Posts by kc0arf

It centers on the relationship between student and teacher, regardless of discipline. To simply say that the problem exists, without going into any sort of detail will discourage any thoughtful response. People in the know will glance onwards, as they don't wish to invest time pulling answers out of someone. Give proper details. Show that you have put some thought into the issue.

Wowsers! Cannot use a VM to accomplish this.

The following I haven't tried, but is the approach I would take:

Format the drive completely empty. Install each Linux to it's own partition, and keep track of which one was done first. I would do Ubuntu first, then OpenSUSE, and then Fedora. Make sure you do an advanced install, or at least have the option to customize your hard drive layout. Each one would only need to be say 20 GB in size... Have the Fedora partition write to the master boot record.

Once everything is installed, you should be able to either run a rescue / repair disk, or boot knoppix, and edit the /boot/grub/grub.conf and define each bootable partition. Make some meaningful descriptions. You will need to do this if you
install Windoze last, as it will clobber anything that grub setup.

Next, you need to edit your grub.conf file to ensure each partition is properly listed. Note the root (hd0,1) area... that is hard disk 0, partition 1. You will need an entry for each linux version (hd0,1) (0,2) (0,3) but properly aligned.

My /boot/grub/grub.conf has these lines:

title Fedora (version)
root (hd0,1)
kernel <bunch of stuff>

title Looze XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

Hello,

It might be time to look at a dedicated server, either a Linux box with Samba, or a true Windows 2000 / 2003 Server. Why? Because workgroup sharing only allows 10 connections at a time, and with 15 at your location, you will run into a problem running out of connections available. You should also be considering the management of the workstations in terms of patches and updates. If you put together a server, consider SUS to do that for you.

Also remember that there are differences between share permissions and NTFS permissions. Make sure you configure them properly.

As you recently took this position over, I would also check the backup scheme, and make sure that things are working properly. Do some sample restores too.

Christian

Hello,

First, I need to disclaim that I have never run XP Home before, and my XP Pro / 2000 Pro ideas might not apply to XP Home.

A device driver would fail to initialize because the driver is calling upon hardware that doesn't exist, or is not configured properly. The device drivers are special pieces of code that expect certain components to be there in order to function.

Think of a computer that operates a traffic light. The computer turns the lights on -- red, yellow, green. The hardware is the lightbulb. The software is the program that turns on the light, and checks for power drain (a lit light draws power to make the shine, and gives off heat). If the lightbulb is missing, you don't have light, and there would not be a power drain. Software says there is a problem. Driver did not initialize properly.

Chipset drivers are a newer thing to motherboards, beyond what we call BIOS. Chipset drivers are used to configure special pieces of hardware and software on the motherboard. The chipset software controls things like the PCI bus, the floppy disk buss, memory management, maybe the parallel port, USB devices. You might need to go to motherboard manufacturer's website and download some software that will help your motherboard out.

What kind of network card do you have? Take a look at it. See if you can find the model number. Go to a website for the manufacture, …

Hi,

You may use the linux box, with 2 network cards in it, to be your gateway to the internet world.

If you are running apache on the Linux box, there is a section there that you can configure what ports / ip numbers you would like apache to "listen" for requests. Simply specify the LAN IP (inside) address and port... the software willl then ignore requests on the internet (WAN) side. You can also control this via a firewall on the linux box... just block port 80 on the firewall, or have a re-direct to send port 80 somewhere else.

My RedHat 9 box is my router, webserver, dns server, email thing, and a bunch of other things running on it. 550 MHz computer with 3 network cards in it. I prefer it to a store-bought "wireless router". I know that Cisco products will route FASTER, but this is a home network, and I do not need that kind of performance.

Christian

Hello,

While some might argue that the movies "Deep Impact" and "Armegeddon" may be science fiction, I do think the threat is real that some rock out there could come and hit us. I also find it disturbing that if you are younger than 30 years of age, you were not *alive* when the last man walked on the moon.

