Re: [Hampshire] Python multiplicaton

[Stuart Matheson]

Hey Owain,

It is to do with how numbers are represented on computers. Have a look at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_point for a more detailed explanation.
Perhaps if you limit the output to a single decimal place then you'll get
22.8.

Cheers,

Stuart

2010/1/14 Owain Clarke 

> Could anyone explain to me why 3*7.6 gives me 22.797? I have
> Python 2.5.2
>
> Cheers
>
> Owain Clarke
>
>
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Re: [Hampshire] Using a laptop as a second screen

[Stuart Matheson]

There was something call Xdmx a while back (http://dmx.sourceforge.net/) but
it seems as though that code has been merged into X.org.

Try looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinerama and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XRandR as I believe that Xinerama is in there
now but X.org will be moving to XRandR soon.

Stu

2009/8/20 James Ashburner 

> Hi All,
>
> I'm sure I've seen some software that allowed you to use a laptop as an
> additional screen, booting as a live CD if I remember correctly. Anyone
> have a clue what I'm talking about? :)
>
> James
>
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Re: [Hampshire] Ultimate Linux Media PC?

[Stuart Matheson]

This looks interesting although her telly doesn't have a HDMI port :(

I might have to look for a cheap 2nd hand laptop. A dead battery (whilst
being the norm for this kind of item) wouldn't be a problem.

2009/8/3 Alan Pope 

> Hi Stuart,
>
> 2009/8/2 Stuart Matheson :
> > What can people recommend for this (unit and remote)? It doesn't
> necessary
> > have to be brand new so 2nd hand laptops/refurbished PCs aren't out of
> the
> > question. Like most people (or in her case, public servants) she is
> pretty
> > skint so the cheaper the better.
> >
>
> I just bought one of these:-
>
> http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161260
>
> ..to sit under the telly.
>
> Vitals include 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU and Nvidia ION GPU (9400 equiv
> roughly), silent operation (unless you put your ear right up to it),
> 6xUSB, eSata, VGA, HDMI, ethernet, wifi, memory card slot, headphones
> and mic. It can supposedly playback 1080p video, but I've not got to
> that bit yet, having just finished installing Ubuntu on it :)
>
> My choices now are Boxee, MythTV and XBMC. All of which should provide
> me with an easy to use interface for watching recorded programmes and
> iplayer on the telly in the lounge. The one thing I don't have yet is
> a remote control, but I hear that's easy to resolve with a Microsoft
> Media Centre remote control.
>
> Cheers,
> Al.
>
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[Hampshire] Ultimate Linux Media PC?

[Stuart Matheson]

Hi Everyone,

I did a quick search of the HantsLUG list and couldn't find anything
appropriate so please let me know if I've missed something.

My girlfriend is moving out of her current splace and will no longer have
access to the expert she had there (ie someone with an xbox with xbmc). I'm
looking for a quiet multimedia PC that can be plugged into a TV for watching
iplayer, youtube and other online video as well as video files and possibly
a dvd (I have an external dvd player she could use though so it isn't a deal
breaker). She said the xbox was quite noisy though so she'd like something
quiet. Something that shouldn't have much trouble running something like
xbmc (which she is familiar with, or any other easy to use program) and can
connect to a SD tv would be great. A remote will also likely be required. An
internal or external HDD would be fine as I have one spare. She is also
interested in wii fit so a nintendo might be an option, but I have no idea
if it would fit the bill in regards to the other requirements.

What can people recommend for this (unit and remote)? It doesn't necessary
have to be brand new so 2nd hand laptops/refurbished PCs aren't out of the
question. Like most people (or in her case, public servants) she is pretty
skint so the cheaper the better.

All suggestions welcome :)

Cheers,

Stuart
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Re: [Hampshire] Firefox ongoing bother: is it me?

[Stuart Matheson]

Any chance you can upgrade to 3.5? They've improved the memory handling
quite a lot.

Even so, that does seem *rather* excessive!

