September 2003 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Waikato University Linux
by Edward Murrell 09 Sep '03

09 Sep '03

I was discussing the use of Linux at uni today. One of the main points I was asked to defend was essentially; "Why does Linux sucks so much?" This persons experience with Linux had pretty much centred round the R block, and G basement computers at uni - and I can't say I disagree with her. As far as I can make out, those computers are running some ancient version of Slackware (I think?) with GNOME 1.4, and KDE2. Most of the other WMs seem to be broken. Fonts are abysmal, and the default browser is Netscape 4. The CDRom/fstab is only correctly setup on some of the machines. Frankly, it's embarrassing. While I can understand that the uni staff don't exactly have time to be reinstalling Linux every six months, and that stability is very important, this is the same config that I was using when I attempted second year for the first time back in 2001. >From a brief poke around the /proc/ fs, it's clear the machines are easily capable of running something far more up to date. I would really like to see something along the lines of GNOME 2.X, KDE3, a fairly recent version of say Mozilla, Galeon, or Konqueror, and for the love of god, decent fonts. Given the varsity centric nature of the WLUG, I'm hoping someone can tell me why the Linux machines are in such as sad state. Do the admins not care? Or have they simply forgotten what's running there. Regards Edward

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RE: [wlug] Waikato University Linux
by Jodi Thomson 08 Sep '03

08 Sep '03

If I recall correctly SCMS is investigating a move from Slackware to a different distro due to its fading support. However that's not something to take lightly, and the number of different services that SCMS support staff have to deal with means a change won't be for a while yet. Plus there's the old saying to bear in mind: if it works and ain't broke - leave it alone Jodi ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------- Jodi W. Anderson, Mr (BA, A+, MCP) - Computer Systems Consultant Waikato University Library - Computing Operations Group Ph: +64 7 838 4323 email: jodi(a)waikato.ac.nz "Right now I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before." > -----Original Message----- > From: Kim Shepherd [mailto:kims(a)waikato.ac.nz] > Sent: Tuesday, 9 September 2003 10:16 a.m. > To: wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > Subject: Re: [wlug] Waikato University Linux > > > On Mon, Sep 08, 2003 at 08:31:01PM +1200, Edward Murrell wrote: > > I was discussing the use of Linux at uni today. One of the > main points > > I was asked to defend was essentially; "Why does Linux > sucks so much?" > > > > This persons experience with Linux had pretty much centred > round the R > > block, and G basement computers at uni - and I can't say I disagree > > with her. As far as I can make out, those computers are > running some > > ancient version of Slackware (I think?) with GNOME 1.4, and > KDE2. Most > > of the other WMs seem to be broken. Fonts are abysmal, and > the default > > browser is Netscape 4. The CDRom/fstab is only correctly > setup on some > > of the machines. > > > > Frankly, it's embarrassing. While I can understand that the > uni staff > > don't exactly have time to be reinstalling Linux every six > months, and > > that stability is very important, this is the same config > that I was > > using when I attempted second year for the first time back in 2001. > > > > >From a brief poke around the /proc/ fs, it's clear the machines are > > easily capable of running something far more up to date. I would > > really like to see something along the lines of GNOME 2.X, KDE3, a > > fairly recent version of say Mozilla, Galeon, or Konqueror, and for > > the love of god, decent fonts. > > > > Given the varsity centric nature of the WLUG, I'm hoping > someone can > > tell me why the Linux machines are in such as sad state. Do > the admins > > not care? Or have they simply forgotten what's running there. > > > > Regards > > Edward > > Do the people raising these issues have student home > directories? Do they browse the web using their student > account? Do they print to charged print queues? Do they ever > use www.waikato.ac.nz? Or igate? Do they use University mailing lists? > > There are a myriad of other services running solely on Linux, > of course.. these are just the ones that I can think of right now. > > Then again, you're probably talking about SCMS lab PCs, which > I've never seen, and SCMS don't use a bunch of our services anyway. > > -k. > _______________________________________________ > wlug mailing list > wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlu> g > >

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RE: [wlug] Waikato University Linux
by Matthew Browne (DSL HN) 08 Sep '03

