- WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

Vunerable Machine
by Marc Hughes Oct. 8, 2001

Oct. 8, 2001

Picture This: You're sitting at your desk on a warm friday morning. You get a call from the webmaster about a linux box, so you head over to help him out. The webmaster is a bright guy, but a microsoft guy. Very little linux experience at all, in fact the box was set up for him by someone no longer in the company. After figuring out what this box does (acts as a sendmail SMTP & pop3 server for bulk newletters... [not spam] ) you realize it has easily guessable passwords, is outside the firewall, and is running at least one vunerable service (an old POP2 daemon) and some questionable services (sun RPC and appletalk). To top it all off... this box is an old powerPC... My question: What should I do to make sure it hasn't been already cracked? Other Problems: I don't have to time to do a reinstall and set it up correctly anytime soon (maybe in a week I could). It needs to continue working like it has for at least another week (we just sent out a newsletter, and it processes remove requests that trickle in) To free up disk space, the logs were regularly deleted... no current logs exist. It's not my box, so I need to be sensitive of the office politics so no one says something like, "Well, since we can't secure linux, NO MORE LINUX" -Marc

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Message Archive for this list?
by Sands Fish Oct. 8, 2001

Oct. 8, 2001

Hello all, Just wondering if there are any plans to archive any of the messages on this list. I know that there have been issues discussed before that are long gone that I will run into in the near future. Seems like having an archive of the topics we've helped each other with would be extremely useful. Is the hardware available? I guess this would mainly be directed toward Andy. Any comments? - Sands <>< - SandsFish(a)ArtKillsYuppieBabies.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? NEW from Yahoo! GeoCities - quick and easy web site hosting, just $8.95/month. http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/info1

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Recycling electronics
by Michelle Vadeboncoeur Oct. 8, 2001

Oct. 8, 2001

Just to note, I just found this page from Consumer Reports about sites that'll help you find your nearest steel and electronic-goods recycling center (for all of you with aged equipment and dead VCRs and the like...): http://www.consumerreports.org/main/detail.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=102315&F… -- --==*==-- --==*==-- Michelle R. Vadeboncoeur --==*==-- --==*==-- mrv(a)kluge.net: http://www.kluge.net/~mrv/

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Email reader...
by Stephen C. Daukas Oct. 8, 2001

Oct. 8, 2001

Well, as it turns out, the version of KMail that comes with RH 7.1 is threaded, and very different from the version included with RH 6.2. So far, a pretty good mailer... Still interested in your recommendations! -- Stephen C. Daukas stephen(a)daukas.com (508) 845-9809 - Home (508) 845-5015 - Fax (508) 612-2149 - Mobile

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RedHat Apps CD
by Bill Mills-Curran Oct. 5, 2001

Oct. 5, 2001

I'm trying to burn a CD from the RedHat 7.1 distro. However the CD has a bunch of hardlinked files that, if the files get copied as duplicates instead of hardlinks, makes the CD too big. The mkisofs command generates copies. I'm going to try to mount the iso image file and manipulate it manually, but I don't know if this is right. Suggestions? Thanks, Bill

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RE: [Wlug] Vunerable Machine
by Keller, Tim Oct. 5, 2001

Oct. 5, 2001

step 1: Change the root password step 2: Remove all those "holy" services step 3: Install SSH step 4: Firewall the machine so that it only accepts SMTP traffic from the outside world and SSH traffic from a couple of specific addresses step 5: Use a tool like tripwire to make a snapshot, wait a week, rerun it again and see if anything changes. just some ideas... Tim. -----Original Message----- From: Marc Hughes [mailto:hughesm@tomsnyder.com] Sent: Friday, October 05, 2001 1:08 PM To: wlug(a)wlug.org Subject: [Wlug] Vunerable Machine Picture This: You're sitting at your desk on a warm friday morning. You get a call from the webmaster about a linux box, so you head over to help him out. The webmaster is a bright guy, but a microsoft guy. Very little linux experience at all, in fact the box was set up for him by someone no longer in the company. After figuring out what this box does (acts as a sendmail SMTP & pop3 server for bulk newletters... [not spam] ) you realize it has easily guessable passwords, is outside the firewall, and is running at least one vunerable service (an old POP2 daemon) and some questionable services (sun RPC and appletalk). To top it all off... this box is an old powerPC... My question: What should I do to make sure it hasn't been already cracked? Other Problems: I don't have to time to do a reinstall and set it up correctly anytime soon (maybe in a week I could). It needs to continue working like it has for at least another week (we just sent out a newsletter, and it processes remove requests that trickle in) To free up disk space, the logs were regularly deleted... no current logs exist. It's not my box, so I need to be sensitive of the office politics so no one says something like, "Well, since we can't secure linux, NO MORE LINUX" -Marc _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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RE: [Wlug] Vunerable Machine
by Long, Mike Oct. 5, 2001

