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RE: [Wlug] Lan party ideas...
by Haines, Charles Allen Dec. 10, 2002

Dec. 10, 2002

Have you made sure that there will be enough power to accomodate this many computers. I've had to deal with this problem many times before and I know that both the Odeum and Riley Commons can support up to 50 computers. Once we decide on a location, I'll speak with NetOps about internet access. ============================================================= | Chuck Haines | WPI Box 1531 | | chaines(a)wpi.edu | 100 Institute Road | | http://www.linux-xtreme.net | Worcester, MA 01609 | ============================================================= | ECE Systems Admininstrator | AIM: CyberGrex | | GDC Developer | Yahoo: CyberGrex_27 | | WPILA Lab Manager | ICQ: 3707881 | | Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity | IRC: termleech | ============================================================= -----Original Message----- From: Stephen C. Daukas [mailto:stephen@daukas.com] Sent: Monday, December 09, 2002 7:36 AM To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org Subject: Re: [Wlug] Lan party ideas... I have a couple of ideas... The first one that comes to mind, regarding location, is to hold it at the Mass Academy of Math & Science at WPI, which is of course a part of WPI, and is loacted at 85 Prescott St. This is where WPI's campus expansion (gateway park) will be happening over the next N years. As is so happens, I'm a faculty member at the Academy (Computer Science) and have already secured permission to use the entire facility, if need be, for WLUG acitivity. There is one large room (a.k.a. the brick yard) where we can probably accomodate up to 30 people with various PCs on bench-tables (we have had 100+ people in there for presentations). This room has the same AV sysetm as Kinnekut Hall... In addition to that, we have a large "room" (a.k.a. the library) off of a number of classrooms that could also be used. Every room is equipped with drops (between a 6 and 30) that we could use if Chuck can secure permission to connect to the WPI network. As to what, well I must confess, I have never seen what the attraction is to playing computer games. I have brought up the possibility, as the last "Boynton meeting", of attracting the "technology" types from area schools (and the folks they hang out with) for an install fest and topical discussions revolving around getting Linux into the hands of students and family as well as the topic of running Linux on all the older PCs that many schools already have. My guess is that taking this route, instead of a night of games, would not only serve to help the communities in which we live, but also bolster WLUG's standing in central MA and probably double our membership as well... Steve > > _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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Lanparty game
by Marc Hughes Dec. 9, 2002

Dec. 9, 2002

Just saw this... http://www.linuxworld.com/site-stories/2002/1209.barr2.html And with all that talk about a lan party, a pure open source game sounds like a good idea :) Quick Summary: Zlib license 3d first person shooter called Cube available for windows & linux SDL opengl -Marc

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RE: [Wlug] Lan party ideas...
by Haines, Charles Allen Dec. 9, 2002

Dec. 9, 2002

Here is what I suggest. We co-sponsor this with the WPI Game Development Club. The GDC holds LAN parties often and would help us a great deal with the planning of this. I think its a great idea, having helped with many of the GDC LAN parties myself (I'm a GDC executive). For the installfest part, I say we charge nothing, unless the person doesn't have the distro on CD, in which case we can ask for a couple bucks to cover the cost of the CD's (since most distro's take up like 5 CD's now anyway). However, for the LAN party part, the way that the GDC usually does it is, $3 for GDC members, $5 for WPI students, and $7 for Consortium students, and $10 for everyone else. Now since WLUG is a WPI organization, we could say, $3 for WLUG / WPILA members and $5 for everyone else. I think that is a very fair price. As for placed to hold it. WPI would be more than happy to hold it. We really have two choices in the matter, Riley Commons, which is easy to get, but not very large. Or we can try and get the Odeum, which is much more tricky, but much larger and more power. Any WPI Alumni or current student can book either of these (though I've heard that Alumni have a better change of getting the Odeum than a student does). The link should be an isolated link just internally for the LAN party. If we want an outside link for the install fest portion, we will have to talk to netops and see what they can do. Right now, every machine on the WPI campus has to be registered for security reasons. They might be able to help us out with something. If we decided to turn this into more than a LAN party, I say we turn it into a series of small demos / tutorials kinda thing. We could host some beginner tutorials, like a basic recompiling of the kernel, a desktop setup, stuff like that. We could also hold more advanced tutorials such as iptables, security, clustering, stuff like that. I think that we should have the installfest go for like the first 3 hours, along with a LAN party, and then turn over to tutorials and workshops, maybe offering a couple at the same time to give people a choice. I'd really like to do something like this. As for time frame... GDC LAN parties usually last from around 6pm to whenever everyone leaves, which has been as late as 3am the next day. Now for this, I would say that something like 5-midnight, or something similiar would work well, giving us enough time for both the installfest and the workshops / tutorials. I suppose that is enough long windedness for me, ================================================= | Chuck Haines | AIM: CyberGrex | | ECE Sys Admin | Yahoo: CyberGrex_27 | | GDC Developer | ICQ: 3707881 | ================================================= http://www.linux-xtreme.net -----Original Message----- From: Keller, Tim [mailto:Tim.Keller@stratus.com] Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 10:19 AM To: Wlug (E-mail) Subject: [Wlug] Lan party ideas... Hey All, So after reading Andy's email, it got me thinking about the whole installfest/lan party thing... and I'd like some input. 1. Do the members of WLUG think a lan party is a possible thing? 2. How many people do you think we could get to attend? 2a. How many people would we want to attend? At a certain point, if 200 people show up, it could get ugly... 3. Where and When could we hold such a shindig? Would this be something that the support staff at WPI would even entertain as an idea? Or, should we look else were... such as a VFW or some such place... 4. Should we have a link to the outside world, or should it just be an isolated LAN? 5. Time Frame... 6. What should we charge people (if anything) to attend? 7. Activities? This is where I want some broad input. Other than the obligatory FPS/RTS games, what other games or "stuff" would people like to see? I know Andy had mentioned a security demo... How about a clustering demo... Let me know what your ideas are... Thanks, Tim. _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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Possible Printer discussion
by Andy Stewart Dec. 8, 2002

