May 2001 - openSUSE Edu - openSUSE Mailing Lists

Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Meeting yesterday and welcome to new members of the list
by Philip Hands 07 Jul '03

07 Jul '03

Roger Whittaker <roger(a)suse-linux.co.uk> writes: > I've just subscribed various people to the list - please post a > message to say hello and introduce yourselves. Hi, If you were at the meeting, I was wearing a Debian t-shirt (with a red swirl logo on it) --- there's a photo at the top of this article, where I'm wearing similar stuff (except for the penguin ;-) http://www.linuxuser.co.uk/articles/issue6/lu6-Editorial-A_patently_bad_ide… I'm a Debian GNU/Linux developer, and run the UK Debian mirror, and am responsible for producing the Debian official CD images: http://www.uk.debian.org/ http://cdimage.debian.org/ I have only a peripheral interest in educational matters, in that I've been frustrated in the past in my efforts to provide free computers (which were otherwise destined for a skip), but I can certainly contribute on a technical side, and having been involved in Debian (which is completely voluntary, like OSIE is expected to be) since 1996 I may be able to make some suggestions about how to ``organise'' such a thing. For those of you who've not come across Debian before, we're a world-wide voluntary organisation (read, chaotic jumble of mailing lists) that puts together a Linux distribution (and soon a HURD distribution) and gives it away. Debian doesn't pay people to do this, and doesn't sell what it produces, and in most legal senses doesn't really exist (i.e. the machines in the mirror network mostly belong to people like me, rather than to Debian, and the bandwidth is donated rather than paid for). This probably gives a pretty good feel for what Debian is all about: http://www.uk.debian.org/social_contract which you will notice leads into the The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG), which is where the Open Source Definition came from. My internet machine, that hosts the Debian UK mirror, may be of use to OSIE, since it has about 30GB of spare disk, and a 20Mbit/s connection at a well connected ISP. This machine could act as either a primary host or mirror site for the web site, and could do DNS secondarying etc. as well. Something I'd be interested in working on (although perhaps a SuSE list is not the right place to spend too much time discussing this ;-) would be producing Debian CD images, tuned to the needs of educational users. Debian has accumulated some funds in the UK, and have been looking for a worthwhile cause to spend them on (we never really need to pay for anything that actually makes Debian work, so don't have much use for money), so we could probably afford to have a few thousand CDs pressed, and send them out to schools that are interested. Cheers, Phil. -- Say no to software patents! http://petition.eurolinux.org/ Philip Hands. +44 (0)20 7744 6244 philip.hands(a)uk.alcove.com Alcove UK --- Liberating Software --- http://www.alcove.com/ http://www.hands.com/ phil(a)hands.com http://www.uk.debian.org/

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Cygwin/XFree86
by Michael Brown 01 Jun '01

01 Jun '01

As you may or may not know, XFree86 has been successfully ported to MS Windows. You can get all the necessary bits to set it up yourselves from http://xfree86.cygwin.com/. Cygwin/XFree86 represents a nice and easy way to start experimenting with Linux thin-client setups, without having to mess around with boot ROMs and all the other minor hassles of approaches such as LTSP. It's really only suitable for *experimenting*, because it is nowhere near as fast as 'native' XF86. I have put together a single Zip file containing all the bits needed to start XF86 on Windows and use it to run applications on a remote Linux/BSD server (a la thin-client). This is significantly smaller than the amount you will end up downloading if you follow the instructions on Cygwin's web site. I have also added a couple of features such as autodetection of the screen size and colour depth (which are missing from the 'raw' release), and some extra diagnostic code. If anyone would be interested in testing this, please let me know and I'll e-mail it to you. If there's enough demand, I'll put it on the web. It should currently be considered as "alpha" quality (i.e. it works for me and it should work elsewhere, but I haven't tested it on a wide variety of machines yet). Note: you will need a working Linux application server on the network, set up to answer to XDMCP broadcast requests. An out-of-the-box Linux Mandrake setup will do this - I expect that other distributions will as well. Michael Brown http://www.fensystems.co.uk/

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[Fwd: [suse-linux-uk-schools] GUI file transfer vi SSH]
by Chris Howells 31 May '01