Oct. 5, 2001

If you can determine that the machine has not been hacked then you could bring up the security holes you found to the big-wigs in the following way. The decision to use Linux was a very good one. Machine X was configured in a way that left it vulnerable to being compromised. However, because it is a Linux box and not a windows box it has not been compromised so far. The techniques for compromising a Linux server are more complex than those used to compromise a windows server. Since the tools for securing a Linux server are much more robust than those used to secure a windows server it will be virtually impossible to compromise the companies network through this server once it has been properly configured. A little spin can go a long way. :) Mike -----Original Message----- From: Marc Hughes [mailto:hughesm@tomsnyder.com] Sent: Friday, October 05, 2001 1:53 PM To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org Subject: RE: [Wlug] Vunerable Machine On Fri, 2001-10-05 at 13:40, Keller, Tim wrote: > step 1: Change the root password Done > step 2: Remove all those "holy" services Done > step 3: Install SSH Still have to do ... getting weird library conflicts > step 4: Firewall the machine so that it only accepts SMTP traffic from the > outside world and SSH traffic from a couple of specific addresses TODO > step 5: Use a tool like tripwire to make a snapshot, wait a week, rerun it > again and see if anything changes. > Good, but still, how do I tell if it's already been rooted by 3l33t h4x0rs? And I guess an even bigger concern is the office politics things. How do I bring this to the big-wigs in a "good" light? _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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Issue with CD's...
by Keller, Tim Oct. 4, 2001

Oct. 4, 2001

Hey All, I was able to make the cds with random linux stuff on them, but my other jobs to make the redhat cds and the debian cds got dropped because legitimate orders had to be run... So if people have the Redhat 7.1 and the Debian cd's bring them along. BTW, I've already scheduled an hour to use the burner to make the 10 copies for Staroffice so I should have them for the wlug meeting. Sorry for the screw up. Tim.

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RE: [Wlug] StarOffice 6.0beta
by Keller, Tim Oct. 3, 2001

Oct. 3, 2001

Andy, that would be great. If people are interested, I could throw it in the bulk copier and bring 20 copies to the wlug meeting. Tim. -----Original Message----- From: Andy Stewart [mailto:andystewart@mediaone.net] Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2001 8:12 PM To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org Subject: [Wlug] StarOffice 6.0beta Should I bring a few copies of this to the Install Fest on Thursday? -- 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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StarOffice 6.0beta
by Andy Stewart Oct. 3, 2001

Oct. 3, 2001

Should I bring a few copies of this to the Install Fest on Thursday? -- Andy Stewart Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org

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Install fest with WPILA on Thursday!
by Andy Stewart Oct. 2, 2001

Oct. 2, 2001

Hi everybody, We will be having an install fest at WPI on Thursday, October 4th from 6 - 10 PM. I have several folks who have volunteered to make CDs and be installers - thanks gang! The main target of this install fest is the WPI community, but I won't turn away folks in need as long as there is room. I am, however, lacking in RSVPs from prospective installees. If you wish to have Linux installed on your machine, please send me an e-mail so that I can handle the logistics. Let's get the word out and hope for a great turnout! Later, Andy -- Andy Stewart Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org

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installfest?
by Jeffrey Michael Reed Oct. 2, 2001

Oct. 2, 2001

hey doodz... oi...andy...i hear you met my other half...he's that whacky spaniard guy named christian...he used to work @ ScreamDesign? :) anyway, what's the dilly with the installfest? is it still on for wednesday night? hope so...that would be SWEET! i would like to attend. i would like to chug grog with fellow gear/penguin/devil heads. give me da heads up!!! peace and GOD BLESS THE FREAKIN' WORLD... terrorism sucks... -- ==//> 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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Re: [Wlug] *nix humor
by Tim Trachimowicz Oct. 1, 2001

Oct. 1, 2001

thinkgeek already has that on t-shirts. pretty funny. --track >From: Bill Mills-Curran <subssn594(a)charter.net> >Reply-To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org >To: Worcester Linux Users Group <wlug(a)mail.wlug.org> >Subject: [Wlug] *nix humor >Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2001 11:52:31 -0400 (EDT) > >Seen on an I495 bumper: > > rm -rf /bin/laden > >Bill > >_______________________________________________ >Wlug mailing list >Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org >http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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Stuff for sale...
by John Stoffel Oct. 1, 2001

