- main - earth.li

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

3 4

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

1 0

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

1 0

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

1 0

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!

1 0

(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

8 15

gimp plugins - How to do anything with them?
by Chris Green 20 Feb '05

20 Feb '05

How do you do anything with gimp plugins? The particular one in question is the fractalexplorer plugin, my wife wants some mandelbrot printouts so I hunted around and found that the gimp I have installed on my Slackware system has a whole directory devoted to fractalexplorer plugins and one of them is called mandelbrot. However I can't for the life of me work out how to feed the example files into the plugin in the gimp and get it to do anything. I'm a gimp novice so nothing is obvious (apart from how to run it to start with, I can manage that!). -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk) "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."

4 5

Looking to get into contact with Ian Douglas.
by kiall＠snoopie.org 20 Feb '05

20 Feb '05

Hi iain, RE: http://lists.alug.org.uk/main/2003-February/014341.html im contacting you as i seem to have contracted that mozilla dns disease you got in feb 2003 (yes it seems mozilla havent sorted out the problem yet) i was hoping you would still remember how you went about fixing it? Ive tryed everything from removing the .mozilla directory trying as a completly new user, trying as root, rebooting but nothing helps.. tcpdump -n port 53 shows that Mozilla is not actually even sending a DNS request, similar to you. anyway.. if you can get into contact with me at: kiall(a)snoopie.org as i more than likely wont be following this list.. Thanks Kiall Mac Innes ---------------------------------------------------------------- This E-Mail Address Is Hosted By Snoopie.org..

3 2

RE: [ALUG] Invitation to FOSDEM 2005
by Keith Watson 18 Feb '05

18 Feb '05

> From: Brett Parker Sent: 18 February 2005 01:05 > MJ Ray <mjr(a)dsl.pipex.com> wrote: ... > > If we had a developers meeting in East Anglia, could we get > > the abbreviation to be EADAM somehow? That's funny two ways. > > That's an easy one to get to... > > East Anglian Developers Annual Meeting... or East Anglian Developers > Abandon Meeting (in favour of pub)... or East Anglian > Developers Access > Meeting, or, well, there's probably thousands more, but I'm tired and > cba. If its for East Anglia I think it should have 'Folk' in it somewhere and as it's the UK perhaps FUKDAM or even DAMFUK? :o) Keith

2 1

[peeaq@xandros.com: Xandros Desktop OS Open Circulation Edition]
by adam＠thebowery.co.uk 18 Feb '05

18 Feb '05

This came to the main admin address. I know that we have (or had) at least one Xandros devotee on the list, I guess that this may be of interest to them, or others. Thanks Adam ----- Forwarded message from Quamrun Peea <peeaq(a)xandros.com> ----- Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 15:58:51 -0500 From: Quamrun Peea <peeaq(a)xandros.com> To: main-admin(a)lists.alug.org.uk Subject: Xandros Desktop OS Open Circulation Edition Dear ALUG Admin Team, We, at Xandros, are thrilled to introduce the world to the Version 3 Open Circulation Edition of the award winning Xandros Desktop OS. The new release provides a new Internet experience with Firefox Web browsing, Thunderbird e-mail, and Skype Internet calling. Xandros is the first Linux distribution to include the native Linux Skype client for crystal clear Internet voice calls. A trial version of CodeWeavers CrossOver Office 4.1 is also available to test drive your favorite Windows applications. Discover crystal clear and free Internet voice calling with Skype! Get to use your favorite Windows applications using the trial version of CrossOver Office 4.1!! Rediscover the Web with the secure Firefox Web browser and Thunderbird e-mail client!!! Please feel free to download the Open Circulation from http://home.xandros.com/. For those that are interested in the commercial products, please feel free to use or pass the following 45% coupon to other LUG members. Just follow through the ordering process at http://www.xandros.com/shopping.html and use the following 45% Deluxe discount coupon at the Payments page. Coupon Code: uklug2005 The Xandros Product Team ----- End forwarded message ----- -- jabberid = quinophex(a)jabber.earth.li AFFS || http://www.affs.org.uk/ || Not a filesystem

2 1

text wrapping regex
by Richard Lewis 17 Feb '05

17 Feb '05

Hello ALUG, I wonder if anyone can help with a regular expression (for text wrapping)? I need to match all the characters from either the beginning of the line or the last match (in global mode) up to the last space before the Xth character. I can do the first space after the Xth character: $ echo "A string with quite a lot of words and spaces in it." | sed "s/$.\{,X\}$ /\1\n/g" Any ideas? Richard

3 10

any broadband recommendations?
by allan miller 16 Feb '05

16 Feb '05

Well, my broadband connection has not been working now for 3 weeks and I have decided that I should look at changing ISPs even though I would like to support UKFSN because of its support for free software and Linux. I think one of the problems is that UKFSN is too far down the 'food chain' so that when things go wrong there are these layers above that have to be negotiated. My 'current' connection is 256/512 uncapped with dynamic IP for £21.50/month. So I just need something similar. Does anybody recommend anyone? I see BT recently announced speed increases which will probably affect everyone else (http://www.adslguide.org.uk/newsarchive.asp?item=2087) so prices may be a bit fluid at the moment. TIA Allan Miller

9 14

Server & Desktop suppliers
by James Green 15 Feb '05

15 Feb '05

Hi all, Been a looooong while since I started a thread here, good to see its still lively. I'd like to ask if you would recommend decent hardware suppliers. Looking to purchase desktops and servers (complete pre-built systems and tailored solutions plus components). Think middle-road: not too cheap, not too expensive. Have experience of a few Supermicro boxes, they appear good. Not much experience of others though. Hardware support is critical, some servers may require 24x7x265 4hr response (Docklands), while quick delivery and turn-around is also a major factor. Server & desktop must do both Windows and Linux. Cheers, James

