Re: [Hampshire] raspberry pi and educational software

[Gordon Scott via Hampshire]

Hi Roger,

I'll give an anecdote.

The Raspberry Pi runs a hardware-tweaked version of Linux and I was 
surprised at just how well it performs and what's installable from the 
repositories.  I bought one out of curiosity then, after a machine 
failure, put it into my home networks as a DMZ and postfix mail host as 
a temporary fix.  system, load with "w" was 0 0 0, even with anti-spam 
running.  Oh; right; let's try anti-virus filtering, too.  Still around 
0 0 0. Wow.  Later I also added a squid proxy ... system load still modest.


It stopped being a temporary fix ... it's still there.

I would suggest they get one and try it for their wanted purposes.  I 
think they'll be pleasantly surprised at what it can do.




https://tutorials-raspberrypi.de/

https://www.makershop.de/raspberry-pi

https://www.raspberrypi.com

https://thepihut.com/


In a hot climate the standard Pi may well want some heat-sinking.  I've 
used these cases: 
https://thepihut.com/collections/raspberry-pi-cases/products/aluminium-armour-heatsink-case-for-raspberry-pi-4



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[Hampshire] Migrate multi-boot system to new drive(s)?

[Gordon Scott via Hampshire]

Hi all,

I have a multi-booting machine with xubuntu across several partitions 
and Windows10 and it's other odd partitions on /dev/sda, I also have 
AVL-MXE on /dev/sdb and some ext4 user-spaces on /dev/sdb, and I now 
also have a Win10 snapshot on and external /dev/sdc, together with a 
couple of ext4 workspaces, one of which is a copy of part of my ~/.wine 
tree that has around a terrabyte of audio files (Band-in-a-Box).


It's also become a little spread about over time, where I've moved stuff 
to new drives/partitions, expanded partitions and the like.


It feels like time to rationalise all this onto fewer drives and I'm 
very tempted to make the new main drive a 2TB SSD, with a second 
conventional hard drive for other storage.


I come therefore to deciding the best way to do this.

I imagine that I can pretty much just copy the Linux stuff to new 
partitions on the new SSD and then run update-grub and grub-install onto 
the new SSD and boot that SSD via EFI F12 or similar, before tidying up, 
remove, replace and/or clear the old drives and run the grub stuff again.


But how can/does one best deal with the Win10 stuff?

I'm unsure how Win10 manages partitions or whether I can put NTFS 
partitions into the extended area, or indeed what actually is the 
"Microsoft reserved partition" that gparted reports as an unknown file 
type. Unfortunately ditching Win10 is not an option as I still have one 
application that I cannot run on Linux :-(


Another thought whilst I'm on this. Could I put that terrabyte of audio 
files onto an ntfs partition, rather than ext4, so that I can access it 
either from within ~/.wine as a mount or symlink, or as a windows drive?


Thoughts and/or advice, please.

Thanks.

  Gordon.


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Re: [Hampshire] Joint LUG Event: Lightning talks on Linux audio

[Gordon Scott via Hampshire]

I can see Mozilla Hubs working for a small group chat ... book club or 
similar.

It appears to me fundamentally flawed with a speaker and shared screen(s).

Was it recorded in any successful way?  I'd still like to listen.

Gordon.

On 29/09/2021 19:43, Thomas Kluyver via Hampshire wrote:

We've had enough problems now that we're going to move over to the 
BigBlueButton server we use for EdLUG: https://links.taikedz.net/?id=bbb-edlug

On Wed, 29 Sep 2021, at 19:15, Gordon Scott via Hampshire wrote:

On 29/09/2021 00:39, Paul Tansom via Hampshire wrote:

On Mozilla Hubs - spatially-dependent audio, because audio isn't
complicated enough!

Hmm ... a triumph of cleverness over usability I think.

After trying to see ta shared screen without either having my view
blocked by someone else, or blocking their view, I gave up. And that
with only 16 of us at the time.  Maybe there's a more practical mode?
I'm afraid my patience had expired after 10 minutes of trying.

