Re: laptops without Winblows
On Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:30:54 +1300 (NZDT) Andrew Errington wrote: > On Mon, March 2, 2009 14:05, wgsil...@ihug.co.nz wrote: > > Hello, > > > > Could anyone here recommend a place in (or around) Christchurch that > > sells laptops WITHOUT Windows (it doesn't matter if it comes with Linux or > > not). I'm asking on behalf of someone who doesn't know what to look for > > when shopping for a computer (I'm helping with that), and doesn't want to > > pay for software that will never be used (i.e. Windows). > > Hi, > > It doesn't often work out as much of a saving. There is usually not much > difference between the Linux and XP model (if such things are available). > However, I guess it does send a message that people really do prefer it. > > If you check pricespy.co.nz and search for Linux you will find only the > Acer Aspire One is listed with a Linux version. Not sure if there is a > Chch supplier, but you can order online from Auckland. There may be other > Linux units available, but not listed by PriceSpy. > > I bought the XP version because I wanted the large hard drive. I would > have bought a Linux version if it had been available. > > Dell's new mini Inspiron is available in NZ, with Linux, but can only be > ordered online. > > Good luck! > > Andrew > I can get Acer Aspire One 8.9" Atom N270 512MB 8GB SSD - Linux - Blue Steve -- Steve Holdoway
Re: laptops without Winblows
On Monday 02 March 2009 20:30:54 Andrew Errington wrote: > Dell's new mini Inspiron is available in NZ, with Linux, but can only be > ordered online. It is? That's great news, last I heard it was only available with Windows here. I can't seem to find it on their site easily. hads -- http://nicegear.co.nz New Zealands Open Source Hardware Supplier
Re: laptops without Winblows
On Mon, March 2, 2009 14:05, wgsil...@ihug.co.nz wrote: > Hello, > > Could anyone here recommend a place in (or around) Christchurch that > sells laptops WITHOUT Windows (it doesn't matter if it comes with Linux or > not). I'm asking on behalf of someone who doesn't know what to look for > when shopping for a computer (I'm helping with that), and doesn't want to > pay for software that will never be used (i.e. Windows). Hi, It doesn't often work out as much of a saving. There is usually not much difference between the Linux and XP model (if such things are available). However, I guess it does send a message that people really do prefer it. If you check pricespy.co.nz and search for Linux you will find only the Acer Aspire One is listed with a Linux version. Not sure if there is a Chch supplier, but you can order online from Auckland. There may be other Linux units available, but not listed by PriceSpy. I bought the XP version because I wanted the large hard drive. I would have bought a Linux version if it had been available. Dell's new mini Inspiron is available in NZ, with Linux, but can only be ordered online. Good luck! Andrew
Re: laptops without Winblows
I believe Insite technologies in Ch-Ch does Cheers Chris On Mon, 2009-03-02 at 17:27 +1300, John Carter wrote: > Is there monopolies commission with any teeth in this country? > > You've hit on a really sore point. > > Allegedly www.insite.co.nz does, they not exactly, aahh, > shall we say, a "customer facing organization". > > The closest I have found is, would you believe, Timaru! > > http://nicegear.co.nz/about/ > > Otherwise you have to go to the web as far as I can tell. > > > On Mon, 2 Mar 2009, wgsil...@ihug.co.nz wrote: > > > Hello, > > > > Could anyone here recommend a place in (or around) Christchurch that sells > > laptops WITHOUT Windows (it doesn't matter if it comes with Linux or not). > > I'm asking on behalf of someone who doesn't know what to look for when > > shopping for a computer (I'm helping with that), and doesn't want to pay > > for software that will never be used (i.e. Windows). > > > > Thanks, > > Aidan > > > > > > John Carter Phone : (64)(3) 358 6639 > Tait ElectronicsFax : (64)(3) 359 4632 > PO Box 1645 ChristchurchEmail : john.car...@tait.co.nz > New Zealand >
The Next Dr Dobbs, the Replacement for Byte,the natural home for CUJ readers.
