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touch screens
by Peter Alcibiades 07 Nov '09

07 Nov '09

Thanks everyone, for the comments on this. Bottom line seems to be that it will most likely work, maybe not plug and play, but with a bit of tweaking, so maybe the thing to do is buy one and make quite sure, before committing to a bunch. They are getting quite reasonably priced now - ebuyer has the Ilyama 19 inch one for under 400, which is just about affordable. Thanks for the comments about kiosks also. The security issues are not too bothersome. We will not allow outside net access at all, we'll put these machines on a separate subnet, and if there is no keyboard and it boots from read only media....? Well, famous last words! Never underestimate the ingenuity of a bored 12 year old. Peter

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Anacron error
by steve-ALUG＠hst.me.uk 07 Nov '09

07 Nov '09

Hi, I use Ubuntu. I installed NTOP briefly, then decided I didn't want it. I then uninstalled it using Synaptic's "Completely remove including all configuration files". I then upgraded from Ubuntu 9.04 to 9.10. Every day since installing and removing, I have received the error email below. I have searched the pc (including hidden files) and I cannot find any reference to ntop in etc or var or subdirectories thereof. I've googled and can't find a reason why this is. Most answers I find on google say there's a residual ntop file somewhere in etc or var, but I can't find it. There is a package file in /var/cache/apt/archives and a file called /var/lib/update-rc.d/ntop containing the text update-rc.d -f ntop remove Any idea how I can stop this happening? Regards Steve -------- Original Message -------- Title: Anacron job 'cron.daily' on myserver Subject: Anacron job 'cron.daily' on myserver Date: Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:53:13 +0000 From: Anacron <redacted> To: <redacted> /etc/cron.daily/logrotate: error: error accessing /var/log/ntop: No such file or directory error: ntop:1 glob failed for /var/log/ntop/*.log

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Some advice needed
by Alistair Macgregor 06 Nov '09

06 Nov '09

Can someone please help with some advice. At the moment I run a dual boot system, with Windows XP and Ubuntu sharing my hard drive. I would like to go the whole hog and rid myself of windows. I know I can do 90% of what I use my computer for under Linux, office, graphics and music. The only thing I'm having trouble with is an equivalent for Planetside Terragen landscape generator. Is there anything compatible or am I stuck running it in WINE. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Alistair

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Difficult to diagnose ssh problem - can't connect at all
by Chris G 06 Nov '09

06 Nov '09

I'm trying to get connections working from the outside world into my SoHo LAN via my *second* ADSL. I'll try and explain the set-up. The SoHo LAN all sits on a 192.168.1.x/32 subnet connected to a Draytek Vigor 2820n ADSL router which connects to the internet via a standard ADSL connection with UKFSN. That all works fine and I have set up 'pinholes' through the firewall to allow incoming ssh, SMTP and HTTP connections. Thus I seem to know how to set up the firewall on the 2820n. The 2820n has a second WAN port which is an ethernet port, I have that connected to a BT Business Hub (2Wire 2700HGV) ADSL router which connects to the internet via a second phone line. The 2820n is set up to share the two connections and that works OK too. I.e. outgoing connections go via whichever of the two WANs is less busy. There are some things which are configured to use only one or the other WAN (e.g. SMTP, HTTPS). What I am trying to do (and failing miserably at) is to get incoming connections for a couple of protocols working through the 2Wire router. I really want to get SMTP working but I am also trying to get ssh working as that is (possibly) easier to diagnose. So, I have the 2Wire router set up so that it tells me the following 'pinholes' are set up in its firewall:- Device Allowed Applications Application Type Protocol Port Number(s) Public IP 192.168.13.65 SMTP Server - TCP 25 81.158.147.90 SSH Server - TCP 22 81.158.147.90 Device 192.168.13.65 is the WAN port on the 2820 router so that ssh and SMTP connections from the outside should get routed to the 2820n. I then have the 2820n set up (firewall and port forwarding) so that ssh and SMTP connections from WAN2 (the 2Wire WAN connection) get passed to my 'server' machine which is 192.168.1.2. It all *seems* to be correct, when I try and ssh from outside to 81.158.147.90 then the 2820n shows a NAT route to 192.168.1.2. If I 'telnet 81.158.147.90 22' from the outside I actually get an SSH 'hello' from 192.168.1.2, exactly the same as the one I get if I 'telnet 192.168.1.2 22' from inside my LAN. *BUT* ssh from outside doesn't work, no response at all, it just times out. ssh from inside works fine. I've tried winding up debug to maximum on ssh but it hasn't told me anything. I've stared intently at the port forwarding, NAT and firewall set-up on the 2820n and it all seems correct. Oh, and I can 'ping 81.158.147.90' OK from the outside. I'm stumped, any ideas for how to diagnose this? -- Chris Green

