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Microsoft announces support for Linux!
by Ian McDonald 21 Apr '05

21 Apr '05

Looks like Microsoft has realised Linux has gained real support. This is showing that Linux IS gaining real traction if Microsoft support. http://news.com.com/Microsofts+Ballmer+grins+and+bears+Linux--a+little/2100… Please remember - be professional in your replies. WLUG is not about maligning any software company - we are about supporting Linux and this has to be good news. Regards, Ian

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web hosting
by stephen pearce 21 Apr '05

21 Apr '05

Our web host will soon be shutting down ... the choise of alternatives is overwhelming .. has anyone got any thoughts on best price performance options locally? Thanks Stephen

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No meeting this Monday
by Craig Box 20 Apr '05

20 Apr '05

Hi everyone, Due to Monday being Anzac day and the installfest coming up soon after, we have decided to roll the planned upcoming meeting on Monday 25 April into the Installfest which is happening on Saturday 7th June. Please accept our apologies for the late decision, but rest assured that big plans are underway for the installfest and we look forward to seeing you all there! Craig (on behalf of the WLUG Committee)

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Committee and installfest update
by Craig Box 20 Apr '05

20 Apr '05

Hi everyone, Another month, another committee meeting. Please see http://www.wlug.org.nz/CommitteeMeetingTopics.2005-04-20 for the minutes. I hope that due to the lack of input from the members this means we're doing everything right and you're all very happy! :) An update on the installfest planning. We are on track and you're welcome to check out whats happening at the http://www.wlug.org.nz/InstallFestToDo page. Any offers of help are always welcome! What we would love you to do is print copies of the poster from http://www.wlug.org.nz/archive/installfest/installfest-poster-2005.pdf, and put them up anywhere you can think of that people might be interested. Thanks, Craig

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Intro and ISPs
by Ian Swainson 20 Apr '05

20 Apr '05

Mornin All, Just arrived in NZ from (not so) sunny Ireland, recently joined your esteemed mailing list, looking forward to catching up with some of you in person at the next installfest. Please be gentle with me... As I've just arrived, I'm looking for a nice Linux-friendly ISP to give my hard-earned cash to - any recommendations would be gratefully received. Google is usually my friend, but NZ certainly has a lot more choice than Ireland. In Ireland many of the ISPs are free, and make their money from the phone-calls. They all seem to need registration here - is that the case? In relation to above, does anyone know if this USB Modem will play with Linux nicely? http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/42656b330da56e082740c0a87f99070… ...I note that it has a Conexant chipset, which reeks of WinModem nastiness. I need the modem for a lappy, so can't go the internal route. Feedback delightfully received. I have had some success with WinModems on Linux, the drivers certainly have come a long way. Not sure about this one tho. Anyhoo, let the flaming begin (although surely ye can't be as bad as the ILUG...:) ) Cheers, ian -- "Turn off the lights and I'll glow." -Implausible Claims Made by Vanilla Ice in "Ice Ice Baby." http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/lists/26DougErickson.html

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Command line util of the day.
by Oliver Jones 19 Apr '05

19 Apr '05

To continue the trend set by James Clark... Here is my choice for useful command-line tool of the day. fold Fold is a simple little command line util that lets you fold lines of text at a particular width. Eg if you have some long lines of text, say out of some HTML or other document format that only maintains paragraph breaks, that you want to show on a console screen you can do this: fold -s -w 70 long-lines.txt |less This command will fold the text from long-lines.txt at 70 characters (or the nearest preceding space). If you leave off -s the lines will get cut in the middle of words. Most consoles are 80 columns wide and fold defaults to a width (-w) of 80 columns. This can also be useful in scripts where you need to display a paragraph of text with interpolated variables which you don't know the width of beforehand. Eg: echo -n "Enter some text: " read var para="You said, '$var'. That's really interesting. But \ do you know the answer to the ultimate question of life, \ the universe, and everything?"; echo $para | fold -s -w 78 - Regards -- Oliver Jones » Roving Code Warrior oliver(a)deeperdesign.com » +64 (21) 41 2238 » www.deeperdesign.com

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WLUG Meeting is one week away
by Meeting Reminder bot 17 Apr '05

17 Apr '05

The Waikato Linux Users Group have a meeting in one week today. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A WLUG meeting is booked for this date. No topic has been set. If you're seeing this message, feel free to suggest or offer to present a meeting topic - the MeetingTopics page might be a good place to start.

