Dag Wieërs

dag@wieers.com

v1.1.8g, 16 February 2003 This document describes how to configure Linux for Belgian users and lists Linux user groups, businesses and other resources in Belgium.

Since there was no information anywhere on the net for Belgian Linux users around 1998, we started to collect stuff that we thought could be important. This HOWTO aims to be the definitive list of all Belgian-related Linux information. If you think not, you have no excuse to complain and certainly not to not contribute. ;)

If you need to know more about the Linux Documentation Project or about Linux HOWTO's, feel free to contact the supervisor Tim Bynum linux-howto@sunsite.unc.edu. Tim Bynum will post the listing to several national and international newsgroups on a monthly basis. In addition, the Belgian HOWTO can be found on the World Wide Web at . New versions of the Belgian HOWTO are always placed at this site first, so please be sure to check if the copy you are reading is still up to date!

This document is currently translated in 3 languages (English, Dutch and French), we're trying to keep all three of them in sync, but the English version is the source-document! The English and Dutch version are maintained by Dag Wieërs dag@wieers.com and is found at: . The French version is maintained by Dany Vanderroost danyv@euronet.be and is found at: .

A few people mailed us their suggestions and improvements, thanks go to: Wim Vandeputte wvdputte@reptile.rug.ac.be Pablo Saratxaga srtxg@ping.be Christophe Lambin clambin@skynet.be Geert Uytterhoeven geert@linux-m68k.org Herman Bruyninckx Herman.Bruyninckx@mech.kuleuven.ac.be Many thanks go to Ivo Clarysse soggie@iguana.be who started something similar earlier (LinBel) and his project helped us a lot to get this document online.

As you might have heard, Belgium also has its problem with the Linux.be domain. Similar to the Linux.nl case. Around March 1999, someone tricked the DNS administration about the trademark 'Linux' in Belgium by using 'Linux' as a commercial representation of the company ('uithangbord') which was according to the rules of the DNS administration at that time. The company in fact was one that sold motor-parts and the registration was done with a fake fax containing a penguin. It is sad that the person who registered the Linux.be-domain name, did this behind the back of some Open Source volunteers who were planning to register a not-for-profit organisation to hold the domain name to prevent any abuse. Afterwards there were several meetings with this person to work out an agreement so that the domain was not used for commercial purposes and handed over to a neutral organisation. But after several attempts it was very clear that the owner wanted full control over the domain, which he later emphasized by 'handing it over' to his own not-for-profit organisation. He stated several times he wanted to keep the right to add advertissements to the website, but wouldn't mind that volunteers added content to the site (that was empty at the time). After this, no one was willing to work voluntarily for the content of the site. Sadly he managed to get some people volunteer for it after all.

If some information seems to be wrong, deceptive or missing, we'd appreciate if you mailed us the improvements. Since we're just human this document isn't bug-free, but your contribution can and will make a difference. To add yourself to the Linux user groups or businesses, collect all necessary information and mail it to us.

This document, Belgian HOWTO, is copyrighted (c) 1998 - 2002 by Dag Wieërs. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 published by the Free Software Foundation; with the Invariant Sections being "New versions of this document", "Contributions", "Feedback" and "Copyright information" with no Front-Cover Texts and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is available at . Trademarks are owned by their owners. Although the information given in this document is believed to be correct, the author will accept no liability for the content of this document. Use the tips and examples given herein at your own risk.

There are some things I'm planning to add to this document, if you're interested be sure you're reading the most current version of this document. (This todo-list is only a reminder to myself, it is not in the translated documents!) Add more information about ADSL Update the locale-section, preferably link to a related document.

Linux provides 2 ways to set up your keyboard. At the console you can use loadkeys and under XFree86 you can use xmodmap.

To use the keytable for a Belgian keyboard you can use loadkeys be2-latin1 or loadkeys be-latin1. The only difference between the two is that be2-latin1 adds support for twosuperior and threesuperior (keycode 41) and grave (keycode 43). Usually loadkeys is started at boottime from the scripts located somewhere in /etc/rc.d. Different distributions handle it differently. Most distributions have a simple program (like kbdconfig in Red Hat, install-keymap in Debian or yast in SuSE) to change the behaviour of these scripts.

