- WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

printing config question

by Bill Mills-Curran

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

Dec. 5, 2002

RE: [Wlug] Let's make WLUG meetings better!

by Haines, Charles Allen

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

Dec. 5, 2002

RE: [Wlug] Lan party ideas...

by Haines, Charles Allen

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

Dec. 5, 2002

Re: [Wlug] Let's make WLUG meetings better!

by Bill Smith

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 *

Dec. 5, 2002

Re: [Wlug] synce, is a wonderful thing

by brad

On Wednesday 04 December 2002 09:55 pm, Wesley Allen wrote: > 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. Nice. > 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? I believe that the address book, is something that only outlook can read. I had a hard time trying to figure this one out to when i switched from WinCE to linux. What i did was found a machine with outlook and sync-ed to that. Opened up outlook and exported the address book in csv format. Then i could actually read the data. Cheers, --brad

Dec. 5, 2002

synce, is a wonderful thing

by Wesley Allen

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

Dec. 5, 2002

Re: [Wlug] regular SCSI errors in log

by Bill Mills-Curran

On Tue, 3 Dec 2002, Karl Hiramoto wrote: > Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2002 19:32:58 -0500 (EST) > From: Karl Hiramoto <karl(a)zoop.org> > Reply-To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > To: Worcester Linux Users Group <wlug(a)mail.wlug.org> > Subject: Re: [Wlug] regular SCSI errors in log > > > Any cron jobs running at that time? > > > SCSI terminator properly installed? > > <snip> Karl, Cron job. Yes, there is a daily cron job that runs around that time. However, the errors are logged on Friday only, so I did not connect the two. I suppose that there could be an interaction with something else that happens weekly to make this operation troublesome. I'll keep poking around for that. Note that the weekly system cron jobs run on Sunday, not Friday. SCSI terminator. N/A on this machine. This is a Data General server with 2 PnP SCSI disks plus 2 copper fibre HBA's to a Clariion array. Thanks, Bill

Dec. 4, 2002

Re: [Wlug] regular SCSI errors in log

by Karl Hiramoto

Any cron jobs running at that time? SCSI terminator properly installed? On Tue, 3 Dec 2002, Bill Mills-Curran wrote: > 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 > > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > -- ¤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 Life is a game of bridge -- and you've just been finessed.

Dec. 4, 2002

regular SCSI errors in log

by Bill Mills-Curran

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

Dec. 3, 2002

Lan party ideas...

by Keller, Tim

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.

Dec. 3, 2002

Re: [Wlug] more alphabet soup :-(

by Robert L Krawitz

Date: Mon, 02 Dec 2002 15:59:28 -0500 From: Josh Huber <huber+sender+89031d(a)alum.wpi.edu> Robert L Krawitz <rlk(a)alum.mit.edu> writes: > At that price, I'll put up with the inconvenience. If I use gzip > rather than bzip2 compression, I think things will be fast enough so > that backups won't be that much of an annoyance. Perhaps the in-kernel transparent decompression option for ISO9660 might be of interest to you? (in case you were not aware of it) I wasn't. The way afio does the compression (running gzip against each file), that could save some time. -- 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

Dec. 2, 2002

Re: [Wlug] more alphabet soup :-(

by Josh Huber

Robert L Krawitz <rlk(a)alum.mit.edu> writes: > At that price, I'll put up with the inconvenience. If I use gzip > rather than bzip2 compression, I think things will be fast enough so > that backups won't be that much of an annoyance. Perhaps the in-kernel transparent decompression option for ISO9660 might be of interest to you? (in case you were not aware of it) -- Josh Huber

Dec. 2, 2002

Job opening

by Doug Chamberlin

I didn't want anyone in WLUG to miss this listing. I hope it is not considered inappropriate. >Tatara Systems is a newly funded wireless startup based in Acton, >MA. We are currently searching for a Principal SW Engineer to join >our team. Please no agencies or third party recruiters. Local >candidates only, please. This role is a full time offering, but we >may consider a contractor as well. > >Principal Software Engineer; Linux OS >This person will be responsible for evaluation, packaging, and >porting of >a Linux kernel and drivers to a carrier class embedded system, and >building and updating the application development tools. Knowledge >of >Linux internals and various distributions required. Candidate must >have >previous experience with similar porting effort and at least 10 >years total >experience in Linux, Unix, or embedded systems development in >C and C++. Prior experience with fault tolerant and clustered >systems >design highly desireable. > >Please contact: >Ed Nathanson >Tatara Systems >ed(a)tatarasystems.com

Dec. 2, 2002

Meeting topics...

by Joel Desrochers

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

Dec. 2, 2002

RE: DVD writer

by Scott Prive

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 > >

Dec. 2, 2002

Re: Wlug digest, Vol 1 #477 - 2 msgs

by Arturo

I would love a hackfest! I think learning about tools to help you protect your data ... or better yet finding out how safe your data currentlyu is, would be both fun and informative. Cheers Arturo -- Arturo <wlug(a)sedo.net>

Dec. 2, 2002

Finally, Linux With a Lot Less Fuss

by Karl Hiramoto

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.

