Re: [Hampshire] what to do with a dead imac
Hi, Which graphics card is it? There seem to be quite a lot of various vintage used iMac video cards on eBay. Cheers,Paul. -- Original message--From: Peter B. via Hampshire Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2018 13:54To: Hampshire LUG Discussion List;Cc: Peter B.;Subject:Re: [Hampshire] what to do with a dead imac yeah. Rip out the old mobo. switch a roo.If you can get something nice and tidy fitting no reason y u can't reuse the case, screen etc On Mon, 17 Sep 2018 13:10 David Anderson via Hampshire, wrote: On 17/09/18 11:06, Roger Munford via Hampshire wrote: > We have a old 21" imac which has died due to a a failed video card and > a repair would not have been cost effective. > > It is however still a very elegant computer and I was wondering if > there was any creative suggestions for re use. > > Thanks > > Roger > Put a Raspberry Pi into it ;) -- Regards David -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] DAT as a backup medium
Hi, We use DDS 4 DAT at work and it's proven reliable but it's not fast and the tapes are starting to get harder to come by. You will also need cleaning tapes. The drive will tell you when it needs cleaning. Don't use cleaning tapes unnecessarily as they wear the heads out. We're going to ditch DAT and change over to LTO soon. The tapes are higher capacity but there are cost and size downsides. For my own stuff, I use USB hard drives. They are cheaper, a lot faster and you don't need any kind of special drive or to go through multiple tapes on a backup. They don't need special interfaces. Bests,Paul. -- Original message--From: Rob Malpass via Hampshire Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2017 16:55To: hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk;Cc: Subject:[Hampshire] DAT as a backup medium 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. ThanksRob Virus-free. www.avg.com -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [OT] Hardware : Old PC, new hardware
Hi Rob, Every motherboard I've had in ages used a CR2032 lithium coin cell. You can pick a pack of these up in most pound shops. I certainly wouldn't pay the £3 each people like Maplin are likely to charge. I also wouldn't mess with changing them for a different type. Be careful not to damage the holder when you change it. Those are a real pain to change. Make sure you go into the BIOS and use the "load performance defaults" or "load defaults" option after you change the battery as you never know what could be in the backup memory if the battery has died or been very low. I would open the case and check that's what it actually takes before buying, just in case it's something else. You well hopefully be able to find the motherboard model number printed on it and a search for that or the machine model should hopefully reveal the specs if you are worried about the drive size. Make sure LBA is turned on if this is a BIOS option. If the machine has SATA, I don't think you're likely to have a problem. If you have an old SATA spinning drive bigger than 128 GB, it might be worth putting that in as a test to make sure the machine works and performs as you want before dropping money on a new SSD. VGA to HDMI isn't a simple job. It will need a piece of active electronics to convert as one is analogue and the other digital. I think the easiest way to solve this problem would be to retire the VGA card and replace it with a used card of equivalent or greater performance that has a DVI connector. DVI to HDMI adaptors or cables are simple things that you should be able to pick up on eBay for a few pounds if you can't find anyone with one they don't need. I think I paid around £3 for my last adaptor. Good luck,Paul. -- Original message--From: Rob Malpass via HampshireDate: Fri, 7 Apr 2017 11:15To: hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk;Cc: Subject:[Hampshire] [OT] Hardware : Old PC, new hardware Hi all I’m thinking of resurrecting an old PC for retro gaming. Before I get going, need a few questions answered… I have such a machine (P-IV, 512Mb RAM, decent enough graphics) but it’s circa 2004. 1) I’ve not powered it on in years, but the CR2032 mobo battery is almost certainly dead. Is it a question of just replacing it – or are there better solutions out there nowadays?2) Is it likely to be a standard battery or do they vary by mobo?3) I think it has SATA and IDE so I’m going to replace the HDD with an SSD. Any issues here? I’ve heard some BIOSes complain about the side of the HDD inside, but if we’re talking SSD, then 128Gb will be all I can afford so even in 2004, 128Gb wasn’t too big a BIOS was it? Any other considerations (VGA to HDMI in DOS mode games)? I think I still have the Windows XP CD and the license no is still on the box. Might have some fun activating it! CheersRob Virus-free. www.avg.com -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [Surrey] Best place to buy a Raspberry Pi?
Hi, I buy mine from Pimoroni. They started as a bunch of makers in Sheffield and they're definitely "one of us." They make good cases too. All the best,Paul. -- Original message--From: Andy Random via SurreyDate: Mon, 9 Jan 2017 18:28To: Hampshire LUG Discussion List;Cc: SLUG;Subject:[Surrey] Best place to buy a Raspberry Pi? Hi, So I've resisted buying a Pi until now because I have way too much junk in the house I bought and never really used and given the way the Pi has changed since it was first launched that was probably a good plan. However now I have something I want a low power always on wifi enabled device for and I'm think a Raspberry Pi fits the bill. So where is the best place to buy one? I'm happy to buy one from a real shop if there is one I can visit easily and won't make me pay significantly over the odds (hello Maplin) or order online. I'm an Amazon Prime member so ordering from Amazon is easy and delivery is free, but honestly I try not to buy everything from Amazon just on principal. I'm looking for a Pi with wifi (Pi 3 model B?) an SD card for it and a power supply, I don't need a case but if the cheapest/easiest way to get what I want is some kind of starter kit that includes a case that's fine. I really don't want an HDMI cable (I have too many already) or a Keyboard or mouse as once setup the Pi will run headless and be administered via SSH. So recommendation please? Andy ___ Surrey mailing list sur...@mailman.lug.org.uk https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/surrey http://www.surrey.lug.org.uk-- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Hosting recommendations
I would recommend Bitfolk.com you can install whatever software you like and I've always has excellent service from Andy Smith and his team. I always buy my domains from gandi.net who are excellent. They also do hosting if you want a pre packaged server rather than a VPS. All the best, Paul. Sent from my mobile device. Please excuse my brevity and any typos. div Original message /divdivFrom: Owain Clarke simb...@cooptel.net /divdivDate:21/08/2015 21:32 (GMT+01:00) /divdivTo: /divdivCc: Hampshire LUG Discussion List hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk /divdivSubject: Re: [Hampshire] Hosting recommendations /divdiv /divThink you all for taking the time and trouble to give these various suggestions, which I will now investigate. As they say stateside, you guys are awesome! Owain -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Advice on specs for a gaming machine
Hi, I was looking at the spec and I was wondering if the i5 was up to the job. I guess it depends on the balance of how many of the games he wants to play are bound by computational and communication stuff and how much is graphics rendering. I believe you said the desire is for 2k (1920 x 1080) gaming, so I assume that there is no intent to buy a 4k-wide screen during next few years. With that in mind, I think the GTX980ti is very over powered and over priced for the needs. I just bought a new machine and the advice I had was that, unless 4k is wanted, the GTX970 is where the smart money goes. This will lower the price quite significantly and free up money so he can have a quad-core i7 CPU with it. That's the option I chose and I think it represents a much more balanced distribution of specification in the machine. If a GTX980 really is wanted then the price differential between the 980ti and the 980 seem like a false economy and I'd go for the ti. All the best, Paul. Sent from my mobile device. Please excuse my brevity and any typos. div Original message /divdivFrom: david gilligan archergill...@gmail.com /divdivDate:12/08/2015 12:57 (GMT+00:00) /divdivTo: Hampshire LUG Discussion List hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk /divdivSubject: Re: [Hampshire] Advice on specs for a gaming machine /divdiv /divRoger, Looking at the games he wants to play and depends on what settings they will be at, he may benefit from a i7 and if gaining especially WoW, water cooling is the best option as a cooler with a heat sink won't last too long. I'd recommend at least a 750w power to withstand powering the harddrives, motherboard and graphics card, aswell as any audio he maybe adding and/or multiple screens. David On 11 Aug 2015 16:56, Roger Munford rogermunf...@parussoftware.co.uk wrote: My son has listed his dream machine for 1080p gaming, (maybe 1440p) in particular The Witcher 3, FFXIV, GTA V, WoW and Dishonored 2 on its release. I have no need of a machine costing more than £200 and am in no position to evaluate his choices. My eyes moisten at the thought of a Raspberry Pi 2. I was wondering if anybody with experience in these matters could advise. I just have a feeling that this is overkill. Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core ProcessorZalman CNPS10X Performa CPU Cooler Gigabyte GA-Z97P-D3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory Crucial M500 240GB 2.5 Solid State Drive Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive Zotac GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card Thermaltake Versa H23 ATX Mid Tower Case EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply Thanks very much Roger -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Dead server
