December 2010 - main

Dual Boot & Partition For Files
by Simon Royal 13 Dec '10

13 Dec '10

Hi I am awaiting the arrival of my ThinkPad and when it arrives I have some RAM and internal wireless card and a 60GB hard drive to slap in it. Im intending on running Ubuntu and XP Home on it. Ive dual booted before no problems. What I would like to do is have a small 10GB partition for each OS to install on and the rest for a place to save files so I can access it from both OSes. Am I correct in thinking to have read/write from both Ubuntu and XP the 'files' partition would need to be FAT32 and not NTFS? Simon

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Back With A ThinkPad
by Simon Royal 13 Dec '10

13 Dec '10

Hi After some searching I picked up a cheap ThinkPad R31. Hopefully it will be here before Christmas. Then I can be back on the linux route. It will run Ubuntu or Mint alongside XP. Simon

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Laptop wanted preferably Thinkpad.
by Simon Royal 12 Dec '10

12 Dec '10

Hi Does anyone have a laptop for sale. I am looking for one about the 1Ghz mark, preferably a ThinkPad but will consider anything. I'll be using it for Ubuntu or Mint. I have cash waiting or swap for an iBook G3. Simon

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Re: [ALUG] Linux printing and Laserjet 1000
by Phil Wade 12 Dec '10

12 Dec '10

On 11 Dec 2010 18:22 Wayne Stallwood wrote: <snip> > Wait....are you telling me you have a LaserJet 1000 that still works ? > > :) > Yep. It was given to me a few years ago by a customer when the toner ran out. It sounds like changing the car when the ashtray is full, but she wanted a colour printer... I've re-filled it a couple of times, and it still works fine - with Windoze. >> > Has anyone, ever, been able to get on of these Laserjet 1000 things to >> > work with any flavour of Linux? If so I'd be very grateful to learn the >> > secret. > I think I am right in saying that series of printers needs a firmware > file shooting up it's USB port before it will run. Try looking at the > foo2zjs driver, you'll probably find that you already have it but you > need to do some magic to download a firmware image and shoot it up to > the printer as it initialises. > > Sorry I can't help more Thanks for that though. I have the foo2zjs downloaded and installed. With all my failed attempts, I can get the firmware to load each time the computer boots (the printer acknowledges with LEDs flashing and the usual grindy noise) and Linux (usually Ubuntu) can see the printer and thinks it's printing to it - but then nothing. Not even a failure notice or a stalled print queue. I seem to remember others with the same problem when I was Googling, but no-one had a better answer than "try it again". With laser printers so cheap now, maybe I should just give up and get one that I know works with Linux. But, I hate discarding something that works - especially when it was free!

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Gnome help please!
by ted.harding＠wlandres.net 11 Dec '10

11 Dec '10

Hi Folks On an older laptop [A], running Debian Etch and Gnome 2.14.3, my "power managment" blanks the screen (totally) after about 10 minutes idle time. Then, when I do anything (e.g. move the mouse or press Ctrl) it instantly comes back again, with no nonsense. This is how I like it. On a more recent laptop [B], running Debian Lenny and Gnome 2.22.3, the screen blanks after idle time (though still faintly glowing, which I would rather not have). Then, when again I do anything (as above) it comes back again, but with a window which requires me to enter my password (and this I definitely want to get rid of)! Looking at the Power Management configuration menus, they are similar (though not identical) on the two machines. I seem to have essentially the same settings on both, so I would like to expect identical behaviour -- and, in particular, no requirement to enter the password on [B]. What am I missing? Or is the newer Gnome just like that? (And why do they have to mess about with something so basic?) Settings: On [A]: Desktop --> Preferences --> Power Management "Running on AC": "Put display to sleep when computer is inactive for" 30 minutes "Put computer to sleep when it is inactive for" Never "Running on Battery": "Put display to sleep when computer is inactive for" 5 minutes "Put computer to sleep when it is inactive for" 20 minutes "Actions": "When battery power critical:" Shutdown "General": "Sleep type when inactive:" Do nothing on [B]: Desktop --> Preferences --> Power Management "On AC Power": "Actions" "Put computer to sleep when inactive for" Never "When laptop lid is closed" Blank screen "Display" "Put display to sleep when inactive for" 20 minutes "Set display brightness tlo:" 100% "[] Dim display when idle ([] not checked) "On Battery Power": "Actions" "Put computer to sleep when inactive for" Never "When laptop lid is closed" Suspend "When battery is criticall low" Shut down "Display" "Put display to sleep when inactive for" 20 minutes "[] Reduce backlight brightness" ([] unchecked) "[] Dim display when idle" ([] unchecked) "General": "Actions" "When the power button is pressed" Ask me "When the suspend button is pressed" Suspend (Plus options for notification icons and "extras") With thanks, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <ted.harding(a)wlandres.net> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 11-Dec-10 Time: 17:32:13 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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Linux printing and Laserjet 1000
by Phil Wade 11 Dec '10

11 Dec '10

Hi, I've been trying to use Linux (any version) as a print server for the PCs on my home network that use Ubuntu, Mint, XP and 7. I have two Epson printers that work fine on any distro. However, my default printer is an HP Laserjet 1000. Very basic, but perfect for everyday printing in monochrome. I cannot get it to work with Linux. I've spent hours Googling and trying out various suggestions. These have included downloading stuff from HP and stuff that needed to be compiled. No luck. Not a single page. I've currently got an old Compaq laptop running XP that does it without any effort (dammit) but I'd much rather use my main desktop machine that sits next to the printer and dual boots Ubuntu and Mint. Has anyone, ever, been able to get on of these Laserjet 1000 things to work with any flavour of Linux? If so I'd be very grateful to learn the secret. -- Phil Wade

