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Re: [ALUG] Wifi and network monitoring
by mark fernandes 21 Dec '13

21 Dec '13

Greenfield mode on Virgin routers discussed here (basically router then only supports n - no a/b/g) http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Up-to-30Mb-Setup-Equipment/Greenfield-m… HTH, Mark

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server load issues
by Jenny Hopkins 19 Dec '13

19 Dec '13

Hullo there, I'm troubleshooting a debian server that is intermittently freezing up and consuming 100% cpu. The problems began about five days ago. At around this time two things changed: exim configuration, and a related server IP (where this server sends on some of its mail). There have also been various package upgrades. The changes to exim were minimal - change of relay address, so are likely to be unrelated, but thought I'd better mention them. Munin shows a grapical report of the load here: http://aleph1.co.uk/munin/aleph1.co.uk/stoneboat.aleph1.co.uk/load.html The strange thing is how it was spiking like mad on the 12/13th then calmed down for a few days until yesterday. I can't seem to isolate any particular process on the server when this happens. Restarting various services can bring it down, but there is no indication that these processes are going particularly mad beforehand. I can't find anything in the server logs reporting anything unusual amiss. There seems to be plenty memory and swap space on the system. I've been running htop and trying to catch what starts the freezing, but it seems different every time - a process will show it is using 100% CPU, then htop itself goes sluggish with lag and when it next shows something there are several processes using 100% CPU in a queue. It can then take up to two minutes to type a command into an ssh terminal. iotop doesn't show anything significant either. Unfortunately these tools are also subject to lag so are probably not showing the current state at time of freeze anyway. I've tried running tools like iostat, but fail miserably to understand the resulting jumble of numbers. If anyone can point me to better diagnostic tools, or give any hint of where to look for the culprit of this behaviour, I'd be most grateful. Cheers, Jenny

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

16 Dec '13

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- The monthly "Third Monday" ALUG Ipswich Social Meeting is back today, 16th December, 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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On-line backups
by Laurie Brown 14 Dec '13

14 Dec '13

Hi folks, Does anyone on the list have any recommendations for secure, reasonably-priced on-line backup services that are Linux-friendly? Cheers, Laurie. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Laurie Brown laurie(a)brownowl.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com

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Force quit command?
by Bev Nicolson 13 Dec '13

13 Dec '13

The force quit applet on the panel freezes everything so I've ditched that but Libre Office is still unresponsive having tried to open a .docx file. I've tried killall -9 in Terminal but it doesn't recognise that. What's the command now? TIA. Bev (Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.)

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Re: [ALUG] Fwd: Re: ALUG Posting Etiquette - was Cross-platform text file processing tools
by Steve Engledow 12 Dec '13

12 Dec '13

On 05/12/13 12:20, mbm wrote: > Me too. But can we add "Please avoid top posting" > > Mick :-) > > > ----------------------------------------------------- > Sent from a mobile device. Please excuse both brevity > and top posting. > ----------------------------------------------------- And sigs that present lame excuses for doing so? ;) Steve

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HTOP help
by Bev Nicolson 12 Dec '13

12 Dec '13

I get the impression that it takes longer for this machine to boot than it used to when I had to use Windows because I was still unsure how to install Ubtunu. Advised that HTOP would be a good choice I have installed it. Now, how do I use? Can someone explain it to me? What would a problem figure be for example, and how would I deal with it? Ta. Bev.

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Wifi and network monitoring
by Mark Rogers 11 Dec '13

11 Dec '13

At home I have a Virgin Internet connection, with one of their Super Hubs (the older "version 1" type). Every so often the wireless connection drops out for a few seconds. By which I mean everything looks fine (connection is still healthy) but attempts to ping "the Internet" (eg Google's DNS on 8.8.8.8) go nowhere. I suspect that the problem is the router but Virgin won't give me another unless I can "prove" that's where the problem is. They mostly blame wifi signal issues caused by other routers in the neighbourhood (and microwaves etc), which might or might not be correct. When I put the router into modem mode and used my own wireless router, I no longer had the problem, however I did have other issues (which I think were caused by the wireless router and/or the Super Hub, but can't put my finger on what they might be - it was just generally unreliable). Following a visit from a Virgin engineer, at which point things were reset to a standard config, I haven't bothered to put my wifi router back in, but the occasional drop-outs are back (the first one within 10 mins of the engineer leaving). Since then I have started monitoring wifi signals using an Android app (I couldn't make sense of Kismet on my laptop, and when I tried wavemon it crashed my laptop (kernel panic). The joy of proprietary drivers no doubt.. I have switched the wifi to a quiet channel although it's been changed a few times in the past without improving things and the most recent change has also not helped. So, what I want to do is (a) monitor the wifi connection, by (eg) pinging both the Virgin hub and 8.8.8.8 from the laptop every second or so and logging any issues (thus I should be able to determine whether it's the wifi/router dropping out or the Internet connection). I would (b) do the same from my desktop to determine whether it's the wifi or the router (if it's not the Internet connection). And ideally I'd (c) do the same on my wife's laptop, but that is Windows 8 so I'd need something cross platform to do that. If there's something I can also do from an Android phone (d) that would be great. Hopefully (a)-(d) will tell me fairly conclusively where the problem is, and if it's the router be enough to convince Virgin to send me a new one. It helps that my contract is up for renewal in Jan... Any suggestions on how to do (a)-(d) and/or other ideas welcomed. Other notes that might be relevant: I previously tried a cheap wireless-N USB dongle in the laptop and that made no difference, so I don't think it's the laptop hardware, Also, I am currently using a cheap no-brand Android mobile, and I've noticed that (at home only) sometimes the Wifi connection gets "stuck" - it stops working but if I try to turn it off it just sits in a half-way "trying to turn off but not off yet" state until I reboot the phone. I'll blame the cheap phone for failing to handle whatever is going on, but it's more evidence to me that it's something about the Super Hub wifi that's behind all this. -- 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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Reclaiming Cost of Pre-Installed Windows Licence
by Nick Heppleston 09 Dec '13

09 Dec '13

Hello All, I am planning on purchasing a laptop for my step-son who is a Linux fan (I run Linux Mint on the 'family' laptop). I imagine I will be buying something with Windows pre-installed. Does anyone know whether it is still possible to reclaim the cost of the Windows licence that comes pre-installed? Do I claim this back from Microsoft or the manufacturer? Rgds, Nick. -- Nick Heppleston Modhul Ltd (http://www.modhul.com) Tel: 07989 581766 E-mail: nick(a)modhul.com LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/nickheppleston Registered in England and Wales (Company Number 6171967) Registered Address: Wymondham Business Centre, 1 Town Green, Wymondham, Norfolk, NR18 0PN United Kingdom

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Libre Office Calc bug
by Bev Nicolson 09 Dec '13

09 Dec '13

I created and saved a Libre Office calc doc today but try as I might cannot open now. Thunderbird takes ages to try and shows a load of html stuff where a thumbnail of a document usually is. If I try Libre Office I get an input/ouput error. Googling suggests this is a known bug but I wondered if there was any way of getting round this (without using MS office.) Ideas? Happily I don't use it that often... Bev.

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