text:
HIGHMARK INC. v. ALLCARE HEALTH MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, INC.(2014)
Petitioner Highmark Inc. moved for fees under the Patent Act's fee-shifting provision, which authorizes a district court to award attorney's fees to the prevailing party in "exceptional cases." 35 U. S. C. §285. The District Court found the case "exceptional" and granted Highmark's motion. The Federal Circuit, reviewing the District Court's determination de novo, reversed in part.
Held: All aspects of a district court's exceptional-case determination under §285 should be reviewed for abuse of discretion. Prior to Octane Fitness, LLC v. ICON Health & Fitness, Inc., ante, p. ___, this determination was governed by the framework established by the Federal Circuit in Brooks Furniture Mfg., Inc. v. Dutailier Int'l, Inc., 393 F. 3d 1378. Octane rejects the Brooks Furniture framework as unduly rigid and holds that district courts may make the exceptional-case determination under §285 in the exercise of their discretion. The holding in Octane settles this case. Decisions on "matters of discretion" are traditionally "reviewable for 'abuse of discretion,' " Pierce v. Underwood, 487 U. S. 552, 558, and this Court previously has held that to be the proper standard of review in cases involving similar determinations, see, e.g., id., at 559; Cooter & Gell v. Hartmarx Corp., 496 U. S. 384, 405. The exceptional-case determination is based on statutory text that "emphasizes the fact that the determination is for the district court," Pierce, 487 U. S., at 559; that court "is better positioned" to make the determination, id., at 560; and the determination is "multifarious and novel," not susceptible to "useful generalization" of the sort that de novo review provides, and "likely to profit from the experience that an abuse-of discretion rule will permit to develop," id., at 562. Pp. 4-5.
687 F. 3d 1300, vacated and remanded.
Sotomayor, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
Opinion of the Court
NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the preliminary print of the United States Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press.
No. 12-1163
HIGHMARK INC., PETITIONER v. ALLCARE HEALTH
on writ of certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the federal circuit
[April 29, 2014]
Justice Sotomayor delivered the opinion of the Court.
Section 285 of the Patent Act provides: "The court in exceptional cases may award reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party." 35 U. S. C. §285. In Brooks Furniture Mfg., Inc. v. Dutailier Int'l, Inc., 393 F. 3d 1378 (2005), the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit interpreted §285 as authorizing fee awards only in two circumstances. It held that "[a] case may be deemed exceptional" under §285 "when there has been some material inappropriate conduct," or when it is both "brought in subjective bad faith" and "objectively baseless." Id., at 1381. We granted certiorari to determine whether an appellate court should accord deference to a district court's determination that litigation is "objectively baseless." On the basis of our opinion in Octane Fitness, LLC v. ICON Health & Fitness, Inc., ante, p. ___, argued together with this case and also issued today, we hold that an appellate court should review all aspects of a district court's §285 determination for abuse of discretion.
Allcare Health Management System, Inc., owns U. S. Patent No. 5,301,105 ('105 patent), which covers "utilization review" in " 'managed health care systems.' "1 687 F. 3d 1300, 1306 (CA Fed 2012). Highmark Inc., a health insurance company, sued Allcare seeking a declaratory judgment that the '105 patent was invalid and unenforceable and that, to the extent it was valid, Highmark's actions were not infringing it. Allcare counterclaimed for patent infringement. Both parties filed motions for summary judgment, and the District Court entered a final judgment of noninfringement in favor of Highmark. The Federal Circuit affirmed. 329 Fed. Appx. 280 (2009) (per curiam).
Highmark then moved for fees under §285. The District Court granted Highmark's motion. 706 F. Supp. 2d 713 (ND Tex. 2010). The court reasoned that Allcare had engaged in a pattern of "vexatious" and "deceitful" conduct throughout the litigation. Id., at 737. Specifically, it found that Allcare had "pursued this suit as part of a bigger plan to identify companies potentially infringing the '105 patent under the guise of an informational survey, and then to force those companies to purchase a license of the '105 patent under threat of litigation." Id., at 736-737. And it found that Allcare had "maintained infringement claims [against Highmark] well after such claims had been shown by its own experts to be without merit" and had "asserted defenses it and its attorneys knew to be frivolous." Id., at 737. In a subsequent opinion, the District Court fixed the amount of the award at $4,694,727.40 in attorney's fees and $209,626.56 in expenses, in addition to $375,400.05 in expert fees. 2010 WL 6432945, *7 (ND Tex., Nov. 5, 2010).
The Federal Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part. 687 F. 3d 1300. It affirmed the District Court's exceptional-case determination with respect to the allegations that Highmark's system infringed one claim of the '105 patent, id., at 1311-1313, but reversed the determination with respect to another claim of the patent, id., at 1313-1315. In reversing the exceptional-case determination as to one claim, the court reviewed it de novo. The court held that because the question whether litigation is "objectively baseless" under Brooks Furniture " 'is a question of law based on underlying mixed questions of law and fact,' " an objective-baselessness determination is reviewed on appeal " 'de novo' " and "without deference." 687 F. 3d, at 1309; see also ibid., n. 1. It then determined, contrary to the judgment of the District Court, that "Allcare's argument" as to claim construction "was not 'so unreasonable that no reasonable litigant could believe it would succeed.' " Id., at 1315. The court further found that none of Allcare's conduct warranted an award of fees under the litigation-misconduct prong of Brooks Furniture. 687 F. 3d, at 1315-1319.
Judge Mayer dissented in part, disagreeing with the view "that no deference is owed to a district court's finding that the infringement claims asserted by a litigant at trial were objectively unreasonable." Id., at 1319. He would have held that "reasonableness is a finding of fact which may be set aside only for clear error." Ibid. The Federal Circuit denied rehearing en banc, over the dissent of five judges. 701 F. 3d 1351 (2012). The dissenting judges criticized the court's decision to adopt a de novo standard of review for the "objectively baseless" determination as an impermissible invasion of the province of the district court. Id., at 1357.
We granted certiorari, 570 U. S. ___ (2013), and now vacate and remand.
Our opinion in Octane Fitness, LLC v. ICON Health & Fitness, Inc., rejects the Brooks Furniture framework as unduly rigid and inconsistent with the text of §285. It holds, instead, that the word "exceptional" in §285 should be interpreted in accordance with its ordinary meaning. Ante, at 7. An "exceptional" case, it explains, "is simply one that stands out from others with respect to the substantive strength of a party's litigating position (considering both the governing law and the facts of the case) or the unreasonable manner in which the case was litigated." Ante, at 7-8. And it instructs that "[d]istrict courts may determine whether a case is 'exceptional' in the case-by-case exercise of their discretion, considering the totality of the circumstances." Ante, at 8. Our holding in Octane settles this case: Because §285 commits the determination whether a case is "exceptional" to the discretion of the district court, that decision is to be reviewed on appeal for abuse of discretion.
Traditionally, decisions on "questions of law" are "reviewable de novo," decisions on "questions of fact" are "reviewable for clear error," and decisions on "matters of discretion" are "reviewable for 'abuse of discretion.' " Pierce v. Underwood, 487 U. S. 552, 558 (1988). For reasons we explain in Octane, the determination whether a case is "exceptional" under §285 is a matter of discretion. And as in our prior cases involving similar determinations, the exceptional-case determination is to be reviewed only for abuse of discretion.2 See Pierce, 487 U. S., at 559 (determinations whether a litigating position is "substan-tially justified" for purposes of fee-shifting under the Equal Access to Justice Act are to be reviewed for abuse of discretion); Cooter & Gell v. Hartmarx Corp., 496 U. S. 384, 405 (1990) (sanctions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 are to be reviewed for abuse of discretion).
As in Pierce, the text of the statute "emphasizes the fact that the determination is for the district court," which "suggests some deference to the district court upon appeal," 487 U. S., at 559. As in Pierce, "as a matter of the sound administration of justice," the district court "is better positioned" to decide whether a case is exceptional, id., at 559-560, because it lives with the case over a prolonged period of time. And as in Pierce, the question is "multifarious and novel," not susceptible to "useful generalization" of the sort that de novo review provides, and "likely to profit from the experience that an abuse-of-discretion rule will permit to develop," id., at 562.
We therefore hold that an appellate court should apply an abuse-of-discretion standard in reviewing all aspects of a district court's §285 determination. Although questions of law may in some cases be relevant to the §285 inquiry, that inquiry generally is, at heart, "rooted in factual determinations," Cooter, 496 U. S., at 401.
* * *
The judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is vacated, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
It is so ordered.
" 'Utilization review' is the process of determining whether a health insurer should approve a particular treatment for a patient." 687 F. 3d, at 1306.
The abuse-of-discretion standard does not preclude an appellate court's correction of a district court's legal or factual error: "A district court would necessarily abuse its discretion if it based its ruling on an erroneous view of the law or on a clearly erroneous assessment of the evidence." Cooter & Gell v. Hartmarx Corp., 496 U. S. 384, 405 (1990).


text:
You can find the latest release of the PLIP-Install-HOWTO,
by Gilles Lamiral, located at:
If you have already read this HOWTO and you wonder what is new in this release, first read the section what's new.
This section is used to avoid reading the document when you need to install a plip connection in one minute. Skip it.
cat /proc/parport/0/hardware insmod parport insmod parport_pc io=0x378 irq=7 # Got those values in BIOS setup. insmod plip tail /var/log/messages ifconfig plip0 192.168.0.2 pointopoint 192.168.0.1 \ netmask 255.255.255.255 up ifconfig plip0 ping -c1 192.168.0.2 route -n
ifconfig plip1 192.168.0.1 pointopoint 192.168.0.2 \ netmask 255.255.255.255 up route add -host 192.168.0.2 dev plip1 # if the route is not present
ping 192.168.0.1 # from 192.168.0.2 ping 192.168.0.2 # from 192.168.0.1
Now all TCP/IP is available between the two computer via the parallel port. Have a nice trip !
"PLIP is Parallel Line IP, that is, the transportation of IP packages over a parallel port." Donald Becker (firstname.lastname@example.com).
Writing a PLIP install HOWTO seems useless nowadays since Ethernet cards are cheap: NE2000 cards cost about the same as a Null-Modem cable. This is true for desktop computers, but not for laptop computers, in which the PCMCIA card costs more than 10 times as much the Null-Modem cable. Moreover, there is a parallel port on every computer, but not always a network card.
Of course, this howto can be used to install Linux on every personal computer without loss of generality.
This paper is just what I've done to install a Debian GNU/Linux distribution on a Toshiba Portégé 620CT laptop, from a NFS exported cdrom drive, via a Null-Modem cable.
