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[Alug]Weekly IRC reminder
by Neill Newman 21 Apr '03

21 Apr '03

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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[Alug]Debian 'Testing' CD images
by Barry Samuels 21 Apr '03

21 Apr '03

Does anyone possess the above and would they be prepared to create CDs for me if I provide the blank CDs and cover any costs involved. I have only a 56k modem connection and I think that downloading these CDs would take rather a long time! Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

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RE: [Alug] Newsforge: NVIDIA's Latest Drivers and the Quadro FX
by Adam Bower 21 Apr '03

21 Apr '03

> From: MJ Ray [mailto:markj@cloaked.freeserve.co.uk] > > Oh. I just had someone raving at me about the latest ATI > cards (currently > out around the 250-300 quid mark?) but I don't think even > their support is > full under free software at the moment. Their "offical" support is non-free the same as Nvidia and from what I have heard is far worse in both terms of what capabilities they give you and the installer is very rpm focused. As for what they actually give the free software community so that people can work on to support their products it looks about the same as Nvidia, i.e. not much. and they certainly are giving nothing important away. :( Adam

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Zauruss (Zaurui?)
by BenE 17 Apr '03

17 Apr '03

Does anyone know of a place in Norwich that sells the Sharp Zaurus PDA pls? I've been looking to buy one for a while now and since they are *relatively* cheap, as I've discovered tonight, I'm even more tempted :-) Has anyone had any experience of them? I assume being linux based there would be no problems connecting my desktop to it. I've now realised that's prolly quite a big assumption, hmm? *googles* cheers, BenE

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[Alug]Free Ink-carts for Linux printers!
by Edenyard 17 Apr '03

17 Apr '03

I have here three inkjet cartridges which are unused and unwanted - they're free to a good home. (All "compatible" types and made by JR): 1 off black for Epson Stylus 400/800/800+/1000 2 off colour for Epson Stylus Color II/IIs/820 To make this message legal, they must be used with Linux printers!! They're lightweight, so I could post - alternatively they could be collected from Martlesham. Please contact me off-list if interested. Cheers, Gerald.

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RE: [Alug]Elmswell meeting on the 27th of this month
by Adam Bower 17 Apr '03

17 Apr '03

> From: MJ Ray [mailto:markj@cloaked.freeserve.co.uk] > Adam, I think you are OK to send me patches for the web site? > Who else wants to write pages for the web site? Yes, I am set for patches and getting things up to date, I have a copy of the website on the laptop and it builds for me so maybe I will get something done this weekend. As for Elmswell and speakers, I havn't been able to get anything done yet. One other bit of Alug trivia people may want to know is that I have spoken to O'Reilly about review copies of books etc. and they are going to keep in touch with me and sort something out I think. more as and when... Adam

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Re: [Alug]Virgin.net ADSL
by Craig 17 Apr '03

17 Apr '03

On Thu, Apr 17, 2003 at 04:14:27PM +0100, john(a)paston.co.uk wrote: > > Only 40ukp a month... so it is worth considering.... > > Worth noting, however, that not everyone who can get ADSL can get this > service, due to the line lenth issues... Apparently, if you cannot get ADSL due to some strange line length issue. Ask AA, they somehow managed to solve the problem. -- (o_ - Craig Butcher //\ - IT Technician / Unix Support MTH/ENV @ UEA V_/_ - http://www.wizball.co.uk

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RAM Disks
by Keith Watson 17 Apr '03

17 Apr '03

Installed the latest Nvidia drivers last night, very slick, but, as someone said, no better than a Debian or RPM package with a couple of extra bells and whistles. I think the main thing is the implicit recognition that GNU/Linux is an important enough user base for them to provide this. OK, the real point of this is that after the install I was reviewing the start-up log and noticed a message saying I had 16 x 4Mb RAM disks. Presumably this was a default kernel option as I haven't knowingly created these. Question is, is this just a capability or is there an actual 64M RAM overhead associated with this? Do I need any RAM disks? Keith ____________ TWICE, adv. Once too often. Ambrose Bierce - The Devil's Dictionary

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[Alug]Elmswell meeting on the 27th of this month
by Adam Bower 17 Apr '03

17 Apr '03

Hi all, Just a confirmation that this meeting *is* going to happen. I will update the webpage when I get a chance. The venue is near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk IIRC. The other meetings at Syleham (also Suffolk) are also still arranged for the same dates as before (Sun May 18th, Sun Aug 17th and Sun 23rd Nov.) Norwich dates are still to be confirmed, I will let everyone know more later. Adam -- jabberid = quinophex(a)jabber.earth.li AFFS || http://www.affs.org.uk/ || Not a filesystem

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RE: [Alug] Newsforge: NVIDIA's Latest Drivers and the Quadro FX
by Adam Bower 17 Apr '03

