- wlug - University of Waikato Mail Lists

RE: [wlug] Linux on PPC (Macs)
by Matthew Browne (DSL HN) 17 Nov '04

17 Nov '04

> From: Henry Harrison [mailto:henryh@clear.net.nz] > > You should be in pretty good shape with a Powerbook 17". One > of the video card vendors hasn't released an binary driver > for PPC (as they have for x86) though I can't remember which > off hand. You have the same issue with 802.11g that you do > with linux, no drivers for some chip sets. You'll need to > research your hardware. The Airport Extreme cards (what the 17" PB will have) are Broadcom based and the older Airport cards are Orinoco Silver/Gold hybrids. I don't know what Linux support is like for these but they're both common chipsets. I've had quite a few Macs over the years, got a G5 and an iBook currently, but I've never tried running Linux on them so I can't be much help there. As to Fink, I don't really use it but it is quite impressive what can be done with it. I once had KDE running on a rootless X11 server on the MacOS X desktop and all the applications I tried performed flawlessly. Matt Browne

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Tomorrow night - Rodney Hide.
by Greig McGill 16 Nov '04

16 Nov '04

Hi All, There seems to have been some confusion about the time. Mr. Hide will be talking to us at 8pm. The odd time is due to his plane arriving around 7:20pm. Drinks and biscuits will be provided after the meeting. Hope to see you all there. All are welcome - not just members. Regards, Greig McGill

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RE: [wlug] Extra Meeting - this thursday
by David Nicholls 16 Nov '04

16 Nov '04

Anyone alerting the local media/computing media or eveen the other local user groups to this meeting? The other user groups might find it interesting (ie pc/windows, Mac etc) Cheers... david -----Original Message----- On Mon, 2004-11-15 at 16:47 +1300, Greig McGill wrote: > Hi WLUG, and other interested parties. > > In an effort to step outside our little box, and to encourage members > of > the WLUG to consider the political aspects of Open Source, I have asked > Rodney Hide to come and speak to us. > > He will be speaking this Thursday evening (the 18th) at 8pm at our > usual > meeting location - Lit.B. at the University of Waikato. A map is at: > http://www.waikato.ac.nz/perl-bin/map/tt-map.pl?term=litb > > Mr. Hide is, as you will all be aware, the leader of the ACT party. > He > posts a regularly updated blog at http://www.rodneyhide.com, and he is > all in favour of Open Source software. > > This meeting is open to all, so please, bring a friend. It'll be the > least "geeky" meeting we are likely to have until Nandor Tanczos joins > us sometime next year (yes, really - I like to hear both sides of an > argument - how about you?) so you are welcome to bring people who may > have been scared away by the more technical meetings. Supporting Open Source software is one thing (perhaps the only one) that Rodney Hide and Nandor Tancos agree on - witness this press release from Nandor Tancos today. I don´t suppose you could get Nandor to come as well - think of the headlines in the local media ¨Open Source unites sworn enemies¨ ..... 15 November 2004 Cut costs at IT giants' expense, not students Green Tertiary Education and IT Spokesperson Nandor Tanczos is hailing Victoria University's move to open source servers and suggests that Waikato University look at following suit. Both varsities have announced today that they need to reduce costs, but while Vic is achieving this by moving its admin, finance and HR systems to servers running the open source software 'Red Hat Linux', Waikato is instead looking at reducing staff numbers by doing some jobs less often and reviewing student-staff ratios. "Congratulations to Victoria for choosing to balance their budget by reducing how much money they give to multinational corporations; Waikato should follow their example instead of compromising the quality of their students' education," said Nandor, who is a Waikato graduate and lives in Hamilton. "Waikato prides itself for being a hot bed of innovation, but this time Victoria are the ones using their imagination and lateral thinking to look at the overall picture. "Tertiary institutions nationwide should take note of Victoria's move. Open source is a cheaper option all round and the education sector making greater use of it would benefit institutions, their students and the local software industry." > _______________________________________________ > wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > Unsubscribe: http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug -- Roderick Aldridge <rod-a(a)hnpl.net> _______________________________________________ wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz Unsubscribe: http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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Linux on PPC (Macs)
by Oliver Jones 16 Nov '04

16 Nov '04

Anyone here used Linux on PowerPC systems? Ie, Macs. I'm tossing up whether to buy a PowerBook G4 17" vs a Dell Latitude D800 15.4". The Powerbook is only ~$900 more and has a bigger screen. And considering my business partners experience with his D800 I'm worried about stability/reliability. I've been an x86 user since the dawn of time but after using my Mothers iBook for a while I've come to appreciate the simplicity, reliability and attractiveness of Apple gear. From what I read on the net Linux PPC (Yellow Dog etc) is quite good. Not that much different from RedHat and such. I've been a long time RH/Fedora user so I'm most familiar with RPM based distros. And from what I can tell Mac-on-Linux is very good at running a virtual MacOS system (for iTunes or whatever). Anyone here have any experience to share? At $5000 a pop I'm concerned about making the wisest choice... Regards -- Oliver Jones » Director » oliver(a)deeperdesign.com » +64 (21) 41 2238 Deeper Design Limited » +64 (7) 377 3328 » www.deeperdesign.com

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RE: [wlug] Linux on PPC (Macs)
by David Nicholls 16 Nov '04

