- Roundtable - muug.ca

water clock
by millward 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

I was wondering if anyone out there might be able to tell me how these water clocks work. All you do is fill it up with mildly salty water, and that's what it runs on. The one I've got has been keeping good time for about 5-6 days now. Once in a while a little bubble comes up, so it must be producing some kind of waste gas. I'd like to build my own circut based on whatever devices run this clock, just for fun. Would anyone know what kind of electronics run on water? And where I could get them? I didn't buy my clock through the net, but it's selling at: http://www.computergear.com/waterclock.html All the site says about how it runs is: "The fuel cell extracts electrons from the electrolyte forming a steady stream of electrical current that drives the clock." That's all very well, but it doesn't tell me what the name of the fuel cell is, where I can get them, and how I can build a curcit based on the fuel cell's power.

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Re: [RndTbl] water clock
by gedetil＠cs.umanitoba.ca 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

According to millward: > I was wondering if anyone out there might > be able to tell me how these water clocks work. > All you do is fill it up with mildly salty water, > and that's what it runs on. The one I've got > has been keeping good time for about 5-6 days > now. Once in a while a little bubble comes up, so > it must be producing some kind of waste gas. > I'd like to build my own circut based on whatever > devices run this clock, just for fun. Would anyone > know what kind of electronics run on water? > And where I could get them? > I didn't buy my clock through the net, but it's selling > at: > http://www.computergear.com/waterclock.html > All the site says about how it runs is: > "The fuel cell extracts electrons from the electrolyte > forming a steady stream of electrical current that > drives the clock." > That's all very well, but it doesn't tell me > what the name of the fuel cell is, where I can > get them, and how I can build a curcit based > on the fuel cell's power. I would assume it's just your basic electro-chemistry at work here. You put a couple electrodes in a saline solution or other liquid with electrolytes in it (e.g. soda pop, Gatorade, etc.), and you'll get electricity being produced. You can also get the same results by sticking electrodes into a potato, lemon, etc. Granted, the amount of current you get is very small, but it's enough for the typical low-power LCD digital clock. There's nothing special about the electronics, other than the fact that the power consumption has to be very low. I don't remember the details of the electro-chemical reactions, but the electrolytes react chemically with the metal electrodes to produce the electricity. Depending on the specific reaction, yes, you could get some gas produced as a by-product. You also end up with compounds being deposited on the metal electrodes, or with something being eaten away from the electrodes, so eventually they'd have to be replaced too, or the reaction stops. Anyone with a better recall of basic chemistry? (It's been too many decades since I've looked at this.) -- Gilbert E. Detillieux E-mail: <gedetil(a)cs.umanitoba.ca> Dept. of Computer Science Web: http://www.cs.umanitoba.ca/~gedetil/ University of Manitoba Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg, MB, CANADA R3T 2N2 Fax: (204)474-7609

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Summary of VCD discussion?
by Sean A. Walberg 12 Nov '03

12 Nov '03

A few links and projects that handled transcoding and making of [S]VCDs were mentioned last night. Could anyone who was taking notes post a summary? Thanks, Sean -- Sean A. Walberg <sean(a)ertw.com> http://www.ertw.com

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Debian woes: Clueless newb? Or enemy action? You decide!
by Scott Balneaves 07 Nov '03

07 Nov '03

So, I started out my GNU/Linux life with the old Yggdrasil LGX distro (way way back in '93), and then proceeded (quite happily) for several year with Slackware. However, for the last 5 years or so, I've been a RH user. However, with the end-of-line of RH, I'm doing my due-diligance, and not only evaluating Fedora, but other distros as well. I keep hearing all this wonderful stuff about Debian. It seems every time you talk about rpm package woes on a list, some Debian afficionado immediately pipes up with "well, on Debian all you have to do is type apt-something install cokebottle, and nana nana boo boo everything works. Redhat Sucks!". So, deciding that, perhaps, I should check into this, I grabbed some woody ISO's from debian.org, read the install manual, and dived in. So, I've completed the base install, things are fine, and I'm onto the tasksel program. Gee, I'd like to be a desktop system, so that's what I pick. Guess what? No xfree86 servers. No xterm. Turns out (at least from what I saw) the only way to do this is to either a) Somehow guess (it wasn't listed in the installation guide) that I have to go into dpkg after the tasksel, scroll through 8517 (or whatever) packages, and find xserver-xfree86 and xterm packages, or b) Somehow guess I'm supposed to do an apt-get on these after the fact. Am I missing something? I checked the Installation guide 3 times, and they don't seem to talk about X at all, and I couldn't find a "Setting up your graphical desktop on Debian" help file. I figured it out, but the answers didn't jump up and slap me in the face, either. :-) Second issue: I know Debian's focus is stability, but I'm willing to risk bugs in exchange for something a little more, errr, this millenium, lets say :-) Is there an "apt-make-me-modern" command? I've done both apt-get update and apt-get upgrade, and basically that just gets me to the latest release stuff. C'mon, Debian buffs @ muug! Here's your chance to show me up as the clueless Debian newb I am. I *REALLY* want to give Debian an honest try to see if it's worthwhile deploying here at Legal Aid. So warm up your LART cluesticks and wail away: I can take it! ;-) Scott -- Scott Balneaves | The aim of a joke is not to degrade Systems Administrator | the human being but to remind him that Legal Aid Manitoba | he is already degraded. -- George Orwell

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Used Computer books
by John Lange 06 Nov '03

06 Nov '03

Is anyone aware of a used bookstore in Winnipeg that has a good selection of computer books? Or another suggestion on how to get books for reasonable prices? I had a look in Chapters today at some computer books and every one I picked up was more than $70 ! -- John Lange BigHostBox.com ltd (204) 885 0872 Toll free: 1-866-690-8297