Dec. 8, 2002

HI everybody, If it were possible for me to get a person to speak to WLUG regarding printers and printer drivers, would that be of interest? (Hint: say "yes"). I'm thinking of a programmer's talk here, not a user level talk. For example, what does the skeleton of a printer driver look like? What functions must it provide to user level software, and what does it pass to a queueing system or perhaps directly to the printer? How are JPG pictures converted to dots of ink that appear on your printer paper? What's the deal with these different dithering algorithms? What is dithering, and why do it? These are just some ideas to get the creative juices flowing. Let me know what topics in this realm would be of interest at a future WLUG meeting. Once I have that information, I'll see if I can find a speaker to address these topics. Thanks, Andy -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org

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SuSE for Power Mac?
by Gregory Avedissian Dec. 8, 2002

Dec. 8, 2002

Does anyone have a copy of SuSE for a power mac? My neighbor would like to get a copy, and we've all got 56k connections. Thanks. Greg

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web hosting
by Baris Hasdemir Dec. 7, 2002

Dec. 7, 2002

hi all, I have a domain(hasdemir.com) hosted on linux by a web hosting company. Nowadays many emails that I have sent, neither bounce back or be received by the other company. Help desk of the web hosting company told me that probably there are filters for our network (by the way I have no idea on what network means here). here is what they exactly told me: >> why would they filter my domain which has only three email accounts, >> and never spammed throughout its life? > They don't block domain by domain but they block a whole network, they > don't care many domains in that network are legit. They are quite bad on informing the customer about ant problem. they refuse to show me the SMTP logs. It is Exim as far as I know. Would any of you tell me what my problem really might be? I need my web site hosted on a linux machine with mysql and php installed. What would your recommandations be for a web hosting firm? Things I would like to have, shell account with ssh connectivity and web space around 100MB. thanks, baris

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RE: [Wlug] Meeting Topic Discussion
by Haines, Charles Allen Dec. 7, 2002

Dec. 7, 2002

I've used the firewall configurer in redhat, both lokkit and the one that comes with redhat. There really isn't much to them, but if no one else knows better than I, I'd be happy to show them. ================================================= | Chuck Haines | AIM: CyberGrex | | ECE Sys Admin | Yahoo: CyberGrex_27 | | GDC Developer | ICQ: 3707881 | ================================================= http://www.linux-xtreme.net -----Original Message----- From: Wes Allen [mailto:wallen@charter.net] Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 10:27 PM To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org Subject: Re: [Wlug] Meeting Topic Discussion I just might have to tell my wife I'm coming to this one.... On Friday 06 December 2002 9:49 pm, Andy Stewart wrote: > HI Everybody, > > I've seen some good ideas floating around out there, as I knew I would once > the topic got going. Now the question you'll all hate: who wants to do > the presentation? :-) > > Is there anybody out there who is pretty well versed in IPTables that would > be willing to address the next WLUG meeting? > > Just a thought: Do we want to ask Robert Ziegler to come back and address > WLUG? He authored the Linux Firewalls book published by New Riders which > was updated for IPTables. He addressed WLUG about 18 months ago and his > talk was extremely detailed and technical. To be fair, some thought it was > a bit too detailed and dry. > > Along those lines, I thought it might be good to discuss the distribution > specific ways that firewalling is handled. I suspect that those are just > GUIs that build a list of IPTables filters anyway. Is there anybody out > there that is comfortable with discussing this for RedHat at the upcoming > meeting? How about some other distro? > > Thanks, > > Andy -- ------ This message may be signed using GPG, for my public key please send me a message with "Key Request" in the subject line. _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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RE: [Wlug] Let's make WLUG meetings better!
by Haines, Charles Allen Dec. 7, 2002

