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How much of one's work day can be handled by browser based software. Can we get it to 100% ?
by Oren Beck 03 Nov '08

03 Nov '08

I wonder if the path of moving everything to a server except for a local terminal browser is practical? As in having all the applications be web browser accessible which makes geographical location functionally irrelevant. All that matters is a net link from the Linux based browser to the server/s. Most of the hassles of local user support go away. Yes- we could argue about Dumb Terminals reincarnated or perhaps just examine the server concepts. The reason for my mentioning this comes from an observation on hardware already out in the wild. We have a deluge of computers being replaced largely because of gaming and bloatware. Arguing about the elements of a distro suited to lightly load hardware have been beaten beyond dead. The concept of what older hardware could serve as servers- pun potential eh? is the new question. I see it as we take that 2ghz 2gig ram "last year's model" and stuff several 500 gb drives in it for a family or small office server. Then the users take whatever suits their fancy for a terminal-from the 7K alienware gaming laptop down to a $5 from surplus exchange T30 thinterm. Thus whatever disaster befalls their "local hardware" the data is safely replicated on their server's drives and perhaps mirrored elsewhere. For a reason. It's how we can make the typical users have a bit more assurance that their sweated over data is safer than other ways we've been doing this. As reassuring users that their "world" is safer being distributed so to speak gets easier if it's true... The Long term path I see is colo's having a farm of replicant application web servers to mirror local servers.. With enough hot replication that the user's sessions etc are "safer" for it. -- Oren Beck 816.729.3645

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Re: Conversion to Linux
by Sean Crago 03 Nov '08

03 Nov '08

You want gradual, system by system? Okay: Can you give us a couple of examples of the systems you run and which are the most problematic? Also, you say that you're the only person in your firm with deep experience in the Lunixes - How many other people might end up responsible for these systems if you were to take leave? Feel up to the task of training 'em and documenting everything? I lucked out, the one time I was able to make this transition. I was a one man shop, working for a firm where my predecessors had failed to talk the previous generation of management into paying for a legal license for anything. Despite this, they replaced a couple of OpenBSD machines with a handful of new homemade Celerons running a proprietary operating system boxes and another firm's proprietary mail server. I walked in after everyone involved in those decisions had left, and was picking up the pieces. The mail server was incredibly crash prone, partly due to it being a Celeron with 512MB of RAM, partly due to the poorly maintained Windows install, and partly due to the lack of updates and support for any of it. Dug out the old Pentium III Xeon machines that these new Celerons had replaced and build a normal old Gentoo server. Moved over the easy stuff first - DNS, Apache (they'd moved the old webserver onto a Win32 build of Apache to save them from having to rewrite their configs - Made my life a lot easier, moving it back.) Given that proof of concept and the clear win of having replaced proprietary unlicensed software with open and freely licensed software, it was easy to talk the boss into plunking some money down to reverse engineer parts of the proprietary mail server and cut it over to something open source. I've never been in a position where I could do this since then, however. Working in a sizable department in a medium-large organization makes it a lot harder to find time to put together a proof of concept, train old employees on the new systems, and move away from deeply embedded Microsoft contracts. Good luck, but you've probably got a tough slog ahead of you, unless you're fortunate enough to either be in charge of your department or a member of a 1-3 man "department." Without that, you might just find that you're taking too big a first step. What open source tools can you roll out in your current proprietary environment that might ease the way? Again, good luck, Sean Crago Kathmandu

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DVDneXtCOPY iTurns Removes iTunes DRM with Virtual CD Burner [Featured Windo...
by JDP/Frogman 03 Nov '08

03 Nov '08

It's Windows only, but it shows the basic idea of using a virtual CD burner will work to strip DRM from iTunes purchases. Sent to you by JDP/Frogman via Google Reader: DVDneXtCOPY iTurns Removes iTunes DRM with Virtual CD Burner [Featured Windows Download] via Lifehacker by Kevin Purdy on 10/28/08 Windows only: DVDneXtCOPY iTurns Free provides a clever work-around to stripping audio tracks purchased from the iTunes Music Store—and, theoretically, other protected, purchased tracks—of their DRM. The free application installs a virtual CD burner on your Windows system, so your only job is to create a playlist, hit "Burn Disc," and choose the "TurnsDrive" when prompted. If the app is running in your system tray, it catches the "burning," and works in the background to split the virtual disc back into unprotected MP3s. Album art, tags, and other metadata are all preserved, and while the burning process took unusually long for one batch of protected MP3s, it delivered on the restriction-free goods. You'll have to have authorized access to play and burn the tracks you want to unlock, but since iTunes allows unlimited CD burns (if you change the playlist just a bit), you're pretty much in the clear. DVDneXtCOPY iTurns Free is a free download for Windows systems only; a paid version adds OGG and other formats and a few other options. DVDneXtCOPY iTurns Free [via FreewareGenius.com] Things you can do from here: - Subscribe to Lifehacker using Google Reader - Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites

