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[Alug]Announce: ALUG 2003.6 Meeting 18th May @ Syleham
by John Woodard 08 May '03

08 May '03

Next meeting: Syleham Village Hall Sunday 18th 2:00pm - 6:00pm Venue details: http://www.alug.org.uk/venues/syleham.html If you are coming please add your name to the list with any help requests. Normal disclaimers apply, any kit you bring is your responsibility, it's a good idea to mark it to avoid confusion. I will be hosting as per usual at Syleham. This venue charges us a small fee so we will do the normal whip round to cover the cost. The bar will be open from 1:00pm for anyone who fancies a pre-meeting drink while putting up tables etc. Please add your name and any details you think relevant to the list on the wiki page at http://www.alug.org.uk/contrib/?May%2018th. I will announce to relevant newsgroups, if anybody is on the CAMLUG list can you post it there please or any other lists you think might be appropriate. Cheers, BJ

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RE: [Alug]HP scanner 5300C
by Adam Bower 07 May '03

07 May '03

> From: F J Brooks [mailto:fred@redgrave.screaming.net] > I am a complete newbie and have recently installed SuSE 8.1. > Has anyone been able to make an HP Scanjet 5300C scanner work > with SuSE 8.1? This guy claims to have done so http://members.tripod.com/~mjallen/linuxscanner.html this is a good sign, his link is to the main sane webpage. > the FAQs about SANE hp-backend. I've consulted several Sane Those words "hp-backend" led me to do a little digging on the web. If you visit http://www.mostang.com/sane/sane-mfgs.html#HEWLETT-PACKARD (the SANE website supported-hardware list) if you scroll down a bit it says the 5300C uses the sane-avision backend, not the "sane-hp" (which is what I am guessing you have looked for hence you saying "hp-backend") There is a couple of links from that page also. One that may be the most use is the webpage for the avision backend http://drocklinux.dyndns.org/rene/avision/index.html Anyhow let us know how you get on. If you get stuck with this then please post back then I may be able to suggest a bit more to try and fix it. Adam

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[Alug]HP scanner 5300C
by F J Brooks 07 May '03

07 May '03

I am a complete newbie and have recently installed SuSE 8.1. Has anyone been able to make an HP Scanjet 5300C scanner work with SuSE 8.1? I've been all round SANE - and out the other side. I've tried the articles in the April 2003 issue of Linux Journal, and in the December 2002 issue of Linux Format. I've downloaded the Yolux tutorial : Scanners and Linux, and the FAQs about SANE hp-backend. I've consulted several Sane pages from the SuSE manual. I can make none of them work - at least partly because they do not give step-by-step instructions. They're all so varied and inconsistent: one moment giving actual commands, the next speaking in generalities, such as: 'To build the backends package, it's a simple case of unpacking the tarball and performing the usual configure/make incantation.' and: '...it's time to choose the backend driver. For most scanners you can make educated guesses from the SANE website supported-hardware list.' [As our American cousins say: 'Excuse me!? Come again!?] As a newbie, such 'instructions leave me, not only cold, but fumingly frustrated. Can anyone help, please? BTW it seems to be de rigeur to add a sign-off. Perhaps I could run this up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes it: Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana Fred

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[Alug]Councils and Linux
by Tarquin Mills 07 May '03

07 May '03

Hello, sometime appear on the IRC meetings as Shadowtlx and have just rejoined this mailing list. Below is a question I asked Norwich City Council. Question. In this time of council cuts and cash shortages, how much money is the council spending on Microsoft software (e.g. MS Windows, MS Office etc)? Including the cost of Windows when bought as part of new systems. As an alternative, the council could use free software. Free operating systems could be used instead of MS Windows such as Linux, NetBSD etc. These OSes are of a commercial standard and because they are open source are available on a large number of hardware platforms. This means they could remove windows from their computers without needing to change the computers, in fact Linux is more efficient so old computers can be used for longer. Linux (the third most popular PC OS and second most popular server OS) is more secure than Windows, OpenBSD is a version of BSD with security a top concern. All these OS are immune to Windows viruses. Linux is a clone of Unix (an OS that has been in existence since 1969). The open system Unix (is produced by several manufacturers) and along with Windows are the 2 main OS in use. Using Linux instead of Windows and commercial Unix will unite computers leading to standardisation. For web browsing there is Mozilla (an open source version of Netscape). For office software there is OpenOffice.org 1, KDEoffice etc. You get all this for no cost, what is more the software has a licence that stops people charging for it in the future e.g. the GPL. Supplemental Question. Are free OSes and there apps being trialled by the council? By adopting Linux the council would be helping to put Norwich and Norfolk into a more modern outlook when it comes to IT. If the council insists on using commercial operating systems then why not have local OS such as the one developed in East Anglia. RISC OS computers are more enviromently friendly. "Office software is a problem for local authorities because of the expense", says Socitm national secretary Bob Griffith. Unilever is migrating its IT infrastructure to Linux. The move will contribute to a cost saving of 66 million pounds. "Everytime we put in Linux, we are amazed and surprised at it's speed and the reliability with which we can run it." said Unilever. In answer to the main question they said they will pass my suggests on the companies running the councils IT in a 15 year outsourceing contract. During the asking of the supplemental question I tried to press them into giving a figure on M$ costs, but all they would say is that there contractors said the cost of finding out was disproportionate. So Norwich City Council does not know the costs of services of one of it's major suppliers. I intended to ask Norfolk County Council the same questions. -- Tarquin Mills Reboot Movement (An Anti-Wintel Campaign) http://www.planet14.sonow4u.co.uk/comp/reboot/

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[Alug]Thursday evening meeting Norwich
by Syd Hancock 05 May '03

