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10369 discussions

Re: Thinkpad and Linux ?? (Rob Grant)
by Robert Grant (DEV) 27 Jul '05

27 Jul '05

Barry Samuels wrote: > I am hoping to get an IBM Thinkpad R51 from the insurance as it's > about equivalent to the Dell. I understand that Thinkpads are pretty > compatible with Linux and wondered if any of you have experience of > this particular model? Barry- if it is any encouragement to you, I've managed to get a dual-boot of Debian/XP working fairly well on my Thinkpad T22 and I represent very much the tail end of the technical distribution in this group. Two essential resources are http://www.linux-laptop.net/: they have several pages specific to the R51. This site was what helped me get my X-config files sorted out eventually. Then for your internal modem there is http://www.linmodems.org/- a very friendly place from where I found the right driver to download and get dial-up working. Good luck and enjoy! Rob Rob Grant Tutor in Economics School of Development Studies University of East Anglia NR4 7TJ +44(0)1603592324 r.grant(a)uea.ac.uk

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Cut and paste accented characters between GUI apps and text mode apps
by Chris Green 27 Jul '05

27 Jul '05

This is a very minor hassle but it annoys me every now and then. If I cut and paste text with accented characters between (for example) Firefox and a text mode application running in a terminal window the accented characters don't copy correctly. The usual effect is that something like an e with an acute accent will become an e followed by a '. I'm pretty sure I have my terminals set up right for international characters now as text mode applications and utilities seem to play happily together and usenet postings and E-Mail with accented characters get posted correctly. So what is Firefox doing different from the rest of my applications? Or is it something to do with X and its cut/paste? -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk) "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."

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USB_Camera
by Bob Dove 27 Jul '05

27 Jul '05

Hi Barry 'n' Folks, Your 'pooter' probably don't know nuffin' about cameras. It will need appropriate driver! The Scanner too will have it's exclusive drivers which will need to be loaded. Linux probably has a bunch of generics to take care of most printers. Cheers, BD.

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Re: system clock running 2x too fast
by Geir Freysson 27 Jul '05

27 Jul '05

On Tue, 26 Jul 2005 10:48:07 +0100,David Reynolds wrote: > One way of doing it (probably not the most elegant way) would be to > cron it. Then you can choose the update frequency yourself and be sure > that it works. Thanks for that suggestion. I had already put this measure in place, which ensured the clock was never more than half an hour off, but did cause an awful lot of checks when the clock raced towards check time, was put back and raced forwards again etc. On Tue, 26 Jul 2005 18:39:26 +0100, Wayne Stallwood wrote: > try clock=pit or clock=pmtmr ( I think 2.6 series kernels are supposed > to default to pmtmr ) Adding clock=pit to the kernel boot options worked whereas earlier suggestions such as noapic didn't. Hurray! This was causing me a major headache since I had set up an wiki along with other services that were already being test driven by colleagues, but were being rendered semi-useless by the hyperactive system clock. > Hope that helps and welcome to the group. Thank you, you have certainly been of help. Best regards, Geir.

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Any ubuntu users on AMD64 ?
by Wayne Stallwood 27 Jul '05

27 Jul '05

Is it me or is there something a bit fishy about the Hoary xmame packages ? I am all set up for the standard Ubuntu repositories, plus universe and multiverse. Using apt to install xmame (either the sdl or x11 version) I get the following error when I try to run it "error: compiled byte ordering doesn't match machine byte ordering are you sure you choose the right arch? compiled for msb-first, are you sure you choose the right cpu in makefile.unix" No mention of it being a problem on the Ubuntu wiki and the guys on #ubuntu don't seem to have heard of it before either. Being that I was in the need for some serious legacy game action, I tried building advancemame from source...Got it built but I forgot that the framebuffer on ubuntu machines using the Nvidia drivers is broken...advancemame only supports fb mode AFAIK.