A Null-Modem cable is also called a Null-Printer cable.
A Null-Modem cable is also called a "LapLink" (or "Turbo Laplink") cable but the word "LapLink" is trademarked by Traveling Software under the number 75466713 since 1986, so I won't use it anymore.
This HOWTO will be obsolete when every Linux distribution includes a PLIP install option. For example, the Debian installation only needs to add two commands to make this HOWTO obsolete (ifconfig + route). I hope one Debian maintainer will consider this point.
I hoped this HOWTO would become obsolete but in fact it seems that it will never be, because some builders of some distributions do include PLIP installation sometimes but forget to maintain it in new releases (REDHAT for example).
I would be happy to know if someone used the PLIP-Install-HOWTO to install other Linux distributions from other network protocols (ftp, http, nfs, samba, or even NT/Novell servers)
Feedback with typos, bad English, comments, money, job, joy, fears, cries are welcome and recommended (not all with the same eagerness).
If a translation in any language exists, please let me know, I'll be happy.
This documentation used to be under the OpenContent license. It is not anymore. Do what you want with this document.
I wrote this paper during the installation process but since I encountered several problems at the same time, my notes were disparate and sometimes I forgot to write the good command lines because I was too fed up to reboot (kernel compilations) and edit this file each time.
When the installation went wrong (it did, I'm a beginner on laptops, plip, linux nfs, portmapper, Debian), I tried several things to fix the problems. When they remained too long, my brain was focused on solving, not writing.
So, when the installation process finally succeeded, I decided to restart the process from scratch by noting everything in order to save your time. It was the first time I had installed Linux twice on the same computer.
Then, in order to verify the document, I again restarted from scratch with a Slink Debian distribution (the next after the Hamm one). It was the first time I had installed Linux 3 times on the same computer. I hope it was the last time I have to do that.
Conclusion: If you do what is in this paper, it should work.
I recommend these good readings in case you can't figure out how to solve a problem. I've read them. You should too if you're curious or conscientious.
Please, do not forget to consider the
LDP mirrors,
listed at:
Most HOWTOs are translated in
many languages. Just go to the bottom of a mirror page and
follow the
translations/ link.
If you want to use Linux on a laptop, read the latest
by Werner Heuser, located at:
If you haven't installed any distribution yet, carefully read the
Installation-HOWTO, by Eric S. Raymond, located at:
http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Installation-HOWTO/. And make more coffee :-)
If you need information about your cdrom drive, read the
CDROM-HOWTO, by Jeff Tranter, located at:
If you haven't installed an nfs server yet, read the
NFS-HOWTO, by Nicolai Langfeldt, located at:
If you need to compile a new kernel on the source box, read
Kernel-HOWTO, by Brian Ward, located at:
If you are new to PLIP, read the
PLIP MINI-HOWTO, by Andrea Controzzi, located at:
If you plan to make your Null-Modem cable yourself, a good reading
is the file
PLIP.txt, by Donald Becker, located at:
on your source linux computer, Luke. Alternatively, read my notes in section "Building your own cable".
The file contents and line commands and install screen-shots are
always in
typewriter font, like this:
#!/bin/bash ############################################# #### This is the great file /bin/Windows #### ############################################# while [ "1" ]; do echo "I do my best because I'm the best" echo "Very soon, next Y2Kill (the 01/01/0000)" echo "A new marvelous 64 bit release !" echo "Please wait a little more" sleep 18446744073709551615 # 2^64-1 done
or this:
$ killall Windows Terminated
The file content lines should never begin with white space. You'll
have to remove them, if any. Sorry, I'm fed up with
M-AltGr-\ (remember, I'm a French azerty writer). Tab-emacs
reflex is untameable (coders who use Emacs always press the tabular
key like a twitch).
Command input lines begin with a dollar
$ (the prompt), you
don't have to type the dollar, just type the rest of the line; other
lines are the command output, you don't have to type them either.
Because all the configuration commands are important, you'll need to use a system administrator shell, like root, on the source and the target computers.
$ su Password: blabla #
The prompt will be shown as "
$" in the remainder of this
documentation "
$", even if it should be "
#". This
is because "
#" often means comment, so it is ambiguous. I
don't like ambiguity in computer science.
Extract from /usr/src/linux/Documentation/networking/PLIP.txt, written by Donald Becker (firstname.lastname@example.com):
Parallel Transfer Mode 0 Cable ============================== The cable for the first transfer mode is a standard printer "null" cable which transfers data four bits at a time using data bit outputs of the first port (machine T) connected to the status bit inputs of the second port (machine R). There are five status inputs, and they are used as four data inputs and a clock (data strobe) input, arranged so that the data input bits appear as contiguous bits with standard status register implementation. A cable that implements this protocol is available commercially as a "Null Printer" or "Turbo Laplink" cable. It can be constructed with two DB-25 male connectors symmetrically connected as follows: STROBE output 1* D0->ERROR 2 - 15 15 - 2 D1->SLCT 3 - 13 13 - 3 D2->PAPOUT 4 - 12 12 - 4 D3->ACK 5 - 10 10 - 5 D4->BUSY 6 - 11 11 - 6 D5,D6,D7 are 7*, 8*, 9* AUTOFD output 14* INIT output 16* SLCTIN 17 - 17 extra grounds are 18*,19*,20*,21*,22*,23*,24* GROUND 25 - 25 * Do not connect these pins on either end If the cable you are using has a metallic shield it should be connected to the metallic DB-25 shell at one end only.
I checked my cable twice. On both sides, pins are connected like this:
1 - 1 Yes 2 - 15 3 - 13 4 - 12 5 - 10 6 - 11 7 not connected 8 not connected 9 not connected 10 - 5 11 - 6 12 - 4 13 - 3 14 - 14 Yes 15 - 2 16 - 16 Yes 17 - 17 18 not connected 19 not connected 20 not connected 21 not connected 22 not connected 23 not connected 25 - 25 not connected to metallic shield
Unlike the cable described in the kernel document, my cable has pins 1, 14, 16 connected. It doesn't matter, apparently, since plip works fine for me.
We will make a plip point-to-point network with this IP configuration:
You should not already have those names in your name space:
$ ping source ping: unknown host source $ ping target ping: unknown host target
You should not already have those IP addresses in your network space:
$ ping 192.168.0.1 PING 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1): 56 data bytes ping: sendto: Network is unreachable ping: wrote 192.168.0.1 64 chars, ret=-1 --- 192.168.0.1 ping statistics --- 1 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100% packet loss $ ping 192.168.0.2 PING 192.168.0.2 (192.168.0.2): 56 data bytes ping: sendto: Network is unreachable ping: wrote 192.168.0.2 64 chars, ret=-1 --- 192.168.0.2 ping statistics --- 1 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100% packet loss
If those commands don't give you errors, change the names or the addresses.
You can choose other addresses, names or netmask (netmask must be the same on both sides). In the rest of this document, I'll suppose you choose these addresses and these names.
Add a line in
#### file /etc/exports #### ... /cdrom source(ro) target(ro) #### EOF ####
Because the portmapper tries to resolve IP addresses, add the IP
addresses and names in
#### file /etc/hosts #### ... 192.168.0.1 target 192.168.0.2 source #### EOF ####
Verify you have the item
files for the
hosts search list in the file
#### file /etc/nsswitch.conf #### ... hosts: files nis dns ... #### EOF ####
This section describes how to set up the
plip interface in
the source server. If you run into trouble, I suggest that
you read the
Check that your
lp device is not set. You should
not have this entry:
$ cat /proc/devices Character devices: ... 6 lp ...
If you do have it, kill the
lpd daemon and remove the
lp module:
$ /etc/rc.d/init.d/lpd.init stop Shutting down lpd: lpd $ rmmod lp
If you can't remove the
lp module then you have to
recompile the kernel with
lp service as a module.
Now, the "
6 lp" line has disappeared from the
/proc/devices file, which is a reflection of the kernel
You are not obliged to eliminate the lp device : the scheme may work with lp. Without guarantee (it works for me). Check it yourself.
Check that your parallel port is handled:
$ ls /proc/parport/ 0/ $ cat /proc/parport/0/hardware base: 0x378 irq: 7 dma: none modes: SPP,ECP,ECPEPP,ECPPS2
If you don't have any directory under
/proc/parport/ then
you have to load the
parport and
$ insmod parport $ insmod parport_pc
You should see this new entry in
Oct 9 20:50:47 louloutte kernel: parport0: PC-style at 0x378 [SPP,ECP,ECPEPP,ECPPS2] Oct 9 20:50:47 louloutte kernel: parport0: detected irq 7; use procfs to enable interrupt-driven operation.
I repeat the message "detected
irq 7, use procfs to enable
interrupt-driven operation", so:
$ echo 7 > /proc/parport/0/irq
Using a kernel 2.4 the last command is no longer available. Use instead:
$ insmod parport $ insmod parport_pc io=0x378 irq=7
Check that
plip module is loaded:
$ lsmod |grep plip
plip module is not loaded, then load it:
$ insmod plip
You should see something like this in
==> /var/log/messages <== Oct 8 16:34:12 louloutte kernel: NET3 PLIP version 2.3-parport firstname.lastname@example.com Oct 8 16:34:12 louloutte kernel: plip0: Parallel port at 0x378, using IRQ 7
If you can't load the
plip module then you have to
recompile the kernel with
plip service as a
The syslog message says the module is loaded on the
interface. Configure the
plip0 interface:
$ ifconfig plip0 source pointopoint target netmask 255.255.255.255 up
Check that everything is okay.
$ ifconfig plip0 plip0 Link encap:10Mbps Ethernet HWaddr FC:FC:C0:A8:00:02 inet addr:192.168.0.2 P-t-P:192.168.0.1 Mask:255.255.255.255 UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 Interrupt:7 Base address:0x378
Now you can
ping locally the source server:
$ ping source PING source (192.168.0.2): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 192.168.0.2: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=0.3 ms 64 bytes from 192.168.0.2: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=0.2 ms --- source ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 0.2/0.2/0.3 ms
Verify that the route to target exists:
$ route Kernel IP routing table Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface target * 255.255.255.255 UH 0 0 0 plip0
If the route doesn't exist, add it:
$ route add -host 192.168.0.1 dev plip0
When the target is configured you will be able to do a ping test:
$ ping target PING 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=4.5 ms 64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=4.3 ms --- 192.168.0.1 ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 4.3/4.4/4.5 ms
But if you try it now you should have:
$ ping target PING target (192.168.0.1): 56 data bytes --- target ping statistics --- 5 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100% packet loss
Now, the server network is ready to work. Congratulations.
