Re: Clustering

[Michael Butash]

You're probably talking infiniband switching, infiniband hba's,
pci-e/htx interfaces, fiber channel disk arrays, etc.  Linux seems to
support infiniband hba's reasonably well, and 10g 4x infiniband hba's
tend to be cheap these days on ebay.  We're talking $100 used hba's for
the nodes, and ~$1200 for a 12 port Cisco/Topspin switch.  I thought
about buying some to play with, as it ends up cheaper than IP or Fiber
channel technologies, yet can replace them all to some extents.

IB is quite versatile, emulating fiber-channel, IP network, or raw
interrupt switching to a cpu and memory via different driver socket
interface api's.  Cray always used a similar means to make theirs with
proprietary north bridge and software, but IB is more of a standard now,
enabling (relatively) cheap supercomputing on the fly with commodity
hardware.  Well, hardware-wise at least...

So yeah, what apps are you talking about utilizing it?

-mb


On Mon, 2009-06-29 at 13:47 -0700, Matt Graham wrote:
> From: Eric Shubert 
> > Has anyone here implemented any clusters?
> 
> I've only set one up, but I maintain the ones that my predecessors
> set up.  It's not rocket science. 
> 
> > Is any particular distro better or worse at clustering?
> 
> Not really.  Every distro has heartbeat/DRBD/LVS available.
> 
> > Any pointers regarding clustering you'd like to share?
> 
> Define the problem you're trying to solve more rigorously than just
> "clustering" first.  Do you want flailover between 2 boxes?  Do you
> want a frontend box with N service-providing boxes behind it?  The
> answers to that greatly affect what you will end up doing, as does
> the question "What services is this cluster going to provide?"  
> 
> Basically, all I can do is handwave without answers to "what services?"
> and "how many machines?".
> 

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Re: Clustering

[Michael Butash]

Exactly as Nadeem said, start local, and if you need to expand, look at
infiniband.  Buying IB gear directly from the vendor, supported,
warranted, etc, will get expensive quick.  You'll probably find
programming info fairly obscure, as most of this is very proprietary, as
supercomputing is a cash cow to certain vars.

Obscurity seems to make it cheap on the secondary market, as most app
dev's won't/don't take it to that level, and not many really need it.
Tesla's change things as they provide an extensible way to increase
generic crunching local, and can scale significantly with pcie bandwith
and hardware with enough slots.

For me IB was interesting as I was investigating upping my house to
gige, fiber-channel, and other things to geek out on.  IB actually
looked fairly promising as it's device stack allows for IP/FC
emululation layer, as well as it's own native socket stack where
parallel processing plays into.  Then I found out it was cheaper than
buying decent 4g fiber channel gear off ebay, and got even more
interesting.  Might provide some ideal scalability if you need to expand
the processing outside of one box eventually.

-mb 


On Tue, 2009-06-30 at 00:35 -0700, Stephen wrote:
> Are you looking at the 1u Tesla or the x58 personal supercomputer they
> are talking about...
> 
> I would look into RH mostly for compatability fo ahrdware as it is
> tested by them, and for most packages... but the distro is really
> dependant on your app.
> 
> Man they have really changed tesla, it used to be a bunch of gpu cards
> in a box chained to a header and then 16 of those can be tied together
> to a single machine.
> 
> but now you can buy a preconfigured clsuter
> 
> http://www.penguincomputing.com/products/linux/server/web_promotion/tesla_workgroup_cluster
> 
> man i stop following for just 1 year...
> 
> 
> On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 6:29 PM, Eric Shubert wrote:
> > I'm looking at clustering together a handful of hosts, each running dual
> > nvidia tesla cards. Modeling applications of some sort. I honestly don't
> > know much more than that.
> >
> > Michael Butash wrote:
> >> You're probably talking infiniband switching, infiniband hba's,
> >> pci-e/htx interfaces, fiber channel disk arrays, etc.  Linux seems to
> >> support infiniband hba's reasonably well, and 10g 4x infiniband hba's
> >> tend to be cheap these days on ebay.  We're talking $100 used hba's for
> >> the nodes, and ~$1200 for a 12 port Cisco/Topspin switch.  I thought
> >> about buying some to play with, as it ends up cheaper than IP or Fiber
> >> channel technologies, yet can replace them all to some extents.
> >>
> >> IB is quite versatile, emulating fiber-channel, IP network, or raw
> >> interrupt switching to a cpu and memory via different driver socket
> >> interface api's.  Cray always used a similar means to make theirs with
> >> proprietary north bridge and software, but IB is more of a standard now,
> >> enabling (relatively) cheap supercomputing on the fly with commodity
> >> hardware.  Well, hardware-wise at least...
> >>
> >> So yeah, what apps are you talking about utilizing it?
> >>
> >> -mb
> >>
> >>
> >> On Mon, 2009-06-29 at 13:47 -0700, Matt Graham wrote:
> >>> From: Eric Shubert 
> >>>> Has anyone here implemented any clusters?
> >>> I've only set one up, but I maintain the ones that my predecessors
> >>> set up.  It's not rocket science.
> >>>
> >>>> Is any particular distro better or worse at clustering?
> >>> Not really.  Every distro has heartbeat/DRBD/LVS available.
> >>>
> >>>> Any pointers regarding clustering you'd like to share?
> >>> Define the problem you're trying to solve more rigorously than just
> >>> "clustering" first.  Do you want flailover between 2 boxes?  Do you
> >>> want a frontend box with N service-providing boxes behind it?  The
> >>> answers to that greatly affect what you will end up doing, as does
> >>> the question "What services is this cluster going to provide?"
> >>>
> >>> Basically, all I can do is handwave without answers to "what services?"
> >>> and "how many machines?".
> >>>
> >>
> >
> >
> > --
> > -Eric 'shubes'
> >
> > ---
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> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
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> >
> 
> 
> 

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Re: Ummm...need a little bit of router config help...

[Michael Butash]

I have zoneminder running on a jaunty box for months now, apache never
crashed once, or at least not until zoneminder filled the images from
mocord.  I don't think there's something in ibex's apache, I use it
extensively for other things, only recently moving to jaunty for image
builds.  Check your error logs for something else freaking it out.

Word of warning - put zoneminder's temp directory in it's own partition
if you're recording video at any kind of quality, lvm slice, or quota,
NOT on /(root) var or home directories.  I'm fond of growable LVM's for
these purposes...

-mb


On Fri, 2009-07-03 at 17:43 -0700, Jim March wrote:
> Well it turns out my steenkin' Apache server crashed internally, I
> *think*.  It basically stopped serving web pages on me without me
> realizing it...even if I went to the camera server's console and went
> to "localhost" in a web browser.
> 
> So...mucho thanks all but it turns out Port80 works with Qwest :).
> 
> Also, ZM itself seems to have an authentication system so I've turned
> that on, am rebooting and we'll see if that works.
> 
> Now to get the dyndns stuff working.  And I'm starting to wonder if
> the whole thing might be more stable in Jaunty versus Intrepid...?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Jim
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Re: Well now it's an Apache security rodeo...

[Michael Butash]

Use apache2.conf instead of httpd.conf on ubuntu, they structure the
files differently...  If you *must* modify httpd.conf or apache.conf
under ubuntu, do so, but otherwise add a new file with the changes
under /etc/apache2/conf.d and they will be *included* per apache

That being said, ubuntu's apache structures site setup differently in
the form of *include* directories.  Look for your "default-000" site
file under /etc/apache2/sites-available/ directory, and modify that for
your directory security or associated overrides.  Or just create a new
site all together, and link it.

Might want to google specifically for ubuntu apache questions, it works
differently from most other distros where it expects to find certain
information within the /etc/apache2 hierarchy.

-mb


On Fri, 2009-07-03 at 19:49 -0700, Lisa Kachold wrote:
> Verify your server will allow .htaccess file overrides:
> 
> # locate httpd.conf
> # vi /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf (or whereever it is)
> 
>  place Directory configuration in httpd.conf>
> 
> 1) Directory
> Find your section with the  tag and add "AllowOverride
> All"
> 
> 
> Options FollowSymLinks
> AllowOverride All
> 
> 
> 
> Refs: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/mod/core.html#allowoverride
> 
> http://www.sitedeveloper.ws/tutorials/htaccess.htm
> 
> 
> 2) Security 
> 
> Should be fine, but check out this post:
> 
> http://perishablepress.com/press/2006/01/10/stupid-htaccess-tricks/
> 
> 3) Restart
> # apachectl restart
> 
> On Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 7:12 PM, Jim March <1.jim.ma...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> Sigh.  OK, I've got all the IP/router stuff done.  Kewl.  Now
> to give
> it some password security!
> 
> First thing I tried was the security settings within
> Zoneminder.
> Looked good, got to where login was needed for user "admin" on
> a
> password I set, cool, except couldn't see any images anymore -
> local
> or remote.  Checked the security restrictions on user "admin",
> it's
> supposed to have all possible rights per the ZM management
> screens.
> WTF?  Turn off login security in ZM and sure enough, I can see
> my
> cameras again.
> 
> God.  Dammit.
> 
> Well by now I'm convinced that ZM is buggier than an ant farm
> anyways,
> so to heck with it, this thing is running Apache, I oughta be
> able to
> control it there, right?
> 
> Heh.
> 
> I ask about it on TFUG and Matt was kind enough to provide a
> link to a
> decent-looking tutorial on Apache security:
> 
> On Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 4:57 PM, Matt Jacob
> wrote:
> > If you're running Apache as your web server, it's fairly
> trivial to
> > set up HTTP Basic Authentication:
> >
> > http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/howto/auth.html
> >
> > Matt
> 
> E...it ain't working.
> 
> H.  So let's go over what I did, see if I blew it?  (Given
> I've
> never run the back-end to a website EVER, not unlikely...)
> 
> OK, here's exactly what I did:
> 
> 1) I figured out where my web-stuff was sitting (including
> index.html): /var/www
> 
> 2) I put a file there name of .htaccess containing:
> 
> ---
> AuthType Basic
> AuthName "Restricted Files"
> # (Following line optional)
> AuthBasicProvider file
> AuthUserFile /usr/local/apache/passwd/passwords
> Require user zmuser
> ---
> 
> 3) I made sure the
> directory /usr/local/apache/passwd/passwords
> existed with everybody-can-read-it permissions (only root can
> write).
> 
> 4) I ran the command:
> 
> sudo htpasswd -c /usr/local/apache/passwd/passwords zmuser
> 
> ...and gave it a password DIFFERENT from the user login
> password (user
> is logging into XUbuntu as zmuser and passwords are NOT
> default).
> 
> And...shouldn't that have done it?  Yet it acts like there's
> still no
> security at all.
> 
> There's directories under /var/www that contain data being
> served -
> should I copy that .htaccess file down into them?
> 
> Note that I don't need separate user access levels for
> multiple
> users...there's just the shop owner going to use this.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Jim
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Re: Laptop (cell phone) in my pocket?

[Michael Butash]

  I think android is the way to go, I'm patiently waiting for verizon to
get off their arse and get one.  Particularly samsung seems to be about
the coolest versions with something like the "bigfoot" phone with amoled
display and qwerty physical keyboard if/when it comes out here:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/11/is-this-t-mobiles-samsung-bigfoot-with-android-amoled-and-qwe/

  Android offers all the linux you need, with hackability that I would
expect - with or without google's endorsement of hacks.  The real apps
seem to have begun trickling out, so that's where my next phone money is
waiting to be spent.  Get a move on verizon!

  I had a crackberry with my last job, and earned a new respect for
them.  I didn't like the fact all the apps are for-pay, but what it
offered was the best email support I'd ever used.  I'd used BB back in
'99 when they first had their pages, and they still seem to represent
the best alternative for a "buisness-centric" person requiring email
messaging.  Web browsing was utter crap however, basically just annoyed
me whenever i was forced to use it.  Phone was solid, email excellent,
google maps was decent, but I didn't find much else great about it other
than it's ability to suck money out of you if you want other apps.

  I've used windoze mobile phones for a few years (aku 2 through 6.0
software), and it's painful trying to find a version that actually 1)
works with all promised features and 2) doesn't require a daily reboot
like it ran a Windoze ME kernel on it.  Installing apps to replace
broken microsoft functionality just made the system that much more
unstable.  I got so sick of the bugs and quirks chasing my tail to make
it work upgrading roms I went the other way and got a dumb, simple phone
that does nothing more than make calls and text (samsung juke, nice
*simple* phone with mp3 player).  For my mobile internet fix, I ended up
just getting a mini-pci verizon data card and shoved it internal to my
laptop.  I couldn't recommend anyone buy a WM-based phone anymore,
especially if you have to interface linux with it at some point.

  I had an ipod touch that did everyone once jailbreaked except play
music (at least loading from linux - no physical windows here).  I was
so annoyed by their DRM and blatant *walled garden* approach I dismissed
an iPhone, and gave away the ipod.  Texting or email was rather painful
as well.  It had more of a "stupid teenage fad" than an
"enterprise-ready laptop replacement" feel than I cared to deal with.  I
can live without iFart and lack of any linux client support, thanks.

  Everything else for phones seem like its just media and cellco cartels
pushing to sell you music, gps, ringback tones, and other crap no one
really needs..

-mb


On Sun, 2009-07-05 at 16:25 -0400, kitepi...@kitepilot.com wrote:
> Thanks to everyone for the input.
> I want to clarify that what I mean by "keyboard" is a full blown computer 
> keyboard, I can't really see myself typing iptables rules from a Blackberry 
> keyboard...   :)
> Thanks!
> ET 
> 
>  
> 
> kitepi...@kitepilot.com writes: 
> 
> > So my Treo 650 died.
> > Good.
> > I hated the $%#!@ thing and I will most likely not buy another Treo (unless 
> > it runs Linux).
> > Treo I could, Ericsson NOT!  
> > 
> > Anyway...
> > With all the new phone capabilities, I was waiting for my "dream phone" to 
> > materialize (Neo FreeRunner from openmoko.com) to ditch the Treo, but it 
> > seems that it won't happen...   :(  
> > 
> > So now I am on a crunch and I need help to find a phone...
> > My simple "specifications" are:
> > I want a phone that I can attach a real keyboard to and open up an SSH 
> > session using either WiFi or the the cellular network.  
> > 
> > In short, I want a "Laptop in my pocket"  
> > 
> > AND!
> > (Important AND)
> > I will not buy a Micro$haft phone!
> > (In fact I will not buy ANYTHING Micro$haft unless it is a LEAST-AND-URGENT 
> > resource)  
> > 
> > Finally, I am stuck at the moment with AT&T, but I would like something 
> > that 
> > I can plug anywhere.
> > Any ideas?  
> > 
> > Considering the Iphone, at least it is Apple...   :)
> > Thanks!
> > ET
> > ---
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Re: Series 2 Tivo Setup Help PLEASE

[Michael Butash]

I've used linuxmce, quirky/broken is my best way to describe it.  Spent
a considerable amount of time trying to make it work for home
automation, finally gave up and just spent some cash for windoze-based
HA software (homeseer).  It uses myth on the backend, you're probably
better off using myth direct via it's own front-end.  

I rather like/recommend xbox media center (on a hacked xbox or linux),
but I don't DVR anything, just watch locally downloaded files.  Who
needs icky commercials when teh interwebs provide such great
commercial-free content...

-mb


On Mon, 2009-07-06 at 09:41 -0700, Stephen wrote:
> there is also the LinuxMCE project. which looks very cool.
> 
> On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 9:01 AM, Lisa Kachold wrote:
> > Yes, I built a few MythTv's.  Easy to do.
> >
> > I wanted a Tivo for $50.00.
> >
> > On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 6:56 AM, Joe  wrote:
> >>
> >> Could you use a Tomato flashed router, configure in client mode, and
> >> then you would have an ethernet port as close to the Tivo as you want. I
> >> have been Tivo free for over a year and it's great. Mythbuntu is much
> >> better.
> >>
> >> Lisa Kachold wrote:
> >> > Hi!  My Series 2 Tivo requires a phone line to do guided setup.
> >> >
> >> > http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=406951
> >> >
> >> > After that I can configure the Wireless USB Adapter in Networking, but
> >> > unfortunately with my OS Tivo Version, I supposedly MUST (according to
> >> > Tivo) have the phone.
> >> >
> >> > I did see a few old posts about using Windows XP Hyperterm and a NULL
> >> > modem connection from PC to rj11.
> >> >
> >> > http://www.b-lan.com/otto/tivo3xp/
> >> >
> >> > I have a serial null modem cable, but...
> >> >
> >> > a) I don't have any Serial connection on my Vista
> >> > b) I have pppd on linux
> >> > c) I don't have a rj11 adapter (could go to radio shack?)
> >> >
> >> > and some for getting around the Guided Setup via a dialout hack using
> >> > ",401# with a ethernet DHCP connection:
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > http://everything2.com/title/How%2520to%2520setup%2520a%2520TiVo%2520without%2520a%2520phone%2520line
> >> >
> >> > d) I have only a Wireless USB - not an ethernet one.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > 1) Anyone have a house with a hardwired phone line and a full boat
> >> > cable I can do setup with?  (Takes about 5 hours via phone line)?
> >> >
> >> > 2) Other suggestions?
> >> >
> >> > --
> >> > (623)239-3392 Skype: obn0sis
> >> > (503)754-4452 www.obnosis.com 
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > 
> >> >
> >> > ---
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> >> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> >> > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
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> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > (623)239-3392 Skype: obn0sis
> > (503)754-4452 www.obnosis.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ---
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> 
> 
> 

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Re: Series 2 Tivo Setup Help PLEASE

[Michael Butash]

Honestly, my hacked xbox was simply the best investment as a media
player ever, plus it still plays games.  Even better, it rips the games
to HD, or readily accepts them via ftp pushed iso's.  I still use it to
this day (7yr later), where im begrudgingly migrating to xbmc on linux
for 720p and higher res (xbox's 700mhz p3 doesn't cut the mustard for
h.264 video).

With software hacks, makes for one heck of a powerful media player for a
$50 used xbox, and just stream media from a simple file share.

I suppose this also presumes you hoard your own media, but I've only
ever found Tivo's more cumbersome to use than xbmc.  Commercials make me
irritable, and since media cartels mandated no automagical
commercial-skipping to kill their revenue/brainwashing, they seem...
pointless.

-mb


> but if i cannibalize the x box my son will cry... and i cant afford to
> replace it quite yet :-)
> 
> but i want to... boy do i want to...
> 
> On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 12:19 PM, Michael Butash wrote:
> > I've used linuxmce, quirky/broken is my best way to describe it.  Spent
> > a considerable amount of time trying to make it work for home
> > automation, finally gave up and just spent some cash for windoze-based
> > HA software (homeseer).  It uses myth on the backend, you're probably
> > better off using myth direct via it's own front-end.
> >
> > I rather like/recommend xbox media center (on a hacked xbox or linux),
> > but I don't DVR anything, just watch locally downloaded files.  Who
> > needs icky commercials when teh interwebs provide such great
> > commercial-free content...
> >
> > -mb
> >
> >
> > On Mon, 2009-07-06 at 09:41 -0700, Stephen wrote:
> >> there is also the LinuxMCE project. which looks very cool.
> >>
> >> On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 9:01 AM, Lisa Kachold 
> >> wrote:
> >> > Yes, I built a few MythTv's.  Easy to do.
> >> >
> >> > I wanted a Tivo for $50.00.
> >> >
> >> > On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 6:56 AM, Joe  wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> Could you use a Tomato flashed router, configure in client mode, and
> >> >> then you would have an ethernet port as close to the Tivo as you want. I
> >> >> have been Tivo free for over a year and it's great. Mythbuntu is much
> >> >> better.
> >> >>
> >> >> Lisa Kachold wrote:
> >> >> > Hi!  My Series 2 Tivo requires a phone line to do guided setup.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=406951
> >> >> >
> >> >> > After that I can configure the Wireless USB Adapter in Networking, but
> >> >> > unfortunately with my OS Tivo Version, I supposedly MUST (according to
> >> >> > Tivo) have the phone.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > I did see a few old posts about using Windows XP Hyperterm and a NULL
> >> >> > modem connection from PC to rj11.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > http://www.b-lan.com/otto/tivo3xp/
> >> >> >
> >> >> > I have a serial null modem cable, but...
> >> >> >
> >> >> > a) I don't have any Serial connection on my Vista
> >> >> > b) I have pppd on linux
> >> >> > c) I don't have a rj11 adapter (could go to radio shack?)
> >> >> >
> >> >> > and some for getting around the Guided Setup via a dialout hack using
> >> >> > ",401# with a ethernet DHCP connection:
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >> > http://everything2.com/title/How%2520to%2520setup%2520a%2520TiVo%2520without%2520a%2520phone%2520line
> >> >> >
> >> >> > d) I have only a Wireless USB - not an ethernet one.
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >> > 1) Anyone have a house with a hardwired phone line and a full boat
> >> >> > cable I can do setup with?  (Takes about 5 hours via phone line)?
> >> >> >
> >> >> > 2) Other suggestions?
> >> >> >
> >> >> > --
> >> >> > (623)239-3392 Skype: obn0sis
> >> >> > (503)754-4452 www.obnosis.com <http://www.obnosis.com>
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >> > 
> >> >&g

Re: Tracking file storage space use

[Michael Butash]

I would tend to think based on what you're saying you have log files
that are rampantly filling, and then logrotate kicks in, compresses, and
all of your space comes back.  See anything odd in in /var/log/messages
or daemon?  Just about anything misconfigured can cause rampant log
filling.  I had this with a wireless module bug recently in ubuntu
overrunning my /var partition with incessant log chatter.

Is it all one flat partition or do you separate out things
like /var /usr or ...?  If so, it should tell you pretty quickly with a
df -kh where data is collecting.  If it's monolithic, check /var/log
with ls -lahS /var and then /var/log.  I'll bet it's in there unless
you're using some kind of temp space elsewhere.  

This kind of thing is a good reason to split off certain file
hierarchies like /var, /var/log, and /usr/local where stuff tends to
collect and/or runneth over.  A full root with one monolithic partition
can make for a single-user mode bad day.

-mb


On Mon, 2009-07-06 at 09:01 -0700, Alan Dayley wrote:
> I have a server running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.  It's running very
> well but lately we have been running out of disk space on occasion.
> The truth is we need more storage and that solution is coming.  In the
> mean time, I need to figure out where all the space is being consumed.
> 
> Every once in a while I can see 3-5GB get consumed in about a day.
> Then, when I warn everyone we are running out, this space suddenly
> comes free.  I think a user is eating the space and then freeing it up
> when my warning goes out.  But none of the users will admit to this
> behavior.  That's not a big deal because, whether a user or not, I'd
> like to know what or who is eating this space and then releasing it.
> 
> The server is running SAMBA shares for /home and other directores,
> Bugzilla with MySQL on the database, TWiki, Subversion, CVS and ftp
> services.  Tracking each of these individually may be a bear.  I was
> thinking there may be a tool that tracks recent usage from the file
> system level.
> 
> What tools can I use to get a handle on this issue and increase my
> knowledge about disk usage?
> 
> Alan
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Re: One more Zoneminder/video question (camera resolution)

[Michael Butash]

Hi Jim,

I'm actually using pretty cheapo Skylink wifi-enabled ip cameras (~70
buck fry's specials) with ZM just fine, but I'm also just having it grab
jpg's off it every couple of seconds (NOT actual streaming mpg video).
I was going to try actual video grabs eventually, until I realized just
how much disk space it actually required even for jpg, and the pita
interfacing with the video.  Doing jpg's appears to be a pretty
standard/solid way of getting the images out of IP cameras, at least for
my purposes.

For physical security recap purposes, the jpg solution was actually
better than I had anticipated, without having to figure out a half-ass
solution to interface with kludgey webcode on the camera.  Getting
actual video off them might be rough, as I remember it had some specific
codec limitations.  Mine only supported java or activex (ick) video, so
I figured it was probably on par with ice in az july for getting it to
work anyways.  YMMV...

-mb


On Fri, 2009-07-10 at 15:28 -0700, Jim March wrote:
> Folks,
> 
> First, I have ALL my issues with network access, apache security,
> DynDNS and the like sorted out.  Cool.
> 
> Remaining issue relates to camera resolution:
> 
> I have two Hauppauge BT878 camera interface PCI cards with a total of
> 7 cameras on them. The cameras are Swann cheapos; according to the
> specs on the box they're capable of 510x492 resolution (NTSC).
> 
> In Cheese I can use them at various resolutions (according to the
> "preferences" setting), with the highest at 768x480, although I don't
> believe it's actually running that resolution.  It's damned well
> better than 320x240 (ZoneMinder's max so far!).  There's also a
> 384x286 mode (in cheese) that is still clearly more than the max so
> far I can enter into Zoneminder of 320x240.  Even a bump to 384x286
> would help.
> 
> Telling Zoneminder to drive the cameras at any resolution other than
> 320x240 results in a black screen.
> 
> I'm assuming that all seven screens need to be set for the same
> resolution, and am testing it that way. Setting one screen per card
> different from 320x240 breaks the rest on that card.
> 
> My guess is that Cheese is getting some unknown different resolution
> from the cameras than anything I know about now.
> 
> Is there a command line statement in, say, Xawtv to try and get a
> specific resolution out of the cameras? Something similar to:
> 
> xawtv /dev/video0 res-640x480
> 
> ...or something?
> 
> Any idea why Zoneminder would be stuck hard at 320x240 when the
> cameras are obviously more capable??
> 
> Finally, does anybody have a clue as to which IP WiFi cameras might
> work well with Zoneminder?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Jim
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Re: Ubuntu Desktop locks

[Michael Butash]

I just updated my primary desktop to 9.04 the other day from ibex, and
have been experiencing odd desktop crashes, but it's simply just
restarting x for me.  An occasional annoyance, but thus far only seems
to do it about twice a week (so far).  This could be related to a memory
leak Ive had in the system since 7.04 that only I seem to be plagued
with (or no one else notices), as it seems to happen after a few days,
about the time typically other apps will start flaking out.

I've had issues with the computer crashing as you're stating from
hardware, both from a faulty video card and memory (both swapped to fix
issue).  I'd recommend running a memtest from bootdisk to check the
memory, and depending on your config, disabling compiz, or using a 2d
driver vs. 3d (nvidia).  Check /var/log/messages or syslog or daemon to
see if anything weird is occurring there too.

-mb


On Wed, 2009-07-22 at 12:46 -0700, Alexander Henry wrote:
> This has been happening about once a day or every other day.  The 
> desktop simply locks up.  I discover that the cursor doesn't move, then 
> I try alt-tab, ctrl-alt-backspace, ctrl-alt-delete, clrl-alt-F*, 
> nothing.  Have to power cycle to break it.
> 
> Any ideas?  It's a rather hard problem to search for.
> 
> This happened since I upgraded to 9.04
> 

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Re: cat-5

[Michael Butash]

Analog audio vs. modulated digital bit streams.  Crosstalk does affect
telephone, your eardrum is more capable of dealing with it than an
ethernet phy tends to be.

Same reason dsl tends to suck vs. cable - you can only do so much with
unshielded, possibly untwisted phone wires.  Legacy 2-wire pots was
never originally designed with data transmissions in mind.  Cat3 was
really built more as the first utp alternative to thick/thinnet shielded
coax.  Each cat variety is rated for a certain mhz, meaning that you can
modulate greater bitstreams across the medium, providing more
throughput.

cat3 - 16mhz (analog mostly, otherwise 10base ready)
cat5 - 100mhz (100 base)
cat5e - 100mhz (100base, but sorta gigabit ready)
cat6 - 250mhz (gigabit)
cat6e - 500mhz (gigabit, 10g ready)
cat7 - 600mhz (10g)
cat7a - 1000mhz (10g, 40g ready)

-mb


On Wed, 2009-07-22 at 13:37 -0400, mike havens wrote:
> all I need it for is patch cables... and telephone cables. Why doesn't
> crosstalk affect the telephone signal?
> 
> On Wed, Jul 22, 2009 at 12:50 PM, Technomage
>  wrote:
> 
> mike havens wrote:
> > I got some phone cable (green & red/yellow & black). Could I
> use it for
> > ethernet cable (blue, green, orange, brown)? Which pins
> would I connect it
> > to if so? I would think red would go to dark blue and and
> green to
> > light/striped blue. then bablesxlack would  go to dark
> green  and yellow to to
> > light/striped green. I'm hoping that it is like a phone
> where two of the
> > lines are used and the other two are useless. Let me know!
>  Thanks
> >
> 
> A: no. Phone cable is typically cat-3 quality. the windings
> are
> different and bandwidth far less.
> you might get away with using it as a 3 foot patch cord, but
> the
> creosstalk you'd get would
> cut throughput enormously.
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
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Re: cat-5

[Michael Butash]

Mike,

  Trick is the wires have to be twisted throughout to minimize
interference, doing so at the ends won't help.  Newer standards like
cat6 and higher have internal dividers to reduce crosstalk between
twisted pairs even, and cat7 makes use of individually shielded twisted
pairs to all together remove possibility of crosstalk (assuming you
terminate them properly too).  Consistency is the key for minimizing
physical modulation problems on the line.  You're fighting an uphill
battle trying to coerce cat3 to work for networking, best relegate it
analog voice only.

  I'm with Trent that you're probably money ahead to just buy some cat5e
(at least) somewhere, especially if you need patch cables.  Or if you
have some time, you find good deals on cable from ebay or other online
retailers, far better than going to fry's electronics and overpaying for
their crap.  I sniped an expensive 1000ft roll of high-quality bertek
cat6 off ebay for 80 bucks shipped a while ago, so you can find good
deals.  I bought several 1000ft rolls of generic shielded cat6 recently
for 150 each shipped, but this is far more quality than you probably
need, and I've seen them cheaper since.  Roughly a hundred bucks should
buy you a 1000ft roll of unshielded cat6 that'll last you ages, and
futureproof since gigabit gear has come down in price significantly.  At
least until your friends find out you have bulk cable.  :)

-mb


On Thu, 2009-07-23 at 18:18 -0400, mike havens wrote:
> Will  twisting it at the ends  (so the tswists go under the sheath)
> fix this?
> 
> On Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 4:55 PM, Technomage
>  wrote:
> mike havens wrote:
> > all I need it for is patch cables... and telephone cables.
> Why doesn't
> > crosstalk affect the telephone signal?
> >
> >
> 
> most PSTN signalling is of low bandwidth (especially on the
> "last mile"
> run). now DSL is kind of an
> exception to this (except you need line filters on your phones
> to keep
> from hearing the "static" of the modem.
> 
> you can probably get away with 10BaseT signalling on cat 3,
> but because
> of how the cable itself is wound
> (turns per foot, etc) your max length will be very limited.
> 100BaseT is
> not recommended at all owing to
> the large about of bandwidth used (typically greated that 200
> Mhz wide)
> and cat 3 cable will
> act as an antenna at lengths longer than about 18 inches.
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
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Re: cheese failing silently

[Michael Butash]

I've had the same problem with Cheese across several distro's now, and
have just given up on whatever being broken being so.  I've got a Dell
xps m1330 with known cheese issues (dell linux list confirms numerous
users with issue) that thus far no one has actually fixed yet, mostly
because there are problems both from the uvcvideo side, as well as from
Cheese.  Exact same symptoms, camera will light twice, indicate it's
working, but will only show black for an image.  Ekiga and other video
apps work fine.  

