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Weekly IRC reminder
by Brett Parker 05 Sep '05

05 Sep '05

This is the automated ALUG IRC meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an IRC meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. The meeting takes place on the irc server irc.alug.org.uk in the #alug channel. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server irc.alug.org.uk" and "/join #alug". Popular IRC clients include tkirc, bitchx, xchat and EPIC on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with irc. Unix http://www.xchat.org/ http://freshmeat.net/ http://www.epicsol.org/ Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

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IOS with DHCP client
by Ben Vinger 04 Sep '05

04 Sep '05

Hello I have a Cisco 2514, (bought second-hand) for use on my ADSL connection. It runs IOS Version 12.0(9) (IP Plus). In order to use it with ADSL, I need to have a DHCP client on it - only IOS versions 12.2 and later support DHCP client. Can anyone send me a 12.2 or later image (its about 3.8 MB when compressed)? Cheers Ben ___________________________________________________________ How much free photo storage do you get? Store your holiday snaps for FREE with Yahoo! Photos http://uk.photos.yahoo.com

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Gigabit Woes
by Chris Glover 31 Aug '05

31 Aug '05

Hi, Here's one for the networking gurus on this list :-) At work we are intending on using a Linux machine running snort as an IDS (much cheaper than the Cisco alternative) with two gigabit nics. We have been doing some throughput tests, and are not convinced this will work, these tests were without installing snort. Our test setup is as follows:- ----------- ---------- ----------- - Windows - - Linux - - Windows - - 2003 srv------- ------- 2003 srv- ----------- --------- ----------- 10.128.30.2 eth0 10.128.30.1 10.128.32.2 eth1 10.128.32.1 All machines have gigabit NICS, and are connected via a Foundry gigabit switch. The Linux machine we used was an HP Proliant 3.0 GHz Dual Xeon with twin onboard Broadcom NICs using the tigon driver. We had the linux machine configured as a basic router.The linux machine was running knoppix, booted into textonly mode, with nics manually configured (ie only bash and the kernel running, and no iptables). We were doing the tests using netperf. We had applied the tweaks to the NICs from this site http://www.enterpriseitplanet.com/networking/features/article.php/3497796 If we put the two windows machines onto the same subnet, and using the "Network Utilisation" graph in Task Manger showed we were running at 85-90% util. When we had the linux machine acting as a router between the two machines, this dropped to 35% util. Admittedly this probably isn't the best method. Using netperf between the windows and linux machine, again gave 85-90% util. This was with both windows machines sending data to both nics of the linux machine at the same time. We cant understand how the throughput can more than half, when sending between the two windows machines via the linux machine. This system is going to go on a very busy network, so speed is essential. We had tried the above test with a DELL single processor Xeon with onboard Intel and PCI Realtek gig-nics, and got very similar results. All tests were done with Knoppix 3.9 (2.6.11 kernel). On the production system we'll probably be using Redhat Enterprise. Anyone got any ideas? Are we missing something in the config? Many Thanks Chris -- Chris ---------------------------------- E Mail: chris(a)glovercc.plus.com SIP: 84411389(a)voiptalk.org IAXTEL: 17003366726

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X Windows programming question
by Chris Green 31 Aug '05

31 Aug '05

I'm playing with an existing X application program, modifying things to suit my requirements. Most things I seem to have fathomed out OK but I want the ability to change some window properties (it has only one window) 'on the fly'. Initially I just want to toggle one property when the right button (button 3) is clicked. I can catch the button event OK, that's not a problem. I then call XChangeProperty() to change the property. But what do I need to do to get the window redisplayed having called XChangeProperty() ? -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk) "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."

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re: DNS searching
by David Noble 30 Aug '05

30 Aug '05

Cheers, managed to do it- in the end, it turned out the dns server addresses were hidden in a very obscure menu on my d-link router ;) Thanks, Dave

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DNS search
by David Noble 30 Aug '05

30 Aug '05

Hi, On Suse 9.1, how can i find out the DNS servers if my router doesn't tell me? Is there some sort of daemon/configuration script that can be run? Thank you very much, David Noble

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[ALUG Announce]WS Free Info Infrastructures, London, 1-2 October
by MJ Ray 30 Aug '05

30 Aug '05

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock(a)okfn.org> wrote: > ~ For Redistribution Far and Wide ~ > > On the first weekend of October (1st and 2nd) the World Summit on Free > Information Infrastructures (http://www.wsfii.org/) is taking place in > London. This event will bring together individuals and groups from > across the world working on projects such as free wireless networking, > free of copyright mapping and open hardware. A provisional programme is > available here: > > http://www.wsfii.org/programme.html > > The event is open to all but we encourage you to register because space > is limited. A small entrance fee of £10 is planned to help pay for costs > but concessions are available. You can register via: > http://www.wsfii.org/register.php ----- 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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Weekly IRC reminder
by Brett Parker 29 Aug '05

29 Aug '05

This is the automated ALUG IRC meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an IRC meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. The meeting takes place on the irc server irc.alug.org.uk in the #alug channel. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server irc.alug.org.uk" and "/join #alug". Popular IRC clients include tkirc, bitchx, xchat and EPIC on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with irc. Unix http://www.xchat.org/ http://freshmeat.net/ http://www.epicsol.org/ Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

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Re: [ALUG] Multi-card reader
by Brett Parker 26 Aug '05

26 Aug '05

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Chris Walker <chris_linux(a)wymondham.demon.co.uk> wrote: > On Wed 23 Mar, Brett Parker wrote: > > > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > > Hash: SHA1 > > > > <snip /> > > Chris Walker <chris_linux(a)wymondham.demon.co.uk> wrote: > > > This has 4 slots in it too but I'm failing at the first hurdle. Trying > > > the command above gives me 'bash: modprobe: command not found'. > > > > Ahhh! I may have neglected to say that they need to be run as root, as > > it's loading kernel modules... > > > > I'm *assuming* that Mandrake has modprobe, it's part of the usual base > > system, so it should have. > > Ah. I missed that vital step. OK. Done that and now, having the steps you > gave me earlier, I now have loads of new icons on the desktop. > > I'll have a crack at editing the fstab file now to see if I can get it to do > all this automatically on boot up now. > > I appreciate both your help and that from Chris Glover. You'll probably want to add the modules to the /etc/modules file (or that's where I'd add them on a debian system, anyways... *goes look it up for Mandrake...*) OK - for Mandrake it appears that the file is /etc/modules.conf, and it'll be a line something like: probeall ehci-hcd usb-storage that you need to add, or expand the probeall line to include them. Then the modules should get automagically loaded on boot. Thanks, - -- Brett Parker web: http://www.sommitrealweird.co.uk/ email: iDunno(a)sommitrealweird.co.uk -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.0 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFCQYPlEh8oWxevnjQRAhZsAKDOTBJEh0gaGyHEeDz1bnMuVZZi0QCfbqRN xLL3iWeKsawO+NOjr0rdGP4= =qyPP -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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3gp files
by Ten 23 Aug '05

23 Aug '05

I wonder if anyone has any ideas on this.. The 3gp video files produced by my phone (or, for that matter, any other phone I have access to) are not so readily accessible through media players as I'd hoped. Some 3gp files can be played by mpeg4 stuff, but phone-shot ones are without sound. Now usually, this sort of thing is a matter of being told "ah, everybody uses package X", but I can't find much in google. I have progressed through several levels of the inferno, past xine, even into the dark and shady lands of RealPlayer(shudder)'s 3gp support, and have now reached the truly gutwrenching depths of running Microsoft's Windows Media Player (shudder still more). All the files work perfectly in WMP, which is consequently associated with 3gp files on our machines for pragmatism's sake. This, is not a desirable state of affairs. ...Help, anyone? There are 10 types of people in this world -those who understand binary, and those who don't.

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A strange filesystem - er - thing!
by Barry Samuels 23 Aug '05

23 Aug '05

Sorry - did it again - forgot to set my correct email identity for the list so I'm sending it again. Apologies for any duplication. I wanted to try the K3b DVD Ripping/Encoding option. The 'Help' says: "First step is to choose the title/movie you want to rip. For this click on the drive icon of your DVD-Drive. You will now see a list that shows the content of the DVD with all movie sequence. The longest movie sequence (usually the main movie) is automatically selected. Right click on the title and choose copy." So I did that. Then it says: "In the following dialog enter the destination directory in the first line. The second and third will be filled out automatically. Don't change these paths." There wasn't a following dialogue and it immediately started filling my Home partition which I didn't want so I killed K3b. It still went on writing to the Home partition until it was full. I determined to delete whatever file it had written to the partition except that there wasn't one. Even KDirStat wouldn't acknowledge that the partition was full, saying that it was 66% used, and didn't show any large files - hidden or otherewise. 'df' and 'di' showed the partition as 100% used. In the end the only way I managed to cure it was to reboot when things went back to normal. Does anyone have any idea where the space went - how can it be used but not show anything using it? Regards to all Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

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Using Real VNC Free edition & Personal edition on Linux/XP
by David Simon Cooper 23 Aug '05

23 Aug '05

Hello folks, I am promoting remote desktop access for support services to a couple of small companies I am working for. I can use the linux VNC client to connect to the XP machines and help them when they have problems, I tested it at home and it works great, I am setting up their on site firewall to use static real IP addresses from the ISP and to do the routing etc, I have this sorted. I am recommending the Free Edition of VNC (I will ensure the company makes a donation to the developers for each licence) because it is simple and fast. I have a few questions you may be able to answer: a) Free edition - The password challenge response is encrypted using DES but all other traffic is not. I will not be sending any critical data over the link but how is the data represented? I am guessing it does not send the text that is visible on the screen on the remote system as plain text etc rather that it uses some kind of framing technology. If I am seeing all of the data on their screen I take it that their VNC server is not sending all of the data as is back to me. b) Personal edition - I could buy them this version as it is only about £15 per licence and it does support full encryption but I am concerned about the speed (I am 120 miles away) and it does not have a Linux version which means I would either have to use an XP machine to provide support, I could instead buy the over-the-top enterprise edition or settle for the unencrypted Free Edition. I have considered the security implications. To make things safer with the Free Edition I could just put an icon on their desktop and ask them to run the user mode app whenever they want me to connect, this would mean the server is only running when they want stuff fixed, they could close it when stuff is done, very safe. I would of course have the "ask for permission" option enabled on VNC for security reasons. Do you folks have any views on this? Cheers David Cooper

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Brett Parker 22 Aug '05

22 Aug '05

This is the automated ALUG IRC meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an IRC meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. The meeting takes place on the irc server irc.alug.org.uk in the #alug channel. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server irc.alug.org.uk" and "/join #alug". Popular IRC clients include tkirc, bitchx, xchat and EPIC on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with irc. Unix http://www.xchat.org/ http://freshmeat.net/ http://www.epicsol.org/ Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

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ssh login changes key mapping - possible?!
by Chris Green 19 Aug '05

19 Aug '05

I have a very odd keyboard/key mapping problem which occurs on just one system when I use ssh to log into it remotely. I have my keyboard mapped so that the backspace key sends ^H (08) and the DEL key(s) send ^? (7F). I have my keyboards mapped this way on all the systems I use and (if necessary) I use stty in my .profile to set the tty handling to match. This works correctly using ssh from just about everywhere to everywhere:- Home to Areti internet Home to BSNet Work to Areti internet Work to BSNet Work to Home However when I connect from home to work *something* remaps the backspace key so it sends ^? (7F) and remaps the DEL keys so they send some sort of escape sequence. It is an actual key remapping, if I type CTRL/H then an 08 is sent and I get the expected character deletion. Can anyone suggest what might be going on? I don't think ssh should (be able to) do this sort of thing should it? -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk) "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."

