November 2004 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

WLUG Meeting is on monday
by Meeting Reminder bot 18 Nov '04

18 Nov '04

The WLUG meeting is on monday ---------------------------------------------------------------------- !!Red Hat Enterprise Linux Monday 22 November - Tung U from Red Hat Asia Pacific will present a summary of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. He presented at the Red Hat World Tour and was extremely inspirational. Big business IS switching, and Red Hat is helping them do so. This promises to be an exciting talk whether you are involved with large enterprise operations or not. Tara Sutherland from Vodafone New Zealand may also explain how Vodafone switched their entire web services backend to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, though she is unconfirmed at this stage. 7pm, 22 November%%% University of Waikato%%% Room: LitB.G.02 Park in Gate 1, Knighton Rd * http://www.waikato.ac.nz/perl-bin/map/tt-map.pl?term=litb * http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map.pdf ---- See also OldMeetingTopics

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Meeting tonight 8pm (+ library books)
by John R. McPherson 18 Nov '04

18 Nov '04

A reminder that there is a WLUG meeting tonight at 8pm, at Waikato University. Also, if any WLUG members would like to borrow anything from the library and wants it to be brought along to the meeting, send email to librarian(a)wlug.org.nz to make a request. (You can browse the available items online at http://library.wlug.org.nz/) Anyone who currently has an item that they want to return can also bring the item back to a meeting. John McPherson

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mandrake cds
by David Nicholls 17 Nov '04

17 Nov '04

im probably being a pain in the but here but does anyone up at the uni currently have any of the latest mandrake cds? i can provide blanks <deep hopeful, soulful look> cheers... David Nicholls Computer Support Consultant School of Science & Engineering/Dept of Chemistry The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

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RE: [wlug] Linux on PPC (Macs)
by Matthew Browne (DSL HN) 17 Nov '04

17 Nov '04

> From: Henry Harrison [mailto:henryh(a)clear.net.nz] > > You should be in pretty good shape with a Powerbook 17". One > of the video card vendors hasn't released an binary driver > for PPC (as they have for x86) though I can't remember which > off hand. You have the same issue with 802.11g that you do > with linux, no drivers for some chip sets. You'll need to > research your hardware. The Airport Extreme cards (what the 17" PB will have) are Broadcom based and the older Airport cards are Orinoco Silver/Gold hybrids. I don't know what Linux support is like for these but they're both common chipsets. I've had quite a few Macs over the years, got a G5 and an iBook currently, but I've never tried running Linux on them so I can't be much help there. As to Fink, I don't really use it but it is quite impressive what can be done with it. I once had KDE running on a rootless X11 server on the MacOS X desktop and all the applications I tried performed flawlessly. Matt Browne

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Tomorrow night - Rodney Hide.
by Greig McGill 17 Nov '04

17 Nov '04

Hi All, There seems to have been some confusion about the time. Mr. Hide will be talking to us at 8pm. The odd time is due to his plane arriving around 7:20pm. Drinks and biscuits will be provided after the meeting. Hope to see you all there. All are welcome - not just members. Regards, Greig McGill

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RE: [wlug] Extra Meeting - this thursday
by David Nicholls 17 Nov '04

17 Nov '04

Anyone alerting the local media/computing media or eveen the other local user groups to this meeting? The other user groups might find it interesting (ie pc/windows, Mac etc) Cheers... david -----Original Message----- On Mon, 2004-11-15 at 16:47 +1300, Greig McGill wrote: > Hi WLUG, and other interested parties. > > In an effort to step outside our little box, and to encourage members > of > the WLUG to consider the political aspects of Open Source, I have asked > Rodney Hide to come and speak to us. > > He will be speaking this Thursday evening (the 18th) at 8pm at our > usual > meeting location - Lit.B. at the University of Waikato. A map is at: > http://www.waikato.ac.nz/perl-bin/map/tt-map.pl?term=litb > > Mr. Hide is, as you will all be aware, the leader of the ACT party. > He > posts a regularly updated blog at http://www.rodneyhide.com, and he is > all in favour of Open Source software. > > This meeting is open to all, so please, bring a friend. It'll be the > least "geeky" meeting we are likely to have until Nandor Tanczos joins > us sometime next year (yes, really - I like to hear both sides of an > argument - how about you?) so you are welcome to bring people who may > have been scared away by the more technical meetings. Supporting Open Source software is one thing (perhaps the only one) that Rodney Hide and Nandor Tancos agree on - witness this press release from Nandor Tancos today. I don´t suppose you could get Nandor to come as well - think of the headlines in the local media ¨Open Source unites sworn enemies¨ ..... 15 November 2004 Cut costs at IT giants' expense, not students Green Tertiary Education and IT Spokesperson Nandor Tanczos is hailing Victoria University's move to open source servers and suggests that Waikato University look at following suit. Both varsities have announced today that they need to reduce costs, but while Vic is achieving this by moving its admin, finance and HR systems to servers running the open source software 'Red Hat Linux', Waikato is instead looking at reducing staff numbers by doing some jobs less often and reviewing student-staff ratios. "Congratulations to Victoria for choosing to balance their budget by reducing how much money they give to multinational corporations; Waikato should follow their example instead of compromising the quality of their students' education," said Nandor, who is a Waikato graduate and lives in Hamilton. "Waikato prides itself for being a hot bed of innovation, but this time Victoria are the ones using their imagination and lateral thinking to look at the overall picture. "Tertiary institutions nationwide should take note of Victoria's move. Open source is a cheaper option all round and the education sector making greater use of it would benefit institutions, their students and the local software industry." > _______________________________________________ > wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > Unsubscribe: http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug -- Roderick Aldridge <rod-a(a)hnpl.net> _______________________________________________ wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz Unsubscribe: http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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Linux on PPC (Macs)
by Oliver Jones 17 Nov '04

