main February 2013

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23 participants
20 discussions

CAD "lite" for DIY projects
by Mark Rogers 14 Feb '13

14 Feb '13

I'm looking for a simple CAD tool for basic DIY projects. The project I have in mind at the moment is a wall-to-wall bookshelf comprised of 40x35cm "boxes", made from 18mm MDF, laid out like bricks (ie each row offset 50% against the ones below/above it). I want to get a feel for what it will look like, and want to be able to change things like the MDF sheet widths (eg what would it look like if the higher rows were made from 12mm MDF instead), box colours, etc. 3D would be great but non-essential. I got some way mocking something up in Inkscape but it's not really the right tool for the job. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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RAID advice
by Chris Walker 12 Feb '13

12 Feb '13

Hopefully somebody can give me some advice. I have an Edimax NS2502 NAS device with 2 x 1TB drives in it arranged as RAID 1. When I first had it, I started to fill it up and then wanted to check that everything was working ok so removed one drive and saw that everything was still showing. I then removed the first disc and refitted the second and saw that everything was still there. Satisfied that it was all working, I have left it running ever since with the 2 drives. But ever since my experiment, the drive lights on the front have continued to flash as though they're being accessed. Worried that I might have screwed something up, I looked at the options and found one called 'Fix RAID'. That is there apparently for use if one drive fails. Should I use this to make sure that everything is 'synced' across both the drives in my box? I've tried googling this for advice but all I've found is the acknowledgement that the option is there but nothing on whether it should be used or not. Any help appreciated.

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 14th February
by Viperfang 12 Feb '13

12 Feb '13

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 14th February at The Coach and Horses (82 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1BA). The meeting officially starts at 8pm, although some people may arrive earlier. More information on those people can be found on the list and the IRC channel. If you are unsure if you will recognise us then make yourself and your intent to attend known by either posting on list or visiting us on IRC so we can look out for you rather than hiding in the corner. Optionally you could ask at the bar if they know where the geeky computer weirdos are and they'll point you in the right direction (seriously!). Another possibility is look for heaps of electronics on a table that may possibly look like movie props that would used for detonating explosives. Feel free to bring electronics/laptops/gadgets to the meet, you will by no means be alone. Ben Bewick aka Viperfang NB: This mail is automated, please refer to the usual sources for more information. ALUG Contact Details: Website : http://www.alug.org.uk/ IRC : #alug on irc.alug.org.uk List : http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo Twitter : http://twitter.com/anglianlug Identica: TBA Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2381613902 ----- 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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Re: [ALUG] External hard drive (temporarily) kills PC?
by Peter Alcibiades 08 Feb '13

08 Feb '13

Have you tried using another usb lead? Could it be that there is something dodgy about the connectors which when the plug is inserted with power on screws everything up, but once the plug is seated, will work ok, at least for the time being? Presumably it does not happen with other external drives, which would rule out some malfunction with the socket. Or one could try with different sockets to make absolutely sure. I can't think of any other explanation. It can't be the drive itself or it would happen regardless of when power comes on. If it happens with other leads, I would return it (though I can't think of how the drive itself could be defective in a way to cause this). I would also try it first with another computer and see if it does it to every one. Have you done that? Very strange. Al

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External hard drive (temporarily) kills PC?
by Srdjan Todorovic 07 Feb '13

07 Feb '13

Hi all, I just got my brand new Western Digital Elements external hard drive today, and it seems to like killing my PC. I plugged in the power from the supplied power brick, hooked up the USB and BOOM!, usb keyboard and mouse die, as does X, as does whatever music I was playing. I have to press the reset button on the PC. It keeps doing that if the external hard drive is powered up and you are connecting. I've booted up now with the USB connected and then plugging in the power, and seems fine. Can anyone please suggest what's wrong and how to fix it? Thanks, Srdjan

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Re: [ALUG] two weeks or so, and it dies again!
by Peter Alcibiades 06 Feb '13

