- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

WLUG Meeting is tonight
by Meeting Reminder bot 25 Sep '05

25 Sep '05

The WLUG meeting is this evening ---------------------------------------------------------------------- In accordance with Rule 6 of the charter (http://www.wlug.org.nz/WlugCharter) I would like to announce to all members that the WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup (Incorporated) will be holding its Annual General Meeting (http://www.wlug.org.nz/AGM) on Monday, 26 September, 2005, at 7pm, at the regular meeting location of room LitB] at the http://www.wlug.org.nz/University of Waikato ([WaikatoUniversity). New committee All WLUG members are encouraged to stand for election onto the WlugCommittee for 2006. The charter currently specifies the committee as consisting of a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and five general committee members. Because of the relatively large size of the committee compared to the organisation's membership, the outgoing committee intends to propose a change to the charter at the AGM. We wish to call for a vote on modifying Rule 7 to require only three general committee members, not five, and modifying Rule 6 such that the quorum for committee meetings is four, not five. To stand for the committee, please email secretary at wlug.org.nz (http://www.wlug.org.nz/mailto:secretary at wlug.org.nz). If you wish to nominate someone, please contact them and ask if they are willing to stand; if you would rather not contact them yourself, feel free to email me and I will pass your request on for you. People with uncertain futures (who may be leaving the Waikato) are encouraged not to let this stop them standing for election, but please only stand if you are committed and prepared to take on a relatively small workload. To be granted voting rights at the meeting, you must have been a paid member for 2004-2005, and signed a new membership form for '05-'06. (Remember, you have 90 days to pay.) Remember to bring your survey code if you want to be in the draw to win the $100 Dick Smith Electronics voucher. Regards, CraigBox WLUG Secretary

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Devices, udev, device numbers
by Ian McDonald 23 Sep '05

23 Sep '05

Hi there, In the process of setting up webcams (and getting greatly frustrated) I have been using mknod to create device entries. This is something I'm not really familiar with and I have some questions. I am trying things at present and don't really know why I am typing stuff I find in Google! Questions: 1) How are major and minor device numbers assigned? e.g. a webpage will say type "mknod /dev/video0 c 81 0". I understand the syntax but why 81 and 0 for the major and minor numbers? 2) How do these devices you create interact with udev? Permissions and other things seem to disappear after a reboot. Should I be using udev instead of mknod? URLs to articles would be appreciated or just people's comments. I promise to Wiki what I find out as I have been doing for most of my discoveries... Ian

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WLUG Meeting is on Monday
by Meeting Reminder bot 22 Sep '05

22 Sep '05

The WLUG meeting is on Monday ---------------------------------------------------------------------- In accordance with Rule 6 of the charter (http://www.wlug.org.nz/WlugCharter) I would like to announce to all members that the WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup (Incorporated) will be holding its Annual General Meeting (http://www.wlug.org.nz/AGM) on Monday, 26 September, 2005, at 7pm, at the regular meeting location of room LitB] at the http://www.wlug.org.nz/University of Waikato ([WaikatoUniversity). New committee All WLUG members are encouraged to stand for election onto the WlugCommittee for 2006. The charter currently specifies the committee as consisting of a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and five general committee members. Because of the relatively large size of the committee compared to the organisation's membership, the outgoing committee intends to propose a change to the charter at the AGM. We wish to call for a vote on modifying Rule 7 to require only three general committee members, not five, and modifying Rule 6 such that the quorum for committee meetings is four, not five. To stand for the committee, please email secretary at wlug.org.nz (http://www.wlug.org.nz/mailto:secretary at wlug.org.nz). If you wish to nominate someone, please contact them and ask if they are willing to stand; if you would rather not contact them yourself, feel free to email me and I will pass your request on for you. People with uncertain futures (who may be leaving the Waikato) are encouraged not to let this stop them standing for election, but please only stand if you are committed and prepared to take on a relatively small workload. To be granted voting rights at the meeting, you must have been a paid member for 2004-2005, and signed a new membership form for '05-'06. (Remember, you have 90 days to pay.) Survey I would also like to announce the first annual WLUG survey, and the chance to win a $100 DickSmith Electronics voucher! All people associated with WLUG, paid members or not, are encouraged to fill out the survey at http://survey.wlug.org.nz/. No personal information is collected and all responses are totally anonymous. At the end of the survey you will be given a token; bring this to the AGM and sign up for the '05/'06 year, and you will be in to win the $100 voucher. Regards, CraigBox WLUG Secretary

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Happy SFD!
by Dave Waddling 22 Sep '05

22 Sep '05

Yes it's Software Freedom Day '05! In celebration of the event I wanted to let everyone know of the following link. ftp://ftp.lanux.com/pub/Suse/SUSE_9.3_PROF_i386_5CD_set/ As you may guess from the URL it is the full version of SUSE 9.3 Pro. The company providing this is a Canadian Company that says: " We are here to support the Linux community at large so if there are people that need the disks for "test and experimentation" they can have them under our extended license. " So enjoy, however I have been told that if the bandwidth goes too nuts they will may to cut it off. -- Dave Waddling ----------------- dave(a)waddling.com Skype davewaddling

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v4l question - /dev/video0
by Ian McDonald 22 Sep '05

22 Sep '05

Hi there, I'm trying to get a couple of webcams going in Linux. One is a firewire card and one is a USB. They are both loaded on my system and are partially usable (e.g. Firewire one works in Gnome Meeting). My question is how does /dev/video0 come into existence with video 4 linux (aka v4l)? I have tried using mknod and that can create it but it doesn't make it usable. I've hunted around the web heaps and not found much at all. Questions: - is there a magic step to create /dev/video0 automatically and I haven't set it up? - or is it that my drivers aren't really working well? Ian

