January 2003 - main

Announce digest, Vol 2 #1 - 3 msgs
by announce-request＠lists.alug.org.uk 30 Jan '03

30 Jan '03

Send Announce mailing list submissions to announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to announce-request(a)lists.alug.org.uk You can reach the person managing the list at announce-admin(a)lists.alug.org.uk When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Announce digest..." --------------.--------------------------------------------.------------ alug-announce | Newsletter of the Anglian Linux User Group | Weekly(ish) --------------'--------------------------------------------'------------ ** Please send articles for this letter to announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk ** *** Please send replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk, not announce... *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Today's Topics: 1. Fwd: [lugmaster] Free Software and education (markj(a)cloaked.freeserve.co.uk) 2. Fwd: New stand.org.uk ID Card Campaign Launched (markj(a)cloaked.freeserve.co.uk) 3. Fwd: [RNIB Campaign for Good Web Design] Campaign update 28/01/03 (mjr(a)cloaked.freeserve.co.uk) --__--__-- Message: 1 To: announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk From: markj(a)cloaked.freeserve.co.uk Date: Thu, 09 Jan 2003 12:31:07 +0000 Subject: [Alug Announce] Fwd: [lugmaster] Free Software and education From: Richard Smedley <richard.smedley(a)futurenet.co.uk> Subject: [lugmaster] Free Software and education Reply-To: lugmaster(a)mailman.lug.org.uk Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2003 12:32:14 +0000 Hello everyone, I'd be grateful if you'd forward this to your LUGs - I'd also be interested to hear of any experiences (negative or positive) that anyone has had in talking to schools about using Free Software. - Richard richard(a)sc.lug.org.uk http://mailman.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2003q1/000048.html : FSF Europe welcomes the TUX&GNU@school column January, 7th 2003 Hamburg/Essen/Valais The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Europe officially welcomes Mario Fux' TUX&GNU@school <mailto:GNU@school> column whose future editions will be published under the umbrella of the FSF Europe. Each edition of the column contains a presentation of a Free educational software program, valuable tips to web sites that deal with Free Software and education, user testimonies as well as suggestions for new small programs for pupils and teachers. All editions will be published in German and English first. The FSF Europe provides infrastructure and an organizational framework, such as web space and mailing lists for lectors and translators. With this support, Mario Fux continues to write his column. The column is free documentation and the GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL) and will be developed in an open manner. In consequence, any interested person can work on the project as a lector or translator. TUX&GNU@school <mailto:GNU@school> is a logical step to extend the promotion of Free Software in the educational sector. Mario Fux emphasizes: "GNU/Linux and Free Software in schools have become at least as viable as proprietary software in the meantime" and continues: "I'm again and again surprised how big the choice of Free educational programs is", contradicting critics of Free Software who often claim a lack of applications for the GNU platform. Also the didactic and social aspects of the use of Free Software in schools are of special importance: "In the past, computer science education has concentrated too much teaching products instead of comprehension", says Georg C.F. Greve, President of the FSF Europe. Greve continues: "Free Software enables the interactive understanding of outer and inner workings of a computer and furthermore ensures an equality of chances for all pupils". The FSF Europe thanks Mario Fux for his hitherto efforts and looks forward to his future editions, which are available at http://www.fsfeurope.org/education/tgs/ . About the Free Software Foundation Europe The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF Europe) is a charitable non-governmental organization dedicated to all aspects of Free Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may participate in a digital society. Therefore the freedoms to use, copy, modify and redistribute software - as described in the Free Software definition - allow equal participation in the information age. Creating awareness for these issues, securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues of the FSF Europe, which was founded in 2001 as the European sister organization of the Free Software Foundation in the United States. http://www.fsfeurope.org Contact FSF Europe: Georg C. F. Greve <greve(a)fsfeurope.org <mailto:greve@fsfeurope.org>> phone: +49-40-23809080 fax: +49-40-23809081 TUX&GNU@school column: Mario Fux <foxman(a)lugo.ch <mailto:foxman@lugo.ch>> ________________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned for all viruses. _______________________________________________ lugmaster mailing list lugmaster(a)mailman.lug.org.uk http://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/lugmaster --__--__-- Message: 2 To: announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk From: markj(a)cloaked.freeserve.co.uk Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2003 23:50:31 +0000 Subject: [Alug Announce] Fwd: New stand.org.uk ID Card Campaign Launched Probably of interest to many subscribers. MJR Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2003 13:31:38 +0000 From: James Cronin <james(a)stand.org.uk> Subject: New stand.org.uk ID Card Campaign Launched [...] Quick summary: the Home Office opened a public consultation on their ID card proposals. They were very pleased to get 1500 responses after nearly six months, and said the majority were in favour. We've rustled up nearly a 1000 responses in one day - and they're almost entirely dead set against. And that's before we told you about it. Some of the story follows. There's more info, links and a chance for you to have your say at: http://www.stand.org.uk/ [...] We're worried that those who disagree with an ID card may be being under-represented. Dan Blanchard described what happened when he mailed the HO saying that he didn't think ID cards were necessary. Back came the reply from the Home Office: "Thank you for your e-mail of 13th December in support of the introduction of an entitlement/identity card scheme." [...] HOW TO DO IT You can either use our simple check-box front-end at http://www.stand.org.uk/ or write directly to the Entitlement Cards Unit (full info at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/dob/ecu.htm ). You might want to use the latter route if you're broadly in support [snip!] --__--__-- Message: 3 To: announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2003 15:02:00 +0000 From: <mjr(a)cloaked.freeserve.co.uk> Subject: [Alug Announce] Fwd: [RNIB Campaign for Good Web Design] Campaign update 28/01/03 These events are in/near the ALUG area and may be of interest to anyone around there. More details via http://www.rnib.org.uk/ and click on "See It Right" logo near the foot. From: julie.howell(a)rnib.org.uk Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 16:16:54 -0000 Subject: [RNIB Campaign for Good Web Design] Campaign update 28/01/03 [...] 5. Forthcoming campaign events: London/Essex/Wales Julie Howell will make presentations on the subject of web accessibility at the following locations in February 2003. The hosts in each case (all universities) have kindly agreed to permit entry to those not studying at each of the venues at no charge, but it is vital that places are booked with the relevant contact person in each case. 4 February 2003, 6pm, Birkbeck College, London If you wish to attend please contact Sarah Riley at sarah(a)dcs.bbk.ac.uk 10 February 2003, 1pm, University of Essex, Colchester If you wish to attend please contact Dilly Meyer at dilly(a)essex.ac.uk [...] --__--__-- _______________________________________________ Announce mailing list Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce End of Announce Digest

