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Weekly IRC reminder
by Neill Newman 02 Feb '04

02 Feb '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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Re: [ALUG] Lucent hardware modem
by Richard Lewis 01 Feb '04

01 Feb '04

Ah ha! I've got it! KPPP lists the devices /dev/modem, /dev/ttyS0-3 but these don't all exist on my machine. What I do have, however, is /dev/ttyS[0,1,4]. So I tried # ln -s /dev/ttys[0,1,4] /dev/modem and, finally, ttyS4 worked! (Without any drivers or anything; it definitely is a hardware modem!) Cheers for suggestions, Richard

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Does anyone recognise themselves here?
by Kirsten Naylor 01 Feb '04

01 Feb '04

I just received what is probably a copy of MyDoom. It looks like it might be somebody on Alug: Received: from cpc1-norw2-3-0-cust125.pete.cable.ntl.com (HELO mdmbill.com) (81.100.212.125) by tuschin.blackcatnetworks.co.uk with SMTP; 31 Jan 2004 10:43:42 -0000 Note that mdmbill.com is not work-safe. If you recognise yourself as the sender, you probably want to clean up your computer and install some anti-virus software :) /Kirsten

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MySQL Hot Failover
by James Green 01 Feb '04

01 Feb '04

Evening all, We have a requirement to turn some MySQL databases into something more rugged - specifically fully redundant. The best option I think would be a small cluster - with one single IP address to connect to (VRRP?), multiple hardware behind it, each node fully synchronised with its peers. Problem: how? MySQL Master/slave replication isn't what I'm looking for. Googling turns up a couple of commercial solutions: emicnetworks.com openminds.co.uk But they are proprietary and could cause problems by themselves. Has anyone here looked into this, or better solved the problem and if so how? Thanks, James P.S. Got my USB camera working - needed scsi disk support in the kernel - doh!

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wi-fi smugness :-)
by Syd Hancock 31 Jan '04

31 Jan '04

Finally, after a lot of faffing about [1] - sending from Norwich station using the BTOpenzone free trial. It's great when things finally work, isn't it! [1] mainly because the username and password that was sent to me a few days ago proved not to work... ho hum. Good ol' BT... Fortunately I was able to connect to the BTOpenzone site and re-register to get a new trial ID online. Bit faster than Home Highway, too - pity the battery is running out - oh the joys of mobile computing:-) Syd

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a wi-fi question
by Syd Hancock 31 Jan '04

31 Jan '04

Is 'Managed' mode the same as 'infrastructure' ? Syd

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Freeserve
by beneboy 31 Jan '04

31 Jan '04

Has anyone been having problems with freeserve recently? For the last week or so, some mail sent to me from another list has been bouncing with the message... The SMTP Server program > <mail(a)psychoferret.freeserve.co.uk>: site destination queue overflow Which google suggests is due to FS's spool being full up. Some of my outgoing mail hasn't turned up either, could that be the same problem? Tech support's first guess was that it was the other servers spam filter, so I've now replied explaining that it was incoming mail not outgoing...ho hum BenE (a rumour has sprung up that freeserve has implimented a swearing filter which has caused one person I know to send a nasty e-mail and cancel her acount. How I laughed)

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Hardware Modem problem
by Richard Lewis 31 Jan '04

31 Jan '04

Hello List, Ages ago I started a thread saying that I was trying to get a modem for an MDK machine; well I bought one off eBay the other day but I'm having problems setting it up and wondered whether anyone might be able to help. I've got a Lucent Venus 56KFlex Hardware PCI modem in a low spec (P166, 64Mb RAM) machine running MDK9.2 (kernel 2.4.22-10mdk). I called: # less /proc/pci and got: 00:0f.0 Communication controller: Lucent Microelectronics Venus Modem (V90, 56KFlex) Subsystem: Actiontec Electronics Inc: Unknown device 0480 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 9 Memory at ffbeb800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256] I/O ports at f800 [size=256] I/O ports at f400 [size=256] I/O ports at fff0 [size=8] Capabilities: [f8] Power Management version 2 and called: # lspci -nv and got: 00:0f.0 Class 0780: 11c1:0480 Subsystem: 1668:0480 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 9 Memory at ffbeb800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256] I/O ports at f800 [size=256] I/O ports at f400 [size=256] I/O ports at fff0 [size=8] Capabilities: [f8] Power Management version 2 So I took this information and called: # setserial /dev/ttyS0 uart 16550A port 0xf400 irq 9 and # setserial /dev/ttyS0 and got: /dev/ttyS0, UART: 16550A, Port: 0xf400, IRQ: 2 This all looked quite hopeful so I fired up KPPP (pppd version 2.4.1) and asked it to query the modem. It just said that the modem would not respond. Any ideas what might be going on? Cheers, Richard

