Biography:

Tony Zafiropoulos is the owner of CTitek, a consulting company that maintains 10 Linux systems for its clients.

CTitek also performs as Chief Technology Officer for 5 small businesses in the Saint Louis area.

Tony has a Systems Engineering degree from Washington University. - Dec. '93. Married with an 8 year-old son.

Questions and ideas about this discussion are welcome; please send mailto:tonyz@ctitek.com 

Presentation

Abstract:

LIGHTNING TALKS are consecutive five-minute talks on a tight schedule. You should be prepared to take the stage immediately, explain your idea, and then leave immediately. If you want to take questions, chat, or trade business cards, resumes, or URLs, you do it *after* the session. Be prepared to provide a URL for your topic.

The most current information about Lightning Talks is at http://www.sluug.org/~mike808/lightning-talks.html

LIGHTNING TALKS will be held in two sessions of five consecutive five-minute talks separated by a ten-minute recess.

The selected schedule of Lightning Talks is as follows:

First Session Schedule
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Real world dot-com business experiences
Business experiences will be discussed on two dot com projects. Hurdles in establishing a new dot com business. Various do's and don'ts as observed by the speaker. Case Studies: unnamed-client.com and FixMyLinux.com
Tony Zafiropoulos tonyz@ctitek.com CTiTEK, Inc.

Secure Alternatives to Sendmail
A discourse in the Postfix MTA (Mail Transport Agent), a sendmail drop-in replacement on BSD platforms. Postfix was written by Wietse Venema,
John Brooks john@stlbsd.org

The RCGA: An Introduction
An introduction to the RCGA, what it is, what it does, and how it can help you in the larger St. Louis technology community.
David DeSpain ddespain@stlrcga.org Manager, Technology Gateway Alliance

View From the IT Executive Suite: Is Microsoft truly a 'safer' solution for the desktop?
The case for SLUUG to provide 'seed' money to sponsor a conference, targeted at senior IT executives, designed to demonstrate how they can make a 'safe' migration to LINUX on the desktop.
Terry Linhardt linhardt@swbell.net

Why UNIX sucks
Some ideas based on personal experience with other OSes. Why some things are screwed up and how they might be fixed. Details on potential improvements like file system organization, X bloat, missing X features, poor real-world standardization (especially of GUI administrative tools), etc. Credit to Miguel de Icaza.
Craig M. Buchek craig@buchek.com

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10 MINUTE INTERMISSION

Second Session Schedule
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User-Centered Design
User-Centered Design will ensure that your software not has only ease-of-use but meets its business goals. Methods includes usability testing, paper-prototyping, and contextual inquiry. You cannot know if you have designed usable software unless you have usability tested with true users.
Joe Grant joeg@grantconsulting.com Grant Consulting, Inc.

Celox Networks: Carrier-scale solutions
Celox is architected for wide ranging, high-speed interfaces and deep IP functionality for very large numbers of users.
The construction of new fiber backbones coupled with the application of DVDM has created unprecedented bandwidth and commodity pricing pressures.
With the growth of the Internet and its underlying technologies, it is clear that NSPs must add value for IP-based services if they are to gain new service revenues. Existing solutions lack the scalability and depth of features to drive incremental service revenue.
By implementing new technologies, NSPs can gain value from:
1. aggregation of broadband services and wholesale of services
2. network-based IP Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)
3. Partnering with Application Service Providers (ASPs) to provide value added transport services.
Denise M. Wunderlich dwunderlich@celoxnetworks.com Celox Networks

IT Recruiting: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Why are some recruiters Evil? Why all Recruiters are not Evil? The advantages of partnering with a Recruiter. The best ways to partner with a Recruiter. Cool staffing trends in the marketplace. And ... What Recruiters do when they are not bugging the hell out of you with those pesky phone calls when your boss & coworkers are standing behind you.
Jim Leingang jim.leingang@kpginc.com Kendall Placement Group, Inc.

GLADE: a GPL user interface builder for GTK+ and Gnome
Use GLADE to build a GNOME application quickly, possibly without writing any code. Show how code and GUI are created separately. There might even be a live demo.
Craig M. Buchek craig@buchek.com

The Cluetrain Manifesto: The Internet, Business, and Conversation
Networked markets are beginning to self-organize faster than the companies that have traditionally served them. Thanks to the web, markets are becoming better informed, smarter, and more demanding of qualities missing from most business organizations.
Matthew E. Porter mporter@linuxgruven.com Linuxgruven, Inc.

