Actrix Newsletter November 2002

This newsletter has been produced to help you get the most out of the Internet,
and to keep you, as an Actrix customer, informed of developments and services within the company.
Past newsletters may be viewed at http://editor.actrix.co.nz/
Newsletters are now archived by article at http://editor.actrix.co.nz/byarticle/
Questions and comments about the newsletter can be e-mailed to editor@actrix.co.nz
Other inquiries should be e-mailed to support@actrix.co.nz

Each month I try to include in the newsletter an article that's reasonably basic in nature as well as one or two that might be a little more advanced. This month I asked around the office for suggestions as to some really, really basic tips that make using the Internet a little easier or faster. I've collected them below.

In no particular order..

1. To quickly copy and paste text from a web page into a document on your computer, drag your mouse over the text you want to copy with the left mouse key held down. Use the CTRL + c Keys to copy the text into your computer's memory. Then use CTRL + v to paste it into an open document (e.g. Word or Notepad).

2. To bring up your Windows Explorer (the feature of Windows that looks at what's on your computer), use the Windows button + E.

3. If you get an error message that looks like gobbledegook. Open up the Google website (www.google.co.nz ) and copy and paste the error message into the search bar. Chances are others have had the same problem and know how to solve it.

4. Can't remember the address of the nifty websites you visited last week or want to know which Internet sites your browser has recently been to? In Internet Explorer go into Tools/Internet Options. Click on the Settings button and then the View Files button to check where you have surfed lately.

5. To get your Windows Update just click on the start button and left-click on Windows Update to go straight to the Microsoft Windows Update site. Not sure why you should want to do this? Click here.

6. A program on your computer has frozen or maybe everything has and the mouse does not work. Hold down CTRL + ALT and hit the delete key once. This should give you access to your computer's Task Manager. Chances you are one of the programs you have running has stopped responding. Highlight it and click End Task.

7. Having trouble reading the font on a particular web page? Click View and then text size to make the text on any page larger or smaller. If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, some pages will allow you to change text size by holding CTRL down and scrolling the mouse wheel.

8. The Backspace button on your keyboard will send you back one page while browsing in the same way as clicking the Back button with your mouse.

9. Want to send a page to a friend. It is quicker to send the address by clicking on the Mail icon and selecting Send a Link from the menu.

10. An easy way to send a document from your desktop to someone via e-mail is to right-click on the document, then left-click on Send to/Mail Recipient.

11. With your mouse, the right button is usually used to bring up a menu or list of possible things to do. The left button is used to click and do them. Keep this in mind if you find yourself getting confused about when to use the left and/or right buttons. If you click with your right button anywhere on a page, you'll see a list of things you can do with that page. Feel free to have a fiddle, You can't really do any harm that you can't fix again by the same process.

12. If you're looking for a particular word or phrase on a web page, click Edit and then "Find on this page." With Internet Explorer you can just use CTRL and F.

13. If you're curious about the HTML or JavaScript used for the page you're visiting, click View, and then Source. If you're at a page that uses frames (such as this one) right-click in the desired frame and left click on View Source.

14. If you're visiting one page, but want to visit another page without leaving the one you're on, hold CTRL and N down at the same time to open a new browser page that you can send to your desired site.

15. If you want to be sure you are getting the very latest version of a web page, and not one that's a few hours old and being served to you from your ISP's cache, hold down CTRL while you click the Refresh button. This tells your ISP's servers to go get the page for you again and not to give you the version they might be storing locally.

16. You can set whatever page you want your browser to open with automatically. To do this with Internet Explorer, click Tools and then Internet Options. Type your desired page address into the Home Page Window.

17. If you visit a page that has a picture that you might want to set as your desktop background, right-click on the picture and then left-click on Set as Background (or Set as Wallpaper).

18. In Outlook Express you can easily add a sender to your address book. Open their email by double-clicking it in your inbox. Then click Tools/Add to Address Book/Sender.

19. Outlook Express is set by default to add to your Address Book everyone to whom you send a reply. This is not recommended. It makes your Address Book enormous, and facilitates virus spreading if you're ever infected. To remove this setting, click Tools and then Options. Select the Send tab, and untick the relevant box.

20. Internet Explorer comes with various toolbars that may or may not suit you depending on your preferences. To turn these on or off, click View/Toolbars and then experiment by ticking and unticking. If you accidentally get rid of a really important one (like the web address bar, for example) don't panic. Repeat the process and make sure they're all ticked.

Just a reminder that you only have until the 15th of November to sign up a friend to Actrix and get in the draw to win a BBQ, Christmas Hamper or one of ten free CyberByte 300 accounts!

