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Linux FAQ



Frequently Asked Questions about Linux

This FAQ is currently compiled and maintained by David Merrill, with assistance and comments from Linux users all over the world. Over the years it has passed through several hands, and I'd like to recognize all the folks who have worked on it.

In addition to those of us who have been official maintainers, the FAQ is full of individual contributions. The name of the contributor is listed along with the contribution.

The FAQ was maintained by Robert Kiesling until January, 2002

Freddy Contreras, the_blur_oc@hotmail.com, designed and GPL'd the Linux Frequently Asked Questions logos.

Special thanks are due to Matt Welsh, who moderated news: comp.os.linux.announce and news:comp.os.linux.answers, coordinated the HOWTO's and wrote substantial portions of many of them, Greg Hankins the former Linux Documentation Project HOWTO maintainer, Lars Wirzenius and Mikko Rauhala, the former and current moderators of news:comp.os.linux.announce, Marc-Michel Corsini, who wrote the original Linux FAQ, and Ian Jackson, the previous FAQ maintainer. Thanks also to Roman Maurer for his many updates and additions, especially with European Web sites, translations, and general miscellany.

Other contributors include: Doug Jensen djen@ispwest.com

Part I: Introduction

-001. About the FAQ
Linux FAQ: 001. About the FAQ
-002. Asking Questions and Sending Comments
Linux FAQ: 002. Asking Questions and Sending Comments
-003. Authorship and Acknowledgments
Linux FAQ: 003. Authorship and Acknowledgments
-004. Copyright and License
Linux FAQ: 004. Copyright and License
-005. Disclaimer
Linux FAQ: 005. Disclaimer

Part II: General Information

-006. What Is Linux?
Linux FAQ: 006. What Is Linux?
-007. Is Linux Unix?
Linux FAQ: 007. Is Linux Unix?
-008. Who Wrote Linux?
Linux FAQ: 008. Who Wrote Linux?
-009. How Is Linux Licensed?
Linux FAQ: 009. How Is Linux Licensed?
-010. How Does One Pronounce Linux?
Linux FAQ: 010. How Does One Pronounce Linux?
-011. How Many People Use Linux?
Linux FAQ: 011. How Many People Use Linux?

Part III: The Linux Kernel

-012. What Platforms Does Linux Support?
Linux FAQ: 012. What Platforms Does Linux Support?
-013. What Hardware Is Supported?
Linux FAQ: 013. What Hardware Is Supported?
-014. Ports to Other Processors
Linux FAQ: 014. Ports to Other Processors
-015. How Does Linux Kernel Versioning Work?
Linux FAQ: 015. How Does Linux Kernel Versioning Work?
-016. Where Is the Latest Kernel Version on the Internet?
Linux FAQ: 016. Where Is the Latest Kernel Version on the Internet?
-017. Does Linux Support Threads or Lightweight Processes?
Linux FAQ: 017. Does Linux Support Threads or Lightweight Processes?
-018. What Version of Linux and What Machine Name Is This?
Linux FAQ: 018. What Version of Linux and What Machine Name Is This?
-019. What is a BogoMip?
Linux FAQ: 019. What is a BogoMip?
-020. Does Linux Support USB Devices?
Linux FAQ: 020. Does Linux Support USB Devices?
-021. Can Linux Use More than 3 Serial Ports by Sharing Interrupts?
Linux FAQ: 021. Can Linux Use More than 3 Serial Ports by Sharing Interrupts?

Part IV: Disk Drives

-022. Why Doesn't the AHA1542C Card Work With Linux?
Linux FAQ: 022. Why Doesn't the AHA1542C Card Work With Linux?
-023. How Can I Get Linux to Work With My Disk?
Linux FAQ: 023. How Can I Get Linux to Work With My Disk?

