- WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

Raw IO Howto
by Skip Gaede Nov. 11, 2001

Nov. 11, 2001

Folks, I'd like to be able to queue read/write request to my Zip drive and bypass the buffering that goes on in the kernel. From what I've read, you can do this by binding the raw device (/dev/raw) to /dev/hdc1 for example. When I do that, I get a message that /dev/raw/raw1 has ben bound to char major 22 1. When I try open("/dev/raw/raw1",O_RDWR|O_CREAT,S_IREAD|S_IWRITE); it fails. Can someone tell me how to do this please? Thanks, Skip

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irda help
by Wesley T Allen Nov. 10, 2001

Nov. 10, 2001

Hi gang, I've finally gotten the irDa stack working in my dell laptop (why, oh why is it disabled by default in the BIOS?). Here's my problem; I'm having trouble having the ppp connection being authenticated when a connection is made. My iPaq connects, has the host name of my laptop ok; but stalls there. I've followed the steps on the ir-howto, and it's what got me to this point, but there's no troubleshooting help for this particular problem. Here's the command I run to start the attachement... irattach /dev/ttyS2 -s 1 At this point my iPaq tries to authenticate, and then stalls. I would REALLY like to be able to transfer data between my iPaq and my laptop; and since I haven't heard of anyone being able to connect an iPaq to Linux via a USB cable, this looks like my best shot (besides, I really want to learn ir so I can control my TV from my laptop). Anyone got some ideas, if you help me solve it I'll try and submit something to the HOWTO so others can work around it. Wes

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Star Wars: ASCII Art-oo
by jeff Nov. 9, 2001

Nov. 9, 2001

http://www.joereiss.net/starwars/ascii/ enjoy... -jeff -- Q: What do you get when you cross a mobster with an international standard? A: You get someone who makes you an offer that you can't understand!

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you are invited
by jeff Nov. 7, 2001

Nov. 7, 2001

ok...so it's like 2 am and i'm having a typical bout of keyboard induced insomnia... i would like to invite all the members of wlug to a little meeting that mwblug will be having tonight (wednesday) at the tin alley grill which is a little pub located right on route 9 in framingham. it's open-ended stuff and it's mostly to get new and old peeps acquainted and talk about the usual...over a few pops and lotsa larfs... please check out site www.linuxbusca.com for more details and we hope to see maybe one or twenty three of you there... :) peace and happy hacking... -jeff p.s. meeting will be 'round 7 pm... look for a scary bald guy with tattoos...that's me... :)

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Question
by Pierce C. Barnard Nov. 7, 2001

Nov. 7, 2001

Hello, I am trying to get my copy of Netscape to work. when I go to access any website, it gives message that it can not reach a specific server. I have the dns servers for my ISP but how do I configure Netscape to use them? Thanks.

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Unique ID
by Peter Nikolla Nov. 6, 2001

Nov. 6, 2001

Guys, I am tiring to right a locking mechanism for my program. I wanted to find something unique on a Linux/Unix system that I could read to lock my code to that machine. Does anyone know of a call I can make to get an unique ID like a disk ID, or system ID? thanx Peter N.

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SSH and tunneling
by Andy Stewart Nov. 2, 2001

Nov. 2, 2001

HI gang, I would like to be able to setup some kind of tunnel so that I can use SSH to log into my machine at home and forward the X11 display. Currently, I can successfully SSH into my firewall, and from there either telnet or SSH into the machine of interest on my home network. This works OK for text but not for X. So, let's say for sake of argument that I am on a computer at the Linux Showcase in California. How can I set this up so that I can tunnel through my home firewall to the machine of interest on my home network and have the X display from the home machine forward to the machine at the conference? I think its just a matter of syntax on the SSH command line, but I can't seem to get it right. FYI, I'm using OpenSSH version 2.9.9p2, which I believe is the latest. Thanks in advance, Andy -- Andy Stewart Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org

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RE: [Wlug] An excellent read for the day
by Keller, Tim Nov. 2, 2001

