Re: [Hampshire] Media players

[Sean Gibbins]

trotter wrote:
> Where did you buy it from?

Hi Martin,

I bought it through Amazon, from a reseller called SpecialTech [1],
although I must confess I thought it was coming from Amazon directly and
was a little perturbed (as an Amazon seller with a 100% rating myself)
to find they only had a 94% rating.

That said, it was here within a couple of days and I suspect the low-ish
rating largely comes from chumps rating the product as opposed to the
company's performance, or blaming Royal Mail's iffy service on them.

FWIW I note that Play sell them too [2], and I would probably have used
them in preference had it occurred to me at the time.

We watched a couple of shows last night and I have to say that the
picture quality was superb and any misgivings about the slightly high
price have been soothed away by the total lack of faff.

Sean


[1] http://www.specialtech.co.uk/
[2] http://tinyurl.com/6g3lvq


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[Hampshire] Small but perfectly formed...

[Sean Gibbins]

Morning all,

Just read an article linked from Digg about a teensy-weensy Linux
'server' that the manufacturers would eventually like to sell for $49:

http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-41525-136.html

Crikey, at that price anyone can afford to play!

One reviewer gripes about the lack of a decent UI and the need for
potential users to get down and dirty with the likes of 'difficult'
operating systems like Debian, but I think he can safely be dismissed as
nit-picking  at that (projected) price. The developer version is
currently available for $99, apparently.

Sean

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Re: [Hampshire] Let the Battle Commence

[alan c]

Stephen Davies wrote:
> Well, Microshaft has gone and done it
> 
> http://www.techflash.com/microsoft/Microsoft_sues_TomTom_over_patents_in_case_with_Linux_subplot_40305732.html
> 
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/26/microsoft_tomtom/
> 
> Right,
>  time to get the beer in and settle down to watch the sparks fly

Is anyone (with big money) supporting tom tom, or do they have a 
donations collection?
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[Hampshire] Mounting external drive.

[Clive Woodfine]

Hi everyone,

I have a HDD in a caddy that I use to backup both Linux and Windows
data. I seldom use Windows now but found I needed to retrieve some
data from a backup. The external drive mounted okay in Windows and I
performed an edit on a .jpg file but when I decided I did not want to
save the changes on exiting the program a pop-up said the drive was
not formated did I want to format it. I said NO. Now the drive will
not mount in Windows or Linux. URGH##

Back in Linux dmesg | tail gives this when connected by FireWire.

r...@vaio:~# dmesg | tail
[  815.603633] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[  815.603638] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 11 00 00 00
[  815.604419] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Write cache: enabled, read cache:
enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[  815.605103] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] 156301488 512-byte hardware sectors (80026 MB)
[  815.605322] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[  815.605327] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 11 00 00 00
[  815.605857] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Write cache: enabled, read cache:
enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[  815.605865]  sdc: sdc1
[  815.627150] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI disk
[  815.627222] sd 5:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 14
r...@vaio:~#

Does "type 14" mean that the drive thinks it is a  "14  Hidden FAT16
<3"  (obtained from fdisk list of types)?

Running fdisk /dev/sda gives

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sdc: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xd03f6341

   Device Boot  Start End  Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1   *   1972978148161c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)

The partition table appears to be intact and I suspect the data is still okay.

Is there a way of mounting the disk as a Hidden FAT16 file system?


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Re: [Hampshire] Mounting external drive.

[James Ashburner]

Clive Woodfine wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I have a HDD in a caddy that I use to backup both Linux and Windows
> data. I seldom use Windows now but found I needed to retrieve some
> data from a backup. The external drive mounted okay in Windows and I
> performed an edit on a .jpg file but when I decided I did not want to
> save the changes on exiting the program a pop-up said the drive was
> not formated did I want to format it. I said NO. Now the drive will
> not mount in Windows or Linux. URGH##
>
> Back in Linux dmesg | tail gives this when connected by FireWire.
>
> r...@vaio:~# dmesg | tail
> [  815.603633] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
> [  815.603638] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 11 00 00 00
> [  815.604419] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Write cache: enabled, read cache:
> enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
> [  815.605103] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] 156301488 512-byte hardware sectors (80026 
> MB)
> [  815.605322] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
> [  815.605327] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 11 00 00 00
> [  815.605857] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Write cache: enabled, read cache:
> enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
> [  815.605865]  sdc: sdc1
> [  815.627150] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI disk
> [  815.627222] sd 5:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 14
> r...@vaio:~#
>
> Does "type 14" mean that the drive thinks it is a  "14  Hidden FAT16
> <3"  (obtained from fdisk list of types)?
>
> Running fdisk /dev/sda gives
>
> Command (m for help): p
>
> Disk /dev/sdc: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
> Disk identifier: 0xd03f6341
>
>Device Boot  Start End  Blocks   Id  System
> /dev/sdc1   *   1972978148161c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
>
> The partition table appears to be intact and I suspect the data is still okay.
>
> Is there a way of mounting the disk as a Hidden FAT16 file system?
>
>
>   
Sorry, not really an answer to your question, but if you can't get 
either OS to read the drive again I recommend TestDisk to recover the data:

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

Worked very well when my boss had an unreadable FAT formatted external HDD.

James

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Re: [Hampshire] Mounting external drive.

