Re: Handheld scanner recommendations

[Andrew Errington]

> On 05/07/10 20:32, Aidan Gauland wrote:
>
>> I would like to get a handheld scanner for academic research (i.e.
>> digitising required reading for uni classes).  Can anyone recommend any
>> models (and tell of any to avoid)?  I have given myself a headache
>> searching, and handhelds seem to be wy less common than
>> flatbeds.
>

I cannot recommend this, since I don't actually have one, but I can draw
it to your attention:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.33756

Oh, and I've never bought anything from DealExtreme, although I *sooo*
want to.

Best wishes,

Andrew

Re: Sound recording on linux

[Andrew Errington]

On Sun, 23 May 2010 18:31:56 Julian Visch wrote:
> Have a huge audio tape collection and think it is high time I started
> converting them into some form of digital format while tape decks still
> exist.  What would people recommend, SoundStudio seems to be able
> to record but these files will be huge, should I be converting to vorbis or
> mp3 or what?
>
> thanks


Audacity to record the files as WAV audio, then FLAC to archive them on your 
server and MP3 to carry them around.  Delete the WAV once you've finished 
twiddling with it.

A

Re: laptop recommendations pls

[Andrew Errington]

On Tue, May 4, 2010 08:34, Rik Tindall wrote:
> Hi all,
>
>
> A change of employment leads me into the laptop market, with gnu/linux
> compatibility the prime requisite (0):
>
> 1. Economy - can be new / 'on special' or ex-lease.
>
>
> 2. Wireless that goes (bluetooth too? - have yet to cross that bridge).
>
>
> 3. Infrared - because that's how I connect my cellphone, having not got
> bluetooth functioning yet (on my preferred Ubuntu desktop - whereas I did
> have bluetooth going on Kubuntu or Mepis once four years or so ago).
>
> 4. Low data quantity needs mean that any other modern hardware spec will
> probably suit ok.
>
> All advice welcome.


Get a netbook.  I assert that you do not need the large screen or faster
CPUs that 'full-size' laptops have.  They are also cheap (which addresses
point 1).

They usually have wifi built in.  My Acer Aspire One does, and it works
well after I recompiled the ath5k drivers.  For Bluetooth you can get a
tiny BT dongle[1]

For IR you can get a tiny IR dongle[2]

If you go for a netbook, try and get one to play with for a few minutes
(maybe in a store or something).  I tried most of them and decided the
Aspire One keyboard was the most acceptable.

Best wishes,

Andrew

[1] http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11866
[2] http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.753

Re: Workshop Weds 7.30pm

[Andrew Errington]

On Sat, 01 May 2010 05:33:45 chris wrote:
> On Thu, 2010-04-29 at 17:57 +1200, Robert Fisher wrote:
> > On 29/04/10 17:47, Rik Tindall wrote:
> > > Ubuntu is the default distro used, and release 10.04 LTS is just a
> > > number of hours away, so we may get to check this out next Weds:
> >
> > I've been "checking it out" (the RC version) first on a VM and now on my
> > main PC - I like it.
> >
> > Rob
>
> So do I, but I have not found anyway of getting dialup to work on it.
>
> Any ideas greatly received
> regards Chris T

Use KDE and KPPP.

A

Re: Netbook opinions?

[Andrew Errington]

On Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:47:26 Aidan Gauland wrote:
> Steve Holdoway wrote:
> > I've got an older Acer One, with just an 8GB SSD+SD. It works fine
> > ( currently running the pre-release Ubuntu 10.10 happily ), although the
> > SSD has been replaced once, and write performance does seem rather slow.
>
> Does anyone else have any experiences with or opinions of the Acer Aspire
> One? I am now considering that one (as well as the Eee), because of the
> keyboard and it seems to be more Debian-friendly; that is I don't have to
> use a netbook-specific distro to alleviate hardware and driver woes.
>
> I really don't know why we need specific drivers for something as simple as
> network chipsets.  Weren't the OSI and TCP/IP layer models supposed to
> avoid this problem?  Or do these problems exist in only one layer?  Or is
> it just a delusion?
>
> Thanks,
> Aidan

I have an Acer Aspire One (original model ZG5).  It's awesome.

I wiped XP and installed Mepis 8.0.  I had to compile the wireless drivers as 
the stock ath5k was borked (wired ethernet is ok).  I have read that the 
built-in SD card readers behave funny, but I have never used them.  
Everything else seems to work out of the box.

The keyboard was the best of the netbooks I checked in NZ.  The size and 
weight is perfect.  Battery life is about 2 or 2.5 hrs.

I don't know if this model is still available, but I am very happy with mine.

Best wishes,

Andrew

Re: Good SSH client for windows?

[Andrew Errington]

On Fri, March 19, 2010 11:11, Bryce Stenberg wrote:
> Hi,
>


> I need a good SSH client to use on my windows machine.
>
>
> Any recommendations?

PuTTY

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

HTH,

A

Re: Acer Aspire One netbook booting off a USB flash drive

[Andrew Errington]

On Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:00:15 Nick Rout wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 4:42 PM, Stephen Irons  
wrote:

> > However, I did find a very small micro SD card reader, where the micro SD

> Can you point to where you got the reader?

Something like this, perhaps?

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.9391

Best wishes,

A

Re: Recommendations for Linux hosting companies

[Andrew Errington]

On Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:04:05 Solor Vox wrote:
> Hi guys,
>
> My apologizes if this has been asked before.  I'm in search of
> recommendations for a Linux hosting company where I can park/buy a domain.
> I plan on using the domain mostly for email and maybe a wee personal web
> site.  Virtual private servers are great, UML/xen/etc, but often a bit
> expensive.  Shared hosting would be second choice, and last choice would be
> "managed services."
>
> Of course google returns heaps of them, what I'm looking for is input from
> those of you who have good or bad experiences and which ones to avoid.
>
> Cheers,
> sV

Hi,

I have been using the Kiwi Web Hosting Company:

http://kiwiwebhost.co.nz/

Their $1/week plan is exactly that, $52 for a year of hosting, with 10Mb web 
space and 5 mail addresses.  They will host your account on Linux by request 
and you get access to Python and other goodies.

They fail periodically, but they do update their 'service status' page with 
timely information, and their technical support is swift.

They also register domains for you, so for about $100 you can get a .nz domain 
and hosting.

Best wishes,

Andrew

PS I'm going to check the other recommendations, in case there's something 
better for me, but I'm happy with what I have for now.

Re: Where have you seen linux today?

[Andrew Errington]

On Sat, 13 Feb 2010 13:46:16 Nick Rout wrote:
>
> No choice was taken away. The government paid for licenses for every
> school. That didn't force the school to use MS products. It made it
> zero cost.

No choice was taken away. We all paid Microsoft for licenses for every school. 
That didn't force the school to use MS products. It made it zero cost.

There, FTFY.

A

Re: Revamping my storage

[Andrew Errington]

On Tue, February 9, 2010 12:27, Nick Rout wrote:
> OK I have been collecting media files for ages and have:

> Anyone got any suggestions to restore sanity to all this?
>

You need a SheevaPlug.

Or not.

A

Re: Netbook recommendations?

[Andrew Errington]

On Fri, January 8, 2010 22:39, Roy Britten wrote:
> 2010/1/9 Hadley Rich :
>
>> http://www.einfo.co.nz/shop/product_info.php?products_id=16925
>> http://www.einfo.co.nz/shop/product_info.php?products_id=16273
>> http://www.einfo.co.nz/shop/product_info.php?products_id=11904
>>
>
> Thanks! Nice to see it is possible to get (some variant of) Linux
> pre-installed. Would anyone onlist with experience with Benq and/or MSI
> products care to comment on their general Linux-compatibility and/or
> hardware quality?

Can't talk about Benq or MSI, but the MSI Wind had very good reviews.  I
have an Acer Aspire One (model ZG-5).  1Gb RAM, 160GB HDD.  My wife has
one too.  They came with XP, but mine is running Mepis 8.0 these days.

I think everything worked out of the box, but the wireless drivers were
flaky.  This might be fixed with a later Mepis, but I compiled the free
ath5k driver myself and it's all good.

I love this little laptop- my advice is to have a go with the keyboard
before you buy one.  I didn't like the HP or Acer keyboard, plus the Acer
does not have a Synaptics touchpad (which I specifically wanted).

Battery life is about 2 hrs with the small battery.  A bigger one is
available.  I'm usually not far from a power socket, but if you want more
battery life then buy a bigger battery.  The laptop is small and light and
very capable.  I don't use it for games (not interested) but I use it for
web, email, development and OSM mapping.  Actually, anything really.

HTH,

A

Re: Home finance programs

[Andrew Errington]

On Thu, December 3, 2009 08:27, Euan Clark wrote:
> What's the GST handling like on these?
>

I assert that that is irrelevant.  When handling GST you should split any
transaction into net and GST portions, perhaps even GST_recd and GST_paid,
then just treat the GST portion as a reportable category.  Slice it and
dice it any way you want.

Oh, and I have been using MS Money for 10 years.  It is a fabulous
program, but I need to wean myself off it (and it won't run under Wine). 
I am watching this thread with interest (no pun intended!).  I have
evaluated GnuCash (too fugly), KMyMoney (too raw) and I was leaning
towards MoneyDance, but I need to reassess the options again.

Thanks all,

Andrew

Re: PDF forms

[Andrew Errington]

On Mon, October 19, 2009 11:17, steve wrote:
> On a slightly different tack, and possibly not cost effective, it is
> easy enough to generate PDF documents on the fly from ( for example ) PHP.
>
>
> So if the filling in of a standard HTML form to create a static PDF
> would functionally support the requirement, try giving that a go??
>
> I can see that this would provide the ability to speed up your workflow,
> providing the ability to use pick lists, default fields, etc - you'd know
> far more on the legal ( and data storage ) side of the problem, but
> technically, it's not difficult at all.

Hmm, the key seems to be to have named fields in the PDF document, then
use voodoo magic[1] to fill them in.  Here are a couple of randomly
discovered webpages that vaguely discuss the topic:

http://koivi.com/fill-pdf-form-fields/

http://www.planetpdf.com/forumarchive/64043.asp

In Nick's case he might have to examine the PDF to determine the field
names (if indeed they are named).

A

[1] Anything to do with XML.  Seriously, have you seen XSLT?  Cool, but
non-intuitive.

Re: PDF forms

[Andrew Errington]

On Mon, October 19, 2009 08:44, Nick Rout wrote:
> I have PDF forms that I want to populate with data. I want to be able
> to save the data and change it, and reprint the form with the updated data.

> Any tips or pointers would be valued highly.

Last time this cropped up (somewhere else) I recommended Foxit reader.  It
has a 'typewriter mode' that allows you to type on top of a PDF.  Windows
only I think, but I never looked for a Linux version.

HTH,

A

Locale?

