Re: Frames and Motorola's New Router.
At 2023 Mar 12 Sun 10:42 PM +, Lori Nagel wrote: >Why don't linux machines let me use the Wi-Fi when the router is set to frames. I'm not sure what you mean here. A "frame" is the unit of network data transmission at the data link level (Ethernet or Wifi). Literally all routers use frames. Everything you send or receive gets encapsulated into frames, whether you're using Linux or Windows. What model router do you have? -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Virtual server host with reasonable mail policies?
At 2022 Dec 30 Fri 07:46 PM -0500, Lloyd Kvam wrote: > "There are several email service providers (ESP) ... Thanks anyway, but I don't want to relay mail through someone else. If I did, I could stick with DO and be happy. My reasons include: - Budget - Simplicity - Visibility into the destination SMTP transaction for reasons of - Diagnostics - Statistics - Personal learning and experience - Running a mail system for others makes things more interesting - I don't have to worry about one more provider's machinations - A desire to be in charge of my own destiny I am in no way advocating this stance for others. As I wrote earlier, there's something to be said for paying to make it someone else's problem. But *I* don't want to do that. > Also setting up SPF, DKIM and dmarc seemed to make a difference in the > reliability of the email delivery. Yeah, that's an already-solved problem for me. There are still big email services that use single-decision IP-based blacklists. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Virtual server host with reasonable mail policies?
At 2022 Dec 30 Fri 05:04 PM -0500, Ted Roche wrote: >I've been adminning a couple of boxes on Linode for years ... Thanks for the detail, that's good info. >Love 'em for ops and support, but email might not be the right platform. The problems you describe are somewhat endemic to running any mail system, and far more common on the VM hosts (since they, by design, make it so easy to build new VMs and tear them down). I'm willing to do the work if a provider is OK with the concept in the first place. There's also something to be said for paying to make it somebody else's problem. I don't think that's the right solution for me, due to reasons including budget, as well as a desire to keep things "in-house" so I know what's going on. Part of the reason I do this is so I know how. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Virtual server host with reasonable mail policies?
At 2022 Dec 30 Fri 03:06 PM -0500, Ken D'Ambrosio wrote:
>> - Send email directly (initiate outbound connections to TCP port 25)
>
> NOT IPv6 -- which is annoying AF.
FWIW, my DO VM can initiate TCP to 25 outbound on both IPv4 and IPv6. It is
likely grandfathered, however. They have a somewhat vaguely-defined blocking
policy:
https://docs.digitalocean.com/support/why-is-smtp-blocked/
> if you have both enabled, and are using (at least) Postfix, IPv6 apparently
> gets the ball, first, and will block _all_ outbound e-mail until disabled.
FYI, this was fixed in Postfix at some point. I don't recall when.
>> - Hand-holding software like "CPanel" is actively unwanted
>
> Not there (I don't think) unless you want it.
FWIW: AFAIK, the traditional DO VM just has whatever the distribution provides,
so unless you "{dnf,apt} install cpanel", you won't get it. More recently
they've apparently bought/merged/partnered with an entity called "Cloudways",
which I gather from the banner ad is more like a managed do-it-for-you host,
which likely has such things.
>> - Make sure IP traffic keeps flowing
>
>?? Not sure what you're looking for, here.
The network shouldn't go down a lot.
>> - Respond to abuse reports to keep reputation at least somewhat OK
>
> I generally go and do my own reputation maintenance by talking to RBLs
> directly. Are there providers that do that for you??
That's not what I mean.
There seems to be an increasing trend of DO having their ASNs/netblocks ending
up on blacklists. Allegedly (according to the blacklists) this is because DO
doesn't police their customers closely enough and/or respond to abuse reports
in a good fashion.
They also have an official position of very strongly discouraging running email
within their systems:
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/why-you-may-not-want-to-run-your-own-mail-server
There are also unofficial sources that corroborate my interpretation, e.g. from
someone's support ticket:
>>> DigitalOcean is not a dedicated email host and does not have a postmaster
>>> to maintain our IP reputation. As a result, some DigitalOcean IP ranges are
>>> blacklisted. We do not recommend sending mail from our platform directly
>>> and we will not request delisting.
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/questions/how-to-removed-my-ip-as-blacklisted-in-uceprotectl3-spam?comment=145886
Now, reputation/blacklist systems are unreliable at best, and something of a
racket at worst, but given that DO's official policy is "you shouldn't do this
in the first place, and we'll block you if you try", I don't see any point in
trying to defend them on this aspect. They clearly don't want it.
If one isn't trying to run a mail system, it's a non-issue, and DO would be
fine. But since I *am* trying to run a mail system, the fact that they have
been very good otherwise doesn't really matter.
-- Ben
___
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Virtual server host with reasonable mail policies?
Hi everybody! Can anyone recommend a VPS/VM host that understands people might want to use email? (VPS=Virtual Private Server, VM=Virtual Machine) I (and GNHLUG) have been with Digital Ocean for several years now, and they've generally been good, but their attitude towards email has devolved to "Go away" and that doesn't meet my/our needs. I'm not looking for someone to hold me hand or run a relay for me. As long as they (1) allow use of mail service ports, (2) don't tell me I don't want to run email, and (3) respond to abuse reports against their other customers, I'm good. Linode, for example, blocks mail ports by default, but provides a reasonable-sounding procedure to get them unblocked, and claims to care about mail abuse. But that's one provider of many; I'd like to hear if others have experience. I/we need to be able to: - Receive email directly (run an SMTP listener on TCP port 25) - Send email directly (initiate outbound connections to TCP port 25) - Run a web server (HTTP/SSL listener on TCP ports 80 and 443) - Run an SSH listener on a non-standard port (remote access) - Run a DNS server on UDP and TCP port 53 (authoritative name server) - Install and run arbitrary Linux software - Fairly low volume for all traffic (mail, DNS, web, IP) - Fairly low CPU, disk, and RAM usage - Hand-holding software like "CPanel" is actively unwanted All I/we want the provider to do is: - Provide some kind of UI for low-level VM maintenance - Installation of operating system (canned images are fine) - Recovery of OS when SSH can't be used - Make sure the VM doesn't go down due to power or hardware fault - Make sure IP traffic keeps flowing - Respond to abuse reports to keep reputation at least somewhat OK -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Dynamic DNS: Ubuntu vs. CentOS.
On Mon, Jul 4, 2011 at 9:55 PM, Ken D'Ambrosio k...@jots.org wrote: Hey, all. At my new employer -- where I have essentially zero visibility into how DNS is run -- my Ubuntu boxen push out forward-lookup DNS just fine, but not so much my CentOS box (at least, with default configurations). Ideas on what I need to do to rectify this? Are you saying you want your CentOS box to send DNS updates, to register its own name in DNS? What release of CentOS? Manually configured IP address, or DHCP client? -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: http://linuxbeard.com/
On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 5:19 PM, John Abreau j...@blu.org wrote: Basically, if you merely exist, someone may be offended. I wouldn't limit it to that. Any number of people are offended by non-existence -- especially the people who are deemed non-existent. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Do one thing well... (Flash)
On Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 1:13 PM, Jerry Feldman g...@blu.org wrote: Additionally, AFAIK, neither AMD nor Intel make 32-bit chips any longer. AFAIK, any x86-64 chip still runs 32-bit i386 code just fine. :) I expect most people asking about 32-bit software are prolly running their x86-64 hardware in 32-bit mode, for whatever reason. (Inertia being a big one.) -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Fwd: Linux reference on subs
On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 9:23 AM, mno...@embedded-unlimited.com wrote: US vessel, the Yorktown ..The entire network of Windows NT machines crashed. The Navy claims the ship was dead in the water for about three hours; There's not much real information on this, but supposedly the problem was in userland code: A divide by zero error crashed the database that supported the ship systems. Doesn't sound like an OS issue. Franky, I wouldn't want to trust my life to anything running on any general-purpose OS or software, be it Linux, Unix, Microsoft, Plan 9, whatever. I'd like something with known, documented, well-understood, finite, deterministic states and transitions, please. Preferably implemented in discrete controls with manual alternatives. I think it was the estimable Bill Sconce who had a shirt that summed it up nicely: As a programmer, I find your faith in computers amusing. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
[GNHLUG] OpenShot video editor
What : OpenShot video editor Who : Rob Anderson Date : Mon 13 June 2011 Time : 7 PM to 9 PM Where: Room 301, Morse Hall, UNH, Durham, NH Rob tells me he's been looking at OpenShot, a video editing tool for Linux. Sounds interesting. I've occasionally had need for such a tool and look forward to at least the first hour or so of the presentation. (Rob is competing with the Bruins, unfortunately. Go B's!) Says their website: OpenShot Video Editor is a free, open-source video editor for Linux licensed under the GPL version 3.0. OpenShot can take your videos, photos, and music files and help you create the film you have always dreamed of. Easily add sub-titles, transitions, and effects, and then export your film to DVD, YouTube, Vimeo, Xbox 360, and many other common formats. http://www.openshot.org/ === About SLUG === SLUG is the Seacoast Linux User Group, and is a chapter of GNHLUG, the Greater NH Linux User Group. Rob Anderson is the SLUG coordinator, and reliably comes up with interesting topics each month. SLUG meets the second Monday of every month, same time, same place. You can find out more about SLUG and GNHLUG at their websites. http://slug.gnhlug.org http://www.gnhlug.org Meetings take place starting at 7:00 PM. Meetings are open to all. The meeting proper ends around 9ish, but it's not uncommon to find hangers-on there until 10 or later. They take place in Room 301 (the third floor conference room), of Morse Hall, at the University of New Hampshire, in Durham, New Hampshire, United States, North America, Earth, Sol system, Orion spur, Milky Way galaxy, Virgo supercluster. ___ gnhlug-announce mailing list gnhlug-annou...@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-announce/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Do one thing well...
On Tue, Jun 7, 2011 at 12:57 PM, Jeffry Smith jsm...@alum.mit.edu wrote: Since Flash sucked still does No need to specify the system or the timeframe ... Indeed. Flash is basically a browser crash that also plays videos. ... most Flash sites I've found could be programmed with HTML only and be just as good. If not better. I also sarcasm level=drippinglove/sarcasm sites that use JavaScript instead of A HREF= tags for links. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Do one thing well...
