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Two network switches free to a good home
by Srdjan Todorovic 15 Feb '13

15 Feb '13

Hi all, I've got 2 network switches free to a good home. They are untested (fans spin and LEDs light up, but not tested network ports), but I have no reason to suspect they are duff. They are: 1. CentreCOM FS716 16-port 10/100 mbps switch. 2. Netgear FS518T 18-port switch. 10/100 mbps for ports 1-16 (I think) and 1 Gbps for ports 17 and 18. Both do not have the auto mdix thingy so you will need correct patch ethernet cables (port 16 has the ToPC / ToHub toggle button on both switches). Both are powered using mains kettle cable (not supplied). Both have fans (the Netgear is a fair bit louder). Both are about the same size, just bigger than A4 paper I'd think, and metal cased, about 1U high. Google the dimensions if you want. I can bring them both in to this week's ALUG meet in Norwich. If anyone wants them, let me know so I can stick them in the car for the meet. Regards, Srdjan

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Web site archiving
by Bev Nicolson 14 Feb '13

14 Feb '13

I could use Scrapbook to save web pages but is there something I can use to save multiple pages or entire sites? It's just for personal use. Any ideas? Bev.

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CAD "lite" for DIY projects
by Mark Rogers 14 Feb '13

14 Feb '13

I'm looking for a simple CAD tool for basic DIY projects. The project I have in mind at the moment is a wall-to-wall bookshelf comprised of 40x35cm "boxes", made from 18mm MDF, laid out like bricks (ie each row offset 50% against the ones below/above it). I want to get a feel for what it will look like, and want to be able to change things like the MDF sheet widths (eg what would it look like if the higher rows were made from 12mm MDF instead), box colours, etc. 3D would be great but non-essential. I got some way mocking something up in Inkscape but it's not really the right tool for the job. -- 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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RAID advice
by Chris Walker 12 Feb '13

12 Feb '13

Hopefully somebody can give me some advice. I have an Edimax NS2502 NAS device with 2 x 1TB drives in it arranged as RAID 1. When I first had it, I started to fill it up and then wanted to check that everything was working ok so removed one drive and saw that everything was still showing. I then removed the first disc and refitted the second and saw that everything was still there. Satisfied that it was all working, I have left it running ever since with the 2 drives. But ever since my experiment, the drive lights on the front have continued to flash as though they're being accessed. Worried that I might have screwed something up, I looked at the options and found one called 'Fix RAID'. That is there apparently for use if one drive fails. Should I use this to make sure that everything is 'synced' across both the drives in my box? I've tried googling this for advice but all I've found is the acknowledgement that the option is there but nothing on whether it should be used or not. Any help appreciated.

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 14th February
by Viperfang 12 Feb '13

12 Feb '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 ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 14th February at The Coach and Horses (82 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1BA). The meeting officially starts at 8pm, although some people may arrive earlier. More information on those people can be found on the list and the IRC channel. If you are unsure if you will recognise us then make yourself and your intent to attend known by either posting on list or visiting us on IRC so we can look out for you rather than hiding in the corner. Optionally you could ask at the bar if they know where the geeky computer weirdos are and they'll point you in the right direction (seriously!). Another possibility is look for heaps of electronics on a table that may possibly look like movie props that would used for detonating explosives. Feel free to bring electronics/laptops/gadgets to the meet, you will by no means be alone. Ben Bewick aka Viperfang NB: This mail is automated, please refer to the usual sources for more information. ALUG Contact Details: Website : http://www.alug.org.uk/ IRC : #alug on irc.alug.org.uk List : http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo Twitter : http://twitter.com/anglianlug Identica: TBA Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2381613902 ----- 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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Re: [ALUG] External hard drive (temporarily) kills PC?
by Peter Alcibiades 08 Feb '13

08 Feb '13

Have you tried using another usb lead? Could it be that there is something dodgy about the connectors which when the plug is inserted with power on screws everything up, but once the plug is seated, will work ok, at least for the time being? Presumably it does not happen with other external drives, which would rule out some malfunction with the socket. Or one could try with different sockets to make absolutely sure. I can't think of any other explanation. It can't be the drive itself or it would happen regardless of when power comes on. If it happens with other leads, I would return it (though I can't think of how the drive itself could be defective in a way to cause this). I would also try it first with another computer and see if it does it to every one. Have you done that? Very strange. Al

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External hard drive (temporarily) kills PC?
by Srdjan Todorovic 07 Feb '13