Dec. 7, 2002

I would be very interested in some security based presentations. I think setting up some boxes for "security" testing would be really cool. I'd be willing to donate my box to the cause. I'd also like to see a tutorial on iptables, cause they are a very usual thing. Other than that, I think a demo on wine, and getting some of that other OS's programs like dreamweaver mx, to work under wine. ================================================= | Chuck Haines | AIM: CyberGrex | | ECE Sys Admin | Yahoo: CyberGrex_27 | | GDC Developer | ICQ: 3707881 | ================================================= http://www.linux-xtreme.net -----Original Message----- From: Andy Stewart [mailto:andystewart@attbi.com] Sent: Saturday, November 30, 2002 6:56 PM To: Worcester Linux Users' Group Subject: [Wlug] Let's make WLUG meetings better! HI everybody, I was a little disappointed at the turnout from the last WLUG meeting. We had 8 or 9 people show up, and while we did have a good time watching Scott and Doug get a couple of scanners working under Linux, it would have been alot more fun with more people in attendance. I believe this was the lowest attendance we've seen at a WLUG meeting in our 5.5 year history. :-( We discussed possible reasons for the low attendance at the Boynton over a few beers. One suggestion was that I should update the WLUG website to show what we have done at past meetings so people wouldn't think that nothing was accomplished. I've done that and will endeavor to keep that part of the WLUG website current (see "Past Meeting Information"). Another thought was that some people will only come to a meeting if the topic looks interesting to them, and if it is announced well in advance. I must admit to having been somewhat lax in that area lately. Therefore, in an attempt to remedy that (at least for this month), I'm putting out the call now for a speaker and a topic for the Dec. 12th meeting (its coming up fast!). I sent out a list of potential topics last month, but I know that there are a zilliion interesting things happening in the Linux world that could be discussed at a WLUG meeting. The meeting need not be discussion based, either! Although Kinnicutt Hall lends itself well to this type of meeting, we do have access to other rooms on campus. People have tossed out ideas such as these: o build a network for multiplayer Linux games o build a network to see if WLUG crackers can break into your system (not to destroy it, but to teach you what to fix to secure your system) o more live demos! The group exists to meet your needs, so please, state your needs! I can't arrange a meeting to your liking if I get no feedback on what you want to see at future WLUG meetings. More importantly, I'd like to see more and different people volunteer to do the presentations or to run a live demo. If you look back at the last year of WLUG meetings, you'll see the same names many times. While I'm *quite* happy that these folks continue to volunteer, I'd like to see others jump in also. Finally, if anybody has feedback regarding the last meeting and why it lacked attendees, please bring it up on the list so we can all discuss it. Without such candid discussions, WLUG cannot improve. Later, Andy -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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Meeting Topic Discussion
by Andy Stewart Dec. 7, 2002

Dec. 7, 2002

HI Everybody, I've seen some good ideas floating around out there, as I knew I would once the topic got going. Now the question you'll all hate: who wants to do the presentation? :-) Is there anybody out there who is pretty well versed in IPTables that would be willing to address the next WLUG meeting? Just a thought: Do we want to ask Robert Ziegler to come back and address WLUG? He authored the Linux Firewalls book published by New Riders which was updated for IPTables. He addressed WLUG about 18 months ago and his talk was extremely detailed and technical. To be fair, some thought it was a bit too detailed and dry. Along those lines, I thought it might be good to discuss the distribution specific ways that firewalling is handled. I suspect that those are just GUIs that build a list of IPTables filters anyway. Is there anybody out there that is comfortable with discussing this for RedHat at the upcoming meeting? How about some other distro? Thanks, Andy -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org

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fetchmail/sendmail problem... HELP
by Bill Mills-Curran Dec. 6, 2002

