[KLUG Members] KLUG Meeting Notes for 07/29/2003
magoo
members@kalamazoolinux.org
29 Jul 2003 22:37:34 -0400
KLUG Meeting Notes: Tuesday - July 29, 2003 7:00PM
I. PRESENTATION RECAP
II. NEXT WEEK'S MEETING INFO <=== Beginner's Meeting!!!
III. KLUG MAILING LISTS
IV. KLUG & LINUX NEWS FLASHES
V. KLUG CONTACT & MEETING INFO
Tonight's Meeting Moderator: KLUG Chairperson - Todd Pillars
I. PRESENTATION RECAP
THIS WEEK'S KLUG PRESENTATION: (19 active KLUG participants)
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OPEN DATABASE CONNECTIVITY (ODBC)
By Erik Gillespie
ODBC is an open Application Program Interface (API) for accessing
databases of all shapes and sizes through a layer of libraries and
drivers. The API was created by Microsoft to be cross-platform.
Of course, M$ wouldn't think of writing the ports to Unix/Linux...
so enter unixODBC. unixODBC is more than a standards-compliant
port of the ODBC API to Unix platforms, it also includes many of
the enhancements Microsoft supports. So pick your favorite OS and
join me as we walk through the world of platform independent
database connectivity.
PRESENTATION SUMMARY:
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The speaker sent his apologies for not making it. We should
reschedule this presentation on ODBC. Erik Gillespie, tonight's
speaker, was held up with traffic problems coming through Chicago
and was so behind schedule, that he called to notify us that he
was not going to be able to make it for the presentation. We
didn't get that message until after the meeting. While we waited
there was some discussion of SCO, Dashboard, IPV6, thin clients,
technology events in Detroit, KLUG's Grand Rapids Oracle program
participation, keeping Red Hat PC's updated, six weeks until
Monday Night Football, and many more subjects than should be
mentioned.
Dirk brought ice cream with nuts and chocolate syrup. Cool and
tasty sundaes for us to enjoy on a 90 degree July day!
NOTE: July 21 2003 unixODBC v2.2.6 Released
- more -
http://www.unixodbc.org/
http://www.instantweb.com/d/dictionary/foldoc.cgi?query=ODBC
Erik Gillespie is a recent graduate from Western Michigan University
with a degree in Computer Science. He has a keen interest in all
walks of software development for the PC but holds a particular joy
for graphics programming and development on non-PC platforms. When
not at his computer he can be found hanging out with friends or
spending the day with his little sister.
II. NEXT KLUG MEETING - TUESDAY 08/05/2003
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Linux for Beginners
by Todd Pillars
THE BEGINNER'S MEETINGS ARE HELD the first Tuesday of each
month. Linux basics and distribution installs are the
lessons of these evenings. If you do want KLUG's FREE help
installing Linux on your computer at one of these meetings,
http://kalamazoolinux.org/meetings/installform.html
Contact the KLUG Installmasters for more information:
installmaster@kalamazoolinux.org
- and -
ORDER YOUR SOFTWARE HERE: http://kalamazoolinux.org/bsware
Now is the time to get started! Linux is becoming a mainstay
of free software, free choice, dependability and power.
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THE STANDARD KLUG BEGINNER'S PRESENTATION - LINUX BOOT CAMP!!!
http://kalamazoolinux.org/presentations/beginner01.html
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Note:
As Linux matures as an OS, the educational needs are evolving.
The Beginner's Meeting format is changing with those needs.
It is difficult to cover all the basics in one meeting. Linux
is not just for CS experts and IT professionals. The "BASICS"
meetings are intended for those with limited experience with
Operating System's or even Personal Computer's. Your comments
and questions are welcomed!
Todd Pillars is the Chairperson of KLUG! His first PC
was a 1981 TRS-80 Model 3 2.03Mhz, 16K ram, 5 1/4 floppy
running TRS-DOS and QBASIC. In 1997 he started running
a web development company that hosted web sites with Red
Hat 5.2. He was named the Executive Director of Southwest
Michigan Information Technology Institute in 2003. SMITI
provides education and alternatives to proprietary OS's and
software. They supply technology to small startup companies.
He has memberships in KLUG, Chamber of Commerce, and GLIMA.
Admittedly a HUGE Detroit Red Wings fan who loves NASCAR too.
