Welcome to the LinuxFocus September/October 2003 issue

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Editorial goes here.

LinuxFocus.org Articles

Graphics

Going 3D with Blender: A toy train , by Katja Socher

Please use the file article307.meta.shtml for any translation work.

In this article you learn how to use the C-API that comes with MySQL.

Software Development

The MySQL C API , by Özcan Güngör

Please use the file article304.meta.shtml for any translation work.

In this article you learn how to use the C-API that comes with MySQL.

Applications

Linux on the desktop: A computer for Mom , by Guido Socher

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My Mom belongs to a generation which grew up without computers. She uses now Linux on the desktop and loves it.

Articles at Linux Gazette

The LinuxFocus Tip

You don't need nessus or other scanners to check all open ports on an ordinary computer without firewall. It is enough to just run "netstat -a". The output will look similar to the one below and you can see imediately in the colum "Local Address" which ports are available for connections:

netstat -a
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address   Foreign Address   State      
tcp        0      0 *:login         *:*               LISTEN      
tcp        0      0 *:shell         *:*               LISTEN      
tcp        0      0 *:pop2          *:*               LISTEN      
tcp        0      0 *:pop3          *:*               LISTEN      
tcp        0      0 *:imap2         *:*               LISTEN      
tcp        0      0 *:www           *:*               LISTEN      
tcp        0      0 *:domain        *:*               LISTEN      
...printout continues here...

You can even go one step further and check which program opens a port with the command socklist (normally part of a package called procinfo):

socklist
type  port      inode     uid    pid   fd  name
tcp    513       1007       0    448    5  xinetd
tcp    514       1006       0    448    4  xinetd
tcp   6000       1133       0    680    0  X
tcp     80       1076       0    643   16  httpd
...printout continues here...

netstat works on any Unix system but socklist is a Linux specific feature.