May 2001 - openSUSE Edu - openSUSE Mailing Lists

LTSP Image help.
by Derek Harding 22 May '01

22 May '01

Hi Folks, I've got a whole load of Compaq workstations which I want to boot as thin clients ala LTSP. The NICs are on the motherboard and are reported as Netelligent 10/100 but I don't know what they are generically and I want to build Rom-o-matic images. Anyone tell me what will work for them? -- Best wishes, Derek Harding, (BA MIAP) ICT & Network Manager, Warlingham School hardingd(a)warlingham.surrey.sch.uk

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Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] SIF and UK/Linux
by kevin.taylor＠powerconv.alstom.com 22 May '01

22 May '01

>> When reading about XML, remember that XML is not >> a replacement for HTML > XHTML *is* a replacement for HTML. Yes - XHTML is, but XML isn't. The reason I said this was that a lot of people think that they should go off and rewrite their HTML pages in XML ... but of course if they do anything - you are correct - they should move to XHTML (eventually) as the 'next' version of 'HTML' after v4. > If everyone standardized on XHTML as a format for storing > data then the World (Wide Web) would be a wonderful place. Hang on though - XHTML is just one application of XML. The reasons XML came along were because HTML defines a single document, with no structure - it defines headings, paragraphs, etc - but nothing about chapters or sections ... SGML was about structure, but is too bulky for simple parsers to be written. XML describes structure - see DocBook for an example of an XML application that is geared up to writing structured documentation. It is easy to convert to XML and forget about the structured formatting .. in fact converting to XHTML is just that. There is nothing wrong with this, but you are missing out on one of the core benefits of XML (see next comment). > Adopting well-formed XHTML for displaying our documents > might well be a good first stage before we all go over to > storing documents as badly-formed XML. XML is about much more than just presenting information. It is about structure. Ok - you can see a nice document in XHTML ... but this is just one output - what about WAP phones? PDAs ? If you are using DocBook (say) or some other XML source, the idea is that you process it, using a stylesheet to produce an appropriate format: Browser reads it -> XML Source + Stylesheet => XHTML output WAP Phone reads it -> XML Source + different stylesheet => WML output Something else -> etc. Also, a search engine or indexing system could process the same XML source, and because it can derive some context about the structure, can extract the relavent bits of the information it needs: Indexer -> XML Source + another stylesheet => XHTML heading list (say) etc. This is why I say XML is about structure - and this is the thing that gets people interested. If you use one of these news ticker applications (eg bbc or slashdot, etc) then chances are you are using XML. News headlines are exchanged using RSS (an XML application) - you ticker/browser etc will apply a stylesheet (effectively) and format this information into a form that you can then read. Point IE5 at http://slashdot.net/slashdot.rdf for an example. > I suspect that most organizations will miss the point about XML, yet > another (probably doomed) attempt to separate MEANING from APPEARANCE. Maybe - but strict XHTML forces this anyway - you should use XHTML and CSS. > No one cares. I care :-) > One of the reasons everybody likes Word is that it's very > easy to put your memo in 15 different fonts with bold and italic headings. Fine. Thats up to them - but if they want to publish it on-line ... well again, they can fight with 'save as HTML' ... :-) Kevin.

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Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] SIF and UK/Linux
by kevin.taylor＠powerconv.alstom.com 22 May '01

22 May '01

> I only ask 'cos I don't know the pros & cons of XML. XML is great for providing a context to data that computers can understand. Poeple derive context from meaning, position on the page, etc. Computers can't. XML is open, easy to process in applications, is open, has lots of existing parser support, is open, is based on text, is open, ... :-) See : http://www.w3.org/XML/1999/XML-in-10-points For a quick introduction to the key benefits of XML. When reading about XML, remember that XML is not a replacement for HTML - it is a standard way of defining things *like* HTML in a structured way. It is not really meant to be read directly by people - you write an XML source and if it is to be seen, you define a stylesheet which indicates to the viewing application how to present the information. Kevin.

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Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] SIF and UK/Linux
by Mr G M Locock 22 May '01

22 May '01

On Tue, 22 May, Derek Harding wrote: > On Tuesday 22 May 2001 9:14 am, you wrote: > > > Yes - it's already in this country, see > > > http://www.dfee.gov.uk/ims/cbds.shtml > > > and I hope we will be using this sort of format soon. And there was me thinking PDF was on the way to being a "universal" format. Proprietary of course... but at least not MS. Do we need yet another standard?? I only ask 'cos I don't know the pros & cons of XML. > > Hmmm. Not a particularly good start - much of the > > documentation (even the FAQs) for this appear to > > be provided in proprietory document formats! > > > >From their site there is a feedback option which I returned to them saying > just what I thought about proprietry formats. Perhaps something to ask those > fellows on the hustings in the coming weeks! > I look forward to informed, high quality answers! :-) Gary -- G M Locock, Network Manager Bablake Junior School, Coundon Road, Coventry, UK, CV1 4AU Tel: (+44) 24 7663 4052; Fax: (+44) 24 7663 3290 Web: http://www.bablakejs.co.uk Email: gml(a)bablakejs.co.uk

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Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] SIF and UK/Linux
by kevin.taylor＠powerconv.alstom.com 22 May '01

22 May '01

> Yes - it's already in this country, see > http://www.dfee.gov.uk/ims/cbds.shtml > and I hope we will be using this sort of format soon. Hmmm. Not a particularly good start - much of the documentation (even the FAQs) for this appear to be provided in proprietory document formats! Kevin.