Part V: Partitions And Filesystems

-024. Does Linux Support Virtualized File Systems Like RAID?
Linux FAQ: 024. Does Linux Support Virtualized File Systems Like RAID?
-025. Can Linux Use the Same Hard Drive as MS-DOS? OS/2? 386BSD? Win95?
Linux FAQ: 025. Can Linux Use the Same Hard Drive as MS-DOS? OS/2? 386BSD? Win95?
-026. How Do I Access Files on a MS-DOS Partition or Floppy?
Linux FAQ: 026. How Do I Access Files on a MS-DOS Partition or Floppy?
-027. Does Linux Support Compressed Ext2 File Systems?
Linux FAQ: 027. Does Linux Support Compressed Ext2 File Systems?
-028. Can Linux Use Stacked/DBLSPC/Etc. DOS Drives?
Linux FAQ: 028. Can Linux Use Stacked/DBLSPC/Etc. DOS Drives?
-029. Can Linux Access OS/2 HPFS Partitions?
Linux FAQ: 029. Can Linux Access OS/2 HPFS Partitions?
-030. Can Linux Access Amiga File Systems?
Linux FAQ: 030. Can Linux Access Amiga File Systems?
-031. Can Linux Access BSD, SysV, Etc. UFS?
Linux FAQ: 031. Can Linux Access BSD, SysV, Etc. UFS?
-032. Can Linux Access MacIntosh File Systems?
Linux FAQ: 032. Can Linux Access MacIntosh File Systems?
-033. How Do I Create a File System on a Floppy?
Linux FAQ: 033. How Do I Create a File System on a Floppy?
-034. Does Linux Support File System Encryption?
Linux FAQ: 034. Does Linux Support File System Encryption?
-035. How Do I Resize a Partition Non-Destructively?
Linux FAQ: 035. How Do I Resize a Partition Non-Destructively?
-036. Where Is the Journalling File System on the Net?
Linux FAQ: 036. Where Is the Journalling File System on the Net?
-037. Why Isn't My Virtual Memory Swap Area Working?
Linux FAQ: 037. Why Isn't My Virtual Memory Swap Area Working?
-038. How Do I Add Temporary Swap Space?
Linux FAQ: 038. How Do I Add Temporary Swap Space?

Part VI: System Libraries

-039. Where Can I Find Linux System Specifications?
Linux FAQ: 039. Where Can I Find Linux System Specifications?
-040. What Is ld.so and How Do I Get It?
Linux FAQ: 040. What Is ld.so and How Do I Get It?
-041. How Do I Upgrade the Libraries without Trashing the System?
Linux FAQ: 041. How Do I Upgrade the Libraries without Trashing the System?
-042. What's All This about ELF? glibc?
Linux FAQ: 042. What's All This about ELF? glibc?

Part VII: Linux Distributions

-043. How Do I Get Started?
Linux FAQ: 043. How Do I Get Started?
-044. What are the Disk Space Requirements for Minimal, Server, and WorkstationUse?
Linux FAQ: 044. What are the Disk Space Requirements for Minimal, Server, and WorkstationUse?
-045. What are the Minimum and Maximum Memory Requirements?
Linux FAQ: 045. What are the Minimum and Maximum Memory Requirements?
-046. What Is the Best Distribution, SCSI Card, Editor, CD-ROM Drive, etc?
Linux FAQ: 046. What Is the Best Distribution, SCSI Card, Editor, CD-ROM Drive, etc?
-047. How Can I Get a Distribution?
Linux FAQ: 047. How Can I Get a Distribution?
-048. Where Are the Linux FTP Archives?
Linux FAQ: 048. Where Are the Linux FTP Archives?
-049. How Do I Install Linux Using FTP?
Linux FAQ: 049. How Do I Install Linux Using FTP?
-050. How Can I Get Linux Without FTP Access?
Linux FAQ: 050. How Can I Get Linux Without FTP Access?
-051. How Do I Install Linux?
Linux FAQ: 051. How Do I Install Linux?

