Re: [Hampshire] Recurrent Hardware Problem
Chris. Aubrey-Smith wrote: > Is there an 'approved' method for separating a big aluminium heatsink from a > processor, to which it is attached as though superglued? Clamp the heatsink in a vice, protect the CPU and use a scalpel or craft knife blade to remove any actual glue and to wedge the components apart. I think I used masking tape on the CPU edge to keep it from flying around and put a soft pad under it. This method keeps the applied force and reaction across the heatsink. It's not good to anchor the CPU by its pins because they can be hollow (e.g. on P3 478) and snap easily, and twisting doesn't load the pins evenly. HT is in time to H! Anthony -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] stuart biggs added you as a business connection on Plaxo
LinuxLearner wrote:
> >> Which in my view is most probably a breach of Data Protection Act
> >> provisions. e.g. I get regular 'invites' from Facebook, though I have
> >> never given Facebook consent to email me (nor ever given anyone I know
> >> consent to give Facebook my email). This infuriates me, no end: it's
> >> SPAM, plain and simple, which *big* business gets away with.
I'm new to this DPA stuff (and for Linux users I think this is
inevitably on topic) but at www.ico.gov.uk:
"Personal data means data which relate to a living individual who can be
identified
(a) from those data, or
(b) from those data and other information which is in the possession of,
or is likely to come into the possession of, the data controller,
and includes any expression of opinion about the individual and any
indication of the intentions of the data controller or any other person
in respect of the individual."
The phrase "and includes" looks to me like a widely phrased get-out, but
there it is.
> > But this is the Facebook users wanting to contact you. How else
> > could it work?
>
> Maybe it shouldn't work. ;) Maybe, just maybe, *I* should control data
> about myself, and no other, without *my* consent. {period}.
So ideally you'd want me prevented from taking a photo which includes
you in a public place?
Keeping it short ;-)
Anthony
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Re: [Hampshire] Krfb (VNC) remote connect nightmare with screensaver *solved*
Stephen Rowles wrote: > > I'm running Fedora 11 and trying to allow remote access to my machine > > via Krfb - I need to get this working so I can work from home tomorrow! > > If I'd know it was going to be difficult I would have started earlier > > :(. I rather foolishly assumed that because Krfb came pre-installed it > > would "just work". > > Silly problem. > Turns out that for some reason shift wasn't getting sent via VNC, hence > password not working! You left out the most important bit... how on earth did you find out? Anthony -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Scrounge for 200-pin SODIMM RAM
Dr A. J. Trickett wrote: > Before a colleague at work buys new RAM for his Tosh A110-233 > notebook I thought I'd ask, does anyone have any spare 200-pin > DDR2 PC2 notebook ram going free or cheap? Similar question here except for regular DDR (aka DDR1): my Thinkpad X40 takes PC-2700 / DDR 333 CL2.5 (200-pin SODIMM). Anyone got a spare 512 or 1Gb to sell? I'm usually at the joint Hants/Surrey meetings if that helps. Anthony -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] OT: TRIAC circuit question
"Bond, Peter" wrote: > http://www.st.com/stonline/books/pdf/docs/3566.pdf Thanks for all the replies, which have led me to this detailed tutorial www.onsemi.com/pub_link/Collateral/HBD855-D.PDF and an offer to eyeball a design if I can come up with one :-) Anthony -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] OT: TRIAC circuit question
Anthony wrote: > >> You can get DIY circular saws with built in soft start [1] but not stand > >> alone starters for older tools. ?After lining up the saw guide on the > >> workpiece I want to slot the saw into the guide, then switch on without > >> it jolting out of alignment. ?It might be time to break out the > >> soldering iron... Vic replied: > > A circular saw is just a motor; pretty much any motor controller circuit > > or even a lighting dimmer circuit could be adapted for the job. LOL, I see I did miss out "how?" James wrote: > Arn't triacs ON/OFF switches and to adjust the amount of power, they > simply switch it on/off quickly. Will this actually help you? For a speed controller you pulse width modulate each half cycle of the mains supply. When power is applied I need to ramp from 0 to 100% pulse width over the first 2 seconds, providing a soft start (with the saw off load). There's probably some reason it's difficult to find a circuit for this, but the annoying thing about having so little knowledge is that it's easy to imagine the circuit must be simple :-) Any advice welcomed on or preferably off list. Anthony -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] OT: TRIAC circuit question