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Fedora - Get your red hot bits here...
by gedetil＠cs.umanitoba.ca 06 Nov '03

06 Nov '03

Hot off the bittorrent, here are the ISO images for the new Fedora Core 1 release... ftp://ftp.muug.mb.ca/mirror/redhat/fedora/linux/core/1/i386/iso/ The official announcement will be coming out from Red Hat soon, but the news was already leaked via Slashdot and others. The official release time was earlier today, and (as usual) they gave the mirror sites far too little advance notice. Anyway, share and enjoy! -- Gilbert E. Detillieux E-mail: <gedetil(a)cs.umanitoba.ca> Dept. of Computer Science Web: http://www.cs.umanitoba.ca/~gedetil/ University of Manitoba Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg, MB, CANADA R3T 2N2 Fax: (204)474-7609

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MUUG Meeting, Nov 11, 7:30PM -- Novell in the Unix Market
by gedetil＠cs.umanitoba.ca 04 Nov '03

04 Nov '03

[Posted to man.unix.general and other news groups] ------ Forwarded Article <bo8krm$932$1(a)canopus.cc.umanitoba.ca> ------ From gedetil(a)cs.umanitoba.ca (Gilbert E. Detillieux) The Manitoba UNIX User Group (MUUG) will be holding its next monthly meeting on Tuesday, November 11. The meeting topic for this month is as follows: Novell in the Unix Market Michael Subasic is the Senior Technology Architect for Novell Canada. He will take us through what Novell is doing in the Unix market. Topics included will cover the adoption rate of Unix/Linux and how Novell is supporting open source. Recent press on the SCO lawsuit and Novell's acquisition of Ximian will also be covered. The group holds its general meetings at 7:30 PM on the second Tuesday of every month from September to June. (There are no meetings in July and August.) Meetings are open to the general public; you don't have to be a MUUG member to attend. ********************************************************************** Please note our new meeting location: The IBM offices, at 400 Ellice Ave. (between Edmonton and Kennedy). When you arrive, you will have to sign in at the reception desk, and then wait for someone to take you (in groups) to the meeting room. Please try to arrive by about 7:15 PM, so the meeting can start promptly at 7:30 PM. Don't be late, or you may not get in. Limited parking is available for free on the street, or in a lot across Ellice from IBM, for $1.00 for the evening. Indoor parking is also available nearby, at Portage Place, for $2.00 for the evening. ********************************************************************** For more information about MUUG, and its monthly meetings, check out their Web server: http://www.muug.mb.ca/ Also note that MUUG maintains two mailing lists, called "muug-announce" and "roundtable". If you're not already on these lists, we encourage you to subscribe now: http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/ The "muug-announce" list is used for monthly meeting announcements (such as this one) as well as other important announcements of interest to MUUG members. The "rountable" list is meant to be a forum for follow-ups to topics discussed at the meetings, or for round-table-style discussion on other topics that come up between meetings. Of course, for this to be effective, we need to reach a certain critical mass. So, please subscribe, and stay involved! -- Gilbert E. Detillieux E-mail: <gedetil(a)muug.mb.ca> Manitoba UNIX User Group Web: http://www.muug.mb.ca/ P.O. Box 130, St-Boniface Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg, MB, CANADA R2H 3B4 Fax: (204)474-7609 ------ End of Forwarded Article

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Revolution OS on TV
by Michael Doob 29 Oct '03

29 Oct '03

On October 28, 2003 12:01 pm, roundtable-request(a)muug.mb.ca wrote: > From: John Lange <john.lange(a)bighostbox.com> > To: MUUG Round Table <roundtable(a)muug.mb.ca> > Organization: > Date: 27 Oct 2003 22:16:19 -0600 > Subject: [RndTbl] Revolution OS on TV > > Just a note for anyone interested in seeing Revolution OS; I believe it > will be on the Documentary Channel Wednesday at 8pm and repeating at > 1am. I assume those times are EST but I'm not certain. > > http://www.documentarychannel.ca/schedule/index.asp?myDate=10/29/2003&tz=3 > > A couple of notes: > > - The documentary channel is channel 92 for those with Digital > receivers. It's a subscription service ($2/month). IMHO it is one of the > few channels worth paying an extra $2/month for. It has a lot of good > programming. > > - Revolution OS is also well worth seeing for anyone interested in > OpenSource type software. John -- Could you tape this for later viewing, perhaps at some MUUG meeting? Cheers, Michael ------------------------------------------------------------------ Michael Doob Telephone: (204) 474-9796 Department of Mathematics Fax: (204) 474-7606 University of Manitoba email: Michael_Doob(a)umanitoba.ca Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3T 2N2 ------------------------------------------------------------------

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Revolution OS on the 'big' screen
by Shawn Wallbridge 28 Oct '03

28 Oct '03

As previously mentioned here, Cinematheque is showing Revolution OS this week. Some MUUG members are planning on going tonight. The show starts at 7pm. thanks shawn

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http://www.knoppix-std.org / Revolution OS
by Ian T. 28 Oct '03

28 Oct '03

http://www.knoppix-std.org/ Has anyone any reviews of this? Revolution OS is available on DVD too and I get my fix on Thursday night at Cinematheque. Cheers! Ian. -- *In light of the ability of some email viruses "eg. SoBig.F" to spoof this address regardless of whether my machine is infected or not (for instance, pulling my address from a Windows user address book to use as a fake return address), if this statement is not included, consider a message from me to be a virus* Open Source is the guillotine, Linux is the blade; IBM gives it weight and Apple sharpens it. Disclaimer: Any errors in spelling, tact, or fact are transmission errors."

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