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Re: Kit Meet - 20th March @ UEA (Rob Grant)
by Robert Grant (DEV) 18 Mar '05

18 Mar '05

I am coming to say hello and as I'd love to see what Linux is supposed to look like. My first install (Woody) is still at the black screen CLI only stage. With the end of UEA teaching today I hope for more time to play with this now. I'll be coming with full-on T cake and the T22. By the time lectures start in September could I really be using Impress? Rob ps. apologies to MJ Ray that I have not yet stopped UEA mail from referring to me as a number despite his/her? kind advice. 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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Kit Meet - Sunday 20 March - Thoughts.
by Brett Parker 16 Mar '05

16 Mar '05

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi all, Right, it has come to my attention that we haven't actually figured out where 'beer' is being consumed post the Sunday meeting, it could be that we go to the Union Bar, but as it will be Easter hols, it's not garanteed that will be open. Also, some people have shown an interest in finding food, so it might be worth finding somewhere that we can eat, drink and be merry (or whatever). So, thoughts on locations for the post meet part of Sunday? Cheers, - -- Brett Parker web: http://www.sommitrealweird.co.uk/ email: iDunno(a)sommitrealweird.co.uk -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.0 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFCOIp7Eh8oWxevnjQRAsSNAJ9oQ38MvqLui9228iGuL7oVwTHvgQCfZEPb gZC1GsVBnBG+O2wVSZw/ZVQ= =ldIt -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: [ALUG] Unable to edit meta info (solved)
by Wayne Stallwood 15 Mar '05

15 Mar '05

On Sunday 13 March 2005 2:55 pm, Chris Walker wrote: > Have you tried, or asking a.n.other to try, editing those files on a > Windows box to see if it's a problem with the file itself? Thanks all who responded but I have now solved this problem. In a perfect example of not checking the bleeding obvious, it was because some of the files were set to read only (this makes sense as for a while all of my mp3's were held on CD's and I think when you copy files from a CD in windows the Read only attribute stays set) To be honest in my defence I didn't even know ext3 had a read only file attribute, the existence of which seems a little redundant anyway. The behaviour seems a little erratic in Linux (remember that I was able to delete the file using konqueror, but not change the meta info) and it has been completely erratic in Windows except when in the DOS (s)hell for ages

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Kit Meet - 20th March @ UEA
by Elisabeth 15 Mar '05

15 Mar '05

Sunday 20 March Constable Terrace Room A Start at 14:00 Bring software, laptops, pcs, monitors, pdas, peripherals, cables, bits and pieces... Share and enjoy. e

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RE: [ALUG] Kit Meet - 20th March @ UEA
by Keith Watson 15 Mar '05

15 Mar '05

From: Mike Morton Sent: 15 March 2005 13:36 > > I've got my home machine, which has fristrated me by being > apparently un-Linuxable. What is most galling is that 98 > works fine. I'd love to bring it along if anybody feels like > a challenge. > It's no fun being 'fristrated' - really makes your eyes water :o) Have you tried booting from a live linux CD (e.g. knoppix. gnoppix, etc)? > I've also got a coffee machine in my office I could bring if a > supply of free tasty caffeinated beverage would be appreciated. We in ALUG can resist anything, apart from temptation! :o) Regards, Keith ____________ APPEAL, v.t. - In law, to put the dice into the box for another throw. - Ambrose Bierce - The Devil's Dictionary

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Request for mousemats
by Elisabeth 14 Mar '05

14 Mar '05

Please does anyone have spare mousemats to donate to my electro-acoustic composition project? And if so can they bring them to the Kit Meet (20th March, UEA)? e/sunflowerinrain

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Reminder - Kit Meet - Sunday 20th March 2pm - 6pm @ UEA
by Kirsten Naylor 14 Mar '05

14 Mar '05

Hi all! This is to remind everyone that there will be a meeting at UEA (Constable Terrace Room A) on Sunday 20th March, starting at 2pm and carrying on until about 6pm, after which there is a possibility of some of us wandering off for a few pints together. As Eli said in her announcement post, bring software, laptops, pcs, monitors, pdas, peripherals, cables, bits and pieces. (However there is no obligation to bring anything!) Bring multi-way adaptors, too, so we can plug everything in. There'll be plenty of space to set things up, and if anyone has a problem they'd like help solving or has a bit of kit they'd like to show off, there'd be plenty of interest all round. Information about finding the venue and where to park is at http://www.uea.ac.uk/how_to_find.html Hope to see everyone there who came to the City Gate on Thursday, and plenty more besides! /Kirsten

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Thursday Social Meeting Report Thingummy, sortof.
by Brett Parker 14 Mar '05

14 Mar '05

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi all, Just a quick thankyou to all that turned up to the social meet in the city gate on thursday last week, it was good to see you all, and I hope to see you all again at future events. As usual a very varied set of topics was covered, not least of all the sausages from the market, Jonathan's funky new toy, Java stuff (sorry Peter, I didn't mean to go off on one on how much I hate that language, again ;), Beer, and the shifting away from the now beer devoid city gate to the reindeer for the next social meeting. So, next month we will be holding the social meeting on Thursday, 14th April, in the Reindeer (which reminds me, I should get something done about making a directions page to that), if you don't know where the Reindeer is, but do know where the City Gate is, then it's very easy to find... Stand outside the City Gate facing the road, turn your head to the right slightly, it's the pub just over there, with the sign outside that says "The Reindeer". It's an Elgoods pub, and has very nice beer on all of the time, including ~ 4 or 5 guests. Again, thank you all for turning up, I hope that you all enjoyed the evening, and that we'll see you all again. I expect that we'll see some of you at UEA on Sunday, 20th March, or this coming Sunday, if you prefer. 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) iD8DBQFCNfijEh8oWxevnjQRAty+AJ0YeCGJ8hgWJWpVtRalVL0HMU65QgCgx6WO RF+nsvX+NI73K7Xt7EBpuDE= =csCm -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Unable to edit meta info
by Wayne Stallwood 13 Mar '05

13 Mar '05

Since getting my Mp3 player downstairs (which relies heavily on the ID3 tags for it's indexing) it has become apparent that some of the Meta info on files in my collection heeds a serious overhaul. However whole sections of my collection seem to have ID3 tags that I am unable to edit for some reason. A right click in Konqueror to access the Meta Info tab allows me to view the existing tag fields and type in new contents, but silently fails to write the results back. Using Amarok to edit the tags causes the following error "TagLib claims this file is not writable" I have checked and double checked the permissions and can in fact from Amarok delete files happily (even one of the files I am having the problems with) So it's not a read only permissions thing. Is there a way I don't know about to write protect the ID3 tags ? and if so how do I unset it ? The files in my collection have been ripped over a variety of platforms and using different encoders, the ones lacking meta info were probably ripped on Windows using some plug in for Winamp or something like that. It's only a couple of groups of files in my collection that have this problem (but that means about 1000 files) but the fact that they are in groups suggests that they were all ripped using the same (now forgotten) method. Once I have fixed this all I need to to is recompile Amarok to enable Musicbrainz and I can get all my files nicely indexed.

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Linux Media Server
by Wayne Stallwood 12 Mar '05

12 Mar '05

I am looking for a (preferably open source) UPnP media server. I have found TwonkyVision (http://www.twonkyvision.de/UPnP/) which does what I want (serve mp3 files to a wireless media appliance) and there is even a free (but not open) version that has just enough functionality to get me by. But I would far prefer to use an Open Source alternative (if one exists) Anyone out there played with this stuff before ? Also in the installation instructions for TwonkyVision it says "Make sure that you have a multicast route set for the server by issuing a "route add -net 224.0.0.0 netmask 240.0.0.0 dev eth0"." Not knowing much about multicast I thought I would pass this through the ALUG sanity filter. Is there a specific subnet reserved for multicast traffic that I must use (as defined in the above route statement) ? What happens if my local subnet is different ?

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RE: [ALUG] Linux Media Server
by Karl Foley 11 Mar '05

11 Mar '05

> Anyone out there played with this stuff before ? No, not really. The only opensource media stuff I have played with was VideoLan for multicasting DVD video over a wireless network. http://www.videolan.org/ > Also in the installation instructions for TwonkyVision it says > "Make sure that you have a multicast route set for the server by issuing a > "route add -net 224.0.0.0 netmask 240.0.0.0 dev eth0"." > > Not knowing much about multicast I thought I would pass this through the > ALUG > sanity filter. Is there a specific subnet reserved for multicast traffic > that > I must use (as defined in the above route statement) ? What happens if my > local subnet is different ? It's not a subnet, it's a whole new class off addresses. You've probably heard of class A, B and C ip addresses right? Multicast uses class D addresses. Multicast addresses range from 224.0.0.0 right up to 239.255.255.255. Think of each multicast address as a channel on which servers can send info that can be received by clients tuned to the same channel/multicast address. It differs from broadcast in that broadcast goes to all hosts (if allowed by the routers) whereas multicast only goes to "tuned in" hosts. Clients tell their routers they're interested using a protocol called IGMP (Internet Group Messaging Protocol). Network stuff uses it to communicate with all the time. Now it's common to see streaming media using it. The BBC are even transmitting on it experimentally. http://support.bbc.co.uk/multicast/streams.html

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Its enough to make you become a t e r r o r i st!
by tom potts 11 Mar '05

11 Mar '05

http://www.theregister.com/2005/03/11/ms_specialist_schools_deal/ whatever happened to democracy and the rule of law? Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

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ALUG Social Meeting, 10th March @ the City Gate, Norwich
by Brett Parker 10 Mar '05

10 Mar '05

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi, As is customary for the second thursday of the month, there will be an ALUG social meeting held in the City Gate, Norwich this Thursday evening (Thursday 10th March, 2005). We start at 8pm, and generally will natter about anything and everything... Top on my list this week is the nightmares I'm having with my laptop... For those of you that haven't attended the social in the City Gate, the basic way this works is: people turn up, people talk to each other, people exchange knowledge, feelings, and general chatter. We all leave the pub thinking "that was nice". Directions to the city gate can be found at: http://www.alug.org.uk/venues/citygate.html I hope to see some of you there. 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) iD8DBQFCLH2dEh8oWxevnjQRAlkLAKCZCYd6TZCYHw8u4H9+Xu81vazDegCfYYM1 2vFkd08HHMCnOLOWCVAV+2Y= =5el7 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Giant swap file
by Jenny Hopkins 10 Mar '05

10 Mar '05

Hi List, I appear to have turned my 120G backup server into a giant swap file. I typed mkswap -v1 /dev/hda (may have been hda1) instead of /dev/hda5. I've been battling for a day and am not much further down the line. I'm currently booted into knoppix. I'm trying: root@0[sda5]# mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1/ -t ext3 mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hda1, or too many mounted file systems root@0[sda5]# dumpe2fs -h /dev/hda1 dumpe2fs 1.35 (28-Feb-2004) dumpe2fs: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/hda1 Couldn't find valid filesystem superblock. cfdisk reports my partitions as they should be with the filesystem as linux. Is there any hope? Thanks. Jenny

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net-snmp, snmp, confused about libraries
by Chris Green 08 Mar '05

08 Mar '05

I have a utility which says it requires net-snmp, OK, that's a normal sort of statement. However the ./configure script actually asks for 'lsnmp', i.e. it's looking for linsnmp.so when it builds. I have installed lib-snmp but it doesn't provide a libsnmp.so and there really doesn't seem to be such a thing as just an snmp library. Can anyone throw any light on this confusion? -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk) "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."

