May 2002 - openSUSE Edu - openSUSE Mailing Lists

New resources
by Chris Puttick 16 May '02

16 May '02

Hi Just wanted to announce this work in progress: http://resources.centralmanclc.com - we'll be adding a few new things to this over the next few days, including a rather neat PHP web content management system (I know, I know, another one...) which will be used to create the next, less boring version of the site. If anyone wants to host some stuff on the site, let me know. We have "quite a lot" of bandwidth... Some of you might be tempted to click on the Hobarte link, wondering what it's all about. Hobarte will be the subject of another email, quite soon (and I keep saying that, too). Those still running Windows on their networks might find the VisualAssist application extremely useful (assuming visually impaired people are integrated into your various national education systems). I hope everyone finds the politics of its funding interesting. :-) Cheers Chris Puttick IT Manager Central Manchester City Learning Centre +44 (0)161 212 1972

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BBC content
by Ian Lynch 16 May '02

16 May '02

There is a lot of controversy at present because the BBC propose to put £150m into content development with free access for schools. The traditional suppliers such as RM are squealing because they believe it will damage their business. Isn't this another side to the free software argument? Shouldn't the BBC make the content available under the GPL and then others could use it and develop additional resources all free? The main argument of RM et al seems to be that it will kill development because the commercial developers will not be able to compete. Since the same money will be available I don't think that argument holds water since the BBC can't cover every single aspect of education. I see this initiative as potentially complementary to free software, especially if we could persuade the BBC to release its content under the GPL - after all, its our license fees paying for it. Regards, -- IanL

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RE: [suse-linux-uk-schools] BBC content
by Grainge, Derek 16 May '02

16 May '02

> The main problem I see is that the BBC will probably only > produce material > that will run in IE under Windows, it will use ActiveX and Flash 7 and > similar things, so we won't be able to use it. > When I went to a M$ briefing, I got the impression a lot of this stuff might well be tied into products like Encarta Class Server. I hope to God not. But it's difficult inventing mutlimedia interactive material which is context/platform-free. So maybe if we want to kneecap the BBC we should suggest packages they should use to preserve platform independence - i.e. be positive with them. If they produce stuff that ONLY works on IE then they're piss-poor web designers in the first place! -- ******************************************************************************** All mail sent and received may be examined to prevent transmission of unacceptable material. Wellington College does not accept responsibility for email contents. Problems to postmaster(a)wellington-college.berks.sch.uk. Website: http://www.wellington-college.berks.sch.uk ********************************************************************************

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RE: [suse-linux-uk-schools] BBC content
by Chris Puttick 16 May '02

16 May '02

Do we have contact names for people in the BBC responsible for this content? -----Original Message----- From: Ian Lynch To: suse-linux-uk-schools(a)suse.com Sent: 5/16/02 10:22 AM Subject: [suse-linux-uk-schools] BBC content There is a lot of controversy at present because the BBC propose to put £150m into content development with free access for schools. The traditional suppliers such as RM are squealing because they believe it will damage their business. Isn't this another side to the free software argument? Shouldn't the BBC make the content available under the GPL and then others could use it and develop additional resources all free? The main argument of RM et al seems to be that it will kill development because the commercial developers will not be able to compete. Since the same money will be available I don't think that argument holds water since the BBC can't cover every single aspect of education. I see this initiative as potentially complementary to free software, especially if we could persuade the BBC to release its content under the GPL - after all, its our license fees paying for it. Regards, -- IanL -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-unsubscribe(a)suse.com For additional commands, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-help(a)suse.com

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Sun puts $76 price tag on Office rival
by Malcolm Herbert 16 May '02

