Re: Netbook opinions?
'Course, if you just want something small with a keyboard that runs Linux try the Nokia N900. I luvs it. Runs X apps and you get root :) Vik :v)
Re: Netbook opinions?
Hadley Rich wrote: On Wed, 2010-04-07 at 15:01 +1200, Vik Olliver wrote: 'Course, if you just want something small with a keyboard that runs Linux try the Nokia N900. I luvs it. Runs X apps and you get root :) The N900 is cool, though it is a *lot* smaller than a netbook. It certainly is. But on the plus side it takes a bluetooth keyboard and you can plug it into a telly in the hotel room. I wanna try it with a HUD! Vik :v)
Re: Acer Aspire One netbook booting off a USB flash drive
Andrew Errington wrote: Something like this, perhaps? http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.9391 I got one of these. They're less than a buck and *tiny*. http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.7134 Vik :v)
Re: Netbook recommendations?
On Wed, 2010-01-13 at 11:31 +1300, Craig Falconer wrote: And screen res doesn't mean smaller fonts - it means more and smaller pixels available for smoother display. Speaking of which, the Pixel Qi screens used on the OLPC come out for OEM use this year. Damn fine items. Vik :v)
Re: Skype on Kubuntu
On 26/11/09 Christopher Sawtell wrote: Has anybody got Skype ( ver. 2.1.0.47 ) video to work on (K)ubuntu Kosmic Koala ( or what ever it is that they are callling the 9.10 version - I forget ) ? Krashing Koala, I find. Hopefully the recent nvidia fixups will help. Vik :v)
Re: New CPU and M/Board
On 02/11/09 Nick Rout wrote: IMHO if you want an intel processor go for an intel chipset, they are very well supported. Couple that with a nVidia grahics card and you get the advantages of accelerated hardware for video playback. I'd say go for an Intel rather than an Nvidia. No end of grief with Nvidia drivers under Ubuntu. Vik :v)
Re: New CPU and M/Board
On 02/11/09 Roger Searle wrote: My previous endless/frequent nvidia grief came to an end at Intrepid and a reinstall (rather than upgrade) and has just worked ever since. Tried a dist-upgrade to Karmic yet? Vik :v)
Re: New CPU and M/Board
On 02/11/09 Roger Searle wrote: A couple of upgrades so far, issues yes, but none related to nvidia, nor for this dual screen setup - yay! But that's just my particular set of luck this time around. Am still waiting for the day that there are none, there always seems to be something that's not quite right and needs to be fiddled with. All part of the fun, isn't it? As much fun as a rattlesnake in a lucky dip. I just seem to be a crap magnet. Vik :v)
Re: OT: stepper motors, etc
On 02/06/09 Wesley Parish wrote: Sorry to be so off-topic, but are there any stepper motor suppliers in Christchurch? I'm wondering if there are any small enough to fit in a cramped location, yet powerful enough to change tension on a wire already under considerable tension? And electrically robust enough to handle regular on-off switching, while using as minimal an amount of current at as low a voltage as possible? You probably want to drive the tensioner through a worm gear, which automatically ratchets. If you do find a supplier of nice stepper motors, please let me know. I can only find fairly feeble ones from Jaycar that asplode if left connected to their rated operating voltage. Vik :v)
Re: Microsoft's Bulk Deal With New Zealand Collapses
On 27/05/09 Andrew Errington wrote: Did anyone read about this? http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/05/26/0155209/Microsofts-Bulk-Deal-With-New-Zealand-Collapses?art_pos=2 Posted by some guy called Vik :) so *he* knows about it. I got the news about 10 mins after I posted yesterday's New Clippings out. It'll be in today's issue. pimp Feel free to contact me for a gratis subscription. No spam, no adverts, concise news plus URLs, ASCII only e-mail. /pimp Vik :v)
Re: Kubuntu help please
On Sun, 2009-05-17 at 01:09 +1200, Volker Kuhlmann wrote: I guess the bottom line is KDE 4 isn't quite there yet. As (K?)ubuntu doesn't offer anything beyond vanilla in terms of system config, Kubuntu 9.04 is sort of also not quite there yet and a few years behind in places. Kubuntu 8.10 wasn't there either. It took me a month and a half to get 8.10 going. Now I'm having almost exactly the same problems with 9.04: The shipped nvidia closed driver crashes my laptop and knetwork manager just doesn't work. File bugs on launchpad. Lots of them. Vik :v)
Re: Small-form-factor as a desktop machine
On 13/03/09 David Lowe wrote: I've been using an eee box for three months as a desktop at home. Happy to recommend it. Using the default Xandros is a bit heavy weight for the power limitations, so I'm about to install Xubuntu which should make for a snappier experience if the live CD is anything to go by. Yup, works a treat. But you do need 8.10 to recognise the video properly. I especially like the way I can mount the unit on the back of the monitor. All very nice and tidy. 19 monitor at 1400 something works fine.All other peripherals work out of the box, so to speak. Heh, I of course had a monitor that didn't have the mount holes. So I heated up some acrylic strips and bent them over the top of the monitor to hold the Eee Box in place. It's no power machine, but handles all the day to day stuff quite happily. I had to upgrade mine to 2GiB RAM, but other than that it is handling my RepRap work (much big Java apps) very well. Vik :v)
Re: Kubuntu - good bad and ugly
On 21/02/09 yuri wrote: It also warns that 4.2 is beta and may break things. Like wifi networking and bluetooth. Vik :v)
Re: wireless connecting - network manager problem?
