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What is a Kit Meeting?
by Brett Parker 28 Feb '05

28 Feb '05

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Right, As this has come up a couple of times over the last few days... here goes the explaination of what a 'kit' meeting is... First off, kit is basically "old computers, new computers, anything that's interesting or you want to get rid of and think someone might be interested in, laptops, pdas, etc etc". A kit meeting is basically a meeting where by we have some desks, a reasonable sized room, and some power outlets. It's a good place to bring any thing that you'd like to demonstrate to the group (if you're feeling brave), or to get someone to help you with that niggly hardware problem, or help you to install one of the numerous distributions (we don't all know the same distribution, but you'll find a fair number of us that are Debian type people, some even Debian Developers, so expect the highest amount of support on Debian or Ubuntu based systems). All kit brought to the meeting is the owners responsibility, we have not yet, to my knowledge, had anything nicked from a meeting, but it's useful to label anything that you bring "Just In Case". (Also, when there's lots of 4 ways and network leads, etc, it can get a bit hectic at packing up time, in order to keep track of which bits are yours, it's useful to have them labelled). It is not neccessary to bring kit to the meeting, we're very open to talking about 'stuff', which can cover a whole array of subjects, and not even limited to just IT, sometimes we have interesting things to say (not me, personally, but sometimes there's interesting people about). It's a good opportunity for lots of us ALUGgers to get together, talk, demonstrate, help, get ideas, and generally have a good afternoon of playing with stuff, eating biscuits, and, quite usually, finding beer in the pub afterwards (UEA permitting, this time. Last time ISTR the bar being closed :( ). I hope to see many of you there. Thanks, - -- Brett Parker web: http://www.sommitrealweird.co.uk/ email: iDunno(a)sommitrealweird.co.uk -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.0 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFCIzAxEh8oWxevnjQRAnhhAJ9b2OSREYtq1MR/o5xMoiZffUKu7gCfVdRr l5IiXEpjpQ+E7wOaqXNdl5I= =g9Lx -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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RE: [ALUG] New Member
by Elisabeth 28 Feb '05

28 Feb '05

hi Simon, Will we see you at the kitmeet on 20 March? eli/sunflowerinrain/elspeth

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RE: [ALUG] Kit Meet - 20th March @ UEA
by Keith Watson 28 Feb '05

28 Feb '05

> From: Brett Parker Sent: 25 February 2005 21:04 > Elisabeth <E.Fosbrooke-brown(a)uea.ac.uk> wrote: > > Sunday 20 March > > Constable Terrace Room A > > Start at 14:00 > > > > Bring software, laptops, pcs, monitors, pdas, peripherals, >> cables, bits and pieces... > > Share and enjoy. > > Or don't bring anything but yourselves, don't feel that you *have* to > bring kit to attend a kit meet. > > Biscuits are appreciated by all attendees though, as are hot > cross buns, jaffa cakes... (we like snack food ;) > > > If people could post back to the list to give us a feeling > what they're bringing, what they might want, and whether they are turning up. I shall try very hard to get there (seeing as it's just round the corner), I have some odd bits and pieces that may be off use to someone. I'll try and bring some sweet and sticky comestibles also :o) Keith

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Audio CD Writing
by Ted.Harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 28 Feb '05

28 Feb '05

Hi Folks, I'm trying to get a ".wav" file (which I also have in a version ".cdr" converted by sox) onto a CD so that the CD can be played on a CD player. With 'xcdroast' I can get the file onto CD as a "data CD", but this doesn;t work for playing on a CD player. My 'xcdroast' tells me, when I'm about to master the file into an ISO image, that if I'm only mastering ".wav" files and want to create an aufio CD then I should use the "Write Tracks" menu and not the "Master Tracks" menu. That's all very well, but if I do that then the "Image Information" panel under "Write Tracks -> Layout Tracks, which seems to be the only way I can designate the filenames for tracks, shows me nothing (unless I have already mastered an image under "Master Tracks" which is then an ISO image which I don't want), and I can see no way of getting the filename into this window. This is xcdroast-0.98alpha13 on Red Hat 9.1. When I click on "Create CD" from the top menu, the first display which comes up is "CD.Image Info", and in this panel I can see the filenames. However, there's no provision there to select them for later use. The only other option which displays them is "Master Tracks" as described above. Can anyone take my hand and lead me out of the wood, please? Thanks, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 26-Feb-05 Time: 20:09:26 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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Re: [ALUG] Linux Political Party
by John Seago 28 Feb '05

