September 2001 - WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

Re: [Wlug] WPI Install Fest

by Dave Coutu

Hey Andy, I used to work as a lab manager in Higgins for Sia, and if I remember correctly, the Discovery Classroom is the tiered lecture hall at the end of the second hall across from some of the ME Profs offices, and there is plenty of room and network drops in there for a pretty large group of installs. I think this is the classroom that laptops and docking stations were bought for... tho it's been a while, so I could be totally off. Hope this helps! Dave ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andy Stewart" <andystewart(a)mediaone.net> To: <wlug(a)mail.wlug.org> Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 8:42 PM Subject: [Wlug] WPI Install Fest > I don't know if I've seen this classroom...could somebody from WPI tell me > how many computers we could reasonably accomodate in this room? This is > just in case we get overwhelmed with folks requesting installations.

Sept. 26, 2001

Re: [Wlug] WPI Install Fest

by Frank Sweetser

On Tue, Sep 25, 2001 at 10:24:01PM -0700, Dave Coutu wrote: > Hey Andy, > > I used to work as a lab manager in Higgins for Sia, and if I remember > correctly, the Discovery Classroom is the tiered lecture hall at the end of > the second hall across from some of the ME Profs offices, and there is > plenty of room and network drops in there for a pretty large group of > installs. I think this is the classroom that laptops and docking stations > were bought for... tho it's been a while, so I could be totally off. Hope > this helps! Yup, that's the one... I don't think a whole lot of the network drops are live right now, but we should be able to supply a 24 port 10/100 switch and cabling. -- Frank Sweetser fs at wpi.edu, fs at suave.net | $ x 15 Full-time WPI Network Tech, Part time Linux/Perl guy | Who wants to remember that escape-x-alt-control-left shift-b puts you into super-edit-debug-compile mode? (Discussion in comp.os.linux.misc on the intuitiveness of commands, especially Emacs.)

Sept. 26, 2001

REMINDER: WLUG Group Project

by Andy Stewart

HI gang, This is a reminder about the WLUG group project, where we will install Linux on 4 machines in Lancaster MA this coming Saturday, Sept. 29th. We'll be networking them together, connecting 2 printers and configuring them for access by all machines (including a Windows machine), configuring a modem for dial out, and if time allows, we'll configure a USB scanner. I currently have very few responses. We don't need an army of folks, but 3 - 5 more committed folks would probably do the trick. Please send me an e-mail if you definitely plan to attend. Later, Andy -- Andy Stewart Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org

Sept. 26, 2001

WLUG discount on Happy Hacking keyboard

by Andy Stewart

Hi gang, I have no personal connection with this vendor, and I apologize in advance if you consider this spam. The folks at www.pfuca.com who make the Happy Hacking keyboard have extended a $20 discount to WLUG members who wish to purchase any one of their keyboard models. If we (as a group) purchase five, we can get one free (and then fight over it!!!). (Maybe I'll buy one for the raffle...). I am sick of the escape key being in the wrong place and am considering this purchase. If anybody else is interested, please let me know so I can coordinate the group order. Send me e-mail if you are interested in the details. Later, Andy -- Andy Stewart Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org

Sept. 26, 2001

WPI Install Fest

by Andy Stewart

Hi Everybody, We will be having an install fest at WPI on Thursday evening, October 4th, from 6 PM to 10 PM in "the Discovery Classroom", aka Higgins Labs room 218. I am mainly aiming this at WPI students, but certainly anybody else who wants to get Linux installed is most welcome to join us. I don't know if I've seen this classroom...could somebody from WPI tell me how many computers we could reasonably accomodate in this room? This is just in case we get overwhelmed with folks requesting installations. I am seeking volunteers to do installations as well as folks who wish to get Linux installed fo the first time. I'll give preference to full installs, but if there are some folks who need to have some piece of Linux configured, we can do that on a space available basis. As in the past, I would like to suggest a $10 donation for installees. This will help to defray the cost of making CDs which you can take with you after the install fest. If you have your own Linux CDs, we'll do our best to get that version installed for you. If you are interested in attending, either as an installer, installee, or voyeur, please send me an e-mail. Thanks! Andy -- Andy Stewart Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org

Sept. 26, 2001

Re: [Wlug] Firewall on 486 w/8 MB of memory

by doug waud

Hi Let me jump in here a moment. I have been up to the site (as a sort of advance scout) and have some information you might like. > I'm fighting a cold right now, OK that means no kissing! :-) > but I should be over it by the weekend > and hopefully will be able to help out here. > Do you have the hardware in your posession right now? The box is up in Lancaster. It is a Unisys EVC-142. There are no manuals available --- it was a second hand purchase. I can find nothing about it on the web. :-( It has a 540 meg hard drive, the 8 meg you know about, and we jury-rigged a CDrom drive on it (by jury-rigged I mean there was only one IDE cable and it would not reach both the hard drive and the CDrom if both were in the available bays so we simply left the case open with the CD drive lying on a book on top.) > What kind of modem are they going to be using? Please say something > external... it probably won't fly if they have a win-modem for that > machine. Bad news and good news here :-). The modem is internal. However it is Listed as OK on the Linux Modem Compatibility list. It is a US Robotics Model 0584 56K ISA. Incidentally, the NIC cards they have are all 3COM model 3C509B and there is a 3c509 module which seems to work ok with them. doug

Sept. 25, 2001

Re: [Wlug] NIC's, 486's and a whole lot of frustration.