[Hugo Mills]

On Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 11:21:26AM +, Clive Woodfine wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> 
> I have a HDD in a caddy that I use to backup both Linux and Windows
> data. I seldom use Windows now but found I needed to retrieve some
> data from a backup. The external drive mounted okay in Windows and I
> performed an edit on a .jpg file but when I decided I did not want to
> save the changes on exiting the program a pop-up said the drive was
> not formated did I want to format it. I said NO. Now the drive will
> not mount in Windows or Linux. URGH##
> 
> Back in Linux dmesg | tail gives this when connected by FireWire.
> 
> r...@vaio:~# dmesg | tail
> [  815.603633] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
> [  815.603638] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 11 00 00 00
> [  815.604419] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Write cache: enabled, read cache:
> enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
> [  815.605103] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] 156301488 512-byte hardware sectors (80026 
> MB)
> [  815.605322] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
> [  815.605327] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 11 00 00 00
> [  815.605857] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Write cache: enabled, read cache:
> enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
> [  815.605865]  sdc: sdc1
> [  815.627150] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI disk
> [  815.627222] sd 5:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 14
> r...@vaio:~#
> 
> Does "type 14" mean that the drive thinks it is a  "14  Hidden FAT16
> <3"  (obtained from fdisk list of types)?

   No, I don't think it does. It's referring there to the drive as a
whole, not to the partitions on it.

> Running fdisk /dev/sda gives
> 
> Command (m for help): p
> 
> Disk /dev/sdc: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
> Disk identifier: 0xd03f6341
> 
>Device Boot  Start End  Blocks   Id  System
> /dev/sdc1   *   1972978148161c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
> 
> The partition table appears to be intact and I suspect the data is still okay.

   What command did you use to try mounting the filesystem? What
errors did you get? Was there anything reported in /var/log/syslog (or
/var/log/messages) as a result of you trying to mount the filesystem?

   Hugo.

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Re: [Hampshire] Mounting external drive.

[Clive Woodfine]

2009/2/26 Hugo Mills :
Thanks James and Hugo for prompt replies.

>   What command did you use to try mounting the filesystem? What
> errors did you get? Was there anything reported in /var/log/syslog (or
> /var/log/messages) as a result of you trying to mount the filesystem?
>
>   Hugo.
>
I have reconnected the caddy so is now showing as sdd. It is formatted as VFAT.

r...@vaio:~# mount -t vfat /dev/sdd /mnt/Caddy/
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdd,
   missing codepage or helper program, or other error
   In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
   dmesg | tail  or so

r...@vaio:~# tail /var/log/syslog
Feb 26 11:43:00 vaio kernel: [ 3956.708099]  sdd: sdd1
Feb 26 11:43:00 vaio kernel: [ 3956.729181] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] Attached SCSI disk
Feb 26 11:43:00 vaio kernel: [ 3956.729269] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi
generic sg3 type 14
Feb 26 11:43:00 vaio NetworkManager:  [1235648580.976228]
nm_hal_device_added(): New device added (hal udi is
'/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/ieee1394_guid_50770e00071002_scsi_host').
Feb 26 11:43:00 vaio NetworkManager:  [1235648580.977962]
nm_hal_device_added(): New device added (hal udi is
'/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/ieee1394_guid_50770e00071002_scsi_host_scsi_device_lun0').
Feb 26 11:43:00 vaio NetworkManager:  [1235648580.979265]
nm_hal_device_added(): New device added (hal udi is
'/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/ieee1394_guid_50770e00071002_scsi_host_scsi_device_lun0_scsi_generic').
Feb 26 11:43:01 vaio NetworkManager:  [1235648581.051649]
nm_hal_device_added(): New device added (hal udi is
'/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/storage_serial_0050770e00071002_0_0').
Feb 26 11:43:01 vaio NetworkManager:  [1235648581.101535]
nm_hal_device_added(): New device added (hal udi is
'/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/volume_part1_size_80023716864').
Feb 26 11:46:34 vaio kernel: [ 4169.783852] FAT: invalid media value (0xb9)
Feb 26 11:46:34 vaio kernel: [ 4169.783863] VFS: Can't find a valid
FAT filesystem on dev sdd.

r...@vaio:~# tail /var/log/messages
Feb 26 11:43:00 vaio kernel: [ 3956.705509] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd]
156301488 512-byte hardware sectors (80026 MB)
Feb 26 11:43:00 vaio kernel: [ 3956.705669] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] Write
Protect is off
Feb 26 11:43:00 vaio kernel: [ 3956.706603] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] Write
cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
Feb 26 11:43:00 vaio kernel: [ 3956.707210] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd]
156301488 512-byte hardware sectors (80026 MB)
Feb 26 11:43:00 vaio kernel: [ 3956.707432] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] Write
Protect is off
Feb 26 11:43:00 vaio kernel: [ 3956.708091] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] Write
cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
Feb 26 11:43:00 vaio kernel: [ 3956.708099]  sdd: sdd1
Feb 26 11:43:00 vaio kernel: [ 3956.729181] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] Attached SCSI disk
Feb 26 11:43:00 vaio kernel: [ 3956.729269] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi
generic sg3 type 14
Feb 26 11:46:34 vaio kernel: [ 4169.783863] VFS: Can't find a valid
FAT filesystem on dev sdd.

