Table of Contents

• Calendar of Events
• Next General Meeting -- December 12
  • Tutorial: .NET Rebuttal by Scott Granneman
  • Presentation: Storage Area Networks by Leo Jones
  • Book Specials
• Next Linux Meeting -- December 20
  • Presentation: Distro Fever by various LUG members
• Meeting Locations
• Articles
• Web Site Competition
• Bush's Orwellian Address
• Advice and Software
• Quotes
• Sponsors
• Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
• Volunteering
• Contacts
• Submitting Articles

Calendar of Events

NOTE: More information on these groups, including locations and web sites, can be found in the "Meeting Locations" section below.

Next General Meeting is Wednesday, December 12, 2001

Tutorial

Abstract:
If you use Windows, if you use a Mac, if you use Linux ... it doesn't matter. Microsoft's plans for the Internet are far-reaching and are going to affect ALL of us.

Last month, Microsoft talked to us about their .NET strategy, which includes several different initiatives. Not everyone realizes the full extent of Microsoft's aims, and even Microsoft cannot easily summarize its goals. In this presentation, Scott will try to explain some of the missing pieces of the puzzle, and provide a more balanced view, so that we can make better-informed decisions. Issues discussed will include Passport, Hailstorm, Product Activation, Shared Source, and Open Source.

Bio:
Currently President of Granneman Information Solutions and Senior Consultant in Internet Services for Bryan Consulting, R. Scott Granneman specializes in helping schools and businesses harness emerging technologies. As a consultant for industry, his work includes helping companies take full advantage of the Internet's remarkable communication, sales, and service opportunities. He has delivered presentations and workshops to thousands of people. His clients include the American Civil Liberties Union/Eastern Missouri, Anheuser-Busch, PostNET/Pulitzer Technologies, Stanford University Alumni Center, United States Arbitration & Mediation Midwest Inc., and Washington University School of Law.

Scott has worked as a teacher, a technology coordinator, and a technology consultant. He has worked with schools and teachers to help them apply the power of technology, especially the Internet and Intranets, by integrating these new technologies into the curriculum and the school environment.

Scott earned his Bachelor of Arts in English and Education and his Masters in English from Washington University in St. Louis.

Check out Scott's web site, http://www.granneman.com/.

Presentation

Abstract:
Storage Area Networks (SANs) are one of the hot technologies in enterprise environments these days. A SAN is a separate network dedicated to the specific purpose of providing storage (disk) to servers. The term SAN is generally used to describe block I/O services rather than file access services, and the network protocols used on a SAN are usually different than those used on a LAN or WAN.

In this presentation, Leo will explain what a Storage Area Network (SAN) is and how it might be used in your business. He will give some general guidelines for people to use in deciding if they should consider implementing a SAN, including a Return On Investment (ROI) analysis. He will then cover SAN design, maintenance, and best practices.

As a special door prize, Leo will bring a copy of "Building SANs with Brocade Fabric Switches" to be raffled off.

Bio:
Leo Jones is a Systems Engineer at Brocade Communications Systems Inc. He holds Brocade's BCFP and BCFD certifications.

Leo has forty-plus years of computer and communications systems experience, starting in 1961 in the Air Force on the SAGE System. He has been working for Brocade since January of 2001. Before joining Brocade, Leo worked 12 years for IBM, 10 years for ITEL and National Advanced Systems as a Customer Engineer (Mainframe Mechanic), and 10 years for Network Systems Corp. and STK as a National Account Representative and Systems Engineer supporting and selling networking technology.

Leo's hobbies are raising, training, and riding horses; hunting; fishing; and golf.

Ideas, questions and suggestions are welcome; please contact Christine Wanta (presentations@sluug.org).

Book Sales

Books that are not available at the meetings may be ordered to be picked up at the next SLUUG general meeting. Contact Sue Hurst (booksales@sluug.org).

