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10372 discussions

Reminder: Norwich meeting this evening
by Syd Hancock 08 Jan '04

08 Jan '04

(Possibly redundant reminder) Norwich evening social meet-up this evening, from 8pm at the Forum Bar. All welcome. Regards Syd

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ISOLINUX
by x0151262 07 Jan '04

07 Jan '04

Hello List, I'm just trying to install a few distros on a low spec machine and each one I've tried (Slackware 9.1, Redhat 9, Debian 3.0) all come up with an ISOLINUX error: "ISOLINUX 2.00 2002-10-25 isolinux: Loading spec packet failed, trying to wing it... isolinux: Failed to locate CD-ROM device: boot failed" Any suggestions? Cheers, Richard

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Norwich thursday evening meeting 8th January 2004
by Syd Hancock 07 Jan '04

07 Jan '04

It's come around quickly this month but the 'second thursday' Norwich evening meeting is this week, thursday 8th January 2004, from 8pm at the Forum Coffee bar. Details on the alug website http://www.alug.org.uk Regards Syd

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Re: [ALUG] Microsoft and schools
by Stuart Hammond 07 Jan '04

07 Jan '04

I think the idea of the government using OSS (eg Linux OS) on school desktop computers is slightly narrow sighted for education is there to allow people to go forth and gain employment and as most workplaces don't use Linux as the OS for there desktop machines it would not really be following that ethos. How ever as some one who has just started to use Linux i am gradually finding windows terrible. i use Mozilla instead of Internet Explorer in Windows as it dose not crash when ever i get a popup ad also the GUI of Linux is so much nicer than Windows exspecaly with the built in multiple desktops and the ability to have more than one taskbar, however i think what Linux needs is easier software installation (tarballs etc. scare me) and better device/games support and then it would really be truly superior to Windows in every way (from a user point of view). What it needs to solve all of these is probably better reconition in the business arena on desktops which would at least force the government to teach people how to use it. Yours S Hammond _________________________________________________________________ Get Hotmail on your mobile phone http://www.msn.co.uk/msnmobile

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Predictions for 2004
by Graham Trott 07 Jan '04

07 Jan '04

The link below is to an article at silicon.com predicting winners and losers in 2004. Linux is in the first list for servers and the second for client side, partly because of the unnecessary, confusing and destructive battle between KDE and Gnome. While I don't necessarily agree completely with the article I think it has some fair points. http://www.silicon.com/management/ itdirector/0,39024673,39117578,00.htm?nl=e20040106 I'd also like to predict some more losers: 1 The public wi-fi access point. As long as prices stay where they are, that is. 2 Java as a client-side solution, given the increasing bloat with every version release. (That may well apply to .NET too, for the same reason, but I wouldn't know.) Why in hell can't Sun or IBM modularise the thing so if you don't want it all you don't have to download it (or force your customers to)? 3 Sun - already in the loser list, but for the additional reason that they don't understand end-users. Some fine ideas but seemingly targetted at a world that won't exist for another five or more years. 4 Anyone who expected broadband to be taken up by every Mom and Pop in the land. 5 Mom and Pop, who can't download the service patches from Microsoft and thus catch every virus and worm going. Nice to think Linux could gallop along on its white horse and save the day, but it's too fragmented and difficult for said Mom and Pop to set up. After all, ain't nobody else gonna do it for them. And just to show I'm not all negative, a winner: Computer users everywhere, able to use an increasing base of good-quality free software as an alternative to overpriced commercial stuff or nag'n'bitch shareware. When this trend gets far enough along, coupled with much better standards than at present and making source downloads a LOT easier to use, Linux may emerge as a viable desktop candidate for ordinary people. -- GT

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Re: [ALUG] Does anyone know lftp -c commands ?
by bsamuels＠beenthere-donethat.org.uk 07 Jan '04

07 Jan '04

I wondered why the response I sent below hadn't appeared on the list. I had sent to to Mark by mistake - sorry Mark! Here it is again: > Similar to Graham, my untested guess: lftp -e 'open -u > mylogin,mypassword mydomain ; ls' Bingo! I tried semicolons and it didn't work but I didn't think of enclosing the whole lot in single quotes. The combination of the two works. Thanks to you both. Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

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Security problem - some ideas sought
by James Green 07 Jan '04

