What is Linux?

Linux is an operating system created by Linus Torvalds during his days as a student at the University of Helsinki. Linux was created and meant to be used as an option or substitute to the other operating systems being used by computer users, like MS-DOS, Windows, Mac OSX, etc. Linux is not a program or a set of programs like a word processor of an office suite.

A SMALL but Brief History

While studying at the University of Helsinki, Linus used a version of the UNIX operating system called ‘Minix’. Several requests for modifications and improvements for the operating system were being sent by Linus and other users to Andrew Tanenbaum, Minix’s creator, but he felt that they weren’t necessary. Therefore, Linus decided to create his own operating system; one that would take into account the users’ comments and suggestions for improvements.

A “kernel” is the focal point of any operating system. Without going into great detail, the kernel tells the CPU to do what you want the program or application that you’re using to do. An operating system would not exist without a kernel. However, a kernel is also useless without any programs or applications.

In 1991, two critical situations evolved that would serve as the starting point for Linux. A kernel was already created by Linus, but he had no programs to use; some programs were available from GNU and Richard Stallman, but they had no working kernel. So Linux was born by combining the programs from Richard and GNU in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with the kernel provided by Linus in Helsinki, Finland. It was a lot of ground to cover and far to travel, so the Internet became the primary method of getting Linus’ kernel together with the GNU programs. It can almost be said that Linux is an operating system that came to life on the Internet.

Not For Everybody at First

Other software companies will sell you software contained in a CD or a set of floppies, together with a brief instruction booklet, and in half an hour or probably even less, you could install a fully functional operating system on your computer. You only needed to know how to read and follow instructions in order to install it. This was what those companies had in mind when they developed their operating systems. However, when Linux was developed by Linus, this factor wasn’t initially considered. Later on, Red Hat and other likeminded companies made it their purpose to develop Linux to the point where it could be easily installed just like any other operating system in the market, by anyone who can follow simple instructions, and today we can definitely say that they have succeeded in this particular purpose.

Linux Today

Nowadays, there is a great deal of favorable reactions from computer users regarding Linux. The fact that Linux has proven to be impressively stable and versatile, especially as a network server, surely has played a big part in this popularity. Down-time is minor or insignificant when Linux is installed and used as a web server or in corporate networks. Many cases have been reported wherein Linux-powered servers have been functioning smoothly for even more than a year without needing to re-boot, and when it had to be taken down, it was only for a brief period for maintenance purposes. Its cost effectiveness has become to be one of its strongest selling points. Linux can be installed and run on either a home PC or a network server, without having to spend as much as it would be for other software packages. More reliability and less cost – it’s ideal.

WTF get your Linux on!

Follow the following steps on learning how to speedup Windoz XP:

1. Open notepad.exe, type “del c:\windows\prefetch\ntosboot-*.* /q” (without the quotes) & save as “ntosboot.bat” in c:\

2. From the Start menu, select “Run…” & type “gpedit.msc”.

3. Double click “Windows Settings” under “Computer Configuration” and double click again on “Shutdown” in the right window.

4. In the new window, click “add”, “Browse”, locate your “ntosboot.bat” file & click “Open”.

5. Click “OK”, “Apply” & “OK” once again to exit.

6. From the Start menu, select “Run…” & type “devmgmt.msc”.

7. Double click on “IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers”

8. Right click on “Primary IDE Channel” and select “Properties”.

9. Select the “Advanced Settings” tab then on the device or 1 that doesn’t have ‘device type’ greyed out select ‘none’ instead of ‘autodetect’ & click “OK”.

10. Right click on “Secondary IDE channel”, select “Properties” and repeat step 9.

11. Reboot your computer.

The first things you need to know about using Bit Torrent:

– Bit Torrent is aimed at broadband users (or any connection better than dialup).

– Sharing is highly appreciated, and sharing is what keeps bit torrent alive.

– A bit torrent file (*.torrent) contains information about the piece structure of the download (more on this later)

– The method of downloading is not your conventional type of download. Since downloads do not come in as one

big chunk, you are able to download from many people at once, increasing your download speeds. There may be

100 “pieces” to a file, or 20,000+ pieces, all depending on what you’re downloading. Pieces are usually small (under 200kb)

– The speeds are based upon people sharing as they download, and seeders. Seeders are people who constantly share in order to keep torrents alive. Usually seeders are on fast connections (10mb or higher).

In this tutorial, I will be describing it all using a bit torrent client called Azureus. This client is used to decode the .torrent files into a useable format to download from other peers. From here on out, I will refer to Bit Torrent as BT.

