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Debian is my friend .... I think
by Earl Brannigan 05 Sep '01

05 Sep '01

Hi all, been a while since I posted something along these lines but here goes... Last night I finally ditched a DeadRat 6.2 installation (needed cleaning up anyway) and moved to a debian potato installation (bargain from Linux Expo..... free beer as well!). Install was nice and easy except : 1)loved the way apt can just plough through your CDs and catalogue all the packages (during the install), but how do you get it to do this in normal running (I thought I had the idea but ended up breaking apt!), ie I want it to now search through the rest of my catalogue of CDs. 2)Having broken apt by replacing the file:/file/binary/for/install/disk1 line with something that doesn't work is there a quick way to get it back. Or can I just tell apt to go search my CDs again (re: 1). 3)dselect is all very well but I would prefer a nice way to group say all X Packages together. Perhaps I'm missing something. 4)Where is XConfigurator ? I tried to be a bit clever last night but think I would have been better to play novice - quiet at the back!! ;o) and let debian do everything. Anyways, any thoughts, experiences or hints and tips to assist in making my transfer to the king of Distros as painless as possible much appreciated. Pllllllease no "RTFM"s, I am reading it but time is a pre-requisite, so if you just write and say "RTFM under apt section on blah" I'll still be grateful for the pointer. Cheers, Earl

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Re: [Alug] Introduction
by MJ Ray 05 Sep '01

05 Sep '01

"Ricardo Campos" <corez23(a)hotmail.com> writes: > My name is Ricardo, I work for local government as a Windoze NT Network > Admin (and a Lotus Notes Admin)(oh, and as a MS SQL Server admin), and I was > attracted to Linux once I saw the license costs for MS products! Heheh... pleased to welcome you to the group! > [...] Unfortunately our beloved government has decided exactly what > OS's and which products to use, and I cannot change that [...] Where is that policy set? I still don't understand why the government is apparently trying to get every company in the land to buy at least one operating system from an American company. > When is the next meet? Both my machines have network cards, and I might be > able to borrow a hub or two. On 16 September at Syleham, near Diss, Suffolk. See the web site (URL below)... I guess we should put more details on there. -- MJR This is my personal web site =-> http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ http://www.alug.org.uk/ <-- This is the LUG I go to I work for this clever internet developer ==> http://www.luminas.co.uk/

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Re: [Alug] Introduction
by Jenny_Hopkins＠toby-churchill.com 05 Sep '01

05 Sep '01

Hullo Ricardo. >(that means working on it after the pub till 3am just to do something that >would have taken me about 4 seconds to do in Windoze) It's my life's ambition to get so i can do something faster in linux than windows. >....we are not allowed to upgrade from Lotus 4.6 to R5 We call that a downgrade here at work. Next meeting is Sun 16 Sept, unless I am as wrong as i usually am. Where are you based? Jenny.

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Introduction
by Ricardo Campos 05 Sep '01

05 Sep '01

Hi, like it says in the "welcome to the list" e-mail, I'm meant to introduce myself... My name is Ricardo, I work for local government as a Windoze NT Network Admin (and a Lotus Notes Admin)(oh, and as a MS SQL Server admin), and I was attracted to Linux once I saw the license costs for MS products! Seriously, though, I have been frustrated at the lack of security and general lack of affordable network resources for this OS, Windows scripting is poor etc. etc. You get the idea. Unfortunately our beloved government has decided exactly what OS's and which products to use, and I cannot change that (for example we are not allowed to upgrade from Lotus 4.6 to R5, senseless!). However, we are soon going to have external access to our WAN so we need a firewall..... I'm much more into the ethos of free software and I've started learning C programming, and would like to contribute once I'm competent enough. (I think maybe making .rpm's for newbies will be one of my main tasks when I'm not one) I'm currently getting to grips with Linux-Mandrake 8 on my desktop computer (that means working on it after the pub till 3am just to do something that would have taken me about 4 seconds to do in Windoze) , and have Zipslack on my knackered laptop- I got it 2nd hand and it didn't come with any CD's at all (not that it has a CD-Rom!): I'm not sure that I'd risk replacing the OS entirely just yet. (My desktop box has lots of USB devices which aren't supported, so I'm currently struggling with a triple-boot system! [Win 98 for games & periphs, Win 2k as my productivity station due to stability, and Mandrake]. Hopefully I can get Linux to replace Windows 2K on my desktop for ever! Currently D/l ISO's for progeny debian, Smoothwall, Slackware, maybe fiddle around with them too. God bless free kilostream connections! When is the next meet? Both my machines have network cards, and I might be able to borrow a hub or two. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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graphics tablets & network cards
by Adam Bower 05 Sep '01

