From: tino on
On Jul 17, 2:00 pm, Aragorn <arag...(a)chatfactory.invalid> wrote:
> On Saturday 17 July 2010 01:44 in comp.os.linux.setup, somebody
> identifying as Hans-Peter Diettrich wrote...
>
>
>
> > tino schrieb:
>
> >> I am very new to Linux (using it about a week or so..
>
> >> [...]
> >> I'm using a Windows Vista 64bit host machine, on which I installed
> >> the latest VirtualBox (3.2.6).
> >> The problem occured when using a guest machine image based on Linux 8
> >> Helena.. being a newbie I thought this image could help me start
> >> without the need of installing everything from scratch, at least till
> >> I acquire enough knowledge to do so more confidently
>
> > Installing Linux can be fun, depending on the distro. I'd give it a
> > try, at least...
> >> I've been usingVirtualRailsfor about a week.. pretty quick
> >> and with no special effort I got 13GB out of the available fixed 15GB
> >> used (I realise a more experienced Linux user could maybe have done
> >> what I did with less.. but in my feeling 15 GB are pretty limiting
> >> and I don't wish to constantly keep worrying about the capacity of my
> >> guest machine..)
>
> >> Therefore - went ahead and read about resizing partitions..
>
> > You may be better of with a secondvirtualdrive, that you mount for
> > your existing (or better a new user) home directory, or as a dedicated
> > ~/Data directory. Even if Linux has only one root directory, you can
> > mount additional disks (partitions) as any folder.
>
> "Folders" are GUI constructs, and an abstraction layer at that.
> A "folder" may represent a directory in a filesystem, but it may also
> represent a _file_ in the on-disk filesystem, or perhaps none of the
> aforementioned.  Therefore, when talking of a filesystem - and
> especially so in a UNIX context - it is recommended to use the
> word "directory" instead.
>
> That said, you can /technically/ mount any partition or other storage
> volume on any directory, this is true, but you cannot go ahead and do
> that for every directory in a GNU/Linux system, because that would
> render the system unbootable.
>
> Directories such as "/bin", "/lib", "/etc" and "/sbin" *must* have their
> contents physically residing on the root filesystem - i.e. the
> filesystem which holds the root directory - because the contents of
> these directories are needed at boot time, before all other filesystems
> are mounted.  
>
> "/boot" is an exception in this regard because it is needed at machine
> boot time, but it is not needed by the kernel.  It only needs to be
> accessed by the bootloader in order to /load/ the kernel image (and
> initrd, if required) into memory.  
>
> In the LILO bootloader, the location of the second-stage bootloader is
> hardcoded via logical block offsets in the primary stage of the
> bootloader - i.e. the part that resides in the master boot record, or
> if so desired, in the active/bootable partition's boot sector, whatever
> that partition may be.  (Note: GNU/Linux does not require any partition
> being marked "bootable" except in this scenario, in which case it is
> rather a requirement of the bootloader than of the operating system
> itself.)  The second stage of LILO is typically located in "/boot" as
> the file "/boot/boot.map" or something of that nature, and has in it
> the hardcode logical block offsets to where the kernel images and
> initrds are.
>
> In the event of GRUB, things are slightly different, but not too much.
> GRUB also has a first stage loader, which is similar to the one used by
> LILO and has the same requirements.  This first stage loader will then
> load an intermediary GRUB stage (1.5), which contains a real mode
> filesystem driver for the filesystem "/boot" resides on -
> whether "/boot" is separate from the root filesystem or not - and this
> in turn will load the stage 2 part of GRUB.  This stage 2 can then, via
> its filesystem driver be able to read (in realtime) the contents
> of "/boot/grub/menu.lst" - or "/boot/grub/grub.conf", depending on the
> distro and GRUB version - and can load the selected kernel and initrd
> via the real mode filesystem access.
>
> As soon as the kernel is loaded in memory, the kernel's bootstrapping
> code - provided we are talking of the x86 architecture and with a
> legacy BIOS version, of course - will set up the pagetables and
> descriptor tables, save the boot parameters to a location in memory
> accessable from within protected mode, and will then switch the boot
> processor to protected mode and decompress the kernel.  As of that
> moment, the real operating system kernel takes over and "/boot" is no
> longer needed.  Driver modules are loaded either from within the in the
> meantime also decompressed initrd or if applicable, directly from
> the "/lib" directory on the root filesystem, once the root filesystem
> has been checked and mounted.
>
> Root-level directories which *may* have their contents residing on other
> filesystems - which themselves could also reside on other hard disks or
> even on other computers in the network - are...
>
>         - /boot
>         - /home
>         - /opt
>         - /root  (see [1])
>         - /srv   (see [2])
>         - /tmp   (see [3])