I once had a machine that, if you ran the memory test continuously, it would succeed for about 6 hours, fail once then go for hours again before falling. Bulging our leaking capacitors are another good bet as Jay says. Those are prime suspects, particularly if a piece of equipment works fine in a rack for years then fails after you turn it off and back on. Bests, Paul. Sent from my mobile device. Please excuse my brevity and any typos. div Original message /divdivFrom: Leo li...@fractal.me.uk /divdivDate:13/05/2015 23:42 (GMT+00:00) /divdivTo: Hampshire LUG Discussion List hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk /divdivSubject: Re: [Hampshire] Dead server /divdiv /divOn 20/02/15 22:12, Samuel Penn wrote: On Friday 20 Feb 2015 21:27:46 Leo wrote: I noticed today that my headless server stopped responding so I had to reboot it. However all I can tell is that the logs appear to have stopped recording anything from about mid-afternoon yesterday. Is there anywhere else I can look to see what might have happened? I was getting that recently. Turned out to be disc errors. So, a very late follow up to this: I tested the disks using fsck and smart, and found no problems. So I ignored the problem. However, in the last week it has since frozen twice again. So I ram memtest. The first time it reported some errors. The second time, it didn't report any. Has anyone had any experience of failed memory: is it possible to pass and fail, or once failing will it always fail? Thanks, Leo PS I'm now running an mprime torture test to see what that throws up. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Firewalls
Hi, Yes, there are a couple of reasons this may be a bad idea: The main one I can think of is that every piece of software you run on a box increases the risk that one of them may have a security vulnerability that could be leveraged to take over the machine. Let's say your media centre is vulnerable to Shellshock and malicious code is injected into it. That code is now on a box that has a NIC on unfiltered public internet and could do anything. If it contains a privilege escalation hack, things get worse as it will be able to alter the firewall rules for the whole network, spoof DNS responses to direct your banking to phishing sites and so on. It may also grant its master remote access to your firewall. Another issue is that, if you heavily load the firewall box with something like a heavyweight database, like the one your media centre may contain, it may affect your network throughout if the box gets bogged down. We have a strictly enforced policy at work that forbids the installation of application software on any machine that has a security role. It also forbids any non administrator user from being allowed to log on to any such machine. I think this rule is sensible. Bests, Paul. Sent from my mobile device. Please excuse my brevity. Original message From: Leo li...@fractal.me.uk Date:18/10/2014 14:48 (GMT+00:00) To: Hampshire LUG hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: [Hampshire] Firewalls Are there any downsides for using firewall boxes for other tasks as well, e.g. file server or media centres? Leo -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [Surrey] Free Xbox 360
Hi James, If you still have the 360, I would like to be considered to rehome it please. Thank you, Paul. Sent from my mobile device. Please excuse my brevity. Original message From: James Bensley jwbens...@gmail.com Date:30/05/2014 16:39 (GMT+00:00) To: Hampshire LUG Discussion List hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk, sur...@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: [Surrey] Free Xbox 360 Hi All, I have an Xbox 360 going for free. I re-flashed the DVD drive so it can play content from non-authentic disks like writable DVDs you’ve bought from the shops, hay, nudge nudge, wink wink, hay, nudge wink, hay hay ;) FWORRR! It has SD and HD TV connectors, 2 wired controllers, head set, Ethernet cable wireless adapter, power cable. I have 3 original games; Forza 2, Oblivion and Unreal Tournament. I had a stack of games that aren’t, erm, “originals”, but I can’t find them at present. I will try and dig them out, or you can use your favourite torrent site. I re-flashed the DVD drive with modified firmware a couple of years ago. The down side is you can't use xBox live. I lent this xbox to a friend for a year and I haven't turned it on sinse getting it back but I think they might have taken it on line. What this means is that the system will have updated and removed the alternate firmware so you can't play copied games anymore but can play online. If that is the case you can re-flash the firmware using a Windows PC, its not too difficult. Free to a good home, still unboxing my stuff so maybe more to come. It can be collected from Southampton (or I can deliver it to you in Southampton) or in Reigate or Leatherhead, I am circulating between those locations regularly. Cheers, James. ___ Surrey mailing list sur...@mailman.lug.org.uk https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/surrey http://www.surrey.lug.org.uk-- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [Surrey] Free Xbox 360
Apologies for the list spam. I hit the wrong reply button and didn't notice on my phone. Bests, Paul. Sent from my mobile device. Please excuse my brevity. Original message From: Paul Stimpson p...@stimpsonfamily.co.uk Date:30/05/2014 17:45 (GMT+00:00) To: General Linux/Unix community List sur...@mailman.lug.org.uk,Hampshire LUG Discussion List hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk, sur...@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: Re: [Hampshire] [Surrey] Free Xbox 360 Hi James, If you still have the 360, I would like to be considered to rehome it please. Thank you, Paul. Sent from my mobile device. Please excuse my brevity. Original message From: James Bensley Date:30/05/2014 16:39 (GMT+00:00) To: Hampshire LUG Discussion List , sur...@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: [Surrey] Free Xbox 360 Hi All, I have an Xbox 360 going for free. I re-flashed the DVD drive so it can play content from non-authentic disks like writable DVDs you’ve bought from the shops, hay, nudge nudge, wink wink, hay, nudge wink, hay hay ;) FWORRR! It has SD and HD TV connectors, 2 wired controllers, head set, Ethernet cable wireless adapter, power cable. I have 3 original games; Forza 2, Oblivion and Unreal Tournament. I had a stack of games that aren’t, erm, “originals”, but I can’t find them at present. I will try and dig them out, or you can use your favourite torrent site. I re-flashed the DVD drive with modified firmware a couple of years ago. The down side is you can't use xBox live. I lent this xbox to a friend for a year and I haven't turned it on sinse getting it back but I think they might have taken it on line. What this means is that the system will have updated and removed the alternate firmware so you can't play copied games anymore but can play online. If that is the case you can re-flash the firmware using a Windows PC, its not too difficult. Free to a good home, still unboxing my stuff so maybe more to come. It can be collected from Southampton (or I can deliver it to you in Southampton) or in Reigate or Leatherhead, I am circulating between those locations regularly. Cheers, James. ___ Surrey mailing list sur...@mailman.lug.org.uk https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/surrey http://www.surrey.lug.org.uk-- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] NASs
Hi, One of my customers uses Synology and another users QNAP. Those seem to be the Kings of the NAS products. They both have slick Web GUIs. QNAP definitely works with Linux from both a GUI and a supported file sharing perspective. During setup, it asks you which OSes you want to use and configures folder sharing accordingly. The one thing I don't think works is the QNAP finder app which you need to find it the first time when you set it up. nmap does a perfectly good job of locating it on the network though. I believe Synology is also Linux friendly and I intend to buy one of the two brands as my next device. Some time ago, I bought an IOMega network drive. It has consistently been a pain and I wouldn't touch their stuff again. It is very crashy, requiring frequent reboots. They also issued a critical security bulletin last year that pointed out a serious issue if shared folders are set to be accessible without a password from the local network, as I'm sure many people have, such as the media for my TV and HiFi. If the drive has been joined to an IOMega cloud account, as they encourage you to, any shared folder set to open access with also offer full rights to any unauthenticated user on the internet, even if they aren't a member of your personal cloud group. The GUI doesn't make this clear. To be fair, they did man up and disclose honestly but that was after mine had been potentially allowing anyone who had stumbled across my IP address read write access for over a year. I have also observed strange network activity between it and my TV for a while. Strange enough that I noticed it on the switch lights. To be fair, I don't know whether it's the TV or the drive that's doing the chatting but the switch lights make it clear that there's not an appreciable amount of data going anywhere else. Bests, Paul. Sent from my mobile device. Please excuse my brevity. Original message From: DAWE C the-labyri...@ntlworld.com Date:30/01/2014 09:33 (GMT+00:00) To: Hampshire LUG Discussion List hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: [Hampshire] NASs I would like a NAS at home, on which I can store lots of files and have them accessible from both Limux and Widnows. (I am trying to avoid the mistake I made w few years ago, when I got a network disc which needed a driver to access, so was only available from certain versions of Widnows!). Any recommendations from people? Chris-- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [OT]New phone idea
Hi, I really don't blame them for not going for it. If I was them, I probably wouldn't either. It sounds like a support nightmare. Unknown and variable hardware. They know they will get the blame off some new block you bought doesn't work or if a update kills it. Also, they have to find room in the flash for all these new drivers. Bests, Paul. James Courtier-Dutton james.dut...@gmail.com wrote: I think the problem with phoneblocks is the same reason why you don't see laptop blocks. Good idea in theory, but far too expensive in practice. The technology moves ahead so quickly, the standardized blocks would be help back by their standardized interfaces and connectors. On 26 September 2013 15:46, Peter B. pet...@gmail.com wrote: Think this has fallen over before it got on its feet. The main phone manufacturers have pretty much said that they will not back this. You can see why they would not want to standardise their phones, competition and all On 14 Sep 2013 17:46, Peter Salisbury peterthevi...@users.sourceforge.net wrote: On 14 September 2013 08:30, Tim t...@xendistar.co.uk wrote: As some of you like your non-mainstream phones thought you might be interested in this http://phoneblocks.com/ Tim -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- I really like the idea but won't it end up being too heavy as the structural breadboard and the module boxes are all extra weight? It's like old cars with everything bolted to the chassis which were replaced by designs with a structural shell. Peter -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Sent from Kaiten Mail on Android. Please excuse my brevity.-- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Anyone using their Raspberry Pi as a carputer?
