Re: [SLUG] Most valuable free/OSS software that doesn't exist?
Richard Hayes wrote: What would be the most valuable free /OSS software that does not exist yet? A compelling diagramming tool. Yes, I've used dia. The Sims. Microsoft also has two seriously mis-designed products: Powerpoint and Project. There's plenty of avenue for (1) a tool which supports presentations and lectures and (2) a tool that can assemble and explore the timeline and budget information for a non-toy project. Both topics have had extensive discussion at Edward Tufte's web site. -- Glen Turner Tel: (08) 8303 3936 or +61 8 8303 3936 Australia's Academic Research Network www.aarnet.edu.au -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] downloading debian
Ben Donohue wrote: I was wondering how to copy knoppix to my laptop. I have a partition for it but what do you mean when you say I can just copy it to the HDD. I was amazed to see knoppix run on my laptop as all other distro's I tried to install hung at various points and it was getting very frustrating! So I thought i'd like to copy knoppix to the HDD. How do you do that? Ben Something that tweaked my interest also since i am a huge fan of the knoppix distro, some guides that i found that may help. http://bofh.be/clusterknoppix/knx-install.htm http://www.aims.ac.za/resources/tutorials/install/knoppix.php http://www.esat.kuleuven.ac.be/~decockd/site/myHowTos/Knoppix/Installing3.4/index.html http://www.freenet.org.nz/misc/knoppix-install.html (didn't work for me) do a google and i am sure there are heaps more guides. gerry -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Re: Most valuable free/OSS software that doesn't exist?
On Sun, Nov 14, 2004 at 02:46:47PM -0500, Richard Hayes wrote: I am investigating a sponsorship project that may get funding. What would be the most valuable free /OSS software that does not exist yet? That's going to be some very subjective answers you're going to get. My suggestion? A quality plugin for Outlook that stores MAPI objects in messages stored on an IMAP server. Like Bynari's Insight Connector, but one that actually works. That would allow any IMAP server act as a replacement for the vast majority of Exchange. It's also a relatively small project, so it has a chance of getting done(ish). 1. Free Wrap system (superannuation management) Wrap accounts let users invest in a wide range of investments through a single interface such as the web. It manages all the statuary requirements for super rules. Wrap accounts charge between 0.6-1.0 % of funds under management per year. With Australian Super Funds having over $600 Billion up management. Currently about 20% of clients use wrap accounts so the fees are worth up to $ 1 Billion per year. (Half that would be more reasonable) So what will the software you write actually do? Manage the wrap accounts? Tha value there isn't in the software, it's in the access to the trading accounts and first-level equities traders, and also in the research. You're going to have next to no hope of convincing any of the wrap account managers to take it up, either, because of the legal ramifications of the software screwing up and not doing things right. On the other hand, if you get it written, let me know and I'll pitch it to one of my clients. Using OpenAdaptor (opensource EAI tool for finance) + struts.apache I do not think it would be too hard. ;) Wow, the OpenAdaptor website is buzzword-compliant. I still have no idea what it's actually good for. eBXML should makes it easier to intergrate legacy systems. Ha ha ha. You're a crack-up, Richard. I'm still trying to explain why sending daily equities price and trading data dumps via broken CSV is a bad idea -- XML still lies deep in the what the hell is that? category in a large portion of the financial services industry. 2. Linux-based Voice recognition software I'm quite surprised there isn't a fair bit of this already out there, with the geekly desire to play with new technology. Might be a nice project, but I suspect it may be more of a research project than product development, unless you hire away a couple of major brains at, say, Dragon or somewhere... Please comment and if anyone wants suggest a way forward I would be grateful. Bounty for features you want in existing apps. The Gnome experiment along those lines mustn't have totally sucked, because I've seen several more implementations of the same idea more recently. - Matt signature.asc Description: Digital signature -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Re: Most valuable free/OSS software that doesn't exist?