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epia via motherboards & frame buffer
by J Taylor 08 Mar '05

08 Mar '05

Ok, I've got several of these boards and have installed a couple of different linux's on each one, but can't seem to get frame buffer to work under any distribution, which is a pain because they all seem to install that by default, and it is something that I would like to have installed. Has anyone else had problems with these? I can currently boot fine by saying things like linux video=vga16:off at lilo and know i can disable it in otherways, so my question isnt how to disable it, its how to make it work. I get really garbled screens once the frame buffering module kicks in. I have a M class mboard with Nemiah 1gig proccies.. suggestions / proposals / jokes or insults welcome...

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RE: [ALUG] epia via motherboards & frame buffer
by Keith Watson 08 Mar '05

08 Mar '05

> From: Edward Taylor Sent: 05 March 2005 13:01 > > I'm not planning on running X at all (yet) but would like to get framebuffer > to work. Have tried 2.20 and 2.24, but don't really know much > about "how" frame buffer works or what and why. What is strange is that > noone else I know with one of these boards has registered any trouble with > installing. Have you tried booting with a live CD like knoppix? (although I'm not sure if that uses frambuffers by default) It's helped my in the past when I wasn't sure if a problem was hardware related or not. Regards, Keith ____________ Can there be bliss when all that lives must suffer? - Shalt thou be saved and hear the whole world cry? - HP Blavatsky

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IRC meeting reminder
by Adam Bower 07 Mar '05

07 Mar '05

Hi people, It appears that the irc meeting reminder has gone MIA. If you follow this link you can read it http://lists.blackcatnetworks.co.uk/main/2005-January/020548.html Um, and irc meetings don't tend to have as much momentum as in the past as there is pretty much always people hanging around on irc talking loads of nonsense (but we do try and help newbies out if they have problems etc.). Adam -- jabberid = quinophex(a)jabber.earth.li AFFS || http://www.affs.org.uk/ || Not a filesystem

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Gallery
by Jenny Hopkins 07 Mar '05

07 Mar '05

I've just installed Gallery on Debian testing - a web-based photo album run on php. It's really excellent: I've got three years worth of completely unmanaged photos on my computer that I've been meaning to sort out and name and print. The one odd thing I notice so far is that not all the text appears until the mouse rolls over it. Anyone else tried Gallery? Jenny

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Introducing myself
by mike.banahan＠cutterproject.co.uk 06 Mar '05

06 Mar '05

Hi folks - Ted Harding persuaded me to join the list, I should have done so ages ago. For those who don't know me, for the last ten years I have run GBdirect in Leeds, a mostly open-source oriented consultancy. I'm a committee member of UKUUG and The Open Source Consortium (OSC) as well as being CTO of OpenForumEurope and involved with the universities OSS Watch group. A relatively new venture is this Cutter Project thing about using thin-client Linux in schools. Nowadays I live in Ely. Apart from Open Source stuff the main interest is drinking - so who's coming to the Ely CAMRA Beer festival next Saturday? See you there? How about a PGP key-signing session while we can still stand? Mike -- Mike Banahan Cutter Project - desktop Linux systems for schools and offices 0870 350 1694

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FW: BBC Working Lunch, Orwell High School
by Ted.Harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 06 Mar '05

06 Mar '05

Hi Folks, Mike Banahan (of UKUUG) dropped a couple of us a line having come across our recent exchanges on ALUG about the "Working Lunch" program. I'm forwarding an extract (below) which points to the Cutter Project website (which was the topic of the BBC program). I'm very impressed by the way the project is written up and presented on the website, and if any of you can think of places where it might be taken up, this could only be for the greater good of all! Best wishes, Ted. -----FW: <20050305191408.GA25899(a)lager.gbdirect.co.uk>----- Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2005 19:14:08 +0000 From: mike.banahan(a)cutterproject.co.uk To: Ted.Harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk, karl(a)thefoleyhouse.co.uk Subject: BBC Working Lunch, Orwell High School Hi guys - I saw your posting to the ALUG archives. [...] The case study is on The Cutter Project website, see http://www.cutterproject.co.uk Cheers, Mike Banahan --------------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-Mar-05 Time: 09:19:04 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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Re: [ALUG] Travel Towards Debian
by John Seago 06 Mar '05

06 Mar '05

On Sunday 06 Mar 2005 06:26, Tim Green <timothy.j.green(a)gmail.com> wrote: > ... only download the first CD and install any missing packages from > the Internet, especially as you'll want to do an apt-get -u > dist-upgrade when Sarge is properly released, and probably a few more > times inbetween now and then. Sorry, that was an illustration of the difference between the two, I don't think I actually use more than 10% of what's on the Slackware disks. Whilst I bought the whole set, ('Sage'), from Steve McIntyre in order to pay for what I was gettitng, what I'm using is a downloaded version of the new 'Sarge' disk one and an ftp install of the rest of the system. I'm still having problems getting it to go into a text login and then using <startx>, I've commented out the <gdm> line, but I then get the text login and startx on both root and user, but then end up with a Gnome GUI. But I'm Googling away and keep finding helpful bits and I will get there this time. -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

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USB Headset
by Wayne Stallwood 05 Mar '05

05 Mar '05

I have a Plantronics DSP-100 USB headset that is giving me a little grief when I try and use it on my SuSE 9.1 box (It should be using the generic USB audio driver, the nice guy from Plantronics says that works) Certainly I get some encouraging remarks in /var/log/messages (posted below) But in YaST I can see no additional audio devices, neither can KAMix So what do I need to do next to get the audio device actually registered as an Audio device. Ta Wayne Mar 5 18:30:03 linux kernel: usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using address 2 Mar 5 18:30:03 linux kernel: usb 1-1: Product: Plantronics Headset Mar 5 18:30:03 linux kernel: usb 1-1: Manufacturer: Plantronics Mar 5 18:30:03 linux kernel: usb 1-1: SerialNumber: 00100-0429034410003-V060000A Mar 5 18:30:03 linux kernel: drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c: ctrl urb status -32 received Mar 5 18:30:03 linux kernel: input: USB HID v1.00 Device [Plantronics Plantronics Headset] on usb-0000:00:10.0-1 Mar 5 18:30:03 linux /etc/hotplug/usb.agent[17207]: need a device for this command Mar 5 18:30:03 linux /etc/hotplug/usb.agent[17206]: need a device for this command Mar 5 18:30:03 linux /etc/hotplug/usb.agent[17208]: need a device for this command Mar 5 18:30:03 linux /etc/hotplug/usb.agent[17211]: need a device for this command Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: device 2 audiocontrol interface 0 has 1 input and 1 output AudioStreaming interfaces Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: valid input sample rate 6400 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: valid input sample rate 48000 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: device 2 interface 2 altsetting 1: format 0x00000040 sratelo 6400 sratehi 48000 attributes 0x01 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: valid input sample rate 6400 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: valid input sample rate 48000 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: device 2 interface 2 altsetting 2: format 0x00000010 sratelo 6400 sratehi 48000 attributes 0x01 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: valid input sample rate 6400 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: valid input sample rate 48000 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: device 2 interface 2 altsetting 3: format 0x80000010 sratelo 6400 sratehi 48000 attributes 0x01 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: valid output sample rate 6400 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: valid output sample rate 48000 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: device 2 interface 1 altsetting 1: format 0x00000010 sratelo 6400 sratehi 48000 attributes 0x01 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: valid output sample rate 6400 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: valid output sample rate 48000 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: device 2 interface 1 altsetting 2: format 0x80000010 sratelo 6400 sratehi 48000 attributes 0x01 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: registered dsp 14,19 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: constructing mixer for Terminal 20 type 0x0301 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: registered mixer 14,16 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: constructing mixer for Terminal 13 type 0x0101 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbaudio: registered mixer 14,32 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usb_audio_parsecontrol: usb_audio_state at 0000010034754580 Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbcore: registered new driver audio Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: drivers/usb/class/audio.c: v1.0.0:USB Audio Class driver Mar 5 18:30:10 linux kernel: usbcore: registered new driver snd-usb-audio

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Re: [ALUG] Travel Towards Debian
by John Seago 05 Mar '05

05 Mar '05

On Friday 04 Mar 2005 06:26, Owen Synge <owens.singh(a)ntlworld.com> wrote: > > There seems to be an awful lot of other stuff in there that Slackware > > doesn't seem to need to provide the same apps, are all these > > dependencies really necessary? > What do you think? I find debian a good flexable OS, Would you ever ever > try rhythembox on a slackware box? Undoubtly it is, I've got the full set of CD's for 'Sarge' 13 Disks. Slackware comes on a 4 CD set two of whcih are source, extra packages and retired packages which may be needed by some, and the full Slackware Manual; on the Second disk is KDE and Gnome as they got too big to stay on the first disk with the rest of the distribution, in fact I it only needed the first disk, (to get a running OS with KDE and Gnome), when I started using it. As for Rythmbox, I'll have a lok at it and see if I can learn to use it, I might be getting to be too and drugged a dog to teach new tricks to, (I'm still trying to learn Emacs, and get mysql to start on and run on Slackware, permissions thing apparently but I'll get there). Thank you so much for your help Owen, Haven't seen you for years, literally. Not since a very hot meeting in Syleham one summer. -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

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RE: [ALUG] New Member
by Keith Watson 05 Mar '05

05 Mar '05

> From: David Reynolds Sent: 28 February 2005 14:27 > > Basically need. I need a server OS capable of doing what Linux does, but my > > desktop/laptop machines came with Windows on. Seems pointless to wipe and > > reload when Windows does the job. > > I felt the same, but on moving to Linux my productivity has increased > quite a lot. Especially when it comes to uploading files to servers, > using version control such as SVN. mmmmmmmmm... SVN!! :o) Keith