by doug waud

Hi I'm not sure I'm an expert here, but nobody else seems to have jumped in so let's try a blind-leading-blind approach :-) > 2) How the hell do I set up my NIC for DSL? > From what I gather, I needed to remove the PnP settings on the card, which I > did with a DOS utility supplied by D-Link. I then insmod'd the ne.o module > for my card. I ran ifconfig eth0 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx and got no errors. You do not say what is connected to what. Two main cases come to mind: This 486 is part of a personal network (192.16.n.m) in-house or it is directly connected to the DSL modem (then you would give it the IP number from the ISP). I realize this is not a very profound distinction, but bring it up as a trivial explanation of why you might not be able to ping anything through this NIC. > Then, things get wonky... I can't seem to get the gateway set up per the > instructions I've been reading. Again I would need more information. What gateway (again is the 486 talking to the DSL modem through a second box --- a gateway or is the 486 connected directly to the modem --- in which case the sense in which "gateway" is used is not clear. > I'd happily post the result of any diagnostics I could run, but since I'm > not online I'd have to retype them from a hard copy or something. I'm not > even sure which ones would help. Ifconfig? Route? Others? As you may have gathered by now :-) , I'd be more interested in knowing what is connected to what first. > Is there a definitive methodology for getting a NIC setup? Or are things so > different based on distro, kernel, NIC that it's useless to follow generic > "instructions"? My experience has been that it is, in fact, better to take the generic route; you become less dependent upon the vagaries of distro admin tools. When the latter work life is good; when not, then you have to fall back on basics. :-) Do you have a second box with an ethernet card in it? If so, you can break down the problem and exclude the DSL issue temporarily by connecting the two boxes (crossover cable if no hub, regular cables if you have a hub), assigning IP numbers in the 192.168.0.n range and seeing if they can ping each other. If they can, then you know the NIC card is up and running. (I guess this is a good example of a generic approach; indeed I was using it several times just last night helping a chap set up a local network.) One more thing comes to mind. When I was setting up my daughter's cable connection that particular cable modem required a crossover cable (!) between it and a router box I had. I discovered this by going to the cable modem manufacturer's site and reading manuals. This is a last resort I suspect. Lastly, my experience has been that the DSL/Cable people come in and want a Windows box to set things up and then, after they leave, you switch over to penguins. Am I correct in assuming that you did get something working originally over the DSL connection? doug

Sept. 25, 2001

Re: [Wlug] Firewall on 486 w/8 MB of memory

by John Stoffel

Andy> I saw several other recommendations for LRP, so I think we'll Andy> give that a try. That would be best. Andy> Finally, is there somebody who would like to volunteer for Andy> Saturday 9/29 to explicitly help with solving this problem? I'm fighting a cold right now, but I should be over it by the weekend and hopefully will be able to help out here. Do you have the hardware in your posession right now? Making the floppy disk(s) ahead of time would be a big time saver. All my LRP installs have been with a cable modem and getting a network card to work, I haven't done anything with the PPP setup type stuff. What kind of modem are they going to be using? Please say something external... it probably won't fly if they have a win-modem for that machine. John

Sept. 25, 2001

Re: [Wlug] NIC's, 486's and a whole lot of frustration.

by John Stoffel

Tim> Ok, I have a beat up Compaq ProLinea 486/50MHz, 16MB RAM, 120MB Tim> hard drive, a D-Link 220 NIC and a spare IP addres from my DSL Tim> provider. I just installed a fresh Slackware 3.5 install of the Tim> "A" and "N" disks. My goal is to set it up as a webserver to Tim> host a few web pages I've been working on. I think the memory is going to be the big limitation here. And as other have said, Slackware 3.5 is ancient. You should run something more recent. Tim> 1) Is it worth it/can it be done? (This would defintely affect Tim> the rest of the questions...) Sure, with more memory it's definitely doable. And doable with only 16mb as well, but tighter, esp since Apache can be a memory hog. If you are only going to server static pages, thttpd might be a better fit. Tim> 2) How the hell do I set up my NIC for DSL? Tim> I have tried to setup my NIC per some FAQ's, O'Reilly's Running Tim> Linux (2nd Edition), Usenet posts and a lame HOWTO from my DSL Tim> provider. They all seem to advocate different steps which is Tim> confusing and doesn't seem to work. Tim> From what I gather, I needed to remove the PnP settings on the Tim> card, which I did with a DOS utility supplied by D-Link. I then Tim> insmod'd the ne.o module for my card. I ran ifconfig eth0 Tim> xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx and got no errors. Then, things get wonky... I Tim> can't seem to get the gateway set up per the instructions I've Tim> been reading. What output do you get when you do 'ifconfig -a' on the box? What errors are you getting when you try to setup the gateway? Have you got the right networking cable setup? What is your network setup like? I suspect it's either a cabling issue, or something a little more involved. Did you insmod the ne.o modules with the proper parameters for the base address, IRQ, etc? I'm not really familiar with ISA network cards, I use PCI only, since it's much better. Tim> I'd happily post the result of any diagnostics I could run, but Tim> since I'm not online I'd have to retype them from a hard copy or Tim> something. I'm not even sure which ones would help. Ifconfig? Tim> Route? Others? Ifconfig and route would be good ones to see. Tim> Is there a definitive methodology for getting a NIC setup? Or Tim> are things so different based on distro, kernel, NIC that it's Tim> useless to follow generic "instructions"? The big thing is to get the NIC setup. From the sound of it, it's a pure ISA card, which really sucks in alot of ways, since ISA is a pain to deal with. Good luck, John

Sept. 25, 2001

Re: [Wlug] NIC's, 486's and a whole lot of frustration.

by Josh Huber

Scott Venier <scottven(a)umich.edu> writes: > I'd suggest using something newer then slackware 3.5. Espeically > since you want this to act as your web server. There have been an > amazing number of secuirty holes found since 3.5 was current. If > you put that up on the net, it will get r00ted. Yeah, I highly recommend Debian. It works well for low-ram systems, and you should have enough space on that disk to put what you need on it. -- Josh Huber

Sept. 25, 2001