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Re: previous post, Slackware 8 and Debian not `seeing' the CD drive
by John Seago 29 Nov '01

29 Nov '01

Thanks to all who offered suggestions aimed at solving this problem, some time after I posted my query, I found an unlikely answer on one of the newsgroups which was to replace the IDE cables with new ones, (and they had to be new as opposed to different), this worked, (and being both cheap and easy, was most satisfactory), and Chris and I have managed to install both Slackware and Debian now. It has to be said that in my case they are going in at an alarming rate until such time as I get it right! When Chris opened up my case and replaced the cables he found that my rather elderly computer was in fact suffering from old age and neeeded replacing. I am having a `bare bones' computer built to take my new drives, and this raises a question, up to now I have followed advice I read somewhere that the swap space be twice the memory, (RAM?), having 64 whatever-they-ares of memory I have a 128 swap space, having ordered 128 memory, do I need a 256 swap space? All suggestions gratefully recieved, although I may be too old/full of pain killers to understand any explanation. John

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New toys question 2
by John Seago 29 Nov '01

29 Nov '01

Having decided that I can probably do without `windows' it just occurred to me that more important than the swap space is how to get it to boot, (other than using boot floppies), particularly as I wish to boot several partitions. Up to now I have cheated and used a Mandrake 8 or 8.1 installation disk to make the partitions, and reset after it has written them to the partition table. I believe that I will need a partition at the front of the primary master hard disk to boot from, and I can, (as yet), find no information in any of the library of books I seem to have acquired over the past few months. this time I think I may to have to have it explained to me, or understand it, before I start making big mistakes. Can someone point me at a source of information that I can take in at my own pace? John Seago

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Re: [Alug] Re: previous post, Slackware 8 and Debian not `seeing' the CD drive
by Ricardo Campos 29 Nov '01

29 Nov '01

>http://www.uwsg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0101.3/1221.html > but don't have time to read all of it... there is a comment somewhere in > there though that shows that Linus should shoot himself though. I read it up until the point that my browser "couldn't find the server". Couldn't really see the comment. BUT I prefer to use the addage: To increase a servers speed- add more RAM, to increase it further add EVEN MORE RAM. Same for desktop, ESPECIALLY since desktops tend to use IDE rather than SCSI(which is still not as fast as RAM). 128 MB (or 256 to be sure) should be fine, unless you use intensive apps such as 3D rendering and GIMP on big piccies. With the advent of large (32MB+) graphics cards, even 3D games don't really dent your RAM that much. I'm not sure if the kernel actually needs a swap partition to be present, but in general losing 128 MB on a HD isn't exactly a great loss (especially as I couldn't find a first-hand IDE drive with less than 20GB), and £50 for 512MB isn't either (of course, that's just excessive, I was just trying to future-proof as much as poss). My bets are: loadsa RAM, small swap. I think the 2xRAM thing was also partly due to RAM being expensive once-upon-a-time. Ricardito "There are several codes, and I know several of them." -Mr. Precise. http://www.rscampos.net -- Get your free email from www.linuxmail.org Powered by Outblaze

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Swap space
by John Seago 29 Nov '01

29 Nov '01

I would like to thank every body who has sent me advice on this matter, I have decided to go with x2 > x4 swap space, (space being of no consequence as I have a total disk space of more than 50 gig). As predicted, this seems to have sparked a technical discussion which I don't understand, I'm glad I didn't ask to have it explained to me! Once again thank you everyone for your advice. John seago

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Re: [Alug] Re: previous post, Slackware 8 and Debian not `seeing' the CD drive
by Ricardo Campos 29 Nov '01