16 May '02

http://news.com.com/2100-1001-913812.html Sun puts $76 price tag on Office rival By Stephen Shankland Staff Writer, CNET News.com May 14, 2002, 9:00 PM PT Sun Microsystems' StarOffice 6.0 will go on sale May 21 with a price of $75.95, the company will announce Wednesday, in a more concerted effort by the server specialist to take on Microsoft's overwhelmingly dominant Office. StarOffice 5.2 has been available as a free download since Sun acquired the StarOffice product line in 1999, but Sun said earlier this year it would charge for the new version and provide better support for customers using it. It may not be free, but it's still less expensive than Microsoft Office, which overwhelmingly dominates the office software market with a 95 percent share, according to Gartner Dataquest. The basic version of Office has a retail cost of $479, with an upgrade cost of $239 and an educational version for $149. "This is positioned as a low-cost alternative," said Cheryln Chin, vice president of business development at Sun's Software Systems group. Sun is specifically planning to sell StarOffice to large businesses, education customers and governments. You get what you pay for, counters Microsoft. "Customers are telling us that value is more important than price. Society is full of cheap alternatives," Nicole von Kaenel, Product Manager Microsoft Office, said in a statement. For both StarOffice and Microsoft Office, customers buying the product in large quantities get a price discount, with StarOffice costing between $25 and $50 per copy. StarOffice is available for educational customers at the cost of the CD, instruction manuals and shipping. Sun and Microsoft are constant thorns in each other's sides; Microsoft has worked to exclude Sun from industry collaboration while Sun has taken its complaints about the software rival to court in the form of a private antitrust lawsuit. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Sun generally tries to undermine Microsoft by moving computing power to the large central servers at the core of Sun's sales, a move that demotes PCs to a mere supporting role. This time, StarOffice is a direct challenge to Microsoft's business. There are more costs than just the initial purchase fee, though, all agree. Gartner puts the price of switching a Microsoft Office user to StarOffice a $1,200--costs that include factors such as retraining, lost productivity and the difficulties of translating StarOffice files to and from Microsoft formats. Sun's Chin acknowledges there are retraining costs, but argues "it could be lower than $1,200" and that Microsoft isn't exempt. "Anyone on Office 95 or 97 switching to Office XP is going to have the same retraining cost," Chin said. "Macros are different, file formats are different, the user interface is slightly different." Microsoft asserts it isn't working on any responses to the arrival of StarOffice--though it perhaps wasn't a coincidence that the company chose this week to announce that customers had purchased the right to install 60 million copies of Office XP. "We are focused on bringing Microsoft Office to the next level," von Kaenel said. "Competition is good for the industry. It keeps us on our toes and reminds us that we have to earn our customers every day." But Microsoft is running into problems with those very customers. The Redmond, Wash.-based company has run into resistance to a subscription plan that would let customers pay an annual fee for Office updates instead of a per-upgrade charge. Many customers complained that the change effectively raised the price. Chin said 1.8 million users are testing StarOffice 6; thus far about 70 percent to 80 percent of testers have adopted the product. Customers include the Burlington Coat Factory, A.B. Watley, the city of Nanaimo in British Columbia, Canada, and Paros Software. Sun doesn't have a dedicated StarOffice sales force. "We will be piggybacking on top of existing sales folks," she said. While Sun has a formidable sales force, it typically sells products such as storage systems and servers, not office software. StarOffice is based on the same software as OpenOffice, an open-source project that is developed by Sun and others. The programming code underlying the OpenOffice product may be freely changed or shared under the terms of the Lesser General Public License (LGPL), a stark contrast to the tight proprietary controls over Microsoft Office. One major change of the new version of StarOffice is that individual programs such as word processor, spreadsheet and presentation software can be launched separately. In 5.2, it was all or nothing. The new version also uses XML-based file formats that aren't proprietary like Microsoft Office documents. The new version of StarOffice will be distributed with versions of Linux from MandrakeSoft, SuSE, Turbolinux and others, Chin said. Sun is in discussions with the top Linux seller, Red Hat, and hopes for a "favorable outcome," she added. By virtue of Windows' dominance in the desktop market, though, most copies of StarOffice will likely be used on Windows machines, she said. Sun is working on a future version of StarOffice--an extension of the server-based StarPortal and SunONE Webtop versions that run on central servers rather than on PCs. This new version will be in testing at customer sites by the end of the year, Chin said. The new server version is being rewritten to take advantage of new Internet software standards called Web services, an initiative in which Microsoft is leading the charge. News.com's Joe Wilcox contributed to this report.

