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cisco router
by mick 01 Oct '11

01 Oct '11

Hi Guys Clearing my cupboard again I have an old Cisco SOHO 97 (837 equivalent) ADSL router going spare (free to a good home). Could be useful to sopmeone who wants to be able to play with cisco IOS (trust me, you wouldn't want to use the web interface, it's crap). Mick --------------------------------------------------------------------- The text file for RFC 854 contains exactly 854 lines. Do you think there is any cosmic significance in this? Douglas E Comer - Internetworking with TCP/IP Volume 1 http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc854.txt ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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Need some router/WiFi/routing help and advice
by Chris G 26 Sep '11

26 Sep '11

I need to 'rearrange' the internet connection on our boat. We used to have a connection via a 3G router with a Mobistar (Belgian) SIM in it and everything on the boat (two PCs, printer, VOIP base station) just plugged into the router. It was flakey at times because we didn't have a good signal, but it worked. However we are now permanently in France and our long term mooring has WiFi available (whoopee!) This rather spoils my nice simple setup and I need some advice to work out how to rejig things. The trouble is that neither the printer nor the VOIP base station can do WiFi so I need to have a switch at least to interconnect things. However even that isn't straightforward (at least not to me!). What's needed is:- Local (i.e. LAN) connection between PCs and printer, can be provided by a switch or router but needs to be routed correctly so PCs use the WiFi for everythng except the printer. At present I have to disconnect WiFi and connect wired LAN to print and then vice versa to use the internet. I need to connect the VOIP base station (wired ethernet only) to the WiFi somehow so we can use the phone. The ideal solution would be if I can persuade the 3G router (which does have wireless) to connect to the WiFi here and then provide hard wired services to PCs, printer and VOIP. Is this a normal sort of thing to be able to do? The router does have something about WiFi relay in 'Lazy', 'Bridged' and another mode, should I be looking at these? -- Chris Green

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usb to parallel printer converter
by Peter Alcibiades 24 Sep '11

24 Sep '11

Does anyone have any idea for this? I have a star receipt printer with a parallel interface and no linux drivers. So I am printing to it using lp and just sending raw text to the device itself. The command in question, which works just fine, is: lp -d star temprint.txt In the same way, I send the hex characters to make it cut the receipt and also to open the cash drawer. I say it works fine, it has one slight issue which we can live with, that being that if the printer goes offline, all the print requests queue up and print out in a batch when it comes back. However this being an industrial strength receipt printer, its something we can live with, it hardly ever happens. Leaving that aside.... I set up the printer in CUPS with the name of star, and addressed as parallel:/dev/lp0 Now comes the problem. Parellel interfaces having gone the way of the dodo, the new computer I'm seeking to use only has a usb port. So I got a usb to parallel converter cable. I have played with this by stopping cups, then editing the /etc/cups/printers.conf file. I can't get it to work. Supposedly from the gentoo wiki, which is usually very helpful, you should address it as parallel:/dev/usb/lp0 On the grounds that linux still thinks its dealing with a parallel port. Makes no sense to me, but I tried it, and no luck. The cable itself is recognised and visible if you do lsusb. Also, I know it works fine as cable because I can connect another printer with a parallel port for which I do have drivers, and successfully print a test page on it over that cable. I must be doing something obvious wrong, but what? How do you address the usb port directly and just send it a stream of text, as in my present setup? Is there a way? Peter

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Restarting Firefox from the commandline
by Mark Rogers 23 Sep '11

23 Sep '11

I have an Ubuntu box which I can access remotely via SSH. It is primarily a server but has a GUI with Firefox running on it for people on site to access the web interface that the server provides. Firefox, being Firefox, sucks up memory the longer it's running. So I'd like a way to force it to restart via my SSH connection, and assuming I'm happy with the results probably via a cron-job every night. I can obviously "kill" it, but I'm not sure how I then restart it given that I'm not running from within the GUI environment myself; also, I don't want it to start up offering to restore tabs from a crashed session, I just want it to go to it's configured home page. Suggestions? -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

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Partitioning Laptop
by Richard Parsons 20 Sep '11