I've even tried recompiling uvcvideo modules with updates that
supposedly fix the issue from their side, but Cheese still fails, even
latest on Jaunty ubuntu.  The only thing I can recommend is maybe try
compiling your own Cheese from SVN to see if it works locally from the
binary directory, and if so use checkinstall to make a deb package to
update to.  I stopped caring whether it worked or not to go this
far.  :)

-mb


On Mon, 2009-07-27 at 08:20 -0700, Matt Graham wrote:
> From: Dazed_75 
> > Matt Graham wrote:
> >> strace and strace -ff can be your friends if the process
> >> that's failing silently is dying because of a missing file,
> >> or a file that's not where it's supposed to be.
> 
> >> The main problem is that this approach won't help much with
> >> programs that communicate with other programs over sockets.
> 
> > Apparently the strace slowed cheese down enough that in addition
> > to seeing the cheese GUI come up and then drop as before, it
> > stayed up long enough that I could see the web cam indicator light
> > come on twice for a moment.
> 
> Well, that shows that *something* is working.
> 
> > {fd=9, events=POLLIN|POLLPRI}, {fd=14, events=POLLIN}, {fd=15,
> > events=POLLIN}],
> > 6, 99The program 'cheese' received an X Window System error.
> > This probably reflects a bug in the program.
> > The error was 'BadAlloc (insufficient resources for operation)'.
> >To debug your program, run it with the --sync command line
> >option to change this behavior. You can then get a meaningful
> >backtrace from your debugger if you break on the
> >gdk_x_error() function.)
> 
> X problem.  Somewhere in the lower levels of whatever this is doing,
> it made a bad GTK+ or GDK call.  (Or if you're really unlucky, one
> of those libraries is doing something stupid.)  Getting info on
> this with strace will be difficult as X calls are typically made
> over... yep, a socket.  Like the error says, you'd probably have
> to compile with -g, run with --sync in gdb, and break on the
> function mentioned.  Not the world's most fun thing to do.
> 
> > I think I will check again for a revision before I claw further
> > back in the 1.2 MB log file
> 
> That'd be the easiest thing to try, see if they have another
> point release
> 

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Re: Yet another Zoneminder question - and it's a weird one!

[Michael Butash]

Jim,

  You might want to check the ZM forums, when I was looking for info on
my Airlink IP cameras, I had the same issue, and typically there seemed
to be embedded video within the link, such as /video.mpg or /video.asx
as the _actual_ video, not so much the .cgi that is generating the
content page.  You might also want to look at the page source and see if
you can find a link to the actual streaming video.  I think the CGI is
mostly responsible for finding a suitable host player, shelling it, or
invoking a java runtime jar to do so itself - hence no actual video at
that link that ZM is literally trying to fetch video from.

-mb


On Mon, 2009-07-27 at 13:00 -0700, Jim March wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 12:42 PM, Bob Elzer wrote:
> > Where is the video.cgi located ?
> >
> > Is the server setup to allow cgi in that directory ?
> 
> That's on the camera itself.  The controls are fairly primitive...
> 
> > If it's in cgi-bin  have you tried adding /cgi-bin/video.cgi
> 
> No, this link doesn't work:
> 
> http://192.168.0.55/cgi-bin/video.cgi
> 
> This one does:
> 
> http://192.168.0.55/video.cgi
> 
> Again, that's talking straight to the camera's IP address, bypassing
> Zoneminder completely.  The problem is, I can't get Zoneminder to see
> that feed.
> 
> Jim
> 
> >> -Original Message-
> >> From: plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> >> [mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On
> >> Behalf Of Jim March
> >> Sent: Monday, July 27, 2009 11:33 AM
> >> To: Main PLUG discussion list
> >> Subject: Yet another Zoneminder question - and it's a weird one!
> >>
> >> Folks,
> >>
> >> I've added two DCS-920 cameras to my setup. Zoneminder box is
> >> based off the latest Bluecherry liveCD, ZM 1.24.0 on Xubuntu 8.10.
> >>
> >> The 920 is a WiFi version of the 910 and I've found very
> >> little info on it.
> >>
> >> I'm running the cameras at 640x480 low-grade JPEG. I can't
> >> get more than .65 to .70fps off them UNLESS I have another
> >> browser window on some system on the local net continuously
> >> query the camera's video feed - in that case, Zoneminder's
> >> FPS goes to a more usable state just under 3fps, which I can
> >> live with.
> >>
> >> Before I grab a bell, book and candle next lemme show you how
> >> it's working now.
> >>
> >> From a regular web browser window talking straight to the
> >> camera, I can go to a camera's IP address such as:
> >>
> >> http://192.168.0.54
> >>
> >> ...and login. From there I can access the latest image snapshot at:
> >>
> >> http://192.168.0.54/image.jpg
> >>
> >> OR the camera's continuous video feed at:
> >>
> >> http://192.168.0.54/video.cgi
> >>
> >> ...and this line seems to work too:
> >>
> >> http://192.168.0.54/video.cgi?
> >>
> >> Getting the camera's video feed gives me a somewhat "choppy"
> >> view, as it will delay refreshing every few seconds for a
> >> split second...but when it's displaying video, it looks to be
> >> about 5 to 8 FPS.
> >>
> >> (Note: I have static camera IP addresses, and the ZM central
> >> box is on the same internal net.)
> >>
> >> Great. So go over to Zoneminder and it'll work off of
> >> /image.jpg just fine, but at low frame rates (under 1 frame
> >> per second) unless I have a separate browser window pointing
> >> to the camera's /video.cgi feed - then it quadruples to
> >> something usable.
> >>
> >> I can't get zoneminder to see the /video.cgi or /video.cgi?
> >> feeds at all - no picture.
> >>
> >> ZM setup stuff:
> >>
> >> I've been looking at this thread:
> >>
> >> http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12233&sid=f51
> >> f2ed70b9d332ce9dc9e4a8ce9ca4b
> >>
> >> ...for the 910 cameras and ZM 1.23 series. In ZM version 1.24
> >> I see no way to set anything in Options>Network related to
> >> "ZM_NETCAM_REGEXPS"
> >> or similar. Am I missing something?
> >>
> >> In the camera's setup window in ZM I'm doing "source type" as
> >> remote of course, "remote protocol" as HTTP, "remote method"
> >> is "simple", remote hostname is [userna...@[cameraipaddress]
> >> (this is behind a firewall so I'm not bothering with
> >> passwords), "remote host port" is "80".
> >>
> >> Under "remote host path" I've tried all of the following:
> >>
> >> video.cgi
> >> /video.cgi
> >> video.cgi?
> >> /video.cgi
> >>
> >> Thanks!
> >> ---
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Re: Cottonwood Question?

[Michael Butash]

Most any will work, just avoid the really cheap/off-brand ones
(best-data frys specials are known by cox to have issues with latest
infrastructure code, now unsupported).  I'd recommend making sure it's
at least docsis 2.0 capable, and if you want the really high tiers of
service (15mb+) get a motorola 6120, as they support docsis 3.0 which is
rolling out now.

-mb


On Tue, 2009-07-28 at 12:54 -0700, Jason Holtzapple wrote:
> mike havens wrote:
> > that was probably a stupid quesxtion; is a cable modem a cable modem...
> > meaning any of them will work on any system?
> 
> If cox is the provider, they have a supported list:
> 
> http://support.cox.com/sdccommon/asp/contentredirect.asp
> 
> I have and use a Motorola SB5101 and have no issues.
> 
> --Jason
> 
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Re: Cottonwood Question?

[Michael Butash]

David,

No, sorry to say, but you can't upgrade via firmware.  New docsis 3.0
uses something of a MIMO-kind of muxing of multiple upstream/downstream
channels, much the way 802.11n does, or some of the bastard hack
variants of 802.11g do for "speed boost" resulting in increased
bandwidth.  This requires more granular/precise clocking, faster
processing, whole new chipsets, and a gigabit ethernet port (150mb/s
theoretical max downstream) to achieve this.  The only modem I know of
on the market currently is the Motorola Surfboard 6120, which frys sells
for around 90 bucks.

If I'm not mistaken, I think 2.0 is good to around 12-15mb/s tiers
because it does some channel-bonding itself, just not to the level to
get the 25mb/s down cox is starting to roll out, or the 50mb/s
charter/comcast are on the east cost.

-mb


On Tue, 2009-07-28 at 17:19 -0700, David Munson wrote:
> Anyone know if existing 2.0 compliant cable modems can be updated to
> support 3.0 (presumably via firmware), or will I have to get a new
> cable modem once 3.0 is rolled out in my area?
> 
> I have a Linksys BEFCMU10 cable modem and it's served me well for the
> past 5 years, but I haven't seen anything from Linksys (geared for
> home use, anyway) that's DOCSIS 3.0 compliant.
> 
> On Tue, Jul 28, 2009 at 2:03 PM, Michael Butash 
> wrote:
> Most any will work, just avoid the really cheap/off-brand ones
> (best-data frys specials are known by cox to have issues with
> latest
> infrastructure code, now unsupported).  I'd recommend making
> sure it's
> at least docsis 2.0 capable, and if you want the really high
> tiers of
> service (15mb+) get a motorola 6120, as they support docsis
> 3.0 which is
> rolling out now.
> 
> -mb
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, 2009-07-28 at 12:54 -0700, Jason Holtzapple wrote:
> > mike havens wrote:
> > > that was probably a stupid quesxtion; is a cable modem a
> cable modem...
> > > meaning any of them will work on any system?
> >
> > If cox is the provider, they have a supported list:
> >
> > http://support.cox.com/sdccommon/asp/contentredirect.asp
> >
> > I have and use a Motorola SB5101 and have no issues.
> >
> > --Jason
> >
> 
> 
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Re: Cottonwood Question?

[Michael Butash]

Mike,

Nope, 5100 and 5150 are docsis 2.0 only.  They'll still "work", just
only at 15mb/s and down (unless they figure out a 2.5 hack or some
such).  Docsis 3.0 is its own new beast all together.

Another round of modems for everyone!  At least for 3.0 goodness.

-mb


On Wed, 2009-07-29 at 08:09 -0400, mike havens wrote:
> will the sb5100 still be usable?
> 
> On Tue, Jul 28, 2009 at 11:31 PM, Michael Butash 
> wrote:
> David,
> 
> No, sorry to say, but you can't upgrade via firmware.  New
> docsis 3.0
> uses something of a MIMO-kind of muxing of multiple
> upstream/downstream
> channels, much the way 802.11n does, or some of the bastard
> hack
> variants of 802.11g do for "speed boost" resulting in
> increased
> bandwidth.  This requires more granular/precise clocking,
> faster
> processing, whole new chipsets, and a gigabit ethernet port
> (150mb/s
> theoretical max downstream) to achieve this.  The only modem I
> know of
> on the market currently is the Motorola Surfboard 6120, which
> frys sells
> for around 90 bucks.
> 
> If I'm not mistaken, I think 2.0 is good to around 12-15mb/s
> tiers
> because it does some channel-bonding itself, just not to the
> level to
> get the 25mb/s down cox is starting to roll out, or the 50mb/s
> charter/comcast are on the east cost.
> 
> -mb
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, 2009-07-28 at 17:19 -0700, David Munson wrote:
> > Anyone know if existing 2.0 compliant cable modems can be
> updated to
> > support 3.0 (presumably via firmware), or will I have to get
> a new
> > cable modem once 3.0 is rolled out in my area?
> >
> > I have a Linksys BEFCMU10 cable modem and it's served me
> well for the
> > past 5 years, but I haven't seen anything from Linksys
> (geared for
> > home use, anyway) that's DOCSIS 3.0 compliant.
> >
> > On Tue, Jul 28, 2009 at 2:03 PM, Michael Butash
> 
> > wrote:
> > Most any will work, just avoid the really
> cheap/off-brand ones
> > (best-data frys specials are known by cox to have
> issues with
> > latest
> > infrastructure code, now unsupported).  I'd
> recommend making
> > sure it's
> > at least docsis 2.0 capable, and if you want the
> really high
> > tiers of
> > service (15mb+) get a motorola 6120, as they support
> docsis
> > 3.0 which is
> > rolling out now.
> >
> > -mb
> >
> >
> >
> > On Tue, 2009-07-28 at 12:54 -0700, Jason Holtzapple
> wrote:
> > > mike havens wrote:
> > > > that was probably a stupid quesxtion; is a cable
> modem a
> > cable modem...
> > > > meaning any of them will work on any system?
> > >
> > > If cox is the provider, they have a supported
> list:
> > >
> > >
> http://support.cox.com/sdccommon/asp/contentredirect.asp
> > >
> > > I have and use a Motorola SB5101 and have no
> issues.
> > >
> > > --Jason
> > >
> >
> >
> > >
> ---
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> > PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail
> settings:
> > >
> >
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> >
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Re: Is there an ntop virus for Linux?

[Michael Butash]

Ntop is definitely not (traditionally) a virus, but unless you do some
basic configuration, it typically doesn't even start as a service
(requires an admin password to start).  Maybe other distro's may be
different, but it's that way at least on ubuntu.

I'd say just apt-get|yum remove ntop if you really don't need/want it,
worst case simply disable the service.  Not much good unless you're
doing protocol analysis off a switch span port or are feeding it Netflow
data from an infrastructure switch or router.

-mb


On Wed, 2009-07-29 at 10:13 -0700, Ryan Rix wrote:
> Mark Phillips wrote:
> > On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 9:40 AM, Ryan Rix  wrote:
> > 
> >> Mark Phillips wrote:
> >>> Whenever I start my Debian Lenny testing laptop a process called ntop
> >> starts
> >>> and quickly consumes 99% of my cpu. If I kill the process, nothing
> >> happens.
> >>> If I run ntop from the command line, it does what the man page says it
> >> does,
> >>> and hardly consumes any resources at all. There is an ntop in
> >> /etc/init.d/,
> >>> and when I run /etc/init.s/ntop it consumes very few resources - the
> >> script
> >>> calls /usr/sbin/ntop. There are no entries in the
> >> /var/log/ntop/access.log
> >>> file.
> >>>
> >>> My questions are:
> >>>
> >>> Do I have a virus masquerading as ntop, and if so how do I remove it? I
> >>> googled "linux ntop virus" and did not come up with anything useful.
> >>>
> >>> Can I just remove ntop from /etc/init.d/ ?
> >>>
> >>> How do I find out if another startup program needs ntop?
> >>>
> >>> Is ntop necessary at startup?
> >>>
> >> Are you monitoring your network usage?
> >> if not, probably safe to remove the /etc/rc.d/ hooks for it for the
> >> runlevel you are booting into.
> >>
> >> /etc/rc.d/rc5/XX-ntop <-- look for something like that if you are
> >> booting into runlevel 5 (full desktop)
> >>
> >> all in all, removing init.d scripts is a bad idea.
> >>
> >> If the init scripts in debian use LSB, the headers will tell you which
> >> (if any) require ntop.
> >>
> >> Does ps -aux list any options for ntop when it's run from init?
> >>
> >> Ryan
> > 
> > 
> > Ryan,
> > 
> > I am not monitoring network usage. This weird behavior just started a week
> > or so ago.
> > 
> > Here is what ps says when I start ntop:
> > 
> > narwhale:/home/mark# ps aux | grep ntop
> > ntop 10943  4.5  2.6 197824 27136 ?Ssl  09:49   0:00
> > /usr/sbin/ntop -d -L -u ntop -P /var/lib/ntop --access-log-file
> > /var/log/ntop/access.log -i eth0,eth1 -p /etc/ntop/protocol.list -O
> > /var/log/ntop
> 
> sounds like it's just running as a standard daemon
> 
> > 
> > I ran grep -nr "ntop" /etc/init.d and all references to ntop are from the
> > ntop script, so I assume none of the other init.d scripts are calling ntop.
> > 
> > Any other thoughts, or should I just disable ntop from init.d:
> > 
> > update-rc.d -f  ntop remove
> 
> If you know you don't need it and know how to bring it back if it breaks 
> something, feel free :)
> 
> > 
> > Mark
> > 
> > P.S. Since I started ntop to check the output from ps, I let it run. And
> > sure enough, after a few minutes, the fan started blowing hard and CPU usage
> > went over 90% for ntop. Now I am really confusedI guess the real
> > question is why do I need ntop to start my laptop?
> >
> 
> Running a firewall perhaps with some autoblocking doohicky? I have no 
> idea...
> 
> Ryan
> 
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Re: Is there an ntop virus for Linux?

[Michael Butash]

Not that I know of, and I find it hard to believe ntop would start
default on any distro, especially debian.  Must have got in via another
odd dependency.  It's typically a standalone app and webserver of its
own for diagnosing tcp/udp application flows from the flag level, not
typically used by most outside of networking folk.  I'm not sure it even
offers a direct api for another app to use unless an app is scraping, I
suppose its possible another has it as a dependency.

It usually is stable under low loads, so if it's freaking out, either
its a bad build, you have a lot of broadcast/unicast flooding occurring
that it's seeing, or "normal" traffic of your own its crunching on.
I've killed it with gratuitous bittorrent connections on a slow test
box.  

What does it show when you http to:

http://localhost:3000

Should be default port.  If you get curious, maybe you should.  :)

-mb


On Wed, 2009-07-29 at 11:19 -0700, Mark Phillips wrote:
> No, nothing that I am aware of. 
>  
> I disabled ntop from init.d, rebooted, and the world did not come to
> an end...;-).
>  
> Does VMware or VirtualBox depend on ntop in some way? I have those
> installed for my Windows partition, but I don't use them because my
> po' lil' Pentium IV has a hard time keeping up with both Linux and XP
> at the same time. I also couldn't get USB and network to work with
> them, so my dream of running iTunes on Linux (via VMware/VirtualBox
> and XP) did not come to fruition. Perhaps they installed ntop?
>  
> Mark
> 
> On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 10:46 AM, Bob Elzer 
> wrote:
> I agree with Hans, did you turn on any monitoring programs ?
> Stat gathering, big brother, hobbit, nagios anything of this
> nature ?
>  
> 
> 
> __
> From: plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> [mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us]
> On Behalf Of Mark Phillips
> Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 9:59 AM
> To: Main PLUG discussion list
> Subject: Re: Is there an ntop virus for Linux?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 9:40 AM, Ryan Rix
>  wrote:
> 
> Mark Phillips wrote:
> > Whenever I start my Debian Lenny testing
> laptop a process called ntop starts
> > and quickly consumes 99% of my cpu. If I
> kill the process, nothing happens.
> > If I run ntop from the command line, it does
> what the man page says it does,
> > and hardly consumes any resources at all.
> There is an ntop in /etc/init.d/,
> > and when I run /etc/init.s/ntop it consumes
> very few resources - the script
> > calls /usr/sbin/ntop. There are no entries
> in the /var/log/ntop/access.log
> > file.
> >
> > My questions are:
> >
> > Do I have a virus masquerading as ntop, and
> if so how do I remove it? I
> > googled "linux ntop virus" and did not come
> up with anything useful.
> >
> > Can I just remove ntop from /etc/init.d/ ?
> >
> > How do I find out if another startup program
> needs ntop?
> >
> > Is ntop necessary at startup?
> >
> 
> 
> Are you monitoring your network usage?
> if not, probably safe to remove the /etc/rc.d/
> hooks for it for the
> runlevel you are booting into.
> 
> /etc/rc.d/rc5/XX-ntop <-- look for something
> like that if you are
> booting into runlevel 5 (full desktop)
> 
> all in all, removing init.d scripts is a bad
> idea.
> 
> If the init scripts in debian use LSB, the
> headers will tell you which
> (if any) require ntop.
> 
> Does ps -aux list any options for ntop when
> it's run from init?
>

Re: Is there an ntop virus for Linux?

[Michael Butash]

Usually you start it with "ntop -A" and set the admin account
credentials, then you init launch and hopefully get to the :3000 port.

Actually it's rather nifty tool I use with work a lot, I think most
people would be shocked to see what traffic a windoze box does these
days.  UDP games and bittorrent can generate some shocking packet per
second numbers.  Scary what you find when you drop sniffers into
customer (or your own) networks, ntop deciphers it quite nicely to make
(mostly) human readable.

Heh, maybe you should (or shouldn't depending on your moral boundaries)
take WarCrack away.  I've seen junkies come down easier...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YersIyzsOpc

-mb


On Wed, 2009-07-29 at 13:09 -0700, Mark Phillips wrote:
> Michael,
>  
> Thanks...I will re-enable it sometime and try it out. When I run it
> without the command line arguments form the init.d script, it actually
> fails after a few minutes. I forget the error, but I traced it to an
> open bug that appeared in v 3.2 and was thought to be dead, but
> reappeared in 3.3. 
>  
> I have a small network, less than 10 computers, and very little
> traffic (unless you consider WOW a traffic hog!). Perhaps a reason to
> disable WOW and melt the only windows machine and get my daughter
> doing something else...;-)
>  
> Cheers!
>  
> Mark
> 
> On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 12:41 PM, Michael Butash 
> wrote:
> Not that I know of, and I find it hard to believe ntop would
> start
> default on any distro, especially debian.  Must have got in
> via another
> odd dependency.  It's typically a standalone app and webserver
> of its
> own for diagnosing tcp/udp application flows from the flag
> level, not
> typically used by most outside of networking folk.  I'm not
> sure it even
> offers a direct api for another app to use unless an app is
> scraping, I
> suppose its possible another has it as a dependency.
> 
> It usually is stable under low loads, so if it's freaking out,
> either
> its a bad build, you have a lot of broadcast/unicast flooding
> occurring
> that it's seeing, or "normal" traffic of your own its
> crunching on.
> I've killed it with gratuitous bittorrent connections on a
> slow test
> box.
> 
> What does it show when you http to:
> 
> http://localhost:3000
> 
> Should be default port.  If you get curious, maybe you
> should.  :)
> 
> -mb
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, 2009-07-29 at 11:19 -0700, Mark Phillips wrote:
> > No, nothing that I am aware of.
> >
> > I disabled ntop from init.d, rebooted, and the world did not
> come to
> > an end...;-).
> >
> > Does VMware or VirtualBox depend on ntop in some way? I have
> those
> > installed for my Windows partition, but I don't use them
> because my
> > po' lil' Pentium IV has a hard time keeping up with both
> Linux and XP
> > at the same time. I also couldn't get USB and network to
> work with
> > them, so my dream of running iTunes on Linux (via
> VMware/VirtualBox
> > and XP) did not come to fruition. Perhaps they installed
> ntop?
> >
> > Mark
> >
> > On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 10:46 AM, Bob Elzer
> 
> > wrote:
> > I agree with Hans, did you turn on any monitoring
> programs ?
> > Stat gathering, big brother, hobbit, nagios anything
> of this
> > nature ?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> __
> > From:
> plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> >
> [mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us]
> > On Behalf Of Mark Phillips
> > Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 9:59 AM
> > To: Main PLUG discussion list
> > Subject: Re: Is there an ntop virus for
> Linux?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 9:40 AM, Ryan Rix
> &g

Re: opensource wide area san?

[Michael Butash]

I just started playing with openfiler recently, and I think for what you
want you'll need to end up using another protocol you can control,
either nfs or cifs (they're probably widest supported), and rsync behind
it if you want to use a wide-area optimization system on the network
between it.  If the bonded t1's are your ultimate solution, it'll be
necessary, as even cifs is wonky over a latent network (old tdm,
bandwidth-limited), and can benefit from tcp optimizations for such use.
Cisco and everyone else making them bank selling solutions that handle
"traffic optimization appliances" (read software on linux) for this, but
they do work for "enterprise" solutions and gives you a body to point a
finger at when they break.  

Look at this to see if it might be a good solution, supposedly it
supports cifs these days if windoze is your environment.  Rsync and
NFSv3/4 maybe as well being tcp-based for generic optimization and
compression. Might be worth running at least a local daemon on your OF
servers and let it tunnel the protocol itself via this as a proxy over
the wan.  I've considered the notion for a customer of mine, and maybe
testing it soon (I hope).

http://trafficsqueezer.sourceforge.net

Otherwise possibly consider a commercial appliance, as stated Cisco,
Riverbed, Juniper, and a gaggle of others sell products for this
purpose.  I can point you at some vendors or vars if you get to that
point.

-mb  


On Wed, 2009-07-29 at 14:06 -0700, Stephen wrote:
> We are useing an openfiler server here and it has been running great.
> 
> right now it is hosting several iSCSI connections to our servers
> however we need to replicate data on one of the iSCSI volumes between
> 2 sites.
> 
> internally using DRBD/heartbeat comes to mind as a new but no brainer
> solution. however these servers need to live in 2 different states
> (and eventually maybe 3-4 locations)
> 
> generally it would seem that rsync would be better however it is a
> file level replication and seems that it would not be able to
> replicate the iSCSI volume which is block level...
> 
> can DRBD/heartbeat sync across a t-1 or pair of bonded t-1's? or will
> it eat the pipe?
> 

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Re: opensource wide area san?

[Michael Butash]

Consider also Qos on the routers at very least, segregate your traffic
via CBWFQ (Cisco) or whatever vendor solution supports queuing.  You
don't want disk sync's to swat other important traffic.

Is the environment use windows DFS or anything?  FRS was crap, but DFS-R
(R2) might provide adherence to bandwidth limits on site-based
replication.  I'm looking at giving iscsi targets to windows off a local
san (OF), and giving DFS-R a try to manage replications and such, just
not sure how it stretches yet.  Not positive, but worth a look if DFS is
front-ending a windows server/client environment for your needs,
supposedly it has wan-friendly qualities for such occasion.  Doesn't
solve all issues, but may in some cases.

-mb


On Wed, 2009-07-29 at 14:06 -0700, Stephen wrote:
> We are useing an openfiler server here and it has been running great.
> 
> right now it is hosting several iSCSI connections to our servers
> however we need to replicate data on one of the iSCSI volumes between
> 2 sites.
> 
> internally using DRBD/heartbeat comes to mind as a new but no brainer
> solution. however these servers need to live in 2 different states
> (and eventually maybe 3-4 locations)
> 
> generally it would seem that rsync would be better however it is a
> file level replication and seems that it would not be able to
> replicate the iSCSI volume which is block level...
> 
> can DRBD/heartbeat sync across a t-1 or pair of bonded t-1's? or will
> it eat the pipe?
> 

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Re: Resolved: cheese failing silently

[Michael Butash]

Wow, right on - first time ive actually seen cheese work for me!  Thanks
for that tidbit, worked quite well here.  I'd long ago given up on
it.  :)

Now I might follow up with why the camera in my m1330 dell will only
work in the lowest graphics mode...  meh, always something.

-mb


On Wed, 2009-07-29 at 23:42 -0700, Dazed_75 wrote:
> Short Answer: I had to set gstreamer properties to use X Window System
> (No XV) as the plugin for Default Video Output.  This may be another
> effect of the Intel Video drivers Jaunty seems to have trouble with.
> 
> Long Version:
> 
> I had decided the X-Windows call failure was probably associated with
> the opening of the sub-window to display the picture from the web cam
> based on the GUI that did appear and the timing.  I was going to go
> get the source code and maybe try yo find it and maybe even do the
> compile-debug cycle as it seems a lot of folks have this or a similar
> problem.  In the process I found:
> 
> http://live.gnome.org/Cheese/FAQ
> 
> Since cheese worked on ubuntu 8.10 with the Asus eeePC 1000 but had
> slow and choppy video like described in the #1 question I thought to
> look into that answer.  Running gstreamer-properties from the command
> line brought up the Multimedia Systems Selector GUI mentioned in
> question #2.  Clicking the Test button on the Default Output section
> of the Video tab, which had been set to Autodetect, caused the GUI to
> disappear and control returned to the terminal AND display in the
> terminal virtually the same error message I got from using strace on
> cheese.
> 
> From there it was a simple matter to determine that AutoDetect was
> using the "X Window System (X11/XShm/Xv)" value and it was failing.
> Once I changed it to use "X Window System (No Xv)", cheese began
> working again albeit with slow and choppy video.  This may be another
> effect of the Intel Video drivers Jaunty seems to have trouble with.
> 
> -- 
> Dazed_75 a.k.a. Larry
> 
> The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain
> occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive.
>  - Thomas Jefferson

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Re: BAD kubuntu

[Michael Butash]

Honestly I'd had nothing but issues using Kubuntu using it until around
7.04.  When I upgraded to 7.10, i went to ubuntu and never looked back.
KDE 4 was a kludge back then, not sure how it is now, but I've heard not
much has changed.

Despite that, I can't imagine it not booting after an update - where
exactly does it die in the boot process?  Does grub ever find the disks
at all or drop to initrd busybox?  I've been to hell and back with
software/hardware raid, I'll help where I can if you can provide more
info on what the console is spewing.

You're not using raid on there are you?  Look for some grub howto's to
have it probe for the drives - if it can't find it, you might have a
flaky controller, or disk.  Fakeraid's proved notoriously bad about
randomly tossing their cookies, but pure ide/sata tends to be quite
stable through kernel updates.  I run combinations of hardware/software
raid on many systems with ubuntu, most save fakeraids have proven
stable.  I also really tend not to update kernels unless I really have
to.  

I don't like how (k)ubuntu pushes kernels with a "normal" update, but
I'm not a distro maintainer either.  I'd recommend updating kernels
quite cautiously, and do so on a friday so if things go left you can
screw with it through a weekend.  I have had good luck and haven't
bricked a system since upgrading ~2.6.22 kernels.

-mb


On Wed, 2009-07-29 at 23:40 -0700, Dazed_75 wrote:
> To be honest, it sounds like you have a more basic problem (disk
> space, disk failing, bad memory, hardware conflicts, 3rd party
> software conflicts, etc).  Switching distros may or may not help.
> Even if it does, it could re-occur later.  Tons of other folks had the
> kernel update as well and I've not heard of any such problems.  
> 
> Obviously, you need to fix or install something, but I would suggest
> booting a live CD or USB stick to do some checking first.
> 
> On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 9:17 PM, Trent Shipley
>  wrote:
> I've been running Kubuntu on my desktop for a while now.
> Since the upgrade to 9.04 it has worked really well.  Today
> the update program said the kernel had to be updated for
> security reasons, so I updated.  Now the @#$% computer won't
> finish booting.  This has happened before -- frequently.
> Until now I have been lucky and some old kernel known to GRUB
> would boot.  Not this time.  I have a perfectly good /home
> directory that I cant get to.  When this has happened before
> I've tried burning an Ubuntu install DVD.  That won't work.
> The install DVD naturally has the latest kernel so it won't
> boot my Dell desktop either.
> 
> I am annoyed with Kubuntu.  I used SuSE before Ubuntu.  Who
> wants to recommend a good desktop distro for someone who
> thinks WIMP interfaces are a great advance over the command
> line?  I prefer KDE to Gnome, but it's not a big deal either
> way.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> -- 
> Dazed_75 a.k.a. Larry
> 
> The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain
> occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive.
>  - Thomas Jefferson
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Re: Kmail or Evolution?

