[Dorset] Help with foreign versions of letters

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

Hi can anyone advise how I get foreign (Norwegian) variants of letters in UK 
linux? I need the o with two dots and the o with a line through it.  Of course 
it could be a limitation of my family history program (Gramps)  that it doesn't 
like  Alt 0248.


Cheers Peter


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[Dorset] Kubuntu accessing Google drive files

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

I have seen stuff recently about an addition that allows Kubuntu things like 
Dolphin to access Google drive. It is called KIO Gdrive and looks to have been 
available since at least 2017. Has anyone tried it and had success installing 
it?

The link brings up Discover and then can't find anything.

Cheers,

Peter


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Re: [Dorset] Donating computing power

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 30/03/2020 15:59, Tim Waugh wrote:

On Mon, 30 Mar 2020 at 14:51, Patrick Wigmore  wrote:


I thought I'd told it to abort the current tasks before shutting it
down, but I've since found they sitll show as "In progress" on my
Rosetta account.


I'm sitting on some work units for Rosetta@home as well, mostly because I'm
waiting for Folding@home to be idle waiting for work before resuming them.

But fear not: with BOINC tasks a single work unit can be assigned to
multiple clients, and the results are cross-checked.
https://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/JobReplication

Tim.
*/


Mi Computer hasn't done  much work on this for the last couple of days because 
my daughter, a senior sister at Winchester Intensive Care Unit, put out a call 
for 3D printed face masks as they are running out of NHS shields, and I and a 
couple of other guys have been printing away. If anybody else wants to help,  
Please print the European version of this:


3D-printed protective visor - 3DVerkstan - Quick to print, easy to assemble 


I have done about 10 so far, and they need hundreds because they can only be 
used for about a week, and her ICU is expanding from 9 to about 120 beds.

Thanks,
Peter
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Re: [Dorset] Strange hard disk

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

After Clive was able to redo the partitions with it last night using gparted, I 
was able to see it on my system this morning, and then installed KDE Neon on 
it. This was vn 5.8 and it does have some problems, but I remember that it gave 
me problems when I tried it before, so I might get an updated  version. But I 
(we) have done what I wanted and got it working in a PC.

Thanks everyone.
Peter

On 28/02/2020 15:02, Patrick Wigmore wrote:

On Fri, 28 Feb 2020 10:17:03 +, Hamish McIntyre-Bhatty wrote:

we'd need a power brick and an adaptor to plug it in to USB. I have

a power brick I can bring if needed.

I might as well bring a USB/SATA adaptor, a power adaptor and a short
extension lead. The more the merrier!




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Re: [Dorset] Strange hard disk

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

It's a standard size (3.5"?) disk out of a Humax 9150T which I seem to remember 
has a proprietary format and is Western Digital WD1600AVVS HDD 160GB. I think the 
AVVS nomenclature means that it is specially for video security systems or something 
like that.
Peter.

On 26/02/2020 21:30, Bob Dunlop wrote:

Hi,

An idea of which Humax model might have been useful.

My Humax Foxsat HDR had a fairly conventional partition table and
layout for a linux box.  The notes from when I upgraded 300G to
1.5TB said the original was partitioned as follows:

   /dev/sdb12G ext3
 /reserve.info  745920 bytesRecording reservation list.

   /dev/sdb299M ext3
 /fsatepg/epg.dat   4413676 bytes   Program guide data.

   /dev/sdb3267G ext3
 /Movie/empty
 /Video/Video streams

   /dev/sdb425G ext3
 /Music/empty
 /Photo/empty

I think you need to add the sparse_super and large_file flags when
creating the filesystems but otherwise it was standard.

Maybe the later models have a reserved boot space that needs to be
skipped ?



On Wed, Feb 26 at 05:14, PeterMerchant via dorset wrote:

Hi all, On tuesday I hope to remember to bring along a hard disk from my PVR. 
it is formatted in a manner that I can't read except with the Humaxrw utility 
in windows. If someone has a SATA connection device?? I'll be interested to see 
if there is any way you guys can devise to read it.



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[Dorset] Strange hard disk

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

Hi all, On tuesday I hope to remember to bring along a hard disk from my PVR. 
it is formatted in a manner that I can't read except with the Humaxrw utility 
in windows. If someone has a SATA connection device  I'll be interested to see 
if there is any way you guys can devise to read it.

Peter


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Re: [Dorset] Connecting to R-Pi -Snowflake or VNC

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

Sorry, meant to send later when I had tried them both.

On 02/02/2020 09:22, PeterMerchant via dorset wrote:

I have seen two articles recently about connecting to a Raspberry Pi. Is it 
horses for courses, or is one to be preferred over the other?


Snowflake ssh: 
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/snowflake-is-the-linux-ssh-gui-you-didnt-know-you-needed/

Vnc: https://towardsdatascience.com/cool-projects-with-a-pi-7bd4792c6e90


Cheers.






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[Dorset] Connecting to R-Pi -Snowflake or VNC

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

I have seen two articles recently about connecting to a Raspberry Pi. Is it 
horses for courses, or is one to be preferred over the other?


Snowflake ssh: 
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/snowflake-is-the-linux-ssh-gui-you-didnt-know-you-needed/

Vnc: https://towardsdatascience.com/cool-projects-with-a-pi-7bd4792c6e90


Cheers.



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[Dorset] 5G

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

1.  Are there any members of our group who could talk to us about 5G?

or

2. Is it possible that our Hosts (the Electrical club) are putting on anything 
along that line,

or

3. Does anyone know if the University or the IET student branch is doing a talk 
on it?

Cheers,

Peter M.


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[Dorset] OT - PM's comments: Low-emission Diodes from Dorset

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

In the Telegraph today the PM is quoted as saying that Nigerian street lights 
are stocked with low-emission diodes from Dorset.

Anyone know what these are?


Once upon a time I had a few dark mode LED's that didn't draw any current, but 
I binned them in a clearout.

Peter


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Re: [Dorset] Moving POP3 Suppliers with Thunderbird.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

Clive's situation is that he has an account with one email/domain name supplier 
that has been bought out by another and now some of his emails don't get 
through anymore. The new supplier has given him a c-panel to access their 
facilities. It seems that they do not intend to really support the company that 
they bought, or migrate stuff over to their own system.  He has four email 
addresses on this domain name, but we have just been working with one.

Smartly, Clive has Thunderbird filters set up to move many emails to Folders on 
localhost.  We had both webmail (old Supplier) and T-bird up and emails in 
Localhost are not on Webmail. We proved to ourselves that emails deleted from 
either webmail or T-bird were very quickly deleted from the other.

There are very few emails in the T-Bird inbox, so Clive is going to move these 
to a Localhost holding folder.  Then he will go into server settings for this 
account and try and set it to the new companies values.   If you never hear 
from him again, it didn't work.  If successful, he could move the emails back 
from the holding folder to the inbox (Copy, not move!)

Peter




On 15/01/2020 17:17, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi,

A Thunderbird question;  I've not used it.

Thunderbird is happily fetching mail from a POP3 account.
The supplier of the account is going to start storing emails sent to the
account on a new server to be accessed at a different domain name, etc.
They'll stop storing emails on the old server.

Can Thunderbird be told there's a second POP3 account to check for email
whilst continuing to access the first?  With emails from both
effectively merging together in the one inbox?  This would avoid the
need to synchronise Thunderbird's switch-over with the supplier.

Any alternative methods better suited to Thunderbird?




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Re: [Dorset] Dual Boot W10/Linux partition problem

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 22/12/2019 09:36, PeterMerchant via dorset wrote:

I have been given a dead Laptop and am trying to use the 1TB hard disk out of 
it. It is W10 and I have reset W10 to get rid of all the previous owners stuff, 
and then I used a windows utility to shrink the Windows space and create  some 
free disk.

When I try to install dual boot Kubuntu At the point where I want to create  
the linux partitions I can't because W10 has 4 primary partitions and that is 
all that are allowed. So the extra space is inaccessible.

I am not sure what my next steps could be. Can I convert a W10 partition to be 
an extended partition, or even be devilish and blow away the recovery partition?

Appreciate your thoughts.

Peter


Result: 1 hard disk, 2 duff operating systems on it, and a grub prompt. Time 
for the Terry option.

After  creating an Ext4 partition in the free space, the install insisted on an 
 Eft? partition so I had to revise things for that, and then it gave me 
reminders that what I was going to do could be disastrous, but I went ahead 
anyway.

Leave it stashed in the bottom of the PC until 2020 now.

Peter


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Re: [Dorset] Dual Boot W10/Linux partition problem

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 22/12/2019 18:31, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi Peter,


  sudo -i parted /dev/sda unit B print

Model: ATA ST500LM012 HN-M5 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 500107862016B

It's not the 1 TB that you thought then?

 $ units 500107862016B bytes
465 GiB + 780 MiB + 24 KiB


Yeah, my mistake, but still plenty large enough for me.

Peter


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Re: [Dorset] Dual Boot W10/Linux partition problem

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 22/12/2019 14:18, PeterMerchant via dorset wrote:

On 22/12/2019 13:35, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi Peter,


When I try to install dual boot Kubuntu At the point where I want to
create  the linux partitions I can't because W10 has 4 primary
partitions and that is all that are allowed. So the extra space is
inaccessible.

After a look around with Dr. Google, my impression is that the partition 
flagged as data is a computer (Lenovo in this case) manufacturers partition for 
putting data when a recovery is being done. On that basis I have deleted it and 
created a new partition  for all the Unallocated space. Tomorrow we will se 
what happens.










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Re: [Dorset] Dual Boot W10/Linux partition problem

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 22/12/2019 13:35, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi Peter,


When I try to install dual boot Kubuntu At the point where I want to
create  the linux partitions I can't because W10 has 4 primary
partitions and that is all that are allowed. So the extra space is
inaccessible.

If you boot from a live Linux USB stick, what's the output of

 sudo -i parted /dev/sda unit B print

substituting /dev/sda for the system's hard disk.


Model: ATA ST500LM012 HN-M5 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 500107862016B
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number  Start  End    Size   Type File system  Flags
 1  1048576B   105906175B 104857600B primary ntfs boot
 2  105906176B 13580107775B   13474201600B   primary  ntfs
 3  13580107776B   184598881791B  171018774016B  primary  ntfs
 4  499172507648B  500106788863B  934281216B primary ntfs diag

This does not show the unallocated area.

Gparted gives me:

/dev/sdb1   NTFS 'System reserved'  size 100MB   boot

/dev/sdb2   NTFS  'RECOVERY'  12.55GB

/dev/sdb3 (locked) NTFS 'WINDOWS'        159.2GB   gives a mount point 
peterm/dev/WINDOWS in gparted

unallocated unallocated 292.97GB

/dev/sdb4  NTFS  891MB diag

unallocated unallocated 1.02MB

I  kind of would like to keep the W10 stuff just in case someone absolutely 
INSISTS that they can only work with that.

responding to Terry, unlike WXP, I was able to take the spinning rust out of 
the laptop and plug it in to my PC instead of the usual disk, and it fired up 
and worked OK. That's how I was able to reset W10. Not worried about piracy as 
it came from a refurb laptop and I have the sticky label saying so.

Peter



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[Dorset] Dual Boot W10/Linux partition problem

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

I have been given a dead Laptop and am trying to use the 1TB hard disk out of 
it. It is W10 and I have reset W10 to get rid of all the previous owners stuff, 
and then I used a windows utility to shrink the Windows space and create  some 
free disk.

When I try to install dual boot Kubuntu At the point where I want to create  
the linux partitions I can't because W10 has 4 primary partitions and that is 
all that are allowed. So the extra space is inaccessible.

I am not sure what my next steps could be. Can I convert a W10 partition to be 
an extended partition, or even be devilish and blow away the recovery partition?

Appreciate your thoughts.

Peter



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Re: [Dorset] Anyone with a 3D Printer

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 07/12/2019 13:01, James Blake wrote:

Hey all

I need to get a specific design of a button replicated for a jacket I own.  Has 
anyone got a 3D printer?

I’ll cover material costs and effort?


James


The Cell Shop in Wimborne used to have one in his window. I believe that he is 
only open Thursday and perhaps one other day now.

Peter


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Re: [Dorset] PVR disk formatting problems

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 04/02/2019 11:56, PeterMerchant via dorset wrote:

On 04/02/2019 11:10, PeterMerchant via dorset wrote:

My Humax 9150T PVR is starting to give problems on playback where it skips and 
hesitates and sometimes the sound is out of sync with the video. Yes it is 
quite old. I bought a second one recently to use for a replacement hard disk, 
but it worked so well I put in use on the downstairs TV for the grandchildren.

The hard disk is a WD1600AVVS  where the AV indicates that it is built for 
AudioVisual purposes such as security monitors etc. It's 160GB.  I attached it 
to my computer and it is not seen. Gparted shows the disk as unformatted.

Q1. Is there a utility or Distro that can read this disk? I would like to copy 
off the programs if I can. [The Humax only has a serial port  for 
communications, and no means of exporting programs]

Q2. If I buy a new disk, is there anything that will format it appropriately? 
The Humax does have a format disk option, so perhaps that would do it.

