Ladies and gentlemen, folks, fellow slackers,

We are going to begin a new project (tentatively and very modestly
called "The Slack World"). The main aim of the project is to fill
a few gaps that we see in covering Slackware-related information by
other resources.

The project is geared towards both Slackware veterans and novices.
Currently, we think about covering the following main topics/sections:

* Feature pieces (aka Slackopaedia), i.e., articles written by experienced
users for experienced users and newbies and covering subjects that are
not widely known but useful (gnupg, apache, sendmail, mysql, backup scripts,
etc.) This is to be a sort of mini-HOWTO section and may cover things
included with Slackware or things not included with Slackware.

* Brief reviews of the changes in -current tree (aka Slack News).

* The most insightful and information things mentioned in AOLS or
##slackware or #slackware or elsewhere (aka Slack Wisdom).

* Information about new or existing third party tools developed around
Slackware, including distributions based on Slack.

* Possibly, other topics related to Slackware and Linux in general
(e.g., links to articles that may be of general interest).

We intend to implement the project as a monthly newsletter backed by
a no-frills website.

We would very much like to hear your opinions, ideas, suggestions.
We also invite volunteers to join the project. Last but not least, we
would very much like to receive your articles, tips, links, etc. as soon
as the project is up and you like it. :-)

Best regards,

Alan Hicks (http://slackbook.lizella.net) and Mikhail Zotov
(http://slackfire.narod.ru)

On 2005-02-28, Mikhail Zotov <> wrote:
>
> We are going to begin a new project (tentatively and very modestly
> called "The Slack World"). The main aim of the project is to fill
> a few gaps that we see in covering Slackware-related information by
> other resources.

Ah, modesty. I suggest "The Slack Universes" if you really want to
be modest.

Normally I look down upon web-site announcements that are looking to
boost their readership by posting to usenet. But I have to say, I think
this one might be a rare exception. The goals look very interesting,
and I'd definitely be up for reading (and, if applicable, contributing).

> We would very much like to hear your opinions, ideas, suggestions.

I don't think we can form much of an opinion yet. But please repost
when something's up and ready. I'm looking forward to reading.

No, I take it back--I do have two quick questions. 1) Have you asked
Pat what he thinks, and whether you and he can coordinate some features
(like maybe security alerts can be simultaneously sent to
slackware-security and posted to your site and/or a coordinating mailing
list)? 2) Same question for some of the other sites out there, like
slacksec, gus-br, slamd64, and so on. I don't think either of these is
a requirement, but it would be nice to debalkanize Slackware news a
little bit. (Oh, and BTW, if you wanted to host a FAQ mirror and/or
redo the FAQ I wouldn't mind a bit! I really dislike it in its current
form, but don't have the time to migrate or fix it myself.)

--keith

--
kkeller-usenet@wombat.san-francisco.ca.us
(try just my userid to email me)
AOLSFAQ=http://wombat.san-francisco.ca.us/cgi-bin/fom
see X- headers for PGP signature information

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In alt.os.linux.slackware, Keith Keller dared to utter,
> Ah, modesty. I suggest "The Slack Universes" if you really want to
> be modest.

Well I thought about Lizella Slack but dismissed that as too archaic.
;-)

> Normally I look down upon web-site announcements that are looking to
> boost their readership by posting to usenet.

This isn't exactly a call for readership, more of a call for help. :^)
The two of us could us a couple more regulars to help out in writing
and picking out news and things. Given that it's to be a monthly
newsletter, time-constraints shouldn't be that hard to get around.

> But I have to say, I think
> this one might be a rare exception. The goals look very interesting,
> and I'd definitely be up for reading (and, if applicable, contributing).

Thanks, would love to have your help.

> No, I take it back--I do have two quick questions. 1) Have you asked
> Pat what he thinks, and whether you and he can coordinate some features
> (like maybe security alerts can be simultaneously sent to
> slackware-security and posted to your site and/or a coordinating mailing
> list)?

