A more subtle point is that open source improves
openness. Using open file formats and protocols
protects the government and the public from vendor
lock-in. It also improves the chance that government archives will still be accessible in
the middling and distant future. I don't know
how you can make these points sound-bite-friendly,
but it's worth thinking about.
I agree with all this. The word to use is "Transparency" as in "...and efforts to improve government transparency both now and the the future." If this stirs some emotions, elaborate a little.
Open source definately can help with government transparency since any audit can be more complete, and the data -- the work -- of the governement does not become stale or unretrievable.
... In 1995, most major dummy computer stores (where regular consumers get their stuff) offered computers with either OS/2 Warp 3 or Windows 95 preinstalled. Now, it's just Windows.
No, it was just Windows of Mac back then also.
As an old OS/2 user, I did keep an eye out for pre-installed machines and they just didn't exist. IBM's PC division specifically did not pre-install OS/2 for a variety of reasons.
Finding a Linux pre-install is still just as hard now as an OS/2 pre-install and for most of the same reasons.
For software in general, Linux has a much better position in 'most major dummy computer stores' since you can actually expect to find some software and not be dissapointed. Not much software, but it exists and I've bought it.
That's, what, 3 weeks of profit to sustain a monopoly? Yipee. I wonder if MS will go for it?:/
Having said that, it does look like there's zero chance of anything that is actually punitive, so $1B might have be it -- cash or otherwise. No behavior changes. No future restrictions with teeth. How disturbing.
(If someone has facts on hand, I'd like to know the #days/hours out of a year it takes MS to get that $1B. I do know that ~3 weeks is close... a billion here, a billion there, of course.)
Webmin, my favorite tool, has an LDAP module. It looks basic, so I don't know if it would be appropriate.
Links: Webmin & Freshmeat page for LDAP module (LDAP module site is in French but easy to grok);
http://www.webmin.com/webmin
http://freshmeat.net/projects/ldap_module
Re:Instability with the preempt patch?
on
Kernel 2.4.17 Out
·
· Score: 2
You're right. Thanks for the correction!
Re:Instability with the preempt patch?
on
Kernel 2.4.17 Out
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Make sure that any kernel modules you load are SMP-safe. While the preempt patch does not magically make a uni-processor system into a multi-processor, it does create an environment where modules that aren't SMP-safe tend to fail or act unusually.
Rule of thumb: If it's in the base kernel sources, you're OK. If it's a patch to the kernel sources, be careful but not overly concerned. If it's a pre-compiled binary (even if only in part), be very cautious. Remember: Google is your friend.
Example: The Alcatel external USB DSL modem, for example, has a binary part that isn't fully SMP-safe. Because of that, it can't be used with the preempt patch even on a system with a single main CPU.
OK, it's wasn't released this year and it's not Linux-specific. Yet, with a few hundread games to choose from, PySol is a real time waster -- filled with excellent card decks for the eyes (modern, old Europe, and old SE Asia) and a variety of games to while the hours away.
http://www.oberhumer.com/opensource/pysol
Get the extra graphics so you can play some of the more unusual games. The theme music works well, so be sure to turn it on.
As the name suggests, it has a high geek factor since it was entirely written in Python.
I see two thing that could make it easier. One, you learn spanish. Two, they learn english. BTW, how do you plan on installing linux when you don't understand it, and you can't understand the monks???
[To the original poster]
I ran an international tech support center in Brussles. I can use a variety of national keyboards with one hand while giving demos at local trade shows. Typically American, I only speak English.
Horrid problems handling tech support, right? Nope. I would read anything that came in before handing it out, listen in on the harder phone calls, even if it was in Greek.
When most of the important words are technical, it's not that hard. Even the national language menus often make sense if you know how the originals worked.
Before you go, though, practice installing and using a Spanish language setup including the keyboard. Most distributions have some level of Spanish support, and fetching or installing language packs for the apps/window manager can make up for the rest.
Since you have at a minimum one person who you can use as a translator, you aren't stuck. Your main issue is setting up the network. Do that before you go, and copy the configuration files -- or better yet all of/etc -- to a disk for reference later.
In a worst-case situation where some of the machines don't work as you'd like, gather the hardware details and 'fix' the problem at home. Snail mail them the resulting CD with English directions but use as few words as possible and use the exact commands.