On 20/02/09 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. Same thing here, but not limited to GNOME. I have now had to revert to GNOME completely because KDE4.2 is completely failing to bring up network connections. GNOME is bad but can actually do it if I retry long enough. I have 75% signal. My OLPC shows only 2 other wifi nodes nearby, my Linux laptop does not see them as it is closer to ground level :) Vik :v)
Re: en_nz dictionaries?
On 12/02/09 Payne, Owen wrote: Um, technically it went metric, but they never really had the spine to enforce it, so all the kids are taught in metric, whilst the rest of the country uses imperial. If you ask about this anyone over 40 tells you it's because they find it easier to work out I disagree. I'm slightly over 40 and from the UK. I remember things going metric, just. Some things were a bit weird (hosepipe in 20 metre rolls, diameter of 1/2 or 3/4 inch etc.) and for a long time things sold in pounds were just relabelled 454g. However, once the use of metric standards was enshrined things definitely became easier. An example would be building materials on 600mm centres, and the metric thread standards. Just re-labelling in metric does not equate to metrification, the materials you use need to be available in malleable metric sizes as well. The dimensions of things like standard sizes of timber evolved to make sense in the imperial system. To make sense in metric, actual dimensions need to change - or it is indeed easier to work it out in imperial. Vik :v)
Re: en_nz dictionaries?
On 12/02/09 Zane Gilmore wrote: Britain does *not* use metric standards. We were there about 3 years ago and petrol was sold in gallons and the speed signs were in miles per hour. The speedo on our rental car was in mph. Stuff at the supermarket was sold in pounds. Britain has *not* gone metric. Let me update you. Petrol is now sold in litres, and the supermarkets are now in grams and kilos. Road signs are supposedly going metric for the 2012 Olympics. The Department of Transport is balking at the cost. Spedometers have to have dual markings in km/h and miles/h. Vik :v)
Re: Thanks Derek...
On 11/02/09 Derek Smithies wrote: Arduino http://www.arduino.cc/ Anyone found a local source yet? Vik :v)
Re: Thanks Derek...
On 11/02/09 Nick Rout wrote: Theres one in Oz I believe Yes, Littlebird. That's where I usually order them from. Delivery charges suck. Vik :v)
Re: Christchurch RepRaps - OT
On 28/01/09 Andrew Sands wrote: I've recently read an online article about someone using one with a dremel to make a pcb drilling platform (CNC). Hence my further interest. Andrew We've got people doing this with RepRaps and repstraps. Metalab in Vienna seem to be at the forefront. Vik :v)
Christchurch RepRaps - OT
Is there anyone in Christchurch building a RepRap? I've been asked by someone moving into the area who is building one and wants to contact others. As we use Linux for developing the software I thought there was a fair chance of anyone doing so being on the list. It's also vaguely on topic :) Feel free to reply by private e-mail if you think it more appropriate. Vik :v)
Re: Problems posting to the list (fwd)
On 09/01/09 Andrew Errington wrote: 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 v...@diamondage.co.nz Most recent successful post in my CLUG folder from: Vik Olliver v...@olliver.family.gen.nz Coincidence? I think not. Sorry, failure to handle multiple identities in Thunderbird. Well, I didn't know I *had* multiple identities in Thunderbird... Vik :v)
Re: just to show it's not just redhat...
On Thu, 2008-11-27 at 09:33 +1300, Derek Smithies wrote: flash plugins do not exist for 64 bit. They expect you to run the browswer in 32 bit mode, with 32 bit flash plugins, for optimal performance. Adobe, for a change, have launched Flash 10 64-bit on Linux before anything else: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/ Vik :v)
Re: just to show it's not just redhat...
On Thu, 2008-11-27 at 10:52 +1300, Caleb Sawtell wrote: Er Actually flash 10 has been out of 32bit for a while... the 64 bit support is just new. Yes, but for a change, Linux gets the 64-bit version first. Other operating systems have to wait. Usually it's the other way around. Vik :v)
Re: Recording Skype conversations?
On Thu, 2008-11-27 at 13:41 +1300, Christopher Sawtell wrote: Anybody know a useful dodge to record Skype conversations? Ordinary boring audio patch lead from line out to line in. Vik :v)
Re: Recording Skype conversations?
