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Web/Javascript (I assume) question - horizontal scrolling text from newsfeed - how?
by Chris G 09 Oct '11

09 Oct '11

Considering how many of these things you see around the web I thought it would be easy! I've been asked to put a horizontally scrolling text feed onto a web page and my Google searching has just turned up loads of sort of messy half-working bits of Javascript. Many of the sites which supposedly show how to do this don't even seem to work themselves which isn't very encouraging! So, is it really that difficult to display something like an RSS feed (could just be text headlines collected manually actually) as a horizontally scrolling line of text? Any pointers to examples of how to do it or to sites that explain it well would be very welcome. -- Chris Green

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DHCP not setting /etc/resolv.conf
by Chris G 06 Oct '11

06 Oct '11

I am trying out my new TP-Link TL-WR743ND Wireless Client router. After a couple of minor configuration issues I have it working as a WiFi client to my main WiFi, this is in preparation for doing the same thing when it's on our boat using the marina's WiFi. One fundamental thing that I had to fix was to change its IP because (not surprisingly) it didn't want to work with the same 192.168.1.x subnet as the main WiFi/LAN. So it's now 192.168.13.1 and I have it working. However I'm currently having to manually edit /etc/resolv.conf every time I start up because Network Manager is emptying it. The TL-WR743ND is set up to provide DHCP and the settings look right to me. It's working to the extent that it's giviing the client laptop I'm using to test it an IP address of 192.168.13.100 which is the start of the DHCP range in the TL-WR743ND. The default gateway is 192.168.13.1 and the primary DNS is 192.168.1.2 (I have a dnsmasq server for the local LAN running there). But on rebooting I just get:- # Generated by Network Manager and nothing more in /etc/resolv.conf. The client laptop is directly plugged in to one of teh LAN ports on the TL-WR743ND and it has its wireless turned off so that *shouldn't* be interfering. Does anyone have any ideas what might be wrong? It seems unlikely that the DHCP server on the TL-WR743ND is that broken, is it?! -- Chris Green

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Norwich 2600: This Friday!
by Ben Bewick 04 Oct '11

04 Oct '11

For those of you who are interested, there is a 2600 meeting in Norwich this friday, full details on our website! http://www.norwich2600.co.uk

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Efficient/simple basic data entry application for sqlite3 or mySql database wanted
by Chris G 04 Oct '11

04 Oct '11

I want a simple, straightforward way to enter data into a sqlite3 database, by this I mean:- I want to be presented with the existing table contents with rows across the page (it will fit across the screen, the database will have only five or six columns). It would be nice if I can customise the sort order. I want to be able to add data at the bottom where there will be an empty row by simply typing the data in and tabbing to the next field, no pop-up boxes or other hoops to jump through. None of the applications that I can find provide anything remotely as easy as this, both sqlitebrowser and sqliteman are very painful to use for entering data. The application can run on the local PC or as a web application. I already have a plugin for my Wiki that does most of what I want with the database but it can only do data entry with a single row of the database shown (i.e. what Access calls 'columnar'), what I want is what Access calles 'tabular'. If there's nothing suitable for sqlite3 I could use mySql instead. -- Chris Green

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How to enable WiFi from cammand line on eeePc?
by Chris G 03 Oct '11

03 Oct '11

I have an Asus eeePc 701 running Ubuntu 10.04, no GUI just the base installation plus a few bits I needed. We now have WiFi available on the boat (where the eeePc is) and so I want to use it from the eeePc - does anyone know how to do it? The eeePC sees the Wifi as an ifconfig returns some information about it, what command line tools etc. do I need to configure it? The WiFi is pretty standard with "WPA & WPA2 Personal" security. -- Chris Green

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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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