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ALUG Meeting.. problem..
by Simon Parkes 29 Oct '01

29 Oct '01

I've just been speaking to the Millennium Centre and they've turned round and told me that there is an issue, they don't have the room for us anymore!!! But I have a cunning plan, we can use the Cinema at my parent place in Cheveley (5 mins down the road), all organised if everyone is ok with that... Bonus, in true Linux tradition, it's free (and there's a sauna and pool available if anyone wants to refresh themselves)... Anyway over to you guys. Simon P.S. The Millennium Centre gave me there sincere apologies for the mistake...

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Taking the Plunge - recompiling the kernel
by Edenyard 29 Oct '01

29 Oct '01

Please help!!! Having been persuaded (against my better judgment, no doubt) to have a go at this 'Recompiling the Kernel' game, I finally plucked up enough courage this afternoon. I installed all the source code for kernel 2.4.9, installed all the gcc and things for my Slackware 8.0 system and went for it. Ran make menuconfig first of all and patiently waded through the billions of choices there. Managed to save it and a message came up which said, 'make dep next'. I checked with my Kernel HOW-TO V2.5 and that's what it seemed to be saying, too. So I did. VERY soon after typing 'make dep', I got this: /usr/include/bits/local_lim.h:36: linux/limits.h: No such file or directory make: *** [scripts/mkdep] Error1 Well - I don't have a clue what to do now. I read through the Kernel HOW-TO 'Pitfalls' section and (of course) no mention of this particular one. What's missing? Where is it?? <groan> I knew THIS would happen.... Sone kindly soul - please can you get me out of this latest hole? Thanks! Gerald.

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Re: Meeting of 4th November
by John Seago 29 Oct '01

29 Oct '01

Is there a map for this meeting on Sunday, or any dircetions? Or any further details please? John

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Re: [Alug] Re: Locked directories - Sympathy
by Edenyard 29 Oct '01

29 Oct '01

On Sat, 27 Oct 2001 15:45:29 +0100, MJR wrote: > Anyone here with a kernel 2.4 Debian installation CD? I'm sure such things > exist, but I don't have one. > I've looked in all the usual places, but they all seem to say 2.2.xx for Debian. That's the frustrating thing: one hears how good Debian is, but can't try it! I wondered whether it's possible to take a distribution (e.g., Debian) and install it with another kernel?? I don't know enough about how all the different bits of Linux fit together to know whether this is a sensible suggestion. Gerald.

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Re: [Alug] Debian problems
by MJ Ray 29 Oct '01

29 Oct '01

> Just upgraded to Debian unstable (good idea?). Everything appears ok, apart > from my X configuration is lost. X no longer starts during bootup, and the > progs xf86config and XF86Setup are not available. Also startx and X are > unrecognised commands. Congratulations! You're now the proud owner of an X4-based system. You may need to make sure that you have the right packages installed (try "aptitude" if you have it installed... I'm not sure if it's the right tool for unstable now, though). -- 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] ALUG Meeting.. problem..
by Jenny_Hopkins＠toby-churchill.com 29 Oct '01

29 Oct '01

Simon Parkes wrote: >But I have a cunning plan, we can use the Cinema at my parent place in >Cheveley (5 mins down the road), all organised if everyone is ok with >that... Bonus, in true Linux tradition, it's free (and there's a sauna and >pool available if anyone wants to refresh themselves)... Anyway over to you >guys. Sounds good. When can we start squabbling about what film to watch? If I bring my box will there be anyone that can look at php for me? And could any kind soul supply a BNC adaptor? Jenny.

