[SLUG] Fw: new message

[James Purser]

Hello!

 

New message, please read <http://jest-rostov.ru/sense.php?i3i>

 

James Purser

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[SLUG] JOB | Permanent MySQL DBA (Tokyo, Hong Kong, London)

[James Tobin]

Hello, I'm working with an employer that is looking to hire a
permanent MySQL database administrator for their Tokyo, Hong Kong and
London offices.  Consequently I had hoped that some members of this
mailing list may like to discuss with me further; off-list.  I can be
reached using "JamesBTobin (at) Gmail (dot) Com". Kind regards, James
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[SLUG] Fw: new message

[james]

Hello!

 

New message, please read 

 

ja...@jamespurser.com.au

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[SLUG] Fw: new message

[james]

Hello!

 

New message, please read 

 

ja...@jamespurser.com.au

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Re: [SLUG] Website

[James Linder]

> On 3 Oct 2015, at 10:00 am, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:
> 
> 
> Not a great advertisement for Linux in Sydney :(
> 
> Whoever is looking after the website, isn't. Does SLUG need a new website 
> sponsor? or is the organisation passed it's use by date? T'would be a pity 
> indeed.
> 
> David
> 
> On 13/09/15 17:18, Rick Phillips wrote:
>> I agree with you Heracles.  In fact not one of the menu items (on the top of 
>> the page) works.
>> 
>> Most pages simple tell the world that nginx is being used as the web server.
>> 
>> A bit sad really.
>> 
>> Regards,
>> 
>> Rick
>> 
>> 
>> On 09/09/15 23:12, Heracles wrote:
>>> I must congratulate the webmaster for turning an easy to navigate site into 
>>> a nightmare. I know my system is a bit dated. (I am using Debian 8 with 
>>> enlightenment e17 as a desktop.)
>>> I used to find it easy to navigate the SLUG Site, now I cant get past the 
>>> front page - which is worse than useless!
>>> 
>>> Heracles

No opinion about any local hosters but I’ve been using bluehost 
(http://bluehost.com) for a couple of years. At US$4/month I find their 
offering superb. On request (once) they provide ssh access which CLI junkies 
like moi find invaluable. They run CentOS 
James
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Re: [SLUG] Locale settings in Debian

[James Gray]

You haven't set up your keyboard with a European mapping by any chance? If
so, this might solve the problem for you:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration

Also, you might want to try launching from the command line and for a
specific locale and see if it fixes anything:

LANG=en_AU.utf8 google-chrome

If that fixes it, then also check your locale settings in your environment
(window manager et al).

HTH.

-- 
James
(Apologies for any funky formatting; Gmail web interface is totally wigging
out on me this afternoon!)

On 15 September 2015 at 13:53, Heracles  wrote:

> Maybe I need to ask this on the Debian list BUT:
> I have set my system to Australian English and it insists on converting
> everything in Google Chrome to euros! How do I change it to display
> Australian Dollars?
>
> Heracles
>
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Re: [SLUG] Wiki suggestions?

[James Gray]

I wouldn't describe Confluence as a true wiki any more. They ripped out the
Wiki syntax for editing  while ago.  The wiki syntax is still supported for
creating documents via API.  Confluence is probably best described as an
"Documentation Collaboration" product now. Don't get me wrong; it's still
bloody good at what it does but it isn't a wiki in the strictest sense. If
having the ability to edit plain text offline and be able to dump it into
Confluence and have it formatted nicely, then Confluence isn't the best
option (things may have changed and happy to be corrected here!).

I've always just ended up with MediaWIKI (
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki) but there are simpler options
obviously.

Good luck with your hunt :)

-- 
James

On 14 September 2015 at 18:22, Jonathan Molyneux <
jonat...@infinitedepth.com.au> wrote:

> Confluence is a good start for a wiki:
>
> https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence/pricing?_mid=206e3e3a242fb80ba4d7ba972f52c657&gclid=CIbO5Y-M9scCFYkrvQodRNoAOw#server
>
> Doesn't cost heaps and it's a solid wiki.
>
>
> On 11/09/2015 11:21 AM, DaZZa wrote:
>
>> Learned ones,.
>>
>> I'm looking for a Wiki to setup for the company to make available to
>> contractors semi-private documents
>>
>> I don't mind if I have to pay a little for it, but open source would
>> be most excellent.
>>
>> So, I'm looking for suggestions for some form of Wiki.
>>
>> I'd like
>>
>> 1) Secure - two levels of access (view/edit)
>> 2) Lightweight
>> 3) Linux (obviously, 'cause f**k paying Microsoft tax where I don't have
>> to)
>>
>> It'd be nice if I could integrate it with AD (or at least LDAP query
>> for usernames/passwords), but that's not critical.
>>
>> It'd also be nice if I could put some kind of skin or theme on it
>> customised by the marketing nazi's to make it look all company-ie.
>>
>> Any suggestions?
>>
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> DaZZa
>>
>
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Re: [SLUG] Website

[James Gray]

Is "deterioration" a kinder way of saying "neglect"? ;)

Well, we *can *moan and criticise, but can anyone step up and give ye olde
web page a shot in the arm? I'll bow up now as I am NOT a UI person. Hell,
anything much beyond to command line is far to fancy for my taste! Just
interested what the SLUG process is for getting the community engaged -
this is obviously something we've noticed, and don't like, so how can we
change it?

-- 
James

On 14 September 2015 at 06:31, Amos Shapira  wrote:

> I agree the site doesn't give a great shot of confidence in Linux as a web
> server, it doesn't render any page to completion for me.
>
> There is a link to "See the code" which points to
> https://github.com/sydney-linux-user-group/slug/commits/master, where the
> last commit happened over three years ago (29 May 2012), so perhaps it's
> just a case of deterioration more than active change.
>
> --Amos
>
> On 9 September 2015 at 23:12, Heracles  wrote:
>
> > I must congratulate the webmaster for turning an easy to navigate site
> > into a nightmare. I know my system is a bit dated. (I am using Debian 8
> > with enlightenment e17 as a desktop.)
> > I used to find it easy to navigate the SLUG Site, now I cant get past the
> > front page - which is worse than useless!
> >
> > Heracles
> >
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> > Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
> >
>
>
>
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[SLUG] Wiki suggestions? (DaZZa)

[James Linder]

I'm looking for a Wiki to setup for the company to make available to
> contractors semi-private documents
> 
> I don't mind if I have to pay a little for it, but open source would
> be most excellent.
> 
> So, I'm looking for suggestions for some form of Wiki.
> 
> I'd like
> 
> 1) Secure - two levels of access (view/edit)
> 2) Lightweight
> 3) Linux (obviously, 'cause f**k paying Microsoft tax where I don't have to)
> 
> It'd be nice if I could integrate it with AD (or at least LDAP query
> for usernames/passwords), but that's not critical.
> 
> It'd also be nice if I could put some kind of skin or theme on it
> customised by the marketing nazi's to make it look all company-ie.

What colour car is best?

I find mediawiki easy to use, to maintain and my 5 min of fiddling painted it 
in a form that pleased me
http://tigger.ws/wiki/index.php5?title=Main_Page

James
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Re: [SLUG] the curious case of the inaccessible websites

[James Gray]

> On 8 Jun 2015, at 2:10 pm, david  wrote:
> 
> I have a "business ethernet" internet connection from a TPG reseller.
> 
> Suddenly some external websites or partial websites are inaccessible from 
> local clients. I haven't yet figured out a pattern, but it looks like 
> javascript or some such is holding up the webpage download. The browser is 
> waiting for a script or css or something not immediately obvious. I get the 
> same problem with different browsers.

—>8— snipped

> For example, http://www.trivago.com.au waits indefinitely for jse.trivago.com 
> and never loads, although I can telnet to port 80. BTW, lynx works fine - 
> which makes me more suspicious that it's CSS or some such.

FWIW, you can test the jse.trivago.com request by manually requesting (from 
Safari on OS X): 
http://jse.trivago.com/osp/v9_05_4ae/pricesearch/js/common.es5.ltr.ec.js

It’s just a big JS library for hunting prices down.  I had some fun messing 
round with the local copy, so some prices for $1000+/night hotels came up as 
“FREE!”…would be fun getting them to price match that :)

—>8— snipped again…

As for the weird connectivity, I know TPG for a long time ran transparent 
proxies without really making it widely known.  I’ve seen similar behaviour to 
that which you describe when my local Squid cache get’s it’s panties in a 
bunch.  “squid -k restart” usually does the trick.  However, before rattling 
TPG’s cage, maybe try flushing the browser cache and see if the problems 
persist.

Good luck.

-- 
James

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Re: [SLUG] the curious case of the inaccessible websites

[James Gray]

> On 8 Jun 2015, at 5:13 pm, DaZZa  wrote:
> 
> What browser?
> 
> Recently,  Chrome (and possibly Firefox) decided that all java pugins (and
> others like Silverlight) were "unsecured", and the simply stopped allowing
> the plugins to work.
> 
> Broke countless business-related Web sites - I had a storm of them,  all
> being blamed on "the firewall", or "the network".
> 
> I can't find the reference articles I dug up at the time as I'm mobile,
> but try a different browser and see if that helps.
> 
> DaZZa

Amos beat me to the chase, and I think he’s on the money.  Chrome is phasing 
our NPAPI plugins (Java, Flash and a bunch of others) and I understand Firefox 
is going the same way too, albeit on a slightly different schedule:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPAPI

I got bitten on the arse with Java in Chrome (thanks Oracle, IBM and other 
dinosaurs…you suck!) so I still have to fire up Firefox until they too drop 
support, then I’m royally screwed.  We have a very finite mix of browsers and 
Java versions that work with our “enterprise” data warehouse - Java 6u45 and 
that’s it.  Yep, one version works, all others fail in subtle and/or 
spectacular ways at different points. Yay.

Good luck.

-- 
James





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Re: [SLUG] 5th Gen i3

[James Linder]

> On 25 May 2015, at 10:00 am, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:
> 
>> 
>> On 24 May 2015, at 12:43 pm, Michael McAllister  
>> wrote:
>> 
>> Hello,
>> 
>> I have a D34010WYKH as my daily driver - I'm running Arch Linux and have no 
>> issues whatsoever (but my kernel is 4.0.1-1 - thanks for reminding me to 
>> update!)
>> 
>> I'm happy to provide any info at all you need (version of packages, kernel 
>> modules etc), but I'd say it all comes down to your kernel.
>> 
>> You could always move to Arch ;-)
>> 
>> From: slug-boun...@slug.org.au  on behalf of James 
>> Linder 
>> Sent: Sunday, 24 May 2015 11:29 AM
>> To: slug@slug.org.au
>> Subject: [SLUG] 5th Gen i3
>> 
>> Hi
>> I’m using 14.04 on a 5th i3 NUC.
>> In the last 3 days I’ve had 3 crashes, at least 1 I could ssh and reboot the 
>> other 2 I could NOT ssh in.
>> I am using USB3 connectors as that is all the NUC exposes. 14.04 is a 3.16 
>> kernel the USB3 issues are not fixed ‘till 3.19. The graphics drivers were 
>> released by intel 17 March so not in 14.04 but vesa seems to work OK.
>> 
>> At the mo I cannot use 15.04 (I can get it to boot n run) but the sensoray 
>> V4L drivers are B&W not colour. I need the sensoray V4L.
>> 
>> I’m trying to work out if my hardware is at fault or Broadwell+IRIS+14.04 is 
>> at fault.
>> Any comments welcome
> 
> Hi Michael
> 
> just to be pedantic your NUC is a 4th gen. My 4th gen works perfectly, just 
> the 5th Gen  :-(

And the latest ….53 kernel seems to work fine. …24 … …52 did not display at all 
ie blank screen

James
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Re: [SLUG] 5th Gen i3

[James Linder]

> On 24 May 2015, at 12:43 pm, Michael McAllister  
> wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I have a D34010WYKH as my daily driver - I'm running Arch Linux and have no 
> issues whatsoever (but my kernel is 4.0.1-1 - thanks for reminding me to 
> update!)
> 
> I'm happy to provide any info at all you need (version of packages, kernel 
> modules etc), but I'd say it all comes down to your kernel.
> 
> You could always move to Arch ;-)
> ____
> From: slug-boun...@slug.org.au  on behalf of James 
> Linder 
> Sent: Sunday, 24 May 2015 11:29 AM
> To: slug@slug.org.au
> Subject: [SLUG] 5th Gen i3
> 
> Hi
> I’m using 14.04 on a 5th i3 NUC.
> In the last 3 days I’ve had 3 crashes, at least 1 I could ssh and reboot the 
> other 2 I could NOT ssh in.
> I am using USB3 connectors as that is all the NUC exposes. 14.04 is a 3.16 
> kernel the USB3 issues are not fixed ‘till 3.19. The graphics drivers were 
> released by intel 17 March so not in 14.04 but vesa seems to work OK.
> 
> At the mo I cannot use 15.04 (I can get it to boot n run) but the sensoray 
> V4L drivers are B&W not colour. I need the sensoray V4L.
> 
> I’m trying to work out if my hardware is at fault or Broadwell+IRIS+14.04 is 
> at fault.
> Any comments welcome

Hi Michael

just to be pedantic your NUC is a 4th gen. My 4th gen works perfectly, just the 
5th Gen  :-(

James
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[SLUG] 5th Gen i3

[James Linder]

Hi
I’m using 14.04 on a 5th i3 NUC.
In the last 3 days I’ve had 3 crashes, at least 1 I could ssh and reboot the 
other 2 I could NOT ssh in.
I am using USB3 connectors as that is all the NUC exposes. 14.04 is a 3.16 
kernel the USB3 issues are not fixed ‘till 3.19. The graphics drivers were 
released by intel 17 March so not in 14.04 but vesa seems to work OK.

At the mo I cannot use 15.04 (I can get it to boot n run) but the sensoray V4L 
drivers are B&W not colour. I need the sensoray V4L.

I’m trying to work out if my hardware is at fault or Broadwell+IRIS+14.04 is at 
fault.
Any comments welcome

James
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Re: [SLUG] slug Digest, Vol 112, Issue 3

[James Linder]

> On 24 May 2015, at 10:00 am, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:
> 
> I was asked to help with 'no space on startup disk' issue, only to discover 
> it's a Mac, I have no experience with Mac,
> 
> df showed 100% utilization on built in 500gb hard drive, 
> I've transferred some user data to external drive, now have 97% 
> 
> What's a minimum hard disk free space one should maintain on a Mac?