Nov. 2, 2001

Hey, its a great read... And for the record, I'm using the Arcangeli VM and I like it better than the "Rik" VM... I hope Alan and Linus don't end up forking the kernel, I think it would be bad for linux. Tim. -----Original Message----- From: Brian J. Conway [mailto:dogbert@clue4all.net] Sent: Monday, October 29, 2001 10:11 PM To: wlug(a)wlug.org Cc: discuss(a)wpila.org Subject: [Wlug] An excellent read for the day Normally I try to refrain from posting links, especially since I'm sure a lot of people read LinuxToday, but this one was worth it. It's an excellent article on the whole 2.4 VM extravaganza, including the two implementations at war in the Linus and AC trees, kernel preemption, and some background information. It's a little biased towards the AA/Linus VM, but more informative than anything else. I'd suggest taking a few minutes out of your day and getting caught up on months of debate if you haven't already: http://www.byte.com/documents/s=1436/byt20011024s0002/1029_moshe.html Brian J. Conway dogbert(a)clue4all.net "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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Linux Showcase and upcoming WLUG meeting
by Andy Stewart Nov. 2, 2001

Nov. 2, 2001

HI everybody, I will be attending the Annual Linux Showcase in Oakland, CA on Nov 8 - Nov 10. Is anybody else from the group planning to attend? I'm flying out on Nov 3 to see relatives in Los Angeles, and then I'll fly up to Oakland for the conference. I'll be sure to have a trip report for you all at the next WLUG meeting on Wednesday, November 14th. If anybody else has a small presentation that they'd like to give to the group at the next meeting, please let me know before Friday night if possible. See ya later, Andy -- Andy Stewart Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org

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Hey, I'm on slashdot!!!
by Keller, Tim Oct. 30, 2001

Oct. 30, 2001

Hey I just checked slashdot and they took my submission about the VM (per Brians "An excellent read") I actually mentioned that I got the scoop from a fellow Lugger and mentioned WLUG, but it looks like they just gave me a name drop. Very cool non the less! Hey Brian, next time were in the Boyton, your beers payed for. Tim. aka "xturnip"

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An excellent read for the day
by Brian J. Conway Oct. 30, 2001

Oct. 30, 2001

Normally I try to refrain from posting links, especially since I'm sure a lot of people read LinuxToday, but this one was worth it. It's an excellent article on the whole 2.4 VM extravaganza, including the two implementations at war in the Linus and AC trees, kernel preemption, and some background information. It's a little biased towards the AA/Linus VM, but more informative than anything else. I'd suggest taking a few minutes out of your day and getting caught up on months of debate if you haven't already: http://www.byte.com/documents/s=1436/byt20011024s0002/1029_moshe.html Brian J. Conway dogbert(a)clue4all.net "LINUX is obsolete" - Andrew S. Tanenbaum, creator of Minix - Jan 29, 1992

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Re: [Wlug] More than 2 66mhz 64bit pci slots?
by ccb＠acm.org Oct. 30, 2001

Oct. 30, 2001

> I've been looking around and I'm yet to find an x86 machine with more than 2 > 66mhz 64bit PCI slots. > > Does anybody know of such a machine (with 4 or more 66mhz 64bit PCI slots) > they can be on separate PCI buses. I don't think there are any. The best I know of is the Intel Quad Coppermine board used in their Koa (SRKA4) platform. Penguin sells that machine as the Relion 4500. VA used to sell it as the 4450. I'm sure you can still find someone offering it. The Intel STL2 and all of the other boards built around the ServerWorks chipset appear to only support 2 fast-wide slots. ccb

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SEE YOU IN IRC TONIGHT!
by Jeffrey Michael Reed Oct. 29, 2001

Oct. 29, 2001

/server irc.linux.com /join #mwblug laters... -- ==//> Jeffrey Michael Reed ==//> Metro West Boston Linux User Group ==//> Co-founder/Administrator ==//> HTML, PHP, GNU/Linux ==//> ==//> Phunky Phresh stuff about... ==//> GNU/Linux, Hacking, Humor, ==//> Movies, Music, Programming, ==//> and Underground News about ==//> the Revolution... ==//> ==//> http://www.linuxbusca.com ==//> ==//> Favorite OS: Debian ==//> Favorite food: Lasagna ==//> Favorite brew: Guinness ==//> Favorite music: Mr. Bungle

