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Some help with regex would be appreciated.
by Barry Samuels 14 May '12

14 May '12

I have to admit that apart from the simplest expressions I don't understand regex. I want to set up a logcheck ignore expression to ignore the following: kernel: [220359.596744] [drm] nouveau 0000:06:00.0: Setting dpms mode 0 on tmds encoder (output 2) The 220359.596744 number varies and so does the single mode digit, 0 in this instance, but the rest doesn't change. I have tried by copying some expressions parrot fashion but can't get it to work. Any help would be appreciated. -- Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

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CD based Linux which works with FaceBook
by Ian Douglas 11 May '12

11 May '12

Hi playmates, My wife's laptop (Samsung R20) currently runs MS Windblows Vista and now takes so long to boot she can make a cup of tea while waiting (literally). I have found an old 2005 version of Knoppix laying around and she is amazed at how quick it is (running off the CD) but I was wondering if there is an even faster/leaner distro she could use. The distro must run off the CD and the browser must be capable of accessing Facebook (about all she uses the computer for!). Any suggestions welcome. Ian.

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Re: [ALUG] Cron oddity
by Mark Rogers 11 May '12

11 May '12

On 11/05/12 17:10, steve-ALUG(a)hst.me.uk wrote: > Cool. Hope it works for you. > Note this tho: > http://chrony.tuxfamily.org/FAQ.html#question_9.2 Noted, thanks. -- 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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Cron oddity
by Mark Rogers 11 May '12

11 May '12

I have a script which runs from cron every minute. I've added some logging to the script and I can see it starting reliably every minute, usually around 1s past the minute. So far so good. Occasionally (about 30 times yesterday) the script will also start within the minute, and looking at the logs there's some consistency to it - most (but not all) started at 47s past the minute. So I end up with: 21:31:01 Start 21:32:01 Start 21:32:47 Start 21:33:01 Start What could cause this? The only thing kicking the script off is cron. (It's running Debian Wheezy on ARM.) Mark -- 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] Inserting env vars or other data into config files
by Mark Rogers 11 May '12

11 May '12

On 09/05/12 17:59, Martijn Koster wrote: > I'd use a little script that greps for some markers to see if the file needs > changing (or already has been), and then apply the required changes with > diff/patch. How would I make a change like this using diff/patch? Eg: If I have a config file that says (real example from ssmtp): .... AuthUser=someuser AuthPass=somepass mailhub=somehost:587 ... .. and I want to set the values of someuser/somepass/somehost, what would the input to patch look like? (A pointer to relevant resources would be fine!) Is there a reason why patch would be preferable to sed for something like this? Mark -- 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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Small distro or compute cluster?
by Clark, Adrian F 11 May '12

11 May '12

Hello everyone, I'm in the process of building a couple of dozen oldish machines into a compute cluster. I'd like to install a fairly lightweight distro onto them, both to save on the install time and because the machines have fairly small disks. I'm keen to avoid installing unnecessary things such as documentation, X11 etc. I'm generally happier in the debian-flavoured world, and the distro will have to be loaded from a USB memory stick. Do people have recommendations as to a good distro to use? netinstall distros are fine. You can see I've spent too much time recently just installing and using Ubuntu! ..Adrian -- Dr Adrian F Clark M0PDF WEB: http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~alien/ EMAIL: alien/at/essex.ac.uk TEL: +44 1206 872432 FAX: +44 1206 872900 PAPER: Comp Sci & Elec Eng, University of Essex, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK "The great tragedy of science: the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact" -- Huxley

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Internet dongles
by Anthony Anson 10 May '12

10 May '12

I have a Vodafone dongle - an early-is one which gives me 1 GB of data-transfer for £15. While this may seem expensive, it has its advantages... Firstly, the early models had rollover, and my first fifteen quid kept me in touch for six months - very little web browsing, true, so mostly e-mail and Usenet. Even now, I'd seldom use one GB in a month, so I was relatively happy. I say 'relatively' because I only have a GPRS signal where I live, so I'm not tempted to wade amongst the websites. Then... It stopped working on the Eee, though it was fine on the Acer when it was in XP mode. I don't like using it under XP because it means I must keep AVG up to date, and that download alone takes a vast bite out of available credit, not to mention the clockface. Earlier, I'd become used to doing some shopping, finding wi-fi in The Fat Cat and elsewhere, or connecting over 3G with the dongle. When the dongle stopped talking to the Eee, and I couldn't get it to work with Squeeze (on the Acer), I just spent ages drinking tea and noshing cakes, sausage and/or bacon sandwiches etc in the Tea Room (*Highly recommended*). Recently, I stuck the dongle in the Eee's USB port, and lo! It worked. And its still working (touch wood). Anyone got any idea why/how the Eee refused to play nicely for - oh - nine months or more? -- Tony Anson www.girolle.co.uk/

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Wrong Desktop
by Chris Walker 09 May '12

09 May '12

Can somebody help me diagnose why my machine always starts up with desktop 4 instead of desktop 1 please? Or would it be simpler just to rename them 4-3-2-1 instead of 1-2-3-4? The machine runs Mandriva 2011 64bit.

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Inserting env vars or other data into config files
by Mark Rogers 09 May '12

09 May '12

I'm using ssmtp to provide simple mail services on a Linux box. I want the configuration to be as simple as possible to migrate between different boxes, but using different users and passwords for different boxes. So for example I might decide to use the device's MAC address as the username, and derive a password from that somehow. That way, I can install a filesystem image onto a device and it will self-configure. (It may be that the device will call a web service with it's MAC address and retreive settings that way, but once the script knows what the user and password details are I still need a method to "insert" them into the configuration files.) So, my question is how best to "insert" these details into a config file (in this case /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf but I'm looking for a general solution). One option would be to simply recreate these files on startup inserting relevant details - or, better, to use sed (or maybe awk) to replace the relevant parts of the config. Is that the "right" way to do it? Obviously I'd need to restart any relevant services after this is done (or better, make sure it happens before they start). Is there a general way to insert an environment variable or other value into a configuration file? Mark -- 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 10th May
by Viperfang 07 May '12

07 May '12

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, 10th May 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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