May 2007 - main - earth.li

odbc, iodc, sqlite, howto
by Peter Alcibiades 29 May '07

29 May '07

Hi guys, What am I doing wrong? This is on Etch. First I got sqlitebrowser, created a new sqlite database, then imported my data into it as csv. Seems fine - at least, it can be browsed using sqlitebrowser. Second, apt-get install iodbc and the sqlite odbc libraries. The mysql ones for good measure. Verify they are there. Fire up iodbcadm-gtk and try to set the DSN of my database. It want to know which driver to use, and it cannot see either the sqlite ones or the mysql ones. So I suppose its first necessary to add one. When I point to what seem like reasonable candidates in /usr/lib/odbc, it rejects them because an error occurred when trying to add the driver, invalid keyword pairs. Googling suggests an authorization error, but the same thing happens with the root account. It seems like you have to define a driver before you can do a DSN, however I can't figure out how to define a driver. Any suggestions gratefully received. After this, assuming we ever get over it, comes the fun part of talking to the thing from my programming language. All keeps the blood flowing in the brain! Peter

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Missing touchpad
by Matthew 28 May '07

28 May '07

Hi all, I bought a new laptop the other day - an HP 510 - and put Debian Etch on it, and it doesn't find the touchpad. I don't think it's a hardware problem, since it worked fine under the manufacturer's installation of Windows XP and when booted from the recovery disk. I've also tried live CDs for SLAX and Ubuntu, which behave the same way as Etch. The research I've done hasn't turned up anyone with the same problem on the same machine, but a few people have fixed apparently similar problems by fiddling with udev; something that hasn't got me far yet. The problem seems to occur mainly with recent kernels, often appearing after a kernel upgrade. My 'uname -r' is 2.6.18-4-686. /var/log/Xorg.0.log includes: (II) Synaptics touchpad driver version 0.14.6 (1406) Synaptics Touchpad no synaptics event device found (checked 13 nodes) (**) Option "Device" "/dev/psaux" (**) Option "HorizScrollDelta" "0" Query no Synaptics: 6003C8 (EE) Synaptics Touchpad no synaptics touchpad detected and no repeater device (EE) Synaptics Touchpad Unable to query/initialize Synaptics hardware. (EE) PreInit failed for input device "Synaptics Touchpad" (II) UnloadModule: "synaptics" /etc/X11/xorg.conf includes: Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad" Driver "synaptics" Option "SendCoreEvents" "true" Option "Device" "/dev/psaux" Option "Protocol" "auto-dev" Option "HorizScrollDelta" "0" EndSection That was generated from the debconf DB, so clearly something thinks the device is meant to be there. Strangely, 'modprobe synaptics' returns: FATAL: Module synaptics not found. The touchpad isn't in /proc/bus/input/devices and it doesn't generate any output if I cat the nodes in /dev/input (nor the useful-looking ones in /dev, especially /dev/psaux as mentioned in xorg.conf). It isn't mentioned in syslog even with udev set to debug messages. I don't really know enough about the device to set udev rules or use mknod; I'm not even sure which bus it's on. Anyone got any ideas? Thanks, Matthew

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ISA NIC card puzzle
by Ted Harding 27 May '07

27 May '07

Hi Folks, I'm puzzled! Can someone give me a hint? I've had an (ancient) NE2000 clone which plugs into an ISA (not PCI) slot running happily on a very old machine (ca 1995) for years. On SuSe 5.2 I had it set up to use module ne.o, with options "io=0x300". Now that machine's PSU has failed, so I moved the hard drives etc. to another box (of more recent vintage ... ). Now it fails to find the card and/or any IRQ line when given 0x300. I've removed all other ISA cards from that box to make sure there are no conflicts. I've tried this not only with the "native "SuSE-5.2 off the hard drive, but also booting with tomsrtbt ("Linux on a Floppy" and with Ubuntu live CDs, in all cases without success. I'm puzzled that it works one the one box but (with the same system and settings) fails on another. Is there a possibility that ISA IO addresses and IRQs can change between different motherboards? With thanks, Ted.

