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Building a .deb from files in github
by Mark Rogers 03 Oct '13

03 Oct '13

I've never built a .deb in my life, although I have a vague idea of what's required. Specifically I want to try to turn this: https://github.com/OpenMediaVault-Plugin-Developers/openmediavault-virtualb… into a .deb To my untrained eye it looks like most of the bits are probably in place but throwing it directly at dpkg-deb -b suggests otherwise. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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Re: [ALUG] music server hardware
by Martin 01 Oct '13

01 Oct '13

At the risk of teaching grandmother how to suck eggs, FLAC is a pretty cool format but is a lossless way to rip CDs so there's no loss of quality. Audiophiles tend to use this format and usually have expensive audio hardware and lots of storage space as it creates large files. If you don't have the expensive audio hardware I doubt you would be able to hear any difference in quality between FLAC and one of the lossy formats like ogg/mp3. The lossy formats create much smaller files. I would rip one track in various formats at various levels of quality then listen and compare before deciding which one is right for you. If you really want FLAC then you'll need more storage like an external USB drive. Those tiny green pcs just ooze cool and when my desktop pc gives up the ghost I will probably replace it with one of those, especially since a lot of distros now include arm versions. Cheers, Martin Sent from my Sony Xperia™ smartphone

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2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 4th October.
by Viperfang 01 Oct '13

01 Oct '13

Quick heads up about this months Norwich 2600 meeting, more info at http://www.norwich2600.co.uk

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Re: [ALUG] Intercepting data from HID (keyboard wedge barcode scanner)
by Phil Ashby 28 Sep '13

28 Sep '13

On Fri, 27 Sep 2013 12:00:01 +0100 Mark wrote: > Well I'm making progress of sorts but can't find relevant > documentation anywhere, so far at least. USB implementers forum has complete documentation for keyboards and point of sale devices (scanners) here: http://www.usb.org/developers/hidpage/ In particular look at the 'HID Usage Tables 1.12' and 'HID Point of Sale Usage Tables 1.02'. You will also want to look at the Linux input event structure in /usr/include/linux/input.h, as these are what you see being emitted from the event device node. You might need to read the raw HID events from the scanner in order to determine the correct device state (from all the additional HID reports documented in POS 1.02). more details on raw HID devices in the kernel source tree: https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git/tree/D… HTH, Phil.

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Intercepting data from HID (keyboard wedge barcode scanner)
by Peter Alcibiades 27 Sep '13

27 Sep '13

Is this any use? http://www.troz.net/rev/index.irev?category=Utility I used the barcode tester with a wedge some time back to check what exactly the barcode reader was picking up. I also used the Key coder app. I seem to remember having to frame the barcodes with * in Linux, and a different character in Windows, to have them register properly. You might need a copy of livecode to run this, which is free in the open source Community Edition now, from http://livecode.com/download/ Al

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Intercepting data from HID (keyboard wedge barcode scanner)
by Mark Rogers 27 Sep '13

27 Sep '13

I have a cheap barcode scanner that works well as a keyboard wedge - that is it appears as a keyboard and barcodes appear as though typed into the keyboard. I need to capture that data (and stop it appearing as keyboard data). In an ideal world it would appear as a TTY (serial) device instead. Is there any way I can do this or do I need a different scanner? Mark -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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West Norfolk meetings: second call
by MJ Ray 19 Sep '13

19 Sep '13

Chris Penston wrote [after my question]: > I would be happy to attend any meeting in West Norfolk. I am fairly flexible on days and times. I often feel a bit isolated up here in King's Lynn as meetups seem a long way to go and not have a beer! I've moved this to a new thread to see if anyone else is interested. Is there anyone else in West Norfolk interested in meeting up and do you have any preferences on days and/or times? I'm thinking one of the King's Lynn town centre bars on maybe the second Monday each month, but I might have overlooked some problem with that and I'm very open to venue suggestions because most places we've met before seem to have moved on. Regards, -- MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op http://koha-community.org supporter, web and library systems developer. In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html Available for hire (including development) at http://www.software.coop/

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Re: [ALUG] Thank you for the intro (+ GPG question)
by Ewan Slater 19 Sep '13

