September 2009 - main

Debian dependency hell!!
by Ted.Harding＠manchester.ac.uk 24 Sep '09

24 Sep '09

Hi Folks, I have hit yet another instance of having an attempt to install a Debian package run into a dead end. For the sake of another package, I need mencoder (I already have mplayer) on a Debian Etch system (regularly upgraded). So I start up Synaptic, search for mencoder (which comes up in the search list), and mark it for installation. First result: NOT AUTHENTICATED: libpostproccvs51 To be installed: libfribidi0 liblzo2-2 libpostproccvs51 and I then choose to Mark these. Result: mencoder: Depends: libdvdnav4 but it is not going to be installed Depends: libmpcdec3 but it is not installable Depends: libtwolame0 but it is not installable This "not going to be installed" and "not installable" is a block which I frequently encounter. No reasons are given as to why "it is not going to be installed" nor why "it is not installable", which leaves me clueless as to what to do about it! There is no visible "help" button in this situation. Is there any work-round for this situation? While I like Debian when using what can be installed on it, I find this situation very irritating, and I'm beggining to get fed up with it. Enough to drive me to use Ubuntu! (Which I find too glitzy and "user-oriented" [yuk] for myh taste, but at least it seems to do this kind of thing effortlessly). Comments? With thanks, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)manchester.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 23-Sep-09 Time: 19:30:31 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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Document Management Systems
by Mark Rogers 23 Sep '09

23 Sep '09

Does anyone here have any experience/recommendations for web-based document management systems? Ie: a collection of users, each with (secure) access to different sets of individual and shared documents, via a web interface. I know there are several wheels out there which I could avoid re-inventing, but I don't have any first-hand experience of any of them. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0845 45 89 555 Registered in England (0456 0902) at 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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Corrupting address book file in icedove
by Jenny Hopkins 22 Sep '09

22 Sep '09

Hullo there, I'm having problems with a corrupting address book. One of my clients uses icedove aka thunderbird for her mail, and the address book is becoming corrupt on a daily basis. Googling has led me to a bug report in 2007 that never seemed to be resolved but i can find little else other than helpful instructions on how to uncorrupt the file. This problem started when the disk filled up to 100%, but even though space has been freed up the problem is continuing. The versions are running on lenny: ii icedove 2.0.0.22-0lenny1 free/unbranded thunderbird mail/news/rss clone ii thunderbird 1.5.0.13+1.5.0.15b.dfsg1+prepatch080614i-0etch1 Transition package for icedove rename Has anyone else experienced such a problem? Can anyone make any suggestions? System load is usually pretty small, but a large rsync file transfer does happen every lunchtime - seems to have no bearing on the random time of corruption though. Any hints welcome, Jenny

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Anyone like Bing?
by Mark Rogers 18 Sep '09

18 Sep '09

I've just had to do a fresh Windows install so it still has its default search engine. Too lazy to type "openoffice.org" in the address bar I typed "openoffice" and let Bing find it for me. Or at least I thought it would, but it wasn't even listed. A few ads for downloads from non-OOo sites, and few references to it, but even adding "org" to the search didn't get me there. It's hard to see how that could be unbiased results! -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0845 45 89 555 Registered in England (0456 0902) at 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : McGintys, Northgate Street
by samwise 18 Sep '09

18 Sep '09

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 this coming Monday (21th September) at 20:00: P J McGinty & Sons 15 Northgate Street Ipswich Suffolk IP1 3BY Tel: 01473 251 515 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP1+3BY WWW: http://pjmcginty.moonfruit.com/ McGintys pub is in the centre of Ipswich, not far from our old haunt - The Milestone. It's directly opposite the town's central library and has a reputation for good Irish beer. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. Remember to call or email me, if you're arriving later and want to ensure I don't wander off, which I have a tendency to do if the turn-out hits rock-bottom ... 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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Securing grub
by Dan Hatton 15 Sep '09

15 Sep '09

Dear All, I just frightened the life out of myself by selecting this option from my grub menu: title Gentoo Linux (rescue) root (hd0,4) kernel /boot/bzImage-2.6.28-tuxonice-r10 root=/dev/sda5 real_root=/dev/sda5 init=/bin/bb and finding it dropped me straight to a shell with root privileges, with no need to enter a password. Since the machine sometimes gets left unattended in areas other people have access to, I'd really like this not to be a possibility. But I would still like the possibility of a minimal-services, non-GUI boot. Any ideas, please? -- Thanks, Dan