10 23

Migration granularity and tech refresh cycles. Windows Vs Linux models
by Oren Beck 01 Nov '08

01 Nov '08

In the pre-Linux world IT departments migrated data to the current MS incarnation. Which was often concurrent with the hardware needing replacement for whatever reason. The applications were either the bundled MS or niche "suite concept" style with attendant learning curves. And it hammered tech support in grim fashions. Then it got worse. Having seen migrations from Win95 to present, we all have war stories to share. Some of them having avoidable Very Stupid Things. And then there are the migrations/refresh projects we saw go in smooth flow states. I have been cursed to suffer the botched projects. And blessed with some joyously easy ones. The short list make or break so to speak centers on process preview and bottom back up to top feedbacks. Trying a dry run on a sandboxed desktop and/or network segment for example. Having a "THIS IS STUPID" feedback channel/s With an inviolable policy of *ZERO* risk in using it! IF folks fear saying Foo is an epic fail and why/how -it won't get commented on let alone fixed The last shortlister is granularity. Choosing your applications for interactions where practical- if possible.Some applications demand data conversion or unique servers. Where others are a painless import . So far there's a body of comment covering nearly everything I list here both on KCLUG and the rest of the web MY little whack at these scenes is from NOT wanting anyone else to be still onsite at WtFthirty because some clue lacking exec decided pre-imaged drives were not worth it.Or that swapping a drive into new hardware and copying files with a tech onsite made more sense than using a USB copy the night before! Same concept goes to installing Firefox and Thunderbird for your supported user base ASAP. So by the time you do give users a desktop lacking IE and Outlook-They won't curse at you :> There is an inestimable gulf between the "one true path" dogmatic model and the "Best tool for the job" view. Choose wisely or much wailing and gnashing of teeth will be the reward. -- Oren Beck 816.729.3645

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Nvidia X.org question - Cloned displays
by Sean Crago 01 Nov '08

01 Nov '08

This may seem a little odd, but it beats reading & feeding the trolls: My Nvidia card's S-Video out jack is limited to 1024x768. It has two DVI-I DualLink (NOT the dual monitor DVI standard) jacks besides. The chances that HDMI will work at 1080* are next to nill, IMHO, given the HDCP requirements and the fact that I'm asking this here and not in some Windows group. Still, though, it may work alright at a lower resolution. My current config is as follows: Video card - LEADTEK PX8600GT 256MB w/the following lspci output: 02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GeForce 8600 GT (rev a1) DISPLAY=:0.0: Samsung 225BW w/DVI connector running at its native 1680x1050 resolution (16:10) DISPLAY=:0.1: Crappy little Acer AL1917W running at its native 1440x900 (16:9) - Lacks a DVI port, so it's connected via a DVI-->VGA adapter DISPLAY=:0.2: Hitachi 42PD9500TA 42 Multi-System HDTV Plasma TV connected via an S-Video port & a 1/8in audio-->RCA audio jack Note that the Hitachi HDTV lacks a VGA port (le sigh) but does have two HDMI ports and multiple S-Video and composite out jacks. The Hitachi will plainly support 720* resolutions, which are pretty much the same as the native res of the Acer monitor. Running over the S-Video jack, however, there's no way to feed it anything other than 1024x768. This means that if I play a DVD or whatever through this jack I've always got to have every media player I use explicitly set to re-jigger the 16:9 content into whatever the ratio is to get it to render as 16:9 at a 4:3 resolution. No massive quality loss/the quality is still quite good, but it seems like there must be a cleaner way to set this up, all the same: The monitor is effectively useless as a third monitor, due to its distance from my primary and secondary displays. It would be much, much better if I had a nice, neat projector-room style setup where the Acer and the Hitachi show the same stuff, without having to give up the other monitor. I'm perfectly willing to give up sound, which I'd have to if I used a DVI-->HDMI adapter, as the HDMI adapters don't have RCA audio-in jacks. My TV requires that you use HDMI as the sound input on the HDMI video input sources, but I've got a decent stereo I can jack into, too. No big loss. Is there anything I can do to make this setup work in such a way that the smaller Acer display is a cloned image of the TV's screen without having to run completely different X sessions? If not, is there a way to do it without that caveat? Any suggestions? Thanks, Sean Crago Kathmandu PS: I'm hesitant to replace the relatively new 8600-series video card at the moment/without a local buyer, but I'm perfectly willing to buy DVI-->HDMI adapters or whatever if I thought they'd work. I've shopped around for a DVI---->DVI&VGA splitter, but it seems like the only ones on the market will drive one or the other, but not both simultaneously. The VGA compatibility pins in DVI are apparently disabled, at least in most cases, when the DVI pins are in use, again, from what I've read - Haven't plunked down money to try to disprove that, but it seems like a silly waste if I can't find evidence that someone's gotten it working somehow. PSS: I can get mail/UPS/whatever forwarded here, so unless you're proposing a >70lbs solution or one bigger than a small coffee-table, it's not a problem to order it.

