Re: [SLUG] clone non-LVM system onto new LVM drive
On Tuesday, June 14, 2011 10:00:02 AM slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > Scenario: > > * Ubuntu presently installed without LVM. > * New hard drive formatted with: > /boot ext3 partition (empty so far) > LVM group containing ext3 LV > > I want to copy the original root partition onto the new LV so that the > new hard drive and LV is a bootable clone, and the old physical drive > can be removed/saved. > > There are three objectives: > Convert to LVM > Keep the original as backup > Upgrade the LVM version and be able to roll back if necessary. > > I'm assuming that I will have to boot into a live CD and dd the original > root partition onto an LV. How do I persuade this to boot correctly? Do > I copy the original /boot onto the new boot partition? Do I have to make > changes to the boot directory? Changes to grub? Then what? (apart from > any BIOS changes, which are fairly obvious). > > So far I haven't been able to find the right question to ask Google. Any > help would be appreciated, of if anyone could point me at a howto that > covers this scenario. David in general avoid dd. It mirrors what you have to what you want and probably they dont fit. If you are cloning disks then yes dd. (same hw, same format) I would: boot from a live cd mount (you may even have /media/oldroot) mount (likewise new-lvm-root) from old-root: find . |cpio -pdv newroot cpio does a good job of mirroring filesystems eg preserve links, sym links, wont choke if you have created a /dev/zero, all stuff like that handled nicely RF-insert-politically-correct-word-M :-) James -- 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] Re: Email Client
On Tuesday, June 14, 2011 10:00:02 AM slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > IMHO thunderbird is completely unusable ... > > Try to reply to an issue (eg this one) when you get digest mail and > > you will get a deep and clear understanding of stress. > > > > > > > > kmail is pretty nice but has some show stoppers eg nepomuk > > (some utterley grotestque trash that holds your disk at 100% for > > hours) > > Switched off muk years ago. The Debian KDE list and other lists were > compaining about muk for a while. Along with Microsoft. Back in the > days of winduhs I used to use Pegasus Mail but when the Linux desktop > came along I switched to Kmail. I've been fine with it since. > > Of course, if you are a real/proper Linux advocate you will use Mutt > ;) . I use Alpine as a stand in if I can. Richard my kingdom, how do you disable muk? I've tried everything including *removing* all trace (which means kmail won't run) and all the disable switches I can find, but using these one has to start kmail twice, first time fails with nep-errors :-( James -- 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] Email Client
On Monday, June 13, 2011 10:00:03 AM slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > I have been using evolution for years now and its been OK but now i want > to know is there a better email client then evolution, that do you think > of Thunderbirds? > > OK before you send me an email asking what i want to do with or in it > here is some of what i will use > > - General email (HTML) > - Group emails > - External assess to other address books local and over the network and > internet > - External access to the mail client form local and over the network and > internet > - synchronization of internal email address book to the internet for > backup and re-sync to other systems > - Image embedded address sending (I image to appear in the receivers > email info bar) > - email message generation form other program (API) with email client. > > etc > > I think you can get the drift of what i am looking for so any ideas i > can look at please IMHO thunderbird is completely unusable ... Try to reply to an issue (eg this one) when you get digest mail and you will get a deep and clear understanding of stress. kmail is pretty nice but has some show stoppers eg nepomuk (some utterley grotestque trash that holds your disk at 100% for hours) James -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Re: slug Digest, Vol 65, Issue 14
On Thursday, June 09, 2011 09:30:55 PM slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > Hi, haven't used a linux box in many a years and am tossing up to run > either OpenSUSE 11.4 or CentOS 5.6 due to specific software requirements. > If you had to choice an OS which one would it be? > > Since I'm gonna be a hack for sometime could someone point me in the > direction of a good software(linux)/hardware shop in Sydney, preferably on > the Northside. Like all things in life it all depends ... yast is the nicest and most consistant sys admin tool I've yet tried. SuSE make restricted media eg play mp3 easy (pacman) RedHat are anal about manythings (eg try to install with root password root, hard (harder than suse) to get mp3) but it is quite usable and the command line software tools are nice (yum) EL6 has invented a mechanism that I've not conquered that makes root login take 10 sec between passwd and prompt. Each is about the same hard to setup a dev environment with eoteric things. James -- 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] imac
On Thursday, June 02, 2011 10:00:02 AM slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > Finally running OSX in a VM looks as though it utterley complies with > > the license. (I have done it: a working vbox OSX 10.6 > > (5?6?latest) running on my desktop) > > Every new Mac comes with a fully licensed copy of OSX. If you can get it > to boot on a Commodore 64, you're still complying with the license :) Actually the fine print gets you: "bla bla only on mac branded hardware bla bla" leading the hackintosh community to ponder if you manage to purchase a version of OS-X and if you stick the white ears in the packaging on your hardware ... untested in court :-) James -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] imac
G'day It's a *long* story, I'm considering getting one of the new imacs to run linux (some of the howtos say dual boot OSX in case you need to update the firmware) So Has anybody done it, what experiences? I want to wake on lan. BIOS (EFI) available enough to do that? I want to build an run myth tv. Does the graphics support xv etc to get a reasonable picture? If I really *have* *to* upgrade firmware (in the unlikely event of depressurization ) why would I not install OSX back for that? Does OSX work with a MS optical mouse (I've got baby duck when it comes to the apple mouse) I'll use rj45 not wireless, but It'd be nice to know if that was recognised. Finally running OSX in a VM looks as though it utterley complies with the license. (I have done it: a working vbox OSX 10.6 (5?6?latest) running on my desktop) BTW the hardware is rather nice, and the AU apple shop are really bend-over- backwards helpfull) thanks James -- 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] xorg.conf Modeline champions?? - Fwd: Modeline for DELL U2410, 1920x1200 ?
On Saturday, May 14, 2011 10:00:04 AM slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > Does anyone have on hand an xorg.conf modeline for a DELL U2410 > running at max resolution of 1920x1200? > > Or otherwise how can I calculate such a modeline from the monitor specs? > > I've tried the 1920x1200 modelines from mythtv.org, which has > modelines for a Dell 2405FPW. [snip] Old maps used to say 'Here be dragons' at the edge ... Modern xorgs have no xorg.con file, every thing is auto-detected. No xorg.conf means no mode lines Even if you specify blabla and the monitor ID says otherblabla then the monitor will prevail, with options to say DO NOT. from man pages: [if] EDID will be available at all times, or if you have added custom modelines which the server can use. (RandR 1.2-supporting drivers only) So the answer to your question depends on your distro, your monitor and your video card, and is very complicated, and if it works on one distro may not work on another James -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] xorg events
G'day
short version:
Please any pointers to how xorg uses event devices
long version:
I need to configure a microchip/hampshire/tshark touch panel.
The (no source) drivers from hampshire do not work
The 2.6.35 hampshire module does nothing. Why would it with no configuration.
How/where does it read its config. The src leads you on a merry dance:
117 static inline void *serio_get_drvdata(struct serio *serio)
118 {
119 return dev_get_drvdata(&serio->dev);
120 }
I have written a program that does read the tty device and gives sensible
touch position info.
Where can I find out WHAT to say to /dev/inpit/eventN
My prog says (touch [top left] [middle] [bottom right]
[UP] X:0x2b2 Y:0x22c
[DN] X 0x2ae Y:0x22f
[UP] X:0x8b8 Y:0x814
[DN] X:0x8b3 Y:0x814
[UP] X:0xd82 Y:0xe3c
[DN] X:0xd5c Y:0xe34
It works! now to feed that stream to eventN and I believe xorg will capture
any eventN found in /dev/input
Thanks
James
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[SLUG] Re: slug Digest, Vol 63, Issue 9
On Wednesday, April 13, 2011 10:00:02 AM slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > Is it just me or does anyone else on this list find the unity desktop in > 11.04 beta a PITA. > > The workspace switcher is stuck in the side panel that is hidden when > anything is on the screen. Nothing is truly configurable. I think we > have finally been able to code something that is at least as bad as or > perhaps even worse than windows. Thank the heaven that they had the good > sense to allow the switch back to the classic Gnome desktop. And the netbook remix in 10.10 is dreadful compared with 10.04. At last I understand the mentality of people running Redhat 7 !! Perhaps someone with influence can lean on them to provide instructions on how to configure (or un configure) unity James -- 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] Ubuntu 10.04 Linux, Evolution 2.28.3 and ecxhange 2007?
On Thursday, March 31, 2011 09:00:03 AM slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > January 19th, 2011 at ubuntuforums.org thread 1259082, someone posted > that Evolution works fine with mircosoft ecxhange 2007. > (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1259082&page=3) > > Has anyone on this list gotten it to work? My mate, a lecturer at curtin uni uses and likes evolution because it works with the uni's exchange server. I find it a help to know a thing can be done, I hope this inspires you. James -- 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] Which Virtualisation, and why?
On Tuesday 11 January 2011 09:00:02 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > Hi David > > All the linux big boys are moving fast to KVM. Redhat and IBM have > abandoned Xen completely, making it an out of kernel patch set > maintained by Citrix and perhaps code from Oracle. Youll find that > Debian has also elected to discontinue Xen in the next release. > > Virtualbox is still nice for desktop quasi-trivial virtualisation. (Im > sure someone objects to that, and has taken it to a huge scale...) > > KVM is still the only in kernel hypervisor (if thats what it is, which > it sort of isnt). > > VMware is free as in beer. > > At my telco of employ, we are using KVM extensively. Im of the opinion > is the most sane design, gives you the most control and follows the unix > way of re-using existing components to the nth degree. > > Chances are its already installed on your reasonably recent release > distribution of choice. > > Dean > > On 10/01/11 20:57, david wrote: > > I've migrated a server to virtualbox for the purpose of experimentation > > (namely, to resolve upgrade issues going from Ubuntu 8.04 to 10.04). I > > used MondoArchive to clone the hardware server onto a Virtualbox virtual > > server. All good so far. > > > > I'm thinking of building future servers within virtual environments - > > ie: the server built as a solitary virtual machine within its host. > > > > I'm hoping that will make future upgrades, migration and back-up easier. > > I currently run 3 public servers, none of which are heavily loaded. > > > > What virtualisation solutions would people suggest? and is there any > > reason this is not a good idea? David I totally agree, but I think 'For me at home wanting to virtualize a server or two' VirtualBox offers simple quick and easy way that is much easier than KVM. My two servers have no desktop, rdesktop makes it easy from boot onwards. I use ssh and console. James -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Re: dos2unix
On Wednesday 29 December 2010 09:00:03 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > Cute and true, but this does NOT enable the service it starts it [once] > > It should be enabled by default on installation, I thought the question > was just how to start it as a one-off. The best way I've found to > manage what services are enabled is to use rcconf. It *is* enabled by default (at least the ones I've tried ie openssh apache) but I create a service, say mythtv., that I want to enable and with ubuntu I flounder hence the sysV GUI weakness :-) Any enlightenment from anyone? (And I *can*, but don't want to create the symlinks and prioritize them by hand -- /etc/rc2.d/K99mythtv whatever in case this discussion is too esoteric :-) Thanks James -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Re: slug Digest, Vol 59, Issue 20
On Tuesday 28 December 2010 09:00:01 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > I'm pretty sure I remember seeing Services as a menu option in earlier > > versions of Ubuntu > > There is more than one way to do it. Open up a shell and type: > > sudo /etc/init.d/apache start > > Familiarise yourself with shell operations and things become ... easier. Cute and true, but this does NOT enable the service it starts it [once] After banking my head on the wall a bit (redhat chkcfg service on) I apt- getted the sysV init stuff (yea I can manage the symlinks and priorities and I absolutely bet my last $ that debian/ubuntu has a mechanism to manage services but the lack of clear answers here says it is well hidden. Actually IMHO no other distro comes within 100km of suse yast (curses) or yast2 (GUI) sys admin tool stack James PS See how good I was to not cast an opinion on the merits of sudo :-) -- 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] dos2unix
On Tuesday 28 December 2010 09:00:01 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > t seems to have disappeared. I now use (on Ubuntu) the package > 'tofrodos'. The two programs are > fromdos [ options ] [file...] > todos [ options ] [file...] vim does easily and without fuss dos->unix->mac back and forth James -- 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] Port fat server to "slim" server - pointers??
