July 2005 - main - earth.li

contact name at lugww
by Syd Hancock 15 Jul '05

15 Jul '05

Hi all I have received an email reminding me that I am the maintainer for the entry for ALUG on LUG World Wide - see: http://lugww.counter.li.org/groups.cms?&cc=GB&rc=EE If someone else would like to take this over please contact me off-list and I'll pass on the login details for editing the entry. Otherwise it will probably be allowed it to lapse if there is no interest. Please note - do contact me by email (as well as informing the list) for a quicker response as I simply browse the list online from time to time these days. Hope all is well in ALUG-land and I'll try and come to the Reindeer one of these months. Syd

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2nd call: Software Freedom Day 2005
by MJ Ray 14 Jul '05

14 Jul '05

Thanks to the people who have emailed offering help with Software Freedom Day on Saturday 10 September 2005. I'd like a few more people to make things easier for everyone. If you're willing to help, please email me or ask me this evening. Those who have offered so far: I'll reply to everyone this weekend with news. Thanks. More info: http://softwarefreedomday.org/ -- MJR/slef

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RE: [ALUG] Ubuntu [was GZ files]
by Keith Watson 13 Jul '05

13 Jul '05

> From: Wayne Stallwood Sent: 12 July 2005 23:47 > > Also I would consider Ubuntu, Ubuntu is essentially Debian > made easy, it has a reduced package selection (although there > is nothing stopping you adding debian packages) but (in my > experience) has better hardware support out of the box and > offers a slightly more polished initial configuration. > > I was pure SuSE on the desktop from about 2001, but like you > I felt that I was being insulated from the system, also I > fancied a change. So I moved my main machine over to Ubuntu a > few months back, One of my laptops and a machine in my office > are now Ubuntu as well. Generally I am pretty happy with the > changeover (the main problems I have had are > AMD64 specific and therefore may not affect you) > I'd also recommend the Ubuntu distro. I recently set up a simple system for a friend and (as they didn't have a lot of money to spend on software) set them up a Linux based system using Ubuntu 5.04. I was really impressed not only by the ease of install (it picked up all their installed hardware perfectly) but by the familiar way the desktop was organized. My friend has a minimal knowledge of computers and their only experience was using the usual Windows set-ups at work. Their main requirement was for e-mail, and the fact that the Evolution mail client has such an Outlook feel to it was a big plus factor for them. To keep the running costs down I set them up a simple dial up connection to a pay as you go provider (ukfsn) and talked them through the modem set-up with no problem. They made the transition, despite some initial reservations, painlessly. It just worked and in a way they were familiar with. As they said "I was worried about using a system that wasn't Windows but this is just as good as Windows" (immediately followed by "Why are you hitting me?" :o) ). I was so impressed I bought the company... er.. no.. I was so impressed that, despite being a dyed-in-the-wool Debian purist, I am in the process of rebuilding my system using Ubuntu (OK so it's just Debian with it's going out clothes on). If you are thinking of installing Ubuntu a couple of invaluable sites are; The Unofficial Ubuntu 5.04 Starter Guide <http://ubuntuguide.org/> (setting up Ubuntu is easy but this makes it a doddle) Mr Bass's Ubuntu Linux page <http://www.mrbass.org/linux/ubuntu/> (a good site for those with a little more than basic Linux experience - the root site www.mrbass.org is also worth a look) Regards, Keith ____________ The saddest thing in the world is someone who has sight but no vision. - Helen Keller

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Making backups
by Peter Hunter 12 Jul '05

12 Jul '05

I am about to re-install Suse 9.3 Prof. (it didn't fully install last time as a couple of the disks I made from the Internet download were corrupt or just faulty). I have managed to save my files (docs) etc., but how do I make a backup of my email messages and settings? I am running Evolution inGnome 2.10 if that helps. Many thanks peter

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Great website
by Peter Hunter 12 Jul '05

12 Jul '05

If any new linux users are interested, I have just happened across a triffik website. It's: www.linuxcommand.org I have been viewing it, and trying out lots of the things it's been teaching me. I am really getting to grips with all this stuff now. Still loads to try and to learn, so I'll get back to it now. Well worth a look though. Regards Peter

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Accessing CD's
by Peter Hunter 12 Jul '05

12 Jul '05

Well, I know that several of you have been helping me with this. But yesterday I put a CD in the drive and after a few seconds it mounted and I had full access to all the files. So I tried this with several other discs in both drives and all seems to be fine. Thanks for all the help, I have been learning loads over the past week. I'm glad I joined the group. Shame I can't get to the meeting and buy you all a beer. I'll just have to email you a picture of one, eill that do!!! Regards Peter

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Re: [ALUG] Making backups
by Peter Hunter 11 Jul '05

