December 2007 - main

Informal meetup at the Milestone?
by Peter Weller 13 Dec '07

13 Dec '07

Hey, Seems most/some of you are going to be heading to Mr Wings on the 17th... anyone interested in an informal meetup at the Milestone? (Unless there was already going to be one there anyway, but it's not very clear from past messages on this ML/the website..) welp

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Asus eeepc
by Peter Alcibiades 13 Dec '07

13 Dec '07

A friend has one, which he had got for his wife, and brought it over to me as he was having trouble with the wireless settings, so I played with it for a half hour or so. His problem, don't know whether its a usual one, is that he was having to enter the wireless pass phrase every time he started up in the default configuration. I showed him the graphical network tool which he had not found, and we changed the setting. There wasn't much guidance about how to set it. It feels solidly made. Your immediate impression is that its a quality item, not cheap feeling or looking at all. Comes in a small neoprene envelope which looks like it will be adequate protection. Bright very clear screen, though it is small. I would like to see the screen extend to the edges more. Maybe a later version will. Reasonably fast to start up and given the Ars review I was pleasantly surprised by how fast it loads OO. Perfectly usable. Keyboard is acceptable. Its not a thinkpad X series. You would not buy one to write your novel at every morning. But its usable, you can touch type on it, though maybe not very fast. Interface that it comes with, a customised version of Ice, is fine for end users. Its such a different kind of machine that people just accept that this is not really a PC, so they seem unsurprised that the interface is a bit different. It really is compact. I had an old portege. Its a lot smaller and lighter, about the size of and weight of a non-blockbuster hard cover novel. It won't fit in the average handbag, but it will certainly fit in the average slim briefcase or portfolio. Who its perfect for, well maybe someone who does systems admin would find it an alternative to a heavy laptop, but in terms of end users, its a perfect fit for someone who is mobile and wants mail, web, some writing, calendar, that sort of thing as they move around. I wouldn't get it for someone who is going to do any serious writing - the screen size and keyboard will become a strain after a half hour, and an X series or equivalent will be better. But for the kind of use described above, its hard to imagine anything better or more cost effective. It may find all sorts of business uses at this price for field crews. A lot of us will have some friend or family member who needs exactly this. Though be a bit careful if they are real writers. Peter

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rsync fails where cp works
by Chris G 12 Dec '07

12 Dec '07

I am trying to dig into my rsync backup problems. It would appear that for some reason rsync is getting I/O errors when copying maildir files. I have done some tests on one particular directory, "cp -R" succeeds but "rsync -r" fails:- home# cp -R .in /freecom/backup/home/chris/Mail/ home# rsync -r .in /freecom/backup/home/chris/Mail/ rsync: rename "/freecom/backup/home/chris/Mail/.in/audacity/cur/.1172007150.76430_0.newred:2,.PC3iF7" -> ".in/audacity/cur/1172007150.76430_0.newred:2,": Input/output error (5) rsync: rename "/freecom/backup/home/chris/Mail/.in/audacity/cur/.1172012773.6188_0.newred:2,.P11kJR" -> ".in/audacity/cur/1172012773.6188_0.newred:2,": Input/output error (5) rsync: rename "/freecom/backup/home/chris/Mail/.in/audacity/cur/.1172032604.34523_0.newred:2,.e0feQB" -> ".in/audacity/cur/1172032604.34523_0.newred:2,": Input/output error (5) rsync: rename "/freecom/backup/home/chris/Mail/.in/audacity/cur/.1172038263.69147_0.newred:2,.W6m5Zl" -> ".in/audacity/cur/1172038263.69147_0.newred:2,": Input/output error (5) rsync: rename "/freecom/backup/home/chris/Mail/.in/freecycle/cur/.1172005922.70482_0.newred:2,S.aIqsGA" -> ".in/freecycle/cur/1172005922.70482_0.newred:2,S": Input/output error (5) rsync error: some files could not be transferred (code 23) at main.c(977) [sender=2.6.9] If I clear out the destination directory then rsync succeeds once (when it has to copy the files) but then fails as above every time. If I add the --inplace option I get:- home# rsync -r --inplace .in /freecom/backup/home/chris/Mail/ rsync: open "/freecom/backup/home/chris/Mail/.in/audacity/cur/1172007150.76430_0.newred:2," failed: Input/output error (5) rsync: open "/freecom/backup/home/chris/Mail/.in/audacity/cur/1172012773.6188_0.newred:2," failed: Input/output error (5) rsync: open "/freecom/backup/home/chris/Mail/.in/audacity/cur/1172032604.34523_0.newred:2," failed: Input/output error (5) rsync: open "/freecom/backup/home/chris/Mail/.in/audacity/cur/1172038263.69147_0.newred:2," failed: Input/output error (5) rsync: open "/freecom/backup/home/chris/Mail/.in/freecycle/cur/1172005922.70482_0.newred:2,S" failed: Input/output error (5) rsync error: some files could not be transferred (code 23) at main.c(977) [sender=2.6.9] The files in the destination directory seem normal:- home$ ls -l /freecom/backup/home/chris/Mail/.in/audacity/cur total 36 -rw------- 1 root root 8192 2007-12-10 20:40 1172007150.76430_0.newred:2, -rw------- 1 root root 8192 2007-12-10 20:40 1172012773.6188_0.newred:2, -rw------- 1 root root 12288 2007-12-10 20:40 1172032604.34523_0.newred:2, -rw------- 1 root root 8192 2007-12-10 20:40 1172038263.69147_0.newred:2, So why is rsync having problems? -- Chris Green