[Andrew Errington]

Hi everyone,

I am trying to figure out where my locale is set.  Here are some key points:

1) My laptop has a fresh Mepis 8.0 install on the root partition
2) /home is on a separate partition
3) My home directory has been copied from an historical location (i.e. I
move the whole thing to a new machine when I upgrage).  This means there
is a lot of cruft in the .files and other places.
4) At some point in the past I got SCIM working for Japanese text input,
and I seem to have set the locale to ja_JP
5) I can't find out how to change it back!!

I have set my language preferences in the KDE control panel, but they have
no effect.  I have removed the LANG=ja_JP entry from .xsession, no effect.
 I have the 'locale' command, so I can see in a terminal that I have a
Japanese locale.  I do not have (and can't get) the 'setlocale' command.

The net result is that when X starts some of my programs appear in
Japanese.  I need to set the locale back to en_NZ.UTF-8 or en-GB or en-US
so that they start acting properly.  Once I have done that I can use nabi
for Korean text entry.

A quick grep shows ja_JP is present in

.xsession (commented out)
.cshrc
.cshrc.language-env-bak
.Xresources
.Xresources.language-env-bak
.bashrc
.bashrc.language-env-bak

I don't know which one has the most significant effect, or if there are
any others I should be aware of.

Hints and tips would be appreciated.

Best wishes,

Andrew

Re: PhotoRec - A story with a happy ending

[Andrew Errington]

On Thu, October 8, 2009 13:30, Douglas Royds wrote:
> My partner had accidentally deleted a wanted photograph from her camera.
> Enter PhotoRec:


That'll be handy to remember!

I wonder, would it be possible to 'dd' the contents of the filestore and
run PhotoRec on the dd image?  This would guard against possible further
damage to the filestore, and also allow many different tools to be applied
to the 'original' data.

Anyway, glad to hear it was a successful outcome.

Andrew

Re: PHP documentation

[Andrew Errington]

On Thu, October 8, 2009 03:01, Steve Holdoway wrote:
> On Thu, 2009-10-08 at 02:14 +1300, Kent Fredric wrote:
>
>> For the love of sanity for yourself and your peers, do please seek out
>> migrating to the Lastest And Greatest and Least Vulnerable PHP 5.3.
>>
>> You'll really thank yourself later.
>>
>
> Given that CentOS 5 delivers 5.1.6, and even Ubuntu 9.04 only delivers
> 5.2.6, I beg to differ.
>
> Not much point developing code you can't deploy anywhere (:

With PHP it's more a case of "not much point developing code you
*shouldn't* deploy anywhere".

:)

A

Re: Maybe OT - printing aerial photos

[Andrew Errington]

On Wed, September 30, 2009 12:27, Craig Falconer wrote:
> Yep those photos are worth a phenomenal amount to license.  It was quite
> a shock when google put fair quality photos out for free.
>
> A screen scrape is generally not going to be as good a quality as a full
> res version either, but could be good enough.

You can get some nice photos from LINZ:

http://www.linz.govt.nz/topography/aerial-images/index.aspx

However, they are quite old now, and will not be updated.  They are also
very large.

TUMONZ includes a package that shows aerial photos in its mapping package.
 IMHO TUMONZ was absolutely worth paying for 5 years ago, but I expect
free software and free data will eat its lunch.

There was a companion for OpenStreetMaps that started collating aerial
photos, but it is currently on hiatus for various reasons.

Interesting times we live in.  Stuff like this was actually impossible
years ago, then it was just expensive, now it's commonplace.  Get off my
lawn.

A

Re: Tsunami moving from Samoa to NZ

[Andrew Errington]

On Wed, September 30, 2009 08:34, Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
> On Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:29:03 Andrew Errington wrote:
>
>> On Wed, September 30, 2009 08:26, David Lowe wrote:
>>
>>> ...and the link to Linux is...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> - if the North Island gets washed away, the damage to corporate NZ
>>> and therefore Microsoft's profitability will be such that FOSS will be
>>> all that survives... - the Tsunami warning system is served by Linux
>>> servers... - 'Tsunami' is an African word for 'Freedom'... - the local
>>> Dive Centre uses a linux-based point of sale system...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I'm struggling here, but thanks anyway Ryan for the heads up ;-)
>>>
>>
>> The warning for NZ has been lifted.  Keep calm and carry on.
>>
>
> And it has been reinstated.

Really?  The last message I can find about this here:

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/messages/pacific/2009/

...is bulletin number 004,

<http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/messages/pacific/2009/pacific.2009.09.29.213453.txt>

...which states the warning has been lifted.  There are no later bulletins
I can see.  If there is a NZ-generated warning then it is independent of
the NOAA/NWS warning.

A

Re: Tsunami moving from Samoa to NZ

[Andrew Errington]

On Wed, September 30, 2009 08:26, David Lowe wrote:
> ...and the link to Linux is...
>
>
> - if the North Island gets washed away, the damage to corporate NZ and
> therefore Microsoft's profitability will be such that FOSS will be all
> that survives... - the Tsunami warning system is served by Linux servers...
>  - 'Tsunami' is an African word for 'Freedom'...
> - the local Dive Centre uses a linux-based point of sale system...
>
>
> I'm struggling here, but thanks anyway Ryan for the heads up ;-)

The warning for NZ has been lifted.  Keep calm and carry on.

A

Re: OT, Re: Good broadband provider in Christchurch

[Andrew Errington]

On Thu, September 24, 2009 12:49, steve wrote:
> On Thu, 2009-09-24 at 15:22 +1200, Nick Rout wrote:
>> OK I am on phone plus 40G @ 10Mbps for $146.90 at present.
>>
> That's pretty comparable with what I get on adsl from Voda/ihug, except
> that I average nearer 7-8Mbit ( in practice, quiet times - currently
> 4mbit/700kbit ) with an old ADSL2 router. I expect your uplink speed'll
> be much better though, which is important with VOIP.

Ummm, I have no phone line, but I get up to 100Mbps via FTTH with no data
cap.  I pay about $30 per month.

This is in a small rural town in South Korea.

A

Re: Linux audio synchronisation

[Andrew Errington]

On Wed, September 23, 2009 15:44, Andrew Errington wrote:
>> http://www.lesbell.com.au/Home.nsf/b8ec57204f60dfcb4a2568c60014ed0f/c4b39482154feb03ca256f8100150ad9?OpenDocument
>

Actually, that article mentions Rosegarden, which I think is probably what
you need.  Here's why:

http://www.rosegardenmusic.com/tour/audio/

A

Re: Linux audio synchronisation

[Andrew Errington]

On Wed, September 23, 2009 14:55, Stephen Irons wrote:
> Stephen Irons wrote:

I don't know the complete solution to your problem, but I think
'Fluidsynth' is what you want for playing the midi.  I discovered on my
Mepis (Debian-derived) box that fluidsynth was easy to install, and there
were two sound fonts available.

My problem was really simple- play a midi file with some nicer-sounding
instruments.  I used Kmidi (I think) to play the midi, and selected
fluidsynth as my output.

Fluidsynth is not for the faint hearted, but I scraped by with some
how-tos on the net.

For the recorded audio the right answer is probably Audacity, as it
usually is.

Playing them simultaneously ought to be doable.  You don't know for sure
(or rather, you never said) that the timing drifts significantly, so you
may be worrying unnecessarily.  With Audacity IIRC you can change the
speed of all or parts of the audio *without* altering the pitch, so maybe
a bit of tweaking on the source audio is all that is necessary, or even
just inserting or deleting silence at key points.

I am not really a musical geek, but I am interested enough to dabble
occasionally.  A quick Google came up with this, which might be a
reasonable starting point.

http://www.lesbell.com.au/Home.nsf/b8ec57204f60dfcb4a2568c60014ed0f/c4b39482154feb03ca256f8100150ad9?OpenDocument

Incidentally, once I had Fluidsynth going for the trivial midi file I
found that it was supported by SCUMM VM, so I was able to play "Beneath a
Steel Sky" with an awesome-sounding audio track.

Good luck,

Andrew

Re: Software Freedom Day 09

[Andrew Errington]

On Thu, September 17, 2009 12:54, Rik Tindall wrote:
> Greetings,
>
>
> Software Freedom Day 2009 is this Saturday, 19 September. The
> international festival of free and open-source software (FOSS) is in its
> fifth year, and of celebration locally.

Arr!  Shiver me timbers!  That tharr Software Freedom Day be clashin' wi'
International Talk Like a Pirate Day[1].

Remember to give a hearty "avast!" as you hand out free Linux CDs!

A

[1] http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html

Re: OT (again) data logging

[Andrew Errington]

On Mon, September 14, 2009 10:07, Nick Rout wrote:
> I'd like to be able to gather and log some stats about my swimming
> pool, and perhaps turn the pump on and off either remotely (via a web page
> or similar) or automatically based on temperature (the pump not only runs
> water through the filter, but also through the solar heater).

What data are you looking to collect?  This is important as it dictates
what kind of sensors you need, and therefore how complex the remote
sensing unit will be.

> Some of the data gathering points have no mains power close at hand,
> and adding a wire back to the house would be a PITA.

Really?  Is it too hard to run a length of Cat 5e back to your Comms Room?

I think you should split the problem into two parts, 'data collection' and
'remote control'.  Arguably the first of these is quite simple, but you
are likely to become overwhelmed quite quickly if you try to do everything
at first.

In my back garden I had a webcam, a temperature sensor and an anemometer. 
I built the anemometer myself from scrap, and I had a wind vane too, but I
ran out of time to finish it.  I also had a sensor on my council water
meter.  I logged a webcam snapshot every hour, and windspeed and
temperature every 5 minutes.  I queried the water meter every minute and
logged new readings when they changed.  I used a variety of technologies
and tools (and you will undoubtedly get a lot of responses with an even
wider variety) all Linux-based.

IMHO you should start small (really small) and try to do one thing, such
as the temperature of the swimming pool.  This is a well-defined goal, and
it's simple but you will have to learn a lot starting from scratch.

Oh, and don't forget (as you start to build the system up) make sure the
system protects *itself* from bad data and malicious/stupid command
sequences (i.e. "run all pumps at full power and activate the drain valve"
would burn the pumps out and flood whatever is after the drain).

There is a good book in the library called 'Making Things Talk' by Tom
Igoe, which discusses lots of techniques of hooking things up and getting
data to and from them.  Worth a read and you might find similarly useful
books in the same section at the library.

Best wishes,

Andrew

Re: OT wallwarts/power adaptors

[Andrew Errington]

On Mon, September 14, 2009 08:40, Nick Rout wrote:

> Good point which I suppose explains why the supplied one is rated
> double the minimum...

Yes, but you don't know if the manufacturer has added a safety margin too...

> Anyone know where to find a higher rated switchmode 5v ower supply?

South Island Components.

Their website doth suck, but they might have what you want.

http://www.sicom.co.nz/power-supplies-plug-packs-xidg6567.html

It's best to go in there IMHO.