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Debian, Slackware, hardware, BIOS and perplexity
by John Seago 29 Oct '01

29 Oct '01

As Gerald wrote in his recent post to this list, he installed Slackware, using disks borrowed from me; so I know that the disks work. I however, despite trying since Gerald sent them back, get can neither Debian 2.2 r3, or Slackware 8 to install, the problem comes when, with Slackware I reach the point where the install starts, either the CD is not being read, or it is not writing to the hard disk; and with Debian having installed the base system, when I try to install the rest of the system, again my machine will try in vain to find the CD/CD drive. I did try the Slackware experimental kernel for those having difficulty with hardware recognition, this succeeded in wiping my entire linux disk, together with my Mandrake system and its diary/calendar and address books; (why is it that the loss of one's address books causes so much distress?). Having had problems with installing Mandrake 8 my hardware was re-arranged to make the CD drive the primary slave. I thought at first that this is what had caused the problem. On sunday Chris and I tried again to install Debian and Slackware on his PC, my PC and his laptop. Slackware had the same failure on all three, Debian had the same failure on both PC's but went into his laptop. We then tried altering the hardware configuration and the BIOS (just about every permutation we could work out, over several hours), again no success. I am only left with the experimental altering of the BIOS to mirror the settings of Chris's Laptop, to try to get Debian into my PC. However that doesn't seem to get me very far with Slackware, any suggestions will be very welcome. John

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Re: [Alug] Team ALUG
by MJ Ray 29 Oct '01

29 Oct '01

Adam: > Anyhow I will change my blocks output from Slashdot (or whatever team I am > on) to Alug when (as Willaby pointed out) we know where the money goes! I thought I said: I think Paul Russell is the team "leader" -- he's still in Norwich, although doesn't seem to be on this list at the moment, but he recently moved, so that may be why. I'll ask him to update his details as soon as I find where his email address went (or someone else who knows reminds me!). MJR

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Re: [Alug] Locked directories - Sympathy
by KEV＠hartmann.dk 29 Oct '01

29 Oct '01

Adam Bower <abower@thebow To: Ricardo Campos ery.co.uk> <corez23(a)linuxmail.org> cc: <KEV(a)hartmann.dk>, 25/10/01 15:18 <main(a)lists.alug.org.uk> Subject: Re: [Alug] Locked directories - Sympathy / I did try Mandrake briefly in the past but I had a completely broken release (6.1?) which I had paid about 30quid for, I purchased it because it was supposed to be good for people new to linux but I found it was a complete waste of time/money/effort. I have found that Mandrake is easily the most buggy of distros which is why I couldn't reccommend it to newbies. It might be going in the correct direction for getting newbies involved but every single release seems to have some fairly bad bugs which trip up people who are new to the OS. / I have to agree with you, I have now seriously tried Suse 6.4 and MDK 8.0 and while Mandrake appears to do a slicker job, anyone struggling with the learning curve (like me) doesn't need to be dumped with inexplicable bugs. My next step is Suse 7.2 by the way. / > At the moment in other browser windows, I am looking at Slackware and Debian on Cheeplinux.com . If you want something done properly, do it yourself. (stop sniggering you lot- at least I'll LEARN how to do it properly) Either would be a good choice, SuSE is also quite good but can be a bit weird in its mentality (well yasts mentallity anyway). I would say go for Debian but then I am completely biased and a deb head so I would say that :-) / I already have the disks for Deb (potato)but I haven't psyched myself up for that one yet. I need a confidence gain first. When I'm ready I'll lug (pun, sorry) my kit down to a meeting and hopefully see how it should be done. Anyway, that's the future. / > >(you're right, I don't have any patience) > > My reasoning for Deb or Slackware is that the more you're hand is held along the way, the less able you are to fix it when it goes wrong. Very true, what I find alarming about Mandrake is it seems to be going the way of Windows, it seems to make broad generalisations that work for 50% of the people but cause the other 50% to have some kind non-specific sporadic software failure with it with no clues as to the cause of the problem. / Once again I agree, when I'm ready and feeling brave I'll step up to a 'real' distro and take the pain. / > >(read- I'm afraid of making myself > > look a pratt!)!!!!!!!!!!! :<)) > > I already have! :) But then I have no shame, and besides, that's the only way I learn. It makes the experts look good too! ;) Luckily there have been some people on-list who have given me some excellent pointers- not just RTFM, but "this is how to find the manual, and this is how to read it". So... thanks y'all for your patience!!! No-one on this list should ever feel a pratt or be afraid of asking questions, dumb questions are welcomed and encouraged and if anyone flames a newbie on here for asking a silly question they will be pounced on by me and feel the wrath of my Lart stick. / OK Adam, I've got to ask, what's a Lart stick? a google search only slightly informative ;<) Thanks for the reassurances by the way, I'm sure all us 'newbies' feel a little safer in our nests. Cheers Kev

