March 2004 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Releases and thigns
by Craig Box 01 Apr '04

01 Apr '04

Fedora Core 2 test 2 has been released; if you're interested in a copy a couple of local people have it. Post to the list, perhaps (I haven't got my copy just yet, so don't ask me direct). Warning, it's for testing, it breaks things [1] It's not for general home users. GNOME 2.6 has been released today; check out the release notes at http://www.gnome.org/start/2.6/notes/ or some screenshots at http://fgo-temp.acc.umu.se/pub/GNOME/teams/marketing/en/2004/two-six-screens hots/html/ FC2 will have Gnome 2.6, but seeing as it came out a couple of days ago, it's only running 2.5rc. Fedora Core 2 comes with SELinux installed and enabled by default. SELinux is the NSA's patches for the Linux kernel to provide Mandatory Access Control - a way to, for example, lock your web server so it can't run anything outside of the commands apache uses and requires. There's a FAQ on it at http://www.crypt.gen.nz/selinux/faq.html, or a good general introduction can be found at http://sourceforge.net/docman/display_doc.php?docid=20372&group_id=21266. Craig [1] If you don't set SELinux up right, and FC2t2 is a test release, things don't run. You might not want it!

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reply
by Tammy Kaye Griffith 31 Mar '04

31 Mar '04

Could you please remove my name;TikiGriffy,off your User Group ;ASAP. I do not know enough about computers yet and maybe in the future,I will be able to join. I haven't sent anything to Waikato except this request. Thank You,TK

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WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup
by Tammy Kaye Griffith 29 Mar '04

29 Mar '04

Could you please remove my name;TikiGriffy from the group. I am not experienced enough with my computer to know enough about how to belong to a group such as yours,maybe in the future? Please remove me from the mailing list and the Waikato Group;ASAP. Thank You, TikiGriffy

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Book for the library
by s swami 29 Mar '04

29 Mar '04

I have these books for loan to the wlug lib: Python In A Nutshell Alex Martelli (2003) - An excellent intro if you've had some previous experience with a programming language. You may not need another book. Sams Teach Yourself Perl in 24 hours Clinton Pierce (2nd Ed, 2002) - This gives a simple first look at Perl. You may not want another book ;-) Am happy to bring them to the next wlug meeting. -Sid. P.S. Are user contributions useful and encouraged or are publishers our main source.

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Half Height network card
by Aaron Martin 29 Mar '04

29 Mar '04

Does anyone know where I can buy a half height (for micro atx case) pci network cards which work in linux?

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Re: Re: [wlug] apache, mySQL and pHp
by Stephen Pearce 25 Mar '04

25 Mar '04

Thank you for all the advise. Yes, you are correct about the ICU abbreviation ... there is some open source medical software, but it doesn't fit our requirements here. I will peruse some of the links you gave me and then get back to some of you. I have previously installed apache on another system, but then got lost setting up the local pages .. I thought I would do a staged implementation .. getting apache going then maybe pHp .. about which I know little .. and the MySQL .................. As a first q Can someone tell me where to put index.html once apche is installed .. so that it pops up when a remote system probes? ................... The breadth and speed of responces goes to reinforce my bias toward an open source solution Thank you all again Stephen > > From: "Mark Grimshaw" <mark(a)sirfragalot.com> > Date: 2004/03/25 Thu PM 12:28:17 GMT+12:00 > To: Waikato Linux Users Group <wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz> > Subject: Re: [wlug] apache, mySQL and pHp > > LOL - no offense but I couldn't resist.... > > > > I don't know what ICU is, but have you tried looking for existing open > > source apps that already provide the functionality or that provide > > most of it so that you only have to add the bits you want? > > I assume, from the context, that ICU is 'Intensive Care Unit' - I don't > think there is an open source ICU solution..... > _______________________________________________ > wlug mailing list > wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

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apache, mySQL and pHp
by Stephen Pearce 25 Mar '04