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SEE YOU IN IRC TONIGHT!
by Jeffrey Michael Reed Oct. 29, 2001

Oct. 29, 2001

hey y'all...this is jeff... i'd like to invite you to MWBLUG's IRC room tonight for some open-ended discussion. programmers, admins, and 3l33t h4x0rs needed. :) peace... -- ==//> Jeffrey Michael Reed ==//> Metro West Boston Linux User Group ==//> Co-founder/Administrator ==//> HTML, PHP, GNU/Linux ==//> ==//> Phunky Phresh stuff about... ==//> GNU/Linux, Hacking, Humor, ==//> Movies, Music, Programming, ==//> and Underground News about ==//> the Revolution... ==//> ==//> http://www.linuxbusca.com ==//> ==//> Favorite OS: Debian ==//> Favorite food: Lasagna ==//> Favorite brew: Guinness ==//> Favorite music: Mr. Bungle

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More than 2 66mhz 64bit pci slots?
by Keller, Tim Oct. 29, 2001

Oct. 29, 2001

I've been looking around and I'm yet to find an x86 machine with more than 2 66mhz 64bit PCI slots. Does anybody know of such a machine (with 4 or more 66mhz 64bit PCI slots) they can be on separate PCI buses. Thanks, Tim.

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Re: [Wlug] oh crud, ext3 has screwed my /home directory!
by RWCONDON＠aol.com Oct. 27, 2001

Oct. 27, 2001

Just a thought about the command, If you are still logged in at root. Would your command history be available. Perhaps, you can print out the command history file and post it. We are looking for the file /root/.bash_history. Bob Condon

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ATAPI (internal) ZIP drive
by Skip Gaede Oct. 26, 2001

Oct. 26, 2001

I need help! I upgraded my system to a new MLB and a faster CPU. With the new board, I can't read or write to my ZIP drive (under Linux). I have a SCSI system, with an Adaptec 78xx controller, an Adaptec RW CDROM (also ATAPI), and the ZIP drive. Kernel: 2.4.10 Under ATAPI, I've checked only use SCSI emulation and under SCSI I've checked SCSI CDROM. My board has both conventional ATA connectors and PROMISE ATA100 connectors. The CDROM is attached to the conventional primary controller as master and the ZIP is attached to the secondary controller as master. The drives are being supported as ide-scsi devices. Parameters passed in at boot time include hda=scsi and hdc=scsi Anyone have any ideas? Thanks, Skip

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Lancaster MA Linux activities POSTPONED
by Andy Stewart Oct. 26, 2001

Oct. 26, 2001

HI gang, There were a few people who had volunteered to come with me to Lancaster MA to do some Linux work this Saturday, October 27th. Well, I just got word that this will not happen this weekend, through no fault of our own. Warren's granddaughter will be born this weekend, hence, he's a little busy, and he asked us if we could come on another day (yet to be determined). (Warren is the director of the council on aging in Lancaster). I apologize for any inconvenience that this late notice might cause. I just found out myself. My thanks to those of you who were prepared to volunteer your time. -- Andy Stewart Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org

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oh crud, ext3 has screwed my /home directory!
by Wesley Allen Oct. 25, 2001

Oct. 25, 2001

OK, I'm an idiot. I should have realized the the "no fault possible" upgrade to ext3 was too good to be true. Perhaps I read a bit too much this time and figured, "Hey, it's only adding a journaling file, right? What can possibly go wrong.?" Well, I followed the directions, but I'm tired and I ran the wrong command. I erased my /home directory! Oh excrement, I was just working on a web site for a client, it looked really nice, and now it's ALL GONE. Well, I haven't written to the partition yet, so the inodes are still there, right? How do I recover data? Most of it is not a problem, but I had 2 projects that I really want to get back. From now on I will do two things: 1. NEVER attempt that "cool thing I've been wanting to check out" when I'm exhausted and haven't slept in a while. 2. BACK-UP! Just please help!