Just the same as ordinary unix boxen (typically 20%)

> 
> This runs OSX 10 7 5,  to upgrade to Yosemite, is it just 'click and watch'? 
> How much free space should I make before attempting upgrade?
> 
> Are there any good housekeeping utilities to use, going through some apps, 
> I've found a photo app with over 1 gb of deleted photos.
> (something like ccleaner ?) Any hard disk area to check for junk, like temp 
> in windoze?
> 
> Thanks for any pointers

Even though apple are SHontTs and the scum of the earth to wit they DO make 
nice hardware and some nice SW.

Timemachine is easy to use, (much much nicer than anything we’ve got). DO a 
timemachine backup before *anything*.
WD make a USB (and USB powered) 1T ‘Passport’ $89 JB HiFi

I’ve not measured but my opinion is that you need 25% free. If you told me 50% 
i’d not argue.

If (click n watch fails)
Install Yosemite -> use timemachine 
Will install yosemite and restore your machine (almost) exactly as it was. 
Mail, passwords, you *may* need to enter the license key for some stuff eg MS 
Word

Once you have a TM backup you can slash-n-burn to get 50% free, upgrade, 
restore.

You can easily install to an external drive eg my mac mini runs on a 2G WD 
Passport and has another as timemachine (oh the 500G internal disk? sorta 
ignored). I cannot notice any degradation (but unix does do that LRU cache)

James
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Re: [SLUG] OT: Mac OSX upgrade and general housekeeping

[James Gray]

> On 23 May 2015, at 12:53 pm, Voytek  wrote:
> 
> I was asked to help with 'no space on startup disk' issue, only to discover 
> it's a Mac, I have no experience with Mac,
> 
> df showed 100% utilization on built in 500gb hard drive, 
> I've transferred some user data to external drive, now have 97% 

Common problem is when people turn on Time Machine, then for whatever reason 
don’t connect the external drive to the system for a lounge time.  OS X will 
create a whole bunch of offline backups waiting for the next time the time 
machine volume is available.  Here’s a good starting point: 
https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT204015

> What's a minimum hard disk free space one should maintain on a Mac?

I generally use a 10% rule-of-thumb regardless of the OS.  Maybe a little more 
if you have logs and temporary data on the same volume as your startup drive.  
In Linux, I usually keep “/“ and  “/boot” away from “/var” for instance, in 
which case I can comfortably maintain 10% or even less free as the data is 
mostly static. 

> This runs OSX 10 7 5,  to upgrade to Yosemite, is it just 'click and watch'? 
> How much free space should I make before attempting upgrade?

Not sure about inline upgrades from 10.7 straight to 10.10.  You can always go 
to the app store, download 10.10 the run the bootable media creation utility:
sudo "/Applications/Install OS X 
Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia”

sage: createinstallmedia --volume  --applicationpath 
 [--force]

Arguments--volume, A path to a volume that can be unmounted and erased to 
create the install media.
--applicationpath, A path to copy of the OS installer application to create the 
bootable media from.
--nointeraction, Erase the disk pointed to by volume without prompting for 
confirmation.

Example: createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath 
"/Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app"

> Are there any good housekeeping utilities to use, going through some apps, 
> I've found a photo app with over 1 g of deleted photos.
> (something like ccleaner ?) Any hard disk area to check for junk, like temp 
> in windoze?

There’s a few around, but I found, generally speaking, OS X does a pretty good 
job of looking after itself.  Certain applications can be big disk hogs though 
- iPhoto, iMovie and iTunes spring to mind.  They generally have their own 
“deleted stuff” which if you don’t clear out in the application itself won’t be 
released when you empty the normal “Trash” on OS X.

Having said all that, “Disk Inventory X” is a GPL tool that will show you where 
all the space has gone: http://www.derlien.com - check it out, it works well.  
As for getting rid of stuff remember OS X is a fully-fledged Unix so most of 
the familiar command line tools are available in a terminal :)

> Thanks for any pointers

No worries - hope it helps :)

Cheers,

James

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Re: [SLUG] Processing Error

[James Gray]

> On 11 Mar 2015, at 4:53 pm, William Bennett  wrote:
> 
> The command was
> 
> latex root.tex
> 
> The error message was
> 
> ! Font TS1/cmr/m/n/12=tcrm1200 at 12.0pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file
> not found.
> 
> Presumably, I'm missing a font.
> 
> Can anyone suggest a remedy, please?

Not sure if this helps, but there’s a bug in mismatch that you may be hitting:
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=738386

Good luck!

James

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Re: [SLUG] Question on lithium ion batteries.

[James Linder]

> On 24 Jan 2015, at 9:00 am, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:
> 
> So, having absorbed, from my friends,  the dangers of partially recharging
> a  lithium-ion battery due to “memory”, I read the insert that came with
> the new laptop battery:  –
> 
> “Recharging a partially charged lithium-ion does not cause harm because
> there is no memory. Short battery life is mainly caused by heat rather than
> charge/discharge patterns.”

Terry Pratchett: He does know Big Words after all he is a dealer …

Battery Technology is VERY complex, so either you become a guru or you believe 
the manufacturer.

lithium-ion is complex enough that I cannot believe that a manufacturer would 
make a charger that does not do the right thing. (lithium-ion-phosphate may 
NEVER be flattened, so even more complex)

The only severe rule for mortals is to never charge A sort batteries with a B 
sort charger the consequences are fire and explosion.

I opine that you may use the laptop permenantly 'on charge’ yet I have seen a 
disportionate number of dead laptop
batteries contradicting what I say above.

General Rule #1: Every time you flattern a battery you use up a percentage of 
it’s life.

The ideal charger would keep the batteries at 99% charged allowing you to 
always charge (not 100% because the 100% level is temperature dependant and you 
don’t want to go to 101% because the day warmed or cooled)
So if you have bought a system with a lessor charger you will buy batteries, 
the more you play the better the battery life, but like death and taxes dead 
battries.

James

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Re: [SLUG] wireless headsets

[James Gray]

> On 1 Dec 2014, at 4:41 pm, David  wrote:
> 
> I foolishly bought an expensive ($150) Corsair headset, only to find that 
> there is fine print under the box that says it only works on windows. The 
> shop has agreed to change it, but insist that I make sure that what they get 
> in the right thing. Fair enough.
> 
> 
> Any suggestions? The forums aren't helpful so far.
> 
> requirements:
> 
> * works on linux
> * high quality sound
> * wireless (either dongle or bluetooth)
> * preferably but not necessarily with microphone

I use a Sennheiser set of headphones (RS 120 II) on my home theatre.  Cost 
about $200.  Digital audio between base and headphones so nice and clear.  Only 
needs an analogue input so will work basically anything with line out or 
headphone out.  The base doubles as a stand and charging station too so, nice 
and tidy.  Range is about 100m line of site and 20m through plaster walls.  
Obviously no microphone.

I’ve heard good reports about some of the Logitech bluetooth wireless headsets 
but not sure if they work with Linux specifically - for example: 
http://www.logitech.com/en-au/product/8452 - however they aren’t “over” ear, 
just “on” ear.

They are “HFP 1.5” (Hands Free Portable bluetooth profile), so “should” work.  
Usual disclaimer apply.

HTH,

James



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Re: [SLUG] Weird behaviour of Intel Nuc's

[James Linder]

> On 18 Nov 2014, at 9:00 am, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:
> 
>>>> The install wasn't really the problem (once I got a version of Linux
>>>> and the BIOS updated) - just cloning it.
>>>> 
>>>> I think it came down to the UEFI stuff not liking being cloned.
>>> 
>>> I have dd’d A disk in and out succesfully but even 2 samsung 120G
>>> flash disks are not identical and dd did not work.
>>> 
>>> The whole EFI business is tricky, try lots to get a solution or don’t
>>> be innovative. The EFI scheme is not the same across motherboards
>>> - my iMac, ASUS and NUCs all are different and need different care. caveat 
>>> emptor.
>> The dd worked fine - I could pull one storage device out, plug the
>> other one in, and it booted no worries - it was just when I moved them
>> between different NUC's (identical spec, down to BIOS version) that it
>> failed.
>> 
>> I was being lazy and trying to save myself doing another install - I
>> ended up costing myself double the time it would have taken to install
>> again in the first place.
>> 
>> I have to admit, this is the first time I've come across a UEFI
>> enabled device - live and learn.
>> 
>> DaZZa
> I wonder what would happen if you did some kind of a diff between the 
> installs.

I speculate that identical installs are identical and the devil of the detail 
is in the efi partition and the boot setup.
When you re-install the efi partition is NOT recreated and for me a reinstall 
usually fails. Being too clever for words I made a new partition, but that too 
failed. dd /dev/zero was my friend (in case somebody who did not get the hint 
reads this: dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=1M) whereupon all is sweet.
I have managed to move a disk from 1 NUC to another and have it work. I’ve also 
failed doing this. I speculate that during boot the machine writes to the efi 
partition, that WHAT it writes allows/disallows another machine to use THIS 
disk.
PFM (pure magic)
James
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Re: [SLUG] Weird behaviour of Intel Nuc's

[James Linder]

> On 17 Nov 2014, at 9:00 am, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:
> 
>> I’ve booted ubuntu, suse and arch on the atom, i3 and i5 versions. It’s easy 
>> but fiddly …
>> 
>> First start with a blank disk. I dd if=/dev/zero because the efi partition 
>> is a
>> bitch. I *have* dualbooted Win7 and linux but it is really not easy (I do 
>> the same
>> install multiple times, it sometimes works)
>> I’ve read, but not tried, that you must install from mem stick, cd rom will 
>> not work.
> 
> The install wasn't really the problem (once I got a version of Linux
> and the BIOS updated) - just cloning it.
> 
> I think it came down to the UEFI stuff not liking being cloned.


I have dd’d A disk in and out succesfully but even 2 samsung 120G flash disks 
are not identical and dd did not work.
The whole EFI business is tricky, try lots to get a solution or don’t be 
innovative. The EFI scheme is not the same across motherboards - my iMac, ASUS 
and NUCs all are different and need different care. caveat emptor.
James
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Re: [SLUG] Weird behaviour of Intel Nuc's

[James Linder]

> On 13 Nov 2014, at 9:00 am, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:
> 
> 
> So I got my hands on two Intel Nuc's for work (nice toys - small and
> quiet), and that other OS everyone seems to love didn't want to
> install on the USB "disk" which was stuck in them, the decision was
> made to go to Linux.
> 
> A bit of research showed me that Ubuntu was about the only install
> which would painlessly go onto these things (after a BIOS upgrade), so
> despite my habitual distaste for Ubuntu, I downloaded a copy and
> installed it on the first one - all cool, boots up, able to customise
> it to do what I want, cool bananas.
> 
> This is where is gets weird. I then proceeded to copy the USB key
> being used a disk using DD (to save having to customise the second one
> all over again). All apparently worked, both keys booted the box no
> worries - so I took one of them and stuck it into the second Nuc.
> 
> And it flat out refused to boot. Nada. Get nicked.
> 
> I thought I must have stuffed up the image - but both disks booted the
> first device fine.
> 
> After scratching my head for a few hours and trying every BIOS option
> I could find, I decided to try a fresh install from the CD onto the
> new device - and stuff me if it didn't work.
> 
> Now I'm at the point where one "disk" will boot on one device but not
> on the other.
> 
> Has anyone come across this before? Is it something specific to
> Ubuntu, or is it the stupid "SecureBoot" crap (which was turned off,
> by the way) they put into the BIOS for these things doing *something*
> to the "disk" to make the second device not recognise it?
> 
> Not really an issue, because I've fixed them so they both boot now -
> but I'm intensely curious as to *why* this happened.

I’ve booted ubuntu, suse and arch on the atom, i3 and i5 versions. It’s easy 
but fiddly …

First start with a blank disk. I dd if=/dev/zero because the efi partition is a 
bitch. I *have* dualbooted Win7 and linux but it is really not easy (I do the 
same install multiple times, it sometimes works)
I’ve read, but not tried, that you must install from mem stick, cd rom will not 
work.

I was not able to get legacy bios to work, BUT Win7 won’t install in EFI mode 
so some crazyness here:

Boot  to get bios, drag Mem Stick entry to top of boot list,  to save, 
then boot

I partition the disk: 100M EFI bios partition, 5000M /, 70% rest /home leaving 
a 20% hole for flash (on my flash versions)

Install normally.
If you want to install ThatOS then they have a tool to make a USB stick 
installer.
On the i3 and i5 it would not boot without a bios upgrade which I did by 
download from intel, to a USB stick then upgrade at boot time from USB stick 
(yes it does offer internet update, no that did not work for me).

James
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Re: [SLUG] Latest Ubuntu LTS

[James Gray]

On 15 October 2014 at 5:39:15 pm, William Bennett 
(wrbennet...@gmail.com(mailto:wrbennet...@gmail.com)) wrote:

> Can anyone advise me, please, where I can obtain a copy of the latest
> Ubuntu LTS?
>  
> Thanks,
>  
> William Bennett.

 Without wanting to come across like a giant arse-hat…did you look on 
http://ubuntu.com??

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop <— Desktop version
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/server <— Server version

Considering the 14.04 is currently the latest stable and the LTS version, you 
don’t need to go any further.

If you’re looking for a local mirror, take a look here: 
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+archivemirrors

Cheers,

James


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Re: [SLUG] slug Digest, Vol 103, Issue 8

[James Linder]

On 29 Aug 2014, at 10:00 am, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> Many thanks to those who replied to my enquiry on dos2unix.
> 
> Reason for the enquiry: I have a .txt file that I wish to edit using Elvis.
> 
> However, line endings when one saves a dos file to txt are inconsistent .I
> was told dos2unix would fix this. I'm using the latest Ubuntu. Even so,
> dos2unix will have to be installed separately.
> 
> Final question: dos2unix will fix up the line endings. Is there anything
> else it fixes?

The whole unix philosophy (perl notwithstanding) is to do ONE job and do it 
well. Make or use another tool to do another job.

I guess not relevant to William, who is talking about elvis, but vim (when)aka 
vi does dos2unix, unix2dos conversions on a file. RFM as I recall set mode dos, 
set mode unix
James

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Re: [SLUG] dos2unix

[James Linder]

On 28 Aug 2014, at 10:00 am, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

>> When last I used it,  the command was dos2unix and I needed a dos file line
>> ends converted
>> 
>> When I mentioned this to a friend he sniffed and mentioned Tyrannosaus rex.
>> 
>> Can anyone tell me what the latest command is, please?  While you're doing
>> it I'll look for some new friends.