Thanks for any help. 


Just to wrap up this one finally. I discovered this morning on a Humax Forum 
that this is a well known problem

"This sounds like the well known playback jitter problem associated with the 9300 
and 9150 machines, there are lots of posts on this forum about it"

In my case I recently swapped hard discs between the two 9150 units that I have 
and the problem has stayed with the hardware not the disc.  If there is a next 
step it is to check the firmware version numbers  of each unit. I have noticed 
that the firmware loader program version is different between the units in the 
past.

End it.  Peter




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Re: [Dorset] OT: Lifetime of TV screens

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 06/12/2019 14:31, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi,

Terry wrote:

The qualified answer is that there is no doubt that far from reducing
the lifetime of components, leaving an electronic device turned on
increases reliability.

That's definitely true for some things.  My main computer is an Acer
Revo bought early 2011.  Nine years is more that I expected to get out
of it.  I did have to replace the rusty hard drive at the first sign of
trouble, but that was only sixteen months ago.  For all but the first
year or so of its life it's been running continuously.  Even its small
original fan is happy.

I've found all electric kettles purchased in the last eight or so years
fail, typically after just over a year, sometimes under.  Doesn't matter
if they're unbranded ones sold as a supermarket's own, or branded ones
at three times the price.  Which? magazine seem to have finally cottoned
onto this problem after someone wrote in to complain their kettle
reviews don't take longevity into account.

The other common failure point I find on TV, monitors, and mobile
phones, is the on/off switch.  That small button you hold in.  The TV
one started to be erratic so now it's left ‘on’, switched to standby
with the remote control, and powered off at the mains wall socket.
The monitor's switch did the same so the monitor is left on all the
time, relying on the PC to switch it to standby.  The power switch goes
wrong with mobiles so often that there's quite a few apps to repurpose
another button, e.g. volume.

As for putting the TV on standby.  Here, it's typically only for a
concentrated period of an evening so it's powered off all the other
hours.  I'd suggest, Peter, that whether to switch to standby depends on
how long you think you'll be gone and the odds that it will be much
longer.


Well, The TV does not have an ON/Off switch, so unless I want to bend down to 
the power socket and unplug it (Leaving the PVR on) It lives in standby.

Along the same line, the screens on my computers have one of these EON device 
controllers that switches them off when the main device (Computer) is switched 
off so they do get switched off and on (once a day).

P.


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Re: [Dorset] OT: Lifetime of TV screens

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 06/12/2019 09:17, PeterMerchant via dorset wrote:

The question that has been raised at home is whether it is better to turn off 
(Standby) the TV when you leave the room for a short period. The one opinion 
that I have found on the Internet is that leaving it on only costs an small 
amount of electricity.  Happy with that.

But is there a cost in terms of stressing the components and reducing the 
lifetime for modern TVs?  We have a Samsung and a Toshiba LCD TV.  And does any 
answer relate to computer screens?


Cheers, Peter M



Thanks all for your replies.

Our Samsung TV has not been completely powered off since I unplugged it to add 
a surge protector a month or so ago. So it will  not get the On/Off stresses.

The other TV  I had for awhile connected to a Smart plug and was therefore 
turned off completely when not in use. That was until I discovered that the TV 
consumed 45 ma  in standby and the Smart Plug 80.

P.


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[Dorset] OT: Lifetime of TV screens

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

The question that has been raised at home is whether it is better to turn off 
(Standby) the TV when you leave the room for a short period. The one opinion 
that I have found on the Internet is that leaving it on only costs an small 
amount of electricity.  Happy with that.

But is there a cost in terms of stressing the components and reducing the 
lifetime for modern TVs?  We have a Samsung and a Toshiba LCD TV.  And does any 
answer relate to computer screens?


Cheers, Peter M


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Re: [Dorset] Cannot get into KWallet after copying my Home directory from an old Spinning Rust Drive to a new SSD

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 28/11/2019 17:59, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi Terry,


I found I had a bit of time, so I've swapped the drive back and
KWallet is working again.  I'll have another go in due course.


According to the manual, you can export/import your data:


   Import and Export

If you want to transfer your secrets to another device or computer use the 
actions in theFilemenu.

WithExport as encryptedwallets can be exported into an encrypted archive file.

Importing this archive file withImport encryptedyou have to provide the master 
password of the wallet.

Alternatively a|.xml|file can be used for transferring a wallet. Keep in mind 
that all secrets are stored as plain text in this file.

I see a gotcha that you have to know the master password.

Does this work?

Peter

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Re: [Dorset] Searching DLUG History

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 27/10/2019 16:33, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi Peter,


How can I do this? I am sure that we had an exchange re OCR some time
ago and would like to review it.

...

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That didn't work. I went there but couldn't find how to search our archives. 
However, as I use Thunderbird, I was able to search that and found the emails 
relating to Terry's need to translate Chinese on Heat-sink goop.

Peter


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[Dorset] Searching DLUG History

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

How can I do this? I am sure that we had an exchange re OCR some time ago and 
would like to review it.

Thanks,

PM


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Re: [Dorset] My Laptop Boot Time is Very Slow

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 05/10/2019 15:09, Terry Coles wrote:

Hi,

My Dell XPS 13 has always been very slow to boot and I just put up with it
because I use my desktop PC for most serious work.

However, I stumbled across an article in a magazine which informed me about
systemd-analyze, so I tried it.  Here is the output:

terry@XPS-13:~$ systemd-analyze critical-chain
The time after the unit is active or started is printed after the "@"
character.
The time the unit takes to start is printed after the "+" character.

graphical.target @56.633s
└─multi-user.target @56.633s
   └─smbd.service @56.563s +69ms
 └─nmbd.service @6.501s +50.060s
   └─network-online.target @6.470s
 └─NetworkManager-wait-online.service @1.822s +4.647s
   └─NetworkManager.service @1.684s +136ms
 └─dbus.service @1.679s
   └─basic.target @1.581s
 └─sockets.target @1.581s
   └─snapd.socket @1.574s +6ms
 └─sysinit.target @1.569s
   └─systemd-timesyncd.service @1.157s +411ms
 └─systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service @1.123s +30ms
   └─systemd-journal-flush.service @930ms +189ms
 └─systemd-journald.service @139ms +724ms
   └─systemd-journald.socket @137ms
 └─system.slice @134ms
   └─-.slice @134ms

As you can see, the culprit seems to be nmbd.service; over 50 seconds
compared to the next worse item of 4.6 seconds.  This laptop is running
Kubuntu 19.04 as is the desktop. I am aware that nmbd (and smbd) are related
to samba and I previously setup a samba server on the laptop to assist with
sharing files but I don't currently on the desktop (I used to share my
directories on the desktop, but I did a clean installation on the desktop
because of a bug in qt).

It is still useful to have samba, but am unsure why the nmbd service takes so
long.  Any ideas?


Ran it on my Desktop, running Kubuntu 18.04, with this result:

peterm@peterm-MBB-34204H:~$ systemd-analyze critical-chain
The time after the unit is active or started is printed after the "@" character.
The time the unit takes to start is printed after the "+" character.

graphical.target @30.820s
└─multi-user.target @30.820s
  └─mpd.service @23.584s +7.235s  *
    └─network.target @23.579s
  └─NetworkManager.service @21.242s +2.336s  *
    └─dbus.service @21.233s
  └─basic.target @21.192s
    └─sockets.target @21.192s
  └─snapd.socket @21.125s +66ms  *
    └─sysinit.target @21.032s
  └─systemd-timesyncd.service @20.802s +229ms  *
    └─systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service @20.565s +97ms *
  └─systemd-journal-flush.service @3.401s +17.163s *
    └─systemd-remount-fs.service @3.229s +171ms   *
  └─systemd-journald.socket @3.202s
    └─system.slice @3.202s
  └─-.slice @3.183s


'*' marks those highlighted in pink(?).

Peter


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Re: [Dorset] Date of Next Meeting.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 02/10/2019 12:10, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi,

Tim W. wrote:

Nice catch. I'll be doing Bonfire Night things that night.

Anyone object to Tuesday 12th instead?

Happy by me. PM.

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[Dorset] Basic Stamp computer

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

I have a Basic Stamp computer and Manual that I  cannot bring myself to bin. If 
anyone would like it I'll bring it along to the meeting next Tuesday.

It's like this https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/microcontrollers/0405654/ but 
probably an earlier model and on a  small development board with 9v battery 
connections at one end and 9-pin serial connector connections at the other.

Peter M.



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Re: [Dorset] ECDSA Host keys.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 07/09/2019 11:24, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi Peter,

Victor gave a method of stopping the warning, but Hamish was on the
right track of using different IP addresses.


Even though I did this that Victor suggested, it still gave me the keygen 
error, so therefore perhaps I didn't do it right.

P.




Many times when I try to log-in to a Raspberry Pi via SSH I get the
following message:

...

ECDSA host key for 192.168.1.9 has changed and you have requested
strict checking.

What operating system is running your ‘ssh 192.168.1.9’?  If Linux,
I expect it has support for multicast DNS and you should be able to do
‘ssh raspberrypi.local’ instead; the default hostname(1) in Raspbian
being ‘raspberrypi’ and ‘local’ being a pseudo top-level domain
reserved for mDNS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.local

You may find the first ssh or ‘ping raspberrypi.local’ doesn't work,
but it doesn't from the second on.  This is just the time-out used being
shorter than the time taken by the system to get a reply to its broadcast.


For some reason the pi I tried had the name in the hosts file of 'raspberrypi-4'

and ssh seemed to connect to the pi then, but would not accept the password at 
all, so this didn't work at all.

Maybe I should try 'ssh -l pi raspberrypi-4.local' ?  - That worked.

I think I will follow what it says in the article and name each pi for what the 
function is.


If that works, you can give each of your Raspbian installations a
different hostname that's meaningful, e.g. ‘coupe’ for your RC car
that doesn't stop.

https://bloggerbrothers.com/2017/01/08/name-your-pis-with-mdns-forget-the-ips-with-zeroconf/
has more detail.  I haven't tried what I suggested, or what's in that
article, but think the theory's correct.


The avahi-daemon mentioned in the article is already running on the kubuntu 
linux system.

Cheers,

Peter


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Re: [Dorset] ECDSA Host keys.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

Offending ECDSA key in /home/peterm/.ssh/known_hosts:8
remove with:
ssh-keygen -f "/home/peterm/.ssh/known_hosts" -R "192.168.1.9"

tells you how.  You will then be able to log in after agreeing to generate a
new key.


Thanks Terry, I am used to doing this every time I work with a different 
Pi/software.

Victor has sent me a solution that will work for me, but not sent it to LUG:

In your own home directory there should be a directory .ssh/ ; in that
directory you may already have a file called config. If it doedsn't exist,
create it with usual permissions.

In that file create the lines:

Host 192.168.1.9
StrictHostKeyChecking no

Next time you say 'ssh 192.168.1.9' your ssh command should read the config
and override the strict host key check .
This only affects the behaviour of your own ssh client , when connecting to
this IP address. So it should not impact your overall security.

Peter




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[Dorset] ECDSA Host keys.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

Many times when I try to log-in to a Raspberry Pi via SSH I get the following 
message:


@@@
@    WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! @
@@@
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY!
Someone could be eavesdropping on you right now (man-in-the-middle attack)!
It is also possible that a host key has just been changed.
The fingerprint for the ECDSA key sent by the remote host is
SHA256:8ayjxAjx4Kar+HObByJH0JBPCfWwAGHytmiNKGxUl90.
Please contact your system administrator.
Add correct host key in /home/peterm/.ssh/known_hosts to get rid of this 
message.
Offending ECDSA key in /home/peterm/.ssh/known_hosts:8
  remove with:
  ssh-keygen -f "/home/peterm/.ssh/known_hosts" -R "192.168.1.9"
ECDSA host key for 192.168.1.9 has changed and you have requested strict 
checking.
Host key verification failed.

Q1: What is creating this Host key, Is it a combination of the hardware and the 
Raspbian OS?

Q2: How do I change the system so that it is not 'strict checking'? and [Q3] do 
I want to as this PC is also used for Internet access?

All of my Pis use the same IP address for Ethernet connection, and a different 
fixed IP address for wireless connection. I only ever connect one at a time.

Thanks for your help.

Peter M.


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Re: [Dorset] Next Meeting - One Week Tonight

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

Not making it. I am not going to inflict this bug on anybody. See you soon.

Peter
On 27/08/2019 17:06, Terry Coles wrote:

Hi,

The next meeting is one week tonight on Tuesday, 2019-09-03 20:00 at the
Bournemouth Electric Club.  See:

http://dorset.lug.org.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=meetings:pub#bournemouth_electric





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Re: [Dorset] Help with Python to HTML - 2 things

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 14/08/2019 17:23, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi Peter,


PWM_Value is not PWM_value in a case-sensitive language.  :-)


Thanks Ralph, I am terrible with my Caps.

P.


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[Dorset] Help with Python to HTML - 2 things

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

I have been struggling all day with two things in my program(s). This is trying 
to use PWM to control a motor.