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Cross-platform video messaging
by Graham 05 Mar '05

05 Mar '05

Can anyone offer suggestions for hardware and software suitable for running point-to-point video messaging between Linux (KDE) and Windows? The aim, naturally, being to chat for hours with pictures and without incurring phone bills. I haven't been keeping up to date in this area. -- GT

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Job Vacancies in Manchester (Sale)
by Keith Watson 04 Mar '05

04 Mar '05

My firm (Kewill Systems) is recruiting at it's head office in Manchester (Sale). Not sure if this is the correct place to post this (sorry if it's not), but just in case it's of interest to anyone...... > From: Amanda Brandwood Sent: 04 March 2005 15:23 > > We are currently recruiting for the following vacancies at the Sale Office: > > J2EE Software Support Engineer > UNIX Systems Administrator (Linux) > Oracle Database Administrator > Experienced J2EE Developer > > > Should you be interested in this role, or know of anyone who > may have an interest, please visit the Kewill Intranet site > under the HR/Admin bookmark and look under Job Vacancies > where a copy of the relevant job description has been posted today. > > PLEASE NOTE THE CLOSING DATE FOR INTERNAL APPLICATIONS IS > FRIDAY 18TH MARCH 2005 Not sure what the closing date is for external applicants but if anyone is interested contact me off list and I'll forward a copy of the job description and contact details to you. Regards, Keith ____________ There is no here, no there. - Infinity is before our eyes. - Seng-T'san

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RE: [ALUG] Job Vacancies in Manchester (Sale)
by Keith Watson 04 Mar '05

04 Mar '05

> From: MJ Ray Sent: 04 March 2005 16:07 > Keith wrote: > > Not sure if this is the correct place to post this (sorry > if it's not), > > I don't think a high proportion of the list are looking for > new jobs right now and this isn't particularly Anglian, so > I'd suggest putting it somewhere else instead. As > http://www.alug.org.uk/contrib/?AlugFaq says: > > If you have a job to advertise then it also must be > Unix/Linux related [...], you also may > find that you will get a better response if you try listing at > > * http://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/linuxjobs > Cheers MJ (next time I'll RTFF!! :o) ) Keith

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Re: [ALUG] Travel Towards Debian
by John Seago 04 Mar '05

04 Mar '05

On Friday 04 Mar 2005 06:26, Brett Parker wrote: > As for gnome stuff, why not just leave it there? are you short > on disk space? Sometimes the Gnome apps can be of use (AbiWord and > Gnumeric spring to mind here). I could just never get used to GNOME, and I think it may be the visual impact rather than anything else. As for AbiWord and Gnumeric, both come seperately IIRC on slackware, indeed I am using AbiWord as the latest KDE word processor has an annoying glitch. thank you for your help, I now have a start point with which to break Debian, but I findI earn a little with every disaster. -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

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Travel Towards Debian
by John Seago 04 Mar '05

04 Mar '05

I have today looked back over the archives of the ALUG Main Lists. I see that I started, June-July 2001, with trying to get Mandrake to install, (new IDE cables cured the fault I seem to remember), but within that time I'd moved on to Red Hat, was pleased that it went in and worked didn't like it and had moved on to Slackware by December. Since then I've kept having tries at Debian. It was an ambition to get Debian installed, for the last week I've had it running and as long as one sticks to using KDE, there seems to be no recognisable difference between the two both stable both what I'm used to. I have however taken Debian out and re-installed the base system. I'd like to know if there is a way of getting what I have with Slackware, a text log-in for both user and root with the ability to switch to a GUI by using <startx>, and how does one get rid of the Gnome? There seems to be an awful lot of other stuff in there that Slackware doesn't seem to need to provide the same apps, are all these dependencies really necessary? -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

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New Member
by Simon Marden 03 Mar '05

03 Mar '05

Hello People, New member to ALUG here. I am Technical Manager for Squeeze Your Mind Ltd, a web design agency based in Norwich. We've been trading for 3 years now, using Linux web servers, and producing our web sites using LAMP technology (the PHP flavour, not Python or Perl). Why do we like linux? Well, because of the very low initial costs of course. Personally, I am amazed by Linux on a daily basis. The things I can do with a Linux box, and for free, are astounding, and I'm blowing the OS's and the Linux communities trumpet here, not mine. Simon Marden SQUEEZE YOUR MIND LTD T: +44 (0)1603 437773 E: SIMON(a)SQUEEZEYOURMIND.CO.UK This message and its attachments (if applicable) is intended for the addressed recipients only, if you are not one of the intended recipients please treat this message as confidential and forward it to support(a)squeezeyourmind.co.uk -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 266.5.1 - Release Date: 27/02/2005

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Jonathan McDowell having difficulty with my posts to ALUG
by John Seago 03 Mar '05

03 Mar '05

On Wed, Mar 02, 2005 at 03:25:16PM +0000, Jonathan McDowell wrote > On Wed, Mar 02, 2005 at 06:48:13AM +0000, John Seago wrote something > that was in reply to an existing thread, but lacked In-Reply-To or > References headers. > > Can you fix your email client please? I originally thought KMail (which > is what your headers claim you're using) was broken, but there are other > ALUGers using it without breaking threads. It's much easier to read > lists when associated posts are kept together in my experience. I am indeed using Kmail, in fact the Kmail which comes with the KDE in Slackware 10.1 and I believe, Debian Sarge, both of which are installed on my computer. > It's been pointed out to you that you might be reading via a digest, Where, when and by whom? > in which case at least one of the digest options removes message ids. Is > there any chance you'd consider switching to a MIME based digest (which > I think should preserve a Message-Id header) or individual posts? You are right in assuming that I am reading, and writing in reply to, everything in the form of a daily digest, and, I had assumed, in plain text. I have, however, had a look at the seetings which inform me that there are two options MIME Compliant (Quoted Printable), which is the option set, or Allow 8 bit. There is a third possibility, I am broken, at waist level, and suffer from chronic pain. In the winter, when the pain is usually at its worst, I take quantities of drugs which have either been withdrawn from issue to new patients, fall into Class A, or are addictive. I had a bad year last year, and this cold winter has not improved matters. Pain and drugs diminish what little remaining intellect I had. so it may be that whilst I can remeber something, I will have difficulty in reading back to find it, sometimes such activity can be quite entertaining with the individual letters doing tiller girl routines across the page. I am, for about an hour after the regular doses, until they start to wear off about five to seven hours later, likely to be higher than a kite, either that or I am asleep. which is why you may find messages timed at 03.00 hrs as drugs have worn off before they were due to, and I am reading and replying to mail, until such time as I can have the next dose. Perhaps you could solve other problems I have with Digests, the FSFE digest arrives with each digest dated <Thu Jan 1 00:59:59 1970>. -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

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Knighthood for services to... what?
by John Seago 03 Mar '05

03 Mar '05

I heard on the wireless today that the Queen has just given Bill Gates an Honourary Knighthood. I wonder who recomended that, and why? -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

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Fedora Core 3 and SATA
by Stuart Bailey 02 Mar '05

02 Mar '05

Hi, Does anyone know if Fedora Core 3 will install and run on SATA disks? Many thanks, Stuart. -- --------------------------------------- Stuart Bailey BSc (hons) CEng CITP MBCS LinuSoft (Proprietor) (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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Re: Linux Party
by John Seago 02 Mar '05

02 Mar '05

On Wednesday 02 Mar 2005 06:26, main-request(a)lists.alug.org.uk wrote: > Iran is not going to be invaded by the UK, social > list subscribes already now there is a single issue > party to stop that, with several other parties > against. There is however no party actively supporting > FLOSS in East Anglia. Votes for a Linux > Party would show support for a positive progressive > idea, in an election filled with negativeaty. The Our World our Say Advertisement said "Our World Our Say was founded in response to the Iraq war with the aim of giving people a voice over world changing issues. We have since grown into a movement with over 60,000 people taking part in our campaigns. Our Vision of a world in which ordinary people have real power over decisions that affect our future. Our Mission: in a world where politicians are too influenced by large companies, media magnates and the President of the United States. Our World Our Say seeks to return Power to ordinary people by helping them find hteir political voice. By using modern technology, we are building a community that can influence decision makers as global conflict, human rights the future of the environment and defending democratic values." Note the "Mission" section would seem to cover the current software Patent situation neatly, I've written to ask what they intend to do, I'll let you know their reply. On the other hand as Ipswich always used to be a few hundred, sometimes less thatn two hundered either way that would seem to be the obvious target. I don't think you'd/we'd win though just possibly get one of the other candidatez in by taking away votes. -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

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Re: Linux Political Party
by John Seago 01 Mar '05

01 Mar '05

I don't just listen to the wireless, I also read the papers, and I found an advertisement, which may help with the underlying problem which has manifested itself as a call for a Linux Political Party. See here: http://www.owos.info/ Why just a Linux Party? Why not include the BSD's, and others, take a look here: http://www.freeos.com/ and I'm sure there are others. -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

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RE: [ALUG] New Member
by Keith Watson 01 Mar '05

01 Mar '05

> From: Anthony Anson Sent: 01 March 2005 02:10 > Or use a boot mangler - either a Linux one or a DOS/Windows one, and > then you can have both on the same box. ATM I have Bootmagic. (From > Partition Magic) I've moved from Bootmagic to GRUB and found it excellent. Can recommend it. Loads of howto's around on the web on how to set it up and a 5 second google turns up loads. Regards, Keith ____________ YEAR, n. - A period of three hundred and sixty-five disappointments. - Ambrose Bierce - The Devil's Dictionary

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RE: [ALUG] Start-up folder
by Keith Watson 01 Mar '05

01 Mar '05

> From: Anthony Anson Sent: 01 March 2005 02:12 > The message <200502282244.10413.ALUGlist(a)digimatic.plus.com> > from Wayne Stallwood <ALUGlist(a)digimatic.plus.com> contains > these words: > > > My only complaint about the whole look and feel of KDE and it's associated > > apps is the Logout applet, they really need to loose that Dragon !! > > Loosing dragons is contrary to the terms of the Countryside and Wildlife Act. Be wery careful, taglines about annoyed dragons, crunchyness and ketchup, spring to mind. Keith

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Re: Political Party
by tom potts 01 Mar '05

01 Mar '05

I think we have to try and democratise the EU first! http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050228115557661 Please hammer your euro Mps about this one. Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

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RE: Linux Political Party
by John Seago 01 Mar '05