17 Nov '04

Anyone here used Linux on PowerPC systems? Ie, Macs. I'm tossing up whether to buy a PowerBook G4 17" vs a Dell Latitude D800 15.4". The Powerbook is only ~$900 more and has a bigger screen. And considering my business partners experience with his D800 I'm worried about stability/reliability. I've been an x86 user since the dawn of time but after using my Mothers iBook for a while I've come to appreciate the simplicity, reliability and attractiveness of Apple gear. From what I read on the net Linux PPC (Yellow Dog etc) is quite good. Not that much different from RedHat and such. I've been a long time RH/Fedora user so I'm most familiar with RPM based distros. And from what I can tell Mac-on-Linux is very good at running a virtual MacOS system (for iTunes or whatever). Anyone here have any experience to share? At $5000 a pop I'm concerned about making the wisest choice... Regards -- Oliver Jones » Director » oliver(a)deeperdesign.com » +64 (21) 41 2238 Deeper Design Limited » +64 (7) 377 3328 » www.deeperdesign.com

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RE: [wlug] Linux on PPC (Macs)
by David Nicholls 17 Nov '04

17 Nov '04

personally, no experience myself, however i can put you in touch with a friend who has. let me know if you want to get in touch with him. cheers... david -----Original Message----- From: Oliver Jones [mailto:oliver(a)deeper.co.nz] Sent: Wednesday, 17 November 2004 12:48 pm To: Waikato Linux Users Group Subject: [wlug] Linux on PPC (Macs) Anyone here used Linux on PowerPC systems? Ie, Macs. I'm tossing up whether to buy a PowerBook G4 17" vs a Dell Latitude D800 15.4". The Powerbook is only ~$900 more and has a bigger screen. And considering my business partners experience with his D800 I'm worried about stability/reliability. I've been an x86 user since the dawn of time but after using my Mothers iBook for a while I've come to appreciate the simplicity, reliability and attractiveness of Apple gear. From what I read on the net Linux PPC (Yellow Dog etc) is quite good. Not that much different from RedHat and such. I've been a long time RH/Fedora user so I'm most familiar with RPM based distros. And from what I can tell Mac-on-Linux is very good at running a virtual MacOS system (for iTunes or whatever). Anyone here have any experience to share? At $5000 a pop I'm concerned about making the wisest choice... Regards -- Oliver Jones > Director > <mailto:oliver.jones(a)deeperdesign.com> oliver(a)deeperdesign.com > +64 (21) 41 2238 Deeper Design Limited > +64 (7) 377 3328 > <http://www.deeperdesign.com> www.deeperdesign.com

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Solaris
by Gavin Denby 16 Nov '04

16 Nov '04

I see that solaris is being "set free" on Monday (US) anyone know how free, Its hard to find much on the Sun website. IS it 9 or 10 and is the source being opened yet too would be good questions to start with Any Solaris fans out there who can clarify some this beyond the cnet new feeds ?

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Committee meeting tomorrow
by Craig Box 16 Nov '04

16 Nov '04

Provisional agenda: 1. Minutes from previous meeting 2. Matters arising 3. Treasurer's report 4. Correspondence 5. General business ... anyone wanting anything on the agenda for this committee meeting is welcome to email me. Craig

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