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Debian, Slackware, hardware, BIOS and what am I doing wrong?
by John Seago 05 Nov '01

05 Nov '01

I have at last managed, with help, for which many thanks, to get my BIOS set up properly so that I could install Mandrake 8.1. However I am still unable to get Debian or Slackware in. I was told this afternoon that I may get some more suggestions if I post to this list again, so here is a reiteration of my position and the problem. I have two hard disks, one 10 gig as the primary master (with `Windows' on), the second 40 gig disk, (with partitions for Linux, and Mandrake 8.1 installed on /dev/hdc5 is the secondary master. The CD drive is set as the primary slave. I can get Debian to install as far as the base system, but on rebooting into it it can not access the CD drive. Slackware does not install as when one gets to the point where the system is installed it reports all sorts of stuff not installed from an earlier part of the installation. Am I trying to do something which is impossible, should I only be installing one set of linux, am I trying to do it in the wrong order? I could get rid of windows from the first disk, but I would prefer to keep it for the better quality printing it provides, (although I could be persuaded that the other benefits of Linux outweigh it). Suggestions and advice would be welcomed. John seago

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Announce digest, Vol 1 #5 - 2 msgs
by announce-request＠lists.alug.org.uk 05 Nov '01

05 Nov '01

Send Announce mailing list submissions to announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to announce-request(a)lists.alug.org.uk You can reach the person managing the list at announce-admin(a)lists.alug.org.uk When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Announce digest..." *** Please send replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk, not announce... *** oMMMoMo Mo MMMMMMMoMo " "o"o"o"o oMMMoMoM oMMMMMM"MMM" " " " " " "o"o "oMMMoMMM " oMo"M"oo MM" " MoMoMMMMMMM oM " " "oMMM " " MoMMMMMoMoMoooo Mo MMM MoMoMMMMMoMMMMM o" MoM " MoMM "MMo"oMoMMMoM"" MM " MMMMo MMMMMoMMMMMM" oM " MoMMM MMMoMMMo"MM Mo" "MMoMo ooMMMMMMMoMo" oMo oMoMMM " "oMoMMMoMoMo MoM oMoMMM MMMMMMMMMoMMM "oM oMoMMM "M"M"MMoMMMo" " o "oo " MMMM" MMMMMoMoM o" " "oM " " " "o MMMoMMMo"o M " oM " " MMMMMMMoMo o" "oMoMoooMo" " o " " MMoMMMoMoMo " "o"o MM"""""""oM oM " "MMo oMMMMMoMMMoMo " """ """ " o"MMMMoMMMoMMMo"MMo"o" o o o oo MMMMMMoMMMoMMMoMoMo MMMMM MMMo oMMM MMMo MMoMMM oMoMMMoMMMoMMMoMMMo"o oMMMMM MMMo oMMM "MMo MMM "MM MMMMMMMoMMMMMMMoMMMM" " " MMo"MMo MMMo oMM" MMMo oMM" """ " MoMMMoMMMoMMMo" " " MMMoMMMo MMMo oMM" MMMo oMM"oMoMo " "MMoMMMoMMM " " MMMMMMMo MMMo oMM" MMMo oMM" "MM oMMMoMoMoMMMoMMMoMo" " oMM" "oMM" "MMMMM" "MMMMM" MMMoMM" ooMMMMMMMoMMMMMMMoMMMoMo "M" " " " " " """ """ "oM """oMM" " " "MMoMMMoMMMoMM" " " " " " " " alug-announce : The Newsletter of the Anglian Linux User Group Today's Topics: 1. [Robin Marjason <RobinM(a)belkin.com>] [uklugs] Linux support with Belkin UPS (MJ Ray) 2. Death of alug(a)stu.uea.ac.uk (MJ Ray) --__--__-- Message: 1 To: announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk From: MJ Ray <markj(a)cloaked.freeserve.co.uk> Organization: Cat-killingly bad Date: 19 Oct 2001 01:53:56 +0100 Subject: [Alug Announce] [Robin Marjason <RobinM(a)belkin.com>] [uklugs] Linux support with Belkin UPS From: Robin Marjason <RobinM(a)belkin.com> Subject: [uklugs] Linux support with Belkin UPS Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 09:25:35 +0100 Dear Sir, I am not in the business of sending unsolicited mail but have received some positive feedback from Linux users regarding our range of Uninterruptible Power Supplies that you may find interesting. It seems Belkin may be unique as it offers free shutdown software that supports Linux. This software (Bulldog Sentry) facilitates a safe shutdown during an extended power outage. If you need any further information feel free to contact me (details below) or visit the relevant page at http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=&Section_Id=4 83&pcount=&Product_Id=120918&Section.Section_Path=%2FRoot%2FPowerProtection% 2FUninterr%2E%2E%2EerSupply%2F I hope this information proves useful. Yours sincerely, Robin Marjason Belkin Ltd Mob: 07876 745508 DDI: 01604 678381 Tel: 01604 678300 Fax: 01604 678330 E-mail: robinm(a)belkin.com http://www.belkin.co.uk --__--__-- Message: 2 From: MJ Ray <markj(a)luminas.co.uk> To: announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Date: Sun, 04 Nov 2001 23:37:57 +0000 Subject: [Alug Announce] Death of alug(a)stu.uea.ac.uk At around 8pm on Monday 5 November 2001, the old email address alug(a)stu.uea.ac.uk will be finally disabled. Subscribers should ensure that they have the new email address main(a)lists.alug.org.uk in their address books and settings, which has been in use for several months. This is in preparation for the UEA Student Union ceasing to operate their mail server some time in December. Most people shouldn't notice any change, as the lists were moved many weeks ago. Thank you for listening. -- MJ Ray Email: markj(a)luminas.co.uk Director Tel: +44 (0)20 8553 6622 Luminas Internet Applications Fax: +44 (0)870 28 47489 This is not an official statement or order. Web: www.luminas.co.uk --__--__-- _______________________________________________ Announce mailing list Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce End of Announce Digest

