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Want an application for scanning and maximising WiFi signals
by Chris Green 30 Aug '15

30 Aug '15

I'm currently playing with an Alpha Networks external/outdoor USB WiFi device. It's essentially just a WiFi dongle with an aerial in a waterproof box on the end of a long USB cable. Thus you can position it in a window or up a pole outside to get a connection to a fairly distant WiFi source. I need a way to find and then maximise WiFi signals, you can't really just use Network Manager as there no easy way to monitor a signal while waving the aerial around. I have found wpa_gui which isn't very good, I can't get it to scan repeatedly at any reasonable rate. I have also tried iwScanner which is better but is no longer maintained and crashes at intervals, it would be nice if it could scan faster too. Can anyone recommend a good tool for this job, just needs to allow one to select a WiFi signal and then show its signal strength as a bar which is refreshed reasonably frequently. -- Chris Green

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Sort of OT (off Linux) but still - outdoor router that supports EAP-SIM authentication
by Chris Green 16 Aug '15

16 Aug '15

It's not really specifically Linux but it's computery. Does anyone know of an outdoor WiFi client box (i.e. something similar to the TP-Link TL-WA7210) that supports EAP-SIM authentication? EAP-SIM is authentication using data from a SIM but authenticates a WiFi connection. There are descriptions of how to do EAP-SIM authentication via wpa_supplicant in a Linux box but that requires the WiFi hardware to be in (or directly connected to) the Linux box. I'm after a way of doing it in a remote outdoor router connected by ethernet to my Linux box. I'm already investigating the alternative way of doing this with an outdoor USB WiFi adapter plugged into the Linux box. This is possibly the way to go but it's not all that straightforward getting USB WiFi adapters to work with Linux so the above external router method might be easier. -- Chris Green

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Exploit
by Anthony Anson 13 Aug '15

13 Aug '15

Can't remember where I saw this, but in case it's news to anybody: https://blog.mozilla.org/security/2015/08/06/firefox-exploit-found-in-the-w… -- Tony http://www.girolle.co.uk/

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 13th August
by Viperfang 12 Aug '15

12 Aug '15

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 13th 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 http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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Huge file transfers?
by John Cohen 07 Aug '15

07 Aug '15

Apart from dropbox and other proprietary syncing software, how do you share large files (Say, 30 or 50GB) easily and securely with another person/client? I could buy wetransfer plus etc but I'd rather keep the files under my roof, saving time (not having to upload them somewhere else before sharing them) and not worrying about privacy issues. I have an FTP server which works fine, but when it comes to customers and other teamworkers who aren't that tech savvy, they just prefer using wetransfer or similar services, where files are dropped and uploaded on a browser and users notified by mail with a download link. (plus FTP isn't secure, and SFTP is complex if using keys when sharing with customers) I've tried the the following F*EX Pros: 1) pretty good because it's not PHP based and therefore hasn't got php / apache upload limitations. 2) The system feels pretty robust after trying it out and uses minimal resources. Cons: 1) Pretty ugly, and customization is basic unless you're a guru (which I'm not) 2) Relies on a mail server. I have postfix installed but I'd rather not have to rely on it as it's another layer of complication (namely emails arriving in clients spam folders, etc) Zendto Pros: 1) looks much more sophisticated in terms of functionality 2) looks very slick. Cons: 1) Php based. upload limits are 2gb unless tweaked, but even then not a great way to serve VERY large files (customers download interruptions etc) 2) Still relies on installing a mail server for notifications Owncloud Pros 1) Has a sync client for huge files, good for file sharing between work colleagues 2) easy to use for everyone 3) can send notifications with external mail server Cons: 1) Bit of a resource hog as it's designed for file syncing, not sending a large file from A to B 2) When sharing with others outside the team (via links), apache and browser limitations still exist. I can't guarantee clients have an up-to-date browser, and I wouldn't rely on sharing a file that large via php. Is there any other open source solution that you've tried which is both robust for huge file sharing and easy for the average folk to use? Any personal experiences? John

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How to prevent Google redirects to www.googleadservices.com?
by Chris Green 06 Aug '15

06 Aug '15

I use Google Shopping quite a lot but I'd like to prevent the redirects that record one's clicks through to sellers' web sites. These redirects also occur on the advertising links returned when you do a normal Google search. E.g. if you search for 'Sandals' in Google you will see a number of adverts (for places selling sandals amazingly) down the right hand side with a little yellow "Ads" at the top. I want to be able to click on these adverts and *not* get redirected via www.googleadservices.com. This is the default means by which advertisers see that you have clicked through from a Google search. Some advertisers don't go via www.googleadservices.com (e.g. eBay and Amazon), presumably they do their own thing somehow. Anyway I just want to go direct to the advertiser's/seller's site when I click the link, both for provacy and for speed. Surely there's a Firefox add-on that does this for me, all it needs to do is extract //www.toolandfix.com/carters-862e28-replacement-spade-and-fork-bent-taper-t-shovel-handle-28.html%3Futm_source%3Dgoogle_shopping from http://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=CPuTM3g-5VdO6NKLk7gb16a… -- Chris Green

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2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 7th August.
by Viperfang 04 Aug '15

04 Aug '15

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

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What Ad blockers do you use?
by Chris Green 28 Jul '15

28 Jul '15

What Ad blocking plugins do people use here (Firefox on Xubuntu mostly)? -- Chris Green

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Huge file transfers?
by John Cohen 24 Jul '15

24 Jul '15

Apart from dropbox and other proprietary syncing software, how do you share large files (Say, 30 or 50GB) easily and securely with another person/client? I could buy the service of wetransfer plus etc but I'd rather keep the files under my roof, saving time (not having to upload them somewhere else before sharing them) and not worrying about privacy issues. I have an FTP server which works fine, but when it comes to customers and other teamworkers who aren't that tech savvy, they just prefer using wetransfer or similar services, where files are dropped and uploaded on a browser and users notified by mail with a download link. I've tried the the following F*EX Pros: 1) pretty good because it's not PHP based and therefore hasn't got php / apache upload limitations. 2) The system feels pretty robust after trying it out and uses minimal resources. Cons: 1) Pretty ugly, and customization is basic unless you're a guru (which I'm not) 2) Relies on a mail server. I have postfix installed but I'd rather not have to rely on it as it's another layer of complication (namely emails arriving in clients spam folders, etc) Zendto Pros: 1) looks much more sophisticated in terms of functionality 2) looks very slick. Cons: 1) Php based. upload limits are 2gb unless tweaked, but even then not a great way to serve VERY large files (customers download interruptions etc) 2) Still relies on installing a mail server for notifications Owncloud Pros 1) Has a sync client for huge files, good for file sharing between work colleagues 2) easy to use for everyone 3) can send notifications with external mail server Cons: 1) Bit of a resource hog as it's designed for file syncing, not sending a large file from A to B 2) When sharing with others outside the team (via links), apache and browser limitations still exist. I can't garantee clients have an up-to-date browser, and I wouldn't rely on sharing a file that large via php. Is there any other open source solution that you've tried which is both robust for huge file sharing and easy for the average folk to use? Any personal experiences? Cheers, John

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IFTTT and FOSS alternatives
by Mark Rogers 21 Jul '15

21 Jul '15

Background: A couple of times I've had my garage freezer defrost. I'm pretty sure it's not failed, just that the door isn't properly shut, so I want to find a simple way to monitor it. I already have some basic wireless energy monitors and I figure a reduction in average usage (eg it failed) or an increase (door open) would be a good place to start. I've not done anything like this before and I'm thinking about building it around a Pi. But for the "if the energy drops below X or goes above Y for a period of Z then send me an email/text message/other alert" bit I figure I should use something standard. IFTTT came to mind (never used it, been aware of it for years). Or, if I care about my data, a FOSS alternative (Huginn and Bip.io came up from a Google search). Anyone here had any experience of anything like this to make a recommendation? This is intended to be the start of an adventure where I start playing with all sorts of potential triggers and actions so to be honest I'm not so fussed about a specific solution as I am in finding a gateway into something to play with. IoT is something I'd like to experiment with in general, but due to lack of time I really need to be able to get something useful up and running pretty easily that I can then extend when time permits. 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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Adobe Flash alternatives
by Bev Nicolson 18 Jul '15

18 Jul '15

And getting them working in Firefox, specifically. Given that version 18 of Flash is unlikely to be heading to to an update manager near me any time soon (or indeed anytime at all) and Firefox has restricted it, I'd be quite keen to swop. I've got gnash and lightspark installed now, but how do I get Firefox to recognise them. Bev.