Hi, On 11/09/13 14:22, Ally Biggs wrote: No but if you haven't got a use for it I will have it :) i'm after a Model B for a XBMC setup how do they handle performance wise any lag during video playback Powering the Pi should be easy; There are many car USB power adaptors available. I would recommend you go for a quality, brand-name supply as I found my Pis become really crashy if you use a cheap mains PSU. I wouldn't see any reason why a DC PSU would be any different. If you are using an ignition-switched power source, it might be worth including a startup-delay timer in the power circuit so the power glitch when you crank the engine doesn't crash the Pi. All the following observations were made using the OpenELEC appliance build of XBMC approaching a year ago. I found no issues with playback integrity or frame rate but I did note that my Pi wouldn't play up to 50% of my collection. I built a new OpenELEC box using the native Fusion build on an x86-based AMD Fusion board. That plays every file in my collection. I concluded that the cause of this discrepancy was that many of the codecs the files used didn't have ARM ports so the Pi could never play them. Every codec I found has an x86 port. Whilst the video played fine (without an MPEG 2 hardware key on the Pi) the user interface fared badly whenever the Pi got busy and became so laggy when doing things like media indexing it was unusable. Note that the following observation was made on original (256MB) Pis rather that the newer (512MB) so things may be better now. I have a large media collection (of the order of 27,000 music tracks and 1TB of video). I found the experience of indexing them on the Pi to be painful. It took 3 days to index my collection and needed at least 2 power-off reboots, often causing database corruption, when it crashed from running out of resources. My Fusion board indexes the whole collection in a matter of minutes and the user interface and video playback are rock solid while it's doing so. The problem with the Pi seemed to be more related to the media database engine than the video performance. The Pi's CPU is of the order of a 700MHz single core. The Fusion is a 1.6 GHz dual core but there is more to it than that. The Pi averaged CPU load about 90% ; The Fusion runs at about 7%. (90% of 700 MHz is a lot more cycles than 7% of 2x1600MHz). The Fusion also has 4GB or RAM but uses less than the Pi has so I'm not sure this is relevant. I bought my Pi to use as a media player but I ended up ditching it out of frustration. Bests, Paul. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] choice of motherboard for use with Linux
Hi Peter, On 11/09/13 12:21, Peter Alefounder wrote: I have been considering what new motherboard + processor to get that will work with Linux without any problems. I like the look of this one, MSI FM2-A75MA-E35: http://uk.msi.com/product/mb/FM2-A75MA-E35.html There days, with the notable exception of the wifi on some laptops and horrid chipsets like those from SiS, I don't worry about the will it work question any more. I've not installed on any machine in the last 3 years that was a total brick. All my recent machines have been Intel chipsets, which were very well supported. It has a VGA socket and a sufficient number of USB sockets. It appears to come with something called Winki 3, a free Linux-based O/S which is based on the Linux core. Has anyone any experience of using that? Is it safe to assume that the board would work with Debian? One possible problem that I have noticed is that I currently have a board that uses a single 20-pin ATX connector. The FM2-A75MA-E35 requires a 24-pin connector and a separate 4-pin 12v CPU power connector. I will have to investigate whether my PSU has a 4-pin connector. Maplin have an 20 to 24-pin adaptor, and for that to work, no extra voltages would be required. So why was the change from 20-pin connectors made and would I be better advised to get a new case or PSU?e I generally reckon on 3-5 years' life for a PSU. If your PSU is older than 3 years then I would pension it off or, more likely, get a new case so my new toy is shiny too. If your PSU is that age, it may not have SATA power connectors for newer drives either. Has the old PSU got enough watts for the stuff you intend to put into the machine? If the machine has legacy PATA (IDE) drives then they are probably towards the end of their service life too and you would get better performance, and freedom from the worry the drives are going conk out on you, from going to modern SATA drives. The web page also gives links for a number of drivers. Are boards supplied with the latest drivers or would I have to install these, something I have no idea of how to do? It's been my experience with Ubuntu that almost every driver is already rolled into it so it should just be a matter of install-and-go. I gave up building new machines a while back. I found that I just couldn't replace the board, RAM, drives, graphics card and PSU for less than I could buy a well-chosen new machine. Have you looked at the Dell Outlet Store (go to Dell.co.uk, go down to the navigation box towards the bottom of the page and you will find the link at the bottom of the first column). They sell production-failure and warranty-return machines there that have been fixed and retested. You only get a 3 month warranty but the price is very good and I'm of the opinion that if it lasts past the first month, it's a good machine and it's generally not going to self-destruct. I would see how much you could get an equivalent or better brand-new machine in the outlet for. What is your intended use for the machine? I'm into 3D rendered games and handling video. The highest performance CPU I could find that would fit in that board was a dual core. For my usage, I would consider it a little underpowered. Bests, Paul. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [OT] SMTP servers
Chris Dennis cgden...@btinternet.com wrote: Hello folks Has anyone used an SMTP service (free or paid-for) recently that they can recommend? I believe that gmail's SMTP service allows you to alter the return address as long as you verify the address with them first. I could never make this work consistently but that was nearly two years ago so ymmv. I solved the problem by getting a VPS from Andy Smith and the fine guys at Bitfolk.com and running my own MTA where I get to set the rules. That always works :-) Bests, Paul. -- Sent from Kaiten Mail on Android. Please excuse my brevity.-- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Advice please: disk bottle neck
Hi, Michael Pavling pavl...@gmail.com wrote: Maybe a good cheap quiet boot device for an Openelec media player though? (assuming the media files are on a server somewhere else in the house...) An OpenElec machine will keep its database and all the downloaded movie and album art on the boot volume so you do want something quite spritely if you don't want the GUI to be chunky. I got a 64GB SanDisk SATA SSD from Novatech for mine for about £40. Cheers, Paul. -- Sent from Kaiten Mail on Android. Please excuse my brevity. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Advice please: disk bottle neck
Alan Pope alan.p...@canonical.com wrote: On 07/03/13 22:44, Peter Salisbury wrote: PS I have a USB adapter on order from China for a 32Gig UDMA CF card I have. Thought I might try it as an SSD! I wouldn't be surprised if this combination didn't perform especially well or speak for the lifetime of the card. Devices marketed as SSDs will have advanced wear leveling and also should support SMART so you should hopefully get some warning before the device goes south. I don't know if you will get this with a card. I put a real SSD in my Revo. Well, I put an SSD in basically every machine I own :) It makes a tremendous difference. +1 for that. I have an OCZ Agility 3 SSD in my laptop and if I change it back to a spinning disc for testing the machine suddenly feels like a dog. Cheers, Paul. -- Sent from Kaiten Mail on Android. Please excuse my brevity. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] APC UPS advice please
On 08/03/13 11:25, Simon Whitehead wrote: APC are based in Romsey, I had a faulty unit, there are fuses located inside the unit as well as the normal screw in type on the back. When my box became faulty I dropped in, I live very local and collected a repaired unit later that day, for pocket change money too. Simon I'm certainly not without hope on this. I tend to prefer totally dead faults over misbehaviour ones as they often are easier to fix. Sounds like it's worth asking if the yjourney isn't too far. Cheers, Paul. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] APC UPS advice please
Hi, On 07/03/13 16:58, Martin N wrote: After looking at that manual, I have tried pressing it in but it doesn't stick/latch on to anything. Its not stiff so to me the circuit breaker is reset but i am inexperienced so cant be fully confident. Martin N Owner of the bwfc yahoogroup and Co-Moderator of MiniDisc and amithlonopen yahoo groups. This may be a really silly thing but my experience of UPS breakages on the road is that the most common fault is blown fuses. Most of our UPSes, in addition to the pop-breaker, have a small fuse holder built into the IEC inlet, the power cord and some also on the motherboard. If the USP gets seriously overloaded this fuse will often blow before (or at the same time as) the breaker pops. The usual scenario is that the hotel cleaner comes in, can't find a socket for the Hoover, sees this power strip, plugs in... Pop. beep.beep. Sneaks out and you have a dead UPS that won't charge when you plug it in. I know it's daft but it fixes 90% of the broken units people bring to me. Cheers, Paul. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] APC UPS advice please
On 07/03/13 18:23, Martin N wrote: Is this a black screw in thing? I seem to remember seeing one on an old UPS at a place i worked. There is not one on this unit but i could break it open and have a look. Most of the units I've come across recently have a small drawer built into the IEC socket, like this one http://www.sinolec.co.uk/iec-connectors/391-0717-cw.html Please note that page is a random google, not a recommendation for this supplier as I've never used them. Bests, Paul. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] APC UPS advice please
On 07/03/13 18:26, Martin N wrote: Lo, At 17:57 07/03/2013, you wrote: On Thursday 07 Mar 2013 15:24:55 Martin N wrote: After an hours charge i get 4.8V but that could be corrosion on connectors or my cheapo multimeter. So if the UPS dead? battery dead? How long does the lead acid battery last in storage? Any advice on how i can test things further? thanks for your time Martin N Martin, I have aquired a Belkin unit with very identical symptoms. Urgh this APC is to replace an old belkin 800VA unit that was badly designed. You had to bend open a metal cage to insert a replacement battery. Did it once and swore when the second battery went i would just get a new UPS. In my case one battery terminal had actually corroded and fallen off, so it was a pretty simple fault to find. Typically, the Lead acid batteries used will be 6Volt or 12Volt, sometimes wired in series to give 24Volts. Disconnect the battery(ies) and measure the voltage across them. If you are move than about two volts from the typical values above, it's likely that the battery is dead and needs replacement. Its 4.8V but they are not getting warm like i would expect a dead battery to do. IIRC. If you unplug the UPS for a few minutes, connect the multimeter across the battery then power it up, do you see the terminal voltage rise? If the charger is charging, I would expect to see that. Cheers, Paul. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] APC UPS advice please
Hi, Is this the UPS you have? http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=br800itab=models Does this look like the correct manual for it? http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/ASTE-6Z7V5B/ASTE-6Z7V5B_R0_EN.pdf I'm just going through what I would check. I'm not sure of your level of experience and I hope you don't feel I'm insulting you. On 07/03/13 18:26, Martin N wrote: Not really convinced yet that it is the battery. Some times, batteries do go short and prevent gear from powering up. I recommend you disconnect the UPS then unplugging the battery. When you've done that, power the UPS up again. The manual says that if it is powered up with no battery, it should chirp and show the green (power) and red (replace battery) LEDs. If it doesn't do so with no battery connected, that eliminates a present battery short as the culprit. Next, I would eliminate all the silly D'Oh! problems. Check things like there are volts on the end of the IEC cable and that you're pressing the power button for the right length or time. (You did mention holding the button down. The manual seems to suggest that a short press is on and a 10 second hold is programming mode) When you press the power button, do you feel the switch behind it click? The switch is subject to mechanical force. Have the solder joints that fix the switch onto the board broken? Next I would look for fuses inside and bad connections (also do a nose-test for brown smell). I always hope things like this are something simple like loose/corroded connections, broken wires fractured solder joints on things like the back of the IEC input. I know fault finding why a switched-mode inverter isn't oscillating is beyond me. Cheers, Paul. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [OT] Domain registrars
I would recommend gandi.net to you. A decent and honest company. They will sell you a domain and you have vinyl over it and which services you want from them and which you will provide yourself. Bests, Paul. -- Sent from Kaiten Mail on Android. Please excuse my brevity.-- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Podcasting Mics
