[TriLUG] A couple of requests from the folks at our YATL

Jon Carnes jonc at nc.rr.com
Mon Jan 20 17:02:55 EST 2003


Here are a couple of topics that were kicked around at the Yet Another
Trilug Lunch.

===

One of the folks attending stated again that he had a hard time laying
hands on a monthly Linux Journal (is that the right mag?) - the one that
comes with the DVD. It was suggested that TriLUG subscribe with the
subscription going to the person who maintains the library. 

===

Folks liked the RPM class, but some of the newer-to-linux folks want a
more basic RPM class - something that points out what RPM actually does
and why it does it - with some push-button documentation on how to
handle the most common tasks like:

How to find help in rpm:
  rpm --help

Installing a new app:
  rpm -i <app.name.rpm>

Upgrading an existing app:
  rpm -U <app1.name.rpm app2.name.rpm app3.name.rpm>

  You can upgrade multiple RPMs simultaneously so you can
  satisfy dependencies - ie. cant upgrade <this> till you
  upgrade <that>, but you can't upgrade <that> till you
  upgrade <this>, the old "catch22". So you upgrade both
  at the same time:  
    rpm -U this.rpm that.rpm

How to remove an app that was installed via RPM:
  rpm -e <app.name.rpm>
  
How to list the exact names of the RPMs (applications) that are already
installed:
  rpm -qa

To find out information about an RPM and any setup notes, including
things you must do after installing the RPM in order for it to work
properly,

  For an RPM that has already been installed:
    rpm -qi <app.name>

  For an RPM that you want to install (and the RPM is in
  the current directory):
    rpm -qip <app.name.rpm>

  Some RPM's (like apache-common) have no special instructions
  or any tasks to do after install, but others outline additional
  tasks that the user must do in order to get the RPM working
  properly (apache-mod_perl is an example of that).

===

The newer-to-Linux folks are also looking forward to the "Working/Living
with Linux" class.  They want to know the basics of things like setting
up email clients and web-browsers - not to mention all the other things
like accessing and writing documents, presentations, and spreadsheets.

This seems like a class that should be repeated a couple of times a
year.  It might also be a good out-reach class for businesses, showing
them that the average user can thrive with Linux on the desktop in place
of other proprietary OSes.

===

These are just some of the topics we discussed at one end of the table.
The lunch and the conversation were both great!  Thanks for setting it
up Chris!

Jon Carnes  







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