On Thu, 2008-11-27 at 14:04 +1300, Christopher Sawtell wrote: both sockets in use by headphones and microphone. Ah, sorry. Genius here has a USB headset leaving little analogue porty things free for experimentation. Skype does not play nice. Vik :v)
Re: Woosh/Ubuntu/rp-pppoe
On Mon, 2008-11-24 at 13:45 +1200, sims wrote: Just wondering if anyone has successfully got a Woosh connection working using rp-pppoe and maybe able to help? I have the link up but can't connect, obviously can provide more info ... (have looked at the archives but no help) I've not had much joy with the Ubuntu rp-pppoe and I went back to an ancient version (3.3-8) that I alien'd from an RPM package. Vik :v)
Re: gnome panels
On Fri, 2008-11-21 at 14:18 +1300, Christopher Sawtell wrote: btw, which kde release suffers from all those problems? 4.1.2 and 4.1.3 Vik :v)
Re: gnome panels
On Fri, 2008-11-21 at 09:54 +1300, Zane Gilmore wrote: So what, exactly, is wrong with KDE4? I have not tried it yet but have heard that it is quite good-looking Except for the system tray, which has broken backgrounding. The CPU meter doesn't fit in the tray so you can't see how busy the machine is. You can't make the status bar stretch across more than one screen. There is no administrator mode for setting printers, so you can't do it from the GUI unless you run as root. Some status bar applets flash in time to the cursor on OpenOffice. There is no way to activate or de-activate the screensaver from a script. The desktop pager sometimes vanishes. The background sometimes vanishes. Opening windows are filled with shite. The new mail icon doesn't open your mail client. The network manager won't connect to a wireless network unless run as root, nor does it spot unsecured networks. The plasmoids don't supply the functionality of the old superkaramba widgets. Can I stop now? Vik :v)
Re: gnome panels
On Thu, 2008-11-20 at 14:58 +1300, Roger Searle wrote: Thanks to the buggy nature of KDE4 on my home workstation, I have made the move to gnome, and I like! I've been having a good little look and play around with it but have some unsolved mysteries I'm hoping to get assistance with. Terrible isn't it? KDE-lovers, avoid upgrading to Intrepid! I've even tried 4.1.3 through backports and it's not much better. I could've done without this. 4.1 is not ready for prime time. Vik :v)
Re: Newest Penguinista
On Sat, 2008-11-15 at 18:43 +1300, yuri wrote: On 2008-11-15 at 14:53 the newest Penguinista arrived: Marijke Aroha Anne de Groot 3.47kg (don't ask about lbs and Ozes - ~$ man units) Mother and baby are both happy. I reckon she'll probably chose kwrite over both vi and emacs. She definitely looks like a kde user. Congratulations from the other island, Yuri. Vik :v)
Re: Timothy Musson Ignuit 0.0.11
On Mon, 2008-11-10 at 15:01 +1300, Tim wrote: The program is a memory aid - especially helpful for language learning. If anyone feels like trying the program and sending me bug reports off-list, that'd be fantastic. But people keep forgetting to submit bug reports... Vik :v)
Re: Redhat support subscriptions
On Wed, 2008-11-05 at 14:45 +1300, Steve Holdoway wrote: The second reason is business insurance. Having certified support is a contributing factor in saving on the business insurance premiums, especially when it comes to IT. 1. I hereby certify myself as a support company 2. ??? 3. Profit I suspect some companies are happy just to have someone to pass the buck to who is on the outside. Vik :v)
Re: mail readers
On Wed, 2008-10-22 at 11:21 +1300, Aidan Gauland wrote: Hello, I've been using Thunderbird for a while now, but I'm wondering if there's a better mail reader for control freaks (like me :) ) out there. What mail readers do other control freaks on this list use? Evolution. Every so often it goes on a bender, and so do I. I guess all mail clients are like that. Vik :v)
Re: The Gooey Kbuntu Mess...
On Wed, 2008-10-22 at 13:33 +1300, David Lowe wrote: RAID and a decent NAS is next on my list after I've got my firewall going, which it should be this weekend. But I'm also reading about gigabit ethernet at the moment and I can see some (possibly marginal, but hey why not?) benefit in upgrading my switches and cabling before I get carried away with the NAS bit. Cheer up, RAID will fail in 2009 - Slashdot says so. Vik :v)
Re: Best way to get lamp on kbuntu?
On Tue, 2008-10-21 at 13:00 +1300, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Now I want apache, php, mysql, mysqladmin on the box. What's the best way to get that lot? Should I just apt-get the bits or is there a better way? Yup, just apt-get 'em. Let the Apache/Apache2 debate begin :) Vik :v)
Re: OS for RAID1
On Wed, 2008-10-15 at 20:32 +1300, Steve Holdoway wrote: On Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:27:51 +1300 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Steve Holdoway wrote: you need to use lenny to get softraid running... Ok, any idea how far lenny is away from stable? Cheers Don just do it. It's stable enough for most uses... Er, about 200 critical bugs off? I kid you not. http://viksnewsclippings.blogspot.com/2008/10/14-oct-2008-am-clippings.html Vik :v)
Re: Chch, the sociopath capital of the world.
On Thu, 2008-10-16 at 09:42 +1300, John Carter wrote: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1objectid=10537526 Home to those who don't give a shit about anything or anybody. A $200,000 fine for $3.3 million of commission. I think we're in the wrong business. ... I mean, the hit money would probably be more than that. Vik :v)
Re: OS for RAID1
On Thu, 2008-10-16 at 10:39 +1300, Steve Holdoway wrote: For example, what practical impact does 'arpack: DFSG-incompatible license' have??? It means it's against the Debian social contract and so can't be shipped as a stable release. I recommend that arcicles like there are taken with a pinch of salt. Personally, I'd install lenny before ubuntu on a production server. Still on Etch here... Vik :v)
Re: Internet in the sticks: was Home networking issues
On Tue, 2008-10-07 at 19:35 +1200, ampacker wrote: To run earlier (0.something) versions of the Vodafone Mobile Connect Card driver for Linux I had to remove usb-storage, but that's no longer required. I do have to start the driver with sudo. The Vodem stays plugged in throughout. Ah, thanks. I'll give that a bash. Vik :v)
Re: Internet in the sticks: was Home networking issues
On Sun, 2008-10-05 at 15:47 +1300, Kerry wrote: I got a friends vodem working on her lappie running Ubuntu last week following these instructions: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/chakkaradeep/4366 Yeah, didn't work for me - I needed sudo and no usb-storage. I see they're up to 2.0beta3 now though, so I'll try it again later. Vik :v)
Re: Run application pop-up
On Thu, 2008-09-18 at 12:33 +1200, Douglas Royds wrote: Tab completion would conflict with normal GTK behaviour: The Tab key (almost) always means move the focus to the next field in the GUI. In short, it ain't a GTK box I'm after. http://mterm.sourceforge.net/ ? Vik :v)
Re: Fw: Using One's Browsing History To Guess Gender
On Thu, 2008-09-18 at 14:53 +1200, Kerry wrote: Likelihood of you being FEMALE is 50% Likelihood of you being MALE is 50% I suppose even being right half the time will get a pass mark on some tests. Sounds like a balanced personality to me. Vik :v)
Re: Run application pop-up
On Thu, 2008-09-18 at 15:24 +1200, Douglas Royds wrote: Close, but no cigar. It has its own built-in tab completion, for executables only. I want to be able to do something like: evince ~/stuff/some.pdf With tab completion. Sorry, that was my best guess. I hear the new KDE4 run box will do it though. I was given a demo of the prototype at LCA earlier this year. Vik :v)
Re: Fw: Using One's Browsing History To Guess Gender
On Thu, 2008-09-18 at 15:26 +1200, Steve Holdoway wrote: You mean women don't spend most of their time browsing sites on 1970's fords??? ( actually, my list says nvidia, /. and belkin.com are the biggest culprits ) Try the RepRap site. No female RepRappers! They have been hunted to extinction. Oh woe is me. Vik :v)
Re: Stallman's visit pays dividends....