The mobile-phone-set: if it is not new then it can’t be anygood vs the 
cognoscii: if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it

James
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Re: [SLUG] MySQL maintenance

[James Linder]

On 28 Jun 2014, at 10:00 am, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> I've been using MySQL for CMS and mail like for ever, on physical servers
> and vm servers with no problems that I can recall, ever.
> 
> on the new vm, in use about 6 month, couple of weeks ago joomla cms went
> down, traced to corrupt MySQL table, fixed with phpmyadmin, all good
> 
> yesterday noticed cacti not working / failed few weeks ago (perhaps at
> similar time to joomla, need to check that), again, traced to corrupt
> MySQL table
> 
> with two failures, getting a little concerned, need to look into some
> regular/preventive maintenance? to detect failure at MySQL before results
> of failure are realized ?
> 
> what do people do with MySQL in such terms ?
> should I run mysqlcheck at regular basis?
> 
> thanks for pointers and suggestions

I use mysql for (amongst others) mythtv. I note that on a power fail 3 times 
out of 4 mysql is FOOBAR.

This sorts corrupt tables, but how why ? etc on ext4 drives

mysqlcheck --auto-repair --check -u mythtv -pmythtv mythconverg

or

mysqlcheck --auto-repair -A -u mythtv -pmythtv mythconverg

perhaps (match to your distro) in rc.local

James
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Re: [SLUG] Best (most efficient method) recursive dir DEL

[James Polley]

> On 22 May 2014, at 9:10, Kyle  wrote:
> 
> Hi folks,
> 
> I was wondering what is the best (as in most efficient method) for doing an 
> automated, scheduled recursive search and DEL exercise. The scheduled part is 
> just a cron job, no problem. But what's the most efficient method to loop a 
> given structure and remove all (non-empty) directories below the top dir?
> 
> The 3 examples I've come up with are;
> 
> find  -name  -exec rm -rf {} \;  - what's 
> the '\' for and is it necessary?
> 
> rm -rf `find  -type d -name ` - does it 
> actually require the ' ` ' or are ' ' ' good enough?
> 
> find  -name '' -type d -delete- or won't 
> this work for a non-empty dir?

How do you define "most efficient"? Run time? CPU cycles? Memory usage? Forks? 
Disk reads/writes? Readability/maintainability?

My personal guess is that a find command that locates the things you want to 
delete and ends with "-print0 | xargs -0 rm -rf" will satisfy most of those 
criteria.

(Xargs will stuff as many file names as it thinks will fit on the command line, 
but sometimes it gets ambitious - you might have to use "xargs -0 -n 100 rm 
-rf" to limit it to 100 file names per invocation of rm)

> 
> Or is there a more efficient manner which I can slot into a cron job?
> 
> Much appreciate the input.
> 
> -- 
> 
> Kind Regards
> 
> Kyle
> 
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Re: [SLUG] I can't be the only one.

[James Linder]

On 27 Feb 2014, at 5:29 am, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> I've just had my smartphone stolen.
> 
> I asked a friend to dial the number: I can hear it ringing.
> 
> Asked the police forensic expert - can it be triangulated? Yes, but (always
> there's a but). In the cities, where the uprights are in high
> concentration, triangulation can be accurate to within a couple of metres.
> In the country (where I live), with the uprights widely spaced, accuracy
> goes out to a couple of kilometres.
> 
> So I got to thinking. Isn't there an app, which, when installed on the
> phone, enables you to contact the phone (ie., it must merely be on), send a
> password/code (whether the phone is answered/not): the phone then takes a
> GPS reading and transmits it to the caller?
> 
> Or have I been reading too many sci-fi novels?

Actually it is even worse:
Every phone has a unique number.
You can find a phone anywhere in the world on any sim BUT the carriers won’t do 
that because of commercial reasons not technical ones.
Urgh
James
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Re: [SLUG] Issues with Ubuntu 12.04 LTR

[James Linder]

On 8/02/2014 5:33 am, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

I have a Lenovo thinkpad with an Intel Core 2 Duo T5870 2.00 Ghz with a GM
45 Chipset with 8 Gig of DDR III Ram

Since I installed 12.04 LTR my lappy has slowed down and there appears to
be memory issues, I am not able to open as many tabs as I was in the
previous release 11.04

Facebook jams up and I am unable to use Google DOCS, could someone please
suggest a way forward, and some diagnostic tests that I could run to pin
point the issue.

I have been considering getting an SSD drive and a new main board as one of
the USB ports is non functional.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated as I have a mountain of
research and assessments to do.
FWIW I put a kingston flash into 2 machines, a lap top and a desktop 
machine both running SuSE 12.[23] both with fstab options including 
'discard'

I'm glad I did the laptop.
The desktop machine, including mythbackend, showed no subjective 
performance advantage even though myth makes heavy use of mysql. The 
flash reached it's useby, running 24/7 after 2 years. It failed 
dramatically and the only recovery was a complete reinstall and restore 
from backups. All along smart reported ALL GOOD.


The big advantage is you may have one rotating disk and as many flask 
disks as you want.

http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~remzi/Classes/838/Fall2001/Papers/scsi-ata.pdf
And for the detractors I guess that it's worse now than ever!

James
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Re: [SLUG] Reuse or Recycle Your Old Computer

[James Linder]

On 3 Feb 2014, at 10:48 am, Jason Ball  wrote:

> 
> >Your old computer uses much more energy than a new one. Powering the beast 
> >creates much more CO2 than the new ones and save the environment (sic) 
> >causes much more harm than 
> > binning it (hopefully decently)
> 
> Prove it.  Please include the carbon cost of the new machine, shipping etc, 
> while you are at it.
> 
> Cheers.
> 
> 
> On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 1:07 PM, James Linder  wrote:
> 
> >
> > Computers and mobile devices become obsolete much quicker than other 
> > consumer products, such as refrigerators and cars. Electronic equipment can 
> > contain toxic and valuable materials which should not be simply put into 
> > landfill. Before you buy a new computer, tablet or phone, look at the 
> > options of what to do with the old one. Tom Worthington is author of the 
> > free ebook "ICT Sustainability: Assessment and Strategies for a Low Carbon 
> > Future": http://www.tomw.net.au/ict_sustainability/introduction.shtml
> 
> Tom just for fun (well not really, but for a consider this)
> 
> Your old computer uses much more energy than a new one. Powering the beast 
> creates much more CO2 than the new ones and save the environment (sic) causes 
> much more harm than binning it (hopefully decently)

Jason and Margharita

I’m not standing on my soapbox, just encouraging our younger members to think 
through the implications of their actions, rather than being swayed by the warm 
and fuzzy hype.
I think that slug collects the best and finest and that issues like this are oh 
so important, specially before one gets old and cynical.
The kudos flow from doing something, rather than being seen to do something. 
So while this drifts OT it is really really important and the opinions of 
Jason, Margharita et al are really really important too.
James
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Re: [SLUG] Reuse or Recycle Your Old Computer

[James Linder]

> 
> Computers and mobile devices become obsolete much quicker than other consumer 
> products, such as refrigerators and cars. Electronic equipment can contain 
> toxic and valuable materials which should not be simply put into landfill. 
> Before you buy a new computer, tablet or phone, look at the options of what 
> to do with the old one. Tom Worthington is author of the free ebook "ICT 
> Sustainability: Assessment and Strategies for a Low Carbon Future": 
> http://www.tomw.net.au/ict_sustainability/introduction.shtml

Tom just for fun (well not really, but for a consider this)

Your old computer uses much more energy than a new one. Powering the beast 
creates much more CO2 than the new ones and save the environment (sic) causes 
much more harm than binning it (hopefully decently)

James

PS my own pet hate, and I bet many have heard polies utter the oxymoron, 
"sustainable growth"
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Re: [SLUG] Client Management Systems and data base

[James Linder]

On 07/01/2014, at 9:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> I am in the process of setting up a Data Base for my Marketing clients and
> and I am wondering what people on the list use and what anyone could
> recommend for a small to medium sized business where I will be managing
> client data and I would as well like to back it up to a cloud server.
> 
> I am also looking for a client management system where I can set up events
> such as automatic reminders, and Birthday greetings and the like and I am
> as well looking to back that up to a secure cloud server.

Choose the DB that you fancy.
I found mysql slightly easier than postgres but I tried postgres first so maybe 
just further along the learning curve.

Despite all the hype IMHO using cloud is really really dumb

- There is no privacy 
- It costs to put data in
- It costs to get data out
- it's s*l*o*w

The features you want are application dependant, get a DB for your app or write 
one in say php.

People like (and there are many, but say) http://bluehost.com will offer a 
server for some $4 or $5 per month.
You can implement OwnCloud on it (I have done so)
Their up/down load speeds are good 
They backup, but of course you need to backup important stuff too
They offer ssh access to your server

James
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Re: [SLUG] ownCloud alternatives

[James Linder]

> So I've been wanting to switch to ownCloud (or similar) from Dropbox
> to save a few bucks (and the fact my computer is on all the time
> anyway).
> 
> I tried using this guide -
> http://www.linuxuser.co.uk/tutorials/build-your-own-cloud
> 
> I couldn't get the repository added via the instructions at -
> http://software.opensuse.org/download/package?project=isv:ownCloud:community&package=owncloud
> 
> So I downloaded version 5.0.4 from Ubuntu Software Centre and tried to
> use that. I got a bit confused with Step 02 as I assume its for a
> tarball rather than the apt so moved on to Step 03.
> 
> At Step 04, it indicates I need to go to : http://localhost/ludcloud
> to complete the installation. However, I get 404'd when I try that
> link. Have I skipped something crucial or is it a typo?
> 
> Cheers,
> Jared
> 
> 
> On 12/8/13, David Bomba  wrote:
>> It doesn't get much easier than ownCloud
>> 
>> I've deployed a lot of these instances. What troubles exactly are you
>> having?
>> 
>>> On 8 Dec 2013, at 10:25, Jared Webb  wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi,
>>> I've been trying to set up ownCloud on my desktop running Ubuntu 12.04
>>> LTS
>>> 64bit but have ran into a few problems.
>>> 
>>> Before I ask for help trouble shooting, is there any newbie-friendly
>>> alternatives?

Jared
being intrigued by the above I just followed instructions and implemented. I 
browse from a mac finder, from my xfce file manager and from my android. It was 
easy and just worked.
(I use suse)
James
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[SLUG] trivial, but banging head on wall ...

[James Linder]

Hi
First I thing that having spaces in filenames is like wearing a tee shirt 
saying "hit me!".

I'm trying to backup all my wife's pictures and although I can do any one file 
on CLI doing a script is humbling me. If anyone can help I'd be grateful. 
Thanks 

#!/bin/bash
HOST=j...@dvr.home:/mnt/photos

>list
let j=1
for i in tif jpg JPG jpeg ORF NEF
do
  find . -type f -name "*$i" |grep -v -i thumb | while read filename
  do
fn=`basename \"$filename\"`
#echo BN -- $fn >> list
fm=`echo $fn |sed 's/ /_/g'`
#echo CLEAN $fm >>list
echo scp \"$filename\" $HOST/\"$j.$fm\" >>list
let j=$j+1
  done
done

scp "READ ME" j...@dvr.home:"READ\\ ME"

This should and does work, but I've spent a 1/2 day fighting filename_with_a_" 
some where when trying to script it. The task is easy but messy, if all else 
fails I'll go on a fishing expedition with backslashes

James
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[SLUG] Reminder: LCA Travel Grants program closes tomorrow

[James Polley]

(from http://sites.rcbops.com/lca2014_travel_grants/?p=22)
This post is just a quick reminder that you still have two days to get your
travel grant application for linux.conf.au 2014
 in. These grants aim to reduce the financial barriers to attending
linux.conf.au 2014, by subsidising the registration and travel costs of
contributors to the community who would otherwise have difficulty affording
the cost of attending the conference.

You can read more about the grants process at our previous
post
[1].

Applications are due by 15 November, and winners will be informed by 1
December. To apply, please complete this
form
[2].


[1] http://sites.rcbops.com/lca2014_travel_grants/?p=9

[2]
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1aQFVsP-bi55pqB56miBVCffq35PjtfaTm8vH4SYj0oc/viewform
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[SLUG] apt-database

[James Linder]

Hi
I have a customer who has indulged in extreme stupid stuff.

> root@bol04:/home/stm# dpkg -r x11vnc x11vncdata
> dpkg: warning: there's no installed package matching x11vnc
> dpkg: warning: there's no installed package matching x11vncdata

but

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
x11vnc : Depends: x11vnc-data (= 0.9.12-1build1) but 0.9.13-1.1 is to be 
installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

So I want to scrap and rebuild the package database. All my googling says 'you 
don't really want to do that' 
I do!
all the --set-selections etc options don't do anything for me

Short of suggesting he climb to the top of the tower, dagga clenched between 
teeth ...
Is there any sane (telling him to manually edit the status file is not sane!) 
way to recover?

James
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Re: [SLUG] For my next trick ...

[James Linder]

On 06/11/2013, at 12:28 PM,   wrote:

> Have a look at the output without the "grep vctrl". Does it produce anything? 
> is it a different output format?
> 
> Compare the versions of unzip in the different OS's. there may be differences 
> in output or in the zip file format used.
> 
> Try a different format eg tgz, tar.bz2 etc
> 
> Do you have the command you used to create zip the file.

