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migrating debian to another machine - update
by Peter Alcibiades 17 Jan '11

17 Jan '11

Sorry, should have said that the old machine is socket 754 with a 64 bit amd install, and the new one is an i3. Hi, can I pick your brains on this one? That time has come round again and I have to move someone to a new machine. What is the best way of doing it? Last time, I did a new install on the new machine, then moved the contents of the /home partition by copying, tracked down all the extra bits and bobs that we have installed, and got them again. It was quite a bit of work. I am wondering if it is possible to just move the hard drive subject to then reconfiguring the distribution? Or is it possible to copy over the partitions to the new hard drive, then....? Any suggestions gratefully received. I have also read about using netcat, is this possible or sensible? Peter

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PCMCIA wireless
by Simon Royal 17 Jan '11

17 Jan '11

Hi Ive had a number of power problems under Ubuntu and finally worked out it was to do with my Edimax PCMCIA wireless card. It works fine but causes oddities when running off battery. I know it sounds odd but I have tried everything else to resolve it locking up under battery and without it in it works fine. So I switched to a USB wireless stick. Now, I broke one of my USB ports yesterday and would like to free up the other one by getting rid of the USB wireless stick I have. What I would like to know is, is my lock up problems going to happen with any PCMCIA wireless card or just my Edimax which is RaLink based. My USB stick is a PlusCom which in Windows shows up as a ZyDas. It is 1121B based, which is not RaLink. I have a Broadcom based Buffalo card floating around which I know works under Linux with additional drivers available. I need to work out whether it is the PCMCIA bus causing problems or just the card. Any help, advice or previous experience appreciated. Simon

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migrating debian to another machine
by Peter Alcibiades 17 Jan '11

17 Jan '11

Hi, can I pick your brains on this one? That time has come round again and I have to move someone to a new machine. What is the best way of doing it? Last time, I did a new install on the new machine, then moved the contents of the /home partition by copying, tracked down all the extra bits and bobs that we have installed, and got them again. It was quite a bit of work. I am wondering if it is possible to just move the hard drive subject to then reconfiguring the distribution? Or is it possible to copy over the partitions to the new hard drive, then....? Any suggestions gratefully received. I have also read about using netcat, is this possible or sensible? Peter

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Re: [ALUG] Mailing List Etiquette...
by Adam Bower 16 Jan '11

16 Jan '11

THANKS FOR THAT BRETT VERY USEFUL LINK TA! On Fri, Jan 14, 2011 at 01:03:46PM +0000, Brett Parker wrote: > Hi, > > Just thought that as we're getting a few more people joining the list, > it would be good to actually start documenting the mailing list > etiquette. > > So, I've started a magic page on our wiki, if people have more to add to > it, please feel free. > > The page is: > http://www.alug.org.uk/MailingListEtiquette > > Cheers, > -- > Brett Parker http://www.sommitrealweird.co.uk/ > PGP Fingerprint 1A9E C066 EDEE 6746 36CB BD7F 479E C24F 95C7 1D61 > > _______________________________________________ > 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! -- New signature required, suggestions on a post card please.

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Re: [ALUG] R31 Sleep...Can We Resolve This
by Wayne Stallwood 16 Jan '11

16 Jan '11

On 15/01/11 21:48, Simon Royal wrote: > Wayne > > Setting my power management options to Suspend means my R31 wont wake > up. This is the problem I had before. > > This is why I had to use Hibernate as it will come back from that but > not Suspend. > Ahh ok, then you may want to google about a bit...a quick look around myself suggests that the R31 had problems even with some versions of Windows which were corrected with a BIOS update. The ubuntu forums might have something as well, look specific to the R31 and whatever version of Ubuntu you are on now you may find a fix. Whilst you have the browser open have a little look at http://www.alug.org.uk/MailingListEtiquette as well. I don't want to nag but top posting and then leaving the entire contents of the message you are replying to just makes it hard for others to dip into the conversation later. It becomes particularly important when someone later on is trying to make sense of the message in the archives.