20 Sep '11

Hi, I've recently bought a Compaq laptop. It currently has Windows 7 installed and I want to dual boot with Ubuntu. Unfortunately, Compaq have already partitioned the hard disk into four partitions. The largest partition, which is 480GB is the second. If I begin the installer, and resize the second partition to create free space, then I'm told that it is "unuseable". I believe that the extra partitions are for recovery etc. So what can I do? Is there a way of getting Ubuntu installed without disturbing the contents of the partitions already setup? Thanks in advance Richard

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[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : McGintys, Northgate Street
by samwise 16 Sep '11

16 Sep '11

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 next week, Monday 19th September, at 20:00: P J McGinty & Sons 15 Northgate Street Ipswich Suffolk IP1 3BY Tel: 01473 251 515 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP1+3BY WWW: http://www.pjmcgintys.co.uk/ McGintys pub is in the centre of Ipswich. It's directly opposite the town's central library and has a reputation for good Irish beer. We're usually to be found in the lowest section of the bar, near the library entrance to the pub. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. I'll be there, so if any one new wants to drop in, look for the guy in the corner with the latest copy of LXF ... ;) 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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Running CUPS as normal user
by Dan 16 Sep '11

16 Sep '11

Dear All, On my Gentoo system, /usr/sbin/cupsd has permissions -r-x------ i.e. it can't be run (nor even read) as a normal user. Does anyone know why, please? Is it safe just to chmod the file then run it as a normal user? (Background: my new printer, an Epson SX525WD, needs proprietary drivers - and I like to run proprietary software only as a special, low-privileged user.) Thanks -- Regards, Dan

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GIMP frustration
by Bev Nicolson 09 Sep '11

09 Sep '11

I half expect someone to say how easy this is but I'm trying to join three photos together to form one jpg file. Easy to do in OO. In GIMP, I have no idea and the tutorial page doesn't seem to say anything on the topic. Help. Bev.

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Re: [ALUG] main Digest, Vol 75, Issue 8
by Bradley Simpson 07 Sep '11

