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DHCP Error
by steve-alug＠hst.me.uk 21 May '13

21 May '13

Hi folks, I'm confused about another thing too. I have an external backup drive, connected via a network cable. When things boot up, it gets IP addresses for its drives from my dhcp server. This used to work fine. Recently however, I find that the drive's complaining of a "DHCP network addressing problem" (according to the blinking light code!). If, before the drive boots I disable my UFW firewall with sudo ufw disable, then boot the drive, then enable the firewall, everything's OK. If I don't disable the firewall while the drive's getting an IP address, I get the error. I'm running dnsmasq as a dhcp server. My ufw rules are like this $ sudo ufw status Status: active To Action From -- ------ ---- 67 ALLOW 169.254.0.0/16 68 ALLOW 169.254.0.0/16 67 ALLOW 0.0.0.0 68 ALLOW 0.0.0.0 192.168.55.66 ALLOW 192.168.55.0/24 I've omitted 4 rules which open up specific ports, with a format like this as they're not relevant (at least I think they're not relevant) 192.168.55.66 123 ALLOW Anywhere 192.168.55.66 456/tcp ALLOW Anywhere As I understand it, the ports I need to allow access to are 67 and 68. When something asks for an IP address and it hasn't already got one, it broadcasts from the broadcast address 0.0.0.0. Sometimes, a machine will assign itself an IP address in the 169.254.0.0/16 range - e.g. a Windows machine that can't find a DHCP server on the network. If I allow this range then such machines can contact the DHCP server. The final line should allow anything with an address in the range 192.168.55.0 - 192.168.55.255 to contact any port on my server 192.168.55.66, which is where the DHCP server is. It seems to me I must have something wrong with the UFW rules, otherwise why would disabling it allow the drive to get a DCHP lease? What have I got wrong? Any ideas appreciated. Cheers Steve

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Network Engineering
by James Bensley 21 May '13

21 May '13

Hi All, I'm Not sure how many people know about the following here already, and hope fully this isn't against any list etiquette rules; I'm sure many of you use the various Stack Exchange sites, such as http://serverfault.com/, http://stackoverflow.com/, http://unix.stackexchange.com/ and http://askubuntu.com/. Now there is a new site that recently came out of Beta for public access, http://networkengineering.stackexchange.com/. If anyone has networking questions I urge you to sign up and start asking! If the site doesn't get enough traffic in this initial stages it could get shut down, and so far it is proving to be a great well of knowledge. Many thanks, James.

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Network Engineering
by James Bensley 21 May '13

21 May '13

Hi All, I'm Not sure how many people know about the following here already, and hope fully this isn't against any list etiquette rules; I'm sure many of you use the various Stack Exchange sites, such as http://serverfault.com/, http://stackoverflow.com/, http://unix.stackexchange.com/ and http://askubuntu.com/. Now there is a new site that recently came out of Beta for public access, http://networkengineering.stackexchange.com/. If anyone has networking questions I urge you to sign up and start asking! If the site doesn't get enough traffic in this initial stages it could get shut down, and so far it is proving to be a great well of knowledge. Many thanks, James.

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[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : The Mulberry Tree
by samwise 20 May '13

20 May '13

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 today, 20th May, at 20:00: The Mulberry Tree 5 Woodbridge Road IPSWICH IP4 2EA Tel: 01473 225776 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP4+2EA WWW: https://www.facebook.com/MULBERRYHOSPITALITY The Mulberry Tree, previously known as The Milestone Beer House, is a grade 2 listed building in the centre of Ipswich. It is located at the intersection between Woodbridge Road and the A1156, across the road from the old Odeon cinema and not far from the Regent Theatre. It re-opened on Thursday March 29th 2012 after a major refurbishment, under its original name of The Mulberry House and has already begun to regain a good reputation for its selection of beers and ales. It has a sizeable car park to the rear of the building. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. Apologies for the late reminder, I was away all weekend and missed my own reminder reminder!!! Cheers, 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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Debian linux 3.8 and grub
by Richard Lewis 18 May '13

18 May '13

Hi ALUG, I recently upgraded my Debian unstable system and it included the 3.8 Linux kernel. There seem to be some problems with this kernel and my wireless network card. So I just want to set the old 3.2 kernel as the default boot option for now. However, setting: GRUB_DEFAULT=2 in /etc/default/grub and running update-grub seems not to have taken effect (the 3.8 kernel still gets booted). I notice GRUB now seems to have a new initial menu with just two options (paraphrased): "Boot Debian"; "Advanced Options". Selecting Advanced Options presents the more familiar list of kernels to boot. Where did this new menu come from? Could it be interfering with my GRUB_DEFAULT=2 option? Is there a way to remove it? Or any other suggestions why my default kernel option may not be working? Thanks, Richard -- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Richard Lewis j: ironchicken(a)jabber.earth.li @: lewisrichard http://www.richardlewis.me.uk/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

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Claws mailbox over quota?
by Chris Walker 14 May '13

14 May '13

Following a query from Mick, I decided to try importing all my mail from Thunderbird into Claws (v3.8.0) and it's all been going well until I tried to import a mailbox from 2009. The messages in the import folder total 399 and yet there are only 350 in the imported folder. I clicked on the red exclamation mark at the bottom of the Claws window and it tells me '*** IMAP4< Alert: Mailbox is at 99% of quota' but despite searching everywhere I can, I can't find any mention of quotas. Can anybody help please?

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Debian linux 3.8 and grub
by Richard Lewis 12 May '13

12 May '13

Hi ALUG, I recently upgraded my Debian unstable system and it included the 3.8 Linux kernel. There seem to be some problems with this kernel and my wireless network card. So I just want to set the old 3.2 kernel as the default boot option for now. However, setting: GRUB_DEFAULT=2 in /etc/default/grub and running update-grub seems not to have taken effect (the 3.8 kernel still gets booted). I notice GRUB now seems to have a new initial menu with just two options (paraphrased): "Boot Debian"; "Advanced Options". Selecting Advanced Options presents the more familiar list of kernels to boot. Where did this new menu come from? Could it be interfering with my GRUB_DEFAULT=2 option? Is there a way to remove it? Or any other suggestions why my default kernel option may not be working? Thanks, Richard -- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Richard Lewis j: ironchicken(a)jabber.earth.li @: lewisrichard http://www.richardlewis.me.uk/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

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Routers
by Chris Walker 12 May '13

12 May '13

Hello, Does anyone have a need for either one or two BT Home Hubs? They're V2 and I've hacked them to enable use on something other than a BT line. They have 'n' wifi and I've had them working on my Talktalk line as a test. They belonged to one of my sons who moved house and wanted to remove clutter from the new home. Good old Dad will take them! If nobody wants them, I'll bung them on ebay and if nobody there wants them, they'll go for recycling. I'm in Wymondham near Norwich but might be prepared to travel within Norfolk/Suffolk/Cambs.

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Possible Chess moves
by Ted.Harding＠wlandres.net 11 May '13

11 May '13

Greetings All! I have a query. Is there some program which, given a Chess position and which player has the move, can output a (preferably numbered) list of the possible moves for that player in that position? Ideally, it should be possible to enter the position by placing pieces on an image of the board (and to change the position by moving pieces, e.g., after a move, by making the move). With thanks, and best wishes to all, Ted. ------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)wlandres.net> Date: 11-May-2013 Time: 12:23:02 This message was sent by XFMail -------------------------------------------------

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"Highly visible"
by Max Folker 08 May '13

08 May '13

Hi, I'm new here and would like to come along to the Norwich meeting this Thursday. This page (http://alug.org.uk/PubMeetings) says: "New Members are advised to arrange contact (swapping telephone numbers etc) or ask for us to make ourselves highly visible, so you don't end up sitting at a table full of random strangers who aren't interested in Linux." ...I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, but yes - if the group could possibly be highly visible that'd be great. Hopefully see you there. : ) - Max

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Where am I going wrong?
by Chris Walker 08 May '13

08 May '13

I have 2 mail readers on this machine, Thunderbird (which is what I'm using to write this mail) and Sylpheed. I also have a Blackberry Playbook which is configured to use one of the same email addresses as used on Sylpheed. I had previously used Sylpheed in POP3 mode but when I realised that it wasn't displaying the mail I'd sent from the Playbook, I figured I'd change the setup to IMAP. Sylpheed wouldn't let me change it so I deleted the account and recreated it as IMAP. But Sylpheed still won't display the sent mail. I then looked around for another free mail reader and found Claws. If I set that up in IMAP mode, it *does* show the sent mail. Further googling showed that Claws was developed from the same code base as Sylpheed so if one program can display the sent mail, why won't the other? Any help/ideas appreciated.

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Qemu networking
by Barry Samuels 08 May '13

08 May '13

I have been using Qemu on my Debian machine running Windows XP for some years including being able to access a directory on the Debian system using Samba from Qemu. Qemu was updated in the recent past and the networking/Samba side of things stopped working. Well, actually, the command line I had been using to start Qemu was no longer accepted and Qemu wouldn't start until I removed the networking bit. I have been struggling to get it going again ever since. I can get Qemu to run but I can't get the networking/samba side to work. My original Qemu command was: /usr/bin/qemu -boot c -m 256 -hda '/usr/local/storage/qemu/win-xp2.img' - cdrom '/usr/local/storage/qemu/mm.iso' -hdb '/usr/local/storage/qemu/win- xp3.img' -net nic,model=rtl8139 -net user,vlan=0 -smb Linux -redir tcp:9100::9100 -soundhw sb16 -localtime -usb -usbdevice host:067b:2303 - usbdevice host:04b8:0005 The current Qemu command is: /usr/bin/qemu -boot c -m 256 -hda '/usr/local/storage/qemu/win-xp2.img' -cdrom '/usr/local/storage/qemu/mm.iso' -hdb '/usr/local/storage/qemu/win- xp3.img' -netdev type=user,id=mynet0,smb=Linux_m,smbserver=10.0.2.4 Qemu starts but I get no access to the network. I get the following message: 'An error occurred while connecting L: to \\10.0.0.2\linux' Not particularly helpful. I also see sometimes 'The network cannot be reached'. I'm sure I used to have an entry of some sort in the Windows Hosts file but the entry is not there now and I don't remember what it was. Searching on the internet has not provided any useful information. Can anyone offer any help please? -- Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 9th May
by Viperfang 06 May '13

06 May '13

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 9th May at The Coach and Horses (82 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1BA). The meeting officially starts at 8pm, although some people may arrive earlier. More information on those people can be found on the list and the IRC channel. If you are unsure if you will recognise us then make yourself and your intent to attend known by either posting on list or visiting us on IRC so we can look out for you rather than hiding in the corner. Optionally you could ask at the bar if they know where the geeky computer weirdos are and they'll point you in the right direction (seriously!). Another possibility is look for heaps of electronics on a table that may possibly look like movie props that would used for detonating explosives. Feel free to bring electronics/laptops/gadgets to the meet, you will by no means be alone. Ben Bewick aka Viperfang NB: This mail is automated, please refer to the usual sources for more information. ALUG Contact Details: Website : http://www.alug.org.uk/ IRC : #alug on irc.alug.org.uk List : http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo Twitter : http://twitter.com/anglianlug Identica: TBA Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2381613902 ----- 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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BASIC and Linux
by Bev Nicolson 04 May '13

04 May '13

I'm not asking for myself by the way. Would it be possible to run BASIC and create programmes in Ubuntu? A quick Google suggests WINE would be necessary. Thoughts? (Other than 'Why would you?') Bev.