Hi, On 17/02/13 15:20, Paul Tansom wrote: Thanks for the replies, I'm not keeping up on my list subscrptions too well so far this year! I'll read around a bit before deciding, although it sounds as though the Blue Snowball may do me well enough for now. I'm not in need of UUK podcast level gear for now!! I may have to get my Skype up and running again (just been playing with that on my Dad's PC, but it appears that creating an account now Microsoft is in charge is not working properly - I get told my password is not correct in spite of knowing exactly what it is and resetting it!). I'm assuming that a good number of popey's screencasts use this, so will be representative of sound quality. I will see your a bit behind and raise you a wow, is someone still reading this thread? ;) I would like to suggest a USB microphone interface with a separate mic. I have one of these: http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/general/105220/tapco-link-usb It means you can use any vocalist/musician/broadcaster mic and upgrade the mic at a later date without having to pay for the audio interface again, use 2 mics at once or have different mics for different tasks. For example, I have a cheap and cheerful balanced Shure vocalist mic for my guest position and a rather-more-sexy Sennheiser ME-66 with a K-6 power module for my main. It means you can pick the mic you want for the job, rather than being limited to what is available in USB. It's also a lovely sounding playback DAC. I think I paid £65 for my Tapco in a stock clearance. I would recommend an audio interface that has XLR balanced connections as this is what you will find on any half-decent or above mic. Don't let them rip you off for high-priced XLR cables. I can always make one for you in the workshop. Bests, Paul. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Steam
Hi, On 15/02/13 08:07, Sean Gibbins wrote: Hi Folks, Coming in on the periphery of the Linux vs. Microsoft desktop debate is the news that Steam is now available for Linux: http://store.steampowered.com/sale/linux_release/ Now, my gaming days are long gone but I have just installed the client - and will probably uninstall it later if I am honest - and that seemed to go very smoothly indeed. It looks like you need to be running an nVidia graphics card to get the best out of it, although that's what I have gleaned from the install routine that wanted to pull in jockey and some nVidia drivers despite me having and on-board ATI graphics solution. I also have Steam on 64-bit Ubuntu. It works very well (with one minor exception that a few games that are already in my library where the publisher hasn't correctly filled in the metadata say they are available to install on Linux when they aren't.) I've never seen a game in the store to buy that said it was available for Linux when it wasn't so that's not a worry. This is just old stuff with stale metadata. In fact, they have found Steam on Linux to outperform Win/directx. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/02/valve_games_faster_on_linux/ I also note that a bunch of games I bought way back while running it on Windows don't show up in my Linux catalogue, so I presume that the games available to Linux users are somewhat limited at this point, but it's a start I guess. Has anybody out there installed and played anything yet? I have quite a decent catalogue of games, most acquired as part of Humble Bundles. For those that haven't seen them, Humble Bundles are collections of games that come out several times a year for a limited time. They are generally last year's good games. You get to say how much you want to pay for them and decide what percentage goes to the game developers, to the Humble team and to charity. If you pay more than the average for a bundle you receive extra gifts, such as more games or the soundtrack album. I think they're great. I'm not a great games player but I can get enough good games for $10-15 to last me until the next bundle comes out. And finally, am I right in thinking there's a bit of a kerfuffle kicking off with some of the big game developers and Microsoft recently that has led some of them [the developers] to threaten to go all Linux on Microsoft's posterior? Maybe this is the thin end of that wedge... I think it goes deeper than that. MS, in a characteristic knife-mugging, like the one they pulled on Novell in the past, decided that someone was making a load of money out of their product and they wanted it. If I understand correctly, not all the Windows 8 goodness and features are available to developers unless their software is in the Microsoft App Store. Also titles on other platforms won't show in the store so this seems to be a reasonably transparent attempt to put Valve out of business and for MS to take the revenue share for itself. Also, I believe MS have a policy against adult-rated titles. I understand that a significant number of the most popular games in Europe would be excluded because they fall foul of the more restrictive US definition of what adult is and MS don't want to be the computer filth store. Valve seem to be encouraging developers to port to Linux. It turns out that Valve are working on a game console, dubbed the Steambox, and this console will use Linux as its OS. I kind of got the feeling that there's an element of if you knife us in the back, we're not going to buy a seven-digit number of licenses off you... to it. They've said the hardware will run Windows and they won't stop you installing it but they won't give it to you with the console in the price. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/10/valve_chief_confirms_steam_pc/ Interesting times, Paul. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Scamming call
Hi, I also never confirm my name until I know who I am talking to. Hello, is that Mr. Paul Stimpson? Can in help you? The witness protection scheme one is good but the one I love (and that surprisingly works) when someone calls asking if they can transfer my phone service to Yack Yack (or whoever) or sell me broadband is... I'm sorry. I don't have a phone. I've never had one of these call centre muppets ask well, what am I talking to you on then? :-) Cheers, Paul. Tony Wood tonywoo...@ntlworld.com wrote: Oh I like that, Brad: the witness protection idea. I think the pause on answering (many calls) is due to computer dialling connecting the call centre worker when it finds an answered phone. When I'm addressed by name - in such circumstances - I never admit to being ... Tony Wood On 27/01/13 20:56, Brad Rogers wrote: On Sun, 27 Jan 2013 20:10:17 + Tony Wood tonywoo...@ntlworld.com wrote: Hello Tony, I recently asked my ex-directory neighbours about cold telephone calls and it seems they get more than I do. (Their most recent was the Possibly because they give out their number to all the companies, web sites and what-not that ask for it. If asked for a number, I always give out my mobile number. If that is deemed unacceptable, I leave a fake landline number; The STD code is correct, but the rest is bogus. I have, on occasion, been tempted to say that the reason I decline to give a landline number is because I'm in a witness protection program. :-) -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Sent from Kaiten Mail on Android. Please excuse my brevity.-- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Recommendations - Windows AV
Hi, I use AVG free edition. I'm happy with it and it always used to get rid of the stuff Norton wouldn't. Cheers, Paul. Rob Malpass li...@getiton.myzen.co.uk wrote: Hi all I think the time is fast approaching where I will have to buy some form of internet security tool for my W7 box. At present I use free stuff (ZoneAlarm) but this is now not as good as once it was. For example once upon a time, if a process asked for internet access, you would say Yes and tell it to remember your response and that was it. Nowadays a Java update always asks (and the tick box comes up saying I've previously said it was ok - conclusion why ask me again?). .and while I'm on the subject - what do folks use on Linux machines for this kind of thing? Cheers Rob -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Sent from Kaiten Mail on Android. Please excuse my brevity.-- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Dropbox alternative
Hi, Pogoplug works great for me. You own the unit and have custody of the drives at all times. I also saw something talked about on the Raspberry Pi blog. I think it was called Owncloud or similar and you could build your own. Due to encryption issues, I would check to see if Spideroak is legal and not blocked in China. Might Ubuntu One fit the bill too? Cheers, Paul. -- Sent from Kaiten Mail on Android. Please excuse my brevity.-- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] LUG revellers in hotel shock horror
Hi, I had a similar problem on the old Surrey wiki due to the Scunthorpe effect when trying to talk about an activity involving my spectrum analyzer. Would that word also be unintentional collateral here? Cheers, Paul. Tim Brocklehurst t...@engineering.selfip.org wrote: Yes, I found that too. Hence why my original post on the website doesn't contain the world Hotel. My apologies if this confused anyone. It was a pain to write I can assure you! Cheers, Tim B. Just an amusing side note... I tried to add my item about the Christmas Lecture to the wiki, and got the message: Sorry, can not save page because Hotel is not allowed in this wiki. It seems that the anti-spam software doesn't like the thought of anything that involves a hotel. I've fixed the wiki now, removing such dubious terms as 'furniture', 'coupons', and 'chandelier' from the banned list. Of course, the true story about what really went on in the the hotel that night remains untold... cheers Chris -- Chris Dennis cgden...@btinternet.com Fordingbridge, Hampshire, UK -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Hampshire Linux User Group Chairman -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.-- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Remote wipe of Linux systems
James Courtier-Dutton james.dut...@gmail.com wrote: I think it would be nice to see a feature in Linux whereby the suspend to RAM erases the disk password held in RAM, and prompts the users for it on resume. That would help make a bit more of the data protected while in standby. If you are that concerned about security of the information (things like personal or medical data), encryption is a must. My friend handles data on vulnerable children, she's been given an Ironkey encrypted USB stick and the moving of the data from the stick to the laptop hard drive is a sacking offence. If you're worried about an opponent sufficiently sophisticated that they can suck drive keys from suspended RAM, forbid suspending and make the users shut down. I've always found a good place to start with security is by listing what information is on a device and deciding if it should really be there (should Bob from accounts really be carrying the complete customer database 24/7 because he's too lazy to only carry what he needs?). Then decide who your opponent is and how motivated and sophisticated they are (industrial spies from a major corporation are a much bigger threat than a crack head that wants to sell your laptop for a fix). Also think how long the data is useful for (if it's next month's sales projections and in 3 weeks they will be of no use to your competitor then you only need to keep them out for that long.) I would try to sell this to whoever thought of the idea and that it was clever that encryption is wiping that is so clever that it's already done before the guy picks up your device. Password protection is nothing. In a USB caddy and the contents of the drive are yours, no matter what clever wiping software is on the machine. Cheers, Paul. -- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] PC won't boot
Hi, Tim t...@xendistar.co.uk wrote: problems seems to be related to dhcp. On my PC (Debian Mint) I edited the /etc/network/interfaces file to move the network card from dhcp to static and my pc was able to boot up properly. As I was busy with other I've seen similar strange problems on networks if DHCP servers get reset. Many clients keep a non-volatile copy of their DHCP lease data and at startup go I've got 6 days left on the last lease I had, no need to go through the negotiation process again until renewal time If you have a domestic quality DHCP server that doesn't keep a record of its leases across a reboot I've seen the following happen: Client that was either on a UPS or kept it's lease on disc reboots and takes the old address it had. Router has left it's lease table and hands out that address to the first client that does ask, believing it to be free. Brokenness ensues, particularly of one of the above machines provides a known service across the network. Can you forcibly make every device that it's on DHCP renew? Cheers, Paul. -- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Deciding SNMP MIB files in Linux
Hi, I'd like to start by saying Thank you to everyone for your valuable contributions so far :) On 13/09/12 08:44, Vic wrote: My immediate recommendation would be to get hold of snmpb - it's available on sf.net. I know going to a GUI browser is something of a cop-out, but it's made my ilfe a whole lot easier. Probably best to stay away from pysnmp too - it has interesting features when you try to fetch OIDs that aren't in its current set of MIBs (and requires a translation to get standard MIB files into it). Vic. Thanks. I will give that a try this evening. All the best, Paul. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Deciding SNMP MIB files in Linux