This section describes how to mount and export via NFS a cdrom drive.
Mount the cdrom. If you encounter a problem with your cdrom drive,
read the CDROM-HOWTO. I assume that the cdrom
device is
/dev/hdd but it could be
/dev/sr0 or
/dev/hdb etc. The mount point I choose is
but you can choose the one you want:
$ mount -t iso9660 /dev/hdd /cdrom
You have to set up nfs services. If something goes wrong, read the NFS-HOWTO
Verify your kernel supports nfs:
$ cat /proc/filesystems ext2 nodev proc nodev nfs nodev ncpfs nodev devpts iso9660
Verify your portmapper can handle mountd and nfs client requests:
$ rpcinfo -p program vers proto port 100000 2 tcp 111 portmapper 100000 2 udp 111 portmapper 100005 1 udp 655 mountd 100005 1 tcp 657 mountd 100003 2 udp 2049 nfs 100003 2 tcp 2049 nfs
Lines with
nfs or
portmapper have to be there. We
have NFS on tcp? progress have been made!
It doesn't matter if you have only NFS on udp. NFS has to work, that's the thing you need.
Then, rerun
$ /etc/rc.d/init.d/portmap.init stop Stopping INET services: portmap $ /etc/rc.d/init.d/portmap.init start Starting portmapper: portmap $ /etc/rc.d/init.d/nfs stop Shutting down NFS services: rpc.mountd rpc.nfsd $ /etc/rc.d/init.d/nfs start Starting NFS services: rpc.mountd rpc.nfsd
/etc/rc.d/init.d/ is
/sbin/init.d/ on SuSE Linux
systems. I had a dream last night: LSB was respected. (LDB: Linux
Standard Base)
Then, try to mount it "locally" (via nfs) on the source box and when the test is good remove the test directory:
$ mkdir /tmp/nfstest $ mount -t nfs source:/cdrom /tmp/nfstest $ ls /tmp/nfstest/ README debian/ locatedb.3 tools/ TRANS.TBL ftp.netscape.com/ ls_lR.3 upgrade/ boot/ install/ realaudio/ $ echo great stuff ! $ umount /tmp/nfstest $ rmdir /tmp/nfstest
Bad luck ? Read the NFS-HOWTO and
Check the nfs server with those commands:
$ rpcinfo -p
portmap with the
-v flag:
$ portmap -v
nfsd and rerun them
in this order:
Take a rest, get more coffee. Read again the
NFS-HOWTO and restart.
Now, the exported cdrom drive nfs server is ready to work. Congratulations.
This section is for anybody who has only one primary FAT partition (DOS, Windows 3.xx, NT) and wants to keep it without loosing data. Make some backups because if you burn it, I won't be responsible - you will.
Journey to PARTED
Andrew Clausen (firstname.lastname@example.com), GNU Parted maintainer, wrote "You might want to mention GNU Parted in the PLIP-Install Howto." That is done. Since I didn't try it I can only give you the links to parted by http and parted ftp. Help yourself. Parted seems very good.
Andrew said: "GNU Parted is a *LOT* more powerful than FIPS (think Partition Magic). For example, it can convert FAT16 <=> FAT32, change the size of the FATs, doesn't require a defragger, etc. And it supports ext2, linux-swap..."
Back to FIPS.
Download FIPS. Don't forget the mirrors ftp.xx.debian.org where xx is your country abbreviation (fr, fi, us, uk, etc.).
At the time of this writing the archive file is called fips20.zip.
The fips program is already in the debian cdrom
distribution. I found it (yes, after downloading the
fips20.zip file) in
(It supposes your cdrom is mounted on /cdrom)
I guess you are on a Unix world but you're not compelled to be. Go in a good working place on the source computer:
$ mkdir /tmp/fips-2.0/ $ cd /tmp/fips-2.0/ $ unzip -l /archive/fips/fips20.zip ... $ unzip /archive/fips/fips20.zip ... $ ls $ dos2unix fips.doc fips.faq readme.1st
Boot your target computer. Be in pure DOS (quit Windows).
Read again the file
fips.doc from the section
"5. Before you start".
Be aware of hidden files.
Graham's comment: Hidden files will not be moved by DeFrag (as far as I know), so FIPS will reclaim less space for use by Linux. Use the ATTRIB command to remove the "hidden" attribute. Some things may require that files are hidden, so it will be necessary to hide the same files again later. I think that it would also be a good idea to run scandisk at this moment. Perhaps I do not trust DOS.
Be aware to eliminate the "virtual memory" file (swap for Win*) during the fips process. In Windows 3.11 (quite up to date, no?) this swap file is configured from Program-Manager->Control-Panel->Enhanced (a i386 chip icon).
Click, Click->Click on the chip and re-click on a button called "Virtual Memory".
Adjust the size to none, Click<-Click<-Click<-Click back plus Alt-F4 to close all your windows. Don't you think the Gates are closed too?
Graham's comment: I am not sure that this is a good idea. What happens if "386spart.par" is not hidden? I think that DEFRAG will move it, and Windows will complain next time it starts, then rebuild the file. Since we are clearly keeping DOS/Windows, the user will require a swap file again later. By not deleting it, the disc space is reserved for that time.
Graham's new comment: "Make sure that the file is not hidden (attrib -h -s 386spart.par), then delete it (del 386spart.par). The disc space is then free. Run FIPS. Next time Windows starts, it will complain that the file is corrupt, and will recreate it."
I don't what to say. I've just parroted FIPS manual because I succeeded with it.
So drink coffee, and pray.
Correct every cluster. You should have no dead cluster now.
DEFRAG on C:
All used clusters are at the beginning of the hard disk.
Make a bootable floppy disk:
AUTOEXEC.BAT and
to the new floppy if you want to keep your local features (keyboard
keys etc.). Remove the line running
SMARTDRIVE.EXE in
AUTOEXEC.BAT. Keep a minimal
On the source box: Copy the fips files restorrb.exe, fips.exe and errors.txt to this floppy disk.
$ mcopy errors.txt fips.exe restorrb.exe a:
Graham's comment: Doesn't this assume that mtools are installed? If the floppy disc is mounted as type msdos, the standard "cp" command should do the job, and mtools would not be needed. I have never used mtools, but I have played with DOS files from Linux.
Yes, this assumes that mtools are installed.
mcopy is
faster to type than
mkdir, mount, cp, umount, rmdir.
Boot the target with the floppy. Run fips while reading the section "Using FIPS" in the file fips.doc
Do not forget to answer yes when fips asks for a rootboot saving.
When everything is ok, save your hard disk space:
$ cd $ rm -rf /tmp/fips-2.0/
Now you have a nice free space for a new operating system.
I'm a Debian proselyte since it is my first Debian installation. Debian lovers are the same kind of people as Macintosh lovers or Linux lovers in the operating systems space. Nothing else counts. Since I'm already a Mac and Linux lover (and French too :-) it was time to fall in love.
Debian is well, clearly and internationally documented. Thanks to all those people who bred this really open distribution.
I could leave you on your own during the installation process. But since we have to interact with a shell during it, the entire process will be described in detail.
I know the description is Debian specific. I prefer to give you a complete example than nothing except a ``run a shell at the right moment and type bla bla...''. I do like concrete examples.
Simon Forget <email@example.com> told me he could not use this howto with his Toshiba Libretto 50CT because the kernel could not recognize the pcmcia floppy drive during the installation process. I don't know why but there is a solution using plip, if you already have a dos partition on the target computer.
This solution is simpler and faster because no floppy drive nor plip network is necessary during the installation process. If you are interested in this solution, go directly to the section Installing from a DOS partition. I'm keeping the old installation routine because this new one needs a DOS partition that becomes superfluous when you definitely want to leave the dark side.
On the source side, mount the cdrom and go to the install directory
$ mount -t iso9660 /dev/hdd /cdrom
The device for your CDROM may be /dev/hdb or /dev/hdc or another device (SCSI), depending on where is plugged your CDROM.
$ cd /cdrom/debian/dists/stable/main/disks-i386/current/
Read the file install.html with a browser or install.txt with a more, a less, a cat (or a dog?).
Now, record the install (alias rescue) floppy. Write a
resc1440.bin" label on it:
$ dd if=resc1440.bin of=/dev/fd0H1440
Write the drivers floppy. Write a "
drv1440.bin" label on it:
$ dd if=drv1440.bin of=/dev/fd0H1440
Then make sure that the floppies are write-protected.
Now you're ready to start the real installation process.
Insert the resc1440.bin floppy on target drive. Reboot your target box.
Welcome to Debian GNU/Linux 2.x! ...
Read the text. The prompt is:
Loading root.bin........... loading linux... ....
A new screen:
Next: Select Color or Monochrome display
Choose yours with the arrow up/down keys and press
Next: Continue with the installation
Software in the Public Interest presents *** Debian GNU/Linux 2.1 *** ...
Read the text Press
<ENTER> (You see
<Continue> on the screen)
Next: Configure the Keyboard
Select your country and press
Next : Partition a Hard Disk
Select Disk Drive usually /dev/hda
If you have several disks choose the good one (where you want to
install Linux) and press
You are now using the program
cfdisk. Using
cfdisk is safe until you decide to
[Write] the
partition on disk. Leaving
cfdisk with
[Quit] is
We are going to make just two new primary partitions, a Swap one and a big Linux one. If you want to create more partitions, leave some free space or extended partitions, you can. But read the documentation about "Partitioning" in the Installation-HOWTO, especially if you have more than 1024 cylinders and an old version of LILO.
If you previously ran the
FIPS program, you see the
hda1 partition (
DOSFAT16). Switch to the next free
partition with the up/down arrow keys.
[New] with the right/left arrow keys and press
[Primary] and press
Enter the size of your swap partition. Twice the RAM is usual if you have less than 128 megabytes of ram. If you have 2 gigabytes of RAM, it's because you don't want to swap. In that case, no swap partition is needed.
[Beginning] and press
[Type] and press
<ENTER>. Type
82 (Linux Swap) and press
Switch to the next free partition with the up/down arrow
keys. Select
[New] and press
[Primary] and press
Enter the size in MB (you can leave the default) and press
<ENTER> Its type should be already Linux. If not,
change to Linux (83) with
The partition table is defined now. Verify everything looks good. If
you're not sure, read the documentation with
[Help]. If
doubts are still there, select
[Quit] and leave the
installation process. Go for a walk and restart from the beginning
of this section.
I assume you are confident now.
Are you sure you want to write the partition table to disk?