To set your keyboard properly under XFree86 you've got more choices. By running Xconfigurator (or a similar program) a config-file for XFree86 is created (with some standard behaviour). This file is called XF86Config-4 or XF86Config and is usually located in /etc/X11 or /etc Make sure (and change otherwise) that something similar to this is given under the Keyboard Section. Section "Keyboard" Protocol "Standard" XkbRules "xfree86" XkbModel "pc101" XkbLayout "be" EndSection If you own a 'microsoft' keyboard (or the less-known penguin keyboards ;p) you can enable those extra 3 keys by changing the "pc101" into "pc104". (I use the extra keys as meta-keys in my windowmanager so some shortcuts don't conflict with the internal ones of my wm). To get the AltGr key to work under XFree86 simply add in the Keyboard Section: RightAlt ModeShift

Some people prefer to use a 'Compose'-key to enter their special characters, like: Compose' e => é Compose/ o => ø Composec , => ç Composec o => © Composes s => ß For XFree86, the solution is to enter xmodmap -e "keycode xx = Multi_key" or xmodmap -e "keysym yy = Multi_key" where 'xx' is the keycode or 'yy' the keysym of the key you choose to be the 'Compose'-key. (use xev to get these values) Alternatively you can add keycode xx = Multi_key to your ~/.xmodmaprc. This way it happens automagically. For the console, you could do something similar with loadkeys. echo "altgr keycode 52 = Compose" | loadkeys to use AltGr/ as a 'Compose'-key.

Some applications have to be compiled as 8-bit clean to work well with the European characterset. Others like to be told in advance.

You can load the ISO-8859-1 font by typing the following in console: setfont lat1u-16.psf mapscrn trivial echo -ne '\033(K' To be able to use ë, è, é or ç in console, you might want to add these to your ~/.inputrc: set meta-flag on set convert-meta off set output-meta on (This must be done for every user, if you want this to be default for all users you can either add this file to /etc/skel/ or you could add these lines to /etc/inputrc and add the following to /etc/bashrc, export INPUTRC=/etc/inputrc) This is only useful to programs that use readline (like bash) Also set the following environment variables: LC_CTYPE=iso-8859-1 SYSFONT=lat1u-16.psf SYSTERM=linux

Since Europe had to invent a new character, the Euro, there's a new standard. It's called ISO-8859-15 (aka Latin-9 or Latin-0). To add support you need both a new font and new keymaps. This is part of every major distribution nowadays, if you have an older distributions you probably need a newer console-tools package. There's more information in the Euro Character Support mini HOWTO

Since Belgium is located in the Central European Time zone (aka MET) which (in the winter) is equivalent to the Greenwhich Mean Time plus 1 (GMT+1), you can simply link /usr/lib/zoneinfo/localtime/MET to /etc/localtime symbolicly like: ln -sf /usr/lib/zoneinfo/MET /etc/localtime or ln -sf /usr/lib/zoneinfo/Europe/Brussels /etc/localtime This automagically sets Daylight Savings (which is GMT+2 in the summer). Different distributions have different paths, zoneinfo can be located in /usr/share or such... Red Hat uses a tool called timeconfig, SuSE uses yast To change the CMOS clock and then synchronize the system time with the CMOS clock, do something like this: hwclock --set --date="Feb 25 03:38" clock -u -s If your clock is set to local time (which is discouraged but if you also run broken OS's, you must), you can do: hwclock --set --date="Feb 25 04:38" clock -s [Noticed the 1 hour difference ? ;p] If your computer has Internet-access you can use NTP (Network Time Protocol) to keep your system clock in sync. One way of doing this is by starting ntpdate from cron by adding 05 0 * * * root /usr/sbin/ntpdate -s ntp.belnet.be > /dev/null 2>&1 to your /etc/crontab. Check the ISP-information below to see if your ISP has a NTP-server available.

Not much programs support locale yet, if you want to know more about locale or how to write your own programs to support it, check: [put the damn url here ;p] Be aware that locale makes it harder to resolve problems as less people can help you !! You might understand a problem when it's in technical English, but what if it's translated in some obscure Dutch ?

To enable support for the Dutch locale in Belgium on a system with locale support you just have to set the following environment variables: LANG=nl LANGUAGE=nl_BE Try nl_BE.ISO_8859-1 if nl_BE does not work.

If you want French locale support in Belgium, set the following environment variabels: LANG=fr LANGUAGE=fr_BE Try fr_BE.ISO_8859-1 if fr_BE does not work.

If you want instead German locale support in Belgium, set the following environment variabels: LANG=de LANGUAGE=de_BE Try de_BE.ISO_8859-1 if de_BE does not work.

For Walloon locale support you can find files and information at: . To use it set: LANG=wa LANGUAGE=wa_BE:fr_BE Try wa_BE.ISO_8859-1 if wa_BE does not work.

