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Re: [Alug] Debian CDs and Alien
by Ricardo Campos 12 Sep '01

12 Sep '01

If you're at the lug meet on sunday, you can have Progeny for free! :) (well, you can cover all 60p of the costs for the two CD's!!) I have a CD burner and an always-on internet conn at work! ;) Ricardo, "Surely this monstrous hybrid comes not from a mother's womb but from an Ephialtes, an Incubus, or some other horrendous demon, as though spawned in a putrid and venemous fungus, son of Fauns and Nymphs, more Devil than man." -Athanasius Kircher, Mundus Subtarraneus, Amsterdam, 1665, pp.279-280 Coming soon: http://www.rscampos.net/blog.html _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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Debian CDs and Alien
by Alexis Lee 12 Sep '01

12 Sep '01

Having nuked my Mandrake the other day trying to install Debian from floppy (bah humbug cfdisk), I'm impatient to get _something_ working. I could get Progeny, and hence a nice installer, for £10 plus postage. Or I could get the first official non-US for just postage, or all 6 official non-US for £10. Not being so bothered about source I won't read anyway, I'm cool on the last option, but it does have two extra CDs of 'stuff'. Anyone got opinions of which of these is the best bang for buck? Is the Progeny installer worth the CD it's burnt on? Do the extra 2 CDs have worth while stuff on them? If I can get away with it, it'd be neat to get the single CD and use alien to install lots of packages from my Mandrake CDs. How good is alien? It sounds quite promising actually, but do packages built with it update all the right dbs? Oh and of course, if anyone is willing to post or pop round CDs to Norwich, I'd be grateful. Can't make this meeting 'cause I'm in Holland, and I want something done before the next one so I can start setting up OpenGL again. Alexis -- "You got what everyone gets. A lifetime." - Death (Sandman by Neil Gaiman) "I respect faith, but doubt is what gives you an education" - Wilson Mizner "It doesn't matter who you vote for. The government always gets in."

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Re: [Alug] XSL Formatting Objects Question - Setting Document Defaults
by MJ Ray 12 Sep '01

12 Sep '01

Alexis Lee <alexis(a)turton.com> writes: > But then, it would be much neater to have a Cache object. What is a Cache object? Yes, that's a philosophical question ;-) > Depends whether you count the JRE included in browsers. And whether Guile > is Scheme or not- I think Gnome uses Guile for something, so that would up > numbers a lot. Yep, Guile is Scheme. And how many current browsers include JREs? Isn't that a dying trend? Java is surely a language which has had its day in the sun... now to see how it weathers a winter. > Incidentally Mark, as a reward for getting this far I'll admonish you to > make the URLs on your homepage relative. They're all at cloaked still. Huh? My personal site is entertainingly broken at the moment (try it in moz), but I don't recall there being any non-relative internal URLs on it, as that's a pet hate of mine. -- MJR Thesis watch: 27% This is my personal web site =-> http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ http://www.alug.org.uk/ <-- This is the LUG I go to I work for this clever internet developer ==> http://www.luminas.co.uk/

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Re: The Economics of Reproduction
by John Seago 12 Sep '01

12 Sep '01

The following site may be of some relevance/Interest to the abovementioned article: http://freenet.sourceforge.net/ Or perhaps I miss the point of the article, I apologise if I am preaching to the converted. John

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Re: [Alug] Re: Debian Difficulties
by MJ Ray 12 Sep '01

12 Sep '01

"Earl Brannigan" <earl.brannigan(a)lindenhouse.co.uk> writes: > 2)Still can't get X to work for anyone other than root, despite hours of > info reading (X is very well documented but still not very easy to follow. I > now know that there are a number of files that need setting up in the users > directory, but its a bit of a scary one. I'll post something when I have a > resolution. Shouldn't need any files in the user dir if you set the /etc/X11 files up correctly. Some of them, like Xsession.options, have their own debian man pages. Quite what the problem could be, I can't think. > 4)I had been having some probs with apt-get / dselect and found that having > the update cdrom (Linux Expo 2001) referenced in /etc/apt/sources.list was > causing dselect to 'suggest' upgrading all sorts. I don't like dselect. console-apt/capt works far better for me. > The only weak points with dpkg and dselect though is finding a package that > supplies a file dpkg -S file ? > Observations on a week in debian land : > 1)Debian is not for the beginner nor the faint hearted. Maybe not. People are working on it, though. > 2)Debian does not pretend to be for the beginner or the faint hearted. It desires to be. > 3)Debian likes to scare the faint hearted and make beginners suffer. Nonsense! Beginners are reluctant to report bugs, though. > 5)My back aches, my neck aches, my eyes are tired, I need sleep. Your hands are aching and your knees are raw? -- MJR Thesis watch: 27% This is my personal web site =-> http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ http://www.alug.org.uk/ <-- This is the LUG I go to I work for this clever internet developer ==> http://www.luminas.co.uk/

