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10369 discussions

Keyboard problem
by Ted.Harding＠wlandres.net 08 Jan '12

08 Jan '12

Greetings All! I have a somewhat mysterious hardward problem. On a tower box with external keyboard connected via a PS/2 connector, with external monitor, A: During the BIOS phase of boot, if I enter the BIOS setup, I can use the keyboard to navigate round the BIOS menus, so the basic hardware handles keyboard input (and monitor output) fine. B: However, if I boot into Linux, the usual slew of boot messages scrolls up the monitor screen, culminating in the "Login:" prompt (X is not started by default on this machine, and needs to be initiated by a logged-in user from the command-line prompt); but at this point the computer does not respond to keyboard input. Nothing shows up on screen following key-presses. Even if I suppose that it might be an "output to monitor" problem, and try to log-in by typing the userid and password, nothing happens. However, if I connect to the machine from another one over the network, I can log in fine. If I then give the command echo "Hello" > /dev/tty0 I see "Hello" output on the monitor. So it doesn't look like a monitor problem, and therefore is most probably a failure to see the keyboard from Linux. The Linux system is a SuSE 7.2 (from 2001). This problem is recent -- a few days ago it wasn't happening. Now it is. Any suggestions? (It has nothing to do with X, of course). With thanks, Ted. ---------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)wlandres.net> Date: 07-Jan-2012 Time: 16:13:58 This message was sent by XFMail ----------

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Postfix relaying when sasl authenticated
by Mark Rogers 06 Jan '12

06 Jan '12

I have an Ubuntu server running Virtualmin (with Postfix). It is steadfastly refusing to allow me to relay when I authenticate. However I can't make any sense of what is going on. Postfix's main.cf says: smtpd_sasl_auth_enable = yes smtpd_recipient_restrictions = permit_sasl_authenticated permit_mynetworks reject_unauth_destination .. which I understand to mean that provided I authenticate I can send anywhere. The error I'm getting is: connect from [...] NOQUEUE: reject: RCPT from [...]: 550 5.1.1 <user(a)example.com>: Recipient address rejected: User unknown in virtual alias table; from=<user@mysite> to=<user(a)example.com> proto=ESMTP helo=<[...]> disconnect from [...] .. where [...] is my IP/hostname, user(a)example.com is the address I'm trying to relay to, <user@mysite> is the user I'm trying to authenticate as. If I disable authentication in my mail client, I get "relaying denied" which I would expect. If I change my password I get a password error, so I am definitely authenticating correctly. If I try sending an email (no authentication, plain SMTP) to invaliduser@mysite I get the same error as above, which is when I would expect to get it (trying to send to a user on my server that doesn't exist). However I'm trying to relay to a different server altogether so I can make sense of the error message in that context at all? 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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Backing up databases - how?
by Chris Green 04 Jan '12

04 Jan '12

I nearly had a problem just now, having done a clean install (rather than an upgrade) of xubuntu 11.10 I needed to restore sundry mysql databases. Since they're not in /home nor in /etc I thought for a nasty moment I hadn't got backups because /var/lib isn't in my automatic cron backups. However I had done a one-off copy of the whole of /var before cleaning out the old installation and installing xubuntu 11.10 - phew! :-) It does make me want to find a sensible way of backing up those mysql databases though. My automatic (cron) incremental backups save /home and /etc. I have made /var/www a symbolic link to a 'home' directory for www-data (the apache UID) at /home/www-data/www so all my web stuff gets backed up too. The databases are not heavily used so there's a pretty good chance that I can get away with making straight copies of all the files in /var/lib/mysql without causing any disasters but what's the best way to do that? I *could* make /var/lib/mysql a link to somewhere that gets backed up but that really feels like a bit of a bodge. I'd prefer not to add /var/lib/mysql to my backup list though I suppose that's really the sanest way to do it. I use sqlite for as many databases as possible so that this isn't an issue but some applications insist on mysql (or postgres) and, even though my use is very lightweight and doesn't need a proper *database* backup strategy I need to do something. Any comments/ideas anyone? -- Chris Green

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Adding an exception to iptables on ssh authentication
by Alex Scotton 04 Jan '12