A

Re: OT wallwarts/power adaptors

[Andrew Errington]

On Mon, September 14, 2009 08:04, Nick Rout wrote:
> I need to replace a power supply for my squeezebox classic. The specs
> on the website say:
>
>
> * 5.0V DC, regulated
> * Center positive, sleeve ground
> * Connector: 2.5mm ID, 5.5mm OD, 11mm long
> * Min supply rating: 1000mA
>
>
> http://www.logitechsqueezebox.com/products/squeezebox-classic.html#tab2
>
>
> The old broken one says 2000 mA (or 2A) but the specs say only 1000mA
> is needed. It also has a symbol with two horizontal lines, the top one is
> continuous and the bottom is broken, like this:
>
> __
> - - - - - - - - -
>
>
> (Hope that comes out in other fonts)
>
>
> Can anyone see a problem using this Jaycar one?
>
>
> http://jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=MP3144
>
>
> The Jaycar page does not mention the word "regulated". Should I be
> worried?
>
> Linux link: connects to open source server software (squeezecenter) on
> linux server :)
>

Hi Nick,

The Jaycar one is probably ok.  Switch-mode PSUs are inherently regulated
by design, but due to the way they work they may introduce noise into the
system.  If you find your audio is buzzing or whining then suspect the
PSU.

The lines on the label (solid and broken) are the symbol for dc (direct
current).

Having a 1000mA PSU for a device that consumes 1000mA is ok.

Another thing you could look for is a mains PSU with USB output socket. 
You would need to find one with 1000mA capability (the standard is 500mA
per USB port),and you would need a USB-to-2.5mm plug cable.

HTH,

Andrew

Re: OT: cgi and http auth (or something)

[Andrew Errington]

Replying to my own email...

It seems my hosting provider uses cPanel, which has a tool for configuring
password protection on directories with .htaccess and .htpasswd

I am going to try it, since the tool should do the Right Thing.  However,
thanks again for the offers of help, as I now understand the underlying
mechanism.

Best wishes,

Andrew

Re: OT: cgi and http auth (or something)

[Andrew Errington]

On Sun, September 6, 2009 17:25, Abhinav Keswani wrote:
> Andrew
>
>
> In a nutshell...


Hi,

Thanks for your suggestions.  I will try them out and let you know if I
succeed (or get stuck).

Best wishes,

Andrew

Re: OT: cgi and http auth (or something)

[Andrew Errington]

On Sun, September 6, 2009 15:13, Steve Holdoway wrote:
> Not being familiar with python, I'd use PHP SOAP libraries, but this
> looks like it'll help...
>
> http://www.opensourcetutorials.com/tutorials/Server-Side-Coding/Python/py
> thon-soap-libraries/page1.html

Thanks.  The 'how' is not really relevant- I can learn from your PHP SOAP
example and re-write in Python.  I'm mostly interested in the 'what' (i.e.
"what to do" to make it work).

I have a .htaccess file on the hosted webserver.  Can I do something with
that?  From what I've read the cgi subsystem is independent of the user
authentication.  i.e. the cgi can only be run *if* the user was
authenticated.  This means I have to set up authentication on the server
somehow.  However, if I authenticate J.Randomuser I need to allow him
access to only that cgi script and not to all the other server stuff that
is being hosted (i.e. my mail and other files).

I have no idea what I am doing (in case you hadn't figured it out). 
Whatever I do I need to understand the techniques so that I can re-apply
them when the form-and-webpage-generator moves to another server. 
Undoubtedly it will move somewhere where there is no Python and everything
is in Korean.  :(

Thanks,

Andrew

(Obligatory Linux content- the server is running Red Hat)

OT: cgi and http auth (or something)

[Andrew Errington]

Hi all,

I have written an HTML form which calls a cgi script written in Python. 
The Python script looks at the data in the form and produces an XML data
file.  Next, I have an XSLT file that operates on the XML data to make an
HTML webpage (why, yes, it uses CSS too.  How many more Web 2.0 acronyms
can I include here?).

The cgi script is hidden away in an inaccessible subdirectory, it cannot
be seen, but it is executable.

The final web page is intended to be visible to the world.

The HTML form which submits the data is currently visible to the world. 
Obviously I don't want just anyone to be able to submit the form (but I
don't mind if anyone can *see* the form).

What is the simplest, standards-based mechanism I can use to allow only
certain people to submit the form?  I think it's HTTP AUTH, but I haven't
found a decent howto to follow.  A username/password pair is fine, or just
a password would be ok.  The data isn't sensitive, I just wanted to make
it easy for a person to enter some data and produce a pretty web page. 
Also, I am not fully in control of the web server.  It is currently
running on a hosted service.

Please could I have some tips or suggestions?  Links to "the world's best
cgi securification page" would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Andrew

Re: Open Source Stock Images

[Andrew Errington]

On Mon, August 31, 2009 06:56, John Hyde wrote:
> Here is a good one that I use a lot. They claim 400,000 photos online.
>
>
> http://sxc.hu/
>
>

Also many Flickr contributors put there stuff up with CC or otherwise free
licences.  Worth a trawl.  If you're looking for clipart for teaching then
have a look at some ESL sites (English as a Second Language).

A

Re: Networking - equivalent of windows 'alternate configuration' setting?

[Andrew Errington]

On Fri, August 21, 2009 12:37, Nick Rout wrote:
> Not at my linux box now but can't you save named configurations in
> network manager and switch between them?

I don't know either, but you can with 'wicd'.

A

Re: Backing up PGP keys

[Andrew Errington]

On Sun, August 16, 2009 21:39, Daniel Hill wrote:
> -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
> Hash: SHA1
>
>
> Wondering if there is a safe way to back my public and private keys
> any ideas?

Here's an idea:

http://dansdata.com/gz094.htm

HTH,

A

Re: Suspend is borked - SOLVED

[Andrew Errington]

Thanks to the help from the MepisLovers forum I have this working.

The solution for me was to install uswsusp

Originally, the installation advice for Mepis 8.0 on an Acer Aspire One
said not to use this package, so I removed it.  Now it's okay apparently,
and reinstalling it made everything well again.  Perhaps if it had already
been installed the recent apt-get upgrade would not have led to the
failure I observed.

A

Re: Suspend is borked

[Andrew Errington]

Ah, the lid switch gave me an event!

17:15:36.477: computer_logicaldev_input_2 property button.state.value = true
17:15:36.489: computer_logicaldev_input_2 condition ButtonPressed = lid

But it only happens once, no matter how often I close the lid.  There is
no 'lid open' event (maybe it isn't defined).

And no action is taken when the event happens.

:(

I am still trying to follow this up through the Mepis forums.

A

Re: Suspend is borked

[Andrew Errington]

On Fri, August 7, 2009 14:58, steve wrote:
> Doesn't work on my "one", uptodate ubuntu netbook respin either, and
> never has...

That's too bad.  Mepis was (until now) quite awesome on my Aspire One.

I think it's hal.

lshal gives me this:

Dumping 98 device(s) from the Global Device List:
-
udi = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/computer'
  info.addons = {'hald-addon-cpufreq', 'hald-addon-acpi'} (string list)
  info.callouts.add = {'hal-storage-cleanup-all-mountpoints'} (string list)

  power_management.acpi.linux.version = '20080609'  (string)
  power_management.can_hibernate = false  (bool)
  power_management.can_suspend = false  (bool)
  power_management.can_suspend_hybrid = false  (bool)
  power_management.is_powersave_set = false  (bool)
  power_management.type = 'acpi'  (string)

Somehow the power management capabilities are all false.

Also, lshal -m will show an event for the sleep button (fn-F4) and the
power button, but not for the lid closure.  The power button is acted upon
(shutdown dialog pops up), but the sleep button does nothing.

This was all working.  Bah.

A

Re: Suspend is borked

[Andrew Errington]

On Fri, August 7, 2009 13:20, Andrew Errington wrote:
> Hi all,
>
>
> I just did an apt-get update/upgrade on my Acer Aspire One running Mepis
> 8.0 and the suspend function has ceased to work.

It seems I can manually suspend using

hibernate-ram

or

acpitool -s

but the suspend-on-lid-close doesn't work, or pressing fn-F4.  I don't
know how these events are declared, generated or acted upon.

Running kpowersave as root makes no difference, so I don't think it's a
permissions thing.

A

Suspend is borked

[Andrew Errington]

Hi all,

I just did an apt-get update/upgrade on my Acer Aspire One running Mepis
8.0 and the suspend function has ceased to work.

Until now the system has worked flawlessly, and I can shut the lid of the
laptop to suspend and open it and hit a button to wake it up.  Now it's
broken and I'm sad.

Not only that, but the Fn-F4 key (sleep key) no longer does anything, and
the options to configure button actions in kpowersave to suspend-to-RAM
and suspend-to-disk are gone, as is the shortcut to suspend in the
kpowersave right-click menu.

I don't know how it's supposed to work, but it was working.  Googling
doesn't give me much of a handle on the problem.  The Mepis forum has no
mention of this problem (and they usually support the Acer Aspire One
quite well).  Any clues?

Thanks in advance,

Andrew

Re: The linux ipod dilemma - what do you suggest?

[Andrew Errington]

You know, it just *has* to exist.

This is close:

http://cablejive.com/universal_dock_adapter.html

But no cigar (or video, for that matter).

Anyway, you get the idea.  I'm going to stop looking now.

A

Re: The linux ipod dilemma - what do you suggest?

[Andrew Errington]

On Wed, July 29, 2009 06:53, Phill Coxon wrote:
>

> I recently joined Quest Healthclub in Ferrymead to improve my fitness
> again.
>
> All of the carido equipment - treadmills, biks etc - have screens with
> an ipod av input so I can plug an ipod in and watch videos.  I've tested
> this with my wife's ipod and it works great.


I'm replying to the OP since this thread is now so old (!).

Since you are looking for suggestions, what you really want is a plug that
looks like an iPod, with video and L+R audio input connections.  You then
hook up the output of your Brand X player to these connections and plug in
to the iPod dock.  The flaw in this plan is if you have to fake the
presence of a real iPod for the dock to 'switch on' and start showing the
video and playing the audio.

So, in the sure and certain knowledge that something like this must exist
already on the internet (after all, I just made it up, but an infinite
number of other monkeys have been busily typing in the interim)
I offer you this:


You'll find the pinouts here:
http://pinouts.ru/Devices/ipod_pinout.shtml

Here's a connector:


So, if your Brand X player has the three outputs for video and stereo
audio, just hook them up to the three pins that the iPod would usually
drive.

It seems to me that many media players use a 4-pole 3.5mm plug for these
signals, such as this one (be warned, pinouts may vary):


So maybe your cable is a simple 4-pole jack at one end and iPod dock plug
at the other.

Anyway, that's my suggestion.  Oh, and I'd test it on your own dock first,
before you short out the one at the gym.