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RE: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Java VM and Star Office
by Chris Puttick 16 May '02

16 May '02

Works fine without Java; which is more than can be said for XP, which doesn't work fine, with or without Java... And before anyone responds critically to this backhand criticism of a Microsoft product, I am an MS knowledgeable IT professional, and know a fair bit about my profession and its related subject matter. :-) Cheers Chris PS Anyone see Network News? That's me, that is... -----Original Message----- From: Bruce Miller To: Suse-Linux-Uk-Schools Sent: 5/16/02 7:47 AM Subject: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Java VM and Star Office I have been waiting, almost eagerly, to see what could possibly be seen as the ''M$ killer' app' of Star Office ver 6 to release. I downloaded a foreign language version of Open Office the other day. I didn't fancy shelling out the huge sum for the MS office language bolt on and thought this could be a good avenue for MFL teachers to explore. The dilemma I am now wrestling with, is what Java VM do I install. A lot of you who follow this forum are, like me, still forced into using Windows, for various reasons. I tried to install OO on an XP machine. It was at this point that I was hit by the reality of Sun's court action level grievences. I couldn't run the Java VM. I searched the M$ knowledge base and found nothing. I then went to sun.com and on the main page was a big link to what could be the solution. I went back to M$ and found that a MS (free) VM 'update patch' was available. Now the MSVM is only 5mb and is the 'official' patch whereas the Sun VM is 12mb and possibly may be having to work around lots of M$, lets say 'booby traps' for want of a term. However, the Sun VM may have all the right classes with it, to make Star Office work and not have any of the anti Star Office 'booby traps' that M$ may have fitted. Add to this, there is the issue of security. Apparently both M$ and Sun had to put their heads together (!) , at some point, to get around a major hack problem that both their VM's had. I guess that many of you will have been through similar processes by now. Does anyone have any experiences on this point, to feedback to the forum? Bruce. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-unsubscribe(a)suse.com For additional commands, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-help(a)suse.com

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Java VM and Star Office
by Bruce Miller 16 May '02

16 May '02

I have been waiting, almost eagerly, to see what could possibly be seen as the ''M$ killer' app' of Star Office ver 6 to release. I downloaded a foreign language version of Open Office the other day. I didn't fancy shelling out the huge sum for the MS office language bolt on and thought this could be a good avenue for MFL teachers to explore. The dilemma I am now wrestling with, is what Java VM do I install. A lot of you who follow this forum are, like me, still forced into using Windows, for various reasons. I tried to install OO on an XP machine. It was at this point that I was hit by the reality of Sun's court action level grievences. I couldn't run the Java VM. I searched the M$ knowledge base and found nothing. I then went to sun.com and on the main page was a big link to what could be the solution. I went back to M$ and found that a MS (free) VM 'update patch' was available. Now the MSVM is only 5mb and is the 'official' patch whereas the Sun VM is 12mb and possibly may be having to work around lots of M$, lets say 'booby traps' for want of a term. However, the Sun VM may have all the right classes with it, to make Star Office work and not have any of the anti Star Office 'booby traps' that M$ may have fitted. Add to this, there is the issue of security. Apparently both M$ and Sun had to put their heads together (!) , at some point, to get around a major hack problem that both their VM's had. I guess that many of you will have been through similar processes by now. Does anyone have any experiences on this point, to feedback to the forum? Bruce.