I've e-mailed Pat and I'm just waiting on him to get back in touch with
me. I thought that perhaps an e-mail interview with "The Man" would be
a good thing for the first issue. As for re-posting security
advisories, slackware.com already does a good job of that, but the
monthly newsletter would include a condensed version of that month's
security related news.

> 2) Same question for some of the other sites out there, like
> slacksec, gus-br, slamd64, and so on.

I don't think there will be a problem with any of those groups.

> I don't think either of these is
> a requirement, but it would be nice to debalkanize Slackware news a
> little bit.

Agreed.

> (Oh, and BTW, if you wanted to host a FAQ mirror and/or
> redo the FAQ I wouldn't mind a bit! I really dislike it in its current
> form, but don't have the time to migrate or fix it myself.)

One thing at a time, Keith. :^)

- --
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise,
Than for a man to hear the song of fools.
Ecclesiastes 7:5
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Mikhail Zotov <e-boogie blah@blah yandex . ru> writes:

>We intend to implement the project as a monthly newsletter backed by
>a no-frills website.

>We would very much like to hear your opinions, ideas, suggestions.
>We also invite volunteers to join the project. Last but not least, we
>would very much like to receive your articles, tips, links, etc. as soon
>as the project is up and you like it. :-)

I think this sounds rather interesting, and I think I can contribute a bit
of stuff as well. If you would e-mail me with some more information, or
such, I would love to continue this discussion.

I have a few ideas for things I would definitely like to put up there.

- Arctic Fidelity

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In alt.os.linux.slackware, Arctic Fidelity dared to utter,
> I think this sounds rather interesting, and I think I can contribute a bit
> of stuff as well. If you would e-mail me with some more information, or
> such, I would love to continue this discussion.

Well I would e-mail you but I don't have a valid address for you.

alan@crane:~$ dig homeunix.net mx

; <<>> DiG 9.2.2 <<>> homeunix.net mx
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 762
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 5, ADDITIONAL: 6

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;homeunix.net. IN MX

;; ANSWER SECTION:
homeunix.net. 86241 IN MX 50 mail2.dyndns.org.
homeunix.net. 86241 IN MX 20 mail.dyndns.org.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
homeunix.net. 86241 IN NS ns5.dyndns.org.
homeunix.net. 86241 IN NS ns1.dyndns.org.
homeunix.net. 86241 IN NS ns2.dyndns.org.
homeunix.net. 86241 IN NS ns3.dyndns.org.
homeunix.net. 86241 IN NS ns4.dyndns.org.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
mail.dyndns.org. 86272 IN A 63.208.196.3
ns1.dyndns.org. 86272 IN A 63.208.196.90
ns2.dyndns.org. 172641 IN A 209.69.32.137
ns3.dyndns.org. 86241 IN A 63.209.15.210
ns4.dyndns.org. 86241 IN A 213.155.150.205
ns5.dyndns.org. 86241 IN A 63.208.196.91

;; Query time: 119 msec
;; SERVER: 192.168.1.254#53(192.168.1.254)
;; WHEN: Mon Feb 28 20:08:56 2005
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 269
alan@crane:~$ telnet mail.dyndns.org 25
Trying 63.208.196.3...
Connected to manganese.bos.dyndns.org.
Escape character is '^]'.
ehlo localhost
220 manganese.bos.dyndns.org ESMTP Sendmail 8.12.9p2/8.12.9; Mon, 28
Feb 2005 20:07:56 -0500 (EST)
250-manganese.bos.dyndns.org Hello [64.178.249.164], pleased to meet
you
250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
250-PIPELINING
250-8BITMIME
250-SIZE
250-DSN
250-ETRN
250-DELIVERBY
250 HELP
mail from: alan@lizella.net
250 2.1.0 alan@lizella.net... Sender ok
rcpt to: af@homeunix.net
550 5.1.1 af@homeunix.net... User unknown
quit
221 2.0.0 manganese.bos.dyndns.org closing connection
Connection closed by foreign host.