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Debian talk Sunday
by Adam Bower 12 Sep '01

12 Sep '01

Hi all, I am very sorry but I don't think that the Debian talk I was planning to give will take place this Sunday. The main reason being that I have been rather ill since a few days after coming back from Belgium, some others who were there have also reported the same so it is not just open source software we share :-) I do hope that I recover enough to get the talk together but I find that unlikely at the moment. I will of course make sure that the talk happens at the next meeting after Syleham though. If you still want me to do things to your computer involving Debian though I would be very happy to do so :-) Thanks Adam PS I managed to hack a Bios update for my Vaio so I no longer need a USB floppy drive... -- This message is Copyleft - all rights reversed Adam

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Mandrake 8
by John Seago 11 Sep '01

11 Sep '01

Having managed to thoroughly cock up both the software and hardware on my computer, to the extent that Chris, had to dismantle it put the hard drive into his and then heal its wounds, the reconstructed box is now working with windows on the first disk. Trying to reinstall Mandrake 8, I found that it would go as far as the point where it needs to access the CD and then get stuck, Chris's diagnosis is that Mandrake can only see a CD Drive that is a secondary slave instead of as it is now set up the secondary master. Has anyone any suggestions, or come across this problem before? I do have disks for Red Hat, but on my machine, when trying to install at 'lowres' the screen displays black text on nearly black background, and is thus unreadable. The more exciting disks, Slackware 8, Debian, Progeny, are beyond my capabilities and being saved for the long winter learning process. John Seago

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sundays meeting- lift sought
by Michelle Louise Oelschig 11 Sep '01

11 Sep '01

Hello There Have recently joined this mailing list... am resident in Ipswich near Christchurch Park, and would like to attend sunday's meeting, but lack transport and am totally unfamiliar with the area having recently moved here from South Africa. If anyone reading this lives in the Ipswich area and could offer me a lift, i would be grateful. Many Thanks, Mici Oelschig ____ "Beyond the door Strange cruel beautiful years are waiting for you..." -Johnny Clegg

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Announce digest, Vol 1 #3 - 5 msgs
by announce-request＠lists.alug.org.uk 11 Sep '01

11 Sep '01

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..." *** Please send replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk, not announce... *** oMMMoMo Mo MMMMMMMoMo " "o"o"o"o oMMMoMoM oMMMMMM"MMM" " " " " " "o"o "oMMMoMMM " oMo"M"oo MM" " MoMoMMMMMMM oM " " "oMMM " " MoMMMMMoMoMoooo Mo MMM MoMoMMMMMoMMMMM o" MoM " MoMM "MMo"oMoMMMoM"" MM " MMMMo MMMMMoMMMMMM" oM " MoMMM MMMoMMMo"MM Mo" "MMoMo ooMMMMMMMoMo" oMo oMoMMM " "oMoMMMoMoMo MoM oMoMMM MMMMMMMMMoMMM "oM oMoMMM "M"M"MMoMMMo" " o "oo " MMMM" MMMMMoMoM o" " "oM " " " "o MMMoMMMo"o M " oM " " MMMMMMMoMo o" "oMoMoooMo" " o " " MMoMMMoMoMo " "o"o MM"""""""oM oM " "MMo oMMMMMoMMMoMo " """ """ " o"MMMMoMMMoMMMo"MMo"o" o o o oo MMMMMMoMMMoMMMoMoMo MMMMM MMMo oMMM MMMo MMoMMM oMoMMMoMMMoMMMoMMMo"o oMMMMM MMMo oMMM "MMo MMM "MM MMMMMMMoMMMMMMMoMMMM" " " MMo"MMo MMMo oMM" MMMo oMM" """ " MoMMMoMMMoMMMo" " " MMMoMMMo MMMo oMM" MMMo oMM"oMoMo " "MMoMMMoMMM " " MMMMMMMo MMMo oMM" MMMo oMM" "MM oMMMoMoMoMMMoMMMoMo" " oMM" "oMM" "MMMMM" "MMMMM" MMMoMM" ooMMMMMMMoMMMMMMMoMMMoMo "M" " " " " " """ """ "oM """oMM" " " "MMoMMMoMMMoMM" " " " " " " " alug-announce : The Newsletter of the Anglian Linux User Group Today's Topics: 1. Apologies for the last newsletter (MJ Ray) 2. Realtime and Embedded Linux shows (MJ Ray) 3. The economics of free reproduction (MJ Ray) 4. [cedric.gauthier(a)soissons-technopole.org] [uklugs] European Free Software Contest (MJ Ray) 5. UK leafletting campaign, Saturday 15th (MJ Ray) --__--__-- Message: 1 To: announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk From: MJ Ray <markj(a)cloaked.freeserve.co.uk> Organization: Cat-killingly bad Date: 02 Sep 2001 19:57:27 +0100 Subject: [Alug Announce] Apologies for the last newsletter Sorry about the slight error in the last edition which saw it go out as two single-article messages. The new list server works in a different way and it tricked me. I now (hopefully) return you to your normal service. --__--__-- Message: 2 To: announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk From: MJ Ray <markj(a)cloaked.freeserve.co.uk> Organization: Cat-killingly bad Date: 08 Sep 2001 10:09:45 +0100 Subject: [Alug Announce] Realtime and Embedded Linux shows Date: Fri, 07 Sep 2001 15:52:12 +0200 From: Astrid Schoofs <astrids(a)aexpo.com> Subject: Realtime and Embedded Linux shows Dear Sir, Please find out our show schedule for our Real Time Computing & Embedded Linux Expo's and Conferences. You are free to registrate as a visitor!! At www.aexpo.com or www.rtcgroup.com under SOLUTIONS you will find all the shows, seminars and conferences. The fist show is in LONDON, October 9th 2001. Thank you for forwarding this to your members, kind regards, Astrid Schoofs Sales & Marketing Manager ACTIVE Exhibitions Europe PO Box 2114 5300 CC Zaltbommel The Netherlands Phone: +31.418.577700 Direct Phone: +31.418.577713 Fax: +31.418.577720 E-mail: astrids(a)aexpo.com Internet: http://www.aexpo.com/ --__--__-- Message: 3 To: announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk From: MJ Ray <markj(a)cloaked.freeserve.co.uk> Organization: Cat-killingly bad Date: 10 Sep 2001 01:32:58 +0100 Subject: [Alug Announce] The economics of free reproduction

