February 2007 - main

Re: [ALUG] Strange colour effects with graphics card. (Addendum)
by Barry Samuels 25 Feb '07

25 Feb '07

On 25/02/07 14:50:07, Greg Thomas wrote: > On 25/02/07, Barry Samuels <bjsamuels(a)beenthere-donethat.org.uk> > wrote: >> I thought I'd save a screenshot showing the odd effects when they >> next presented themselves which I did. >> >> I found, when viewing the image when the screen display was >> 'normal', that the saved image was, itself, 'normal'. > > Sounds like a device driver problem; have you get the latest, and if > so, can you revert to an earlier version? Yes and probably no in that order. I have, however, installed nVidia's own drivers and I shall see how that works. If the strange effects don't re-appear then I shall assume it was a bug in the driver. > Take a screen shot with a camera next time. I will if it re-appears. -- Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

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Strange colour effects with graphics card.
by Barry Samuels 25 Feb '07

25 Feb '07

I am running Debian Etch/Testing and using the xserver-xorg-video-nv driver for my (relatively new) graphics card - a Gainward Bliss 7300LE. The display is, in general use, perfectly acceptable but when restoring the screen after the screensaver has blanked it or switching back from a text console to the X display I sometimes get a very peculiar effect. It is almost as if parts of the display appear as a negative - white becomes black, yellow becomes blue etc. Any text appears very broken to the point that it is illegible. This only affects parts of some areas of colours i.e. an area of yellow will appear blue in the top half but yellow in the bottom half but another area of white will appear black all over. Have you ever seen a little Tux with green feet? If I then switch to a text console and then back to the X display it nearly always rights itself although sometimes two or more switches are necessary. It cannot be produced on demand. Switching consoles sometimes has no detrimental effect. Can anyone suggest a reason for this and, hopefully, a cure? -- Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

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Fw: [ALUG] PHP/MySQL help please
by Tony 24 Feb '07

24 Feb '07

Big thank you to David Reynolds and MJ Ray for their help. I've got the script working. It was the insert syntax that I had wrong. I also need to add slashes before each field is inserted and the only way I could do it with my limited PHP/MySQL knowledge is by adding slashes to each field: $title = addslashes($result[title]); $description = addslashes($result[description]); $contact = addslashes($result[contact]); $url = addslashes($result[url]); $email = addslashes($result[email]); mysql_query("INSERT INTO $table2 (title,description,contact,url,email) VALUES('$title','$description','$contact','$url','$email')"); } I'm sure there is an easier way to do it but it works! Just need to tidy the syntax up a bit and be more specific about which resource is connected to. It's kept me out of trouble for the past three days :-)

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Re: PHP/MySQL help please
by Matthew 24 Feb '07

24 Feb '07

Tony wrote: > I have set up four websites for local charities but they want the same > events to appear on all websites. The sites have all been set up using > Joomla and are on the same server but different domains. A common > connection to MySQL is not a problem. > > What I am trying to do is collect data from the MySQL database of the main > site and send it to the other sites using PHP (will use a cron job when I > get the script working). There is only one table that needs to be > transfered. > So you have a single table that needs to be read by multiple clients? Who needs to write to it? > I would prefer to drop the old table and create a new one otherwise deleted > events would stay on the client sites. > > Can anyone help or suggest an easier way of doing it? > Regarding the script, briefly: $table2 = "jos_extcal_events"; /[other stuff snipped, but $table2 hasn't been mentioned until:]/ mysql_query("INSERT INTO $table2"); Am I missing something? That INSERT doesn't look like it actually carries the data you want put in. With respect to other possible solutions: Have you got good reason not to give the different sites access to the master copy of the table? That would be a lot simpler. If you've got enough authority over the MySQL server, you could make a separate database and user for that alone. If you have a single user who has the right permissions on all the databases (read the master, write the slaves) you could do the copy within MySQL, which would keep the PHP simpler. If you have sufficient access to the machine, you could Cron the MySQL statements through the command-line client and do away with PHP completely, which makes the project much simpler and should reduce the overhead of running the update task considerably. If you are copying, dropping the table to lose the old data is only necessary if you change the schema of the master table, otherwise TRUNCATE is simpler (and probably quicker). Bear in mind if you decide to DROP that you will need to CREATE it again, so you either need to hard-code the table schema into your update script or make the script smart enough to construct a CREATE statement based on the schema of the master. The MySQL you want to pass (either through PHP or into the MySQL client) probably looks a little like this: TRUNCATE `db2`.`table_name` ; or if you're dropping: DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `db2`.`table_name` ; CREATE TABLE `db2`.`table_name` ( /[insert column and key declarations]/ ) TYPE = MYISAM ; then (assuming you can get access to both from the same user) INSERT INTO `db2`.`table_name` SELECT * FROM `db1`.`table_name` ; Hope some of that helps. Matthew Holland

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Syleham Kitmeet
by Elisabeth Fosbrooke-Brown 24 Feb '07

24 Feb '07

Good offer, BJ! March 17, 18, 24, or 25? -- sfr

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Simple backup solutions
by Eur Ing Chris Green 24 Feb '07

24 Feb '07

What do others here use to backup data on their machines (if anything!)? I'm looking for something a bit more friendly (and clever) than just tar or rsync but nowhere near as big and complex as backupbuddy or backupPC. So is there anything 'in between'? I'd like a GUI that allows me to choose directories that I want backed up and sets up a regular backup of those directories. Ideally it would allow me to have different 'levels' of backup so that, for example, very important stuff like the company accounts database would be copied offsite and frequently and less important stuff (like say /home) would just be copied to a different hard drive, possible less frequently. I don't want total machine backup, if the machine or a disk expires I'll reinstall, that's only time consuming. All I want to backup is actual data which would be near impossible to rebuild. If there's nothing ready made I'll just write a script using rsync, it wouldn't be too difficult. -- Chris Green