December Specials:

1-4 books	-	25% off
5-7 books	-	30% off
8-9 books	-	35% off
10+ books	-	40% off
Books with red sticker	-	75% off

New Arrivals:

We've got several new O'Reilly titles in stock this month:

• Building Wireless Community Networks [Covers 802.11b]
• Designing Large-Scale LANs
• Web Security, Privacy & Commerce (2nd Edition)
• Physics for Game Developers
• Learning Oracle PL/SQL [Covers Oracle 9i]

Next St. Louis Linux Users Group Meeting Is December 20

Abstract:
Despite what you may have heard, Linux is not an Operating System. Linux is really just the kernel. A lot of other components are required to build the OS. A distribution is a collection of Open Source software packages that are bundled together with a kernel to create an OS. When you buy a Linux CD or copy it from a friend, you're really getting a Linux distribution.

There are many different Linux distributions available. That's because different developers have different opinions about which of the 1000s of Open Source packages would be useful in an Operating System. Some distros try to pack in anything they can find, while others concentrate on bundling quality applications geared toward a particular use.

In this presentation, we will have members of the LUG talk about various Linux distributions. They will address the strengths and weaknesses of each. Some of the criteria will be target audience, ease of use, power, and amount/type of applications included.

Hopefully, this will help you make an informed decision when choosing which Linux distributions to use in various situations.

Distributions scheduled to be covered are Red Hat, Mandrake, Slackware, Debian, SuSE, LibraNet, and E-Smith. If you'd like to talk about another distribution, please contact Craig Buchek (linux@sluug.org).

Meets the 2nd Wednesday of the month, 6:30pm to 9:00pm. Free and open to the public.

Sunnen Products
7910 Manchester (at Hanley)
St. Louis, MO

Directions: Take I-64 (US 40) to the Hanley exit south. Turn left at Manchester, then an immediate right into Sunnen driveway.

Map:   http://www.sluug.org/info/map_sunnen.html

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

SLUUG - St. Louis UNIX Users Group (http://www.sluug.org)
Steering Committee

Meets the Monday following the 2nd Wednesday of the month, 6:15pm to 8:30pm. Open to the public. This is where we make decisions on what topics to cover and other administration of the group. If you want to get involved, this is a good place to start.

Daugherty Systems
One City Place, 2nd floor
Creve Coeur, MO 63141

St. Louis Linux Users Group (STLLUG) (http://www.stllinux.org)

Meets the 3rd Thursday of each month, 7:00pm to 9:00pm. Free and open to the public. (Formerly known as the Linux SIG.)

Indian Trails Library
8400 Delport Drive (at Midland)
St. Louis, MO

Directions:   Take I-170 to Page east. Turn left at North-South. Turn left at Midland. Drive 2 blocks and turn left on Delport. The library is on your left.

Map:   http://www.stllinux.org/directions/

Hazelwood LUG (http://www.sluug.org/~hzlug)

Generally meets the 4th Tuesday of each month, 7:00pm to 9:00pm. (NOTE: December is an exception.) Free and open to the public. This is a SIG of SLUUG, intended for Linux newbies.

Prairie Commons Library
915 Utz Lane (between Howdershell and Dunn)
Hazelwood, MO

MOSLUG - MO Open Source LUG (http://paradoxical.nbtsc.org/~iguanacog)

Meets on the 1st Tuesday of the month, from 7:00pm to 11:00pm.

Culpepper's Restaurant (basement)
312 South Kirkwood Road
Kirkwood, MO

STLBSD - St. Louis BSD Users (http://www.stlbsd.org)

Does not have any official meetings, but they often gather informally at SLUUG meetings. Look for guys with Daemons on their shirts.

SLACC - St. Louis Area Computer Club (http://www.galilei.com/bbs.htm)

Meets the 1st Thursday of every month, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.