To be in to win is very simple. Simply get one of your friends to sign up to an Actrix CyberByte account, tell us your Actrix username and once they have paid their first monthly account both you and your friend will go into the draw to win one of our great summer prizes.

by John Anderson

Though John Anderson has left Actrix, he has provided us with a few more articles in order to complete his series. This then is the next step in his series on Installation of Debian GNU/Linux. -Ed

Setting up X

Driving down the highway

X or X Windows is the system which is used for displaying graphics in Linux. The X system relies on a several interacting components: the server, the desktop, the display manager and the window manager. The system can be broken down further, but that is as far as we need to go in this article. Now, we are about to head out on to the highway. So make sure that you have turned the lights on and have that road map you made some time ago, with your list of components on it. The highway is fast, make sure you have read around before you rip out, as you can damage your computer equipment if you get this wrong.

There are two versions of the server we need to concern ourselves with. Version 4 is the most recent and uses a generic server. This is great if your graphics card is reasonably recent. If it's not you'll need to use version 3 which uses a range of different servers. If version 4 does not work then you will probably use the version 3 SVGA server.

If you remember, we finished the last article with using tasksel. If you're lucky you'll have rebooted your computer and there was the GUI working plain as day. I recommend, when asked, that youto use the gdm, short for Gnome Display Manager. There are two other display managers, kdm (the KDE display manager) and xdm (the generic display manager). GDM allows you to choose between the desktops.

As I've discussed before the principal desktops are KDE and GNOME. Each desktop uses its own respective Window Manager, however if you don't want the resource overhead of running the desktops you can of course just run the Window manager. An excellent one is Window Maker and if you're running really low on resources or like it damn quick I'd recommend on the no-frills FVWM.

After veering off on to that little dirt track of knowledge, we now hit the highway. It's long and it's straight. We just need to keep the lights on and watch out for the hedgehogs of recklessness. A fundamental change occurred when the XF86 moved from version 3 to 4. In version 3 there were a range of different xservers to choose from. Most video cards however ran under the svga server.

It is generally a good idea to start with the version 4 xserver. If you only have a command line interface, check to see if you've installed this server. As root, type apt-get install xserver-xfree86. You should then follow the instructions covered at the end of this article. If the setup went badly and has not worked, you can type dpkg-re-configure xserver-xfree86 and then follow the instructions at the end of this article.

Now, you've already passed that intersection and you're still on the road to nowhere, take heart, type apt-get install xserver-svga. If it's already installed then you can type dpkg-re-configure xserver-svga and follow the instructions at the end of this article.

After re-configuring you can type startx or simply restart the computer.

If this did not work then perhaps you need to pull down a side road, and then reverse a bit, either that or send me an email (janderson@actrix.co.nz).

When you first try to configure the server try the following steps. If you feel you made a mistake, cancel the wizard, by pressing CTRL C and type dpkg-re-configure xserver-xfree86.

Setting XF86 Version 3 & 4

Please note: Actrix supplies links to these sites for your interest and possible use. We cannot endorse or take any responsibility for their contents. Got a site you think would be neat to share with other readers? Let me know and receive a free Norrie the Nerd chocolate bar courtesy of Actrix!

The Idiom Site
www.idiomsite.com - Want to earn some brownie points with your buddies? Would you like to learn some useless but fascinating trivia to spout when you're shooting the breeze? Make no bones about this site where you can discover the origins of sayings like "knee-jerk" and "no room to swing a cat." This site is worth its salt and catalogues heaps of everyday words and phrases.

Subtly Simpsons
www.westegg.com/simpsons/ - This site provides a long and interesting list of lines from The Simpsons that have been chosen because they are particularly clever, often with their humour derived from the subtleties of language, esoteric or historical allusions, or just plain excellent wit. Past fans of The Simpsons will find it brings back quite a few hilarious memories.

Arrested Images
www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/ - The Smoking Gun has compiled this collection of police photos of busted famous people and other assorted nutters. There's a young and peppy Bill Gates, a whacked out on Scooby Snacks Nick Nolte, and the many faces of John Wayne Bobbitt, plus many more. A few manage to see the humour in their predicament. Or maybe they're just used to making fools of themselves.

Mean Kitty
http://www.meankitty.com/gallery.htm - I don't know whether you've noticed this but cute little kitties are everywhere. They're all over the net and you'll find them by the bucketloads in places like greeting card stands. Now I like a cute kitty as much as the next guy or gal (possibly even more) but I know from my own experience that they aren't all cute little obedient, sweet-spirited balls of playful fluff; at least not all the time. At Mean Kitty you'll find a gallery full of mean cats and their stories. Makes for a refreshing change!

All Too Flat
www.alltooflat.com/ - A web site that takes its name from a Monty Python sketch seems like the natural place to find oddities like The Bible According to Cheese and scientist trading cards. At alltooflat.com, quirky humour is the name of the game. They have a go at debunking myths such as that teeth will dissolve in coke, but their scientific method is a little iffy. Good fun stuff on the whole, with occasional "bad language."

