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The Package Chase
by Gregory Avedissian Dec. 21, 2002

Dec. 21, 2002

OK, I've been going along merrily with my SuSE 7.2 for about a year, and I just now ran into a problem that a lot of you folks must know all too well. Install a new program and it calls for a package you don't have. You've all seen the lists, I'm sure. I'm trying to install ecawave and ALSA 0.9, and I've had to install some gtk and gnome stuff, and I went to look at upgrading the whole gnome package. There's a list of more than 50 things to compile, and they must be done in the correct order. Do people actually do that? Is there any advantage of doing that over upgrading the whole distribution?

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bioswriter
by Wes Allen Dec. 20, 2002

Dec. 20, 2002

Has anyone ever used bioswriter or a similar utility to get your bios settings from CMOS? I'm trying to read it with bioswriter with little success as I'm not sure what to do with the image file. I'm wondering there is a way to hack this bios to let me turn "plug and play os" off, as I'm fairly certain it's on by default and the given interface is pretty limited. Or am I breaking the law to edit my bios settings.... on the computer I OWN. Wes -- ------ This message may be signed using GPG, for my public key please send me a message with "Key Request" in the subject line.

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recording in linux
by Gregory Avedissian Dec. 20, 2002

Dec. 20, 2002

Someone asked about recording under linux recently, and I recall that several of us said we'd never been able to do it. I just did it. In alsamixer, space bar sets the channel you want to use for capture. (line in is a reasonable choice) Had to manually edit /etc/asound.conf to turn on the input gain and set the level to 10,10. It looks like this: element("Input Gain Switch",0,101,Switch2(on)) ; Voice 0 : Min 0 Max 15 ; Voice 1 : Min 0 Max 15 element("Input Gain Volume",0,200,Volume1(10,10))

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Cross Compile Question
by Marc Hughes Dec. 19, 2002

Dec. 19, 2002

I'm trying to make a cross-compiler on an i386 linux box to a ppc darwin (OSX) box. I downloaded binutils, configured them with ./configure --target=powerpc-apple --prefix=/usr/local Build them, and installed them. Then I went and got gcc (with g++), configured it with: ./configure --target=powerpc-apple-darwin --prefix=/usr/local I also made a symlink from /usr/local/powerpc-apple -> /usr/local/powerpc-apple-darwin since it seemed to fix a problem in the gcc compile. When I try to build gcc, it goes for a minute or so, and then I get this towards the end: libbackend.a(varasm.o): In function `assemble_alias': /data/hughesm/tmp/gcc-3.1/gcc/varasm.c:5184: undefined reference to `ASM_OUTPUT_DEF' collect2: ld returned 1 exit status make[1]: *** [cc1] Error 1 make[1]: Leaving directory `/data/hughesm/tmp/gcc-3.1/gcc' make: *** [all-gcc] Error 2 I'm not really asking for the exact cause of the error... I'm just trying to figure out if I'm even going about this the correct way. The documentation on cross compiling is a bit sparse. It seems odd to me that the targets don't match (but there is no powerpc-apple-darwin in binutils, and no powerpc-apple in gcc) All that being said, I'm doing this so I can add my linux boxes to my OSX build farm. Check out distcc.samba.org for a wicked cool and easy way to distribute compiles. -Marc

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Apache, PHP, MySQL on Debian
by jose sanchez Dec. 19, 2002

Dec. 19, 2002

Hello everyone: I would like to know what would be the way to install and configure APACHE, PHP (with Oracle support), and MYSQL on Debian 3.0? Should I get the latest tarball versions of all these and just compile it or should I just get the debian packages and install them? How well do these servers run on Debian? Is there a better distro for them? Thanks in advance for all your help and sorry for all the questions in one post. You input would be apreciated. ===== "An ounce of gold cannot buy an ounce of time." - Anonymous www.whmicro.com __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com

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Re: Help installing Apache on Debian
by jose sanchez Dec. 18, 2002

Dec. 18, 2002

> apt-get install libc6-dev After installing libc6-dev the configuration now works. Now I have another problem. I'm trying to configure PHP with Oracle 8i support: ./configure --with-apache=../apache_1.3.27 --enable-track-vars --with-oracle --with-mysql --enable-url-includes and get this error: checking for Oracle-ORACLE support... yes checking Oracle Install-Dir... checking Oracle version... configure: error: Oracle needed libraries not found Do I need Oracle server installed on the same box Apache and php are or could I just install a third party library to support Oracle? I have Oracle 8i installed on a different box running RH 7.2 and I would like to connect to this box through a php webpage from the Debian box. I did a search "installing php with oracle support on debian" and didn't get much on it. Can it be done? Thanks everyone for your time and input. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com