These options add support for the Belgian characterset and codepages. If you'd like to have these, compile a kernel with these options put on. They only apply to some filesystems (FAT-based, ISO9660, ...). < > Codepage 850 (Europe) < > NLS ISO 8859-1 (Latin 1; Western European Languages) < > NLS ISO 8859-15 (Latin 9; Western European Languages with Euro) Located in Filesystems > Native Language Support If your kernel is a modular kernel that came with your distribution (=you never compiled a kernel before), then you might want to type: insmod nls_cp850 insmod nls_iso8859_1 insmod nls_iso8859_15

Contributed by Dany Vanderroost danyv@euronet.be

Ispell is composed of different components: the main software and one or more dictionaries. The default dictionary is /usr/lib/ispell/english.hash. To override this default you have 2 options. Either you can set the DICTIONARY-variable or launch it with the "-d" option. You can create custom dictionaries in your home-directory like ~/.ispell_english.

export DICTIONARY=nederlands or ispell -d nederlands file_name

export DICTIONARY=francais or ispell -d francais file_name

export DICTIONARY=deutsch or ispell -d deutsch file_name

export DICTIONARY=walon or ispell -d walon file_name

By default Ispell will not work with multiple dictionaries but the solution is to work with the ~/.ispell_words file. If you don't want to make multi instance with Ispell, You can build ~/.ispell_words with the words package by cp /usr/dict/words ~/.ispell_words; chmod +w ~/.ispell_words.

To configure PPP correctly, you should check the PPP-HOWTO. I try to explain it briefly, but if you have any questions or problems, read the HOWTO very carefully.

To configure your modem, you can alter the initstring of your modem. To learn more about your modem, check Ask Mr. Modem. If you have a winmodem you will probably not get it to work. More information about winmodems is at: . Work is underway, but winmodems are not as good as real modems.

Now, you need to have the ppp-package installed (check this by typing pppd --version), make sure you have a recent one. Then you have to make sure you've got these files: /usr/local/bin/ppp #!/bin/sh case $1 in (on|start) TELEPHONE='555-1212' # The telephone number for the connection ACCOUNT='your_login' # The account name for logon (as in 'George Burns') PASSWORD='your_pass' # The password for this account (and 'Gracie Allen') INITSTRING='AT&F&C1&D2Z'# Modem initstring IPLOCAL=0.0.0.0 # Local IP address if known. Dynamic = 0.0.0.0 IPREMOTE=0.0.0.0 # Remote IP address if desired. Normally 0.0.0.0 DEVICE=/dev/ttyS1 # Serial Device com1=ttyS0, com2=ttyS1,... SPEED=57600 # 19200, 38400 or 57600 (don't try something different) export TELEPHONE ACCOUNT PASSWORD INITSTRING exec /usr/sbin/pppd $DEVICE $SPEED $IPLOCAL:$IPREMOTE \ user $ACCOUNT connect /etc/ppp/ppp-on-dialer ;; (off|stop) if [ -r /var/run/ppp0.pid ]; then kill -INT `cat /var/run/ppp0.pid` if [ ! "$?" = "0" ]; then rm -f /var/run/ppp0.pid echo "ERROR: Removed stale pid file" exit 1 fi exit 0 fi echo "ERROR: PPP link is not active on ppp0" exit 1 ;; (info|status) /usr/sbin/pppstats ;; (*) echo "Usage: ppp on|off|info|start|stop|status"; esac /etc/ppp/ppp-on-dialer #!/bin/sh exec /usr/sbin/chat -v \ REPORT CONNECTION \ REPORT CARRIER \ TIMEOUT 10 \ ABORT '\nBUSY\r' \ ABORT '\nNO ANSWER\r' \ ABORT '\nNO CARRIER\r' \ ABORT '\nNO DIALTONE\r' \ ABORT '\nRINGING\r\n\r\nRINGING\r' \ ABORT 'Invalid Login' \ ABORT 'Login incorrect' \ '' "\r$INITSTRING\r" \ 'OK-+++\c-OK' 'ATH0' \ TIMEOUT 45 \ OK "ATDT$TELEPHONE" \ CONNECT '\d\c' \ ogin:--ogin: "$ACCOUNT" \ ord: "$PASSWORD" You can remove the -v once everything looks normal. The pppd command uses /etc/ppp/options to list its options, change these options to whatever fits. These defaults normally work in most cases. asyncmap 20a0000 crtscts debug default-mru defaultroute detach escape 11,13,ff hide-password ipcp-accept-local ipcp-accept-remote lcp-echo-failure 4 lcp-echo-interval 400 lock modem mtu 1500 netmask 255.255.255.0 noipdefault passive #idle 300 #kdebug 0 #-vj Once dialing in works like a charm, you can leave debug out. It is important to emphasize that every special character, thus every character that is not [a-ZA-Z0-9] and '_', should be escaped by preceding it with a '\'-character. Thus "e!b$l+" would become "e\!b\$l\+". Try it if you are having troubles !