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Putting Debian Linux into Microserver (Kuro Box)
by Tatsuhiko Maegawa 19 Aug '05

19 Aug '05

Just to share my experience with you. I bought Microserver kit - self-build Kuro Box, and 250Gb Harddisk. All this for mere 30,000 yen. This microserver is little smaller than miniMac, and consumes 17watts against 60watts on miniMac. It has PowerPC 266MHz and 128Mb of Ram. I put Debian Linux (Sarge) into it. I built this as web server (Apache + MySQL + PHP4), and run Mambo CMS. So far it runs fine. Sometimes program stops, but you can get away from it since you are asking too much from the box. Details are here http://kurobox.com/ Worth buying if you are thinking of SOHO & Private Linux box, I think. T.

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Gigabit ethernet - USR or D-Link NICs?
by Chris Green 18 Aug '05

18 Aug '05

I have just got a Gigabit 8-port switch and want to upgrade a couple of the NICs to match. Has anyone got any opinions/knowledge as to whether D-Link or USR NICs are liely to be more compatible with a 2.4.xx kernel? (Or other makes for that matter, it's just that D-Link is cheapest and the switch is a USR one). -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk) "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."

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DSL bandwidth
by Stuart Bailey 18 Aug '05

18 Aug '05

Hi I have a customer who has 512M broadband to their site. They have recently recruited more staff, and find that 512 is not enough. BT have checked their lin3es and say the they're lucky to get 512 (they are about 5 mile from the exchange). Unfortunately, a 2M link is too expensive. Is there any way (perhaps with hardware) to configure multiple 512M links into one high spped link? They ideally want 2Mb Many thanks, Stuart -- --------------------------------------- Stuart Bailey BSc (hons) CEng CITP MBCS LinuSoft (Proprietor) Linux Specialist (01953) 601294 (07778) 383739 http://www.linusoft.co.uk ----------------------------------------

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X programming, fonts question
by Chris Green 18 Aug '05

18 Aug '05

Well my re-write and tidy up of astime is progressing. I'm happy with my 'one line per parameter' initialisation code, much less sprawling than the original. I'm now onto the bits I actually want to change, the original version has (horrible) bit-mapped fonts for AM/PM, day of week, etc. These are actually included in the program distribution as *.xpm files which are built into the code. Thus there is no choice of font and if you happened to want to change the names for the days of the week you have to recode the bit maps character by character. Not to mention the horrible convolutions required to actually select the right digits given the date! astime already has the ability to display some text (called a 'label') on the clock and you *can* specify the font for this. If you simply set the label to today's date and tell it to display you get a much nicer display of the date than the built in one. It also saves several hundred lines of code! It was playing with this facility that prompted me to start changing the code so that the date, day of week, AM/PM etc. are all done more elegantly. So (as before) finally to the question. I can see how to select specific fonts in X but is there any way to find a default font family? I.e. I want the code to be fairly general and work in a passable fashion on any X system, thus specifying a font in the code is risky, there's no font guaranteed to be on all systems. What I want is a way to find a font which is (probably) the default for the window manager in use for example. Going on from that is there an easy way to find the range of sizes available for a given font? Then I can find a default (or at least definitely available) font and select a size which is a reasonable match to the clock size. I suppose I could wait until I get home and look this up, I have a set of X programming manuals, but if anyone here can help that would be useful. -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk) "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."

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PAM issues
by Andy Trevor 18 Aug '05

18 Aug '05

Guys, I am having some issues with pam_mkhomedir If I log on to the server locally with a use account with no home dir all is well, the home dir is greated with the correct permissions. If I try it from an LTSP client all is not well. The Home dir is created as root and of course all goes wrong after that. Any ideas Thanks in advance -- Regards Andy Trevor Technical Director Cutter Project Limited http://www.cutterproject.co.uk

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RE: [ALUG] dialup to UKFSN
by Keith Watson 18 Aug '05

18 Aug '05

> From: Ted Harding Sent: 17 August 2005 21:39 > > Hi Folks, > > Are any of you using dialup via a modem to ukfsn.org's dialup > service, and currently experiencing connection problems? > > If so, I'd be pleased to compare notes (it may just possibly > be a faulty modem, but it's unique to UKFSN). No UKFSN seem to have an intermittent problem with their dial-up. I had problems connecting earlier this week and so did a friend who uses their dial-up service. Haven't checked the UKFSN web site, there may be something about it on there. Wonder if anyone's bothered to tell Jason? :o) Regards, Keith ____________

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dialup to UKFSN
by Ted Harding 17 Aug '05

17 Aug '05

Hi Folks, Are any of you using dialup via a modem to ukfsn.org's dialup service, and currently experiencing connecion problems? If so, I'd be pleased to compare notes (it may just possibly be a faulty modem, but it's unique to UKFSN). Thanks, and best wishes to all, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 17-Aug-05 Time: 21:32:43 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Brett Parker 15 Aug '05

15 Aug '05

This is the automated ALUG IRC meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an IRC meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. The meeting takes place on the irc server irc.alug.org.uk in the #alug channel. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server irc.alug.org.uk" and "/join #alug". Popular IRC clients include tkirc, bitchx, xchat and EPIC on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with irc. Unix http://www.xchat.org/ http://freshmeat.net/ http://www.epicsol.org/ Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

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Network Monitoring
by Andy Trevor 13 Aug '05

13 Aug '05

Guys, I am after a little advice. Which package is best for network performance monitoring ? I am familiar with MRTG and Cacti. Is there anything better out there, or are these the ones to use? -- Regards Andy Trevor Technical Director Cutter Project Limited www.cutterproject.co.uk

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WIKI Correction needed
by Ted.Harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 12 Aug '05

12 Aug '05

To whom it may concern: Hereby take Notice that the URL for ACCUS on the Wiki is deemed to be Incorrect and it has been Determined that henceforth the same shall be amended so as to read: http://www.speccyverse.me.uk/comp/accus/ Given under our Hand and Seal this 12th day of August in the Year of Our Lord 2005. Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 12-Aug-05 Time: 12:00:35 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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C programming style question
by Chris Green 12 Aug '05

12 Aug '05

As a pleasant background task I'm re-programming astime (an X clock) to work more the way I want it to. It's currently written in ANSI C and shows evidence of different programmers having been involved at different times. Nothing wrong with that but it is a bit inconsistent in the way it does things. I'm trying to improve its style as well as making it do what I want, so, finally to my questions! It has *lots* of configuration parameters which specify things like colours of the hands, font to use for text, size of clock, etc. etc. There's something like 50 or so of them. In the existing code some are globals, some are members of a structure called 'state', there appears to be no good reason for this division. The problem is how to 'hand them around' between different parts of the code, if they're all globals it's easy to initialise them as well as create them in a file called, say, astime_config.c, this avoids the need to create them and *then* initialise them separately. However, apart from so many globals creating problems of its own, it then requires a 'extern' declaration for every value in a header file so that other source files can access the values. On the other hand if they're all in a structure (or maybe two or three structures) the structure can be declared in a header file and only a few 'extern' declarations are needed (one for each structure). However initialisation is then messy as it's of the form:- struct Fred fred = { <lots of numbers and strings> }; where it's difficult to document and keep tabs on all those constants. Is there a good way around this problem or have I just got to bite the bullet and decide on one or other of the above and go with it? C++ solutions are just as welcome but I can't see that helping really. -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk) "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."

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Eeeeep! I forgot to send this reminder! Tonight is Norwich ALUG Social night...
by Brett Parker 11 Aug '05

11 Aug '05

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi all, I've been busy, and I entirely forgot to send the reminder for the 2nd Thursday ALUG Social night... It's tonight! Thurs 11 Aug 2005, starting from ~ 8pm ish in the Reindeer on Dereham Road in Norwich. As is usual, I shall probably be there from ~ 7.30pm ish, I'll be wearing a blue shirt and jeans, probably sitting at the table just to the left or right of the door (depending on which is available when I get there), smoking (or at least the tin and lighter will be on the table), and there will be a pint glass full of something bitter tasting in front of me. (That should help anyone out that's looking for us that hasn't been before)... WARNING TO THOSE THAT HAVE MET ME BEFORE: I am less hairy again, the beard has gone, I am still me but you might not recognise me at first glance. Usual random topics will come up, beer, brewerys, cool projects, etc, etc. Directions to the Reindeer can be found at: http://www.alug.org.uk/venues/reindeer.html Someone remind me that I need to send a patch to mjr with some more dates etc, it appears that the last meeting listed on the meetings page was last month (ooops!). Pictures of some of the regulars, and irregulars, and, well, just some pictures of people that might or might not turn up are available from: http://www.earth.li/~noodles/Photos/2005-01-ALUG-Xmas/ Which is from the ALUG Christmas meal (which was very very good). There's some other pictures somewhere, but I can't for the life of me remember where at the moment. Hope to see lots of you there! - -- Brett Parker web: http://www.sommitrealweird.co.uk/ email: iDunno(a)sommitrealweird.co.uk -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.1 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFC+21PEh8oWxevnjQRAjJmAKCVy9HFRruzpRe5Y0j5XRRhZ1q6GgCgorUy 5leueataPVHDZgxezsBEv0g= =WrT2 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Monitoring router firewall logs, how to work out what's doing what?
by Chris Green 10 Aug '05