07 Sep '11

Just Delete a Partion. Hello this is the first time i have ever replyed so i am sorry iff i am a bit crap. I had the same problem with a HP i have got so i figured out which partion was useless and deleted it using GParted and the resized the HD with GPated again pretty simple, Hope that helps. On 7 September 2011 15:26, <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. Partitioning Laptop (Richard Parsons) > 2. Re: Partitioning Laptop (Tim Green) > 3. Re: Partitioning Laptop (steve-ALUG(a)hst.me.uk) > 4. Re: Partitioning Laptop (Brett Parker) > 5. Re: Partitioning Laptop (Richard Parsons) > 6. Re: Partitioning Laptop (samwise) > 7. Re: Partitioning Laptop (Richard Parsons) > 8. Re: Partitioning Laptop (Stuart Bailey) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2011 13:16:36 +0100 > From: Richard Parsons <richard.lee.parsons(a)gmail.com> > To: main(a)lists.alug.org.uk > Subject: [ALUG] Partitioning Laptop > Message-ID: <20110907121636.GA7728(a)myfreesolicitor.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > Hi, I've recently bought a Compaq laptop. It currently has Windows 7 > installed and I want to dual boot with Ubuntu. > > Unfortunately, Compaq have already partitioned the hard disk into four > partitions. The largest partition, which is 480GB is the second. If I > begin the installer, and resize the second partition to create free space, > then I'm told that it is "unuseable". I believe that the extra partitions > are for recovery etc. > > So what can I do? Is there a way of getting Ubuntu installed without > disturbing the contents of the partitions already setup? > > Thanks in advance > Richard > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2011 14:05:28 +0100 > From: Tim Green <timothy.j.green(a)gmail.com> > To: main(a)lists.alug.org.uk > Subject: Re: [ALUG] Partitioning Laptop > Message-ID: > <CAE-w7J+rNTsE+pe1WNRxRAhC+oLKAOk0i0HGx9n46rq8W=YVdg(a)mail.gmail.com > > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > On 7 September 2011 13:16, Richard Parsons > <richard.lee.parsons(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > Hi, I've recently bought a Compaq laptop. ?It currently has Windows 7 > installed and I want to dual boot with Ubuntu. > > > > Unfortunately, Compaq have already partitioned the hard disk into four > partitions. ?The largest partition, which is 480GB is the second. ?If I > begin the installer, and resize the second partition to create free space, > then I'm told that it is "unuseable". ?I believe that the extra partitions > are for recovery etc. > > The partition is probably tagged and formatted with NTFS - delete it > from within Windows to be sure it is the right (empty!) one. When you > start the Ubuntu installer again it should see the hole. > > Good luck, > Tim. > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:33:29 +0100 > From: steve-ALUG(a)hst.me.uk > To: main(a)lists.alug.org.uk > Subject: Re: [ALUG] Partitioning Laptop > Message-ID: <4E6772A9.3070709(a)hst.me.uk> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > I'm no expert, but I believe that a HDD set up with a partition table > can handle at most 4 "primary" partitions. That sounds like how your > laptop has been set up. > > If you change one of the "Primary" partitions to an "extended" > partition, then you can add extra "logical" partitions within the > extended partition. > > I doubt that it is possible to change a partition from Primary to > Extended c/w logical partitions without destroying the data on it. That > would imply having to backup, repartition, then restore. > Also, I don't know how Windows would cope with the new logical > partitions. In my previous experience, it can be quite fussy about > drive letters etc. > > I would also be quite dubious about the "recovery" partitions still > working if you change the partition structure that they're expecting to > see. > > I suppose it depends what's on the 2nd partition. Is it just for data? > Is Windows on partition 1? If that's the case you might get away with > it. e.g. > 1) Backup partition 2 (whatever drive letter it is). > 2) Delete partition 2. > 3) Recreate Partition 2 as an Extended Partion using all the free space. > 4) Create a Logical partition to restore the windows data onto. > 5) Create as many logical partitions as you need to need to install > linux. e.g. 2 / (root) and swap > 6) Restore the windows data onto the relevant partition. > 7) Install linux... > > Good luck! > And backup ***EVERYTHING*** before you start!!! > Steve > > On 07/09/11 13:16, Richard Parsons wrote: > > Hi, I've recently bought a Compaq laptop. It currently has Windows 7 > installed and I want to dual boot with Ubuntu. > > > > Unfortunately, Compaq have already partitioned the hard disk into four > partitions. The largest partition, which is 480GB is the second. If I > begin the installer, and resize the second partition to create free space, > then I'm told that it is "unuseable". I believe that the extra partitions > are for recovery etc. > > > > So what can I do? Is there a way of getting Ubuntu installed without > disturbing the contents of the partitions already setup? > > > > Thanks in advance > > Richard > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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! > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 4 > Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2011 14:41:28 +0100 > From: Brett Parker <iDunno(a)sommitrealweird.co.uk> > To: main(a)lists.alug.org.uk > Subject: Re: [ALUG] Partitioning Laptop > Message-ID: <20110907134128.GA29936@miranda> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > On 07 Sep 13:16, Richard Parsons wrote: > > Hi, I've recently bought a Compaq laptop. It currently has Windows 7 > installed and I want to dual boot with Ubuntu. > > > > Unfortunately, Compaq have already partitioned the hard disk into four > partitions. The largest partition, which is 480GB is the second. If I > begin the installer, and resize the second partition to create free space, > then I'm told that it is "unuseable". I believe that the extra partitions > are for recovery etc. > > > > So what can I do? Is there a way of getting Ubuntu installed without > disturbing the contents of the partitions already setup? > > You're basically screwed - you can only have 4 primary partitions, > usually when wanting to go over this you make on of those 4 an extended > partition and new partitions get created in that. > > I'd take a diskimage of the disk in current state, using something like > clonezilla, then rejig the disk to remove any partitions that you don't > need, (you'll probably want a couple of partitions for linux), and go > from there. > > The reason for using something like clonezilla to take an image first > should be reasonably obvious, means that if you need to get back to that > state you can :) > > Cheers, > Brett. > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 5 > Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2011 14:43:13 +0100 > From: Richard Parsons <richard.lee.parsons(a)gmail.com> > To: main(a)lists.alug.org.uk > Subject: Re: [ALUG] Partitioning Laptop > Message-ID: <20110907134312.GA7897(a)myfreesolicitor.