Oct. 1, 2001

Hi guys, I've ust bought a new (to me!) system, a dual PIII 550mhz Xeon system with 512mb of ram, graphics and some raid stuff. It's a Dell Precision 610 workstation. Very nice box. It came with a Adaptec ALO-1130U RAIDport PCI card with 16mb of ram. Unfortunately its unusable with Linux. Anyone interested in this card for their Windows server? Drivers are available, and it does work, since it passes the bios boot stuff. I've also got a video board that I want to get rid of, its a paired set of full length boards, one AGP, one PCI hooked together. It's an "Intense3d Wildcat 4000" board, and it's supposed to be a screammer with OpenGL. 64mb of video ram, etc. And of course, no Linux drivers. It does work under Linux as an X display, but since the boards are full size, I've decided to go with my AGP G450 instead. Much smaller. *grin* And it's better supported. So I realize you guys might not be too interested in this stuff, but if you do know of anyone who is looking for stuff like this, please let me know. Right now I'm looking for a good high quality KVM switch with ideally four ports. Something that can talk to a MAC and Sun as well as PCs would be ideal. Willing to trade! I'll also have some other stuff available down the line, like a pair of matched PIII 450mhz processors and possibly a case with possibly broken motherboard to pass on for free. Other odds and ends, send me email if you're looking and I'll see what I can find. John

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*nix humor
by Bill Mills-Curran Oct. 1, 2001

Oct. 1, 2001

Seen on an I495 bumper: rm -rf /bin/laden Bill

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WPI Install Fest
by Andy Stewart Oct. 1, 2001

Oct. 1, 2001

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

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Lancaster Project update
by Andy Stewart Sept. 30, 2001

Sept. 30, 2001

HI everybody, Here is an update on the Lancaster, MA project which started yesterday. I showed up around 10:30 AM and two other fellows from Holy Cross came to join me. They left around 5 PM and I stayed until about 7 PM. We installed additional hard drive in two machines onto which we installed SuSE Linux. The installation went smoothly, as did the X windows configuration. The problems started with the networking. Mixing ISA and PCI cards in a system is problematic. I have discovered the hard way that the motherboard picks the PCI card interrupts, and if they interfere with the ISA card, too bad! Some motherboards allow you to exclude interrupts from being used by the PCI cards - some don't. At least the really old ISA cards had jumpers so you *knew* which interrupt it wanted...the "new" ISA cards don't even have this, so you're doubly screwed. The systems both had ISA NICs. We eventually got one of them working (perhaps by accident). I finally swapped out the other one for a PCI NIC which worked almost immediately. I played with Coyote Linux on the old 486SX with 16 MB of memory after we had performed a memory upgrade and a proper CDROM drive installation. Coyote Linux appears to be a continuation of the work started by the Linux Router project. Its benefits are that it fits on a single floppy, appears to be more up to date than LRP, and is definitely easier to configure. After playing with the modem jumpers and after shutting off the motherboard COM ports, I was able to get Coyote Linux running, pinging the local network, and dialing the ISP on demand. In short, it was acting properly as a router for the other two Linux machines - yipee! Our host had quite a spread for us at lunchtime consisting of broccoli quiche, chips and hot sauce, soda, and more! My thanks to Neel and Ryan (from Holy Cross) for coming to help out, and to Warren (our host) for a great lunch and for asking for our help. I expect that we'll be taking another trip to Lancaster in about a month to install CUPS, perhaps SAMBA, configure two printers and a scanner, enable full access from all machines to those printers, to enable a packet filtering firewall on the 486, and to insure that everything else is in proper working order. Later, Andy -- Andy Stewart Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org

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RE: [Wlug] next week's installfest
by Keller, Tim Sept. 29, 2001

Sept. 29, 2001

What you might want todo is just grab everything; debs, rpms and tarballs. That way, not matter what distribution we load, we'd be able to install. Tim. -----Original Message----- From: David Lee Ludwig [mailto:davidl@WPI.EDU] Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2001 6:40 PM To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org Subject: [Wlug] next week's installfest For next week's installfest, is anyone going to be burning multiple copies of some particular distribution? If so, what? I was thinking of making some CDs with Ximian Gnome on it. -- David Ludwig | "The Linux philosophy is laugh in the face of davidl<at>wpi.edu | danger. Oops. Wrong One. 'Do it yourself.' http://www.wpi.edu/~davidl | That's it." - Linus Torvalds _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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next week's installfest
by David Lee Ludwig Sept. 27, 2001

Sept. 27, 2001

For next week's installfest, is anyone going to be burning multiple copies of some particular distribution? If so, what? I was thinking of making some CDs with Ximian Gnome on it. -- David Ludwig | "The Linux philosophy is laugh in the face of davidl<at>wpi.edu | danger. Oops. Wrong One. 'Do it yourself.' http://www.wpi.edu/~davidl | That's it." - Linus Torvalds

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Firewall on 486 w/8 MB of memory
by Andy Stewart Sept. 27, 2001

