Home | Adults | Youths | Toadies

Our Program | Our Post | Our Members | Scouting | The ExpNews


Table of Contents

Sun Sues Microsoft & Dec Sues Intel

PostScript Version
(C) Thu Oct 30 11:00:42 EST 1997 Explorer Post 369
	

Calendar of Events:


November 1 $15.00 Registration dude
November 1 Popcorn Sales Starts
November 11 Open House
November 12 Basic Leader Training
Service Center 12:00pm
November 13 Basic Leader Training
Service Center 7:00pm
November 17 EOA Meeting
At the State House
November 18 UNIX Classes Begin
November 21 Popcorn Sales Due
November 28 ExpNews Deadline
December 12 ExpNews Deadline
Dec 19 Silver Beaver Nominations Due
December 25 Merry Christmas
December 25 No Meeting
December 30 No Meeting
December 30 Leave for Australia
December 31 Happy Bday R. Maurer
January 2-10, 1998 Australian Jamboree
January 12 EOA Meeting, COSI
February 11 Happy Bday Joe Harvey
March 16 EOA Meeting, Riverside
March 24 Happy Bday Andy Drake
March 31 Officer Elections
April 1 New Officers Take Over
May 18 EOA Meeting, Galyan's
July 14-18 National Explorer
Leadership Conference
July 28 Happy Bday DJ Gregor
July 30 Happy Bday Michael Turner

Linux Sendmail Help

Jonathan Ebbers jebbers@ejhs.k12.vt.us

I was told you might know what to do for this problem. I have RedHat Linux 4.1, and when I installed it Linux ran fine. Now this has happened two or three times. For unexplained reasons, when it boots, when it tries to load sendmail it DIES, and just hangs. Any ideas? The only solution that I've tried so far is format /usr and reinstall, and that takes WAY TOO LONG to be practical. Any solutions, ideas, etc.???

D.J. Gregor

sendmail is almost definitely trying to do a DNS lookup when it starts, and if DNS is not working, then it can hang. Take a look at this URL for a better description and information on how to fix the problem: Click Here

A search for "sendmail" and "booting" at www.redhat.com turned up the above link. If you ever have problems getting the system booted up, you can boot into "Single User" mode, which should not start any daemons like sendmail. Normally, you would type something like "boot -s" or "vmlinuz -s" at the LILO prompt to boot into single user mode.


Sun announces 600MHz Sparc,

Sun Press Release

The UltraSPARC-III microprocessor will offer a two- to three-times performance boost, without recompilation, compared to previous processor generations. This unprecedented performance is possible due to the processor's memory bandwidth, which is more than twice as high as previous processors and the highest in the industry at 2.4 GB/s. With 8 MB of second level cache, the 600MHz UltraSPARC-III processor will deliver an estimated SPECint95 of 35+ and SPECfp95 of 60+. The floating point measure of the processor is evidence of its superior performance for large data-set computing, such as computer aided design, computer aided manufacturing, electronic design automation and scientific modeling applications.

Sun Sues Micro$oft for Breach of JavaTM Contract

Sun Announces

Microsoft fails Java compatibility tests for Internet Explorer 4.0

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- October 7, 1997 -- Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced that it has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against Microsoft Corporation for breaching its contractual obligation to deliver a compatible implementation of JavaTM technology on its products. Sun is seeking an injunction to prevent Microsoft from improperly using the Java Compatible logo. Sun is also seeking to prevent Microsoft from misleading Java developers and to prevent them from delivering anything but fully compatible Java technology implementations.

Specifically, the complaint charges Microsoft with trademark infringement, false advertising, breach of contract, unfair competition, interference with prospective economic advantage and inducing breach of contract.

One of Microsoft's or any Java licensee's most significant contractual obligations is to pass the Java compatibility tests, which determine if their technologies conform to the Java specifications and APIs. The products that failed are Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 4.0 browser and its Software Development Kit for Java (SDKJ). As a result, applications written using Microsoft's development tools may not run on other operating systems such as MacOS, UNIX, or other browsers such as Netscape Navigator. Conversely, applications written using Sun's Java Development Kit that run on MacOS, UNIX and Netscape Navigator may not run on Internet Explorer 4.0.

"Sun's first responsibility as stewards of the Java technology is to preserve the significant investments that Sun and hundreds of companies have made. We are required to take this action on behalf of our licensees, the Java industry and Sun's shareholders," said Alan Baratz, president of Sun's JavaSoft division. Baratz added that for the past six months and up until 6 p.m. Sunday, September 28, Sun worked diligently with Microsoft in hopes of convincing them to abide by their agreements.