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 > > On Wed, Sep 07, 2011 at 02:05:28PM +0100, Tim Green wrote: > > On 7 September 2011 13:16, Richard Parsons > > <richard.lee.parsons(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > Hi, I've recently bought a Compaq laptop. ?It currently has Windows 7 > installed and I want to dual boot with Ubuntu. > > > > > > Unfortunately, Compaq have already partitioned the hard disk into four > partitions. ?The largest partition, which is 480GB is the second. ?If I > begin the installer, and resize the second partition to create free space, > then I'm told that it is "unuseable". ?I believe that the extra partitions > are for recovery etc. > > > > The partition is probably tagged and formatted with NTFS - delete it > > from within Windows to be sure it is the right (empty!) one. When you > > start the Ubuntu installer again it should see the hole. > > Thank you for that tip. I'm hoping to keep the windows partition though. > My idea is to reduce the windows partition to say 80GB, to free up > approximately 400GB for the Ubuntu installation. If I delete the second > partition won't the windows installation be lost? > > > Good luck, > > I think I'm going to need it! I'm wondering whether what I want to do is > even possible. Perhaps I need to be looking at a tool like Ghost? > > Richard > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 6 > Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2011 14:28:09 +0100 > From: samwise <samwise(a)bagshot-row.org> > To: ALUG <main(a)lists.alug.org.uk> > Subject: Re: [ALUG] Partitioning Laptop > Message-ID: > <CAEW9pC43xiSRGcWObteijh7+oMyyin0f1XNQC8DGv-2FaY7taw(a)mail.gmail.com > > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > > Hi, I've recently bought a Compaq laptop. ?It currently has Windows 7 > installed and I want to dual boot with Ubuntu. > > > > Unfortunately, Compaq have already partitioned the hard disk into four > partitions. ?The largest partition, which is 480GB is the second. ?If I > begin the installer, and resize the second partition to create free space, > then I'm told that it is "unuseable". ?I believe that the extra partitions > are for recovery etc. > > > > So what can I do? ?Is there a way of getting Ubuntu installed without > disturbing the contents of the partitions already setup? > > > > Thanks in advance > > Richard > > Richard. > > The problem is that there can only be a maximum of four primary partitions > on a > disk, and your laptop ships with all four of them already in use. Simply > resizing one of the existing partitions won't help, because you won't > be permitted to create a fifth primary partition in the freed up > space. > > The easiest option is to just delete the two recovery partitions (you > should already have made some recovery DVDs from Windows, before doing > anything at all). That will allow you to resize the Windows partition > and create a new one for Linux. This approach means that if you ever > need to restore Windows on your laptop from scratch, you will be > wholly reliant on the recovery DVDs you made. > > The more complicated option is to backup the two existing recovery > partitions to files, and make a note of their partition information. > Then you can delete them both and create a new extended partition in > their place. This extended partition can contain multiple logical > partitions with it - so you can recreate the recovery partitions from > the files you backed them up to, within the new extended partition. > This approach will allow you to then create a new additional Linux > partition, either as a primary partition or within the extended > partition. If you ever need to reinstall Windows again, this way you > will have the choice of rebuilding the laptop from either the recovery > partitions on the disk or from the recovery DVDs you made instead. > > When I bought my HP laptop last year, I used GParted Live > [http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php] implement an extended > partition. The recovery partitions were fairly small in relation to > the total size of the disk so I figured it wouldn't hurt to leave them > intact. > > Peter. > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 7 > Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2011 15:04:15 +0100 > From: Richard Parsons <richard.lee.parsons(a)gmail.com> > To: main(a)lists.alug.org.uk > Subject: Re: [ALUG] Partitioning Laptop > Message-ID: <20110907140414.GA7947(a)myfreesolicitor.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > On Wed, Sep 07, 2011 at 02:33:29PM +0100, steve-ALUG(a)hst.me.uk wrote: > > I'm no expert, but I believe that a HDD set up with a partition > > table can handle at most 4 "primary" partitions. That sounds like > > how your laptop has been set up. > > Yes, I'm pretty sure that's how it it. > > > If you change one of the "Primary" partitions to an "extended" > > partition, then you can add extra "logical" partitions within the > > extended partition. > > > > I doubt that it is possible to change a partition from Primary to > > Extended c/w logical partitions without destroying the data on it. > > That would imply having to backup, repartition, then restore. > > Also, I don't know how Windows would cope with the new logical > > partitions. In my previous experience, it can be quite fussy about > > drive letters etc. > > Yes, and sorry, I now realise that I'm asking about Windows, which is > hardly fair for a Linux mailing list! > > > I would also be quite dubious about the "recovery" partitions still > > working if you change the partition structure that they're expecting > > to see. > > Yes, good point. > > > I suppose it depends what's on the 2nd partition. Is it just for > > data? Is Windows on partition 1? If that's the case you might get > > away with it. e.g. > > I believe that Windows is installed on the second partition, but now I'm > even unsure about that. I find it hard to understand why Windows would > require four partitions. > > > 1) Backup partition 2 (whatever drive letter it is). > > 2) Delete partition 2. > > 3) Recreate Partition 2 as an Extended Partion using all the free space. > > 4) Create a Logical partition to restore the windows data onto. > > 5) Create as many logical partitions as you need to need to install > > linux. e.g. 2 / (root) and swap > > 6) Restore the windows data onto the relevant partition. > > 7) Install linux... > > > > Good luck! > > Thanks > > > And backup ***EVERYTHING*** before you start!!! > > Good advice. > > Do laptops ever have room for putting in a second hard drive? That would > be a better option. I suspect they don't though... > > Richard > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 8 > Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2011 15:26:15 +0100 > From: Stuart Bailey <stuart(a)linusoft.co.uk> > To: main(a)lists.alug.org.uk > Subject: Re: [ALUG] Partitioning Laptop > Message-ID: <201109071526.18015.stuart(a)linusoft.co.uk> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > On Wednesday 07 September 2011 13:16:36 Richard Parsons wrote: > > Hi, I've recently bought a Compaq laptop. It currently has Windows 7 > > installed and I want to dual boot with Ubuntu. > > > > Unfortunately, Compaq have already partitioned the hard disk into four > > partitions. The largest partition, which is 480GB is the second. If I > > begin the installer, and resize the second partition to create free > space, > > then I'm told that it is "unuseable". I believe that the extra > partitions > > are for recovery etc. > > > > So what can I do? Is there a way of getting Ubuntu installed without > > disturbing the contents of the partitions already setup? > > > > Thanks in advance > > Richard > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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! > > Hi Richard, > Why don't you make an image of the windows partition using dd, then > repartition > as you like. dd the image back to the disk (same partition size of course), > then > install Ubuntu with dual boot. You won't need to worry about NTLDR in the > MBR, > since you will be using GRUB to boot either. > > This way also gives you a backup of Windows should things go wrong. > > Stuart > > > > Stuart Bailey BSc (hons) CEng CITP MBCS > LinuSoft (Managing Director) > Linux Specialist & Software Developer > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Phone: (0845) 658 3563 > Direct: +44 (0) 1953 878162 > Fax: +44 (0) 1603 858583 > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > http://www.linusoft.co.uk > > > __________ Information from ESET Mail Security, version of virus signature > database 6444 (20110907) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET Mail Security. > http://www.eset.com > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > 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 75, Issue 8 > *********************************** >