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Neill Newman 29 Oct '01

29 Oct '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] Locked directories - Sympathy
by MJ Ray 28 Oct '01

28 Oct '01

> So Slack+ICEWM gets my vote (speaking as a beginner, remember). Yes, IceWM and XFCE are probably the two worth considering right now, if you don't want the full desktop of KDE or Gnome. > worrying about that, but at least I've got a Linux that works, enables > me to run Netscape, Acrobat, Xv and things and start the learning process. Mozilla or derivative, XPDF or GV, Imagemagick or zgv... support freedom ;-) > Oh, yes - and ALWAYS have MC installed. Darned useful for poking > about to see how Linux works. Isn't MC a bit long in the tooth and abandoned now? (Replacements... hrm, I can only think of GIT.) MJR

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Re: [Alug] Team ALUG
by MJ Ray 28 Oct '01

28 Oct '01

Simon Jude: > I know you are all going to hate me for saying this but does it run on > other OS's?! ;-) I would like to run it at uni here instead of seti until > the www.climateprediction.com project starts Is UEA involved in that one? Maybe ALUG should support it, if we can? MJR

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Re: Distributed Computing
by John Seago 28 Oct '01

28 Oct '01

For those who wish to run independent distributed computing projects, these two sites give some idea of what's available, together with the OS's they run on. (newbie tries to teach various Grandmothers how to suck eggs). http://www.aspenleaf.com/distributed/ http://www.mersenne.org/ There's even an article on parasitic distributed Computing! John Seago

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Re: Team Linux - what on earth are you talking about?
by David Howe 28 Oct '01

28 Oct '01

Ricardo Campos wrote: <SNIP> On a lighter note, (TFIF!), Team ALUG's doing pretty well (I think, considering we're up against SPARC machines at universities etc.) on www.distributed.net: "Anglian Linux User Group (ALUG) completed 3,239 blocks yesterday at a sustained rate of 10,063 Kkeys/second! Anglian Linux User Group (ALUG) is ranked #1,351 for yesterday! " http://stats.distributed.net/rc5-64/tmsummary.php3?team=14531 </SNIP> Now I've been to the site and looked around it and I really don't have the first idea of what you (or they) are talking about. What is RC5? Why does it need cracking? What are these "blocks"? I'd love to help with anything that this community does but I haven't got a clue what it is I'm helping with.... perhaps a little more English and a little less jargon for those of us that haven't got a degree in rocketscience would help you to gain members for your team - I'm not suprised there's only you and one other member of the team its probably as a direct result of this approach. This is the Linux USERS group and Linux can be used for a great many things - and this linux user doesn't understand 100% of all aspects of Linux in fact most of us work on a "learn it when I need to know it" basis so something that means a great deal to one person could be (and certainly in this case is) total gibberish to a great many others. If you can tell me what I'm helping with I'll help :) Kind regards, David

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Masqueraidng your browser (and other things)
by Raphael Mankin 28 Oct '01

28 Oct '01

There has been some discussion on the list at various times about systems, particularly bank systems, that *insist* that you run MS IE. I have installed a proxy that might solve your problems. It does three things: 1. It filters out banner ads, at present only doublclick.net, but let me know any other domains you would like fitlered. 2. It anonymises your request by removing the Referrer and User headers. It does not remove Cookie headers because these will probably be needed, but I can set up another one that also removes cookies if there is a demand. 3. It forces in a User-Agent header that lies and says that it is MS IE 5.0. This will solve problems at the server end, but not those in Javascript at the client end. Nor will it help if the bank software is trying to use Active X or other MS proprietary stuff on the client. You can find this proxy at proxy.webwright-uk.com port 8000. You are welcome to use it, but I give no guarantees as to fitness for any particular purpose (etc etc etc). BTW it does not cache. Please let me know what works, what does not work. When it is judged stable I will post the code. -- Playing 'bop' is like Scrabble with all the vowels missing. Duke Ellington Raphael Mankin E-Mail: raph(a)panache.demon.co.uk ----------------------------------

