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How to Allocate Huge Amount of RAM to Process?
by Dan Hatton 31 Jul '04

31 Jul '04

I'll continue today's RAM usage theme... I understand from references around the web that, by default, Linux kernels will only allocate a maximum of 3GB of RAM+swap to a single process. I've been writing a program (in Perl) to perform some numerical calculations on very large data sets, and, by being very careful to do things in the order that minimizes the overlap between different pieces of original and calculated data being needed in RAM+swap, and making sure that, as soon as a given list of numbers is finished with, a block ends, so that Perl's garbage collector gets called, I've got the program to run within this limitation (it's now using just over 2GB at peak.) The trouble is, I've gone about as far as I can with this efficiency drive, and in a couple of weeks, I have to do the same thing, with even bigger data sets. Since I have plenty of physical space (1GB RAM+10GB swap,) I'd like to get the kernel to allocate more to my program. I know there are various patches with names involving "HIGHMEM." My current kernel is 2.6.6, with # CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM is not set CONFIG_HIGHMEM4G=y # CONFIG_HIGHMEM64G is not set CONFIG_HIGHMEM=y Would setting CONFIG_HIGHMEM64G=y and recompiling the kernel help me, or do I need to do something tricksier, please? -- Thanks Dan Hatton <http://www.bib.hatton.btinternet.co.uk/dan/>

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Re: ALUG bits
by Syd Hancock 29 Jul '04

29 Jul '04

Oops... Syd

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Re: ALUG bits
by Syd Hancock 29 Jul '04

29 Jul '04

On Monday 12 Jul 2004 21:23, Keith Watson wrote: > At 05:47 on Wed, 7 Jul 2004, Syd Hancock wrote: > > Hi Keith > > > > Just been glancing through the archives and saw your message > > about demos etc. I still have some name tags and an A4 size > > ALUG sign that you made - send me you address and I'll post > > them back to you as I am unlikely to be at any meetings for a > > couple of months at the earliest. > > > > Syd > > Syd, > > hope you're keeping well and that we'll see you around > occasionally :o) > > Best to send things to my work address; Hi Keith Posted the ALUG bits on tuesday 2nd class - should arrive soon. All the best Syd

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Re: [ALUG] First LUGE meeting reminder for tonight...
by John Seago 29 Jul '04

29 Jul '04

On Thursday 29 Jul 2004 LUGE Admin <admin(a)luge.org.uk> wrote: > Hi all, > > For those in or around Chelmsford tonight there's a few of us going > along to The Plough (adjacent to the railway station) - I'll be there > from 6pm. > > All welcome. I'm going to pop into the APU uni too - see if they've got > places I could put up posters to generate some interest - I'm sure > there'll be some! > > See you there.... > > Steve You could also try having the LUGE details published in "Linux Format", and any other 'hard copy' publications that give publicity to LUG's and there is also http://www.lug.org.uk/ which may be able to give assistance and publicity. -- John Seago Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org)

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HELLLLLPPPPPPPPPP! I need a networking guru (or something)
by Brett Parker 28 Jul '04

28 Jul '04

Right, here's the basic situation... We've got a FreeBSD 4.9 machine, origionally configured for NAT only and was doing a damned good job of it. Now, you see, we've got an evil windows box to go on the external network, so, ofcourse, my first thought was to throw a filtering bridge between on the firewall as well, now, this too works quite well... But... What appears to be shafted is connecting to the windows machine via the NAT. Any ideas? Basic setup is something like this... |Windows Machine| | FreeBSD Router | | | =========> |rl0 dc0 | x.x.x.49 ===> Interweb | x.x.x.58 | | vr0 | | | Internal Network Masqueraded 192.168.1.0/24 The internal network can see the Interweb (and our other hosts out there in x.x.x.x land ;) *EXCEPT* x.x.x.58, which it can't see, which is (to say the least) rather frustrating. If anyone has experience with this, I'd love to hear from you :) Cheers, -- Brett Parker

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First LUGE meeting reminder for tonight...
by LUGE Admin 28 Jul '04

28 Jul '04

Hi all, For those in or around Chelmsford tonight there's a few of us going along to The Plough (adjacent to the railway station) - I'll be there from 6pm. All welcome. I'm going to pop into the APU uni too - see if they've got places I could put up posters to generate some interest - I'm sure there'll be some! See you there.... Steve