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Re: Debian Difficulties
by Earl Brannigan 11 Sep '01

11 Sep '01

Hi all first of all thanks to all who posted replies on this. Thought I'd post a brief overview of my current situ : 1)wvdial/ppp now works well, except for one small problem - my modem driver displays an error when it is loaded to say that it is built for kernel 2.2.18 while I am running 2.2.19pre3. This would be an obvious problem were it not that I compiled it myself the night before last using the kernel-headers package I have installed (perhaps I have mis-installed??? - must check!!!). Anyways, apart from that there are no probs. Getting this to work involved using the dialout group with a little messing with privs to ensure only dialout users and root may access the modem, ppp and wvidial and associated scripts/configfiles. I'm just going to audit this setup a bit - if anyone would like a listing of what I did I'll be glad to send it. 2)Still can't get X to work for anyone other than root, despite hours of info reading (X is very well documented but still not very easy to follow. I now know that there are a number of files that need setting up in the users directory, but its a bit of a scary one. I'll post something when I have a resolution. Meanwhile, if anyone is willing to send me their ~/.X* files of a bog-standard user to use/study as a base I would greatly appreciate it, I'm running XFree86-3.x.(I would rather not use the root ones that I have in case I inadvertantly create an X session ready to yield root privs to any tom/dick/harry who knows how). 3)I now have a full kernel build environment setup. Not realising the existence of make-kpkg I was off on good old make. Have to say that make-kpkg is the biz. - whaddya mean RTFM !!? I *know* how to build a kernel...!!!!..... int BuryHead(TSand _sand, THead _head){ return (_sand += _head); } ;o) 4)I had been having some probs with apt-get / dselect and found that having the update cdrom (Linux Expo 2001) referenced in /etc/apt/sources.list was causing dselect to 'suggest' upgrading all sorts. dselect specifies a keystroke shift-D which never seemed to fix it - any time I went to install there would always be a long list of packages to remove, even though I hadn't specified them. Commenting out the lines referring to the update cdrom then doing apt-get update did fix things however. Now if I want something off the update cdrom I uncomment the relevant line in sources.list, apt-get update, then apt-get install <package> and all is well. The only caveat is that when I run dselect with the lines commented out anything that I have installed from the update cdrom is listed in the obsolete section.... The point is I suppose that when installing the base debian system from the installer its best to keep the update cdrom out of the way until you are happy with the base, then let dpkg see the update cdrom if you want to. The only weak points with dpkg and dselect though is finding a package that supplies a file (a la : rpm -qa --provides <file>). I'm sure that if it can do this its in the docs but I haven't found it yet. Observations on a week in debian land : 1)Debian is not for the beginner nor the faint hearted. 2)Debian does not pretend to be for the beginner or the faint hearted. 3)Debian likes to scare the faint hearted and make beginners suffer. 4)I Have been suffering a little but I am not scared just yet. 5)My back aches, my neck aches, my eyes are tired, I need sleep. 6)Debian Rocks - anything that can keep me away from the TV/Guitar/Pub for 4 Nights in a row - despite annoying the hell out of me and keeping me awake until some ungodly hours drinking coffee and eating dodgy biscuits has got to be good. Cheers all, sorry 'bout the essay. Earl