A

Re: Linux and RAM size

[Andrew Errington]

On Thu, July 23, 2009 06:58, Derek Smithies wrote:
> Hi
> On Thu, 23 Jul 2009, Andrew Errington wrote:
>
>
>>
>> 640MB should be enough for anyone.
>>
>
> Hmm..
>
>
> Your children will be saying in a few years something like,
> "Dad had only 1gb ram on his box - dunno how he managed."

Do you hear that whoosing sound?  It's the joke going way over your head.

A

Re: Linux and RAM size

[Andrew Errington]

On Wed, July 22, 2009 19:48, yuri wrote:
> What kind of performance boost should I expect when upgrading from
> 256MB of RAM to 640MB?
>

640MB should be enough for anyone.

:)

A

Re: Linux and ModBus

[Andrew Errington]

On Fri, July 10, 2009 17:58, yuri wrote:
> Does anyone on this list know anything about controlling ModBus relay
> boards from a linux box?

???

Google gives plenty of hits for "linux modbus", so what exactly do you
want to know?

Do you have a specific ModBus relay board  (make and model, please), or
are you looking for recommendations?

Are you stuck with physically connecting the board to the PC?

Are you stuck with software to drive the board, or application software?

There are so many levels in the 'stack' from Linux app to actually closing
a relay.  Where do you want to start?

A

Re: all quiet on the clug front

[Andrew Errington]

On Wed, July 8, 2009 12:21, Bry Ashman wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 3:05 PM, Craig Falconer
> wrote:
>
>> Bry Ashman wrote, On 08/07/09 15:02:
>>
>>>
>> Blow that marketing fluff - they're gigabytes.  If one drive maker
>> would have the testicles to quote actual capacity in gigabytes I'd
>> support them.

>
> I used to think that too!
>
>
> But now I am not too sure. It makes sense for RAM to be in powers of 2
> because of the way address buses work. However most other things like
> network speeds are based on powers of 10. It can get every confusing going
> back and forth between them sometimes. Which is better I am not sure.
>
> However I must admit it is incredibly frustrating to explain why their
> 1TB drive is only around 930GiB.

In my opinion the kibi-, mibi-, and gibi- prefixes are execrebly lame.  I
think it's better to use the conventional kilo-, mega- and giga- prefixes,
since they sound good, and to actually know what you are talking about. 
After all, these are not the only of homonyms in the English language.

Oblig. Linux content: Err, my Mepis netbook's in my bag?

A

Re: Success with Bluetooth

[Andrew Errington]

On Wed, June 17, 2009 08:14, Stephen Irons wrote:
> Some one on Trademe is selling little Bluetooth adapters for $10 + $2
> postage [1]. It is the size of the tip of my thumb. Just right for plugging
> into one of the USB holes of your netbook.
>
> I bought one. Plugged it in. It Just Worked.
>
>
> Up popped the little Bluetooth icon on my Gnome panel. Discovered my
> phone. Paired and set as 'trusted'. Browsed files on phone from PC. Sent
> file from PC to phone.
>
> Bluetooth seems to have come a long way recently.
>
>
> Unfortunately, I cannot yet send files from phone to PC. You need to
> install 'gnome-user-share' which also brings in Apache (so that you can
> share files using webdav). It is a known packaging problem, and I can't
> bring myself to do it on my laptop.

Excellent!  I did the same thing two years ago.  I was using Mepis 6 on an
old ThinkPad.  Mepis has KDE, and it too Just Worked.  I had no trouble
dragging and dropping files either way with Konqueror.  It surprises me
that Gnome makes a distinction between a file on a phone and any other
removable filestore.  Perhaps you have overlooked soemthing?

A

Re: mailbox file

[Andrew Errington]

On Sat, June 6, 2009 14:45, Christopher Sawtell wrote:
> munpack part of the mpack package.
>
> sudo apt-get install mpack

Thanks Chris.  I had discovered munpack, but I didn't know that the
package was mpack.  ("apt-get install munpack" didn't work, and my brain
is working too slowly today).

A

Re: mailbox file

[Andrew Errington]

On Sat, June 6, 2009 14:37, Delio Brignoli wrote:

> base64 should do what you need.
>
> cheers --
> Delio

Thanks!  It really was simple!  Now it's done.

Best wishes,

Andrew

mailbox file

[Andrew Errington]

Hello,

I have snagged a mailbox file from another user, and I wish to extract an
attachment contained within it.

The file has a long cryptic name, and I can see the headers, body and
attachments within it:

Content-Type: application/msword; name="interestingfile.doc"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="interestingfile.doc"

I have hunted everywhere for something to split and decode the attachment
into a standalone file, but can find nothing.  There is a package called
maildir-utils in existence, but I don't know if it does what I want, and
it's not in my distro's repository anyway (Mepis 8.0).

Perhaps it is too simple to document?  Yes I could chop the file at the
boundaries of the attachment, but what tool to decode it?  Even if it's
simple, please put me out of my misery.

Thanks,

Andrew

Re: Help convert a Mac user to Linux

[Andrew Errington]

On Wed, June 3, 2009 15:43, Gauland, Michael wrote:

> This doesn't need to be a flash system.  Mostly, it will be used for web
> browsing, e-mail, light word processing, and photo cataloguing (any
> recommendations that an iPhoto user would be happy with?), though a key
> requirement is a replacement for Quicken (I believe gnucash will be
> suitable, though other recommendations are welcome).

Is it to be a laptop or desktop?  I am very happy with my Acer Aspire One
netbook running Mepis 8.0.

For your requirements:

Web Browsing - Firefox, natch.
email- KMail or Thunderbird
Wordprocessing - OpenOffice (or KOffice, or AbiWord for just wordprocessing)
PhotoCataloguing - I use Kimdaba, now KPhotoAlbum, but I think Picasa runs
on Linux (maybe with Wine)
Chequebook - I use MS Money 2001 on a Windows PC.  This has bothered me
for some time, but it really is a fantastic piece of software.  I recently
tried KMyMoney, but it doesn't grab me (it's close, and looks like Money
or Quicken).  I am following up on Andrew Packer's suggestion of
MoneyDance, as that always crops up in discussions like these.  I don't
mind paying for good software.

> Anyone have any experiences to share on migrating a Mac user?

I had a friend who was a die-hard Mac user, and he went to Oz.  I could
ask him which removal company he used.

A

Re: OT: stepper motors, etc

[Andrew Errington]

Actually (and I am replying to the OP, not my own message) you might be
better off with a grunty servomotor.  Some R/C servos are capable of very
high torque and rapid and accurate positioning.  In fact, since a servo is
often used to give a 180 degree output range it might suit this project
better to gear the output down (because such a large range is not
required) and thereby increase the torque.  That would keep the cost down
too, and you wouldn't have to write your own PID controller for
positioning.

A

Re: OT: stepper motors, etc

[Andrew Errington]

On Tue, June 2, 2009 12:37, Craig Falconer wrote:
> Vik Olliver wrote, On 02/06/09 15:02:
>
>> You probably want to drive the tensioner through a worm gear, which
>> automatically ratchets.
>
> How do you slack off the tension later, if there's some kind of one-way
> ratchet in there?  With a manual release?

You don't.  You just run the worm the other way (it is, after all, a worm
that turns).

Ratchet is probably a poor choice of word.  Fundamentally the worm gear
prevents any load on the output being passed back to the input.

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

A

Re: ekiga not creating sockets

[Andrew Errington]

On Mon, June 1, 2009 06:43, Derek Smithies wrote:

> See - it is simpler to just install Skype and use it.

Actually, from what you are saying, it is simpler just to install Windows
and use it.

A

Re: ekiga not creating sockets

[Andrew Errington]

On Sun, May 31, 2009 20:37, Volker Kuhlmann wrote:
> On Sun 31 May 2009 16:16:17 NZST +1200, Andrew Errington wrote:
>
>
>> Hmm.  apt-get install skype, and, err, that's it.
>>
>
> That is presumably not what Derek is talking about. If your sound driver
> or hardware doesn't work (because it's a mess under Linux), simply
> installing skype won't make skype work.

No.  He said that "It is only on linux that Skype gets hard to setup".  I
merely pointed out that it was trivially easy on Linux.  For me.

A

Re: ekiga not creating sockets

[Andrew Errington]

On Sun, May 31, 2009 12:56, Derek Smithies wrote:
> On Sun, 31 May 2009, Andrew Errington wrote:
>
>> On Sun, May 31, 2009 06:04, Derek Smithies wrote:
>>
>>> The most surefire way of fixing this?
>>> Use skype.
>>> Seriously, you can fiddle for hours getting this to work.
>>>
>>
>> Except that Skype is proprietary and closed.  SIP is the Right Answer,
>> so it's worth persevering.
> Yes, you are right in one sense..
>
>
> Picture yourself in a hotel, far away from home, and keen to ring the
> wife and family. A skype call will (well, most often) get through


Or a "telephone", or a "mobile phone".  I hear these are capable of
sending "txt msgs" too.

> Yes, you can fiddle with sip like phones. However, in my jaundiced
> experience, they are filled with gobbledygoodk like words that make them
> hard to setup. Look at Barry's problems. He is not a voip developer, but
> he is capable enough to do many linux like things. And he had trouble
> getting Ekiga to work. Skype, on the other hand, is sufficiently easy to
> setup that people with the minimum of computer skills can make voip calls.

Or you could use Gizmo, the (proprietary) gateway drug to SIP.

Drug here: www.gizmoproject.com
(about: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gizmo_Project)

Using Ekiga discussion:
<http://grokbase.com/topic/2006/02/24/ekiga-and-gizmo-project/wGgMcx-duioKMhOEDSZxS840zlM>

> It is only on linux that Skype gets hard to setup - mainly cause of the
> "Welcome to the jungle phenomenon" talked about on slashdot recently.
> Which was (effectively): linux sound is a mess.

Hmm.  apt-get install skype, and, err, that's it.

I have no more problems with software on my Linux systems than I do with
Windows.  Specks of sawdust and wooden beams come to mind.

A

Re: ekiga not creating sockets

[Andrew Errington]

On Sun, May 31, 2009 06:04, Derek Smithies wrote:
>


> The most surefire way of fixing this?
> Use skype.
> Seriously, you can fiddle for hours getting this to work.

Except that Skype is proprietary and closed.  SIP is the Right Answer, so
it's worth persevering.

A

Microsoft's Bulk Deal With New Zealand Collapses

[Andrew Errington]

Did anyone read about this?



Posted by some guy called Vik :) so *he* knows about it.

A

Re: Farewell Meal and Drinks for Chris

[Andrew Errington]

On Mon, May 25, 2009 08:46, David Kirk wrote:

> Unfortunately I can't go, but I would like to thank Chris for all his
> work with the CLUG and wish him the best of luck for the future.

Hear, hear!

I can't be there either, but I echo your sentiments.  Thanks Chris, and
all the best!

Andrew

RE: Help

[Andrew Errington]

On Tue, May 19, 2009 10:30, Julian Warwick Bethell wrote:
> Do have a video  setting up DMZ

I can haz cheezburger?