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Adabas in StarOffice vs MS Access
by mblackmore＠oxlug.org 15 May '02

15 May '02

Being someone who hasn't touched a database since writing some turnkey "systems" in dBaseIII back in the mid 80s(!) I'm not the one to make any recommendations about databases. However.... I've been banging on to a educational organisation for some time about bailing out of MS, but they are hooked on Access for a few users. The last time I looked at access (casually) would be err 1995 or so... but how does Adabas compare to Access? If I can get them onto StarOffice or OpenOffice (OO lacks a database incorporated doesn't it?) the way is clear for a linux migration at some point in the future. Does Adabase have a nice pretty windows interface? Can it read in Access databases? What qualities does it have that recommend it over Access? Apart from price :-) and the ... well can we still claim the ethical dimension? What other databases are there out there common to both Windows and Linux x-windows that are low cost/free, and highly competent? Ta muchly

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RE: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Hardware Raid query - Suse 7.2/7.3
by Chris Puttick 15 May '02

15 May '02

In particular, you're talking about IDE RAID, which is not fully supported in Linux, although the HPT370 is supposed to be pretty good. Hardware RAIDing is done by the chipset, but a driver is required to communicate correctly between the OS and the logical drive created. The quality of the driver should really only effect bits of available hardware functionality. If you add the modules disk with the driver on during setup, and then you only see one hard drive, it's working. If you still see two separate drives, it's not... Chris -----Original Message----- From: mblackmore(a)oxlug.org To: suse-linux-uk-schools(a)suse.com Sent: 5/14/02 3:29 PM Subject: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Hardware Raid query - Suse 7.2/7.3 Apols if I'm being dense, but after reading up stuff I'm confused about what/how hardware raid is setup. I've a HPT 370 RAID controller here (ata/100) and a pair of matched 40gb disks which I want to raid 1 (mirroring) for a server. Where is the raid'ing done? In the card hardware? By the operting system? By a combination of both? The HPT bios option (ctrl-h on bootup) gives the option to set up raid 1 and to start the raid. But it also seems I have to install the driver, and in one of the howto's someone mentioned that in some cards a lot of the functionality of the raid was handled by the driver... So what does what? If one just sets the card off it will, I assume, light up the disk lights like a xmas tree as the second disk is mirrored...? But if the driver isn't installed does this mean it won't raid, only one disk will be seen, will only work at standard ide speeds - or what? Further, does anyone know if the more recent hpt 370 raid driver works with SMP kernels? The original one for suse 6.4 and 7.1 specifically said it would only work with uniprocessor, but there is no mention either way in the more recent 7.3 release. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-unsubscribe(a)suse.com For additional commands, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-help(a)suse.com

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Hardware Raid query - Suse 7.2/7.3
by mblackmore＠oxlug.org 15 May '02

15 May '02

Apols if I'm being dense, but after reading up stuff I'm confused about what/how hardware raid is setup. I've a HPT 370 RAID controller here (ata/100) and a pair of matched 40gb disks which I want to raid 1 (mirroring) for a server. Where is the raid'ing done? In the card hardware? By the operting system? By a combination of both? The HPT bios option (ctrl-h on bootup) gives the option to set up raid 1 and to start the raid. But it also seems I have to install the driver, and in one of the howto's someone mentioned that in some cards a lot of the functionality of the raid was handled by the driver... So what does what? If one just sets the card off it will, I assume, light up the disk lights like a xmas tree as the second disk is mirrored...? But if the driver isn't installed does this mean it won't raid, only one disk will be seen, will only work at standard ide speeds - or what? Further, does anyone know if the more recent hpt 370 raid driver works with SMP kernels? The original one for suse 6.4 and 7.1 specifically said it would only work with uniprocessor, but there is no mention either way in the more recent 7.3 release.

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ADV: Melati
by Tim Pizey 13 May '02

13 May '02

Hi, I would like to bring http://www.melati.org/ to your attention. Melati is a wonderful system for programming websites against an SQL database in java. The reason I am advocating it is that I am the only current user, as the economic down turn has meant the other users are now in employment, however the gurus are attentive to the mailing list. Melati interoperates with PostgreSQL, MySQL, MSQL server, McKoiDB and can be made to operate with any transaction capable JDBC compliant db. It relies upon a templating engine (Velocity or Webmacro). Give it a try! cheers timp

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[Fwd: [OS:N:] [school-discuss] Another angle on winning interest in open source]
by Alan Harris 13 May '02