If your ISP requires CHAP or PAP, you need one of these files with their proper username and password: /etc/ppp/pap-secrets or /etc/ppp/chap-secrets #client server secret IP your_login * your_pass *

To configure your nameservers, change /etc/resolv.conf. If dialing in is succesful, but you can't get it to connect to URL's: this is probably the cause. domain domain_of_your_isp nameserver your_primary_nameserver nameserver your_secondary_nameserver

Before you can run a (shell)script, it must be set executable. Be sure that you set the permissions so that other users cannot see the passwords stored in the files. If you want other users to be able to dial in, you might want to consider using sudo. You might want to do the following: chmod u+rw og-rwx -R /etc/ppp chmod u+x /etc/ppp/ppp-on-dialer /usr/local/bin/ppp

Then if /usr/local/bin is in your PATH, you can easily dial in with ppp on, hangup with ppp off and to get some statistics, you do: ppp status.

Contributed by Christophe Lambin clambin@skynet.be This section does not aim to be a definitive guide on ISDN for Linux. For a more detailed discussion on the topic, see Paul Slootman's ISDN4Linux HOWTO and ISDN4Linux-FAQ.

If you're using a 2.2 kernel, it's recommended to get an updated version of the ISDN code. You can retrieve it from CVS at . For more information, check: If you've recently purchased an Eicon Diva 2.0 PCI (eg, via Belgacom), there's a good chance you've actually got a Diva 2.01.In this case, you must get a version dated 1 July 1999 or later ! Once the ISDN is in place, you can start up the driver. Eg: modprobe hisax type=11 protocol=2 Refer to the Readme's for the right parameters and values for your card.

Next, you'll need the ISDN4Linux toolkit. You can retrieve the latest version of the toolkit at:

With the tools installed and configured, write a script to configure the interface, to be used for the ISDN connection. As always in Linux, there's no one correct way of doing this. I've put these in a script /etc/rc.d/rc.isdn: #!/bin/sh MSNREMOTE='555-1212' # Phone number of ISP MSNLOCAL='555-1313' # my number, without 0, with areacode ACCOUNT='george' # The account for logon (as 'George Burns') IPLOCAL=10.0.0.2 # my fixed IP (use 10.0.0.2 if no fixed) IPREMOTE=0.0.0.0 # IP number of ISP INTERFACE=ippp0 /sbin/modprobe hisax type=11 protocol=2 /sbin/isdnctrl verbose 3 system on /sbin/isdnctrl addif $IF /sbin/isdnctrl secure $IF on /sbin/isdnctrl addphone $IF out $MSNREMOTE /sbin/isdnctrl eaz $IF $MSNLOCAL /sbin/isdnctrl huptimeout $IF 300 /sbin/isdnctrl l2_prot $IF hdlc /sbin/isdnctrl l3_prot $IF trans /sbin/isdnctrl encap $IF syncppp /sbin/isdnctrl dialmode $IF auto /sbin/ifconfig $IF $IPLOCAL pointopoint $IPREMOTE -arp -broadcast /sbin/ipppd /dev/ippp0 user $ACCOUNT $IPLOCAL:$IPREMOTE To start this at boot time, make it executable and append the following to /etc/rc.d/rc.local: if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.isdn ]; then . /etc/rc.d/rc.isdn fi The ipppd command gets its parameters passed through a file, /etc/ppp/ioptions: -ac -bsdcomp debug defaultroute ipcp-accept-local ipcp-accept-remote mru 1524 mtu 1500 noipdefault -pc useifip -vj -vjccomp #idle 360 #persistent Do NOT specify +pap or +chap in this file. This specifies the authentication that ipppd should use for an INCOMING client. If you were to use this to connect to your ISP, ipppd would wait for the ISP to authenticate itself using the specified protocol. It is important to emphasize that every special character, thus every character that is not [a-ZA-Z0-9] and '_' should be escaped by preceding it with a '\'-character. Thus 'e!b$l+' would become 'e\!b\$l\+'. Try it if you are having troubles ! Finally, create /etc/ppp/ip-down.local to handle the shutdown of the interface: #!/bin/sh /sbin/ifconfig $1 down sleep 1 /sbin/ifconfig $1 10.0.0.2 pointopoint This is to handle some problems with routes on shutdowns. Anyone know of a clean(er) solution ?

If your ISP uses PAP or CHAP, create a file /etc/ppp/pap-secrets or /etc/ppp/chap-secrets. Its format is: #client server secret IP your_login * your_pass *

Not really related to ISDN, but a lot of people forget this step (too eager to try out all the stuff they typed in above ? :-)). Anyway, you need to configure the DNS, by creating a file /etc/resolv.conf: domain your_domain_of_your_isp nameserver your_primary_nameserver nameserver your_secondary_nameserver

Before you can run a (shell)script, it must be set executable. Be sure that you set the permissions so that other users cannot see the passwords stored in the files. If you want other users to be able to dial in, you might want to consider using sudo. You might want to do the following: chmod u+rw og-rwx -r /etc/ppp chmod u+x /etc/rc.d/rc.isdn /etc/ppp/ip.down-local /usr/local/bin/isdn

Finally, you can write a little wrapper to start and stop the ISDN connection. I've put this as /usr/local/bin/isdn: #!/bin/bash case $1 in (on|start) /sbin/isdnctrl dial ippp0 ;; (off|stop) /sbin/isdnctrl hangup ippp0 ;; (info|status) /sbin/isdnctrl list ippp0 ;; (*) echo "Usage: isdn on|off|info|start|stop|status" esac Then if /usr/local/bin is in your PATH, you can easily dial in with isdn on and hangup with isdn off.

