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Linux at 35,000 feet

by Michael Long

Hi All, I took a trip on DirectAir to Florida this past weekend. I flew out of Worcester on a direct flight to Punta Gorda, Fl. I wish I could say it was for pleasure but that would not be true :( Anyway the airline is a public charter owned by Virgin America and operated by Jet Blue. What does this have to do with Linux? Each seat had a monitor with a gaming remote control. The passengers had the choice of watching TV or movies. They could also listen to many different radio stations or select by artist. I found it refreshing to put on some Jimmy Hendricks and Frank Zappa. The last, or was it first, option available were games. Our friend Tux appeared in two of the games and the rest were available on all modern distributions of Linux. I spent a fair amount of time playing Doom. When you board the plane it feels very modern. There is a pleasant blue glow to the cabin. First and second class is separated by clear Plexiglas so the cabin feels very open. The mandatory speech about safety is done by video and is appropriately smart-alecky. All in all it was a great experience. Look them up if you need to travel on the east coast. Oh yeah, tickets were $99 each way. Happy Travels, Mike

Feb. 4, 2009

Re: [Wlug] reaching college students with linux

by Gregory Avedissian

Sean makes good sense. Most people won't be interested in switching to another operating system. But I think an exercise in the durability of documents based on their file format might be useful. Pass out some old documents in various formats, and see which ones they can open properly. Remind them that to them, ten years is half a lifetime, but somewhere down the road, they might need to access a file that they made five or ten years before. Get them receptive to the idea with some practical examples, and then make a pitch for open standards and open source software. Even if they're not interested in Linux, they can hear about what's available for Windows, and the ideas should make sense to them. Greg Sean Corbett wrote: > To be honest, I think the overwhelming majority of non-technical > students will not want to get involved with Linux, even with Ubuntu... > even some of my fellow computer science majors will only use Linux for > coursework and refuse to touch it otherwise, mainly because they don't > want to have to worry about "learning new software" or dealing with the > fact that, in some cases, there aren't enough drivers to support all > their software. Even Ubuntu can be a real pain in terms of > out-of-the-box hardware compatibility, especially with laptops (which > for most students serve as their main machine of use). I'm sort of sad > to admit that many of the kids I go to school with are, in almost all > cases, looking for the easiest means to accomplish anything; anything > that requires too much effort is bound to be ignored by the majority. I > picked up Linux out of genuine interest, and because I knew it served as > a very good platform for development (and thus a worthwhile thing to > use), and especially because of it's compliance with my (mild) disdain > of proprietary software. Also, because I look up to Linus Torvalds, and > Richard Stallman, and all those great guys... but, I don't know anyone > else at my school who shares my enthusiasm. Perhaps its a bit better at > a purely technical school (like WPI)... > In short, if students aren't pursuing Linux out of their own interest > (or at least out of necessity), I wouldn't try much beyond what you've > already attempted in order to get kids more interested... I don't mean > to be discouraging or pessimistic, but I really think your efforts are > better spent aiding students who've developed an interest in running > Linux on their own, as opposed to trying to turn them on to it. > > Hope this helps, > -Sean C. >> Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2009 13:31:19 -0800 (PST) >> From: Andrew Perry <perryand(a)yahoo.com> >> Subject: [Wlug] successful upgrade to openoffice.org 3.0 ; ubiquity of >> .docx; reaching college students with linux >> To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org >> Cc: Andrew Perry <perryand(a)gmail.com> >> Message-ID: <377215.4592.qm(a)web35208.mail.mud.yahoo.com> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii >> >> >> Hi Everyone, >> >> (1) Thanks a million for all of the help, especially the link to the fantastic tutorial, posted by James Gray, I think. I am in the process of installing hardy updates, and it appears that openoffice.org 3.0 is part of what's being installed, so it looks like everything is working perfectly. >> >> (2) To Greg: yes, I could ask students to submit all of their assignments in .doc or .rtf format (or even open office format), but they most wouldn't listen. Many can't figure out how to save to any format but .docx. It's a perpetual hassle to nag them. Besides that, I get many files from colleagues, professors at my college and other colleges and universities, as well as the Mass. Dept. of Education, and increasingly, most are in Office 2007 formats. It's hard to convert the whole world to linux. >> >> (3) Here is a new issue for everyone who is interested in commenting. I am a mathematician but besides math ,I also teach a computer literacy course each semester. You would all be proud: I do my best every semester to convert students to the linux religion, or at least to make them aware of linux and the evils of Microsoft. However, for every student who finds my linux modules interesting (about 2 hours of a 45-hour course on average), there are a dozen who get annoyed and find the material boring and irrelevant. >> >> Once I brought in a PC running compiz and they found that mildly intriguing. >> >> They absolutely hate the movie "revolution os". If I pass out ubuntu cds, I doubt they get used. >> >> Can anyone suggest teaching resources (videos, for example) that would be likely to make an impact for non-technically minded college students ? >> >> >> Thanks, >> Andrew >> >> -Dr. Andrew B. Perry >> Dept. of Mathematics, Springfield College >> Schoo Hall Room 123 >> 263 Alden St., Springfield MA 01109 >> Work Phone (413)748-3193 >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

