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Default browser chooser script
by Mark Rogers 13 Sep '12

13 Sep '12

For day to day use I tend to use Firefox, and that's my default browser. That's more through "habit" than anything else and I frequently get frustrated by the amount of RAM its using etc. Occasionally I'll fire up Chrome or Opera, and one day I'll probably switch allegiances. In the meantime, what annoys me is that if I have (say) Chrome open and click on a link elsewhere (eg in an email) it'll open Firefox because that's my default browser. I'm sure it would be possible to write a script that checks to see if any browser is open, and sends the request there, only actually starting the default (Firefox) if no browsers are open. [Actually I think this ought to be the default behaviour for a range of apps; if I have a media player open don't open a different one if I double-click a media file, etc.] Any suggestions for where I should start? -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

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Running vnc server on startup
by John Woodard 12 Sep '12

12 Sep '12

I want to run a vnc server on startup as a user rather than root and seek opinion to where the best place to put the command tightvncserver :1 -geometry 1280x1024 -depth 16 -pixelformat rgb565 etc/rc.local cron job? Not sure here really if it needs to be before login so thought it prudent to run as a user. Cheers, BJ

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 13th September
by Viperfang 10 Sep '12

10 Sep '12

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

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Anyone know about and/or use libgda (gnome DB library)?
by Chris Green 05 Sep '12

05 Sep '12

While searching for ways to access databases I have hit upon libgda which is the Gnome generic DB access library. What has attracted me specifically is the gridWidget which appears to give me exactly the sort of interface to a DB table that I have been after for quite a while. (See http://www.gnome-db.org/ScreenShots at the bottom). Does anyone here have any experience with libgda? -- Chris Green

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Re: [ALUG] Using Android phone as dial-up modem
by Phil Ashby 05 Sep '12

05 Sep '12

On Wed, 29 Aug 2012 16:53:55 +0100, Mark Rogers <mark(a)quarella.co.uk> > To: alug-main <main(a)lists.alug.org.uk> > Subject: Re: [ALUG] Using Android phone as dial-up modem > Message-ID: > <CADK3ZeF40qKGcxh=ezyAb=aPiTG6evz7O0N9qoYcKOWAeSFpEw(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > On 28 August 2012 18:38, mick <mbm(a)rlogin.net> wrote: > > > I think tethering (be it over USB, wifi, or bluetooth) of the phone to > > a laptop will only give you access to the carrier's network > > connection. I don't think that the GSII has an analogue modem which > > will allow connection to a remote modem. > > > > I wondered about that, but also wondered whether it needed specific > hardware to do this; it can obviously connect to an analogue phone line > just fine, surely after that it's just a case of sending the right > "squawks" over the connection? It's possible to access the built-in modem capability on a GSII: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1471241 ..but not simple unless your phone provider includes host drivers (which it seems some do). Once you have the right modem device exposed, connecting it into PC Anywhere should be a breeze :) Or you can look at soft modems like SpanDSP: http://www.soft-switch.org/spandsp_faq/index.html http://www.soft-switch.org/spandsp-modules.html with the audio paths physically connected through your mobile from the sound card, but that seems a bit silly when the GSM baseband chipset can already provide what you want, if the manufacturer will let you use it. Phil.

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How do I decide which printer driver to use in CUPS?
by Chris Green 04 Sep '12

04 Sep '12

I recently found that my printers were no longer working with one particular application (glabels). The error message from CUPS was "/usr/lib/cups/filter/hpcups failed" and a bit of Googling suggested that changing the printer driver selected in CUPS might fix the error.... and it did. I'm using the hpijs driver now instead of the hpcups driver. However it raises the question of how one decide which of many drivers available for a given printer one should select. For my HP1320 there's quite a lot to choose from:- HP Laserjet 1320 - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.2.8-pre1 (en) HP Laserjet 1320 Foomatic/Postscript (en) HP Laserjet 1320 Foomatic/pxlmono (recommended) (en) HP Laserjet 1320 hpijs 3.12.12 (en) HP Laserjet 1320 Series hpijs 3.12.12 pcl3, (en) HP Laserjet 1320 Series pcl3, hpcups 3.12.12 (en) HP Laserjet 1320 Series Postscript (recommended) (en) HP Laserjet 1320 Series Postscript (recommended) (en) HP Laserjet 1320 Series Postscript (recommended) (en) HP Laserjet 1320 hpcups 3.12.12 (en) ..., and yes, the Postscript one is repeated three times with no visible differences. So how is anyone supposed to decide which driver to use, I've not found any useful guidance anywhere. -- Chris Green

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Re: [ALUG] 2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 7th September.
by Paul Grenyer 04 Sep '12

04 Sep '12

Hi The site appears to only have August's meeting on it. When I click on the 2600 link at the top of the page I get: High Risk Website Blocked Location: www.2600.com Access has been blocked as the threat Mal/HTMLGen-A has been found on this website. Return to the page you were previously viewing. from inside Aviva. -- Thanks Paul Paul Grenyer e: paul.grenyer(a)gmail.com b: paulgrenyer.blogspot.com t: pjgrenyer SyncNorwich: http://www.syncnorwich.com ACCU Member: License to code: http://www.accu.org

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2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 7th September.
by Viperfang 04 Sep '12

04 Sep '12

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

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Using Android phone as dial-up modem
by Mark Rogers 29 Aug '12

29 Aug '12

Situation: PC running pcAnywhere, accessible via dial-up (you know that thing we used to use before broadband? :-) At present I have to be sat in my office (or somewhere with a phone line), using a laptop with a modem in it, to dial in to site (the site does not have Internet access). Can I use my Android mobile (Galaxy SII) as a traditional modem, eg via USB connection to PC? PC would ideally be Linux but I have pcAnywhere installed on both. 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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Samba usershares, symlinks, etc
by Mark Rogers 27 Aug '12

27 Aug '12

If I create a Samba share (eg directly in /etc/samba/smb.conf) I can enable following of symlinks (for just that share) with: follow symlinks = yes wide links = yes unix extensions = no When instead added to a usershare (ie in /var/lib/samba/usershares/myshare) this doesn't seem to work. Indeed, these files seem very "fussy"; just moving lines around or leaving lines commented out (with # or ;) seems to break the share completely. However I can't find them documented anywhere (nor indeed can I find usershare_acl properly documented anywhere). So: Is there a way to have a usershare with the ability to follow symlinks (without globally enabling them, which is what I've done so far)? Is there some documentation I'm missing that explains how these work? I can see why allowing users to enable that functionality may not be wanted, but on the other hand having to enable it globally doesn't seem like the best alternative. Should I just add my share to smb.conf and be done with it? [Ubuntu 12.10 alpha, although I'm sure I've had this problem before on older versions.] -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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