04 Jan '12

Hi All, I rarely post to this list; mainly due to a lack of knowledge... but find the email chains fascinating and very informative. I was hoping you could help me out with a few security adjustments on my home development server running Ubuntu 10.10; I would like to achieve the following setup with iptables and maybe a script in sshd_config? * Accept any connection from within the LAN (192.168.0.*) * Deny All from outside LAN (Except to ports 22, 80, 443, and the range 8000 to 8999) (the above is admittedly easily done with a google search) but my skills cant quite stretch to finding out how to add an exception to iptables for the IP of any authenticated ssh session and on timeout or disconnect remove that exception. I could then allow external developers to develop on a private port range (7000-7999 - as I do internally) by just connecting to ssh with their public key. Is this possible? Festive Tidings Alex

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Best replacement o/s for a Linksys WRT54GL
by steve-ALUG＠hst.me.uk 04 Jan '12

04 Jan '12

Hi, I've just got a Linksys WRT54GL and want to try replacement o/s on it. I've had a bit of a google and the main ones seem to be DDWRT, OpenWRT and Tomato. Anyone care to express a preference or a reason why I ought to use one of these over another? TIA Steve

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Spare hardware sought!
by Ted.Harding＠wlandres.net 03 Jan '12

03 Jan '12

Greetings Folks! Hoping you had a good Christmas, and wishing you a Happy New Year. I have an old desktop box whose PSU has blown. So I'm looking for a compatible box to which I can transfer the hard drives and PCI cards. Basic requirements: Working AT box with motherboard & CPU, 64MB RAM or more, space for 4 IDE hard drives, PCI slots (for monitor, parallel, ethernet, etc. cards), PS/2 mouse and KB ports. So if any of you shed-stackers has something suitable, I'd be very pleased to hear. Willing to pay a reasonable reward for a suitable box of tricks! Best wishes to all, Ted. ---------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)wlandres.net> Date: 29-Dec-2011 Time: 11:24:50 This message was sent by XFMail ----------------------------------

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Re: [ALUG] 2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 6th January.
by Ben Bewick 03 Jan '12

03 Jan '12

oops, sorry about the double posting! script ran twice, fixed now though :-) On 3 January 2012 00:49, Viperfang <viperfang(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Quick heads up about this months Norwich 2600 meeting, > more info at http://www.norwich2600.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 6th January.
by Viperfang 03 Jan '12

03 Jan '12

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

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2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 6th January.
by Viperfang 03 Jan '12

03 Jan '12

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

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icalendar/vcalendar question - how to clear 'up to now' occurrences of a repeating event?
by Chris Green 02 Jan '12

02 Jan '12

I suspect that this can't be done within the iCalendar specification but maybe I'm not understanding all of it. I (and I'm sure *lots* of other people) need a way to remind myself about repeating events like having to do quarterly PAYE returns and quarterly VAT returns. I thus need a way to set up a repeating reminder of some sort, this is quite easy using an iCalender 'object', and then I need a way to say "I've done this month's one of these". As far as I can see there is no way in the iCalendar format to do this. The only reasonably practical approach I can see is to delete the EVENT completely and create a new one that starts at the next repeat date. Using a TODO instead doesn't seem to help much, you can sort of bodge together a way of doing it but it's so messy and liable to confusions with different length months and such that it doesn't really work. Am I right, is the best/only way to do it deletion and re-creation? -- Chris Green

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Anyone want a router?
by David Reynolds 30 Dec '11

30 Dec '11

Hi guys, I have a couple of Linksys routers that I do not need anymore. I have: * Linksys WRT54GL v1.1 * Linksys WRT54GS v1.1 Both have stock linksys firmware but both could run openwrt if desired. I would like £10 (or nearest offer) for each. Anyone interested? (Please note: these are *not* ADSL routers) -- David Reynolds david(a)reynoldsfamily.org.uk

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Synaptic with Debian
by Ted.Harding＠wlandres.net 26 Dec '11

26 Dec '11

Greetings All! Hoping you have been enjoying the long weekend, etc. (especially the "etc."). I have a problem starting synaptic on a Debian Lenny. When it starts up, no packages are reported, and then a window opens with the error message: An error occurred The following details are provided: E: Encountered a section with no Package: header E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/ security.debian.org_dists_lenny_updates_main_binary-i386_Packages E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened. E: _cache->open() failed, please report. When I click to close this window, synaptic then closes. I have had a look at the named file in /var/lib/apt/lists/ which is certainly there, and cannot work out how to fix it. Any suggestions? (And, in case I don't write again in time, Happy New Year). Ted. ---------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)wlandres.net> Date: 26-Dec-2011 Time: 18:41:15 This message was sent by XFMail ----------------------------------

