- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

suse linux goes community
by David Nicholls 08 Aug '05

08 Aug '05

you might find this interesting... <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050802-5162.html> SuSE goes community 8/2/2005 11:40:34 PM, by Ryan Paul <mailto:segphault(a)sbcglobal.net> The community dynamic perpetually stimulates the progress, development, and communication that enable distributions like Gentoo, Fedora, and Ubuntu to maintain their position at the pinnacle of Linux popularity. In an attempt to create a community of its own, Novell plans to announce <http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1843097,00.asp> the creation of an OpenSuSE community at LinuxWorld in San Francisco. Novell intends to make the entire body of SuSE Linux source code available to the public by the end of 2006 via its future OpenSuse.org web site. Novell believes that collaboration with the Linux community will substantially benefit Novell as well as Linux developers and consumers. Novell's open source marketing director, Greg Mancusi-Ungaro says "We're trying to make it easier for application developers to come to Suse, create forks, create packages and build the software." Source code accessibility will bring new developers into the fold, which could potentially yield exceptional new technologies. It will also broaden the base of active testers, which will enable Novell to squish bugs faster. Despite plans to make the new, fully open incarnation SuSE Linux widely available at no charge via Internet downloads and CD give-aways, Novell will also sell OpenSuSE in boxed sets. Distribution and availability are key in this game, and the marketing minds at Novell are well aware of it. According to Mancusi-Ungaro, Novell previously "made [SuSE] not widely available--just retail stores or a packaged download from an FTP. It's not the easiest way to gain a large user community." He says that Novell now plans to "give away thousands [of copies] at user group events." Migration towards a community model is always a very positive change for everyone involved. The value of a strong community is possibly best seen in Ubuntu (which means "I am what I am because of who we all are"), a widely popular Linux distribution that places an incomparable emphasis on collaboration. Ubuntu was named best community of the year, and best distribution of the year in the 2004 Ars Technica Linux Awards <http://arstechnica.com/columns/linux/linux-20050102.ars> and continues to be a favorite of the Linux.Ars crew. By establishing a well-knit community of users and developers, Novell hopes that SuSE will be able to achieve the level of success and notoriety attained by open distributions like Ubuntu. SuSE has always been a popular commercial distribution, and now by actively engaging its fans in the development process, it could become one of the new Linux leaders, both on corporate desktops and in the homes of individual users. Novell is already the proud custodian of countless imperative Linux technologies like Mono, Evolution, Hula and Beagle. OpenSuSE will give Novell even more leverage as it struggles against fierce competitors like RedHat and Mandriva. The notion of an open SuSE is not a new one. In May, Jason Perlow wrote an article for Linux Magazine in which he states: "It's pretty darn clear to me that to make mojo, SuSE Linux Professional needs to look deep into its roots and re-birth itself as a public, open-source project similar to Fedora." Now that Novell has heeded the call of the community, SuSE will have an opportunity to grow and evolve in ways that it never could before, and Novell will have many excellent opportunities to capitalize on increased community interest. David Nicholls Computer Support Consultant d.nicholls at waikato.ac.nz School of Science & Engineering / Dept of Chemistry The University of Waikato Hamilton, New Zealand

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Software Info, Wiki with file attachments?
by Andrew Thrift 08 Aug '05

08 Aug '05

Hi, Just wondering if anyone knows of a PHP based wiki that allows users to attach binary files to a page. e.g. a page called "ServicePack4" could have a description and attached a copy of Service Pack 4. Users would also be able to attach files themselves. I have a use for it internal to our company for keeping track of information relating to client sites. Regards, Andrew Thrift

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RE: [wlug] Announcing Planet WLUG
by Lindsay Druett 07 Aug '05

07 Aug '05

Looks cool :) I could get the person of the month up and running again :) > They're a great way to get a summarised view of what is happening in a > community. > > WLUG's planet can be found at http://planet.wlug.org.nz/ surprisingly > enough. > > If you have a a blog and want to be added let me know.

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Announcing Planet WLUG
by Matt Brown 06 Aug '05

06 Aug '05

Hi, WLUG now has a planet. If you've not heard of one of these before it's basically a blog aggregator. Some of the more famous planets are at http://planet.gnome.org/ http://planet.debian.org/ http://planet.ubuntu.com/ They're a great way to get a summarised view of what is happening in a community. WLUG's planet can be found at http://planet.wlug.org.nz/ surprisingly enough. If you have a a blog and want to be added let me know. Cheers -- Matt Brown matt(a)mattb.net.nz Mob +64 275 611 544 www.mattb.net.nz

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Reminder: linux.conf.au 2006 - Call For Papers
by Mike Beattie 05 Aug '05