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Exernal USB Drive
by Mathew Moore 14 Sep '09

14 Sep '09

Hi All I am trying to format a USB drive to ext3 or 4 but when it finishes it will not let me do any thing with it like add files. I have read it is about ownership and ubuntu root owns the files and drive and i have tried changing it but no change. any ideas thanks Mat

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DPMS trouble
by Dan Hatton 14 Sep '09

14 Sep '09

Dear All, I've posted about this before, but I can now give a clearer description of my problem (thanks to Tim Green for a tip that helped me get there). Any suggestions as to how to make DPMS work correctly will be welcome. I have two computers (say 1 and 2), both with built-in LCD screens, plus two external monitors (A and B) that plug into VGA ports. The results of running xset dpms force off (or going to DPMS off mode via xscreensaver) are as follows: Computer 1 + no external monitor: built-in screen goes to DPMS off mode. Computer 1 + monitor A: monitor A goes to DPMS off mode, built-in screen was in off mode anyway, from time computer was started with monitor A plugged in. Computer 1 + monitor B: monitor B goes to DPMS off mode, built-in screen was in off mode anyway, from time computer was started with monitor B plugged in. Computer 2 + no external monitor: built-in screen goes to DPMS off mode. Computer 2 + monitor A: both built-in screen and monitor A go to DPMS off mode. Computer 2 + monitor B: built-in screen goes to DPMS off mode, monitor B stays on, complaining that I should "check signal cable". So it seems all individual components work OK, and it's the combination of computer 2 and monitor B that's problematic. In each case, the monitor behaviour when the computer is switched off altogether is the same as that in response to xset dpms force off. Thanks very much, Dan Some details that might help: Computer 1 has an Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03), and runs Fedora 9 with xorg 1.5.2-6.fc9. Computer 2 has an Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03), and runs Gentoo with xorg 7.2. Monitor A is a Samsung SyncMaster 710N. Monitor B is an LG Flatron W2234S. xorg.conf from computer 1 # Xorg configuration created by system-config-display Section "ServerLayout" Identifier "single head configuration" Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0 InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer" InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard" EndSection Section "Files" # RgbPath is the location of the RGB database. Note, this is the name of the # file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db"). There is normally # no need to change the default. # Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together) # By default, Red Hat 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of # the X server to render fonts. FontPath "unix/:7100" EndSection Section "Module" Load "dbe" Load "extmod" Load "fbdevhw" Load "glx" Load "record" Load "freetype" Load "type1" Load "dri" EndSection Section "InputDevice" # Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1)) # Option "Xleds" "1 2 3" # To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable. # Option "XkbDisable" # To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the # lines below (which are the defaults). For example, for a non-U.S. # keyboard, you will probably want to use: # Option "XkbModel" "pc102" # If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use: # Option "XkbModel" "microsoft" # # Then to change the language, change the Layout setting. # For example, a german layout can be obtained with: # Option "XkbLayout" "de" # or: # Option "XkbLayout" "de" # Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys" # # If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and # control keys, use: # Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps" # Or if you just want both to be control, use: # Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:nocaps" # Identifier "Keyboard0" Driver "kbd" Option "XkbModel" "pc105" Option "XkbLayout" "gb" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Mouse0" Driver "mouse" Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2" Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice" Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes" EndSection Section "Monitor" Identifier "Monitor0" VendorName "Monitor Vendor" ModelName "LCD Panel 1024x768" HorizSync 31.5 - 48.5 VertRefresh 40.0 - 70.0 Option "dpms" EndSection Section "Device" # VendorName "Videocard vendor" # BoardName "VESA driver (generic)" Identifier "Videocard0" Driver "intel" BoardName "Unknown video card" EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "Screen0" Device "Videocard0" Monitor "Monitor0" DefaultDepth 24 SubSection "Display" Viewport 0 0 Depth 16 Modes "800x600" "640x480" EndSubSection SubSection "Display" Viewport 0 0 Depth 24 Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" EndSubSection EndSection Section "DRI" Group 0 Mode 0666 EndSection xorg.conf from computer 2 # Xorg configuration created by system-config-display Section "ServerFlags" Option "DontZap" "yes" Option "DontVTSwitch" "no" EndSection Section "ServerLayout" Identifier "Default Layout" Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0 InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer" InputDevice "Synaptics Mouse" "AlwaysCore" InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Keyboard0" Driver "kbd" Option "XkbModel" "pc105" Option "XkbLayout" "gb,us(euro)" Option "XkbOptions" "grp:alt_shift_toggle" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Synaptics Mouse" Driver "synaptics" Option "Device" "/dev/psaux" Option "Protocol" "auto-dev" Option "LeftEdge" "1700" Option "RightEdge" "5300" Option "TopEdge" "1700" Option "BottomEdge" "4200" Option "FingerLow" "25" Option "FingerHigh" "30" Option "MaxTapTime" "180" Option "MaxTapMove" "220" Option "VertScrollDelta" "100" Option "MinSpeed" "0.09" Option "MaxSpeed" "0.18" Option "AccelFactor" "0.0015" Option "SHMConfig" "on" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Mouse0" Driver "mouse" Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2" Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice" Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no" EndSection Section "Monitor" Identifier "Monitor0" Modeline "1024x600" 48.96 1024 1064 1168 1312 600 601 604 622 -HSync +VSync # Option "Above" "Monitor1" Modeline "1280x768" 80.14 1280 1344 1480 1680 768 769 772 795 -HSync +Vsync Modeline "1280x768" 102.98 1280 1360 1496 1712 768 769 772 802 -HSync +Vsync Modeline "1280x1024" 138.54 1280 1368 1504 1728 1024 1025 1028 1069 -HSync +Vsync Modeline "1280x1024" 108.88 1280 1360 1496 1712 1024 1025 1028 1060 -HSync +Vsync Option "dpms" EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "Videocard0" Driver "intel" # Option "monitor-LVDS" "Monitor0" # Option "monitor-VGA" "Monitor1" Option "Clone" "true" Option "MonitorLayout" "LVDS,VGA" BusID "PCI:0:2:0" # Screen 0 EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "Screen0" Device "Videocard0" Monitor "Monitor0" DefaultDepth 24 SubSection "Display" Viewport 0 0 Depth 24 Modes "1280x1024" "1024x600" "800x600" "640x480" Virtual 1280 1024 EndSubSection EndSection Section "DRI" Group 0 Mode 0666 EndSection