On Tue, 2008-09-16 at 09:52 +1200, David Lowe wrote: RADIO NZ ROLLS OUT OGG VORBIS Trial results for free multimedia format are positive, says webmaster http://s0.tx.co.nz/at/tep34n864113j191842i277986f2c280148a4t9s4z I guess the trick now is to make sure it gets used so that it's worth their while! Another of those shining examples of an how online magazine telling you about a wonderful service, and then omitting the URL. Vik :v)
Re: Stallman's visit pays dividends....
On Tue, 2008-09-16 at 10:49 +1200, Nick Rout wrote: Kudos to them. But why does ComputerWorld take so long to mention it? Maybe it took a while for the press release to be circulated? Vik :v)
Re: Ubuntu on Windows box
On Mon, 2008-09-08 at 23:10 -0700, David Merrick wrote: What is the best way to run Ubuntu on a Windows Vista machine? Shrink the partition, then create a new one and install into that (plus swap if desired). I used gparted. Vik :v)
Re: meeting Tues 7.30pm?
On Tue, 2008-09-09 at 09:15 +1200, Caleb Sawtell wrote: I do believe that I am doing a talk about inkscape topday Excellent program - should be good. I've used it commercially and for CAD on Ponoko. Vik :v)
Re: OT: What will people end up doing for a job?Re: Vic Oliver on radiolive now.
On Wed, 2008-09-03 at 23:23 +1200, Andrew Turner wrote: cue Von Neumann. My hero. Vik :v)
Re: Vic Oliver on radiolive now.
On Tue, 2008-09-02 at 10:47 +1200, Kerry wrote: Having spent a few years in the building industry I find that sort of thing fascinating. Vic talked briefly about the scalability of his printer up to building houses, I'd love to see that. I'll work up to it in stages. I'll probably print car bodies first. Vik :v) PS I'm used to being spellt worng.
Re: OT: What will people end up doing for a job?Re: Vic Oliver on radiolive now.
On Wed, 2008-09-03 at 13:36 +1200, Don Gould wrote: If we get to the point where robots build houses for us, what will we end up doing for work? It's ok for the few people that can own one of these machines... As the best ones are going to self-replicate, it won't be just limited to an elite few. Do we all just end up being accountants and web designers? Nope. Computers were supposed to do all the thinking - it didn't quite work out that way. While commerce has subverted them into a way of investigating and controlling its clients, many people have used them for what they are - another tool to help them do what they like to do better. Fabricators and robots will go the same way - unless we're daft enough to let commerce control what they can and cannot do. I can see that there will be 3 ways to get new physical objects: Get a cheapo mass-produced one (off the shef, fab on demand or download one off the interwebs), design one yourself (fab it on your own facilities, or send the plans to a smithy), or get someone who is really good at designing to do it for you. The availability of customised fabrication facilities may even boost the numbers of artisans. Vik :v)
Re: OT: Skype Standards. Was: Re: SIP phones and pfsense....
On Tue, 2008-08-26 at 15:14 +1200, Nick Rout wrote: The reason it shouldn't be used is that it isn't in the standard. So the choices are: (1) Get Microsoft to adhere to the standards, or (2) Implement an exception allowing optional non-strict interpretation of the standard. (3) Let Open Source users suffer by rigidly adhering to the standard. So, (1) is impossible, (2) is practical, and (3) only benefits people who don't adhere to the standard. What *is* the appropriate process when a monopoly abuses its position in defiance of a standard? Vik :v)
Re: SIP phones and pfsense....
On Sat, 2008-08-23 at 23:02 +1200, Chris Hellyar wrote: Suggests that pfsense/siproxd should just work, and it opens the ports for you.. Hence my assumption that I've missed the obvious. What adsl router are you using outside the WRT? I'm just setting up a test phone on a different SIP provider, to see if I get any joy with that... One question: Why is this so much harder to do with Open Source software than it is with Skype? I load and run Skype, it works. It doesn't care what firewall I have, who has what proxies or any of that nonsense. I hate Skype for being non-free, but I have to use it because non-techies can't set up any of the Open alternatives. Why does it have to be like this? Vik :v)
Re: SIP phones and pfsense....