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SAMBA vs NFS
by steve-ALUG＠hst.me.uk 03 May '13

03 May '13

Hi Guys, I tried setting up NFS last night and I got it to work, but it was so slow compared to the Samba share I used to use. I've been meaning to try and set up NFS for ages. I was thinking that it was probably the best way to share files between my server and laptops, maintaining appropriate Linux user names/rights etc for files, rather than the kludgey way I have my Samba set up. I got it working using http://czarism.com/easy-peasy-ubuntu-linux-nfs-file-sharing and then I looked at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SettingUpNFSHowTo and I was trying to make it a bit more secure by editing hosts.deny/allow as described. Sometime during this modification, I managed to break it completely. So my questions: Is nfs the way to go to share files & directories from a server to laptops, or should I stick with Samba? Is the Ubuntu link above a sensible way of setting things up? I was thinking I'd just manually keep the user names/numbers in sync between the computers - is that OK? Is there a better way of doing things? I think it's stopped working because rpcbind can't link to localhost. I think I know how to fix it, but can't spare the time at the moment. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance! :-) Steve

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Re: [ALUG] BASIC and Linux
by Ewan Slater 03 May '13

03 May '13

On 3 May 2013 09:55, <main-request(a)lists.alug.org.uk> wrote: > Message: 9 > Date: Fri, 3 May 2013 09:55:36 +0100 > From: Bev Nicolson <lumos60(a)gmail.com> > To: ALUG <main(a)lists.alug.org.uk> > Subject: [ALUG] BASIC and Linux > Message-ID: > <CAAoXXvXrtMBtjpbyNya56Hzp_SmkYu83kP4p2A9LFkAQj40ODw(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > I'm not asking for myself by the way. Would it be possible to run > BASIC and create programmes in Ubuntu? A quick Google suggests WINE > would be necessary. Thoughts? (Other than 'Why would you?') > > Bev. > Hi Bev, There is a Wikipedia list of BASIC dialects here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_BASIC_dialects Quite a few of which look like they are for Linux native (caveat: I haven't tried them myself). I have done C# development on Linux using Mono and confirm that this works well. It now looks like Mono is starting to support Visual Basic on Linux (http://www.mono-project.com/VisualBasic.NET_support#New_Visual_Basic_Framew…), which I haven't tried, but based on the C# experience I would expect that it would be good. Cheers, Ewan

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iptables question
by Mark Rogers 01 May '13

01 May '13

I have an Internet facing server running pptpd. Users who connect via pptp need to be able to route through the server to the rest of the Internet. As well as configuring net.ipv4.ip_forward=1 I also have iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE .. and it all works. However, is the above iptables command too broad for an internet server? Doesn't it effectively mean that anyone can send traffic through it? Assuming the pptp interface is ppp0 I would have expected (having very little iptables knowledge) that: iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -i ppp0 -j MASQUERADE .. would be better but I'm just guessing and I don't want to kill access to the remote server by playing! Given that every howto I find says to use just "iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE" I assume that's actually right, so I think I'm just asking for help understanding why. Mark -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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Widespread spamattack
by Anthony Anson 30 Apr '13

30 Apr '13

In case anyone doesn't know, there's a widespread infiltration of btinternet and yahoo accounts, spreading multiple spam messages. Beware of trying to open any unknown URLs contained in emails from those sources. (My firewall warned me of just such an attack, seemingly from an old friend. Whether it could have infected a Linux box I don't know.) -- Tony http://www.girolle.co.uk/

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Converting photogravure (back) to photograph quality?
by Anthony Anson 30 Apr '13

30 Apr '13

Does anyone know of a program which will take a (dotty) photogravure pic and convert it back (as far as is possible) to the original one from which the plates were made? -- Tony http://www.girolle.co.uk/

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2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 3rd May.
by Viperfang 30 Apr '13

30 Apr '13

Quick heads up about this months Norwich 2600 meeting, more info at http://www.norwich2600.co.uk

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System temperature monitor?
by Ted.Harding＠wlandres.net 29 Apr '13

29 Apr '13

Hi Folks, My laptop (which was quite busy at the time) suddenly switched itselfr off. I checked the power lead etc., and then switched it back on, and since then it's been fine. I don't really know what happened. It may have been a loose connection in the power supply (the battery is shot, so any interruption kills it immediately); I may have accidentally tapped on the power button (I was typing furiously at the time); but more probably I suspect that the machine may have been over-heating and decided to switch itself off. It felt quite warm, but not really hot. This led me to look for any program that monitors things like the state (including temperature) of the system (e.g. CPU temperature or whatever), but I didn't find anything. Any suggestions as to what I should look for? This is a rather old Debian system (2010) on which I'm running "classic Gnome" (thank God), and for various to reasons it has reached the state where Debian-sourced updates or further software can no longer be installed off repositories. So anything new would have to be installed from scratch. An alternative might be the contents of something under /dev which stores ambient system information, which I could then decipher for myself. But I'm also wondering where that might be! With thanks for any suggestions, Ted. ------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)wlandres.net> Date: 27-Apr-2013 Time: 21:56:01 This message was sent by XFMail -------------------------------------------------

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Looking for simple web photo gallery software with some very specific requirements
by Chris Green 29 Apr '13

29 Apr '13

I'm after a web application to display pictures, there are zillions of them out there but it's difficult to find one to match my requirements:- Take an existing directory hierarchy of pictures and use it to organise the album/gallery. Don't copy the pictures, use them direct from the existing directory structure. Must not require any write access to the pictures directory. The thumbnails and other information must be stored elsewhere. No need for any picture manipulation at all, just a way to navigate through the hierarchy and view the pictures. Preferably no database and the ability to use EXIF information but these are not absolute requirements. It can use PHP, Python, Perl or anything really, slight preference for Python or PHP as I can modify/maintain it more easily myself then. -- Chris Green

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Accessing IMAP from W*****s
by Ted.Harding＠wlandres.net 26 Apr '13

26 Apr '13

Greetings All! My apologies for even hinting at any abominations, but I would like to know the answer to this problem -- and of all people I think ALUG may be able to help! Situation: I have a remote IMAP account with 1and1.co.uk, which my mailer accesses basically via telnet on port 143 (along with email address thereon as userid and a password, both of which I know, of course). The problem: Suppose I am visiting a friend or family, but without my computer (which has the access built in). They all use W*****s systems. I would like to be able to see my emails on the remote IMAP server, perhaps read some, and delete any I'm not interested in. Maybe even reply (but this is not my priority). So: Is there a procedure with some W*****s softwrare which they would have installed by which I can have such access? Ideally, I'd be delighted if this could be done with a browser (e.g. Ex*****r) so that there's minimal interference with the machine I'm using. And (and here I return to the fold) if that were possible then I could also do it using Linux (which would add to the coterie of friends from whose places I could do this). But my attempts from my home Linux system got nowhere (short of setting up an IMAP account in the mail agent , which of course is already there). The host address for access to IMAP accounts is imap.1and1.co.uk port 143 Much gratitude for any useful advice! Best wishes to all, Ted. ------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)wlandres.net> Date: 23-Apr-2013 Time: 18:02:39 This message was sent by XFMail -------------------------------------------------

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Accessing IMAP from W*****s
by Ewan Slater 24 Apr '13

24 Apr '13

<quote> If you have a spare USB stick, you could install Portable Apps http://portableapps.com/ on it and use something like Thunderbird http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/thunderbird_portable to access the IMAP account. I've only used it with PC's with XP installed but believe it works with most varieties of W*****s. All you do is stick it in a USB socket and the apps automatically fire up. When you remove the USB stick, it doesn't leave anything behind on the host PC. </quote> Portable Apps works on Windows 7 and XP. Don't know about Vista or 8. Another option would be to take a Virtual Box Linux VM with you and use that. My €0.02 Ewan

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old tat going free
by mick 23 Apr '13

23 Apr '13

Or really useful old hardware..... Another clear out means that I have some old tat to get rid of. Someone may find some of it useful. If so, let me know, otherwise it's going to the wee recycling dump. Two EZ PCMCIA 10/100 ethernet adaptors (cards slot into old adaptor slots and provide RJ45 ethernet connectors) One Dell external CD/DVD drive wich uses the Dell connecting cable (with cable) One Dell external CD/DVD drive which uses USB connecting cable (with cable) One 5 1/4" floppy drive (really). I have also found a box of Digital Research 5 1/4 floppies with GEM etc dating from 1987 if anyone is feeling really nostalgic. One "universal modulator" from Maplin (one of these http://www.maplin.co.uk/programmable-universal-modulator-33050) Mick --------------------------------------------------------------------- blog: baldric.net gpg fingerprint: FC23 3338 F664 5E66 876B 72C0 0A1F E60B 5BAD D312 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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(no subject)
by RICHARD FLETCHER 22 Apr '13

22 Apr '13

http://www.blochtech.com/components/com_content/serviceg/noise/apologize

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Re: [ALUG] Just signed up
by Ewan Slater 22 Apr '13