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system clock running 2x too fast
by Geir Freysson 26 Jul '05

26 Jul '05

Hello everyone, my name is Geir, I'm an Icelander living in Ipswich and this is my first email to this user group. I'm running Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.10, on and old Compaq pentium III machine. My problem is that the system clock is running at approx 2x the speed it should be running on. The hardware clock is ok. Solutions that don't seem to work: * adjtimex * ntpd * booting without apm or acpi The required parameters for adjtimex are way outside the allowed parameters. ntpd doesn't seem to cope either, if I'm running it correctly. It doesn't seem to do anything at all. How do I adjust the frequency of ntpd updates anyway? Some command in the /etc/ntp.conf I guess? Booting without apm or acpi doesn't seem to work, if I'm doing it correctly. I've seen in various forums that people running a 64-bit machine are having the same troubles but this isn't the case for me. Any ideas? Very best regards, Geir Freysson.

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Brett Parker 25 Jul '05

25 Jul '05

This is the automated ALUG IRC meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an IRC meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. 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 tkirc, bitchx, xchat 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://freshmeat.net/ http://www.epicsol.org/ Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

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/lib/modules/2.4.27/modules.pcimap
by Barry Samuels 24 Jul '05

24 Jul '05

First - I posted this yesterday over 24 hours ago with a different email address from the one I registered with for the Alug list. I was held back for moderation but hasn't appeared so I'm reposting. If the other one appears please ignore it. I'm still trying with my WG511 and I'm nearly there. When I plug the WG511 (made in China) card into my Dell Latitude a PCI event is not generated. This appears to be because ndiswrapper information is not included in /lib/modules/2.4.27/modules.pcimap although the ndiswrapper module is listed in /lib/modules/2.4.27/modules.dep. I have a file called 'modules.ndiswrapper' in my /etc/ndiswrapper directory but I don't know now where it came from. It doesn't apear to be part of the ndiswrapper source download. If I manually add the contents of this file (3 lines) to modules.pcimap then things begin to happen when I plug the card in. The snag is, of course, that modules.pcimap is re-written every time the laptop boots. How can I get the relevant lines to be included in modules.pcimap each time depmod is run? -- Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

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Remote boot switching
by Ted.Harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 23 Jul '05

23 Jul '05

Hi Folks, Suppose we have two machines, A and B, each dual-boot Linux/Windows. Suppose that Linux is the "default" OS on reboot -- i.e. if you switch the machine on and do nothing, Linux is what you get. Let's start with both in Linux. Now, sitting at A, I want B to reboot into Windows, but without going to B. One solution which has occurred to me is that, while at A, I can log in to B, su root, edit the LILO or GRUB config so that the boot order is reversed, and then tell B to reboot. So far so good. I can even make this into a script, so that when logged into B I can issue something like "boot Windows". But then, how to restore the original boot order without having to go to B, choose Linux from the boot menu, boot Linux, and re-edit the config file? I somehow doubt that you can do this while B is in Windows ... and I basically want the whole thing to be remote, from A. If there were some capability in the boot loader itself that could restore a default boot configuration prior to actually booting the OS which is currently "on top", this would make the whole thing scriptable. To be precise about this: 1. A & B running Linux. 2. At A, tell B to "boot Windows". 3. B reboots. 4. LILO/GRUB sees that Windows is "on top" and selects this as the OS to boot into. 5. LILO/GRUB *also* restores the original config file with Linux "on top". 6. LILO/GRUB then boots into Windows. The effect would be that the next re-boot would be into Linux. Any ideas or comments? With thanks, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 21-Jul-05 Time: 13:37:10 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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GZ files
by Peter Hunter 21 Jul '05

21 Jul '05

Hi, me again, I have been looking around the Linux.org site, and noticed that nearly all of there downloads are in the .gz format (I asume this is compressed a bit like .zip). Uncompressing proberbly won't be a problem, but how do I install the file/program from there? More to the point, where can I find instructions that will tell me what to do? (Bearing in mind of course that I am running Suse, which seems to be a bit different from other flavours of Linux). Regards, peter

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Completely Off Topic - But...
by Brett Parker 19 Jul '05

