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VPN
by Bev Nicolson 16 Nov '16

16 Nov '16

So the IP Bill has gone through Parliament so soon all the websites we visit will be logged. Yay. Anyway, various commentators say 'get a VPN'. so I wanted ask whether the one that comes with Ubuntu for network management is OK? I have to say, I know next to nothing about this hence my question. Bev.

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WiFi autochannel oddness???
by Bill Hill 14 Nov '16

14 Nov '16

Hi, I've got a WiFI router ADSL thingy on one side of the house (by the phone socket). At certain times of the day I have trouble getting connected from the far side of the house. I can usually see 6-10 other SSIDs, so was guessing this was someone nearby having their device on and colliding, but only sometimes. So I left this running on a RasPi: while true; do ( date "+%Y%m%d%H%M" ; iwlist wlan0 scan | egrep "Channel:" ) > $(date "+%Y%m%d%H%M").log ; sleep 300 ; done Well, now I've got some data: for ((i=1;i<14;i++)); do printf "Channel:%02d = " $i ; ( grep "Channel:$i" *.log | wc -l ) ; done And the results: Channel:01 = 1504 Channel:02 = 26 Channel:03 = 0 Channel:04 = 0 Channel:05 = 0 Channel:06 = 741 Channel:07 = 0 Channel:08 = 0 Channel:09 = 0 Channel:10 = 0 Channel:11 = 223 Channel:12 = 0 Channel:13 = 0 I know channels 1,6&11 are the non-overlapping ones, but isn't this a bit...skewed???!? (Now off auto-selected Channel 1, thanks Netgear, and manually set to Channel 9). -- Red to red, black to black, switch it on, but stand well back.

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nut upsmon comms issues
by Mark Rogers 14 Nov '16

14 Nov '16

Anyone here got more experience of UPS monitoring than I have? I have a UPS configured and working, however it periodically loses communications. I'm not too concerned about that - the server is due for replacement in the next couple of months anyway - but the comms errors are generating emails that I'd like to tweak so they're not filling my inbox. My inbox is filled with COMMBAD emails, followed within seconds (under a minute, usually) by COMMOK. So I'd like to put a delay on the triggering of a warning. The parameter that looks right is NOCOMMWARNTIME in /etc/upsmon.conf, but it defaults to 300s (5 min) anyway; I upped it to 600s (10min) with no change. I think on re-reading the man pages that this affects how often the warning is sent once triggered, not how long after detection the first warning gets sent. The emails get sent to a dedicated "systems" mailbox that should only get stuff that needs action, so getting a COMMBAD/COMMOK pair every few hours is quite frustrating. But turning off monitoring altogether seems like a bad "fix". Any suggestions? -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 10th November
by Viperfang 07 Nov '16

07 Nov '16

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 10th November 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 https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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New member introduction
by Pete Dowdell 06 Nov '16

06 Nov '16

Hello! I joined the list last week. Here is an introduction, as asked: My name is Pete, I am a web developer. GNU/Linux servers are crucial to my work. I also use Ubuntu as my main O/S on my personal machines. I really like Linux! I have mainly joined this list as I am planning to come to Norwich this coming Thursday and meet some ALUG people in the pub. Looking forward to meeting you all then - I hope I have my dates correct! (I do, right? ;) Cheers, pd

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New member introduction
by Pete Dowdell 06 Nov '16

06 Nov '16

Hello! I joined the list last week. Here is an introduction, as asked: My name is Pete, I am a web developer. GNU/Linux servers are crucial to my work. I also use Ubuntu as my main O/S on my personal machines. I really like Linux! I have mainly joined this list as I am planning to come to Norwich this coming Thursday and meet some ALUG people in the pub. Looking forward to meeting you all then - I hope I have my dates correct! (I do, right? ;) Cheers, pd

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Re: [ALUG] Building an (air gapped) offline Linux laptop as a newbie toLinux
by Noel Galer 03 Nov '16