On 13/09/12 09:56, James Courtier-Dutton wrote: Mibs are hierarchical so all the files should link to the first one. Think of them as leaves on a tree. You might be missing all the RFC mibs. Think of these as the trunk of the tree, and without them you cannot put any leaves on it. snmptranslate did pop some errors to stderr about not being able to find SNMPv2-SMI.mib and SNMPv2-TC.mib. I found dumps of those on a random website and the output is better but there are still a couple of errors (missing brackets and can't adopt errors mainly) but I can't see anything obviously broken with the files. Where would be the proper place to get real copies of all the RFC MIBs please? one of the devices is called an RX1290 so I'm guessing then that the file in the package called rx1290.mib (or maybe the one called base.mib) might be a good place to start. I'm not finding the snmptranslate man page very easy going. it looks like I need to find out how to indicate to it which file is the first I want it to parse. You should normally just be able to give the tool the directory name where all the mibs are. It should then compile them, and work out which leaf goes where, so long as the trunk (rfc mibs) are there. For example, this is what wireshark does so that it can decode snmp packet captures. The files are (usefully) named after which functional category of the device's control they describe. All the OIDs listed by snmptranslate seem to be relevant to the category described by the first file in the directory. I'm guessing I'm either not using snmptranslate right or that one of these errors is causing it to abort and not go on to the rest of the files. Thanks, Paul. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Deciding SNMP MIB files in Linux
On 14/09/12 09:12, Chris Smith wrote: If the device doesn't support a particular OID, you will get a meaningful error to that effect. What happens if the device does support an OID but has no meaningful data to pass back is largely implementation dependent, but should at least follow the data semantics given in the MIB. Thank you. Once I get to talk to a real device I'll try some tests. All the best, Paul. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Deciding SNMP MIB files in Linux
Hi Keith, Keith Edmunds k...@midnighthax.com wrote: Are you certain that every UID in the folder exists on the device? The device is a multimedia receiver (primarily a satellite receiver but there are options such as an IP input for decoding streamed media over a network). There are also software options that can be activated after purchase with license codes but I've never seen a device with all of them purchased. I don't know if every UID in the tree exists on the device but some of them certainly will have no valid meaning as all the options can't be present because some of them are mutually exclusive (such as the satellite and network inputs as these are hardware options and occupy the same physical module slot in the unit). However, I don't know whether the unit will respond with an error or with an dummy value such as zeros if you ask for the satellite tuner frequency for a device with the IP input installed. I've not got to the stage of interacting with a device yet so I don't think the existence of the UIDs is relevant at this stage. The only documentation I can find is the text in the MIB files so my first task is to try to parse the files and print out the names, numbers and text for each UID so I can find the relevant entries. Thanks, Paul. -- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Deciding SNMP MIB files in Linux
James Courtier-Dutton james.dut...@gmail.com wrote: I think it would be easier if you posted a tar file of all the mib files somewhere. Unfortunately, these files were obtained from the device manufacturer under my customer's service agreement. I will check but I believe they are redistribution-restricted. Mibs are hierarchical so all the files should link to the first one. Think of them as leaves on a tree. one of the devices is called an RX1290 so I'm guessing then that the file in the package called rx1290.mib (or maybe the one called base.mib) might be a good place to start. I'm not finding the snmptranslate man page very easy going. it looks like I need to find out how to indicate to it which file is the first I want it to parse. Thanks, Paul. -- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] Deciding SNMP MIB files in Linux
Hi, I'm trying to write some software to remote control some SNMP-driven gear at work. The manufacturer has sent me the MIBs for the gear concerned but instead of one file, there is a whole folder of interdependent MIBs. I want to make a list of every OID in the device so I can write a driver. I found the following example command which I thought would list the OIDs snmptranslate -M . -m ALL -Of -Tl This produces a stream of correct-looking OIDs but they only seem to belong to the first file in the folder. Is there anyone that can help me work out how to get a complete listing of every OID described in the folder please? Thanks, Paul. -- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.-- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [OT] Universal Car Chargers
Hi, Sean Gibbins s...@funkygibbins.me.uk wrote: Any thoughts on this or other similar devices? For me, it's the loss of the mobile devices that have the greatest impact on my day (My phone does a credible job at web browsing and email so I can generally wait until I can find Mains to charge the laptop) I have USB charging cables for all my mobile devices so I went with this: http://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/products/accessories/chargers-connect-cables/high-speed-multi-charger-9UUC.001.04/ It gives a 1.2A USB, a 2.1A USB and a 25W 12V pass through so you can plug another cigar lighter cable in if needed. It's well built but a bit pricey however if you search the net there's a Tomtom welcome voucher code which each new customer can use once that gets it down to about £12.50. The code is welcome and 3 consecutive digits. I think it was welcome456, welcome567 or welcome678. If you're playing around with inverters or other heavy cigar lighter loads, I would recommend you locate the fuse in the fuse box at your leisure before you leave home and make sure you have a couple of spares in the glove compartment. One other point with inverters, they are not all created equal. The output can be a square wave, a modified sine wave (a stepped ramp) or a real sine wave. Cheaper inverters trend to be the former two. If it doesn't say it's a true sine wave inverter, I assume it isn't. The power supplies for some of our gear at work get really bent out of shape if they don't get a real sine wave. Like my Dell PSU won't run off a cheap inverter. I haven't seen it myself but I believe, in our early days testing inverters, we have had some switched mode PSUs damaged by cheap inverters but not recently so things may have changed. You could be lucky but I wouldn't use anything other than a proper sine wave inverter to run any switched mode PSU. Cheers, Paul. -- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Netbook batteries
Vic l...@beer.org.uk wrote: I generally buy cheapo laptop batteries from eBay. They're rubbish. Do not expect anything like original performance from them. They do not last, they do not start with the same capacity. Last time I needed a new battery for my Dell (big machine, 9-cell large battery) I searched Ebay and found someone selling genuine Dell batteries. It was more than the cheap knock offs but it was about 60% of the price Dell wanted for the same battery. I'm more than happy with it, every bit as good as the original. Cheers, Paul. -- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] rsync Problem
Hi, Chris. Aubrey-Smith cas...@gmail.com wrote: Hi, all! Can anyone help? I'm now trying to use rsync, but every variation on the command provokes the same response: ssh: connect to host S50 port 22: Connection refused rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (0 bytes received so far) [sender] rsync error: unexplained error (code 255) at io.c(601) [sender=3.0.7] If I try from 'the other end' it's exactly the same. Unfamiliar territory for me: what am I missing? Are these machines on the same network or its this going over the public internet or a corporate LAN please? Are there any firewalls or routers in the way? Are the machines running the same distro and what is in the iptables rules please? If you go on the machine and try to ssh into itself with ssh 127.0.0.1 Does it work? Have you made sure that sshd is running and hasn't been disabled? What's in its .conf file? Has it been moved to a different port number for security? Does a netstat show the port as open? Is there anything in dmesg or /var/log/messages about it starting or failing to? Does any complaint get written in either of these places when your connection gets refused? If you have multiple network interfaces in the machine, is it bound to the right one with the correct IP address? Is the SSH authentication method you want to use enabled in the SSH Config? If you are using keys, have you added the correct key to the right user's authorized keys file? If sshd isn't permanently running, is inetd or xinetd set up to start it when someone hits port 22? Cheers, Paul. -- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Pogoplug
I love my Pogo. I use it to store all my media and documentation for stuff I fix on the road. It's great for sharing stuff. The only downsides of the standard Config for me are that it doesn't offer its discs as Samba shares on the local LAN unless you hack it and that you can't see who is downloading stuff. If you want mine, you will have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers :-) Cheers, Paul. -- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. Ian l...@grody.me.uk wrote: I use one for a couple reasons. One as an ssh tunnel, l2tp lac and webcam/motion system. There is a hack to change the bootloader and run an armel archlinux from a pendrive. Pink thing i got is a v.2 i think, pink n grey. 1.2ghz cpu and only 256mb ram. Handy low power gizmo.to have about the play on. only cost me 40 quid. -- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. Bryn Jones hants...@http-420.co.uk wrote: OK I looked at these a while ago and thought nice toy but too expensive, you can now pick them up cheap. Does anyone have any experience with them? (I was on about the old pink ones but thanks to google either of them Bryn -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk _ -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] [OT] Eurocard extenders help!
Hi, Sorry for the cross post. I've just had a disaster at work and I've ended up with a satellite diss control system that can't move the dish. It's based on a 3u Eurocard rack. I think the problem is a broken wire in the loom between the cards as it stopped working right after I disturbed the loom. Does anyone have a set of Eurocard board extenders with test points I could borrow please? The workshop here doesn't have any and I can't even work out which signal isn't making it to the motor drivers. Thanks, Paul. -- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.-- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Trackballs
Hi We have the Logitech finger operated ones at work and I like the quality and feel. http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/peripherals/miceandtrackballs/910-000808.html I've tried the thumb operated ones before but I always found them very hard on the thumb joints and difficult to get precise positioning. I think Logitech may also do hand held gyro mice that tug move in your hand rather than mousing on a surface. Cheers, Paul. -- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. Paul Tansom p...@aptanet.com wrote: Does anyone have any experience of good or otherwise trackballs? I'm considering getting one due to some pain in my right elbow but the choice seems more limited that it used to be. I have some old PS/2 ones, but they don't work over USB and were quite basic anyway. Microsoft don't seem to do them anymore, unless I'm looking at the wrong suppliers. In particular, does anyone have any comments on the thumb controlled versus finger controlled ones? I have had a perference for finger controlled, but the thumb ones seem more common and give the added bonus of scroll wheels and better positioned buttons. -- Paul Tansom | Aptanet Ltd. | http://www.aptanet.com/ | 023 9238 0001 Registered in England | Company No: 4905028 | Registered Office: Crawford House, Hambledon Road, Denmead, Waterlooville, Hants, PO7 6NU -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk _ -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Remote Controls
Leo li...@fractal.me.uk wrote: Can anyone recommend a USB remote control (i.e. a remote with a receiver that plugs into a USB port) that works with Linux? Hi Leo, Do you mean a presentation remote that a speaker would use to advance a display while speaking or a media remote that you would use to control something like MythTV? Cheers, Paul. -- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Custom-built PCs
Hi, I would commend Novatech.co.uk to you :-) Best regards, Paul. -- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. Ian Park i.d.c.p...@ntlworld.com wrote: A few years back, on a recommendation from someone on this list (sorry, can't remember who), I bought a custom-built PC from a company called Vadim. At the time I bought it, it was pretty high spec: 2x 2GHz dual core Opteron CPUs, 4GB RAM, 640MB RAM on the graphics card, 150GB + 2x 320GB hard drives, T-Balancer temperature sensor + fan controller subsystem... I've done some upgrading: added another 4GB RAM, swapped out the graphics card for one with 1GB RAM, added another 3x 320GB HDD to make a RAID5 array; but I'm wondering whether to go for a fresh system with faster processors. Unfortunately, Vadim have gone out of business. Does anyone know of a similar company they'd trust to do a decent job of building a similar system but with a more up-to-date (spelled f - a - s - t - e - r!) processor etc? Thanks in advance for any help. Ian -- Ian Park 17 Pyle Hill Newbury Berkshire RG14 7JJ Tel: +44 (0)1635 821420 email: i.d.c.p...@ntlworld.com -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk _ -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Anyone using FlightGear?