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Re: VoIP & hardware
by phil 27 Jul '04

27 Jul '04

> >> I mentioned this to various people earlier, and they seemed >> interested, >> so I thought I'd vaguely float the idea here. >> >> Would people be interested in a VoIP (Voice over IP) talk? I've been >> playing with it this week and setting up a connection to the normal >> phone network using an ISDN line, with a hardware VoIP phone locally. >> I'm also planning to look at Linux based softphones over the next week >> and should have a magic PCI card coming which will let me hook up to a >> normal phone line, so hopefully should be able to come up with bits of >> interest to anyone who's curious about this stuff. >> >> Takers? Do we have any locations for talks were we could get a >> reasonable net connection for a live demonstration perhaps? >> >> J. >> Same here - interested in finding out a bit more about this. As for the Broadband hardware - I use aDraytek Vigor all in one router /modem at work - never had a problem in the past two years. At home an ethernet X-modem from ADSL nation, in conjunction with a Buffalo Airstation. This has worked fine with a combination of Yellowdog Linux, OSX and Mac os9 no problems. Still unplugged it last night though - anyone with experience of how ADSL modems handle lightning!? Phil

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2 HP 1097C Monitors for free
by Ted.Harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 26 Jul '04

26 Jul '04

Hi Folks, I have two old (getting on for 10 years) HP A1097C 21" monitors which I would be happy to deliver free to anyone who would like to have them. They give a very nice display (one of them is slightly less sharp then the other). The one thing you really need to know is that they have 3-cord RGB fixed-frequency input with Sync on Green. Therefore they needs a video card which supports this. XFree86 will support Sync on Green with a suitable card. I could supply the XF86Config file I used to use. There are also a couple of HP "xterm" boxes that they were originally used with. However, these are not a lot of use owing to very small RAM (and I think one of them doesn't work anyway). However, if you're interested I'll throw these in too. But they're really only tip-worthy these days. The other thing you need to know is that these monitors are very large and very heavy. So not much use if you're tight for space or have a dodgy back. Best wishes, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 167 1972 Date: 26-Jul-04 Time: 17:50:40 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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Re: VoIP & hardware
by Zack Smith 26 Jul '04

26 Jul '04

I hear that Skype (www.skype.com) now has a release for linux. Maybe Easier using this :o) Zack

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N00b
by Lee Ellison 26 Jul '04

26 Jul '04

Hello! First I guess I should introduce myself, my name's Lee Ellison and I don't wanna use Windows anymore! I posted a request for information about Linux on Livejournal about a month ago and after reviewing everyones opinions and doing a wee bit of research myself, I decided that Suse Linux 9.1 Personal would be the best thing for me (in my uneducated opinion!). A Livejournal user called 'Sunflowerinrain' sent me a link to you guys (ta! ;)) and i'd like to come along to your next meeting. I live in Norwich, Bowthorpe in fact, so The City Gate isn't far away at all. My computer is a Dell GX270 Optiplex with a 20Gb HD, 512Mb RAM and a 2.6GHz (can got to 3.2) Intel Pentium 4 processor. It doesn't, however, have a CD-R/W, only a CD-ROM. Nor does it have a floppy drive. I quickly discovered that the lack of CD-R/W was quite fundemental after I spent 12 hours downloading Suse 9.1........... But I digress. I wanna run Linux cos, quite frankly, i'm frightened about the security issues that dog Windows. I'm still relatively new to computers, but i'm learning very quickly. I'm already dabbling with HTML and learning how to use Macromedia Flash - I don't wanna be a web designer, every man and his dog wants to be a web designer! It just interests me and also, being new to Norwich and having no friends (i'm NOT sad by the way!) it keeps me entertained! I have another computer, some old Celeron thing that ran Win98SE. A friend who's coming over from Oz shortly is gonna help me get it running so I can use it's CD-R/W - she knows what she's doing, I don't have a scooby, so please don't ask! Not sure if this is what you wanted to know, but i'll be at the next meeting and you can ask me whatever you like then. TTFN Badseeds the Anti-Hero As i descend from grace, in arms of undertow.......i will take my place in the great below. _________________________________________________________________ It's fast, it's easy and it's free. Get MSN Messenger today! http://www.msn.co.uk/messenger