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Re: [ALUG] cheap windows box
by Peter Alcibiades 07 Sep '11

07 Sep '11

On Wednesday 07 September 2011 18:58:15 you wrote: > Wow.. That website is absolutely amazing!! That's for posting it to > the ALUG list! Seriously tempted by the Optiplex 755 base units > they've got on there. Only £90 what a bargain!! > > -Simon > > > On 4 September 2011 22:31, Peter Alcibiades > > <palcibiades-first(a)yahoo.co.uk> wrote: > > www.speedie.co.uk > > > > Peter > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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! Yes, they are not bad. I have bought from them in the past, and their stuff arrives promply, properly packed, and the price is reasonable. The available stock fluctuates wildly as you would expect. I bought a laptop for a charity a few years back, we put Mandriva on it, and its going strong today. I see they have quite a stock of laptops now. Peter

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remote booting
by Peter Alcibiades 07 Sep '11

07 Sep '11

Question: is it possible to boot an existing system remotely, and if so how do you do it? The case I'm looking at is someone who wishes to just take the disk out of their desktop machine, and install it in a server someplace else in the building (for security reasons, it will be in a different secure environment), but boot from it over the network. So they would have a diskless workstation booting from their existing hard drive, but remotely. Is this possible? Or is there some way of doing something which comes to the same thing? I wondered also if the right way to go about this is xdcmp and remote login from a very basic desktop machine? Any suggestions gratefully received. Peter