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Re: [Alug] XSL Formatting Objects Question - Setting Document Defaults
by MJ Ray 11 Sep '01

11 Sep '01

Alexis Lee <alexis(a)turton.com> writes: > And what the heck are continuations and first-class procedures? news:<nm9d74ztbvn.fsf(a)kindness.mit.edu> might be interesting -- MJR Thesis watch: 27% This is my personal web site =-> http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ http://www.alug.org.uk/ <-- This is the LUG I go to I work for this clever internet developer ==> http://www.luminas.co.uk/

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Re: [Alug] XSL Formatting Objects Question - Setting Document Defaults
by MJ Ray 11 Sep '01

11 Sep '01

<pontification> Steve Fosdick <fozzy(a)pelvoux.demon.co.uk> writes: > 2. Including much more useful functionality in the standard > library (such as a GUI toolkit) which means that many more things > are done in a standard way. I actually see this as a *disadvantage*. What I like in a language is a small, compact, memorable, consistent, very standard core -- not the acres of libraries which make up the current standard Java. I'm still plodding through texts... as soon as I think I know roughly what's available, someone seems to invent more ;-) Neill Newman <neill(a)entora.co.uk> writes: > yes, Bill Joy (the main guy who wrote Java, or oak as it was origionally > called) didn't like the way in which OO was bolted on to C to form part > of C++. C++ -- tying legs onto a dog and calling it an octopus. Now where's that quote from? > I believe he also took on board the concept of garbage collection, > memory management, and a clean OO design from smalltalk and other > languages. Is Java really a "clean OO design from smalltalk"? Is there a non-trivial superclass which is an ancestor of everything? int? > I would not entirely agree that the Java API is as extensive as C/C++ or > other languages. There are some things that are very very dificult to > achieve using Java, and what seems like a simple task in one language > /can/ be very dificult in Java if it is not part of the API. An advantage of starting with a ball of mud is that no matter how much mud you add to it, you still have a ball of mud. If you start with a diamond and add mud, you have a muddy diamond. (Paraphrasing from a programming textbook I once read.) Alexis Lee <alexis(a)turton.com> writes: > C++ is a decent language if you know what you're doing. Think of it as a > stallion, compared to Java's compliant mare. Sometimes you need to wrastle, > but it always has the power. Oh, and while it will never refuse a jump, it > might get both your necks broken when you fu. Nice image. Sorry, I just wanted to quote that. > [...] This gives performance near equal to C, and (wild unfounded > guess) probably much better than any loose-typed or > philosophy-designed language like PHP or Scheme. "I think PHP could become the BASIC of the next Years" -- Thies, PHP maintainer. You actually slight Scheme very badly here, you know. Yes, you'd expect me to say that, but even so! Putting it with PHP? I read the report today showing a scheme webserver outperforming a PHP one by 2:1... lies, damn lies and benchmarks perhaps, but PHP is really not in the same ball-park. Also, you can get strictly-typed optimised schemes. Or schemes implemented in Java (Kawa, BRL, Silk). Careful what you say when you don't know ;-) These Java programmers of Scheme are probably trying to counteract the problems, for there are many: Java still doesn't have closures, continuations, first-class procedures... </pontification> -- MJR Thesis watch: 27% This is my personal web site =-> http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ http://www.alug.org.uk/ <-- This is the LUG I go to I work for this clever internet developer ==> http://www.luminas.co.uk/

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Re: [Alug] gunzip/tars
by Ricardo Campos 10 Sep '01

10 Sep '01

Oops! Sorry, a case of RTFM!!!!!! Ricardo, "Surely this monstrous hybrid comes not from a mother's womb but from an Ephialtes, an Incubus, or some other horrendous demon, as though spawned in a putrid and venemous fungus, son of Fauns and Nymphs, more Devil than man." -Athanasius Kircher, Mundus Subtarraneus, Amsterdam, 1665, pp.279-280 _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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gunzip/tars
by Ricardo Campos 10 Sep '01

