jboy

Rather than another OS, I'd suggest a more in-depth exploration of applications. What kind of applications are you using now? Are you making optimum use of: Google apps (homepages and the various available widgets for productivity enhancement, Google Docs, Google Reader for feeds, etc)? Ditto for Yahoo (e.g., Yahoo Pipes). Browser bookmarklets Encryption apps (e.g., Truecrypt) Online Bookmarking of important links (del.icio.us, digg, etc) Scripting (e.g., bash) Online family photo albums (including the horse and other animals) Advanced Spreadsheet functionality - macros and formulas Secure backups of important data (strongly encrypted, either online or offline)

By any chance was it the ftp.gtlib.cc.gatech.edu source that gave you the problem? I think something is wrong with the gatech.edu link that smarturpmi provides - I couldn't get a connection to it. Maybe the site is down or the link has changed. That gatech.edu link used to work in the past. The ftp://mirrors.usc.edu site that smarturpmi provided worked fine for me.

Online sources for 2007.1 can be found here and it will generate the urpmi.addmedia commands like easyurpmi does: http://www.mandrivauser.de/smarturpmi/

EasyUrpmi is not yet configured for 2007.1, but for now you could use this: http://www.mandrivauser.de/smarturpmi/ It has the 2007.1 sources for all the repositories - main, contrib, updates, backports, non-free, plf, etc.

Nice reference: Link to blog posting - Linux Font Equivalents to Popular Web Typefaces

Great advice! The hobbyist programmer is a special breed and the rewards are many. I'd also like to say a few things on behalf of programming/application development as a profession (my experience is limited to the corporate/institutional area so my comments reflect that limitation). I agree with tyme and others who have said that programming within a corporate IT department can often be sheer drudgery. There can be so many built-in obstacles to feeling productive. And the bosses often bear a remarkable resemblance to the clueless boss in the Dilbert cartoon. But there's a breed of programmer where to write code is in their blood. To paraphrase Robert Frost, the eminent American poet: "To be a poet programmer is a condition, not a profession." If you love programming like that, and you can't find fulfillment in an IT corporate/institutional culture, my advice would be to seek roles where you can work directly for the client outside of IT. This sometimes can be done while being employed within a corporation/institution but also can be achieved by being a consultant. The client isn't going to hamper you with IT bureaucracy and bullshit metrics. Within IT you've got so many roles to fulfill, you often can't devote the time to really service the client properly because you've got a hundred other things to do. The client can almost become someone you want to avoid rather than to help. As a consultant, you usually can work on a specific project and can more often devote the time to properly serve the client's needs and to make true improvements in their processes for which they are typically very appreciative, which is great for job satisfaction. Consulting directly for a client is not a perfect world, it has it's own set of problem areas, but if you love application development, it can be very rewarding. I've been doing this for 25 years now and the situations in which I have felt the most professional satisfaction are when I worked directly for the client outside of IT. Now, part of the poster's original question was what roles are there outside of programming if you're going to pursue IT as a career? He asked, what else is there? Well, it's a wide-open field: Project Management Infrastructure Planning and Design Network and System Administration Sales/Tech Support Technical Journalism Education (tyme, best wishes to you as you pursue your goals in this area) Training Couple your IT education with another field (science, medicine, math, finance, etc) etc etc etc

This looks like a really good site! I've got it bookmarked.

I just came across this interesting-looking article about the ext2fs driver for Windows for accessing ext2/ext3 file systems from Windows. I'm going to try using it but won't be able to for a couple days. But it looks interesting. Maybe it's a better choice than explore2fs. Access ext2/ext3 file systems from Windows

Explore2fs is a portable app (so you can put it on a USB flash drive and use it anywhere) that provides an ext2 and ext3 filesystem explorer for Windows: http://sourceforge.net/projects/explore2fspe/ NTFS-3G provides read/write support in Linux for NTFS partitions: http://www.ntfs-3g.org/index.html For other possibilities, see the Fileystem topic on SourceForge.net: http://sourceforge.net/softwaremap/trove_l...hp?form_cat=142 Note: I haven't used either Explore2fs or NTFS-3G yet, so I can't give you any actual experience comments.

