Next meeting: May 15, 1996
Previous meeting: May 1, 1996
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Agenda:
The first of the new Linux based Public Access Terminal Systems has been
configured and installed. The system had been up for more than 24 hours
as of the meeting, without problems.
Performance: The system supported data transfer at about 35 kBytes per
second while browsing, which is good, but was slow in changing modes.
The amount of memory (8 MB, 12 to 16 would be better) in the unit is
believed to be the limiting factor.
Doug Rigby, of the Dartmouth library, has been appointed to the Chebucto
Board, as PAT Coordinator.
Outstanding items
- Create an X configuration "personality file" system, so that new
versions could be constructed easily. The intent is to have all the
configurations in one file, with a selector for the specific station.
- Automatic self-monitoring, with feedback to Chebucto, and an "Out of
Order" screen display. The plan is to place a cron job that reports
regularly to a task on CCN that tracks the PAT status.
- Automatic software updates
- Library Shell to support shut-down, and parameter changes.
- Documentation to be undertaken by Doug Rigby
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David Murdoch reported on the development of the new Linux-based
routers. Chris Maxwell has been working on setting them up, and had the
PAT machines connected through them. There were some stability problems,
so further testing is needed.
It is hoped that the machines can be configured to support a 5-bit (32
address) subnet, so that a Class C network could be split to cover 8 schools.
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CSuite Workshop member David Pothier of Yarmouth joined a team from
Halifax who drove to Yarmouth on the weekend to set up Chebucto Suite on
their new server. The system had been set up with 5 terminals, so
everyone sat down and worked away at making things go.
The experience was an eye-opener for those involved, but by the end of
the day, much of the system was working.
lqtext remained a major problem, as it failed to work correctly. Chris
Maxwell agreed to look at the problem, as he had compiled it previously.
A decision to continue with lqtext or change to another search engine
will be made next week.
[Late news indicates a new version of lqtext is about to become
available, which is said to work under Linux. See the ccn-tech mailing
list archive.]
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The Yarmouth experience imbued the effort to create a workable
installation method with new vigour.
The existing csinstall script is being altered and renamed to csbuild, to
reflect its function to collect data and compile the various tools needed
to build Chebucto Suite. Generally, the script will build a working,
but customized, version of lynx, and invoke it with a HTML forms based
system to collect installation parameters, substitute local parameters,
build the applications, install applications, basic document, and
administration file hierarchy.
To support the installation development, a new file extension '-csuite'
is established that contains special variables which will then be
substituted in the installation process. Editing of files under control
of the distribution system will use the /ccn/bin/update editor script,
which invokes the edit upon the -csuite version, and then at conclusion
of the edit, saves the file for making the distribution, and at the same
time, using the script 'mksub', installs a substituted version on CCN.
Permissions are set using the new script "modeof".
The CSuite Source Browser has been modified to support the new editing
method.
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An installation session for Red Hat Linux is planned for Friday and
Saturday. Major goals are:
- compare with debian linux distribution
- see what is missing
- look at X-windows under Red Hat
- configure quotas
- look at shadow passwords
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Carlos Freitas was not present at the meeting but submitted a report by
mail.
Carlos is working through the scripts that David Jackson (away for the
summer) wrote, and preparing to get them working.
In the meantime he is contacting Hamilton Community Net, who apparently
have offline mail working on their snapshot of CSuite.
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Return to CSuite Workshop Index
Next meeting: May 15, 1996
Previous meeting: May 1, 1996
Submitted by Ed
Dyer aa146
Workshop Coordinator David J Murdoch djm