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Fw: [ALUG] Coming down to earth
by Keith Watson 12 Jul '04

12 Jul '04

Begin forwarded message: Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2004 20:43:53 +0100 From: Keith Watson <keith@watson> To: alug <main(a)lists.alug.org.uk> Cc: Syd Hancock <syd(a)toufol.com>, IanBell <ian(a)redtommo.com>, Graham Trott <gt(a)pobox.com> Subject: Re: [ALUG] Coming down to earth At 07:09 on Tue, 6 Jul 2004, Bryce Martin wrote: > Hello, > I would like to extend the discussion about weekend > trials or expositions of various equipment or > software. > I consider myself to be an ordinary modern linux user > that struggles with the most basic problems of > everyday useage. I don't want to list the most common > difficulties that face the 'ordinary (none technical) > user' because I don't know what they might be, but > plugins for the very popular browsers konqueror and > mozilla 1.7 could possibly be dealt with via the alug > mailing list. I don't just mean refering users to a > web site, which could be a good thing, but actually > creating emails that show 'step by step' how to > install a certain plugin or other task. Our top > exponents of linux might enjoy writing these postings. > Documentation relating to linux across the board is > poor, in my opinion. Could we as a user group make a > difference to this problem of documentation by helping > with a (very loosely) structured education program > that is conducted via the alug mailing list? The > mailing list serves the really knowledgable linux > users quite well in a conversational way, but now that > linux is so much more mainstream, it would be nice to > punctuate these savvy conversations with (possibly) > regular(ish) instruction on the basics of linux. We > could focus on the most basic configuration tasks via > our mailing list to help NEW users of linux, and still > enjoy the very stimulating discussions of experienced > users. > I would enjoy reading the unsolicited configurational > instruction of an experienced user that was posted to > the list on more BASIC topics. It could become normal > practice. > It can't hurt, but would take a little effort > admittedly. > Kind regards, > Bryce. > A bit late but Snap! I've been thinking along similar lines for a while now. I must say that with Linux I find that it's not the lack of info. that's a problem but the excess of info. To start with most pieces of software installed usually have a whole chunk of documentation (admittedly it can be patchy, but, IME, it's usually reasonably complete) and then there's the Linux Documentation Project that has tons of stuff and then there's loads of mailing lists like this that can be searched with Google. Often what's needed when you're just getting into something is quick concise answers to some of the basic problems i.e. how do I do a basic install/configure of this? or I installed that and now this is broke how do I fix it? (and some help in finding your way around the terminology) In mailing lists like this it's not always easy to indicate what you have under your belt already so that those who reply can pitch the answer at the right level. Perhaps a better way is for us to help ourselves by using the wiki pages and instead of HOWTOs adding our own HOWIDIDITS? What I was thinking is that whenever one of us, whatever our level of experience with GNU/Linux, tackles and resolves a problem, e.g installing a bit of hardware or configuring/upgrading a piece of software, we could add a wiki page with a short write up and appropriate links to other sources of info. we used. Not as formal or structured as a HOWTO perhaps just a simple log of steps taken and what happened, but I'm sure that over time it would contain useful hits and tips. I believe the wiki already has an area for this so what we need to do is get list members to use it. In this way everyone can usefully contribute. Regards, Keith -------------- See into life. Don't just look at it. - Anne Baxter Regards, Keith -------------- The saddest thing in the world is a person with sight but no vision. - Helen Keller

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Neill Newman 12 Jul '04

12 Jul '04

This is the automated ALUG IRC meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an IRC meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. The meeting takes place on the irc server irc.alug.org.uk in the #alug channel. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server irc.alug.org.uk" and "/join #alug". Popular IRC clients include tkirc, bitchx, xchat and EPIC on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with irc. Unix http://www.xchat.org/ http://freshmeat.net/ http://www.epicsol.org/ Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

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RE: [ALUG] Alug Library!
by Keith Watson 12 Jul '04

12 Jul '04

> From: Kirsten Naylor Sent: 10 July 2004 00:56 > > The library has grown unwieldy now, and too big to haul to > any meetings > really except Sunday afternoon meetings such as at Syleham (short > staggering distance from car boot to table top). (Thanks to everyone > who has donated books lately!) So I draw everyone's attention to > http://www.alug.org.uk/contrib/?LibraryBooklist which, now I > look at it, > ought to have ISBNs listed and a short description of each > book, to aid > people in making their selections. > > The idea is that those who would like books from the library > place their > requests with me or Adam (quinophex) and we will deliver to the next > meeting, whenever that may be. If you live outside the > Norwich area and > can't attend Norwich meetings, we'd appreciate it if you'd cover the > postage costs for us to post the book to you. > > Books can be returned, more or less at leisure (no time limit on the > loan as such, in practice six months is about the limit) in the same > fashion, or posted, or whatever as long as we get them back :) > > I will endeavour to get descriptions up as soon as possible. How about just linking back to the publishers site or Amazon or whatever? > > /Kirsten Regards, Keith ____________ Do not fear the arising of thoughts - only be concerned lest your awareness of them be tardy. - Zen Saying

