October 2004 - main

Christmas meal?
by Jonathan McDowell 13 Dec '04

13 Dec '04

As Mark has pointed out, we're a bit short of meetings - the regular 2nd Thursday meet in Norwich seems to be the only regular event. So, does anyone fancy a Christmas meal? I'm in Norwich, but am happy to travel and would consider driving (and thus being able to give a few lifts) if we could find a location that would help enable more people to come. J. -- Web [ Know Thy User. ] site: http:// [ ] Made by www.earth.li/~noodles/ [ ] HuggieTag 0.0.22

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Kit Swap meet?
by Jonathan McDowell 04 Nov '04

04 Nov '04

Another meeting suggestion: How about a kit swap meet? Everyone brings their old junk they want to get rid of for free and we bring some install CDs too perhaps and either we just swap junk or we combine it up to build full machines that we can then give to charity or people can take away? Possibly January, after Christmas when people have got shiny new kit and have old stuff cluttering up the place? J. -- ] http://www.earth.li/~noodles/ [] God is REAL. (unless declared [ ] PGP/GPG Key @ the.earth.li [] integer) [ ] via keyserver, web or email. [] [ ] RSA: 4DC4E7FD / DSA: 5B430367 [] [

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Wierd problem with G++
by Stuart Bailey 01 Nov '04

01 Nov '04

Hi, I'm trying to investigate a weird mathematical problem I've come across using G++. I only have G++ on SuSE 9.1, and so I'm unable to test the code on other systems, kernels etc. I would be grateful if someone could compile and run this code and let me have the results: #include <iostream> #include <math.h> int main() { float l = 45.4567; float d = floorf(l); float m = floorf((l - d) * 60.); float s = (((l - d) * 60.) - m) * 60.; std::cout << "l = " << l << std::endl; std::cout << "d = " << d << std::endl; std::cout << "l-d = " << l - d << std::endl; std::cout << "(l-d) * 60.0 = " << (l - d) * 60. << std::endl; std::cout << "m = " << m << std::endl; std::cout << "s = " << s << std::endl; float r = (s / 3600.) + (m / 60.) + d; std::cout << "reconstructed= " << r << std::endl; return 0; } Basically, I getting an odd value printed for l - d (it comes out as 0.456699 and not 0.4567 as expected). Many thanks, Stuart. -- --------------------------------------- Stuart Bailey BSc (hons) CEng CITP MBCS LinuSoft (Proprietor) (01953) 601294 (07778) 383739 http://www.linusoft.co.uk ---------------------------------------- ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, please email postmaster(a)linusoft.co.uk immediately. You should not copy or use this email or attachments for any purpose nor disclose their contents to any other person. NO BINDING CONTRACT WILL RESULT FROM THIS E-MAIL UNTIL SUCH TIME AS A WRITTEN DOCUMENT IS SIGNED ON BEHALF OF LinuSoft. LinuSoft cannot accept any responsibility for the completeness or accuracy of this message as it has been transmitted over public networks. *************************************************************************

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RE: [ALUG] wireless routers
by Karl Foley 31 Oct '04

31 Oct '04

> -----Original Message----- > From: main-admin(a)lists.alug.org.uk [mailto:main-admin@lists.alug.org.uk] > On Behalf Of Stan Fraser > Would like to share my internet connection at home between 1. Linux PC, 2. > WinXP Pro PC 3. Laptop WinXP Home (but probably not for much longer). I > was > thinking of getting a Wireless router so I can use my laptop in the living > Which router would anyone suggest, price range up to say £80. I'm using a LinkSys WRT54G here which works great. Best thing is the router runs Linux which you can modify. I'm using WiFi-Box from: https://sourceforge.net/projects/wifi-box/ It adds quite a few features to the basic firmware including: Better firewall with more port mapping Built-in VPN server Able to adjust output power I noticed that LinkSys have just released the WRT54GS which claims to run about 38% faster than standard 54G.

