March 2000 - openSUSE Edu - openSUSE Mailing Lists

Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Hello from a Parent Volunteer
by Raju 16 Mar '00

16 Mar '00

Point well taken. But (there is always a but!) what I am doing does not cost the school a penny. So if they find the machines that I am setting up getting in their way, they can dump them and be no worse (or better) off. Having said that, it looks like the head teacher is negotiation some funds from the NGFL. If that happens all my "good" work will go down the drain anyways ;-) ----- Original Message ----- From: Alan Davies <staff.asd(a)birkenhead.wirral.sch.uk> To: Raju <raju(a)one.net> Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2000 8:53 AM Subject: Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Hello from a Parent Volunteer > On Wed 15 Mar, Raju wrote: > > Greetings, > > > > My name is Raju and I am a parent volunteer trying to start a network in the > > school which doesn't have one and does not have the heart to start one due > > to dire financial situation. > > > > I have acquired a few "donations" from the local companies and am going to > > try my best to create a ICT suite in the school. > > > > The primary school in question is Furze Platt (Pinkney's Green, Maidenhead). > > I don't want to undermine your goodwill and enthusiasm - but I do feel that this > NOT the way to properly fund Education - and in particular IT in education. > > Systems need to be robust and capable of being easily managed and maintained by > possibly a succession of people. > > BECTA and NGFL have published a range of materials advising on IT installations. > > There is danger of spending a significant sum on IT only to find that those sums will > need to be re-spent when the system cannot be supported. > > In theory - if there was enough 'free' support from real experts to support schools > it might work. Sadly, I have often seen 'business' models of networks installed in > schools for the whole thing to later fall apart. The needs of education are well > understood by a range of specialists - and that specialism needs to be respected. > > As to the 'dire' financial situation - I'm sure that this is true - but there are > LARGE sums allocated to the development of IT in schools - ring fenced. You need to > find out where these sums are - sadly far to often sidetracked by LEAs. > > > > > > -- > Alan Davies > Head of Computing > Birkenhead School > >

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Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Hello from a Parent Volunteer
by Raju 16 Mar '00

16 Mar '00

aNThony, Mailing Lists: Usually the client that you use (I use microsoft outlook express) usually has a way of directing mail of this kind into folders created by the user. For example I have created a folder called "Mailing Lists". Within this folder are other folders, one of which is "Suse Linux for Schools". I have also created a message rule which searches for the string "suse-linux-uk-schools" in the subject and then moves the incoming mail to the above mentioned folder. I haven't checked but I suspect many of the the "web emails" also have similar facility. All this makes it easier for you to delete all the mail if you so wish ;-) Replies to the mailing list: Usually all you have to do is reply. The reply address is set to the mailing list address automatically. This is done by the owner of the mailing list (hello, Roger? :-) BackOffice: Are you asking if someone here has setup a newsgroup on the BackOffice server? ... I was not clear on what you wanted.. sorry. And yes. I think the idea of the mailing list is to get help from people who are (usually) in the same situation as you are. ----- Original Message ----- From: Anthony Hogbin <Anthony.Hogbin(a)BTinternet.com> To: Raju <raju(a)one.net> Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2000 9:28 AM Subject: RE: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Hello from a Parent Volunteer > Yeah - replied to you not the group - sorry. > > Not sure how this works - I belong to newsgroup threads (like my PS2 stuff > for my pets at home) - but no mailing groups - do they really want all this > mail tunrning up in their personal mailboxes (which is where this all goes > for me)? > > See - no words of advice - I am useless ...without use : / > > Please advise - is that the way it works? Has anyone offered to set up a > newsgroup (we have back office - and I know it does it somehow?!). > > Hmmm - pleased to help when I can - and mail me personally if you feel like > it >

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Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Hello from a Parent Volunteer
by Raju 15 Mar '00

