Myth TV, Zap2It and Smoothwall at the SFD (was Re: [GLLUG] GLLUG and Software Freedom Day)

Benjamin Cathey benjamincathey at catheycompany.com
Tue Aug 21 15:20:27 EDT 2007


Myth TV - Argh - 

So I wanted to set that up myself but it looks like a myth TV box showing the game is probably OUT.

>From "Linux Pro Magazine" Latest Issue:

"In September 2007m Zap2It Labs will be dropping its free North American TV Listing service, which was used by several open source projects, most notably, MythTV."

So - that isn't very nice.  They cite "abuse by commerical firms that took the data that was supposed to be for personal, non-commercial use only," as the reason.

As far as the business users out there - I am the online one that uses Smoothwall as a firewall box??  It's a GREAT solution and the have an open (free) version with a TON of community support on modules which can be built in (for content filtration, A/V, IDS (and an actual REACTIVE IDS) - plus NAT, Proxy - and MUCH more.  I tried to sell the idea to another business but they would rather spend thousands to buy a stand alone box.  The nice thing about the smoothwall box is it is web configurable and allows complete control of traffic (with mods, QoS as well) and the lists (like snort) can be updated daily, plus snort rules can be selected etc.  That and you can add a DSHIELD mod which downloads the newest DSHIELD list daily and also submits you firewall results daily to help build the block lists.

It might be something to show off at this event - But I don't think I can seriously be the only person running it here.  I looked at other options at the time (IP Cop, etc) and smoothwall seemed the best.  I run it at home as well (tighter to keep out the porn)

Gotta work now - any feedback?


Benjamin Cathey
System Administrator
Cathey Company
4917 Tranter St.
Lansing, MI 48910 USA
Phone:     517.393.4720
Fax:       517.393.4225
Toll Free: 800.333.1972
"Service is Our Profession"


----- Original Message -----
From: Clay Dowling
[mailto:clay at lazarusid.com]
To: Greater Lansing Linux User Group
[mailto:linux-user at egr.msu.edu]
Sent: Sat, 11 Aug 2007 09:26:19
-0400
Subject: [GLLUG] GLLUG and Software Freedom Day


>->> On Saturday, September 15th GLLUG will be holding an Open House on the
>->> campus of Lansing Community College from 1pm to 5pm for Software Freedom
>->> Day.  This event is a good opportunity for business owners, executives,
>->> computer users and students to see how free and open source software can
>->> reduce costs and improve productivity.
>->> 
>->> We are planning four 10 minutes presentations which will be repeated
>->> during the day:
>->> 
>->> * What is Open Source? *
>->> 
>->> A brief overview of what open source is, with a short history and some
>->> prominent examples.
>->> 
>->> * Why Open Source? *
>->> 
>->> What are the benefits of using Open Source software, with examples.
>->> 
>->> * Open Source for the Home User *
>->> 
>->> A brief look at open source software for the home user, including
>->> current trends and examples of how people are using it.
>->> 
>->> * Open Source for the Business User *
>->> 
>->> How open source software is helping business by reducing costs and
>->> making new things possible.
>->> 
>->> 
>->> While this is being presented by the Greater Lansing Linux User's Group,
>->> I would like to emphasize that we will be presenting tools and
>->> technology that is available to users of all popular operating systems,
>->> including Windows, Macintosh and Linux.  You do not need to convert your
>->> home or office to Linux to take advantage of the tools we will be showing.
>->> 
>->> In addition to the presentations we will have the Burn Box available.
>->> For those who are not familiar, the Burn Box is a CD Burning Kiosk that
>->> lets you create CDs of popular software distributions including Linux,
>->> FreeBSD and utility CDs.
>->> 
>->> There will also be machines on site where visitors can see open source
>->> software in use.  To that end, if people can volunteer to bring in their
>->> machines and talk about the software they're showing, that would be great.
>->> 
>->> Obvious candidates are Firefox, Thunderbird (possibly with the Calendar
>->> extension, which makes it play nice with Outlook's calendar features)
>->> and Open Office.  The Gimp, Inkscape, Scribus (page layout software) and
>->> various media software are also good things to show off.  Games might be
>->> good to show the home users (my wife loves the variety of Solitaire
>->> games).  I plan to bring in a Windows machine and show PostgreSQL and
>->> the Code::Blocks IDE with the source of a commercial application that I
>->> sell.
>->> 
>->> We could also use some corporate sponsorship to make this event better.
>->>  If your company or your employer would be willing to provide $50
>->> towards paying for refreshments we will happily give them space to
>->> advertise their products and services.  If they can speak to visitors
>->> about how open source software has helped their business that would be
>->> even better.
>->> 
>->> Before the list gets flooded with suggestions to do this on the MSU
>->> campus: we considered that first.  MSU has a home game that day, and if
>->> you aren't familiar with MSU on game day, there is no parking to be had
>->> for love nor money, making it somewhat difficult to get visitors to our
>->> event.  Speaking of which, if someone could bring a MythTV setup that is
>->> showing the game, that would be really cool.
>->> 
>->> Clay
>->> _______________________________________________
>->> linux-user mailing list
>->> linux-user at egr.msu.edu
>->> http://mailman.egr.msu.edu/mailman/listinfo/linux-user
>->> 

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