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 9th July
by Viperfang 06 Jul '15

06 Jul '15

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 9th 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 http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 3rd July.
by Viperfang 30 Jun '15

30 Jun '15

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

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Reliable PCIE USB3 cards
by Mark Rogers 25 Jun '15

25 Jun '15

I've bought a number of USB3 cards in the past which usually work for a while but never for long. Maybe a reboot will bring them back to life, maybe it won't! Any recommendations for a good USB3 card for Linux (Ubuntu)? It'll be mainly used for accessing external USB drives, which may be connected 24/7. Chipset recommendations are useful, but I'm learning that either the card matters as much as teh chipset or not all chipsets are what they claim to be. Ideally I want 4 external ports, but 2 would suffice most of the time. (Everything that I connect to it will be powered so minimal USB power required, although I assume I'll still need to supply additional power to the card?) 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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Unable to install grub to server
by Jenny Hopkins 19 Jun '15

19 Jun '15

Hi all, I'd be grateful for some help getting my server booting again. It's running debian jessie, with software RAID and LVM, running xen (or was). Yesterday one of the disks failed, so I ordered another, and, when it arrived today, removed the dead one from the array, put the new disk in, and.....landed at the grub rescue prompt. So I booted up into a rescue disk, assembled the RAID, mounted the root on /mnt, and did a chroot. Running install-grub on the disk (/dev/sdb) gave me this error: warning: your core.img is unusually large. It won't fit in the embedding area. error: embedding is not possible, but this is required for RAID and LVM install. So I looked at the partition table. I have two partitions, /dev/sdb1 and /dev/sdb2. The latter is nearly 1TB, and is the root. Both are of type 'linux raid autodetect'. /dev/sdb1 started at 63, so I deleted this partition, created a new one as type linux raid autodetect, and it was automatically assigned the start of 2048. Then I ran grub install again, calling the raid and ext2 and lvm modules, but now I keep getting the error grub-install: error: unknown filesystem I'm not entirely sure what I'm actually doing here....been searching for help for hours. I found one page that suggested grub2 gets confused by a single disk in an array. Here's the current partition table: Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type /dev/sdb1 2048 996029 993982 485.4M fd Linux raid autodetect /dev/sdb2 * 996030 1915060454 1914064425 912.7G fd Linux raid autodetect /boot is part of the root on /dev/sdb2 rather than a separate lvm one. I'm not entirely sure how it even managed to boot before, but I only had the /dev/sda2 and /dev/sdb2 in a raid array, so there must have been a subtle difference in /dev/sda that had allowed grub to install to it. Maybe grub was installed before I created the RAID array - I originally only had one disk in there? Anyway, any suggestions very welcome. The trouble with a xen server being that all my eggs are in one proverbial basket. Jenny

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Re: [ALUG] Reliable PCIE USB3 cards
by Mark Rogers 18 Jun '15

18 Jun '15

On 18 June 2015 at 15:31, Bobby Moss <bobbyjmoss(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Wouldn't it make more sense to hang fire until USB3.1 PCIe cards appear? To be honest I know nothing about USB3.1. Any idea when cards might appear? Even so I'd probably only use the release of USB3.1 as an opportunity to get a decent USB3 card cheap and wait for USB3.1 cards to come down in price (and get any bugs fixed!). In the meantime, though, I have drives I need access to now, and I'm currently having to either shuffle them between the available USB3 front ports I have or drop to USB2. So an interim solution is still worthwhile to me. I will keep an eye out for USB3.1 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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Detecting ethernet cabling issues
by Mark Rogers 17 Jun '15

17 Jun '15

Are there any tools that would help detect/locate cabling issues? I suspect I have a dodgy connection on a length of cable that runs outside my house between my (Ubuntu) desktop and my (OpenWrt) router. There's a gigabit switch between the two although I could probably reroute cables enough to bypass that if necessary. My old desktop has been generally slow for a while, and now that I've replaced it with a new PC, with a fresh install to a new SSD, it's (very disappointingly) no better. Given that most of what I use it for uses the network in some way I'm thinking that's my next place to look. 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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external HDD
by Anthony Anson 16 Jun '15

16 Jun '15

Just bought a portable hard drive enclosure and USB2 connection cable. The cable has two large USB connectors at one end - the second of which has a much shorter and skinnier cable; and a mini connector at the enclosure end. My not-very-portable storage of similar type, but big, has only one USB connector per end of its cable. I infer from this that the only one of the connectors at the pooter end should be (need be?) plugged in? The 500 GB HDD in the enclosure is SATA, as is the 160 GB one in the notebook. (because I had thought of installing things on the big one and puting it in the notebook...) Anyway, I can't poke it into life. I get the rude message: /Unable to mount location/ and underneath that: /Can't mount file./ Where is the fault? Hardware? Me? (I had meant to bring it along to the Norwich meet last night, but ) -- Tony http://www.girolle.co.uk/

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[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : The Mulberry Tree
by samwise 15 Jun '15

15 Jun '15

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- The monthly "Third Monday" ALUG Ipswich Social Meeting is back today, 15th June, at 20:00: The Mulberry Tree 5 Woodbridge Road IPSWICH IP4 2EA Tel: 01473 225776 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP4+2EA WWW: https://www.facebook.com/MULBERRYHOSPITALITY The Mulberry Tree, previously known as The Milestone Beer House, is a grade 2 listed building in the centre of Ipswich. It is located at the intersection between Woodbridge Road and the A1156, across the road from the old Odeon cinema and not far from the Regent Theatre. It re-opened on Thursday March 29th 2012 after a major refurbishment, under its original name of The Mulberry House and has already begun to regain a good reputation for its selection of beers and ales. It has a sizeable car park to the rear of the building. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. I'll be there, but I may be a tad late ... Cheers, Peter. -- I ran the London Marathon 2015 in aid of the PSP Association. All sponsorship gratefully received. :) http://www.bagshot-row.org/marathonformum ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 11th June
by Viperfang 09 Jun '15

09 Jun '15

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 11th 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 http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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Re: [ALUG] Hi
by John Cohen 02 Jun '15

02 Jun '15

Thanks for the welcome, good to know there's quite a few linux users around. Mark, I rely almost entirely on Pro Tools, which of course only runs on windows (badly) or mac, or a hackintosh in my case. But there are certain things I do on one of my linux boxes, like more creative sound design, including csound and pure data. Ardour's saved the day a few times when I needed emergency Foley recordings and didn't have my proper rig with me. I think I'm away on the 2nd Nev, but if not I might see you then. cheers, John -- John Cohen (+44)7500042065 www.john-cohen.com On 27 May 2015 at 13:18, Anthony Anson <tony.anson(a)girolle.co.uk> wrote: > On 27/05/15 12:51, Tony wrote: > >> >> Personal opinion of W7 is that it is bloated resource hog. >> > > Well, that's a 'given', but it's there, and there's loads and loads of > room on the HDD. I do have an XP CD and XP Crack, but have never used > either. > > Basic >> install consumes around 20gb. Is there not a linux alternative to >> Irfanview you could use? >> > > Don't think so, but haven't looked for ages. > > I use Shotwell to download and catalogue >> captures, Luminance HDR to process RAW HDR's, Gimp and Darktable to >> tweak and refine. Fotoxx could be an alternative to try. >> > > I've been using The Gimp, but for basic manipulation of graphics I haven't > found anything to beat Irfanview. > > -- > Tony > http://www.girolle.co.uk/ > > > _______________________________________________ > main(a)lists.alug.org.uk > http://www.alug.org.uk/ > http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/main > Unsubscribe? See message headers or the web site above! >

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2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 5th June.
by Viperfang 02 Jun '15

02 Jun '15

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

1 0

Ubuntu UPS
by Mark Rogers 31 May '15

31 May '15

I've had a Leibert UPS for a while and for some reason I decided today to plug the UPS cable in so I could get around to configuring NUT. However I noticed that without doing anything else, Ubuntu (15.04) was showing me a battery indicator (much as it would if this was a laptop). I removed power and it showed discharging, but not until a few minutes had passed. Similarly when restoring power it too several minutes to show charging. Any ideas where I can tweak this? I can't see any of the usual tools installed. (I did find /sys/module/battery/parameters/cache_time but changing that to zero had no effect.) -- 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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Mapping a local IP to a remote one
by Mark Rogers 29 May '15

29 May '15

I'm sure that if I could make a decent job of explaining what I mean I could Google for this but... My PC is (say) 192.168.1.10, and it can access a remote device (192.168.2.100) via a VPN. What I want to do is give my PC an extra IP address (eg 192.168.1.11) and map all network traffic to that IP address (on any port, and including broadcast traffic) to 192.168.2.100, and send any responses back. In doing so, any other PC on my LAN would be able to access the remote device as if it were local (192.168.1.11). Can I do this? (Background: In this case I have some brain-dead Windows configuration software that can only talk to devices on the LAN, so I need to make the remote device appear as if it were on the LAN. However I have had similar challenges in the past where using a local Linux box as a conduit to remote devices would have been useful.) If relevant, whilst 192.168.2.100 is not a Linux PC (it's an industrial I/O unit), I do have a Linux PC on the remote network that could form part of the tunnel if required. The key point is that I need the remote unit to appear to be on the local network, not just to be accessible from it. My Windows PC can ping (etc) the remote unit fine via the VPN itself, but the configuration software will only search for and work with devices on 192.168.1.0/24, so I need to fake it. -- 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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Hi
by John Cohen 28 May '15

28 May '15

Hi everyone, I'm a sound designer living and working in Norwich and London (I mainly do sound-post production for films/commercials) I've been using linux for a few years now, (since 2007 I think?) and recently I've built and maintain a server for our small company. Still consider myself a rookie but am trying to learn as much as I can during my spare time! Look forward to reading you all / meeting some of you at a local pub some day. Cheers, John -- John Cohen

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git help
by Chris Walker 28 May '15

28 May '15

Can somebody help me with some git commands please? I have a git repo called https://github.com/tonercloud/beertent and which contains two projects, harbour-beertent and harbour-beerguide. But I want to split out harbour-beerguide into a separate repository and also if possible move harbour-beertent up a level so that beertent is empty and just leave that repo as harbour-beertent. I created a folder on my machine called beerguide_gitrepo/ and having looked at this page and run step 3 - https://help.github.com/articles/splitting-a-subfolder-out-into-a-new-repos… that folder now contains a beertent folder and that in turn now has two sub-folders harbour-beertent and harbour-beerguide. But so does beertent_gitrepo. I've done as far as step 4 but that's where I am reluctant to go any further for fear of royally screwing things up. Step 5 says I should run 'git filter-branch' but for me, it lacks clarity. As I said above, I want to remove the beertent name and just leave things named harbour-* So can anybody tell me precisely the command(s) I should type in to remove harbour-beerguide from the local beertent_gitrepo and similarly remove harbour-beertent from the local beerguide_gitrepo and remove the beertent folders completely? TIA -- __ __| |_ __ __ .----------------------------------------------. / _/ _` \ V V / | mailto:alug_cdw@the-walker-household.co.uk | \__\__,_|\_/\_/ |______________________________________________|

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Starting Nexus at Startup
by Paul Grenyer 28 May '15