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ANNOUNCEMENT: Committee nominations as at 19 Sep & survey cutoff
by Craig Box 21 Sep '05

21 Sep '05

Hi all, Current nominations for 2005-2006 committee =========================================== President DRUETT, Lindsay Vice President HALLETT, David Secretary BOX, Craig Treasurer MCDONALD, Ian General Committee Members: LORIER, Perry PERRONE, Gian PURVIS, Jon That's exactly the right number, but we can't have a very good election if we don't have any contention :) Survey closeoff =============== The survey will be closed on Sunday evening to allow for some statistics to be presented at the AGM. If you have not filled out the survey yet, please check it out before Sunday at http://survey.wlug.org.nz/. Regards, Craig

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802.11G Wireless Cardbus cards for sale
by Daniel Lawson 20 Sep '05

20 Sep '05

Hi, I recently acquired a bulk lot of brand new (shrinkwrapped) 802.11G Wireless cards through an auction. They caught my attention because the particular models were compatable with linux. They are DLink DWL-G630 cards, hardware revision D1, Firmware 4.10. They use the Atheros chipset, and are fairly easy to get to work in linux using a recent snapshot of the madwifi drivers. I'll provide some better notes on the wiki once I get time. I've got 5 for sale. I also have a pair of DLink DWL-G650+ cards, which I believe have an ACX chipset. Last time I tried to make an ACX chipset card work in linux, it didn't like me very much, but I've heard good things about getting the DWL-G650+ to work with the driver available from acx.sourceforge.net. They'll work fine in windows. If you'd like one of these, mail me offlist. Asking price is $35, and I can provide some limited support for getting them working. http://www.wlug.org.nz/GarageSale Daniel

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Debian stable/unstable.
by Oliver Jones 18 Sep '05

18 Sep '05

Hi folks. I'm just trying to find out what peoples feelings are with regard to the testing & unstable branches of Debian. I've added testing to my deb and deb-src lines in /etc/apt/sources.list. Mainly because I wanted a newer version of a package I use. I'd like to know A) if this is advisable B) if going all the way to unstable is advisable. What are the security patch repercussions? Regards -- Oliver Jones > Roving Code Warrior > www.deeperdesign.com

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WLUG Meeting is one week away
by Meeting Reminder bot 18 Sep '05

18 Sep '05

The Waikato Linux Users Group have a meeting in one week today. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- In accordance with Rule 6 of the charter (http://www.wlug.org.nz/WlugCharter) I would like to announce to all members that the WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup (Incorporated) will be holding its Annual General Meeting (http://www.wlug.org.nz/AGM) on Monday, 26 September, 2005, at 7pm, at the regular meeting location of room LitB] at the http://www.wlug.org.nz/University of Waikato ([WaikatoUniversity). New committee All WLUG members are encouraged to stand for election onto the WlugCommittee for 2006. The charter currently specifies the committee as consisting of a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and five general committee members. Because of the relatively large size of the committee compared to the organisation's membership, the outgoing committee intends to propose a change to the charter at the AGM. We wish to call for a vote on modifying Rule 7 to require only three general committee members, not five, and modifying Rule 6 such that the quorum for committee meetings is four, not five. To stand for the committee, please email secretary at wlug.org.nz (http://www.wlug.org.nz/mailto:secretary at wlug.org.nz). If you wish to nominate someone, please contact them and ask if they are willing to stand; if you would rather not contact them yourself, feel free to email me and I will pass your request on for you. People with uncertain futures (who may be leaving the Waikato) are encouraged not to let this stop them standing for election, but please only stand if you are committed and prepared to take on a relatively small workload. To be granted voting rights at the meeting, you must have been a paid member for 2004-2005, and signed a new membership form for '05-'06. (Remember, you have 90 days to pay.) Survey I would also like to announce the first annual WLUG survey, and the chance to win a $100 DickSmith Electronics voucher! All people associated with WLUG, paid members or not, are encouraged to fill out the survey at http://survey.wlug.org.nz/. No personal information is collected and all responses are totally anonymous. At the end of the survey you will be given a token; bring this to the AGM and sign up for the '05/'06 year, and you will be in to win the $100 voucher. Regards, CraigBox WLUG Secretary

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Re: [wlug] Ubuntu said "Ack!!"
by jaytee＠clear.net.nz 17 Sep '05

17 Sep '05

Thanks I get a couple of days off when I get to Florida so will read up then Regards John ----- Original Message Follows ----- > --- jaytee(a)clear.net.nz wrote: > > > Hey all > > I had a problem with the "simple" install of > > Ubuntu > > Hoary which I thought was due to me not paying > > attention to > > the partitioning thus not including a swap space. > > However I retried the install and paid > > attention to > > what happened. Almost at the end of an otherwise > > uneventful > > install the programme said: > > Would suggest you start again with a clean slate. Use > Knoppix and QtParted to wipe current data and to > create a swap partition. I have just put up a HowTo @ > http://www.wlug.org.nz/UbuntuKbuntuInstall > > HTH > Bill > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection > around http://mail.yahoo.com > > _______________________________________________ > wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > Unsubscribe: > http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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Debian tips
by Oliver Jones 16 Sep '05

16 Sep '05

Hi people. I've just leased a Debian server from Server Beach. I've managed to upgrade it from 3.0 to 3.1 and install a few apps I want to play with. However I'm a recovering RedHat user and therefore very green when it comes to Debian. ;) I would appreciate any sage advice/tips to help me transition from people (Daniel?, Perry?) who've made the switch before. Thanks. -- Oliver Jones > Roving Code Warrior > www.deeperdesign.com

