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10369 discussions

Re: [Alug] Distro's, Hardware and Gaming
by MJ Ray 11 Jan '01

11 Jan '01

David Freeman <david_freeman(a)rocketmail.com> writes: > What are there in the way of Linux games available? Well, I'm quite into simpler games, so these probably won't be to everyone's taste, but I enjoy XBlast and many of the libSDL games. Not much more advanced than your original consoles, but I find them fun. I don't think I've actually any games installed right now. I must put that right. -- MJR

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Introduction and question
by Andy Cartwright 11 Jan '01

11 Jan '01

Hello, A brief introduction followed by a question. I am new to this list but have been using Linux on and off over the last 3 years. My current system is PIII 667Mhz, 128M RAM Dual booting with Win 98SE and SuSe 7.0(Professional, an amazing boxed set). Now my question concerns the 64M recognition limit, I have added the line mem=128M to the append line in the LILO configuration section of YAST1. When I interrogate with top or the K memory utility it tells be that I have 64M RAM. Have I done something wrong or is it one of those things where the software is wrong ? Many thanks in advance Andy Cartwright P.S. May be a bit out of date now but I have the boxed set SuSe 6.0 with manual boot disks etc. I have the new V7.0 Pro so have no need for 6.0, it is free to any good home if anyone can make any use of it.

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Different Installs (2 Plain Text)
by Kerin Westgate 10 Jan '01

10 Jan '01

Hi I was reading my mail this morning when I noticed someone suggest getting views of what other people thought of the different Linux installs that are about. I,ve now installed Mandrake 7.1 RH, on a Advent P111 450, 128mb memory, Aopen BX mother board, this is sheared with the dreaded Windows 98, as I have just added a seconded 10gb H/Drive I have set things up as follows, Drive A (6gb)____________Partitions hda1 (c drive) Windows 98__3gb hda6 /usr/local___________ 1.3gb hda7 /usr/data____________1.4gb hda8 /usr/spear___________2.0k Drive B (10gb) hdb1 /root________________1.6gb hdb2 (d drive) Windows 98___4.9gb hdb7 /usr_________________2.7gb You may ask why I only made root 1.6gb for some reason this was the maximum I could go. I found the DiscDrake that came with Mandrake very good and easy to use, which if you have backed up anything you don't want to loose, is then less nerve-racking if things do go wrong. As it happens nothing did. After rebooting with the Mandrake CD still in, you are faced with a very nice Installation screen that guides you through process of installing Linux, from choosing your language right through installing lilo and setting up the x server, the whole process didn't take to long either. you also have the options to upgrade from a previous Mandrake (quicker to reinstall) or selecting a Automated installation if you have never played with Linux or partitions before. As a newbie I would recommend Mandrake to anyone, its very quick and more important the ease of install was very good. As a newbie its hard for me to get more experienced users to understand, that when they talk about command lines, we don't always know what you are talking about, so many Linux users started with bbc basic or similar, we didn't we've started with windows and have grown up with nice user interfaces, so please be patient with us. Cheers And a happy and prosperous new year Kerin.

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Re: [Alug] saying hello
by Syd Hancock 10 Jan '01

10 Jan '01

Thank you all for the friendly welcome. I feel better about moving to east anglia already (even if I'm not the member who is furthest away :) I too have found linuxprinting.org to be very useful - I have just bought an HP 840c. Not yet installed under linux though. I will be glad to let you know how I get on with the multiple installs although Jenny's plan of getting to know one distro well is probably more sensible! Syd

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Re: [Alug] UK Linux Day
by MJ Ray 09 Jan '01

09 Jan '01

Steven Fosdick <fozzy(a)pelvoux.demon.co.uk> writes: > I know nothing of LinuxCare. I know little of them, other than they are a linux support company who employ some high-profile people and have been hurt by the dotcom downturn. All from the Linux press, really. > Not having been to an installfest before, what do we disclaim? > Responsibility for any data loss or damage to hardware we install on? Bingo. Especially as we're intentionally setting out to lose data in many cases ;-) > My diary is free at the moment, though it may not stay that way. Coo, care to organise a meeting or event? ;-) > UEA would be fine with me, though I could do with intructions on where > to go once having got to the gate - from what I remenber UEA is a > large site. Don't worry, I doubt you'll be able to miss it. It will probably be in one of the entertainment venues anyway, but there will be posters etc on the day (done a bit more officially than usual). -- MJR