Problem 1] Incrementing the PWM% by 15% each time the button is pressed.

The error that I am getting is:

  File "/home/pi/rc-car/app.py", line 76, in Up_15
    PWM_value = PWM_value + PWM_increment
UnboundLocalError: local variable 'PWM_value' referenced before assignment

The code for this is:

@app.route('/up_15/')
def Up_15():
    global PWM_Value
    PWM_value = PWM_value + PWM_increment
    duty_cycle_percentage = PWM_value * 100 / ms_per_cycle
    print("Duty Cycle[F]: " + str(duty_cycle_percentage))
    pwm.start(duty_cycle_percentage)
    time.sleep(.5)
    pwm.ChangeDutyCycle(0)
    return render_template('index.html', PWM_value)

where these are initialized:


PWM_Stop = 0
PWM_value = 0
PWM_increment = 15

The second thing that I am trying to do is pass the parameter PWM_Value back to 
the HTML and then display it. I see an error there already in a lc 'v'. I 
cannot find any  help on-line for this.

The particular  bit of the HTML that calls the Python is:



  
  
    UP +15%
    
  

In this line following:
    UP +15%
 These bits were there in the program that I stole this stuff from:

data-toggle="tooltip" title="Forward" class="btn btn-success"  so I don't know 
what they do aside from nothing obvious.

Thanks for any help and advice.

Already seen one possibility: The HTML is 'up_15' and the Python it calls is 
'Up_15'. But that must work or I wouldn't get the error above.


Peter M.


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Re: [Dorset] Speeding up HTML response

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 01/08/2019 16:48, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi Peter,


One problem is that even though my fingers are big, the button on the
app is actually just the text, and I have difficulty getting the sweet
spot.

Bigger text?  https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/font-size


https://www.w3schools.com/css/css_grid.asp for the grid 30 
Jan2019



RC-Car with Flask 30 Jan 2019

Re: [Dorset] Speeding up HTML response

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 01/08/2019 07:57, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi again Peter,


If that's still slow then perhaps your Python needs improving.  :-)

I've now seen the video.  Can you run the car lying on its back during
the tests?  That would let you see what's happening, how quickly it's
matching the requests, and remove a lot of the friction from being in
contact with the ground that may be slowing the recognition of its
response.


One problem is that even though my fingers are big, the button on the app is 
actually just the text, and I have difficulty getting the sweet spot.



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[Dorset] Speeding up HTML response

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

I have now got my RC car  running with the Raspberry Pi, but it is slow to 
respond. I am wondering if I use a better tablet, or is there a faster browser 
to use than firefox, or other means of making it respond faster.

This is a python app with HTML front end using Flask, and the R-Pi also 
configured as an Access Point.


Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsj-cnHkr_k=119s

Peter



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Re: [Dorset] Links from 2019-07-02's Pub Meet.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

Incidentally, a pair of floppy disk drives with PSU, interface card and CP/M 
cost around £800 in 1983 - £2288 today according to

https://www.inflationtool.com/british-pound

Tim


So My BBC Micro model B in 1983 (£399)  would cost £ 1144 today. That's a lot 
of money but I am not sorry that we bought it.

Peter


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Re: [Dorset] Links from 2019-07-02's Pub Meet.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 03/07/2019 12:37, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi Peter,


And a bit of fun using terminal on an android tablet to ssh into a
Raspberry Pi and then editing with nano. The damned up/down arrows and
CTRL/ALT  kept disappearing.

This is why it's useful to know a bit of ed(1).  It doesn't need much to
be working on the keyboard.  :-)  I use it most days when I want to make
a quick edit using the information visible in the terminal that would be
replaced if I start a full-screen editor.
https://sanctum.geek.nz/arabesque/actually-using-ed/


I remember ed. I don't think that I have used it for about 30 years and I can't 
remember what OS that was on.  I did use ed, but also edlin on DOS boxes.

Peter


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Re: [Dorset] Links from 2019-07-02's Pub Meet.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

There was some discussion about 'CEPH?' and similar things.

We got on to 'R' because we were discussing programming languages. Here's a 
summary of current popular ones:
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/10-programming-languages-developers-used-most-in-the-past-year/

And a bit of fun using terminal on an android tablet to ssh into a Raspberry Pi 
and then editing with nano. The damned up/down arrows and CTRL/ALT  kept 
disappearing.


Peter


On 03/07/2019 08:51, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi,

We sat on the ‘pub garden’ benches all evening and enjoyed the sun for a
long time as the playing fields meant no buildings cast an early shadow.

The Raspberry Pi 4 got several mentions.
https://blog.hackster.io/meet-the-new-raspberry-pi-4-model-b-9b4698c284
is a good review of the improvements.  Given they planned four silicon
revisions, A0, B0, C0, and C1, and they've released B0 because it
‘turned out to be production-ready’, I'll wait a month of two and see if
others find problems.  :-)  Especially as I'd want the 4 GiB version for
a desktop machine.

Talking of desktops, here's using two ‘4 K’ TVs, really UHDTV1, as
computer monitors, one of which is also the desk surface.
https://twitter.com/andrewculver/status/826948468803457024/

The four woods used by a player in bowls are no longer allowed to have
an internal weight for bias.  Instead, they must have a visible dimple
in the surface from a permitted range of sizes.

Peter M. and Patrick were asking about R.  It's a modern programming
language for statistics and data analysis, with many packages available
to re-use, and has some nice charting ability.  It's mostly a superset
of the S language from Bell Labs, them again, in 1976.
https://www.r-project.org/about.html

An article I recently read happens to use R to map the biased samples of
‘think of a number between 1 and 10’ from a large population to a data
set that provides an unbiased answer by solving a linear programming
problem using R.  Even if you just ‘look at the pictures’, the animation
neatly shows how the samples are mapped; search for ‘animate’ and it's
just below.  https://torvaney.github.io/projects/human-rng

Why the two-tone high-low train signal sounds to me like ‘Hitler’.
https://www.rssb.co.uk/rgs/standards/GMRT2484%20Iss%202.pdf says the
horns' frequencies are

 370 Hz ± 20 Hz
 311 Hz ± 20 Hz

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_key_frequencies#List maps those near
enough to

 F♯4 369.9944
 D♯4 311.1270

and they are three semitones apart and a minor third.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_Bogey_March#History says

 Supposedly, the tune was inspired by a military man and golfer who
 whistled a characteristic two-note phrase (a descending minor third
 interval) instead of shouting "Fore!"




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Re: [Dorset] Very slow Desktop startup problem

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 30/06/2019 18:46, C Wills wrote:

Hi All

My wife's desktop PC running Mint 18.10 takes a very long time in starting 
approx 4-5mins, (it used to start in less than 1min). It's also slow in 
'logging in' and if trying to copy pictures from a USB stick to her /Pictures/ 
folder it takes ages at each operation.
It would appear that something is happening in start up that loops round and 
hogs memory.

How can I find out what's happening during the start up process please?


My KDE has in it's setting a 'startup and shutdown' that says what applications 
are to start on startup, in my case dropbox and Gkrellm.

Peter


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Re: [Dorset] Next Meeting - One Week tonight

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

Not so many pubs around Wimborne these days. :(
I thought one of the criteria for the location was bus availability. Is this 
not so much of a problem these days?
Peter

On 29/06/2019 11:52, D-LUG wrote:

On Saturday, 29 June 2019 09:59:10 BST Ralph Corderoy wrote:

CAMRA's https://whatpub.com allows filtering of location-based results
by lots of criteria, including ‘quiet’, that I presume means no music or
TV audio.  Someone with time and local knowledge could come up with
contenders for future consideration.  An example, it doesn't have to be
Winton.

Many years ago, we used to go to Pubs around Wimbone:-)


https://whatpub.com/search?q=Winton=t=1=50.7333=-1.86667
s=Quiet

I think the BEC probably suits most people at the moment.

Perhaps we should do this exercise before we rejoin in September?




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Re: [Dorset] Next Meeting - One Week tonight

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 28/06/2019 14:06, Terry Coles wrote:

On Friday, 28 June 2019 14:02:27 BST Ralph Corderoy wrote:

In the BEC compound?  You've probably wandered around it the most so
would have the best idea.  If you mean another venue, well, we've
struggled for years with that and I don't think they will be a
breakthrough in the next few days.  :-)

There was the promise of being able to use the fucntion room on busy nights,
but the barmaid who said that has since left ;-(

Perhaps someone on the list can suggest somewhere as an alternative for a one-
off meeting?

Ideas needed!


Do they have an outside garden/picnic area? Barring rain that would do as it is 
still light until late.

Peter M.


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Re: [Dorset] Programming problem: Have I done something wrong?

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

And the GPIO clean-up is after that definition, just before you decide
to hand control over to Flask by calling app.run().


GPIO.cleanup()

if __name__ == '__main__':
      app.run(debug=True, host='0.0.0.0')

You're cleaning up the GPIO before Flask gets to run and that probably
undoes all your GPIO and PWM configuration.  Assuming run() can return,
I forget, move the clean up:

 if __name__ == '__main__':
 app.run(debug=True, host='0.0.0.0')
 GPIO.cleanup()


Thanks Ralph, Things happen now.

Peter


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[Dorset] Programming problem: Have I done something wrong?

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

This is to do with driving an R/C Servo from a Raspberry Pi.  I have this 
working with motors driving my car, but this takes two pins at opposing 
polarities for change of direction. An R/C servo works differently: Instead of 
two wires of opposite polarity for the motor direction there is only one 
control wire using pulse width modulation between 1 and 2 milliseconds for full 
control.

An HTML program calls the python program to drive the car as here:

- -

#  2018-04-05 Modified from Les Pounder program to handle two motors
# one for steering and one for motion
# steering is Left = 10, right = 11
# changing it trying to add Turn for motor control
# 2018-10-31 changing toggle LED to stop motors

from flask import Flask, render_template
from gpiozero import LED, Motor
from time import sleep

# led = LED(25)
motor = Motor(forward=18, backward=23)
turn  = Motor(forward=10, backward=11)


app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/')
def index():
    return render_template('index.html')

@app.route('/motor-stop/')
def on():
    motor.stop()
    return render_template('index.html')

@app.route('/motor-forwards/')
# 31/1/19 modified to test double push on button to stop. see notes.
def motorforwards():
    if motor.value == 0:
    motor.forward()
    elif motor.value > 0:
    motor.stop()
    return render_template('index.html')

@app.route('/motor-backwards/')
def motorbackwards():
    motor.backward()
    return render_template('index.html')

@app.route('/motor-left/')
def motorleft():
    turn.forward()
    sleep(1)
    turn.stop()
    return render_template('index.html')

@app.route('/motor-right/')
def motorright():
    turn.backward()
    sleep(1)
    turn.stop()
    return render_template('index.html')

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run(debug=True, host='0.0.0.0')


--- -- 

A python test program that drives the Servos, and works. This quite long 
because the guy that wrote it documented every step.

-- -- -


# This gives us control of the Raspberry Pi's pins.
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO

# This is only used for time delays... standard Python stuff.
import time

# Tell i which pin number we'll  be using to refer to the GPIO pains.
# We will use the physical pin ordering.
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)

# We will tell the Broadcom CPU which pins do what.
# There are many pins and most have up to 5 different functions,
# each with a default.  Check the pinout to find non-specialized
# "GPIO" pins.  We'll use P!-Pin_11 (using BOARD reference),
# which is the same as GPIO17 (Broadcom / BCM reference).
# We need our pin to use the GPIO digital output function, so we just
# tell it to designate this pin for OUTPUT.
pin_number = 18
GPIO.setup(pin_number, GPIO.OUT)

# Now we can use PWM on pin 18.  It's software PWM, so don't expect perfect
# results.  Linux is a multitasking OS so other processes could interrupt
# the process which generate the PWM signal at any time.
# Raspberry Pi has a hardware PWm channel, but this Pythong library
# does not yet support it.
frequency_hertz = 50
pwm = GPIO.PWM(pin_number, frequency_hertz)


# How to position a servo?  All servos are pretty much the same.
# Send repeated purses of an absolute duration (not a relative duty cycle)
# between 0.40 ms and 2.5 ms in duration.  A single pulse will only move it
# a short distance in the desired direction.  Repeated pulses will continue
# its movement and then once it arrives at the specified position it will
# insruct the motor to forcefully hold its position.
left_position = 0.40
right_position = 2.5
middle_position = (right_position - left_position) / 2 + left_position

# I'll store a sequence of positions for use in a loop later on.
positionList = [left_position, middle_position, right_position, middle_position]

# total number of milliseconds in a a cycle.  Given this, we will then
# know both how long we want to pulse in this cycle and how long tghe
# cycle itself is.  That is all we need to calculate a duty cycle as
# a percentage.
ms_per_cycle = 1000 / frequency_hertz

frequency_hertz = 50
pwm = GPIO.PWM(pin_number, frequency_hertz)


# How to position a servo?  All servos are pretty much the same.
# Send repeated purses of an absolute duration (not a relative duty cycle)
# between 0.40 ms and 2.5 ms in duration.  A single pulse will only move it
# a short distance in the desired direction.  Repeated pulses will continue
# its movement and then once it arrives at the specified position it will
# insruct the motor to forcefully hold its position.
left_position = 0.40
right_position = 2.5
middle_position = (right_position - left_position) / 2 + left_position

# I'll store a sequence of positions for use in a loop later on.
positionList = [left_position, middle_position, right_position, middle_position]

# total number of milliseconds in a a cycle.  Given this, we will then
# know both how long we want to pulse in this cycle and how long tghe
# cycle itself 

Re: [Dorset] Thought for the day:

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

and I've met many strong women in 30+ years computer projecting who weren't shy 
of criticising.