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touch screens
by Peter Alcibiades 05 Nov '09

05 Nov '09

Has anyone used these - touch screens? And how exactly do they work - I mean, stuff like clicking on a link or a button in a program? And are there generally linux drivers available, and do you need specific drivers or do they look like mice? My charity is thinking of a LAN based web site, internal only, accessed by touch screens so we don't have to have a keyboard out to get dirty and for mischevious hands to play with.... All you could do is click on what there is. Well, its a hope. We'd use browser Linux booted off an internal flash card, read only. Might be safe. But that part I can manage, its some experience with touch screens that would be appreciated. Peter

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open office calc problem
by Jenny Hopkins 05 Nov '09

05 Nov '09

Hullo there - is this a bug, or an error between chair and keyboard? The problem may be better asked in an open office forum, but just in case anyone here has come across this problem: I have an OO calc spreadsheet with a bunch of columns. The columns are summed in a final row using the SUM function button ("=SUM(A1:A10)" e.g.). I open a second spreadsheet and wish to reference these cells from the new sheet. First method tried: hit the equals button and click on the appropriate cell in the first sheet for each column. Result: some of the results show the correct value for the referenced cell, most do not. Second method: name the final row from first file as a named range. In 2nd file, use the insert and link external data button, selecting the appropriate sheet and range from the proferred choice. Result: all values show 0 where referring to a cell that was a SUM of other cells. I was playing with this on behalf of my other half, who wants to have a summary sheet of all his various site worksheets. For a start, it looks as though he would need the second link method as that is linked and therefore refreshes. Not much use if it shows 0 from summed cells however. I was also very curious why the first method didn't show the correct values. Thanks, Jenny

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Open Office spellchecker won't play ball
by Bev Nicolson 05 Nov '09

05 Nov '09

That sums it up really. I'm typing a document up and it would be _really_ helpful if the spellchecker underlined the words it thinks are misspelt but I've unchecked and checked boxes, I've installed the English language dictionary (having googled the problem) and nada. Zilch. Nothing. Help! Bev.

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FSCONS
by Sam Tuke 05 Nov '09

05 Nov '09

Is anyone going to FSCONS (Free Software Conference and Nordic Summit) the weekend after next (13-15th Nov) in Sweden? Ryanair still has flights for £10 (about £20 with fees). I calculate that in total the trip will cost approx. £200, including conference fees, food, accommodation, public transport and flight (assuming that the flights are still available). Amongst others Wikipedia and Nokia will be there, in addition to speakers on Hackerdom, writing kernel drivers, FOSS in public sector any many others. Sam.

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Testing new mail server without turning off the old one - how?
by Chris G 04 Nov '09

04 Nov '09

I am moving my mail server from my desktop machine to a server machine. Both these machines are on my SoHo LAN behind a NAT router. Thus to move incoming mail from one to the other I have to change the port forwarding and firewall setings in the router. Can anyone suggest a way to either send incoming mail to both machines or some other way of testing the new mail server before committing all my incoming mail to it? I already copy all my mail to another user where it isn't sorted but just gets kept for seven days and then deleted. That is done on my hosting companies system. So I have some protection from total disaster! In addition of course the 'sender' (my hosting supplier) will wait and retry if/when I stop accepting mail so mail shouldn't be lost but I'd really like to do at least some simple testing before the big switch over. -- Chris Green

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Network Manager job
by Christopher Dawkins 04 Nov '09

04 Nov '09

This job http://www.computerweekly.com/jobs/job/network-manager-essex-200615684.htm says "with particular skills in UNIX (preferably FreeBSD)" which is very unusual for a school. But with 13 OSS servers and 22 routers running OSPF over a 90-acre 25-building site, it's serious, and I hope they get someone with those skills. -- Christopher Dawkins Garnetts Corner, Braintree Road, Felsted, Dunmow, Essex CM6 3DS cchd(a)pjcd.org 07816 821659 01371 821076

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