Re: [SLUG] WAS: 20 years of using Linux at home NOW: Book - 20 years of Linux
On Wed, 2013-04-10 at 15:11 +1000, Jason Ball wrote: If you really want the early days you need to talk to a few people who may no longer on this list. Jamie Honan comes to mind. Ken Yap is still around too, I spoke with him at LCA this year. Terry -- 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] Suggestions for a monochrome printer.
On 23/05/2010 9:41 AM, Jon wrote: How much do you value your limbs at? We have a Brother HL-5250DN which we are fairly happy with. The current successor seems to be this: We've used the HL-5350DN in our office here and we're very happy with it. It's low cost and so are its consumables. Terry -- 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] this is a bit of a long shot...
meryl wrote: Here's a bit more about what was in the article that I'm trying to find... Meryl, I've just read the article. I find little in it to take issue with, except his apparent presumption that cracking is a subset of hacking, rather than cracking intersects with hacking. The author apparently believes that all cracking techniques, such as dictionary or brute force attacks for example, are hacks. I doubt any serious hacker would agree. There is little hack value in an obvious approach, the author acknowledges as much himself .. hacking is predicated on novelty or creativity. To state it another way, he believes all cracks are hacks, but not all hacks are cracks. He is therefore unable to properly differentiate cracking from hacking and has conflated them. If I were challenging him I think this would be the basis of my challenge. regards Terry -- 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] Netbooks .... Again (7 months on) Are you still happy?
Alan L Tyree wrote: How well does CF work as a hard drive replacement? I see mixed comments when I googled for it. What kind of adaptive gear do you need. I have an Apple iBook G4 and the hard drive is showing some damage - it is an IDE drive. Would like to replace with something solid state, but don't really know where to start. I'll get back to you soon on this Alan. I haven't actually got it working yet. The project took a sideline because I suddenly started using the NetBook more frequently than I had before. Terry -- 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] Netbooks .... Again (7 months on) Are you still happy?
Kyle wrote: 1. What you bought Kogan Agora Pro 2. Are you still happy Yes, although the price advantage that was present when I bought it is much less evident now. 3. How has the battery life stood up over the 6m. It's remained unchanged. 4. What sort of battery life are you getting (esp. now after 6 months) With stock hardware I get about 4.5 hours of solid use from a charge. I have a CF-card-based replacement for my internal hard-drive that I intend to try out to see what difference that makes at some point or another. 5. How easy was it to get your chosen Linux up and running (this is of course relative to the person - Me. I'm no genius, but I can figure it out if I have to) No brainer, it came with an Ubuntu derivative pre-installed, but I rebuilt it with the Ubuntu Netbook remix anyway. 6. How has the build quality stood up Just fine, no sign of any breakages or weakness of any sort. 7. What sorts of quirks have you discovered The WiFi seems a little deaf and the touchpad is in an occasionally annoying position. regards Terry -- 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] one serial port multiple readers
Del wrote: Does anyone have a solution to this problem? This might do what you want: http://freshmeat.net/projects/conserver Although it could be overkill for what you want to do. It seems a pretty simple exercise to write a small daemon program that opens a serial port, and listens for incoming TCP connections, multiplexing the data about as you want it though. I presume you don't need two way comms, just simplex? Terry -- 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] Google Chrome for Linux !!!
Erik de Castro Lopo wrote: Well maybe it should have defaulted to a more restrictive scheme rather than a less restrictive scheme. I agree with that. The default should have been to move to next most restrictive option in each case. Terry -- 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] Google Chrome for Linux !!!
Mike Andy wrote: this is completely off topic but you'd know if you used facebook that when those changes went through the users were prompted upon login that security settings were changed. For the users that clicked through those prompts without reading or customizing anything, they got the defaults. it's not as if Facebook changed the settings without telling the users. .. and further, they nagged users about the fact that they were going to do it for at least two weeks before-hand. Terry -- 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] Google Chrome for Linux !!!
Erik de Castro Lopo wrote: How? Messages when they logged into Facebook? Was there a tick box that said Yes, I understand the implications of these changes? There might have been. :) I can't remember to be honest. What if someone wasn't able to log into Facebook between when the warnings started and the change was made (sick on vacation, whatever)? Did they send emails? Did they require an acknowledgement email saying Yes, I understand the implications? There is a difference between telling people something and ensuring that they understand it. Frankly, ticking a checkbox means nothing more than than the user has read the message. That's important, but it's no proof of understanding. Terry -- 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] Google Chrome for Linux !!!