05 Aug '05

2006 - Dunedin, NZ! linux.conf.au is the annual Australian Linux technical conference, and is one of the largest gatherings of users and developers of Free and Open Source Software in the Southern Hemisphere. It is an opportunity for developers and groups to present their ideas amongst peers, and for the Free Software and Open Source communities to gather in general. Summary: A gentle reminder that the Call for Papers is open, and there's only one month remaining for submissions! http://lca2006.linux.org.au/cfp.php The 2006 conference is being held in Dunedin, New Zealand, at The University of Otago[1]. More information can be found on the conference website: http://lca2006.linux.org.au/ Call for papers: The organisers of linux.conf.au 2006 would like to invite you to submit a paper for presentation at one of the world's leading Linux community conferences. Most presentations will be of a technical nature, but those covering legal, educational, organisational, community or similar aspects of open source software will also be welcome. Promotional presentations, commercial advertisements, sales pitches and their like are not appropriate for this conference. Papers on the following topics are encouraged: * The Linux kernel, filesystems and networking * Databases and storage * Programming languages and tools * Linux on the desktop: productivity, groupware and GUIs * Multimedia, audio, video, music and games * Security * Linux deployments, practical experience and war stories * Linux on unusual platforms: embedded systems, virtual systems, handhelds and very large systems * Distributions, management and standardization * Other open source projects We are open to a broader range of topics as well, even non-Linux based projects. So, submit it to us anyway! Please note however, that all presentations must be based on 'open source' software and projects. We have two (very different) main presentation formats: 120+ minute interactive tutorials and 50 minute seminars. You may also wish to participate in a miniconf, lightning talk, BOF session, or present a poster. ** Submission Guidelines Abstracts are required for paper, tutorial and work in progress presentations. Abstracts should be up to 400 words and be submitted to the Paper Review Committee via the web page: http://lca2006.linux.org.au/cfp/ Submission requires pre-registration as an Author, providing the following information: * Author's full name (and preferred handle, if any) * Author's complete email address * Author's affiliation with commercial or relevant organisations * Author's postal address * Author's telephone and/or mobile numbers, with area and country codes. * Author's short biography, in around 1 - 3 paragraphs. * Whether travel and accommodation assistance will be required Abstracts and biographies should be submitted as plain text. The final paper should be submitted in an appropriate open format, such as 7-bit ASCII text, HTML, DocBook or LaTeX. Any featured software in papers must be available under a licence compatible with the Open Source Definition[2]. Any papers that are accompanied by non-disclosure agreement forms will be rejected. All successful papers must be eligible for republication on-line and on distribution media given to conference attendees. linux.conf.au requires publication rights to accepted papers, including the publication of the audio proceedings as well as publication and reproduction rights to any video filmed during the presentations. These rights are non-exclusive. Copyright ownership is retained by the author. Submitting an abstract indicates understanding of and consent to these conditions. In the event that you miss one of the deadlines we reserve the right to revoke any offer to present your paper. We take having the paper for the conference proceedings very seriously and late submissions place an undue burden on our formatting team. ** Travel and Accommodation Assistance Some financial assistance is available for speakers' travel and accommodation in cases of need. Please indicate in the appropriate place during registration as an Author if this is the case. Financial assistance may be withheld if final complete submissions aren't received by the date specified above. Dates to Remember: * CFP Opened: Tuesday July 12, 2005 * Abstracts Due: Tuesday September 5, 2005 * Notifications by Review Committee begin: Wednesday September 20, 2005 * Final Complete Submissions Due: Friday December 1, 2005 * Conference begins: Monday January 23, 2006 Please feel free to forward this announcement to your local LUG, or any other person or group that would be interested! [1]: http://www.otago.ac.nz/ [2]: http://www.opensource.org/osd.html Regards, Mike Beattie, linux.conf.au 2006 Organisers

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Trying to contact Bryce Utting
by zcat 04 Aug '05

04 Aug '05

If Bryce is on the list or if anyone here knows how to get hold of him, please tell him to give me a call, 8551826 thanks..

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wlug server (hoiho)
by John R. McPherson 02 Aug '05

02 Aug '05

Before people start noticing and complaining, there is currently a problem with the server due to a misconfigured firewall. Not sure when it will be brought back up - Craig M (who's hosting it) doesn't seem to be around at the moment. John

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Waikato Linux Users Group Inc. Statement on discuss@meta.net.nz
by Greig McGill 02 Aug '05

02 Aug '05

Waikato Linux Users Group Inc. Statement on discuss(a)meta.net.nz =============================================================== Tuesday, 2nd August 2005 WLUG affirms the goals listed in our Interim Statement dated 26 July 2005 on the formation of a National Linux Body and encourages all interested parties from around the country to participate in the discussion on the mailing list setup for that purpose. -- Greig McGill President Waikato Linux Users Group Inc.

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Invitation to participate in discussion about a national Linux body
by Matt Brown 01 Aug '05

01 Aug '05

Tue, 2 August 2005 Recently, discussion has taken place in a number of forums around the creation of a national Linux body in New Zealand. We (the undersigned) envisage a national Linux organisation for New Zealand which would be very closely modelled on the successful Linux Australia. In particular, such an organisation would have the following broad goals: * Support, resource and promote local LUGs[1] * Provide national co-ordination services (speaker organisation, etc) * Provide web/email/mailing list hosting for LUGs where required * Seek funding from corporates and other interested parties in order to provide financial support to LUGs and individuals to foster F/OSS[2] development efforts and support attendance at F/OSS conferences. * Partner with organisations like NZOSS[3] to advocate and educate the community (and particularly the Government) on the benefits of Linux and F/OSS. * Partner with organisations like Linux AU to support and enhance the LCA conference. * Provide SIG[4] mailing lists and support services for NZ F/OSS users The national organisation would not perform the functions of a LUG itself, instead it would: * Provide a central location where users could be connected to their local LUG * Provide co-ordination and communication between individual LUGs * Undertake national initiatives supported by all LUGs * Aggregate LUG opinion and present a unified voice to the Government and other industry groups. * Support the formation of local LUGs in areas where they currently do not exist. We believe that to be successful such a group must be separate to local LUGs but have strong relationships with each of the LUGs around the country. A mailing list has been setup at discuss(a)meta.net.nz; see https://secure.meta.net.nz/mailman/listinfo/discuss for details on how to subscribe. All interested parties are invited to join this list and participate in the disucssion. In particular, we would like to see robust discussion of the above goals and also of the scope of the organisation: * What should the name of the organisation be (LinuxNZ, NZ Linux)? * Should the group seek to enhance an already existing group (eg NZOSS)? * Should it seek to support other Free Operating Systems (*BSD, etc)? * Should it seek to support F/OSS on other Operating Systems, eg Mozilla / OpenOffice.org on Windows? * How should the organisation be organised legally? * What should the nature of the group's relationships with NZOSS and Linux Australia be? Our intention is to solicit opinions until about 1 October 2005. At that point we would hope to be able to be in a position to put together a more formal proposal to refine the discussion. All going well it would be great to be able to hold the inaugural AGM of the new organisation during LCA'06 in Dunedin in the final week of January 2006. We look forward to seeing you on the discussion list. Kind Regards -- Craig Box <linux(a)dubculture.co.nz> Matt Brown <matt(a)mattb.net.nz> John McPherson <jrm21(a)cs.waikato.ac.nz> Footnotes 1. Linux User Group(s) 2. Free and Open Source Software 3. NZ Open Source Society 4. Special Interest Group

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Interesting article on software patents
by Craig Box 01 Aug '05

01 Aug '05

Following the presentation from Denise Tyrer-Harding from Pipers on Monday, I thought some of you might be interested in reading an article from the New York Times on software patents: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/31/business/yourmoney/31digi.html?pagewanted… (If you're one of those people who care about online registration, try using 'cypherpunk' as the username and password. Or bouncing through Google. Or adding &referrer=something to the end of the URL. Or using bugmenot.com I don't know, I signed up.) Craig

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Fedora, RPM, and repositories.
by Oliver Jones 31 Jul '05

