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kexec
by rob page 13 Jan '06

13 Jan '06

Firstly cheers for those that were at the reindeer not being overly terrifying, much appreciated! Still can't get over the oddness of Tiger.. but.. i'm sure I'll recover... probably after a few more cups of tea.... anyway... as I was saying last night.... Never reboot again! kexec... switch kernels on the fly! http://www.xmission.com/~ebiederm/files/kexec/README Have fun! Rob. ps: Oh, and I'm sure I agreed to some other stuff... I think posting a video of my p200 booting faster than my athlon-xp... (although its actually a sempron.... it used to be an athlon-xp but that died over summer.... i still think of it as an athlon-xp), right.. more tea.

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rsync failure revisited
by Chris Green 12 Jan '06

12 Jan '06

Well I've been bashing away at this rsync problem I've had and have finally found the cause, if not the cure. I was trying to to a big rsync upload of data from my home Linux box to a remote system, a total of 35Mb or so and the rsync was simply hanging after a fairly short while, usually on big files. It turns out that my router loses sync when doing the upload, it looks like it can't cope when saturated in the upload direction. It's a Zyxel 660H, I've fired off a report to their support people but I'm not sure how much good that's going to do. A workaround for the moment is simply to limit the bandwidth that rsync uses, it has a convenient --bwlimit option to do exactly this. As it's just an overnight backup, making it a bit slower doesn't really matter. I'm testing it with the limit set to 64kb/s at the moment and it seems to be going OK. -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk) "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."

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Strange rsync problem
by Chris Green 12 Jan '06

12 Jan '06

I'm trying to use rsync to upload a mailbox archive from my home system to the system that I usually use for handling my mail. I'm already successfully using rsync in the opposite direction. What happens is that rsync gets part of the way through the transfer (it does about 3.9Mb out of 75Mb) and then it just hangs. I've looked at the files it has transferred and the point at which it has stopped and can see no oddities in permissions or anything like that. The command I'm using is:- rsync --rsh='/usr/bin/ssh -l chris -x' --recursive \ --exclude=in/ --exclude=li/ --exclude=mfolder \ /home/chris/MailArchive halkidiki.areti.com: It's normally run by cron in the middle of the night but I'm trying it just now from the command line and the same problem seems to be there. In my mail I'm getting the following error from cron:- Read from remote host halkidiki.areti.com: Connection timed out rsync: writefd_unbuffered failed to write 4 bytes: phase "unknown": Broken pipe rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at io.c(836) This error arrives 23 minutes (consistent for two nights anyway) after the cron command is run. When run from the command line it looks like it's going to take just as long to fail. Has anyone got any ideas what might be going wrong? -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk) "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."

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Relpats-eht
by Simon 12 Jan '06

12 Jan '06

Hey all, got some time to waste? Found a cool website yesterday, it's one of those internet puzzles. Start here: http://www.relpats-eht.com/ The answer to each page is the directory name of the second, as is explained on the second page. I'm still not sure if anyone has completed it yet, but there are as far as I know, 12 or more stages to it. Good luck.

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New Year's Resolutions
by Ted.Harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 12 Jan '06

12 Jan '06

Hi Folks, I don't know how many of you follow Sandra Henry-Stocker's excellent series of articles on open.itworld.com (but it's worth keeping in touch if you don't). The latest has clearly been crafted under the influence of emerging from the festive season, and gives 12 New Year's Resolutions for Unix sysadmins. See http://open.itworld.com/5040/nls_unix_resolution060111/page_1.html They're all good advice, I think; my particular favourites are -- Learn Linux -- Find a better job or make your current job better -- Have a life and (somewhat ambiguously ... ) -- Get yourself certified Best wishes to all, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 12-Jan-06 Time: 09:26:41 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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Networking issues
by Ted.Harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 12 Jan '06