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DVD's
by Bev Nicolson 26 Dec '11

26 Dec '11

So I have two DVD's I'd like to watch. However, computer says: Error mounting: mount: block device /dev/sr0 is write-protected, mounting read-only mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sr0, missing codepage or helper program, or other error In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try dmesg | tail or so dmesg | tail [ 22.650906] tg3 0000:03:00.0: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX [ 22.651116] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready [ 31.408759] EXT4-fs (sda1): re-mounted. Opts: errors=remount-ro,commit=0 [ 32.768019] eth0: no IPv6 routers present [ 37.097846] kbd_keycode: 30 callbacks suppressed [ 37.097851] keyboard: can't emulate rawmode for keycode 240 [ 37.105836] keyboard: can't emulate rawmode for keycode 240 [ 1245.695843] lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions [ 1921.458077] UDF-fs: No anchor found [ 1921.458083] UDF-fs: No partition found (1) Which I guess is because it's trying to boot from it. (Or is that a red herring?) So what do I do? I have googled and not got very far except installing xine which gets me the menu options but can't play the film which is all I wish to do.

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Internet Facing Linux
by Paul Grenyer 23 Dec '11

23 Dec '11

Hi All I want create a small virtual machine running linux with pretty much only Apache2 to serve some static web content and proxy on to other servers. The idea being this is the only internet facing instance I have. Any suggestions for a small easy to use linux distor? -- Thanks Paul Paul Grenyer e: paul.grenyer(a)gmail.com b: paulgrenyer.blogspot.com t: pjgrenyer

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Snowboarding On New Year's Day
by Montmorency 23 Dec '11

23 Dec '11

The Norfolk Snowsports club is running an open day on New Years Day, from 2pm to 6pm. I'll be one of the snowboard instructors helping out and number of ALUGers have mentioned to me on IRC and in person that they're keen on the idea of coming down to do a snowboarding taster session. Other activities such as ski-taster sessions (spits) and tubing (rolls eyes) will be happening. Furthermore, the club bar is cheap and has wireless. Booking is unnecessary; cost is £10 for an hour. Spaces on the taster sessions are limited and it's first-come-first-served, so showing up early is sensible. You will want to be wearing long-trousers and long sleeves, and bring a pair of gloves. Details are here: http://www.norfolksnowsports.com/node/3113 And the Norfolk Ski Club is here: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Norfolk+Snowsports+Club&ll=52.614332,1.3212… Montmorency montmorency(a)ukfsn.org bellphegore(a)nerdshack.com

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Re: [ALUG] Internet Facing Linux
by Peter Alcibiades 23 Dec '11

23 Dec '11

On Friday 23 December 2011 11:53:44 Paul Grenyer wrote: > Hi All > > I want create a small virtual machine running linux with pretty much > only Apache2 to serve some static web content and proxy on to other > servers. The idea being this is the only internet facing instance I > have. Any suggestions for a small easy to use linux distor? Slitaz

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Running Jenkins on port 80
by Paul Grenyer 23 Dec '11

23 Dec '11

Hi All I have an install of Jenkins on an Ubuntu VM. I want it to run on port 80 rather port 8080 as I want to run a development Tomcat on port 8080. Goolging suggests the only way to do this is to use Apache to redirect from 80 to 8080, but that still leaves Jenkins running on 8080 which doesn't fix my problem. Has anyone solved this? -- Thanks Paul Paul Grenyer e: paul.grenyer(a)gmail.com b: paulgrenyer.blogspot.com t: pjgrenyer

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Acer Aspire 5520 Linux shutdown problem and random power-offs
by Srdjan Todorovic 21 Dec '11