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UK Linux Day
by MJ Ray 09 Jan '01

09 Jan '01

A UK Linux Day has been suggested for Sunday 29 April. The main backer so far is LinuxCare, who will act as co-ordinator and take out advertising to support the event, and other tentative support includes IBM and RedHat (although I'm trying to get some latitude on that, as I don't recall there being many ALUG RH experts/fans). The main event would be an installfest, with appropriate disclaimers and support materials. Our contribution would be our time and the payoff should be increased membership numbers. Hopefully by that point, we should have awoken from hibernation anyway and things can get going for 2001. Are we up for this? Any comments to feed back to lug.org.uk and LinuxCare? Shall I start trying to get one of the main venues at UEA (Hive or LCR)? Would we want to be based at UEA again, somewhere else, or at multiple centres? -- MJR

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Re: [Alug] saying hello
by Jenny_Hopkins＠toby-churchill.com 09 Jan '01

09 Jan '01

Yes, Welcome Syd. (I'm new myself anyway.) What distro's have you tried so far? I'm still coming to grips with red hat on an old cronky box at home, networked to a windows machine, and at a laptop at work which I'm trying to get up and running on a network. (Yes, still not there with the pcmcia, but getting closer!). I'm getting curious as to what some of the others are like, though, especially as I have a couple of freebie discs at home, - slackware, corel, debian - all waiting to be tried sometime. I thought it would be better to get completely familiar with one first before looking at the next. Kerin - are you related to Brian on this list? Just nosey. Jenny.

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Re: [Alug] UK Linux Day
by MJ Ray 09 Jan '01

09 Jan '01

"John Woodard" <mail(a)johnwoodard.co.uk> writes: > Do you think we should/could organise a meet before this, Syleham maybe? Definitely. Probably two, if someone else would step forward to arrange it. I have basic artwork and other support materials available to me now. -- MJR

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Printers, was Re: [Alug] saying hello
by MJ Ray 09 Jan '01

09 Jan '01

"Kerin Westgate" <kerin.westgate(a)virgin.net> writes: > found the install very good including the partitioning, one problem I do > have and that is I'm unable to get my printer (Epson 480) to work as its not > yet supported, do to the chip in the cartridge. I did spend Sunday night I've just bought a new printer, the Canon BJC-1000, and found http://www.linuxprinting.org/ a useful assistance, including their scripts for getting it up and running. Sadly, the Epson Stylus 480 is classified on that site as "paperweight", sharing no features with the other Stylus printers before it, and people's comments have been quite biting. A nice tweak which I shall document Real Soon Now is setting up a printer called "fax" which allows me to send faxes from any application. -- MJR

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Re: [Alug] saying hello
by MJ Ray 09 Jan '01

09 Jan '01

Syd Hancock <sydhancock(a)compuserve.com> writes: > My current project as far as getting to grips with linux goes is to > install several distros and try them out for a while. So far I have > partitioned the drive and hopefully discovered what to do next. Here > goes, fingers crossed. Please let us know how you get on. Once the website gets kicked into shape (Martyn, are you out there?) then a (unbiased?) newbie's experiences with some distributions would be ideal material to link into it. I know traditionally people here advocate either Debian or SuSE (is that right?), but broadening horizons would be good. -- MJR

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saying hello
by Syd Hancock 09 Jan '01

09 Jan '01

Hi All, I discovered this list and signed up this morning. I am a total newbie and only installed my first distribution a few weeks ago (Storm Linux, Debian based) although I have been lurking on some usenet groups and reading 'Running Linux' beforehand. At present we do not live in East Anglia so you may wonder why I have joined - well, there is a strong possibility that we will move to the Norwich area soon for family reasons - in-laws and grandparents living nearby. My current project as far as getting to grips with linux goes is to install several distros and try them out for a while. So far I have partitioned the drive and hopefully discovered what to do next. Here goes, fingers crossed. I've kept this very brief but am very happy to talk more about the details (system, distros etc) if anyone is the least bit interested! Best wishes to all Syd Hancock Brittany, France.