07 Jan '04

Hello All, Here's an interesting scenario for you security buffs out there - I've been approached to think about the issues and return with some verdicts and would appreciate some intelligent ideas I'm sure you can conjure up... Company A has its software installed on lots of customer Windows machines around the world. The software has effectively got 'root' access on the machine, and talks regularly to a central server to gain upgrades etc. If the software is tampered with, the computers could well cause disruption. [ Yes, really bad idea. Microsoft should indeed be shot for allowing it. ] The upgrades can be 'pushed' out at will to a subset of customers, or to all. The software, having full Administrator access, needs to be careful. Or, more to the point, the procedure for releasing upgrades and changes to the software needs to be highly secure. One idea that was my initial on the subject is as follows: Six 'trusted' employees, six 'secure' servers. Employees are minor shareholders in the company. For an upgrade to be pushed out, a majority of the trusted employees must submit the same upgrade package to a majority of the servers, and the servers between them must agree that the upgrade is verified as coming from the claimed sources. Combined, they should check out. If any one employee, or one machine, were to raise a black flag, the process is aborted. In the event that a bad upgrade is indeed rolled out any two employees can activate a rollback procedure (which I can't think of procedurally right now). Normally I would of course be thinking in terms of specialised identity and verificaton equipment, but Company A doesn't exactly have the resources of the CIA or NSA, so remote servers and a chain of trust is the closest they can get. PGP keys all round I suspect. A nightmare to secure, and is still open to attack, both internally and externally, however thats how I see it. I warn that I got almost three hours sleep last night due to "server issues" so if I make no sense thats probably why. Comments/suggestions on completely different ideas/etc most welcomed. I don't have experience in this field. Thanks all, James

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Does anyone know lftp -c commands ?
by bsamuels＠beenthere-donethat.org.uk 06 Jan '04

06 Jan '04

I've been struggling to get the lftp -c and -e options to work. There's no elaboration of the -c option in the man page and a search on the web produces nothing extra. Does anyone know the proper syntax? If, for example, I try: lftp -e open -u mylogin,mypassword mydomain ls All I get is: lftp: ls: no address associated with name How is one supposed to enter a series of commands on the command line? Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

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dinamic library
by Vasko Tomanov 06 Jan '04

06 Jan '04

The key "feature" here is that I want to write a piece of code in Linux that will read a .conf file when it starts up, and then "load" and "link to" several libraries, all of which will export the same interface. In Windows, what you do is get hold of the name of the DLL from somewhere (e.g. the registry), call LoadLibrary() on it, then call GetprocInstance() to get the address of the various entry points. Libtool appears to be different -it just says "link to this file when you compile the project" - that's no good because I don't want the drivers to be fixed at compile time any suggestions ? Cheers Vasko Tomanov

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Names
by Tarquin Mills 06 Jan '04

06 Jan '04

I did not take part in the earlier ALUG names debate, but while reading Free as Freedom, I have decided I perfer Anglian GNU/Linux User Group to Anglia Linux User Group. "promise me to use the term GNU/Linux instead of Linux and tell all your friends to do likewise." (Quote from RMS) -- Tarquin Mills bmud (BitMap UNIX Display) Terminal

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ALUG Sunday meeting in Norwich January 25th
by Syd Hancock 05 Jan '04

05 Jan '04

There will be a sunday afternoon meeting in Norwich on the 25th January 2004, from 2pm at The Billy Bluelight, Hall Road. Full details of venue etc are on the ALUG website http://www.alug.org.uk Following Norwich sunday meeting planned for April 25th. Details later. Regards Syd

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Neill Newman 05 Jan '04

05 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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Have we got a loit boys? [Voice from the Fen]
by Ted.Harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 05 Jan '04

05 Jan '04

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3353911.stm Radio boost for rural broadband Rural broadband has been given a boost by the UK Government's decision to free up a key radio frequency. Just before Christmas, the Department of Trade and Industry said it would let internet service providers and community groups use the 5.8Ghz Band C spectrum. [...] The three-month trials are taking place in Ballingry in Fife, Scotland, Pwllheli in Wales, Porthleven in Cornwall and Campsie in Northern Ireland. The technology being tested sends the internet signal using radio waves, without the need for wires, similar to wi-fi technology. The signal travels from a base station to a home computer through a low-power antenna. It is similar to a satellite dish, but is smaller and diamond-shaped and fits onto the side of a house. If successful, it could be used to take broadband to rural areas which cannot get it by cable or over the phone line. The trials are part of BT's pledge to offer broadband to all of UK by 2005. =================================================================== This could be a buutiful breakthrough. That's a long way from anywhere, where Oi live, and maybe lots of you too. Any chaance we could use our comboined muscle to set up a commuunity group that could offer to join in them troials in Anglia region? What dyou think then? Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 167 1972 Date: 29-Dec-03 Time: 14:49:51 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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beginners scripting question
by Syd Hancock 04 Jan '04

04 Jan '04

Hi all I want to do something that I am sure is very simple but I am frustrated because I am not sure where to start. Basically all I want to do is to feed all the files from a directory one by one into an application - i.e. using lame to encode wav files to mp3. Can this be done from a bash script or should I use perl or ??? Any advice or info much appreciated. Syd