According to the complaint, "Rather than comply with its contractual obligations, defendant Microsoft has instead embarked on a deliberate course of conduct in an attempt to fragment the standardized application programming environment established by the Java technology, to break the cross-platform compatibility of the Java programming environment, and to implement the Java technology in a manner calculated to cause software developers to create programs that will operate only on platforms that use defendant Microsoft's Win32-based operating systems and no other systems platform or browser."

The complaint further alleges, "In particular, defendant Microsoft has deceptively modified the Java APIs... By secretly adding Win32-specific and other APIs to the Java class libraries... Microsoft has acted to induce independent software developers who use SDKJ unwittingly to write programs... expecting to achieve cross-platform functionality..."

"We examined all of our alternatives and felt that we had no choice but to pursue litigation," said Michael Morris, Vice President and General Counsel, Sun Microsystems, Inc. The suit was filed today, October 7, 1997 at United States District Court, Northern District of California, San Jose Division.

The complaint specifies that Sun is seeking "preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining Microsoft...from using the Java Compatible logo; from doing directly or indirectly any acts or making any statements that are likely to cause confusion, mistakes or deception in the marketplace as to the compatibility of IE 4.0 and SDKJ 1.1 with Sun's Java technology... from doing directly or indirectly any acts that are likely to diminish the value of the Java Compatible logo..."

"The Java brand has enormous value in the industry. When users see `Java' they know they can expect Write Once Run AnywhereTM, Safe Network Delivery, and Smart Card to Supercomputer Scalability," said Baratz. "We are obligated to ensure that Java will always mean those things, and the industry fully supports that philosophy."

Sun noted that Windows users can access applications written for the Java Programming Environment by using Netscape Navigator. In addition, Java developers can bundle the Java Performance Runtime for Windows in their applications. Using this product, developers can deliver high-performance, fully-compliant Java for Windows.

For more information contact Sun Microsystems, Inc. Lisa Poulson 408-343-1630

Sun's suit against Microsoft receives world-wide attention

D.J. Gregor

Next week's issue of "The Economist" (a weekly, world-wide print magazine about world affairs) includes a blurb about Sun's suit against Microsoft in their "Business This Week" section. Here it is:

The long-running battle between MICROSOFT and SUN MICROSYSTEMS arrived in court. Sun filed a suit against Microsoft, alleging it has breached an agreement concerning the use of Sun's cross-computer software language, Java. Sun argues that Microsoft is using a version of Java that is compatible only with Microsoft applications. Separately, Ralph Nader, a veteran consumer activist, launched a campaign against Microsoft's market power.

This suit is more important than I previously thought. And, Nader is going after Microsoft too. Cool...


UNIX "finger" Help

Tom Gulch tgulch@top.eng.utoledo.edu

Maybe you can help me the consultants at my school have no idea how to do this... I want a plan... first of all how do i save it .plan .txt or what... then how do i implement it to work and appear whenever somebody fingers me on my server???? no one i talk to has any idea... maybe you guys can help... btw I'm in exp post 7219... fire and rescue and troop 385...

Create a file in ASCII Text called /home/httpd/vhosts/venturingbsa.com/httpdocs/.plan

That file should be: chmod 644 /home/httpd/vhosts/venturingbsa.com/httpdocs/.plan The home directory should be at least: chmod 711 $HOME Then someone needs to do: finger -l user@system.com finger -l USERNAME@SYSTEM

To the best of my knowledge the -l option is executed by the one who does the finger, not the one who sends the output.

You also have a /home/httpd/vhosts/venturingbsa.com/httpdocs/.project file if you want to separate your current project from your long term plan.

Digital announces sale of Alpha.

Info Beat

Digitalin talks to sell Alpha to Intel-WSJ NEW YORK, Oct 6 (Reuter) - Digital Equipment Corp is in talks to sell its Alpha technology to Intel Corp for more than $1.5 billion, in a pact that would settle a patent fight, the Wall Street Journal said on Monday, citing people familiar with the negotiations.

A settlement involving Alpha would bring an end to the patent lawsuit in which Digital claimed Intel stole technology, the paper said in its electronic edition.

Under the terms of the settlement currently being discussed, Intel would be obligated to produce the Alpha chip for several years. However, Intel isn't required to put its marketing muscle behind computers that run on the chip, the paper said.