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Using sort
by Mark Rogers 07 Sep '11

07 Sep '11

I have a log file which looks like this: 20110905-000107 803 cmd1853 - Host:/127.0.0.1 opened command interface from port: 54365 20110905-000108 761 cmd1854 - Command: 20110905-000108 766 cmd1853 - Response: 201 Service ready 20110905-000108 766 cmd1854 - Response: 201 Service ready 20110905-000108 803 cmd1854 - Host:/127.0.0.1 opened command interface from port: 57052 20110905-000108 804 cmd1853 - Host:/127.0.0.1 closed command interface from port: 54365 20110905-000113 804 cmd1854 - Host:/127.0.0.1 closed command interface from port: 57052 20110905-000313 761 cmd1858 - Command: 20110905-000313 766 cmd1856 - Response: 201 Service ready 20110905-000313 766 cmd1858 - Response: 201 Service ready I want to sort it in numeric order on the cmd value. Note that the cmd number isn't always 4 digits and I want cmd9 to appear before cmd10, etc. Can I do this with sort? I've seen examples that suggest that something along the lines of sort -n -k3.4 .. would do it but I can't get it working in any of the various permutations I've tried. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 8th September
by Viperfang 06 Sep '11

06 Sep '11

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 Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 8th September 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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cheap windows box
by Peter Alcibiades 04 Sep '11

04 Sep '11

www.speedie.co.uk Peter

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Need a cheap windows box
by Montmorency 04 Sep '11

04 Sep '11

As in subject. At least 1.6GHz cpu; 2G of memory. HD doesn't matter. Even 40G would be fine. Katsmeat montmorency(a)ukfsn.org bellphegore(a)nerdshack.com

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A couple of git questions
by Chris G 02 Sep '11

02 Sep '11

While using git over the past few weeks a couple of questions have arisen. 1 - When doing a 'git commit' where does one, by convention, put the comment? Does it go before all the comments, after them, or what? I know it doesn't actually matter at all but I'd still like to know. 2 - What is 'git diff' invoking as a pager, and why? E.g. see the following:- chris$ git diff mychanges stable diff --git a/lib/plugins/config/settings/config.class.php b/lib/plugins/config/settings/config.class index 5075c60..01f15a5 100644 --- a/lib/plugins/config/settings/config.class.php +++ b/lib/plugins/config/settings/config.class.php @@ -774,8 +774,8 @@ if (!class_exists('setting_dirchoice')) { if ($entry == '.' || $entry == '..') continue; if ($this->_pattern && !preg_match($this->_pattern,$entry)) continue; - $file = (is_link($this->_dir.$entry)) ? readlink($this->_dir.$entry) : $this->_dir.$fil - if (is_dir($file)) $list[] = $entry; + $file = (is_link($this->_dir.$entry)) ? readlink($this->_dir.$entry) : $entry; + if (is_dir($this->_dir.$file)) $list[] = $entry; } closedir($dh); } (END) That (END) is a prompt waiting for me to do something to exit. This is on a 60 line high terminal window so the pager is unnecessary anyway! The real problem was that it took me quite a while to find out how to exit. -- Chris Green

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Re: [ALUG] Updating Seamonkey
by Bev Nicolson 02 Sep '11

02 Sep '11

D'oh. Sent it Brett direct. Sorry. On 2 September 2011 10:48, Bev Nicolson <lumos60(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> Why wait? If you want/need the newer software, you need to upgrade to >> a distribution that's < 3 years old... Getting more hardware shouldn't >> mean that you don't look after the old. Until the old goes in the bin, >> if it's being used, keeping it up to date is A Good Thing (tm). >> >> Brett. > > > Under normal circs I'd agree but what else can you do when your > computer refuses to let you upgrade? (It gets to certain point and > complains about lack of memory.) > > However, it seems there is a possibility of obtaining laptop sooner > than I thought. > > Bev. >

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Church WiFi
by ted.harding＠wlandres.net 01 Sep '11