Hope this helps.

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Re: [Hampshire] Mounting external drive.

[Hugo Mills]

On Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 11:56:45AM +, Clive Woodfine wrote:
> 2009/2/26 Hugo Mills :
> Thanks James and Hugo for prompt replies.
> 
> >   What command did you use to try mounting the filesystem? What
> > errors did you get? Was there anything reported in /var/log/syslog (or
> > /var/log/messages) as a result of you trying to mount the filesystem?
> >
> >   Hugo.
> >
> I have reconnected the caddy so is now showing as sdd. It is formatted as 
> VFAT.
> 
> r...@vaio:~# mount -t vfat /dev/sdd /mnt/Caddy/
> mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdd,
>missing codepage or helper program, or other error
>In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
>dmesg | tail  or so
> 
> r...@vaio:~# tail /var/log/syslog
[...]
> Feb 26 11:46:34 vaio kernel: [ 4169.783852] FAT: invalid media value (0xb9)
> Feb 26 11:46:34 vaio kernel: [ 4169.783863] VFS: Can't find a valid
> FAT filesystem on dev sdd.

   That would seem to suggest some kind of data corruption.

   What does this command tell you?

# cat /dev/sdd1 | file -

   Hugo.

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Re: [Hampshire] netbooks, especially those with a Linux OS, and DVD

[Stuart Matheson]

Hi Lisi,

I seem to recall being able to play DVDs on my 400 Mhz Pentium II with 192
Mb RAM back in the day (running Windows 2k - I had to as I played Half Life
Day of Defeat a lot). That was from a PATA drive though and not through USB.
I don't know exactly how the current netbook cpu Mhz would compare to the
PII Mhz, but I'm guessing it should be able to play them OK. Can you not
take an external USB DVD drive and a DVD down to a store and try to play it
with something like VLC?

I've been playing with Damn Small Linux on my xbox and it seems to cope well
with only 64Mb RAM so perhaps you could give that a go if you want something
really light. It supposedly runs on 486 machines with 16Mb of RAM! Only 2.4
kernel though...

What do you classify as a 'reasonable' price? Maplin have some refurbished
thingon
their web site for £100 although I don't know how good it is.

HTH,

Stuart.

2009/2/23 Lisi 

> I have been asked by a young friend whether it is possible to watch DVDs
> (films etc.) on a netbook.  I suspect that the answer is no, even with an
> external DVD-ROM drive, because of lack of system resources.  But I would
> be
> grateful for some accurate information on this point from the list.
>
> I have googled and cannot find a netbook at a reasonable price (one of the
> reasons she is interested in netbooks is the low price) that has an
> internal
> DVD drive.  Would anyone who knows otherwise be kind enough to post a link
> or
> tell me the model?
>
> Meanwhile, she is keen on having one with a Linux OS, and is very taken
> with
> the idea of using Tux to resurrect her present ailing laptop. She has gone
> home with a selection of Live CDs to have a look. :-))
>
> TIA
> Lisi
>
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Re: [Hampshire] [hants] compression

[Stuart Matheson]

Isaac,

I've been referring to www.maximumcompression.com for a while now. I
recently did some backing up of HDDs over a network and found that zeroing
the free space and then using lzop produced the highest throughput given the
100Mb network and 500 Mhz VIA cpu. gzip/bzip2/etc created an output file
that took up less space but was much more CPU intensive so it took longer
overall. I had plenty of disk space at the target so speed was the most
important thing for me.

HTH,

Stu

2009/2/18 Isaac Close 

> hello all,
>
> I'm (trying) to find the 'best' compression software/algorithm about.
> Best as-in best compression ratio most, cpu time and memory footprint are
> not a problem.
>
> I'm already well aware of 7zip, bzip2, rzip and ofcourse gzip, but looking
> on google is not putting me beyond those.
>
> tar very much,
>
> Isaac.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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Re: [Hampshire] Mounting external drive.

[Clive Woodfine]

2009/2/26 Hugo Mills :

> # cat /dev/sdd1 | file -
>
>   Hugo.

r...@vaio:~# cat /dev/sdd1 | file -
/dev/stdin: x86 boot sector, mbr
r...@vaio:~#

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Re: [Hampshire] netbooks, especially those with a Linux OS, and DVD

[Bob Dunlop]

Hi,

On Thu, Feb 26 at 12:07, Stuart Matheson wrote:
> Hi Lisi,
...
> What do you classify as a 'reasonable' price? Maplin have some refurbished
> thingon
> their web site for ?100 although I don't know how good it is.

I'd beware something like this for playing DVDs etc.  It's got a MIPS based
processor in it (not Intel instruction set) and getting codecs etc will be
problematic to say the least.

Actually installing anything but the manufactures linux distribution on
these machines doesn't look like a job for the faint hearted either.


I plugged a USB DVD drive into the side of my EEE 901 the other day and it
played region 0 DVDs without problems.  I'm guessing other regions wouldn't
be a problem either but couldn't be bothered to look for the DeCSS librarys.

Of course a 901 might not be what you consider cheap at 216+VAT these days.


Adding a DVD player to a netbook kinda defeats the concept of a netbook to
my mind.  You might want to copy selected DVDs to Flash but that's gonna eat
storage fast.  Better I'd think to go for a cheap laptop instead.