28 Feb '05

On Monday 28 Feb 2005 06:26, adam(a)thebowery.co.uk wrote: > In preparation for the next general election I don't know if I can bring > myself to vote for any of the parties because they all suck, just some > more than others. If in effect I could vote for all the parties who were > crap instead of the ones that were totally crap then it wouldn't be a > total disaster. Which was precisely my point, don't vote for, vote against. (Or write on your ballot paper what you think of the Candidates, they all have to personally read 'spoilt papers. I think one of my best, years ago in a Borough Council Election was, "offered a choice between two crooks and an idiot, I choose not to vote for any of them"), With proportional voting we at least had the opportunity to take votes away from those we disapproved of. However, (for those who wonder why I start so many sentences with 'However', when I was at school, starting a sentence with 'But ' was a terrible sin), even with the first past the post method, voting for fringe party's sends a message, especially if like me you then send all the other party's an email telling them why you didn't vote for them, and that they can't make assumptions as to why their share of the vote was what it was, as there were lots of voters who did exactly the same as I/you, (just don't tell them which party you did vote for). -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

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A bit of introduction from me (again)
by Tatsuhiko Maegawa 27 Feb '05

27 Feb '05

I've been away for a while from ALUG, so there must be people who don't know me. My name is Tatsuhiko Maegawa. I live in Fukui, Japan. And I've got blog: http://blog.jazzman.jp I've studied at UEA at late 90s, and that's where my relationship with ALUG began. Turmoils on returning to Japan hampered my will to stay with ALUG for a while. Now that I'm doing right, I decided to join back again. These days I use Gentoo Linux, customized for Japanese environment but not perfectly - yet. Now from June the company that I work will have seven "international" interns. I've checked the details of what they do, and found out that these people do have used "Linux" before. I wonder how far these students know about Linux. Since these people know C++, I assume they can install it, use it, and develop some. Yours Tatsuhiko Maegawa

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Re: [ALUG] Linux Political Party
by John Seago 27 Feb '05

27 Feb '05

On Thursday 24 Feb 2005 06:26, Sid Dabster <sid_dabster(a)yahoo.ca> wrote: > *** Proposal for a FLOSS/Linux Political Party *** > > I suggest a Linux Party is formed to promote the idea > of free software (and possibly related ideas). The > last European Election with the patent issue showed > the relevance of politics to the free software > movement. Voting purely on patents lead to some > undesirable alliance partners. While as LUG Radio > noted, the patent issue did not brake through into the > mainstream media. If free software is to gain mass > use, we need decision makers and media to be more > aware. A Linux party with a free post drop and media > time will do this just as other single issue parties > have. During the Euro Elections I took it upon my self to see if we, the Free Software Community could unseat the sitting Liberal Democrat candidate. Not that I had any opposition to the Candidate Personally or Politically, but because they were expecting to gain a seat, and their stand on Software Patents were inimical to the Free Software Community. The actions I proposed were a) to lobby the Lib Dems, b) to encourage anyone that people came into contact with, to vote either UKIP or Green, in order to take AWAY votes from the Lib Dems. c) to actually vote for either UKIP or the Greens. The result was that some took the trouble to write to me, or post to newsgroups, to tell me why they either did not have the time or inclination to lobby the Lib Dems, (effort they could have used to write to the Lib Dems), others told me that UKIP or the Greens were not people they could vote FOR, missing the point that the vote was AGAINST the Lib Dems. Voting for Minority Party's hits the major Party's disproportionally, even when the sitting party wins, if its majority is reduced not by one of the other major party's but by one of the minor one's. It is my opinion in these days when democracy has not turned out to be what some imagined it should be, that apathy is our worst enemy, but that an opposition group can be more useful than a single issue pressure group. If a Party is to be organised then it may be more useful to organise a Political Organisation to vote against certain individuals or parties, rather than for a single issue pressure group. Perhaps someone will know if the various election regulations covers those who are campaigning AGAINST an individual or Party. -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

