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Bill von Hagen
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You can find WikiLeaks here today. The US government's pursuit of WikiLeaks is one of the most embarassing things that it has ever done, and that's saying a lot. Apparently freedom of speech has left the building!
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little
temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
My latest book (2019), "
Through the Web, Darkly", is about privacy,
anonymity, and how and why to access and use the dark web. It is
self-published, and is available on for purchase for the Kindle
on Amazon, and here for free and as donation-ware.
Check it out! Give a copy to your friends!
(PDF version here. Info and other
versions available here.) If you liked any
part(s) of this document or just found it to be useful, please make a
small donation via PayPal to wvh@vonhagen.org or
in Bitcoin
to 35DnXM3Fg9zvirbraGmUGecLy7EPZiBWsT.
Thanks! Information wants to be free, but I'd still appreciate a
donation ;-) I will keep updating and expanding this, so stop by
and download it again.
I am a writer,
computer collector, Linux/UNIX systems administrator, Linux product
manager, and occasional developer. In a past life, I was the drummer for various punk, new
wave, and rock bands, most notably The Cardboards and The Cynics. Good times - see Viceland's Weekend Watchin' Column for info about the Pittsburgh Punk movie that I was in - thanks Stephanie!
As a freelance writer, I have written a few books, a number of
articles and reviews for Linux
Planet and Linux Today,
pieces for Linux Format
and Mac Format, lots of
articles and reviews for Linux
Magazine, a short-lived column on PPC Linux for Maximum
Linux, various things for MacTech
Magazine, pieces on Linux and general computing for Corel's old
Linux and small business Web sites, and hundreds of reviews of
Macintosh and PC Shareware and Demo software for CMP Media's old
FileMine web site.
Books that I've written or co-written are the following:
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Ubuntu Linux
Bible: Featuring Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, a good overview and
intro to Ubuntu Linux that has been updated for Ubuntu 10.04 (screenshots and everything) and provides up-to-date and useful information on everything Ubuntu. Regardless of whether you're a newbie or experienced sysadmin, this book is for you - see why Ubuntu is the world's most popular Linux distribution!
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Ubuntu 8.10
Bible. a good overview and
intro to Ubuntu Linux that has been updated for Ubuntu 8.10 and also provides complete coverage of Kubuntu (both the KDE3 and KDE4 versions). Regardless of whether you prefer GNOME or KDE, this book is for you - see why Ubuntu is the world's most popular Linux distribution!
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Professional Xen Virtualization. a good overview of modern approaches to virtualization, and a detailed exploration of virtualization with the open source Xen distribution/tools. Paravirtualization can provide significantly higher performance than other virtualization solutions, and Xen also supports hardware virtual machines on a variety of Intel and AMD processors. Who cares if VMware is free? Xen is a better, richer solution. Errata for this book is available here.
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Ubuntu
Bible, a good overview and
intro to Ubuntu Linux, which is a great distribution that is easy to use,
update, and maintain. Errata for this book is available here.
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Definitive
Guide to GCC, Second Edition, completely rewritten for GCC 4.x. This
is a great guide to using the compilers in the GNU Compiler Collection and
related tools such as autoconf, automake, and libtool.
Includes information on building GCC as a cross-compiler and on using C
libraries other than Glibc. Fun for the whole family!
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SUSE
Linux 10 Bible, updated for SUSE 10 and still co-written with Justin Davies and Roger
Whittaker. We got to update and expand this for SUSE 10, adding a variety
of new information and expanding the existing content.
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Linux
Server Hacks, Volume II, co-written with Brian K. Jones. This
books contains 100 tips, tricks, and general hacks for better Linux Server
and general system administration. This was a blast to do!
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SUSE
Linux 9 Bible, co-written with Justin Davies and Roger
Whittaker. This is a good overview and intro to SUSE Linux, which is a great commercial Linux
distribution to use nowadays on 32-bit and 64-bit x86 boxes.