25 Mar '04

Hi Is there anyone who could guide me thru the installation and setting up of a MySQL database using pHp and apache. This is for an ICU database in a hospital .. so not a strictly commercial objective Thanks Stephen Pearce

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Upgrading from RH9 to Fedora Core 1.
by Oliver Jones 22 Mar '04

22 Mar '04

I decided to upgrade from RH9 to FC1 on the weekend. Below is my experience which I thought I might share with the rest of the LUG. My system was quite heavily modified with Ximian and FreshRPMs packages for RH9. So I figured I couldn't just do a from CD "upgrade" install. The first thing I did was install yum a package manager similar to apt but for RPMs. Yum comes with FC1. I could have also installed apt for RPM too. But I was more familiar with yum. I then copied all the RPMs off the FC1 CDs I have onto my hard disk. I then downloaded the "headers" directory from the fedora core ftp server. Yum uses .hdr files to resolve dependencies. It uses headers rather than downloading the rpms because this is much more network efficient. I then configured yum to use file:/// urls to get the files off my hard disk. I then started going over my installed RPMs finding Ximain and FreshRPM versions and replacing them where Icould with FC1 versions using yum. This was an easy process of erasing the installed versions and then issuing "yum install package-name". Once I had eradicated these troublesome packages I replaced the firstboot, redhat-config-securitylevel, and lokkit packages as I read on the web they can cause install issues. Then I started manually replacing 'core' packages like glibc, basesystem, redora-release, rpm, popt etc etc. I should have also replaced libzlib, libbzip2 and others.... I learned that lesson later. :) Then issued a "yum update". This started inspecting all my packages and upgrading them. About half way though the update I had a thought, started doubting the command I had entered was doing the right thing and decided I'd stop yum with Ctrl-C, check the command and start yum again. BAD IDEA!!!! This had the effect of A) breaking yum so I couldn't use it anymore due to python errors and B) of completely hosing my RPM database. My system thought that it had installed multiple version of most of my packages. I spent the next 6 hours rebuilding my system with rpm manually. This consisted of producing a list of all installed RPMS (including dupes) and running rpm --force -Uvh on all these packages and resolving dependencies by hand. This was a painful exercise. Once that was done I did a further rpm -Fvh *.rpm in the fedora core RPMS directory. By this time yum was back to working. I then reconfigured it to use some Fedora mirrors. I also configured it to use the Fedora.us and Livna.org yum repositories. Fedora.us and livna.org have lots of extra goodies to install. I issued a "yum update" and yum began to sync up my box with all the latest package updates and also a swag of replacements for FreshRPM RPMS I had installed. My system is now in relatively good working order. But it certainly was a mission to get it there. Everything would have been soooo much easier had I resisted the temptation to Ctrl-C yum when it was working on my system in the first place. Regards -- Oliver Jones » Director » oliver.jones(a)deeperdesign.com » +64 (21) 41 2238 Deeper Design Limited » +64 (7) 377 3328 » www.deeperdesign.com

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Meeting is tonight
by Daniel Lawson 21 Mar '04

21 Mar '04

The March meeting of the Waikato Linux User's Group is tonight. It will be held in SG.01 at Waikato University, from about 7:30 pm onwards. The topic will be a guided install of linux. See http://www.wlug.org.nz/MeetingTopics.2004-03-22 for maps and more information. Daniel

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WLUG Meeting is on monday
by Meeting Reminder bot 19 Mar '04

19 Mar '04

The WLUG meeting is on monday ---------------------------------------------------------------------- !!Installation of Linux - University of Waikato, SG01, 7:30pm A guide for new users, which will include a live Linux installation to show everyone exactly how easy it can be! After the main presentation we will have plenty of time for questions and answers. If you are having problems getting linux installed it would be a great time to ask. We won't have many facilities for plugging in machines unfortunately but we will be holding an InstallFest sometime in the very near future. This meeting will be held in SG01 at the University of Waikato. This is the same lecture theatre as the CS Linux Tutorials were held in. !Map |[http://www.wlug.org.nz/archive/hillcrest-map.png] %%% |[http://timetable.waikato.ac.nz/perl-bin/tt-map.pl?term=S&foo=.jpg]

