Kris,
Thank you for the excellent minutes!
From:
staffslug-bounces@staffslug.org.uk [mailto:staffslug-bounces@staffslug.org.uk] On Behalf Of Kris Douglas
Sent: 22 October 2007 22:26
To: StaffSlug Linux UserGroup
Subject: [Staffslug] Minutes from
Keele meeting
This
meeting was kindly hosted by Peter Brooks at the
The first thing we
discussed was Compiz Fusion running on Arch Linux. It seemed that the battery
life wasn't affected too much, considering Peter C's laptop was second hand. He
said he could get at least two hours out of it. The battery life on Linux still
isn't up to the spec of Windows, but that is because of the lack of companies
releasing open source drivers, meaning its harder to get full efficiency from
hardware. On the long run, Linux is more efficient than windows when it's used
on fully compatible hardware.
We then went on to
talk about how different revisions of Toshiba laptops have many different
features. Stuart was moaning that his Toshiba didn't have the pointer, just a
trackpad. Peter B then went on to say how Toshiba made some of the best
laptops. We all agreed that Tosh hardware runs Linux well.
Next we were
discussing about the good and bad of compiling software on Linux, and how a
required dependency 20 minutes into a compile causes a total failure and the
requirement to search for it.
We also discussed
the best and worst features of package management systems for Linux. Peter B
explained how he liked
Next we talked
about how BSD wasn't really succeeding. Peter B mentioned how BSD was caught
stealing GPL'd code and using it under the BSD license. Stuart said that he
read about the OS, but didn't use it.
With the release
of KDE4, the latest and greatest version of KDE's Desktop Environment, we
discussed how it isn't as good as the current KDE, and how it would be worth
trying. Nobody in the room wanted to install KDE, but we did theorise about it.
We went on to say
that Linux runs on most hardware, with very little or no tweaking required.
Stuart commented on the fact that there is probably a distro for the Commodore
64. (Sadly, after looking up, there were no distributions good enough to run on
the C64's powerful hardware.)
Internet
installation is available on many distros, Peter C said how much he liked the
fact you can do this, rather than downloading a full CD or DVD you can just
download an 18meg CD and get what you need for your OS from the Repo. Everyone
agreed that this was a very good way of installing Linux, BUT only if you had
broadband, this process would be a nightmare on dialup, in which case you would
order a CD. (These disks can be purchased by the tried and tested store, www.linuxiso.co.uk)
Irssi is a
terminal based IRC client for UNIX systems. It also supports SILC and ICB
protocols via plugins. The Peters talked about how useful and easy to use it
was. I havn't used it, but I definitely intend to check it out, www.irssi.org.
We quickly
mentioned
Shrinking windows
installations has become a reality, you can ditch all the bloat, and just
install what you need. Stuart mentioned how he really likes the process,
although it is easy to make mistakes on.
Are DAT tapes running
out of time in the backup world? We talked about how we can backup information
onto anything. Rsync was mentioned by most of us, and was said to be the best
thing to use, especially as it is preinstalled on Linux systems.
IRC channels are
still here, but are some of them full of people that need to learn to help
themselves? Peter B said how the people in some of the IRC channels are asking
questions that can easily be found out on Google. www.google.co.uk – Blimey, leave us alone.
The Gentoo Wiki is
one of the best sources of information on the web for System Admins. Peter B
said how he used that wiki the most, for many different operating systems.
Check it out: http://gentoo-wiki.com/Main_Page.
The SUSE community
IRC was said to be dead. Do they lack a real community? We thought so.
The Ubuntu
community is thought to be one of the best. But the wiki is full of old and out
dated information that is of no use to new users. This could be the cause of
the questions that we keep getting in IRC.
Partition managers
were mentioned briefly. Is there one good partition editor out there? Gparted
was mentioned and some of the dedicated CD solutions. But Peter B Seemed to think
Fdisk did the job nicely.
A large topic was
how some of the Linux coders were being lazy. You shouldn't have to reboot your
pc on installing software. You don't even need to reboot to change an X
configuration (Ctrl+Alt+Backspace) kills X and restarts it for you.
Back onto the
backup issue, we all agreed how backing up data was a very important thing.
Stuart said how he liked the mklivecd command in PCLinuxOS that lets you create
a total copy of your drive and settings and load it into an installable CD.
Children shouldn't
be allowed to use computers. They lack basic knowledge, as do the parents, and
end up compromising security by downloading files like smilies and programs
that cause damage. MSN isn't a good influence on children.
We went on to say how
viruses on Linux weren't a problem, but still, Windows is a virus magnet. We
all recommend that you use NOD32, which is one of the smallest and most secure
AV programs available. Forget about Norton and McAfee.
Some of the
"IT Technicians" in schools are barely qualified. Head teachers and
councils look out for the big shiny gold MICROSOFT CERTIFIED badge, which is
worth about as much as "dir" in Linux.
SVN is a good
platform, one of the best ways of keeping up to date with files. Stuart
mentioned SVNUP which is his favorite SVN client.
--
Kris Douglas
Softdel Limited Hosting Services
Web: www.softdel.net
Mail: kris@softdel.net