>         - /usr
>         - /var
>
> [1] Technically possible, but not advised as it is the home of the root
>     user and needs to be accessible when the system is booted up in
>     single-user maintenance mode, in which case no other filesystems
>     will be mounted.  When the system is brought down to single-user
>     maintenance mode - i.e. runlevel 1 - from a previously working
>     state without having been rebooted, this does not apply, as all
>     mounted filesystems will still be mounted at that point.
>
> [2] Although specified in the latest version of the FHS (Filesystem
>     Hierarchy Standard) and created at installation time in a number of
>     GNU/Linux distributions, there are just as many distributions that
>     do not create it, and those that do leave it empty.  It is intended
>     to house shared data which would otherwise be put under "/var",
>     e.g. "/var/www", "/var/ftp" and other similar directories.
>
> [3] "/tmp" should for good measure be kept on either a separate
>     partition or on a tmpfs - i.e. a RAM-based and swappable filesystem
>     of dynamic size.  Nothing residing in "/tmp" should be required to
>     survive a reboot and thus the use of a tmpfs is quite feasible.  
>     The only possible objection to that could be that in most modern
>     distributions aimed at desktop usage, "~/tmp" - i.e. the "./tmp"
>     directory in each user's home directory - is typically symlinked
>     to "/tmp", and this could thus pose serious capacity demands on
>     "/tmp" which way exceed the available RAM.  Without this
>     requirement - i.e. if the user's own "./tmp" directories are not
>     symlinked to "/tmp" - the needed size for "/tmp" should not be
>     bigger than about 50 to 100 MB per user account.  In this case
>     however, every user should be responsible for cleaning out their
>     local "./tmp" directories on a regular basis if the processes that
>     create entries there do not clean up after themselves.  The "/tmp"
>     directory itself should also have the sticky bit set and be world-
>     writable - i.e. 1777 permissions, or otherwise put "trwxrwxrwx" -
>     so that users can create files there but not delete files created
>     by other users.
>
> Directories which should *never* be split off from the root directory
> are...
>
>         - /bin
>         - /dev   (see [4]
>         - /etc
>         - /lib   (see [5])
>         - /media (see [6])
>         - /mnt   (see [6])
>         - /proc  (see [7])
>         - /sbin
>         - /sys   (see [7]
>
> [4] The "/dev" filesystem is an abstraction layer to the underlying
>     hardware, represented via so-called device special files.  In
>     modern GNU/Linux distributions with a 2.6.x kernel, the contents
>     of "/dev" no longer reside on the physical disk but are instead
>     created at boot time on a tmpfs - see the description of a tmpfs
>     in the comments about "/tmp" higher up - by the "udev" system.
>     "udev" is a system which creates and deletes device special files
>     on the fly as hardware is being plugged in or removed from the
>     system, based upon the information the kernel exports via "/sys"
>     about the detected hardware.
>
> [5] On x86-64 systems with "multilib" - this is enabled in most x86-64
>     distributions by default, but I was told that Slackware leaves it
>     up to the user to decide on whether to install "multilib" or not -
>     "/lib" will typically be a symbolic link to "/lib64", and there
>     will then also be a "/lib32" directory.  Neither of these two
>     should be split off.
>
> [6] Technically, "/mnt" and "/media" can be split off, and it might
>     actually not even be such a bad idea to do so, but at the same time
>     it could also make things too complicated for an absolute newbie.
>     "/mnt" is a mountpoint for volumes which are normally not part of
>     the system, and "/media" is the parent directory for directories
>     which each form a mountpoint for removable storage media.
>
> [7] The contents of "/proc" and "/sys" do not live on the physical disk
>     partition.  They arevirtualfilesystems, and their contents are
>     only created as a filesystem structure when something is attempting
>     to read from or write to them.  They are abstractions of the kernel
>     represented to the user as a filesystem structure.
>
> Although most newbies opt to install everything in a single root
> partition, it is generally advised to have at least "/home" be a
> separate filesystem.
>
> > Simply think of ~/Data like of a Windows D:\ drive. The only
> > requirement: the mountpoint (folder) must be empty, or a new folder,
> > otherwise you cannot mount anything into it.
>
> This is not correct.  Any directory can serve as a mountpoint, but when
> mounting a filesystem to a directory, then the contents of that
> directory - in the event that it is not empty - will be unavailable for
> as long as the directory serves as a mountpoint.
>
> In the event of people who like testing different distributions on the
> same system, the actual location where the user keeps their own work
> files - in most distributions, this will be "~/Documents" ...
>
> read more »