Gordon.

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Re: [Hampshire] Joint LUG Event: Lightning talks on Linux audio

[Gordon Scott via Hampshire]

On 29/09/2021 00:39, Paul Tansom via Hampshire wrote:
On Mozilla Hubs - spatially-dependent audio, because audio isn't 
complicated enough!


Hmm ... a triumph of cleverness over usability I think.

After trying to see ta shared screen without either having my view 
blocked by someone else, or blocking their view, I gave up. And that 
with only 16 of us at the time.  Maybe there's a more practical mode? 
I'm afraid my patience had expired after 10 minutes of trying.


Gordon.

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Re: [Hampshire] Where to get Debian computer?

[Gordon Scott via Hampshire]

On 25/06/2021 12:04, Peter Alefounder via Hampshire wrote:

cleaned the heat sink and replaced the thermal paste.


There's an awful lot to be said for just a vacuum around.
New thermal paste is often a very good idea.

G.

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Re: [Hampshire] Where to get Debian computer?

[Gordon Scott via Hampshire]

On 03/06/2021 12:11, Peter Alefounder via Hampshire wrote:

Ubuntu can be made usable.


FWIW, I stopped using the main distribution of Ubuntu ages ago, because 
I dislike their desktop, in favour of xubuntu, which uses a more 
traditional desktop.


For quite a while I installed ubuntu, then jumped through the hoops to 
get to a "traditional"  desktop, before realising that xubuntu (XFCE 
desktop) did it all for me.


If you do really want KDE, kubuntu may be a better starting point. I 
haven't tried it, so can't comment other than that.


YMMV

Gordon.

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Re: [Hampshire] Linux and LED Scrolling Signs

[Gordon Scott via Hampshire]

Any mileage in small a raspberry-Pi screen?
Some are direct to the Pi, some are HDMI.

https://thepihut.com/collections/raspberry-pi-screens
... other vendors available.

On 26/10/2020 08:59, Rob via Hampshire wrote:

Thanks to all who replied.

I think I'm going to report to the powers that be that this is a bad idea.   What we're 
after (for work) is a sign which shows either something like "All Systems Go" 
or lists the server(s) down.

I guess we could "sacrifice" a display and leave it on 24/7/365 but a sign 
would seem to be a better (greener) solution.   Can anyone suggest any other 
possibilities?

Cheers
Rob



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Re: [Hampshire] Old fart needs digital makeover urgent

[Gordon Scott via Hampshire]

Hi Roger,

I shouldn't worry about your son's opinion on that unless he's willing 
to do it for you.


These days everything seems very 'phone-centric, so a pragmatic answer 
might bi 'phone or tablet and a Bluetooth speaker.  There are some quite 
good speakers from Bose and JBL, but even at my 67 years, I find the 
sound quality of my Bose Revolve leaves something to be desired.  I've 
ripped most my CDs into .ogg format onto my fileserver, though with 
hindsight .flac would have been a better format. The .ogg files of 
around 4000 tracks uses about 23G.


There are multi-room systems, but I know little more about them than I'm 
not paying that much to replace my very nice traditional Hi-Fi system.


Good ear-buds may be the cheapest and most pragmatic solution of the 
lot. There are some excellent wireless in-ear monitoring systems for 
musicians, from the likes of AKG, Shure, Sennheiser, though then you 
have a small body-pack and a short cable to wear.


Gordon

On 17/12/2019 23:08, Roger Munford via Hampshire wrote:
My son is back for Christmas and is disgusted that his parents are 
shuffling around listening to occasional you tube videos on You tube.


I had actually been planning to attend to this at some stage with a 
project based around the raspberry pi, small amps and a tuner. However 
it has been pointed out that it could be years before that gets done 
so I am seeking advice on what is available for a quick fix.


What I have in mind is ceiling mounted speakers in the lounge a 
kitchen and possible bathroom. Oldies have limited frequency response 
so quality is probably not a priority.