10 Sep '01

When you get a file such as file.tar.gz , do you need to do gunzip file.tar.gz tar -xvf file.tar Or can u go straight to: tar -xvzf file.tar.gz I have been doing the latter, but *all* of my compiles have gone wrong. What's the difference between the two? Ricardo _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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Debian Difficulties
by Earl Brannigan 10 Sep '01

10 Sep '01

Hi all, Following a few late nights I fianlly have a nice debian 2.2r3 installation. Quite pleased as it goes. However it is not without a number of difficulties so if anyone can offer any input I'd be very grateful. Sorry that these may be quite simple, no doubt I'll find solutions eventually by the usual methods (read alot of stuff, try a few ideas, undo those ideas, try some more.... rejoice at 4:00am that it finally works!!) 1)pppd is happily installed but doesn't work. I'm using wvdial to connect (from my old config file) which seems to work fine. A connection is established then wvdial goes quiet for a few secs (no activity) then it complains that it cannot get a carrier so messages : 'starting pppd and hoping for the best' before giving up. I imagine that for some reason wvdial is not able to hand over to pppd. I also have to be root to get this to work. I have changed the permissions on /dev/modem to allow users rw access but I don't trust this setting.... any ideas on how to enable wvdial/ppp for all users. In the past /dev/modem has always been crw-rw-r-- root root with no problems so there must be something else (elevating privs or something... quite frankly I'd rather not elevate unless the relevant proggie(s) drop privs after initialising modem... 2)I can only run X as root. If i try to run it as a general user I get error "User is not authorised to Run XServer". I have checked the permissions on all of the binaries I know of and they all have lowest order execute bit set (I haven't changed them - that is how they were installed). Is there an X Setting I'm missing? 3) I have libjpeg installed but I cannot display jpeg images. If i attempt to open one in electric eyes - nothing, gimp - nothing, mozilla - the jpeg info (but not the image...). I dunno. 4) Adding menu items to gnome doesn't work. Programs are shown in the menu editor but don't appear in the menus themselves. Most (but not all) gnome/x apps I install from apt-get do not show up in the menus (hence the menu-editor). 5) How do I change my default window-manager (red hat had a useful thing called switchdesk so I never learned where this was defined.. maybe .xsession/ or something. 6) Sound : I have a Creative Soundblaster 128 which I can't seem to get working, again red-hat always made my life easy here with sndconfig. In the absence of that I need to find and load the correct kernel module. Buggered if I know how. Intended to re-use the lines from my old modules.conf - actually its conf.modules but now I find that that is deprecated - and the format has changed and i need to run some utility to add new lines to it (name escapes me at the moment) which means I need to find the module - which I can't.... grrrr. - so : 7) Kernel Compile : thought it would pay to do a kernel compile instead, specifying the modules I need and get around things that way. So, make xconfig was fine, found a useful sound driver among other things, make bzImage dies when compiling boot.c. Error : as86 command not found, the makefile for the relevant directory specifies AS86=as86. I have no program called as86, changing it to 'as' gives another error : as - unknown option -O (which suggests to me that I am missing a binary called as86, does anyone know anything about this or how do i find which package has this binary. I have had no luck finding anything called as86! Is there something debian that I should know ? (Martyn mentioned in a previous mail Any thoughts - any at all - gladly appreciated Cheers Earl

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Bad News again..
by Martyn Drake 10 Sep '01

10 Sep '01

Hi folks, More doom and gloom. The deal that I thought would happen has fallen through, and to make matters worse, I've been made redundant (thanks Internet Assist - just before my wedding!). Therefore, I will need to start arranging transfer of the domains (anglian.lug.org.uk and alug.org.uk) to whoever can host them. Now, the details for the web site and lists are:- 1) The web site occupies less than 27Mb. It runs a CVS server, but Mark Ray will need to confirm anything else that needs to run. 2) The mailing list is powered by Mailman 2.05 (and the whole thing is less than 8.7Mb). Those are the only requirements I'm aware of, but someone will need to run a DNS server for alug.org.uk as I will no longer have such luxuries at the end of the month. Regards, Martyn

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USB floppy disk drives
by Adam Bower 10 Sep '01

10 Sep '01

Hello all, Does anybody on the list own a USB floppy disk drive? If you do and you either live in North Norfolk or are coming to the Alug meet on Sunday then please let me know. I am currently struggling to update the Bios on my Vaio with not much success as it was designed to be updated from a USB floppy, my current plan of action has been making a bootable CD with a floppy image on which almost worked but when the Bios update utility ran it demands you have to save a backup of the working Bios which is a little difficult when you just booted from CD! I may have another fight with it later but if anyone has a USB floppy it will save me from going totally mad, or if you have any other suggestions then let me know. Many thanks Adam -- This message is Copyleft - all rights reversed Adam

