Re: What's next

I was in a dentists office last week, I think. Any way, they were having
nothing but problems. Some of them said they had problems working for
others as well. Part of it was the network and part of it was the
software they were using. I also think that a lot of it has to do with
tech support. They weren't very organized.

If your network is trouble free most of the time you're doing much
better then most. Or so it would seem.

Mike Baker wrote:
> I don't know if anyone is interested in this but I have been putting a
> significant amount of time into getting An Apache web server to
> authenticate against a Windows Active directory via kerberos so that
> the user is not asked for their password when we know who they are.
> Of course this isn't of much use if you don't have to worry about
> authentication to your AD.
>
> I have also been spending quite a bit of time setting up a product
> called VistA office. It has nothing to do with M$ Vista but rather it
> is the VA's completely integrated Hospital Information system software
> that is in the public domain and has been modified for docor's
> offices. This software would allow a clinic to have an electronic
> medical record with no outlay for software. The Database and the HIS
> software are open source and public domain. Anyway, I would be happy
> to go over either of these topics or both if there is interest but I
> suspect that both of these topics are so specific and perhaps of not
> much interest. I just wanted to offer as I have received a lot from
> this group by reading the list but have not contributed much.
>
> On 7/20/07, barsalou <barjunk@attglobal.net> wrote:
>
>> Inline responses....
>>
>> Quoting Lee Ross <leeross@gci.net>:
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>>> Here is a message I sent to AKLUG last March in response to your
>>> suggestions. I saw zero response so I assume I'm the only one out here
>>> that's interested in the GUI end of Linux. Or maybe it got lost in
>>> so-called cyberspace.
>>>
>>> On Sun, 25 Mar 2007 20:22:33 -0800, barsalou <barjunk@attglobal.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> I'd like to suggest that we do two things:
>>>> First, despite the fact that stereotypes may cause headaches, we need
>>>> to have what seems to be three levels of "expertise".
>>>> 1. User Level - This would include folks just coming to Open Source
>>>> and Linux. Possibly folks interested in using OpenOffice, Gimp,
>>>> Evolution, etc on Windows (and maybe the PC User group already does
>>>> that?)
>>>> 2. Intermediate Level - This probably includes a majority of the
>>>> AKLUG force, sans some newer members. These folks may have in-depth
>>>> knowledge of a particular package (Apache, Webmin, etc). Additionally,
>>>> they would have specific knowledge of a particular distribution like
>>>> Fedora, Ubuntu, etc.
>>>> 3. Advanced Level - This would include those folks who know how to
>>>> compile programs from source. Can reconfigure and rebuild a kernel and
>>>> have coded some of their own software (not necessarily C code, could be
>>>> Perl, Ruby, etc.)
>>>> Second, it seems reasonable to chart a course for those that are new to
>>>> our group. Growth is a motivator for some, although I suspect we will
>>>> see folks who 'just want the answer'. We'll have to decide if AKLUG
>>>> wants to be the sort of organization that just gives fish to people,
>>>> instead of teaching them how to fish on their own. I lean towards the
>>>> latter.
>>>> Of course, all of this is up for discussion and I hope that anyone who
>>>> is not in agreement with my ideas can provide an alternative that could
>>>> be further discussed. Anything else is just noise.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Mike,
>>>
>>> All of the above makes a lot of good sense to me. (semi-newbie user level)
>>> Even though there are people out there interested in the intermediate and
>>> advanced levels, I think there is much more potential in the user level
>>> where building a solid AKLUG is concerned. I talk linux up every chance I
>>> get and I find a lot of people that want to make the transition from MS to
>>> somewhere else but don't know much about that somewhere else. Most of
>>> these people are windows users and don't want to start a new chapter in
>>> their life that includes learning command line computing. Most of the
>>> millions of windows users would like to get out of that money trap and get
>>> involved in something new that's just as easy to operate as windows, not
>>> something that requires months and years of new training. If people only
>>> knew how simple it is to run the GUI in linux, they would come running.
>>> The majority of the public run a browser, email and word processor. Listen
>>> to a little music and do a lot of photo editing. I can say without a
>>> doubt, linux has more good free programming to offer in those areas than
>>> any other operating system.
>>>
>> I've had this same conversation with many people. This is surely where
>> things are headed. There are a set of people that are concerned that
>> AKLUG would become a free fish helpdesk instead of a free learn to fish
>> desk helpdesk. It's my personal goal to not become a free fish
>> helpdesk. I hope this fits with others as well.
>>
>>
>>
>>> When I first started using Linux I hired a guy to teach me how to use the
>>> gui and I didn't understand the signifigance of passwording user and root
>>> levels. I made it very clear to this gentleman that I did not want to
>>> learn command line at this time, I just wanted to get the system working
>>> like windows so I could function without spending a lot of money on
>>> software every time I turned around. Unfortunately, after several weeks of
>>> trying to get him to show me how to operate the gui I had to stop the
>>> classes because he was unable to show me anything about the gui. I wanted
>>> to learn how to install programs via yast and he would show me how to do
>>> it via the command line yast. It went on and on like this till we went our
>>> separate ways. I finally taught myself how to use the linux gui by reading
>>> books, magazines and joining mailing lists, etc. There is very little gui
>>> support out there but it can be found.
>>>
>> Although I know this wasn't aimed at me, my recent experiences have
>> proven it is difficult for me to teach with only the gui. But I
>> believe you are on to something.
>>
>>
>>> I would really like to attend the AKLUG meetings and not be there just to
>>> get something fixed and when it was done not know what in the world
>>> happened to make it work. I remember one time when I screwed up one of my
>>> systems, I brought it to the lug meeting and someone, I can't remember
>>> who, went through this lengthy file system repair and got the system
>>> running again. I remember a conversation afterwards when he said,"don't
>>> worry about learning command line only as everything we did here tonight
>>> can also be done in the gui. It's just a matter of learning what and where
>>> it is." With that, I was able to concentrate on the gui and an now very
>>> comfortable with linux and use it for everything I do. I mostly have used
>>> Suse and most recently I'm testing Kubuntu on one of my machines.
>>>
>>>
>> It seems we are heading this direction. A good majority of this kind
>> of conversation can happen on the list. But a good in person
>> demonstration is always appreciated.
>>
>> Would you be willing to talk about those sort of things on the list? I
>> personally am interested in how to do some of the things that I do on
>> the command line with some sort of gui tool.
>>
>> We'll probably run into the KDE/Gnome conundrum. But let's give it a
>> try and see what happens. This will create some interesting
>> conversation about widgets, window managagers and whatever.
>>
>> Thanks for taking the time to respond. Mike B.
>>
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Received on Fri Jul 20 12:22:42 2007