21 Dec '11

Hi all, I'm looking at my mum's Acer Aspire 5520 laptop with Kubuntu installed that seems to have strange shutdown problems. I can power the laptop on, but at random times (where t is generally < 2 minutes, sometimes up to 10mins, sometimes as little as 5sec) the laptop will power down completely with no user intervention. I've seen this happen while in the Grub boot menu, while Linux KDM login screen is displayed, while it's booting Linux, while it's running memtest and even while in the BIOS setup screens. This happens on the battery only, mains only and on battery and mains power combinations. At other times, it seems the laptop goes into some kind of sleep state where the hard drive, power button LED and power state LED flash at the same time (approx 1s on, 1s off but I've not measured this), and while in this 'state' pressing space bar 3 times toggles the wifi LED so that it flashes in the same manner as the power and HDD LEDs. When Linux does actually boot (rare given the quick power off), it appears to function ok, other than when powering off or restarting, the laptop is not actually powered down, and I can still switch virtual terminals but I cannot type anything in the getty (or whatever ubuntu uses) login processes. Some google results suggest the motherboard needs to be reflowed, and people suggest putting the laptop motherboard into an oven at 200 degrees C for 5 -7 minutes!! :( The CPU fan does come on and spins a lot in the grub menu (when the cpu should not be busy): I cannot tell if the CPU fan exhaust is hotter than normal, but this suggests that perhaps there's an overheating problem and some sort of thermal cut-out is powering down the laptop. I cannot see any abnormal amount of dust in any of the cooling vents, and there's no unusual rattling of the fan. Any suggestions please? Thanks, Srdjan

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Re: [ALUG] Machine won't start
by MJ Ray 21 Dec '11

21 Dec '11

Chris Walker <cdw_alug(a)the-walker-household.co.uk> > It offers a failsafe and another kernel option - 2.6.39 (I think) and > the 2.6 option works which is how I'm writing this. But how can I > faultfind the main kernel non-starting? The above doesn't say what distribution is in use, but generally, if it uses grub, press e to edit the command-line, edit the boot lines to try to disable all graphical splash stuff that hides the debugging output and then b to let it boot. When it fails, note any errors or whatever (maybe use a digital camera?) and then those should help you find help on search engines or forums, if it's not obvious (which it often isn't). Hope that helps, -- MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op. http://koha-community.org supporter, web and library systems developer. In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html Available for hire (including development) at http://www.software.coop/

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Machine won't start
by Chris Walker 20 Dec '11

20 Dec '11

My machine has recently performed some updates and now it won't boot. It offers a failsafe and another kernel option - 2.6.39 (I think) and the 2.6 option works which is how I'm writing this. But how can I faultfind the main kernel non-starting? -- __ __| |_ __ __ .----------------------------------------------. / _/ _` \ V V / | mailto:cdw_alug@the-walker-household.co.uk | \__\__,_|\_/\_/ |______________________________________________|

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Need FQDN, I seem to have lost it upgrading from xubuntu 11.04 to xubuntu 11.10
by Chris Green 19 Dec '11

19 Dec '11

I am trying to tidy up/reconfigure after upgrading from xubuntu 11.04 to 11.10. Most things are working but I'm getting a couple of errors that suggest that I have somehow lost my FQDN setting. Both apache2 and leafnode are complaining:- apache2: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.1.1 for ServerName #012Leafnode must have a fully-qualified and globally unique domain name,#012not just "chris". Now I know I *can* fix apache2 by putting a ServerName directive in /etc/apache2/apache2.conf but I didn't have one before. Also the leafnode configuration is unchanged from 11.04 so why am I now getting the error about FQDN? It's probably something very silly I have forgotten somewhere but I really can't see it at the moment. Has anyone any ideas what might be wrong/missing? Oh, the /etc/hosts file on the system is unchanged from 11.04 to 11.10 and has very little at all in it, the system (which is chris, 192.168.1.4) obtains its network settings by DHCP from the DHCP server at 192.168.1.2 which hasn't changed. -- Chris Green

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Digital Signage
by Stuart Bailey 19 Dec '11

19 Dec '11

Hello, I've been asked to look into digital signage options for an estate agent, to display photos of properties currently on the market. Obviously I would prefer a Linux OSS solution. Are there any suitable packages, distros or suggestions? A quick google has identified xibo and lintop - although lintop is not OSS. Many thanks Stuart Bailey BSc (hons) CEng CITP MBCS LinuSoft (Managing Director) Linux Specialist & Software Developer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Phone: (0845) 658 3563 Direct: +44 (0) 1953 878162 Fax: +44 (0) 1603 858583 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.linusoft.co.uk __________ Information from ESET Mail Security, version of virus signature database 6717 (20111216) __________ The message was checked by ESET Mail Security. http://www.eset.com