- --
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise,
Than for a man to hear the song of fools.
Ecclesiastes 7:5
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Arctic Fidelity <af@homeunix.net> writes:

>of stuff as well. If you would e-mail me with some more information, or
>such, I would love to continue this discussion.

Sorry, I didn't realize my e-mail was not getting through correctly,
<spam@sacrificumdeo.net> is the correct one.

I hope to hear from you,

- Arctic Fidelity

Keith Keller wrote on Monday 28 February 2005 23:02:
> On 2005-02-28, Mikhail Zotov <> wrote:
>> We are going to begin a new project (tentatively and very modestly
>> called "The Slack World"). The main aim of the project is to fill
>> a few gaps that we see in covering Slackware-related information by
>> other resources.
>
> Ah, modesty. I suggest "The Slack Universes" if you really want to
> be modest.

I guess we need a representative from each universe to implement
your idea. We are looking forward for suggestions. :-)

I omit the next part of your message since Alan has already answered it
and I share his point of view.

> I don't think either of these is
> a requirement, but it would be nice to debalkanize Slackware news a
> little bit.

Absolutely agree.

> (Oh, and BTW, if you wanted to host a FAQ mirror and/or
> redo the FAQ I wouldn't mind a bit! I really dislike it in its current
> form, but don't have the time to migrate or fix it myself.)

As for me, I like the idea. I'll take a look at the FAQ to get an idea
of its current state. I studied it thoroughly two years ago and benefited
a lot. :-)

--
Mikhail

On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 21:32:34 +0300, Mikhail Zotov <e-boogie blah@blah
yandex . ru> wrote:

>Ladies and gentlemen, folks, fellow slackers,
>
>We are going to begin a new project (tentatively and very modestly
>called "The Slack World"). The main aim of the project is to fill
>a few gaps that we see in covering Slackware-related information by
>other resources.
>
>
>We would very much like to hear your opinions, ideas, suggestions.
>We also invite volunteers to join the project. Last but not least, we
>would very much like to receive your articles, tips, links, etc. as soon
>as the project is up and you like it. :-)


I would like to make a suggestion or two. Add a section on the next
steps you need to take after the installation has completed to
configure the various servers and applications to actually work. For
example:

1. At various times I installed slack 7, 9.0, 10.0 and 10.1 with
various combinations of Apache, PHP and MySQL. What do I have to do to
actually get all three to work together? (Should I even install them
from the CD, or just download and install them from source?) There are
several configuration changes that need to be made, but just having a
list of those would be much better than the current state of having to
wade through all three source packages to find just the right
documents to tell me what has to be changed and where.

2. What are all of the steps necessary to configure a samba workgroup,
both on multiple Slackware boxen and Win9x, ME, etc.? Not only do you
have to edit smb.conf, but also lmhosts, add users, passwords etc.
Then set up CUPS, dhcpd or dnsmasq, etc. They all have to work
together, but I could not find any instructions on how to get them
coordinated. Keep in mind that the servers do not have XWindows
installed, so many of the "wizards" are not available.

3. I have one network printer (LJ5 w/JetDirect) that will be shared
between several Linux and Windows computers, using samba and CUPS. How
should I configure it; so each computer talks directly to the printer,
or with one acting as a print server and all others spooling into it?
What is the difference in setup between the spool server and the other
computers? (Specific steps to configure CUPS on multiple computers to
share a printer would also be useful.)

4. I have one computer (Slackware 3.5?) with 2 NICs acting as a NAT
firewall (ipfwadm). I have no services running on that computer. I
have another server (slack 10.1) on my side running dnsmasq for both
dns and dhcp. There are another seven computers running a mix of
Slackware, Win98SE and WinME. Roadrunner assigns the external NIC in
the twcny.rr.com domain. I use bob.net as my internal domain. How do I
configure samba, dnsmasq, etc. so that the two domains will not
collide?