12 Jan '06

Hi Folks, A couple of distinct questions. 1. Computers on a LAN are "behind" an ADSL modem/router which faces out to the Net. Seen from outside, this router has IP address PPP.QQQ.RRR.SSS From inside the LAN it can be accessed either from the above address or from an "internal" IP address 192.168.1.1 On the LAN are sundry machines with IP addresses 192.168.1.yyy or (on a subnet) 192.168.0.zzz Question: Is there any way by which one can address one of the "internal" machines from outside (i.e. the Net). Clearly, for instance, telnet PPP.QQQ.RRR.SSS would at best connect to the router (which does respond to telnet, by the way). What I'm wondering is if there's anything like telnet @PPP.QQQ.RRR.SSS!192.168.1.yyy i.e. to "route" the telnet request for connection to the internal machine at 192.168.1.yyy through the externally visible address PPP.QQQ.RRR.SSS 2. This one's a real Linux question! Suppose the internal machines, instead of having static IP addresses set up on them, get dynamic IPs handed out by the router. With the static IPs, each machine can have a /etc/hosts file which associates the IP address with the machines name within the LAN, including a short "nickname". E.g. 192.168.0.6 brandy.my.home.lan brandy br so, e.g., in the LAN I can do "telnet br". But, with dynamic IPs, this association would break down. "brandy" would no longer have IP address 192.168.0.6 So -- What's the equivalent mechanism when dynamic IPs are used? If I do telnet br would this simply not work (because there's no IP/name association), or is there a mechanism whereby allocation of a dynamic IP address to brandy.my.home.lan would set up an association with this name (and to chosen nicknames "brandy", "br") as in the /etc/hosts file? And, if so, where does it (and its components) reside? Thanks, and best wishes to all, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 11-Jan-06 Time: 17:15:20 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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Strange Banana
by Keith Watson 12 Jan '06

12 Jan '06

http://www.strangebanana.com/generator.aspx Regards, Keith ____________ People would rather sleep through life than stay awake for it. - Edward Albee

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Funny but true enough
by Wayne Stallwood 11 Jan '06

11 Jan '06

A lovely article about the difficulties a Linux user had Switching to Windows. http://madpenguin.org/cms/html/47/5937.html

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New Joiner
by Safe Hammad 11 Jan '06

11 Jan '06

Hi Everyone, Happy New Year! I'm currently in the throws of moving to the Great City of Norwich and I decided it might be a good thing to join the ALUG mailing list. Following the instructions for newbies to the list, here's a short description of why I'm interested in Linux ... I started my computing life in 1981 with the Sinclair ZX81. After flirting with machines like the ZX Spectrum and BBC Micro, I found myself about to start a job programming Java on Solaris Unix machines early in 2000. I'd not used Unix before so I thought I should learn a bit before I started. I found some Red Hat 6.1 discs and an old PC and I haven't looked back since ... To me, Linux is like a shiny Swiss Army Knife. There's a limitless number of exciting tools old and new waiting to be discovered that come straight out of the box (or a swift apt-get install) to have fun with and get your job done, and all this for free! It doesn't get much better than that ... Looking forward to meeting you all once I've found the Reindeer! Cheers, Safe Hammad (Yep, that's really my name) P.S. Thanks, Adam, for helping me to get this post out. I've now found that pesky "HTML off" switch! ;o)

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apt-get question
by Keith Watson 11 Jan '06

11 Jan '06

As this is my 1st post of 2006, A Happy New Year everyone and I hope you enjoyed whatever solstice celebrations you had (if any) :o) Here's one for the debian aficionados on the list, is it possible to use apt-get install with a list of packages fed in from a file? e.g. something like; apt-get install {filename} or apt-get install < {filename} Regards, Keith ____________ The best use of your mind is to distrust it. - François Fénelon

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RE: [ALUG] apt-get question
by Keith Watson 11 Jan '06

11 Jan '06

> From: Adam Bower Sent: 11 January 2006 13:46 > > On Tue, Jan 10, 2006 at 02:35:43PM -0000, Keith Watson wrote: > > > Here's one for the debian aficionados on the list, is it > possible to use apt-get install with a list of packages fed > in from a file? > > Another way to do this is: > > (on box 1) > > dpkg --get-selections > foo > > (copy foo to box 2 then on box 2) > > dpkg --set-selections < foo > > Then... > > apt-get dist-upgrade (i /think/) > ooh, very nice! I haven't got round to getting broadband yet but I can see how I could combine this with apt-zip so I could download the packages elsewhere. I will definitely try this and let you know how I get on. Thanks Adam :D Regards, Keith ____________ There is nothing infinite apart from finite things - D.T. Suzuki