[Michael Butash]

I used to use Thunderbird entirely until I worked for a company that ran
Exchange, so rather than run Evolution AND Thunderbird, I ended up
consolidating to Evolution alone.  At first it was painful circa Ubuntu
7.10 days crashing all the time, but it was the only usable way I could
access exchange with linux since M$ provides around 5% of the normal
functionality for non-activex capable clients with their "basic
mode" (i.e. screw anything non-M$).  I endured and watched it get
progressively better starting around 8.04 hardy, to rarely if ever
crashing on Jaunty.  At this point I'm pretty comfortable recommending
Evolution for even enterprise users.

I really have no experience with kmail, so can't say which is "better".
I do wish someone would port an exchange module for Thunderbird, with
it's new calendaring through Sunbird, I'd flip back in a second still.

-mb


On Thu, 2009-07-30 at 14:22 -0700, Ryan Rix wrote:
> Francis Earl wrote:
> > On Thu, 2009-07-30 at 07:08 -0700, mike Enriquez wrote:
> >> Which of these email clients do you like (Kmail or Evolution); and why?
> > 
> > I personally prefer Evolution for a few different reasons, amongst them,
> > calendar and contacts import more easily from Google sites. Also, one
> > thing that is seriously annoying about using Kmail is the fact you can't
> > view the next message easily from the one you're currently reading - you
> > have to close one mail window, find where you're at in your list of
> > e-mails, and then open the next one.
> 
> KMail can present the same list on top-mail on bottom interface that 
> most other clients can...
> And even if they couldn't, god invented the keyboard and shortcuts for a 
> reason ;)
> 
> Also, judging by what Nathan said, KMail can do import, too, super 
> easily (my DIMAP is still pulling my mail so I can't check)
> 
> > 
> > I do like the presentation of Kmail - especially in 4.2 - though. The
> > default interface, grouping by date and more graphically structured is
> > definitely nice to look at. Evolution simply provides more useful
> > features, and despite not being as nice to look at, is just more
> > complete and ready for my needs.
> > 
> > ---
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> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
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> 
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Re: Zii?

[Michael Butash]

I saw Creative's marketing videos released a few days ago and drooled...
Engadget had it right, it'd be dreamy if it were a phone, but otherwise
probably just another niche DMP behind the ubiquitous i(cky)pods people
seem to favor for no apparent reason than wanting to pay their apple
tax.  Sounds like Creative's Zii processor might be cool if they oem'd
their integrated solution to someone that wants to throw a baseband
radio in it for GSM/CDMA/LTE.  Otherwise it'll just be another footnote
competitor to apple's marketing machine.  Nothing quite like races to be
number 2, thanks apple. 

Sadly enough, the powerhouse DMP to probably beat for performance is
going to be the ZuneHD packing a NVidia Tegra chipset that can decode
full 1080p in hardware, but it's not a phone (yet) either.  I don't
think many, if any, other proprietary solutions will pack the video
capability it does.  Sadly NVidia pissed on linux by only supporting OEM
Windows CE/Mobile (ick) for Tegra, or at least until google or others
reverse engineer their hardware around them, which isn't likely.

I'm still holding out for Verizon to get off their laurels and release a
damn android phone with some quality hardware, preferably something to
double as a DMP.  I'm about at the point I'm looking at Sprint Pre's to
hack over to Verizon just for a (rootable) linux phone to toy with.
After one horrible experience after the next with windoze mobile phones,
I'll keep a simple dumbphone until then.

-mb


On Thu, 2009-07-30 at 14:30 -0700, Ryan Rix wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Has anyone ever heard of this thing?
> http://www.zii.com
> 
> apparently, it's God in mobile hardware form, but it just screams 
> vapourware to me...
> 
> Anyone with another opinion?
> 
> Ryan
> 
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Re: opensource wide area san?

[Michael Butash]

Well, don't "have" to use DFS per say, but it might be easiest if you're
native windows.  If you do, specifically look at 2003 R2's DFS-R as
supposedly it fixes most/all the shortcommings of FRS, replacing and
relegating it only to sysvol duties.  This still won't help iscsi raw
volumes hosted off OF.  DRDB is most definitely a high-speed lan (read
gig) technology though, not something to throw on top of T1's as the
data would consistently be out of date and/or never fully finish.

What it comes down to is bandwidth, and you don't have a lot to work
with if you're only talking 2x t1's.  Honestly for what you're paying
for T1's you can probably get a 10mb ethernet drop site to site locally
(in-city) at least to help with it.  Metro Ethernet is typically cheaper
than maintaining legacy TDM technologies anymore for carriers, so I've
seen some renegotiate contracts that worked out cheaper to roll to it
Ethernet (hardware for 10/100/100 ethernet is obviously cheaper than a
T1 too).  Otherwise talk to your carriers about mpls services with metro
ethernet at either end if distance or differing carriers are an issue,
it can actually cheapen the costs for carriers to exchange an IP session
than tying up a clear/frame ds1 interstate with associated tariffs and
other carrier pricing manipulation.

If increasing bandwidth isn't an option, you can schedule your file
replication asynchronously at low-bandwidth times, it might work too,
but you still might not have enough time/bandwidth to replicate your
whole volume set in "off-peak" hours.  All the workarounds and hacks in
place, you might just realize you need more bandwidth to do what you
want to do anyways.

Enterprise WAN accelerators like Cisco can transparently "cache" and
replicate files remotely within a cloud of site to minimize
bandwidth/maximize availability, but isn't exactly a full DR solution
for your data - this is performance related only, but might somewhat
work for you.  There are a lot of commercial applications for this as
well, most getting pricey rather fast.  

If it's truly full DR replication you seek, some things have got to
give.  This is the kind of thing that typically gets me looking at
1-10gig pipes on a wan...

-mb


On Thu, 2009-07-30 at 17:09 -0700, Stephen wrote:
> This si kind of what we have...
> 
> "Is the environment use windows DFS or anything?  FRS was crap, but DFS-R
> (R2) might provide adherence to bandwidth limits on site-based
> replication.  I'm looking at giving iscsi targets to windows off a local
> san (OF), and giving DFS-R a try to manage replications and such, just
> not sure how it stretches yet.  Not positive, but worth a look if DFS is
> front-ending a windows server/client environment for your needs,
> supposedly it has wan-friendly qualities for such occasion.  Doesn't
> solve all issues, but may in some cases."
> 
> and it performs really well except when i do large data xfers from
> machine 1 and machine 2 with main data volumes as iSCSI on the same OF
> server.
> 
> but that one is kind of expected.
> 
> we are really having to go back to DFS/FRS i was just trying to
> explore options but for only2-3 more months of this its at this point
> just better to fix DFS again.
> 
> however i still like OF as a filer.
> 
> On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 8:27 PM, Michael Butash wrote:
> > Consider also Qos on the routers at very least, segregate your traffic
> > via CBWFQ (Cisco) or whatever vendor solution supports queuing.  You
> > don't want disk sync's to swat other important traffic.
> >
> > Is the environment use windows DFS or anything?  FRS was crap, but DFS-R
> > (R2) might provide adherence to bandwidth limits on site-based
> > replication.  I'm looking at giving iscsi targets to windows off a local
> > san (OF), and giving DFS-R a try to manage replications and such, just
> > not sure how it stretches yet.  Not positive, but worth a look if DFS is
> > front-ending a windows server/client environment for your needs,
> > supposedly it has wan-friendly qualities for such occasion.  Doesn't
> > solve all issues, but may in some cases.
> >
> > -mb
> >
> >
> > On Wed, 2009-07-29 at 14:06 -0700, Stephen wrote:
> >> We are useing an openfiler server here and it has been running great.
> >>
> >> right now it is hosting several iSCSI connections to our servers
> >> however we need to replicate data on one of the iSCSI volumes between
> >> 2 sites.
> >>
> >> internally using DRBD/heartbeat comes to mind as a new but no brainer
> >> solution. however these servers need to live in 2 different states
> >> (and eventually maybe 3-4 locatio

Re: BAD kubuntu

[Michael Butash]

Try unplugging input peripherals and even internal cards until something
clicks.  I've had bad video cards give the same response, bad memory,
even a quirky western digital external usb drive cause issues you
describe to halt the kernel boot.  Simplifying the hardware complexity
should prove helpful to diagnose.

-mb


On Fri, 2009-07-31 at 09:00 -0700, Alan Dayley wrote:
> Are you able to get to the initial menu where it asks if you want to
> boot or install or etc.?  On that menu is a memory test choice.  It'll
> crank up memtestx86 and start testing your RAM.
> 
> The problems you describe could be RAM issues.  Many times the system
> can run just enough to test the RAM and find such problems.
> 
> Alan
> 
> On Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 7:32 AM,  wrote:
> > I tried to boot from a Fedora 11 live cd, but the boot quit part way 
> > through.  (The initial [GRUB?] splash screen comes up.)  Is there a shop in 
> > town that works with Linux? I live near ASU West.
> >
> >
> > Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel
> >
> > -Original Message-
> > From: Lisa Kachold 
> >
> > Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2009 06:17:06
> > To: Main PLUG discussion list
> > Subject: Re: BAD kubuntu
> >
> >
> > Boot to live CD/DVD
> >
> > # tail /var/log/messages
> > # dmesg |more
> >
> > highlight/copy/drop to email for us?
> >
> >
> > On 7/30/09, Ryan Rix  wrote:
> >> On Thu 30 July 2009 12:17:40 am Michael Butash wrote:
> >>> but I've heard not
> >>> much has changed.
> >>
> >> You've heard wrong. KDE4.3 will be just as mature as 3.5 and with a hell of
> >> a
> >> lot more features and future.
> >>
> >> --
> >> ---
> >> Ryan Rix
> >> (623)-826-0051
> >>
> >> Problem solving under Linux has never been the circus that it is under
> >> AIX.
> >>   -- Pete Ehlke in comp.unix.aix
> >>
> >> http://hackersramblings.wordpress.com | http://twitter.com/phrkonaleash
> >> XMPP: phrkonale...@gmail.com  | MSN: phrkonale...@yahoo.com
> >> AIM:  phrkonaleash| Yahoo: phrkonaleash
> >> IRC:  phrkon...@irc.freenode.net/#srcedit,#teensonlinux,#plugaz and
> >>   countless other FOSS channels.
> >>
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > (623)239-3392
> > (503)754-4452 www.obnosis.com
> > ---
> > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> >
> >
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Re: Serial Port Terminal Emulation problems in Ubuntu

[Michael Butash]

There is a version of putty for linux as well (apt-get install putty)
that might prove a bit more friendly.  As far as I know it's a mirror of
the win32 version.  I just dislike putty on any platform, but spend
quite a bit of time consoled into network gear, and minicom has
typically most always worked for me.

I've gone so far as to install SecureCRT under wine for a versatile
terminal app for logging features and such.  It installed and worked
mostly perfectly so long as you map your com ports to the TTY's.  Wine
and compiz would sometimes not play nice causing some visual artifacting
under load, but typically disabling compiz temporarily would help if I
*really* needed to use securecrt while it was flaking out.

-mb


On Fri, 2009-07-31 at 17:18 -0700, Mike Bushroe wrote:
> I am using Ubuntu at work, were connect to a Linux based Ether
> switch/router both by serial port and by telnet. When I use the
> default terminal emulation program in Ubuntu, I am able to run nano
> (the only editor on the switch), but I can not save the results
> because the program traps ^O to use for configuration changes. Is
> there an escape sequence that would allow me to send control
> characters?
> 
>   I tried using minicom, but then when I run nano on the switch, all
> the text ends up in one line. Minicom is supposedly emulating a vt102.
> Is there a command I can issue to the switch to get it to display
> properly under minicom? I tried adding line feeds inside minicom, but
> it not only didn;t work, it added an extra line between each line in
> the text.
> 
>   I also tried running nano with in a telnet session, but the switch
> complained that it could not start xterm. Is there a display setting
> to bypass trying to use X? I think this system is so stripped down to
> fit in a 64Meg flash drive that it does not have X11.
> 
> Finally, is there a better terminal emulation program to run on Ubuntu
> that won't have the ^O problem? I like TerraTerm under Windows, but
> even after Googling for a Linux terminal emulation program, I found
> only links to tool kits to make you own, not existing programs.
> 
> TIA
> 
> Mike
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RE: Zii?

[Michael Butash]

Zii Egg device I presume you're talking about, Zii itself is the actual
processor platform.

It's custom integrated ARM chipset, custom video processing, custom
audio solution, basic wire/wireless/periphery connectivity.  Toss in
accelerometers and the like, and you have an oemable ipod competitor.
Android or their own Plaszma os(?) will provide the software api's to
write code around.  Underneath they are all linux goodness.

http://www.zii.com/Developer/SDKProducts.aspx

That should tell you most anything you need to know.  I did notice these
can do 1080p, so I can retract my comment about the ZuneHD - it can be
relegated back to microsoft fodder obscurity again.  I still think
creative should have build them with cell radio and peddle them as
phones, I'm sold already.

-mb


On Fri, 2009-07-31 at 22:18 -0700, Ryan Rix wrote:
> -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
> Hash: SHA1
> 
> Bob Elzer wrote:
> 
> > Drool...
> > ..
> >  o
> >  ooo--__
> > \..
> 
> It turns out that Zii is a subsidiary of Creative, the MP3 player company. 
> So, I guess that the Zii may not be so much Vapourware as Developerware... 
> Still an absolutely beautiful toy. I think I may get one, but 400$ for 
> device+their plazma sdk is kinda steep. I'd just put android or debian on 
> it, I think... 
> 
> Is it worth it? That thing sounds like a dream come true, and if that 
> plaszma OS is FOSS (doesn't appear to be, 400$ sdk considered, and that it's 
> not advertised as GNU/Linux) it gets even better.
> 
> Part of me is doing the same thing as Bob and then the other half of me is 
> saying that I can get a better supported device that is just as 'cool' for 
> same or cheaper price.
> 
> The processor seems highly proprietary, even though it's running Android. 
> Anyone know -anything- about this device?
> 
> (btw, I'm sending this via GMane and nntp, so if the message is borked 
> please let me know)
> 
> Ryan
> 
> - -- 
> - ---
> Ryan Rix
> (623)-826-0051
> 
> How should I know if it works?  That's what beta testers are for.  I
> only coded it.
>   -- Attributed to Linus Torvalds, somewhere in a posting
> 
> http://hackersramblings.wordpress.com | http://twitter.com/phrkonaleash
> XMPP: phrkonale...@gmail.com  | MSN: phrkonale...@yahoo.com
> AIM:  phrkonaleash| Yahoo: phrkonaleash
> IRC:  phrkon...@irc.freenode.net/#srcedit,#teensonlinux,#plugaz and
>   countless other FOSS channels.
> -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-
> Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)
> 
> iEYEARECAAYFAkpz0EAACgkQqbqTmzp42OGHrACfd7ooHreYsi3wAV7/o+JN+eFV
> KiEAn1ZnJjBTFS6/gmeiJgj4TvORbOwH
> =40Zz
> -END PGP SIGNATURE-
> 
> 
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Re: Geek/Tech/Entrepreneur Stuff to do in PHX

[Michael Butash]

Well, largely I agree with Joshua's assessment, sounds like his
experience is much like mine...

I moved to the Bay area in 99, worked tech there for 2 years, moved back
when things imploded in 01.  Since being back versed with tech skill and
corporate politics, I've only ever been able to describe most business
in Arizona as bass-ackward and/or hot-air propelled.  Largely I note
Arizona seems to encourage abuse of fair labor standards act for
salaried employees, resulting in a lot of "sweatshop IT" mentality in
corporations here.  Funny I heard mentioned godaddy and 2wire, as they
tend to be some of the biggest offenders of running said sweat shops.
Give your buddy 6 months at the Daddy to acclimate to them and ask what
he thinks.  :)  

When I did move back to AZ, I'd joined some professional "networking"
groups like AZIPA that led to not much more than pedantic bickering and
posturing, not much at all helpful for business or technology
opportunities.  Ultimately I saw it splinter, fracture, and a lot of
people simply lose interest because of it, including myself.  From that
I found being an island unto yourself isn't always a bad thing, simply
networking with people I met through work.  Only recently have I
somewhat opened up to professional networking though LinkedIn and user
groups like this one, but really just to keep touch with associates and
clients of mine.  I'm still gun shy on the rest...

Since being back in AZ, I've worked for a lot of IT shops and been
exposed to a lot of people shifting between jobs, finding that more or
less most corporate politics surrounding IT are the same, and not
typically good.  I worked 3 years at GoDaddy prior and through massive
growth, while one of my best work experiences (building cool/expensive
stuff), it was also one of the worst (meat grinder stressful workplace,
implosive politics).  GD and frankly a lot of companies I've been
exposed to are more alike than not, typically because of clueless upper
management and general lack of ethics, but somehow forge along despite
themselves.  Closest analogy I can equated it to universally is "the
blind leading the blind", where self-serving politics, combined with
poor technological leadership, and now volatile economics eventually
dictate perspective reasoning of how things work.  Bad things tend to
result, and often...

The difference between working in the Bay Area and in Arizona is stark.
Generally I found a lot better talent there, with a stronger likeliness
to embrace technology, and be passionate about their work.  Here there's
just a lot of people graduating DeVry, UoP, WIU, and other "schools"
cranking out mediocre certified/degreed cannon-fodder for the local IT
shops, trying to get paid by the IT dream job.  It's almost scary
walking into new customer businesses consulting anymore, pretty safe to
assume someone knows nothing than anything about the tech they support.
While I did have this too in the Bay Area, the clueless admin syndrome
is a heck of a lot more prevalent here.  Work ethics tend to be crappier
too.  I dunno, something in the water perhaps...

Look around at the sheer number of call centers for businesses out of
state we have here, and that should tell you something.  A lot of
low-pay, mediocre jobs, and a career path to become a cattle herder of
these call centers, maybe even move into middle management if you're
lucky.  Businesses like GoDaddy, 2wire, CableOne, Cox, ETelecare, etc
simply rotate people in and out like underwear, but they're the armpits
that fund a lot of the IT business around town as well, as someone's got
to support all the infrastructure to take those calls.  Godaddy's call
centers are slightly different because they actually MAKE them money, so
they tend to commission merit pay and lavish gifts readily upon them to
keep everyone happy, but it's still at the root just another sweatshop
call center.  Other call centers are much less forgiving...  

Supporting IT shops around call centers tends to be a double-edged
sword, especially when the call center slave mentality pervades into the
how companies deal with or even drive IT folk.  Even non-call-centers
seem to act this way locally more commonly than not, just because they
can, and it's the atmosphere people are becoming acclimated to.  As
people migrate jobs, I think ultimately this pervasive mentality results
in excessive overwork and general dissatisfaction, causing a
trickle-down effect into other work places.

These disinterested/jaded/overworked/underpaid workers now head out into
other IT shops to maintain infrastructure over their head and
undermanned, meaning things degrade eventually even if once deployed
properly.  I'm not at all certain if this is just a local thing, or the
new national standard at work, but it seems much more pervasive here
than certain other localities I work with.  Professional ethics are hard
to find these days in general with hard times indeed.  Anyone else of
hiring capacity notice try hir

Re: Restoring defaults in Ubuntu Gnome

[Michael Butash]

Contemplate long and hard upgrading, I've had a host of quirky issues
since updating ibex to jaunty that have been annoying me.  These include
screen saver not working (and subsequent locking), random x crashes when
I scroll wheel in firefox (wtf?), and still the same old memory leaks
that I've seemed to have for years across ubuntu releases.  I found
launchpad reports for the x crash, but seems to be at a dead-end with a
lot of complaints.  Probably better doing a clean install as always with
ubuntu, but ymmv.

On the upside, pulseaudio is much improved (if you get the updated
versions from custom ppa - no backports to ibex) with bluetooth device
support, which was more or less my primary reason to upgrade.  Boot
times are much better, and Evolution has gotten more stable as well -
I've had no issues with it what so ever in Jaunty.

-mb


On Wed, 2009-08-05 at 11:53 -0700, Joe wrote:
> I managed to find the obscure link I used to removed gnome-panel in the
> first place (and subsequently restored it). Basically, I opened
> gconf-editor, went to /apps/gnome/session/required_components and
> removed the entry for "panel". All I had to do was add "gnome-panel"
> back in, remove AVN and Stalonetray from my session and log out. Once
> the panel was running, I tweaked to my preferences and I'm back in business!
> 
> Had I used your method, I assume it would have been something like...
> 
> $ gconftool --recursive-unset /apps/gnome/session/required_components
> 
> But, I just fixed it by hand. I also didn't try just removing .gnome
> since it didn't seem like there was anything in there anyway.
> 
> Thanks for the input though everyone. Now to contemplate the move to
> 9.04 (finally!).
> 
> -Joe
> 
> Ted Gould wrote:
> > On Wed, 2009-08-05 at 09:57 -0700, Joe wrote:
> >> Is there a way to quickly change all my setting back to defaults? I
> >> realize I could make a new user or possibly blow away my home dir and
> >> start totally fresh, but I rather do neither (unless those are the only
> >> options, of course). I would work backwards and restore the panel and
> >> such, but I can't seem to find the directions I originally followed.
> > 
> > It won't reset everything but I believe (but I'm unwilling to test :)
> > that this will work:
> > 
> >   $ gconftool --recursive-unset /
> > 
> > Thought it will get any application that uses GConf's settings as well.
> > You can be more specific by choosing something other that "/" -- which
> > might be a good idea.
> > 
> > --Ted
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
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Memory leaks in Ubuntu?

[Michael Butash]

Has anyone else seen or experienced persistent memory leaks with ubuntu
32bit or 64?  I've literally had issues with it that may or may not be
particularly ubuntu issues back to 7.04 that I first noticed.  The only
thing really in common system-wise is the hardware, and I somewhat
suspect it's Nvidia driver related, but nothing really indicates any
particular app.  My primary desktop I use heavily just about anything,
but I have another system that's sole purpose is to play movies and
music on my TV I do almost nothing with that experiences the same
issues, NVidia card as well.  With compiz or without this happens.  Only
thing I haven't tried is running the NV drivers, but I rely on the
acceleration far too much on both systems.

What I have noticed is there are no direct applications hogging memory
via top, rather it seems virtual memory ends up simply taking over all
physical memory and keeping it as "inactive" via "vmstat -a".  Signs of
this include firefox flipping out, rendering/scaling video larger than
default, and just anything else that requires excessive memory use
having issues.  I graph my physical memory usage via snmp, and I can
pretty accurately gauge how long I have until I need to do a hard reboot
to reclaim the "inactive" memory.  It mostly works even memory starved
in this condition, just limits my usage, and even restarting x doesn't
help.  Interestingly enough, neither system ever swaps at all...

Has anyone successfully ever dealt with an issue like this killing
virtual memory?  I really can't imagine I'm the only one...  I've hunted
far and wide of the great interweb for a way to release the "inactive"
memory, as I'd even just go so far as to purge it once a day via cron if
I had to, but I can find nothing of forcefully clearing inactive/dirty
virtual memory space.  I've seen others complain of the same behavior,
but have only seen the same rhetoric that "trust linux virtual memory
behavior, that's what it's supposed to do".  Act like a stupid windoze
me install and reboot daily?  I think not...

-mb

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Re: Memory leaks in Ubuntu?

[Michael Butash]

I should have mentioned, I have no issues with servers, only desktops
running x.  I have a server in my house with a year and a half uptime
with vmware on hardy.  :)

-mb


On Wed, 2009-08-05 at 13:32 -0700, Stephen wrote:
> I honestly have not seen this as an issue before, but i usually poked
> my machines with a sick until they rebooted once a week because of
> what i was doing to them.
> 
> the servers i have running run for a month at a time without a reboot.
> 
> On Wed, Aug 5, 2009 at 12:57 PM, Michael Butash wrote:
> > Has anyone else seen or experienced persistent memory leaks with ubuntu
> > 32bit or 64?  I've literally had issues with it that may or may not be
> > particularly ubuntu issues back to 7.04 that I first noticed.  The only
> > thing really in common system-wise is the hardware, and I somewhat
> > suspect it's Nvidia driver related, but nothing really indicates any
> > particular app.  My primary desktop I use heavily just about anything,
> > but I have another system that's sole purpose is to play movies and
> > music on my TV I do almost nothing with that experiences the same
> > issues, NVidia card as well.  With compiz or without this happens.  Only
> > thing I haven't tried is running the NV drivers, but I rely on the
> > acceleration far too much on both systems.
> >
> > What I have noticed is there are no direct applications hogging memory
> > via top, rather it seems virtual memory ends up simply taking over all
> > physical memory and keeping it as "inactive" via "vmstat -a".  Signs of
> > this include firefox flipping out, rendering/scaling video larger than
> > default, and just anything else that requires excessive memory use
> > having issues.  I graph my physical memory usage via snmp, and I can
> > pretty accurately gauge how long I have until I need to do a hard reboot
> > to reclaim the "inactive" memory.  It mostly works even memory starved
> > in this condition, just limits my usage, and even restarting x doesn't
> > help.  Interestingly enough, neither system ever swaps at all...
> >
> > Has anyone successfully ever dealt with an issue like this killing
> > virtual memory?  I really can't imagine I'm the only one...  I've hunted
> > far and wide of the great interweb for a way to release the "inactive"
> > memory, as I'd even just go so far as to purge it once a day via cron if
> > I had to, but I can find nothing of forcefully clearing inactive/dirty
> > virtual memory space.  I've seen others complain of the same behavior,
> > but have only seen the same rhetoric that "trust linux virtual memory
> > behavior, that's what it's supposed to do".  Act like a stupid windoze
> > me install and reboot daily?  I think not...
> >
> > -mb
> >
> > ---
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> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> >
> 
> 
> 

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Re: Restoring defaults in Ubuntu Gnome

[Michael Butash]

I'm too impatient to stick with hardy, invariably I need fixes/features
in the new ones no one feels like backporting. 

There is/was a workaround for it by using a different yahoo login host,
scsa.msg.yahoo.com that worked for me before getting the pidgin fix.

Have you tried the ppa for pidgin-developers?

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/pidgin-developers/ppa/ubuntu hardy main

I don't remember exactly if they had a hardy build, but I would hope so
since it is *lts*...

-mb


On Wed, 2009-08-05 at 12:58 -0700, Eric Shubert wrote:
> FWIW, I'm patiently sticking with the LTS track (Heron at this point).
> 
> The only problem I'm having with it (that I know of) is getting the 
> update to Pidgin for yahoo backported.
> 
> Michael Butash wrote:
> > Contemplate long and hard upgrading, I've had a host of quirky issues
> > since updating ibex to jaunty that have been annoying me.  These include
> > screen saver not working (and subsequent locking), random x crashes when
> > I scroll wheel in firefox (wtf?), and still the same old memory leaks
> > that I've seemed to have for years across ubuntu releases.  I found
> > launchpad reports for the x crash, but seems to be at a dead-end with a
> > lot of complaints.  Probably better doing a clean install as always with
> > ubuntu, but ymmv.
> > 
> > On the upside, pulseaudio is much improved (if you get the updated
> > versions from custom ppa - no backports to ibex) with bluetooth device
> > support, which was more or less my primary reason to upgrade.  Boot
> > times are much better, and Evolution has gotten more stable as well -
> > I've had no issues with it what so ever in Jaunty.
> > 
> > -mb
> > 
> > 
> > On Wed, 2009-08-05 at 11:53 -0700, Joe wrote:
> >> I managed to find the obscure link I used to removed gnome-panel in the
> >> first place (and subsequently restored it). Basically, I opened
> >> gconf-editor, went to /apps/gnome/session/required_components and
> >> removed the entry for "panel". All I had to do was add "gnome-panel"
> >> back in, remove AVN and Stalonetray from my session and log out. Once
> >> the panel was running, I tweaked to my preferences and I'm back in 
> >> business!
> >>
> >> Had I used your method, I assume it would have been something like...
> >>
> >> $ gconftool --recursive-unset /apps/gnome/session/required_components
> >>
> >> But, I just fixed it by hand. I also didn't try just removing .gnome
> >> since it didn't seem like there was anything in there anyway.
> >>
> >> Thanks for the input though everyone. Now to contemplate the move to
> >> 9.04 (finally!).
> >>
> >> -Joe
> >>
> >> Ted Gould wrote:
> >>> On Wed, 2009-08-05 at 09:57 -0700, Joe wrote:
> >>>> Is there a way to quickly change all my setting back to defaults? I
> >>>> realize I could make a new user or possibly blow away my home dir and
> >>>> start totally fresh, but I rather do neither (unless those are the only
> >>>> options, of course). I would work backwards and restore the panel and
> >>>> such, but I can't seem to find the directions I originally followed.
> >>> It won't reset everything but I believe (but I'm unwilling to test :)
> >>> that this will work:
> >>>
> >>>   $ gconftool --recursive-unset /
> >>>
> >>> Thought it will get any application that uses GConf's settings as well.
> >>> You can be more specific by choosing something other that "/" -- which
> >>> might be a good idea.
> >>>
> >>>   --Ted
> >>>
> 
> 

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Re: Sonoran Penguin

[Michael Butash]

I wouldn't call it a problem per se, perhaps simply a lack of
motivation, but thus far I haven't seen too much of an issue.  Politics
annoy me, but I've learned to simply ignore the cruft - others maybe not
so much.  I've not been watching or interacting with the list long, but
I haven't seen much of what I'd call abuse to the point of needing a
true steering committee ala moderation and/or hounding.  That's
typically about the time I lose interest.

What I have seen for the most part is (what I'd consider) vibrant
participation in mostly relevant discussions, without moderation or
attitude attitude that normally develops on lists like these.  I'd say
most or all of us are professional enough to respect that, keep egos in
check, and that's largely what got me watching and participating in
discussion in the first place.  Its refreshing there isn't constant
quoting of rules, moderation, or in general preaching.

I don't do forums for various reasons, and to me this feels like the
last bastion of the "old world" that still works to maintain my
interest, and works mostly well.  Thus far, I wouldn't say I'd recommend
changing anything, but I'm fairly simple to please.