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Re: [Alug] Re: Locked directories - Sympathy
by MJ Ray 27 Oct '01

27 Oct '01

Gerald: > shouldn't take an hour even to get a working system. I still haven't > been able to run Deb because of kernel 2.2 failing to get on with my > system, so that leaves Redhat, Mandrake and Slack as the ones I've Anyone here with a kernel 2.4 Debian installation CD? I'm sure such things exist, but I don't have one. MJR

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Re: Locked directories - Sympathy
by Edenyard 27 Oct '01

27 Oct '01

Ricardo asked: > Midnight Commander? > Yes - that's the one. > There seems to be a consensus here- don't you think? As I see it; I would > rather have an install that took a whole weekend, and have a system that > just runs and runs, than an install that takes an hour, and has an unusa > ble system. > Yes - I agree with that, except that - as I understand it - it shouldn't take an hour even to get a working system. I still haven't been able to run Deb because of kernel 2.2 failing to get on with my system, so that leaves Redhat, Mandrake and Slack as the ones I've tried. RH and Mdk I'd put in the same box - well, bin, actually! Of course, it all depends on what you want to do with it, but I seem to have developed this affinity for Slack.... > Someday I will have a single boot Linux system as my main workstation!!!! > Yes, again! I look forward to that day - when someone's perfected DOSEMU so that all my old DOS programmes can't even tell that they're not running on a DOS machine. Gerald.

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Zeus 4 upgrade
by Martyn Drake 27 Oct '01

27 Oct '01

Hi folks, Just to mention that upon my return to the UK on the 30th October, I will be scheduling for the 2nd November an upgrade to version 4 of the Zeus web server which is currently running the main ALUG web site. This will mean a small period of downtime while the configuration of the web server is backed up, data migrated and the sites tested before the site goes live again. Regards, Martyn (in Queenstown, NZ) _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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Team ALUG
by Ricardo Campos 26 Oct '01

26 Oct '01

On a lighter note, (TFIF!), Team ALUG's doing pretty well (I think, considering we're up against SPARC machines at universities etc.) on www.distributed.net: "Anglian Linux User Group (ALUG) completed 3,239 blocks yesterday at a sustained rate of 10,063 Kkeys/second! Anglian Linux User Group (ALUG) is ranked #1,351 for yesterday! " http://stats.distributed.net/rc5-64/tmsummary.php3?team=14531 Pretty good, since there are only 2 active members (hint hint). If anyone has doubts about the dnetc client- don't! Mine's been crunching away while I do all my sys admin, and I have noticed NO change in performance- except on virus checks, but then that doesn't happen on my Linux box! Oh, and of course your CPU is always maxed out in GKrellM! :) I *am* cheating slightly, as I have a few NT4 servers and workstations doing the work as well as my linux boxes. Thank god supermount can't f**k up my modem. (pleaseohpleaseohplease don't tell me that it can!) So go on- be cool and join one of the most exclusive RC5 cracking teams.... :) Ricardo (off to work out how to set up the proxy server, as I can't get blocks quick enough!) "There are several codes, and I know several of them." -Mr. Precise. http://www.rscampos.net http://stats.distributed.net/rc5-64/psummary.php3?id=368187 -- Get your free email from www.linuxmail.org Powered by Outblaze

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Re: [Alug] Team ALUG
by Ricardo Campos 26 Oct '01

26 Oct '01

Specifically, it's trying to prove that no code is uncrackable. (Well, RC5-64) They already cracked the code that was used to encrypt credit card transactions in the US (obviously it has now been upgraded). There is also the OGR thing, what makes my head spin, but I'm sure gives some Maths professors wet dreams. There are better causes, such as Intel's cancer research one, (really nice screensaver) and the alzheimer's disease one, but for some obscure reason they've only released Win32 clients. (So some of my network runs those) Ricardo "There are several codes, and I know several of them." -Mr. Precise. http://www.rscampos.net -- Get your free email from www.linuxmail.org Powered by Outblaze