Under the terms of the deal being discussed, Digital wouldn't get rid of all its semiconductor operations. Instead, Intel would buy "capacity" in Digital's chip facility in Hudson, Mass., the paper said. Digital would continue to use the plant to produce StrongARM, a low-voltage processor used to power such devices as "smart" cellular phones, and chips used in networking devices, the paper said. ((-- New York Newsdesk 212 859 1610))

With Dec selling Alpha to Intel, SGI starting to build a NT box, IBM has always been on the Dark Side, Sun is the last bastion of a true UNIX Server company... Each year Sun grows stronger and stronger as the ebb away at the UNIX market share.

With NT not being stable or secure on the large scale, [face it: would you put a 1Tb Oracle Database serving 10,000 personal computers with ~2,000 calls an hour on a Compac Quad running NT?] would you risk your career on it?


ALERT (DEC INTC)

Karl N. Matthias

Gack! This would REALLY suck. DEC has the best processor line in the world (I refuse to listen to anyone who says the UltraSPARC III is any better) and Intel has the worst. So, let's think about what might happen there. Oh, a really lame CISC processor with an Alpha core. So DEC did all the hard work, pioneered the architecture, marketed it against Intel, then GIVES it away for $1.5 billion? I don't think so. If they do, I am going to be very angry. I own stock in Digital, and that is based, in part, on my faith in the Alpha. Giving me stock in Intel will not placate me.

This is not even to speak of the FTC and anti-trust arguments against Intel's 93% market share.

UNIX Admin Questions

James D. Corder

"A would-be student wrote:"

Mr. Corder

I just thought of some more questions that I have. What kind of Unix machines will we be using and when exactly is the class time? What are the topics that are planned to be taught? Which book are you using to teach this? Thanks for the response.

The "Basic UNIX for programmers" class will be using an AT&T 3B2/1000 RISC box. The students will have dumb terminals attached.

Classes are held every Tuesday 7:30pm until 9:00pm.

The book is a training manual written by me. It has been used to teach the Attorney General's Office, Bureau of Criminal Identification & Investigation. You can find the course outline on-line:

National Explorer Leadership Conf.

James D. Corder National Explorer Leadership Conference July 14-18, 1998, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.

With the new, strong youth that we are going to get, how many of you would be willing to go to this event? How about taking some of our computer equipment with us and showing them what computers are all about?

Please give me you ideas...


Number of Scouts

(Source: ProSpeak, Vol. 11, No. 9, September 1997 by Boy Scouts of America)

National Youth Membership as of August 31, 1997 (before Fall Cub Scout recruiting, notice the small number of Cubs. This will swell up as seen in the December 31, 1996 figures shown later.)

	--------------------------------------------------
	                        1996       1997  gain/loss  
	--------------------------------------------------
	Tiger Cubs            19,495     20,109      +3.1%  
	Cub Scouts           674,259    699,920      +3.8%  
	Webelos Scouts       735,233    762,545      +3.7%  
	Subtotal           1,428,987  1,482,574      +3.7%  
	                                                    
	Boy Scouts           826,104    846,797      +2.5%  
	Varsity Scouts        67,716     69,089      +2.0%  
	Subtotal             893,820    915,886      +2.5%  
	                                                    
	Exploring            299,850    321,911      +7.4%  
	Learning For Life   842, 571    885,564      +5.1%  
	Grand Total        3,465,228  3,605,935  +4.1%      
	                                                    
	--------------------------------------------------
	

The Toadie

James D. Corder

Congratulations for Matt Gross and Alan Hamilton. Both have graduated from Explorer Post 369's Toadie program.

A Toadie is an 11 to 14 year old Boy Scout taken under the wing of an Eagle Scout member of Explorer Post 369. This symbiotic relationship benefits both the young Scout in a mentor role and the Eagle Scout in a leadership capacity.


Quote of the month

Cubicles

If you want to have your employees to start thinking out of the box You must stop putting them in one!

Hung by the tongue

Bobbie Sestina

Many people spend a great deal of energy arguing for their own limitations. They say: "I can't do that." "I can't help it." "I have always been that way." "I never have a loving relationship." and thousands of other negative and self defeating statements.

Please remember that our minds are powerful enticements and when we decide that something is true or beyond our reach it is very difficult to pierce through this self created hurtle. When we argue for a position, it is nearly possible to change it. Suppose for example you told yourself "I can't write." You will look for examples to prove your position. You will remember your poor essays in high school or recall how awkward you felt the last time you set down to write a letter. You will fill your head with limitations that will frighten you form trying.

In order to become a writer or anything else, the first step is to silence your greatest critic "YOU".