On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 05:15 am, Matthew Palmer wrote: My suggestion? A quality plugin for Outlook that stores MAPI objects in messages stored on an IMAP server. Like Bynari's Insight Connector, but one that actually works. That would allow any IMAP server act as a replacement for the vast majority of Exchange. It's also a relatively small project, so it has a chance of getting done(ish). So, what would be involved and how much would you think it would cost? So what will the software you write actually do? Manage the wrap accounts? Tha value there isn't in the software, it's in the access to the trading accounts and first-level equities traders, and also in the research. You're going to have next to no hope of convincing any of the wrap account managers to take it up, either, because of the legal ramifications of the software screwing up and not doing things right. The most likely users would be Californian State Pension Fund http://www.calpers.ca.gov/ The worlds largest pension fund. Using OpenAdaptor (opensource EAI tool for finance) + struts.apache I do not think it would be too hard. ;) Wow, the OpenAdaptor website is buzzword-compliant. I still have no idea what it's actually good for. OpenAdaptor works well and it is a lot cheaper the TIBCO. But then using a squadron of trained Emus to deliver gold embossed documents is cheaper than TIBCO XML still lies deep in the what the hell is that? category in a large portion of the financial services industry. Yes, and it is going to be exactly the same as Supply Chain Management. Unless someone such as WalMart / Woolies insists on EDI / XML then it is not going to happen. That is why someone like Calpers needs to be involved. -- Richard Hayes Nada Marketing 2/713 Pacific Hwy Gordon Australia 2072 Phone:+(61-2) 9418 4545 Fax:+(61-2) 9418 4348 Mob:+(61) 0414 618 425 http://www.nada.com.au -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Re: Re: Most valuable free/OSS software that doesn't exist?
On Sun, Nov 14, 2004 at 10:04:55PM -0500, Richard Hayes wrote: On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 05:15 am, Matthew Palmer wrote: My suggestion? A quality plugin for Outlook that stores MAPI objects in messages stored on an IMAP server. Like Bynari's Insight Connector, but one that actually works. That would allow any IMAP server act as a replacement for the vast majority of Exchange. It's also a relatively small project, so it has a chance of getting done(ish). So, what would be involved and how much would you think it would cost? It's mostly just a library plugin to provide MAPI, translation to IMAP commands (or probably better still, something like iCal), and the necessary glue to configure it and tell Outlook to use it instead of the Exchange one. As to cost, I'd estimate low five figures. There isn't a massive amount of code to be written, it's mostly work making it bug-compliant with the existing MAPI stuff. Someone who knows Windows under the hood should be able to do it easily enough. So what will the software you write actually do? Manage the wrap accounts? Tha value there isn't in the software, it's in the access to the trading accounts and first-level equities traders, and also in the research. You're going to have next to no hope of convincing any of the wrap account managers to take it up, either, because of the legal ramifications of the software screwing up and not doing things right. The most likely users would be Californian State Pension Fund http://www.calpers.ca.gov/ The worlds largest pension fund. So CalPERS would run the software on their servers for the benefit of their members? You sound like you've got them on-board already to use it when it's written. Using OpenAdaptor (opensource EAI tool for finance) + struts.apache I do not think it would be too hard. ;) Wow, the OpenAdaptor website is buzzword-compliant. I still have no idea what it's actually good for. OpenAdaptor works well and it is a lot cheaper the TIBCO. But then using a Since I don't know what TIBCO is, either, I'm not in any way enlightened. - Matt -- Left to themselves, [marketers] would butt-tag us like polar bears to track our buying habits and bombard our phones and emails and computer screens with ads benefitting them and their clients. --- Tsu Dho Nimh, NANAE signature.asc Description: Digital signature -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Re: Re: Most valuable free/OSS software that doesn't exist?
On Mon, 2004-11-15 at 08:40 +1100, Matthew Palmer wrote: Since I don't know what TIBCO is, either, I'm not in any way enlightened. The term I have heard is middle-ware. The glue that provides an easy way to manage business logic more easily. -- Ken Foskey -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Re: Re: Re: Most valuable free/OSS software that doesn't exist?