Type "
yes" and press
[Quit] and press
Next: Initialize and Activate a Swap Partition
Please select the partition to initialize as a swap device
/dev/hda2 (normally already selected).
Scan for Bad Blocks?
<YES> and press
Are you Sure?
<YES> and press
Initializing swap partition ...
Next: Initialize a Linux Partition
Select Partition. Please select the partition to initialize as a Linux "ext2" file-system.
/dev/hda3 (normally already selected) and press
Scan for Bad Blocks?
<YES> and press
Are you Sure?
<YES> and press
A new page full of numbers. You can take a rest because it takes some time (especially with a big hard disk).
Next: Mount a Previously-Initialized Partition
Please select the partition to mount
/dev/hda3 and press
Mount the /dev/hda3 device as the Root FileSystem?
<Yes< and press
Next: Install Operating System Kernel and Modules
Please select the medium you will use to install the system
/dev/fd0 and press
Please place the Rescue Floppy in the first floppy drive
The floppy is already there.
<Continue> and press
Installing the Rescue Floppy ... Please place the Drivers Floppy in the first floppy drive
Eject the Rescue Floppy and insert the Drivers Floppy, the one I
you labelled
drv1440.bin (you did it, didn't you?).
<Continue> and press
Installing the Drivers Floppy ...
A new screen:
Next: Configure Device Driver Modules
Select Category
Read the text.
Please select the category of modules
net and press
Module plip
Select "Install the module in the kernel" and press
No parameters are needed.
<Ok> and press
Installation succeeded Please press ENTER when you are ready to continue.
Exit ("Finished with these modules") and press
Then you see the same kind of screen again.
Exit ("Finished with these
modules") and press
Next: Configure the Network
Choose a name, you can use a different name than
debian or
Is your system connect to a network?
<No> and press
STOP STOP STOP. You see now:
Next: Install the base system
Now we need a shell.
Alt F2 and
You are in a root shell.
You are in a root shell.
Verify the plip module is loaded:
$ lsmod Module Pages Used by plip 3 0
Find the exact name of the plip interface:
$ dmesg ... NET3 PLIP version 2.2 firstname.lastname@example.com plip1: Parallel port at 0x378, using assigned IRQ 7
You can find the same information with
$ cat /proc/kmsg ... <4>NET3 PLIP version 2.2 firstname.lastname@example.com <4>plip1: Parallel port at 0x378, using assigned IRQ 7 ... Ctrl-c (or ^C if you prefer)
Configure the plip interface:
$ ifconfig plip1 192.168.0.1 pointopoint 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.255 up
Verify everything is ok:
$ ifconfig plip1 plip0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr FC:FC:C0:A8:00:01 inet addr:192.168.0.1 P-t-P:192.168.0.2 Mask:255.255.255.255 UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 Collisions:0 Interrupt:7 Base address:0x378
Verify the route to source exists:
$ route Kernel IP routing table Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface 127.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
If not, like in the previous example, add the route to 192.168.0.2, the source:
$ route add -host 192.168.0.2 dev plip1
Now the route is installed:
$ route Kernel IP routing table Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface 192.168.0.2 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255 UH 0 0 0 plip1 127.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
Now you can perform a successful
ping from the
source server (
ping is not available on the Debian
install process):
$ ping target PING target (192.168.0.1): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=14.0 ms 64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=4.3 ms --- target ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 4.3/9.1/14.0 ms
If it doesn't work, check the Null-Modem cable connection, rerun
route. Verify
everything. Take a rest. Restart.
When the ping is okay, return to the normal installation process:
On the target: press
Alt F1
You are back to the normal installation process. You should still see:
Next: Install the base system
Please select the medium you will use to install the system
nfs and press
Please choose the NFS server and the mount path ...
Please choose the path inside the mounted NFS filesystem
Type /debian (normally already there) and press
If no error message complains about the nfs mount then bravo. You can verify this mount by entering the shell again:
Alt F2
$ mount ... 192.168.0.2:/cdrom on /instmnt type nfs (rw, addr=192.168.0.2) $ ls /instmnt/debian README README.non-US doc/ README.CD-manufacture README.pgp@ hamm/ README.mirrors.html TRANS.TBL tools/ README.mirrors.txt dists/
Alt F1
You're back again to the normal installation process.
Now the plip nfs cdrom connection is done. Let's go on and finish our job.
Please select the directory containing a file base2_0.tgz
list and press
Please Wait The installation program is building a list of ...
A new screen:
Select Archive Path Please select the directory that you will use to install the Base System from.
Only one long item, already selected. Press
The Base System is being extracted from /instmnt/debian/dists/.....
Take a second rest, you deserve it
Next: Configure the Base System
Select Timezone
Select your timezone and your directory and press
Timezone Configuration
Read and press
Timezone Configuration.
An other page. Read, select
<YES> and press
Next: Make Linux Bootable Directly From Hard Disk
Create Master Boot Record?
<Yes> and press
Make Linux the Default Boot Partition?
<No> and press
Next: Make a boot Floppy
Change Disk Please place a blank floppy disk in the first floppy drive.
Do it and press
The floppy is being formatted
Creating a filesystem on the floppy... Copying the operating system kernel...
A new screen:
Next: Reboot the System
Reboot the system ?
Remove the floppy and press
The system reboots. Are you still with the dark side? I guess yes,
so insert the boot floppy you've just made and reboot again with
See the boot messages.
Read the text.
New password:
Enter a root password.
Re-enter new password
Do it. And learn it.
Shall I create a normal user account now? [Y/n]
n and press
<ENTER>. Unless you want
to do it (it is safe and good, in fact).
Shall I install shadow passwords? [Y/n]
y and press
Do you want to use a PPP connection to install
n and press
Now you may choose one of several selections ... Do you want to perform this step?
n and press
I'm going to start the 'dselect' program...
[Q]uit and press
You may now login as 'root' at the login: prompt... ... debian login:
Enter the root password.
... debian:~#
The system is installed and working. CONGRATULATIONS!
My job stops here. Read the install documentation of your distribution and go on with the Unix system administration job.
When you reboot your system, the plip connection won't be in good shape. But now you know what to do.
I suggest you some work:
/etc/fstat on the target to
simply mount the remote source cdrom via nfs.
source:/cdrom /cdrom nfs noauto,intr 1 2
This section is written by Florent SAUNIER.
Here, '&' is used for the root prompt, rather than '$'.
I have performed a Slackware installation using PLIP very succesfully. I have also been able to install RedHat and Caldera Open linux using the very same method described below.
As previously specified by Gilles, a Slackware installation requires everything specified in the chapter "What do you need?" with the time increased to 10 hours if you desire to install xfree(86) and some development tools.
Further on, you first need to read Gilles' installation as I set up mine according to his method.
Finally, I have performed Slackware and Caldera installation on a Twinhead 550C laptop, with 8Mb Ram, and 2Gbytes Hard drive.
To install Slackware verion using an ATAPI CDROM from your source, you will need the standard kernel image bareapm.i or bare.i. If you want to make an install with SCSI support, use the scsinet.i image.
Other images exist, such as net.i which should include the PLIP function but on my i486 laptop, Twinhead550C, the image does not work. In my experience, the standard image always works on any laptop I have used.
From DOS (PC-DOS, DR-DOS, FreeDOS, ...) create the boot disk by typing:
rawrite bareapm.ithen create the root disks:
rawrite color.gz.a (if you are using a color screen)
On a DOS formated disk copy the following files:
/MODULES. The same applies to the Caldera
installation. Run a "find" if you cannot find them.
Insert your boot disk in your Laptop and start the computer. Follow the installation procedure and wait until the system ask for the root disk. Insert it and wait for the prompt login: "Slackware login".
To start the Slackware installation you must log in as root. Type "root" at the prompt. Be aware that at the time of installation your keyboard is still qwerty.
Install your source computer according to Gilles' instructions, from chapter 7 to 9.
Install PLIP on the target. To install the PLIP module you need to launch the program from your PLIP disk. Remember you did it, no !!!
Access your floppy disk with:
$ mount /dev/fd0h1440 /floppy $ cd /floppy $ insmod parport # it will install your parallel port $ insmod parport_pc # it will set it up $ insmod plip # it will install plip moduleIf during the PLIP installation you encounter an error, it means that your parallel port has not been correctly installed. You may type again the instruction above, it does work sometimes !!, or go to the parport directory and write the appropriate setting.
$ cd /proc/parport/0 $ vi IRQ # Verify that 7 is written in it if you are using # that interrupt'See the chapter "PLIP on the source side" to get the proper setting.
You should not bother too much as at 95% on the 5 laptops I have installed everyting went smoothly. (Comment peut-on avoir "95% de cinq", said rational Graham)
From that point I have chosen to use the creation of a NFS drive on the target computer. Then I will make an installation using the "From directory" option rather than from nfs.
Do not forget you still have a US keyboard layout. Of course you have set up your source according to chapter "Network parameters". You did then ping your source, but you cannot yet ping the target.
So the first step is to configure your PLIP connection: On the target type:
$ ifconfig plip0 192.168.0.1 pointopoint 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.255 up
Test your Plip configuration by pinging the target from the source
$ ping targetthen mount your nfs drive on the target:
$ cd / $ mkdir nfstest $ mount -t nfs 192.168.0.2:/cdrom /nfstestYou have just configured a drive linked to your source directory /cdrom were you suppose to have the Slackware CDROM connected, from your target directory called nfstest.
Now everything is set up and you are ready to launch the Slackware installation program, by typing "setup".
note:if you do not have enough memory, below 8MB setup will not be launched, then you will have to make a swap space to allow the program to work. First, create your disk partition with your swap by typing
$ fdisk
Note which is your swap partition (e.g. /hda3), then quit fdisk with 'w'. Once it's done, type:
$ mkswap -c /dev/hda3 $ swapon /dev/ha3
Your swap is now set up. You may then launch the "setup" program.
the setup programm shows various menu items:
4b- Select your keyboard, for French take -Fr-latin1.map
4c- Select your swap partition if not already configured
4d- Select the target, default is '/'
4e- Select the source. tricky stuff: choose "Installing from a drive", then type the drive so : /nfstest/slackware '/slackware' because your drive must point to your slackware CDROM directory
4f- Select packages to install
4g- Wait, Wait, Wait and Wait........
I told you that Caldera works also with that install. In fact, as Caldera automatically launches its Setup program, once you arrived at the menu where you are supposed to choose your source disks, type ALT F2, go to another screen, then log on as root and make your nfs drive as described above in points 2 to 4. Then go back to the installation screen with ALT F1, and type the famous nfstest as your source directory. Caldera will then install without problem.
