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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 12th July
by Viperfang 10 Jul '18

10 Jul '18

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 12th July at The Coach and Horses (82 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1BA). The meeting officially starts at 8pm, although some people may arrive earlier. More information on those people can be found on the list and the IRC channel. If you are unsure if you will recognise us then make yourself and your intent to attend known by either posting on list or visiting us on IRC so we can look out for you rather than hiding in the corner. Optionally you could ask at the bar if they know where the geeky computer weirdos are and they'll point you in the right direction (seriously!). Another possibility is look for heaps of electronics on a table that may possibly look like movie props that would used for detonating explosives. Feel free to bring electronics/laptops/gadgets to the meet, you will by no means be alone. Ben Bewick aka Viperfang NB: This mail is automated, please refer to the usual sources for more information. ALUG Contact Details: Website : http://www.alug.org.uk/ IRC : #alug on irc.alug.org.uk List : http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo Twitter : http://twitter.com/anglianlug Identica: TBA Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2381613902 ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 6th July.
by Viperfang 03 Jul '18

03 Jul '18

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

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 14th June
by Viperfang 11 Jun '18

11 Jun '18

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

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2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 1st June.
by Viperfang 29 May '18

29 May '18

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

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Random mounting problems
by Bev Nicolson 24 May '18

24 May '18

What's the best thing to do if your pc decides, of its own volition, not to recognise any form of device, be it your MP3 player, your phone or a usb stick? Try to manually mount the thing? (Found some instructions.) Reboot? It refused last night, it was fine this morning. Bev.

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 10th May
by Viperfang 08 May '18

08 May '18

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 10th May at The Coach and Horses (82 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1BA). The meeting officially starts at 8pm, although some people may arrive earlier. More information on those people can be found on the list and the IRC channel. If you are unsure if you will recognise us then make yourself and your intent to attend known by either posting on list or visiting us on IRC so we can look out for you rather than hiding in the corner. Optionally you could ask at the bar if they know where the geeky computer weirdos are and they'll point you in the right direction (seriously!). Another possibility is look for heaps of electronics on a table that may possibly look like movie props that would used for detonating explosives. Feel free to bring electronics/laptops/gadgets to the meet, you will by no means be alone. Ben Bewick aka Viperfang NB: This mail is automated, please refer to the usual sources for more information. ALUG Contact Details: Website : http://www.alug.org.uk/ IRC : #alug on irc.alug.org.uk List : http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo Twitter : http://twitter.com/anglianlug Identica: TBA Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2381613902 ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 4th May.
by Viperfang 01 May '18

01 May '18

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

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Gimp - help
by Bev Nicolson 25 Apr '18

25 Apr '18

Gimp 2.8 is doing its best to annoy me. Do any of you have any tips? (I have googled the manual and it didn't help.) What I want to do is separate an object from the background. I've tried intelligent scissors and pressing clear just clears the lot, rather than the background. Ditto free select. And I just end up with a trailing free select lasso over the object I want to separate. Bev.

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 12th April
by Viperfang 09 Apr '18

09 Apr '18

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 12th April at The Coach and Horses (82 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1BA). The meeting officially starts at 8pm, although some people may arrive earlier. More information on those people can be found on the list and the IRC channel. If you are unsure if you will recognise us then make yourself and your intent to attend known by either posting on list or visiting us on IRC so we can look out for you rather than hiding in the corner. Optionally you could ask at the bar if they know where the geeky computer weirdos are and they'll point you in the right direction (seriously!). Another possibility is look for heaps of electronics on a table that may possibly look like movie props that would used for detonating explosives. Feel free to bring electronics/laptops/gadgets to the meet, you will by no means be alone. Ben Bewick aka Viperfang NB: This mail is automated, please refer to the usual sources for more information. ALUG Contact Details: Website : http://www.alug.org.uk/ IRC : #alug on irc.alug.org.uk List : http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo Twitter : http://twitter.com/anglianlug Identica: TBA Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2381613902 ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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xorg config for touchscreens
by Mark Rogers 23 Mar '18

23 Mar '18

Any xorg config wizards here? I have a touchscreen (attached to a Pi, if relevant) that will show web pages in a kiosky way. That means I want to disable everything that the touchscreen can do beyond point and click. That is, I want to get rid of any right-click emulation, click&drag to select, multi-touch, etc. Bit of a long shot but my Googling so far isn't throwing up any likely solutions. I *think* what I want is: - short press = click - long press = click (ie no different from short press) - drag across screen = do nothing (unless very short distance in which case treat as a click) - any multi-touch = do nothing Mark -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

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Booting into a browser without a desktop manager
by Mark Rogers 07 Mar '18

07 Mar '18

I want to configure a Linux box (Pi with Raspbian stretch lite if relevant) so that it boots to a web browser as a GUI, without any desktop environment. So far I have most of the bits working apart from the actual "do it on boot" bit. If I boot my Pi, login (at the terminal) then run the following: xinit ~/kiosk-xinit.sh -- :0 vt1 -nocursor -keeptty & .. where kiosk-init.sh contains: #!/bin/sh DISPLAY=:0.0 xset s noblank DISPLAY=:0.0 xset s off DISPLAY=:0.0 xset -dpms matchbox-window-manager & while true ; do /usr/bin/midori -e Fullscreen -a http://www.google.co.uk done .. then I get the environment I want. What I need to achieve is having it do that without me logging in manually and running xinit. I assume I need to have it autologin (in which case I'd like it to log in as aa user with limited privileges) but my experiments so far have got me nowhere other than a realisation of how little I know about the boot process.... Ideally I want to do this in a way that'll work on generic Linux boxes but for now a Pi-specific option would be a start! -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

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Re: [ALUG] [ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 8th March
by Ucalagon 07 Mar '18

07 Mar '18

Dear Ben – thanks for keeping me in the loop. Can’t get to evening meetings but still running Ubuntu 16 on a dual boot machine. Just finished building new tower eager for Ubuntu 18 due out v soon. Keep the LinuFaith!! David in Ditchingham Sent from Mail for Windows 10 From: Viperfang Sent: Tuesday, March 6, 2018 9:13 PM To: announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Subject: [ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 8th March ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 8th March at The Coach and Horses (82 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1BA). The meeting officially starts at 8pm, although some people may arrive earlier. More information on those people can be found on the list and the IRC channel. If you are unsure if you will recognise us then make yourself and your intent to attend known by either posting on list or visiting us on IRC so we can look out for you rather than hiding in the corner. Optionally you could ask at the bar if they know where the geeky computer weirdos are and they'll point you in the right direction (seriously!). Another possibility is look for heaps of electronics on a table that may possibly look like movie props that would used for detonating explosives. Feel free to bring electronics/laptops/gadgets to the meet, you will by no means be alone. Ben Bewick aka Viperfang NB: This mail is automated, please refer to the usual sources for more information. ALUG Contact Details: Website : http://www.alug.org.uk/ IRC : #alug on irc.alug.org.uk List : http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo Twitter : http://twitter.com/anglianlug Identica: TBA Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2381613902 ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 8th March
by Viperfang 06 Mar '18

06 Mar '18

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

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Document Freedom Day 2018
by MJ Ray 05 Mar '18

05 Mar '18

-------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: [SFD-announce] Document Freedom Day 2018 Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2018 15:55:46 +0700 From: Frederic Muller - DFF <fred(a)digitalfreedomfoundation.org> Reply-To: sfd-discuss(a)sf-day.org To: sfd-announce(a)sf-day.org Dear all, It is with great pleasure that we're announcing registration opening for DFD 2018. As you may know the process is slightly different now as you need to create a wiki page for your event first at http://wiki.documentfreedom.org/2018 and then register your event in order to appear on the map at http://www.documentfreedom.org/cgi-bin/register.py This avoids all the issues we had in the past with some addresses we could not find on OpenStreetMap as you now manually select the place. As usual Document Freedom Day is on the last Wednesday of March which will be Wednesday 28 this year. As usual you can find more information about the things you can do on our website at http://www.documentfreedom.org/getinvolved . A big thank you goes to our usual sponsors and more specifically Google, Linode and Ubuntu who have been supporting us for years. Then we have our partners in crime such as the FSFE and the FSF and the happy media sponsors. More about them here: http://www.digitalfreedomfoundation.org/index.php/sponsors Should anyone have any issue or question please let us know on the mailing list. Thank you very much and have a colorful Document Freedom Day 2018! Kind regards, Frederic Muller ---------------- Digital Freedom Foundation _______________________________________________ SFD-announce mailing list SFD-announce(a)sf-day.org http://mail.sf-day.org/lists/listinfo/sfd-announce -- MJR http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ Member of http://www.software.coop/ (but this email is my personal view only)

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2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 2nd March.
by Viperfang 28 Feb '18

28 Feb '18

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

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Nextcloud, Evolution and HTML 301 error
by Phil Thane 18 Feb '18

18 Feb '18

Hi, I'm baffled. I have a Nextcloud server and one of the things I use it for is Contacts sync. It worked fine (as far as I know) until yesterday when I tried to save a new contact from an email in Evolution. When I try to save I get a 301 error ie the server address has changed. Except it hasn't, I've checked. I can access the server via the web interface and the Nextcloud client still syncs files OK. Suggestions? -- Phil

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PDF manipulation: splitting A3 into A4 consitutent parts
by Mark Rogers 18 Feb '18

18 Feb '18

I have a few PDFs which are scanned newsletters. Printed, each is a sheet of A3 folded to create a 4-page A4 newsletter. Scanned, what I have is a PDF comprising two A3 pages (each therefore having two A4 pages on it). As a result, the PDF when viewed effectively shows pages in the order 4 (back page), 1 (front page), 2, 3. (That's one A3 sheet containing pages 4&1, and another containing 2&3, as a two-page PDF.) I want to turn this into a new PDF comprising four A4 pages in the obvious 1,2,3,4 page order. Suggestions? If the pages were A4 I could use pdftk: pdftk in.pdf cat 2-4 1 output out.pdf .. but pdftk can currently only "see" two A3 pages so that won't work. Another consideration: The scan appears to have included an OCR layer which makes much of the text content searchable and I'd like to not lose that. The original newsletters are lost to time so I can't rescan. (This exercise is for a website that's creating a historical archive of which these PDFs will form a part.) -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