Thornhill Library
12863 Willowyk Drive (off Fee Fee)
Creve Coeur, MO

PerlMongers (http://stlouis.pm.org)

Meets the 1st Thursday of every month, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.

CAIT
5 North Jackson at Forsyth
Clayton, MO

St. Louis Java Users Group (http://www.ociweb.com/javasig/)

Meets the 2nd Thursday of every month, 6:30pm to 8:00pm.

CityPlace One Auditorium
One City Place
Creve Coeur, MO 63141

STLWEBDEV - St. Louis Web Developers (http://www.stlwebdev.org)

Meets the 3rd Tuesday of the month from 6:30pm to 9:00pm. Meetings are free and open to everyone. This is an open group to facilitate communications between diverse professions involved in Internet/Intranet design and development. STLWEBDEV is also the St. Louis chapter of the International Webmasters Association and the HTML Writers Guild (IWA-HWG).

CityPlace One Auditorium
One City Place
Creve Coeur, MO 63141

Wireless SIG (http://www.stlwebdev.org/sigs/wireless)

Meets the 4th Tuesday of the month, from 6:30pm to 9:00pm. Meetings are free and open to everyone. Refreshments at 6:30, program begins at 7:00. This group is a cooperative effort of both the St. Louis Web Developers and the St. Louis Java Users Group.

CityPlace One Auditorium
One City Place
Creve Coeur, MO 63141

CCSL - Computer Consultants of St. Louis (http://www.ccsl.org)
Monthly Dinner Meeting

Meetings are held the second Tuesday of each month at Cheshire Inn. RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED. Cost is $20 per member, $25 per non-member. Call Susan Pope, 314-995-4652. Social hour starts at 5:30pm, meeting starts at 6:30pm.

Cheshire Inn
6306 Clayton Rd.
St. Louis, MO

SILUG - Southern Illinois LUG (http://www.silug.org)
O'Fallon meeting

The SILUG O'Fallon meeting is generally on the first Tuesday of the month. It runs from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.

O'Fallon Public Library
120 Civic Plaza
O'Fallon, IL

SILUG - Southern Illinois LUG (http://www.silug.org)
Carbondale meeting

The SILUG Carbondale meeting is the 1st Monday of the month, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.

Life Sciences III
1059 Auditorium
SIU-Carbondale
Carbondale, IL

LUCI - Linux Users of Central Illinois (http://www.luci.org)

All LUCI meetings are held at the same location, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. General meetings are on the 4th Tuesday of the month, and Newbie night is held on the 2nd Tuesday of the month.

Illinois State Museum Research & Collections Center
1011 East Ash St.
Springfield, IL 62703

Mizzou LUG (http://mlug.missouri.edu)

The Mizzou LUG has an active web site, but does not appear to hold regular meetings. For information, check their web site.

Columbia, MO

We publish meeting schedules of groups in the St. Louis region that may be of interest to our members. If you would like to have info added about your group, please mail the newsletter editor (editor@sluug.org) or call any of the SLUUG officers.

NOTE: These articles may express 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 authors 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.

Web Site Competition

St. Louis Web Developers Organization - Nominations Open for Competition to Award Best St. Louis Web Sites

St. Louis Web site developers and designers have the opportunity to find out how their best work stacks up against other local sites in a competition for prizes and recognition. This is the third year the St. Louis Web Developers Organization has conducted the Web Site Awards. At last year's awards ceremony, $15,000 was awarded in prizes and cash to the winners. Donations are being accepted now from sponsors, and the group hopes to meet or exceed last year's prize amount. (Sponsors or potential sponsors can e-mail awards@stlwebdev.org to be added to the list.)

Categories for this year's competition include the following:

• Best Corporate Site
• Best Non-Profit Site
• Best Personal Site
• Best Web Content
• Most Usable Site
• Most Visually-Appealing Site
• Best Wireless Site
• Best Web-Based Application
• Best St. Louis-Oriented Site

The sites must be live and on the Internet (not an Intranet) by December 31, 2001. The site could have been originally created in 2001 or in prior years, as long as it is a current live site.