01 Mar '05

Perhaps this subject might be better transfered to the Social list? -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

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Spare computer hardware
by Graham 01 Mar '05

01 Mar '05

I expect to be moving house before too long and have the usual pile of kit that doesn't deserve the attentions of the removal men. Any takers for any of the following to save them from the skip? Two Bull P166 pizza-box type computers, each with a small (1-2G-ish) hard drive and modest amounts of memory (64MB as I recall). They run Linux happily in text mode and can be used as low-duty web servers or the like. One has a 14" monitor sitting on top that I seem to remember will do 1024x768; it was running Windows 98 until recently. Keyboards but the mice are in poor shape. Assorted drives: Fujitsu M1636TAU - labelled as 1.2GB Seagate ST31722A - labelled as 1.6GB Seagate ST3491A - a 428MB drive CD-ROMs: 2 x 48-speed, 1 x 24-speed, 1 x unlabelled. 2 x Matrox Millennium PCI graphics cards - probably only 2MB at most but they'll run at 1024x768. 1 x Adaptec 2940 PCI SCSI card. 1 x USB Fax Modem - probably a WinModem. 2 x Intel Pentiums (Pentia?) with heatsinks/fans; probably about 100 or 200MHz but I can't decode the legends. And finally, a real treat: a Wyse 50 VDU in full working order. -- GT

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Political Action and/or Party's
by John Seago 28 Feb '05

28 Feb '05

Adam wrote: > I would prefer it if we had a better voting system, e.g. one where you > can vote more than once, i.e. once for each party you support. > So the presence of a vote for party A and party B on my ballot paper and > a lack of a vote for party C in effect means that I don't care if A or B > win, but I certainly don't want to support C. > In preparation for the next general election I don't know if I can bring > myself to vote for any of the parties because they all suck, just some > more than others. If in effect I could vote for all the parties who were > crap instead of the ones that were totally crap then it wouldn't be a > total disaster. > This has the nice side effect that I could vote for single issue > parties, and when they get lots of votes people think that maybe the > issues they are raising are a good idea and the mainstream will take > them up. Adam try sending the above, exactly as it is to the Party's of your choice. I would recommend including 10 Downing Street. I spend most of the day at home in the winter, listening to Radio 4. Analysts seem to be of the opinion that the one fact that is worrying all party's is exactly the point of view you exhibit above. It would be interesting to see what kind of response you get, especially as the EU has decided that democracy is inimical to Microsoft's interests. I might even have a go at a similar exercise myself. -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

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Re: main digest, Vol 3 #465 - 17 msgs
by John Seago 28 Feb '05

28 Feb '05

On Monday 28 Feb 2005 14:52, main-request(a)lists.alug.org.uk wrote: > You missed my point then, the mainstream parties with the current system > don't care if you vote for a minority party (hell the liberal democrats > are a fairly mainstream party that suffers very often from the mentality > of the other voters "I would vote lib-dem but they won't get many votes, > so I won't vote for them". It makes no "real" difference with a single > vote if you spoil the ballot or vote for a minority party. Having re-installed since the Euro Election I'll have to dig through my archives to find what the Lib Dems said to me but I can assurue you it did make a difference to the Lib Dems. Still if you're not going to emigrate, I had the chance, but I'm now too old and broken, then the only recourse we, you and I, have is activism to change the system. A revolution of two, with one in a wheelchair, at least might get a slight sympathy vote. -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

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Invitation to FOSDEM 2005
by Fosdem Organization 28 Feb '05

28 Feb '05

Hi, The purpose of this e-mail is to invite you to attend the 5th edition of FOSDEM. This edition will take place on the 26th and 27th of February 2005 in Brussels (see http://www.fosdem.org for more info). The previous edition encountered a huge success with more than 2000 developers coming from all over the world to attend the talks of famous figures of the Free Software and Open Source community. This year, will be present (in alphabetical order): Alan Cox - Kernel Maintainer Alan Robertson - Linux High-Availability Project Founder Alasdair Kergon - Device Mapper and LVM Maintainer Alex Larsson - Nautilus and GNOME-VFS Maintainer Alexander Dymo - KDevelop Maintainer Andreas Zeller - Creator of ddd Benoit Minisini - Creator of Gambas Ethan Galstad - Creator of Nagios Gerald Combs - Creator of Ethereal Harald Fernengel - KDevelop Developer Harald Welte - Netfilter Core Team Member, GPL Enforcement Jeff Johnson - RPM Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales - Wikipedia Founder Ken Preslan - Developer of OpenGFS Marius Mauch - Gentoo Emerge Marty Roesch - Creator of Snort IDS Matthias Ettrich - Creator of KDE, and Lyx Olivier Fourdan - Creator of XFCE Olle Mulmo - GRID Specialist, Globus Toolkit Core Team Pat Mochel - Sysfs/Kernel Driver Core Maintainer Richard M. Stallman - Leader of the FSF Stuart Winter - Slackware & slacktrack Developer And many others who will be giving talks and tutorials... Several Free or Open Source Software projects have decided to hold a meeting during FOSDEM. It is a great occasion to meet core developers in the following developers' rooms: Calibre room, GNU Classpath room, Clustering room, Debian room, Dokeos room, Drupal room, Embedded Software room, Gentoo room, GNOME room, GNUStep room, Jabber room, KDE room, Mozilla room, Opengroupware room, Perl room, PHP/Pear room, Tcl room. All those rooms have an internal schedule, including talks and presentations from lead developers. Moreover, the Free Software Award will be handed out during the FOSDEM 2005 by Richard Stallman and other members from the Free Software Foundation. Don't miss other FOSDEM initiatives like the Lightning Talks, the Key Signing Party, or the buffet. FOSDEM's goal is to provide Free Software and Open Source developers and communities the opportunity to learn and discuss the latest developments in the Free and Open Source arena and to promote the development and the benefits of Free and Open Source solutions. The speakers mainly talk about technologies and make technical speeches. The event is totally free. This is a non-commercial event organised by people from the community. So we would like to thank our sponsors who have understood this and helped us making FOSDEM possible to happen this year again in the same spirit. Those include: O'Reilly Media inc., Linux Magazine, Freshmeat, Sourceforge, Argon7, Astaro, GNU/Linux Magazine France, Hakin9, Misc, PePLink, X-Tend, LinuxFR, Linux-Magazin, Best Of Publishing and all of our donators without who organizing such an event wouldn't be possible. We encourage you to support FOSDEM if you appreciate the event and want it to continue in the same spirit. More information about the FOSDEM 2005 support operation at: http://www.fosdem.org/2005/index/support/ We hope to see you there. -- FOSDEM 2005 Damien Sandras Community Contact

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What is a Kit Meeting?
by Brett Parker 28 Feb '05

28 Feb '05

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Right, As this has come up a couple of times over the last few days... here goes the explaination of what a 'kit' meeting is... First off, kit is basically "old computers, new computers, anything that's interesting or you want to get rid of and think someone might be interested in, laptops, pdas, etc etc". A kit meeting is basically a meeting where by we have some desks, a reasonable sized room, and some power outlets. It's a good place to bring any thing that you'd like to demonstrate to the group (if you're feeling brave), or to get someone to help you with that niggly hardware problem, or help you to install one of the numerous distributions (we don't all know the same distribution, but you'll find a fair number of us that are Debian type people, some even Debian Developers, so expect the highest amount of support on Debian or Ubuntu based systems). All kit brought to the meeting is the owners responsibility, we have not yet, to my knowledge, had anything nicked from a meeting, but it's useful to label anything that you bring "Just In Case". (Also, when there's lots of 4 ways and network leads, etc, it can get a bit hectic at packing up time, in order to keep track of which bits are yours, it's useful to have them labelled). It is not neccessary to bring kit to the meeting, we're very open to talking about 'stuff', which can cover a whole array of subjects, and not even limited to just IT, sometimes we have interesting things to say (not me, personally, but sometimes there's interesting people about). It's a good opportunity for lots of us ALUGgers to get together, talk, demonstrate, help, get ideas, and generally have a good afternoon of playing with stuff, eating biscuits, and, quite usually, finding beer in the pub afterwards (UEA permitting, this time. Last time ISTR the bar being closed :( ). I hope to see many of you there. 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) iD8DBQFCIzAxEh8oWxevnjQRAnhhAJ9b2OSREYtq1MR/o5xMoiZffUKu7gCfVdRr l5IiXEpjpQ+E7wOaqXNdl5I= =g9Lx -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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RE: [ALUG] New Member
by Elisabeth 28 Feb '05

28 Feb '05

hi Simon, Will we see you at the kitmeet on 20 March? eli/sunflowerinrain/elspeth

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RE: [ALUG] Kit Meet - 20th March @ UEA
by Keith Watson 28 Feb '05

28 Feb '05

> From: Brett Parker Sent: 25 February 2005 21:04 > Elisabeth <E.Fosbrooke-brown(a)uea.ac.uk> wrote: > > Sunday 20 March > > Constable Terrace Room A > > Start at 14:00 > > > > Bring software, laptops, pcs, monitors, pdas, peripherals, >> cables, bits and pieces... > > Share and enjoy. > > Or don't bring anything but yourselves, don't feel that you *have* to > bring kit to attend a kit meet. > > Biscuits are appreciated by all attendees though, as are hot > cross buns, jaffa cakes... (we like snack food ;) > > > If people could post back to the list to give us a feeling > what they're bringing, what they might want, and whether they are turning up. I shall try very hard to get there (seeing as it's just round the corner), I have some odd bits and pieces that may be off use to someone. I'll try and bring some sweet and sticky comestibles also :o) Keith

2 1

Audio CD Writing
by Ted.Harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 28 Feb '05

28 Feb '05

Hi Folks, I'm trying to get a ".wav" file (which I also have in a version ".cdr" converted by sox) onto a CD so that the CD can be played on a CD player. With 'xcdroast' I can get the file onto CD as a "data CD", but this doesn;t work for playing on a CD player. My 'xcdroast' tells me, when I'm about to master the file into an ISO image, that if I'm only mastering ".wav" files and want to create an aufio CD then I should use the "Write Tracks" menu and not the "Master Tracks" menu. That's all very well, but if I do that then the "Image Information" panel under "Write Tracks -> Layout Tracks, which seems to be the only way I can designate the filenames for tracks, shows me nothing (unless I have already mastered an image under "Master Tracks" which is then an ISO image which I don't want), and I can see no way of getting the filename into this window. This is xcdroast-0.98alpha13 on Red Hat 9.1. When I click on "Create CD" from the top menu, the first display which comes up is "CD.Image Info", and in this panel I can see the filenames. However, there's no provision there to select them for later use. The only other option which displays them is "Master Tracks" as described above. Can anyone take my hand and lead me out of the wood, please? Thanks, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 26-Feb-05 Time: 20:09:26 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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Re: [ALUG] Linux Political Party
by John Seago 28 Feb '05

