Meeting spaces change?

[Leo J Mauler]

On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 17:50:46 -0600 Jason Clinton <me at jasonclinton.com>
writes:
> Brian Densmore wrote:
> | So currently we have these possible locations, in no particular
> | order:
> | 1) New Library
> | 2) UMKC (School of Nursing)
> | 3) NetStandard
> |
> | And we need some criteria for ranking them. That could be a
> | very interesting discussion in itself. ;)
> 
> Also, Westport Coffee House was suggested.
>
> 1. Will the facility accomodate our size?
> 2. Room to grow?
> 3. Central location?
> 4. Meeting length?
> 5. Commercial pressure?
> 6. Reliability?
> 7. Can bring/order food?

I'd like to see a "free" DHCP network connection at whatever location we
end up in.

Personally the Nursing School sounds ideal.  Especially since, at this
rate, I'm going to have to go to school there first before I can find a
job.  :(

Also because I know how to *find* UMKC without any trouble.  Right now
the Library location is harder for me to get to.

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On Tue, 18 Nov 2003 16:12:41 -0600 Karl Schmidt <karl at xtronics.com>
writes:
> I've been testing out Distros to replace RedHat - There are three 
> goals in this for me.
> 
> One -- Stable server software to replace a redhat 7.3/9 software.
> Two -- Linux desktops for my kids (They are my test environments 
> for the long term plan of total migration to Linux)
> Three -- a Distro that is not going to do what Redhat has in the 
> last year.
> 
> I think that rules out Suse/Novel, IBM, SUN and leaves me with 
> Mandrake, Debian, Gentoo.

And check out Mandrake carefully.  The way they keep begging me for money
every time I go to their site, coupled with their near bankruptcy, means
they might follow suit and do the RedHat thing with the "consumer"
edition of Mandrake.

> My take is that Debian has the best community spirit of support. 

Of course, if community support is what you're looking at, technically
RedHat is "community support" too... :)

> In the end supporting Debian is good for all Linux distros. They 
> are a bit behind in their release right now - does anyone know 
> when the next release is likely? And will the next release have a 
> text installer?
> 
> My target date to move to a new distro is first quarter of '04.

If you're serious about migrating your *kids* to Linux, consider a
TransGaming subscription ($5 a month; if you buy a minimum of 3 months
you can do a one-time payment for just the three months) so you can get
TransGaming's WineX binaries.  They've made it up to Max Payne in terms
of what you can play on WineX (up to ver 3.1 when my subscription
expired) so most of the games your kids might get from friends should run
on their new Linux boxes.
 
> Has anyone transitioned from Redhat to Debian? If so how 
> painful/any pitfalls?
> 
> Off topic - about Linux Business models: I think that a 900 
> number based support center could rock - and could support 
> more than one distro.  

Not without a bit more standardization.  

I really wish /opt had never been introduced.

> One could sell a 900 support package to computer builders 
> where the end user would get a pre installed system and if he 
> had trouble you would have him (assuming he had internet 
> connectivity up and going) 

What I think would be a fantastic thing for Linux is if one of two things
could be done:

[1] A port of JUNO free E-mail software to Linux.  (probably won't
happen)

[2] Working out getting JUNO to run under WINE.

If Linux distros could be shipped with free dial-up E-mail included (as
part of Debian's "non-free" packages, of course), that would solve so
many end user problems right off the bat.  Perhaps even as an option on
the boot/rescue CD (free JUNO E-mail comes with attachments).

> execute a ssh port forwarding script so the support center could log 
> on etc (I do this for my 80 year-old Linux using father). This is a 
> business that could be started small with just 5 guys or so and then 
> scaled up and could be quite profitable.
> 
> There is no reason that 900 phone calls can't be routed real 
> time to who ever is free that day (thanks to R&D of the 
> phone sex industry<g>). A shared call history DB and web 
> site would be all that it would take to get this off the ground.

Oooo!  If someone starts this up, let me know, I've got the spare phone
line and the broadband connection to make a home customer support line
work.

> My experience with the support business is that if you just 
> care a little and are willing to listen to things that sound 
> stupid without laughing, people are quite willing to send 
> you piles of money to answer questions. People are so 
> used to getting blown off and put down that if you just have 
> a phone number that gets answered politely they are thrilled. 
> If you go one step past what they expect you get nothing 
> but free press.

________________________________________________________________
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Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER!
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