On Friday 24 December 2010 09:00:03 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > PS - once jester is doing basic snmp/cacti/squid/etc and the QNAP doing > > the "heavy-lifting", I intend under-clocking the little dear from > > 2.66GHz to about 1.6GHz :) Save the planet and all that. I wouldn't > > under clock it, it should support dynamic clocking (one presumes) that > > will drop the clock pretty low when idle, then bump it up when in use. > > This often will save power as the CPU can stay in low power "sleep" > > states for longer, at least on the smaller end of the scale. > > Yep - will do that as well as under-clocking (which is the plan). THe > under-clocking will also reduce heat and power on the FSB etc. too, which > wouldn't happen with dynamic scaling alone AFAIK. Happy to be proven > wrong on this as the CPU barely breaks out of "brrr, I'm freezing, can > someone please do something to warm me up" mode, and rarely heats up much > beyond ambient, so if I can avoid the under-clockingGREAT! The two > 15k RPM 3.5" 500GB drives though, they generate a metric truck load of > heat!! Hence the reason I'm ditching them for an SSD and external NAS. Actually the thought experiment is krap. Perth: outside 33C inside 32C cpu clocked normally and doing 'normal' stuff (a couple of VMs, some mythbackend, a firefox or two, kmail, gnome desktop) is idling along at 1G and 37C [haycorn] /home/jam [1999]% cat /proc/cpuinfo processor : 0 vendor_id : AuthenticAMD cpu family : 15 model : 107 model name : AMD Athlon(tm) X2 Dual Core Processor BE-2350 stepping: 1 cpu MHz : 1000.000 cache size : 512 KB physical id : 0 siblings: 2 core id : 0 cpu cores : 2 apicid : 0 initial apicid : 0 fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 1 wp : yes flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow rep_good extd_apicid pni cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy 3dnowprefetch lbrv bogomips: 2000.32 TLB size: 1024 4K pages clflush size: 64 cache_alignment : 64 address sizes : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual power management: ts fid vid ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps processor : 1 pretty much ditto James -- 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] Debian/Ubuntu way of having multiple memcached daemon's
On Wednesday 22 December 2010 09:00:04 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > >> Using apt-get, you can automagically install memcached. It's great as > >> it starts a daemon and that daemon will start on boot. > >> > >> Though for Christmas I need two daemons running on different ports: > >> 11211 and 11212. > >> > >> I've duplicated the following files and tweaked them, so a second > >> daemon can start. > >> > >> /etc/init.d/memcached -> /etc/init.d/memcached_11212 > >> /etc/memcached.conf -> /etc/memcached_11212.conf > >> /usr/share/memcached/scripts/start-memcached -> > >> /usr/local/share/memcached/scripts/start-memcached > >> > >> Using update-rc.d the above daemon starts on boot as well (great). > >> > >> Now if memcached has a security update, apt-get will restart the > >> original packaged daemon, not my second instance. How can I make my > >> second instance upgrade friendly? > >> > >> Disclaimer: My new found obsession is upgrade friendliness, so my > >> intentions are not strictly memcached related, but it's the simplest > >> example I can think of. > > > > Simon, utter respect, but this sounds like UADUFMBS (Unadulterated > > Unmitigated ..) The normal way (even with upstart) it to put the daemon > > start script in /etc/init.d [There are skeleton and example files] > > > > Then you can do the distro equivalent of rcmyapp start/stop/restart etc. > > I like SuSE's rc[app] paradigsm, so I do > > ln -s /etc/init.d/myapp /usr/sbin/rcmyapp > > but that is just detail. Whatever works for you. > > > > In any even, doing it the standard way means no worry about upgrade etc > > and it complies with KISS (keep it simple ..) > > Well that seems ok - at least to me. > He would just need to ensure that the lock and or run files are kept > separate. Dave I'll not pound the point :-) but why would one invent another way of doing standard stuff? From old maps "Here be Dragons" The whole SytsV init and upstart hierarchy is well tried. Ignore it and use another way to ... be kewl ? Not Clever James -- 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] Debian/Ubuntu way of having multiple memcached daemon's
On Tuesday 21 December 2010 09:00:04 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > Using apt-get, you can automagically install memcached. It's great as > it starts a daemon and that daemon will start on boot. > > Though for Christmas I need two daemons running on different ports: > 11211 and 11212. > > I've duplicated the following files and tweaked them, so a second > daemon can start. > > /etc/init.d/memcached -> /etc/init.d/memcached_11212 > /etc/memcached.conf -> /etc/memcached_11212.conf > /usr/share/memcached/scripts/start-memcached -> > /usr/local/share/memcached/scripts/start-memcached > > Using update-rc.d the above daemon starts on boot as well (great). > > Now if memcached has a security update, apt-get will restart the > original packaged daemon, not my second instance. How can I make my > second instance upgrade friendly? > > Disclaimer: My new found obsession is upgrade friendliness, so my > intentions are not strictly memcached related, but it's the simplest > example I can think of. Simon, utter respect, but this sounds like UADUFMBS (Unadulterated Unmitigated ..) The normal way (even with upstart) it to put the daemon start script in /etc/init.d [There are skeleton and example files] Then you can do the distro equivalent of rcmyapp start/stop/restart etc. I like SuSE's rc[app] paradigsm, so I do ln -s /etc/init.d/myapp /usr/sbin/rcmyapp but that is just detail. Whatever works for you. In any even, doing it the standard way means no worry about upgrade etc and it complies with KISS (keep it simple ..) There are (google, I cannot remember) sysV init gui management tools you may apt-get. Even the title is misleading - you DO NOT want to mem cache a daemon. The system manages the memory caching better than you could! I confess to being too dismayed at the concept to go and discover what it does, but as described this is not a thing to contemplate! Be Warned. James -- 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] Doco
On Monday 06 December 2010 09:00:03 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > Bugger. It was too late when I noticed the time. > > > > > > > > Is there somewhere one can download it from? > > Yeah. I also had MythTV scheduled to record it, but slept in that > morning. Surely it's on somebody else's MythTV somewhere... http://tigger.ws/downloads/laptop.iso 2 stuff ... 1) it is Chan-7s treat with due respect 2) I'm hosting my www on http://www.crazydomains.com.au/ so any bad transfers or rates whatever please feedback 3) (Amongst our weaponry ...) My mate tried winders media player and he reported "Problems with the region .." (??) but both vlc and mplayer do work James PS in case #3 was too subtle Monty Python "Our chief weapon is fear. Fear and surprise. Our TWO chief weapons are fear, surprise and ..." -- 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] Doco
On Monday 06 December 2010 09:00:03 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > Bugger. It was too late when I noticed the time. > > > > > > > > Is there somewhere one can download it from? > > Yeah. I also had MythTV scheduled to record it, but slept in that > morning. Surely it's on somebody else's MythTV somewhere... Just answered elliot, then saw your post. I'll post it if there is no better response. From perth so it has to be downloaded (and it can be trimmed as it was not long AND you dont need the ads) James -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] firefox zoom
Wunz upon a tyme I fiddled with about:config to prevent ANZ internet banking from opening a window fullscreen, as they do. I have THAT setup, but I've trashed other stuff and a clean slate (mv .mozilla othername) made it easy to fix. I did not note what I did, and trying to rediscover is proving hard. Can any body enlighten me please? James -- 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] THE PIA wallet
On Saturday 17 April 2010 10:00:04 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > Autologin and I get invited to enter the wallet password to enable > > the wireless. How do I do away with that, to have nm automatically > > start? > > Applications > Passwords and Encryption Keys > > Right click on "Passwords: login", click Change Password, type your old > password, and leave the new password blank. Hit the button, and it will > confirm that you want to "Use Unsafe Storage". Sounds like you do. > > This will unlock your GNOME keyring. > > I'm not surprised you didn't get any Google hits. Searching for "PIA > wallet" wouldn't have got you very far. This search would have got you > much further (which uses text found, uh, in the wording of the dialog > boxes): Jeremy thanks I'd more or less been led and strayed to that point. I still get the Authorization needed for NM dialog at boot time with the only option [cancel] at which point network access is achieved. In response to your gentile innuendo > ... "Use Unsafe Storage". Sounds like you do. Living alone at home one does not need to lock the bathroom door :-) Cheers James -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] THE PIA wallet
Guys I've just setup an eeepc for my wife that runs karmic notebook remix Minor fun-n-games to get the wireless to work, but all sorted except this PIA If anybody has wise words it'll save me ages ... Autologin and I get invited to enter the wallet password to enable the wireless. How do I do away with that, to have nm automatically start? (yes I googled. yes tried libpam-keyring all else fails I'll build pam_keyring) Thanks James -- 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] Australian government to censor your internets
> I'm not sure if this belongs here, sorry if it doesn't. > Well looks like the government got it's way. Our Internet will be > censored next year. > http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/media/media_releases/2009/115 I wrote to Conroy talking about proxies and ssh tunnels and received back many pages reminiscent of 'Shirley Valentine' 'Hello wall ...' Then, older and wiser, I realized *doing something* and being seen *to do something* are vastly different and after all it's *your* $100 million ... James -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Re: slug Digest, Vol 47, Issue 4
On Thursday 03 December 2009 14:09:00 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > Meryl thanks > > I'll look at that. I've discovered that later editions of kmail (svn) do > > not send html (when you don't want). Building was a big deal, but suse's > > build service helped that problem. We'll try and may well decide that > > the latest kmail is suitable. At least it will stop the peep peeps > > (little quacks :-) James > > > > None of my e-mails are HTML. It's never been since god knows when. > > Just make sure you have KMail configured with "Prefer HTML to plain text" > unticked. There may be other options that I may have missed but hope this > helps. Fascinating! The version that ships with SuSE 11.1 definitely does and every attempt to make it NOT do so fails. It does send text AND html, it does wrap reply lines in tags and there are bug reports about this behaviour. Thanks anyway :-) James PS File->save as lets you view what was sent. The issue was winders mailers that (have been configured for html ?) interpreting ... > a line as ... > ... > a line ... > which quickly becomes an unweildy mess -- 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] krap mailers
On Thursday 03 December 2009 09:00:08 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > in the past I found Thunderbird & Evolution were not satisfying my > needs. Eventually I found Claws Mail http://www.claws-mail.org/ and I > have been extremely happy with the way it handles mail. It is plain > text only, images can be displayed inline (at the end of the email) > and set-up, filtering etc.. is very easy. Maybe Claws Mail will suit > your purposes. Meryl thanks I'll look at that. I've discovered that later editions of kmail (svn) do not send html (when you don't want). Building was a big deal, but suse's build service helped that problem. We'll try and may well decide that the latest kmail is suitable. At least it will stop the peep peeps (little quacks :-) James -- 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] Weird Word docs
On Tuesday 01 December 2009 09:00:04 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > Every now and then I get sent a Word document that I can't > just ignore, or ask the sender to resend as plain text or PDF or > something. > > Most of the time wvMime can translate the doc so I can read it and > convert to LaTeX or something sensible. /usr/bin/strings doesa a > reasonable job where formatting isn't important. > > Sometimes however, I get sent documents (usually full of tables) that > purport to be in portrait orientation, but are actually Landscape --- > wvMime (and abiWord on my one box with Gnome on it) attempt to display > the doc on a portrait oriented a4 page, with all the text truncated at > the right margin. > > How do other people deal with these weird documents? Is there an easy > way to view or convert them (NOT using Gnome or OpenOffice or other > heavyweight GUI tools)? Although the borg is utterly evil and to be shunned, he does produce some good software. crossover office and office 2007 work so nicely that she-who-must- be-obeyed uses it for her committee work every day with nary a glitch of any sort. And, as emotionally challanged as I am to say it, (thinks of Cleese, the window and a Fish Called Wanda) as she was an utter neophyte (with office tools) who has never used winders in any shape or form (so much hand holding was needed) it has been very much easier to teach her word than OO. (I too have never neen a winders user and have used OO since it was li'l) H. The problem with OO is that it often screwed doc or docx documents so they look nothing like the orriginal. Not good when you're doing the minutes or agenda from templates. James -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] krap mailers
She-who-must-be-obeyed has just become the club secretary and sends mail to the committee most of whom are winders users and here starts the saga: kmail which she used (and is arguably the nicest GUI mailer) can't be configured to not send plain AND html mail. It then wraps every quoted line in tags which the winders mailers render as 2 lines [bug reports confirm this] As a result after a few back-n-forth the mail consists of islands of text in a sea of blank lines evolution wont display pictures inline automatically. Easy to click for one but get a blast with 20 small pictures and it is really irritating. [kmail:display inline [] click] using bogofilter is mindlessly complex. After 1/2 day googling I'm no nearer a working solution [kmail: use bogofilter [] click] evolution seems anally-fixated on the keyring. There is only me and her. I dont want and dont need any passwords. [kmail: use wallet? No! Are you sure that you want to be so stupid? Yes! Done!] thunderbird: respond to slug digest selecting 2nd last posting. First n hundred lines are included, sorry not the article you selected. Much cut and paste if you want to be relevant. I did not find out how to display inline but I read it can be done. Any suggestions or do I just bite the bullet with kmail and tough to the committee? James -- 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] 64-bit Karmic Koala or not?
On Saturday 21 November 2009 21:37:14 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > >> I'm going to get a new desktop at work and was wondering whether it's > >> worth moving to 64-bit. > > > > I confess that I still dual boot 32-bit for one legacy application: > > Vuescan. But with enough tinkering with ia32-lib or VirtualBox, I bet I > > could get it to work. It used to work on 64-bit Intrepid. Other than > > that, I've been running a 64-bit desktop happily for years. > > This seems rather pointless when you can install a chroot 32bit system > and run 32bits apps in it, or set up the ia32-libs Setting your 64 to run 32 apps is so trivial I can't remember the 1 liner. something like apt-get install lib32 or ia32 something like that. (browse with app-cache search) James -- 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] 64-bit Karmic Koala or not?
On Friday 20 November 2009 05:57:09 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > FWIW, the things that affect me using 64 bit on a given machine are: > more than 3GB of RAM or > need more than 2GB in a single process or > doing 64 bit math (nb this isn't strict, you can get at the opcode in > 32-bit installs, just requires effort) or > want to do 64 bit port testing/development > -> 64bit > > otherwise, 32bit is better. Pray wax lyrical > Some 64bit capable CPU's actually do 32-bit mode better than 64, and > vice-verca, but I don't recall which ones - and unless you're on the > performance edge it won't matter anyway. performance differences are and it depends on what you are doing in particular things like video editing with lots of ram (or ltsp server) do much better with 64bit clean memory handling. Sounds like intel talking about AMD :-) James -- 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] 64-bit Karmic Koala or not?
On Friday 20 November 2009 05:57:09 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > 32bit is dead > > Not on subnotebooks. > > >> It'll have 4Gb RAM, which should be enough for my work needs. > > Which is a good enough reason to move to 64 bit. > > If you want to address more than 2GB of RAM in a single process reliably > (i.e. without using odd memory addressing tricks) then you'll want 64 > bit. If you only have 128MB of RAM total or something like that then > there's not much point. Actually Del the magic number is 960M not 2G James -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Re: SLUG] MythTV hardware advice sought
On Monday 16 November 2009 09:00:05 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > a) I'd run back and front end of different machines > > I'd thought of doing that, but because the TV and aerial cable are in > the same room, I'd still have to make this machine both fron and back > end, so I don't see any great benefit in having a remote back end. Except that you don't want to power up your machine every time you want to check ABC's Finance is set to record weekly, your daughter phones and asks you to record friends or you just want to check that motoGP has higher priority than conflicts and IMHO the EPG is adequate and tracks their sometimes quickly changing schedules EG myth scheduled to record FavoriteProgram on 7 at 19:30. Seven reschedules for 19:32 myth wakes up at 19:29 finds Not scheduled for 19:30 and goes to sleep and does not record at 19:32 !! These are real, not thought experiments. > Add another hdd or 2 because myth can use storage pools to reduce the > seek load when recording and playing multiple streams and drives are so > cheap these days. >> More drives == more noise though, so if I do add more drives, maybe I >> should configure a remote back-end? The machine I'd do that on would >> then need some drives replacing because all of its SATA ports are in >> use, and there's not enough free space to store much TV. And Seagate's 'SCSI vs ATA more than just an interface' which claims the failure rate of a multiple disk system is much higher than 1 disk ... Disk1 seeks and knocks Disk2 off track ... So Disk2 seeks and knocks Disk1 off track ... >> The card I'd picked, the GT220, supports VDPAU (VP4 including MPEG-4 >> decoding), but I'll have another look at motherboards and see if I can >> find one with suitable graphics on-board. Side by side I compare 2 AMD dual core machines with VDPAU enabled on 1 (8600) and motor racing or footie and I see no difference to my OnBoard ASUS graphics. James -- 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] The Beast
On Saturday 14 November 2009 23:05:47 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:
> Has anybody tamed the grub2 beast?
