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10369 discussions

Re: [Alug] Linux server distro's
by MJ Ray 14 Nov '01

14 Nov '01

Ricardo: > Anyhoo, they asked me to find out some info for them in regards to Linux ser > vers, as they are getting broadband internet soon. It's roles would be: firew > all/router and MP3 file server (they also make music). I guess they may want > to serve MP3's using an FTP package, and resumable downloads may be a priorit > y, as they would be serving dial-up users. Well, you can either use any normal machine with a slightly upgraded kernel for USB (I hear that the BT snotball modem works with 2.2.20), a normal FTPd like proftpd and then use ipchains or iptables to firewall, masq and route (so I guess 2.4.x would be better, because iptables are better). Or you can use a dedicated firewall distribution like Gibraltar, but it might be harder to install an ftp server on it, as firewalls are meant to be secure and anonymous ftp servers aren't! Whatever you get, something with easy/ automatic updates would be good. I'm afraid I still have to say don't use Smoothwall. There seem to be some very worrying noises and moves coming from that project, who still don't seem to have got their head around the GPL. Their project leader has also attacked various prominent UK Linux proponents in the past. (Richard Morrell, if you read this, remember: you email me, I report you to your service provider. I am not putting up with that sort of abuse again. Everyone else: sorry, but he's emailed me as a result of ALUG list posts before.) -- MJR

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RE: [Alug] Why I am interested in Linux
by Syd Hancock 14 Nov '01

14 Nov '01

>Dabs seem to be the same sort of prices. Dabs are very good but do they sell s/h kit which is what someone was looking for? I thought they were new only. Mind you the anglianinternet site is wierd and does not always display all the links including those to the s/h stuff in all browsers. There should be a sidebar frame on the left with eleven links plus a phone number. Having said that, I've just checked the site and the PII system boxes for 65 quid that I saw last week have all gone. There are P200s for 75GBP inc NIC plus 25GBP for a cdrom drive. Syd

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Hi all.
by Paul Russell 14 Nov '01

14 Nov '01

Hey all, Apols for decreasing the signal to noise ratio here, but since there are quite a number of people here who might remember me, I thought I'd better give you a heads up and let you know I'm back. As an aside, there was some discussion a while back about distributed.net, I gather. I'm currently attempting to recover my old distributed.net accounts so that I can carry on crunching. Anyone happen to remember my password or have access to a Paul.Russell(a)uea.ac.uk address? ;) Was there anything in particular people wanted done with d.net? Paul.

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Why I am interested in Linux
by e.chinnery 14 Nov '01

14 Nov '01

Thank you for being extremely quick Martyn. Why am I interested in Linux. I am increasingly fed up with reliability problems with MS OS's. Only this very night I had a problem that partly resulted from problems with ntlworld that prevented retrieval of emails and logging on. Whilst the email retrieval was in progress I was disconnected and my PC world still be trying to accomplish this. I Think that I only just managed to 'restart' on the 'shut down' dialogue box before every thing 'freezing up'. Enough said about that man and his whimsies known as widows. It is something new. It really does seem like the pioneering spirit of the late 70's & early 80's. Not as spectacular as California in those times but quite subtle. An international movement made up of poeple outside mainstream OS supplies which most poeple would say there is only one. It is a Historical fact that most important inventions have come from those who are outside the mainstream industrial and commercial institutions i.e. the first PC, the first Apple computers, prototypes in a garage. It also might be the rebel in me that is suspicious of globalisation and wants a way of striking out at a monolithic global coporation and that man with his gawky looking hair and glasses. Enough said I interested in installing Linux on a an older system for word processing and basic things like that. Indeed I have seen in Micro Mart dealers stocking old P200 boxes not much above the 100 mark. I believe installation to be not as difficult as it may seem but not as easy as MS. Also a better chance of drivers being available enough said. And lets all get that man. May penguins rule the world! Bye for now from Edmund Chinnery

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Re: [Alug] Why I am interested in Linux
by MJ Ray 13 Nov '01