19 Jul '05

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Does anyone know of a pub with a bar billiards table in or around the Norwich area... for those unfamiliar with that game, the rules along with a picture of a fairly typical table can be found at the following URL: http://www.mastersgames.com/cat/pub/bar-billiards.htm I've just finished playing a few games, and have discovered that it's much more enjoyable than your average game of pool, which most pubs now cater for... But I'm currently in Suffolk and I played in the Edwardstone White Horse (which is a village pub not far from my dad's, and one that I'd highly recommend to people that want a quiet, pleasant drink in a village). Replies to me unless you think that they need to go to the list... Sorry for the cross post for those that are both on the ALUG and Debian-UK lists. Thanks, - -- Brett Parker web: http://www.sommitrealweird.co.uk/ email: iDunno(a)sommitrealweird.co.uk -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.1 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFC3X+dEh8oWxevnjQRAoIyAJ0dLE2r/Yt3mxN16kXpRJwJ/hrPlgCgqxTp PUr+ViKMFXNrSTbdcZX8cPI= =+m/f -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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RE: [ALUG] Remote Linux Support via VNC
by Keith Watson 18 Jul '05

18 Jul '05

> From: Jim Rippon Sent: 18 July 2005 16:28 > I would suggest that if you want to be able to show your > friend what you are doing (demonstrate how to fix the problem > they are having for > example) you might: > > apt-get install x11vnc > x11vnc sounds like just what I want, ta for the tip Jim. > You can find out your IP address from > http://www.whatismyip.com - very easy to get a user to go > here from their web browser when you are on the phone, > otherwise go for a Dynamic DNS service - something like > http://www.dyndns.org yes, good idea, ta once more :o) > I would suggest looking at running VNC over SSH as it is a > fairly insecure protocol straight up. There is a good amount > of info on this if you Google it. yes another good point, actually the x11vnc site talks about how to use ssh. I'll read up on it. > I admin 120 or so desktops and servers from here - although > most are Windoze machines (I SSH directly into my Linux > machines, and even XDMCP when I am on site) and I have had > plenty of success doing this over a dialup. You can set the > max colour depth and compression algorithms and I would > suggest that you look into this as at high colour depths and > no compression your session may be unusable. > > Hope this helps > great, just the sort of feedback I was hoping for, thanks Jim. Regards, Keith ____________ TWICE, adv. - Once too often. - Ambrose Bierce - The Devil's Dictionary

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Remote Linux Support via VNC
by Keith Watson 18 Jul '05

18 Jul '05

I'm thinking of using VNC to provide remote support from my Linux box for a newbie friend who also runs Linux. As we are both ancient fogies we both use a dial-up internet connection (i.e. a slow connection at each end as opposed to a faster broadband on at one or both ends). As we both have Ubuntu [Debian] based systems, I right in supposing that all I need to do is run something like; apt-get install vncserver on my friend's PC, and something like; apt-get install vncviewer on my own PC to install the software (if not part of the base Ubuntu install)? The Unofficial Ubuntu Starter Guide gives some rudimentary info. which suggests it may be feasible but a couple of possible problems spring to mind:- We both have the FireStarter firewall running using the default rules. I presume I'll need to change these at the server end to allow the viewer to connect. Can anyone give me some pointers on how I go about this for a VNC connection (VNC uses port 5900 I think)? Also, as our dial-up connections use dynamic IP addressing is the lack of fixed IPs likely to be a problem? Any other gotchas anyone can think of? Has anyone ever tried this (i.e. Linux VNC - Linux VNC over dial-up) ? and, if so, did you get it to work? :o) Regards, Keith ____________ DEFAME, v.t. - To lie about another, also, to tell the truth about another. - Ambrose Bierce - The Devil's Dictionary

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Brett Parker 18 Jul '05

18 Jul '05

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IRC connection problem
by Jim Rippon 15 Jul '05

15 Jul '05

Hi everyone. Since I have a quiet afternoon ahead of me, can someone lend a hand getting my IRC connection to work - I have tried opening a connection to both irc.oftc.net and irc.alug.org.uk (both resolve to the same IP addresses so I guess alug is just an alias anyway) by typing: /server irc.oftc.net in Besirc 2.2.13 (sorry, stuck in windoze while I am at work, not through choice) but all I get is a Connection failed. message. Is there some way I can troubleshoot/test a connection into IRC from here - either from Windows or Linux (I can ssh and/or XDMCP into one of my test servers in the plant room from here using either PuTTY or Cygwin/X, but its not really something I can do permanently). TIA, Jim