16 Nov '04

personally, no experience myself, however i can put you in touch with a friend who has. let me know if you want to get in touch with him. cheers... david -----Original Message----- From: Oliver Jones [mailto:oliver@deeper.co.nz] Sent: Wednesday, 17 November 2004 12:48 pm To: Waikato Linux Users Group Subject: [wlug] Linux on PPC (Macs) Anyone here used Linux on PowerPC systems? Ie, Macs. I'm tossing up whether to buy a PowerBook G4 17" vs a Dell Latitude D800 15.4". The Powerbook is only ~$900 more and has a bigger screen. And considering my business partners experience with his D800 I'm worried about stability/reliability. I've been an x86 user since the dawn of time but after using my Mothers iBook for a while I've come to appreciate the simplicity, reliability and attractiveness of Apple gear. From what I read on the net Linux PPC (Yellow Dog etc) is quite good. Not that much different from RedHat and such. I've been a long time RH/Fedora user so I'm most familiar with RPM based distros. And from what I can tell Mac-on-Linux is very good at running a virtual MacOS system (for iTunes or whatever). Anyone here have any experience to share? At $5000 a pop I'm concerned about making the wisest choice... Regards -- Oliver Jones > Director > <mailto:oliver.jones@deeperdesign.com> oliver(a)deeperdesign.com > +64 (21) 41 2238 Deeper Design Limited > +64 (7) 377 3328 > <http://www.deeperdesign.com> www.deeperdesign.com

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Solaris
by Gavin Denby 15 Nov '04

15 Nov '04

I see that solaris is being "set free" on Monday (US) anyone know how free, Its hard to find much on the Sun website. IS it 9 or 10 and is the source being opened yet too would be good questions to start with Any Solaris fans out there who can clarify some this beyond the cnet new feeds ?

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Committee meeting tomorrow
by Craig Box 15 Nov '04

15 Nov '04

Provisional agenda: 1. Minutes from previous meeting 2. Matters arising 3. Treasurer's report 4. Correspondence 5. General business ... anyone wanting anything on the agenda for this committee meeting is welcome to email me. Craig

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Re: [wlug] Extra Meeting - this thursday
by jaytee＠clear.net.nz 15 Nov '04

15 Nov '04

Hi All, Sadly I am unable to attend. Regards John

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RE: [wlug] Extra Meeting - this thursday
by David Nicholls 15 Nov '04

15 Nov '04

Ahem... I actually have a friend who works there... I'll forward the message on and ask if they would be interested. -----Original Message----- From: Greig McGill [mailto:greig@hamiltron.net] Sent: Tuesday, 16 November 2004 11:22 am To: Waikato Linux Users Group Subject: Re: [wlug] Extra Meeting - this thursday David Nicholls wrote: >Anyone alerting the local media/computing media or eveen the other >local user groups to this meeting? The other user groups might find it >interesting (ie pc/windows, Mac etc) > >Cheers... >david > > Hi Dave, Not at this stage. Jamie is letting the CS and Political Science depts. know. Other than that, I'm just hoping everyone will bring a friend! :) Lit. B is not too big, but you raise a good point about the media. Anyone got any contacts at the Waikato Times? /me delegates... Regards, Greig McGill. _______________________________________________ wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz Unsubscribe: http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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Re: [Fwd: Re: [wlug] Extra Meeting - this thursday]
by Gavin Denby 14 Nov '04

14 Nov '04

I think I should clarify, as I think my comments may have been misconstrued. I am pleased to see Greig try to raise the profile of open source with political parties. Rodney and Nandor (sorry if i spell either wrong) have both made comments regarding open source, and therefore are logical contacts. I am not keen to see the LUG as such become political. However when you consider the millions of dollars spent on software by Government departments, and the possible effects of Spam legislation, Software patents and the like, there are real issues to discuss with those who influence policy issues. This is not being political, but rather raising issues that will affect us all in the years ahead. Also Greig very wisely suggested making Open Source an election issue. During campaigns every political party will want to promote its ideas on IT, open source, software patents, using Open V Proprietary formats, Probe, UBS V Unbundling, On-Line services ... and so on. By hosting a panel of representatives of Political parties, each explaining their views on IT issues, We get the chance to make the issue one they have to think about. Also as we can put the questions to the panel, we get to control some of the debate and show that the lug can be professional. These sorts of things well done can influence how issues are dealt with by a Government. Lindsay Druett wrote: > That's a good point actually... > > Obviously it sounds like Gavin is keen to have this, but if you're > really keen, firstly, Di Yates is actually a family friend of ours, > and I'm quite happy to ask her if she can come to speak to us. One what subject? If she were the minister of IT or Communications or something, then yes it would be relevant. Dianne is a local MP not an expert in IT issues. We are still a lug, and there needs to be a linux relevant issue before we really want to get involved. > Also, a friend of mine, Colin Ranby is standing in the Piako district > for the Destiny party (I know, I know, ....), he has up until a couple > of months ago worked for TelstraClear, and has been involved with > Technology for a number of years and is actually very down to earth > and is a really good guy, I'm also quite happy to ask him if he would > do a presentation again on what? Colin is a really nice guy, we have even worked together both in Communications and in Politics, but again he is not a spokesperson for the party on IT policy, and as far as I recall was not using linux when we last spoke. I think Greig has managed to walk a fine line here, and I think he has handled it well. This is not promoting any political party, but hopefully allows us to cover some of the dangers of poorly considered legislation with a number of people. If it goes well, perhaps in the future a door may be open to do a wider appeal meeting that can raise the image of the LUG as well as promote sensible debate on the issues that as IT professionals most of us have to deal with. The Lug should not be politicized but should be active in promoting discussion and debate about issues in the IT and Open Source industries. And I think this is a good start. For that reason I applauded Greigs efforts. Anything that make policy makers consider open source is a good thing. Other than that I have no axe to grind one way or the other. And I want to keep it that way. I have stated this just to keep the comment focused, and to clarify my earlier post. and by way of disclaimer I have been an Act candidate in the past , as well as CHP spokesman on Telecommunications and IT but my concern here is not political but rather the LUG and issues relating to open source users. I leave it to you to support your own political party.

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