@Aragorn:

Thank you for taking the time to reply with such a detailed
explanation.
I read your answer a few times and still feel each time I reread you
answer, there's additional information I pick up from your lines.
Indeed, there's a lot to learn and understand :)
I am completely new here yet did notice a few of your other answers
here which I learned from as well, even if not always with full
understanding - appreciate it a lot.

best,
tino
From: Aragorn on
On Sunday 18 July 2010 10:21 in comp.os.linux.setup, somebody
identifying as tino wrote...

> On Jul 17, 2:00 pm, Aragorn <arag...(a)chatfactory.invalid> wrote:
>
>> [a whole lot of stuff about partitions and directories]
>
> @Aragorn:
>
> Thank you for taking the time to reply with such a detailed
> explanation.

Oh, my pleasure. ;-) I like explaining things into detail. :-)

> I read your answer a few times and still feel each time I reread you
> answer, there's additional information I pick up from your lines.
> Indeed, there's a lot to learn and understand :)

Well, it all begins with the understanding where GNU/Linux comes from.
Even though it doesn't use a single line of pre-existing code from any
of the proprietary UNIX systems, it *is* a UNIX-family operating
system, and the original AT&T Unix was developed on a mini-computer,
which is a multiuser hardware architecture. And thus, UNIX-family
operating systems are multiuser systems.

Some say that the learning curve to GNU/Linux is pretty steep, but the
truth is that it's only this steep for people who have been conditioned
to expect the behavior of Microsoft Windows, and given that Windows
does not present a computer to the user for what it really is - Windows
is essentially still a single-user operating system with bolted-on
security features - and that it is essentially only a successor to
MS-DOS, people who have been using Windows for a long time without any
knowledge or understanding of other operating systems or operating
system technology - and Windows shields the user from obtaining that
knowledge via the use of Windows itself - will suddenly feel like
they're being overwhelmed by the technical aspects of GNU/Linux.

Just give it some time, and you'll grow to love it soon enough. ;-)

> I am completely new here yet did notice a few of your other answers
> here which I learned from as well, even if not always with full
> understanding - appreciate it a lot.

Well, let me give you some more advice then, my friend... First of all,
start by not using Google Groups anymore to post to Usenet. Although
Google tries very hard to obscure this, Usenet is *not* a part of
Google and never has been. Google only *archives* Usenet posts and
offers a (very poor) web-based interface for posting to Usenet.

What you need to do, first and foremost, is use a real newsreader and a
real news service. Several ISPs offer a newsserver to their customers,
but more and more are beginning to drop that service because of the
fact that Usenet is becoming less popular and that it is also being
abused for the distribution of copyrighted binary material. Yet, there
are many free newsservers available for posting to text-only groups.

Personally I recommend Eternal September. They do have their occasional
glitches, but in overall they're excellent. Just point your favorite
browser here...

http://www.eternal-september.org

.... and register for an account. It's free of charge. They will send
you an e-mail with the login and password to use, and then all you have
to do is use a real newsreader. On GNU/Linux, you can use both GUI
variants - e.g. KNode, Pan - and non-GUI variants - e.g. slrn. There's
also Mozilla Thunderbird, which is an e-mail client but which doubles
as a newsreader. (MS-Outlook Express also does that, from what I've
seen in the headers of some posts - I think it's called Windows Mail
now, but I'm not sure; I don't do Windows. ;-))

Then, my advice to you would be that when you see an interesting thread,
mark the thread as one "to be watched" - i.e. you assign a higher score
to it in your newsreader - and follow the discussions, and then copy
the interesting posts in the thread to a dedicated folder in your
newsreader - note: I'm talking of a newsreader folder, not a directory
on your hard disk. ;-)

Sometimes it's good to monitor a thread for a while and not save the
posts right away, because someone might be wrong and another person is
then bound to correct him on that. It's the correct information that
you want to save, not the false claims, of course. ;-)

Apart from the functionality, there are also other reasons as to why you
would want to use a real newsreader instead of Google Groups. For
starters, many regular posters filter out posts sent via Google Groups
because of the general cluelessness exhibited by many Google Groups
posters, who are apparently too lazy to look for information on the web
using Google as a search engine. Trolls and spammers also frequently
make use of Google Groups, so filtering out Google Groups tends to keep
the noise-to-signal ratio a little lower.