Web Support no official Linux support yet

Authentication text-based / PAP Extra options noccp Nameservers 62.112.0.7, 194.88.127.7 NTP-server ntp.antw.online.be, ntp.brus.online.be, ntp.gent.online.be Web Support no official Linux support yet

Authentication text-based Extra options proxyarp Nameservers 193.74.208.135, 193.74.208.65, 193.121.171.135 Web Support

Authentication CHAP Nameservers 194.119.232.3, 194.119.232.2 NTP-server ntp.pi.be Web Support (Ping)

Authentication PAP Extra options defaultroute Nameservers 195.238.2.21, 195.238.2.22 NTP-server ntp.skynet.be Web Support

Authentication text-based ? Nameservers 212.35.2.1, 212.35.2.2 NTP-server ntp.tiscalinet.be Web Support no official Linux support yet

Authentication PAP Nameservers 194.7.1.4, 194.7.15.70 Web , Support no official support yet

Authentication text-based / PAP Nameservers 195.74.193.12, 194.134.0.12 Web Support no official Linux support yet

Authentication CHAP Nameservers 212.233.1.34, 212.233.2.34 Web Support

Authentication PAP Nameservers 194.109.6.66, 194.109.9.99 NTP-server ntp.xs4all.be Web Support

Authentication CHAP Nameservers 212.8.180.122, 212.8.180.126 NTP-server ntp.yucom.be Web Support no official Linux support yet

DHCP was designed to make life easier, and most of the times it does ;) More information to set up your DHCP client can be found at: and a list of Frequently Asked Questions from the infamous document of John Wobus at which describes everything you need to know. Along with the information in the Cable-Modem HOWTO (). Lots of people want to connect a whole network to their cablemodem, that's not a problem. You'll need IP-Masquerading and make sure the interface (that speaks to the cablemodem) has the right MAC-address !! Another solution (in case of problems) is to reset your cablemodem.

Automatic proxy http://pac.telenet.be:8080 HTTP proxy export http_proxy="http://proxy.telenet.be:8080/" NTP-server ntp.telenet.be Web Support no official support yet More information

NTP-server time.chello.be Web Support no official support yet More information

Web Support

Web Support

Web Support no official support yet More information

More information can be found in the User Group HOWTO A complete list of Linux User Groups is at: and at:

Address

Van Luppenstraat 70 B-2018 Antwerp

Phone +32 (0)3 218 63 54 Email alug@pandora.be Web Meetings In ACCB (HVR), Herentalsebaan 212 te Deurne Contact Armand Verachtert alug@pandora.be

Address

Building F, room 218 Vrije Universiteit Brussel Pleinlaan 2 B-1050 Brussel

Email info@linux.rave.org Web Mailinglist

Address

Avenue Alexandre Galopin, 2 B-1040 Brussels

Email information@bxlug.be Web Contact Jérôme Warnier information@bxlug.be Mailinglist

Email lug_charleroi@caramail.com Web Mailinglist

Email cfk@kahosl.be Web

Email hcc-limburg@iname.com Web Contact Stijn Croes stijncroes@hotmail.com

Address

Diegemstraat 61 B-1930 Zaventem

Email Michel.Cuppens@village.uunet.be Web Contact Ivo Jossart cartoonlover@pi.be or Michel Cuppens Michel.Cuppens@village.uunet.be

Address

Milcampslaan 101 B-1040 Schaarbeek

Phone +32 (0)2 582 66 50 Fax +32 (0)2 582 66 50 Email info@iguana.be Web

Address

5F218 (building F) Pleinlaan 2 B-1050 Brussels

Phone +32 (0)2 629 33 56 Fax +32 (0)2 629 33 89 Email ig@igwe.vub.ac.be Web

Address

KHLeuven departement Rega Lokaal 004 St-Maartenstraat 55d B-3000 Leuven,

Email isw@student.khleuven.be Web Extra Exclusive to KHLeuven students

Email info@l2u.iguana.be Web Meetings First and third thursday every month in Freinetschool De Zevensprong, Vital Decosterstraat 67, B-3000 Leuven Mailinglist

Email f.berger@student.ulg.ac.be Web

Email fvos@vosberg.be Web Mailinglist Contact Frederik Vos fvos@vosberg.be

Address

Louvain-la-neuve Linux User Group Place des paniers 5/014 B-1348 Louvain-La-neuve

