NOTE: The SLUUG general meeting will be at Graybar again this month.

Table of Contents

• Calendar of Events
• Next General Meeting -- March 12
  • Tutorial: RT (Request Tracker)
          by Mike King
  • Presentation: Mac OS X for UNIX Users
          by Tim Rand
  • Book Specials
• Next Linux Meeting -- March 20
  • Presentation: Desktop Apps
          by Jonathan Drews
• Meeting Locations
• Articles
  • Election Results
  • Useful UNIX Tutorials
• Sponsors
• Quotes
• 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, March 12

Tutorial

Abstract:

RT is a robust ticketing system designed for the small-to-medium sized enterprise. It can be used for customer support, bug-tracking, trouble ticketing, or any other purpose for which a group of folks need to keep track of a list of tasks. It features a number of technologies designed to make it easy to keep track of a large number of tasks, issues, and projects:

• Web, email, and command line interfaces.
• Web interface for each end-user to quickly check on the status of open tickets.
• Data is stored in an SQL database.
• Access control system.
• Keyword system to keep track of ticket metadata.
• Extensible linking system to tie tickets to each other and to external data.
• Dependencies, parent-child relationships, and generic relationships.
• Clean object oriented design makes it a breeze to build new tools which work with RT's tickets, queues, users and links.
• Available under the terms of the GNU GPL.

Bio:

Michael King is consulting specialist with over a decade of complex and mission-critical systems experience in the Enterprise internet and web-based infrastructure. A St. Louisan since 1995, he has become an active member of the local Linux, Perl, 802.11b Wireless, Java, and Web development communities. His often definitive treatises on numerous technical subjects can be found in the DISCUSS archives, and all your base are belong to us.

Presentation

Abstract:

Mac OS X - Putting Beauty on the BSD

Apple has a hit UNIX OS that not only provides the traditional ease of use that MacIntosh users expect, but also a superb UNIX environment. On top of that, it provides for Open Source application portability, state of the art networking, killer "digital lifestyle" tools and Microsoft Office -- on UNIX. Whether you want to develop with GCC, MySQL, Apache, PHP, or Perl -- or you would rather produce your own DVDs, this is the system for you. Oh yeah, did I mention that with the built-in Samba, it plays for keeps in a Windows world?

In this presentation, Tim will provide an overview of the features and use of Mac OS X. He'll touch on the areas where Mac OS X mirrors the UNIX we know and love, as well as where it forges its own path.

Bio:

Tim Rand has been a long-time member of SLUUG. He is now the VP of Information Systems at HBE Corporation / Adam's Mark Hotels. Tim is a long-time Mac user -- he even bought a Lisa in 1984. He has also programmed and managed developers on many UNIX implementations over the years.

Ideas, questions and suggestions are welcome; please contact Scott Granneman (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).

March Special:

Next St. Louis LUG Meeting Is March 20

Abstract:

Linux is used primarily in 3 roles: as a server, as an embedded system, and as a personal desktop. Server use seems to have gotten most of the attention up to this point. But many of us use the Linux desktop, especially at home. And the Linux desktop has recently come into its own.

In this presentation, Jonathan will explore the desktop applications available on Linux. There is such a vast array available, we won't have time to get into everything. Jonathan will try to cover some of the applications that are not as well-known, but are powerful tools to add to your arsenal. Jonathan's background is in math and science, so he'll be sure to touch on those types of applications, as well as programs to help with every-day productivity.

Comments, questions, and ideas for the St. Louis Linux Users Group are welcome; please send email to linux@sluug.org.

Meeting Locations

Meets the 2nd Wednesday of the month, 6:30pm to 9:00pm. Free and open to the public.
NOTE: We are in the process of finding a NEW PERMANENT LOCATION. Please check the location every month for the next few months.

Graybar Electric Co, Inc.
11885 Lackland Rd.
St. Louis, MO 63146

Directions: Take I-270 to Page east. Take first exit (Concourse). Turn right at stop light (Lackland). Turn right at stop light into Graybar parking lot. Enter building at main entrance and sign in with security guard. Proceed down 1 level to lake level and cafateria training room.

