January 2005 - KCLUG

RE: DSL Modem/Router wanted
by Brian Densmore 26 Jan '05

26 Jan '05

> -----Original Message----- > From: djgoku [mailto:djgoku@gmail.com] > Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2005 11:52 AM > To: kclug(a)kclug.org > Subject: Re: DSL Modem/Router wanted > > > http://skype.com/products/skypeout/rates/all_rates.html > > For calling. There is also a Linux client =). Yeah, can't hope to do much better than $0.017/minute Thanks for finding it. > > I think that the cheapest thing to do is probably find out how they do > things over there with networking (I don't think is much if anything > different) and just buy a linksys/netgear or compatible cable/dsl > router. Just buy online and ship to her just that simple, you might > need to purchase another cable with that cable/dsl router. Yeah he should be able to mail a package to her without a lot of expense (relatively speaking). Which is probably why he's seeking a used one from. The only gotcha to worry about is will a US DSL/modem work out of the box in England? Or did they pull some sneaky crap like with DVD players or are the phone jacks different. In which case a custom made cable might also need to be made before shipping. As, I suspect Jonathan's wife doesn't have any means of making a custom phone cable. The possible cable issue is the only issue I would suspect is necessary to deal with as she probably already has an adaptor for the wall socket. I'd be curious to know why the usb-pcmcia option didn't work. Moot that it is. A windows 98 issue? Brian Densmore

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Re: Live CD for Windows Users
by Brian Kelsay 26 Jan '05

26 Jan '05

Here's one. http://www.mrbass.org/linux/mepis/ Get the Simply Mepis. It's all you need. The old 2 disk set had server stuff and you don't need that for your dad. After you have it installed you can "apt-get update" and "apt-get install <packagename>" for anything you don't have yet. Brian Kelsay >>> Jonathan Hutchins <> 01/26/05 11:14AM >>> On Wednesday 26 January 2005 07:47 am, Brian Kelsay wrote: > If those are his specs, then the machine will be smokin'. Download > SimplyMepis stable and you have your LiveCD iso. Could you give me a URL on that? What I saw for Mepis on their site looked like two install CD's, not a live CD.

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Re: Live CD for Windows Users
by Brian Kelsay 26 Jan '05

26 Jan '05

If those are his specs, then the machine will be smokin'. Download SimplyMepis stable and you have your LiveCD iso. It also has a nice installer that most people could figure out. After it is installed you can use the LiveCD as a rescue or repair disk. If you mess up Grub, you can restore it to the default or do other tasks to fix your system. Brian Kelsay >>> Jonathan Hutchins <> 01/25/05 05:23PM >>> On Tuesday 25 January 2005 02:13 pm, Brian Kelsay wrote: > If it is decent and at 128MB of RAM, I would say put him on Mepis > (www.mepis.org ). P4, 3.something GHz, 521M RAM. Does Mepis have a "live CD" version?

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RE: Open Source Values
by Charles, Joshua Micah (UMKC-Student) 26 Jan '05

26 Jan '05

The bottom line to all this is that Open Source is ultimately about freedom. Here is a great presentation on the subject: http://randomfoo.net/oscon/2002/lessig/free.html A great book on the subject is "The Future Of Ideas," which I also highly recommend. Personally, I can't understand how you can be pro "Open-Source," and also for Government Regulations. They are contradictory ideas at their core. Josh

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RE: Open Source Values
by Brian Kelsay 26 Jan '05

26 Jan '05

This is a good speech. Cool. Brian Kelsay >>> "Charles, Joshua Micah (UMKC-Student)" <> 01/26/05 10:26AM >>> The bottom line to all this is that Open Source is ultimately about freedom. Here is a great presentation on the subject: http://randomfoo.net/oscon/2002/lessig/free.html A great book on the subject is "The Future Of Ideas," which I also highly recommend. Personally, I can't understand how you can be pro "Open-Source," and also for Government Regulations. They are contradictory ideas at their core.

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RE: Open Source Values
by Brian Densmore 26 Jan '05

26 Jan '05

> -----Original Message----- > From: Charles, Joshua Micah (UMKC-Student) > > The bottom line to all this is that Open Source is ultimately about > freedom. > > Here is a great presentation on the subject: > http://randomfoo.net/oscon/2002/lessig/free.html > > A great book on the subject is "The Future Of Ideas," which I also > highly recommend. Personally, I can't understand how you can be pro > "Open-Source," and also for Government Regulations. They are > contradictory ideas at their core. > I agree and disagree. Open source is about freedom, but not all government regulation is bad. I like knowing that not any Joe Schmoe can get a license to practice medicine, or that vehicles have to meet a minimum standard of to be considered road worthy or that daycare facilities need to check for criminal records before hiring. I like the idea of my children being cared for by people who haven't been convicted of being a pedophile. Call me crazy. The problem is some times there's too much and other times there's not enough. I also like knowing that not just any Joe Shmoe can contribute to the official Linux kernel. There are regulations in place to prevent that. I like the idea that any Joe Schmoe has the freedom to qualify under the existing fair regulations to be able to contribute to the Linux kernel. Freedom is great but without some form of control there is chaos and chaos is not always a good thing.

