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Isdn adaptors
by John Woodard 08 Feb '02

08 Feb '02

Project: need to build a box to use as an isdn dial up and mail server serving a couple of iMacs and a power book. The machine will also be used for a bit of web development and basic office stuff. Problem: what is a good cheap pci isdn terminal adaptor to use bearing in mind I may need fax capability (I use a BT Speedway 128 which is a re-badged AVM Fritz). Bigger problem: I have never configured either fetchmail nor sendmail before (my modest mail requirements are currently satisfied by kmail configured to get mail directly from a pop server). Biggest problem: I know nothing about samba, iptables/ipchains or any of that stuff. Massive problem: I'm likely to have to maintain this machine remotely either via direct isdn dial in or via the net. The distro will most likely be Mdk 8.1 but I'm open to suggestions oh and the down side it will have to dual boot into Windows 98 occasionally to run some bit of bespoke software that won't run under wine for some reason. Any suggestions on what hardware will be gratefully received, first thoughts lean towards 1Gig Duron, 512Mb pc133 ram and 40Gb ata100. I'm starting to feel well out of my league here expect lots of cries for help on irc.openprojects.net:#alug. -- Cheers, BJ

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Re: [Alug] Acrobat/Ghostscript printing
by MJ Ray 08 Feb '02

08 Feb '02

Ted wrote: > And that, to be frank, is the fault of these two viewers, and not of the > PDF format. And this (see below) is why I use Reader -- which, in my > experience, simply works. If xpdf and ghostscript worked as I need them > to, I'd probably use them myself. But they don't. I'm not sure that it is the fault of the viewers. If something which is claimed as an open standard is scattered across many documents with little indication from one that others exist, and that reality differs from what is documented in subtle ways, surely it is the fault of the "standard"'s owner? To the best of my knowledge, but ghostscript and xpdf are quite happy with the really standard bit of PDF (is that PDF/X?) but some documents using incompatible Adobe extensions make them fail. One could argue that it is the fault of the Adobe generator. > That's your choice. But by limiting yourself to Free software, you have to > take the downside that you're closing a lot of your options in real life. By using non-free software, you are similarly closing a lot of options: to be able to fix the software, primarily. I think it's just a different set of closed doors. > [...] Where you hit limits is in "add-on" libraries which extend their > pre-programmed functionality [...] Actually, in R there is one subtle difference in variable scope and very little else that kills extension libraries designed for Splus. > ([...] But life is short, especially real life ... ). Indeed, so I prefer it that we don't keep reinventing the wheel every cycle, as non-free software insists that we do. > [...] The plain fact is that, still, these things do dominate the desktop > world of work. If you don't go along, you're locked out. I'm actually seeing a lot less of this now. In the few cases where we do still get sent proprietary formats, we have converters that put them in a more useful form. There's a lot to be said for now completing the transition by a stance like http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT5759283394.html > So, what you can achieve using Free Software, achieve that way. What you > can only achieve using The Other, achieve that way (even with a heavy > heart). And take the long view! [1] Agreed, but I think we differ on how much energy it is worth adding to Free Software before resorting to the other. The one piece of software that is non-free is in a field that only now are we getting free replacements for, but they are incompatible with the file format and have no market share right now, so can't be used. It's also a field that I know practically nothing about and can't really assist beyond testing the software as it is produced. But I do that, because I can and because I want to see a truly Free solution. [...] > However, the fact (on which we agree) that we don't like Adobe's > proprietariness does not imply that PDF is a bad format in itself. But which PDF is not a bad format? The idealised documented PDF which should allow easy document distribution, or the hacked-up one that you meet in reality? > [...] I will patiently wait till the skilled developers of these things > get it right. Meanwhile, I'll be using Reader. Oh, keep using the free one and sending the results/comments back to them. Without good feedback, it's very hard to develop software. As someone said (and I misquote here): "bug reports are like free software love letters. Share a little love today!" -- MJR

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Sendmail question.....
by Simon 08 Feb '02

08 Feb '02

Hi guys, Hoping for some help here....... It's a question about the virtual user table, if I make any changes directly in the text file, do I have to do a "makemap" to update a db file? If so, can anyone help me out with the correct command please, I've got the "BAT Book", which I've found whilst being a cure for insomnia and very informative, it doesn't tell me what I need to know.. Or it probably does have the information in there, but my eyelids start drooping before I get to the relevant part!!! TIA Simon

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Re: [Alug] Acrobat/Ghostscript printing
by MJ Ray 08 Feb '02