If you are experiencing any trouble with that installation you may report it to me and I'll try to help as best as I can.
This section is written by Dr. Tilmann Bubeck, email@example.com
I tried hard to install a laptop through PLIP with a RedHat 6.2 but the installer from RedHat is buggy and could not be used for PLIP. I verified that it was already broken in RedHat 6.1, but works in RedHat 5.2 as desired. Patches have been sent to RedHat and will hopefully be applied to the upcoming RedHat 7.0.
So if you want to install a RedHat 6.x over PLIP you must follow these instructions.
The problem is the "bootnet" disk. This disk should be used for PLIP installation but has 2 serious errors:
Probably the easiest way to solve the above problem is to use a fixed "bootnet" disk. You can get a fixed "bootnet" disk for RedHat 6.2 from http://www-ti.informatik.uni-tuebingen.de/~bubeck/bootnet-plip-62.img
Use the following command to copy the downloaded image to an empty disk:
dd if=bootnet-plip-62.img of=/dev/fd0.
Then insert the disk and turn your computer on. When you come to the point where you must choose your network device driver please do:
If the above bootnet disk is not suitable for your needs, I will present a small description of how to transform a standard bootnet disk for using "plip". This description is quite short and is addressed to the advanced user.
mount /dev/fd0 /mnt
cp /mnt/initrd.img
/tmp/initrd.img.gz; gunzip /tmp/initrd.img.gz
mkdir /mnt2; mount -o loop
/tmp/initrd.img /mnt2
cd /tmp;
zcat /mnt2/modules/modules.cgz | cpio -ivd
.../parport_pc.o /tmp/2.2.14-5.0BOOT.
/tmp/2.2.14-5.0BOOT/sktr.o (driver for token ring
network adapter).
/tmp/2.2.14-5.0BOOT | cpio -ov -H crc | gzip >
echo "parport_pc: parport" >>
parport_pc plip "Parallel Port Module for PC" io "Base I/O address" irq "IRQ level"
umount /mnt2;
gzip -9 /tmp/initrd.img
cp /tmp/initrd.img.gz /mnt/initrd.img; umount /mnt
By following these instructions, you get a bootnet disk containing all necessary modules and therefore allowing for a PLIP installation. Please follow the instructions elsewhere in this how-to on how to do the installation with the new disk.
This section is written by Leonard den Ottolander
To install RedHat 7.0 over PLIP the easiest way to go is to use a patched bootnet.img which is available via the url http://home.hetnet.nl/~ottolander. This saves the need for a driver disk, which might be useful when installing on a machine which floppy drive stops functioning after boot (I made this bootnet-plip.img to do an install to a Toshiba Libretto 30 which has a funny PCMCIA floppy drive that is no longer available after boot).
This disk is a full bootnet.img for RedHat 7.0, with the modules necessary for PLIP added to it. Since there was enough disk space, no modules had to be deleted. So you can use this image as if it were a full featured bootnet.img. No need for different disks.
I am not going into detail on the actual installation procedure, but there are a few things to note:
The parport module should be loaded before the PLIP module. Specify i/o address and irq parameters for the parallel port when inserting the parallel port module.
After inserting the parport_pc module the installer will show the "Installation method" screen a second time. This is expected behaviour. Choose the PLIP module this second time. No parameters need to be specified when inserting the PLIP module.
When specifying network parameters, do not use a netmask of 255.255.255.255 as you might normally do for a PLIP connection. If you do this by accident you will have to reboot to be able to mount the installation directory succesfully. Going back and respecifying the parameters will not help you out.
When doing an NFS install with RedHat 7.0 make sure all files from the RedHat directories from both CD's are copied to the NFS mount point (cp -a RedHat for both CD's). It is not possible to use the mounted CD's.
This section is a slightly adapted copy of the procedure to create a bootnet-plip image for RedHat 6.2 described by Tilmann Bubeck. Thanx Tilmann!
1) Mount a copy of the standard bootnet disk and copy all files to a temporary directory:
mount -o loop -t vfat /tmp/bootnet.img /mnt/bootnet cp -a /mnt/bootnet /tmp
2) Gunzip the initial ramdisk, mount it and copy all files to a temporary directory:
mv /tmp/bootnet/initrd.img /tmp/bootnet/initrd.gz gzip -d /tmp/bootnet/initrd.gz mount -o loop /tmp/bootnet/initrd /mnt/initrd cp -a /mnt/initrd /tmp
3) Gunzip and extract the modules directory with:
cd /tmp zcat /tmp/initrd/modules/modules.cgz | cpio -ivd
4) Install the kernel-BOOT-2.2.16-22 rpm and copy the modules parport.o, parport_pc.o and plip.o from /lib/modules/2.2.16-22BOOT to /tmp/2.2.16-22BOOT, or use the midnight commander to extract these files from rpm. When building modified boot disks you will always need the modules from the kernel-BOOT rpm.
5) If you need additional space on your bootnet-plip disk, delete an unused module from the modules directory, fe:
rm /tmp/2.2.16-22BOOT/old_tulip.o
Note that this is not necessary for the RedHat 7.0 bootnet disk. There is enough space left for the added modules. Do *not* delete modules like sunrpc.o, lockd.o, nfs.o, fat.o, vfat.o and the like. This will make your disk useless. Use common sense.
6) Rebuild the modules archive:
find /tmp/2.2.16-22BOOT | cpio -ov -H crc | gzip > \ /tmp/initrd/modules/modules.cgz
7) Insert a new modules dependency line into modules.dep saying that module "parport_pc" needs module "parport":
echo "parport_pc: parport" >> /tmp/initrd/modules/modules.dep
8) Insert entries for the parport_pc and plip modules into module-info. These entries should look like this:
parport_pc plip "Parallel Port, Insert Before PLIP" io "Base I/O address" irq "IRQ level" plip plip "PLIP (Parallel Link Interface Protocol)" io "Base I/O address" irq "IRQ level"
You probably may omit the io and irq entries for plip. Also delete any entries that refer to modules that you removed from the archive (ie old_tulip in the previous example).
9) Copy the modified module files to the initial ramdisk:
cp -a /tmp/initrd/modules/module* /mnt/initrd/modules
10) Unmount and gzip the initial ramdisk and copy it to the disk image:
umount /mnt/initrd gzip -9 /tmp/bootnet/initrd cp /tmp/bootnet/initrd.gz /mnt/bootnet/initrd.img umount /mnt/bootnet
11) The file /tmp/bootnet.img is now your new bootnet-plip.img. You might want to clean up your temporary files:
rm -r /tmp/2.2.16-22BOOT rm -r /tmp/initrd rm -r /tmp/bootnet
The Suse installation process includes PLIP support (Network type configuration). If you encounter a problem installing a Suse distibution using PLIP, feel free to report them.
You can use this section if you already have a DOS partition on your target computer. I think it is a faster installation method.
Read the section 5.3.1 "Installing from a DOS partition" from install.txt. This section is also available on the Debian CD in the html file ch-install-methods.html.
I am just going to help you to make the first point : "1. Get the following files from your nearest Debian repository"
The transfer is easy with the floppy-disc based Linux from tomsrtbt.
Export the source cdrom drive via nfs.
Read the file tomsrtbt.FAQ
Create the floppy under DOS or Linux, you have the choice.
Linux installation: a) extract the .tar.gz archive b) Be root c) Be in the tomsrtbt-<version> directory d) Have a blank floppy with no bad sectors e) Do './install.s'
Boot the target with the floppy. Login as root.
$ insmod plip $ ifconfig plip1 192.168.0.1 pointopoint 192.168.0.2 \ netmask 255.255.255.255 up $ route add -host 192.168.0.2 dev plip1 $ mount -t nfs 192.168.0.2:/cdrom /cdrom $ mkdir /c $ mount -t msdos /dev/hda1 /c $ mkdir /c/debian $ cd /cdrom/dists/stable/main/disks-i386/current/ $ cp resc1440.bin drv1440.bin base2_1.tgz root.bin linux \ install.bat loadlin.exe /c/debian
\ means the command line continues on the next line.
cp command takes some time. When finished, remove the
floppy and then :
$ reboot
Boot under DOS.
C:\> cd debian C:\DEBIAN> install
Now you start to install Debian from a DOS partition. You do not need plip or floppy during the installation process. Everything deals with the hard drive. Read the Debian install documentation, it is very good and clear.
I use an old Linux RedHat 4.1 distribution. The location of the files can be different on other GNU/Linux distributions but the philosophy is the same (The Unix System V convention).
Create the file
/etc/rc.d/init.d/plip with this content:
#!/bin/sh ############################## # file /etc/rc.d/init.d/plip # ############################## # See how we were called. case "$1" in start) # Start daemons. /bin/echo "Starting plip interface: " /bin/echo "Doing /sbin/ifconfig plip0 source pointopoint target netmask 255.255.255.255 up" /sbin/ifconfig plip0 source pointopoint target netmask 255.255.255.255 up /bin/echo "Doing /bin/ping -q -c 4 target" /bin/ping -q -c 4 target /bin/echo "Starting plip interface: done" ;; stop) # Stop daemons. /bin/echo "Shutting down plip interface:" /bin/echo "Doing /sbin/ifconfig plip0 source pointopoint target netmask 255.255.255.255 down" /sbin/ifconfig plip0 source pointopoint target netmask 255.255.255.255 down /bin/echo "Doing /sbin/modprobe -r plip " /sbin/modprobe -r plip /bin/echo "Shutting down plip interface: done" ;; *) echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop}" exit 1 esac exit 0 # === End of File ===
Only the ifconfig lines are strictly necessary. Perhaps you will
need to add some
modprobe commands if you don't use
kerneld or the
kmod feature of new kernels 2.2.x
Create the symbolic links in the
rc*.d directories:
$ cd /etc/rc.d/rc0.d/ $ ln -s ../init.d/plip K97plip $ cd /etc/rc.d/rc1.d/ $ ln -s ../init.d/plip K92plip $ cd /etc/rc.d/rc3.d/ $ ln -s ../init.d/plip S11plip $ cd /etc/rc.d/rc5.d/ $ ln -s ../init.d/plip S11plip
You can choose other numbers. Make sure that the two-digit number after 'K' is greater than the number of every other file that stops a service depending on plip.
Make sure that the two-digit number after 'S' is less than the number of every other file that start a service depending on plip: nfs, nis, ftp, http etc.