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hypertec router
by Stan Fraser 02 Jan '04

02 Jan '04

Has anyone got the Driver CD for a Hypertec HyperRoute ISDN/10T that they would be willing to burn a copy of, my is damaged so unreadable:( would reimburse cost. Thanks Stan

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Anyone in yarmouth...
by Ricky Bruce 02 Jan '04

02 Jan '04

got a copy of RH, Mandrake, Suse or maybe even slackware, mind lending it to me...the library here is sh*t and has only the one linux book that has no cd's, and no cd burners. Gotta wipe Windows, AOL et al off of my dads computer before i go crazy... not withstanding any problems with winmodems i might encounter, has anyone ever managed to run AOL using wine/x or crossover? not that i like it but my dad wont bandy up the cash for broadband no matter how persistant i am. _________________________________________________________________ Stay in touch with absent friends - get MSN Messenger http://www.msn.co.uk/messenger

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Startup script - advice needed
by Nick Heppleston 02 Jan '04

02 Jan '04

I've written a small script that flashes my caps-lock LED when I get new mail as I run Evolution on a different desktop to my main working / browser desktop. I'm after having this script start when my system is booted and stops when the system shuts down. Apart from writing an init script, is there any other/better way to start the script? I did think of running it from the .bashrc file, but was unaware that this fires every time I open a new terminal window. Additionally, the script calls setleds, which needs to be run from the console (i.e. Ctrl+Alt+F1 etc...). Any help much appreciated. Nick -- Nick Heppleston 07989 581766 | nickheppleston(a)gmx.co.uk

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FW: High-Availability & Reliability Conference: Bournemouth, 25-26 Feb (UKUUG)
by Alasdair G Kergon 02 Jan '04

02 Jan '04

UK Unix User Group LISA/Winter Conference and Tutorial: High-Availability and Reliability Bournemouth, UK, Wednesday 25th and Thursday 26th February 2004 http://www.ukuug.org/events/winter2004/ The main theme of the conference is High-Availability and Reliability, with topics including large-scale email services, High-Availability Linux, storage replication, MySQL, and choosing reliable hardware. The conference starts in the afternoon of Wednesday, 25 February and will be preceded by a half-day tutorial on High-Availability Linux clusters, and the Heartbeat cluster monitoring software. This is being given by Alan Robertson and Lars Marowsky-Bree, who will both also deliver talks in the main conference. Lars currently works as technical lead and developer for the SUSE Labs. His main areas of expertise are high-availability and cluster related topics, ranging from storage (multi-pathing, RAID, and replication) over network load balancing to cluster infrastructure service, resource management and administration. Alan, who is now based at IBM's Linux Technology Center, has been an active developer and project leader for High-Availability Linux for several years. He maintains the Linux-HA project web (www.linux-ha.org), and has been a key developer for the open source Heartbeat program. The technical talks of the conference run from the Wednesday afternoon and will finish late afternoon on the Thursday. The provisional programme includes: Matt Asay Open Source Capitalism: Innovation Business Models (Novell) for an Innovative Development Methodology David Axmark MySQL High-Availability Features (MySQL) Mark Baker and javaGMA: A lightweight implementation of Matthew Grove the Grid Monitoring Architecture (University of Portsmouth) Matthew Bloch Getting the best from your server with (Bytemark Hosting) User-Mode Linux Peter T. Breuer NetRAID (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) Tim Chown IPv6 Deployment Status (University of Southampton) Julian Field MailScanner (University of Southampton) Tony Finch Scaling up Cambridge University's email service (University of Cambridge) Niall Mansfield Experiences with the Sobig worms and (UIT Cambridge Ltd) how we combatted them (and other Spam) Lars Marowsky-Bree High-Availability Cluster Design and (SUSE LINUX AG) Set-up Stephen Mayo Hardware for high-availability (Hewlett-Packard) Richard J. Moore Preparing Linux for the Enterprise (IBM Linux technology Centre) Philipp Reisner Storage Replication with DRBD (LINBIT Information Technologies GmbH) Alan Robertson Heartbeat (IBM Linux Technology Centre) Steve Whitehouse Cluster filesystems (ChyGwyn Ltd) The event is open to both members and non-members of the UKUUG. Bookings must be received by 18 February 2004, and a discounted early booking rate is available until 23 January 2004. A limited number of free and subsidised places is available for those who would otherwise be unable to attend. See <http://www.ukuug.org/events/winter2004/> for booking information and full details of the programme including abstracts and speaker biographies. For further information, contact: Jane Morrison UKUUG Secretariat PO Box 37 Buntingford Herts SG9 9UQ Tel: 01763 273 475 Fax: 01763 273 255 office(a)ukuug.org www.ukuug.org The UKUUG was formed to represent users of UNIX and Open systems in the UK. It uniquely caters for the needs of people in this area and is completely independent of specific hardware and software vendors. Any profits are used to further the activities of the organisation. Provisional dates for Linux 2004 conference in Leeds: 29th July - 1st August 2004