31 Jul '05

Hi Folks. I've recently upgraded from FC3 to FC4 on my laptop and I'd like to ask about others experiences with RPMs and the different repositories out there. Personally I think the whole Fedora repository thing is getting a little messy. At the moment I'm just using the FC, Fedora Extras, Livna.org, nRRPMS-mono and JPackage repositories because they are all "compatible" with each other. However there are a number of other repositories out there like Dag Weirs, Dries, ATrpms etc that have lots of neat stuff but tend to be fairly incompatible with FC+FE. Ie, they duplicate packages found in Core or Extras. I'd be interested to hear about how others are dealing with repo incompatibility issues when using Fedora. I'd also like to hear about any advocacy or repository merging stuff that is going on that anyone knows about. Regards

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Philip Hazel's Exim talk at WLUG
by Craig Box 31 Jul '05

31 Jul '05

Hi everyone, On the 1st of February we were happy to have Philip Hazel, author of Exim and PCRE, present to WLUG (see http://www.wlug.org.nz/MeetingTopics.2005-02-01 for the writeup). The meeting was videoed and was then encoded by R2 in Wellington. You can find it with the NZNOG talks at http://www.r2.co.nz/20050203/, else a direct link is at http://www.r2.co.nz/20050203/p-hazel.asx. Be warned, the entire talk comes in at about 650mb. If anyone is interested I might be able to get a couple of copies on CD at the next meeting. With the win32 codecs (w32codecs package from Marillat on Ubuntu) you can play this stream with mplayer. Regards, Craig

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Acceptable use of the WLUG Mailing List
by Meeting Reminder bot 31 Jul '05

31 Jul '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] Ubuntu apt widget and name issue(Hoary 5.04)
by jaytee＠clear.net.nz 29 Jul '05

29 Jul '05

---- Original Message Follows ----- > > I have checked for case errors and tried a variety of ways > of putting the pass it simply does not work. > There are three likely outcomes after I type a > password.<enter> > 1 The widget disappears and nothing further happens. > 2 The widget returns "Failed to run < name of programme> > Child terminated with 1 status" > 3 returns a password error message (least likely) > Regards John Lets review this. Warty then Hoary 5.04 It took me a long time to get this distro installed. I think the main reason for this was that I was a bit afraid of losing my Ntfs partion (XP win with a working 54m wireless card) so I allowed the auto partion to do its thing. What happened was the install went ahead but failed right at the end because there was no / root partion. auto partition made a 8.7 gig non root ext3 and a 512 bootable swap. The way I finally overcame this error by reinstalling but choosing the "expert" mode (Yep, John the expert) I could then choose a partion with a /root I still stayed with the two partitions 8.7gig /ext3 and 512meg bootable swap. the result of this was that I got (for the first time ) a non crippled but not quite fully funtional Ubuntu laptop. the problems that I _KNOW_a little about are 1.. The last thing about the install was a message telling me to become su and run cron. I do not know what the actual message said or how to recover the message in order to read it 2.. The widgets that require a user pass word are returning "fail" with a child <n> error 3.. I have no sounds because I have not joined the correct group yet. In an attempt to get this right I have downloaded a several thousand more words to read from a number of Debian areas with a view to doing yet another, perhaps even more successfull instal. If any Wlug members would like to add some helpful comments (on or off list) I would appreciatte their input as I am determined to do this this thing at some time of my life.. Regards John

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Wiki Commons licence. ATTN: Criag
by DrWho? 29 Jul '05

29 Jul '05

Got an email, I think, about approving the few mods I made to the Wiki. Can you send it again? Thanks.

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Re: [wlug] Knoppix, apt
by Camster342 29 Jul '05

29 Jul '05

> > 1. Working out from my knoppix machine at work which packages it's > > going to need. 2. saving that list somehow, going home, downloading > > all of the packages at home. 3. Writing a CDRW or something with those > > packages. 4. Configuring apt on my machine at work to get all of the > > packages it needs from the CDRW, rather than the net. > I have a script setup to do this type of thing (although in reverse) > it basically consists of ... > [snip] Thanks very much! This was exactly what I needed. -- Cameron

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Unsubscribed posts
by Craig Box 28 Jul '05

28 Jul '05

Oliver Jones writes: On Tue, 2005-07-26 at 09:53 +1200, Matt Brown wrote: > On Tue, 2005-07-26 at 08:16 +1200, jaytee(a)clear.net.nz wrote: > > When I run update-manager as root I get > > "(synaptic:7648): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_widget_destroy: > > assertion `GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed > > Note that if you're running update-manager from a console window then > you can probably safely ignore these messages. They do indicate a bug in > the application but it's almost certainly non fatal and will just be a > memory leak or something. GTK is amazingly anal. Soooo many Gnome apps generate these sorts of messages. You would think that developers would get rid of them. I certainly would if I were writing GTK/Gnome software. But that is just me. But then lots of Gnome apps (even "professional" ones like Evolution) commonly crash. I love Linux, but for all the "linux is so stable" rhetoric out there, GUI apps in Linux are not always the best. Which is why more GUI apps should not be written in C/C++. More python I say. Even Java would be a good option now with the way GCJ is maturing and the Gnome/Java bindings. I would also give props to Mono as that looks pretty cool but until it is on safer legal ground I can't. Regards -- Michael Honeyfield writes: > You know, if they actually bothered coming to hamilton I'd actually go. > Seing as I use suse linux 9.2 and all as does the uni in certain areas. I have asked Andreas if the content will be made downloadable from Novell. Yes, Hamilton seems to be missed all too often. I would certainly attend also as I am a user of suse also, home and work. Mike -- Both of these people posted from an unsubscribed address. Please remember that *messages posted from an unsubscribed address are dropped on the floor* (or realistically, to my Bounces folder :) I can't recover them, I can only forward them like this. If you are likely to find yourself in this situation, feel free to subscribe as many addresses as you need as 'nomail' - they will not receive any messages but they can post them. See the link in the footer below if you need any more info. listadminnyCraig

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Knoppix, apt
by Camster342 28 Jul '05

28 Jul '05

Hi people, first time poster here... Okay, this is somewhat difficult to explain, but I'll try my best. I use Knoppix 3.8.1 at work, but I cannot get good internet access (it keeps randomly cutting off downloads larger than about 500K), and I want to update/replace a couple of packages, but I know that doing this is going to require a whole lot of dependencies. First of all I want to replace OpenOffice.org with an english version (this knoppix only came with the german version). And then I want to upgrade KDE from 3.3.2 to 3.4.1. I want to do this by 1. Working out from my knoppix machine at work which packages it's going to need. 2. saving that list somehow, going home, downloading all of the packages at home. 3. Writing a CDRW or something with those packages. 4. Configuring apt on my machine at work to get all of the packages it needs from the CDRW, rather than the net. Has anyone had to something like this before? The ones that I think I need pointers on are going to be 1 and 4. Anyone know how I would go about those in particular? -- Cameron

