Autobiography:
Christine Wanta works as a system specialist for Data Research Associates Inc., in St Louis. Wanta has more than 15 years experience in developing and administering networks involving a variety of OS platforms, including several flavors of Unix, Linux, NT, DOS, and Novell. She possesses expertise in several programming languages (e.g. C/C++, several shells, Perl, Java, HTML), and a number of hardware architectures (Dell, Sun, HP, Compaq, AST, NEC, IBM). Moreover, Wanta has extensive project management and team leadership skills.

Questions and ideas about this discussion are welcome; please send mailto:cwanta@dra.com?subject=SLUUG+Feb+2001+Tutorial

Presentation

This is the presentation originally scheduled for the 13 December 2000 general meeting. The meeting was cancelled as a matter of public safety. This was the first time in recent memory that we had cancelled our meeting due to severe cold and snow.

Abstract:

I will be presenting a basic Introduction to the world of XML. I plan to touch on key areas of this evolving technology which include:

By the end of the day, I hope that everyone will have a clear idea of what XML means, what it looks like, and what it is designed to do.

Autobiography:

Education: University of Kentucky - BSc Electrical Engineering and am working on my MBA.

Employer: MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. where "Technology is Built on Us"(tm)

Experience: I am a Systems Interface Analyst. That means, in case you are wondering, that I work on getting data from one system to another, among other things. I like to think that our team is sort of the mailperson for electronic data here at MEMC. I heard about XML about a year ago, and I have not managed to get away from it since. We use XML here primarily for data exchange.

I have been working in the UNIX environment for about two years, mostly cut and paste shell scripting from existing code and learning on the fly. I have looked at perl(I'm still figuring it out), and plan to look at getting some Java knowledge when I have some free time. I don't consider myself a "hard core" programmer but I think I get by OK with most of my day to day tasks.

Ideas, questions and suggestions are welcome; please contact us by sending mailto:editor@mail.sluug.org?subject=SLUUG+Feb+2001+Presentation

Next STL Linux User Group Meeting Is 15 February

Abstract:
The man page defines Samba as a Windows SMB/CIFS fileserver for UNIX.

The Samba software suite is a collection of programs that implements the Server Message Block(commonly abbreviated as SMB) protocol for UNIX systems. This protocol is some­times also referred to as the Common Internet File System (CIFS), LanManager or NetBIOS protocol.

This means that you can make your Linux system play nice with Windows systems. With Samba, you can share your files on a Linux machine so that Windows computers can gain access to them. You can also access Windows shares from Linux, and share printers as well.

Samba comes with a web administration tool, called SWAT, that makes configuring Samba quite simple.

Samba currently has support for NetBIOS naming (WINS) and some support for NT 4.0 domains. Work is in progress to fully support emulation of NT 4.0 domain servers as well as Windows 2000 Active Directory.

Biography:

Sombody Special is ...

Meetings of the St. Louis Linux User Group (LUG) are held from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM every THIRD THURSDAY of each month. Location: Indian Trails Branch - Saint Louis County Library. Meetings are free and open to everyone. Refer to http://www.stllinux.org for details and maps.

Comments, questions and ideas for the St. Louis Linux Users Group are welcome; please contact Matthew Porter by phone at 314-353-7988 or send mailto:matthew@linuxguys.net?subject=St.+Louis+LUG+Presentations

Special Promotion(s)

Title of the Month The February discount special will be 25% on XML and NutShell book titles. 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)

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

Meeting Directions

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.

(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 Branch Library.

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

• Planning for ITEC Show in May
• Elections This Month
• Next Linux Installfest
• Need New SLUUG BBS Home
• Quotations
• Interesting Browsing
• Object Oriented Programming of Kangaroos.
• Personal Commentary 

Planning for ITEC Show in May

Yes! Its here!

ITEC planning and development time. Everyone and anyone is welcome who would like to participate to create a successful show.

The ITEC (Information Technology Expositions & Conferences) event has, since 1991, been our principle interaction with the St. Louis area public and business community.

Even though every effort is greatly appreciated, if you would like to participate in a key role, we have several areas of team leadership that could benefit from your abilities.

Areas such as staff organization and management, SLUUG recruitment or outreach outside of the current membership, equipment handling, development of those Freebies and Goodies and Promotional Items.

If you are interested in being a team leader on the ITEC project or would like to know more about this activity, please contact John O'Reilly or Christine Wanta by sending mailto:itecteam@dark.wustl.edu or visit the website http://www.sluug.org/members/volunteer/ and send us a comment that you are interested.

There are many ways to help support the organization's primary promotional effort _besides_ working in the booth during the show. Of course, it would be wonderful to have you work at the show as well ;->

--Join us online at itec@mail.sluug.org

--Become a team leader

--Provide tangibles (promotional items, sales forms, donations, etc.)

--Provide shelter for show equipment during those "quiet" months

--Muscle and machinery (moving in and moving out)

AND MUCH MORE...

Even an hour or so of your time would be appreciated, and a use for it found ;->

Thanks for 'listening' and we look forward to another successful show this year!