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Re: [Alug] XSL Formatting Objects Question - Setting Document Defaults
by MJ Ray 10 Sep '01

10 Sep '01

Steve Fosdick <fozzy(a)pelvoux.demon.co.uk> writes: > I now have FOP installed though I am little disapointed that > the only Java VM it seems to work with is a non-free one, but > it now seems to be working. Is there any JVM which is both current *and* free? -- MJR Thesis watch: 27% This is my personal web site =-> http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ http://www.alug.org.uk/ <-- This is the LUG I go to I work for this clever internet developer ==> http://www.luminas.co.uk/

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Java Support in Windows XP
by Earl Brannigan 10 Sep '01

10 Sep '01

Hi all, received this this morning, thought it might interest a couple of you. Remember a few discussions recently about MS no-longer shipping a JVM. Well here is a statement (legit) from Sun.... like it! Cheers Earl PS Sorry its a bit long, but I didn't want to snip it down > -----Original Message----- > From: JDJ [mailto:editor@sys-con.com] > Sent: 09 September 2001 03:23 > To: Java Developer's Journal > Subject: Your Feedback to Scott McNealy, CEO, Sun Microsystems > > > THE PLATFORM OF CHOICE > by Scott McNealy, CEO, Sun Microsystems > > http://www.sys-con.com/java/articler.cfm?id=1155 > http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/010831/01031380.html > > It's becoming more obvious to me every day that Java technology is the > platform of choice -- in more ways than one. > > In the traditional sense of the phrase, it's the answer to the questions > all developers ask themselves: Which platform should I develop to? Which > has the biggest market, the most influence? Which provides me with a means > to demonstrate my skills and creativity? There's a second meaning as well > -- another question to answer: Which platform provides developers, > customers, and users with more choice? > > In this new meaning, "platform of choice" indicates a platform that runs > on multiple operating systems, addresses a wide spectrum of hardware, and > can spawn multiple implementations so users are free to select the one > that works best (yours, of course). > > By either definition, Java technology is still the platform of choice, and > this works to your benefit -- big time. The Java platform addresses > opportunities ranging from the biggest servers available to the desktop to > millions of new client devices -- smart cards, mobile phones, pagers, > PDAs, TV set-top boxes, and automotive systems. (Clearly the definition of > "client" is due for an update, too.) > > Java technology is really hitting its stride now. In six months, more than > six million phones enabled with Java technology have been sold in Japan, > where the three largest wireless providers -- NTT DoCoMo, J-Phone, and > KDDI -- have deployed interactive wireless services. One analyst estimates > that between now and 2005, more than 700 million JVMs will be deployed on > these new devices. > > In the server market, we're seeing unprecedented choice. There are 17 > different applications servers available today that are compatible with > the Java platform. Some are the underpinning of IDEs, but even then IT > professionals can choose the implementation that best suits their needs. > > And if the ISV they choose falls behind,they can replace one app server > with another at a dramatically lower cost. > > More than 400 major corporations are working together through the Java > Community Process to innovate, enhance,and expand Java technology. > Offerings from Sun, IBM, HP, BEA, and Oracle,to name a few, are all built > around the platform of choice. > > The lonely exception, of course, is Microsoft. Unless you've been totally > out of touch since mid-July, you're aware that Microsoft is not shipping a > JVM with Windows XP. The reason? Microsoft has used every excuse from "the > lawsuit settlement required us to do this" to my personal favorite, "We > don't want Windows to have too much code." The real reason, I suspect, is > that Microsoft is anti-choice. > > But at the end of the day, you'll want to know whether this move will > lessen the market for your products and impact your livelihood. Rest > assured that we will provide XP support. > > It will be the latest Java technology, not something old. We'll distribute > it via PC manufacturers, Web sites, ISVs -- whatever it takes to ensure > that your Java apps run anywhere. > > So keep on writing to the platform of real choice, the one that's here > today: the Java platform. > > Scott McNealy is the chief executive officer of Sun Microsystems. > > > *** > > > Add Your Feedback: > http://www.sys-con.com/java/articler.cfm?id=1155 > > Read Reader Feedback: > http://www.sys-con.com/java/articler.cfm?id=1155

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Neill Newman 10 Sep '01

10 Sep '01

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.openprojects.net in the #alug channel, you can take a look at www.openprojects.net to get more info on the openprojects network. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server uk.openprojects.net" or "/server eu.openprojects.net" 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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FW: Help us fight the EUCD by leafletting about copy-protected CDs
by Martyn Drake 09 Sep '01