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

05 Nov '01

Matthew: > > apt-get install kernel-image-2.2.19 > You get much better performance if you roll your own kernel, IME. The > default Debian kernel contains a whole pile of cruft that you Just > Don't Need. Indeed, but there's nothing inherently "wrong" with it and the original query was how tricky is it to *upgrade*, not compile. Use make-kpkg if you want to tune things -- it's not that hard -- but in a hurry, the debian kernel-image packages are an easy upgrade. -- MJR

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Re: [Alug] RedHat7.2 memory shortage?
by MJ Ray 05 Nov '01

05 Nov '01

Glen: > faster than Mozilla - is there a suite of 'lighter' programs that I should > choose? Any recommendations? There are two things I feel happy with recommending at the moment: http://www.icewm.org/ or http://www.xfce.org/ Which you'll get on with better depends on your personal taste and whether you mind having to put it together yourself. XFCE has a website being put together for it called "XFCE IP" or something similar which will list applications that work well with it. -- MJR

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RE: clug List proposal (admin)
by Ian Wells 05 Nov '01

05 Nov '01

> I was told that the CLUG listserver maintainer is long gone, > however. So > changes to CLUG are probably not advisable / impossible. It's majordomo. Youcan control it remotely, but nobbing over the global settings isn't possible. > Keeping UseNet discipline and self-moderation is probably > best for clug - > just be (self) disciplined about threads? An FAQ can be > supported if the > anarchy / total freedom approach breaks down irretrievably. I'd say - very small mailing lists don't work so well because no-one has the information others need - medium sized mailing lists work well, because the information's available and people pay attention to conversations they're not actively participating in, so that the same questions aren't repeated over and over; and - in big mailing lists, there's too much noise to continually pay attention, which means that people with answers give up replying to questions and others don't spot the useful information in the flow of traffic, leading to the same things being asked over and over. Given Wells's theorem of mailing lists, I think that a CLUG+ALUG list should be about the right size to get useful discussions going and that (judging by the volume of technical traffic, as opposed to 'anyone coming out this Sunday') the CLUG list alone isn't quite big enough. -- Ian.

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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

> 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.) Depends whether a remount-read-only flushes out the 'file system clean' bit when it's done at this level, or whether the change waits for the next sync, which is presumably the concern. Aiui a normal remount/umount wouldn't return until the flush is complete, but this method is far from normal.

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Re: [Alug] List proposal (admin)
by MJ Ray 05 Nov '01

05 Nov '01

James wrote: > A nice idea. Same complaint here: I post using a number of source addresses, > and I'm certainly not going to go through the @rse ache of subscribing > multiple addresses to ALUG just to workaround dumb moderating software. Well, sod you. These CLUG people seem to have an aversion to trimming quotes and their mailserver is still not accepting my subscription request, so maybe they deserve to be held. :^) Seriously, there are reasons why the ALUG lists are set up in the way they are. Bitter experience is one of them and I think the issues around them have been talked to death on-list, so the archives might make interesting searching. > When a friendly human admin has time to moderate, that's bearable. I don't > object to moderated lists, when there is a good reason to use that approach. This list is not moderated, but posts by unknown addresses and ones which match certain other common features of past spams are held for one of the (currently three) list admins to take a look at before they are allowed through. > I was told that the CLUG listserver maintainer is long gone, however. So > changes to CLUG are probably not advisable / impossible. One possible change is to move the CLUG list to more useful location. > Nor should anyone get the hump at ALUG over criticism - let it be > constructive. Can you tune the moderation? Yes, but the current settings seem optimal. > Keeping UseNet discipline and self-moderation is probably best for clug - > just be (self) disciplined about threads? An FAQ can be supported if the > anarchy / total freedom approach breaks down irretrievably. The ALUG FAQ is http://www.alug.org.uk/articles/2001a/alugfaq.html > Its _all_ about Linux - innit! Indeed. Our areas overlap and I always hoped our activities would overlap at some point. It's nice to see it starting to happen. -- MJR