2009/7/15 Victor Churchill 

> Desktop machine: Ubuntu 8.10, Firefox 3.0.11. Firefox regularly grows
> to >1GB in virtual memory size and close to 1GB physical memory at
> which point my (1GB) system starts thrashing and I usually need to
> kill it and restart. FF version from Synaptic is
> '3.0.11+build2+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.8.10.1' which is the up to date
> version. It's not a huge Firefox session: 3 windows, 10 tabs. Even
> after a fresh restart it shows 250MB resident, 750MB virtual.
>
> Today a new development: used 'killall firefox' at shell prompt and my
> X session got killed. Twice.^H^H^H^H^H^HThrice.
> I say 'new' because I have not seen this before; but I don't usually
> use 'killall' so it may be something that was there all along.
>
> For comparison I am writing this from a laptop 8.04 WUBI installation
> (Ubuntu inside Windows), FF is occupying 148MB.
>
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Re: [Hampshire] Cheap HP Laptop

[Stuart Matheson]

These ARE the laptops you're looking for...

2009/6/16 Victor Churchill 

> 2009/6/16 Sean Gibbins 
>
>>
>> No idea what it's like I am afraid.
>>
>> However, it seems to be very configurable and the one that caught my eye
>> was the 'No Operating System' option.
>>
>> Time to start googling some reviews I guess!
>>
> I do not need a new laptop  I do not need a new laptop  I do not need a new
> laptop  I do not need a new laptop  I do not need a new laptop  I do not
> need a new laptop  I do not need a new laptop  I do not need a new laptop  I
> do not need a new laptop  I do not need a new laptop 
>
> ;-)
>
>
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Re: [Hampshire] Cheap HP Laptop

[Stuart Matheson]

In fact, anyone tried out one of these?
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/index.php?page=form&&select=aura


2009/6/16 Stuart Matheson 

> Hey All!
>
> Don't know if this has been seen here before but ebuyer seem to have a good
> deal on a HP laptop at the moment...
>
> http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/423008/hp-550-laptop-celeron-m-550-2ghz-16/
>
> Anybody tried one of these yet? I'm tempted to get one to use as a
> secondary machine.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Stuart
>
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Re: [Hampshire] Code style

[Stuart Matheson]

I think I'd go with this option too, unless the fast path was something very
simple like...

If (NULL == parameter) return NULL_POINTER_ERROR;

That way you don't have to have all the code below indented for this simple
case.

Stu.


2009/6/8 Vic 

>
> >Assume that the fast path is a single expression, and the slow path
> > is at least tens of lines of code. Why would you pick one style over
> > the other?
>
> I wouldn't use either of the above.
>
> Style A has multiple returns from the function. That's one of those things
> that's just fine right up until it isn't; code grows as different people
> work on it, and sooner or later, you can't see both returns on the same
> page. That's when mistakes happen.
>
> Style B evaluates both fast_path and slow_path results if fast_path is not
> applicable. This might be an error (side effects are not mentioned), might
> cause other problems (*Why* is fast_path not applicable? Because it
> hangs?), but will almost certainly be slower than not evaluating the
> fast_path result.
>
> So, given that we *have* to have one branch operation, I'd do a very simple
>
> if (fast_path_applicable) {
>  result = fast_path();
> } else {
>  result = slow_path();
> }
>
> return (result);
>
> It might be dull to read, but it's clear, it's accurate, and it will
> compile down to one branch taken - which is optimal for the general case -
> unless the particular architecture can do non-branching conditionals.
>
> Vic.
>
>
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[Hampshire] Cheap HP Laptop

[Stuart Matheson]

Hey All!

Don't know if this has been seen here before but ebuyer seem to have a good
deal on a HP laptop at the moment...

http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/423008/hp-550-laptop-celeron-m-550-2ghz-16/

Anybody tried one of these yet? I'm tempted to get one to use as a secondary
machine.