Dec. 6, 2002

I REALLY need some help. I've included a lot of diagnostic stuff in this email to help the troubleshooting process. Please help. I'm struggling & I need some advice. The basic problem is that something changed between last night and this morning to make my email not work. Config details: ISP: charter email address subssn594(a)charter.net I use fetchmail to grab the email from the pop server (pop.charter.net) and deliver it to my local email account on my linux box (Red Hat 8.0) username on linux: bcurran fetchmailrc: poll pop.charter.net user subssn594 password xxxx fetchall When I run "fetchmail -v -v" I get good authentication, etc for both IMAP and POP3. I can see a list of email messages. When it retrieves messages I get (I'll just show the POP3 -- the IMAP is similar): fetchmail: POP3< +OK 2003 bytes will follow reading message 1 of 46 (2003 octets) About to rewrite Return-Path: <owner-gobruins(a)gobruins.ICSL.UCLA.EDU> Rewritten version is Return-Path: <owner-gobruins(a)gobruins.ICSL.UCLA.EDU> About to rewrite From: John Houser <jchouser(a)yahoo.com> Rewritten version is From: John Houser <jchouser(a)yahoo.com> About to rewrite To: gobruins(a)gobruins.icsl.ucla.edu Rewritten version is To: gobruins(a)gobruins.icsl.ucla.edu About to rewrite Sender: owner-gobruins(a)gobruins.icsl.ucla.edu Rewritten version is Sender: owner-gobruins(a)gobruins.icsl.ucla.edu fetchmail: timeout after 30 seconds waiting for listener to respond. fetchmail: client/server synchronization error while delivering to SMTP host pop.charter.net fetchmail: Query status=7 (ERROR) fetchmail: Deleting fetchids file. fetchmail: normal termination, status 7 Now, what I find is interesting is the message: Fetchmail: client/server synchronization error while delivering to SMTP host pop.charter.net It looks like it's trying to deliver to the pop server rather than my local account. WHY???? More stuff... I can email myself locally, so the SMTP server on my machine would appear to be ok. I can also telnet to the POP3 server and perform operations. My prime suspect is fetchmail. Somehow it seems to behave differently, and I have no idea why. Maybe there are different DNS entries or something causing fetchmail to deliver to the wrong place. (Of course, I don't know that the SMTP message is accurate or misleading.) TIA, Bill P.S. If you'd like to chat on the phone, please feel free. I need to get this fixed. -- Bill Mills-Curran Mills-Curran_Bill(a)emc.com EMC Corporation Tel: 508 382-7642 Coslin Drive, MS C33 Fax: 508 382-7913 Southboro, MA 01772 Tie: 824-27642

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...we WILL take over the world </maniacal laughter>
by Mike Peckar Dec. 6, 2002

Dec. 6, 2002

Walmart is now selling Lindows boxes for $199... http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/ptech/12/05/sproject.hs02.cheap.pc.reut/index.h tml

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web hosting
by Baris Hasdemir Dec. 6, 2002

Dec. 6, 2002

hi all, I have a domain(hasdemir.com) hosted on linux by a web hosting company. Nowadays many emails that I have sent, neither bounce back or be received by the other company. Help desk of the web hosting company told me that probably there are filters for our network (by the way I have no idea on what network means here). here is what they exactly told me: >> why would they filter my domain which has only three email accounts, >> and never spammed throughout its life? > They don't block domain by domain but they block a whole network, they > don't care many domains in that network are legit. They are quite bad on informing the customer about ant problem. they refuse to show me the SMTP logs. It is Exim as far as I know. Would any of you tell me what my problem really might be? I need my web site hosted on a linux machine with mysql and php installed. What would your recommandations be for a web hosting firm? Things I would like to have, shell account with ssh connectivity and web space around 100MB. thanks, baris

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RE: [Wlug] Let's make WLUG meetings better!
by Keller, Tim Dec. 5, 2002

Dec. 5, 2002

Bill, Instead of using wine, you should look at using wineX instead. It's got much better support for games than just base WINE... Tim. -----Original Message----- From: Bill Smith [mailto:wsmith@chezsmith.com] Sent: Thursday, December 05, 2002 6:32 AM To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org Subject: Re: [Wlug] Let's make WLUG meetings better! On Thu, 5 Dec 2002 09:46:45 -0500 "Haines, Charles Allen" <chaines(a)WPI.EDU> wrote: HCA> I would be very interested in some security based presentations. I HCA> think setting up some boxes for "security" testing would be really HCA> cool. I'd be willing to donate my box to the cause. I'd also like HCA> to see a tutorial on iptables, cause they are a very usual thing. HCA> Other than that, I think a demo on wine, and getting some of that HCA> other OS's programs like dreamweaver mx, to work under wine. AYE AYE! :) i've been toying with getting WINE to work with Warcraft II, but although it's supposed to work, i can't seem to get it to do anything constructive. 8( as for the iptables, i know that it was done a little over a year ago, but maybe there could be a bit of an update session, to cover anything that has changed since then... for example, i was looking at a guide to using the iproute2 suite, and i think there are a lot of things that i need to learn. again. <g> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- William Smith wsmith-at-chezsmith-dot-com Fall River, MA http://www.chezsmith.com "Never to be credited when telling the truth." -- Aristotle, when he was asked what a man gains by telling a lie. * TAG! v3.1 *