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Conversion to Linux
by Haworth, Michael A. 31 Oct '08

31 Oct '08

OK, now the real reason for joining KCLUG - I am looking for information and wisdom. The company that I work for is contemplating a major shift from Microsoft to Linux within the next year or so. I am pretty much the only Linux-savvy guy here, and that isn't saying much. I have messed around with Ubuntu, Linspire, and a few other distros, and Ubuntu is wowing the executives right now with its ability to access windows shares, etc. - they want me to draw up a rough plan of what it would take to switch to linux in a gradual way. I am looking for some help and guidance, please no flame wars... Michael Haworth

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Re: Re: DRM and the PRO-IP Act - Limited time opportunity?
by jdpruente＠gmail.com 31 Oct '08

31 Oct '08

On Oct 26, 2008 2:21am, Leo Mauler <webgiant(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > --- On Sun, 10/26/08, Jon Pruente wrote: > > the store. I don't think Apple/Audible/others > > are particularly to blame, so much as the recording > > labels. > > So "Apple" isn't to blame for *allowing* razorblade-spiked Halloween apples among their other Halloween apples because "Apple" didn't put the razorblades in the spiked Halloween apples? > > iTunes is an enabler of DRM, if nothing else, and the complaints about iTunes are thus valid and should be there, if for no other reason but to poison DRM in the minds of Apple execs. Whether or not the label chooses to put the DRM content into iTunes or not, its still up to Apple whether to *sell* the DRM content or not. Human free will is an enabler of sin. Does that mean we fall into the Devil's suggestion that we remove free will and make mankind do exactly as God pleases, just so people won't be evil and sin? (Oh no! Religious flame war in 3... 2... 1...) The throttle on basically every car made has the capability to exceed posted speed limits, thus "enables" speeding and breaking the law, and even DANGEROUS DRIVING! Should we install speed governors in every car so that they cannot exceed the maximum speed of the road they are on to prevent people from driving illegally and recklessly? We can put stupid and exaggerated claims up to compare DRM to and to the layman it sounds like the raving of a nut. So, that's the problem with your argument; DRM and razors? I didn't say Apple wasn't to blame, I said they weren't particularly to blame. With iTunes Apple seems to favor non-DRM, as they make it fairly easy to remove it from DMR-encrusted files, and the non-DRM files they offer are of higher quality, thus anyone who chooses(!!! OMG FREE WILL!!! NONONONONONONO!) to buy the non-DRM content from them already gets a better product. Businesses sell what sells. If the non-DRM content outsells the DRM content it's not long before a wise business person will make the switch. It's just making that first step to put the non-DRM content up. It's painfully obvious that Apple makes buying the non-DRM content a better quality product than the DRM-enabled stuff. Apple also provides a method to convert content away from DRM-encrusted if a non-DRM version is made available, albeit at a nominal fee. I'm not getting into a DRM flame war here. I don't like DRM, but I also don't like wildly exaggerated hyperbole when stating the plain facts do just fine. Jon.

5 9

US online apeal for RoboCops
by Julie 26 Oct '08

26 Oct '08

In case someone is interested in a great opportunity, read this: http://www.dodsbir.net/SITIS/display_topic.asp?Bookmark=34565 I'm no longer subscribed to the "News Letter", so I won't get any possible responses through that avenue. No need to e-mail me, either.

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DRM and the PRO-IP Act - Limited time opportunity? Shameless self-promotion?
by Sean Crago 26 Oct '08

26 Oct '08

When I left KC to serve in Kathmandu I lost my address near Gladstone. As such, I reverted to the congressional district where I grew up in Illinois. You guys probably cover four or five districts in MO and KS, though, so I figured I'd drop you a link to the open letter I just hammered out to mine. If Yahoo, MSN, WalMart, et al are going to pull the plug on their DRM servers right before the passage of the (still far from perfect) PRO-IP act, why not use the opportunity to get ammendments passed that allow consumers to bypass the DRM? If it's getting railroaded through anyway, let's turn it to good: The DMCA trust should go both ways, if it's to be retained at all: Consumers shouldn't get their shit turned off if they respect the DMCA's provision preventing them from unlocking their files. http://mrzaius.com/blog/?p=108 Sean Crago Kathmandu

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Re: Anyone experienced with Twiki or other wikis?
by Sean Crago 24 Oct '08

24 Oct '08

Just to throw one more out there: DokuWiki has a lot to be said for it. I'll probably exclusively use MediaWiki in the future, due to my much deeper understanding of the syntax and ability to grab GFDL'd template code and the like from the Wikipedia. In the past, though, I always used DokuWiki for my own sites. It is extremely nice and easy to roll out and, while still full-featured and quite attractive, it has the some of the lowest overhead of any of the mainstream wiki engines. It's plenty small enough to run in an embedded environment, too. Sean Crago Kathmandu

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