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RE: [wlug] Ubuntu apt widget and name issue(Hoary 5.04)
by jaytee＠clear.net.nz 28 Jul '05

28 Jul '05

I have checked for case errors and tried a variety of ways of putting the pass it simply does not work. There are three likely outcomes after I type a password.<enter> 1 The widget disappears and nothing further happens. 2 The widget returns "Failed to run < name of programme> Child terminated with 1 status" 3 returns a password error message (least likely) Regards John

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RE: [wlug] FW: Novell CHOICE Roadshow
by David Nicholls 27 Jul '05

27 Jul '05

You know, if they actually bothered coming to hamilton I'd actually go. Seing as I use suse linux 9.2 and all as does the uni in certain areas. Cheers... david -----Original Message----- From: Craig Box [mailto:craig(a)dubculture.co.nz] Subject: [wlug] FW: Novell CHOICE Roadshow (originally from nzlug mailing list) Hello fellow NZLugers! The Novell Choice Linux Roadshow is starting this week and on the following dates we are in the following cities. Please register for free for the event with Kristi kwildish(a)novell.com. 28th July Christchurch 2nd August Wellington 10th August Auckland The Agenda: Morning 8:30-9:00 Registration with Tea/Coffee/Muffins 9:00 - 9:15 Introduction to event and positioning of CHOICE - Matthew Christie, Country Manager of Novell 9:15 - 9:45 Novell Linux Desktop, Workgroup Linux and Management - Novell, Andreas Girardet 9:45-10:15 The Data Centre and LINUX - David Woolford Oracle 10:15-10:45 Linux Reference Architecture - Buddika Aluwihare, HP 10:45- 11:00 The Cathedral and the Bizarre. Why Linux has become such an interest. - David Woolford Oracle 11:00-11:15 The Open Source Community. What is it and how to get involved - Andreas Girardet Novell 11:15-11:45 How to Adopt Linux- what, where and how to start! - OSS 11:45 - noon Close of event - Matthew Christie 1:00-2:00 Hands on workshops begin. 50 people split in 2 groups. Desktop in one room, Oracle in another Regards, Andreas Girardet Consulting Architect Novell, Inc.

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"Bus Error" when running apt-get, and how it went away.
by Glyn Webster 26 Jul '05

26 Jul '05

At the last meeting I told some friendly people I had problems with 'synaptic', 'aptitude', and 'apt-get' all crashing with a "Bus Error" on my Ubuntu installation. They all began to work again after I ran 'dselect'; I assume 'dselect' somehow repaired the package database while updating it. Yay: a grave bug in the APT package management system has been hidden away until Next Time! :-) I mention this because the friendly people (whose names I'm sorry I can't remember) said to describe my problem again on the mailing list. -- Glyn Webster ~ Simplicity Himself.

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FW: Novell CHOICE Roadshow
by Craig Box 26 Jul '05

26 Jul '05

(originally from nzlug mailing list) Hello fellow NZLugers! The Novell Choice Linux Roadshow is starting this week and on the following dates we are in the following cities. Please register for free for the event with Kristi kwildish(a)novell.com. 28th July Christchurch 2nd August Wellington 10th August Auckland The Agenda: Morning 8:30-9:00 Registration with Tea/Coffee/Muffins 9:00 - 9:15 Introduction to event and positioning of CHOICE - Matthew Christie, Country Manager of Novell 9:15 - 9:45 Novell Linux Desktop, Workgroup Linux and Management - Novell, Andreas Girardet 9:45-10:15 The Data Centre and LINUX - David Woolford Oracle 10:15-10:45 Linux Reference Architecture - Buddika Aluwihare, HP 10:45- 11:00 The Cathedral and the Bizarre. Why Linux has become such an interest. - David Woolford Oracle 11:00-11:15 The Open Source Community. What is it and how to get involved - Andreas Girardet Novell 11:15-11:45 How to Adopt Linux- what, where and how to start! - OSS 11:45 - noon Close of event - Matthew Christie 1:00-2:00 Hands on workshops begin. 50 people split in 2 groups. Desktop in one room, Oracle in another Regards, Andreas Girardet Consulting Architect Novell, Inc., the leading provider of information solutions http://www.novell.com My phonenumbers: NZ Mobile: 0064-027-645-9827 NZ Landline: 0064-09-3081402 Germany: 0049-0180-16666-269-609 USA (WA): 001-360-488-0966 USA (NY): 001-347-952-3413 UK: 0044-087-04902877 UK: 0044-087-09315298 Italy: 0039-02-303127527 Austria: 0043-0720-503393

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WLUG and NZLUG tentative position
by Greig McGill 26 Jul '05

26 Jul '05

Waikato Linux Users Group Inc. Interim Statement on National Linux Body ======================================================================= Tue, 26 July 2005 During this year discussion has intensified around the creation of a national Linux body in New Zealand. WLUG committee members have been involved in this discussion and WLUG has shown its commitment to the ideal of a national linux body by offering to host an "NZLUG Theme" into the WLUG Wiki. WLUG envisages a national Linux organisation for New Zealand which would be very closely modelled on the successful Linux Australia. In particular such an organisation would have the following broad goals: - Support, resource and promote local LUGs - Provide national co-ordination services (speaker organisation, etc) - Provide hosting for LUGs where required - Provide financial support - Partner with organisations like NZOSS to advocate and educate the community (and particularly Government) on the benefits of Linux and OSS. - Partner with organisations like Linux AU to support and enhance the LCA conference. The national organisation would not perform the functions of a LUG itself, instead it would: - Provide a central location where users could be connected to their local LUG - Provide co-ordination and communication between individual LUGs - Undertake national initiatives supported by all LUGs - Aggregate LUG opinion and present a unified voice to the Government and other industry groups. The WLUG committee intends to meet this Friday (July 29) to discuss this issue further and to formulate WLUG's definitive position on this subject. We look forward to working with other members of the New Zealand Linux community in trying to create a national Linux organisation. Please direct all submissions on this matter to secretary(a)wlug.org.nz before midday on the 29th of July. -- Greig McGill President Waikato Linux Users Group Inc.