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RE: [ALUG] ALUG library new features
by Tracy Dickerson 24 Feb '07

24 Feb '07

Sounds fabulous. Just what I was thinking when I mentioned it in a earlier post. I will add the books from my store at the weekend. The only trouble is that I have no transport so if someone in Norwich wanted to borrow one of my books, they would have to come and get it somehow. Tracy x -----Original Message----- From: main-bounces(a)lists.alug.org.uk [mailto:main-bounces@lists.alug.org.uk] On Behalf Of Wayne Stallwood Sent: 22 February 2007 20:36 To: ALUG Subject: [ALUG] ALUG library new features Taking on board some of the things mentioned by Tracy regarding the Library I have now added the facility for members to offer their own books for loan. (you are not actually donating them to the library, you keep them on your bookshelf until someone wants to borrow them) As was pointed out on the list there are probably people sitting on useful books who certainly don't want to give them away to the library but would be willing to lend them out if there is some tracking in place. All existing member accounts have been upgraded, if you have an account the library should have already emailed you to tell you this. You should see a few new buttons when you log in (some of which only appear when you have added your first book) Use Add new Item to offer books for loan. When somebody reserves one of your books you will receive an email telling you who wants it. Once you have given the book to them you log in and mark it borrowed with the Item Check Out button. Once the item is returned use the Item Check in button to return it to your collection. You can specify a loan duration if you want and the Library will then alert both the lender and the borrower when books are overdue. The Library still welcomes additions to it's own collection. I want to make it clear at this point, The Librarian (me) and ALUG do not accept any responsibility for books lost. The agreement to safely return the books is between you and the borrower. _______________________________________________ main(a)lists.alug.org.uk http://www.alug.org.uk/ http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/main Unsubscribe? See message headers or the web site above!

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PHP/MySQL help please
by Tony 24 Feb '07

24 Feb '07

I have set up four websites for local charities but they want the same events to appear on all websites. The sites have all been set up using Joomla and are on the same server but different domains. A common connection to MySQL is not a problem. What I am trying to do is collect data from the MySQL database of the main site and send it to the other sites using PHP (will use a cron job when I get the script working). There is only one table that needs to be transfered. The script I have come up with so far is: <?php $db_host = "localhost"; $table1 = "jos_extcal_events"; $table2 = "jos_extcal_events"; $db_name1 = "midsuffo2"; $db_user1 = "user1"; $db_pw1 = "password1"; $db_name2 = "tbrn1"; $db_user2 = "user2"; $db_pw2 = "password2"; $resource1 = mysql_connect($db_host, $db_user1, $db_pw1)or die ('I cannot connect to the database because: ' . mysql_error());; //select query to get all the data from resource 1 mysql_select_db ($db_name1)or die("Unable to select database $db_name1"); $sql = "SELECT * FROM $table1"; $query = mysql_query($sql, $resource1); for ($i=0;$i<($result = mysql_fetch_assoc($query));$i++) //insert data into $resource2 $resource2 = mysql_connect($db_host, $db_user2, $db_pw2)or die ('I cannot connect to the database because: ' . mysql_error());; mysql_select_db ($db_name2)or die("Unable to select database $db_name2"); { mysql_query("INSERT INTO $table2"); } mysql_close($resource1); mysql_close($resource2); ?> Although it runs without error, it doesn't do anything! I would prefer to drop the old table and create a new one otherwise deleted events would stay on the client sites. Can anyone help or suggest an easier way of doing it? Many thanks Tony

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RE: [ALUG] Syleham Kitmeet - Anyone for a frag?
by keith.jamieson＠bt.com 24 Feb '07

24 Feb '07

Keith Watson wrote: > Continuing the April Fools theme anyone fancy a quick deathmatch via > OpenArena <http://openarena.ws/>? > > We've been playing it at lunchtimes on some old kit here at work and it > runs a treat. Have also loaded it onto my Ubuntu Edgy Eft set-up and it > also runs fine on that. > I have been playing cube and sauerbraten for a while. Just downloaded openarena and cannot get it to run. I get this error message: ...loading libGL.so.1: Calling SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_VIDEO)... SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_VIDEO) passed. QGL_Init: Can't load libGL.so.1 from /etc/ld.so.conf or current dir: failed ----- CL_Shutdown ----- RE_Shutdown( 1 ) ----------------------- Sys_Error: GLimp_Init() - could not load OpenGL subsystem In fact libGL.so.1 is in usr/lib and ld.so.conf has a /usr/lib line in it. Any clues as to what is wrong? ___________________________ Ian Its the path, if the path is not specified in the conf file, you will need to add the lib path to the user who is running the process. Even if its a cronjod then that user needs this. HTH Keith

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looking for webcam
by David Reynolds 23 Feb '07

23 Feb '07

Hi, I'm looking to test a particular model/range of webcam with a piece of software called Delicious Library [1] and wondered if anyone had one that I could borrow / buy for not much cash to see if it works. The type I'm looking for is a Logitech 4000 / Zoom. Basically from what I read it needs to be a Logitech with manual zoom. If anyone can help, it'd be much appreciated. Thanks, Dave [1] http://www.delicious-monster.com/ -- David Reynolds david(a)reynoldsfamily.org.uk

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