28 May '15

Hi All I've got a digital ocean droplet with Sonatype's Nexus installed and I'm trying to get it to start when the droplet starts. I've followed the instructions here: https://books.sonatype.com/nexus-book/reference/install-sect-service.html and updated the properties file with these: NEXUS_HOME="/usr/local/nexus-2.11.2-06" RUN_AS_USER=nexus PIDDIR="/home/nexus" and can now start and stop the service like this: service nexus start service nexus stop I added the JAVA_HOME environment variable and added JAVAM_HOME/bin to the path for the nexus user, even though I suspect they're not needed. When I restart the droplet, nexus doesn't start. The nexus log isn't written to either. I believe I have the permissions right in /etc/inid.d: -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 14639 May 28 01:48 /etc/init.d/nexus I've even tried adding: nexus ALL = NOPASSWD: /etc/init.d/nexus to the sudoers file, but all to no avail. I don't know where to check the log for service starts either. Can anyone help, please? -- Thanks Paul Paul Grenyer e: paul.grenyer(a)gmail.com b: paulgrenyer.blogspot.com t: pjgrenyer Have you thought what Naked Element could do for you? http://nakedelement.co.uk/ It's time to get technical: http://norfolkdevelopers.com

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[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : The Mulberry Tree
by samwise 18 May '15

18 May '15

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- The monthly "Third Monday" ALUG Ipswich Social Meeting is back today, 18th May, at 20:00: The Mulberry Tree 5 Woodbridge Road IPSWICH IP4 2EA Tel: 01473 225776 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP4+2EA WWW: https://www.facebook.com/MULBERRYHOSPITALITY The Mulberry Tree, previously known as The Milestone Beer House, is a grade 2 listed building in the centre of Ipswich. It is located at the intersection between Woodbridge Road and the A1156, across the road from the old Odeon cinema and not far from the Regent Theatre. It re-opened on Thursday March 29th 2012 after a major refurbishment, under its original name of The Mulberry House and has already begun to regain a good reputation for its selection of beers and ales. It has a sizeable car park to the rear of the building. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. Unfortunately, I probably can't make it this evening - but hopefully there will be some other regulars in attendance. Feel free to discuss who's going and when on the main mailing list. Cheers, Peter. -- I ran the London Marathon 2015 in aid of the PSP Association. All sponsorship gratefully received. :) http://www.bagshot-row.org/marathonformum ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

1 0

LibreOffice Hackfest in Cambridge on May 21st
by Sam Tuke 07 May '15

07 May '15

Pardon my for posting directly to your mailing list -- I have an announcement that may be interesting to LibreOffice users in the area. Later this month on May 21st-23rd the first UK LibreOffice Hackfest takes place next to Cambridge Train Station. Everyone is welcome to participate and learn how to hack on LibreOffice. Full details, including transport, accommodation, and reimbursement information, can be found here: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Hackfest/Cambridge2015 A printable poster / flier about the event can be found here: https://libreoffice-from-collabora.com/spread-the-word-libreoffice-hackfest… Thanks for reading, Sam Tuke.

1 0

Port Forwarding with Apache
by Paul Grenyer 04 May '15

04 May '15

Hi All I'm frustrated because this is something I have done several times, have working in production and am not able to do again. I suspect there's a piece of understanding I'm missing. I've installed Apache on a Digital Ocean, Ubuntu droplet: aptitude install apache2 a2enmod proxy a2enmod proxy_http service apache2 restart And configured it to forward to port 8938: nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf <VirtualHost *:80> ServerAdmin paul(a)nakedelement.co.uk ServerName solr.nakedelement.co.uk ServerAlias solr ProxyRequests Off <Proxy *> Order deny,allow Allow from all </Proxy> ProxyPreserveHost on ProxyPass / http://localhost:8983/ ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:8983/ </VirtualHost> service apache2 restart However, when I go to the droplet in the browser I get a 404. I have an existing droplet which is configured in exactly the same way and when and I access it in a browser via its IP address I get a 404, which is odd, because if I access it via solr.nakedelement.co.uk it works and the url just points to the IP address. I've tried the obvious thing of removing ServerName and restarting Apache, but there's not change. What am I not understanding? -- Thanks Paul Paul Grenyer e: paul.grenyer(a)gmail.com b: paulgrenyer.blogspot.com t: pjgrenyer Have you thought what Naked Element could do for you? http://nakedelement.co.uk/ It's time to get technical: http://norfolkdevelopers.com

2 2

Clocks
by Chris Walker 01 May '15

01 May '15

Hello, My machine seems to be having problems with its clock. Linux keeps resetting the RTC to minus one hour. The desktop is currently showing the time as 10:46 for example. If I run timedatectl, it shows this :- Local time: Wed 2015-04-29 11:43:59 BST Universal time: Wed 2015-04-29 10:43:59 UTC RTC time: Wed 2015-04-29 10:43:59 Time zone: Europe/London (BST, +0100) NTP enabled: yes NTP synchronized: no RTC in local TZ: no DST active: yes Last DST change: DST began at Sun 2015-03-29 00:59:59 GMT Sun 2015-03-29 02:00:00 BST Next DST change: DST ends (the clock jumps one hour backwards) at Sun 2015-10-25 01:59:59 BST Sun 2015-10-25 01:00:00 GMT Just before I booted into linux (the machine dual boots between Mageia 5 and Windows 7) I set the time in the BIOS to be 11:43 but I see that it's changed already. Does anybody have any ideas what's going wrong, and more importantly how to fix it? -- __ __| |_ __ __ .----------------------------------------------. / _/ _` \ V V / | mailto:alug_cdw@the-walker-household.co.uk | \__\__,_|\_/\_/ |______________________________________________|

3 7

"Router" distros
by Mark Rogers 30 Apr '15

30 Apr '15

In our office we have relatively poor ADSL connectivity (4-6 Mbps - I know some people here have far worse though). We currently have two ADSL lines linked together via a Draytek router and do OK. However I'd like to think about adding a third line and that goes beyond what the Draytek can do. So I'd like suggestions for Linux distros which could replace the Draytek and do some half decent load balancing (and possibly caching for eg Linux and Windows updates etc) across multiple connections. It would need to be able to handle a number of VPN connections too (PPTP unfortunately but that's determined by the other end points). I'm not interested in rolling my own - it needs to "just work" in the way that the Draytek does. ClearOS and pfSense are on my radar although I have no experience of either. Any other suggestions or advice? -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

6 17

External HDD
by Anthony Anson 30 Apr '15

30 Apr '15

Bought a 500 Gig SATA drive and a portable enclosure to corral it, the idea being to install the latest Mint on it, and update Thunderguts and Firefox (or whatever it's called this week), then transfer what I want from the drive in my MSi notebook. I plug in the USB connections and a pretty blue light comeson, the drive is spinning, but there is no sign of it where there should be. True, I haven't played with the jumpers yet, but surely, there ought to be *some* acknowledgement that there's a drive there? And what number has Mint reached? I'm running 14 at present, and I have a feeling that it's a bit too long in the tooth... -- Tony http://www.girolle.co.uk/

2 2

Firefox crashing again and again
by Bev Nicolson 29 Apr '15

29 Apr '15

I have googled (using Chromium which seems fine) and looked at the info Mozilla provide but it isn't that useful. The problem is this. I try starting Firefox (37) and while it's doing that it crashes. If it does appear I get an entirely blank window (not toolbars, nothing.) I've tried running it in safe mode but to be honest, I've no idea how to diagnose the cause from there. Help, please. Bev.

2 2

Google Maps
by Ted.Harding＠wlandres.net 28 Apr '15

28 Apr '15

Greetings All. A quick query (sorry it's probably not Linux-relevant, though it might be). As of today (possibly yesterday) Google Maps is not coming up as it usually does and indeed what does come up is blank and useless. Previously (e.f. Sunday) it had been fine. There is a "search box" but it fails to find a named location or a post-code. The above for iceweasel/firefox browsers. On Opera browser I at least get a world map which I can zoom into, but still cannot enter a specific location or do anything else (e.g. find a route from A to B). What are other people's experiences? With thanks, Ted. ------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)wlandres.net> Date: 28-Apr-2015 Time: 19:48:56 This message was sent by XFMail -------------------------------------------------

2 1

external drive
by Anthony Anson 27 Apr '15

27 Apr '15

Hum - can't find any jumpers to play with... -- Tony http://www.girolle.co.uk/

2 3

Securing Ubuntu
by Paul Grenyer 22 Apr '15

22 Apr '15

Hi All I've a service running on port 8983 of an ubuntu Digital Ocean droplet. In front of that I've got Apache web server forwarding from port 80. It seams that Digital Ocean droplets don't have any security, which obviously isn't great for production. I'd like to secure my server ready for production, but I'm not really sure where to start. I'm assuming I at least need to block access to all ports except 80 and the SSH port, but I don't know how. What else do I need to do? -- Thanks Paul Paul Grenyer Director paul(a)nakedelement.co.uk +44 (0) 1603 383458 @nakedelement http://nakedelement.co.uk

7 16

ext3 missing data
by Mark Rogers 21 Apr '15

21 Apr '15

I have an ext3 filesystem on a 4GB SD card in a remote unit. It had a large log file causing the disk to be full. At that point I was unable to SSH into it so I had someone on site put the SD card into a Windows laptop and used Ext2FS to delete the log file (and to fix the network issues that were preventing my logging in). I can now SSH in and that log file is gone but the disk space isn't back, leaving me running with only a few MB available. What do I do? I am restricted to what I can do via SSH logged into the unit (ie with the filesystem mounted and in use), or via TeamViewer to a Windows 8 laptop with an SD card reader in it. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

5 12

[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : The Mulberry Tree
by samwise 20 Apr '15