05 May '03

The meeting yesterday evening at the Forum in Norwich seemed to go very well. Nine people in attendance and lots of chat both social and technical. Always good to put faces to names and to meet a few new people. Present were Keith, Ian, Graham, Colin, Jonathan, Mark, Syd, Bill and an anonymous stuffed penguin plus the chap who didn't like the beer - sorry I didn't catch your name, you can kick me next time :-) General opinion seemed to be to do it again next month - perhaps some more discussion on list needed re possible choices of venue and date. For example, how would people feel about meeting on a monday even though it clashes with IRC? Would missing irc once a month, for those who participate, be a major problem? Would a venue where kit could be set up be better or was the sit-and-chat atmosphere of the Forum bar preferred? Of course we can always try a few different venues over the first few months - I'm a great believer in trying things out. Anyway, must dash, train to catch to Cornwall. Very interested to know what anyone else thought about the meet. Syd

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[Alug]Installing on to Mac g4
by James A Hayes 05 May '03

05 May '03

Hi all, I have recently bought a copy of Mandrake 9.1 and would like to install it on my Mac as it is a PPC programme - but l am not linux competent, although open source is where l want to go. Anyway would appreciate some help. james

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[Alug]Weekly IRC reminder
by Neill Newman 05 May '03

05 May '03

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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[Alug]LOCAL: ALUG Meeting, Norwich, 8pm, Thu 1 May 2003
by MJ Ray 04 May '03

04 May '03

[1]ALUG [2]Map Meeting 2003.5 : Norwich: The Forum bar 1 May 2003 Plan for the meeting Roughly, as follows: We will meet up from 8pm onwards for an informal evening get-together for anyone interested in GNU/Linux. NB: This venue is not suitable for anything more than portable equipment (laptops, palmtops, etc). How to get there For directions, please see [3]the venue information page. People at the meeting So far, Syd and Keith are confirmed, while Graham and MJR are suspected. Surprisingly low numbers so far, given how much interest there was in a Norwich meeting. If you will also be coming to this meeting, please try to say so on the mailing list, so we can be prepared for the numbers! Equipment Equipment is brought at your own risk. We strongly suggest that you tag or label your kit. No known thefts have occurred at our meetings, but there is ample scope for going home with the wrong cables, etc. Be sure to bring all appropriate power cables etc. An extra extension lead will also be a good idea. So far, for this meeting, we know of: MJR A small fluffy penguin to sit on the table, so that you can find us. Discussion If you want to discuss this meeting, please [4]use the mailing list. [5]Back to the meetings index * Destinations 1. [6]Join ALUG 2. [7]FAQ 3. [8]Meetings * Local LUGs 1. [9]Peterborough 2. [10]Cambridge * Recent Donors 1. [11]PHP4Hosting 2. [12]Black Cat Networks 3. [13]Martyn Drake 4. [14]Turo Technology LLP You may think I'm a dreamer... but I'm not the only one [15]UK LUGs References 1. http://www.alug.org.uk/ 2. http://www.alug.org.uk/ 3. http://www.alug.org.uk/venues/forum.html 4. http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/main 5. http://www.alug.org.uk/meetings/ 6. http://www.alug.org.uk/background/contacts.html 7. http://www.alug.org.uk/contrib/?AlugFaq 8. http://www.alug.org.uk/meetings/2003/ 9. http://www.peterboro.lug.org.uk/ 10. http://www.cam-lug.org.uk/ 11. http://www.php4hosting.co.uk/ 12. http://www.blackcatnetworks.co.uk/ 13. http://www.drake.org.uk/ 14. http://www.ttllp.co.uk/ 15. http://www.lug.org.uk/

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[Alug]Debian Install
by Ian Bell 03 May '03

03 May '03

I now have debian installed on my other partition and have managed to get X working under Gnome but not KDE. Unfortunately the installer ignored my rh7.3 on the other partition and overwrote the MBR - good job I had made a boot disk. Anyway, tried to mod the redhat lilo.conf to boot debian too but I can't get it to work. boot is /dev/hda in both cases. rh root is /dev/hda1 and debian is /dev/hda2. I can only have one root statement in the preamble block and lilo does not like path names starting /dev in the image line. So how to do this? Ian

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Re: [Alug]Unfriendly A7N266-VM motherboard - was rtl8139 aha moment
by Jenny_Hopkins＠toby-churchill.com 02 May '03

02 May '03

Adam Bower wrote: >I still think my boss did this as a "challenge" you couldn't get a less >supported x86 motherboard if you tried (I suspect anyhow) and I may well give >up on the onboard ethernet and just use a different PCI nic instead and may >reccomend you do the same too. At least if you do that it will work ok with >Debian and getting the thing online to upgrade will not be so difficult. I was so heartened by this that I stuffed in an old NIC that was lying around, got networking going, and things are looking up. Unfortunately when I then upgraded to a later kernel (2.4.19 from 2.4.18-bf2) I lost the networking again :-) The first kernel image wouldn't boot at all as it seemed to be trying to mount "root=3:01" rather than /dev/hda1? For all that onboard not-worky stuff I found a driver package on nVidia website, NVIDIA_nforce-1.0-0248.tar.gz but keep getting make errors. I don't even know if it contains the correct drivers. Adam - have you tried this? So no XWindow (essential for the job this computer is required for) and only networking with one kernel image so far. Also can't find anywhere in BIOS to turn off either PnP OS or the onboard NIC. I'm about to waste a bit more time this morning doing a 2.4.20 build. Adam - I think your boss did this because the computer is currently on offer at a bargain price at Cambridge Computers - that's how come I ended up being bought one. The subsequent amount of hours at my hourly wage trying to get it working could have brought one twice as expensive and still been cheaper for them :-) Jenny

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