19 Sep '13

I'm in North Suffolk (Halesworth), so King's Lynn is a bit far for me. Ipswich, Norwich or even London (if work drags me that way) are pretty easy. Cheers, Ewan On 16 September 2013 17:57, David Crisp <dave(a)goldeneyes.org.uk> wrote: > On 15 Sep 2013, at 20:42, Chris Penston <chris.penston(a)gmail.com> wrote: > >> On 15 September 2013 20:30, MJ Ray <mjr(a)phonecoop.coop> wrote: >> >>> >>> I'm willing to sign keys after meeting people a few times and/or other >>> corroboration, but I seem to spend most of my time in West Norfolk, >>> Cambridgeshire or London these days. Are people interested in a >>> meeting over this side and what day of the month? >> >> I would be happy to attend any meeting in West Norfolk. I am fairly >> flexible on days and times. I often feel a bit isolated up here in King's >> Lynn as meetups seem a long way to go and not have a beer! >> > > I'm in south Suffolk, so I'm afraid King's Lynn is a bit far for me to travel on a school night unless I take the day off work -- which I don't mind doing if necessary, but if that's where it's going to be I'd rather it was during the day on a Saturday if at all possible. > > Dave. > > _______________________________________________ > 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! >

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Thank you for the intro
by Bob 19 Sep '13

19 Sep '13

Hello Mick Thanks for the contact. I was hoping to eventually meet up with 'real people' as email is brilliant for info transfer but, to me, human contact is much more preferable. I do find that my friends have confidence in what I tell them and when I say Linux is the way forward they seem to accept it. I start them off with a dual boot system making them select Windows if they really want it otherwise it's auto boot taking them straight into Mint. I have converted 4 so far and I'm expecting a few more in the near future. I take your point on the Skype problem and will just have to stay with MS for that......unless anyone knows different. Is there another video platform that I don't know about? Unable to decode/read your attachment (signature.asc) pls advise program/software for that. One other problem I have a red cross in the update manager list in the system tray advising 'could not refresh list of packages'. So presumably I'm not totally up to date. Any advice would be appreciated. If I have contravened any protocol in my response please let me know. Thanks bfn Bob -- Using Opera's mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

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Re: [ALUG] Intercepting data from HID (keyboard wedge barcode scanner)
by Phil Ashby 19 Sep '13

19 Sep '13

On Wed, 18 Sep 2013 12:00:01 +0100 Mark Rogers <mark(a)quarella.co.uk> wrote: > I have a cheap barcode scanner that works well as a keyboard wedge - > that is it appears as a keyboard and barcodes appear as though typed > into the keyboard. > > I need to capture that data (and stop it appearing as keyboard data). > In an ideal world it would appear as a TTY (serial) device instead. > > Is there any way I can do this or do I need a different scanner? You can stop the default Xorg HID input driver (evdev) from using it as a keyboard: http://askubuntu.com/questions/17603/how-to-get-xorg-to-ignore-certain-inpu… Then you need to read the key press events from the /dev/input/eventX device node and possibly translate into a virtual terminal device (pty) for the application to read. There are useful symbolic links in the /dev/input hierarchy that make it easier to find your device, and reading events is this trivial (I was debugging a weird keyboard when I wrote this code): // From kernel docs: // https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/input/input.txt #include <stdio.h> #include <fcntl.h> #include <linux/input.h> int main(int argc, char **argv) { struct input_event evt; int fd; char *dev = "/dev/input/event5"; if (argc>1) dev = argv[1]; if((fd = open(dev, O_RDONLY))<0) { perror("opening device"); return 1; } while(read(fd, &evt, sizeof(evt))==sizeof(evt)) { printf("type=%d code=%d value=%d (0x%08x)\n", evt.type, evt.code, evt.value, evt.value); } close(fd); return 0; } Sending to the chosen application may be trickier: depends if it can be persuaded to read from a network connection or named pipe (easy), or if it needs a real terminal node, in which case openpty() and friends will be needed to fool the app into thinking it's talking to a serial port. Phil.