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R31 Sleep...Can We Resolve This
by Simon Royal 15 Jan '11

15 Jan '11

Hi I have just about sorted all the problems out on my ThinkPad R31 under Ubuntu, except sleep. When I close the lid I want it to sleep and then wake when I open it. I have been playing with the different settings and cannot it to work as I would like, so I thought I would throw it over to you guys to see if you could help. Ive always worked on laptops and never come across this problem. Mac OSX is the fastest for coming back from sleep, you open the lid and within two or three seconds it is up and running - even on my old 10 year old G3 PowerBook it does it. Windows XP takes a bit longer and then you get faced with a log back in screen. I find it odd that my 10 year old G3 500Mhz Mac can come back from sleep within seconds but my sons 2.2Ghz P4 laptop takes about 20 seconds to get back. Ive run Ubuntu and various other buntu and non-bunto based distros on other hardware - x86 and PPC - and never had sleep problems like this. I had a ThinkPad 600 and 240x about a year ago and they just worked with sleep. Open the lid and it comes back on, sometimes faced with a log back in screen but it worked. So why can I not get this R31 to behave in a similar way? Why would a 600 and 240x have better power down support than this R31? If I press Fn+F4 it will go to sleep, but then coming back on takes a boot (bios splash, grub etc) and then you get the log back in screen. That is my work around at present. It is slightly faster than a full boot but still not that quick. My other option is for when the lid is shut just to blank the screen but that doesnt shut any hardware off or conserve battery life. My PowerBook can sleep for about 5 days and then open it up and bang, its back on again. Thats what I would like for my ThinkPad. I have my laptops running 24/7, I have never turned them off, just shut the lid and open it when I need it. So if anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated. I must add, that this is a Ubuntu issue - or Linux issue - as XP sleeps and wakes correctly. Regards Simon -- --- Twitter: http://twitter.com/SimonRoyal - LowEndMac: http://tinyurl.com/macspectrum - Skype: Simon-Royal. --- IBM ThinkPad R31 running Ubuntu 10.10 & Windows XP Home. Apple PowerBook G3 'Pismo' running OSX 10.4. Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro running 2.1

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Small Linux USB Wireless
by Simon Royal 14 Jan '11

14 Jan '11

Hi After recent problems with my PCMCIA wireless card I have switched to USB wireless. I have a Pluscom stick and it is quite big. Does anyone recommend a small one - Linux compatible - that doesn't stick out too much, this one I have is about two inches out the side. I like my Pluscom because you just plug it in and it works - as it a RaLink based one. Simon -- --- Twitter: http://twitter.com/SimonRoyal - LowEndMac: http://tinyurl.com/macspectrum - Skype: Simon-Royal. --- IBM ThinkPad R31 running Ubuntu 10.10 & Windows XP Home. Apple PowerBook G3 'Pismo' running OSX 10.4. Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro running 2.1

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Mailing List Etiquette...
by Brett Parker 14 Jan '11

14 Jan '11

Hi, Just thought that as we're getting a few more people joining the list, it would be good to actually start documenting the mailing list etiquette. So, I've started a magic page on our wiki, if people have more to add to it, please feel free. The page is: http://www.alug.org.uk/MailingListEtiquette Cheers, -- Brett Parker http://www.sommitrealweird.co.uk/ PGP Fingerprint 1A9E C066 EDEE 6746 36CB BD7F 479E C24F 95C7 1D61

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Re: [ALUG] 10.10 Running Perfectly Well
by Simon Royal 14 Jan '11