Erik de Castro Lopo wrote: Terry Dawson wrote: There is a difference between telling people something and ensuring that they understand it. Frankly, ticking a checkbox means nothing more than than the user has read the message. That's important, but it's no proof of understanding. What I was getting at was that Facebook sent a message but changed things without ensuring that the message had be received by the recipient. For recipients who they could not confirm receipt of the messages there should have no change. I don't think no change was an option. How long do you realistically wait? I suppose they figured that you hadn't logged in for two weeks you probably didn't care. What if it had been twelve months, would that have been better? Terry -- 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] Postscript calendars?
pe...@chubb.wattle.id.au wrote: I'm looking for a program to generate a nice postscript calendar, with dates from a file marked with appropriate text. There's a program called `pcal' that does 90% of what I want. The one thing it doesn't do is allow a range of dates to be marked in a different font or colour --- for example, to mark school terms or Uni sessions. Does anyone know of anything that'll do the final 10% (or should I start looking to hack pcal?) Not intended to be a trite answer, but have you considered Firefox+GreaseMonkey+Google Calendar+Print to file? It might be a quick and dirty, but easily updatable solution. Terry -- 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] Postscript calendars?
Terry Dawson wrote: Not intended to be a trite answer, but have you considered Firefox+GreaseMonkey+Google Calendar+Print to file? It might be a quick and dirty, but easily updatable solution. In case you haven't seen it, take a look at Paul Fenwick's Fixing the web with greasemonkey presentation, it's amusing and illustrates a good example of what you might rapidly achieve: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hghpuxCHTc Terry -- 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] Postscript calendars?
Peter Chubb wrote: Terry Not intended to be a trite answer, but have you considered Terry Firefox+GreaseMonkey+Google Calendar+Print to file? I was actually after something light weight that didn't need a GUI... And I usually operate with JavaScript turned off, because I don't trust it. fair enough, that's not a good option for you then :^) Terry It might be a quick and dirty, but easily updatable solution. Do you actually trust Google with YOUR calendar and email data? I don't. I do actually, calendar and some email anyway. I've actually found a PERL class that should do what I want, although I'm a very poor PERL hacker. http://search.cpan.org/dist/PostScript-Calendar/lib/PostScript/Calendar.pm cool. Terry -- 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] MythTV hardware advice sought
John Clarke wrote: True, but even with a dual core it's going to be the most powerful computer in the house :-) I use a dual-core machine without any major issue. I find it's not so much the ad skipping, but the transcoding that takes all the CPU time. If you're not intending to transcode then that isn't an issue. BTW the shintaro can be recovered from having a bowl of stroganoff dumped into it (If your interested). Each to his own. I'd rather each my dinner than pour it onto my keyboard. I use a Shintaro, similar to Jakes. For Myth alone it doesn't add much value, but we also use our Lounge Room TV for Web Browsing/YouTube/iView etc. and the keyboard really comes into it's own then. It's also good for the occasional annihilation of aliens or insane bombing of helpless villagers in MythGames. fwiw I've had pretty good success with USB tuners. I've been through five different PCI-based tuner cards over the last few years, they seem to reliably fail for me. I've found they get very hot and I'm guessing that 24x7 usage in a hot box is more than they can handle. The KWorld 399U USB dual-DVB tuner I use now seems to be powering along just nicely, latest MythBuntu supports it out of the box, and it's by far the cheapest solution I've found. Terry -- 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] Windows XP Pro OEM EULA and VirtualBox
Daniel Pittman wrote: Personally, I think the best thing y'all can do to eliminate these licenses, and to encourage alternatives, is to demand that people strictly obey them. That way they will become aware of just how completely crazy they are, and pressure will actually build up to change them. :) Spot on, I agree 100%. I've successfully done this in my work environments and swayed purchasing decisions as a consequence. Terry -- 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] Kogan Agora Netbooks