-mb


On Wed, 2009-08-05 at 19:21 -0700, Joshua Zeidner wrote:
> well needless to say Im not interested in doing a template.  Think
> about it... why would I do it?  I dont have any guarantee it 1) will
> be used, 2) be put in a context that doesnt make it look like garbage,
> 3) be attributed.  Just following here for educational purposes.   ..
> Seems like the concern is you're going to scare away people if
> management is introduced.  conversely, youre going to scare away
> people if management isnt introduced (the OT problem).
> 
>  non-existent steering committee: Sounds like you've got an issue on your 
> hands.
> 
>   -jmz
> 
> On Wed, Aug 5, 2009 at 6:56 PM, R P Herrold wrote:
> > On Wed, 5 Aug 2009, Joshua Zeidner wrote:
> >
> >>  Nothing substantial can be organized unless there is clear
> >> management.  Who will determine what is an 'improvement' and what is a
> >> total failure?  PLUG needs to grow up and harness the talents that we
> >> currently have in abundance.  Stop with these silly games pretending
> >> no one is running the show.
> >
> > Someone pays the domain renewal bill (if any); someone pays,
> > or calls a favor, with the location the box is hosted; someone
> > has root on that box.   Find those answers, and you have the
> > throat to choke.
> >
> > Unhappy with those answers?  Can't figure it out?  Fork and
> > out-perform the incumbent.  Running code talks.  This is FOSS
> > after all.
> >
> > No slam on der Hans, or Lisa.  Running a LUG is hard;
> > running it for years and years is even harder
> >
> > Bring your own domain registration for a LUG, and I'll provide
> > access to a host for a virthost website, mailing list, etc on
> > a box that has in its past hosted Distrowatch, the Metro
> > Detroit LUG, the Tampa LUG, a couple of defunct LUGs, and the
> > Central OH LUG (currently).  Others as well, but I fergit.
> >
> > But kvetching about it and not acting is just pointless.
> >
> > -- Russ herrold
> > ---
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> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> >
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Re: Memory leaks in Ubuntu?

[Michael Butash]

True enough it is tied to caching, but the fact it's marked as inactive
when I can definitely attribute application termination from lack of
memory is what I note as a problem.  The system does not give this back
in the way of virtual or physical memory.  The system does however
behave well enough as long as physical memory is present to give, but
watching a graph of the physical memory is *like* watching a memory
leak, whether it properly is or isn't, and end of the road is definitely
noticeable with performance on said system.

Here's what a normal vmstat looks like currently, notice the caching:

procs ---memory-- ---swap-- -io -system--
cpu
 r  b   swpd   free   buff  cache   si   sobibo   in   cs us sy
id wa
 0  0   4096 224988  69472 567622400 231   12   41  7  6
86  1

Here's what vmstat -a looks like currently with "inact" having most:

m...@thrawn:~$ vmstat -a
procs ---memory-- ---swap-- -io -system--
cpu
 r  b   swpd   free  inact active   si   sobibo   in   cs us sy
id wa
 2  0   4096 223196 5737708 190072400 231   12   41  7
6 86  1

Physical memory has nothing with free -m:

 total   used   free sharedbuffers
cached
Mem:  7888   7673214  0 68
5543
-/+ buffers/cache:   2062   5826
Swap: 1023  4   1019

When it loses all physical memory, the system slows waay down, java apps
get weird (jbidwatcher is the java cancer for me), anything rendering
video won't scale, my gl screensaver bogs waaay down.  Totem, vlc, or
other will simply just crash if run long enough in this state, but I
haven't caught the segfault or anything.

I've used just about any build within the past 4 years or so of the NV
proprietary drivers, and nothing resolves it, though many have said
there are issues with 64bit.  I can't attribute anything to actually
using the memory, and typically where I've seen leaks like this I can
always find something even in excess processes running away or ipc
threading even.  

I've lived with it so long it's just just *there*, but I'd kill to fix
whatever the heck it is.  No amount of research has ever resulted in a
fix for me.

Thanks for the input!

-mb


On Wed, 2009-08-05 at 20:19 -0700, Joseph Sinclair wrote:
> I have had major problems with the NVidia proprietary drivers, particularly 
> with Ubuntu 9.04.  It seems like NVidia introduced a ton of REALLY bad bugs 
> when they had to almost rewrite the drivers for the changes in the new XOrg 
> server.
> I haven't seen the memory behavior you describe, but have you checked to be 
> certain this isn't buffers and/or cache memory?  I know all of my machines 
> running any desktop distro tend to slowly accumulate cache until me
> mory is "full", but none of them have performance issues, since the kernel 
> just reclaims cache LRU when it needs the RAM back.  I also see fairly large 
> amounts of "inactive" memory, but I never seem to have problems with the 
> system reclaiming that as needed.
> 
> 
> Michael Butash wrote:
> > Has anyone else seen or experienced persistent memory leaks with ubuntu
> > 32bit or 64?  I've literally had issues with it that may or may not be
> > particularly ubuntu issues back to 7.04 that I first noticed.  The only
> > thing really in common system-wise is the hardware, and I somewhat
> > suspect it's Nvidia driver related, but nothing really indicates any
> > particular app.  My primary desktop I use heavily just about anything,
> > but I have another system that's sole purpose is to play movies and
> > music on my TV I do almost nothing with that experiences the same
> > issues, NVidia card as well.  With compiz or without this happens.  Only
> > thing I haven't tried is running the NV drivers, but I rely on the
> > acceleration far too much on both systems.
> > 
> > What I have noticed is there are no direct applications hogging memory
> > via top, rather it seems virtual memory ends up simply taking over all
> > physical memory and keeping it as "inactive" via "vmstat -a".  Signs of
> > this include firefox flipping out, rendering/scaling video larger than
> > default, and just anything else that requires excessive memory use
> > having issues.  I graph my physical memory usage via snmp, and I can
> > pretty accurately gauge how long I have until I need to do a hard reboot
> > to reclaim the "inactive" memory.  It mostly works even memory starved
> > in this condition, just limits my usage, and even restarting x doesn't
> > help.  Interestingly enough, neither system ever swaps at al

Re: Horribly OT

[Michael Butash]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/05/it_grad_sues_school/

Couldn't help but think of this...

My buddy went for an anthropology degree at a well respected east coast
college, and has worked to survive as everything from a mechanic to tech
support to management, none of which had any relevance to his degree.
He however still has 60k of debt over his head 12 years after the fact,
and will never utilize most of what his education was for.

If that isn't depressing, I don't know what is, and this seems all the
graduating generations have to look forward to.  I'm just glad I've been
able to get to where I'm at without having to have bothered with needing
a degree.  I'm still waiting for the matrix-style learning to come along
for the superfluous trivia.

-mb


On Wed, 2009-08-05 at 20:29 -0700, Trent Shipley wrote:
> Craig White wrote:
> > On Wed, 2009-08-05 at 20:12 -0700, Trent Shipley wrote:
> >> We used to do that before World War Two and the GI Bill.  Very few
> >> people went to college.  If you were willing to sacrifice any pretense
> >> of a knowledge economy and to target a low wage-no tax strategy you
> >> could curtail all higher education government subsidy.
> >>
> >> If I were a politician I wouldn't want to break the news to my middle
> >> class voters that their kids don't have a prayer of going to college
> >> and
> >> will work low wage, low skill jobs.
> >>
> >> Joshua Zeidner wrote:
> >>>   what I dont understand about the voucher system is, why are we
> >>> taxing just to give back credits?  why tax at all?  -jmz
> > 
> > well with a daughter who just graduated with an architectural degree
> > with no job prospects and her boyfriend having just graduated with a
> > business degree having no job prospects for the most part, the
> > educational system itself doesn't presently offer any prospects for much
> > of anything now anyway. In fact, America is not the same country it used
> > to be.
> > 
> > As for JMZ's comments, I suppose that one of the intentions of the
> > taxation system is a redistribution of wealth in various forms which is
> > not necessarily a bad idea. An educated populace is a good thing. An
> > educated populace buried in educational debt is of little use. I think
> > the idea though is it would be better to have people going to school
> > than having the schools close, layoff personnel because enrollments are
> > surely declining as fewer can pay the costs of education which have
> > skyrocketed and the current prospects for employment on many degrees are
> > few.
> > 
> > Craig
> > 
> > 
> All new graduates are having problems finding jobs.  In third world
> countries it can be REALLY bad.  However, I suspect that the
> marketability of architecture and business will come back with the
> recovery.  Of course, the recruiters like to hire NEW graduates.  Those
> who graduated into the recession may have stale degrees.
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Re: Memory leaks in Ubuntu?

[Michael Butash]

No, I mean the Nvidia proprietary drivers from their site, currently
185.18.14, 64-bit.  The card is a 7950GTX, 512mb I think.

I haven't used the default NV drivers in ages, as I tend to rely on the
acceleration too much.  I haven't tried Nouveau, though from what I read
it's something of a basketcase still.

I'm looking at the turbocache as Stephen recommended, though I'm not
certain it's actually grabbing system memory.  From what (I thought) I
understood about TC, that's not applicable to non-integrated chipsets,
where IC's use system memory to compensate for lack on the gpu, and non
uses turbocache for extended memory on the board after a point (for
cards with massive memory, 768/1024mb).  I'll look though, it's
something I hadn't considered or run into as a potential as of yet.

-mb


On Thu, 2009-08-06 at 16:01 +, nadimho...@gmail.com wrote:
> When you say nvidia proprietary drivers do you mean the one ubuntu gives or 
> the one on the website. If you used the ubuntu given one uninstall that and 
> install the one straight from the website. If you don't mind me asking what 
> video cards do you have? 
> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: Stephen 
> 
> Date: Thu, 6 Aug 2009 08:51:32 
> To: ; Main PLUG discussion 
> list
> Subject: Re: Memory leaks in Ubuntu?
> 
> 
> i know all nvidia cards have a "turbo Cache" option to swipe some
> system memory for graphics rendering it may be that the driver is
> grabbing this and not releaseing it back.. this may be the killer.
> 
> how to resolve. i am not sure.
> 
> On Wed, Aug 5, 2009 at 8:46 PM, Michael Butash wrote:
> > True enough it is tied to caching, but the fact it's marked as inactive
> > when I can definitely attribute application termination from lack of
> > memory is what I note as a problem.  The system does not give this back
> > in the way of virtual or physical memory.  The system does however
> > behave well enough as long as physical memory is present to give, but
> > watching a graph of the physical memory is *like* watching a memory
> > leak, whether it properly is or isn't, and end of the road is definitely
> > noticeable with performance on said system.
> >
> > Here's what a normal vmstat looks like currently, notice the caching:
> >
> > procs ---memory-- ---swap-- -io -system--
> > cpu
> >  r  b   swpd   free   buff  cache   si   sobibo   in   cs us sy
> > id wa
> >  0  0   4096 224988  69472 567622400 231   12   41  7  6
> > 86  1
> >
> > Here's what vmstat -a looks like currently with "inact" having most:
> >
> > m...@thrawn:~$ vmstat -a
> > procs ---memory-- ---swap-- -io -system--
> > cpu
> >  r  b   swpd   free  inact active   si   sobibo   in   cs us sy
> > id wa
> >  2  0   4096 223196 5737708 190072400 231   12   41  7
> > 6 86  1
> >
> > Physical memory has nothing with free -m:
> >
> > total   used   free sharedbuffers
> > cached
> > Mem:  7888   7673214  0 68
> > 5543
> > -/+ buffers/cache:   2062   5826
> > Swap: 1023  4   1019
> >
> > When it loses all physical memory, the system slows waay down, java apps
> > get weird (jbidwatcher is the java cancer for me), anything rendering
> > video won't scale, my gl screensaver bogs waaay down.  Totem, vlc, or
> > other will simply just crash if run long enough in this state, but I
> > haven't caught the segfault or anything.
> >
> > I've used just about any build within the past 4 years or so of the NV
> > proprietary drivers, and nothing resolves it, though many have said
> > there are issues with 64bit.  I can't attribute anything to actually
> > using the memory, and typically where I've seen leaks like this I can
> > always find something even in excess processes running away or ipc
> > threading even.
> >
> > I've lived with it so long it's just just *there*, but I'd kill to fix
> > whatever the heck it is.  No amount of research has ever resulted in a
> > fix for me.
> >
> > Thanks for the input!
> >
> > -mb
> >
> >
> > On Wed, 2009-08-05 at 20:19 -0700, Joseph Sinclair wrote:
> >> I have had major problems with the NVidia proprietary drivers, 
> >> particularly with Ubuntu 9.04.  It seems like NVidia introduced a ton of 
> >> REALLY bad bugs when they

Re: Problem with Internet speed in laptop in Linux Mint

[Michael Butash]

Agreed, bypass the wireless.  The 2.4ghz (802.11b/g) space tends to be
uber-saturated these days everywhere.  You only get 3 real
non-overlapping channel spaces with it too.  Might just be that...

I had resolved a long-standing issue with performance on cox's network
by setting a sysctl for the kernel bypassing normal tcp windowing.  Add
this to your /etc/sysctl.conf:

# Turn off the tcp_window_scaling
net.ipv4.tcp_window_scaling = 0

then do:

sudo sysctl -p

You can always comment back out if it doesn't work or you experience
problems, but I've had none using it for months now.

I had a lot of issues mostly with apt-get'ing packages scaling down to
almost a dribble (measured in bytes) consistently on several computers
across town I somewhat support.  This resolved the issue for those and
myself at least.

Otherwise, have cox check your levels - they're known for not being
terribly proactive with resolving cable issues, even though they poll,
graph, and historically record levels for _all_ modems internally.
Particularly ask them what your transmit/receive power is at, as well as
signal to noise floor, values can be easily found online for what they
"should" be, I don't remember since I haven't worked there in ages.
CSR's get idiot red/green lights to at least tell you this much.  They
know how bad their cable plants are or where they have problems, they
just won't fix for cost as most consumers won't notice anyways.  Squeaky
wheels get oiled...

This is cox's internal speed test site off a nap in vegas for them, test
your speed here and complain accordingly.

http://test.lvcm.com/

-mb


On Thu, 2009-08-06 at 09:16 -0700, Stephen wrote:
> i have found that in hybrid networks (ipv4 and ipv6) without any
> routing or configuration things get weird. so unless i plan on
> adopting ipv6 i usually just disable it.
> 
> also i would try a direct cable connection to the router and see if
> there is a speed change. this will let you know if you need to work on
> the wireless configuration or something else im sure. also what is her
> wireless card/laptop make/model (i have had weird issues with wireless
> drivers under Linux sometimes being weird)
> 
> On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 9:02 AM, Renaton Patron wrote:
> > Hi all, I just convinced my wife to switch to Linux/GNU from Vista after her
> > laptop was extremely slow and infected with spyware. I use Ubuntu 9.04 in my
> > desktop, but I tried Linux Mint sometime ago, and I thought it can be used
> > as an easy transition from windows, also since it is based in Ubuntu I can
> > help her to migrate.
> > The installation was very fast, and at the end everything was working, she
> > was happy. The only thing we noticed was that the Internet was slow. Slower
> > even than her old Vista. We have been using the 1.5Mb Cox service and we
> > felt it was slow but we could manage. So since I wanted her to keep using
> > Linux Mint, I called Cox and upgraded our Internet to the 13Mb.
> > Now, my question. My desktop (that uses a PCI wireless card) reports a
> > download speed of about 8.5Mb (according to a Cox technician is not that
> > bad, since I'm behind a router) but my wife's laptop is getting 1.65Mb
> >
> > Here's my wifes wireless card info using ifconfig
> >
> > wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:16:44:b9:27:ae
> >   inet addr:192.168.1.134  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
> >   inet6 addr: fe80::216:44ff:feb9:27ae/64 Scope:Link
> >   UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
> >   RX packets:237296 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
> >   TX packets:174393 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
> >   collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
> >   RX bytes:326221172 (326.2 MB)  TX bytes:26815061 (26.8 MB)
> >
> > If it is any help, I'm using a Linksys WRT54Gv8 / GSv7 with a DD-WRT v24
> > RC-5 firmware.
> >
> > After wondering on the forums I think my problem is with IPv6. Has anybody
> > had a problem with IPv6? How can I disable IPv6 on Jaunty (Mint 7 is based
> > on Jaunty0? Ive checked some tips from the forums (upgrading the kernel,
> > using option ipv6.disable=1  see:
> > http://www.ubuntu-inside.me/2009/04/howto-disable-ipv6-at-ubuntu-jaunty.html)
> > but nothing.
> >
> > Any help with this problem will be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Renato
> >
> > ---
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> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
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> 
> 
> 

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Re: Memory leaks in Ubuntu?

[Michael Butash]

Meh, I've had too many ati cards die and freak out my systems, which is
what drove me to NV.  I haven't had one NV die, but obviously comes with
other issues...  Besides I've come to rely on VDPAU for 1080p decoding
on some of my 8x00 NV card systems that I won't give up on (yet) since
ATI chooses not to support it or another reasonable alternative.

-mb


On Thu, 2009-08-06 at 16:14 +, tship...@deru.com wrote:
> Buy a non-nVidia video card?
> 
> 
> Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: Stephen 
> 
> Date: Thu, 6 Aug 2009 08:51:32 
> To: ; Main PLUG discussion 
> list
> Subject: Re: Memory leaks in Ubuntu?
> 
> 
> i know all nvidia cards have a "turbo Cache" option to swipe some
> system memory for graphics rendering it may be that the driver is
> grabbing this and not releaseing it back.. this may be the killer.
> 
> how to resolve. i am not sure.
> 
> On Wed, Aug 5, 2009 at 8:46 PM, Michael Butash wrote:
> > True enough it is tied to caching, but the fact it's marked as inactive
> > when I can definitely attribute application termination from lack of
> > memory is what I note as a problem.  The system does not give this back
> > in the way of virtual or physical memory.  The system does however
> > behave well enough as long as physical memory is present to give, but
> > watching a graph of the physical memory is *like* watching a memory
> > leak, whether it properly is or isn't, and end of the road is definitely
> > noticeable with performance on said system.
> >
> > Here's what a normal vmstat looks like currently, notice the caching:
> >
> > procs ---memory-- ---swap-- -io -system--
> > cpu
> >  r  b   swpd   free   buff  cache   si   sobibo   in   cs us sy
> > id wa
> >  0  0   4096 224988  69472 567622400 231   12   41  7  6
> > 86  1
> >
> > Here's what vmstat -a looks like currently with "inact" having most:
> >
> > m...@thrawn:~$ vmstat -a
> > procs ---memory-- ---swap-- -io -system--
> > cpu
> >  r  b   swpd   free  inact active   si   sobibo   in   cs us sy
> > id wa
> >  2  0   4096 223196 5737708 190072400 231   12   41  7
> > 6 86  1
> >
> > Physical memory has nothing with free -m:
> >
> > total   used   free sharedbuffers
> > cached
> > Mem:  7888   7673214  0 68
> > 5543
> > -/+ buffers/cache:   2062   5826
> > Swap: 1023  4   1019
> >
> > When it loses all physical memory, the system slows waay down, java apps
> > get weird (jbidwatcher is the java cancer for me), anything rendering
> > video won't scale, my gl screensaver bogs waaay down.  Totem, vlc, or
> > other will simply just crash if run long enough in this state, but I
> > haven't caught the segfault or anything.
> >
> > I've used just about any build within the past 4 years or so of the NV
> > proprietary drivers, and nothing resolves it, though many have said
> > there are issues with 64bit.  I can't attribute anything to actually
> > using the memory, and typically where I've seen leaks like this I can
> > always find something even in excess processes running away or ipc
> > threading even.
> >
> > I've lived with it so long it's just just *there*, but I'd kill to fix
> > whatever the heck it is.  No amount of research has ever resulted in a
> > fix for me.
> >
> > Thanks for the input!
> >
> > -mb
> >
> >
> > On Wed, 2009-08-05 at 20:19 -0700, Joseph Sinclair wrote:
> >> I have had major problems with the NVidia proprietary drivers, 
> >> particularly with Ubuntu 9.04.  It seems like NVidia introduced a ton of 
> >> REALLY bad bugs when they had to almost rewrite the drivers for the 
> >> changes in the new XOrg server.
> >> I haven't seen the memory behavior you describe, but have you checked to 
> >> be certain this isn't buffers and/or cache memory?  I know all of my 
> >> machines running any desktop distro tend to slowly accumulate cache until 
> >> me
> >> mory is "full", but none of them have performance issues, since the kernel 
> >> just reclaims cache LRU when it needs the RAM back.  I also see fairly 
> >> large amounts of "inactive" memory, but I never seem to have problems with 
> >> the system reclaimin

Re: Memory leaks in Ubuntu?

[Michael Butash]

So I've been digging into learning more about the virtual memory
subsystem of 2.6 kernels, and I found a bunch of interesting info here I
figured I'd share that was helpful:

http://www.redhat.com/promo/summit/2008/downloads/pdf/Wednesday_1015am_John_Shakshober_and_Larry_Woodman_Decoding_the_Code.pdf

So based on what Matt recommended, I began looking at some of the ubuntu
kernel defaults and found they do differ somewhat from stock and/or
redhat's, but actually in such a way that it *should* help my issue, but
is not.  For instance, this doc recommends lowering *dirty* pagecache
ratios to have have pdflush remove them more often, but this doesn't
necessarily occur, or at least not in my case.  This could be because my
memory usage isn't exactly *dirty*, and /proc/meminfo tends to indicate
this showing very little dirty paging.

I tried setting these in sysctl.conf to see if it helped clean up after
the inactive memory, but nothing particularly changed going higher to
Redhat's defaults or lower than Ubuntu's defaults:

vm.swappiness = 0
## rh default ## vm.dirty_ratio = 40
## ubu default ## vm.dirty_ratio = 10
vm.dirty_ratio = 8
## rh default ## vm.dirty_background_ratio = 10
## ubu default ## vm.dirty_background_ratio = 5
vm.dirty_background_ratio = 2

Now I'm wondering just wtf is claiming memory and letting it go
inactive, and just how I can get linux to automatically reclaim this.  I
did find a sysctl to forcibly dump the pagecache that actually purged
everything, and reclaimed my memory.  While this is flippin great, as
just maybe I won't have to kick it like a Win98 box periodically, I
really can't imagine there's nothing to wipe it's own butt.  I suppose I
could do a cron job to do so, but not really sure what adverse effect
it'll have.  Running it with a ton of things running didn't seem to have
any effect, but not sure long-term this will do, or in critical
situations potentially.

Guess I'll keep digging, but at least I have a workaround for now...

Thanks for everyone's input!

-mb


On Thu, 2009-08-06 at 10:06 -0700, Matt Graham wrote:
> From: Michael Butash 
> > Meh, I've had too many ati cards die and freak out my systems,
> > which is what drove me to NV.  I haven't had one NV die, but
> > obviously comes with other issues...
> 
> The problem may not be with the nVidia card, but with the Ubuntu
> kernel itself.  Debian and Debian-derived distros have a serious
> Free bias, and distro kernels have more weird bugs than the vanilla
> kernels do.  The first thing I'd try is to install a vanilla kernel
> on the box, then recompile the evil binary-only nVidia modules
> against that kernel.  I've been doing this since the nVidia modules
> were beta and XFree 3.3.6 was the latest thing, and I've never had
> a problem with X eating all the memory.
> 
> I don't do a whole lot of OpenGL use or TV watching, though, so YMMV.
> 

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Re: Sugar on a Stick - Sugar Labs

[Michael Butash]

I dunno about any of you, but I know of no schools using sugar, let
alone linux here locally.  I've worked with a few school districts
around town for infrastructure, and they're all very linux-ama-whuzzit?
As far as I can tell they have issues grasping/maintaining networked
windoze environments, and I can't imagine them wanting to now inject a
whole new os even they themselves haven't a clue how to maintain.
Combine this with being already overworked and underpaid, it'll die on
the butchering floor for anyone to support it within the organization.

Now look at this from a kids perspective, if they can't run games or
even apps they're *familiar* with, I think most would immediately
dismiss it.  Combine this with probably scaring the hell out of their
windoze-loving parents booting their system even temporarily into linux,
they'd ban such a thing thinking it's a virus or something equally
asinine.  I think only the most geek-inclined would bother, others would
just format it to hide their pr0n on.  Microsoft and scammers (one and
same?) have done a good job of getting people to think that nothing good
can possibly be free...

As good as the intentions, without some serious persistence and
education, it'd be moot to bother with IMHO.  Cisco has done a good job
of trying to push themselves into high school education curriculum, as
has Microsoft, but I don't see the same happening with any linux.  There
is no singular beast of a self-serving company producing and
incentivizing it with the same capacity for pulling money off trees for
pet projects as they do.  Well, at least until google steps forward with
ChromeOS perhaps...

-mb


On Fri, 2009-08-07 at 11:51 -0700, Stephen wrote:
> even further out on a limb maybe contact any of the big companies
> wanting to tout their opensource support? dell hp ibm ect...
> 
> On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 11:50 AM, Stephen wrote:
> > And honestly they are one of the most persistant companies supporting
> > opensource locally. kinda of a fit..
> >
> > maybe contact system76?
> >
> > On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 11:12 AM, wayne wrote:
> >> Eric Shubert wrote:
> >>> I stumbled across this just now:
> >>> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_on_a_Stick
> >>> "The Sugar on a Stick project gives children access to /their/ Sugar on
> >>> any computer in their environment with just a USB memory stick. Taking
> >>> advantage of the Fedora LiveUSB, it's possible to store everything you
> >>> need to run Sugar on a single USB memory stick (minimum size 1GB)."
> >>> I must have missed/ignored this being mentioned here before.
> 
> 
> 

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Re: Sugar on a Stick - Sugar Labs (usb live creator)

[Michael Butash]

There's another usb live creator I used when I was on Hardy and l-c was
unavailable to me too, but for the life of me I can't remember what it
was.  Since then, I've tried l-c several times on ibex, and just a few
minutes ago on jaunty (seeing your request drew my curiosity), it have
never gotten it to successfully complete still.  

I know I have a black cloud that follows me around, but it's always
inexplicably just failed to finish every time I tried, so I wrote it off
as crapware long ago, and seems to still hold true.  I'd love to know
what mojo it wants to work and stand corrected.

Dig around google for an alternative, there seems to be many these days.

-mb


On Fri, 2009-08-07 at 13:49 -0700, Dazed_75 wrote:
> 
> 
> On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 11:23 AM, Eric Shubert  wrote:
> liveusb-creator is pretty cool all right. I'm putting CentOS
> on a thumb
> drive presently though.
> 
> I'm running Ubuntu Heron (LTS) on my desktop and didn't find
> l-c in the
> repos, so I'm running it in my Vista VM. I'd rather not have
> to go there
> though. Anyone know if there's an easy way to get l-c on to
> Ubuntu
> (short of building the source)?
> 
> 
> --
> -Eric 'shubes'
> 
> 
> Eric, thats becuase your are running the ancient Hardy Heron!  Yes, I
> know why you are, but that is why you don't just have a menu entry for
> creating a live USB from a CD or .iso
> -- 
> Dazed_75 a.k.a. Larry
> 
> The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain
> occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive.
>  - Thomas Jefferson
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Re: Sugar on a Stick - Sugar Labs

[Michael Butash]

Try unetbootin (thanks Larry), it was the one that I've used
successfully where ubuntu's own has perpetually failed for one reason or
another.

-mb


On Sat, 2009-08-08 at 07:53 -0700, Eric Shubert wrote:
> Dazed_75 wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 2:00 PM, Eric Shubert  > > wrote:
> > 
> > Dazed_75 wrote:


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Re: Web based ssh console

[Michael Butash]

One word - vpn.  :)

-mb


On Sat, 2009-08-08 at 17:31 -0700, Shawn Badger wrote:
> I said I only have access to port 80 and 443 out. But I really like
> the idea of port knocking for most of the services. 
> 
> Hmm, I wonder if I could set up URL knocking? I will have see if I can
> find a way of doing that to protect this app from access.
> 
> 
> On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 5:35 PM, Matt Nesteruk
>  wrote:
> I know you said you only want 443 open, but have you
> considered a port knocker to only open up ssh when you need
> it?
> 
> 
> -M
> 
> 
> 
> On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 9:44 AM, Shawn Badger
>  wrote:
> As for the security on this, it is my intentions to
> first prevent browsing to the page. You will have to
> know the URL and then you get a password to connect to
> the page. Then this will be baked by iptalbes limiting
> who has access to get to that URL in the first place.
> I know this isn't 100% effective, but it should keep
> the kiddies at bay.
> 
> BTW, this isn't going to be a public addressable site
> either.  I would not put something like this out and
> make it public accessible, that is just asking for
> being hacked.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 4:54 PM, Lisa Kachold
>  wrote:
> I can offer my services to help you clean out
> the vermin later!
> 
> If they can't protect OpenSSL based SSH, even
> with a layer of
> IPTABLES, how are you going to protect a
> system suid process?
> 
> Laugh .
> 
> 
> On 8/6/09, Stephen 
> wrote:
> > also there is a wikepedia article if you
> google web ssh or jsut browse
> > them, they appeared to have a few options.
> >
> > On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 4:31 PM, Shawn
> Badger wrote:
> >> That is more like what I ma looking for.
> >>
> >>
> >> On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 4:19 PM, David
> Huerta  wrote:
> >>>
> >>> On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 4:04 PM, Shawn
> Badger
> >>> wrote:
> >>> > Does any on the list know of a good web
> based ssh client?
> >>> > I would prefer it to run on my own
> system as opposed to going though
> >>> > one
> >>> > that I don't have control over.
> >>> > It would also be nice if it was able to
> pass x-windows as well all
> >>> > though
> >>> > that isn't a requirement.
> >>> >
> >>>
> >>> This won't do X11 forwarding, but for
> general command line usage, this
> >>> AJAX web app seems to work:
> http://anyterm.org/
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> [.dh]
> >>>
> ---
> >>> PLUG-discuss mailing list -
> PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> >>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change
> your mail settings:
> >>>
> 
> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> >>
> >>
> >>
> ---
> >> PLUG-discuss mailing list -
> PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> >> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change
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> >>
> 
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> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
>

Re: An Ext4 question...

[Michael Butash]

Sounds like you're reaching inode limitations or something, validate
with 'sudo tune2fs -l /dev/sda1 | grep "Free inode"'.  You can change
wtih tune2fs as well, at least with ext2/3, really haven't worked much
with ext4 to know.  

I still stick with reiser mostly, it's a killer filesystem.

-mb


On Sun, 2009-08-09 at 07:09 -0700, Eric Shubert wrote:
> Jim March wrote:
> > Folks,
> > 
> > Does anybody know what happens when you stash a huge number of tiny
> > files in Ext4?  Does it store them efficiently the way ReiserFS does?
> > 
> > I ask because I'm running into limitations on mailbox sized with
> > Thunderbird and MBox, and was considering jumping to something based
> > on MailDir, which as far as I can tell has bigger mailbox limits than
> > MBox.  But given MailDir's approach of one file per message, block
> > size issues will get really wild'n'wooly unless Ext4 handles that
> > better.
> > 
> > Thoughts?
> > 
> > Jim
> 
> I don't know about ext4, but ext3 handles fairly large maildirs just 
> fine. I'm using dovecot on a qmail-toaster server, and have no problem 
> with some maildir folders with 7k+ messages (number of messages, not 
> sizes). IIRC, ext3 has a limit of 32k or so files in a folder.
> 

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Re: An Ext4 question...