Now I can use the AIX box I bought at auction!
on
Solaris, AIX Login Hole
·
· Score: 0, Offtopic
If this fails, anyone know if PPC Aix disks can be mounted on an x86 Linux box? Proper partition and fs support enabled, of course.
Background: The box came from a defunct internet delivery service. I wonder what corporate records I'll find? Definately customer records if the admins didn't wipe the database. It's a good thing I'm ethical. I wonder how many customer records from defunct Internet-focused IPOs are now in the hands of crooks?
For more information, take a look at the mailing lists.
RPM Dependencies, KDE, & Pilot-link...
on
Evolution 1.0 Released
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Anyone know if the dependencies between KDE PIM that ships with 2.2.1/2.2.2 & Evolution pre-releases have been resolved?
Evolution wanted one version of pilot-link, and KDE PIM wanted another...but the packages are mutually exclusive (a rarity, but it happened).
Can this be forced & patched with a simlink?
Personally, I prefer Evolution to KDE PIM, but I'm looking after a few different computers and want to leave the option of what one to choose up to the user. For now, Evolution wins so KDE PIM gets yanked though it would be nice not to have to pick and choose.
I like Robert M. Love's Preempt patch...I've used it for the past month and it works well. Unfortunately for me and some others there are two issues that will make it hard to add into the main kernel tree (maybe 2.5 as an option?);
* Specifically, the binary part of the Alcatel/Thompson Speedtouch ADSL modems aren't SMP safe.
There is probably nothing that RML can do anything about that. Alcatel needs to look into it, and consider releasing a fully open module, so that thier modems are better supported under Linux and other non-Linux OSs.
When confronted with an unusual file, I usually use file to check what it _might_ be;
file image.pbe
Not a direct answer, but if you haven't tried it yet you might be lucky and find out the format isn't propriatory.
Additionally, if you know a specific image is simple, take a look at it in a hex editor and look for patterns. It's possible that the file is some form of PCX or TIFF image (many document processing systems use this), with an extended header. Chop off the old header, put on a standard one, and see if it can be viewed at all. You could be lucky!
I use both a Kensington USB and two different PCI web cams with GnomeMeeting -- there is no comparison.
For raw frames per second, the PCI cameras in full screen mode rarely drop a frame -- let alone in the small GnomeMeeting view port. Jump around alot while it is in fullscreen mode and it will skip, but otherwise it looks like a regular video feed. USB cameras are often rated at ~30fps at the _lowest_ video mode. That said, the Kensington USB I have looks crappy in it's lowest mode, and still can't keep up to the PCI in any mode. Note that this is after applying a patch to the se401 USB camera driver to increase the buffer size.
For quality, the camera itself matters most. The USR/3COM Big Picture camera I have has adjustment buttons on it, and even a reverse video mode (a perk...but not practical). The USB cams tend to have light sensitive CCDs, and even if they don't the quality (fps and color) can be an issue.
Keep in mind that I'm not being picky here...there is a drastic and dead obvious difference between the two. USB 2 or Firewire cameras might also be an option though I can't offer advice on those.
Bottom line: Use PCI video, not USB, if at all possible regaurdless if the OS or conferencing tool used.
The camera is the pricy part; ex. $15 for a good card, http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=VID-01 1 . While any composite or S-video video feed can be hooked up to this card -- including a regular consumer electronics video camera or even a VCR -- the small composite/S-video web cams are hard to find these days.
Caution: While many PCI and USB cameras are supported, verify it before purchase. I bought an oddball Genoa PCI card, and it works well for RCA/Composite cameras but not with the bundled QuartzSight camera.
As for your specific issue -- use GnomeMeeting or not -- that's up to you. Unit cost is lower since there's no Windows licence, so you might be able to put that money towards better hardware.
GnomeMeeting is a nice program. Through no fault of it's own, you have a USB device to examine how well GnomeMeeting itself works. If this is the only test you do, you can't make a good decision.
If you're converting from ext2 to ext3, update/fstab so that 'auto' is used instead of either 'ext2' or(!)'ext3'. Auto makes it easy to dynamically switch to a kernel that doesn't support ext3.