I can only wonder what kind of job creation possibilities we could have here in the US if we got the Space program off the ground, and returned to the moon, or worked to design a system to protect the fragile Earth from devistating encounters.

I suppose we have to stop fighting ourselves in the Middle East, eh?

Christian

Hello,

Well, it appears that Micro$oft has figured out your dilemma... and offers great student discounts to Office. But if you are a company upgrading Office, the costs are huge.

I love the idea of Open Source software, such as OpenOffice. I use that whenever I can. But I aso went out and purchased some software at home for my Mac OS X computer.

I like the idea of online demos, or software with expiration dates on it, so that you can get the feel of the product before you buy the complete version.

You will find certain companies like QUARK thata extort tooth and nail for unstable crappy software. Just go read their online forums if you do not believe me. The stuff is just not good. You will also find companies like Apple that will have a moderately priced bulk license for their OS, such as the Family OS X (5 user) license for $150 or something like that. You will also find companies like AutoDesk that have ridiculous registration / authorization technique that doesn't work 1/2 the time, and you loose money waiting on the phone for them to get you a proper license key.

Christian

Hello,

To answer your question Technically:

Email recipt (your laptop going to get it) is handled on TCP/IP Port 110... if you are using what is called a POP3 email server. Usually, those ports are open all around to go and get email.

Email transmission (your laptop sending it) is handled on TCP/IP Port 25, and with the advent of spam and the technical efforts to control it, there are a lot of locked down ports, and IP number checkings that occur before it is deemed that the email is trusted to be sent.

As many can tell, these efforts are fruitless, as spam keeps on getting more and more, and legitimate uses of email servers have been stomped out.

Technically, you will need to find the legitimate email server for the network he is on.

Now, let's work with the Political and Social answer:

You are stealing. Either he or his ISP could come after you for theft of information. You are coming in on his network, and unfirewalled, and who knows what else he is exposing to you. I would also argue that since you know that you are doing this that it is a poor reflection of your character to willingly use his connection and not seek permission.

Go have a talk with him. He might ask you to help defray the costs, or you might end up cutting his grass or something along those lines. Do …

Hello,

What version of OS X are youo working with? Are you working with strictly OS X software, or is there some classic in there too?

Typically you enable most fonts onto your system so that they are readily available at any time.

It is also a very bad idea to manipulate fonts while programs are open. Could cause problems doing that. Best close everything down first.

Christian

Hello,

I am a Firefox and Safari user. For some reason, Firefox and Fox news do not get along too well on my Macintosh OS X platform. SO I safari the news page. No big deal to me on that one.

For entering bank numbers and that, you should be checking to see that you have an encrypted connection to the website... look for a little lock symbol on the lower right hand corner of your browser. If you are not "locked" you are transmitting in the clear anyways.

And to the folks asking if there is any sure-fire completely secure system.... there is... it is a formatted computer inside of a concrete bunker with no electrical cords, and a hard drive with a nail going through it. Less sarcastically, any system that is useful to people will ahve some risk. The goal is to limit that risk.

CHristian

Hello,

I have seen a lot of error-checking mistakes in the computer labs. And also agree that multiple extensions .here.there are possible too. Also might want to make sure that you are not overwriting a legitimate file that may already exist.

Christian

Hello,

I suggest that you talk to your Dean at your college then, as I am sure you have already gone to your professor and asked questions in class. If the Dean is unresponsive, then you are not getting your money's worth at your institution.

Coding C++ requires knowledge of the header files, and you did not post them. The best we could do is guess, and that is a waste of everyone's time.

Please post to us what you have come up with so far for code. If you don't have any code to speak of, then there are larger issues. People here will help with syntax and design flow, but will not complete the project for you. It would not be ethical for you to hand it in as your own work.

Christian

Hello,

You posted this code in the wrong forum.... it is not a tutorial. I moved it, and hope that you receive the comments you seek.

Christian

Hello,

I am a network administrator by profession, and believe in solid network protection.

For dialup internet connections of temporary length, I encourage a firewall. For high-speed long term connections (cable/dsl) I demand firewall protection, or I walk away from the situation and let them suffer.