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Norwich evening meet: thursday 12th February 2004
by Syd Hancock 31 Jan '04

31 Jan '04

The next 'second thursday' Norwich evening social meet will be on Thursday 12th February from 8pm. The venue is still being decided - more news soon with the next reminder. Syd

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For sale, sending or skipping
by MJ Ray 30 Jan '04

30 Jan '04

The following items are surplus to requirements. They are available for a small price or postage (any profit on postage will be donated to the Association For Free Software). More details on request. - Phone/modem line sharer, rings while online : 10 pounds - Printer, Canon BJ-1000, colour or mono, 720dpi IIRC, sheet feeder : 15 pounds - Speakers, unbranded, with PSU : 5 pounds - Trackball, Radioshack, serial 3-button : 10 pounds - Cables, SCSI and IDE, various : POSTAGE - Case, Microland, tower, 150W PSU, 2 drive bays and 1 caddy : POSTAGE - Covers, Belkin USB devices, various colours : POSTAGE - Heatsinks, 2 genuine Athlon MP, 1 K6/2, unused but unboxed : POSTAGE - Monitor, 12" Samtron SC-428VSL(E), can do >800x600 IIRC : COLLECT (K.Lynn) - Mouse, Logitech, serial 3-button, very robust : POSTAGE - Mouse mats, 1 black plastic and 1 grey cloth top : POSTAGE - Mouse, unbranded, PS2 5-button : POSTAGE - Printer, Canon BJ-10e, battery or mains, 360dpi IIRC : POSTAGE - Telephone, can do indirect access, 9 memories : POSTAGE - Telephone number bank, Casio DC-200, 50 number memory, antique? ;) : POSTAGE Any items still here in a month get skipped or given to charity, as appropriate. Maybe much sooner. -- MJR/slef My Opinion Only and possibly not of any group I know. Please http://remember.to/edit_messages on lists to be sure I read http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ gopher://g.towers.org.uk/ slef(a)jabber.at Creative copyleft computing services via http://www.ttllp.co.uk/

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Webmail/IMAP etc.
by Chris Green 30 Jan '04

30 Jan '04

Well I'm still exploring my options. Neomail seems to be a quite reasonable Webmail program which will read one's mail from a local mail spool. I hav installed it and it's nearly working but I seem to have an issue with the perl installation at the moment. I'm waiting for my subscription to the Neomail list to become live to ask a question about it. I'm also playing on my home system. I now remember why I have previously steered away from using IMAP4, the problem is that each MUA seems to have its own view of how IMAP4 should work such that it's well nigh impossible to use an IMAP4 server with different MUAs. It turns out that the remote system where I read my mail by ssh'ing in with mutt runs an IMAP4 server, it looks like it's the same one as I have on my Slackware 9.1 system at home. I can't work out what IMAP4 server it is as the manual page doesn't tell you. I got my home one working just now by simply uncommenting the line in /etc/inetd.conf and kicking inet. Using mutt I can access all my mail perfectly, down through quite a deep hierarchy of folders, currently maildirs. This works the same from localhost and the remote system. Mozilla mail fails miserably to access the same mail, it allows me to login to the IMAP server and displays the top level folder of the hierarchy and that's it, no mail messages are visible at all. It also creates a non-existent mailbox/folder called inbox Balsa is just disastrous, it does say it's still experimental and that's the way it looks. -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk)