Unfortunately, if your file system tools aren't upto date, your root partition won't be mounted ext3.
A quick check to see if everything worked is to look at the output from either df or/proc/mounts like this;
df -T
In the second column, it should report the filesystem type of each mounted partition. If you don't see / , you should upgrade fileutils.
cat/proc/mounts
This is basically how your fstab is currently interpreted, as recorded in/etc/mtab.
If either of these look wrong, check the kernel sources for Documentation/Changes, and verify that you are using the supporting program versions mentioned in the Current Minimal Requirements section.
Re:USB has a wonderful
on
USB Switches?
·
· Score: 2
I know about USB hot plugging, but this makes me confused. In the specific case of printers, how is this different then a parallel, ethernet, serial,... printer?
If the industry is losing billions to copying, and they've made it impossible, we can expect to see prices fall to say $4.99, right? Or were they lying about napster....
Of course the price will drop!
Remember back when CDs started to replace records and tapes? The production cost of a CD was much less then either medium, and the initial cost was initially very high, then after a few years...oh, nevermind.
Anyone notice that the commercials for this thing are less and less Star Trek and more and more Lexx meets Farscape.
We can hope -- though I doubt it. Besides the blue alien in the cat suit I've seen in the commercials, I doubt that Paramount will do much to match the main attraction of the other shows. Sex is important (7of9) but if that's going to be it pr0n is a better use of my time.
Farscape, Lexx, Earth: Final Conflict, and B5 have a progression from episode to episode. None of the Treks have, except for an attempt with DS9 that really could have been stronger.
Here's a clue for Paramount; make us care about the major characters, kill one/some of them off, and then keep them dead.
Is this necessary? Nope. Yet, of each of the shows above, only Lexx -- an un-ST like show if there ever was -- hasn't killed off a major character perminately. If they aren't even going to try to get beyond the ST formula, I'd hope that they wouldn't even try.
You'd have proof that you sent them the patches, and proof that they received them (they're gone from the mail spool), so you could prove in court if necessary that they didn't work with you to fix their problem. It seems sound, but if there are any other holes please let me know
I'd say you went beyond the call of duity;
It's not your machine that's infected; you do not have direct responsibility for what is on it or how it is configured / mis-configured. You did have a responsibility for general network stability and speed, and they're abusing it...even if unintentionally.
For backgrounds: From the main themes.org page, select Resources (x.themes.org). Even though there are quite a few Linux/Unix/*BSD-specific papers there, any site with a 10's of thousands of backgrounds will work. Personally, I'm a fan of ayo73's brutish, purple, music-themed Tux (www.73lab.com).
For icons: You're right. There is no one seperate place for most X icons. Themes often do include new icons or an entire set. For simplicity, icon packs would have to be specific to the window manager and/or desktop so that you don't have to set each individual icon. At that point, why not put it in a theme?
If you disassemble a powersupply, be sure that you are careful. The capacitors can still hold a charge even after the ps is unplugged for a few minutes (hours?).
Buying used Sparc equipment can be cheap. If you really require Solaris 8, then be careful. SparcStation 1 and 2's were supported with Solaris 7, but are no longer.
If you don't need Solaris 8, and live in the Wash. DC area, I know a couple SS 1 and 2's that might be available.:)
Slashdot Mirror
I agree with all this. The word to use is "Transparency" as in "...and efforts to improve government transparency both now and the the future." If this stirs some emotions, elaborate a little.
Open source definately can help with government transparency since any audit can be more complete, and the data -- the work -- of the governement does not become stale or unretrievable.
No, it was just Windows of Mac back then also.
As an old OS/2 user, I did keep an eye out for pre-installed machines and they just didn't exist. IBM's PC division specifically did not pre-install OS/2 for a variety of reasons.
Finding a Linux pre-install is still just as hard now as an OS/2 pre-install and for most of the same reasons.
For software in general, Linux has a much better position in 'most major dummy computer stores' since you can actually expect to find some software and not be dissapointed. Not much software, but it exists and I've bought it.
That's, what, 3 weeks of profit to sustain a monopoly? Yipee. I wonder if MS will go for it? :/
Having said that, it does look like there's zero chance of anything that is actually punitive, so $1B might have be it -- cash or otherwise. No behavior changes. No future restrictions with teeth. How disturbing.