ATI's proprietary linux drivers never supported the Radeon 7000. The Radeon 8500/9000/9100/9200/9250 cards are still supported but only with the older 8.28.8 driver version and earlier. See: http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/linux/r...ious-linux.html I have a Radeon 9200 SE card on one of my machines and it handles OpenGL fine using the 8.28.8 driver. Is there any non-proprietary OpenGL driver support for the Radeon 7000? I don't know for sure, but I doubt it. Other possibly helpful info, is the Unofficial ATI Linux Driver Wiki at: http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Main_Page

Great! I highly recommend TrueCrypt if you need to protect sensitive data. Having root access does no good if the files are encrypted. You can also encrypt entire partitions, or a USB pen drive, and even have hidden volumes. Both linux and Windows compiled versions are available and the source code is also available. For more info: http://www.truecrypt.org/

This is by design. It's not anything that's broken. Failsafe mode (also known as single user mode, rescue mode, or runlevel 1) automatically boots you to the command line as the root user with NO network connectivity. It is meant for rescue type situations - after all, you may forget your root password and this allows you to recover from that. This is an example of how physical access to the machine pretty much gives you root access if you know what you're doing. You could remove the failsafe menu option but you could still boot to runlevel 1 by pressing the ESC key at the boot prompt and entering 'linux 1' at the boot prompt. If you were concerned about others having physical access to the machine and messing with it, one easy way to hep prevent this would be to set a BIOS password. But you can get around that too. Physical access pretty much can get you root access! There are probably some very tight security measures that could be taken, and someone may comment on them, but it's a matter of just how much of a security exposure you feel you really have. In most cases, this is not really a problem. Oh, I should also mention that if you have sensitive data that you want to protect, then you should consider encrypting those files using an application like TrueCrypt (a great security app).

Your personal info (including email address) will not be public info in the WHOIS database if you do this domain registration by proxy. That's how the spammers got your email address, from the public WHOIS database. So by having a proxy registration, you avoid that public disclosure.

Neddie, this may not help you but may help others in the future. When you register your domain name, you can hide your email address and other personal info by going through a private registration service like Domains By Proxy From their web site on How Private Registrations Work: "Your domain is registered in the name of Domains By Proxy® -- so our contact information is made public -- not yours. You retain the FULL BENEFITS of domain registration. You can: cancel, sell, renew or transfer your domain; set-up the name servers for, and resolve disputes involving, your domain. We create a private email address for your domain. You tell us to forward, not forward, or filter messages for spam before forwarding."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20070207/tc_pcworld/128823 Study: Weak Passwords Really Do Help Hackers Todd R. Weiss, Computerworld Wed Feb 7, 4:00 PM ET Left online for 24 days to see how hackers would attack them, four Linux computers with weak passwords were hit by some 270,000 intrusion attempts-- about one attempt every 39 seconds, according to a study conducted by a researcher at the University of Maryland. Among the key findings: Weak passwords really do make hackers' jobs much easier. The study also found that improved selection of usernames and associated passwords can make a big difference in whether attackers get into someone's computer. Using software tools that help hackers guess usernames and passwords, the study logged the most common words hackers tried to use to log into the systems. Cukier and two graduate students found that most attacks were conducted by hackers using dictionary scripts, which run through lists of common usernames and passwords in attempts to break into a computer. Some 825 of the attacks were ultimately successful and the hackers were able to log into the systems. The study was conducted between Nov. 14 and Dec. 8 at the school. [excerpted from the link above; more details in the original article]

This is a nice little article comparing linux audio players, including their ripping and burning capabilities. http://www.pcworld.com/printable/article/i.../printable.html

So, tyme, you may be another lifehacker.com reader, huh? I love that site. It is one of the most useful sites I've ever come across (in addition to MUsB, of course!) I didn't know that anyone else here read that site, so I was sure I was going to be able to cite that LCD Burn In article, but damn, you beat me to it! :D

My glasses look pretty cool, don't you think? Well, font mystery solved, sort of. I was viewing the site in firefox and opera on Windows XP. So I booted up Mandriva 2007 in a VM and guess what - in 2007 on firefox, the font sizes look the same, just as Ian said. Duh. I don't know why that would be. Why would font size look different on firefox in XP vs Linux? I guess these are the kinds of things that complicate life for web developers.