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Libreoffice Writer URLs
by Mark Rogers 13 Feb '18

13 Feb '18

Apologies as not strictly a Linux question, but: Does anyone know how to remove the formatting of URLs in a Libreoffice Writer (.odt) document when printed, without removing them for other purposes (eg PDFs)? There's little point underlining and changing the colour of a link in a printed document that you can't click on, but I'd like to leave them clickable (and marked as such) in PDFs where they do serve a purpose. I feel like I must be missing something. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 8th February
by Viperfang 06 Feb '18

06 Feb '18

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

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How to get a script to ask for ssh login password only once?
by Chris Green 05 Feb '18

05 Feb '18

I have a script that runs ssh several times to do some manipulations on a remote system and also runs rsync to the same remote system two or three times. Is there some way to get a single entry of the ssh password to work for all the ssh and rsync calls? I *could* use key authentication but that has some downsides so I'd prefer to remain with using a password. One approach is to use 'ControlMaster auto' in the .ssh/config which means all subsequent logins will re-use the first one, this however means that I need to have a 'persistent' first ssh. I've managed this by doing 'ssh -fN esprimo bash' at the start of the script but this then leaves the ssh running for ever and I'd prefer that not to happen. Has anyone got any better ideas? -- Chris Green

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2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 2nd February.
by Viperfang 30 Jan '18

30 Jan '18

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

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New Server Installation Traditional BIOS mode or EUFI mode?
by steve-ALUG＠hst.me.uk 29 Jan '18

29 Jan '18

Having brought myself a shiny new Lenovo Thinkserver https://www.serversdirect.co.uk/p/1182461/lenovo-thinkserver-ts150-intel-pe… and tracked down all the cables and caddies required to make it run... I started installing *buntu on it, and then I had a thought, stopped and now not sure of the best way to go. It can run in EUFI mode, or traditional BIOS mode. Any thoughts? I've never had a machine with EUFI. Is that the way to go? Any gotchas? Any thoughts or experience appreciated. Cheers Steve

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autoreply to email for non-existent users - (resent because I sent the previous one from the wrong email address!)
by mick 29 Jan '18

29 Jan '18

(Apologies to list maintainers. I'm an idiot. Please delete the earlier mail sent from the wrong address). Hi Guys Some advice please. I own a bunch of domains, not all of which have many (or in some cases, any) real users. One domain name in particular is (accidentally) very similar to a domain in use by a UK QUANGO (one character different). Consequently my domain receives a fair amount of email intended for the other. Naturally I just bounce all email to my domain with a "550 5.1.1 <blah@domain>: Recipient address rejected: User unknown in virtual mailbox table;" When I first set up mail on the domain (back in 2011) and started to get lots of mail I did some research and found the QUANGO which should be getting the email. I contacted them and told them about the issue and suggested that they let all their contacts know about the problem. Herein, of course, lies a difficulty. Apart from their regular correspondents, they cannot know in advance who will email them. I left it, and figured that over time the volume of email would tail off as people caught on. But now, seven years later, I'm /still/ getting mail to my domain which should go elsewhere and which I simply bounce. My logs get cluttered with the bounce message and the end user may or may not know what to do about the failed delivery since I'm just telling them that the user doesn't exist, when they may think he does. Now to the question. I'm building a new email server (postfix) and I'm moving some of my doamins to that new server. Since it's a nice clean sparkly new server I'd like to ensure that I don't just move an existing problem from one MTA to another. So I've been pondering whether (and if so how) to implement an autoreply mechanism for my domain which sends a friendly message to the sender saying something like "Hi, you may have a typo in your email address for blah@mydomain. I run that domain and I get a lot of email there which is probably intended for blah@otherdomain. You may like to try resending to the proper address." I think I could probably set up something using vacation with a catchall alias for any address at my domain. But I'm aware of the potential for a complete balls up if I get this wrong. If "bad people" (TM) find that my mail system will autorespond to any address at a particular domain it could be used as a spamming mechanism which might get my sparkly new MTA blacklisted. I don't want that. So - any advice on the best approach? Or should I just suck it up as I currently do and not bother trying to be helpful? Cheers Mick --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mick Morgan gpg fingerprint: FC23 3338 F664 5E66 876B 72C0 0A1F E60B 5BAD D312 http://baldric.net/about-trivia ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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RAID: mdadm vs brtfs raid
by steve-ALUG＠hst.me.uk 28 Jan '18

28 Jan '18

I was reading the latest Linux Format which is talking about building a new machine. It really surprised me when talking about RAID when it suggested to use btrfs instead of mdadm. Even if I use mdadm, I may try out btfs instead of ext4. I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts? Steve

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Combining log files
by Mark Rogers 26 Jan '18

26 Jan '18

I have many gigabytes of .gz compressed log files, generally in very small files. For example, one file only contains entries from 20180114-205608 to 20180114-205746 (about 90s), and is about 350k compressed. I want to extract these and combine them into one file per day*, compressed. Log file entries are in date/time order, and filenames are easily sorted into date/time order too, so I can easily generate a stream of log entries in date/time order from which to work. So I assume that what I need is something to pipe that to that will look at the date of each line, and if it's changed close any existing output file, open a new one (gzipped), and write to it until the date changes or EOF. I could write something like that in a scripting language (for my sins PHP would be easiest, Python I'm getting better at, bash could likely do it too). But given the volume of data are there any suggestions as to the "right" tool to use? Is this a job for awk or similar? As an aside: The files are all archived on my Linux box, but they're sourced from a Windows box, so a cross-platform solution would allow me to do it on the host; transferring lots of small files isn't as efficient as a few big files (athough I have archives going back years on my Linux box to work through first). * I say a file per day but ideally I could be flexible about the period - day is most likely and probably easiest though -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

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Network monitoring scripts
by Mark Rogers 22 Jan '18

22 Jan '18

I have a Pi which is set up with a read-only filesystem, and as such packaged network monitoring solutions aren't happy. Neither wicd nor network-manager like this setup. I'm not a fan of either, to be honest - for a GUI based PC they have benefits but for a headless box something simpler will suffice. I have cobbled together a basic bash script that checks to see if it can ping the default gateway and restarts wifi otherwise, but its far from elegant. Has anyone done anything similar or found any similar scripts online that they use? Ideally, for example, it would be able to "manage" both eth0 and wlan0 (or even wlan1 - in the case of a Pi 3 with an external Wifi added in for better signal strength). (I'm worried about edge cases with my current script. I can either run in through cron, but that risks it thinking the network is offline just because it hasn't come up yet after a boot which might have bad side effects. I'm currently running it as a systemd service with e network dependency to avoid that, but I'm not sure how that'll work if the network fails to come up after a reboot. Then there's all the things I haven't thought of...) -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

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Kontact crash
by Phil Thane 19 Jan '18

19 Jan '18

Happy New Year all, here's my first bug of the year. Using Kontact on Mint 18.3 (KDE) it's been fine for ages then yesterday, this: Kontact opens in Kmail which works fine. Choosing other modulkes from the sidebar I find Contacts (Kaddressbook) or Calendar (Korganizer) cause Kontact to crash. Other modules do not. Running from a terminal doesn't provide much info except an invalid socket warning. KCrash: crashing... crashRecursionCounter = 2 Following a crash the app has clearly not exited properly because socket errors keep on coming until I close the terminal. *phil@phil-desktop* *~ $* QSocketNotifier: Invalid socket 53 and type 'Read', disabling... Running Korganizer direct from a terminal is OK. Running Kaddressbook isn't. It opens for a fraction of a second, just long enough to see the window, then crashes. Similar error messages to the above. As I have little idea what a socket is, I'm stumped! The KDE reporting tool reports that the log isn't detailed enough to bother with and I can't find any useful advice online. Help?! -- Phil Thane www.pthane.co.uk phil(a)pthane.co.uk 01767 449759 07582 750607 Twitter @pthane

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 11th January
by Viperfang 09 Jan '18

09 Jan '18

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

1 0

2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 5th January.
by Viperfang 04 Jan '18

04 Jan '18

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

1 0

Scoring in the Gnome game "Five or More"??
by Ted Harding 26 Dec '17

26 Dec '17

Greetings All! And Happy Christmas and Happy New Year. I am trying to find out what formula is used to determione the scores in the Gnome game Five or More, in which you score BY "lining up" 5 or more counters of the same colour on a 9x9 board. In fact it's a bit more general than that, and any 2 or more intersecting lines, where with your latest move you have made each line contain 5 or more counters all of the same colour, then you get a score which depends on the total number of counters in these lines. Theae counters arre then erased and their cells become empty. For a single line (vertical or horizontal or diagonal) you can score with 5/6/7/8/9 counters. To score more than 9, you need at least three lines, which intersect at a single empty cell into which you then drop a counter of the same colour, combining 2 of the line into a line with 6/7/8/9 and with 4 more in the third ine. Then you score with 10/11/12/13 counters. And, if I've got it right, the biggest number of counters you can score with is when you have 8 lines, each with four counters, intersecting at the centre of the 9x9 square which is still an empty cell; and then you drop a counter into that square, and then you score with 33 counters. The "Help" page for gthe Gnome game says: Number of objects Score given 5 10 6 12 7 18 8 28 9 42 10 82 11 108 12 138 13 172 14 210 so it only goes up to 14 counters. However, as I describe above, one can go higher (up to "Number of objects" = 33. Trying to give this a go, I did succeed in achieving 17 (four diagonal lines with 4, plus 1 for the cell where they meet), and my score jumped from somewhere in the hundreds to 4106; so clearly one can score in the thousands with "Number of objects" = 17. But since I have seen no documentation which tells how many points you score for more than 14 counters, and have not seen any description which describes how the score is calculated from "Number of objects". Does anyone know, or can find out? with thanks, and best wishes to all, Ted.