Update the
/etc/conf.modules file, choosing the correct
IRQ number (7 is mine, yours may be different):
# /etc/conf.modules ... alias parport_lowlevel parport_pc post-install parport_pc echo 7 > /proc/parport/0/irq ...
Test the plip shell:
$ /etc/rc.d/init.d/plip Usage: /etc/rc.d/init.d/plip {start|stop} $ /etc/rc.d/init.d/plip stop Shutting down plip interface: Doing /sbin/ifconfig plip0 source pointopoint target netmask 255.255.255.255 down Doing /sbin/modprobe -r plip Shutting down plip interface: done $ /etc/rc.d/init.d/plip start Starting plip interface: Doing /sbin/ifconfig plip0 source pointopoint target netmask 255.255.255.255 up Doing /bin/ping -q -c 4 target PING target (192.168.0.1): 56 data bytes --- target ping statistics --- 4 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 4.4/8.3/14.0 ms Starting plip interface: done
Updating the start scripts is a good occasion to reboot a Unix system, to check the modifications. Do it:
$ init 6 # or "shutdown -r now" or "reboot"
Update the file
#! /bin/sh ####################### # /etc/init.d/network # ####################### ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1 route add -net 127.0.0.0 ifconfig plip1 192.168.0.1 pointopoint 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.255 up route add -host 192.168.0.2 dev plip1
That's all because the parport features are directly in the kernel.
Updating the start scripts is a good occasion to reboot a Unix system, to check the modifications. Do it:
$ init 6
I use the same parallel port for printing on a printer and networking with my laptop without big problems. It takes less than one second to switch from printing to networking. I just add a cheap manual switch between the parallel port, the printer and the laptop. The cable between the switch and the desktop computer is a fully connected one. The switch is just the one used to shared printers when no network is available. It works.
Sometimes, the kernel is not very happy because it can't finish its network job. In that case, I shut down the plip interface and restart it when needed.
I bought a new parallel card last year but it is still in its box. I'll write an "install a second parallel port" when I succeed in opening the box and add that beautiful card in the last connector I have left.
Several times during the source server configuration we mentioned that a kernel compilation on the source computer could be needed.
I list the things you need to change or set. If you have never compiled a kernel, read the Kernel-HOWTO.
Loadable module support ---> [*] Enable loadable module support General setup ---> [*] Networking support <M> Parallel port support <M> PC-style hardware Networking options ---> [*] TCP/IP networking Network device support ---> [*] Network device support <*> Dummy net driver support <M> PLIP (parallel port) support <*> or <M> PPP (point-to-point) support Character devices ---> <M> Parallel printer support Filesystems ---> [*] /proc filesystem support <*> or <M> ISO 9660 CDROM filesystem support Network File Systems ---> <*> or <M> NFS filesystem support
>From "Matt Haycraft" firstname.lastname@example.com
Both sides have the right thing show up with ifconfig and route but ping (or anything else does not work) However what blows my mind is that the ifconfig section for both machines DOES show that packets are being received/transmitted.
However it turned out to be a compatibility issue between 2.2.14 and 2.2.16 and the plip code for each kernel version. 2.2.16 had some differences. To address the issue, I copied the plip.c from the 2.2.16 kernel to the source tree of 2.2.14 and recompiled the kernel module. Then everything worked!
This tag is automatic so it IS the reference. (Sometimes I forget to update the version number and the date)
$Id: PLIP-Install-HOWTO.sgml,v 1.40 2002/07/07 23:46:32 gilles Exp $
$Log: PLIP-Install-HOWTO.sgml,v $ Revision 1.40 2002/07/07 23:46:32 gilles Corrected tag problem Revision 1.39 2002/07/07 23:42:27 gilles Added Richard Barrington in "acknowledgements" section. Revision 1.38 2002/07/07 23:15:53 gilles Added a "Known problems" section Added "plip 2.2.14 versus 2.2.16" section. Thanks Matt. Revision 1.37 2002/07/07 22:56:44 gilles Adapted insmod parport_pc to 2.4 kernel
.config file) with only the options I gave. Add the
missing ones if any.
Debian (done), Red Hat (redone by Tilmann Bubeck), Slackware (done), Caldera OpenLinux (done), SuSE (done).
I thank all the people in this list of contributors or projects. If you think I forgot someone, do not hesitate to complain.
He said: "yesterday I had time enough to read your document. It's great and in the next issue of my HOWTO (probably 2. December) I will make a link to it."
He did.
The Linux Documentation Project accepted the PLIP-Install-HOWTO without any hesitation.
Graham corrected my bad English all over the document. Several times. Graham told me that Suse includes a PLIP installation process.
Simon had a problem with his pcmcia floppy drive. So he led me search for a solution that is, in fact, simpler and faster (the DOS one).
Andrew suggested that I talk about parted http://www.gnu.org/software/parted
Florent wrote the section called "Installing Slackware/Caldera".
Tomas also corrected my bad english.
Brad corrected a bug in the Slackware section (inverted IP adresses).
Donald wrote the PLIP kernel documentation
Tilmann wrote the section called "Installing RedHat 6.x".
Leonard wrote the section called "Installing RedHat 7.x".
"Under linux 2.4, the described method of setting irq doesn't work. it needs insmod parport_pc io=0x378 irq=7 otherwise it will default to no irq." Thanks Richard.
Matt discovered and resolved a plip problem between 2.2.14 and 2.2.16 kernels. See Known problems section.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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HOLLYWOOD – Dr. Laura has inked a deal for a new NBC sitcom. She's starring with her black friend and her gay friend.
Conservative radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who recently give up her show after using the N-word repeatedly, announced on Larry King's show that she has a black friend and a gay friend. King was stunned to hear that Dr. Laura spent time with anybody except white Jews. "Did you just go out to dinner with them, or did you invite them into your house as well?" King asked Dr. Laura. "I had them at my house AND they stayed overnight." That really shocked King, who grabbed his heart and said, "Hello, Cleveland!"
After paramedics defibrillated King, Dr. Laura told him that she had just signed a deal with NBC to star in a new sitcom with her black friend and her gay friend. The sitcom will be called "Dr. Laura's Friends." It takes place in Manhattan where Dr. Laura (who plays a pseudo-psychologist and talk-show host named Dr. Laura), lives in an apartment with her two best friends: Wayne (the black Wayne Brady) and Neil Patrick Harris (the gay Neil Patrick Harris).
"You live with them in the same apartment?" A shocked Larry King said. "Yes. And it's only a one-bedroom." Upon hearing this, King collapsed. He was taken to Cedars Sinai Hospital, where an intern pronounced him D.O.A. – but he was fine, back to his normal cadaver-like self.
Dr. Laura said she wouldn't use the N-Word on the NBC sitcom, but Wayne Brady and Neil Patrick Harris would be allowed to use the C-Word. "I told them it was okay to call me that, because I feel bad about offending some N***gers on my radio show. I wanted to make it up to them on the sitcom and show America that I can take it as well as I can give it. It's a First Amendment issue."
Several reporters questioned whether Wayne Brady was black enough to be her black friend on the sitcom. Dr. Laura said, "Man, if that N***ger isn't black, then I'm not a dwarf." Other reporters suggested that Neil Patrick Harris wasn't flamboyant enough to be her gay friend. "Neil will be wearing lipstick and a dress in most episodes, so you have nothing to worry about. He'll be your average queer."
Since Dr. Laura's nude pictures are all over the internet, reporters asked her if she would be appearing nude in the sitcom. "I sure will!" She said as she flashed some cleavage and thigh.
David Chappelle will play the next-door neighbor on the sitcom. Chappelle and Dr. Laura will call each other the N-Word in every episode. The sitcom will have the same format each week. Dr. Laura, Wayne and Neil will get into a wacky situation and by the end of the episode Dr. Laura will go into a racist, homophobic rant. Then she'll apologize and they'll take her back… until the next episode!
"Dr. Laura's Friends" – Must See TV.
For those who missed it, here's Dr. Laura's N-Word rant:


text:
I love making homemade granola -- it takes less than an hour including baking and its a lot cheaper and healthier than buying granola at the grocery store. I wanted to change my usual granola a little bit to make a bit more summery, so I came up with this tropical granola. Including the mashed banana really gives this a ton of flavor. Adding the egg white, helps the granola form clumps. Feel free to switch out the dried fruits for whatever you like, banana chips, papaya, or mango would also work great in this granola. This granola is great on its own or served over yogurt.
Tropical Granola
1 large very ripe banana, mashed
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup honey
1 T canola oil
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup shredded coconut
2/3 cup dried cranberries
1 cup dried apricots, chopped
1 cup dried pineapple, chopped
4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1 cup chopped pecans
1 egg white
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper. Combine banana, applesauce, honey, oil, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt and whisk together until smooth in a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients and stir gently with a wooden spoon until well incorporated. The mixture will be dry but all dry ingredients should be moistened. Beat egg white with a whisk until foamy and pour over mixture. Stir to incorporate.
Spread in an even layer onto prepared pans, if mixture is too deep, it may take longer to bake. Bake about 30 minutes, stir gently making sure to move the granola from the edges into the middle and bake about 20 minutes more. Remove from oven and cool on pans. Transfer to storage containers. Recipe yields about 3 quart-size jars of granola.


text:
The IPO market, an engine of job growth, stalls
ASSOCIATED PRESS Matthew Craft, Monday October 24, 2011
NEW YORK (AP) — Two companies with quirky names, Ubiquiti Networks and Zeltiq Aesthetics, made their public debuts earlier this month with listings on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Each company's stock went up modestly on the first day of trading.
Ubiquiti pocketed $106 million for the day, and Zeltiq made $91 million. They were the most successful stock debuts of the past two months. Then again, they were the only stock debuts of the past two months.
The market for initial public offerings, or IPOs, is suffering through a drought of Texas proportions. Companies thinking of going public are deciding it's just too risky.
The stock market lost nearly 20 percent of its value in a month this past summer. Swings of 200 points for the Dow Jones industrial average continue to be commonplace. Getting the timing wrong for a coming-out party can mean missing out on millions of dollars.
A dried-up IPO market matters because stock debuts aren't just a chance for tech whizzes to become overnight billionaires and ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange. Companies use the cash they raise to grow — and that means hiring people.
And at a time when 14 million Americans are looking for work and the unemployment rate has been stuck near 9 percent for two years, the last thing the economy needs is for one engine of hiring to stall.
There are 215 companies waiting to go public. They've filed the necessary paperwork and lined up bankers, and are just holding out for the right time to unleash their stock. The waiting list is the longest since 2001, according to Renaissance Capital, an investment advice firm.
LogMeIn, a Massachusetts software company, went public in July 2009, raised $107 million and harnessed the cash to hire people. Within two years, its work force grew by a third, to 432 people. Without the IPO, the company might have added only 10 percent to its work force, says Jim Kelliher, the chief financial officer.