Map:   http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?address=11885+Lackland&zipcode=63146

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. The room is reserved starting at 6:00pm. (Ask a librarian to let you in if it is locked.) Members are encouraged to come early to mingle and/or give informal demos or presentations. 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/

St. Charles LUG (http://www.sluug.org/~stclug)

We expect that meetings will usually be held at 6:30pm to 9:00pm on the 4th Thursday of each month, except during December, which will probably not have a meeting.
This is a SIG of SLUUG, intended for all Linux users in the Western and Northern parts of the greater metro area.

Ponderosa
513 South Main St. (just north of I-70)
O'Fallon, MO

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

Generally meets the 4th Tuesday of each month, 6:30pm to 9:00pm. (NOTE: Start time is now 6:30.) 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

CWE-LUG - Central West End LUG (http://www.sluug.org/~cwelug/)

Generally meets on the third Sunday of the month from 1:00pm to 5:00pm. Meetings are now held at the ACLU building.

ACLU
4557 Laclede (just east of Euclid)
St Louis, MO 63108

Advanced LUG (http://stladvlug.zapto.org/)

Meetings are held on the first Monday of each month. This group is intended to be a venue for advanced topics as well as a time to work on Open Source projects as a group. Free and open to the public.

WDT Solutions
9450 Manchester, Suite 204
Rock Hill, MO

MOSLUG - MO Open Source LUG (http://www.moslug.org/)

Meets on the 1st Tuesday of the month, from 7:00pm to 11:00pm. Meetings are free and open to everyone. This is a Linux Users Group (LUG) for all levels, from new beginners to the more advanced users.

Culpeppers Restaurant (basement)
312 S. Kirkwood Road
Kirkwood, MO 63122

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

Just started holding official meetings, but no regular schedule yet. Also look for guys with little red daemons on their shirts at SLUUG and LUG meetings.

Rock Road Library
10267 St. Charles Rock Road (1 mile east of Lindbergh)
St. Ann, MO 63074

SLACC - St. Louis Area Computer Club (http://www.slacc.com)

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

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

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

Meets the 2nd Thursday of every month, 6:30pm to 8:00pm. Attendance is free, and you do not need to sign up -- just show up.

CityPlace One Auditorium
One City Place
Creve Coeur, MO 63141

Gateway JUG (Java Users Group) (http://www.gatewayjug.org/)

Meets 6:00pm to 8:00pm. Meets on the 1st Tuesday of the month. Please RSVP if you would like to attend.

Maryville Technologies
540 Maryville Centre Dr., Suite 300
St. Louis, 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

GAMUG - Gateway Area Macintosh Users Group (http://www.gamug.org)

Meets the 2nd Tuesday of every month at 7:00pm. GAMUG has a number of active SIGS, so be sure to check out their web site. Of special interest is the Mac OS X SIG (which meets in Fenton). Membership is $30 a year for individuals.

Parkway Central High School
369 N. Woods Mill Rd. (Hwy. 141, between Olive and Ladue) Chesterfield, MO 63017

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

Meets the 4th Tuesday of apparently every-other 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 for members, $25 for non-members. Call 314-995-4652 (by the previous Friday) or email meeting@ccsl.org for reservations. 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 1st Thursday of the month. It runs from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.

O'Fallon City Library
120 Civic Plaza
O'Fallon, IL 62269

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

The SILUG Carbondale meeting is the 3rd Monday of the month, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. The location can vary due to scheduling issues, so be sure to double-check their web site.

Morris Library, Room 325
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

CORCC - County Older Residents Computer Club (http://www.a-zuc.com/corcc/)

Meets (almost) every Friday from 1:00pm to 3:00pm. Provides free classes for seniors 55 or older. For info, contact Tom Kimber (t.kimber@worldnet.att.net) or Arthur Hollman (ajhollman@juno.com).

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

WARNING: 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.