And thus, as a consequence, if you're posting via Google Groups,
considering that many regulars filter that out, you decrease your
chances of getting useful replies from knowledgeable posters. I am
giving you good advice, my friend: ditch Google Groups and get a real
newsreader and newsserver! ;-)

You may also want to bookmark the following link, albeit that I have to
admit that most of the information here is not exactly up-to-date...:

http://www.tldp.org

And then there's also this one...

http://www.linuxnewbieguide.org

There are loads more websites like these, some better than others.

Just remember: give the penguin some affection and you'll have a pet for
life. :-)

--
*Aragorn*
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)
From: tino on
On Jul 18, 1:18 pm, Aragorn <arag...(a)chatfactory.invalid> wrote:
> On Sunday 18 July 2010 10:21 in comp.os.linux.setup, somebody
>
> identifying as tino wrote...
> > On Jul 17, 2:00 pm, Aragorn <arag...(a)chatfactory.invalid> wrote:
>
> >> [a whole lot of stuff about partitions and directories]
>
> > @Aragorn:
>
> > Thank you for taking the time to reply with such a detailed
> > explanation.
>
> Oh, my pleasure. ;-) I like explaining things into detail. :-)
>

I must say thank you again..
I find learning from people this way (while of course doing my own
share of learning and trying out things) is beautiful and greatly
appreciated.

> > I read your answer a few times and still feel each time I reread you
> > answer, there's additional information I pick up from your lines.
> > Indeed, there's a lot to learn and understand :)
>
> Well, it all begins with the understanding where GNU/Linux comes from.
> Even though it doesn't use a single line of pre-existing code from any
> of the proprietary UNIX systems, it *is* a UNIX-family operating
> system, and the original AT&T Unix was developed on a mini-computer,
> which is a multiuser hardware architecture. And thus, UNIX-family
> operating systems are multiuser systems.
>
> Some say that the learning curve to GNU/Linux is pretty steep, but the
> truth is that it's only this steep for people who have been conditioned
> to expect the behavior of Microsoft Windows, and given that Windows
> does not present a computer to the user for what it really is - Windows
> is essentially still a single-user operating system with bolted-on
> security features - and that it is essentially only a successor to
> MS-DOS, people who have been using Windows for a long time without any
> knowledge or understanding of other operating systems or operating
> system technology - and Windows shields the user from obtaining that
> knowledge via the use of Windows itself - will suddenly feel like
> they're being overwhelmed by the technical aspects of GNU/Linux.
>
> Just give it some time, and you'll grow to love it soon enough. ;-)

Don't worry, I'm here to stay :)

>
> > I am completely new here yet did notice a few of your other answers
> > here which I learned from as well, even if not always with full
> > understanding - appreciate it a lot.
>
> Well, let me give you some more advice then, my friend... First of all,
> start by not using Google Groups anymore to post to Usenet. Although
> Google tries very hard to obscure this, Usenet is *not* a part of
> Google and never has been. Google only *archives* Usenet posts and
> offers a (very poor) web-based interface for posting to Usenet.
>
> What you need to do, first and foremost, is use a real newsreader and a
> real news service. Several ISPs offer a newsserver to their customers,
> but more and more are beginning to drop that service because of the
> fact that Usenet is becoming less popular and that it is also being
> abused for the distribution of copyrighted binary material. Yet, there
> are many free newsservers available for posting to text-only groups.
>
> Personally I recommend Eternal September. They do have their occasional
> glitches, but in overall they're excellent. Just point your favorite
> browser here...
>
> http://www.eternal-september.org
>
> ... and register for an account. It's free of charge. They will send
> you an e-mail with the login and password to use, and then all you have
> to do is use a real newsreader. On GNU/Linux, you can use both GUI
> variants - e.g. KNode, Pan - and non-GUI variants - e.g. slrn. There's
> also Mozilla Thunderbird, which is an e-mail client but which doubles
> as a newsreader. (MS-Outlook Express also does that, from what I've
> seen in the headers of some posts - I think it's called Windows Mail
> now, but I'm not sure; I don't do Windows. ;-))
>

Did just that after reading your message :)
Haven't played with it yet, but - soon enough I will..

> Then, my advice to you would be that when you see an interesting thread,
> mark the thread as one "to be watched" - i.e. you assign a higher score
> to it in your newsreader - and follow the discussions, and then copy
> the interesting posts in the thread to a dedicated folder in your
> newsreader - note: I'm talking of a newsreader folder, not a directory
> on your hard disk. ;-)

this one remind me of my silly 'cursor' remark..
I knew it was a cursor, just forgot the word for it in English..