On Sun, Jun 5, 2011 at 10:21 PM, Ken D'Ambrosio k...@jots.org wrote: ... http://www.dilbert.com/fast/; ... Scott Adams blogged about this here: http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/dilbertcom_redesign/ -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Do one thing well...
On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 5:47 PM, Chip Marshall c...@2bithacker.net wrote: ... Flash on Unix/Linux sucked back in the day ... Nothing's changed, then. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Mailing list addresses (was: Linux reference on subs)
On Sun, Jun 5, 2011 at 7:24 AM, Jeffry Smith jsm...@alum.mit.edu wrote: bounced for some reason - It appears you first tried posting to gnh...@gnhlug.org, before trying gnhlug-disc...@gnhlug.org. The canonical mailing list address is gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org. gnhlug-disc...@gnhlug.org works because the same server hosts mail for both gnhlug.org. and mail.gnhlug.org., and it hasn't been configured to make a distinction. This could probably be construed as a feature. gnh...@gnhlug.org was an explicit alias many moons ago. It was removed for some reason -- deliberately, IIRC. I have forgotten why. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Linux reference on subs
On Sun, Jun 5, 2011 at 7:24 AM, Jeffry Smith jsm...@alum.mit.edu wrote: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/archive/331544-196/uss-new-hampshire-surfaces-on-seacoast.html Cool. I think Dave Brooks is a closet Linux geek. ;-) My employer makes some parts for the photonics masts, which are the modern-day periscope replacements. They're basically an extendable pole with an electronics package at the top. Visible and infrared cameras, a laser range finder, antennas, etc. Rather than bouncing light off mirrors, the imagery is carried electronically. Aside from design flexibility, it only needs a small cable junction in the pressure hull. Traditional 'scopes needed a big hole and complicated moving seals. Here's a photo of the top: http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/usw/issue_24/images/06_periscope.gif (from: http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/usw/issue_24/eyes2.htm) -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Boston Linux and Unix InstallFest XL REMINDER Tomorrow Saturday June 4, 2011
On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 7:45 AM, Jerry Feldman g...@blu.org wrote: Boston Linux Installfest XL What makes this installfest bigger than the other ones? Are more attendees expected? -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Boston Linux and Unix InstallFest XL REMINDER Tomorrow Saturday June 4, 2011
On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 9:52 AM, Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com wrote: Boston Linux Installfest XL What makes this installfest bigger than the other ones? Are more attendees expected? I think he's running with LC_NUMERIC=la_RM, in which case `XL' is his localised representation of 40. I was joking, in case that wasn't obvious. :) Is LC_NUMERIC=la_RM a real thing for some stuff, or are you also joking? I tried it on my box Deb 5.0 box and was disappointed ls -l didn't output Roman numerals for the sizes. :) -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
[GNHLUG] Seacoast/UNH/Durham/SLUG - Mon 9 May - Opera browser
What : Opera browser Who : Ben Scott Date : Mon 14 Feb 2011 Time : 7 PM to 9 PM Where: Room 301, Morse Hall, UNH, Durham, NH Rob Anderson tells me he is on vacation. While I will be checking the SLUG by-laws[1] to see if that's even allowed, I'll also be filling in for Rob at the May SLUG tonight. In grand SLUG tradition, I had no idea what the topic was going to be until five minutes ago, when I remembered that I had given a presentation on Chrome, Google's web browser, in which Opera was mentioned. So, tonight will be a sort of follow-up, where we check out the alternative alternative browser [sic]. Just to make things more interesting, that will include downloading and installing it. As before, I'll be making this up as I go along, so bring your laptop and join the discovery. [1] Turns out, we haven't gotten around to writing them yet === About SLUG === SLUG is the Seacoast Linux User Group, and is a chapter of GNHLUG, the Greater NH Linux User Group. Rob Anderson is the SLUG coordinator, and reliably comes up with interesting topics each month. SLUG meets the second Monday of every month, same time, same place. You can find out more about SLUG and GNHLUG at their websites. http://slug.gnhlug.org http://www.gnhlug.org Meetings take place starting at 7:00 PM. Meetings are open to all. The meeting proper ends around 9ish, but it's not uncommon to find hangers-on there until 10 or later. They take place in Room 301 (the third floor conference room), of Morse Hall, at the University of New Hampshire, in Durham, New Hampshire, United States, North America, Earth, Sol system, Orion spur, Milky Way galaxy, Virgo supercluster. ___ gnhlug-announce mailing list gnhlug-annou...@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-announce/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: [GNHLUG] Seacoast/UNH/Durham/SLUG - Mon 9 May - Opera browser
The correct date is Mon 9 May. On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 7:11 AM, Benjamin Scott dragonh...@gmail.com wrote: What : Opera browser Who : Ben Scott Date : Mon 9 May 2011 Time : 7 PM to 9 PM Where: Room 301, Morse Hall, UNH, Durham, NH Thanks to David Rose for the correction. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-announce mailing list gnhlug-annou...@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-announce/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: eWaste collection event, 21 May, Manchester, NH
On Fri, May 6, 2011 at 8:14 PM, Jon maddog Hall mad...@li.org wrote: I still have my old SEARS portable, manual (non-electric) typewriter in my closet. I still have my Corona Model 3 typewriter. Built circa 1920. Just Corona; it was before they merged with Smith. It belonged to my grandfather. It still works. I once used it to type a paper for middle/high school, when my PC crapped out for some reason (I had, of course, waited until the night before it was due). It has two shift keys: CAP and FIG, the later of which does numbers and punctuation. The shift keys actually shift the entire carriage/platen assembly up. Today, most college kids don't know what a typewriter is ... Why, when I was growing up, we didn't even have air! ;-) -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: The death of manual typewriters (was: eWaste collection event, 21 May, Manchester, NH)
On Fri, May 6, 2011 at 10:09 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com wrote: I think I saw this on Slashdot a week or two ago; but, quoting Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter#End_of_an_era: Someone on Slashdot commented that it wasn't the factory that was closing, but the production line. Apparently they'd been making more than they were selling, and have a large stock to sell off. I read it on the Internet, it has to be true! -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
[GNHLUG] GNHLUG.org has a new home at G4.net
As many of you have heard by now, MV Communications in Manchester -- NH's oldest ISP -- is closing its doors. This was sad news to the many GNHLUGers who were past or present customers of MV. MV has also been generously hosting GNHLUG's Internet server in their co-location facility for free, so this caused dismay of a more immediate sort as well. We needed new hosting, and fast, but didn't have the budget to pay for it. Fortunately, another local NH communications company stepped forward. I'm happy to say that GNHLUG's Internet presence is now being hosted by G4 Communications (http://www.g4.net/), also of Manchester. G4 has been around for almost as long as MV -- since 1993 -- and provides DSL, T1/DS1, DS3, and fiber optic connectivity in locations throughout the greater New Hampshire area. They also offer hosting (web, DNS, email), managed network, MPLS, firewall, co-location, and even traditional landline telephone services. They come highly recommended by several GNHLUGers. As part of moving our server, I got to see G4's co-location facility. It was fully equipped, with multiple locked cages, redundant power and cooling, and everything else you'd expect in such a place. The engineer assigned to our case took me right in, gave me a shelf, power, and pipe, and had us up and running within minutes. When I remarked that it was getting a little crowded in the shared co-lo cage, he answered that they're expanding in to a second facility in the same building later this year. So, while I mourn the loss of a fine NH company, I'm pleased with our new hosts, and very gratified with their generosity. If you're in the area and have a need, check out G4. http://www.g4.net/ GNHLUG is the Greater New Hampshire Linux Users Group, a registered NH non-profit corporation. All use of GNHLUG Internet Services is subject to our Terms of Service (http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Www/LegalNotice). -- Ben ___ gnhlug-announce mailing list gnhlug-annou...@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-announce/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Plug Computers for whole-home audio
On Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 5:12 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com wrote: Contrary to popular belief, modern flash disks have *way better reliability* than HDDs. I expect this varies greatly with implementation. I've encountered el-cheapo flash storage which had failure rates approaching 100% in 6 months. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Ottawa Linux Symposium
On Sun, Mar 27, 2011 at 1:03 PM, Jon 'maddog' Hall mad...@li.org wrote: I will be leaving Nashua about 1400 on March 12th ... Apparently, this year's Ottawa Linux Symposium will be announcing a new addition to the Linux kernel: Time travel. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Managing installs of Adobe Flash on Debian (was: Force apt-get to ignore dependencies?)
[revisiting an old issue] On Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 8:25 AM, Benjamin Scott dragonh...@gmail.com wrote: Reading elsewhere, it would appear Canonical is hosting a repository for Adobe. I don't think this was ever really addressed on-list, so: I did find the APT repository which contains Adobe's free Linux software. The sources.list directive would be of the form: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ maverick partner Replace maverick with whatever Ubuntu release is most appropriate for your situation. Unfortunately, the dependencies in that repo don't get along with my Debian 5.0 lenny system. APT claims the adobe-flashplugin package requires versions of certain libraries lenny doesn't have. I can only assume the package is incorrectly using whatever library versions were present on the Ubuntu system the package was built-on. This is the usual behavior with the auto-dependency-generator tools most packages are built with -- they assume you need what you happen to have. More accurate dependency info would require the programmer to manually add some clue to the build, which practically never happens. Certainly the Flash package I get from Adobe's manual download site[1] installs and runs as well as Flash ever does. [1] http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player_10_linux.deb -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Managing installs of Adobe Flash on Debian (was: Force apt-get to ignore dependencies?)
Here's the shell script I just threw together to keep my system current with whatever Adobe's offering. Silent unless trouble or update, so suitable for a cron job. Not really tested much yet. :) http://pastebin.com/eLfi9SNV -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Holy War(!): APT vs. RPM (was: Force apt-get to ignore dependencies?)
On Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 12:23 PM, Bill Sconce sco...@in-spec-inc.com wrote: Er, isn't the likely effect of bigots..who crawl out of the woodwork.. to hurt people's feelings? Well, if said bigots have their feelings hurt, I'm okay with that. I've been listening to them spout the same misinformed crap for a decade plus and I'm pretty sick of it myself. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Holy War(!): APT vs. RPM (was: Force apt-get to ignore dependencies?)