Part VIII: Booting the OS

-052. Can Linux Boot from MS-DOS?
Linux FAQ: 052. Can Linux Boot from MS-DOS?
-053. How Can Linux Boot from OS/2's Boot Manager?
Linux FAQ: 053. How Can Linux Boot from OS/2's Boot Manager?
-054. How Do I Set the Boot-Time Configuration?
Linux FAQ: 054. How Do I Set the Boot-Time Configuration?
-055. How Do I Get LILO to Boot the Kernel Image?
Linux FAQ: 055. How Do I Get LILO to Boot the Kernel Image?
-056. Can I Remove LILO So the System Boots DOS Again?
Linux FAQ: 056. Can I Remove LILO So the System Boots DOS Again?
-057. Why Does the System Check the Ext2fs Partitions Each Reboot?
Linux FAQ: 057. Why Does the System Check the Ext2fs Partitions Each Reboot?
-058. How Do I Make Sure the System Boots after Re-Installing the OperatingSystem?
Linux FAQ: 058. How Do I Make Sure the System Boots after Re-Installing the OperatingSystem?
-059. How To Make a Rescue Floppy
Linux FAQ: 059. How To Make a Rescue Floppy

Part IX: Application Software Management

-060. How To Determine What Packages Are Installed on a System
Linux FAQ: 060. How To Determine What Packages Are Installed on a System
-061. How Do I Find a Particular Application?
Linux FAQ: 061. How Do I Find a Particular Application?
-062. What Software does Linux Support?
Linux FAQ: 062. What Software does Linux Support?
-063. Can Linux Use True Type Fonts?
Linux FAQ: 063. Can Linux Use True Type Fonts?
-064. Can Linux Run Microsoft Windows Programs?
Linux FAQ: 064. Can Linux Run Microsoft Windows Programs?
-065. How Do I Install GNU Software?
Linux FAQ: 065. How Do I Install GNU Software?
-066. Where Can I Get Java?
Linux FAQ: 066. Where Can I Get Java?
-067. Where Can I Find Kermit for Linux?
Linux FAQ: 067. Where Can I Find Kermit for Linux?
-068. Is There an ICQ Program That Runs under Linux?
Linux FAQ: 068. Is There an ICQ Program That Runs under Linux?

Part X: Directory And File Management

-069. How Do I Undelete Files?
Linux FAQ: 069. How Do I Undelete Files?
-070. How Do I Make Backups?
Linux FAQ: 070. How Do I Make Backups?
-071. Is There a Defragmenter for Ext2fs?
Linux FAQ: 071. Is There a Defragmenter for Ext2fs?

Part XI: Connecting To A Network

-072. How I Configure Dial-up PPP?
Linux FAQ: 072. How I Configure Dial-up PPP?
-073. How Do I Use Linux with a Cable Modem?
Linux FAQ: 073. How Do I Use Linux with a Cable Modem?
-074. Where Is Information about NFS Compatibility?
Linux FAQ: 074. Where Is Information about NFS Compatibility?
-075. What Does VFS Stand For?
Linux FAQ: 075. What Does VFS Stand For?
-076. Can Linux Access SMB File Systems?
Linux FAQ: 076. Can Linux Access SMB File Systems?