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Request for alug.org.uk to be taken off my hands!
by Martyn Drake 26 Jul '04

26 Jul '04

Hi, Can somebody please take alug.org.uk off my hands? It's due to expire on the 29th July, so whoever ends with it (let me know your IPStag) will need to renew pretty sharpish. Regards, Martyn

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Neill Newman 26 Jul '04

26 Jul '04

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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VoIP talk?
by Jonathan McDowell 25 Jul '04

25 Jul '04

I mentioned this to various people earlier, and they seemed interested, so I thought I'd vaguely float the idea here. Would people be interested in a VoIP (Voice over IP) talk? I've been playing with it this week and setting up a connection to the normal phone network using an ISDN line, with a hardware VoIP phone locally. I'm also planning to look at Linux based softphones over the next week and should have a magic PCI card coming which will let me hook up to a normal phone line, so hopefully should be able to come up with bits of interest to anyone who's curious about this stuff. Takers? Do we have any locations for talks were we could get a reasonable net connection for a live demonstration perhaps? J. -- /-\ | The problem with the gene pool is |@/ Debian GNU/Linux Developer | there's no lifeguard. \- |

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How to unlock a directory?
by Russell Ward 24 Jul '04

24 Jul '04

I've been using kde for a while now but have recently found my cdrom to be inaccesible. It's on \mnt\cdrom but the properties describe it as a Locked Directory. The icon shows the directory with a little padlock on it. I've tried changing permissions (both as a 'normal' user and as root) but nothing changes. It means I can't install packages using rpm from the original Mandrake cdrom. The problem applies to other cdroms as well. It happened at the same time with the \mnt\floppy drive but that cleared when I put another floppy in. Any ideas, please? Cheers Russell _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself with cool new emoticons http://www.msn.co.uk/specials/myemo

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Re: main digest, Vol 3 #230 - 1 msg
by John Seago 24 Jul '04

24 Jul '04

On Saturday 24 Jul 2004 06:25, =?iso-8859-1?q?Colin=20Brett?= <colinabrett(a)yahoo.co.uk> wrote: <snip> > In the meantime, what is the "form" for asking > questions on the list, so I get the netiquette right! Thats it, you asked a question, I've answered, (I just couldn't remember where the apostrophe went in <thats>). -- John Seago Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org)

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New member signing in ...
by Colin Brett 24 Jul '04

24 Jul '04

Hi All, I have just joined the list and am introducing myself as suggested in the confirmation mail. My name's Colin Brett. I am, by profession, a UNIX systems administrator and (reluctant) Oracle DBA for a firm in Cambridge. I've been using various flavours of UNIX for over 10 years now and got into the Linux scene about 4 years ago. I don't unfortunately use Linux in my job but have been using RedHat and/or Mandrake at home on a regular basis. In fact, the only reason I have a machine at home is because of Linux: there's no way I'd pay the Microsoft tax for a windows machine! I'm willing to share any experience you may find useful from the wider UNIX arena: scripting, administration, a bit of Perl programming, some HTML. Just drop me a line or to the list in general and I'll see what I can come up with. I can't promise a quick answer, however, as work and family committments (a 9 month old baby boy!) do keep me rather busy. In the meantime, what is the "form" for asking questions on the list, so I get the netiquette right! Cheers, Colin ===== == Colin Brett. colinabrett(a)yahoo.co.uk == ___________________________________________________________ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - sooooo many all-new ways to express yourself http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

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Re: [ALUG] Linux User Group for Essex is here!
by MJ Ray 22 Jul '04