The *only* reason for using zip not tgz or tbz is the winders user of this :-(
unzip -v looks just fine but
unzip has a few strange
file #20:  bad zipfile offset (local header sig):  7048581
file #21:  bad zipfile offset (local header sig):  7099505
file #22:  bad zipfile offset (local header sig):  7108179
file #23:  bad zipfile offset (local header sig):  28805533
file #24:  bad zipfile offset (local header sig):  28839903
file #25:  bad zipfile offset (local header sig):  29128274
file #26:  bad zipfile offset (local header sig):  29157577
file #27:  bad zipfile offset (local header sig):  29374933
file #28:  bad zipfile offset (local header sig):  29405700
...
so I'll do the whole bit again and check
command was nothing more than
zip -r memstick.zip (sic) *

Cheers
James

>> Peter, Grant
>> thanks.
>> My problem is real, but as I got more and more flustered, the structured 
>> organized test and retest degenrated.
>> I must conclude either building the zip or unpacking is flawed.
>> 
>> James
>> 
>>> "dvr@ws118:~> unzip -v |grep vctrl"
>>> shouldn't that be
>>> dvr@ws118:~> unzip -v memstick.zip |grep vctrl
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 06/11/13 14:44, James Linder wrote:
>>>> if anybody has inspiration I'd welcome it
>>>> 
>>>> I create a boring archive of update rpm, including 3 of my own
>>>> 
>>>> [haycorn] /Users/jam [500]% md5sum memstick.zip
>>>> d7ffd4b8e9e958adb13264445b2acc55  memstick.zip
>>>> [haycorn] /Users/jam [501]% unzip -v memstick.zip |grep vctrl
>>>>  230641  Defl:N   229709   0% 11-01-2013 12:12 80471da3  
>>>> nodvd.repo/x86_64/vctrl-1.2-3.x86_64.rpm
>>>> 
>>>> I upload it to my www, then check it there
>>>> 
>>>> tigge...@tigger.ws [~/public_html/downloads]# md5sum memstick.zip
>>>> d7ffd4b8e9e958adb13264445b2acc55  memstick.zip
>>>> tigge...@tigger.ws [~/public_html/downloads]# unzip -v memstick.zip |grep 
>>>> vctrl
>>>>  230641  Defl:N   229709   0% 10-31-2013 22:12 80471da3  
>>>> nodvd.repo/x86_64/vctrl-1.2-3.x86_64.rpm
>>>> 
>>>> Now I download it
>>>> 
>>>> wget http://tigger.ws/downloads/memstick.zip
>>>> 
>>>> dvr@ws118:~> md5sum memstick.zip
>>>> d7ffd4b8e9e958adb13264445b2acc55  memstick.zip
>>>> dvr@ws118:~> unzip -v |grep vctrl
>>>> dvr@ws118:~>
>>>> 
>>>> Ia a daze I contemplate my world in ruins ...
>>>> 
>>>> James
>>>> 
>>> 
>> 
> 

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Re: [SLUG] For my next trick ...

[James Linder]

Peter, Grant
thanks. 
My problem is real, but as I got more and more flustered, the structured 
organized test and retest degenrated.
I must conclude either building the zip or unpacking is flawed.

James

> "dvr@ws118:~> unzip -v |grep vctrl"
> shouldn't that be
> dvr@ws118:~> unzip -v memstick.zip |grep vctrl
> 
> 
> 
> On 06/11/13 14:44, James Linder wrote:
>> if anybody has inspiration I'd welcome it
>> 
>> I create a boring archive of update rpm, including 3 of my own
>> 
>> [haycorn] /Users/jam [500]% md5sum memstick.zip
>> d7ffd4b8e9e958adb13264445b2acc55  memstick.zip
>> [haycorn] /Users/jam [501]% unzip -v memstick.zip |grep vctrl
>>   230641  Defl:N   229709   0% 11-01-2013 12:12 80471da3  
>> nodvd.repo/x86_64/vctrl-1.2-3.x86_64.rpm
>> 
>> I upload it to my www, then check it there
>> 
>> tigge...@tigger.ws [~/public_html/downloads]# md5sum memstick.zip
>> d7ffd4b8e9e958adb13264445b2acc55  memstick.zip
>> tigge...@tigger.ws [~/public_html/downloads]# unzip -v memstick.zip |grep 
>> vctrl
>>   230641  Defl:N   229709   0% 10-31-2013 22:12 80471da3  
>> nodvd.repo/x86_64/vctrl-1.2-3.x86_64.rpm
>> 
>> Now I download it
>> 
>> wget http://tigger.ws/downloads/memstick.zip
>> 
>> dvr@ws118:~> md5sum memstick.zip
>> d7ffd4b8e9e958adb13264445b2acc55  memstick.zip
>> dvr@ws118:~> unzip -v |grep vctrl
>> dvr@ws118:~>
>> 
>> Ia a daze I contemplate my world in ruins ...
>> 
>> James
>> 
> 

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[SLUG] For my next trick ...

[James Linder]

if anybody has inspiration I'd welcome it

I create a boring archive of update rpm, including 3 of my own

[haycorn] /Users/jam [500]% md5sum memstick.zip 
d7ffd4b8e9e958adb13264445b2acc55  memstick.zip
[haycorn] /Users/jam [501]% unzip -v memstick.zip |grep vctrl
  230641  Defl:N   229709   0% 11-01-2013 12:12 80471da3  
nodvd.repo/x86_64/vctrl-1.2-3.x86_64.rpm

I upload it to my www, then check it there

tigge...@tigger.ws [~/public_html/downloads]# md5sum memstick.zip 
d7ffd4b8e9e958adb13264445b2acc55  memstick.zip
tigge...@tigger.ws [~/public_html/downloads]# unzip -v memstick.zip |grep vctrl
  230641  Defl:N   229709   0% 10-31-2013 22:12 80471da3  
nodvd.repo/x86_64/vctrl-1.2-3.x86_64.rpm

Now I download it

wget http://tigger.ws/downloads/memstick.zip

dvr@ws118:~> md5sum memstick.zip 
d7ffd4b8e9e958adb13264445b2acc55  memstick.zip
dvr@ws118:~> unzip -v |grep vctrl
dvr@ws118:~> 

Ia a daze I contemplate my world in ruins ...

James
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[SLUG] rpm and deb

[James Linder]

G'day All

I have a file:
/usr/bin/i18n/avidemux_ru.qm
I want to find which package installed it.

rpm -qf /usr/bin/i18n/avidemux_ru.qm

would show it exactly

dpkg -L looks promising but is a bit kludgy

apt-file may do the trick

are there any obvious things I've not gleaned from the man pages

Thanks
James
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Re: [SLUG] On switching ISPs.

[James Linder]

On 02/05/2013, at 10:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

>> I don't think Android backs your SIM contact list to Google without your
>> say-so. (That might be a potential privacy issue.)
>> 
>> When I make a new contact (on my HTC desire), it gives me the choice of
>> storing the new contact on the SIM, on the phone, or on Google (I assume
>> one can connect to a different cloud service if they wish). If any of your
>> contacts are on the SIM, you will need to move them off before you change
>> to a new SIM.
>> I moved all my contacts off my SIM manually years ago and I never looked
>> back.
>> 
>> In interest of keeping this thread on topic (linux), does anyone know of
>> decent linux software that can synchronise with a droid? I'm thinking
>> about locally stored contact data, SIM card data, calendars and text
>> messages...


At the risk of feeding the android list 

a) if you just connect USB to your linux machine you can browse the phone or 
mount etc
gingerbread etc did this without fuss ice cream needs a do this then that 
(google it)

b) every phone I've seen has options to store contacts on disk (you then get 2: 
1 SIM 1 disk)
you may then swap sims, delete the sim copy etc etc

c) samsung use Kies Air. It does all the above wirelessly. To misquote W.C 
(Churchill) it is the worst software you've ever seen except for everything 
else.

James


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Re: [SLUG] Smallest and Cheapest Linux Computer ?

[James Linder]

On 30/04/2013, at 11:41 AM, Chris Barnes wrote:

> Well i think it depends what you want to do with the thing.
> 
> The Olinuxino has something like 60 GPIOs compared to the Pi's 17 or so.
> 2 UARTs
> 16 channel ADC
> External memory interface
> RTC
> Also it looks like the Olinuxino has a built-in hardware crypto engine.
> 
> so really it depends what you want to do because some might say the above 
> features are advantageous.
> 

Chris I absolutely agree, but I was offering the opinion so that 
those-without-direction would not feel rasp-pi is somehow a beast of lessor 
proportions. It is quite cute and well worth playing with. My 1 sec read misled 
me to believe Olinuxino had video input, with luck V4L. alas.

Over the years a few people on list have really contributed to my deep 
technical queries, they would definitely appreciate dual uart or rtc etc, but 
most people on list?

ciao
James
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Re: [SLUG] Smallest and Cheapest Linux Computer ?

[James Linder]

On 30/04/2013, at 10:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/iMX233/iMX233-OLinuXino-MICRO/resources/iMX233-OLINUXINO-MICRO.pdf

I've just built a Rasp-pi with archlinux. I guess it is cheap, challenging, 
busy and although I'm going to get one (OLinuXino) for the video input IMHO it 
offers no advantage over Rasp-pi, which it can argue has advantages.

James
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Re: [SLUG] Cool New Terminal Emulator for a modern look in Linux (David Lyon)

[James Linder]

On 05/04/2013, at 9:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> I was really happy with my terminal-shell until I discovered this:
> 
> -
> http://www.webupd8.org/2013/04/terminology-more-than-terminal-emulator.html
> 
> Terminology is an updated 3D/OpenGL version of Terminator.
> 
> For those into command line shells, it's quite interesting.

I'll be interested to see who else, like me, shuddered in abject horror at this.
It violates the paradigm of simple, does one job well.
Perl justifies violating it, but this half terminal half file manager seems to 
be the worst of all worlds. I guess that my relief is that I don't need to 
attempt to use it.

James
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Re: [SLUG] Linux midi interface (Ben Donohue)

[James Linder]

On 09/02/2013, at 9:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> I'm after a USB to MIDI interface that works with Linux.
> 
> I'd prefer Linux Mint as I'm getting used to this distro but in any case I'm 
> after buying one that works with Linux... as in has drivers etc.
> 
> End goal is to have the keyboard connected to a laptop running a flavour of 
> Linux and run music learning / composing / sequencing / etc software on it.
> 
> Anyone care to add some thoughts / experience on what works.

Ben if you don't get a reasonable answer then mail me.
I got an interface online reasonable cost and it just-works (TM) mint, suse, 
ubuntu
Delivery from HK took about 3 days.
I can't see the name so if you need I will hunt
James
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Re: [SLUG] ISP Recommendation

[James Linder]

On 07/02/2013, at 9:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> I can't speak highly enough of iinet - good support, not too expensive
> (although,  to be honest,  you need to bundle to get the most out of their
> plans), Aussie company.
> 
> Well worth looking at.

Dazza sorry to disagree with you again :-)
3 times in the last 10 years my ISP has been bought by iinet and each time I've 
moved on ...

iinet DO speak english
they are aware eg they know linux exists
they do provide good service

but

my phone battery has gone flat waiting for their help desk many times
my monthly usage (over the years) has been double, 20-50G, instead of the 1-10G 
with every body else

james
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Re: [SLUG] DIY Linux Supercomputer

[James Linder]

On 04/02/2013, at 9:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> Deleted] 5 lines out quote, *35* lines of bullshit self-advertising and
> some whitespace for a *ONE WORD* response?
> 
> Someone hit this guy repeatedly with the email netiquette clue stick,
> please! !
> 
> DaZZa - woken from list slumber in disbelief

No matter what he thinks, I'm sure many of us enjoyed the 10 second 
presentation, I certainly did
James
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Re: [SLUG] newbie to writing programs

[James Linder]

On 19/01/2013, at 9:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> Ive just started getting into writing programs and I'm fooling around with
> forks and daemonising processes using fork() in C.

I think the answers given so far do not address the issues:

It is twice as hard to debug a program as it is to write it. If you are as 
clever as you can be when you write it how will you ever debug it?

Write it simply and clearly
eg

switch (fork ()) {
case -1:
// oops something went wrong
case 0:
// this is the parent; do anything
default:
// this is the child; do anything
}

At the do anything point there are two programs running. One is at the parent 
point, one is at the child point

Since this is really quite involved in practise use the daemon system call to 
handle the messyness (man daemon)
usually one does:
   forks twice to break the controlling terminal links
   waits for the child to terminate (see man signal) else a zombie process 
happens when a child dies and noone is waiting (man wait)


James
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Re: [SLUG] Tuning Systems and Energy Use (Sys Admin Roles and Responsibilities)

[James Linder]

On 20/10/2012, at 9:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

>> Its primary goal is safety though, not efficiency.
>> 
>> I want to add a linux angle, but can't think of one.
>> 
>> 
> The powers-that-be-here don't even want you to know what can
> actually be achieved with Linux.
> 
> In Tokyo they have a crazy robot train (crazy for a sydney person) that
> runs into town and back. Anyway, you can sit where the driver would
> normally be.
> 
> It's fully automated, and therefore, without doubt consumes less power
> than having a human being driving the train. I say this because an
> industrial pc having about 5w energy consumption.
> 
> No metal is needed for the drivers compartment, or aircon, so there's
> definitely an energy saving there.
> 
> The trains use a Linux RTOS like QNX. Which is very popular over there.
> 
> The Japanese systems are very safe. They look at it the other way
> around in that when there are deaths, it's caused by human error. Not
> the machines. I tend to agree with their perspective.
> 
> The issue is about Jobs. The Japanese don't mind having 10x Linux
> Engineers in preference to 10x Train Drivers.
> 
> In Sydney, sadly, they seemingly would prefer to have 10x train drivers and
> less Linux Engineers than have the balance the other way around.
> 
> The assertion is that Linux Engineers are dangerous and train-drivers
> and people that ride bicycles are not. We have to accept our backwards
> looking leaders. That's just how it is.

It is linux and it is interesting ...

Earthquake's generate seismic waves, the fast ones are detected and STOP the 
trains before damage to infrastructure occurs and the train is hurlled to it's 
doom. Cute!

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Re: [SLUG] Tuning Systems and Energy Use (Sys Admin Roles and Responsibilities)

[James Linder]

On 19/10/2012, at 7:47 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

>> In the last few days, I've been reading studies showing that
>> average power consumption of a PC is about 12W. Which
>> is not incredibly high.
> 
> Makes me wonder how much I’m killing the planet with the 700W power
> supply in my PC.

Jeremy the size of your power supply is pretty irrelevant (to your power 
consumption, ie amount of power wasted by virtue of it being available)
What does count is *what you use*
so ... lots of disks ... old cpu (that uses lots of power) ... machine working 
hard ... GRAPHICS CARDS (fancy cards use lots of power)
and cards that do not throttle back when not being used is/are significant.

All sensible stuff. So dont have fancy graphics in your 24/7 box. Use the 
wheelie bin for old disks (you can feel - they are the one's that get hot) .

Anyone who thinks that charging their lappie off peak is not an engineer who 
understands the laws of thermodynamics:

You cant win
You can't break even
You can't get out of the system

(laptop power 10w to 50w (say), efficiency of charger (say) 70%, efficiency of 
batteries (say) 70%)

what is worse: toxic chemicals from landfill, or toxic chemicals from power 
generation using coal ...
(most fish in the USA have mercury, that is largely from coal fired electricity)

in the gaming world it is "your move"
James


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Re: [SLUG] downgrading from Centos 5 to 4 ?