10 Aug '05

I have a Zyxel Prestige ADSL router which does my NAT and is also a firewall. I'm fairly happy that I have the firewall set up correctly, however I'd like to be able to interpret what I'm seeing in the router logs. For example over the past few minutes I see lines like the following and some of them I don't really understand what's talking to what. Aug 10 12:30:31 zyxel RAS: src="192.168.13.3:137" dst="192.168.13.255:137" msg="Firewall default policy: UDP (L to L/PRESTIGE)" note="ACCESS FORWARD" devID="D9C103" cat="Access Control" OK, this is a Win2k computer on my LAN talking to the ISDN router, I can understand this. (The ISDN router is there for historical reasons, it's not used at the moment) Aug 10 12:31:16 zyxel RAS: src="192.168.13.44" dst="224.0.0.251" msg="Firewall default policy: IGMP (L to L/PRESTIGE)" note="ACCESS FORWARD" devID="D9C103" cat="Access Control" This is from a networked HP 7310 printer but I don't understand the dst address, where does 224.0.0.251 come from? It has no relation to my 192.168.13.xx subnet. Aug 10 12:31:16 zyxel RAS: src="192.168.13.44" dst="224.0.1.60" msg="Firewall default policy: IGMP (L to L/PRESTIGE)" note="ACCESS FORWARD" devID="D9C103" cat="Access Control" This (again from the printer) always appears immediately after the other printer one. Another 224.0.x.x destination. Aug 10 12:33:34 zyxel RAS: src="61.55.188.229:3381" dst="84.51.144.229:1433" msg="Firewall default policy: TCP (W to W/PRESTIGE)" note="ACCESS FORWARD" devID="D9C103" cat="Access Control" Now this I don't follow, it's from the 'outside' to the Zyxel router (I have the static IP 84.51.144.229 from my ISP). Is this a probe of some sort? The port numbers seem rather odd. Should the router be telling me what it's doing with this, e.g. is it blocked/refused? Aug 10 12:34:26 zyxel RAS: src="82.76.43.200:1627" dst="84.51.144.229:1433" msg="Firewall default policy: TCP (W to W/PRESTIGE)" note="ACCESS FORWARD" devID="D9C103" cat="Access Control" Another similar one. Aug 10 12:34:54 zyxel RAS: src="192.168.13.1:32978" dst="200.23.51.205:123" msg="Firewall default policy: UDP (L to W)" note="ACCESS FORWARD" devID="D9C103" cat="Access Control" This is my Linux box talking to cronos.cenam.mx, by the sound of the name it's probably asking what the time is using NTP. Yes, that's it, 123 is the NTP protocol, so I'm happy with this one. Aug 10 12:34:59 zyxel RAS: src="218.94.232.240:2611" dst="84.51.144.229:1433" msg="Firewall default policy: TCP (W to W/PRESTIGE)" note="ACCESS FORWARD" devID="D9C103" cat="Access Control" Another one to port 1433, which turns out to be "#Microsoft-SQL-Server" what on earth does this suggest? -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk) "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."

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USB
by Bob Dove 10 Aug '05

10 Aug '05

Hi folks, Further to my earlier message; If I take the memory card out of the camera and insert into USB card reader - the USB driver recognises it as a new drive and the data is accessible. Using the camera supplied USB cable, the camera software has to be installed or it is not recognised. Cheers, BD.

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Keeping time correct
by Chris Green 10 Aug '05

10 Aug '05

My Linux box runs all the time and, while the system clock is reasonably accurate, it does drift a bit. What utilities and time source do others here use to keep their clocks accurate? Do you just run netdate with a known good time source from your crontab or what? -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk) "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."

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Ubuntu 5.04 CDs Going Spare
by Keith Watson 08 Aug '05

08 Aug '05

I have 10 copies of the pukka (Live+Install CDs in a card wallet) versions of Ubuntu 5.04 in my hot and sweaty hands. 5 are for the x86 architecture and 5 are for 64 bit (AMD64/EM64T) architectures. If anyone would like a copy of either (or both) sing out and we'll arrange getting one to you. Regards, Keith ____________ It's not what the eye sees, but that which makes the eye see. - The Upanishads

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RE: [ALUG] Ubuntu 5.04 CDs Going Spare
by Keith Watson 08 Aug '05

08 Aug '05

> From: Anthony Anson Sent: 08 August 2005 14:36 > > The message > <63F7A21F1CA18143AFDBF28E2A7D6BBA02309ED1(a)endor.kewill-europe.com> > from "Keith Watson" <keith.watson(a)kewill.com> contains these words: > > > I have 10 copies of the pukka (Live+Install CDs in a card wallet) > > versions of Ubuntu 5.04 in my hot and sweaty hands. > > Tell me - apart from the Live CD aspect, is there much to be > gained by having Ubantu and Debian? (And Knoppix, for that matter...) > Personally I think the Debian package management system is one of the best I've come across for unix based OS like GNU/Linux. The really nice thing is the way in which it sorts out any dependences (which means that you can request a nice little 25K package to be installed and find Debian telling you that it needs another 10M of dependant libraries for the software to run!, but then, probably best to know this up front). Similarly Ubuntu and Knoppix provide nice coherent configurations of applications in one simple package. I'm particularly impressed by Ubuntu and its hardware detection script at install time. I've switched to using it as my main distro. Mainly because it makes the whole install/upgrade task a complete no-brainer. > > 5 are for the x86 architecture and 5 are for 64 bit (AMD64/EM64T) > > architectures. > > Ah. Whoosh! What's the x86 architecture? And how would I know > if my AMD box is 64-bit? > Well the glib answer is "if you have to ask probably you haven't got 64 bit" but I suspect that there's a more technically correct answer. Anyone care to provide it? :o) > > If anyone would like a copy of either (or both) sing out and we'll > > arrange getting one to you. > > I'm holding my fire on that until I find whether it's > loadable, and if so, there's a really good reason for having it. > Have a play with the Live CD and see if you like to look and feel. Also have a look at the official Ubuntu web site (http://www.ubuntulinux.org) and the unofficial ubuntu starter guide (http://ubuntuguide.org) > -- > Tony http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/ > > The only way to tell when a Finn is in love with you is that > they look at your feet instead of their own. Regards, Keith ____________ If you have two loaves of bread, sell one and buy a hyacinth - Persian Proverb

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RE: [ALUG] [To Keith Watson] et al.
by Keith Watson 08 Aug '05

08 Aug '05

> From: Ted.Harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk Sent: 08 August 2005 15:53 > > Hi Keith > > I seem to be experiencing assorted wierdness trying to email > to keith.watson(a)kewill.com, so unfortunately I'm reduced to > using the list to say: > > Thanks, Keith! > > Best wishes, > Ted. > De nada Ted :o) General note to list: our email servers here at work are in the midst of a major overhaul at present and will be doing very silly things for sometime to come. If you want to email me personally please use my 'kpwatson' account at 'ukfsn.org'. hithenkyew, Keith ____________ CHRISTIAN, n. - One who believes that the New Testament is a divinely inspired book admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbour. - Ambrose Bierce - The Devil's Dictionary

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[To Keith Watson]
by Ted.Harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 08 Aug '05

08 Aug '05

Hi Keith I seem to be experiencing assorted wierdness trying to email to keith.watson(a)kewill.com, so unfortunately I'm reduced to using the list to say: Thanks, Keith! Best wishes, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 08-Aug-05 Time: 15:50:04 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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Debian Sarge on Sparc64
by Stuart Bailey 08 Aug '05

08 Aug '05

I'v ejust installed Debian Sarge onto an old UltraSparc 10 (64bit), with 256M RAM and it seems to run quite nicely (although Gnome is a bit slow). However, there are a few quirks: The kernel is 2.4.27 - I was hoping for a 2.6 kernel. I don't really understand why 2.4 is only available. Because of this, some other daemons don't run (like hald), reporting that a 2.6 kernel is required. Also, I haven't managed to get the sound to work. Apart from that, i can recomment Debian on the Sparc 64. -- --------------------------------------- Stuart Bailey BSc (hons) CEng CITP MBCS LinuSoft (Proprietor) Linux Specialist (01953) 601294 (07778) 383739 http://www.linusoft.co.uk ---------------------------------------- ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, please email postmaster(a)linusoft.co.uk immediately. You should not copy or use this email or attachments for any purpose nor disclose their contents to any other person. NO BINDING CONTRACT WILL RESULT FROM THIS E-MAIL UNTIL SUCH TIME AS A WRITTEN DOCUMENT IS SIGNED ON BEHALF OF LinuSoft. LinuSoft cannot accept any responsibility for the completeness or accuracy of this message as it has been transmitted over public networks. *************************************************************************

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ALUG Wiki
by John Woodard 08 Aug '05

08 Aug '05

Looks like http://www.alug.org.uk/contrib/ has been totally defaced has anybody got a recent backup to fix it? Cheers, BJ -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.9.5/58 - Release Date: 25/07/2005

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Brett Parker 08 Aug '05

08 Aug '05

This is the automated ALUG IRC meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an IRC meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. The meeting takes place on the irc server irc.alug.org.uk in the #alug channel. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server irc.alug.org.uk" and "/join #alug". Popular IRC clients include tkirc, bitchx, xchat and EPIC on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with irc. Unix http://www.xchat.org/ http://freshmeat.net/ http://www.epicsol.org/ Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

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[ALUG Announce]AFFS Conference and AGM, 13 Aug 2005, London
by MJ Ray 05 Aug '05

05 Aug '05

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Quoted from LUG.org.uk list: > AFFS ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND GENERAL MEETING > ========================================== > > (Released 3rd August, 2005, London, UK): Conference to include talks on > free software, topical issues and an all-day exhibition. > > The Association for Free Software is pleased to announce its forthcoming > annual conference is open for registration. Taking place on the 13th > August, the conference is being hosted by the Resource Centre located in > north London: [...] > <http://www.affs.org.uk/affsac.html> ----- 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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ubuntu and gtk versions.
by Peter Onion 05 Aug '05

05 Aug '05

Is there any reason why someone with ubuntu 5.04 installed on a machine would use "--enable-gtk1" as an option to "./configure" ? The ubuntu web site says it includes GNOME 2.10 so I'm thinking the user is somehow confused ? Peter.