07 Feb '13

Hi all, I just got my brand new Western Digital Elements external hard drive today, and it seems to like killing my PC. I plugged in the power from the supplied power brick, hooked up the USB and BOOM!, usb keyboard and mouse die, as does X, as does whatever music I was playing. I have to press the reset button on the PC. It keeps doing that if the external hard drive is powered up and you are connecting. I've booted up now with the USB connected and then plugging in the power, and seems fine. Can anyone please suggest what's wrong and how to fix it? Thanks, Srdjan

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Re: [ALUG] two weeks or so, and it dies again!
by Peter Alcibiades 06 Feb '13

06 Feb '13

On Tuesday 05 February 2013 08:18:20 nev young wrote: > On 04/02/13 08:05, Peter Alcibiades wrote: > > Can you think of anything else to try? > > > I did have something similar a few years back and it turned out to be > the northbridge* chip overheating. > There was no sensor for that chip but just looking at the board I could > see some discolouration round there and on the reverse of the main board. > > I fitted a small fan to keep it cool and it's been fine ever since > though a little nosier. > > > * or is it southbridge. > Any how it's a chip on the main board with a heat sink stuck to it. > > Nev > > > > Thanks for this, yes,it does seem like a plausible explanation - and I've found a few northbridge coolers on Amazon, including a flower passive one from Zalman, quite well rated, and a wonderful heatpipe one with a fan in it. Quite large, have to check if it will fit. Quiet PC carries this as their sole northbridge cooler. Apparently soutbridge is not a problem as its heat output is very low. So thanks, will have a go. Al

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Re: [ALUG] two weeks or so, and it dies again!
by Peter Alcibiades 06 Feb '13

06 Feb '13

On Wednesday 06 February 2013 09:39:23 you wrote: > On Tuesday 05 February 2013 08:18:20 nev young wrote: > > On 04/02/13 08:05, Peter Alcibiades wrote: > > > Can you think of anything else to try? > > > > > I did have something similar a few years back and it turned out to be > > the northbridge* chip overheating. > > There was no sensor for that chip but just looking at the board I could > > see some discolouration round there and on the reverse of the main board. > > > > I fitted a small fan to keep it cool and it's been fine ever since > > though a little nosier. > > > > > > * or is it southbridge. > > Any how it's a chip on the main board with a heat sink stuck to it. > > > > Nev > > > > > > > > > Thanks for this, yes,it does seem like a plausible explanation - and I've found a few northbridge coolers on Amazon, including a flower passive one from Zalman, quite well rated, and a wonderful heatpipe one with a fan in it. Quite large, have to check if it will fit. Quiet PC carries this as their sole northbridge cooler. > > Apparently soutbridge is not a problem as its heat output is very low. > > So thanks, will have a go. > > Al >

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two weeks or so, and it dies again!
by Peter Alcibiades 05 Feb '13

05 Feb '13

This is weird and part of the ongoing power-down problem. It goes two weeks continuously. Then this morning as I send an email, down it goes. On-off switch has no effect. Change the leads, still no effect. Leave it for a half hour, come back and it starts perfectly. This has to be some sort of heat reset, doesn't it? But the thing I cannot understand is why it should just suddenly happen. gkrell shows cpu temps of 35. The bios at startup showed a bit over 40. I did have a resistor from quiet pc to slow down main fan speed, which has been fine for a couple of years now, but on the offchance I removed that. However, given the latest crash it cannot really be that. Looks like there is an i5 in the future of this case, which is a pain and not cheap either - by the time we get new board, new processor, and a proper shuriken cooler.... Can you think of anything else to try? Al

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Anyone using Pluma?
by Anthony Anson 02 Feb '13

02 Feb '13

Decided to speelchuck a Pluma plain text document and it kept highlighting words like didn't, couldn't, wouldn't and so-on, even though the word was listed in the replacement choices, so I told it to 'replace' out of sheer devilment (possibly). So, it replaced didn't with didn't't and couldn't with couldn't't and wouldn't with wouldn't't. Is this a 'feature' of Pluma, or has my installation got its knickers in a twist? I might just remove Pluma and substitute Gedit... -- Tony

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Collecting SNMP traps and processing them
by Mark Rogers 01 Feb '13

01 Feb '13

Any SNMP experts here? I need to collect SNMP traps, process them (basic string manipulation stuff), append them to a log file and periodically upload that log file to an FTP server. I've never done any work with SNMP on Linux but this seems like it should be trivial. Net-SNMP/snmptrapd looks like a good starting point but I'd appreciate comment from anyone who's used it (or done something similar a different way). (From experience, messages will be received in bursts and I therefore need to be able to batch them up before sending via FTP. The goal will be to have data uploaded via FTP every minute (if there's something to report). I'm looking to replace a Windows system which is massively more complicated than I think it needs to be.) -- 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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Centos - anyone use it?
by James Freer 31 Jan '13