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RE: [ALUG] apt-get question
by Keith Watson 11 Jan '06

11 Jan '06

> From: Richard Kettlewell Sent: 11 January 2006 12:53 > > Steve Engledow <sengledow(a)formrecognition.com> writes: > > >> Here's one for the debian aficionados on the list, is it possible to > >> use apt-get install with a list of packages fed in from a file? > > > > cat filename | xargs sudo apt-get install > > xargs sudo apt-get install < filename > Yes, I forgot about xargs. A nice little utility, especially when used with something like find. However I went with the $(cat filename) option as it seemed IMO a little more elegant to use the shell's built in features rather than a separate program (but that's just a personal bit of lunacy :-) ) In case you're interested, what I'm doing is setting up a new box. I started off just upgrading from a 20Gb to an 80Gb HD (friend was upgrading from 80Gb to 200Gb so I got it cheap) and then decided to get a DVD-RW drive for backing up the new drive and then a colleague at work had a system unit minus HD and DVD/CD going spare (faster CPU, better graphics, more memory, etc, etc) so I ended up with a completely "new" system unit. I had 2 issues; 1) cloning my WinXP home set up to the new disk 2) duplicating my Ubuntu set-up on the new system Didn't want the hassle of a complete new WinXP install (plus all the cruft accumulated over the years) so tried copying the partition using Partition Manager, partimage and a couple of others whose name escapes me but the windows protection kept getting in the way. Finally found a nice little utility called HDClone <http://www.miray.de/products/sat.hdclone.html#free>. It's proprietary but free for personal use. Worked a treat. Was very impressed by the development that has occurred to partimage since I last looked, if you're interested it's worth also looking at the SystemRescueCd <http://www.sysresccd.org/>, I found it invaluable when I was backing up bits of my original disk and moving things around. For various reasons, I wanted to do a fresh install of Ubuntu (5.10) and then add all the extra packages I'd installed since. Getting a list of my currently installed packages was easy using apt-showversions (yes I know about dpkg-query but apt-showversions' output was easier to edit) and editing the resulting output into a list of installed packages. A complete new ubuntu install takes just minutes, so, hopefully, using apt-get and the list of packages I should be more or less back to where I was but with better kit. Hence the original question. Regards, Keith ____________ ABSURDITY, n. - A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion. - Ambrose Bierce - The Devil's Dictionary

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RE: [ALUG] apt-get question
by Keith Watson 10 Jan '06

10 Jan '06

> From: Keith Watson Sent: 10 January 2006 15:38 > > > From: Maz Walker Sent: 10 January 2006 15:16 > > > > Keith, try this: apt-get install $(cat filename) > > damm! didn't work, picks up the package names as apt-get > operands rather than package names. > > still it's further than I ever got :o) > TADA It Worked! Just needed to take the newlines out and make the list one long string. :D > > On 1/10/06, Keith Watson <keith.watson(a)kewill.com> wrote: > > > > Here's one for the debian aficionados on the list, is > it possible to > > use apt-get install with a list of packages fed in from a file? > > > > e.g. something like; > > > > apt-get install {filename} > > > > or > > > > apt-get install < {filename} > > Regards, > > Keith > ____________ > Sushi! - its not fresh, its raw. > Regards, Keith ____________ In my end is my beginning - T.S.Eliot

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RE: [ALUG] apt-get question
by Keith Watson 10 Jan '06

10 Jan '06

> From: Maz Walker Sent: 10 January 2006 15:16 > > Keith, try this: apt-get install $(cat filename) damm! didn't work, picks up the package names as apt-get operands rather than package names. still it's further than I ever got :o) > On 1/10/06, Keith Watson <keith.watson(a)kewill.com> wrote: > > Here's one for the debian aficionados on the list, is it possible to > use apt-get install with a list of packages fed in from a file? > > e.g. something like; > > apt-get install {filename} > > or > > apt-get install < {filename} Regards, Keith ____________ Sushi! - its not fresh, its raw.