Me too. At Plessey I hired more women than men for my team, and then got a 
commendation for the quality of people that I chose. It was some sort of 
research into how people were chosen for jobs. But that was back in early 80's.

Of my networking students in the 2000's, they were always a mixed bag. I never 
did any investigations of the mix.

P.


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[Dorset] Thought for the day: Diversity in the LUG

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

https://qz.com/1624252/pythons-creator-thinks-it-has-a-diversity-problem/

But do we care?

Peter


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Re: [Dorset] Python help

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 12/05/2019 16:10, tim wrote:

On Sun, 12 May 2019 15:43:53 +0100
Stephen Wolff  wrote:


Hi there,

trying to teach myself Python at the moment and not doing to well so I have a 
couple of
questions if anybody can help me.

2) Anybody recommend any good online tutorial and\or books. I have a couple at 
the moment,
Python for Kids and an old copy of Learning Python

This is pretty good:

  - https://pragprog.com/book/gwpy3/practical-programming-third-edition


Teaches programming, but just happens to use Python. Not sure if it gets with 
your skill level,
but I found it useful as it goes over ground I didn’t cover having never 
studied CS at
undergraduate level.

Cheers,

Stephen


Thanks all for the recommendations, I shall work through go through over the 
coming weeks and see
what works for me and what does not. I have no doubt that I will be back with 
more questions in the
future.

Regards

Tim H


A sample program using Python: 
http://www.blog.pythonlibrary.org/2019/04/11/python-used-to-take-photo-of-black-hole/

Peter


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Re: [Dorset] Huawei 5G and Central-heating Control.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 11/05/2019 13:45, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi Peter,


https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/huawei-and-the-cameron-connection/

I began to wonder who were the other players in the UK 5G competition.

It was a discussion topic on BBC 1's _This Week_ on Thursday, with
Tim Marshall, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Marshall_(journalist),
interviewed by Andrew Neil.  Here's the interesting bits from the
subtitles.

TM: China seeks to dominate us, to dominate everyone.  Of course, it's
not the first time a country has tried to do this.  The United States
and Russia carved up the globe during the Cold War, the British Empire.
They're flexing their muscles in a manner well suited to the modern
globalised world, economic control.  But Beijing competes for domination
with Washington, and that asks a question of others - whose side are you
on?

TM: In the last five years, we have seen China's Belt and Road
Initiative develop, a $1 trillion package, developing construction
projects in more than 60 countries.  So, good for those countries?  Not
entirely.  China is accused of debt-trap diplomacy, extending excessive
credit to countries such as Sri Lanka - in that case, for a port - only
to see the countries default - at which point, China says, nice port,
we'll take it for a naval base, thank you.

TM: China is also determined to dominate the Fourth Industrial
Revolution, technology and AI, but so is the United States and this is
at the heart of Trump's trade war with China, which in turn could lead
to a global trade war.  As the Huawei row shows, we are likely to have
to choose between the superpowers.

TM: If we use Chinese technology in our 5G networks, the Americans may
not share intelligence.  Sure, in general, we can trade with both
powers, but there's no pick and mix on security and infrastructure.
Also, if the Americans call in a trade favour, do we say, sorry, we
prefer "Made in China"?  That's the backdrop to the Gavin Williamson
sacking.  Whoever leaked wanted the decision favouring China reversed.

TM: So, who do we ally with - our flawed ally or a dictatorship with an
appalling human rights record?  It's not as simple as, well, whichever
gives us the best deal.

AN: Given China's record, when it comes to industrial espionage,
cybercrime, theft of intellectual property on a grand scale, would any
British government be right to ignore US warnings about Huawei?

TM: On a personal note, I'd say absolutely not, and even if the science
is ambiguous, why would you take that risk..?  Can you imagine in the
1970s in a similar situation that the British government would have said
to the Russians, Oh, do come into our critical infrastructure and help
us build it.  It is inconceivable.

AN: It's not just America.  Australia and New Zealand have also
expressed serious concerns, and they say they will not deal with Huawei
on 5G.  That's three out of the famous intelligence gatherers, in which
we are crucial partners.  That cannot be ignored.

AN: This isn't just Huawei that's involved.  The US Trade
Representative, and this was a previous administration, Mr Obama's, they
calculate that $300 billion of technology and intellectual property
rights is stolen every year by China.  The foreign companies that set up
in China are forced to hand over their technology and IP as the price of
doing business, and China's 2017 national intelligence law encourages,
indeed, some read it, depending on the translation, mandates Chinese
expats to become industrial spies.  Surely the scandal of this goes way
beyond Huawei!  The scandal is that the West has done almost nothing
since China entered the WTO in 2000 to counter this.

TM: I agree with all of that...  This isn't about trade, it's about
foreign policy, and the things you said are true.  I've looked,
obviously in translation, at the laws in China, but also Huawei and all
the other big companies, by law, must allow China to look straight into
their computers at any point that they want.  Whereas, of course, the
Americans can't even get into Facebook.

TM: So why are we putting that at risk?  The idea that they wouldn't
build [in backdoors is like assuming Russia wouldn't bug the Moscow
building given to the USA for an embassy].  ...but you're right, Huawei
is now the buzzword for a much bigger issue about where you put your
weight.  We have to trade with both countries... and clearly you do that
with the Americans.  Don't even have to like them, but you put your
weight there.

TM: Why do you think [China] invest so heavily in Hollywood?  Have you
seen a film, in the last five years, that has had an evil threatening
China or Chinese person in it?  No.  Because if you are 30% into a
Hollywood film company...

AN: That is why Sony bought into Hollywood because it was making movies
about the evil Japanese until Sony moved in...

AN: One thing that does not get any coverage here, if we look at
President Xi's Made in China 2025, which is a road map for his
totalitarian organisation, 

Re: [Dorset] Huawei 5G and Central-heating Control.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 10/05/2019 14:13, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi,

The standard Drayton two-channel central-heating timer unit lacks
desired functionality.  Using a Pi, or an MCU development board, was
mentioned.  https://www.crowdsupply.com/makeopenstuff/hestiapi-touch is
fund raising for a Pi-based, four relay, LCD screen, controller.
Overkill for what I want, but interesting that others are trying to
avoid the off-the-shelf Google Nest, etc., solutions.


If you are offered  one of these:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/British-Gas-Dual-Channel-Programmer-Type-DCP-NDC-Code-555054/1182366077?iid=143013638235

Run a mile. Don't let British Gas fit it. I stopped my British Gas service 
agreement and am using a local company now. They said they hadn't seen this 
one. I find it a pain to program and change.  It's a BG branded product.

Peter




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Re: [Dorset] Huawei 5G and Central-heating Control.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 10/05/2019 14:13, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi,

Two topics that got mentioned in Tuesday's meeting have since cropped up
again so I thought I'd pass on the links.

The links between Huawei 5G and the UK Government, Blair's, and
especially Cameron's.
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/huawei-and-the-cameron-connection/
Book 'em, Danno.


I began to wonder who were the other players in the UK 5G competition.

Here is what I found ( sorry no references)

5G competitors: Top 6 patent assignees: Samsung (Korea). 58% Intel. (US) 11% 
Nokia. (Finland). 11% Huawei (China). 10% Ericsson (Swedish) 5% ZTE. (China). 
5% Top technology Providers: Qualcomm (US) Intel (US) Ericsson (Sweden) Nokia. 
(Finland) Huawei (China) Samsung (Korea) ZTE

But which ones are Missing: Plessey, Marconi, GEC, Nortel

If you look into it deeper you find that some of those companies specialize in 
different aspects of it.

Peter

Sorry about print sizes. Thunderbird isn't cooperating after a paste of some 
notes.

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Re: [Dorset] Raspberry Pi GPIO connections.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 08/05/2019 10:58, Terry Coles wrote:

On Wednesday, 8 May 2019 10:54:25 BST PeterMerchant via dorset wrote:

I had thought about the 10P Dupont Female Connector Housing  which is
available from CPC for £0.30 but the postage is expensive from them. I
don't have the tool, but I am quite good at removing the crimped wires from
single unit headers and re-using them.

You can get them from RS: https://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/?
sra=oss=t=DuPont+header+housings[1]  and they don't charge postage.



Thanks for that. The 2x12 header looked good, but in the end I had concerns 
that they were Amphenol, and that the connectors might not latch properly. Also 
I had to buy minimum order 10, and then they added VAT,  so I went for the  
Cyntech ones as it kept the cost below the horizon of Mrs Moneybags I hope.

P.


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Re: [Dorset] Raspberry Pi GPIO connections.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 08/05/2019 10:10, Terry Coles wrote:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/
itm/Dupont-Crimping-Tool-SN-28B-Crimper-Kit-Set-Connectors-Raspberry-PI-Arduino/
264241871752?hash=item3d860afb88:m:mN2kfx7v7GKadkX4I3w6Vgg[2]).


Thanks Terry, I thought that you would be the one to answer.

I had thought about the 10P Dupont Female Connector Housing  which is available 
from CPC for £0.30 but the postage is expensive from them. I don't have the 
tool, but I am quite good at removing the crimped wires from single unit 
headers and re-using them.

Peter.



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[Dorset] Raspberry Pi GPIO connections.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

I want to connect a few wires to R-Pi GPIO pins in a manner that I can swap out 
the R-Pis if I need to. I have been looking for Molex headers but have not 
found one that fits. I have glued two ten-way connectors together via a backing 
strip with a gap between them , but I don't have any more to use. Alternatively 
I am thinking of getting  Cyntech GPIO headers and soldering to the pins. 
https://shop.cyntech.co.uk/collections/fiver/products/26-way-female-pcb-mount-connector

I don't want to just use individual connections because I made an error last 
time and got a nice piece of smoky wire.

Suggestions please?

Thanks,

Peter



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Re: [Dorset] Bournemouth Pub Meeting Tonight, Tuesday 2019-05-07.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

Didn't make it. I was/am in post-grandchildren recovery mode, falling asleep in 
front of the TV.
PeterM.

On 07/05/2019 16:45, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi again,


Busy day ahead today, but hope to see you there.

Yep, see you there.




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Re: [Dorset] The Linux Solution book

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

Your introduction made me think back to when I first came across unix. I guess it 
was at Plessey in about 1986 with Primix. Then again with Telxon when I was thrown 
in with Xenix. I remember xenix was on about 16 3&1/2 discs.  and the company 
system was a linux system, I can't remember which.

Peter M


On 01/05/2019 10:03, Keith Edmunds wrote:

Hi everyone! My book, "The Linux Solution", is available on Kindle for 99p
today. All proceeds to Great Ormond Street Children's Charity.

I'd appreciate it if you were able to support both the book and GOSH by
spending 99p on it (the offer is only for today).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Linux-Solution-Support-Scalable-Systems-ebook/dp/B07NZJHKHN/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?_encoding=UTF8=1556697454=8-1

Thanks,
Keith




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[Dorset] For KDE users

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

https://pointieststick.com/


Peter M.


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[Dorset] FYI :- Micro:bit to borrow from Dorset Libraries

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

If you want to play, I discovered this morning:

https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/libraries-history-culture/libraries/computers-and-internet-access/computers-and-internet-access-at-dorset-libraries.aspx


Peter


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Re: [Dorset] Kubuntu, clamav, and daily cron job

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 24/03/2019 21:43, Keith Edmunds wrote:

As root, run 'crontab -e' and add that line to the end (without the
vertical bars).

Explanation of numbers at start of line: "man 5 crontab"


Thanks Keith,

I do like to see and know what I am doing, so this helps a lot.

I did try clamTK, but I couldn't see what the results were and also a weirdo on 
my system when I ran it from the command line is that all the 'help' pop-ups 
were white on white.  It doesn't seem to have put an entry in the crontab file, 
so I don't know where it is managing it from.

Thanks,

Peter M.


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Re: [Dorset] Knotes and other means of keeping files

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 18/03/2019 16:39, Paul Tansom wrote:


For that reason, I have started using Simplenote. Not as sexy as Keep, but
it does support markup, and runs natively on Linux, OSX and Windows as
well as in a web browser.


Anyhoo, my strange issues apart, Joplin is probably worth a look.


As I now have converted all my notes, both from knotes and from Colornote into 
Keep, I thank you for your suggestions, but I think that I'll just run with 
this for awhile. It does what I want.

Peter



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[Dorset] Knotes and other means of keeping files

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

At the last meeting I was asking about knotes recovery and exporting. What I 
ended up doing is putting back the old hard disk from before I upgraded, and 
copying and pasting the knotes 'post-it's' into Google Keep.