Please read your email yourself before posting it, and make sure it is
clear.  Everyone here is keen to help, but it's a little difficult to
parse your meaning.

Let me reiterate Jim's excellent suggestion.  I, too, recommend that you
read the following article:

http://catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

It will help you ask better questions, and more importantly will get you
better answers more quickly.

Best wishes,

Andrew

Re: USB to VGA

[Andrew Errington]

On Mon, May 18, 2009 09:09, Leif Keane wrote:
> Hi.
> I have a small scale laptop with a 23cm (just about) screen.
> It is capable of resolutions up to 1024 X 600.
> The devise, however doesn't have a VGA out and I want to plug the thing
> into a data projector.
>
> There are USB to VGA adapters, but I'm having a bit of trouble finding
> one that works with Linux (EdUbuntu  8.04).
>
> Any thoughts or suggestions?

What model of laptop is it?

Does it have *any* additional output?  (s-video, HDMI, etc.)

A

Re: OT: Cabling to a shed

[Andrew Errington]

On Sun, May 17, 2009 19:45, Kerry Mayes wrote:
> I'm wanting to connect up my shed for power (3 phase), water and data
> (phone & network).  I have (with significant help) dug the trench to
> the shed and will be organising the connections in the next few weeks.
>
> However, if I run the network cables next to the power cables I'll
> have issues, yes?  Is there any way around that? Can I get shielded ducting
> for underground use (at reasonable cost)?  (I was initially just intending
> to run the cat5e cable through irrigation hose until I remembered the
> potential interference issues.)

There won't be interference issues, but there might be wiring code issues.
 Telecom regulations say that phonelines should be 50mm from electrical
lines within buildings, but not outside[1].  There might be similar
requirements for electrical wires next to water pipes.

I would run 2 cat5e cables through irrigation tube and keep this 50mm away
from the electrical conduit all along the trench.

A

[1] 

Re: Kubuntu help please

[Andrew Errington]

On Sun, May 17, 2009 11:24, Volker Kuhlmann wrote:
> On Sun 17 May 2009 13:48:18 NZST +1200, Andrew Errington wrote:
>
>
>> Sorry.  That's too bad.
>>
>
> Yeah, sounds otherwise exactly what I'm looking for. I need profiles
> too.

Well, if you have the time I'd suggest it would be worthwhile persevering.

One thing is that wicd does not play nice with network-manager.  The
install script is supposed to remove that for you, but maybe you have to
do it by hand (sudo apt-get remove network-manager).  Also, you have to
clear everything from /etc/network/interfaces except the loopback
interface:

http://wicd.sourceforge.net/download.php

Again, this should be done automagically, but worth checking.

A

Re: Kubuntu help please

[Andrew Errington]

On Sun, May 17, 2009 10:01, Volker Kuhlmann wrote:
> On Sun 17 May 2009 01:09:27 NZST +1200, Andrew Errington wrote:

>> Anyway, I can recommend wicd for networking.
>>
>
> Thanks! apt-get works, I'll see if I can get it to work. Nope. wicd
> daemon doesn't start, googling shows dbus must be restarted, but then
> wicd-client just crashes with a different error.

Sorry.  That's too bad.

A

Re: Kubuntu help please

[Andrew Errington]

On Sun, May 17, 2009 09:00, Phill Coxon wrote:
> On Sun, 2009-05-17 at 11:09 +1200, Nick Rout wrote:
>
> plus theres the hassle of kde's 4 branch still seeming to be unfinished.
>>
>
> Unfortunately true. I've been testing KUbuntu 9.04 on my laptop to see
> if I want to upgrade my Desktop and things are still crashing at random or
> are completely unusable (kde network manager and a mobile wireless card
> for example).
>

>
> The main reason I've been using KUbuntu is for sftp: access in konqueror
> so I can copy and edit files on remote sites live.

Well, Mepis is a nice KDE-based distro.  They've added a couple of extra
things to make it usable, and they've avoided the KDE 4.x headaches by
sticking with KDE 3.5.  I am running Mepis 8 on my Acer Aspire One and
it's great.

Adding wicd fixed a lot of pain for me.  I take the netbook to a bunch of
different places, and each one has different network settings.  Some are
DHCP, but some are fixed parameters (and of course they differ from each
other).  The way wicd presents and configures these is intuitive and
obvious.

A

Re: Kubuntu help please

[Andrew Errington]

On Sat, May 16, 2009 20:01, Volker Kuhlmann wrote:
> The primary job at hand: what's the gui tool to configure eth0? Manual
> configuration, static IP, DNS, gateway, and all in a way I can teach a
> non-techie. Plus saving it as a profile, then handling multiple profiles
> for traveling.
>
> Any kubuntu users able to point me in the right direction?

Not a Kubuntu user (tried it once, but it seemed to be Ubuntu's bastard
sibling that no-one talks about).  I use Mepis, which is also KDE-based. 
Mepis has a bunch of Mepis-written tools for user management and system
management (including networks) that fill in the blanks that are *still*
present.

So why didn't you just install openSUSE?

Anyway, I can recommend wicd for networking.   It seems to Just Work.  I
assume it's on a laptop (you mentioned travelling).  You  can set up
different profiles for the wired and wireless interfaces, with different
parameters for different named wireless networks.

To install it you might need to add or edit sources.list for apt, or just
try apt-get install wicd, or find it with Google (I can't remember how I
installed it).

It does seem to expose flakiness already present in certain wireless
drivers.  I have noticed the following problems:

1) Connecting to a particular 3Com AP- can only do it when Skype is not
running.  If Skype is running the network is reported as connected and
working, but it's not.  Solution: stop Skype, disconnect and reconnect
wifi, start Skype.
2) Certain APs with certain settings will freeze the PC.  Not sure about
this one, but nothing changes from one physical location to the other but
the AP box.
3) Some OpenGL screen savers seem to freeze the PC when coming back from
sleep now that I have wicd.  Too many seemingly unrelated items to
troubleshoot.  Solution (for now) select a simple screen saver.

Aside from that, wicd is the Right Way to solve this problem.

HTH,

A

Re: light scribe

[Andrew Errington]

On Thu, May 14, 2009 10:46, Roger Searle wrote:
> Hi, I am thinking of making use of "light scribe" to label some CDs for
> a project I am working on, and wondering if anyone on the list has
> experience with doing this in linux, which I don't recall ever seen
> mentioned on any lugs.  Goes without saying there is the need for drives
> and disks capable of such, I am looking for tips on packages to use or
> avoid or any other gotchas people may have come across, esp any 32/64 bit
> dramas.

Hmmm.  Good question.

I have a LightScribe capable external USB DVD, but I never bought the
disks for it (can't really justify the cost).  If you find something let
me know.  If you don't have the equipment let me know what you think is
worth trying and I'll have a go and report back.

A

Re: OT: Telecom (Monopoly) Problem

[Andrew Errington]

On Mon, May 11, 2009 11:12, Nick Rout wrote:

> I assume you pay for wiring maintenance. So start mumbling about
> breaches of the Fair Trading Act (taking money and not providing the
> service) and the Commerce Act (abuse of monopoly position). Mention the
> next call is to the Commerce Commission and you'll usually get better
> performance.

Not exactly.  The wiring maintenance fee is to cover the wiring *inside*
your home.  Telecom will provide service to the demarcation point at your
address (may be the boundary, may be the box on the eaves, may be the
entry point into your house).  If the fault is 'downstream' of that point,
i.e. in the house wiring, you have to pay to fix it (unless you have paid
the maintenance fee).  If it is 'upstream', i.e. in the street wiring,
they should fix it.

That notwithstanding I suppose that you should receive service to the
demarcation point so Nick's comments probably still apply.

A

Re: OT: Telecom (Monopoly) Problem

[Andrew Errington]

When I lived in Japan we had a problem with the phone line, which meant
that voice was unintelligible and ASDL was severely borked.  It started
after a very severe rainstorm.

I called the service number, but of course they could barely hear me.  On
top of that, my Japanese is quite awful.

Nonetheless, I managed to explain that there was a problem with the phone
line, although that much was obvious and they knew what line it was due to
caller ID.

The next day a man with a van showed up.  He tested the wires at every
junction point and then replaced the external junction box on the side of
the building (where the wire from the street attaches to the house).  It
was not watertight and water had got in and affected the connection. 
While he was there he replaced the other box which connected the flat
downstairs because they were the same vintage.

So, not only did they help me despite not being quite able to hear me, or
understand me, they figured out there was a problem, and sent someone to
fix it.  Needless to say I was very impressed.

In New Zealand I think your only option is to call them every day and ask
if they've fixed it yet.

A

On Mon, May 11, 2009 06:26, Craig Falconer wrote:
> If its an Xtra DSL then call up  0800 253 878 and ask for a 55 30 test.
> That's the 3 day test counting the number of disconnects.   If you get
> this sorted as soon as the weather looks bad then it will hopefully show
> something.
>
> If its a wholesale DSL line... you have to go through your ISP who
> really won't want to know.
>
>
> Wesley Parish wrote, On 09/05/09 01:02:
>
>> Telecom has a problem with my landline.
>>
>>
>> To wit: whenever it rains or the temperature drops precipately, it cuts
>> out the connection from me to them.  Last Wednesday, for example, when I
>> arrived home from town and picked up the receiver, I got no dial tone.
>>
>> However, when I ring 125 directly, it connects immediately and
>> dial-tone is there.
>>
>> And when I get around to contacting them - during the day, usually when
>> it's dry - they cannot reproduce the problem.
>>
>> A friend in town suggests that it's either the line itself open like a
>> sieve, or the local junction box is leaking.
>>
>> Does anyone have any ideas why Telecom cannot reproduce the problem -
>> apart from careful maintenance of their own lines and non-maintenance of
>> everybody else's?  I'm getting sick of having the weather provide me
>> with the switchboard-in-the-sky to /dev/null/.
>>
>> Wesley Parish
>>
>
>
> --
> Craig Falconer
>
>
>

Re: Open project control software

[Andrew Errington]

On Wed, May 6, 2009 15:31, Kerry wrote:
> Hi all,
>
>
> I'm after some Open project control software, a group of us are
> collaborating on an open publishing news website using Drupal and as we
> are spread out in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Australia we need
> something to co- ordinate our work. Someone suggested Git but I was
> wondering if anyone here had any suggestions of something we could put up
> on a LAMP server

Use a wiki.