Cheers,

Stuart
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Re: [Hampshire] Getting MP3 off a audio CD

[Stuart Matheson]

Once, ages ago, I mistakenly wrote a tar.gz file to a disk as an individual
track instead of creating an ISO and burning that. If you've somehow managed
to do the same with your mp3s then you should be able to pull the tracks
off. It's been ages since I recovered the file but I think you'll need to
use dd to address the tracks individually like so...

*dd* if=/dev/acd0tN of=*track*-N.*cdr* bs=2352

(this line came from
http://www.nabble.com/Copying-audio-CD-with-dd-cdrecord-produces-unplayable-CD-td20744707.html
)

I did it under FreeBSD though. I guess you can probably do the same under
Linux.

HTH

Stuart.

2009/5/20 Rob Malpass 

>
> - Original Message -
> From: "Tim" 
> To: "Hampshire LUG Discussion List" 
> Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 7:40 AM
> Subject: [Hampshire] Getting MP3 off a audio CD
>
>
> >
> > Several years ago I made an audio CD with the tracks saved to the cd as
> > MP3
> > (can't remember the program I used but possibly windows based). If I
> > insert the
> > cd into my PC the CD show up as a audio cd. I want to copy the mp3 audio
> > track
> > off the cd on to my hard disk, but when I open the cd up in file view
> > (konqueror) and try to copy the tracks to the disk my system seem to
> think
> > I
> > want to rip the tracks from the cd and the resulting files are twice the
> > size
> > of those on the cd and won't play on any audio player (just white noise).
> >
> > Any thoughts??
> >
> > Tim
> >
> > 
> > FREE 3D MARINE AQUARIUM SCREENSAVER - Watch dolphins, sharks & orcas on
> > your desktop!
> > Check it out at http://www.inbox.com/marineaquarium
> >
> > --
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> > LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk
> > --
>
>
> So far is I know, mp3cds are just Joilet format CDs - which should be
> readable in the standard way.   Perhaps
>
> mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /wherever
>
> and then (fingers crossed) you should be able to read the files and cp them
> across.
>
> You've probably thought of this - but I'm sure I've put mp3cds together in
> the past just through drag and drop which implies the fs is standard.
>
> Cheers
> Rob
>
>
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Re: [Hampshire] Favourite terminal fonts

[Stuart Matheson]

I've been really liking Microsoft's Consolas (I have to work on a Windows
machine).

2009/5/3 Lisi 

> On Sunday 03 May 2009 22:06:26 Philip Stubbs wrote:
> > 2009/5/2 Graham Bleach :
> > > Can anyone recommend something that matches my requirements? Which font
> > > do you use?
> >
> > I have used Bitstream Vera Sans Mono for some time, and have been
> > quite happy with it.
>
> I find Bitstream Vera Sans quite the easiest font to read and have used it
> for
> some time too - but am not tempted to change!
>
> Lisi
>
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Re: [Hampshire] Troubleshooting Memory Leak

[Stuart Matheson]

Hey Stephen,

Not sure if this applies to Linux operating systems or not but I had
something similar happening under XP at work. Turns out a call was being
made to the OS which was then malloc'ing some memory that the application
was meant to free when it was finished with it. The memory allocated was not
listed against the application though (as the OS had done the malloc) so it
was a bit tough to track down.

Just something else to look out for, HTH.

Stu

2009/3/24 Stephen Nelson-Smith 

> I have a CentOS 5 server running nginx, httpd and a dozen or so
> mongrel instances.  Since this morning I've been experiencing a
> serious memory leak - about 2G in 2 hours, until the machine needs to
> be rebooted.  I've tried to answer the question "what changed", and I
> can't think of anything on my side...
>
> In top, and related tools, I see no processes growing in size - all I
> see is the amount of memory available constantly reducing.
>
> The sort of thing I can think of that fits the evidence would be
> something like a process is being created and then dying without
> returning the memory to the system.
>
> However, I am unable to see the malloc's, and I can't currently think
> of a way to test this theory.
>
> I suspect systemtap may be the tool to use - anyone have experience of
> using it in this way, or have a recipe they could point me to?
>
> Any other ideas for troubleshooting and gathering info?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> S.
>
> --
> Stephen Nelson-Smith
> Technical Director
> Atalanta Systems Ltd
> www.atalanta-systems.com
>
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Re: [Hampshire] Portable Printing

[Stuart Matheson]

If your laptop has a large enough screen then just print preview everything
and trace it onto the paper :)

If you are on the road it will be pretty easy to take a UK car 12v -> 230v
adapter with you so you could probably get a UK plugged model anyway.