13 Nov '01

Edmund, can you please post in plain text only? Everyone else, I'm terribly sorry, but it seems like we've lost the attachment filters. I'll take a look and see if I can rewrite them this evening. -- MJR

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Mailman Upgrade on the 14th (tomorrow)
by Martyn Drake 13 Nov '01

13 Nov '01

Hi, Just a quick note to let everybody know that Mailman (the list server software that powers ALUG) will be upgraded tomorrow morning. This will result in some downtime while I perform a backup, upgrade the existing installation, and perform a few tests of the upgraded Mailman. This should not result in a downtime longer than 10 minutes. Upgrade is due to take place around 10am and finish around 10:10. I would be grateful if nobody could post anything to the list, or use the web interface during this time. Many thanks, Martyn Drake ALUG Systems Admin -- Email : martyn(a)drake.org.uk Web : http://www.drake.org.uk Web : http://www.martyn-drake.info

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Re: [Alug] Linux networking
by MJ Ray 13 Nov '01

13 Nov '01

Nicky: > anyone possible tell me where to put this C code in order to get the NIC work > ing... 9 times out of 10, you shouldn't need to use the C code. It's just a case of enabling the right driver. If you tell us what sort of network card it is, someone on the list may be able to tell you what to do to make it work with Mandrake. By the way, can you switch line wrap on in your email client, please? 72 chars or thereabouts. Thanks! -- MJR Do you need advice about the Internet or particular net services? Why not talk to my employers? See http://www.luminas.co.uk/ for details.

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autoconf book
by Lincoln, Michael C 13 Nov '01

13 Nov '01

Can anyone recommend a good book on GNU autoconf? Thanks, Mike

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Linux networking
by nicky 13 Nov '01

13 Nov '01

Hello could any possible help me with a networking issue. iv been useing windows for some years now untill the othere mouth when a friend of mine introduced me to linux mandrake 8.0 . which im finding to be a much better OS than windows... so as im very very very new with useing linux i was woundering weather anyone could help me on where to install my drivers for my PCI netwotk card i have a C scource on the instulations disk but thats all its got under the linux folder on the floppy so could anyone possible tell me where to put this C code in order to get the NIC working... nick

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Linux networking
by nicky 13 Nov '01

13 Nov '01

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Re: [Alug] Missing Daily Digests
by MJ Ray 12 Nov '01

12 Nov '01

> that they weren't getting anything on some days. It could be that it's just > the numbering that confusing me, (easily done, confusing a drug sodden > cripple I mean). Martyn, can you shed any light on the numbering system? I've noticed with the social digests that they don't seem to be in strict sequence. MJR -- MJR

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Looking for a low-cost Linux based single board computer
by Chris Allen 12 Nov '01

12 Nov '01

Hi everyone, I am trying to get hold of a low-cost (<£100) single board computer that will run embedded Linux. This will be a project for a major blue-chip company, and will be an excellent leap forward if we can use Linux instead of a cheap windows pc-based solution. If anybody knows of a company selling this sort of thing, preferably in the UK, I'd be glad to hear from them. I have looked at linuxdevices.com, and embeddedlinux.com, both of which are strong on documentation, but weak on where I can actually buy boards from...

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Re: [Alug] Missing Daily Digests
by MJ Ray 12 Nov '01

12 Nov '01

John Seago: > Last week I only received digests 81, 82, 84 and 85, (if there was a > digest for Sunday then that did not arrive either), I know of two other > list members who did not get some of the messages, was there some problem? > Or is this something else I have managed to break? I think it's been relatively quiet on the list this weekend and I've not had any reports of problems from the system. I'm not sure whether the numbers run in any particularly good order. If you visit the list archives (URL at foot), do you see messages that you didn't get? -- MJR

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Re: [Alug] Looking for a low-cost Linux based single board computer
by MJ Ray 12 Nov '01

12 Nov '01

Chris Allen: > I have looked at linuxdevices.com, and embeddedlinux.com,=20 > both of which are strong on documentation, but weak on > where I can actually buy boards from... uclinux.com might be worth a look. ISTR that they have boards there. There also seemed to be a lot of useful sites linked from linuxdevices. -- MJR

