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Windows crashes Skype!
by ted.harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 20 Aug '07

20 Aug '07

Hi Folks, I was amused (though also sad) to read of the reasons why Skype went off the air for two days at the end of last week. I quote from their explanation: On Thursday, 16th August 2007, the Skype peer-to-peer network became unstable and suffered a critical disruption. The disruption was triggered by a massive restart of our users' computers across the globe within a very short timeframe as they re-booted after receiving a routine set of patches through Windows Update. The high number of restarts affected Skype's network resources. This caused a flood of log-in requests, which, combined with the lack of peer-to-peer network resources, prompted a chain reaction that had a critical impact. Normally Skype's peer-to-peer network has an inbuilt ability to self-heal, however, this event revealed a previously unseen software bug within the network resource allocation algorithm which prevented the self-healing function from working quickly. Regrettably, as a result of this disruption, Skype was unavailable to the majority of its users for approximately two days. Since Skype typically has upward of 5 million users online at a time, one cam imagine the effect if they all rebooted within an hour or so! But what a lovely DOS mechanism! (Not for nothing, methinks, was M$'s first operating system called MS-DOS -- though the DOS boot was then on the other foot). Best wishes to all, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <ted.harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 20-Aug-07 Time: 22:31:31 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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Skype, RH9, tribulations; alsa-oss?
by ted.harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 20 Aug '07

20 Aug '07

Hi Folks, Sorry if you experience cross-posting, but I seem to be on a needle-in-a-haystack hunt here. I'm running Red Hat 9 (2003 vintage), 2.4 kernel, on a Compaq Armada 1750 laptop whose sound card is "ESS 1869 Audioline" (though it works OK with 1868 or 11688 drivers). I want to use Skype. Owing to the age of the system, I'm limited to earlier versions of Skype (library compatibility), and these use OSS sound rather than ALSA. Skype works up to successful calling (the "bell" rings at either end, but when the call is accepted all you can hear at the calling end is a repeated clicking (about once/sec) and at the receiving end in a similar rhythm a noise more like someone hitting wood with a hammer in the distance. At the same time, at the calling end, repeated messages come up: GETOSPACE: Device or resource busy GETOSPACE: Device or resource busy GETOSPACE: Device or resource busy ... Extensive web-searching has thrown up various facts. a) The ESS 1869 is bad news Skype-wise anyway; b) The above situation is a well-known issue with the earlier versions of Skype (the most recent versions have ALSA support, but demand more recent libs than I have). c) Some people have reported sucess with deceitful work-rounds, including: -- skype_dsp_hijacker which intercepts Skype's calls to the sound devices and keeps things in order. However, this has not worked for me. Either I get the same as the above, or "Problem with sound device" in Skype plus error message "/dev/dsp-1: No such device" to the comsoles -- alsa-oss which installs a library and uses a wrapper to convert Skype's OSS format into Alsa format. I haven't tried alsa-oss because, seach as I may, I cannot find a download for it (in any version). Even the link on the Alsa Project http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Main_Page draws a blank: it cannot change into the directory for alsa-oss! All other links I've found on the Web are dead. I'd be most gratefull is anyone who's travelled along this road and has successfully arrived could help me out! The ideal would be a compilable source package. And if anyone has found a working alternative solution to the abve probelm, I'd be most interested to hear about this too. With thanks, and best wishes, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <ted.harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 19-Aug-07 Time: 22:31:17 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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Linux can't connect to the Internet
by CDW (Linux) 19 Aug '07

19 Aug '07

Due to some finger trouble on my part, I lost the Mandrake 10.2 system on my second hard drive which is on my dual-boot machine. The other OS is XP and that's where I'm writing this. Over some weeks prior to my hosing of Mandrake, the Internet side of Linux had been getting distinctly unreliable. I'd say that at least 50% of the time it wouldn't work. Other days I'd boot into it and it would work fine. All the time it would say that the network was up but it wouldn't talk to the router (all static IP addresses as they are under Windows). Having lost Mandrake 10.2, I thought I'd give a later version a go. The install all went well with no problems except that it wouldn't bring up the network to search for updates. I gave up with Mandrake at that point and decided I'd take a look at ubuntu so grabbed a copy of that. I was impressed that it found all the Windows hardware and allowed me to enter an IP address from the GUI prior to install. But it still wouldn't talk to the ADSL router. At this point you might imagine that I had a faulty network card but with no changes, other than to the OS, the network is running fine. I watched the light on the back of the LAN card and as XP was rebooting, the green LED illuminated. At no time does it do so in Linux. It's back with Mandrake Spring by the way now as I couldn't persuade Ubuntu to write a sensible boot loder config and at least Mandrake did that, or should that be Mandriva now? Any ideas as to what I should have a try at now? -- __ __| |_ __ __ .-----------------------------------------------. / _/ _` \ V V / | mailto:cdw_alug@the-walker-household.co.uk | \__\__,_|\_/\_/ |_______________________________________________|