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Re: [ukfsn.org #5928] Re: [ALUG] Where is UKFSN?
by Ted.Harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 15 Jul '05

15 Jul '05

On 15-Jul-05 Jason Clifford wrote: > On Fri, 15 Jul 2005, MJ Ray via RT wrote: > >> Ted, I can see UKFSN, so I'll forward your message to support@ukfsn. >> I assume you can't, what with not being able to see their DNS entries. >> Hopefully they can reply to you/the list as appropriate. >> >> > It looks as though UKFSN had disappeared from the world: >> > >> > dig -a smtp.ukfsn.org -> No Answer >> > dig -a www.ukfsn.org -> No Answer >> > dig -mx ukfsn.org -> No Answer >> > traceroute www.ukfsn.org -> unknown host www.ukfsn.org > > I suspect the problem was with Ted's upstream network provider as UKFSN > is > certainly still here and we've not had any downtime this morning. > > The name servers haven't been changed at all and I would have noticed > any > network interruption as I've been doing lots of interactive work on the > servers this morning. > > Jason Thanks, MJ & Jason! In fact, following a considerable amount of forensic poking around, I think I have identified a possible source of the problem as BT's DNS going flaky. Since their DNS server is one of the entries in my /etc/resolv.conf this may be the explanation. However, other entries are DNS servers at mcc.ac.uk, and one of these should have worked! Nevertheless I substituted a different MCC DNS server (the on that responded to 'dig') as well. At the same time, a lot of FQDN addresses worked fine while the smtp.ukfsn.org server was "unkown" (e.g. browsing the web for guardian.co.uk of bbc.so.uk) while others did not! As of rather more than an hour ago, no further problems. A bit of a mystery still, therefore, and I apologise for not coming back to the list earlier to say it was resolved, to save people the trouble they have gone to. In mitigation I can only plead being busy dealing with a backlog of mail which had been halted while the problem was ongoing. Thanks again, and best wishes, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 15-Jul-05 Time: 13:45:29 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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[job] Help required for Linux Support company in Sussex to Handle Anglian Company requirements.
by nik butler 15 Jul '05

15 Jul '05

Ive been asked to help a Local Business, who have several locations in and around the Norwich Area, to resolve many of their IT issues. Ideally I need someone who has wider experience than the usual "Windows is the Only Way" point of view. Hence Im going to the Linux User Groups for Anglia and asking here. If your interested in doing some on site support work and are familiar with configuring IP, Routers, Firewalls and being available to do on site call work then I would appreciatte hearing from you. Its part time, on call , call out stuff that may require weekend support as well. The work , call orders and options will be managed by myself and you can expect to be contacted by me to be directed to the site. Im hoping to take on more than one candidate in the Area to ensure that I have suitable cover and support. Nicholas Butler Reduced Hackers Sussex Linux User Group.

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firefox doing well
by tom potts 15 Jul '05

15 Jul '05

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=24643 ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - NEW crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

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Where is UKFSN?
by Ted Harding 15 Jul '05

15 Jul '05

Hi Folks, It looks as though UKFSN had disappeared from the world: dig -a smtp.ukfsn.org -> No Answer dig -a www.ukfsn.org -> No Answer dig -mx ukfsn.org -> No Answer traceroute www.ukfsn.org -> unknown host www.ukfsn.org This first came to my attention last night when I was no longer able to route outgoing email via smtp.ukfsn.org, getting error messages like recep_kantarci_1978@yahoo.com.tr,ai-geostats@unil.ch... Host unknown (Name server: smtp.ukfsn.org: no data known) from the destination. Does anyone have any news of what's happening? I can connect to the web using UKFSN's dialup number, so something's working there! Thanks, and best wishes to all Ted.