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Touch screen support
by Mark Rogers 18 Sep '13

18 Sep '13

I have a web-based application running on a relatively low spec Ubuntu box (it was originally set up as a server install, but Gnome (I think [*]) was added with Firefox). They want to do away with keyboard and mouse so that means a touch screen. Any experience/suggestions/recommendations? Most of the interface is click only (a few elements are hover but they're not critical). There is the need to login so that'll need a pop-up keyboard of some kind, although we'd also like to look at barcode scanning support (all staff have a swipe card with barcode on it and that could bypass the keyboard-based login). I wouldn't rule out a standalone all-in-one desktop PC with touch screen acting as a client to the existing box (which goes back to being headless). Cost may be prohibitive though. [*] How do I check via SSH what desktop manager was installed? -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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How to make a 'do nothing' web page?
by Chris Green 17 Sep '13

17 Sep '13

Is it possible to provide a 'do nothing' web page so that one can set references to google.analytics.com for example to go to a page on localhost that does nothing? I've no particular hang-up about google analytics except tha it's so slow. When accessing the Screwfix site for example it spends much more time on Google analytics than it does telling me what I want to know. If I just put an entry like 127.0.0.1 google.analytics.com In my /etc/hosts file it will presumably get lots of 'page not found' errors, probably OK but I was wondering if there was a neater way. -- Chris Green

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New member
by Bob 17 Sep '13

17 Sep '13

Gentlemen & Ladies I decided to join your 'club' as over the past 10 years or so the MS attitude that they have the right etc etc. Much prefer the better and free path that is Linux. I started Linux life with PClinuxOS which was very similar to Windows and it was exciting to use. The problems came in keeping it up to date and the general maintenance aspect. (with Windows an '*.exe' almost cured all) After I found Distrowatch, this opened up a whole new world. Ubuntu was the first OS that I used in earnest, but, Unity arrived. Good bye Ubuntu! That's when I found Linux Mint 11 and I am now on Olivia. My favourite desktop is Mate. I do most of the PC maintenance for my friends and as I am now retired, I'm slowly converting them all to use Mint. I do not however, have the skills to dig into the OS and my latest project has been to try to get the scanners on the all-in-one printers to function. And of course, the dreaded Skype problem. So, if I can give anything to the group I will, but I can't help feeling it will be the other way round. My name is Bob Innes and I live Sproughton, Ipswich. Thank you for listening..er reading Best wishes -- Using Opera's mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

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Thank you for the intro (+ GPG question)
by David Crisp 16 Sep '13

16 Sep '13

On 15 Sep 2013, at 00:22, Bob <bob(a)beriwold.plus.com> wrote: > Hello Mick > ... > Unable to decode/read your attachment (signature.asc) pls > advise program/software for that. > Mick's attachment is a GPG signature used to authenticate that it really is him sending it. If you look in your distro's package manager you should find the necessary programs to decode and verify it - I dunno if there's a plugin for opera mail, but I know there is for thunderbird. BTW, question for the group in general - do we do key-signing at any point? The latest revelations re: the NSA have made me pull my finger out and generate one, but no-one else I know uses it … DC

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[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : The Mulberry Tree
by samwise 16 Sep '13

16 Sep '13

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- The monthly "Third Monday" ALUG Ipswich Social Meeting is back today, 16th September, at 20:00: The Mulberry Tree 5 Woodbridge Road IPSWICH IP4 2EA Tel: 01473 225776 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP4+2EA WWW: https://www.facebook.com/MULBERRYHOSPITALITY The Mulberry Tree, previously known as The Milestone Beer House, is a grade 2 listed building in the centre of Ipswich. It is located at the intersection between Woodbridge Road and the A1156, across the road from the old Odeon cinema and not far from the Regent Theatre. It re-opened on Thursday March 29th 2012 after a major refurbishment, under its original name of The Mulberry House and has already begun to regain a good reputation for its selection of beers and ales. It has a sizeable car park to the rear of the building. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. Cheers, Peter. ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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vortexbox
by Peter Alcibiades 15 Sep '13