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USB Obesity!
by ted.harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk 18 Aug '07

18 Aug '07

Hi Folks, I suspect I've done somthing foolish (OK, maybe several things). Yesterday, browsing round Tesco, I spotted 1GB USB sticks on sale for £9.97. Looked like a bargain, so I bought one. OK, maybe a gamble, but at low stakes. Branded "TESCO / TECHNIKA", "Manufactured in Taiwan for Tesco Stores Ltd."; the info on the front of the pack is in English, on the back in Polish, Czeck, Hungarian and Slovak. After I got home, I gave it a whirl by plugging it in, mounting /dev/sda1 (which is where my USB sticks go) onto /flash (my mount point for this kind of thing), made a directory /Ted on it, and squirted about 300MB at it from one of my "junkbox" directories (which also has a few sub-directories of junk), using cp -a 00_junk /flash/Ted (Maybe "-a" was a mistake). Lots of messages up on the console about not being able to set permissions (OK, expected, since it wouldn't be a Linux file system). Then, after a bit a lot of messages "bad FAT"! Also, at the same time, lots of complaints about multibyte names (which I don't have). A couple of messages about Interrupt from USB. Hmmm. Multi bite, bad fat ... Obesity??? Finally it was done. I could read from whatever had gone in immediately under /flash/Ted, and the sub-directories were there, but if I changed into one of these I couldn't read anything in there. Clearly a bit of a mess. So I deceided to delete everything and think again. Deleting top-level stuff OK, but the sub-directories wouldn't play. Finally decided to start from scratch. Started fdisk on it, blew away all the partitions, planted a new Linux one (type 83), and tried to mkfs an ext2 filesystem on it. Got message that the kernel couldn't make head nor tail of it, and would continue using its stored FAT (previous version) untile the next reboot. Well the previous FAT was no good by now, so I re-booted. Well, you've guessed it -- the thing is now totally useless. Can't do a thing with it! It won't mount on /dev/sda1 of course, since there's no filesystem. So, to come to the point: 1. I'd be interested in any suggestions and expertise about how to set up a Linus partition on a zapped/blank [which?] USB drive. This would presumably involve addressing some /dev/usb*** just as one would for /dev/hda, say, if doing the like for a standard HDD. No big deal if you can't be bothered -- it was only a tenner, so I'll just have to fine myself 4 pints of beer. 2. Also interested in any suggestions about whether I should have bought it in the first place (with implications about possibly ever buying another one). With thanks, and happy weekend to all. Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <ted.harding(a)nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 18-Aug-07 Time: 08:41:43 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

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Linutops et al
by Matthew Holland 17 Aug '07

17 Aug '07

Laurie wrote: > I wish there were something out there of a similar size with space for a > 2.5" HDD... While trying to read up on Linutops I found this RegHardware article on alternatives: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/11/30/diskless_linux_web_pcs/ Of particular interest to me is this one, although depending on your app you may need something more powerful: http://www.norhtec.com/products/mcjr/index.html Matthew

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Coin Selector supported by Linux
by Ben Francis 17 Aug '07

17 Aug '07

Hi all, Does anyone know of a "coin selector" or "coin acceptor" with a USB interface which is supported by free Linux drivers? I'm talking about the mechanisms on coin slot machines which send signals to an embedded computer when coins are inserted. I've had a quote for a product which includes an EMP 800 coin selector (http://www.custom.it/ing/money/03-01.htm) and I've managed to get hold of a data sheet for it so I can write my own driver, but I'm wondering if there is a similar product which already has support under Linux. Apologies for cross posting, but I feel I may need to cast the net quite wide for this unusual question :P Many Thanks Ben -- Ben Francis http://krellian.com

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Re: [ALUG] Linutops (was Coin Selector supported by Linux)
by Wayne Stallwood 17 Aug '07

17 Aug '07

On Thu, 2007-08-16 at 22:51 +0100, Ben Francis wrote: > I could use a different thin client computer I suppose... Hmm I have looked at Linutops before (as a plaything/x terminal for downstairs) but really they don't stack that well for price performance compared to a machine built from one of the fanless MiniITX boards unless you really need a machine quite that small. I dunno how the Georde compares to a via chip, but you get many more options for interfacing on mini-ITX and you should be able to easily put together a board, psu, case, memory and flash storage for less than the price of the Linutop. You also get the advantage of expandable ram and other niceties then. You could match the size as well but only by going for nano or pico ITX both of which will push you over the price of the linutop with diminishing extras in terms of interfacing. Also I don't like the way Linutop are using what is obviously xubuntu for their "Plug and Surf key" without appearing to credit Ubuntu anywhere on the website.

