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10372 discussions

Amateur Web Admin needs help!
by Phil Thane 27 Oct '19

27 Oct '19

Hi, I have an old PC out in the shed running (L)Ubuntu that I use as a Nextcloud server (also Cherry Music and wife's backup, but it's Nextcloud that is vexing me). A few days ago my phone flashed a 'can't connect' warning from the calendar sync, so obviously I ignored it for a while. Then I tried connecting from my desktop Nextcloud client, and that failed too. I did some basic diagnostics and found: 1. Nextcloud is running, I can log in fine from the desktop using the LAN IP address of the server. 2. I use DDNS to route WAN connections and that's working fine because when I try to use Firefox to access the server I get a 401 error from Nginx. (What I should get is a Nextcloud login screen). 3. That's odd because as far as I was aware the server ran Apache. 4. Issuing status commands to Apache or Nginx doesn't get me anywhere. 5. sudo apt install apache2 reveals that I already have the latest. 6. sudo apt install nginx gives me a list of packages to install (I didn't) so I assume that means I was right about having Apache not Nginx. But that doesn't explain the Nginx 401. 7. sudo ps ux doesn't show Apache running. 8. Trying to start Apache doesn't work: phil@webserver:/$ sudo service apache2 start Job for apache2.service failed because the control process exited with error code. See "systemctl status apache2.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details. That would be fine if I had any clue where to look for those log files. And was likely to understand what they say. So what I need (I think) is an idiot's guide to getting Apache running again that's easier than re-installing everything from scratch. Can anyone help? -- Phil Thane www.pthane.co.uk Tweet @pthane 01767 449759 07582 750607

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Where have all the files gone?
by Bev Nicolson 08 Oct '19

08 Oct '19

I use Mint and having upgraded a small file yesterday (of course I recall what, d'oh) I have lost some files and folders on my desktop, though the right boxes are checked to show them. They haven't reappeared so far. How do I get them back? I'm not sure how to find out exactly which version of Mint I'm using. Tessa, certainly. Bev.

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Seedbox vs VPS for linux VPS usage.
by John Cohen 08 Oct '19

08 Oct '19

I have a home server that's now a few years old, used for a mix of large file backups (16tb raid10), file serving and sharing (nextcloud/sftp) and a few other less important applications for personal use like rss reader, music streaming etc. I'm thinking of decommissioning it soon and moving most of its use to the cloud. Unfortunately cloud storage is still very expensive when handling audio/video files so I'm planning on creating backups locally and leaving the cloud storage (around 1-2tb) for mainly file sharing as well as my other various applications. I've already got 2 vps with digitalocean and am pretty happy with them, except for the storage price (astronomical if I wanted to add 1000GB storage to the droplets), so I've been hunting around for reliable and affordable servers that are also secure. This got me to looking at 'dedicated' seedboxes as an alternative to regular VPS. The prices for storage are staggeringly smaller. When including full root access, these start to sound very much like a traditional VPS, so I'm now wondering: 1) What's the real difference if most VPS machines out there are not truly dedicated machines- (really virtualised) but have everything you'd expect from root-access to dedicated ip address, ram and cpu usage, the same as a good seedbox? (example here of a seedbox with root access and 'machine' specs: https://www.rapidseedbox.com/#pricing) 2) Are there any inherent security downsides with a seedbox vs a traditional vps? My initial feelings are it's the same, as long as you personally secure the server thoroughly and the level of control (say root access, firewall, other typical linux security tweaks, file encryption done by myself on the server etc) 3) Seedboxes are mainly meant for fast torrenting (something I'm not interested in). So long-term reliability probably isn't their main concern when running the business, comparing it to a company offering VPS renting. Is this a fair assessment? Do seedboxes tend to be available in the long term, or is it more likely to cause me problems a couple of years along the line? (I'd obviously look for a company that's been out there for a while, but is it likely the servers reliability is not as good?) 4) Any thoughts of what else I could look into? Ideally in the 1-5tb storage range, but possibly less than £20 p/m. John

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 10th October
by Viperfang 07 Oct '19

07 Oct '19

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 10th October 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 https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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Securing a laptop
by peter.northerly＠gmail.com 01 Oct '19