On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 9:31 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com wrote: It's nice/sad to see Debian getting the symptoms of RPM hell that people always bring up. Debian -- or rather, dpkg/APT -- has always had the exact same behavior as RPM/YUM, it's just Debian bigots (who crawl out of the woodwork whenever package management is mentioned) were too blinded by zealotry to understand them. I know this isn't what you're addressing here ..., but there /are/ actually some fairly deep differences in what RPM and dpkg do ... Which, as you say, has nothing to do with what's being addressed. Binary dependencies exist whether you're aware of them or not. Some people blame RPM for somehow causing the problem, since it generates the warnings. This is akin to blaming fire alarms for causing fires. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Managing installs of Adobe Flash on Debian (was: Force apt-get to ignore dependencies?)
On Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 12:47 AM, Benjamin Scott dragonh...@gmail.com wrote: I see that they have an apt: URL in use `for Ubuntu 9.04+' ... Where's this you see that? :) Ah, found it. If one uses the Get Flash web page, APT shows up in the Versions drop down list. And then it produces this URL for the download: apt:adobe-flashplugin?channel=$distro-partner Reading elsewhere, it would appear Canonical is hosting a repository for Adobe. But Adobe appears to be hosting their own YUM repository. Humph. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: broke package management (warning long)
On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 9:21 PM, Jeffry Smith jsm...@alum.mit.edu wrote: Either get the modules installed or remove the kernel from /boot ... update-initramfs doesn't actually care where or how the kernel/modules were installed. It just iterates over the kernels it finds in /boot building initramfs's. ... I was thinking one could prolly just rename the kernel image file so that it doesn't match whatever pattern update-initramfs is looking for. So I went looking at the source. It appears what update-initramfs is *actually* doing is iterating over the version numbers from /var/lib/initramfs-tools/* and looking to build an initrd image for each one. According to dpkg on my Debian 5.0 box, no package owns anything under there: blackfire$ dpkg -S /var/lib/initramfs-tools/* dpkg: /var/lib/initramfs-tools/2.6.26-2-686 not found. blackfire$ I guess it's another not-quite-managed-package thing. So... at least look in /var/lib/initramfs-tools/ and see if there's something in there that shouldn't be. If so, move it somewhere else, I guess. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Force apt-get to ignore dependencies?
On Sun, Feb 13, 2011 at 7:43 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com wrote: IANAL, but I believe that's an open question. It prolly doesn't comply with the license document, but license documents do not have the force of law (much to the dislike of software publishers everywhere). I haven't agreed to the terms of the license. Well, it's a license, not a contract. So it..., er, `grants you license' to do things--like distribute. I haven't looked at the Flash license for Linux, but if it's like most licenses, you're not supposed to distribute it, install it more than once, copy it for your own use, or even look at it closely. Reverse engineering (such as what would be needed to determine which files to rip out of the distribution kit, wink) is typically declared forbidden. Fortunately, again, licenses don't have force of law by themselves Debian does the download-on-demand thing to distance themselves from claims of copyright infringement, I'm sure. Since copyright *is* law, that's something to be a lot more wary of. But if I were trying to defend what d-m.org does (and I sort-of am), I'd point out that Flash installation kit is available for free, and is available for download from a public server without going though any license agreement check. Is simply changing the format so it can be used a violation of copyright, or would that be fair use? In some jurisdictions (not the US, AFAIK) (maybe France?) it's explicitly allowed. Here it's a question for a court to decide (unless there's existing case law addressing it, which there may well be). Do I expect Debian/SPI to volunteer to be the test case for that? No. I'm just thinking, it makes sense to me that Debian does it the way that they do ... I don't blame Debian for not wanting to wander around in a legal minefield, but that doesn't make the problems with flashplugin-nonfree go away. In the meantime, I'm trying to get someone else's packaging of Flash which doesn't have those problems. (Or rather, I was. I've since given up.) ... it extracts the .so from the tarball ... Okay, so it's ripping the files from Adobe's executable installer kit, rather than running same. It's really just downloading and unpacking a tarball, and the only file in the tarball is libflashplayer.so, so I'm not sure what there is to `run'. Hmm. So it is. In the past, to do things manually, I remember downloading the Adobe Flash distribution and running an executable installer component. The name install_flash_player_10_linux.tar.gz would seem to corroborate that. Presumably something changed. Hmm again. Okay, so I've just found something which makes me even less thrilled with Debian's approach (although this may be a new thing Adobe is doing so not really Debian's fault). Anyway, today at least, Adobe provides a .deb package: http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player_10_linux.deb Seems to install fine. I'll test it when I get back to my X console at home. :) Yeah--I get your issue, now: which isn't so much an issue with how it's packaged or the trustworthiness of the source so much as that Debian's just not pushing out regular upgrades whenever upstream does (which actually seems to fit with their policies...). You're correct in that I have no issue with trustworthiness. I'm unhappy the installation is not a managed package. Easy updates is the big part of that, but the other things count, too. Having every the package manager track all one's installed files makes a lot of little things easier. Again, I don't blame Debian for not wanting to; I'm just unhappy with the result. The only work-around I know to suggest is to just install the package from lenny-backports and regularly update it by running update-flashplugin-nonfree --install, That is indeed what I've fallen back upon. :-/ Personally, I decided to follow your advice on handling people who don't want you to work with them. I wish I could. I sincerely wish I could. Alas, I cannot escape from Flash -- too many things I need to use to conduct the business of my life depend on Flash, much to my disgust. :-( -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Managing installs of Adobe Flash on Debian (was: Force apt-get to ignore dependencies?)
On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 11:51 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com wrote: Anyway, today at least, Adobe provides a .deb package: But there you've still got the `doesn't automatically update via APT' situation, don't you ... Yup, yup. It's just cleaner than the fire and forget approach the flashplayer-nonfree package uses. At least the files and versions are properly properly managed and reported now. It's a big step closer. Or does Adobe actually have an APT archive, somewhere? It appears they may. See Installation instructions via APT in the link below. Still working out the details myself. (The .deb didn't drop anything in sources.list.d.) http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/productinfo/instructions/ I see that they have an apt: URL in use `for Ubuntu 9.04+' ... Where's this you see that? :) (and it looks like your .deb is supposed to be `for Ubuntu 8.04+'; maybe that means `works with the Debian released in 2009', maybe not). I'm pretty sure the plus sign there is important. They're just establishing minimum acceptable version. Again, Flash doesn't have much in the way of specific external dependencies, in my experience (although ldd on the binary suggests otherwise; things may have changed again). -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Force apt-get to ignore dependencies?
On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 10:47 PM, Benjamin Scott dragonh...@gmail.com wrote: Adobe provides a .deb package: Seems to install fine. I'll test it when I get back to my X console at home. :) For those playing along at home: It works. :) -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Force apt-get to ignore dependencies?
On Sat, Feb 12, 2011 at 11:30 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com wrote: What's wrong with the `flashplugin-nonfree' package that Debian has in lenny-backports? On Sat, Feb 12, 2011 at 6:55 PM, Benjamin Scott dragonh...@gmail.com wrote: They conveniently kept a current release packaged in a real Debian package, not the download-an-executable-installer-for-you package one gets elsewhere. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Force apt-get to ignore dependencies?
On Sat, Feb 12, 2011 at 7:44 PM, Alan Johnson a...@datdec.com wrote: If you don't want to fish through the repos, you will likely find it in /var/cache/apt/archives/ Alas, no. apt-get won't even download the package because it thinks there are unsolved dependencies. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Force apt-get to ignore dependencies?
On Sat, Feb 12, 2011 at 8:22 PM, Roger H. Goun ro...@bcah.com wrote: Is the source package available? If so, you could remove the errant dependencies from the control file and rebuild the .deb. The reason I liked d-m.org's packaging of Flash was that it gave me a proper package that was maintained at current versions and updated properly and automatically with no effort on my part. Apparently, I'm not going to get that anymore. :( -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Force apt-get to ignore dependencies?
On Sun, Feb 13, 2011 at 9:50 AM, Jon 'maddog' Hall mad...@li.org wrote: after a unfortunate accident involving a package manager, a liquid lunch, and a pair of rubber bands I would love to hear more about this at the upcoming ManchLUG meeting. I knew there was a reason for avoiding rubber bands. For those who don't get it, that was a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams (RIP). Specifically, the origin story of Wowbagger The Infinitely Prolonged, who had his immortality inadvertently thrust upon him by an unfortunate accident with an irrational particle accelerator, a liquid lunch, and a pair of rubber bands. My own need to reinstall was caused by my accidentally installing part of squeeze into my lenny-based install, after misunderstanding the semantics of APT's RootDir directive. The resulting craziness minded me of HHGTTG. What really happened is available in the archives: http://article.gmane.org/gmane.org.user-groups.linux.gnhlug/20691 http://article.gmane.org/gmane.org.user-groups.linux.gnhlug/20708 -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Force apt-get to ignore dependencies?
On Sun, Feb 13, 2011 at 9:50 AM, Tom Buskey t...@buskey.name wrote: It's nice/sad to see Debian getting the symptoms of RPM hell that people always bring up. Debian -- or rather, dpkg/APT -- has always had the exact same behavior as RPM/YUM, it's just Debian bigots (who crawl out of the woodwork whenever package management is mentioned) were too blinded by zealotry to understand them. Both RPM and dpkg properly warn you if unmet dependencies exist. Both communities developed tools to solve dependencies for you. Debian came up with APT and put it into their distribution from an early age, which was a big win for Debian. Kudos to them for that. RPM derived systems had several different tools for a long time, which meant the command(s) to use varied by distro and release. You might use autorpm, rpmfind, up2date, etc. It wasn't until much later that everyone standardized on YUM. Additionally: There have been (or were) more people building third-party RPMs for a long time. Debian has long had the most native packages in their repository. Debian has a very slow release cycle, so Debian people are more likely to be running similar systems. Thus, Debian users were less likely to encounter a third-party package that had incompatible dependencies. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Force apt-get to ignore dependencies?
On Sun, Feb 13, 2011 at 10:15 AM, Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com wrote: I don't even understand how/why the word conveniently is supposed to apply, here--how do you, as an end user, even see any difference? The Debian package downloads and runs an executable installer. d-m.org offered a proper packaging of the installed files. Specific advantages of doing it right include: (1) Updates work automatically, like every other managed package on the system. (2) Versions appear in package management tools. (3) Files and their checksums are known to the package management tools. are you objecting to the Debian package containing an exectuable postinst script (which is normal for Debian packages) No. (Well, overall I think Debian over-uses post-install scripts, but that's a minor complaint, and it's not what I'm objecting to here.) or do you think that the postinst script is downloading an executable installer and then running that (it's not)? Except that it is. Read the package description. Go check the source, if you don't believe me. http://packages.debian.org/squeeze/flashplugin-nonfree -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Force apt-get to ignore dependencies?