Feb. 4, 2009

Re: [Wlug] RH Enterprise 5.0 Question

by William Smith

You're right on that one... I've got Fedora 10 installed on a desktop. Running /usr/sbin/sysreport as root gets this: # sysreport WARNING: sysreport is deprecated, please use sosreport instead. ...and seems to move on into sosreport v1.8. So.... :) Bill Smith Fall River, MA Charter Member of LOPSA On Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 6:01 PM, Chuck Anderson <cra(a)wpi.edu> wrote: > On Wed, Feb 04, 2009 at 11:27:27AM -0500, McDonald, Melissa wrote: >> I need to determine the hardware configuration of a RH 5.0 Linux server. >> Is there a command that will probe the hardware configuration and send >> the output to the screen? > > I hear "sysreport" is what RH support asks for when you open a > ticket. > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

Feb. 4, 2009

Re: [Wlug] reaching college students with linux

by Sean Corbett

To be honest, I think the overwhelming majority of non-technical students will not want to get involved with Linux, even with Ubuntu... even some of my fellow computer science majors will only use Linux for coursework and refuse to touch it otherwise, mainly because they don't want to have to worry about "learning new software" or dealing with the fact that, in some cases, there aren't enough drivers to support all their software. Even Ubuntu can be a real pain in terms of out-of-the-box hardware compatibility, especially with laptops (which for most students serve as their main machine of use). I'm sort of sad to admit that many of the kids I go to school with are, in almost all cases, looking for the easiest means to accomplish anything; anything that requires too much effort is bound to be ignored by the majority. I picked up Linux out of genuine interest, and because I knew it served as a very good platform for development (and thus a worthwhile thing to use), and especially because of it's compliance with my (mild) disdain of proprietary software. Also, because I look up to Linus Torvalds, and Richard Stallman, and all those great guys... but, I don't know anyone else at my school who shares my enthusiasm. Perhaps its a bit better at a purely technical school (like WPI)... In short, if students aren't pursuing Linux out of their own interest (or at least out of necessity), I wouldn't try much beyond what you've already attempted in order to get kids more interested... I don't mean to be discouraging or pessimistic, but I really think your efforts are better spent aiding students who've developed an interest in running Linux on their own, as opposed to trying to turn them on to it. Hope this helps, -Sean C. > Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2009 13:31:19 -0800 (PST) > From: Andrew Perry <perryand(a)yahoo.com> > Subject: [Wlug] successful upgrade to openoffice.org 3.0 ; ubiquity of > .docx; reaching college students with linux > To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > Cc: Andrew Perry <perryand(a)gmail.com> > Message-ID: <377215.4592.qm(a)web35208.mail.mud.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > > Hi Everyone, > > (1) Thanks a million for all of the help, especially the link to the fantastic tutorial, posted by James Gray, I think. I am in the process of installing hardy updates, and it appears that openoffice.org 3.0 is part of what's being installed, so it looks like everything is working perfectly. > > (2) To Greg: yes, I could ask students to submit all of their assignments in .doc or .rtf format (or even open office format), but they most wouldn't listen. Many can't figure out how to save to any format but .docx. It's a perpetual hassle to nag them. Besides that, I get many files from colleagues, professors at my college and other colleges and universities, as well as the Mass. Dept. of Education, and increasingly, most are in Office 2007 formats. It's hard to convert the whole world to linux. > > (3) Here is a new issue for everyone who is interested in commenting. I am a mathematician but besides math ,I also teach a computer literacy course each semester. You would all be proud: I do my best every semester to convert students to the linux religion, or at least to make them aware of linux and the evils of Microsoft. However, for every student who finds my linux modules interesting (about 2 hours of a 45-hour course on average), there are a dozen who get annoyed and find the material boring and irrelevant. > > Once I brought in a PC running compiz and they found that mildly intriguing. > > They absolutely hate the movie "revolution os". If I pass out ubuntu cds, I doubt they get used. > > Can anyone suggest teaching resources (videos, for example) that would be likely to make an impact for non-technically minded college students ? > > > Thanks, > Andrew > > -Dr. Andrew B. Perry > Dept. of Mathematics, Springfield College > Schoo Hall Room 123 > 263 Alden St., Springfield MA 01109 > Work Phone (413)748-3193 > >