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VH Speed hard disk for cache
by tom potts 29 Jan '03

29 Jan '03

Anyone know of very high speed HD suitable for cache <4 ms access perhaps? Tom __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Everything you'll ever need on one web page from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts http://uk.my.yahoo.com

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Invitation to FOSDEM 2003
by Damien Sandras 29 Jan '03

29 Jan '03

Hi, The purpose of this e-mail is to invite you to attend to the 3rd edition of FOSDEM. This edition will take place on the 8th and 9th of February 2003 in Brussels (see http://www.fosdem.org for more info). The previous editions encountered a huge success. More than 1600 people attended to presentations given by well-known speakers such as Richard Stallman, Miguel De Icaza, DJ Adams, Philip Hazel in 2002, and FOSDEM 2003 will try to be even more successful thanks to numerous presentations done by programmers of leading Open Source and Free Software projects. This year, will be present (in alphabetical order): Ann Harrison - Firebird : an Open Source database based on the InterBase(r) Brian King - Mozilla Bruce Momjian - PostgreSQL Core Developer Bruno Coudoin - Author of GCompris Clif Flynt - Tcl/Tk Damien Sandras - GnomeMeeting author David Axmark - MySQL developer David Faure - KDE Core Developer Guenter Bartsch - Author of xine Harald Welte - Member of the Netfilter Core Team Havoc Pennington - GNOME Foundation, Free Standards Hilaire Fernandes - Author of DrGenius Jakub Steiner - Author of many of the GTK 2.x stock icons, Gimp tutorial Jon 'Maddog' Hall - Executive Director of Linux International Julian Smart - Author of wxWindows Michael Meeks - GNOME Core developer Owen Taylor - Maintainer of GTK+ Raphael Hertzog - Author of Debian-Edu Richard M Stallman - Leader of the FSF Solar Designer - Author of Openwall GNU/*/Linux Thomas Vander Stichele - GStreamer Developer Yoann Vandoorselaere & Laurent Oudot - Prelude-IDS authors And many others, ... Several Free or Open Source Software projects have decided to hold a meeting during FOSDEM. It is a great occasion to meet core developers from GNOME, GNUstep, KDE, Mozilla, embedded software and PostgreSQL. Moreover, the Free Software Award will be handed out during the FOSDEM 2003 by Richard Stallman and other members from the Free Software Foundation. FOSDEM's goal is to provide Free Software and Open Source developers and communities the opportunity to learn and discuss the latest developments in the Free and Open Source arena and to promote the development of Free and Open Source solutions. The speakers mainly talk about technologies and make technical speeches. The event is totally free, but we encourage you to support FOSDEM if you appreciate the event and want it to continue in the same spirit. More information about the FOSDEM support operation at: http://www.fosdem.org/index/support/ We hope to see you there. -- FOSDEM 2003 Damien Sandras Community Contact

