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How to create an email autoresponder?
by Ian Douglas 13 Feb '06

13 Feb '06

Hi Folks, My little business currently has an automated brochure service describing the products we sell. The company has an "info" email address to which people can send keywords and receive an automatically generated email response describing that particular product. At the moment this "autoresponder" function is carried out by an ancient PC chugging away in a forgotten corner running Microsoft Outlook Express and using this program's message filtering rules to select and return the appropriate email/s in response to the keywords in incoming emails. It seems to work quite well and reliably but I was wondering if there was a Linux email prog which we could run on our fileserver to do this? I looked at this a year or so ago and found that although kmail (for example) could filter messages on keywords in the message body it was unable to respond by using this keyword to select an appropriate email reply (out of a possible 20) and actually send it (although kmail may have improved since then). Do any ALUGers already have a Linux based automated brochure service / email autoresponder running on their server? If so could you pass on some tips on how you set it up? Best wishes, Ian.

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Brett Parker 13 Feb '06

13 Feb '06

This is the automated ALUG IRC meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an IRC meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. Historically, these used to be the only time a lot of us would be about, now the channel has some usual faces that are there most of the time (except at silly o'clock, when we might be sleeping, or on the second thursday of the month, where we might be drinking in the Reindeer), so don't feel limited to visit during this time, come visit us when ever you feel like it! The meeting takes place on the irc server irc.alug.org.uk in the #alug channel. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server irc.alug.org.uk" and "/join #alug". Popular IRC clients include xchat, irssi and EPIC on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with irc. Unix http://www.xchat.org/ http://www.irssi.org/ http://www.epicsol.org/ Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

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Ignore last mailing
by robert 12 Feb '06

12 Feb '06

Hi i write this to inform you that since i sent out HELP WITH TARBALLS i have now got my snes9x up and running on Linux.Thanks Robert

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HPLIP and PSC 500
by Dan Hatton 12 Feb '06

12 Feb '06

Dear All, Is anyone having any luck using the HP PSC 500 all-in-one printer and scanner (or any other HP all-in-one on a parallel port) under Linux? If so, please can you tell me how? The story so far: Once upon I time, I was printing and scanning happily, using the hpijs back-end to CUPS and the hpoj back-end to SANE. Then scanning stopped working, apparently due to the bug described at <http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=339584>. About three weeks ago, I decided to deal with this by migrating to hplip's hpaio back-end to SANE, but have had no joy. Functionality seems to have steadily deteriorated since then, perhaps with successive upgrades to the SANE version in Debian Testing; at first, the scanner would freeze part-way through scans above a (low) critical resolution, then the scanner would freeze part-way through all scans, whatever the resolution, now SANE front-ends can't see the scanner at all. I note in passing that the list of available devices in CUPS contains the line "hp no_device_found," and I'm having to get printing to work using "Parallel port #1" from this list, which I suspect means I'm, in some sense, bypassing hplip, even though I'm using "HP(HPLIP)" as the model/driver option. I think this may have something to do with the following messages in syslog; maybe the first two lines represent two things happening in the wrong order? The first one seems to occur during loading of kernel modules, and the second on running of /etc/init.d/hplip start. Feb 11 19:21:36 (none) hp: unable to open /var/run/hplip/hpiod.port: No such file or directory: prnt/hpijs/hplip_api.c 84 Feb 11 19:22:04 (none) hpiod: 0.9.7 accepting connections at 32770... Feb 11 19:27:02 (none) tcpspy[4527]: disconnect: user hplip, local 127.0.0.1:52646, remote 127.0.0.1:32770 Feb 11 19:27:02 (none) tcpspy[4527]: disconnect: user hplip, local 127.0.0.1:32770, remote 127.0.0.1:52646 Any ideas are welcome. -- Thanks very much, Dan Hatton

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New Laptop Success
by Peter Onion 12 Feb '06