2009/3/15 Andy Random 

>
> Hi,
>
> Anybody have any recommendations for portable printers?
>
> I'd like something that is as small as possible while still
> capable of printing A4.
>
> I'm not fussy about the print technology and I'm willing to sacrifice some
> print quality to size, but it would be nice if it have a universal PSU
> and/or could run on 110V, i.e. be usable in North America.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
>   Andy
>
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[Hampshire] [OT] IT Contracting accounting?

[Stuart Matheson]

Hey All,

I'm looking to do some IT contract work in the short term and have been
looking at either finding someone who will do all the accounting/National
Insurace/Tax/etc for me (and for a small commission too, I presume) or
setting up my own limited liability company and doing it all myself.

Has anyone from HantsLUG had experience in doing this kind of thing before
and is able to offer any advice?

I've also been involved in software development and wouldn't mind getting
into quality assurance or system administration. Any advice on transitioning
to either of those?

Thanks in advance for any tips :)

Cheers,

Stuart
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Re: [Hampshire] Running linux/BSD on an xbox?

[Stuart Matheson]

Oh cool. I'll check it out. Thanks John :)

2009/2/27 John Wesley 

> Stuart Matheson wrote:
> > Hey Everyone,
> >
> > I've got an xbox that is sitting around not doing much so I thought I
> > might like to have it set up as a server. I'd like to run Apache, MySQL,
> > PHP (for playing around with stuff) but I'd like to keep the media
> > centre functionality too. What is particularly important is that I'd
> > still be able to use the remote control, mainly so my girlfriend can use
> > it without any drama.
> >
> > Has anyone had experience setting this kind of thing up? I'm looking for
> > hints/tips on which OS, partitioning options, application
> > recommendations, etc. It has been modded and contains a 320GB HDD.
> >
> > All suggestions welcome (including alternate hardware that would suffice
> > and is cheap/green as I think the xbox consumes about 100w when running
> > flat out <http://www.anandtech.com/Linux/showdoc.aspx?i=2271&p=2>).
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Stuart.
> >
> http://www.xbox-linux.org/wiki/Xebian_HOWTO
>
> This should be all you need to know  :)   I might even have the Mech
> Assault game somewhere too if you wanted to soft mod it.
>
> Last time I played with it, Freevo was the media centre and worked
> pretty well with the remote.
>
> ta
>
> John
>
>
>
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Re: [Hampshire] Running linux/BSD on an xbox?

[Stuart Matheson]

Xebian looks like it might be the way to go, although I'm not sure if it is
worth the effort to move from the 2.4 kernel to 2.6. Any advice on this?

