[Intro-book-discuss]Re: survey

[Neil Levine]

1) What GNU/Linux packages do you use to create a dial up 
(PPP) connection? And why?

pppconfig under Debian GNU/Linux. I do run KDE and have heard good
things about kpppd but I like the curses interface and that I can 
just dive straight into the config files in /etc/ to modify settings
there after.

2) More and more people are switching to cable Internet 
access. Can you provide some good references to help people 
set up their cable connections and connect to the Internet?

Not a cable modem user per se...I use DSL , however I thought
most providers give a Cable Modem box to users which runs NAT
so effectively setting up a Cable Modem is just standard ethernet
configuration?

3) Do you have any favorite tricks for optimizing the 
speed/bandwidth of your Internet connection? What tools do 
you use to measure your speed?

I run kdevmon under KDE which provides a nice interface to see whats
going in and out of my ethernet interface. I also use wmnet under
Windowmaker which is similar but can also monitor your PPP interface
etc With a DSL connection to an ISP that I am the Network manager for
I often dont need to optimise my speed :-)

4) What measures do you take to keep prying eyes out of 
your computer while you are surfing the Web, participating 
in newsgroups, using email?

TCP Wrappers always. However the main routine I follow after a new
install is to run nmap repeatedly until I have shut down every service
that doesnt need to run. Typically this means taking a scalpel to 
/etc/inetd.conf and I end up with just sshd running as a bare minimum.

5) What is your favorite Web browser and why? What features 
does this browser offer that are not found in other 
browsers?

Konqueror without a doubt. Might start a religious war here but it
seems to offer the best feature set, the best compatibility and the
least crash prone web browsing software (its also GPL! unlike Opera).
Mozilla seems bloated with skinning , look and feel code which seems
to slow it down to a crawl.

6) What email client do you use? What features does it 
provide that you feel are useful and important?

Mutt. Easily the best console mail client bar none. Supports just
about everything it needs to, POP3, Imap, GnuPG, etc I have stayed
clear of X based readers as I like to be able to check my mail quickly
over any speed connection.

7) Which newsreader do you feel provides the most features?

SLRN seems the most configurable, but again I use it for the same
reasons outlined above...speed. However Netscape Mail and Pan have
impressed me in the past.

8) Can you recommend a good WYSIWYG Web page editor?

Nope. I steer clear of HTML :-)

9) Which FTP client do you use and why?

Good old fashioned CLI based FTP or wget. Konqueror is handy for more
complex FTP transactions, but if I need souped up CLI features I use
ncftp.

N

-- 

------------------------------------------------------------------
Neil Levine                             http://www.yoyo.org
------------------------------------------------------------------