Chaos Corner V02N01  17 Feb 92

--------------------------------------------------
Chaos Corner Volume 1 index available

It's been 2 months since the last issue ... and many bits have gone down 
the wire.  We have been busy here in Chaos Corner and have collected 
many items of interest for you.  One which we know will be most 
fascinating to you is the announcement of an index to volume 1 of Chaos 
Corner (how I spent my Christmas Vacation).  The index is available in 
text or PostScript form -- just use anonymous ftp to 
pelican.cit.cornell.edu and look in the /pub directory for the files 
ccv01.index.ps for the postscript (two column) or ccv01.index.text for 
the text version.  Dr. Chaos really knows that what you have been 
waiting for is not just the index; but all of volume 1 plus the index in 
one nice big file.  Just what you want ... look for the files ccv01.ps 
for the PostScript version and ccv01.text for the text version in the 
/pub directory on pelican.cit.cornell.edu.  Thanks  to Mark Bodenstein 
of CIT's Host Networking group for suggesting the index.

The most frequently requested file for 1991 was by far and away the list 
of answering machine messages.  Now that Dr. Chaos understands the level 
and interests of his readers, he told me he was very glad he did not 
mention the Complete List of Blonde Jokes that was in his possession.


Mailbag

--------------------------------------------------
Chaos Corner Feedback

In the early December issue we issued an invitation for people to 
reserve a bound copy of Chaos Corner volume 1 by a date that was several 
days prior to the date the issue was distributed.  We forgot about Gary 
Buhrmaster.  Needless to say, when the mail file arrived that had been 
clearly been sent before the deadline (and before the issue had gone 
out).   If you have the answer to how Gary accomplished this feat, you 
too can qualify for a bound copy (printed and finished on a Xerox 
DocuTech laser printer).  Send your answers to 
Dr_Chaos@pelican.cit.cornell.edu --- hurry, the entry deadline is 
midnight on 12 Feb. 1992.  Hint: Gary's userid is GOD.
 
Many of you are receiving Chaos Corner for the first time (we have had a 
flood of subscription requests.  If you want to ask Dr. Chaos a 
question, or point out some horrible mistake you THINK he might have 
made, just send mail to Dr_Chaos@pelican.cit.cornell.edu.

--------------------------------------------------
Infor request about Macintosh fonts

Stephen Peterson at Penn State is trying to collect type 3 fonts for his 
Macintosh.  He, of course, has the ones from mac.archive.umich.edu but 
wonders if anyone knows of other (free?) sources for type 3 fonts. In 
particular, he is interested in a "stone serif" font.  Dr Chaos  wonders 
just what a "stone serif" font would look like ...

--------------------------------------------------
Chaos Corner subscriptions

Gerhard Rentschuler at the University of Stuttgart noted that he had  
not received an issue of Chaos Corner for this year and wondered if he 
needed to subscribe again.  Dr. Chaos explained the problems of trying 
to organize Chaos.  While it was hard getting started on volume 2, we 
can expect that Dr. Chaos will generate issues more often than every two 
months.


--------------------------------------------------
Security and virus attacks

A couple of security issues to get out of the way before you go any 
farther.  If you are running an IBM PC (or compatible), or a Unix 
machine that has a PC simulator, you need to pay attention to the  
Michelangelo virus warnings.  The virus resides in the boot sector of  
infected disks and destroys all data on the disk on March 6th (the 
birthday of the artist, not the turtle).  Unix systems with PC 
simulators may be at risk at any time if they are booted with an  
infected diskette in the floppy drive (the virus will modify the  master 
boot record of the main disk and require re-install your Unix system 
and/or restore from your carefully made backup tapes).  People at 
Cornell are strongly encouraged to get a copy of F-PROT to scan for and 
disinfect disks. (CIT is obtaining a site license for the Cornell 
community to use it.  For more information see the CIT alert dated Feb. 
12, 1992.)  Of course, the McAffe software is available but  can cost 
$85 for a full set (for individuals); companies (and universities) are 
required to negotiate a site license.  Dr. Chaos urges you to scan your 
disks before March 6th and make a backup!  (He feels very strongly about 
making backups, since he spent all last week making backups .... yes, he 
feels very strongly about backups.)

--------------------------------------------------
Security, AIX and the on command

The other security issue affects IBM RS/6000 systems running AIX 3.1. It 
seems that IBM ships the system with the "on" command enabled,  and the 
security for the command is rather poor.  Using your favorite editor (or 
SMIT), disable the "rexd" service for the inet superdaemon 
(/etc/inetd.conf).


--------------------------------------------------
Unix on a PC?

If you would like to roll your own system on a PC, almost everything you 
would need to get started can be found in unix/bsd-sources on machine 
src.doc.ic.ac.uk or on machine ftp.uu.net.  Some missing utilities can 
be filled in from GNU or MINIX sources -- the one vital missing piece is 
'init' -- and you can have your own public domain Unix running on your 
386 PC!


--------------------------------------------------
Sounds - Macintosh format conversion utility

Tom Erbe at Mills College has been updating his Macintosh utility that 
converts between a number of sound file formats.  For the latest version 
check in the ccm directory on mills.edu.  The program is called Sound 
Hack and as we write, the latest version is in the file 
SoundHack.54.hqx.

--------------------------------------------------
Sounds - Convers Sun format (au) to Soundblaster (VOC)

Anyone out there with Soundblaster can convert files in the Sun format 
(files with a ".au" suffix) by using the program SUN2VOC.  Similarly, 
sound files with an ".iff" suffix can be converted using IFF2VOC.  You 
can find these programs on wuarchive.wustl.edu in the 
mirrors/msdos/sound.