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printing config question
by Bill Mills-Curran Dec. 5, 2002

Dec. 5, 2002

Problem: I'm not able to print multiple copies (or access any printer options). My setup... I have print queues configured on machines at home (parallel port connect) and at work (printing to smb printers on the network). In both cases, I'm running Red Hat 8.0. I have not installed cups. I'm using the CANON bjc600 driver at home and "Postscript Printer" at work. How can I get lpr options to work? TIA, Bill

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regular SCSI errors in log
by Bill Mills-Curran Dec. 4, 2002

Dec. 4, 2002

I've just noticed that a server I support has been logging SCSI errors every Friday at about the same time. It's just a quick blip of error messages, then on to normal business: Nov 29 20:31:25 esd-tls01 kernel: SCSI disk error : host 0 channel 0 id 0 lun 0 return code = 28000002 Nov 29 20:31:25 esd-tls01 kernel: Current sd08:07: sense key Hardware Error Nov 29 20:31:25 esd-tls01 kernel: Additional sense indicates Internal target failure Nov 29 20:31:25 esd-tls01 kernel: I/O error: dev 08:07, sector 92510 Nov 29 20:31:25 esd-tls01 kernel: sym53c896-0-<0,*>: FAST-20 WIDE SCSI 40.0 MB/s (50.0 ns, offset 15) Nov 29 20:31:29 esd-tls01 kernel: SCSI disk error : host 0 channel 0 id 0 lun 0 return code = 28000002 Nov 29 20:31:29 esd-tls01 kernel: Current sd08:07: sense key Hardware Error Nov 29 20:31:29 esd-tls01 kernel: Additional sense indicates Internal target failure Nov 29 20:31:29 esd-tls01 kernel: I/O error: dev 08:07, sector 92510 Nov 29 20:31:29 esd-tls01 kernel: sym53c896-0-<0,*>: FAST-20 WIDE SCSI 40.0 MB/s (50.0 ns, offset 15) Here's the output of "cat /proc/scsi/scsi" Attached devices: Host: scsi0 Channel: 00 Id: 00 Lun: 00 Vendor: IBM Model: DGHS09Y CLAR09 Rev: 1A1A Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 03 Host: scsi0 Channel: 00 Id: 01 Lun: 00 Vendor: SEAGATE Model: ST39102L CLAR09 Rev: AV05 Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02 Host: scsi0 Channel: 00 Id: 06 Lun: 00 Vendor: ESG-SHV Model: SCA HSBP M8 Rev: 0.05 Type: Processor ANSI SCSI revision: 02 Host: scsi3 Channel: 00 Id: 00 Lun: 00 Vendor: DGC Model: RAID 5 Rev: 0847 Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 04 Host: scsi3 Channel: 00 Id: 00 Lun: 01 Vendor: DGC Model: RAID 5 Rev: 0847 Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 04 I've looked at my cron jobs, and I see anything that runs about that time on Fridays. One other weird thing... The console is unresponsive. I can't log in on tty1. The other tty's seem fine. I tried killing the process on tty1 so it would respawn (which it did), but that did not make tty1 usable. Any ideas? TIA, Bill

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Lan party ideas...
by Keller, Tim Dec. 3, 2002

Dec. 3, 2002

Hey All, So after reading Andy's email, it got me thinking about the whole installfest/lan party thing... and I'd like some input. 1. Do the members of WLUG think a lan party is a possible thing? 2. How many people do you think we could get to attend? 2a. How many people would we want to attend? At a certain point, if 200 people show up, it could get ugly... 3. Where and When could we hold such a shindig? Would this be something that the support staff at WPI would even entertain as an idea? Or, should we look else were... such as a VFW or some such place... 4. Should we have a link to the outside world, or should it just be an isolated LAN? 5. Time Frame... 6. What should we charge people (if anything) to attend? 7. Activities? This is where I want some broad input. Other than the obligatory FPS/RTS games, what other games or "stuff" would people like to see? I know Andy had mentioned a security demo... How about a clustering demo... Let me know what your ideas are... Thanks, Tim.

