The UNIX® CRONicle

August 2000

Official Publication of the STL!/unix/usr/group

UNIX® is a registered trademark of the Open Group
Linux® is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds
Online version: http://www.sluug.org/cronicle/


Table of Contents


Next Meeting Details

Wednesday, Aug 9, 2000 at 6:30 PM
Sunnen Products, 7910 Manchester


6:30 PM Tutorial PING with Robert Citek
6:30 PM Guru's Gathering Topics To Be Determined - hosted by Rich Seibel
7:00 PM Announcements  (Standard Introductions & Procedure )
7:05 PM Call For Help (An opportunity for you to ask technical questions of the group)
7:15 PM Break  Social, off-line conversations, & book sales
7:20 PM Admittance to building may no longer be possible See Meeting Directions 
7:30 PM Presentation  Python: Life is Better Without Braces - by Michael Easter

Tutorial

PING with Robert Citek

Abstract:
This talk will be about "ping", which is a simple network testing command found where ever the TCP/IP suite is used.

Robert Citek has volunteered to present this group developed tutorial. It is an experiment spearheaded by Stan Reichardt. By pooling the knowlege of many members such as Gary, Rich, Robert and Tom we hope to assemble some basic tutorials with some interesting points. On such a basic subject this may prove be less of a tutorial and more of a discussion of the experiences of the audience. We think the result will be of interest to all. 


Guru Gathering

Topics To Be Determined - Hosted by Rich Seibel

This Gathering of Gurus (GoG) is an informal discussion group of people with similar degrees of experience and common interests for open discussion. They would rather talk with peers than sit quietly and listen to the tutorial. Anyone may attend, and discussion is encouraged.

Ideas for future discussions are welcomed; please send mailto:rich@mail.sluug.org 


Presentation

Python: Life is Better Without Braces - by Michael Easter

Abstract:
Python is an object-oriented scripting language that is portable, powerful, and scalable. It is also becoming increasingly popular, due to its elegance and strong library support.  It is a viable alternative to Perl, particularly for larger projects, and is a worthy addition to anyone's toolbox.

The goal of this session is to give a broad survey of the Python landscape  in an effort to inspire attendees to examine it for themselves.

Biography:
Michael Easter works as a system analyst for Data Research Associates Inc.  in St Louis.  Exposed to a wide variety of programming languages in his  formative years as a computer scientist, he continues his search for  elegant, productive languages.

Here is a PYTHON Tutorial:
http://www2.linuxjournal.com/cgi-bin/frames.pl/lj-issues/issue73/3946.html

Ideas about this discussion are welcome; please send mailto:measter@stlmail.dra.com 


Next Linux SIG Meeting Is 17 August

Linux SAIR Certification - by Nathan Ave-Lallemant

Abstract:
Today's employers want verification that computer professionals have the specific set of skills that they need. Certificates tell employers that the professional does indeed possess the necessary skills. Furthermore, companies exploit the certification of the computer professionals they employ by advertising their certification skills to the customer. As the number of Linux installations rises, the demand for knowledgable Linux professionals increases also. These two facts have led Linux certification to become a reality.

Biography:
Nathan Ave-Lalleman is a Project and Training Manager for LinuxGruven.com, a Linux company headquartered in Saint Louis, MO. One of LinuxGruven.com's primary focuses is Linux certification, based around the SAIR certification exams. LinuxGruven.com offers a complete array of Linux certification courses, seminars, and workshops to give customers the latest information in this cutting edge area.

Ideas about this discussion are welcome; please send mailto:craig@buchek.com

See the following various sites for additional information

http://www.linuxgruven.com/- Linux Gruven

http://www.lpi.org/- Linux Professional Institute

http://www.linuxcertification.com/ SAIR?

http://www.wavetech.com/ Wave Technologies Intl.

See the basics on source code Downloading, Compiling, Installing at
http://linux.miningco.com/compute/linux/library/weekly/aa051799c-c.htm

Then some Kernel Resources at
http://linux.miningco.com/compute/linux/msub14.htm 


Special Promotion(s)

blue triangle right Title of the Month

The August discount special will be 25% on any Python book and any book with the word "network" in the title (covers TCP/IP UX & NT, Linux, Java, VPN, etc). There will be a 10% discount on all other books. 


All regularly priced titles are 10% off retail cost at the general meeting.
(Excludes featured, or specially priced or promotional items)
O'Reilly Logo

The O'Reilly and Associates line of books is available at each monthly general meeting as a convenience to our members.

Each month features a book related to that month's presentation or tutorial topic.
Discounts off retail cost are offered to all members and each month's featured book(s) may be additionally discounted. Usually, all titles are discounted 10%, while special titles are discounted 25%.