08 Feb '02

Ted wrote: [...] > Therefore I don't recognise the situation Mark is describing, at any rate > for the Reader viewer. If Mark is referring to other viewers, with which > PDF is "hairy", gives "unhelpful error messages", etc., then my first > reaction is "don't use that viewer". [...] Yes, but given that some PDF files make both of the viewers I have here fail with cryptic messages, that leaves me with a choice of zero viewers. Not exactly the most readable document ever ;-) > But, in summary again, provided you use Acrobat Reader, in my belief here > are no major problems with PDF unless it has been badly generated; with > the caveat about Adobe software (not sure if this applies to Reader) > possibly getting huffy about non-Adobe source. That is a huuuge pair of caveats you have there. First off, if it's not free, it's not here (with one shameful exception AFAIK). Secondly, if their reader throws its toys out of the pram if non-Adobe producer software creates it, do you really want to support Adobe trying to pull a Microsoft? They're not really the most fluffy of corporations, as the current Sklyarov/Elcomsoft case and the resultant Adobe Boycott should show. This difference in software may well be why I don't recognise the situation that you describe and view PDF as being a fairly bad format for document distribution. When is a standard not a standard? -- MJR

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Re: [Alug] Qmail custom setup
by MJ Ray 08 Feb '02

08 Feb '02

Darren: > Anyone up on qmail/perl? I need to migrate a system from sendmail to qmail > but could do with some help What exactly is the perl for? If it's to change the mbox files into maildir ones, then there are already scripts to do that. I think the qmail web site has some. (Do you really want a non-free mailserver?) -- MJR

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Alug meeting in Norwich on the 24th at UEA??????????
by Adam Bower 07 Feb '02

07 Feb '02

Hi ppl, Does a UEA person want to book us a room for the 24th so we can have a meeting? there may be beer in it for you if you do it btw..... I don't know the exact process but it shouldn't be difficult, someone will be able to give you details when you come forward.... Adam PS if you got this and you are not on the alug list then go here to subscribe http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/main/ you know who you are ;) -- Adam "a funny thing about regret is, that it's better to regret something you have done, than to regret something you haven't done"

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Re: [Alug] Acrobat/Ghostscript printing
by MJ Ray 07 Feb '02

07 Feb '02

Ted wrote, quoting me: > > In many cases, xhtml is a better format for document interchange. > > Horses for courses, of course; and where xhtml may be useful, XML may be > even better. If you're not fussed about how the person at the other end > will format the layout, then it's probably OK (depending on what kind of > document it is). If what you want them to see is precisely what you see, > then it can get very hairy. As this thread has shown, I think, PDF is also about as hairy because of the fragmentation of the standard by its owner. Files look different in each viewer and some viewers don't like some files. At least with xhtml+css, you can specify as much formatting as the viewer supports, but they can nearly always see it all, even if misformatted. With PDF, if the viewer doesn't support all the formatting, you're left with some unhelpful error message and no way to recover the information. -- MJR

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Re: [Alug] Trolltech competition
by MJ Ray 07 Feb '02

07 Feb '02

Ian wrote: > I have just uploaded my beta software in the Trolltech competition to win a > Sharp Zaurus. Has anyone else on the list entered? What competition? ;-) -- MJR

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Do I realyy have a trojan ?
by bsamuels＠beenthere-donethat.org.uk 07 Feb '02

07 Feb '02

I recently saw the following in a chkrootkit report: Feb 7th - Checking `lkm'... You have 1 process hidden for readdir command You have 1 process hidden for ps command Warning: Possible LKM Trojan installed Checking earlier reports I see: Jan 19th - Checking `lkm'... nothing detected Jan 21st - Checking `lkm'... nothing detected Jan 23rd - Checking `lkm'... nothing detected Jan 25th - Checking `lkm'... nothing detected Jan 29th - Checking `lkm'... nothing detected Jan 31st - Checking `lkm'... nothing detected Feb 1st - Checking `lkm'... nothing detected Feb 3rd - Checking `lkm'... You have 1 process hidden for readdir command You have 1 process hidden for ps command Warning: Possible LKM Trojan installed Feb 5th - Checking `lkm'... nothing detected So although the first warning appears on Feb 3rd it does not show on Feb 5th but re-appears on Feb 7th. Because of that I'm assuming (hoping?) it may be a false alarm. Well it does say 'Possible'! I have only a standard dial-up connection and have PMFirewall installed and running when I'm connected to the internet. I run chkrootkit every other day. What do you think chaps? (Chaps is a generic term which includes chapesses). Barry Samuels

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Re: [Alug] Acrobat/Ghostscript printing
by MJ Ray 07 Feb '02

07 Feb '02

Ted Harding: > However, after 'ps2pdf' this PS file converts to a PDF file of size 40667 > bytes -- actually smaller than the original! (of course, there is > compression involved here; if I turn off compression I end up with 207810 I notice that ps.gz is missing from your figures? Anyway, PDF is a good idea poorly executed, I think. By introducing multiple incompatible versions of the format and making implementers have to play "chase the document trail" if they want to do a full version, they've pretty much guaranteed it's always going to cause pain. (The document trail comment is based on commend from the CL-PDF library authors, not personal experience.) Oh, remember that xpdf (or even pdf2ps and ps2ascii in some cases) recovers you the original text for editing. In many cases, xhtml is a better format for document interchange. -- MJR

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