"It's cash to expand your business," he says.
That's how it usually works. For upstart companies, IPOs and hiring sprees go hand in hand:
— LinkedIn, the online social network for professionals, went public in May to fanfare, raising $353 million. In the three months through the end of June, it expanded its staff by 17 percent.
— Pandora, which streams music online, debuted in June. It bulked up the product development staff by 74 percent and sales and marketing by 125 percent. Pandora employed about 300 people at the end of January and now has more than 400.
— ReachLocal, an online marketing company, went public in May 2010. From the month before its coming-out party through the end of the year, its work force grew 30 percent, to 1,381.
In good times, an open door for stock market debuts can start a snowball of benefits, says Steven Kaplan, a professor of finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Venture capital firms bankroll small upstarts, like Amazon and Google, years before they go public. A successful IPO enriches the venture capital backers. They then have an easier time raising money from new investors to plow into companies that might be the next Amazon or Google.
"There's a feedback effect," Kaplan says.
For profitable businesses, an IPO can also unlock the door to corporate debt markets, another source of cash that helps a company grow.
Entrepreneurs and investors describe going public as a crucial hurdle for fast-growing companies, one that divides the Amazons and Googles of the world from the graveyard of startups.
Those that clear the hurdle can transform themselves from obscure businesses to household names. A recent study by the National Venture Capital Association, a trade group, and IHS Global Insight, an economic forecasting firm, examined companies that went public from 1970 to 2010 and had been backed by venture capital before their IPO.
It found that 92 percent of the people hired by those companies over the four decades came on after the IPO.
A separate report by Nasdaq OMX, which owns the Nasdaq Stock Market, examined companies that went public from 2001 to 2009 and found that they increased their collective work force by 70 percent. The number of employed people in the United States in that time rose 1.3 percent.
Of course, the economy has bigger problems than a barren IPO market. Even if all the promising upstarts in line for an IPO went public, it might not put a dent in the 9.1 percent unemployment rate.
And it's difficult to know exactly what companies will do with the money. Most are vague in regulatory paperwork about their next steps. And would-be public companies are barred from talking about their plans until a month after their debut.
Before this past summer, fast-growing companies like LinkedIn and Pandora had been jumping into the stock market at a brisk pace. The companies got a good initial price, and their stock generally did well after that. LinkedIn went public May 19, and its stock more than doubled on its first day.
For a while, it appeared that 2011 would be the best year for IPOs since the Internet bubble popped in 2000. Investors were ready for Internet companies like Zynga and Facebook to go public.
They're still waiting. The Dow lost more than 2,000 points from late July through mid-August. And while the market has rallied since early October, the past two months have been a series of up and down lurches.
As dry as it's been, the drought for IPOs is still not as bad as during the financial crisis. Just one company, Grand Canyon Education, managed to go public in six months, August 2008 to February 2009.
Faced with a long wait and a volatile stock market, some companies have decided to give up. At least 15 private companies have withdrawn their IPO paperwork from the Securities and Exchange Commission in the past two months.
Others are getting snapped up by larger corporations. Of the five companies that pulled their IPOs in September, three were acquired. Hitachi, Nestle and private equity firms all picked up companies that gave up their dream of going public.
What will it take to end the drought? Calmer markets. In recent weeks, moves by European officials to end the region's debt crisis have lifted stocks, but the market remains volatile.
In the meantime, companies are warily eyeing the calendar. Groupon, the daily-deal email service, plans to go public in early November. It was valued as high as $25 billion in June, but it now expects less than half that.


text:
Check out these books by Dave Whitaker available through DavesMusicDatabase.com or Amazon.
Also check the Dave's Music Database Facebook page for daily music-related posts.
With the Grammy nominees out now, it is time to let the complaining begin...except that I don't have much to complain about, at least not about the Album of the Year nominations. This year's crop – Radiohead's In Rainbows, Coldplay's Viva La Vida, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' Raising Sand, Lil' Wayne's Tha Carter III, and Ne-Yo's Year of the Gentleman is better than most years. All were successful and critically acclaimed. There's not a lemon in the batch and nothing is completely out of left field.
Click to read more about the album.
So this year's winner will be...Raising Sand. It's the safest and most middle-of-the-road. Not a bad choice, actually. It's hard to argue with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss walking home with album of the year honors. Both are artists well deserving of any accolade thrown their way. It was also an interesting experiment in pairing two artists from seemingly opposite sides of the fence that paid off.
Click to read more about the album.
Still, it would be nice to see Radiohead or Coldplay crowned with the award, but it would be yet another case of getting an album of the year award for the wrong album. Radiohead's unquestionable pinnacle was 1997's OK Computer while Coldplay won much more attention and critical acclaim for 2000's Parachutes or 2002's A Rush of Blood to the Head.
Click to read more about the album.
Radiohead and Coldplay also fall into too similar a genre and will end up canceling each other out anyway. The same problem is true of Lil' Wayne and Ne-Yo. The rap and R&B crowds will be split between the two choices.
Click to read more about the album.
So, not a bad crop this year and any of them could win and be less of a head scratcher than some year's winners.
Related DMDB Blog Posts:
- Past Album-of-the-Year Grammy Winners Ranked and Revisited (12/4/2011)
- 2012 Grammy Nominations (12/1/2011)
- Predictions for 2012 Grammy Nominations (11/30/2011)
- The 2011 Grammy Awards According to Dave (2/14/2011)
- 2011 Grammys: The Steve Theory Won't Go Home a Winner (2/13/2011)


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Washington (CNN) - Rep. Michele Bachmann, a potential Republican presidential candidate, is taking issue with Michelle Obama over the first lady's recent promotion of breast-feeding.
Speaking to conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham Tuesday, the Minnesota Republican said Obama's efforts to promote breast-feeding and the IRS's announcement that nursing supplies that aide in the practice can be deducted from tax returns amounts to a "new definition [of] the nanny state."
"This is very consistent with where the hard left is coming from," Bachmann told Ingraham. "For them, government is the answer to every problem."
"I've given birth to five babies and I breast fed every single one of these babies," she added. "To think that government has to go out and buy my breast pump for my babies? You wanna talk about the nanny state, I think you just got a new definition."
The comments come on the heels of Obama's recent contention that breast-feeding can play a key role in reducing childhood obesity.
"We also want to focus on the important touch points in a child's life. And what we're learning now is that early intervention is key. Breastfeeding. Kids who are breastfed longer have a lower tendency to be obese," Obama told a group of reporters last week, according to Politics Daily.
"Breastfeeding is a very personal choice for every woman," Kristina Schake, a spokeswoman for Obama, later said. "We are trying to make it easier for those who choose to do it."
It's not the first time Obama has faced ire from the right when it comes to childhood nutrition. Sarah Palin told Ingraham last fall that "the first lady cannot trust parents to make decisions for their own children, for their own families in what we should eat."
If Mrs. Bachmann has a beef with the whole tax write-off thing, Mrs. Obama is not the place to start. Unless the article grossly misconstrued the connection, the tax write-off things is in the IRS's and Congress' court.
Long term, what's more expensive: A one-time breast pump expense or formula? How much state money is spent on buying formula for people on welfare and EBT? Formula is much, much more expensive over the long term.
So in a fairly linear way, Mrs. Obama is supporting something that would lower food stamp costs for states. Her campaigns for lowered childhood obesity in general will help lower healthcare costs, unless Republicans stonewall her at every turn. You'd think they're trying to see her fail. But I'm sure they wouldn't stoop to such a level.
Michele Bachmann is ignorant and down right mean. Ms. Obama has been and continues to be working towards the improved health and fitness of children in this country. What people should take away from this article is how little Michele Bachmann has to offer this country. Her state should be ashamed for voting her into office.
Yet, these same women want to be up in my uterus, telling me what I can and cannot do with it!
Gee, I wonder if Rep. Bachman opposes tax write off for business related expenses...dinner out with clients, mileage, clothing for work, gym memberships. I suppose supporting the "nanny state" for big business is somehow justifiable to her.
Bachmann is the new Palin; have we ever heard her say something constructive?
All these women can do is gripe about somebody else.
I'm beginning to reallly not like this Bachmann woman. Can she find nothing else to grouse about?
This woman is out of her league, going against the First Lady. How about working to cut the millions going to rich farmers like herself and the congress woman from South Dakota.
Blah, blah, blah! Too bad the only publicity the far right females can garnish is to lob insults at the First Lady. How pathetic!
There are more important issues to be resolved like JOBS.
First....How is Michelle Obama responsible for an IRS ruling?
Second.....Ms. Bachman presents the issue as if ANYONE who buys a breast pump can deduct it from their taxes...that is not the case. The fact of the matter is one can either use their Flex Spending Account to purchase one, or IF one's TOTAL medical costs meets the required percentage of adjusted gross income, THEN one can deduct the cost of the breast pump.
Facts...a concept that the far right seems to be very unfamiliar with.
As long as the government "advice" comes from the right, the Conservatives are ok with it. Remember "just say no"? I'm guessing that Ms. Bachman is getting a big fat campaign donation from Big Soda, Big Fast Food, and Big Junk Food to criticize what is obviously a very logical attempt by the government to inform the citizenry about the dangers of being over-weight – which by anyone's account is a HUGE problem in this country – which costs all of us Billions of dollars in increased health costs. Can you feel the absolute hate toward the Obama's by the Palins, Limbaughs, and Bachmans of the world?
Michelle Bachmann is a quack. I hope her and Palin run together for president. I will pop the popcorn and sit back to watch the show. Two clowns running the circus of the TEA party. For once, campaign ads will be worth watching.
The government did pay for you to breast feed,...you're a government 'employee'. Also, you have a sweetheart deal with health insurance and what is taxable as a member of Congress. This is about babies' health. You and your fellow zealots want the government to be invasive about reproduction and birth..you remember...the hypocracy...you want all children to be born, regardless of the circumstances (assault, incest, etc), but the government can't help with their healthy growth. So, again, for you it's shallow, irresponsible rhetoric without any consequences for you and others, you don't adopt, foster or care for any of the babies who need help the most. I'm disgusted with you and others who think like you.
Oh come on!
How DARE the government try to make things a little bit easier for breast feeding moms. The gall. The ire!
I notice how Ms. Bachmann has zip to say about pulling ALL federal funding from Planned Parenthood, and has chosen to focus on...breast feeding.
I'd rather live in a "nanny state" (?) than in the anti-woman state that the right seems to want to cultivate.
This is another case of the government getting involved in and controlling our personal choices and freedoms.