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Re: [ALUG] Anyone in yarmouth...
by Ricky Bruce 01 Jan '04

01 Jan '04

lol, sorry, came across a little over enthusiastic there:) no fear, i'll dual boot, the only reason im stuck using my dads pc is because i just got back into the country and had to leave mine behind. My dads elvis mp3 collection is safe...for now! >From: Syd Hancock <syd(a)toufol.com> >To: main(a)lists.alug.org.uk >Subject: Re: [ALUG] Anyone in yarmouth... >Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2003 20:06:36 +0000 > >On Wednesday 31 Dec 2003 6:56 pm, Ricky Bruce wrote: > > got a copy of RH, Mandrake, Suse or maybe even slackware, mind > > lending it to me...the library here is sh*t and has only the one > > linux book that has no cd's, and no cd burners. Gotta wipe > > Windows, AOL et al off of my dads computer before i go crazy... > >Errm, Ricky, unless you really know what you're doing, this would be >a very foolish move IMO. Slow down, take your time, maybe introduce >yourself to the list... > > > not withstanding any problems with winmodems i might encounter, > > has anyone ever managed to run AOL using wine/x or crossover? not > > that i like it but my dad wont bandy up the cash for broadband no > > matter how persistant i am. > >Like I say, you really need to know what you're doing first. You >don't want to get even more grief from your dad when his computer >won't work and you don't know how to get it going :-) > >Good luck! >Syd > > >_______________________________________________ >main(a)lists.alug.org.uk >http://www.alug.org.uk/ >http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/main >Unsubscribe? See message headers or the web site above! _________________________________________________________________ It's fast, it's easy and it's free. Get MSN Messenger today! http://www.msn.co.uk/messenger

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I see trouble ahead....
by Wayne Stallwood 31 Dec '03

31 Dec '03

http://news.com.com/2100-7337_3-5131787.html?tag=nefd_lede Bios maybe replaced by EFI and Microsoft are helping to develop it. Poorly written article but neverless, the thought that MS might have a hand in something like that is pretty scary. Also the bit about low level 3rd party drivers being loaded before the OS worries me. Naturally this will all be closed source and if two of the drivers don't play nicely how the hell will you be able to troubleshoot it. I'm all for ditching the BIOS as it stands maybe moving to something like http://www.openfirmware.org/, if it works for Apple and Sun then why not. But the thought of a platforms firmware being designed by that platforms most aggressive software developer is something that fills me with dread.

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Neill Newman 29 Dec '03

29 Dec '03

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Linux support for CF card readers?
by Dennis Dryden 27 Dec '03

27 Dec '03

Anyone know if this: http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X… ...is supported under Linux? I recently got given a cheap digital camera but it has no connection cable's so i'm planing to use an external CompactFlash Card reader. If anyone knows of any others that work that'll be nice to know =). I'm guessing it uses the standard USB mass storage interface but you never know. - Dennis Dryden

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Happy Christmas ALUGers!
by Nick Heppleston 25 Dec '03

25 Dec '03

Just wanted to wish everybody Happy Christmas, as it is officially the 25th. Hope you all get suitably stuffed tomorrow and have a great time whatever you are doing. Nick -- Nick Heppleston 07989 581766 | nickheppleston(a)gmx.co.uk

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Debian sarge
by Richard Lewis 24 Dec '03

24 Dec '03

Hello List, Whats going on at the Debian project? Linux Format, in their January issue (p. 9), under the headline "Debian Woody reaches for the skies...", report that, "the 'stable' version of Debian Woody is nearing with the launch of a second release candidate", while Linux Magazine, in their January issue (p. 88), talking about the bugginess of the debian-installer, say that, "this would not have been a big problem, if the Release Manager, Anthony Towns, had not set December 1 as the release date for Debian GNU/Linux Sarge", and while packages.debian.org continues to be out of operation and the debian.org front page makes no mention of sarge going stable. Any ideas? Cheers, Richard

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Linux Kernel 2.6.0
by Craig 24 Dec '03

24 Dec '03

Just went and installed this on my machine at work yesterday.. seems fine so far =D Ah.. this just reminds me of the days of 2.4 kernel. Except that I was testing the release candidate using Alan Cox's mad patch set which often froze my PII 233 box sometimes. Now I feel old...... C

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