22 Apr '13

Hi, Thanks for all the responses. I'll try and get to one of the pub meetings in May or June (work/travel permitting) and will be intermittently lurking on IRC, with the imaginative handle of ewan_s Cheers, Ewan On 22 April 2013 12:00, <main-request(a)lists.alug.org.uk> wrote: > Send main mailing list submissions to > main(a)lists.alug.org.uk > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/main > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > main-request(a)lists.alug.org.uk > > You can reach the person managing the list at > main-owner(a)lists.alug.org.uk > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of main digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Just signed up (mick) > 2. Re: Just signed up (Steve Engledow) > 3. Re: (no subject) (Wayne Stallwood) > 4. (no subject) (RICHARD FLETCHER) > 5. Re: (no subject) ( (Ted Harding)) > 6. Re: (no subject) (mick) > 7. Re: there are two binaries, one works one does not > (Peter Alcibiades) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sun, 21 Apr 2013 12:32:38 +0100 > From: mick <mbm(a)rlogin.net> > To: main(a)lists.alug.org.uk > Subject: Re: [ALUG] Just signed up > Message-ID: <20130421123238.79e6a425(a)gate.rlogin.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > On Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:58:09 +0100 > Brett Parker <iDunno(a)sommitrealweird.co.uk> allegedly wrote: > > > On 19 Apr 15:43, Ewan Slater wrote: > > > Hi, > > > > > > I've just joined the list and I was wondering if and when there are > > > any face - to - face meetings of the group, and/or key - signing > > > sessions? > > > > The usual monthly meetings are as per the website: > > http://www.alug.org.uk/ > > > > Basically, 2nd Thursday in Norwich and 3rd Monday in Ipswich. > > > > If there's any other time/place you want to meet it's worth throwing > > out to the list to see if there's any interest. > > Hi Ewan and welcome. > > As far as key signing goes, you can probably do that at a pub meeting. > > Mick > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > blog: baldric.net > gpg fingerprint: FC23 3338 F664 5E66 876B 72C0 0A1F E60B 5BAD D312 > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > >

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there are two binaries, one works one does not
by Peter Alcibiades 22 Apr '13

22 Apr '13

The binary that works is in the home directory. The one that does not is in usr/local/bin. The Qt5 libs are in /opt. The error message from running sigil is this: error while loading shared libraries: libQt5Widgets.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory I am guessing that somehow the path of the sigil command is wrongly set and so it cannot see the file, which is really there? But the other thing I can't understand is why the compile and installer should have apparently installed binaries in /home? Or is the installation process first to compile, and then to move the bits into the right places, and this has not happened? On the other hand, the sigil binaries are where they should be, so the qt5 libs should be also. What the world needs is a Debian maintainer for sigil! Any volunteers? Al

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(no subject)
by RICHARD FLETCHER 21 Apr '13

21 Apr '13

http://miravel.co.za/wp-content/plugins/serviceg/hurry/witness

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Re: [ALUG] Just signed up
by Steve Engledow 21 Apr '13

21 Apr '13

----- Forwarded message from mick <mbm(a)rlogin.net> ----- Hi Ewan and welcome. As far as key signing goes, you can probably do that at a pub meeting. Mick ----- End forwarded message ----- Welcome to ALUG, Ewan. As Mick said, key signing does indeed happen occasionally at pubmeets so come down to one some time. We're generally very unorganised though and have to go look up how to do key signing every time :) We're all experts, honest. It's also worth getting onto IRC at some point to say hi. We're on irc.alug.org.uk in the #alug channel. Steve

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Just signed up
by Ewan Slater 21 Apr '13

21 Apr '13

Hi, I've just joined the list and I was wondering if and when there are any face - to - face meetings of the group, and/or key - signing sessions? Also, is anyone based in the Halesworth area? Cheers, Ewan

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stumbling around with sigil...
by Peter Alcibiades 21 Apr '13

21 Apr '13

OK, finally solved the problem with QT5, though without being really clear what worked or why. It did finally compile and installed itself politely in /opt. Now there is another puzzle. The problem was to install and run sigil. Which is a very nice package indeed if you want to edit epub books.Very nice. Unfortunately you have to compile it from source. They do not do binaries, and if they have as hard a time as me with it, I can understand why. The problem is that entering the command sigil in a terminal produces an error to the effect that libQt5 widgets is not found. However, the binary is installed in my home directory in a sigil folder, and if I execute this binary it works just fine. If I look in the /opt sigil directory, qt5widgets is indeed there. So how do I change the command so that it calls the binary that works? There must be a file someplace that has all these commands in it, but where? Al

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Re: [ALUG] Looking up IP address via DNS
by Mark Rogers 19 Apr '13

19 Apr '13

On 18 April 2013 10:16, Mark Rogers <mark(a)more-solutions.co.uk> wrote: > I need a way to do a DNS lookup of an IP address that returns the IP > address. I have managed to solve this in two ways, in case anyone is interested. First: $ dig @8.8.8.8 192.168.1.1 +short $ dig @192.168.100.5 192.168.1.1 +short 192.168.1.1 It turns out that Google's DNS doesn't give an answer when queried for an IP address, but my own office DNS (dnsmasq) does. So controlling the DNS server gives me a solution. Secondly though: I found a way to bypass the braindead behaviour in the unit, and although it's messy it works, so none of the rest of this matters any more! -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

1 0

Looking up IP address via DNS
by Mark Rogers 18 Apr '13

18 Apr '13

I'm working with a brain dead system, so bear with me... I need a way to do a DNS lookup of an IP address that returns the IP address. I can control the DNS server, and/or possibly apply a suffix to the IP address. The reason is that I have an industrial unit that will accept a hostname (for FTP purposes) but if I enter an IP address it fails, and this appears to be because its DNS lookup of that address is failing. The unit should have Internet access and I can set the DNS server to whatever I like, so one option would may to run my own DNS server that when queried for "192.168.1.1" returns the IP address "192.168.1.1". That pre-supposes that the unit isn't already detecting that "192.168.1.1" is an IP address, not doing a DNS lookup, but then failing for some other reason (where it does not fail if I use a name which looks up to that IP). A "better" solution is probably to apply a suffix, so instead of entering "192.168.1.1" I enter "192.168.1.1.example.com" [1] where the DNS for "example.com" will return the IP address. That way I know that the unit will be forced to go through a DNS lookup and is more likely to just work. I'd just need some guidance on setting up BIND or some other DNS to achieve this. Any ideas? The "best" option would be to get the manufacturer to fix their product but it turns out that the best options aren't always available :-( [1] Just for clarity: the user enters the IP address and I have no control over what address they'll enter. In my code I then detect that it's an IP address rather than a hostname (probably just checking whether the last character is numeric would suffice), and appending ".example.com" before passing to the FTP handling code. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

2 1

Qt5 again...
by Peter Alcibiades 17 Apr '13

17 Apr '13

I have found one of the files, what I don't know how to do is put it into the path.... Al

1 0

QT5 compile errors
by Peter Alcibiades 17 Apr '13

17 Apr '13

This is the error I am getting:- Could not find a package configuration file provided by "Qt5Core" with any of the following names: Qt5CoreConfig.cmake qt5core-config.cmake Add the installation prefix of "Qt5Core" to CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH or set "Qt5Core_DIR" to a directory containing one of the above files. If "Qt5Core" provides a separate development package or SDK, be sure it has been installed. I am trying to compile and install Sigil from source. Anyone know specifically how to do what its asking for? Like what to put in what file? Al

1 0

[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : The Mulberry Tree
by samwise 14 Apr '13

14 Apr '13

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 tomorrow, 15th April, at 20:00: The Mulberry Tree 5 Woodbridge Road IPSWICH IP4 2EA Tel: 01473 225776 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP4+2EA WWW: https://www.facebook.com/MULBERRYHOSPITALITY The Mulberry Tree, previously known as The Milestone Beer House, is a grade 2 listed building in the centre of Ipswich. It is located at the intersection between Woodbridge Road and the A1156, across the road from the old Odeon cinema and not far from the Regent Theatre. It re-opened on Thursday March 29th 2012 after a major refurbishment, under its original name of The Mulberry House and has already begun to regain a good reputation for its selection of beers and ales. It has a sizeable car park to the rear of the building. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. I should be arriving at 20:00 - hope to see some of you there! Cheers, 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

1 0

USB 2.0 to ethernet adaptors
by mick 11 Apr '13

11 Apr '13

Hi all Does anyone have any experience of using USB 2.0 to ethernet adaptors? Ignoring the apparently magical ability to get more than 280 Mbits/s of adaptors advertised as "USB 2.0 to gigabit ethernet", what is the realistic maximum throughput anyone has experienced with such devices, and on what architectures? I am considering options for building a very small, low powered in-line F/W and some of the devices I am looking at only have one ethernet port (but often two or more USB ports). Any and all advice (up to and including "don't be silly, do it properly") happily accepted. Cheers Mick --------------------------------------------------------------------- blog: baldric.net gpg fingerprint: FC23 3338 F664 5E66 876B 72C0 0A1F E60B 5BAD D312 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

2 2

What does group 199528447 mean
by Chris Walker 11 Apr '13

11 Apr '13

Having dutifully followed advice and backed up my NAS drive using rsync, I have formatted the NAS and now want to write the contents of the rynced drive back to the NAS. But it gives me lots of 'Permission Denied' errors. I thought I'd re-created the NAS as it was but that's done through a web browser so I might well have screwed it up but it seems to be working, albeit that I can't now write to it. So once and for all, I'd like to fix the problem so that in the future, I can read and write files to the NAS without experiencing permission errors. I tried to find the cause of this error on google but it only returns one result and that's no help at all. I then looked at the groups configuration GUI on the machine but there are no groups numbered above 500 so how come this one is saying 199528447? If it helps, the user number is the same. So where do I start with trying to fault find this?

3 9

Running commands at boot
by Chris Walker 11 Apr '13

11 Apr '13

I run some software called RPCEmu (http://www.marutan.net/rpcemu/) and I want to run networking on it. I've setup networking on the emulator and also on my linux box. But I have to run the commands each time. These are the commands, run as root :- iptables -I FORWARD -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING --source 172.31.0.0/16 -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_forward=1 sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_dynaddr=1 How do I run them each time I switch on the machine so that they're run as root? Any help appreciated.