III. K L U G M A I L I N G L I S T S -
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Diversified mailing lists can be found on the KLUG web site.
http://kalamazoolinux.org/listserv/
Facilitated by - John Bridleman listmaster@kalamazoolinux.org
Sign up and participate to serve the Open Source community!!!
(240 plus registrations on the "KLUG members" mailing list)
IV. K L U G & L I N U X N E W S F L A S H E S ! ! !
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SAVING THE NET
How to get past the intellectual and political logjams that threaten
Linux and the Net. At the same time that media concentration
restrictions are being removed, such that three companies will
own everything, so too are neutrality restrictions for the network
being eliminated, so that those same three companies--who also will
control broadband access--are totally free to architect broadband
however they wish. "The Internet that is to be the savior is a
dying breed. The end-to-end architecture that gave us its power
will, in effect, be inverted. And so the games networks play to
benefit their own will bleed to this space too."
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6989&mode=thread&order=0
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LINUX SECURITY COOKBOOK
"As one of the flock of Linux desktop users I have always taken it
for granted that Linux is inherently more secure than Microsoft
Windows. The truth is, I've never really paid much attention to
Linux security, even on the Linux router I had running for a year.
I always knew I should be concerned about security, but I never
found a good starting point until I decided to review O'Reilly's
Linux Security Cookbook (LSC)."
http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/07/22/157248
&mode=thread&tid=106&tid=126&tid=172&tid=185&tid=188&tid=192
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GUI TOOLKITS FOR THE X WINDOW SYSTEM
This article is aimed at Unix developers who already have some
experience with programming languages and want to start developing
GUI applications (mainly for The X Window System, though
portability is discussed). It may also come in handy if you have
used a particular GUI toolkit for some time and want to know
whether others might suit your needs better. The main focus is
comparison and introduction, but it serves as a bit of tutorial,
as well.
http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/928/
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OBTAINING ARCHIVES OF USENET?
"Google took over Deja and built the mammoth Google Groups, which
is a near complete archive of USENET dating back to early 1980s.
For an academic project, I need to analyze a lot of USENET data.
The Terms of Service for Google Groups will not allow automated
access (and even so, I'd have to write a bunch of tools and reverse
engineer it all). Inquiries about purchasing copies of the archive
have gone unanswered.
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/07/25/1947231
&mode=thread&tid=126&tid=95
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SUSE, SAP SIGN LINUX SUPPORT DEAL
Open-source software provider SuSE Linux AG Thursday announced an
agreement with SAP AG to provide Linux support to corporate customers.
Under the terms of the agreement, SuSE will work with SAP, of Waldorf,
Germany, on support for those customers running SAP applications on
the United Linux Enterprise Server. By joining the two companies'
support and development teams, SuSE can solve problems down to the
level of the Linux source code, officials said.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1202812,00.asp
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SENDMAIL ENABLER FOR MAC OS X
"It's really nice to be able to use sendmail as a SMTP server on a
PowerBook if you move around a lot. But enabling sendmail on OS X
is non-trivial, and while a good tutorial exists, the stock Mac OS
X 10.2 package is missing the m4 macro processor needed to
regenerate sendmail.cf. So it was great news to hear about Bernard
Teo's Sendmail Enabler, a cool Aqua-GUI-interface sendmail
'configurator' for Mac OS X."
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/07/24/1513212
&mode=thread&tid=179&tid=185&tid=190
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MAKING MAC AND LINUX PLAY NICELY
"It's an eMac that has been sitting quietly on my kitchen table the
past two years. I decided to explore how best to share files,
printers, and applications between a Macintosh and my desktop
Linux box..."
http://linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/2003072500526OSHLNT
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MOZILLA V1.5 APLPHA AVAILABLE
"Mozilla.org released Mozilla v1.5 alpha today, with flavors
available for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. Some of the new
features include Composer enhancements, Chatzilla logging,
multiple tab window closing confirmation, and quicksearch support
in about:config. In a somewhat related note, MoInstallers for
Homebrew Linux Distributions?zilla 1.4 has been downloaded over
a half million times in the past 3 weeks (not counting mirrors)."