On Mon, 2008-08-25 at 10:25 +1200, Jim Cheetham wrote: Skype is written specifically to benefit the parent company; specifically to cope with the case where the end-user doesn't know what to do besides just press the green go button. I don't see why easy of use has to be tied to a parent company. SIP is written to be a carrier-grade messaging system, by people who like to co-operate with networks and standards. And this is mutually incompatible with making an easy to use free product because...? I hate Skype for being non-free, but I have to use it because You don't *have* to use it. They can call a PSTN number just as easily as they can call a Skype user -- it's the same green button. You don't *have* to save *their* money. You're using Skype for *convenience*, don't pretend otherwise. Quite right. I could instead use a different for-fee proprietary network such as Telecom or Vodafone. But this would cost me more for the same end effect and so is a dumb idea. If you were to use an open protocol, you'd be able to benefit from some of the innovation going on. How about, every time Fred calls you the call time and duration get logged automatically into your trouble ticketing or billing application? You can't do that with Skype *unless* Skype themselves decide to add that feature. You can do it today even with pure hardware SIP phones, because implementors of Open Standards are allowed to innovate independantly. Yes, and if the SIP stuff had a wrapper that did the Skype-like autoconfig then a lot more ordinary people (as opposed to just us technical literati) would actually be able to use it. non-techies can't set up any of the Open alternatives. Why does it have to be like this? Ah, now the deeper question -- why isn't Free software easier to use? Because most people that are motivated to produce code are not motivated by ease of use. Some are -- Gnome for example. But even they are unable to respond quickly when something changes ... Er, not quite what I meant. What's the technical workings that makes Skype auto-configurable and how does one go about gluing it into a SIP auto-configuration wrapper? What needs to change? Who needs to be lent on? Vik :v)
Re: SIP phones and pfsense....
On Mon, 2008-08-25 at 13:58 +1200, Jim Cheetham wrote: Skype will use any and all network ports that it can find open, regardless of their reason. It will send your call data over port 443, pretending to be HTTPS traffic in order to defeat your proxy systems. SIP uses only the ports that are described in the open standard, and only with the type of content that is described in the open standard. So, Skype has done what is necessary to work while Open Source SIP apps won't work for people because they won't adapt. Looks to me like a case of technical purity being held over the needs of the user. I'm not a fan of that. It makes Open Source apps stagnate and die. Vik :v)
Re: SIP phones and pfsense....
On Mon, 2008-08-25 at 15:37 +1200, Don Gould wrote: Programmers in the MS Windows space are willing to go to the end mile to just make applications work for the user and don't care whos technical foot they stand on along the way. The obvious riposte to that is, of course, If we all did that then standards would be useless. I hope to head off a bit of sidetracking here, and push the concept of improving on a standard in an Open way to benefit users as being very distinct from the pig-headed I'll-dick-with-this-to-completely-break-it-for-everyone-but-me approach. Vik :v)
Re: OT: Top Posting.
http://xkcd.com/169/ Vik :v) On Thu, 2008-06-26 at 23:44 +1200, Christopher Sawtell wrote: Christopher Sawtell Sincerely etc., == :-) I hope I have made my point? amusing moment ) word into Google for a very ( Folks might care to put that better apply the Voldemort conventions. software house to which we had and abetted by a certain a work of Satan, ably aided that I class top posting as I hope this makes the point ...
Re: slow data rates for usb flash drive
On Tue, 2008-06-24 at 23:19 +1200, Nick Rout wrote: Is the difference that you can read from flash disk 6 times faster than you can write to it? (thats a guess, not a statement of fact). That'd be a fair assumption. There are also different kinds of flash. The ones that store multiple bits per cell are even slower to write to. Vik :v)
Re: OT: More on Zoomin maps...
On Wed, 2008-06-18 at 10:04 +1200, Derek Smithies wrote: Hi, Just another comment on the swmbo line:: Many guys think they are the head of the household. The reality is that they are just the chairman of the fundraising subcommittee. Oh, no. I am definitely the head of the household. My wife is the neck, and she'll turn the head in any direction she wants. Vik :v)
Re: Openmoko
On Fri, 2008-06-13 at 18:27 +1200, Daniel Hill wrote: doesn't telecom work with GSM now? Not just yet. Vik :v)
Re: DOH....
On Tue, 2008-06-03 at 17:23 +1200, Robert Fisher wrote: Even if it does no electrical damage the afforementioned chemical takes ages to lose its smell. (I know from experience) It corrodes keyboard membranes too! Vik :v)
Re: A quick quiz for fun
On Mon, 2008-05-12 at 19:27 +1200, Volker Kuhlmann wrote: Oops, it told me I got 0. Must be the cookies... Yeah, some of the green ones they bake in the Coromandel allegedly get you like that. Vik :v)
Re: Horrendous Hardy Heron Vertual Terminal.
If I had to guess, I'd suggest a framebuffer problem. Can you boot with the noframebuffer option specified? Vik :v) On Mon, 2008-05-12 at 21:34 +1200, Christopher Sawtell wrote: It's happened! After about 5 years of solid compiling the latest and greatest every w/e, I have decided to give Kubuntu a go. The transition was not as ghastly as I feared BUT:- When using any of the black screen Virtual Terminals, the text is rendered in some sort of rune script consisting of small rectangles and vertical lines. the commands 'reset' and 'stty sane' have no effect whatsoever, Any Hardy Heronistas who have the slightest notion of what's going on, going to the meeting tomorrow?
Re: A quick quiz for fun
On Mon, 2008-05-12 at 16:30 +1200, Nick Rout wrote: http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/survey/9 Post back your results, I got 90/100. Pah. Only managed 80/100 Vik :v)
Re: I'm officially grumpy! Audiobooks for visually impaired.