09 Sep '01

Just forwarding this announcement that came in for the group. BTW, potential good news about the list and web hosting, but I can't say anything as yet until early next week until everything has been agreed (if agreed!). To those that are currently offering hosting - my humble thanks to all, and hopefully we should know next week where things are heading. Regards, Martyn (aren't weddings a bugger to organise) Drake -----Original Message----- From: Jim Peters [mailto:cd@uk.eurorights.org] Sent: 09 September 2001 17:26 To: Martyn Drake Subject: Help us fight the EUCD by leafletting about copy-protected CDs CAMPAIGN FOR DIGITAL RIGHTS, UK ACTION DAY, SATURDAY 15th Please help us fight the EUCD and avoid more cases like that of Dmitry Sklyarov by distributing leaflets outside major record stores in your local town centre this Saturday. I'm writing to all the UK Linux user groups to invite them to join us in this action. We are planning a nationwide leafletting campaign to raise public awareness about the new copy-protected CDs that the major record labels have started to sneak into the UK, and to use this issue to raise awareness about the EUCD, the DMCA and the case of Dmitry Sklyarov. Check out our leaflet, which we hope will make the man in the street and his family say "Enough is enough!": http://uazu.net/cd/ Here is some background on all of this, in case any of these issues are unfamiliar to you: Dmitry Sklyarov: --------------- I hope you have already heard about the case of Dmitry Sklyarov, the Russian cryptographer who was arrested in the USA after presenting a paper at DEFCON in which he exposed weaknesses in Adobe's eBook encryption. He faces up to 25 years in jail if found guilty. Check out the campaign in support of him: http://www.freesklyarov.org/ http://www.freedmitry.org/ He was arrested under America's new controversial DMCA laws. The Campaign for Digital Rights: ------------------------------- This is a UK group that formed to handle action in support of Dmitry here in the UK - it is linked off the freesklyarov site. Already two protests have taken place in London. Check out the web-site for details of these, and for mailing lists, flyers and other materials: http://uk.eurorights.org/ Soon after its formation, it became clear that the case of Dmitry Sklyarov was just the tip of the iceberg, and that the CDR could usefully campaign on much broader issues. For one thing, coming soon are the European equivalents of the DMCA laws, known as the EUCD, which have yet to be passed into law (they must be passed in each country individually). There is a chance that we may be able to make a difference here before it is too late. The new copy-protected CDs: -------------------------- These are the record manufacturer's latest ploy to put an end to MP3s and digital copying of CDs. They have developed a format which intentionally corrupts the error correction code on a CD, forcing a normal CD player to error-correct constantly, and even to interpolate and fabricate parts of the sound. They have been releasing these into the shops to see if anyone notices the difference, hoping that by claiming that there was no increase in the rate of return of these CDs, that they can justify putting all CDs into this format. They have released one million of these CDs into the UK alone. When ripping tracks from one of these CDs using a computer, naturally the CD drive complains about all these badly corrupted blocks, so it is impossible to rip the CD in the normal way. It might be possible to extract digital audio from CD drives that have SPDIF outputs, but in any case the audio quality of the CD can never be full CD-quality due to all the intentional corruption. Our campaign: ------------ We believe that the public will be outraged if they learn what the manufacturers are trying to do, and so we hope to give the public this information, and encourage them to act on it. That is the purpose of the leaflet. If there is enough public pressure on the record stores, this will be an extremely embarrassing situation for them, and they will be forced to choose between supporting the public (who keep them in business) or supporting the manufacturer. I'm sure you can see how this could be a potent force to help improve the situation. In addition, the media attention this would generate will allow campaigns against the EUCD to have much more credibility, giving us a chance to make a difference before it is too late. How you can help: ---------------- Even a single person handing out 500 leaflets in their local town centre this Saturday can make an enormous difference. If a group of you can get together, you could cover all the major record stores in your locality. If there are even more volunteers, you could make placards and get even more public attention. It's up to you. Apart from organising action in our own localities, we hope to help you by providing materials and a central point for coordination. We have the leaflet mentioned above ready for you to print out and take to a copy-shop, with another more general flyer coming soon to print on the reverse. On the CDR site there are also further EUCD and DMCA-related materials that might be useful for larger protests: http://uazu.net/cd/ http://uk.eurorights.org/ If you're thinking of leafletting in your area, check out the following page to see if anyone else is planning to do so as well. You could get in contact, and pool resources: http://uazu.net/cd/volunteers.html If there isn't someone already listed there for your locality, and you'd be willing to put up your contact details, please E-mail me this information at the address below. I need: the location you intend to cover, your name or the name of your group, plus some contact details (E-mail address and/or phone number): mailto:cd@uk.eurorights.org If you're not available on that day, but you know someone who might be, or some other group I might not have contacted, please forward this message to them. Particularly, user groups, if you have a mailing list, please let everyone know about this. The more people we can get involved, the better. If you want to keep in touch with further developments after this weekend, please join either the announce list or the discussion list at the CDR site: http://uk.eurorights.org/ Well, thankyou for reading all of this. I really hope that we can make a difference this Saturday and start to turn the tide against these extremely unpleasant plans from the media giants. Jim Peters -- Jim Peters (_)/=\~/_(_) Uazú (_) /=\ ~/_ (_) jim@ (_) /=\ ~/_ (_) www. uazu.net (_) ____ /=\ ____ ~/_ ____ (_) uazu.net