On Mon, Nov 15, 2004 at 08:47:43AM +1100, Ken Foskey wrote: On Mon, 2004-11-15 at 08:40 +1100, Matthew Palmer wrote: Since I don't know what TIBCO is, either, I'm not in any way enlightened. The term I have heard is middle-ware. The glue that provides an easy way to manage business logic more easily. So another ill-defined buzzword, then? grin As long as we've got that straightened out... The last issue of IEEE /Computer/ was a real hoot -- an article on Is Middleware Dead?, quoting various pundits on the issue, coming to a fairly clear yes on the question, then a few pages later, a typical IBM ad saying Middleware is Everywhere. Classic.[1] - Matt [1] I'd say priceless, but MasterCard have this horrible habit of suing people who use that word. -- I wake up to a new world every day -- the one in my boss's head. -- Mike Andrews, ASR signature.asc Description: Digital signature -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Installfest
G'day! Just a brief inquiry. I noticed on your web site that you have an Installfest planed for this coming Saturday, the venue listed as TBA. Is this still going ahead? If so, could you please tell me where? (I REALLY need some help!) Thanks Heaps, Quinton Reid -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] new laptop: bios cant see dvd/cd - so cant boot, so cant install linux.
Hi all I got myself a nice new laptop on the weekend. Dying to install linux on it but cant as the bios cant see the dvd/cdrom and so I cant boot ANY cd from this device. The laptop is badged pioneer but it is a mitac 8355 (athlon 64 bit, 1GB RAM). The bios is Insyde Mobile Pro Bios 4.00.05 (R1.01?). XP detects the dvd rw as teac dv-w22e. It is basically this: ttp://www.tuxmobile.org/xeron_sonic_pro_800mx.html Anybody see similar problems? Am I lookiing at a bios upgrade? Any ideas please. Thanks BB -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] upgrading Debian server
I'm running woody on a mail server, but woody is just too far behind, so I'm considering going to testing. Does anyone have any advice about simply doing an upgrade? are there any disasters to look out for? Would the Debian gurus suggest a simple upgrade, or should I build a complete new box to avoid nasty surprises? -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Re: upgrading Debian server
On Mon, Nov 15, 2004 at 11:19:02AM +1100, David wrote: I'm running woody on a mail server, but woody is just too far behind, so I'm considering going to testing. Does anyone have any advice about simply doing an upgrade? are there any disasters to look out for? Would the Debian gurus suggest a simple upgrade, or should I build a complete new box to avoid nasty surprises? Upgrades on debian usually work as advertised, but I typically do at least a couple of upgrades early on in the piece by mirroring the active box (or restoring from last backup -- a good test of your disaster-recovery plans) onto a new box, and then doing the upgrade on that one. That way, if anything does go *pop*, you haven't hosed your production server. - Matt signature.asc Description: Digital signature -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Most valuable free/OSS software that doesn't exist?
Richard Hayes wrote: Dear sluggers, I am investigating a sponsorship project that may get funding. What would be the most valuable free /OSS software that does not exist yet? For a long time, I wanted Open Source Software (OSS) which I'd call: OSS Servers Change Management Database Systems. AFAIK, there is no OSS that has all of the functionalities below. Some things it can do: 1. Given a specific server in the network, can remember exactly previous configurations for 3 generations (parent, grand parent, and great grand parent) along with each file in each of those generations. 2. Given a specific server in the network, SysAdmin must be able to revert back to that generation along with each file in that generation through an operation or a set of operations availble in the systems. 3. Must be able to effect change of Operating Systems from older version to a newer one. Because of item 2. above the reverse will be possible. 4. Must be able to effect change of Operating Systems of one type (say MS XP to Linux). Because of item 2. above the reverse will be possible. 5. Must be able to effect change of Applications (delete, add, or a combination) for a given server in the network. 6. Etc. that is to do with any management of changes in the server of the network. 7. Source Codes must be GPLed. -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Most valuable free/OSS software that doesn't exist?