Part XII: Troubleshooting

-077. What are these Nasty Messages about Inodes, Blocks, and the Like?
Linux FAQ: 077. What are these Nasty Messages about Inodes, Blocks, and the Like?
-078. Why Do FTP Transfers Seem to Hang?
Linux FAQ: 078. Why Do FTP Transfers Seem to Hang?
-079. Why Does Free Dump Core?
Linux FAQ: 079. Why Does Free Dump Core?
-080. Why Does Netscape Crash Frequently?
Linux FAQ: 080. Why Does Netscape Crash Frequently?
-081. Why Won't My FTP or Telnet Server Allow Logins?
Linux FAQ: 081. Why Won't My FTP or Telnet Server Allow Logins?
-082. How Do I Keep Track of Bookmarks in Netscape?
Linux FAQ: 082. How Do I Keep Track of Bookmarks in Netscape?
-083. Why Does the Computer Have the Wrong Time?
Linux FAQ: 083. Why Does the Computer Have the Wrong Time?
-084. Why Don't Setuid Scripts Work?
Linux FAQ: 084. Why Don't Setuid Scripts Work?
-085. Why Is Free Memory as Reported by free Shrinking?
Linux FAQ: 085. Why Is Free Memory as Reported by free Shrinking?
-086. Why Does the System Slow to a Crawl When Adding More Memory?
Linux FAQ: 086. Why Does the System Slow to a Crawl When Adding More Memory?
-087. Why Won't Some Programs (e.g., xdm) Allow Logins?
Linux FAQ: 087. Why Won't Some Programs (e.g., xdm) Allow Logins?
-088. Why Do Some Programs Allow Logins with No Password?
Linux FAQ: 088. Why Do Some Programs Allow Logins with No Password?
-089. Why Does the Machine Run Very Slowly with GCC / X / ...?
Linux FAQ: 089. Why Does the Machine Run Very Slowly with GCC / X / ...?
-090. Why Does My System Only Allow Root Logins?
Linux FAQ: 090. Why Does My System Only Allow Root Logins?
-091. Why Is the Screen Is All Full of Weird Characters Instead of Letters?
Linux FAQ: 091. Why Is the Screen Is All Full of Weird Characters Instead of Letters?
-092. If I Screwed Up the System and Can't Log In, How Can I Fix It?
Linux FAQ: 092. If I Screwed Up the System and Can't Log In, How Can I Fix It?
-093. What if I Forget the root Password?
Linux FAQ: 093. What if I Forget the root Password?
-094. What's This Huge Security Hole in rm!?!?!
Linux FAQ: 094. What's This Huge Security Hole in rm!?!?!
-095. Why Don't lpr and/or lpd Work?
Linux FAQ: 095. Why Don't lpr and/or lpd Work?
-096. Why Are the Timestamps on Files on MS-DOS Partitions Set Incorrectly?
Linux FAQ: 096. Why Are the Timestamps on Files on MS-DOS Partitions Set Incorrectly?
-097. Why is My Root File System Read-Only?
Linux FAQ: 097. Why is My Root File System Read-Only?
-098. What Is /proc/kcore?
Linux FAQ: 098. What Is /proc/kcore?
-099. Why Does fdformat Require Superuser Privileges?
Linux FAQ: 099. Why Does fdformat Require Superuser Privileges?
-100. Why Doesn't My PCMCIA Card Work after Upgrading the Kernel?
Linux FAQ: 100. Why Doesn't My PCMCIA Card Work after Upgrading the Kernel?

Part XIII: Software Development

-101. How Do I Compile Programs?
Linux FAQ: 101. How Do I Compile Programs?
-102. How Do I Port XXX to Linux?
Linux FAQ: 102. How Do I Port XXX to Linux?
-103. Can I Use Code or a Compiler Compiled for a 486 on a 386?
Linux FAQ: 103. Can I Use Code or a Compiler Compiled for a 486 on a 386?
-104. What Does gcc -O6 Do?
Linux FAQ: 104. What Does gcc -O6 Do?
-105. What Do I Do About Errors Trying to Compile the Kernel?
Linux FAQ: 105. What Do I Do About Errors Trying to Compile the Kernel?
-106. How Do I Make a Shared Library?
Linux FAQ: 106. How Do I Make a Shared Library?
-107. Why Are My Programs So Large?
Linux FAQ: 107. Why Are My Programs So Large?
-108. How To Prevent Errors when Linking Programs with Math Functions
Linux FAQ: 108. How To Prevent Errors when Linking Programs with Math Functions
-109. How To Program XYZ Under Linux
Linux FAQ: 109. How To Program XYZ Under Linux
-110. How To Upgrade/Recompile a Kernel
Linux FAQ: 110. How To Upgrade/Recompile a Kernel
-111. What Is a .gz File? And a .tgz? And .bz2? And... ?
Linux FAQ: 111. What Is a .gz File? And a .tgz? And .bz2? And... ?
-112. Where Are linux/.h and asm/.h?
Linux FAQ: 112. Where Are linux/.h and asm/.h?
-113. Configuring Emacs' Default Settings
Linux FAQ: 113. Configuring Emacs' Default Settings