12 Feb '06

If anyone is thinking about a laptop for linuxhere is asuccess story....... There was a time (not so long ago) when installing Linux on a laptop was a bit of a lottery with respect to getting drivers for all the hardware. I decided my trusty old Dell Latitude was up for replacement, and having just built a desktop with a AMD64 mobo I decided to go for a similarly powered laptop. For several reasons I decided on one of these http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/nbrange.html?CSF After a bit of a delay ( and some trouble with UPS (that's the courier firm! )) it finally arrived yesterday. I've installed SuSE 10.0 from DVD and EVERYTHING WORKS, even the built in wifi that uses a chip set I'de never heard of before! As with my other boxes I've added the ATI proprietry X server to get openGL support (1280x800 is nice!). Peter

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Help with tarballs
by robert 11 Feb '06

11 Feb '06

Hi i would just like to ask anyone if they know about installing snes9x emulator tarball as it seems a little different to the tarball i install on Gentoo. Thanks Robert

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Re: main Digest, Vol 8, Issue 15
by David Noble 11 Feb '06

11 Feb '06

re: the laptop- did it come with wireless drivers for Linux; or do you still need to use ndiswrapper?

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Where to find script
by Paul 10 Feb '06

10 Feb '06

A little titbit for JT arising from a conversation at the meeting earlier... The script utility can be found in bsdutils in Debian's packaging system. Regards, Paul. -- From the Klingon book of C: Klingon function calls do not have 'parameters' - they have 'arguments' - and they ALWAYS WIN THEM.

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i686 kernel on P4M
by Wayne Stallwood 09 Feb '06

09 Feb '06

P4M's should be i686 compatible shouldn't they ? I noticed the other week that the Ubuntu installer had selected the i386 kernel build on my Thinkpad...thinking that this was a mistake on the part of the installer I changed this to the i686 one (moving restricted modules over to i686 as well after my wireless broke) Since doing that I have experienced a couple of hard lockups...two when running Mozilla Firefox and one when using VMware Player (The VMware kernel modules taint the kernel but they don't usually give me any bother) Similarly I have never heard of Firefox crashes killing a whole machine. Moving back to the i386 kernel I cannot repeat these problems. My understanding is that i686 was everything from a Pentium Pro upwards..the P4M being based on the PIII core I thought this would be fine, but maybe there are some instructions not implemented on the P4M...Any thoughts ? My Music server (A real PIII) is running the i686 kernel and is rock solid.

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Re: main Digest, Vol 8, Issue 12
by John Seago 09 Feb '06

09 Feb '06

On Thursday 09 Feb 2006 12:00, Colin Rothwell <colin.rothwell(a)frambroadband.com> wrote: > Why do I like Linux? I think it mainly comes down to the fact that > it's free. I don't see why I should pay through the teeth for an > expensive micro$oft product when I can have one that is just as good > for free (i.e. Open Office org and Linux). There is however a slight problem with this consumer side outlook, those that build and make available the distribution/s your are downloading, are depending on other consumers, such as I, (I have a subscription to Slackware), to fund the development, their hardware, web sites and mirrors. The principle is, after all, ``Free software'' is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of ``free'' as in ``free speech,'' not as in ``free beer.'' See: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html If you want to take something, you have a responsibility to give something back. -- John Seago GNU/Linux Registered User No. #219566 http://www.affs.org.uk/ HTML Mail Rejected

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Why I like Linux
by Colin Rothwell 08 Feb '06

08 Feb '06

Hello Everybody, Why do I like Linux? I think it mainly comes down to the fact that it's free. I don't see why I should pay through the teeth for an expensive micro$oft product when I can have one that is just as good for free (i.e. Open Office org and Linux). I also like having package management programs (portage, mainly) which allows me to do a search for a certain program and just have it installed. I also like not having to worry about viruses and spyware. Colin

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2nd Thursday Norwich Meet : Reindeer, Dereham Road
by Jonathan McDowell 07 Feb '06