01 Oct '19

Be grateful for any ideas about this. I'm responsible for the laptop of a not very technical person. The laptop has all kinds of sensitive personal information on it, and the owner travels around the UK, it gets left in a suitcase in the luggage shelves at the entrance to train carriages, gets carried around in a luggage trolley on the underground and buses. So I have tried to find some way of securing it that is not too onerous. What I came up with is to have an encrypted partition, and to have the really critical files on an encrypted usb stick that is carried separately. Its running Linux Mint. There are shortcuts to the usb files on the desktop, but of course they only work when the usb stick is inserted and mounted. This works, and I think its pretty secure, but it does involve the user in keying in long secure passwords several times. So recently I came on instructions in anonguide. These are meant for installing whonix. But the first part of them seems to be adaptable to my case. What you basically do is install Debian on an encrypted hard drive, putting the /boot folder on a USB stick. You set it up with a passphrase, and then after the installation is complete, you make an encrypted keyfile, move it to the stick, and delete the passphrase. The idea is that the machine will only boot using the stick (I suppose you clone it, to be safe) and will use the very long and secure keyfile to decrypt. I am not clear why you need to create a passphrase at all if its going to be deleted. And another oddity is that there seems to be only a root and swap partition. I am of course used to having a separate /home partition like everyone. But I can find my way through these things. The rest of the long anonguide manual goes on to talk about installing whonix and tor which isn't part of my problem. My user is not bothered about anonymity, just wants not to have to worry about having a machine stolen which is fairly readily accessible with all kinds of personal info on it. The potentially nice thing about this method is that you just insert the stick and boot and log in. No more messing with repeatedly typing in long and hard to remember passphrases. What do you all think about it? Have you tried this? And how do you secure laptops? Al

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2600 meeting at 18:00 on Friday the 4th October.
by Viperfang 01 Oct '19

01 Oct '19

Quick heads up about this months Norwich 2600 meeting, more info at http://www.norwich2600.co.uk

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Any ideas how to provide a WiFi connection that goes via a proxy?
by Chris Green 30 Sep '19

30 Sep '19

I'll try and explain what I need. I want to connect a WiFi device (a Kobo eReader) via a proxy server so that it will appear to be in the UK even when I'm on my boat in France. This is because downloads of books from the library will only work when the Kobo eReader is in the UK. I'm not trying to cheat or anything, I just want to be able to check out new library books to read when I'm away from home. The Kobo only has WiFi, no wired connection, so it needs some sort of WiFi source to connect to which will (presumably) in turn be connected to a UK based proxy server. I can provide the proxy server myself, I often do this for browser connections to order my repeat prescriptions (for some reason my doctor's web site won't allow connections from outside the UK). So, I guess, I need something like a wireless router which can be set up to route *all* WiFi clients via my UK proxy. Or am I barking up the wrong tree? (I don't really know what ports/protocols the Kobo uses though I suppose I could find out) Any/all ideas welcome. -- Chris Green

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JOB | Front End Developer (London)
by James Tobin 17 Sep '19

17 Sep '19

Hello, I'm working with an employer that is looking to hire a permanent front end architect for their London office. Consequently, I had hoped that some members of this group may like to discuss further. I can be reached using "JamesBTobin (at) Gmail (dot) Com". Kind regards, James

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Laptops for Linux
by Mark Rogers 13 Sep '19

13 Sep '19

Before Christmas I bought myself a new Lenovo laptop thinking I'd get Ubuntu running on it fine, but no; graphics issues, touchpad issues, etc and it's been running Windows 10 ever since. So as not to make the same mistake again, on a budget of about £450 what is a good laptop for Linux? Happy to look at 2nd-hand or refurbs, Must haves: It's for my wife so it needs a numeric keypad (she's a bookkeeper). A side effect of that means 15"+. Needs to run virtual machines (Sage only runs on Windows...). Weight is a factor, I think certainly <2kg. It'll end up with SSD either because it came with one or I installed it (happy either way, probably prefer to install it myself). Decent RAM - I'd have thought 16GB (or at least the scope to increase it later). Can claim the VAT back so budget is higher with a VAT invoice than without. 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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Basic image manipulation
by Mark Rogers 09 Sep '19

09 Sep '19

Probably 90% of my image work is taking an image (maybe a screenshot or photo), making some very basic changes like rotate, crop, scale (usually to reduce filesize), and saving it. I seem to have a collection of tools which view only (like EoG) but load instantly on minimal resources, and sophisticated apps like GIMP which will do anything I might ever need but more slowly. What's a good app for every-day image stuff like this? I'd accept - and even quite like - a few extra bells, like highlighting/blurring/annotating, as long as it doesn't become cumbersome to use or slow to load. <rant>Bonus for something which doesn't give me a single "rotate 90deg" option; why does eveyone expect me to do three rotates instead of one?</rant> -- 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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