Upcoming Events

[St. Louis UNIX Users Group stuff] 
SLUUG General Meeting Aug 9, 2000 at 6:30 PM
Sunnen Products
7910 Manchester (at Hanley)
St. Louis, MO

9th USENIX Security Symposium Aug 14-17, 2000 
See http://www.usenix.org/events/sec2000 
Denver, CO
Steering Committee Aug 15, 2000 at 6:00 PM
Daugherty Systems
One City Place (2nd floor)
Creve Coeur, MO
Linux World Conf & Expo Aug 15-17, 2000 
See http://www.linuxexpo.com/ 
San Jose, CA
Linux SIG August 17, 2000 at 7:00 PM
See http://www.stllinux.org/ 
( TOPIC: ) Linux SAIR Certification - by Nathan Ave-Lallemant
Indian Trails Library
8400 Delport Drive (at Midland)
St. Louis, MO
Really Really Hot Day  Aug 18, 2000 
Perl Mongers Sep 7, 2000 
See http://stlouis.pm.org/ 
SLUUG General Meeting  Sep 13, 2000 
Steering Committee  Sep 19, 2000 
Linux SIG  Sep 21, 2000 
Linux Business Expo Sep 25-29, 2000 
See http://www.zdevents.com/linuxbizexpo/ 
Georgia World Congress Center
Atlanta, GA
4th Linux Showcase Oct 10-14, 2000 
See http://www.linuxshowcase.org/ 
Cobb Galleria
Atlanta, GA

Meeting Directions

The STL!/unix/usr/group meets the 2nd Wednesday of every month at Sunnen Products, 7910 Manchester Blvd, just east of Hanley on Manchester.

Directions From Downtown

  1. Take 40 West to the Hanley exit.
  2. Turn left (south) onto Hanley.
  3. Turn left (east) onto Manchester, then turn right ASAP into the Sunnen Products driveway.
See map at http://www.sluug.org/info/sunnen.html

(NOTE: A security guard from Sunnen is scheduled to be at the door from 6:20 PM to 7:20 PM to allow entry. After 7:20, the door will be unattended and attendees may not be able to enter.)

The SLUUG Steering Committee meets the Tuesday following the general meeting at 6:00 PM in the 2nd floor training room of Daugherty Systems, One City Place in Creve Coeur.

The SLUUG Linux SIG (SLUUG-LS) meets the 3rd Thursday of every month at the Indian Trails Public Library.

See map at http://www.stllinux.org/directions/


Article(s):The following article(s) express(es) personal opinions and SLUUG exerts no more editorial control over such content than does a public library, bookstore, or newsstand. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or Content expressed herein are those of the respective author(s) and not necessarily supported by SLUUG. SLUUG does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any content, nor its merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose.
Mailing Lists
by Mike Knight

Be a Survivor. Become a Millionare. Avoid Big Brother.

The secrets to these and other important topics will be delivered to you when you subscribe to YOUR club's mailing lists. Our DISCUSS list includes all Unix variants including Linux, AIX, HP-UX, BSD, Solaris, and SCO. We also cover hardware problems, the Internet, and even how to make Windows do productive work. This is a great place to ask those "dumb" questions that might get flamed on Usenet, or discuss local issues such as DSL reliability. The STEERCOM list is also open to everyone, allowing you to help improve YOUR club, even if it is just to suggest disco lighting during meetings.

Recent discussions have included "Linux desktop security", "Building a DNS server", "UMSL Certifies Linux", "Presentations at Linux SIG", "Used HW & computer fair", "Apache Security", "SSH", "Float trip", "Linux friendly ISPs", and our "Sandbox".

Satisfy your Greed for knowledge by subscribing today. The Price is Right, just sign up for free. Send a message to discuss-request@mail.sluug.org or steercom-request@mail.sluug.org with the word "subscribe" in the text. Then read the reply on how to complete the subscription. To terminate your subscription, sent another message to the "request" address with the word "unsubscribe". Please don't send these commands to list itself. Too complicated? Point your browser to http://www.sluug.org/~archive/ and fill in the blanks. Avoid Jeopardy, join the Family Feud right now.


Sponsor of the Month

Informix

Informix Software is the technology leader in software infrastructure solutions for the Internet-providing a fast, simple and complete way to bring businesses to the Web.

Informix is the first and only company to integrate e-business and business intelligence on a true Internet infrastructure.

The company's highly scalable Web engines, together with its personalized content management, real-time analytics and media asset management capabilities, offer customers a unique competitive advantage.