On Sun, Feb 13, 2011 at 10:33 AM, Benjamin Scott dragonh...@gmail.com wrote: (1) Updates work automatically, like every other managed package on the system. P.S.: Given Flash's history of frequent security vulnerabilities and consequence fix releases, this is pretty significant. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Force apt-get to ignore dependencies?
On Sun, Feb 13, 2011 at 11:08 AM, Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com wrote: The Debian package downloads and runs an executable installer. d-m.org offered a proper packaging of the installed files. I'd go for that, but... is that even *legal*? In the USA? IANAL, but I believe that's an open question. It prolly doesn't comply with the license document, but license documents do not have the force of law (much to the dislike of software publishers everywhere). I haven't agreed to the terms of the license. As far as copyright goes, similar things have been considered fair use by US courts in the past. It would have to go to court to decide, and then it would prolly depend on the mood of the judge and/or jury, and the quality of the lawyers on both sides. ... it extracts the .so from the tarball ... Okay, so it's ripping the files from Adobe's executable installer kit, rather than running same. All my individually enumerated complaints still apply in full. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Force apt-get to ignore dependencies?
Hey list, Anyone know of a way to have apt-get (Debian) ignore dependencies and download the frelling package anyway? I've recently reinstalled Debian 5.0 lenny on my PC (after a unfortunate accident involving a package manager, a liquid lunch, and a pair of rubber bands). However, in the meantime, Debian has released squeeze as stable. In the progress of updating for that, debian-multimedia.org broke their oldstable archive (corresponding to lenny right now) and have taken it offline, so only their stable archive (corresponding to squeeze) is available. d-m.org was where I was getting my Adobe Flash package from. They conveniently kept a current release packaged in a real Debian package, not the download-an-executable-installer-for-you package one gets elsewhere. Unfortunately, their package based on squeeze thinks it depends on newer libraries than those which ship with lenny. However, I'm almost positive that's wrong -- Flash is statically linked. It sure as hell ain't built against a particular version of Debian. I'm willing to bet those dependencies are just in the package control file because those were the libraries the auto-dependency-generator thing found when the package was built. One could argue that's a bug in the package, and you'd be right, but one could argue Flash is inherently broken, and you'd also be right. This is the reality I have to deal with, and I can't seem to clue apt-get in to it. (I don't want to upgrade to squeeze because (1) it just came out, and that's always a bad idea with *ANYTHING*, and (2) squeeze has moved to one of those overly-complicated dynamic init systems, which I object to for religious reasons.) Google is full of situations that don't apply. Anyone got a clue they can spare? -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
[GNHLUG] Seacoast/UNH/Durham/SLUG - Mon 14 Feb - KDE Kontact: Contacts, calendar communication
What : KDE Kontact - Contacts, calendar communication Who : Rob Anderson Date : Mon 14 Feb 2011 Time : 7 PM to 9 PM Where: Room 301, Morse Hall, UNH, Durham, NH Catch KDE Kmail Kontact, a contacts, calendar communication combination conferring convenience (caveat companion cramps). Confused? Consider: Kontact is a mashup of: email, calendar scheduling, contacts, todo lists, time tracking, and news. This is sometimes called PIM or Personal Information Management. Microsoft Outlook is currently the most well-known software in this category. Rob changed from Evolution to Kmail when Evolution was going through some growing pains. He liked Kmail because he didn't need all the extra stuff Evolution did, with contacts and calendars, which made any errors there extra annoying. So years later he tried Kontact, and found that he did actually want some of those features now. The good news is that Kontact just uses Kmail as a plugin. So he can now use either one, the best of both worlds. Now that he's been using these extra features he doesn't really want to give them up. And he says Kontact is going through some growing pains now. They seem to have a good concept, so once it's done he believes it will really be worth enduring the current growing pain. Come and see what he means. http://slug.gnhlug.org/Members/rea/SLUG/slug-meetings/kde-kontact This meeting is brought to you by the sound of the letter k. === About SLUG === SLUG is the Seacoast Linux User Group, and is a chapter of GNHLUG, the Greater NH Linux User Group. Rob Anderson is the SLUG coordinator, and reliably comes up with interesting topics each month. SLUG meets the second Monday of every month, same time, same place. You can find out more about SLUG and GNHLUG at their websites. http://slug.gnhlug.org http://www.gnhlug.org Meetings take place starting at 7:00 PM. Meetings are open to all. The meeting proper ends around 9ish, but it's not uncommon to find hangers-on there until 10 or later. They take place in Room 301 (the third floor conference room), of Morse Hall, at the University of New Hampshire, in Durham, New Hampshire, United States, North America, Earth, Sol system, Orion spur, Milky Way galaxy, Virgo supercluster. ___ gnhlug-announce mailing list gnhlug-annou...@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-announce/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
14 Feb importance
On Fri, Feb 11, 2011 at 2:54 PM, Ed lawson elaw...@grizzy.com wrote: ... the 14th? Don't you know what day it is? ... It's the first day of the Man vs. Machine shows on Jeopardy! .. Perhaps someone in your house thinks Feb. 14th is important for something else? I believe it was Jim Kuzdrall who stated that he and his wife celebrate Galileo's birthday, which is 15 Feb. Conveniently, all the stores also celebrate Galileo's birthday by offering candy, cards, and other gifts at discount prices. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Shopping carts
On Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 9:22 PM, Dan Jenkins d...@rastech.com wrote: Again, no customer information is to be stored on the server, and no login to purchase is required. ZenCart normally requires customer registration, but Google results imply there's a guest-checkout sort of module/extension available. Never tried it, myself. We want to retain the current ordering system indefinitely (one form per item and immediate payment for each purchase). Any particular reason? Buying a single item is usually just treated as a degenerate case of buying multiple items. I know I've seen sites with a Add to cart and checkout now sort of button (in addition to the Add to cart button), which would seem to be much the same thing. You're free to do whatever you want, of course; I'm just thinking the less integration work you have to do, the better. We do not want to perform credit card approval through the shopping cart for several reasons. Sure, sure. It's not uncommon for a commerce operator to process payments offline. Some of my experience with Zen Cart was with a wholesaler who wanted their customers (the retailers) to have a catalog they could pick from, and build a shopping cart of stuff they wanted to order, but payment (including shipping fees) was the domain of reseller agreements, with invoicing, consignment options, etc. So I had to write dummy payment and shipping modules that didn't do *anything*. Prolly the easiest programming I've ever done. :) So, the goal of the shopping cart is simply to aggregate multiple orders into a single order settlement. It does seem like a fairly simple task, however, none of the carts I've examined appear to handle this scenario. To me, it seems like, if you have an existing catalog and checkout in place, and you want to keep them, building the cart software yourself would be easier than trying to adapt an existing system onto your code. Store a list of product IDs in a cookie. When the user clicks Add to cart, add the current product ID to the cookie. When the user clicks Checkout, iterate over those IDs and call your existing checkout for each. Yes, this is code you have to maintain, but you'd have to do just about the same amount of work to call out to something else. The only thing that you wouldn't have to write yourself otherwise would be the code to list the contents of the card for the user to review. Is generating an HTML table really that big a deal? :-) But hey, if you want, grab a copy of ZenCart and start hacking out anything that's not the cart code. :) -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Not your father's OTRS.
On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 6:58 PM, Ken D'Ambrosio k...@jots.org wrote: If you've been pondering a ticketing system, I strongly suggest kicking the tires on OTRS -- but be sure it's v. 3.x or higher. Anyone here care to comment on OTRS vs RT (Request Tracker)? trouble ticket system has been on my work to-do list for two employers now. I have gotten as far as deciding the two big FOSS players were RT and OTRS. I've never had time to research a comparison. Shared thoughts would be much appreciated. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Shopping carts
On Wed, Feb 9, 2011, Dan Jenkins d...@rastech.com wrote: I am looking for a shopping cart solution to add to several existing web sites I admin ... ... The url would be invoked solely via a localhost interface from one program to the receiving cart ... ... A separate request would check-out ... ... The actual order must, in most cases, be manually processed ... ... The order would be encrypted and emailed (again, to a local email server ... You might want to clarify what you're looking for here. Most commerce systems I've used assume a human being using a web browser at the other end of an HTTP transaction. They present the catalog, allow the human to pick products from that catalog and put them in the cart, and then checkout -- enter payment and shipping info. The UI is done via HTTP and HTML and a web browser. HTTP cookies track cart state (or at least, a session ID). You're saying you want to submit items via local channels (thereby implying you'll do the catalog, too), checkout via local channels, submit order info via local channels... what exactly does that leave for the commerce system to *do*? :-) When it comes to the server side of commerce systems, I've only ever really dealt with Zen Cart (a fork of osCommerce). It gets the job done, and is a relatively simple system and thus easier to fit into one's head. And free. There's a strong user community web forum. There's a web knowledgebase, which is good because the code I had to deal with was not well commented. The design didn't strike me as overly modular. So it might be tough to adapt it to... whatever it is you're doing. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
[OT] Ken Olsen, DEC father, dead at 84
This is OT-ish, but I know we have a lot of ex-DEC'ers on this list. Ken Olsen, co-founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, died on Sun 6 Feb. He was 84. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/technology/business-computing/08olsen.html http://www.wbur.org/2011/02/08/olsen-biographer http://www.xconomy.com/san-francisco/2011/02/08/remembering-ken-olsen-1926-2011-a-sense-of-pride-and-a-sense-of-humor/ -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Netflix and Hulu [Was Re: Computer hardware for sale, cheap]
On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 2:05 AM, Dan Jenkins d...@rastech.com wrote: http://www.netflix.com/BrowseSelection Use the Watch Instantly box in the lower left to limit to diskless content. FYI, the above only works if you are not logged in to a Netflix account. If you are logged in, it redirects to WiHome page. Choosing SciFi category, for example, shows 17 titles when not logged in. Logging in to Netflix, shows 167 titles under that genre. Ah. I specifically logged out to get that link, but didn't drill down to make sure it had the same number of titles. I confirm similar behavior here. Crud. Playing around, http://www.netflix.com/AllGenresList will get you all the titles, but won't filter for diskless content. Rather dumb of them -- especially since they expose that info via a publicly documented web API (that's how InstantWatcher.com works). -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: APT/dpkg system within a system (was: Ubuntu... downgrade?)