The Memory Hole
www.thememoryhole.org/ - The Memory Hole is a site dedicated to "rescuing knowledge and freeing information." The Memory Hole makes an interesting complement to the better-known The Smoking Gun, but while The Smoking Gun favours uncovering sources of amusement (e.g. certain stars' unusual contract riders) and personal transgressions (e.g. an America West pilot's bar tab), The Memory Hole deals with documents that governments and corporations would rather that you didn't see.

Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics
www.intuitor.com/moviephysics/ - Are you appalled by the fuzzy science rampant in today's movies? The critical smartypants behind this site aren't afraid to stand up and educate Hollywood moviemakers. Their reviews carefully explain why a movie sucked or didn't suck, scientifically speaking, of course. They praise Road to Perdition and Titanic, while panning the likes of Armageddon, A.I., and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Die-hard Keanu fans determined to suspend disbelief are advised to forgo the Matrix nitpick.

TV and Movie Locations
www.seeing-stars.com/Locations/TVlocations1.shtml - This site offers an interesting gossip-style introduction to the filming locations of TV shows, made-for-TV movies and music videos. It's quite surprising where some famous TV moments were actually filmed. This site even provides a map. There's a wide range of shows covered (All American, of course) and I found it fun just to be reminded of some of shows that used to keep me entertained after school when I was just a nipper.

Gallery of Unfortunate Cards
www.capnwacky.com/cards/ - Perhaps it's just my sense of humour, but I found this all to be extremely amusing. Have you ever noticed just how truly bad some greeting cards can be? This site gathers together a wide range of greeting cards from the past that it judges to be really "unfortunate." Each card is presented with a short paragraph of acidic commentary. Here's a short example: "Ladies, should a pretty young man wearing a bright pink cowboy hat ever tell you that he wants you to be his valentine, he's not only lying to you, he's also lying to himself!"

The Impact Lab
www.impactlab.com/ - "The Impact Lab at the DaVinci Institute is nothing less than a relentless pursuit of the critical components that will make up the world to come. [They're] all about uncovering cutting edge, breakthrough, and emerging technologies and the forces impacting them. And [they] throw is some odd stuff just for fun," like the archaeological discovery of a mummy with a prosthetic toe!

Are You Colour-Blind?
http://www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/Ishihara.html - If you're not sure, here's a page that will help you find out pretty quickly. If you can't clearly see a number in the picture to the left then you are. But even if you can see the number, you still might be. At this site there are also links to information about colour-blindness as well as a few other bits and pieces such as software designed for the colour-blind.

A Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down
www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com - This is the ideal place to visit for all the Great British fans of comfy, homely crumbly stuff.This is a well-intentioned website that, incredibly, is what it says it is, a place to go and lounge and daydream. Thanks to Andrew Huddart who suggested the site, and provided the blurb above. I never was a big fan of tea and cake, personally, but I enjoyed the site nevertheless for its self-effacing quirky humour and its' very pleasant layout and design. I even got a mad urge to rush home and make myself a pair underpants toast.

Those of you who read my What Are We to Make of Microsoft? article may find the following Microsoft/LOR parody amusing. Thanks to Rosalind McKenzie for sending it in.

Securities Commission to Target Internet Scammers: The Securities Commission said yesterday it was targeting internet scammers. The commission is taking part in an internet surveillance campaign to identify websites that do not comply with securities law. It said investments offered on the internet were subject to the same securities laws that apply to offers made in more conventional advertising. Click here for more.

Internet Awareness Campaign Launched: Child protection agency Ecpat today launched an internet safety awareness campaign aimed at keeping kids safe in cyberspace. Justice Minister Phil Goff, who attended the launch at Parliament, said the Justice Ministry had provided support and funding for the non-government organization's kit, which included posters, stickers and safety tips. Click here for more.

Need for New Zealand E-security Lab: New Zealand needs an e-security lab to help protect computer systems and networks, a study has found. A working group from information and communication technology (ICT) companies, the Government and Canterbury University recently completed a feasibility study into establishing an e-security lab. Click here for more.

NZ Internet Site Audiences Larger than Suspected: A new internet survey suggests the number of cyber surfers visiting New Zealand's top web sites is much larger than anyone had been able to accurately quantify until now, organizers of a new survey said yesterday. RedSheriff Internet Ratings said XtraMSN, clocked up almost 620,000 unique visitors in the week from October 6 to 13, making it easily New Zealand's most popular internet destination. Click here for more.

Who Is the Sniper? Blogs Tell All: The D.C. sniper's a lonely teenager. No wait, he's an al-Qaida operative. Check that, he's an Iraqi agent trying to draw Washington-area law enforcement away from the District. A psycho, pissed off over the price of gas. A deranged truck driver. A racist nut. A calculating, terrorist "market researcher," seeing how this brand of attack works in the Capitol before exporting it to other American cities. Conspiracy theories have long been an Internet staple. But a dearth of evidence about the sniper -- and the phenomenal explosion of blogs -- have brought online speculation to a screeching crescendo. Click here for more.