main May 2009

main@lists.alug.org.uk

28 participants
23 discussions

fcron or anacron
by Peter Alcibiades 04 Jun '09

04 Jun '09

Have you ever used either of these? I want to use fcron to run a command every 20 or 30 hours of machine uptime, but cannot figure out exactly where to put the command or how to get it there. Peter

2 1

Reply-To header
by Richard Lewis 28 May '09

28 May '09

Hello ALUG, Usually when I'm sending messages to mailing lists, I set the Reply-To header to the mailing list address (as I've done with this message). How do people's mail clients respond to this? When you draft a reply, does it automatically make to To: main@lists...? Or does it make it CC? -- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Richard Lewis ISMS, Computing Goldsmiths, University of London Tel: +44 (0)20 7078 5134 Skype: richardjlewis JID: ironchicken(a)jabber.earth.li http://www.richard-… [View More]

7 8

The PCWorld Experience
by Ted.Harding＠manchester.ac.uk 28 May '09

28 May '09

Long story, so apologies -- but the details matter. A few days ago I was checking my bank account online. I noticed a Direct Debit for £7.99 made that day. Puzzled, I checked the full transaction details: it was to PC World. I checked back earlier -- another one, a month earlier. Well, I had been to PC World in Cambridge a couple of months earlier. Objective: pick up a cheapish laptop to play with some Linux distros, then do a proper installation. I noticed a quite nice Hewlett Packard T2390 … [View More]on special offer at £329.97 (not too keen on the keyboard, but it's OK. The rest seems fine). While I was looking around, one of the shop-floor assistants latched on to me assiduously. I tried asking him something about printers, (built-in PostScript with auto-duplex capability) but he didn't know much. While I was at it I picked up an ethernet switch and a laptop carrier bag. Total bill £387.20 (added up in my head). He then offered to help me carry the stuff (cardboard box with the laptop in, switch box, bag) to the checkout, which I didn't really need but since he offered ... He then stood beside me at the checkout while I paid. Total payment £387.20 (as added up in my head). I got the receipt, along with what looked like some publicity leaflets, and went out to my car. I didn't get an offer of help for that bit. I didn't check the details on the receipt at the time -- I felt that things had basically taken their expected course. After checking my bank account, however, I did check the receipt in detail. At the top: HEWLETPACK A961EM T2390 £329.97 and beneath that, in very small print: Discount Manager Offer - Manager Discretion -£7.99 then: PC PERFORMANCE £7.99 followed by the items for the network switch and the bag. So I had been signed up for their "PC Performance" cover, including the first instalment of £7.99, without noticing (it had not changed the total price). And I have no recollection of being asked at any time if I wanted this. If I had been, I would have said no -- because the first thing I intended to do was to wipe off Windows and put on Linux, which would probably have voided any warranty. (In any case, I never take up these "product cover & support" things). I then phoned "PC Performance" (a PC World sideline), and was told that they would cancel the cover, and cease the D/D, but I could not get a refund because more than 2 weeks had passed. If I wanted to get the money back, I should contact my Bank to initiate an "Indemnity Claim". So I phoned my Bank, and described the situation. "Oh, it looks as though they've been a bit cheeky", she said. We discussed Indemnity Claim, and it seemd a long shot (there had been two of them at the till, one the cashier, the other the shop-floor assistant), so I dropped the idea. But she said she would immediately close the D/D. She rang back a few minutes later, to say that since the D/D had been cancelled on the same day a debit had been made, the debit of £7.99 for that day would be refunded. So that left me overall £7.99 out of pocket (break-even on the first one, due to "Manager's Discretion"). Not worth trying to take further, though I felt annoyed enough to want to! Well, that's my PC World experience! Moral: look closely at the receipt! (Though by the time I could have done that, it would all have been set up already -- but at least I would have been within the 2-week period for getting any money back). (And I didn't get the impression that it was the first time the Bank lady had heard such a story ... ). Best wishes to all, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)manchester.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 27-May-09 Time: 17:43:46 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------ [View Less]