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WANTED: Cisco admin in Taupo
by Andrew Thrift 14 Apr '05

14 Apr '05

Hi All, We have a new site in Taupo that is connected to TelstraClear Private IP via a Cisco 805 Router on frame relay. As I am going on holiday tomorrow I am unable to go onsite and figure out why the connection is not coming up when the router is as far as I can remember configured properly. Is anyone on this list in Taupo and able to check it out for me, and if so reply off list with your hourly rate. Regards, Andrew Thrift National IT Manager Turbo Investments Group.

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DHBs to test open source alternative to Windows and Office
by Bnonn 12 Apr '05

12 Apr '05

<http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/UNID/39A5FAC6A45E8FB2CC256FDA00319B5C?O…> --- DHBs to test open source alternative to Windows and Office Boards band together to reduce their software licensing costs Stephen Bell, Wellington New Zealand's District Health Boards plan a trial of open source desktop software in an effort to reduce the licensing fees they pay to Microsoft — more than $20 million over three years, according to one estimate. Microsoft licences are a major element of DHBs’ software costs, says Phil Brimacombe, CIO of Waitemata and Counties Manukau DHBs and healthAlliance, the shared services organisation owned by the two boards. While there are some “power users” likely to need the full capabilities of Microsoft Office and related applications, users with less elaborate IT demands may be able to use OpenOffice.org and other open source software at much-reduced cost, Brimacombe says. At a quarterly meeting of DHB CIOs in February, a joint three-part plan to reduce software costs was adopted. First, the DHBs will pilot an open source desktop environment, being put together by Steve Rayner, CIO of Wanganui DHB, to assess how many users it will serve adequately. Rayner plans to support two categories of user: "power users" with Microsoft desktop software, and "regular clinical users" with Novell Enterprise Desktop, OpenOffice.org and GroupWise running on Suse Linux. The pilot will seek to establish how many users there are with basic needs and whether it is possible to meet them with an entirely non-Microsoft environment, Brimacombe says. “The majority of users don’t use Access databases, for example; they wouldn’t use PowerPoint; they’re not advanced users of Excel and they probably only use about 20% of the functions of Word. They may manage quite well with OpenOffice.” There are also open source options for clinical database access clients, “but we don’t know how practical those are”, he says. Brimacombe expects one of the knotty problems will be DHBs’ extensive use of Outlook and Exchange. They will have to find some practical email alternative, he says. Another initiative is to approach suppliers of health software to see if they are willing to develop open source versions of their applications. At least one major provider of clinical systems, Orion, has told the board that it is looking seriously at supporting the open source Mozilla Firefox browser with its its clinical portal, Concerto, as an alternative to Internet Explorer, Brimacombe says. Laboratory software developer Sysmex has also indicated a willingness to explore open source solutions, he says. The third part of the DHBs' plan is to push for stronger representation on the public sector committee negotiating the details of G2006, the next iteration of the New Zealand Government’s bulk licensing agreement with Microsoft. Steve Mayo-Smith, CIO of Auckland DHB, will be the DHB CIO representative on the public sector negotiation group. He says DHBs will collectively have spent over $20 million on Microsoft licences during the three year of the previous agreement, G2003. “In particular the DHBs with a large user population end up with little choice within the G2003 agreement, and feel captured by the structure of that agreement into paying the highest charges, often for products that are not widely needed,” Mayo-Smith says. “The potential cost efficiencies of open source are also attractive to smaller DHBs who do not have the resources of the larger DHBs.” “We’re not expecting any stunning short-term breakthrough,” says Brimacombe, but the joint initiative, alongside individual DHB plans in the open source direction, could go some way to reducing Microsoft expenditure, “which is a big number for the taxpayer”. The push to reduce licensing costs has been building for many months, Brimacombe says; one catalyst came in mid-2004, when Dr Ross Boswell, clinical director of information systems for Counties Manukau and an open source enthusiast, addressed the quarterly CIO meeting. Discussion since then has built up to the point of a formal agreement among the boards. ---

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Upcoming WLUG committee meeting (1 week today)
by Meeting Reminder bot 12 Apr '05

12 Apr '05

As per the WLUG charter, please note that there is a WLUG executive committee meeting one week from today. If you wish to get an item on the agenda for this meeting, please email it to secretary(a)wlug.org.nz. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- WLUG Committee Meeting To have something added to the agenda for this meeting, please email secretary @ wlug.org.nz. Provisional agenda: # Minutes from previous meeting # Matters arising # Correspondence # Treasurers report # General business

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