Election Results

The annual SLUUG elections were held last month. The results are as follows:

• 55 members voted.
• Stan Reichardt was re-elected to the board.
• Jonathan Drews has joined the board.
• Christine Wanta is the new President.
• Frank Lipski is now chair of the STLLUG.
• Scott Granneman, Buck Pyland, and Mike Kriz remain in their positions as Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer.

Congratulations to all the winners. We'd like to invite you to express your thoughts about the group to any of the board members or officers. We're especially interested in anyone who can volunteer to help the group in any way.

Useful UNIX Tutorials

Here are some good tutorials for learning the basics of UNIX. They come from IBM DeveloperWorks and O'Reilly OnLAMP. Some are written specifically for Linux or FreeBSD, but most of the concepts apply to all UNIX variants.

Sed, Part 1

http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-sed1.html

Sed, Part 2

http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-sed2.html

Sed, Part 3

http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-sed3.html

Common threads: Awk by example, Part 1

http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-awk1.html

Common threads: Awk by example, Part 2

http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-awk2.html

Common threads: Awk by example, Part 3

http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-awk3.html

Bash by example, Part 1 - Fundamental programming in the Bourne again shell

http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/bash.html

Bash by example, Part 2 - More bash programming fundamentals

http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/bash2.html

Bash by example, Part 3 - Exploring the ebuild system

http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/bash3.html

Finding Things in UNIX - How to use the find command

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2002/02/21/FreeBSD_Basics.html

Find: Part Two

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2002/03/14/FreeBSD_Basics.html

Using the vi Editor

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2001/10/25/FreeBSD_Basics.html

Understanding Filesystem Inodes

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2001/03/07/FreeBSD_Basics.html

Working With Text

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2000/10/18/FreeBSD_Basics.html

An Introduction to UNIX Permissions

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2000/09/06/FreeBSD_Basics.html

An Introduction to UNIX Permissions - Part Two

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2000/09/13/FreeBSD_Basics.html

Useful Commands

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2000/08/09/FreeBSD_Basics.html

Networking with TCP/IP

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2000/08/23/FreeBSD_Basics.html

Sponsors

• Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) - http://www.accenture.com
• Ajilon - http://www.ajilon.com
• Analysts International - http://www.analysts.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
• IBM - http://www.ibm.com
• Informix Corporation - http://www.informix.com
• K&S Pritchard Enterprises, Inc. - http://www.kspei.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
• 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 Frank Lipski (sponsorship@sluug.org).

Quotes

Never underestimate the stupidity of someone with root access.
 -- Stan R. (talking to self)

There are two major products that came out of Berkeley: LSD and UNIX.
We don't believe this to be a coincidence.
 -- Jeremy S. Anderson

Why, then, should we grant government the Orwellian capability to listen 
at will and in real time to our communications across the Web? ....
The state's interest in effective crime-fighting should never vitiate 
the citizens' Bill of Rights.
 -- John Ashcroft, 1997 (http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itgic/1097/ijge/gj-7.htm)

To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.

The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy 
way to factor large prime numbers.
 -- Bill Gates, The Road Ahead

Cross-platform apps are like unisex underwear.

At least I know I'll leave my mark here. A couple quotes and some 
useless code.
 -- J. Random Hacker

There are already a million monkeys on a million typewriters, and 
Usenet is NOTHING like Shakespeare.
 -- Blair Houghton

I couldn't give him (Bill Gates) advice in business and he couldn't 
give me advice in technology.
 -- Linus Torvalds

If there are really men with white skin in big ships sailing across the
Great Water from the east, why haven't they sent us smoke signals? The
believers in the White Gods are just flakos who don't understand the
basic principles of witch doctoring. We have nothing to fear from them.

Unix IS user-friendly, it just chooses its friends very carefully.

If the human brain was so simple that we could understand it, we would
be so simple that we couldn't.
 -- Emerson Pugh

A policeman pulls Werner Heisenberg over on the autobahn for speeding.
Policeman: Sir, do you know how fast you were going?
Heisenberg: No, but I know exactly where I am.

Computers are like air conditioners: they stop working properly when 
you open Windows.

Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

Volunteering

Contacts

Submitting Articles to the SLUUG Cronicle