28 Feb '05

On Monday 28 Feb 2005 06:26, adam(a)thebowery.co.uk wrote: > In preparation for the next general election I don't know if I can bring > myself to vote for any of the parties because they all suck, just some > more than others. If in effect I could vote for all the parties who were > crap instead of the ones that were totally crap then it wouldn't be a > total disaster. Which was precisely my point, don't vote for, vote against. (Or write on your ballot paper what you think of the Candidates, they all have to personally read 'spoilt papers. I think one of my best, years ago in a Borough Council Election was, "offered a choice between two crooks and an idiot, I choose not to vote for any of them"), With proportional voting we at least had the opportunity to take votes away from those we disapproved of. However, (for those who wonder why I start so many sentences with 'However', when I was at school, starting a sentence with 'But ' was a terrible sin), even with the first past the post method, voting for fringe party's sends a message, especially if like me you then send all the other party's an email telling them why you didn't vote for them, and that they can't make assumptions as to why their share of the vote was what it was, as there were lots of voters who did exactly the same as I/you, (just don't tell them which party you did vote for). -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

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A bit of introduction from me (again)
by Tatsuhiko Maegawa 27 Feb '05

27 Feb '05

I've been away for a while from ALUG, so there must be people who don't know me. My name is Tatsuhiko Maegawa. I live in Fukui, Japan. And I've got blog: http://blog.jazzman.jp I've studied at UEA at late 90s, and that's where my relationship with ALUG began. Turmoils on returning to Japan hampered my will to stay with ALUG for a while. Now that I'm doing right, I decided to join back again. These days I use Gentoo Linux, customized for Japanese environment but not perfectly - yet. Now from June the company that I work will have seven "international" interns. I've checked the details of what they do, and found out that these people do have used "Linux" before. I wonder how far these students know about Linux. Since these people know C++, I assume they can install it, use it, and develop some. Yours Tatsuhiko Maegawa

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Re: [ALUG] Linux Political Party
by John Seago 27 Feb '05

27 Feb '05

On Thursday 24 Feb 2005 06:26, Sid Dabster <sid_dabster(a)yahoo.ca> wrote: > *** Proposal for a FLOSS/Linux Political Party *** > > I suggest a Linux Party is formed to promote the idea > of free software (and possibly related ideas). The > last European Election with the patent issue showed > the relevance of politics to the free software > movement. Voting purely on patents lead to some > undesirable alliance partners. While as LUG Radio > noted, the patent issue did not brake through into the > mainstream media. If free software is to gain mass > use, we need decision makers and media to be more > aware. A Linux party with a free post drop and media > time will do this just as other single issue parties > have. During the Euro Elections I took it upon my self to see if we, the Free Software Community could unseat the sitting Liberal Democrat candidate. Not that I had any opposition to the Candidate Personally or Politically, but because they were expecting to gain a seat, and their stand on Software Patents were inimical to the Free Software Community. The actions I proposed were a) to lobby the Lib Dems, b) to encourage anyone that people came into contact with, to vote either UKIP or Green, in order to take AWAY votes from the Lib Dems. c) to actually vote for either UKIP or the Greens. The result was that some took the trouble to write to me, or post to newsgroups, to tell me why they either did not have the time or inclination to lobby the Lib Dems, (effort they could have used to write to the Lib Dems), others told me that UKIP or the Greens were not people they could vote FOR, missing the point that the vote was AGAINST the Lib Dems. Voting for Minority Party's hits the major Party's disproportionally, even when the sitting party wins, if its majority is reduced not by one of the other major party's but by one of the minor one's. It is my opinion in these days when democracy has not turned out to be what some imagined it should be, that apathy is our worst enemy, but that an opposition group can be more useful than a single issue pressure group. If a Party is to be organised then it may be more useful to organise a Political Organisation to vote against certain individuals or parties, rather than for a single issue pressure group. Perhaps someone will know if the various election regulations covers those who are campaigning AGAINST an individual or Party. -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

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Re: Re: [ALUG] A bit of introduction from me (again)
by John Seago 27 Feb '05

27 Feb '05

On Saturday 26 February 2005 23:41, beb <ben(a)psychoferret.co.uk> wrote: > Moot point. To most[0] East Anglians, London is as far away as Japan ;-) Yes and far more foreign as well! -- John GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

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Linux Political Party
by Sid Dabster 26 Feb '05

26 Feb '05

*** Proposal for a FLOSS/Linux Political Party *** I suggest a Linux Party is formed to promote the idea of free software (and possibly related ideas). The last European Election with the patent issue showed the relevance of politics to the free software movement. Voting purely on patents lead to some undesirable alliance partners. While as LUG Radio noted, the patent issue did not brake through into the mainstream media. If free software is to gain mass use, we need decision makers and media to be more aware. A Linux party with a free post drop and media time will do this just as other single issue parties have. Q. What would be involved A. For a resonable campaign i. 12 signatures and a 500 pound deposit ii. A leaflet designed on a personal computer iii.50,000 copies would be duplicated (these can contain adverts) about 250 pounds iv. Turning up to 2 husting (optional), just repeat the same answer to each question. v. 5 minutes radio interview. "Manifesto" Could include *Use of FLOSS, Linux* no to DRM no software and look & feel patents open hardware standards (end vendor lock-in) free books end of EULAs no coding obfuscation DeCSS, freedom to watch DVDs Write what code you want End security paranoia freedom to listen to CDs stop criminalising end users etc. etc. Remember IP and computers are more important than ever, several billion may be saved by using FLOSS. Want more hospitals, tax cuts etc. ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca

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RE: [ALUG] Kit Meet - 20th March @ UEA
by Elisabeth 25 Feb '05

25 Feb '05

>===== Original Message From Brett Parker <iDunno(a)sommitrealweird.co.uk> ===== > >If people could post back to the list to give us a feeling what they're >bringing cookies. the edible kind. e/sunflowerinrain Elisabeth Fosbrooke-Brown School of Music University of East Anglia Norwich NR4 7TJ

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ALUG Library on line
by Wayne Stallwood 25 Feb '05

25 Feb '05

Despite several things working against me* I have now populated the On Line Library with the real ALUG library book list. The contents of the Library now represent all the books currently held by the library, Those who currently have books on loan will have accounts auto-generated as their books are added to the system within the next few days. Any reservations or bookings made during the testing phase have been removed, however any accounts generated still exist. Currently the library is resting in my ISP's hosting area http://cgi.digimatic.plus.com/opendb/ I hope to move it to the ALUG site very shortly (there are still a few minor changes I want to make, and where it is now I have shell access which makes things a bit easier) When I get a moment I will stick a link at the top of the old ALUG Library page pointing to the Library as the URL is hardly memorable. Potential borrowers can of course still use the old system of just waiting to the next meet and leafing through the box to see if something interests them (I should be at the kit meeting next month and am going to make an effort to be at the 2nd Thursday thing on the 10th of March, subject to some work commitments) It should be noted that in the interests of fair play, reservations only count up until the next meeting that I attend, if somebody is at the meeting and wants to borrow a book reserved by somebody that hasn't turned up then I think it only fair that the reservation is overruled, so all reservations do is get you first dibs at a book if you attend the next meeting that I do. * Firstly when populating the database I decided that rather than manually typing in the ISBN numbers I would use an old barcode reader I had lying around to get the ISBN from the barcode number, naturally in true geek fashion getting this to work actually took longer than typing in the ISBN numbers manually, a feat which I ended up doing anyway as curiously the barcode does not seem in include the last digit of the ISBN. If someone wants to write me some script that (given a barcode number) looks up the book on amazon and populates the database with the correct title,author,publisher etc then that would be very welcome. Then I discovered that for some reason the PHP mail function has stopped working (actually it looked more like it had been intentionally disabled) so membership email and other stuff wasn't working. I sent a mail to PlusNet support and it magically reappeared despite their claims that they hadn't switched it off.

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Tentative Kit Meet Arrangements - 20th March @ UEA
by Brett Parker 24 Feb '05

24 Feb '05

Helllllooooo List! Right, we (me, kirsten and elisabeth) have just been talking in IRC and noted that we have not had a kit meeting in *forever*, so, on that note we thought we should start planning one. How does Sunday March the 20th at the UEA sound to everyone? Cheers, -- Brett Parker web: http://www.sommitrealweird.co.uk/ email: iDunno(a)sommitrealweird.co.uk

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Yet more cheeky blagging
by Joe Button 24 Feb '05

24 Feb '05

Hi. Don't suppose anyone's got a copy of O'Reilly's Perl Cookbook they don't use, available for free or cheap? Any edition will do... Cheers, Joe x

2 1

Slackware 10.1 and Kword
by John Seago 24 Feb '05

24 Feb '05

Has anyone else noticed an annoying little bug in the version of Kword that comes with 10.1? I print my A4 letterhead ranged, (lined up on), the right hand side of the paper, (it means that when the letter is filed in a ring binder the letter head is on the outside edge and thus more easily visible). The problem is that the last letter on each line is cut in half, this does not happen in the body of the letter, just with the heading. I've never had a bug which needed reporting to date so I'm asking if anyone else has seen it before I report it. (I've also got a spare set of 10.1 which has the same problem). -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

2 1

Forgotten...
by Anthony Anson 22 Feb '05

22 Feb '05

Thought I'd try once more to get Wine flowing in Debian. Clicked the falling-over wineglass in the KDE menu. "You have started Wine, but we cannot find a Wine configuration file. This is normal if you have never run Wine before. If this is the case, select the 'Configure Wine' option, below, to create a configuration file." So I did. "Error: unable to find winesetup tool, please install the "winesetuptk" Debian package" I click 'okay'. "You have started Wine, but we cannot...... <mode="thinks"> Haven't we been here before? </mode> So, (please make a careful mental not of the next action...) I open the CD ROMdrawer by pressing its 'open/close' buttonand feed it the 'binary 1' CD, which fires-up nicely. Then I have have a look at what's on offer. There are two likely-looking wineglasses (toppling) in sight, both of which (but separately) I offer Debian, and both of which are declined. Any idea where I ought to look, pretty please? (And what I might have to type into a text terminal?) However, the above isn't the point of this emu: when I came to remove the CD, pressing the 'open/close' button on the drive resulted in a sullen refusal to do anything. So, I tried the CD icon in Gnome, to be told that Debian had lost the driver - and the drawer still would not open. (Kept telling me that the drive was 'busy' or similar when I clicketty-clicked its icon in the Desktop. [Do we call it 'desktop'?] ) I had to close Debian down before the CD drive would operate again. So, for a change, the 'Forgotten...' does not refer to my own dreadful memory, but to Debian's. Any thoughts, gang? -- 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.