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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

Might I suggest that we set up a joint mailing list for techie discussions, and then have separate ones for clug/alug meetings and other geographically-based discussions? -- Ian (who keeps getting 'message moderated' messages from the alug list)

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

05 Nov '01

This lovely message was waiting to greet me on all consoles of my debian box when i came in to work this morning, and I can't telnet in. A search on google says: >Upgrade to 2.2.19 , that should fix the problem. It's a bug in the >releases between 2.2.14 and 2.2.19, afaik. Has anyone heard of this before? I'm using kernel 2.2.18pre 21, activity on box over weekend should have been minimal apart from backups running. And what were those keys that try to reboot cleanly again? (not the ctl-alt-del) (Hope it isn't going to be one of "those" days....) Nice to meet so many folk yesterday. Jenny.

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RE: clug Ctrl-Alt-SysRq Enabling
by Ian Wells 05 Nov '01

05 Nov '01

> Ian Wells wrote: > > > > < Snipped > > > > > > 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. > > < Snipped > > > Thanks Ian > > That gets my tip of the day vote! Just checked and found > that my Eridani > Linux 6.3 systems ( Redhat 6.2 update based ) all have that unset. > > Presumably it will be the same story for other default RedHat systems. > > One more change to default init that's highly recommended... It's also not there by default in Redhats to 7.1 (not tried 7.2), although RH-default kernels have sysrq compiled in. Strange. Dunno whether there's a nice way of turning it on; we just bodged up an init script for it.

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RedHat7.2 memory shortage?
by Glen Tyler 05 Nov '01

05 Nov '01

Hi everyone, I'm just starting migration, and was impressed enough with what I'd seen of an old copy of RedHat 6.0 to install RedHat 7.2 on my machine. Its a P133 with 64MB, and 4.0GB hard drive. While I'm impressed with all the eversocool features of this (desktop) install, it has slowed the system to a crawl. Everything seems to take ages to load and respond, and trying to do anything more than just move the mouse about or type in Kword seems to involve a huge amount of thrashing of the hard disc (the swap space being utilised?). I've noticed that balsa as and email client and Galeon as a web browser seem faster than Mozilla - is there a suite of 'lighter' programs that I should choose? Any recommendations? Glen

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

05 Nov '01

Tom Huckstep wrote: >Just to clarify, I didn't get nmdb in my error messages, just what >ever happened to be running at the time, e.g. `VM: >do_try_to_free_pages failed for mozilla', particularly when running >memory hungry programs. That would make sense - nmbd would have been trying to allow NTserver to access the linux box to copy my backup file to its backup tape. But my backup file was getting its proverbial knickers in a twist. Thanks all. Jenny.

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

05 Nov '01

Martin Oldfield wrote: >The problem stems from the machine running out of memory, so it's >probably unrelated to nmbd. I'd look at the time you saw the error, >and then look for cron jobs running just before that time. Groan. Thanks Martin, I had set a cron job for * 21 * * *. Stupid thing to do, but even more stupid as it is the 2nd time I've done that. Some people *never* learn....... ;-) Jenny.

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Neill Newman 05 Nov '01

05 Nov '01

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.openprojects.net in the #alug channel, you can take a look at www.openprojects.net to get more info on the openprojects network. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server uk.openprojects.net" or "/server eu.openprojects.net" 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] Debian, Slackware, hardware, BIOS and what am I doing wrong?
by MJ Ray 04 Nov '01

04 Nov '01

> I could get rid of windows from the first disk, but I would prefer to keep it > for the better quality printing it provides, (although I could be persuaded > that the other benefits of Linux outweigh it). What's your printer? ;-) -- MJR

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Linux for the Disabled
by John Seago 04 Nov '01

04 Nov '01

At this afternoon's meeting I took down the Email address of the gentleman who is trying to build a set for the disabled and promised to send him the web site URL's of the Skipper project which is also working on a `Linux' solution to provide access to computers for the disabled.Unfortunately I seem to have taken his address down wrongly, I am therefore seeking the indulgence of all and sending the URL's via the List. They are:- http://home.freeuk.net/thousandminds/ and http://www.linuxmednews.org/linuxmednews/1001454073/index_html John Seago

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CD-Writer for meeting today...
by Simon Parkes 04 Nov '01

04 Nov '01

I'll be bringing a CD writer to the meeting today if anyone wants to use it.... Also if anyone coming has a copy of RH7.2 could they please bring it as I would like to copy it if it's ok... Thx Simon P.S. I have around 30 700MB Blanks that I can let people have for 40p each (50 for 19.99 at Argos) no cases though...