On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 7:06 AM, Randy Edwards redwa...@golgotha.net wrote: Be warned that it would appear APT does not pass it's root directory setting on to dpkg. Please make sure you file a bug against that with Debian's reportbug command/package or via the Debian.org web site http://www.debian.org/Bugs/Reporting. That should be addressed, doubly so with a release close to going stable. I am pretty sure I would be told the Debian equivalent of This behavior is by design. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: APT/dpkg system within a system
On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 12:36 AM, Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com wrote: Depending on how many packages you pulled in from sid, you may actually be able to just downgrade them by specifying, e.g.: apt-get install $pkgname/lenny Well, it installed a few hundred packages (which I was expecting), including things like libc and Perl, and now all sorts of stuff is broken, so I'm not even gonna bother trying. I'm actually somewhat surprised the system is still usable at all. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Ubuntu... downgrade? (64-bit - 32-bit)
On Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 11:40 PM, Ken D'Ambrosio k...@jots.org wrote: Hmmm... might be worth looking into. I mean, what's the worst that happens? I bork my system, and wind up doing a re-install. Which is what I'm looking at, anyway. So, yeah -- I'll poke around and see what I can make happen. I have an idea I've been turning over in my head which may be applicable here, too: Set up another installation in a directory branch. In your case, maybe under /usr/ubuntu-i386/ or something like that. The reason I want to do this is so I can get certain things from Debian unstable to install (with all their library dependencies) without having to run my entire system on unstable.[1] One way to do this would be to bootstrap an installation in a VM or a chroot, but that's a bit heavy-handed. I've been fiddling with using arguments to apt-get/dpkg to change the root directory for that invocation, e.g.: sudo apt-get -o 'RootDir=/usr/unstable' update That problem I have is that I haven't found the magic needed to initialize an apt installation. It rightly complains that its data files are missing, but I don't know any way to create them. With RPM, it's rpm --initdb. Anyone know how to do it in APT-land? -- Ben [1] For example, Debian lenny ships a rather buggy release of Audacious. But installing a backport would require replacing half my system, including libc. Might as well just run unstable as the main system. Building from source requires building a ton of other libraries as well. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Ubuntu... downgrade? (64-bit - 32-bit)
On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 9:16 AM, Ken D'Ambrosio k...@jots.org wrote: Googling around didn't come up with anything that simple -- but I did find something: http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Debian/package-database-rebuild.html Ahh that was the missing puzzle piece. Thanks! Below is a series of commands that appear to get things started. It promptly wants to install 88 MB of packages, because it of course thinks there are no packages installed. I figure I can hack the status file to lie to it about things that will come from the host system (like apt and the kernel). You'll need to change CHANGEME to your preferred local mirror. There's nothing in the below about architecture, but I think if you add APT::Architecture i386; to the apt.conf then you'll get what you want. begin commands mkdir -p /usr/unstable/etc/apt echo 'RootDir /usr/unstable;' /usr/unstable/etc/apt/apt.conf echo 'deb http://CHANGEME/debian/ unstable main non-free contrib' /usr/unstable/etc/apt/sources.list mkdir -p /usr/unstable/var/lib/dpkg mkdir -p /usr/unstable/var/lib/apt/lists/partial mkdir -p /usr/unstable/var/cache/apt/archives/partial touch /usr/unstable/var/lib/dpkg/status mkdir -p /usr/unstable/usr/lib ln -s ../../../lib/apt /usr/unstable/usr/lib/apt apt-get -c /usr/unstable/etc/apt/apt.conf update end commands -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Computer hardware for sale, cheap
On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 10:30 AM, Mark E. Mallett m...@mv.mv.com wrote: And interested in any other comments, of course, which is why I'm not replying off-list .. I canceled cable TV and watch all my TV via Netflix and Hulu now. I save $60+/month and have fewer commercials (none on Netflix). YMMV. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Computer hardware for sale, cheap
On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 11:07 AM, Derek Atkins warl...@mit.edu wrote: Is all your TV actually available on Netflix and Hulu? Just about everything I cared about. There might have been something I lost, but if so, I don't miss it. I don't watch a lot of TV to begin with, and those two give me more content than I can keep up with. Mythbusters I have to go to the Discovery website to watch. I have to go to a friend's or a sports bar to catch the Pats games now. I can live with that. YMMV. A friend of mine was showing me HuluPlus on his home TV, but when I look online I can't easily see a list of shows avaiable ... http://www.hulu.com/browse/tv ?? -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Netflix and Hulu [Was Re: Computer hardware for sale, cheap]
On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 12:26 PM, Dan Jenkins d...@rastech.com wrote: There's no equivalent listing I can find in Netflix. http://www.netflix.com/BrowseSelection Use the Watch Instantly box in the lower left to limit to diskless content. Or try http://instantwatcher.com/ for a less pretty, but possibly more powerful, UI. From this discussion, I learned a few things I didn't know. I hadn't realized that Silverlight (required for Netflix) works under Linux. That was pleasing to find out. Netflix needs Silverlight (an implementation of which *is* available for Linux) and Microsoft's DRM libraries (which are not). -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Computer hardware for sale, cheap
On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 3:22 PM, Thomas Charron twaf...@gmail.com wrote: I'm in the same boat, no cable, all internet based. I was planning on subscribing to MLB.TV, which is available for the PS3, to be able top watch Red Sox games this year. Come to find out, they black out local games, aka, I can't ever watch a Red Sox game using MLB.TV. :-( My response to any company which doesn't want to do business with me is to give them what they want. I don't need TV to survive. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Computer hardware for sale, cheap
On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 5:33 PM, Bruce Dawson j...@codemeta.com wrote: Just keep in mind Comcast's 250 GB cap, which we ran up against in November. Nearly got shut down until we bought another internet-only line (and modem) and divided our traffic between the two. Unfortunately, even with a 2nd line we still don't have enough bandwidth to do everything we want. I've never come anywhere near the cap myself. I've gotten up to 30 - 40 GB in a busy month, that's it. I suspect 500 GB/month is more than Comcast is really geared to sell. How much bandwidth does Netflix/Hulu/... consume? Just to get useful data, how much is, say, a typical Mythbuster's show and a 90 minute movie? I haven't seen official figures, but if it's anything like Tivo, a little less than 1 GB/hour for standard definition, and anywhere from 2 to 8 GB/hour for higher definition. With smart compression, it can vary quite a bit by nature of the program -- the more motion, the more bandwidth needed. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
APT/dpkg system within a system (was: Ubuntu... downgrade?)
On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 10:11 AM, Benjamin Scott dragonh...@gmail.com wrote: apt-get -c /usr/unstable/etc/apt/apt.conf update WARNING! Be warned that it would appear APT does not pass it's root directory setting on to dpkg. Attempting to run an install with the above will cause APT to use package sources and dependency information from /usr/unstable/, but then invoke dpkg with the config normally used for the system. As a result, my system is now running some extremely borken combination of packages from lenny and sid. I see a reinstall in my near future. [insert profanity here] -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Looking for a tool for spreadsheet manipulation.