(If someone has facts on hand, I'd like to know the #days/hours out of a year it takes MS to get that $1B. I do know that ~3 weeks is close ... a billion here, a billion there, of course.)
Links: Webmin & Freshmeat page for LDAP module (LDAP module site is in French but easy to grok);
http://freshmeat.net/projects/ldap_module
You're right. Thanks for the correction!
Rule of thumb: If it's in the base kernel sources, you're OK. If it's a patch to the kernel sources, be careful but not overly concerned. If it's a pre-compiled binary (even if only in part), be very cautious. Remember: Google is your friend.
Example: The Alcatel external USB DSL modem, for example, has a binary part that isn't fully SMP-safe. Because of that, it can't be used with the preempt patch even on a system with a single main CPU.
Get the extra graphics so you can play some of the more unusual games. The theme music works well, so be sure to turn it on.
As the name suggests, it has a high geek factor since it was entirely written in Python.
[To the original poster]
I ran an international tech support center in Brussles. I can use a variety of national keyboards with one hand while giving demos at local trade shows. Typically American, I only speak English.
Horrid problems handling tech support, right? Nope. I would read anything that came in before handing it out, listen in on the harder phone calls, even if it was in Greek.
When most of the important words are technical, it's not that hard. Even the national language menus often make sense if you know how the originals worked.
Before you go, though, practice installing and using a Spanish language setup including the keyboard. Most distributions have some level of Spanish support, and fetching or installing language packs for the apps/window manager can make up for the rest.
Since you have at a minimum one person who you can use as a translator, you aren't stuck. Your main issue is setting up the network. Do that before you go, and copy the configuration files -- or better yet all of /etc -- to a disk for reference later.
In a worst-case situation where some of the machines don't work as you'd like, gather the hardware details and 'fix' the problem at home. Snail mail them the resulting CD with English directions but use as few words as possible and use the exact commands.
Background: The box came from a defunct internet delivery service. I wonder what corporate records I'll find? Definately customer records if the admins didn't wipe the database. It's a good thing I'm ethical. I wonder how many customer records from defunct Internet-focused IPOs are now in the hands of crooks?
Seems to be...but comments from those familiar with LTSP.
Uh...yeah...for special SCSI scanners that cost a lot more than the cheap-o USB throwaways at Fry's.
Erm, that would not be true. While SCSI and parallel scanners have been supported for years, USB support is catching up. Here's a partial list;
For more information, take a look at the mailing lists.
Evolution wanted one version of pilot-link, and KDE PIM wanted another...but the packages are mutually exclusive (a rarity, but it happened).
Can this be forced & patched with a simlink?
Personally, I prefer Evolution to KDE PIM, but I'm looking after a few different computers and want to leave the option of what one to choose up to the user. For now, Evolution wins so KDE PIM gets yanked though it would be nice not to have to pick and choose.
It looks like a good gift for the holiday season!
* Specifically, the binary part of the Alcatel/Thompson Speedtouch ADSL modems aren't SMP safe.
There is probably nothing that RML can do anything about that. Alcatel needs to look into it, and consider releasing a fully open module, so that thier modems are better supported under Linux and other non-Linux OSs.
Not a direct answer, but if you haven't tried it yet you might be lucky and find out the format isn't propriatory.
Additionally, if you know a specific image is simple, take a look at it in a hex editor and look for patterns. It's possible that the file is some form of PCX or TIFF image (many document processing systems use this), with an extended header. Chop off the old header, put on a standard one, and see if it can be viewed at all. You could be lucky!
Remember, dd is your friend. :)
I use both a Kensington USB and two different PCI web cams with GnomeMeeting -- there is no comparison.
1 1 . While any composite or S-video video feed can be hooked up to this card -- including a regular consumer electronics video camera or even a VCR -- the small composite/S-video web cams are hard to find these days.
For raw frames per second, the PCI cameras in full screen mode rarely drop a frame -- let alone in the small GnomeMeeting view port. Jump around alot while it is in fullscreen mode and it will skip, but otherwise it looks like a regular video feed. USB cameras are often rated at ~30fps at the _lowest_ video mode. That said, the Kensington USB I have looks crappy in it's lowest mode, and still can't keep up to the PCI in any mode. Note that this is after applying a patch to the se401 USB camera driver to increase the buffer size.