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RE: Open Source Values
by Brian Densmore 26 Jan '05

26 Jan '05

> -----Original Message----- > From: Don Erickson > > On Tue, 25 Jan 2005 kurt wrote: > > Here's the difference, for the thought-impaired. > > Liberal: Strong Govt. regulation on Business, Weak regulation on > Individuals. > > Conservative: Strong Regulation on Individuals, Weak on Businesses. You might want to *rethink* that last thought. Here's a better set of definitions. Liberal: Strong gov't regulation on Businesses that do not contribute to *liberal* candidates. Token breadcrumbs to the ignorant masses on *commoner* values. Weak regulation on issues from major political contributors. Big spending on programs which *supporters* sponsor (read companies that bribe with perks, funds, parties, lobbying). Cut back on programs of competitors. Conservative: see definition of "Liberal" replacing liberal with the word conservative. Anyone who thinks it really works any differently is sadly misled. Our politicians are greedy, morally bankrupt, rich, spoiled brats. With the occasional exception, who is shunned by all powerful insider politicians making them nearly completely ineffective. Yeah maybe I'm a bit disenchanted with the whole system, but I challenge anyone to *prove* me wrong. Personal ideologue doesn't count as proof.

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Re: Live CD for Windows Users
by Brian Kelsay 26 Jan '05

26 Jan '05

The lead Mepis developer already had a consulting business for custom programming and system installation and support. If he already had this and had the license paid up, what's the big deal? http://www.x-cart.com/ uses PHP, MySQL and it's only $185. With a couple of support calls it's paid for itself. I'm not a shill, but so what? Brian Kelsay >>> Steven Hildreth <> 01/26/05 08:54AM >>> Interesting to note that the Mepis store (http://store.mepis.com) uses a commercial, closed source system to run it? seems a bit hypocritical to me. But I am kinda a nazi like that. Just my annoying $.05 cents. later, Steven

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Re: Live CD for Windows Users
by Brian Kelsay 26 Jan '05

26 Jan '05

As with the other recent discussions about LiveCDs, the hardware he is using may make the decision for you. Is his PC old and slow and low on RAM? If it is decent and at 128MB of RAM, I would say put him on Mepis (www.mepis.org ). It is a sweet, smooth, desktop oriented, Debian-based distro. Just don't give him one of the beta versions, stick with the stable releases. There are sites linked on mepis.org where you can download for free, including ibiblio.org and if you feel compelled to you can donate to receive the newest stable ASAP when released and from fast servers. I usually wait a bit anyway and the free servers have been pretty fast except for ibiblio.org. Another problem for him using a LiveCD, if he doesn't know what he is doing, is setting up the network/ISP connection each time. If he has cable or DSL it's dead easy, if dialup, you may have to write a few settings down for him and post them next to the PC. YMMV. Mepis has a neat little GUI config tool for this and other stuff. Brian Kelsay >>> "Jonathan Hutchins" <> 01/25/05 01:56PM >>> Is Linspire still supposed to be the easiest distro for an entrenched Windows user to transition to? Do they have a live CD? My Dad is still running 98, and he's having the normal accumulation of problems that 98 develops over time. He's thinking of "upgrading" to XP, and I'd like to show him a better way. More important than compatibility with Windows software, I think, would be something that worked smoothly without a lot of patching and updating. That might bring him over, especially on a Live CD.

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Re: Fwd: Briefcase computer. Since we're on Laptops
by lerninlinux＠comcast.net 26 Jan '05

26 Jan '05

As for moniters, Whatever I found that I could use, I would. Like the websites of case modders who have done this before me, items like "parts laptops" that include old p1's or better, or other options I have available to me. Since I have generally been called a pessimist, and doubt the comon sense or good nature of most of my fellow man (experience), The box would heavily be marked Network diagnostics toolkit, before going on a plane, as they Would think it a bomb. Though it was probably stupid stuff like this that allowed 3 people I know on 3 seperate occasions to get on a plane and complete their trips with a knife in their pocket; 2 of them went to D.C.. >From experience good intentions go down as power goes up and comon sense is the ultimate oxymoron! > Leave some extra time for when they pull you out of line and have to wait on a > supervisor's approval to let you on. Laptop carriers sometimes are asked to > turn them on to verify that they are a working computer. What will you do if > they ask you to do this and you have no monitor? > Good Luck and you may want to call ahead. Can you imagine that a bunch of PC > parts in a cheap toolbox might look vaguely like a bomb to someone that doesn't > know better? > > Brian Kelsay > > >>> djgoku <djgoku(a)gmail.com> 01/24/05 04:11PM >>> > > Will airport security let my homemade computer on the plane? > > You should be alright as long as it can pass through an xray. Laptops > usually have to be taken out of the carrying case and placed in a > seperate bin. I can't think of a reason why they wouldn't let you get > through they might ask you to open it. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Kclug mailing list > Kclug(a)kclug.org > http://kclug.org/mailman/listinfo/kclug

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