On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 11:06 AM, Steven W. Orr ste...@syslang.net wrote: What I'd like to do is to use a command line interface to add entries to cells instead of having to use Excel. Does such a beast exist? You mention Excel but this is a Linux list. What OS and application are you actually running? :) If this was a Windoze box and MS Exsmell, I'd probabbly use VBA (Visual Basic for Applications, AKA macros) embedded in the Excel spreadsheet. Google results suggest you can get command line arguments from VBA (Google Excel GetCommandLine). Another approach would be to use an external Visual Basic Script. VBS can take command line arguments and can interface with all the Office apps. If this is something else, let us know what. :) -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
[GNHLUG] Seacoast/UNH/Durham/SLUG - Mon 10 Jan - Android Attack
What : Android Attack Who : Rob Anderson Date : Mon 10 Jan 2011 Time : 7 PM to 9 PM Where: Room 301, Morse Hall, UNH, Durham, NH What is all the fuss about? Is this really the iPhone killer it's made out to be? Why is it showing up on tablets and TVs? Android Phones have been available for years, what is different now? We'll cover what makes the mobile operating system special, and why you might want to consider programming for it. http://slug.gnhlug.org/Members/rea/SLUG/slug-meetings/overview-of-android === About SLUG === SLUG is the Seacoast Linux User Group, and is a chapter of GNHLUG, the Greater NH Linux User Group. Rob Anderson is the SLUG coordinator, and reliably comes up with interesting topics each month. SLUG meets the second Monday of every month, same time, same place. You can find out more about SLUG and GNHLUG at their websites. http://slug.gnhlug.org http://www.gnhlug.org Meetings take place starting at 7:00 PM. Meetings are open to all. The meeting proper ends around 9ish, but it's not uncommon to find hangers-on there until 10 or later. They take place in Room 301 (the third floor conference room), of Morse Hall, at the University of New Hampshire, in Durham, New Hampshire, United States, North America, Earth, Sol system, Orion spur, Milky Way galaxy, Virgo supercluster. ___ gnhlug-announce mailing list gnhlug-annou...@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-announce/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: [meta] Re: Open Government Data bill (for comments)
On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 9:12 PM, Bruce Dawson j...@codemeta.com wrote: Does it make sense to set up a separate list (or mailman topic) for these conversations? list admin A1. If there is consensus to do so, another list is trivial to add. A2. This list (gnhlug-discuss) currently has no formal topic, charter, or policy (aside from the general legal policy of gnhlug.org (http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Www/LegalNotice)). /list admin personal opinion P1. Historically, list traffic has been self-policed by list members, with varying degrees of effectiveness. P2. I think we probably should have some sort of formal topic, charter, or policy for gnhlug-discuss. P3. I think we are unlikely to arrive at P2. P4. Currently, this list doesn't get nearly enough traffic to warrant separate lists. What little interest we do currently draw is more likely to be harmed by balkanization or barrier to entry. P5. I expect this thread will consume far more list bandwidth than the thread(s) in question will. /personal opinion Or maybe this message is inappropriate if GNHLUG is a 501(c)3 instead of a 501(c)4. (I couldn't determine what type of organization GNHLUG was from the Wiki - at least not by searching for '501'.) board member B1. GNHLUG is a registered non-profit corporation in the State of New Hampshire B2. GNHLUG has not applied for IRS Federal tax-exempt status at this time. B3. Volunteers interested in facilitating B2 are welcome! /board member -- Ben /message ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: [meta] Re: Open Government Data bill (for comments)
On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 11:54 PM, John Abreau j...@blu.org wrote: While I don't know all the intricacies of the various 501(c) types, I recall we had problems at the Boston Computer Society back in the '90's due to BCS's 501(c)3 status. When BLU was part of BCS, we got in trouble for protesting the Communications Decency Act, because as a 501(c)3 we were explicitly prohibited from participating in political action. personal opinion My extremely limited understanding is that 501(c)3 organizations are permitted some political actions, but political action cannot be a major purpose of the group, and there are some other limitations. Those limitations apply to the organizations only; individual members, acting on their own, are not limited by those rules. Where this list falls I'm not sure. I suspect it depends on usage. So the occasional political discussion (such as what Seth is posting) is fine, but if that became a significant part of list traffic it might be a problem. For those who don't know: 501(c) is the section of the Federal tax code which treats tax-exempt organizations. The IRS does not recognize non-profit; it defines classes of organizations which are exempt from Federal taxes. Not all such organizations are non-profit[1]. 501(c)3 is about charitable organizations. 501(c)3 orgs are special in that donations to such orgs are tax deductible by the donor. [1] The National Football League is a 501(c)6 tax-exempt organization. /personal opinion -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: New Year's Cleaning
On Tue, Jan 4, 2011 at 9:00 AM, Jon 'maddog' Hall mad...@li.org wrote: True. But what the Byte Labs people were gaga over was the fact that all the audio magic was being done in software by the CPU (leaving little for doing mundane tasks like reading email). Oh, come now. I remember doing the same thing on my 486/80 with Extace and MOD files. $2000+ of advanced computational hardware, multi-tasking multi-user operating system, acting as a glorified jukebox. W ;-) -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Computer part recycling [was: New Year's Cleaning]
On Tue, Jan 4, 2011 at 11:59 AM, kenta kenta.k...@gmail.com wrote: What I'm trying to find is a recycler, preferably free of charge, that will take this legacy hardware (read: junk) off my hands. At $WORK, we use Allied Computer Brokers (ACB), mainly because they have a depot in the same down: Amesbury, MA. Closer to Nashua than VT, though. http://www.acbrecovery.com/ PCs and their innards are free. CRTs and LCDs they charge for (they contain lead and mercury, respectively; both hazardous). -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: New Year's Cleaning
On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 3:09 PM, Bill McGonigle b...@bfccomputing.com wrote: whoever take's Tom's SGI is just going to have to jailbreak it. At one point NetBSD would run on those boxes. I thought, at some point or another, NetBSD ran on anything? ;-) -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: New Year's Cleaning
On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 4:29 PM, Tom Buskey t...@buskey.name wrote: For its time, the Indy was pretty cool. SGI was the Unix world's answer to the Apple Macintosh: Physical design is colorful, bold, almost artistic; all the OEM pieces work together very well; oh-so-pretty desktop GUI; utterly incompatible with anything third-party; way more expensive than everything else. ;-) Now, of course, with OS X, Apple has reclaimed that particular niche. There's a strange kind of symmetry there. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Linux has won
On Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 6:45 PM, Bill McGonigle b...@bfccomputing.com wrote: Linux may already be out-shipping Microsoft Windows. I think the one to beat is TRON: http://www.t-engine.org/english/whatistron_en.html No problem, just attack the MCP. ;-) -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Inkjets, was: Android printer recommendations
On Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 11:54 AM, Ted Roche tedro...@tedroche.com wrote: But ultimately, I hate ink jets for anything other than photo printing. It doesn't help that most ink jet printers on the market are incredibly cheap crap. Slightly less crappy are the business-class machines. I've heard that before, after too many bad experiences with them, I don't believe it. Maybe it was true in the past, maybe it's true for selected models, but as a general rule, it's bunk. Do you feel lucky, punk? I suspect they would be okay under very occasional use, but then you have trouble with ink drying and clogging the works, as has been mentioned. Maybe there's a sweet spot where you print just often enough to keep the mechanism from fouling, but don't strain the incredibly cheap build. Like exactly one page a day or something. Full disclosure: My opinion is colored by having to attempt to fix way too many crap printers in my career. I miss the HP LaserJet's of old. Circa 2003, I had a customer who had an HP LaserJet II still in service, humming away after more than a decade. It was slower than hell but met their needs, and you can't kill the thing short of a wooden stake. LaserJet 4's with more than a million pages on their counter are (or were) common. These days, you're lucky to get 5% of that on most models. And get off my lawn! -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Inkjets, was: Android printer recommendations
On Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 1:08 PM, Ted Roche tedro...@tedroche.com wrote: The sum of anecdotal experiences indicate we should just give up on the entire computing field. Best advice I've heard all week. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Android printer recommendations
On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 10:59 AM, Tyson Sawyer ty...@j3.org wrote: The best part is that the cartridges include the ink heads. I've been happy with my Epson printers until their heads clog and it becomes useless junk. Conversely, this makes the ink cartridges much more expensive. I like designs that use ink tanks but also have easily-replaceable print heads. I know I've seen Canon printers with that design. But ultimately, I hate ink jets for anything other than photo printing. It doesn't help that most ink jet printers on the market are incredibly cheap crap. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Android printer recommendations
On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 11:44 AM, Jerry Feldman g...@blu.org wrote: Generally, I can expect an HP ink-jet printer to last longer. I used to swear by HP printers, and recommended nothing else for longer than a decade. Their quality took a nose-dive circa 2006. Bad designs, cheap construction, early failures. Their software was worse: Bloated, slow, unstable. Driver problems would frequently knock out several unrelated HPs on our network at once. Security exposures due to bugs (thus requiring regular patches to keep computers secure -- for a *printer driver*). Security exposures by design (reporting user activity back to HP). Their customer support became completely non-responsive, to the point of not honoring their warranties. I actually called their sales side to complain, and eventually ended up talking to someone who identified themselves as the Regional Manager for Customer Support, North East Region, or something like that. After explaining all my complaints (I had documentation), I told her I didn't see any reason to stay with HP. Her response was to agree; she wouldn't recommend HP, either. I haven't bought an HP printer since. We've been buying Lexmark for monochrome laser printers. They're price and spec equivalent to HPs. The design is okay; not great, but good enough. Their software is compact and well-behaved. Their support is not great but they'll at least try to help. Bought a few Xerox Phaser 6280 DN color laser printers. They're everything printers should be. Highly recommended. I wrote a comprehensive review; a copy should be in the list archives. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Android printer recommendations
On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 12:15 PM, Tom Buskey t...@buskey.name wrote: But ultimately, I hate ink jets for anything other than photo printing. It doesn't help that most ink jet printers on the market are incredibly cheap crap. If you don't need/want/lustafter color, get a laser printer. +MAXINT. Even if you do want color, get a laser printer. Modern inkjets are crap. The only advantage they have is high-resolution images. Laser printers seem to be limited to 600 DPI. Even cheap inkjets can go up to at least a few thousand DPI. (Anyone know why laser printers seem to only run at 600 DPI? Every one I've checked (and I've l looked at dozens of models) specifies 600 DPI as the native resolution. I'm guessing it's something inherent in the technology, but don't actually have any data. (You may see units that advertise higher DPIs, but if you check the specs you'll find that's always enhanced or synthesized or interpolated or some other way of saying not 600 DPI.)) I've been using a Brother HL1460n for 8 years now. A side client of mine has been using a Brother MFC-7440N printer/scanner/copier/fax for about two years now. It's been trouble-free. Pretty light usage, though. Overall it seems pretty good for what it's trying to be. Even does network scanning. The UIs are a bit clunky, but work. Haven't tried it with Linux, although I remember seeing a Linux driver. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Android printer recommendations
On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 4:17 PM, Ryan Stanyan ryan.stan...@gmail.com wrote: I see the 600 DPI in terms of single dimensional resolution. So I'm guessing that 600 DPI is the current limit for letter-sized paper in terms of horizontal resolution. Right. My question was, why are all laser printers 600 DPI, while some inkjets at 1200 DPI, some are 2400 DPI, etc. All I know is that printers are the only real things in computers nowadays that make my blood boil. You clearly haven't used enough enterprise software. ;-) But yah, printers are about the only hardware in computing which not only hasn't advanced as the same pace as everything else, but have actually gotten *worse* in recent times. See also: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/printers -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Android printer recommendations
On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 7:20 PM, Michael ODonnell michael.odonn...@comcast.net wrote: Therefore, if it seems that you're enjoying arbitrary restrictions that always limit you to 600 DPI I'm guessing that they're, um, arbitrary. Well, that's certainly possible, but I would have expected *somebody* to introduce something better along the way, especially since it delivers such a drastic improvement in image quality. Of course, I just went looking again and was able to find some at higher DPIs. Perhaps I was just defying the odds before. :-/ -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Linux has won
On Wed, Dec 15, 2010 at 1:35 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com wrote: I heard that SORBs just started blocking the subnets used by the company hosting my mail-server as part of November 2010 DUHL expansion, and so some ISPs' customers can't receive e-mail from people using that hosting service. I thought GMail was supposed to be smarter than that, though. Practically everybody good these days use weighted scanning combined with IP blacklisting for severe offenders. Google/Postini included. But if your MX IP address is considered dynamic for whatever reason, it is going to get weighted very highly towards the spam end of the spectrum. Practically all mail sent directly from dynamic hosts is spam. Whether or not Google should be using SORBS to make that determination, I have no idea. Are you saying you've got a static IP host but the RBLs are flagging the IP address as dynamic anyway? -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Novell agrees to be acquired by Attachmate.
On Tue, Nov 23, 2010 at 3:44 PM, Jerry Feldman g...@blu.org wrote: As for SCO, I suspect that will be wrapped up about the time we have practical flying cars. We've had working flying cars for 50 years ;-) The gentleman smartly said practical, not working. :) But then, the biggest problem with flying cars is almost certainly the people who would be driving them. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Novell agrees to be acquired by Attachmate.