31 Jan '13

Just out of interest i was wondering if many folk on here use Centos. I've decided now to stop using *buntu after 5 years. I've had a few gripes with *buntu in the past and two bugs in xubuntu i found in (im)Precise - time for a change. Besides that i've been wondering why some packages are being left out - apparently dpkg have changed their description fields and if the author doesn't amend they are left out. *buntu seem to be going on a downhill slide in lots of areas and before unity. james

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Bit off topic
by Anthony Anson 31 Jan '13

31 Jan '13

I have several chargers with different rates of delivery: has anyone any idea where I should start looking for data relating to recharging NiCad and Nion batteries? Like: Output of charger Time to charge per mA capacity of each type of battery Or a way to calculate time, allowing for (expected) losses in the process. No, I'mnot being (very) lazy. On this GPRS connection a thorough websearch is time-consuming, and, at £15 per Gig. expensive. -- Tony

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Thunderguts
by Anthony Anson 31 Jan '13

31 Jan '13

Not sure if my reply to Chris Walker was sent - tried twice. Thunderwotsit wouldn't send to the 'Sent' folder, and the message remained on screen. May be due to the Vogonfone connection, which may be dropping out. -- Tony

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2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 1st February.
by Viperfang 29 Jan '13

29 Jan '13

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

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Re: [ALUG] Testing 5V USB supplies for RPi usage
by Phil Ashby 28 Jan '13

28 Jan '13

On 28/01/13 12:00, Mark Rogers <mark(a)quarella.co.uk> wrote: > On 27 January 2013 01:04, Anthony Anson <tony.anson(a)girolle.co.uk> wrote: >> Have a look at www.maplin.co.uk/ and see if (offers) N66JU; A92JH; A83LA >> float your boat. > > Just to make it clear (because I don't think I did from the outset), > it's not that I'm having a problem sourcing supplies that will keep > the RPi going - I have some that do and some that don't, it's that the > current method of testing (plug it in and see whether it crashes) is a > bit inexact, and the correct method (read the label to see what > current it's rated at) isn't working because the labels can't be > trusted on some of them. > > Also, there's the option of complaining and getting a refund on ones > that are no good, and having a measurement to back me up always helps. > And finally, perhaps more importantly for me, its the opportunity to > learn how to get the measurement. Sounds like a job for a dummy load and a voltmeter? Unless the crash isn't down to sustained low voltage but surge capability, dunno if the Pi has a current surge rating. There is a nice write up here: http://elinux.org/RPi_Hardware#How_Can_I_tell_if_the_power_supply_is_inadeq… Phil.

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Testing 5V USB supplies for RPi usage
by Mark Rogers 28 Jan '13

28 Jan '13

I have several 5V USB supplies, which if the labels on them are to be believed will supply anything from 1 to 2.5A, although I have serious doubts that I can believe the labels. Based on how sowly they charge my phone I think some that are labelled 2.5A are more like 200mA... They're from various sources, which include the likes of eBay. Some will power my RPi, but only if I don't try to plug in a USB device as well. Assuming very little in the way of electrical knowledge (which I guess is obvious as I don't know the answer to my question), what's the "best" way to see what current a power supply can deliver? I have a multimeter, and could doubtless obtain some resisters (or other components) if I need to. I also have a shiny new temperature controlled soldering iron that's never been used if that helps :-) -- 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] Colour Laserjet printer problem
by Barry Samuels 28 Jan '13

28 Jan '13

On 25/01/13 22:13:44, Jenny Hopkins wrote: > On 25 January 2013 16:33, Barry Samuels > <bjsamuels(a)beenthere-donethat.org.uk> wrote: > > I have an HP Colour LaserJet 4500 and recently it displayed a message > > to the effect that the black (K) toner was low. I have configuration > > set to continue until toner runs out but before that happened it > > started to show grey bands vertically down the page. < snip> > I changed my HP printer black cartridge the other day and it still > only printed grey faded stuff, so I used "sudo hp-clean" provided by > hplip package, ran clean twice from the gui that popped up, and all > was well (debian 6). > > Jenny I think that that is applicable only to inkjet printers and mine is a laser but thank you for trying. -- Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

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udev and hdparm
by Barry Samuels 28 Jan '13