Firewall implementation can vary by design; some people prefer to firewall the main router, and let the other machines go naked; others firewall each machine on their own. I implement combination sets, so that I am protected outside of my own network when my laptop travels to other environments.

On the linux servers, I operate IPTABLES. I am considering converting to ShoreWall (I think that is what it is called) when I upgrade from RedHat 9 to Fedora sometime in the future. ShoreWall has a webmin module that should allow for easier configuration, although once I figured out IPTABLES, it is not too hard to modify for different needs.

On Windoze, I have used ZoneAlarm without trouble. For Windoze servers, I have set them up behind hardware and linux-based software firewalls.

And on my beloved Macintosh, I run the internal firewall. The Mac doesn't have any server services running on it, so the internal firewall works just fine for me.

Of course, larger companies with performance considerations will likely pop for a hardware firewall that should be faster than the software ones.

Christian

Hello,

OpenOffice will also allow you to directly export to .pdf format. You will not have options to control the export to the degree that Acrobat Writer will allow (such as picture quality, including fonts or not), but it will make generic PDF files just fine.

And it is free.

Christian

Hello,

This question is similar in concept to building a pyramid.

You might want to expand on what you are trying to do first.

Christian

Hello,

You want to go strict, because if you have a traditional firewall setup, that firewall is protecting you from attacks on the internet, but not inspecting anything coming through the wireless, because it is *assumed to be trusted*.

DMR is very good at what he does, and he will walk you through steps of forcing encryption on your network, and maybe even turning your transmitter power down some so that you ownly have the range that you need, instead of being able to talk to a few houses down the road (I run mine at 50 percent power). Encrypting means that your neighbors cannot see/utilize/abuse your connection.

He might even show you MAC address exclusions, but I would think that is excessive for what you want to do.

Enjoy!

Christian

Hello,

I believe that there is a flag on the icon from within Windoze that controls window behavior. Look for something along the lines of closing window when done executing. Look in the Program tag, and uncheck "Close on exit".

Christian

Hello,

I would code this using a bubble-sort (or other sort) that after the input is completed, the numbers in the array are sorted. Then, you can do a compare, and discard the duplicate elements. Then, you can run through the array and count the elements.

Christian

Hello,

Welcome to Linux! There are some things to learn, and you are in for a small challenge, but it is very well worth it, and you will be a happier fella for taking this step.

A FIRST MAJOR STEP you have already made -- you have realized that you should not be running around as the root user for normal day-to-day tasks. Only use Root when you need it. There are weeks that can go by that I have not used the root user operation... if you setup your system properly, and assign the rights correctly, you too can have a peaceful life.

If you are going to really migrate to Linux, you need to learn how to work in the Terminal, the Command Line Interface (CLI).

Look into the launcher bar there for the System Tools --> Terminal. If you are logged in as a normal user, here you can use the "su -" command to promote yourself to being a super-user. Security note: If you want only certain people to have this functionality on your public boxes, you can change the perms so that only a certain group of users can use this command. I have done this for 2+ years with no hiccups.

Ok, so you are in the terminal window. Time for a few commands:

cd Changes the directory
pwd Prints the path of the current directory
chmod Changes the permissions on a file
chown Changes …

Hello,

From the Linux environment, type in /sbin/ifconfig Let us know what you see.

Christian

Bill is not evil. His operating system is.

Christian

Hello,

To best understand the material, you need to USE the material. Write some small programs, such as writing sentances on the screen. Then, do some simple math, adding 2 + 2 together. Then, work in input statements "input a: input b:" and add those together. Then, work on a loop to make the program repeat and repeat until youtell it to stop.

Then get into files, and reading in information.

Programming is not a spectator sport; you need to put code into the machine, and get it to do something. Do not be afraid of the errors you will make.... this is how we learn.

Write some code. Now. Enter it here. We can go from there.

Christian

Hello,

It is DaniWeb policy to assist you in writing your code, not to do it for you. You mentioned that you are learning C++. What have you learned so far?