ITEC PROJECT COMMITTEE

Elections This Month

SLUUG is incorporated as a professional association in the state of Missouri. SLUUG holds director and officer advisory elections at our February meetings. This is the official notice as required by the By-laws, that the 14 February meeting shall constitute the annual membership meeting and elections.

The election shall take place at the Q&A/announcement period. This month, that will be about 7:15pm.

Anyone having attended 2 meetings (including SIG meetings) in this previous year is eligable to vote.

There are a total of 5 directors on the SLUUG Board of Directors. The required elections are for 2 board member seats. The seats have 3 year terms.

Canidates for Director (in Alphabetical order by last name):
Craig Buchek
Dave Mills
Buck P.
Ed Wehner
Tony Zafiropoulos

There will also be an advisory vote for officers. The officers are actually appointed by the board, but it is our tradition to hold this advisory election as well.

Current SLUUG officers are:
President: Gary J. Meyer
Vice Pres: Ed Wehner
Secretary: Rich Seibel
Treasurer: Mike Kriz

Canidates:
President: Christine Wanta, Tony Zafiropoulos
Vice Pres: Ed Wehner
Secretary: Rich Seibel, Tony Zafiropoulos
Treasurer: Mike Kriz, Dave Mills

Nominations will be accepted at the meeting the evening of the vote as well. For more information, contact Gary Meyer, 314-781-8644, or any member of the steering committee.

For more information members can contact Rich Seibel by sending mailto:rich@mail.sluug.org for details or if you need more specific information on the offices or other aspects of the SLUUG professional association.

The first St. Louis Linux InstallFest was rather unstructured. We had no idea that it would be so successful. Ever since we have been looking forward to holding another one.

"When will we have the next Linux InstallFest?".

We will NOT have a February Installfest.

Our next Linux Installfest will be on 24 March and will be hosted from 1-5pm in classrooms 2 and 3 at Wave Technologies Intl., 10845 Olive Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63141.

Wave Technologies, a Thomson Learning company, will host a Linux Installfest free and open to the public. See http://www.wavetech.com/ site for who they are.

Anyone who wants to know more about Linux is welcome to attend.

What is a Linux Installfest?

An Installfest is a event, where people who know Linux get together to help those who want to learn Linux to get it installed. This could be for the Linux novice, or even for an experienced Linux user with some unusual hardware that may be nontrivial to make work with Linux. The primary goal is to send people home with Linux installed and configured on their systems, and a secondary goal is to share the experiences and philosophy about the benefits and usefulness of Linux and Open Source.

Wave will be providing free copies of popular Linux distributions on CD, classroom space (the two training rooms), a T1 connection, and a server with a local mirror of Linux distributions, suitable for network installations. Classroom 2, the smaller room, should be ideal for the installations, with Classroom 3, the larger room, for the presentations or discussions.

What should I bring?
Your computer, the one that you want Linux installed on. If it has funky hardware, you should bring that, too. Classroom 2 also has keyboards, mice, and monitors available, so users with standard hardware may not need to bring their own, only their computer. If you're not sure whether your hardware is "standard" or "funky", you should bring it with you.

Who will be there?
Wave representatives Don Head and Rod Hauser will be present, helping with the installations, and serving as site liaisons. Rod may even do a presentation (TBD). If you want to give a ~30 minute presentation on an aspect of Linux that you are familiar with, be it technical, social, or economic, please email Rod. If you know of any Linux Luminaries who will be in the area and killing time, drop them a line, and let them know there's an event.

Rod Hauser, CISSP, LCA Curriculum Manager - Linux and IT Security

Comments, questions and ideas about this next Installfest are welcome; please contact Matthew Porter by phone at 314-353-7988 or send mailto:matthew@linuxguys.net

For further information please contact:
Rod Hauser by sending mailto:rhauser@wavetech.com
Craig M. Buchek by sending mailto:craig@buchek.com
Tony Zafiropoulos by sending mailto:tonyz@ctitek.com

Current information will be posted as it develops at http://www.stllinux.org/

Planning and general discussion will begin shortly on our DISCUSS mailing list.

The 28 February Hazelwood LUG meeting for beginners (newbies) will focus on planning and preparing for Linux installation. For more information, visit http://www.sluug.org/~stan/hzlug.html and get ready!

Need New SLUUG BBS Home

We need your help. SLUUG's computer systems are being kicked out on the street and need a new home before March 1st. We need a facility that comes close to the requirements below. The organization providing a new home for us will be eligible for sponsorship benefits.

Required:

- Space and power for four systems and a console in our 19" rack.

- Reasonably fast Internet access with five IP addresses and an Ethernet connection for our systems. We don't average a heavy traffic load.

- Access for members to perform work on our systems at scheduled times.

- No charge for using the facilities.

Desired:

- Reliable power and a stable Internet connection.

- Access through firewalls for protocols and ports we need.

- NetNews feed of the mainstream and local news groups.

- A small niche to store spare cables, tapes, CD's, etc.

- Extra space for future systems we might need to install.

- Eight phone lines at low cost to connect our modems.

- Appropriate physical security for the facility.

- Basic firewall protection for normal service attacks.

- A contact for 24x7 troubleshooting calls from authorized members.