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RE: [wlug] Setting up and learning MySQL
by David Nicholls 26 Jul '05

26 Jul '05

Hi rod, I suggest you go here ( http://dev.mysql.com/doc/ ) and check out the different forms of documentation - one even has user comments. You can also download tarballed html and PDFs etc. I myself have found this site extremely helpful in the past. There are other sites around dealing with mysql and they should be easy to find, by the official site is pretty good. Cheers... david -----Original Message----- From: Roderick Aldridge [mailto:rod-a(a)hnpl.net] Subject: Re: [wlug] Setting up and learning MySQL James Clark wrote: > On Tue, Jul 26, 2005 at 12:59:13AM +1200, Roderick Aldridge wrote: > >>Do you just run the install script (as root?) ---snip--- > > Cheers, > James. > I installed mysql and mysql-client using synaptic but I see I didn't install the documentation, which I have since done. However it seems to be an info version of what I read on the mysql website. This looks to be just what is needed for an expert, but leaves me uncertain as to what has already been done by synaptic and what I need to do to achieve what I want. For example the installation section of the info manual says: ---snip--- I think synaptic has done most or all of that and I that should go on to post-installation setup and testing, but how do you tell? There is no sign of mysql on my user menu. Do I need to add rod to the mysql user group? Rod

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Ubuntu apt widget and name issue(Hoary 5.04)
by jaytee＠clear.net.nz 25 Jul '05

25 Jul '05

When I run update-manager as root I get "(synaptic:7648): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_widget_destroy: assertion `GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree... Done" It did however down load a small update for Mozilla. If I try to run it (or anything else) from the gui I am asked for a password by the widget. My root pass and my user pass does not work (even Gandhalf is no good) I think this last issue is unrelated, on boot I get "ror: temporary unable to resolve name" Any help on this would be welcome Regards John

5 5

Setting up and learning MySQL
by Roderick Aldridge 25 Jul '05

25 Jul '05

I have installed MySQL on Ubuntu but have not initialised anything yet. I want to learn it well enough to set up a simple database for my audio collection and also a simple database for work. Neither will be on-line or need high security. What is the easiest way to initialise it? Do you just run the install script (as root?) shell> cd mysql_installation_directory shell> ./scripts/mysql_install_db shell> ./bin/safe_mysqld --user=mysql & or shell> ./bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql & if you are running MySQL 4.x. and continuing? I want to set it up for user rod to be able to experiment easily without ruining everything. Also what and tutorial GUI would you reccommend for my purposes? I see the python front-end was also installed along with MySQL and I have installed mysqlcc. Any pointers greatly appreciated Roderick Aldridge

3 6

WLUG Meeting is tonight
by Meeting Reminder bot 24 Jul '05

24 Jul '05

The WLUG meeting is this evening ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ! WLUG Meeting - 25 July 2005 Location: University of Waikato, http://www.wlug.org.nz/LitB Time: 7pm Denise Tyrer-Harding of Pipers (http://www.pipers.co.nz/) is scheduled to speak to the WLUG about IntellectualProperty within New Zealand. Denise is a highly regarded IntellectualProperty lawyer and we look forward to what she has to say.

1 0

WLUG Meeting is on Monday
by Meeting Reminder bot 24 Jul '05

24 Jul '05

The WLUG meeting is on Monday ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ! WLUG Meeting - 25 July 2005 Location: University of Waikato, http://www.wlug.org.nz/LitB Time: 7pm Denise Tyrer-Harding of Pipers (http://www.pipers.co.nz/) is scheduled to speak to the WLUG about IntellectualProperty within New Zealand. Denise is a highly regarded IntellectualProperty lawyer and we look forward to what she has to say.

7 11

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

17 Jul '05

The Waikato Linux Users Group have a meeting in one week today. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ! WLUG Meeting - 25 July 2005 Denise Tyrer-Harding of Pipers (http://www.pipers.co.nz/) is scheduled to speak to the WLUG about IntellectualProperty within New Zealand. Denise is a highly regarded IntellectualProperty lawyer and we look forward to what she has to say.

1 0

Installing OOo beta on Ubuntu
by Graham Lauder 15 Jul '05

15 Jul '05

Need a little help here for an rpm centric user I put the latest OOo beta in my Ubuntu box and ran alien with -i to convert and install Everything seemed to go swimmingly . All files in the right place and installation exactly as would expect. However, the executable: soffice, won't run. I ran ls -la and soffice permissions read: --------- interesting Anyway I'm definitely a deb newbie, so I'm scratching my head a bit. Anyone else used Alien to get OOo 1.9.113 running on Ubuntu or would have a suggestion what to try. I also did a simple conversion from rpm to deb. Would that be a better way to go rather using Alien to do the install. And having said that what's the install procedure. man install is of course no bloody use at all. ;) Cheers Yo

2 2

Exim 4 and vm-pop3d
by Michael Honeyfield 14 Jul '05

14 Jul '05

Is there anyone here that has working knowledge of Exim 4 with virtual domains using vm-pop3d ? Cheers Mike

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New MythTV music player on the way - something to help hack on?
by Craig Box 13 Jul '05

13 Jul '05

One of the complaints we have about MythTV is that the music player is very unintuitive. Have a brief read of the thread http://mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-dev/2005-July/038011.html where some discussion is underway about a replacement that is a frontend/backend system, using the DAAP protocol (http://daap.sourceforge.net/) that ITunes uses. http://cvs.mythtv.org/trac/browser/trunk/mfd - backend http://cvs.mythtv.org/trac/browser/trunk/mfe - frontend When I get home I'm very interested in having a look at this and it might pay to look at helping this project rather than doing anything with MythMusic. Craig

1 0

SATA RAID cards
by Bnonn 13 Jul '05

13 Jul '05

Hi guys I'm looking for a 2-port SATA RAID 1 card, which I'll be installing into a P3 1 GHz to make up a wee webserver running Ubuntu. I currently have my eye on the Adaptec 1210SA or the Promise FastTrak TX2200/TX4200 cards. Both of these appear to have Linux driver support, although the websites only list specific distros so I suspect they're binary drivers only. Does anyone know of any thorny issues I should be aware of? I've done some searching and couldn't find anything conclusive either way. I don't want to spend too much on the card, but I'm willing to pay a little more for a card which is known to work (I couldn't find a list of supported RAID controller cards for Ubuntu; if anyone can point me in the right direction I'd be appreciative). If anyone has any other cards they know work and can recommend, I'd be pleased to hear from them. Regards Bnonn

2 4

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

12 Jul '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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ISO + Modem questions
by Dean 11 Jul '05