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Help installing Apache on Debian
by jose sanchez Dec. 18, 2002

Dec. 18, 2002

Hello: I'm trying to install Apache on Debian 3.0 and I'm getting an error when trying to configure it. ./configure -v --prefix=/usr/apache + Module setenvif: yes cd ..; gcc -DLINUX=22 -DUSE_HSREGEX -DUSE_EXPAT -I./lib/expat-lite -DNO_DL_NEEDED `./apaci` -o helpers/dummy helpers/dummy.c -lm /usr/bin/ld: cannot open crt1.o: No such file or directory collect2: ld returned 1 exit status make: *** [dummy] Error 1 Creating Makefile in src + configured for Linux platform + setting C compiler to gcc + setting C pre-processor to NOT-AVAILABLE + checking for system header files + adding selected modules + using builtin Expat + checking sizeof various data types + doing sanity check on compiler and options ** A test compilation with your Makefile configuration ** failed. The above error output from the compilation ** test will give you an idea what is failing. Note that ** Apache requires an ANSI C Compiler, such as gcc. ======== Error Output for sanity check ======== cd ..; gcc -DLINUX=22 -DUSE_HSREGEX -DUSE_EXPAT -I./lib/expat-lite -DNO_DL_NEEDED `./apaci` -o helpers/dummy helpers/dummy.c -lm /usr/bin/ld: cannot open crt1.o: No such file or directory collect2: ld returned 1 exit status make: *** [dummy] Error 1 ============= End of Error Report ============= Aborting! I have gcc installed... What is causing this? ===== "An ounce of gold cannot buy an ounce of time." - Anonymous www.whmicro.com __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com

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Debian Packages
by jose sanchez Dec. 17, 2002

Dec. 17, 2002

Hello: Is there a website to download debian packages like there is for rpms (rpmfind.net)? Thanks ===== "An ounce of gold cannot buy an ounce of time." - Anonymous www.whmicro.com __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com

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Speaking Of Mac G4's...
by Sands Fish Dec. 16, 2002

Dec. 16, 2002

I've got a G4 dual-proc here at work. Boss wants me to throw Linux on it. I've been trying to find the best solution for a distro. SuSE seems to be the best choice to me so far, but I want to tap the deep dark depths of the WLUG knowledge before I go making a decision. Little Help? -Sands --------- "An electric toothbrush is an excellent choice if you are such a lazy f##k that you can't even move a toothbrush up and down." __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com

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Linux on a dual headed mac
by Marc Hughes Dec. 13, 2002

Dec. 13, 2002

Hi all, I got a dual headed G4 sitting here that's just itching to be a linux box. I can get X up on the primary video card, but am having problems getting it to work on the secondary one. (I figure I should get that working, before I try to get them both working). Unfortunatly, I can't figure out how to get the second video card to work. I try specifying a busid in the XFree86Config-4 file. It seems to always be trying to use my primary card. Is there a way to get fb support on bootup on the second display? Primary card: Geforce2 MX with a 17" apple studio display using the Apple Display Connector (not the vga one) - PCI bus 0:16:0 Secondary card: ATI Radeon Q with a 19" generic monitor - PCI bus 0:20:0 Any ideas? Thanks, -Marc

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Re: ipaq
by Dean M. Deaver Dec. 13, 2002

Dec. 13, 2002

> From: Wes Allen <wallen(a)charter.net> > To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > Subject: Re: [Wlug] Re: ipaq > Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 14:21:24 -0500 > Reply-To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > > Is there a way to install another ethernet card? > I read the specs, this would be fun to play with/break/fix/break again. > > Wes Not without at least a soldering iron and a set of skills I don't possess. So I'd have to say no. BTW, I had > 1 request for the device, so it's either lottery, combination of coin tosses, or raffle. I'll figure something out probably next week when I'm not overloaded with real work. ...Dean

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RE: [Wlug] Some old stuff hanging around that I'm giving away too
by Simoncini, Matthew Dec. 13, 2002