20 Apr '15

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- The monthly "Third Monday" ALUG Ipswich Social Meeting is back today, 20th April, at 20:00: The Mulberry Tree 5 Woodbridge Road IPSWICH IP4 2EA Tel: 01473 225776 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP4+2EA WWW: https://www.facebook.com/MULBERRYHOSPITALITY The Mulberry Tree, previously known as The Milestone Beer House, is a grade 2 listed building in the centre of Ipswich. It is located at the intersection between Woodbridge Road and the A1156, across the road from the old Odeon cinema and not far from the Regent Theatre. It re-opened on Thursday March 29th 2012 after a major refurbishment, under its original name of The Mulberry House and has already begun to regain a good reputation for its selection of beers and ales. It has a sizeable car park to the rear of the building. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. Cheers, Peter. -- I am aiming to run the London Marathon 2015 in aid of the PSP Association. All sponsorship gratefully received. :) http://www.bagshot-row.org/marathonformum ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

1 0

Build for an old release - how?
by Chris Green 09 Apr '15

09 Apr '15

I want to build something (as in I can get a tar.gz source package) for an old release so I can use it on a site with that (old) release. The 'old' site reports its installed binaries as:- ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), for GNU/Linux 2.6.9, dynamically linked (uses shared libs), for GNU/Linux 2.6.9, stripped Is there any (reasonably easy) way I can set up a build environment on a system where I have full access (i.e. my desktop at home) so that I can create an executable for the above? -- Chris Green

2 2

Confused kernel version
by Mark Rogers 09 Apr '15

09 Apr '15

Either I'm confused or my PC is. Ubuntu 14.10, relatively recent installation. apt-get update / upgrade / dist-upgrade completed and rebooted. $ uname -r 3.13.0-46-generic $ sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic The following extra packages will be installed: linux-headers-3.16.0-34 linux-headers-3.16.0-34-generic The following NEW packages will be installed linux-headers-3.16.0-34 linux-headers-3.16.0-34-generic linux-headers-generic 0 to upgrade, 3 to newly install, 0 to remove and 0 not to upgrade. Surely the headers should be matching the current kernel, and if 3.16.0 is out there why aren't I running it? I discovered this off the back of trying to get VirtualBox to start, which it won't because it can't compile its drivers, because the headers are missing for the kernel it is running. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

2 2

Audio and get_iplayer info
by Chris Walker 09 Apr '15

09 Apr '15

I know that some people here are interested in audio and others use get-iplayer. So perhaps those people might like to look at this site - http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/BBC/AudioFactory/AudioFactory.html which will give them some information relating to the changes that the BBC are making to audio on streams and also what changes might need to be made to get_iplayer code in order to fetch data in the future. -- __ __| |_ __ __ .----------------------------------------------. / _/ _` \ V V / | mailto:alug_cdw@the-walker-household.co.uk | \__\__,_|\_/\_/ |______________________________________________|

1 0

Automount problem - solved
by Chris Walker 31 Mar '15

31 Mar '15

Having thought long and hard and after lots of googling, I decided that I would try my 'failing' Seagate 1TB USB disc in the USB3 interface. It works and pops up the notification message. So it appears that something has changed to affect USB3 devices such that they will only work on USB3 interface. It probably *isn't* that, but it seems that way here! -- __ __| |_ __ __ .----------------------------------------------. / _/ _` \ V V / | mailto:alug_cdw@the-walker-household.co.uk | \__\__,_|\_/\_/ |______________________________________________|

1 0

2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 3rd April.
by Viperfang 31 Mar '15

31 Mar '15

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

1 0

USB drive won't automount
by Chris Walker 30 Mar '15

30 Mar '15

Hello, Back in October of last year I had problems with a new kernel on my machine (Mageia 4 64 bit) which I reported here. Over the weekend, I did another upgrade to be greeted on Sunday morning by a kernel panic and it wouldn't go at all. So rapidly getting fed up with it and even more rapidly losing what little I had left of my patience, I downloaded Mageia 5 Beta 3 and using that as a live DVD, booted up the box and did a backup of / to an attached NTFS disc. Encouraged by the fact that the live system worked and even though it's still a beta, I installed it over Mageia 4. It works and even though it's done loads more upgrades since yesterday morning, it's still working apart from a 1TB USB disc. I wasn't seeing any notifications when I plugged it in but that was fixed by a setting on the device notifier. If I plug in a 32GB USB stick, that does pop a notification and I can see the disc in the file manager. But even though dmesg shows the 1TB disc as being present, it's not mounting. Does anybody have any ideas why not? Just in case it's important, I notice that when the machine boots, right at the start there's a message about /usr/lib/udev/rules/50-firmware.rules but that's empty apart from a couple of comments. -- __ __| |_ __ __ .----------------------------------------------. / _/ _` \ V V / | mailto:alug_cdw@the-walker-household.co.uk | \__\__,_|\_/\_/ |______________________________________________|

1 0

xmodmap at X start
by Richard Lewis 26 Mar '15

26 Mar '15

Dear ALUG, I decided to give up on X display managers some time ago and I now just log in to the console and start X with the startx wrapper. However, I've never been able to get xmodmap to load my ~/.xmodmap file properly in this set up. The file itself is fine; I always execute xmodmap manually after starting my window manager and my key modifications are correctly applied. Just now I've been experimenting with switching from Fluxbox (which I've been using for years) to XMonad. And doing so has brought this xmodmap problem back to my attention because it's the same with XMonad as it's always been with Fluxbox. I've tried putting xmodmap ~/.xmodmap both in ~/.xinitrc and in Fluxbox's start up file. And now in XMonad's start up file too. I've tried adding a sleep: sleep 0.5 && xmodmap ~/.xmodmap after reading a few suggestions that there might be some sort of default that may be getting applied after mine. Any ideas what's going on here? Richard -- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Richard Lewis j: ironchicken(a)jabber.earth.li @: lewisrichard http://www.richardlewis.me.uk/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

2 2

Strange javascript/jQuery problem, works locally but not on remote host
by Chris Green 25 Mar '15

25 Mar '15

I am trying to make this simple method of showing pictures on the web work:- http://www.nux.ro/archive/2012/10/Instant_image_gallery_with_Apache_s_mod_a… On my home system (xubuntu 14.10 with apache) it works exactly as it should. However on my hosting at TsoHost it doesn't work, there are no obvious errors but the 'lightbox' style display simply doesn't happen, one just gets a standard directory display and clicking on the image files just opens them as it would without any of the jQuery stuff. I have exactly the same layout (I think!) on both home and TsoHost, images in a directory called mandyFlat at document root and the jQuery bits and pieces in a directory called fancybox at document root. I have rsync'ed back and forth to make sure they're the same. The problem seems to be that the in-line javascript at the end of the fancybox.html file isn't getting executed on the TsoHost installation for some reason. It's very odd really as it's virtually all client side code so what difference can it make where the server is? Can anyone suggest what's wrong? The TsoHost installation is:- http://isbd.net/mandyFlat/ -- Chris Green

3 12

USB mass storage device detected but then disconnects, why?
by Chris Green 21 Mar '15

21 Mar '15

When I plug my camera into my laptop I see the following:- [115757.772243] usb 1-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 5 using ehci-pci [115757.868415] usb 1-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=04da, idProduct=2372 [115757.868422] usb 1-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3 [115757.868426] usb 1-1.2: Product: DMC-TZ60 [115757.868430] usb 1-1.2: Manufacturer: Panasonic [115757.868433] usb 1-1.2: SerialNumber: 0000000000000000001X1314210434 [115757.869052] usb-storage 1-1.2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected [115757.869255] usb-storage 1-1.2:1.0: Quirks match for vid 04da pid 2372: 90 [115757.869328] scsi7 : usb-storage 1-1.2:1.0 [115757.869867] usb 1-1.2: USB disconnect, device number 5 So what's wrong, why am I getting that disconnect at the end? -- Chris Green

1 0

Audio open standards / recommendations for portable-ish wireless speakers
by samwise 20 Mar '15

20 Mar '15

Hi, all. I recently sent my trusty hi-fi which had reached a grand old age of over a decade and a half of useful service off to be recycled. The CD player had long-since stopped working and the radio was never very good, so it ended its useful life being a glorified amp. I'd like to replace it with something but I'm not an audiophile by any stretch of the imagination, so I haven't really got much of a clue in this area. I want something I can connect wirelessly to stream stuff from my Android smartphone, tablet and PC etc. I expect it needs to connect to wi-fi whilst at home where it will be most of the time, but I'd like to be portable enough to move it without too much hassle on occasion to locations where it won't have access to a wi-fi network. As an example, my last hi-fi was recently used to run a few ceilidhs - so I'd like it to be moderately powerful, so I can take it a hall in the middle of nowhere and be capable of playing music streamed from my smartphone, over bluetooth I imagine, and loud enough to work at such an event. In an ideal world, if I could buy two such devices and have them stream together so that I can have the same music playing in two separate rooms, that'd be quite handy. Maybe synced over wi-fi? Now, my (vague) question is - are there any open standards I should be looking for in this area of audio streaming / hi-fi? Is there any device which will provide the above and also things like internet radio functionality (maybe even DAB+?). I'm not looking for a full-on surround sound system, and I don't want to be locked into proprietary technology - I want something which will play nicely with my rooted OmniROM smartphone and, if I ever get round to building one, a Linux-based media server. I don't yet have a NAS setup, but I'm in the market for one of those eventually. I'd like to be able to play stuff from the NAS when I get that setup, so what sort of things should I be considering from the speaker side and also the NAS side? I've heard of DLNA but not done much reading around on it yet. I've also heard of Sonus and the (arguably defunct?) Squeezebox as decent proprietary options but not sure they quite fit my requirements? Has there been any open technologies in this area I should look for? Or, as I'm beginning to suspect, should I be looking at something which doesn't have much intelligence in and is basically just a big wi-fi & bluetooth speaker. I fully intend to do some proper reading around, but I was Interested in anyone's general opinions of things to look for and to give me some pointers to decent buzzwords / protocols that might be worth googling. I thought it might be a topic of interest to others too. Cheers in advance for any help! Peter. -- I am aiming to run the London Marathon 2015 in aid of the PSP Association. All sponsorship gratefully received. :) http://www.bagshot-row.org/marathonformum

