December 2003 - main

Re: [ALUG] Linux friendly external modem, and ISPs
by adam＠thebowery.co.uk 09 Dec '03

09 Dec '03

On Mon, Dec 08, 2003 at 10:10:00PM +0000, Chris Walker wrote: > > I've just retrieved mine from the cupboard and it's not exactly rocket > science is it? ;-) > > One in socket and one out flying lead. Remind me not to let you loose on one > of my machines again :-) If you saw the rats nest that was lurking under my desk at the time I am sure you would have been more forgiving :p -- jabberid = quinophex(a)jabber.earth.li AFFS || http://www.affs.org.uk/ || Not a filesystem

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Re: [ALUG] Domain name (was Linux friendly external modem, and ISPs)
by Dave Briggs 09 Dec '03

09 Dec '03

Thanks for all your comments. I have another quick question, though it is more a matter of taste than anything... Since I am leaving my job at the University shortly, I want to get myself sorted with a new permanent email addy, and want to register a domain name. The one I wanted was to be ww.tyndale.net, or some other acceptable suffix. I like the name as it's firstly the name of the street where I live, I like the historical connection, and it's also a nice short word. dave(a)tyndale.net - sounds lovely, doesn't it? Trouble is, the only suffixes free are .info or (ugh) .biz. The latter is deffo out, but I am totally undecided as to whether tyndale.info is any good or not. If I decide not, then it's straight back to the drawing board... Does anyone have opinions on this? I could do with some ideas.... Dave On Dec 8 2003, Graham Trott wrote: > On Monday 08 December 2003 10:21, Rob Kendrick wrote: > > > Thanks. Had a quick search on Dabs, just to get a gauge on prices, > > > and the US Robotics one is £75 - rather more than I thought I would > > > have to spend. Are the £35 odd quid ones not worth bothering with? > > > > Not IME. The USR ones will give you better performance, and will last > > you forever. Also, I've had bad experiences with cheap external modems > > - some of them really are Windows-only. Boggle. So be careful what you > > buy if you're going for a cheap one. > > Yes. Most USB ones are basically external WinModems (I didn't know that > till recently). > > Though I agree external is better - nice flashing lights to look at, too > - if your WinModem is Intel or Conexant you shouldn't have too much > trouble. The latter have drivers at http://www.linuxant.com/drivers/ and > I was able to get an Intel WinModem to work pretty easily using > downloaded drivers. BT is unpredictable in its provision of broadband so > if there's the remotest chance of getting it soon you might be better > getting the internal to work. > >

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Linux friendly external modem, and ISPs
by Dave Briggs 09 Dec '03

09 Dec '03

I am getting fed up with having to use Windows whenever I want to read my mail, browse the web etc - it's becoming a real pain in the backside. Having totally failed to find anything of any use on getting my winmodem to work with Linux, I have decided to give in and buy myself a nice proper external modem for christmas. Any recommendations? Also, I need to sign up with a decent ISP, and would like to use one that offers a flat rate monthly fee, though I can't have broadband. Does anyone have a personal favourite here? Thanks Dave

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Hello there
by Roberto Puricelli 09 Dec '03

09 Dec '03

Hello everybody, My name is Rob and I live in Norwich. I work for a global financial institution as an e-support coach, which basically means I travel the length & breadth of the UK, training and coaching our staff and financial advisers on how to use our trading software. In the past I was mainly involved in retail although I spent some time with Gateway, the American PC manufacturer, in their business division. I found ALUG in Linux Format magazine and thought I'd sign up. I am a very green newbie to Linux! I've often pondered giving it a go and after talking to a former work colleague who is Linux crazy, I thought "What the hell, I have nothing to lose", and promptly went out and bought a couple of books that both came with Red Hat 9. I installed it onto my laptop and within about 20 minutes or so, I was up and running. Since then, I've just messed around with it and dipped in to the books occasionally. It takes a little getting used to after years of Windows usage, but it's like a pair of new shoes...familiar, if a little uncomfortable to start with. I have to admit that since then, I've trawled the net for information and stuff, and have ended up downloading many new distributions such as Slackware, Knoppix, Peanut, Morphix, DamnSmallLinux and LNX-BBC to name but a few. I've also gone a bit crazy and downloaded loads of apps and stuff. All I really want to do is get a real feel for the OS and the whole Open Source community and what it has to offer. Although I don't see myself abandoning Windows, I do see myself using Linux to do all the things that are too darn expensive to do on Windows, such as Web Design etc. You see, I have no programming ability whatsoever and I have yet to find a web design program that wasn't either difficult to use, severely lacking in features or didn't cost the same as the Gross National Product of a small European nation! With Open Source, it looks like I can be more creative and productive at significantly less cost than with Windows. Sadly, I have yet to discover a really good and stable music sequencing package (a la Cubase) as I am a part time musician. I have just downloaded Rosegarden 4 and will give that a go soon. Anyway, enough of my ramblings. I'd love to hear from fellow newbie's, and I might just be able to pop along to the meeting on the 11th if work commitments allow. Hope to see some of you soon, Rob.