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Speaking of bad things happening to file systems...
by Stephen C. Daukas Oct. 25, 2001

Oct. 25, 2001

This is a story about a ZIP drive, Windows 2000 Pro, and how I think Linux might save the day. So, if you have any good ideas before I go down this path, please let me know! So, this all started when I tried to install a Zip drive on my wife's laptop (IBM A20m) running Win2k Pro. I was doing this so she could back-up her important files (e.g., Quicken) before we began installing additional software and RedHat Linux. The Zip drive screwed the OS - couldn't boot after the install program said to reboot. Windows! Next, I tried the various Windows mechanisms for trying to recover and repair the OS. No luck - things got a bit worse (but I won't bore you with the details). I even went so far as to call IBM's support center to see if they had a way of restoring to defaults in a non-destructive way. No Luck. In fact, the support engineer I spoke with told me he tried to get a ZIP drive going on his system running Win2k Pro and after working with Iomega for 3 hours - he gave up. My wife says its OK to wipe the disk and start over, but I know better (esp. after 16 years of marriage)! So I had a bright idea (well, an idea anyway). If I had partition magic, I could partition the disk, install Windows 2000 on the new partition, get all of her important files across the network to one of my other PCs, then wipe the disk and start over. BUT, I don't have partition magic (sigh). Then it hit me - why couldn't I do this with Linux? I want to have Linux and Win2k on the laptop when I'm done anyway, so why not partition the hard drive and then go from there? So, because I don't want to take any chances with my wife's files, here are some overly cautious questions: 1. During the install of RedHat 7.1, I assume I can re-partition non-destructively and end up with a bad Win2k and a good RedHat when I'm done. Does the RedHat install try to test to see if there is another OS or does it just let me re-partition at will? (Never installed Linux with Windows before.) 2. If I install RedHat 7.1 in the second newly created partition, can I read the files from the 2000 partition? IBM tells me they always go FAT16 with their distributions, but its a large disk so it might be FAT32. 3. If there is a problem with reading the Win2k file system, or if you think going this route is a bad idea, is there a way to run just the partitioning portion of the RedHat install to make a partition that I can install Win2k into? The goal here is to get files off of the existing Win2k file system and then to wipe the machine and start over... Thanks in Advance! Steve Stephen C. Daukas stephen(a)daukas.com (508) 845-9809 - Home (508) 845-5015 - Fax (508) 612-2149 - Mobile

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Volunteers sought for Lancaster, MA project
by Andy Stewart Oct. 23, 2001

Oct. 23, 2001

HI gang, I am seeking a couple of volunteers to help out with our Linux project in Lancaster, MA. I have one confirmed volunteer plus myself. I think 2-3 more people would probably be enough. Here's what we'll be doing as far as I know: 1) Installing CUPS 2) Installing 2(?) printers 2.5) possibly a scanner plus SANE 3) Insuring this all works from all Linux machines 4) Installing SAMBA 5) Insuring access to printers from 1(?) Windows machine 6) Possibly tweaking an old ISA NIC The date is this Saturday, October 27th, around 11 AM - 3 PM (if it takes that long). Let's see how many of those bullet items we can accomplish. Please RSVP to me so that a) I know who's coming, and b) I can insure we don't have too many people. The physical space at the Lancaster location isn't conducive to a large crowd. I'll send you directions after you RSVP. Thanks in advance! -- Andy Stewart Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org

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suse rpms
by Baris Hasdemir Oct. 21, 2001

Oct. 21, 2001

hi all, I am trying to install php module for suse 7.2 (personal ed.) but rpm shows that there are libraries to install before mod_php4-core and mod_php4. I ask two things: 1 - is there an easy way to determine which suse package includes, for example, libpdf.so.0 2 - is there an easy way to determine which path at ftp.suse.com includes that suse package? thanks, baris

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Kevin Sullivan presentation
by Andy Stewart Oct. 16, 2001