Phone +32 (0)10 454 761 Email lln@udev.org Web Contact Benjamin Henrion benjamin.henrion@linuxbe.org

Email info@lugwv.be Web

Address

Filii Lamberti Universiteitslaan 1 B-3590 Diepenbeek

Email helpdesk@lumumba.luc.ac.be Web Mailinglist minordomo@lumumba.luc.ac.be

Email stephane.wirtel@belgacom.net Web

Email info@namurlug.org Web

Address

Kruipstraat 14 B-1850 Grimbergen

Phone +32 (0)11 275 898 Fax +32 (0)11 270 389 Email info@ota.be Web Contact Jan Vanhercke jan.vanhercke@c-cure.be

Address

29, Boulevard Audent B-6000 Charleroi

Email info@os3b.org Web Meetings Every thursday evening and saturday afternoon. Mailinglist

Email info@ouverture.be Web Mailinglist

Address

PC Aktief Computerclub

Web Meetings Second tuesday every month in 'Ons Huis', Schoolstraat 270, B-9100 Sint-Niklaas Contact Johan De Baere webmaster@pcaktief.be

Address

Kleinhoefstraat 4 B-2440 Geel

Email sin@sin.khk.be Web

Contact Tina gebruikers vraagtina@digibel.org Web Meetings Hof van Rieth, Molenlei 68, B-2640 Mortsel Mailinglist mailinglist@tina.kangaroot.net

Address

Holleberg Schapenstraat 37, lokaal 91 97 B-3000 Leuven

Mail-address

Residentie Vinckenbosch Parkstraat 137-139, flat 305 B-3000 Leuven

Email ulyssis@ulyssis.org Web Extra Only for KULeuven students and KULeuven personnel

Email TeeCee@WOLF-Mechelen.be Web

Address

Krijgslaan 281 S9 B-9000 Gent

Phone +32 (0)9 264 47 51 Email info@zeus.rug.ac.be Web Comment Restricted to RUG students

The Linux Documentation Project contains worldwide lists of Linux businesses, Linux Consultants HOWTO and V.A.R. HOWTO, and can be found at: .

Address

Avenue du Pesage, 31-33 B-1050 Brussels

Phone +32 (0)2 646 00 76 Email sales@adoc-services.com Web

Address

Dr. Jacobsstraat 3 B-2570 Duffel

Phone +32 (0)15 323 619 Fax +32 (0)15 323 790 Contact jeff.verheyen@ampersant.be Web Type of support Installation, configuration, support, (onsite) maintenance, training, webdevelopment. Special expertise 'Astaro Security Linux' partner. Distribution, installation and support for these Linux based firewalls.

Address

Avenue Joseph Wybranlaan 40 B-1070 Brussels

Phone +32 (0)2 529 59 91 Fax +32 (0)2 529 59 92 Email info@arafox.com Web

Address

Boulevard Général Michel 1E B-6000 Charleroi

Phone +32 (0)71 270 389 Email info@aragne.com Web Contact Denis Frère denis.frere@aragne.com Special expertise GNU/Linux services, specially Python and Zope solutions (websites, intranet, Internet connectivity, ...)

Address

Geldenaakse Vest 6 B-3000 Leuven

Phone +32 (0)16 298 045 Fax +32 (0)16 298 046 Email info@ba.be Web Type of support After an onsite installation, we mainly support our customers with SSH remote administration. Most problems are reported by E-mail or by the inhouse-developped webbased supportsystem. This doesn't mean that once in a while a supportcall comes in. Special expertise Security, systemadministration and setups, security (firewalling, tigerteaming, VPN, etc.) Networkdesign, wireless networking, Troubleshooting, product development, etc. Please visit http://www.ba.be for more info.

Address

Alfons Jeurissenstraat 53 B-3500 Hasselt

Phone +32 (0)474 91 55 61 Email info@consultux.be Web

Address

Tiensestraat 243/3 B-3000 Leuven

Phone +32 (0)472 689 497 Fax +32 (0)16 29 99 32 Email info@coresequence.com Web Contact Machtelt Garrels sales@coresequence.com Special expertise Consultancy: disaster recovery, troubleshooting. Training: Dutch/French/English speaking trainers.

Address

Henneaulaan 366 B-1930 Zaventem

Phone +32 (0)2 718 53 33 Fax +32 (0)706 53 306 Type of support support on networking, installation, hardware maintenance, Red Hat certified reseller Special expertise Red Hat RHCE

Address

Av. Van Goidtsnoven 33 B-1180 Uccle

Email webmaster@dconnect.be Web

Address

Oude Leuvensebaan 57 B-3460 Bekkevoort

Phone +32 (0)473 269 112 Fax +32 (0)13 55 66 99 Email info@digibel.be Web Contact Joan Lavrijs joan@digibel.be Type of support Digibel (since 1995) uses its competence in Open Source software to deliver solutions, consultancy, development, remote administration, training and support with a strong focus on security. All our consultants have been using Linux since 1995 and have extensive Open Source experience. Special expertise We maintain the qmail-sql patch in which qmail gets integrated with MySQL or PostgreSQL databases. Our unique key product is the SUS (Security Update Service) in which we intensively manage the security of servers. Closely related to SUS are our high quality VPN/Firewall/Router-solutions. We also deliver virtually all kind of company-servers (file-,web-,fax-,mail-,name-,print-,database-,.. servers). We have acquired a special expertise with the Red Hat distributions.