Do you miss Dr Dobbs? Do you miss proving, yet again, you can spot the error in the PC Lint ad in CUJ? Do you remember the days when the Byte magazine was FAT and Juicy? I have found the new home for such as us ... and it's a old magazine that has been around as long if not longer than the aforementioned But its content is now hot, and it's ads make me drool. It's ... Circuit Cellar! Yip, that old chestnut. Still around, but in this age of cheapy embedded and wireless tiny tiny micros... it has a new lease of life. I heartily recommend you grab it and have a browse next time you see one. (Dsiclaimer: I have nothing to do with Circuit Cellar, I just do embedded device / linuxy things) John Carter Phone : (64)(3) 358 6639 Tait ElectronicsFax : (64)(3) 359 4632 PO Box 1645 ChristchurchEmail : john.car...@tait.co.nz New Zealand
Re: laptops without Winblows
Is there monopolies commission with any teeth in this country? You've hit on a really sore point. Allegedly www.insite.co.nz does, they not exactly, aahh, shall we say, a "customer facing organization". The closest I have found is, would you believe, Timaru! http://nicegear.co.nz/about/ Otherwise you have to go to the web as far as I can tell. On Mon, 2 Mar 2009, wgsil...@ihug.co.nz wrote: Hello, Could anyone here recommend a place in (or around) Christchurch that sells laptops WITHOUT Windows (it doesn't matter if it comes with Linux or not). I'm asking on behalf of someone who doesn't know what to look for when shopping for a computer (I'm helping with that), and doesn't want to pay for software that will never be used (i.e. Windows). Thanks, Aidan John Carter Phone : (64)(3) 358 6639 Tait ElectronicsFax : (64)(3) 359 4632 PO Box 1645 ChristchurchEmail : john.car...@tait.co.nz New Zealand
Benchmarking under Linux - A very black art. Was Re: eee PC diskspeeds. Was Re: Acer Aspire One netbook
On Mon, 2 Mar 2009, Craig Falconer wrote: Well this is bizarre time dd if=/dev/zero of=/file.dd bs=16k count=16k produces a 256 MB file. onto sda (4GB) that took 11.34 seconds (27.9 MB/sec) However onto sdb it took 55.93 seconds (4.8 MB/sec) So you might be onto something here. time dd if=/dev/zero of=/file.dd bs=8k count=64k sda 39.2 sec 13.7 MB/sec sdb 77.2 sec6.9 MB/sec Weird. Again you're probably testing the speed of ram, not flash. You need a test something like... sync;time bash -c 'dd if=/dev/zero of=/file.dd bs=8k count=64k;sync' sync;time bash -c 'dd if=/dev/zero of=/file.dd bs=8k count=64k;sync' sync;time bash -c 'dd if=/dev/zero of=/file.dd bs=8k count=64k;sync' sync;time bash -c 'dd if=/dev/zero of=/file.dd bs=8k count=64k;sync' The sync to flush any dirty buffers, then the time 'bash -c 'dd blah;sync' to time the dd AND the sync. Otherwise dd has just written into ram buffers, which the kernel will flush at leisure. You also need to do it four times. Once to get the "bash", time and sync "hot and in cache", three times to check you are getting variability from other stuff happening. Bench marking on modern systems is tricksy in extreme. Usually I find cache effects dominate. * Does it fit within L1, or L2 or disk buffers or not? * Is it in some level of cache already? * Is something squeezing it out of some level of cache? eg. A leaky humongous javascript app running in your web browser whilst you testing. (But nothing was running on my machine! A yes there was, every minute or two the web server spat a new fat flash and javascript ad at you!) Remember, Linux tries _hard_ to make use of _all_ your Ram _all_ the time. It doesn't let it sit there idle and without value. John Carter Phone : (64)(3) 358 6639 Tait ElectronicsFax : (64)(3) 359 4632 PO Box 1645 ChristchurchEmail : john.car...@tait.co.nz New Zealand