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Re: [Hampshire] netbooks, especially those with a Linux OS, and DVD

[Steve Wesemeyer]

Lisi,

On Monday 23 February 2009 16:13:53 Lisi wrote:
> I have been asked by a young friend whether it is possible to watch DVDs
> (films etc.) on a netbook.  I suspect that the answer is no, even with an
> external DVD-ROM drive, because of lack of system resources.  But I would
> be grateful for some accurate information on this point from the list.
>
> I have googled and cannot find a netbook at a reasonable price (one of the
> reasons she is interested in netbooks is the low price) that has an
> internal DVD drive.  Would anyone who knows otherwise be kind enough to
> post a link or tell me the model?
>
> Meanwhile, she is keen on having one with a Linux OS, and is very taken
> with the idea of using Tux to resurrect her present ailing laptop. She has
> gone home with a selection of Live CDs to have a look. :-))
>
> TIA
> Lisi

I have just plugged an external USB DVD writer in my eee701(with OpenSuse 11.1 
installed rather than the Xandros distro that comes with it) and it plays 
DVDs just fine. I don't think there is a netbook with an internal DVD drive 
(the only ones I am aware of are sub-notebooks which are way to expensive) 
and as was said before, it defeats the purpose of a netbook. It's much easier 
to rip the DVDs on your proper PC and then use a USB-stick/SD card to watch 
them on your netbook. Attaching an external DVD drive just eats battery and 
is just one more thing to carry around with you.

HTH
 Steve

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Re: [Hampshire] UK Government backs open source?

[Phillip Chandler]

On Thu, 2009-02-26 at 01:43 +, Stuart Sears wrote:
> Phillip Chandler wrote:
> > On Wed, 2009-02-25 at 14:06 +, Simon Capstick wrote:
> >> Does anyone believe the government will actually follow through 
> >> with this one?
> >> 
> >> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7910110.stm
> >> 
> >> Simon
> > 
> > You must have missed this bit :
> > 
> > "Open source software will be adopted "when it delivers best value 
> > for money", the government said.".
> 
> Have you read the actual document this refers to?
> 
> http://www.cio.gov.uk/documents/open_source/090224opensource.pdf
> 
> I particularly like this part:
> 
> 
> The Government will, wherever possible, avoid becoming locked in to
> proprietary software. In particular it will take exit, rebid and rebuild
> costs into account in procurement decisions and will require those
> proposing proprietary software to specify how exit would be achieved.
> 
> 
> ...that sounds remarkably like a commitment to open standards to me, or
> at least taking the cost of migration into consideration when deploying
> non-O/S software. That may well affect the 'value for money' criterion.
> 
> If this opens the door for more open standards, then marvellous.
> 
> Game On.
> 
> oh and this bit:
> 
> 
> Where there is no significant overall cost difference between open and
> non-open source products, open source will be selected on the basis of
> its additional inherent flexibility.
> 
> 
> just one more, I can't help myself :)
> 
> 
> [...] Where appropriate, general purpose software developed for
> government will be released on an open source basis.
> 
> 
> > Thats a cop-out clause.
> 
> No, it's not. It's paraphrased/quoted at best. I am not a government
> apologist, but this is a remarkable step forward and very positive.
> 
> All that's really required is that they assess open source solutions
> in the same context as closed source and that they justify how they
> eventually spend our money. This can only be a good thing. They are not
> promising to change all their desktops to Linux (or any other open
> source O/S). In fact I would be absolutely gobsmacked if they ever did.
> 
> > Ive used Linux for quite a while, and thankfully picked up a lot of 
> > stuff.
> > 
> > But what support do you have for Linux ?
> 
> > 1) - Forums.
> 
> Not at a professional level, for anything beyond the simplest things.
> Besides, google first :)
> 
> In large organisations, it's 'call the helpdesk'.
> 
> > 2) - Canonical Paid-for support.
> 
> *ahem*. Linux does not only mean *buntu.
> Canonical provide just one of the many options.
> 
> Red Hat support services are in general excellent
> Admittedly I'm biased, I work for the company, but I do speak to a lot
> of customers. :).
> Then there's Novell (and of course, even Oracle these days).
> Plus anyone else who wants in, but those are the main players.
> 
> Any proper Enterprise-level roll-out provides some form of paid support,
> SLAs and so on, if only to cover somebody's a***. It mitigates the risks.
> With Open Source, that's usually most of what you pay for (that and ISV
> / OEM certifications etc etc).
> 
> > 3) - Your IT department if they are savvy enough about Linux.
> 
> They are in many public sector organisations above a certain size.
> Perhaps not at the school IT technician level (although in some cases,
> perhaps even there).
> Once again, this is why we have support agreements and escalation
> procedures.
> 
> Just my 2p worth. I could go on. In fact I have.
> 
> Flame-retardant suit at the ready. :)
> 

My last comment. We are talking about the UK Government here ? Do you
actually believe anything they say ? Saying they are going to use open
source software is one thing, but actually going the whole hog is a diff
matter. They say one thing, which has two meanings, the one we think
they are saying, and the one which will be a cop out if it goes wrong or
doesnt work.