2 2

Website meeting updates.
by Jonathan McDowell 22 Feb '05

22 Feb '05

Can't remember who other than Mark can make these changes, so being lazy and sending them to the list 'cos I know he's always busy. Updates for http://www.alug.org.uk/meetings/2004/ and http://www.alug.org.uk/venues/norwich.html Though actually someone wants to move /2004/ to /2005/ and have the new meetings there. Not easy to represent in a diff without knowledge of the site though. J. -- Hello.. Incontinence Hotline.. | .''`. Debian GNU/Linux Developer Can you hold? | : :' : Happy to accept PGP signed | `. `' or encrypted mail - RSA + | `- DSA keys on the keyservers.

2 1

RE: [ALUG] Tentative Kit Meet Arrangements - 20th March @ UEA
by Keith Watson 22 Feb '05

22 Feb '05

Sounds good to me too. Venue as per the ALUG web site? Regards, Keith ____________ Those who seek the easy way do not seek the true way. - Dogen

2 1

Re: [ALUG] Installing Linux mail
by Leon Stedman 21 Feb '05

21 Feb '05

On Sat, 19 Feb 2005, MJ Ray wrote: > > Yes this is part of what I wanted. BUT the main problem is to get it > > (Mandrake 10.1) to work at all. I used wvdial to connect to the ISP thus: > > Sorry, I can't help with that. It didn't look like it's > connecting, unless your have a very fast ISP. 3 seconds? > I think it should even log the dial attempt and it looks > like it's not even attempting. Is the modem on COM1? > > I used ppp-config in debian to set up my dialup connection > when I first installed it and have copied or edited the files > from /etc/ppp pretty much ever since. Then it's just a case of > getting the correct permissions on files in /etc/ppp/ (readable > by users, writeable only by root) and on /usr/bin/pppd (owner > root, permissions start -rws). Finally, either "pon" or "pppd > call provider" (to use details from /etc/ppp/peers/provider) > It appears (from the log) that pppd is attempting to negotiate compression with the server, which it won't accept. I will attempt to stop this when I have the time. I already use Linux to send e-mails, and use the same hardware (grub dual boot), so most things are correct. This distro is RedHat 9, and I am attempting to configure Mandrake 10.1. Many thanks. Leon.

1 0

RE: [ALUG] Forgotten...
by Keith Watson 21 Feb '05

21 Feb '05

> From: Anthony Anson Sent: 21 February 2005 10:45 > > However, the above isn't the point of this emu: when I came to remove > the CD, pressing the 'open/close' button on the drive resulted in a > sullen refusal to do anything. So, I tried the CD icon in Gnome, to be > told that Debian had lost the driver - and the drawer still would not > open. (Kept telling me that the drive was 'busy' or similar when I > clicketty-clicked its icon in the Desktop. [Do we call it > 'desktop'?] ) > > I had to close Debian down before the CD drive would operate again. > This happens to me every now and then. I find that opening a command shell and su'ing to root then issuing "eject /cdrom" (or whatever the CD mount point is) usually works. Regards, Keith ____________ People would rather sleep through life than stay awake for it. - Edward Albee

5 6

RE: [ALUG] Forgotten...
by Keith Watson 21 Feb '05

21 Feb '05

> From: Anthony Anson Sent: 21 February 2005 11:42 > <63F7A21F1CA18143AFDBF28E2A7D6BBAE5E132(a)endor.kewill-europe.com> > from "Keith Watson" <keith.watson(a)kewill.com> contains these words: > > > > I had to close Debian down before the CD drive would > operate again. > > > > > > This happens to me every now and then. I find that opening a command > > shell and su'ing to root then issuing "eject /cdrom" (or > whatever the > > CD mount point is) usually works. > > The words have a familiar ring to them - but I'm not up to speed at > using terminals yet, so... Easy-peasy if you're using Debian (or any one of half a dozen other distros). hold down alt and then press F1 (or F2, F3, F4.....) and a command session will appear (to get back to the desktop just hold down alt and press F7 - if you're using Debian that is :o) ). Then at the logon prompt type 'root' and at the password prompt type your root password (which I assume you know?) Type 'df' to get a list of what is mounted where. one of the lines will say something like; \dev\hdd [a number] [a number] [a number] 100% /cdrom where the first bit refers to the CD rom device (it might be hde, hdf depending on how many HDDs you have or it might be emulated as a SCSI device e.g. /dev/scd0 or /dev/scd1) the last bit on the line is the directory where your CD is mounted. so you can then enter 'eject /dev/hdd' (or 'eject /dev/scd0' or whatever depending on which device the drive is set up as) or you can enter the mount point e.g. 'eject /cdrom' (I prefer this as I can never remember what device the CD drive is but I can remember where it's mounted :o) ) then when you're finished just type 'logout' (or hold down ctrl and press D) and then alt+F7. et voila! PS when you've done this successfully at least once you can save pressure on your memory by using 'history | grep eject' to get a list from the command history where you've used this command before. Note the number before one of the commands (one that worked that is :o) ) and just type an exclaimation mark ( ! ) followed by the number to re-execute the command eg. if you get; 5 eject /cdrom 12 eject /cdrom 24 eject /cdrom you can type !5 or !12 or !24 to re-execute the command. Regards, Keith ____________ Stand still. - The trees ahead and the bush beside you are not lost. - Albert Einstein

3 4

RE: [ALUG] Forgotten...
by Keith Watson 21 Feb '05

21 Feb '05

> From: Brett Parker Sent: 21 February 2005 15:43 > using fuser in a terminal as root. Handy tool to have laying Yes, I've often heard root users muttering "fuser" to themselves ;-) Keith

1 0

RE: [ALUG] Forgotten...
by Keith Watson 21 Feb '05

21 Feb '05

> From: Brett Parker Sent: 21 February 2005 15:00 > > Keith Watson <keith.watson(a)kewill.com> wrote: > > Easy-peasy if you're using Debian (or any one of half a > dozen other distros). > > > > hold down alt and then press F1 (or F2, F3, F4.....) and a command > > session will appear (to get back to the desktop just hold > down alt and > > press F7 - if you're using Debian that is :o) ). > > He's in X... if you say these things, get 'em right, for X to one of > those you'll want Ctrl-Alt-F1 etc. > oops! sorry :-$ Yes, hold down ctrl AND alt then press F1, F2,... etc. Regards, Keith ____________ To know that you know, and to know that you don't know - that is the real wisdom. - Confucius

1 0

IRC meeting reminder
by adam＠thebowery.co.uk 21 Feb '05

21 Feb '05

Hi people, It appears that the irc meeting reminder has gone MIA. If you follow this link you can read it http://lists.blackcatnetworks.co.uk/main/2005-January/020548.html Um, and irc meetings don't tend to have as much momentum as in the past as there is pretty much always people hanging around on irc talking loads of nonsense (but we do try and help newbies out if they have problems etc.). Adam -- jabberid = quinophex(a)jabber.earth.li AFFS || http://www.affs.org.uk/ || Not a filesystem

1 0

Ubuntu
by Jeffrey Herrington 20 Feb '05

20 Feb '05

Any members in Norwich want Ubuntu Intel x86 Edition v 4.10 Live CD Install CD 7 distribution packs left --------------------------------- ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - all new features - even more fun!

1 0

(no subject)
by d922989 20 Feb '05

20 Feb '05

Dear All, having joined this list a few weeks ago I am at last getting around to saying 'hello'. I'm Rob of Lakenham, part time teacher of development economics at UEA, full time dad, very part time computer tinkerer and so on. I have gravitated towards Linux after a long period of growing disaffection with another well known OS. Until a few years back I always assumed that the more I used computers in my daily work, the more I would understand, gain control and open up creative possibilities. However, the latest version of the ubiquitous OS has confirmed the opposite tendancy. I really feel that I am being patronised and almost deliberately deskilled. I wanted a computer, not a glorified fruit machine. So to Linux. If you haven't realised by now, I am one of the very few (?) non-techie people on the list but perhaps a laugh at my newbie naivete may be warming on a cold winter evening. I only started with Linux in December 2004. Maybe in desperation for some visible nuts and bolts, I have ignored advice about difficulty and gone straight for Debian (3.0 r3). I've got a dual boot working with XP as I only have the one machine which I do a lot of UEA work on. The machine is a Thinkpad T22 from ebay. Possibly because of this I've got nowhere with X so far but I'll get there one day. At the moment my install reminds me of Multics at Bristol in the 1980s. I'm enjoying learning all about vi and Unix in general. That's it. My appreciation to all who contribute to making this an interesting list, especially to the kind folk who run it all. Perhaps look forward to meeting some of you one day; do you really venture down to the Billy Bluelight sometimes? Best wishes, Rob

8 15

gimp plugins - How to do anything with them?
by Chris Green 20 Feb '05

20 Feb '05

How do you do anything with gimp plugins? The particular one in question is the fractalexplorer plugin, my wife wants some mandelbrot printouts so I hunted around and found that the gimp I have installed on my Slackware system has a whole directory devoted to fractalexplorer plugins and one of them is called mandelbrot. However I can't for the life of me work out how to feed the example files into the plugin in the gimp and get it to do anything. I'm a gimp novice so nothing is obvious (apart from how to run it to start with, I can manage that!). -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk) "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."

4 5

Looking to get into contact with Ian Douglas.
by kiall＠snoopie.org 20 Feb '05

20 Feb '05

Hi iain, RE: http://lists.alug.org.uk/main/2003-February/014341.html im contacting you as i seem to have contracted that mozilla dns disease you got in feb 2003 (yes it seems mozilla havent sorted out the problem yet) i was hoping you would still remember how you went about fixing it? Ive tryed everything from removing the .mozilla directory trying as a completly new user, trying as root, rebooting but nothing helps.. tcpdump -n port 53 shows that Mozilla is not actually even sending a DNS request, similar to you. anyway.. if you can get into contact with me at: kiall(a)snoopie.org as i more than likely wont be following this list.. Thanks Kiall Mac Innes ---------------------------------------------------------------- This E-Mail Address Is Hosted By Snoopie.org..