Re: Acer Aspire One netbook
On Monday 02 March 2009 10:17:56 Andrew Errington wrote: > I'm a little unsure about wiping the whole disk. The Aspire One has XP on > it, with a 4Gb hidden partition which contains the factory image. I could > resize the main XP partition and create two more for Linux and /home, but > I don't know if XP or GRUB will play nicely. I have, on Paula's laptop, resized the XP partition and loaded Mepis on the rest. Grub set up the menu for XP fine. She never boots to Windows now though. Robert
Re: eee PC disk speeds. Was Re: Acer Aspire One netbook
John Carter wrote, On 02/03/09 13:29: 1) Is that on a EEE 901 or an Acer Aspire? An eee 901, originally an XP model so it has 12 GB total not 20 GB. 2) Flash write speeds are (I believe) lot slower than reads... but for flash wear reasons it's probably not a Good Idea to do extensive testing. :-) ie. The write speed may dominate. Flash devices are weird, they tend to have odd size pages and different size pages in different parts of their address range. Well this is bizarre time dd if=/dev/zero of=/file.dd bs=16k count=16k produces a 256 MB file. onto sda (4GB) that took 11.34 seconds (27.9 MB/sec) However onto sdb it took 55.93 seconds (4.8 MB/sec) So you might be onto something here. time dd if=/dev/zero of=/file.dd bs=8k count=64k sda 39.2 sec 13.7 MB/sec sdb 77.2 sec6.9 MB/sec Weird. 3) You're doing buffered testing, you probably want "hdparm -t" not "hdparm -T". I actually did hdparm -Tt then got rid of the other line, because its not really relevant. Just edited out the wrong parameter :) 4) I can't think where I got the notion that the 4gb was faster... but I got the impression the author knew something about it. I'll post the link if I find it again. Yes, I remember that info too... maybe the first gen 900 etc had slower flash on the second SSD. -- Craig Falconer
laptops without Winblows
Hello, Could anyone here recommend a place in (or around) Christchurch that sells laptops WITHOUT Windows (it doesn't matter if it comes with Linux or not). I'm asking on behalf of someone who doesn't know what to look for when shopping for a computer (I'm helping with that), and doesn't want to pay for software that will never be used (i.e. Windows). Thanks, Aidan
Re: Hardy 8.04 modem concerns
Hi Steve, This was the modem supplied by Xtra, arrived by courier yesterday brand new. Seems to work well, out of the box Cheers Chris On Mon, 2009-03-02 at 13:03 +1300, Steve Holdoway wrote: > On Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:59:35 +1300 > chris wrote: > > > Installed the supplied dsl modem A Thompson speedtouch 510. Once the > > modem had connected to the adsl and the telltale lights were correct, > > plugged the machine in with no further issues. > Blimey, there's still 2 of us out there. I've got other routers available > here, but still use my 5 year old speedtouch! > > Steve.