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Re: [Alug] Team ALUG
by Jenny_Hopkins＠toby-churchill.com 26 Oct '01

26 Oct '01

Ricardo Campos wrote: >On a lighter note, (TFIF!), Team ALUG's doing pretty well (I think, considering we're >up against SPARC machines at universities etc.) on www.distributed.net: >"Anglian Linux User Group (ALUG) completed 3,239 blocks yesterday at a sustained rate >of 10,063 Kkeys/second! Anglian Linux User Group (ALUG) is ranked #1,351 for yesterday! >" >http://stats.distributed.net/rc5-64/tmsummary.php3?team=14531 Their website leaves fluffy pink clouds floating around in my head where I thought I had a brain....um, what are you trying to find? Jenny.

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Re: [Alug] Locked directories - Sympathy
by Ricardo Campos 26 Oct '01

26 Oct '01

> Oh, yes - and ALWAYS have MC installed. Darned >useful for poking > about to see how Linux works. Midnight Commander? > Hope this helps someone! Please delete it if it >doesn't.... Comments are always welcome... I could have avoided this damn mess! There seems to be a consensus here- don't you think? As I see it; I would rather have an install that took a whole weekend, and have a system that just runs and runs, than an install that takes an hour, and has an unusable system. I've decided on Deb, due to the apt-get system, but I'm sure if I can get my grubby hands on one of these 20 P133's sitting next to me (unlikely), Slack will go on it. Someday I will have a single boot Linux system as my main workstation!!!! "There are several codes, and I know several of them." -Mr. Precise. http://www.rscampos.net -- Get your free email from www.linuxmail.org Powered by Outblaze

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Re: [Alug] Locked directories - Sympathy
by Ricardo Campos 26 Oct '01

26 Oct '01

> IF you are feeling really brave/foolish/masochistic (delete as appropriate), > try Linux From Scratch - Already there, mate. The files are sitting on my HD at work. I do feel foolish (one should never take oneself too seriously, eh?), but certainly not brave enough. My copy of the new release of Debian should be in the post. :) >Compiling each and every part of your own linux > system is one helluva a way to learn <g> That's why, with these experiences, I would never recommend MDK to any Newbie, or experienced user for that matter. "It's Rubbish". -- Get your free email from www.linuxmail.org Powered by Outblaze

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Re: [Alug] Locked directories - Sympathy
by Edenyard 26 Oct '01

26 Oct '01

On Thu, 25 Oct 2001 23:35:05 +0100, MJ Ray wrote: > Mozilla or derivative, XPDF or GV, Imagemagick or zgv... support freedom ;-) > Yes - I'm with you on that. Only trouble I found was that GV seems to fall over quite a bit on 'newer' .PDF files - very reminiscent of what Ghostscript 5.1 for DOS does (which is what drove me to Linux in the first place!!) My only very brief fiddle with Mozilla suggested that it looked awfully like Netscape. Is it? And better or worse, bug-wise? > > Isn't MC a bit long in the tooth and abandoned now? > I didn't know that. I just found it originally on the Slack 3.5 disk when I was starting out and feeling very lost.As a very-dyed-in-the-wool DOS Xtree Gold man, I started to feel more at home when I happened upon MC. I've just sort-of stuck with it - kindred spirits, I suppose! Of course, XTree's long in the tooth and abandoned now, too, and so am I (well, not abandoned...) so it all fits together. I did discover something called Unixtree, which was supposed to be Linux's closest resemblance to Xtree Gold, but I never got it to run. Gerald.

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RE: [Alug] OT - SMS
by PleXeR 26 Oct '01

26 Oct '01

I have been wanting to do this as well so have done some preliminary looking into it. What you need is a Nokia mobile phone probably a 5110 or 6110 as these should be cheap s/h these days. These both have built in data modems and using a simple serial convertor which can be made for about £10 or bought for between £15-£20 can be plugged into the serial port on your linux machine. There are a few programs available with the best known one being gnokii http://www.gnokii.org/ or gsmlib http://www.pxh.de/fs/gsmlib/doc/index.html Hope this is of some help. Cheers, Ben

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