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cross-over connection and nfs install
by Glen Tyler 29 Jan '03

29 Jan '03

Although I have no networking experience I'm trying to connect two pc's using an RJ45 cable and two 10baseT cards (one Com3, one SMC). This is so that I can effect an NFS install on the one box which doesn't have a CDROM drive. I'm installing slackware 8.1, and although both NIC's appear to function OK, and I can ping the local box from either, I can get no communication between them. Neither box can ping the other and attempts to set up the nfs install always result in the 'rpc.portmap - unable to recieve' error on the client. I can mount the CDROM as /mnt/nfs on the server. Part of the problem may be that I am using a home-made crossover cable - from a standard A-B cable. I found some instructions for doing this in a HOW-TO where pins 1A is switched to 3B, 2A to 6B and the return similar. However the colour codes on my wire did not match the How-to description, and I'm not sure which is 1 and which is pin8. Colours on mine are brown,blue,yellow,green,red,black,orange,grey - and I've assumed brown is no. 1. Any pointers would be useful . thanks Glen

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ata100, DDR RAM etc...
by Ricardo Santos Campos 29 Jan '03

29 Jan '03

Well, my desktop computer (not the one with the wierd inode set) lasts about 2-20 minutes before locking up (does this in GNU/Linux AND Win2k), and although I'm now runnning memtest86 (it did this about a year ago, and I had to change 1 of my DIMMs from slot 2 to the third slot and it worked), I guess the poor little motherboard et al need to be put into retirement after a few years of (quirky) service. I'm guessing it's a RAM problem- could be CPU or even the video card (not the hd's cos Linux and win2k are on different drives on different ide slots, and I have tried each by removing the other totally from power and ide cable, tried different cables too). But my real question is; does linux now support ATA100? If so, anyone know which kernel? Will I have to add an hdparam line to LILO, or will it detect it autoimatically? I'll be running Debian Woody on it. Also, I shall be buying the new DDR RAM, does linux fully support this too? Also, does it now support the AGP 8x slot as well? (incidentally, memtest86 has been stuck on test 4, however this is a test that should take long compared to the others....) For sale: one grandmother, will swap for new PC.;) lol TIA

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Re: [Alug] Link: Debian Users are Beatniks [OT]
by Paul Tansom 29 Jan '03

29 Jan '03

Pah, done it again!! ----- Forwarded message from Paul Tansom <paul(a)whaletales.co.uk> ----- From: Paul Tansom <paul(a)whaletales.co.uk> To: Wayne Stallwood <wayne.stallwood(a)btinternet.com> Subject: Re: [Alug] Link: Debian Users are Beatniks [OT] ** Wayne Stallwood <wayne.stallwood(a)btinternet.com> [2003-01-29 00:22]: > On Wednesday 29 January 2003 00:08, Paul Tansom wrote: > > My favourite was from when I was forced to use MDaemon (a Windows mail > > server if you've not come across it, and the version I used was a > > nightmare to use), that kept getting replaced by my spelling checker > > with "Madmen", which I took to refer to anyone who had administered it > > for a significant length of time :-) > > Yes, been there done that even the later versions are a complete nighmare, > makes Exchange look like binary bliss. ** end quote [Wayne Stallwood] It was all the more painful for me because I was switching from using Netscape Messaging server running on an AIX box - a nice setup that stored mail account information in on an LDAP server so that each mail server was aware of accounts on other servers within the same mail domain and could route accordingly. It also shared account information with the Calendar server, web server, and proxy server (as well as the NT domain if you wanted it to). All in all a nice setup. By contrast I was forced to use MDaemon running on a Windows 95 box in Holland connected to an ISDN line and hourly dial up (we had just had the half of our company that I worked for sold off to another company - we were an ex-IBM location, they had started life repairing TVs in a warehouse and the company was now a global company and this was the company mail server!!!!). I had to hook into this via an internationally dialed 33.6k modem and use remote control software - which screwed the fact that I had administered the AIX boxes and NT domain from my Linux boot :-( Entering the aliases we had was a nightmare because you couldn't list all the aliases for a given account - euch. When I emailed their technical support I got a reply from the MD saying that they were aware of the limitations and that they planned to address them in the next but one relase - hopfully. To put this new IT infrastructure into context I will add that the IT director we now had wanted us to ditch our Token Ring network and put Ethernet in so that we could use TCP/IP (doh!) and he also received a fax of a hoax virus email, which he then typed out and emailed to me with the request that I emailed it to managers company wide. When I queried it I was told to go ahead and do it and only managed not to (it would have originated from my email for petes sake!) because I couldn't get a list of all the managers emails because nobody new them! I left soon after this funnily enough because I was labelled as 'at risk' in a company trim down (i.e. if I hadn't jumped and not enough people had jumped I may have been pushed). I was one of two domain admins, and the only mail and calendar server admin (no backup) and the Internet and Intranet webmaster (no backup) and had designed the in house call logging system (not yet finished or documented) - so you can see there would be no significant hole if I dissapeared. Hidden agendas included getting rid of the calendar and Intranet functions and the IT director regaining control of the web site (which he did in Word) and mail server (which he did when he was in Holland!) - so I guess I was definately expendable! How did I get on to this? Somebody shut me up for goodness sake!!!! -- Paul Tansom: - contact paul(a)aptanet.com for more information Internet and Intranet Solutions -- http://www.aptanet.com/ ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Paul Tansom: - contact paul(a)aptanet.com for more information Internet and Intranet Solutions -- http://www.aptanet.com/