Re: eee PC disk speeds. Was Re: Acer Aspire One netbook
1) Is that on a EEE 901 or an Acer Aspire? 2) Flash write speeds are (I believe) lot slower than reads... but for flash wear reasons it's probably not a Good Idea to do extensive testing. :-) ie. The write speed may dominate. Flash devices are weird, they tend to have odd size pages and different size pages in different parts of their address range. 3) You're doing buffered testing, you probably want "hdparm -t" not "hdparm -T". Testing an Imation 1Gb usb. hdparm -t /dev/sdc /dev/sdc: Timing buffered disk reads: 44 MB in 3.06 seconds = 14.40 MB/sec r...@parore:~# hdparm -T /dev/sdc /dev/sdc: Timing cached reads: 1754 MB in 2.00 seconds = 877.34 MB/sec 4) I can't think where I got the notion that the 4gb was faster... but I got the impression the author knew something about it. I'll post the link if I find it again. On Mon, 2 Mar 2009, Craig Falconer wrote: John Carter wrote, On 02/03/09 11:15: On the 901 it has 20Gb SSD, but as far as I can determine that is split into two logically, if not physically, distinct drives. A faster 4Gb partition for the "root" / partition (ASUS-PHISON SSD SOQ2882269) and and a 20gb (ASUS-PHISON SSD SOQ2882288) slower /home partition. Mine's not slower! hdparm -T /dev/sda (4 GB onboard) buffered reads: 30.85 MB/sec hdparm -T /dev/sdb (12 GB offboard) buffered reads: 34.21 MB/sec hdparm -T /dev/sdc (4 GB SDHC card) buffered reads: 14.45 MB/sec hdparm -T /dev/sdd (32MB USB1 pen drive) buffered reads: 942 kB/sec hdparm -T /dev/sde (4GB USB2 Atom pen drive) buffered reads: 27.62 MB/sec hdparm -T /dev/sdf (8GB USB2 budget pen drive) buffered reads: 27.66 MB/sec So a SDHC card is still slower than a pen drive. The Imation ATOM ones are very small and less likely to be snapped. -- Craig Falconer John Carter Phone : (64)(3) 358 6639 Tait ElectronicsFax : (64)(3) 359 4632 PO Box 1645 ChristchurchEmail : john.car...@tait.co.nz New Zealand
Re: Hardy 8.04 modem concerns
Steve Holdoway wrote: On Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:59:35 +1300 chris wrote: Installed the supplied dsl modem A Thompson speedtouch 510. Once the modem had connected to the adsl and the telltale lights were correct, plugged the machine in with no further issues. Blimey, there's still 2 of us out there. I've got other routers available here, but still use my 5 year old speedtouch! Steve. Mine's a Speedtouch Pro !! (thumbs nose) ;-) Chris
Re: Hardy 8.04 modem concerns
On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 12:59 PM, chris wrote: > Yes, I did try wvdial in stupid mode, with the same result. > > No i did not think of sending the log file to the wvdial developers, but > can soon arrange that. > many thanks for your help. > > As a sub side to this issue, the person involved decided to move to xtra > broadband. > Installed the supplied dsl modem A Thompson speedtouch 510. Once the > modem had connected to the adsl and the telltale lights were correct, > plugged the machine in with no further issues. > The operating system is Ububtu hardy 8.04. As you'd expect when plugging into any ethernet router/modem etc
Re: Hardy 8.04 modem concerns
On Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:59:35 +1300 chris wrote: > Installed the supplied dsl modem A Thompson speedtouch 510. Once the > modem had connected to the adsl and the telltale lights were correct, > plugged the machine in with no further issues. Blimey, there's still 2 of us out there. I've got other routers available here, but still use my 5 year old speedtouch! Steve. -- Steve Holdoway http://www.greengecko.co.nz
Re: Hardy 8.04 modem concerns
Yes, I did try wvdial in stupid mode, with the same result. No i did not think of sending the log file to the wvdial developers, but can soon arrange that. many thanks for your help. As a sub side to this issue, the person involved decided to move to xtra broadband. Installed the supplied dsl modem A Thompson speedtouch 510. Once the modem had connected to the adsl and the telltale lights were correct, plugged the machine in with no further issues. The operating system is Ububtu hardy 8.04. At present everything is working correctly. Also this dsl modem works with Ubuntu Intrepid 8.10, on my HP Elitebook 8730, despite there being some network issues on this machine. just a matter of general information for anyone who has helped me in this matter. many thanks for all your help regards Chris Thomas On Mon, 2009-03-02 at 08:32 +1300, Volker Kuhlmann wrote: > On Sat 28 Feb 2009 09:34:18 NZDT +1300, Eliot Blennerhassett wrote: > > > Xtra's login prompts confuse wvdial and thus gnome-ppp. > > > > In Kppp setup choose Authentication: Script based > > for the script > > > > Expect ogin: > > Send > > Expect word: > > Send > > Expect ser: > > Send ppp > > Did you try wvdialin stupid mode with this? I find it hard to believe > that wvdial doesn't work with something as trivial as this. > > Did you submit a log of the logins session to wvdial development? > > Volker >