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Hacking
the TiVo, Second Edition, which was released in August
2004. I was quite happy and flattered to be able to update this
book and add lots more software and up-to-date information. TiVos
are great machines, and this was a fun book to do. TiVo hacker
extraordinaire musclenerd did the technical edit for this edition, and was a tremendous help - I can't thank him enough. There are some typos and prosos, but they're all my fault. Errata for the book is available here. Also, if you're looking for parts or information about hacking your TiVo, check out WeaKnees.com. They're knowledgeable, friendly, and have good prices.
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The
Definitive Guide to GCC, co-written with Kurt Wall and released In January, 2004. We think that this book is a great resource for compiling, installing, developing, and debugging software using GCC and related GNU tools.
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Hacking
the TiVo, First Edition, which was released in August
2003. TiVo hacker extraordinaire embeem did the technical
edit for the first edition of the book, and the book is much
better for it - thanks! The typos and prosos in this edition are all my fault,
too. Errata for the book is available here.
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Mac OS X Power User's Guide, co-written with Brian Profitt and now somewhat outdated since it is based on OS X 10.1.
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Linux Filesystems, out of print, but the only book that focuses on how to actually install, use, and administer journaling and distributed filesystems on Linux systems.
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SGML
for Dummies, out of print, but still fun and useful if you're working with SGML.
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Installing
Red Hat Linux 7, out of print and probably not all that interesting anymore ;-)
If you have comments or questions, please send me mail. I have also contributed to other books, such as Red Hat Linux 7 Unleashed, The Linux Bible, PC Magazine's Linux Solutions, and a variety of others.
I've been a Contributing Editor for various Linux and Mac magazines, and am also a Contributing Author for IBM developerWorks. The following are some articles of mine that are available on the web (last time I checked):
In my
"spare" time, I am a rabid collector of old computer
equipment, both hardware and software. My collection was mentioned
in an article by John Dvorak in the May, 1998 issue of Computer
Shopper, so I've been at it for a while! My specific interest is
old workstations, though I am also interested in old micros and
wouldn't mind someday acquiring a mainframe or two. In this area,
I am much like the Statue of Liberty -- give me your tired, your
outmoded, your ancient UN*X boxes... For a contrary perspective on
this obsession, please talk to my wife. To see a list of most of
the machines in my collection,
click here. To see some photos of
old machines in my collection,
click here. If you would like
to see some pictures of mice from various old workstations,
click here.
If you have
old hardware or software that you would like to see find a
loving home in my collection, contact me via email at vonhagen@vonhagen.org.
If you call 412-795-2057, please use some obscure code words
(see the discussion of my wife's perspective on all this in the previous paragraph).
Visitors to this web site may be amused to know that, due to my
computer collection, I was an expert witness for both Microsoft and
Apple during their legendary early 1990s look-and-feel lawsuit over
Windows. They both flew teams of lawyers and video people to our
house to tape me demonstrating parts of my collection and to take
statements - it was totally ridiculous! Microsoft also paid me to
downgrade some of the systems in my collection to earlier operating
system revisions that demonstrated things that they wanted to use to
show prior art for their part of the lawsuit. I had to tell the
Apple guys that they would lose, which I did and they did. You'd
think I would find Microsoft odious for their destruction of
often-superior competition through nefarious business
practices, and I do. However, even a blind pig occasionally
finds a truffle.
For you automated email spammers out there, here are some really
handy email addresses:
Click on one of the following to use up more cycles!
The finest quote I've ever read on a career in rock and roll from a guy
whose recordings and spirit I still love, with whom I
hung out one memorable day in 1980 (Thanks, Karen!), and who
I'll never forget:
Now I see my good true friends
All come to stupid ends.
With their arms all shot full of holes,
Vacant shadows that they call souls.
Looking at the world with rose-colored glasses,
Not even 30 and flat on their asses.
Black Randy, "Hit It and Quit It," early 1980
A great quote on Windows VS. Linux:
"Remember: Professionals built the Titanic. Amateurs built the ark."
(d_black_blade@hotmail.com)