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LUG news
by mick 26 Feb '14

26 Feb '14

Ted I have been reading my copy of (the first issue of) "Linux Voice". Page 17 of that magazine has an article about the founding of Sheffield LUG by Richard Ibbotson. That article says: "I remember back in the 1990s helping Manchester LUG to come into existence. Dr Owen Le Blanc, David Clarke, Dr Dave Gilbert, Professor Ted Harding and some other notables used to get together on Saturday afternoons to create the first LUG meeeting in the UK." ISTR that you had a manchester.ac.uk email address before you used your own domain. So I assume said notable is you. Care to tell us about it? Best Mick --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mick Morgan gpg fingerprint: FC23 3338 F664 5E66 876B 72C0 0A1F E60B 5BAD D312 http://baldric.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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Concatenating files
by Chris Walker 19 Feb '14

19 Feb '14

I've been trying for over an hour to concatenate a load of .vcf files for import into another device. I need to have a carriage return and line feed between each vcf so I created a spacerfile which contained just those two characters. I then generated a list of all the files with the ls command. I then used that file like this :- while read file ; do cat $file spacerfile.txt >> all_in_one.vcf ; done <listfile.txt But all I get is a load of blank lines with just one or two vcards inserted and then a long list of the vcf files which is most of the listfile.txt. I am also seeing this type of error :- cat: First: No such file or directory cat: Name.vcf: No such file or directory That made me wonder if it was because there are spaces in the file names and hence in the listfile.txt so I amended the text file so that each space was preceded by the escape character. But it still doesn't work. Where am I going wrong?

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How to choose a WiFi hotspot out of the dozens available?
by Chris Green 19 Feb '14

19 Feb '14

Here I am sitting on our boat at a marina in the middle of London (well, not quite, near City Airport actually) and I have a TP-Link outdoor WiFi extender that I am running in what they call WISP Client mode to connect to a BT WiFi/Fon hotspot. It's working OK at the moment - I'm using it to do this, but I'd like some sort of way to decide on which is the best WiFi signal to use. When I run the TP-Link's 'survey' to see what's out there it reports up to 150 WiFi signals when pointed in certain directions. Obviously I can only use some of these (the BT ones with no security setting in the main) but even then I'm left with quite a choice. So, is the strongest signal always the best one to use, or will a weaker signal on a quieter channel work better? I chose the one I'm using now because it's on channel 7 and there are very few signals on channel 7. There are however much stronger BT Wifi-Fon signals on channel 1 for example but channel 1 is very crowded. While I'm at it - how does it work at all when there are many different WiFi signals on the same channel? Is there some sort of time multiplexing going on? Finally, is it best to avoid channels with *very* strong (unwanted) signals? There's a very expensive 'marina WiFi' system here which has strong signals on two channels, like 20dB or so more than any other signal, is it best to avoid these channels? -- Chris Green

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[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : The Mulberry Tree ALUG
by samwise 17 Feb '14

17 Feb '14

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- The monthly "Third Monday" ALUG Ipswich Social Meeting is back today, 17th February, at 20:00: The Mulberry Tree 5 Woodbridge Road IPSWICH IP4 2EA Tel: 01473 225776 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP4+2EA WWW: https://www.facebook.com/MULBERRYHOSPITALITY The Mulberry Tree, previously known as The Milestone Beer House, is a grade 2 listed building in the centre of Ipswich. It is located at the intersection between Woodbridge Road and the A1156, across the road from the old Odeon cinema and not far from the Regent Theatre. It re-opened on Thursday March 29th 2012 after a major refurbishment, under its original name of The Mulberry House and has already begun to regain a good reputation for its selection of beers and ales. It has a sizeable car park to the rear of the building. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. Cheers, Peter. ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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Two network interfaces - how to set up?
by Chris Green 14 Feb '14

14 Feb '14

I have an 'interesting' network set-up question. I have just acquired a TP-Link TL-WA5210G outdoor WiFi access point and range extender to use on our boat to improve connections to BT WiFi (e.g. FON and Openzone hotspots). It's working well (I'm using it now). Direct WiFi from my laptop was very marginal here, like it occasionally worked but not often, now I have a perfectly satisfactory, solid, WiFi connection. However, configuring the WiFi extender is quite awkward. It defaults to IP 192.168.1.254 and you configure it on the web at that address (can be changed of course, but factory reset will go back to 192.168.1.254). When working as a WiFi relay though its DHCP server has to be turned off and you have to use WiFi to access the internet. Currently I have the hardwired ethernet connection on this laptop disabled so that everything goes through the 'amplified by the TP-Link' which appears as 'BT WiFi with FON' in Network Manager. It would be nice if I could enable the hardwired ethernet at the same time as the WiFi so that I can talk to the TP-Link router while the WiFi to the outside world is connected as well. So I guess I need:- A static address for the laptop in the 192.168.1.xx range on its eth0 interface. This will work at home as well as long as I make sure it doesn't clash with anything else - that's easy enough. Will just the Network Manager 'manual' configuration do all that's needed? Some sort of routing configuration that says:- If there's only a WiFi connection use it for everything. If there's only a hardwired connection us it for everything. If there's both hardwired and WiFi then use hardwired for 192.168.1.xx addresses and WiFi for everything else. Where/how do I set this up? I'm quite happy to edit configuration files (in fact I almost prefer it to a GUI). If it can be automated easily then good but if it requires a manual 'switch' from one to the other I won't be too fussed. -- Chris Green