[James Linder]

On 02/09/2012, at 10:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

>>> I have a machine running Centos 5, I'd like to downgrade to Centos 4 in
>>> order to run an older PHP CMS that require 'older' PHP, (it seems
>>> easier to run older system that upgrade the CMS
>> 
>> Going backwards often has security implications and is not recommended.
>> 
>> 
>> Upgrading the CMS would be a safer option.
> 
> Marty,
> 
> ofcourse, but, it's a custom CMS  it's no longer used in production, only
> used as legacy for 5 users only, and, requires login to access (and,
> hopefully login doesn't have security vunerability...), and, is the only
> application on this host
> 
> I've tried putting it on newer system (Centos 5 and 6), it print php code
> to browser (or, won't display page), some of it is might do with code page

Why not run your 'older' version as a VM

James
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Re: [SLUG] Freedom loving Motherboard

[James Linder]

On 19/07/2012, at 10:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

>>> Tuxta  utter
>>> crap.
>> Really?? Doesn't seem gentle and without being rude. Just stating you
>> are not rude does not make it so.
> 
> Well said.
> 
>> If anyone has any suggestions on motherboards I would love to hear from
>> you.
> 
> Very appropriate question for the list. Glad you asked it.
> 
> BTW, the tower is not so dark either :)
> 
> Let's continue having fun, with freedom,

We've installed a 1000 or more boards, in groups so say 100 different board 
types, and I have yet to find one that NEEDS proprietary software to run, so I 
guess the easy answer is just about any board (if not every) you can buy.
This is not true of laptops that often need firmware to run their wireless. 
Also many USB devices require firmware downloads to run.
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Re: [SLUG] Freedom loving Motherboard

[James Linder]

On 18/07/2012, at 10:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

>> 
>> Tuxta  utter 
>> crap.
> 
> Really?? Doesn't seem gentle and without being rude. Just stating you are not 
> rude does not make it so.
> Appears very much like you are taking it personally that my values are 
> different from yours, therefore I am wrong/deceived/bragging. Saying things 
> such as "If you were really so passionate ... " *is* flamebait, and *is* rude.
>> If you want to sit locked in your dark tower crying freedom then don't 
>> install anything you dont like on any mother board you choose.
> 
> Partially correct. I will indeed sit in my dark tower crying freedom and not 
> install anything I don't like, and I don't see how you have the right to deny 
> me of (or ridicule me for) that  but 
> I was hoping there may be hardware that would also work while I sit in my 
> tower. I was hoping I could have a functioning machine while not enabling 
> non-free repositories. I guess you can't help there.
> I also am not forcing you to do the same, nor at any point did I suggest you 
> shouldn't hold your own values, or that you were wrong, so I don't understand 
> your need to push your ideas onto me.

See the current debate between FSF, ubuntu and fedora about 'Secure Boot' and 
the mandatory Windows 7 certification so every new motherboard will be 
proprietary and require proprietary sw to boot. So you may take up gardening or 
such, or write and install you own bios instead of using EFI.

When I was young I was criticised for viewing the world as black or white. It 
may be painful and troubling but I now see that the world has oh so many shades 
of grey too. 
Yours is a black & white question where the answer is grey

[snip]

James

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Re: [SLUG] Freedom loving Motherboard

[James Linder]

On 17/07/2012, at 10:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> I am in search of a beast which I am not sure even exists.
> I am after a motherboard with AM3+ socket, coreboot and no components that 
> require proprietary drivers.
> 
> The main thing is that I want to run only Free Software, with no compromise 
> (I don't care if my graphics aren't as good, I want freedom), and will be 
> running an AMD card.
> 
> It's not that I haven't been googleing or trying to get the info myself, but 
> I seem to suck at it.
> 
> If anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated.

Tuxta  utter crap.
If you want to sit locked in your dark tower crying freedom then don't install 
anything you dont like on any mother board you choose.
Redhat make this easy to do and CentOS follows them.

If you were really so passionate about your feelings then methinks you'd not 
need to ask such silly questions.
If you are seeking bragging rights, then just install CentOS and proclaim how 
noble you are.

I cannot believe but to think that you are deceived, this is supposed to be 
fun, not an onerous chore.

James

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Re: [SLUG] Webcam woes

[James Linder]

On 22/06/2012, at 7:14 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> Can anyone give me a bit of advice ... I'm trying to set up a webcam.
> When I connect to the camera using cheese, lucview or xcam, the
> picture is black for the first few frames, and gradually adjusts until
> the picture is visible.
> 
> v4lctl snap gives me a black picture.
> 
> I suspect that during the first few frames after opening the device the
> camera is doing some auto-exposure adjustment.
> 
> Is there any way anyone knows of getting a picture (programmatically)
> and allowing the camera to adjust its aperture/shutter speed or
> whatever it does?  I've tried webcam and webcamd but they just deliver
> black pictures.
> 
> The obvious attempt to take two pictures in a row gives two black
> pictures.
> 
> $ v4lctl snap jpeg 320x240; v4lctl snap jpeg 320x240

Tries to rack brain ... This was an issue of recent years ...

v4l did not load the camera libraries (relied on kernel, but kernel stopped 
doing that), but cheese etc did.
One needed to run
LD_RELOAD somev4l_compatlib v4lctl snap jpeg 320x240; v4lctl snap jpeg 320x240
to get past the black camera

I'll dig for accurate detail if you think that this applies to you.

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[SLUG] updated kernel causing problems

[James Linder]

On 21/05/2012, at 10:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> /boot/grub/grub.cfg, from memory.
> On May 21, 2012 8:04 AM, "Ben Donohue"  wrote:
> 
>> Hi all,
>> 
>> Running centos 6.x
>> 
>> After an update and reboot, the system hangs during startup mid way
>> loading services...
>> 
>> If I reboot again and get to grub I can select the previous kernel and
>> then it all boots correctly.
>> 
>> What do I edit to make the previous kernel the default kernel upon bootup?

Actually that is ubuntu/grub 2

Either set default number (0..1..2..) or edit and make the desired entry the 
first in the list. File is /boot/grub.lst

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[SLUG] Reminder: Election closes 27/04/2012 16:00 (Sydney time)

[James Polley]

One last reminder: voting for the new sub-committee is currently open at
https://www.linux.org.au/membership/index.php?page=view-election&id=17

Voting closes at 27/04/2012 16:00, Sydney time.

Although there are 3 advertised positions, we have 4 candidates. It is the
intent of the current sub-committee to request that the LA Council appoint
all 4 candidates be accepted as the new sub-committee - unless one of the 4
candidates gets significantly fewer votes than the other 3.

Voting is optional preferential - you choose your most preferred candidate,
and can then optionally rank more candidates below them in the order you'd
prefer to see them elected to the position. If there's anyone you don't
want to see elected at all, rank your other preferences but abstain from
voting for the person you don't want to see elected.
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Re: [SLUG] Bar Code scanners

[James Polley]

You have an Android phone, right?

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/android-barcode-scanner/

That page has 6 lines of python that read the URL - but 2 of those are
turning it into a url and looking up the book on Google Books. All you want
to do is record the barcode, so you'll want to tweak that a little bit -
you probably just want to record the ISBNs to a text file and look up the
details later.

GoodReads has an android app that not only does the scanning, it also
uploads your book list to their service that helps you track them -
http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/281-announcing-barcode-scanner-in-the-goodreads-android-app

On Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 11:45 AM, Patrick Elliott-Brennan <
m...@elliott-brennan.id.au> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I've got to scan a whole collection of books (a couple of hundred at least)
> and was wondering if anyone has any experience with those that do/don't
> work with Linux or know of another way I can scan the books?
>
> A loan of one would be good, if possible.
>
> Regards,
>
> Patrick
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> Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
>
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Re: [SLUG] Migrating from LVM to a plain old disk

[James Linder]

slug
On 15/04/2012, at 11:36 AM, Simon Males wrote:

> On Sun, Apr 15, 2012 at 12:59 PM, James Linder  wrote:
>> 
>> On 15/04/2012, at 10:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:
>> 
>>> I want to migrate away from a LVM Volume Group (2 disks) to a single
>>> plain old disk (500G).
>>> 
>>> Back story: A couple years I thought I might have to learn about LVM.
>>> So I created a Volume Group using the Debian installer and have never
>>> done anything else.
>>> 
>>> My ideal solution (I think) is if there is a device I can `dd` from,
>>> and I can just set the destination disk as a non LVM'd disk.
>>> 
>>> Some output:
>>> # vgdisplay
>>> File descriptor 4 (/dev/urandom) leaked on vgdisplay invocation.
>>> Parent PID 4932: bash
>>>  --- Volume group ---
>>>  VG Name   erupt
>>>  System ID
>>>  Formatlvm2
>>>  Metadata Areas2
>>>  Metadata Sequence No  4
>>>  VG Access read/write
>>>  VG Status resizable
>>>  MAX LV0
>>>  Cur LV3
>>>  Open LV   2
>>>  Max PV0
>>>  Cur PV2
>>>  Act PV2
>>>  VG Size   146.71 GiB
>>>  PE Size   4.00 MiB
>>>  Total PE  37557
>>>  Alloc PE / Size   37557 / 146.71 GiB
>>>  Free  PE / Size   0 / 0
>>>  VG UUID   hrlysx-65nB-56Yt-VwUv-cC5O-wJIr-vjz4Jx
>>> 
>>> # pvscan
>>> File descriptor 4 (/dev/urandom) leaked on pvscan invocation. Parent
>>> PID 4932: bash
>>>  PV /dev/sdb2   VG erupt   lvm2 [36.79 GiB / 0free]
>>>  PV /dev/sdc2   VG erupt   lvm2 [109.92 GiB / 0free]
>>>  Total: 2 [146.71 GiB] / in use: 2 [146.71 GiB] / in no VG: 0 [0   ]
>>> 
>>> Is this asking to much?
>> 
>> Without shadow of doubt dd will fail.
>> (dd must have the same format to work ie same number of blocks, same 
>> partition table etc)
>> 
>> find . (or cat list, whatever) | cpio -pdv > /tothe/newdisk
>> reinstall grub/lilo
> 
> Wouldn't that copy things like /proc and /sys ?

Don't give up your day job james! indeed! sorry. Edit list to have ONLY /proc 
and /sys (no other files)
James
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[SLUG] Migrating from LVM to a plain old disk

[James Linder]

BIG ERROR -- see below  sorry

IMHO if the previous instructions were too brief you ought not be doing this 
BOTOH how would you/interested naive users ever learn
... so more words ...
painful unless you've no clue ...

On 15/04/2012, at 10:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> I want to migrate away from a LVM Volume Group (2 disks) to a single
> plain old disk (500G).
> 
> Back story: A couple years I thought I might have to learn about LVM.
> So I created a Volume Group using the Debian installer and have never
> done anything else.
> 
> My ideal solution (I think) is if there is a device I can `dd` from,
> and I can just set the destination disk as a non LVM'd disk.
> 
> Some output:
> # vgdisplay
> File descriptor 4 (/dev/urandom) leaked on vgdisplay invocation.
> Parent PID 4932: bash
> --- Volume group ---
> VG Name   erupt
> System ID
> Formatlvm2
> Metadata Areas2
> Metadata Sequence No  4
> VG Access read/write
> VG Status resizable
> MAX LV0
> Cur LV3
> Open LV   2
> Max PV0
> Cur PV2
> Act PV2
> VG Size   146.71 GiB
> PE Size   4.00 MiB
> Total PE  37557
> Alloc PE / Size   37557 / 146.71 GiB
> Free  PE / Size   0 / 0
> VG UUID   hrlysx-65nB-56Yt-VwUv-cC5O-wJIr-vjz4Jx
> 
> # pvscan
> File descriptor 4 (/dev/urandom) leaked on pvscan invocation. Parent
> PID 4932: bash
> PV /dev/sdb2   VG erupt   lvm2 [36.79 GiB / 0free]
> PV /dev/sdc2   VG erupt   lvm2 [109.92 GiB / 0free]
> Total: 2 [146.71 GiB] / in use: 2 [146.71 GiB] / in no VG: 0 [0   ]
> 
> Is this asking to much?

Without shadow of doubt dd will fail.
Don't use dd unless you understand what you are doing and why. In general dd 
should be avoided (but apologies because it is often MOST useful, just not 
here) 

I assume your LVM disks are /dev/sda and /dev/sdb and the new disk is /dev/sdc. 
Adjust names as needed.

as root, and in root's home: find / >list
fdisk /dev/sdc
create partitions eg 
/dev/sdc1 as root (say 10G)
/dev/sdc2 as swap (say 1G)
/dev/sdc3 as /home (the rest)

mkfs.ext4 (ext4 or whatever you choose) /dev/sdc3
mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
  ^^^ /dev/sdc3

cat list | cpio -pdv > /mnt

The choice of sdc3 sdc1 etc depends on what you know you are doing ie do you 
have a root partition and an LVM /home in this case I use /dev/sdc1 as root and 
/dev/sdc3 as /home

reinstall grub/lilo
depends so much on your distro. if in doubt INSTALL your distro on the sdc1 
partition presumably by disconnectiong the two LVM discs and choosing /dev/sda1 
as root and using /dev/sda3 as /home without formatting it

James
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[SLUG] Migrating from LVM to a plain old disk

[James Linder]

IMHO if the previous instructions were too brief you ought not be doing this 
BOTOH how would you/interested naive users ever learn
... so more words ...
painful unless you've no clue ...

On 15/04/2012, at 10:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> I want to migrate away from a LVM Volume Group (2 disks) to a single
> plain old disk (500G).
> 
> Back story: A couple years I thought I might have to learn about LVM.
> So I created a Volume Group using the Debian installer and have never
> done anything else.
> 
> My ideal solution (I think) is if there is a device I can `dd` from,
> and I can just set the destination disk as a non LVM'd disk.
> 
> Some output:
> # vgdisplay
> File descriptor 4 (/dev/urandom) leaked on vgdisplay invocation.
> Parent PID 4932: bash
> --- Volume group ---
> VG Name   erupt
> System ID
> Formatlvm2
> Metadata Areas2
> Metadata Sequence No  4
> VG Access read/write
> VG Status resizable
> MAX LV0
> Cur LV3
> Open LV   2
> Max PV0
> Cur PV2
> Act PV2
> VG Size   146.71 GiB
> PE Size   4.00 MiB
> Total PE  37557
> Alloc PE / Size   37557 / 146.71 GiB
> Free  PE / Size   0 / 0
> VG UUID   hrlysx-65nB-56Yt-VwUv-cC5O-wJIr-vjz4Jx
> 
> # pvscan
> File descriptor 4 (/dev/urandom) leaked on pvscan invocation. Parent
> PID 4932: bash
> PV /dev/sdb2   VG erupt   lvm2 [36.79 GiB / 0free]
> PV /dev/sdc2   VG erupt   lvm2 [109.92 GiB / 0free]
> Total: 2 [146.71 GiB] / in use: 2 [146.71 GiB] / in no VG: 0 [0   ]
> 
> Is this asking to much?