On Tue, 2008-04-22 at 14:04 +1200, John Carter wrote: None have tactile deducible controls. (ie. Can feel, braille like, which control it is.) Roll-your-own keys and hack them into an MP3 player or talking picture frame? Vik :v)
Re: Laptop recommendations for Linux
On Tue, 2008-04-08 at 00:46 +1200, Christopher Sawtell wrote: I had a very quick play with one in Dickie's and found the keyboard a right pain on account of its size. These are machines are obviously designed for use by school children. People with small hands at any rate. Not being sexist/racist here, but girls Asians seem to get on fine with them. My (adult) daughter has no trouble with hers, but then she can use an OLPC without much difficulty! Vik :v)
Re: Laptop recommendations for Linux
On Mon, 2008-04-07 at 12:55 +1200, stringer wrote: Dick SMith advertised an Acer Aspire AS5315 for $798 less $149 cashback, but none left at Riccarton yesterday (Celeron processor, 512 MB ram, 80 Gig HDD, 15.4 display, DVD multi drive Visto Home licence) The guy tried to sell me the next model up for $1099 less $99 which had 1 gig ram, twice the hard drive and a dual core processor. They also had an Asus Z99LE at $999. Dual core 1 gig etc etc They also have a Linux Acer, which I saw yesterday at the Auckland LUG. Looks like everything bar the microphone now works, and that apparently has a patch. Vik :v)
Re: Capturing sound from Linux apps (ALSA info)
On Mon, 2008-03-17 at 21:34 +1200, Aidan Gauland wrote: And about what Vik said: Can audacity do this on it own? If you plug the line out into line in, yes :) Vik :v)
Re: Capturing sound from Linux apps
On Sun, 2008-03-16 at 12:01 +1200, Aidan Gauland wrote: Is there a way to capture the audio output from a running program on Linux? I've heard of jack, but the program I want to capture the sound from, doesn't use that. Maybe there's some ALSA plug-in I could use? Jack is hugely complex. use krecord or audacity. Vik :v)
RE: OSS for Macintosh
On Fri, 2008-03-07 at 21:13 +1300, Maurice Butler wrote: I have yet to find open source cad program that actual works - lots of half bake demos that you can not save work with, or just not usable. It is a school and with school budgets so a free alternative is a start. ArtOfIllusion http://artofillusion.org is Open Source, cross-platform, has render support, plugins and a most excellent development team (no, not me). The lead developer is a Mac user. The user interface is amazingly intuitive and it forms real 3D solids - it even has a Euler verifier to make sure the object mesh is a valid 3D construct. We use it to design RepRap components in the RepRap Project, which we then print on the Open Source 3D printer http://reprap.org Not only do you get an Open Source CAD program, you also get an Open Source CAM device! GCode support for the RepRap GUI is now in alpha, so support for existing 3D fabrication hardware is not too far down the line. Vik :v)
Re: 21 monitors from Craig -- xorg.conf
On Sat, 2008-03-08 at 19:36 +1300, Derek Smithies wrote: On Sat, 8 Mar 2008, Nick Rout wrote: X shouildn't need modelines these days. If the monitor gives out edid info then X should automatically operate at all available resolutions with the highest being the default. Not true. Install a KVM (keyboard video monitor) switch and have two computers connected to the same keyboard/video/monitor. I did this recently, and X (ubuntu 7.10) detected my phillips P1100 21 inch monitor as 640x480 and a slow refresh rate. Don't remember the rate chosen. All the projectors and monitors in Melbourne at LCA seemed to suffer from this problem too. Vik :v)
Re: Tip for the Day: Keeping multiple cores busy...
On Fri, 2008-03-07 at 10:25 +1300, Kerry Mayes wrote: Do you know of a command line program to watch the processor load on multiple cores? (I've been using top but it just gives a single figure. The other alternatives I've seen only give a point in time.) mpstat, part of the sysstat package should do. You only get one CPU at a time or an average but creative scripting is king :) Vik :v)
RE: OSS for Macintosh
Not only is Sketchup closed and proprietary, but its file formats are also closed and proprietary. I cannot see any reason to promote it in an Open Source environment. Vik :v) On Fri, 2008-03-07 at 20:22 +1300, Maurice Butler wrote: Free not open source google sketchup (mac versions available dependant on os version not all os10.x are compatible) SketchUp is 3D for everyone. Google SketchUp is software that you can use to create, modify and share 3D models. It's easier to learn than other 3D modeling programs, which is why so many people are already using it. We designed SketchUp's simplified toolset, guided drawing system and clean look-and-feel to help you concentrate on two things: getting your work done as efficiently as possible, and having fun while you're doing it. You can choose from two versions of our software. Google SketchUp is free for anyone, and allows you to build, view and edit 3D models.
Re: Cool gadget for the week..