quote who=O Plameras AFAIK, there is no OSS that has all of the functionalities below. Some things it can do: 1. Given a specific server in the network, can remember exactly previous configurations for 3 generations (parent, grand parent, and great grand parent) along with each file in each of those generations. 2. Given a specific server in the network, SysAdmin must be able to revert back to that generation along with each file in that generation through an operation or a set of operations availble in the systems. 3. Must be able to effect change of Operating Systems from older version to a newer one. Because of item 2. above the reverse will be possible. 4. Must be able to effect change of Operating Systems of one type (say MS XP to Linux). Because of item 2. above the reverse will be possible. 5. Must be able to effect change of Applications (delete, add, or a combination) for a given server in the network. 6. Etc. that is to do with any management of changes in the server of the network. 7. Source Codes must be GPLed. A combination of a good package management system, a reliable backup tool, a revision control system (such as CVS, Subversion or Arch) and cfengine will do most of the items on your list. Item 4 just requires (possibly automated) deployment tools such as disk imagers or automated installers. - Jeff -- Ubuntu in Mataró, Spain: December 5th-18th http://www.ubuntulinux.org/ I'm taking no part in your merry 5-way clusterfuck - sort that mess out between yourselves. - Alexander Viro -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Most valuable free/OSS software that doesn't exist?
This one time, at band camp, O Plameras wrote: 1. Given a specific server in the network, can remember exactly previous configurations for 3 generations (parent, grand parent, and great grand parent) along with each file in each of those generations. 2. Given a specific server in the network, SysAdmin must be able to revert back to that generation along with each file in that generation through an operation or a set of operations availble in the systems. those last three are tough problems, but should be theoretically possible with either full dumps of the system before and after changes, or using some sort of delta algorithm. I think isconf does somethign close to this though -- at least in the forward direction. I don't have that requirement for rollbacks though, I test on a small set of machines before rolling out new changes, changes are always small and manageable. It's not a perfect method but it works. 3. Must be able to effect change of Operating Systems from older version to a newer one. Because of item 2. above the reverse will be possible. cfengine and isconf are two tools that spring to mind for this task. I'm using cfengine on a production network of 30ish machines with good results. Actually, I think I misread this one. You mean operating system versions and not configuration versions; in that case I'm not sure I trust any software to do this automatically for me, yet. That said, I've had cfengine work smoothly on machiens that have been live upgraded from RH 7.3 to RHEL AS 2.1, RH 8.0 through 9.0 through RHEL ES 3, and Debian woody to sarge. 4. Must be able to effect change of Operating Systems of one type (say MS XP to Linux). youch. What you want is something like cfengine for NT, class-based rules for configuring services, and somethign thats going to be able to copy user data between the two. the first part might be easy, the last might be hideous depending on the level of migration you want. 5. Must be able to effect change of Applications (delete, add, or a combination) for a given server in the network. cfengine again; servers on our network that are part of the, say, ftp server class, have their installed packages list checked, and packages installed. I don't do the reverse, because whilst I can guarantee that I need to install and configure a service on a machine, I can't guarantee that a machine that isn't part of a class isn't supposed to have that service configured. At least, not yet (lots of auditing involved) 6. Etc. that is to do with any management of changes in the server of the network. Um. 7. Source Codes must be GPLed. www.cfengine.org :-) -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Most valuable free/OSS software that doesn't exist?
This one time, at band camp, Jamie Wilkinson wrote: those last three are tough problems, but should be theoretically possible with either full dumps of the system before and after changes, or using some sort of delta algorithm. I think isconf does somethign close to this though -- at least in the forward direction. I was going to mention http://infrastructures.org/ for more on this topic that you may be interested in. -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] new laptop: bios cant see dvd/cd - so cant boot, so cant install linux.