15 Sep '13

Well, I was enthusiastic about this as a solution to the CD problem. Alas, enthusiasm does not survive acquaintance. I installed it on an old emachines tiny little AMD machine and it went in perfectly. The first few CDs ripped perfectly also. Then the problems start. It uses autoripper, which hangs or fails to find the metadata. The first result is that you get 'unknown' albums and tracks and artists. Fine, you can fix this. But its manual and tedious, has to be done from the command line or else from Nautilus over ssh, and in either case you seem to have to fix every track manually.. However, having done one of these or failed to, it hangs. And then it will not autorip again until you do a hardware restart. Its headless of course, so all this has to be command line, which is fine, except that lots of the interesting tools are GUI, which means putting in X11 and X11 forwarding. Then we have playing. Well, it has squeezebox server as the default. This appears to sell in hardware boxes for huge amounts, but I cannot for the life of me see why. Its open source, but why would anyone want it? Or maybe its for a completely different purpose? All I want to do is get my CDs onto a computer and listen to the music, probably over the local net but also its fine to listen to them on the device itself controlled from a tablet. So, what to do? Well, the solution seems to be what a wiser head suggested at the start of this process. Just rip your CDs manually, in fact do the whole thing manually. The other problem is the player. I am not sure if this is the emachines headphone output. But the volume is very low. It seems that the coding process automatically attenuates the sound by soe 6-8db. So its necessary to get a headphone amp (the Topping ones seem to be the choice). Or else in some unknown way fix this? A very interesting article a while ago, a guy had done his own ripping and then installed squeezebox on an old HP thin client. He used the internal usb ports to put in one flash drive for Debian and another for his music. One can see all kinds of advantages to that...... Though why he picked squeezebox is a mystery. Its not nice to be overly critical about something which enthusiasts are doing and releasing out of the goodness of their hearts, but all I can say is, this is not really working for me. Time to look for something else! Al

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using a thin client as music server?
by Peter Alcibiades 15 Sep '13

15 Sep '13

In the ongoing struggle with this, what does anyone think about using a thin client as a music server? I have seen one account from a few years back of using an HP. They have two secure usb slots apparently in the inside of the box. What the writer did was run the OS off one and use the other for storage. You can get the t5740, which is an Atom based device, for under £100, used of course. And you can also get the t5545 for around £35. That has a via Eden 1G processor and less memory and flash storage. I am thinking about the cheaper one, which should surely be fast enough for this, and why not install slitaz, which is a tiny very fast gui distro, put in X11 forwarding (dunno if its possible to do this to android but we can try), one smallish usb stick for the OS, or even use the existing flash (its a DOM). Slitaz is so tiny it will fit in 1G easily, and then buy another huge stick for the music? Which would have the great advantage of making the music iteself super portable. I think both are fanless - the 5545 definitely is. Then install one of the server packages people here have posted about. What do you all think? Its cheap and it would be an interesting project, its low power, and.... its fanless... and no hard drives to worry about. I guess its a bit like the plug computers some people use but a bit bigger physically. I guess the risk is that one might show up in the pub one of these Thursdays carrying a small black box and wearing a distressed puzzled expression having failed to make it work, and entreating someone who knows what they are doing to help! Al

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ssh over HTTP using apache, can anyone explain more fully how this works?
by Chris Green 10 Sep '13

10 Sep '13

I have been languishing behind a hotel firewall (or ISP firewall) which blocks outgoing traffic on port 22. As you can tell I have now fixed my problem by other means (I'm using port 110 for ssh) but I'd love to know, maybe for future use, how the ssh over HTTP thing is supposed to work. I found a number of sites describing the method:- http://quartz-net.co.uk/quartzwiki/index.php/SSH_proxy_via_Apache http://dag.wieers.com/howto/ssh-http-tunneling/ http://blog.m8t.in/2006/12/ssh-through-apache-proxy.html http://mark.koli.ch/2011/12/configuring-apache-to-support-ssh-through-an-ht… ... and loads more. The bit I had/have trouble getting my mind round is the proxytunnel bit that you add to ~/.ssh/config, for example from the last site above:- Host kolich.com Hostname kolich.com ProtocolKeepAlives 30 ProxyCommand /usr/bin/proxytunnel \ -p web-proxy.corp.example.com:3128 \ -r kolich.com:8443 -d %h:%p \ -H "User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Win32)" Firstly I don't *quite* understand why proxytunnel is necessary. Is it 'wrapping' the SSH stuff in an HTTP envelope to pass through apache etc.? Secondly none of the sites say where/how you find what to actually use for web-proxy.corp.example.com (in the above example). Presumably it has to be a 'local' proxy server which one *can* send to using any port but will it always exist? .... or have I got the wrong end of the stick? I do realise that I need to replace kolich.com in the above with the name of my server where I have apache running with mod_proxy. It's more of academic interest now as I said but I'd like to know for future reference. I finally sorted my problem by enabling remote HTTPS access to my router from the command line (using a web based ajaxterm service) and then remote configuring the router to open port 110 and portmap it to port 22. -- Chris Green

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F5 IP kit
by Laurie Brown 05 Sep '13