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[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : The Milestone, Woodbridge Road
by samwise 15 Aug '07

15 Aug '07

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 scheduled again for next week (Monday 16th April) at 20:00: The Milestone Beer House 5 Woodbridge Road IPSWICH IP4 2EA Tel: 01473 252425 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP4+2EA The Milestone pub is in the centre of Ipswich, near the now-defunct Odeon cinema and not far from The Regent Theatre. There is more information on the venue, including car parking info, on the ALUG wiki: http://www.alug.org.uk/wiki/moin.cgi/Meetings All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Hopefully, it shouldn't be too hard to find the pack, look for those huddled around a laptop! This month's meeting comprises a tutorial by Wayne (aka DrJeep) on video editing, DVD creation etc. using free software. We also need to discuss next month's tutorial and find a suitable volunteer. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. Hope to see you there, 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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Mesages From Netgear Router
by Nick Daniels 15 Aug '07

15 Aug '07

Hi I have had Netgear DG834g for about two years now. I installed Etch on Mon, and since then I have been receiving email such as TCP Packet - Source:209.112.135.123,50394 Destination: xxxx DOS, never had these before. If I start torrent I am getting 20+ per minute, upon turning on this morning there was three timed at 01:00 etc although router was off. BTW Many thanks for help with line speed problem a while back, I ended up asking Plusnet for MAC, line suddenly went from 900k to 4Mb and dropouts ceased almost immediately. Kind Regards - Nick Daniels

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Digital cameras
by Peter Alcibiades 14 Aug '07

14 Aug '07

This is the advice a friend of mine gives. His cameras cost thousands and he is a prize winning photographer. I am not a photographer, so have no idea of the merits of his advice, but take an interest in it because of a general interest in technology and because I have someone else to buy for. Here is a summary. 1) OS does not matter unless you are using RAW. Otherwise you are using a card reader, and any OS will manage jpeg. If you are shooting in RAW the program to read it in is very important, and not all programmes come for all OSs. There is something about Macs and Canons - the best RAW software seems to come only for windows. 2) More megapixels are not better, in fact they are probably worse in compact cameras, because noise rises as the pixel size gets smaller. You will see this particularly in low light conditions. 3) There are two reasons why SLRs are better, and a lot better, than anything else, if quality is what matters. One is size of sensor. They have big sensors, less noise. The other is that they do not use power to deliver the view through the viewfinder. This means more rapid operation, less power consumption. The difference between the alleged semi-pro small sensor cameras and true SLRs is huge, and way out of proportion to the difference either in cost or size. I think his view is, though he doesn't say this explicitly, that the 'semi pro' ones which look like SLRs but are not, is like lipstick on a pig. The only thing to use, if you are serious about picture quality, is an SLR. The difference, he says, is huge. 4) When considering SLRs, worry about dust. Every time you do a lens change, dust will be attracted to the sensor. Cleaning up the dust in photoshop or equivalent will be inredibly time consuming. He uses these special brushes,very expensive, to get the dust off the sensor. There are different ways of getting the dust off automatically now with different makes. Worry about dust. Worry about how you are going to manage, how much its going to cost, whether you have to return for maintenance to get it done. Think hard about whether you actually need to change lenses, and if not, get the kind of lens that is flexible enough to leave in place forever. If you're a pro you can't avoid changing lenses. As an amateur, plan so you don't have to. 5) More optical zoom is not better. It is impossible to make 12 x optical zoom lenses that are as good at any given zoom as a non-zooming lens. So anything more than 4 or 5 x zoom means compromising quality at all zoom levels. 5) Image stabilisation is fine, but beware of processing that increases sharpness. What you want is a stabilised image, with as little processing as possible. If any sharpening is going to be done, do it yourself on the PC. Otherwise you risk ending up with a pre-processed image where further processing will just degrade quality. 6) He has cameras that cost 5k plus. Nevertheless, the ones that he is surprised to find give him excellent shots and surprisingly good quality are the 200 pound or so compacts with moderate MP and Zoom count. He particularly mentions a Fuji whose model number I have forgotten. It had quite a high MP count. I can find out if you want. 7) Some of these, particularly the more expensive ones, have all kinds of manual controls. He has been surprised to find that they don't appeal to him at all, though in SLRs he is very manual control oriented. He actually prefers simple point and click in compacts, and doesn't quite know why the ones which allow him the freedom he has with his expensive SLRs always seem to get left at home. I found these conversations interesting because they are so different from anything you read in reviews. As a consequence I bought for my nearest and dearest a then high end 3 x zoom 4MP camera, a couple of large compact flash cards, and a reader. It has worked brilliantly. Its easy to use, the quality is excellent, the zoom is about right, its purse or jacket pocket size, and it goes everywhere. Its certainly not what I had in mind before I asked him. Peter

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