I uncovered a link
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1195275
James
> Whatever the technical merit, the lack of even basic documentation is
> overwhelming.
>
> I'm trying to: (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BootToRAM)
> title RAM Session
> kernel /casper/vmlinuz boot=casper toram splash
> initrd /casper/initrd.gz
>
> by editing ...
> j...@dvr:~$ cat /etc/grub.d/40_custom
> #!/bin/sh
> exec tail -n +3 $0
> # This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type
> the # menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to
> change # the 'exec tail' line above.
> cat << EOF
> menuentry "Root Ram" {
> set root=(hd0,1)
> linux /casper/vmlinuz boot=casper toram splash
>
> initrd /casper/initrd.gz
> }
> EOF
>
> and running grub-mkconfig which yields NO CHANGES to /boot/grub/grub.cfg
> and the grub entry does not work when added by hand saying
> error: you need to load the kernel first
>
> I agree with him
> http://aronzak.wordpress.com/2008/09/30/stay-away-from-grub2/
> so 1 post then back to the sane world for me
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[SLUG] The Beast
Has anybody tamed the grub2 beast?
Whatever the technical merit, the lack of even basic documentation is
overwhelming.
I'm trying to: (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BootToRAM)
title RAM Session
kernel /casper/vmlinuz boot=casper toram splash
initrd /casper/initrd.gz
by editing ...
j...@dvr:~$ cat /etc/grub.d/40_custom
#!/bin/sh
exec tail -n +3 $0
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
cat << EOF
menuentry "Root Ram" {
set root=(hd0,1)
linux /casper/vmlinuz boot=casper toram splash
initrd /casper/initrd.gz
}
EOF
and running grub-mkconfig which yields NO CHANGES to /boot/grub/grub.cfg and
the grub entry does not work when added by hand saying
error: you need to load the kernel first
I agree with him
http://aronzak.wordpress.com/2008/09/30/stay-away-from-grub2/
so 1 post then back to the sane world for me
James
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[SLUG] Re: SLUG] MythTV hardware advice sought
On Saturday 14 November 2009 02:26:52 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > I'm planning to build a MythTV box & have come up with what I think is > suitable hardware to run it on, but I'm hoping that those of you with > MythTV experience will point out anything I've got wrong. > > The box will be both back and front end and will be in the lounge room > in the cabinet with the amps, dvd player, etc, so it'll need to be > fairly quiet, especially when idle, but I don't want to hear much when > it's running either. It's going to be inside a cabinet so doesn't have > to be stunningly beautiful, but I don't want it to look spectacularly > ugly either. My budget is $2000. > > I want HDMI video to the TV (LCD, 1080p), either with audio or with a > separate analogue audio cable. I also want digital audio (S/PDIF, > preferrably coax) to the amp for better quality stereo or 5.1 audio. > > I'd also like the option of watching either live TV, recorded programs > or ripped DVDs on any other PC on the LAN, at the same time as a > different program is being watched on the TV and maybe another is being > recorded. > > I believe that all of the hardware I'm thinking of is supported by Linux > and MythTV, and although I don't think the necessary drivers are > packaged in any distro yet (I'm thinking of using the latest Mythbuntu, > only because everything else is running Ubuntu), I do know where to get > them. This is my list of hardware: > > Asus P5Q SE2 motherboard > Intel Core2Duo E7600 3.06GHz 1066MHz FSB > 2GB PC6400 DDR2 RAM > Asus GeForce GT220 1GB DDR3 video card > 1.5GB Seagate 7200 RPM SATA HDD (ST31500341AS) > Lite-On SATA 240x8 DVD-RW drive > Silverstone LC10-E case > 500W power supply > Logitech diNovo Mini bluetooth keyboard > > and either of: > > Hauppage Nova-T-500 MCE dual tuner (PCI) > Hauppage 2200 MCE dual tuner (PCI-E) > > I'll probably add a second tuner card once I've got it all up and > running. We have occasionally wished for a third tuner in the past (not > often, there's not that much worth watching on TV), so I may as well > have four, just in case :-) > > Is this hardware powerful enough to do all that I want? Do I need more > CPU grunt? More RAM? More hard drives? Bigger PSU? Anything else? > > > The only other thing I can think of is remote control. I'd like to be > able to control it from my Logitech Harmnony One remote, at least for > the most common tasks, so obviously I'll need some sort of IR receiver. > > >From what I've read, the USB IrDA dongle I have is unlikely to work, so > > I'll need something else. All I've been able to find are receivers > bundled with remote handsets, but I already have half a dozen or so of > those gathering dust and don't need to add another one to the > collection. > > > Advice and suggestions will be gratefully received. I'd like to order > the hardware next week, and I'd appreciate knowing that I've chosen > badly *before* I part with the money :-) Rather than 'saying you oughta ...' this is what I'd do and why ... a) I'd run back and front end of different machines The backend can be a single core 1G ram machine. I use the WD green disks being low power and quiet. I use an antec NSK1380 case. Backend is 30W (at the meter with a stop watch) Server 24/7 low power means you avoid all the WOL hastles, you can watch any time, and by using mthweb you can schedule stuff from any browser anytime. b) your frontend needs some grunt and good graphics. minimyth works well http://www.minimyth.org/ but you could also use the new quite cheap kingston serial 32G flash disks. You can optimize the frontend to do your audio and graphics as you want. I do not do commercial flagging as each of the channels does there to thing to break it (eg 10 turns off the logo BEFORE and on AFTER the ad breaks. 7 skips blank frame pre and post amble etc). So cpu usage stays low. I'd use a wireless keyboard (logitek make a nice keyboard and numpad, the numpad makes a nice remote and keyboard is there when you need to internet- stuff that machine. I'd buy one DVD USB drive. Use it to install the frontend, then keep it on the backend. You can commit stuff to a dvd-iso on backend copy it to front end and burn on frontend. Wireless networking does work, but wired is much better here. James -- 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] Help with switch user
On Tuesday 10 November 2009 09:00:20 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > We can't help you unless you tell us what you want to do, *to what*. > Is this in GNOME? XFCE? Some other interface? This is just annoying noise a) The question has been answer before b) No matter what sort of session if your window/desktop manager says 'switch user' then the question applies. I'll accept the 'this is too hard' message with thanks to all James -- 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] Switching gnome workspaces with mouse scroll - Ubuntu 9.10
On Tuesday 10 November 2009 09:00:20 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > I upgraded to Karmic last night but I prefer one panel at the top of my > screen so I removed the bottom panel and the workspace switcher in that and > added another applet to the top panel. > But now I can't switch between the spaces with mouse scrolling, I know the > key combo to do this but mouse would be nice as well. > > Does anyone know how to re-enable this? > My research so far hasn't shown up anything other than the bottom applet > does it by default and the help files aren't very verbose. This is compiz settings James -- 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] Help with switch user
On Monday 09 November 2009 08:12:14 you wrote: > On Sat, Nov 07, 2009 at 01:09:00PM +0800, jam wrote: > > Hi > > on the various distros log-out-switch-user prompts for a password as the > > second user logs out and the first user is exposed again. Tried for weeks > > to disable this anal fettish but I cannot find where. Help please, > > anybody ... (This is just like lock on screen saver, but that is easy to > > disable) James > > PS please no naive lectures about how I don't want to do this, I do! > > To summarise, you want anyone to login with no password required? > (except maybe root) > > I think the best place to do this is PAM. You could set it so they > still need passwords via ssh but not the console gui (gdm/kdm). Actually THAT is easy, this is much harder: UserA logs in (auto or with password) UserB comes along so UserA does logout->switch user UserB logs in to the new session, does their thing and logs out UserA's session is now exposed behind a password dialog. This gives her the sh-one-ts as userB could have done F7 to browse her session before the logout, but now needs to enter her password to access her (UserA)'s original session. This looks exactly like the screensaver password dialog but I cannot find how sessionA is locked when switching to sessionB. James -- 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] Ubuntu Server LTS
On Tuesday 03 November 2009 20:49:58 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > I will soon be replacing a Windows 2003 server in a small business with > some Linux variant. Traditionally I have used Debian or Centos, I have been > wary of using Ubuntu (whether justified or not, I was not confident with it > on a server). > > Im now slowly being won over with others telling me how successful their > ubuntu server installs have been, so now Im considering using ubuntu server > edition. > > My question is .. the next LTS version is 10.04, but my deployment will > likely be in January. What do people think the best course of action is? > install 9.04 and upgrade, install last LTS (I think 8.10 ??) and upgrade, > install last LTS and dont upgrade or go my traditional route and use Centos > or Debian. I really hope this does not become a distro flame war, its > really not intended (or wanted), just some idea's and hopefully experience. > Unless people have specific reasons they would not use Ubuntu on a server, > I am more interested in hearing thoughts on the Ubuntu upgrade path rather > than using a different distro (unless of course it is justified, not just > distro preference). I ran my server (LAMP Mail and DNS) on ubuntu for a couple of years without problems and with quite positive impressions. Eventually I needed new compiler and qt4 support for my mythtv and at that time I let my preference for yast prevail. The advantage of LTS was a quite nice LTS-LTS++ upgrade where as upgrading version to version was much more iffy - sometimes OK, not always So if you were going ubuntu i'd install the last lts then upgrade and not 9.10 to next LTS. James -- 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] Re: Advice Request for moving a Ubuntu installation to a larger disk and 4Gb RAM
On Friday 30 October 2009 09:00:04 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > Thanks everyone for the advice. > > > > Following the KISS principle I am going to: > > 1. Live within the RAM can access now (just over 3Gb) > > 2. Use a single Linux partition (besides boot) on the larger drive > > I find it useful putting /home on a separate partition. Then if you > totally hose your o/s, you can just reinstall and keep all your existing > data and app preferences (though of course you'll need to reinstall any > additional apps). Totally agree with Sonia about root and home. and [when] not [if] you hose your install. Upgrades/BadThing Try New Distro all that sort of stuff. Why on earth would you put /boot on a separate partition. That is an artifact of pre-war motherboards (TheGreatWar). James -- 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] Advice Request for moving a Ubuntu installation to a larger disk and 4Gb RAM
On Wednesday 28 October 2009 18:37:16 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > jam writes: [snip] > > > >> > Based on what you have said do yourself a favour and don't do LVM. > >> > LVM is a wonderful idea but it requires that you understand > >> > statistics related to disk failure and the consequences of that. [snip] > Ah! You are making the assumption that LVM implies multiple disks! I did indeed misread the original posting as 90G AND 500G disks and all of my ramblings were based on that assumption. Apologies James -- 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] Advice Request for moving a Ubuntu installation to a larger disk and 4Gb RAM
[snip] > > Based on what you have said do yourself a favour and don't do LVM. LVM > > is a wonderful idea but it requires that you understand statistics > > related to disk failure and the consequences of that. > > This comment makes no sense to me: in what way does LVM change the risks > associated with disk failure? I can't think of *anything* that is at all > different in that regard. [snip] > Heh. Aside from the LVM bit, this is almost certainly the best advice the > OP has gotten. (Even LVM may be right; I just don't understand what James > is trying to say the problem is yet. ;) From 2nd year stats (and subject to the ravages of time on my memory): a display array of 10x20 1000hour lamps will have a lamp fail on average every 20 min !! According to Seagate the failure rate of 2 disks is much greater than 2x failure rate of 1 disk http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1090724 Along with all the cute benefits that LVM offer is a much higher disk failure rate. Is the windows-linux convert going to pay attention to needed backup regime? I don't believe it is in the best interest of this user to do kewl rad stuff! James -- 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] Advice Request for moving a Ubuntu installation to a larger disk and 4Gb RAM
On Wednesday 28 October 2009 09:00:06 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > I am about to upgrade a HP notebook to a larger hard disk (replace the 90Gb > disk with 500Gb) and double the RAM (from 2Gb to 4Gb). In addition, to > complicate matters, I would like to LVM on the larger disk to manage the > linux partitions. > > This is the final stage of my slow move from Windows to Linux. I have the > luxury of having two HP notebooks with similar but not identical hardware > specifications (NC8430 and 6910p) to test various aspects of the migration > (Virtual Box, video drivers for Ubuntu, etc). the current situation is that > one machine has my Windows XP environment and the other my Ubuntu > environment (Jaunty). > > I want to end up with a Windows partition and LVM managed Linux partitions > on > HP NC8430, 500Gb HDD, 4Gb RAM > > Here are the requests for advice: > > 1. What do I need to do to get Ubuntu to use 4Gb RAM? My current Jaunty > installation only recognises around 3Gb. Is this just a kernel upgrade > or > > 2. How complicated is it to move my "linux setup" from a single partition > to the lvm partitions on the larger disk. My latest thought is to: > a. update Ubuntu on the hard disk to match the current working environment > (fix apt-get config files and/or dpkg -l on both and diff them, and them > update) > b. If I copy /usr and /var from the working environment to the new > environment will that cause problems? (it will save re-installing some > software that isn't managed by apt) > c. copy /home from working environment to new disk (recommended method? > rsync to new drive connected via USB?) > d. use pgdump / pgrestore to move postgres databases across > e. Backup new disk > f. find out what doesn't work? What have I missed? Based on what you have said do yourself a favour and don't do LVM. LVM is a wonderful idea but it requires that you understand statistics related to disk failure and the consequences of that. In your role of 'moving from windows ...' not a clever move. Over 960M of ram you need PAE memory paging with the 4G or the 64G scheme. The reasons pros and cons depend very much on your sort of applications. Until you are able to answer those questions just live with what you get and forget the extra ram beyond 3G. Transfer the OS from 1 disk to another is easy unless you've never done it umm hint boot on a CD and transfer not-live file systems. Heck I'd tell *my mate* to re-install, not to try to fiddle kernels to use all ram and not to contemplate LVM. James -- 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] quiet computer