Part XIV: Solutions to Common Problems

-114. How Do I Remove (or Change) the Colors in the ls Display?
Linux FAQ: 114. How Do I Remove (or Change) the Colors in the ls Display?
-115. Why Won't a Program Work in the Current Directory?
Linux FAQ: 115. Why Won't a Program Work in the Current Directory?
-116. How Do I Find Out If a Notebook Runs Linux?
Linux FAQ: 116. How Do I Find Out If a Notebook Runs Linux?
-117. Can Can I Resume an Interrupted Download?
Linux FAQ: 117. Can Can I Resume an Interrupted Download?

Part XV: Tips And Tricks

-118. How Do I Format Man Pages without man or groff?
Linux FAQ: 118. How Do I Format Man Pages without man or groff?
-119. How To Scroll Backwards in Text Mode
Linux FAQ: 119. How To Scroll Backwards in Text Mode
-120. How To Get Email to Work
Linux FAQ: 120. How To Get Email to Work
-121. Sendmail Pauses for Up to a Minute at Each Command
Linux FAQ: 121. Sendmail Pauses for Up to a Minute at Each Command
-122. How To Enable and Select Virtual Consoles
Linux FAQ: 122. How To Enable and Select Virtual Consoles
-123. How To Set the Time Zone
Linux FAQ: 123. How To Set the Time Zone
-124. What Is a core File?
Linux FAQ: 124. What Is a core File?
-125. How To Enable or Disable Core Dumps
Linux FAQ: 125. How To Enable or Disable Core Dumps
-126. How To Remap a Keyboard to UK, French, Etc.
Linux FAQ: 126. How To Remap a Keyboard to UK, French, Etc.
-127. How To Get NUM LOCK to Default to On
Linux FAQ: 127. How To Get NUM LOCK to Default to On
-128. How To Set (Or Reset) Initial Terminal Colors
Linux FAQ: 128. How To Set (Or Reset) Initial Terminal Colors
-129. How To Have More Than 128Mb of Swap
Linux FAQ: 129. How To Have More Than 128Mb of Swap

Part XVI: The X Window System

-130. Does Linux Support X?
Linux FAQ: 130. Does Linux Support X?
-131. How To Get the X Window System to Work
Linux FAQ: 131. How To Get the X Window System to Work
-132. Where To Find a Ready-Made XF86Config file
Linux FAQ: 132. Where To Find a Ready-Made XF86Config file
-133. What Desktop Environments Run on Linux?
Linux FAQ: 133. What Desktop Environments Run on Linux?
-134. xterm Logins Show Up Strangely in who, finger
Linux FAQ: 134. xterm Logins Show Up Strangely in who, finger
-135. How to Start a X Client on Another Display
Linux FAQ: 135. How to Start a X Client on Another Display