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Norwich thursday evening venues.
by Syd Hancock 29 Jan '04

29 Jan '04

Two were suggested on sunday. Both are Weatherspoons pubs so have a reasonable selection of beers, no music and good non-smoking areas. The City Gate - corner of Dereham road and the inner ring road. Large pub, tends not to get too full. Plenty of parking nearby. The Glasshouse on Magdelen street. Parking may not be so good but there is some nearby. Has a balcony and garden for the summer. Sounds very pleasant. Does it get packed out? Any comments on these two venues or preferences between them? General rumblings amongst the beer drinkers is that it's time for a change away from the Forum. Not an issue for me but quite happy to move venue to somewhere else that is suitable in the other ways after suitable discussion. Syd

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free wi-fi access this week
by Syd Hancock 29 Jan '04

29 Jan '04

BT is having a promotion this week, offering free wi-fi access at many hot spots. There are a 14 listed in Norwich alone, including the railway station (but not the library). Details and sign-up here: http://www.wirelessbroadbandweek.com/ Syd

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Why are do so many WebMail apps. use IMAP?
by Chris Green 29 Jan '04

29 Jan '04

I've been pottering about some ideas I have for making my mail systems work better together and one of the areas I've been looking at is WebMail applications. Why is it that so many of them use IMAP as the source of the mail they allow you to access? It seems pointless as the whole idea of IMAP is to provide remote access to your E-Mail. If you have a mail client which can read mail using IMAP then you don't need WebMail at all do you? Apart from anything else WebMail tends to be slower and is an unfamiliar interface. Some E-Mail clients even handle POP3 mailboxes 'remotely' quite successfully. (I think it's either xfmail or xcmail that does this) It would make much more sense if WebMail applications allowed you to access mailboxes that *aren't* normally readable remotely. I suppose that a WebMail application means it's easier to access your mail from somewhere that doesn't have your own MUA but that's about all it does. What I'd find really useful is a WebMail application that will let me read a tree of mbox mailboxes on a remote server. -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk)

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cheap quality wi-fi cards on ebay
by Syd Hancock 29 Jan '04

29 Jan '04

Apologies to anyone who thinks this not appropriate. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3455233849&category=31… These are Cisco Aironet 340 cards, very good reputation. Well supported in linux: http://www.goonda.org/wireless/aironet/ (I have no connection with the seller BTW) Syd

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Bitmap Terminals
by Tarquin Mills 27 Jan '04

27 Jan '04

Linux can use dumb terminals and X terminals, but can it use any types of bitmap terminal, say with SVGALib producing the output? Are the any sources for cheap, small foot print ARM based single board computers? -- Tarquin Mills bmud (BitMap UNIX Display) Terminal

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Open source SQL decision
by Vasko Tomanov 27 Jan '04

27 Jan '04

I need to make a decision what SQL server to use the requirements are: 1. to have stored procedure 2. to be Open Source 3. To run on Linux and Windows Some suggestions ? Cheers Vasko

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Norwich sunday meeting report (brief)
by Syd Hancock 27 Jan '04

27 Jan '04

Four people turned up. We met. We chatted. We went home. See, I said it was a brief report :-) Brett Parker, Jonathan 'Noodles' McDowell, Ashley Howe and myself, Syd. Not sure why it was such a low turnout - maybe the time of year, maybe because there was no specific theme to attract people, maybe because people in the Norwich area are getting the linux socialising that they want from the evening meetings. And several of the regulars could not attend for various reasons otherwise it would have been quite a reasonable turn-out. We had a good old chat about many things, including MythTV, building a PVR, mini-itx and Shuttle boxes, and I at least found it interesting and informative. We also discussed possible venues for the thursday evening meetings and I will post separately about that. I have provisionally booked the room for three months' time, the last sunday in April (25th). Syd

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Re: [ALUG] Webmail clinet that supports local maildir mailboxes
by Matt Parker 27 Jan '04