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RE: Antivirus
by Martyn Drake 03 Nov '01

03 Nov '01

Hi, Take a look at Amavis (http://www.amavis.org) - integrates with Sendmail, Exim, Postfix, and Qmail. As for actual anti-virus software, I highly recommend Sophos (http://www.sophos.com) which has clients for just about every operating system available :) Regards, Martyn -- Begin Quoted Message -- Message: 7 From: "Simon Parkes" <simon(a)sparksy.org.uk> To: "ALUG" <main(a)lists.alug.org.uk> Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 16:52:21 -0000 Subject: [Alug] Anitvirus... Hi list.... Can anyone recommend an Antivirus solution for Linux, running Sendmail ? Simon

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Re: [Alug] Sundays meeting
by Jenny_Hopkins＠toby-churchill.com 02 Nov '01

02 Nov '01

I'm raring to come, but I'll have to bring the chiddlers, so I won't stay too long. They are mostly quite decorous and if they misbehave I'll dunk them in the unheated poll. I'll be bringing a debian box networked using co-ax, so if anyone has a spare "coax-utp media convertor"...? I was hoping for some help on php. Jenny.

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Re: [Alug] Anitvirus...
by MJ Ray 02 Nov '01

02 Nov '01

> Can anyone recommend an Antivirus solution for Linux, running Sendmail? Martyn uses amavis with Postfix I think, for the ALUG.org.uk mail server. I don't know of anything that will scan files downloaded from the web. Me, I think fixing client problems by hacking the server stinks. You'll still only get people running stuff not got through the means covered and they'll be complacent. Linux virus problems are still rare (you only installed GPG-signed packages of software from recognised sources, right?) and most other problems can be taken care of by keeping your system patched up to date. -- MJR

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Re: [Alug] Instaling linux alongside windows
by MJ Ray 02 Nov '01

02 Nov '01

The Unnamed Interloper wrote: > windows for some reason of its own has installed a nice big block of data > right near the end of the drive. the defr ag program that comes with > windows 95, refuses to move this data. This means that fips will not > allow me to create a large enough partition to install a linux distro. As John quoted from the FAQ, this is more likely than not a system file. ISTR that some Windowses used a large hidden file at the end of the partition for swap. You'll need to unhide this, but that probably means you should switch of swap during the defrag. Don't ask me how, as I've forgotten that. Furthermore, note that this list is now main(a)lists.alug.org.uk, as the next time I log into rabbit will be to deactivate the forwarding from stu.uea.ac.uk and destroy the old mailing list. -- 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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Re: [Alug] Wine and Lotus Notes...
by MJ Ray 02 Nov '01

02 Nov '01

Simon wrote: > Any of you guys had experience of Wine (not the drinking kind) [...] I've only used it a few times (I don't need many Windows apps) and the only problem I found was it not having all serial port functions (I was trying to flash up the modem). MJR -- MJR

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Wine and Lotus Notes...
by Simon Parkes 02 Nov '01

02 Nov '01

Any of you guys had experience of Wine (not the drinking kind).. I've heard a few horror stories about it and have just tried it on RH 7.0.. Worked first time... So it's time for Linux on the laptop as well... Simon (nearly totally linux)

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Instaling linux alongside windows
by dahilt＠essex.ac.uk 02 Nov '01

02 Nov '01

I have wanted to try out linux for a while however i have been having problems in creating the second partition needed. I only have a 1.5GB hard drive on my 486 (8 years old and still going!!), and windows for some reason of its own has installed a nice big block of data right near the end of the drive. the defrag program that comes with windows 95, refuses to move this data. This means that fips will not allow me to create a large enough partition to install a linux distro. (note i have tried restarting and defraging as well as trying it in safe mode, to no effect.) Does anyone know of a free program that will either allow me to defrag the hard drive properly, or create the partitions nessesary without destroying data (e.g. a free version of something similar to partition magic). Thanks in advance for any help you can give :o)

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Re: [Alug] Sundays meeting - who wanted a lift from Norwich?
by MJ Ray 02 Nov '01

02 Nov '01

Syd Hancock wrote: > Hoping to be there although I should really be doing other things. Likewise. > [...] Or, to rephrase it, does anyone want a lift from Norwich > or anywhere nearby (on the southern side of the town at least)? Similarly, I'm able to offer some lifts from King's Lynn and probably Swaffham or Newmarket rail station. Please email me off-list to arrange... -- MJR

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