For more details on the Web Site Awards, see: http://www.stlwebdev.org/resources/awards/. There you will find nomination forms, rules, criteria, and a list of prizes.

Bush's Orwellian Address

[I found this article at http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0922-07.htm. It raises some interesting points about our freedom. As techies, we should be concerned with recent moves by the government to curtail our freedoms, especially in regards to the DMCA, ATA, and the proposed SSSCA. Differing opinions are encouraged. See below for submission info. -- Editor]

Happy New Year: It's 1984

Seventeen years later than expected, 1984 has arrived. In his address to Congress Thursday, George Bush effectively declared permanent war -- war without temporal or geographic limits; war without clear goals; war against a vaguely defined and constantly shifting enemy. Today it's Al-Qaida; tomorrow it may be Afghanistan; next year, it could be Iraq or Cuba or Chechnya.

No one who was forced to read 1984 in high school could fail to hear a faint bell tinkling. In George Orwell's dreary classic, the totalitarian state of Oceania is perpetually at war with either Eurasia or Eastasia. Although the enemy changes periodically, the war is permanent; its true purpose is to control dissent and sustain dictatorship by nurturing popular fear and hatred.

The permanent war undergirds every aspect of Big Brother's authoritarian program, excusing censorship, propaganda, secret police, and privation. In other words, it's terribly convenient.

And conveniently terrible. Bush's alarming speech pointed to a shadowy enemy that lurks in more 60 countries, including the US. He announced a policy of using maximum force against any individuals or nations he designates as our enemies, without color of international law, due process, or democratic debate.

He explicitly warned that much of the war will be conducted in secret. He rejected negotiation as a tool of diplomacy. He announced starkly that any country that doesn't knuckle under to US demands will be regarded as an enemy. He heralded the creation of a powerful new cabinet-level police agency called the "Office of Homeland Security." Orwell couldn't have named it better.

By turns folksy ("Ya know what?") and chillingly bellicose ("Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists"), Bush stepped comfortably into the role of Big Brother, who needs to be loved as well as feared. Meanwhile, his administration acted swiftly to realize the governing principles of Oceania:

WAR IS PEACE. A reckless war that will likely bring about a deadly cycle of retaliation is being sold to us as the means to guarantee our safety. Meanwhile, we've been instructed to accept the permanent war as a fact of daily life. As the inevitable slaughter of innocents unfolds overseas, we are to "live our lives and hug our children."

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. "Freedom itself is under attack," Bush said, and he's right. Americans are about to lose many of their most cherished liberties in a frenzy of paranoid legislation. The government proposes to tap our phones, read our email and seize our credit card records without court order. It seeks authority to detain and deport immigrants without cause or trial. It proposes to use foreign agents to spy on American citizens. To save freedom, the warmongers intend to destroy it.

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. America's "new war" against terrorism will be fought with unprecedented secrecy, including heavy press restrictions not seen for years, the Pentagon has advised. Meanwhile, the sorry history of American imperialism -- collaboration with terrorists, bloody proxy wars against civilians, forcible replacement of democratic governments with corrupt dictatorships -- is strictly off-limits to mainstream media. Lest it weaken our resolve, we are not to be allowed to understand the reasons underlying the horrifying crimes of September 11.

The defining speech of Bush's presidency points toward an Orwellian future of endless war, expedient lies, and ubiquitous social control. But unlike 1984's doomed protagonist, we've still got plenty of space to maneuver and plenty of ways to resist.

It's time to speak and to act. It falls on us now to take to the streets, bearing a clear message for the warmongers: We don't love Big Brother.

Jacob Levich (jlevich@earthlink.net) is a writer, editor, and activist living in Queens, New York. Used with permission.