2009/2/28 Imran Chaudhry 

> >> Hey Everyone,
> >>
> >> I've got an xbox that is sitting around not doing much so I thought I
> >> might like to have it set up as a server. I'd like to run Apache, MySQL,
> >> PHP (for playing around with stuff) but I'd like to keep the media
> >> centre functionality too. What is particularly important is that I'd
> >> still be able to use the remote control, mainly so my girlfriend can use
> >> it without any drama.
> >>
> >> Has anyone had experience setting this kind of thing up? I'm looking for
> >> hints/tips on which OS, partitioning options, application
> >> recommendations, etc. It has been modded and contains a 320GB HDD.
> >>
> >> All suggestions welcome (including alternate hardware that would suffice
> >> and is cheap/green as I think the xbox consumes about 100w when running
> >> flat out ).
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >>
> >> Stuart.
> >>
> > http://www.xbox-linux.org/wiki/Xebian_HOWTO
>
> Stuart,
>
> I have an Xbox running Xebian and upgraded to Etch, it works pretty
> well but be aware of the following:
>
> - I think the stock Xebian kernel is 2.4. I have a 2.6.8 (i think)
> kernel in mine but I can't remember how I did it. I think some chap
> produced his own Xebian.
> - If run from the loopback device performance is very slow. I
> experimentally tried a Wordpress (PHP, MySQL) install from it and the
> pages were taking 5-10 seconds to load. Install Xebian in a spare
> partition. This might be difficult from the default 8Gb HDD. I've
> dropped a spare 20Gb HDD in mine.
>
> I have mine almost running "headless" in that I can boot the Xbox, it
> boots into the Unleash dashboard where Xebian is the first menu item.
> So I can just press A on the joypad to start Xebian, no monitor/TV
> need be attached. Also this way, you can launch XBMC or anything else,
> as you wanted to keep it.
>
> I also wanted it as internal LAMP box but I also had an idea to
> install Trixbox on it with a Cisco VOIP phone. Trixbox required a
> later kernel and I didn't get around to taking a vanilla kernel.org
> kernel and applying the Xbox patches. I was going to call it TriXBOX
> :)
>
> Im
>
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[Hampshire] Where to buy electronics/computer stuff online?

[Stuart Matheson]

Hi All,

Sorry if this has already been discussed to death previously, if so please
point me in the direction of that thread!

I'm looking to buy some things for my linux laptop - tv tuner card,
microSDHC card with SD adapter, extra RAM and possibly even a USB/MIDI music
keyboard. Are there any sites that people can recommend? Amazon seems to
have quite a bit but www.lambda-tek.com has some better priced items.
Ordering from one place would saving on shipping too :)

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Cheers,

Stu
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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] [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] 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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[Hampshire] Running linux/BSD on an xbox?

[Stuart Matheson]

Hey Everyone,

I've got an xbox that is sitting around not doing much so I thought I might
like to have it set up as a server. I'd like to run Apache, MySQL, PHP (for
playing around with stuff) but I'd like to keep the media centre
functionality too. What is particularly important is that I'd still be able
to use the remote control, mainly so my girlfriend can use it without any
drama.

Has anyone had experience setting this kind of thing up? I'm looking for
hints/tips on which OS, partitioning options, application recommendations,
etc. It has been modded and contains a 320GB HDD.

All suggestions welcome (including alternate hardware that would suffice and
is cheap/green as I think the xbox consumes about 100w when running
flat out
).

Cheers,

Stuart.
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Re: [Hampshire] Timer Program

[Stuart Matheson]

I find that the timer on my phone does a good enough job. Otherwise there is
always sleep...

$ sleep 600 && mpg123 SomeMusic.mp3

:)

2008/10/17 Peter Salisbury <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

> 2008/10/17 Stephen Nelson-Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> > I don't know if any of you are aware of the minuteur program for OSX.
> > It's a simple countdown timer with a pleasant interface, which starts
> > from a defined amount of time and counts down.  When it gets to the
> > end it either rings a bell, or fills the screen with a notification
> > saying "Time's up!"
> >
> > I've searched high and low for a Linux equivalent that doesn't suck.
> > The gnome timer applet doesn't seem to want to make a noise louder
> > than an almost inaudible "click", and I've tried pointing it at a wav
> > file of a bell.  The kalarm program is a bit better - but it doesn't
> > have a nice interface, and it's notification will only appear on the
> > desktop on which it was launched - not all desktops.
> >
> > Can anyone point me to something better?
> >
> > S.
>
> kalarm can be set to annoy you on all desktops (right click the title
> bar and choose 'To Desktop/All Desktops') it can also do any or all
> of: play any arbitrary sound file, email you, execute a command. sudo
> chvt 1 should get your attention!
>
> Personally I set a timer on my watch!
>
> HTH, Peter
>
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Re: [Hampshire] Does anyone else have any mad ideas to do with computers for if they came into a large sum of money?