Without shadow of doubt dd will fail.
Don't use dd unless you understand what you are doing and why. In general dd 
should be avoided (but apologies because it is often MOST useful, just not 
here) 

I assume your LVM disks are /dev/sda and /dev/sdb and the new disk is /dev/sdc. 
Adjust names as needed.

as root, and in root's home: find / >list
fdisk /dev/sdc
create partitions eg 
/dev/sdc1 as root (say 10G)
/dev/sdc2 as swap (say 1G)
/dev/sdc3 as /home (the rest)

mkfs.ext4 (ext4 or whatever you choose) /dev/sdc3
mount /dev/sda3 /mnt

cat list | cpio -pdv > /mnt

The choice of sdc3 sdc1 etc depends on what you know you are doing ie do you 
have a root partition and an LVM /home in this case I use /dev/sdc1 as root and 
/dev/sdc3 as /home

reinstall grub/lilo
depends so much on your distro. if in doubt INSTALL your distro on the sdc1 
partition presumably by disconnectiong the two LVM discs and choosing /dev/sda1 
as root and using /dev/sda3 as /home without formatting it

James
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[SLUG] Migrating from LVM to a plain old disk

[James Linder]

On 15/04/2012, at 10:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> I want to migrate away from a LVM Volume Group (2 disks) to a single
> plain old disk (500G).
> 
> Back story: A couple years I thought I might have to learn about LVM.
> So I created a Volume Group using the Debian installer and have never
> done anything else.
> 
> My ideal solution (I think) is if there is a device I can `dd` from,
> and I can just set the destination disk as a non LVM'd disk.
> 
> Some output:
> # vgdisplay
> File descriptor 4 (/dev/urandom) leaked on vgdisplay invocation.
> Parent PID 4932: bash
>  --- Volume group ---
>  VG Name   erupt
>  System ID
>  Formatlvm2
>  Metadata Areas2
>  Metadata Sequence No  4
>  VG Access read/write
>  VG Status resizable
>  MAX LV0
>  Cur LV3
>  Open LV   2
>  Max PV0
>  Cur PV2
>  Act PV2
>  VG Size   146.71 GiB
>  PE Size   4.00 MiB
>  Total PE  37557
>  Alloc PE / Size   37557 / 146.71 GiB
>  Free  PE / Size   0 / 0
>  VG UUID   hrlysx-65nB-56Yt-VwUv-cC5O-wJIr-vjz4Jx
> 
> # pvscan
> File descriptor 4 (/dev/urandom) leaked on pvscan invocation. Parent
> PID 4932: bash
>  PV /dev/sdb2   VG erupt   lvm2 [36.79 GiB / 0free]
>  PV /dev/sdc2   VG erupt   lvm2 [109.92 GiB / 0free]
>  Total: 2 [146.71 GiB] / in use: 2 [146.71 GiB] / in no VG: 0 [0   ]
> 
> Is this asking to much?

Without shadow of doubt dd will fail.
(dd must have the same format to work ie same number of blocks, same partition 
table etc)

find . (or cat list, whatever) | cpio -pdv > /tothe/newdisk
reinstall grub/lilo

James

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[SLUG] Election update - nominations close tonight!

[James Polley]

Just a reminder that nominations for the SLUG election close *tonight*
(12th Apr 2012) at 23:59 Sydney time.

If you want to become a candidate in the election before then, you need to:

* Already be a Linux Australia member (it's unlikely that new
applications for membership will have time to be processed before time
runs out)
* Have two LA members nominate you at
https://www.linux.org.au/membership/index.php?page=view-election&id=17
(you can nominate yourself)
* Accept your nomination at
https://www.linux.org.au/membership/index.php?page=view-election&id=17

Voting will open at 13/04/2012 00:00 (yes, a minute after nominations
close). The voting process used in the election is optional
preferential - that is, you nominate your first preference, then your
second preference, and so on. You must give at least a first
preference, but can choose to abstain from giving a preference for the
rest of the candidates.

If the 4th-place candidate in the election gets a similar number of
votes as the first 3 people, we (the current members of the SLUG
sub-committee) intend to ask the LA council to appoint all 4
candidates to the sub-committee for the next year. If there's a
candidate you don't want to see on the sub-committee at all, don't
list them as your 4th preference - you should choose to abstain from
voting for them entirely.
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[SLUG] Ubuntu 12.04 (David Lyon)

[James Linder]

On 31/03/2012, at 9:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> 
> (I just downloaded their alpha. It's user interface is really schmick. Sadly
> it just wouldn't install to my machine properly). But what I did see was
> very, very nice.

Beta has been out for weeks and final is due in weeks. Give it a fair go (and 
don't use alpha)
I think it's horrid BUT canonical have the money (to make it happen) and their 
stated aim is voice recognition. Gesture stuff too (my son sent me a video of a 
mouse moving by face control) so really interesting from accessability point of 
view.
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[SLUG] 2012 sub-committee election: nominations open today

[James Polley]

It's been 12 months since Tim, Patrick, Neil, and I were elected as
the last SLUG committee - which means it's time to have the first
election of members to the Linux Australia sub-committee that now runs
SLUG meetings.

We're looking for 3 subcommittee members to run SLUG for the next
year. A SLUG subcommittee member helps run the subcommittee,
organising meetups and talks. A subcommittee member also represents
the SLUG membership to the Linux Australia council.

The election will be held online using Linux Australia's membership
system, which handles the LA committee elections each. Nominations
will open today at midday (AEDT), at which time  you'll be able to
view the election at
https://www.linux.org.au/membership/index.php?page=elections. In order
to become a candidate in the election a person will need to be
nominated by two Linux Australia members (yes, you can nominate
yourself), and will need to accept their nomination before the end of
the nomination period.

Nominations will remain open until 12/04/2012 23:59. Voting will open
at 13/04/2012 00:00 and run until 27/04/2012 16:00, and the results
will be announced at 27/04/2012 18:00, just before our April meeting.

In order to nominate someone, accept a nomination, or vote, you'll
need to be a Linux Australia member. LA membership is free - you can
visit https://www.linux.org.au/membership/ to sign up.

I'll be at the SLUG meeting on Friday night to answer any questions
and guilt you all into joining the committee.
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Re: [SLUG] Linux video editors - any good ?

[James Linder]

On 24/03/2012, at 9:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> I need to edit and format videos for uploading to UTube, on Linux, preferably 
> using a free program (no budget !).
> I last tried this on Linux a few years ago and encountered so many bugs and 
> limitations with Kino, Kdenlive and LIVES that I gave up and used a cheap 
> proprietary Windows program.
> Is there any fully-usable free Linux editor yet ?
> thanks

I find avidemux very useful.
It has a simple c x v interface
a nice transcode chain
and does not overwhelm me with wossname about 'timelines' and such.

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Re: [SLUG] Linux drivers for Inno3D GF GTX 570

[James Linder]

On 13/03/2012, at 9:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> ok now where is "download drivers"? I've searched everywhere... looks 
> like a Gnome desktop so perhaps I don't have the "download drivers" 
> package installed? I've gone through all the menu's.
> 
> Is there a command line instruction or a yum package for this?

http://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-toolkit-41

James
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[SLUG] Re: [Linux-aus] Australian distributor product page for Raspberry P

[James Linder]

> 
> From: Andrew Cowie 
> Date: 2 March 2012 7:44:57 AM AWST
> To: slug@slug.org.au
> Subject: Re: [SLUG] Re: [Linux-aus] Australian distributor product page for 
> Raspberry Pi (Model B)
> 
> 
> On Thu, 2012-03-01 at 21:40 +1030, Glen Turner wrote:
> 
>> Do you know if there is actual stocked product behind that page?
> 
> People in TLUG are complaining that North America sold out in 2.5 hours.
> They're waiting until end April now.

If you read their site thay say more stock in 38 days

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Re: [SLUG] Traffic control

[James Linder]

On 25/02/2012, at 9:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> 
> Recently my ISP discontinued the ADSL plan I was on and put me on another 
> plan with three times the bandwidth. This is fine however one of the kids 
> likes watching YouTube and can now chew up a month's data in a few days.
> 
> I have warned him. I can let him do it and see how he feels about dropping 
> back to dial-up speed but the whole family will suffer with him.
> 
> Or can I slow down his machine's consumption? One way of doing this might be 
> to run tc(2) on his machine however the doco hasn't been updated since 2.4 
> and doesn't seem to make much sense. Has anyone experience of doing policing 
> with tc(2), iptables(8) or anything else? Or could I alter said son's 
> machine's routing to use as gateway another machine running something to slow 
> data down.
> 
> 
> Any suggestions, please?
> 
> Jim Donovan
> 
> P.S. Not relevant to my problem however you sometimes see plans in which you 
> can burn a month's data in a few minutes. Why do people sign up for trash 
> like that?

Smackeral! my shoes would be on fire if my ISP migrated me from one plan to 
another. All reputable ISP will say behold our new toys. YOU may choose one. I 
really dont like iinet but they for one would offer you a fair deal.

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[SLUG] Re: Android-based smartphones - any drawbacks

[James Linder]

On 10/02/2012, at 6:20 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

>> I originally asked whether there was any important functionality that
> Android-based phones lacked compared to the competition, and whether they
> struggled with any file formats. I then added that this appeared to me to
> be an issue of available apps and requested confirmation or otherwise of
> this assumption - the inference I intended was that I assumed that any such
> issues would not be a function of the operating systems themselves but
> rather a function of what apps had been written and what they could do.
>> Rather than actually address the questions posters responded with clumsy
> sarcasm, recast the questions in terms of their pet hobbyhorses and
> wandered off into moral philosophy. Closest we got was some facts about
> techniques for extending battery life, which is important and relevant, but
> I still don't know how Android compares in this area to the competition.

Although it LOOKs like a technical question it is not hence the interesting 
side discussion.
If the phone does do what you want then its the right sort of phone and vice 
verse.
EG why on earth would I like to ssh from my android, there are much better and 
easier ways for me.
That does not answer you if you want/need ssh.
A general observation is that the iThing programmers seem to think that God 
created them for the benefit of mankind. You can show your appreciation by  
lavishing money on them.
So asking SLUG Any drawbacks to Android is a meaningless question.
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[SLUG] Re: Android-based smartphones - any drawbacks ?

[James Linder]

On 06/02/2012, at 9:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> FOSS vs proprietary software is not a fetish. It's an ethical issue.
> As much as making decisions as to what sort of school (or even whether
> you send your children to school), or whether you will become a
> vegetarian or NOT be a vegetarian is an ethical issue.
> 
> Some people can be accused of presenting their ethical positions in an
> almost religiously fundamentalist fashion and can be accused of being
> dramatic or dogmatic. Usually this is more a result of their personal
> presentation and inability to calmly or clearly discuss their
> position. In neither case is this a reflection of the validity of
> their views, more the response they receive and the reputation  that
> results.
> 
> It's even possible some people do 'fetishise' the subject of
> FOSS/Properietary software. I think this is the case with things like
> Apple products. However, this does not make the subject any less an
> ethical issue.
> 
> If you are serious in phrasing it as a 'fetish' then I'd suggest
> looking up the difference.
> 
> That said, I don't know if you are serious and I could be seriously
> oblivious to a subtle, dry humorous comment. In which case: My big.

Patrick
I absolutely and strongly disagree.

BTW I'm older a wiser than yesterday: fetish has sexual connetations, fettish 
does not.

 If I choose to use 
windows then the only and remote moral issue is MS use the money I fed them to 
wreck havoc on the world. Under american law that is their bounden duty. 
[California introduces a moral corporation]
To try to introduce your fettish as an ethical issue smacks of religious 
fundermentalism.

I think a group like us who see the one-true-way risk being sidelined (when 
there are important issues at stake) if we loose track of the ball and even 
start to believe that freedom is a moral issue. 
Certainly if you try to argue with the PM linux for every kid because Windoze 
is immoral you are going to find your self ignored.
While this thread drifts OT the basic issue is tremendously important for us as 
a group.

IMHO
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Re: [SLUG] Android-based smartphones - any drawbacks ?

[James Linder]

On 04/02/2012, at 7:01 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> You don't sound like a troll... just someone who has been around a long
> time and is used to doing it all themselves.
> 
> I think people do care... but there is a lot more specialisation now...
> it's like medicne an ENT specialist doesn't know much about the legs...
> but because he has specialised, he has furthered the research and solutions
> in ENT. Same in technology, people are specialists, and not everyone has to
> re-invent the wheel.
> 
> There are those that care, and those that care but are specialising in
> areas where they can't impact the OS level decision...
> 
> s.
> 
> On Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 8:25 AM, Jeremy Visser  wrote:
> 
>> On 2/02/12 20:42, Rod Butcher wrote:
>>> Are there any things they can't do or can't connect to/interface with,
>>> which other proprietary systems can ?
>> 
>> Not really, all there are lots of things it can't do that an open system
>> can.
>> 
>> Like logging in as root. Or, y'know, compiling the whole OS from source.
>> 
>> Sadly, people these days don't care and this post will be ignored.
>> Amazingly enough, not even technical or otherwise FOSS–loving people
>> seem to care. Blah blah pragmatism blah blah works well enough. Nothing
>> about principles.
>> 
>> Wow, I sound like RMS. Or a troll–like version. Didn't think that day
>> would come.