05 Sep '01

Hi all, I have decided I need to buy some new hardware :-) I am sick of my slow 10BaseT unswitched network and also want to try and use the gimp with a graphics tablet. Anyway, what is peoples opinions of cheap network cards? I am currently looking at either the Netgear FA311 (15UKP) or an even cheaper Realtek 8139 clone (7UKP), now I know these cards are not as fast as something from 3com or Intel but how much slower are they? Of course I then need to get a switch to make it all work (note I don't want a hub) again I looked on Dabs and saw a Netgear FS108 8 port switch for 67 quid inc Vat, again is it garbage or not?? Normally If I was spending other peoples money then I would buy either Intel or 3Com kit but lots of money is not an option at the moment :-( as my budget is about 100 quid for 2 cards and an 8 port switch. The other thing I have been playing with recently is the gimp and I think a graphics tablet may enhance the experience! basically I have got a choice of two, either the wacom intuos A6 or the wacom graphire A6, has anyone ever used these under Linux? and if so what is your experience with them? Thanks for opinions/advice in advance Adam -- This message is Copyleft - all rights reversed Adam

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Re: [Alug] Debian is my friend .... I think
by MJ Ray 05 Sep '01

05 Sep '01

"Earl Brannigan" <earl.brannigan(a)lindenhouse.co.uk> writes: > From what I understand then tasks are a part of the apt 'thingie' ? > I'll have a little look into tonight. No, tasks are generally there, not just in apt. apt just makes it very easy to install them. > One more thing... now when I do a shutdown it gets to power down but > doesn't. Anyone any idea about this? DeadRat always got this so I never > looked into it b4. It's Debian conservatism again. The APM shutdown code is known to crash some machines, so it's disabled by default. You'll be able to switch it on when you recompile ;-) (Oh, and "make-kpkg" is your new friend for kernel compilation.) > Still got to get X working (nothing fancy in the hardware dept though) and apt-get install task-x-window-system I think. -- MJR This is my personal web site =-> http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ http://www.alug.org.uk/ <-- This is the LUG I go to I work for this clever internet developer ==> http://www.luminas.co.uk/

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Software for next meeting
by Adam Bower 04 Sep '01

04 Sep '01

Hi all, I got back from the LinuxBierWanderung sometime yesterday after having a great time and brought with me some linux software, and as the next meeting is looming on the horizon I thought it best to start sorting this out now. If anyone wants a copy of any of the following software made for the next meeting then let me know and I will get it done now, I will however have to make a (small) charge to cover my costs (basically the price of the CD-Rs) as I am still unemployed :-( I think 50p per disc is about fair? The software I have available is as follows:- Debian 2.2r3 Official (6 CDs, 3 binary 3 source) A single CD titled debian GNU/Linux 2.2 update, UKUUG 2001 which contains the following packages for use on 2.2r3. Ximian Gnome 1.4 KDE 2.1.1 Debian packages needed to run kernel 2.4 Security updates Xfree86 version 4.03 Some miscellaneous updated packages (samba, dpkg, apt and cupsys) The idea of this is that you can have the latest packages running on top of a Debian 2.2r3 system without having to install unstable or testing. Redhat 7.1 (5 CDs, 2 installation, 1 source, 1 power tools and 1 documentation) StarOffice 5.2 (1 CD, can someone confirm I can make copies of this without breaking any license? the CD doesn't make it 100% clear) Mandrake 8.0 Download edition (1 CD, I have 2 "official" copies available for free to the poorest bidders) If you want a copy any of the above (or parts of it) then please let me know off list soon, all CDs will be made using cheap CD-Rs with badly scribled writing on the disc to let you (and me) know what it is. I also am still going to do a talk on how the Debian package management system works (but I have to do loads of reading yet and prepare some handouts. BTW this will be my first ever public talk, yikes! so go easy on me) and possibly an overview of how to install Debian and where to get help if you are a newbie/beginner. Adam -- This message is Copyleft - all rights reversed Adam