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Promoting Linux
by John Seago 12 Nov '01

12 Nov '01

Yesterday, on my way to Ipswich I stopped at SBS Computers in Wittnesham to buy new IDE Cables. Talking to the proprietor, we touched briefly on the subject of Linux, in which he expressed an interest. I offered to return and talk him through an install of Mandrake 8.1, as he was interested in putting a 'free' OS into the second hand computers he sells. I returned today, (having to return some faulty goods to a shop in Ipswich), unfortunately, a problem occurred with installing Mandrake 8.1 in the next batch of Computers being prepared for sale, which I lacked both the experience and knowledge to overcome. Is there anyone on the list in the Ipswich area who could give some help and advice to SBS Computers. This would go a long way towards fulfilling one of ALUG's aims, that of promoting linux, as his customers would be going away with a computer pre-loaded with linux. The contact address for SBS Computers is: < info(a)sbscomputers.co.uk >. John Seago

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Linux Mandrake 8.1 Installations
by Mark Elliss 12 Nov '01

12 Nov '01

Good morning, I might be able to help you out with your Mandrake 8.1 installation problems. I picked up a message (see below) from the ALUG list were John Seago has asked if there was anyone in your area who could help.I am in the area and am willing to help. Regards Mark > Yesterday, on my way to Ipswich I stopped at SBS Computers in Wittnesham to > buy new IDE Cables. Talking to the proprietor, we touched briefly on the > subject of Linux, in which he expressed an interest. I offered to return and > talk him through an install of Mandrake 8.1, as he was interested in putting > a 'free' OS into the second hand computers he sells. I returned today, > (having to return some faulty goods to a shop in Ipswich), unfortunately, a > problem occurred with installing Mandrake 8.1 in the next batch of Computers > being prepared for sale, which I lacked both the experience and knowledge to > overcome. Is there anyone on the list in the Ipswich area who could give some > help and advice to SBS Computers. This would go a long way towards > fulfilling one of ALUG's aims, that of promoting linux, as his customers > would be going away with a computer pre-loaded with linux. > > The contact address for SBS Computers is: < info(a)sbscomputers.co.uk >. > > John Seago >

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Missing Daily Digests
by John Seago 12 Nov '01

12 Nov '01

Last week I only received digests 81, 82, 84 and 85, (if there was a digest for Sunday then that did not arrive either), I know of two other list members who did not get some of the messages, was there some problem? Or is this something else I have managed to break? John Seago

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Ain't Linux Wonderful
by Ian Thompson-Bell 10 Nov '01

10 Nov '01

A couple of days ago I had a major freeze on my Mandrake 8.0 desktop. I was running an mpeg encoder, called appropriately lame, at the time, when the screen just froze. No keyboard response so i was forced to reset. Only problem was e2fsck did not like one partition and kept freezing itself. So I ran the MD8.0 install disk in rescue mode and found I could manualy mount all the partitions and their contents seemed intact. Running e2fsck with the partitions unmounted found the corrupted partition and fixed it. A reboot and there was my system all intact and functional. Ain't linux wonderful? Ian -- Ian Thompson-Bell

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Sundays meeting
by John Woodard 08 Nov '01

08 Nov '01

I'm not going to make the meeting on Sunday as it will clash with Number One Son's birthday party. So have a good one and I hope you all get your broken bits working and enjoy being in a different venue for a change. -- Cheers, BJ

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Re: [Alug] "VM: do_try_to_free_pages failed for nmbd"
by Edenyard 08 Nov '01

08 Nov '01

Jenny Hopkins wrote: > I've managed to avoid upgrading a kernel up till now. How tricky is it on > a scale of 1 - 10 for someone slightly above the level of complete > incompetence? > Well - I managed it and my Linux knowledge on a scale of 1 to 10 is probably just below 1 at the moment. I had a slight false start, owing to some missing symlinks, but I soon fixed those, thanks to this list, and then it was ALMOST trivial - just type in the right commands in the right order and make plenty of tea between each command. Also, I discovered a mag called Linux Format (thanks to John Seago) and that has a cover CD bearing the source code for kernel 2.4.9, which is what I used for my new kernel last week. So I didn't even have to download 28Mb of source code before I started! I'd read somewhere that I should expect the compilation to take hours or days on an old PC (my P166 is ex-skip) but I was done in less than an hour, once I'd sorted my way through the 'make menuconfig' stage. So if I can, I'd say anyone can. If you want me to share my lack of knowledge any further, feel free to ask! I found the Kernel HOW-TO quite helpful and there's a README in with the source (which, had I read it more diligently, would have probably saved me falling into the lack-of-symlinks hole...). Hope this encourages you? Gerald.