3 7

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS get auto/clean auto/remove
by Richard McLellan 18 Mar '15

18 Mar '15

I'm still having issues with this. Sometimes these actions do clear out /root but most times they don't. Is there a way to automate and clear out /root and what am I missing? Should I do these actions before starting any browsers? Cheers Richard

2 1

SSD upgrades
by Mark Rogers 18 Mar '15

18 Mar '15

I'm considering SSD upgrades to my desktop and/or laptop, likely starting with my desktop. I generally need a decent capacity on my desktop so that will be traditional storage, but I want the boot device to be SSD. I know almost nothing about SSD so I'd like some advice. I'm looking at (eg) Crucial MX100 SATA 512GB (~£140), but I could go up to Samsung Evo 850 for an extra £40. (Or maybe 256GB would be enough and I'd benefit more from spending my money upgrading multiple machines?) What I want to achieve is (a) O/S boots and runs from SSH, so loading apps etc is faster, (b) any swap space is on SSD, (c) and temp space (including browser caches etc) is on SSD, and (d) (it would be nice if) anything else on slower storage could be cached on SSD.[1] Getting fast storage is great if my hardware can make good use of it. So how do I find out whether my Linux boxen will support transfer rates that make SSD worthwhile? If my motherboard can only give me 3Gbps, is it fair to assume that I will still see major improvements over traditional hard disks even if not the full benefit of the SSD? What other things should I know? Any tips? [1] My typical usage seems to be Firefox or Chrome open with 100+ tabs, maybe a couple of VirtualBox VMs open, maybe a few LibreOffice docs open. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

5 13

[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : The Mulberry Tree
by samwise 16 Mar '15

16 Mar '15

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- The monthly "Third Monday" ALUG Ipswich Social Meeting is back today, 16th March, at 20:00: The Mulberry Tree 5 Woodbridge Road IPSWICH IP4 2EA Tel: 01473 225776 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP4+2EA WWW: https://www.facebook.com/MULBERRYHOSPITALITY The Mulberry Tree, previously known as The Milestone Beer House, is a grade 2 listed building in the centre of Ipswich. It is located at the intersection between Woodbridge Road and the A1156, across the road from the old Odeon cinema and not far from the Regent Theatre. It re-opened on Thursday March 29th 2012 after a major refurbishment, under its original name of The Mulberry House and has already begun to regain a good reputation for its selection of beers and ales. It has a sizeable car park to the rear of the building. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. Cheers, Peter. -- I am aiming to run the London Marathon 2015 in aid of the PSP Association. All sponsorship gratefully received. :) http://www.bagshot-row.org/marathonformum ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

1 0

Alternative to Mencoder for Stop Motion Animation
by steve-ALUG＠hst.me.uk 09 Mar '15

09 Mar '15

I've been successfully using mencoder for my sprog who makes the occasional stop motion animation video thusly mencoder mf://*.JPG -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=2000 -fps 5 -o clip.avi mencoder isn't installed any more because its codebase is in a bit of a state. Does anyone have any experience of a similar simple command-line replacement? I've tried an animation suite program but it brings my tired old laptop to its knees and makes it run too hot, hence the command line request. I've googled but I still haven't found what I'm looking for.... Cheers Steve

1 1

[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 12th March
by Viperfang 09 Mar '15

09 Mar '15

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

1 0

Recovering data from a disk image
by Mark Rogers 05 Mar '15

05 Mar '15

I have a disk image taken around ten years ago. It has a .dsk file extension, which might be a clue to what I used to take the image but more likely is something I picked because it was a disk! I'm trying to recover data from it but none of my normal tools are recognising it. Eg: $ file myfile.dsk myfile.dks: data $ fdisk -l myfile.dsk Disk myfile.dsk: 39.7 GB, 39711651840 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4828 cylinders, total 77561820 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00000000 Disk myfile.dsk doesn't contain a valid partition table Testdisk isn't giving me any clear results (it can find an ext3 partition but doesn't seem then able to extract anything from it). I'm pretty sure this was a straight image from a physical disk (it could have been a virtual disk but it's 39GB so I doubt that). It's quite possible that the default geometry settings in tesdisk etc are wrong but short of random guesses I don't know what to try. I am confident my data is there; if I view the raw data I am able to find a lot of it (mostly scripts which are therefore in plain text). Not that this is a very easy way to extract data! Suggestions as to what I should do to recover data? If it helps, the first 4096 bytes are all zero (so there's no obvious file header). Mark -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

5 14

2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 6th March.
by Viperfang 03 Mar '15

03 Mar '15

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

1 0

Updating an old Ubuntu Server
by steve-ALUG＠hst.me.uk 27 Feb '15

27 Feb '15

Hi y'all. I have a Ubuntu 10.04.4 LTS "Lucid". It was originally a server edition. One of the reasons I updated it haven't is because I don't like the Unity GUI. It's becoming apparent that I'm going to have to update soon, but I still don't want to use Unity. What I'd like to end up with is either xfce or perhaps cinamon as the desktop. (any other suggestions?) I'm wondering if this would work: uninstall the ubuntu-desktop package remove any obvious gnome desktop packages. command line update to a more recent verision of ubuntu (the most recent LTS?) then install either a package for xfce, or perhaps xubuntu-desktop package, or perhaps a cinamon package. Do people think this would work? I'm resisting doing a fresh install from scratch then restoring data, packages etc, because I've installed a lot of stuff over the years and tweaked all sorts of things, so I think it'd take me a long while to get it right. It's my server so I don't want to be without it for a long time. Any advice please? Regards Steve

3 5

Asterisk revisited
by Mark Rogers 25 Feb '15

25 Feb '15

A couple of months ago I got Asterisk/FreePBX set up on a virtual machine, and it's been functioning fine but I haven't really made the most of it (lack of time). I look at it now and find it has various errors (files it can't write to etc) from the original install, it seems to work OK but I don't really feel it's set up correctly and I don't know what to do about it.[*] The problem I have with Asterisk that it's way too complex and made more so by the fact that I learn nothing about it in playing with the web interfaces. I am quite happy at the command prompt or editing text files so I am considering a default "apt-get install asterisk" on an Ubuntu box and adding the trunks and extensions manually. Before I do this, is this a crazy stupid idea that's doomed to failure? I don't want anything complex (a couple of trunks, a couple of extensions which will be Android phones with a SIP or IAX client, a bit of routing between them and voicemail). Alternatively: I have been looking at the Raspberry Pi Asterisk distros, and wondering whether I should run one of those at home (where I have a 100M Virgin line) with port forwarding to allow the Android phones to reach it (might have fun with routing when they're on the WLAN at home). Give up on learning anything about Asterisk but have something which (hopefully) will just work. [*] I set up two new VMs last night and tried different fresh CentOS+Asterisk installs following instructions to the letter and still got errors left right and centre. I don't want to install from source (maintenance headache), I just want distro packages that work (otherwise why are they there?) -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

2 2

Android Jelly bean file help needed
by Bev Nicolson 21 Feb '15

21 Feb '15

I'm not sure if this is off topic (this may be partly because I don't know why I have this problem) but the difficulty is this. (If it is off topic, despite Android being related to Ubuntu, be gentle about pointing this out.) I can get my android (4.2.2) phone to connect to my pc now via usb cable **but** I can't see the dcim folder or the download folder as I used to with my old phone. Indeed, I can’t see any of the usual folders you wish to see to transfer any files from a phone to a computer, even though I have installed a couple of mtp programs. I have googled for info on this and I know it's not an uncommon problem but I've yet to find out how to fix it. Do I need an app (in which case this post is way off topic) do I need to update some bit of software or what? I've no idea. Help. Bev.

4 6

[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : The Mulberry Tree
by samwise 16 Feb '15

16 Feb '15

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- The monthly "Third Monday" ALUG Ipswich Social Meeting is back today, 16th February, at 20:00: The Mulberry Tree 5 Woodbridge Road IPSWICH IP4 2EA Tel: 01473 225776 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP4+2EA WWW: https://www.facebook.com/MULBERRYHOSPITALITY The Mulberry Tree, previously known as The Milestone Beer House, is a grade 2 listed building in the centre of Ipswich. It is located at the intersection between Woodbridge Road and the A1156, across the road from the old Odeon cinema and not far from the Regent Theatre. It re-opened on Thursday March 29th 2012 after a major refurbishment, under its original name of The Mulberry House and has already begun to regain a good reputation for its selection of beers and ales. It has a sizeable car park to the rear of the building. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. Cheers, Peter. -- I am aiming to run the London Marathon 2015 in aid of the PSP Association. All sponsorship gratefully received. :) http://www.bagshot-row.org/marathonformum ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

1 0

What are reasonable temperatures?
by Chris Green 15 Feb '15

15 Feb '15

If one runs 'sensors' what are reasonable (i.e. reasonably safe) temperatures to see? -- Chris Green

5 8

[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 12th February
by Viperfang 13 Feb '15

13 Feb '15

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

4 4

O.T. Problems with USB sticks
by Chris Walker 11 Feb '15

11 Feb '15

I have a few USB sticks which I use in my car to allow me to listen to things like iPlayer downloads. But only one of the three is recognised by the car now. I've reformatted them under both linux and Windows 8.1 on my wife's laptop but the problem persists. The thing that the two 'failing' discs have in common is that I have also in the past used them on my tv to record stuff. The tv reformats them to NTFS whereas the car expects them to be FAT32. Are there are utilities I can use to see what might be different between the various sticks? For info, one of the 'failing' discs is of the same type as that which *is* recognised in the car whereas the other disc is an almost new 32GB stick from Maplins. -- __ __| |_ __ __ .----------------------------------------------. / _/ _` \ V V / | mailto:alug_cdw@the-walker-household.co.uk | \__\__,_|\_/\_/ |______________________________________________|

