you've asked for it, you'll get it: A few thoughts of my own about missing
   mail to TAG.

    1. The "average" PC user today differs from the average PC user three or
       five years ago. Today there are a lot of more people using computers at
       work or at home. The majority of these peoples are interested in doing
       stuff  like  writing  mails and letters, surfin' the web and other
       non-sophisticated stuff like this. Most of them feel no need to find out
       why things work for them and how they could could customize or improve
       something.
    2. There are a lot of distributions around, which install with a few mouse
       clicks  a usable system. There is no need to think (and ask) about
       partitions, filesystems, configuration and so on. In most cases there is
       no  need  to  edit  files e.g under '/etc/ppp/' - it's all done by
       ${install-tool} with drop-down- and dialog-boxes.
    3. Linux is grown up -- there are lots of information around (at? on? I
       dunno) the internet. Best of it: They are only one "google" away.

   I appreciate the project "Linux Gazette" (hey, there are all issues from the
   beginning on my workstation's and my laptop's hard disks). But: I feel,
   nowadays Linux Gazette shouldn't focus on basic- and newbie-support, but
   should do more stuff one ore two steps further.

   BTW: The link on my site points to your (true[tm]) Linux Gazette.

   Keep on rollin ...

   Nice Regards

   Martin Bock
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                              GAZETTE MATTERS
     _________________________________________________________________

     * [50]Asking 2c-tips of TAG
     * [51]Author FAQ...
     * [52]Licensing
     * [53][LG 101] mailbag #2 - Stephen Bint
            ____________________________________________________

Asking 2c-tips of TAG

   Mon, 24 May 2004 20:37:26 +0100
   Thomas Adam ([54]thomas_adam from bonbon.net)

   I am a little bit concerned the people here (especially those that are more
   established) don't fully understand what constitutes a 2c-tip. A 2c-tip is
   just that -- something that is short and easy and can be done in a few
   steps. Asking whether it is appropriate (Neil!) just causes us more grief
   to wade through meta questions! 

   This might be in the form of a configuration tweak, or a minuture program
   that performs a given task, etc. Often though, larger tips are turned into
   TAG column entries -- and vice versa. 

   Often what would be flagged by Heather and I as a TAG entry might well form
   off-shoots  to 2c-tips if the quality of the thread in question is not
   worthy. 

   But we will publish anything not only explicitly marked as a 2c-tip, but
   also what we deem appropriate to be one. We certainly don't filter out sent
   in tips -- only vary rarely. The only thing I will say to you is that don't
   always expect to submit one and see it in the preceeding release of LG.
   Heather and I decide which tips get published when. 

     [jra] If you can figure out how to publish tips in an issue of LG that's
     already gone out, my hat's off to you, Thomas.

     [Ben] The method is covered in Jim's "Retro" series. It's based on that
     capability of Linux that Linus talked about, executing an infinite loop in
     three seconds...

     [Jason Creighton] Yes, it's quite a clever method. Instead of going to all
     the work of updating every copy of the LG everywhere, we just insert the
     tips in the past before all the mirrors pick up the issue.

     The one problem is that executing an infinite loop in three seconds can
     only place information in the future. In order to place it in the past, we
     must use a Windows box, which, as everyone knows, takes an infinite amount
     of time to execute a three second loop.

   Send them in.... you know you want to. 

   -- Thomas Adam 
            ____________________________________________________

Author FAQ...

   Wed, 23 Jun 2004 09:11:30 -0400
   Ben Okopnik ([55]LG Technical Editor)

   ...is now updated:

     [56]http://linuxgazette.net/faq/author.html

   Thanks to Jimmy for doing a lot of the preparatory proofreading.
   Comments, corrections, and ideas welcome.
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