[Michael Butash]

You know, I've heard the same argument against reiserfs for ages, and
using it on countless servers (both home and enterprise) for at least
the past 5 years I've _never_ once encountered unrecoverable reiser
filesystem errors pertaining to whatever kind of ungraceful/ugly reboots
I've had to do.  That and with no manual tweaking of reiserfs, I can say
I've been pretty darn happy with it.  I've had a great deal more
occurrences with manually having to fsck ext3 even as rarely as I ever
do actually use it.

I was rather quite looking forward to reiser4 before he had to go kill
his wife...

-mb


On Sun, 2009-08-09 at 11:47 -0700, Dale Farnsworth wrote:
> > Does anybody know what happens when you stash a huge number of tiny
> > files in Ext4?  Does it store them efficiently the way ReiserFS does?
> 
> No.  Neither ext3 nor ext4 efficiently stores sub-block sized files.
> The minimum files size granularity is the block size.  The internal
> fragmentation can hurt with many small files.
> 
> As others have mentioned, reiserfs handles that.  However, I can't
> recommend reiserfs unless extra effort is devoted to backups, since
> catastrophic failures can result from the loss of a single block
> in reiserfs.  I have high hopes for btrfs, which appears to solve
> these issues and more, but I haven't switched over to it yet.
> 
> -Dale
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Re: Problem with Internet speed in laptop in Linux Mint

[Michael Butash]

What kind of card/chipset is it?  Always working with wireless networks,
interesting to know what's new and broken these days...  

-mb


On Sun, 2009-08-09 at 12:15 -0700, Renaton Patron wrote:
> Hi all, I have an update abut my problem.
> I finally disabled IPv6 by adding "ipv6.disable=1" manually at
> startup. 
> The fix worked well but the problem persisted, so I started searching
> about my wireless drivers and i found that there's a problem between
> my wireless card and the default drivers in jaunty, so they
> recommended installing a package called
> "linux-backports-modules-jaunty". I did that and worked very well. I
> can connect at 10Mb from the laptop.
> 
> Thanks for your answers and time.
> 
> Renato 
> 
> On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 1:43 PM, Bob Elzer 
> wrote: 
> What kind of speed is the laptop ketting now, same as the
> desktop ?
> 
> 
> > -Original Message-
> > From: plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > [mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On
> 
> > Behalf Of Stephen
> > Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2009 1:27 PM
> > To: Main PLUG discussion list
> 
> 
> > Subject: Re: Problem with Internet speed in laptop in Linux
> Mint
> >
> > YAY working!
> >
> > On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 10:49 AM, Bob
> Elzer wrote:
> > > Yep, that was it.
> > >
> > >> -Original Message-
> > >> From: plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > >> [mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On
> > Behalf Of
> > >> Eric Shubert
> > >> Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2009 10:39 AM
> > >> To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > >> Subject: Re: Problem with Internet speed in laptop in
> Linux Mint
> > >>
> > >> Bob Elzer wrote:
> > >> > No he is correct that the ipv6 is causing the problem,
> I
> > >> had the same
> > >> > thing in Redhat at one time, with a wired connection.
> > >> >
> > >> > The answer is to disable the ipv6. I think during
> install
> > >> there is an
> > >> > option to turn it off, which I always do now.
> > >> >
> > >> > I know it can be turned off in Redhat after install,
> just don't
> > >> > remember how.
> > >>
> > >> NETWORKING_IPV6=no
> > >> in /etc/sysconfig/network file.
> > >>
> > >> > I found the answer the first time with a google search.
> > >> >
> > >> >
> > >> --
> > >> -Eric 'shubes'
> > >>
> > >> ---
> > >> PLUG-discuss mailing list -
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> > >> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail
> settings:
> > >>
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> > >>
> > >
> > > ---
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> > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail
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> > >
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> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will
> prevent
> > you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit
> > the snooze button.
> >
> > Stephen
> > ---
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Re: OT - Web browsing issue

[Michael Butash]

How often do you actually ask windows-only people for anything helpful
even for windoze?  :)

Sounds like something is manipulating your outbound traffic, try
malwarebytes, or a format.  I don't trust any windoze install once it's
been compromised, and only slightly more even fully patched.  I had a
friends new windoze install get owned in less than day of them ignoring
my warning of using firefox w/noscript, and got the same kind of
behavior hijacking url's like that.  Even when cleaned with
malwarebytes, something still persisted that it couldn't find, so they
just wiped it again.  Hopefully it wasn't one of those mbr-resident
stealth ones thanks to sony...

-mb


> 
> why are we asking windows questions on Linux list?
> 
> Craig
> 
> 

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RE: OT - Web browsing issue

[Michael Butash]

Haha, do like I did, force my wife to eat linux for her main
workstation.  Past a few weeks of trepidation and being pissy, she's now
quite thankful.  

Rehab for windoze users, it's for their own good to perform
intervention.  :)

-mb


On Sun, 2009-08-09 at 17:18 -0700, Bob Elzer wrote:
> Might have to do an upgrade to wife 1.2 :-)
>  
> 
> 
> __
> From: plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> [mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On
> Behalf Of Eric Cope
> Sent: Sunday, August 09, 2009 4:15 PM
> To: mich...@butash.net; Main PLUG discussion list
> Subject: Re: OT - Web browsing issue
> 
> 
> 
> I recently wiped it due to a similar issue. But my wife visits
> the same sites...
> 
> On Sun, Aug 9, 2009 at 3:57 PM, Michael Butash
>  wrote:
> How often do you actually ask windows-only people for
> anything helpful
> even for windoze?  :)
> 
> Sounds like something is manipulating your outbound
> traffic, try
> malwarebytes, or a format.  I don't trust any windoze
> install once it's
> been compromised, and only slightly more even fully
> patched.  I had a
> friends new windoze install get owned in less than day
> of them ignoring
> my warning of using firefox w/noscript, and got the
> same kind of
> behavior hijacking url's like that.  Even when cleaned
> with
> malwarebytes, something still persisted that it
> couldn't find, so they
> just wiped it again.  Hopefully it wasn't one of those
> mbr-resident
> stealth ones thanks to sony...
> 
> -mb
> 
> 
> >
> > why are we asking windows questions on Linux list?
> >
> > Craig
> >
> >
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Eric Cope
> http://cope-et-al.com
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Re: OT: Cron for windows

[Michael Butash]

I tend to agree, if you're *only* installing cygwin for cron, just use
the AT scheduler in windows.  

On windows boxen I owned in the enterprise, I would install cygwin and
ssh services on them pretty much default, using bash, cron, and other
components extensively, but our windows folk didn't much like it as they
perceive it as a one-off.  Then again they didn't get the whole
linux/open-source thing like good windoze people drinking the Redmond
kool-aid.  Anything free can't be *good*, right?

-mb


On Mon, 2009-08-10 at 12:17 -0400, Austin Godber wrote:
> Looks like XP Scheduled Tasks can do it.  Make a daily job, scheduled to 
> repeat "every 10 minutes" until 24 Hours are up.  At least this is what 
> the google updater has done to get hourly jobs.
> 
> Cron under cygwin sounds like a huge drag, especially if you aren't 
> trying to do any other open source stuff.  Then again, I never liked cygwin.
> 
> Austin
> 
> 
> Paul Mooring wrote:
> > I have a couple of vbscripts I'd like to run on a regular basis (like 
> > every 10 mins) on a windows server.  The scripts are operating 
> > properly, but as far as I can tell windows doesn't allow scheduled 
> > jobs more often than once a day.  Currently I'm considering using cron 
> > on a linux box with freesshd to accomplish this but it seems like 
> > there would be a cleaner solution.  Anyone know a good cron 
> > alternative for windows servers that let me do this locally on the 
> > windows system? 
> > 
> >
> > ---
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RE: ****Re: Geek/Tech/Entrepreneur Stuff to do in PHX

[Michael Butash]

I just dealt with my dad dying and going through the VA Medical system
as a Veteran - all I can say is atrocious.  Myself and family literally
saw them KILL 2 other people around him at the VA accidentally in the
span of 3 weeks there, and being government they have no accountability
for their actions.  My father was was misdiagnosed for 2 years having
kidney problems, and ultimately was prostate cancer, but trying to treat
his kidneys managed to kill both of them dead.  By the time someone
competent (in ER) found out the real deal, he was already stage
4/terminal, died less than 2 months later.

His doctor was his same doctor for the past 30 years, and all he ever
wanted to do was pump pain meds into him, never actually *fixing*
anything.  The doctor was simply complacent and overall incompetent,
which is scary because customer advocacy quoted him as "one of their
best doctors".  Mostly we saw half-assed doctors that we had to lead
ourselves to certain conclusions, resident medical students that
couldn't tell a catheter from a lollypop, and overall the system
generally required us as family to constantly escalating within
management to do ANYTHING to help him.

... and this is what we want to do with health care in general?  No
thanks, I'd rather just slit my wrists now.

-mb


On Mon, 2009-08-10 at 12:13 -0700, Taylor, Kaia wrote:
> As an ex-Canadian, I can give you several specific personal examples of why 
> moving towards the Canadian more socialist health care model is NOT 
> desirable. (Eg I got tainted blood transfusions at the very same time that 2 
> hours drive away in New York state, the blood was being screened!)
> 
> As someone who knows a US vet, I can give you a specific example of why you 
> should NOT TRUST the government to mess any more with your health care.  (eg 
> his foot became infected with a diabetes-related issue, and he had to fight 
> them to keep them from cutting it off!!!)
> 
> 
> 
> Kaia
> 
> 
> > > I agree our health care system is not as good as it
> > could be.  I worked for an HMO 12 years ago and saw it first hand.
> > > 
> > > We need freedom not restriction.  We need to be
> > free of the current model of health care.  I feel the model is 
> > alternative health care backed by a indemnity health insurance plan.  
> > A plan that lets you go to the doctor and pay them directly.  An 
> > insurance plan that makes you responsible for 20% of your charges.
> 
> ...
> 
> > backs and have government fund health care and let businesses stop 
> > paying the obscene amounts for health care. Taking the insurance 
> 
> Regards,
> Kaia Taylor
> 
> DevSA  group  --  tis-dco-devsa - jumpword devsa
> http://dco-sps.schwab.com/sites/devsa/welcome
> desk 602-977-5157 
> pager 6025785...@messaging.sprintpcs.com or white pages
> All e-mail sent to or from this address will be received by the Charles 
> Schwab corporate e-mail system and is subject to archival and review by 
> someone other than the recipient.
> 
> --- On Sun, 8/2/09, Craig White  wrote:
> 
> > From: Craig White 
> > Subject: Re: Re: Geek/Tech/Entrepreneur Stuff to do in PHX
> > To: "Main PLUG discussion list" 
> > 
> > Date: Sunday, August 2, 2009, 6:21 PM
> > On Sun, 2009-08-02 at 17:33 -0700,
> > keith smith wrote:
> > > 
> > > So pumping trillions of dollars into special interest
> > projects is how we save the economy.
> > > 
> > > Saving GM was about the democrat party buying
> > votes.  Look who owns GM now.  This is I did you a favor now you owe 
> > me a favor type of politics.
> > > 
> > > Not to mention this is more than likely
> > unconstitutional.  Have you read the constitution lately?  The federal 
> > government is allotted very little especially when you read the 10th 
> > Amendment.
> > > 
> > > I wonder if I get my credit card out and run it up to
> > the limit if I will end up better off?
> > > 
> > > The free market has not failed.  The government
> > has failed in trying to manage it and our money supply ECT.
> > > 
> > > Lets look at one simple sector of our economy.
> > The housing market.  The housing market is where the down turn in our 
> > economy started.  And it all was mostly in the Phoenix area.
> > > 
> > > Did you know the housing market is in a state of
> > recovery in Phoenix.  How would I know about this.  I am trying to buy 
> > a house.  While houses are at 30% - 50% lower in price now than 2 
> > years ago, houses are being bid on and competition has returned.  The 
> > government has had little to do with the recovery in the Phoenix 
> > housing market.  It has been through private investment.
> > > 
> > > One thing that has been neglected is that markets
> > adjust.  It is natural.  When the government gets involved the 
> > problems are exasperated and I believe will ultimately be made worse.
> > > 
> > > Hyper inflation is projected to be in our
> > future.
> > > 
> > > When I make statements about government needing to be
> > pruned to the tune of 85% all I have to do is 

Re: Ubuntu 9.04 x64 livecd boots on macbook without changes.

[Michael Butash]

I'd rather stick with my dell's for half/quarter the price of the apple
tax, boots everything happily including osx (well, hacked installs at
least) without dealing with efi, and doesn't insult my intelligence
calling my ubuntu cd windoze...

-mb


On Wed, 2009-08-12 at 08:25 -0700, Stephen wrote:
> nope. and both fedora11 and ubuntu 9.04 find all the hardware... its
> rather amusing.
> 
> at least i know what i can do if ever stuck with a mac :-)
> 
> On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 10:52 PM, Lisa Kachold wrote:
> > Shirley you jest?
> >
> > On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 10:59 AM, Stephen wrote:
> >> I was fooling about and it appears that 9.04 will boot on a macbook
> >> pro natively without installing refit or anythign else. just holding
> >> the option key.
> >>
> >> Interestingly it detects the cd as "windows"
> >>
> >> also fedora 11 livecd seems to work as well
> >>
> >> --
> >> A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from
> >> rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.
> >>
> >> Stephen
> >> ---
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> >> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > http://linuxgazette.net/165/kachold.html
> > (623)239-3392
> > (503)754-4452 www.obnosis.com
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> 
> 
> 

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Re: OT: Microsoft Word Banned?

[Michael Butash]

They'll do like they did with the EU monopoly, ignore it and pay later
if they have to.  They won't halt shipments of office, one of their
biggest cash cows, any fines will be well worth keeping the publicity
down of halting sales, disruption to business sales, or any general sign
of weakness in the face of their competition.  The plaintiff appears to
be yet another patent troll filing out of east Texas, so I fully
anticipate Microsoft will either assimilate them (for their patent), or
give some kind of *favorable* license term as they do anyone doing this
to them.  Ultimately it's just a payoff for them to stfu, which is
exactly what the troll wants.

They give away cash to use their search engines to even the average
consumers, hefty settlements are likewise nothing when your pockets run
that deep.

I'm more curious if they'll show fangs at sun/oracle for openoffice, or
any of the other lesser products still out there making office products
with xml compatibility.  Microsoft recently won another patent for xml
storage of text data, only theirs was 6 months prior to the one this
company is browbeating them with.  Both sounded roughly the same, but
together I'm sure they'll just be used as saber-rattling fodder against
open-source competition.

-mb


On Thu, 2009-08-13 at 12:10 -0700, Jason Spatafore wrote:
> This one has me confused. How does MS fight such a ban of sale of their
> product?
> 
> http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/enterpriseapps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=219200383&cid=nl_IW_daily_txt
> 
> I just got back on the list...it's good to be back. :) 
> 
> Jason
> 
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"Professional Recruiters"?

[Michael Butash]

Anyone else notice anymore an abundance of calls from
"recruiters" (which I use the term quite loosely) all seem to be coming
from sweatshop call centers out of various parts of the world?  Being in
the market for work lately, my res is flapping in the breeze on a few
job site, and it seems I get quite literally 4-6 calls a day from these
random *recruiters* that:

a) barely/don't speak english
b) don't know anything about the technologies they're trying to place
for
c) call about the same lame jobs that I myself can find scouring job
sites
d) most not even relevant to my held/proclaimed job title or skills
e) are just plain rude

I've gotten as many as 3 calls in 5 minutes from the same *company* with
different cannon-fodder reps calling me about the same job, so somewhere
a predictive dialer software is glitching.  Then they ask if I want a
job programming asp.net or something silly, just because my resume
mentions (begrudgingly) having windows skill, or something equally
asinine unrelated to my actual profession.  Once I'm annoyed and tell
them no, they practically instantly hang up to wardial/annoy someone
else.  Rinse/repeate frustration several times a day...  

I figure I can't be the only person having this joy of a time, I'm just
curious how pervasive this "sweatshop recruiting" has become in our
field?

-mb

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Re: "Professional Recruiters"?

[Michael Butash]

I'd considered that, but they were asking me about jobs that I know I've
been contacted about or seen already, so I think they're mostly on the
up and up, just going about it horribly wrong with monkey labor.  I
suppose it is possible still to be purely marketing efforts, but I
couldn't imagine as many of them as I've been contacted by were doing it
purely for marketing too.

Seems they're just trying to get a piece of the placement fee pie using
low-end labor much as outsourced tech support did.  Apparently with
about the same effectiveness and quality a solution too...  It's like
having Dell's annoying foreigner tech support war dialing me now, so I
am really not amused, let alone would I actually want to work through
them for a job!

-mb


n Thu, 2009-08-13 at 14:57 -0700, Joshua Zeidner wrote:
> in many cases this kind of activity is overseas IT shops doing market
> research in a sneaky way.  If they don't seem legit just hang up the
> phone.  -jmz
> 
> On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 2:51 PM, Michael Butash wrote:
> > Anyone else notice anymore an abundance of calls from
> > "recruiters" (which I use the term quite loosely) all seem to be coming
> > from sweatshop call centers out of various parts of the world?  Being in
> > the market for work lately, my res is flapping in the breeze on a few
> > job site, and it seems I get quite literally 4-6 calls a day from these
> > random *recruiters* that:
> >
> > a) barely/don't speak english
> > b) don't know anything about the technologies they're trying to place
> > for
> > c) call about the same lame jobs that I myself can find scouring job
> > sites
> > d) most not even relevant to my held/proclaimed job title or skills
> > e) are just plain rude
> >
> > I've gotten as many as 3 calls in 5 minutes from the same *company* with
> > different cannon-fodder reps calling me about the same job, so somewhere
> > a predictive dialer software is glitching.  Then they ask if I want a
> > job programming asp.net or something silly, just because my resume
> > mentions (begrudgingly) having windows skill, or something equally
> > asinine unrelated to my actual profession.  Once I'm annoyed and tell
> > them no, they practically instantly hang up to wardial/annoy someone
> > else.  Rinse/repeate frustration several times a day...
> >
> > I figure I can't be the only person having this joy of a time, I'm just
> > curious how pervasive this "sweatshop recruiting" has become in our
> > field?
> >
> > -mb
> >
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Re: OT: Microsoft Word Banned?

[Michael Butash]

Only real problem I see is the same one it has been - patent troll
companies that do nothing more than abuse our patent system staking
their ambiguous claims, and sue others as their only "revenue".

Other than that, I'm still amused whenever those cannons get pointed at
Microsoft.  It will unfortunately have ramifications for "everyone else"
eventually higher overall costs when trolls get their hooks in.

See also Immersion vs. Sony/everyone for another good one -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immersion_v._Sony.  Microsoft just payed
them off in licensing over their "vibrating controller" patent without
fighting, while Sony got stuck with $90.7m in damages, halting of
controller sales using it (i.e. all ps2), and still having to "license"
the tech to boot.

I don't see microsoft doing anything different here unless this xml
patent beating them over the head has no legs to stand on, then maybe
they'll fight, maybe they won't...

-mb


On Fri, 2009-08-14 at 02:45 -0700, Technomage wrote:
> Reading the discussion threads was entertainment as well.
> 
> The biggest problem I see in all of those comments: no thinking about 
> the real problem.
> And as of right now, I haven't the first clue what the real problem is.
> 
> 
> Jason Spatafore wrote:
> > This one has me confused. How does MS fight such a ban of sale of their
> > product?
> >
> > http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/enterpriseapps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=219200383&cid=nl_IW_daily_txt
> >
> > I just got back on the list...it's good to be back. :) 
> >
> > Jason
> >
> > ---
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> >   
> 
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Re: Kernel vulnerability

[Michael Butash]

My understanding is _every_ kernel is affected by it back to 2001.
Luckily it's only a local vuln...

-mb


On Fri, 2009-08-14 at 10:46 -0700, Paul Mooring wrote:
> Anybody seen this?
> http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/fulldisclosure/2009-08/0174.html
> and more importantly is there someone more knowledgable than me that can
> tell me a way to check if my system are affected by this? (I'm using
> mostly all custom compiled kernels).
> 
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Re: dual boot

[Michael Butash]

Ubuntu will actually use /boot/grub/menu.lst for the os lists and order
preferences.  When done reordering, just do "sudo update-grub" and
reboot.

I agree with the others, try legacy bios emulation in the bios, or make
sure it even supports usb devices in the bios to begin with, otherwise
just use a temp ps2.

-mb


On Sat, 2009-08-15 at 11:00 -0700, Jason Spatafore wrote:
> Again, you need to find a way to get into BIOS to load USB keyboard
> support. Find an old PS/2 keyboard, plug it in, and change the BIOS
> settings for it. 
> 
> 
> 
> On Sat, 2009-08-15 at 10:50 -0700, Lyle Tuttle wrote:
> > thanks guys -- OK, the keyboard works "after" Ubuntu loads up - can I
> > then assume that it not the problem?  The machine is not in front of
> > me...
> > 
> > Searching the forums, I don't find much, BUT, looks like I could hit
> > "e" and edit - changing the boot options so that XP is first??
> > 
> > Would that work?
> > 
> > At 10:42 AM 8/15/2009, you wrote:
> > > Is your keyboard working at all prior to the menu being displayed?
> > > This
> > > could be a situation where you're using a USB keyboard but the
> > > keyboard
> > > won't work before the OS loads. If so, you will need to check your
> > > BIOS
> > > settings for a "USB Keyboard Support" option and then enable it. 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > On Sat, 2009-08-15 at 10:26 -0700, Lyle Tuttle wrote:
> > > > OK, I have a system that had XP on it; I loaded Ubuntu on it in
> > > the 
> > > > dual-boot method, and now, when I boot the system, I can't move
> > > the 
> > > > selection to start it in XP...it is set on Ubuntu, and that's
> > > it..
> > > > 
> > > > What am I missing?  I just can't move that selection highlited bar
> > > to XP...
> > > > 
> > > > lyle
> > > > 
> > > > ---
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Re: dual boot

[Michael Butash]

Floppy disk?  What's that?  :)

That _is_ an option I suppose, but I think that'd get tedious quick
flipping floppies.  I'd almost say find yourself an old ps2 number
keypad or something discrete on ebay to keep on it, basically to give
you access to up/down/enter keys for grub os switching.  

Depending what you're doing with windoze still, I'd recommend to try
running it in vmware or virtualbox (or vm of choice) to get your fix
long-term, assuming linux floats your boat.  I don't game or anything
requiring framebuffer/directx access, but for work I need access to
visio or other software that refuses to work under wine, and works great
for me in an xp guest.  Virtualbox does support gpu access to the
guests, but ymmv as mine did on this...

-mb


On Sat, 2009-08-15 at 12:08 -0700, Jason Spatafore wrote:
> Would another option be that he can boot to floppy and use a different
> floppy disk for each OS he wants to boot? I haven't done this but I
> remember grub supports something like that. Of course, that's if there's
> a floppy drive in the system. 
> 
> 
> On Sat, 2009-08-15 at 11:49 -0700, Michael Butash wrote:
> > Ubuntu will actually use /boot/grub/menu.lst for the os lists and order
> > preferences.  When done reordering, just do "sudo update-grub" and
> > reboot.
> > 
> > I agree with the others, try legacy bios emulation in the bios, or make
> > sure it even supports usb devices in the bios to begin with, otherwise
> > just use a temp ps2.
> > 
> > -mb
> > 
> > 
> > On Sat, 2009-08-15 at 11:00 -0700, Jason Spatafore wrote:
> > > Again, you need to find a way to get into BIOS to load USB keyboard
> > > support. Find an old PS/2 keyboard, plug it in, and change the BIOS
> > > settings for it. 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > On Sat, 2009-08-15 at 10:50 -0700, Lyle Tuttle wrote:
> > > > thanks guys -- OK, the keyboard works "after" Ubuntu loads up - can I
> > > > then assume that it not the problem?  The machine is not in front of
> > > > me...
> > > > 
> > > > Searching the forums, I don't find much, BUT, looks like I could hit
> > > > "e" and edit - changing the boot options so that XP is first??
> > > > 
> > > > Would that work?
> > > > 
> > > > At 10:42 AM 8/15/2009, you wrote:
> > > > > Is your keyboard working at all prior to the menu being displayed?
> > > > > This
> > > > > could be a situation where you're using a USB keyboard but the
> > > > > keyboard
> > > > > won't work before the OS loads. If so, you will need to check your
> > > > > BIOS
> > > > > settings for a "USB Keyboard Support" option and then enable it. 
> > > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > > On Sat, 2009-08-15 at 10:26 -0700, Lyle Tuttle wrote:
> > > > > > OK, I have a system that had XP on it; I loaded Ubuntu on it in
> > > > > the 
> > > > > > dual-boot method, and now, when I boot the system, I can't move
> > > > > the 
> > > > > > selection to start it in XP...it is set on Ubuntu, and that's
> > > > > it..
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > What am I missing?  I just can't move that selection highlited bar
> > > > > to XP...
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > lyle
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > ---
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Re: "Professional Recruiters"?

[Michael Butash]

I guess for me I've been long enough removed from being exposed to the
job meat markets to see things have progressed to such behavior.  It got
to the point that they became like gnats quickly just waisting my cell
phone minutes, especially when 99% of what they were calling me about
wasn't even relevant.  It's equatable to voice spamming for their
income, which makes my want to work with them even less.  

After dealing with it for a few weeks, I began considering the margins
of profit they're making and considered what it would take to do so
myself as a hobby, but I'd just feel like a shoe salesman, telemarketer,
or other equally undesirable employment.  At least how they go about
it...

Agreed about DIY, any job worth having really has come from my own
scouring, referrals, or social networking of some sort.  I figured it
couldn't hurt to float my info out there to see what came to me, but
geez was I wrong.  Quite the sad state of affairs.

-mb


On Sun, 2009-08-16 at 20:37 -0700, Mike wrote:
> Michael Butash wrote:
> > Anyone else notice anymore an abundance of calls from
> > "recruiters" (which I use the term quite loosely) all seem to be coming
> > from sweatshop call centers out of various parts of the world?  Being in
> > the market for work lately, my res is flapping in the breeze on a few


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Re: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic" Alpha4 and the Intel video drivers...

[Michael Butash]

I just upgraded from ibex to jaunty and to Karmic on my laptop, and I've
been having some major issues with it.  No intel (thank goodness) to
deal with, so can't attest to it.  Suspend functions for me are now
broken, gnome power manager is buggy at best, and my screen saver
refuses to work.  For a laptop these are killing me...  VMware barely
works with some hackery, and some of the alsa devices get figured out
backward now.  Even going from ibex to jaunty, network manager simply
refused to adequately control the wireless hardware which was entirely a
deal breaker, forcing me to roll the dice on karmic.  This all from a
perfectly working install in hardy or ibex.  Otherwise, I am mostly
pleased with the overall performance of it, definitely improved from
Ibex.

I'm assuming you did a clean install that everything works ok for you?
Those typically work well for me too, but upgrades for me have been
entirely crapshoots, which is really disappointing as otherwise I'm
quite fond of ubuntu.  I'm curious what success others have had here
with upgrades, as the ubuntu forms tend to indicate it's a perpetual
kludge of a process with destruction and mayhem as a result.  I've
always had major cleanup and fixage after a dist-upgrade.

I long ago gave up on Fedora/RedHat when pretty much
installing/upgrading/compiling any software just led to dependency hell.
This has gotten somewhat better since yellowdog cloned apt with yum for
RH-ish distros, but I'm still not ready to bother trying fedora again
quite yet.  If ubuntu keeps annoying me, perhaps I might.

-mb


On Mon, 2009-08-17 at 23:39 -0700, Ryan Rix wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 9:48 PM, Jim March<1.jim.ma...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Folks,
> >
> > I have a laptop with the mediocre Intel 965/X3100 chipset.  In Ubuntu
> > Jaunty it ran like a turd until major tweaks were applied, and the
> > results weren't 100% stable.  Jaunty came out right as the Intel video
> > support was in flux and Jaunty basically caught about half of what was
> > needed between the kernel, xorg, Intel driver, Mesa and Compiz.
> >
> > Karmic has the whole package.  I've been running it for five days now,
> > ever since alpha4 came out, and it's more solid (and FASTER) than I
> > ever got out of Jaunty.  I did a full re-install with the alternate
> > installer (as I use whole disk encryption) and I went with Ext4 - it's
> > working great.
> >
> > On a lark I loaded the 64bit Adobe Flash "alpha" and it's rock solid
> > too - best flash Linux experience I've ever had, period, end of
> > discussion.
> >
> > I think Karmic is going to be a really sweet Ubuntu flavor when it
> > ships and the improvements in Intel video support are so amazingly
> > vast I'd say anybody with at least moderate technical chops able to
> > cope with minor pre-release glitches should switch NOW.  I'm told the
> > fixes also apply perfectly to the Intel 4500 chipset found on the
> > newest el cheapo laptops.
> >
> > WARNING: this applies to all Intel video drivers except the GMA500
> > chipset.  That thing is a major turd and will remain so until the
> > Ubuntu distro post-Karmic at a minimum.  The most common GMA500
> > machine is the Dell "mini 10" I think it's called, and for some reason
> > that thing is an excellent Hackintosh candidate.  While I'm not
> > normally a proponent of running Apple OSX on non-Apple hardware (as
> > Apple is actively trying to stomp your install with updates!), the
> > difference in support for the GMA500 between Linux generally and OSX
> > is severe enough I'd consider it, at least until Intel helps get the
> > driver situation under control.  (The issue is, Intel recently bought
> > the GMA500 tech from another company that was very
> > Linux-hostile...Intel is getting it sorted out but it's just not done
> > yet.  That company did do some OSX drivers for Apple...)
> 
> Fedora never had these problems :)
> *ducks*
> 

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Re: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic" Alpha4 and the Intel video drivers...

[Michael Butash]

I rebuilt fresh my HTPC box with Jaunty not long ago with ext4, but I
don't really see much of a difference than my favoured reiserfs.  I
built my video lvm slice with xfs as it comes most recommended for
managing large files like the 12-20gb bluray rips it sees now, but once
I add some disk space I might check out ext4 to see how it compares.

-mb


On Tue, 2009-08-18 at 00:49 -0700, Jim March wrote:
> Yeah, it was a clean install of Karmic Alpha4 that's so far worked great.
> 
> That's also the only way to get the Ext4 benefits, so...yeah, I have
> to recommend that, bigtime.
> 
> Jim
> 

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RE: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic" Alpha4 and the Intel video drivers...

[Michael Butash]

Oh trust me, I tar the /etc directory, sync important local directories
with unison, and keep everything else on a dedicated filer, but I still
don't like having to spend a night reinstalling and tweaking to get it
back to where I had it.  I don't mind fixing problems when they arise
after installs, as I see them as adventures in learning more about
systems, but they're no less annoying when they arise.

I guess I'm lame in assuming or expecting that if they're going to offer
an upgrade function, that it work.  Microsoft has punished people for 25
years thinking such heretical thoughts even trying to use their
*upgrades* between os's, but it's nice to dream that one day it might
just be reality with some os.  Ubuntu has been about as close as I've
found, though FreeBSD used to be really good about dist-upgrades too
when it was my choice in server os.

