December 2009 - main

Open Office - can one reduce the clutter for data entry on database forms?
by Chris G 09 Dec '09

09 Dec '09

I'm looking into using Open Office Base for creating some simple data entry forms, it's definitely a lot better than it was a few versions ago and is now a much more viable alternative to MS Access. However it would be really nice to have some way of reducing the 'clutter' (of Toolbars, status bars, etc.) around the window once a form has been designed and is being used for data entry. Ideally one would be able to display just the form one has designed, in much the same way as one can print a document without all the stuff around the edge (it would be a bit pointless if one couldn't!). Is there any way of getting just the form visible, or at least of toggling off all the toolbars etc.? I know quite a bit can be turned off using the View menu but how would one start up in this state? -- Chris Green

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Norwich Christmas Meal - 10th Dec
by Montmorency 07 Dec '09

07 Dec '09

I've just been in touch with the Coach and Horses. For the Christmas meal, they need to know the number coming, and the meals options people want, for first thing on Monday morning.. Menu here.... pick what you'd like. http://imgur.com/bcvVP.jpg If you want to come, reply to the mailing list with what you want. Now please! :) katsmeat Montmorency montmorency(a)ukfsn.org bellphegore(a)nerdshack.com

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Eee desktop
by Anthony Anson 07 Dec '09

07 Dec '09

Does anyone know what the internet/work/settings/etc displays are called, and where I can find them? I want to put a link to Thunderbird on the internet one for starters - it's a bit of a pain doing it from File Mangler every time... -- Tony Anson www.girolle.co.uk/

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Christmas Meal selection at the Coach and Horses
by Ian 04 Dec '09

04 Dec '09

Hi, I'll go for the Roast Turkey followed by the Christmas Pudding. Ian PS. Any ideas what might cause KDE to drop a USB keyboard after a successful GUI signon?

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lp/lpr printing with CUPS version 1.4.1 is broken, fine with 1.3.9
by Chris G 04 Dec '09

04 Dec '09

I have one system on my LAN running Ubuntu server 9.10 and three running xubuntu 9.04. I have two printers, one a networked HP7310 and the other an HP1320 which is connected by USB to the Ubuntu server machine and is accessible via that from the other machines. So far so good, both printers work fine from all machines when used 'normally', i.e. for printing from Firefox or Open Office or whatever. The problem I have is that when I use lp or lpr from the command line on the 9.10 system the ouput is in a silly typeface and a silly size and the normal command line options have no effect. So if I do, for example, "ls -al | lpr -P HP7310" on my desktop 9.04 system I get a neat output in Courier 10 on the printer. However if I do exactly the same on the 9.10 system I get a horrible mess in some wierd typeface at about 5 cpi so some of the lines wrap and overprint themselves. Unfortunately, since the HP1320 is connected via the 9.10 system (it doesn't have its own network connection) all lpr output from any system to it goes via the CUPS on the 9.10 server and has the same bug, prints at about 5cpi. Ubuntu 9.10 has CUPS version 1.4.1 whereas the older 9.04 has CUPS 1.3.9 so it would seem that there's a bug in CUPS 1.4.1. However I can't find any reports of such a bug in CUPS, does no one print from the command line any more or is my Googling incompetant? In addition to the incorrect default print size the CUPS 1.4.1 command line appears to ignore any options like "-o cpi=10" which might otherwise be used to work around the problem. Does anyone have any suggestions as to where to look for a fix or a workaround? I'm in the process of submitting a bug at the CUPS web site as I can't find anything relevant there. -- Chris Green

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Ipswich ALUG Christmas Meal? January Tutorial?
by samwise 04 Dec '09

04 Dec '09

Hi, Last month's Ipswich ALUG turnout (13) was huge, so it appears there may be enough potential for a Christmas meal in Ipswich next month. Can anyone who might be interested in such an event, please drop me an email. If there's enough of us, we can work out the best date and book a table. On another note, we're trying to bring back bi-monthly tutorials at the request of some members. Following the one we've just had, the next one is scheduled to be on 18 January, next year. Is there anyone who'd like to volunteer to putting together a little something to show off? It can be on anything you like and doesn't even have to be a subject you know well - just something you're willing to spend an hour or two looking at before the meet (I'm certainly no Android expert!). Cheers, Peter.

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Re: [ALUG] Norwich Christmas Meal on the 10th
by Sam Tuke 04 Dec '09

04 Dec '09

On Thursday 03 Dec 2009 19:55:31 Montmorency wrote: > Menu here.... pick what you'd like. Risotto > Turkey > Christmas Pudding please, assuming that we are having starters. If not, just the last two please. Thanks for organising this event! Sam.

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Hello! Bad penny strikes again
by Anthony Anson 03 Dec '09

03 Dec '09

Since Zetnet has been dying I've been unable sensibly to retrieve any postings since August. Now with a proper ISP again I really *NEED* access to the list as my (Shhh!) Windows box has suddenly refused to take part in anything NT-related. DOS and Win 98, yes, but not 2000 or anything subsequent to that. Box still runs Lenny with no problem, also (unsurprisingly) Knoppix from DVD. This Eee is still running Fisher-Price for now. So, hello again, and if anyone has a reasonably-priced laptop for sale, I'd love to hear about it. Eees are ok - at a pinch innit. -- Tony

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How do you get podcasts/iPod apps etc without itunes?
by James Elsey 01 Dec '09

01 Dec '09

Someone here must have an iPod/iPhone/iTouch, how do you tap in to the apple store directory of podcasts, applications and such, without using itunes? There are some podcasts I'm subscribed to, but after replacing window7 with fedora12, I can't get hold of any updates. They are only hosted via the itunes store and not available as downloads from websites I did mention something on IRC about running iTunes under wine, but lets not go there.. :P I can't see any immediate way of Rhythmbox having access to the podcast listings, at least I haven't found a plugin yet. Any suggestions? Whack XP on virtualbox and get them via itunes? Cheers James Elsey

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Cross-Compiling Debian Kernel - AMD64 and i386
by Steve Fosdick 01 Dec '09

01 Dec '09

It occurred to me that building a kernel for an older Pentium 4 machine would be much faster on a three-core AMD Phenom than on the original P4 as long as I can get it to cross compile. I found that with the following command line: make-kpkg --revision 1 --us --uc --rootcmd fakeroot --cross-compile - --arch=i386 --initrd --append-to-version=-scenic --config gconfig kernel_image make-kpkg appears to run 'make config' with defaults for the target i386 architecture and when it moves on to the build step is invoving gcc with options telling it to generate i386 code. The fly in the ointment is that at the end it then wraps the kernel up into a package whose architecture as declared in the filename and in the control file as AMD64. When looking inside the package though all the modules are ELF32 as I would expect for i386. I have checked the man enty for make-kpkg but didn't find any other clue as to how I get make-kpkg to feed through whatever options are required to get the final package the correct type for the architecture it was actually build for. Any ideas? TiA, Steve.

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