On Thursday 08 October 2009 08:36:45 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > I've read that sinking it in an oil bath reduces the noise and gets rid > of the heat quite well... > Sunflower oil is OK but pure Aceite De Oliva Espanol Moro Pure Olive oil > is best. > Make sure it's the 100% pure (no cholesterol) so you can also drain it > six monthly and cook some hot chips in it as well. > My Italian wife swears by it. > > Ciao, > Ben > > Ken Foskey wrote: > > My computer is too noisy. It is not graphics because it is not used > > much and when it does there is enough background noise. It is the power > > supply and cpu fan that kicks in with cron at 2 am in the morning. > > > > I was thinking about adding fluid cooling, is this worth it or else > > can I where can I get a powerful 24 hour home system that will run > > quietly? I'm sure that lots of people have their favorite solutions Mine is ANTEC NSK1380 case http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAvdOd_VBnQ I use AMD BE2350 dual core, a couple of TV cards (Twinhan and DIVICO) and a 1T WD green caviar disk. This server draws 30W (at the meter with a stopwatch) and you can't hear it in the same room. (cause it's low power the CPU fan is not WINDING) For bigger boxes the passive CPU coolers are kewl http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/ CPU PARTS -> AMD SOCKET 2 -> FAN COOLERS You *can* get quiet without the technical overload. James -- 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] RE WIRELESS BROADBAND ON NETBOOKS
On Thursday 01 October 2009 10:00:04 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > We use Westnet Huawei e169 usb drives on 701 EEEPC's > I guess any reseller that uses Optus as a carrier will be the same. > We use Mint and it has worked on Puppy and Ubuntu > The default E program wont find 3g networks for us. > The trick is to get the settings right for APN and the dns servers for your > ISP. There are no pass words. > I have to say Westnet were very unhelpful, for the first time in five > years. But Linux is a mystery to them it seems. Did not iinet just absorb westnet. H > Thank god for the internet > community As most people use Microsoft these usb modems come with a small > connection program and you need to use latter versions on Linux that bypass > the set-up program. If you hunt around you can find work arounds if you do > not want to up date you OS. Our systems operate in rural areas and an Optus > or Telstra service was the only option for us. I suspect that all the other > carriers and modems will be the same though. James -- 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] PVR/DVR software(open source)
On Thursday 01 October 2009 10:00:04 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > Does anyone know a good freeware for tv so you can schedule tv recording > online and so on.I was using Mythtv on Ubuntu doesnt have those features > like icetv has. Any recommendation? I'm not being being a myth advocate ... but myth beats any thing else that I've seen, what features are you missing ? http://tigger.ws/ProgramListing.png http://tigger.ws/RecordingSched.png James -- 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] 40 Years of Unix
On Tuesday 01 September 2009 10:00:04 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > [snip] > >> The GUI paradigism allows people who have not learned to talk to > >> computers to communicate using pictures. > >> This picture mode is slow and cumbersome (imagine talking to a Russian, > >> but using pictures to convey your point) > >> > > > > I beg to differ. > > > > Let me see. GUI stands for "graphic user interface" which does not mean > > pictures and it doesn NOT mean slow and cumbersome ... and when I used my > > first X windows (late 80's DEC station) I moved away from the shell only > > thing FAST ... especially if you need to look after a number of apache > > servers, all in differnt places/cities/countries and want to compare > > their httpd.conf's. You can do that by ssh's into all of the machine > > using 4 xterms side by side. > > > > You can't do that without a, what you call slow and cumbersome, GUI. [snip] >> Let me see. GUI stands for "graphic user interface" which does not mean > > pictures Goodness!! what is a "graphic user interface"? Jobst I started this with outrageous comments so I should honour the discussion. INIT can be a shell, but is usually not. [1] I would not argue that a window is a GUI, so running 4 xterms in a window is an argument for, not against! Try to specify a GUI for mplayer or transcode and you will find it an impossible task. The main argument I have against GUIs is the inflexible and targeted-at-naive- users implementation [rm file - do you really want to do that - yes - if you do the file is gone - yes - sorry I can't allow that]. The GUIs I write say rm file : gone! After a while the users love it, but only after a while. I guess a user-level setting would be good, but I've never bothered, and I fear 'keep it dialed down just in case you have a stupid moment'. Much easier to alias rm "rm -i" in a shell than likewise in a GUI. So in general GUIs use the RH brain to operate. [2] That mode is intuitive and easy to learm, just because of the way we are built. CLI is a LH brain activity [logical, calculating etc] Arguing one is better is foolish. I've never seen a GUI that is faster or less cumbersome than a CLI each in the hands of a suitable user. Anybody have any examples either way? [1] initrd usually invokes 'linuxrc' to set the preamble for switchroot and the main system booting. There it is a shell. [2] most people have LH brain dominant and the RH one arty and intuitive. It is not clear if this is reversed in left handed people. http://www.funderstanding.com/content/right-brain-vs-left-brain Girl brains and boy brains are different and despite years of rude comments girls multi task and boys dont. Girls *seem* to prefer GUIs. Any comments ? The OT stuff is so closely related to the hard core stuff it is hard to decide what is and what is not relevant. Sorry if my judgment is in error. James -- 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] Writing Double layer DVD-R - problems
On Friday 28 August 2009 07:20:35 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > I've tried Kubuntu 8.04, Xubuntu 9.04 and LinuxMint7 (Ubuntu 9.04 I > think) on different PCs with different DVD-RW drives. > > All drives will "copy" a double layer DVD to an .iso file, but none will > record the .iso to an 8.4 gb double layer (single-sided) DVD+R (Teac). > > I've googled endlessly and while I find many with the same problem, > nobody seems to have a solution. > > Many posts mention mkisofs and how it is no longer included in Ubuntu, > having been replaced with genisoimage and I've found posts that say that > double-layer dvd's can be burned under Suse, I havent found anything > mentioned about being able to do the same under Ubuntu (or derivatives). > > My LG GSA-4613B dvd-rw sees the blank disk correctly, as do my other > DVD-RW drives, but none will write. > > I have set the DVD size to 8.4gb in K3b, and I have tried Brasero and > Gnomebaker. None will burn. > > Any advice or links appreciated, else I'll do a temp install of Suse to > see if that does work. I use k3b because IMHO the others cause grief, but I wrote dual layer and double sided RW without noticing. Twas a while ago so I cannot say which distro it was. The dual-layer RW discs cost $$ and failed within a year! James -- 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] Re: 40 Years of Unix
On Friday 28 August 2009 07:20:35 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: [snip] > and another aspect of Unix, which seems to have repeated > itself (or not?) with "unix-like" linux is the different flavours: > Solaris, BSD, AIX, Ultrix (now apparently known as HPUX). [snip] These are legal issues not technical ones. There are two categories: licensed (from the unix license holders) unix, but who may not use unix(c) to describe their product eg AIX, HPUX (I worked for HP in the '80's and it was HPUX even then) and things that work just like (or even better) than unix but which do not derive from the source. eg minix, linux, bsd Long long ago unix was given away to educational institutions. I do not know how tainting with that affects current offerings. James -- 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] Re: 40 Years of Unix
On Wednesday 26 August 2009 10:00:06 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > The point about shells has already been made, but some people have got a > bit sidetracked. Shells are command-interpreters; they mediate between the > user and the kernel. Applications in Unix, as has already been said, get > to run because a shell is spawned by the fork() system process. This is as > true for GUI applications as for command-line text ones. [snip] not with standing, not stupid, so I do know that opining that GUI s are slow and cumbersome compared to the CLI will provoke ummm response. What did surprise me was that the list of things GUIs *are* good at was not emphasized at all. Kinda like going to the YR12 ball in a F1 car rather than a stretch limo. Hearking back to Marghanita's original query: shells are an important part of the system and Wine, Java etc are apps not shells. Thanks for lively criticism :-) James -- 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] 40 Years of Unix
On Tuesday 25 August 2009 10:00:05 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > >> >> Can you throw light on the demise of the "unix shell"? [snip] > Respectfully, I disagree with your assumptions here: [snip] See that is my disclosure of biased, old fashioned opinion. See where it says '40 Years of Unix' yup, I was there. so James -- 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] 40 Years of Unix
On Sunday 23 August 2009 16:38:37 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > >> Can you throw light on the demise of the "unix shell"? > >> > >> Marghanita > > > > I'm guessing 'contextually', that you're asking about the demise of the > > original Thompson shell that shipped with Unix? Since replaced by Bash, > > Csh et al? > > Possibly, my memory of the idea behind Unix Shells...was similar to the > concept of the Java machine and possibly the Browser, KDE and Gnome. Wine > would be another candidate - ie you would implement MSWindows as a shell, > running on Linux. > > No one seems to be suggesting that KDE or Gnome are shells. I am trying to > figure out > where Bash etc fits into Linux. Does Gnome/KDE run in a Bash shell? Marghanita no, the shell is how you talk to the computer. The different shells are just slight permutations of the language that you use ie Boune shell (a pun by the authors on born again), bash is a much richer version of this, korn shell, C shell have their own dialects, dash, ash etc implement small-lean versions, heck even winders had a rudimentary one called 'command.com' ie the c:\. Next came X-windows, the applications that you put on the (often pretty) screen were managed by a window manager. Next was desktops ie KDE, Gnome these are managers with extra functionality. Ie launchers, icons configuration options etc etc. The GUI paradigism allows people who have not learned to talk to computers to communicate using pictures. This picture mode is slow and cumbersome (imagine talking to a Russian, but using pictures to convey your point) And yes, in plain view or behind the scenes, KDE and Gnome do run in a shell (man startkde eg) But to be technical: init (the primaeval had crafted process) forks (makes a clone of itself) and execs (runs a new process) on the copy. Later on (in the boot process) shells do exactly the same, but you do not have to use a shell to fork-exec. So init->lot of other processes->shell->your application java, kde, wine etc are all examples of 'your-application' which can fork-exec even more. And much more fascinating magical stuff: zombies, children who die when the parents die, daemons ... :-) but for today here endith the lesson, but a fascinating world to explore James -- 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] 40 Years of Unix
On Sunday 23 August 2009 10:00:05 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > > > > >> Can you throw light on the demise of the "unix shell"? > > > > Demise?! :-) > > I have to agree with Jeff: the only places I have really seen the shell > vanish it has been moving — albeit painfully slowly at times — to being > replaced by a more powerful programming model, universal scripting. > > For example, much of the traditional Unix shell use on MacOS has vanished, > replaced by OSA and AppleScript, or by Automator. In KDE they are > gradually crawling towards more ubiquitous "desktop wide" scripting. I > presume that GNOME is doing more or less the same. My daughter created the web page for her business on her Mac. It is hosted on my server. After a morning of her trying to sync the two with the myriad of buy-this-and-all-your-woes-are-over, on the phone I talked her through a Terminal, rsync with ssh. Gobsmacked ! now she just uses it all the time. http://honeytreephotography.com.au James -- 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] Cheap 3G mobile internet broadband plans ... what they don't have!
On Friday 07 August 2009 10:00:05 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > That's a given, mobile internet or not! > > 2009/8/6 Kevin Shackleton > > > Telstra == being shafted. Could not agree more .. the masters of "If on the first rainy tuesday of a leap year you stand with one foot in a copper vase of water on a mountain top during a thunderstorm and proclaim that all gods are bastards " THEN ... (Appologies to Terry Pratchett) James -- 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] Cheap 3G mobile internet broadband plans ... what they don't have!
On Thursday 06 August 2009 09:22:35 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > How much better are the more expensive 3G plans over the cheaper plans? > > > > I have just tried out a 3G broadband dongle on linux > > Model : E160 > > I tried to get it to work on Centos 5.3 but failed. couldn't get > > "usb_modeswitch" to give a "/dev/USB0" . > > However tried on Debians "LENNY" and was it was trivial to get online > > using the E160. > > (just needed the dial string) > > > > I tried the 1Gig residential plan & found it wanting. > > > > The dialup PPP connection ONLY allows 4 incoming ports it seems. > > > > Among other Apps, I would like to remotely connect via SSH. > > > > Do the higher priced plans have less retrictions ? > > Do the higher priced plans support SSH? > > > > I found only 4 ports open. as below . > > > > r...@debian:~# netstat -an | grep "LISTEN " > > tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:34376 0.0.0.0:* > > LISTEN tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:111 0.0.0.0:* > > LISTEN tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:631 0.0.0.0:* > > LISTEN tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:25 0.0.0.0:* > > LISTEN > > Netstat shows you the ports where you have a daemon actively listening > for connections; this has nothing at all to do with what traffic the > network would allow. > Not having ssh show up here just means you don't have an sshd listening - > it says nothing about whether you'd be able to connect to that port or not. > > The bottom two (internet printing protocol and SMTP) are listening on > localhost only, so won't be accessible over the network anyway. > > The top two are more concerning; port 111 is RPC, which you don't want > to expose to the internet; I have no idea what 34376 is. If you run > "sudo netstat -pan", it will tell you which process is bound to that > socket. > > >From your point of view, the IP address you're assigned is going to be > > more significant; do > you get an RFC1918 address (ie, an address in one of the networks > 192.168.0.0/16, 172.16.0.0/12, or 10.0.0.0/8), or is it a public IP? I just setup one for a customer on telstra: They all have a private 10.x.x.x address so you can browse OUT using masq but getting BACK to your box is an issue. I resolved that by establishing a VPN to a known server. In the end performance (perth) was so dismal that he gave up. Data transfer was from nearly 400KB / sec down to 10KB and changed on a second to second basis. His app was data-collection for dynamic structure analysis. (B is bytes, not bits) But there would seem to be no point in *any* port blocking in this picture. I found none. James -- 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] can I make this recursive?