A

Re: kde4 - numlock on

[Andrew Errington]

On Thu, April 30, 2009 19:06, Roger Searle wrote:
> Robert Fisher wrote:
>
>> On Thursday 30 April 2009 21:43:57 Roger Searle wrote:
>>
>>> Maybe there is another way, I've not found anything in System
>>> Settings -
>>> personally I always want the numlock keys on. This is about as easy as
>>>  it gets:
>>>
>>> ro...@gemini:~$ sudo apt-get install numlockx
>>> ro...@gemini:~$ numlockx on
>>>
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Roger
>>>
>>
>>
>> Or in KDE 4.2
>>
>>
>>
>> K > Computer > System Settings > Keyboard and mouse >
>> Numlock on KDE Startup = Turn on
>>
>>
>>
>> There is also a similar option somewhere with KDE 3.5
>>
>>
>>
>> Rob
>>
> nope - not on this machine, or on my work machine.  System Settings >
> Keyboard and mouse gives me "standard keyboard shortcuts" and "global
> keyboard shortcuts" - is that what you have too? No mention of numlock
> anywhere there, nor are there any results using the search tool . . .

It's in Control Centre|Peripherals|Keyboard on mine (KDE3.5).  Other
settings on that panel are 'Keyboard Repeat' and 'Key Click Volume'.

HTH,

A

Re: Getting started with 802.11

[Andrew Errington]

On Wed, April 8, 2009 10:35, Nick Rout wrote:

> I have had no real problems with ubuntu/mythbuntu 8.04 or 8.10 using
> atheros chipsets, using the standard network manager and no extra packages.
>

Indeed, I am using Mepis 8.0, which is based on Debian Lenny, and the
stock utilities 'just work'.

The key points are:

* Ensure the correct module is loaded to drive your wifi chipset
(sometimes there may be 2 or 3 that will work, so you migh tneed to
blacklist one).
* Find a wifi utility that you like.  I used to use Kwifimanager, but
knetworkmanager seems ok to me, and I have heard wicd recommended many
times.
* Be aware that the driver might not 'come back' after a suspend, or the
wifi kill switch status may not be indicated to you by any means.  For the
Aspire One I added a little script that stops and starts wifi0 upon resume
(I haven't found a utility to show the status of the kill switch).

The fact that you have demonstrated the wifi working on another OS is
reassuring.  You shouldn't really have to fiddle with it in Linux these
days to get it going.  In fact, Mepis worked remarkably well for me on my
old ThinkPad with PCMCIA wifi, and my new Aspire One.

HTH,

A

Aspire One and Mepis

[Andrew Errington]

Just to finish off my thread, I'm nearly done with my Mepis install.  The
install went well, but I literally have no time to put my data back on and
set it up as I want.

I had to install from the CD three times (bacause I am an idiot).  Thank
you to everyone who made suggestions for partitioning.  I cross-referenced
your recommendations with an on-line Guide for Mepis on the Aspire, and I
ended up making one Extended partition with three Logical partitions in it
(root, home and swap).  I did not use Volker's suggestion for backing up
the old MBR before I installed GRUB, but now I know why I should have (I
am a firm believer in understanding one's mistakes as well as not making
them twice).

Anyway, the first install went well, so I set about tweaking it.  GRUB
properly detected the 'real' XP OS and the Acer eRecovery partition and
put them in the menu (and they worked).  When booting Linux the vga mode
is not set correctly by the installer so 'splashy' complains.  Later I
discovered that vga=9 works quite nicely.  Anyway, I uninstalled splashy,
and that was a big mistake as a bunch of startup scripts started failing
and I couldn't re-install splashy.

The second install did not go so well.  Being smart I decided not to
reformat /home because it was there already.  Being super-smart I decided
that I didn't need to install GRUB either, since it was already there and
I hadn't changed any of the partitions...

The third install went well as I decided to do everything over again. 
GRUB was back as it was, and I had a fresh home directory to play with. 
The sound worked on first boot, but failed thereafter.  I had to run
alsaconf to detect and reinstall the sound modules.  I've tweaked a couple
of things, but I have found that most of the caveats mentioned on the web
concerning Mepis on the Aspire no longer apply.  Obviously got fixed in
the RC process leading up to the final release.

I cannot test everything as I need more packages, and I can't get more
packages until I get an internet connection somewhere (don't have it in
the apartment yet).  However, it starts up, runs and shuts down cleanly,
so I am happy.

The next step is to copy the old /home backup from my old laptop.  I will
copy everything across verbatim, and I expect everything to break because
all the hidden stuff such as KDE config files will no longer be
appropriate for the new version, but maybe it will sort of work.  Once I
am happy that I have everything working I will overwrite the backup disk
with a new mirror of /home

In other news, the XP system I use at work is riddled with viruses, and so
are the internet cafes here (no, really).  I have installed an antivirus
at work and I think I've wiped everything, but it is fortunate that I
already had antivirus at home as it trapped the virus on my USB stick
before it could be transferred to the XP machine.  How do I love thee
Microsoft?  Let me count the ways.

A

Re: The Next Dr Dobbs, the Replacement for Byte, the natural home for CUJ readers.

[Andrew Errington]

On Tue, March 17, 2009 04:58, Nick Rout wrote:
> I agree Circuit Cellar is fun, but so is this site:
>
>
> http://blog.makezine.com/
>
>

Yes, Circuit Cellar is awesome (and I have met Steve Ciarcia).  All issues
are available on CD in a set for a high, but not unreasonable, price.

Regarding Make magaize, I belive the Library has a subscription, so you
can read it there.

A

Re: Small-form-factor as a desktop machine

[Andrew Errington]

On Fri, March 13, 2009 10:32, Roy Britten wrote:
> This morning either my monitor died or something has gone sad in the
> video hardware (weird on-mobo stuff). I currently have a black screen.
>
> Should it be a mobo issue I'll replace the whole desktop box with
> something appropriate. I'm dithering between something cheap and large, or
> slightly more expensive and terribly compact (in the eee line) with an
> external keyboard and monitor for desktop use.
>
> Leaving aside the practicalities of raw computational power, can those
> with experience running Linux on the newer small form-factor netbook
> thingies advise on how readily they accept external keyboard input and
> (full-resolution) monitor output?
>

My Aspire One has three USB sockets.  You could plug in an external
keyboard and mouse.  It also has an external VGA socket for a monitor. 
They're pretty much all like that, however I have not tried a USB
keyboard, mouse, or external monitor on mine.

The eee box looks cute, and in fact I used to use a VIA EPIA mini-ITX mobo
and case as my desktop machine, so SFF PCs are not really much different
to desktops other than power consumption and fiddly parts to assemble into
tiny cases.  Some of the designs do compromise clock speed or processing
capability to reduce power consumption, but for web surfing and word
processing you're not going to notice.

I will get some Linux experience from mine soon...

A

Dumb partition question

[Andrew Errington]

Hi all,

I still haven't had time to set up my Aspire One with Mepis 8.0, but
incremental progress is being made.  I booted Mepis from CD and used
GPartEd to resize the XP partition from 146Gb to 12Gb, and I want to
install Mepis on the space I a freed up.  The resize worked, so now I have
about 132Gb for Linux.

On the hard drive there are two partitions.  The first is hidden, and it's
a 4Gb 'recovery' image to restore the laptop to factory condition.  The
second is the 'real' XP partition (now 12Gb).

The Mepis installation instructions recommend creating three partitions
for Mepis (unless you are using the automatic install and wiping the whole
drive).  The recommendation is a 5-10Gb partition for root (I will choose
10Gb), a swap partition equal to twice the installed RAM, but no more than
1Gb (so in my case it will be 1Gb), and the rest as /home (about 120Gb for
me).

Since I already have two primary partitions, and I can only have four in
total, how should I configure the three partitions for Mepis?  I need some
combination of primary and extended partitions.

Once I have created the partitions Mepis will set itself up properly when
I tell it what partitions to use.  After that it will install GRUB.  Shall
I install GRUB to the MBR, or to the root partition?

Clearly I have never set up a dual-boot system before.  Mostly because I
don't want one.  However, in this case I want to use Linux, but I don't
want to lose XP, nor do I want to lose the factory restore function in
case the laptop needs to be serviced under warranty.

Advice gratefully received,

Andrew

(Yes, I have Googled it, but I don't understand the consequences of making
a wrong partition choice, or GRUB installation choice.  I could learn from
experience... but I'd rather learn from someone else's mistakes :)  Oh,
and I'm in Korea with very little gear and no internet connection at
home.)

Air New Zealand (was Re: Meeting tonight?)

[Andrew Errington]

On Wed, March 11, 2009 07:13, Christopher Sawtell wrote:
> The monthly meeting in the hall is now very much over to people other
> than me. My posting last week explains, so you all know why now.


Best of luck, Chris.  If you are flying Air New Zealand for any part of
your trip (which I thoroughly recommend) take a look at their in-flight
entertainment system.  I recently flew to Korea via Japan, and the long
haul (Auckland to Osaka) was Air New Zealand.  It was a comfortable and
pleasant flight with great food.  Oh, and the obligatory Linux content is
that the in-flight entertainment system is Linux based (Red Hat to be
precise).  You can watch movies and play games, but the only reason I know
it's Linux is that my wife's console crashed and I watched it reboot.  The
other 300 consoles seemed to be okay.

Best wishes,

Andrew

Re: laptops without Winblows

[Andrew Errington]

Hmm.

I think if you want a netbook you should buy one.  Seriously, there's no
better answer.  You can have a quick play with them at Dickie's or Noel
Leeming, and some of them are available with Linux pre-installed (but not
from there).  Having said that, the Linux on the Aspire One is Linpus,
which is perhaps not the greatest.  Does it bother you to replace one
distro with another, or just not to get XP and replace it?

I bought the Aspire One because it is small and light.  It is literally
half the size and weight of the old ThinkPad 600X I happily hacked on. 
Indeed, the old ThinkPad was totally adequate to most tasks I wanted it
for, not just surfing and word processing.  It was a bit slow, but I'll
use the netbook for the same things (i.e. everything), and it will be so
much faster, i.e. I am not conditioning myself to believe "it's a netbook,
it's only good for basic stuff".

As to which make and model, well, the specifications are all pretty much
the same.  Have a go on the keyboard to see if you (or your
customer/friend/mark) can deal with it.  The Aspire One keyboard is small
but good.  Some of the smaller models are a bit cramped (such as the
Toshiba NB100, but it's really cute).  The HP offering has more pixels on
its display (I think).  Watch out for the 8.9"/10" dichotomy.  In the case
of the Aspire One the 10" model has the same resolution as the 8.9", but
the physically bigger screen may be more readable.

Best wishes,

Andrew

On Mon, March 2, 2009 22:22, Aidan Gauland wrote:
> First: thanks for the quick responses.
>
>
> I'm begining to think that a netbook would be better than a full blown
> laptop (intended usage == intended usage of netbook).  I've been reading
> the threads on this list about netbooks; I'm uncertain as to whether it
> really matters which one, when it's for someone who just wants to use it
> for very basic tasks (E-mail, web browsing, word processing, etc.).  Can
> anyone help me there, or are the only CLUG people who've bought one the
> ones who know too much?  ;)
>
> Being a hard-core computer geek becomes a problem when you need to think
> like a typical end-user.  :)
>
> -Aidan
>
>
> wgsil...@ihug.co.nz wrote:
>> 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).
>

Re: laptops without Winblows

[Andrew Errington]

On Mon, March 2, 2009 20:40, Hadley Rich wrote:
> 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.