-mb


On Tue, 2009-08-18 at 13:14 -0700, Bob Elzer wrote:
> The best way to upgrade an OS is to do a fresh install.  Nobody can catch
> everything, these distro's have so much stuff included, there is bound to be
> some complications.
> 
> If you are going to do the upgrade route, then I recommend Mondo Rescue. It
> can make a bare metal backup of your machine and if and when you find any
> problems that are deal breakers you can roll back.
> 
> Another thing I always consider when I build a system, is where I put my
> data. I put all the data I want to keep on a separate disk (I.E. I create a
> link from /usr/local/ to /mydisk/local/ )
> 
> After a fresh install, it's easy to recreate the links
> 
> There are still files I make copies of (I.E. /etc stuff and other things), I
> then have a list of files that need to be looked at in the new system.
> 
> Doing these things makes a fresh install easier.
>  
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> [mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On Behalf Of Michael
> Butash
> Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 12:42 AM
> To: Main PLUG discussion list
> Subject: Re: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic" Alpha4 and the Intel video drivers...
> 
> I just upgraded from ibex to jaunty and to Karmic on my laptop, and I've
> been having some major issues with it.  No intel (thank goodness) to deal
> with, so can't attest to it.  Suspend functions for me are now broken, gnome
> power manager is buggy at best, and my screen saver refuses to work.  For a
> laptop these are killing me...  VMware barely works with some hackery, and
> some of the alsa devices get figured out backward now.  Even going from ibex
> to jaunty, network manager simply refused to adequately control the wireless
> hardware which was entirely a deal breaker, forcing me to roll the dice on
> karmic.  This all from a perfectly working install in hardy or ibex.
> Otherwise, I am mostly pleased with the overall performance of it,
> definitely improved from Ibex.
> 
> I'm assuming you did a clean install that everything works ok for you?
> Those typically work well for me too, but upgrades for me have been entirely
> crapshoots, which is really disappointing as otherwise I'm quite fond of
> ubuntu.  I'm curious what success others have had here with upgrades, as the
> ubuntu forms tend to indicate it's a perpetual kludge of a process with
> destruction and mayhem as a result.  I've always had major cleanup and
> fixage after a dist-upgrade.
> 
> I long ago gave up on Fedora/RedHat when pretty much
> installing/upgrading/compiling any software just led to dependency hell.
> This has gotten somewhat better since yellowdog cloned apt with yum for
> RH-ish distros, but I'm still not ready to bother trying fedora again quite
> yet.  If ubuntu keeps annoying me, perhaps I might.
> 
> -mb
> 
> 
> On Mon, 2009-08-17 at 23:39 -0700, Ryan Rix wrote:
> > On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 9:48 PM, Jim March<1.jim.ma...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Folks,
> > >
> > > I have a laptop with the mediocre Intel 965/X3100 chipset.  In 
> > > Ubuntu Jaunty it ran like a turd until major tweaks were applied, 
> > > and the results weren't 100% stable.  Jaunty came out right as the 
> > > Intel video support was in flux and Jaunty basically caught about 
> > > half of what was needed between the kernel, xorg, Intel driver, Mesa and
> Compiz.
> > >
> > > Karmic has the whole package.  I've been running it for five days 
> > > now, ever since alpha4 came out, and it's more solid (and FASTER) 
> > > than I ever got out of Jaunty.  I did a full re-install with the 
> > > alternate installer (as I use whole disk encryption) and I went with 
> > > E

Re: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic" Alpha4 and the Intel video drivers...

[Michael Butash]

It's actually a good point Ryan - if they'd just backport more newer
builds of software, it would obviate the need for massive upheaval which
inevitably breaks half the things it does.  The big-bang approach of
dist-upgrades between revisions just simply doesn't work as it's been
proven throughout time.  I understand backports become a problem to
maintain for someone like Canonical, but it would seem a necessity to
blur that line a bit further than they tend to, or simply have better
q/a on their major builds, especially once they actually dub them
releases.

My motivation to upgrade lately has been mostly centered around
networkmanager, pulseaudio, and alsa, which simply doesn't offer much in
the way of backports for any older revisions of Ubuntu.  I really
couldn't give a rat's ass to use the newest kernels most of the time,
unless it's new hardware, which means a new install anyways.  Some of
the periphery software however offers compelling features that I
consider a necessity and hence worth the effort of upgrade, just to get
some nugget feature that was lacking.  Then I end up with more broken
than fixed for that one little nugget.

Redhat really turned me off from ever compiling anything in linux, where
Slackware was my first love that let me compile just about anything
safely.  Ubuntu is somewhere in between, where I've fallen into
recursive dependency recompile hell, but has steadily gotten better to
roll my own.  This just typically borks any future package updates, that
I have to be pretty desperate to want to roll my own.  I compile a lot
of packages on my HTPC box to get VDPAU accelerated mplayer codes,
behaving pulseaudio/alsa, and somewhat stable Boxee/XBMC software, but
at that point I don't maintain regular updates at all, security be
damned.  Either this or I roll the dice on dist-upgrades, and take the
kick in the groin when I do.

-mb


On Tue, 2009-08-18 at 14:39 -0700, Ryan Rix wrote:
> Michael Butash wrote:
> > I guess I'm lame in assuming or expecting that if they're going to offer
> > an upgrade function, that it work.  Microsoft has punished people for 25
> > years thinking such heretical thoughts even trying to use their
> > *upgrades* between os's, but it's nice to dream that one day it might
> > just be reality with some os.  Ubuntu has been about as close as I've
> > found, though FreeBSD used to be really good about dist-upgrades too
> > when it was my choice in server os.
> > 
> > -mb
> 
> Here's a thought; Why do distros even need 'releases' at all? If a 
> constant update cycle was used, rather than one huge dist-upgrade, these 
> problems would hardly ever arise... And when they did, it would be with 
> one or two components, hopefully NOT mission critical, and could be 
> fixed with five minutes of hunting and updating an /etc config file. 
> installer ISOs could be generated weekly or so, or just be netinst images
> I guess Distrowatch would be out of business in that case.
> 
> Upgrades suck, I reinstall ;)
> 
> Ryan
> 
> 

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Re: What laptop to get to replace my 15" macbook?

[Michael Butash]

Try a dell xps m1550, they can be had pretty cheap on outlet.dell.com
these days, and often I'll see 15% off coupons on deal sites.  I love my
m1330, the 13" variant, probably the best laptop I've ever owned.  Fully
loaded I payed about $1300 shipped with top of the line core2duo, 4g of
memory, and nvidia m8400 video card.  I've been considering upgrading to
the m1550 just because I can get them with a pimp 1920x1200 display.
Between work and personal, I've used one or more dells at a time over
the past 8 years or so, and have overall been quite pleased with them.  

When I moved in with my now wife, she had an old imac g4 that needed an
os-wipe, so I got 10.4 osx for it and ran it on there for a year or so -
absolutely hated using it.  It was convenient to sit on my coffee table
for looking up things while in the living room, but was painful to use
coming from using linux full-time at this point.  It wasn't as featured
as either windoze or linux, but was some kind of bastard in between that
made me feel like I need to drop 80 or so iq points to *get it*, and
with half the functionality/software of a real computer.  Finally I got
so fed up with osx, I nuked it and put ppc xubuntu on it, and life has
been much better (not to mention 4x faster).

I really don't get why people voluntarily pay the 50%+ apple tax, I
found it's really mediocre at best for power users.  Maybe my grandma or
a 4 year old niece would dig it, but otherwise it's simply too brain
dead for me.

-mb


On Wed, 2009-08-19 at 14:24 -0700, Josef Lowder wrote:
> Based on the very positive and enthusiastic comments from so many
> people (including several of my good plug friends), I recently
> purchased a 15" Macbook, thinking that it might be "the way to go."
> 
> While the Mac is a very appealing product in many ways with many
> outstanding features, I have finally come to the conclusion that the
> disadvantages (to me) far outweigh the positives.  So I am now
> thinking of selling it and looking for something more sensible in the
> real world.  Therefore, once again, I am seeking input from the
> collective wisdom of this esteemed group.
> 
> The simple, but (to me) major drawbacks of the Mac (not to mention
> their proprietary impositions that seem to be even worse than M$), are
> as follows:
> 
> 1. The keyboard layout that forces that screwy Mac/Apple X key on
> users in lieu of simply using the CTRL key ... and then positioning
> that weird mac key in such a terribly awkward place.
> 
> 2. Putting the "FN" key where the "CTRL" key should be (and is on
> every other computer keyboard) is really stupid.  Bottom-farthest left
> is the *only* place (from an anatomically logical standpoint) where
> the CTRL key should be (imho).
> 
> 3. Failure to totally eliminate the "caps-lock" key (of course I guess
> all keyboard mfrs still remain guilty of this ridiculous failing, at
> this point).  However, I seem to accidentally hit it more on the mac
> than on my other keyboards ... I guess because on the mac it seems to
> be slightly oversized.  Why?  Duh!
> 
> 4. The absolutely ridiculous limitation of being forced to the bottom
> right corner of every window as the *only* way to resize windows.
> That might be the most stupid of all Mac contrary-to-all-common-sense
> "features."  And apparently no way that I can find to "maximize" a
> window.
> 
> 5. The needlessly glitzy but cumbersome "dock."
> 
> 6. The lack of a simple text editor ... one that doesn't force the use
> of html or rtf.
> 
> 7. Most of the *nix command-line commands and utilities that I am used
> to using do not seem to work on Mac OS-X
> 
> 8. While I like the slot drive rather than a DVD drive that slides
> open, I do (not) like having it on the front. Has that changed on
> newer models?
> 
> 9. And as for being "intuitive" ... I've tried for a week to get the
> hang of using a Mac and almost everything that I am used to doing on
> my "normal" computers, I find almost impossible to figure out on a
> mac.  The 529-page "How to do everything Mac" doesn't ... and if mac
> is so "intuitive" why should it need a 529-page book to explain how to
> use it?
> 
> In any case, I am now looking for a new (or used) laptop to replace
> this mac and get back to the real world.
> 
> One that intrigues me is a new, single-core, lower-powered Asus that
> claims to have 8+ hours of battery life.  It is also the only one I
> have seen so far that has lighted keys (the letters light up on the
> keys like the mac -- one of mac's truly great features).  That seems
> to me to be a very desirable feature.  Only problem is that that
> feature seems to be available only in a larger format Asus unit with a
> number keypad (that I do not want).
> 
> So what do y'all recommend?
> 
> I like the slot drive (on the right side), built-in camera, lighted
> keys, lightest and thinnest possible, a "normal" keyboard (no 10-
> pad), at least a 15" screen, preferrably matte not glossy, and long
> battery life. I want

Re: Cisco eqpt / possible job?

[Michael Butash]

  Haha, I knew the network admin that was supporting this infrastructure
for Maricopa County and left to work for another customer of mine
because of these atrocities 6-8 months ago, and smelled something like
this coming.  He was telling me about that guy, the politics of working
there, and all the reciprocity that was occurring between him, Cisco,
and the stereotypical good ole' boy network.  Namely him dictating
ridiculously overbuilt network hardware, hiring or giving kush contracts
to buddies/vendors, all while the impending doom of the recession we all
knew that was coming.  Funny to see it hitting the fan now later...
Your tax dollars hard at work indeed.  As a constituent, I wouldn't mind
grabbing a couple of liquidated Cisco gige access switches on the cheap
once it really hits the fan, seems only fair.  :)

  Working for VAR's, you quickly learn it's all part of the business
anywhere you go, and vendors like Cisco, Microsoft, Oracle, etc plus
their partners are really good at playing those games.  It's pretty much
how everything gets done around IT in government, and having worked with
a lot of the local municipalities in that capacity, I can attest its not
much different anywhere else either.  

-mb


On Thu, 2009-08-20 at 11:05 -0700, Lyle Tuttle wrote:
> Looks to me like there could be a job opening here soon -- anyone need
> any new / used Cisco equipment?
> 
> http://sonoranalliance.com/?p=4792
> 
> lyle 
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Re: MySQL DBA

[Michael Butash]

In my experience in big enterprise to small offices, either you have
"the dude that kinda dabbles with everything", or you have quite
separate roles.  Primarily you would have a SQL Admin/Engineer (just sql
performance/operations/engineering), Linux Engineer (os, apache, sql),
and a Web Dev/Admin/Engineer (php coding, cms, site management).
Usually you also have Security and Network folk in the mix too to keep
things sane.  Sometimes you have one person that likes to dabble in
each, and can varyingly admin them all as so to *get by*, but they're
subsequently "jack of all trades", and typically "master of none" kind
of people.  

As an IT shop grows and the infrastructure becomes more important
(and/or profitable), these rolls eventually form into something like the
ones mentioned, and require separate headcount as they don't always even
exist in the same department (IT and development).  The mostly singular
focus allows them to become "experts" in their respective category, but
don't often cross-pollinate skill sets then.  Usually when I see someone
asking for an employee that is a "master of all", I just laugh knowing
they don't know what they're doing, or probably even what they really
need.

Finding an environment where you can "dabble" professionally in
everything is typically going to be a low-pay, thankless job I would
say, as a company wants 1 person to do *everything*, but will pay low
because they don't know what they really need.  They're often trying to
find their magical unicorn employee that will do everything for little
pay.  Government agencies tend to be fond of these roles, but pay low
enough they really have no expectation of finding someone close, so they
settle for the closest that will actually apply.  They learn and cope as
they can, and move on once they pick one of those skills to focus on in
bigger companies that have already learned the value of the separate
skill sets among employees.

Your best bet is VMWare or other virtualization technology - get a
decent multi-processor/core pc, buy a bunch of ram (8gb runs about 80
bucks), and start building distributed server environments using all of
the above virtually.  Pick some software like wordpress or a basic CMS
that you can turn up a php/sql-enabled website to tinker with, and get
it working regardless of content.  Move the database to it's own server
apart from the apache host, and learn some networking/security.  Add
custom authentication to the site to tinker with apache and learn the
various modules.  Somewhere along the line learn to performance-tune
your databases, and you should be decent as a "generalist" LAMP guy.
Howtoforge.com has a lot of articles to walk you down the path to
enlightenment, and you can fill in a lot of blanks around them on your
own.

-mb


On Thu, 2009-08-20 at 16:27 -0700, Trent Shipley wrote:
> I am used to seeing jobs involving MySQL as part of positions being
> advertised for a LAMP generalist.  I never respond.  Not only am I not
> particularly competent in any of the components, I have a hard time
> seeing myself as competent to manage that kind of stack.  I actually
> doubt many people are really competent at managing a LAMP stack all by
> themselves.
> 
> However, I was recently looking for jobs on DICE and I saw
> advertisements for dedicated MySQL positions -- with more emphasis on
> DBA that development.  I can imagine being a competent DBA.  I taught
> myself to work with Oracle and I like database work.
> 
> In the early 2000's Oracle was complex, DB2 somewhat less complex, SQL
> Server was almost friendly in comparison, and MySQL pretty simple to
> administer -- almost a toy compared to the big boys.  How much more
> complex has MySQL gotten in the last five years or so?  What would be
> involved in gaining competence.  Do you think you could read up on
> MySQL, then find people stupid enough to let you work on MySQL
> databases, preferably for money so you could get experience?  How would
> you encourage such stupidity?
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Re: hp scanjet 3400c

[Michael Butash]

I use a 6400c HP natively with sane, turn key without doing a thing.  I
would have to expect yours to function much the same way.

-mb


On Thu, 2009-08-20 at 16:25 -0700, Alan Dayley wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 20, 2009 at 2:33 PM, betty wrote:
> > What is a good site to check if this scanner will work with my Ubuntu
> > Hardy Heron desktop? My daughter has it as an extra that she doesn't
> > need and if it would work w/my computer I would take it off her hands.
> >
> > I have a lot of old family pictures i really should scan to save from
> > the '30s -80's. If this one wouldn't work well; does anyone know of a
> > scanner they can recommend for this distro? I have had good luck w/hp
> > printers but can never get scanners to work well even with the evil
> > empire computers.
> >
> > thanks for any ideas
> 
> THE scanning solution for Linux is SANE.  The project site has a
> database of supported devices.  The 3400C is listed in the database at
> http://www.sane-project.org/cgi-bin/driver.pl?manu=hp&model=3400c&bus=any&v=&p=
> 
> You can also use the database to check other scanners you see listed
> in ads or online somewhere, if you want to buy a new scanner.
> 
> Alan
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Re: One laptop, one monitor, two unrelated issues...

[Michael Butash]

I agree with Nathan, this is probably acpi issue.  Toshiba has always
been horrible about keeping their acpi hardware interfaces bug-free and
consistent, one of the many reasons I stopped using Toshiba hardware
long ago.  Great for windoze when they write their own proprietary acpi
drivers and software, but bad for most every other os.  Sony is another
that always seems to miss the boat with acpi stability...

Try adding this to your /etc/boot/menu.lst after the kernel flag as so:

kernel  /vmlinuz-2.6.28-14-generic root=/dev/mapper/vg0-root ro quiet splash 
acpi=off

... and then rebooting.  You can also interrupt grub, and edit by
hitting "e" and adding the "acpi=off" to it.  See if this boots any
more/less sane.  There are a number of other boot flags you might want
to try, I have Via mini-itx hardware that requires some pci flags to
boot otherwise I get weird boot behavior like yours too.

-mb


On Sun, 2009-08-23 at 08:57 -0700, Nathan England wrote:
> On Sunday 23 August 2009 05:13:03 am kitepi...@kitepilot.com wrote:
> > Good morning Universe: 
> > 
> > I have a trusty Toshiba Satellite A35-S159 (P4) which has ran different 
> > Linux incarnations over the eons since LFS 5.1. 
> > 
> >  
> > 
> > Mysterious issue #1 -> Booting/Shutting down the laptop: 
> > 
> > I decided to reinstall some Linux for the Nth time and I noticed that the 
> > laptop sometimes would boot, sometimes would not, and when it did, it would 
> > not shutdown consistently. 
> > 
> > In total frustration, I somehow accidentally stumbled upon this ODD 
> > behavior: 
> > 
> > As soon as Grub releases the system to the processor, or as soon as the 
> > shutdown sequence initiates, I *HAVE* to tap a key (any key except 
> > Shift/Alt/Ctrl/Caps/Num lock) or the sequence hangs. 
> > 
> >  
> > 
> > You can see the different kernel messages sitting there on the screen, tap 
> > a 
> > key, get another message, tap another key... 
> > 
> > I had never seen such a thing... 
> > 
> >  
> > 
> > Trying to isolate whether I had a hardware problem or a karma problem, I 
> > began digging old LFS boot CDs until I found one old enough to consistently 
> > boot and shutdown the laptop uneventfully. 
> > 
> > Karma problem... 
> > 
> 
> This is 100% an ACPI issue with the kernel of the distro you are using. I 
> have used several machines with the latest, Jaunty?, release of Ubuntu which 
> did EXACTLY that. No big deal.
> 
> >  
> > 
> > I don't have a definite cutoff number, but at some kernel in time, the 
> > laptop began demanding me to type a key while booting/shutting down or it 
> > would just blatantly refuse to behave. 
> > 
> > I wrapped up the issue by booting Debian 5.0/lxde which was the only thing 
> > I 
> > could find to boot/shutdown consistently. 
> > 
> > As a byproduct, I have found that Debian has reached an usability that 
> > borderline matches *Ubuntu, and even thought it is still geeky, it has 
> > become a mom-and-pap Linux if that's what you want it to be.
> > Debian never ceases to amaze me...   :) 
> > 
> > And, then the question: What the Heck is going on here? 
> > 
> > 
> > Now the purpose of this post:
> > Annoying issue #2 -> Using "native" screen and external monitor with 
> > different resolutions.
> > This one has annoyed the bejesus out of me for years now.
> > Simple issue: the resolution of the laptop sucks.  I want a second monitor 
> > to expand it using the laptop screen AND an external monitor.
> > Impossible...
> > I believe I have tried every WEB page under the Sun to no avail.
> > I just CAN'T get the 2 *&%$ monitors to coexist at different resolutions... 
> >  
> > :( 
> > 
> > I pretty much gave this one up, but I am working off a little monitor 
> > attached to the laptop now (and no options) and I get butterflies in my 
> > stomach (and I hate Linux and the World for a second or 2) when I see the 
> > cover down and I realize how wonderful life would be if I could pop the 
> > %&!# 
> > thing open and USE IT! 
> > 
> > To summarize the REAL question of this post:
> > How do I attach a second monitor to this laptop and have both screens 
> > working at its own native resolution?
> > I gave it up...:(
> > ET 
> > 
> 
> I would suggest removing your /etc/X11/xorg.conf or where ever debian puts it 
> these days, and attempt to start X without the xorg.conf file. If X loads 
> okay and seems to have a decent, or normal, resolution in your case, try 
> running 'xrandr' and see if it recognizes your second monitor.
> Then assuming it does, and your internal LCD is LVDS and your external 
> monitor is called VGA-0 then you could try this command.
> 
> xrandr --output LVDS --mode 1024x768 --prefered --output VGA-0 --mode 
> 1280x1024 --right-of LVDS
> 
> It will likely fail telling you that the virtual screen you are trying to 
> create is TOO big. In which case you can then run 'X -configure' and move the 
> xorg.conf.new to /etc/X11/xorg.conf and then add a virtual line to the 
> xorg.conf file

Re: LVM extension into new space and partition edits

[Michael Butash]

I don't think you want to resize your pv partition, I'm not sure you can
resize it logically.  I have never had to try at least.  I'd recommend
making another partition slice, marking at 8e LVM type, add as a new pv
with pvcreate, add new pv to your existing vg with vgextend, do lvextend
to grow into the new block space added to the vg, and then use
resize_reiserfs /dev/vgname/lvname to online grow it.  This is how I've
added space on disk prior after the fact, and as far as I know done to
obviate the need to mess with the physical volume (hence reducing risk).

Looking for how to resize a pv, doesn't look promising...

http://www.google.com/search?q=resize+pv+partition&ie=UTF-8

Look down a few at the problems.  

-mb

On Mon, 2009-08-24 at 16:49 -0700, Alan Dayley wrote:
> I have lost the web page with the steps to do an extension of an LVM
> into unused disk space.  Let me explain my situation and ask my
> question.
> 
> I have a server with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.  It had two 250GB
> hard drives in a hardware RAID 1 mirror.  Working fine.  We needed
> more space, so here is what I did:
> 
> - Bought two identical model and recommended 1TB drives from Dell.
> (It's a Dell server.)
> - Using the RAID control interface, I took one 250GB drive offline.
> - Shutdown the server and removed the 250GB drive.
> - Installed one of the new 1TB drives in place of the 250GB drive just 
> removed.
> - Powered up the RAID controller BIOS interface and commanded a
> rebuild of the mirror from the remaining 250GB drive to the 1TB drive.
> - Booted the system and everything was working.
> - Shutdown the system and removed the second 250GB drive, replacing it
> with the other 1TB drive.
> - Again used the RAID controller BIOS interface to rebuild the mirror
> from the first 1TB drive to the second one.
> - Booted the system and all is working well!
> 
> Except...
> 
> Now the partition table of the mirrored 1TB drives still only has
> partitions to use up to the old 250GBs.  I need to:
> 
> 1 - Update the partition table to expand the last partition into the
> unused 750GB of space.  (parted?)
> 2 - Expand the one or more logical volumes into the new space (lvextend)
> 3 - Expand the file system(s) into the new space (resize2fs)
> 
> I plan to expand /dev/sda5 into the empty space.  It is the last
> partition defined and so the least risky to expand, in my mind.  Here
> is the fdisk output:
> 
> # fdisk -l
> 
> Disk /dev/sda: 248.9 GB, 248999051264 bytes
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30272 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
> 
>Device Boot  Start End  Blocks   Id  System
> /dev/sda1   1   7   56196   de  Dell Utility
> /dev/sda2   81052 8393962+  8e  Linux LVM
> /dev/sda3   *10531077  200812+  83  Linux
> /dev/sda41078   30272   234508837+   5  Extended
> /dev/sda51078   30272   234508806   8e  Linux LVM
> #
> 
> Question
> 
> I am extending into empty space on currently installed drives.  The
> instructions I can find online all seem to assume a new physical drive
> has been added and don't go into the partition issues on step 1 of my
> outline above.  All the utilities and commands that produce LVM
> information do not show the vast, unpartitioned space out there.  So,
> I assume step 1 is needed to open up the unallocated space into one of
> the partitions.
> 
> Am I on the right track, to use "parted" and expand the partition
> definition before expanding a logical volume?  Or am I missing
> something or making something more difficult?
> 
> Alan
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Re: LVM extension into new space and partition edits

[Michael Butash]

> 
> Or just fdisk the thing, expand the last partition and reboot.  No
> need to make things more complex than necessary.

That's the thing, I don't think that'll work.  The PV and subsequent VG and 
LVM's expect a certain format (I should think) to the blocks of data it will be 
occupying data on, but I could be mistaken.  Regardless, I think you'll have to 
prep the new, unused space in such a way it's acceptable to LVM to utilize.  I 
saw indication through some of those links that pvextend can do this, but I 
also saw a lot of problems around it.  Adding just another partition as a new 
PV to be added to the existing VG should prove safest to do.

Your best bet is to take the old mirror and maybe test in another offline box 
if possible.  You can probably reproduce the experiment quickly on a plain jane 
box as well.  I wouldn't be too hasty with toasting my data...

-mb

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Re: LVM extension into new space and partition edits

[Michael Butash]

Doh, sorry Matt - you know I didn't even see anything down below where
you quoted, my bad.  Yeah, I read that you can pvresize (what I'd meant
to say), but I was seeing some questionable result via some mail
threads.  I haven't done it myself to experience success or failure, as
I don't typically have contiguous space to reallocate like this.  I'm
curious the outcome if you want to try, but definitely something to test
on a disk, even a thumb drive typically suffices.

Adding another partition/pv shouldn't cause any overhead to add the rest
of the space to the vg, and that I can quote all day long as
successfully done.

-mb


On Mon, 2009-08-24 at 18:42 -0700, Matt Graham wrote:
> From: Michael Butash 
> >> Or just fdisk the thing, expand the last partition and reboot.  No
> >> need to make things more complex than necessary. 
> > That's the thing, I don't think that'll work.
> 
> Which is why I wrote (in the part you failed to quote):
> 
> ---
> Use fdisk to make it larger, reboot, then run pvresize
> on the PV, then run lvresize on the LV, then run resize2fs on the
> filesystem on the LV.
> ---
> 
> > The PV and subsequent VG and LVM's expect a certain format
> > to the blocks of data.  Regardless, I think you'll have to prep
> > the new, unused space in such a way it's acceptable to LVM
> 
> The man page for pvresize says that's what it does.  I don't even
> have pvextend on my system here.  Did you mean "vgextend"?  That's
> on a different layer of the LVM system, and is used for the other
> (more complicated) approach of making a new PV.
> 
> If you have a spare disk lying around, you can recreate this
> approach on that disk and see how it works.  A keychain drive
> should work fine.
> 
> > I wouldn't be too hasty with toasting my data...
> 
> The OP has a recent backup.  Right?  
> 

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ubuntu + bind slave = nutty

[Michael Butash]

I'm curious if anyone's seen anything nutty like this before...

So I'm migrating my dns instances between boxes when I noticed my
secondary dns server isn't starting bind anymore.  Primary still works
fine, no issues.  Debugging gets me this error:

u...@dns03:~$ sudo named -u bind -t /var/lib/bind -g
26-Aug-2009 21:01:33.568 starting BIND 9.5.0-P2 -u bind -t /var/lib/bind
-g
26-Aug-2009 21:01:33.569 found 1 CPU, using 1 worker thread
26-Aug-2009 21:01:33.575 loading configuration from
'/etc/bind/named.conf'
26-Aug-2009 21:01:33.575 none:0: open: /etc/bind/named.conf: file not
found
26-Aug-2009 21:01:33.587 net.c:80: unexpected error:
26-Aug-2009 21:01:33.587 socket() failed: Permission denied
26-Aug-2009 21:01:33.588 net.c:80: unexpected error:
26-Aug-2009 21:01:33.588 socket() failed: Permission denied
26-Aug-2009 21:01:33.588 loading configuration: file not found
26-Aug-2009 21:01:33.589 exiting (due to fatal error)

After futzing with this for several hours, I give up, clone the primary,
migrate the slave config files, and get it working again.  Happy it's
working, I reboot it, migrate the instance again, and I get the same
damn errors.  I can find _nothing_ related to an error like this
anywhere on google, and even strace-ing it shows me nothing other than
for some awful reason it now doesn't seem to think an ethernet interface
exists.  

Any ideas why a functional slave bind server would "lose" it's
capability of binding to an ethernet interface after a reboot?  As far
as I can tell, this is the only thing that seems to be holding it up.
This is the most frustrating and asinine thing I've seen ubuntu do in a
while, pretty much killing my entire day thus far...

I've checked apparmor, permissions (all files readable fine by user),
named.conf allowing "any" bind interfaces, and again, it was working
perfectly before a reboot.  This is entirely reproducible as well as
apparently I just flipping did.  Ugh.

I do know about djbdns and rdns being "better", I'd just rather not have
to waste a few days when bind has and does always suite my needs just
fine.  

-mb

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Re: ubuntu + bind slave = nutty

[Michael Butash]

Hi Lisa,

First they're only internal, so not worried about unusual hacking on
them.  Myself and the wife are the only users on the network.  No
changes what so ever across my chroot - I validated nothing got deleted,
though I didn't run CRC's since literally i just duplicated the vmdk to
another guest system.  Doing so, I actually cloned the disk, redid
hostname, hosts, and networking to rehost the server, got bind fully
functional, cloned again, and rebooted both instances.  Both failed in
exactly the same way.  This also happened to the original clone, after
setup, after a normal reboot of the guest

No weird config files showing up. 

RNDC worked prior to my reboots, I was using it to force a zone xfer to
test.

There's no forwarding, only recursion from my internal subnets only.

The file definitely exists, set 664 for appropriate user/group.  I gave
bind a shell and su'd to it and perused all the directories to make sure
I could read/write to the right portions of the fs.

As far as I know, bind should launch regardless if there's an RNDC key,
it's mostly for the external control of the daemon.  I remember having
it working at one point when the key was gone by mistake, and couldn't
rndc reload the zones.

It's really quite odd that I only have this issue with the slave, and
not the master.  I have the relevant slave directory where it creates
the xfer'd zones writeable, and relevant dev's only, but the rest is
entirely readable or owned by bind.  I spent some time messing with the
apparmor profile as they don't accommodate chroots by default, but can't
find anything else in strace that it's trying to reference and cannot.
It's fairly clean until the point it pukes about what the binary
stdout's anyways in non-forked.