07 Feb '06

[I did originally send this to announce@ yesterday, but as it seems to have been deleted without trace I'll just send it to main@] The monthly "Second Thursday" ALUG Norwich Pub Meet is this Thursday, 9th February. It's at the Reindeer pub on the Dereham Road, just opposite the City Gate. People will be there from 8pm-ish, though there may be a few people there earlier. Topics for discussion will no doubt be as varied as ever. The Reindeer has a reasonable selection of beer as well as decent coffee (with biscuits, if you're lucky). Directions to the Reindeer can be found at: http://www.alug.org.uk/venues/reindeer.html Pictures of some of the regulars, and irregulars, and, well, just some pictures of people that might or might not turn up are available from: http://www.earth.li/~noodles/Photos/2004-08-ALUG/ http://www.earth.li/~noodles/Photos/2005-01-ALUG-Xmas/ http://the.earth.li/~noodles/stilvoid-alug/mp20050811/ (I'll bring my camera this week to try and get more up-to-date photos.) Which should hopefully aid those of you wondering who to look out for. We're /normally/ just to the left of the main entrance, though the last few times we've ended up at the far end of the pub beside the pool table, as there are comfy seats at that end. J. -- ] http://www.earth.li/~noodles/ [] Reality is for people with no [ ] PGP/GPG Key @ the.earth.li [] grasp of fantasy. [ ] via keyserver, web or email. [] [ ] RSA: 4DC4E7FD / DSA: 5B430367 [] [

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Corporate Mail servers
by David Fairey 07 Feb '06

07 Feb '06

I'm looking to replace our aging Windows email server at work. I'd prefer to use Linux for it's flexibility and no licensing issues, but looking around there's a bewildering number of packages. Does anyone here run a Linux mail server for their business? What packages did you end up with? Thanks David.

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Re: [ALUG] A little advice
by Ricky Bruce 07 Feb '06

07 Feb '06

alot of these channels are encrypted but the great thing about thedreambox is that because its hard drive based its able to emulate alotof the protection mechanisms.doesnt work for sky (yet, and even if it did youd be putting your headon the legal chopping board if you tried it) although it is possibleto use your legit sky card in the dreambox thus freeing yourself fromthe unreliable digibox. theres a very active coding scene which means you are able to replacethe very nice but slightly boring original firmware with flashydistros (or images as they are often called.) im presently using plidiamond image from the plinux team. heres the release notes:The Diamond Images featuring:- 1.09 kernel (2.6.9)- 1.09 enigma (19-12-2005)- Squashfs 2.2-r2 withLZMA-compression- Front Processor version 1.06- New PMT Interface: anew interface between Enigma and an Emu/Softcam - Softcam / CardserverSetup incl. Sticky SoftCams using new PMT interface - Private EPG forPremiere - Manual (Un)Install of plugins/addons etc- Enable/Disableautomatic download of software menu index - Dreambox Tools: CheckCronjobs & Free Space; ECM-, Memory-, Mgcamd-Info, NetStat, Processlist - Tuxtxt v1.94 - Settings to control infobar on zap and OK -Skin: The name of the current running emu (e.g. 'camxng') - Skin: Thevideo format of the current service (e.g. '704x576 4:3 25 fps') -Skin: Caid types supported in the current stream - Skin: Frequency,FEC, Polarisation, Symbol rate - Language Setup- Var to USB/HDD- DebugSettings- Create your own script control panel under the Blue Setupbutton- Firewall ready- Crond ready- OSD supports: Yellow Button -Addons/Plugins, Blue Button - PLi Setup- Password change allowed byuser to any password- Games ready- CIFS enabled- New filenaming ofyour Recorded Movies,- It will be shown as ---- Full Media Highway EPGsupport for ALL Media Highway EPG providers- Menu Language selectionin your own native language- No SoftCams onboard ALL to be downloaded and there website http://pli.dreamvcr.com/diamond/releasenote/ lastly heres some satellite related websites which have tonnes moreinfo for those so inclined. http://www.i-have-a-dreambox.com/wbb2/index.phphttp://67.43.4.157:81/index.…

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Good advice from windows dialog
by Stuart Bailey 07 Feb '06

07 Feb '06

-- --------------------------------------- Stuart Bailey BSc (hons) CEng CITP MBCS LinuSoft (Proprietor) Linux Specialist (01953) 601294 (07778) 383739 http://www.linusoft.co.uk ----------------------------------------