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Can anyone suggest why a system can't see itself on the network?
by Chris Green 19 Dec '11

19 Dec '11

I have just installed a clean (i.e. from scratch onto a clean hard disk) copy of xubuntu 11.10 onto this system. I have installed a few extra basics I need (like mutt and postfix which I am using to send this) and it's all basically working, connected to the internet, etc.) However, it can't see itself on the LAN. I.e. I can ping localhost OK but I can't ping 'chris' or 192.168.1.4. It definitely *is* chris at 192.168.1.4 as that's........ Aaaaahhhhhh!!!!! :-) Although 'chris' is 192.168.1.4 my desktop system that's supposed to be chris is actually 192.168.1.89, not surprisingly it can't talk to chris or 192.168.1.4. I need to tell it that it has a static IP, or tell the DHCP server that this MAC address needs to be assigned to 192.168.1.4. ... another classic case of "explain the problem and you see the solution"! -- Chris Green

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[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : McGintys, Northgate Street
by samwise 19 Dec '11

19 Dec '11

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- The monthly "Third Monday" ALUG Ipswich Social Meeting is back tonight, Monday 19th December, at 20:00: P J McGinty & Sons 15 Northgate Street Ipswich Suffolk IP1 3BY Tel: 01473 251 515 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP1+3BY WWW: http://www.pjmcgintys.co.uk/ McGintys pub is in the centre of Ipswich. It's directly opposite the town's central library and has a reputation for good Irish beer. We're usually to be found in the lowest section of the bar, near the library entrance to the pub. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. ** Unfortunately, I'm already booked out on a work engagement earlier tonight so I can't guarantee my attendance tonight. :( I wil endeavour to pop by the pub if I finish early, but if you're planning on attending, I'd recommend asking around on the main mailing list or on IRC to ensure there'll be others heading down! ** Peter. ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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Keyboard puzzle
by Ted.Harding＠wlandres.net 18 Dec '11

18 Dec '11

Greetings Folks. I have been having problems with a couple of old machines, desktop boxes, which both recently (within a few days of each other) went into "won't switch on" mode. One of these is now solved: the internal power push-button (pushed via an external push-button) had slipped its moorings. Now re-moored, with a touch of superglue to inhibit future wanderings. (The other machine turned out to have a blown PSU, with a short somewhere in it, so probably irrecoverable). Anyway: to the Topic Of The Day. When I switch on the "solved" machine, the (external) keyboard works fine, e.g. I can press Delete to enter BIOS setup, and use the keyboard to navigate the BIOS menus. Also, when it does go into its Linux boot sequence, it happily gets as far as the GRUB menu, where I can choose which version of Linux to boot. Again, the keyboard works for this. Then it goes into the full Linux boot, ending up with a login prompt in a text-terminal console (X hasn't started yet). But, at this stage, the keyboard has no effect. If I enter a userid, nothing changes on screen. No keyboard press produces any effect. So it seems that, somewhere along the line of the boot sequence, it has lost track of the keyboard. No problem, however, with remote access via ethernet from another machine. Two questions: [A] Does anyone have any ideas about the possible source of this glitch, and how to set about fixing it? If relevent, the Linux version is SuSE 7,2 from 2001, with kernal 2.4.4. [B] Normally, there should be no problem using this machine, since I normally access it remotely anyway. However, every so often it will, during boot, decide that a hard drive has beeen unmounted too often without a file system check. So I will need to be able to use the keyboard for this (unless it works through it without problems, needing no intervention). In any case, if there is a power cut (as happens from time to time round here), then I will definitely need the keyboard during the fsck because the file systems will have been "not cleanly unmounted". Also, this state will have been reached before it sets about activating the ethernet ports, so in principle remote access will not be available. So: Is there some way of working round this so as to achieve remote access? With thanks, Ted. ---------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)wlandres.net> Date: 18-Dec-2011 Time: 16:57:55 This message was sent by XFMail ----------------------------------

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