April 2004 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

RE: [wlug] Prefered Mail Client
by David Nicholls 15 Apr '04

15 Apr '04

> Strip back the FUD; apply the standard "there are security holes in Linux applications > fixed all the time, but Gartner Group rarely complains about them, and if they do, it > gets written off as anti-MS propaganda"... One interesting point I think people offten tend to miss when the Gartner Group or other such company is counting bugs/security warnings/year in linux versus windows codebases is that for linux they never differentiate between the O/S itself and the apps that are included with the distros. They like to lump them all in together to get the most number of bugs possible. My suspicion is, if they only looked at the O/S itself they would have a much harder time finding problems. Cheers... david

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Re: [wlug] Install fest
by Wayne Rooney 15 Apr '04

15 Apr '04

>Resizing is a very risky option; the very LAST thing we want is people >who say "I tried to install Linux once, and lost all my data because if >it.". Especially if we were helping them at the time. No, no, no. Resizing is very easy and safe. Boot computer off Knoppix cd. Open an x-term. Type "sudo su <enter>" Type "qtparted <enter>" Click on the edge of the partition you want to resize and drag it to the new size you want. Click "ok" And you're done. And it handles NTFS partitions. And it fails safe, that is, if something is going to go wrong (which it never has for me) it throws up an error message and quits BEFORE making changes to the hard drive. Try it. You'll like it. Wayne

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Upcoming committee meeting
by Craig Box 15 Apr '04

15 Apr '04

Per the WLUG charter, we'd like to inform you that there is an WLUG committee meeting to be held next Wednesday, 21 April. Tentative Agenda 1. Minutes from previous meeting 2. Treasurer's Report 3. Correspondence 4. Committee Mailing List - effectiveness & policy regarding posting 5. Committee - Purpose, Direction, Relationship to WLUG 6. Resignation, Greig McGill 7. General Business If you want to have an item added to this agenda, please contact me at secretary(a)wlug.org.nz. Craig, Secretary

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installing new kernel from rh9
by Stephen Pearce 14 Apr '04

14 Apr '04

I recently tried to compile and install the 2.6.5 kernel on a rh 9 system (dell i8500) .. it installed ok as a grub boot option but hangs trying to load the directory structure .. I have compiled and installed modules .. what else do I have to do to get the new kernel to boot? Thanks Stephen

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New Users Redux
by Craig Box 14 Apr '04

14 Apr '04

Over the last couple of days, due to some comments regarding the upcoming WLUG installfest [1] and "Software Freedom Day" [2], the issue of WLUG and new Linux users has come up again. While I realise that everything I'm going to say has been said before, hopefully any discussion that comes from this will explain a bit better about how some people feel, or get people inspired to do something about it. A lot of the people involved with the LUG are computing professionals, or higher level University students in computing science. It has been said that these people aren't new users, they don't have to do new things again and to keep them interested, we can't offer installation meetings every other month. It's not to say that these people don't want to help new people - lots of them, myself included, reply to posts here, sit in #wlug on IRC offering help. Yet people still don't think there's enough being done. There's a faction of Linux users that like Linux because they hate Microsoft. (Tip: if you use "M$", you're it!) Most of the aforementioned "clever" group, while they might prefer Linux for various reasons (open standards, open source, etc), don't hate Windows. There is a time and a place for everything. Pushing Linux before its time will just cause people to be aggrevated. As an example, if someone suggests running Linux to a home user, they will inevitably field a whole heap of the same questions over again; word documents, Flash. Questions that there exist easy answers for if people are prepared to look. (As an aside, people who deal with users every day who aren't prepared to learn for themselves, get a bit annoyed with that class of people!) Now, if you leave Linux to the people who find out about it themselves (or push it in a non-confrontational way; say "Linux exists, learn about if you want", and then help people when they have specific problems along the way, I think you end up with less problems. This is the approach that several people are espousing at the moment. Let people find Linux on their own merits - we don't have to replace every Windows machine in the world, and we certainly don't have to do it overnight. Then, if they have problems, we'll help them. That way we're sure that they are prepared to learn for themselves. No-one is paid to be involved with the LUG and some people put a lot of time in, only to be discouraged by the attitude of people who complain to other people, but not the LUG itself (so we have no idea how to change). We would love to see more new user based presentations. The general feeling that the people who have recently been new users should be presenting them. It's not tricky, and if you're worried about fielding questions you don't know the answers to, rest assured there will be someone in the audience who can help, or point to the wrong things. We don't want to alienate the people who have done this all before, because then at the current rate there will be no presentations at all. Not everyone in the LUG is interested in holding an "installfest", for the reasons above - Linux is not ready for everyone and we don't want to have to field questions from people who aren't ready to ask them yet. The people that are interested in helping, are. If you're interested, please shout out. Craig [1] http://www.wlug.org.nz/InstallFest [2] http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/forum/viewtopic.php?forum=2&showtopic=159 for us