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Schools Interoperability Framework and UK/Linux
by kevin.taylor＠powerconv.alstom.com 21 May '01

21 May '01

Does anyone know what affect the Schools Interoperability Framework is going to have on UK Schools (if any) ? If there really is a push towards common data formats (XML) for tools within education, then this can only be good for open source solutions (I would say). Anyone looking into this? http://www.siia.net/sif/default.htm (Thought I would mention it - I don't recall there being any comments about this in the past ... but could be wrong). Kevin.

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Re: [Wylug-help] RE: [suse-linux-uk-schools] AS ICT
by Phil Driscoll 21 May '01

21 May '01

On Monday 21 May 2001 11:41, Ben Fowler wrote: > >2). you can access a MySQL database with Access with an OBC module (I > > > > >think...). > > I believe that you can, but I have not tried it. I would be > interested in hearing reports on this as I need to access a MySQL > database with FileMaker, ideally fire off some SQL from FileMaker > and get a table back et cetera, et cetera. You can do this, and I think the instructions might even be in the MySQL manual. I haven't done it for a long time, but my first ever MySQL job involved transferring a load of records form an Access database to MySQL and I did this entirely from within the Access GUI - although I can't remember what I did :) Cheers -- Phil Driscoll

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Script for Over Night Backup
by Coulton,G 21 May '01

21 May '01

Hi, Someone in one of the mailings has talked about running a backup over night from a server to some hard disks in varying locations. Would that person (Sorry I have had to delete the mail to keep my mailbox size down), mind mailing the script, as it would be an invaluable thing to see. I could just copy and paste the user information, but the script would be good. Thanks Gary

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RE: [suse-linux-uk-schools] AS ICT
by Simon Wood 21 May '01

21 May '01

Hi Paul, Approximately a year ago someone gave an introductory talk at my local LUG (West Yorkshire) on MySQL, unfortunately it's not on the web site (www.wylug.org.uk) but hopefully they'll respond as I've copied the wylug list. Perhaps this would be useful as a starting point.... Other thoughts I had: 1). MySQL will have the advantage that it will push forward the point that a real database is far from the pointy/clicky M$ world. Using MySQL would teach concept of databases rather than the use of a specific application. 2). you can access a MySQL database with Access with an OBC module (I think...). 3). you can show how you might use PHP/Apache to access a database in a 'real world' situation. Example project could be something like an online record store (I'm guessing this would appeal to AS level people). Good luck, Simon Wood > -----Original Message----- > From: Paul Taylor [SMTP:paul.taylor@bemail.org] > Sent: Friday, May 18, 2001 8:46 AM > To: suse-linux-uk-schools(a)suse.com > Subject: [suse-linux-uk-schools] AS ICT > > Hi all: > > Has anyone out there taught mysql et al to A level students? Is it possible? I am about to teach my AS students their second ICT project and was hoping I could do something interesting on Linux rather than the usual Access stuff. Databases are not my forte and my students are struggling to get D grade projects in Excel so something very accessible (no pun intended) would be nice. > > Paul > ptaylor(a)uklinux.net > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > Free, BeOS-friendly email accounts: http://BeMail.org/ > Free Peepshow - http://twinfusion.com/comic/peep/

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RAID server
by Phil Driscoll 19 May '01

19 May '01

Over the next month or two I need to set up a server for my old secondary school to provide user storage for all the pupils. There are just over 800 kids at the school, so I guess a total of about 1Tb of storage would be sensible. Currently the school is about half Acorn and half Windows, but the Acorns are being phased out in favour of new Windows machines - although they might be new Linux machines if I can make the school see sense :-). Clearly the storage requirements for the Windows software is of a different order of magnitude to the Acorn stuff, so 1Gb per child does not seem overly generous to me. So to the question: I'm happy setting up Linux as a Samba server to do this lot, but does anyone have experience/advice on choice of hardware for the job (I'm happy to build a machine from bits). RAID is a must, but IDE gives us a lot more Mb for our money than SCSI, but maybe at the cost of performance/reliability? Nevertheless, it seems to me that even a modest hard disc can outperform the 100MHz ethernet to which the server will be connected. All advice most welcome. -- Phil Driscoll

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