Vic l...@beer.org.uk wrote: Hi All. I have a project to put together a sit-in flight simulator, and FlightGear seems to have the necessary models for my needs. Does anyone use it? I've tried it out on a couple of laptops, where it was completely unusable. I'm looking for some recommendations of what hardware I should buy... I've not used Flight Gear but if you are prepared to consider a closed source product you might like X-Plane X. It's supposed to be the closest thing to real flight there is. I have X-plane 9 for Android and its very good. A home user license for X is $90.it also has the ability to interface with hardware. If you buy the pro license, it becomes the core of a fully FAA certified training simulator, hours on which can be used towards a pilot's license. It's is available on Linux, Windows and Mac. Cheers, Paul. -- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Replacing home server with a Linux NAS device?
Hi, I just picked up a Pogoplug Classic out the bargain bin at PC World for £32. It's a fanless Linux micro server with 4 USB ports. It has an onboard PSU so there's no noise or power brick. You open a Pogoplug cloud account join the device to it then you can access and share all your files from anywhere over the web (via their cloud server) in a similar way to Dropbox. You can also email files to it to be stored or printed. There are Linux, Windows, Mac, Android and iPhone apps to access your files from anywhere and out has a DLNA server to play media on your internet enabled media devices. You can enable SSH access directly to the box with a tick box on the cloud GUI. There are a number of third party packages for it to instal desirable features. Tony Whitmore t...@tonywhitmore.co.uk wrote: The requirements are: 1) Low power. As low as possible, ideally 20-30W. Yes. 2) Quiet. Ideally fanless. Yes. 3) SSH access for remote rsync backups. SSH is present and can be enabled from the web GUI. 4) 3TB storage. Ideally I would be able to reuse the 4 existing data 1TB disks I have in a software RAID5 configuration. 4 USB sockets so you can put them in USB caddies and just plug them in. Don't think RAID is supported out the box. 5) Can run Ubuntu or Debian. Not sure but I think it is possible to reflash it. Would be nice: 6) Small. Yes, about the size of a 3.5 external HD. 7) USB connection for printer. Yes. Cheers, Paul. -- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] [OT] Free MIT electronics course
Hi, MIT are launching the first course in their new e-learning programme designed to bring education free to the masses. It's a course in electronic circuits and design and begins on March 5th. This is a trial and at this stage does not require any attendance or for proof of identity to be shown. It is examined online and results in an MIT-branded certificate for successful students. The only obligations are to complete the course and exams in the time frame specified and to agree to the University honour code (not to cheat). The course runs for 13 weeks (March 5th until June 8th) and requires a time investment of approximately 10 hours per week. You can register at https://6002x.mitx.mit.edu/ Best regards, Paul. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [OT] Idiots guide to Ethernet Switch failover needed.
James Courtier-Dutton james.dut...@gmail.com wrote: Hi, I have been given the task of explaining Layer 3 Ethernet switch failover to a person who knows nothing about Ethernet or TCP/IP. I made a stab at explaining HSRP and VRRP and why avoiding the alone, alone scenario is a good idea etc., but lets just say, knowledge was not transferred! The problem is, if I fail to get the concept across correctly, actual lives might be lost!!! (It is going to be used in a safety related communications system) It is the job of the other person to decide if equipment X is good enough for the job or not from a safety perspective. I wouldn't try to explain the technicalities. From my perspective, it doesn't really matter how the piece of equipment does what it does or even exactly what it does. I would explain that this piece of equipment is responsible for handling all communications within the system. I would say that it, like every piece of equipment, will eventually fail and that, when it does, if there is no spare to automatically take over, the whole system will stop working until someone attends with a replacement. I'd then use phrases like legal exposure if someone dies in the however many hours it will take to get a spare and an engineer out when when it fails at 2am on Christmas morning. I'd also point out that this risk to human life needs to be listed in the project risk assessment, mumbleduty of care and if it's not mitigated and someone dies then the HSE could well prosecute. Then just tell them that for £x you can fit a second unit and set it up to automatically take over so all this goes away. You can also say that it will save money in middle of the night engineer visits. I would follow your advice in writing and, if they decline, insist they put it in an email so you are covered. Cheers, Paul. -- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [OT] Anyone got a PCI sound card they don't need?
Hi, I think I gave my last one away unfortunately. Can you tell us what Linux thinks the sound card is and post an lspci -v please? What is the mobo model? We may be able to make this into a how to introduce Linux to your friend by showing them how to use it to fix a Windows problem type thing :) Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Stephen Rowles step...@rowles.org.uk Sender: hampshire-boun...@mailman.lug.org.uk Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:37:23 To: hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Reply-To: Hampshire LUG Discussion List hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: [Hampshire] [OT] Anyone got a PCI sound card they don't need? -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [OT] BT Broadband?!
Hi, On 14/07/11 12:19, Chris Dennis wrote: What does the team think? Would moving to BT be a mistake? There are very few ISPs I would want to move to less than BT. The vast majority of friends that have asked me for help with broadband problems has been with BT. Their offshore customer service has been singled out as being particularly poor. To top this, it has recently become public that the BT Homehub allows BT access to your internal network: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/24/bt_snooping/ I would recommend IDNet.net as an ISP. They are the best service I've ever had and I miss them since I had to change to Virgin. The promise no blocking or throttling and no contention once your data reaches their network. Their customer service is based at their HQ in the UK and calls are answered by the engineers that run the service. On there pro home packages your line is registered as a business which puts you into the traffic priority class so you win even in the evenings. The best router I've ever had was a Draytek 2820n. Yes, it's a £150 router but it got me an extra 1.5Mb (5.5Mb, up from 4) over the figure I was getting with my old cheap modem. I would also recommend the following steps: * Get an XTE2005 filtered faceplate for your master socket from ADSLNation.co.uk (if your modem is connected to your master socket - filters not needed on the other sockets) * If not, use their XF-1e filters on all sockets. * If you have a Sky box either put a 2nd filter on it or disconnect it from the phone if you're out of your 12 month lock in. * Get one of their twisted-pair modem cables. Cheers, Paul. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [OT] BT Broadband?!
On 14/07/11 21:44, Martin N wrote: * If you have a Sky box either put a 2nd filter on it or disconnect it from the phone if you're out of your 12 month lock in. * Get one of their twisted-pair modem cables. I couldn't find the twisted pair modem cable on adslnation, are they out of stock or do they have a different name? Sorry... You'll find them in Shop ADSL Cables Pro+ RJ11 - RJ11 ADSL 2+ with the length on the end of the name. Cat5e or Cat6 works just as well with just the centre pair connected if you can make your own cables. These bought ones look neat though. Cheers, Paul. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] NAS reommendations
Hi, On 24/06/11 12:48, Rob Malpass wrote: Can anyone recommend a good NAS device please? Preferably something I can get from the high street (Argos, PC World etc) because I need it quickly but failing that - online's fine. My trusty Linksys NSLU2 seems not to have survived the move (power supply problem and, as ever, not sure if replacing the power supply isn't just a probable waste of money). I've not tried one yet but I'm really liking the look of the Synology range of NAS appliances. These have plugins and can run just about any kid of server I'd want. Their range goes from disk-less and 1/2 drive appliances up to a 3-unit, 15-drive cascadable system which would give you around 40TB. They do a disk-less model for USB drives called the USB Station 2 (http://www.synology.com/products/product.php?product_name=USB%20Station%202lang=enu) which looks interesting to me. Cheers, Paul. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Mac book repairer
Hi, How old is it? My first guess would be a failed hard drive. Replacing them isn't easy (Apple make the machines very hard to open) and there will probably be some minor cosmetic damage if you open the case yourself. If it is the hard drive then the restore disc that came with the machine will reinstall but obviously that's a bit difficult since your optical drive is sick too. If you're lucky it may just be a cabling problem. What is the symptom with the optical drive? Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Tim xendis...@gmx.com Sender: hampshire-boun...@mailman.lug.org.uk Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:55:51 To: Dorset Linux User Groupdor...@mailman.lug.org.uk; Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Reply-To: Hampshire LUG Discussion List hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: [Hampshire] Mac book repairer My daughter Macbook seem to have given up the ghost, while we can it to boot to the desktop 1 in 3 attempts, it is very slow. It is not helped by the fact that the optical drive is also dead (died back end of November). Can anybody suggest any thing to check (complete Mac newbie here) and does anybody know of any repairer for Macs in Bournemouth, Southampton Portsmouth area. Tim -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [sort-of-OT] Advice for (geeky) broadband provider
Hi, Idnet.net get my vote. They are superb. When you call customer service you get a real engineer every time. Everything is up front with them and the minimum contract term is 1 month Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Tim Brocklehurst t...@engineering.selfip.org Sender: hampshire-boun...@mailman.lug.org.uk Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2011 21:06:13 To: Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Reply-To: Hampshire LUG Discussion List hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: Re: [Hampshire] [sort-of-OT] Advice for (geeky) broadband provider On Tuesday 11 January 2011 08:55:26 Robin Wilson wrote: anyone had any suggestions for sensible providers. As a geek I'd love it if I could call their tech support line and get through to someone who actually understood what I was saying about IP addresses, ports etc. I guess the key criteria for me are unlimited downloads and fairly good speed. Any recommendations? I'm with BEthere. Their tech support is the best of any I've ever come across (even helping with routers that weren't on their support list). TS is based in Bulgaria, but the techs speak pretty good english, so you rarely have language problems. The supply ADSL over BT's network, so you won't get cable speeds, but depending on where you are you should still get reasonable speeds. However, you can get a static IP, and the service is extremely stable. Yes, this is a shameless recommendation, but it's been my experience for 18 months now. Cheers, Tim B. -- OpenPilot - Open-source Marine Chart Plotter Lead Developer http://openpilot.sourceforge.net -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [OT] Wireless Access Point
Hi, +1 for dd-wrt. I would ask on your local Freecycle if anyone has a DLink DIR615 (the wireless router that Virgin Media give you free if you subscribe to the 50Mbps package) they don't want any more. The Virgin DIR615 comes with custom Virgin firmware that is notoriously old and bad. Mine crashed so much with the original firmware that I would have thrown it at the wall if I hadn't put dd-wrt on it and I've seen others freecycled so hopefully there will be more going spare. Alternatively you could ask the University to fix the problem for you. I believe that under the disability act they are required to make reasonable adaptations to accommodate your son's disability. The only problem I can see is that if you ask for wifi and they tell you it's banned you can't claim you didn't know it wasn't allowed if you go DIY. Before you do anything I would have a look at the rules to see if it is naughty, see if anyone else is doing it and take precautions like turning off the SSID broadcast on the AP and using dd-wrt's MAC address clone function to clone the MAC address of the wired Ethernet port on your son's laptop in case they scan the network looking for unauthorised APs. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] OpenOffice MS fonts...