15 Mar '00

Thanks for the words of advice aNThony. I have the network setup presently to play NT to around 5 PCs. But that is because I could not find more patch cables. In another 2 weeks time I will be going with 15 PCs. The server also is connected to a freeserve account via dialup modem and Squid. I plan to have another PC setup with the intention of running the AUC (which I believe needs mySQL) Meanwhile there is a rumour that we may be getting some money. If that happens my first priority will be spending the money on trunking the entire school with Cat5s. Oh it is going to be fun!! .... if I survive this.. ----- Original Message ----- From: Anthony Hogbin <Anthony.Hogbin(a)BTinternet.com> To: Raju <raju(a)one.net> Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2000 2:25 PM Subject: RE: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Hello from a Parent Volunteer > Hello - Anthony here from Cleeve Park > > There is always a danger of 'egg sucking' instructions here - feeel free to > abuse me if this is the case ; ) > > Have you considered an earlier version of SuSE 6? The grahical setup is > 'nice but not vital - if yo get no joy on that front - I can maybe sort you > with an earlier version with the text graphics YAST?? > > You will need to run updatedb before locate - expecially after an install - > this finds all the files and places locations in the database so that locate > can work. > > diald - hmmm - never had much luck with that at home - and use a router > here - so no can help there. > > I got a book on SaMBa and it had all I needed in it... but easier still is > to get something that allows you to configure it via HTML, that way your > server need not even have a keyb'd screen - just a box you can telnet into, > or use reflections X (or eqivelent) or web pages like SWAT and webmin (top > for EVERYTHING - and very free at www.webmin.com). I even have some scripts > that can automate the process of entering the pupils names if you can get > them in CSV from the admin computer there? Just matter of finding the > time.... > > We are using a P100 with 32 Mb of RAM 550Mb HDD, no VDU or Keyb'd in the > maths department to play PDC to a micro-domain of five machines. It prints, > pretends it is an NT server - and can be admin'd remotley by webmin / TELNET > / FTP .... It was a little project to fill in the time I do not have - I am > a very proud parent ; ) > > I have been using LiNUX for about 3 years - but that is not to say I got any > better in that time! > > This is a secondary school with an ICT dept. of 5 - 1 lowly CPS teacher has > a software eng. degree (me) and a technician with a h/ware background - no > one else here has a clue - but we do have finance (if not for the hours and > effort I put in!) - GOOD LUCK TO YOU - and if we can help we will : ) > > aNThony > -----Original Message----- > From: Raju [mailto:raju@one.net] > Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2000 2:07 PM > To: suse-linux-uk-schools(a)suse.com > Subject: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Hello from a Parent Volunteer > > > Greetings, > > My name is Raju and I am a parent volunteer trying to start a network in the > school which doesn't have one and does not have the heart to start one due > to dire financial situation. > > I have acquired a few "donations" from the local companies and am going to > try my best to create a ICT suite in the school. > > The primary school in question is Furze Platt (Pinkney's Green, Maidenhead). > > I recently bought SUSE 6.3 and am trying to load it on a P-100/16MB RAM/2 GB > HDD (for now that is the best I can do..). I ran into a problem which > installing with YAST2 (first CD). All I could see as the first screen was > the top left quadrant of a screen. Is there some way I can make it show me > the whole screen? > > In any case, I continued with YAST (second CD) and everything was fine until > the loading of the packages aborted. When I re-started the machine the > software offered to install the rest of the packages. At the end of this I > noticed that it had several errors relating to it not having found > some-symbolic-link-or-file-or-something. I continued anyways..... > > The server seems to work fine now. Except I can't seem to load the diald > package via yast. Either that or there is something wrong with "locate". > Running "locate diald" only seems to give me _one_ line > "/usr/packages/...../diald". Surely something is wrong? I think something > must be broken in the database that answers to the "locate" command. Any > suggestions? There must be some way of updating it without having to re-load > everything! > > Sorry to ramble on like this. Unfortunately, I am trying to learn this > without any physical hand holding ;-). At least I am getting some "flying > hours" racked up on Linux! > > Oh BTW, the ultimate idea is to run a network of around 35 PCs (W9x), 2 > Laser Printers, a few color printers with Linux server(s) with SAMBA, > Squid2. All this on any machine that I can get my hands on. Sometime in the > near future I will also start fiddling with AUC. Anyone got any experience > with it? > > Raju > > Parent Volunteer (I am all they have got in IT!) > Furze Platt Junior School > (raju(a)one.net) > > >