14 Jan '11

Marcus I think my locking up problem was down to my wireless card. I have never had this happen before, it is a very reliable Edimax card. I had a Pluscom USB wireless stick floating around and that works out of the box too and so far it seems ok. Fingers crossed it seems ok. I have pulled out the power supply and put it in a number of times. I have also pulled the wireless stick out and put it back in a number of times and so far so good. Brilliant. It also mean I have a PCMCIA slot free for my USB 2 card when I need it. Simon On Fri, Jan 14, 2011 at 10:56 AM, Marcus Harris <runlevelten(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Simon, > > Hallelujah! > > I'm glad you've got this sorted out. > > By the way, thought I'd drop you a quick note - when you completely > change the subject line, you start a new thread in, well > all threaded mail readers, so we have all got (at least) 6 or 7 > threads on this one subject, and a few more on other problems with > your R31. > > Most reasonable list members would think this makes it a waste of time > to participate in any of them, as you have a bunch of different > threads on that one subject with one or two posts in them, and it > quickly becomes hard to track replies if the conversation gets large. > > Some people will also get annoyed by it enough to (eventually) filter > the offending poster out. > > Just mentioning this so you can have a couple of pointers that will > help you get more help, faster, with greater coherence, and not offend > some people's eyes. > > Glad you're sorted, > > Marcus > -- --- Twitter: http://twitter.com/SimonRoyal - LowEndMac: http://tinyurl.com/macspectrum - Skype: Simon-Royal. --- IBM ThinkPad R31 running Ubuntu 10.10 & Windows XP Home. Apple PowerBook G3 'Pismo' running OSX 10.4. Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro running 2.1

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Gnome 3 Requirements
by Simon Royal 14 Jan '11

14 Jan '11

Hi With the next version of Ubuntu schedule for release in April and it should include Gnome 3. Gnome 3 was supposed to be released in Sept 2010 and included in10.10, but it got put back to Mar 2011 and is being included in 11.04. Does anyone know what system requirements it will need. The latter versions of Gnome 2 required less memory and hardware than previous versions and where better suited for older machines, but what about Gnome 3. Simon -- --- Twitter: http://twitter.com/SimonRoyal - LowEndMac: http://tinyurl.com/macspectrum - Skype: Simon-Royal. --- IBM ThinkPad R31 running Ubuntu 10.10 & Windows XP Home. Apple PowerBook G3 'Pismo' running OSX 10.4. Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro running 2.1

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10.10 Running Perfectly Well
by Simon Royal 13 Jan '11

13 Jan '11

Hi Success! I am now running Ubuntu 10.10 and it is fine with no power issues. It will boot off battery fine and I can also remove the power adapter while it is running. Brilliant. I did a fresh install - no power issues. I ran update manager, all updates installed - no power issues. It must have been an upgrade issue before (from 9.10 to 10.04 to 10.10). Glad I set up a separate partition to save all my files on, it has made this trial and error a lot easier. Simon -- --- Twitter: http://twitter.com/SimonRoyal - LowEndMac: http://tinyurl.com/macspectrum - Skype: Simon-Royal. --- IBM ThinkPad R31 running Ubuntu 10.10 & Windows XP Home. Apple PowerBook G3 'Pismo' running OSX 10.4. Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro running 2.1

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10.10 Live No Power Issues
by Simon Royal 13 Jan '11

13 Jan '11

Hi As you know I had problems in Ubuntu 10.10 where my R31 wouldnt run off battery. It would hang on boot if on battery and if the power adapter came out it would hang too. I wiped it, ran the 9.10 live CD and didnt have this problem. So I installed 9.10 still no problem. I ran the 10.04 live CD and didnt have this problem. So I installed 10.04 still no problem. I just ran the 10.10 live CD and am not having this problem. So would you wipe and install 10.10 or still with 10.04? I am presuming the problem was because I originally installed 9.10, then upgraded to 10.04, then upgraded to 10.10. Simon -- --- Twitter: http://twitter.com/SimonRoyal - LowEndMac: http://tinyurl.com/macspectrum - Skype: Simon-Royal. --- IBM ThinkPad R31 running Ubuntu 10.04 & Windows XP Home. Apple PowerBook G3 'Pismo' running OSX 10.4. Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro running 2.1

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10.10 Wont Boot Live CD
by Simon Royal 13 Jan '11