eee PC disk speeds. Was Re: Acer Aspire One netbook
John Carter wrote, On 02/03/09 11:15: On the 901 it has 20Gb SSD, but as far as I can determine that is split into two logically, if not physically, distinct drives. A faster 4Gb partition for the "root" / partition (ASUS-PHISON SSD SOQ2882269) and and a 20gb (ASUS-PHISON SSD SOQ2882288) slower /home partition. Mine's not slower! hdparm -T /dev/sda (4 GB onboard) buffered reads: 30.85 MB/sec hdparm -T /dev/sdb (12 GB offboard) buffered reads: 34.21 MB/sec hdparm -T /dev/sdc (4 GB SDHC card) buffered reads: 14.45 MB/sec hdparm -T /dev/sdd (32MB USB1 pen drive) buffered reads: 942 kB/sec hdparm -T /dev/sde (4GB USB2 Atom pen drive) buffered reads: 27.62 MB/sec hdparm -T /dev/sdf (8GB USB2 budget pen drive) buffered reads: 27.66 MB/sec So a SDHC card is still slower than a pen drive. The Imation ATOM ones are very small and less likely to be snapped. -- Craig Falconer
Re: Acer Aspire One netbook
On Mon, March 2, 2009 11:14, John Carter wrote: > I don't know if Acer have followed same strategy as the Asus 901 > EEE... > > > On the 901 it has 20Gb SSD, but as far as I can determine that is > split into two logically, if not physically, distinct drives. > > A faster 4Gb partition for the "root" / partition (ASUS-PHISON SSD > SOQ2882269) and and a 20gb (ASUS-PHISON SSD > SOQ2882288) slower /home partition. > > > ie. The partition is not hidden and not a factory image in the sense that > you can "reset" to factory defaults. To recover the "factory" image on my > Asus, I have to insert CD into desktop, pull off iso, use > unetbootin-eee-linux to load it onto USB drive, boot from USB drive. (I > haven't tried reverting yet, but I believe thats the general idea.) On the Aspire One you press Shift-F10 (I think) at boot time and this causes the hidden partition to boot. The hidden partition has a rudimentary installation of XP which immediately runs the "Restore to factory state" program. I guess its function is identical to an external restore disk, where you would boot that and its only purpose would be to wipe and reinstall a fresh image. This is not a bad idea, because the Aspire One does not have an optical drive, but, if the entire disk gets corrupted it means you're screwed because Acer do not provide a DVD or CD for this purpose (and yes, I have asked. And yes, you can get one if you are in the US, but not from Acer in Oceania). Best wishes, Andrew
Re: Acer Aspire One netbook
On Mon, 2 Mar 2009, Andrew Errington wrote: I'm a little unsure about wiping the whole disk. The Aspire One has XP on it, with a 4Gb hidden partition which contains the factory image. I could resize the main XP partition and create two more for Linux and /home, but I don't know if XP or GRUB will play nicely. I could wipe the whole lot and be rebellious and crazy, but if I have a warranty issue I would like to put it back to factory state to avoid any accusations of "It's broke because you put Linux on it". I don't know if Acer have followed same strategy as the Asus 901 EEE... On the 901 it has 20Gb SSD, but as far as I can determine that is split into two logically, if not physically, distinct drives. A faster 4Gb partition for the "root" / partition (ASUS-PHISON SSD SOQ2882269) and and a 20gb (ASUS-PHISON SSD SOQ2882288) slower /home partition. ie. The partition is not hidden and not a factory image in the sense that you can "reset" to factory defaults. To recover the "factory" image on my Asus, I have to insert CD into desktop, pull off iso, use unetbootin-eee-linux to load it onto USB drive, boot from USB drive. (I haven't tried reverting yet, but I believe thats the general idea.) John Carter Phone : (64)(3) 358 6639 Tait ElectronicsFax : (64)(3) 359 4632 PO Box 1645 ChristchurchEmail : john.car...@tait.co.nz New Zealand
Re: Acer Aspire One netbook
>> Just a word of warning, and I am sure most of know this already: >> writeable DVDs and CDs make a very poor backup medium for periods >> exceeding 5Yrs. There are numerous sources of reference for this >> statement on the net but my personal experience comes from creating 13 >> CDs of mp3 about 6-8yrs ago now. They are of various brands but every >> single one has decayed now and contains read errors ! >> >> Handy to remember when you are just about to backup your lifetime of >> family photos ! >> >> Chris >> > A good word of warning, although the media have improved in quality > during that time. Came across an old one of mine where the film had > peeled off! > > Steve Yup! I am aware of that, but thanks for reminding