22 Jul '04

On 2004-07-22 13:03:27 +0100 Simon Williams <alug(a)no-dns-yet.org.uk> wrote: > * On Thu, Jul 22, 2004 at 12:29:28AM +0100, MJ Ray wrote: >> Sorry you felt you couldn't help ALUG serve Essex better. > I think it was mainly the name that could cause confusion. It it > stayed part of ALUG, it would be the Chelmsford branch, which might > make some people think that it's more localised than it is. Why not an Essex branch, like the mid-Suffolk one? I suspect this has more to do with some people wanting to be called "admin" like in all the worst LUGs, but I hope I'm wrong and wish it the best. The LUGs I've liked best, Peterborough and Anglian, have had "admin" people who spend most of the time trying to avoid the label, but still do the work. >> Remember we're here if you need a hand and co-operation is always >> good. > Thanks (even though I'm not the/an admin). I don't see why members of > each LUG couldn't turn up to the other LUG's meetings and be welcomed. Oh, I agree. I'd take up SoSLUG's invitation if I could find time to travel there and I visit PLUG as often as I can. Cam-LUG have been very hostile to ALUG in the past, though. Because of the above suspicions, I'd appreciate this staying off-list so I don't start a flamewar. You emailed me off-list first, anyway. -- MJR/slef My Opinion Only and not of any group I know http://www.ttllp.co.uk/ for creative copyleft computing Please email about: BT alternative for line rental+DSL; Education on SMEs+EU FP6; office filing that works fast

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Broadband Hardware
by IanBell 22 Jul '04

22 Jul '04

Broadband seems finaly to have arrived at my small coastal village. I have a Dell laptop with an Ethernet port and no network. Assuming I go for a wires only package, what is the most suitable hardware? As far as ISPs are concerned I have heard good reports of F9 and ukfsn.org ought to be worth a look/supporting. Any group experience of, preference for either? Thanks Ian

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Linux User Group for Essex is here!
by LUGE Admin 22 Jul '04

22 Jul '04

http://www.luge.org.uk I know there's one in Southend, but I thought Chelmsford would be too narrow, and I like the name Chris Walker came up with a couple of months back and after all, Linux is supposed to be fun! Look forward to building something cool and having some meetings. My design friend Kelly said she'd wave her magic wand at some point in the next week or two and make it look pretty (she did www.LinuxVAR.co.uk design) so I look forward to Tux on Ice! ;) I'm "semi-geek" (you think after 20 years of coding I would class higher!) so look forward to learning from the uber-geeks and helping a few non-geeks experience and enjoy the freedom of FLOSS. Steve Purkiss Linux User Group Essex admin http://www.luge.org.uk

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Sage alternative for Linux
by Seb James 22 Jul '04

22 Jul '04

Dear all, If anyone out there has been looking for an alternative to Sage or Quickbooks that they can run on a Linux or BSD box, then take a look at phpOrganisation. phpOrganisation is an open source php/mysql based business process application, which is aimed at UK organisations (because it understands VAT). It features: An address database, which is the central information around which phpOrganisation structures its processes. All entities relating to the organisations processes are in this database, whether employee, supplier, associate or personal. Customer relationship tools. Two marketing lists are available; the tracker, and the client list. Move a contact onto one of these lists, and then keep a record of emails, phone conversations and use the "next contact due" feature to act as a reminder for re-contacting. Ordering System. Generate purchase orders for products and services, view the PO and print it out for the supplier. As invoices are received from the supplier, register the invoices and track the time left to pay on the supplier invoice page. Project and Contracts can be set up and time and costs can be allocated to a project or contract. Track your costs to learn what it really costs to deliver your services and develop your products. Generate quotations and store a record of previous quotations. phpOrganisation assists you in storing your quotation wordprocessor files in a single location on your filesystem. phpOrganisation doesn't generate web based quotations, in the way it does for purchase orders, invoices and statements, as this lacks the flexibility that is required in drafting quotations for most small businesses. Generate client invoices against contracts, print the invoices, or generate statements for a client, showing paid and overdue invoices. Generation of VAT return information, to aid to process of completing your VAT paperwork. Help notes feature. Each user can have descriptive notes about phpOrganisation show up in the webpages. When familiarity is gained, the helpnotes can be turned off. phpOrganisation does not yet feature stock control, or a groupware style shared calendar, but these are planned features. phpOrganisation is GPLed and available at sourceforge: http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/phporganisation Support in installing, running and implementing new features for phpOrganisation is available; contact me at the email address below. We'd welcome contributions to phpOrganisation - there's much still to do. Drop me a line if you'd like to help. More information about phpOrganisation and Hypercube Systems is at: http://www.hypercubesystems.co.uk/ regards, Seb James -- Business Systems, Hypercube Systems Ltd Providing Open Source IT solutions. Tel: 0845 458 0277 Web: www.hypercubesystems.co.uk Mob: 07900 958964 Email: seb(a)hypercubesystems.co.uk