31 May '01

Is it evreybody that goes one of these each time they post to this list? I'll probably get another one now, but nevermind Argh! -- Cheers, Chris Howells -- chris(a)chrishowells.co.uk http://www.chrishowells.co.uk

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GUI file transfer vi SSH
by Phil Driscoll 31 May '01

31 May '01

I have a situation where I need to allow a group of non-technical users to be able to browse/copy/retrieve arbitrary files to and from a reasonably secure remote server. I am trying reaaly hard not to have to put an FTP server on the machine, and SSH/SCP is my preferred technology. This is no problem for the users who will be doing the job from Windows boxes - WinSCP does the job nicely. However a couple of users need to do this from linux boxes, but I can't find a gui front end to do the job. Basically it has to be as simple as a Windows Explorer/Konquerer interface. Any ideas? -- Phil Driscoll

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Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Network card problems
by Edgehill E-Mail Service 25 May '01

25 May '01

Standard Via-Rhine drivers should work with this card (we get full 100Mbps out of the box) but Smoothwall has proven problematic all round. I can't be more helpful - we abandoned until Smoothwall is fully matured, and is installable by a windows-geek (like myself) <lol>. We could ping the box but not talk. Good luck. Paul Paul P. Ellison ICT Manager Edgehill College -------------------------------------------------------------- Legal Advisory: Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, 2000. --------------------------------------------- You are warned that all electronic communications are subject to interception for regulatory, quality control and crime detection purposes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Edgehill IT Department Email Service. Please check sender's address from body of Message for return address. Find us at: www.edgecoll.clara.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------- > From: Gary Stainburn <gary.stainburn(a)ringways.co.uk> > To: npauli <npauli(a)st-johns.org.uk>; suse-linux-uk-schools(a)suse.com > Subject: Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Network card problems > Date: 25 May 2001 09:19 > > I've successfully got a DFE530-TX card running on an MDK7.2 system > here. Somewhere (can't find it now, thought it was on the floppy but > it isn't) there is some documentation on installing these cards on a > Linux system. You should use a rtl8139 driver with this card. Also, > to get full-duplex and 100Mbit out of it you need to make some kernel > changes - although on MDK these settings were already on. > > Gary > > On Thursday 24 May 2001 8:30 pm, npauli wrote: > > Dear All, > > > > I'm trying to install Smoothwall-0.9.8 onto an IBM P166 that I bought > > from Morgan Computers. I'm using a D-Link DFE530-TX card that uses a > > VIA-Rhine driver and a PCI slot but I'm having no joy getting the > > card to install on the box. The mainboard is a 'Personal Computer > > 300GL System Board'. > > > > I use a boot.img floppy that comes with Smoothwall and the opening > > screen brings up a boot: _ prompt and offers me the chance of > > entering kernel parameters or just pressing RETURN. Should I be > > typing in something at this point? > > > > I get successfully through partitioning the hard disk but fall over > > at the first hurdle on the 'configure networking' stage. The screen > > starts off by telling me: 'You should now configure networking by > > first loading the correct driver for the GREEN interface.' This > > throws me a bit. Does this mean that it really hasn't detected > > anything? Autoprobing fails and when I choose the 'VIA Rhine PCI Fast > > Ethernet, etc' option from the list of drivers it immediately flashes > > back 'Error: Unable to load driver module'. > > > > The machine came with a network card already in an ISA slot and the > > diagram of the System Board shows an onboard 'Integrated Ethernet > > Controller' when I gave this a try at least its LEDs flashed. At no > > time during the power on and boot up do the LEDs on the PCI netwlrk > > card flash. Does this mean that the PCI slots are somehow disabled? > > > > In the machine's 'Configuration / Setup Utilty' under 'Advanced > > Setup' there is scope to toggle options to do with PCI Control. > > Changes here don't alter what happens at all. > > > > Has anyone any advice? > > -- > Gary Stainburn > > This email does not contain private or confidential material as it > may be snooped on by interested government parties for unknown > and undisclosed purposes - Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, 2000 > >

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Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Network card problems
by Chris Howells 25 May '01