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OT: Landcrab in Monte Rally (Definitely OT!)
by Laurie Brown 06 Jan '01

06 Jan '01

Not exactly LUG-related, I know, but a lot of you know me, and a few will remember me discussing this car before... Just FYI for any readers of this group in the Ipswich area. Cheers, Laurie. ---- cut here ---- Support Coping with Breast Cancer (Charity Number: 1022588) On Sunday 14 January 2001, A 1971 Wolseley 'landcrab' 18/85 MKIIS will leave Brooklands bound for Cannes as part of the 2001 Winter Challenge, the 12th annual re-enactment of the legendary Monte Carlo Rally using cars which were eligible for the 1968 Monte or earlier. Driven by Laurie Brown, navigated by George Potter, with Geoff Jardine as third man, it will arrive in Cannes on Friday 19 January after many miles of gruelling driving, navigation, driving tests and timed regularities on mainly unclassified French roads, and across the Alps in winter. The car has been totally re-built by George Potter: there isn't a part, panel, screw, nut or bolt that hasn't been looked at, repaired, restored or replaced. Rally-prepared, the car will be on display at the Woolpack Inn, Tuddenham Road, Ipswich on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 January. You can support the charity either by making a donation or entering our "Guess the Total Mileage" competition. The closest guess to the total mileage to and from the Woolpack will win a bottle of vintage champagne (other prize donations welcome!). Entries accepted in the Woolpack until 11pm Friday 19 January ---- cut here ---- -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Laurie Brown laurie(a)brownowl.com PGP key at http://pgpkeys.mit.edu:11371 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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pcmcia question
by Jenny_Hopkins＠toby-churchill.com 04 Jan '01

04 Jan '01

Greetings, all. Can anyone give me a pointer here? I have spent weeks trying to work out how to get my laptop connected to a home network. I have RH6.2 running on a Toshiba satellite, and have bought a buffalo 10/100 pcmcia, which uses pcnet_cs driver. What I have done so far: Edited the /etc/pcmcia/config file to include the card type, as per instructions that came with card. Edited /etc/conf.modules to include alias eth0 pcnet_cs options pcnet_cs io=0x300, irq=5 I then changed the io=0x300 to io=0x254 after looking up pcmcia entry in /proc/devices. /etc/pcmcia/config.opts shows to exclude 4,7 and 12, and to include port 0x100-0x4ff, port0x1000-0x17ff When I boot up the card gives a high beep and a low beep. I get the message that it can't find the net address. If i do an ifconfig eth0 i get an error fetching information message. I can ping using loopback but any other address on my local network gives network unobtainable. Networking is turned on, can't bring eth0 up, i think addresses are in ok. I'm booting with the card inserted. Can anyone see anything i have done that is glaringly obviously wrong? Cheers, Jenny.

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Singapore Linux Conference 2001 (fwd)
by MJ Ray 01 Jan '01

01 Jan '01

Anyone wanting to travel? ;-) Eeek re paper date, though. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 03:57:09 -0600 From: Sanjeev Gupta <ghane(a)dotxtra.com> Subject: Singapore Linux Conference 2001 Dear Sir, I would appreciate your circulating the message below on your mailing list. The SLC, first held in 1999, is organised by the Linux Users' Group (Singapore), in collaboration with IDG, which runs LinuxWorld Expo. Last year, some of our speakers included Mr Robert Young, Red Hat; Mr Robert Chassell, Free Software Foundation; Mr Theodore T'so, IETF; Chip Salzenberg, OSI; as well as senior staff from IBM, SGI, and Intel. We also conducted Tutorials on Samba and Perl Extensions, among others. We typically aim for two tracks, Business and Technical, with some Speakers having slots that cut accross both. This year, I also hope to organise a Debian BoF meet. FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS Singapore Linux Conference / LinuxWorld 2001 March 21-24 2001, Singapore This annual conference and expo, started in 1999, aims to draw world-renowned experts in the exciting field of Linux and showcase the state-of-the-art in Linux and Computing in the IT hub of South-East Asia, Singapore. In this third edition, we plan a conference which will focus on the growth of Linux as a broadly available and used platform. CONFERENCE Papers are invited for presentation during the Conference, which will be held on Thursday, 22nd, and Friday, 23rd March. Following last year's success, there will be two tracks, "Business" and "Technical". The topics below are meant to indicate the possible variety of areas, they should not be regarded as exhaustive. * Productivity Tools and Suites * Multimedia enhancements * Internationalization and Localization * Beowulf / High Performance Computing * Distributed Computing * Life Sciences * Embedded Linux * Linux PDAs * IPv6, and "personal" IP addresses * B2B Ecommerce * Security: DoS attacks using innocent third parties * Security in General * Network Trust * Open Standards: What value to the user? * Wireless Technology * Mobile Computing * IP telephony (Truly everyone at everywhere!) * Linux in Education * The Linux Community * Diversity in the Linux Demography * LUGs' Experiences * Software Licencing * The Open Source Movement Prospective authors are requested to submit full papers for review. Electronic submissions are strongly encouraged through email. Hard-copy submissions are also permitted, and three copies of the manuscript should be sent to the address below. You may like to take a note of the following dates - Submission of full paper - 5th January, 2001 Papers will be rigorously reviewed by the Technical Program Committee, and reviewers' comments will be relayed to the authors on request in the interest of transparency. TUTORIALS Tutorial Sessions will be held on Wednesday, 21st March. Tutorials have a strong technical bias, and are intended for a more mature audience, in terms of Computing and Programming exposure. Prospective tutorial speakers are invited to submit proposals to the Conference Secretariat. Each proposal should include: * a summary * a course outline and * a brief biography of the speaker. Proposals complete with the required documents should be sent to the address below. CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS Sanjeev Gupta 40 Kaki Bukit Place Singapore 416218 email: ghane(a)dotxtra.com Tel: +65 9855 1208 Fax: +65 7494434 All correspondence will be acknowledged. -- MJR