Id love to see it work, but on the condition that we dont get another
fiasco like the NHS computer upgrade.



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Re: [Hampshire] Media players

[trotter]

At 08:05 26/02/2009, you wrote:
>trotter wrote:
> > Where did you buy it from?
>
>Hi Martin,
>
>I bought it through Amazon, from a reseller called SpecialTech [1],
>although I must confess I thought it was coming from Amazon directly and
>was a little perturbed (as an Amazon seller with a 100% rating myself)
>to find they only had a 94% rating.
>
>That said, it was here within a couple of days and I suspect the low-ish
>rating largely comes from chumps rating the product as opposed to the
>company's performance, or blaming Royal Mail's iffy service on them.
>
>FWIW I note that Play sell them too [2], and I would probably have used
>them in preference had it occurred to me at the time.


Eugh!
I have had poor customer service from play.

  They sent my a 5 dvd box set of a quadrilogy which had 2 disk threes.
  Disk one was missing I sent it back with a letter explaining and they just
  sent it back with no note and with the same duplicate disk in :(


>We watched a couple of shows last night and I have to say that the
>picture quality was superb and any misgivings about the slightly high
>price have been soothed away by the total lack of faff.


Sounds good.
Looking at the amazons 2 pages of reviews it does seem to be well liked
however there seems to be a problem with the hdmi socket not being
very well made. Did you notice anything with that socket or were you using
the other video outputs instead?

Thanks

Martin N


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Re: [Hampshire] UK Government backs open source?

[Stuart Matheson]

I'm from Australia so I'm not sure about how things work in the UK but here
is my suggestion anyway.

In Australia we have volunteer fire fighters that help out when things get
bad (like they have just recently). The Volunteers arrange with their
managers at work so that they'll be able to rush off if their pager calls
them.

How about if the UK government adopts a similar philosophy with IT and then
all the ???LUG gurus could become volunteer troubleshooters in times of
emergency? :P

Ok, sounds like a long shot but at least all the USB data keys you guys
would leave on the train would be encrypted :)

There is another snag here. Open source software may be cheaper in the long
run but requires more money now as users will need to be retrained,
desktops/servers modified, sysadmins go on training courses, etc, etc. Of
course if you take a 20 year view it will probably be cheaper, but not in
the short term (read before the next election, and then before the election
after that, etc). Any screw ups will be splashed all over the news and the
opposition will cry bloody murder.

Open standards are definitely high on the agenda for Australian gov agencies
(my dad worked for the Bureau of Stats for 30 years). That is a good start
for sure. As more and more open source knowledgable people get into these
institutions though there will be more internal support for a push for
something different.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out.

Stu

2009/2/26 Phillip Chandler 

> On Thu, 2009-02-26 at 01:43 +, Stuart Sears wrote:
> > Phillip Chandler wrote:
> > > On Wed, 2009-02-25 at 14:06 +, Simon Capstick wrote:
> > >> Does anyone believe the government will actually follow through
> > >> with this one?
> > >>
> > >> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7910110.stm
> > >>
> > >> Simon
> > >
> > > You must have missed this bit :
> > >
> > > "Open source software will be adopted "when it delivers best value
> > > for money", the government said.".
> >
> > Have you read the actual document this refers to?
> >
> > http://www.cio.gov.uk/documents/open_source/090224opensource.pdf
> >
> > I particularly like this part:
> >
> > 
> > The Government will, wherever possible, avoid becoming locked in to
> > proprietary software. In particular it will take exit, rebid and rebuild
> > costs into account in procurement decisions and will require those
> > proposing proprietary software to specify how exit would be achieved.
> > 
> >
> > ...that sounds remarkably like a commitment to open standards to me, or
> > at least taking the cost of migration into consideration when deploying
> > non-O/S software. That may well affect the 'value for money' criterion.
> >
> > If this opens the door for more open standards, then marvellous.
> >
> > Game On.
> >
> > oh and this bit:
> >
> > 
> > Where there is no significant overall cost difference between open and
> > non-open source products, open source will be selected on the basis of
> > its additional inherent flexibility.
> > 
> >
> > just one more, I can't help myself :)
> >
> > 
> > [...] Where appropriate, general purpose software developed for
> > government will be released on an open source basis.
> > 
> >
> > > Thats a cop-out clause.
> >
> > No, it's not. It's paraphrased/quoted at best. I am not a government
> > apologist, but this is a remarkable step forward and very positive.
> >
> > All that's really required is that they assess open source solutions
> > in the same context as closed source and that they justify how they
> > eventually spend our money. This can only be a good thing. They are not
> > promising to change all their desktops to Linux (or any other open
> > source O/S). In fact I would be absolutely gobsmacked if they ever did.
> >
> > > Ive used Linux for quite a while, and thankfully picked up a lot of
> > > stuff.
> > >
> > > But what support do you have for Linux ?
> >
> > > 1) - Forums.
> >
> > Not at a professional level, for anything beyond the simplest things.
> > Besides, google first :)
> >
> > In large organisations, it's 'call the helpdesk'.
> >
> > > 2) - Canonical Paid-for support.
> >
> > *ahem*. Linux does not only mean *buntu.
> > Canonical provide just one of the many options.
> >
> > Red Hat support services are in general excellent
> > Admittedly I'm biased, I work for the company, but I do speak to a lot
> > of customers. :).
> > Then there's Novell (and of course, even Oracle these days).
> > Plus anyone else who wants in, but those are the main players.
> >
> > Any proper Enterprise-level roll-out provides some form of paid support,
> > SLAs and so on, if only to cover somebody's a***. It mitigates the risks.
> > With Open Source, that's usually most of what you pay for (that and ISV
> > / OEM certifications etc etc).
> >
> > > 3) - Your IT department if they are savvy enough about Linux.
> >
> > They are in many public sector organisations above a certain size.
> > Perhaps not at the school IT technician level (although in some