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RE: [Alug] ata100, DDR RAM etc...
by Keith Watson 29 Jan '03

29 Jan '03

>From Ricardo Santos Campos > > Well, my desktop computer (not the one with the wierd inode set) lasts > about 2-20 minutes before locking up (does this in GNU/Linux AND Win2k), > and although I'm now runnning memtest86 (it did this about a year ago, > and I had to change 1 of my DIMMs from slot 2 to the third slot and it > worked), I guess the poor little motherboard et al need to be put into > retirement after a few years of (quirky) service. > > I'm guessing it's a RAM problem- could be CPU or even the video card > (not the hd's cos Linux and win2k are on different drives on different > ide slots, and I have tried each by removing the other totally from > power and ide cable, tried different cables too). > Had this problem myself a couple of years ago tried everything I could think of, swapping RAM modules, changing the CPU speed (which seemed to have a marginal effect), taking out adaptor cards, etc. Couldn't track it down so stuck the thing in the back of a cupboard and invested in a new bit of kit (well, that was my excuse :o) ) Chatting to a hardware type recently about it and he thought it sounded like a power supply problem, so I went back scrounged a digital voltmeter and checked. Sure enough after a few minutes of use the voltage dropped of noticeably just before the system crashed, however this still happened after swapping the power supply. In my case turned out to be my SCSI II drive, (but it looks like you've covered that one from what you say) after a few minutes of use it was doing silly things to the voltages. I suppose I was lucky it didn't damage anything else, mind you, as soon as the voltage dropped so did the whole system :o). Keith ____________ MARRIAGE, n. The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress and two slaves, making in all, two. - Ambrose Bierce - The Devil's Dictionary

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Link: Debian Users are Beatniks
by Keith Watson 29 Jan '03

29 Jan '03

<http://www.xach.com/debian-users-are-beatniks.html> Incidentally my spellchecker wants to replace Debian with Deviant :o) Keith ____________ Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity. - Lao-tzu

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[newsforge daily] January 27, 2003 - Europarl to discuss ban of all software patents
by Keith Watson 27 Jan '03

27 Jan '03

<http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/01/26/1550234> guerby writes: Michel Rocard (ex France Prime Minister) now on the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport is proposing an amendment (pdf link) to explicitely rule out patentability on information (processing, ...) at the european parliament. The rationale is beautifuly written. Let's hope it has some influence on the outcome of the ongoing battle to stay free of software patents in Europe. Regards, Keith ____________ ADMIRATION, n. Our polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves. - Ambrose Bierce - The Devil's Dictionary

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Neill Newman 27 Jan '03

27 Jan '03

This is the automated ALUG IRC meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an IRC meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. The meeting takes place on the irc server irc.alug.org.uk in the #alug channel. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server irc.alug.org.uk" and "/join #alug". Popular IRC clients include tkirc, bitchx, xchat and EPIC on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with irc. Unix http://www.xchat.org/ http://freshmeat.net/ http://www.epicsol.org/ Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

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