I've learned, that when I argue my own limits very seldom do I disappoint myself. I suspect the same is true for you. So make the decision today to use your energy in a positive way. Look for the good in you. I know it is there I see it all the time and if you look for it you can find it. Make today a great day the power to that is in your head in your hart in your hands and properly most importantly in your mouth. Make it a great day.

http://www.venturingbsa.com

James D. Corder

I am extreamly proud of our unit for achiving a most prestigous award: Scouting The Web Gold Award of Excellence is indeed an honor.

The STWA (Scouting The Web Award) is a part of the Non-Profit Organization "Scouting The Web" Webring. Scouting The Web is run by scouts exclusively for scouts as a FREE service. The award is given out to websites that are scouting related only! STWA Staff reviews EVERY page of the web site and checks for both scouting content and technical merit by utilizing their Scoring Guide.


STWA emails candidate units, stating whether or not the site has won an award. If the site has been bestowed such an honor they will be informed of the award and the level; Bronze, Silver, or Gold. The following is the criteria for the awards:

BRONZE = GOOD website with an easy to navigate interface. Fast loading pages. Average amount of content. A Few Invalid Links/Under Construction. A way to contact the troop, webmaster, scouts, etc.

SILVER = A GREAT website with an extremely easy, nice and neat navigation interface. Very Fast loading pages. A Moderate amount of content. Ways to contact the troop, webmaster, scouts, etc. Moderate amount of scouting related links. Possibly 2 styles of viewing the site (ex. one for people with fast computer and new browsers - one for people with slow and older browsers). [This is our PRESTIGE award!]

GOLD = An EXCELLENT, OUTSTANDING Site where it can be seen that the webmaster, troop, and scoutmaster has worked to make this site a success. A Very easy and nice navigation interface. Very Fast loading pages. A HUGE amount of content, resources, etc. Contacts. Scouting links. Possibly 2 styles or languages to view the site in. [This level is a true honor to receive since there are only 2 sites in the world that have this level of our award!]

STWA does not give many bonus points for having JavaScript's/applets, music, or forms/CGI scripts on your site since some webmasters may not be able to use them and they take a long time to load on your visitor's computers! Explorer Post 369's Web Site http://www.venturingbsa.com contains over 200 pages with information ranging from Post activites, member's personal pages, to general Scouting, & Exploring information. Post 369's web page is located on a Sun Sparc 20 with an OC3 line.

C.O.S.I. Halloween UnMasked

James D. Corder

On October 25th @ 5:00p.m., Troop & Explorer Post 369 tour down The Center Of Science & Industry "C.O.S.I." museum to make room for their Halloween party fund raiser. All of the exhibits had to be disassembled and placed into storage. Then hundreds of tables and chairs were set up in their place. Simultaneously professional stage crews assembled the stage for the gala event. We then went to the church for Pizza and Computer Fun.Returning to C.O.S.I. at 11:30p.m. the unit restored the museum to its technological splendor by 4:00a.m. This was mine and the Troop's 24th year of service to C.O.S.I.


Up-an-Coming Post Expenses

12/01/97 Post Charter $30.00

12/01/97 Post Insurance $85.00

Monthly ExpNews $75.00


Up-an-Coming Member Expenses

Registration 11/01/97 $15.00


Post Finances

Explorer Post 369 has -$1,243.00

Floor Fund Need $1,200.00

Floor Fund In Hand $830.00

Pledges Outstanding FF, $0.00

Development with Java, A trip into Object Oriented Programming.

Joe Harvey

I have used C for some time now. I mostly used C and some C++ calls, but never have gotten into object oriented stuff. This year I have started learning Java that forced me to learn object oriented programming. I first must say I really enjoy Java. The people at Sun have done a wonderful job. It is actually fun to write software.

Object Oriented Programming is a completely different way to think about programming. Instead of thinking of things as a set of steps in a particular order, all programming is done in parts. For example, I need a window, so I say new Frame and a few other things and now I have a new window. When the window needs something done like the contents redrawn, it is called back and work is done. This replaces the other style of programming, make the window, make more stuff, work on window?, make more stuff , work on window? This may cause more work to be done in the design stages, but at the same time it simplifies the programming process and helps reduce errors in the code. It also allows for more simple division of the programming parts.

In programming, the object is to share as little of the way something is done with the user so there is less to have messed up. For example, the user does not really care how to issue commands to a database, all they care about is getting the data, so this information is hidden from them. This way you can hide information from the user without compromising functionality. It also allows you to change the way something is accomplished after some time and still gets the same job done. So object oriented programming provides us with a more flexible and more "simplistic" view of what we are trying to accomplish.




This page has been accessed  $pagecount"; ?> times. Since Thu Oct 30 11:02:16 EST 1997