01 Sep '11

Hi Folks, Back in the early 2000's, when Internet access in my Little Ouse/Brandon Creek area was limited to painfully slow dialup (not to mention many other remote places throughout East Cambs and North/West Norfolk), I remember discussing with fellow nutters in the Anglia Linux Users Group the feasibility (as I wrote at the time, Feb 2002) of the following: Come to think of it, ALUG should be a damn good place to ask this question ... A friend of mine, much knowledgeable, tells me that with directional antennae a line-of sight range of 10-15 miles should be attainable for wireless LAN. But it's equally a question of finding hospitality at the far end. Well, out here in the midst of optically flat nowhere, line of sight to almost anywhere is no problem. Problem is, almost everywhere is uninhabited. Nearest place which might have an accommodating college or such is Ely (10 miles, but on a nice mountain which boosts line-of-sight visibility). So there you are. I'm groping. But there must be some of you who've at least thought about this in similar terrain; so if anyone has any comments or suggestions I'd be most interested to hear! It might lead to an improvement on my current 33.6K bit rate ... and, come to think of it, converting Ely Cathedral to a LAN hub is a tempting notion. Best wishes to all, Ted. Well, the Broadband Revolution has rendered such thoughts obsolete at the Brandon Creek exchange, of course. But a news story this morning revives the notion, and has inspired me with a new twist to the idea. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-14734574 Inquiry into Norfolk church WiSpire scheme Plans to use church towers in Norfolk to transmit wireless broadband signals to provide better internet access for rural areas have stalled. [...] The scheme is a venture by the diocese and internet service provider Freeclix. Wireless receivers would be installed on church spires, acting as high spots, to give nearby businesses and homes access to high-speed broadband. Wi-fi hot spots would also be created in churches. So it seems there is still scope for my original concept out there in Norfolk. But I have a bigger concept now. These days, most people have Wireless Internet enabled mobile phones, so can be in contact wherever there is a signal. Not forgetting all those home computers. Which prompts me to think that we no longer have a need for priests and parsons to communicate with the Almighty. And the proposal that "Wi-fi hot spots would also be created in churches" is based on a narrow and outdated vision. I do not believe that God is so obsolete that he can't fill the Universe with WiFi signals, and receive any that are transmitted. He created all this stuff in the first place, and has been ahead of us ever since (though we may be starting to catch up). So, from now on, if you want to communicate with Him, just switch on your mobile and dial the Divine Number (which is not "666" -- that connects you to a different Infernet Service Provider). Then the ancient channels of Priest and Parson (whose information transmission rate has been stuck at about 0.001 bits/sec for millennia) can be closed down, and their infrastructure put to better uses (as seems to have been the idea behind the WiSpire idea in that news item, though still based on backward thinking). Then you can talk directly to God, and He can talk directly to you. If you pray ever so nicely, perhaps He will favour you by setting up a cosmic Internet hub, which will route all wireless communications from anywhere in the world to anywhere else in the world. All He needs to do is to will it, and it will happen. Onward! Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <ted.harding(a)wlandres.net> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 01-Sep-11 Time: 09:53:09 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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Updating Seamonkey
by Bev Nicolson 31 Aug '11

31 Aug '11

So, the best way of upgrading Seamonkey would be (I guess) via Synaptic, except Synaptic doesn't have the most up to date version available. <<apt get install>> followed by the version ? Or not? Thanks. Bev.

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Full swap space on vm
by Jenny Hopkins 29 Aug '11

29 Aug '11

Hullo there, I admin a vm with Bytemark, and am wondering why the swap is showing as full. Htop shows Mem usage to be roughly half (out of 984MB), but swap is at 255/255MB and hasn't shown any signs of changing for several hours now. vmstat procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- -system-- ----cpu---- r b swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id wa 0 0 262116 237032 58540 258224 2 1 5 1 4 4 19 10 69 2 swapon -s Filename Type Size Used Priority /dev/vdb partition 262136 262116 -1 cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness 60 Is there any way i can see what the swap is full of, or why it is full when there is plenty memory available? Thanks, Jenny

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Load averages
by Mark Rogers 23 Aug '11