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Strange man pages with .1so suffix, roff 'symbolic links', documented anywhere?
by Chris G 10 Dec '10

10 Dec '10

I'm having a frustrating time trying to configure some man pages provided by owfs (1-wire file system). I have configured and built the software OK and it works but it would be really nice if I could read the man pages that come with it. The man pages are in a slightly 'out of the way' place:- /opt/owfs/share/man but that's OK if one adds the above directory to the file /etc/manpath.config, so I have done that and a couple of man pages are now visible. However when I run mandb to rebuild the man pages index I get loads of errors like the following:- mandb: warning: /opt/owfs/share/man/man1/device.1so: whatis parse for device(1so) failed mandb: can't open /opt/owfs/share/man/ownet.1: No such file or directory mandb: warning: /opt/owfs/share/man/man1/ownetlib.1: bad symlink or ROFF `.so' request mandb: warning: /opt/owfs/share/man/man1/configuration.1so: whatis parse for configuration(1so) failed mandb: warning: /opt/owfs/share/man/man1/format.1so: whatis parse for format(1so) failed mandb: warning: /opt/owfs/share/man/man1/timeout.1so: whatis parse for timeout(1so) failed mandb: can't open /opt/owfs/share/man/owshell.1: No such file or directory mandb: warning: /opt/owfs/share/man/man1/owdir.1: bad symlink or ROFF `.so' request It turns out that the .1so files are some sort of nroff/troff internal sort of symbolic link though I can find out little more. Does anyone know how these are supposed to work? Google is useless becauser it generates thousands of hits for ISO which mask anyhting useful. All I want to do is read the man pages! -- Chris Green

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Bash Substitution
by Richard Parsons 10 Dec '10

10 Dec '10

If I do: echo "1 2 3" > test and then cat test, then I can see the contents of the file, including the new lines. However, if I do: VARIABLE=$(cat test) echo $VARIABLE then the output has spaces instead of new lines. Why is that? And how could I stop that from happening? TIA, Richard

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X vs "WayaAnd"??
by ted.harding＠wlandres.net 10 Dec '10

10 Dec '10

Apologies to any of you that may be afflicted by my cross-posting ... I have (quite accidentally) come across the news that Ubuntu seek to implement a graphics system called "Wayland" as a replacement for X-Windows, on grounds like "We don't believe X is set up to deliver the user experience we want, with super-smooth graphics and effects," Shuttleworth explained. There is an article in PCWorld about it: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/210018/ ubuntu_will_adopt_wayland_graphics_system.html (Equivalently: http://tinyurl.com/3ygzme3 ) and, it seems from other sources, Fedora plan to do the same (though I'm not seeing any such signs on the Debian front). Wayland may be more glitzy (for all I know) and more likely to pull in users who currently prefer the Mac experience and the like. But I am seriously perturbed by the following (in the above article): "Among the X11 capabilities not included in Wayland is network transparency." The Joy of X has been that one can run different programs on different machines all the while sitting at the one machine, with X happily transmitting anything X-ish over the network to be happily displayed by the X-server on one's own machine. Would this cease? And, in the case of the other machines which may be old and running only X, even if Wayland can offer "network transparency" could it provide a display server on the Wayland machine for X applications running on other machines (and not just in Linux -- other machines running "real" Unix with X can communicate just as well)? If not, then Linux as we know it could cease to exist! Transparent networking with X is one of the joys of Linux/Unix. Any views/news? Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <ted.harding(a)wlandres.net> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 09-Dec-10 Time: 19:45:57 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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Ubuntu-xerox-cups won't print large files
by Jenny Hopkins 10 Dec '10

10 Dec '10

Hi ALUG, I have an annoying CUPS printer problem: Printer: Xerox workcentre pro 128 Driver: v3015.103 Cups server running on Ubuntu connection socket://{xerox_ip} The problem is when trying to print a large file (the test file is a 731K pdf doc). Error log for cups shows D [09/Dec/2010:14:29:41 +0000] [Job 2972] Wrote 4096 bytes of print data... D [09/Dec/2010:14:29:41 +0000] [Job 2972] Read 4096 bytes of print data... D [09/Dec/2010:14:29:41 +0000] [Job 2972] Wrote 4096 bytes of print data... (for many many lines.. ...and then....) D [09/Dec/2010:14:29:41 +0000] [Job 2972] Read 8192 bytes of print data... D [09/Dec/2010:14:29:41 +0000] [Job 2972] Wrote 8192 bytes of print data... Then it comes out with some cupsd type stuff like: D [09/Dec/2010:14:29:45 +0000] Returning IPP successful-ok for Get-Notifications (/) from localhost D [09/Dec/2010:14:29:45 +0000] cupsdSetBusyState: Printing jobs and dirty files D [09/Dec/2010:14:29:45 +0000] cupsdReadClient: 12 WAITING Closing on EOF then back to the 8192 thing, then it hangs and the Xerox dies and has to be turned on and off. Cups web page error says: "Unable to write print data: Broken pipe" I changed connection from socket to lpd but not much difference, apart from the cups web page changed to: "/usr/lib/cups/backend/lpd failed" I tried printing to cups-pdf then printing from the generated doc, but no difference. Does anybody know if this means the printer itself hasn't enough memory, or if the cups server has a file limit set somewhere? Or any other ideas? Many thanks, More log files can be supplied on request but I've just been trawling about trying to find a solution to this, and reading through page after page of people posting up their entire cups error logs had started to get very tedious.... Jenny

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