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more alphabet soup :-(
by doug waud Dec. 2, 2002

Dec. 2, 2002

Hi again Just got the latest PC Magazine and I note that my table of CD/DVD acronyms (plagarized from PC World) is already out of date. :-) Now we have CD-MRW where the M refers to Mount Ranier. Although "there have been no specific announcements of DVD+MRW drives yet, Phillips recently proposed an addition ... The Sony DRU-500A apparently ships with Mount Ranier. (The Mount Ranier format put a Main defect table in the Lead-in area (area outside the data area) and a copy of the defect table in the lead-out area.It also sets aside some space in the data area as a "replacement area" where date which would have landed in a bad block is put. The price is somewhat slower reads/writes and slightly reduced capacity. The gain is reliability. Non-MRW drives will need custom software to read MRW data.) doug

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Meeting topics...
by Joel Desrochers Dec. 2, 2002

Dec. 2, 2002

I have started coming recently and I am very happy with the meeting format and content. I would be very interested in the security-type Linux discussions and demos, including related product demos and breakin & fixit seminars. I had a family emergency this past week which kept me away in November. I already know that a must-attend company Christmas party will keep me from the December meeting. I am looking forward to the January meeting, Joel Desrochers _________________________________________________________________ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

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RE: DVD writer
by Scott Prive Dec. 2, 2002

Dec. 2, 2002

This drive (Sony) currently is not 100% supported by the dvdrtools package. The DVD+R and +RW portion works, but not the -R -RW. The authors of dvdrtools have not yet added support or figured out the firmware (specs? what specs?) The "dash" formats for this drive *may* burn from the non-free dvdrecord-pro package (same author as cdrecord). I saw one report of success. If you're looking for a DVD recorder for Linux, the Pioneer DVR-XXX line is the best supported (I have a DVR-104 which is the OEM ver of DVR-A04). These are DVD-R/-RW burners, with the -105 model now supporting 4X DVD-R. For backups you won't care about DVD-R's greater compatability with DVD-Video... but you might care about greater compatability with DVD-ROM readers (you wouldn't want to restore from the burner as the read speed won't match a speedy ROM drive like Pioneer DVD-117). The other benefit to -R/-RW is media price: the "dash" formats typically cost half what the "plus" formats. I pay 60 cents each for a 100-DVD spindle from Meritline. > -----Original Message----- > From: Robert L Krawitz [mailto:rlk@alum.mit.edu] > Sent: Friday, November 22, 2002 9:23 PM > To: discuss(a)blu.org; wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > Subject: DVD writer > > > I'm thinking of getting a DVD writer. My primary intention is to use > it for system backups; CD's just don't cut it any more (with about 18 > GB and 11 GB respectively on my two systems). The Sony DRU-500A looks > like a rather interesting one, supporting a lot of formats. Any > comments on that vs. any of the others out there? This is for a pure > Linux system. > > -- > Robert Krawitz > <rlk(a)alum.mit.edu> > > Tall Clubs International -- http://www.tall.org/ or 1-888-IM-TALL-2 > Member of the League for Programming Freedom -- mail lpf(a)uunet.uu.net > Project lead for Gimp Print -- http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net > > "Linux doesn't dictate how I work, I dictate how Linux works." > --Eric Crampton > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > Discuss(a)blu.org > http://www.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > >

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Finally, Linux With a Lot Less Fuss
by Karl Hiramoto Dec. 2, 2002