--------------------------------------------------
Sounds - archive site

For lots of sounds in the ".au" format, including many from the movies 
2001, 2010, and from the TV series of Startrek (both versions), look on 
machine procyon.cis.ksu.edu in the pub/Sun/Sparcsounds directory.  
Please let Dr. Chaos know if you find a sound file of Capt. Picard 
saying, "Make it so!"  (Try not to use this archive during working hours 
in Kansas).

--------------------------------------------------
Sounds and your PC

As a general tool for dealing with sound files on a PC, the recommended 
utility seems to be PLAYBWC (it has the ability to play and edit the Mac 
".snd" sound files, among other things).  It can be found on 
wuarchive.wustl.edu on the /mirrors/msdos/sound directory.

--------------------------------------------------
Archive site for Macintosh and PC sound files

As a good source of Mac (and PLAYBWC) sound files, Dr. Chaos recommends 
that you try looking over the collection at ccb.ucsf.edu in the 
Pub/Sound_list directory (note the caps in the directory name since Unix 
is case sensitive).  There is also a Sound Newsletter that you can 
subscribe to by sending mail to sound@ccb.ucsf.edu with a subject line 
of: "ADD-ME: <userid>@<site>".


--------------------------------------------------
PC Compression and Library Utilities

As mentioned in past issues, there are a number of programs available on 
the PC that compress and add to single-file libraries.  It can be very 
confusing, even for experienced PC users, when these file compression 
extensions are encountered for the first time.  Timo Salmi, moderator of 
the archives at garbo.uwasa.fi (yes, it's in Finland, so don't try 
FTPing there unless you really can't find what you need at a North 
American site, or you are already on the eastern side of the Atlantic) 
has canned answers to a number of frequently asked questions on file 
compression utilities.  He has a list of the current version of the 
utility that is available for each of the popular types of file 
compression, and we thought it was worthwhile to reproduce it here:

  arc602.exe     .arc  SEA's .arc packing/unpacking system.
  arj222.exe     .arj  Robert Jung's .arj archiver
  lh113de.com    .lzh  Lharc for .lzh compression
  lha213.exe     .lzh  LHa for .lzh compression, English version.
  pak251.exe     .pak  NoGate's for pak, arc, sdn, zip, files
  pk361.exe      .arc  This packed and unpacked .arc files fast
  pkz110eu.exe   .zip  PKZIP "Euroversion" with no encryption
  zoo210.exe     .zoo  Zoo packing facility from Rahul Dhesi

A more complete list of file formats and the corresponding utilities 
available on a variety of platforms, may be anonymous ftp'd from 
ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (128.174.5.59) in the directory doc/pcnet.  The file is 
maintained by David Lemson (lemson@uiuc.edu) and is the most complete 
Dr. Chaos has ever seen.  Of course, we have a current copy of the list, 
so you can always get one through electronic mail by sending your 
request to chaos-request@pelican.cit.cornell.edu.


--------------------------------------------------
Libraries

HYTELNET 5.0, the easy-to-use database utility for IBM PC users that 
describes how to access all Internet-accessible library catalogs, FREE-
NETS, CWISs, and Library BBSs is now available.  It is a major upgrade 
from version 4.0, and is available via anonymous FTP from 
access.usask.ca in the hytelnet/pc subdirectory as  the file named 
HYTELN50.ZIP.

For Unix systems, there is a basic shell script that provides menu based 
access to over 200 Libraries and databases across the Internet.  The 
script is named libtel.unix and can be obtained from ftp.oit.unc.edu in 
the pub/docs directory.  In the same location, VAX VMS users can obtain 
a program named libs.com that performs much the same function.


--------------------------------------------------
What you need to know about modems

Dr. Chaos has come across a 3-part posting titled " What You Need To 
Know About Modems" that is really chapter 1 of a book that will be 
coming out soon titled "The Joy of Telecomputing" by Patrick Chen.  It 
is more than a little too long to include here but we would be happy to 
send you the files if you send electronic mail to chaos-
request@pelican.cit.cornell.edu.

--------------------------------------------------
Best 9600 baud modem prices

Another interesting posting is Stuart Balfor's list of the best prices 
for 9600 baud modems.  Last updated (that we saw) in mid-January, it 
gives sources for the advertised price, phone number to call, etc.  
Again, just ask for it at chaos-request.cit.cornell.edu.  These are just 
modem prices, not recommendations (courtesy of our legal staff).


--------------------------------------------------
Kermit

One of the banes of file transfer for users of the Kermit communications 
package is always that it is a two-step process.  In a recent issue of 
Kermit Digest, techniques were published for initiating the file 
transfer in one step from either the VM/CMS side of a connection or from 
the MS-DOS side.  If you can't get a copy of Info-Kermit Digest V15 #1, 
send a note to Dr. Chaos requesting the Kermit file transfer information 
(send request to chaos-request@pelican.cit.cornell.edu).


--------------------------------------------------
X11 R5

Fix #9 to X11 R5 has now been released, and is available locally to 
Cornell on pelican.cit.cornell.edu in the pub/X11R5 directory.  Someone 
asked for a precompiled version for an RS/6000 since they didn't have 
enough disk space ... and the kind people at ux1.cso.uiuc.edu made one 
available.  Sooo, the requestor got a precompiled version and later 
posted a note that he had no idea how much trouble it would cause.  Dr. 
Chaos agrees with Chin Fang of Stanford U. who pointed out that on 
complex packages like X11, one has to be VERY careful about the paths 
for all the various pieces, since the paths to various components are 
compiled into the code.


That's all for now.  The next issue will be coming Real Soon Now!  
Subscribe at: Remember!  Dr. Chaos - (dr_chaos@pelican.cit.cornell.edu)