2 2

New Server Recommendations
by steve-ALUG＠hst.me.uk 21 Dec '17

21 Dec '17

For many years I've been running a 2nd-hand "desktop" machine as a home server, which runs print, file & email services and a few others. It's an least 10 Y/O Pentium (5?) with 3GB RAM and is usually not taxed by these services. I have asked before, but I've never actually got round to doing anything about it, but I've got executive approval from the S/O BUT.... I'm in two minds. Do I go for A) a traditional box, plenty of room, RAIDed disk but comparatively high power consumption e.g. https://www.entroware.com/store/desktops/nyx or https://secure.zeta.systems/store/desktops/D540/ which seem to have PSUs rated about 650W or B) a small NUC style box, low power consumption thingy like https://www.entroware.com/store/desktops/aura or Something like the mini-itx jobbies available here https://www.logicsupply.com/uk-en/products/commercial-computers/mc500-serie… These seem to consume about 65W. I will be running some flavour of Ubuntu on it. I'd probably prefer it was 64Bit. I want it to be a "standard architecture" processor so that there will be a full-range of apps available to install from the ubuntu repositories. I would like to have a low-power-consumption as it's an always on device, and it doesn't seem to need much processing power. I'd also like to have raid (mirroring), but most low power-consumption machines don't seem to have space for raid. Does anyone have any comments or recommendations, especially of any companies they have dealt with, or products they have purchased that work well? Thanks in advance. Steve

8 31

Amber intends to combat encryption!
by Phil Thane 19 Dec '17

19 Dec '17

I've been having 'fun' corresponding with my MP (Burt, con) and our much-loved Home Secretary about her plans to ban encrypted messaging. The gist is here, with links: https://pthane.co.uk/blog/ Scroll back a bit for the first installment. Feel free to register and comment, I don't claim to be an expert, I could well be wrong, but it seems I know more that the Home Office. -- Phil Thane www.pthane.co.uk phil(a)pthane.co.uk 01767 449759 07582 750607 Twitter @pthane

4 4

Restarting wifi and network on a headless Pi
by Mark Rogers 14 Dec '17

14 Dec '17

I don't know if this is Pi specific, I assume it's just standard Debian. I'm using Raspbian Stretch. Suppose I have a working wireless connection. I can change wireless configuration in /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf to remove the working details and then use "wpa_cli reconfigure" to take effect. Except that I remain connected to the wifi that I no longer have settings for, and cannot force it to disconnect. What is the correct way to force the change to have effect other than reboot? On a related note, how do I change the IP configuration for the cabled network and have that take effect? Making changes to /etc/dhcpcd.conf works after a reboot but I can't reliably make it work without rebooting. (Restarted dhcpcd will add a new IP address, but won't remove old ones and doesn't seem to let me revert to DHCP reliably either.) In both cases, making a connection seems easier than dropping one. Mark -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

2 5

Are there *any* decent web browsers out there now?!?!
by Chris Green 11 Dec '17

11 Dec '17

I'm finally getting a bit fed up with Firefox, for a couple of reasons:- It's seems incapable of working with eBay without going to 100% CPU and slowly grinding to a halt. The last few updates have made it *look* decidedly clunky. Arcane configuration parameters required to make it so it can open files on one's local file system. So, I've been looking at alternatives and there's not much that seems any better (they have different issues in the main). I've been trying chromium and it certainly seems faster than Firefox and doesn't seem to grind to a halt on eBay, but:- I want a separate search bar You can't change the keyboard shortcuts Is anything else any better? I've been wondering about Vivaldi, same underlying engine as Chromium but apparently much more configurable. Has anyone here tried it? I'm just a bit wary of going 'off piste' as it were (not in the Ubuntu repositories). -- Chris Green

7 14

[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 14th December
by Viperfang 11 Dec '17

11 Dec '17

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

1 0

How to allow easy editing of www-data owned files - or other workarounds?
by Chris Green 11 Dec '17

11 Dec '17

I've been trying to find a good solution to this problem for *years* but I'm still hitting problems with it. The current problem is that syncthing doesn't deal well with directories and files which have different owners on different systems. The essential problem is that web files which are manipulated by apache need to be owned by www-data but I want to be able to edit these files as well. In particular I have a wiki where I sometimes edit the files using the wiki (ownership ends up as www-data) and sometimes I edit them directly with an editor (ownership ends up as chris). Currently I use access control lists (setfacl) to make things so that both chris and www-data can both manipulate files in the wiki directory regardless of whether they are owned by chris or www-data but this isn't a perfect solution as the correct settings don't always get put on new files. What I really need is:- All the wiki files are owned by 'chris' (the wiki is rooted in my home directory and is synchronised across a couple of machines by syncthing). www-data can read/write/create files in the ~/chris/wiki directory but they will always be owned by 'chris'. Can anyone see a way of implementing this? ... or any other reasonable solution? -- Chris Green

3 16

Magnetic resonance?
by Phil Thane 07 Dec '17

07 Dec '17

No this isn't a Linux question but you are the only techie people I know. If there is anyone from a Physics / Electrical Engineering background who can help with or proof read a short paragraph about wireless charging using electro-magnetic resonance, please get in touch off-list. Thanks. -- Phil Thane www.pthane.co.uk phil(a)pthane.co.uk 01767 449759 07582 750607 Twitter @pthane

1 0

Strange postfix problem
by Laurie Brown 07 Dec '17

07 Dec '17

Hi all, Do we have any postfix experts on here? I have a very strange problem I'm struggling to resolve, and I'd appreciate some help. Cheers, Laurie. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Laurie Brown laurie(a)brownowl.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------

3 7

Audio Question
by Ben Whyall 05 Dec '17

05 Dec '17

Hi I have a query which whilst not 100% linux I suspect someone might be able to help. I want to be able to somehow share speakers, and headphones/headset between two systems. Ideally I want to be able to decide what output is in use by ficking a switch or something similar not unplugging. Same with the input. One machine is a linux box and one is my work laptop (windows 10) What are peoples thoughts? Ben

3 2

Firefox 57 woe
by Bev Nicolson 30 Nov '17

30 Nov '17

I had hoped to be prepared for whenever the upgrade to Firefox 57 occurred but it turns out I haven't been. This is because the Software Updater hadn't offered 57. Anyway, it seems I have lost all my ScrapBook pages. Or at least, the question I want to ask is, how can I find out for sure that I have? The home and computer directory have been searched for 'firefox data' but no dice. Bev.

4 7

ssh_config file equivalents of command line options - how to find?
by Chris Green 30 Nov '17

30 Nov '17

I had a hard time recently working out what the ssh_config file equivalent of the -L command line option in ssh was. The man page happily tells you that "Port forwardings can also be specified in the configuration file." buut doesn't tell you *what* the configuration file equivalent is. (It's actually a bit obvious - LocalForward). Is there any documented way of finding the mapping? I'm now after the config file equivalents for -f and -N if there are any. -- Chris Green

3 2

2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 1st December.
by Viperfang 30 Nov '17

30 Nov '17

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

1 0

How to *start* a desktop remotely? (for VNC)
by Chris Green 23 Nov '17

23 Nov '17

How can one *start* a desktop (in my case XFCE on xubuntu) remotely? I have set up VNC to acces my home machine desktop but since it's not actually running a desktop as it's been rebooted the VNC client shows me nothing. Help!? I have ssh access to my home machine. -- Chris Green

1 0

4G data
by Phil Thane 19 Nov '17

19 Nov '17

Hi, Not really a Linux question, except that it'll be mostly Linux devices that use it... A few years ago when 4G was being tested in pilot areas, but not on the Llangollen canal, I wrote a piece for a canal/river boat magazine about using the internet afloat. At the time I borrowed some demo kit from suppliers and a boat from the Llangollen Wharf for testing and for photos. One option was a 3G USB dongle for a laptop, another was a 3G modem/router to create a WiFi hotspot. Or just use my old 3G smartphone and either a USB or WiFi 'tether'. Now down south I've got my own (very old and very cheap) boat and 4G is widely available. So should be great eh? Well not so much. As far as I can find out it is impossible to buy data only SIM cards with data contracts that last until the data is used. You have to buy 'bundles' of data/phonecalls/text and they expire after 7, 14 or 28 days. When I'm not on the boat I don't use 4G at all. When I am going away on it I have to guess how much data I might need and load up the SIM. Last time I did that the boat broke down, we came home early and £20 worth of data just expired at the end of the 28 days. With my old 3G phone (on PAYG) it simply used the same account for texts, calls or data - and I only enabled 3G when I really needed it. But it seems none of the phone providers will offer 4G that way. I can't see there's any technical reason, it's just that phone providers are conniving bastards. Does anyone know of one that has broken ranks with the cartel and will offer me what I want? -- Phil Thane www.pthane.co.uk phil(a)pthane.co.uk 01767 449759 07582 750607 Twitter @pthane

6 9

Python GUIs
by Mark Rogers 10 Nov '17

10 Nov '17

I've only just really started to use Python, so this is very much a novice question. I'd like to create a simple Python GUI to manage a configuration file. I'll be developing it on Ubuntu but it'll need to run cross-platform, which is one reason I picked Python. Anyone here have any recommendations as to the best way to do this? Google gives me hundreds of options which is great but I'm after anecdotes from people I (feel I) know. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

2 2

[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 9th November
by Viperfang 06 Nov '17

06 Nov '17

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

1 0

Are there any Regular Expression gurus here?
by Chris Green 30 Oct '17

30 Oct '17

I'm fairly happy most of the time using REs and can come up with some hairy looking stuff occasionally but I can't, at the moment, see a way to do this:- I want to match two lines like the following using a Regular Expression:- abcmnoxyz ========= The first line is essentially random, the second line will be all the same character of a limited number of possibles (=, - and maybe a couple more). The lines can probably be required to be the same length but it would be nice if they didn't have to be. It would be OK to have multiple REs, one for each possible 'underline' character. It's not a fixed length by the way, the minimum length will probably be 4 characters or so. Can anyone come up with a way to do this? -- Chris Green