3 2

RE: [ALUG] Invitation to FOSDEM 2005
by Keith Watson 18 Feb '05

18 Feb '05

> From: Brett Parker Sent: 18 February 2005 01:05 > MJ Ray <mjr(a)dsl.pipex.com> wrote: ... > > If we had a developers meeting in East Anglia, could we get > > the abbreviation to be EADAM somehow? That's funny two ways. > > That's an easy one to get to... > > East Anglian Developers Annual Meeting... or East Anglian Developers > Abandon Meeting (in favour of pub)... or East Anglian > Developers Access > Meeting, or, well, there's probably thousands more, but I'm tired and > cba. If its for East Anglia I think it should have 'Folk' in it somewhere and as it's the UK perhaps FUKDAM or even DAMFUK? :o) Keith

2 1

[peeaq@xandros.com: Xandros Desktop OS Open Circulation Edition]
by adam＠thebowery.co.uk 18 Feb '05

18 Feb '05

This came to the main admin address. I know that we have (or had) at least one Xandros devotee on the list, I guess that this may be of interest to them, or others. Thanks Adam ----- Forwarded message from Quamrun Peea <peeaq(a)xandros.com> ----- Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 15:58:51 -0500 From: Quamrun Peea <peeaq(a)xandros.com> To: main-admin(a)lists.alug.org.uk Subject: Xandros Desktop OS Open Circulation Edition Dear ALUG Admin Team, We, at Xandros, are thrilled to introduce the world to the Version 3 Open Circulation Edition of the award winning Xandros Desktop OS. The new release provides a new Internet experience with Firefox Web browsing, Thunderbird e-mail, and Skype Internet calling. Xandros is the first Linux distribution to include the native Linux Skype client for crystal clear Internet voice calls. A trial version of CodeWeavers CrossOver Office 4.1 is also available to test drive your favorite Windows applications. Discover crystal clear and free Internet voice calling with Skype! Get to use your favorite Windows applications using the trial version of CrossOver Office 4.1!! Rediscover the Web with the secure Firefox Web browser and Thunderbird e-mail client!!! Please feel free to download the Open Circulation from http://home.xandros.com/. For those that are interested in the commercial products, please feel free to use or pass the following 45% coupon to other LUG members. Just follow through the ordering process at http://www.xandros.com/shopping.html and use the following 45% Deluxe discount coupon at the Payments page. Coupon Code: uklug2005 The Xandros Product Team ----- End forwarded message ----- -- jabberid = quinophex(a)jabber.earth.li AFFS || http://www.affs.org.uk/ || Not a filesystem

2 1

text wrapping regex
by Richard Lewis 17 Feb '05

17 Feb '05

Hello ALUG, I wonder if anyone can help with a regular expression (for text wrapping)? I need to match all the characters from either the beginning of the line or the last match (in global mode) up to the last space before the Xth character. I can do the first space after the Xth character: $ echo "A string with quite a lot of words and spaces in it." | sed "s/$.\{,X\}$ /\1\n/g" Any ideas? Richard

3 10

any broadband recommendations?
by allan miller 16 Feb '05

16 Feb '05

Well, my broadband connection has not been working now for 3 weeks and I have decided that I should look at changing ISPs even though I would like to support UKFSN because of its support for free software and Linux. I think one of the problems is that UKFSN is too far down the 'food chain' so that when things go wrong there are these layers above that have to be negotiated. My 'current' connection is 256/512 uncapped with dynamic IP for £21.50/month. So I just need something similar. Does anybody recommend anyone? I see BT recently announced speed increases which will probably affect everyone else (http://www.adslguide.org.uk/newsarchive.asp?item=2087) so prices may be a bit fluid at the moment. TIA Allan Miller

9 14

Server & Desktop suppliers
by James Green 15 Feb '05

15 Feb '05

Hi all, Been a looooong while since I started a thread here, good to see its still lively. I'd like to ask if you would recommend decent hardware suppliers. Looking to purchase desktops and servers (complete pre-built systems and tailored solutions plus components). Think middle-road: not too cheap, not too expensive. Have experience of a few Supermicro boxes, they appear good. Not much experience of others though. Hardware support is critical, some servers may require 24x7x265 4hr response (Docklands), while quick delivery and turn-around is also a major factor. Server & desktop must do both Windows and Linux. Cheers, James

1 0

Any SuSE 9.1 users out there
by Wayne Stallwood 15 Feb '05

15 Feb '05

Is anybody having problems with the latest kernel release and the Nvidia closed drivers ? Ever since using Online update to upgrade to kernel 2.6.5-7.145 X refuses to start with either Nvidia driver versions 6111 or the current 6629. I have rerun the installer to recompile the drivers after the kernel upgrade, that bit completes with no errors but then I get the error that it's unable to load the Nvidia kernel module when starting X

2 2

Re: Software Patents
by tom potts 15 Feb '05

15 Feb '05

Holland got involved: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050211133435297 groklaw is THE site for watching SCO get hammered in the courts as well! ___________________________________________________________ ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - all new features - even more fun! http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

1 0

(Very) Old Computers again
by Peter Onion 15 Feb '05

15 Feb '05

Around March last year there were a few posts on here after I showed my emulator for an old computer (the Elliott 803) at the meeting at Syleham. Well I'm getting very close to having a new version of that emulator ready. There are a couple of "window shots" on my site at http://www.btinternet.com/~Peter.Onion/E803/ I would like some "linux savy" people to try building it as this is the first time I've used lots of the components (gtk,openGL,automake) etc etc .... If you are interested please drop me an email. Peter Onion.

3 2

Software Patents PS
by John Seago 14 Feb '05

14 Feb '05

Here is a site which may provide background information: http://ffii.org/ -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

1 0

Software patents
by John Seago 14 Feb '05

14 Feb '05

Poland has for the moment staved off the prospect of European Software patents. Here: http://thankpoland.info/ is somewhere where you can thank Poland for forestalling the onslaught of patents. I'm sure that someone will be able to tell us what needs doing at the next stage of the battle against Software patents. -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

1 0

USB serial adaptor
by phil 14 Feb '05

14 Feb '05

Anyone any experiences with USB to serial adaptors - and good/bad suggestions? I've hear the Belkin one possibly works OK. I have a java ignition controller project that has to communicate via RS232, and haven't any system with a serial port. Also, anyone have one of these lying around redundant that they'd like a few beer tokens for?

5 4

next meeting Thursday 10th February at the City Gate, Norwich from 8pm (social)
by Brett Parker 13 Feb '05

13 Feb '05

Hi all! As is usual on the second Thursday of the month, next Thursday (10th February) we'll be congregating in the City Gate from around 8pm. We should have a penguin in attendance so you know who we are, sometimes we lurk at the far end of the building in the restaurant area. If you want to do gpg keysigning then at least a few of us should be there with sigs and id. Full details can be found at: http://www.alug.org.uk/meetings/2004/all-NorThu.html Directions at: http://www.alug.org.uk/venues/citygate.html Pictures from August of people so you know who to look out for: http://www.earth.li/~noodles/Photos/2004-08-ALUG/ -- Brett Parker http://www.sommitrealweird.co.uk/ (the obligatory boring website) iDunno(a)sommitrealweird.co.uk (jabber and email!)

5 11

RE: [ALUG] Thursday Working Lunch
by Karl Foley 12 Feb '05

12 Feb '05

> Sorry, I didn't reecord it so can't help! Never mind. > BUT: You got a *COPY* of the real-media file!!! > How did you do that? I have to confess to using a Windows program called Stream Down. http://stream-down.cocsoft.com/ I have no idea how to do it in Linux...

4 4

Thursday Working Lunch
by Karl Foley 12 Feb '05

12 Feb '05

Does anyone have a recording of yesterdays (Thursday 10th Feb) Working lunch from BBC2? I missed it and it had a feature on a local school running Linux - I'll pickup/return your disk/tape asap. I do have a copy of the real media file from the BBC website if anyone is interested although it's not the greatest of quality. --- ATB, Karl.

4 4

Bluetooth Audio
by Wayne Stallwood 12 Feb '05

12 Feb '05

Anybody here had much to do with bluetooth devices on Linux ? I have a D-Link DBT-120 USB adapter and a Bluetrek G2 Bluetooth headset that I would love to use with Skype. The DBT-120 is supported by BlueZ and the headset uses the standard headset or Handsfree bluetooth profiles. ALSA I believe supports the headset profile so in theory at least this should work. However something is wrong with my SuSE 9.1 installation as when I plug in the DBT-120 I get an application pop up from kbluetoothd saying Failed to connect to the SDP server. Please make sure that sdpd is running; without it, other devices will not be able to find out which services your computer offers. I can't find anything like sdpd on my system or on the SuSE DVD, yet it is supposed to be part of kbluetoothd is it not.

2 1

Re: main digest, Vol 3 #443 - 11 msgs
by tsanders＠bennettsretail.co.uk 12 Feb '05

12 Feb '05

I will be away until the morning of Friday 18th Feb

1 0

RE: [ALUG] Thursday Working Lunch
by Karl Foley 11 Feb '05

11 Feb '05

> Has anyone any comments/experiences with mplayer on Red Hat 9? I installed mplayer, xine, codecs and a whole lot of other stuff from: http://packman.iu-bremen.de/suse/9.2 You could try: http://packman.iu-bremen.de/redhat/9 There are also directories for Fedora and Debian.

1 0

RE: [ALUG] Thursday Working Lunch
by Karl Foley 11 Feb '05

11 Feb '05

> I have no idea how to do it in Linux... But maybe this can help: http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Rip_Streams_With_MPlayer

1 0

Suse 9.1 to 9.2 Upgrade
by Karl Foley 11 Feb '05

11 Feb '05

Just upgraded my Laptop from Suse 9.1 to Suse 9.2 using the downloadable DVD (anyone want a copy of this?) and it went remarkably smoothly. I had quite a bit of hassle with Suse initially getting things like ACPI, Wireless, Samba and special keyboard keys but it just migrated the whole lot. It didn't like the version of Evolution I had installed but after I removed this I simply reinstalled post upgrade. Works like a charm. --- ATB, Karl.