Hi, Does the document look right on the screen and is it the same printer please? How did you add the printer and what model is it please? From the distro's database? Have you made sure the paper size and margins are the same on both Windows and Linux? Have you gone looking for a proper PPD file for the printer (hopefully from the vendor) and deleted the printer and readded it using the PPD? I ask these because our Xerox printers at work definitely perform differently with the Xerox PPD file than they do with the printer definition built into Ubuntu. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Peter Salisbury peterthevi...@users.sourceforge.net Sender: hampshire-boun...@mailman.lug.org.uk Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:03:28 To: l...@beer.org.uk; Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Reply-To: Hampshire LUG Discussion List hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: Re: [Hampshire] OpenOffice MS fonts... Hi Vic, I really wonder if this is a compatibility issue with the printer rather than the font. If the metrics for the font are slightly off in the printer and Word is using the printer metrics but OOo is using the font file's metrics that could account for the problem. To see if that's it you can try toggling the 'use printer metrics for document formatting' setting in Tools / Options / Writer / Compatibility and see what happens. HTH, Peter On 19 October 2010 00:54, Vic l...@beer.org.uk wrote: Vic, I've just installed msttcorefonts in Fedora 13 (chkfontpath is also needed but no longer in the repo as xfs is no longer used). That's exactly the setup I've got. Can you send me an example? Perhaps. I've got one document - but it's got confidential info in it, so I can't send you that. I can replace it with dummy data - that should be good enough (but, or course, I can't prove it'll print properly on MS-Office once I've done that). Additionally, I don't know if I can save in .xlsx (I've never tried it!) I take you mean they cannot open and print the document because it is nolonger formated correctly to print on the whole page. Yes. The invoice I've got suddenly becomes two pages, with just one column on the second page. It's not usable like that... Vic. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Home 3g Broadband
On 15/08/10 17:04, Rob Malpass wrote: Hi all [Slightly OT – but whenever I try and google this I just get sent to Mobile ISPs’ websites] We’re going to be moving shortly and are highly dependent on the internet. So much so in fact that we have both ADSL and cable – one acting as a backup for the other. Costly I know but for reasons I won’t bore you with – we need certainty in our connection – or rather having a connection. The place we move to might well not have cable. As such, ADSL seems our “only” option. This got me thinking about mobile broadband... Suppose I took up a mobile contract that included 3g web access and stuck that sim card into a 3g router. That would then (admittedly at reduced bandwidth) do the trick wouldn’t it? I’ve seen this for £80 on Amazon. At work we have the Draytek Vigor 2820 router. It supports 2 WAN connections. WAN1 is always ADSL. WAN2 can be either Ethernet-delivered broadband or 3G broadband (via a USB dongle plugged into the router.) It is capable of load balancing or failover switching. There are several versions of the 2820: The 2820 (just a router), 2820n (same but with a wireless-n access point), 2820vn (2820n plus integrated VOIP ATA), 2820vSn (2820vn with ISDN backup option). None of them are cheap (in fact they're pretty pricey) but the ADSL modem is specifically designed for the UK market and is exceptionally good (It gave me over 5Mbps on the same line my old modem gave 3.5) Are there any other considerations (beyond the presumably extortionate tariff I’d need to be on – I currently have 2Gb which is not much for desktop but would be considered huge for “mobile”. Is there another option? I know I could have 2 BT lines into the new house but if there was a BT fault both lines would go down (wouldn’t they?) That would depend. If it was an individual cable or joint breaking then no. If both of your lines were on the same card at the exchange or you chose the same ISP for both then an ISP or card fault could take both out, as could someone digging through the cables from the exchange to your street with a JCB. I have mobile broadband from Three on Pay-as-you-go. It's a pretty good deal. A top up lasts 1 month and you can choose 1GB (£10), 3GB (£15) or 7GB (£15). The only minimum commitment is that you have to put at least a £10 top up on the card at least every 180 days or Three reserve the option to cancel the SIM. If you would be prepared to accept a small outage you don't need to keep credit on the card. When the ADSL failed the router would failover to the 3G. The next time you try to load a web page you will get a page with the Three logo saying you have run out of credit. You can still access the Threestore website in this state and top up with your credit card. You also have the option to buy a top up voucher at any shop that sells them. Cheers, Paul. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Printers
Hi, I've used the HP Laserjet 4300n (and 4200n - the same but a little slower) and they are excellent devices. They are fairly compact and modular so you buy the bits you need (duplexer, paper trays, stapler/stacker, trolley...) If you can find one there are preloaded ones where the model numbers end dn (Duplex + Network) and dtn (Duplex + jumbo 2nd paper Tray + Network) that come with the options pre-installed. The base printer with just network and no options was originally over £1000 and they do something like 18000 pages from a cartridge (chipped). They are rated at something like 30,000 pages a month and you can pick ex-lease ones up (that have only done something like 25,000 pages total and have a half full cartridge) on eBay for a couple of hundred pounds. I've seen the duplexer and the jumbo 2nd paper tray on eBay too. If you find one without the n (no network) then the Jetdirect Ethernet module is also available as a self-install option on eBay. I've not had one to try yet but the Samsung colour lasers seem to have duplex and Ethernet and seem to be penguin-friendly. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: James Courtier-Dutton james.dut...@gmail.com Sender: hampshire-boun...@mailman.lug.org.uk Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:19:11 To: Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Reply-To: Hampshire LUG Discussion List hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: [Hampshire] Printers Hi, I have a requirement for a Laser Duplex printer with Ethernet network interface. The last time I brought a printer was about 10 years ago. The previous one was a HP LaserJet 4L. Does anyone have any recommendations? Kind Regards James -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Lenovo laptops
Hi, I've installed a mixture of Ubuntu 9.10 and 10.04 on a number of older Lenovo machines (T42, X31) and they all worked first time. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: trotter m.nutt...@ukonline.co.uk Sender: hampshire-boun...@mailman.lug.org.uk Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:54:20 To: Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Reply-To: Hampshire LUG Discussion List hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: Re: [Hampshire] Lenovo laptops At 22:29 22/06/2010, you wrote: I'm thinking of getting a Lenovo ThinkPad SL510. General googling indicates linux should work ok with it. However; I was wondering if anyone had any good or bad experience with Lenovo laptops and linux? Lenovo thinkpads usually work well with Linux hence a Linux Thinkpad list. linux-think...@matrix.de Martin N Running MorphOS v2.4 on Mac Mini, Moderator of MiniDisc,amithlonopen,bwfc Yahoogroups -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [OT] ADSL2+ Router
Hu David, If you want a superb router that will get you the best possible speed from your line you could try the 2Wire 2700HGV (available from eBay for about £15 I think) They need a small hack to divorce them from BT internet but I can find you a page that tells you how to do that. When I tried one it gave me an extra meg over my old modem. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: David Rozzell hants...@slartibartfast.me.uk Sender: hampshire-boun...@mailman.lug.org.uk Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:37:02 To: hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Reply-To: hants...@slartibartfast.me.uk, Hampshire LUG Discussion List hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: Re: [Hampshire] [OT] ADSL2+ Router Hi, sorry for the lack of response on my part, things have been a little hectic. Thank you for all the advice, I knew the LUG would steer me in the right direction. I'm going to go with the Zyxel 660HW, the Drateks are a little out of my current budget but thanks for the suggestions. Not the one from Amazon though, thanks to Tim for pointing out it's an older version, I've found a local supplier [1] with the newer version for just another £7. Thanks again David [1] http://www.zyxelstore.com/adsl-routers/zyxel-prestige-660hw-t1-v2- wirelessadsl2-router -- We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet. - Stephen Hawking FLOSS - Not just for your teeth - Free Linux Open Source Software -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] 3g dongles (Was: Re: GPS Dongle recommendations)
Hi, My Three dongle (ZTE 627)is detected by NM in Karmic and Lucid. It gets all the settings right and works great. The only problem is that if I'm moving and the connection drops I have to unplug and replug the dongle to get reconnected. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Andy Smith a...@strugglers.net Date: Thu, 20 May 2010 22:23:21 To: hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: [Hampshire] 3g dongles (Was: Re: GPS Dongle recommendations) -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] GPS Dongle recommendations
Hi, Not all GPS receivers are created equal; The chipsets have different abilities to acquire and hold signals in less than ideal conditions (like under trees, in a car that has a heat reflective windscreen or trying to lock up on the move). I would recommend looking for a dongle with the Sirfstar III chip. The Sirfstar II is good but the 3 is rock solid even in adverse conditions. The TomTom Bluetooth GPS module has a Sirfstar III. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Vic l...@beer.org.uk Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 18:50:25 To: hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: Re: [Hampshire] GPS Dongle recommendations If you are feeling adventurous you can have a play with Bluetooth GPS. I don't know if it's still the case, but this was fairly broken for a while. Apparently, someone decided that the default PIN was to be disallowed. My ultra-cheapie Bluetooth GPS device doesn't have the ability to change PIN, so my Fedora laptop suddenly couldn't talk to it any more (akthough my Whitebox laptop did just fine). I would avoid the really cheap units (I have had one which stopped working). Likewise. Mine has decided not to charge the battery any more :-( Vic -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] 32- or 64-bit distro?