2 4

Huge increase in spam
by Laurie Brown 26 Oct '17

26 Oct '17

Hi all, Well, after many years of my Linux mail filters working very well, I've noticed a significant increase in spam over the last week, and last night I got 33 alone, an unheard of number. Has anyone else noticed this? I use postfix, blacklists, postgrey, spamassassin (and a Bayesian DB), with all the usual postfix settings to discourage spammers. I also use a honeytrap third party MX server which traps and records some spam. Normally, once in a while I'll see a small increase in soam, and then the RBLs kick in and it stops after a few hours. However, I can't even find much of a pattern in the emails; there are a couple of regular IPs - now firewalled out - but in the main they are random. There must be a massive Windows-based botnet out there with some new spamming software on it. It's certainly dealing with grey-listing now. Ideas anyone? Cheers, Laurie. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Laurie Brown laurie(a)brownowl.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------

5 14

JOB | Permanent Cassandra Database Engineer
by James Tobin 16 Oct '17

16 Oct '17

Hello, I'm working with an employer that is looking to hire a permanent Cassandra database engineer. Consequently I had hoped that some members of this mailing list may like to learn more and discuss further. I can be reached off-list using "JamesBTobin (at) Gmail (dot) com". Kind regards, James

1 0

wake up GUI
by Phil Thane 13 Oct '17

13 Oct '17

OK, I'm inviting trouble here but bear with me. I run an old desktop PC, headless as a file/webserver. My wife's PC backs up to it and I mirror most of my desktop on it using Nextcloud. My only previous experience with web servers has been running Wordpress etc on hosted platforms whee all the setup stuff is done via Cpanel. No Cpanel on my DIY server though so to make life easier it runs a desktop distro (currently Lubuntu) and VNC. I can do any admin via KRDC from my desktop. During set up all this works OK, but the Lubuntu desktop goes blank after a few minutes inactivity, KRDC connects fine but all I see is black screen. The only way I can find to get back in is to reboot (using SSH), restart VNC then re-connect KRDC before the blackout kicks in. A while ago I did this and tried to find a setting to keep the screen alive for ever, as there's no actual screen attached it would make little difference to power consumption. I thought I'd found it, but obviously not as it still blanks. Anyone got any idea? I'm not totally averse to CLI work, providing it's a simple command to solve a specific issue like this, but I really don't want to learn how to do everything I need to do on the server that way! -- Phil Thane www.pthane.co.uk phil(a)pthane.co.uk 01767 449759 07582 750607 Twitter @pthane

5 9

Controlling a Raspberry PI I/O pins via web App
by steve-ALUG＠hst.me.uk 12 Oct '17

12 Oct '17

Can any Raspberry Pi users out there or web people help? I Want to use webpage to control Neopixels plugged into a Raspberry Pi. The webpage will have slider controls for R, G, B & overall brightness. I was initially thinking of using cgi-bin scripts using python, but I want the colour to change as the slider moves so I don't know if that would be responsive enough. Reading around, there seem to be many python-based solutions* so I could use cgi scripts, web sockets, webpy, flask, danjo or others. Anyone got a recommendation of which way to go. Lightweight and no security will do. *I want to use python if possible as that's what I'm most familiar with ATM, with a bit of Javascript as required. Any advice appreciated. Steve

2 5

Ubuntu 17.04 sleeping?
by Clark, Adrian F 12 Oct '17

12 Oct '17

Hello everyone, I have a machine running Ubuntu 17.04 (desktop version) on a Dell Optiplex 5050 which needs to run a long shell script (doing some machine learning runs) overnight. I've turned off suspend via Unity's "power management" control panel but it looks as though the machine still goes to sleep after being left alone for an hour. I wonder if anyone has any suggestions as to what's going on? ..Adrian -- Dr Adrian F Clark WEB: http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~alien/ EMAIL: alien/at/essex.ac.uk TEL: +44 1206 872432 RADIO: M0PDF PAPER: Comp Sci & Elec Eng, University of Essex, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK "The great tragedy of science: the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact" -- Huxley

2 2

Controlling a Raspberry PI I/O pins via web App
by Martyn Smith 12 Oct '17

12 Oct '17

I rarely comment on here so I hope I have responded correctly? I have a Pi but I have done very little with python. However, as for a web app solution - although I use C#, PHP (and some Scheme) I would probably be tempted to use web2py if encouraged to use python. Failing that - use something rather popular like Django. Please note that this below is an example. I have *not *tested it (or even downloaded web2py) but I hope this serves as an example for what, I believe, you are trying to accomplish. This code is based on general experience and what the web2py tutorials cover. The only area that needs additonal attention is ensuring the sliders are loaded with the correct values, which I have not done. However, using jquery, I have created an ajax post when the user 'mouse up' on the slider - the values are passed over (which the data variable 'should' be storing in the slider function. again - expect a few hiccups. Hope this helps. *Controller - controls.py* def slider() data = request.post_vars # Do raspberry Pi stuff here # .. or, if not, send to 'some queue' to be processed elsewhere *View - controls/slider.html* <html> <head> <title>Brightness controls</title> <meta charset="utf-8"/> <script src=" https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.2.1/jquery.min.js"></script> </head> <body> <form method="post" action="/controls/slider"> <input id="brightnessR" type="range" min="0" max="100" step="5" /> <input id="brightnessG" type="range" min="0" max="100" step="5" /> <input id="brightnessB" type="range" min="0" max="100" step="5" /> </form> <script type="text/javascript"> function update() { alert("updating"); $.post('/controller/method', { red: $("#brightnessR").val(), green: $("#brightnessG").val(), blue: $("#brightnessB").val() }); } $(document).ready(function() { $("#brightnessR").mouseup(update); $("#brightnessG").mouseup(update); $("#brightnessB").mouseup(update); }); </script> </body> </html>

1 0

[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 12th October
by Viperfang 11 Oct '17

11 Oct '17

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 12th October at The Coach and Horses (82 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1BA). The meeting officially starts at 8pm, although some people may arrive earlier. More information on those people can be found on the list and the IRC channel. If you are unsure if you will recognise us then make yourself and your intent to attend known by either posting on list or visiting us on IRC so we can look out for you rather than hiding in the corner. Optionally you could ask at the bar if they know where the geeky computer weirdos are and they'll point you in the right direction (seriously!). Another possibility is look for heaps of electronics on a table that may possibly look like movie props that would used for detonating explosives. Feel free to bring electronics/laptops/gadgets to the meet, you will by no means be alone. Ben Bewick aka Viperfang NB: This mail is automated, please refer to the usual sources for more information. ALUG Contact Details: Website : http://www.alug.org.uk/ IRC : #alug on irc.alug.org.uk List : http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo Twitter : http://twitter.com/anglianlug Identica: TBA Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2381613902 ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

1 0

calendar and Nextcloud
by Phil Thane 06 Oct '17

06 Oct '17

I did it a disservice earlier, installing the upgrade of Nextcloud to version 10.*.* doesn't actually remove the calendar and contacts apps, it just disables them re-enabling them restores them without loss of data. Hopefully this manual upgrade is a one-off and in future the automagical system will work. -- Phil Thane www.pthane.co.uk phil(a)pthane.co.uk 01767 449759 07582 750607 Twitter @pthane

2 1

Calendar server recommendations wanted
by Chris Green 06 Oct '17

06 Oct '17

I've been using OwnCloud for a few years but it really is becoming a bit of a pain to support. Well, it always *was* a pain to support and now I'm getting fed up with maintaining it. There's all sorts of (minor, but they add up) issues with it:- Upgrading is a pain, doesn't "just work". Various messages aboout security which don't link to anywhere useful. Basic Calendar and AddressBook apps aren't built-in, have to be re-enabled at each upgrade. Just messy generally! So I'm considering alternatives. I need a calendar server which supports Linux (Thunderbird/Lightning) and Android clients, if it does address lists as well then so much the better but that's not vital. Any recommendations anyone? -- Chris Green

3 8

2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 6th October.
by Viperfang 03 Oct '17

03 Oct '17

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

1 0

Manipulating files from bash
by Mark Rogers 25 Sep '17

25 Sep '17

There are lots of ways to process text files (eg sed, awk, etc); I'm after suggestions on the best/easiest way to achieve something fairly trivial to describe. Below is example output from sfdisk -d: label: dos label-id: 0xe3f4f21a device: /dev/sdd unit: sectors /dev/sdd1 : start= 8192, size= 85622, type=c /dev/sdd2 : start= 94208, size= 5521408, type=83 /dev/sdd3 : start= 5615616, size= 25499648, type=83 I want to convert this into a new script to go back into sfdisk but with some changes; I want the start values skipped (so sfdisk will put partition boundaries wherever it thinks is best), I want the last sector not have a size (ie "rest of disk"), and I don't really need any of the settings at the top. In fact, a suitable (minimal) script to go into sfdisk would be simply: ,85622,c ,5521408 ,; I don't really mind at this point whether I end up with something more like the first format or minified like the latter. In fact to be honest I'm more interested just in learning the best ways to play with text files like this. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

4 5

RPi SD backup/restore
by Mark Rogers 25 Sep '17

25 Sep '17

I've been experimenting with backing up and restoring Raspberry Pi SD cards. There is of-course a very easy way: use "dd" or similar to create a disk image. However it has three disdvantages; it is slow, and it creates very large backups. And it's hard to extract individual files from the backups. I've written up a quick process [1] for doing it manually, which is essentially: 1. Backup (or restore) the partitions using sfdisk 2. (Restore only) Create the filesystems on the destination 3. Backup (or restore) the files using tar. However I'd like some advice on scripting and improving it. In particular, this process creates three files (one for the partition info, and one each for the files from the two partitions). I'd like to end up with a single file, which I can do by just tar'ing the three at the end, but given the size of the files I want to keep the use of temporary files to a minimum. Also, at the moment it's quite inflexible in terms of restoring to a different sized card, but ought not be. But regardless, I figured there'd be enough Pi users around here who might find it useful. (Use at your own risk, it's had very limited testing so far.) [1] https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRk_zldu0Ra6MEEepTSKCzD55ANeasQ… -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