We need you to provide code, so that we can help you tweak it.

Christian

Hello,

If he wants a password to get into his program, he could control it with the OS, or he could wriite/use an encryption module to prompt the user for a password, and then write the encrypted string to a file. Then, when access time comes around, have him read in the value, and then do a compare to see if they match or not.

This can be done. If security is not all important, and this is just an exercise, or proof-of-concept type of thing, you can store the password in clear text. Nothing more than a a file open -- read -- compare exercise.

Christian

Hello,

Trees are plants that grow...

In computers, a tree is usually a binary data structure. There are also tree-like structures with many branches, beyond the two.

It is difficult to answer your question without context however.

Being in programming, you are probably asking about a tree of data storage.

Think about storing 3 numbers in order: 15, 27, 42.

You can write a data structure that has the following information:

struct data {
 	int number;
 	pointer prev;
 	pointer next;
 }

So, we can store this in a tree to help our data structure and search times.

15 --- 27 --- 42.

Your code would look at 27 first. Do you need the value smaller than 27? then go left. If you need the greater value, go right. If the value you are looking for is not there, you only looked at two variables instead of three.

This is a very simple example, but should give you the gist of it. Trees are data structures that are tricky to program, but when they are done correctly, searching for information is a lot less time intensive.

Christian

Below are the thoughts from a computer professional who has spent the last 10 years supporting Mac, Windows, and Linux computers in a variety of network applications. By no means will this general tips section be exhaustive -- that is what a good book is all about. I am also not going to spell out how to do everything by hand -- if you have a question, please post it to the Mac forums, and let our team of moderators look into the solution.

Let's get started:

Setup
Every new computer that I receive coming out of a box, either for work or play, first gets booted up with the supplied disk setup, where I copy any vendor supplied information to a CD-ROM or network device. I then reboot with the supplied CD-ROMS and build the computer from scratch by myself. Why do this? So that I know what is installed, and can control the installation. I like to control the software that I am going to work with. I can also decided to throw in extra things, such as the development tools that OS X provides (compilers and the X environment).

Partitons. I like to partition the large hard drive into three: A system partition, an applications partition, and a data partition. By doing this, I isolate my data from logical errors, such as if the OS becomes unstable, and I need to re-install. If the system comes corrupted, that damage will be isolated …

Hello,

It is spelled beans.

And no, your efforts to learn C++ are not going to go to waste. You should be learning coding style, learning that comments are just as important as the actual code, and learning about data structures and algorithms. Perhaps even efficient code... there are many ways to do things.

Continue to grow with C++. You might not ever master it, but you will learn a lot of things from it.

Christian

Hello,

I don't have the articles handy, but Novell's e-directory is faster and more reliable for an Enterprise environment than Active Directory. e-directory, or NDS as it was called, has been around since the mid 1990's, and offers a lot of management options for the Enterprise. NDS can manage disk quotas across the enterprise; AD does it on a server by server basis. NDS, in my opinion, has better tools and greater stability and functionality.

AD is not a deadbeat product, however. AD is tied into MS Exchange for Address book information. AD is a well needed step from the NT4 days of server islands out there without Enterprise management. AD can easily be setup to work with WAN sites and their often slow connections.

Perhaps to help us out, you might wish to tell us a bit more about your company, and what your needs are. What is important to you? Email? Printing? Citrix support? Different name spaces on the file servers?

Also, in order to attract comment to this topic, I am breaking your question into a new thread, so that others may notice it, and generate comments.

And between you and me, I would take the Novell.

Christian

Hello,

I used the pico editor to cut your text, and paste them into my RedHat 9 box. Then closed the editor, and it compiled just fine.

Maybe you are using vi and left something in there. Or Emacs left something. I dunno. Try cat division.c and see if you see any junk in the file.

I do think, however, it is poor program design on two occasions:

* You are using an integer for the division. per = (M+M+M) / 5 What happens if I enter in decimal numbers?