1 0

Emacs Startup Scripts
by Dan Hatton 10 Feb '05

10 Feb '05

Emacs keeps a bunch of scripts to run at startup, in the directory </etc/emacs/site-start.d>. These scripts were making the startup of my emacs painfully slow, so I moved most of them to a directory </etc/emacs/site-dontstart.d>. All was well until the other day, when Debian (stable) released a new and more secure xemacs21 package. As part of this package's installation process, a program called emacs-install gets run. After spending (I think correctly) a huge amount of time compiling bits of Lisp, emacs-install died, complaining that it wasn't finding the startup scripts where it expected, leaving me unable to complete the installation. Is there some "official" method of disabling the startup scripts that doesn't cause this problem, please? (I'd also quite like to know the answer to the same question, with respect to the system startup symlinks in </etc/rc?.d>.) -- Thanks Dan Hatton <http://www.bib.hatton.btinternet.co.uk/dan/>

3 6

New toys
by Wayne Stallwood 10 Feb '05

10 Feb '05

Not strictly Linux related but has anyone seen the new Mac Mini that's recently been announced ? http://www.apple.com/uk/macmini/ Looks pretty sweet to me and I also find it quietly amusing that for less than twice the price of a boxed copy of Windows XP Pro you can buy an OS that is at least twice as good, plus the hardware to run it on.

4 4

next meeting Thursday 10th February at the City Gate, Norwich from 8pm (social)
by Brett Parker 09 Feb '05

09 Feb '05

Hi all! (this e-mail might look a little familiar, as I sent it sometime last week, just want to make sure everyone is well informed and ready to come and socialise, obviously :) As is usual on the second Thursday of the month, this Thursday (10th February) we'll be congregating in the City Gate from around 8pm. We should have a penguin in attendance so you know who we are, sometimes we lurk at the far end of the building in the restaurant area. If you want to do gpg keysigning then at least a few of us should be there with sigs and id. Full details can be found at: http://www.alug.org.uk/meetings/2004/all-NorThu.html Directions at: http://www.alug.org.uk/venues/citygate.html Pictures from August of people so you know who to look out for: http://www.earth.li/~noodles/Photos/2004-08-ALUG/ If you wander in and look for the scruffiest looking person going, that's probably me... I usually turn up as one of the first people, and am usually one of the last to leave... Beer is always accepted as a bribe, though of course, the next day I may entirely fail to remember what the bribe was for, and thus not do anything :) Hope to see lots of you there, -- Brett Parker http://www.sommitrealweird.co.uk/ (the obligatory boring website) iDunno(a)sommitrealweird.co.uk (jabber and email!)

2 1

[nmm@uit.co.uk: Exim Conference and Tutorial]
by adam＠thebowery.co.uk 09 Feb '05

09 Feb '05

----- Forwarded message from Niall Mansfield <nmm(a)uit.co.uk> ----- To: main-admin(a)lists.alug.org.uk Subject: Exim Conference and Tutorial From: Niall Mansfield <nmm(a)uit.co.uk> Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2005 16:14:10 +0000 Hi, 206 Mailing List admin(s) We're organizing a Conference about the Exim mail server, in conjunction with the UKUUG. The conference takes place 25/26-Feb-2005 in Birmingham, UK. All the important Exim people are speaking. It would be great if you could publicize it to your group. The full programme is at: http://uit.co.uk/exim-conference/index.htm#programme Thanks, Niall tel: +44 1223 302 041 UIT Cambridge ----- End forwarded message ----- -- jabberid = quinophex(a)jabber.earth.li AFFS || http://www.affs.org.uk/ || Not a filesystem

1 0

Installing Linux mail
by Leon Stedman 07 Feb '05

07 Feb '05

I attempted to put Mandrake 10.1 community Ed. on a disk the other night (just to see). Imagine that I have a brand new computer. Onto this machine I put Linux using a main stream distribution RedHat, Mandrake or suchlike. This box is to be used at home, and will be connected to the isp for a few minutes four or five times a week to send and receive e-mail, and sometimes for a little longer to browse the web. What do I need to do to achieve such a set-up? The mandrake distribution was useless for this! It offered to setup ISPs for every country but my own and crashed when I lied. I need some official way to connect to the isp and log in. I use wvdial on RedHat 9, but that only comes on the full set of CDs for 'drake. Some program to fetch the mail from the isp. (eg. fetchmail?) Something to read it and write replies. (I use pine!) A way of sending the mail when the box is connected, and a way of storing mail until the box is connected. Maybe something to kill spam. A web browser. As an ordinary user, I don't want to know about LANs, WANs, dial-on-demand, gateways, routers etc. unless such information is needed for such a basic set-up. I do have (or can get) two nameservers xx.xx.xx.xx and yy.yy.yy.yy, the phone number of the ISP (0845 xxxxxx), a username, and a password. This is the problem that an ordinary home user faces, when moving over to Linux, and I would be interested in the views of other subscribers to ALUG on suitable programs and their configuration. Leon Stedman.

3 3

RE: [ALUG] Scripting Advice Needed
by Keith Watson 07 Feb '05

07 Feb '05

> From: MJ Ray Sent: 03 February 2005 18:10 > Brett wrote: > > It should be relatively simple... parse the file for the function > > keyword at the beginning of a line, then select everything up to the > > first occurrence of */, should be relatively simple. > > Let's use sed, the stream editor! > > sed -n -e '/^function /,/^ *\*\//{;/^function /d;p;}' sourcefile.js > Very neat (and original) solution, Mark and it almost works except it doesn't select the function statement as I needed but that simplifies things a bit :o) But before I say how I fixed that, let me try and feed my understanding back to you to make sure I understand this properly; apart from the actual sed command and the options, we have:- '/^function /,/^ *\*\//{;/^function /d;p;}' the single quotes (or apostrophes or whatever you want to call them) i.e. the [ ' ] characters simply delimit the argument string for the -e option, which leaves, /^function /,/^ *\*\//{;/^function /d;p;} and breaking this down as you describes gives, /^function / then a comma separator, then /^ *\*\// followed by {;/^function /d;p;} ok, so for /^function / the oblique strokes are just delimiters and the caret says match at the beginning of the line, which leaves the string to be matched, which is 'function ' (is the trailing space deliberate? to delimit a complete word?) now for /^ *\*\// again the oblique strokes are just delimiters and the caret says match at the beginning of the line, which leaves, *\*\/ which is used to look for */, complicated because the backslash escape characters are needed to specify that the asterisk and oblique stroke are actually characters to be matched rather than special characters. I presume the first asterisk is so that the */ string can be preceded by any extraneous spaces or tabs at the start of the line? Now for the interesting bit :o) {;/^function /d;p;} I think the semi-colons delimit the sed commands, is that correct? if so are the leading and trailing ones needed? so we have; /^function /d and p according to the manual d deletes the pattern space and starts the next cycle, but here you're matching a line starting with the word - function - so only that line is deleted (which is probably why the function definition isn't being output), and the p command just tells sed to print out the pattern space? So to get sed to do what I want I just need; sed -n -e '/^function /,/^ *\*\//p' sourcefile.js Which works a treat!!! :D Once again, many thanks for the elegant solution Mark - rispek init :o). Sorry to everyone else for a long winded reply but I'm not that well up on either sed or regular expressions so I thought picking it apart would ensure that I understood it correctly and that anyone else with the same level of knowledge as me could see what was going on. Regards, Keith ____________ Life is painful, suffering is optional. - Sylvia Boorstein

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Problem with HP 7310 printer (HPLIP) and CUPS, won't print
by Chris Green 07 Feb '05

07 Feb '05

Are there any HP/CUPS experts hereabouts? I'm having a problem getting my shiny new Officejet 7310 printer to work on my Slackware 10 system. It was a bit of a beast to install on Windows 2000 so problems on Linux as well are nut unexpected. I have built and installed the latest hpijs (1.7.1) and the latest hplip (0.8.7), that went fairly smoothly except that the hplip startup scripts are for RedHat so I had to do a little bit of work to integrate them into the Slackware startup. My existing Deskjet 840C and Laserjet 1150 work fine so CUPS is basically OK. However the Officejet 7310 obstinately refuses to print even though everything appears OK, jobs queue up, it looks like it should work, but no printout. CUPS does report a problem but I can't find any help on how to resolve it, on the "Manage Printers" page in CUPS for the Officejet 7310 it says:- Description: Officejet 7310 Location: Study Printer State: stopped, accepting jobs. "open device failed; will retry in 30 seconds..." Device URI: hp:/net/Officejet_7300_series?ip=192.168.13.44 I can ping 192.168.13.44 OK so the printer is connected, and I can (now) print to it from Win2k. Can anyone suggest what the "open device failed" message indicates is wrong? (I am using the support forums at http://sourceforge.net where the HP printer software is supported too) -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk) "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."

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re.usb serial adaptor
by phil 07 Feb '05

07 Feb '05

> > From: Wayne Stallwood <ALUGlist(a)digimatic.plus.com> > > All of the USB-Serial adapters I have encountered seem to have latency > issues, Not a problem with this project - it's just a means to upload the new ignition timings. > > AFAIK Brainboxes.... But be > warned that these cards are not cheap. Not the one for me then! > > if you are dealing with a desktop then you may well find the serial > ports on > the systemboard, have not been brought out to the back panel. No dice - it's all Mac hardware here, USB or firewire. > > > From: Ian bell <ianbell(a)ukfsn.org> >> >> > > I bought one from www.Ebuyer.com a couple of years ago and it has > worked fine on my laptop ever since. Works out of the box with > gtk-term and you can even toggle the handshake lines. They are only a > few pounds; their product code is: 40608 Cheers. I'll take a look!

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Re:Problem with HP 7310 printer (HPLIP) and CUPS, won't print
by John Seago 06 Feb '05

06 Feb '05

On Saturday 05 Feb 2005 23:26, Chris Green <chris(a)areti.co.uk wrote: > I'm having a problem getting my shiny new Officejet 7310 printer to > work on my Slackware 10 system. It was a bit of a beast to install on > Windows 2000 so problems on Linux as well are nut unexpected. First check to see if both CUPS and LPRNG are installed, if so uninstall both and reinstall ONLY CUPS, they wont both work together. Also I have had CUPS refuse to work, and found that if one just keeps canceling and starting again sooner or later it then works, (rebooting between attempts seems to get it to go!) Have a look here to see if there is any help from those who actually know what they're doing, (unlike me).: http://www.userlocal.com/articles/slackwarecups.php Userlocal is very useful for Slackware users. -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

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PC Hardware Suppliers in Norfolk?
by Keith Watson 05 Feb '05

05 Feb '05

Being something of an old fogey I like to actually go and purchase any new PC spares over the counter (that is when I'm not scrounging old kit of friends and colleagues :o) ). In addition, I like to support local businesses where I can. So do list members know what outlets for PC kit exist in Norfolk (especially in and around Norwich)? And can anyone pass on any good/bad experiences they've had? URL for websites would be good. Regards, Keith ____________ Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look at what they can do when they stick together.

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