The September Linux SIG meeting started off with Daniel Yount the new Linux Sig leader enlightening the faithful about his adventures at the Linux Convention. Along with stories much swag was raffled off.
New Horizons answered the challenge from last month about certification of the new Linux classes by bringing in the Director of Education for New Horizons Tulsa. He did his research on the 3 major Linux certification programs. Red Hat , Caldera and Suse. New Horizons is considering joining one of the programs. The conclusion was the Linux Sig was a poor target for the beginning classes offered with most of the attendee being well-versed in installation and other beginner issues. Most Linux resources are available gratis on the Web. However the idea of advanced Linux classes was well received by the group.
A real need was acknowledged for testing programs that mean something. Currently Red Hat is requiring a four-day course with one day of lab work. This proves someone can install and troubleshoot in the real world. Cadera with less mind share has a similar program.
True to Linux user group form, a give back to the people day was suggested. With an offer to help install Linux for free and have any install questions answered. Several people volunteered to staff the effort.
Please check out Lug.suroot.net, Linux SIG's new web site. All sort of suggestions were offered for creating the site. This promises to be a neat site.
More ranting:
Our resident Mac evangelist went on and on about how maddening fast the G3 Mac platform running PPC Linux. This was reported to be very stable and looks just like Red Hat.
Much chuckling was heard when it was learned that the Windows 2000 test box at the Linux Convention went down on the 1st day and never came back up. It seems no one was smart enough to purchase a UPS.
Corel is rumored to be releasing soon a version of Linux that has the look and feel of Window 95.
The auto update feature of Debian and Mandrake was much admired. The documentation of Suse being half in German makes for interesting installs. The Caldera CADC Linux has a bug with the DACP. It installs nice though. Check out netwindow.org and corelcomputer.com.
Following the paradigm of open source code, Sun Microsystems announces the release of StarOffice, an Office 97 replacement that runs on Linux. Download it for free at Sun.com.
VA Linux offers free Linux support for now. mailto:support@valinux.com. 877- VALINUX
Storm Linux …… STORM WARNING Close your windows.
For more information on the Tulsa Computer Society click here