Dec. 13, 2002

Hi all, I received quite a few emails from interested folks for both the books and the computers. I'll inventory everything and post a message by the end of the month with what exactly I have. I'm leaning more towards a raffle (to benefit WLUG) for most of the hardware stuff and probably giving away the books. Matthew > -----Original Message----- > From: Mike Frysinger [mailto:vapier@gentoo.org] > Sent: Thursday, December 12, 2002 3:11 PM > To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > Subject: Re: [Wlug] Some old stuff hanging around that I'm giving away > too > > > On Thursday 12 December 2002 14:55, Simoncini, Matthew wrote: > > I also have some programming and other computer related > books that are > > anyone's for the taking as well. > > i might be interested in some books that you have ... > anyway i can see what you have ? > -mike > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

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capture card
by Wes Allen Dec. 13, 2002

Dec. 13, 2002

Hi all, I'm really toying with the idea of picking up one of those $200 machines from walmart and rolling out my own pvr. If for no other reason than it would be a good hobby. However, I want it to be able to do the one useful thing that I can't do with digital cable, watch one show while taping another. My wife and I have one tv (and one converter box), and often have shows that conflict with one another (we flip coins in the metaphoical "who's there first" way). So, I assume that I need a capture card with the ability to tune digital signals, no problem. Are there any that work with Linux? THAT'S my problem. So, anyone know of a digital tv-capture/tuner card that works with Linux? Wes -- ------ This message may be signed using GPG, for my public key please send me a message with "Key Request" in the subject line.

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Linux/document source control MS Word
by Ritacco, Alan Dec. 13, 2002

Dec. 13, 2002

Does anyone know of a logical way to allow users of MS Word to access a single document from a linux server that will manage source control on the document? These users are home users for a non-profit sports orginization creating a document for end users. These people will be editing this document via there home pc's. There is currently already a server they use for statistics and such, which is a Linux box. They must us MS Word as they are the most basic of basic users who can barely use PC's. I know there are commerical software(s) available or co-location sites to do this, but I was not sure if anyone had ever run across anything that is specfic to MS Word docs and document/source control management on Linux (or other OS's, Solaris, etc.) Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Al

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Lightweight Linux installer
by Andy Stewart Dec. 12, 2002

Dec. 12, 2002

HI Everybody, The discussion about old used hardware got me to thinking about a recent experience. I was trying to put SuSE Linux 8.1 on a P90 with 32 MB of memory. SuSE was smart enough to jump into the ncurses installer instead of the fully graphical installer, but the installer was incredibly slow. No, not the part where the packages load slowly due to old, slow I/O devices, but the parts which ask the questions before the installation. This got me to wondering if there are any generic lightweight installers available for vintage hardware such as this. I don't see why I should be limited by a bloated installer when Linux itself works just fine on older hardware. Later, Andy -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org

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Some old stuff hanging around that I'm giving away too
by Simoncini, Matthew Dec. 12, 2002

Dec. 12, 2002

FYI: I've got a few PC's laying around at home that I'd like to donate to the WLUG raffle or anyone else who thinks they can use one. These are by no means powerful machines, but could probably be used as a firewall or low end mail server. 2 - HP Vectra (I think XM's) Pentium 100 64 mb of memory sound, graphics, NIC one has a hard drive (1GB I think) 4x cd-rom ?? ** These used to be business desktops, but were retired a few years ago. 1 - Compaq Presario mini tower Pentium 75 64 mb of memory sound, graphics, NIC 850MB or 1GB hard drive 8x cd-rom ?? 13 or 14" color monitor All of these at one time or another were going to be re-built by me and donated to schools in my area, but work and my family took priority. I also have some programming and other computer related books that are anyone's for the taking as well. If anyone is interested, I'll can email more specific information after I invertory the stuff. If this sounds like some stuff that can be raffled off at the January meeting, I'd be willing to bring it all down. Matthew

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Re: ipaq
by Dean M. Deaver Dec. 12, 2002