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Linux Lives
by tom potts 05 Aug '05

05 Aug '05

Not that I thought it would die but: http://www.computerworld.com/blogs/node/688 and http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050804095846895 ___________________________________________________________ To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre. http://uk.security.yahoo.com

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Playing video DVD's
by Peter Hunter 05 Aug '05

05 Aug '05

Hi everyone, I hope someone can help me with this. I am running Mandriver LE 2005 with the Gnome desktop. I decided it would be nice to play a dvd, but when I load a dvd movie I get the playing window comes up, and then an error message, which says: DVD - Error Code "The source seems encrypted, and can't be read. Are you trying to play an encrypted DVD without libdvdcss?" I have done a search for 'libdvdcss' but can't find it, and don't know what it is anyway. Can anyone help me to solve this problem? and (hopefully) help me to be able to play dvd's. mtia Peter

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Problems with tar
by Stuart Bailey 04 Aug '05

04 Aug '05

I'm using a SCSI 72Gb tape drive on a Fedora Core3 system which has recently been updated with the latest kernel (about 2 weeks ago). The tape backup (using tar -cf /dev/st0 ...) had been working fine - for about 5 months, and was used to restore data at that time. I have just discovered that the backup has been failing recently. When I run tar -cvf /dev/st0 ... only 2048 bytes are backed up before this message is displayed: tar: /dev/st0: Wrote only 2048 of 10240 bytes tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now If I then run tar -tvf /dev/st0, I get all the files upto the point at which the error message was generated. Any ideas what may have gone wrong? Are there any tools to run diagnostics on the tape unit? Many thanks Stuart -- --------------------------------------- Stuart Bailey BSc (hons) CEng CITP MBCS LinuSoft (Proprietor) Linux Specialist (01953) 601294 (07778) 383739 http://www.linusoft.co.uk ---------------------------------------- ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, please email postmaster(a)linusoft.co.uk immediately. You should not copy or use this email or attachments for any purpose nor disclose their contents to any other person. NO BINDING CONTRACT WILL RESULT FROM THIS E-MAIL UNTIL SUCH TIME AS A WRITTEN DOCUMENT IS SIGNED ON BEHALF OF LinuSoft. LinuSoft cannot accept any responsibility for the completeness or accuracy of this message as it has been transmitted over public networks. *************************************************************************

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Migrate apps from Internet Explorer to Mozilla
by tom potts 02 Aug '05

02 Aug '05

http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/web/library/wa-ie2mozgd/ looks interesting ___________________________________________________________ How much free photo storage do you get? Store your holiday snaps for FREE with Yahoo! Photos http://uk.photos.yahoo.com

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Brett Parker 01 Aug '05

01 Aug '05

This is the automated ALUG IRC meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an IRC meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. The meeting takes place on the irc server irc.alug.org.uk in the #alug channel. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server irc.alug.org.uk" and "/join #alug". Popular IRC clients include tkirc, bitchx, xchat and EPIC on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with irc. Unix http://www.xchat.org/ http://freshmeat.net/ http://www.epicsol.org/ Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

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Advance needed on DVD rewriters and buying components online
by Ashley T. Howes, Ph.D. 30 Jul '05

30 Jul '05

I have questions on two areas. The first is a recommendation for a good producer of DVD Rewriters. Most seem to support all the formats including dual layer. I'm planning to use only DVD+RW really. By good, I mean regular firmware and driver updates, excellent build quality and reliability. Normal stuff really :) At present, I am looking at either Sony or Plextor. Do you agree? I had bad experiences with Philips (the unit died after 1 week) and the usual OEM unbranded poop. The second item is a recommendation for a good online source of components. You know, a company with a real returns policy and good support :) All of my local companies in Norwich, even Anglian Internet, have annoyed me to the point where I don't want to do business with them any more. AI used to be good, but my last two visits to their shop left a bad taste in my mouth after they tried repeatedly to suggest and almost force me to buy overpriced options instead of what I really wanted. -- Ashley T. Howes, Ph.D. http://www.ashleyhowes.com "May your spirit be renewed in earth's solitary places." - Native American Indian Blessing

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Live CD's
by John Seago 30 Jul '05

30 Jul '05

Someone has asked for my help in trying out Linux via Live CD's, Knoppix seems obvious, as does Ubuntu. I also thought I might include a couple of the Slackware based Live CD's, does anyone have any other suggestions? -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 http://counter.li.org AFFS http://www.affs.org.uk/

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100BaseT PCMCIA cards
by Ted.Harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 30 Jul '05

30 Jul '05

Another Q (on topic this time ... ) Do people have good suggestions for 100BaseT PCMCIA ethernet adapter cards (wired, not wireless) that work well on Linux (and, hopefully these days, don't cost much)? Thanks again! Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 29-Jul-05 Time: 15:20:43 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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[OT] How does online purchase work?
by Ted.Harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 30 Jul '05

30 Jul '05

Hi Folks, I'm wondering about the mechanism underlying say on-line purchase. Superficially, it seems you tell someone your card number, and they then somehow communicate with your bank and get money out of your account without further intervention by you. If that's all that's needed, then anyone who knew your card number could do the same. So does anyone know what the underlying mechanism is which authorises the bank to hand out the money when asked by someone who knows your card number? I suppose a similar question arises when someone knows your bank's sort code and your account number (as when you authorise a direct debit or standing order). Though I suppose, in that case, there's a piece of paper signed by you which ends up at your bank. But would it be possible in the absence of a signed authorisation? (I think I've actually done this when paying a bill on-line, though my memory is now not sure of the details). Somewhat curious ... Best wishes to all, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 29-Jul-05 Time: 15:11:49 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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RE:How does online purchase work?
by tom potts 30 Jul '05

30 Jul '05

For security reasons most online purchasers normally proxy through a merchant bank or similar service- ie their web site never takes the card details. The reques is handed over to the proxy site which takes the card details and amount to be deducted and does a few checks. If the sum to pay is less that a certain amount (£50 or so but depends on the card and arrangements) that the card has sort of agreement to pay out that sum. If its more that that then a credit check will be run and refused if insufficient credit on the card. Once the payment is 'agreed' normally the transaction is handed back to the vendor web site with a transaction ID. The money is not removed from the card at this point! In theory once the product is delivered the vendor company then the vendor can go to the proxy and get the money transfered using the transaction ID. Not many companies seem to wait till delivery to collect the money and of course you can rack up lots of agreed transactions before the money is removed from your account so the vendor is not guaranteed payment. Theres a lot more but I can here the delete keys going.... ___________________________________________________________ To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre. http://uk.security.yahoo.com

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USB
by Bob Dove 29 Jul '05

29 Jul '05

Hi All, MMMN, with Suse 9.3 my Fuji camera does not appear with supplied USB cable (mini USB camera normal 'tother end) period! Neither does my Canon 8000f scanner. Neither Fuji nor Canon answered queries re drivers for Linux/Unix, in fact Canon has never answered any query at all ever! My Epson printer - Suse showed me a list of Epson printers - lot's except mine. However one of the (unknown to me) generic drivers seems to work OK at least for printing from Open Office. Cheers, BD.

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Fw: Press Release: OPEN SOURCE CREATIVITY IN BRISTOL
by Joe Button 28 Jul '05

28 Jul '05

Forwarding from the FAVE Mailing list: (27/7/2005, Bristol, England) FAVE is a new event for people who are interested in free and open source creative software on Linux and other computer platforms. It's taking place on Saturday August 20th 2005 at the Trinity Community & Arts Centre in Bristol, UK. Everyone is welcome, even if they have never used this kind of software before. Doors open at 10am and the event gets underway at 11am. Music will continue into the evening, and the whole event costs just £5 to get in. This is no dry, dull conference! It will be an accessible festival of fun with performances, presentations and workshops. Topics will include music production, recording and do-it-yourself film making. There will be sessions covering community media, streaming content servers, tangible interfaces, digital TV regulation and Creative Commons licensing. Networking, internet access and media streaming will be provided by Bristol Wireless. Speakers at FAVE 2005 include: James Wallbank - Art for all at Access Space Tom Chance - Remix Reading and the Creative Commons John Ffitch - An introduction to Csound Michael Sparks (BBC Research & Development) - Streaming with Kamaelia Richard Bown (Fervent Software) - The Rosegarden sequencer and Studio To Go! Chris O'Shea - Sonicforms - a tangible interfaces project Plugincinema.com - The internet, technology & Open Source film-making RachelAPP - Recording music with Ardour, Hydrogen and Jamin Cory Doctorow (Electronic Frontier Foundation) - Europe's coming Broadcast Flag Performers using Linux and other free software will include: Matt Gray Dave Griffiths (Pattern Cascade) RachelAPP Martin Howse and Jonathan Kemp (ap) Jonny Stutters (Jeremah) Andy Preston (Edge Effect) For full details of the line-up, see the FAVE website at: http://www.fave.org.uk/ HELPING OUT If you would like to take part in this event, the first of its kind in the UK, please see the website for details of the FAVE mailing list and IRC channel. This is a community event, and it relies on volunteers to make it a success. GETTING TO FAVE The Trinity Centre is in the centre of Bristol, not far from the mainline railway station at Temple Meads or Lawrence Hill station. It is a large former church near the corner of the A420 Clarence Road and Trinity Road. NOTES TO EDITORS For follow-up information, please contact Daniel James (daniel at linuxaudio.org) phone: +44 (0)1983 755976 or Tim Hall (tech at glastonburymusic.org.uk). Press interviews and images for publication are also available - just ask. **ends** _______________________________________________ 3avc mailing list 3avc(a)lists.serverone.co.uk http://lists.serverone.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/3avc

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Re: Thinkpad and Linux ?? (Rob Grant)
by Robert Grant (DEV) 27 Jul '05

27 Jul '05

Barry Samuels wrote: > I am hoping to get an IBM Thinkpad R51 from the insurance as it's > about equivalent to the Dell. I understand that Thinkpads are pretty > compatible with Linux and wondered if any of you have experience of > this particular model? Barry- if it is any encouragement to you, I've managed to get a dual-boot of Debian/XP working fairly well on my Thinkpad T22 and I represent very much the tail end of the technical distribution in this group. Two essential resources are http://www.linux-laptop.net/: they have several pages specific to the R51. This site was what helped me get my X-config files sorted out eventually. Then for your internal modem there is http://www.linmodems.org/- a very friendly place from where I found the right driver to download and get dial-up working. Good luck and enjoy! Rob Rob Grant Tutor in Economics School of Development Studies University of East Anglia NR4 7TJ +44(0)1603592324 r.grant(a)uea.ac.uk

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Cut and paste accented characters between GUI apps and text mode apps
by Chris Green 27 Jul '05

27 Jul '05

This is a very minor hassle but it annoys me every now and then. If I cut and paste text with accented characters between (for example) Firefox and a text mode application running in a terminal window the accented characters don't copy correctly. The usual effect is that something like an e with an acute accent will become an e followed by a '. I'm pretty sure I have my terminals set up right for international characters now as text mode applications and utilities seem to play happily together and usenet postings and E-Mail with accented characters get posted correctly. So what is Firefox doing different from the rest of my applications? Or is it something to do with X and its cut/paste? -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk) "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."