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Mandrake 10 CD's
by rod-a＠hnpl.net 16 Mar '04

16 Mar '04

Does anyone have Mandrake 10 yet? Would you be able to supply CD's at the next WLUG meeting? Roderick Aldridge

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Monday's meeting - Introduction/Demystifying Linux Installation
by Craig Box 16 Mar '04

16 Mar '04

Hi everyone, The upcoming Monday's meeting will have a Linux installation live on the big screen for everyone to see, plus a general question/answer session about Linux installation. We'll be catching all the CS students who have attended our Linux tutorials and we're encouraging everyone who reads the mailing list but hasn't been along to a meeting before because they've thought that they would be over your head, to come. No prior knowledge is required! The meeting is to be held in S.G.01 on the University of Waikato campus - if you're coming from outside, you might like to try Gate 8. A map will be up on the Wiki shortly. MONDAY 22 FEBRUARY, 7:30pm, S Block, University of Waikato (S.G.01)

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WLUG committee meeting
by Craig Box 16 Mar '04

16 Mar '04

Hi everyone, The WLUG committee will meet tomorrow, as per schedule. If you have any items you would like on the agenda, please email them to me. Regards, Craig Box Phone 07 957 2653 IT Partners Ltd Fax 07 957 2659 PO Box 9361 Mobile 021 475 869 Hamilton, New Zealand _________________________________________________________________ #include <standard-disclaimer.h> _________________________________________________________________

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WLUG Meeting is one week away
by Meeting Reminder bot 14 Mar '04

14 Mar '04

The WLUG meeting is one week away ---------------------------------------------------------------------- !!Installation of Linux A guide for new users, which will include a live Linux installation to show everyone exactly how easy it can be! This meeting will almost certainly be on the University of Waikato campus - exact location to be announced.`

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Voice over IP WLUG meeting & plans for the installation demo meeting after
by Craig Box 11 Mar '04

11 Mar '04

Just another note to say thanks to Nathan Ward for coming down from Auckland on Monday and presenting a meeting on Voice over IP. Nathan covered VoIP from several angles; protocols, software (client and server), and usage, both from an end-to-end perspective and as part of a toll bypass system (where you call from a normal telephone to another one, and get your call shunted onto an IP network along the way.) Thanks also to Gerwin and Computer Upgrades 2000 for providing an excellent venue. Over the next month we will be presenting tutorials to second year University students who will be using Linux as part of their course. The next month's meeting is going to be an introduction meeting for people who want to install Linux, so keep the date free (Monday 22 March) - the meeting will almost certainly be on the University campus but an exact location will be announced soon. We want to try and attract everyone that has felt that meetings have been a bit over their heads, people who have lurked on the list or on the Wiki and want to install Linux for the first time, want a run down on the various distros, pros and cons etc. If there are new users floating around on the list, please let us know what you'd like to see at this meeting - it's for you. The current plan is to run a Linux install live on a projector while the presentation runs so that everyone can see exactly how easy it is. Craig

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Slow typists
by sns＠paradise.net.nz 10 Mar '04

10 Mar '04

Following Tony's lecture tonight: Were Thompson & Richie really slow on the keyboard? Sid.

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Newbie assistance
by Gun Caundle 09 Mar '04

09 Mar '04

I am wanting some help to set up a RH9 box as a server and firewall. I expect to pay for this as a service. Anyone who is interested please contact me either by e-mail or phone 07 873 6575 wk or 07 873 1831ah. Cheers Gun Caundle

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Memory usage
by Gun Caundle 02 Mar '04

02 Mar '04

I'm a newbie using RH9 In system monitor is see my memory usage is 303Mb, total 312Mb. CPU usage is between 2% - 5% with no significant processes running. 1. Why is so much memory being used? 2. What could be using it? 3. If a process was running, would the memory become full and start using swap space? Any light on these points would be appreciated. Cheers Gun Caundle

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