Feb. 4, 2009

FOSS Gaming Survey

by Joseph Guarino

Hello Everyone, I hope you are all doing well. =) I'm looking for some input and help on my forthcoming FOSS Gaming presentation at SCALE. With that goal in mind I am running a survey to gather the perceptions of the community on the status/opinion of FOSS gaming. Respondents will be entered to win a $50 Amazon gift certificate and select a Open Source gaming project of their choice to receive a $100 donation. Soooo.... If you are a gamer, I am looking for your feedback with a short 10 minute survey. It is my hope that the survey results help reflect and constructively improve the state of Open Source gaming. The survey is not commercial in nature and the information will NOT be used for any other purpose other than solidifying community perceptions. FOSS Gaming Survey - http://www.evolutionaryit.com/limesurvey/index.php?sid=72676〈=en NOTE: The insights of this survey will be detailed in my presentation on FOSS games at the Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE) as well as archived online. For further details see the SCALE website: http://scale7x.socallinuxexpo.org/ Thanks so much, -- Joseph Guarino Phone - 617 953 9514 (Cell) EvolutionaryIT :: Best Practice IT http://www.evolutionaryit.com

Feb. 4, 2009

Re: [Wlug] RH Enterprise 5.0 Question

by Chuck Anderson

On Wed, Feb 04, 2009 at 11:27:27AM -0500, McDonald, Melissa wrote: > I need to determine the hardware configuration of a RH 5.0 Linux server. > Is there a command that will probe the hardware configuration and send > the output to the screen? I hear "sysreport" is what RH support asks for when you open a ticket.

Feb. 4, 2009

System 76: computers with Ubuntu pre-installed

by Richard Klein

Cory Doctorow recently got a new laptop and he gave a brief review of it in his most recent podcast. When he switched from MacOS to Linux he decided it was no longer worth paying the premium for Apple hardware. I think he said he went to IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads after that, and he's comparing his new laptop to his previous Thinkpad. He said the new laptop was a bit heavier than the Thinkpad, and he had some minor issues with the keyboard layout, but it came with Intrepid Ibex installed, and he was impressed that everything just worked, including his T-Mobile (London) 3G cell modem. The laptop he got was a System 76 Darter, and he seemed pretty happy with it: http://www.system76.com/ I think this is the URL for that podcast episode: http://craphound.com/?p=2166 -- Rich

Feb. 4, 2009

Re: [Wlug] RH Enterprise 5.0 Question

by Mike Leo

RH also have a /etc/sysconfig/hwconf you can look at ________________________________ From: Tim Keller <turbofx(a)gmail.com> To: Worcester Linux Users Group <wlug(a)mail.wlug.org> Sent: Wednesday, February 4, 2009 11:41:51 AM Subject: Re: [Wlug] RH Enterprise 5.0 Question Melissa, Are you looking foe something specific or do you just want a hardware overview? Here's a couple commands: "lspci" - will display all the devices on the various pci buses. "lsusb" - displays the usb devices. /proc/cpuinfo will display lots of info about the cpus on the system. /proc/meminfo - memory info. If the system is using lvm you can use the pvscan / vgscan / lvscan to determine you physical / volume group / logical volume config. Is that what you're looking for? Thanks, Tim. On 2/4/09, McDonald, Melissa <mmcdonald(a)centralfcu.com> wrote: > Greetings, > > I need to determine the hardware configuration of a RH 5.0 Linux server. > Is there a command that will probe the hardware configuration and send > the output to the screen? > > > > Thanks in advance. > > > > Melissa McDonald > > 508.841.0549 (Office) > > 774.275.4449 (Mobile) > > > > -- Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com I am weary of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers". _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

Feb. 4, 2009

Re: [Wlug] RH Enterprise 5.0 Question

by Tim Keller

Melissa, Are you looking foe something specific or do you just want a hardware overview? Here's a couple commands: "lspci" - will display all the devices on the various pci buses. "lsusb" - displays the usb devices. /proc/cpuinfo will display lots of info about the cpus on the system. /proc/meminfo - memory info. If the system is using lvm you can use the pvscan / vgscan / lvscan to determine you physical / volume group / logical volume config. Is that what you're looking for? Thanks, Tim. On 2/4/09, McDonald, Melissa <mmcdonald(a)centralfcu.com> wrote: > Greetings, > > I need to determine the hardware configuration of a RH 5.0 Linux server. > Is there a command that will probe the hardware configuration and send > the output to the screen? > > > > Thanks in advance. > > > > Melissa McDonald > > 508.841.0549 (Office) > > 774.275.4449 (Mobile) > > > > -- Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com I am weary of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".

Feb. 4, 2009

Re: [Wlug] RH Enterprise 5.0 Question

by Brian J. Conway

On Wed, 4 Feb 2009, McDonald, Melissa wrote: > > Greetings, > > I need to determine the hardware configuration of a RH 5.0 Linux server. Is > there a command that will probe the hardware configuration and send the > output to the screen? lspci (-vvv) is a good place to start for devices. 'dmidecode' will also give you a lot of BIOS/CPU/memory/chipset information. There's probably a few tools out there that combine them in a nicely formatted way. Brian J. Conway

Feb. 4, 2009