13 Jan '11

Hi I am trying to resolve a problem with 10.10. I had it installed on my R31 and it wouldnt run on battery and if you booted from power adapter and then removed it, it would hang the machine. I wiped and installed 9.10, it didnt do it. I wiped and installed 10.04, it didnt do it. I ordered a 10.10 CD from eBay - because I didnt have any blanks or a burner in my ThinkPad. My machine wont boot from it. It will boot live and install from the 9.10 CD I have (which is an official disc from Ubuntu) and it will boot live and install from the 10.04 CD I burnt a while ago on another machine. So why wont this CD boot. I tried it in another machine and it booted ok. So I am lost now. Simon -- --- Twitter: http://twitter.com/SimonRoyal - LowEndMac: http://tinyurl.com/macspectrum - Skype: Simon-Royal. --- IBM ThinkPad R31 running Ubuntu 10.04 & Windows XP Home. Apple PowerBook G3 'Pismo' running OSX 10.4. Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro running 2.1

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[ALUG Announce] Norwich 2nd Thursday Mub Peet
by Adam Bower 13 Jan '11

13 Jan '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 ----- Norwich 2nd Thursday Pub Meet This months second Thursday social meeting of ALUG will take place on 13th January 2011 (err, tonight!) at The Coach and Horses (82 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1BA http://www.thecoachthorperoad.co.uk/ although their website currently has no content on it, hah!) There should be people there from 8pm, 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. See you all tonight, so be there or... err, somewhere else. Adam -- New signature required, suggestions on a post card please. ----- 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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R31 Locks when removing adapter
by Simon Royal 13 Jan '11

13 Jan '11

Hi I have an R31. It came with a dead battery. I bought a genuine IBM one from ebay and it works, but if you pull the lead out while it is charging it locks the laptop up. Two of the lights under the screen - caps lock and the screen one - flash. It does it in Ubuntu, but works fine in XP. Any ideas? Simon

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Re: [ALUG] OK, so as an interim measure...
by Anthony Anson 11 Jan '11

11 Jan '11

nev young wrote: > On 10/01/11 17:58, Anthony Anson wrote: >> nev young wrote: >>> There's still my place. We could even get some carry outs from the FC. >> >> Mmmmmm. I has a ½ galleon kerry-oot flask - FC's deposit on bockles is >> somewhat heavy. >> >> Might have to bring walking frame innit. >> > FC does 2 and 4 pt cardboard boxen for free. Troo, but: When in Rome, one takes some home, But when in Norwich, one should forwich For tasty pies and rolls in piles, And spots of WAP and Penguin files Mmmm! With the beef a jar of wallop, Horseradish relish, goodly dollop And, mighty Crashbang! What am I hearing? Has the barman dropped an earring? Ah, relieved looks over faces pass: Not an earring, just a glass... -- Tony Anson www.girolle.co.uk/

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OK, so as an interim measure...
by Anthony Anson 10 Jan '11

10 Jan '11

Supposing I do decide to dump Xan dross - I can get the contents of this HDD onto a Mini SD card. But, not wanting to burn my boats until I have a decet distro up and running, what do I need to do to copy it so that it's bootable from USB card reader? Or failing that, memory stick? Thinks: prolly better to install the new distro to a memory stick and get used to it first? IIRC, I had prombles getting this (early) Eee to boot from USB. Nev! Marmalade sometime next week? (ALUG minimeet in Fat Cat innit) -- Tony Anson www.girolle.co.uk/

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10.04 No Lock Up
by Simon Royal 10 Jan '11

10 Jan '11

Hi. If any of you are still following my saga, I have more to add. Ubuntu 10.10 would lock my ThinkPad R31 up if the power adapter was removed or if I booted off battery it would lock once into Ubuntu. I booted the 9.10 live CD and it didnt do it. So I installed it. No problems. I then ran the 10.04 live CD and it didnt do it. It ran the 10.04 live CD off the battery and I could pull the adapter out and put it back in, no worries. So it is either a problem with 10.10 in general, or because originally I installed 9.10 upgraded via update manager to 10.04 and then to 10.10 and it something to do with upgrading distros. But anyway it has solved it and I am now installing 10.04 as I write this. Simon