Which BT client you use, is purely up to you. I have tried them all, and my personal favorite is Azureus for many reasons. A big problem with most BT clients out there, is that they are extremely CPU intensive, usually using 100% of your cpu power during the whole process. This is the number one reason I use Azureus. Another, is a recently released plug-in that enables you to browse all current files listed on suprnova.org (the #1 source for torrent downloads).

Before you use the plug-in, take a look at /http://www.suprnova.org, and browse the files. Hold your mouse over the links, and you’ll notice every file ends in .torrent. This is the BT file extension. Usually, .torrent files are very small, under 200kb. They contain a wealth of information about the file you want to download. A .torrent file can contain just 1 single file, or a a directory full of files and more directories. But regardless, every download is split up into hundreds or thousands of pieces. The pieces make it much easier to download at higher speeds. Back to suprnova.org. Look at the columns:

Added | Name | Filesize | Seeds | DLs (and a few more which aren’t very useful.)

I’ll break this down.

Added: Self explanitory, its the date the torrent was added.

Name: Also self explanitory.

Filesize: Duh

Seeds: This is how many people are strictly UPLOADING, or sharing. These people are the ones that keep .torrent files alive. By “alive”, I mean, if there’s no one sharing the .torrent file, no one can download.

DLs: This is how many people currently downloading that particular torrent. They also help keep the torrent alive as they share while they download.

It’s always best to download using a torrent that has a decent amount of seeders and downloaders, this way you can be assured there’s a good chance your download will finish. The more the better.

Now that you should understand how torrent files work, and how to use them, on to Azureus!

First, get JAVA! You need this to run Azureus, as java is what powers it. Get Java here: http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/download.html

Next, get Azureus at: http://azureus.sourceforge.net

Next, get the Suprnovalister plugin from http://s93732957.onlinehome.us/storage/suprnovalister.jar

Install Java JRE before you do ANYTHING.

Install Azureus, and then in the installation folder, create 2 more folders. ./Plugins/suprnovalister (For example, if you installed Azureus to C:\PROGRAM FILES\AZUREUS, create C:\PROGRAM FILES\AZUREUS\PLUGINS\SUPRNOVALISTER). Next, put the suprnovalister.jar file that you downloaded, in that folder.

Load up Azureus, and if you want, go through the settings and personalize it.

The tab labeled “My Torrents” is the section of Azureus you need the most often. That lists all your transfers, uploads and downloads. It shows every bit of information you could possibly want to know about torrents you download.

In the menu bar, go to View > Plugins > Suprnova Lister. This will open up a new tab in Azureus. Click on “Update Mirror”. This will get a mirror site of suprnova.org containing all current torrent files available. Once a mirror is grabbed, choose a category from the drop-down box to the left and click “Update”. Wah-lah, all the available downloads appear in the main chart above. Just double click a download you want, and bang its starting to download. Open the “My Torrents” tab again to view and make sure your download started.

After your download has finished, be nice, and leave the torrent transferring. So people can get pieces of the file from you, just as you got pieces from other people.

Alternatively, if you don’t want to use the plugin… you can just head to suprnova.org and download files to any folder. Then go to File > Open > .torrent File in Azureus.

This should about wrap it up for the Bit Torrent Tutorial. If you guys think of anything I should add, or whatnot, just let me know and I’ll check into it!

Compiled a list of commands for the onlookers needing to learn or know the mIRC commands that are out there Enjoy!

/ Recalls the previous command entered in the current window.

/! Recalls the last command typed in any window.

/action {action text} Sends the specifed action to the active channel or query window.

/add [-apuce] {filename.ini} Loads aliases, popups, users, commands, and events.

/ame {action text} Sends the specifed action to all channels which you are currently on.

/amsg {text} Sends the specifed message to all channels which you are currently on.

/auser {level} {nick|address} Adds a user with the specified access level to the remote users

list.

/auto [on|off|nickname|address] Toggles auto-opping of a nick or address or sets it on or off

totally.

/away {away message} Sets you away leave a message explaining that you are not currently paying

attention to IRC.

/away Sets you being back.

/ban [#channel] {nickname} [type] Bans the specified nick from the curent or given channel.

/beep {number} {delay} Locally beeps ‘number’ times with ‘delay’ in between the beeps. /channel

Pops up the channel central window (only works in a channel).

/clear Clears the entire scrollback buffer of the current window.

/ctcp {nickname} {ping|finger|version|time|userinfo|clientinfo} Does the given ctcp request on

nickname.

/closemsg {nickname} Closes the query window you have open to the specified nick.

/creq [ask | auto | ignore] Sets your DCC ‘On Chat request’ settings in DCC/Options.

/dcc send {nickname} {file1} {file2} {file3} … {fileN} Sends the specified files to nick.