me. My backup strategy, such as it is, is to have *all* my data on my main machine hard drive (including photos etc.) and an external USB drive mirrored with rsync. It is suboptimal in that it doesn't maintain historic snapshots, but I am aware of the limitation I have imposed on myself. Since hard drives fill up over time I move all my data onto a new hard drive when it's full, and get a new external drive. That means that the old drives themselves are historic snapshots. The DVD copies are intended to be last ditch backups if I lose the laptop, the backup drive and the most recent retired drive. Oh, and by the way, I like using rsync for this as it means I can look at the directory tree on the backup drive verbatim, and not compressed up into some notional "backup file". For our readers at home using XP I recommend Microsoft's SyncToy power tool. It's basically rsync with a GUI. Best wishes, Andrew
Re: Acer Aspire One netbook
On Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:29:55 +1300 Chris Bayley wrote: > Andrew Errington wrote: > > Hi all, > > > > In a previous email I mused at the wondrousness of being able to connect > > my new slimline DVD writer to my (very) old ThinkPad 600X running 4 year > > old Mepis. The drive was recognised and K3b worked properly. I burned > > all my photos to DVD as a backup and I was impressed that it "just > > worked". > > > Just a word of warning, and I am sure most of know this already: > writeable DVDs and CDs make a very poor backup medium for periods > exceeding 5Yrs. There are numerous sources of reference for this > statement on the net but my personal experience comes from creating 13 > CDs of mp3 about 6-8yrs ago now. They are of various brands but every > single one has decayed now and contains read errors ! > > Handy to remember when you are just about to backup your lifetime of > family photos ! > > Chris A good word of warning, although the media have improved in quality during that time. Came across an old one of mine where the film had peeled off! Steve -- Steve Holdoway http://www.greengecko.co.nz
Re: Acer Aspire One netbook
Andrew Errington wrote: Hi all, In a previous email I mused at the wondrousness of being able to connect my new slimline DVD writer to my (very) old ThinkPad 600X running 4 year old Mepis. The drive was recognised and K3b worked properly. I burned all my photos to DVD as a backup and I was impressed that it "just worked". Just a word of warning, and I am sure most of know this already: writeable DVDs and CDs make a very poor backup medium for periods exceeding 5Yrs. There are numerous sources of reference for this statement on the net but my personal experience comes from creating 13 CDs of mp3 about 6-8yrs ago now. They are of various brands but every single one has decayed now and contains read errors ! Handy to remember when you are just about to backup your lifetime of family photos ! Chris
Acer Aspire One netbook
Hi all, In a previous email I mused at the wondrousness of being able to connect my new slimline DVD writer to my (very) old ThinkPad 600X running 4 year old Mepis. The drive was recognised and K3b worked properly. I burned all my photos to DVD as a backup and I was impressed that it "just worked". The drive was purchased to go with my Acer Aspire One netbook, and I mentioned that I was waiting for Mepis 8.0 to be released as it had enough smarts to recognise all the new stuff in the Aspire One, and didn't have the bleeding edge KDE (which was a little *too* cool for some). Last week Mepis 8.0 was released and I burned the iso (on the old ThinkPad). Unfortunately I am packing to go to Korea now, so I don't have time to fiddle with it, but I have booted the Aspire One with the Mepis Live CD. I am pleased to say that the following things seem to work "out of the box" * Sound * Wireless network * Wired network * Screen resolution * Touchpad * Volume keys on keyboard * Mounting an encrypted external USB hard drive I haven't tested anything else, and I know there are a few post-install tweaks needed, but they are documented, so really everything should work as expected. I'm a little unsure about wiping the whole disk. The Aspire One has XP on it, with a 4Gb hidden partition which contains the factory image. I could resize the main XP partition and create two more for Linux and /home, but I don't know if XP or GRUB will play nicely. I could wipe the whole lot and be rebellious and crazy, but if I have a warranty issue I would like to put it back to factory state to avoid any accusations of "It's broke because you put Linux on it". Anyhoo, I'm very happy with my purchase. It's small and light and the keyboard is very usable. Best wishes, Andrew
Tip for the Day : Temporarily revert to old style bash filenamecompletion.
