Re: [SLUG] system restore from boot menu
Grub is very smart but not as smart as you want believe. It has 38 commands (see below) You can easily achieve you goal *without reinstalling, swapping out disks or entering rescue mode to fix things. DD is nearly always available! However no matter how badly a system gets hosed, there is nearly always /sbin that stays intact. Also /etc/fstab a few other files of paramount importance are often intact to allow a minimal system to be run. . then you have dd to copy partions here there. The 3 Run levels of : emergency , 1 , S often are available when you can't boot the system to higher run levels. If ALL the above fails . appending init=/bin/bash to the kernel grub line will often work. (albeit in read only) you can fix that by /sbin/mount -o remount,rw / note the full path is probably required. Then DD will be available /sbin/dd If you have an exact image of a partiton elswhere just clobber the partion you have booted to. Of course you must be certain of what partition you are on. ( having an erronous entry in fstab may fool you at this point... in which case /sbin/df will tell you lies. The gotcha points are that /boot/grub/grub.conf entries must coincide with /etc/fstab. Three variations work with these files 1 device names as a naming convention 2 label names as a naming convention 3 UUID strings as a naming convention ... again grub.conf fstab must coincide Hope this helps Roger Grub commands .. no dd or cp etc 1 blocklist FILE 2 boot 3 cat FILE 4 chainloader [--force] FILE 5 clear 6 color NORMAL [HIGHLIGHT] 7 configfile FILE 8 device DRIVE DEVICE 9 displayapm 10 displaymem 11 find FILENAME 12 geometry DRIVE [CYLINDER HEAD SECTOR [ 13 halt [--no-apm] 14 help [--all] [PATTERN ...] 15 hide PARTITION 16 initrd FILE [ARG ...] 17 kernel [--no-mem-option] [--type=TYPE] 18 makeactive 19 map TO_DRIVE FROM_DRIVE 20 md5crypt 21 module FILE [ARG ...] 22 modulenounzip FILE [ARG ...] 23 pager [FLAG] 24 partnew PART TYPE START LEN 25 parttype PART TYPE 26 quit 27 reboot 28 root [DEVICE [HDBIAS]] 29 rootnoverify [DEVICE [HDBIAS]] 30 serial [--unit=UNIT] [--port=PORT] [-- 31 setkey [TO_KEY FROM_KEY] 32 setup [--prefix=DIR] [--stage2=STAGE2_ 33 terminal [--dumb] [--no-echo] [--no-ed 34 terminfo [--name=NAME --cursor-address 35 testvbe MODE 36 unhide PARTITION 37 uppermem KBYTES 38 vbeprobe [MODE] -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Booting (and logout) problem
I can login in again, but the only way to do that is thru console login and then startx. what does init 5 do instead of startx ? cheers /Roger -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
RE [SLUG] Booting (and logout) problem
Perhaps you can see error messages better buy adding --noclearto your first getty like so: 1:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty1 --noclear This will not clear the screen. Cheers Roger -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Just sharing a gotcha with rsync that caused me big trouble ...extra
- Original Message - From: James Polley s...@zhasper.com To: R.G.Salisbury rgsalisb...@exemail.com.au Cc: slug@slug.org.au Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 4:35 PM Subject: Re: [SLUG] Just sharing a gotcha with rsync that caused me big trouble ...extra There is nothing more worthy of contempt than a man who quotes himself - Zhasper, 2004 On Sun, Dec 14, 2008 at 11:38 PM, R.G.Salisbury rgsalisb...@exemail.com.au wrote: Just sharing a gotcha with rsync that caused me big trouble ... what's nasty about rsync ?.. .. which may cause devastating consequences. rsync is in my opion the best thing since sliced bread... but be careful. CLI commands -- cp, rcp, scp, rsync, all have similarites BUT there are some nasty gotcha's when switching from one to another. You probably noticed some oddities , but had worked around it. (with the help of an error message) Without an error message you may had come to grief. Consider .. Scenario: For whatever reason -- you want to restore the /etc directory from a local backup. Lets just use a simple example.. cp should handle this. rsync should also should handle this. But cp is your friend if you make an error ... rsync is not. OK There is NO source or destinantion directory ets but you make a typo ets instead of etc cp will give you an error message whereas rsync will do what is not intended and you will be *unaware* So the following commands [r...