For more information you can send mailto:jschweit@informix.com , visit the Informix web site at http://www.informix.com or contact the nearest sales office (314-542-3120).


Quotations
Slight disorientation after prolonged system uptime is normal for new Linux users. Please do not adjust your browser.

Interesting Browsing
Follow up:
XML Gets Down to Business by Steven E. Sipe on pages 111-114 in PC Magazine,  Volume 19 No. 14, August 2000.
Addresses agregation and syndication of data with XML.  Talks about Resource Description Framework (RDF), mentions Document Type Definitions (DTD) and  alternative XML Schema language.  Aludes to XHTML, which is a reformulation of HTML 4.0 in XML.
 

Odd stuff:
http://www.osopinion.com/Opinions/MontyManley/MontyManley11.html-Feature Creap

Previous stuff:
http://linux.miningco.com/compute/linux/ . - fairly short and comprehensive article on Linux security

http://www.domainnamebuyersguide.com - Domain Registrar Rankings

Ticket Punching
http://www.iccp.org/- Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals
 

Previous stuff:
http://www.usenix.org/sage/jobs/jobs-descriptions.html - What the Unix System Administrator Does...

(Oracle of the pointy hair):
http://linuxtoday.com/stories/18812.html - VNU Net: Don't be scared of Linux, says Gartner
http://linuxtoday.com/stories/19371.html - JustLinux.com: Introducing vi
http://linuxtoday.com/stories/19283.html - LinuxWorld: Protest draws attention to DMCA


Take With Grain of Salt

Message Stolen From: "gary j. meyer"
Subject: Re: [STEERCOM] tutorial/presentations

Here is my working list.
...
...any time I see 4 months planned I am positive at least
1 or 2 will be cancelled or rescheduled...
...

CALENDAR OF POSSIBLE TOPICS:
September
13 -Presentation Citrix server by "InfoLan"
13 -Tutorial Dynaic DNS by Chad Bersche
21 -Linux SIG Oracle on Linux by Craig McElroy
October
11 -Presentation Hardware-OS Interactions Important2Graphics.-Ramin Pasha
11 -Tutorial CVS by Roland Krause
19 -Linux SIG ?
November
8 -Presentation OpenBSDforBetterSecurity-DavidJobes,PhoenixSecurityChief
8 -Tutorial ?
16 -Linux SIG ?
Discussed possibles:
XML, URL Forwarding, Uncle Eli's Experience, and more "group developed" tutorials

Ideas for future discussions are welcomed; please send mailto:gary@mail.sluug.org 


The Next Ten Linux Books
by Stan Reichardt

One of the side effects of recommending book purchases to the St. Louis County Public Library of over a dozen new Linux books will be that I will be the first to see each as they arrive. Of the dozen titles that I requested about three weeks ago ten have been marked with a hold for my account.

Being addicted to reading such subject matter I can not afford to buy them all. So I have put tax money to work to my benfit and the benfit of other Linux inclined patrons.

Members should recommend new titles for various Linux, Unix, BSD and computer network security subjects.

For more information members can send mailto:stan@mail.sluug.org for details.


Personal Commentary
Submitted by Almost Anyone

The following PERSONAL COMMENTARY expresses personal opinions and SLUUG exerts no more editorial control over such content than does a public library, bookstore, or newsstand. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or Content expressed herein are those of the respective author and not necessarily supported by SLUUG. SLUUG does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any content, nor its merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose.
 

There is nothing wrong with Windows2000....
that Linux can't fix.
-- seen on VA Linux T-shirt  


Special Interest Groups (SIGS)

As our membership grows, we have had some inquiries about the possibility of having Special Interest Groups in several areas. If you are interested in starting or participating in a SIG for System Administration, Networking, C, Object Oriented Programming, a specific vendor, etc., please call Dave Mills at 230-5151, extension 103, or contact any officer of the group.

St. Louis Unix Users Group - Linux SIG (SLUUG-LS)

Visit the Linux SIG home page ( http://www.stllinux.org/linux/ ) for the latest meeting details.
LOCATION DIRECTIONS:
Indian Trails Public Library
8400 Delport Drive
(at Midland)
(314)-428-5424
Follow 170: Exit Page east to North-South Rd., go left on North-South Rd. to Midland, go left on Midland one block to Delport, the Library is on your left (see map at http://www.stllinux.org/directions/ ).

For more information on SLUUG-LS refer to the WWW home page for the group at http://www.stllinlux.org or contact Matthew Porter by mailto:matthew@linuxguys.net


Digital Alpha SIG

The Digital Alpha SIG is for those interested in Digital UNIX and the DEC Alpha architecture. Visit the Digital Alpha SIG's home at http://www.sluug.org/~newton/asighome.html for more information.