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RE: [ALUG] FW: [SLL] OT: The End of the Internet?
by Keith Watson 07 Feb '06

07 Feb '06

> From: Ted Harding Sent: 05 February 2006 23:33 > > Hi Folks, > I just read this. Somewhat glunly. Now come on Ted, no need to be glun! ;-) Regards, Keith ____________ Many eyes go through the meadow, but few see the flowers in it. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Brett Parker 06 Feb '06

06 Feb '06

This is the automated ALUG IRC meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an IRC meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. Historically, these used to be the only time a lot of us would be about, now the channel has some usual faces that are there most of the time (except at silly o'clock, when we might be sleeping, or on the second thursday of the month, where we might be drinking in the Reindeer), so don't feel limited to visit during this time, come visit us when ever you feel like it! The meeting takes place on the irc server irc.alug.org.uk in the #alug channel. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server irc.alug.org.uk" and "/join #alug". Popular IRC clients include xchat, irssi and EPIC on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with irc. Unix http://www.xchat.org/ http://www.irssi.org/ http://www.epicsol.org/ Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

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FW: [SLL] OT: The End of the Internet?
by Ted.Harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 06 Feb '06

06 Feb '06

Hi Folks, I just read this. Somewhat glunly. Best wishes, while it lasts. Ted. -----FW: <440cb5840602051308r5e63322j74fada433cdf1872(a)mail.gmail.com>----- Date: Sun, 5 Feb 2006 13:08:36 -0800 Sender: linux-list-bounces(a)ssc.com From: Abha Harting <abhaha(a)gmail.com> To: linux-list(a)ssc.com Subject: [SLL] OT: The End of the Internet? I suppose this is getting a bit political, but I think everyone interested in open access needs to know about this as it will effect us ALL: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060213/chester Abha --------------End of forwarded message------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 05-Feb-06 Time: 23:33:10 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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a little advice
by Robert 05 Feb '06

05 Feb '06

Now that i'm a member of ALUG i could do with a bit of advice.Firstly i'm trying to build a media centre pc via Linux and wondered if there was any pitfalls i should steer clear of as far as tv card etc are concerned, and secondly what's the best game to get on Linux and why. Robert

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Password (and other data) storage - ideas wanted
by Chris Green 04 Feb '06

04 Feb '06

I find I am needing to store more and more 'sensitive' data safely. When I needed to save just PINs and such I kept them in my PDA in a neat little application called ReadThis! which encrypted data kept in the normal databases, so I just encrypted the necessary bits of Address Book (for Bank stuff mostly) and had some Memos for storing other stuff. However this became impractical as I needed access on-line more often (for online banking etc.) so I currently use the KeyRing plugin for JPilot. This gives me easier access as I can run JPilot remotely but I'm beginning to find this is a bit limiting as well now. What do others here use for this sort of 'sensitive data' storage? I have all sorts of data, PINs, passwords, Web site logins and so on and so forth. -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk) "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."

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A little advice
by Robert 04 Feb '06

04 Feb '06

Now that i'm on the mailing list i wonder if anyone could help me.I'm looking to build a media centre pc around Linux and was wondering whether there was anything i should look out for e.g.tv cards etc?Also i would like to know what the in game on Linux is at the moment and why? Robert

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Thanks
by Robert 04 Feb '06

04 Feb '06

Thanks Chris and Jonathan for your help though you basically said the same thing.There is one other thing though and that is on my xine player i come up with no MRL and as i don't have a Linux dictionary to hand i wondered what it meant as i would prefer to use that audio/video player than Kaffeine. Thanks Robert

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FTGH: Various computer junk.
by Jonathan McDowell 03 Feb '06