I then looked into getting the stuff from Android Colornotes so that it is 
available on my PC, and google is not very helpful on this, though it did point 
to the  'send' option in the ... menu. That is wonderful and has sent my notes 
directly to google Keep.

Everything is in one place now, so no more wondering where I recorded something 
I wanted to remember -- hah!

Until Google retires Keep.

Peter



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Re: [Dorset] Slightly Off-Topic - Reasonable Miniature HDMI Monitor

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 11/03/2019 12:15, Terry Coles wrote:

This is another question that I asked on the Raspberry Pi Forums, since it
relates mainly to the performance of miniature monitors when used with the Pi.
Here is the original post:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=38=234636

To re-iterate, we will eventually have around 15 Pis running at the Wimborne
Model Town; all running headless and all related in some way to the management
of water in the model River System.  I've been using SSH and Filezilla; the
former to log into the Pi and the latter to download results and log files
from them.  It works well, but leaves one hole in the information available to
us; what happens at boot-up and what logging messages are visible on the
console in real time?  It would be useful to us to be able to see these whilst
observing the behaviour of the River System itself, so I thought that maybe a
small HDMI monitor would be useful and save me having to lug my old VGA
monitor to some obscure corner of the site.

The responses have been a bit mixed; ranging from people simply doing a Google
for small 'HDMI Monitor' (presumably believing that I didn't actually know how
to do that :-) ) to someone who suggested using a USB to Serial Adaptor
connected to the Pi's UART.

As far as the monitor suggestions are concerned, I haven't seen anyone who
appears to have actually tried one of the recommended monitors, which was
really the point of my question.

So does anyone here have any experience of using a 7" to 12" HDMI Monitor with
a Raspberry Pi and if so, would they recommend it?  (It must be HDMI, since
that is the only interface conveniently available.)

The idea of using the USB to Serial Adaptor seemed to be the way forward, so I
bought one.  However, this doesn't allow me to see the boot messages or the
logging, because I have to log into the Pi anyway, which is exactly what I do
with SSH!  Obviously when I log in subsequent to the program starting, I'm not
given access to the boot messages, because they've already happened and I'm
logging into a different session to the one which is running our code anyway.

Is there a way to view the information that I need during boot-time, without
connecting a monitor?


Just discovered this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOHws0qBBmI=628s

Peter


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Re: [Dorset] Micro:Bit

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 13/03/2019 17:39, Paul Tansom wrote:

** Ralph Corderoy  [2019-03-10 14:46]:

Hi Terry,


I commented that it was a shame that the Government / BBC hadn't
chosen the Raspberry Pi, since it already had a strong community.

I think two things counted against the Pi back then.  It's price, though
I haven't checked on what Pi models were available when the decisions
would have been being made, i.e. quite a bit before the micro:bit's
release.  And the opaqueness of its innards given it's a proprietary GPU
that happens to be able to load code for an ARM on the side to run.
Broadcom were never keen on opening the private bits up when I used to
follow the topic.

In comparison, the micro:bit is a lot more standard design for a `dev'
board, with two ARMs, a Cortex M0 where your code runs, and a Cortex M0+
that provides the USB access to program the M0.  Ditching the video
output leaves a simpler system to build from scratch.

(I have a micro:bit.)

** end quote [Ralph Corderoy]

They are in fact very different beasts. I was initially very enthusiastic about
the Raspberry Pi, and still am to some extent, but less so in a school
environment. To be fair it depends on the infrastructure. A lab full of them
with various bits of physical computing to go with them is great, but I've
tended to see teachers wondering what to do with them, lacking the space,
keyboards, mice and screens to use without detaching the ones on the existing
IT suite and then looking to use them in ways that, in the school environment,
you could just as easily do on the desktop with the right software. To my mind
there are two key advantages to the Pi. Cheap machine to be used at home
instead of the main computer to experiment with (very much the home computer of
my youth - bar the games I guess), or properly setup for physical computing
(again, to some extent BBC Micro style). They need a notable investment in time
and resources for proper use in schools.

By contrast I was pretty sceptical about the Micro:bit when it was launched. I
couldn't quite see how it would be used. I've changed my mind, largely based on
the fact that they are plug and play into a desktop computer (well not with the
latest firmware on Windows 7, but that's another story), and you can code on
the desktop and download onto a physical device in a very hands on way. It is
to some extent more like an Arduino, where the Raspberry Pi is a stand alone
computer (although that can be flexible in some cases). One pain point is
power, it is a shame they backed off the original plan here, the AAA battery
pack is a pain and a coin cell pack adds to the cost.

A couple of simple examples from my after school club in a primary school:

I intended to use a Raspberry Pi to control a robotic arm, but in the end it
was easier to use my netbook than get a screen, keyboard and mouse setup.

I have used a Pi with a Unicorn Hat (8x8 grid of LEDs) to play with old school
user defined graphics drawn on a piece of paper in frames, converted to a
number (good old binary) and entered into a Python program. That needed time to
disconnect the monitor and then use my wireless keyboard/touchpad so I had one
for the whole class. I had some great animations :-)

Micro:bit wise, I've used them for a Rock, Paper, Scissors game (popular as I
walked across the playground, as I forgot I had it on a lanyard round my
neck!). It can play against another Micro:bit, a similar program on Scratch,
live opponent or etc. - although not necessarily with direct communication!

I'm playing with the 'radio' for messaging between Micro:bits at the moment,
but it hasn't been field tested in class.

Referencing the issues touched on above, the latest firmware introduces WebUSB
to allow the code to download from the browser (presumably whichever language
you choose) straight to the Micro:bit, but this lacks support in Windows 7.
This causes plug and play issues, particularly when it reinstalls the driver if
you don't use exactly the same unit.

There may be some interesting possibilities with the Pi Zero that can connect
using an OTG cable allowing SSH access (or other network protocol) giving the
potential for similar interaction to the Micro:bit (although more complex) and
removing the need for extra peripherals. You could then control the various
Hats via Python from a desktop. There was also a thing called the Rtk.GPIO
which connected to a PC via USB to give it Raspberry Pi compatible GPIO ports.
Not sure where / whether they are still available, and they didn't work with
all Hats.

That was more than I planned to type. Just checked and I appear to have 13
Raspberry Pis of various sorts (one running Nextcloud for the past couple of
years) and 11 Micro:bits. I know where all the Micro:bits are - which reminds
me I need to downgrade the firmware for tomorrow.


Very interesting Paul, especially  looking at your company blog. You state that 
you are using it at a primary school, but my local children (not mine, but 
those 

Re: [Dorset] Monitoring Internet Connectivity.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 11/03/2019 10:31, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi Tim,


The built in Draytek server allows for setting an IP address and mask
and they have a number of help guides which I'll go through. But I'm
getting the impression this is a bit OTT for a home network.

I had another idea.  Use Quality of Service rules to slow down traffic
to sites CC#2 likes, e.g. YouTube, during verboten hours for the whole
home network on the assumption it won't impact SWMBO.  The idea being
that access works, but playback is stutters, etc., so he'll get bored.

I see Draytek have a similar idea, but using DNS to block entirely, and
capturing all DNS queries so 8.8.8.8 isn't a workaround.
https://www.draytek.com/en/faq/faq-security/security.firewall/how-to-block-youtube-for-some-of-lan-clients-only/


You are cruel Ralph, but I like it.

P.


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[Dorset] Micro:Bit

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

We were wondering about this last Tuesday.

I asked around and  one of my neighbours who has three children of various 
ages, the oldest told me that some of her year used it last year in year 7 at 
the local middle school.

I don't see any reference to it on the school web site.

Peter M.


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Re: [Dorset] Monitoring Internet Connectivity.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 09/03/2019 10:58, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi Patrick,


I have got the impression from these messages that Tim might be quite
enjoying the cat and mouse game

A motivator attacker seems prefereable to a consuming CC#2.  :-)


and so going straight for the 'nuclear option' of RADIUS might spoil
the fun!

True.  It occurred to me that Draytek may already provide a RADIUS
server, and Google says they do,
https://www.draytek.co.uk/support/guides/kb-internal-radius, but it's
behind a registration-wall so I read no further.


I had in mind suggesting using IpCop on a spare  computer between the router 
and the network, but see that it has not been updated since 2015, and the last 
item in the press for it was 2010.

Peter


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[Dorset] Notes from Bournemouth Pub Meeting Tonight, Tuesday 2019-03-05.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

Following on from my question and Ralph's suggestion, I looked at Arch Linux 
wiki and it suggests that to find out if I can use my dongle in a software 
Access Point I run iw list. Under supported Interface Modes it needs to have 
'AP'. it doesn't.


peterm@peterm-MBB-34204H:~$ iw list
Wiphy phy0
    max # scan SSIDs: 4
    max scan IEs length: 2257 bytes
    max # sched scan SSIDs: 0
    max # match sets: 0
    max # scan plans: 1
    max scan plan interval: -1
    max scan plan iterations: 0
    Retry short limit: 7
    Retry long limit: 4
    Coverage class: 0 (up to 0m)
    Supported Ciphers:
    * WEP40 (00-0f-ac:1)
    * WEP104 (00-0f-ac:5)
    * TKIP (00-0f-ac:2)
    * CCMP-128 (00-0f-ac:4)
    * CCMP-256 (00-0f-ac:10)
    * GCMP-128 (00-0f-ac:8)
    * GCMP-256 (00-0f-ac:9)
    Available Antennas: TX 0 RX 0
    Supported interface modes:
 * managed
 * monitor
    Band 1:
    Capabilities: 0x17e
    HT20/HT40

Peter M.


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Re: [Dorset] Wireless adapters

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 06/02/2019 16:08, PeterMerchant via dorset wrote:

Following on from our attempts last night, I have had a bit of a play, not 
exhaustive.

the site that compares adapters is:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_open-source_wireless_drivers

I have here Clives ADDON AWU650 using the rtl8188eu (I think)

My Aqprox appusb150nav21506685  using MediaTek MT7601U

an old Zyxel adapter using zd1211 chipset

in the Raspberry Pi Model B rev2 the Aqprox works and has always worked. 


Update:

I put a new hard disk in my main computer and a new install of Kubuntu 18.04.

I cannot get this rtl8821au working. AThere has been a lot of difficulty 
getting it going on the forums. Se 
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2381516   and the one referred to in 
there.

Both my Zyxel g-202 and Aqprox adapters worked straight on, no problems.

I wondered if an adapter that was  sold by the Raspberry Pi people might work, 
and found this, but I think Clive might not be too keen on it.

https://thepihut.com/collections/raspberry-pi-usb-accessories/products/adafruit-mini-usb-wifi-module-rtl8188eu-802-11b-g-n


I'll get your adapter back to you soon Clive.

Peter


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Re: [Dorset] Computer won't boot - flashing cursor only

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 08/02/2019 13:26, PeterMerchant via dorset wrote:

On 08/02/2019 12:07, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi Peter,


It is an old computer that has been in storage for a few months. When
I boot I see the option for which OS (Fedora 27) and other historical
ones, but then just the flashing cursor.



I might swap some more around. I m wondering if it is a RAM fault and I should 
just write off the hardware. It has always been a bit flaky.

Peter 


It's scrap. I'll keep my eye out for a new mobo to play with.

Peter


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Re: [Dorset] Computer won't boot - flashing cursor only

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 08/02/2019 12:07, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi Peter,


It is an old computer that has been in storage for a few months. When
I boot I see the option for which OS (Fedora 27) and other historical
ones, but then just the flashing cursor.

The same if I try and boot from CD, though I did almost get it to boot
kubuntu a few minutes ago from the live CD options menu, but it hung
with a crap graphics screen. I kept pressing the tab key to get here.

When I changed to the W10 Drive, it got as far as it could on W10, so
that seemed to work.

So it seems to lock up if it's been working hard for a while?
If you leave it on Grub's OS-choice menu for 30 minutes, is it still
working after it's been sitting idle?
Is one of the options a MemTest?  That would be quick to load so might
succeed if loading is the problem, not need more graphics than Grub, and
strain the CPU and RAM.


It is currently sitting at the grub command prompt. There is no memtest option, 
but if I can get it to boot the live disk that has one.


I haven't discovered where I can set to boot from USB, but It didn't
when I tried.  It's an ASUS P5K premium Mobo.

Boot device priority:
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/10163/Asus-P5k-Vm.html?page=83


Thanks I have this page, but there is no 'boot from USB' option.

I swapped two  of the memory sticks and then it booted into Fedora once. I had 
been hitting the F2 key and it gave me some boot loader statement that looked 
to me like memory errors.

I might swap some more around. I m wondering if it is a RAM fault and I should 
just write off the hardware. It has always been a bit flaky.

Peter



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[Dorset] Computer won't boot - flashing cursor only

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

It is an old computer that has been in storage for a few months. When I boot I 
see the option for which OS (Fedora 27) and other historical ones, but then 
just the flashing cursor.

The same if I try and boot from CD, though I did almost get it to boot kubuntu 
a few minutes ago from the live CD options menu, but it hung with a crap 
graphics screen. I kept pressing the tab key to get here.