Part XVII: Frequently Encountered Error Messages

-136. Modprobe Can't Locate Module, XXX, and Similar Messages
Linux FAQ: 136. Modprobe Can't Locate Module, XXX, and Similar Messages
-137. Unknown Terminal Type linux and Similar
Linux FAQ: 137. Unknown Terminal Type linux and Similar
-138. INET: Warning: old style ioctl... called!
Linux FAQ: 138. INET: Warning: old style ioctl... called!
-139. ld: unrecognized option '-m486'
Linux FAQ: 139. ld: unrecognized option '-m486'
-140. GCC Says, Internal compiler error.
Linux FAQ: 140. GCC Says, Internal compiler error.
-141. Make Says, Error 139.
Linux FAQ: 141. Make Says, Error 139.
-142. Shell-Init: Permission Denied when I Log In
Linux FAQ: 142. Shell-Init: Permission Denied when I Log In
-143. No Utmp Entry. You Must Exec ... when Logging In
Linux FAQ: 143. No Utmp Entry. You Must Exec ... when Logging In
-144. Warning--bdflush Not Running
Linux FAQ: 144. Warning--bdflush Not Running
-145. Warning: obsolete routing request made
Linux FAQ: 145. Warning: obsolete routing request made
-146. EXT2-fs: warning: mounting unchecked file system
Linux FAQ: 146. EXT2-fs: warning: mounting unchecked file system
-147. EXT2-fs warning: maximal count reached
Linux FAQ: 147. EXT2-fs warning: maximal count reached
-148. EXT2-fs warning: checktime reached
Linux FAQ: 148. EXT2-fs warning: checktime reached
-149. df Says, Cannot read table of mounted file systems.
Linux FAQ: 149. df Says, Cannot read table of mounted file systems.
-150. fdisk Says, "Partition X has different physical/logical..."
Linux FAQ: 150. fdisk Says,
-151. fdisk: Partition 1 does not start on cylinder boundary
Linux FAQ: 151. fdisk: Partition 1 does not start on cylinder boundary
-152. fdisk Says Partition n Has an Odd Number of Sectors
Linux FAQ: 152. fdisk Says Partition n Has an Odd Number of Sectors
-153. Mtools Utilities Say They Cannot Initialize Drive X
Linux FAQ: 153. Mtools Utilities Say They Cannot Initialize Drive X
-154. At the Start of Booting: Memory tight
Linux FAQ: 154. At the Start of Booting: Memory tight
-155. The System Log Says, end_request: I/O error, ....
Linux FAQ: 155. The System Log Says, end_request: I/O error, ....
-156. You don't exist. Go away.
Linux FAQ: 156. You don't exist. Go away.
-157. Operation not permitted.
Linux FAQ: 157. Operation not permitted.
-158. programname: error in loading shared libraries: ...
Linux FAQ: 158. programname: error in loading shared libraries: ...
-159. init: Id "x" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes .
Linux FAQ: 159. init: Id
-160. FTP server says: "421 service not available, remote server has closed connection."
Linux FAQ: 160. FTP server says:

Part XVIII: Online Resources

-161. Where Is the Documentation?
Linux FAQ: 161. Where Is the Documentation?
-162. Where Is the Linux Stuff on the World Wide Web?
Linux FAQ: 162. Where Is the Linux Stuff on the World Wide Web?
-163. What News Groups Are There for Linux?
Linux FAQ: 163. What News Groups Are There for Linux?
-164. What Other FAQ's and Documentation Are There for Linux?
Linux FAQ: 164. What Other FAQ's and Documentation Are There for Linux?
-165. How To Get Information without Usenet Access
Linux FAQ: 165. How To Get Information without Usenet Access
-166. What Mailing Lists Are There?
Linux FAQ: 166. What Mailing Lists Are There?
-167. Are the News Groups Archived Anywhere?
Linux FAQ: 167. Are the News Groups Archived Anywhere?
-168. Where Are Linux Legal Issues Discussed?
Linux FAQ: 168. Where Are Linux Legal Issues Discussed?
-169. Where is Information about Unmaintained Free Software Projects?
Linux FAQ: 169. Where is Information about Unmaintained Free Software Projects?
-170. What Online/Free Periodicals Exist for Linux?
Linux FAQ: 170. What Online/Free Periodicals Exist for Linux?
-171. Where Can I To Find Information About Security Related Issues?
Linux FAQ: 171. Where Can I To Find Information About Security Related Issues?

Part XIX: How To Get Further Assistance

-172. If this Document Still Hasn't Answered Your Question....
Linux FAQ: 172. If this Document Still Hasn't Answered Your Question....
-173. What to Put in a Request for Help
Linux FAQ: 173. What to Put in a Request for Help
-174. How To Email Someone about Your Problem
Linux FAQ: 174. How To Email Someone about Your Problem







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