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Re: [Alug] Introduction
by MJ Ray 01 Jan '01

01 Jan '01

"Tony Cook" <idiamin(a)idiamin.plus.com> writes: [...] > should be very greatful as I believe I could then overlay the 2.2.16 modules > with the 2.2.14 set and thus get Win4Lin running correctly and > interconnecting with my system components, noteably my printer and > soundcard. This may well work for *some* modules. Another answer has already pointed you to the SuSE downloads... -- MJR

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Introduction
by Tony Cook 27 Dec '00

27 Dec '00

I apologies for flooding your e-mail but I would like to introduce myself as a new member. My real name is Tony Cook, I adopted the internet handle of idiamin because the late entirely unlamented gentleman was the only person I ever heard of who was without doubt more self centered, egotistical and a bigger idiot to boot, than I. My computer set up is a Gigabyte AT board carrying an AMD K6/2 500 CPU with a SoundBlaster 128 and a Voodoo 3 graphics card and I have 128M/B of ram plugged in at the moment while my H/D is a 20GB unit which seemed enormous when I bought it but which is now beginning to be a little confining. I currently dual boot Win98 and Linux. Win98, with which I am reasonably familiar because it gives me access to a cheap parallel port scanner, if anyone knows or hears of a scsi emulation which will allow Sane to co-exist with it please let me know together with games, mostly old, which are either not available or comparatively cost a lotty under Linux. For the future however I plan to migrate my more serious interests, D.T.P. and graphics manipulation to Linux with the impact of adapting to new software being lessened by loading Win4Lin from Trelos. As far as Linux is concerned I am a complete newbie and to be frank I find getting used to it to be a bit challenging. My home computing background originated with CPM and the Spectrum, progressed to the Amiga and dos in emulation and then to Win95 native on a PC. At the moment I am still fumbling my way around the Linux CLI structure and trying to forget I ever knew dos. I have tried several Linux distro`s, Mandrake 7.1, Red Hat 7.0 and Suse 7.0 before finally determining on Suse 7 Pro as my system of choice largely due to the excellent documentation available and the, (Comparatively easy and reliable installation). I nearly threw a rock through my monitor when grappling with Red Hat, and Mandrake though initially very good revealed bugs in operation with which at my current level of experience I could not resolve. The only specific problem I currently have centres around Win4Lin for which there is currently no specific Kernal is yet available for Suse 7.0 although 6.4 is supported. I gather from Trelos that support for 7.0 is in the pipeline however. Incidentally support is currently available for both the other distro`s I have. According to the manual, which I have read, there is very little change between 6.4 and 7.0 apart that is from the compiled modules which are of course not interchangeable. If anyone were in a position to supply me with an evaluation copy of the basic Suse 6.4 system I should be very greatful as I believe I could then overlay the 2.2.16 modules with the 2.2.14 set and thus get Win4Lin running correctly and interconnecting with my system components, noteably my printer and soundcard. Best regards, compliments of the season and apologies for rattling on,

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Re: [Alug] Another New Member
by MJ Ray 18 Dec '00