What has big teeth, kicks like a mule, spins at 5000 rpm and is hand held? You can get DIY circular saws with built in soft start [1] but not stand alone starters for older tools. After lining up the saw guide on the workpiece I want to slot the saw into the guide, then switch on without it jolting out of alignment. It might be time to break out the soldering iron... So I'm wondering: could a simple triac controller like [2] be adapted to run in DC mode as in [3] circuit 1c, and fitted with an RC on the gate so as to ramp up over 2 seconds when power is applied? Has anyone here come across a circuit that does something like that? Apologies for list abuse but I've Googled MAO without success. All suggestions gratefully received (except "Buy a new saw", obviously). Antony [1] eBay.co.uk item 400054540068 [2] http://www.quasarelectronics.com/kit-files/electronic-kit/3019.pdf [3] http://www.st.com/stonline/products/literature/an/2477.htm -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] Desktop tricks (was: Legal DVD ripping)
Simon Reap wrote: > Rob Malpass wrote: > > 2) Is there a way I can scroll around my own desktop if this sort of thing > > happens again? To be clear, what has happened here is that, running in > > the > > 14 point font which I must observe with my eyes, the window is bigger than > > the desktop. Desktop is 1024x768 so what I need to do is pan down such > > that the top of the window disappears off the top of my desktop and the > > bottom of the window becomes visible. > > > Alt and left-click on the window should allow you to move it beyond the > edges of the screen. The cursor turns into a little cross, as it does > if you click on the title bar of the window, but you can click anywhere > in the window. Oddly enough I could also use "a way I can scroll around my own desktop" as mine has auto-exploded to some very desirable size populated with giant icons. The panel has stayed 1280 wide but removable media icons aren't always in the visible part when I want to unmount them. Of course my real question is how to resize it / where is Ubuntu taking the size from? Anthony $ xrandr -q SZ:Pixels Physical Refresh *0 1280 x 1024 ( 342mm x 271mm ) *60 1800 x 600( 342mm x 271mm ) 75 72 60 56 2640 x 480( 342mm x 271mm ) 75 73 60 3 1280 x 960( 342mm x 271mm ) 60 4 1280 x 800( 342mm x 271mm ) 60 5 1280 x 768( 342mm x 271mm ) 60 6 1152 x 768( 342mm x 271mm ) 55 7 1024 x 768( 342mm x 271mm ) 75 70 60 8832 x 624( 342mm x 271mm ) 75 9840 x 525( 342mm x 271mm ) 60 10 700 x 525( 342mm x 271mm ) 60 11 640 x 512( 342mm x 271mm ) 60 12 720 x 450( 342mm x 271mm ) 60 13 640 x 400( 342mm x 271mm ) 60 14 640 x 384( 342mm x 271mm ) 60 15 576 x 384( 342mm x 271mm ) 55 16 512 x 384( 342mm x 271mm ) 75 70 60 17 416 x 312( 342mm x 271mm ) 75 18 400 x 300( 342mm x 271mm ) 75 72 60 56 19 320 x 240( 342mm x 271mm ) 75 73 60 Current rotation - normal Current reflection - none Rotations possible - normal Reflections possible - none (xrandr was installed in a quick stab at using the monitor in portrait mode) -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] Recovering flash (was: Flash memory performance timing)
On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 23:04:02 +, "Antony" said:
> I'm trying to check the raw speeds of a few SD cards, partly to choose
> the fastest for the camera and partly out of curiosity as some are
> unbranded.
[snip]
> r...@pc5:~# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda count=10 bs=1M oflag=dsync
> Oops... expect a follow-up question about restoring partition tables
What a can of worms this opened, one moral being:
"After reading and understanding the above observations, it should be
obvious why memory cards should never be formatted outside a device that
is specifically built to handle a certain memory card standard." [1]
These 3 SD cards (amounting to 4.5Gb) can fail to mount, take 15 minutes
to mount, mount a single card as both sda and sda1 at the same time, be
reported by dmesg but not by fdisk etc.
At first I thought the first sector (MBR) would be restored sufficiently
by writing a new partition table using cfdisk (or fdisk) and possibly
syslinux (or grub) thus:
MBR = { IPL code (GRUB) if card is bootable
partition table
signature }
However the camera and WinXP weren't happy and it seems the C/H/S
geometry was contained in the, now zeroed, IPL:
IPL = { BIOS parameter block (BPB)[2]
bootstrap code }
BPB = { C/H/S (at 18h-20h) [3]
boot drive pointer = 80 + drive #
pointer to grub stage 2 }
In this case cfdisk writes the partition table using the geometry "given
by the disk driver": it can be queried as part of the SD's block
interface command set e.g. using hdparm -g. (The SD command interface
is proprietary and I haven't found any info on it.) But as linux
doesn't use geometry cfdisk doesn't write it to the BPB :-/ and
neither does grub's setup command. Among the many error messages are
complaints of badly formed partition tables, presumably because the
partition addresses don't compute when using the zero values for H/S
given in the BPB.
Is this hard-won description on the right lines?
What else is key to the erratic behaviour noted above?
Are there better tools for setting up the BPB than KHexEdit?
A better tool for deciphering the MBR than od|awk?
* Would anyone be willing to experiment and explain at Saturday's
meeting? *
Thanks in advance,
Anthony
[0] www.hjreggel.net/cardspeed/info-formatting.html - intro
[1] www.hjreggel.net/cardspeed/cs_calign.html
[2] www.geocities.com/thestarman3/asm/mbr/GRUB.htm
[3] www.toolsthatwork.com/bbdocs/diskstructures.htm
Thanks to Paul B and David B for help in getting this far.