Michele Bachmann is an ignorant fool ...I hope she runs for president. She and her extremist conservative ilk are dragging the Republican party further and further to the right. It will push the moderate independents back into the Democrat fold.... Keep flappin' dem lips...
Our First Lady seems so bored with her position that she's looking for any opportunity to make noise that will be heard. IMHO, she's become invasive in her subject matter and more condescending in her manner. Sometimes, people in positions of authority or influence should reflect more carefully upon what they intend to say and also upon how the message might be construed or misconstrued. Breast feeding is not something the First Lady should be championing. We already have scads of agencies and departments throughout all levels of Federal, State and local governments addressing health, well-being and family issues.
So i guess she saying she opposes fighting child obesity...or is it because Mrs.Obama said it its a problem... Republicans....
She has no problem accepting government handouts to help milk her cows, yet she has no compassion for a poor mother.
Give me a break, not only does breastfeeding help to prevent early childhood obesity, it's actually healthier for them. Why do you think women produce it. Nanny state? Promoting good health in a country that is entirely too fat as it is, is promoting a nanny state? Really. You don't have anything else better to do with your time besides attack a woman that wants to make help make our country more aware of a healthy lifestyle?
Uhmmm.... seems like a pretty reasonable tax break – something I thought Republicans generally favored. Where is the outrage about all the deductions we allow businesses to make from their taxes?
Wow!! Of all the things to take issue with. Unbelievable! Bachman is a complete and total ignorant nut case!! If she had two brain cells to rub together the friction might form a cherent thought. Alas, all we have is more of her mal-firing synaptic impulses resulting in her spewing stupidity and down right lunacy. If Mrs. Obama discovered a cure for cancer, this nit wit would be screaming about how the FLOTUS is promoting not only government control of peopel's lives, but now their deaths, too. If the tax break were available when Bachman had her babies you'd better believe she'd have taken advantage of it.
Michele Bachmann is obviously using Sarah Palin as a role model. What a pity. Every First Lady has a project. Recent studies show that breast fed babies have a lower rate of childhood obesity. Obesity is a huge problem in children and a real health hazard. These two nut jobs are attacking the First Lady and in doing so, they are ignoring the welfare of children.
I am having trouble deciding which one is nuttier - Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachmann. Wake up Republicans! These lunatics are setting the agenda for you.
This is just Bachman wishing she was as good a mother as Michelle Obama is. She and her cohorts are just scum.


text:
Say what you want about the quality of competition that former pro boxing champion Holly Holm has faced in her young MMA career, but until more experienced opponents are willing to step up, you're likely to see the type of beatdown that was on display at Friday's Legacy FC 24 event.
Holm, looking to move to 5-0 as a pro, easily handled replacement opponent Nikki Knudsen, who was battered and bruised with a series of heavy blows to the ribs and guts.
Watch her bout, as well as Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo's latest victory and other main-card fights, in the highlights clip above.
Legacy FC 24 took place at Allen Event Center in Allen, Texas, and aired on AXS TV.
For more on Legacy FC 24, including an event recap, stay tuned to the MMA Events section of the site.


text:
Health Alert – COVID-19 Coronavirus
U. S. Embassy Prague, Czech Republic
April 9, 2020
Event: The Czech Ministry of Health confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Czech Republic. U.S. Embassy Prague will be sending a daily update to ensure all US citizens have the latest information about COVID19 and local conditions. Updated information will be prefaced with (NEW).
The U.S. Embassy urges U.S. citizens to enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive alerts and ensure you can be located in an emergency. U.S. Citizens in an emergency can call 1-888-407-4747 from the U.S. and Canada or plus-1-202-501-4444 from overseas.
(NEW) U.S. Embassy Prague will be closed on Friday, April 10 and Monday, April 13, 2020 in observance of the Czech Easter holidays. U.S. Citizens in the Czech Republic with an emergency should call +420 257 022 000 for the after-hours Duty Officer.
Commercial flight options from the Czech Republic continue to decrease, with very limited flights remaining. Flights from the Czech Republic will likely cease at any moment due to global travel restrictions. If you need to return to the United States, you must depart now or be prepared to remain in the Czech Republic for an indefinite period of time. Please understand that the embassy is unable to guarantee seats or assist with booking tickets on commercial flights for private U.S. citizens. Note that flights from Europe are only being permitted to fly into 13 specific airports in the United States, as detailed on the Department of Homeland Security's website, so you will need to plan your travel route accordingly. Please be prepared to stay overnight and make lodging arrangements at connecting points and upon arriving to the United States. For flight numbers and times, visit https://www.prg.aero/en/flight-information#/odlety or contact the airlines and travel agents directly.
The Embassy has been notified that RegioJet will continue to provide bus service to Frankfurt and London through April 13. Citizens seeking to depart the Czech Republic and that are unable to find a flight may want to consider bus transport to one of these transportation hubs. Interested U.S. citizens should contact the U.S. Embassy at email@example.com for further information.
We understand how difficult the current situation is for those trying to get home to the United States. The U.S. Embassy in Prague is actively exploring all options to assist U.S. citizens in the Czech Republic, and we will provide additional updates as soon as possible.
Restrictions: The Department of State has issued a Global Level 4 Health Advisory for COVID-19.
On April 7, the Czech Republic extended the State of Emergency and quarantine until April 30, 2020. Please reference the website of the Government of the Czech Republic and the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as our website https://cz.usembassy.gov/, for additional information on these new measures.
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text:
Story by
Robin Wauters
Robin Wauters is the European Editor of The Next Web. He describes himself as a hopeless cyberflâneur, a lover of startups, his family a Robin Wauters is the European Editor of The Next Web. He describes himself as a hopeless cyberflâneur, a lover of startups, his family and Belgian beer. If you'd like to know more about Robin, head on over to robinwauters.com or follow him on Twitter.
Turns out 18 percent of female Mac users have an unusually large head, more than half of them have freckles, and only 9 percent wear skirts.
That is at least according to BlueStacks, a Silicon Valley company that enables Android apps to run on Windows and Mac computers.
The 'Ms.Mac 2012' infographic we've embedded below is based on stats BlueStacks gathered from surveying Mac users among its 1.1 million Facebook fans, coupled with recent research from Nielsen.
I'd be surprised if more than half of female Mac users are really under 20 years old, but I definitely believe 2 percent of them have blue hair.
The company has made the infographic to celebrate today's beta release of 'Mobile App Player for Mac', opening up access to 750,000+ Android apps for the first time on Macs (you can download it from the BlueStacks website). A previous alpha version was released in June 2012 and came with a small set of pre-loaded app partners such as Fruit Ninja and Pulse.
We'll give Mobile App Player for Mac a whirl later on to see if it's any good and – gasp – safe in its beta stage.
For what it's worth, BlueStacks claims the PC version of its App Player software has been in beta since early 2012 and has been installed on over 5 million computers from its website.
Says BlueStacks VP of Marketing, John Gargiulo, about 'Ms.Mac 2012':
"It turns out the average Mac user is pretty hot, if awkwardly dressed. We felt like mad scientists putting her together these past two months."
Last year, the company used data from 145,000 Facebook fans to mock up 'Mr. Android 2011' (spoiler: only 5 percent of them wear flip-flops).
BlueStacks' Senior Data Scientist, Lokesh Setia, Ph.D., adds:
"The increase in sample size gave us a lot more to work with in determining what makes up the prototypical Mac user today.
The blouses were a surprise. Apparently, females who use Macs very much enjoy blouses."
Apparently so.
Top image: Spencer Platt / Getty Images
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text:
Pretending to Understand What Babies Say Can Make Them Smarter
New research suggests it's how parents talk to their infants, not just how often, that makes a difference for language development.
A few weeks ago, I was eating lunch with my family at a pancake house when a small blond head popped over the top of the booth next to ours.
Somewhere in the ballpark of a year old, the boy said something unintelligible—maybe baby babbling, maybe real words muffled by pancake—and gave a high-pitched giggle. He waved a tiny-syrup smeared arm in my direction.
"He's such a flirt," his mother said apologetically.
"He is," cooed my own mother, who can befriend anything that will stand still long enough. "Hiiiiii." She kicked me under the table.
"Oh—hi," I said. I waved back. But men are fickle creatures, and our neighbor only frowned, turned around and sat back down to his food.
The point of the story is not to say that a toddler was unimpressed by my flirtation skills, though I can't say I haven't considered the worrisome implications of this fact. No, the point of the story is that talking to small children is hard. In my younger years, I went through phases of shying away from adults who tried to engage me in conversation. Now, the feeling has inverted: As an adult, I am anxious and tongue-tied when speaking to little kids.
That could be bad news for my future offspring. Research has repeatedly touted the benefits of exposing children to language from an early age, but a new study published in the journal Infancy got more specific, finding that verbally engaging with babies—listening to their gurgles and coos and then responding, conversation-style—may speed up their language development more than simply talking at them or around them.
Researchers from the University of Iowa and Indiana University observed a small group of mothers and their infants in individual unstructured play sessions over the course of six months, beginning when the children were eight months old, and coded the mothers' responses to their babies' babbling into two categories. "Redirective" responses involved turning the babies' attention elsewhere, like showing them a toy or pointing out something in the room, while "sensitive" responses were ones where the mothers verbally replied to or imitated their sounds—though, as the study notes:
Imitations rarely took the form of imitating the sound that the infant made, but more often involved the mother modeling the word that the sound approximated and expanding on it (e.g., if the infant uttered "da-da-da," the mother would say "Da-da is working. I am ma-ma").
A month after their last session, the mothers filled out a survey assessing the progress their children had made towards speech. The infants whose mothers had shown "sensitive" responses, the researchers found, showed increased rates of consonant-vowel vocalizations—meaning that their babbling more closely resembled something like real syllables, paving the way for real words. The same babies were also more likely to direct their noises at their mothers, indicating that they were "speaking" to them rather than simply babbling for babbling's sake.
"The infants were using vocalizations in a communicative way, in a sense, because they learned they are communicative," study author Julie Gros-Louis, a psychology professor at the University of Iowa, said in a statement. In other words, by acting like they understood what their babies were saying and responding accordingly, the mothers were helping to introduce the concept that voices, more than just instruments for making fun noises, could also be tools for social interaction.
The takeaway of all this is that how parents speak to their infants may be as important as the frequency with which they do it. And for the child-phobic among us, a glass-half-full reading is that it's fine—maybe even beneficial—to simply talk to babies like they're miniature adults. Soon enough, they will be, anyway, leaving the nest to go break hearts in pancake houses everywhere.