On Sat, 2008-03-01 at 10:43 +1300, Chris Hellyar wrote: I built one yesterday, using a PIC16F628 (Didn't have any F84's) and removed the code, and hardware for the battery support. A very cool little bit of bench test gear out of an old 2x20 LCD and a handful of junk-box bits. Chris, I don't suppose you could send me the hex file? I've not got MPASM. Do have programmer and SDCC :) Vik :v)
Re: nvidia driver weirdness
On Fri, 2008-01-11 at 06:45 +1300, Roger Searle wrote: As I did this last thing yesterday and was then in a hurry to leave, I will report the success or otherwise when I am back at that computer on Monday. I await with anticipation. I too run afoul of the nvida/SMP bug and hope Cannonical get the official fix in a release soon. Meanwhiles I have reverted to using the nv driver. Why not install manually? 'Cos for sure it'll break something when the proper Gutsy fix is brought out, and that'll probably hit me at an inconvenient time. As it's an SMP bug, how might I disable 1 CPU? This might be a valid temporary fix for when I really need GLX. Vik :v)
Re: nvidia driver weirdness
On Fri, 2008-01-11 at 14:15 +1300, Phill Coxon wrote: The cool thing about Envy is that it just works. It seems to do an extraordinarily good job of sorting out problems and dependancies. Is there a deb repository? Vik :v)
Re: nvidia driver weirdness
Ta. I'll update the work laptop. Vik :v) On Fri, 2008-01-11 at 15:17 +1300, Phill Coxon wrote: Deb packages are available on the main page: http://albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html
Re: eee pc
On Sat, 2007-12-29 at 14:20 +1300, Josh James wrote: i got an eee and installed ubuntu on it the shutdown and restart options disapeard any one had anything similar happen Nope, left mine stock. But there are a few guys in Welly LUG with Ubuntified Eee PCs. Lots of activity on the web too. Vik :v)
Re: Usb2 to Serial port Adapter
On Thu, 2007-12-06 at 14:58 +1300, Chris wrote: for those with Lappys using serial Port Modems; General information The Dick Smith adapter no XH8290, although listed as Linux compatible, is not!!! Sorry, but I have to disagree a little. DSE are not consistent. I'm using one with Ubuntu Feisty (in use 24 hrs a day) and one with Ubuntu Gutsy right now. No problems, but the two (visually identical) devices have different USB ID's. Maybe you've got yet another variant or a dud unit? Got an lsusb output? Here's mine: Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0b39:0421 Omnidirectional Control Technology, Inc Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0403:6001 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd 8-bit FIFO Vik :v)
Re: The TuxPaint of open source 3D modeling software
ArtOfIllusion: http://artofillusion.org Cross-platform, outputs and imports standard files, nice GUI. Uses Java but really don't let that stop you. It's an inspiration to Java programmers! Vik :v) On Wed, 2007-11-28 at 15:27 +1300, Aidan Gauland wrote: Bottom line: I want something simpler than Blender (I think it's a great program, but not what I want), does anyone know of a program that might be what I'm looking for? Like the TuxPaint of open source 3D modeling software.
Re: Eee PC/ Xandros and CUPS
On Sat, 2007-11-24 at 20:14 +1300, EDWIN FLORES wrote: Manufacturer: HP Model:Laserjet 1020 Driver: Foomatic + foo2zjs (recommended) ...and then print a test page. I hope this works for you, As for the ASUS eeePC, the kids haven't pried it off my lifeless fingers yet :-D I've got an HP Officejet Pro 7300 series printer. There are drivers for it, but as far as I can tell not in the Xandros-authored package that installs by default. I did manage to get the Vista partition on my wife's laptop printing to the CUPS server - that was unexpected. Vik :v)
Re: Eee PC/ Xandros and CUPS
On Sun, 2007-11-25 at 00:16 +1300, EDWIN FLORES wrote: is it very different from officejet pro L7300 which is on the list ? Wuhhh? My brain needs a de-coke and re-bore, obviously. All working fine now. Vik :v)
Eee PC/ Xandros and CUPS
I have a remote CUPS printer, a hplip-supported printer as it happens. My daughter has an Eee PC. Trying to get the two to communicate over the network is proving to be an issue. There is a very limited range of HP Printers in the Xandros distro, and remote CUPS support is minimal to say the least. Anyone had experience with setting up said situation under Xandros? I could always blow away all the Xandros printer stuff and put in honest-to-goodness Debian, but if it goes wrong crucifixion by daughter may result. She's become attached to Eep. Vik :v)
Re: GUI Ubuntu tool for photo resizing
On Fri, 2007-11-23 at 18:04 +1300, Don Gould wrote: Is there a simple gui tool in the ubuntu package list that will resize images? A batch tool would be useful. The two are separate beasts! I use ImageMagick's convert for batch resizing on the command line: http://www.imagemagick.org/script/index.php Someone must've done a good GUI for it by now. The APIs are out for all main languages. Vik :v)
Re: simulating a slow internet connection
I use it to stop my wget's saturating slow links. Vik :v) On Thu, 2007-11-22 at 18:25 +1300, Rex Johnston wrote: I've always meant to have a play with 'trickle'.
Re: boot time settings
On Thu, 2007-11-15 at 15:09 +1300, Nick Rout wrote: some sort of blacklist file in the /etc file tree. google blacklisting linux modules /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist It's commented! Vik :v)
Building DEBs
How the heck to I change a major serial number in a utility when I rebuild the DEB file with fakeroot dpkg-buildpackage -b -uc -us -d ? Vik :v)
Re: Feisty to Gutsy upgrade : Notes to self...
On Tue, 23 Oct 2007, John Carter wrote: The fiesty to Gutsy ubuntu upgrade is a nightmare in the presence of SMP and 7xxx or 6xxx Nvidia cards cause frequent lockups. Not a Gutsy problem per se as it's the Nvidia driver. But the solution is to downgrade the Nvidia driver while Nvidia pull their finger out. Also EVMS is hugely broken and the recommendation is that you remove it as soon as possible - preferably before you upgrade. Vik :v)
Re: Virtulization question.