Address

Industriepark Zenneveld Vaucampslaan 42 B-1654 Huizingen

Phone +32 (0)2 362 55 55 Fax +32 (0)2 362 55 99 Email info@dolmen.be Web

Address

European Erasmus Business & Innovation Center Joseph Wybranlaan 40 B-1070 Brussels

Phone +32 (0)2 529 59 41 Fax +32 (0)2 529 59 54 Email info@dsimprove.be Web

Address

Jan Van Harcourtlaan 7 B-3200 Aarschot

Phone +32 (0)16 565 708 Fax +32 (0)16 569 963 Email info@emmo.be Web

Address

Luikersteenweg 65 B-3500 Hasselt

Phone +32 (0)11 214 911 Fax +32 (0)11 220 419 Email info@fks.be Web

Address

Hessenstraatje 20 loft 1.1 B-2000 Antwerp

Phone +32 (0)3 234 96 96 Fax +32 (0)3 234 96 97 Email info@glasshouse.be Web

Address

Korte Vuldersstraat 30 B-8000 Brugge

Phone +32 (0)50 674 512 Fax +32 (0)50 342 623 Email info@grmbl.com Web

Address

Rue de Prague 61 B-1060 Brussels

Web

Address

Square Victoria Regina 1 B-1210 Brussels

Phone +32 (0)2 225 33 33 Fax +32 (0)2 225 24 73 Email blueline@be.ibm.com Web Contact Sam Versluys sam_versluys@be.ibm.com

Address

Cyriel Verschaevelaan 12 B-2980 Zoersel

Phone +32 (0)477 513 987 Email info@ipng.be Web Special expertise IPnG focuses on Open Source software development.

Address

Grote Steenweg 91 B-2600 Berchem (Antwerp)

Phone +32 (0)3 286 17 17 Fax +32 (0)3 281 23 49 Email info@kangaroot.net Web Contact Peter Dens peter@kangaroot.net

Address

Borkelstraat 2/4 B-2900 Schoten

Phone +32 (0)3 685 39 81 Fax +32 (0)3 293 33 43 Email hello@linugen.com Web

Address

Prins Albertstraat 35 B-8310 Brugge

Phone +32 (0)494 607 037 Fax +32 (0)50 364 341 Web Contact Jurgen Defurne jurgen.defurne@pandora.be

Address

Vaartkom 11 B-3000 Leuven

Phone +32 (0)16 309 666 Fax +32 (0)16 309 644 Email info@mind.be Web Contact Peter Vandenabeele peter.vandenabeele@mind.be Type of support Device drivers, porting to new platforms, development (fixed price), set-up of development environment, on-site support (outsourcing), architecture study and training. Special expertise Mind uses Open Source software (Linux, RTLinux, RTAI, eCos, Wonka, gcc, gdb, etc.) to set up basic infrastructure for new embedded systems based on various embedded processors: ARM, StrongARM, XScale, PowerPC, MIPS, x86, ...

Address

Astridlaan 199 B-8310 Brugge

Phone +32 (0)475 311 650 Email ldp@minotaur-solutions.com Web Contact Maarten Loose maarten.loose@minotaur-solutions.com

Address

Zwarte Zusterstraat 16 B-3000 Leuven

Phone +32 (0)16 236 342 Fax +32 (0)16 650 497 Email info@neolabs.be Web Contact Maarten Slaets maarten.slaets@neolabs.be

Address

Rue des Palais 44/33 B-1030 Brussels

Email info@opensides.be Phone +32 (0)2 211 34 83 Fax +32 (0)2 218 89 73 Web

Address

Rue de l'autonomie 1 B-1070 Brussels

Email info@phidani.be Phone +32 (0)2 552 06 63 Fax +32 (0)2 522 09 30 Web

Address

Bischoppenhoflaan 289 B-2100 Antwerp

Email info@qbian.com Phone +32 (0)9 328 93 28 Fax +32 (0)9 326 08 88 Web

Email toon@si-lab.com Phone +32 (0)486 149 048 Web Contact Toon Knapen toon@si-lab.com