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Re: [Alug] Weekly IRC reminder
by MJ Ray 03 Sep '01

03 Sep '01

This is the weekly IRC reminder correction/improvement. Neill Newman <neill(a)entora.co.uk> writes: > Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands > "/server eu.openprojects.net" and "/join #alug". /server uk.openprojects.net:8001 also works most of the time (ie when the UK server isn't dead).

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Neill Newman 03 Sep '01

03 Sep '01

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.openprojects.net in the #alug channel, you can take a look at www.openprojects.net to get more info on the openprojects network. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server eu.openprojects.net" 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: insmod ide-scsi and cdwriting
by oms101＠freeuk.com 03 Sep '01

03 Sep '01

On 19-Aug-01 oms101(a)freeuk.com wrote: > I only have a small network at the moment a simple system as I am always > about > to leave town and the full system is lacking a bit of a perpose except to > learn > from. > > Anway some of you may have read before (on the alug list) that I have an old > pentium 166 which is dedicated to cd recording ( I know its over kill but it > also rips mp3's) and I have writtern a nice little application which takes > grips audio track listings and generates postscript files for printing out cd > labels via the groff type setting language. > > Well I was installing a 486 with 16MB ram ( Specification is thier so I dont > get flamed ) with windows 3.1 for a friend as she her dad got this computer > some years ago when he went blind and she wanted a simple box to do essays > for the Open University and has no money since she is a single mum. > > Any way along the line I deceded to burn an image of the dos/win 3.1 box I > made for her so I dont have to setup win 3.1 again and ever since I have had > a 70% fail rate on burning CD's now I decided today to figure out what was > wrong and when I found out I was very supprised. I now hava a fail rate that is very low for the first CD burnt but goes up if I burn more CD's, and I dont think its just random I feel that burning 3 CD in a row is more likely to fail than a gap of some hours after the first 2. > I got an error on Suse's boot up pages for insmod ide-scsi ( This A: led me > to > be very impressed with SuSe linux for haveing scripts reporting errors for l > ines that I had added to the start up scripts and B: supprise as I dont > remember > deleting kernal modules since I first "played" (to destuction) with linux) > Anyway I confirmed this by typing > >>insmod ide-scsi > insmod: ide-scsi: no module by that name found > > anyway I reinstalled the default linux kernal and confirmed that all was well > with, > >>insmod ide-scsi > Using /lib/modules/2.2.16/scsi/ide-scsi.o > insmod: a module named ide-scsi already exists > > and then burnt a test CD which worked I cant yet say its solved but it has > yet to fail. What I dont understand is how it even tried to work with > cdrecord > which looked normal and > >>cdrecord -scanbus > > worked and did occasionally work before, I am also curious as to what > caused the problem. Could it be a series of switching off the maschine > with out sending the box through a proper halt. I have done this as it has no > monitor or keyboard and i hate booting my main box just to shutdown another > box. > > I will mail a follow up if I still get problems as this behaviour is so > strange > I am sure I am at falt and maybe misinforming you all. > > > Follow up 1: I am still getting problems but now belive these to be vibration > related. Some definatle where as I moved the CDrecorder and this reduced the errors > Owen Synge > > > > > > > Date: 19-Aug-01 Time: 17:43:55 Date: 02-Sep-01 Time: 23:41:22

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