When I changed to the W10 Drive, it got as far as it could on W10, so that 
seemed to work.

Not sure what to try now. I changed the Motherboard battery and set the boot 
order. I haven't discovered where I can set to boot from USB, but It didn't 
when I tried.

It's an ASUS P5K premium Mobo.

Any suggestions?

Cheers,

Peter


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[Dorset] Wireless adapters

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

Following on from our attempts last night, I have had a bit of a play, not 
exhaustive.

the site that compares adapters is:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_open-source_wireless_drivers

I have here Clives ADDON AWU650 using the rtl8188eu (I think)

My Aqprox appusb150nav21506685  using MediaTek MT7601U

an old Zyxel adapter using zd1211 chipset

in the Raspberry Pi Model B rev2 the Aqprox works and has always worked.

The other two don't but I know in the past the Zyxel one has.


Plugged each into my desktop - Kubuntu 18.04 - the Zyxel worked straight off, I 
am now connected by it.

AWU650 Not recognised, Aqprox not recognised.

Here is the output of dmesg from the time that I unplugged the zyxel adapter:

[30471.057232] zd1211rw 3-1:1.0: error ioread32(CR_REG1): -19
[30471.059949] zd1211rw 3-1:1.0: error ioread32(CR_REG1): -19
[30471.060078] zd1211rw 3-1:1.0: error ioread32(CR_REG1): -19
[30475.780861] usb 3-1: new high-speed USB device number 6 using xhci_hcd
[30475.929264] usb 3-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0bda, idProduct=a811
[30475.929270] usb 3-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[30475.929274] usb 3-1: Product: 802.11ac WLAN Adapter
[30475.929278] usb 3-1: Manufacturer: Realtek
[30475.929282] usb 3-1: SerialNumber: 00e04c01
[30728.151997] usb 3-1: USB disconnect, device number 6
[30733.193285] usb 3-1: new high-speed USB device number 7 using xhci_hcd
[30733.706774] usb 3-1: New USB device found, idVendor=148f, idProduct=7601
[30733.706781] usb 3-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[30733.837599] usb 3-1: reset high-speed USB device number 7 using xhci_hcd
[30733.986326] mt7601u 3-1:1.0: ASIC revision: 76010001 MAC revision: 76010500
[30733.986949] mt7601u 3-1:1.0: Firmware Version: 0.1.00 Build: 7640 Build 
time: 201302052146
[30734.419518] mt7601u 3-1:1.0: EEPROM ver:08 fae:00
[30734.889296] mt7601u 3-1:1.0: Warning: mt7601u_mcu_wait_resp retrying
[30735.209320] mt7601u 3-1:1.0: Warning: mt7601u_mcu_wait_resp retrying
[30735.529315] mt7601u 3-1:1.0: Warning: mt7601u_mcu_wait_resp retrying
[30735.849323] mt7601u 3-1:1.0: Warning: mt7601u_mcu_wait_resp retrying
[30736.169330] mt7601u 3-1:1.0: Warning: mt7601u_mcu_wait_resp retrying
[30736.169335] mt7601u 3-1:1.0: Error: mt7601u_mcu_wait_resp timed out
[30739.385334] mt7601u 3-1:1.0: Vendor request req:07 off:0080 failed:-110
[30742.585438] mt7601u 3-1:1.0: Vendor request req:02 off:0080 failed:-110
[30745.785493] mt7601u 3-1:1.0: Vendor request req:02 off:0080 failed:-110
[30745.785551] mt7601u: probe of 3-1:1.0 failed with error -110
[30745.785923] usb 3-1: USB disconnect, device number 7
[30746.057502] usb 3-1: new high-speed USB device number 8 using xhci_hcd
[30746.550507] usb 3-1: New USB device found, idVendor=148f, idProduct=7601
[30746.550513] usb 3-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[30746.677814] usb 3-1: reset high-speed USB device number 8 using xhci_hcd
[30746.826559] mt7601u 3-1:1.0: ASIC revision: 76010001 MAC revision: 76010500
[30746.849699] mt7601u 3-1:1.0: EEPROM ver:08 fae:00
[30747.051166] ieee80211 phy3: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
[30747.088535] mt7601u 3-1:1.0 wlx000c4300cc2d: renamed from wlan0
[30747.099882] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlx000c4300cc2d: link is not ready
[30747.116186] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlx000c4300cc2d: link is not ready
[30747.162384] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlx000c4300cc2d: link is not ready

I have reverted to wired connection to send this email.

Peter


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[Dorset] Gramps genealogy program.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

Here are instructions for loading some necessary things with it as I understand 
you are on mint.

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=220159

But the latest version is 5, available here:

https://github.com/gramps-project/gramps/releases/v5.0.1

Does Mint use 'deb' packages?

with instructions here:

https://www.gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php/Download

and the graphview that I mentioned last night is noted here:

https://www.gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php/Graph_View

with special instructions for Linux Mint.

Good luck, and don't forget to backup first.

Peter M.



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Re: [Dorset] PVR disk formatting problems

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 04/02/2019 11:10, PeterMerchant via dorset wrote:

My Humax 9150T PVR is starting to give problems on playback where it skips and 
hesitates and sometimes the sound is out of sync with the video. Yes it is 
quite old. I bought a second one recently to use for a replacement hard disk, 
but it worked so well I put in use on the downstairs TV for the grandchildren.

The hard disk is a WD1600AVVS  where the AV indicates that it is built for 
AudioVisual purposes such as security monitors etc. It's 160GB.  I attached it 
to my computer and it is not seen. Gparted shows the disk as unformatted.

Q1. Is there a utility or Distro that can read this disk? I would like to copy 
off the programs if I can. [The Humax only has a serial port  for 
communications, and no means of exporting programs]

Q2. If I buy a new disk, is there anything that will format it appropriately? 
The Humax does have a format disk option, so perhaps that would do it.

Thanks for any help. 



Thanks to everybody who replied so quickly. I had intended to look at the Humax 
forums, but forgot.

I have ebay'd a disk so will wait for that, and I'll dig out an old computer 
and try HumaxRW to get the recordings off the faulty disk.  My conclusion was 
that the disk was faulty, there doesn't seem to be any visible signs of 
problems  in the electronics. In the past when we initially had problems I 
bought SWMBO a new PVR but she couldn't get on with the menus so that's why we 
stuck with this one.

Peter



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[Dorset] PVR disk formatting problems

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

My  Humax 9150T PVR is starting to give problems on playback where it skips and 
hesitates and sometimes the sound is out of sync with the video. Yes it is 
quite old. I bought a second one recently to use for a replacement hard disk, 
but it worked so well I put in use on the downstairs TV for the grandchildren.

The hard disk is a WD1600AVVS  where the AV indicates that it is built for 
AudioVisual purposes such as security monitors etc. It's 160GB.  I attached it 
to my computer and it is not seen. Gparted shows the disk as unformatted.

Q1. Is there a utility or Distro that can read this disk? I would like to copy 
off the programs if I can. [The Humax only has a serial port  for 
communications, and no means of exporting programs]

Q2. If I buy a new disk, is there anything that will format it appropriately? 
The Humax does have a format disk option, so perhaps that would do it.

Thanks for any help.

PS AV_Linux from http://www.bandshed.net/avlinux/ uses Ext4 formatting.

Peter



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Re: [Dorset] OpenWRT

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

You might have to sell off some of the bits in the stockroom to fund a new 
router. If she is in to decluttering that will please her.


Peter



I blame nobody else but myself, I should of done my homework before the 
purchase. I will have to start planning the firmware upgrade to OpenWRT and 
pray that it gives me what I want as the alternative is asking the wife for an 
increase in the IT budget (for a new router) will not go down very well.


Tim H




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Re: [Dorset] Network connectivity issues

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 12/01/2019 19:56, t...@ls83.eclipse.co.uk wrote:

Hi

I have a puzzling issue here, in that I can't see a laptop on my network from 
my own computer (normally I can ssh into the laptop just fine). Both are 
connected via Wifi. The laptop has a static IP. However, I can ssh into a third 
computer on the network and from there can ping (and ssh into) the laptop. The 
Wifi network has a total of three access points and whether the laptop and my 
computer are connected to the same or different access points makes no 
difference.

All three machines running Debian 9. So far I have restarted Network manager on 
my machine.

arp lists the laptop HWaddess as incomplete.

I am periodically seeing issues of this kind, and would like to try to figure 
out what's going on.


Cheers

Tim

--


At the moment my favorite tool for looking at this kind of problem is fing on 
my android tablet.

Peter


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Re: [Dorset] Printing from TP-Link VR400v1 router

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 12/01/2019 18:05, Tim wrote:

On 12/01/2019 16:34, C Wills wrote:

Hi All

Just tried to set up a new router for printing to my HP LJ1022 printer as the 
Print Server was trashed while we were away (power surge we think).
Details are:
New TP-Link AC1200 VR400v1 router (phone line) via Talktalk ISP - internet 
connects OK via Ethernet to laptop.
Printer HP LJ1022 connected to USB port on rear of router (appears no 
communication between units).
Shows as connected on the TP network diagram as a HP LJ102 (think full 
description too long so truncated).
TP manual says to download a printing utility but only available for MS or MAC. 
 No info re Linux.
Not found any useful info on web.

Any suggestions please as to what to do, or cli inputs to get further info. 
(not good with cli tho!).  Printer has been used via the desktop PC but meant 
that had to be on to show printer on network.


I have always believed that those USB ports on the router to be for either A) 
USB 4G Broadband dongle or 4G modem a as secondary\backup broadband connection 
or B) as  a USB memory stick or disk drive  to act as a NAS. Don't think I have 
seen one used for printers. My new Linksys has a USB port and the manual only 
talks about hooking a printer upto the router via Wi-Fi not over USB. Just 
looked at the manual for your router and it makes know mention of USB - Printer 
connectivity. Only option might be a USB printer server either Wi-Fi or Ethernet

Tim H



My Talktalk routers have said that you can connect a printer via USB, But Tech 
support and forum users say that feature hasn't ever worked. I Gave up at that 
point.


Peter M.


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[Dorset] From LUG Meeting 8/1/19

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

After all that discussion about dead aaptop batteries,  this morning I reseated 
the RAM and the Hard Disk in the laptop and it started up right away. It is now 
updating a months worth of updates. Battery is at 97%.  I'm pleased needless to 
say.

Peter


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Re: [Dorset] Bournemouth Pub Meeting Tonight, Tuesday 2019-01-08.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 08/01/2019 00:04, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi,
I have a dell Inspiron  laptop that ceased working over Christmas. As a long 
shot I am wondering if anyone has a Dell type D5318 battery or equivalent that 
I could test it with. In theory the laptop should work on the PSU without the 
battery, but it doesn't. I have asked Google's help in finding a way of 
revitalising dead Li-Ion batteries and found all sorts of magic ways that don't 
seem valid.

Cheers, Peter

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[Dorset] LAst ever issue of Stour and Avon weekly magazine

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

And it has Terry's picture in it at Canford School.

Truly an issue to treasure.


Peter


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[Dorset] Linux Format Magazine contributor

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

Our LUG Member that contributes to this magazine is Keith Edmunds of Tiger 
Computing.  I don't think we have ever seen him at a LUG meeting.


Cheers,

PM.


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Re: [Dorset] Next Meeting - One Week Tonight

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

If it is not the Express with the headline showing we will drive right by.

On 28/11/2018 10:33, Hamish MB wrote:

I'll be carrying a newspaper under my right arm...
On 28 Nov 2018, at 10:12, Keith Edmunds 
mailto:k...@midnighthax.com>> wrote:

Oooo! Just like a spy movie!
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Re: [Dorset] Having repository troubles

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

I can't help with this, but usually it is useful if you give details such as 
which Distro of Linux that you are using, and any special hardware involved.

See you soon?
Peter

On 23/11/2018 18:15, Maqjor Mrx wrote:

Hi there!


Was trying to get my system up to scratch, when I stumbled upon this error:


The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 libnvidia-ifr1-390 : Depends: libnvidia-gl-390 but it is not installed
 libnvidia-ifr1-390:i386 : Depends: libnvidia-gl-390:i386 but it is not 
installed
 nvidia-driver-390 : Depends: libnvidia-gl-390 (= 390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) but 
it is not installed
 Recommends: libnvidia-gl-390:i386 (= 
390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1)
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt --fix-broken install' with no packages (or 
specify a solution).

