July 2007 - main - earth.li

Debian (Testing) Installation Issue
by samwise 09 Jul '07

09 Jul '07

Hi, After some good advice whilst on IRC (albeit cut short cos my windows machine wouldn't stay up long enough to keep me logged in!), I've decided to try to install the latest version of Debian "testing" on my new HP laptop. Given I'd prefer a KDE desktop, I've downloaded this CD image: http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/weekly-builds/i386/iso-cd/debian-testing-… Which I think should let me install what I want. Problem is, after installing most of the packages, the text-only installer messes up. The readable screen is replaced by funny coloured blocks - I can see it's asking me a question and can tab around the boxes on screen, but there's no way I can read any of it, as all the characters have been replaced by blocks. Soo ... I assume it's not playing nicely with my graphics card? or something? Any suggestions, on how I can get through the install? TIA, Peter.

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Re: [ALUG] IPLUG meetings
by Greg Thomas 09 Jul '07

09 Jul '07

samwise <samwise(a)bagshot-row.org> wrote: >A reminder that we voted to try out Facebook this month, so I've >signed up (with this email address). If y'all want to do the same, we >can either try and find each other on the site, or you can post the >email addresses you've registered with here for a quick method of >identifying ourselves. Woot! I have friends. Though none of you lot (that I have found, anyway) have bothered to admit to being a friend of mine, you miserable lot. On a more serious note, I've signed up, found a few friends, joined a few groups, but now can't help thinking: Now what? Is it just a way to keep in touch? I managed to do that before reasonably well, using (e)mail and the telephone. Perhaps I'm just a luddite. Also, what's in it for Facebook? They've taken no money off me, I've seen no adverts, so what revenue stream do they have? Greg (going now, remembering a vow taken long ago not to write emails late at night after a few (or more) drinks).

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[ALUG Announce] 2nd Thursday Norwich Meet : Reindeer, Dereham Road
by Jonathan McDowell 09 Jul '07

09 Jul '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 "Second Thursday" ALUG Norwich Pub Meet is this Thursday, 12th July. It's at the Reindeer pub on the Dereham Road, just opposite the City Gate. People will be there from 8pm-ish, though there may be a few people there earlier. Topics for discussion will no doubt be as varied as ever. The Reindeer has a reasonable selection of beer as well as decent coffee (with biscuits, if you're lucky). Directions to the Reindeer can be found at: http://www.alug.org.uk/venues/reindeer.html Pictures of some of the regulars, and irregulars, and, well, just some pictures of people that might or might not turn up are available from: http://www.earth.li/~noodles/Photos/2007-05-ALUG/ http://www.earth.li/~noodles/Photos/2006-02-ALUG/ http://the.earth.li/~noodles/stilvoid-alug/mp20050811/ http://www.earth.li/~noodles/Photos/2005-01-ALUG-Xmas/ http://www.earth.li/~noodles/Photos/2004-08-ALUG/ Which should hopefully aid those of you wondering who to look out for - the most recent images are from the meet a couple of months back. We now have an area reserved for us, so should be easier to find. As you enter through the main door you'll see a small set of steps ahead of you - the area just up those steps and to the left is where we'll be. J. -- 101 things you can't have too much of : 1 - Cable ties. ----- 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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5.25" boxes
by ted.harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 08 Jul '07

08 Jul '07

Talking of stuff that people are wanting to dispose of: Does anyone have those boxes that 5.25" floppies used to come in (usually in 10s)? I've found them very useful for storing data CDs, but I'm running out (probably have run out) and would love to get more, if anyone wants to get rid of any. With thanks, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <ted.harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 08-Jul-07 Time: 22:10:33 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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Free stuff
by CDW (Linux) 07 Jul '07

07 Jul '07

Hello, Does anybody have a need for some tape drives? I have a (2 gig I think) SCSI Exabyte drive here with 6 112M tapes I also have a Tandberg 525MB tape drive, also SCSI and 2 full A4 paper boxes of tapes. The Tandberg drive worked when I tried it recently but it's so long along since I used the Exabyte that I have no idea if it works. Finally, I have 6 Sony QW 2GB tapes. They are labelled as 1GB Native, 2 GB Compressed. The tapes are slightly smaller than the Exabyte tapes and were a gift from somebody that thought I might be able to find a home for them! They're brand new, some still with shrinkwrap on them. As part of the gift, I was also given an Adaptec 2940AU SCSI PCI card. That also works as I used it to try the Tandberg. I'll split the lots so if you only want some of the tapes, or the drives, that's fine. Management (my wife) is telling me that I need to get shot of this lot. I'm in Wymondham in Norfolk but work on the outskirts of Norwich so I might be able to drop some of it off if needbe. -- __ __| |_ __ __ .-----------------------------------------------. / _/ _` \ V V / | mailto:cdw_alug@the-walker-household.co.uk | \__\__,_|\_/\_/ |_______________________________________________|

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Help me to help someone!
by ted.harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 07 Jul '07