28 Jan '13

I have two sata backup drives which I use for daily rsync backups. As the drive is running for a relatively short time during the night I don't want it rotating for the rest of the time. hdparm -S 12 /dev/sdb will set the spindown to 1 minute after the last use and that works from the command line. However I would like the command to be automatically given when the drive is inserted and reading on the Internet suggests using UDEV. I've put this in a .rules file: # Set spindown time for backup drive when inserted. KERNEL=="sdb", RUN+="/sbin/hdparm -S 12 /dev/sdb" But that doesn't work i.e. nothing happens. When I first tried I put only one = after KERNEL and UDEV complained so I know it is being 'seen' and the drive is always 'sdb'. Should it work? -- Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

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Colour Laserjet printer problem
by Barry Samuels 25 Jan '13

25 Jan '13

I have an HP Colour LaserJet 4500 and recently it displayed a message to the effect that the black (K) toner was low. I have configuration set to continue until toner runs out but before that happened it started to show grey bands vertically down the page. I decided to change the toner in the hope that it might cure the problem but it didn't. I can see rings of toner around the imaging drum if I take it out. It does seem to be picking up surplus toner but I've no idea where from. At present I have: Transfer Kit showing 96% life left Fuser Kit showing 91% life left Drum Kit 68% lif left Any suggestions would be appreciated. If you suggest cleaning something would you please explain where to find it because I probably won't know. -- Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

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MySQL select into
by Mark Rogers 22 Jan '13

22 Jan '13

Any MySQL gurus here? I have a table: `item_uid` INT (Primary key) `cat_uid` INT <several other fields> What I want to do is take all records where cat_uid=10, and insert them back into the table with cat_uid=11 (in other words duplicating "category 10" as "category 11". What I had was: CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE tmp SELECT * FROM myTable WHERE cat_uid=10; UPDATE tmp SET cat_uid=11; INSERT INTO myTable SELECT * FROM tmp; This used to work when I didn't have the primary key `uid`, but now this just attempts to insert duplicates for the uid field and fails. The following works instead: CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE tmp SELECT * FROM myTable WHERE cat_uid=10; ALTER TABLE tmp CHANGE uid uid INT(11) NULL DEFAULT NULL; UPDATE tmp SET uid=NULL, cat_uid=11; INSERT INTO myTable SELECT * FROM tmp; In other words, alter the tmp table structure to allow the uid field to be NULL, and as part of my update set all the uid's to NULL, so that the final insert tries to insert NULL for uid which causes MySQL to insert the next auto-increment value instead. But this seems very convoluted, is there a "correct" (or just "better") way? -- 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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Summat up with Mint - or Mozilla
by Anthony Anson 21 Jan '13

21 Jan '13

Using the most recent Thunderbird, ditto Firefox, the system freezes frequently when I have T/bird and F/fox running at the same time. F'rinstance today, I left T/bird running while I went to the BBC website. There I filled in an online comment and then tried to close Firefox, which declined to play nicely, and none of the usual rollover dialogue boxes on Mint functions worked - connection speed, state of battery etc just sat there glumly ignoring the mouse pointer. File and Quit on the function bar closed Firefox, but nothing would shift Thunderbird. Three-fingered salute deleted the last two e-mailsin my inbox... Had to power-down to regain control, but the e-mails seem to have vanished entirely. (Not in trash, nor in any other folder.) Anyone any bright ideas? (Apart from not running Firefox and Thunderbird at the same time...) -- Tony

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?Ubuntu 12.10 Boot Issues
by steve-ALUG＠hst.me.uk 21 Jan '13

21 Jan '13

Hi all, I was on an old version of Ubuntu, started getting messages about it not being supported any more and so decided to update. I decided to install the lubuntu-desktop package, then do updates until I was up-to-date. So now, I'm up to Lubuntu 12.10. When I booted it, it hang big-time before getting into the GUI. I Hard-booted and selected a different kernel, and it booted fine. After experimentation it seems that booting into the kernel described as "Ubuntu 12.10, kernel 3.5.0-10-generic" causes the machine to hang before getting into the GUI. I've just tried making LUbuntu and XUbuntu 12.10 CDs and booting from them, but both of them hang, I presume when trying to load the Kernel. Trying to boot via the "kernel 3.5.0-10-generic recovery mode" boot menu option also hangs. I've not had a problem like this before. Does anyone have any advice on diagnosing what's causing this hang? Any logs to examine would have to survive a hard-reboot, or are there any debug options I can put on the grub boot line. Or am I doomed, or have to wait for a new kernel to come out, or keep using the old one. Any advice or comments would be appreciated. I haven't googled much as I don't quite know what to search for (you may tell me I'm a numpty for this!) Hardware is a Dell Lattitude D410. Cheers Steve

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[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : The Mulberry Tree
by samwise 21 Jan '13

21 Jan '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 tonight, 21st January, 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. I'm back home and will be out to play today, if anyone wants to join me. :) 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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