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Disk labels and partition names
by Mark Rogers 22 Sep '17

22 Sep '17

In my experiments with RPi backups, I note that the SD card has a label and that label is used when the partitions are mounted (eg disk label: 0xbff5ebb9, and /etc/fstab using PARTUUID=bff5ebb9-01 and bff5ebb9-02). Is it better that I (a) change my fstab to mount by partition name (/dev/sda1, /dev/sda2) and let the disk labels vary when duplicating across multiple Pi's, or (b) leave fstab to use the disk label and leave it the same across multiple Pi's? There's also option (c) which is to generate a new disk label but update fstab accordingly on restore. I'd rather avoid that unless there's a convincing argument for it though. I guess what I'm asking is how much it matters if lots of Pi's have the same disk label, and also weighed against that how much it is an advantage to mount based on disk ID instead of partition number. Mark -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

1 0

[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 14th September
by Viperfang 14 Sep '17

14 Sep '17

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

1 0

Changing a static IP (Rasbian Stretch)
by Mark Rogers 14 Sep '17

14 Sep '17

Note: I have "net.ifnames=0" in /boot/cmdline.txt so that I get the old interface names (eth0 etc) back. I've always worked with /etc/network/interfaces in the past, but Googling suggests the correct way to set a static IP is now to edit /etc/dhcpcd.conf and append: interface eth0 static ip_address=192.168.0.28/24 static routers=192.168.0.1 static domain_name_servers=192.168.0.5 If I restart dhcpcd or networking: sudo service networking restart .. then the new IP address gets added, but the old IP address gets retained until reboot. (Regardless of whether the old IP came from DHCP or was a previous static.) What am I doing wrong? Note: If there's a better way to set a static IP then I'm happy to look at that instead. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

2 4

Intelligently deleting thumbnail images
by Mark Rogers 07 Sep '17

07 Sep '17

A friend lost all their photos from their phone; luckily they had been on a MicroSD card and photorec recovered them all for me, and renrot renamed them all (and fixed their timestamps) based on their EXIF data. So what I now have is a directory of images, but of-course the phone had created thumbnails and the recovery has recovered them as well, and I'd like to delete them. As a human it's easy to do: find two images that "look" the same, and delete the smaller one. But there are hundreds so this human isn't up for the job. Any suggestions as to how to do this in software? Just deleting all the smaller images isn't enough as there do seem to be some small images for which there isn't a larger counterpart (I'm guessing maybe they came from the front facing camera or some other source). -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

4 5

OT Firefox and legacy add-ons
by Bev Nicolson 04 Sep '17

04 Sep '17

Possibly a bit OT. Legacy add ons are not going to be supported in FF57. I wondered if ALUG peeps had any recommendations for add ons they'd use instead of Better Privacy Cookie Monster HTML5 everywhere No Flash ScrapBook (onto my fourth folder so really don't want to lose this!) YouTube All HTML5 to do the same kind of job. Thanks. Bev.

2 1

Nextcloud anyone?
by Phil Thane 01 Sep '17

01 Sep '17

Does anyone use, or have expertise in, Nextcloud? I'm an amateur user with Nextcloud running on a home server. Generally I'm very happy with it, it means I always have a mirror of my desktop stuff which I can access via the web and any photos taken on my phone are synced automatically next time the phone finds a wifi connection. Now it's got an annoying problem though. There is a corrupted .jpg file in the InstantUpload folder which throws up an error message in the desktop sync app. It gives the path and 'Server replied: Locked' The file is almost certainly one of a batch my 4 year old granddaughter took when she figured out how to do selfies. Most were rubbish so I deleted them using the phone, possibly interrupting the upload process. She took the photos at our place so the upload would have been more or less instant. If I use the phone app the file won't open, nor will it it delete, move or rename. Nor will it if I view the files via a web browser. It's not a critical error, everything else works OK, but it's annoying seeing the warning every time files sync. Any suggestions? Anyone with access to 4 year old children for example? -- Phil Thane www.pthane.co.uk phil(a)pthane.co.uk 01767 449759 07582 750607 Twitter @pthane

1 0

OT?: Wordpress hosts
by Mark Rogers 31 Aug '17

31 Aug '17

Can anyone recommend a Wordpress host? By which I mean a company that provides and supports the Wordpress install and just leaves the customer to deal with the content, not a company who provides hosting onto which I could install Wordpress myself. A company my wife works with has been left in lurch after their existing host decided they're going to shut down, and I said I'd ask around, and I know a few people here are involved in hosting. Although it's a FOSS application running on a FOSS O/S it feels like it's only on-topic on a technicality, so I'm happy to take off-list replies or discuss here as others see fit. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

2 2

2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 1st September.
by Viperfang 30 Aug '17

30 Aug '17

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

1 0

[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 10th August
by Viperfang 08 Aug '17

08 Aug '17

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 10th August at The Coach and Horses (82 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1BA). The meeting officially starts at 8pm, although some people may arrive earlier. More information on those people can be found on the list and the IRC channel. If you are unsure if you will recognise us then make yourself and your intent to attend known by either posting on list or visiting us on IRC so we can look out for you rather than hiding in the corner. Optionally you could ask at the bar if they know where the geeky computer weirdos are and they'll point you in the right direction (seriously!). Another possibility is look for heaps of electronics on a table that may possibly look like movie props that would used for detonating explosives. Feel free to bring electronics/laptops/gadgets to the meet, you will by no means be alone. Ben Bewick aka Viperfang NB: This mail is automated, please refer to the usual sources for more information. ALUG Contact Details: Website : http://www.alug.org.uk/ IRC : #alug on irc.alug.org.uk List : http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo Twitter : http://twitter.com/anglianlug Identica: TBA Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2381613902 ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

1 0

Setting up SSH keys for an organisation
by Mark Rogers 04 Aug '17

04 Aug '17

I understand the concepts behind key based SSH authentication, I'm just looking for suggested "best practice". Situation: Small company* using SSH to access various** Linux servers, some internal, some external, currently using password-based SSH for most of this, sometimes key based but managed on an ad-hoc basis. Many of the clients are Windows based using PuTTY. I want to shift everything to key based, and that requires me managing the keys. In particular I want to be able to add a new user (and therefore a new key), add it to servers as required (so not all users will have access to all servers), and remove keys if required too (eg someone leaves). As a starting point, I can create public/private key pairs for each user, add them manually to authorized_keys on appropriate hosts, and give each user their private keys (in PuTTY's PPK format as needed). That leaves me with several keys to manage securely, and a bit of a maintenance headache keeping track of who is authorised where. Suggestions? * Small means, in this case, 3 users, but with plans to expand. ** Various means probably a dozen (maybe twice that) VMs, hosted servers, etc, using a mixture of Debian and Ubuntu. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

1 0

2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 4th August.
by Viperfang 01 Aug '17

01 Aug '17

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

1 0

Re: [ALUG] connect ubuntu to MS VPN
by mark fernandes 21 Jul '17

21 Jul '17

Realise that article is a bit long in the tooth but I think Jonathon may be on the money wrt this https://www.ghacks.net/2010/03/02/connecting-to-a-microsoft-vpn-with-linux/ HTH, Mark