Re: [Hampshire] Media players

[Sean Gibbins]

trotter wrote:
> Sounds good.
> Looking at the amazons 2 pages of reviews it does seem to be well liked
> however there seems to be a problem with the hdmi socket not being
> very well made. Did you notice anything with that socket or were you using
> the other video outputs instead?
>

Our telly is far from HD-ready... so composite all the way for us!

;-)

However, I'd say that the build quality is pretty good overall, for what
my opinion is worth.

Sean


-- 
The computer can't tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact 
mathematical design, but what's missing is the eyebrows.
Frank Zappa


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[Hampshire] The Libertus server

[Alan Bell]

thanks to feedback from the list (particularly scholarly assistance with 
our Latin from Lisi) we have today launched our new product, the 
Libertus server, starting with the Erutitus model, which is an 
Ubuntu/Moodle appliance that comes with training and installation.
http://www.theopenlearningcentre.com/libertus.html
http://www.theopenlearningcentre.com/libertus-eruditus.html

Now all we have to do is tell the world about it, without spending too 
much money that we don't have, any help in this task would be gratefully 
received.

Alan.

Alan Bell wrote:
> We are trying out a new business idea, pre-configured server appliances 
> bundled with services (setup and a bit of training)
> I would like a bit of feedback on our website pages about them.
>
> http://www.theopenlearningcentre.com/liberatus.html
>
> We are going to set up a store for online purchases fairly soon, but 
> initially we are targeting schools that we contacted at the BETT 
> tradeshow with our opening model, a Moodle based server called the 
> Liberatus Erudito.
>
> Alan.
>
>
>
>   


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Re: [Hampshire] Media players

[trotter]

At 15:09 26/02/2009, you wrote:
>trotter wrote:
> > Sounds good.
> > Looking at the amazons 2 pages of reviews it does seem to be well liked
> > however there seems to be a problem with the hdmi socket not being
> > very well made. Did you notice anything with that socket or were you using
> > the other video outputs instead?
> >
>
>Our telly is far from HD-ready... so composite all the way for us!
>
>;-)


Until you get a high def source it will be a good idea to stick with the non
HD tv.  Thats if my dads LG tv is anything to go by.
It is HD 780 but he runs it on SD freeview and its awful. The picture breaks
up into pixels on fast scenes, everything looks blocky and theres digital noise
in the picture it is just bobbins.

His old phillips CRT  is better on freeview but since i am using it I 
better not
mention it ;)

>However, I'd say that the build quality is pretty good overall, for what
>my opinion is worth.

Ok thanks for the info.

Martin N


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[Hampshire] Cheap Netbook

[Sean Gibbins]

Not my cup o' tea but it might suit others' taste:

http://tinyurl.com/d34rdx

... and some info on the beast here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elonex_ONEt

Essentially a (refurbished) Linux netbook for £99 from Maplins.

Sean

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Re: [Hampshire] Cheap Netbook

[Alan Bell]

you might want to ponder a bit on the implications of an existence of a 
boatload of refurbs though.

I think you can get the same motherboard in a slightly better bit of 
plastic from Elonex for £99 brand new. If you want a really cheap MIPS 
processor to play with then go for it. It is a sub-netbook with an 
800x480 screen which is teeny tiny. The operating system is a bit of a 
horror with everything running as root, the Elonex version sucks a bit 
less (in that it looks prettier) but it still all runs as root. If you 
want a netbook to actually use then this really isn't the one to go for.


Sean Gibbins wrote:
> Not my cup o' tea but it might suit others' taste:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/d34rdx
>
> ... and some info on the beast here:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elonex_ONEt
>
> Essentially a (refurbished) Linux netbook for £99 from Maplins.
>
> Sean
>
>   


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Re: [Hampshire] Samba permission problem

[Tim]

On Wednesday 25 February 2009 21:03:16 Keith Edmunds wrote:
> On Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:11:25 +, xendis...@gmail.com said:
> > I have a strange problem, I have three folders on an ext.USB hard disk
> > which is formatted to ext3 and I share via Samba
>
> What does the share stanza look like in smb.conf?
>
> What is the output of the 'mount' command?
>
>

Sorry for the delay in replying, been having e-mailing the lug list

The mount command gives the following

m...@titan:~$ mount
/dev/hda5 on / type ext3 (rw,noatime)
tmpfs on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
procbususb on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=620)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc 
(rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
/dev/sda1 on /mnt/sda1 type ext3 (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime)
/dev/hda7 on /mnt/hda7 type ext3 (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime)


The Samba share is as follows

[Pictures]
path = /mnt/sda1/Pictures
case sensitive = no
strict locking = no
msdfs proxy = no

Tim





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Re: [Hampshire] Samba permission problem - this time corrected

[Tim]

On Wednesday 25 February 2009 21:03:16 Keith Edmunds wrote:
> On Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:11:25 +, xendis...@gmail.com said:
> > I have a strange problem, I have three folders on an ext.USB hard disk
> > which is formatted to ext3 and I share via Samba
>
> What does the share stanza look like in smb.conf?
>
> What is the output of the 'mount' command?
>
>

Having solved my e-mail problem I now have a problem typing :(my last 
e-mail 
should of read:

Sorry for the delay in replying, I have been having problems sending e-mails to 
the lug list, they seem to be arriving on the list (as people have replied) but 
I never saw on the list.