Dean Hamstead wrote: How does battery life fare? damn. For some reason my procmail has filed this whole thread into a new folder which my IMAP client was not subscribed to read, so I've missed it! grr. I've had the Pro(s) now for a few weeks and we routinely get about 3.5 hours of solid use out of them. These things are good enough that my Sony Vaio, which cost more than five times as much, has been relegated to replacing a desktop machine. Terry -- 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] Kogan Agora Netbooks
(sorry, this one got lost too!) Marghanita da Cruz wrote: However, I would like to know what ports are available and whether Wifi is built in (as is the case with eeePC). Though, I don't expect firewire - which my current laptop meets. Wifi is built in. Bluetooth is not. There are two (three?) USB 2.0 ports. One 100Mbps ethernet port. I have also heard reports about issues with the fan. We've not experienced any fan issues. Have you used an external DVD/CD burner or other external storage? Yes, I've used both external USB hard disk and I installed the Ubuntu Netbook respin on mine from an external USB DVD drive without issue. I assume it has no problems with USB drives/cameras/phones? I've not tried any of those with it, other than my HTC G1 phone, which works as expected. Terry -- 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] linux firewall/vpn devices wanted
Voytek Eymont wrote: On Mon, August 3, 2009 4:46 pm, Grant Parnell wrote: Something sub $500.00 that's small, runs linux and is customisable. It probably should have 256MB of RAM and at least the same in flash and two ethernet ports and at least one USB port. Alix or Eber from Yawarra ? I'll second this. Nice pieces of hardware if you're serious about it. http://www.yawarra.com.au/hw-alix.php regards Terry -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Kogan Agora (non-pro) Netbooks discounted again, was: Kogan Agora Netbooks
I just received an email from kogan advising that their non-Pro Agora is now $399, which is a much more attractive price compared to their Pro. regards Terry -- 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] Kogan Agora Netbooks
Marghanita da Cruz wrote: Any thoughts on these? Powering the Kogan Agora Netbook is gOS, a very aesthetically pleasing, powerful, intuitive, and fast operating system. Combined with the power and great value of our hardware, it brings you one step closer to cloud computing. gOS facilitates easy access to a number of Google™ services as well as a host of easy to use, powerful open source programs. http://www.kogan.com.au/shop/kogan-agora-netbook/ http://www.kogan.com.au/shop/kogan-agora-netbook-pro/ Marghanita, I realise you posted this message quite a while ago now, but I've recently purchased four of the Agora Pro Netbooks and if you're still considering purchase I thought you might be interested in my comments. In summary I'm really very happy with them. They're surprisingly solidly built for a machine of their class. They feel well-built with no flimsiness and I suspect you'd have to try pretty hard to do any real physical damage to them. The operating system has been well localised for Australia and is Ubuntu 8.04 based. The 8.04 is a little out of date, but the update process is obvious and works as expected. It was almost disappointing to discover that I didn't need/want to do much after creating my login account to customise it; the setup is quite sensible. All I ended up doing was disabling the Google gadgets on the desktop because they're not to my taste and installing a few application package that I like to use. I find the keyboard quite comfortable to use, with the possible exception of the '/' key being a little awkward to get to from some angles. The touchpad works well, but again, from some angles I find that my thumbs sometime accidentally stray onto it while I'm typing. I'm sure both of these problems will dissipate with time as I become more familiar with it. Wireless/sound work as expected. Bluetooth, as you will know, manifests as a small USB dongle which I haven't yet tried, but suspect will work just fine. The screen is quite pretty, with default fonts small but readable even for someone rapidly turning middle-aged and both short and far-sighted :) Happy to field any particular questions you (or others) might have. regards Terry -- 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] awk sed (grep?)
john hedge wrote: My challenge is to search a directory of text files for a string which I want to replace wherever it occurs with a new string and save the file with the changes in the same original file name. In the past I've used something like: for file in `find -type f -name 'whatever'` do (echo '1,$s/oldstring/newstring/g' echo 'wq') | ex $file done .. quite successfully for this purpose. It basically just drives 'ex' to do precisely what you'd do if you were doing it manually. Test it somewhere with a copy of your files first though! regards Terry -- 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] awk sed (grep?)