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Ubuntu said "Ack!!"
by jaytee＠clear.net.nz 16 Sep '05

16 Sep '05

Hey all I had a problem with the "simple" install of Ubuntu Hoary which I thought was due to me not paying attention to the partitioning thus not including a swap space. However I retried the install and paid attention to what happened. Almost at the end of an otherwise uneventful install the programme said: "Ack! something bad happened trying to recover". Sadly ths was not the case much custard was developed. I guess this is a (no cay)nown problem but i did not read about it yet in my limited experience. Regards John

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Announcing the Preview Release of Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger)
by Craig Box 15 Sep '05

15 Sep '05

I will have a copy of this very soon if anyone is interested and doesn't want to download it themselves. -- Craig The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the Preview Release of Ubuntu 5.10 - codenamed "Breezy Badger". The Preview Release includes both Install CDs and bootable Live CDs for three architectures. Ubuntu is a Linux distribution for your desktop or server, with a fast and easy install, regular releases, a tight selection of excellent packages installed by default, every other package you can imagine available from the network, a commitment to security updates for 18 months after each release and professional technical support from many companies around the world. To Get Ubuntu 5.10 Preview -------------------------- Download Ubuntu 5.10 Preview here (choose the mirror closest to you): United States: http://us.releases.ubuntu.com/releases/5.10/ Europe: http://se.releases.ubuntu.com/5.10/ United Kingdom: http://releases.ubuntu.com/5.10/ Rest of the World: http://releases.ubuntu.com/5.10/ Please download using Bittorrent if possible. The final version of Ubuntu 5.10 is expected to be released in October. At that time, we will mail pressed CDs free of charge. To receive a complimentary copy of the Official Breezy Badger CD -- or a handful of them to give to your friends, your school or LUG -- place your request at the URL below. Remember that these CDs won't ship until after the final release in October. http://shipit.ubuntu.com/ About Ubuntu 5.10 Preview ------------------------- To see it all, you'll need to try the CD, but the highlights include: On the Desktop * GNOME 2.12 -- Very fresh... Released yesterday!! * OpenOffice.org 2.0 beta 2 * X.org 6.8.2 with wider hardware support * An enhanced tool for easily installing new applications (see "Add/Remove Programs" in the System Administration menu) * A new tool which makes it easy to install support for multiple languages (Language Selector) * Editable GNOME menus * Applications are now linked into the Launchpad infrastructure (new entries on the Help menus for translation and support) * Support for writing audio CDs (Serpentine) * Graphical boot process with progress bar (USplash) On the Server * PHP5 * Support for installing directly onto LVM volumes * Built-in thin client functionality produced in cooperation with the LTSP project (http://wiki.ubuntu.com/ThinClientHowto) * Simple NFS root setup with automatic hardware detection through initramfs-tools * Support for up to 4 gigabytes of RAM by default on 32-bit architectures * Kernel support for cluster filesystems (OCFS2 and GFS) Hardware Support Improvements * Linux 2.6.12.5 with many updated drivers from third parties * Further enhancements to laptop support (hot keys, and working suspend/resume on more models) * HP all-in-one printer/scanner devices are supported out of the box * Bluetooth input devices (such as keyboards and mice) are supported out of the box * Multiple audio devices are handled more gracefully (and one can easily select the default device) * 64-bit PowerPC kernel available Installation * A new OEM mode to simplify the process of preinstalling Ubuntu on computers for resale or redistribution * Automatically makes existing hard drive partitions available to the desktop * Simple "dual boot" configuration with automatic resizing of an existing installed OS * The second stage of the installation now has a progress bar "Under the hood" * GCC 4.0.1 * glibc 2.3.5 * New early userspace infrastructure based on initramfs-tools * More modular X.org packaging As always, Ubuntu includes the very best of the 100% FREE / LIBRE application software world, and each new release incorporates countless new features and bugfixes from the global development community. Feedback and Helping -------------------- If you would like to help shape Ubuntu, take a look at the list of ways you can participate at http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate/ Your comments, bug reports, patches and suggestions will help turn this Preview into the best release of Ubuntu ever. Please report bugs through Bugzilla: http://bugzilla.ubuntu.com/ If you have a question, or if you think you may have found a bug but aren't sure, first try asking on the #ubuntu IRC channel on FreeNode, on the Ubuntu Users mailing list, or on the Ubuntu forums: http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users http://www.ubuntuforums.org/ More Information ---------------- You can find out more about Ubuntu and about this preview release on our website, IRC channel and wiki. If you're new to Ubuntu, please visit: http://www.ubuntu.com/ To sign up for future Ubuntu announcements, please subscribe to Ubuntu's very low volume announcement list at: http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-announce

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Debian user defaults.
by Oliver Jones 15 Sep '05

15 Sep '05

Does Debian 3.1 use the usual your uid is your gid standard?? The useradd tools seem to be creating users with their gid set to users(100). Is this normal? Personally I prefer the uid==gid approach that RH uses. Is there a setting I can change on debian? I'm very new to debian so I have no idea where to look. Regards -- Oliver Jones > Roving Code Warrior > www.deeperdesign.com

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Political party responses to InternetNZ questions.
by Greig McGill 13 Sep '05