03 Feb '06

I hate throwing out working (in all but one case below) kit, so all of this is free to the first person who wants to come and get each item. Otherwise it's getting skipped. Priority will be given to whoever can collect stuff first - I'm off the Drayton Road in Norwich itself. I'm prepared to bring the smaller items to the meet next Thursday. The list will be sent to Freecycle as well. Complete Cyrix 6x86 PR200+ machine: VXPro+ chipset, 32MB RAM (in a single DIMM), 2 roughly 300MB HDs, Realtek 8139C network card, Trident ISA video card. No keyboard/monitor. An ancient machine, with Debian on it and the 2 HDs in a RAID1 configuration. Might do as a play about box I guess; it's too noisy to be an always on server. Axil Ultima 1 (Sun Ultra 1 clone): This is a faulty Ultra 1 clone; I believe the specs are 167MHz UltraSparc 1 processor, 128MB RAM, 4GB HD. It powers on, but just gives some gibberish to the serial port and although my monitor registers a signal it remains blank. Could be something simple, could be toast. Might be of use for parts if you've got old Sparc kit? Advansys PCI SCSI card; Iwill SIDE-2930U+ PCI SCSI card, works fine with Linux. Internal 50 pin header, external high density 50 pin connector. Has boot rom. Apple 14" monitor. Suitable for old Macs; has the low density 15pin D connector. Sun Type 4 keyboard. I have a couple of these. No cable to connect them to the machine, but I think they're fine aside from that. Celeron 400MHz - Socket 370 processor. Just the CPU; no heatsink/fan etc. J. -- If love is blind, lingerie makes great braille.

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Use it or lose it
by Paul 03 Feb '06

03 Feb '06

Just returned from the library in the Forum after a fruitless attemp to borrow two volumes on network programming by Richard Stevens - The titles in question had been on the shelfs for a number of years, yet do not appear in the catalogue. A casual comment to one of the staff revealed that the books had been withdrawn.. After giving the head librarian a stern Padington Bear lecture, it would appear that even "standard texts" such as the Stevens titles are removed from circulation if they have not been taken out for some unspecified time. The range of popular titiles from the "Dummies guide to..." will be expanded (probably) at the expense of *nix related books. A short sighted policy in my opinion... In order to preserve the stock of books in our public libraries, I would urge everyone to borrow at least one Linux/Unix book on a regular basis lest we lose yet more. Regards, Paul. -- From the Klingon book of C: Klingon function calls do not have 'parameters' - they have 'arguments' - and they ALWAYS WIN THEM.

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Re: Welcome to the "main" mailing list
by robert 03 Feb '06

03 Feb '06

Dear Sir, Thanks for the email you ask why i chose Linux,it boils down to three things. 1.I run a dual boot system and as my other OS happens to be Windows98,Linux is a little newer. 2.Linux seems to be more compatible with my new upgraded system. 3.As an alternative to spending £170(what it cost a friend)on Windows XP. So it seems a worthwhile trade off to have access to the internet and learn how to use a command line. Yours Sincerely RJohnson ----- Original Message ----- From: <main-request(a)lists.alug.org.uk> To: <robertj35(a)tiscali.co.uk> Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 10:02 PM Subject: Welcome to the "main" mailing list > Welcome to the main(a)lists.alug.org.uk mailing list! Welcome to ALUG! > > We welcome new members and we'd especially like you to send a short > description of why you're interested in Linux to the mailing list. > This is so that we can get some idea of how to cater for new members, > as they're the most important ones! Some general info should follow... > > To post to this list, send your email to: > > main(a)lists.alug.org.uk > > General information about the mailing list is at: > > http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/main > > If you ever want to unsubscribe or change your options (eg, switch to > or from digest mode, change your password, etc.), visit your > subscription page at: > > http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/options/main/robertj35%40tiscali.co.uk > > > You can also make such adjustments via email by sending a message to: > > main-request(a)lists.alug.org.uk > > with the word `help' in the subject or body (don't include the > quotes), and you will get back a message with instructions. > > You must know your password to change your options (including changing > the password, itself) or to unsubscribe. It is: > > Mandrake > > Normally, Mailman will remind you of your lists.alug.org.uk mailing > list passwords once every month, although you can disable this if you > prefer. This reminder will also include instructions on how to > unsubscribe or change your account options. There is also a button on > your options page that will email your current password to you.

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