3 8

Any VNC experts here - I can't get it to work at all
by Chris Green 10 Feb '15

10 Feb '15

I am trying to set up a Raspberry Pi (running Raspbian) as a remote display using VNC. I.e. the Pi will be a 'listen only' client and my laptop is the VNC server. I'm getting absolutely nowhere! :-( I have installed the TightVNC bits at each end, that's tightvncserver on my xubuntu laptop and xtightvncviewer on the Raspberry Pi. I have tried two ways to get this to work, first the conventional way:- Run 'vncserver' on the laptop, this appears to run OK and ps shows an Xtightvnc process running. Then run 'vncviewer x201' on the Pi (x201 is the name of my laptop), it just says "vncviewer: ConnectToTcpAddr: connect: connection refused. Unable to connect to VNC server" Alternatively try getting the client to 'listen' for a connection:- On the Pi run 'xvncviewer -listen -fullscreen' and 'vncconnect tvpi' on the laptop (the Raspberry Pi is called tvpi). Nothing happens at all, just silence. The two machines can definitely see each other, they're on the same LAN and I can ssh back and forth. Help!! -- Chris Green

3 3

I presume there will be a Thursday in Norwich this week?
by Anthony Anson 10 Feb '15

10 Feb '15

Have to ask - in Naaardge tomorrow, where I can connect, but may not be online otherwise until - well - sometime-or-other. -- Tony http://www.girolle.co.uk/

2 2

Wanted - decent interface for viewing pictures
by Chris Green 09 Feb '15

09 Feb '15

For the umpteenth time when we recently looked at some pictures I decided the 'media centre' way of looking at them is truly awful! I have my digitised photographs arranged the way I want them in a hierarchy of years/months/days with descriptions in (most of) the folder names. So when I view them I want to be able to use the hierarchy to navigate easily. We have a WD TV Live media player which is quite well thought of in reviews but it makes viewing pictures a real chore for a number of reasons:- It's slow by design because of the way it fades from one image to the next, thus you're never quite sure if you really have clicked on the '>' button or not. It hides the hierarchy above the current directory so you have to navigate by memory basically, or go too far up and then down again. No image manipulation at all, you can't zoom in for example. There's no way to jump to the next folder/directory in sequence, i.e. if I have just looked at 1973/04/07 I want an easy way to go to 1973/04/08 but I can't. The other 'media' software have seen (we have another make of media player where my wife stays during the week, also built-in TV apps) is no better as far as I can see. So, what I suspect I want is an easy way to use the program(s) I use on my Linux desktop (or laptop) directly on the TV screen. I could dedicate a system to the TV but this entails either leaving it on permanently or waiting for it to boot every time one uses it. A Raspberry Pi is a possibility, leaving it on is then not an issue but there are downsides like will it be fast enough and it needs a keyboard and mouse. Another fundamental problem is that whoever is managing showing the pictures needs to be close enough to the TV screen to read text and that's likely to be too close for comfortable viewing and/or sociability. So on to my final idea, use a laptop with the TV as a remote display. The viewing software runs on the laptop and the person running it can use the laptop keyboard and touchpad/mouse to control things. The only issue is handling the dual display, has anyone got any advice on this front, e.g. ways to have different views on two different displays, etc. -- Chris Green

3 8

File manager with preview
by Mark Rogers 08 Feb '15

08 Feb '15

Somewhat prompted by Chris's picture viewing enquiry but sufficiently different to warrant a separate thread. I'm looking for a file manager for viewing directories in my PC, which as a decent preview feature. Ie typically I'd like to see a directory tree in a left pane, the file list in a middle pane, and a preview of the currently selected file in the right pane. Of particular interest is having the preview work on as many different file types as possible. Images obviously, but also PDF, .odt/.doc[x] etc. Background: It's for my wife (a bookkeeper). She has directories of files which are receipts in various formats (scanned images, PDFs, emails, etc) and for the purposes of entering them into an accounts package she often just needs a cursory glance at the file content to get at the date, value, and a general idea of what it was for. At the moment she's spending more time opening and closing documents than she is doing anything else. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

2 2

DHCP failure after BIOS clock reset
by Mark Rogers 08 Feb '15

08 Feb '15

I have a little (headless) ARM box running Debian with a built in clock module, but whose battery had died. On replacement the box failed to get an IP address via DHCP. On investigation it appears that because the clock was "wrong" it couldn't perform DHCP queries ("Unable to setup timer"). I think "wrong" doesn't just mean inaccurate (it was claiming to be in 1928) but corrupt (hwclock reported corrupt registers). The clock would get reset by a time server as soon as it got online, but without valid clock it couldn't get online to get the valid clock... Anyone know any more about this or able to point to a general workaround for next time this happens? All I have found (after the event) is here: http://www.solid-run.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=525 .. which confirms what I thought but doesn't really offer a solution (logging in to set the clock on a remote headless unit isn't particularly convenient!) Mark -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

5 8

Linux Mint 16 & Lenovo T520 Track Pad
by Paul Grenyer 07 Feb '15

07 Feb '15

Hi All I've a Lenovo T520 with Linux Mint 16 installed. It's been working perfectly until a few weeks ago when the track pad stopped working once I log in. After googling I've found a few people with the same problem but the solutions are a bit hit and miss and it never stays fixed after a reboot. Can anyone help, please? -- Thanks Paul Paul Grenyer e: paul.grenyer(a)gmail.com b: paulgrenyer.blogspot.com t: pjgrenyer Have you got your ticket for NorDevCon yet: http://nordevcon.com Have you thought what Naked Element could do for you? http://nakedelement.co.uk/ It's time to get technical: http://norfolkdevelopers.com

1 0

OT- Contract to manage RHEL VMs
by mick 06 Feb '15

06 Feb '15

Please forgive the OT nature of this request - or shout at me if you like. :-) An old friend of mine who works in IT procurement has just asked me if I could recommend a local company capable of bidding for a managed service covering some 250 RHEL VMs spread across about 50 physical hosts in various locations. The contract is to cover: packaging, deployment, acceptance testing, and production of services on Linux VMs; 1st line support and triage for all Linux VMs; 2nd line Linux VM software engineering support; patch control and management of Linux VMs deployed across the network. The systems are all RHEL and use NAGIOS, Puppet and a Ticket System called OTRS. He has given me a 20 page extract of the Procurement Requirements document which gives full details of what they have and what they are after. I know that there are subscribers to this list who work for companies capable of doing this but rather than spam the list unnecessarily, if anyone is interested please contact me off-list and I will forward the details. Thanks in advance. Cheers Mick --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mick Morgan gpg fingerprint: FC23 3338 F664 5E66 876B 72C0 0A1F E60B 5BAD D312 http://baldric.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------

1 0

2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 6th February.
by Viperfang 03 Feb '15

03 Feb '15

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

1 0

Samba configuration question/problem
by Chris Green 02 Feb '15

02 Feb '15

I hate Samba :-), I rarely use it and I can never get it to work without hours of swearing at it. I want to connect a camera by WiFi and it needs a Windows/NETBIOS type share to connect to so, much against my inclination, I have installed Samba. The basics work, smbclient can see the printer stuff that Samba installs by default but I can't get a file share to work. My smb.conf file is as follows, basically the default with the [homes] section uncommented (this is actually the output from 'testparm'):- [global] workgroup = IBMPEERS server string = %h server (Samba, Ubuntu) server role = standalone server map to guest = Bad User obey pam restrictions = Yes pam password change = Yes passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u passwd chat = *Enter\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *Retype\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *password\supdated\ssuccessfully* . unix password sync = Yes syslog = 0 log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m max log size = 1000 dns proxy = No usershare allow guests = Yes panic action = /usr/share/samba/panic-action %d idmap config * : backend = tdb [homes] comment = Home Directories read only = No create mask = 0644 browseable = No [printers] comment = All Printers path = /var/spool/samba create mask = 0700 printable = Yes print ok = Yes browseable = No [print$] comment = Printer Drivers path = /var/lib/samba/printers However smbclient doesn't show me anything but the printer stuff:- chris$ smbclient -L x201 Enter chris's password: Domain=[IBMPEERS] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 4.1.6-Ubuntu] Sharename Type Comment --------- ---- ------- IPC$ IPC IPC Service (x201 server (Samba, Ubuntu)) print$ Disk Printer Drivers LJ1320 Printer HP Laserjet 1320 Photosmart Printer HP Photosmart Prem C410 series Domain=[IBMPEERS] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 4.1.6-Ubuntu] Server Comment --------- ------- VIGOR Vigor Samba Server X201 x201 server (Samba, Ubuntu) Workgroup Master --------- ------- IBMPEERS X201 WORKGROUP BEN-PC If I try to connect to a share I get:- chris$ smbclient //x201/printers Enter chris's password: Domain=[IBMPEERS] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 4.1.6-Ubuntu] tree connect failed: NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED So what to I need to do to get it to work? -- Chris Green

2 2

Laptop GPU
by Mark Rogers 02 Feb '15

02 Feb '15

I'm in the market for a new laptop, primarily because I'm fed up with my existing one using loads of CPU doing things the GPU should be doing (compiz being the main culprit). The existing laptop has an AMD graphics chipset which is apparently well supported but reality is less kind... My usage as far as graphics is concerned is nothing special; I'd like the laptop to be able to run VirtualBox comfortably and handle several (outbound) remote desktop sessions so having memory and CPU available matters more than GPU, as long as the latter can do everything expected of a "modern" distro (Ubuntu 14.10 currently). I don't turn on extra graphics effects but don't want to have to turn off the basis either. My instinct is to look at Intel GPUs as they seem to work well with FOSS drivers. I don't have a strong position on proprietary drivers but my experience is that if I want to still be using the laptop in 5 years time then relying on AMD to keep supporting it is unwise. But it's a long time since I looked at graphics chipsets so any comments welcomed. I'm undecided whether to get a cheap laptop (~£200) or go for a better one (say £400) but I'll take some convincing to go beyond that. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