13 Sep '05

I find this fairly interesting. http://internetnz.net.nz/government/2005-survey.htm Basically (and obviously this is my opinion); National sucks (and I am a Nat supporter) Labour sucks ever so slightly less The Greens ROCK The other responding parties appear clueless (SURPRISE!). I assume, based on Rodney Hide's fairly passionate views on IT (which were closely aligned with the Greens views, strangely enough), that ACT do have a policy, and have simply not submitted it yet. Winston is most likely too busy digging dirt to be bothered filling out the questionnaire. I know it's a single issue, and shouldn't really form the basis of any intelligent persons vote, but I think it is concerning that neither of our two major parties "get it", and it is left to a party often written off as hopeless idealists to have the best, most progressive policy on ICT issues. Regards, Greig McGill

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Upcoming WLUG committee meeting (1 week today)
by Meeting Reminder bot 13 Sep '05

13 Sep '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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mythtv installation day?
by Justin Hyde 13 Sep '05

13 Sep '05

I am trying to install mythtv on my ubuntu box, but without success, so I need help! I propose a mythtv installation day/evening, but will require some experts to come and help us novels. Are there any locals willing to help and advise? Depending on numbers interested I can host this event at my place, plenty of tables, power points, bbq etc I am thinking of the weekend of the 8th/9th October as that is only a couple of days before my jetstream quota renews itself, so we can blitz the connection and only suffer dial up speeds briefly. Any goers? Cheers Justin Hyde

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Re: [wlug] mythtv installation day?
by David Nicholls 12 Sep '05

12 Sep '05

Good lord! Telling him to look on the web when there is a bbq & broadband on offer... Bloody hell! I'd take the bbq any day mate. Pity I don't know anything about mythtv. Cheers... david From: Ian McDonald [mailto:imcdnzl(a)gmail.com] On 13/09/05, Justin Hyde <ajh28(a)waikato.ac.nz> wrote: > I am trying to install mythtv on my ubuntu box, but without success, > so I need help! > I presume you have looked at http://wlug.org.nz/MythTv ?

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ANNOUNCEMENT: Committee nominations as at 13 Sep
by Craig Box 12 Sep '05

12 Sep '05

Hi all, Current nominations for 2005-2006 committee =========================================== President DRUETT, Lindsay Vice President none Secretary BOX, Craig Treasurer none General Committee Members: LORIER, Perry PERRONE, Gian PURVIS, Jon MCDONALD, Ian New committee ============= All WLUG members are encouraged to stand for election onto the WLUG committee for 2006. The charter currently specifies the committee as consisting of a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and five general committee members. Because of the relatively large size of the committee compared to the organisation's membership, the outgoing committee intends to propose a change to the charter at the AGM. We wish to call for a vote on modifying Rule 7 to require only three general committee members, not five, and modifying Rule 6 such that the quorum for committee meetings is four, not five. To stand for the committee, please email secretary(a)wlug.org.nz. If you wish to nominate someone, please contact them and ask if they are willing to stand; if you would rather not contact them yourself, feel free to email me and I will pass your request on for you. People with uncertain futures (who may be leaving the Waikato) are encouraged not to let this stop them standing for election, but please only stand if you are committed and prepared to take on a relatively small workload. To be granted voting rights at the meeting, you must have been a paid member for 2004-2005, and signed a new membership form for '05-'06. (Remember, you have 90 days to pay.) Craig

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Warren Hughes (IBM) is out of the office.
by Warren Hughes 09 Sep '05

09 Sep '05

I will be out of the office starting 09/09/2005 and will not return until 12/09/2005. Hi, thanks for your email. I am away from the office today Friday 9/9, returning Monday 12/9. Have a great weekend, Warren.

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Re: [wlug] Mobile Repositories
by Ivan Potgieter 06 Sep '05

06 Sep '05

Aristotle Pagaltzis wrote: > All covered in http://www.wlug.org.nz/AptNotes Thanks, just what I needed. Ivan

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Wiki history page
by Craig Box 06 Sep '05

06 Sep '05

Hi, Searching back through mailing lists for dates and important events, I've knocked up a quick Wiki history page: http://www.wlug.org.nz/WikiHistory. People who remember things are encouraged to add them - this might eventually turn into a WlugHistory page as well. Craig

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New Zealand Linux Wiki redesign
by Craig Box 05 Sep '05

05 Sep '05

The New Zealand Linux wiki is a frontend into the data of Waikato Linux Users Group wiki. It is designed to open the amazing resource of user contributed information to participation from members of other LUGs, and free software/open source users and supporters in New Zealand. After a somewhat shaky start, I'm pleased to announce a redesigned theme for the site, now live at http://wiki.linux.net.nz/. The theme is the handiwork of Craig Box and Simon Bridge, based on the WLUG theme by Matt & Kat Brown, and is the culmination of suggestion and assistance from both the NZLUG community and WLUG committee members. On behalf of the WLUG, I would like to thank: * Carlos Varela, media designer (http://www.carlosvarela.net/) for the kiwi-in-circle logo * Simon Bridge, for his co-ordination and design work on the redesign of the original green theme * The NZLUG community, for their suggestions and design ideas * Everyone else on all the mailing lists for their criticisms, complaints and eventual support :) Please check out the site - http://wiki.linux.net.nz/ - now with a redesigned front page and new look. Remember, all content on this site is edited, and made available (except where otherwise noted) under a Creative Commons license. Craig

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Update on membership for 2005
by Craig Box 05 Sep '05