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Syleham meeting
by John Woodard 30 Oct '04

30 Oct '04

Next meeting at Syleham will be Sunday 28th November 2004 2:00 - 6:00pm. Bring kit if you want to, bar will be open. Meeting venue page here http://www.alug.org.uk/venues/syleham.html Cheers, BJ

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Pro-Linux report sexed down by government
by Nick Daniels 29 Oct '04

29 Oct '04

Hope this is not to much off topic but it seems relevant: The Office of Government Commerce's report into the viability of using open-source software in the public sector was toned down in its praise of Linux security before release, silicon.com has discovered. A copy of the report, seen by silicon.com with amendments still visible, shows changes were made to the government's stance on the particular advantages of Linux versus proprietary software when it comes to security. The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) is the Treasury office charged with improving public sector procurement and project management in the UK. The pre-release version of the report read: "Linux would appear to offer numerous strengths in terms of security." In the final version this became: "There is no definitive answer on the relative security merits of open or closed-source software." The pre-release version also described the visibility of Linux code as a boon to its security, saying: "The structure of the Linux operating system is regarded as inherently more secure than that of Microsoft Windows... The open-source code can be viewed in its entirety and in the event of a problem the worldwide Linux community can act to resolve any issue with urgency." The final version, however, is more muted. "While some argue that many eyes lead to fewer security flaws, others argue that those wishing to exploit, or tamper with, open-source code have an easier time than with closed source code," it reads. http://management.silicon.com/government/0,39024677,39125400,00.htm Regards Nick

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wireless routers
by Stan Fraser 28 Oct '04

28 Oct '04

Would like to share my internet connection at home between 1. Linux PC, 2. WinXP Pro PC 3. Laptop WinXP Home (but probably not for much longer). I was thinking of getting a Wireless router so I can use my laptop in the living room. Which router would anyone suggest, price range up to say £80. Also is it possible to get an old ATI All in Wonder card to show the TV? I'm using Suse 9.1 or would I be better swapping the card into the window box and the card from the window box into the Linux box? Thanks in advance for all the help

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bye bye boot sector
by BenEBoy 27 Oct '04

27 Oct '04

I turned my computer on today but it stopped whilst trying to load lilo (black screen with 'LI' at the top left. It usually says 'LILO 2.whatever). After discovering the recovery disk section of the debian install CD I managed to get everything working again, but was wondering if someone might be able to suggest why it happened (and what I should do now)? I'm running a reasonably up to date sarge (apt-get upgraded last week) and haven't booted into windows for ages so I don't think it can be anything to do with that). The harddrive is about 8 months old and it isn't making any funny noises). Any suggestions please? cheers, BenE

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Hard disk error
by Richard Lewis 26 Oct '04

26 Oct '04

Hello ALUG, I've just added a GB of RAM to my server. The BIOS found it alright but something strange happened when I booted up (its Debian sarge): it took about 2 or 3 minutes to start the syslogd (no disk activity or anything). Then once it had booted things got even worse! $ free -m indicates that the new RAM is working but it seems that hdb2 (which is my /var mount point) will not mount! In my /etc/fstab I have /dev/hda2 none swap sw 0 0 /dev/hda1 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-re 0 1 /deb/hdb1 /home ext3 defaults 0 2 /deb/hdb2 /var ext3 defaults 0 2 and when I issue # mount /dev/hdb2 I get: hdb: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error } hdb: dma_intr: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }, LBAsect=39067264, sector=39067264 end_request: I/O error, dev hdb, sector 39067264 JBD: IO error reading journal superblock EXT3-fs: error loading journal. mount: wring fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hdb2, or too many mounted file systems and I can't seem to be able to do anything about because the machine hasn't connecting to the network (maybe it needs something from /var...) so I can't install hdparm. (It can't do anything which requires stuff from /var like run its web server, database server, apt, dhcp-client, ...) Any ideas whats wrong with it? Cheers, Richard -- Richard Lewis richardlewis(a)fastmail.co.uk

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FTGH: Various computing bits.
by Jonathan McDowell 26 Oct '04

26 Oct '04

I don't know if any of this is of interest to people, but if it is please take it off my hands! I'll keep a list with fuller details of the bit and what's gone at: http://the.earth.li/~noodles/junk.html Apple Mac LC475 Intel PII-233 + LX motherboard Full tower AT case Intel Celeron 266 Slot 1 Athlon 800Mhz + mobo 32 port 10Mb/s hub HP Colorado T3000 tape drive + FC-20 controller card PC Chips M747 AT style Slot 1 mobo J. -- If it was easy, the hardware people would take care of it.

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