On Tuesday 28 July 2009 05:59:39 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > I have a n000b question. > > I found a neat housework script to change case & space but > > I'm wondering is it possible to run it recursively? > > If so where do I put the -r in it? > > > > #!/bin/bash > > for f in *; do > > file=$(echo $f | tr A-Z a-z | tr ' ' _) > > [ ! -f $file ] && mv "$f" $file > > done > > > > cheers, > > Meryl > > Sorry - ignore my suggestion - it is broken, as it would also capitalise > the path to the file. I must still be half asleep :) A whole swag of this sort of thing comes to mind: for f in `find . -type f` do ... done James -- 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] odd system loss
On Wednesday 15 July 2009 09:18:46 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > This is mostly a 'wot hoppen?' and 'wot's going on' -- but advice what > > > >> to do about it would be very welcome. > >> > >> I was using a bash script with convert (from ImageMagick) to convert a > >> lot of big tiff files, I mistyped a / for a x ... everything froze, > >> and when I goto ut (it rebooted) there was only a Error 15: File not > >> found. This was Ubuntu 8.04 > >> > >> I was able to swap to the second disk, and, editing root, was able to > >> boot Debian AMD 64. > >> > >> The first disk (actually sdb) seems OK, I checked with fsck, BIOS > >> recognises it, and I mounted /home partition and backed up -- for what > >> was not already backed up. fsck has a problem with /dev/sdb3, which > >> might be the swap ... > >> > >> I would like to get the OS back -- the 64 is for experimenting and > >> does not have programs I use (and keyboard is eccentric); can I ? > >> reinstall something? check something else? > >> > >> most of all though, what could have happened? I guess I know just > >> enough to screw up. > > > > I recently had a problem with imagemagick utils filling the disk to 100% > > which makes your problem seem familiar. > > That shouldn't cause GRUB to report error 15, which is that the kernel or > initrd image on disk was not found — baring concurrent activity that tried > to update those, I suppose. > > > BTW building imagemagick from source cured the issue but both SuSE and > > ubuntu did it > > I am curious to know what the specific change this made, and which > addressed the issue, was? Daniel I did not spend the time :-) I was using gallery2 on my www server. Using imagemagick specifically 'identify' the attached file caused 100% du I rebuilt the latest stable (um ... ImageMagick-6.5.4-0.tar.bz2) problem vanished and I continued with OtherStuff. DiskFull means no shutdown and no sync means PowerSwitch can lead to all sorts including grub errors. James -- 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] odd system loss
On Tuesday 14 July 2009 10:00:06 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > This is mostly a 'wot hoppen?' and 'wot's going on' -- but advice what > to do about it would be very welcome. > > I was using a bash script with convert (from ImageMagick) to convert a > lot of big tiff files, I mistyped a / for a x ... everything froze, > and when I goto ut (it rebooted) there was only a Error 15: File not > found. This was Ubuntu 8.04 > > I was able to swap to the second disk, and, editing root, was able to > boot Debian AMD 64. > > The first disk (actually sdb) seems OK, I checked with fsck, BIOS > recognises it, and I mounted /home partition and backed up -- for what > was not already backed up. fsck has a problem with /dev/sdb3, which > might be the swap ... > > I would like to get the OS back -- the 64 is for experimenting and > does not have programs I use (and keyboard is eccentric); can I ? > reinstall something? check something else? > > most of all though, what could have happened? I guess I know just > enough to screw up. I recently had a problem with imagemagick utils filling the disk to 100% which makes your problem seem familiar. Boot on CD do a df on your disk and rm -fr /tmp/* James BTW building imagemagick from source cured the issue but both SuSE and ubuntu did it -- 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] Volume control
On Tuesday 14 July 2009 10:00:06 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > have a curious situation. I have a Sound Blaster Live card in my > Ubuntu64 9.04 system and have turned the internal card off in the bios. > > The volume control tells me it is set for the Sound Blaster but does not > control the volume. I have to open it fully and then adjust the volume > from there using the "front" control. The "Master" has no effect on > volume at all. > > Is this normal for Ubuntu 9.04 and if so, how can I set it up so that > volume is easily controlled from the widget directly? And BTW I found the SB live and value caused a raft of subtle errors and stuttering audio (made much worse by pulse) using various asus and gigabyte MBs, from SuSE 10.3 -11.1 and Gutsy - Jaunty (all various dual core AMD) In the end I use the SB only for midi and onboard for audio. Easy in SuSE serious editing on ubuntu. Use the alsa mixer, not the icon vol control James -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] rdiff-backup
Wearing my "I wish somebody had said this, useful, sharing" cap and not my "dragons and swords" one I declare that, except for those interested in pages- n-pages of python stack traces or very simple systems, rdiff-backup is unmentionably awefull. I backup daily 4 systems with a couple of 100s G each. rdiff-backup does not play with other versions, the client and server machines are different, and rdiff-backup needs to be on both machines. Some work, some dont. All versions complained about obsolete modules. As you may expect, winter power fails during the backup happened. This resulted in chaos that took significant manual input to fix. http://www.sanitarium.net/golug/rsync_backups.html shows rsync is easy and justworks(tm) Here is a snip of my rsync backup script: It uses 1 backup+30 tinybits of space for the backup A tiny bit of logic to avoid regetting everything after a failure would help ie don't cycle and copy unless all suceeded #! /bin/bash DAY=`date +%a` Cycle all the daily backups rm -fr /backup/tigger.etc.30 rm -fr /backup/tigger.home.30 rm -fr /backup/tigger.mail.30 rm -fr /backup/tigger.root.30 ... for (( i=29 ; i ; i-- )) do let j=$i+1 if [ -d /backup/tigger.etc.$i ] && [-d /backup/tigger.etc.1 ]; then mv /backup/tigger.etc.$i /backup/tigger.etc.$j fi if [ -d /backup/tigger.home.$i ] && [-d /backup/tigger.home.1 ]; then mv /backup/tigger.home.$i /backup/tigger.home.$j fi if [ -d /backup/tigger.mail.$i ] && [-d /backup/tigger.mail.1 ]; then mv /backup/tigger.mail.$i /backup/tigger.mail.$j fi if [ -d /backup/tigger.root.$i ] && [-d /backup/tigger.root.1 ]; then mv /backup/tigger.root.$i /backup/tigger.root.$j fi ... done tigger echo tigger >>/tmp/mail date >> /tmp/mail rsync -xa -e ssh --exclude=.gvfs --delete --link-dest=/backup/tigger.home.2 tigger:/home/ /backup/tigger.home.1 rsync -xa -e ssh --exclude=.gvfs --delete --link-dest=/backup/tigger.root.2 tigger:/root/ /backup/tigger.root.1 rsync -xa -e ssh --delete --link-dest=/backup/tigger.etc.2 tigger:/etc//backup/tigger.etc.1 rsync -xa -e ssh --delete --link-dest=/backup/tigger.mail.2 tigger:/var/spool/mail/ /backup/tigger.mail.1 ssh tigger df -h | grep '^/dev' >> /tmp/mail ... James -- 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] pulseaudio [Was: Re: microphone / skype / ubuntu 9.04 jaunty]
On Tuesday 19 May 2009 09:05:41 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > The mythtv folk are bitching that you can't nuke pulseaudio in 9.04 it is > > entrenched. > > Of course you can remove it -- just 'apt-get remove pulseaudio'. Sure, that > will prompt to remove the ubuntu-desktop meta-package, but that won't make > a lick of difference to your running system (it's a meta-package after > all). It will only come back to bite you when you decide to upgrade -> > that's what the ubuntu-desktop meta-package helps with. > > An easy way to disable pulseaudio: > > touch ~/.pulse_a11y_nostart > > (see /usr/bin/pulse-session, used by /etc/X11/Xsession.d/70pulseaudio) I will feed that to the mythtv folk, thanks. Their trunk won't run if pulseaudio is detected (deliberate: pulseaudioOnOff ();) James -- 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] Re: microphone / skype / ubuntu 9.04 jaunty
On Tuesday 19 May 2009 07:28:23 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > What a mess this is! > Found this skype forum: > http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=334081 > I'd like to follow the advice of one of the posters at the end but my sound > settings aren't the same. > > Seriously thinking about downgrading all the long, sad way back to 8.04 - > well, it crossed my mind. > I'm screwed if it's skype's fault and they don't update; I'm potentially > less screwed if it is ubuntu. > > Nuking pulseaudio didn't do anything. > > Installing all of that junk above didn't do anything. > > Game over. The mythtv folk are bitching that you can't nuke pulseaudio in 9.04 it is entrenched. James -- 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] recovering xfs
On Friday 15 May 2009 21:03:06 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > Lessons learnt: > > > > - a journalling file system is bigger than what you see, 3Tb is really > > 3.3Tb when doing a direct copy. > > > > - Get lots of harddisk in the beginning. 750G drives really only give > > you 698G. It is annoying to be 300G short and have to go to the shop > > again. > > > > - Expect lots of wait time, hard errors on raid take a long time to > > give up. > > > > - Don't promise anything, expect it to fail. > > > > - LVM is really cool and well worth the time to rad up on it. I am now > > going to LVM my home system. > > I'm planning to do this as well. > I was thinking back to Mary's backup post last year and thinking if I could > do lvm snapshots with an external harddrive. Still a bit new to lvm > though. I think you have to install the alternate ubuntu cd to get lvm > right? (unless you are using the server install instead of the desktop). Terry Pratchett says the chance of a million to one event happening is 9 / 10. LVM is really kewl iff you do frequent (daily) backups. Otherwise we await your plainted cry about how you lost 100 zigabytes of unique photos ... james -- 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] Mythbuntu SD tuners connecting to digital set top box
On Tuesday 05 May 2009 07:34:12 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > Not having a digital set top box at the present, I'm wondering if > anyone has any experience connecting one to a mythbuntu box with SD > PCI tuners? > > I have a Mythubuntu 8.04 box with two PVR-150s and a telly cable > splitter running aerial cables to each tuner: > > 1. Do I need to have a 'twin-tuner' set top box to simultaneously > record two stations like I can now? > > Or > > 2. Do I merely plug the incoming aerial into the set top box then run > a cable to my aerial splitter box? > > I'm guess in short I'm assuming that I only need to put the digital > box in between my incoming aerial and my mythbox and nothing more > needs to be done - or is it more complicated that this? > > Many thanks for any advice/cluesticks given. What are you trying to do? The STB's I've seen take an Antenna and give out Video. So far this has nothing to do with myth, so myth still needs it's two antenna feed and if you have a video-input on the PVR-150 the you can feed the STB box output to myth. There is a whole domain that I've not explored which is controlling the STB vi myth, and I cannot imagine that this is standard 'talk' so I guess this is hairy to setup. The end result is myth has 2+STBchannels to play with. Umm the whole scenario seems cumbersome to me, why get a STB if not to use on a TV? Beware of RF stuff. Every single split/join in the antenna cable introduces significant loss to the signal. James -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Re: Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon mirror?