05 Sep '05

Hi everyone, I assume most of you skipped over the message I just posted because you've seen it before, but please don't skip this one. We currently have three nominations for committee members, and require at least seven. Please, if you think you have time to help out with the WLUG (it really doesn't take much), stand for nomination. If you're a current committee member who wishes to reapply, you should really already have told me. >:) The list of candidates is now at http://www.wlug.org.nz/WlugCommittee. Also, thanks to everyone who has filled out the survey already (http://survey.wlug.org.nz/) - responses will probably close a couple of days before the AGM, so a proper report can be written, but anyone who has yet to fill it out is encouraged to do so at their earliest convenience. We have had a number of good ideas pitched by people via the survey that I look forward to the LUG implementing. Remember also you also go into the draw to win a $100 Dick Smith Electronics voucher if you fill out the survey and (re)subscribe to WLUG at the AGM. Thanks for your time, Craig

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ANNOUNCEMENT: Annual General Meeting, 26 September
by Craig Box 05 Sep '05

05 Sep '05

In accordance with Rule 6 of the charter, I would like to announce to all members that the Waikato Linux Users Group (Incorporated) will be holding its Annual General Meeting on Monday, 26 September, 2005, at 7pm, at the regular meeting location of room LitB at the University of Waikato. New committee ============= All WLUG members are encouraged to stand for election onto the WLUG committee for 2006. The charter currently specifies the committee as consisting of a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and five general committee members. Because of the relatively large size of the committee compared to the organisation's membership, the outgoing committee intends to propose a change to the charter at the AGM. We wish to call for a vote on modifying Rule 7 to require only three general committee members, not five, and modifying Rule 6 such that the quorum for committee meetings is four, not five. To stand for the committee, please email secretary(a)wlug.org.nz. If you wish to nominate someone, please contact them and ask if they are willing to stand; if you would rather not contact them yourself, feel free to email me and I will pass your request on for you. People with uncertain futures (who may be leaving the Waikato) are encouraged not to let this stop them standing for election, but please only stand if you are committed and prepared to take on a relatively small workload. To be granted voting rights at the meeting, you must have been a paid member for 2004-2005, and signed a new membership form for '05-'06. (Remember, you have 90 days to pay.) Survey ====== I would also like to remind everyone about the first annual WLUG survey, and the chance to win a $100 Dick Smith Electronics voucher! All people associated with WLUG, paid members or not, are encouraged to fill out the survey at http://survey.wlug.org.nz/. No personal information is collected and all responses are totally anonymous. At the end of the survey you will be given a token; bring this to the AGM and sign up for the '05/'06 year, and you will be in to win the $100 voucher. Regards, Craig WLUG Secretary

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Mobile Repositories
by Ivan Potgieter 03 Sep '05

03 Sep '05

Hello all, I have recently upgraded to a larger HDD and I decided to install (Ubuntu) from scratch. This required all the updates and installation of all the additional packaged that I use. The problem is that I only have dialup Internet access and it took some time to download. I also have a requirement to update 2 non-networked PCs. I am using Ubuntu with Synaptic Package Manager, which works well, but I am not sure how it works 'behind the scenes'. The idea I have is to create a specialised repository that contains specific apps (or updates), which can be placed onto mobile media for installtion onto the non-networked PCs (as well as a being a backup). Can anyone out there shed some light on how to create such a repository or any other possibilities for installing packages onto the non-networked PCs? Some topics I love more info on are: * Where do packages stored when downloaded and how long do they remain there? * What is required for creating a repository? * How do configure Synaptic to access this new repository? Any thoughts / help welcome. Thanks, Ivan

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Acceptable use of the WLUG Mailing List
by Meeting Reminder bot 02 Sep '05

02 Sep '05

The WLUG Mailing List is the discussion-list extension of the Waikato Linux Users Group (Incorporated). As such, we expect members of this list to adhere to the principles espoused in the official WLUG Charter[1], in particular, Rule 6, which covers the activities on this mailing list. While this is an Acceptable Use Policy, the WLUG Committee do recognise the need for informal discussion among list members, and draconian administration is not the goal here. Please keep in mind, however, that your comments to this list do represent the WLUG, and while it is good to be seen as an organisation with a sense of humour, some comments may do major harm to our credibility as a serious advocate of GNU/Linux and all things Free Software/ Open Source related. List discussion should * be honest * accentuate the positive, without hyperbole or blatant misrepresentation * maintain a reasonable level of spelling and grammar * not indulge in ad hominem attacks * not continue inflammatory or abusive threads * not be unprofessional or petty, especially with respect to the names of other software companies * not promote or denigrate political, cultural, or religious views * not indulge in marketing or advertising, other than on a private sale basis, or advertising of jobs - which may be announced once only * not reproduce copyrighted material without permission from the copyright holder * not defame any person or organisation Posters who consistently violate these guidelines will be dealt with at the discretion of the List Maintainer. If you feel you have been unfairly dealt with, you have recourse to any member of the WLUG Committee[2]. Certain mailing list etiquette should also be maintained: * please use only plain text (not HTML) * reply inline or below when quoting, rather than on top * trim quotes (don't reply quoting a 10 page message with a single line of reply) If you have any questions, start reading at http://www.gweep.ca/~edmonds/usenet/ml-etiquette.html. These points have been established over a long time on this list. If you want to question them, please do it off list. As list users, use your discretion when pulling people up over etiquette - please reply off list, and if there is a serious breach, the list administrator will probably have dealt with it off-list already. [1] http://www.wlug.org.nz/WlugCharter [2] http://www.wlug.org.nz/WlugCommittee

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Re: [wlug] Announcing Planet WLUG
by swami 02 Sep '05

02 Sep '05

Matt Brown wrote: > WLUG now has a planet... It personalises the wiki and looks good. (And I especially enjoy the content.) Cheers, Sid. PS. apologies for cut 'n paste from archive and mucking up thread.