@localhost ~]# cp -a/backup/etc/* /ets [r...@localhost ~]# rsync -a/backup/etc/* /ets cp will error out telling you that the target is not a directory if you use cp -ar /backup/etc /etc, cp, won't give you a warning. Thanks for reinforcing my point James cp -ar /backup/etc /etc will produce/etc/etc the data is in the wrong place DISASTER again! whereas rsync will SILENTLY create the dir (ets) and populate it. so add a -v and you'll see some output telling you created directory ets. This is not unusual. Most unix commands only bother you when there's a problem, and there was no problem here. Of course, you're going to ignore that output anyway, aren't you... So if you didn't check the result disaster beckons. So check it. Note that the creation of directories occur without a trailing slash on the source. But in that instance directory created is the name of the source directory. Note that blindly using *any* command, without paying attention, without understanding what you're doing, can lead to disaster. This is a PEBKAC, not a fault of the tool. I have found some other gotchas .. But do be aware of this (nasty) feature. Won't go into detail but some are . No, please do! Like the deal with the trailing slash . which can cause issues --- (often put there by bashs tab completion). I like putting a * after a trailing slash as i find it more intuitive. Also creating a new dir once -- but not twice.. Blah..Blah Cheers Roger -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Just sharing a gotcha with rsync that caused me big trouble ...extra
Just sharing a gotcha with rsync that caused me big trouble ... what's nasty about rsync ?.. .. which may cause devastating consequences. rsync is in my opion the best thing since sliced bread... but be careful. CLI commands -- cp, rcp, scp, rsync, all have similarites BUT there are some nasty gotcha's when switching from one to another. You probably noticed some oddities , but had worked around it. (with the help of an error message) Without an error message you may had come to grief. Consider .. Scenario: For whatever reason -- you want to restore the /etc directory from a local backup. Lets just use a simple example.. cp should handle this. rsync should also should handle this. But cp is your friend if you make an error ... rsync is not. OK There is NO source or destinantion directory ets but you make a typo ets instead of etc cp will give you an error message whereas rsync will do what is not intended and you will be *unaware* So the following commands [r...@localhost ~]# cp -a/backup/etc/* /ets [r...@localhost ~]# rsync -a/backup/etc/* /ets cp will error out telling you that the target is not a directory whereas rsync will SILENTLY create the dir (ets) and populate it. So if you didn't check the result disaster beckons. Note that the creation of directories occur without a trailing slash on the source. But in that instance directory created is the name of the source directory. I have found some other gotchas .. But do be aware of this (nasty) feature. Won't go into detail but some are . Like the deal with the trailing slash . which can cause issues --- (often put there by bashs tab completion). I like putting a * after a trailing slash as i find it more intuitive. Also creating a new dir once -- but not twice.. Blah..Blah Cheers Roger -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Just sharing a gotcha with rsync that caused me big trouble ...