Dec. 12, 2002

> Message: 1 > From: brad <maitre(a)ccs.neu.edu> > To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > Subject: Re: [Wlug] Meeting Ideas... > Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 12:12:40 -0500 > charset="iso-8859-1" > Reply-To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > > A meeting like so would probably be best suited for January. That would give > me time to get kitchsync working. Also i hope i can i have a ipaq to install > linux on (mine has already been ..... well, exorcized). Wes has been wanting > to do for some time, let's hope he can make it January's meeting. > > Are there any other ipaq owners which would like to have this done? > Speaking of ipaq, I have a 'Shark' Network Appliance that is now gathering dust in my attic as I no longer have the time to fiddle with it. Basically, it's a StrongARM SA-110 based device as described on handhelds.org / platforms . Might be useful for ipaq development. It's up for grabs, for free. Reply if you want it. If I get more than one reply within the next week (i.e. by noon next Thursday), the giveaway will be done by some form of lottery (or it could be done by meeting raffle if wlug still has those). Disclaimer: The last time I tried -- ~ 2 years ago -- it would boot linux via bootp. I also had something of a useful distro (?) "installed", with binaries cribbed from a mix of stuff from handhelds.org and netwinder rpms. But it will probably take some doing to get it up and running since I have no documentation for the current firmware; and, the last time I checked, I wasn't greeted by a 'may I help you' prompt upon powering it up. [I would power it up now but I cannot find the power supply :) ] ...Dean

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synce, is a wonderful thing
by Wesley Allen Dec. 12, 2002

Dec. 12, 2002

Hi all, I've actually managed to get my iPAQ connected to my linux laptop using my usb cable....and I've even gotten some files off it and opened them up with OOo. All-in-all, I'm happy. But I would like to back up the address files and convert them into something Linux can use. What files does pocket-pc use to keep their addressbook data in? Wes

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REMINDER: WLUG Meeting
by Andy Stewart Dec. 11, 2002

Dec. 11, 2002

HI everybody, The next WLUG meeting will be held on Thursday, Dec. 12th at 7:00 PM in Kinnicutt Hall on the WPI campus in Worcester. At this meeting, we'll informally discuss the Linux news and events which took place over the year 2002. Let's take a look at how far Linux has come in the past year, and muse over where it will head during the next year. Look back through your old magazines, e-mails, and newsgroups and let's see how many different things we can remember about this past year and Linux. We will also hold a brainstorming session to get more details about upcoming WLUG meetings for the year 2003. After the meeting, we'll make our monthly pilgrimage to the Boynton Restaurant for some pizza and beer as we celebrate Linux and the holidays together. See ya later! Andy -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org

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Upcoming meetings
by Andy Stewart Dec. 11, 2002

Dec. 11, 2002

HI everybody, I like the idea of having a handhelds night, be they Zaurus, IPAQ, Palm, etc. I also would agree that January might be a good time for such a meeting. There seems to be a general consensus on this, so I'd like to propose that the January meeting will be the "Handhelds and Linux" meeting. I'll volunteer to bring my Palm IIIx and show how to sync it with Linux. Admittedly, that's not as cool as running Linux on the handheld itself, but hey, its one more thing to keep me away from Windows! I would like to hear from other volunteers who plan to bring their handheld devices so I can pencil you in. When I announce the meeting, I'd like to be able to say what types of devices will be discussed and demonstrated. That type of detail will draw people to the meeting. Note that Jon 'Maddog' Hall is scheduled to be our speaker at the February meeting. Maddog has come to WLUG meetings in the past and is an awesome speaker. You definitely do NOT want to miss this meeting! If we advertise this around the WPI campus and on the net, I don't see why we couldn't have a big crowd for this meeting. With regard to a possible LAN party, its not clear to me that we can pull it together just a few days before the meeting date (or am I wrong?), so should we plan on this for the March meeting? I propose that with all of the network gear and people's computers, we could accomodate the computer gamers as well as those who want security checks (nessus and the like), or even those who have never configured networking before and would like to give it a try. Given all of the above, that still leaves our December meeting open. What do folks think we can pull together in the next few days? Later, Andy -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org

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badblocks on ext3 fs
by Bill Mills-Curran Dec. 10, 2002

Dec. 10, 2002

I've located the cause of weekly SCSI errors that I asked about a little while ago -- a backup program reads a file (not an important one) which has bad blocks. The file is on an ext3 file systems. My question is, do I use "e2fsck -c" to fix the problem? I'm under the impression that ext3 filesystems are just ext2 with journalling added, so that ext2 tools are the right ones to use. TIA, Bill

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Question on making a CD from a VHS...
by Stephen C. Daukas Dec. 10, 2002

Dec. 10, 2002

Never having before played with music, etc., on a computer, I'm womndering if anyone hasd done this sort of thing before... I'm looking to take the music from a VHS tape and produce a CD for my wife for Christmas. Also, making a DVD of the VHS would be handy too. The issue here is that the VHS player isn't going to last forever, nor is the tape, and the DVD isn't available (nor is the soundtrack). Any suggestions for doing this? Steve

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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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