11 Jul '05

On Sun, 2005-07-10 at 20:43 +0100, beb wrote: > Peter Hunter wrote: > > On Sun, 2005-07-10 at 19:21 +0100, beb wrote: > > > >>Peter Hunter wrote: > >> > >> > >>>Sorry, whilst I am at it, there is one more. I tried to re-install my > >>>backups from the CD I burned. But I cannot mount the CD or DVD drives as > >>>I don't have permission (as a user). I can re-boot the machine and log > >>>in as root, and then mount the drive and copy the files over, and then > >>>re-boot as user. But if I do that I still can't access fy info (address > >>>book etc.) as they 'belong' to root! So, how do I mount the drives as > >>>user? > >>> > >> > >>Have you sorted this yet? If not, then... > >> > >>Chances are your username isn't attached to the correct groups. Could > >>you post the output of 'ls -l /media' (I think SuSE mounts all the discs > >>there) so we can see which group the cdrom belongs to and the output of > >>'less /etc/groups | grep username (where username is your username (bet > >>you couldn't guess that one <grin>)) so we can see which groups *you* > >>belong too please? > >> > >>beb > > > > > > > > > > peter@linux:~> ls -l /media > > total 0 > > drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 48 2005-03-23 15:30 bmp_audio_cd > > drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 48 2005-07-08 18:41 cdrecorder > > drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 48 2005-07-08 18:41 dvdrecorder > > drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2005-07-10 16:06 floppy > > drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 48 2005-03-22 18:54 xmms_audio_cd > > peter@linux:~> less /etc/groups|grep peter > > /etc/groups: No such file or directory > > peter@linux:~> > > > > > > Does this help? Looks like it all belongs to root to me. > > > > Peter > > > > > > Whoops, that should be /etc/group, not groups :-) > > OK, if you look in /etc/fstab there should be lines with > /media/cdrecorder and /media/dvdrecorder on them. The first column of > each of these lines should have something like /dev/hdc on them eg. mine > is... > > /dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0 > /dev/hdd /media/cdrom1 udf,iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0 > > The directories in /dev/ is what linux automatically assigns hardware > to, which is then linked to something a bit more memorable > (/media/cdrecorder etc.). I can't explain it well, but have a look in > your unix book for stuff about 'devices'). > > Could you please do 'ls -l /dev/hdc' (substituting /dev/hdc for whatever > your fstab has in the first column). Oh, and that 'less etc/group | grep > peter' again. > > Not sure I explained that well. If not, mail me your /etc/fstab and I'll > try to use that to explain a bit better. > > beb peter@linux:~> less /etc/group | grep peter dialout:x:16:peter video:x:33:peter peter@linux:~> This is the contents of the fstab file /dev/hdb2 / reiserfs acl,user_xattr 1 1 /dev/hda1 /windows/C ntfs ro,users,gid=users,umask=0002,nls=utf8 0 0 /dev/hda5 /windows/D ntfs ro,users,gid=users,umask=0002,nls=utf8 0 0 /dev/hdb1 swap swap pri=42 0 0 devpts /dev/pts devpts mode=0620,gid=5 0 0 proc /proc proc defaults 0 0 usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs noauto 0 0 sysfs /sys sysfs noauto 0 0 /dev/cdrecorder /media/cdrecorder subfs noauto,fs=cdfss,ro,procuid,nosuid,nodev,exec,iocharset=utf8 0 0 /dev/dvdrecorder /media/dvdrecorder subfs noauto,fs=cdfss,ro,procuid,nosuid,nodev,exec,iocharset=utf8 0 0 /dev/fd0 /media/floppy subfs noauto,fs=floppyfss,procuid,nodev,nosuid,sync 0 0 Peter >

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Audacity
by Peter Hunter 11 Jul '05

11 Jul '05

Well, I have downloaded audacity in it's rpm format. Installed it using Yast. It has an icon on the taskbar, and is listed in the programs menu under: Applications, Multimedia, Media Editing, Audacity. If I click on the icon on the taskbar, or in the menu, I get a very short (half a second) burst of disc activity, and then nothing. The program doesn't load. So what have I done wrong. Any help or advice appreciated. Regards, peter

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ALUG Social Meeting: Thurs 14 July 2005 from 7.30/8.00pm
by Brett Parker 11 Jul '05

11 Jul '05

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi all, The next ALUG Social meeting will be held on Thursday the 14 July 2005 in The Reindeer on Dereham Road in Norwich. It should be starting somewhere between 7.30pm and 8.00pm. I should be there from 7.30pm, unless I get involved with watching something on telly, in which case I might be running a little late ;) Photos of the usual suspects can be found from the following URLs: http://www.earth.li/~noodles/Photos/2004-08-ALUG/ http://www.earth.li/~noodles/Photos/2004-11-ALUG-Syleham/ http://www.earth.li/~noodles/Photos/2005-01-ALUG-Xmas/ Directions to The Reindeer can be found from the ALUG site at the following URL: http://www.alug.org.uk/venues/reindeer.html I know that this time we'll be missing a Noodles as he's currently in HEL having fun (or rather, he's at debconf, so he's getting drunk with some of the nicest developers out there. The git.). Haven't had any confirmations so far, but I would suspect the following people to randomly turn up... Person (irc nick) ----------------- Me - Brett (iDunno) Martijn (mak) Paul (paul_c) Adam (quinophex) Everyone is, as usual, more than welcome to turn up (hey, they're even more welcome to buy me beer... hmmmm. beer.). Thanks, - -- Brett Parker web: http://www.sommitrealweird.co.uk/ email: iDunno(a)sommitrealweird.co.uk -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.1 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFC0ofUEh8oWxevnjQRAizKAJ0bWj20yBbJtNK1D6OQ8CbpeHGGbACfT6Rd 3ZIylHc5+zdaEsQ65jErBd0= =TEjm -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Brett Parker 11 Jul '05

11 Jul '05

This is the automated ALUG IRC meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an IRC meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. The meeting takes place on the irc server irc.alug.org.uk in the #alug channel. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server irc.alug.org.uk" and "/join #alug". Popular IRC clients include tkirc, bitchx, xchat and EPIC on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with irc. Unix http://www.xchat.org/ http://freshmeat.net/ http://www.epicsol.org/ Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

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