Thanks to a comment on the Debian Package of the Day site I now have a long wished for feature! Ubuntu has bash smart completion turn on by default. Which is usually very helpful... but sometimes isn't. eg. If I go... cvs co T it... * quietly in the background * does "cvs co CVSROOT/modules" * and prepares a HUGE list of modules starting with T (hey I do work for T(ait) electronics and all our products are T something. but actually I just wanted to refresh the module already in my current working directory. Answer: cvs co T-/-/ reverts to the "unsmart" version. Yay! John Carter Phone : (64)(3) 358 6639 Tait ElectronicsFax : (64)(3) 359 4632 PO Box 1645 ChristchurchEmail : john.car...@tait.co.nz New Zealand
Re: Hardy 8.04 modem concerns
On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 8:32 AM, Volker Kuhlmann wrote: > On Sat 28 Feb 2009 09:34:18 NZDT +1300, Eliot Blennerhassett wrote: > >> Xtra's login prompts confuse wvdial and thus gnome-ppp. >> >> In Kppp setup choose Authentication: Script based >> for the script >> >> Expect ogin: >> Send >> Expect word: >> Send >> Expect ser: >> Send ppp > > Did you try wvdialin stupid mode with this? I find it hard to believe > that wvdial doesn't work with something as trivial as this. I believe that the problem stems from wvdial interpreting the second "User:" prompt In stupid mode, how do the username and password get sent?: "When wvdial is in Stupid Mode, it does not attempt to interpret any prompts from the terminal server. It starts pppd immediately after the modem connects. Apparently there are ISP's that actually give you a login prompt, but work only if you start PPP, rather than logging in. Go figure. Stupid Mode is (naturally) disabled by default." ? maybe then need pppd chatscripts... > Did you submit a log of the logins session to wvdial development? No.
Re: Hardy 8.04 modem concerns
On Sat 28 Feb 2009 09:34:18 NZDT +1300, Eliot Blennerhassett wrote: > Xtra's login prompts confuse wvdial and thus gnome-ppp. > > In Kppp setup choose Authentication: Script based > for the script > > Expect ogin: > Send > Expect word: > Send > Expect ser: > Send ppp Did you try wvdialin stupid mode with this? I find it hard to believe that wvdial doesn't work with something as trivial as this. Did you submit a log of the logins session to wvdial development? Volker -- Volker Kuhlmann is list0570 with the domain in header http://volker.dnsalias.net/ Please do not CC list postings to me.