At the moment I switch on the 40 year old radio by punching the on off 
switch and get instant reaction. I would like to duplicate that.


I would also like to be able to access the BBC iplayer, you tube and 
other internet services. There is also a pile of CDs that would have 
to be somehow available for occasional use.


Any suggestions from "persevere with the raspberry pi it is really not 
that difficult" to the hardware involved in a DIY  or a commercial 
solution and where to get it would be very helpful.


I am sorry that I have not even started my own research but this has 
sort of come up unexpectedly.


Seasons Greetings

Roger Munford





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Re: [Hampshire] DAT as a backup medium

[Gordon Scott via Hampshire]

On 22/04/17 12:37, Rob Malpass via Hampshire wrote:
I find it amazing hdd technology (which we’ve has since the 70s) is 
still the medium of preference.


To a significant extent it's _because_ they've been around since the 70s.

They've been undergoing fairly continuous evolution since then ... 
better materials, better manufacturing techniques, better balance and 
resilience of the components and so on. Totally hermetically sealed, 
auto-parking, etc.


I used to use tape, but it isn't actually all _that_ reliable.  It 
_isn't_ hermetically sealed, so it's at greater risk from environmental 
factors like humidity and pollution, tape has always been prone to 
stretch, I presume(!) that there's still contact between head and tape 
(in HDDs the head 'flies' microns above the medium).


SSD may(!) be more reliable, but it's much more expensive.
I gave up tape when it became more expensive than HDDs.
So far, I personally have seen no reason to return.
YMMV.

Gordon.

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Re: [Hampshire] DAT as a backup medium

[Gordon Scott via Hampshire]

YMMV, but I personally have a PC in an another building, running 
backupPC  and connected by WiFi.

Your own private 'cloud' would also be an option.

I use my garage, but a friendly neighbour who would reciprocate may also 
be an option.


I tend to use Unison for cloning from one machine to another.

G.

On 21/04/17 15:55, Rob Malpass via Hampshire wrote:


Hi all

Is DAT still a viable backup medium if you want USB and to avoid 
optical disks?


I’ve got about 8Tb to backup and for various reasons don’t fancy: LTO, 
BluRay, Cloud or HDD (i.e. NAS).   I know DAT’s quite old (and I might 
even be forced to use DAT160 because of cost) but if it’ll do the 
archiving (write once read seldom) job I have in mind for 8Tb (even if 
that’s a lot of tapes) I’d be happy.


Thanks

Rob


 
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Re: [Hampshire] Robotic Sailing talk, Monday 3rd October (Southampton Python group)

[Gordon Scott via Hampshire]

On 28/09/16 12:12, Thomas Kluyver via Hampshire wrote:

On Wed, Sep 28, 2016, at 10:54 AM, Gordon Scott via Hampshire wrote:

Why would I want a robot if I can just lash the tiller, trim the mizzen
and sit back and marvel at what the old lady does all on her own?

A speaker introducing the conference after the competition did trace the
history of autonomous sailing back to Francis Drake rigging fire ships
to be blown into the Spanish Armada. We were trying to achieve a bit
more control, however!


And hopefully less fire :-)

I remember an article some years ago about a robot auto-navigation 
voyage in which, as so often happens in cars, they'd put in a slightly 
wrong name and the yacht ended up on the west coast of America, rather 
than in Wales.


It was an April issue, but I feel sure the story was true :-)

Gordon.

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Re: [Hampshire] Robotic Sailing talk, Monday 3rd October (Southampton Python group)

[Gordon Scott via Hampshire]

On 27/09/16 14:03, Thomas Kluyver via Hampshire wrote:

hear about how we used Python and Linux to make a boat sail itself,


:->  Hmm, but my 86 year old gaff yawl does that, up to a point at 
least, with no robotics at all  :->


Why would I want a robot if I can just lash the tiller, trim the mizzen 
and sit back and marvel at what the old lady does all on her own?


Gordon.


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