Peter Chubb wrote: Or use ed: for i in * do ed - $i \EOF 1,$s/str/repl/g w q EOF done 'HERE' file, nice. That's more elegant than my suggestion. Terry -- 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] VPN and Monmotha.. :/
Charles Myers wrote: I need to connect to another network (via a VPN)... Is this attainable using this script or do I need to somthing else? I have read conflicting google results and being unsure about VPN's I thought I would ask here. There are a number of different VPN technologies. My guess is that perhaps what you're talking about here is using the IPSec protocol to access some sort of VPN gateway? I'm not familiar with the monmothas script, but a quick google suggests to me that it is a firewall/NAT configuration script, in which case it almost certainly isn't what you need. If IPSec is what you're after then look toward the 'freeswan' package. If you're unsure what sort of VPN you're dealing with, you'll need to ask whoever administers the network for some information. I'm happy to assist you when you have the information you need. regards Terry -- 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] Encouraging New Membership
Jeff Waugh wrote: Well, Terry, you've been coming to SLUG for a while now, but I'm not seeing your flair... Fifteen is the minimum. Now it's up to you whether or not you just want to do the bare minimum. Or like Jaq for example, has thirty-seven pieces of flair on today, okay, and a terrific smile. But you know how much I hate it when the other kids get gold stars and I don't! It's not fair, just because they've got a nice smile and I don't! Speaking of coming to SLUG. I think Mary and I have agreed that we'll try to alternate, that way I can subject you all to my presence occasionally at least! That'll teach you for wanting to attract new members :) Terry -- 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] BSD SOckets
Bruce Badger wrote: Where is the specification of BSD sockets definitively expressed? BSD sockets I'm not. On the other hand, the socket API is defined within the POSIX 1003.1 specification, which Linux implements. What standards body is responsible for the specification? In the case of POSIX 1003.1 it is the IEEE that defines and owns it. regards Terry -- 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] BSD SOckets
Terry Dawson wrote: BSD sockets I'm not. On the other hand, the socket API is defined within the POSIX 1003.1 specification, which Linux implements. For the confused, what I meant to say was BSD Sockets I'm not sure about. To be BSD Socket, or not to be .. that is the question! Terry -- 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] Encouraging New Membership
Pia Waugh wrote: Let's leave name tags to the few extroverts happy to be welcomers. That way if new people come and want to just be part of the crowd they can :) heh, you're right of course, I was being a little tongue-in-cheek :) The name-tag thing is all a bit north american for my taste. Participants in a volunteer community will ultimately be themselves no matter what else they're asked to do. The point I was really trying to make was that attempting name-tags for newcomers is likely in many cases to just alienate them. Which is precisely the opposite of what is intended : Hi, I'm new here, patronise me!. Ultimately they just want to be treated with some respect as individuals, to feel that they're welcome as members of a thriving dynamic community and some understanding that they're probably a bit confused and lost while working out who is who and what is happening around them. I mean really, can you imagine how bizarre it would be to have people sticking gold stars on your badge every time you did something useful? It'd be like kindergarten :) Everyone wearing name-tags, while perhaps seeming a bit daggy, could actually be a cool thing. You could, for example, have a scheme where other people could endorse a persons nametag for exceptional behaviour. You know, Gold Stars for being helpful or something. Maybe you could endorse your Terry -- 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] SLUG: lan and ppp[0] clash
Nicholas Tomlin wrote: I have on this machine [195.168.0.1] Mandrake 10.1 on an AMD 64 bit Athlon 3k cpu with .5g ram and 2 80g HDD's and typically run kde 3.2.3 as my desk top. I don't run Mandrake, but I might be able to help get you started on a solution to your problem. I won't be able to supply screenshots. Perhaps someone else can assist by translating what I offer here into Mandrake. I have an 8 port 10/100 ethernet network switch which permits me to connect computers with each other, I have this machine, a Tosh A10 Satellite [195.168.0.2] and a dual boot mandrake / windoesn't box [195.168.0.3] which MYOB's my accounts [please tell me there is a linux replacement to MYOB]. network picture: domain tac.com.au [nameserver 223.225.0.3] [nameserver 223.225.0.6] | | dialup -- Modem [ppp0] 195.168.0.1 --blue cable--[switch] | | Laptop ethernet port-- 195.168.0.2 --blue cable--[switch] | | accounts -ethernet port-- 195.168.0.3 --blue cable--[switch] Mind if I redraw this? ^ Dial to Internet, domain:tac.com.au, DNS=223.225.0.[36] | | ppp0 - dynamic address? - | | this - | 0.1 | [ ] Ethernet Switch supporting 195.168.0.