1 0

Any SuSE 9.1 users out there
by Wayne Stallwood 15 Feb '05

15 Feb '05

Is anybody having problems with the latest kernel release and the Nvidia closed drivers ? Ever since using Online update to upgrade to kernel 2.6.5-7.145 X refuses to start with either Nvidia driver versions 6111 or the current 6629. I have rerun the installer to recompile the drivers after the kernel upgrade, that bit completes with no errors but then I get the error that it's unable to load the Nvidia kernel module when starting X

2 2

Re: Software Patents
by tom potts 15 Feb '05

15 Feb '05

Holland got involved: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050211133435297 groklaw is THE site for watching SCO get hammered in the courts as well! ___________________________________________________________ ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - all new features - even more fun! http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

1 0

(Very) Old Computers again
by Peter Onion 15 Feb '05

15 Feb '05

Around March last year there were a few posts on here after I showed my emulator for an old computer (the Elliott 803) at the meeting at Syleham. Well I'm getting very close to having a new version of that emulator ready. There are a couple of "window shots" on my site at http://www.btinternet.com/~Peter.Onion/E803/ I would like some "linux savy" people to try building it as this is the first time I've used lots of the components (gtk,openGL,automake) etc etc .... If you are interested please drop me an email. Peter Onion.

3 2

Software Patents PS
by John Seago 14 Feb '05

14 Feb '05

Here is a site which may provide background information: http://ffii.org/ -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

1 0

Software patents
by John Seago 14 Feb '05

14 Feb '05

Poland has for the moment staved off the prospect of European Software patents. Here: http://thankpoland.info/ is somewhere where you can thank Poland for forestalling the onslaught of patents. I'm sure that someone will be able to tell us what needs doing at the next stage of the battle against Software patents. -- John Seago GNU/Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org) AFFS (http://www.affs.org.uk/)

1 0

USB serial adaptor
by phil 14 Feb '05

14 Feb '05

Anyone any experiences with USB to serial adaptors - and good/bad suggestions? I've hear the Belkin one possibly works OK. I have a java ignition controller project that has to communicate via RS232, and haven't any system with a serial port. Also, anyone have one of these lying around redundant that they'd like a few beer tokens for?

5 4

next meeting Thursday 10th February at the City Gate, Norwich from 8pm (social)
by Brett Parker 13 Feb '05

13 Feb '05

Hi all! As is usual on the second Thursday of the month, next Thursday (10th February) we'll be congregating in the City Gate from around 8pm. We should have a penguin in attendance so you know who we are, sometimes we lurk at the far end of the building in the restaurant area. If you want to do gpg keysigning then at least a few of us should be there with sigs and id. Full details can be found at: http://www.alug.org.uk/meetings/2004/all-NorThu.html Directions at: http://www.alug.org.uk/venues/citygate.html Pictures from August of people so you know who to look out for: http://www.earth.li/~noodles/Photos/2004-08-ALUG/ -- Brett Parker http://www.sommitrealweird.co.uk/ (the obligatory boring website) iDunno(a)sommitrealweird.co.uk (jabber and email!)

5 11

RE: [ALUG] Thursday Working Lunch
by Karl Foley 12 Feb '05

12 Feb '05

> Sorry, I didn't reecord it so can't help! Never mind. > BUT: You got a *COPY* of the real-media file!!! > How did you do that? I have to confess to using a Windows program called Stream Down. http://stream-down.cocsoft.com/ I have no idea how to do it in Linux...

4 4

Thursday Working Lunch
by Karl Foley 12 Feb '05

12 Feb '05

Does anyone have a recording of yesterdays (Thursday 10th Feb) Working lunch from BBC2? I missed it and it had a feature on a local school running Linux - I'll pickup/return your disk/tape asap. I do have a copy of the real media file from the BBC website if anyone is interested although it's not the greatest of quality. --- ATB, Karl.

4 4

Bluetooth Audio
by Wayne Stallwood 12 Feb '05

12 Feb '05

Anybody here had much to do with bluetooth devices on Linux ? I have a D-Link DBT-120 USB adapter and a Bluetrek G2 Bluetooth headset that I would love to use with Skype. The DBT-120 is supported by BlueZ and the headset uses the standard headset or Handsfree bluetooth profiles. ALSA I believe supports the headset profile so in theory at least this should work. However something is wrong with my SuSE 9.1 installation as when I plug in the DBT-120 I get an application pop up from kbluetoothd saying Failed to connect to the SDP server. Please make sure that sdpd is running; without it, other devices will not be able to find out which services your computer offers. I can't find anything like sdpd on my system or on the SuSE DVD, yet it is supposed to be part of kbluetoothd is it not.

2 1

Re: main digest, Vol 3 #443 - 11 msgs
by tsanders＠bennettsretail.co.uk 12 Feb '05

12 Feb '05

I will be away until the morning of Friday 18th Feb

1 0

RE: [ALUG] Thursday Working Lunch
by Karl Foley 11 Feb '05

11 Feb '05

> Has anyone any comments/experiences with mplayer on Red Hat 9? I installed mplayer, xine, codecs and a whole lot of other stuff from: http://packman.iu-bremen.de/suse/9.2 You could try: http://packman.iu-bremen.de/redhat/9 There are also directories for Fedora and Debian.

1 0