3 3

USB device detected but not mounted
by Chris Green 31 Jan '15

31 Jan '15

I have a new Lumix TZ60 camera, when I plug it into my xubuntu 14.10 laptop I see (in dmesg) :- [22802.981555] usb 1-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 5 using ehci-pci [22803.076937] usb 1-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=04da, idProduct=2372 [22803.076944] usb 1-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3 [22803.076948] usb 1-1.2: Product: DMC-TZ60 [22803.076952] usb 1-1.2: Manufacturer: Panasonic [22803.076955] usb 1-1.2: SerialNumber: 0000000000000000001X1314210434 [22803.077932] usb 1-1.2: USB disconnect, device number 5 [22803.108684] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage Is there anything I can do to get it to do better? -- Chris Green

3 9

[ALUG Announce] Norwich Raspberry Pi User and Developer Group's third meetup
by Steve Pearce 27 Jan '15

27 Jan '15

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Greetings ALUG. I'm writing to let you know that we'll be holding the third Norwich Raspberry Pi User and Developer Group meeting next Saturday, 9th March 2013. We'll be meeting at a new venue: The Soup Lab, 5 St. Benedict’s View, Grapes Hill, Norwich, NR2 4HH. See the website norwichrpi.org for more details about the group, and see thesouplab.co.uk for venue info. Hope to see you there. stevepdp ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

3 3

ssh configuration, I have multiple usernames on one host
by Chris Green 23 Jan '15

23 Jan '15

My hosting provider (TsoHost) provides ssh access for each domain hosted. The ssh login is of the following format:- <site>@shell.gridhost.co.uk The <site> is the first 8 characters of the domain name. What I would like to do in my ssh_config file is something like:- Host site1 site2 site3 site4 HostName shell.gridhost.co.uk User %h However this doesn't work of course becase the %h doesn't work in the User field. Can anyone see any easy way of doing this except to simply repeat the whole block for each domain, as in:- Host site1 HostName shell.gridhost.co.uk User site1 -- Chris Green

1 0

[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : The Mulberry Tree ALUG
by samwise 18 Jan '15

18 Jan '15

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- The monthly "Third Monday" ALUG Ipswich Social Meeting is back tomorrow, 18th January, at 20:00: The Mulberry Tree 5 Woodbridge Road IPSWICH IP4 2EA Tel: 01473 225776 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP4+2EA WWW: https://www.facebook.com/MULBERRYHOSPITALITY The Mulberry Tree, previously known as The Milestone Beer House, is a grade 2 listed building in the centre of Ipswich. It is located at the intersection between Woodbridge Road and the A1156, across the road from the old Odeon cinema and not far from the Regent Theatre. It re-opened on Thursday March 29th 2012 after a major refurbishment, under its original name of The Mulberry House and has already begun to regain a good reputation for its selection of beers and ales. It has a sizeable car park to the rear of the building. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. I'll be arriving late, before 21:30, but hopefully there will be other regulars there to look out for. Cheers, Peter. -- I am aiming to run the London Marathon 2015 in aid of the PSP Association. All sponsorship gratefully received. :) http://www.bagshot-row.org/marathonformum ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

1 0

Re: [ALUG] Ubuntu 14.04 LTS get clean
by Richard McLellan 18 Jan '15

18 Jan '15

The apt-get autoremove worked. The other commands were not removing data in the correct place, wherever that was. Thanks for the help. Richard

1 0

Comparitive security of different encryption schemes
by Chris Green 18 Jan '15

18 Jan '15

This should start a good arg...., sorry, discussion going! :-) I currently store various bits of sensitive information in files encrypted using my editor's (my editor is vile) 'crypt' option. This uses the system's crypt() function to encrypt/decrypt the files. The big advantage is simplicity, I simply do:- vi -k <password> file and the file is automatically decrypted and encrypted for me. There are some weaknesses though, crypt() isn't very secure (but see below, it's not *that* bad) and the password floats around in RAM and the environment. So I have been looking for improvements but I want to keep a simple interface. So what I have found so far (including the existing scheme) are as follows:- Existing Scheme =============== The vile editor using the -k command line option. The password is possibly visible to someone who has access to my machine while I'm using it but that's a fairly unlikely scenario. In addition the non-alphanumeric characters I have in my passwords mess up the dispay somewhat. The crypt() encryption isn't very secure *but* it's actually not easy to brute force. I tried encryption breaking tools like unixcrypt-breaker and they only work if the 'statistics' files have stuff quite similar to what you're decrypting. Since the files I have encrypted are fairly random (very few actual words in there) the encryption breaking generally produces rubbish. The only case where it came up with one approximate hit was where I had put a password string repeatedly in the statistics files which was also on the file to decrypt (thinks, vary my passwords more!). Use an encfs file system ======================== This is fairly simple, I already use it for some other storage, it wouldn't be too difficult to write a wrapper script for my editor to simplify usage. It uses the AES cipher, 192 or 256 bits. There are some reports that it needs updating to be really secure in the modern environment but it's probably 'good enough'. Use 'pass' with a GnuPG key =========================== The 'pass' program is effectively a wrapper script that makes it easy to use a GPG key for encrypting files. I've played with it a bit and (once I'd worked out how to generate my GPG key) it was pretty simple to use and provides me with the sort of interface I want. This thus gives a choice of key types and sizes. The object of the exercise (encrypted files) is to keep important, confidential things safe but easy to access. In particular I have electronic banking details and such in one file, that's probably the most sensitive one. Ease of access is important, as is portability, I need to use this on more than one computer. A USB stick is *not* the answer for me, I'll lose the stick! The big advantage of the 'existing scheme' is simple portability as it's just part of the editor I use everywhere. It's to protect against people finding out my passwords etc., the computers with the files on are reasonably secure (as in unlikely to be stolen). I guess the most likely thing to happen is someone getting access to the files so the most important thing is to be sure that the encryption is difficult to break. So - what to choose? I think my feeling is that the choice is between 'do nothing' (vi plus crypt()) and 'pass' with a GnuPG key. What does the team think? -- Chris Green

2 4

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS get clean
by Richard McLellan 18 Jan '15

18 Jan '15

Hello folks. I am very much lost with all the programs taken out of this version. I last used a version 10.xx with lots of programs. However, I am unable to clear a folder which is low on space. I forget where the folder is but it's where the updates are stored. The popup box tells me to use sudo apt-get clean but this does nothing when I use the terminal. How can I get this resolved? Thanks. Richard

3 2

One fine Thursday
by Anthony Anson 15 Jan '15

15 Jan '15

Was the Norwich meeting last week or will it be tomorrow? Nothing seen in Announcements. -- Tony http://www.girolle.co.uk/

3 6

Slow SSH connection
by Richard Lewis 15 Jan '15

15 Jan '15

Hello ALUG, I've noticed recently that all my SSH logins take some time (around 5-10 seconds). I found that I can configure sshd with the option: UseDNS no to fix this. However, that's not quite satisfactory. For one thing, I can only do that on hosts where I manage the sshd. And for another, it doesn't explain why connecting to *all* the servers I normally do became slow at the same time. So I've been looking for anything on my local computer that's making them slow but so far haven't been able to find anything. From the verbose output I can see that ssh waits after: debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_REQUEST sent debug2: service_accept: ssh-userauth debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received debug2: key: /home/mas01rl/.ssh/id_rsa (0x7fc503a76690), debug2: key: /home/mas01rl/.ssh/id_dsa ((nil)), debug2: key: /home/mas01rl/.ssh/id_ecdsa ((nil)), debug2: key: /home/mas01rl/.ssh/id_ed25519 ((nil)), and then continues from: debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password debug3: start over, passed a different list publickey,password debug3: preferred publickey,gssapi-keyex,gssapi-with-mic,keyboard-interactive,password after a pause of 5-10 seconds. I noticed some discussion about the GSSAPI key exchange and how that can cause delays if you don't have Kerberos credentials. So I tried disabling it, but that didn't make any difference; and there weren't any relevant Kerberos error messages in the output anyway. (Also notice from the above output that I also tried changing the order of authentication methods to make GSSAPI come after publickey.) Any suggestions what else could be wrong? Or is it really that all the servers need to have 'UseDNS no'? And if so, what has changed about them all to make this necessary? Or could it be something to do with my network set up? Thanks, Richard -- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Richard Lewis j: ironchicken(a)jabber.earth.li @: lewisrichard http://www.richardlewis.me.uk/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

4 4

Using clamav (or other) to detect web application exploits
by Mark Rogers 14 Jan '15

14 Jan '15

Are there any clamav definition repositories that detect things like PHP shell scripts etc that might be uploaded as part of an exploit of something like Joomla? Or are there other tools that scan the filesystem looking for signs of an exploit? My google attempts have drawn a blank; there's plenty of external tools for trying to find an exploitable hole, but I'm talking about something to run internally to find evidence that a hole has been exploited, which isn't the same thing. A definition file for clamav seems the most obvious approach but I'm open to suggestions. 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

DVD drive not recognised?
by Bev Nicolson 12 Jan '15

12 Jan '15

I'm attempting to burn an MP3 onto a DVD but there are a few problems not least of which that I'm a novice at this. I'm using DVD-R. My DVD drive doesn't appear to be recognised by either Brasero or XfBurn. It's told me one of them is full but I've clearly not done things properly as it won't play in my CD player. I need help. Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. Bev

2 2

VPN, are there tutorials for the uninitiated anywhere?
by Chris Green 11 Jan '15

11 Jan '15

I'm thinking about using a VPN for remote access to my desktop machine when out and about. The obvious choice (?) is to run an OpenVpn server on my desktop machine and clients on my laptop or whatever when I'm away. I won't want to get access from 'foreign' machines on which I don't have the ability to install stuff. I've wandered around the OpenVpn website and can follow (I think!) all the technical stuff about how to install it etc. and how to run clients. What I don't understand and nowhere seems to tell me is what it actually does for me as a user. I mean there I am away from home somewhere and I've connected to the server using the OpenVpn client - then what? I don't think I get a home machine desktop as such, so what do I get? If I want to access my address book or configure my router what do I do? -- Chris Green