Dec. 2, 2002

Good article in the washington post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48924-2002Nov27.html By Rob Pegoraro Sunday, December 1, 2002; Page H07 Over the past few weeks, I've installed Linux on three computers without breaking into fits of cursing. That's a novel development in my experience with this open-source operating system. The version I've been using is Red Hat Linux 8.0, shipped by Raleigh, N.C.-based Red Hat in late September. This is the first Linux distribution I've tried that hasn't made me feel as if I'm about to step on a rake and have its handle swing into my face. Parts of this are still infuriatingly convoluted, but if you've been thinking about trying out Linux on part of your hard drive -- or about dumping Windows entirely -- this is what I'd recommend. Why would you want to do that? One, Linux is cheap or free -- your choice. The personal edition of Red Hat 8 sells for $40 in stores, or you can download three CDs' worth at no charge (www.redhat.com) Nearly all Linux programs are also free to use. Two, Linux is free in another way: "Open source" means anybody can look at a program's code and tinker with it. Three, if you are inclined to tinker and try out new programs, Linux can be an interesting place. It's one of the most customizable operating systems, and quite a few Linux development projects -- for example, DVD playback -- seem to be hitting their stride. Four, while Linux has plenty of bugs and security issues, it is virus-free compared with Windows. All these qualities come with trade-offs, the big one being an often agonizing inscrutability. Red Hat 8 doesn't abolish these shortcomings but does bring them to a more manageable level. Its installation is quick and clean. Notwithstanding a clumsy disk-setup module (either partition your hard drive with another program or be prepared to wipe it clean), you can blithely go with the default settings and have a working desktop in less than 45 minutes. That includes functioning audio and video hardware, something beyond my reach in earlier Linux experiments. On each of three test PCs -- an old IBM desktop, a moderately recent IBM ThinkPad T21 and a brand-new Hewlett-Packard Media Center PC -- Red Hat 8 automatically and correctly set up the sound and graphics cards. It then accepted a digital-subscriber-line or office-network connection with no more configuration than Windows would require, and with the proper firewall protection enabled by default. A modem connection, unfortunately but predictably, was out of the question. Most PCs' internal modems require some fairly complicated, proprietary Windows software to function, and many manufacturers don't offer Linux versions of this software or documentation that would let other programmers handle the job. Red Hat 8 also couldn't do anything with the USB 2.0 ports on the HP, although it's supposed to support them. Red Hat 8's biggest departure from Linux convention is in its look. The company replaced the usual Linux front end with its own streamlined "Bluecurve" interface, which looks vaguely like Windows XP scrubbed of the neon colors. It also swept the system task bar and menu largely free of redundant or useless extras, although it lacks a simple way to edit the layout of those menus (say, if you'd like to consolidate the five or so system-options entries). Red Hat's software bundle focuses on the basics: the excellent Mozilla Web browser, the OpenOffice productivity suite (which read all of the Microsoft Office files I tried), and Evolution, an application featuring e-mail, an address book and a calendar that feels like a simplified version of Microsoft Outlook. What you won't find, however, is multimedia capability beyond a few image viewers and editors. Red Hat 8 ships without any way to play MP3 files, let alone create them. The company says it's concerned about the MP3 format's licensing requirements, but those issues haven't stopped other Linux distributions from including MP3 software. (Red Hat 8 does support an open-source music format called Ogg Vorbis, but its CD-ripping program isn't set up by default to use it.) MP3 software isn't hard to find and install in the "RPM" download format Red Hat developed, but you have to know where to look. And that's the thing: Red Hat 8 gets enough of the basics right to let you go online without injuring yourself (well, provided you don't need a modem). It could serve somebody well as a basic Web, e-mail and word-processing desktop. But going beyond the basics requires a willingness to learn. For instance, Red Hat 8's included digital-camera program took hours of tweaking before it would intermittently download pictures from a Canon S100 digital camera. I still can't get the Pilot-Link program to work with a Sony Clie handheld, although an upcoming release is supposed to fix that. Non-RPM software installs, which require mastering command-line syntax, are another problem. Sometimes things work out -- copying and pasting the right commands had the ThinkPad playing back a DVD in about half an hour -- and at other times you're stymied by missing or mismatched files. And many add-on programs, unlike Red Hat's core software, come with clumsy, user-hostile interfaces designed by programmers for other programmers. Ultimately, there's no substitute for personal help from a Linux veteran, whether online or in a local user group. All this self-inflicted effort might seem like a big waste of time. Then again, so can cooking, woodworking, collecting baseball cards or many other things people do to amuse themselves, and without getting a working PC in the process. Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro at rob(a)twp.com. -- ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø Karl Hiramoto <karl(a)hiramoto.org> Work: 978-425-2090 ext 25 Cell: 508-517-4819 Personal web page: http://karl.hiramoto.org/ Freedom: http://www.technojihad.com/ Zoop Productions: http://www.zoop.org/ KTEQ Rapid City: http://www.kteq.org/ AOL IM ID = KarlH420 Yahoo_IM = karl_hiramoto ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø I have more hit points that you can possible imagine.

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Let's make WLUG meetings better!
by Andy Stewart Dec. 1, 2002

Dec. 1, 2002

HI everybody, I was a little disappointed at the turnout from the last WLUG meeting. We had 8 or 9 people show up, and while we did have a good time watching Scott and Doug get a couple of scanners working under Linux, it would have been alot more fun with more people in attendance. I believe this was the lowest attendance we've seen at a WLUG meeting in our 5.5 year history. :-( We discussed possible reasons for the low attendance at the Boynton over a few beers. One suggestion was that I should update the WLUG website to show what we have done at past meetings so people wouldn't think that nothing was accomplished. I've done that and will endeavor to keep that part of the WLUG website current (see "Past Meeting Information"). Another thought was that some people will only come to a meeting if the topic looks interesting to them, and if it is announced well in advance. I must admit to having been somewhat lax in that area lately. Therefore, in an attempt to remedy that (at least for this month), I'm putting out the call now for a speaker and a topic for the Dec. 12th meeting (its coming up fast!). I sent out a list of potential topics last month, but I know that there are a zilliion interesting things happening in the Linux world that could be discussed at a WLUG meeting. The meeting need not be discussion based, either! Although Kinnicutt Hall lends itself well to this type of meeting, we do have access to other rooms on campus. People have tossed out ideas such as these: o build a network for multiplayer Linux games o build a network to see if WLUG crackers can break into your system (not to destroy it, but to teach you what to fix to secure your system) o more live demos! The group exists to meet your needs, so please, state your needs! I can't arrange a meeting to your liking if I get no feedback on what you want to see at future WLUG meetings. More importantly, I'd like to see more and different people volunteer to do the presentations or to run a live demo. If you look back at the last year of WLUG meetings, you'll see the same names many times. While I'm *quite* happy that these folks continue to volunteer, I'd like to see others jump in also. Finally, if anybody has feedback regarding the last meeting and why it lacked attendees, please bring it up on the list so we can all discuss it. Without such candid discussions, WLUG cannot improve. Later, Andy -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org