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USB_Camera
by Bob Dove 27 Jul '05

27 Jul '05

Hi Barry 'n' Folks, Your 'pooter' probably don't know nuffin' about cameras. It will need appropriate driver! The Scanner too will have it's exclusive drivers which will need to be loaded. Linux probably has a bunch of generics to take care of most printers. Cheers, BD.

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Re: system clock running 2x too fast
by Geir Freysson 27 Jul '05

27 Jul '05

On Tue, 26 Jul 2005 10:48:07 +0100,David Reynolds wrote: > One way of doing it (probably not the most elegant way) would be to > cron it. Then you can choose the update frequency yourself and be sure > that it works. Thanks for that suggestion. I had already put this measure in place, which ensured the clock was never more than half an hour off, but did cause an awful lot of checks when the clock raced towards check time, was put back and raced forwards again etc. On Tue, 26 Jul 2005 18:39:26 +0100, Wayne Stallwood wrote: > try clock=pit or clock=pmtmr ( I think 2.6 series kernels are supposed > to default to pmtmr ) Adding clock=pit to the kernel boot options worked whereas earlier suggestions such as noapic didn't. Hurray! This was causing me a major headache since I had set up an wiki along with other services that were already being test driven by colleagues, but were being rendered semi-useless by the hyperactive system clock. > Hope that helps and welcome to the group. Thank you, you have certainly been of help. Best regards, Geir.

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Any ubuntu users on AMD64 ?
by Wayne Stallwood 27 Jul '05

27 Jul '05

Is it me or is there something a bit fishy about the Hoary xmame packages ? I am all set up for the standard Ubuntu repositories, plus universe and multiverse. Using apt to install xmame (either the sdl or x11 version) I get the following error when I try to run it "error: compiled byte ordering doesn't match machine byte ordering are you sure you choose the right arch? compiled for msb-first, are you sure you choose the right cpu in makefile.unix" No mention of it being a problem on the Ubuntu wiki and the guys on #ubuntu don't seem to have heard of it before either. Being that I was in the need for some serious legacy game action, I tried building advancemame from source...Got it built but I forgot that the framebuffer on ubuntu machines using the Nvidia drivers is broken...advancemame only supports fb mode AFAIK.

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system clock running 2x too fast
by Geir Freysson 26 Jul '05

26 Jul '05

Hello everyone, my name is Geir, I'm an Icelander living in Ipswich and this is my first email to this user group. I'm running Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.10, on and old Compaq pentium III machine. My problem is that the system clock is running at approx 2x the speed it should be running on. The hardware clock is ok. Solutions that don't seem to work: * adjtimex * ntpd * booting without apm or acpi The required parameters for adjtimex are way outside the allowed parameters. ntpd doesn't seem to cope either, if I'm running it correctly. It doesn't seem to do anything at all. How do I adjust the frequency of ntpd updates anyway? Some command in the /etc/ntp.conf I guess? Booting without apm or acpi doesn't seem to work, if I'm doing it correctly. I've seen in various forums that people running a 64-bit machine are having the same troubles but this isn't the case for me. Any ideas? Very best regards, Geir Freysson.

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Brett Parker 25 Jul '05

25 Jul '05

This is the automated ALUG IRC meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an IRC meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. The meeting takes place on the irc server irc.alug.org.uk in the #alug channel. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server irc.alug.org.uk" and "/join #alug". Popular IRC clients include tkirc, bitchx, xchat and EPIC on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with irc. Unix http://www.xchat.org/ http://freshmeat.net/ http://www.epicsol.org/ Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

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/lib/modules/2.4.27/modules.pcimap
by Barry Samuels 24 Jul '05

24 Jul '05

First - I posted this yesterday over 24 hours ago with a different email address from the one I registered with for the Alug list. I was held back for moderation but hasn't appeared so I'm reposting. If the other one appears please ignore it. I'm still trying with my WG511 and I'm nearly there. When I plug the WG511 (made in China) card into my Dell Latitude a PCI event is not generated. This appears to be because ndiswrapper information is not included in /lib/modules/2.4.27/modules.pcimap although the ndiswrapper module is listed in /lib/modules/2.4.27/modules.dep. I have a file called 'modules.ndiswrapper' in my /etc/ndiswrapper directory but I don't know now where it came from. It doesn't apear to be part of the ndiswrapper source download. If I manually add the contents of this file (3 lines) to modules.pcimap then things begin to happen when I plug the card in. The snag is, of course, that modules.pcimap is re-written every time the laptop boots. How can I get the relevant lines to be included in modules.pcimap each time depmod is run? -- Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

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Remote boot switching
by Ted.Harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 23 Jul '05

23 Jul '05

Hi Folks, Suppose we have two machines, A and B, each dual-boot Linux/Windows. Suppose that Linux is the "default" OS on reboot -- i.e. if you switch the machine on and do nothing, Linux is what you get. Let's start with both in Linux. Now, sitting at A, I want B to reboot into Windows, but without going to B. One solution which has occurred to me is that, while at A, I can log in to B, su root, edit the LILO or GRUB config so that the boot order is reversed, and then tell B to reboot. So far so good. I can even make this into a script, so that when logged into B I can issue something like "boot Windows". But then, how to restore the original boot order without having to go to B, choose Linux from the boot menu, boot Linux, and re-edit the config file? I somehow doubt that you can do this while B is in Windows ... and I basically want the whole thing to be remote, from A. If there were some capability in the boot loader itself that could restore a default boot configuration prior to actually booting the OS which is currently "on top", this would make the whole thing scriptable. To be precise about this: 1. A & B running Linux. 2. At A, tell B to "boot Windows". 3. B reboots. 4. LILO/GRUB sees that Windows is "on top" and selects this as the OS to boot into. 5. LILO/GRUB *also* restores the original config file with Linux "on top". 6. LILO/GRUB then boots into Windows. The effect would be that the next re-boot would be into Linux. Any ideas or comments? With thanks, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 21-Jul-05 Time: 13:37:10 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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GZ files
by Peter Hunter 21 Jul '05

21 Jul '05

Hi, me again, I have been looking around the Linux.org site, and noticed that nearly all of there downloads are in the .gz format (I asume this is compressed a bit like .zip). Uncompressing proberbly won't be a problem, but how do I install the file/program from there? More to the point, where can I find instructions that will tell me what to do? (Bearing in mind of course that I am running Suse, which seems to be a bit different from other flavours of Linux). Regards, peter

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Completely Off Topic - But...
by Brett Parker 19 Jul '05

19 Jul '05

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Does anyone know of a pub with a bar billiards table in or around the Norwich area... for those unfamiliar with that game, the rules along with a picture of a fairly typical table can be found at the following URL: http://www.mastersgames.com/cat/pub/bar-billiards.htm I've just finished playing a few games, and have discovered that it's much more enjoyable than your average game of pool, which most pubs now cater for... But I'm currently in Suffolk and I played in the Edwardstone White Horse (which is a village pub not far from my dad's, and one that I'd highly recommend to people that want a quiet, pleasant drink in a village). Replies to me unless you think that they need to go to the list... Sorry for the cross post for those that are both on the ALUG and Debian-UK lists. Thanks, - -- Brett Parker web: http://www.sommitrealweird.co.uk/ email: iDunno(a)sommitrealweird.co.uk -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.1 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFC3X+dEh8oWxevnjQRAoIyAJ0dLE2r/Yt3mxN16kXpRJwJ/hrPlgCgqxTp PUr+ViKMFXNrSTbdcZX8cPI= =+m/f -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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RE: [ALUG] Remote Linux Support via VNC
by Keith Watson 18 Jul '05

18 Jul '05

> From: Jim Rippon Sent: 18 July 2005 16:28 > I would suggest that if you want to be able to show your > friend what you are doing (demonstrate how to fix the problem > they are having for > example) you might: > > apt-get install x11vnc > x11vnc sounds like just what I want, ta for the tip Jim. > You can find out your IP address from > http://www.whatismyip.com - very easy to get a user to go > here from their web browser when you are on the phone, > otherwise go for a Dynamic DNS service - something like > http://www.dyndns.org yes, good idea, ta once more :o) > I would suggest looking at running VNC over SSH as it is a > fairly insecure protocol straight up. There is a good amount > of info on this if you Google it. yes another good point, actually the x11vnc site talks about how to use ssh. I'll read up on it. > I admin 120 or so desktops and servers from here - although > most are Windoze machines (I SSH directly into my Linux > machines, and even XDMCP when I am on site) and I have had > plenty of success doing this over a dialup. You can set the > max colour depth and compression algorithms and I would > suggest that you look into this as at high colour depths and > no compression your session may be unusable. > > Hope this helps > great, just the sort of feedback I was hoping for, thanks Jim. Regards, Keith ____________ TWICE, adv. - Once too often. - Ambrose Bierce - The Devil's Dictionary

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Remote Linux Support via VNC
by Keith Watson 18 Jul '05

18 Jul '05

I'm thinking of using VNC to provide remote support from my Linux box for a newbie friend who also runs Linux. As we are both ancient fogies we both use a dial-up internet connection (i.e. a slow connection at each end as opposed to a faster broadband on at one or both ends). As we both have Ubuntu [Debian] based systems, I right in supposing that all I need to do is run something like; apt-get install vncserver on my friend's PC, and something like; apt-get install vncviewer on my own PC to install the software (if not part of the base Ubuntu install)? The Unofficial Ubuntu Starter Guide gives some rudimentary info. which suggests it may be feasible but a couple of possible problems spring to mind:- We both have the FireStarter firewall running using the default rules. I presume I'll need to change these at the server end to allow the viewer to connect. Can anyone give me some pointers on how I go about this for a VNC connection (VNC uses port 5900 I think)? Also, as our dial-up connections use dynamic IP addressing is the lack of fixed IPs likely to be a problem? Any other gotchas anyone can think of? Has anyone ever tried this (i.e. Linux VNC - Linux VNC over dial-up) ? and, if so, did you get it to work? :o) Regards, Keith ____________ DEFAME, v.t. - To lie about another, also, to tell the truth about another. - Ambrose Bierce - The Devil's Dictionary

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Brett Parker 18 Jul '05

18 Jul '05

This is the automated ALUG IRC meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an IRC meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. The meeting takes place on the irc server irc.alug.org.uk in the #alug channel. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server irc.alug.org.uk" and "/join #alug". Popular IRC clients include tkirc, bitchx, xchat and EPIC on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with irc. Unix http://www.xchat.org/ http://freshmeat.net/ http://www.epicsol.org/ Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

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IRC connection problem
by Jim Rippon 15 Jul '05