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 11th April
by Viperfang 08 Apr '13

08 Apr '13

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 11th April at The Coach and Horses (82 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1BA). The meeting officially starts at 8pm, although some people may arrive earlier. More information on those people can be found on the list and the IRC channel. If you are unsure if you will recognise us then make yourself and your intent to attend known by either posting on list or visiting us on IRC so we can look out for you rather than hiding in the corner. Optionally you could ask at the bar if they know where the geeky computer weirdos are and they'll point you in the right direction (seriously!). Another possibility is look for heaps of electronics on a table that may possibly look like movie props that would used for detonating explosives. Feel free to bring electronics/laptops/gadgets to the meet, you will by no means be alone. Ben Bewick aka Viperfang NB: This mail is automated, please refer to the usual sources for more information. ALUG Contact Details: Website : http://www.alug.org.uk/ IRC : #alug on irc.alug.org.uk List : http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo Twitter : http://twitter.com/anglianlug Identica: TBA Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2381613902 ----- 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

1 0

Dropbox alternatives, was Re: Diagnosing high X CPU usage
by Mark Rogers 07 Apr '13

07 Apr '13

On 2 April 2013 16:31, MJ Ray <mjr(a)phonecoop.coop> wrote: > > Owncloud, either with your own storage (it can use lots) but I don't > remember if anyone does loss-leader offers like the free 2GB for it > yet. Following a link from OwnCloud's website, I find that OwnDrive.com do a free 1GB account. However, I have looked at OwnCloud (briefly) a long time ago so I thought I'd have another look at it, using my own server to host it. I decided to go with the install from the OpenSuse Build Farm repositories (onto Ubuntu 12.04), since that takes care of updates. However: $ sudo apt-get install owncloud [...] The following extra packages will be installed: autoconf automake autotools-dev binutils cpp cpp-4.6 gcc gcc-4.6 libc-dev-bin libc6-dev libltdl-dev libmpc2 libmpfr4 libquadmath0 libssl-dev libssl-doc libtool linux-libc-dev m4 manpages-dev php-pear php-xml-parser php5-dev php5-sqlite shtool zlib1g-dev That's a lot of dependencies that I wouldn't expect? -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

4 4

git usage
by Chris Green 04 Apr '13

04 Apr '13

I have lots of scrappy little bash and python scripts that live in ~/bin. I have been trying to keep tabs on them using git but I don't seem to have a good strategy for doing this yet. Should one:- 1 - Have a separate 'development' directory where one mucks around with the scripts and keep that directory under git. Then, when tested copy the script to ~/bin. 2 - Simply put ~/bin under git. The second approach is much easier in some ways and most of the scripts are pretty trivial (but easier to test when in their proper place). ... and/or are there any git commands/tools to help one do this? -- Chris Green

3 3

Diagnosing high X CPU usage
by Mark Rogers 04 Apr '13

04 Apr '13

According to "top", /usr/bin/X is using between 30% and 60% of my CPU (and can go higher). this is on an AMD A6-3670 (quad core) system running Kubuntu (13.04 beta), and my new nVidia G210 graphics card with proprietary drivers. I had the same problems with the onboard GPU in 13.04 and 12.10 before it. Eg: PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND 1357 root 20 0 321m 207m 49m R 48.9 1.3 214:58.86 Xorg Why would X CPU be so high, and what can I do about it? -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

3 15

Re: [ALUG] old tat going free
by Anthony Anson 02 Apr '13

02 Apr '13

On 02/04/13 20:29, mick wrote: > On Tue, 02 Apr 2013 16:45:42 +0100 > Anthony Anson <tony.anson(a)girolle.co.uk> allegedly wrote: >> I expect to be at the next Norwich meeting > > I've never attended and so don't take much notice of the event > notifications. When and where is the next one? Ah. Do you see any regular attenders? Until my GP gets my beta blockers sorted so that I'm not nearly passing out from time to time, I'm not safe behind the wheel. IIRC, you live near Syleham? That's a bit far to bike. How often do you get into Norwich? I'm sure The Tea House near the bottom of Elm Hill would accept a small parcel. Obviously, I'm not in any hurry. /snip/ >>> Allows equipment with SCART or phono outputs to plug in to a >>> TV or aerial socket Direct channel selection /snip/ >> Thanks - sounds right up my street! (If you still have it...) >> > > Yes, and you can have that too. Many thanks. -- Tony http://www.girolle.co.uk/

1 0

Open/Libre Office and docx
by Bev Nicolson 02 Apr '13

02 Apr '13

I've been finding that opening MS docx files with Libre Office makes the formatting go ever so slightly awol. Is there another office program I could use that doesn't have this problem? Bev.

4 4

2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 5th April.
by Viperfang 02 Apr '13

02 Apr '13

Quick heads up about this months Norwich 2600 meeting, more info at http://www.norwich2600.co.uk

1 0

Network printing
by Chris Walker 28 Mar '13

28 Mar '13

I got fed up with the Huawei router that Talktalk supplied, and wanting to have network printing I bought a Buffalo ADSL router. That has a USB port on it to enable network printing. But I can't make it work. According to the stuff I've looked at, it should be as simple as finding the IP address of the router and configuring the printer to be that address. I know the IP address of the router, it's 192.168.1.1 but I can't get beyond that. Where am I going wrong? Can anybody help please? If it helps, I'm not running ddwrt which is one of the options. When it came to the initial setup of the router, I chose to keep things simple as I was having to copy settings from the Huawei.

1 0

Basic (I think!) Python problem
by Mark Rogers 27 Mar '13

27 Mar '13

I'm a programmer, but I'm not a Python programmer, yet. So I'm sure what I'm doing wrong here relates more to my lack of knowledge than anything else... I'm looking at a Websockets example here: http://eventlet.net/doc/examples.html#websocket-server-example On my Ubuntu system I have tried: sudo apt-get install python-eventlet (which installs Eventlet 0.12.1, which appears to be the current version) I then try to run the example and get: $python eventlet.py Traceback (most recent call last): File "eventlet.py", line 1, in <module> import eventlet File "/home/mark/python/eventlet.py", line 4, in <module> from eventlet import wsgi ImportError: cannot import name wsgi If I Google the error, using the assumption that stupid errors are made by lots of people so I won't be alone, I find only two hits neither of which are remotely related. But I've tried this on more than one system without success. Suggestions? I don't have the relevant build tools installed to try using easy_install instead but as 0.12.1 is the latest version I don't think the install method is the problem here? -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

4 9

Recommended "entry level" nVidia graphics card
by Mark Rogers 25 Mar '13

25 Mar '13

I have a PC with on-board ATI HD-6530D. The motherboard is less than a year old, but apparently this is far too old for AMD/ATI to still support the chipset so proprietary drivers don't exist for it. I'm using the FOSS drivers (which would be my preference anyway) but I'm having issues in X that are causing it to die one way or another every day or so. The research I've done so far suggests that I have two options: give up half my life to working out what's going on, or accept it and move on. With the latter option in mind, that means I want to buy a cheap PCI-X video card, but I'd like to get one that's at least as "good" as the HD6530D. And for reasons of lack of support I'd like to avoid AMD/ATI. That pretty much means nVidia (unless someone tells me they're just as bad?). Any recommendations? No gaming, so just responsive desktop graphics, and reliable under Linux. (I'm on Kubuntu 13.04 (beta) at the moment, which I upgraded to in part to see if it improved things, which it didn't.) Aside: I did manage to install the ATI drivers and it did seem better, albeit with an "unsupported hardware" logo permanently on my screen, which it may be possible to get rid of. But I didn't stick with it long enough to see if it really made things better. If nVidia/ATI are as bad as each other then I'd consider either brand's card that's currently supported if it's cheap enough, especially if it's reliable under the FOSS drivers. I was sure that AMD made some moves to open sourcing their drivers, but I must have dreamed it? -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

4 4

SyncIpswich
by Laurie Brown 22 Mar '13

22 Mar '13

Folks, I don't know how many here have heard of the Sync<city> initiative. I hadn't until recently, but according to the website for the Ipswich one (http://www.syncipswich.com) this is the rough idea: ---- cut here ---- "SyncIpswich is all about getting Ipswich and Suffolk's technology communities together to form new ideas, new startups and push local business growth. Ipswich is an ever improving town with many local & national technology companies, design & marketing agencies, developers, designers, business owners and more. SyncIpswich is an open community for all technologists, creatives, entrepreneurs and graduates to meet up, flaunt ideas, recruit help and expertise and learn new things. Its a community by the people for the people. Regular meetups with exciting talks and demo's in sociable surroundings. We look forward to meeting you. We'll be meeting once a month in the evening; its free to attend with free snacks and drinks." ---- cut here ---- Thus far, Norwich and Ipswich are the only ones, but Cambridge is due to start one soon, with more to follow. Last night I attended the inaugural "meetup" with a talk by Daniel Wagner-Hall from Google, talking about their software testing regime, philosophy and culture. It was really good, and a great insight into Google. Some of the stats were astonishing: Nearly 20,000 developers More than 100 million lines of code Up to 200 tests PER SECOND, and so on... Some comments made by attendees (there were 70-odd people there) can be seen here: http://www.syncipswich.com/events/101237482/?a=uc1_te A review (from one of the sponsors) can be fond here: http://paulgrenyer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-first-syncipswich.html There was free beer (Peroni), soft drinks, nibbles, and lots of techy people many of whom use Linux day-to-day. We repaired to Issac's afterwards for more beer. I didn't see anyone from ALUG there, but in truth, my recent attendance to the monthly meetings has been woeful, so I might be wrong. It was a good opportunity to meet new people, make contact with ex-colleagues I hadn't seen for 20+ years, and generally network. I recommend Ipswich ALUGers to attend the next meet, or at least roam through the web site. Of course, you guys in Norwich should check out your own! See you at the next meet then? Cheers, Laurie. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Laurie Brown laurie(a)brownowl.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------

1 0

Free hardware
by Srdjan Todorovic 19 Mar '13

19 Mar '13

Hi all, I've got some stuff that I don't need: 1. Domex 3194UP SCSI card. 32bit PCI slot. I've got one SCSI cable to go with it. Not used it in years, so don't know if it still works. Was working when it was removed. It was supported in Linux with the 'initio' driver on 2.6.x kernels, but I have no idea about 3.8 that was just released. 2. Universal Scientific Industrial BD-B022 "Remote Access Host Card" PCIe 1x slot. I think this is a Dell product (FX100 Remote Access Host Card?). Has 2 DVI ports and one RJ45 port. Has a JTAG connector, I2C connector (some of the pins are bent), RS232 (one bent pin). I don't know if this is even working. If anyone wants them, give me a shout and I'll bring them to the next pubmeet, otherwise they will be going to the bin / council recycling centre (landfill?). Regards, Srdjan

3 11

[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : The Mulberry Tree
by samwise 19 Mar '13

19 Mar '13

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 tonight, 18th March, at 20:00: The Mulberry Tree 5 Woodbridge Road IPSWICH IP4 2EA Tel: 01473 225776 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP4+2EA WWW: https://www.facebook.com/MULBERRYHOSPITALITY The Mulberry Tree, previously known as The Milestone Beer House, is a grade 2 listed building in the centre of Ipswich. It is located at the intersection between Woodbridge Road and the A1156, across the road from the old Odeon cinema and not far from the Regent Theatre. It re-opened on Thursday March 29th 2012 after a major refurbishment, under its original name of The Mulberry House and has already begun to regain a good reputation for its selection of beers and ales. It has a sizeable car park to the rear of the building. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. I'm not sure if/when I'm going to be able to get along tonight. I may only be able to make it for last orders, so if someone can let me know they're going to be there, then I'll know who to call to find out where you all are. :) Cheers, 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