Hey Bevan, Have you set up the BIOS so it boots from the CD/DVD drive before the hard disk drive? There should be some option in the BIOS so that it tries to boot from the CD first, then the hard disk, etc. After you have Linux installed, you can easily change the order back, so that it speeds up the boot process. You'll have to check up on how you can access the bios on your machine, though (check the manuals). Hope that helps, Dave. On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 23:16:21 +, Broun, Bevan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi all I got myself a nice new laptop on the weekend. Dying to install linux on it but cant as the bios cant see the dvd/cdrom and so I cant boot ANY cd from this device. The laptop is badged pioneer but it is a mitac 8355 (athlon 64 bit, 1GB RAM). The bios is Insyde Mobile Pro Bios 4.00.05 (R1.01?). XP detects the dvd rw as teac dv-w22e. It is basically this: ttp://www.tuxmobile.org/xeron_sonic_pro_800mx.html Anybody see similar problems? Am I lookiing at a bios upgrade? Any ideas please. Thanks BB -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Most valuable free/OSS software that doesn't exist?
On Mon, Nov 15, 2004 at 12:28:47PM +1100, Jamie Wilkinson wrote: This one time, at band camp, O Plameras wrote: 1. Given a specific server in the network, can remember exactly previous configurations for 3 generations (parent, grand parent, and great grand parent) along with each file in each of those generations. 2. Given a specific server in the network, SysAdmin must be able to revert back to that generation along with each file in that generation through an operation or a set of operations availble in the systems. those last three are tough problems, but should be theoretically possible with either full dumps of the system before and after changes, or using some sort of delta algorithm. I think isconf does somethign close to this though -- at least in the forward direction. I don't have that requirement for rollbacks though, I test on a small set of machines before rolling out new changes, changes are always small and manageable. It's not a perfect method but it works. Current versions of RPM allow you to rollback to previous versions of software. I've never had a need to do it though, so I can't say if it works as advertised or not. Your cross-platform requirement makes this moot of course, but it gets you a little closer to a solution... It does mean that you need to trust RPM for all your software management, which is a decision you need to make. 3. Must be able to effect change of Operating Systems from older version to a newer one. Because of item 2. above the reverse will be possible. cfengine and isconf are two tools that spring to mind for this task. I'm using cfengine on a production network of 30ish machines with good results. I've also heard of people storing all of /etc in version control for this purpose. In my opinion it would be unnecessary if you kept your cfengine stuff in a source control system, but it would give you that absolute confidence that you could roll back and forward, even if cfengine failed. 5. Must be able to effect change of Applications (delete, add, or a combination) for a given server in the network. cfengine again; servers on our network that are part of the, say, ftp server class, have their installed packages list checked, and packages installed. I don't do the reverse, because whilst I can guarantee that I need to install and configure a service on a machine, I can't guarantee that a machine that isn't part of a class isn't supposed to have that service configured. At least, not yet (lots of auditing involved) RHEL also lets you do centralised upgrades. Of course, I'm a total amateur at this stuff, so I couldn't tell you if it lets you do the reverse operation or lets you remove stuff. Jamie? Actually, I know Mandrake has a 'parallel installer' application that ships with it; it uses SSH to install upgrades on a small army of Mandrake machines. Now, I'm not recommending Mandrake for production server use here, but I'd be surprised if other distros didn't have equivalent functionality. Does anyone know if this is the case? 6. Etc. that is to do with any management of changes in the server of the network. Um. Probably ssh is the tool you're looking for there :) HTH, James. -- Now, there are no problems only opportunities. However, this seemed to be an insurmountable opportunity. - http://www.surfare.net/~toolman/temp/diagram.html -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Most valuable free/OSS software that doesn't exist?