07 Jul '07

Hi Folks, There's a thread on the Zen Support Forum, Linux Division, with title "Setting screen res in Ubuntu 7.04". The start of the thread is at http://forum.zensupport.co.uk/thread/27097.aspx The topic has somewhat moved on from that, and the OP (Ken Odlum)'s problem is now that, using Ubuntu, while he apparently has two hard disks, one of which he can use normally, he can only read from the other and not write to it. This problem is first mentioned at http://forum.zensupport.co.uk/27097/27130/permalink/ShowThread.aspx#27130 and followed up at http://forum.zensupport.co.uk/27097/27151/permalink/ShowThread.aspx#27151 I ("eelman") intervened acouple of posts later, with suggestions 'cat /etc/fstab' etc. It seems he's dome this, and now http://forum.zensupport.co.uk/27097/27219/permalink/ShowThread.aspx#27219 he says "If I go to Places Computer it shows the other hard drive and I can mount it and read or copy from it OK" despite the fact that it's not in /etc/fstab. The only thing I can think of is that when he does that, whetever Ubuntu does behind the scenes amounts to an explicit mount -t ... /dev/hdb* /... command. But, not having any Ubuntu eperience, I simply don't know. If anyone can make a useful suggestio I could pass on, or better still is on the Zen Support Forum and can intervene directly, this would be welcome. The guy is a relatively recent convert to Linux, and I wouldn't like his faith to be compromised! Best wishes to all, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <ted.harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 04-Jul-07 Time: 23:01:47 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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Re: [ALUG] Help me to help someone!
by ted.harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 05 Jul '07

05 Jul '07

Thanks, Mark -- interesting that you;ve had the same experience. The only issue (see end of you first para) is that he can read from it, but not write to it. On 05-Jul-07 08:37:59, Mark Reid wrote: > Dear Ted > > This is an interesting one. As you correctly point out, Linux has > not recognised hdb when it was installed for whatever reason that > may have been. I must say that I had exactly the same problem when > I first used Ubuntu a year ago. He can access it through Nautilus > which suggests that even though it is not registered on startup, > it's recognised as being there much in the way that removable > drive l would be when it's plugged in. That's why he can mount it > using the mount command in Nautilus and then read and write to it. > > What should solve the problem is if he adds the hdb to the fstab after > he has backed the old one up, which is what I did and what I think is > what you suggested and he hasn't done yet. The issue there being the UID identification, rather then the traditional "/dev/hdb*". Wayne made a suggestion for finding out what the UID code ought to be. Any further comments from anyone would be most welcome! > > An easier way for a beginner to do this is to open a root terminal > through the menu, clicking on Accessories (or System Tools ) > Root > Terminal and entering the command gedit which will get him to the gui > based editor as root user. I've only recently upgraded to Edgy myself > and what's new in the way Ubuntu now does fstab entries is putting in a > UUID value which it didn't in pervious distros. In entering values > for hdb manually, I'm not sure whether absence of a UUID would make any > difference to the operation of fstab. > > Regards > > Mark > > (Ted Harding) wrote: >> Hi Folks, >> There's a thread on the Zen Support Forum, Linux Division, >> with title "Setting screen res in Ubuntu 7.04". The start >> of the thread is at >> >> http://forum.zensupport.co.uk/thread/27097.aspx >> >> The topic has somewhat moved on from that, and the OP (Ken >> Odlum)'s problem is now that, using Ubuntu, while he apparently >> has two hard disks, one of which he can use normally, he can >> only read from the other and not write to it. This problem >> is first mentioned at >> >> http://forum.zensupport.co.uk/27097/27130/permalink/ShowThread.aspx#271 >> 30 >> >> and followed up at >> >> http://forum.zensupport.co.uk/27097/27151/permalink/ShowThread.aspx#271 >> 51 >> >> I ("eelman") intervened acouple of posts later, with suggestions >> 'cat /etc/fstab' etc. It seems he's dome this, and now >> >> http://forum.zensupport.co.uk/27097/27219/permalink/ShowThread.aspx#272 >> 19 >> >> he says "If I go to Places Computer it shows the other hard drive >> and I can mount it and read or copy from it OK" despite the fact >> that it's not in /etc/fstab. >> >> The only thing I can think of is that when he does that, whetever >> Ubuntu does behind the scenes amounts to an explicit >> >> mount -t ... /dev/hdb* /... >> >> command. But, not having any Ubuntu eperience, I simply don't know. >> >> If anyone can make a useful suggestio I could pass on, or better >> still is on the Zen Support Forum and can intervene directly, this >> would be welcome. The guy is a relatively recent convert to Linux, >> and I wouldn't like his faith to be compromised! >> >> Best wishes to all, >> Ted. >> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------- >> E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <ted.harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> >> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 >> Date: 04-Jul-07 Time: 23:01:47 >> ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------ >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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! >> >> > > -- -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <ted.harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 05-Jul-07 Time: 15:15:00 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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evolution, squirrelmail and addressbook
by Jenny Hopkins 05 Jul '07

05 Jul '07

Hullo there, Is it possible to export a contacts database in evolution in a format that can then be imported into squirrelmail? Evolution seem only to offer VCard export. Squirrelmail doesn't seem to offer any mass import at all (on debian anyway), but I can see the address file is a text file with the fields separated with a |. It would be possible to write a bit of code that does this, but I'm sure someone has done it already :) Thanks, Jenny

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