Re: intermitant stalls with move
I use gkrellm to keep a longish term eye on the state of things. Sometimes if dma is not enabled on a drive, the kernel can spend largish chunks doing nothing but stuff data down a port when the disk "flush" daemon wakes up. Port the result of sudo hdparm -I /dev/sda (or for any other drives you have) and we can try spot any problems with that. "vmstat 5" and let it run is another handy diagnostic. Using top and sort by memory consumption (M key) is useful. Ah yes, run "dmesg", and look for signs of I/O errors. On Sun, 1 Mar 2009, dave wrote: anyone think of why the mouse would stop moving in intermitant peroids of time? I though root kitted but got chkrootkit yesterday and it came up fine - nothing found. my 1st thought is to do a reinstall as i maybe compromised. anyone got other tools to suggest i try ? pc box... AMD 3000+ 1gig Ram limited users/w running. at the time of last stall (lack of movement) i had kmail up & writign this email. used top to get this top - 22:34:17 up 3:25, 1 user, load average: 0.05, 0.10, 0.12 Tasks: 125 total, 2 running, 123 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie Cpu(s): 1.0%us, 0.7%sy, 0.0%ni, 98.3%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st Mem:969308k total, 471000k used, 498308k free, 28k buffers Swap: 1172704k total,23760k used, 1148944k free, 231956k cached PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEMTIME+ COMMAND 7329 dave 20 0 34108 14m 11m S 0.7 1.5 0:05.96 kdesktop 10672 dave 20 0 2308 1124 852 R 0.7 0.1 0:00.26 top 5867 mysql 20 0 124m 15m 4676 S 0.3 1.7 0:04.60 mysqld 7098 root 20 0 73168 58m 5212 S 0.3 6.2 3:25.43 Xorg 1 root 20 0 2844 1692 544 S 0.0 0.2 0:01.42 init 2 root 15 -5 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kthreadd 3 root RT -5 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 migration/0 4 root 15 -5 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.02 ksoftirqd/0 5 root RT -5 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 watchdog/0 6 root 15 -5 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.14 events/0 7 root 15 -5 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 khelper 41 root 15 -5 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.12 kblockd/0 44 root 15 -5 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kacpid 45 root 15 -5 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kacpi_notify 159 root 15 -5 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.06 kseriod 197 root 20 0 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 pdflush 198 root 20 0 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.48 pdflush [1]+ Stopped top d...@amd3000:~$ Looking at this i see i can stop mysql & also postesql not currently using them so why have them running? still other areas? dave John Carter Phone : (64)(3) 358 6639 Tait ElectronicsFax : (64)(3) 359 4632 PO Box 1645 ChristchurchEmail : john.car...@tait.co.nz New Zealand
intermitant stalls with move
anyone think of why the mouse would stop moving in intermitant peroids of time? I though root kitted but got chkrootkit yesterday and it came up fine - nothing found. my 1st thought is to do a reinstall as i maybe compromised. anyone got other tools to suggest i try ? pc box... AMD 3000+ 1gig Ram limited users/w running. at the time of last stall (lack of movement) i had kmail up & writign this email. used top to get this top - 22:34:17 up 3:25, 1 user, load average: 0.05, 0.10, 0.12 Tasks: 125 total, 2 running, 123 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie Cpu(s): 1.0%us, 0.7%sy, 0.0%ni, 98.3%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st Mem:969308k total, 471000k used, 498308k free, 28k buffers Swap: 1172704k total,23760k used, 1148944k free, 231956k cached PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEMTIME+ COMMAND 7329 dave 20 0 34108 14m 11m S 0.7 1.5 0:05.96 kdesktop 10672 dave 20 0 2308 1124 852 R 0.7 0.1 0:00.26 top 5867 mysql 20 0 124m 15m 4676 S 0.3 1.7 0:04.60 mysqld 7098 root 20 0 73168 58m 5212 S 0.3 6.2 3:25.43 Xorg 1 root 20 0 2844 1692 544 S 0.0 0.2 0:01.42 init 2 root 15 -5 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kthreadd 3 root RT -5 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 migration/0 4 root 15 -5 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.02 ksoftirqd/0 5 root RT -5 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 watchdog/0 6 root 15 -5 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.14 events/0 7 root 15 -5 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 khelper 41 root 15 -5 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.12 kblockd/0 44 root 15 -5 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kacpid 45 root 15 -5 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kacpi_notify 159 root 15 -5 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.06 kseriod 197 root 20 0 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 pdflush 198 root 20 0 000 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.48 pdflush [1]+ Stopped top d...@amd3000:~$ Looking at this i see i can stop mysql & also postesql not currently using them so why have them running? still other areas? dave