11 Jul '05

I solved my modem problem yesterday by using pppconfig instead of the GUI one Ubuntu provides, I'm not sure whats wrong with it, but something is definatly broken. I'm not sure if ubuntu comes with pppconfig by default (I downloaded it and installed it before checking) if not I used the package from http://packages.debian.org/stable/base/pppconfig I then installed the package and used it, just as easy as the GUI to setup, and all you need to use are pon <name of connection> and poff <name> and all works wonderfully :) Hope that works, Dean > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 09 Jul 2005 23:20:43 +1200 > From: Ivan Potgieter <tealsky(a)bigfoot.com> > Subject: [wlug] ISO + Modem questions > To: wlug <wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz> > Message-ID: <42CFB30B.5(a)bigfoot.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > Hi all, <snip> > > I realize that the speed test is not going to be overly accurate, but > I'm not concerned with getting an accurate speed measurement. I just > used this method to get a comparison. btw - I did the 500k test. > > Does anyone have any ideas / suggestions ? > > Thanks > Ivan

2 1

ISO + Modem questions
by Ivan Potgieter 10 Jul '05

10 Jul '05

Hi all, I have been running Ubuntu now for a few weeks (on a test box) and I am continuously finding new 'gems' in the GUI. It does handle writing ISO images to disk very well, but I found no way to create an iso image of an (existing) disk from within the Ubuntu (Gnome) GUI? (I was trying to copy the Ubuntu Live CD). I had to use 'dd' from a console - is there another way? ALSO: I am having some trouble with my external modem... * The abridged version * Good connection using Win2K, SLOW connection using Ubuntu. * Detailed version * Step1: To begin, I checked to see what modem I had via MiniCom: atz OK ati1 External Controller Ver1.20, CheckSum=617A OK ati3 TP560 Data/Fax/Voice 56K Modem OK - So it is a (generic) 56K Modem. Step2: I used Win2k to perform a speed test (it's the pc nearest to the phone line) Connected to http://www.jestreamgames.co.nz/speed/ Quite a respectable speed (43 K bits/sec) Step3: I connected the modem to Com1 on my Ubuntu box, it connected, but the same test (on the same phone line) gave me 0.9 K bytes / sec! I realize that the speed test is not going to be overly accurate, but I'm not concerned with getting an accurate speed measurement. I just used this method to get a comparison. btw - I did the 500k test. Does anyone have any ideas / suggestions ? Thanks Ivan

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Re: wlug Digest, Vol 169, Issue 8
by Dean 10 Jul '05

10 Jul '05

I have had notorious problems with Ubuntu and external modems, It has put me off for the moment until I can find a fix. I have tried 2 different external modems and both had sub 14.4k connection speeds. I think I tried some init strings and I tried setserial, both with no noticeable effect. If you do find a solution I would be very interested in it. :) Dean > Date: Sat, 09 Jul 2005 23:20:43 +1200 > From: Ivan Potgieter <tealsky(a)bigfoot.com> > Subject: [wlug] ISO + Modem questions > To: wlug <wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz> > Message-ID: <42CFB30B.5(a)bigfoot.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > Hi all, <snip> > ALSO: > > I am having some trouble with my external modem... > > * The abridged version * > Good connection using Win2K, SLOW connection using Ubuntu. > > * Detailed version * > Step1: To begin, I checked to see what modem I had via MiniCom: > atz > OK > ati1 > External Controller Ver1.20, CheckSum=617A > OK > ati3 > TP560 Data/Fax/Voice 56K Modem > OK > > - So it is a (generic) 56K Modem. > > Step2: I used Win2k to perform a speed test (it's the pc nearest to the > phone line) > Connected to http://www.jestreamgames.co.nz/speed/ > Quite a respectable speed (43 K bits/sec) > > Step3: I connected the modem to Com1 on my Ubuntu box, it connected, but > the same test (on the same phone line) gave me 0.9 K bytes / sec! > > I realize that the speed test is not going to be overly accurate, but > I'm not concerned with getting an accurate speed measurement. I just > used this method to get a comparison. btw - I did the 500k test. > > Does anyone have any ideas / suggestions ? > > Thanks > Ivan > > >

1 0

Warren Hughes is out of the office.
by Warren Hughes 08 Jul '05

08 Jul '05

I will be out of the office starting 08/07/2005 and will not return until 09/07/2005. Hi, thanks for your email. I am at home with a cold. I will be checking email occasionally. Cheers, Warren.

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FW: Announcing Launch of ($10m) Ubuntu Foundation
by Craig Box 08 Jul '05

