October 2007 - main

Books for library
by Ruth Bygrave 25 Oct '07

25 Oct '07

XSLT For Dummies (not for this dummy. Boyfriend says XSLT is just what I want, and I find it abstruse and impossible) Discover Linux by Steve Oualline The Complete Unix (incl Linux, Solaris, HP-UX) Unix Hints and Hacks (Que; haven't used this much) Beginning XSLT by Jeni Tennison (Good, but failed to learn XSLT from it, quite long) Micromania by Dave Langford (very short and jokey about 8-bit computers and hackers; will make you laugh if you remember those days; I do, just). Javascript, by Danny Goodman (absolutely enormous; failed to learn Javascript even with Dashcode to make it easy). These things can go in the ALUG library, and if I feel brave in a few years' time I'll prise open one of the covers... If anyone wants this doubtful heap, they can come over and pick it up, as I don't drive. I'm keeping the Applescript books (tight integration with Mac apps, and easy words) and the Fish Book (bash is good for really simple things), and determined not to go near anything that will scare me for a while. Ruth (...Linux drove me mad. Twice...) Bygrave PS. Historical accident: both times I decided to prod Linux and/or find out more about Darwin (OS X distro) were just before I fell into a deep depression. I need to keep the under-the-hood bits under the hood for a while.

1 0

MS Office Publisher equivalent
by Stephen Dickinson Finance Assistant 25 Oct '07

25 Oct '07

Hi everyone, I'm new to this list and have been enjoying reading it for the past week or so, everyone seems frighteningly clever so far though! I was just wondering if anyone could recommend a good open source equivalent of MS Publisher? I'm trying to persuade an office to move their two windows based PCs to Linux and have covered all the software so far except Publisher. Any suggestions would be gratefully received. Thanks Steve Stephen Dickinson This email (including any attachments) is intended only for the recipient(s) named above. It may contain confidential or privileged information and should not be read, copied or otherwise used by any other person unless express permission is given. If you are not a named recipient, please contact the sender and delete the email from your system. It is the recipient's responsibility to ensure that appropriate measures are in place to check for software viruses.

4 3

How to set font size in a java applet (in Firefox)?
by Chris G 24 Oct '07

24 Oct '07

Does anyone know how the font size is set in java applets? I run an Oracle forms java applet in Firefox at work and something has changed the font size so that it's too large. Column headings overlap each other and text in boxes is a total mess. It certainly *used* to work and I can't think of anything I have changed that would affect it but obviously something has. Changing the font sizes in Firefox's 'Preferences' has no effect at all. -- Chris Green

2 3

OpenDocument Foundation ODF da Vinci plugin ended
by samwise 23 Oct '07

23 Oct '07

Hi, For the open source activists on the list. We had a bit of a discussion on the use of ODF vs. MSOOXML in a corporate environment at the last Ipswich meet (more specifically, my ability to invoke a flame fest on the topic at work, without trying). I'm rather glad I didn't get too deeply involved in the debate - because I'm convinced now I'd've probably been on the losing side. ;) I'm not sure how widely it's been picked up, but I noticed yesterday that the OpenDocument Foundation's site [http://opendocument.foundation.googlepages.com/] has had a small note quietly appended. 'Note: All work on ODF da Vinci has ended. Without OASIS approval of our five generic eXtensions, known as the iX enhancements, we can not effectively convert existing Microsoft documents, applications and processes to ODF. The loss of fidelity and feature — business process specific information is too great. We are however able to make full, high fidelity "round trip" conversions to the W3C's CDF — meeting critical market requirements. If at some point in the future, the OASIS ODF TC does approve both our ODF iX enhancements, and, our "Universal Interoperability Framework Proposal", we will configure da Vinci to support both CDF and ODF iX.' Given this was the only MS Office plugin that was claimed would eventually provide a 100% perfect 'round trip' conversion fidelity, this sounds like a blow for ODF interoperability with MS Office and I think we're going to have to continue along in the era of document conversions mostly working, except for those tricky bits (i.e. anything involving tables or diagrams!). It's a shame - I'm big on promoting open standards but if the Massachusetts result didn't spell the end to ODF's challenge to MS Office, practically I think this might ... Peter.