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Alternates
The Bare Minimum VI Commands
Or ... Everything I needed to know, I learned in five minutes after I stopped wasting my time trying to find the EMACS 'meta' key.
Stan Reichardt stan@mail.sluug.org

Reinventing the Copyright for the 21st Century
Or ... Going from Copyright to Copyleft.
Stanford Baldwin stanford@mail.sluug.org

BioMolQuest: an integrated biomolecule database/search engine in Perl+MySQL
Four disparate databases of interest to the structural biology community were imported into a unified database using MySQL. A search engine with a web-based interface was built using Perl.
Yury V. Bukhman yury@danforthcenter.org Research Associate - Donald Danforth Plant Science Center Computational and Structural Biology

Alternative Operating Systems
BeOS, QNX, GNU/Hurd, NeXTStep/OpenStep, L4, Eros. A brief overview of the features of each to whet your interest.
Craig M. Buchek craig@buchek.com

Open Source companies... Is it possible?
My definition of an Open Source company. What is the structure? How will it operate? What is the goal?
Tony Zafiropoulos tonyz@ctitek.com CTiTEK, Inc.

A Brief History of Unix
Or ... In the beginning was the command line.
Stanford Baldwin stanford@mail.sluug.org

That's all folks. A big thank you to all who submitted topics, and a bigger thank you to the presenters. It will be a fun and interesting meeting, and I look forward to seeing each and every one of you there.

Note that every speaker may not be a SLUUG member, just that their topic would be of interest to us. So tell your fellow cow-orkers and spread the word. We are not particularly against commercial presentations - remember it's only five minutes if it's a stinker.

Any changes will be posted at: http://www.sluug.org/~mike808/LightningTalks_Jan2001.html

Ideas, questions and suggestions are welcome; please contact Mike King by sending mailto:mike808@mail.sluug.org?subject=Lightning+Talks

Next STL Linux User Group Meeting Is 18 January

Abstract:
FreeS/WAN is an implementation of IPsec for Linux. IPsec also known as Secure IP. It provides authentication and encryption using strong cryptography. This ensures that only authorized users can connect, and that others cannot intercept your information as it travels across the Internet to its destination.

FreeS/WAN allows you to set up a Virtual Private Network (VPN) using the "Internet cloud" to transport packets. The VPN can be seen as a pipe within the cloud, where anyone can see stuff in the cloud, but nothing within the pipe. Only the sites at the end of the pipe will be able to access that network traffic.

Matt will discuss his experience setting up FreeS/WAN in a distributed corporate environment. He will talk about compiling a custom kernel with FreeS/WAN and the configuration involved to set up a VPN. He will offer some advice and tips for implementing your own VPN using FreeS/WAN.

And if you want to know, more about FreeS/WAN and IPsec?

IPSEC is Internet Protocol SECurity. It uses strong cryptography to provide both authentication and encryption services. Authentication ensures that packets are from the right sender and have not been altered in transit. Encryption prevents unauthorised reading of packet contents.

These services allow you to build secure tunnels through untrusted networks. Everything passing through the untrusted net is encrypted by the IPSEC gateway machine and decrypted by the gateway at the other end. The result is Virtual Private Network or VPN. This is a network which is effectively private even though it includes machines at several different sites connected by the insecure Internet.

-- taken from the Linux FreeS/WAN home page

[ Linux penguins lay golden eggs. What do FreeS/WANs do? -- ed. ]

Biography:

Matt Schillinger is the system administrator for the Linuxgruven home office in St. Louis. He has also worked for several ISPs in the St. Louis area. Matt has set up FreeS/WAN in order to create a Virtual Private Network to satellite offices.

Comments, questions and ideas about this session are welcome; please contact Matt Schillinger by sending mailto:mschilli@linuxgruven.com?subject=St.+Louis+LUG+Jan+2001+Presentation

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+Jan+2001+Presentation

Special Promotion(s)

Title of the Month The January discount special will be 25% on ANY book, with 40% on several new titles.

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/

• Computer Central Show This Weekend
• Elections Approaching
• Next Linux Installfest
• Missouri No Call List
• Quotations
• Interesting Browsing
• Spotlight on Cybercon
• Twenty-one Titles
• Urgent Need for Analog Dial-in Equipment!

Computer Central Show This Weekend

DATES: Saturday & Sunday, January 6 & 7, 2001.