06 Feb '13

On Tuesday 05 February 2013 08:18:20 nev young wrote: > On 04/02/13 08:05, Peter Alcibiades wrote: > > Can you think of anything else to try? > > > I did have something similar a few years back and it turned out to be > the northbridge* chip overheating. > There was no sensor for that chip but just looking at the board I could > see some discolouration round there and on the reverse of the main board. > > I fitted a small fan to keep it cool and it's been fine ever since > though a little nosier. > > > * or is it southbridge. > Any how it's a chip on the main board with a heat sink stuck to it. > > Nev > > > > Thanks for this, yes,it does seem like a plausible explanation - and I've found a few northbridge coolers on Amazon, including a flower passive one from Zalman, quite well rated, and a wonderful heatpipe one with a fan in it. Quite large, have to check if it will fit. Quiet PC carries this as their sole northbridge cooler. Apparently soutbridge is not a problem as its heat output is very low. So thanks, will have a go. Al

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Re: [ALUG] two weeks or so, and it dies again!
by Peter Alcibiades 06 Feb '13

06 Feb '13

On Wednesday 06 February 2013 09:39:23 you wrote: > On Tuesday 05 February 2013 08:18:20 nev young wrote: > > On 04/02/13 08:05, Peter Alcibiades wrote: > > > Can you think of anything else to try? > > > > > I did have something similar a few years back and it turned out to be > > the northbridge* chip overheating. > > There was no sensor for that chip but just looking at the board I could > > see some discolouration round there and on the reverse of the main board. > > > > I fitted a small fan to keep it cool and it's been fine ever since > > though a little nosier. > > > > > > * or is it southbridge. > > Any how it's a chip on the main board with a heat sink stuck to it. > > > > Nev > > > > > > > > > Thanks for this, yes,it does seem like a plausible explanation - and I've found a few northbridge coolers on Amazon, including a flower passive one from Zalman, quite well rated, and a wonderful heatpipe one with a fan in it. Quite large, have to check if it will fit. Quiet PC carries this as their sole northbridge cooler. > > Apparently soutbridge is not a problem as its heat output is very low. > > So thanks, will have a go. > > Al >

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two weeks or so, and it dies again!
by Peter Alcibiades 05 Feb '13

05 Feb '13

This is weird and part of the ongoing power-down problem. It goes two weeks continuously. Then this morning as I send an email, down it goes. On-off switch has no effect. Change the leads, still no effect. Leave it for a half hour, come back and it starts perfectly. This has to be some sort of heat reset, doesn't it? But the thing I cannot understand is why it should just suddenly happen. gkrell shows cpu temps of 35. The bios at startup showed a bit over 40. I did have a resistor from quiet pc to slow down main fan speed, which has been fine for a couple of years now, but on the offchance I removed that. However, given the latest crash it cannot really be that. Looks like there is an i5 in the future of this case, which is a pain and not cheap either - by the time we get new board, new processor, and a proper shuriken cooler.... Can you think of anything else to try? Al

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Anyone using Pluma?
by Anthony Anson 02 Feb '13

02 Feb '13

Decided to speelchuck a Pluma plain text document and it kept highlighting words like didn't, couldn't, wouldn't and so-on, even though the word was listed in the replacement choices, so I told it to 'replace' out of sheer devilment (possibly). So, it replaced didn't with didn't't and couldn't with couldn't't and wouldn't with wouldn't't. Is this a 'feature' of Pluma, or has my installation got its knickers in a twist? I might just remove Pluma and substitute Gedit... -- Tony

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Collecting SNMP traps and processing them
by Mark Rogers 01 Feb '13

01 Feb '13

Any SNMP experts here? I need to collect SNMP traps, process them (basic string manipulation stuff), append them to a log file and periodically upload that log file to an FTP server. I've never done any work with SNMP on Linux but this seems like it should be trivial. Net-SNMP/snmptrapd looks like a good starting point but I'd appreciate comment from anyone who's used it (or done something similar a different way). (From experience, messages will be received in bursts and I therefore need to be able to batch them up before sending via FTP. The goal will be to have data uploaded via FTP every minute (if there's something to report). I'm looking to replace a Windows system which is massively more complicated than I think it needs to be.) -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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