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Moving
by J.R. Seago 26 May '07

26 May '07

As I am moving from the most easterly county in England to the North of Scotland, I am temporarily un-subscribing from the list until I can get myself a new connection and email address. Hopefully I will reintroduce myself in the next two weeks. -- John Seago GNU/Linux Registered User No. #219566 http://counter.li.org/ () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments

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Re: [ALUG] Astronomy Software
by J.R. Seago 24 May '07

24 May '07

On Thursday 24 May 2007 12:00 "Yvonne Everett" <ye103910(a)googlemail.com> wrote: > Hello > > Could anyone recommend some open source astronomy software? I gave my wife's god-daughter a copy of 'The Open CD' and she was very pleased with http://www.stellarium.org/ thatshe could use with 'Windows'® -- John Seago GNU/Linux Registered User No. #219566 http://counter.li.org/ () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments

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$1 = £1.07 !!!!
by Ted.Harding＠manchester.ac.uk 23 May '07

23 May '07

A posting on the Seattle Linux List got me looking (out of curiosity ... ) at http://ostg.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/ masterid=26157844/search=sony%20ux [all one line] -- about the Sony VAIO VGN-UX280P "Micro PC". A very nice little animal, if you can afford it (and there's no info anywhere about being able to run Linux on it). BUT: Go to the relevant Sony UK web page at http://www.sonystyle.co.uk: http://tinyurl.com/32httz and compare with the Sony US web page at http://www.sonystyle.com http://tinyurl.com/3ytxo9 US Price: $1595.00 UK Price: £1999.00 So, at the current exchange (£1 = $1.99), and discounting VAT, Sony's price in the UK (£1701.28) is more than twice Sony's price in the US. Unless it's now $1 = £1.07. I bet it's a deal between Sony and Virgin Atlantic to encourage translatlantic flight. Rip-Off-Britain = ROB. Best wishes to all, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)manchester.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 23-May-07 Time: 22:14:51 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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How to get files out of an rpm package?
by Chris G 23 May '07

23 May '07

I want to extract some files from an rpm package but I don't have an rpm database on my slackware box so I can't just do "rpm -i <name>". As far as I know the package only has three files in it, a python script and some documentation. I just want those files. How can I get them? I've searched around using Google and this particular program seems only to exist as an rpm. -- Chris Green

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[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : The Milestone, Woodbridge Road
by samwise 23 May '07

23 May '07

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- The monthly "Third Monday" ALUG Ipswich Social Meeting is back again next Monday (21st April) at 20:00: The Milestone Beer House 5 Woodbridge Road IPSWICH IP4 2EA Tel: 01473 252425 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP4+2EA The Milestone pub is in the centre of Ipswich, near the now-defunct Odeon cinema and not far from The Regent Theatre. There is more information on the venue, including car parking info, on the ALUG wiki: http://www.alug.org.uk/wiki/moin.cgi/Meetings All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Hopefully, it shouldn't be too hard to find the pack, look for those huddled around a laptop! Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. Hope to see you there, Peter. ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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Journal/diary program for 'local' use
by Chris G 22 May '07

22 May '07

I'm sure I found something like this a while ago but now all I can find is blogs. I'm after something that's half way between an appointments calendar (or even a PIM) and a diary/journal. I.e. I want a program that allows me to remind myself about things but also allows me to wax lyrical about my doings for the day. Ideally it will allow me to write using my choice of text editor but that's not absolutely essential, it certainly doesn't *have* to have a GUI interface but on the other hand I don't mind if it does. Being able to view the calendar/diary from the web would be a plus but isn't really important. Any suggestions anyone? -- Chris Green

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FAO Mark Ray
by J.R. Seago 22 May '07

22 May '07

Mark, if I remember correctly you use the phone co-op as your ISP. It looks to me to be the one to go for, if I can get it outside Inverness, they do already have broadband at the new house having been on the receiving end of numerous ISP's who have gone bad. Is it a good deal in terms of quality the £24·99 is a £1·00 more than I'm paying now but as any profit goes to a good cause I'd rather pay that and get a reasonable service than pay less and end up with all the hassle I've had in the past, any thoughts please? -- John Seago GNU/Linux Registered User No. #219566 http://counter.li.org/ () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments

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