13 May '02

Hi all, You might find the following interesting, it's a forward from OSN which may help some of us Alan ----------------------------------------------------- Alan Harris Network Manager Bryngwyn School Tel : 01554 750661 Fax : 01554 758255 E-mail: alanh(a)bryngwyn.carmarthen.sch.uk ----------------------------------------------------- Notes: 1. The contents of this email may be snooped on by interested government parties for unknown purposes! Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, 2000. 2. The opinions expressed in this email are personal and may not be shared by Bryngwyn School. -----------------------------------------------------

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RE: [suse-linux-uk-schools] suse 8.0
by Chris Puttick 10 May '02

10 May '02

I believe you can buy the upgrade at a very reasonable price, which is (I think) the discs and a book descibing the differences (which there are a few). Maybe SuSE UK would consider selling just the disks to education for even less? (Roger?) 8 is worth it (after making it join my wireless home network),particularly for demonstrations to newbies. Chris -----Original Message----- From: Matt Williams To: suse-linux-uk-schools(a)suse.com Sent: 5/10/02 10:22 AM Subject: [suse-linux-uk-schools] suse 8.0 As much as I love using suse it appears 8.0 is not available for ftp download. And after purchasing 7.0 and 7.3 I am a bit reluctant to shell out again for some manuals I don't need. Does anyone know if it's going to be available anytime soon? cheers Matt -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-unsubscribe(a)suse.com For additional commands, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-help(a)suse.com

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Comment on - 'May the source be with you '
by Simon Wood 10 May '02

10 May '02

I am writing to comment on the article 'May the source be with you', Thursday May 9, 2002. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4410011,00.html I have emailed the 'editor..' as no 'online' section is listed on the contacts page, though I have also made an educated guess... ---- Dear Editor, I am a GNU/Linux user, and have been for 4 years. I have seen the 'product' improve, along my skill and knowledge. In the article 'May the source be with you' Manek Dubash describes his experience with installing Linux as a 'newbie'. He does a good job of documenting his praises and issues, but I feel that he is being unfair in one respect. He instantly dismisses the idea of purchasing a 'box set' (a package containing disk, manuals and a support contract from a distributor) simple because it costs money. Instead he decided to download the disks and install without a manual or the option of (professional) support. This means that the comparison with his favoured Windows is unfair, as no doubt he has a CD for that, possibly manuals, and almost certainly has referred to a helpline at some point. I feel that perhaps he should have, at least, suggested that the usual introduction to a newbie is to purchase a 'box set'. Your faithfully, Simon Wood Bradford, UK.

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RE: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Linux for Guardian readers
by Chris Puttick 10 May '02

10 May '02

I read the same article, with much the same response, particularly as someone who has put (paid for myself) SuSE 8 on my laptop and desktop machine, and had my girlfriend praise it highly. Has anyone managed to make contact with the author and persuade him to try a boxed product? (Roger?) Chris -----Original Message----- From: Damian Counsell To: suse-linux-uk-schools Sent: 5/9/02 7:47 PM Subject: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Linux for Guardian readers All teachers read *The Guardian* :-) so you shouldn't have much trouble getting hold of a copy of today's edition from the staff room. In the "Online" tabloid supplement there is a full-page article about living with Linux, entitled "May the source be with you". For some bizarre reason there *isn't* a Web version of the article, at the online *Online* site ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/0,3147,179200,00.html ). I'd be happy for someone to correct me on this. (However there is a, ahem, an online version of another piece in today's *Online* about keeping the human genome open: http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,711981,00.html ---not that I'm obsessed or anything.) After his experiment, the (UNIX-friendly) author of the Linux article gives the usual "impressive, but not ready for primetime" verdict, though he did choose to download Red Hat to his PC, burn his own ISOs and then to do the install without a manual. Crazy. Everyone knows the best way for the newbie is to buy a boxed copy of SuSE---and "Have a lot of fun"... [Do I get my free-as-in-beer copy of SuSE 8.0 now, Roger?] -- Damian COUNSELL http://www.counsell.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-unsubscribe(a)suse.com For additional commands, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-help(a)suse.com