>
> Sometimes it's good to monitor a thread for a while and not save the
> posts right away, because someone might be wrong and another person is
> then bound to correct him on that. It's the correct information that
> you want to save, not the false claims, of course. ;-)
>
> Apart from the functionality, there are also other reasons as to why you
> would want to use a real newsreader instead of Google Groups. For
> starters, many regular posters filter out posts sent via Google Groups
> because of the general cluelessness exhibited by many Google Groups
> posters, who are apparently too lazy to look for information on the web
> using Google as a search engine. Trolls and spammers also frequently
> make use of Google Groups, so filtering out Google Groups tends to keep
> the noise-to-signal ratio a little lower.
>
> And thus, as a consequence, if you're posting via Google Groups,
> considering that many regulars filter that out, you decrease your
> chances of getting useful replies from knowledgeable posters. I am
> giving you good advice, my friend: ditch Google Groups and get a real
> newsreader and newsserver! ;-)
>
> You may also want to bookmark the following link, albeit that I have to
> admit that most of the information here is not exactly up-to-date...:
>
> http://www.tldp.org
>
> And then there's also this one...
>
> http://www.linuxnewbieguide.org
>

Bookmarked these two under "Aragorn's Refs".. lol

> There are loads more websites like these, some better than others.
>
> Just remember: give the penguin some affection and you'll have a pet for
> life. :-)
>
> --
> *Aragorn*
> (registered GNU/Linux user #223157)

appreciate it.

tino


On Jul 18, 1:18 pm, Aragorn <arag...(a)chatfactory.invalid> wrote:
> On Sunday 18 July 2010 10:21 in comp.os.linux.setup, somebody
>
> identifying as tino wrote...
> > On Jul 17, 2:00 pm, Aragorn <arag...(a)chatfactory.invalid> wrote:
>
> >> [a whole lot of stuff about partitions and directories]
>
> > @Aragorn:
>
> > Thank you for taking the time to reply with such a detailed
> > explanation.
>
> Oh, my pleasure. ;-)  I like explaining things into detail. :-)
>
> > I read your answer a few times and still feel each time I reread you
> > answer, there's additional information I pick up from your lines.
> > Indeed, there's a lot to learn and understand :)
>
> Well, it all begins with the understanding where GNU/Linux comes from.
> Even though it doesn't use a single line of pre-existing code from any
> of the proprietary UNIX systems, it *is* a UNIX-family operating
> system, and the original AT&T Unix was developed on a mini-computer,
> which is a multiuser hardware architecture.  And thus, UNIX-family
> operating systems are multiuser systems.
>
> Some say that the learning curve to GNU/Linux is pretty steep, but the
> truth is that it's only this steep for people who have been conditioned
> to expect the behavior of Microsoft Windows, and given that Windows
> does not present a computer to the user for what it really is - Windows
> is essentially still a single-user operating system with bolted-on
> security features - and that it is essentially only a successor to
> MS-DOS, people who have been using Windows for a long time without any
> knowledge or understanding of other operating systems or operating
> system technology - and Windows shields the user from obtaining that
> knowledge via the use of Windows itself - will suddenly feel like
> they're being overwhelmed by the technical aspects of GNU/Linux.
>
> Just give it some time, and you'll grow to love it soon enough. ;-)
>
> > I am completely new here yet did notice a few of your other answers
> > here which I learned from as well, even if not always with full
> > understanding - appreciate it a lot.
>
> Well, let me give you some more advice then, my friend...  First of all,
> start by not using Google Groups anymore to post to Usenet.  Although
> Google tries very hard to obscure this, Usenet is *not* a part of
> Google and never has been.  Google only *archives* Usenet posts and
> offers a (very poor) web-based interface for posting to Usenet.
>
> What you need to do, first and foremost, is use a real newsreader and a
> real news service.  Several ISPs offer a newsserver to their customers,
> but more and more are beginning to drop that service because of the
> fact that Usenet is becoming less popular and that it is also being
> abused for the distribution of copyrighted binary material.  Yet, there
> are many free newsservers available for posting to text-only groups.
>
> Personally I recommend Eternal September.  They do have their occasional
> glitches, but in overall they're excellent.  Just point your favorite
> browser here...
>
>        http://www.eternal-september.org
>
> ... and register for an account.  It's free of charge.  They will send
> you an e-mail with the login and password to use, and then all you have
> to do is use a real newsreader.  On GNU/Linux, you can use both GUI
> variants - e.g. KNode, Pan - and non-GUI variants - e.g. slrn.  There's
> also Mozilla Thunderbird, which is an e-mail client but which doubles
> as a newsreader.  (MS-Outlook Express also does that, from what I've
> seen in the headers of some posts - I think it's called Windows Mail
> now, but I'm not sure; I don't do Windows. ;-))
>
> Then, my advice to you would be that when you see an interesting thread,
> mark the thread as one "to be watched" - i.e. you assign a higher score
> to it in your newsreader - and follow the discussions, and then copy
> the interesting posts in the thread to a dedicated folder in your
> newsreader - note: I'm talking of a newsreader folder, not a directory
> on your hard disk. ;-)
>
> Sometimes it's good to monitor a thread for a while and not save the
> posts right away, because someone might be wrong and another person is
> then bound to correct him on that.  It's the correct information that
> you want to save, not the false claims, of course. ;-)
>
> Apart from the functionality, there are also other reasons as to why you
> would want to use a real newsreader instead of Google Groups.  For
> starters, many regular posters filter out posts sent via Google Groups
> because of the general cluelessness exhibited by many Google Groups
> posters, who are apparently too lazy to look for information on the web
> using Google as a search engine.  Trolls and spammers also frequently
> make use of Google Groups, so filtering out Google Groups tends to keep
> the noise-to-signal ratio a little lower.  
>
> And thus, as a consequence, if you're posting via Google Groups,
> considering that many regulars filter that out, you decrease your
> chances of getting useful replies from knowledgeable posters.  I am
> giving you good advice, my friend: ditch Google Groups and get a real
> newsreader and newsserver! ;-)
>
> You may also want to bookmark the following link, albeit that I have to
> admit that most of the information here is not exactly up-to-date...:
>
>        http://www.tldp.org
>
> And then there's also this one...
>
>        http://www.linuxnewbieguide.org
>
> There are loads more websites like these, some better than others.
>
> Just remember: give the penguin some affection and you'll have a pet for
> life. :-)
>
> --
> *Aragorn*
> (registered GNU/Linux user #223157)