* You are asking for input on one line. Will the computer accept typo corrections? I would input them one line at a time, so that if I do typo, I can correct it without deleting too much. You also do not check to make sure I enter in 5 values. What happens if I only put in four?

(I have tested these conditions. You should too).

Enjoy!

Christian

Hello,

There are some ways to do this.

For CPU monitoring (and network), you can look into a package called mrtg that can be setup to monitor CPU processes, and graph it out. It will require you to setup snmpd and other things in order to get it to function properly.

For code, and how much CPU you use, check out your compiler to see if it supports profiling. I did that for COBOL code on a VAX/VMS, and for C++ on my Macintosh. Found out what functions used the most CPU time, and how long it took to do them. I liked profiling sorts, and comparing quicksort vs. bubble sort and the like.

Now, I know it isn't cross-platform, but the profiling might be the most efficient and non-skewing of the techniques. Why? because it is built into the compiler environment, and I am sure that the program coders took that into account.

Christian

Hello,

I would strongly suggest that you look into C++ to handle this project. Traditional C has a number of more difficult processes that C++ has made easier.

I would also look into developing your program on a Linux computer. The Microsoft Tools will be expensive for what you are looking to do, plus you probably don't need the big front-end interface. What kind of computer were you planning on working with?

Christian

Hello Steven,

I am in the process of building a Win 3.1 environment. I found someone with disks, and my Mac has SoftWindows on it, so I can emulate what we are trying to do. It is amazing when old college images still work!

To get you started though, here we go:

1) I am assuming that your XP machine has one network card installed, and that it is not connected to the internet. If you are thinking of disconnecting the Win 3.1 box and connecting to the internet and going back and forth, this will not work, and it is a bad idea.

2) We need to make a user account on your XP machine to use. Go to Start --> Run, and type in "compmgmt.msc" You will open up the computer management control panel. Find the Users and Groups folder, and make a new user. You will need to be using the right mouse button to do some of this. Assign a password for your new user. Add them to the Users group. DO NOT MAKE THEM AN ADMIN.

3) Go to your hard drive, and make a folder. If you have a C: and a D: (and D: is not a cd-rom), make that folder on the D:. Call it something descriptive, such as ShareWin31. Then, right-click on it, and set the security on it so that the user you made in step 2 has authority to write to that folder.

…

Hello,

To start with, when you declare variables, initialize them right away:

double a = b = c = disc = x1 = x2 = 0.0;

Next, you will need to use cin or scanf to read the data into variables.

You will also need to check your operator precidence. Example:

4 * 3 / 4 + 6 = 9

4 * 3 / (4 + 6) = 4 * 3 / 10 = 1.2

Your disc equation will need help.

Let us know how it works.

Christian

Hello,

I am not an expert programmer, but it looks to me that you should define the struct before you do the typdef statement. It might be possible to combine them as shown-- I am not sure.

You should also have a head pointer, and a tail pointer, and be using nulls to end your code. I'd be curious to see the whole code piece, and see what your headptr and tailptrs are doing. I think your heads are getting misused.

It might be handy while you are coding to actually draw out the list on paper. Draw out the head pointer. Define it in your code. Draw your structure. Define it in your code. Code in the head pointer assignment to the structure -- on your paper, make the arrow. Make the first data structure prev socket == null. Add that to your paper. Flow out the whole process on your paper, to help you out. Don't draw the arrows, or initialize any of the boxes until you manufacture the code.

Christian

UPDATE:

I worked with him about an hour off-web, and was not able to find a solution. As he mentioned, he tried to use the computer in a DMZ, and that did not work for him. I had him try to narrow the NAT down so that one external IP number went directly to another internal IP number, and that did not work for him. We did reset the router, and did confirm settings changed, but no effect.

What he is trying to do is have the router pass all traffic to his XP box. This goes against my common-thought thinking of internal protection. I am not a fan of games and other resources that use RANDOM ports to access the computer -- how can an administrator track that, and provide for it? To me, my network security is far more important than some game, or games.