For quality, the camera itself matters most. The USR/3COM Big Picture camera I have has adjustment buttons on it, and even a reverse video mode (a perk...but not practical). The USB cams tend to have light sensitive CCDs, and even if they don't the quality (fps and color) can be an issue.
Keep in mind that I'm not being picky here...there is a drastic and dead obvious difference between the two. USB 2 or Firewire cameras might also be an option though I can't offer advice on those.
Bottom line: Use PCI video, not USB, if at all possible regaurdless if the OS or conferencing tool used.
The camera is the pricy part; ex. $15 for a good card, http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=VID-0
Caution: While many PCI and USB cameras are supported, verify it before purchase. I bought an oddball Genoa PCI card, and it works well for RCA/Composite cameras but not with the bundled QuartzSight camera.
As for your specific issue -- use GnomeMeeting or not -- that's up to you. Unit cost is lower since there's no Windows licence, so you might be able to put that money towards better hardware.
GnomeMeeting is a nice program. Through no fault of it's own, you have a USB device to examine how well GnomeMeeting itself works. If this is the only test you do, you can't make a good decision.
Unfortunately, if your file system tools aren't upto date, your root partition won't be mounted ext3. A quick check to see if everything worked is to look at the output from either df or /proc/mounts like this;
In the second column, it should report the filesystem type of each mounted partition. If you don't see / , you should upgrade fileutils.
This is basically how your fstab is currently interpreted, as recorded in /etc/mtab.
If either of these look wrong, check the kernel sources for Documentation/Changes, and verify that you are using the supporting program versions mentioned in the Current Minimal Requirements section.
I know about USB hot plugging, but this makes me confused. In the specific case of printers, how is this different then a parallel, ethernet, serial, ... printer?
Of course the price will drop!
Remember back when CDs started to replace records and tapes? The production cost of a CD was much less then either medium, and the initial cost was initially very high, then after a few years...oh, nevermind.
We can hope -- though I doubt it. Besides the blue alien in the cat suit I've seen in the commercials, I doubt that Paramount will do much to match the main attraction of the other shows. Sex is important (7of9) but if that's going to be it pr0n is a better use of my time.
Farscape, Lexx, Earth: Final Conflict, and B5 have a progression from episode to episode. None of the Treks have, except for an attempt with DS9 that really could have been stronger.
Here's a clue for Paramount; make us care about the major characters, kill one/some of them off, and then keep them dead .
Is this necessary? Nope. Yet, of each of the shows above, only Lexx -- an un-ST like show if there ever was -- hasn't killed off a major character perminately. If they aren't even going to try to get beyond the ST formula, I'd hope that they wouldn't even try.
I'd say you went beyond the call of duity;
It's not your machine that's infected; you do not have direct responsibility for what is on it or how it is configured / mis-configured. You did have a responsibility for general network stability and speed, and they're abusing it...even if unintentionally.
For backgrounds: From the main themes.org page, select Resources (x.themes.org). Even though there are quite a few Linux/Unix/*BSD-specific papers there, any site with a 10's of thousands of backgrounds will work. Personally, I'm a fan of ayo73's brutish, purple, music-themed Tux (www.73lab.com).
For icons: You're right. There is no one seperate place for most X icons. Themes often do include new icons or an entire set. For simplicity, icon packs would have to be specific to the window manager and/or desktop so that you don't have to set each individual icon. At that point, why not put it in a theme?
If you disassemble a powersupply, be sure that you are careful. The capacitors can still hold a charge even after the ps is unplugged for a few minutes (hours?).
Buying used Sparc equipment can be cheap. If you really require Solaris 8, then be careful. SparcStation 1 and 2's were supported with Solaris 7, but are no longer.
:)
If you don't need Solaris 8, and live in the Wash. DC area, I know a couple SS 1 and 2's that might be available.
>>I hate to shop at Radio Shack
...
>I feel the same way, only RS apparently doesn't do that anymore.
Unfortunately, they still do ask at the ones in the Wash. DC area.
Unlike even a couple years ago, they aren't nearly as insistant; "No" now works and they don't look at you like you're from Mars or give you a speach.