Oct. 16, 2001

HI everybody, As part of our cooperation with other user's groups (especially those that are part of Boston User Groups, as are we), I'm forwarding this to you. Kevin Sullivan, president of C3 group, will be giving a talk entitled "E-Mail: The Backdoor to your Network". This talk is not e-mail system specific, but about e-mail systems and vulnerabilities in general. Read more about it in the forwarded message below. If you have questions, please send them to Brad Dinerman, who's e-mail appears below. ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Subject: User group chairs: request for announcement Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 13:39:24 -0400 From: "Bradley J. Dinerman" <BDinerman(a)BostonUserGroups.com> To: <Members(a)BostonUserGroups.com> To all user group chairs: I'd like to ask your assistance. My group, the Boston Area Exchange Server User Group, is planning a special presentation at our November meeting (11/29). The topic will be "E-Mail: The Backdoor To Your Network," and will be given by Kevin Sullivan, president of C3 Group. [Some of you may remember that Kevin gave a key security presentation to the October TechNet expo last year. It was extremely well received.] Please note that this presentation is not Exchange Server specific. It addresses e-mail systems and vulnerabilities in general, regardless of platform! I am declaring this meeting "special" because of the importance of the topic, as well as the fact that I am promoting it to multiple user groups. In particular, I'd like to ask if you could announce this meeting to your user groups, either by e-mail or at your upcoming meeting. The details that I provided in my own group's October newsletter are below my signature. You can feel free to copy the content, or to summarize accordingly. Please let me know if you are willing to announce this to your group (or not). Thank you, Brad Dinerman Chair, Boston Area Exchange Server User Group Director and Webmaster, BostonUserGroups, Inc. __________________________________________________________________ SPECIAL NOVEMBER MEETING This is a *must-attend* event, and will be publicized to a large number of user groups. Kevin Sullivan, president and security specialist extraordinaire of C3 Group, will present on a topic that is probably near and dear to most of our hearts: "E-Mail: The Backdoor To Your Network." The presentation will be interesting for both the non-technical as well as the overly-technical. Kevin writes: "Recent experience with the rapidly spreading and highly destructive Nimda and SirCam worms has demonstrated the ease with which a harmful "payload" can slip in to many otherwise secure networks via Email. I will open by having a sacrificial laptop with IE 5.5 SP1 and Outlook 2K SP1. I will connect to a server and receive my e-mail messages, then watch as my poor computer becomes infected with as many different viruses and worms as I can cram in before it dies. Then we will follow the process (on another system) of how the attack got from the (possibly) clueless sender to the clueless recipient. We will review how the mail travels from your desktop to the recipient - through local, corporate, and Internet servers. We will pay particular attention to attachments - how they are attached, transmitted, and delivered (and we will break the silence surrounding MIME). Finally, we will look at some specific examples of vulnerabilities and how they can be reduced." OK, so in addition to being an incredibly timely and popular topic, what else is different? Because it will be highly publicized to the user group community and we will be expecting a higher than usual turnout, registration will be required for this meeting. You can pre-register at http://www.ExchangeServerBoston.com/Registration. In addition, I will be asking for the first time ever, for a nominal fee for the meeting. It is only a paltry $2, but will help to cover some of the base operating expenses for this and other meetings, including our membership to Boston User Groups, Inc. [Those who register at the door will have to shell out a whopping 50% more, $3] I've already asked a number of vendors for raffle contributions for this meeting, and many of them have happily obliged. As usual, pizza/beverages will be free of charge, and will be sponsored this month by SilverSword Solutions (http://www.SilverSword.com) ------------------------------------------------------- -- Andy Stewart Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org

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REMINDER: WLUG Meeting Thursday October 11th
by Andy Stewart Oct. 14, 2001

