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Technology in 2008 (Economist)
by Michael McDonald 23 Dec '07

23 Dec '07

Interesting forecast from the Economist. Predicts more use of Open Source. http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10410912 Michael

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Java or Python?
by Chris O'Halloran 18 Dec '07

18 Dec '07

I am looking for some thoughts/opinions on the merits of these two languages. Over the years I book a few books on Java including Java in Nutshell Java Foundation Class Java for Scientist and Engineers The latter being the most useful to me. However, I've never really got the hang of how it all works. I don't have a formal programming background In recent times, I've come across Python and lately stumbled upon SciPy,ipython, NumPy and matplotlib.sourceforge.net. I've also noticed that Python has PyQt that enables you to use the Qt and poss KDE for widgets and gui interface. KDE is the desktop of choice for me and QT Designer are all "sudo apt-get install " away. Both Python and Java are cross platform which a plus. What I would like to do is put together small applications often using complex numbers and array for the engineering work that I do. Sometimes importing csv text files containing data from measurment devices. I have always thought Java was the tool for this but lately, I've noticed how easy it is to make things work with Python. especially the interactive "try a line of code, did it do what you wanted?, no, try this, ah, that works" I'm thinking that Python might provide the fast feed back approach that gets you enthused about actually coding than the steper learning curve of a more comprehensive language and not actually knowing where to start with a gui or even just how to get the IDE to use the classpath you want. I'd be interested if people had thoughts or comments on the merits. Cheers

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Next year's presentations
by Roderick Aldridge 18 Dec '07

18 Dec '07

Wanted: presentations for the new year. The committee is trying to plan for a variety of presentations next year which will interest and benefit current members and make known the benefits of Linux and open source to others (and bring in new members). Make your suggestions please to the list or on the wiki at http://wlug.org.nz/IdeasForFutureMeetings or to any committee member. Preferably ones you can do yourself or can supply suitable presenter(s), but if the subject is intersting enough, other members may be able to suggest presenters. Roderick Aldridge WLUG Committee

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Useful ubuntu links for new software and running 32bit apps on 64bit systems.
by Chris O'Halloran 17 Dec '07

17 Dec '07

Some information that may be of interest to ubuntu users. Heaps of debian packages http://www.getdeb.net/ And for resolving depedencies for 32bit programs on 64bit systems http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=474790

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scanner2.malware-scan.com
by Michael McDonald 16 Dec '07

16 Dec '07

Has anyone else had problems with this site? It pops up a message telling you your computer is running slowly, scans your disk (I don't think it does , just makes believe it does), tells you you've got viruses, and tries to download fixes. Now, the interesting thing is that I've triggered it twice in the last few weeks, but I haven't the foggiest idea how. I've got a suspicion it may have been triggered by from my Gmail page, but when going back over my actions everything seems normal. Of course, since I'm running Ubuntu/Firefox I'm not unduly worried. I'm curious to know how I got directed there from supposedly safe sites (if it wasn't Gmail, then it must have been Computerworld NZ). I did a bit of a Google and came across this discussion on an Apple forum. Knowing the fierce loyalty of Mac owners and their claims of immunity from Internet problems, it was interesting to see that they also had the same experience as me ... but no clues as to why it was happening. http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1239037&tstart=0 Now, this makes me worried for the Windows community. It would be extremely difficult for them to avoid damage in this instance. Closing the window in the normal fashion just gets you further into the mire. I don't know just what protection the standard anti-virus / anti-spyware programs and firewalls will give a Windows user ... and I certainly don't want to experiment to find out! Have you got any information / data / comments that you can add? Michael

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KDE 4 update
by Ian McDonald 13 Dec '07

13 Dec '07

Ars has a good article here: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071213-afirst-look-at-kde-4-0-releas… -- Web1: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4/ Web2: http://www.jandi.co.nz

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Fwd: [NZOSS-OpenChat] Ministry of Justice Open Source Discussion Paper
by Michael McDonald 12 Dec '07

12 Dec '07

The discussion paper is well worth reading. That paper would have been unthinkable a few years ago. Michael ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Don <don(a)catalyst.net.nz> Date: 12 Dec 2007 08:55 Subject: [NZOSS-OpenChat] Ministry of Justice Open Source Discussion Paper To: NZOSS OpenChat <openchat(a)nzoss.org.nz> This paper has been in draft form for a while. The MoJ has given it final release staus. http://nzoss.org.nz/news/2007/ministry-justice-open-source-discussion-paper I think it builds nicely on the Cunliffe speech I mentioned a few days ago. Cheers Don

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Arghhh - Help
by James Pluck 11 Dec '07

11 Dec '07

(I apologise for the spam if you've gotten this twice. I think the email I originally sent it from is not subscribed to this list). Hi all! I'm in a bit of a bind. We're experiencing very poor connectivity at the moment from Slingshot. We're lucky to be able to stay online for more than 3 minutes at a time. I've just called Slingshot support and a very bored woman who sounded like it was beneath her to even talk to me was very unhelpful. refused to run any checks on the line or check logs or anything at their end unless I tried an alternative router on the line. She basically wanted me off the phone as fast as possible - presumably so she could get back to her WoW game or Puzzle Pirates or something more important than actual customer support (I tell you - if we had someone who behaved like that to customers at Quicksilver they'd be on notice pretty bloody fast!) Anyway - does anyone have a spare adsl router that I could borrow for a day or so to do some troubleshooting and see if it is my problem or Slingshot's problem. I'm in the process of choosing another provider because we've not been hapy with the service from Slingshot for some time but I'd kinda like to work out if it's a hardware issue or a connection issue before we switch. If I had the knowledge and the skills I'd probably just bite the bullet and rewire the jackpoints in this house - the current phone wiring seems a little amateurish - but we've had no troubles with any telecommunications services up until a couple of weeks ago. I have a drum of cat 5 but no skills on how to use it - *sigh* anyways - if anyone has a spare serviceable adsl router they would be willing to loan me I would be most grateful! James. -- James Pluck PalmOS Ergo Sum "Dear IRS: I would like to cancel my subscription. Please remove my name from your mailing list..."

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Upcoming WLUG committee meeting (1 week today)
by Meeting Reminder bot 10 Dec '07

10 Dec '07

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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Do we have a meeting here? # Previous Minutes # Treasurers report # Correspondence # Matters # Server status # General business CommitteeMeetingTopics

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Intel 536epmodem with Ubuntu 7.10
by Ron Dean 10 Dec '07

10 Dec '07

I am trying to set up a computer for a refugee family so they have email I downloaded a driver for 7.10 and could hear dial tone and it would dial out at my home, but when I tried it in their home I could not hear dial tone . We were trying to set it up with Kiwi on line but they don't give any linux support. Any ideas ? -- Ron Dean 2 Shannon Place Nawton Hamilton Ph 8493904

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