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Re: Re: [ALUG] A bit of introduction from me (again)
by John Seago 27 Feb '05

27 Feb '05

On Saturday 26 February 2005 23:41, beb <ben(a)psychoferret.co.uk> wrote: > Moot point. To most[0] East Anglians, London is as far away as Japan ;-) Yes and far more foreign as well! -- John GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

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Linux Political Party
by Sid Dabster 26 Feb '05

26 Feb '05

*** Proposal for a FLOSS/Linux Political Party *** I suggest a Linux Party is formed to promote the idea of free software (and possibly related ideas). The last European Election with the patent issue showed the relevance of politics to the free software movement. Voting purely on patents lead to some undesirable alliance partners. While as LUG Radio noted, the patent issue did not brake through into the mainstream media. If free software is to gain mass use, we need decision makers and media to be more aware. A Linux party with a free post drop and media time will do this just as other single issue parties have. Q. What would be involved A. For a resonable campaign i. 12 signatures and a 500 pound deposit ii. A leaflet designed on a personal computer iii.50,000 copies would be duplicated (these can contain adverts) about 250 pounds iv. Turning up to 2 husting (optional), just repeat the same answer to each question. v. 5 minutes radio interview. "Manifesto" Could include *Use of FLOSS, Linux* no to DRM no software and look & feel patents open hardware standards (end vendor lock-in) free books end of EULAs no coding obfuscation DeCSS, freedom to watch DVDs Write what code you want End security paranoia freedom to listen to CDs stop criminalising end users etc. etc. Remember IP and computers are more important than ever, several billion may be saved by using FLOSS. Want more hospitals, tax cuts etc. ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca

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RE: [ALUG] Kit Meet - 20th March @ UEA
by Elisabeth 25 Feb '05

25 Feb '05

>===== Original Message From Brett Parker <iDunno(a)sommitrealweird.co.uk> ===== > >If people could post back to the list to give us a feeling what they're >bringing cookies. the edible kind. e/sunflowerinrain Elisabeth Fosbrooke-Brown School of Music University of East Anglia Norwich NR4 7TJ

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ALUG Library on line
by Wayne Stallwood 25 Feb '05

25 Feb '05

Despite several things working against me* I have now populated the On Line Library with the real ALUG library book list. The contents of the Library now represent all the books currently held by the library, Those who currently have books on loan will have accounts auto-generated as their books are added to the system within the next few days. Any reservations or bookings made during the testing phase have been removed, however any accounts generated still exist. Currently the library is resting in my ISP's hosting area http://cgi.digimatic.plus.com/opendb/ I hope to move it to the ALUG site very shortly (there are still a few minor changes I want to make, and where it is now I have shell access which makes things a bit easier) When I get a moment I will stick a link at the top of the old ALUG Library page pointing to the Library as the URL is hardly memorable. Potential borrowers can of course still use the old system of just waiting to the next meet and leafing through the box to see if something interests them (I should be at the kit meeting next month and am going to make an effort to be at the 2nd Thursday thing on the 10th of March, subject to some work commitments) It should be noted that in the interests of fair play, reservations only count up until the next meeting that I attend, if somebody is at the meeting and wants to borrow a book reserved by somebody that hasn't turned up then I think it only fair that the reservation is overruled, so all reservations do is get you first dibs at a book if you attend the next meeting that I do. * Firstly when populating the database I decided that rather than manually typing in the ISBN numbers I would use an old barcode reader I had lying around to get the ISBN from the barcode number, naturally in true geek fashion getting this to work actually took longer than typing in the ISBN numbers manually, a feat which I ended up doing anyway as curiously the barcode does not seem in include the last digit of the ISBN. If someone wants to write me some script that (given a barcode number) looks up the book on amazon and populates the database with the correct title,author,publisher etc then that would be very welcome. Then I discovered that for some reason the PHP mail function has stopped working (actually it looked more like it had been intentionally disabled) so membership email and other stuff wasn't working. I sent a mail to PlusNet support and it magically reappeared despite their claims that they hadn't switched it off.