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thanks for pages_failed info
by Jenny_Hopkins＠toby-churchill.com 06 Nov '01

06 Nov '01

Ta to all for help with the alarming pages_failed messages. I now understand that 1. I shouldn't set a large cronjob to run every minute by mistake ;-) 2. Kernel 2.2.18 is not so hot on memory management and i need to do my first new kernel installation 3. I need to set sysrq in some boot script or other to avoid crashing out like i had to yesterday. Now I can spend the next month trying to find out *how* to do these things...whoohooo! Sorry if I caused any confusion cross-posting on two lists. Some interesting merge talks coming out of it though. Jenny.

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RE: clug Re: [Alug] "VM: do_try_to_free_pages failed for nmbd"
by Ian Wells 05 Nov '01

05 Nov '01

> > I've managed to avoid upgrading a kernel up till now. How > tricky is it on > > a scale of 1 - 10 for someone slightly above the level of complete > > incompetence? > > If you have some idea of what hardware is in the system (or a .config > file hanging aroudn from last time), then it's pretty simple, > really. Some people find the kernel-package package in Debian is > helpful, but I tend not to use it. I recommend make menuconfig... After last night, and making a kernel with the IPSec patches in by just typing the right (one) command, I've decided that make-kpkg is lovely. Now all I have to do is switch my firewall box over to Debian. And repair its disk. And ideally find it a monitor which hasn't got 20 second phosphor persistence... Incidentally, when I've used SysRq I've found it needed enabling with an echo 1 >/proc/sys/kernel/sysrq on boot. Do it. It's invaluable when your machine goes tits up. (Especially when it's a general workhorse machine that everyone uses, with 40G partitions and a strange intermittent kernel bug that makes it impossible to reboot.) -- Ian.

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Re: [Alug] "VM: do_try_to_free_pages failed for nmbd"
by MJ Ray 05 Nov '01

05 Nov '01

John Fremlin: > MJ Ray <markj(a)cloaked.freeserve.co.uk> writes: > > Hold AltGr and SysRq, then tap out s u u b (sync, unmount, unmount, boot) > You should sync after umount too or else you'll probably get spurious > fscks on boot (it needs to write a clean umount flag to the superblock) Surely a sync won't do anything to a read-only disk? (OK, I lied: "u" is actually remount-read-only.) -- MJR

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Re: [Alug] "VM: do_try_to_free_pages failed for nmbd"
by Jenny_Hopkins＠toby-churchill.com 05 Nov '01

05 Nov '01

MJRay wrote: >Yes, .17 and .18 blew up quite spectacularly on tsw a few times. It seems >that certain situations end up with swap being consumed and never released. >.19 (or maybe .20 now?) cured the problem. I've managed to avoid upgrading a kernel up till now. How tricky is it on a scale of 1 - 10 for someone slightly above the level of complete incompetence? Jen

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Free to a good home
by Chris Allen 05 Nov '01

05 Nov '01

The following hardware will shortly go in our skip unless anybody would like it... 1 x Sun 3/80 workstation with 19" mono monitor. Unknown amount of memory/hard disk - although was running as my DNS server until a year ago. 1 x Sun 3/50 workstation with 21" mono monitor. This box is *ancient* - it is 68000 based and incredibly solidly built. Unknown amount of memory hard disk (if any). Has not been plugged in for several years. Assorted tapes, cables, mice and other junk to go with the above. All free to anybody that can be bothered to come to Eastbridge (near Leiston in Suffolk) to collect it...

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