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RE: [wlug] Re: problem with FC1 installation
by DrWho? 13 Apr '04

13 Apr '04

Have you created a swap partition? or left enough un-partioned disk space to make one? At 18:11 13/04/2004, you wrote: >no, i selected mini installation it poped up the same message. it never >warn me the disk space before that message. > > -----Original Message----- > From: zcat [mailto:zcat(a)wired.net.nz] > Sent: Tue 13/04/2004 12:11 p.m. > To: Waikato Linux Users Group > Cc: > Subject: Re: [wlug] Re: problem with FC1 installation > > > > Gerwin van de Steeg wrote: > > >There is another possibility, if you selected the complete > install of > >FC1 then you will run out of disk space as it exceeds 5.4 GB > > > > > >Gerwin > > > Doesn't it warn you first? Previous versions of Redhat tell you "you > don't have enough space to install this" before even starting, > I'm sure.. > > > > _______________________________________________ > wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > Unsubscribe: http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug > > >_______________________________________________ >wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz >Unsubscribe: http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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Welly InstallFest a go go!
by Jamie Baddeley 13 Apr '04

13 Apr '04

Fellow NZ_Luggites, Wellylug (http://www.wellylug.org.nz) is pleased to announce we are undergoing the annual ritual of the InstallFest. This year we have chosen MayDay (1st May) as the day that people can make the choice to add some freedom into their computing. We think MayDay is the ideal time to rescue your computer. Basically this email is to spread the good word. Anyone who needs a penguin injection is welcome to join us at Silicon Systems on the 1st. We're always keen for good volunteers, and I'm sure that the Aucklanders amongst us need a reasonable excuse to get out of the traffic jam ;-) Anyways - spread the word, and keep the heat turned up. Not long to go until we form the Jedi Council ;-) peace. Jamie, on behalf of the WellyLug crew.

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RE: [wlug] Re: problem with FC1 installation
by Bo Wang 13 Apr '04

13 Apr '04

no, i selected mini installation it poped up the same message. it never warn me the disk space before that message. -----Original Message----- From: zcat [mailto:zcat(a)wired.net.nz] Sent: Tue 13/04/2004 12:11 p.m. To: Waikato Linux Users Group Cc: Subject: Re: [wlug] Re: problem with FC1 installation Gerwin van de Steeg wrote: >There is another possibility, if you selected the complete install of >FC1 then you will run out of disk space as it exceeds 5.4 GB > > >Gerwin > Doesn't it warn you first? Previous versions of Redhat tell you "you don't have enough space to install this" before even starting, I'm sure.. _______________________________________________ wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz Unsubscribe: http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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Re: problem with FC1 installation
by Gerwin van de Steeg 13 Apr '04

13 Apr '04

There is another possibility, if you selected the complete install of FC1 then you will run out of disk space as it exceeds 5.4 GB Gerwin

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compaq armada 1592
by Stephen Pearce 12 Apr '04

12 Apr '04

Someone unkindly hoisted this on me to get going! It came with win95 on the disk and 2 pcmcia modems .. us botics xejm3336 and a 3com device .. Anyway .. I got the damn thing working under win 95 for internet stuff .. then he went and bought a usb printer for which there was no win95 driver Right I thought .. linux is the thing ...and installed rh9.0 .. wiping out the win 95 partition... well it seems to take all day to try loading open office (64 M of memory) ..to the point of being useless So I fell back to win 98 .. and have spent most of today trying to get this installed .. but the graphics drivers don't work .. the modem isn't properly recognised etc etc!!!! :<((((( Has anyone experience of linux on one of these brutes .. it has to read ms word docs ... do a bit of graphing for illustrations and work on the internet ... Thanks Stephen

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