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Weekly IRC reminder
by Brett Parker 14 Aug '06

14 Aug '06

This is the automated ALUG IRC meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an IRC meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. Historically, these used to be the only time a lot of us would be about, now the channel has some usual faces that are there most of the time (except at silly o'clock, when we might be sleeping, or on the second thursday of the month, where we might be drinking in the Reindeer), so don't feel limited to visit during this time, come visit us when ever you feel like it! The meeting takes place on the irc server irc.alug.org.uk in the #alug channel. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server irc.alug.org.uk" and "/join #alug". Popular IRC clients include xchat, irssi and EPIC on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with irc. Unix http://www.xchat.org/ http://www.irssi.org/ http://www.epicsol.org/ Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

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How to get a transparent background in Gimp
by cl＠isbd.net 12 Aug '06

12 Aug '06

The title says it all really, is it possible to get a transparent background in the Gimp? I have an image I've created with one of the script-Fu utilities and I can get the background window up but there seems to be no way to say 'no background'. -- Chris Green (chris(a)halon.org.uk)

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gawk on gnuwin32
by Ted.Harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 11 Aug '06

11 Aug '06

Hi Folks, I appeal to the ALUG Linux Consulate to rescue me, a citizen of Linux, from a foriegn and dangerous land! I want to experimentally try running gawk on a Win98 system (the background is that a friend, currently working in Africa and stuck with Windows, could have the daunting task of restructuring the records in a CSV file solved in an awk 2-liner, instead of pulling hair out trying to do it in FoxPro). Since I've never tried running any GNU stuff on Windows, so cannot offer any advice based on experience, I thought I'd better acquire some before shooting my nouth off. This I went to http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/gawk.htm and downloaded the "Setup" package (a 6.6MB .exe file), planted it in [excuse my language] C:\Program Files\GnuWin32\gawk [maybe that was a mistake?] and ran the setup file gawk-3.1.3-2.exe All seemed to go smoothly, the files being installed in the above directory. Then I tried (in a DOS box) to run gawk '{print "Ted"}' and got an error that the "'" character was illegal! So I feel stuck! Has anyone been there and succeeded, and can offer advice? With thanks, Ted. PS If there are any FoxPro experts out there who could short-circuit the problem by advising how to do it in FoxPro, I can send a mini-example of the job that needs to be done. It's really simple, logically speaking, but has a twist which might mean a little neat footwork. In which case very many thanks for that! -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 05-Aug-06 Time: 21:03:11 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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Kaspersky Antivirus
by Stuart Bailey 11 Aug '06

11 Aug '06

Please forgive the commercial nature of this mail. I have negotiated a deal with Kaspersky for their Linux Workstation product. They normal only sell in batches of minimum 5 licences. However, they have offered me to buy batches of licences and then to resell the to others. The cost would work out at £30 inc VAT each licence. If anyone is interested, contact me off list. Many thanks, Stuart -- --------------------------------------- Stuart Bailey BSc (hons) CEng CITP MBCS LinuSoft (Owner) Linux Specialist (0845) 6583563 http://www.linusoft.co.uk ----------------------------------------

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Passing TAB character as commandline parameter (to xls2scv)
by Mark Rogers 11 Aug '06

11 Aug '06

I'm playing around with xls2csv (part of the catdoc application). Something simple like: xls2csv -c~ products.xls > products.txt does what I'd expect (exports the XLS, using "~" as the field separator). Any suggestions how I can make this create a tab separated file instead? I think this is more about how to pass the TAB through the shell (ie more to do with bash than xls2csv) but I could be wrong. -- Mark Rogers More Solutions Ltd :: 0845 45 89 555

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Meeting report - 10th August 2006
by David Reynolds 11 Aug '06

11 Aug '06

Attendees: Myself (Dave|Paperface), J (mChicago), Simon (Sionide), Rob (robrob), Jonathan (Noodles), Peter (not on IRC), Joe (Joeboy), Adam (quinophex) and Eli (sfr). The weather was not quite so nice this month starting to rain about 5 minutes before I got to the pub. We still had a reasonably good turnout nevertheless. We sat in a different place (up in the restaurant bit) so that Simon could have power for his laptop for which the Reindeer staff kindly let us use an extension cable. Simon brought along a USB coffee cup warmer and it was discussed whether or not it broke the USB spec. Conversation included: PHP being crap (will there ever be a pub meet where PHP isn't mentioned), Windows Vista, mounting of ntfs filesystems in DSL, talk about Plan 9 [1]. Rob wondered why ethernet adaptors don't appear in /dev/ when every other device does. Peter brought along a problem which Noodles helped him with which involved exporting a proprietary database to XML and then rendering the XML in a web browser. They also talked a bit about formal database design. Simon and I discussed plans for the website and this was turned over to the rest of the group and we talked about the different lugs in the Anglia region including PLUG and Cam-LUG. Hopefully, I've not missed anything. Cheers, Dave [1] http://cm.bell-labs.com/plan9/ -- David Reynolds david(a)reynoldsfamily.org.uk

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Utility for converting text to image
by cl＠isbd.net 10 Aug '06

10 Aug '06

Are there any simple utilities out there for converting a few characters of text (colloquially known as a 'word') to an image for use on the web? I.e. convert text to .png or .gif. It would be nice if one could set style, colour, etc. as well as size. -- Chris Green (chris(a)halon.org.uk)

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[ALUG Announce] 2nd Thursday Norwich Meet : Reindeer, Dereham Road
by Jonathan McDowell 08 Aug '06

08 Aug '06

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 "Second Thursday" ALUG Norwich Pub Meet is this Thursday, 10th August. It's at the Reindeer pub on the Dereham Road, just opposite the City Gate. People will be there from 8pm-ish, though there may be a few people there earlier. Topics for discussion will no doubt be as varied as ever. The Reindeer has a reasonable selection of beer as well as decent coffee (with biscuits, if you're lucky). Directions to the Reindeer can be found at: http://www.alug.org.uk/venues/reindeer.html Pictures of some of the regulars, and irregulars, and, well, just some pictures of people that might or might not turn up are available from: http://www.earth.li/~noodles/Photos/2006-02-ALUG/ http://the.earth.li/~noodles/stilvoid-alug/mp20050811/ http://www.earth.li/~noodles/Photos/2005-01-ALUG-Xmas/ http://www.earth.li/~noodles/Photos/2004-08-ALUG/ Which should hopefully aid those of you wondering who to look out for. We're /normally/ just to the left of the main entrance, though sometimes we've ended up at the far end of the pub beside the pool table, as there are comfy seats at that end. J. -- 101 things you can't have too much of : 48 - Pies. ----- 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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Data recovery
by Stuart Bailey 08 Aug '06

08 Aug '06

I have a customer who's laptop hard disk has crashed, and he needs to recover data from it. Can anyone recommend anyone specialising in data recovery - possibly in the Cambridge area? many thanks, -- --------------------------------------- Stuart Bailey BSc (hons) CEng CITP MBCS LinuSoft (Owner) Linux Specialist (0845) 6583563 http://www.linusoft.co.uk ----------------------------------------

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Digital TV Card
by Nick Daniels 07 Aug '06

07 Aug '06

Hi Can anyone reccomemed a digital TV Card for use with Linux. Kind Regards - Nick Daniels

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