2 2

A plaintive wish for an application
by Chris Green 12 Mar '13

12 Mar '13

I have searched on and off for ages for decent forms layout software (preferably GUI and with a database behind it) and every time I think I may have found one it either fades aways into unsupported disuse or doesn't quite manage to provide the things I want. Just to pad this out a little I'll list what I've played with over the years (not in any particular order, just as they come to mind):- Knoda - looked promising once but is dead and unsupported now Rekall - as above, was semi-commercial anyway Dabo - quite nice, good support but no forms GUI Sqledit/Sqlkit - I can't quite get it to work for me kexi - good, except that scripts and subforms are missing still glom - seems to be going the way of all forms GUIs, no activity I know lots of projects die but it seems particularly common with these! -- Chris Green

1 0

[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 14th March
by Viperfang 11 Mar '13

11 Mar '13

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 14th March at The Coach and Horses (82 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1BA). The meeting officially starts at 8pm, although some people may arrive earlier. More information on those people can be found on the list and the IRC channel. If you are unsure if you will recognise us then make yourself and your intent to attend known by either posting on list or visiting us on IRC so we can look out for you rather than hiding in the corner. Optionally you could ask at the bar if they know where the geeky computer weirdos are and they'll point you in the right direction (seriously!). Another possibility is look for heaps of electronics on a table that may possibly look like movie props that would used for detonating explosives. Feel free to bring electronics/laptops/gadgets to the meet, you will by no means be alone. Ben Bewick aka Viperfang NB: This mail is automated, please refer to the usual sources for more information. ALUG Contact Details: Website : http://www.alug.org.uk/ IRC : #alug on irc.alug.org.uk List : http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo Twitter : http://twitter.com/anglianlug Identica: TBA Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2381613902 ----- 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

1 0

PPTP vpn connections on Kubuntu
by Mark Rogers 11 Mar '13

11 Mar '13

Is there any documentation anywhere for the "Edit Network Connection" / VPN dialogue? Specific questions: - What is "System connection"? - Under IPv4/Basic, what is the difference between "Automatic (VPN)" and "Automatic (VPN) addresses only" Also, on more than one occasion I've had a connection drop out and been unable to restart it without rebooting the PC - there's presumably something else that I should be able to restart that falls short of a reboot? -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

3 4

Are there any contact/addressbook programs that actually store in vCard format?
by Chris Green 07 Mar '13

07 Mar '13

I'd like to keep my addresses in vCard format if I can as it will ease some sharing issues I have. However I can't find a program that actually keeps its data in this format, can anyone suggest anything? -- Chris Green

2 1

apache -> nginx
by Mark Rogers 07 Mar '13

07 Mar '13

I am considering a strategy for migrating a server from Apache to Nginx (I've never used nginx before so I'll be doing all this on a test box first). The strategy is something like: install nginx alongside apache but using (say) port 81. Configure all the virtual hosts so that if <url> works now (on Apache), <url>:81 should also work on nginx, running concurrently. Test. (The idea is to get customers to do some final checks on their own sites, so this should work with minimum fuss.) When ready, kill apache and switch the port over on nginx. All the sites are running PHP/MySQL (except for a few static sites). Aside from making sure I have enough RAM to run both alongside each other, any reason to avoid this approach? -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

3 18

FastCGI / php5-fpm, was Re: apache -> nginx
by Mark Rogers 06 Mar '13

06 Mar '13

On 6 March 2013 15:01, Mark Rogers <mark(a)quarella.co.uk> wrote: > However, I've spent some time playing with nginx this afternoon, and I > have to say that the biggest PITA so far as been working with FastCGI My existing Apache/mod_php configuration is fairly simple. Lots of virtual hosts, many of which use PHP. Of those that do, there's probably 50% are "standard" packages (eg Wordpress) and the other 50% is "stuff wot I wrote". In all cases the virtual host will have a reasonable amount of PHP config; setting memory and file upload limits, etc, and setting options required by the "standard" packages. My own stuff will have include_path configured to point to whichever version of my standard PHP libraries the site uses, and any other config needed. >From my brief experiments with FastCGI this afternoon (with nginx/php5-fpm), switching to FastCGI is going to be a big headache when it comes to setting the PHP environment up per-site. I know I can set variables via the FastCGI interface but (unless I am misunderstanding something) it is messy and I really need to set everything for each site to be sure it'll work the way I want (ie if I set include_path for one site but not for another, it doesn't seem clear whether or not which include_path the other site will end up with, and even after removing the include_path altogether and restarting nginx, it seems I need to restart php5-fpm for it to revert to defaults, so I assume it goes with the last value it was told to use?) There are obviously others here with way more experience with FastCGI/PHP than I have, so am I losing the plot of is this going to be a big headache with my setup? Mark -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

1 0

Email received?
by James Freer 05 Mar '13

05 Mar '13

I remember back about 2000 when i started using email there was a way that one could tell if it had been read. In those days i was using Outlook. How did it work? If it was set up on the email client then somehow it could check on the server that it was sent to. I've used gmail UI for a long while now but i was wondering if there was something in the header on each email that one could check. One has received: IDxxxxxxxx and i wondered if from one of those digits was the signal. thanks james

7 9

OT - DB2, AS400, Websphere
by Stuart Bailey 03 Mar '13

03 Mar '13

Does anyone have any experience of DB2 / AS400 and Websphere I have a project to replace an existing website (with database backend) onto an OSS system using a LAMP server. Trouble is, the AS400 is used for all the financial site of the website. I do not have the source code for the websphere component, but will need to reverse engineer this in order to replicate the communication with the AS400 on the LAMP server. Does anyone have experience of these systems, or know anyone who does? Thanks, Stuart -- Stuart Bailey BSc (hons) CEng CITP MBCS LinuSoft (Managing Director) Linux Specialist & Software Developer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Phone: (0845) 658 3563 Direct: +44 (0) 1953 878162 Fax: +44 (0) 1603 858583 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.linusoft.co.uk __________ Information from ESET Mail Security, version of virus signature database 8071 (20130303) __________ The message was checked by ESET Mail Security. http://www.eset.com

1 0

after another mysterious crash
by Peter Alcibiades 03 Mar '13

03 Mar '13

Another mysterious crash. We run for three weeks or so continuously, no power off, then suddenly it dies. This time I thought to start from system rescue disk and try memory checks. This did seem to produce reporducible dying. After three crashes in a row I decided to bit the bullet and replace the innards. Yes, it would be possible just to replace the memory and see if that helped, but its productive time being lost at every iteration of this problem. The result is surprising. Now I have 16G memory in two sticks, and an i5 processor in an Asus itx board. It is a lot quieter and a lot cooler than the previous rig. In fact you can just about hear it. Started from the old hard drive with no problem and everything runs perfectly though rather faster. So, if you are looking for a compact and fast configuration, get the Silverstone mini itx case with the big fan on the front, put an i5 in it, and its perfect for a compact desktop. Recommended. I liked it with an i3, but this is superb. Al

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LiveCode goes open source
by Peter Alcibiades 02 Mar '13

02 Mar '13

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1755283828/open-source-edition-of-livec… Gone open source. Its a successor to Hypercard, but across all platforms including mobile, and they raised enough money to modularise the code and take it open source. Well over subscribed. Very encouraging. Peter

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JOB: full-time Junior Systems Engineer, Audio Analytic startup company
by Sacha Krstulovic 26 Feb '13

26 Feb '13

Dear ALUG, Please find below a job offer which might be of interest to some of your members. Job requirements include the ability to build and maintain a local network of Ubuntu workstations with proper LDAP authentication and centralised home directories, and helping with running R&D experiments on a HPC grid. The job location is Cambridge. More details below. Thanks and best regards, - Sacha K. -- Sacha Krstulović - Dipl.Eng, PhD Lead Research Engineer Audio Analytic, Cambridge, UK Analytic Jobs, Full-Time Junior Systems Engineer (Job Ref: AA-SysEng-Full-Time-Junior) Audio Analytic is the emerging leader in sound recognition and categorisation based in Cambridge (UK); West Cambridge site 10 minutes' cycle from the city centre. Our software is used by a host of world leading security equipment manufacturers to automatically analyse sound and detect security threats, such as when someone becomes aggressive or when a glass window is broken while trying to gain entry to a building. We are currently reinforcing the core engineering team and are looking for a talented systems engineer who would like to be working in an inspirational high-tech environment at the forefront of sound recognition systems. The successful candidate will join our highly successful team and will own the management of a significant part of the company's IT infrastructure, while showing a keen interest in helping with sound recognition R&D tasks. If you would like to know more about what we technically do please visit: http://www.audioanalytic.com/en/technology or if you want to find out how many windows we had to break to develop our glass break detection abilities please visit: http://www.audioanalytic.com/en/component/content/article/12-content/3-soun…. Main Responsibilities * To work closely with our research and product engineers to build and maintain an IT infrastructure that meets the needs of our R&D processes. * To take a key role into the company's R&D by helping to run some essential R&D tasks and processes. Technical Skills Must have at least 1 years' experience in the following: Required: * Linux/Unix system administration (LDAP, NIS, SAMBA, NFS) * Linux/Unix system setup (SMP kernel, NAS storage) * Coding and running scripts. Additional: * Python a plus. * Experience in running a computer grid and running software on it (SGE SunGrid, Open Grid scheduler, HPC grid). * Interest in audio signal processing a plus (electronic music, studio recording, digital audio effects, production of general sound effects, sampling). * Experience with managing large datasets a plus (e.g., audio FX library or music library). General Skills * Good communication skills. * Excellent problem-solving skills. * Enjoy working as a member of a team and using their own initiative. * Self-confident and highly motivated. * Ability to deal confidently with a variety of people at all levels. * Able to manage own workload and meet deadlines. * Good organisational skills. * Good standard of written and spoken English. Pay This is a great opportunity to join a successful company with a huge potential for growth. The successful candidate will be compensated with an attractive package appropriate to qualifications and experience, to include a competitive salary and stock options. How to Apply For further information or to apply for this vacancy, please send a covering letter and copy of a recent CV quoting the reference AA-SysEng-Full-Time-Junior to jobs(a)audioanalytic.com<mailto:jobs@audioanalytic.com> with cc: to sacha.krstulovic(a)audioanalytic.com<mailto:sacha.krstulovic@audioanalytic.com> . Please note it is company policy not to accept job applications from recruitment consultants.