On Saturday 02 May 2009 10:00:04 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > Anyone know of (or how to find) an Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon mirror? > > > > Yes, way old (at 2 years...), but I'm trying to maintain an old > > machine that I don't want to upgrade. Gutsy has dropped out of the > > Ubuntu mirrors, and googling on "Ubuntu Gutsy mirror" etc isn't > > getting me far... > > Everything back to Warty is available from: > > http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/releases/ All the attempts at good advice are naive :-) I have embedded systems in the middle of the ocean with no internet and for years they *just work* and I don't need, want, or dare upgrade. (pulse audio on newer versions screws the audio) My customer wants to add extra usb-serial ports: easy install gutsy, build- essential, qt3 and the slug chat about gutsy solves everything - NOT head /etc/apt/sources.list deb http://old-releases.ununtu.com/ubuntu gutsy main restricted universe multiverse deb http://old-releases.ununtu.com/releases gutsy main restricted universe multiverse And [snip] Err http://old-releases.ununtu.com gutsy/main Packages Sub-process bzip2 returned an error code (2) Get:14 http://old-releases.ununtu.com gutsy/restricted Packages bzip2: (stdin) is not a bzip2 file. [snip] And [snip] Failed to fetch http://old-releases.ununtu.com/ubuntu/dists/gutsy/main/binary- amd64/Packages.bz2 Sub-process bzip2 returned an error code (2) [snip] And W: GPG error: http://old-releases.ununtu.com gutsy Release: The following signatures were invalid: NODATA 1 NODATA 2 Can anybody show me the way out of the mire? Thanks James -- 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] Increasing RAM
On Sunday 19 April 2009 10:00:03 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > On Sunday 19 April 2009 00:16:35 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > >> I've decided to increase the RAM on my home CentOS server. As best I > >> can recall, the accepted wisdom is to have SWAP approx.~ 2 x RAM. Or > >> was that approx.~ 50% of RAM? > >> > >> Can someone point me in the direction of an explicit tutorial on how > >> I might go about increasing SWAP without destroying data on my other > >> partitions please? > >> > >> Or if I'm actually upping the RAM, should I just not worry about it? > >> > >> Info I'm guessing would be relevant; > > > > Of course this is cockamany, urban myth, etc and typically you > > increase RAM and need even less swap than before > > Actually, back in the day this was a good and solid guide, both for > performance and safety reasons. Today, less so, but I don't think it is > quite as laughable or untrue as you suggest. From the days of my first system (PDP11, 100K RAM, 15MB disk) till today I cannot see why this opinion is held. I first encounted it as a RedHat recommendation. Pray wax lyrical ... > > EXCEPT for 1 tragic circumstance: Never *suspend* unless you have as > > much SWAP as RAM. > > You mean suspend to disk, not suspend to RAM, right? Swap is irrelevant > to the later, and the amount you need varies with which of the three > implementations of the former you choose. > > However, all of them require as much swap as you have *active memory*, > not as much as RAM — although, obviously, if you have no discardable > pages[1] then you need the two to be equal. If your active RAM is not equal to physical RAM then the systems is not doing ir right (your definition of active ram ?) > > Suspend writes all RAM starting at the beginning of swap and over > > everything along the way. > > No, it doesn't. It uses the swap storage space just like the normal > kernel, except for adding some private accounting information and a > different header to make it possible to detect that it was used to > suspend to disk. OK it starts SOMEWHERE in swap then writes over everything. In any event I lost my home partition (root swap home) > If it behaved as you describe[2] then it would corrupt memory on the way > through as it overwrote swapped data (and, then, no one would ever > report a successful suspend to disk. :) I never use any suspend and clearly don't appreciate the fine detail, but how would this ever work 1G RAM 2G swap VasttExtravagentApp using 1.9G of swap, then suspend-to-disk? James -- 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] Increasing RAM
On Sunday 19 April 2009 00:16:35 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > I've decided to increase the RAM on my home CentOS server. As best I can > recall, the accepted wisdom is to have SWAP approx.~ 2 x RAM. Or was > that approx.~ 50% of RAM? > > Can someone point me in the direction of an explicit tutorial on how I > might go about increasing SWAP without destroying data on my other > partitions please? > > Or if I'm actually upping the RAM, should I just not worry about it? > > Info I'm guessing would be relevant; Of course this is cockamany, urban myth, etc and typically you increase RAM and need even less swap than before for eg (my desktop) Mem: 4036296k total, 4014656k used,21640k free,96400k buffers Swap: 1004020k total, 32k used EXCEPT for 1 tragic circumstance: Never *suspend* unless you have as much SWAP as RAM. Suspend writes all RAM starting at the beginning of swap and over everything along the way. (and I activated suspend by dropping an earring on the keyboard :-) So if your use scenario has never used all your swap, add RAM and forget about adding swap otherwise do the math James -- 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] firefox/embed problem
On Thursday 16 April 2009 10:00:06 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > > > > I'm trying to use this snippet of code to embed a sound. I can't persuade > FF or Epiphany to respect the autostart attribute. I've tried variations > such as autostart=["0"|0|"false"|false|etc] but to no avail. > > BTW, the same code works correctly for both IE and Firefox on Mac and > Windows, so it really looks like a Linux problem :( > > Otherwise, what am I doing wrong? The world got complicated and you may not 'just do' this, also Watch your syntax! http://www.w3schools.com will take you on a journey the end of which is blurred. This DOES work on linux-firefox BUT the validator bitches! James ## # Error Line 14, Column 41: Attribute "src" exists, but can not be used for this element. …mbed height="30px" width="50px" src="lassbeg.mid" autostart="false" loop="fal ✉ You have used the attribute named above in your document, but the document type you are using does not support that attribute for this element. This error is often caused by incorrect use of the "Strict" document type with a document that uses frames (e.g. you must use the "Transitional" document type to get the "target" attribute), or by using vendor proprietary extensions such as "marginheight" (this is usually fixed by using CSS to achieve the desired effect instead). This error may also result if the element itself is not supported in the document type you are using, as an undefined element will have no supported attributes; in this case, see the element-undefined error message for further information. How to fix: check the spelling and case of the element and attribute, (Remember XHTML is all lower-case) and/or check that they are both allowed in the chosen document type, and/or use CSS instead of this attribute. If you received this error when using the element to incorporate flash media in a Web page, see the FAQ item on valid flash. # Error Line 14, Column 65: Attribute "autostart" is not a valid attribute …ht="30px" width="50px" src="lassbeg.mid" autostart="false" loop="false"> ✉ You have used the attribute named above in your document, but the document type you are using does not support that attribute for this element. This error is often caused by incorrect use of the "Strict" document type with a document that uses frames (e.g. you must use the "Transitional" document type to get the "target" attribute), or by using vendor proprietary extensions such as "marginheight" (this is usually fixed by using CSS to achieve the desired effect instead). This error may also result if the element itself is not supported in the document type you are using, as an undefined element will have no supported attributes; in this case, see the element-undefined error message for further information. How to fix: check the spelling and case of the element and attribute, (Remember XHTML is all lower-case) and/or check that they are both allowed in the chosen document type, and/or use CSS instead of this attribute. If you received this error when using the element to incorporate flash media in a Web page, see the FAQ item on valid flash. # Error Line 14, Column 78: Attribute "loop" is not a valid attribute. Did you mean "onkeydown" or "onkeyup"? …="lassbeg.mid" autostart="false" loop="false"> ✉ You have used the attribute named above in your document, but the document type you are using does not support that attribute for this element. This error is often caused by incorrect use of the "Strict" document type with a document that uses frames (e.g. you must use the "Transitional" document type to get the "target" attribute), or by using vendor proprietary extensions such as "marginheight" (this is usually fixed by using CSS to achieve the desired effect instead). This error may also result if the element itself is not supported in the document type you are using, as an undefined element will have no supported attributes; in this case, see the element-undefined error message for further information. How to fix: check the spelling and case of the element and attribute, (Remember XHTML is all lower-case) and/or check that they are both allowed in the chosen document type, and/or use CSS instead of this attribute. If you received this error when using the element to incorporate flash media in a Web page, see the FAQ item on valid flash. -- 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] chmod probs.
On Saturday 11 April 2009 10:00:04 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:
> > On Saturday 11 April 2009 00:06:56 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:
> > [snip]
> >
> > > > What am I missing?
> > >
> > > find(1), which is used to locate a list of files matching a given set
> > > of criteria, allowing you to do something like this:
> > >
> > > chmod -R 644 `find -name '*.jpg'`
> > >
> > > (Note the single-quotes around the glob pattern? Without that the
> > > shell would expand the pattern, which would cause a syntax error for
> > > the find command, and not do what you want.)
> > >
> > > There is a limit to the number of arguments you can pass to chmod,
> > > though, so it is generally speaking better to structure that like this:
> > >
> > > find -name '*.jpg' | xargs chmod -R 644
> > >
> > > That falls apart if any of your filenames have spaces in them, though,
> > > since xargs splits on *any* whitespace; to work around that use:
> > >
> > > find -name '*.jpg' -print0 | xargs -0 chmod -R 644
> > >
> > > See the manual pages for the fine detail, obviously.
> >
> > Um sure, but in this context too complicated IMHO
> > find . -type d -exec chmod 775 {} \;
> > find . -type f -exec chmod 664 {} \;
>
> need "" around the {} for filenames with spaces
Is that a thought experiment ? ... cause I tried it ! exactly as posted
Maybe I should have posted this
[eeyore] /home/jam/slug [60]% ll
total 4
-rw-r--r-- 1 jam users0 2009-04-11 07:51 silly name
drwxr-xr-x 2 jam users 4096 2009-04-11 07:51 slug/
[eeyore] /home/jam/slug [61]% find . -type d -exec chmod 775 {} \;
[eeyore] /home/jam/slug [62]% ll
total 4
-rw-r--r-- 1 jam users0 2009-04-11 07:51 silly name
drwxrwxr-x 2 jam users 4096 2009-04-11 07:51 slug/
[eeyore] /home/jam/slug [63]% find . -type f -exec chmod 664 {} \;
[eeyore] /home/jam/slug [64]% ll
total 4
-rw-rw-r-- 1 jam users0 2009-04-11 07:51 silly name
drwxrwxr-x 2 jam users 4096 2009-04-11 07:51 slug/
[eeyore] /home/jam/slug [65]% ll slug
total 0
-rw-rw-r-- 1 jam users 0 2009-04-11 07:51 silly name
James
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Re: [SLUG] chmod probs.
On Saturday 11 April 2009 10:00:04 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:
> > On Saturday 11 April 2009 00:06:56 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:
> > [snip]
> >
> > > > What am I missing?
> > >
> > > find(1), which is used to locate a list of files matching a given set
> > > of criteria, allowing you to do something like this:
> > >
> > > chmod -R 644 `find -name '*.jpg'`
> > >
> > > (Note the single-quotes around the glob pattern? Without that the
> > > shell would expand the pattern, which would cause a syntax error for
> > > the find command, and not do what you want.)
> > >
> > > There is a limit to the number of arguments you can pass to chmod,
> > > though, so it is generally speaking better to structure that like this:
> > >
> > > find -name '*.jpg' | xargs chmod -R 644
> > >
> > > That falls apart if any of your filenames have spaces in them, though,
> > > since xargs splits on *any* whitespace; to work around that use:
> > >
> > > find -name '*.jpg' -print0 | xargs -0 chmod -R 644
> > >
> > > See the manual pages for the fine detail, obviously.
> >
> > Um sure, but in this context too complicated IMHO
> > find . -type d -exec chmod 775 {} \;
> > find . -type f -exec chmod 664 {} \;
>
> need "" around the {} for filenames with spaces
Is that a thought experiment ? ... cause I tried it ! exactly as posted
James
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Re: [SLUG] chmod probs.
On Saturday 11 April 2009 00:06:56 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:
[snip]
> > What am I missing?
>
> find(1), which is used to locate a list of files matching a given set of
> criteria, allowing you to do something like this:
>
> chmod -R 644 `find -name '*.jpg'`
>
> (Note the single-quotes around the glob pattern? Without that the shell
> would expand the pattern, which would cause a syntax error for the find
> command, and not do what you want.)
>
> There is a limit to the number of arguments you can pass to chmod,
> though, so it is generally speaking better to structure that like this:
>
> find -name '*.jpg' | xargs chmod -R 644
>
> That falls apart if any of your filenames have spaces in them, though,
> since xargs splits on *any* whitespace; to work around that use:
>
> find -name '*.jpg' -print0 | xargs -0 chmod -R 644
>
> See the manual pages for the fine detail, obviously.
Um sure, but in this context too complicated IMHO
find . -type d -exec chmod 775 {} \;
find . -type f -exec chmod 664 {} \;
which does what he said he wanted to do without fussing about jpgs etc
"I have a bunch of directories with a bunch of files (pictures) in each.
I want to set directories to 775 and files to 664."
James
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Re: [SLUG] Anyone played with the Beagle yet?
On Friday 03 April 2009 14:21:42 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > Does anyone have any experience here with the Beagle? > http://beagleboard.org It looks very nice and it looks as if it's > supported in Angstrom. I'm about to try Jaunty. but cannot give feedback yet. If you are about to purchase, digikey ship at no charge, but do get the cables you need: https://specialcomp.com/beagleboard/order.htm mostly IDC10 to DB9M bulkhead (RS-232) cable. USB Mini-A to USB A Female OTG Cable (6-in). and this is most useful 5mm Power Plug to USB A Male Cable https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/RootfsFromScratch James -- 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] Sound Problem
On Wednesday 01 April 2009 09:00:06 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > Recently I had a Pentium 4 Celeron installed in my PC. Although it > replaced an AMD Athlon, the machine rebooted without problem and functions > fine, except for the sound. The Pentium came, I understand, with its own > soundcard, and I presume this is the problem. Any tips on how to set it > up? I should add that the Windows XP on the hard disk does produce sound, > so we are not talking about a basic problem with the hardware. Clark I (when an elderly and distinguished scientist says something is not possible then he is usually wrong) (and I have been so wrong in past proclamations eg All Mobos have at least one IDE port) but ... Your CPU has just about *nothing* to do with sound/no sound. As Martin said to change CPU you need to have changed motherboard and the new motherboard has no sound, or the sound is somehow tricky or even your disk is setup to use TheOldSoundcard and your new motherboard uses a NewSoundCard. Try booting with Knoppix or a liveCD to see if that works sound. (If you have a soundcard that card will surely work) Anybody want to walk him thru the modules bit? James -- 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] Re: [chat] Version control
On Thursday 19 March 2009 11:29:41 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > > > > Looking for some advice. I have used RCS version control for > > > > > writing LaTeX documents for some time, but am looking at the > > > > > advantages of using a distributed version control system. > > > > Is there any reason why you want to use a *distributed* VCS? For > > personal stuff it's probably overkill, and using a centralised VCS will > > make your life easier. In which case use Subversion. > > I would disagree on that point. Even in cases where something isn't > going to be distributed I would still prefer bzr over svn any day of > the week. I assume the same could be said for git and hg users. > > The newer tools tend to fix some of the old painful problems even when > used in a non DVCS fashion. > > Also a lot of us work on more than one machine these days. So even > though you are writing your thesis for instance it's nice to be able > to use it on multiple machines and branch it to try new ideas. While > VCSs do tend themselves to these processes, DVCSs tend to do a much > better job. Especially when it somes to merging. > > Well thats MHO anyway. John would you post reasons for your opinions so I (we) may consider them. As a long time CVS user, I really struggled with the paradigsm rift to svn. Now I would not consider anything else - but my situation is ME or ME and a small team distributed around the world. bzr is suited for it's purpose, but moi would never trade in svn for my use scenario. James -- 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] virtualisation solutions?
On Thursday 19 March 2009 10:00:05 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > >> I have not been able to get VMWARE to keep time on my dual AMDs > >> despite trying all the solutions I could find. (Guest loses 5min > >> /hour !) > > > > I vaguely remember a long time ago doing some rtc pokery to get this > > going. An alternative would be to frequently sync to an ntp server. > > That is what we refer to as a losing strategy: running NTP inside a > VMWare VM, or pretty much any VM, is going to make your life *MORE* > miserable, not less. > > NTP requires a whole bunch of things to work correctly, and a VM simply > cannot deliver them. Just use the host hardware clock, or a real > paravirtualized time source.[1] Point being on this sort of hardware (dual AMD) VMWARE fails miserably. > >> VirtualBox works a treat for me. Used to was that the network setup > >> to run as a server was hard-work, but is now as easy as VMWARE. > > > > It still looks like having proper network bridging (so the VMs are > > directly on the network just like any other host) is a pain in the > > bum. The solutions I've seen involve performing some arcane rituals > > with brctl and co. > > Configuring a bridge with brctl should be trivial on any sensible > distribution. Seriously, if you need software bridging it shouldn't be > harder than just defining a software bridge and adding the interface. Easy as it was (and was quite, but not very easy due to host problems eg setup 6 bridged interfaces and only 3 are created etc etc) the need to bridge is removed (this year releases) James -- 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] virtualisation solutions?