27 Jan '04

On Mon, 2004-01-26 at 08:40, Chris Green wrote: > On Fri, Jan 23, 2004 at 03:59:10PM +0000, Matt Parker wrote: > > On Fri, 2004-01-23 at 13:40, Chris Green wrote: > > > I'm looking for a webmail client that supports reading from a > > > hierarchy of maildir mailboxes on the server where it's installed. > > > > > > I normally read my mail by connecting to the server (using ssh) and > > > running mutt, this will remain my normal way of reading mail but > > > occasionally it's useful to be able to read it using webmail and I'd > > > like to do it using the same maildir hierarchy that I see (and > > > maintain) using mutt. > > > > > > I have found a few possibilities by searching but would appreciate > > > some feedback on whether they are any good, I've found:- > > > > > > NeoMail (appears not to be currently developed) > > > NwebMail > > > oMail-webmail > > > open-Webmail (seems the most likely candidate at the moment) > > > > > > > Personally I use IlohaMail (http://ilohamail.org/) and find it > > excellent. > > > ... but it doesn't work with a local mail spool, only POP3 and IMAP as > far as I can see. So install it on top of qpopper - http://www.eudora.com/qpopper/ - which does read your mail spool. You don't have to open up the POP3 port to your firewall if you're going to connect through localhost from the web mail. Matt -- http://www.mpcontracting.co.uk Experts in Java development and website design

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satire is still dead
by Syd Hancock 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

Bill Gates to get a knighthood. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3428673.stm For contributions to British enterprise and poverty relief worldwide. What bollocks. Syd

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Webmail clinet that supports local maildir mailboxes
by Chris Green 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

I'm looking for a webmail client that supports reading from a hierarchy of maildir mailboxes on the server where it's installed. I normally read my mail by connecting to the server (using ssh) and running mutt, this will remain my normal way of reading mail but occasionally it's useful to be able to read it using webmail and I'd like to do it using the same maildir hierarchy that I see (and maintain) using mutt. I have found a few possibilities by searching but would appreciate some feedback on whether they are any good, I've found:- NeoMail (appears not to be currently developed) NwebMail oMail-webmail open-Webmail (seems the most likely candidate at the moment) Courier's sqwebmail is no good as it uses courier's silly non-directory based maildirs. Since my maildirs are created by procmail in what I regard as the sensible way sqwebmail won't read them. While I'm about it a good local GUI mail client that reads ordinary Unix mail spools as opposed to POP3 and/or IMAP would be useful too. -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk)

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RE: [ALUG] satire is still dead
by Richard Lewis 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

>Bill Gates to get a knighthood. > >http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3428673.stm > >For contributions to British enterprise and poverty relief >worldwide. > >What bollocks. > >Syd The article says he will not be 'Sir William' but will be allowed to use KBE after his name. Wouldn't it ironic if it was 'K/D/E'?! Or appropriate if it was KNOB... Richard

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Neill Newman 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '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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Re: Sound (ALSA)
by MJ Ray 25 Jan '04

25 Jan '04

On 2004-01-22 16:09:20 +0000 Kevin Clarke <kg.clarke(a)virgin.net> wrote: > Kernel is 2.4.24 Sound is onboard i810 ? ..... What distribution and version? Mandrake 9.1? Redhat 9.0? Something else? What errors are you getting? If no errors, what do you try that doesn't work? i810 should be fairly straight-forward for ALSA by now (if not perfect), so hopefully this is a simple problem. Please keep ALUG on the CC when you reply (use reply to all/group reply). -- MJR/slef My Opinion Only and possibly not of any group I know. Please http://remember.to/edit_messages on lists to be sure I read http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ gopher://g.towers.org.uk/ slef(a)jabber.at Creative copyleft computing services via http://www.ttllp.co.uk/

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ALSA v. the rest
by Syd Hancock 25 Jan '04

25 Jan '04

The recent thread about ALSA prompts me to ask something that I've wondered for some time. What are the differences and relative merits (or otherwise) of ALSA and other ways of producing sound in linux? Is that even an accurate description of ALSA etc? Syd

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