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Do I use rsync or cp?
by Chris Walker 26 Feb '13

26 Feb '13

In the recent past I asked about fixing a RAID array on a NAS drive and was kindly given some advice by Mark Rogers. Plainly a sensible option and which was included in the advice, was to have a backup. So yesterday I went out and bought a USB3 1 TB external drive along with a new USB 3 card. I've bunged the card in and got all sorts of errors, something about 'ring error' which from my brief searches relates to the kernel being too old. I'll attend to that later as I can still use the new drive on a USB 2 port. Granted it will take longer but I can live with that. My question is how should I safely copy everything off my NAS box on to the new drive? Should I just use cp or rsync? The emphasis here is 'safely' as I want to make sure I copy everything off the NAS and back again in case that goes 'nipple north'. If it helps, here's what I want to copy from - //storage_server/Laptop_Share on /media/Laptop_Share type cifs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev) //storage_server/FTP_RAID_C on /media/linux_Share type cifs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev) //storage_server/Epox_Share on /media/Epox_Share type cifs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev) //storage_server/Media_Share on /media/Media_Share type cifs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev) In the past I would simply have cp'd everything off but having watched the recent discussions on rsync, it has prompted me to ask this question here. Any help appreciated.

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[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : The Mulberry Tree
by samwise 18 Feb '13

18 Feb '13

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 tonight, 18th February, at 20:00: The Mulberry Tree 5 Woodbridge Road IPSWICH IP4 2EA Tel: 01473 225776 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP4+2EA WWW: https://www.facebook.com/MULBERRYHOSPITALITY The Mulberry Tree, previously known as The Milestone Beer House, is a grade 2 listed building in the centre of Ipswich. It is located at the intersection between Woodbridge Road and the A1156, across the road from the old Odeon cinema and not far from the Regent Theatre. It re-opened on Thursday March 29th 2012 after a major refurbishment, under its original name of The Mulberry House and has already begun to regain a good reputation for its selection of beers and ales. It has a sizeable car park to the rear of the building. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. I may be late to arrive tonight, so feel free to email / call me to find out where I am if you're planning on popping along. Cheers, 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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I thought I understood rsync, but clearly I don't
by mick 16 Feb '13

16 Feb '13

As it says really. I need some advice on an rsync mechanism I use to routinely backup my desktop to my NAS. The command I have used for some time is: /usr/bin/rsync -rLptgoDvz --stats / --exclude-from=rsync-excludes /home/mick nas:/home/mick-backup ("/" indicates line break above and is not part of the command line) That has worked fine for some long time, but I have just upgraded my desktop disk from 1TB to 2TB. In the process of doing so I moved the old disk to a new SATA port so that I could just copy across internally all my data from the old disk to the new. In doing so (using something like "cp -r /old-disk/micks-stuff /new-disk/micks-stuff") like a pillock I forgot to add the -p switch so all my files now have a current date/time as last modified. Guess what? My latest rsync now seems to be updating ALL by backed up files (over 800 GB of videos/photos/music etc) to the NAS. This will take some time. I thought that rsync used a rather more sophisticated algorithm (including checksums for example) than simply a check of last modified time stamp. In trying to reduce the file transfer I have tried modifying the rsync command by taking out the -t switch, but of course that doesn't work, all that happens is that the target file date/time remains unmodified after the copy. So, short of actually letting the rsync run to completion, can anyone suggest a better approach (and yes, I know I could have saved myself a lot of pain by being more careful earlier....) Cheers Mick --------------------------------------------------------------------- blog: baldric.net gpg fingerprint: FC23 3338 F664 5E66 876B 72C0 0A1F E60B 5BAD D312 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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"Correct" way to mount CIFS shares after network comes up and unmount them before it comes down
by Mark Rogers 15 Feb '13

15 Feb '13

As per subject really! On my old PC I had CIFS entries in fstab and scripts in /etc/network/if-up.d and if-down.d, and whilst the mount worked well the unmount usually locked the PC on shutdown (SysRq-B was about the only thing it would respond to). I now have a new PC so I want to set this up correctly. All I want is that when eth0 comes up, several Samba shares are mounted, and before eth0 goes down they are unmounted (forcibly if necessary). I've looked at upstart as a possibility but I don't see how to run a script before networking goes down, unless I edit the relevant network script (I don't want to change system scripts). In case I'm overcomplicating this, all I really want is a handful of shares to be available whenever the network is, and for them not to cause me problems if I restart or shutdown networking. I'm using Kubuntu 12.10 -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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JOB: QA Engineer
by James Tobin 15 Feb '13

15 Feb '13

Hello, I'm working with an employer that is looking to hire both experienced and graduate QA Engineers. This would be a permanent position working from home. You should have: 1. An interest in programming as well as open source databases; 2. Test development skills using C++/Java as well as scripting languages like Python, Ruby, Perl. Please email me using jamesbtobin(a)gmail.com to learn more. All the best, James

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Two network switches free to a good home
by Srdjan Todorovic 15 Feb '13

15 Feb '13

Hi all, I've got 2 network switches free to a good home. They are untested (fans spin and LEDs light up, but not tested network ports), but I have no reason to suspect they are duff. They are: 1. CentreCOM FS716 16-port 10/100 mbps switch. 2. Netgear FS518T 18-port switch. 10/100 mbps for ports 1-16 (I think) and 1 Gbps for ports 17 and 18. Both do not have the auto mdix thingy so you will need correct patch ethernet cables (port 16 has the ToPC / ToHub toggle button on both switches). Both are powered using mains kettle cable (not supplied). Both have fans (the Netgear is a fair bit louder). Both are about the same size, just bigger than A4 paper I'd think, and metal cased, about 1U high. Google the dimensions if you want. I can bring them both in to this week's ALUG meet in Norwich. If anyone wants them, let me know so I can stick them in the car for the meet. Regards, Srdjan

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Web site archiving
by Bev Nicolson 14 Feb '13

14 Feb '13

I could use Scrapbook to save web pages but is there something I can use to save multiple pages or entire sites? It's just for personal use. Any ideas? Bev.

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CAD "lite" for DIY projects
by Mark Rogers 14 Feb '13

14 Feb '13

I'm looking for a simple CAD tool for basic DIY projects. The project I have in mind at the moment is a wall-to-wall bookshelf comprised of 40x35cm "boxes", made from 18mm MDF, laid out like bricks (ie each row offset 50% against the ones below/above it). I want to get a feel for what it will look like, and want to be able to change things like the MDF sheet widths (eg what would it look like if the higher rows were made from 12mm MDF instead), box colours, etc. 3D would be great but non-essential. I got some way mocking something up in Inkscape but it's not really the right tool for the job. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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RAID advice
by Chris Walker 12 Feb '13

12 Feb '13

Hopefully somebody can give me some advice. I have an Edimax NS2502 NAS device with 2 x 1TB drives in it arranged as RAID 1. When I first had it, I started to fill it up and then wanted to check that everything was working ok so removed one drive and saw that everything was still showing. I then removed the first disc and refitted the second and saw that everything was still there. Satisfied that it was all working, I have left it running ever since with the 2 drives. But ever since my experiment, the drive lights on the front have continued to flash as though they're being accessed. Worried that I might have screwed something up, I looked at the options and found one called 'Fix RAID'. That is there apparently for use if one drive fails. Should I use this to make sure that everything is 'synced' across both the drives in my box? I've tried googling this for advice but all I've found is the acknowledgement that the option is there but nothing on whether it should be used or not. Any help appreciated.

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 14th February
by Viperfang 12 Feb '13

12 Feb '13

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 14th February at The Coach and Horses (82 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1BA). The meeting officially starts at 8pm, although some people may arrive earlier. More information on those people can be found on the list and the IRC channel. If you are unsure if you will recognise us then make yourself and your intent to attend known by either posting on list or visiting us on IRC so we can look out for you rather than hiding in the corner. Optionally you could ask at the bar if they know where the geeky computer weirdos are and they'll point you in the right direction (seriously!). Another possibility is look for heaps of electronics on a table that may possibly look like movie props that would used for detonating explosives. Feel free to bring electronics/laptops/gadgets to the meet, you will by no means be alone. Ben Bewick aka Viperfang NB: This mail is automated, please refer to the usual sources for more information. ALUG Contact Details: Website : http://www.alug.org.uk/ IRC : #alug on irc.alug.org.uk List : http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo Twitter : http://twitter.com/anglianlug Identica: TBA Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2381613902 ----- 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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Re: [ALUG] External hard drive (temporarily) kills PC?
by Peter Alcibiades 08 Feb '13

08 Feb '13

Have you tried using another usb lead? Could it be that there is something dodgy about the connectors which when the plug is inserted with power on screws everything up, but once the plug is seated, will work ok, at least for the time being? Presumably it does not happen with other external drives, which would rule out some malfunction with the socket. Or one could try with different sockets to make absolutely sure. I can't think of any other explanation. It can't be the drive itself or it would happen regardless of when power comes on. If it happens with other leads, I would return it (though I can't think of how the drive itself could be defective in a way to cause this). I would also try it first with another computer and see if it does it to every one. Have you done that? Very strange. Al

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External hard drive (temporarily) kills PC?
by Srdjan Todorovic 07 Feb '13

07 Feb '13

Hi all, I just got my brand new Western Digital Elements external hard drive today, and it seems to like killing my PC. I plugged in the power from the supplied power brick, hooked up the USB and BOOM!, usb keyboard and mouse die, as does X, as does whatever music I was playing. I have to press the reset button on the PC. It keeps doing that if the external hard drive is powered up and you are connecting. I've booted up now with the USB connected and then plugging in the power, and seems fine. Can anyone please suggest what's wrong and how to fix it? Thanks, Srdjan

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Re: [ALUG] two weeks or so, and it dies again!
by Peter Alcibiades 06 Feb '13

06 Feb '13

On Tuesday 05 February 2013 08:18:20 nev young wrote: > On 04/02/13 08:05, Peter Alcibiades wrote: > > Can you think of anything else to try? > > > I did have something similar a few years back and it turned out to be > the northbridge* chip overheating. > There was no sensor for that chip but just looking at the board I could > see some discolouration round there and on the reverse of the main board. > > I fitted a small fan to keep it cool and it's been fine ever since > though a little nosier. > > > * or is it southbridge. > Any how it's a chip on the main board with a heat sink stuck to it. > > Nev > > > > Thanks for this, yes,it does seem like a plausible explanation - and I've found a few northbridge coolers on Amazon, including a flower passive one from Zalman, quite well rated, and a wonderful heatpipe one with a fan in it. Quite large, have to check if it will fit. Quiet PC carries this as their sole northbridge cooler. Apparently soutbridge is not a problem as its heat output is very low. So thanks, will have a go. Al

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Re: [ALUG] two weeks or so, and it dies again!
by Peter Alcibiades 06 Feb '13