Upon running 'apt --fix-broken install, I get this:


Preparing to unpack .../libnvidia-gl-390_390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1_i386.deb ...
diversion of /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1 to 
/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1.distrib by nvidia-340
dpkg-divert: error: mismatch on package
  when removing 'diversion of /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1 by 
libnvidia-gl-390'
  found 'diversion of /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1 to 
/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1.distrib by nvidia-340'
dpkg: error processing archive 
/var/cache/apt/archives/libnvidia-gl-390_390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1_i386.deb 
(--unpack):
 new libnvidia-gl-390:i386 package pre-installation script subprocess returned 
error exit status 2
Preparing to unpack .../libnvidia-gl-390_390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1_amd64.deb ...
diversion of /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1 to 
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1.distrib by nvidia-340
dpkg-divert: error: mismatch on package
  when removing 'diversion of /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1 by 
libnvidia-gl-390'
  found 'diversion of /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1 to 
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1.distrib by nvidia-340'
dpkg: error processing archive 
/var/cache/apt/archives/libnvidia-gl-390_390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1_amd64.deb 
(--unpack):
 new libnvidia-gl-390:amd64 package pre-installation script subprocess returned 
error exit status 2
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/libnvidia-gl-390_390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1_i386.deb
 /var/cache/apt/archives/libnvidia-gl-390_390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)


Promply ending my journey. I've removed all 3rd-party repositories, cleared the 
cache and tried to install various Nvidia packages and such and am not getting 
anywhere.


Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Cheers,


Rafi

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[Dorset] Android Versions

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

Last week, I left my tablet on top of the car and it fell off and broke. It's 
(was!) an Argos Bush tablet on Android 6.

I have spent the last few days cannibalizing 3 Tesco Hudl (Mark 1) to get a 
working unit --> Android 4    [I've been wanting to do that for awhile].

My Motorola mobile phone is Android 7.

So to keep me going I have bought an Amazon Kindle  Fire. Why does is have to 
be on Android 5? Surely as it is the 2017 model it could have been 6 or 7. Oh, 
and I feel that the Fire is slower than the Bush was.

And only the Mobile phone can be upgraded.

I think that your response will be - Built to a price, no after sales support. 
Argos doesn't do Bush tablets any more. etc.

Cheers, just my rant.

Peter




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Re: [Dorset] Links from 2018-11-06's Pub Meet.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

Well, This one finally sorted from one point of view using the linux part of 
this article, on my ancient 32 bit laptop with Xubuntu.  The laptop has a SD 
card slot.

https://thepihut.com/blogs/raspberry-pi-tutorials/17789160-backing-up-and-restoring-your-raspberry-pis-sd-card

The SD card is identified as mmcblk0p1 and 0p2

to back it up I used the command string

/sudo dd if=/dev/mmcblk0 of=./card4backup.img/

To restore, I unmounted the new card after inserting, and

/sudo dd bs=4M if=./card4backup.img of=/dev/mmcblk0/

I have tested it and it boots directly to my fixed IP address, and  all parts 
of the filesystem that I have checked seem ok.

So Now, Is it my USB-SD card device or something to do with Etcher, or?

Cheers,

Peter

/
/

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Re: [Dorset] Database with GUI Front End for Non-Database Experts

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 14/11/2018 13:25, Terry Coles wrote:

On Wednesday, 14 November 2018 12:40:46 GMT Ralph Corderoy wrote:

So if you've five widgets, two of them Condition=rusty, is that two
rows?  What columns come together to make a unique row rather than one
that should be merged into another?  I'd group those together rather
than slot Quantity in between, say.

I had to think about this to understand what you meant by your question.  At
the moment Condition could have several entries; New or Used is the most
common, but Needs Assembly also appears (for example, Pis can come bare or
with pre-assembled headers).

When you talk about rows, do you mean rows in the spreadsheet or rows in the
database (is there such a thing)?  In terms of the GUI, we would want some
kind of dropbox to select the condition I expect.  If not it could be simply a
plain text entry.  (There won't be many Users (at least at first).)


I take 'rows' to mean fields in the database Record.




Is Location brief enough to be entered consistently?  Or should there be
a table of locations with precise descriptions, each with a unique ID,
either numeric or mnemonic, with the database or code enforcing each
Item row uses a valid Location ID?

Now, if you has a second table of locations, then if done correctly, adding 
data to the location field in the first table would bring down a dropbox of 
items from the second table.   Similar for condition?

For this one the answer is much the same as for Condition.


Peter



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Re: [Dorset] Database with GUI Front End for Non-Database Experts

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 13/11/2018 09:27, Stephen Wolff wrote:

Hi,


Once you've written the requirements, you can look at how you could
implement them. From what you've said so far, I'd be looking at a Flask
app (or, if you'd prefer to spend nine months learning the platform,
Django).


Shouldn’t take 9 months with Django unless you had absolutely no knowledge of 
web development, python or linux. I’d be happy to help if you went down that 
path.


As mentioned earlier, my hosting provider includes MySQL as part of my
package, and Stephen Wolff has suggested off list that the hosting provider
might also provide access to PHPMyAdmin.  It does; so I am looking into how
suitable that is for our purpose.


If there are non-technical users, it probably isn’t much use. It’s more a 
database administration tool.


On that subject, can anyone comment on that?  I can see that PHPMyAdmin allows
the database to be developed, (and the records can be imported from
LibreOffice Calc) but I'm not sure how the users would then access it.  As I
said at the beginning, I have very little knowledge of database development
(yet).


But start with the requirements.


Well I thought I had; albeit a bit informal.


--


In my teaching at the university, I got thrown in to teaching a Database course 
to 2nd year. I learned a lot in a hurry. The students used Dreamweaver to build 
a web page that accessed a database.

Here is a link to FOSS equivalents: 
https://www.ionos.co.uk/digitalguide/websites/website-creation/dreamweaver-alternatives-open-source-solutions/

Caveat: I have not tried any. But I may do one day.

Peter


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Re: [Dorset] Links from 2018-11-06's Pub Meet.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

No, almost 14 times as much was read before the EIO.  Assuming that's
the same card, I'd try reading it on hardware as different as possible
to what gave the two EIO errors.  Different port, card adapter, USB
cable, ideally PC.  If space for the image is a problem on other
machines, or just to make it quicker, you can `img=/dev/null' to discard
what's read.  If it still has problems when nothing else is in common
then it suggests the card's faulty?

Cheers, Ralph.


Well, the card boots Ok in the R-Pi. I am trying it on an extension USB cable 
from another port of the PC as previously we had suspected the front USB port  
(due to overuse?). Maybe it is the card reader - I have had it a long time.

I have dug out my ancient Laptop. It has an SD card slot, and a different 
version of Ubuntu.

I'll let you know later.

P.



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Re: [Dorset] Links from 2018-11-06's Pub Meet. - second try

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 09/11/2018 13:44, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi Peter,


$ src=/dev/sdb
$ img=${src//\//_}
$ img=${img#_}.img
$  devbs=$(stat -fc %s $src)
$
$ sudo dd if=$src bs=$((devbs * 32)) of=$img
[sudo] password for peterm:
dd: error reading '/dev/sdb': Input/output error
126+1 records in
126+1 records out
16580608 bytes (17 MB, 16 MiB) copied, 0.0128577 s, 1.3 GB/s
$

Is it  because sdb is mounted?

No, that wouldn't cause `Input/output error'.  read(2) says of EIO:

 It may also occur when there is a low-level I/O error while reading
 from a disk or tape.

It's either an error on the media, or in the chain of devices to get to
that media, e.g. USB hubs, etc.  It's not corrupted bytes on the media
as they'd be read just fine.  dmesg(1) may have recorded something at
the time.  `dmesg -HPx' will show the time of day for searching.

dd says 16580608 bytes copied, that being 126 whole blocks plus one
truncated block.  The echo command I gave isn't pasted above, but
guessing $devbs is 4096 gives

 4096 * 32 = 131,072
 16,580,608 / 131,072 = 126.5

that matches the 126.  Half a 128 KiB input block was read after that.

Re-trying this would be interesting to see if the EIO occurs at the same
point.  If it doesn't then you've an intermittent problem, but still a
problem.

It's a bad idea to have any of the partitions on /dev/sdb mounted whilst
taking an image as the filesystems can be in an inconsistent state that
would need an fsck(8) to attempt to repair them in the copy that's made.
But it wouldn't cause the EIO above.

Cheers, Ralph.


peterm@peterm-MBB-34204H:~/Raspberry-Pi/Robot-7-Flask$ src=/dev/sdb
peterm@peterm-MBB-34204H:~/Raspberry-Pi/Robot-7-Flask$ img=${src//\//_}
peterm@peterm-MBB-34204H:~/Raspberry-Pi/Robot-7-Flask$ img=${img#_}.img
peterm@peterm-MBB-34204H:~/Raspberry-Pi/Robot-7-Flask$ devbs=$(stat -fc %s $src)
peterm@peterm-MBB-34204H:~/Raspberry-Pi/Robot-7-Flask$  echo copy $src to $img 
using multiple of $devbs bytes
copy /dev/sdb to dev_sdb.img using multiple of 4096 bytes
peterm@peterm-MBB-34204H:~/Raspberry-Pi/Robot-7-Flask$ sudo dd if=$src 
bs=$((devbs * 32)) of=$img
[sudo] password for peterm:
dd: error reading '/dev/sdb': Input/output error
1769+0 records in
1769+0 records out
231866368 bytes (232 MB, 221 MiB) copied, 19.0554 s, 12.2 MB/s

peterm@peterm-MBB-34204H:~/Raspberry-Pi/Robot-7-Flask$ ls -al dev*

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 231866368 Nov 10 13:53 dev_sdb.im

Not the same size as previous try.



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Re: [Dorset] Links from 2018-11-06's Pub Meet.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 09/11/2018 12:17, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi Peter,


I didn't know that you should do each partition individually.

fsck(8) stands for filesystem check and with each partition holding one
filesystem, it needs to run on each partition=filesystem.


I'm trying Deans suggestion to catch an image and clone it, but not
successfully so far.

Try these commands, pasting one at a time and checking for no errors.
I don't think I've messed up, but I haven't tried them so you should
have a read first.  In particular, you don't want dd's conv=noerror
suggested at
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dd#Cloning_an_entire_hard_disk
As normal, specifying the wrong device can trample your main hard disk
so `measure twice', and then again.

 src=/dev/sdb # Change as appropriate.  Disk, not partition.
 img=${src//\//_}
 img=${img#_}.img
 devbs=$(stat -fc %s $src)
 echo copy $src to $img using multiple of $devbs bytes

 sudo dd if=$src bs=$((devbs * 32)) of=$img

 dest=/dev/sdc # Change as appropriate.  Disk, not partition.
 devbs=$(stat -fc %s $dest)
 echo copy $img to $dest using multiple of $devbs bytes

 sudo dd if=$img bs=$((devbs * 32)) of=$dest

 sync # Vital.  Don't remove media until it's finished.

Cheers, Ralph.


Result:

peterm@peterm-MBB-34204H:~/Raspberry-Pi$
peterm@peterm-MBB-34204H:~/Raspberry-Pi$ src=/dev/sdb
peterm@peterm-MBB-34204H:~/Raspberry-Pi$ img=${src//\//_}
peterm@peterm-MBB-34204H:~/Raspberry-Pi$ img=${img#_}.img
peterm@peterm-MBB-34204H:~/Raspberry-Pi$  devbs=$(stat -fc %s $src)
peterm@peterm-MBB-34204H:~/Raspberry-Pi$
peterm@peterm-MBB-34204H:~/Raspberry-Pi$ sudo dd if=$src bs=$((devbs * 32)) 
of=$img
[sudo] password for peterm:
dd: error reading '/dev/sdb': Input/output error
126+1 records in
126+1 records out
16580608 bytes (17 MB, 16 MiB) copied, 0.0128577 s, 1.3 GB/s
peterm@peterm-MBB-34204H:~/Raspberry-Pi$


Is it  because sdb is mounted?

peterm@peterm-MBB-34204H:~/Raspberry-Pi$ sudo fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 465.8 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x80d1abcd

Device Boot Start   End   Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sda1  * 2048 156250111 156248064  74.5G 83 Linux
/dev/sda2   156252158 976771071 820518914 391.3G  5 Extended
/dev/sda5   156252160 167968767  11716608   5.6G 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6   167970816 976771071 808800256 385.7G 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 7.2 GiB, 7744782336 bytes, 15126528 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x3f7114e6

Device Boot Start  End  Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1    8192    97889    89698 43.8M  c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sdb2   98304 15126527 15028224  7.2G 83 Linux
peterm@peterm-MBB-34204H:~/Raspberry-Pi$

just tried this, and it failed too.

http://www.aoakley.com/articles/2015-10-09-resizing-sd-images.php

Going to test the card ( this is my 'master') and see if it still works.

Cheers,

Peter


Thanks Peter


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Re: [Dorset] Links from 2018-11-06's Pub Meet.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

Apparently the cure for this is to fsck it, but that refuses to work saying 
that I have a DOS partition - that's the boot partition.


The Raspberry Pi Foundation chose to make the SD Card file system FAT32 because 
it is a standard format used by a lot of different types of removable drives 
like flash drives and it can be read by just about every operating system. The 
other*partition*, the one with the data on it, is EXT3, the standard*Linux*file 
system format.

You should be able to fsck the /boot partition of the SD Card using fsck as 
follows.  On my system, I have one SSD drive and one spinning rust drive, so 
the SD Card pops up as sdc with sdc1 being the FAT32 partition called /boot and 
sdc2 being the ext3 partion containing /.  First the ext3 partition:

terry@OptiPlex:~$ sudo fsck /dev/sdc2
fsck from util-linux 2.32
e2fsck 1.44.4 (18-Aug-2018)
/dev/sdc2: clean, 161128/446208 files, 1430961/1817600 blocks


On this Kubuntu 18.10 desktop, fsck invoked e2fsk to do the job.