Just sharing a gotcha with rsync that caused me big trouble ... what's nasty about rsync ?.. .. which may cause devastating consequences. rsync is in my opion the best thing since sliced bread... but be careful. CLI commands -- cp, rcp, scp, rsync, all have similarites BUT there are some nasty gotcha's when switching from one to another. You probably noticed some oddities , but had worked around it. (with the help of an error message) Without an error message you may had come to grief. Consider .. Scenario: For whatever reason -- you want to restore the /etc directory from a local backup. Lets just use a simple example.. cp should handle this. rsync should also should handle this. But cp is your friend if you make an error ... rsync is not. OK There is NO source or destinantion directory ets but you make a typo ets instead of etc cp will give you an error message whereas rsync will do what is not intended and you will be *unaware* So the following commands [r...@localhost ~]# cp -a/backup/etc/* /ets [r...@localhost ~]# rsync -a/backup/etc/* /ets cp will error out telling you that the target is not a directory whereas rsync will SILENTLY create the dir (ets) and populate it. So if you didn't check the result disaster beckons. I have found some other gotchas .. But do be aware of this (nasty) feature. Won't go into detail but some are . Like the deal with the trailing slash . which can cause issues --- (often put there by bashs tab completion). I like putting a * after a trailing slash as i find it more intuitive. Also creating a new dir once -- but not twice.. Blah..Blah Cheers Roger -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] ADSL2 modems that just simply work with linux -- existedforadsl1
FYI Works OK when you remember : to set your computer gateway address to the modem's ip address ! Cheers Roger -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] ADSL2 modems that just simply work with linux -- existed foradsl1
Thx all looks like I had a faulty power setup! A 12ac adapter almost works But a 15ac adapter is what is stated it makes all the difference. I am connecting OK now using my NB5 as ADSL1 not ADSL2. BUT only from the modem. NOT from computer (to which the ethernet cable connects ) I can ping the modem but not the DNS server. have set dns on eth on modem half bridge on or off ... no difference all lights are steady on the modem including ppp which is last to come on. Any idea how to get the connection also from the computer. IE net browsing Working not just the modem connecting thx Roger -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] ADSL2 modems that just simply work with linux -- existed for adsl1
Hi All I don't know of any adsl2 modems that just work in linux. Any one know of any such modems for ADSL2 that play well with linux. Any links to good sites, documentation etc I have tried Netcomms NB5 which I could not get to work. ( i hope it wasn't a fault with the modem) The NB5 supposedly works with adsl1 adsl2 supposedly works with MacOS linux ... but no support documentation that I can find. Never was a problem with adsl one . I have been using an Alcatel speed touch home modem. That just simply works with linux ... with factory defaults set. Using Roaring Penquin software rp-pppoe-3.5-32.1.i386.rpm it is very simple to set up. Just run adsl-setup Only needs two config files needed for it to work: chap-secrets pppoe.conf as shown below. Any help very much appreciated Thx Roger ## chap-secrets ## Secrets for authentication using CHAP ## client server secret IP addresses redhat-config-network will overwrite this part!!! (begin) ## redhat-config-network will overwrite this part!!! (end) [EMAIL PROTECTED] * password ### pppoe.confor ifcfg-ppp0file USERCTL=yes BOOTPROTO=dialup NAME=DSLppp0 DEVICE=ppp0 TYPE=xDSL ONBOOT=no PIDFILE=/var/run/pppoe-adsl.pid FIREWALL=NONE PING=. PPPOE_TIMEOUT=80 LCP_FAILURE=3 LCP_INTERVAL=20 CLAMPMSS=1412 CONNECT_POLL=6 CONNECT_TIMEOUT=60 DEFROUTE=yes SYNCHRONOUS=no ETH=eth2 PROVIDER=DSLppp0 [EMAIL PROTECTED] PEERDNS=no DEMAND=no -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] mountinig a USB flash drive
Brief howto . to enable sudo for a non priveleged user you will need to 1/ edit /etc/sudoers (you need root passwd to do so) 2/ you will need to boot in safe mode (runlevel 1) from grub create a root password as below: #passwd 3/ add a line to /etc/sudoers ( run visudo) as below: your_username ALL=(ALL) ALL 4/ reboot prepend sudo to all priveleged system commands. You may need this explained in more detail ( as very brief). Cheers Roger -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Too many ethx ports