03 Nov '16

Ian, >From another noobie, may I wish you every success with this interesting project and I look forward to hearing of your progress. Best regards, Noel ( Xorsyst ) ________________________________ From: main [mailto:main-bounces@lists.alug.org.uk] On Behalf Of Ian Henderson Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2016 9:09 AM To: main(a)lists.alug.org.uk Subject: [ALUG] Building an (air gapped) offline Linux laptop as a newbie toLinux Hi, all, I am new to Linux. I'm porting over to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS with the Unity desktop from Windows 10. I want to keep things as simple (and hopefully therefore as reliable) as possible, for home/office critical use. I also want to stick to the main and universe repositories. Because prices were much lower for Linux-compatible laptops than with Win 10 installed, I can afford two. I plan to divide them into one for critical offline-only use, and the other for universal online use. I will air-gap the two. But it also means that I need to complete the final build of the offline air-gapped laptop ahead of porting data, after which it will not go online again (unless for a wipe and rebuild). For the offline-only laptop, I am looking at the following range of apps. Could I ask that you check my ideas, and offer suggestions and advice, please.:- 1) An office-like suite, for which I will be using LibreOffice, which is installed by default. 2) I need a whole-directory and free space overwriting utility, as well as the means to securely delete individual files. My understanding is that shred and wipe are available by default. I am looking at bleachbit for the whole-directory and free space wiping. But the software centre says "sudo" for this app: does that mean it has elevated privileges and is this a bad idea? 3) GtkHash for SHA256 etc. cryptographic hashes, primarily to verify backups. 4) Can anyone suggest an archiving utility which also verifies the files within the archive (I can then hash the archive file backup)? Archiving does not necessarily have to include compression. Are any installed by default? 5) GnuPG. I understand that this is installed by default? Am I correct that I can encrypt with password files if transferring on FAT32 USB or CD/DVD with this? Is it GUI? 6) CD/DVD burning, including both copying using a single optical drive, ordinary file burning and creating bootable CD/DVD from ISO images. I'm looking at Brasero for this. Can anyone suggest any other apps I should include ahead of locking off the build? I'm also assuming that the default 16.04 LTS supports formatting USB sticks to ext4, including encryption? Also, anyone any thoughts on using live-CD version of Ubuntu for online banking (in case the online unit got owned)? Please remember that I am a complete newbie to Linux. So please remember if you start talking about OpenWTF 0.666.1066 I will have no idea what you're talking about! Not for some months yet, anyway. :) Thanks for your help, Ian (C) Copyright 2016 by Ian Henderson. All rights reserved. Do not pass on my email address without my prior written consent (if emailing multiple recipients at the same time, use the BCC field in place of the To field).

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Re: [ALUG] 2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 4th November.
by Nev Young 01 Nov '16

01 Nov '16

On 01/11/16 02:00, Viperfang wrote: > Quick heads up about this months Norwich 2600 meeting, > more info at http://www.norwich2600.co.uk > Oh no it isn't! Because of the fireworks in town on Friday we're meeting at my house. Limited room so invitation only. email me directly for location and directions. Nev

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2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 4th November.
by Viperfang 01 Nov '16

01 Nov '16

Quick heads up about this months Norwich 2600 meeting, more info at http://www.norwich2600.co.uk

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Is there such a thing as an ethernet switch with WiFi?
by Chris Green 31 Oct '16

31 Oct '16

This isn't really specifically a Linux question but I'm sure the ALUG team should be able to come up with an answer. I want a box which is an ethernet switch/hub (ideally an 8-port though five might be just enough) and also provides WiFi. I.e. a switch with both wired and wifi connections. It doesn't have to have any other intelligence, it doesn't need to be a router or anything. This is to hang onto the ethernet port of an outdoor WiFi access point which is running in WISP Client mode (a TP-Link TL-WA7210). The TL-WA7210 provides DHCP and DNS (via the WiFi hotspot it's connected to) so all I want is a box to provide multiple wired and wifi connections to the LAN side of the TL-WA7210. Is there such a beast? Is there a specific name for it? -- Chris Green

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