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HTTPS issues with Apache
by Stuart Bailey 13 Feb '14

13 Feb '14

I have a CentOS 6.5 server running Apache 2, and hosting a number of sites. The config is via cpanel. One of the sites has a SSL key with a redirect from HTTP to HTTPS. Other sites are all accessible via HTTP only. This is working fine. However, if I try to access any non-SSL site using HTTPS, I get directed to the SSL site. I have tried adding RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} ^443$ RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.nonsslsite.com [R=301,L] To the htaccess file for the non SSL sites, but this has no effect. Any ideas how I can either redirect HTTPS requests for non SSL sites to a 404 error page, or just redirect to the HTTP site instead? -- Stuart Bailey BSc (hons) CEng CITP MBCS LinuSoft (Managing Director) Linux Specialist & Software Developer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Phone: (0845) 658 3563 Direct: +44 (0) 1953 601294 Fax: +44 (0) 1603 858583 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.linusoft.co.uk __________ Information from ESET Mail Security, version of virus signature database 9373 (20140203) __________ The message was checked by ESET Mail Security. http://www.eset.com

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weather station software.
by nev young 13 Feb '14

13 Feb '14

I am trying to help a newbie pi user to get his weather station (a WH1081) to work using Consolewd with his Pi. It currently works OK on a windows machine using the GUI version but he wants to use the Pi for reasons of noise, power usage, something to do with a Pi. So far I have managed to follow the instructions here: http://www.weather-watch.com/smf/index.php/topic,59307.0.html?PHPSESSID=sua… (That may have wrapped onto two lines) Including the rather obvious error near the end when copying the lib files. So it works. It reports the data from his station every minute. But it goes wrong after 5 mins. That is when it tries to upload the data to wunderground.com It says it's uploaded the data but we don't see it. Even worse it then spawns a second child so we have 2 copies of Consolewd running and they interfere with each other when reading the weather station data.. After 5 more mins we have 4 copies After 5 more mins we have 8 copies ... etc. etc. Is there any one here who has practical experience of using this software on a Pi who could perhaps shed some light on the problems. Thanks

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Web site improvements/development - costs?
by Chris Green 12 Feb '14

12 Feb '14

I know this is rather a 'how long is a piece of string' sort of question but I've got to start somewhere. My wife runs a small college and they want to tart up their web site and add some interactive ability to take money for distance learning courses etc. They are particularly short of money at the moment because of the major down-turns in spending on youth work. The improvements in the web site are part of the strategy to bring more and different students on board to keep the college's finances on an even keel. As far as I can see with a quick glance there's around 50 pages on the site though maybe more as the pageid parameter runs up to just over 100 when you browse round the site. The main requirement is to make the site more interesting to look at rather than to fundamentally change its layout and design. The thought is probably to use soemthing like WordPress to create the site and to pay for someone whose major function will be to make the site attractive. So - what sort of money are we talking about? Hundreds of pounds, thousands of pounds, whatever? The existing site maintainers are asking for the college to pay for a 'web site audit' before they do anything more which seems a bit of a cheek because they ought to know about the site already. Any/all ideas etc. would be very welcome. -- Chris Green

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 13th February
by Viperfang 10 Feb '14

10 Feb '14

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, 13th 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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Tool for checking for WiFi signals
by Chris Green 10 Feb '14

10 Feb '14

Is there anything better than Network Manager for checking for WiFi signals? Network Manager is fine for when I'm at home where the laptop and tablet simply connecting to the home router but as soon as there's any difficulty deciding what to connect to it's pretty useless:- There's no control over [re-]scanning so you can't move to different positions and request a re-scan to see if there are different WiFi signals and/or signal strength has changed. The signal strength indication is no help in optimising the signal, one needs a more accurate level indicator to tell if moving this way or that improves the signal. There's no indication of the type of encryption on signals which have encryption keys. This is a real killer sometimes when somoene knows the password/key but not what *type* of key it is. I had this problem at my wife's office recently. Windows XP reports the encryption type so surely Linux should be able to. Are there any tools specifically for scanning/characterising WiFi signals and/or are there any replacements for Network Manager that make handling WiFi connections easier? -- Chris Green

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