NoWonder

["R.G. Mayhue" <rgmayhue@serenesoftware.com>]

I've been volunteering on a site called NoWonder.com
http://www.nowonder.com for a while now. The site is an all volunteer
help site for the most commonly used OS's, including Linux. I'm finding
I'm able to help quite a few people with some common newbie Linux
problems as well as get a good idea of what some of the most common
problems are. But I've also been able to use my responses to questions
to advocate Project Independence. It's amazing how many plugs you can
get in! I use the staff and user message boards to do most of my
advocating though I still occasionally throw one in when I submit an
answer to a user.

I just thought I would pass along this information in case someone else
is interested in possibly volunteering some time to the effort. It's a
great way to spread the word about Indy and possibly learn something at
the same time. Check it out.

On another note.

Is anyone using wvdial and wvdialconf on their system? I'm busy writing
the Indy Dial-Up Liberator for ppp configuration and I need some
feedback on wvdial, mostly wvdialconf. I downloaded the latest version
and wvdialconf won't detect my modem correctly, so I need feedback about
how well it worked for others. 

I have the Liberator GUI worked out, but I have mostly been doing
research on different approaches to configuring ppp. How others have
done it and the possible shortcomings and advantages of each. One
advantage the Indy Liberator will have over others is a help button!
That's right, online help as the user needs it. The content will be
specific to the panel the user is in at the time. That was the easy
part. 

I may end up writing my own configurator and dialer in the long
run, using the best ideas I have seen so far. The problem is time. That
may become version 2.0 with version 1.0 being somewhat simpler but
easier to configure then others do to the online help. I'll try to give
the best I can. One thing that will make writing this easier is that
this program will be specific to Indy only and I won't be trying to
write an all around program that can be used on any distro. If anyone
else wants it, oh well, they'll need to adapt it.

Along the way I've also thought of some other Liberator projects. Like a
user configurator to add new users and passwords. Caldera and Mandrake
do this at install time to prevent the user from being dropped into a
root command console or X session. This should also be included in the
installer. It saves the new user from having to figure out how to add
his/herself as a user. If they even know better. I sure didn't at
first. Red Hat only configures the root user and password at install
time with no mention of the dangers of running as root.

There are others, but I've done enough rambling for now. I must get
back to work on the project. Christmas is fast approaching and my job is
demanding more and more of my time. I will be working overnight and
sleeping in the daytime now. Ohhh what fun!!

Tune in next time...

--

R.G. Mayhue
rgmayhue@serenesoftware.com