23 Aug '11

I've been playing with monit[1] to monitor a server which has been having some problems (specifically a service would stop responding to TCP requests, so although it was still "running" it was no longer any use; monit is able to make connections periodically and check whether or not the they're being accepted and giving the expected response). It comes with an example configuration for monitoring the system (memory/swap/cpu usage, and load averages). I have it monitoring load averages based on the configuration but I'm getting a lot of alarm reports every day and I need to tweak the config. The existing config is fairly self explanatory: if loadavg (1min) > 4 for 2 cycles then alert if loadavg (5min) > 2 for 2 cycles then alert On other words, if the 1 or 5 min load averages exceed the level shown for two or more consecutive tests (which take place every 2 mins) I'll get an alert. My question is: what would be sensible load averages to set the thresholds at, or are they essentially meaningless and I should ditch them? The server has a AMD Athlon(tm) II Neo N36L Dual-Core Processor so as I understand it a load average of anything up to 2 means the CPU is under-utilised anyway? [1] http://mmonit.com/monit/ -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

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Re: [ALUG] Transferring audio to CD
by Anthony Anson 16 Aug '11

16 Aug '11

nev young wrote: > On 06/08/11 17:13, Anthony Anson wrote: >> >> Thanks. I'll look into it further. To connect to the audio bit on the >> flaptop I've got to make-up the cables (phono to midi-jackplug) before I >> do anything else - > Rusty, Take care if you're using a flaptop. The mic input is mono. The > second ring on the jack supplies volts to the microphone. > > see: http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/sb_micinput.gif Ah, oh, ta. Has to be the flatpot because the hi-fi isn't portable, neither is the (full) tower with Lenny on it. Tower's upstairs and hi-fi's down. The record should be mono (1961), so I'll experiment with the headphone jack and the amp set to mono - output there is on volume control, and I have a suitable cable for that. -- Tony Anson www.girolle.co.uk/

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How to find (or navigate to) parent directory *without* following symbolic links?
by Chris G 13 Aug '11

13 Aug '11

The subject says it all really. For example I have a directory /var/www/wiki/lib/plugins/indexmenu which is a symbolic link to /home/chris/src/dokuwiki-plugins/indexmenu. I want a way (in PHP in particular) to be able to navigate up to /var/www/wiki but everything I try program-wise takes me back to the /home/chris tree. I'm sure on the old SunOs/Solaris systems I used if you navigated up on the command line it didn't go backwards up symbolic links, but on this xubuntu 10.04 system if I do, for example, 'ls ../..' when I'm in /var/www/wiki/lib/plugins/indexmenu I see the contents of /home/chris/src which somehow feels wrong to me. The real issue is in PHP though as there are many places in dokuwiki which use ../../.. to access things and there doesn't seem to be an easy way to do this when there are symbolic links involved. One can use regular expressions to prune /var/www/wiki/lib/plugins/indexmenu down to /var/www/wiki/ but this seems a bit of a sledgehammer to crack a nut. -- Chris Green

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[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : McGintys, Northgate Street
by samwise 13 Aug '11

13 Aug '11

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 next week, Monday 15th August, at 20:00: P J McGinty & Sons 15 Northgate Street Ipswich Suffolk IP1 3BY Tel: 01473 251 515 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP1+3BY WWW: http://www.pjmcgintys.co.uk/ McGintys pub is in the centre of Ipswich. It's directly opposite the town's central library and has a reputation for good Irish beer. We're usually to be found in the lowest section of the bar, near the library entrance to the pub. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. I'll definitely be there, so if any one new wants to drop in, look for the guy in the corner with the latest copy of LXF ... ;) We're normally in the downstairs-from-the-bar-bit, nearest the entrance on the library side. 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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Text email clients--Cone, Alpine, Mutt--anyone ever tried Cone?
by James Freer 12 Aug '11

12 Aug '11

I've just been installing the choice of text email clients - above three to try out. Mutt and Alpine fine, but Cone i can't get the smtp bit right. I've contacted the developer on the Cone list who just replies with very brief ambiguous replies. It can't be much different from Alpine but so far can't get it to go. To use Cone it seems one is expected to be a mind reader. I doubt if it's better than alpine but it would be nice to give it a go. I've got Alpine to work but setting 'Roles' for mail i'm still not 100% sorted. I never thought text email clients were worth bothering with... once i'd got Alpine going i could see why... speed. I find Thunderbird and Evolution too slow for large amounts of mail. Anyone really know the 'ins and outs' of email [oops on the witty side this morning!]. --james

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