08 Jul '05

Below is the press release sent off to the wires announcing the creation of a new foundation by Mark Shuttleworth and Canonical to help support Ubuntu and employ core Ubuntu developers over the long term and to help distinguish the commercial support and certification programs of Canonical from the truly community-based nature of much of Ubuntu's work. There are some other big announcements buried in there as well like the introduction of longer-term supported releases. :) I hope you join me in thinking this is fantastic news for the Ubuntu community on a number of different levels. Regards, Mako LAUNCH OF $10m UBUNTU FOUNDATION 08 July 2005 Mark Shuttleworth and Canonical Ltd, founders of the popular Ubuntu Linux-based operating system, have today announced the creation of The Ubuntu Foundation with an initial funding commitment of US$10m. The Ubuntu Foundation will employ core Ubuntu community members to ensure that Ubuntu (www.ubuntu.com) will remain fully supported for an extended period of time, and continue to produce new releases of the distribution. As a first step, the Foundation announces that Ubuntu version 6.04, due for release in April 2006, will be supported for three years on the desktop and five years on the server. The Foundation was established on July 1st 2005 with an initial funding commitment of US$10 million, to ensure the continuity of the Ubuntu project and create a legal vehicle that represents the community structures of the project. "It's important for us to distinguish the philanthropic and non-commercial work that is at the heart of the Ubuntu project, from the commercial support and certification programs that are the focus of Canonical Ltd." said Mark Shuttleworth, who is founder of the project and is making the initial $10m commitment to the Foundation. "The core team members employed by the Ubuntu Foundation will ensure that we can meet public commitments to keep Ubuntu entirely free of charge, as well as meeting commitments of support for extended periods. I'm very excited at the progress that has been made in bringing free software to the global marketplace, and pleased to continue my support for the project in this way." Ubuntu has quickly become a leading distribution in the free software world, taking the #1 place in DistroWatch popularity rankings over all timescales which are published. The distribution focuses on usability, security and stability on desktops and servers, and on making free software widely available for individuals and organisations who are ready to switch from proprietary platforms, such as Microsoft Windows. Ubuntu has also become the basis of many other derivative distributions, particularly those backed by govenments for widespread deployment. The government of Andalucia, Spain recently announced that its own version of Linux would be based on Ubuntu, and deployed in all educational operations. LONGER SERVER SUPPORT CYCLE One driving factor behind the creation of the Foundation was the need to ensure that an Ubuntu release can be deployed on servers, which demand much slower release and upgrade cycles. "In order to support the use of free software on database and other servers, we will be offering security support for the Ubuntu base and major server components for a full five years", said Matt Zimmerman, CTO of the Ubuntu project. As Ubuntu and free software in general become more mainstream, it has become costly for companies and large organisations to keep track of the rapid pace of development. In the desktop environment the problem is more manageable, and steady improvements in the usability of desktop office and productivity applications have been welcomed. In the datacenter, however, where Linux and free software are considered mature, deployments have a preference for fewer releases with long lifecycles. Ubuntu version 6.04, to be released in April 2006, will be aimed at meeting those requirements with a full five year commitment to provide security and other critical updates for servers. This also meets the needs of OEM distribution providers and ISVs, who have expressed strong interest in supporting free software environments but who prefer to be able to plan for releases and support them for longer periods of time. The extended service support for Ubuntu version 6.04 will remain free of charge, under the same terms as the support currently provided to every release of Ubuntu. The extended service support program will only apply to designated releases of Ubuntu. Other releases, which will still be made on the current six-month cycle, will continue to receive the current commitment of 18 months free security and critical updates support. KEEPING FREE SOFTWARE FREE A primary goal of the Ubuntu Foundation is to ensure that a high quality distribution of free and open source software is available free of charge, throughout the world. "Free software is produced by expert volunteers who make their time and work freely available - our goal is to ensure that anybody in the world can make the best use of that work, at no charge." said Benjamin Mako Hill, Ubuntu Community Relations. Both Canonical and the Ubuntu Foundation have made public commitments that Ubuntu will always be freely available, without the need for royalties or licence payments of any kind. "We include only free and unencumbered applications, ensuring that users have the ability to share and modify their software." CONTINUED SUPPORT FROM CANONICAL LTD. The establishment of the Ubuntu Foundation enhances the commercial commitment already made to the Ubuntu project by Canonical, Ltd. "Demand for the commercial services offered by Canonical to users of Ubuntu continues to grow. We welcome the very large number of companies that have announced support for Ubuntu both regionally and globally, and expect to continue to create additional partnership, certification and support programs in coming months," stated Jane Silber, head of marketing at Canonical. The extended life support program for Ubuntu version 6.04 is in line with Canonical's efforts to broaden the OEM base for Ubuntu. "The distribution has been selected by several hardware manufacturers for sale with PCs and laptops, and the availability of a long term supported release of Ubuntu that's independent of the commercial success of Canonical meets the needs of specific manufacturers in the hardware marketplace", continued Silber. The Ubuntu Community Council will act as the advisory board of the Foundation. Current members of that Council are Benjamin Mako Hill, Colin Watson, James Troup and Mark Shuttleworth (Chairman). Contact: The Ubuntu Foundation Benjamin Mako Hill +1 206-409-7191 mako(a)ubuntu.com Canonical Ltd. Jane Silber +44 20 7052 9843 jane.silber(a)canonical.com -- Benjamin Mako Hill mako(a)ubuntu.com | mako(a)canonical.com

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sarge without security updates
by Michael Honeyfield 05 Jul '05

05 Jul '05

I don't know if this has come up yet, I don't recall it, but if it has, sorry. Debian's security updates for sarge are broken, http://www.infodrom.org/~joey/log/?200506142140 and the mailing list, http://lists.debian.org/debian-security/2005/06/msg00142.html just a heads up for those running sarge in production. Mike

2 3

Monitor for LUG
by swami 04 Jul '05

04 Jul '05

I'd like to donate a 17" monitor to the lug for demos, etc. I can bring it to the next meting. Cheers, Sid.

2 3

First post - Help please
by Ivan Potgieter 04 Jul '05

04 Jul '05

Craig wrote: > As a new replacement.. ...check out Grisbi at http://www.grisbi.org/ Thanks, I tried it and it's great! Regards, Ivan

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First post - Help please
by Ivan 02 Jul '05

02 Jul '05

Hello all, I attended the last WLUG meeting (my first time at a LUG) and I picked up the latest Ubuntu CDs, which I have been trying it out. Although I am not new to Linux (in the far distant past I found great enjoyment setting up Linux servers: Samba, DHCPD, Apache, DNS, etc from the CLI - using Redhat 5.2 ). I have not had time to continue and much of that knowledge has faded. :-(( I do remember that there are no short-cuts: RTFM, RTFM, RTFM, RTFM, and RTFM again - Unfortunately due to demands on my time I cannot spend any great amount of quality time mulling over documentation and deciding the best application and/or strategy to take. (Ubuntu does make most tasks easy!) Recently, I have been spending a little time with Gentoo, but after trying Ubuntu's live CD I was hooked, especially since it has the Install disc as well. IMHO Ubuntu has really stepped up the standard with regards to getting the typical home user to experience Linux painlessly AND leaving them impressed and possibly even excited by the possibilities. (well, I was) <grin> Cutting to the chase: I have decided to replace the family's main PC with an Ubuntu Box. Currently it is mainly used for browsing, email, the family finance & the odd WinMine game. I have setup an old PC as a Ubuntu 'proof of concept' with great success so far, but there are a few issues: 1) I need a replacement for MS Money. GNUCash seems to be the appl for the job. Has anyone used it or any other that can be recommend? 2) Currently we access multiple (pop3) mailboxes. Since, Linux maintains strong user security, I am unsure which strategy to follow: a) Configure one user specifically for the mail. b) Share the mail between multiple users (shared single db) c) Other ??? I am also not sure which email appl to use. Evolution seems fully loaded with features, but would thunderbird be better? We also have about 3 years worth of archived mail which must be imported (from MS Outlook). 3) I would like to setup internet sharing from the Ubuntu box and I cannot find an easy (GUI) sharing option. I could probably do this 'manually', but would like to know if there is any way this can be achieved for non-techies. 4) How do I reconfigure X, to use a different video card? 5) Winmodems <sigh> is there any hope? Many people with whom I have come into contact would love to try/switch to Linux. The problem is that many have winmodems (myself included, fortunately I also have an USRobotics external that came to my rescue). Is there anything that can be done? (easily, that is) There are more questions, but I think these are enough for the moment. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Is there any way I can get my grubby mitts on 3 more Ubuntu disks? (As I mentioned before. I have been showing it around and would like to hand out the disks) Many thanks, Ivan

