October 2006 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Flashplayer 9 beta out now
by Ian McDonald 19 Oct '06

19 Oct '06

For all of those people who haven't been able to use MySpace and YouTube fully under Linux you might want to check this out: http://blogs.adobe.com/penguin.swf/2006/10/beta_is_live.html I haven't had a play yet but looking forward to trying it. I've also tried gnash which is an open source alternative to flash but unfortunately it doesn't really work very well at all - the sites I tried on it crashed or did nothing. -- Ian McDonald Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group Department of Computer Science University of Waikato New Zealand

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Openfiler
by Chris O'Halloran 19 Oct '06

19 Oct '06

Hello, The company I work for is about >< this close to setting up Openfiler as a file server. The IT guys have setup 1.1 and liked what they saw but were waiting for OpenFiler 2 to be released as stable for use. It is now, so our IT guy downloaded the ISO file, cut it to CD but it won't boot. He came to me and I suggested that we check the md5sum to verify the image. I've looked high and low on the site, googlged around, searched wikis and mailing lists and even hooked on to a few mirror sites to see if I could find a text file with the md5sum. But I am stuck for an answer on this one short of posting to the openfiler discussion list. Any other suggestions? Cheers Chris

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Linux on the Playstation 3
by Ian McDonald 19 Oct '06

19 Oct '06

Interesting article here: http://arstechnica.com/articles/columns/linux/linux-20061018.ars -- Ian McDonald Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group Department of Computer Science University of Waikato New Zealand

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Ubuntu 7.04 planning begins
by Ian McDonald 18 Oct '06

18 Oct '06

Folks, Efty Edge is not quite out and Feisty Fawn is getting underway. I like the sound of multimedia enablement and improving the end user experience. From: Mark Shuttleworth <mark-AT-canonical.com> To: ubuntu-devel-announce-AT-lists.ubuntu.com Subject: Planning for Ubuntu 7.04 - the "Feisty Fawn" Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2006 20:48:22 +0100 Salve, Ubuntero's With the final release of Ubuntu 6.10 approaching, and apparently set to be spot on schedule October 26th, we're starting to look beyond it to Ubuntu 7.04, scheduled for release on 19 April 2007. In the next cycle we'll expand on the brand new infrastructure that has landed in Edgy as well as branching out in some exciting new directions. This combination of courage and restlessness is also found in a young deer that sets out to explore a world that is new and exciting - seeing the world through eyes unprejudiced by what has gone before. In that spirit, the release will be be code named "The Feisty Fawn". The main themes for feature development in this release will be improvements to hardware support in the laptop, desktop and high-end server market, and aggressive adoption of emerging desktop technologies. Ubuntu's Feisty release will put the spotlight on multimedia enablement and desktop effects. We expect this to be a very gratifying release for both users and developers. Detailed planning will take place at the developer summit next month in Mountain View, California. Please join us there to help shape the Feisty Fawn! https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDeveloperSummitMountainView This will be our sixth release, marking the third anniversary of the project's inception, and will be a return to our standard six-month release schedule following the shortened catch-up cycle used for 6.10. Edgy has been a wild ride, with some remarkable achievements (nothing like re-inventing and substantially improving on init!). Feisty will be a little more focused on features that are very visible to end-users. We welcome new participants in our community - whatever your talent we look forward to working with you! Jono Bacon, our new community lead, will find a way to make sure your contribution is well received. Mark -- Ian McDonald Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group Department of Computer Science University of Waikato New Zealand

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Slackware 11 review
by Ian McDonald 18 Oct '06

18 Oct '06

Given the recent interest in this I'm posting this review I've just seen: http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/10/16/2045208 -- Ian McDonald Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group Department of Computer Science University of Waikato New Zealand

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NTP syncing on a local network
by Ian McDonald 18 Oct '06

18 Oct '06

I'm wanting to sync two machines to within 1 msec for my research using ntp. Questions: - is this realistic given how clocks drift? Has anybody done this? - is there a quick way to force them to converge I've had a quick read of the ntp pages and made one of my machines a broadcast server and the other broadcast clients I think but they seem to be taking a while to converge. The man pages say they will fix at 0.5ms/sec but I'm not seeing that. Comments appreciated. NB I don't want my clocks to be deadly accurate to the "real world", just to each other. Ian -- Ian McDonald Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group Department of Computer Science University of Waikato New Zealand

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Suggestion for meeting topic next year
by Denise Bates 15 Oct '06

15 Oct '06

Hello folks, At last months meeting there was a call for suggestions for meeting topics for next year. I would like to propose the following..... As I am in the process of upgrading my stable of computers to Slackware 11.0, I remain puzzled why the BS about Slackware being hard to use has any traction at all. While I expect _any_ discussion of Slackware will probably be branded as a distro war, I think that I could deliver a constructive, informative talk on the _underlying essence_ of text-based installation, package management, and configuration. I would invite the audience to engage in _constructive_ discussion of whether the extra demands made by GUIs on computer resources justifies any ease of installation, package management, and configuration (if any). I would like to have a newbie actually install and configure a computer as part of the presentation. I realise that time will be tight, but I should be able to keep it around the one-hour mark. I suggest the following parameters- ** The installer does not have to be experienced with Linux, but it would be helpful if they were savvy with the computing basics on any operating system. I can give them a printed copy of Slackware Basics and the Slackware Manual. If they get stuck and cannot find the information that they require within one minute, then I could tell them what to do (to keep the presentation moving along). ** The computer to be used should be representative of current modest-specced machines available- no Winmodems, odd-ball, or defective components. ** The installation should be a typical one for a typical home user - no esoteric networking or overly specialised hardware. I would have the installers machine hooked up to the projector, so to show how she/he is progressing. Given these parameters, the newbie should be able to complete the installation/configuration in well under an hour on a reasonably fast machine. I could offer up a few Slackware CDs if any member of the audience also wants to do an install during the presentation. I would welcome the participation of other Slackers as co-presenters. I would also like to attend equivalent presentations by other folk who prefer a substantially different distro (I am particularly curious about Gentoo and LFS). Again, I stress that I am not attempting to start a distro-war. I would be attempting to discuss the underlying philosophy behind the oldest surviving Linux distro and to question whether the purported user-friendliness of GUI-based administrative suites can be justified. regards, ********************************************* Dr Denise J. Bates, PO Box 50, Meremere New Zealand E-mail: dbates(a)iconz.co.nz Telephone 09-2336433 Mobile 021-2541330 *********************************************

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Memory module information
by Leslie Katz 12 Oct '06

12 Oct '06

I've acquired half a dozen old memory modules. I've been able to identify them from Googling as two 72 pin SIMMS and four 168 pin DIMMS. The DIMMS have PC speeds varying between 66 and 133. It may be that one or more of the modules will fit into a friend's computer, which is itself pretty old. Is there some command I can ask the friend to run which will give us information about the installed memory modules now in her computer--such things as type and PC speed--so that I can find out now whether I should even try to install any of them for her?

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Date for October meeting
by Ian McDonald 11 Oct '06

11 Oct '06

Folks, Normally the meeting for October would be on October 23rd being the fourth Monday. This is also labour day. We are trying to decide whether to have it on that day or the 30th. If anybody can't make either day can you send me an e-mail off list please? The speaker will be Perry Lorier on Plan 9 which is an alternative operating system with some really interesting concepts. Ian -- Ian McDonald Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group Department of Computer Science University of Waikato New Zealand

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[Fwd: FW: Signing up for an account on the new Genesis Energy website TMS 43752]
by Dominic Tennant 09 Oct '06

09 Oct '06

FYI, this is Genesis' response to my email :)

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