September 2002 - openSUSE Edu - openSUSE Mailing Lists

RE NHS Meeting - Bill and Tony
by Alan Harris 18 Sep '02

18 Sep '02

Hi all thought this might be of interest to some of you :- <my email> > Subject: Microsoft and the British Government - Possible Anti-Competitive Behaviour > Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 15:04:20 +0100 > From: alanh(a)bryngwyn.carmarthen.sch.uk > To: Erkki.Liikanen(a)cec.eu.int > > Hi, > > I write regarding the current negotiations between the British > Government and Microsoft in which, to date, Microsoft have been awarded > a contract to supply the National Health Service with some 60 Million > (£)'s worth of software licenses. > > I would be grateful if you could inform me of the current state of the > anti-competition investigation being undertaken by the EU against > Microsoft, as it appears that more such deals (like that for the NHS) > are in the pipeline. As the commisioner with responsibility for the > Information Society I am sure that you are well aware of the potential > for damage being created by such actions. > > Many Thanks > > Alan </my email> <commisioners response> > Subject: RE: Microsoft and the British Government - Possible Anti-Competit ive Behaviour > Date: Sun, 9 Dec 2001 14:08:31 +0100 > From: Erkki.Liikanen(a)cec.eu.int > To: alanh(a)bryngwyn.carmarthen.sch.uk > CC: Mario.Monti(a)cec.eu.int, Marc.Van-Hoof(a)cec.eu.int, Olli.Rehn(a)cec.eu.int, Per.Haugaard(a)cec.eu.int > > Dear. Mr. Harris, > > I pass your letter to my colleague Mario Monti and his cabinet. He is > responsible for this issue. > But still, during investigation I don't believe much more can be said what > has been in public. > > with best regards > > Erkki Liikanen > > ******************************** > Mr. Erkki Liikanen > Member of the Commission > tel. +32-2-295.79.57 > fax +32-2-295.85.61 > erkki.liikanen(a)cec.eu.int > secretary; kirsi.larjava(a)cec.eu.int > tel. +32-2-295.14.40 > http://europa.eu.int/comm/commissioners/liikanen/index_en.htm > </commissiones response> There may be hope for all of us then? 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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Bit of a Slapper!
by Bruce Miller 18 Sep '02

18 Sep '02

I suspect that lots of you have already heard about this new 'Slapper' virus that busily turning our Linux / Apache machines into some kind of evil beowulf. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2263693.stm) This idea of 'grid computing' seems to be gaining ground quite rapidly though. I have read a few articles on it and now find myself with a few P166's and an old hub to play with. The idea of building a beowulf has appealed for quite a while. What appeals even more, is getting 166's to use some kind of 'slapper' style integration with the main network and harness all the idle cycles on the under-used new gigahertz, now entry level, machines that occupy corners in the school. Anyone tried this yet? Does this idea make sense? It should be practical, I would have thought. I will keep people posted, if I get it to work. Maybe some people know of a few pitfalls though, before I start. Regards to all, Bruce Miller.

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Squid Logging Software
by Administrator 17 Sep '02

17 Sep '02

Does anyone know any good log-interpretation software for Squid Logs, we're using Ident lookups to get usernames, and purely want to be able to see what sites are visitied by each person, even just a simple CGI script with text boxes to filter the logs would be useful! Dug Stokes

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Remote support utilities
by Chris Puttick 16 Sep '02

16 Sep '02

Hi Has anyone found an enterprise oriented remote support utility? I'm looking for something that can poll a given subnet and return a list of the available clients. The idea behind the requirement is to be able to provide remote support on very minimal information, and potentially relatively minimal (generic IT) skills on the behalf of the operator. Preferably cross-platform... Cheers Chris

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RE: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Setting up Boot roms
by Grainge, Derek 16 Sep '02

16 Sep '02

> I haven't tried the 3c905, but it sounds similar to what is > needed for an > RTL8319-based card: you have to run a utility that enables the BootROM > before it will be recognised. At present, we have a FreeDOS > floppy disk > that boots straight into the relevant utility, but this is > not the best > way to do it for large numbers of cards. Exactly correct. There is a DOS 3com utility which reprograms the card (e.g i/o, interrupt, etc, depending on the card type) and enables/disables the bootrom. It's part of the 3com driver kit for the 3c509 - I don't think it's available separately. Last time I looked, the kit was in .exe format :-( - although the .exe simple unpacks to a set of folders when run. Try looking here for linux-specific stuff, or do a search on their site for 'linux' http://support.3com.com/infodeli/tools/nic/linuxdownloads.htm I haven't read all the readme's but I think even if you download the linux drivers you still need the dos utility, hence you need to look at the files in the full windows driver. -- ******************************************************************************** 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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Setting up Boot roms
by Rob Keeling 15 Sep '02

15 Sep '02

This may be a very stupid question, Some months ago I purchased some bootroms from disklessworkstations.com for a 3c905b card. The accompanying documentation says I need to download floppyload.bin & 3x90x.bin from ltsp.org create a boot disk which will reprogram the card to accept the boot rom. I can`t find the files and don`t know what to try next. Any suggestions Rob Keeling Network Manager Queen Elizabeth`s Grammar School Ashbourne

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open source in schools articles
by Damian Counsell 13 Sep '02

13 Sep '02

I realise this is a product of The Other Linux Company, but Red Hat have just begun a four-part feature on their Web site called "Getting Started in Open Source and Education": http://www.redhat.com/advice/tips/ . They are also running an interview with Paul Nelson, "Teacher and Advocate": http://www.redhat.com/advice/ask.html . -- Damian COUNSELL http://www.counsell.com/

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UnitedLinux
by Matt Johnson 12 Sep '02

12 Sep '02

I'm not quite clear on the impact of UnitedLiux on future SuSE developments. Does this mean there will be a decline or full stop in SuSE linux releases to focus on the joint project? Or will there ever be a SuSE 9? Cheers -- Matt Johnson __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Everything you'll ever need on one web page from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts http://uk.my.yahoo.com

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RE: [suse-linux-uk-schools] 286's as X-terms
by Grainge, Derek 06 Sep '02

06 Sep '02

> I don't think there are that many 286s or 386s left in > schools. Using older > machines as terminals has a few technical issues. > > 1. Best to use a decent resolution eg 1024 x 768 in 16 bit colour. This > requires 2 meg of video ram and its often difficult to upgrade pre Pentium > machines. It's usually the monitor that goes with the old machine which won't do that resolution, or is suffiently fuzzy to make 1024 pixels look interesting. > 2. If you want to use etherboot you have to have a bios that > will boot from a > network. Some early ones don't although some can be flashed > to update them. Now you do, but not quite true. I remember very old 286's (discless stations) from RM, which used proms on network cards to remote boot from a Novell server. I don't remember Network boot BIOS settings, however my memory be be faulty; this was 1990. > For these reasons I think its best to use pentiums as the lowest spec for > terminals unless you already have a supply of machines you know will work. -- ******************************************************************************** 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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286's as X-terms
by Simon Wood 06 Sep '02

06 Sep '02

Hi, There is some discussion of turning 286's into psuedo-xterms (using VNC run on top of Nano-X) on Elks and Nano-X mailing lists. Elks networking at present is SLIP, but expect to go ethernet at some point. My question is whether there is a 'mass market' for this? Do schools have a large supply of 286 (or even 386) machines sitting in cupboards that could usefully be used as X terminals?? I expect that this sort of project may be more suited to the third world where the latest hardware is just too expensive. Simon Wood.

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