1 0

Connecting Ubuntu to a 'Microsoft' VPN
by Paul Grenyer 21 Jul '17

21 Jul '17

Hi All I'm trying to use OpenVPN to connect to what our client tells us is a 'Microsoft' VPN. There's no certificate, just a url, username and password. All works fine from a Windows desktop, so I know the VPN is working. This is the configuration I've tried: # config.ovpn dev tun0 client proto tcp capath . remote remote.xxx.org.uk 1723 auth-user-pass pass.txt # pass.txt <username> <password> openvpn --config config.opvn gives me: Wed Jul 19 11:15:50 2017 OpenVPN 2.3.10 x86_64-pc-linux-gnu [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [EPOLL] [PKCS11] [MH] [IPv6] built on Jun 22 2017 Wed Jul 19 11:15:50 2017 library versions: OpenSSL 1.0.2g 1 Mar 2016, LZO 2.08 Wed Jul 19 11:15:50 2017 WARNING: file 'pass.txt' is group or others accessible Wed Jul 19 11:15:50 2017 WARNING: No server certificate verification method has been enabled. See http://openvpn.net/howto.html#mitm for more info. Wed Jul 19 11:15:50 2017 WARNING: experimental option --capath . Wed Jul 19 11:15:50 2017 Attempting to establish TCP connection with [AF_INET]81.138.76.148:1723 [nonblock] Wed Jul 19 11:15:51 2017 TCP connection established with [AF_INET]81.138.76.148:1723 Wed Jul 19 11:15:51 2017 TCPv4_CLIENT link local: [undef] Wed Jul 19 11:15:51 2017 TCPv4_CLIENT link remote: [AF_INET]81.138.76.148:1723 Wed Jul 19 11:16:20 2017 Connection reset, restarting [0] Wed Jul 19 11:16:20 2017 SIGUSR1[soft,connection-reset] received, process restarting Wed Jul 19 11:16:25 2017 WARNING: No server certificate verification method has been enabled. See http://openvpn.net/howto.html#mitm for more info. Wed Jul 19 11:16:25 2017 WARNING: experimental option --capath . Wed Jul 19 11:16:25 2017 Attempting to establish TCP connection with [AF_INET]81.138.76.148:1723 [nonblock] Wed Jul 19 11:16:26 2017 TCP connection established with [AF_INET]81.138.76.148:1723 Wed Jul 19 11:16:26 2017 TCPv4_CLIENT link local: [undef] Wed Jul 19 11:16:26 2017 TCPv4_CLIENT link remote: [AF_INET]81.138.76.148:1723 And with: sudo tcpdump -i enp0s25 host remote.xxxx.org.uk at the same time, I get: tcpdump: verbose output suppressed, use -v or -vv for full protocol decode listening on enp0s25, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 262144 bytes 15:56:05.845738 IP 192.168.1.31.50766 > remote.xxxx.org.uk.1723: Flags [S], seq 1706890924, win 29200, options [mss 1460,sackOK,TS val 441917 ecr 0,nop,wscale 7], length 0 15:56:05.864738 IP remote.xxxx.org.uk.1723 > 192.168.1.31.50766: Flags [S.], seq 737349215, ack 1706890925, win 8192, options [mss 1402,nop,wscale 8,sackOK,TS val 792826942 ecr 441917], length 0 15:56:05.864773 IP 192.168.1.31.50766 > remote.xxxx.org.uk.1723: Flags [.], ack 1, win 229, options [nop,nop,TS val 441922 ecr 792826942], length 0 15:56:06.845981 IP 192.168.1.31.50766 > remote.wlma.org.uk.1723: Flags [P.], seq 1:17, ack 1, win 229, options [nop,nop,TS val 442167 ecr 792826942], length 16: pptp UNEXPECTED Magic-Cookie!!(c587905e) Magic-Cookie=c587905e UNKNOWN_CTRL_MSGTYPE(62247) 15:56:06.925259 IP remote.xxxx.org.uk.1723 > 192.168.1.31.50766: Flags [.], ack 17, win 260, options [nop,nop,TS val 792828002 ecr 442167], length 0 15:56:08.932319 IP 192.168.1.31.50766 > remote.xxxx.org.uk.1723: Flags [P.], seq 17:33, ack 1, win 229, options [nop,nop,TS val 442689 ecr 792828002], length 16: pptp UNEXPECTED Magic-Cookie!!(c587905e) Magic-Cookie=c587905e UNKNOWN_CTRL_MSGTYPE(62247) 15:56:09.012049 IP remote.xxxx.org.uk.1723 > 192.168.1.31.50766: Flags [.], ack 33, win 260, options [nop,nop,TS val 792830089 ecr 442689], length 0 15:56:12.061655 IP 192.168.1.31.50766 > remote.xxxx.org.uk.1723: Flags [P.], seq 33:49, ack 1, win 229, options [nop,nop,TS val 443471 ecr 792830089], length 16: pptp UNEXPECTED Magic-Cookie!!(c587905e) Magic-Cookie=c587905e UNKNOWN_CTRL_MSGTYPE(62247) 15:56:12.130397 IP remote.xxxx.org.uk.1723 > 192.168.1.31.50766: Flags [.], ack 49, win 260, options [nop,nop,TS val 792833208 ecr 443471], length 0 15:56:20.745268 IP 192.168.1.31.50766 > remote.xxxx.org.uk.1723: Flags [P.], seq 49:65, ack 1, win 229, options [nop,nop,TS val 445642 ecr 792833208], length 16: pptp UNEXPECTED Magic-Cookie!!(c587905e) Magic-Cookie=c587905e UNKNOWN_CTRL_MSGTYPE(62247) 15:56:20.823394 IP remote.xxx.org.uk.1723 > 192.168.1.31.50766: Flags [.], ack 65, win 260, options [nop,nop,TS val 792841900 ecr 445642], length 0 I'm really not sure what I'm looking at. Can anyone guide me in the right direction? Thanks Paul

2 1

[ALUG Announce] Monthly Social Meeting Monday 10 July
by samwise 10 Jul '17

10 Jul '17

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hi, all, Just a quick reminder that we have our monthly IOG social meeting tonight in the upstairs rooms of the Thomas Wolsey pub on St Peters Street, Ipswich, from 20:00. If you have any photos from recent walks that you would like to share that haven't made it to Facebook etc., feel free to email me directly, and I'll put some in the slide pack. Hope to see some of you there! Many thanks, Peter. IOG Chair ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

1 1

[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 13th July
by Viperfang 10 Jul '17

10 Jul '17

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

1 0

2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 7th July.
by Viperfang 05 Jul '17

05 Jul '17

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

1 0

Linux with Gnome-2?
by Ted Harding 04 Jul '17

04 Jul '17

Greetings all! As I posted a few days ago, I shall want to install Linux on a new laptop. For years I have been using Gnome 2, since in particular it provides for a row of "workspace" icons at the bottom of the screen. I use 20 of these, since much of the work I do involves switching between different workspaces in which different jobs are going on in parallel (and each could itself use up two or more workspaces). A screengrab of what the screen looks like before I start anything up is at: http://www.zen89632.zen.co.uk/Misc/gnome2-debian-desktop.jpg The 20 workspace icons are at bottom right, and switching between them is easy -- mouse-click, or "Ctrl-Alt-RightArrow" or "Ctrl-Alt-LeftArrow". This does not seem to be available on Gnome 3. So can anyone point me to installation resources for a Linux distribution which has Gbome 2? Scientific Linux: https://www.scientificlinux.org/ used to have Gnome 2 for some time after Gnome 3 came out, but it seems that it now only has Gnome 3 (though I haven't found definite confirmation of this on the SciLin website). Any relevant info anf help will be much appreciated! Thanks, and best wishes to all, Ted.

9 22

Linux with Gnome-2?
by Barry Broom 27 Jun '17

27 Jun '17

Hi Ted, This is my first time posting so I hope it gets through. In Gnome 3 based distributions (Ubuntu/Debian/Fedora etc) you can switch workspaces by going to the Activities screen and using the scroll wheel on the mouse or by clicking on the right pane. Alternatively you can press Super+Page Up (or Super+Page Down) on the keyboard to cycle through your workspaces. If you are using a PC the 'super' key is the Windows key. Barry

1 0

Re: [ALUG] Linux with Gnome-2?
by Mick 26 Jun '17

26 Jun '17

But crucially, with the Mate desktop. (Please forgive the top post. I'm using a mobile mail client. On my hols. )On 26 Jun 2017 20:18, Bev Nicolson <lumos(a)gmx.co.uk> wrote: > > Ah. Well the answer I got a while back was this, Ted: > > https://www.linuxmint.com/ > > I'll have to dive in one day. > > Bev > > > On 26/06/17 18:56, Ted Harding wrote: > > So can anyone point me to installation resources for a > > Linux distribution which has Gbome 2? > > > > Scientific Linux: > > https://www.scientificlinux.org/ > > used to have Gnome 2 for some time after Gnome 3 came out, > > but it seems that it now only has Gnome 3 (though I haven't > > found definite confirmation of this on the SciLin website). > > > > Any relevant info anf help will be much appreciated! > > Thanks, and best wishes to all, > > Ted. > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > main(a)lists.alug.org.uk > > http://www.alug.org.uk/ > > https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/main > > Unsubscribe? See message headers or the web site above! > > > > > _______________________________________________ > main(a)lists.alug.org.uk > http://www.alug.org.uk/ > https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/main > Unsubscribe? See message headers or the web site above!

1 0

Re: [ALUG] MS Office file formats
by mark fernandes 14 Jun '17

14 Jun '17

Hi, I'm assuming that you mean Office 365. Have just been working on a doc for work and saved it to my dropbox and remembered your query. Properties says \ Word 2007 (.docx) HTH, Mark Fernandes

1 0

Re: [ALUG] SSH clients
by Laurie Brown 14 Jun '17

14 Jun '17

On 13/06/17 16:52, Mark Rogers wrote: > On 13 June 2017 at 16:21, Laurie Brown <laurie(a)brownowl.com> wrote: >> >> DNSmasq is your friend... > > It is indeed, but 17.04 isn't letting me talk to it! > > Specifically: dnsmasq is what I have running on a server in my office, > and my desktop is set to use it via DHCP . A lookup for anything with > a dot in it works, but without it doesn't get passed to my dnsmasq > server: > > $ dig myhost.msl-office.co.uk #works > $ dig virtualhost.myhost #works > $ dig myhost #fails > $ dig @192.168.1.5 myhost #works (where 192.168.1.5 is my server > running dnsmasq) Ah! I confess I haven't tried it with 17.04 at all. I use it extensively in 14.04 and it works well. I have a situation where I need split-horizon DNS (which djbdns can do as well). Mobile device users, when in-house, need to access internal services with what is effectively the external domain so that when they leave the internal network, the same domains work, but point to a different IP address. Basically dnscache intercepts the call to an external domain and returns a local address, which is what I think you need. > Not sure if the off-list reply was deliberate so I haven't "corrected" > it, but feel free to reply back to the list. It wasn't! hit the wrong button in a hurry! Sorry! Cheers, Laurie. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Laurie Brown laurie(a)brownowl.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------

3 3

SSH clients
by Mark Rogers 13 Jun '17

13 Jun '17

Usually I just SSH directly from my terminal, but that's not a great way to keep track of server IP addresses and keys etc. So, what do others do? -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

6 13

Re: [ALUG] MS Office file formats
by Noel Galer 13 Jun '17

13 Jun '17

You may find the following link useful. Not so much for the obvious explanation, but more for the background :- https://www.howtogeek.com/304622/what-is-a-.docx-file-and-how-is-it-diff erent-from-a-.doc-file-in-microsoft-word/ Personally, I think it is a cynical attempt to keep one step ahead of an 'Open' format, in order to keep the world hooked on MS Office and the spiralling costs. But then I also see Microsoft as a 'single point of failure' for the world. However, the NHS came close to something like that recently. I wonder where the bug came from ? Best regards, Noel XorSyst -----Original Message----- From: main [mailto:main-bounces@lists.alug.org.uk] On Behalf Of Phil Thane Sent: Monday, June 12, 2017 6:31 PM To: main(a)lists.alug.org.uk Subject: [ALUG] MS Office file formats I've used Star Office / Open Office / Libre Office for all my writing work since around 2000. Most editors though want work in MS file formats, previously .doc, now .docx. I notice that Libre Office 5 'save as' function gives me the option to save in MS Word 2007 - 2013 XML (docx). Does anyone know if that's the latest? What does the new-fangled 'MS Office as a Service' use? Are we going to run into compatibility issues all over again? -- Phil Thane www.pthane.co.uk phil(a)pthane.co.uk 01767 449759 07582 750607 Twitter @pthane _______________________________________________ main(a)lists.alug.org.uk http://www.alug.org.uk/ https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/main Unsubscribe? See message headers or the web site above!