05 Sep '13

Not really a Linux thing, but there may be an ALUG member lurking here with the right experience. I have a client with some F5 kit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F5_Networks) of which 2 boxes have gone AWOL. One looks like it may be hardware, and the other looks like a config problem. They would like anyone who can to diagnose both and fix if possible. Obviously, this is a short-term job on a B2B basis, based on-site in Ipswich. I can broker that if required, but that's by no means a pre-requisite. Initial contact to me in the first instance, please. Cheers, Laurie. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- www.convergent-ict.com You manage your business. We manage your IT. ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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Only a matter of time ...
by Ted.Harding＠wlandres.net 05 Sep '13

05 Sep '13

Greetings all! I wasn't aware of the matters reported in the URL below (and indeed still harbour some reservations about how true it might all be). But, if it is true, then I suppose it was only a matter of time (and apparently that time is now long past): http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2013/8/21/ leaked-german-government-warns-key-entities-not-to-use-windo.html [all one line; also = http://tinyurl.com/ko59qmu ] And, by the way, there are a few positive paragprahs about Linux towards the end! Best wishes to all, Ted. ------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)wlandres.net> Date: 22-Aug-2013 Time: 20:59:26 This message was sent by XFMail -------------------------------------------------

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Diagnosing slow access to website
by Mark Rogers 22 Aug '13

22 Aug '13

I host a fairly basic database driven (MySQL+PHP) website for a client. It's only really used by them, and generally only from their office (single static IP). They have over the past months complained that it gets painfully slow (>10s between clicking a link and the page updating). Whenever I have tested the site is lightning fast, and that includes testing the exact steps they're taking, at the same time as they do it (while on the phone to them). They've tried multiple browsers (IE and Chrome) and so have I. The problem only seems to exist from their site, and as they're the only people using it that's a big problem. When they try to use the Internet for anything else, it's fast (or so I'm told, anyway). Any suggestions as to what might cause a localised problem like this, and how to diagnose it? They have almost zero IT skills which doesn't help at all, but I have tried running a traceroute from my server to their external IP and it hasn't shown any obvious problems. I tried a ping test to look for dropped packets but their external IP isn't responding to ping and there's no way they could change that. The server runs multiple sites, isn't heavily loaded, no other sites are reporting issues. I'm as sure as I can be that the problem is network not server related. Mark -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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Web hosting companies
by Mark Rogers 21 Aug '13

21 Aug '13

A web designer friend of mine has several (~40) websites hosted at Fasthosts who have been constantly letting him down. He is not technical, and has decided he wants out of web hosting so he can focus on the website design. Any suggestions who I should recommend? At this stage I think he's looking for someone who would deal with end users (ie the customer buys a site from him and hosting from someone else), although I would personally suggest he just looks for a reliable host who will support him when something breaks. He's currently using Plesk so someone who could migrate what he has now would be ideal in my view. My company used to do web hosting (and used to host his sites) which is why he's asking me, but it's not something I want to get back into. I would prefer to recommend someone I "know" (eg a local company with a member of staff on this list). Ie I'd rather have answers that start "we do this" than "we use xyz who does this", but I'm open to all. Mark -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : The Mulberry Tree
by samwise 19 Aug '13

19 Aug '13

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- The monthly "Third Monday" ALUG Ipswich Social Meeting is back today, 19th August, at 20:00: The Mulberry Tree 5 Woodbridge Road IPSWICH IP4 2EA Tel: 01473 225776 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP4+2EA WWW: https://www.facebook.com/MULBERRYHOSPITALITY The Mulberry Tree, previously known as The Milestone Beer House, is a grade 2 listed building in the centre of Ipswich. It is located at the intersection between Woodbridge Road and the A1156, across the road from the old Odeon cinema and not far from the Regent Theatre. It re-opened on Thursday March 29th 2012 after a major refurbishment, under its original name of The Mulberry House and has already begun to regain a good reputation for its selection of beers and ales. It has a sizeable car park to the rear of the building. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. Cheers, Peter. ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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Monitoring/supervision tools
by Laurie Brown 17 Aug '13