Dean Gerald wrote: Hi Guy's, How can I get rid of eth1,eth2,and just keep eth0. with no references to the other ports? The system is very confused and will not send/receive email with all the network ports. The reason for the number of ports is because I tried a wireless network when the on board 1GB network failed that was eth0, then the wireless becane eth1 the next trail wan a 1GB Intel network card that became eth2. Now I want to get rid of eth0,eth1,eth2 then have eth0 only. The question is HOW? Many thanks in advance Gezza FYI a few pointers that have worked for me. hardware detection is heavily influenced by 1/ /etc/modprobe.conf 2/ existing devices detected ( in redhat /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ethX ) 3/ whether the existing devices are bound to the MAC address 4/ the order the kernel detection software sees the motherboard slots Often to fix up the mess you can find yourself in : Start afresh is often a good choice.when hardware gets replaced, moved etc.. This is a redhat solution but the logic applies to othe OSs a/delete all aliased NIC entries in /etc/modprobe.conf b/ remove all /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ethXfiles. Also remove any static routing files (/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/route-ethX c/ remove harware detection file ( in redhat /etc/sysconfig/hwconf ) d/ power down remove all Nics temporarily. e/ power up with no NICS test that no networking services tries to reference any nics. ( if so the profile /etc/sysconfig/network directory may need to be removed) f/ power down ; add 1 NIC ; powerup and /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 is hopefully created. Also an entry in /etc/modprobe.conf may now be aliasing to that NIC. Nic should be seen in /etc/sysconfig/hwconf also g/ find the MAC address of the card ( ifconfig |grep ) Bind found MAC address to that nic in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 #EG add 1 line as follows HWADDR=ab:cd:ef:gh:xx:xx as apprporiate That binding of the MAC to the device ethX will prevent it from being renamed if more are added or removed. Test with : ifdown eth0 ; if up eth0 ; ifconfig eth0 Power down , add additional NICs following the same logic to bind the MAC to the device. NOW the kernel will not reorder or rename them when you mess with your system. -- http://fragfest.com.au -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Email Domains --- handling of invalid email addresses
Thankyou all for the feedback. I think I see what the problem is now. Some ISPs simply seem to think that: - all BOUNCE messages are unsolicited _therefore_ ALL unsolicited messages are SPAM ! Is this absolutely True!! of course not! If I misspell a username I WANT a bounce message to ALERT me to the fact. ( especially if the same MTA is sender receiver) Now some people will not appreciated some bounces are solicited and some are UNsolicited. A bounce from a spoofed sender address would be an unsolicited message and herein lies the problem! Some ISPs seem to try to differentiate and some won't even bother. Special cases of eating email when identified as -spam - or with viruses - or with invalid sender address . seems reasonable to me though. It seems that enforcing RFC's would be impossible given everyones feedback. All this still does beg the Question Does not bouncing reduce spam? If postmaster AT firstMTAdomain.xxx sends all the bounces , email loops would not exist ... I would suggest. That is a question I will pose to exetel. Thx again Roger -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Granville TAFE Linux Are they courses there for next term enrolments
Hi all Linux courses at Granville TAFE. Are they still happening? Normal website is down it seems. www.gonzo.edu.au/moodle/ Has it moved somewhere else? Anyone know! Thx Roger -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Fedora8 bigpond cable broadband solution howto request
Hi all Telstra bigpond cable is well supported for OSX Windoze but not linux --- from Telstra at least. I can find info on BPA that is old (redhat6.1 to redhat9) but zip for the cutting edge :Fedora8 ... etc And any other latest linuxes I find nothing . Does anyone have a link or any tips. Thx for any help Roger -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] On buying a colour printer.
look at the link: http://www.openprinting.org/printer_list.cgi And enter/search the DB And you will see that HP is by far the leading linux supported manufacturer. By about 100:1 over Xerox. HP were also the first to support linux. The only issue when buying HP is ink. Ink is an issue with all though -- the cost of it. 3rd party ink/cartridges is always cheaper! -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