This one time, at band camp, James Gregory wrote: I've also heard of people storing all of /etc in version control for this purpose. In my opinion it would be unnecessary if you kept your cfengine stuff in a source control system, but it would give you that absolute confidence that you could roll back and forward, even if cfengine failed. cfengine vs all-etc-in-vc is like procedural vs functional programming; one of them lets you describe in detail how the operation is going to be done, the other one lets you describe the problem. That's probably not a good analogy, but with cfengine I can describe the goal state of the system and have cfengine sort out what needs to be done to get it there. Editing etc and rolling out changes also means handling heterogenous systems adds complexity to the system you use; cfengine effectively factors out the common parts and lets you describe the small changes meaningfully. RHEL also lets you do centralised upgrades. Of course, I'm a total amateur at this stuff, so I couldn't tell you if it lets you do the reverse operation or lets you remove stuff. Jamie? You can flag packages for removal from within RHN, but its less fun than installing them. -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Most valuable free/OSS software that doesn't exist?
On Mon, Nov 15, 2004 at 01:15:39PM +1100, Jamie Wilkinson wrote: This one time, at band camp, James Gregory wrote: I've also heard of people storing all of /etc in version control for this purpose. In my opinion it would be unnecessary if you kept your cfengine stuff in a source control system, but it would give you that absolute confidence that you could roll back and forward, even if cfengine failed. cfengine vs all-etc-in-vc is like procedural vs functional programming; one of them lets you describe in detail how the operation is going to be done, the other one lets you describe the problem. That's probably not a good analogy, but with cfengine I can describe the goal state of the system and have cfengine sort out what needs to be done to get it there. Except that that assumes describing the goal state is about the same complexity (or easier) as making the changes directly. In my playing around with cfengine I've found the learning curve and the extra layer of indirection mostly annoying, rather than helpful. Usually I know the changes I want to make in /etc; it's faster just to go ahead and do it than figure out how to convince cfengine to do the same thing. Editing etc and rolling out changes also means handling heterogenous systems adds complexity to the system you use; cfengine effectively factors out the common parts and lets you describe the small changes meaningfully. True enough - where cfengine really seems to shine is in large heterogenous networks (e.g. = 25 machines). OTOH, most of the server environments I encounter are much smaller than that; typically 5-15 machines, and usually mostly or all Linux. In this kind of environment I've found cfengine to be overkill - the learning curve for the local admins is just too much to justify the benefits. I'm currently experimenting with a etc-in-vc model instead (though storing only the deltas from base OS versions, not the full etc tree), and using arch branches to manage machine classes, so that changes get propogated via inheritance down the tree i.e. etc--all # Common stuff etc--web# Webserver configs etc--app# Appserver configs etc--db # Database configs etc. So far it's working pretty well, and much more fun that battling cfengine indeterminacy. ;-) Cheers, Gavin -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Most valuable free/OSS software that doesn't exist?
This one time, at band camp, Gavin Carr wrote: Except that that assumes describing the goal state is about the same complexity (or easier) as making the changes directly. In my playing around with cfengine I've found the learning curve and the extra layer of indirection mostly annoying, rather than helpful. Usually I know the changes I want to make in /etc; it's faster just to go ahead and do it than figure out how to convince cfengine to do the same thing. There's certainly a tough learning curve; I've been using it now for 5 years and it's only the last one where I've had enough power to use it effectively. I find the power comes from reduction of human error, though... True enough - where cfengine really seems to shine is in large heterogenous networks (e.g. = 25 machines). OTOH, most of the server environments I encounter are much smaller than that; typically 5-15 machines, and usually mostly or all Linux. In this kind of environment I've found cfengine to be overkill - the learning curve for the local admins is just too much to justify the benefits. I find it's an advantage even in smaller homogenous networks; 2 or more :-) I'd certainly use cfengine on a network of 5 machines if I was to start administering it -- there'll come a point where the network will grow and you'll want a tool that'll help you cope with the size increase. I know there's a lack of beginners guides on cfengine; perhaps there's an opportunity for a recap on Gus' talk a few years ago at the meetings. -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Most valuable free/OSS software that doesn't exist?