9 12

webcam and firewall java applet problem
by Jenny Hopkins 24 May '09

24 May '09

Hi, I'm trying to enable access to an internal webcam externally, through a firewall. For complex reasons I won't go into unless necessary, the firewall forwards to a server running xinetd, which then port forwards to the camera. The firewall has ports 8090 and 40001 opened, the manual stating these are the two required. The xinetd conf forwards 8090 to the camera port 80, and 40001 to the camera port 40001, the former rule called 'camera' and the latter 'camera_image'. Now - using debian … [View More]

2 2

Re: [ALUG] Keyboard not working in KDE4
by barrie jones 19 May '09

19 May '09

On Tue May 19 23:26:48 BST 2009 Steve Fosdick wrote: > >On Tue, 2009-05-19 at 21:13 +0100, Srdjan Todorovic wrote: > > > >Seems a bit odd that your keyboard uses /dev/gpmdata if it does not exist. > >Almost sounds like a messed up X11 config... >Isn't /dev/gpmdata a _mouse_ repeater device. Why would this be in use for the keyboard whether or not it exists? Yes, gpmdata is a mouse device! I've been going round in circles on this problem and missed it. The SaX … [View More]

1 0

Keyboard not working in KDE4
by barrie jones 19 May '09

19 May '09

I installed openSUSE 11.1 with KDE4. The initial login was normal and I then set up my detailed video options from within KDE. After restarting the xserver everything was fine and I shut down the computer normally. However when I now log in to KDE the keyboard doesn't work at all. It seems to be a KDE4 issue because if I log out using the mouse (which is absolutely fine) the keyboard still works on the logon screen so kdm isn't a problem, and if I drop to a tty logon all is completely normal as … [View More]

3 2

Open Source Action Plan in Government
by mick 19 May '09

19 May '09

I have worked in central government my entire career (some 35+ years). I even once worked for the organisation quoted below. I confess to being completely baffled how a new agreement with Microsoft meets the Government's committment to Open Source. See http://online.ogcbuyingsolutions.gov.uk/aboutus/pressreleases/MicrosoftnewP… In particular the quote attributed to Angela Eagle: "It [the new agreement] also reinforces the Government's commitment to its Open Source Action Plan by setting up … [View More]

2 1

[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : McGintys, Northgate Street
by samwise 18 May '09

18 May '09

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- The monthly "Third Monday" ALUG Ipswich Social Meeting is back tonight (Monday 18th May) at 20:00: P J McGinty & Sons 15 Northgate Street Ipswich Suffolk IP1 3BY Tel: 01473 251 515 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP1+3BY WWW: http://pjmcginty.moonfruit.com/ McGintys pub is in the centre of Ipswich, not far from our … [View More]

1 0

Feasability of unvirtualising guest OS for speed and profit?
by Srdjan Todorovic 11 May '09

11 May '09

Hi everyone, I've got a VMware image of a Linux distro used for development tasks. I use VMPlayer to boot this distro and then I work in it. This distro is virtualised as the guest and host libc/toolchain/etc are of different versions (and also incompatible). But it's a pain to keep all the windows confined to the VMPlayer window. So, I was thinking of: - copying out the files from the vmplayer distro image to a specific directory on the host filesystem - chrooting to this directory … [View More]

1 0

Netbook question(s)
by Chris G 07 May '09

07 May '09

I'm thinking of getting a cheap netbook to take on a (motorbike) holiday next month. It'll be Linux based of course and my requirements are pretty simple. All the basic, cheap netbooks will fulfil my basic requirements I think - i.e. they have a browser, can connect to the internet by WiFi, etc. However I have a couple of specific things which aren't always addresses in the advertising blurb:- How easy is it to add software? I really have to have ssh as that is how I access my E-… [View More]

5 5

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

main May 2009