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Call for nominations for 2005/06 WLUG Executive Committee
by Greig McGill 02 Sep '05

02 Sep '05

Hi all, It's almost AGM time. Craig tells me that survey responses are coming along nicely, and that several people have said that they would stand for election to the WLUG Committee. To date, we have recieved no nominations, and time is growing short. If you wish to nominate someone, please get in contact with them and confirm their desire to be nominated. You may nominate yourself if you wish. When you have a confirmed, enthusiastic nominee, please email secretary(a)wlug.org.nz, and we will tally the nominations. Voting will be at the AGM. All continuing paid members are elligible to vote, as per our charter (http://www.wlug.org.nz/WlugCharter) I'd like to take this opportunity to announce that I will not be standing for the WLUG Executive again this year. It's been a great year as "The Fist", and I believe that the current committee has achieved a lot, but I can no longer commit the time or passion which I feel the job requires, and will thus be standing down. My final presidential role will be chairing the AGM, and I hope to see you all on the 26th. :) Thanks, Greig McGill President Waikato Linux Users Group Inc.

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[wlug] [Fwd: [nznog] Fwd: Important Event - ICT Leaders Debate, this Thursday evening]
by Matt Brown 31 Aug '05

31 Aug '05

This may be of interest to a number of people on this list. r2 is also planning to stream the debate and apparently the link to the stream will appear on http://www.internetnz.net.nz/forum/ sometime later this afternoon. Cheers -------- Forwarded Message -------- From: Richard Naylor <richard.naylor(a)citylink.co.nz> To: nznog(a)list.waikato.ac.nz Subject: [nznog] Fwd: Important Event - ICT Leaders Debate, this Thursday evening Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 15:23:22 +1200 In case some of you don't get this. >From: "Colin Jackson" <president(a)internetnz.net.nz> >To: "INZ Members Announce" <members-announce(a)internetnz.net.nz> >Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 14:54:33 +1200 > >InternetNZ ICT Leaders Election Forum 2005 > >This Thursday evening InternetNZ is convening an Election Forum, for >political parties to present and defend their policies relating to >information and communications technology policy. > >David Cunliffe MP (Labour Party), Maurice Williamson MP (National Party) >and Mikaere Curtis (Green Party) will face questions from a panel of >journalists (Paul Brislen, IDG / Computerworld; and Kate McLaughlin, >National Business Review) on where they see the future of this industry, >where they want to take it, and why. > >Date: Thursday 1 September 2005 > >Time: 7.00pm - 9.00pm > >Physical Venues: University of Auckland - Access Grid Suite (Main Venue) >and Wellington - Media Lab Conference Room, L2, 205-207 Victoria St. > >Webcast/Chatlink : Link page will be available at 6pm this afternoon at >www.internetnz.net.nz/forum, with links to actual webcast and chat posted >on Thursday. > >Moderated by barrister Peter Dengate Thrush, the debate will commence with >an hour-long session where the speakers respond to pre-prepared questions >covering the wide range of issues relating to ICT and telecommunications >policy. > >In the second hour with the politicians will take questions from the >audience, channelled through the journalist panel, and live questions from >the Wellington audience. Online participants will be able to participate >in the debate through submitting questions via a web based chat channel. > >Communications between Auckland and Wellington will be by means of an >Access Grid. The Access Grid technology provides realtime audio and video >links between the two sites, making it an effective way to let audiences >in different geographic locations interact in real time. > >The only attendees in the Auckland venue will be the Moderator, the >journalists, and of course, the politicians. Outside the room will be the >technical providers, the feedback co-ordinators and the politicians >advisory teams. There will not be any general audience at this venue. > >There is a limited amount of space in the physical venue in Wellington for >InternetNZ members to attend the event. Obviously we want to have a >capacity audience at the venue. If you would like to attend, please advise >office(a)Internetnz.net.nz as soon as possible. Physical attendance will be >allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. For members outside of >Wellington, we would value your on-line attendance and questions. > >This InternetNZ Election Forum provides a unique opportunity for you to >put questions to the politicians who will be making critical decisions >about the future regulatory environment for communications and information >technology in New Zealand. We welcome your involvement. We feel that this >"proof of concept" of the technologies may lead to a whole new method of >engagement in political discussions for special interest groups wishing to >engage in detailed debates in specialised areas of policy. Please help us >make this event a success. > >Colin Jackson >President - InternetNZ _______________________________________________ NZNOG mailing list NZNOG(a)list.waikato.ac.nz http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/nznog -- Matt Brown matt(a)mattb.net.nz Mob +64 275 611 544 www.mattb.net.nz

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IBM Speed-start program enhanced with more trial code and content
by Craig Box 31 Aug '05

31 Aug '05

I've had a couple of these DVD kits sent to our library in the past. I probably won't bother again, but if anyone is interested in acquiring developer stuff from IBM, please read below. Craig Dear Developer, The IBM Speed-start your Linux Apps program was designed to get you started using IBM software tools and middleware by collecting the trial code, technical information and support in one place. Thousands of you participated in this program and gave us suggestions on how to make it even better. We've replaced the Speed-start program with: * A self-directed evaluation program that lets you get the technical content you want whenever you want it. * More IBM trial development tools and middleware for direct download or delivered on DVDs at no charge. * Support from IBM product experts who answer your technical questions. To get started, visit the featured downloads section of developerWorks at http://ibm.com/developerworks/ecma/campaign/er.jsp?id=102319 Here you will find IBM's most popular trials and focused technical content. If you wish to receive the new Linux SEK available at no charge, visit us at: http://ibm.com/developerworks/ecma/campaign/er.jsp?id=102320 The new SEK is available to assist you with your Linux application development efforts. It includes the latest trial products from IBM DB2, Lotus and WebSphere, as well as, new versions of the IBM Rational desktop development products for Linux, such as: -- IBM Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software V6.0 -- IBM Rational Functional Tester V6.1.0 -- IBM Rational Software Architect V6.0 -- IBM Rational Software Modeler V6.0 -- IBM Rational Web Developer for WebSphere Software V6.0 Now it's easier than ever to get your hands on IBM trial software and the technical resources to go with it-all in one convenient location. Sincerely, The IBM developerWorks Team mailto:dwinfo(a)us.ibm.com