3 3

Using VPN to provide static IP
by Mark Rogers 22 Oct '07

22 Oct '07

I have an application which needs to authenticate via an online server, and it must use a static IP to do it. I need to do it via a mobile connecting through a 3G connection, so static IP is out. The only way I can see to do this is to create a VPN (eg using OpenVPN) and connect the laptop to that, then make the connection through that. Since I'm not entirely sure how to do this, before I waste time trying it, can anyone give me a sanity check that this is the right approach? The only thing that worries me to start with is that I'm going into the VPN and out again; normally when I use a VPN it's to connect to a network, not use it as a gateway. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0845 45 89 555 Registered in England (0456 0902) at 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

2 2

First Cambridge and East Anglia Python Meeting
by Richard Lewis 22 Oct '07

22 Oct '07

Dear ALUG, Following a very successful Python Conference UK[1] in September, a small group of us are attempted to set up a regional Python users group for East Anglia and Cambridge[2]. We have arranged to hold our first meeting on the evening of Tuesday 30th October at the Carlton Arms[3] (CB4 2BY). People intend to arrive from 19:00 onwards. I'll post any further details if they become available, otherwise feel free to contact me (on- or off-list) regarding this. Cheers, Richard [1] http://www.pyconuk.org/ [2] http://www.pyconuk.org/community/Cambridge_and_East_of_England [3] http://www.thecarltonarms.co.uk/ -- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Richard Lewis http://www.richard-lewis.me.uk/ JID: ironchicken(a)jabber.earth.li -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- +-------------------------------------------------------+ |Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments.| |http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html | +-------------------------------------------------------+

1 0

Free Stuff
by David Reynolds 22 Oct '07

22 Oct '07

Hi, Been tidying up our spare room / office today and found a couple of bits that we don't need any more that are free to anyone who can come pick them up - Small 4 port hub thing - has 4 ethernet ports and one BNC port. I think it's only 10MB and has an American power supply with it, so would need an adaptor or replacement power supply http://david.reynoldsfamily.org.uk/stuff/hub.jpg - Micro ATX emachines case with DVD drive / CD Drive / Floppy Drive / Power supply - Please note this has no motherboard in it http://david.reynoldsfamily.org.uk/stuff/case.jpg Cheers, Dave -- David Reynolds david(a)reynoldsfamily.org.uk

2 1

Gnome terminal, can't display Help
by Chris G 20 Oct '07

20 Oct '07

In Fedora 7 when I click on 'Help' in the gnome-terminal menu I now get a message saying:- There was an error displaying help: There was an error launching the default action command associated with this location. It used to work so what have I screwed up? FWIW I wanted Help because the URL launching action isn't working either, I suspect this could well be the same or similar issue. It's a pity there isn't an ordinary man page for gnome-terminal, less likely to get lost. -- Chris Green

2 2

HTML question - how to create a sequence of varying indents
by Chris G 19 Oct '07

19 Oct '07

I want to lay a list of items out as follows:- item1 item2 item3 item4 item5 Wnat's the simplest way of doing this in HTML? I'm doing it in a CGI script (i.e. the CGI will be writing the text) so the simpler the better really. -- Chris Green

6 11

Mixer/sound driver volume levels and distortion
by Neil Sedger 19 Oct '07

19 Oct '07

Hi all, I have onboard AC97 sound, according to kmix my system automatically set itself up with the 'VIA 8237' driver, which is probably right. I have a good old analog connection to an amplifier. If I set master and PCM to 100% the volume is at a good level but is very distorted. If I move both down 'a bit' then the distortion goes away but it's all a bit unscientific as to how much that 'bit' is. If I leave PCM at 100% and move Master about it gets quieter but is always distorted. In Windows on the same hardware, setting all mixers to 100% seems to output a good, loud, non distorted sound, I'd guess at the 'line level' that my amp is expecting. Is there a setting somewhere in the (ALSA) driver to set the maximum output to 'line level' so I can set kmix at 100% and get good volume and no distortion? There is an 'External amplifier' switch in kmix but it appears to have no effect. I've had a good root around on Google and the answer appears to be 'turn the mixer volumes down a bit' - e.g.: http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php/TroubleShooting#Sound_can_be_heard_but_it… There must be something more accurate? If the Windows drivers have some built-in setting can it be replicated? Cheers Neil

4 4