17 Aug '13

Hi folks, We've been using monit (latest version) for a while to provide simple process monitoring, with email alerts, and auto re-start capabilities. However, it appears to be more and more unreliable, and has reached the point where it actually isn't fit for purpose. Specifically, on some email filter servers, I have regular clamd failures, and it is neither detecting them, nor re-starting them, whereas it used to. I've used nagios, but for this simple task, unless it's changed a lot since I last played with it, and become a lot easier to configure, it's a total over-kill. We run gentoo servers, and don't want to mess with the core system, startup mechanisms and task management stuff. Does anyone have any suggestions for a simple tool similar to monit? Cheers, Laurie. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Laurie Brown laurie(a)brownowl.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: [ALUG] Diagnosing slow access to website
by Ewan Slater 12 Aug '13

12 Aug '13

Hi Mark, A some years ago I came across an issue with a customer who was having a problem accessing an internally hosted web application from only one of multiple office locations. The problem turned out to be that the packet size being used from / to that location was too big, so that might be something else to look at. HTH, Ewan On 8 August 2013 12:00, <main-request(a)lists.alug.org.uk> wrote: > Send main mailing list submissions to > main(a)lists.alug.org.uk > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/main > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > main-request(a)lists.alug.org.uk > > You can reach the person managing the list at > main-owner(a)lists.alug.org.uk > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of main digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Diagnosing slow access to website (Mark Rogers) > 2. Re: Diagnosing slow access to website (Adam Bower) > 3. Re: Diagnosing slow access to website (billynkid(a)gmail.com) > 4. Re: Diagnosing slow access to website (Mark Rogers) > 5. Re: Diagnosing slow access to website (Mark Rogers) > 6. Re: Diagnosing slow access to website (Mark Rogers) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2013 13:12:33 +0100 > From: Mark Rogers <mark(a)quarella.co.uk> > To: alug-main <main(a)lists.alug.org.uk> > Subject: [ALUG] Diagnosing slow access to website > Message-ID: > <CADK3ZeG8cy8KjETmgfNHOHvp=ZigK3Ssc-KJ+oV3zgCF5CVBDA(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > I host a fairly basic database driven (MySQL+PHP) website for a > client. It's only really used by them, and generally only from their > office (single static IP). > > They have over the past months complained that it gets painfully slow > (>10s between clicking a link and the page updating). Whenever I have > tested the site is lightning fast, and that includes testing the exact > steps they're taking, at the same time as they do it (while on the > phone to them). They've tried multiple browsers (IE and Chrome) and so > have I. The problem only seems to exist from their site, and as > they're the only people using it that's a big problem. > > When they try to use the Internet for anything else, it's fast (or so > I'm told, anyway). > > Any suggestions as to what might cause a localised problem like this, > and how to diagnose it? They have almost zero IT skills which doesn't > help at all, but I have tried running a traceroute from my server to > their external IP and it hasn't shown any obvious problems. I tried a > ping test to look for dropped packets but their external IP isn't > responding to ping and there's no way they could change that. > > The server runs multiple sites, isn't heavily loaded, no other sites > are reporting issues. I'm as sure as I can be that the problem is > network not server related. > > Mark > > -- > Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 > Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2013 14:11:41 +0100 > From: Adam Bower <adam(a)thebowery.co.uk> > To: main(a)lists.alug.org.uk > Subject: Re: [ALUG] Diagnosing slow access to website > Message-ID: <20130807131141.GE9198@electron> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > On Wed, Aug 07, 2013 at 01:12:33PM +0100, Mark Rogers wrote: >> >> Any suggestions as to what might cause a localised problem like this, >> and how to diagnose it? They have almost zero IT skills which doesn't >> help at all, but I have tried running a traceroute from my server to >> their external IP and it hasn't shown any obvious problems. I tried a >> ping test to look for dropped packets but their external IP isn't >> responding to ping and there's no way they could change that. > > Ask them for a remote login to some desktop sharing app on their > computer and ask them to demo the problem to you? Once you have that > you can look at what's going on with the server and the client and > see if a problem exists. Depending on what you turn up from there you > can use that information as the basis for what diagnosis you do going > forwards? > > Adam > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2013 16:24:18 +0100 > From: "billynkid(a)gmail.com" <billynkid(a)gmail.com> > To: main(a)lists.alug.org.uk > Subject: Re: [ALUG] Diagnosing slow access to website > Message-ID: > <CADz3n9S4Uu-VevpGaDbm7do32-7byNdUjvXadgdJFaEc6puAng(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > Try Speedtest.net to multiple servers. > > On 