TLUG August Meeting

["C. Oda" <craig@example.com>]

The August TLUG meeting was great!  I really enjoyed it and am excited
to get back to hacking Linux.

The meeting notes are archived here:
	http://www.twics.com/~tlug/96aug.html

The notes will also be included below in text format:

  Tokyo Linux Users Group August Meeting Notes
  Craig Oda
  August 11, 1996

  This is a summary of the exciting events at the TLUG August Meeting.
  Document is archived under http://twics.com/ tlug/meetings.html

  1.  Pre-Lunch

  Jim Tittsler waited at under the Big Box sign at Takadanobaba station
  as Joe Marcha rumbled by on his big 750 motorbike.  The pre-lunch talk
  focused on IP masquerading and how to connect a Linux box to an
  Internet Service Provider and use an unused IP range to provide
  service for your entire line off of a single account.	 Jim and I
  speculated on how people could run an entire network off of a single
  3,000 yen/month account.  Jim is currently using wireless broadcasts
  bounced off a satellite to provide two-way communication to a BBS in
  his house running on a Linux box.


  2.  Lunch

  An excellent pasta lunch was devoured at the Spaghetti Factory.  Jim
  and I had the combination Mizthra (spelling?) cheese and meat sauce,
  while Joe opted for the more encompassing four sauce spaghetti
  special.  The Spaghetti Factory also had a good minestrone soup.
  Included with the meal was bread and a soft-drink.  We departed the
  comfortable surroundings of the restaurant after 45 minutes and left
  behind about 1400 yen per person.


  3.  The Meeting at Data Stream K.K.

  I would like to thank Jim Tittsler for allowing us to use the Data
  Stream K.K. facilities.


  3.1.	Linux Desktop Features

  Jim showed us TkDesk which looks like a capable desktop file manager.
  The icons appeared to be carefully chosen so as to not interfere with
  the color mapping of other programs.	Jim had only 256 colors on his
  Linux box and Netscape and other programs ran fine.

  Jim also had a hacked version of xearth which showed satellite
  positions across the globe.  He also had a cool looking satellite
  tracking program that he was able to use as a root window.


  3.2.	Programming Environments

  Since the meeting focused on Java and Linux, we discussed the merits
  of using Linux as a programming environment.	Joe and I use emacs
  while Jim uses jed.  Jed is basically a lightweight emacs.  Jim and
  Joe open up two x-windows side by side.  I split the emacs window
  horizontally, run a shell in the lower window, then switch back and
  forth with C-xo.  Both Jed and emacs can do syntax highlighting.  No
  one at the meeting seemed to use debuggers or make files at the
  present time.

  Jim gave a demonstration of the Microsoft J++	 Integrated Development
  Environment running under Windows NT.	 The only thing that was helpful
  was the help function of the IDE.

  The conclusion was that there is no advantage to using an IDE unless
  you are already accustomed to using it or if you do not understand the
  "make" program.  Everyone at the meeting agreed that Linux was at
  least as good if not better than other platforms for Java development.


  3.3.	Programming Tools

  Jim gave an excellent demonstration of Visual Java.  Visual Java is an
  applet that speeds development time by allowing the developer to
  visually create the user interface.  It is very similar to visual
  basic.  The demonstration used the site found at
  http://www.eas.asu.edu/ lu/visualJava.html


  3.4.	Examples of Java

  There was a demonstration of a Java applet that showed cross sections
  of the human body.  Cross sections could be changed both vertically
  and horizontally.

  The group also took a look at the Jigsaw server developed by the W3
  consortium which is written in Java.

  We also chatted with a person from Texas using a unique Java chat
  applet called the Fog.

  We made an effort to show a doom-like Java game applet, but had some
  problems with Netscape 2.0.2 crashing.


  3.5.	Hacking Linux

  Of course, the main reason people use Linux is because of it's hack
  value.  Jim told us of his BBS and web server on Linux.  He makes good
  use of telehoudai.  Jim is looking for a script that automatically
  uploads web pages to a remote web server every night.	 Jim demoed a
  cool BBS written in perl.  Everyone agreed that Perl lets you do
  powerful things in a small amount of code.  The meeting ended as Jim
  showed us an 4-line LCD screen that he was hacking so that it could
  work with the serial port.  I figure if the guy has that much free
  time he should write a device driver for an ISDN card.  :-)


  4.  Next Meeting

  We were talking about having the next meeting on September 21.  Or was
  it September 22nd??



-------------
Craig Oda 	craig@example.com	
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