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suse 8.0
by Matt Williams 10 May '02

10 May '02

As much as I love using suse it appears 8.0 is not available for ftp download. And after purchasing 7.0 and 7.3 I am a bit reluctant to shell out again for some manuals I don't need. Does anyone know if it's going to be available anytime soon? cheers Matt

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RE: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Preinstalled Windows: AARGH! I can't get it off!
by Grainge, Derek 10 May '02

10 May '02

> I thought that if the school had a copy(s) of the book in > their library > then copying bits of it eg. for setting questions etc. was also fair > use. I certainly haven't heard of schools being busted for doing so > and I can't imagine the author of a school textbook being willing to > support such an action nor the publisher for that matter. > > It's another one of those grey areas regards copyright I think. > Schools, universities are entitled to photocopy a percentage of a book for academic research, because an agreement was bashed out between publishers and educationalists. I think it's about 10%. A publisher may withdraw a text from this arrangement completely if he wishes. If a book is out of print and you wish to copy it (e.g. to maintain a class set of books) you will need explicit agreement from the publisher. The Copyright Licensing Agency is at http://www.cla.co.uk There are links there to other licensing agencies e.g. music. You would not hear of schools being busted because almost all have taken out a licence through their LEA or directly. Not very grey at all. -- ******************************************************************************** All mail sent and received may be examined to prevent transmission of unacceptable material. Wellington College does not accept responsibility for email contents. Problems to postmaster(a)wellington-college.berks.sch.uk. Website: http://www.wellington-college.berks.sch.uk ********************************************************************************

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RE: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Preinstalled Windows: AARGH! I can't get it off!
by Grainge, Derek 10 May '02

10 May '02

> On Tuesday 07 May 2002 11:54 pm, Frank Shute wrote: > [snip] > > > > Which is why I believe I'm not breaking the law by running one > > licensed copy of NT on 2 different machines, laptop & workstation, > > because to my mind it constitutes fair use the same way you can copy > > an audio CD for personal use. > > I thought that was still breaking copyright? > Yes in both cases. I think most of us would consider it 'fair use' if we copy tracks froma CD onto an MP3 player for convenience, or if we make a backup of a CD in case the original gets damaged. i.e. for personal use. But a single person can't listen to two CDs at once. [yes I know someone will refute this but I don't want to get silly about it.] If you let someone else listen to your copy you have technically broken the law. If you put a copy of windows onto two machines you have broken the law. You are giving someone the opportunity to use software on the other machine. HOWEVER: At one point Microsoft said they were relatively happy for a copy of office to be on a desktop and a laptop - because a business user would be using one or the other but not both at the same time; and if someone else was using the laptop meanwhile, the deal was off. But their Licences don't say that. This is water which Microsoft want to be muddy. Regarding preinstalled windows - it would be illegal to sell the machine on and sell the copy of windows to someone else separately. Microsoft will claim it's illegal even if the HD is reformatted before the machine is sold. I doubt it. It would be illegal to buy a windows upgrade and sell the original CD to someone - the upgrade is tied to the original. Contract law. I think. -- ******************************************************************************** All mail sent and received may be examined to prevent transmission of unacceptable material. Wellington College does not accept responsibility for email contents. Problems to postmaster(a)wellington-college.berks.sch.uk. Website: http://www.wellington-college.berks.sch.uk ********************************************************************************

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oh dear too many chips
by James & Cybèle 10 May '02

10 May '02

oh dear So typos is all the vocal minority can complain about. the combination of barrack room lawyers, chips on shoulders and low levels of intelligence from a few have made for some interesting reading and a few laughs when printed out and passed around but there are only so many hours in the day.. a big thanks though who have helped with linux probs and know when to keep counsel; I hope it is those that will come to be seen as the face of linux and move it from the cranks and misguided james carter south lee school

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Preinstalled Windows: AARGH! I can't get it off!
by Malcolm Herbert 10 May '02