I really had enough short of throwing the monitor out the window today,
so I'm going to pick up with it tomorrow and look at
purging/reinstalling the binaries to validate that, and might just
remove apparmor all together.  I have a sneaking suspicion it's doing
something it shouldn't.  This was working prior to my rebuilding them as
ibex servers vs. an old gutsy or even feisty, prior to apparmor
inclusion.  It's the only big thing I can see that might be screwing
with it.

Thanks for the input, I'll look at it some more from your perspective
and see what I can see in the morning.

-mb


On Wed, 2009-08-26 at 16:46 -0700, Lisa Kachold wrote:
> Hi Michael,
> 
> I have seen a good many hacked bind servers and various known things
> happen to them:
> 
> 1) something strange changes chroot?
> 2) configuration files mysterious appear with ALT255 ascii characters
> in front of localhost entries, etc.
> 3) rndc key permissions are opened so anyone can control the server,
> when not completely firewalled.
> 4) when recursion and forwarding are misconfigured, cache poisoning is
> rampant.
> 
> In any case YOUR bind error is describing FIRST inability to find the
> /etc/bind/named.conf file.  Does it exist?
> 
> Following bind to socket() issues is due to the failure to load a
> perfectly acceptable named.conf file that calls rndc key, etc. I
> believe?
> 
> But run a crc check against the binary, blow away the package and reinstall 
> it.
> 
> BE sure your configuration files (not using a db?) are intact...
> 
> On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 2:23 PM, Michael Butash wrote:
> > I'm curious if anyone's seen anything nutty like this before...
> >
> > So I'm migrating my dns instances between boxes when I noticed my
> > secondary dns server isn't starting bind anymore.  Primary still works
> > fine, no issues.  Debugging gets me this error:
> >
> > u...@dns03:~$ sudo named -u bind -t /var/lib/bind -g
> > 26-Aug-2009 21:01:33.568 starting BIND 9.5.0-P2 -u bind -t /var/lib/bind
> > -g
> > 26-Aug-2009 21:01:33.569 found 1 CPU, using 1 worker thread
> > 26-Aug-2009 21:01:33.575 loading configuration from
> > '/etc/bind/named.conf'
> > 26-Aug-2009 21:01:33.575 none:0: open: /etc/bind/named.conf: file not
> > found
> > 26-Aug-2009 21:01:33.587 net.c:80: unexpected error:
> > 26-Aug-2009 21:01:33.587 socket() failed: Permission denied
> > 26-Aug-2009 21:01:33.588 net.c:80: unexpected error:
> > 26-Aug-2009 21:01:33.588 socket() failed: Permission denied
> > 26-Aug-2009 21:01:33.588 loading configuration: file not found
> > 26-Aug-2009 21:01:33.589 exiting (due to fatal error)
> >
> > After futzing with this for several hours, I give up, clone the primary,
> > migrate the slave config files, and get it working again.  Happy it's
> > working, I reboot it, migrate the instance again, and I get the same
> > damn errors.  I can find _nothing_ related to an

Re: How to overcome a boot-up endless loop?

[Michael Butash]

Sounds like there's some kind of corruption in the bios causing apm/acpi
to freak out the kernel.  It seems like you're getting an unchecked
error that's causing the init to hang, probably because the hardware is
being weird.  Try clearing the cmos on the board if you can, or at least
remove the battery fully and see if it clears anything.  Maybe upgrade
the bios as well to see if it jumpstarts or repairs it.

If nothing else, try commenting out the line that uses it in the
rc.sysinit script, though if there are dependencies on it could get
hairy to do so.

-mb


On Thu, 2009-08-27 at 11:10 -0700, Josef Lowder wrote:
> > Recently, I found a way to put my IBM Thinkpad T40 running PCLinuxOS
> > to sleep rather than turning it off by using: apm -s
> >
> > This has worked well for a couple of months with instant restarts
> > whenever I opened the lid ... until yesterday. Something went amiss,
> > and when I tried to restart, I saw this repeating endlessly:
> >
> > /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit: line 1333: /bin/usleep: Input Output error
> >
> > So, I tried rebooting ... same thing ... and now I can't get the
> > system to boot at all.
> >
> > How can I recover from this?
> 
> Eric Shubert wrote:
> > Have you tried a hard power off?
> 
> Yes.
> 
> And I've tried booting Knoppix (which works fine) and going to the partition
> where /bin/usleep resides and saving it as usleepx and creating a temporary
> usleep that just contains "echo hello" to see if I could get around the 
> problem
> that way, but that did not work.
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RE: Time to Trade in My Blackberry

[Michael Butash]

I actually just scored a couple of Pre's from ebay and reprogrammed to
bring over to verizon.  In the process, I realized Verizon's data plans
are ridiculously over-priced compared to Sprint for their "everything
data family" plan (~$80 more than sprint for comparable plan), so now
I'm debating whether to reverse the changes and just transfer over to
sprint.  Either way, I'm pretty sold on the Pre regardless of carrier.

I rooted it, and installed ipkg repositories, and it's pretty much on
par with a decently equipped distro of packages and libraries you expect
to see on linux.  Best thing was it's the first phone I've had that I
could actually get to run with *enterprise* wireless security at my
house beyond just simple WPA-PSK, which was money right there.  The
homebrew app market is growing steadily, and I still have access to the
official Palm app store for their apps as well.  Tack on the wireless
charger via the Touchstone, and it's rather groovy.

All I can say is I can't wait to use it to replace my current dumb phone
or prior Windoze Moble pieces of crap.  Finally, a decent linux phone
for CDMA!

-mb


On Mon, 2009-08-31 at 15:02 -0700, Ryan Rix wrote:
> Bob Elzer wrote:
> 
> > By then maybe the 901 or 902, which will have even more capabilities for
> > you to look forward to.
> > 
> > And time to save money for the hopefully dropping price :)
> >  
> 
> But, but... I want my goodies now :) 
> 
> I really wanted to get a Palm Pre, because I'm a palm whore and it's a 
> beautiful device, but the thing was on Sprint, and the Simply Everything 
> plan should be renamed the Simply Ridiculously Expensive plan... I couldn't 
> afford it if I had two jobs :( I ended up with a Verizon feature phone.
> 
> Ryan
> 
> > 
> > -Original Message-
> > From: plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > [mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On Behalf Of Ryan
> > [Rix
> > Sent: Monday, August 31, 2009 2:45 PM
> > To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > Subject: RE: Time to Trade in My Blackberry
> > 
> > Fail :/ I'm a Verizon-slave for the next two years :(
> > 
> > Ryan
> > 
> > Bob Elzer wrote:
> > 
> >> Call features
> >> 
> >> * Integrated hands-free stereo speakers
> >> * Call waiting, call hold, call divert
> >> * Call timer
> >> * Logging of dialed, received and missed calls
> >> * Speed dialing via contact widget
> >> * Virbrating alert (internal)
> >> * Side volume keys
> >> * Mute/unmute
> >> * Contacts with images
> >> * Conference calling with up to 3 participants
> >> * Internet calling
> >> 
> >> Email & Messaging
> >> 
> >> * Supported protocols: Mail for Exchange, IMAP, POP3, SMTP
> >> * Support for email attachments
> >> * Support for rich HTML
> >> * SMS and Instant Messages as conversations
> >> * Support for Nokia Messaging service
> >> * Instant messaging and presence enhanced contacts
> >> * Multiple number, email and Instant Messaging details per
> >> contact, contacts with images
> >> * Support for assigning images to contacts
> >> 
> >> Web browsing
> >> 
> >> * Maemo browser powered by Mozilla technology
> >> * Adobe FlashT 9.4 support
> >> * Full screen browsing
> >> 
> >>  
> >> 
> >> -Original Message-
> >> From: plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> >> [mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On Behalf Of
> >> Ryan [Rix
> >> Sent: Monday, August 31, 2009 2:22 PM
> >> To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> >> Subject: Re: Time to Trade in My Blackberry
> >> 
> >> David Huerta wrote:
> >>> 
> >>> With ammo prices being what they are now, maybe a small box of .45mm?
> >>> 
> >>> As far as the phone's overall price though, that's likely to be
> >>> subsidized by a carrier's contract, which can sometimes knock off
> >>> most of the phone's MSRP.  Give away the razor, sell the blades...
> >>> 
> >> 
> >> Are iFoners afraid of razorblades? >_> Is this an actual -phone-? I
> >> got the impression that it was like a Palm Tungsten W with the 3G
> >> connection simply for data
> >> 
> >> --
> >> Ryan Rix
> >> (623)-826-0051
> >> 
> >> Fortune:
> >> Elbonics, n.:
> >> The actions of two people maneuvering for one armrest in a movie
> >> theatre.
> >> -- "Sniglets", Rich Hall & Friends
> >> 
> >> http://hackersramblings.wordpress.com | http://identi.ca/phrkonaleash
> >> XMPP: phrkonale...@gmail.com  | MSN: phrkonale...@yahoo.com
> >> AIM:  phrkonaleash| Yahoo: phrkonaleash
> >> IRC:  phrkon...@irc.freenode.net/#srcedit,#teensonlinux,#plugaz and
> >>   countless other FOSS channels.
> >> 
> >> 
> >> ---
> >> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> >> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> >> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> > 
> > --
> > Ryan Rix
> > (623)-826-0051
> > 
> > Fortu

Re: unlock keyring

[Michael Butash]

Lyle,

  I had the same issue, setting passwords in the "password and
encryption key" manager section.  By default it relies on your login,
once logged in, unlocks that user.  If you set a different password, the
system can no longer transparently pass those credentials to the
application requesting keyring access.  

  You're not going to be able to reverse/see the password on your
keyring, so best option would be to delete your existing keys and start
over.  If you delete your "my personal keys", log out, and log back in,
I think it'll rebuild them.  This should bind everything to your login
account credentials, which is what you'll want for a desktop os.
Anything else ends up being a PITA with Ubuntu.

  A more heavy handed approach would be to nuke the directory as Joseph
recommended, log out, and log back in.  I believe this is what I did
after futzing with it for far too long after being nagged incessantly to
authorize for wifi keys distribution.

-mb


On Sat, 2009-05-23 at 08:58 -0700, Lyle Tuttle wrote:
> OK, I installed ubuntu 9.04 as the only system on the computer.  (Did 
> this at the instalfest about a month ago...)
> 
> It fired up and worked great -- I installed a new wireless card, and 
> obtained wireless access at the instalfest no problem..got home, 
> and tried to log on to my home wireless...no joy.
> 
> I fiddled and screwed around, looked at docs, emailed some for help, 
> and finally, this morning got back to serious business trying to 
> 'fix' this thing.
> 
> I "think" I may have found the problem (don't ask my why, but it 
> seems the driver was not activated?  If that is so, how did I connect 
> at the installfest???), but now another one has blocked my access to 
> the wireless section -- during all this messing around, I must have 
> placed a password on the keyring..#$*&^%$ Passwords, anyway
> 
> Well, I've tried every password combination I can think of, no joy.
> 
> Is there any way to see what it should be, and then either remove it 
> or change it or WRITE IT DOWN for future use?
> 
> TIA
> 
> lyle
> 
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Re: Install 9.04, update disk

[Michael Butash]

Matthew,

  If you're doing a "live cd" install and graphics not working, the open
source "nv" driver for nvidia might not like the quadro, or not know
about it's pci id to load.  Try using the alternative desktop install
(assuming desktop here), vs. using the "live cd" to install - this is a
curses based install, and more forgiving for vesa mode graphic installs
on quirky video.

  If you still can't boot to a desktop afterwards, log in with failsafe
x (default, will nag you video is broken and to boot with that), or a
failsafe console if nothing else, get on the network, and download the
nvidia drivers from their site.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_ia32_180.51.html

  You'll need build-essentials and kernel headers for your system, use
"apt-get install linux-headers-'uname -a' build-essential".  Remove
restricted modules with "apt-get remove nvidia-kernel-common" to do away
with the oss driver.  Next, top GDM (/etc/init.d/gdm stop), run the
binary install with "sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-180.51.pkg1.run", and let it
install.

  I've not specifically worked with quadro cards, but I'm assuming its
inline with a typical nvidia card, and will be supported with the
proprietary drivers.  There's tons of how-to's about this out there,
just google "ubuntu nvidia drivers".  The oss ones are still pretty
crappy for getting any kind of glitz or direct rendering capability.

-mb


On Sun, 2009-05-24 at 08:23 -0700, Matthew A Coulliette wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> 
> I am trying to install Ubuntu 9.04 on another computer and it
> is giving me a lot of trouble.  The computer boots from the install
> cdrom like normal.  Then, I select install and it will start the process
> and then it will hang on me.  I have tried installing Debian; with
> Debian it did almost the whole install and then hung when it tried to
> install the graphics driver.
> 
> The computer has a Quadro FX 3000 graphics card.  I believe that this is
> the cause of my problems.  On the hello screen that is loaded from the
> installation disk there are F4 options.  I tried using "graphics safe
> mode" and it did not work.  I would like to try, "use driver update
> disk" next.  So, how do I make this disk for my graphics card and how do
> I use it for the installation process?
> 
> Thanks in advance for your replies. - MatthewMPP
> ---
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Re: DMZ with SME server.

[Michael Butash]

Nah, I worked for @home and cox before they implemented those filters,
and they proved absolutely essential to keep grandmas from spewing
uncontrolled spam/virii, people from perusing each others hoard of pr0n
via network neighborhood (calling us to complain none the less), and
various other good reasons I could tell support stories for days about.
Filters like these are quite necessary for a relatively computer
ignorant society as a whole.  Everyone else just gets swept into the
lowest common denominator of the masses.

I'm a proponent for letting willful candidates participate in the
compsci Darwin awards, but when windoze boxen exploits can be had for
less than the cost of a good steak (or simply for entertainment factor),
and their trusted OS vendor unable to properly secure it for them, it
keeps cox out of the hot seat as a service provider.  When infecting
hosts by the millions became a business, anything else is a liability
for carriers.  In this day and age, even simple port filtering isn't
enough, but it's mostly all they can do without being invasive to you or
me inadvertently.  Simply put, you can't trust the masses, or Microsoft,
to secure their own computers.  Thanks Microsoft.

It is annoying I can't host my own webserver, but probably better to
keep myself from horrifying people with my lack of color sense.
Cheaper/easier to host somewhere, and typically better uptime as well.
I hate this too, but anything else obscure I might want to play with, is
going to be open anyways.  IPsec vpn and ddns works great for me,
nullifies the whole open port thing. 

-mb


On Sun, 2009-05-24 at 14:59 -0700, Ryan Rix wrote:
> On Sun, May 24, 2009 at 2:56 PM, Ryan Rix  wrote:
> > http://support1.cox.com/sdccommon/asp/contentredirect.asp?sprt_cid=643ad749-1a58-4824-9d1c-8cd5579e132a
> 
> "Microsoft SQL Server is a database application with a long history of
> security exploits, and is noted for the propagation of the SQLslammer
> worm. These ports are filtered to prevent exploitation and propagation
> of such MS-SQL exploits."
> The rest of that article and its rationales is somewhat FUD. A
> bandwidth cap or so would be more affective at curbing such virii and
> upstream usage than a simple network block. It's all about charging
> users every last cent (for static IP, unclocked ports, business
> contracts, etc)
> 
> On an off note, I didn't know that they blocked port 25 EXCEPT for cox
> servers. What a load of sh*t. Sounds like we're all staying at some
> third rate hotel.
> 
> Ryan
> 

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Cox general speed issues

[Michael Butash]

Hi all,

  I'm curious, has anyone seen speed issues with cox lately or in about
the past 6 months in general?  I ask, because I have a completely
reproducible issue, where with ubuntu, doing an apt-get of any server,
on any mirror around the world, I get all downloads that start very
fast, and throttle down to nothing after a few seconds.  Restarting it
goes fast, then slows like clockwork, literally to kb/s or nothing.
Same behavior occurs with FTP protocol for the apt-get's as well.  P2P,
usenet, other bandwidth leeching methods work just fine, just anything
with static/single/long-term tcp flow connections seems to be affected.
I tried this from different modems on different regional nodes, and same
thing.  I'm thinking im not the only one with this, and feels a lot like
buffering/queuing (problems) in their network.

  A little birdy in the know told me this is could be a more rampant
issue due to updates in the cox cable network, but I'd like to have some
other consensus/input before making an issue of it.  Most windows users
I've talked to seem oblivious to it, but I figure I'd ask others that
might use linux the same way.  I don't use windoze enough to know.

-mb

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Re: Cox general speed issues

[Michael Butash]

Mark and Kenny, thanks!

It's definitely not a dns resolution issue, this is more the network.
Their "speed-boost" marketing is really just that - marketing, rather it
is inherent to them making the change to docsis 3.0 technology.

What I'd heard was that with the move to docsis 3.0, they're allocating
new rf spectrum for "wideband", "narrowband", and "legacy" channels.
Anyone not on a docsis 3.0 compatible modem goes back of the bus, which
I believe where 99.9% of us are at now, and see this apparent throttling
as part of this.  I was told to get a 3.0 compatible modem like the
motorola 6120 modems, and I'd then be pretty much in spectrum of my own
until modems became more readily available.

Now this is crappy as that means everyone is screwed until either they
fix this regression in legacy technology, or we all upgrade.  While I'm
sure Cox and Motorola would love this, I'd rather love to shove a foot
up their rear and have them fix their buggy docsis 3.0 code with Cisco
on their uBR's.  I'd recommend others do this too, but their general
monkey support won't be able to help outside pushing for management
intervention.

I just wanted to make sure it wasn't just some oddity that I run a cisco
firewalls/switches, or use linux on every box or vm I have.  I'm a freak
like that.  :)

-mb


On Mon, 2009-05-25 at 06:55 -0700, Mark Phillips wrote:
> This may have very little to do with what you are experiencing. I also
> ran into a sudden and sharp decrease in download speed from cox about
> a month ago. I called cox, and they said there were no problems on
> their side. After some further investigation on my own, I discovered
> that cox had changed the name servers. The old ones work, but were
> very slow, and would time out a lot. Once I updated my network
> configuration with the new name servers, the speed came back. I found
> this solution by plugging the cox cable directly into my computer
> (bypassing the router/network) and restarting networking with DHCP. My
> download speed "came back" and I noticed the name servers had
> changed. 
>  
> Mark
> 
> On Sun, May 24, 2009 at 10:56 PM, Kenny McHenry 
> wrote:
> Part of the fast speed and then the drop could be caused by
> their "speed boost". It gives you a fast burst of speed to
> start off a download but then slows down after that. I have
> noticed the same thing as well. expecially if i'm trying to
> apt-get during supposed "peak" times. you are not alone.
> 
> 
> On Sun, May 24, 2009 at 10:45 PM, Michael Butash
>  wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
>  I'm curious, has anyone seen speed issues with cox
> lately or in about
> the past 6 months in general?  I ask, because I have a
> completely
> reproducible issue, where with ubuntu, doing an
> apt-get of any server,
> on any mirror around the world, I get all downloads
> that start very
> fast, and throttle down to nothing after a few
> seconds.  Restarting it
> goes fast, then slows like clockwork, literally to
> kb/s or nothing.
> Same behavior occurs with FTP protocol for the
> apt-get's as well.  P2P,
> usenet, other bandwidth leeching methods work just
> fine, just anything
> with static/single/long-term tcp flow connections
> seems to be affected.
> I tried this from different modems on different
> regional nodes, and same
> thing.  I'm thinking im not the only one with this,
> and feels a lot like
> buffering/queuing (problems) in their network.
> 
>  A little birdy in the know told me this is could be a
> more rampant
> issue due to updates in the cox cable network, but I'd
> like to have some
> other consensus/input before making an issue of it.
>  Most windows users
> I've talked to seem oblivious to it, but I figure I'd
> ask others that
> might use linux the same way.  I don't use windoze
> enough to know.
> 
> -mb
> 
> ---

RE: Cox general speed issues

[Michael Butash]

  Bob, I'm a fairly heavy user, but they don't throttle in their network
(yet).  If you "abuse" the network, or show up in top talker reports per
market, they just shut you down.  They're not that smart yet.

  They do have Sandvine boxes in their network (the infamous scourge
comcast uses/used for killing p2p), but I've been told their in bypass
because of the general consumer backlash against other said isp's.  Cox
is still trying to figure out QoS, so it wouldn't surprise me they just
have something screwed up.

-mb


On Mon, 2009-05-25 at 11:20 -0700, Bob Elzer wrote:
> What kind of user are you ?  if you are a heavy user, they may be limiting
> you.
> 
> If you only occasionally download large files and they are limiting you,
> then you have a complaint.
> 
>  
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> [mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On Behalf Of Michael
> Butash
> Sent: Sunday, May 24, 2009 10:45 PM
> To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> Subject: Cox general speed issues
> 
> Hi all,
> 
>   I'm curious, has anyone seen speed issues with cox lately or in about the
> past 6 months in general?  I ask, because I have a completely reproducible
> issue, where with ubuntu, doing an apt-get of any server, on any mirror
> around the world, I get all downloads that start very fast, and throttle
> down to nothing after a few seconds.  Restarting it goes fast, then slows
> like clockwork, literally to kb/s or nothing.
> Same behavior occurs with FTP protocol for the apt-get's as well.  P2P,
> usenet, other bandwidth leeching methods work just fine, just anything with
> static/single/long-term tcp flow connections seems to be affected.
> I tried this from different modems on different regional nodes, and same
> thing.  I'm thinking im not the only one with this, and feels a lot like
> buffering/queuing (problems) in their network.
> 
>   A little birdy in the know told me this is could be a more rampant issue
> due to updates in the cox cable network, but I'd like to have some other
> consensus/input before making an issue of it.  Most windows users I've
> talked to seem oblivious to it, but I figure I'd ask others that might use
> linux the same way.  I don't use windoze enough to know.
> 
> -mb
> 
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Re: first Time DRBL

[Michael Butash]

I'd installed DRBL on my laptop's vm a while back as a cloning tool
(clonezilla, uses DRBL), which I found basically never worked in many
attempts to clone windows or linux.  Wouldn't surprise me if it was my
fault, but I could never find the secret sauce to get it properly
functional.  It always seemed to hang reading a disk somewhere in the
middle, after hours of trying, leaving anything unusable.

Just getting it working was a bit of a chore, as their setup scripts
assume certain stupid things like the server would multihome between a
private and a public (non-RFC1918, outside a firewall, ick) ip space, so
I had to modify some of the regexp's in the setup script to get it
working between 2 privately routable subnets.  I ran off of the
directions mostly on their site to get things going short of that quirk.
Caveat Emptor...

Aside from that, it did work pretty well for diskless booting machines
into various linux os's to install themselves.  I pxe booted a box and
installed ubuntu from it just fine.  I wanted to play more with the
thin-client functionality, but somewhat lost interest/purpose.  It took
a lot of guesswork out of setting up dhcpd, tftp, etc for remote booting
which was nice.

YMMV...

-mb


On Thu, 2009-05-28 at 10:12 -0700, Stephen wrote:
> Anyone here have any advice on setting up a DRBL server?
> 
> I have the obvious Walk through (http://drbl.sourceforge.net/one4all/)
> but any real world suggestions would be appreciated before i get
> going.
> 
> Thanks in advance
> 

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Re: Can Firefox be updated without affecting the rest of my system?

[Michael Butash]

Per Jason's suggestion, you can just download and run straight from your
home directory without any issues.  I did this on ubuntu because there
are no .deb's for newer alpha versions, and I wanted to play with it.
Download, untar, and off it went - great way to use without affecting
your base install.  Another option might be to look for backports for
your distribution someone might have purpose built, or roll yer own
package.

All builds of firefox (that I know) will still default and look for your
preference folder under your home directory, so it'll pop up with all
your settings and *compatible* plugins.  I mention the plugins because
few/none of the current generation of extensions work with newer alphas,
so I lost use of those temporarily using the new build (3.5), but
bookmarks, cache, cookies, etc all integrate well enough in a temporary
folder blob o' files.

-mb


On Fri, 2009-05-29 at 18:14 -0700, Ryan Rix wrote:
> On Fri, May 29, 2009 at 6:11 PM, Josef Lowder 
> wrote:
> I just don't understand how separate Firefox is from the rest
> of the
> operating system
> and how risky it might be to try updating Firefox.  Could that
> be done
> with zero risk
> to any disruption of my operating system?
> 
> 
> FireFox can be upgraded without such worries. It's not really
> integrated into anything kernel-wise etc. If you had XUL applications
> on your system (MediaCoder for example) there is a small possibility
> they would break.
> 
> -- 
> Thanks and best regards,
> Ryan Rix
> TamsPalm - The PalmOS Blog
> (623)-239-1103 <-- Grand Central, baby!
> 
> Jasmine Bowden - Class of 2009, Marc Rasmussen - Class of 2008, Erica
> Sheffey - Class of 2009, Rest in peace.
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Re: OT: BING!

[Michael Butash]

I got a kick out of reading this today:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/01/bing_hits_uk/

Apparently the best thing about bing! is the fact the index and present
internet porn quite nicely.  Steve Ballmer must be quite proud of their
lackluster google wannabe, at least he knows what people want.

-mb
 

On Mon, 2009-06-01 at 08:48 -0700, Gerald Thurman wrote:
> >From AllThingsD.com:  Just like GNU is not Unix... Bing is not
> Google?
> 
> On Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 8:40 AM, James Finstrom
>  wrote:
> Hey All,
> 
> I wanted to be a good unbiased party and try out bing. I tried
> really hard to find something I liked and well I either didn't
> try hard enough or maybe I am just not skilled enough to make
> it do it's magic. Anyhow I just thought I would share my
> opinion on Microsoft's new "google Killer." It sort of reminds
> me of those cable vs satellite commercials where the marketing
> folks are around the table and they say I know we will just
> play the volume louder and that will make it better...
> Basically Microsoft's approach is to "out google" google.
> When you do a search you see sponsored text based ads on the
> top and right then your results. Over all I was un-impressed
> if I want to use something "like google" I will simply use
> google. 
> 
> James Finstrom
> 
> 
> 
> 
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(Update) Cox general speed issues

[Michael Butash]

  So I finally got tired of dealing with this speed degradation issue
plaguing me since ubuntu hardy, and decided to put some work in on
figuring out what the issue was, and I think I have.  Since this issue
seems apparent in literally anyone I've tried using Ubuntu on a Cox
network (and some of you substantiated), I think this probably would
apply to most of you on this list.  I suspect the problem isn't limited
only to ubuntu, but don't have other distro's to test with.  Anyways...

  The primary issue was downloads, primarily apt updates in ubuntu, and
other random large http downloads would suffer an extreme speed drop
within seconds of starting.  Literally going from 400-500kb/s to bytes
(snail time).  Easily tested using cli 'sudo apt-get -d install
linux-image-2.6.27-14-generic' or any other big .deb file.  If it starts
fast and slows to a halt, read on.

  I first suspected Cox, but ruled this out trying even a new docsis 3.0
modem with no benefit.  Once I'd ruled out the ISP, I began testing my
internal network and my computer.  Ultimately I then began tweaking with
sysctl's, adding in some network performance items I typically throw
into webservers and such.  I found that tcp window scaling seems to be
the root of the evil.  Disabing it resolved the issue:

sudo sh -c "echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_window_scaling = 0' >> /etc/sysctl.conf" 
sudo sysctl -p

  Instantly I'm getting a solid 400kb/s of transfer on my apt's again,
as I'd expect.

  I'm going to begin looking into more why that seems to be an issue
either as a general problem with the ubuntu sysctl config issue, a linux
tcp stack issue, or something funky with cox that works against RFC1323.
I've seen this issue on 3 separate pc's (and switch/firewalls with them)
myself at different houses around the valley, so I know I'm not the only
one with this issue.  I just don't know how far the rabbit hole goes.
I'd like to know if this fixes anyone else seeing the same issues.  Let
me know your results please!

wtf is this sysctl for or rfc1323?
http://ipsysctl-tutorial.frozentux.net/chunkyhtml/tcpvariables.html#AEN505

-mb

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RE: my router hates me

[Michael Butash]

Bob is right, you don't need a radius server to run WPA/WPA2.  Most of
your generic run o' the mill routers do PSK, preshare keys as other
members have stated.  This is fine for most any consumer.  This is
documented typically as WPA[2]-PSK.  If you have you ask what radius is,
you don't need it.  Try and go with WPA2-PSK (with aes specifically)
where possible, so long as your nic supports it.

I love ubuntu, but their wireless capability tends to be crap before
8.10.  You also tend to have issues with the kind of adapter, hardware
crypto methods are dependent on the hardware supporting it.  Older
and/or cheap wifi nics tend to have a lot of particular driver issues,
especially usb ones.  I have an old ppc imac running ubuntu810 that
can't do over wep because of its ancient aircard, despite the supplicant
(wicd,networkmanager) supporting it, but offers no errors to tell you
this.  You just beat your head against a wall for half a day until you
realize your own futility.  Moral of the story, make sure yours does.

Prior to ubuntu810, i simply used scripts launching wpa_supplicant for
most non-PSK authentication methods (leap,peap), and typically even
sometimes psk because networkmanager was really quite wack prior.  The
newest networkmanager under 8.10 is mostly pretty solid, finally giving
me windoze-like guiness for simplifying my wireless even in enterprise
networks.  I can help with calling wpa_supplicant direct if you _have_
to, but if you don't like or are used to using a command-line, it's not
much of an option.

So I ask these:

1) What kind of nic are you using?  Use commands like "lsusb" or "lsmod
| grep mac" tend to be helpful.  Even the sticker on the box sometimes.
I can probably tell you if it's a pos, or should work, as research will
as well.  Doing enterprise wireless, ive had to try just about every
method on a ton of different wifi nic over the years to know what works
and what doesn't.

2) I saw prior you getting a 68.x.x.x address on your workstation - you
have your router connected incorrectly if so.  Only your "outside" or
"wan" ports should have anything not 192.168.0.0/16 or 10.0.0.0/8
addresses.  You should connect up your cable modem to the wan, and your
hosts on the other ports.  Most generic routers will hand you a
192.168.1.x/24 address, yours should as well on the lan or wireless.

3) I don't use wicd, but the results will be the same regardless.  When
you try to connect, on the command line type "iwconfig wlan0" and note
the result.  You should see most notably the ESSID as your SSID:

wlan0 IEEE 802.11abgn  ESSID:"your_essid"

If it does not, wicd isn't talking correctly to your nic.

4) Does yours specifically say WPA2 or WPA, also if mentions tkip or
aes?  These are quite relevant, and again, some nics doesn't support
combinations thereof. 

I highly recommend moving to ubuntu 8.10 (or higher) and using native
network manager over wicd.  I think so long as your nic isn't wack/old,
you'll find it just works now.  If not for upgrading, look at getting a
backport of networkmanger 7.0 from hardy-backports and try it (google
it).  Also consider getting another nic, I try to use intel's
exclusively, as they ultimately have better/best support for various
encryption and authentication standards, especially for enterprise.
Intel contributes source code as well, unlike broadcom or other random
chinese chipsets of the week.