15 Jul '05

Hi everyone. Since I have a quiet afternoon ahead of me, can someone lend a hand getting my IRC connection to work - I have tried opening a connection to both irc.oftc.net and irc.alug.org.uk (both resolve to the same IP addresses so I guess alug is just an alias anyway) by typing: /server irc.oftc.net in Besirc 2.2.13 (sorry, stuck in windoze while I am at work, not through choice) but all I get is a Connection failed. message. Is there some way I can troubleshoot/test a connection into IRC from here - either from Windows or Linux (I can ssh and/or XDMCP into one of my test servers in the plant room from here using either PuTTY or Cygwin/X, but its not really something I can do permanently). TIA, Jim

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Re: [ukfsn.org #5928] Re: [ALUG] Where is UKFSN?
by Ted.Harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 15 Jul '05

15 Jul '05

On 15-Jul-05 Jason Clifford wrote: > On Fri, 15 Jul 2005, MJ Ray via RT wrote: > >> Ted, I can see UKFSN, so I'll forward your message to support@ukfsn. >> I assume you can't, what with not being able to see their DNS entries. >> Hopefully they can reply to you/the list as appropriate. >> >> > It looks as though UKFSN had disappeared from the world: >> > >> > dig -a smtp.ukfsn.org -> No Answer >> > dig -a www.ukfsn.org -> No Answer >> > dig -mx ukfsn.org -> No Answer >> > traceroute www.ukfsn.org -> unknown host www.ukfsn.org > > I suspect the problem was with Ted's upstream network provider as UKFSN > is > certainly still here and we've not had any downtime this morning. > > The name servers haven't been changed at all and I would have noticed > any > network interruption as I've been doing lots of interactive work on the > servers this morning. > > Jason Thanks, MJ & Jason! In fact, following a considerable amount of forensic poking around, I think I have identified a possible source of the problem as BT's DNS going flaky. Since their DNS server is one of the entries in my /etc/resolv.conf this may be the explanation. However, other entries are DNS servers at mcc.ac.uk, and one of these should have worked! Nevertheless I substituted a different MCC DNS server (the on that responded to 'dig') as well. At the same time, a lot of FQDN addresses worked fine while the smtp.ukfsn.org server was "unkown" (e.g. browsing the web for guardian.co.uk of bbc.so.uk) while others did not! As of rather more than an hour ago, no further problems. A bit of a mystery still, therefore, and I apologise for not coming back to the list earlier to say it was resolved, to save people the trouble they have gone to. In mitigation I can only plead being busy dealing with a backlog of mail which had been halted while the problem was ongoing. Thanks again, and best wishes, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 15-Jul-05 Time: 13:45:29 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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[job] Help required for Linux Support company in Sussex to Handle Anglian Company requirements.
by nik butler 15 Jul '05

15 Jul '05

Ive been asked to help a Local Business, who have several locations in and around the Norwich Area, to resolve many of their IT issues. Ideally I need someone who has wider experience than the usual "Windows is the Only Way" point of view. Hence Im going to the Linux User Groups for Anglia and asking here. If your interested in doing some on site support work and are familiar with configuring IP, Routers, Firewalls and being available to do on site call work then I would appreciatte hearing from you. Its part time, on call , call out stuff that may require weekend support as well. The work , call orders and options will be managed by myself and you can expect to be contacted by me to be directed to the site. Im hoping to take on more than one candidate in the Area to ensure that I have suitable cover and support. Nicholas Butler Reduced Hackers Sussex Linux User Group.

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firefox doing well
by tom potts 15 Jul '05

15 Jul '05

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=24643 ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - NEW crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

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Where is UKFSN?
by Ted Harding 15 Jul '05

15 Jul '05

Hi Folks, It looks as though UKFSN had disappeared from the world: dig -a smtp.ukfsn.org -> No Answer dig -a www.ukfsn.org -> No Answer dig -mx ukfsn.org -> No Answer traceroute www.ukfsn.org -> unknown host www.ukfsn.org This first came to my attention last night when I was no longer able to route outgoing email via smtp.ukfsn.org, getting error messages like recep_kantarci_1978@yahoo.com.tr,ai-geostats@unil.ch... Host unknown (Name server: smtp.ukfsn.org: no data known) from the destination. Does anyone have any news of what's happening? I can connect to the web using UKFSN's dialup number, so something's working there! Thanks, and best wishes to all Ted.

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contact name at lugww
by Syd Hancock 15 Jul '05

15 Jul '05

Hi all I have received an email reminding me that I am the maintainer for the entry for ALUG on LUG World Wide - see: http://lugww.counter.li.org/groups.cms?&cc=GB&rc=EE If someone else would like to take this over please contact me off-list and I'll pass on the login details for editing the entry. Otherwise it will probably be allowed it to lapse if there is no interest. Please note - do contact me by email (as well as informing the list) for a quicker response as I simply browse the list online from time to time these days. Hope all is well in ALUG-land and I'll try and come to the Reindeer one of these months. Syd

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2nd call: Software Freedom Day 2005
by MJ Ray 14 Jul '05

14 Jul '05

Thanks to the people who have emailed offering help with Software Freedom Day on Saturday 10 September 2005. I'd like a few more people to make things easier for everyone. If you're willing to help, please email me or ask me this evening. Those who have offered so far: I'll reply to everyone this weekend with news. Thanks. More info: http://softwarefreedomday.org/ -- MJR/slef

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RE: [ALUG] Ubuntu [was GZ files]
by Keith Watson 13 Jul '05

13 Jul '05

> From: Wayne Stallwood Sent: 12 July 2005 23:47 > > Also I would consider Ubuntu, Ubuntu is essentially Debian > made easy, it has a reduced package selection (although there > is nothing stopping you adding debian packages) but (in my > experience) has better hardware support out of the box and > offers a slightly more polished initial configuration. > > I was pure SuSE on the desktop from about 2001, but like you > I felt that I was being insulated from the system, also I > fancied a change. So I moved my main machine over to Ubuntu a > few months back, One of my laptops and a machine in my office > are now Ubuntu as well. Generally I am pretty happy with the > changeover (the main problems I have had are > AMD64 specific and therefore may not affect you) > I'd also recommend the Ubuntu distro. I recently set up a simple system for a friend and (as they didn't have a lot of money to spend on software) set them up a Linux based system using Ubuntu 5.04. I was really impressed not only by the ease of install (it picked up all their installed hardware perfectly) but by the familiar way the desktop was organized. My friend has a minimal knowledge of computers and their only experience was using the usual Windows set-ups at work. Their main requirement was for e-mail, and the fact that the Evolution mail client has such an Outlook feel to it was a big plus factor for them. To keep the running costs down I set them up a simple dial up connection to a pay as you go provider (ukfsn) and talked them through the modem set-up with no problem. They made the transition, despite some initial reservations, painlessly. It just worked and in a way they were familiar with. As they said "I was worried about using a system that wasn't Windows but this is just as good as Windows" (immediately followed by "Why are you hitting me?" :o) ). I was so impressed I bought the company... er.. no.. I was so impressed that, despite being a dyed-in-the-wool Debian purist, I am in the process of rebuilding my system using Ubuntu (OK so it's just Debian with it's going out clothes on). If you are thinking of installing Ubuntu a couple of invaluable sites are; The Unofficial Ubuntu 5.04 Starter Guide <http://ubuntuguide.org/> (setting up Ubuntu is easy but this makes it a doddle) Mr Bass's Ubuntu Linux page <http://www.mrbass.org/linux/ubuntu/> (a good site for those with a little more than basic Linux experience - the root site www.mrbass.org is also worth a look) Regards, Keith ____________ The saddest thing in the world is someone who has sight but no vision. - Helen Keller

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Making backups
by Peter Hunter 12 Jul '05

12 Jul '05

I am about to re-install Suse 9.3 Prof. (it didn't fully install last time as a couple of the disks I made from the Internet download were corrupt or just faulty). I have managed to save my files (docs) etc., but how do I make a backup of my email messages and settings? I am running Evolution inGnome 2.10 if that helps. Many thanks peter

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Great website
by Peter Hunter 12 Jul '05

12 Jul '05

If any new linux users are interested, I have just happened across a triffik website. It's: www.linuxcommand.org I have been viewing it, and trying out lots of the things it's been teaching me. I am really getting to grips with all this stuff now. Still loads to try and to learn, so I'll get back to it now. Well worth a look though. Regards Peter

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Accessing CD's
by Peter Hunter 12 Jul '05

12 Jul '05

Well, I know that several of you have been helping me with this. But yesterday I put a CD in the drive and after a few seconds it mounted and I had full access to all the files. So I tried this with several other discs in both drives and all seems to be fine. Thanks for all the help, I have been learning loads over the past week. I'm glad I joined the group. Shame I can't get to the meeting and buy you all a beer. I'll just have to email you a picture of one, eill that do!!! Regards Peter

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Re: [ALUG] Making backups
by Peter Hunter 11 Jul '05