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Tentative Kit Meet Arrangements - 20th March @ UEA
by Brett Parker 24 Feb '05

24 Feb '05

Helllllooooo List! Right, we (me, kirsten and elisabeth) have just been talking in IRC and noted that we have not had a kit meeting in *forever*, so, on that note we thought we should start planning one. How does Sunday March the 20th at the UEA sound to everyone? Cheers, -- Brett Parker web: http://www.sommitrealweird.co.uk/ email: iDunno(a)sommitrealweird.co.uk

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Yet more cheeky blagging
by Joe Button 24 Feb '05

24 Feb '05

Hi. Don't suppose anyone's got a copy of O'Reilly's Perl Cookbook they don't use, available for free or cheap? Any edition will do... Cheers, Joe x

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Slackware 10.1 and Kword
by John Seago 24 Feb '05

24 Feb '05

Has anyone else noticed an annoying little bug in the version of Kword that comes with 10.1? I print my A4 letterhead ranged, (lined up on), the right hand side of the paper, (it means that when the letter is filed in a ring binder the letter head is on the outside edge and thus more easily visible). The problem is that the last letter on each line is cut in half, this does not happen in the body of the letter, just with the heading. I've never had a bug which needed reporting to date so I'm asking if anyone else has seen it before I report it. (I've also got a spare set of 10.1 which has the same problem). -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

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Forgotten...
by Anthony Anson 22 Feb '05

22 Feb '05

Thought I'd try once more to get Wine flowing in Debian. Clicked the falling-over wineglass in the KDE menu. "You have started Wine, but we cannot find a Wine configuration file. This is normal if you have never run Wine before. If this is the case, select the 'Configure Wine' option, below, to create a configuration file." So I did. "Error: unable to find winesetup tool, please install the "winesetuptk" Debian package" I click 'okay'. "You have started Wine, but we cannot...... <mode="thinks"> Haven't we been here before? </mode> So, (please make a careful mental not of the next action...) I open the CD ROMdrawer by pressing its 'open/close' buttonand feed it the 'binary 1' CD, which fires-up nicely. Then I have have a look at what's on offer. There are two likely-looking wineglasses (toppling) in sight, both of which (but separately) I offer Debian, and both of which are declined. Any idea where I ought to look, pretty please? (And what I might have to type into a text terminal?) However, the above isn't the point of this emu: when I came to remove the CD, pressing the 'open/close' button on the drive resulted in a sullen refusal to do anything. So, I tried the CD icon in Gnome, to be told that Debian had lost the driver - and the drawer still would not open. (Kept telling me that the drive was 'busy' or similar when I clicketty-clicked its icon in the Desktop. [Do we call it 'desktop'?] ) I had to close Debian down before the CD drive would operate again. So, for a change, the 'Forgotten...' does not refer to my own dreadful memory, but to Debian's. Any thoughts, gang? -- Tony http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/ The only way to tell when a Finn is in love with you is that they look at your feet instead of their own.

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Website meeting updates.
by Jonathan McDowell 22 Feb '05

22 Feb '05

Can't remember who other than Mark can make these changes, so being lazy and sending them to the list 'cos I know he's always busy. Updates for http://www.alug.org.uk/meetings/2004/ and http://www.alug.org.uk/venues/norwich.html Though actually someone wants to move /2004/ to /2005/ and have the new meetings there. Not easy to represent in a diff without knowledge of the site though. J. -- Hello.. Incontinence Hotline.. | .''`. Debian GNU/Linux Developer Can you hold? | : :' : Happy to accept PGP signed | `. `' or encrypted mail - RSA + | `- DSA keys on the keyservers.