-mb


On Sat, 2009-06-13 at 15:43 -0700, Bob Elzer wrote:
> I have a D-Link DI624, I am running WPA2 with AES and PSK.
> 
> And I don't have a radius server.
> 
> It works fine.
> 
>  
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> [mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On Behalf Of Craig
> White
> Sent: Saturday, June 13, 2009 1:29 PM
> To: Main PLUG discussion list
> Subject: Re: my router hates me
> 
> On Sat, 2009-06-13 at 13:14 -0700, Robert Holtzman wrote:
> > On Fri, 12 Jun 2009, kitepi...@kitepilot.com wrote:
> > 
> > > BTW...
> > > You seem to have the router configured for WPA.
> > > WPA won't work without some serious tinkering and some other 
> > > resources, like servers and all sort of ugly stuff.
> > > That may be the source of your problem.
> > > Turn it off.
> > 
> > I haven't seen this mentioned in all the not inconsiderable reading 
> > I've done. The only reference I've seen to having to run a server is 
> > in connection with WPA/WPA2 and the AES algorithm where there has to 
> > be a RADIUS server involved. I'm running WPA with the TKIP algorithm.
> > 
> > If I'm wrong could you clarify or point me to a source? I ran across 
> > this at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb877996.aspx
> > 
> > "For environments without a RADIUS infrastructure, WPA supports the 
> > use of a preshared key. For environments with a RADIUS infrastructure, 
> > WPA supports EAP and RADIUS."
> > 
> > Forgive the source (M$).
> > 
> > As I mentioned in a previous po

RE: recommend serial-to-usb adapter?

[Michael Butash]

I haven't hit a random off-brand usb to serial adapter in years that
linux *didn't* recognize and *just work*.  I prefer the $22 dollar dual
usb serial adapter you can get from frys, as I'm typically deploying
network hardware in mass and need multiple at a time.  I have an 8 port
brick usb-to-serial I sniped off ebay cheap as well that is just plug
and play too.  For the most part, they all seem to use the same Prolific
(no pun intended) chipset, or some variant thereof.

Long story short, I think you're probably safe - as stated, the drivers
are very robust these days.

-mb


>  Original Message 
> Subject: Re: recommend serial-to-usb adapter?
> From: Alan Dayley 
> Date: Wed, January 26, 2011 12:57 pm
> To: Main PLUG discussion list 
> 
> 
> The Linux drivers for USB-to-serial converters are pretty robust now
> days.  I have seen ones from Tripplite and others work well.
> 
> Take care with your connection parameters, however.  If you use
> software flow control (a.k.a. Xon-Xoff) and baud rate above 19.2K you
> will have issues with long data streams.  It is as if the flow control
> is not fast enough through the driver layers and bytes will drop.
> This happens with a USB-to-serial converter on Windows, Linux or OSX.
> 
> A way around it is to use correcting protocols like kermit for long
> transfers, if your target supports such.
> 
> Alan
> 
> On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 12:43 PM, Joseph King  wrote:
> > Which brand did you try? I use a Keyspan converter, and although I haven't
> > tried it directly from my Ubuntu VM, it works great with OS X...
> >
> > In Your Service,
> >
> > Joseph King
> > http://www.linkedin.com/in/joking
> > http://www.joking.net
> > http://joking611.wordpress.com/
> >
> > -Original Message-
> > From: plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > [mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On Behalf Of Steven
> > A. DuChene
> > Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2011 12:02 PM
> > To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > Subject: recommend serial-to-usb adapter?
> >
> > I have a embedded ECU that I have to program and I have been doing it with
> > an older laptop that still has a serial port. I would like to use one of my
> > newer laptops but the last time I tried buying a serial-to-usb convertor at
> > Frys Electronics I ended up with one that I just could not get to function
> > in Linux. Can anyone recommend a brand or model to me and possibly a place
> > that stocks such a thing? If it was local I would have better chance of
> > returning it if it did not work.
> >
> > Thanks in advance.
> > --
> > Steven DuChene
> >
> >
> > ---
> > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> >
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Re: Setting Up Bind9 Test

[Michael Butash]

Make sure you're listening on the right interface (not just 127.0.0.1) 
and you allow-query any as well as recursion.


options {
directory "/var/cache/bind";
pid-file "/var/run/bind/run/named.pid";
statistics-file "/var/run/named.stats";
auth-nxdomain no;# conform to RFC1035
// listen-on-v6 { any; };
listen-on port 53 { any; };
allow-recursion { 10.0.0.0/8; };
allow-query { any; };
allow-query-cache { any; };
};

-mb


On 08/14/2011 10:27 AM, David Demland wrote:

I am trying to set up a DNS poisoning test as an example for my class. I
have setup both an Ubuntu 6.10 and 10.10 server. When I use my Backtrack
system to check the DNS server I get a message “This server is not
replying to recursive requests”. I have added “allow-recursion { any;
};” to my configuration file. Yet the Backtrack system still fails. What
do I have to do to allow on the DNS server for the Backtrack system to
do the recursive request?

Thank you for your help,

David



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Re: Setting Up Bind9 Test

[Michael Butash]

What version of named?  Maybe different versions...

user@idns01:~$ named -v
BIND 9.4.2-P2.1

Did rndc give any reply?  Do you get *any* response from the server 
querying it?


Usually /var/log/daemon will give you some kind of growling if it's not 
allowing you to query, see how clean it loads:


Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: starting BIND 9.4.2-P2.1 -u bind
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: found 2 CPUs, using 2 worker threads
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: loading configuration from 
'/etc/bind/named.conf'
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: listening on IPv4 interface lo, 
127.0.0.1#53
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: listening on IPv4 interface eth0, 
10.xx.xx.y#53
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: automatic empty zone: 
254.169.IN-ADDR.ARPA
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: automatic empty zone: 
2.0.192.IN-ADDR.ARPA
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: automatic empty zone: 
255.255.255.255.IN-ADDR.ARPA
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: command channel listening on 
127.0.0.1#953

Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: zone 0.in-addr.arpa/IN: loaded serial 1
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: zone 127.in-addr.arpa/IN: loaded 
serial 1
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: zone 255.in-addr.arpa/IN: loaded 
serial 1

Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: zone localhost/IN: loaded serial 1
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: running

Check using "sudo netstat -anp | grep named" that it's actually 
*running* right:


user@idns01:~$ sudo netstat -anp | grep named
tcp0  0 10.xx.xx.y:53 0.0.0.0:*   LISTEN 
 4763/named
tcp0  0 127.0.0.1:530.0.0.0:* 
LISTEN  4763/named
tcp0  0 127.0.0.1:953   0.0.0.0:* 
LISTEN  4763/named
udp0  0 10.xx.xx.y:53 0.0.0.0:* 
  4763/named
udp0  0 127.0.0.1:530.0.0.0:* 
4763/named


Should at least get response for localhost:

user@idns01:~$ host 127.0.0.1 10.xx.xx.y
Using domain server:
Name: 10.xx.xx.y
Address: 10.xx.xx.y#53
Aliases:

1.0.0.127.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer localhost.

You'll know it works when:

user@idns01:~$ host yahoo.com 10.xx.xx.y
Using domain server:
Name: 10.xx.xx.y
Address: 10.xx.xx.y#53
Aliases:

yahoo.com has address 209.191.122.70
yahoo.com has address 67.195.160.76
yahoo.com has address 69.147.125.65
yahoo.com has address 72.30.2.43
yahoo.com has address 98.137.149.56


If still nada, launch named with "-d 10" flag adding to named daemon 
launch options, modifying the init script or default options files for 
respective distro.


Should shed some light on it, otherwise there's tons of docs a google away.

HTH


On 08/14/2011 07:52 PM, David Demland wrote:

Lisa and Michael,

Thank you for your input. I did not think about the rndc so I reloaded
just for the heck of it. Yet I am still not getting Metasploit to show
the recursive call working. Here is the named.conf.options file:

options {

 directory "/var/cache/bind";

 dump-file "/var/cache/bind/data/cache_dump.db";

 statistics-file "/var/cache/bind/data/named_stats.txt";

 recursion yes;

 auth-nxdomain no;# conform to RFC1035

 allow-recursion { any; };

 allow-query { any; };

 //  allow-query-cache { any; };

 listen-on port 53 { any; };

};

I was unable to get the allow-query-cache line to load, I am not sure
what I did wrong.

I did find the same pages and I have been through them, but I do not see
what I am missing. What else am I missing?

Thank You,

David

P.S.

Lisa – thank you so much for yesterday. You have really given my class a
lot to talk about. I am looking forward to class this week with them to
see what else is said.

*From:*plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
[mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] *On Behalf Of
*Lisa Kachold
*Sent:* Sunday, August 14, 2011 4:48 PM
*To:* Main PLUG discussion list
*Subject:* Re: Setting Up Bind9 Test

Hi David!

Nice to see you on Saturday!

Bind9 can be fussy (rndc controls everything).

You ARE changing the right item to turn recursion on.
http://www.eukhost.com/forums/f15/turning-off-dns-recursion-bind-2283/

But you can also do this in a Bind9 ACL using the "Views" feature:
http://www.bind9.net/manual/bind/9.3.1/Bv9ARM.ch07.html
http://oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/networking/news/views_0501.html

Are you restarting named after a change? "/etc/init.d/named restart"
If you have rndc are you reloading? "rdnc reload"

Do you have logging turned on, so you can see what is happening?
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BIND9ServerHowto

Are you editing the right file? There's a chroot? "locate named.conf"

On Sun, Aug 14, 2011 at 10:27 AM, David Demland mailto:deml...@cox.net>> wrote:

I am trying to set up a DNS poisoning test as an example for my class. I
have setup both an Ubuntu 6.10 and 10.10 server.

Re: Setting Up Bind9 Test

[Michael Butash]

Ok, firewall involved blocking outbound dns queries?  Something upstream 
blocking dns queries?


Quick test is resolve against 68.2.16.30 (cox's dns server I think is 
still open) or any general dns server outside.  Make sure you can 
actually perform a dns looking outside (allow tcp/udp port 53 traffic to 
dst of *).  Unless you have a managed firewall with anal security, 
typically cheap little bugger firewalls won't block this by default.


Other than that, all I can say is send me all your named.conf files 
offlist and I can try and load it up on one of my working systems to see 
what's up with that.


I'm grasping at straws now unless your version is just plain broken...

-mb


On 08/14/2011 08:53 PM, David Demland wrote:

Michael,

It is version 9.3.2 because that is the version I found on the internet that
allowed for the DNS poison example to work. The rndc status shows there are
6/1000 recursive clients, but other than that everything is 0. The host
command shows very similar to your examples, which is what I expected. I
have added the -d 10 to the options, yet I see nothing in the log files.
What is the next step?

Thank You,

David

-Original Message-
From: plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
[mailto:plug-discuss-boun...@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On Behalf Of Michael
Butash
Sent: Sunday, August 14, 2011 8:18 PM
To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
Subject: Re: Setting Up Bind9 Test

What version of named?  Maybe different versions...

user@idns01:~$ named -v
BIND 9.4.2-P2.1

Did rndc give any reply?  Do you get *any* response from the server
querying it?

Usually /var/log/daemon will give you some kind of growling if it's not
allowing you to query, see how clean it loads:

Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: starting BIND 9.4.2-P2.1 -u bind
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: found 2 CPUs, using 2 worker threads
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: loading configuration from
'/etc/bind/named.conf'
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: listening on IPv4 interface lo,
127.0.0.1#53
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: listening on IPv4 interface eth0,
10.xx.xx.y#53
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: automatic empty zone:
254.169.IN-ADDR.ARPA
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: automatic empty zone:
2.0.192.IN-ADDR.ARPA
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: automatic empty zone:
255.255.255.255.IN-ADDR.ARPA
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: command channel listening on
127.0.0.1#953
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: zone 0.in-addr.arpa/IN: loaded serial 1
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: zone 127.in-addr.arpa/IN: loaded
serial 1
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: zone 255.in-addr.arpa/IN: loaded
serial 1
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: zone localhost/IN: loaded serial 1
Aug 14 20:03:32 idns01 named[17031]: running

Check using "sudo netstat -anp | grep named" that it's actually
*running* right:

user@idns01:~$ sudo netstat -anp | grep named
tcp0  0 10.xx.xx.y:53 0.0.0.0:*   LISTEN
   4763/named
tcp0  0 127.0.0.1:530.0.0.0:*
LISTEN  4763/named
tcp0  0 127.0.0.1:953   0.0.0.0:*
LISTEN  4763/named
udp0  0 10.xx.xx.y:53 0.0.0.0:*
4763/named
udp0  0 127.0.0.1:530.0.0.0:*
  4763/named

Should at least get response for localhost:

user@idns01:~$ host 127.0.0.1 10.xx.xx.y
Using domain server:
Name: 10.xx.xx.y
Address: 10.xx.xx.y#53
Aliases:

1.0.0.127.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer localhost.

You'll know it works when:

user@idns01:~$ host yahoo.com 10.xx.xx.y
Using domain server:
Name: 10.xx.xx.y
Address: 10.xx.xx.y#53
Aliases:

yahoo.com has address 209.191.122.70
yahoo.com has address 67.195.160.76
yahoo.com has address 69.147.125.65
yahoo.com has address 72.30.2.43
yahoo.com has address 98.137.149.56


If still nada, launch named with "-d 10" flag adding to named daemon
launch options, modifying the init script or default options files for
respective distro.

Should shed some light on it, otherwise there's tons of docs a google away.

HTH


On 08/14/2011 07:52 PM, David Demland wrote:

Lisa and Michael,

Thank you for your input. I did not think about the rndc so I reloaded
just for the heck of it. Yet I am still not getting Metasploit to show
the recursive call working. Here is the named.conf.options file:

options {

  directory "/var/cache/bind";

  dump-file "/var/cache/bind/data/cache_dump.db";

  statistics-file "/var/cache/bind/data/named_stats.txt";

  recursion yes;

  auth-nxdomain no;# conform to RFC1035

  allow-recursion { any; };

  allow-query { any; };

  //  allow-query-cache { any; };

  listen-on port 53 { any; };

};

I was unable to get the allow-

Re: This worked Friday

[Michael Butash]

Looks like gconf got horked up somehow - did the system crash or have 
unstable shutdown with ext4?  Orbit corba engine isn't accepting unix 
socket connections, meaning part of gnome is broken.  Unfortunately I've 
had things like this happen several times when the file system gets 
partially corrupted, usually meaning you need it to rebuild gconf for 
gnome user environment.  Try a new user profile so it creates anew, and 
I'll bet it works ok.  Make sure to fsck the file system first too.


I *think* the .gconf directory will rebuild if moved, but I don't 
remember exactly what I did last time.  Either I removed the user and 
readded it to rebuild the gconf databases, moving my other data back in 
(painful) or I figured out how to trigger a rebuild, but I really don't 
remember now unfortunately.  Either way you more or less need to rebuild 
your profile data.


If someone has found a more graceful way of accomplishing this, I'd be 
all ears...




I used to use exclusively reiserfs for a good 6-7yr because it was uber 
stable for me, and only once had an issue like this due to nasty crash 
in laptop.  I've thus begun using ext4 since he had to go and off his 
wife, but I've had tons of file system corruption issues in the few 
years now I've used it.  Granted I'm always using some/all of md raid, 
luks, ssd's, and lvm2 *with* ext4, but it seems rather... touchy. 
Anyone else get this somewhat regularly?




-mb

On 08/21/2011 09:52 AM, Dazed_75 wrote:

I am sitting at the same machine I was at Friday when I did and ssh -X
fogtest and usd gedit to edit these same files on that machine.  Here is
what happened today (or most of it before it seemed to be looping and I
ctrl-C's out.  Any ideas why it worked two days ago and earlier, but not
now?

larry@triggerfish:~$ ssh -X fogtest
Linux fogtest 2.6.32-33-generic-pae #72-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jul 29 22:06:29
UTC 2011 i686 GNU/Linux
Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS

Welcome to Ubuntu!
  * Documentation: https://help.ubuntu.com/

Last login: Sun Aug 21 09:26:28 2011 from triggerfish
larry@fogtest:~$ cd /tftpboot/howtogeek/menus/
larry@fogtest:/tftpboot/howtogeek/menus$ gksu gedit linux.cfg
GConf Error: Failed to contact configuration server; some possible
causes are that you need to enable TCP/IP networking for ORBit, or you
have stale NFS locks due to a system crash. See
http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/ for information. (Details -  1: Failed
to get connection to session: Failed to connect to socket
/tmp/dbus-sHNvbSgsiU: Connection refused)
GConf Error: Failed to contact configuration server; some possible
causes are that you need to enable TCP/IP networking for ORBit, or you
have stale NFS locks due to a system crash. See
http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/ for information. (Details -  1: Failed
to get connection to session: Failed to connect to socket
/tmp/dbus-pavx6iF905: Connection refused)
GConf Error: Failed to contact configuration server; some possible
causes are that you need to enable TCP/IP networking for ORBit, or you
have stale NFS locks due to a system crash. See
http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/ for information. (Details -  1: Failed
to get connection to session: Failed to connect to socket
/tmp/dbus-CNddZFneJ7: Connection refused)
GConf Error: Failed to contact configuration server; some possible
causes are that you need to enable TCP/IP networking for ORBit, or you
have stale NFS locks due to a system crash. See
http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/ for information. (Details -  1: Failed
to get connection to session: Failed to connect to socket
/tmp/dbus-0lSHvTkIZ9: Connection refused)

(gksu:10992): GConf-CRITICAL **: gconf_value_free: assertion `value !=
NULL' failed

--
Dazed_75 a.k.a. Larry

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain
occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive.
   - Thomas Jefferson


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Re: This worked Friday

[Michael Butash]

May have been the update, but I've not ever had any kind of update 
process blow apart gconf, only random fs errors typically.  It could 
have been a bug introduced, but I would say unlikely.  I've not taken 
the time to learn the in's and out's of gconf to manually fix the 
matter, rather sticking with the brutish rebuild profile/start-over 
approach.  The atrocity called Natty has taught me to disable automatic 
updates in ubuntu now so no unwanted/unstable packages creep in.


I always layer at least LVM on top of the raw partitions, and sometimes 
lvm on top luks, on top md raid.  I expect I'm the only one anal enough 
to do this for using linux native on my work laptop (hence crypto) and 
thus the fs corruption only manifests with limited users like me.  New 
fedora builds use lvm by default now, I'll be curious to see if my pains 
go more mainstream now.


-mb


On 08/21/2011 11:53 AM, Dazed_75 wrote:



On Sun, Aug 21, 2011 at 11:05 AM, Michael Butash mailto:mich...@butash.net>> wrote:

Looks like gconf got horked up somehow - did the system crash or
have unstable shutdown with ext4?


No crash or ungraceful shutdown,

Orbit corba engine isn't accepting unix socket connections, meaning
part of gnome is broken.  Unfortunately I've had things like this
happen several times when the file system gets partially corrupted,
usually meaning you need it to rebuild gconf for gnome user
environment.  Try a new user profile so it creates anew, and I'll
bet it works ok.  Make sure to fsck the file system first too.


I have not tried this yet but I have to leave for some time, so later is
more likely.


I *think* the .gconf directory will rebuild if moved, but I don't
remember exactly what I did last time.  Either I removed the user
and readded it to rebuild the gconf databases, moving my other data
back in (painful) or I figured out how to trigger a rebuild, but I
really don't remember now


Could it have been update-gconf-defaults?

unfortunately.  Either way you more or less need to rebuild your
profile data.

If someone has found a more graceful way of accomplishing this, I'd
be all ears...



I used to use exclusively reiserfs for a good 6-7yr because it was
uber stable for me, and only once had an issue like this due to
nasty crash in laptop.  I've thus begun using ext4 since he had to
go and off his wife, but I've had tons of file system corruption
issues in the few years now I've used it.  Granted I'm always using
some/all of md raid, luks, ssd's, and lvm2 *with* ext4, but it seems
rather... touchy. Anyone else get this somewhat regularly?


Nope.  I've been using ext4 on maybe 6 machines since shortly after it
became the Ubuntu default and have seen no problems whatsoever (keeping
my extremities crossed must help).




-mb


On 08/21/2011 09:52 AM, Dazed_75 wrote:

I am sitting at the same machine I was at Friday when I did and
ssh -X
fogtest and usd gedit to edit these same files on that machine.
  Here is
what happened today (or most of it before it seemed to be
looping and I
ctrl-C's out.  Any ideas why it worked two days ago and earlier,
but not
now?

larry@triggerfish:~$ ssh -X fogtest
Linux fogtest 2.6.32-33-generic-pae #72-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jul 29
22:06:29
UTC 2011 i686 GNU/Linux
Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS

Welcome to Ubuntu!
  * Documentation: https://help.ubuntu.com/

Last login: Sun Aug 21 09:26:28 2011 from triggerfish
larry@fogtest:~$ cd /tftpboot/howtogeek/menus/
larry@fogtest:/tftpboot/__howtogeek/menus$ gksu gedit linux.cfg
GConf Error: Failed to contact configuration server; some possible
causes are that you need to enable TCP/IP networking for ORBit,
or you
have stale NFS locks due to a system crash. See
http://projects.gnome.org/__gconf/
<http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/> for information. (Details -
  1: Failed
to get connection to session: Failed to connect to socket
/tmp/dbus-sHNvbSgsiU: Connection refused)
GConf Error: Failed to contact configuration server; some possible
causes are that you need to enable TCP/IP networking for ORBit,
or you
have stale NFS locks due to a system crash. See
http://projects.gnome.org/__gconf/
<http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/> for information. (Details -
  1: Failed
to get connection to session: Failed to connect to socket
/tmp/dbus-pavx6iF905: Connection refused)
GConf Error: Failed to contact configuration server; some possible
causes are that you need to enable TCP/IP networking for ORBit,
or you
have stale NFS loc

Re: Linux on a T520

[Michael Butash]

Check out thinkwiki:  http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki

Dell is usually about the best for linux compatibility, but ibm's tend 
to be good, at least before lenovo borg'd them


Problem is typically with laptops quirky bios/acpi functions that don't 
allow it to sleep, hibernate, or shutdown right.  Just google around 
seeing if anyone else has issues, otherwise game on.


I bought a new hp elitebook recently as I needed some beefy proc and ram 
for vm's (can do 16g w/4 dimm slots), but it's horrible bios and 
firmwares do not allow sleeping or anything right, even shutdown half 
the time.  HP still takes the approach "no one uses linux so screw it". 
 They're fat and happy collecting microsoft taxes - never again will I 
buy from them.


-mb


On 08/26/2011 01:48 AM, KevinO wrote:

On 08/25/2011 08:42 PM, Joe zagar wrote:

I have a 520 64 bit, Intel i7, Windows 7 pro, running Ubuntu under Virtual Box
and everything works fine.


Thank you for the data point.


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Re: Linux on a T520

[Michael Butash]

Thing that companies like HP don't get - I *am* the enterprise and data 
center market.  If I had these problems on a $300 frys special, I'd just 
rack it up to experience.  This laptop has a retail price of $4200 
dollars as an "enterprise class elitebook" (acquired via ebay at less 
than a quarter of that :)), so I damn well expect the features to work, 
or that customer complaints would sway them to fix it.  But no.


My current employer is an HP shop, which problems like this that "they 
can't even get a damn laptop right" makes me want to start deprecating 
them in favor of whatever.  Cisco UCS is starting to make inroads in our 
shop due to HP having stupid server problems (firmware, much like my 
laptop), and I for one am glad, ready with a hammer and nail for HP's 
coffin if nothing more than spite.


Sadly, I loved WebOS, at least in functionality - I switches to Sprint 
specifically to get a Pre on launch after Verizon refused to let me 
legally provision it on their network (I modified the radio firmware 
already to work).  After a combination of Sprint's crappy service and 
time-after-time frustrating bugs in WebOS, I moved on begrudgingly to 
Android back on Verizon and never looked back.  I was looking forward to 
Palm eventually getting it right and trying Pre/WebOS again, but once HP 
bought them, I knew it was done.  Seems now I was right.


HP simply needs to die already - never again for personal, or where I 
have say in my Enterprise.


-mb


On 09/03/2011 09:09 AM, Eric Shubert wrote:

On 08/26/2011 07:11 AM, Michael Butash wrote:

HP still takes the approach "no one uses linux so screw it". They're
fat and happy collecting microsoft taxes - never again will I buy from
them.


Which has led them to getting out of the consumer market. HP will be
focusing on enterprise and datacenter type customers. Should be no
surprise.


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Re: splashtop os

[Michael Butash]

I had a few Asus devices that made uses of Splashtop, or tried to...

First was a "nettop" device, an eeeBox pc that I bought to make into a 
portable linux server and network management/monitoring/discovery 
appliance I used in consulting.  It was pure linux OOB, but I wanted to 
try to at least check out Splashtop as the bios kept nagging me about 
it, but said I had to install it.  Only way to install it was to install 
windoze and do it from there...  fail.


Looking at their site:

Version v1.0.5.2 Installs via Windows (size: 2MB)

Am I the only one it really annoys when linux wannabe vendors just 
"assume" you still use a native boot of windoze?


That's like selling a Ferrari that requires a Yugo to drag it around... 
 ugh.  I'll just take Lamborghini Ubuntu without the Yugo, thanks.


-mb


On 09/03/2011 02:26 PM, Joseph Sinclair wrote:

I don't mind the tagline, I hate that you have to run Windows in order to 
install it, there's no means to install from Linux.
I can't support any Linux-based system that requires a separate, proprietary, 
and very broken, system as part of it's design. That's like getting a Ferrari 
that requires you to tow a Yugo around with it as a push-start cart and is not 
compatible with anything better.

On 09/03/2011 11:13 AM, Andrew Harris wrote:

I hate the tagline "Quicker Queries".

On Sat, Sep 3, 2011 at 10:27 AM, Eric Shubert  wrote:

http://www.splashtop.com/os

This is based on linux.

Opinions?

--
-Eric 'shubes'

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Re: Windows 8 Spells Trouble for Linux, Hackintosh Users and Malware Victims

[Michael Butash]

Same deal as "secure" bootloaders on android phones that have been all 
the rage with vendors the past few years - it'll only boot a signed 
*approved* kernel.  I don't see how oem's will cope with this, unless 
they "pre-load" a cert from any/all vendors, lock the cert store with 
their own means, and everyone else is then screwed.  RH more or less 
enforces *their* kernels now, so they'll be happy, but I doubt any other 
linux vendor like Canonical will be.  Obviously the consumers, 
especially those that like to roll their own kernels, will not.


This was done in cell space largely at the request of the cellco's to 
*control* their hardware against esn manipulation and to sell them as 
platforms for the media cartels to hock music on (drm).  Since drm has 
all but become a 4-letter word of late, they've started shipping with 
unlocked bootloaders, or have implemented ways to unlock them remotely 
at the cost of voiding warranties (win/win for them).  It will be 
interesting to see how the oem's like dell, hp, and cisco that sell a 
lot of servers where windoze server is often NOT a default option anymore...


-mb


On 09/28/2011 10:03 AM, Tom Ostlund wrote:

This has the smell of proprietary hardware all over it again

I would agree that they would turn it off or flash the thing either way
many tech support jobs just got job security :-)



On 09/28/2011 09:58 AM, Eric Shubert wrote:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/enterprise/2011/09/windows-8-spells-trouble-for-l.php



I would think that users could simply turn off secure booting in the EFI
(bios) in order to run whatever they like (except perhaps Win8). No?


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Re: Windows 8 Spells Trouble for Linux, Hackintosh Users and Malware Victims

[Michael Butash]

I doubt it.  I've dealt with a few boards (intel oem servers) that 
supported both bios or efi, but it's not exactly normal to find server 
or other.  I was surprised when I bought a sandy bridge asus board and 
it booted a full pseudo mouse-driven environment via efi for bios 
control - probably an embedded linux system probably much larger and 
complex to store on a dumb bios prom.  Was kinda nifty, but the board 
would have to know how to hook either bios or efi means, and being 
*secure* usually means your options are dictated, right or wrong.


Unless oem's revolt against microsoft and say no.

Microsoft is still the 3000lb gorilla in the room, but oem's simply 
cannot ignore the sale of linux servers to lock out such a large sales 
base.  Linux is far too embedded now.  What I see is microsoft wants to 
reclaim the desktop market, controlling *consumer* hardware and leaving 
linux for "servers".  And themselves, of course.


All it means is it will be more difficult for linux desktop users as 
oem's and vendors suck microsoft for discounts, and some will simply 
remove the option/expense as they don't care about the linux market
(ahem, hp).  Dell I think will remain agnostic and support both, but who 
knows who else will from oem space.  There will be blood.


Then there's vmware/citrix that makes a ton off linux and windoze both, 
but ultimately use linux as the base.  They'll have something to say on 
the matter before it's done.  Linux of course can adapt to make use of 
it as well.  In theory, secure boot is not a "bad" thing, especially 
with a world full of lemming users out there, it just needs done in a 
sane, open manor that can still be technically secured.


Console game systems have all long proven being crackable beyond any 
best effort, that no hardware level security is infallible...  It'll 
just piss people off - ask sony about what happened when they took away 
otheros option on the ps3 unexpectedly.  There will be a middle ground 
one way or another.


-mb



On 09/29/2011 04:14 PM, James Mcphee wrote:

Used to deal with junk like this on the thinkpads, where you couldn't
add anything but approved hardware.  It was simple enough to simply
overwrite their whitelist.  Is there anything to prevent us from simply
flashing the BIOS?

On Thu, Sep 29, 2011 at 6:57 AM, Michael Butash mailto:mich...@butash.net>> wrote:

Same deal as "secure" bootloaders on android phones that have been
all the rage with vendors the past few years - it'll only boot a
signed *approved* kernel.  I don't see how oem's will cope with
this, unless they "pre-load" a cert from any/all vendors, lock the
cert store with their own means, and everyone else is then screwed.
  RH more or less enforces *their* kernels now, so they'll be happy,
but I doubt any other linux vendor like Canonical will be.
  Obviously the consumers, especially those that like to roll their
own kernels, will not.

This was done in cell space largely at the request of the cellco's
to *control* their hardware against esn manipulation and to sell
them as platforms for the media cartels to hock music on (drm).
  Since drm has all but become a 4-letter word of late, they've
started shipping with unlocked bootloaders, or have implemented ways
to unlock them remotely at the cost of voiding warranties (win/win
for them).  It will be interesting to see how the oem's like dell,
hp, and cisco that sell a lot of servers where windoze server is
often NOT a default option anymore...

-mb



On 09/28/2011 10:03 AM, Tom Ostlund wrote:

This has the smell of proprietary hardware all over it again

I would agree that they would turn it off or flash the thing
either way
many tech support jobs just got job security :-)



On 09/28/2011 09:58 AM, Eric Shubert wrote:


http://www.readwriteweb.com/__enterprise/2011/09/windows-8-__spells-trouble-for-l.php

<http://www.readwriteweb.com/enterprise/2011/09/windows-8-spells-trouble-for-l.php>



I would think that users could simply turn off secure
booting in the EFI
(bios) in order to run whatever they like (except perhaps
Win8). No?

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