[wplug] Pitt & Slippery Rock

[Sam Al-Droubi]

Mackenzie Morgan <macoafi at gmail.com> wrote: Hello, WPLUGers!

My little brother and sister are about to graduate high school (twins).  They've both been using Linux (Ubuntu) for a year and half now.  They're also both pretty...err...very...non-technical (they love Add/Remove because it's easier than Windows InstallShield).  Anyway, my brother's heading to Pitt, and my sister's going to Slippery Rock.  They want to take Linux laptops to school with them, but my sister at least is a little worried that she'll run into issues and not be able to find an in-person helper like she could with Windows.  I reminded her that she won't be needing to find anyone for viruses, and if she gets a Linux pre-installed laptop like I told her to, hardware will be a non-issue as well leaving...not much to worry about.  My brother, being not on the computer for much more than Frets on Fire, isn't worrying.
 
I know there are WPLUGers at Pitt, so there has to be a way to make everything go with Linux for my brother.  Could anyone from Pitt enlighten me as to any caveats with using Linux at Pitt?  I know there are no issues with Cisco VPN like at my school, where they say the VPN can't be accessed from Linux (they're wrong), so as long as he can do WPA, he's fine on wireless.  I think I recall that Pitt uses Exchange...is it set up to work with Evolution?  Or is there no web access available?  He's into science, pre-med stuff, and given Linux's usage in the scientific fields I don't really foresee any problems with that, but just in case, anyone know of anything unusual he might need?
 
How about Slippery Rock?  How is their wireless set up?  Will it be a pain on Linux?  Email?  Anything I should be prepared to talk my sister through over the phone?  I told her to go make friends with a computer science student when she gets to school in case she can't get me on the phone or on IM.   She's a business major.  Is there any specialized software she might have to worry about?  I was thinking I'd help her set some stuff up in WINE, but I'd need to know what to setup first.
 
-- 
Mackenzie Morgan
Linux User #432169
ACM Member #3445683
http://ubuntulinuxtipstricks.blogspot.com <-my blog of Ubuntu stuff
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I work for Pitt and I am running Ubuntu 8.04 on a laptop.  Wired and wireless networking should work fine with standard install. I had to make a few changes to make it work with Pitt sslvpn (http:sslvpn.pitt.edu) which your would need only if he is off-campus.  Here is what I did to make it work:

First go to this page to check that your JRE plug-in is working under firefox:  http://www.java.com/en/download/help/testvm.xml

If not the follow the instructions below which I figured out from here:  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/sun-java6/+bug/173966


   Install ubuntu-restricted-extras on Ubuntu Release of 8.04. 
   Remove OpenJDK and the Icedtea plugin via Synaptic Package Manager. 
   Install Sun Java 6 Runtime and Sun Java 6.0  plugin via Add/Remove Programs. 
   Now try http://sslvpn.pitt.edu and it should work as normal.  You may be prompted for the root password because Juniper tries to run a shell script. 

Hope this helps. 


 




Sincerely, 
Sam Al-Droubi, M.S.
saldroubi at yahoo.com
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