal, 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. You can reach the publishers at
Linux Journal
P.O. Box 85867
Seattle, WA 98145-1867
(206) 527-3385
If you want to keep up-to-date with the latest releases of Linux, try to get quarterly updates to your Linux system via a subscription to Morse Telecommunication, Inc.'s Linux Quarterly CD-ROM. Each CD contains the complete contents of tsx-11.mit.edu.
This is one of the most popular Internet Linux sites. It provides both source and binary files of major Linux distributions, utilities, source code, and documentation. This quarterly update includes Slackware, SLS, MCC, and Debian releases of Linux. Get
information through e-mail from [email protected].
Lastly, the Linux Systems Labs ([email protected]) can also provide commercial software for Linux, including manuals, database applications, and other applications software not in the shareware
or public domain. You can contact Linux Systems Labs at (800) 432-0556.
As I mentioned previously, 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.
So, you may well ask, 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 on the CD might be different a year from now. In fact, some of the locations you see listed here might be different,
too. By showing you how to find out more, you can use the archie method at a later time to locate updates to Linux and more information easily.
If you want to learn more about the Internet and archie, read The Internet Unleashed (Sams Publishing, 1994).
I used the telnet program to log into archie.internic.net, 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 archie and didn't have to provide a password. (See Listing 2.1.)
The archie> prompt is where I issued the find Linux command. The search type of sub means that we'll ask archie to search for all strings in its database with the word Linux anywhere in it.
The output from Listing 2.1 shows only a few files. I have edited it to fit in the book. Your listing won't match.
Listing 2.1. Using archie to find Linux.
$ telnet archie.internic.net ... login: archie ****************************************************************** Welcome to the InterNIC Directory and Database Server. ****************************************************************** # Bunyip Information Systems, 1993, 1994 # Terminal type set to 'vt100 24 80'. # 'erase' character is '^?'. # 'search' (type string) has the value 'sub'. archie> find Linux # Search type: sub. # Your queue position: 1 # Estimated time for completion: 16 seconds. working... Host unix.hensa.ac.uk (129.12.43.16) Last updated 23:37 22 Nov 1994 Location: /pub/sunsite/pub DIRECTORY drwxr-xr-x 1024 bytes 21:32 16 Nov 1994 Linux Host unix.hensa.ac.uk (129.12.43.16) Last updated 23:37 22 Nov 1994 Location: /pub/walnut.creek/XFree86/binaries DIRECTORY drwxr-xr-x 1536 bytes 20:26 13 Nov 1994 Linux Host romulus.ucs.uoknor.edu (129.15.10.20) Last updated 18:31 16 Nov 1994 Location: / FILE -rwxrwxrwx 13 bytes 15:05 12 Nov 1994 Linux Host ftp.germany.eu.net (192.76.144.75) Last updated 23:39 6 Nov 1994 Location: /pub/os DIRECTORY drwxrwxr-x 512 bytes 01:44 5 Nov 1994 Linux Host csc.canberra.edu.au (137.92.1.1) Last updated 03:23 6 Nov 1994 Location: /pub/ise DIRECTORY drwxr-xr-x 1024 bytes 18:49 31 Oct 1994 Linux Host power.ci.uv.es (147.156.1.3) Last updated 21:12 23 Nov 1994 Location: /pub/linux/docs/faqs FILE -r—r—r— 96319 bytes 16:25 30 Oct 1994 Linux-FAQ Host ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu (141.142.20.50) Last updated 20:06 11 Nov 1994 Location: /HDF/contrib DIRECTORY drwxrwxr-x 512 bytes 01:02 30 Oct 1994 Linux [24;1H[K:[24;1H[24;1H[K Host romulus.ucs.uoknor.edu (129.15.10.20) Last updated 18:31 16 Nov 1994 Location: /mirrors/Linux/docs/faqs FILE -rwxrwxrwx 15 bytes 00:56 30 Oct 1994 Linux-FAQ Host monu1.cc.monash.edu.au (130.194.1.101) Last updated 21:27 17 Oct 1994 Location: /pub/linux/docs/faqs FILE -rw-r—r— 96568 bytes 23:39 21 Sep 1994 Linux-FAQ Host dutiws.twi.tudelft.nl (130.161.156.11) Last updated 03:10 23 Nov 1994 Location: /pub DIRECTORY drwxrwxr-x 512 bytes 10:31 29 Aug 1994 Linux Host telva.ccu.uniovi.es (156.35.31.31) Last updated 22:27 23 Nov 1994 Location: /uniovi/mathdept/src DIRECTORY drwxr-xr-x 1024 bytes 10:36 28 Jul 1994 Linux Host neptune.ethz.ch (129.132.101.33) Last updated 17:38 15 Nov 1994 Location: /pub/Oberon DIRECTORY drwxrwxr-x 512 bytes 07:31 22 Jul 1994 Linux Host ftp.germany.eu.net (192.76.144.75) Last updated 23:39 6 Nov 1994 Location: /pub/os/Linux/Local.EUnet/Kernel/Linus/net-source DIRECTORY drwxr-xr-x 512 bytes 04:23 19 Jul 1994 Linux archie> find LDP # Search type: sub. # Your queue position: 1 # Estimated time for completion: 16 seconds. working... Host hpcsos.col.hp.com (15.255.240.16) Last updated 18:49 13 Nov 1994 Location: /mirrors/.scsi0/linux/docs FILE -rwxr-xr-x 17 bytes 20:42 4 Nov 1994 LDP Host romulus.ucs.uoknor.edu (129.15.10.20) Last updated 18:31 16 Nov 1994 Location: /mirrors/Linux/docs FILE -rwxrwxrwx 17 bytes 23:14 24 Oct 1994 LDP Host mcsun.eu.net (192.16.202.2) Last updated 20:32 10 Nov 1994 Location: /os/linux/doc FILE -rwxrwxrwx 12 bytes 14:22 18 Sep 1994 LDP archie>quit
Table 2.1 is a list of common filename extensions for the files you will see in Linux archives. The fname in the following table implies the filename with which you want to work.
Most distributions use gzipped tar files with the tgz extension.
A bulletin board system (BBS) enables you to transfer messages and files via your phone line. All you need is a computer with communications software and a modem. Some BBSs transfer messages among each other, forming large computer networks similar to
USENET. The most popular of these in the U.S. are FidoNet and RIME.
Linux is available from various BBSs worldwide. Some of the BBSs on FidoNet carry comp.os.linux as a FidoNet conference.
While you are installing Linux, you might get the error You may have inserted the wrong disk when you insert the next disk in a series.
Each disk has a small file on it that contains the name of the disk. For example, the SLS a3 disk has a file on it called diska3. If it doesn't exist, or is named something else (such as diska3.z), create it or rename it. If you copied the files to the SLS floppies using copy *.*, you probably missed the diska3 file because it doesn't have an extension in the filename.
Also, the last disk in a series (for example, the a4 or b5 disk) has a file on it called install.end. You need this file as well. These files are used by the installation programs to keep track of when to stop installing a package.
Linux supports several features that you can use to access your DOS files from Linux. With the mtools package, included with most distributions of Linux, you can use commands such as mcopy and mdir to access your DOS files. Another option is to mount a
DOS partition or floppy directly under Linux, which gives you direct access to your files by way of the DOS file system.
You will find the mtools package indispensable if you have to swap files between DOS and Linux. When you first start Linux from a DOS machine, it's comforting to know that you can transfer files easily between two machines that are running different
operating systems, so don't worry; you will not have to give up your familiar DOS environment.
Why use mtools if you can just mount a DOS drive? mtools is good if you want to do something quickly—for example, if you want to get directories on a bunch of floppies. The mount procedure requires you to mount the drive, get a directory, and then
umount it. With mtools you can get the directory with one command.
mtools also comes with the Slackware release of Linux and is available in source-code form on most Linux FTP sites. This mtools source tree can prove to be interesting reading, especially if you are a programmer.
There is also DOS Emulator available for Linux, and work is beginning on a Microsoft Windows emulator to run under the X Window system. The DOS Emulator isn't perfect, so don't expect to play DOOM on it—Dosemu is still in the development stages.
You can use it to run some standard applications such as WordPerfect 5.1, Quicken, and Lotus 1-2-3. At the time I wrote this, Dosemu was slow and crashed frequently. However, you can work with it for some quick tasks.
This chapter has given you a whirlwind tour of what's actually available for Linux. You also learned about Linux releases and how to interpret the release numbers. Each Linux release consists of several disk sets. Some of these files in a disk set are
just labels, and some are called packages. A package is generally a compressed tar archive containing binary files and directory trees.
Finally, for DOS fans, Linux provides a host of tools to read or write DOS disks and files. There is even an experimental DOS emulator for you to run DOS programs under Linux. Any DOS partitions can be mounted to appear as directory trees, so you can still work with your data on DOS disks.