On Wed, 2007-10-17 at 00:00 +1300, Volker Kuhlmann wrote: On Tue 16 Oct 2007 08:49:57 NZDT +1300, Vik Olliver wrote: I've found vmware a nightmare, particularly when it doesn't understand a latest kernel release, Each time I get a new kernel, I run vmware-config.pl (or whatever it's called), hitting enter on all the defaults. Problem fixed. In fact, the vmware service init script does this automagically, so all that's needed is restart vmware. It needs the kernel source installed though, and I haven't taken the time to find out whether just some of the headers would suffice. This is fine, if the headers are in your repo. If they are not yet, you're not going anywhere. This happened to me at a critical time a couple of weeks or so ago. or when you've got a custom kernel it disagrees with. I hate custom kernels anyway. You do have a very good reason for those custom kernels? Did you add truckloads of inofficial patches into your kernel sources? And you did start with your vendor kernel and modified it only as much as needed? Yes, video cards. Qemu is slower but much more reliable - and the network interfaces actually work. I've never seen trouble with vmware network interfaces. When I tested out firewalls I had 3 network cards in each virtual machine, all interfacing to the host. It worked as expected. Well, sorry Volker but I've had plenty. I'm using - or trying to use 4 per VM. The system startup messages say they're eth0-3, and by the time I get to a system prompt (this is on stock Debian etch, BTW) they're eth4-7 and don't work. No special kernels required and it runs on anything. How extensive is qemu's hardware support? USB? Firewire? Sound card *recording input*? Does it have the useless-system-time-keeping feature of vmware? External USB drives seem to work fine, so do USB mice keyboards. When stock kernels support my mic properly I'll let you know about recording. Qemu does lose system ticks. This doesn't bother me as much as networking not working or being unable to boot the PC. I do not want qemu vs vmware wars, I have bigger fish to fry. For my purposes though, qemu beats vmware. YMMV. Vik :v)
Re: Virtulization question.
On Mon, 2007-10-15 at 22:47 +1300, Kerry Mayes wrote: vmware server is also free and a better choice than player for most applications. I use it quite extensively for windows (all with valid licences!) on ubuntu hosts. It is now easy to install on ubuntu, don't know how it would be on Fedora. I've found vmware a nightmare, particularly when it doesn't understand a latest kernel release, or when you've got a custom kernel it disagrees with. I hate custom kernels anyway. Qemu is slower but much more reliable - and the network interfaces actually work. No special kernels required and it runs on anything. Vik :v)
Re: workstation power consumption
On Fri, 2007-09-21 at 11:19 +0900, Andrew Errington wrote: PS if you haven't encountered it, Jaycar is in Sydenham. One here in Dorkland too, but they do have mail order at reasonable rates. Vik :v)
Re: bus info browser compatibility
On Mon, 2007-09-10 at 12:37 +1200, Rik Tindall wrote: 10% of Canterbury Internet users excluded from ECan bus system, as a headline sought. Maybe a play on the irony of 14th October being International Standards Day... Vik :v)
Re: SFD poster
On Mon, 2007-09-10 at 22:26 +1200, alanw wrote: Anyone having much joy with Inkscape, or Scribus (or any other layout program)? I've used Inkscape and before that Sodipodi for commercial artwork for food packaging. Works a treat. What's more, as it's all SVG I can easily re-edit 5 years later when the food standards authority demands label size changes etc. Vik :v)
Re: Hello Help
On Fri, 2007-09-14 at 11:10 +1200, Brenda Wallace wrote: On Thu, 13 Sep 2007 21:26:57 Wesley Parish wrote: Well, FWIW, I can verify that qemu running MS Win98 will run Doom. Isn't DOOM opensource anyways? Doom runs on my ipod nano happily too. The Doom engine is open source, as is the map designer. The original WAD file of maps etc. is not as far as I know. I'm told it is available from dodgy FTP sites in Poland and Russia but I haven't checked. Vik :v)
Re: Changing refresh rates on Ubuntu
On Sat, 2007-09-01 at 09:19 +1200, Kerry Mayes wrote: Hey, thanks for that reference. I'm now investigating using read-edid to allow me to automate which of the three xorg.conf files to use for my three configurations of monitors, rather than me selecting manually (post boot). I recently had to set up my wife's WXGA Acer 9300 laptop to work with her large CRT monitor. The monitor won't support [EMAIL PROTECTED], so I specified that as the first option in xorg.conf and 1280x1024 as the second option. So she now automatically gets the right desktop size for the screen. Vik :v)
Re: Changing refresh rates on Ubuntu
On Sat, 2007-09-01 at 12:42 +1200, Steve Holdoway wrote: I had one of these stolen not too long ago, so know that it will work fine! Poor bugger. What's its replacement? Vik :v)
Re: SFD adverts
On Thu, 2007-08-30 at 13:36 +1200, Rik Tindall wrote: Here is a draft of the shared CLUG ad for SFD: http://www.infohelp.co.nz/sfd7flyer.html Nice. Can I nick it for our local event when it's done? Er, HTML doc title still says 2006 btw. Vik :v)
Re: Microsoft letter todays Christchurch Press re Open XML
On Wed, 2007-08-29 at 15:19 +1200, Zane Gilmore wrote: The letter in the Press today seems incredible. MS claim that OOXML will: Protect our heritage Provide choice Secure our future Foster innovation http://holloway.co.nz/sincerity-generator/ Vik :v)
Re: XTRA Broadband dead (again)
On Mon, 2007-08-27 at 16:12 +1200, Christopher Sawtell wrote: No, It's almost certainly cheaper to consolidate the infrastructure for all of Australasia in one place. Doesn't this render Xtra's e-mail liable to random manipulation and examination by Australian anti-terrorism legislation? Vik :v)
Re: Friday laugh...
On Fri, 2007-08-24 at 19:59 +1200, Christopher Sawtell wrote: More to the point: You make the place such that a quarter of the population goes to live elsewhere, you have to make do with the leftbehinds. And some smart buggers that move in to fill the vacuum. So I like to think anyway :) Vik :v)