Then the FAT32 partition.

terry@OptiPlex:~$ sudo fsck /dev/sdc1
fsck from util-linux 2.32
fsck.fat 4.1 (2017-01-24)
/dev/sdc1: 121 files, 2663/8057 clusters

This time, fsck invoked fsck.fat.


Thanks Terry,

I didn't know that you should do each partition individually.

The sdb1  partition gave me a 'dirty flag set' message and the sdb2 one had 
lots of errors that I let it clean.

Now it boots to the fixed IP address, and then crashes.


I'm trying Deans suggestion to catch an image and clone it, but not 
successfully so far.

Cheers.

Peter





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Re: [Dorset] Links from 2018-11-06's Pub Meet.

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 07/11/2018 12:55, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

Hi,

We were the only ones in the bar initially, and when others did arrive
the TV still stayed silent.  The new venue seems to be working well.
Terry's membership fee to Bournemouth Electric has been covered by the
£1 collections and they're starting towards another fee to cover his
absence.


In discussing how I could duplicate my image for my raspberry Pi, Terry said 
that he had a script for WMT. I found that I could create an image with dd from 
my 'good' uSD card, and then use etcher to put it on a new card, albeit of a 
different size.

It fires up OK, first time it didn't [get a static IP] but after that it did, 
but after I have ssh'd into it I get this error:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ ls
ls: cannot access 'rc-car': Structure needs cleaning

Apparently the cure for this is to fsck it, but that refuses to work saying 
that I have a DOS partition - that's the boot partition.

Have I done something wrong? I have not tried to expand the partitions. I was 
able to run raspi-config, but I didn't try anything.

On   the first try I did try gparted and got an error in expanding the data 
partition.


Gparted was another topic for discussion in our little corner.

Cheers,

Peter M.


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Re: [Dorset] Etcher for images to MicroSD cards

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 03/11/2018 09:49, Terry Coles wrote:

On Saturday, 3 November 2018 08:46:58 GMT PeterMerchant via dorset wrote:

Hi, Is anyone else having problems with this. I am trying to flash Raspbian
Stretch on to an 8GB card using Etcher 4.4.1 and it keeps failing saying

Well there's your problem straight away; the latest version is 1.4.4 :-)


that it has lost contact with the card. The earlier version does not work
either. This is all since I rebuilt my Kubuntu 18.04 installation a couple
of months ago. Identical problems have been reported on Github and the
Etcher forums, but I haven't seen a fix. I can't find a log file, and I
have tried to sign up to the forum, but never got a confirmation email.

I'm using Kubuntu 18.10, but Etcher V1.4.4 was installed when I was still
using 18.04.  I've never had a problem with it, even when it was Beta.


Sorted. I downloaded  anew image, the 1.4.6 version of Etcher, and plugged my 
SD-USB adapter into a different port on the PC. I suspect the port was the 
problem, which is a pain as it is the only available port on the front of the 
PC.

Afterwards the PC did read the card OK in that port though.

Peter


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[Dorset] Etcher for images to MicroSD cards

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

Hi, Is anyone else having problems with this. I am trying to flash Raspbian 
Stretch on to an 8GB card using Etcher 4.4.1 and it keeps failing saying that 
it has lost contact with the card. The earlier version does not work either. 
This is all since I rebuilt my Kubuntu 18.04 installation a couple of months 
ago. Identical problems have been reported on Github and the Etcher forums, but 
I haven't seen a fix. I can't find a log file, and I have tried to sign up to 
the forum, but never got a confirmation email.

frustrated today,

Peter M


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Re: [Dorset] The World Turns!

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 11/10/2018 12:26, Hamish MB wrote:

Interesting, and probably a good thing too.

However, it is worth noting that they are still using sister companies
to file patents against Linux and open-source projects the last time I
looked - to keep their record clean - but they might have stopped :)


On 11/10/18 12:07, Terry Coles wrote:

I have to say that I'm totally gob-smacked at this news:

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/10/10/microsoft_open_invention_network/

I remember all of the controversy about 10-15 years ago when Microsoft
(amongst others) were busy patenting everything remotely related to software
(the double click and the NOT operator for example).  US companies were busy
suing each other for $Billions, just so they could stop the competition using
ideas that were generally 'bleeding obvious'.

So now Microsoft has come across to the light side and given most of its
'inventions' to the Open Invention Network 

When I read the headline I actually said 'Wow' - out loud.  :-)


According to Wikipedia Paul Allen held 43 patents. That's more than I read 
earlier.

and not many for a company that Forbes says has 60K patents.

Peter


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Re: [Dorset] DHCPCD.conf configuration for static addresses in a Raspberry Pi

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 14/10/18 10:04, Terry Coles wrote:

On Sunday, 14 October 2018 09:53:31 BST PeterMerchant via dorset wrote:

On 14/10/18 08:06, Terry Coles wrote:

Did you reset the Router and then reboot the Pi?

I reset the router overnight and this morning the R-Pi connected on IP
.21 but I couldn't ssh into it, though replied ok to a ping. But Not .8.

Is this the latest version of of Stretch?  Was it a clean install or an
upgrade?   Stretch was updated on the 9th, so there may be something in it
that will help you.


Thanks Terry, I'll get a clean install of this. Just looking for Release 
notes, but can't find them. Maybe it's in the package.


Cheers,
Peter

If you do a clean install, at least you will know that there is nothing
hanging around that is upsetting things.

If that doesn't work, then I can only suggest that your router is to blame in
some way.

Interesting thought.  P.



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Re: [Dorset] DHCPCD.conf configuration for static addresses in a Raspberry Pi

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 14/10/18 11:08, Ralph Corderoy wrote:

It's not setting your eth0's .9 either.

Ethernet is not connected.

Does your router know your LAN is 192.168.1.0/27, and not /24?  Why did
you choose that?  Do you have networks and hosts that would fall inside
192.168.1.0/24 but are outside 192.168.1.0/27, e.g. host
192.168.1.33/27?

Unless Raspbian has deviated from Debian Stretch in this area, you may
do better looking at Debian's documentation and Debian users solving the
problem.



Also, dhcpd and other programs often log their decisions, and
have a `debug' method to increase that logging.  Turning that on may
explain more.
Can't find that on my stupid Talktalk router. I'll have a look around 
and see if it is in R-Pi.



 I wanted to restrict the number of DHCP addresses available, and at 
the same time have a range for fixed addresses.

 192.168.1.1-31 is the total range,  thus  255.255.255.224 for Subnet mask:

Here is my documentation:

Network 192.168.1.0

Subnet 255.255.255.224

Gateway 192.168.1.1

Broadcast 192.168.1.31


192.168.1.1 Talktalk Router admin/ pw*

ESSID Ashmeads-downstairs

192.168.1.2 Upstairs repeater 3Com router admin/pw1 [Note, otherwise 
not configured]


ESSID: bmth-wireless

192.168.1.3-9 unassigned

192.168.1.10 Downstairs XP PC    -- Needs correcting - Now also Kubuntu!

192.168.1.11 Upstairs Linux PC

192.168.1.12 Brother Printer admin/ pw*2

192.168.1.13 unassigned.

192.168.1.14 Envoy Solar Power controller admin/admin


192.168.1.16-30 DHCP


Peter


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Re: [Dorset] DHCPCD.conf configuration for static addresses in a Raspberry Pi

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 14/10/18 08:06, Terry Coles wrote:

On Saturday, 13 October 2018 21:37:41 BST PeterMerchant via dorset wrote:

wlan0: flags=4163  mtu 1500
  inet 192.168.1.21  netmask 255.255.255.224  broadcast 192.168.1.31
  inet6 fe80::2c9:aeca:54e4:fa59  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20
  ether 00:0c:43:00:cc:2d  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
  RX packets 246  bytes 29738 (29.0 KiB)
  RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
  TX packets 119  bytes 17189 (16.7 KiB)
  TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

So it is not setting my static .8

Did you reset the Router and then reboot the Pi?

I reset the router overnight and this morning the R-Pi connected on IP 
.21 but I couldn't ssh into it, though replied ok to a ping. But Not .8.


Peter



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Re: [Dorset] DHCPCD.conf configuration for static addresses in a Raspberry Pi

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 14/10/18 08:01, Terry Coles wrote:

On Saturday, 13 October 2018 21:37:41 BST PeterMerchant via dorset wrote:

and this is what I have:
# Example static IP configuration:
interface eth0
static ip_address=192.168.1.9/27
static routers=192.168.1.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.1.1 8.8.8.8

interface wlan0
static address=192.168.1.8/27
static routers=192.168.1.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.1.1

So it is not setting my static .

..

Have you still got any old files hanging around; eg interfaces?


No. Interfaces file was deleted and I let the system create a new one.
Peter



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Re: [Dorset] DHCPCD.conf configuration for static addresses in a Raspberry Pi

[PeterMerchant via dorset]

On 13/10/18 17:07, Terry Coles wrote:

Forward to the list this time instead of to Peter!  Doh!

BTW, in the example that I posted below you also have to change the IP
Addresses to suit your setup of course.

On Saturday, 13 October 2018 16:49:09 BST Terry Coles wrote:

On Saturday, 13 October 2018 16:33:03 BST PeterMerchant via dorset wrote:

This appears to be the most recent posting that I could find:

https://lb.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=205276

  ^
...


2. This is the second time that I have seen that the interface name is
redefined into something containing the MAC address rather than eth0 etc
that we are used to.

3 I have re-read this one and it looks like in the last section I can
disable DHCP and revert to the mode of operation that I am used to. It's
two years old though.
https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/37920/how-do-i-set-up-netw
or king-wifi-static-ip-address

I'll give it a whirl, but it does mean that I have to get it working in
order to ssh into it and change the files.

I'm slightly confused.  Why do you want to revert to the old way to set a
static IP addressI That way you'll have to do it every time Raspbian is
updated.  The instructions in the link that I highlighted above worked fine
for me.

Here is the code that you need to put into dhcpd.conf:

interface eth0  # Change this to whatever your Ethernet portname
is
static ip_address=192.168.0.103/24
static routers=192.168.0.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.0.1 1.1.1.1 1.0.0.1

interface wlan0 # Change this to whatever your WiFi portname is
static ip_address=192.168.0.103/24
static routers=192.168.0.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.0.1 1.1.1.1 1.0.0.1

and this is what I have:
# Example static IP configuration:
interface eth0
static ip_address=192.168.1.9/27
static routers=192.168.1.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.1.1 8.8.8.8

interface wlan0
static address=192.168.1.8/27
static routers=192.168.1.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.1.1

and when I connect to the Pi [on address 21]
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ ifconfig
eth0: flags=4099  mtu 1500
    ether b8:27:eb:b2:f7:c8  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
    RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
    RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
    TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
    TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

lo: flags=73  mtu 65536
    inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
    inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10
    loop  txqueuelen 1000  (Local Loopback)
    RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
    RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
    TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
    TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

wlan0: flags=4163  mtu 1500
    inet 192.168.1.21  netmask 255.255.255.224  broadcast 192.168.1.31
    inet6 fe80::2c9:aeca:54e4:fa59  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20
    ether 00:0c:43:00:cc:2d  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
    RX packets 246  bytes 29738 (29.0 KiB)
    RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
    TX packets 119  bytes 17189 (16.7 KiB)
    TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

So it is not setting my static .8

I'll have another look at your link to see if there is anything else I 
should set:


Meanwhile:
pi@raspberrypi:/etc $ cat dhcpcd.conf
# A sample configuration for dhcpcd.
# See dhcpcd.conf(5) for details.

# Allow users of this group to interact with dhcpcd via the control socket.
#controlgroup wheel

# Inform the DHCP server of our hostname for DDNS.
hostname

# Use the hardware address of the interface for the Client ID.
clientid
# or
# Use the same DUID + IAID as set in DHCPv6 for DHCPv4 ClientID as per 
RFC4361.

# Some non-RFC compliant DHCP servers do not reply with this set.
# In this case, comment out duid and enable clientid above.
#duid

# Persist interface configuration when dhcpcd exits.
persistent

# Rapid commit support.
# Safe to enable by default because it requires the equivalent option set
# on the server to actually work.
option rapid_commit

# A list of options to request from the DHCP server.
option domain_name_servers, domain_name, domain_search, host_name
option classless_static_routes
# Most distributions have NTP support.
option ntp_servers
# Respect the network MTU. This is applied to DHCP routes.
option interface_mtu

# A ServerID is required by RFC2131.
require dhcp_server_identifier

# Generate Stable Private IPv6 Addresses instead of hardware based ones
slaac private

# Example static IP configuration:
interface eth0
static ip_address=192.168.1.9/27
static routers=192.168.1.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.1.1 8.8.8.8

interface wlan0
static address=192.168.1.8/27
static routers=192.168.1.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.1.1

# It is possible to fall back to a static IP if DHCP fails:
# define static profile
#profile static_eth0
#static ip_address=192.168.1.23/24
#static routers=192.168.1.1