Advice and Software

I was thinking the other day about how software is a lot like advice. Here are some of the things they have in common:

• Free Software and free advice can sometimes be very good.
• It's easy to find expensive advice and expensive software that are terrible.
• There's generally no correlation between the price and the value.
• Paying for it doesn't actually add any value.
• Just because you paid for it, doesn't mean you can sue if it wasn't any good.
• After you've paid for it, good luck getting them to back you up when it goes wrong.
• There are plenty of people willing to sell it or give it to you.
• Often people want to give it to you for their own reasons.
• The people who give it to you often want to be involved in your business.
• Just because the experts say it's good for you doesn't necessarily make it true.
• It's best when it isn't forced down your throat.
• You should always have the opportunity to adapt it to your own situation.

Sponsors

• Analysts International - http://www.analysts.com/
• Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) - http://www.accenture.com/
• Bradford & Galt - http://www.bradfordandgalt.com/
• CIBER, Inc. - http://www.ciber.com/
• Cybercon - http://www.cybercon.com/
• Cypress Systems, Ltd. - http://www.cypress-systems.com/
• Daugherty Systems - http://www.daugherty.com/
• Graybar Electric - http://www.graybar.com/
• Informix Corporation - http://www.informix.com/
• Maryville Data Systems, Inc. - http://www.maryville.com/
• Maverick Tube Corporation - http://www.maverick-tube.com/
• O'Reilly & Associates - http://www.ora.com/
• 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 - mclennan@sluug.org

For more information about sponsoring the St. Louis UNIX Users Group, contact Dave Mills (sponsorship@sluug.org).

Quotes

What would bug the Taliban more than a gay woman in a suit 
surrounded by Jews?
 -- Ellen DeGeneres, hosting the Emmy Awards

In my experience, large corporations have no qualms about shooting 
themselves in the foot as long as they believe (rightly or wrongly) 
that they have another. Also, in large corporations, pain impulses 
from the foot do not usually make it all the way up to the brain for 
processing. In fact, virtually all information from the lower 
extremities is intercepted by that section of the corporate body 
known as "constipated middle management".
 -- Tom Chapin

Mary had a crypto key, she kept it in escrow, 
and everything that Mary said, the Feds were sure to know.
 -- ssimpson on Slashdot

I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for 
his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die 
for his country.
 -- General George S. Patton

Of course everyone knows that vim is the best text editor in the 
world.  Anyone who tells you differently is either wrong, lying, 
or criminally insane. (Or an emacs user, in which case they are 
wrong, lying *and* criminally insane).
 -- CmdrTaco on Slashdot

Best we can tell, .NET is something that makes toast. Out of SOAP, 
apparently.
 -- Ed Howland

Before we celebrated those who took more than they gave.
Now we celebrate those who give more than they take.
 -- Chris Matthews, on the fire-fighters and other heros of 
    September 11

[Microsoft] has entirely missed the fact that the movie
house *is* on fire.
 -- Elias Levy, CTO of Security Focus, on Microsoft's attack on full
    disclosure of security vulnerabilities, comparing disclosure to
    yelling "fire" in a crowded theater

So what are the Beastie Boys up to?
 -- Phil Bunch, referring to the STLBSD guys

BDPA is spelled B-D-P-A.
 -- Mike Knight

There are so many open wireless access points in Silicon Valley, you
can do drive-by printing.
 -- Allen Rueter

Beside all the technical precautions, one should also adopt the "Don't
do it on a Friday afternoon" policy.
 -- Weiqi Gao

... increases the humorosity factor.
 -- Mike808, apparently proving that he is related to George W. Bush

State politics are even more fun!
 -- Tim Dreste, after explaining how corporations get around the laws
    prohibiting them from bribing federal lawmakers

They'll email them to you.
 -- Craig Buchek, referring to knives confiscated at the airport

Relativity is absolute. Hence the name.
 -- Mike808

Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

Volunteering

Contacts

Submitting Articles to the SLUUG Cronicle