* / \ / \ 0.2 / \ 0.3 - - | || | - - laptop accounts Is that right? All machines have an ethernet connection available and I am using the blue cables, can ping each computer from 195.165.0.1, but cannot necessarily ping from, eg, 195.168.0.2 back to 195.168.0.1, it tells me the host is unreachable despite 'ifconfig 195.168.0.1 and 2 up' on both computers - any ideas what I have done wrong here? Hmm, nope, that's an odd one, if I've understood your network correctly. When I have the lan - ethernet - network running I seem to be precluded from using the internet on this machine 195.168.0.1, and I can't see this machine Without knowing any detail I can tell you that this sort of problem usually relates to you configuring a 'default route' on your ethernet interface that overrides the default route that is normally pointing to the Internet via your PPP interface. You don't need, or want, a default route on your ethernet interface, so if you've got one, remove it. The default route might appear as a configuration item for a 'gateway'. The only default route you want is the one that pppd will provide with its 'defaultroute' option. If you look at the routing table on the this machine, you should see something like: guglielmo# route -n Kernel IP routing table Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric RefUse Iface 220.233.1.45 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255 UH0 00 ppp0 10.200.253.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 00 eth0 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 U 0 00 ppp0 The last line, the route to '0.0.0.0' is the default route I'm talking about. You only want one of those. If you see another one configured when your ethernet interface is up, that'll be part of your problem. Your laptop machine should be configured something like this: iface eth0 inet static address 195.168.0.2 network 195.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 195.168.0.255 gateway 195.168.0.1 and your 'accounts' machine should look similar, albeit with it's own IP address instead. If you want your laptop and windows machines to be able to share your Internet connection, then you'll need to configure what is sometimes called Network Address Translation, or IP-Masquerade on your 'this' machine. On my own machine here I use these commands: /sbin/iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o ppp0 -j MASQUERADE /sbin/iptables -I FORWARD 1 -p tcp --tcp-flags SYN,RST SYN -m tcpmss --mss 1400:1536 -j TCPMSS --clamp-mss-to-pmtu But it is possible that Mandrake includes some way of automating this, or even of configuring this transparently for you. regards Terry -- 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] Encouraging new membership
Sridhar Dhanapalan wrote: I see two main challenges to solving this conundrum: * getting people to attend a meeting in the first place * encouraging people to continue to participate afterwards Sridhar, I'd love to be an active member of SLUG. The group seems pretty healthy and by all accounts it reminds me of the best features of many of the computer usergroups I remember fondly from the 80's. I share(literally) Mary's child/meeting night problem. I have a schedule that makes it just about impossible to attend meetings unless they're on a Monday or Tuesday night. It's a very haphazard scheduling outside of that. I'm not suggesting you change the night of the meeting, but I wonder if for many people it's just logistic issues that prevent them from attending? Many of the most succesful user-groups and clubs that I have seen operating have achieved a great number of things, but they nearly always did it on the back of a very strong social network. Usergroups are great as places to make true friends and meet with them regularly for some face-to-face and focussed time talking about common interests. If you want to attract and retain members I'd maintain a focus on community and sociality. It's something that every member will need to practice too though; it isn't something that only a few can do. In the end that'll mean that attracting and maintaining members will probably have to be a shared concern. If it's only the committee worried about it you're probably in for a tough time doing much about it. regards Terry -- 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] Encouraging New Membership
T Murray wrote: I think the use of offical greeters to assist new people get an orientation and feel welcome is a great idea. If you get the right people doing this it could make a big difference I'm sure. I guess another option is to give the new members a nametag or something and then encourage an etiquette of existing members introducing themselves visitors during coffee time. heh, if you're going to do nametags then everyone should be encouraged to wear nametags, not just the newbies. Otherwise the name-tags alone can make you feel uncomfortable and 'marked'. Everyone wearing name-tags, while perhaps seeming a bit daggy, could actually be a cool thing. You could, for example, have a scheme where other people could endorse a persons nametag for exceptional behaviour. You know, Gold Stars for being helpful or something. Maybe you could endorse your nametag with things that you're prepared to talk about, help with or that you are knowledgable about. This might provide a means of readily identifying who the helpful people are, and perhaps encouraging people to put in the little bit of extra effort to help people. regards Terry -- 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] Encouraging new membership
Sridhar Dhanapalan wrote: One thing I love about SLUG is its excellent blend of technical and social elements. There are some great technical presentations and discussions, but at the same time there are plenty of avenues for meeting people and socialising. I'm quite sure you're right, I wasn't trying to suggest that SLUG is lacking, rather I was suggesting maintaining a strong focus on the social element to underpin the other activities. There is also DebSIG, which I hear is even more informal. Unfortunately, I've never been to make it to one since I don't like to go out drinking in the middle of the week. I've been to one DebSIG which I really enjoyed. I'd love to be able to attend regularly, but unfortunately Wednesday nights are also nights I'm unable to make. Terry -- 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] Who looks after your stack?
