2/15    I have three computers at home, all running some *nix (2 OS X + linux
        if this matters).  I would like them to have the same basic system
        config. and user accounts for members of my family and friends.  How
        do I automate this?  I know this is a very basic sys admin job but
        I am just a home user and do want to spend too much time learning or
        doing things to become a home sys admin of sort or buying extra
        software.
        \_ nis
           \_ Is nis compatiable with the netinfo stuff in OS X?
              \_ I'm not an apple maven but they claim it is.
              \_ Depends on the version of OS X. 10.1 and earlier
                 included some NIS stuff that you could use to
                 some basic stuff running. 10.2 seems to have
                 removed/broken some of this stuff. For 10.2
                 you could use Kerberos or LDAP. Here are some
                 some (possibly) relevant/helpful URLs:
                 General OS X Auth:
                        http://clc.its.psu.edu/Labs/Mac/Help/authdoc
                 NIS and OS X:
                        http://www.bresink.de/osx/nis.html
                 LDAP and OS X:
                        http://www.usit.uio.no/it/mac/ldap/english/ldap.html
                 Kerberos and OS X:
                        http://www-personal.umich.edu/~arosenbl/kerb102.html
                        http://www.public.iastate.edu/~macosx/macosx.html
                 Note if you are unwilling to play around with this
                 stuff for a weekend or so, your best bet is to do
                 the following:
                 1. Create local users with the same username, password,
                    uid and gid on all of the machines. To make this
                    really easy, start on one of the MacOS X machines
                    and then create the users in the same order on the
                    other MacOS X machine (they should all end up with
                    the same uid/gid). Finally run adduser on your linux
                    box with the info from MacOS X.
                 2. Figure out which machine is going to serve the home
                    directories via NFS. The Linux machine is probably
                    going to be the easiest to configure as a NFS server.
                 3. Configure the other boxes as NFS clients.
                 Here is some info about MacOS X and NFS:
        http://deaddog.duch.udel.edu/~frey/darwin/archive/DarwinAndNFS.pdf
        \_ if what you say is true, then you don't want to spend anymore
           time on trying to do this. Maybe you can do it for the Mac but
           forget trying to have anything beyond the same local login/password
           between Linux/OSX. Don't waste so much of your time.
                \_ NFS mounts of home directories on OS X works
                   pretty well. So you could get the same files
                   on OS X and Linux.
                   \_ You are correct but miss the point. There is much
                      more involved. Long-term support and effort is an
                      issue, not whether NFS works. Think about the files
                      and also more thanthe files.

2/15    Is there a way to record who, or at least which machine, have visited
        my web pages on soda, other than relying on them signing a guest book?
        Thanks.
        \_ er... the web logs?  /var/log/httpd/access.log*
           \_ Thanks!  What's the exact format of the lines?  What man page
              should I read?  There's none for apache.
              \_ 1). Read through /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf , at least
                 the parts about LogFormat and CustomLog directives, and the
                 comments around there.
                 2). For further explanation, look up the particular directives
                 in Apache docs (at http://apache.org)
                  \_ We've switched to apache 2. the config file is now:
                     /usr/local/etc/apache/httpd.conf
                     /usr/local/etc/apache2/httpd.conf
                     and the access log is here:
                     /var/log/apache/access.log
                 \_ man www. we've switched to apache2, these files
                    are all old. The correct paths are in "man www" -www
                    \_ erm.  /var/log/httpd is a symlink to /var/log/apache.
                 \_ Or, if you just want the answer:
                    http://httpd.apache.org/docs/logs.html#combined
        \_ as an alternative, write a cgi script that's called using
           server-side includes from from the web page, that records
           REMOTE_ADDR, and other interesting environment variables in
           a separate data file.
           \_ at one point there was something that correlated the IP
              address of the people visiting your page with a csua
              username (based on lastlogin info).

2/15    After working in the software industry for seven years, I am
        looking into switch to something more emotionally-satifying,
        like educational/non-profit/medical care sectors.  What's the
        next best way to get into a completely new field besides getting
        a new degree?
        \_ Become a real estate agent.  My agent was an engineer more than ten
           years ago, then he figured he could make more money by being an
           agent, so he switched field.
           \_ warning: this is a troll or a lie.  real estate agents have the
              morals of a corporate trial lawyer with the intelligence of
              the average gas station attendant.  there is no lower form of
              life.  why not try dealing crack?  better a crack dealer than
              a real estate agent.  at least the crack dealer *tells* you
              what they're selling and doesn't tell you they're your
              best freind.
           \_ He asked for something emotionally satisfying, not renumerative.
              Perhaps if your number one love was money, you could confuse
              the two.
        \_ You can transition by becoming a SW Eng in those areas. Educ is
           probably the easiest, as we always need qualified teachers.
           \_ Actually California now has a teacher glut.  The shortage was
              (and is) in math/science teachers at inner citty schools.
              \_ ...and most software engineers have a very strong background
                 in math and science and live in inner city areas.  somehow
                 i doubt the OP is likely to become an art teacher in suburban
                 michigan.
                 \_ url?
                 \_ ok let me spell it out for you: they want black and
                    hispanic teachers for the black and hispanic kids.  they
                    do not welcome your cracker white ass in the inner city
                    schools.  same thing for most asians.  why must i spell
                    out these ugly truths for you?
                    \_ because you're a moron who gets off hearing himself
                       talk.  I know several people who've taught math and
                       science in inner city schools and none of them were
                       black or hispanic.
                       \_ did they teach basic reading comprehension to their
                          friends?  ask for a refresher course.

2/16    More on switching to a new field thread I posted below...there are
        actually two specific areas I would like to go into: financial
        service and some sort of environmental/conservation group.  I
        enjoy giving out financial advice to my friends knowing that I am
        helping out but I know I probably need a financial degree to
        swtich to that field.  What about some environmental/convservation
        group?  I want to know that I am doing something that's helping
        the environment (which in turn helps us humans).  Any pointers
        on how I would go about switching to something like that? I like
        the idea of working as a SW engineer in the new field but are
        any environmental groups hiring SW engineers?
        \_Try some volunteer work in the areas you're interested.  It'll
        confirm your interest and build up your resume for a switch into
        whichever area you decide to go into.
        \_I have a CS degree and a financial job. Depending on what type
        of job you're looking for, switching might be easy. Send me mail if
        you'd like to talk about it. -ccook
        \_ Your performance is measured by money. In the end, it's all
           anyone cares about in the financial sector. I shared your
           sentiments about helping people, but you're a bigger man than I
           if you can glean satisfaction from the "what have you done for the
           bottom line lately" culture. - Former Financial Advisor
           (Finance degree not required. Just ability to sell. That's the prob)

2/16    Carter Sold Out Iran 1977-1978
        http://66.34.243.131/iran/html/article774.html
        "Ramsey Clark...played a behind the scenes role influencing members
        of Congress to not get involved in the crisis."