4 4

Looking for a Linux distribution to run wholly in RAM
by Chris Green 09 Jan '15

09 Jan '15

I am building a backup server machine and I'm trying to minimise its power requirements. Originally I was going to give it two disk drives, one small one for the OS and a big one for the backups. There's space for more drives as/when the backups run out of space. I then though that maybe I could put the OS on a USB stick to save the power consumption of the small OS drive. Not going to be fast but saves a significant amount of power. Then I thought even further and, as the system I'm thinking of using for this has 8Gb or RAM installed why not run the OS from the RAM? I don't need/want a GUI, this is going to be a headless machine running just a basic installation plus rsync and a few utilities. Access will be by SSH. So, what distributions are there that would be easy to do this with? Requirements are basically:- Must have a non-GUI installation option that fits in a few Gb. Preferably designed to work like this so installation is simple and can be kept up to date without doing wierd things. Ideally Debian based as I'm familiar with it, but it's not vital. What I'm looking for is something that boots off a USB stick but doesn't use the USB stick once up and running, at least not for frequent writes. Loading programs off the USB is OK I guess. -- Chris Green

4 4

Wanted - simple way to shrink pictures for web
by Chris Green 06 Jan '15

06 Jan '15

I have a wiki/blog (Dokuwiki) that displays selected pictures from my main pictures store. My pictures are stored in a <YEAR>/<MONTH>/<DAY> hierarchy and I have a script that searches for references to a specific date in the wiki and, if/when found, it copies the .jpg files to the appropriate place in the wiki. This is OK with the wiki software running on my desktop machine (though the image size does make the images rather slow to load) but now I want to run the wiki on a hosting service and the size of the images is taking up too much disk space. Is there any simple, automated way I can shrink the pictures? I don't want to have to specify a size for every one of them, I just want to shrink them to a 'reasonable' size. I can fairly easily add a command (or two) to my script that does the copy, e.g. an ImageMagick 'convert' but how to set the amount of shrinkage? -- Chris Green

4 8

[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 8th January
by Viperfang 05 Jan '15

05 Jan '15

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 8th 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 http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

1 0

Problems with Linux Mint 17.1
by Chris Walker 05 Jan '15

05 Jan '15

Hopefully somebody can help me with this one. One of sons has given the other son a Shuttle PC. He installed a couple of discs, set up LVM to make them appear as one and installed Linux Mint 17.1. All good so far. He couldn't do all the updates as his broadband wasn't quick enough so I offered to do those as number 2 son is staying with me for a few days. Next I thought I'd install all the usual stuff as he's going to be using the machine to feed content to his tv. That's where the fun begins. VLC went on fine. But If I run get_iplayer (latest version 2.91) it doesn't convert the files to mp3 as my own does. I can't find ffmpeg anywhere so after googling, I found a site that told me to add a repo. Tried doing that but get an error about aptsources which can't find a distribution template for LinuxMint/rebecca. I then tried the solution posted here http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=183099 to add a couple of lines to /etc/apt/sources but I'm still getting the same error. I'm now going round in circles trying to fix various errors so thought it best to ask those who have greater knowledge than I. Hence, here I am! -- __ __| |_ __ __ .----------------------------------------------. / _/ _` \ V V / | mailto:alug_cdw@the-walker-household.co.uk | \__\__,_|\_/\_/ |______________________________________________|

3 4

Mir - Wayland
by James Freer 04 Jan '15

04 Jan '15

I gather that Debian is going to go down the Wayland route. Ubuntu is following Mir which I gather has given problems to Lubuntu, Xubuntu and Kubuntu. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir_%28software%29 I am just wondering what will happen to the Debian derivative family - seems a break up is likely in 2015-2016. Be interested to hear from those in development what the future possibly holds. james

5 5

'bouncing' USB ethernet connection - why?
by Chris Green 02 Jan '15

02 Jan '15

I am trying to use a USB-ethernet adapter to give me a second ethernet connection to an xubuntu 14.04 system. It's detected OK and drivers are loaded but Network Manager goes into a loop repeatedly saying the connection has been established and then saying it's disconnected. It cycles once very few seconds, say 10 seconds or so. It's set up with a static IP on a different subnet from the 'proper' ethernet. Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong? -- Chris Green

2 1

2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 2nd January.
by Viperfang 30 Dec '14

30 Dec '14

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

1 0

Network drawing tools - any [good] Linux ones?
by Chris Green 15 Dec '14

15 Dec '14

Are there any Linux network drawing tools? I don't really want a full-blown Network Management solution like OpenNMS or Nagios, I just want an easy way to map my home network that doesn't require me to do it all manually. -- Chris Green

2 2

Failed to start Remount Root and Kernel File Systems
by Barry Samuels 15 Dec '14

15 Dec '14

I get the error message in the subject line every time my computer starts. It's running Debian Testing/Jessie 64 bit. There seems, however, to be nothing wrong. If I run 'systemctl status systemd-remount-fs.service' I get the following: ● systemd-remount-fs.service - Remount Root and Kernel File Systems Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/systemd-remount-fs.service; static) Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Wed 2014-12-10 12:23:12 GMT; 6h ago Docs: man:systemd-remount-fs.service(8) http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/APIFileSystems Process: 292 ExecStart=/lib/systemd/systemd-remount-fs (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE) Main PID: 292 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE) Dec 10 12:23:12 dataman1 systemd-remount-fs[292]: mount: /usr not mounted or bad option Dec 10 12:23:12 dataman1 systemd-remount-fs[292]: In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try Dec 10 12:23:12 dataman1 systemd-remount-fs[292]: dmesg | tail or so. Dec 10 12:23:12 dataman1 systemd-remount-fs[292]: /bin/mount for /usr exited with exit status 32. Dec 10 12:23:12 dataman1 systemd[1]: systemd-remount-fs.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE Dec 10 12:23:12 dataman1 systemd[1]: Failed to start Remount Root and Kernel File Systems. Dec 10 12:23:12 dataman1 systemd[1]: Unit systemd-remount-fs.service entered failed state. That seems to indicate a problem with the /usr mount but /usr is mounted and the options in fstab are the same as the /home /usr/local and /var partitions which are 'defaults'. The 'root' partition is mounted r/w. Does anyone understand this stuff? I don't. -- Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

2 2

[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : The Mulberry Tree
by samwise 15 Dec '14

15 Dec '14

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- The monthly "Third Monday" ALUG Ipswich Social Meeting is back today, 15th December, at 20:00: The Mulberry Tree 5 Woodbridge Road IPSWICH IP4 2EA Tel: 01473 225776 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP4+2EA WWW: https://www.facebook.com/MULBERRYHOSPITALITY The Mulberry Tree, previously known as The Milestone Beer House, is a grade 2 listed building in the centre of Ipswich. It is located at the intersection between Woodbridge Road and the A1156, across the road from the old Odeon cinema and not far from the Regent Theatre. It re-opened on Thursday March 29th 2012 after a major refurbishment, under its original name of The Mulberry House and has already begun to regain a good reputation for its selection of beers and ales. It has a sizeable car park to the rear of the building. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. Cheers, Peter. -- I am aiming to run the London Marathon 2015 in aid of the PSP Association. All sponsorship gratefully received. :) http://www.bagshot-row.org/marathonformum ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

1 0

Firefox 34 and FlashStopper
by Bev Nicolson 11 Dec '14

11 Dec '14

Help. I upgraded to Firefox 34 but since Flashblock doesn't work with it (boo) I've got FlashStopper instead, which I have to say, is not quite as good. How can I stop it auto-playing Vine gifs? I have tried to do this pro-actively without any joy. Ta. Bev.

2 3

[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 11th December
by Viperfang 08 Dec '14

08 Dec '14

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 11th 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 http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

1 0

Low powered server machines - I've just bought one
by Chris Green 05 Dec '14

05 Dec '14

You may remember I've been mumbling and muttering about where and how to find low powered motherboards and/or complete systems for use as servers (disk NAS plus other services). I've just bought one of these:- http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/product_detail/15265/Fujitsu-EsPrimo-P910-… I got an extra 10% off (easy, just look for Morgan promotions) so it cost me about £276. It's excellent, silent most of the time as the fans don't run unless you work it hard and, even better, the idle power consumption is only 24 watts. There's space for several more drives in the case. It would make an excellent little server machine. I'm actually going to use it as my desktop machine, it's quite fast enough for all the things I do. -- Chris Green

1 0

"Simple" awk/sed job (not simple enough for me!)
by Mark Rogers 03 Dec '14

03 Dec '14

I have some Excel files that contain some useful information (hard to believe I know!). I want to extract just that information. Somewhere in the file it will say something like "Location: Blah" and I want to capture just "Blah". I can use xls2csv to turn the XLS into text and then run that through (eg) awk. Because the XLS field in question will now be in quotes, the following gets me the whole "Location: Blah" value: xls2csv myfile.xls | grep -oE '"Location:([^"]+)"' What I want is something like this: myfile: Blah (the filename prefix is because I plan on processing about 100 files this way). I'm sure this can all be done pretty simply within awk but the rate I'm going I'm going to end up with quite a complex script, so any guidance would be very welcome! -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

2 2

How to get xubuntu to 'see' an existing Windows 7 when installing?
by Chris Green 02 Dec '14

02 Dec '14

I'm trying to install xubuntu 14.10 on a computer which has windows 7 installed already. I want the xubuntu to resize the existing Windows installation and install alongside it giving me a dual boot system. I've created a standard USB stick from the 14.10 ISO file and it boots OK in the new computer but doesn't 'see' the existing Windows installation. It does see the two existing NTFS partitions OK though. Does anyone have any idea why the Windows installation isn't recognised and/or how to get xubuntu to install as dual boot? -- Chris Green

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