Dec. 2, 2002

Re: [Wlug] Let's make WLUG meetings better!

by Wesley Allen

The LAN idea would be neat, a freeswan tutorial would be nice, as I've not had time to figure out how to set it up. Wes On Sat, 2002-11-30 at 18:55, Andy Stewart wrote: > > 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 >

Dec. 1, 2002

Let's make WLUG meetings better!

by Andy Stewart

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

Nov. 30, 2002

Re: [Wlug] more alphabet soup :-(

by Robert L Krawitz

I wound up not buying a DVD writer at all. Micro Center had a Buslink 48x12x48 (which when I opened it up turned out to be a 48x24x48) for $20, and both Micro Center and Best Buy had really good deals on CD-R's. I'm nervous enough about the mess of formats that I don't feel like spending $300 on something that might be completely worthless in 6 months. CD-R's have been around a while and are completely standard. At that price, I'll put up with the inconvenience. If I use gzip rather than bzip2 compression, I think things will be fast enough so that backups won't be that much of an annoyance. -- 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

Nov. 29, 2002

more alphabet soup :-(

by doug waud

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

Nov. 29, 2002

Re: [Wlug] DVD writeable media

by doug waud

Robert L Krawitz wrote: > Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 15:20:42 -0500 > From: doug waud <douglas.waud(a)umassmed.edu> > > Type Can be written to by drives of type > > DVD-RW DVD+RW DVD-RW/+RW DVD-RAM/-R/-RW DVD-RAM/-R > > DVD-R yes no yes yes yes > DVD-RW yes no yes yes no > > Defct Mngmt Max Rewrites Seq/Rand Data/video? > > no n/a seq video > no 1000 seq data > > Why is DVD-R listed as video only, and DVD-RW as data only? > > -- > Robert Krawitz <rlk(a)alum.mit.edu> As I implied in my first posting I am just passing this info on; I am not including any thought. :-) Seriously, I can't tell from the article why this is the case. They do note that "DVD-RW format leaves disk formatting up to the software .... must perform a full disk format --- which can take an hour --- before you can start writing to the disk". Perhaps they feel this investment of time is beyond the attention span of those who watch TV. :-) I can also speculate that the ability to rewrite the DVD-RW may have tipped them in favor of it for data. Perhaps all that we are seeing is the problems that arise when you try to force data into a tabular format. :-) Take your pick/and-or make your own guess! doug

Nov. 29, 2002

Re: [Wlug] DVD writeable media

by Robert L Krawitz

Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 15:20:42 -0500 From: doug waud <douglas.waud(a)umassmed.edu> Type Can be written to by drives of type DVD-RW DVD+RW DVD-RW/+RW DVD-RAM/-R/-RW DVD-RAM/-R DVD-R yes no yes yes yes DVD-RW yes no yes yes no Defct Mngmt Max Rewrites Seq/Rand Data/video? no n/a seq video no 1000 seq data Why is DVD-R listed as video only, and DVD-RW as data only? -- 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

Nov. 28, 2002

quota on RH 8.0

by Aramico

Hi All, I've got a problem here..... On RedHat 8, I tried to implement quota. I have created the aquota.user on / and the other define directory. ..and I have reconfigure the /etc/fstab and wrote the tag in order to enable the quota. When I'm tryin to run quotacheck -avug, there is a notifications as shown bellow : quotacheck: WARNING - Quotafile //aquota.user was probably truncated. Can't save quota settings... quotacheck: WARNING - Quotafile //aquota.group was probably truncated. Can't save quota settings... quotacheck: Cannot remount filesystem mounted on / read-only so counted values might not be right. Please stop all programs writing to filesystem or use -m flag to force checking. what was wrong here ? can somebody tell me how to implement the quota here ? I want to know the diffrence to the thing that I've done. Thanks.

Nov. 27, 2002

Re: [Wlug] DVD writeable media

by doug waud

Andy Stewart wrote: > > 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? That PCWorld article I mentioned earlier in this thread has a nice table. The first step is to note that there are three pairs: DVD-R and DVD-RW DVD+R and DVD+RW CD-R and CD-RW plus one single, DVD-RAM which (so far) has no RW sibling. (I include CD's to emphasize the pattern) That article also has a table: Type Can be written to by drives of type DVD-RW DVD+RW DVD-RW/+RW DVD-RAM/-R/-RW DVD-RAM/-R DVD-R yes no yes yes yes DVD+R no yes yes no no CD-R yes yes yes yes no DVD-RW yes no yes yes no DVD+RW no yes yes no no DVD-RAM no no no yes yes CD-RW yes yes yes yes no and with same rows: Capac Cost Cartrige? Quick Format Data verifn 4.7GB $4 no n/a no 4.7 5 no n/a no 700MB 1 no n/a no 4.7 6 no optional no 4.7 7 no yes no 4.7* 15 yes** n/a*** yes 700 1 no no no and still with same rows: Defct Mngmt Max Rewrites Seq/Rand Data/video? no n/a seq video no n/a seq video no n/a seq video & data no 1000 seq data yes**** 1000 seq data yes 100,000 random data no 1000 seq data * double sided gives 9.4 GB ** disks also available w/o cartridges on a spindle *** DVD-RAM disks are preformatted **** only on Mount Ranier writes which are not supported by most drives Hope the formatting survives! :-) doug

Nov. 25, 2002