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RE: [ALUG] apt-get question
by Keith Watson 10 Jan '06

10 Jan '06

> From: Maz Walker Sent: 10 January 2006 15:16 > > Kieth, try this: apt-get install $(cat filename) dooh!!, yes, of course [blushing and looking around for small hole to crawl into] > On 1/10/06, Keith Watson <keith.watson(a)kewill.com> wrote: > > As this is my 1st post of 2006, A Happy New Year > everyone and I hope you enjoyed whatever solstice > celebrations you had (if any) :o) > > Here's one for the debian aficionados on the list, is > it possible to use apt-get install with a list of packages > fed in from a file? > > e.g. something like; > > apt-get install {filename} > > or > > apt-get install < {filename} ta Maz, Keith ____________ What you think you own, owns you. - Zen Saying

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MythTV
by stuart＠dontuse.ms 09 Jan '06

09 Jan '06

Hi all First time here so go gentle :) Im have a little trouble with Myth MUX's Ive got 3 dvb cards locked and tuned to tacolnestone using linuxdvb-apps, that bits fine. Ive set myth to use EIT program scedules only, no xmltv. The trouble is myth only seems to see the channels one on MUX 810000000, which is mainly the bbc channels. Soooo my question is, how do I make myth see all six mux's? Stuart aka Shrek (i'll be in irc tonight)

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Microvitec Cub Monitor
by Tony 09 Jan '06

09 Jan '06

Hi, Thought someone here might have a use for this! Some kind person has given me a monitor which he thought I could use with a PC but when I opened the box, it is a Microvitec Cub model 1441 / DS2. I believe these were used with Acorn and BBC computers. If anyone wants it, drop me a line. I don't have anything that will plug into it to test it and can only go by what I am told in so far as it is working. I have plugged it into the mains and it powers up. It has one 6 pin din socket on the back marked TTL input. I would of put it on Ebay but as I can't test it, happy to give it away. Collect from Witham only. Picture at http://www.ittiger.co.uk/pictures/microvitec.JPG . Tony -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.371 / Virus Database: 267.14.15/223 - Release Date: 06/01/2006

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[ALUG Announce] 2nd Thursday Norwich Meet : Reindeer, Dereham Road
by Jonathan McDowell 09 Jan '06

09 Jan '06

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 "Second Thursday" ALUG Norwich Pub Meet is this Thursday, 12th January. 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. I unfortunately can't make it this month. 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). Hopefully this month it will be a bit quieter; we managed to collide with an NU Christmas party in December, which made it hard to hear each other. 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 next month 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. -- /-\ | I pretend to work. They pretend to |@/ Debian GNU/Linux Developer | pay me. \- | ----- 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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Weekly IRC reminder
by Brett Parker 09 Jan '06

09 Jan '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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Problems with (wireless) optical mouse
by Jan T. Kim 08 Jan '06

08 Jan '06

Dear all, while travelling in Germany, I bought a Sunnyline "Mini RF Optical Mouse 'freestyle RF'". Unfortunately, the mouse has problems: When the mouse is lifted a bit off the surface, the mouse pointer zig-zags towards the lower righthand corner of the screen. It also seems to me that when sliding the mouse on the surface, the pointer moves right / down more readily than left / up. I've opened the mouse and cleaned the plastic prism / lens etc. stuff, and also widened the hole underneath the lens, but nothing has even made a difference. I realize that this is not a Linux specific problem, but perhaps, someone here had a similar experience and can suggest a fix for this problem. Best regards, Jan -- +- Jan T. Kim -------------------------------------------------------+ | email: jtk(a)cmp.uea.ac.uk | | WWW: http://www.cmp.uea.ac.uk/people/jtk | *-----=< hierarchical systems are for files, not for humans >=-----*

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Data transfer rate over openvpn
by Jenny Hopkins 07 Jan '06