Address

Knaptandstraat 96-98 B-9100 Sint-Niklaas

Email info@spier.be Phone +32 (0)3 765 90 61 Fax +32 (0)3 765 90 62 Web

Address

Minerva Office Brussels Minervastraat 14b B-1930 Zaventem

Email info@be.stone-it.com Phone +32 (0)2 720 88 35 Fax +32 (0)2 720 51 71 Web Contact Martijn Smit smit@stone-it.com Type of support Stone-IT is a 'one-stop' Linux provider for integrating business environments in which we offer: Linux Consulting, Linux Solutions, Linux Support and Linux Education. Special expertise Stone-IT offers high quality Linux expertise and can develop, test and implement Linux in several different business environments such as all kinds of servers (File-/Web-/Name-/Mail-/Print servers), as well as Clustering, VPN, Storage, Firewalls & Routers. Our support consists of Pro Active Monitoring, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Besides having trainers being a Red Hat Certified Engineer we offer Distribution Independent Education.

Address

Zijpstraat 14 B-2570 Duffel

Email info@sos.be Phone +32 (0)15 310 271 Fax +32 (0)15 310 381 Web

Address

Hulststraat 8 B-3290 Diest

Email info@sygmanet.be Phone +32 (0)13 312 203 Fax +32 (0)13 312 203 Web

Address

Rue de l'Aqueduc, 83 B-1050 Brussels

Email info@theridion.com Phone +32 (0)2 539 32 28 Fax +32 (0)2 539 19 54 Web Contact Renaud Dans renaud.dans@theridion.com

Address

Lambermontlaan 148 B-1030 Brussels

Email info@uwyn.com Phone +32 (0)2 245 41 06 Web

Address

Rue E. Solvay 29 A B-4000 Liège

Phone +32 (0)4 253 00 59 Fax +32 (0)4 253 00 49 Email staff@virgoplus.com Web Contact Bruno Mairlot bruno@virgoplus.com Type of support By phone, email, or remote networked administration, inhouse, onsite Special expertise Installation, configuration, administration of Linux, internet connection, intranet developpment, firewalls, samba, netatalk, firewalls, proxys, DNS, web server (Apache), mod_perl, MySQL, Gui interface developpment (GTK+). We have acquired a special expertise with the Red Hat distributions.

Belgian HOWTO be.comp.os.linux FAQ Belgian LUGS LinuxBelgium.net

Nederlandstalige Linux homepage _the_ Linux source for Flanders and the Netherlands Nederlandstalige Linux Documentatie Project most Linux HOWTOs translated to Dutch Linux Support Website EToS: Educatieve Toepassingen van Open Software A Flemish website about Open Standards Beginnen met Linux Installatie Handleiding RedHat 5.2 Configure.help in het Nederlands Cursus Linux voor Informaticabeheer

LinuxBe.Org Association Electronique LIBRE Belgian HOWTO in french linux-france.org

Freshmeat at UPC Belgium (Chello,TVD) Linuxberg at Wallonie Internet Linuxberg at Online Linuxberg at Pandora (Telenet) Linux Gazette at Belnet Linux Gazette at Linuxbe LinuxFocus Linux France

The most important collection of Linux information on the net. Please if you encounter erroneous information in one of them, do contact the author. Only that way it will be corrected and we all stand together ;) HOWTO's at K.U.Leuven HOWTO's at Double-Barrel HOWTO's at SIN HOWTO's at Linuxbe.org

As Dutch is less wide-spread, it is the least supported. But work is being done to resolve this ;) (and maybe *you* can help ?!?) French and German translations obviously are already taken care of.

A succesfull initiative is making progress, but there's still a lot to do. If you want to help, start translating and send it there. Check .

French translations of HOWTO's can be found at:

German translations of HOWTO's can be found at:

Official Mirror kernel-sources at Belnet Official Mirror kernel-sources at UPC Belgium (Chello,TVD) Kernel-sources at Tiscalinet

Red Hat Mirrors Official Mirror at Belnet Official Mirror at Easynet Mirror at Pandora (Telenet) Mirror at UPC Belgium (Chello,TVD) Debian Official Mirror at Belnet Official Mirror at KULeuven Official Mirror at Pandora (Telenet) Official Mirror at Easynet Official Mirror at Tiscalinet Mirror at Skynet Mirror at spnet Mandrake Mirror at Belnet Mirror at UPC Belgium (Chello,TVD) SuSE Mirror at Belnet Mirror at Pandora (Telenet)

Mirrors at Belnet Mirrors at UPC Belgium (Chello,TVD) Mirrors at Pandora (Telenet)

be.comp.os.linux at Google

The fastest medium to get support is IRC, but beware. Because IRC is rather anonymous it's also easy to deceive people. On IRCnet there's a channel called #linux.be that is closely related to bcol and the Belgian Linux-scene. The channel is still small, but it surely will grow in time. To get help in English, there's only one place #linux. Also Dalnet has a #linux.be channel.