Anyway back to my Samba problem,

The mount command gives the following

m...@titan:~$ mount
/dev/hda5 on / type ext3 (rw,noatime)
tmpfs on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
procbususb on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=620)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc 
(rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
/dev/sda1 on /mnt/sda1 type ext3 (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime)
/dev/hda7 on /mnt/hda7 type ext3 (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime)


The Samba share is as follows

[Pictures]
path = /mnt/sda1/Pictures
case sensitive = no
strict locking = no
msdfs proxy = no

Tim


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Re: [Hampshire] Samba permission problem - this time corrected

[Keith Edmunds]

On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:01:41 +, xendis...@yahoo.co.uk said:

> my last e-mail 
> should of read:

s/of/have/

> [Pictures]
> path = /mnt/sda1/Pictures
> case sensitive = no
> strict locking = no
> msdfs proxy = no

I've had issues with "msdfs proxy" before: although it may not resolve
your problem, I'd remove that line. Probably worth posting the global
section of your smb.conf as well as the output of:

ls -ld /mnt/sda1 /mnt/sda1/Pictures

Keith

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Re: [Hampshire] Samba permission problem - this time corrected

[Tim]

On Thursday 26 February 2009 21:16:26 Keith Edmunds wrote:
> On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:01:41 +, xendis...@yahoo.co.uk said:
> > my last e-mail
> > should of read:
>
> s/of/have/
>
> > [Pictures]
> > path = /mnt/sda1/Pictures
> > case sensitive = no
> > strict locking = no
> > msdfs proxy = no
>
> I've had issues with "msdfs proxy" before: although it may not resolve
> your problem, I'd remove that line. Probably worth posting the global
> section of your smb.conf as well as the output of:
>
> ls -ld /mnt/sda1 /mnt/sda1/Pictures
>
> Keith


OK here output from the ls command

m...@titan:~$ ls -ld /mnt/sda1 /mnt/sda1/Pictures
drwxr-xr-x  8 mit users 4096 2009-02-22 17:08 /mnt/sda1
drwxrwxrwx 33 mit users 4096 2009-02-26 21:32 /mnt/sda1/Pictures

 Here is the full smb.conf, I have removed the msdfs proxy sections and 
restarted samba

[global]
workgroup = HOME
server string = %h server (Samba %v)
map to guest = Bad User
passdb backend = tdbsam
log level = 1
max log size = 1000
acl compatibility = winnt
server signing = Auto
deadtime = 15
socket options = TCP_NODELAY IPTOS_LOWDELAY 
domain master = no
dns proxy = no
wins support = Yes
ldap ssl = No
panic action = /usr/share/samba/panic-action %d
host msdfs = no
hide unreadable = yes
oplocks = no
level2 oplocks = no
restrict anonymous = no
max protocol = NT
read only = no
nt acl support = no
guest ok = yes

[printers]
comment = All Printers
path = /tmp
create mask = 0700
printable = Yes
browseable = No

[mp3]
path = /mnt/sda1/mp3
case sensitive = no
strict locking = no

[Pictures]
path = /mnt/sda1/Pictures
case sensitive = no
strict locking = no

[video]
path = /mnt/sda1/Video
case sensitive = no
strict locking = no

Thanks



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[Hampshire] Useful E-Book

[Tim]

Came across this link to an e-book which I think might help a few of us non-cli 
types

http://www.thegeekstuff.com/linux-101-hacks-free-ebook/

Tim


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Re: [Hampshire] Cheap Netbook

[Sean Gibbins]

Alan Bell wrote:
> you might want to ponder a bit on the implications of an existence of a 
> boatload of refurbs though.
>   

Well, yes, but then I wonder if they may have taken a load back from
dissatisfied punters who found they couldn't install Windows software on
them? Not that I am defending them mind - I wouldn't touch one
personally, and generally end up cursing whenever I go to Maplins on
account of the ridiculous pricing; 'PC World Syndrome'!

However, I recall someone recently expressed an interest in MIPS
machines and this is the cheapest I have seen them going for in this
format, hence the heads-up.

> I think you can get the same motherboard in a slightly better bit of 
> plastic from Elonex for £99 brand new. If you want a really cheap MIPS 
> processor to play with then go for it. It is a sub-netbook with an 
> 800x480 screen which is teeny tiny. The operating system is a bit of a 
> horror with everything running as root, the Elonex version sucks a bit 
> less (in that it looks prettier) but it still all runs as root. If you 
> want a netbook to actually use then this really isn't the one to go for.

This /is/ an Elonex machine, FWIW, as opposed to the other similar
effort Maplins were touting for £139 a little while back.