/dcc chat {nickname} Opens a dcc window and sends a dcc chat request to nickname.

/describe {#channel} {action text} Sends the specifed action to the specified channel window.

/dde [-r] {service} {topic} {item} [data] Allows DDE control between mIRC and other

applications.

/ddeserver [on [service name] | off] To turn on the DDE server mode, eventually with a given

service name.

/disable {#groupname} De-activates a group of commands or events.

/disconnect Forces a hard and immediate disconnect from your IRC server. Use it with care.

/dlevel {level} Changes the default user level in the remote section.

/dns {nickname | IP address | IP name} Uses your providers DNS to resolve an IP address.

/echo [nickname|#channel|status] {text} Displays the given text only to YOU on the given place

in color N.

/enable {#groupname} Activates a group of commands or events.

/events [on|off] Shows the remote events status or sets it to listening or not.

/exit Forces mIRC to closedown and exit.

/finger Does a finger on a users address.

/flood [{numberoflines} {seconds} {pausetime}] Sets a crude flood control method.

/fsend [on|off] Shows fsends status and allows you to turn dcc fast send on or off.

/fserve {nickname} {maxgets} {homedirectory} [welcome text file] Opens a fileserver.

/guser {level} {nick} [type] Adds the user to the user list with the specified level and

address type.

/help {keyword} Brings up the Basic IRC Commands section in the mIRC help file.

/ignore [on|off|nickname|address] Toggles ignoring of a nick or address or sets it on or off

totally.

/invite {nickname} {#channel} Invites another user to a channel.

/join {#channel} Makes you join the specified channel.

/kick {#channel} {nickname} Kicks nickname off a given channel.

/list [#string] [-min #] [-max #] Lists all currently available channels, evt. filtering for

parameters.

/log [on|off] Shows the logging status or sets it on or off for the current window.

/me {action text} Sends the specifed action to the active channel or query window.

/mode {#channel|nickname} [[+|-]modechars [parameters]] Sets channel or user modes.

/msg {nickname} {message} Send a private message to this user without opening a query window.

/names {#channel} Shows the nicks of all people on the given channel.

/nick {new nickname} Changes your nickname to whatever you like.

/notice {nick} {message} Send the specified notice message to the nick.

/notify [on|off|nickname] Toggles notifying you of a nick on IRC or sets it on or off totally.

/onotice [#channel] {message} Send the specified notice message to all channel ops.

/omsg [#channel] {message} Send the specified message to all ops on a channel.

/part {#channel} Makes you leave the specified channel.

/partall Makes you leave all channels you are on.

/ping {server address} Pings the given server. NOT a nickname.

/play [-c] {filename} [delay] Allows you to send text files to a window.

/pop {delay} [#channel] {nickname} Performs a randomly delayed +o on a not already opped nick.

/protect [on|off|nickname|address] Toggles protection of a nick or address or sets it on or off

totally.

/query {nickname} {message} Open a query window to this user and send them the private message.

/quit [reason] Disconnect you from IRC with the optional byebye message.

/raw {raw command} Sends any raw command you supply directly to the server. Use it with care!!

/remote [on|off] Shows the remote commands status or sets it to listening or not.

/rlevel {access level} Removes all users from the remote users list with the specified access

level.

/run {c:\path\program.exe} [parameters] Runs the specified program, evt. with parameters.

/ruser {nick[!]|address} [type] Removes the user from the remote users list.

/save {filename.ini} Saves remote sections into a specified INI file.

/say {text} Says whatever you want to the active window.

/server [server address [port] [password]] Reconnects to the previous server or a newly

specified one.

/sound [nickname|#channel] {filename.wav} {action text} Sends an action and a fitting sound.

/speak {text} Uses the external text to speech program Monologue to speak up the text.

/sreq [ask | auto | ignore] Sets your DCC ‘On Send request’ settings in DCC/Options.

/time Tells you the time on the server you use.

/timer[N] {repetitions} {interval in seconds} {command} [| {more commands}] Activates a timer.

/topic {#channel} {newtopic} Changes the topic for the specified channel.

/ulist [{|}]{level} Lists all users in the remote list with the specified access levels.

/url [-d] Opens the URL windows that allows you to surf the www parallel to IRC.

/uwho [nick] Pops up the user central with information about the specified user.

/who {#channel} Shows the nicks of all people on the given channel.

/who {*address.string*} Shows all people on IRC with a matching address.

/whois {nickname} Shows information about someone in the status window.

/whowas {nickname} Shows information about someone who -just- left IRC.

/wavplay {c:\path\sound.wav} Locally plays the specified wave file.

/write [-cidl] {filename} [text] To write the specified text to a .txt file.