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Wireless performance
by Oliver Jones 29 Aug '05

29 Aug '05

I've been twiddling with my wireless router settings and nothing I've changed so far has improved performance. Some appeared to degrade it a little. I'm still only getting 120kbytes/sec in gFTP/SSH. Which translates to about 1Mbit/sec. This is supposed to be a 54Mbit device. Come someone else with a 802.11g wireless network do a little throughput test and let me know what sort of data rate they get. Thanks.

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New dedicated server,
by Oliver Jones 27 Aug '05

27 Aug '05

Hey peeps. I'm thinking about getting a replacement dedicated server. I was thinking of getting a server from ServerBeach.com. They offer bother Debian 3.0 and FC3. I was think from a maintenance perspective it might be wiser for me to use Debian. Though now that 3.1 (Sarge) is out I'd prefer to use that. Is it possible and/or easy to upgrade 3.0 to 3.1 via apt-get dist-upgrade? Advice, experiences, etc appreciated. Regards

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Please help us by filling out the 2005 WLUG Survey
by Craig Box 27 Aug '05

27 Aug '05

Hi everyone, If you have some spare time over the weekend, please consider filling out the WLUG survey at http://survey.wlug.org.nz/ We have had around 20 submissions so far, and we have received some excellent feedback on what we should be doing differently. Some of the suggestions will be brought in from as early as the AGM. There are over 150 people subscribed to this list. It would be great to end up with a similar number of responses, so we can be sure that the overall answers are representative of the opinions of everyone involved with WLUG. Remember, all people in any way associated with WLUG, paid members or not, are encouraged to fill out the survey. Everyone who fills in the survey and then signs up or renews their membership at the AGM is in the draw to win a $100 Dick Smith Electronics voucher! No personal information is collected and all responses are totally anonymous. That URL again: http://survey.wlug.org.nz/ Regards, Craig WLUG Secretary

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wlug server moving
by John R. McPherson 25 Aug '05

25 Aug '05

Hi, the wlug server (hoiho) will be moving location and changing IP address either today or tomorrow, and obviously this will affect connectivity such as the wlug website and email to @wlug.org.nz addresses. If at some stage you notice you can't reach the server, Don't Panic. This because our hosts are changing premises. John

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Open source equivalent to Maple/Mathematica
by Ian McDonald 25 Aug '05

25 Aug '05

Folks, Does anybody have personal experience of open source equivalents? I see Maxima, Mathomatic and mupad on the web but wondering if anybody has used... I am looking at packages that do algebraic manipulation, solving and 3D graphing. On the surface Maxima looks quite good for this. Ian

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RSS feed off RecentEdits page on WLUG wiki
by Ian McDonald 25 Aug '05

25 Aug '05

There is an RSS feed mentioned on this page with the URL below: http://www.wlug.org.nz/RecentEdits?format=rss It doesn't give anything though... Can this be fixed or removed? Regards, Ian

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Transparent bridge ADSL modem
by Craig Box 25 Aug '05

25 Aug '05

Hi all, I am looking for a reliable, good quality ADSL device that can be used as a transparent bridge to a Linux machine. Some of the Linux machines we have run as IPSEC heads, and by far the best way to make sure that the device correctly forwards packets on certain protocols (not ports) would be to have it transparent. Ultimately what I want to have is this: internet -- adsl modem -- [linux (eth1: public IP) ] [linux (eth0: internal IP)] - nat The closest I've got to this before is the M1122 on PPTP, but I would rather the bridge was at ethernet level if possible. Can anyone make any recommendations on devices that do this? Reliability is far more important than price (these will be for business customers) and I would prefer something that has firmware upgrades available without a support contract. Thanks, Craig

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Re: [wlug] Transparent bridge ADSL modem
by Pete 24 Aug '05

24 Aug '05

Hi Craig, > internet -- adsl modem -- [linux (eth1: public IP) ] > [linux (eth0: internal IP)] - nat > > Can anyone make any recommendations on devices that do this? > Reliability is far more important than price (these will be for > business customers) and I would prefer something that has firmware > upgrades available without a support contract. > We use an Alcaltel SpeedTouch-Home DSL modem to get a real-world-IP on our eth1, but it too uses a PPP-to-PPTP relay like the Nokia M1122 you mentioned. I am not aware of any DSL modems that do PPP-to-Ethernet relaying. I'm not even sure how you would implement this in the DSL modem. I guess the eth interface of the DSL modem would have to emulate the IP of the upstream side of the PPP link, and provide some sort of DHCP server to assign that IP as default-gateway to the downstream client). Regards, Pete

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Knoppix 4 DVD
by Camster342 24 Aug '05

24 Aug '05

Does anyone here play with Knoppix? The Knoppix 4.0 DVD is out on various bittorrent sources, but they're all international. Does anyone know of a NZ-only torrent or even ftp source to get it from? -- Cameron

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ANNOUNCEMENT: Annual General Meeting, 26 September
by Craig Box 24 Aug '05