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Horde webmail and proxies, any experience anyone?
by Chris Green 12 Jul '04

12 Jul '04

Does anyone here use Horde's webmail and know if there are any issues around using it on, for example, BT Broadband? My daughter is seeing some rather strange symptoms which might be explained by a proxy doing funny things when she looks at her mail using webmail. -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk)

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Meeting report - City Gate, Thursday 8th July
by Kirsten Naylor 12 Jul '04

12 Jul '04

Another successful City Gate meeting! Not as many turned up as said they would, but still new and unseen-for-some-time faces there. Present were: Jonathan (Noodles) Martijn (mak) Adam (quinophex) Paul (paul_c) James (mChicago) Bryce Girlfriend of Bryce (sorry, didn't catch your name! Bryce, can you fill us in?) Kirsten (wildduck) We missed Elisabeth (sunflowerinrain) who was stuck in traffic and Brett (iDunno) who couldn't make it, also MJR (slef) and a couple of others who evidently were thwarted in the final hours. A convivial meeting as usual, made more interesting by the new people and the cool little phone/PDA gadget Martijn showed us. Lots of Linux talk, drinking of beer and munching of crisps and peanuts, frozen-bubble on Paul's laptop, and I am sure many things I missed while I was reading Linux User&Developer magazine or while I was just not paying attention :) Hope everyone will be there again at the next City Gate meeting (Thursday 12 August 8pm) Sadly Adam and I will be in France then, but back as usual in September. /Kirsten

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Neill Newman 12 Jul '04

12 Jul '04

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Problems sending replies to ALUG list
by Ian Douglas 11 Jul '04

11 Jul '04

I am confused. Each time I have tried to send replies to posts on the ALUG list this morning an error box has appeared on my PC saying: ERROR: Sending failed: a SMTP error occurred. Command: DATA Response: 452 Filesystem error - message not accepted The message will stay in the 'outbox' folder until you either fix the problem (e.g. a broken address) or remove the message from the 'outbox' folder. Note other messages will also be blocked by this message as long as it in the 'outbox' folder. The following transport protocol was used: smtp://smtp.ntlworld.com:25 I have therefore resent my reply. However looking at my inbox it does seem though that this error message is wrong and my replies have indeed reached the ALUG list ok. Anyone any idea what is going on? I am creating the messages using kmail 1.3.2 (part of Debian 3.0) and seem to be able to send test messages to my other ISP account ok. Ian.

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Alug Library!
by Kirsten Naylor 10 Jul '04

10 Jul '04

The library has grown unwieldy now, and too big to haul to any meetings really except Sunday afternoon meetings such as at Syleham (short staggering distance from car boot to table top). (Thanks to everyone who has donated books lately!) So I draw everyone's attention to http://www.alug.org.uk/contrib/?LibraryBooklist which, now I look at it, ought to have ISBNs listed and a short description of each book, to aid people in making their selections. The idea is that those who would like books from the library place their requests with me or Adam (quinophex) and we will deliver to the next meeting, whenever that may be. If you live outside the Norwich area and can't attend Norwich meetings, we'd appreciate it if you'd cover the postage costs for us to post the book to you. Books can be returned, more or less at leisure (no time limit on the loan as such, in practice six months is about the limit) in the same fashion, or posted, or whatever as long as we get them back :) I will endeavour to get descriptions up as soon as possible. /Kirsten

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FF: dive and LinuxUser&Developer 36
by MJ Ray 10 Jul '04

10 Jul '04

I have a copy of the dive book+CD published by Liverpool-based FACT which I will pass on or post to any ALUGger who wants it. ISBN 0-9541604-9-5 contains essays about free software and copyleft culture. The CD contains a dyne:bolic bootable distribution. I'd be happy if you pass it on again when you're done. If unwanted, I offer this to the ALUG library. I also have LinuxUser&Developer issue 36. The unopened CD pack is the one with the Sun desktop and 500 packages. If unwanted, it will be recycled on Friday 23 July. Thanks, -- MJR/slef My Opinion Only and not of any group I know http://www.ttllp.co.uk/ for creative copyleft computing "Before we try to work out if he's competent, let's work out if he's conscious." (anon. exam marker)

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New CD drive not accessable
by Ian Douglas 10 Jul '04

10 Jul '04

Hi Folks, I installed Debian 3.0 on my PC ages ago and have been happily using it ever since. However, a few minutes ago, I upgraded my CD drive from a standard CD drive to a CDRW drive and I can now no longer access any CDs. If I try to mount a CD then I get an error message saying it is not a valid block device: giraffe:~# mount /dev/hdd /mnt2 mount: /dev/hdd is not a valid block device If however I scan through the output of dmesg I can see it listed: hdd: ATAPI CD-RW 16/12/40X, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive What do I need to tweak in order to be able to access CDs using this new CD drive? Thanks, Ian.

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