PLACE: America's Center Hall 1, Washington & 8th, St. Louis, MO

TIMES: 11am to 5pm both days.

STUFF: Systems, Computers, Printers, Monitors, Supplies, Keyboards, Modems, Games, CPU Chips, Memory, Software, CD-ROMs, CD-RWs, DVDs, Cables, Accessories, etc.

ADMISSION: $6.00 for adults see web site for $1.00 discount coupon.

Of special note:

Our next Linux Installfest will be on 10 February and will be hosted at Wave Technologies Intl., 10845 Olive Boulevard, St. Louis, MO. See http://www.wavetech.com/ site for who they are.

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

Current information will be posted at http://www.stllinux.org/ Planning and general discussion will begin shortly on our DISCUSS mailing list.

Missouri No Call List

Hurry and sign up for the new Missouri No Call list. Time will tell how effective it is, but you aren't giving away any more information than they already have: name, address, and phone number. Like the Federal law there are exceptions (established relationship, non-profit, etc.), but it should help. With the Missouri law you state your intention once, not with each company.

Ok, you have until May 1, 2001, but do it now and spread the word. For more information, visit http://www.ago.state.mo.us/nocalllaw.htm and free up those phone lines for their intended purpose - Web surfing.

My President's name is Charlton Heston.
-- A life time member of the NRA.

History:
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/computer/bushf.htm - As We May Think by Vannevar Bush (1945)
http://lwn.net/2000/features/Timeline/ - LWN: 2000 Linux timeline

FUD:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/14955.html - MS on Selling Naked PCs

Hardware:
http://www.kcdata.com/~gromitkc/winmodem.html - Winmodems are not modems; Linux information page
http://www.monitorservice.com/faqs.html - ERV's Monitor Service Monitor FAQs
http://www.alsa-project.org/ - Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/ - Linux Laptop homepage

Learning Basics:
http://www.geek-girl.com/unix.html - UNIX Reference Desk
http://www.sluug.org/~newton/othr_uug.html - UNIX sites by Newton
http://www.linux.org/lessons/ - Getting Started with Linux

Misc:
http://www.freestandards.org/ - The Free Standards Group
http://dannyreviews.com/index.html - Danny Yee's Book Reviews
http://linuxmafia.com/pub/linux/security/ssh-clients - SSH references
http://www.linuxprinting.org/ - Linux Printing
http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2000-12-11-011-06-PS-CY-SW - NetworkWorld: Cisco's free, Linux-based print system

Open Source:
http://open-projects.linuxcare.com/research-papers/winbind-08162000.html - Open-Projects Research Papers
..............
http://www.vision.com/press_and_news/vision_news/2000/oct_17_2000.html - StarOffice Goes Open-Source
http://www.upside.com/texis/mvm/story?id=39f869180 - Freedom 2.0 Linux client Goes Open-Source

Follow Up:
http://www.linuxnews.com/stories.php?story=00/11/21/0224297 - An Evening with Peter Salus
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/12/15/2244256 - Slashdot | 3Dfx No More -- NVidia Purchases Video Card Maker
..............
http://www.phreedom.net/~davidu/ - IDS_TALK-11_08_2000.ppt 220k
http://www.westerndigital.com/service/archive/ac31600-quality.html - Disk Drive that Clunks
http://www.stllinux.org/meeting_notes/2000/1019/ - October STL Linux SIG presentation notes

Cybercon is this month's SLUUG Corporate Spotlight company.

Cybercon, a St. Louis based Internet hosting center, offers advanced Internet hosting and managed services. We provide the Internet infrastructure and support that allows you to keep your servers up and running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Our data center was not only built with scalability in mind, but also with the intention to avoid any single point of failure in our connectivity, power, or HVAC. We boast direct connections to UUNET (MCI WorldCom), Sprint, AT&T and Level 3 Communications as well as triple power feeds from Ameren UE and redundant Liebert indoor cooling systems. We provide these services so you can concentrate on your business while we concentrate on maintaining your Internet servers.

For more information you can send mailto:jeff@cybercon.com or visit the Cybercon web site at http://www.cybercon.com/ or contact our staff 24 hours a day at 314-621-9991

The St. Louis County Library system accepts purchase suggestions from it's patrons. Of the dozen Linux titles that I suggested earlier this spring they have added ten books to the library holdings. With this level of success I spent one recent evening submitting a number of Unix and Linux titles. Twenty-one titles to be specific.