[Stuart Matheson]

Can you de-activate the bathroom light at all or is it hardwired to the
sensor?

2008/10/8 Steve Kemp <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

> On Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 13:23:26 +0100, Victor Churchill wrote:
>
> > I have always fancied the idea of a house with webcams and floor
> > pressure sensors so that it turns on the lights for you as you're
> > going up stairs and then turns them off again.
>
>   I've recently rewired a couple of lights in my house, so that the
>  bathroom light comes on when it detects movement (if it is "dark")
>  and goes off 60 seconds after movement has ceased.
>
>  The lightswitch was about 30 quid, and fitting it was easy enough
>  even for a software guy like me.  I think that a similar solution
>  would be cheaper and more practical than N pressure sensors and the
>  associated wiring.  Although that depends on the layout of the stairs
>  and the placement of the switches.
>
>  (I've also fitted remote controlled lighting in my bedroom, but
>  that is just sheer lazyness!)
>
> Steve
> --
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>
>
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Re: [Hampshire] Does anyone else have any mad ideas to do with computers for if they came into a large sum of money?

[Stuart Matheson]

Definitely some small, touch screen, slim line machines sprinkled all over
the house. Specifically one next to the loo, a waterproof one for the shower
(karaoke, anyone?), one in the kitchen for looking up recipes and a final
one in the bedroom connected to a projector so that my girlfriend and I can
watch heroes there.

There would have to be a server located somewhere to store all the files
long term. It would also have to be connected to all the appliances so I
could log in from work and schedule washing to be done or the kettle to be
boiled for when I get home/up in the morning.

IMHO the box in the loo should run linux because it's mission critical and
you can't trust Windows for that :P

Stu

2008/10/8 Becky Taylor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

> Well the title is kind of confusing, so I'll explain more. ;-)
>
> My mad idea to do with computers for if I came into a large sum of money
> is this (obviously if I had my own house if this happened - My Mum
> wouldn't appreciate me filling the whole house with computers,
> unfortunately!)
>
> I would fill the entire house with computers - One in every room!
>
> But that's not the bulk of it - I have decided which OS I will put on
> each computer in each room.
>
> Living Room/Lounge - Mythbuntu
>
> Bedroom - Mint
>
> Kitchen - Fedora
>
> Dining room - Debian
>
> Front Room - Ubuntu
>
> Toilet - XP - (Mainly for the irony... I also just love the idea of
> having a computer in the toilet, but I couldn't insult anything Linux by
> putting a Linux OS in the loo!)
>
> Anyone else have any odd/interesting/wacky ideas about what they'd do
> computer/linux -wise if they could afford it?
>
> :-)
>
> Becky
>
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Re: [Hampshire] USB Keyboard Query

[Stuart Matheson]

I seem to recall quite a few USB keyboards/mice coming with a USB -> PS/2
converter. Perhaps you could locate one of those? Someone on the list may
have one floating around if you're lucky...

HTH,

Stu

2008/10/5 Sean Gibbins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

> Paul Stimpson wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > Sean Gibbins wrote:
> >
> >> Basically it is not recognised until the Ubuntu is loaded, which means I
> >> cannot get into the BIOS or dual-boot into Windows without reattaching
> >> the old PS2 keyboard.
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> > Is there an option in the BIOS for something like "Legacy USB Support" ?
> > If there is no specific option for allowing a USB keyboard at boot then
> > the legacy option may enable "DOS" (for that read "anything that uses
> > the BIOS to read the keyboard") to use the keyboard you now have. I
> > think this may make it play nice with GrUB.
>
> Thanks for all the replies.
>
> There is indeed a "Legacy USB Support" option for me to try, but nothing
> else that screamed 'enable your USB keyboard here', so I will give that
> a go.
>
> Now where did i put that PS2 keyboard again?
>
> Sean
>
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