06 Feb '13

On Wednesday 06 February 2013 09:39:23 you wrote: > On Tuesday 05 February 2013 08:18:20 nev young wrote: > > On 04/02/13 08:05, Peter Alcibiades wrote: > > > Can you think of anything else to try? > > > > > I did have something similar a few years back and it turned out to be > > the northbridge* chip overheating. > > There was no sensor for that chip but just looking at the board I could > > see some discolouration round there and on the reverse of the main board. > > > > I fitted a small fan to keep it cool and it's been fine ever since > > though a little nosier. > > > > > > * or is it southbridge. > > Any how it's a chip on the main board with a heat sink stuck to it. > > > > Nev > > > > > > > > > Thanks for this, yes,it does seem like a plausible explanation - and I've found a few northbridge coolers on Amazon, including a flower passive one from Zalman, quite well rated, and a wonderful heatpipe one with a fan in it. Quite large, have to check if it will fit. Quiet PC carries this as their sole northbridge cooler. > > Apparently soutbridge is not a problem as its heat output is very low. > > So thanks, will have a go. > > Al >

1 0

two weeks or so, and it dies again!
by Peter Alcibiades 05 Feb '13

05 Feb '13

This is weird and part of the ongoing power-down problem. It goes two weeks continuously. Then this morning as I send an email, down it goes. On-off switch has no effect. Change the leads, still no effect. Leave it for a half hour, come back and it starts perfectly. This has to be some sort of heat reset, doesn't it? But the thing I cannot understand is why it should just suddenly happen. gkrell shows cpu temps of 35. The bios at startup showed a bit over 40. I did have a resistor from quiet pc to slow down main fan speed, which has been fine for a couple of years now, but on the offchance I removed that. However, given the latest crash it cannot really be that. Looks like there is an i5 in the future of this case, which is a pain and not cheap either - by the time we get new board, new processor, and a proper shuriken cooler.... Can you think of anything else to try? Al

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Anyone using Pluma?
by Anthony Anson 02 Feb '13

02 Feb '13

Decided to speelchuck a Pluma plain text document and it kept highlighting words like didn't, couldn't, wouldn't and so-on, even though the word was listed in the replacement choices, so I told it to 'replace' out of sheer devilment (possibly). So, it replaced didn't with didn't't and couldn't with couldn't't and wouldn't with wouldn't't. Is this a 'feature' of Pluma, or has my installation got its knickers in a twist? I might just remove Pluma and substitute Gedit... -- Tony

1 0

Collecting SNMP traps and processing them
by Mark Rogers 01 Feb '13

01 Feb '13

Any SNMP experts here? I need to collect SNMP traps, process them (basic string manipulation stuff), append them to a log file and periodically upload that log file to an FTP server. I've never done any work with SNMP on Linux but this seems like it should be trivial. Net-SNMP/snmptrapd looks like a good starting point but I'd appreciate comment from anyone who's used it (or done something similar a different way). (From experience, messages will be received in bursts and I therefore need to be able to batch them up before sending via FTP. The goal will be to have data uploaded via FTP every minute (if there's something to report). I'm looking to replace a Windows system which is massively more complicated than I think it needs to be.) -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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Centos - anyone use it?
by James Freer 31 Jan '13

31 Jan '13

Just out of interest i was wondering if many folk on here use Centos. I've decided now to stop using *buntu after 5 years. I've had a few gripes with *buntu in the past and two bugs in xubuntu i found in (im)Precise - time for a change. Besides that i've been wondering why some packages are being left out - apparently dpkg have changed their description fields and if the author doesn't amend they are left out. *buntu seem to be going on a downhill slide in lots of areas and before unity. james

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Bit off topic
by Anthony Anson 31 Jan '13

31 Jan '13

I have several chargers with different rates of delivery: has anyone any idea where I should start looking for data relating to recharging NiCad and Nion batteries? Like: Output of charger Time to charge per mA capacity of each type of battery Or a way to calculate time, allowing for (expected) losses in the process. No, I'mnot being (very) lazy. On this GPRS connection a thorough websearch is time-consuming, and, at £15 per Gig. expensive. -- Tony

4 9

Thunderguts
by Anthony Anson 31 Jan '13

31 Jan '13

Not sure if my reply to Chris Walker was sent - tried twice. Thunderwotsit wouldn't send to the 'Sent' folder, and the message remained on screen. May be due to the Vogonfone connection, which may be dropping out. -- Tony

1 0

2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 1st February.
by Viperfang 29 Jan '13

29 Jan '13

Quick heads up about this months Norwich 2600 meeting, more info at http://www.norwich2600.co.uk

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Re: [ALUG] Testing 5V USB supplies for RPi usage
by Phil Ashby 28 Jan '13

28 Jan '13

On 28/01/13 12:00, Mark Rogers <mark(a)quarella.co.uk> wrote: > On 27 January 2013 01:04, Anthony Anson <tony.anson(a)girolle.co.uk> wrote: >> Have a look at www.maplin.co.uk/ and see if (offers) N66JU; A92JH; A83LA >> float your boat. > > Just to make it clear (because I don't think I did from the outset), > it's not that I'm having a problem sourcing supplies that will keep > the RPi going - I have some that do and some that don't, it's that the > current method of testing (plug it in and see whether it crashes) is a > bit inexact, and the correct method (read the label to see what > current it's rated at) isn't working because the labels can't be > trusted on some of them. > > Also, there's the option of complaining and getting a refund on ones > that are no good, and having a measurement to back me up always helps. > And finally, perhaps more importantly for me, its the opportunity to > learn how to get the measurement. Sounds like a job for a dummy load and a voltmeter? Unless the crash isn't down to sustained low voltage but surge capability, dunno if the Pi has a current surge rating. There is a nice write up here: http://elinux.org/RPi_Hardware#How_Can_I_tell_if_the_power_supply_is_inadeq… Phil.

2 1

Testing 5V USB supplies for RPi usage
by Mark Rogers 28 Jan '13

28 Jan '13

I have several 5V USB supplies, which if the labels on them are to be believed will supply anything from 1 to 2.5A, although I have serious doubts that I can believe the labels. Based on how sowly they charge my phone I think some that are labelled 2.5A are more like 200mA... They're from various sources, which include the likes of eBay. Some will power my RPi, but only if I don't try to plug in a USB device as well. Assuming very little in the way of electrical knowledge (which I guess is obvious as I don't know the answer to my question), what's the "best" way to see what current a power supply can deliver? I have a multimeter, and could doubtless obtain some resisters (or other components) if I need to. I also have a shiny new temperature controlled soldering iron that's never been used if that helps :-) -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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Re: [ALUG] Colour Laserjet printer problem
by Barry Samuels 28 Jan '13

28 Jan '13

On 25/01/13 22:13:44, Jenny Hopkins wrote: > On 25 January 2013 16:33, Barry Samuels > <bjsamuels(a)beenthere-donethat.org.uk> wrote: > > I have an HP Colour LaserJet 4500 and recently it displayed a message > > to the effect that the black (K) toner was low. I have configuration > > set to continue until toner runs out but before that happened it > > started to show grey bands vertically down the page. < snip> > I changed my HP printer black cartridge the other day and it still > only printed grey faded stuff, so I used "sudo hp-clean" provided by > hplip package, ran clean twice from the gui that popped up, and all > was well (debian 6). > > Jenny I think that that is applicable only to inkjet printers and mine is a laser but thank you for trying. -- Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

1 0

udev and hdparm
by Barry Samuels 28 Jan '13

28 Jan '13

I have two sata backup drives which I use for daily rsync backups. As the drive is running for a relatively short time during the night I don't want it rotating for the rest of the time. hdparm -S 12 /dev/sdb will set the spindown to 1 minute after the last use and that works from the command line. However I would like the command to be automatically given when the drive is inserted and reading on the Internet suggests using UDEV. I've put this in a .rules file: # Set spindown time for backup drive when inserted. KERNEL=="sdb", RUN+="/sbin/hdparm -S 12 /dev/sdb" But that doesn't work i.e. nothing happens. When I first tried I put only one = after KERNEL and UDEV complained so I know it is being 'seen' and the drive is always 'sdb'. Should it work? -- Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

1 0

Colour Laserjet printer problem
by Barry Samuels 25 Jan '13

25 Jan '13

I have an HP Colour LaserJet 4500 and recently it displayed a message to the effect that the black (K) toner was low. I have configuration set to continue until toner runs out but before that happened it started to show grey bands vertically down the page. I decided to change the toner in the hope that it might cure the problem but it didn't. I can see rings of toner around the imaging drum if I take it out. It does seem to be picking up surplus toner but I've no idea where from. At present I have: Transfer Kit showing 96% life left Fuser Kit showing 91% life left Drum Kit 68% lif left Any suggestions would be appreciated. If you suggest cleaning something would you please explain where to find it because I probably won't know. -- Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

2 1

MySQL select into
by Mark Rogers 22 Jan '13

22 Jan '13

Any MySQL gurus here? I have a table: `item_uid` INT (Primary key) `cat_uid` INT <several other fields> What I want to do is take all records where cat_uid=10, and insert them back into the table with cat_uid=11 (in other words duplicating "category 10" as "category 11". What I had was: CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE tmp SELECT * FROM myTable WHERE cat_uid=10; UPDATE tmp SET cat_uid=11; INSERT INTO myTable SELECT * FROM tmp; This used to work when I didn't have the primary key `uid`, but now this just attempts to insert duplicates for the uid field and fails. The following works instead: CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE tmp SELECT * FROM myTable WHERE cat_uid=10; ALTER TABLE tmp CHANGE uid uid INT(11) NULL DEFAULT NULL; UPDATE tmp SET uid=NULL, cat_uid=11; INSERT INTO myTable SELECT * FROM tmp; In other words, alter the tmp table structure to allow the uid field to be NULL, and as part of my update set all the uid's to NULL, so that the final insert tries to insert NULL for uid which causes MySQL to insert the next auto-increment value instead. But this seems very convoluted, is there a "correct" (or just "better") way? -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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Summat up with Mint - or Mozilla
by Anthony Anson 21 Jan '13

21 Jan '13

Using the most recent Thunderbird, ditto Firefox, the system freezes frequently when I have T/bird and F/fox running at the same time. F'rinstance today, I left T/bird running while I went to the BBC website. There I filled in an online comment and then tried to close Firefox, which declined to play nicely, and none of the usual rollover dialogue boxes on Mint functions worked - connection speed, state of battery etc just sat there glumly ignoring the mouse pointer. File and Quit on the function bar closed Firefox, but nothing would shift Thunderbird. Three-fingered salute deleted the last two e-mailsin my inbox... Had to power-down to regain control, but the e-mails seem to have vanished entirely. (Not in trash, nor in any other folder.) Anyone any bright ideas? (Apart from not running Firefox and Thunderbird at the same time...) -- Tony

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?Ubuntu 12.10 Boot Issues
by steve-ALUG＠hst.me.uk 21 Jan '13

