February 2003 - 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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A table of Windows equivalents.
by James Spedding 27 Feb '03

27 Feb '03

Doug Loss posted this on the schoolforge list and I found it quite illuminating (maybe I need to get out more?) It is a table of equivalents / replacements / analogs of Windows software in Linux. <http://linuxshop.ru/linuxbegin/win-lin-soft-en/> I was wondering if there was a similar list for specifically educational software? If not would it be a useful thing to compile? James

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Default settings problems
by Mark Evans 26 Feb '03

26 Feb '03

I am having great difficulty finding an easy way to change defaults. Especially for GUI programs which either don't have an obvious global configuration or if they do it is undocumented. KDE: Someone mentioned the global configuration a while back, but I can't find the post. What I need to do is set up locale (to UK), screensaver and the proxy & plugin settings for konqurer centrally. Openoffice.org: How do I get this to default to British, rather than US settings. Even deleting the US dictionaries and ammending dictionary.lst dosn't do the trick. Gimp: insists on defaulting to US letter paper. Mozilla: I can't get /etc/mozilla/prefs.js to do anything useful at all. Need to be able to set the proxy, homepage and being able to configure IMAP here would be very useful. (Why does Mozilla insist on making difficult what is easy with lynx and mutt...) -- Mark Evans St. Peter's CofE High School Phone: +44 1392 204764 X109 Fax: +44 1392 204763

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RE: [suse-linux-uk-schools] software raid 8.0
by Grainge, Derek 26 Feb '03

26 Feb '03

> This is my problem. While setting up the raids, it wouldn't > let me raid > the /boot parition. Coz Linux needs to access the boot partition in order to load the raid drivers persumably. > This how the paritions are set up at the moment. I've > obviously got a > partition spare (sdb2) the same size as sda2 with nothing on it. > > /dev/md0 / > /dev/sda2 /boot > /dev/md1 /home > /dev/md2 /export > You don't say how large your partitions are. If you want a relatively bombproof system then - 1. keep boot and raid partitons on separate drives. 2. keep 2 boot partitions on separate drives. So assuming disk space is not an issue, you have: sda2 /boot sdb2 /boot copy md0 / raid stack etcetc You need a disaster recovery plan, whch involves disabling sda2 and verifying you can boot using sdb2. I also wonder whether it's wise to have all system files and software on the raid partition? Once the machine's set up, system folders don't change all that much. User data does, and that's what it's vital to cover. I would be tempted to raid the "home" area. -- ******************************************************************************** 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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KDE troubles
by Paul Taylor 25 Feb '03

25 Feb '03

Hi all: I have an annoyance that I hope someone can easily solve. I use kppp to dial out for my e-mail and it has worked well until I upgraded the desktop. Now, if I run YAST2 it changes the sui on pppd and I have to run konqueror in su mode to change it before use (sorry, more of a GUI user). I tried changing it with chmod but this didn't work. The other problem I have is that konqueror as su opens up on my desktop and then vanishes so I have to log out of me and in as root. Also, on the root desktop if I minimise programs they disappear from the task bar. I can see them with alt+tab but it would be nice to see them on the taskbar. Does any of this make sense or sound familiar. Any help greatly appreciated. Paul

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NFS 2
by steven thomas 25 Feb '03

25 Feb '03

TA FOR THE ADVICE. I HAVE READ THE HOW-TO BUT IT DOESN'T MENTION THE PROBLEM. I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT NIS WOULD HAVE SOLVED THE UID PROBLEM. DOES THIS MEAN THAT I WILL HAVE TO CHECK EVERY USER OR CAN I PUT THEM INTO A GROUP AND GIVE THAT A UID. SHOULD NOT /HOME BE RW AS USERS HAVE TO READ WHAT IS IN THEIR /HOME AND BE ABLE TO SAVE FILES TO IT? __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/

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software raid 8.0
by Mike Rees 25 Feb '03

25 Feb '03

Hi I've just set up a server with 4 new 9Gb SCSI drives and using software raid to mirror them. Everythings working fine, the drives are all synced. This is my problem. While setting up the raids, it wouldn't let me raid the /boot parition. This how the paritions are set up at the moment. I've obviously got a partition spare (sdb2) the same size as sda2 with nothing on it. /dev/md0 / /dev/sda2 /boot /dev/md1 /home /dev/md2 /export Should I have partioned differently? Can I change it? What would happen if sda fails? Should I manually mirror /boot to the spare partition? I don't mind(!!) having to start from scratch if it'll give me more peace of mind. Thanks. -- Mike Rees Ysgol Glanymor School Heol Elfed Burry Port Llanelli Carms SA16 0AL

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MS Excel to OpenOffice.org conversion
by Chris Puttick 25 Feb '03

25 Feb '03

Hi Apologies for the cross-posting. A teacher at one of the schools here has developed some Excel spreadsheets for demonstrating various elements of maths. He's essentially programmed a whole interface using macros and conditional formatting to make a highly useable interactive whiteboard maths teaching solution. I'm desperately trying to persuade him to open source it, but... One of the hurdles is that he doesn't believe it can be made to work under OOo with the same look and feel as he's painstakingly developed. I'm certain it can but don't have the necessary skills to undertake the work. He's arguing that the cost of his solution would be far less than the cost of the MS licences and therefore it makes no odds if he sells it; therefore no OOo, no free solution. Poor argument, I know, but if we can prove OOo can do the work, I think he can be persuaded to GPL the remainder. He's offered one module for me to prove it can be done. Any takers? Cheers Chris Puttick IT Manager Central Manchester City Learning Centre

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RE: [suse-linux-uk-schools] cron job with ftp
by Administrator 25 Feb '03

25 Feb '03

> > > > (I'm > only in that school on a Thursday, > > otherwise I > > > > would have just tried all this, rather than post > > my intentions for > > > > peer review!) > > > > > > Are you a student then (sixth form). Im 19 and an > > on > > > my second year of a degree in Southampton :-) > > > > Stop flirting with the other members - this is not a > > dating service :o) > LOL, LOL...... no, my girlfriend would go mad!! I was > just curious to know how many students "help" out the > school admins.... Ah, got one guy here who's from a tech college is 19, and I'm 20 and am full time :) You don't actually work at a school then?? Dug

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Email Filter
by Administrator 25 Feb '03

25 Feb '03

Quick question, does anyone use any Linux software to filter their email? We get quite a lot of email passed through, over 1000 a hour, and it would be nice to use something fairly simple to work between our SMTP feed and Exchange (5.5) Server, preferably (I know it will take a LOT of space) that can store every email passed through, for say a week? Thanks, Dug Stokes Senior Webmaster Gilberd IS Department E: dug(a)gilberd.com W: www.gilberd.com

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