7 August 2013 14:11, Adam Bower <adam(a)thebowery.co.uk> wrote: >> On Wed, Aug 07, 2013 at 01:12:33PM +0100, Mark Rogers wrote: >>> >>> Any suggestions as to what might cause a localised problem like this, >>> and how to diagnose it? They have almost zero IT skills which doesn't >>> help at all, but I have tried running a traceroute from my server to >>> their external IP and it hasn't shown any obvious problems. I tried a >>> ping test to look for dropped packets but their external IP isn't >>> responding to ping and there's no way they could change that. >> >> Ask them for a remote login to some desktop sharing app on their >> computer and ask them to demo the problem to you? Once you have that >> you can look at what's going on with the server and the client and >> see if a problem exists. Depending on what you turn up from there you >> can use that information as the basis for what diagnosis you do going >> forwards? >> >> Adam >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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! > > > > -- > Simon Vass > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 4 > Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2013 17:12:01 +0100 > From: Mark Rogers <mark(a)quarella.co.uk> > To: alug-main <main(a)lists.alug.org.uk> > Subject: Re: [ALUG] Diagnosing slow access to website > Message-ID: > <CADK3ZeHTbas-FQmYOvpJsLk26EmTG75uk-m3Qb1qbQd6wYkusw(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > On 7 August 2013 13:28, Nick Heppleston <nick(a)modhul.com> wrote: >> 1. Is it only one PC/Laptop/Device within the client's network that is >> experiencing this issue? Does it work 'ok' from other devices within the >> same network? > > No, it's all PCs on their network. Typically there'll be anywhere > between 1 and 6 users, and they all struggle at the same time (and > they struggle more often than they don't) [*]. > >> 2. Are there DNS issues resolving the server IP address (which isn't a >> problem with other sites) > > I don't think so: having accessed the site most browsers don't > constantly look up DNS anyway do they? Ie it might impact first access > but now have any effect after that? > >> 3. Does connecting a 'slow' device to a physical ethernet cable (if this is >> possible) resolve the issue (or at least point to the Wireless Access Point >> being the issue)? > > As far as I know they're all desktops with cabled connections, but I'll check. > >> 4. Is it possible to test one of the slow devices outside of the network >> (e.g. over a WiFi dongle) to see whether it is the network or device? > > I don't think so, at least not if they're desktops. Might be easier to > see if someone has a laptop that works fine at home and get them to > bring it in though. > > Thanks for the suggestions. > > Mark > > [*] Based on user reports, that is. > > -- > Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 > Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 5 > Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2013 17:14:56 +0100 > From: Mark Rogers <mark(a)quarella.co.uk> > To: alug-main <main(a)lists.alug.org.uk> > Subject: Re: [ALUG] Diagnosing slow access to website > Message-ID: > <CADK3ZeGkYEfQwCu2sTK93M8AvEJEMV5zcbKBJJkH=C3phh7iSQ(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > On 7 August 2013 14:11, Adam Bower <adam(a)thebowery.co.uk> wrote: >> Ask them for a remote login to some desktop sharing app on their >> computer and ask them to demo the problem to you? Once you have that >> you can look at what's going on with the server and the client and >> see if a problem exists. Depending on what you turn up from there you >> can use that information as the basis for what diagnosis you do going >> forwards? > > Good idea, I'll check this out. Of-course if the network is a problem > it might be hard to determine whether slowness is down to the remote > access but it should still yield come clues. Assuming they have XP or > higher I believe there's some kind of remote support tool built in > isn't there? (Wasn't really wanting to get into Windows support, > thought I'd escaped that years ago!) > > At least I should be able to do some ping tests to check for packet > loss if I have access to one of their PCs. > > -- > Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 > Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 6 > Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2013 17:15:45 +0100 > From: Mark Rogers <mark(a)quarella.co.uk> > To: alug-main <main(a)lists.alug.org.uk> > Subject: Re: [ALUG] Diagnosing slow access to website > Message-ID: > <CADK3ZeHsv0fQvHnruuqE+nCk-qx8Tbx+9-jacPVSVf-QDy492g(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > On 7 August 2013 16:24, billynkid(a)gmail.com <billynkid(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> Try Speedtest.net to multiple servers. > > Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try this too if I get remote access > (or get them to do it otherwise). > > Mark > > -- > Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 > Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG > > > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > main(a)lists.alug.org.uk > http://www.anglian.lug.org.uk/ > http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/main > > > ------------------------------ > > End of main Digest, Vol 98, Issue 4 > ***********************************

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