I do not think FOSS vx proprietary software is a moral issue, it is a fettish. 
Now if others care about your fettish then kewl, and if they are pragmatic in 
any form words of disapproval are discourteous.
"Sadly, people these days don't care ..."
ouch!
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Re: [SLUG] Android for "work"

[James Linder]

On 16/12/2011, at 9:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> On Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 9:45 AM, James Linder  wrote:
>> When an elderly and distinguished scientist say something is not possible he 
>> is nearly always wrong 
> 
> I know I could buy more memory or get multicores.. involves money and time..
> 
> The memory footprint of ubuntu 11 is obviously too much for the hardware I 
> have
> and I'm not claiming anything else.
> 
>> I found Puppy to be kewl, but a bit off the beaten track. I used it for 
>> small embedded stuff, and much as I'm not a fan of the whole ubuntu paradgsm 
>> it does work and there is lots of expertise if you need it.
>> 
>> Still if puppy works for you then use it :-)
> 
> Embedded is what I'm working on.. so the speed advantage is what I need.

Just to harp on for a moment
U11 does not have any significant memory issues, gnome and the GUI do.
Ditch those and you are good to go.
U makes it easy to do and to manage.

And to harp yet more ... embedded and speed have nothing to do with each other, 
you can have any combination that you choose.
Both U and Knoppix running from ramdisk are really slick n quick

If you are playing with ARM, I am finding the gumstix overo to be rather neat. 
http://gumstix.com

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Re: [SLUG] Android for "work"

[James Linder]

On 15/12/2011, at 9:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> I have been using Ubuntu 10.10 for work - just fine. At home I tried Ubuntu 11
> and one my one or two year old hardware it just has unacceptable performance
> ie 10 - 20 seconds to respond to menu clicks etc.
> 
> So, there is Android 3.2 from:
> 
> http://www.android-x86.org/
> 
> Any good for tech work? ie light development, modding websites, ftp, python,
> databases etc.
> 
> I notice it has dosbox, geany and most of the other tools are ported.

I'll bet your issue is 3D graphics

I have and do do and do like fvwm. If that is a bit daunting (use the editor 
luke) try mint 12

Not able to offer any comment on android.

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Re: [SLUG] Cannot create static IP address for Ubuntu 10.4

[James Linder]

On 11/12/2011, at 9:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> Thanks to everyone who replied.
> 
> It seems by way of consensus that a static ip assigned to the MAC is the 
> simplest solution.
> 
> :)
> 
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Patrick
> 
> On 11/12/11 07:51, Amos Shapira wrote:
>> My favourite way to achieve this is to assign a
>> static DHCP lease on the modem (I.e. set it by the
>> MAC address) that way it's also manageable for
>> other kinds of devices, concentrated in one place
>> and the dhcp server is aware of the address being
>> in use.

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.100
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.1.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255
gateway 192.168.1.1

This absolutely does work for me, on 10.04 and all following
James

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Re: [SLUG] advice for new laptop...

[James Linder]

On 10/12/2011, at 9:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

>> . is there truly nothing obvious that is a good replacement for mac users
>> to move back to linux.
> 
> Just a heads-up that installing any distribution of Linux on the current
> Mac hardware is a nightmare. If you are buying a computer to run Linux,
> don't buy a Mac.

I found it to be utterly easy: Boot Favourite CD/DVD
Install as usual

I found some things:
The iMac on snow leopard gives install discs, Lion and laptops do not. 
Reinstall mac OSX becomes an issue
Macs do heavy lifting to save power, in particular the linux throttle back 
makes the mac hardware run HOT.
EFI bios needs hard disk and disk utils to change and setup so you really want 
to dual boot.  (Ive not investigated EFI-grub)
iMac speakers are terrid, OSX fiddles 'till they sound good

So
Apple is utterly evil
In quest of ever more money they make nice hardware
And take great care of their customers
If and when you need, native word et al, native Adobe et al, and native camera 
utils (only RawTherapee handles .CR2 canon raw format, not ufraw and friends) 
are good
VBOX runs my many linux systems
finc and macports do a fine job of taming this alien landscape

My mac runs gnome-terminal, gimp, gnuplot, mythtv, ogg audio

That makes the NO a definte-maybe, have fun

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[SLUG] Re: slug Digest, Vol 71, Issue 8

[James Linder]

On 08/12/2011, at 9:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> G'day all,
> 
> I'm looking for the right distro to install. I have a couple of laptops that 
> I don't care if they break, so I can take out to work-sites where we're doing 
> installations in sometimes less than hospitable circumstances.
> 
> 1. Because they're old laptops, I need a fairly lightweight
>   distribution - perhaps based on xfce or Enlightenment or similar.
> 2. There for things like network configuration & troubleshooting, so
>   support for media playback is of no consequence.
> 3. Because so many networks are wireless or hybrid with wireless,
>   simple wireless support is essential.
> 
> It seems to me from the distros I've tried, you can have condition 1 met, or 
> condition 3. But not both - most of the lightweight distros seem to assume 
> that one is rpepared to spend half-an-hour on each wireless network setting 
> it up - and whilst I'm not a newbie, I don't really get off on always doing 
> things the hard way.
> 
> Does anyone have any suggestions?

Unless they are Noah cast offs (Then go for Damn Small Linux) or similar
you don't need a light weight distro, you need a light weight window manager
icewm and fvwm both work nicely with 256M (and are nice to use)
I've used icewm on a 64M machine but fvwm is prodly a better choice here.

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[SLUG] Re: Alternatives to Gnome3

[James Linder]

Actually I just tried SuSE 12.1
I find that they have tamed the beast lots as well as allowing root it's 
rightful place CONFIGURING things

I accept YMMV but this was a pleasent surprise for me
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[SLUG] Re: Alternatives to Gnome3

[James Linder]

On 14/11/2011, at 9:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

>> The problem here is that with Gnome3 (and they started this attitude in
>> Gnome2), they make it very difficult to do things any way other than the
>> default.
> 
> I work in tech support, doing a lot of phone support for non-technical users. 
> Let me tell you, and I feel this with all my heart: that's a feature, not a 
> bug.

Which may be true for the great unwashed mass, but methinks 'dona toucha da 
buttons' is (clearly it IS) not the paradigm that suits us (generic)
So I venture 'non technical users' is not applicable, and so I fret
I would be much more understanding if a less microsoft/apple approach was taken 
that said 'Here be all the things we have done, help yourself ...' 
http://wiki.somewhere
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Re: [SLUG] Recording s-video input from TV Card - help reqd pls

[James Linder]

On 03/11/2011, at 9:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> I have a DVico Fusion HD DVB-t vid card which has an s-video input.
> 
> I am currently attempting to record a VHS tape ( not copy protected) from my 
> VCR via the s-video in of the Dvico card and audio via the AUX sound input on 
> the mobo.
> 
> No luck via the DVico card with Kaffeine, MPlayer etc.
> 
> Both video and sound work fine using TVTime, which unfortunately has no 
> record function.
> 
> I can either run it from the Menu or via command line
> 
>> tvtime --nowidescreen --norm=PAL
> 
> The video device is /dev/video0
> 
> I have tried recording it with
> 
> cat /dev/video0 > /home/bill/Videos/test.mpg
> 
> which creates the test.mpg ok, but it appears to not actually capture 
> anything.
> 
> Googling has pleny of links for Desktop Recording, using VLC to record 
> streams etc, none of which seem directly applicable as I have only managed to 
> get both video and sound via TVTime
> 
> This will be a one-time only job and I dont really want to have to pay to 
> have the tape "professionally" copied.
> 
> Advice/links please.

transcode does it, and does it nicely.
On their www there are examples v4l for pal etc
http://transcode.org
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[SLUG] Re: notebook Linux distro suggestion? (Voytek Eymont)

[James Linder]

On 25/10/2011, at 9:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> 
> I have a user with Win7 notebook, I'm trying to encourage them to 'try a
> Linux', what Live USB/SD boot distro should I get them to try ?
> 
> (hmmm, this HP notebook has some sort of QuickWeb distro 'built-in'
> already, wonder if that can be 'extended'?)

Of course it all depends on your user and their expectation and skill level
I gave my mother 10.04 remix which was easy, usable and nice.
I'm afraid later editions got anal about ubiquity and lost the spark.

This was innovative enough to encourage 'wow' (multiple full screen apps) 
without causing too much angst

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[SLUG] mac sleep, freq scale

[james o'regan]

James.
I don't know whether this is helpful. When i was looking at linux on
macbookair, i found an ubuntu
forum page from an apple tech advising against installing. He was repairing
a batch of units that got
 fried in 6 weeks because a company was persuaded that it was a good thing.
The intel chip has a slight custom modification (thanks apple) which to get
other things to run sweet
would be a challenge. Has a problem with overvolts to processor not
regulated real well. And cooks in
about six weeks.
 Again i don't know if this has any bearing on your problem. I am very new
to all this.
Good luck.
James
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[SLUG] MAC sleep - freq scale

[James Linder]

G'day all

(long story omitted) I'm trying to install (any, but tried various ubuntu and 
SuSE) on my mac.

All easy (but the EFI bios makes a compelling case to dual boot, not single 
boot)
[The efi uses hard disk and os utils to set bios stuff]

Running OSX the freq is 2.7G and my quad core runs cool.

On the two distros I tried freq gets throttled to 1.6, 2.2 and 2.7G
Idle at 1.6 and the machine gets HOT

OSX does use full freq, so must use long sleeps, or sleep some cores and run 
only one to keep temp down.

Does anybody know where I could find info on what and how

Thanks
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Re: [SLUG] Ubuntu 11.10

[James Linder]

On 18/10/2011, at 8:32 PM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

>> Has anyone made the mistake of moving to this unusable version? It seems 
>> glued to unity which is the best argument for the demise of Ubuntu I 
>> have ever seen. At least in 11.04 I was able to choose gnome as a 
>> desktop. With 11.10 the only choices are unity and unity 2D.
>> 
>> I guess it's time to move to try another distro.
>> 
>> Heracles
> 
> Took me a while.
> 
> Click on you user name.
> 
> A gear will appear near your name,  you can then select classic Gnome
> from the start up.
> 
> Personally I have moved to XUbuntu and xfce.  Seems to work OK for me so
> far.  I did this by installing xubuntu and then using the gear wheel to
> select xfce.

If you installed without fiddling, then you need apt-get install gnome
before Ken's 'just click' will work.

I just tried all the gnome options but was unable to get right-click the panel 
(task bar) to offer the usual Add-Widgets etc.
I will spelunk, does xfce off weather and cpu-freq aplets?

But ... it seems to me that Heracles' advice is ummm sound!

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[SLUG] enable mobile broadband, Thanks

[james o'regan]

 Many thanks to the linux friends for advice with this. The netbook runs
mint & fedora, & i manually installed usb modem when i got it 3 months ago.(
having never used linux before; & not knowing microsoft either).
 I used apple for 18 months,(they didn't use me). Elated at my conversion.
Got new laptop configured with suse, kubuntu & pardus. Shop didn't tell me
password. When i finally got into it, mobile broadband was not enabled; they
had it for a couple of weeks & got network settings to recognize telstra
next g modem- thats all. Kept throwing up a bug.
 Having had enough of their endeavours, i got laptop last week & it's still
in box; Haven't had time.
Modem is zte - mf 626i.
 I just typed lsusb in terminal (mint), says its zte mf 636.
All i can say is brilliant. What a great learning experience.
I may get a chance in next few days to turn on new laptop & learn
more.
I only just got your replies tonight, again not knowing how to navigate,
but finding water in a linux desert.
THANKYOU SO MUCH.
Forgive my prolixity and thanks for your  patience.
James
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[SLUG] mobile broadband enabling

[james o'regan]

Dear slug.
 I have a netbook with mint & fodera, great.
Just bought a new laptop that was configured with open suse, kubuntu
& pardus; the shop couldn't enable mobile broadband.
 I live in the bush, i unfortunately have to be with telstra next g, phone &
mobile broadband usb.
 I am really quite new to computers. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Regards James
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Re: [SLUG] X11 forwarding

[James Linder]

On 04/10/2011, at 10:29 AM, Peter Chubb wrote:

>>>>>> "James" == James Linder  writes:
> 
> James> Hi I'm utterly puzzled. Perchance some wise person here can say
> James> ah-ha
> 
> James> One of my client-machine executes a GUI program from a server
> James> (ssh, X11 forward, public key etc) One in 10 there is no
> James> display, the server side of the app is gone soon after it
> James> starts (I see a short log of it's startup) On the client: pos02
> James> 4568 4566 0 08:51 ?  00:00:00 /usr/bin/ssh -vv -lpos02 stmbk
> James> /opt/rms/session/pos02/pos02 oblivious of any woes on the
> James> server (but no gui)
> 
> My *guess* (and that's all it is) is that the previous connection
> is still hanging around, blocking access to the new one, possibly
> because the previous session didn't shut down cleanly.

Peter, thanks, that is the exact sort of have-you-thought-of-this I'm looking 
for.
Sadly my problem can and usually does occur from a clean boot of both server 
and client
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[SLUG] X11 forwarding

[James Linder]

Hi
I'm utterly puzzled. Perchance some wise person here can say ah-ha

One of my client-machine executes a GUI program from a server (ssh, X11 
forward, public key etc)
One in 10 there is no display, the server side of the app is gone soon after it 
starts (I see a short log of it's startup)
On the client: pos02 4568  4566  0 08:51 ?00:00:00 /usr/bin/ssh -vv 
-lpos02 stmbk /opt/rms/session/pos02/pos02
oblivious of any woes on the server (but no gui)

Reboot the client and all is well until the next time it fails.
The only hint I see is this

AUDIT: Tue Oct  4 08:51:04 2011: 4338 Xorg: client 2 rejected from local host

Thanks
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Re: [SLUG] Re: SUSE 11.4 failsage boot only after a first update (Joseph Buk)

[James Linder]

On 27/09/2011, at 10:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> 
> * James Linder  [2011-09-25 10:44:47 +0800]:
>> my words will generate hows of anguish from the slug-cognoscii, but
>> your questions show that you are a new user so... , this is what I'd
>> do:
>> ..
>> Never turn on automatic updates. What for? They all too often break
>> things, despite the hype don't do anything for you.
> 
>  if you going to take this path, at least install security
> patches. For example in Ubuntu, "Install Security Updates without
> Confirmation".

One does not naively say stupid words :-) so this is why I say them:

I recon if I had $1 for every time I've read 'I updated/installed updates 

The most likely scenario here is a machine on a private network behind a router
Now if you're savy enough to enable some services through your router to your 
machine then you are savy enough to take care.

If you've not forwarded any services, then the outside world can't reach your 
machine. It is not there.

I would guess that most of our wives/partners/housemates are not going to hack 
our machines

That leaves established/related back into the machine. 
A very small risk for a great deal of heartache.