From: Aragorn on
On Sunday 18 July 2010 18:20 in comp.os.linux.setup, somebody
identifying as Adornley wrote...

> On 07/18/2010 01:18 PM, Aragorn wrote:
>
> > Well, let me give you some more advice then, my friend... First of
> > all, start by not using Google Groups anymore to post to Usenet.
> > Although Google tries very hard to obscure this, Usenet is *not* a
> > part of Google and never has been. Google only *archives* Usenet
> > posts and offers a (very poor) web-based interface for posting to
> > Usenet.
>
> [hmm.. asking under the title of "very new" to linux]
>
> have been wondering - how can you tell whether one has posted using
> Google Groups rather than Usenet? or vice versa?
>
> sorry if it's a trivial one..
>
> thanks :)

With a real newsreader, you will be able to see all the headers of each
post, when available. People who post from Google Groups have
their "User Agent" listed as "G2".

P.S.: You may also want to read up on this one...:

http://oakroadsystems.com/genl/unice.htm#quote

Use interleaved replying - i.e. no replying at the top or at the bottom
of the post, but in between the paragraphs you wish to comment on -
along with proper attributions to your quoting, and snip the irrelevant
stuff.

It is also a good idea to put your name in a signature - which is
separated from the message body by "-- ", i.e. "dash dash space" - and
it is also advised not to include the message of the previous poster
when you decide to reply. ;-)

Most newsreaders allow you to specify a signature, either set up in the
section for your identity, or as a file - typically "~/.sig" or
something of that nature. ;-)

--
*Aragorn*
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)
From: Aragorn on
On Monday 19 July 2010 09:25 in comp.os.linux.setup, somebody
identifying as Eric Pozharski wrote...

> with <i1vc7b$is$4(a)news.eternal-september.org> Aragorn wrote:
>
>> With a real newsreader, you will be able to see all the headers of
>> each post, when available. People who post from Google Groups have
>> their "User Agent" listed as "G2".
>
> It should be noted that 'Message-ID:' header is cheap (instead of
> 'User-Agent:'). Hence those who care killfile with
>
> Message-ID: <.*\.googlegroups\.com>

True, but I was only giving one example. Once the poster has
familiarized himself with a proper newsreader, they would be able to
see all the headers, and then there will of course be more clues, as
e.g. the Message-ID. ;-)

--
*Aragorn*
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)