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/07/22/2316243
&mode=thread&tid=126&tid=154&tid=95
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MICRO$OFT BALLMER STILL TILTING AT LINUX
On the issue of the competitive threat from Linux in general and
IBM Corp. in particular, Ballmer said the issue was between
proprietary and open software. Big Blue now supports WebSphere
on Linux, he said, but questioned exactly what that meant. "Can
IBM give you a product roadmap for Linux? Can they deliver new
features and fixes to Linux? Does it indemnify the intellectual
property in Linux? No, no and no," he said.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1202886,00.asp
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INSTALLERS FOR HOMEBREW LINUX DISTRIBUTIONS?
"With the relatively easy instructions available from various
sources (LFS being one), it's fairly easy now for just about
any relatively advanced Linux user to create their own distro.
I'm well into creating a distribution (for my friends and myself,
nothing major), but I can't seem to find any real projects out
there to actually go through an installation process.
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/07/22/1645252
&mode=thread&tid=106&tid=185
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LINUX SYMPOSIUM 2003 POWERS UP
Linux users from around the world are gathering this week at the
annual Linux Symposium in Ottawa Canada. While they're not on the
agenda, the gathering will provide attendees a forum at which to
discuss this summer's hottest Linux topics, including SCO's recent
win of Unix System V copyright and the impending Version 2.7 of
the Linux kernel. The Linux Symposium runs immediately after the
invitation-only Linux Kernel Summit, also in Ottawa.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1201441,00.asp
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LARGE SCALE SAMBA INSTALLATIONS
"How to install and set up various scenarios for Samba and
Windows2000/XP Professional..."
http://linuxtoday.com/it_management/2003072500626OSSWNT
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FROM THE "SCO S T I L L REALLY SUCKS" DEPARTMENT
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GARTNER SAYS DELAY LINUX DEPLOYMENT DUE TO SCO
"SCO's legal threats have prompted Gartner Group to recommend that
companies delay deployment of critical Linux applications,
determine "whether Unix or Windows will provide functions
equivalent to those of Linux deployments", and take a "go-slow"
approach to Linux in high-value or mission-critical production
systems."
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/07/24/1734255&
mode=thread&tid=187&tid=88
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LINUX ADVOCATES DOUBT VALIDITY OF SCO LICENSING SCHEME
Open source advocates on Monday blasted a Linux licensing scheme
that The SCO Group is proposing to address alleged copyright
violations in the Linux operating system. SCO Chief Executive
Officer Darl McBride announced the licensing plan on a conference
call with press and analysts earlier in the day. "SCO is prepared
to offer a license for SCO's UnixWare 7.1.3 product for use in
conjunction with any Linux product," he said. "This licensing
format will assure that Linux users will be able to run Linux
in full compliance with SCO's underlying IP rights."
http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/07/22/
HNdoubtvalidity_1.html?platforms
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BIG BLUE STRIKES BACK
IBM has launched a counterstrike against SCO Group's attack on
Linux users, arguing that SCO's demands for Unix license payments
are undermined by its earlier shipment of an open-source Linux
product.
http://www.linux.org/news/2003/07/27/0003.html
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GATES SAYS SCO'S CASE AGAINST IBM WILL HARM LINUX
Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates said
the intellectual property battle between SCO and IBM is hurting
the business of Linux. Gates, speaking to financial analysts at
the company's Redmond, Wash., headquarters Thursday, said it's
unclear if Microsoft is benefiting from customer worries about
the liability of deploying Linux when the lawsuit between SCO
and IBM hasn't been resolved.
http://www.linux.org/news/2003/07/27/0001.html
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WEB SITES UNFAZED BY SCO THREATS
"One important section of the Linux market, large companies, so far
don't seem fazed by SCO Group's warnings that Linux violates its
Unix intellectual property, according to a study released Thursday..."
http://linuxtoday.com/it_management/2003072501526OSBZLL
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IN THE OPEN SOURCE SPIRIT WE CALL FOR MEETING SUPPORT VOLUNTEERS
Please don't make us RANT about organization needs for volunteers!
We need additional volunteers to act as the "Meeting Firewall"
to handle Chamber access control and security issues. The Chamber
has asked us to safeguard their assets as KLUG members come and
go from the meeting room each Tuesday night. Bob surely needs
help with this function which requires that you get to the meetings
early and see that the everything is locked up as the last person
leaves. This means being at the Chamber at 6:30pm and hanging
around until 10:00pm. We have other volunteer positions available
and many of these duties could be shared if you have an interest.
G E T I N V O L V E D I N K L U G N O W ! ! !