11 Jul '05

On Sun, 2005-07-10 at 20:43 +0100, beb wrote: > Peter Hunter wrote: > > On Sun, 2005-07-10 at 19:21 +0100, beb wrote: > > > >>Peter Hunter wrote: > >> > >> > >>>Sorry, whilst I am at it, there is one more. I tried to re-install my > >>>backups from the CD I burned. But I cannot mount the CD or DVD drives as > >>>I don't have permission (as a user). I can re-boot the machine and log > >>>in as root, and then mount the drive and copy the files over, and then > >>>re-boot as user. But if I do that I still can't access fy info (address > >>>book etc.) as they 'belong' to root! So, how do I mount the drives as > >>>user? > >>> > >> > >>Have you sorted this yet? If not, then... > >> > >>Chances are your username isn't attached to the correct groups. Could > >>you post the output of 'ls -l /media' (I think SuSE mounts all the discs > >>there) so we can see which group the cdrom belongs to and the output of > >>'less /etc/groups | grep username (where username is your username (bet > >>you couldn't guess that one <grin>)) so we can see which groups *you* > >>belong too please? > >> > >>beb > > > > > > > > > > peter@linux:~> ls -l /media > > total 0 > > drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 48 2005-03-23 15:30 bmp_audio_cd > > drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 48 2005-07-08 18:41 cdrecorder > > drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 48 2005-07-08 18:41 dvdrecorder > > drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2005-07-10 16:06 floppy > > drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 48 2005-03-22 18:54 xmms_audio_cd > > peter@linux:~> less /etc/groups|grep peter > > /etc/groups: No such file or directory > > peter@linux:~> > > > > > > Does this help? Looks like it all belongs to root to me. > > > > Peter > > > > > > Whoops, that should be /etc/group, not groups :-) > > OK, if you look in /etc/fstab there should be lines with > /media/cdrecorder and /media/dvdrecorder on them. The first column of > each of these lines should have something like /dev/hdc on them eg. mine > is... > > /dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0 > /dev/hdd /media/cdrom1 udf,iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0 > > The directories in /dev/ is what linux automatically assigns hardware > to, which is then linked to something a bit more memorable > (/media/cdrecorder etc.). I can't explain it well, but have a look in > your unix book for stuff about 'devices'). > > Could you please do 'ls -l /dev/hdc' (substituting /dev/hdc for whatever > your fstab has in the first column). Oh, and that 'less etc/group | grep > peter' again. > > Not sure I explained that well. If not, mail me your /etc/fstab and I'll > try to use that to explain a bit better. > > beb peter@linux:~> less /etc/group | grep peter dialout:x:16:peter video:x:33:peter peter@linux:~> This is the contents of the fstab file /dev/hdb2 / reiserfs acl,user_xattr 1 1 /dev/hda1 /windows/C ntfs ro,users,gid=users,umask=0002,nls=utf8 0 0 /dev/hda5 /windows/D ntfs ro,users,gid=users,umask=0002,nls=utf8 0 0 /dev/hdb1 swap swap pri=42 0 0 devpts /dev/pts devpts mode=0620,gid=5 0 0 proc /proc proc defaults 0 0 usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs noauto 0 0 sysfs /sys sysfs noauto 0 0 /dev/cdrecorder /media/cdrecorder subfs noauto,fs=cdfss,ro,procuid,nosuid,nodev,exec,iocharset=utf8 0 0 /dev/dvdrecorder /media/dvdrecorder subfs noauto,fs=cdfss,ro,procuid,nosuid,nodev,exec,iocharset=utf8 0 0 /dev/fd0 /media/floppy subfs noauto,fs=floppyfss,procuid,nodev,nosuid,sync 0 0 Peter >

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Audacity
by Peter Hunter 11 Jul '05

11 Jul '05

Well, I have downloaded audacity in it's rpm format. Installed it using Yast. It has an icon on the taskbar, and is listed in the programs menu under: Applications, Multimedia, Media Editing, Audacity. If I click on the icon on the taskbar, or in the menu, I get a very short (half a second) burst of disc activity, and then nothing. The program doesn't load. So what have I done wrong. Any help or advice appreciated. Regards, peter

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ALUG Social Meeting: Thurs 14 July 2005 from 7.30/8.00pm
by Brett Parker 11 Jul '05

11 Jul '05

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi all, The next ALUG Social meeting will be held on Thursday the 14 July 2005 in The Reindeer on Dereham Road in Norwich. It should be starting somewhere between 7.30pm and 8.00pm. I should be there from 7.30pm, unless I get involved with watching something on telly, in which case I might be running a little late ;) Photos of the usual suspects can be found from the following URLs: http://www.earth.li/~noodles/Photos/2004-08-ALUG/ http://www.earth.li/~noodles/Photos/2004-11-ALUG-Syleham/ http://www.earth.li/~noodles/Photos/2005-01-ALUG-Xmas/ Directions to The Reindeer can be found from the ALUG site at the following URL: http://www.alug.org.uk/venues/reindeer.html I know that this time we'll be missing a Noodles as he's currently in HEL having fun (or rather, he's at debconf, so he's getting drunk with some of the nicest developers out there. The git.). Haven't had any confirmations so far, but I would suspect the following people to randomly turn up... Person (irc nick) ----------------- Me - Brett (iDunno) Martijn (mak) Paul (paul_c) Adam (quinophex) Everyone is, as usual, more than welcome to turn up (hey, they're even more welcome to buy me beer... hmmmm. beer.). Thanks, - -- Brett Parker web: http://www.sommitrealweird.co.uk/ email: iDunno(a)sommitrealweird.co.uk -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.1 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFC0ofUEh8oWxevnjQRAizKAJ0bWj20yBbJtNK1D6OQ8CbpeHGGbACfT6Rd 3ZIylHc5+zdaEsQ65jErBd0= =TEjm -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Brett Parker 11 Jul '05

11 Jul '05

This is the automated ALUG IRC meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an IRC meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. The meeting takes place on the irc server irc.alug.org.uk in the #alug channel. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server irc.alug.org.uk" and "/join #alug". Popular IRC clients include tkirc, bitchx, xchat and EPIC on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with irc. Unix http://www.xchat.org/ http://freshmeat.net/ http://www.epicsol.org/ Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

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Audio Recording Splitter
by Peter Hunter 10 Jul '05

10 Jul '05

Hi, After having connected my Hi-Fi system to the computer, I have been recording a serias of talks from the radio, using gaRecorder, and saved the one long file (all talks) as a .wav (wave) file. What I need to do now is to split the one big file into several small files - individual talks. Once I've done that I intend burning these onto a CD that I can listen to in the car. I'm sure I can do that with K3B, so that part of it isn't a problem. What I need to know is: Is there a Linux program for splitting wave files? Under Windoze I used to use a free program called 'Wave Splitter'. Regards peter

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Nearly new member
by Roy Child 10 Jul '05

10 Jul '05

Hello all I have been lurking on the mailing list for ages and I thought it was about time I introduced myself. I was wondering if any in the group have a background in Acorn computers. I live in Cambridge and my tiny family business in Yeldham has run on several Acorn computers for many years. Now, aided by Nick Daniels in Linux evangelist mode, I have two or three boxes running Suse and doing excellent service. Why do I like LInux? Well I like the flexibility. When and if I get the hang of it I feel I will be in control and be able to mould the system to suit me and the way I work (and play). I do not want to be fitted into the rigid framework demanded by win software. I also like the security. Like many small retail businesses I have (on a temporary basis!) customer's credit card numbers and their names and addresses on a hard drive. If you were a customer would you like your card details to be sitting on a windows machine connected to the internet? Far too many online retailers use windows. There the nice feeling that Linux software has been created and maintained by thousands of amazing people all over the world working and cooperating for the common good. Last but not least, Linux users seem to like beer! Best regards to all in ALUG Roy Child -- Peter Child Woodturning Supplies Tools, equipment, materials for woodturning and pyrography http://www.peterchild.co.uk

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Open Tech 2005 details
by Karamoon 08 Jul '05

08 Jul '05

Opentech schedule is now out: http://www.ukuug.org/events/opentech2005/schedule/ You must pre-register. People who fail to attend Opentech forfeit any right to complain about the UK stuff ever again. Matthew __________________________________ Discover Yahoo! Use Yahoo! to plan a weekend, have fun online and more. Check it out! http://discover.yahoo.com/

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Missing network adapter
by Wayne Stallwood 08 Jul '05

08 Jul '05

I've just upgraded my Fujitsu Lifebook P1120 from 802.11b to 802.11g I've removed the original prism2 based card (that also had an integrated modem) and inserted an Intel 2915abg. This card is I believe just an OEM version of the 2200. ubuntu had no issues whatsoever with the new card, but since installing it my wireless lan has moved from eth1 to eth0 and the Ethernet port that was on eth0 has vanished. Any ideas on how I get the Ethernet port back on eth0 and the wireless back on eth1 Cheers Wayne

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OSS and Indy Media
by Karamoon 07 Jul '05

07 Jul '05

On Saturday 16th July there is an event in Norwich which may be of interest to many Aluggers. The event is EASF, a one-day conference about bad stuff that's going on and how to fix it. There will be talks, workshops, documentaries and discssions. Of particular interest to Aluggers will be the launch of Norwich Indy Media(which will utilise lots of Linux and other OSS), discussions about ID cards, how people can regain control of technology. If there is interest, we could have a meeting there about Software Freedom Day which is coming up in September. All in all it will be a very interesting day and a good chance to promote Linux and OSS to peopel who could benefit greatly from using it. Matthew __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Linux Format
by David Arrowsmith 07 Jul '05

07 Jul '05

Hello Folks I have a large mound of Linux Format Magazines with disks I would like to give away, before I move house. Would be a shame to recycle them so if you live in west Norwich and want to pick them up let me know. David chasboz(a)dsl.pipex.com

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Re: [ALUG] Making backups
by Peter Hunter 07 Jul '05

07 Jul '05

On Thu, 2005-07-07 at 18:57 +0100, Peter Onion wrote: > On Thu, 2005-07-07 at 17:05 +0100, Peter Hunter wrote: > > > > > I've been using nothing but evolution. I have many many messages and an > > address book full of email addresses. How can I be sending emails if I > > am not using evolution? And please don't suggest I am using Kmail > > because I tried that in a previous installation and didn't like it. > > Last time I tried it , it sucked (but that was a few years ago !) > > > > > Which version of evolution ? Things did change between the 1.9.X and > the 2.0.X releases, so maybe that's why things arn't were I would expect > them to be (I have 2.0.1 here on Suse 9.2) > > Peter I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't like it Peter. I have just checked, it's 2.2.1 Peter > >

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Anyone interested in helping?
by Mike Banahan 07 Jul '05

07 Jul '05

I'm asking to see if anyone can lend some technical assistance ... I don't think this will count as off-topic or the wrong kind of posting, but if it does, I apologise in advance. Cutter (http://cutterproject.co.uk) is unusual but loosely similar to some other projects in the Open Source world in that it's there to provide SUPPORT not software. We think that in markets such as schools, it's crucial to be able to purchase support for something close to an off-the-shelf or turnkey solution. Telling schools to roll their own and support themselves is not going to lead to large-scale adoption in a short timescale. We are having some initial success and generating a significant amount of publicity for what we are doing. There is something deeply satisfying about seeing classrooms full of youngsters using predominantly Free Software on their desktops. We think we have a good idea about what's needed by consumers in this area. We are committed to publishing any original software that we write and adhering to the the GPL where we further develop packages like LTSP. It would be great to have a large stream of revenue that allows us to take on full-time paid developers. We aren't that far down the road yet unfortunately. At the same time, there is a number of technical issues that we want to address and are appealing for help with. We can provide some very modest funding if necessary and would like to hear from developers with good development skills who would be interested to work with us on ironing out some of the knottier matters and liaising with other similar efforts. Amongst the items on the technical roadmap at present are: - Setting up a managed Subversion repository - Improving sound support on LTSP thin clients (a challenge) - LDAP configuration of thin clients (Perl/MySQL/LDAP) - LDAP configuration of users (Perl/MySQL/LDAP) - Productising the 'grabber' classroom/terminal management tool (C++/Qt) We have to produce highly reliable software, so releasing stuff at alpha level doesn't cut it. There is a 'project office' of sorts in Cottenham near Cambridge (UK), so it would seem to make sense to focus on people who are in the area to make it easier to hold occasional face-to-face meetings. We'd be happy to hear from anyone who thinks they might enjoy working on a project that has a combination of Free and commercial imperatives intermixed. Sorry this is so long! Mike Banahan

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Formatting floppy
by Bob Dove 07 Jul '05

07 Jul '05

Hi folks, From desktop (if you use it) look at your mounted disks, drop down menu will invite you to format floppy if one is in your floppy (A) drive. Only successful thing I've done in Linux so far! And by the way, thanks to those amongst you who offered advice on writing to NTFS formated (windoze) HDs, I'm afraid I'm not that far advanced in Linux knowledge to know what you are talking about. Old dogs n that! Cheers, BD. NB: This is from 'live' SuSe 9.3 using KDE?