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Re: [Hampshire] Hampshire Digest, Vol 26, Issue 34
Stephen Davies wrote: > Did you try the archive on the Royal Institution web site? > http://www.rigb.org/contentControl?action=displayContent&id=1882 Nice, thanks, although I'm only getting 12 second 'intros' and have mailed website support to ask for a fix - fingers crossed. Another lister has helped out with the recent Grilled and Chilled lecture. Cheers, Anthony -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Hampshire Digest, Vol 26, Issue 34
Stephen Davies wrote: > The downside is that now I'll have to think of something else to do from > the 1st. > > Honest suggestions welcome? Several Hants and Surrey listers have raised pretty much the issue that is eloquently put here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-alsamixer/+bug/187848 The volume controls provided by default are incredibly complex and explained nowhere AFAICT. The Ubuntu/launchpad triage process seems to be letting us down in this case. :( If the community can contribute partial answers maybe that will show the way Anthony -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] Recording of the Royal Institution lectures?
Did anyone record the lectures about Coping with Extreme Temperatures and Mechanical Adaptations of the Body, shown on 27th at 04:05 on Five? They're repeated from last Christmas. Sorry for cross-posting but urgency prevails. Anthony -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Ubuntu LVM LUKS
> From: "Paul Stimpson" > That's what I was thinking too but the machine is a dual core 2.4 and the > 2 cores are alternating between 43% and 57% (one on each then swapping). > I assume that random generation is a compute-bound activity so if that > was the bottleneck I would have expected near on 100% both sides. ... > Don't know why this thing is so slow. It's a bit academic but I wonder if the urandom algorithm is being split into _dependent_ parts (43+57=100%) ? A bug list somewhere might like to know Anthony -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Ubuntu LVM LUKS
"Vic" wrote: > > I got a howto online with the steps to configure the last version of > > Ubuntu for LUKS LVM. One of the things it tells you to do is a "dd > > /dev/urandom /dev/sda5" to fill the LVM group with random noise before > > creating the groups. I have started this but I'm only getting 1.7MBps so > > it's going to take nearly 3 days to complete on a 300GB partition! > > I wouldn't bother with that step. Not having random stuff across your > partition will probably make it a little easier for an experienced > investigator to find the bits that make up your filesystem - but you're > not relying on that for security, are you? Presumably what you don't want the investigator to find is not so much the filesystem as what was on the disk beforehand. What's the bottleneck according to the system monitor and top? It's a bit hard to believe the 1.7MBps results from pseudo random generation, much less the encryption or disk system, but maybe filling from /dev/zero would help as a compromise? Anthony -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] IBM X41 recovery CDs
Dean Earley wrote: > Does anyone here have a set of IBM X41 recovery CDs that I could use? > I've recently had a hard disk die, taking its recovery partition with > it... :) > > Failing that, is there any known way to reset the supervisor password? According to this [1] the SVP is stored in eeprom not on disk, and it can be decoded if the voodoo's right. Could someone unfuddle me please about Lenovo's description of the user and master HD passwords? I'd like to get an X40 if I can find one but I don't feel entirely confident about how to check it out. Better still is anyone bringing an X40/X41/X60 to the joint meeting with Surrey on 13th? Anthony [1] http://www.security-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=23102 -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Music software Recommendations
> If you just love playing with drum loops then hydrogen is the best fun ever. Definitely! - it's easy to use and gives instant results, making it perfect for our 6 year old. Which other apps are easy, for example for building up multi-track tunes? I installed the Ubuntu Studio apps on her PC but don't achieve much more than 'reverse a sample' within her attention span. Better still would anyone be up for giving an informal demo at a joint meeting with Surrey? Anthony -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Cannot boot from ide HDD when slave attached
Martin N wrote: > The problem is that the seagate master will boot only on its own. > When a samsung (slave jumpered drive) is attached to the second ide > connector on the single cable it gives a non system disk error! > > The gigabyte is a new board with the old hard drives transfered across > physically from an old asus motherboard. This arrangement was fine on > the old asus motherboard. > > I have checked the jumpers are correct with the seagate being a master > and the samsung set as slave. The samsung is picked up correctly in the > bios > along with the seagate drive. Some older drives have two varieties of master jumper setting: master when used with another drive, and master with no other drive. TBH that's just recalled by association and may be completely irrelevant, but I'd add it low down on my list of checks. HTH Anthony -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] USB Bluetooth adapter
Paul Tansom said: > Can anyone recommend a Linux compatible USB Bluetooth 2 adapter? Not sure I've understood your requirement in full but this one connects Ubuntu 8.04 and my K750, cost 6 pounds and claims to be BT2 - AFAIR it was also identified as BT2 in dmesg output. http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12696 HTH Anthony -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