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[suse-linux-uk-schools] Hello from a Parent Volunteer
by Raju 15 Mar '00

15 Mar '00

> Were you out of disk space? Otherwise this sounds odd... > More details?... > Disk space was not a problem. I chose the minimum installation from the Yast. Since it takes a long time for the first CD to finish, I went away for some tea. When I came back there was an error message. I am sorry I did not note what it was. In any case I will be doing a fresh installation again. If it happens again, I will note the error... I was not too worried since if the installation failed I was going to re-do it anyways....which I will do now..... the screen could be a VGA......sigh! > > To update the locate database, type > updatedb > I will try that.. I hope that is what it is. Will let you know tomorrow. BTW, can't you tweak the mailer so that the return address is always the suse-linux-uk-schools(a)suse.com? I almost sent the reply to your personal address. Raju

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Hello from a Parent Volunteer
by Raju 15 Mar '00

15 Mar '00

Greetings, My name is Raju and I am a parent volunteer trying to start a network in the school which doesn't have one and does not have the heart to start one due to dire financial situation. I have acquired a few "donations" from the local companies and am going to try my best to create a ICT suite in the school. The primary school in question is Furze Platt (Pinkney's Green, Maidenhead). I recently bought SUSE 6.3 and am trying to load it on a P-100/16MB RAM/2 GB HDD (for now that is the best I can do..). I ran into a problem which installing with YAST2 (first CD). All I could see as the first screen was the top left quadrant of a screen. Is there some way I can make it show me the whole screen? In any case, I continued with YAST (second CD) and everything was fine until the loading of the packages aborted. When I re-started the machine the software offered to install the rest of the packages. At the end of this I noticed that it had several errors relating to it not having found some-symbolic-link-or-file-or-something. I continued anyways..... The server seems to work fine now. Except I can't seem to load the diald package via yast. Either that or there is something wrong with "locate". Running "locate diald" only seems to give me _one_ line "/usr/packages/...../diald". Surely something is wrong? I think something must be broken in the database that answers to the "locate" command. Any suggestions? There must be some way of updating it without having to re-load everything! Sorry to ramble on like this. Unfortunately, I am trying to learn this without any physical hand holding ;-). At least I am getting some "flying hours" racked up on Linux! Oh BTW, the ultimate idea is to run a network of around 35 PCs (W9x), 2 Laser Printers, a few color printers with Linux server(s) with SAMBA, Squid2. All this on any machine that I can get my hands on. Sometime in the near future I will also start fiddling with AUC. Anyone got any experience with it? Raju Parent Volunteer (I am all they have got in IT!) Furze Platt Junior School (raju(a)one.net)

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hello
by Anthony Hogbin 15 Mar '00

15 Mar '00

Reading through a backlist of mails sent to me by Roger (Thank You), and there was one there asking to 'Hello' not 'Lurk' - so here we are. We being - Anthony Hogbin (Teacher ICT - using Linux 3/4 years); Clive More (Trust sidekick (technician) - using Linux 3/4 years). -of Cleeve Park School, SIDCUP, Kent We use it here for serving small clusters of machines with older PC's doing the donkey work, until we can get fibre down there, and also for personal projects (like a failover domain for pupil services (web/PDC) if the NT boxes go down). I/we will wade through this back log of mails - and look forward to hearing from you (this is my home address - but we are admin(a)cleevepark.kent.sch.uk, and netadmin(a)cleevepark.kent.sch.uk) Back to work : / aNThony

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Today's welcome message
by Roger Whittaker 15 Mar '00