- Location within the Metro St. Louis area.

For more information members can contact Gary Meyer by sending mailto:gary@mail.sluug.org?subject=SLUUG+BBS+Home for details or if you need more specific information.

With Microsoft products, failure is not an option - it's a standard component.
-- Derek Glidden

The trouble with WYSIWYG is that what you see is all you get.
-- Brian Kernigan, AT&T Bell Labs

Various items overheard after 2 hours at Cousin Hugos following the January general meeting:

You would be amazed just how many Fortune 500 companies there are! -- Stanford Baldwin

I never learned how to spell DHCP! -- Stanford Baldwin

Take your data out of XML and if you put your data in HTML, then you've lost your data. -- Jeff Griggs

Enterprise:
http://www.idg.net/ic_368484_1794_9-10000.html - AIX and Linux
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/00/12/12/001212hnibmlin.xml - IBM to invest almost $1 billion in Linux development

Whoops:
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/computing/01/24/microsoft.blackout.idg/index.html - Microsoft Blackout
http://www.drudgereport.com/msft.htm - Microsoft DNS Gone?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1135000/1135479.stm - Microsoft Gone?
http://www.microsoft.com/info/siteaccess.htm - for their official response

Hardware:
http://www.kcdata.com/~gromitkc/winmodem.html - Winmodems are not modems; Linux information page
http://www.tomshardware.com - parts reviews/how-to for hardware
http://www.anandtech.com - another good hardware site
http://www.pricewatch.com - massive database of pricing and parts

Software:
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/ - Free Win32 Telnet/SSH Client called PuTTY.
http://news.gnome.org/gnome-news/979174768/index_html - GStreamer streaming-media framework.

Tools:
http://nucleo.freeservers.com/portfwd/tools.html - A nice list of Port Forwarding tools.
They include:
portfwd - http://nucleo.freeservers.com/portfwd
Fast Forward - http://www.worldvisions.ca/fastfwd/
Redir - http://users.qual.net/~sammy/hacks/
Rinetd - http://www.boutell.com/rinetd/
SimpleProxy - http://www.crocodile.org/software.html
TcpRepeater - http://www.fiz.uni-lj.si/~cic/download.html
URedir - http://members.home.net/id-est/uredir.html
xinetd - http://www.xinetd.org

Freedom:
http://cryptome.org/jg-wwwcp.htm - What good are RIGHTS you cannot EXERCISE?

Other:
http://www.alsa-project.org/ - Advanced Linux Sound Architecture site
http://www.dumblaws.com/states/missouri.html - Dumb, dumb, dumb
http://www.red-bean.com/~joelh/vigor/ - Vigor
http://www.geocities.com/rcwoolley/ - a little Linux humor
http://www.ioccc.org/2000/ - The 15th International Obfuscated C Code Contest results

Here is the actual article that Stan was trying to get me to relate last nite after dinner. Every O-O programmer should learn from it.....obviously the helicopter pilots did! (Notice last paragraph 8-)

gjm ================================================================

Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2000

The reuse of some object-oriented code has caused tactical headaches for Australia's armed forces. As virtual reality simulators assume larger roles in helicopter combat training, programmers have gone to great lengths to increase the realism of their scenarios, including detailed landscapes and, in the case of the Northern Territory's Operation Phoenix, herds of kangaroos (since disturbed animals might well give away a helicopter's position).

The head of the Defense Science & Technology Organization's Land Operations/Simulation division reportedly instructed developers to model the local marsupials' movements and reactions to helicopters.

Being efficient programmers, they just re-appropriated some code originally used to model infantry detachment reactions under the same stimuli, changed the mapped icon from a soldier to a kangaroo, and increased the figures' speed of movement.

Eager to demonstrate their flying skills for some visiting American pilots, the hotshot Aussies "buzzed" the virtual kangaroos in low flight during a simulation. The kangaroos scattered, as predicted, and the visiting Americans nodded appreciatively... then did a double-take as the kangaroos reappeared from behind a hill and launched a barrage of Stinger missiles at the hapless helicopter. (Apparently the programmers had forgotten to remove that part of the infantry coding.)

The lesson? Objects are defined with certain attributes, and any new object defined in terms of an old one inherits all the attributes. The embarrassed programmers had learned to be careful when reusing object-oriented code, and the Yanks left with a newfound respect for Australian wildlife.

Simulator supervisors report that pilots from that point onward have strictly avoided kangaroos, just as they were meant to.

From June 15, 1999 Defense Science and Technology Organization Lecture Series, Melbourne, Australia, and staff reports

Personal Commentary
Submitted by Anonymous Coward

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.
 

A personal commentary....

So there I was. Naked. In a refrigerator. With a potroast on my knees. Smokin a cigar. That's when it got REALLY weird.
-- Mike808

ANY OPPOSING COMMENTS MAY BE MADE BY SENDING mailto:editor@mail.sluug.org for consideration for future publication.)

Special Interest Groups (SIGS)

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

Indian Trails Branch Library
8400 Delport Drive (at Midland)
(at Midland)
(314)-428-5424

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

St. Louis UNIX Users Group Steering Committee

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