On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 3:16 PM, Ed lawson elaw...@grizzy.com wrote: the biggest problem with flying cars is almost certainly the people who would be driving them. As opposed to those flying them? Heh. I actually spent at least 15 seconds pondering what verb to use there. I almost went with piloting but thought that might imply a level of professionalism, which is sadly absent in many automobile drivers. ;-) -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Novell agrees to be acquired by Attachmate.
On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 4:31 PM, Kevin D. Clark kevin_d_cl...@comcast.net wrote: I barely trust people to drive in two dimensions, let alone three! My commute takes me a little while, so I have to drive in four. You may travel in four, but your direction and rate of movement along one dimension is fixed. You're not driving for that; you're just along for the ride. And you have limited influence over another dimension. So *driving*, it is more like 2.5 dimensions. Like the original Doom! No respawn or save games, though. Bummer. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Interest in One-Time Password tokens?
On Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 4:56 PM, wileop wil...@gmail.com wrote: I'm not sure if this is what you are interested in, but Steve Gibson, of Gibson Research Corp. (grc.com) has a web page where he set up a program to generate random passwords, in different formats. (1) A one-time password/pad (OTP) is something very different from a password generator. OTPs are the only cryptographic mechanism which has been mathematically proven to be secure. Google will tell you more. (2) Steve Gibson doesn't know nearly as much about security as he thinks he does. (2)(a) In particular, that password generator is dubious. The entropy source of the initialization vector is never explained, the period of the counter is never given, and the source and/or variance of the secret key is never explained. While it probabbly creates okay passwords, it's hardly the miracle of cryptography he portrays it to be. (3) Most Linux distributions come with at least one password generation utility. Popular names include mkpasswd (part of Expect), makepasswd, and pwgen. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Representative Seth Cohn
On Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 4:04 PM, Bill McGonigle b...@bfccomputing.com wrote: For those not watching the races last night, our very own Seth Cohn is a new Representative-Elect from Merrimack 7. Congratulations, Seth! You have my sympathies. HHOS. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: FLOSS text books (was Re: Representative Seth Cohn)
Not that I don't think the idea has potential, but I couldn't help but think of: Professor Wikipedia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaADQTeZRCY (Prolly NSFW.) -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
[GNHLUG] Seacoast/UNH/Durham/SLUG - Mon 8 Nov - Back up, pal!
What : Back up, pal! Date : Mon 8 Nov 2010 Time : 7 PM to 9 PM Where: Room 301, Morse Hall, UNH, Durham, NH Backups are like seatbelts: Nobody really thinks about them until they need them, but then it's too late. Next Mondat, SLUG will be looking at backup solutions for Linux (and more!), including rsync and BackupPC. More detail to be posted as it develops (which may not be until during/after the meeting). http://slug.gnhlug.org/Members/rea/SLUG/slug-meetings/backup-pc === About SLUG === SLUG is the Seacoast Linux User Group, and is a chapter of GNHLUG, the Greater NH Linux User Group. Rob Anderson is the SLUG coordinator, and reliably comes up with interesting topics each month. SLUG meets the second Monday of every month, same time, same place. You can find out more about SLUG and GNHLUG at their websites. http://slug.gnhlug.org http://www.gnhlug.org Meetings take place starting at 7:00 PM. Meetings are open to all. The meeting proper ends around 9ish, but it's not uncommon to find hangers-on there until 10 or later. They take place in Room 301 (the third floor conference room), of Morse Hall, at the University of New Hampshire, in Durham, New Hampshire, United States, North America, Earth, Sol system, Orion spur, Milky Way galaxy, Virgo supercluster. ___ gnhlug-announce mailing list gnhlug-annou...@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-announce/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Bell System Technical Journal archives published
Perhaps Alcatel-Lucent isn't pure evil after all. They've published the archives of the Bell System Technical Journal from 1922 to 1983 online, freely accessible. http://bstj.bell-labs.com/ Bell Labs practically invented much of our recently civilization (communications theory, transistor, laser, microchip, Unix, the list goes on). The public switched telephone network, before the Internet came along, was probably the most complicated system in human existence. They documented a lot of it in these journals. Making them available like this is a huge boon to technology historians. Some choice pickings: The Unix-Time Sharing System (1978) The original paper describing the OS which we all know and love http://bstj.bell-labs.com/oldfiles/year.1978/BSTJ.1978.5706-2.html A mathematical theory of communication (1948) This defined the field of information theory -- telecom, DSP, encryption, compression, etc., all work in this space http://bstj.bell-labs.com/oldfiles/year.1948/BSTJ.1948.2703.html http://bstj.bell-labs.com/oldfiles/year.1948/BSTJ.1948.2704.html In-Band Single-Frequency Signaling (1954) This was the paper that enabled the infamous blue boxes http://bstj.bell-labs.com/oldfiles/year.1954/BSTJ.1954.3306.html Number One Electronic Switching System (1964) The first stored-program telephone switch, a technological marvel of its day http://bstj.bell-labs.com/oldfiles/year.1964/BSTJ.1964.4305.html -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: [GNHLUG] TONIGHT: ManchLUG, Marc Nozell on: org-mode hugin
On Tue, Oct 26, 2010 at 9:43 AM, kenta kenta.k...@gmail.com wrote: We had hoped to have Doctor Emmett Brown discuss how he used arduino in his latest time machine project, however due to unforeseen circumstances he is not able to make it. That meeting has been rescheduled to last month. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: X failure after upgrade to Meerkat (Ubuntu 10.10)
On Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 10:46 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com wrote: Well, ATI/AMD Intel have both FOSS'd their drivers so that the community can decide to pick them up and maintain them, if need be, for as long as there's interest--possibly forever. In practice, the FOSS world isn't usually much better at maintaining support for older hardware. Unsurprisingly, old software that almost nobody uses doesn't have many hackers interested in maintaining it, either. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: DNS resolution issue.
On Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 10:54 AM, Ken D'Ambrosio k...@jots.org wrote: 5) Same for pinging: gildor works fine, gildor.foo.local, not so much. That's historically a sign that you haven't configured your DNS suffix search list properly. E.g., if all hosts in your org have names of the form bar.foo.local., then your resolv.conf should have a line like this in it: search foo.local ... why NOTFOUND=return is a default setting? I'm not up on multicast DNS, so I have little clue about the semantics of mdns4 and mdns4_minimal, and/or why Ubuntu does the things they do. I can speculate, though: NOTFOUND=return declares the next database to be authoritative. In your example, that means if dns returns NXDOMAIN, that will get propagated back to the caller. Perhaps mdns4_minimal is better, while mdns4 is worse, so if DNS says no they want to stop there. Better/worse might mean mean speed to respond, robustness, standards compliance, or whatever. I suspect your name-resolution configuration is still broken, and you just happened to find a combination of options which masks the trouble. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: X failure after upgrade to Meerkat (Ubuntu 10.10)
Something that hasn't been mentioned explicitly is that NVidia periodically retires support for older cards. When that happens, you have to go to their legacy driver, which doesn't receive enhancements. I'd guess they may also retire support for really old cards entirely. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
[GNHLUG] Seacoast/UNH/Durham/SLUG - Mon 8 Nov - Back up, pal!
What : Back up, pal! Date : Mon 8 Nov 2010 Time : 7 PM to 9 PM Where: Room 301, Morse Hall, UNH, Durham, NH Backups are like seatbelts: Nobody really thinks about them until they need them, but then it's too late. Next month, SLUG will be looking at backup solutions for Linux (and more!), including rsync and BackupPC. More detail to be posted as it develops (which may not be until during/after the meeting). http://slug.gnhlug.org/Members/rea/SLUG/slug-meetings/backup-pc === About SLUG === SLUG is the Seacoast Linux User Group, and is a chapter of GNHLUG, the Greater NH Linux User Group. Rob Anderson is the SLUG coordinator, and reliably comes up with interesting topics each month. SLUG meets the second Monday of every month, same time, same place. You can find out more about SLUG and GNHLUG at their websites. http://slug.gnhlug.org http://www.gnhlug.org Meetings take place starting at 7:00 PM. Meetings are open to all. The meeting proper ends around 9ish, but it's not uncommon to find hangers-on there until 10 or later. They take place in Room 301 (the third floor conference room), of Morse Hall, at the University of New Hampshire, in Durham, New Hampshire, United States, North America, Earth, Sol system, Orion spur, Milky Way galaxy, Virgo supercluster. ___ gnhlug-announce mailing list gnhlug-annou...@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-announce/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: critical mass of emacs users in GNHLUG?
On Mon, Oct 11, 2010 at 5:07 PM, Marc Nozell (m...@nozell.com) noz...@gmail.com wrote: I've recently fallen in love wit a new emacs library, org-mode. I'd be up to give a talk at ManchLUG or MarthasLUG if there are enough people interested. I've be interested. Indeed, I already am. I use text files extensively for organizational purposes, and the idea of a way to automate that is intriguing to me. With a green unicorn as its logo, you know it is good stuff! http://26.media.tumblr.com/vW0gf7rD7qv3cekbg517yxlFo1_400.jpg -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
[GNHLUG] Seacoast/UNH/Durham/SLUG - Mon 11 Oct - What's on your mind?
What : What's on your mind? Who : Rob Anderson Date : Mon 11 Oct 2010 Time : 7 PM to 9 PM Where: Room 301, Morse Hall, UNH, Durham, NH As usual, it's hard to pin Rob down on a topic. But as always, SLUG is meeting tonight! Probably going over something vaguely Linux related. The most likely topic (before Rob leaves for four days of hiking) is to look into the new Freemind spinoff Mind Mapping tool. What's Freemind? Perhaps he'll cover a little of that too. http://slug.gnhlug.org/Members/rea/SLUG/slug-meetings/whats-on-your-mind === About SLUG === SLUG is the Seacoast Linux User Group, and is a chapter of GNHLUG, the Greater NH Linux User Group. Rob Anderson is the SLUG coordinator, and reliably comes up with interesting topics each month. SLUG meets the second Monday of every month, same time, same place. You can find out more about SLUG and GNHLUG at their websites. http://slug.gnhlug.org http://www.gnhlug.org Meetings take place starting at 7:00 PM. Meetings are open to all. The meeting proper ends around 9ish, but it's not uncommon to find hangers-on there until 10 or later. They take place in Room 301 (the third floor conference room), of Morse Hall, at the University of New Hampshire, in Durham, New Hampshire, United States, North America, Earth, Sol system, Orion spur, Milky Way galaxy, Virgo supercluster. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-announce mailing list gnhlug-annou...@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-announce/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: X11 on small systems? (was: Qi-Hardware Nanonote group purchase?)