15 Mar '00

Time for a few more people to tell us of their experiences so far with Linux ... if you haven't posted yet, what about introducing yourself. Don't be shy - the more people use the list the more useful it will be. Any problems however simple or tricky: we will try to help, and so will others. You've got plenty to read ... Those who are doing samba: definitely look at the link I mentioned the other day - the full text of the O'Reilly samba book on the web. Of course if you like it the nice thing to do is go and buy it: O'Reilly books are very good though a bit expensive. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/samba/chapter/book/ All the best Roger -- Roger Whittaker SuSE Linux Ltd The Kinetic Centre Theobald Street Borehamwood Herts WD6 4PJ ---------------------- 020 8387 1482 ---------------------- roger(a)suse-linux.co.uk ----------------------

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another reading list
by Roger Whittaker 13 Mar '00

13 Mar '00

There will be a test next monday on your knowledge of the following: Robert Alexrod The Evolution of Co-operation (Penguin) Robert Cringely Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition and Still Can't Get a Date (Penguin) Robert Cringely -- weekly article on the web http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/ Eric S Raymond The Cathedral and the Bazaar (an expanded version in book form) (O'Reilly) His essays are available in various formats at: http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/ Linux Journal (March 2000 page 22) Doc Searls: interview with Eric Raymond Ko Kuwabara Linux: A Bazaar at the edge of Chaos http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue5_3/kuwabara/ VMWare site http://www.vmware.com/ Abiword http://www.abisource.com/ KDE site http://www.kde.org/ Mozilla project: http://www.mozilla.org Gnome: http://www.gnome.org/ Helix Gnome: www.helixcode.com The Gimp: http://www.gimp.org/ Kernel: http://www.kernel.org/ SuSE Linux English list (general): you can subscribe through the page: http://www.suse.de/en/support/mailinglists/index.html UK Unix Users' Group: http://www.ukuug.org/ Slashdot: http://slashdot.org Linux Weekly News: http://www.lwn.net/ Freshmeat: http://freshmeat.net/ The Register: http://www.theregister.co.uk/ Linux Today: http://linuxtoday.com/ Help on Linux (CNET): http://www.searchlinux.com/ Matt Welsh, Matthias Kalle Dalheimer and Lar Kaufman Running Linux (3rd Edition) (O'Reilly) Linux Documentation Project: http://www.linuxdoc.org/ Olaf Kirch and Terry Dawson Linux Network Administrator's Guide (2nd Edition) (O'Reilly) due out May 2000 Fred Butzen, Christopher Hilton and Patrick Volderking he Linux Network (IDG Books) User Friendly: http://www.userfriendly.org/ Linux Gazette: http://www.linuxgazette.com/ Linuxberg: http://www.linuxberg.com/ Samba: http://www.samba.org/ Linuxnewbie site: http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ Explore2fs: http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/explore2fs.htm Google Linux search: http://www.google.com/linux Linux.org.uk: http://www.linux.org.uk/ Linux Focus: http://linuxfocus.open.ac.uk/English/ -- Roger Whittaker SuSE Linux Ltd The Kinetic Centre Theobald Street Borehamwood Herts WD6 4PJ ---------------------- 020 8387 1482 ---------------------- roger(a)suse-linux.co.uk ----------------------

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Help for newbies and another samba url
by Roger Whittaker 13 Mar '00

13 Mar '00

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ Their stuff on samba: http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/intel/network/samba/samba1.html -- Roger Whittaker SuSE Linux Ltd The Kinetic Centre Theobald Street Borehamwood Herts WD6 4PJ ---------------------- 020 8387 1482 ---------------------- roger(a)suse-linux.co.uk ----------------------

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A talk for students
by Roger Whittaker 13 Mar '00

13 Mar '00

I would be willing to give a talk to students in school on Linux and the open-source revolution if desired. Clearly the practicality of this would depend on the where and when, but the offer is there if anyone wants to discuss the idea. Roger -- Roger Whittaker SuSE Linux Ltd The Kinetic Centre Theobald Street Borehamwood Herts WD6 4PJ ---------------------- 020 8387 1482 ---------------------- roger(a)suse-linux.co.uk ----------------------

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