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RE: [ALUG] So where do I start then?
by Steve Purkiss 20 Jul '04

20 Jul '04

On Tue, 2004-07-20 at 08:50, bjsamuels(a)beenthere-donethat.org.uk wrote: > On 19-Jul-2004 Steve Purkiss wrote: > > > > Met Chris from frugalIT in Witham the other night at my A12 business > > networking club meeting and he said would be good to set something up > > for the - let's say "lower" regions of East Anglia - Norwich is a bit > > too far and Southend is an entirely different world to Chelmsford. > > > > So, where do I start then? Do I buy a domain or set up a subdomain? > > Anyone wanna point me in the right direction? > > > > I may not be a sysadmin wizard but I'll help all I can to set up and > > run... > > Chris > > Are you aware that there is an Essex Linux User Group (ELUG) in existence? > > It does have a web site at http://www.epos.demon.co.uk and I am still actually > subscribed, I think, to the mailing list. The web site doesn't appear to have > been updated since 1997 and the mailing list has been dead since 2001. > > I did post about this to the ALUG list at the beginning of July but it seems to > have gone largely unnoticed. > > I don't know where you are geographically but I am near Tiptree. I may be able > to offer some help. You can either email me or telephone on 01621 816561. > > Regards > > Barry Samuels > http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk > The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain Hi, Steve here actually - yes was aware of the one in Essex - I contacted the guy who ran it about a year back and he said it was now defunct. So I'm starting up a group for Essex/the East which is not covered by the rest - mainly Chelmsford and surrounding areas (Brentwood, Braintree, etc.) Until I get the site up then happy to collect names if anyone's interested. Cheers, steve -- Open for Organisations supporting open source software http://www.open4.org/

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Re: [ALUG] So where do I start then?
by John Seago 20 Jul '04

20 Jul '04

Further to my earlier post on this matter, I will put something in the uk.local East Anglian and uk.local Essex, with a view to eliciting a response to the ALUG main list. -- John Seago Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org)

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Linspire (Lindows) "Light my fire" Parody
by kpwatson＠pop3.ukfsn.org 20 Jul '04

20 Jul '04

Gotta see and hear this; <http://www.linspire.com/RunLinspireFlash.php>

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Re: [ALUG] So where do I start then?
by John Seago 20 Jul '04

20 Jul '04

On Tuesday 20 Jul 2004 06:25, Steve Purkiss <bnmlist(a)open4.org> wrote: > > Met Chris from frugalIT in Witham the other night at my A12 business > networking club meeting and he said would be good to set something up > for the - let's say "lower" regions of East Anglia - Norwich is a bit > too far and Southend is an entirely different world to Chelmsford. > > So, where do I start then? Do I buy a domain or set up a subdomain? > Anyone wanna point me in the right direction? > > I may not be a sysadmin wizard but I'll help all I can to set up and > run... > > I'm planning a "training" event for ecademy sometime in the next month > or two so may just slip Linux on all the machines and run a dual event. > At the end of the day, all that is needed is a web browser to run > ecademy so why not?! > > Steve Purkiss I would have thought that it depends on whether this is an extension South of ALUG, or the construction of ELUG. The former may make an easer start, which can be developed into something else if there is a big enough base, later. The ALUG Web site is already there, along with this mailing list. It looks as though all you really need to do is find the bodies and perhaps when you think you've got enough organise a meeting for them. Whilst it may seem a long way to go perhaps attending the ALUG Barbecue may give you an idea of what works further North. -- John Seago Linux User #219566 (http://counter.li.org)

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So where do I start then?
by Steve Purkiss 20 Jul '04

20 Jul '04

Met Chris from frugalIT in Witham the other night at my A12 business networking club meeting and he said would be good to set something up for the - let's say "lower" regions of East Anglia - Norwich is a bit too far and Southend is an entirely different world to Chelmsford. So, where do I start then? Do I buy a domain or set up a subdomain? Anyone wanna point me in the right direction? I may not be a sysadmin wizard but I'll help all I can to set up and run... I'm planning a "training" event for ecademy sometime in the next month or two so may just slip Linux on all the machines and run a dual event. At the end of the day, all that is needed is a web browser to run ecademy so why not?! Steve Purkiss -- Open for Organisations supporting open source software http://www.open4.org/

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