St. Louis UNIX Users Group Steering Committee

The SLUUG Steering Committee meets the Tuesday following the general 2nd Wednesday meeting at 6:00 PM in the 2nd floor training room of Daugherty Systems, One City Place in Creve Coeur. The guard can direct you to the meeting location. Anyone is welcome to attend. If you would like to become more involved in the planning of SLUUG, feel free to join us at the next Steering Committee meeting. Meetings usually last 1.5 to 2 hours.

Sponsors

  • Analysts International http://www.analysts.com/
  • Andersen Consulting http://www.ac.com/
  • Bradford & Galt http://www.bradfordandgalt.com/
  • CIBER, Inc. http://www.ciber.com/
  • Cypress Systems, Ltd. http://www.cypress-systems.com/
  • Daugherty Systems http://www.daugherty.com/
  • Informix Corporation http://www.informix.com/
  • Maryville Data Systems, Inc. http://www.maryville.com/
  • O'Reilly & Associates http://www.ora.com/
  • Phoenix Networks http://www.pnix.net/
  • Phoenix Networks http://www.phoenixnetworks.net/
  • Renaissance Worldwide, Inc. http://www.rens.com/
  • Sacerdoti Linux Machines http://www.slinuxmachines.com/ { link may be down }
  • Sun Microsystems http://www.sun.com/
  • Stopka & Associates http://www.stopka.com/
  • Sunnen Products http://www.sunnen.com/
  • Sykes Enterprises, Inc. http://www.sykes.com/
  • Technisource Inc. http://www.tsrc.net/
  • Triple-I Corporation http://www.triplei.com/
  • Venmar Systems, Inc. http://www.venmar.com/
  • The Law Offices of Rich McLennan, send mailto:mclennan@mail.sluug.org
  •  

    For more information about sponsoring the St. Louis UNIX Users Group, contact Ed Wehner, send mailto:wehner@mail.sluug.org.


    SLUUG on the World Wide Web

    The St. Louis UNIX Users Group maintains a WWW page at http://www.sluug.org/. Visit us to learn more about who we are and what we do, visit other UNIX user groups' WWW pages, sign up for a SIG, or just to browse.

    SLUUG Administration is volunteer based.

    SLUUG is looking for volunteers to help with presentations, web page development, managing corporate sponsorships, and many other tasks. If you would like to help out contact Gary Meyer by mailto:gary@mail.sluug.org

    /usr/groups/other

    We publish other user group meeting schedules on a reciprocal basis. If you are a member of another non-profit group, please inform them of our policy and invite them to exchange meeting information by mailto:editor@mail.sluug.org, or call any of the SLUUG officers.

    Contacts


    BBS Questions Gary Meyer  mailto:gary@mail.sluug.org
    Corporate Sponsors Ed Wehner mailto:wehner@mail.sluug.org
    O'Reilly Books Dave Mills Work: (314)230-5151, extension 103 
    mailto:mills@mail.sluug.org
    Presentations Open Position Send info/ideas by mailto:rich@mail.sluug.org
    Newsletter
    Submissions
    Editorial team: mailto:editor@mail.sluug.org
    Publisher  Sanjiv Bhatia  Home: (314)519-9272 
    Work: (314)516-6520 
    FAX: (314)516-5400 
    mailto:sanjiv@aryabhat.cs.umsl.edu
    Editor  Stan Reichardt Home: (314)298-1183 
    mailto:editor@mail.sluug.org
    http://www.sluug.org/~stan
    mailto:stan@mail.sluug.org
    Steering Committee
    Information
    Gary Meyer Home: (314)781-8644 
    mailto:gary@mail.sluug.org
    SLUUG Secretary Rich Seibel  mailto:rich@mail.sluug.org
    SLUUG Treasurer Mike Kriz  mailto:kriz@mail.sluug.org
    Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
    Linux SIG Chair Matthew Porter Home: (314)353-7988
    mailto:matthew@linuxguys.net

    Submitting Articles to the SLUUG CRONicle

    If you would like to submit an article to the CRONicle of general interest to the members of the St. Louis UNIX Users Group, send mailto:editor@mail.sluug.org The deadline for article submissions is two weeks before the next general meeting.

    SLUUG PO Box

    The St. Louis UNIX Users Group has a P.O. box. All official correspondence with SLUUG should now be sent to:
        St. Louis UNIX Users Group
        P.O. Box 411302
        Creve Coeur Post Office
        St. Louis, MO  63141-9998