Oops.  My goof.  I also seem to be unable to find this option on their
site at this time.

A

Re: laptops without Winblows

[Andrew Errington]

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: Acer Aspire One netbook

[Andrew Errington]

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

[Andrew Errington]

>> 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

Acer Aspire One netbook

[Andrew Errington]

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

Re: Hardy 8.04 modem concerns

[Andrew Errington]

This seems related:

http://www.linux.net.nz/pipermail/aucklug/2007-March/001508.html

Can the changes selected by Yast (the configuration tool in Suse) be made
in Ubuntu?

HTH,

A

Re: Hardy 8.04 modem concerns

[Andrew Errington]

Err, of course, if it's a dual-boot PC and it was *just working* with the
other OS then of course the first three reasons I suggest are moot.

A

On Tue, February 24, 2009 16:39, Andrew Errington wrote:
> Well, it seems to be an external serial modem, so it ought to work.
>
>
> Common problems are:
>
>
> Modem not switched on
> Modem not connected to PC
> Modem not connected to phone line
> Misidentifying the serial port (/dev/ttyS?)
> Permissions on the serial port device
> Mis-typing the ISP phone number, username, or password
>
>
> These are the easy ones to detect and fix.
>
>
> By the way, I used KPPP for modem trickery and it seemed to do the Right
> Thing (but no good if you use Gnome).
>
>
> HTH,
>
>
> Andrew
>
>
>
>
>

Re: Hardy 8.04 modem concerns

[Andrew Errington]

Well, it seems to be an external serial modem, so it ought to work.

Common problems are:

Modem not switched on
Modem not connected to PC
Modem not connected to phone line
Misidentifying the serial port (/dev/ttyS?)
Permissions on the serial port device
Mis-typing the ISP phone number, username, or password

These are the easy ones to detect and fix.

By the way, I used KPPP for modem trickery and it seemed to do the Right
Thing (but no good if you use Gnome).

HTH,

Andrew

Re: wireless connecting - network manager problem?

[Andrew Errington]

Could be deteriorating hardware.  Try a USB wireless dongle and disable
the built-in wireless.  See if the exact same issues persist with the new
hardware (everything else is the same).

A

On Fri, February 20, 2009 11:09, Roger Searle wrote:
> Hi, over the last month or so I have experienced increasing problems
> getting the wireless connection to connect.  This is an ubuntu 8.04 with
> gnome, network manager 0.6.6.  Only changes have been any updates via
> apt-get update/upgrade.  Connections are to 2 separate wrt54gl routers
> (home, work), set up essentially the same.   I know they function OK
> based on other laptops connecting without issue.
>
> Going back a month, connections would "just work" on logging on to the
> gnome desktop.  Then I would occasionally experience a problem connecting,
> and manually intervene via  network manager.  2 weeks or so ago I began to
> be prompted for the passphrase and could then successfully connect.  Now I
> am often unable to connect at all, or can connect after 2 or sometimes 3
> or 4 times entering the passphrase. Sometimes I'm having to resort to an
> ethernet cable  :-(
>
> Turning on and off the wireless switch on the laptop, or disabling then
> re-enabling wireless via network manager, or a reboot, or resetting the
> router, have all been tried in an attempt to resolve with any consistency,
> but generally it's random if it is successful.  Removing and recreating
> the passphrase entry in the "Passwords and Encryption Keys" tool (where
> the password is usually shown in what appears to be a hex format) hasn't
> helped.
>
> I'm at a loss to explain what I am describing, so seeking any
> suggestions on how to resolve this or where to look.
>
> Cheers,
> Roger
>
>
>
>

Re: Remove a watermark from a PDF

[Andrew Errington]

> Mostly they sem to contain drivel about interference with other
> devices, the evils of inserting your VCR in a bathtub or leaving your 46
> inch TV outside in the rain.

And never clean anything with benzene!

A

(Actually, I do like reading manuals.  From cover to cover.)

Re: Asus eee pc 901 Linux

[Andrew Errington]

I presume you have found this site:

http://forum.eeeuser.com/

Full of useful info (and backbiting and sniping).

A

On Fri, February 13, 2009 10:44, John Carter wrote:
> So I could find no Canterbury local meatspace dealer who had one of
> these gadgets so I ordered it from Expert Infotech in Auckland.
> http://www.einfo.co.nz/
>
>
> $628 bought me - 1Gb ram, 20Gm flash drive, wireless, bluetooth,
> ethernet, usb* 3
>
> I ordered it Monday, it arrived in Chch Thursday.
>
>
> Alas, I was _not_ happy with the service from NZCouriers. Despite all
> the happy web parcel tracking magic they provide... (like tracert in slow
> motion) you really don't want to find an expensive cardboard parcel
> abandoned in the rain at your front door!
>
> Nor, when you open the parcel do you want to find somebody has dropped
> it with considerable force.
>
> Fortunately Asus packed the thing well enough that it looks as if it
> survived... although I haven't been able to get the wireless working yet.
>
> It runs Xandros linux, which seems to be a heavily kludged Debian
> distro that someone has tried very very hard to make look like a very easy
> to use windowsy type thing for very dumb users.
>
> Those who know me will understand how I felt, and get a good laugh at
> my expense, when I found there is no (visible) way of reaching a command
> line. (The answer is ctrl-alt-t)
>
> Alas, it doesn't come with synaptic installed.
>
>
> (Hey, apt-get works)
>
>
> It seems to have a 4Gb etx2 root partition and a 16 Gb ext3 "other"
> partition and no swap.
>
> Admittedly, until the moment I found apt-get, I was severely (and
> still am slightly) tempted to wipe the current distro and install Ubuntu
> Netbook Remix.
>
>
>
> Now if I can just install sshd so I can administer the thing from my
> desktop...
>
> I'll tell you more as I find out more about the thing.
>
>
> 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: Asus eee pc 901 Linux

[Andrew Errington]

On Fri, February 13, 2009 11:20, Derek Smithies wrote:
> On Fri, 13 Feb 2009, John Carter wrote:
>> Hokay, Xandros is doomed no emacs, not even in the repository.
>>
> That is criminal - how can you call it a linux distro when emacs is not
> installed?

Because it has vi instead.  D'uh!

A

Today's positive vibe story (long)

[Andrew Errington]

I know I shouldn't be too surprised, but I am always happy when things
'just work'.

In a previous email I said that I have bought an Acer Aspire One netbook. 
I want to put Linux on it, but I am sort of waiting for distros to
untangle themselves.  I want KDE, but I hear KDE 4.0 is not so good, so
really I need KDE 4.2 or KDE 3.5.  Ubuntu is supposed to work quite well
on the Aspire One, but you need the latest version to do it properly, but
the KDE version is 4.0.  Mepis was my distro of choice last time I looked,
but 7.0 (the current version) doesn't fully support the Aspire One
hardware and 8.0 is very likely to be ideal, but it's in RC2 stage and not
finally released.  There are other distros that work with the Aspire One,
but I want to use Mepis (or some other Debian/Ubuntu derivative).  More to
the point, I want someone else to use Mepis 8.0 on the Aspire One and tell
me what to do...

But I digress.

This email is about the LG Slimline portable DVD writer (GP08LU10) I
bought to accompany the Aspire One.  It's also about Mepis and Linux and
standards.  Later I can use it to boot the Aspire to install Linux, but
currently I can use it to make DVD archives of my photos (which are backed
up regularly to and external USB drive too).  The drive was $180 at Noel's
(you can find it about $40 cheaper from online retailers).  It plugs into
a single USB socket, but does have an additional USB power cable if the
USB power is not grunty enough.  It seems to support all flavours of
writable DVDs and CDs.

My 10 year old slightly wrecked ThinkPad 600X has been running Mepis for
three years now (bought on TradeMe for not many $$$).  I have a version of
K3b from whenever Mepis 6.0 was frozen.  I plugged the drive into the
laptop.  It works.  I ran KsCD and told it to use digital audio to ALSA
and it played CDs.  I am currently running K3b to burn the first 4.1Gb
chunk of photos to a DVD-R.  It seems to be working!

It's all a bit slow- the ThinkPad has a 600MHz Pentium processor and about
400Mb RAM.  It has a single USB v1 socket.  The battery is knackered and
pointing stick is broken.  I have to go through a complicated dance at
boot time to cancel the BIOS error reports as I plug in an external mouse.
 Networking is provided via a PCMCIA ethernet card (how quaint) and the
80Gb hard drive I installed is almost full.  But, *it works*, and the
newest hardware I just plugged in works too!

I hope that the disk I am currently burning will actually be readable
(I'll know in about an hour, don't laugh), but aside from that I am
pleased to see that a laptop designed 12 years ago and built 10 years ago
works with an OS that was never specifically designed for it to drive new
hardware that was not in existence at the time the sofware was frozen.  I
never expect things like this to work, but I am always pleasantly
surprised when it does.

Best wishes,

Andrew

Re: Thanks Derek...

[Andrew Errington]

Hi Hadley,

That sounds great!

When you have some stock, please announce it on the Christchurch Robotics
Group mailing list (or tell me and I'll do it).

Here are the list details (and anyone else interested in hobby robotics is
welcome to sign up or come along to a meeting- next meeting Wednesday 18th
Feb).

Chchrobotics mailing list, web site: http://kiwibots.org
chchrobot...@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/chchrobotics

Best wishes,

Andrew

On Thu, February 12, 2009 10:05, Hadley Rich wrote:
> Steve Holdoway wrote:
>
>> Where's Hads when you need him (:
>>
>
> Hi all,
>
>
> My ears were burning yesterday (okay, Criggie pointed out this
> conversation) so I thought I'd re-subscribe and say hello. Hello.
>
> We've actually been arranging to bring in some Arduino hardware over the
> past couple of weeks and should have it available over the next few weeks.
>
>
> If anyone has any specific requests for boards/shields/etc. feel free to
> contact me - we're just about to place our initial order.
>
> hads :) --
> http://nicegear.co.nz
> VoIP, DVB and other Linux compatible hardware.
>
>

Re: USB Optical drives was Re: Linux Netbooks...

[Andrew Errington]

On Thu, February 5, 2009 16:29, Craig Falconer wrote:
> Andrew Errington wrote, On 05/02/09 15:20:
>
>> I like my Aspire One.  I think I will like it more with Linux, but that
>>  entails investing some effort into the process, plus outlaying cash
>> for an external DVD drive.  Oh, and an external hard drive for backups
>> (Noel's
>> has one for $90 160Gb.  I swear I am not on commission!)
>
> We had a desperate need for a USB connected CDROM here... so I connected
> a 5.25" CDROM drive to a 3.5" hard drive IDE USB adapter, and it worked
> well enough.  Needed mains power of course.
>
> You don't necessarily need an expensive portable laptop optical drive.

True, but I want to carry it with me when travelling.