8 14

Dual boot
by John Torrance 02 Jul '05

02 Jul '05

I have previously configured a dual boot system with Grub using XP (FAT32) and linux with no problems. However, on my main computer, I tried XP (NTFS) and Linux with disasterous results - lost my whole windows disk. I am keen to try and load Ubuntu concurrenly on a separate disk on my main XP computer but do not want to loose my bills etc. Has anyone successfully dual loaded Ubuntu on an XP machine where the XP is NTFS? Alternatively, can one convert NTFS to FAT32? Cheers John

4 3

FW: ActiveState Releases ActivePerl, ActivePython & ActiveTcl for Sun's Solaris 10
by Craig Box 30 Jun '05

30 Jun '05

Hello, ActiveState is pleased to announce the release of ActiveState's ActivePerl, ActivePython, and ActiveTcl language distributions for Sun's Solaris 10 Operating System (OS) for SPARC, x86 and x64 systems. The release underlines our commitment to providing developers with up-to-date scripting languages on Sun Solaris 10. Looking to update your Perl, Python, or Tcl distros on Solaris? See http://www.activestate.com/Products/new_releases.plex Please pass this information on to the members of your user group and we thank you all for your ongoing support of ActiveState and our products! Shezmeen Hudani Marketing Associate shezmeenh(a)activestate.com Tel: 604.484.6809 Web: www.ActiveState.com ActiveState, a division of Sophos

1 0

Acceptable use of the WLUG Mailing List
by Meeting Reminder bot 30 Jun '05

30 Jun '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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LDAP error on Wiki
by Ian McDonald 29 Jun '05

29 Jun '05

I just added member plugin to my page and it displays this on my page now: "WlugMember ldap error: binding to ldap server" I'm guessing something needs fixing here.... Ian

2 2

Wlug Wiki License Changes
by Matt Brown 29 Jun '05

29 Jun '05

Hi All, Long mail sorry, please read at least the first five paragraphs, as they are the critical ones. I'm happy to receive comments on this, please try and keep onlist replies to topics that are of interest to *all* readers only. Currently the wiki states that copyright is retained by the author of the page, but provides no details on the acceptable uses of that content. This leaves the situation quite murky. Clearly it is highly desirable to have a much more definite situation regarding the licensing of wiki content. To this end the Committee has decided that going forward the wiki content will be licensed under the Creative Commons Wiki License. Details information on this can be found at http://www.wlug.org.nz/WlugWikiLicense in short it allows anyone to copy / modify / distribute the wiki content provided that they a) attribute its source as the WlugWiki b) provide the copied / modified / distributed content under the same license as they are using it under (ie the WlugWikiLicense). As a wiki author it means that you are agreeing that your content can be used in the ways specified by the license and you are waiving your rights to attribution in favour of the content being attributed to the Wiki. You'll still get your name displayed on the wiki in the recent changes / page history / etc :) If you're an author (have ever added or edited content to the wiki, please add the following code to your HomePage to indicate that you are happy for all your past / future content to be licensed under the WlugWikiLicense. ---- I agree to the WlugWikiLicense%%% [http://www.wlug.org.nz/theme/WLUG05/cc-wiki.gif] ---- >From the date Mon 18 July 2005 00:00 NZST onwards all authors making additions and modifications to the wiki must agree to provide their content under the WlugWikiLicense. This will be clearly described on the edit page from this date forth so that everyone understands this. ----- Critical bit ends now - thanks for your patience ------ The remainder of this email deals with our plans for the significant issue of how to relicense the existing wiki content in an appropriate and acceptable manner. In this process the committee is trying to balance the need to have a robust defendable process for relicensing the content, with the common belief that anyone who added content to the wiki (by it's very nature) was implicitly agreeing that it could be further copied / modified / distributed. While we think that there is a very strong argument for this interpretation we would still like to set a good example by obtaining permission to relicense from authors wherever possible. Obviously there will be some content (imported manpages / howtos / etc) that we may not be able to relicense, so for the forseeable future there will be certain pages in the wiki that will not be under the CreativeCommons license. Each page will clearly describe the terms that it is licensed under. It is the committees intention to work with wiki authors over time to bring more and more content under the new license, with the eventual goal of having all content in the wiki available under the same license. This may take some time :) 1) As described above the first step in the migration plan is to get every author to add to their page a statement that they agree to the WlugWikiLicense 2) A plugin will be written to analyse each page and the individual diffs that constitute the current version of this. 3) For each diff the author will be looked up to see if they have agreed to the new license 4) If all authors of significant diffs that constitute the present version of the page have agreed to the creative commons license the page will be licensed under creative commons, otherwise it will remain as is. 5) Significant diffs as mentioned above must meet two criteria 1) They were not marked as a 'Minor change' when they were made 2) They add or modify more than 10 lines of the page content and contain new material (ie. A 20 line diff that fixes capitalisation and punctuation is not significant). Hopefully this is an acceptable process that will allow us to progressively bring the entire wiki under the new license as we gain acceptance from more and more authors, and as pages naturally grow and are modified with new content under the new license. Pages containing both old content and new licensed content will default to being displayed as they currently are (ie not under the new license). Futher details are available at http://www.wlug.org.nz/WlugWikiLicense and I am happy to clarify any details that I've missed out of this email. Thanks for your patience, -- Matt Brown Wlug Commitee Member matt(a)mattb.net.nz Mob +64 275 611 544 www.mattb.net.nz

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NZCS meeting on Thursday. Topic - Open Source.
by Michael McDonald 27 Jun '05

27 Jun '05

Those of you who feel deprived by not having a WLUG meeting tonight are welcome to join with the Waikato Branch of the New Zealand Computer Society at their meeting on Thursday night, at the Okoroire Hotel – a very pleasant spot (see http://www.okohotel.co.nz/ ) Meal & 2 speakers for $35 per head. Topic is Open Source software. See http://www.nzcs.org.nz/tools/events/default.asp?SECT=waikato_bop for more details of the meeting and to register for the event. Michael McDonald PS Apologies if this appears twice .. sent it from the wrong email account first time!

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Re: [wlug] First post - Help please
by Ivan 24 Jun '05

24 Jun '05

Hi, Thanks for all the help. Bnonn I tried: > $ sudo aptitude update > $ aptitude install gnucash Update worked, but install didnt. The highlight (lowloght) was: ** Couldn't find any package whose name or description matched "gnucash" ** Then I tried Synaptic Package Manager (as Matt suggested) - Did not work at first, but tweaked it a bit and got it going. It took forever to download - I think my modem must be in v.34 Mode or something - will have to investigate. BTW GNUCash seems to suit our needs. Thanks again for all the help. Ivan

2 1