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XSL Formatting Objects Question - Setting Document Defaults
by Steve Fosdick 09 Sep '01

09 Sep '01

After the responses to my question about publishing in both print and HTML format I decided to have a go with XML, XSL and FOP. I now have FOP installed though I am little disapointed that the only Java VM it seems to work with is a non-free one, but it now seems to be working. I now have a mostly complete stylesheet for print which just needs some tuning to make it look prettier but it also seems that I am forever having to repeat font attributes in various different bits of the stylesheet. What I would like to do if I can is to define some defaults for the font attributes to apply to the whole document and then the style template for the each of the various XML elements can just override the ones it needs to. Does anyone know how to do this? Steve Fosdick.

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kernel version 2.4.9 problems
by Adam Bower 09 Sep '01

09 Sep '01

Hi all, maybe this is just me but kernel 2.4.9 seems to be almost as broken as a copy of windows ME!! last night I decided to get all my machines up to 2.4.9 (they were on a mix of 2.4.*) The first machine I have to downgrade was my NFS server, I can't remember the exact details but I was first having trouble getting the NFS to compile as a module but when I built it into the kernel it compiled. I then restart my box and the NFS clients start complaining that they can't get request slots etc. I put this down to some kind of 2.4.9 problems so restored the old 2.4.7 image and the NFS starts working again. The next machine that got 2.4.9 was my Vaio, this time 2.4.9 compiles nicely and there were no problems until I try and use my 3Com network card, the driver loads dmesg says everything is all nice and lovely, even the flashy light on the side of the card lights up! but does it work, the short answer is no. The final machine to get 2.4.9 (well I was compiling on all 3 at once) is my main workstation, and everything appeared to be ok until just now when I noticed lots of apps are segfaulting! Anyway rant over, I will check out the kernel mailing lists etc. to see if it is a problem at my end or Linus has decided to break the vm again. Has anyone else had any similar problems? I am looking at the FreeBSD cds in a very different light just now though, maybe I will be doing an install fest to BSD very soon ;-) Adam -- This message is Copyleft - all rights reversed Adam

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Re: [Alug] kernel version 2.4.9 problems
by MJ Ray 09 Sep '01

09 Sep '01

xsprite(a)bigfoot.com writes: > hmm? > http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/synching.html > http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/makeworld.html "make world" is not a clean entire upgrade, nor does it claim to be. Last I checked, there was no nice way to install security patches to installed software either. The engineering of BSD lags some way behind Debian, sadly. -- MJR Thesis watch: 27% This is my personal web site =-> http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ http://www.alug.org.uk/ <-- This is the LUG I go to I work for this clever internet developer ==> http://www.luminas.co.uk/

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Re: [Alug] kernel version 2.4.9 problems
by MJ Ray 08 Sep '01

08 Sep '01

Adam Bower <abower(a)thebowery.co.uk> writes: > Anyway rant over, I will check out the kernel mailing lists etc. to see if > it is a problem at my end or Linus has decided to break the vm again. Has > anyone else had any similar problems? I doubt it's a conscious decision, but I still can't quite bring myself to trust 2.4 kernels with machines I need until they get development on 2.5 underway. OK, cock-ups do happen in a stable series (2.2.17/18 OOM nuttiness, anyone?), but 2.4.x still hasn't been allowed to stabilise. > I am looking at the FreeBSD cds in a very different light just now though, > maybe I will be doing an install fest to BSD very soon ;-) Oh, any infatuation with FreeBSD will soon wear off when you try to upgrade between versions. No "apt-get dist-upgrade" there. Not even a clean upgrade option. -- MJR Thesis watch: 27% This is my personal web site =-> http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ http://www.alug.org.uk/ <-- This is the LUG I go to I work for this clever internet developer ==> http://www.luminas.co.uk/

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