Please contact installmaster@kalamazoolinux.org for more details.
See http://kalamazoolinux.org/organize for position descriptions.
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THE WMU COMPUTER CLUB - YAKKO IS THEIR MAIN LINUX SERVER!
The Computer Club at Western Michigan University exists to promote
a better understanding of computers for both members of the club
and members of the WMU community. This goal is achieved through
various club projects, member presentations, Linux Install Parties,
and discussions at our meetings. Do you need help getting your
computer to function properly? Are you interested in installing
Linux? Do you just want a place to hang out and have a good time?
If the answer to any of those questions or any other question is
'yes' then you should come check us out. We welcome anyone
(regardless of computer experience) who is willing to share
whatever talents they have, listen to others, and have a good
time.
http://yakko.cs.wmich.edu/
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KLUG SUPPORTING MEMBERS CAN GET THEIR PICTURE ON THE WEB SITE
Want your picture posted with your name as a KLUG Supporting
Member? Send the tasteful graphic file and your request to
webmaster@kalamazoolinux.org.
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KLUG NOW OWNS A NEW XGA VIDEO PROJECTOR
Adam reported that KLUG has upgraded the video projector from SVGA
to XGA!!! From 800 x 600 to 1024 x 768, it should boost presentation
viewing pleasure. This projector is well rated:
INFOCUS LP335 DLP PROJECTOR
1000 LUMEN - XGA - LP-0335-V + Extended 12 month warranty
Digital Light Processing DLP which provides sharp images under
variable lighting conditions.
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/office/portable_pc_projectors/
Anyone know of a buyer for our 2 year old KLUG SVGA projector?
We should ask $800 for this unit and it is in excellent condition.
It has about 150 hours on a 1000 hour bulb. Works just fine.
It is an InFocus model LP425ZVB with padded carrying case.
Contact Todd chair@kalamazoolinux.org for more info.
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KLUG NEEDS VOLUNTEERS TO FILL SEVERAL VACANT POSITIONS
Nutrimaster and Education Director volunteer slots are still vacant.
Please contact chair@kalamazoolinux.org for more details.
Volunteers are needed for Beginner's Nights and Installfests.
Please contact installmaster@kalamazoolinux.org for more details.
See http://kalamazoolinux.org/organize for position descriptions.
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********* - ********* - ********* - ********* - ********* - *********
KLUG NEEDS SPEAKERS FOR THE WEEKLY LINUX RELATED PRESENTATIONS!
********* - ********* - ********* - ********* - ********* - *********
Contact Adam if you can give a presentation on any area of Linux
related subject or application. He would also like to hear your
suggestions for topics and possible speaker referrals. Do you
know anyone who is using Linux in Southwest Michigan and might
be willing to share their Linux expertise by making a technical
presentation? Professional, individual, or commercial speakers
on Linux accepted. Contact programdirector@kalamazoolinux.org
with your referrals and ideas. See the meeting schedule for open
dates. http://www.kalamazoolinux.org/meetings/schedule.php3
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V. K L U G C O N T A C T & M E E T I N G I N F O
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KLUG WEB SITE http://kalamazoolinux.org
MEMBERS AND GUESTS - COME JOIN US FOR A MEETING!!!
http://kalamazoolinux.org/meetings
WE MEET WEEKLY, EACH TUESDAY AT 7:00PM.
Our meeting site is the Kalamazoo Chamber
of Commerce office building downtown.
346 W. Michigan Ave. - Kalamazoo, MI 49007
http://kazoolug.org/meetings/maps.php3 <=== MAP!
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Kalamazoo Linux Users Group, Inc.
6749 South Westnedge Avenue
Suite K-288
Portage MI 49002
e-mail address: chair@kalamazoolinux.org
NOTE:
Effective January 1st, 2002, KLUG has been granted 501C3 status by
the IRS. This is a big step forward. Now all donations (including
hardware, services, cash, or membership dues) are tax deductible!
>><< send corrections, additions, flames to the KLUG scribe >><<
Ralph Worick
recordingsecretary@kalamazoolinux.org
= or =
KLUG Meeting Notes Assistant Editor
Bruce Atherton
Taz <htgage3@chartermi.net>
Copyright (c) 2003 Kalamazoo Linux Users Group, Inc.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2
or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
Free Documentation License".
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html#TOC1