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Re: [ALUG] Asus Eee pc 4G
by Barrys linux mail 10 Dec '07

10 Dec '07

Hi Thanks for your views, I like the machine and may purchase one when my old laptop dies.Like the fact that it runs linux and no i will not put Windoze on it.Lets have more linux base machines cause i think Vista Sucks! Dell now do linux machines maybe others will follow. Barry

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Re: [ALUG] Cheap Dells
by mbm 10 Dec '07

10 Dec '07

A guy I know at Symantec told me that Dell (in common with other volume box shifters) receive a subsidy from the suppliers of products such as AV, firewalls, etc which they pre-install on the windows boxes. The logic here is that the punter will normally sign up to use the pre-installed "freebie" when the initial licence period expires. Thus the third party company (Symantec or whatever) gains market share while the box shifter gets a subsidy. There is not a mature enough "market" in such products in the Linux world so we end up with the anomalous situtation where a Linux installation actually costs the box shifter money - despite the cost of the MS install. Mick >From: MJ Ray <mjr(a)phonecoop.coop> >Subject: Re: [ALUG] Asus Eee pc 4G >To: main(a)lists.alug.org.uk >Message-ID: <475d4a23.4BrVmz4rdyG4m5/F%mjr(a)phonecoop.coop> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii >Barrys linux mail <bazubuntumail(a)tiscali.co.uk> wrote: > > Dell now do linux machines maybe others will follow. >I've read (and I think I checked when a family friend was after a new >laptop) that it's cheaper to buy a Dell Windows machine of the same >spec than to buy one of their Ubuntu machines. Also, you can try for >the Windows tax refund. >So, that makes me wonder if Dell are either:- >a. market-testing the gullibility of Ubuntu users; >b. looking to say "well, demand wasn't as high as predicted" when they >accept the Microsoft shilling to become an exclusively Windows vendor. >Paranoid or experienced?

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Why is rsync forking copies of itself?
by Chris G 10 Dec '07

10 Dec '07

I'm running some backups using rsync, it seems to be spawning multiple copies of itself:- root 4426 4424 1 11:24 ? 00:01:14 rsync -rqt --size-only /home /freecom/backup root 4427 4426 0 11:24 ? 00:00:01 rsync -rqt --size-only /home /freecom/backup root 4429 4427 4 11:24 ? 00:02:53 rsync -rqt --size-only /home /freecom/backup Why is it doing this? .... and *should* it be doing this as all three copies of rsync appear to be doing exactly the same thing. -- Chris Green

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Good NAS boxes for Linux?
by Chris G 10 Dec '07

10 Dec '07

Does anyone hear use a NAS with their Linux system? I.e. some sort of Network Storage on their home/office network to provide backup disk space and other facilities? I have a Freecom NAS box with 500Gb in it which works OK'ish with Linux but I'd be interested in knowing if anyone has anything which works better. The main problem with the Freecom box is that its SMB implementation is rather old/limited and doesn't work particularly well with mount.cifs to mount the Freecom disk drive across the network. What I'd ideally like is a low powered computer on which I can run Linux. The Freecom NAS (and similar boxes) are Linux based systems but the software isn't easily accessible for updates/fixes etc. I could use an old PC but they consume much more power, the NAS boxes are often fanless and consume only 15 to 20 watts. -- Chris Green

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[ALUG Announce] Pub Meeting Thurs 13th December
by Richard Lewis 10 Dec '07

10 Dec '07

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Dear ALUG, The monthly second Thursday social meeting of ALUG will take place on * Thursday 13th December * at The Reindeer (10 Dereham Road, Norwich, NR2 4AY; tel. 01603 762223). It's very near the junction of Dereham Road and the Norwich inner ring road (Grapes Hill) and serves a selection of real ales, nice pub food (if you fancy going early to eat) and coffee. I intend to be there from about 20:00. Others may be there earlier. We should have a table reserved at the back of the pub just to the left of the bar. Note that it's late night shopping in Norwich on Thursdays and, with Christmas being close, the traffic could be busy! We look forward to seeing you there. Cheers, Richard -- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Richard Lewis - UEA, MUS PG http://www.richard-lewis.me.uk/ JID: ironchicken(a)jabber.earth.li -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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Asus Eee pc 4G
by Barrys linux mail 09 Dec '07

09 Dec '07

Hi This looks a nice little machine , what do ya think? and it runs Linux www.asuslaptop.co.uk Barry

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Recommended DVD player?
by Greg Thomas 09 Dec '07

09 Dec '07

Can any recommend a DVD player for Linux (Ubuntu, specifically)? The default one, Totem Movie Player, will play the DVD, but has no navigation at all other than the slider bar at the bottom, and that's a bit flaky at best. It also only works when a DVD is inserted; when starting from the Applications menu it complains of missing codecs. Or perhaps I've just missed something? TIA, Greg

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