On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 4:47 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com wrote: Yes, however: several of the libraries that are exclusive to the X server are actually things that would (or could) be eliminated in different use-cases; the 4-MB Intel DRI module, for example, Good point. X.org doesn't necessarily have to be as heavy as it is on a desktop PC. And has been mentioned, there are more lightweight X servers out there. Virtual size can include things which aren't main RAM. I'm going to go a step further, contradicting the prevailing wisdom of the Internet, and say that VSZ can even include that aren't even properly `allocated *virtual* memory'. What I mean is: RSS != (VSZ - (amount of memory paged out to swap)) Contrary to popular belief and several OS GUIs, virtual memory does not mean using disk as virtual RAM. That is, virtual memory is *not* synonymous with swap space. Virtual memory is the address space seen by a process and provided by the MMU. On i386, the virtual memory space is always 4 GiB (per process). The MMU can map pages of virtual memory to the hardware address space, or leave them unmapped. Hardware address space includes both main RAM and other hardware stuff (like ROMs, often video RAM, some other kinds of hardware buffers (depending on design), etc.). Pages which aren't mapped cause a page fault if the process tries to read or write that page. At that point it's up to the kernel memory manager to decide what to do. If it's a page written out to swap, the kernel can read it back in. If it's a page from a mmap'ed file, the kernel can do the I/O to put that block in RAM. I don't actually know what the virtual size figure represents. My expectation was that virtual size was the total size of all objects the kernel memory manager had associated with a given process's virtual memory space (not necessarily mapped). That would include all regular memory allocated, plus every mmap'ed file (and thus every shared library). For X, that might also include video card RAM. It might even include things which have no real representation at all: blackfire$ sudo memstat | grep nvidia0 42560k: PID 3000 (/dev/nvidia0) 3278332k: /dev/nvidia0 3000 blackfire$ That's over 3 GiB. My video card has 256 MiB RAM, main RAM is 1 GiB. So whatever that is, it isn't hardware. However: blackfire$ ps u 3000 USER PID %CPU %MEMVSZ RSS TTY STAT START TIME COMMAND root 3000 0.6 4.6 72248 48448 tty7 SLs+ Aug16 255:59 /usr/bin/X :0 blackfire$ Note that ps is reporting X as having a virtual size of roughly 72 MiB. The ps(1) man page says, of VSZ, that Device mappings are currently excluded. I guess that helps explain the difference, but I'm still not really sure what VSZ actually represents. But in any event, virtual memory doesn't have any necessary correlation to committed primary or secondary storage (i.e., RAM or disk). It would appear that memstat breaks out memory-mapped files, but how does it treat things like pages swapped to disk? Oh, it doesn't--at all. If you care about anything other than making sense out of VSZ figures ... Pages which are not mapped (which includes swapped pages) still exist in virtual memory. That's what lets the OS swap them back in as needed. (I wouldn't expect RSS to include RAM mapped from the video card, but I didn't know that for sure, hence my qualification earlier.) I could be mistaken, but my bet is based on the idea that Xorg just mmaps /dev/mem (and /dev/dri/card0 and stuff like that, too, I guess?) to get at graphics cards' resources. That's similar to my understanding as well, but again, I don't know for sure. :) -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Android PMPs (was: Qi-Hardware Nanonote group purchase?)
On Thu, Sep 9, 2010 at 9:10 AM, David Rysdam da...@rysdam.org wrote: I just call them tiny computers or portable computers. If I'm being serious, I call them handhelds. (I kind of liked palmtop (by analogy with desktop and laptop) but it never took off and so sounds funny.) I would usually make a distinction between something like my Palm Centro (which is a general-purpose computer which can play music) and an early-generation iPod (which can only play music). The former is a handheld computer, the later is a music player. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Android PMPs (was: Qi-Hardware Nanonote group purchase?)
On Thu, Sep 9, 2010 at 9:56 AM, Lloyd Kvam pyt...@venix.com wrote: We expect to see iPads getting used by patients in hospital settings filling out forms (multiple choice - little or no typing). Earlier attempts with other tablets (running Windows) proved unworkable. I'm curious; what makes the iPad better for that than the 'doze tablet? I would think a form is a form, regardless of platform. (I've only used an iPad once briefly, in a store. I thought it seemed like a neat toy, but couldn't see myself spending $400 just to play an electronic marble maze game.) -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
[GNHLUG] Seacoast/UNH/Durham/SLUG - Mon 13 Sept - Object orientation orientation
What : Object orientation orientation Date : Mon 13 September 2010 Time : 7 PM to 9 PM Where: Room 301, Morse Hall, UNH, Durham, NH This month, SLUG will be looking at object oriented programming.[1] We all know OO, right? Everything's OO these days. Old news. Okay, pop quiz, hot shot: What's an accessor? What are the distinctions between a class, an object, and an instance? What do Protected, Public, Interface, and Implements mean? If you finding you're as fuzzy on the details as I am, drop in on the SLUG and get a quick orientation lesson in object orientation. Rob will use Python, Zope, and/or Twisted as demonstration material, since those are what made him realize this terminology stuff is often overlooked. Maybe we will finally find out the answer to that eternal question: “What is a protected abstract virtual base pure virtual private destructor?[2] [1] Unless, as he puts it, Rob comes up with a better idea before then. [2] Old joke about C++, commonly attributed to Tom Cargill === About SLUG === SLUG is the Seacoast Linux User Group, and is a chapter of GNHLUG, the Greater NH Linux User Group. Rob Anderson is the SLUG coordinator, and reliably comes up with interesting topics each month. SLUG meets the second Monday of every month, same time, same place. You can find out more about SLUG and GNHLUG at their websites. http://slug.gnhlug.org http://www.gnhlug.org Meetings take place starting at 7:00 PM. Meetings are open to all. The meeting proper ends around 9ish, but it's not uncommon to find hangers-on there until 10 or later. They take place in Room 301 (the third floor conference room), of Morse Hall, at the University of New Hampshire, in Durham, New Hampshire, United States, North America, Earth, Sol system, Orion spur, Milky Way galaxy, Virgo supercluster. ___ gnhlug-announce mailing list gnhlug-annou...@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-announce/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Android PMPs (was: Qi-Hardware Nanonote group purchase?)
On Wed, Sep 8, 2010 at 10:43 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com wrote: (Oh, and: is there a better shorthand than PMP? I keep reading android pimps, and it just... doesn't sit right...) PIMEED.[1] -- Ben [1] Portable Individual Media Experience Enablement Device. Now available with Genuine People Personalities! Only from Sirius Cybernetics Corporation! ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Qi-Hardware Nanonote group purchase?
On Sun, Sep 5, 2010 at 10:12 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com wrote: X reports a resident size of 40 MB, although how much of that (if any) might actually be video card RAM I dunno. I bet none of it is video-card RAM; a significant (not necessarily majority, but significant) portion of the RAM `used by X', though, is shared libraries that are also used by other processes--and those are basically `gratis' since you'd be using them regardless. I'm approaching the limits of my understanding now, but: I note that several of the shared libraries you list are specific to the X server, and thus aren't shared by any other process. I've never used memstat before, but the manual page states that it reports virtual memory. I was looking at the RSS (resident segment size) column of ps. Virtual size can include things which aren't main RAM. It would appear that memstat breaks out memory-mapped files, but how does it treat things like pages swapped to disk? (I wouldn't expect RSS to include RAM mapped from the video card, but I didn't know that for sure, hence my qualification earlier.) -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Qi-Hardware Nanonote group purchase?
On Sun, Sep 5, 2010 at 10:45 AM, Tom Buskey t...@buskey.name wrote: RAM may or may not be a problem. It's got 32 MB, which is more than anything Project Athena had at first, but software seems to take up more and more memory as times goes on. Maybe swapping to flash? My 1st linux box was a 486 w/ 16MB ram and ran X just fine. I think it could w/ just 8MB. More was better of course. Yah, and these days the kernel takes up more than that. On my desktop here, vmlinux is 2.2 MB, initrd is 8.4 MB, and those are both compressed. X reports a resident size of 40 MB, although how much of that (if any) might actually be video card RAM I dunno. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Qi-Hardware Nanonote group purchase?
On Sun, Sep 5, 2010 at 7:52 PM, Tom Buskey t...@buskey.name wrote: I have 2 systems running recent OpenBSD releases for SSH portals. One is a Sun Sparc with 96 MB ram and the other is a VM with 32 MB allocated to it. I'm not sure I could do that with any major current Linux dist. Maybe Slackware on i386. Open + Net BSD installs seem similar to Slack. Well, as a counterpoint to my own complaint: My home router has 16 MB RAM and 4 MB flash; it runs DD-WRT, which is a Linux system. It's built using a stripped-down kernel and various small footprint, reduced functionality packages, such as BusyBox and dropbear. I dunno if X.org or contemporary mainstream Linux software would run on such a system, even if it had more RAM. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: cable modem requires reboot because one site falls off DNS?
On Fri, Sep 3, 2010 at 10:37 AM, Greg Rundlett (freephile) g...@freephile.com wrote: I have a strange problem where one (and only one as far as we know) particular website becomes inaccessible to our office. The fix for this problem is to reboot the Comcast cable modem, however I don't understand how the modem could be the culprit. What leads you to believe this is a DNS problem? What happens when you try to access the site? Do you get an error message? If so, what is the error message? Can you ping the website by name? Can you ping the website by IP address? If you do a DNS lookup for the website name using host or dig (or even nslookup), does it work? Do this both using your default DNS servers, and by explicitly specifying various DNS servers, e.g.: dig ANY nnerenmls.com. dig ANY nnerenmls.com. @68.87.71.226 dig ANY nnerenmls.com. @8.8.8.8 What OS and version are you running? Are you current with updates? What web browser and version are you using? Have you tried clearing your cache and cookies? Have you tried a different web browser? Have you tried a different computer? What model Comcast-provided equipment do you have? Are you using a router, or is the computer directly connected to a cable modem? (Be aware that some Comcast equipment combines a cable modem with a router.) If you have your own router: Are you running the latest firmware? What if you connect your computer directly to the cable modem? Etc., etc. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