21 Jan '13

Hi all, I was on an old version of Ubuntu, started getting messages about it not being supported any more and so decided to update. I decided to install the lubuntu-desktop package, then do updates until I was up-to-date. So now, I'm up to Lubuntu 12.10. When I booted it, it hang big-time before getting into the GUI. I Hard-booted and selected a different kernel, and it booted fine. After experimentation it seems that booting into the kernel described as "Ubuntu 12.10, kernel 3.5.0-10-generic" causes the machine to hang before getting into the GUI. I've just tried making LUbuntu and XUbuntu 12.10 CDs and booting from them, but both of them hang, I presume when trying to load the Kernel. Trying to boot via the "kernel 3.5.0-10-generic recovery mode" boot menu option also hangs. I've not had a problem like this before. Does anyone have any advice on diagnosing what's causing this hang? Any logs to examine would have to survive a hard-reboot, or are there any debug options I can put on the grub boot line. Or am I doomed, or have to wait for a new kernel to come out, or keep using the old one. Any advice or comments would be appreciated. I haven't googled much as I don't quite know what to search for (you may tell me I'm a numpty for this!) Hardware is a Dell Lattitude D410. Cheers Steve

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[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : The Mulberry Tree
by samwise 21 Jan '13

21 Jan '13

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 tonight, 21st January, at 20:00: The Mulberry Tree 5 Woodbridge Road IPSWICH IP4 2EA Tel: 01473 225776 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP4+2EA WWW: https://www.facebook.com/MULBERRYHOSPITALITY The Mulberry Tree, previously known as The Milestone Beer House, is a grade 2 listed building in the centre of Ipswich. It is located at the intersection between Woodbridge Road and the A1156, across the road from the old Odeon cinema and not far from the Regent Theatre. It re-opened on Thursday March 29th 2012 after a major refurbishment, under its original name of The Mulberry House and has already begun to regain a good reputation for its selection of beers and ales. It has a sizeable car park to the rear of the building. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. I'm back home and will be out to play today, if anyone wants to join me. :) Cheers, 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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Help with hardware
by Peter Alcibiades 20 Jan '13

20 Jan '13

Any ideas what this might be? I was having a crash with instant power down. So I replaced the PSU with a Xilence, and for a while all seemed well. Then it happened again. Restarted. But to restart, I had to actually unplug the power cable. Only then did the power switch work. All carried along fine for a week or so - I never turn it off, and ir ran just fine. Then just now, it happens again! In the meantime afflicted by a sudden rush of nerves I have made a backup using clonezilla so its not going to be the end of the world if it goes south. What happens is, try to use the power switch and nothing whatever happens. Then I connected up to a different power cable and a different socket, and it goes on. The Gigabyte board asks me to pick the last good boot, so I do. Then it powers down and restarts, and goes into the usual Debian login, after which it runs the disk diagnostic and repairs itself, and now its running just fine again. What on earth could it be and what should I do? See what is weird is that I am tempted to think maybe its the extension block, but the screen runs off that, and that is just fine. It seems reasonable to change out the extension block because they are not expensive. But I can't quite see how that could do it. There is no doubt that last time it was the psu. It was totally dead, and replacing that first with the evo and then with the xilence, it did actually bring it all back to life. But this time its clearly not the psu, or could it be? Al

3 4

A conundrum to boot!
by Barry Samuels 19 Jan '13

19 Jan '13

We have a spare computer laying around the place, as you do, which serves as a quick substitute if either of our main computers goes wrong. It's just a case of taking the disc drive out of the faulty computer and putting it in the spare and off we go again. The mainboard in the spare went wrong a while ago and I managed to get a free replacement from my brother in the form of a discarded mainboard. This mainboard is an Intel DP965LT which has a respectable 2.7 GHz Core2 Duo CPU and 8 GBs of RAM. The PSU in my main (normal) computer exploded recently quite spectacularly with a flash, bang and a puff of smoke so I thought I would swap the drive into the spare computer while I sorted things out. It was then that I discovered that although the spare board had SATA connections it wouldn't boot a SATA drive. With just the SATA drive connected I got a "No bootable drives" message. It will, however, boot an IDE drive. I do have a small IDE drive and I was wondering if it were possible to write a Lilo boot sector on that drive in order to start the Linux system on the SATA drive. But with the two drives connected the IDE drive comes up as sda and the SATA drive as sdb and, of course, the system on the SATA drive is configured to use sda. I don't want to change the configuration on the SATA drive so is there a way round this apart from trying to cadge another mainboard from somewhere? -- Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

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zhead/ztail
by Mark Rogers 18 Jan '13

18 Jan '13

I want to display the first few line of each of a batch of log files, some of which are gzipped. Normally I'd use zcat in place of cat, zgrep in place of grep, etc, to work with a mixture of compressed and uncompressed files. But zhead and ztail don't exist. What's the best way to achieve this: zhead -n1 /var/log/syslog* (show the first line of each syslog* file)? All the thoughts I had got increasingly convoluted. Obviously stuff like: zcat /var/log/syslog* | head -n1 .. doesn't achieve what I want... -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

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Re: [ALUG] Help with hardware
by Peter Alcibiades 16 Jan '13

16 Jan '13

Yes, I did check out the loading on the various calculators I found - in response to the suggestions - and there seems to be plenty of margin. More than the calculators suggest. Its 250W, and its only a main board, one hard drive and i3. No graphics card. The earlier psu that seems to have burned out was 300W. I'm feeling doubtful that an inadequate psu can be the cause. Didn't note exactly what the restart message was. Something about going back to the last good configuration. No, I don't think there are two bios files installed. But there were a bunch of choices which I don't exactly remember. What I did so far was to take the supply off the surge protected strip and connect it directly to the mains and everything is running fine now. One thing that makes me suspect the psu is that the crash happened when watching youtube - which presumably is more processor intensive than just web or word processing. Anyway, I ordered a new extension strip, this one brand named so maybe it will be better, and we will see. I truly hate intermittent faults! Don't we all? Al On Tuesday 15 January 2013 08:01:00 Wayne Stallwood wrote: > As an educated guess I'd say either there has been a power > spike/overload or PSU failure that puts it into protection mode or there > is something going on with your mainboard. > > When you say "The Gigabyte board asks me to pick the last good boot" > what exactly is the message ? Is it falling back to a redundant BIOS image ? > > Is the PSU adequately sized for the machine..I know we had this > conversation late last year on the list. But specifically if you use a > PSU calculator for your combination of hardware components does the > current draw on the 12v rails come in at way under whatever it says for > that rail on the PSU spec. > > If you go by wattage alone you don't know if the distribution of > capacity is sufficient across the rails for your hardware. You often > can't for example draw the total rated capacity from one rail. Sometimes > despite the overall rating appearing to be sufficient the 12V rail can > be undersized, this is particularly true on PSU's designed for older > hardware. > > > > > > >

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Help, graphics broken!
by Mark Rogers 16 Jan '13

16 Jan '13

Kubuntu 12.10 on a new PC, has been working fine. Just had a power cut, and on restarting I see the BIOS on my screen then it goes grey and stays that way. I can tell it's booting up (combination of HDD lights etc, and the fact that if I wait long enough I can SSH in to it). But nothing on the screen. It's possible, but no means certain, that I had does some apt-get upgrade's (or dist-upgrade's) prior to the power cut that have now come into effect, How do I debug this to get my desktop back (by which I mean visible to me - I'm sure it's there!)? In case it helps: $ lspci | grep VGA 00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI BeaverCreek [Radeon HD 6530D] It's just a default install, no graphics tweaking (I haven't even installed proprietary drivers). Monitor is Edge EF220A (1920 x 1080). Mark -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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Re: [ALUG] Leetkey
by Anthony Anson 14 Jan '13

14 Jan '13

On 14/01/13 17:39, Anthony Anson wrote: > On 13/01/13 18:07, steve-ALUG(a)hst.me.uk wrote: >> On 13/01/13 12:58, Anthony Anson wrote: >>> On 13/01/13 01:04, steve-ALUG(a)hst.me.uk wrote: >>>> On 12/01/13 12:07, Anthony Anson wrote: >>>> [SNIP] >>>>> I must say I dislike the current offering of Thunderbird. >>>>> >>>> Well I did too, until I found the various extensions and >>>> customisationshe >>>> that made it look, more or less, like it used to look like. What don't >>>> you like? >>> >>> How long have I got? I haven't (yet?) found a way to close mail on the >>> screen without clicking 'inbox'; > >> Not quite sure what you mean. > > Well, the old Thunderbird on the Eee, and Eee bah gum, it were old... > had a close box on the pane - the only 'close' box closes Thunderbird. > > Shall play with dragging functions about as you suggest - there's > already a backward and a forward arrow - ta. > >>> the only way to date that I've found to >>> go on to the next message is to remember to position the cursor in the >>> right area of the pane and use the 'down' key; > >> You can read through emails in the same style as a newsgroup reader >> program, by pressing space. Space shows you a pageful of an email at a >> time. When it gets to the end of the email, it then moves on to the >> next. >> Also, you can right click on the toolbar at the top of the screen (and >> possibly the one on top of the email), and add a Next and Previous >> button. This allows you to scroll through your emails by clicking on >> them. There's a bunch of shortcuts too - see: >> >> https://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/keyboard-shortcuts#w_moving-a… >> >> >> >> Loads of useful stuff on that page - I've just learnt some stuff! :-) > > I shall look at it next time I can use wifi >> >>> I haven't yet found a way >>> to turn off red worms - er - spellcheck-as-you-trype, and lots more. >> >> Edit/Preferences >> Composition icon >> Spelling Tab >> Tick or untick as you see fit. >>> >>> Mind you, for reasons of my ISP's change of security and methods of >>> connecting, I haven't been able to use POP3 between getting this >>> new(ish) box before Christmas and last week, so I wasn't using the >>> program, and, I haven't tried *really* hard. >>> >>> I was considering overwriting Thunderguts on this box with the old >>> version I had been using on the Eee, but now the new one can get into >>> the mail server I'm loath to poke it with sharp sticks. >> >> as to why you're getting sent email in your inbox, well that's not a >> problem I'm getting. Is something somewhere BCCing your email back to >> you? Could it be a server/ISP issue? Does it happen when you send >> email by other means? > > I don't send email by any other means. > >> Don't get me wrong - I think Thunderbird is heading the wrong way. I've >> just installed it for the other half, and the menu bar was hidden and I >> was presented with all sorts of horrible menus and stuff, and by >> default, it looks horrible, but it is possible to wrangle it back to >> working OK with judicious use of extensions and customising. I've >> managed it! > > Thanks - working my way through all this. Worming powder applied. I had > already adjusted the menu bar, but became pi^h^h^somewhat incensed by > the unintuitive nature of the controls - it's rather like learning to > fly an airliner which is coming in to land without the help of George. > -- Tony

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