My own experience is over 100 un-updated-server-years with never an incident
One server in the Phillipines is regularly hacked every year or 2, but lots of 
staff know root passwd !!

For your machine, at home, behind a router, by all means play, but don't think 
no-updates means hacked my morning

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[SLUG] Re: SUSE 11.4 failsage boot only after a first update (Joseph Buk)

[James Linder]

On 25/09/2011, at 10:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> 
> After I installed open SUSE 11.4 on 5/May/11 the system booted OK, normally, 
> through to the Gnome desktop.
> Sometime later an automatic update occurred after which I have only been able 
> to boot through in failsafe mode. Letting in boot through normally makes for 
> the display disappearing off the screen but I think it is still booting 
> through because, after I allow the time expected for a full boot through, I 
> can hear/instigate sounds.
> Subsequent updates haven't corrected this fault and it's occurred the same on 
> 2 separate installations - one on a pentium 4 HP, the other on a 64 bit P5 
> Acer.
> Anyone with any solutions to this?

Joseph

my words will generate hows of anguish from the slug-cognoscii, but your 
questions show that you are a new user so... , this is what I'd do:

Partition your disk manually 
10G   your usual root
10G  an alternate root partition for when you upgrade, break things, etc
1Gswap
TheRest /home, safe repository for your precious as time goes by.

Never turn on automatic updates. What for? They all too often break things, 
despite the hype don't do anything for you.
In the unlikely event of depressurization ... just re-install
Use a new root but the old /home

You can boot, at the blank screen do  to get a console login. 
(else the machine is really dead)
Beware of the keyboards where you need to enable Fkeys before they will work

Once logged in do
cat .xsession-errors ( is your friend to complete names ie .xses will 
give you .xsession adding - will complete the word.

See what it says. Maybe run: sax, maybe the easiest is just reinstall. Do it 
twice, once on 1st partition eg maybe thats /dev/sda1, once on 2nd, maybe 
that's /dev/sda2
Update one, does it break?

if  you have a windows partition it will be /dev/sda1
you'd create
/dev/sda2 10G
/dev/sda3 10G
/dev/sda4 extended
/dev/sda5 1G swap
/dev/sda6 TheRest /home

In any event this is all about having fun and learning, so as SuSE says ... 
enjoy

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Re: [SLUG] Mounting a shared folder from one Mint PC on another Mint PC

[James Linder]

On 23/09/2011, at 10:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

>>> I tend to use sshf for quick and dirty sharing, and nfs/smb (samba) for
>>> longer term or higher bandwidth sharing.
>> 
>> Although I do agree with Sonia, I find this even easier
>> 
>> 1) put your public key on the other box
>> 
>> [ 
>> ssh-keygen
>> ssh-copyid otherbox
>> ]
>> 
>> 2) Use nautilus to 'connect to remote server'
>> 
>> The other file system is just visible
> 
> Oh yes, the GUI... :-)

I just signed up for a www hosting service ...
"Yes we can enable ssh, but why would you want it" :-)
James
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Re: [SLUG] Mounting a shared folder from one Mint PC on another Mint PC

[James Linder]

On 22/09/2011, at 10:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

>> The only help I can find with Google is horrendously complicated.
>> Can anyone provide a simple solution or point me to a
>> straightforward set of instructions?
> 
> Jon, for simple sharing you could try using ssh sharing instead of smb.
> 
> 1. check you can ssh between the machines. If not, do this on both
> machines:
> 
> sudo apt-get install openssh-server
> sudo service ssh restart
> 
> (you may want to later setup ssh keys and tighten security by only
> allowing key-based authentication if the boxes are exposed to the
> internet, but that's another email)
> 
> 2. install sshfs and mount the remote home directory:
> 
> sudo apt-get install sshfs
> cd ~
> mkdir mnt
> sshfs target_servers_ip_or_hostname mnt
> cd mnt
> ls
> 
> I tend to use sshf for quick and dirty sharing, and nfs/smb (samba) for
> longer term or higher bandwidth sharing.

Although I do agree with Sonia, I find this even easier

1) put your public key on the other box

[ 
ssh-keygen
ssh-copyid otherbox
]

2) Use nautilus to 'connect to remote server'

The other file system is just visible

I find sharedkey easier than friggin around with vault and saved passwords etc

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[SLUG] Re: IP cams behind NAT/ADSL

[James Linder]

On 01/09/2011, at 10:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

>> if your cameras are say 192.168.1.101, 192.168.1.102, 192.168.1.103 you
>> need to setup a separate port forward for each, or application. So you
>> might create WebCam1 with Protocol TCP, Port 80 and Map to Host port 8101,
> 
> 
> Martin,
> 
> thanks, one of my configs was incorrect (but the other one wasn't, [2wire,
> 2way bet]).
> 
> OK, 2wire shows:
> 
> DeviceAllowed ApplicationsApplication Type Protocol Port Public IP
> cacti Web Server  -   TCP 80  111.222.333.444
>   SSH Server  -   TCP 22  111.222.333.444
> cam10 cam10   -   TCP 8010111.222.333.444
> 
> do I need to do anything in Apache conf on cacti above ?

Since this list is all about teaching bears of very little brain (me) could 
somebody start at step zero and explain what 'a camera at 192.168.1.102' means.
What application, what protocol, what streaming, how. Thanks
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Re: [SLUG] ssh key-based auth not working Ubuntu without GUI (X) login??

[James Linder]

On 23/08/2011, at 10:00 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

>> I've come across an interesting "feature" on the later Ubuntu's - ssh
>> key-based authentication to a target box doesn't appear to work, unless
>> I've logged onto the target box through the GUI (X).
> 
> Guessing here, hopefully a guess which starts you on the path to an
> answer.
> 
> 1) I'd use ls -l to check the contents and permissions of
> /home/sonia/.ssh/authorized_keys
> you want
> sonia:sonia -rw---
> 
> You might want to look in /var/log/daemon.log on the target for the
> messages from the ssh server.
> 
> 2) When you log into GNOME that starts gnome-keyring-daemon. This
> implements ssh-agent but looks into the GNOME keystores (which includes,
> but is not limited to, ~/.ssh).  I do wonder if the ssh keys being used
> by gnome-keyring-daemon and the ssh keys in ~/.ssh/id_* might be
> different??? You might want to compare the fingerprints which are output
> in ssh -v and in the system log. Maybe command line ssh and
> gnome-keyring-agent are simply offering differing keys, only one of
> which works.

I'm certain this is 'other thingz' not ssh. I use it many times every day 
without any issue, to 10.04, 10.10 and 11.04 as well as centos and suse, from 
all the above.

But I go to great length to get rid of asinine stuff like the keyring where I'm 
led to the one-true-way.

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Re: [SLUG] ssh key-based auth not working Ubuntu without GUI (X) login??

[James Polley]

On Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 1:11 PM, Amos Shapira wrote:

> On 23 August 2011 11:24, Glen Turner  wrote:
>
> > 1) I'd use ls -l to check the contents and permissions of
> > /home/sonia/.ssh/authorized_keys
> > you want
> > sonia:sonia -rw---
> >
>
> This made me think about another option - do you use encrypted home
> directories?
> If so then maybe the authosized_keys file is only accessible when the user
> is logged in on the GUI.
>

I'm almost certain this is the case - authorized_users lives in your
homedir, your homedir only gets mounted (by default) when you're active -
logging in via ssh should trigger it to be mounted, but of course your
authorized_keys aren't available until after it's mounted, hence after you
log in.

Depending on how much effort you want to put in to work around this, you
could:
 - Turn off homedir encryption
 - Configure sshd to look for authorized_keys in another place
 - Use Kerberos auth, which doesn't need to read your homedir (nb: not a
simple solution)
 - Use signed SSH keys


 --Amos
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Re: [SLUG] Planet SLUG is down?

[James Polley]

*facepalm*

Fixed dns record. planet should be back once it propogates.

slug-sysadmins@ is a better contact address for problems like this.

On Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 4:56 PM, Dave Kempe  wrote:

> Hrmm
>
> $ host planet.slug.org.au
> planet.slug.org.au is an alias for www.slug.org.au.
> www.slug.org.au is an alias for ghs.google.com.
> ghs.google.com is an alias for ghs.l.google.com.
> ghs.l.google.com has address 74.125.71.121
>
> Perhaps someone is migrating the slug site to a google app... I thought it
> was hosted on rusty (which is where the MX record points).
>
>
>
> - Original Message -
> > From: "Sridhar Dhanapalan" 
> > To: "slug" 
> > Sent: Thursday, 23 June, 2011 6:52:23 PM
> > Subject: [SLUG] Planet SLUG is down?
> >
> > http://planet.slug.org.au/ takes me to a Google error page...
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[SLUG] Re: Article, Linux, APC

[James Linder]

On 24/06/2011, at 8:58 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> Where to start??
> 
> I have to agree with Erik De here (thanks for clarifying the real ground on 
> which the argument stands, Erik.) and will extend the argument too.
> 
> This article reminds me that there are 'Alan Jones' types all around the 
> world and in all kinds of media and it generally cheapens the field.
> 
> They take something, extract a small part and then blow it out of proportion, 
> decontexualise it, hide the history and political elements to their claims 
> and all along position themselves as the voice of reason and balance. Jones 
> is a classic example of this type of "journalism" and this article appears to 
> be a classic example of that type of "journalism" as well.
> 
> For a great many people, GNU/Linux is an expression of a particular form of 
> ethics. If you fail to generally accept those ethics then it's no surprise 
> that swapping backwards and forwards between OSs would be seen as a 
> reasonable thing to do.
> 
> I can't say that I adhere to the same level of commitment that RMS has, but I 
> at least aim in the same direction.
> 
> To summarise my machine - it all works brilliantly well for multi-media 
> editing (of a not particularly simple level) and I can hunt around for the 
> best hardware at the best prices.
> 
> It would appear to me that if you GNU/Linux fits your ethical position on the 
> world then OSs which do not meet the same ethical standards would not be 
> something you would consider for the great majority (if any) of your needs.
> 
> As someone who considers the general GNU/Linux ethical argument (as espoused 
> by RMS) I'm not in a position to merely swap when the whim takes me as it 
> would mean going counter to an ethical position I accept as being a part of 
> my own.
> 
> Speaking personally, I'd rather contribute to an OS which has a 
> community-orientation (not which has a *community* which is kept like serfs), 
> which is made available to the world as freely as possible and which attempts 
> to maintain my freedom of choice, access, use and ownership.

Patrick
I agree but I wonder if the ethical argument does not transend reality ...
To what extent do most users *know* that they are using linux? /proc /sys 
/dev/shm lmsensors come to mind, the rest is GNU or GPL.
I've had people - say my mother in law - using a desktop machine, here, 
completely oblivious to linux powering their way.

I bought an iMac to run linux, linux ran terribly on it! I am now running OSX 
with my normal compliment of GNU/GPL apps and my desktop looks very similar to 
the dozen linux-only machines.

EG years of frustration with evolution and kmail are quelled by this mailer, 
whose single vice is the bluddy-picture (I think it is gone now). I'm too old 
to stand in the rain with a placard, I just want it to work (tm), Not that I 
can't or don't admire those who do stand in the rain

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Re: [SLUG] Article, Linux, APC.

[James Linder]

On 23/06/2011, at 9:01 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

>> 
>> It's not so much that Linux is dead, but rather it is perhaps finished.
>> 
>> The computers 'to-die-for' now, are no longer the Windows machines
>> but the Android and Apple computers.
> 
> .. Apple - linux derivative?

I did ask on this list, but was not able to get any helpful answers ...

After many months of DOA, usb-stops-working, 
every-thing-fine-except-myth-tuner-card motherboards I bit the bullet and 
bought an imac 27.
Ran OSX for a couple of days, then booted and installed SuSE11.4 and 
Ubuntu10.10.
(boot CD, install normally) 
Both worked immediately. Both throttled CPU to 1600/2200/2700 and at 1600 both 
run HOT. OSX runs luke warm.
Audio is ultra-grot, apple make it quite reasonable

Standard OSX comes with groff, ps2pdf et al, vim (color (sic) syntax)
Used fink to install gnome-terminal, gnuplot)

So ... vim, groff, audacity, vlc, gnome-terminal, gnuplot, their-mail, firefox, 
xsane to a (vbox) vm all work well
quicktime midi has better instrument quality than timidity
Real Mouse (microsoft optical) works without a hitch
Keyboard is good for hunt-n-peck, but not as nice for touch typing. One can 
adapt to the strangeness (funny keys, funny ^X ^C and ^V)
I did not tame EFI, used OSX to make bios settings that were kept
mythtv is reasonable, but not as smooth as an 8000 or 9000 series nvidia

Both SuSE and 10.10 work fine but the fglx ATI drivers put 'Unsupported 
Hardware" in a transparent message on the desktop
I have not yet tamed itunes to do ogg (despite xiph), and have not yet been 
able to build amarok

I've already benefited from apple's customer care, so 8/10 for the whole 
experience (vbox helps with the things I cannot live without)

Hope somebody finds this dump helpfull
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Re: [SLUG] Subscription-based netfiltering (parentally speaking)

[James Linder]

On 22/06/2011, at 8:38 AM, K L wrote:

> Steady on. :-(
> 
> I can understand the simile, but I'm not entirely sure I appreciate the 
> comparison. 
> 
> This is, after all, a parent looking after the innocence of his child. 
> 
> It's not like he's 18 and able to make sane choices for himself.
> 
> 
> 
> - Original Message -
> From: "James Linder" 
> 
> 
> Ah the Conroy mindset!

My answer was very gentle and not intended as a slight, but perhaps it should 
have been ...

The Conroy Mindset pours scorn over any one who (no doubt whatsoever, with the 
best intentions) thinks you can apply a technical solution to a problem that 
needs to be addressed another (and harder) way.
Your comments about the router password SHOUT of your naviete.

If you are "a parent looking after the innocence of his child" then be aware 
this is a 24/7 multi-decade task - I've got the Tee shirt 

Other comments on the list were insightful.
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Re: [SLUG] Subscription-based netfiltering (parentally speaking)

[James Linder]

On 22/06/2011, at 6:56 AM, slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:

> As for bypassing the filter; 
> 
> 1. that is one reason I want it gateway/router based as opposed to host 
> based. If he doesn't have the passwords to the gateway, he can't mess with 
> it. 
> 2. He has thus far shown zero interest in technical literacy. Still not sure 
> whether that's a bane or blessing?

Ah the Conroy mindset!
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