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RE: [ALUG] New user
by Keith Watson 07 Jul '05

07 Jul '05

> From: Wayne Stallwood Sent: 06 July 2005 22:11 > > On Wed, 2005-07-06 at 10:43 +0100, Brett Parker wrote: > > > > Before Amstrad got their grubby paws on it, then :) God, I remember > > the days of autoexec.bat and config.sys, and am very glad > that I don't > > have to deal with that any more :) > > Actually I sort of miss those days. > > I remember hours of fun trying to balance loaded TSR's with > available (and pretty scarce) RAM. Oh and remember the > different areas of Ram Extended and Expanded wasn't it ? PC > Tools and early versions of Norton Utils ? > > Not forgetting having to use Debug to low level format Hard > Drives and manually parking heads before moving machines. > > OK you're right it wasn't that much fun was it :-) <nostalgia> Ahh!! </nostalgia> and let's not forget punched cards and..... paper tape. Oh! those were the days. Regards, Keith ____________ EGOTIST, n. - A person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me. - Ambrose Bierce - The Devil's Dictionary

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RE: [ALUG] Re: New user
by Keith Watson 07 Jul '05

07 Jul '05

> From: Chris Green Sent: 07 July 2005 09:38 > > On Thu, Jul 07, 2005 at 09:12:06AM +0100, Peter Hunter wrote: > > Yep, you're quite right Keith, we should stop living in the > past. But > > it is nice to talk about these things at times. > > > > Later on I worked on many of the early DEC machines, PDP-8, PDP-12 (my > speciality) and PDP-11. At that time all except the PDP-12 > (which was a bit of an oddity) had to be booted by manually > entering a simple paper tape loader in binary using the front > panel switches and then loading the rest of the startup > programs from paper tape. Ahh, we used to DREAM of being able to "boot using a simple paper tape loader in binary using the front panel switches and then loading the rest of the startup programs from paper tape" :o) Mind you as someone of similar vintage and background to Chris I can't do too much leg pulling. Do you remember the metallic 'paper' tape that was used for things like boot routines and compilers etc.? Used to be coloured on one side (red, green, blue) and silver or gold on the other. Made great Christmas decorations. Regards, Keith ____________ To know that you know, and to know that you don't know - that is the real wisdom. - Confucius

5 5

New user
by Peter Hunter 07 Jul '05

07 Jul '05

Hi all, but Bret and Adam especially, I have been reading the post on this subject and am really worried now about joining IRC and asking for help. Like Peter I have also used PC/M, in fact I started with the very early Spectrums from Sir Clive. I have also talked people through (over amateur radio) editing Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files, sometimes over and over again. Like many other users I am new to LINUX, not new to computers. Therefore I EXPECT to make mistakes, how else can I learn? If I ask 'how do I edit this config file' I want you to tell me just that, not have me email it to you and you email the edited file back, how on earth can I learn anything from that? After all, if I wanted to put a plug on a new bit of coax I wouldn't send it to someone else to do for me! Maybe some would!! Please, please, please treat me as a new LINUX user and not as a complete dork. Regards Peter

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Taking risks with other peoples machines
by Peter Onion 06 Jul '05

06 Jul '05

I do hope that the wrecklessness with which people are treating other peoples machines on the IRC channel at the moment doesn't result in the loss of anyones important data. As far as I'm concerned getting a less than expert user to edit /etc/fstab via instructions on IRC is asking for trouble. Peter O

9 17

RE: [ALUG] What I was worried about
by Keith Watson 06 Jul '05

06 Jul '05

> From: John Woodard Sent: 06 July 2005 12:19 > > > From: Ten Sent: 06 July 2005 11:28 > > > > At the risk of invoking Godwin, this is exactly how Hitler used to > > behave in IRC. > > > > > > Sorry, I had to say that, it's my condition... anyway.. > > May that put to death what is becoming a stale thread. > > Just for those who aren't quite so familiar with the > Nazi/Hitler/Godwin thing see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law > > Cheers, > BJ Ah, but doesn't Quirk's exception apply in this case? Regards, Keith ____________ 'I can see nobody on the road.' said Alice. - 'I only wish I had such eyes,' said the King - 'to be able to see Nobody! And at that distance too!' - Lewis Carroll

1 0

FW: [ALUG] Software patents
by Ted.Harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 06 Jul '05

06 Jul '05

I have received the following via ALUG and pass it on for the benefit of others. Not yet the best possible news, but an important landmark! Best wishes to all, Ted. -----FW: <E1Dq8Eu-0003TP-00(a)terry.blackcatnetworks.co.uk>----- Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2005 12:40:47 +0100 Sender: main-admin(a)lists.alug.org.uk From: Nick Daniels <nick(a)danielsn.freeserve.co.uk> To: main(a)lists.alug.org.uk Subject: [ALUG] Software patents Maybe only temporary but: EU Parliament bins software patent bill In brief The European Parliament has voted by a massive majority to reject the software patents directive, formally known as the Directive on the Patentability of Computer Implemented Inventions. The vote to scrap the bill was passed by a margin of 648 votes to 14, with 18 abstentions. The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) says the rejection is a logical response to the Commission and Council's refusal to take parliament's will into consideration. Anti-software patent campaigner Florian Muller argues that today's vote was prompted by events back in February, when the parliament's committee of legal affairs, JURI, voted for a restart of the legislative process. That vote was flatly ignored by the European Commission, which decided instead to move on to a second reading. "A nightmare is over," Muller says. "Next time around, let's honestly discuss the pros and cons of pure software patents, and then we can get a great directive that won't die a dishonourable death like this." According to Muller, MEPs are divided about what should happen next. The Conservative group has called for a news proposal from teh Commission, while the Greens would like the parliamentary vote to be interpretted as a final rejection of the bill. "Before any next step, we need a period of reflection, and a proper economic policy debate. It is not like we've accomplished everything here. Ideally, we want a good directive, but at this stage no directive was the best directive we could hope for," he told us.® http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/06/eu_bins_swpat/ Regards - Nick Daniels _______________________________________________ main(a)lists.alug.org.uk http://www.alug.org.uk/ http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/main Unsubscribe? See message headers or the web site above! --------------End of forwarded message------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 06-Jul-05 Time: 13:43:16 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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Re: Floppy
by Peter Hunter 06 Jul '05

06 Jul '05

OKay everyone, thanks for the help and advice. It's all done now. That's one thing I will *never* forget. Peter

1 0

Floppy
by Peter Hunter 06 Jul '05

06 Jul '05

I know this is a stupid question, but how do I format a floppy? I.m using Gnome in Suse 9.3 Prof. I've looked in all the system stuff and Yast etc., but can't find any way of doing this. I know it must be really simple, and I'm going to feel a right twit afterwards, but please. someone put me out of my missery. Peter

5 5

Software patents
by Nick Daniels 06 Jul '05

06 Jul '05

Maybe only temporary but: EU Parliament bins software patent bill In brief The European Parliament has voted by a massive majority to reject the software patents directive, formally known as the Directive on the Patentability of Computer Implemented Inventions. The vote to scrap the bill was passed by a margin of 648 votes to 14, with 18 abstentions. The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) says the rejection is a logical response to the Commission and Council's refusal to take parliament's will into consideration. Anti-software patent campaigner Florian Muller argues that today's vote was prompted by events back in February, when the parliament's committee of legal affairs, JURI, voted for a restart of the legislative process. That vote was flatly ignored by the European Commission, which decided instead to move on to a second reading. "A nightmare is over," Muller says. "Next time around, let's honestly discuss the pros and cons of pure software patents, and then we can get a great directive that won't die a dishonourable death like this." According to Muller, MEPs are divided about what should happen next. The Conservative group has called for a news proposal from teh Commission, while the Greens would like the parliamentary vote to be interpretted as a final rejection of the bill. "Before any next step, we need a period of reflection, and a proper economic policy debate. It is not like we've accomplished everything here. Ideally, we want a good directive, but at this stage no directive was the best directive we could hope for," he told us.® http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/06/eu_bins_swpat/ Regards - Nick Daniels

1 0

Pedantry
by Bob Dove 06 Jul '05

06 Jul '05

Hi folks, Wreckless means you don't have wreck, reckless however is something we should never be! Sorry for being a pedant! BD.

4 3

Re: [ALUG] What I was worried about
by Sunflowerinrain 06 Jul '05

06 Jul '05

> Peter Onion <Peter.Onion(a)btinternet.com> wrote... > > So my not very well put point is that when "diving in" to help a new > user to fix problems with their system, it is not always appropriate to > tell them to do it the way you would do it yourself. > > In last nights situation I think it would have been much better to > suggest to wildfire_cs that they email a copy of /etc/fstab to either > iDunno or quinophex, for them to then make the required changes and > email back the changed file. wildfire_cs could then save the original > and replace it with the edited version and bingo problem solved. I think this would be a good way to do support usually, but in this case, wildfire is trying to learn how to do things himself. That's his reason for messing about with installing and configuring things, and getting a working system set up by someone else wouldn't teach him. eli

1 0

Ubuntu Breezy
by Wayne Stallwood 06 Jul '05

06 Jul '05

I was just setting up my little Fujitsu for a Ubuntu net install (My Fujitsu has little bootable removable media capability without the PCMCIA CDROM drive which I don't have) when I noticed that within the last few days a tree has appeared here ftp://archive.ubuntulinux.org/ubuntu/dists/ for Breezy (the next release, scheduled for October) Does this mean I can perform a Net install of Breezy ? (all the bits to actually start the installation seem to be there) Does anyone know if the package list is complete (just Beta) or if it is still being built. I would try it, but sadly because of the way I messed with the previous SuSE installations Grub to boot the installer images, once I have told the installer to nuke the partition there isn't a simple way back. I just hope that if there is a full Breezy installation to be had I can get to complete the base installation before the Slashdot crowd get to hear and kill the mirror.

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