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RE: [ALUG] Tentative Kit Meet Arrangements - 20th March @ UEA
by Keith Watson 22 Feb '05

22 Feb '05

Sounds good to me too. Venue as per the ALUG web site? Regards, Keith ____________ Those who seek the easy way do not seek the true way. - Dogen

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Re: [ALUG] Installing Linux mail
by Leon Stedman 21 Feb '05

21 Feb '05

On Sat, 19 Feb 2005, MJ Ray wrote: > > Yes this is part of what I wanted. BUT the main problem is to get it > > (Mandrake 10.1) to work at all. I used wvdial to connect to the ISP thus: > > Sorry, I can't help with that. It didn't look like it's > connecting, unless your have a very fast ISP. 3 seconds? > I think it should even log the dial attempt and it looks > like it's not even attempting. Is the modem on COM1? > > I used ppp-config in debian to set up my dialup connection > when I first installed it and have copied or edited the files > from /etc/ppp pretty much ever since. Then it's just a case of > getting the correct permissions on files in /etc/ppp/ (readable > by users, writeable only by root) and on /usr/bin/pppd (owner > root, permissions start -rws). Finally, either "pon" or "pppd > call provider" (to use details from /etc/ppp/peers/provider) > It appears (from the log) that pppd is attempting to negotiate compression with the server, which it won't accept. I will attempt to stop this when I have the time. I already use Linux to send e-mails, and use the same hardware (grub dual boot), so most things are correct. This distro is RedHat 9, and I am attempting to configure Mandrake 10.1. Many thanks. Leon.

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RE: [ALUG] Forgotten...
by Keith Watson 21 Feb '05

21 Feb '05

> From: Anthony Anson Sent: 21 February 2005 10:45 > > However, the above isn't the point of this emu: when I came to remove > the CD, pressing the 'open/close' button on the drive resulted in a > sullen refusal to do anything. So, I tried the CD icon in Gnome, to be > told that Debian had lost the driver - and the drawer still would not > open. (Kept telling me that the drive was 'busy' or similar when I > clicketty-clicked its icon in the Desktop. [Do we call it > 'desktop'?] ) > > I had to close Debian down before the CD drive would operate again. > This happens to me every now and then. I find that opening a command shell and su'ing to root then issuing "eject /cdrom" (or whatever the CD mount point is) usually works. Regards, Keith ____________ People would rather sleep through life than stay awake for it. - Edward Albee

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RE: [ALUG] Forgotten...
by Keith Watson 21 Feb '05

21 Feb '05

> From: Anthony Anson Sent: 21 February 2005 11:42 > <63F7A21F1CA18143AFDBF28E2A7D6BBAE5E132(a)endor.kewill-europe.com> > from "Keith Watson" <keith.watson(a)kewill.com> contains these words: > > > > I had to close Debian down before the CD drive would > operate again. > > > > > > This happens to me every now and then. I find that opening a command > > shell and su'ing to root then issuing "eject /cdrom" (or > whatever the > > CD mount point is) usually works. > > The words have a familiar ring to them - but I'm not up to speed at > using terminals yet, so... Easy-peasy if you're using Debian (or any one of half a dozen other distros). hold down alt and then press F1 (or F2, F3, F4.....) and a command session will appear (to get back to the desktop just hold down alt and press F7 - if you're using Debian that is :o) ). Then at the logon prompt type 'root' and at the password prompt type your root password (which I assume you know?) Type 'df' to get a list of what is mounted where. one of the lines will say something like; \dev\hdd [a number] [a number] [a number] 100% /cdrom where the first bit refers to the CD rom device (it might be hde, hdf depending on how many HDDs you have or it might be emulated as a SCSI device e.g. /dev/scd0 or /dev/scd1) the last bit on the line is the directory where your CD is mounted. so you can then enter 'eject /dev/hdd' (or 'eject /dev/scd0' or whatever depending on which device the drive is set up as) or you can enter the mount point e.g. 'eject /cdrom' (I prefer this as I can never remember what device the CD drive is but I can remember where it's mounted :o) ) then when you're finished just type 'logout' (or hold down ctrl and press D) and then alt+F7. et voila! PS when you've done this successfully at least once you can save pressure on your memory by using 'history | grep eject' to get a list from the command history where you've used this command before. Note the number before one of the commands (one that worked that is :o) ) and just type an exclaimation mark ( ! ) followed by the number to re-execute the command eg. if you get; 5 eject /cdrom 12 eject /cdrom 24 eject /cdrom you can type !5 or !12 or !24 to re-execute the command. Regards, Keith ____________ Stand still. - The trees ahead and the bush beside you are not lost. - Albert Einstein