29 Nov '01

> Not with 2.4.* kernels the vm needs either at least 2x swap to RAM or no > swap at all, if not you may/will see performance problems on your machines. Hmm... methinks not. I have 512MB RAM (& kernel 2.4.3), and only 133 MB swap space (to use during the install), and find no performance problem in any way. In fact the opposite! There is simply no reason for me to use 1GB of swapspace! Besides which RAM is *much* faster than swap, easier to upgrade, and just stupidly cheap. I only spent £40 on 512MB (that's probably expensive now), & don't expect to upgrade anytime soon....... I have noticed one thing, though: about 2 mins after my box boots up and I'm into my WM (WindowMaker at the mo'), it pages (oops I mean writes-to-disk/swap?) like crazy for about 5 seconds, then NEVER does it again (until I reboot for whatever reason). This is different to Windoze 2K server on the same machine, for example, which pages like crazy just for the hell of it, inefficient little beasty that it is! Ricardo "There are several codes, and I know several of them." -Mr. Precise. http://www.rscampos.net -- Get your free email from www.linuxmail.org Powered by Outblaze

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Re: [Alug] Re: previous post, Slackware 8 and Debian not `seeing' the CD drive
by MJ Ray 29 Nov '01

29 Nov '01

Adam: > Not with 2.4.* kernels the vm needs either at least 2x swap to RAM or no > swap at all, if not you may/will see performance problems on your machines. I thought the new VM didn't suffer from that? -- MJR

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Re: [Alug] Filtering spam in Linux
by MJ Ray 29 Nov '01

29 Nov '01

> My main email address has been activate for about 3 years and thus gets a > lot of spam. Are there known methods inside Fetchmail or procmail to filter > out 'spam' into a separate folder for later viewing? I filter everything that mentions me in the address lines, or looks like a mailing list, into their own folders. Everything else goes in "uncaught" and I read that folder a *lot* less often. I'm using slocal/.maildelivery, so the basic idea is: # .maildelivery file for nmh's slocal # Blank lines and lines beginning with a '#' are ignored # FIELD PATTERN ACTION RESULT STRING # Trap fscking badtrans From <_ pipe R "/home/markj/usr/bin/badtranswarn" # Filter some mailing lists To ezine@author folder ? lists-moderated # All our lug-related lists into one folder List-Id lug folder ? lists-lug Sender ebi.ac.uk folder ? lists-lug # LUG box still uses pre-list-id majordomo Sender lug.org.uk folder ? lists-lug # Try to catch all other lists in the bucket List-Post . folder ? lists Delivered-To "mailing list" folder ? lists List-Id . folder ? lists X-Mailing-List . folder ? lists Sender owner- folder ? lists # Things really addressed to me To markj(a)cloaked.freeserve.co.uk folder ? inbox Cc markj(a)cloaked.freeserve.co.uk folder ? inbox # Put anything not matched yet into uncaught default - folder ? uncaught > If not, do people on the list use services to eliminate the spam? There has > to be a better way than 'download and delete'. Download and feed to spamcop.net? -- MJR

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Re: [Alug] Re: previous post, Slackware 8 and Debian not `seeing' the CD drive
by Adam Bower 29 Nov '01

29 Nov '01

>I think the "twice times physical memory" (yes, RAM :) rule is very >general. Not with 2.4.* kernels the vm needs either at least 2x swap to RAM or no swap at all, if not you may/will see performance problems on your machines. Adam _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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SNMP Load averages...
by Simon Parkes 28 Nov '01

28 Nov '01

Hi, I'm hoping someone can help lift the mist from my eyes... doing an snmpwalk of my PC on .1.3.6.1.4.1.2010.10.1.3 gives me 3 results (as expected), these are the load averages of 1, 5 and 15 mins.. Can someone tell me what might be a high value ? My 1 min load average is 3.66 most of the time.... 3.66 out of what? 100, is this a percentage? Any ideas anyone... Simon

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Re: [Alug] How to find people with Linux skills
by MJ Ray 28 Nov '01

28 Nov '01

Chris Allen: > On Wed, Nov 28, 2001 at 11:14:46AM +0000, MJ Ray wrote: > > (even if I think that I broadly agree with the spirit (but not the > > letter) of IR35) > Really? Why is that? I think the whole taxation system needs a good tidy up. However, IR35 alone is merely adding ot the complexity, not simplifying it as it ought to. Replies set to go to social, as this has nothing to do with Linux. -- MJR

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