2 1

KeePass, was Re: SSH clients
by Mark Rogers 13 Jun '17

13 Jun '17

On 12 June 2017 at 11:57, samwise <samwise(a)bagshot-row.org> wrote: > KeePass is a lot more powerful than first appears! > I've played with Keepass in the (distant) past but not recently, and it's looking like I should take another look. I currently use LastPass (cue cries of horror...) because its Android client generally works pretty well at auto-filling apps (including but not limited to browser). A quick Google shows that there are KeyPass clients for Android (and more than one to choose from!) but a quick glance suggests that while they may give access to the passwords it wasn't clear that auto-fill would be there. (KeePassDroid doesn't seem to have much in the way of feature documentation, but reading the documentation on Keepass2Android, which looks pretty well specified, it allows switching to a Keepass keyboard to auto-enter passwords but that doesn't sound as seamless as LastPass.) What do others use for synchronising their Keepass data securely between machines (including mobiles)? Is it possible to share certain sets of data between users? Mark -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

4 3

sudo &
by Mark Rogers 13 Jun '17

13 Jun '17

Is there an easy was to launch a process with sudo and send it into the background? $ sudo myapp & .. will go straight into the background then stop, waiting for a password to be entered. So I have to bring it back to the foreground (fg), enter the password, stop it (ctrl-z) then send it back into the background (bg). Of-course what normally happens is that I don't realise it's stopped at all, only to come back several hours after a long process should have been running to find it hasn't yet started.... I'm sure there's a better way? Mark -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

6 8

MS Office file formats
by Phil Thane 12 Jun '17

12 Jun '17

I've used Star Office / Open Office / Libre Office for all my writing work since around 2000. Most editors though want work in MS file formats, previously .doc, now .docx. I notice that Libre Office 5 'save as' function gives me the option to save in MS Word 2007 - 2013 XML (docx). Does anyone know if that's the latest? What does the new-fangled 'MS Office as a Service' use? Are we going to run into compatibility issues all over again? -- Phil Thane www.pthane.co.uk phil(a)pthane.co.uk 01767 449759 07582 750607 Twitter @pthane

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Re: [ALUG] Need new laptop AND seek recovery of files from VirtualBox
by Phil Ashby 11 Jun '17

11 Jun '17

On 28/05/17 12:00 Chris Green <cl(a)isbd.net> wrote: > Ted Harding <ted.harding(a)wlandres.net> wrote: >> The Linux filesystems are in VirtualBox ".vdi" files on >> the Windows XP system, which I was able to locate after >> booting with the Slackware CD. I've been looking around >> extensively for info about how to set about this. This >> does not seem to be straightfoward unless the VDI file >> is transerred (somehpow ... ) to another machine on which >> VirtualBox is installed. >> > I think that's the only practical way, copy the .vdi files to a system > which has VirtualBox installed and then get that system to boot the > virtual linux. > > -- Chris Green I've done similar in the past. Get the new machine sorted first, then either: boot up a live CD on the victim and export the local storage to the new machine (probably using the nice easy GUI 'sharing' stuff in Gnome these days); or remove the physical disk(s) and attach to the new machine via a USB caddy / directly into a disk slot if you have one spare, this may be easier than trying to get sharing guff to work. Either way, you can copy off the whole VirtualBox VMs folder from the victim's storage, then work on a nice new/fast/not-broken machine to get them going again. I use a similar approach to properly scan machines for malware, on the basis that one should never try and scan from within the possibly compromised OS. I export the raw disks using a live CD to another machine and scan from there. Cheers, Phil.

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Any DNS/systemd experts here? I have a DNS problem on new xubuntu install
by Chris Green 08 Jun '17

08 Jun '17

My new laptop has xubuntu 17.04 installed and that runs systemd-resolved for local DNS rather than the previous dnsmasq (run by Network Manager). I have a local server on my network that provides DHCP and DNS for the systems on the LAN and thus I can find things by name. From all my older (xubuntu 16.04) systems this works for both unqualified and FQDNs:- chris$ host backup backup.zbmc.eu has address 192.168.1.101 chris$ host pi pi.zbmc.eu has address 192.168.1.2 chris$ host backup.zbmc.eu backup.zbmc.eu has address 192.168.1.101 chris$ host pi.zbmc.eu pi.zbmc.eu has address 192.168.1.2 chris$ However, from the xubuntu 17.04 system, it doesn't work for unqualified names:- chris@t470$ host pi Host pi not found: 2(SERVFAIL) chris@t470$ host backup Host backup not found: 2(SERVFAIL) chris@t470$ host backup.zbmc.eu backup.zbmc.eu has address 192.168.1.101 It looks like it should work because systemd-resolve's configuration seems right:- chris@t470$ systemd-resolve --status Global DNS Domain: zbmc.eu DNSSEC NTA: 10.in-addr.arpa 16.172.in-addr.arpa 168.192.in-addr.arpa 17.172.in-addr.arpa 18.172.in-addr.arpa 19.172.in-addr.arpa 20.172.in-addr.arpa 21.172.in-addr.arpa 22.172.in-addr.arpa 23.172.in-addr.arpa 24.172.in-addr.arpa 25.172.in-addr.arpa 26.172.in-addr.arpa 27.172.in-addr.arpa 28.172.in-addr.arpa 29.172.in-addr.arpa 30.172.in-addr.arpa 31.172.in-addr.arpa corp d.f.ip6.arpa home internal intranet lan local private test Link 3 (wlp4s0) Current Scopes: DNS LLMNR setting: yes MulticastDNS setting: no DNSSEC setting: no DNSSEC supported: no DNS Servers: 192.168.1.2 8.8.8.8 DNS Domain: zbmc.eu Link 2 (enp0s31f6) Current Scopes: none LLMNR setting: yes MulticastDNS setting: no DNSSEC setting: no DNSSEC supported: no Hey! I think I see the problem, I set LLMNR to 'no' in the configuration but above it's still 'yes'. Why isn't it no? :- root@t470:/etc/systemd# more /etc/systemd/resolved.conf # This file is part of systemd. # # systemd is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it # under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by # the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or # (at your option) any later version. # # Entries in this file show the compile time defaults. # You can change settings by editing this file. # Defaults can be restored by simply deleting this file. # # See resolved.conf(5) for details [Resolve] #DNS= #FallbackDNS=8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4 2001:4860:4860::8888 2001:4860:4860::8844 Domains=zbmc.eu LLMNR=no #DNSSEC=no #Cache=yes #DNSStubListener=udp root@t470:/etc/systemd# ... and I have restarted the service. Help! -- Chris Green

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Can anyone point me at a VLAN tutorial aimed at small 'soho' users?
by Chris Green 07 Jun '17

07 Jun '17

I'm trying to use VLANs to separate areas of my home LAN, mostly for security by, for example, keeping guest/Windows WiFi connections isolated from the rest of the system. It appears that just about every manufacturers' idea of what VLAN means is different! I have VLAN ability offered by my TP-Link VDSL router, by my Draytek Vigor 2820n router and by a TP-Link TL-SG108E managed switch. They all seem very different! On the TP-Link router (TD-W9980) the VLAN facility is closely connected with what it calls LAN groups. You can create groups and put the physical LAN ports and WiFi SSIDs into specific groups. Each group has its own DHCP server and thus a different IP range. You can't put anything (LAN port or SSID) into more than one group. In reality there seems to be little real separation between groups as, if you put (say) LAN port 2 into a group by itself any device connected to LAN port 2 will still get replies DHCP requests it sends from any/all the other LAN ports. A different subnet will run on LAN port 2 but if you configure a device connected to that port with a different subnet address it will happily talk to devices on the other ports. The 2820n is quite different. If you set up VLANs on that they all have the same DHCP server (in the 2820n) and are thus on the same subnet, but they are separated and unable to communicate with each other. Devices can be assigned to multiple ports. Thus it's possible to have one VLAN (to which everyone can belong) that has access to the internet and not much else and another VLAN which is the more secure internal VLAN. Finally the TL-SG108E offers three sorts of VLAN - Port based, tagged and MTU (confusing abbreviation that last one, it doesn't mean Maximum Transmission Unit). The manual isn't very helpful, it does the usual TP-Link thing of repeating what the words on the GUI confuguration tell you with no indication of *why* you would want to do anything. Port based VLANs are a bit like the 2820n ones described above except that they seem to expect different subnets, the others I'm not really sure about (as in I don't really understand them) but looking around the internet I gather that the descriptions confuse others too because they don't use the same terms for the same things as others (mostly Cisco) do. Help! :-) I just need a simple explanation of how to split up my LAN such that I can separate a 'Guest WiFi' part (more than one WiFi device), an area that all local users can access (with printer, DNS, etc.) and a more private area (my desktop, backup system, etc.) that only I can access. All users need access to the internet of course. -- Chris Green

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 8th June
by Viperfang 05 Jun '17

05 Jun '17

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

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I have bought my laptop replacement
by Chris Green 03 Jun '17

03 Jun '17

Well after much timewasting searching web sites, reviews, etc. and listening to advice here and elsewhere I have bought my replacement laptop (to replace my Thinkpad T430). I decided to stay with Thinkpad Txxx as reviews indicate they are some of the best machines around *and* they are good for Linux. Rather more in hope than expectation I bid for a T470 on eBay and got it for £650. The T470 is the current T series model and this one has a latest (7th) generation Core i7 processor, 8Gb memory and a 256GB SSD. It is ex-demo and thus virtually unmarked and comes with a full 3 year on-site warranty! New price is around £1500. Wow! :-) I have installed xubuntu 17.04 on it and it's lovely! :-) -- Chris Green