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Battery Lock Up... In 10.10 Not 9.10
by Simon Royal 08 Jan '11

08 Jan '11

Hi This is a follow up to my email earlier today regarding my battery issues in Ubuntu 10.10. (see it below). I am writing this from within Ubuntu 9.10 Live CD off the battery. OK, so the battery is still not charging properly but this is a battery issue and has the same probs under XP. Under 10.10 if I booted up off the battery or pulled the plug while it was on it would hang the machine, but it isnt doing it under 9.10. This at least gives me a bit of hope that it isnt hardware related or a problem with my ThinkPad more of a Ubuntu issue. Can anyone shed any light on this. I might just go ahead and install 9.10 over 10.10 - at least then I could run it off battery. Simon ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Hi I am trying to get round a problem with ThinkPad R31 running XP and Ubuntu 10.10 The battery is a bit flakey and it doesnt always show the correct time left, so the light will flash telling me it is running out of battery but it will run for about 60 mins doing this. Not a huge problem but I have bigger problems in Ubuntu. It will not run off battery. If I boot it on battery once it gets into Ubuntu it will hang and the scroll lock and caps lock light flash. Also if I boot on AC adapter and then pull it out it does the same. It doesnt do this in XP. So while the battery is a bit flakey this is more of a problem with Ubuntu specifically. I have tried editing the boot options in grub - adding acpi=off - but that stopped the machine booting. It just showed a load of text of screen and wouldnt go any further. I managed to remove the line and restored grub. I really would love to resolve this. It is the one thing stopping me from using Ubuntu all the time. Any ideas? Simon -- --- Twitter: http://twitter.com/SimonRoyal - LowEndMac: http://tinyurl.com/macspectrum - Skype: Simon-Royal. --- IBM ThinkPad R31 running Ubuntu 10.10 & Windows XP Home. Apple PowerBook G3 'Pismo' running OSX 10.4. Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro running 2.1

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Re: [ALUG] OK, so as an interim measure...
by Anthony Anson 08 Jan '11

08 Jan '11

nev young wrote: > On 07/01/11 19:52, Anthony Anson wrote: >> >> Nev! Marmalade sometime next week? (ALUG minimeet in Fat Cat innit) >> > > As long as it's not Tuesday. > Will be out all pee em > > Prolly not a good idea to turn up at the quack at 4 pee em on Monday > issped either :-) Ta - aisle limber-up the planner. In the meantime, delve into the BIOS to see whether I've missed something. I presume the EeeBIOS can be updated if it won't boot from USB in this early version - others with later ones do. And that will mean bringing the Ikea^h^h^flatpack^h^h^flaptop 'cos the Eee won't play with the Portly Pussy wi-fi innit. <cue whinge about oomeback> A bag full of Acer, Eee, peripherals etc really needs wheels. -- Tony Anson www.girolle.co.uk/

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Battery Lock Up... Please Help
by Simon Royal 08 Jan '11

08 Jan '11

Hi I am trying to get round a problem with ThinkPad R31 running XP and Ubuntu 10.10 The battery is a bit flakey and it doesnt always show the correct time left, so the light will flash telling me it is running out of battery but it will run for about 60 mins doing this. Not a huge problem but I have bigger problems in Ubuntu. It will not run off battery. If I boot it on battery once it gets into Ubuntu it will hang and the scroll lock and caps lock light flash. Also if I boot on AC adapter and then pull it out it does the same. It doesnt do this in XP. So while the battery is a bit flakey this is more of a problem with Ubuntu specifically. I have tried editing the boot options in grub - adding acpi=off - but that stopped the machine booting. It just showed a load of text of screen and wouldnt go any further. I managed to remove the line and restored grub. I really would love to resolve this. It is the one thing stopping me from using Ubuntu all the time. Any ideas? Simon -- --- Twitter: http://twitter.com/SimonRoyal - LowEndMac: http://tinyurl.com/macspectrum - Skype: Simon-Royal. --- IBM ThinkPad R31 running Ubuntu 10.10 & Windows XP Home. Apple PowerBook G3 'Pismo' running OSX 10.4. Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro running 2.1