17 Apr '03

> -----Original Message----- > From: MJ Ray [mailto:markj@cloaked.freeserve.co.uk] > I think they meant 0wn. Auto-updating binary-only drivers. > Do they have > good security in place, or is the "mass nvidia driver users' > blowout" only > a download site exploit away, I wonder. Ummm, from what I read the utility they provide "auto-updates" by you having to run it, no different from using apt-get really. > I'll stick with the XFree86's own nv drivers on the box here that has > their chips until I replace that hardware. You do realise that Nvidia wrote that support (definetly parts of it, they do have there own "special" license mentioned in the XFree86 distribution) in XFree86? and out of interest which of the GFX manufacturers warez would you seek to procure in their place? AFAICT there are no GFX card manufacturers out there who provide full real free software support for their products :( Adam

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[Alug]Virgin.net ADSL
by Alexis Lee 17 Apr '03

17 Apr '03

Hi, Been looking thru adslguide.org for an ADSL ISP. Virgin.net look good.. any testimonials, good or bad? Cheers, Alexis -- Failure- When your best just isn't good enough. "The human brain is a wonderful thing. It starts working the moment you are born, and never stops until you stand up to speak in public" - Sir G Jessel

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RE: [Alug]Equivalent of DOS 'dir /s /b'?
by Jonathan Dye 17 Apr '03

17 Apr '03

Keith Watson wrote: >> From: MJ Ray >> Keith Watson <kpwatson(a)ukfsn.org> wrote: >>> In DOS the command 'dir /s /b' gives a useful listing of just >>> filenames prefixed with directory paths. >> >> Can you give an example? I only remember using /p and /w to dir. >> > > No problem; > > D:\>dir /b /s \Test1 > > D:\Test1\Cat > D:\Test1\Cow > D:\Test1\Dog > D:\Test1\Pig > D:\Test1\foo.bar > D:\Test1\foo1.bar > D:\Test1\foo2.bar > D:\Test1\foo3.bar > D:\Test1\foo4.bar > D:\Test1\foo5.bar > D:\Test1\Cat\Diamond > D:\Test1\Cat\Emerald > D:\Test1\Cat\Pearl > D:\Test1\Cat\Ruby [...] How about: find /Test1 JD _____________________________________________________________________ This message has been checked for all known viruses by the MessageLabs Virus Scanning Service

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[Alug]Equivalent of DOS 'dir /s /b'?
by Keith Watson 17 Apr '03

17 Apr '03

In DOS the command 'dir /s /b' gives a useful listing of just filenames prefixed with directory paths. Can anyone think of a way to get the same listing within a bash shell? Keith

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NTL Broadband
by BenEBoy 17 Apr '03

17 Apr '03

OK, apparantly I can get broadband in Norwich with NTL now, has anyone had any experience with them? I'm thinking more of the technical side of things. I've been informed that NTL uses some gizmo on the phone line so you just plug it straight into a NIC and not a modem, so I'm *guessing* that there wouldn't be any problem. Of course, that's just a wild assumption ;-) Cheers, BenE -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- www.norwich-anarchists.org.uk Officially the best norwich based anarchist web site that has overly large jpegs

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[Alug]Routers
by Alexis Lee 16 Apr '03

16 Apr '03

Vaguely re: the web hosting discussion... the subject of all-in routers came up. I'm thinking about getting a Buffalo Tech. ADSL/wireless/VPN router thing. Most people seem to think very highly of the Draytek ones, but this one comes in at about 100UKP which is a distinct advantage in my mind. Anyone used one of these, or have opinions for some other reason? They use the 802.11g (not)standard, which hasn't been finalised. However, apparently they have back compatibility with 802.11b and Buffalo T guarantee to fix them up to comply when g is standardised. I don't really care about b or g though, as long as they don't break down all the time. Cheers, Alexis -- "We can't spell FAILURE without U R A!" - despair.com "The purpose of words is to convey ideas. When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten. Where is the man who has forgotten words?" - Chuang-Tzu

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RE: [Alug] Web hosting
by Adam Bower 16 Apr '03

16 Apr '03

> -----Original Message----- > From: Graham Trott [mailto:gt@pobox.com] > And yes, it is easy to do. Just plug in and go. Make sure you get an > appropriate modem/router, though; avoid the USB models like > the plague. Zen What do you have against the USB modems? I was quite happy with my Alcatel frog running under Linux, I got some very nice uptimes with it and the only reason they weren't longer was due to the electricity having a key meter... I actually prefer the modem terminating on a linux pc rather than through a router as you can see network traffic directly on the DSL interface rather than being abstracted by ethernet. Adam

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RE: [Alug] Web hosting
by Adam Bower 16 Apr '03

16 Apr '03

> From: Laurie Brown [mailto:laurie@brownowl.com] > The main problem I have with the built-in stuff like all these > firewall/router/NAT/dhcp/DNS/etc things is vulnerabilities. > They rarely come > up in bugtraq, and I'm sure it's not because they are so > secure. I think it's > a reflection of the userbase not being technical or trying to > break them. > With a standard Linux box running iptables/snort I know where > I am, and what > I need to do. Just a preference... This is the main reason why I avoided getting a router and went directly for the USB option (I liked the blinky lights on the external and there was no pci ADSL modem available at the time for linux) I really do not trust these embedded devices to be secure and they seemed rather expensive when they would do less than what I could do with my usb modem. Adam