Andrew

Re: Acer Aspire Linux Netbooks?

[Andrew Errington]

> Well... there seems to be a new hype word in the market these
> days. "netbook", "sub notebook", "mini notebook".

Absolutely.  I've been using junkers for years now, and I decided the new
'netbook' format would be better for travelling.  Having travelled with
two 'regular' notebooks I know I'm right.  The two I have just bought when
placed side by side are about the same size as one of the laptops I used
to carry. The only compromises I can see are the 1024x600 screen and no
optical drive.

Andrew

Re: Linux Netbooks...

[Andrew Errington]

There's also the HP MiniNote (or something like that), the MSI Wind, and
something from Toshiba, just to muddy the waters a little.

They're all very similar, since they're all based on the Intel Atom
reference platform.

Your choice is guided by

a) How they look (size, shape, screen)
b) How they feel (keyboard, weight, touchpad)
c) How much they cost

Fortunately you can find most of them on display at Noel Leeming, Harvey
Norman or Dick Smith.  This means you can have a good look and try out the
keyboard and touchpad.

Asus started the trend with the Eee, but IMHO they dropped the ball and
their later models missed the sweet spot in terms of capability and price.
 Not only that, but Microsoft stuck their oar in and decided that XP's
death could be prolonged for long enough to make buyers in this niche
suffer as much as others before them.

There seems to be a good support network for Linux on almost any one of
these units, but often for the best price you have to buy XP and then
upgrade to Linux, since although some models have Linux versions available
they are often not easily found in NZ.

I like my Aspire One.  I think I will like it more with Linux, but that
entails investing some effort into the process, plus outlaying cash for an
external DVD drive.  Oh, and an external hard drive for backups (Noel's
has one for $90 160Gb.  I swear I am not on commission!)

Have fun shopping!

Andrew

On Thu, February 5, 2009 13:33, John Carter wrote:
> Hmm. Googling some more... (sigh! this is becoming a bigger question
> than I have time for at work)
>
> There seems to be three linux netbooks on the market.
>
>
> Dell inspiron mini
> Asus ee pc
> Acer inspire one
>
>
> INSPIRON, INSPIRe ONe, is someone trying to tell me something?
>
>
> Being hardware, which can go wron, rong, wrung, I prefer local
> suppliers I can waltz up to on a saturday morning and say "fix / replace".
>
> Anyone compared the three and come to any useful conclusions?
>
>
> 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 Linux Netbooks?

[Andrew Errington]

Hi John (and list),

I have one.  It's running XP right now, but I plan to install Mepis 8.0
when it exits RC status.

There are many models in the range, but not all are available in NZ.  I
suggest you head to PriceSpy www.pricespy.co.nz and search for "Aspire
One".  You will get two subcategories- Linux and XP, but they are not well
defined, so study both results lists.

General options in NZ are:

RAM is either 512Mb (Linux) or 1Gb (XP)

SSD (?Gb) or hard drive (120Gb or 160Gb)

Here in NZ only the 3-cell battery option is available, but a 6-cell
battery can be purchased separately.  Also the built-in webcam is 300k
pixels (there is a 1.3Mp version in the US).

I have two of the 1Gb/160Gb XP models in black and white.  They cost just
over $800 from Noel Leeming (who have a 7 day return policy and a 28 day
replacement policy).

So far I am extremely happy with mine- everything works.  Here are the
caveats however (and all of these relate to the out-of-the-box state with
XP):

1) No recovery disk is provided
There is a hidden partition for restoring XP, but this won't help you if
the hard disk goes bang (or if you choose to wipe the entire disk
installing Linux).  There is a utility to make your own disk (if you have
a CD/DVD writer), but it doesn't seem to work for me.  An 'official'
recovery disk set (1 CD and 1 DVD) does exist, and if you are in the US
you can encourage Acer to send one for free, but I have an open enquiry
with Acer on this topic for NZ.

2) Wifi dropouts
The black and white ones I have are identical apart from the BIOS version
(as far as I can tell).  Mine (black) has no trouble with Wifi, but my
wife's (white) drops the connection randomly, or after suspending the
laptop.  This *might* be a known issue, but since Noel's will swap for a
new machine we'll try that approach (it's after 7 days now).

Dare I say it, but I'm almost not looking forward to putting Linux on it
because it 'just works'.  XP is fine for web surfing (Firefox) and
OpenOffice, but I actually want to be able to *do* stuff with it, so I
will put Linux on once I have sorted out the XP restore disk set. 
Googling around shows that most of the recent distros work well out of the
box, with only a little tweaking required (people forget that Windows
actually needs a lot of tweaking, but when you buy it pre-installed that's
all been done for you).

Aside from that, the screen is clear and bright (vertical resolution is
only 600 pixels, but this turns out to be less of an issue than imagined).
 Built-in audio (mic and speakers) is adequate.  The keyboard is excellent
IMHO, and the touchpad is fine (it's Synaptics).  There's nothing not to
like.

I haven't tried DVD playing (either locally or via a network), but you
will of course need an external DVD drive if you want to do it locally. 
Word on the street is that the LG slimline external DVD writer is a good
match for the Aspire One (Noel's has it for $180, but PriceSpy will find
it cheaper).

I am very happy with mine, and since everything works I expect we can sort
out the white one too.

Best wishes,

Andrew


On Thu, February 5, 2009 10:22, John Carter wrote:
> I have totally given up trying to buy a laptop.
>
>
> You have to buy Windows and the continuous "M$ftOwnsOurSoul company
> recommends Windows Vista(TM)" bleat ruins any joy I'd get from the thing.
>
> But I have just noticed Bruce Perens has one of these Acer Aspire One
> Linux netbooks.
>
>
> That guy plays even harder "Open Source" ball than I do, so I'm
> sitting up and interested in these things...
>
> Anyone have one of these gadgets? (Or equivalent)
>
>
> Where did you get it from / price?
>
>
> I'm trying to decrease the fierce and rather disruptive competition
> for multimedia devices amongst my kids is it fast enough of streaming
> media / mount DVD on Big Grunty desktop DVD drive and view via wireless
> (or USB 8Gb pen drive) on netbook?
>
>
> Any opinions on these (or similar) things from those who have one?
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 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: USB turntables, anyone?

[Andrew Errington]

Hi Wesley,

As others have pointed out, if you have a record player already then you
can hook it up to the audio input of your PC sound card and record the
sound that way.

If you don't have one then they are easily found at Jaycar (stock codes
GE4056, GE4057, GE4059 are the obvious ones, about $150 to $200, but they
have more).  Dickies lists one with USB output (A0764).  It's expensive at
$299 (but it's a Sony!).

There may be others available, but Jaycar and Dickies are the obvious
local suppliers.

No idea about Linux compatibility.

Have fun,

Andrew

On Mon, February 2, 2009 00:00, Wesley Parish wrote:
> I've got some vinyl that I'd like to transfer to one or t'other digital
> medium.  Is it true that there is a USB turntable for percisely this
> purpose?
>
> If so, and someone's got a copy of it, please let me konw.  I want to get
> the likes of "Sneaky Pete" Kleinow, Buddy Emmons, "Winnie" Winston etc,
> onto something I can listen to on a regular basis.
>
> thanks
>
> Wesley Parish
> --
> Clinersterton beademung, with all of love - RIP James Blish
> -
> Gaul is quartered into three halves.  Things which are
> impossible are equal to each other.  Guerrilla warfare means up to their
> monkey tricks. Extracts from "Schoolboy Howlers" - the collective wisdom
> of the foolish. -
> Mau e ki, he aha te mea nui?
> You ask, what is the most important thing?
> Maku e ki, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata.
> I reply, it is people, it is people, it is people.
>
>

Re: Acer Aspire One

[Andrew Errington]

Ok, handy.  I hadn't found the biffsocko page, but it is specific to the
HD version.  The other ones concern the SSD version.  If Ubuntu works then
pretty much any derivative will (Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Mepis, ad nauseum).

Unfortunately, IMHO the Asus keyboard sucks rocks, and so does the
touchpad.  The Acer has a better keyboard and a Synaptics touchpad, so
that's all good.

Thanks,

Andrew

On Mon, January 26, 2009 14:27, Craig Falconer wrote:
> Andrew Errington wrote, On 26/01/09 13:53:
>
>> I'm buying one these, with a 160Gb hard drive and Windows XP.  Anyone
>> else bought one (either 120Gb HD or 160Gb HD) and put Linux on it (which
>> is what I want to do)?  What distro, what caveats?  How did it work out?
>>
>
> I'd buy the asus over the acer myself.
>
>
> http://manurevah.com/blah/en/linux/kubuntu-aspire-one.php
> http://www.biffsocko.com/linux_on_laptops/acer_aspire_one.html
> http://wiki.debian.org/DebianAcerOne
> ...says el-goog.
>
>
> --
> Craig Falconer
>
>
>

Acer Aspire One

[Andrew Errington]

Hi all,

I'm buying one these, with a 160Gb hard drive and Windows XP.  Anyone else
bought one (either 120Gb HD or 160Gb HD) and put Linux on it (which is
what I want to do)?  What distro, what caveats?  How did it work out?

Thanks,

Andrew

Re: Problems posting to the list (fwd)

[Andrew Errington]

This problem is invariably due to posting from a different account to that
which you originally subscribed.

Every time.

Vik's address that bounces:
Vik Olliver 

Most recent successful post in my CLUG folder from:
Vik Olliver 

Coincidence?  I think not.

A




On Fri, January 9, 2009 09:50, John Carter wrote:
> Vik Olliver is getting bounces from the list so he forwarded the
> bounce to me... I'm the wrong person in the sense I have no admin control
> on the list, so perhaps someone out there can work out whats happening to
> him?
>
> (Vik, you haven't been using something as suspicious as bittorrent to
> download Ubunto ISO's again? You know they don't like it ;-))
>
>
>
> John Carter Phone : (64)(3) 358 6639
> Tait ElectronicsFax   : (64)(3) 359 4632
> PO Box 1645 ChristchurchEmail : john.car...@tait.co.nz
> New Zealand
>
>
>
> -- Forwarded message --
> Date: Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:28:00 +1300
> From: Vik Olliver 
> To: John Carter 
> Subject: Problems posting to the list
>
>
> John,
>
>
> I have problems posting to the list. Dunno why, but ofcourse I can't post
> to it to ask!
>
> Attached is the bounce. It seems to be from a mail address that I'm not
> sending to, so I don;t think it's me that's broken. Feel free to post
> wholesale.
>
> Vik :v)
>
>

Re: KDE 4 anyone?

[Andrew Errington]

On Thu, January 8, 2009 17:30, David Lowe wrote:
> My only issue has been that I have found it troublesome to connect to
> corporate network shares. Dolphin has its pluses but browsing networks is
> not one of them. I found a thing called smb4k which helped.
>
> Apart from that, I'd be happy to recommend it.

Do you have to use Dolphin?  Try Konqueror and use smb:// in the address bar.

A