I do not think he is going to be able to defeat the internal firewall arrangement of the network appliance. If others have any thoughts, please contribute. Perhaps in my personal quest for security and following the rules, I might be missing something.

Now, if this was linux, I know how to tell IPTABLES to take all ports, and fire them off somewhere else. I had to do that for Citrix clients, and they use just one port (in the 600's somewhere), and I had to forward that on with no problems. Or forward on ports to mail servers …

Hello,

p2p, or Peer to Peer, is a networking design where each computer holds their own access controls, and users/passwords are managed on a machine by machine basis. Peer to Peer networks are found in many computer environments, such as Windows (Workgroups and Personal File Sharing), Macintosh (Appleshare (although AppleShare can also be a server too)), and Linux ( NFS File Sharing).

The contrast to Peer to Peer would be a Client / Server network (Windows 2K Server, Appleshare / Netatalk Server, and I am not certain what the Linux style is called, and Novell). Username / Passwords are stored on a central server/database, and the clients login to that central administration. This model of design is much much easier for system stability and security.

In reality, p2p networks are fine for simple connections, home use, that sort of thing. Businesses should incorporate formal server environments for system stability, ease of management, and backup simplicity. At my personal home, I run this format, so that all my backups are in one location. Practice what I preach.

If you have any questions, please let us know.

Christian

Hello,

As it is *your* homework, we should not be doing it for you. But, we can give you some ideas.

1) Each one of your steps (add, delete) should be a unique different function
2) You will need menus / options to open and save the file
3) Need to decide if you will use a binary file, or a text one
4) Need to decide how you will handle empty / bad data inside of the structure
5) I think you are going to need to know how many bytes each of your structures will require.
6) Be sure to comment in your code what each part is doing.
7) For extra credit, I would make the display record option to be nice and eye-candy. Use bolds, colored boxes, that sort of thing. Make it nice.

Enjoy your coding. Sometimes, I wish I was back in school. :)

Christian

Hello Peter,

Couple things that I see that need help on....

1. When you declare the variable (numsales), it is a good idea to initialize it manually before starting to use it. Some compilers may assign a goofy number to the new variable. So, after your init numsales; I would have a numsales = 0;

2. If you put the program into a compiler, and tried to compile it, the program would error. You are missing syntax... take a look at how the while is to be written. You also forgot to declare numcommission.

3. You tried to use numsales as an integer, but compare it to a real (1.0 is a real number). This is a problem. Reference the 1 as an integer. 1.

4. cin >> numsales is the proper way to enter in the variable.

5. Be careful on operator precidence. Let me explain.... if you do multiplication and addition:

(3 + 4) * 10 = 70
3 + 4 * 10 = 43
3 + (4 * 10) = 43

I would have written numcom = ((numsales * 0.09) + 200) note that the compiler will bomb out with the $200;

Also, I noticed you had very few comments. Teachers (and employers) really love comments. Put them into your code!

Take care,

Christian

Hello,

In order for your network to function properly, you need 4 conditions met: Physical connectivity, Common Protocol, Connectivity Services, and Sharing permissions.

Physical Connectivity -- are the computers connected to one hub/switch, and none of the connections in the uplink port? Also be sure that the uplink port is not being shared... I have seen some hubs that if you have something else in the uplink port, the port immediately next to it is disabled. Make sure all the NIC cards are seated properly, and proper drivers.

Common Protocol -- Do they all have IP on them, or perhaps NetBIOS (or IPX?)? If IP, are they properly configured? On fella I knew tried to have his machine be an IP number 192.168.1.0, and that is a problem. Are all the subnet masks correct? Also, if you have a firewall (XP has a firewall!), you need to ensure that the ports are open for access. Be very careful if this is an internet machine.... you could be endangering yourself.

Connectivity Services -- on 2000 & XP, you need the server service running, and also need to turn on File Sharing. These may be found in the Network Properties, and the services control panel. All of the boxes need to be "aware" they are sharing. Did you setup the shared folders/volumes properly?

Permissions -- Do you have an account that is authorized to connect and use a share? Do you have NTFS permission to …