07 Jan '06

Hullo there, I've just moved my backup server offsite. The server has an nfs mounted share on my server at work, and the work server runs dirvish backup (which uses rsync), backing up to this mounted directory. I'm using an openvpn tunnel, and have specified the nfs mount thus: rw,hard,wsize=1024,rsize=1024,tcp,addr=10.3.0.3. Both tun0 have MTU=1500, and the network connection between work and home is broadband. Anyway, it took me ages to get it all going and it finally works, but it seems ever so slooooow. Is there a handy way to check transfer rate, or a way to speed it up? Thanks, Jenny

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Ebay and Firefox, again
by David Simon Cooper 07 Jan '06

07 Jan '06

Fellow brothers and sisters of the great God Linus, hear my cries and show me mercy (Not the one on Prince of Wales road). I looked at some posts from last month regarding ebay and Firefox. I am having so many problems with using ebay now I am having to use my Windows PC when ebaying. I use Fedora Core 4 (have been using FC series for several years) and KDE as shipped with the stabdard FC4 build. I have tried both firefox 1.0.4 and 1.5 and both just hang and time out when trying to view listings. "MyEbay" is a little slow but works. I tried Konqueror which was worse and Epiphany which was a little better. I have not actively used ebay for a few months so.......is FC4 no good for ebay or have Ebay added more MS only junk to the dynamic content that it won't work properly?. I know my firewall is fine as Ebay works fine on the windows PC's in my shared house. P.S does anyone else have to do the TCP/IP MTU trick with iptables to allow clamping of TCP/IP MTU sizes? I had to do this 6 months ago to get ebay working at all in my house when I moved. My old house 1 mile away did not require any such TCP/IP MTU clamping even though the hardware was the same, maybe something to do with the exchange or BT running gear or just an ebay thing. Happy new year David S Cooper

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Re: newb: Hello! (ubuntu connects)
by Simon 07 Jan '06

07 Jan '06

Firstly, welcome aboard. You'll be coming to the pub meets in Norwich?? Secondly, ouch! Have you got rid of Gnome yet?? Hopefully. But if not; On a machine of that speed, you'll want to be doing a... sudo apt-get install xubuntu ...which installs all the relavent packages to make XFCE the Desktop Environment. Log out and click "Sessions" on GDM - select XFCE from the list. XFCE is a light-weight, resource friendly DE which should handle much much better on your laptop. Other lightweight desktop environments you might like to try; fluxbox, IceWM. (PS. Didn't know if you meant newb to Alug or newb to Linux in general!) -Simon > > Message: 12 > Date: Fri, 06 Jan 2006 21:37:39 +0000 > From: Dave Cooper <dave(a)accuramatic.co.uk> > Subject: [ALUG] newb: Hello! (ubuntu connects) > To: Alug main List <main(a)lists.alug.org.uk> > Message-ID: <1136583460.6641.6.camel(a)localhost.localdomain> > Content-Type: text/plain > > Hello Alug! I'm a newb who joined the list on 23rd Dec: it's taken this > long to get ubuntu 5.10 on my (300mHz) laptop to connect, but here it > is! All filtered through it's unheard-of-by-linux (NetVin430) pcmcia > lan card too. Dave

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Samba problem with just one Windows client
by Chris Green 07 Jan '06

07 Jan '06

I run Samba on my Slackware Linux system. All our client computers except one can access the Samba shares OK. On the one that fails it connects OK and the network drive icon appears but when you click on the icon you get a message saying:- E: Access is Denied The same user can connect successfully from other computers on the network. We've checked all the obvious things like the client system is in the right workgroup and the IP address is right at both ends. Other things work fine (HTTP, telnet, etc.) A "net use E: \\server\homes" returns success but if you then try to go to drive E: you get "Access is denied". What are we missing? -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk) "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."

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newb: Hello! (ubuntu connects)
by Dave Cooper 06 Jan '06

06 Jan '06

Hello Alug! I'm a newb who joined the list on 23rd Dec: it's taken this long to get ubuntu 5.10 on my (300mHz) laptop to connect, but here it is! All filtered through it's unheard-of-by-linux (NetVin430) pcmcia lan card too. Dave

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