5. How do you install and configure the LISa smb browser? There is
already a lisa in the Slackware 10.x installation, but it appears to
be a KDE graphics utility, not Samba.

6. How can I manage multiple Slackware systems short of keeping a
keyboard and monitor on every one, or a KVM switch? (Win98SE doesn't
play well with a KVM switch on the mouse port. The driver frequently
gets confused and it has to be rebooted via the keyboard.)

A post installation troubleshooting section:

1. Why is my Slack 10.1/KDE box always looking for a Sony CDU-535
drive? syslog shows that module sbpcd-0 runs several times an hour,
apparently searching for that missing drive. I can't figure out what
is triggering it, nor how to stop it. I don't have an SB card in the
box. modprobe.conf and modules.conf are both empty. What else from
Pat's IDE kernel does not match my hardware? Where do I modify the
module selection to better match it?

Another section on how to switch from one package to another would be
very helpful:

1. Now that MySQL has priced themselves out of the distributed DB
market, what steps need to be taken to switch my servers all over to
PostgreSQL? That includes the steps to modify Apache and PHP, as well
as backing up the current data and import it into Postgres.

2. How do you switch from dhcpd to dnsmasq?

All of these are current or past projects on my home network. I have
worked out answers to some of the above that appear to work most of
the time. But I don't always understand why they work, or don't, as
the case may be. Even pointers to better documents than are on the
CD's woud be helpful. I did search on Google, but it was less than
useful. Their current scheme for prioritizing hits is worse than none
in many cases.

Yes, I am getting ready to replace the firewall. That 486/100 has been
a stable machine for a long time, and it will be difficult to
dismantle it. It was the very first custom built computer I purchased.
But I have a P-II/100 almost ready to drop in its place. That will
increase the RAM from 24MB to 256MB so I can switch to a CD boot and
eliminate the hard drive.

And if anyone can point me to information about why Knoppix 3.7 won't
boot on a Dell Dimension 4100, I would appreciate it. It keeps looking
for scd0, but the CD is in hdd.

Thank you,

Bob McConnell
N2SPP

Bob McConnell wrote:
> On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 21:32:34 +0300, Mikhail Zotov <e-boogie blah@blah
> yandex . ru> wrote:
>
>
>>Ladies and gentlemen, folks, fellow slackers,
>>
>>We are going to begin a new project (tentatively and very modestly
>>called "The Slack World"). The main aim of the project is to fill
>>a few gaps that we see in covering Slackware-related information by
>>other resources.
>>
>>
>>We would very much like to hear your opinions, ideas, suggestions.
>>We also invite volunteers to join the project. Last but not least, we
>>would very much like to receive your articles, tips, links, etc. as soon
>>as the project is up and you like it. :-)
>
>
>
> I would like to make a suggestion or two. Add a section on the next
> steps you need to take after the installation has completed to
> configure the various servers and applications to actually work. For
> example:
<sip------------------------------------------------------------------------->

I just read all of Bob's remarks and I must agree.
I would very much like to see just exactly what he asked for.


<snip-------------------------------------------------------------------->>

> Thank you,
>
> Bob McConnell
> N2SPP
>


--
Leo in Canada:
They said "everyone uses microsoft" and so like the lemmings they marched into
the sea.
< running Linux >

"+Alan Hicks+" <alan@lizella.netWORK> wrote in message
news:11273j5ldbsfe9a@corp.supernews.com...
>
>> Normally I look down upon web-site announcements that are looking to
>> boost their readership by posting to usenet.
>
> This isn't exactly a call for readership, more of a call for help. :^)
> The two of us could us a couple more regulars to help out in writing
> and picking out news and things. Given that it's to be a monthly
> newsletter, time-constraints shouldn't be that hard to get around.

How about a wiki site for slackware?