24 Aug '05

In accordance with Rule 6 of the charter, I would like to announce to all members that the Waikato Linux Users Group (Incorporated) will be holding its Annual General Meeting on Monday, 26 September, 2005, at 7pm, at the regular meeting location of room LitB at the University of Waikato. New committee ============= All WLUG members are encouraged to stand for election onto the WLUG committee for 2006. The charter currently specifies the committee as consisting of a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and five general committee members. Because of the relatively large size of the committee compared to the organisation's membership, the outgoing committee intends to propose a change to the charter at the AGM. We wish to call for a vote on modifying Rule 7 to require only three general committee members, not five, and modifying Rule 6 such that the quorum for committee meetings is four, not five. To stand for the committee, please email secretary(a)wlug.org.nz. If you wish to nominate someone, please contact them and ask if they are willing to stand; if you would rather not contact them yourself, feel free to email me and I will pass your request on for you. People with uncertain futures (who may be leaving the Waikato) are encouraged not to let this stop them standing for election, but please only stand if you are committed and prepared to take on a relatively small workload. To be granted voting rights at the meeting, you must have been a paid member for 2004-2005, and signed a new membership form for '05-'06. (Remember, you have 90 days to pay.) Survey ====== I would also like to announce the first annual WLUG survey, and the chance to win a $100 Dick Smith Electronics voucher! All people associated with WLUG, paid members or not, are encouraged to fill out the survey at http://survey.wlug.org.nz/. No personal information is collected and all responses are totally anonymous. At the end of the survey you will be given a token; bring this to the AGM and sign up for the '05/'06 year, and you will be in to win the $100 voucher. Regards, Craig WLUG Secretary

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Some Ubuntu synaptic ftp sites no longer available on my machine
by Roderick Aldridge 23 Aug '05

23 Aug '05

When I start Synaptic I get the following message on startup: W: Couldn't stat source package list ftp://ftp.nerim.net stable/main Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.nerim.net_debian-marillat_dists_stable_main_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory) W: Couldn't stat source package list ftp://ftp.nerim.net testing/main Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.nerim.net_debian-marillat_dists_testing_main_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory) How do I restore these? I expect I missed updating something during the Debian update. Roderick Aldridge

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Anyone in the need for any Digium X100P Cards ?
by Drew Broadley 23 Aug '05

23 Aug '05

I'm going to make an order soon, $40 each. Cheers, Drew

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Re: [wlug] Making Wireless go faster.
by jaytee＠clear.net.nz 22 Aug '05

22 Aug '05

Regarding metal objects that may impede the signal: I thought of wrapping an empty toilet roll (or similar) with aluminium foil then adjusting the size to act as a collector/reflector and maybe getting some signal gain if placed in a strategic location. As this been tested or did I have a bad idea?? Regards John

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help for hamilton linux newbies
by David McNab 22 Aug '05

22 Aug '05

Hi all, I'm a Debian user of 4 years, and have just recently moved into Hamilton from a certain torturous urban sprawl north of the Bombays. I've been meeting lots of people here, and every time the topic of computers comes up, and I say I've been 100% virus-free for 4 years, people ask me how I've done it, and what they need to do to make the switch to Linux themselves. Does WLUG have any official points of contact for linux newbies seeking to kick their proprietary software addictions? For instance, is there a programme of regular installfests, or linux for newbies meetings? -- Cheers David

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RE: [wlug] Making Wireless go faster.
by Matthew Browne (DSL HN) 21 Aug '05

21 Aug '05

http://cgi.ebay.com/WiFi-Speed-Spray-Increases-Wi-Fi-Data-Throughput-FAS T_W0QQitemZ5798643288QQcategoryZ61815QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewIt em

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WLUG Meeting is tonight
by Meeting Reminder bot 21 Aug '05

21 Aug '05

The WLUG meeting is this evening ---------------------------------------------------------------------- WLUG Meeting - 22 August 2005 Location: University of Waikato, http://www.wlug.org.nz/LitB Time: 7pm DanielLawson is giving a talk on the current state of Wireless Security, covering WEP, WPA, 802.11i and more.

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Making Wireless go faster.
by Oliver Jones 21 Aug '05

21 Aug '05

Hi Guys. I've got a 802.11g Wireless card and Linksys WAG54G. I've also got my "NAS/Media Centre" connected to the WAG via wired 100Mbit Ethernet. Now, "G" wireless is supposed to be 54Mbit per second. Which if you take it at face value should give you around 6Mb a second transfers. However whenever I'm transfering to and from my NAS I'd be luck to break 200kb a second. Now I know the "advertised" speed of 802.11g isn't close to 6mb/sec but I would have thought I'd get faster than 200kb a second. Why is it so slow? How can I make it faster? eth1 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"FlindersLAN" Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: 00:13:10:9A:DD:9C Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off Power Management:off Link Quality=94/100 Signal level=-41 dBm Noise level=-81 dBm Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0 Tx excessive retries:1 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:5 I am using WEP. Turning this off would make things faster I imagine. How much of a difference though? Regards -- Oliver Jones <oliver(a)deeperdesign.com> Deeper Design

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book donation
by Michael Honeyfield 19 Aug '05

19 Aug '05

I have 11 books ranging from UNIX to Netware that I am no longer wanting. They are old'ish so I have no idea how usefull they might be, but figure that wlug could add them to their library of books. If the lug would like them, contact me off list. Cheers Mike

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WLUG Meeting is on Monday
by Meeting Reminder bot 18 Aug '05

18 Aug '05

The WLUG meeting is on Monday ---------------------------------------------------------------------- WLUG Meeting - 22 August 2005 Location: University of Waikato, LitB Time: 7pm DanielLawson is giving a talk on the current state of Wireless Security. ---- In the MeetingTopics category

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