Sept. 27, 2001

HI gang, As part of the Lancaster MA project, there is a 486 machine with 8 MB of memory which we would like to make into a firewall. I'm seeking recommendations on how best to do this. Are we memory limited, or can this work, and if so, how? Can we put at least a minimal installation of something on this machine, or are we going to have to explore the single floppy firewall solutions such as the Linux Router project? Finally, is there somebody who would like to volunteer for Saturday 9/29 to explicitly help with solving this problem? Thanks, Andy -- Andy Stewart Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org

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RE: [Wlug] WPI Install Fest
by Keller, Tim Sept. 27, 2001

Sept. 27, 2001

Andy, Like usual, I'll volunteer and I'll do the CD's for you. Just let me know what distribution you want and I'll come up with a graphic of some kind. Tim. -----Original Message----- From: Andy Stewart [mailto:andystewart@mediaone.net] Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 11:43 PM To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org Subject: [Wlug] WPI Install Fest Hi Everybody, We will be having an install fest at WPI on Thursday evening, October 4th, from 6 PM to 10 PM in "the Discovery Classroom", aka Higgins Labs room 218. I am mainly aiming this at WPI students, but certainly anybody else who wants to get Linux installed is most welcome to join us. I don't know if I've seen this classroom...could somebody from WPI tell me how many computers we could reasonably accomodate in this room? This is just in case we get overwhelmed with folks requesting installations. I am seeking volunteers to do installations as well as folks who wish to get Linux installed fo the first time. I'll give preference to full installs, but if there are some folks who need to have some piece of Linux configured, we can do that on a space available basis. As in the past, I would like to suggest a $10 donation for installees. This will help to defray the cost of making CDs which you can take with you after the install fest. If you have your own Linux CDs, we'll do our best to get that version installed for you. If you are interested in attending, either as an installer, installee, or voyeur, please send me an e-mail. Thanks! Andy -- Andy Stewart Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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Thanks for your help
by Tim Trachimowicz Sept. 26, 2001

Sept. 26, 2001

Hey folks! After reading all those replies I took to crafting a message which answered the questions posed to me and went step-by-step through the processes I had done so far. After doing everything, lo-and-behold my NIC actually worked and I was able to get online with my DSL connection. I guess I must've mistyped something somewhere. So, it looks like it works ok now. The *only* snag is that after I rebooted the machine, my settings don't stay. Can anyone help me with that?!? Thanks! --Track _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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RE: [Wlug] WPI Install Fest
by Keller, Tim Sept. 26, 2001

Sept. 26, 2001

Cool, I'll make a set of cd's with the latest mandrake patches on them, along with the latest redhat/Suse/Debian distributions. I'm also thinking that a set of CD's with: latest kernel: 2.4.10 Mozilla (0.9.4) Star office for linux [would like some input on what else should be put on here (like the latest Wolfenstein MP test :-)] Tim. -----Original Message----- From: Andy Stewart [mailto:andystewart@mediaone.net] Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2001 8:23 AM To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org Subject: Re: [Wlug] WPI Install Fest On Wednesday 26 September 2001 08:06 am, you wrote: > Andy, > > Like usual, I'll volunteer and I'll do the CD's for you. Cool..thanks Tim! > > Just let me know what distribution you want and I'll come up with a > graphic of some kind. OK...I'll let you know. Brian Conway is bringing 5 sets of Mandrake 8.0 CDs. I'll bring my SuSE CDs for sure. Is the latest Redhat any good? Andy > > Tim. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Andy Stewart [mailto:andystewart@mediaone.net] > Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 11:43 PM > To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > Subject: [Wlug] WPI Install Fest > > > > Hi Everybody, > > We will be having an install fest at WPI on Thursday evening, October > 4th, from 6 PM to 10 PM in "the Discovery Classroom", aka Higgins Labs > room 218. I am mainly aiming this at WPI students, but certainly > anybody else who wants to get Linux installed is most welcome to join > us. > > I don't know if I've seen this classroom...could somebody from WPI tell > me how many computers we could reasonably accomodate in this room? This > is just in case we get overwhelmed with folks requesting installations. > > I am seeking volunteers to do installations as well as folks who wish > to get Linux installed fo the first time. I'll give preference to full > installs, but if there are some folks who need to have some piece of > Linux configured, we can do that on a space available basis. > > As in the past, I would like to suggest a $10 donation for installees. > This will help to defray the cost of making CDs which you can take with > you after the install fest. If you have your own Linux CDs, we'll do > our best to get that version installed for you. > > If you are interested in attending, either as an installer, installee, > or voyeur, please send me an e-mail. > > Thanks! > > Andy -- Andy Stewart Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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REMINDER: WLUG Group Project
by Andy Stewart Sept. 26, 2001

Sept. 26, 2001

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

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WLUG discount on Happy Hacking keyboard
by Andy Stewart Sept. 26, 2001

Sept. 26, 2001

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

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