18 Dec '00

kerin <kerin.westgate(a)virgin.net> writes: > ManDrake 7.1 but for the life of me, I can not get my dam printer to > print anything, the printer is a Epson 480, I don't get any error > messages, and if I do lpc, status, I get, queuing is enabled, printing > is enabled, no entries, no daemon present, and that's after sending a > test page, It's as though there is a code missing to switch the > printer on, as it's a auto on/off. It seems that the 480 is a bit of a swine and isn't that similar to most of the other Epson printers, which combined with Epson's refusal to provide good docs means it isn't supported just now. To quote: Unfortunately, this printer has some odd quirks that make it more difficult to support than other Epson Stylus printers. Epson also has not been willing to release the command needed to allow changing the printer cartridge; therefore we had to drop support for this printer in the stp driver. on http://www.linuxprinting.org/pipermail/epson-list/2000q4/000045.html Might be worth reading around that list a little. > If any one could help it would show the spirit of the Linux world Hrm, you been bitterness and cynicism about certain manufacturers who will release neither drivers nor the details we need to create our own? ;-) > Kerin. > > Paul Shorter wrote: > > Hi Everyone, Please don't include other unrelated messages. If you're replying, please trim the included message and write replies beneath the quoted parts. That's fairly quick to do and makes it a lot nicer for all. Thanks :-) -- MJR

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New Member
by Kerin 18 Dec '00

18 Dec '00

Hi I just received a e-mail from yourself, I like Linux very much and would like to get involved a lot more, it's a lot more fun than Windows As a newbie I don't really know what i'm doing, maybe you could help though, I've sent up ppp, networking, between my Advent 450 Piii pc and an old Tiny 386 sx all works fine its been good fun, I'm running ManDrake 7.1 but for the life of me, I can not get my dam printer to print anything, the printer is a Epson 480, I don't get any error messages, and if I do lpc, status, I get, queuing is enabled, printing is enabled, no entries, no daemon present, and that's after sending a test page, It's as though there is a code missing to switch the printer on, as it's a auto on/off. If any one could help it would show the spirit of the Linux world Cheers Kerin.

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Another New Member
by Paul Shorter 18 Dec '00

18 Dec '00

Hi Everyone, My name's Paul and I'm a Linux fan. Well, that's the confession out of the way. I work for an engineering firm and I look after several Linux servers, including our email server which runs Sendmail. We use RH 6.2 here, along with Samba to support the Windoze clients. We used to use NetWare 4.11 but it crashed more times than a zx81 with a wobbly ram pack, so I ditched it. My main duty is email admin, so if anyone out there wants to swap horror stories, especially regarding Outlook as an email client, i'm game. Cheers, Paul.

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Where are you Ipswich people??
by cepi x 16 Dec '00

16 Dec '00

Somehow, all Linux-Magazine and Linux-Formats get sold in Ipswich within days and here hasn't seen yet an Ipswich Linux user...where are u guys...wake up...stop me on the street :--)...just a tought CEPi UCS Ipswich Software Engineering __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. http://shopping.yahoo.com/

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Re: Where are you Ipswich people??
by Deana 16 Dec '00

16 Dec '00

Hello Jenny. I'm quite new (well, six months or so) to Linux, and getting ready to evict Mr Gate$ machinations from my primary hd. You can get lots of help from the PCPlus forums (nntp.futurenet.com) in the linux.beginner newsgroup, and have a laugh on pcplus.test Good luck. -- Regards, Deana deana(a)linuxfan.com

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Re: [Alug] Where are you Ipswich people??
by David Freeman 15 Dec '00

15 Dec '00

Bear in mind the large campus place on the east side of ipswich has a high consentration of techies. In my office alone about 8 people are hardened linux users. Extrapolate that over the 5000 people on the site it must be a few hundred people. Thats probably where there all going. D --- cepi x <cepi77(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Somehow, all Linux-Magazine and Linux-Formats get sold > in Ipswich within days and here hasn't seen yet an > Ipswich Linux user...where are u guys...wake up...stop > me on the street :--)...just a tought > > CEPi > > UCS Ipswich > Software Engineering > > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. > http://shopping.yahoo.com/ > > > _______________________________________________ > alug, the Anglian Linux User Group list > Email: alug(a)stu.uea.ac.uk > http://rabbit.stu.uea.ac.uk/cgi-bin/listinfo/alug > See the website for instructions on digest or unsub! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. http://shopping.yahoo.com/

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Re: [Alug] Where are you Ipswich people??
by MJ Ray 15 Dec '00