On Wednesday 18 March 2009 21:19:08 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > Well XenServer 5 would do it, but it's not FOSS. > > Virtualbox *might* if it's Solaris 10 (I haven't gotten 9 working yet), > > pretty sure the others will work - Windows will and I find it faster on > > my laptop than on bare metal. > > Yes, it's Solaris 10. I was under the impression that Virtualbox was > focused more on desktop virtualisation and is less geared for servers. > Is that incorrect? > > > Xen is pretty powerful, but there is still a lack of good, solid > > management tools that cover HA, iSCSI integration, replication, migration > > etc etc. > > A lack of good management tools is what concerns me. I want to get > productive quickly and not have to spend unnecessary time setting up > and managing. I don't need zillions of features, but I do want > something that's solid and easy to use. I have not been able to get VMWARE to keep time on my dual AMDs despite trying all the solutions I could find. (Guest loses 5min /hour !) VirtualBox works a treat for me. Used to was that the network setup to run as a server was hard-work, but is now as easy as VMWARE. Despite making progress in this area, VirtualBox does not like tickless or 1000Hz kernels. I recompile my CentOS kernels to use 100Hz and the host clock rate drops to Idle. Xp, ubuntu and suse guests seem to be fine with no fiddling. So I see no disadvantages in VB as a server. My servers all run an X + GUI for admin when you want, heck I even have LTSP Thin Clients using gPXE on a few MB disk, but network boot using PXE is a dream (achieved by some but oh so messy) 'Cause I want USB (and cause I'm pragmatic) I use only the sun version not the FOSS one. Jaames -- 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] Mythbuntu box shutting down at random
On Saturday 21 February 2009 02:31:08 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > I'm running a brand new Zalman CNPS7700 CPU fan > along with a brand new Seasonic S12II 430W PSU > with a 120mm fan in the machine. > > I checked the box when it keeled over while my > wife was watching the telly and it was rather hot. > It could be the box is not pushed far enough back > in the TV cabinet (big mother which holds > everything) so the air may not have been able to > move around properly regardless of the fans. I've > moved it right to the back (I had already cut a > hole out of the rear of the cabinet to allow the > box to vent properly - wife was not amused). > > I'm running memtest86+ at the moment and will > check what it says tomorrow morning. > > The machine has generally been running well and so > these odd self-reboots are quite odd. > > >... it would be difficult to determine I guess, > > until it > > completely fails. > Sad but true. When the machine fails, or at your leisure reboot, enter the BIOS screen, Health and check the temperatures. My myth machine (DNS, MAIL, WWW, DHCP) is on 24/7 so I was paranoid about power consumption. It runs cool, and by stopwatch at the meter it is 30W. Right now Perth is 30C (it's only 9:15) and CPU temp is 39C Last time (long ago) I checked a P4 it was over 130W so say 100W extra == 870 KwH pa == $105. Easy to justify a new mobo at $80 ish and my 2 DVICO tuner backend worked fine with a sempron processor ($25 ish) although I use a model name : AMD Athlon(tm) X2 Dual Core Processor BE-2300 because DB stuff is quicker (myth uses the DB a lot so after years you get the occasional 2 sec pause when skipping) James -- 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] How to get files off hard drive?
On Saturday 14 February 2009 10:00:06 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > Thanks for replying so quickly, Jake. > > After posting, I kept looking. I found a document on the web called > "Accessing a Fedora Logical Volume from Ubuntu". > > You were right about the need to install software. I did. > > The document next told me to load the dm-mod module. I did. > > It next told me to run vgscan. I did. > > I was told that all physical volumes for the volume group VolGroup00 > couldn't be found. That confirms your point about needing both disks > connected. > > I think I might get a second gadget and see what happens when both > physical volumes comprising the logical volume group are connected. > > I think that's my best shot, because I haven't got a clue about how I > might get the CPU fan on computer A going again. If I knew that, I would > also have known enough not to accept the default installation in Fedora > 9, in so far as it used LVM!! Unless you are lucky AND have an older mobo ie tiny heatsink and fan, the dead fan machine is irretrievably dead, mobo and cpu. James -- 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] How to get files off hard drive?
On Saturday 14 February 2009 10:00:06 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > Computer A, an old computer, was running Fedora 9. It had two hard > drives. Unawares, when I installed Fedora 9, I set things up using > Logical Volume Management. > > Computer A will no longer boot up. I suspect it has something to do with > the fact that the fan over the CPU doesn't run. > > I got computer B, another old computer, going, running Ubuntu 8.10. It > has a single hard drive and no facility to add a second. > > I hoped to be able to get data off the two old hard drives, in > particular, photographs. I got a gadget that allowed me to plug an IDE > drive into a USB port. I removed one of the old drives from computer A > and attached it to computer B via the gadget. > > When I run fdisk -l on computer B, I'm told that the attached drive is > sdb1. > > However, I can't mount sdb1. When I try, I get the message "unknown > filesystem type 'LVM2_member'". > > Does that mean that there's no way for me to get the data from computer > A's drives to computer B? > > Thanks for reading this. Leslie, being burnt by the absolute bizareness of some Dells I say this oh so softly ... a) Don't be silly b) Connect both A drives on an IDE cable, one as master one as slave if you had not already configured them so to (presumably) the single port on B c) Put them on the table or on a book, whatever. If you don't have 2 power cables, use the power supply from A Turn on and off both supplies at the same time (but don't be tragically exact) Now 50% chance B will boot from the A disks, if not use your favorite boot disk. To put this in perspective this is a 1 hour task for me Now the sage words: Until you can use your stats math to show that you need 20 (odd) bods in a room before 2 share a birthday, accept LVM is silly !!! Play with it, use it as appropriate, but do not rely on it !!! If the mechanical drudgery is too much heed Marys words about backups and never use LVM. Go away older wiser and sadder. James -- 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] useful bash tricks thread
On Monday 09 February 2009 10:00:09 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > > It's been a while since there's been a thread like this, so I thought > > > it would be fun :) > > > > > > so, have you got any? > > > > > > I've got 2 to share today: > > > > > > alt >and then > > > alt < > > > > > > for interactive shells, works kinda like ctrl r or !$ - that is, it > > > searches your history but in a strangely useful but different way > > > > The petrol in this car meaning this message is too vague - BASH does > > not > > do any of this READLINE in bash does so say do: > > set -o vi > > and all the above is completely false, and vi stuff applies instead > > > > So 'when using bash in emacs mode you can ... bla bla' Since we were having fun I just wanted to emphasize that there are other command edit methods. I would shrivel and die without vi, but for my shell I use emacs way and don't like the vi way - sheesh talk of baby-duck :-) James -- 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] useful bash tricks thread
On Saturday 07 February 2009 10:00:05 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > It's been a while since there's been a thread like this, so I thought it > would be fun :) > > so, have you got any? > > I've got 2 to share today: > > alt >and then > alt < > > for interactive shells, works kinda like ctrl r or !$ - that is, it > searches your history but in a strangely useful but different way The petrol in this car meaning this message is too vague - BASH does not do any of this READLINE in bash does so say do: set -o vi and all the above is completely false, and vi stuff applies instead So 'when using bash in emacs mode you can ... bla bla' James -- 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] Mythbuntu set up not 'quite' right
On Thursday 29 January 2009 10:00:05 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > >> I'm looking for some ideas to help me complete my > >> installation set-up. > >> > >> I've just installed Myth on top of Ubuntu 8.04.1. > > Out of curiosity, how does the price of an SD or HD > do it yourself pvr-style setup, e.g. MythTV or other, > compare to paying for a pvr from Topfield or Beyonwiz? > > SD Topfield ... approx $700.00, with 200 GB HDD > > HD Beyonwiz ... approx $1200.00, with 320 GB HDD > > I've had an SD toppy for, oh, four years now. Only hiccup > was a damaged IR pickup which was repaired under warranty. > Live TV? What is that? > > The only downside to the two PVRs I have played with: their > software is riddled with bugs. Not show stoppers, but real > annoying little gnats that have insane workarounds. These > machines are software heavy but ... sigh. I setup a mate with myth. He (and she who-must-be-obeyed) found the jeryness so bad that they bought a topfield and to quote him: the user interface compared to myth is unbelievably terrible. 50Hz vs 60Hz monitors, many frontends, many backends the whole gauntlet, myth jitters, but the user interface is 1000s times nicer. About to try VDPAU. James . -- 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] Subversion and original time stamps
On Friday 23 January 2009 10:00:03 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > I'm using Subversion for the first time (for a website). I would really > like to preserve the original (pre-svn), but svn import doesn't seem to do > this. Have I missed something? > > use-commit-times option only applies to new commits, not imports. > > All I could find on google was this script but the author himself calls it > "crude" so I'm wary of using it, on top of which it's two years old. > > http://svn.haxx.se/users/archive-2006-10/1345.shtml David, have I missed the problem? You have: StartHere Directories Files As you like You have read the arguments, you are learning, so you don't rock the boat, you make MyWWW trunk branchestags StartHere Directories Files As you like On your server svnadmin create /path/to/MyWWW I use /home/svn, I also use ssh, vi by saying this in .subversion/config [helpers] editor-cmd = vi [tunnels] myssh = /usr/bin/ssh -p 2346 -l svnuser svn import MyWWW svn+myssh://The.Server/home/svn/MyWWW There are oodles of access mechanisms, choose. Now check out your ORIGINAL unfiddled tree and start fiddling eg rm -fr MyWWW && svn co svn+myssh://The.Server/home/svn/MyWWW Fiddle I see no problem. Mail me if you want more detailed howtos James -- 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] comparing directory trees
On Thursday 22 January 2009 10:00:06 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > On Wed, 2009-01-21 at 11:15 +1100, david wrote: > >> I have a directory tree, plus an approximate copy of the same tree. > >> du reports 35mb for one and 36 for the other. They are quite complex > >> trees. > >> > >> My task is to figure out where and why they are different. Is there a > >> simple way to do this? A kind of diff for directories/files/filesizes. > > > > rsync using a dry run? > > > > Ken > > Nice idea! but unfortunately all the time stamps seem to have changed > somewhere in the copying process. Great idea for some situations though. > > The problem with kdiff3 and komparator is that they both demand vast > amounts of k-dependencies that I would rather not install (this is a > server). Not sure why they need esound-common and many other apparently > irrelevant packages, but i'm sure there must be a reason. WHY > that I would rather not install (this is a server idealogically you don't want to waste a few $ worth of disk space by idealogically not giving a krap about the $100s that everyone who has read and replied to your query has cost? What have we all learned: don't be stupid use the tools that do the job A whole suit of other solutions rear their heads, eg knoppix, live CDs, MemSticks, but you get the idea James -- 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] NAS device for home?