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Re-launched Linux User
by Richard Lewis 13 Sep '09

13 Sep '09

Hi ALUG, Did anyone else notice that Linux User had disppeared from the newstands? No, neither had I. But they've recently published a re-launch issue, now under Imagine Publishing. Don't know if anyone else has read it and has any opinions? Just thought I'd voice some of mine. The features seem to be quite good, but some of the tutorials and reviews are dreadful. The hardware reviews go into no detail whatsoever. So they reviewed several netbooks in this issue, and all they did was to tell you the basic specs, tell you how they found OOo to work, and tell you what it's like to hold the thing. No objective benchmark testing or anything. But the software reviews were even worse. So bad, in fact, that I've quoted this passage from a view of Mono 2.4: "Mono 2.4 was released in March of this year. The Mono project and the DotGNU project are based on similar ideas. The fact that you can just download it and do anything with it makes it attractive to a lot of people out there who don't want to be tied down by an NDA or some other legal straitjacket which prevents them from realising their goal in writing a certain type of application. The General Public License, which is the most successful software license ever produced by any organisation anywhere, and the MIT X11 license make all of this possible." He manages to convey almost as little information in the remaining 500 words of the review. It's good for a laugh if you have a spare £6 (I still think they should drop the 'free' DVDs from these things). Though I should say again that the features (Shuttleworth interview, Jon 'Maddog' Hall on OpenMoko, Gerry Gavigan on grass-roots marketing of FLOSS) were worth reading. Best, Richard -- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Richard Lewis ISMS, Computing Goldsmiths, University of London JID: ironchicken(a)jabber.earth.li http://www.richard-lewis.me.uk/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- +-------------------------------------------------------+ |Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments.| |http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html | +-------------------------------------------------------+

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[ALUG Announce] Coach and Horses is now permanent venue for 2nd Thursday meetings.
by Adam Bower 11 Sep '09

11 Sep '09

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hi all, Last night we had a decent turnout of 9 people, lots of regulars and a couple of new faces. The Coach & Horses turns out to be an excellent venue, serving decent food, free wifi, very good beer (including takeouts!), plenty of seating and a good atmosphere. So this will remain the venue for all future Alug 2nd Thursday pub meets until time we see fit for a change. http://www.thecoachthorperoad.co.uk/ thanks Adam -- jabberid = quinophex(a)jabber.earth.li ----- 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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