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Coverdisc
by Anthony Anson 07 Jan '11

07 Jan '11

A while ago I bought a Linux and Open Source Genius Guide. I didn't find a genius, but the coverdisc had Moblin 2.1 Beta; Google Chrome OS; Fedora 13 Alpha; Absolute Linux 13 and Ubantu 10.04 Apha 3. I don't intend investigating Google Chrome or Fedora, but are any of the others useful, especially as a replacement for Xandros on the Eee? (I run Debian on the flaptop and the big box...) -- Tony Anson www.girolle.co.uk/

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Evolution errors never seem to show the reason, is this normal?
by Chris G 07 Jan '11

07 Jan '11

My wife uses Evolution as her main mail and appointments program. Most of the time it works OK but it seems most unhelpful when things do go wrong. For example she recently tried to send an E-Mail and "Error while sending message" appeared in the status line, but nothing more, no reason. As far as I can remember from previous errors appearing there's *never* a reason for the error. I remember it took ages to find a simple type in an E-Mail address because of this, it just said "Error while sending message" and left the poor user to work out that there was a comma instead of a full stop in one of the addressees. So is more detailed information logged anywhere and/or can one turn on more detailed information in the status line? (BTW we can't move from Evolution, at least not at the moment, because it's the only program which will synchronise with her Palm. In the longer term the phone will need replacing and then we can consider Thunderbird/Lightning or whatever) -- Chris Green

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Linux assistance needed in Manningtree, Essex
by max＠maxeaves.co.uk 07 Jan '11

07 Jan '11

Hello Anglian Linux User Group, My name is Max and I just wanted to introduce myself to this email distribution forum. About 2 years ago, I set up an Ubuntu 10.04 LTS on an old desktop for a friend of my father. All has been working well - there is nothing special about this installation [it is mainly used for web browsing and the GIMP], but I was informed that it has now stopped working and the distro will refuse to boot. I moved to Buckinghamshire, so I am not able to physically help out, so there is now the opportunity of a nice little consultancy. I am looking for somebody who knows their way around the command line, and is happy with fixing problems in GRUB2. I know that the person will be able to pay for the problem to be resolved, but if anybody is interested, if you can send me over 'years experience with Linux' and 'rate' you would want to charge. Kind Regards Max

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Re: [ALUG] Evolution errors never seem to show the reason, is this normal?
by Chris G 07 Jan '11

07 Jan '11

On Fri, Jan 07, 2011 at 12:09:40PM +0000, Anthony Anson wrote: > Chris G wrote: > >My wife uses Evolution as her main mail and appointments program. Most > >of the time it works OK but it seems most unhelpful when things do go wrong. > > > >For example she recently tried to send an E-Mail and "Error while sending > >message" appeared in the status line, but nothing more, no reason. As > >far as I can remember from previous errors appearing there's *never* a > >reason for the error. I remember it took ages to find a simple type in > >an E-Mail address because of this, it just said "Error while sending > >message" and left the poor user to work out that there was a comma > >instead of a full stop in one of the addressees. > > > >So is more detailed information logged anywhere and/or can one turn on > >more detailed information in the status line? > > > >(BTW we can't move from Evolution, at least not at the moment, because > >it's the only program which will synchronise with her Palm. In the > >longer term the phone will need replacing and then we can consider > >Thunderbird/Lightning or whatever) > > Not tried Evolution and was thinking of doing so - thanks for the warning. > > I find Thunderbird is fine for mail and not bad for news - though > the filters in the latter are pretty poor. > > In the case of that comma, Thunderbird would have alerted you to an > 'illegal' character in the address and it would have refused to send > it. > That's all one usually needs but Evolution doesn't help. -- Chris Green

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