Hmmm. On my machine, in both firefox and opera, the font size appears much smaller than the font size here at MUB. If you do a View -> Text Size -> Normal in FF, does it still look the same to you? I see from the page source that a CSS file, template_css.css, is used. If you like the template but just want to tweak a few things, you could just edit that CSS file accordingly.

Congratulations on your new site, Ian! It looks very nice. The only question I have is whether the font size is perhaps a little too small. The page-to-PDF feature is nice. Regarding your family site - those pictures of Mitzy the cat are terrific! Since my gf got a cat around a year ago, I have come to appreciate the many endearing aspects of cats.

Mandriva Flash product page: http://www.mandriva.com/linux/2007/flash From the article at LinuxLookup: Mandriva 3D on a Flash Drive "Mandriva today launches Mandriva Flash, the first Mandriva Linux Live USB key. Bringing its long experience with Live CDs, Mandriva aims to offer the best performing live system. All you have to do is plug in the USB key, turn the PC on and the Mandriva Linux 2007 operating system is ready to use in no time, with all you need for office work, Internet and multimedia tasks. The main advantage of Mandriva Flash is that it provides a full-featured system that requires no installation and - the icing on the cake - fits in your pocket! This is the most mobile distribution ever. Once Mandriva Linux 2007 is started, users can store their personal data on the 2GB key (more than 1GB available for user files). System configuration, preferences and data are all saved to the key (in contrast to live CDs, which can't store this data). Another great advantage: in contrast to live CDs the CD/DVD drive remains available, allowing the user to read or burn a CD/DVD while using Mandriva Flash. Moreover, the boot and loading process is much faster than with live CDs thanks to the USB 2.0 support of the key. Mandriva Flash is meant for all those who want to have a complete OS and their personal data handy at all times without the hassle of carrying a laptop around. It is a full workstation, packed with all the latest technologies. It includes the brand new Mandriva Linux 3D desktop technology, as well as the best open source software available: Kernel 2.6.17 KDE 3.5.4 Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.6 OpenOffice 2.0.3 The Gimp 2.3.10 AmaroK 1.4.3 KMPlayer 0.9.3 Ekiga 2.0.3 K3b 0.12.17 To make things even easier for you, the most important proprietary drivers and the most-used plugins (Adobe Flash Player, RealPlayer) are also on the key. Mandriva Flash is the perfect product to help you discover and then adopt Linux since no installation of any kind on the host computer is required and even the least experienced computer users can use it easily. It is not only practical, easy and pleasant to use but also a high-performing and innovative product. Mandriva Flash will surprise you whether you already are a Linux user or not." On the website, the price is listed as 59 euros.

Yes, the traces are still there. Here's an article about it, along with an easy technique for erasing empty space on a file system: http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/117638/49/ Also, there are probably some utility programs that will wipe empty disk space (if you don't want to use the dd command mentioned in the article); http://www.sourceforge.net would be a good place to search for them.

One thing to check would be your firewall settings, to allow the ports that Samba uses. This excerpt is from: Samba.org documentation on using a firewall "If you are setting up a firewall, you need to know what TCP and UDP ports to allow and block. Samba uses the following: Port 135/TCP - used by smbd Port 137/UDP - used by nmbd Port 138/UDP - used by nmbd Port 139/TCP - used by smbd Port 445/TCP - used by smbd" Go into MCC, Security section, and check your firewall settings.

Here's a wiki article on setting up Samba: http://devries.mandrivausers.org/pmwiki/pm....php/Main/Samba Another nice article: http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/11/20/207251

This timing technique has worked for me with the sound module. I installed Mandriva 2007 in a VM using VMware Player and the sound module always failed to load during boot-up. But after I put the same commands in rc.local, the sound module always loads fine. So hopefully this technique will work for riseringseeker.