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RE: [Alug] Web hosting
by Adam Bower 16 Apr '03

16 Apr '03

> From: Graham Trott [mailto:gt@pobox.com] > Well answered. To which I'd add that low-cost modems don't > offer a lot of > flexibility. They may be fine for dynamic IP but with static > you usually > want more control than they offer. Hmmm, I think the complete opposite of this an adsl router will give you less flexibilty than an adaptor (either usb pci etc.) directly into a linux box. With a linux box acting as a router you can do *anything* you wish with the static ip that you are given such as run any kind of VPN you like and enjoy the far more advanced Linux firewall options. If you have to have connections natted through the router then you lose lots of the flexibility you get from having static ip addresses. Adam

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[Alug]newbie desktop distros
by Syd Hancock 16 Apr '03

16 Apr '03

Has anyone used xandros, lindows or any similar distro? Very interested in any comments/experiences. I do realise all the disadvantages etc for the more knowledgable user - so pardon the heresy :-) Syd

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RE: [Alug] Web hosting
by Adam Bower 16 Apr '03

16 Apr '03

> although a broadband connection and a linux box may be an > option. Is this > latter option easy to do and which broadband suppliers allow static ip > addresses?? I used to do this with Eclipse internet ( http://www.eclipse.net.uk ) they don't do any port blocking and have no restrictions on servers etc. they even setup reverse DNS for me for free. Adam

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Web hosting
by Simon Jude 16 Apr '03

16 Apr '03

Hi, Can anybody suggest a cheap and reliable web hosting company? Nothing particularly special is needed, just somewhere to host a site for some friends and myself. Simon

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Bulk MP3 Conversion
by Keith Watson 16 Apr '03

16 Apr '03

I have a directory containing a bunch of MP3 files and I want to convert them to CDR prior to burning a CD. eg. foo.mp3 -> foo.cdr bar.mp3 -> bar.cdr dog.mp3 -> dog.cdr cat.mp3 -> cat.cdr etc..... Currently I'm looking at a script that uses MPG321 and a 'for' loop. 2 questions; 1) is there a better way? 2) can I parse the filename (in the script) to separate the extension (.MP3) from it so I can then append .CDR to it? Keith ____________ A bend in the road is not the end of the road... unless you fail to make the turn.

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[Alug]Linux Desktops comparative review
by Syd Hancock 16 Apr '03

16 Apr '03

http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT5747451177.html Linux desktops comparative review. Long, detailed, interesting. Could be worth forwarding to friends/colleages thinking of switching. Another comparative review on Open For Business http://www.ofb.biz less detailed and already outdated in some ways but also worth a look. Syd

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Re: Zauruss
by tom potts 15 Apr '03

15 Apr '03

Excuse my ignorance but can you stick on of those 1G microdrives in them? (quite cheap as www.scan.co.uk (£127 ex vat!) at the mo) Tom __________________________________________________ Yahoo! Plus For a better Internet experience http://www.yahoo.co.uk/btoffer

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RE: [Alug] Zauruss (Zaurui?)
by Adam Bower 15 Apr '03

15 Apr '03

> There are new models that should be over here soon (hence the > discounts) one > that is functionally the same but with a faster chip and one > that is a very > different beast altogether. The new 5600 model is not actually as good as the 5500 (these are things I have read online BTW) , basically they have stuck a new cpu in it (400Mhz instead of 200Mhz) but due to implementation problems it will run at about the same speed as the 5500. Also they have taken the amount of RAM down to 32MB from 64MB but bolted on 64MB of non-volatile flash instead of 16MB of flash in the 5500. This means you will be limited to a maximum of 32MB of RAM where my Z is currently running with 64MB (and 128MB of MMC for its file system) with openzaurus. The main advantages of the newer model is that it has a 1700mAh battery instead of a 950mAh (but the new cpu burns more juice iirc) but this adds a bulge onto the back of the unit, and it has a built in microphone which you don't have with the 5500. > All in all it is a cracking little widget, as a basic PDA I'd > be forced to say > that it is not as good as a decent Palm, but as a Linux > machine in your > pocket it is fantastic. I would say that it makes the palm look like a pile of something brown and smelly :) although I have now had 4 different models of palm break on me in pretty much the same way. I do find the Z is much better as a PDA. One thing is that I did have problems with openzaurus 3.0 (and the sharp rom too) but I now have openzaurus 3.2 installed and it works very nicely, apart from the occasional hot plug problem. > Oh and install Interstellar Flames to impress your inquiring > friends (the 3D > graphics are out of this world on a PDA) I have this, it does tend to impress people when they see it :) although I still have to check out other games yet. Adam

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