10 May '02

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/25085.html If a PC shipped with Windows preinstalled, can you remove the OS and install Linux instead? Well, no, according to Microsoft. A somewhat obscure Microsoft site aimed at helping schools deal with donated computers flatly states: "It is a legal requirement that pre-installed operating systems remain with a machine for the life of the machine." -- -------------------------------------- Malcolm Herbert Red Hat Europe t: +44 1483 734955 m: +44 7720 079845 --------------------------------------

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Linux for Guardian readers
by Damian Counsell 09 May '02

09 May '02

All teachers read *The Guardian* :-) so you shouldn't have much trouble getting hold of a copy of today's edition from the staff room. In the "Online" tabloid supplement there is a full-page article about living with Linux, entitled "May the source be with you". For some bizarre reason there *isn't* a Web version of the article, at the online *Online* site ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/0,3147,179200,00.html ). I'd be happy for someone to correct me on this. (However there is a, ahem, an online version of another piece in today's *Online* about keeping the human genome open: http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,711981,00.html ---not that I'm obsessed or anything.) After his experiment, the (UNIX-friendly) author of the Linux article gives the usual "impressive, but not ready for primetime" verdict, though he did choose to download Red Hat to his PC, burn his own ISOs and then to do the install without a manual. Crazy. Everyone knows the best way for the newbie is to buy a boxed copy of SuSE---and "Have a lot of fun"... [Do I get my free-as-in-beer copy of SuSE 8.0 now, Roger?] -- Damian COUNSELL http://www.counsell.com/

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Which char-major
by Derek 09 May '02

09 May '02

Can someone tell me what module char-major-108 is, why the server barfs at not finding it when I try to use pppd other than as root, and how I can get round it? (pppd is setuid). -- Best wishes, Derek

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MS and PCs still
by James & Cybèle 09 May '02

09 May '02

I'm afraid some of you need to sit back and read what you write sometimes and READ what others write. As to Frank, either your first language isn't English or you've become to angry to see anything you don't want too. James Carter South lee School

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'profiles'
by Phil Driscoll 09 May '02

09 May '02

We're now in the final stages of preparation for our rollout of 123 ltsp clients. The machines are using kde 3 configured to look and feel as close to windows as we can get it in order to minimise any potential hostility to the migration. What I'd like to do to ensure that users get a uniform and 'non-broken' desktop environment when they log in is to copy enough stuff into their home directory at login to ensure their desktop, menus, panel etc are what we would like them to be. Sadly, this seems to be a little more complicated than just copying in a set of files from a 'golden' user's home directory as many of the config files (e.g. konquerors file management profile) have hard wired paths to the 'golden' user's home directory. Another problem we have is that even if we copy across the OpenOffice directory from a user who has already run through the open office network workstation installation, the first time the new user runs an open office component, they have to go through the setup process. I suspect that someone on the list must have been here before and got it sorted. Advice please :) Cheers -- Phil Driscoll

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Your site is broken
by Tim Pizey 09 May '02

09 May '02

Paul, Your site http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/rfc/rfc_document.asp?docnum=429 is completely broken. It does not display in Netscape 4.7 (Missing end table tag would be my guess), When I tried to post a comment using Konqueror I got: Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers error '80040e14' [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server]Line 11: Incorrect syntax near 't'. /rfc/rfc_document.asp, line 168 The comment I was trying to post: Hi, I hope the irony of your site being broken is not lost on you! The link to this document contains spaces, which your Microsoft ASP driven site gives a 400 error. The attribution of theses comments is also broken, all appearing to come from pukpai. This is a nice illustration of the claim that Microsoft software doesn't work. There are however bigger reasons why the Government should not use proprietory formats. Unlike private business the government has a duty to the citizens to store data in a format which is open to inspection by members of the public and in a format which can be expected to last hundreds of years, rather than the few years which any one of the Microsoft formats has lasted to date. Hope this helps Tim Pizey (not Paul Ukpai) So to sum up - if you use Microsoft then your website won't work. cheers timp

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