Book Titles on Order:
0-6723-1918-7 Linux Hardware Handbook by Rodrick W. Smith
0-7645-3481-5 Linux: Your Visual Blueprint to the Linux Platform by Ruth Maran
0-7897-2283-6 The Multi-Boot Configuration Handbook by Roderick W. Smith
0-4712-5311-1 Secrets & Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World by Bruce Schneier
1-886411-34-4 The Book of Linux Music & Sound by Dave Phillips
0-7615-2679-X Red Hat Linux 7 Fast & Easy by Brian Profitt
1-8864-1135-2 The Linux Problem Solver by Brian Ward
0-1308-6113-8 Linux Routers: A Primer for Network Administrators by Tony Mancill
0-7615-3150-5 Install, Configure, and Customize Red Hat Linux 7 by Brian Priffit
0-6723-1597-1 Teach Yourself C for Linux Programming in 21 Days by William Rosseau & Peter Aitken
0-2016-7472-6 Linux and UNIX Shell Programming by David Tansley
0-6723-1834-2 sendmail for Linux by Richard Blum and Angie Wethington
0-7615-2764-8 VMware 2 for Linux by Jason Compton
0-7821-2736-3 Linux DNS Server Administration by Craig Hunt
0-4713-5366-3 Building Linux and OpenBSD Firewalls by Wes Sonnenreich and Tom Yates
0-7821-2730-4 Linux for Windows Nt/2000 Administrators: The Secret Decoder Ring by Mark Minasi
0-0721-2442-3 Oracle8i for Linux: Starter Kit by Steve Bobrowski
0-7645-4630-9 Wine Administrator's Handbook by Michele Petrovsky and Tom Parkinson
0-0788-2446-X UNIX & Linux Answers!: Certified Tech Support by Charlie Russel & Sharon Crawford
0-2017-0253-3 The GIMP for Linux and UNIX: Visual QuickStart Guide by Phyllis Davis
0-7615-2816-4 Linux on Your Laptop by Bill Ball

I later got a polite message telling me that library partons were limited to ordering only five titles at a time. However, since they had never posted that limit they would go ahead and process my requests.

Multiple requests for the same title indicate intrest to the library staff and will make it's purchase more likely. Therefore I encourage others to request some of these same titles. Books can be requested on line at http://www.slcl.lib.mo.us/iii/on_order_holds.htm

I also always try to include in the request form remarks section the ISBN, the list price, and the http://www.fatbrain.com discount price.

Does anyone have any kind of old/excess dial-in equipment our school district can borrow/rent/buy??

Our project, which is an important issue to our little community here in Ste. Genevieve, is to provide Internet access from home for the Students, Staff, and Faculty in our School District.

Ste. Genevieve is a small community about an hour south of St. Louis, and is the oldest city in Missouri.

We have already purchased and installed all of the equipment to support four T-1 lines, which as you can imagine is a stretch for a small school district. Originally, we were planning to be up and running by Jan. 1st, but the phone company (after many delays) determined that they would not be able to bring in our T-1 lines for another 6 months. The only thing we can get will be 8-12 analog lines, which would be enough to keep us going until summer.

However, all of our new equipment that we have installed and waiting will not support the old analog stuff, so we need to find a temporary solution as fast as we can. Anything from old (but working) digi-boards and external modems to whatever you might have laying around might be just what we need!

As soon as I received the bad news, I put out a call to both the Unix community and to other school districts across the state for any old ANALOG equipment we could borrow/rent/lease/buy.

We ordered 12 analog lines to try to cover limited service until then, and those were supposed to be installed last Friday (December 29th). Since I had not received any responses by Thursday morning, I was in the middle of ordering two 6-port modem cards and trying to get them shipped overnight. Then I got more bad news: SouthWestern Bell called to tell us that they can't put the analog lines in for about 6 weeks! That does give us a little more time to try to find some replacement equipment, and if any of your readers might have some equipment that would help us out, we would be greatly appreciative.

We have a new server running Linux that is supposed to be the RADIUS authentication server, and I can use that to put mulit-port modem cards in. If someone would be able to donate/loan/rent/sell us either mutli-port modem cards, or an analog dial-in RAS device, that would help us get up and running until our T-1 lines come in.

Also, I could use some guidance from someone with skill in setting up a Linux server to support dial-in (PPP) users.

Contact Kevin D. Holmes, Director of Technology, Ste Genevieve R-II by calling 573-883-5720 or sending mailto:kholm@stegen.k12.mo.us

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

Sponsors