15 Dec '00

Jenny_Hopkins(a)toby-churchill.com writes: > I was wondering what level you guys are all on....I'm a newcomer, and hope > that I'm not going to waste anyone's time posting idiotic questions. Oh, there's a whole range of us, I think. There aren't enough newbies for my liking, though, so I'd encourage anyone to tell any linux-trying friends to invite them to join the mailing list. > I'll probably lurk for a bit and try and assess the level you are all on, - > are there any others out there who are beginners? I'm sure there are. I've been using Linux for work and at home for a while now, but I still get shown up by these people who actually know what's going on in the internals ;-) -- MJR

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Re: [Alug] Where are you Ipswich people??
by Jenny_Hopkins＠toby-churchill.com 15 Dec '00

15 Dec '00

>where are u guys...wake up...stop > me on the street Hello All. I've just joined the list, I'm from Burwell (near Newmarket), I work in Cambridge. I know very few other linux users, none in the area. Burwell newsagent doesn't even stock linux magazines. Tsk. I was wondering what level you guys are all on....I'm a newcomer, and hope that I'm not going to waste anyone's time posting idiotic questions. I'll probably lurk for a bit and try and assess the level you are all on, - are there any others out there who are beginners? Jenny.

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De-Lurking - An Introduction
by Steven Fosdick 15 Dec '00

15 Dec '00

Hi all, I discovered the Anglian Linux users group shortly before the last meeting back in August but unfortunately other commitments prevented me from coming along. I've been lurking on the list since then and have been meaning to get round to writing a short introduction ever since - finally I have. I first became interested in computers when I saw a Sinclair ZX80 which the maths teacher at secondary school used to demonstrate some simple number theory. Shortly after that I received a ZX81 as a present and on that I learnt Sinclair BASIC and then Z80 machine code (without the benefit of an assembler). From there I moved on to a BBC Micro and learned its variety of BASIC, 6502 assembler, BCPL and Pascal. I now work for BT at Adastral Park, their advanced technology centre at Martlesham and it is there that I was first introduced to Unix when I was given a tape of HP-UX 6.2 and asked to "install it on one of our machines and see what it could do." At the time the PC was becoming popular and it was probably just before Windows 3 was released. I was immediately impressed with Unix (HP-UX) - it seemed to be a proper operating system with real virtual memory, powerful utilities, and a proper scripting language and, if you wanted a GUI, there was the X window system to go on top. I have continued to work with HP-UX and more latterly with Solaris too both as a SysAdmin and as a Developer using C, a little C++, Perl, Unix shell script and PL/SQL (Oracle), HTML and Javascript. I've also done a little development on the PC running Windows (and DOS even) using Visual Basic, Visual C++, C and Assembler. During the same time I witnessed the Internet take off in a big way, remembering when we persuaded one of the gurus on site to set us up with e-mail using uucp over a 19200 serial link back to their server which had 64k capacity to the rest of the net, getting a news feed and finding that just about everything got discussed there without censorship, the emergence of the WWW with early versions of mosaic, and up to the present where everyone can't wait to set up a web site and people at home have almost as much bandwidth each as we started with for 2500 people. I was first introduced to Linux by a contractor at Martlesham who had it running on his Laptop. I had already met some of the GNU tools and if the Linux kernel was to the same quality I knew that Linux as a system would be good. I was very impressed with Linux but sadly, although Linux was small and efficient, the hardware of the day was no match for the X window system and I went back to using the commercial unices on bigger hardware. Since then PC hardware has improved dramatically and more recently I found that Linux had become the focus of most Free software development for Unix like systems and that increasing numbers of people were running it at home. We had just received a talk at work from Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation (and author of emacs, and gcc IIRC) and he recommended the Debian distribution so I tried installing it. For someone who already knows about disk partitions etc. and has installed Unix before it presented no difficulty and I now have it running on my PC here at home where I've used it for capturing and editing video and audio as well as e-mail, surfing the net, writing minutes etc. Whilst Windows in it's various flavours still has much more software available than Linux, and that may never change, it nevertheless seems an exciting time for Linux as more generally useful software becomes available (rather than just developer tools) and makes it more useful to your average joe. So back to the user group, I hope that I will be able to help some of you out and at the same time receive help and broaden my knowledge in areas of Linux I have not yet explored. Unfortunately the IRC meets are at a time that I usually can't make but if I get the chance I'll drop in and if not I hope to see some of you at the next physical meeting. Steve Fosdick.

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