Oct. 14, 2001

HI everybody, This is a reminder about the upcoming WLUG meeting to be held in Kinnicutt Hall at WPI on Thursday, October 11th at 7:00 PM. On the agenda: 1) A discussion of whether or not WLUG should join the Boston User Groups organization. Check out http://www.bostonusergroups.com for more information. These folks have legally incorporated as an organization to act as an umbrella group for all sorts of computer user groups in / around Boston, southern NH, northern RI, and as far west as Worcester. We have been invited to join, and I recommend that we do so. The initial cost to the group would be $50, which we can easily afford. More on this at the meeting...... 2) Outcome of the most recently held install fest at WPI last week 3) Technical Q/A 4) I'll have 6 or 8 copies of StarOffice 6.0 beta available on CD 5) The last of the giveaways! (I'll get more at the Annual Linux Showcase in Oakland next month). 6) Other topics of interest? If you have a burning desire to address the group, let me know. 7) Update on Lancaster and plan our next trip to that site. FYI: As many of you know, I have been contributing to an open source project called gimp-print. My contribution is as the writer of the users guide. Well, the users guide has been officially released for the first time! Check out http://sourceforge.net/projects/gimp-print for a really great set of printer drivers (my stuff is in version 4.1.99-b3). Feel free to fire documentation barbs my way. :-) Afterwards, I'm sure we'll take our monthly pilgrimage to the Boynton Restaurant for pizza and beers. All are invited! -- Andy Stewart Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org

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Free Registration to Annual Linux Conference: November 5-10, 2001
by Theo Van Dinter Oct. 13, 2001

Oct. 13, 2001

I got this from the USENIX group (http://www.usenix.org/) thought you folks might be interested. :) ----- Forwarded message ----- Dear USENIX members and past conference attendees: We know that many of you may be reluctant to travel because of the recent turn in world events and the economic downturn. To encourage your attendance at ALS '01, USENIX and the Atlanta Linux Showcase, Inc. are now offering FREE technical session registrations to those wishing to attend. The 5th Annual Linux Showcase and Conference November 5-10, 2001 Oakland Marriott City Center - Oakland, California http://www.linuxshowcase.org We are making this extraordinary offer because we believe the networking opportunities and high-caliber technical content at ALS '01 provide an important service to the general open source community and to our membership. This year's ALS program features invited talks by: - Thomas Sterling, CalTech & NASA JPL on Petaflops Computing with Linux - Don Becker, Scyld Computing, Inc. on Home Beowulf Systems - Tony Iams, D.H. Brown Associates on A competitive assessment of Linux in the Enterprise - Helen Greiner, i-Robot on the state of Robotic Today - Don Marti, on Embedded Linux Success Stories The invited talks track also reflects several political issues currently facing the open source community such as DMCA, SSSCA, copyrights, and software patents. These are important issues which we feel should not be put off for discussion at a later time. In addition to the above, ALS '01 also provides practical, professional-level education through over 12 TUTORIALS (which will charge a fee) including: -Inside the Linux Kernel -Exploring the Potential of LDAP -Configuring and Administering Samba Servers -Linux Systems Administration -Unix/Linux Network Administration -Building and Using a Personal Beowulf We also offer workshops on: KDE Applications, GTK+/GNOME Development and XFree86 CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS Thursday, November 8 Join USENIX as we celebrate the 10th Birthday Party for Linux! The reception will be followed by the famous Linux BOF with Linus Torvalds, Jon "maddog" Hall, Ted Ts'o, Bryan Andregg, and a few hundred of your peers. The Open Source Development Lab (OSDL) is hosting a hothouse. OSDL's new Scalable Test Platform (STP) will be open to developers for testing kernel patches on OSDL's 1-way to 16-way servers. Members of the lab's expert staff will be on hand to discuss datacenter Linux requirements such as scaling, clustering and hardening. Bring your patches to see if they can take the heat of some serious testing! With exceptional content, speakers and tutorials, ALS '01 remains the only truly technical conference for the open source community, providing an important forum for discussion, both political and technical - - and bringing the community together to have some fun! For the complete conference schedule and to register visit: http://www.linuxshowcase.org We look forward to seeing you in Oakland next month. - The USENIX Association Staff =============================================================== 5th Annual Linux Showcase & Conference (ALS 2001) is sponsored by USENIX, the Advanced Computing Systems Association, and the Atlanta Linux Showcase, in cooperation with Linux International. =============================================================== ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Randomly Generated Tagline: Two-hundred-thirty-nine pounds?! I'm a blimp! Why are all the good things so tasty? -- Homer Simpson Brush With Greatness

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