Topic: Its True E-Smith dies with RedHat

[Arjay]

sorry i havent noticed this thread. i posted "follow up on webmin issue"
(http://www.e-smith.org/bboard//read.php?f=1&i=34613&t=34613)
first before i saw this... the author of webmin is quite positive to the idea of making a webmin version that will work with the SME Server. in my first email, here is reply:

Sure, I could probably do that, as long as it is similar to Redhat 7.2.
What does the /etc/redhat-release , /etc/esmith-release or /etc/issue
file contain on that OS?

 - Jamie

On Fri, 2003-11-28 at 18:28, Arjay wrote:
> hi,
>  im a user of Mitel SME Server and Gateway (formerly known as
> e-smith). i just want to ask if there will be a release for that os. i
> find webmin very very usefull for me but its just that i cant just
> move from one os to another coz im hosting websites. hope you could
> release one for e-smith too. by the way, e-smith is a modified redhat
> 7.2
>  
> good day
>  
>  
> Arjay


please no flames! im just suggesting.


Arjay

[tobyd]

Arjay wrote:
>
> please no flames! im just suggesting.

no harm in suggestions - however going on my experience of both e-smith and webmin, webmin is completely over the top for e-smith and would break a lot of funcionality (i could easily be wrong here...)

webmin is great for a full system but e-smith is a scaled down system - what does webmin provide that you want and is not controllable by the e-smith server manager?

[Noz]

contribs.org may not be perfect but it's great start.  Don't forget that the contribs are already hosted there and that the existing forums are due to move there.  There's already a thread running on where to go next.

we have already received agreement from the contribs.org staff that they could host the forums there and we had tentatively agreed to prform the move next week. (I was actually waiting to announce this until fter the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday and after I had received confirmation from the contribs.org folks that they were all set up their end)


All the offers of hosting and web design are great but come on guys.  Give contribs a chance!  If you've a suggestion or opinion go over there and make it instead of criticising it here.  Contribute to contribs! (sorry)  It's be running for while but I'm sure the maintainers will listen to what you have to say.  Nothing is set in stone.

All the best
NTB

[tobyd]

Noz wrote:
> ...go over there and make it instead of criticising it
> here.  

sorry if it came accross this way, the idea was not to criticse contribs.org...

> Contribute to contribs! (sorry)  It's be running for
> while but I'm sure the maintainers will listen to what you
> have to say.  

It has been running a while and has been a good addon to this site but in my opinion is not good enough to sustain an interest in e-smth (or whatever it will be called) and be the main point for development/support/contact.
Also, as it has been around for a while I would expect it to be easier to use, easier to find what you are looking for and contain a lot less dead/pointless links....

> Nothing is set in stone.

all the more reason for this discussion here now...

[Steve Brock]

> All the offers of hosting and web design are great but come on guys.
> Give contribs a chance!
Absolutely!

[Reinhold]

> All the offers of hosting and web design are great but come on guys.
> Give contribs a chance!

YEP!   contribs  is the place to go !

[tobyd]

Reinhold wrote:
>
> > All the offers of hosting and web design are great but come
> on guys.
> > Give contribs a chance!
>
> YEP!   contribs  is the place to go !

fair enough, maybe I should drop the idea of an alternative (whats the harm in an alternative?), but I know if I pointed some of my clients in the way of contribs.org they would laugh at me....
it is ok for home users but again in my opinion is not the right place for business users and even though this is an opensource project a lot of business do quiet work in the background...
the offer of webdev & hosting space is still open so if anyone is interested, please post here...

[Michiel]

> the offer of webdev & hosting space is still open so if
> anyone is interested, please post here...

Why don't you get in contact with Jeff Coleman and offer to redo the website on contribs.org. I suspect the people at contribs.org would welcome support on that front too and it would combine the best of both approaches

Michiel

[peter]

Michiel wrote:
> Why don't you get in contact with Jeff Coleman and offer to
> redo the website on contribs.org. I suspect the people at
> contribs.org would welcome support on that front too and it
> would combine the best of both approaches
>
> Michiel

good idea, but offering to redo someone elses website is not allways the best of ideas...
and as far as my knowledge goes, most (if not all users here) are happy with contribs.org and it could be just me that feels that contribs.org is not up to scratch for what is required of a project that has and could contribute to an even better development & user base.
I'd be happier to contact Jeff after a good discussion here on what is needed/wanted for a good replacement of this current site.

[ian wells]

I also think that contribs.org will need further improvement, it is a great start, but there is a way to go.

I have put some effort into writing How-Tos, and most are linked from both the e-smith site and contribs.org. Looking at my web-site stats, the majority of people come from the e-smith site, next via google & contribs.org does not even register. Will all the people manage to find them in the future? (I don't claim my work to be good, but the same would applies to other work)

I have also had problems finding things. Given time you can find what you need - but it is not easy. Hopefully these are teething problems.

I think that the Mitel team have given us a wonderful product, I have been very grateful for the help that they have given (does Charlie ever sleep?)  and wish them well for the future.

For the community, I hope that we can prevent e-smith from dying. I will continue to support it in my small way.

Ian

[Charlie Brady]

peter wrote:

> I'd be happier to contact Jeff after a good discussion here
> on what is needed/wanted for a good replacement of this
> current site.

Please join the devinfo mailing list for that discussion. Discussions work much better on mailing lists than they do on BBs.

Charlie

[Charlie Brady]

ian wells wrote:

> Looking
> at my web-site stats, the majority of people come from the
> e-smith site, next via google & contribs.org does not even
> register.

Very interesting data.

IMO contribs.org was created without there being an obvious need for it. Hosting space was already available for anyone who wanted it at e-smith.org.

The situation is different now. contribs.org may be the answer. Time will tell.

> ... (does Charlie ever sleep?)  ...

Charlie doesn't sleep as much as he'd like to

Charlie

[tobyd]

Charlie, good to see you brought in on this discusion.....


Please join the devinfo mailing list for that discussion. Discussions work much better on mailing lists than they do on BBs.


sorry, i should have done that at the start but changed mail providers recently and never re-registered...


ian wells wrote:

> Looking
> at my web-site stats, the majority of people come from > > the e-smith site, next via google & contribs.org does not > even
> register.

Ian, good to see you looking at stats, this is one of my major concerns - as a business using (but not dependant) on e-smith I would like to see major SEO work completed on e-smith related sites;... it is pretty hard to find updated info and contribs related to current versions of e-smith...


> IMO contribs.org was created without there being an > obvious need for it. Hosting space was already available for anyone who wanted it at e-smith.org.

I agree and realise there is now a need for a site likre the
contribs.org site but can not agree that it will keep the  community live...lets keep the discussion open and all agree on what is needed/wanted to keep an excellent product alive...

[Charlie Brady]

tobyd wrote:

> Charlie, good to see you brought in on this discusion.....

Nobody brought me in. I bought into the discussion myself.

Charlie

[Del]

Hi All,
I think that the real problem with contribs.org is the lack of a search facility, every thing else is there, I just find it hard to find stuff! I don't rely on SME for my income but I have used for my own use for the last couple of years and I hope we can keep it alive. So let's give contribs.org a chance, if everyone goes off and starts their own sites it will surely die, as they say, united we stand, divided we fall.
The other thing is can it be called e-smith again? It was a much better name!
Just my 2cents.
Del