25 May '01

> From: Gary Stainburn <gary.stainburn(a)ringways.co.uk> > I've successfully got a DFE530-TX card running on an MDK7.2 system > here. Somewhere (can't find it now, thought it was on the floppy but > it isn't) there is some documentation on installing these cards on a > Linux system. You should use a rtl8139 driver with this card. Also, That's not quite right. There are two versions of the card -- one uses the via-rhine and the other the rtl8139. I use a 530-TX on my Debian box with the via-rhine. > to get full-duplex and 100Mbit out of it you need to make some kernel > changes - although on MDK these settings were already on. I don't know anything about that. -- Cheers, Chris Howells -- chrish(a)gmx.co.uk http://www.chowells.uklinux.net

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ISDN Routers
by Simon Davies 25 May '01

25 May '01

Hi folks, There is a company who are selling ISDN Routers for £30 with 12 months warranty. They are at http://www.hypertec.co.uk and click on the special offers star in the centre Check them out, for 30 squid you get a router with a built in 4 port hub running at 10mbps, at that price you cant go wrong can you ?? Simon Queen Elizabeth Cambria School

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Network card problems
by npauli 25 May '01

25 May '01

Dear All, I'm trying to install Smoothwall-0.9.8 onto an IBM P166 that I bought from Morgan Computers. I'm using a D-Link DFE530-TX card that uses a VIA-Rhine driver and a PCI slot but I'm having no joy getting the card to install on the box. The mainboard is a 'Personal Computer 300GL System Board'. I use a boot.img floppy that comes with Smoothwall and the opening screen brings up a boot: _ prompt and offers me the chance of entering kernel parameters or just pressing RETURN. Should I be typing in something at this point? I get successfully through partitioning the hard disk but fall over at the first hurdle on the 'configure networking' stage. The screen starts off by telling me: 'You should now configure networking by first loading the correct driver for the GREEN interface.' This throws me a bit. Does this mean that it really hasn't detected anything? Autoprobing fails and when I choose the 'VIA Rhine PCI Fast Ethernet, etc' option from the list of drivers it immediately flashes back 'Error: Unable to load driver module'. The machine came with a network card already in an ISA slot and the diagram of the System Board shows an onboard 'Integrated Ethernet Controller' when I gave this a try at least its LEDs flashed. At no time during the power on and boot up do the LEDs on the PCI netwlrk card flash. Does this mean that the PCI slots are somehow disabled? In the machine's 'Configuration / Setup Utilty' under 'Advanced Setup' there is scope to toggle options to do with PCI Control. Changes here don't alter what happens at all. Has anyone any advice?

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XML and Modularisation (was: SIF and UK/Linux)
by kevin.taylor＠powerconv.alstom.com 23 May '01

23 May '01

> I was trying to suggest that, ... [snip] Ah - see what you mean :-) Re: XML Modularisation. I have not read the article you mention in detail, but it appears to be splitting XHTML up into individual bits ... so that it is possible to say which aspects of XHTML are supported on specific devices ... is that correct? If so, then presumably you could take a common XML source, process it using stylesheets to output using the range of supported XHTML modules for the device viewing the information .... if this is correct then this sounds like it would fit in with things like the apache XML projects 'cocoon' stuff pretty well ... (see xml.apache.org) ie - this is the output format, but if you wanted to support many different devices, you would need some sort of processing tool to generate the required output from a common piece of XML input source ... (this is the bit of XML that I really like ... - using XSL transformations :-) Anyway, will have a serious read sometime :-) Kevin.

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Office LAN on the web the nitty gritty
by James & Cybèle 23 May '01

23 May '01

> Both easy and very much advisable, I think, you should save them a lot of > money. > Ok, I've been playing with the networks. The office has a peer to peer (?)setup of three machines using win98 protocols. The only IP is the one installed recently for a printer/photo copier they now have. I've plugged their network into my hub (they continue operating separate from me (The linux served network). I assumed I could just point their browsers at squid but it didn't work. I even tried ALLOW ALL in SQUID. What am I missing (something simple) or is there a physical piece of equipment I need) James Carter South Lee School

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