I take your point about the tiny screen though - my daughter Ellen has a
7" Eee PC that she was given as part of an A level course she is doing,
and having played with it (and broken it!) I'd have to agree that it is
not best suited to purpose in that the screen is too small for most web
sites and that the Netbook label is a bit of a misnomer. I am sure Psion
would agree... :p

So, if you want a Netbook grab an Acer - what you pay over and above the
£99 asked for this one you'll save in Chiropractor's fees for the RSI
you'll get mousing back and forth across Web sites that are too big for
your screen! My son Sam has one and I have to say that is very usable
for word processing, email, Web surfing and instant messaging tot he
point where he rarely sits in front of his desktop machine.

However, if you are only looking at very occasional use and pulling in
email on the go then this might be worth looking at, although a new one
for the same price with a 12-month warranty does sound more appealing.

Sean


-- 
The computer can't tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact 
mathematical design, but what's missing is the eyebrows.
Frank Zappa


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Re: [Hampshire] Small but perfectly formed...

[john]

Hi all

This looks like a p2p device from heaven.  Just think 5 Watts left on for 24/7 
while doing your downloading.  It will cut down electricity bills no end.  Now 
there is the little matter of how do I actually download on it.

John Eayrs

On Thursday 26 February 2009 08:41:31 Sean Gibbins wrote:
> Morning all,
>
> Just read an article linked from Digg about a teensy-weensy Linux
> 'server' that the manufacturers would eventually like to sell for $49:
>
> http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-41525-136.html
>
> Crikey, at that price anyone can afford to play!
>
> One reviewer gripes about the lack of a decent UI and the need for
> potential users to get down and dirty with the likes of 'difficult'
> operating systems like Debian, but I think he can safely be dismissed as
> nit-picking  at that (projected) price. The developer version is
> currently available for $99, apparently.
>
> Sean
>
> --
> The computer can't tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact
> mathematical design, but what's missing is the eyebrows. Frank Zappa


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Re: [Hampshire] Mounting external drive.

[john]

Hi

Take the drive out of the caddy and mount it in your desktop.  Use testdisk to 
get back the partition data.  You have the dreaded USB disk FAT destroyed by 
operating system problem.

John Eayrs

On Thursday 26 February 2009 11:21:26 Clive Woodfine wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I have a HDD in a caddy that I use to backup both Linux and Windows
> data. I seldom use Windows now but found I needed to retrieve some
> data from a backup. The external drive mounted okay in Windows and I
> performed an edit on a .jpg file but when I decided I did not want to
> save the changes on exiting the program a pop-up said the drive was
> not formated did I want to format it. I said NO. Now the drive will
> not mount in Windows or Linux. URGH##
>
> Back in Linux dmesg | tail gives this when connected by FireWire.
>
> r...@vaio:~# dmesg | tail
> [  815.603633] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
> [  815.603638] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 11 00 00 00
> [  815.604419] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Write cache: enabled, read cache:
> enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
> [  815.605103] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] 156301488 512-byte hardware sectors (80026
> MB) [  815.605322] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
> [  815.605327] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 11 00 00 00
> [  815.605857] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Write cache: enabled, read cache:
> enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
> [  815.605865]  sdc: sdc1
> [  815.627150] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI disk
> [  815.627222] sd 5:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 14
> r...@vaio:~#
>
> Does "type 14" mean that the drive thinks it is a  "14  Hidden FAT16
> <3"  (obtained from fdisk list of types)?
>
> Running fdisk /dev/sda gives
>
> Command (m for help): p
>
> Disk /dev/sdc: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
> Disk identifier: 0xd03f6341
>
>Device Boot  Start End  Blocks   Id  System
> /dev/sdc1   *   1972978148161c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
>
> The partition table appears to be intact and I suspect the data is still
> okay.
>
> Is there a way of mounting the disk as a Hidden FAT16 file system?
>
>
> --
> Clive Woodfine


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Re: [Hampshire] Small but perfectly formed...

[Jon Wilks]

I wonder how you would be able to plug it into a UK socket !

Jon.

john wrote:
> Hi all
> 
> This looks like a p2p device from heaven.  Just think 5 Watts left on for 
> 24/7 
> while doing your downloading.  It will cut down electricity bills no end.  
> Now 
> there is the little matter of how do I actually download on it.
> 
> John Eayrs
> 
> On Thursday 26 February 2009 08:41:31 Sean Gibbins wrote:
>> Morning all,
>>
>> Just read an article linked from Digg about a teensy-weensy Linux
>> 'server' that the manufacturers would eventually like to sell for $49:
>>
>> http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-41525-136.html
>>
>> Crikey, at that price anyone can afford to play!
>>
>> One reviewer gripes about the lack of a decent UI and the need for
>> potential users to get down and dirty with the likes of 'difficult'
>> operating systems like Debian, but I think he can safely be dismissed as
>> nit-picking  at that (projected) price. The developer version is
>> currently available for $99, apparently.
>>
>> Sean
>>
>> --
>> The computer can't tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact
>> mathematical design, but what's missing is the eyebrows. Frank Zappa
> 
> 


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Jon Wilks
PGP key 0xFA593C1A from hkp://wwwkeys.uk.pgp.net

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