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DVD writeable media
by Andy Stewart Nov. 29, 2002

Nov. 29, 2002

HI everybody, The message thread about DVD writers makes me think that there are many standards or types of writeable DVD media that not all drives can handle - is this true? Could somebody compare/contrast the different types? Thanks, Andy -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org

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OT: 6 disc changer + tape deck 4 sale
by Karl Hiramoto Nov. 27, 2002

Nov. 27, 2002

Sorry about the spam... I'm trying to get rid of my old car stereo. * Clarion ARX 5470 Tape Deck o 35 Watts * 4 Ch. (140 Watts) o AM/FM Radio o CD Controller o Detachable Face o CD Changer Controller o RCA Outputs * Clarion 6 Disc CD Changer RDC634 o Model RDC634 o 6 Disc CD Magazine (CAA-355) o Very good Skip protection o 8 X Times oversampling o Digital Filter o Dual 1 Bit DAC http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1871972065&rd… -- ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø Karl Hiramoto <karl(a)hiramoto.org> Work: 978-425-2090 ext 25 Cell: 508-517-4819 Personal web page: http://karl.hiramoto.org/ Freedom: http://www.technojihad.com/ Zoop Productions: http://www.zoop.org/ KTEQ Rapid City: http://www.kteq.org/ AOL IM ID = KarlH420 Yahoo_IM = karl_hiramoto ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has changed. -- Irene Peter

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RE: [Wlug] DVD writeable media
by Keller, Tim Nov. 25, 2002

Nov. 25, 2002

Well the next question is... What do you want todo... The cross post in question wants to backup large amounts of data. I would think a drive that could do DVD-RW or DVD+RW would be their choice since they could setup some sorta rotation. As for supported drives you'd want to check the cdrecord website. Now, if you want to make backups of the DVD's that you own, or convert the VHS you've got into DVD, you'll also want a drive that can author DVD disks. However you'll want to check a site like www.vcdhelper.org they've got a good matrix of what different disks DVD players supports (such as VCD/SVCD/DVD-R/DVD-RW/etc...) Personally I've had luck making backup's of my DVD's onto DVD-R media. However this was using a mix of freeware windows utilities and Nero, I'm pretty sure that that the cdrcord-prodvd utilities it would work fine. Later, Tim. -----Original Message----- From: Brian J. Conway [mailto:bconway@alum.wpi.edu] Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2002 15:36 PM To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org Subject: Re: [Wlug] DVD writeable media > The message thread about DVD writers makes me think that there are many > standards or types of writeable DVD media that not all drives can handle > - is this true? Yes, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM. Why share sales with a standard format when a company can make up its own DVD standard to sell and hope to take the market with? > Could somebody compare/contrast the different types? Here's a good rundown on the different types: http://www.dvformat.com/2002/03_mar/features/dvd_standards.htm Brian J. Conway bconway(a)alum.wpi.edu "LINUX is obsolete" - Andrew S. Tanenbaum, creator of Minix - Jan 29, 1992 _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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DVD writer
by Robert L Krawitz Nov. 24, 2002

Nov. 24, 2002

I'm thinking of getting a DVD writer. My primary intention is to use it for system backups; CD's just don't cut it any more (with about 18 GB and 11 GB respectively on my two systems). The Sony DRU-500A looks like a rather interesting one, supporting a lot of formats. Any comments on that vs. any of the others out there? This is for a pure Linux system. -- Robert Krawitz <rlk(a)alum.mit.edu> Tall Clubs International -- http://www.tall.org/ or 1-888-IM-TALL-2 Member of the League for Programming Freedom -- mail lpf(a)uunet.uu.net Project lead for Gimp Print -- http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net "Linux doesn't dictate how I work, I dictate how Linux works." --Eric Crampton

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