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Re: [ALUG] Linux friendly external modem, and ISPs
by Wayne Stallwood 08 Dec '03

08 Dec '03

On Monday 08 December 2003 18:08, Chris Walker wrote: > There's a company local to Norwich called Grey Electronics that sell modem > protectors. I have one around here somewhere but I've been a bit lax in not > buying one to protect my ADSL router. Reject any type that doesn't filter mains as well. (or at least have a decent earth connection) Why ? Erm umpteen zillion volt lightening bolt (or just a transient induced voltage) will need to be going to ground. unless filter is the size of a house, or has a decent earth it won't work ! I've seen modem filters that are just a box that goes in the line, unlikely to do very much as your modem and computer will still be a far more attractive path to ground. Oh and also reject any line filter that doesn't say it can cope with ADSL (if that's what you have) Some of them are a bit of a bandpass filter as well and that will upset ADSL unless the filter has been designed to let it through. Most modem deaths are an induced voltage picked up by the line from a near strike, more often happens in the sticks where a higher percentage of lines are in the air. If you get a direct strike, you will be lucky to find your modem, let alone use it again. Never really understood why BT don't just put a smallish spark gap at the point the line enters the house, tie it to a convenient ground. Won't stop the transients, but would stop the "Ok so who replaced all my phones with charred lumps of plastic during the lightning storm last night" That I saw a few times when I used to fill out technical insurance reports at a previous job.

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Windows-to-Linux migration support articles from IBM.
by Syd Hancock 08 Dec '03

08 Dec '03

Windows-to-Linux migration support articles from IBM. Looks like a useful and detailed resource. http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-roadmap.html Syd

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Mandrake Community Twiki
by Syd Hancock 08 Dec '03

08 Dec '03

Heaps of Mandrake support and advice here http://mandrake.vmlinuz.ca/bin/view/Main/WebHome

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USB/SCSI fun in 2.6.0
by MJ Ray 08 Dec '03

08 Dec '03

I'm having the following problem with my scanner under 2.6.0 It connects through SCSI and a USB bridge. I do the following steps: 1. Power everything up; 2. modprobe usb-storage 3. modprobe sg 4. sane-find-scanner runs fine and can see the scanner; 5. scanimage locks the machine up hard -- sometimes magic SysRq gets me out, sometimes it doesn't. After a reboot, I see no errors in the syslog. Anyone know how to debug this, or a better configuration? I'd really appreciate it. Meanwhile, I'm going to try patching the kernel up to the latest. -- MJR/slef My Opinion Only and possibly not of any group I know. Please http://remember.to/edit_messages on lists to be sure I read http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ gopher://g.towers.org.uk/ slef(a)jabber.at Creative copyleft computing services via http://www.ttllp.co.uk/

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Re: [ALUG] Linux friendly external modem, and ISPs
by adam＠thebowery.co.uk 08 Dec '03

08 Dec '03

On Mon, Dec 08, 2003 at 06:08:22PM +0000, Chris Walker wrote: > > There's a company local to Norwich called Grey Electronics that sell modem > protectors. I have one around here somewhere but I've been a bit lax in not > buying one to protect my ADSL router. I think it says something that I had one of these and it didn't work very well, but that was down to me managing to plug the wrong cable in at the wrong point and bypassing the protector entirely :) -- jabberid = quinophex(a)jabber.earth.li AFFS || http://www.affs.org.uk/ || Not a filesystem

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Installing Gentoo
by Graham Trott 08 Dec '03

08 Dec '03

I'm installing Gentoo on a VIA 800MHz mini-ITX, following the excellent instructions on the website. However, at the crucial point of entering the new environment, the following command fails: cdimage gentoo # chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash Illegal instruction Everything seems to be in the right place; any ideas why this might be happening? Have I made an error in assuming the CPU (calls itself an Ezra) is a 686-class? -- GT

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