08 Sep '03

> From: Edward Murrell [mailto:edward(a)murrell.co.nz] > > I was discussing the use of Linux at uni today. One of the > main points I > was asked to defend was essentially; "Why does Linux sucks so much?" > > This persons experience with Linux had pretty much centred round the > R block, and G basement computers at uni - and I can't say I disagree > with her. As far as I can make out, those computers are running some > ancient version of Slackware (I think?) with GNOME 1.4, and KDE2. Most > of the other WMs seem to be broken. > Fonts are abysmal, and the default browser is Netscape 4. The > CDRom/fstab is only correctly setup on some of the machines. I've talked about this problem with others a number of times. It's been ages since I was at uni now but when I was there all of the machines were well behind in their operating systems. Not just Linux machines but the Macs and Windows boxes too (well the few windows boxes I saw anyway). Whenever someone put down another OS based purely on using uni computers I just used to say to them "If you had an <insert their favourite OS here> machine set up the way they are at uni would you like to use that?". Nobody ever said yes. Matt Browne

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.geek.nz - last day to vote
by nzserver 08 Sep '03

08 Sep '03

good thing it got brought in :) http://www.domainname.geek.nz > I haven't heard anything yet, no doubt Dean Pemberton will tell us in > the first instance when he can. > -----Original Message----- > From: Gavin Denby [mailto:redhat at ihug.co.nz] > Sent: Wednesday, 5 March 2003 10:09 > To: wlug > Subject: Re: [wlug] FW: [nznog] .geek.nz - last day to vote > > > .. Any results yet ???????????????? > > > On Tue, 2003-03-04 at 12:00, Lindsay Druett wrote: > > Hi There, > > > > We need your support here... > > If you want a .geek.nz domain, vote yes. > > > > Word has it that heaps of people have voted "no", we need your > > support. >

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simple CAD program
by Glenn Ramsey 08 Sep '03

08 Sep '03

Hi, I need to annotate some pictures with dimension lines showing angles. Does anyone know if there is a Linux 2D CAD program that will let me load a jpg image and draw dimension lines on it? I know there are lots of programs of this type around but as yet I haven't come across one that lets me do this. g -- Glenn Ramsey <glenn(a)componic.co.nz> 07 8627077 http://www.componic.co.nz

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RE: [wlug] Domain squatting (was re: .geek.nz - last day to vote)
by Lindsay Druett 08 Sep '03

08 Sep '03

Ah come on, it's like having having personalised plates on your car... Do I have personalised plates on my car ? Of course not, but if I waited a day, I could have got BGPxxx (instead of BGNxxx) then I would have had personalised number plates at no extra cost... Seriously, domain names now have a huge slice of action in the advertising industry, more and more business are branding themselves with their domain name. At the end of the day, you just have to honestly ask yourself, "Why did we all want .geek.nz ?..." > -----Original Message----- > From: crb6-forwarding > Sent: Monday, 8 September 2003 14:26 > To: 'wlug' > Subject: [wlug] Domain squatting (was re: .geek.nz - last day to vote) > > > > good thing it got brought in :) > > > > http://www.domainname.geek.nz > > I don't know about you, but I really hate it when domain > names are treated like goods to be bought to speculate on. > Especially for those 'metasearch sites' that exist on domain > names that people are likely to visit. > http://www.bootdisks.com/ is today's example of this. You really meant to visit 'bootdisk.com'. I'd really hope that the people who run domainname.geek.nz are not encouraging this kind of practise, and that all the .geek.nz domains that were bought are going to go to good use, not be sold off at a profit to someone who really wanted it but wasn't quick enough. Craig _______________________________________________ wlug mailing list wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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Mailman/Pipermail Email Address Obsfucation
by Matt Brown 07 Sep '03

07 Sep '03

Hi, Does anybody her have experience in obsfucating email addresses in list archives to prevent spam harvesting using pipermail/mailman. The standard mailman privacy options only seem to apply to mailman configuration / list information pages not the archives which are generated by pipermail, and pipermail seems to be extinct. I would like all email addresses in the archives to appear as From: Matt Brown <matt(a)m...> rather than From: Matt Brown <matt(a)myrealdomain.com> Is anybody able to offer a solution to this problem? Regards -- Matt Brown matt(a)mattb.net.nz

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