On Wednesday 14 January 2009 00:08:10 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > Actually, temperature has very little relationship with disk life, at > > > least when Google studied their consumer grade disk failure metrics. > > > > The details: http://research.google.com/archive/disk_failures.pdf > > > > Regards, > > Daniel > > Thanks for that link Daniel. An interesting paper. However, I don't > know that I'd compare a server farm environment to home PCs. My gut > feeling from the tens of hard drive failures I've worked on is that > close-stacking drives is a bad thing. Maybe because through-ventilation > in big home boxes is not as thorough as in rack box servers. > > Another bad thing is what happened to me a couple of days ago when the > power supply variable speed fan went to low speed (not stopped) and I > smelled the PC getting hot. I removed a little control circuit board > from inside the unit and the fan now runs at full speed permanently. > Fortunately nothing died (so far). Seagate published this http://www.seagate.com/content/docs/pdf/whitepaper/D2c_More_than_Interface_ATA_vs_SCSI_042003.pdf It says multiple drives in close mechanical proximity WILL fail ! Like This: Drive1 seeks to track That movement shakes Drive2 off track, so it corrects THAT movement shakes Drive1 off track so it corrects ... James -- 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] comments in scripts and source code
On Monday 12 January 2009 20:18:39 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > A quick set of three basic guidelines for comments. I find these get > my through most situations. > > 1. The code says what you are doing, the comments say WHY you are doing it. > > 2. The code is there to teach people who aren't you (which includes > you-in-12-months) about the code, so in general they should be before > a block of code, and introduce it. > > 3. Comments are for humans. Don't leave commented out old code around, > they just mess up the comments, and you should be using version > control for that anyway. These are the utterly most important points, and are so very often ignored. Read them 3 or 4 times and never waver. You write the code After 3 months you are amazed at how badly you commented it After 12 months it looks like someone else's code James -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
MythTV performance was [SLUG] VLC to TV
On Friday 09 January 2009 10:00:08 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > >> I'm looking to setup a pc with an output to a tv (big flatscreen) to > >> play video files. Sort of like home theatre. > >> > >> or video files over a lan connection from a server. > >> > >> recording tv is not necessary but may be good. > >> > >> Is there a Linux distro that does this or do people go for a hardware > >> appliance? > > > > As others have enthused, mythtv on your choice of distro. > > I'd never go without myth either HOWEVER the actual graphics performance > > is aweful. Even on high end nvidea cards the display jitters, movies are > > 'OK' footy or Motor Racing etc is terrid. > > Even modest hardware is distinctly better and high end hardware eg sony > > bravia is much smoother. > > > > We've tried Core2, AMD-X2, Intel and Nvidia graphics: Mobo, 8500, 8600 > > without significant -aaah's > Sounds like you're doing something wrong in the setup... > My combined front/backend has an AMD 780G chipset mobo with onboard > HD3200 graphics and an AMD 4850e CPU (45W, low power dual core 2.5GHz) > and outputs to a 1080p display without issue [0] including audio over > HDMI. > MythTV is crisp, clear and smooth, including motorsports (E.g. F1 on > TenHD). > > It may be worth starting a thread and comparing configurations. I love my myth, I'd never go without, and how I wish all the respondents could say how-you've-erred there, but ... Case 1: Converted a mate with IBM HW. Core2 intel 950 (or such) graphics from WinXp DIVICO to myth. Ubuntu Hardy, apt-get install mythtv-bits After 1 day he re-installed Win, and demonstrated Win+DVICO is much smoother than myth. He spent $100s having his antenna installed for DTV. Case 2: Set up a mate with 3G P4, nvidia 8xxx and binary drivers. Did Ubuntu and SuSE. Installed remote plus all bells and whistles. SVIDEO to a 32" LCD (twinview). After 3 months he abandoned it all for a Topfield STB, interface is aweful but picture is much better Case 3: I've built 1/2 doz boxen to do myth. Backend is BE2350 + DVICO + TwinHam FrontEnds various AMD-X2, various nvidia, nv or nvidia drivers (basically identical) all interlace options tried. (even ran a standalone Front/Backend) No notable difference between any of the above. I worried about aliasing on 60Hz LCD and 50Hz TV, but the SVIDEO would have handled that. OK that is DTV! except every windows box I've seen, most of the STB and every integrated LCD-TV is better !! I've got Viewsonic 1920x1200 28". I watch myth in a 1280x720 window where it is tolerable, full screen is too jerky Sheeze I go to the local IGA who are showing the Red Bull air race on screens around the store and I can SEE it is better than my myth, and my soul is biased, and still I loose. OK wots appening: You folk all set up better than me? or you folk just more easily satisfied? Do your significant-other's share yout enthusiasm? Calibration Points: Most movies are ok (not GOOD, but OK) eg Intro GoldenGate Bridge on L&O SVU judders as they pan, crowd judders as you follow the ball, eg kerb judders as the car or bike sweeps round each corner and on and on. In every case right HW equals smooth view of same picture. Note we do not expect to compete with sony bravia at 100Hz with sophisticated interlace engine, that is not the goal :-) James -- 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] VLC to TV
On Thursday 08 January 2009 10:00:05 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > I'm looking to setup a pc with an output to a tv (big flatscreen) to > play video files. Sort of like home theatre. > > or video files over a lan connection from a server. > > recording tv is not necessary but may be good. > > Is there a Linux distro that does this or do people go for a hardware > appliance? As others have enthused, mythtv on your choice of distro. I'd never go without myth either HOWEVER the actual graphics performance is aweful. Even on high end nvidea cards the display jitters, movies are 'OK' footy or Motor Racing etc is terrid. Even modest hardware is distinctly better and high end hardware eg sony bravia is much smoother. We've tried Core2, AMD-X2, Intel and Nvidia graphics: Mobo, 8500, 8600 without significant -aaah's James -- 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] amaroK OSD issues
On Wednesday 07 January 2009 10:00:06 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > I don't know if it's just because I'm running Gnome with amarok, but > the OSD has some serious issues. > > I run a dual monitor setup using nVidia binary drivers and twinview > with compiz enabled. I run amarok on AMD-X2 with various nvidia graphics (um onboard 6xxx, 8500, 8600) on a gnome desktop. Mostly SuSE 11.1 and Ubuntu 8.10 (each gives me the pip in different areas) and limited compiz, with twinview. No display funnies observed on any of 4 machines. James PS I hate allusions to woes without detail, so: Ubuntu 8.10: Don't touch the buttons! (any). Try to setup static network with NM interfering and without editing by hand - sheesh you'r better than me. I can't. SuSE 11.1: I want a top task bar. With Compiz enabled every window is opened at top left under the top task bar. First 7341 times is OK then it starts to get you. If you install from the LiveCD, not DVD, the package management is a nightmare eg try to install 'build-essential' from the live CD. I'll send food and water. -- 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] Re: borrowing/renting external box for an ATA drive
On Wednesday 31 December 2008 10:00:05 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > > I'm fascinated in the extreem, what sort of motherboard is there in your > > desktop ? > > James > > It's a Dell Dimention E520 bought in end-of-financial year sale. To > try to satisfy your curiosity I attach a link to an image of the mobo > here: http://imagebin.ca/view/Irf9scl2.html > > The closest thing to look to like an IDE connector is at the centre > near the bottom, half hidden by the longer extension card. The label > on the mobo next to it says "Floppy". > > I dug up its specifications from here: > http://supportapj.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dimE520/en/SM_EN/specs.htm > > Under "drives"->"Available Devices" it reads: "Serial ATA drives (4), > floppy drive, USB memory devices, CD/DVD drive, and Media Card > Reader". The CD-ROM is SATA too (from visual inspection). > > Is anyone else here feels the same as Jam that it's unlikely that I > have a mobo without an old-style parallel ATA controller? My humble apologies for questioning your skill and judgement. Dell, Dell, goes away Wiser and Older. James -- 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] Re: borrowing/renting external box for an ATA drive
On Tuesday 30 December 2008 10:00:04 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > just opened my desktop and indeed there are no PATA controllers > there. That's why I mentioned that it is 18 months old. > > I use the term "PATA" for exactly the reason you mentioned - to > distinguish from "SATA". > > Thanks, and apologies for top-posting due to limitations of my current > email client. > > Amos > > On 12/30/08, Martin Visser wrote: > > Amos, > > > > It is pretty unlikely that you won't have PATA controllers in your > > desktop - they will probably be called IDE. (PATA is a term not used > > often - usually only when people wish to distinguish the drives from > > SATA) I'm fascinated in the extreem, what sort of motherboard is there in your desktop ? James -- 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] borrowing/renting external box for an ATA drive
On Tuesday 30 December 2008 10:00:04 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > My own desktop is about 18 months old and I don't see mention of PATA > controllers in its lshw or lspci output. > > Does anyone know where can I borrow (or maybe rent?) a PATA->usb box > to allow me to access the disks and salvage the data from them? None the less I've never yet seen a mobo without a PATA connector, so without doubt all you need is a cable, and given your need, even an old 40 pin cable will do and should be easy. I've lots :-) but they're in Perth! James -- 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] Beginner firewall question
On Thursday 18 December 2008 09:41:48 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote: > I'm running Xubuntu on an Eeepc. I don't run a web server or an ssh server > or telnet or ftp or rsync or anything like that. Am I correct in assuming > that I don't need a firewall, or should I install Firestarter just in case? This is quite a nice summary http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/security James -- 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] Backup notes from Mary's talk (28 Nov)
On Saturday 29 November 2008 10:00:05 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > the > > partial inspiration for the talk), although rsync doesn't save older > > data, which I definitely recommend. > > Very minor nitpick, rsync can save older data, and put them in > whatever dir > you want. > > before rdiff-backup i used to use rsync --backup --backup-dir=$date- > based-dir I'd really appreciate anybody explaining why rdiff does a better job than rsync in my situation: I honestly can't see anything at all: My server (tigger) runs 24/7 The other important machines do a bios wake at 7am At 7:05 the backup machine (elsewhere in the house) via cron does an rsync to all the other machines, then shutsdown. Every month or so I run a version that uses rsync --delete, so all old files are kept on the backup machine until manually cleared Only new files are added, old files are kept until manually deleted, and the only possible flaw I perceive is that ImportantFile is backed up, trashed and tomorrow the trashed version is saved blotting out the original. The daily backup is quick. Having pondered the doco I cannot see any benefit other than saving ImportantFile at the cost of quite a lot more complexity. What have I missed? Thanks James -- 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] Recovering data from failed hard drive
On Friday 28 November 2008 21:58:01 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > My two-week-old sole hard drive has failed. > > I know this is more than a software thing, because the drive's not found > either during boot-up or by fdisk. The clincher is that it keeps making a > sound like the sound that you hear from someone's iPod earphones when > you're sitting next to them! > > I believe that there are places that recover data from dead hard drives. > > Could anyone tell me the name of any reputable places in Sydney that do > such a thing? Is the process expensive? Would it matter that the data was > created using Linux? > > I'd be grateful for any pointers. > > Thanks for reading this. See the topic of Mary's talk :-) One of the local engineering companies just had a sydney company do recovery on a 4T raid array. The bill was just over $1 million. That was on working drives. I'd welcome learning better, but methinks the munnie value is $1000s not $100s. James -- 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] Ubuntu 8.10 Ibex - annoying flashing in Firefox
On Monday 24 November 2008 10:00:09 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I've recently upgraded from Ubuntu 8.04 to 8.10 (Ibex). > > I've noticed that Firefox now has this annoying habit of automagically > going into a semi-fullscreen mode, that causes Alt-Tab to flash nastily > whenever Firefox is selected or passed over. Anyone having this problem? > Anyone know of a fix? > > A quick fix seems to be to take Firefox to proper fullscreen and back to > normal window mode using F11 F11. But after a while Firefox reverts to > "semi-fullscreen mode". url:about:config http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config_entries I didit, but stuffed up other stuff, so no howto. James -- 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] network manager over writes resolv.conf
On Monday 24 November 2008 10:00:09 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Just upgraded to Ubuntu 8.10 (from 8.04) and now I'm losing my search > domain on reboot. I'm using a static address. > > If I edit resolv.conf everything is good until I reboot, then resolv.conf > is re-created without the search domain. > > Where should the search domain be stored? I thought it was in > /etc/network/interfaces but apparently not according to man interfaces. > Previously there was a line: dns-search kenpro.com.au > > I was expecting something like .gconf/system/networking but that doesn't > exist and I can't find anything similar. > > Any help appreciated. I've found the question on google, but not the answer > :( > > > > System/Preferences/Network Configuration GUI tool fails with the following > message: > > Updating connection failed: nm-ifupdown-connection.c.82 - connection update > not supported (read only) > > which doesn't surprise me because there is no authentication > option in the GUI??? I upgraded my laptop to 8.10 and ended up with a > different looking configuration GUI tool, but I can't figure out why they > are different. The laptop version works. As usual, in their infinite wisdom (sic) to dum things down they have stuffed it up. (and there are bug reports to wit) I removed the /etc/dbus-1/event.d/ *network-manager* (from memory S25.. and S26) next edit /etc/network/interfaces and /etc/resolv.conf == auto lo iface lo inet loopback auto br0 iface br0 inet static address 192.168.5.120 netmask 255.255.255.0 gateway 192.168.5.1 bridge_ports eth0 auto eth0 iface eth0 inet manual === I'm stuffing around with bridges to have VBox servers, but the real-working file says it all James -- 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] X11 Forwarding over ssh
On Tuesday 18 November 2008 10:00:09 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > On Monday 17 November 2008 10:00:07 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > am <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > [snip] > > > Not a trivial question :-) and not as simple as -X > > > > I'm sitting in front of THIS machine, and logged in > > I run a program on this machine, say xeyes or xmsg > > I want the display of that program on THAT machine > > x programs look at the current environment to find out the X display to > display to, set DISPLAY=:. - you will > have to get around firewalls and Xauth as well. Thanks Alex nope ! this is *really* a non trivial question. the DISPLAY=THAT works only if TCP/IP forwarding is enabled, which it is NOT on modern distros [ It is unlikely that something as complicated as xorg does not have exploits } What I'm trying to achieve is the above using ssh which can be done [see LTSP's LDM] but zot-in-hell I cannot fathom out what and how they do it! Using TCP/IP then discovering that in a year or two that this has been removed is the reason for me not doing it. James -- 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] X11 Forwarding over ssh
On Monday 17 November 2008 10:00:07 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > am <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > On Monday 17 November 2008 06:10:16 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >> ask SLUG and you end up with 5 different ways of doing it. :-) > >> > >> Thanks all. I should be able to get at least one of those working. > >> > >> Daniel, > >> > >> most common problem I come across doing it the remote X11 way is no > >> display setup. And never sure which particular variable it is that the > >> relevant appl. wants. Aside from that however, the wish to run the > >> 'desktop' (a.k.a Window Manager - I guess) is so I can leave programs > >> running, log in and check on their progress. > > > > There are tantalizing hints in TBM but I've not made any work, so anyone > > ... > > > > I'm logged into THIS machine and I want to run a program on THIS > > machine but display on THAT machine. > > Which machine are you physically located in front of? Specifically, are > you sitting in front of THAT, and logged in to THIS via ssh? > > If so it should be as simple as passing '-X' to your ssh session, and > running your application on THIS. > > If that /doesn't/ work, can you post: > > ssh THIS env | grep DISPLAY > ssh THIS type xauth > ssh -X -v THIS /usr/bin/xterm > > (If you don't have /usr/bin/xterm on THIS then, please, substitute some > other X11 program that is installed.) > > That will help work out where the process is going wrong Not a trivial question :-) and not as simple as -X I'm sitting in front of THIS machine, and logged in I run a program on this machine, say xeyes or xmsg I want the display of that program on THAT machine James -- 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] X11 Forwarding over ssh
On Monday 17 November 2008 06:10:16 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > ask SLUG and you end up with 5 different ways of doing it. :-) > > Thanks all. I should be able to get at least one of those working. > > Daniel, > > most common problem I come across doing it the remote X11 way is no > display setup. And never sure which particular variable it is that the > relevant appl. wants. Aside from that however, the wish to run the > 'desktop' (a.k.a Window Manager - I guess) is so I can leave programs > running, log in and check on their progress. There are tantalizing hints in TBM but I've not made any work, so anyone ... I'm logged into THIS machine and I want to run a program on THIS machine but display on THAT machine. Thanks James PS using ssh, not disable access control and enable tcp/ip: export DISPLAY=THAT.machine:0 THISprogram -- 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] set the PKG_CONFIG_PATH variable
On Wednesday 12 November 2008 10:00:07 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > Regardless of which distro or distro version you are using, replacing > > > the distro installed package with something you compile yourself is > > > almost always a bad idea, especially when you are downgrading > > > > Do qualify your assertion (eg if you are utterly clueless then ...) > > because otherwise the advice is. well um, um, not useful > > The original poster has a very long history of asking questions > on this mailing list. From that history I have been able to > gauge his level of expertise and I adjusted my answer accordingly I absolutely agree, was just making the point so that reading your advice might get the idea that building your own packages is not really possible, whereas (as you point out) the answer depends on yourself. :-) James -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