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2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 2nd June.
by Viperfang 30 May '17

30 May '17

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

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Which laptop to buy, help me decide
by Chris Green 29 May '17

29 May '17

Having increased my budget somewhat I seem to have narrowed my choice of laptop on which to run Xubuntu to one of the following two:- A - pcspecialists/novatech/entroware custom system:- https://www.entroware.com/store/orion https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/ultraNoteIV-14/ These are all the same machine built by Clevo and configured by the various companies above. Pcspecialists are cheapest. For my 8Gb, Core I5, SSD machine the cost is around £540. B - A Lenovo Ideapad 510S http://www3.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/ideapad/500-series/Lenovo-IdeaPad-510S… Price (if you shop around) a little less than the one above. I've checked and according to Lenovo forums etc. Ubuntu Linux installs on it without problems. Does anyone have any comments about either of these machines that might push me one way or the other? -- Chris Green

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Has anyone heard of Entroware?
by Chris Green 29 May '17

29 May '17

While searching for my new laptop I came across this company:- https://www.entroware.com They build and sell Ubuntu OS laptops and the prices are not unreasonable. Does anyone know anything about them or has anyone here bought one? -- Chris Green

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Nedd new laptop AND seek rcovery of files from VirtualBox
by Ted Harding 27 May '17

27 May '17

Greetings All! Chris Green's recent message arrived as I was about to compose a similar one! My (somewhat ancient but much-loved) Advent 8117 recently crashed. It had Windows XP, into which I installed VirtualBox into which I then installed Debian (Etch, I think; and Ubuntu). It is the Windows, apparently, which crashed. While, after repeated attempts, it is possible to get windows started, many of the applications icons have vanished rom the screen, including the VirtualBox one. So Linux is now inaccessible on this machine. Yesterday I took it to be looked at by a Computer Suppport person I know (very amiliar with Linux), and we did get somewhere -- using a Slackware Live CD it was possible to have a look at the filesystem. However, when I tried to reboot it just now nothing happened: no sign of power reaching the compuyer (and the battery is dead anyway). I suspect that yesterday's 60-mile round trip may have broken a power-supply connection somewhere in the computer. So FIRST: I'm seeking a replacement. No special hardware requirements beyond a good amount of HD space and of RAM, plus the usual ethernet cable, print (via USB cable), USB ockets etc. And a nicely laid out keyboard with very visible labels (letters etc.) would be very welcome. especially if the "delete" key is at bottom right instead of top right. I'd like it to have Linux installed, preferably Debian, but with Gnome 2 desktop rather than later versions (Fermilab's Scientific Linux has stuck with Gnome 2), since the way I work depends heavily on the array of workspaces displayed at the bottom of the screen in Gnome 2. So any suggested offers? (willing to pay a reasonable price). Then SECOND: I really want to recover files in the Linux systems which have accumulated over the years (not fussy about the entire OS's, though some of the system config files are also important). The Linux filesystems are in VirtualBox ".vdi" files on the Windows XP system, which I was able to locate after booting with the Slackware CD. I've been looking around extensively for info about how to set about this. This does not seem to be straightfoward unless the VDI file is transerred (somehpow ... ) to another machine on which VirtualBox is installed. Any help or advice? With thanks, Ted.

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Looking for a laptop as my T430 has died
by Chris Green 27 May '17

27 May '17

My faithful Lenovo/IBM T430 seems to have died so I'm looking for a replacement. A similar specification would be fine, price is the major issue, the T430 is a refurbished one and I'd be quite happy to go for refurbished again. Requirements are:- Third generation core I5 or better processor 14" screen SSD drive (though I could transfer the one from my T430) 8Gb memory USB 3.0 Gbit ethernet There's no need for any OS though I guess it will be bound to have Windows in which case 7 preferred. There's not so many brands, basically Lenovo, HP/Compaq, Dell, Fujitsu, Asus and Acer seem to be it. Does anyone have any comments on good/bad brands? I've been happy with the Lenovo T430 (but it has died!). So recommendations awaited please. -- Chris Green

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Recovering from ext4 corruption, logs & rsync help
by steve-ALUG＠hst.me.uk 22 May '17

22 May '17

Hi gurus! Request for help below. First, what happened. I had made a copy of some music files/directories I wished to copy to my phone using pcmanfm (I think) but mid copy I got errors "Can't write to readonly filesystem". Thinking this meant that probably my main drive had errored somehow and switched to read-only mode, I decided to reboot, via the shutdown menu. OOPS. Machine would then not boot. It tried to do a on-book fsck, which crashed, but if I interrupted the fsck, it also crashed. I found a live cd, booted from it, loaded mdadm and reassembled my raid arrays then fscked my two partitions /, /home. Errors were found and fixed. Basically some inodes multiplly claimed, and a few reference counts were wrong. Files were placed in Lost + Found. Rebooted & booted OK. Worked out all the lost & Found files were jpgs from my photo albums. sorted them all out. Rebooted again, but sometimes my desktop won't appear, & I'm left at a text loging prompt. Q1) If the desktop doesn't appear, which log files to examine? Dmesg & xorg.*.log? Q2) Any ideas which log files I should check to try and work out what went wrong yesterday? I can't see anything obvious in Kern.log - just a few UFW entries then stuff from when I next booted it. I backup my files via various methods, but one is an Rsync to a USB drive. I backup using sudo rsync -av --del / /media/me/USBDrive/ --exclude-from=/home/me/rsynchbackexclude rsynchbackexclude is a text file containing stuff like /sys/* /dev/* /proc/* /media/* /mnt/* /tmp/* /lost+found/* /var/tmp/* *.iso I want to "compare" the backup with the live hard disk and see what, if anything, is missing. If anything is missing I'll restore if from a different backup source though. I suspect that I need to do a "dry-run" copy from the USB drive to the live hard disk q3) Am I right with this command line to do a "dry run" restore, i.e. show me what would copy, which is in effect, what is different between the USB disk and the live drive? sudo rsync -av --dry-run /media/me/USBDrive/ / --log-file=LogToFile -v = verbose -a = -rlptgoD =>r recursive l copy links as symlinks ptgo preserve permissions, times, group, owner D preserve device files & special files --dry-run = do a dry run --list-only = list changes but don't do any --log-file log to file is this right, or should I do i = itemise changes instead of dry-run? Any help/advise welcomed. Thanks Steve

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How to locate bookmarks data in Mozilla/Firefox/Iceweasel ...
by Ted Harding 18 May '17

18 May '17

Greetings all! I'm seeking to rescue important files and other info from a laptop that has just "crashed". I had installed Linux (Debian) on a virtual machine (VirtualBox) installed on windows XP. It's Windows XP which has gone both bottom-up and tits-up. I think I can probably use a CD with Slackware installed to boot from (Ive tried it on another machine, and it works), which should then give me access to the Linux filesystem stored on the hard drive separately from the Windows filesystem. Once there, when it concerns files which I know where to find on the filesystem, there should be no problem reading their contents (though extracting the files themselves for transfer to my working machine may be another issue). However, one important item which I would like to plant on my working machine is the set of bookmarks (hierarchically organised) that I have built up over many years on the crashed machine's Mozilla/Firefos/Iceweasel browser. Presumably this lurks somewhere is a ".filename" in my home directory. But I've not managed to sniff out such a file on my working machine (also Debian), so I wouldn't know where to look on the crashed machine. Therefore, please, can anyone tell me where the file is likely to be, and what it's likely to be named? Then I could transcribe its contents to the other machine. With thanks, Ted.

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Gnome panel?
by Bev Nicolson 09 May '17

09 May '17

Is there any way of adding or removing applets from the Gnome2 panel? I've googled but can’t find any info. The usual advice (alt + right click doesn't work any more, it seems.) Bev

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lappy aboard
by Phil Thane 09 May '17

09 May '17

Thanks for your help guys. Similar answers from both sides, seems to be a choice of either a car adapter or a bare board type converter. The car type is likely to be easier, in fact I think it would be a good idea to fit a couple of 'cigar lighter' type sockets when I do a refit in the winter. Regarding the two battery setup, I will keep them as engine battery and leisure battery, but probably fit a split charging circuit so that the leisure battery is topped up by the engine once the engine battery is full in case the solar panel doesn't supply enough once I add more lights, laptop, audio, shower pump... On the other hand it would be good to have the solar panel keep the engine battery topped up when we don't use it for a while, so will investigate split charging in both directions. Might get complicated unless someone makes a specialist control box for just that scenario, in which case it'll get expensive! -- Phil Thane www.pthane.co.uk phil(a)pthane.co.uk 01767 449759 07582 750607 Twitter @pthane

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lappy aboard
by Phil Thane 09 May '17

09 May '17

This is Linux related, sort of, so I hope ALUG don't mind the apparently random question. (cc'd to my old LUG in Wrexham, they're used to mad questions from me). I have just bought a canal/river boat and want to use my Linux laptop on it. The PSU for it is labelled 19v, 4.7 amps. The boat runs on 12v. The simplest but quite pricy option is to get an inverter to create 220v AC then use the standard PSU but apart from cost it lacks elegance. The boat has 2 completely separate circuits (at present, I'll probably re-wire it next winter). There is a 12v battery charged by the engine that is used for the engine starter and a few ancillaries such as the horn and nav lights. The there is another 12v battery charged by a solar panel on the roof used for cabin lights. If I connect the two in series I should get 24v then I should be able to acquire (or even assemble) a DC-DC voltage regulator to bring it down to 19v. Anyone see any problems with that? -- Phil Thane www.pthane.co.uk phil(a)pthane.co.uk 01767 449759 07582 750607 Twitter @pthane

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