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contact name at lugww
by Syd Hancock 15 Jul '05

15 Jul '05

Hi all I have received an email reminding me that I am the maintainer for the entry for ALUG on LUG World Wide - see: http://lugww.counter.li.org/groups.cms?&cc=GB&rc=EE If someone else would like to take this over please contact me off-list and I'll pass on the login details for editing the entry. Otherwise it will probably be allowed it to lapse if there is no interest. Please note - do contact me by email (as well as informing the list) for a quicker response as I simply browse the list online from time to time these days. Hope all is well in ALUG-land and I'll try and come to the Reindeer one of these months. Syd

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2nd call: Software Freedom Day 2005
by MJ Ray 14 Jul '05

14 Jul '05

Thanks to the people who have emailed offering help with Software Freedom Day on Saturday 10 September 2005. I'd like a few more people to make things easier for everyone. If you're willing to help, please email me or ask me this evening. Those who have offered so far: I'll reply to everyone this weekend with news. Thanks. More info: http://softwarefreedomday.org/ -- MJR/slef

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RE: [ALUG] Ubuntu [was GZ files]
by Keith Watson 13 Jul '05

13 Jul '05

> From: Wayne Stallwood Sent: 12 July 2005 23:47 > > Also I would consider Ubuntu, Ubuntu is essentially Debian > made easy, it has a reduced package selection (although there > is nothing stopping you adding debian packages) but (in my > experience) has better hardware support out of the box and > offers a slightly more polished initial configuration. > > I was pure SuSE on the desktop from about 2001, but like you > I felt that I was being insulated from the system, also I > fancied a change. So I moved my main machine over to Ubuntu a > few months back, One of my laptops and a machine in my office > are now Ubuntu as well. Generally I am pretty happy with the > changeover (the main problems I have had are > AMD64 specific and therefore may not affect you) > I'd also recommend the Ubuntu distro. I recently set up a simple system for a friend and (as they didn't have a lot of money to spend on software) set them up a Linux based system using Ubuntu 5.04. I was really impressed not only by the ease of install (it picked up all their installed hardware perfectly) but by the familiar way the desktop was organized. My friend has a minimal knowledge of computers and their only experience was using the usual Windows set-ups at work. Their main requirement was for e-mail, and the fact that the Evolution mail client has such an Outlook feel to it was a big plus factor for them. To keep the running costs down I set them up a simple dial up connection to a pay as you go provider (ukfsn) and talked them through the modem set-up with no problem. They made the transition, despite some initial reservations, painlessly. It just worked and in a way they were familiar with. As they said "I was worried about using a system that wasn't Windows but this is just as good as Windows" (immediately followed by "Why are you hitting me?" :o) ). I was so impressed I bought the company... er.. no.. I was so impressed that, despite being a dyed-in-the-wool Debian purist, I am in the process of rebuilding my system using Ubuntu (OK so it's just Debian with it's going out clothes on). If you are thinking of installing Ubuntu a couple of invaluable sites are; The Unofficial Ubuntu 5.04 Starter Guide <http://ubuntuguide.org/> (setting up Ubuntu is easy but this makes it a doddle) Mr Bass's Ubuntu Linux page <http://www.mrbass.org/linux/ubuntu/> (a good site for those with a little more than basic Linux experience - the root site www.mrbass.org is also worth a look) Regards, Keith ____________ The saddest thing in the world is someone who has sight but no vision. - Helen Keller

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Making backups
by Peter Hunter 12 Jul '05

12 Jul '05

I am about to re-install Suse 9.3 Prof. (it didn't fully install last time as a couple of the disks I made from the Internet download were corrupt or just faulty). I have managed to save my files (docs) etc., but how do I make a backup of my email messages and settings? I am running Evolution inGnome 2.10 if that helps. Many thanks peter

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Great website
by Peter Hunter 12 Jul '05

12 Jul '05

If any new linux users are interested, I have just happened across a triffik website. It's: www.linuxcommand.org I have been viewing it, and trying out lots of the things it's been teaching me. I am really getting to grips with all this stuff now. Still loads to try and to learn, so I'll get back to it now. Well worth a look though. Regards Peter

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Accessing CD's
by Peter Hunter 12 Jul '05

12 Jul '05

Well, I know that several of you have been helping me with this. But yesterday I put a CD in the drive and after a few seconds it mounted and I had full access to all the files. So I tried this with several other discs in both drives and all seems to be fine. Thanks for all the help, I have been learning loads over the past week. I'm glad I joined the group. Shame I can't get to the meeting and buy you all a beer. I'll just have to email you a picture of one, eill that do!!! Regards Peter

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