quote who=Gavin Carr OTOH, most of the server environments I encounter are much smaller than that; typically 5-15 machines, and usually mostly or all Linux. In this kind of environment I've found cfengine to be overkill - the learning curve for the local admins is just too much to justify the benefits. See, 5-15 machines says one admin to me. If that one admin has a tightly honed deployment / change management solution (for example, cfengine), then she won't be overwhelmed when projects (not maintenance or support) start to multiply, or when four machines die at once. Learning cfengine is challenging, but even for small deployments, there's a pretty good saving to be had. - Jeff -- linux.conf.au 2005: Canberra, Australiahttp://linux.conf.au/ Linux continues to have almost as much soul as James Brown. - Forrest Cook, LWN -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Most valuable free/OSS software that doesn't exist?
On Mon, Nov 15, 2004 at 02:20:52PM +1100, Jeff Waugh wrote: OTOH, most of the server environments I encounter are much smaller than that; typically 5-15 machines, and usually mostly or all Linux. In this kind of environment I've found cfengine to be overkill - the learning curve for the local admins is just too much to justify the benefits. See, 5-15 machines says one admin to me. If that one admin has a tightly honed deployment / change management solution (for example, cfengine), then she won't be overwhelmed when projects (not maintenance or support) start to multiply, or when four machines die at once. Learning cfengine is challenging, but even for small deployments, there's a pretty good saving to be had. But from cfengine in particular, or from having a tightly honed deployment / change management solution in general? I'm all in favour the latter; it's the cfengine instance of that solution that I've found a hard sell. cfengine is sendmail in this space - does everything, but is a dog to learn. I want a postfix. Cheers, Gavin -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Most valuable free/OSS software that doesn't exist?
quote who=Gavin Carr cfengine is sendmail in this space - does everything, but is a dog to learn. I want a postfix. Now you're just toying with my heart! - Jeff -- Ubuntu in Mataró, Spain: December 5th-18th http://www.ubuntulinux.org/ Odd is good by the way. I knew normal in high school and normal hates me. - Mary Gardiner -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Most valuable free/OSS software that doesn't exist?
This one time, at band camp, Gavin Carr wrote: cfengine is sendmail in this space - does everything, but is a dog to learn. I want a postfix. Nah, I think cfengine's inputs language is pretty good for what it does; it's readable for starters :-) The counterpoint is that I'm using M4 to autogenerate some common structures in my cfengine inputs... -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Graphic tablet
Someone was having problems with defining the screen size for use with a tablet. I just found this information (SuSE 9.2) which maybe of use. /usr/src/linux-2.6.8-24.3/Documentation/input/input.txt CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV_SCREEN_[XY] in the kernel configuration are the size of your screen (in pixels) in XFree86. This is needed if you want to use your digitizer in X, because its movement is sent to X via a virtual PS/2 mouse and thus needs to be scaled accordingly. These values won't be used if you use a mouse only. Also in the Kernel parameters mousedev.xres= [MOUSE] Horizontal screen resolution, used for devices reporting absolute coordinates, such as tablets mousedev.yres= [MOUSE] Vertical screen resolution, used for devices reporting absolute coordinates, such as tablets I suggest you do a search through the kernel documentation to see if there are any further details on tablet related configuration. -- Regards, Graham Smith - -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] new laptop: bios cant see dvd/cd - so cant boot, so cant install linux.