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RE: [ALUG] Forgotten...
by Keith Watson 21 Feb '05

21 Feb '05

> From: Brett Parker Sent: 21 February 2005 15:43 > using fuser in a terminal as root. Handy tool to have laying Yes, I've often heard root users muttering "fuser" to themselves ;-) Keith

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RE: [ALUG] Forgotten...
by Keith Watson 21 Feb '05

21 Feb '05

> From: Brett Parker Sent: 21 February 2005 15:00 > > Keith Watson <keith.watson(a)kewill.com> wrote: > > Easy-peasy if you're using Debian (or any one of half a > dozen other distros). > > > > hold down alt and then press F1 (or F2, F3, F4.....) and a command > > session will appear (to get back to the desktop just hold > down alt and > > press F7 - if you're using Debian that is :o) ). > > He's in X... if you say these things, get 'em right, for X to one of > those you'll want Ctrl-Alt-F1 etc. > oops! sorry :-$ Yes, hold down ctrl AND alt then press F1, F2,... etc. Regards, Keith ____________ To know that you know, and to know that you don't know - that is the real wisdom. - Confucius

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IRC meeting reminder
by adam＠thebowery.co.uk 21 Feb '05

21 Feb '05

Hi people, It appears that the irc meeting reminder has gone MIA. If you follow this link you can read it http://lists.blackcatnetworks.co.uk/main/2005-January/020548.html Um, and irc meetings don't tend to have as much momentum as in the past as there is pretty much always people hanging around on irc talking loads of nonsense (but we do try and help newbies out if they have problems etc.). Adam -- jabberid = quinophex(a)jabber.earth.li AFFS || http://www.affs.org.uk/ || Not a filesystem

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Ubuntu
by Jeffrey Herrington 20 Feb '05

20 Feb '05

Any members in Norwich want Ubuntu Intel x86 Edition v 4.10 Live CD Install CD 7 distribution packs left --------------------------------- ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - all new features - even more fun!

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(no subject)
by d922989 20 Feb '05

20 Feb '05

Dear All, having joined this list a few weeks ago I am at last getting around to saying 'hello'. I'm Rob of Lakenham, part time teacher of development economics at UEA, full time dad, very part time computer tinkerer and so on. I have gravitated towards Linux after a long period of growing disaffection with another well known OS. Until a few years back I always assumed that the more I used computers in my daily work, the more I would understand, gain control and open up creative possibilities. However, the latest version of the ubiquitous OS has confirmed the opposite tendancy. I really feel that I am being patronised and almost deliberately deskilled. I wanted a computer, not a glorified fruit machine. So to Linux. If you haven't realised by now, I am one of the very few (?) non-techie people on the list but perhaps a laugh at my newbie naivete may be warming on a cold winter evening. I only started with Linux in December 2004. Maybe in desperation for some visible nuts and bolts, I have ignored advice about difficulty and gone straight for Debian (3.0 r3). I've got a dual boot working with XP as I only have the one machine which I do a lot of UEA work on. The machine is a Thinkpad T22 from ebay. Possibly because of this I've got nowhere with X so far but I'll get there one day. At the moment my install reminds me of Multics at Bristol in the 1980s. I'm enjoying learning all about vi and Unix in general. That's it. My appreciation to all who contribute to making this an interesting list, especially to the kind folk who run it all. Perhaps look forward to meeting some of you one day; do you really venture down to the Billy Bluelight sometimes? Best wishes, Rob

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