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I propose that in most cases, it's been the UNIX admins who put together the systems then install and basically configure the apps that make up the suite of apps that can be called an Information System such as a httpd, php/perl plus SSL/TLS and a databases such as Mysql or Postgres. Rachel, In my experience (mostly a very large national enterprise with a well-established IT group) you're right, it's the (Unix/Windows/...) system administrators who undertake such tasks. I once found myself pursuing an almost identical question, but along network lines instead: Who does the network configuration and administration of your server infrastructure? The network administration team or the system administration team? I've seen very few cases where it isn't the system admins that do the network configuration of the server infrastructure, yet nearly all network reconfigurations are prompted as part of projects initiated and owned by the network administration team. Who manages and configures your DNS? Your resolv.conf? Is name resolution an application service or a network service? The system adminstrators usually end up performing an entirely menial task almost completely under the direction of the network administrators. Why? Allowing the network admin team to change the IP address of an ethernet port on your server usually requires giving the router jocks your root password, something you'd never do. I've found that the allocation of responsibilities has generally fallen, somewhat pragmatically perhaps, along the lines of 'who can actually do it?' ie, along identity/access-control/authority lines. If you have the root password you can install and configure software and hence usually end up doing it, because to allow others to do it necessitates providing them with the very thing you preciously preserve: your control over the relevant piece of infrastructure. I have a case in mind that further illustrates the potential truth of this: mainframe environments. In mainframe environments the system security and rights allocation mechanisms are usually sophisticated enough and fine-grained enough that you can grant the network administration team sufficient rights for them to undertake their relevant activities, without giving them rights to completely reconfigure everything. In these environments the division of labour is often more rational. Virtual machine environments will see a shift I think, especially in the scenarios in which you're most interested: application configuration. When it becomes more common for individual or clusters of related applications to be hosted in virtual hosts rather than within the same single shared operating system instance it will be easier (read: safer|more likely) for responsibilities within a particular virtual host to be shared with the people actually responsible for the applications running within them. The application support teams may be given more power over their applications and the system administration team may voluntarily relinquish the exclusivity of rights that they currently preserve. regards Terry -- 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: The joy of APT
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Again it is much cleaner to say 'install RH9, choose DEV environment, add get-text', it works: a repeatable, exact solution for ever. Again horses for courses: whose building 'that version' of LBE (used by 1000s customers worldwide for POS touch terminals) and needs to continue building THAT version. What you're describing isn't an apt-get artefact, it's a distribution/release one. I don't see how it differs from: Install Debian version 3 release 1. Select development task apt-get install get-text If you're managing Debian machines, you either rely on the standard releases, or you do your own. That way you can precisely reproduce a particular configuration from a particular time. Sure apt-get is cute (easy, nice, etc), but ... apt-get will work cutely, easily, nicely etcely from whatever you point it at. If you point it at the unstable distribution it'll change over time. If you point it at a known configuration it'll always install that, every time. Terry -- 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: Install probs with Logitech Quickcam Pro 4000 on FC4 with SMP kernel
elliott-brennan wrote: In the struggle to get the webcam working on my FC4 I'm wondering about what problems may be created if I were to boot using an earlier, non-smp kernel (as it's likely that the driver install may then work)? Are there any issues in doing this? The only problems you might encounter are one of general annoyance on your part after a few goes of rebooting your machine just to use your webcam :) .. and that while you're running with a non-SMP kernel you'll only be using one of your presumed more-than-one CPUs. Which probably won't really be a problem at all. I actually have a QuickCam Pro 4000 too. I haven't tried very hard to get it working yet. Perhaps I should take a look at it. regards Terry -- 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] I so hate X windows...
Michael Fox wrote: Umm I am fully aware of that, but twinview has something called meta modes.. basically you tell it what res the 2nd screen is at, thus 800x600 or 640x480. Which my TV can do. Michael, If it's any consolation you're not alone in experiencing difficulty with this. I've been mucking around with exactly this sort of problem trying to do an external LCD monitor from two different types of laptops with two different chipsets .. one nVidia and one ATI Radeon .. with similar sorts of results. Very frustrating. Still, I've seen enough reports of success to believe it can be made to work, so I'm battling on. If I find out anything helpful I'll let you know. regards Terry -- 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: [ANN] Help fight the dreaded H.T.M.L.
Anand Kumria wrote: 1. The main types of dynamic content discussed were announcements of upcoming events (meetings, fests etc), and news relevent to Sluggers, and anyone using Linux in Sydney (but NOT general geek news, headlines etc). Adrian Casey from the Alice Springs Linux Users Group is intending to use phpweblog for their site.. http://phpweblog.org/ .. it is php/MySQL based and may be of interest to you. regards Terry -- Radio Free Penguin: http://radio.linux.org.au/ -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ More Info: http://lists.slug.org.au/listinfo/slug