Of course, another way is to try booting off a floppy or a USB drive. -- Vino Fernando Crescini Intelligent Systems Laboratory School of Computing IT phone: +61 2 4736 0140 University of Western Sydney email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Locked Bag 1797 web: www.cit.uws.edu.au/~jcrescin Penrith South DC NSW 1797 My daddy shoots people! --Ralph Wiggum Last Tap Dance in Springfield (Episode BABF15) David Helstroom wrote: Hey Bevan, Have you set up the BIOS so it boots from the CD/DVD drive before the hard disk drive? There should be some option in the BIOS so that it tries to boot from the CD first, then the hard disk, etc. After you have Linux installed, you can easily change the order back, so that it speeds up the boot process. You'll have to check up on how you can access the bios on your machine, though (check the manuals). Hope that helps, Dave. On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 23:16:21 +, Broun, Bevan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi all I got myself a nice new laptop on the weekend. Dying to install linux on it but cant as the bios cant see the dvd/cdrom and so I cant boot ANY cd from this device. The laptop is badged pioneer but it is a mitac 8355 (athlon 64 bit, 1GB RAM). The bios is Insyde Mobile Pro Bios 4.00.05 (R1.01?). XP detects the dvd rw as teac dv-w22e. It is basically this: ttp://www.tuxmobile.org/xeron_sonic_pro_800mx.html Anybody see similar problems? Am I lookiing at a bios upgrade? Any ideas please. Thanks BB -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html Scanned by SCIT E-Mail Gateway http://www.cit.uws.edu.au -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Why can't browser writers get it right
I've been putting a web site together over the past few days using CSS and JS and testing it on Mozilla/Linux 1.7.3, Firefox/Windows 1.0PR IE 5.0 The CSS has: font-family: Verdana, serif; The JS has one line only: window.print(); So, Mozilla acknowledges the font but when you try to respond to the print window it errors with You cannot print while in print preview Firefox and IE both ignore the font-family and present the text in sans-serif style. Firefox responds to the window.print() command and presents the print window and prints fine. IE just presents a blank window. Sigh... -- Howard. LANNet Computing Associates; Your Linux people http://www.lannetlinux.com -- When you just want a system that works, you choose Linux; when you want a system that just works, you choose Microsoft. -- Flatter government, not fatter government; Get rid of the Australian states. -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Wireless pcmcia cards
Hi all, Can anyone recommend a good 802.11g card that will work with 2.6 kernel? I would like to be able to use either 256Bit Wep or wpa-psk to connect to my network, price is no issue. Thanks Kevin -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
RE: [SLUG] Why can't browser writers get it right
The CSS has: font-family: Verdana, serif; should be font-family: Verdana serif; (no comma) *Bzzzt* _With_ comma is correct. http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/fonts.html#font-family-prop http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/css/font/font-family.html http://www.southerntwilight.com/tutorials/csstext.html http://www.w3schools.com/css/pr_font_font-family.asp http://www.google.com.au/search?q=font-family+comma - Rog -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Configuration change request [Was: spam suggestion]
On 14/11/2004, at 6:11 PM, Jeff Waugh wrote: quote who=Ken Foskey Can we check incoming mail that is @slug.org.au for a valid name eg: [EMAIL PROTECTED] is not valid therefore it is spam. Chris, Please add 'reject_unlisted_sender' to 'smtpd_recipient_restrictions'. Done. - Chris -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Most valuable free/OSS software that doesn't exist?
On Mon, 2004-15-11 at 14:44 +1100, Gavin Carr wrote: cfengine is sendmail in this space - does everything, but is a dog to learn. I want a postfix. Hear hear. I take that one further - cfengine is good at convergence, but that is only half the problem space (generating configs is the other half) and then there are problems which neither are suitable for. (Alva Couch's behavioral agent closures show promise here) I'm at LISA [ http://www.usenix.org/events/lisa04/ ] this week largely for the purpose of participating in the ongoing development of this area of research. Last year was pretty exciting in this regard - radmind, isconf, psgconf, agent closures, LCFG+SmartFrog - so we'll see what this year brings. AfC Atlanta -- Andrew Frederick Cowie OPERATIONAL DYNAMICS Operations Consultants and Infrastructure Engineers http://www.operationaldynamics.com/ Sydney: +61 2 9977 6866 New York: +1 646 472 5054 Toronto: +1 416 848 6072 London: +44 207 1019201 signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