Hi, I tried 64-bit once about a year ago. I have some 32-bit only apps and couldn't work out how to install all the 32-bit libraries needed to make them work. Do you know any good guides to doing that please? Thanks, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Russell Morris gren...@gmail.com Date: Tue, 4 May 2010 13:00:48 To: Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: Re: [Hampshire] 32- or 64-bit distro? -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [OT] Content might offend Penguins
Hi guys, On a similar note I have a problem at my customer's office I can't seem to solve and I wonder if anyone can help. It is part of the specification for my current project that I produce MS Visio drawings for the documentation. The company forces us to use a horrid application to order all IT stuff that only lets us buy from a predefined range of goods from approved vendors. The company standard for Visio is still Visio Standard 2003 which is available on our software archive. The ordering system forced me to buy a copy of Visio 2007 Standard as 2003 isn't in the catalog any more. To compound this, the only selectable option for Visio was license only so I got a valid license key but no physical media or download. The support department say they don't have the Visio 2007 install media and can't get it because it's not an approved product. The purchasing department (outsourced to Bangalore) insist they've performed their role as they've supplied a valid license key in response to my order and say it's the support department's problem. The support department say it's Bangalore's problem as they've made me buy software that's not on the approved list. *facedesks* I have a legal license key. Does anyone have a copy of the Visio 2007 Standard install media please? Thanks, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Michael-John Turner m...@mjturner.net Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2010 00:08:39 To: Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: Re: [Hampshire] [OT] Content might offend Penguins On Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 07:12:03PM +0100, James Courtier-Dutton wrote: So I should be able to download one from MSDN (I am a full member apparently!!!) The problem with the License label is that it has mostly been washed off. Luckily, a bit of the bar code, and the License key is still readable, but the bit saying what version it is, is totally unreadable. Indeed - you can use MSDN media without problem (make sure not to select a volume license version unless your key is a VL one). As long as the license itself is readable you should be fine - you don't need to select a version to install, it's determined solely by the key. -mj -- Michael-John Turner m...@mjturner.net http://mjturner.net/ -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [OT] Content might offend Penguins
Hi, On the machines I've seen with Vista IIRC the version details were on the license key sticker. I'm sure ours say Business somewhere on the sticker. We bought 70 new Dell machines all of which had Vista Business install media which we don't use. As long as they didn't get thrown out in the huge clear out we had last week we should have CDs coming out of our ears. Contact me off list if this would help. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: James Courtier-Dutton james.dut...@gmail.com Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2010 10:17:41 To: Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: [Hampshire] [OT] Content might offend Penguins Hi, I am trying to recover a friends laptop hard disk. It is a windows machine. I have booted from a Linux CD and recovered all the files the user wanted me to. Basically all their photos. The laptop is a windows Vista laptop. It does not boot and using smartctl I can see that is it about to fail. Sector relocation count has moved from 10 to 15 just while I recovered the photos! Now, I have the problem of re-installing Vista but the user does not have the install media any more. Does anyone know, from the Linux command prompt, how I can find out which version of Vista they have installed? The laptop has the Vista license key on the bottom, so I am figuring that if I can obtain some install media, I could still use the key that came with the laptop. I just need the correct version of the install media. This might save the user paying £150 for new media and license. Kind Regards James -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [OT] Smartphones with keyboards
Hi, +1 for the Blackberry Bold 2 (aka the Blackberry 9700). I haven't tried using it as a modem yet but I'll give it a go and report back. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: James Ashburner hants...@servertude.co.uk Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:31:37 To: Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: Re: [Hampshire] [OT] Smartphones with keyboards On 16/03/2010 16:27, Ian Park wrote: I'm looking around for a phone to replace my current model, a Sony Ericsson v630i. I'd like one with a keyboard a la Blackberry; it's also important for me that I can use it as a modem for my laptop netbook (both of which run Ubuntu). There's no constraint about which operator it's tied to; in fact I want one that *isn't* tied to an operator (it would take a long time to explain...). Can anyone with experience of such a machine suggest which models would be worth researching further please? Thanks Ian BlackBerry Bold 2? 3G enabled, software allows tethering, superb email support by default of course. James -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Recommendations for LLU Broadband Provider with FastUpload
Hi, I get my broadband from IDNet.net. They are BT delivered and are a fantastic ISP. I'm on their home Supermax tariff which gives me 832k upload and traffic priority at the exchange for £35 a month. I have a 60GB monthly limit but for double the price you can get their business service which has no limits at all. IDNet promise no port blocking or throttling and no contention within their network (once BT hands off the data to them). They now offer ADSL 2+ which will give you higher up speeds and if you speak to Simon there will offer you bonded ADSL (customised routers bonding multiple lines together for that big pipe experience) Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Imran Chaudhry ichaud...@gmail.com Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:59:58 To: hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: [Hampshire] Recommendations for LLU Broadband Provider with Fast Upload Hey All, We're moving office premises soon and the local exchange [1] supports a number of broadband providers that are LLU enabled, so this gives us some providers that do not use BT's network. We're after a reliable fast upload provider that won't break the bank, thus proper full SDSL is out. The idea is to help improve performance for home workers on VPNs with VOIP phones etc and also for remote offsite backup and the occasional large upload (isos etc). We've evaluated an Annex (M) pseudo-SDSL package which offer a guaranteed upload/download rate but the performance has been poor over the regular BT phone line. Some ideas put forward are Virgin Cable Broadband, which offers something like Download - 31.87Mb/s Upload - 1.44Mb/s (Mb = Megabit) (source: speedtest.net) Another idea was ADSL bonding but nearly everyone I talked to had negative comments about its reliability. Yet another idea was to find a provider that has reverse ADSL, with the up and download speeds reversed. Any suggestions? Thanks! The exchange is due for upgrade to 21CN [2] soon which I understand increases the upload speed for free. Has anyone had their exchange move to 21CN and noticed improvements? One respected ISP has stated some negative things about 21CN [3]. [1] http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/STLOCKH [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BT_21CN and [3] http://aaisp.blogspot.com/2009/09/info-bt-single-box-design-still.html -- GPG Key fingerprint = B323 477E F6AB 4181 9C65 F637 BC5F 7FCC 9CC9 CC7F -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Recommendations for LLU Broadband Provider withFast Upload
Hi, I recently came across a problem with a device (the Vodafone Sure Signal) that would only work on a network with an MTU of 1500. I believe that Be (and a number of other LLU providers) use PPPoE rather than PPPoA and therefore have an MTU of 1492. Probably not a problem in most applications. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Tim Brocklehurst t...@engineering.selfip.org Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:17:32 To: Stephen Pelcstep...@mpeforth.com; Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: Re: [Hampshire] Recommendations for LLU Broadband Provider with Fast Upload On Wednesday 27 January 2010 16:08:50 Stephen Pelc wrote: We're moving office premises soon and the local exchange [1] supports a number of broadband providers that are LLU enabled, so this gives us some providers that do not use BT's network. We're after a reliable fast upload provider that won't break the bank, ... Since Demon moved over to non-BT equipment at the exchange, we got our lines fixed and tech support that works. We use their £24 per month business package and get a reliable 1Mb uplink from Southampton. It's a good package for the technically competent. Stephen-- Stephen Pelc, step...@mpeforth.com MicroProcessor Engineering Ltd - More Real, Less Time 133 Hill Lane, Southampton SO15 5AF, England tel: +44 (0)23 8063 1441, fax: +44 (0)23 8033 9691 web: http://www.mpeforth.com - free VFX Forth downloads I'm with BE (standard residential ADSL), but my contract states 16Mbit download 2Mbit upload Unlimited. I typically get 6 to 8 download, but that could be because of my location. Currently £21.50 pcm. Cheers, Tim B. -- OpenPilot - Open-source Marine Chart Plotter Lead Developer http://openpilot.sourceforge.net -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Ethernet connection Unscreened
Hi Roger, The lack of shielding shouldn't be an issue but you must have twisted pairs with suitable characteristics for Ethernet to work. Since it's almost working setting the network to 10 MHz Half Duplex may give better results. If you have mains from the same source in both boxes you could try a pair of Homeplug Ethernet-over-mains modems to bridge the gap. If you really want to cheat you might be able to use a wireless bridge and an access point and use wifi between the boxes. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Roger Munford rogermunf...@parussoftware.co.uk Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:13:55 To: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: [Hampshire] Ethernet connection Unscreened I am working on a project that, at the last moment added an ethernet connection, between two water proofed housings about 1 meter apart. Within the boxes normal Cat 5 is used but through the housings and connecting the two is a rather chunky specialist submarine cable which has no shielding and no twisting of pairs. This setup scarcely works but it does work a bit. The housings have already been manufactured and the connection is a spare unused one which the designers thoughtfully added but not with ethernet in mind. Should this sort of degradation be expected? Any advice/comments would be gratefully received. Roger -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] SMTP bounce
Hi, I was told it was the done thing to bounce but to not include the original message text. That way spammers can't bombard your server using fake return addresses and have it dutifully send that spam to all the fake addresses. Cheers, Paul. --Original Message-- From: Isaac Close Sender: hampshire-boun...@mailman.lug.org.uk To: Hampshire LUG Mailing List ReplyTo: Hampshire LUG Mailing List Subject: [Hampshire] SMTP bounce Sent: 25 Nov 2009 13:55 Hello, Personally, I always configure my email services to reject unknown recipients, don't really need to elaborate why. Is it becoming common practice to sliently drop messages instead of bouncing them (because of forged return-paths) ? thanks, Isaac. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Americanisations (Was: Bad Karma)
Hi, I'm sure someone will be along with more examples momentarily. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Laptop display borked.
Hi Adam, Sorry to hear your machine is sick. Does the GPU have its own memory or is it shared/UMA (stolen from the system's memory)? If it takes memory from the machine's pool then a badly seated / duff DIMM might produce both symptoms you're seeing (corrupt graphics and crashes). I would try taking each stick of RAM out in turn or moving them around and seeing if the symptoms change. If you can get the machine to start and display then I would run memtest86 for a few passes and see if it finds any problems. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: AdamC kab...@gmail.com Date: Sun, 27 Sep 2009 11:07:24 To: Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: [Hampshire] Laptop display borked. A couple of years ago I bought a Novatech laptop which I duly installed Ubuntu on. I've had trouble free computing from this machine until last weekend. The kids were playing a game on the laptop (nvidia GPU) and then complained that the display 'went all funny'. When I looked the graphics were all corrupt across the screen - lots of flickering and indeterminable output. I hard powered the machine down. When I restarted it, I got pretty much the same output at bootup, and then the screen went completely blank. So, I hard-powered down again, took the battery out after disconnecting the mains. After taking off the underside cover, nothing unusual could be seen or smelt. I thought that I would try to let it boot and see what state the machine was in, so put the cover back on, inserted the battery and plugged in the mains. I ssh'ed from my wife's machine and despite there being no visual output, linux had booted and was on the network. So I shutdown again while I googled around. Most of google seems to point to a graphics GPU problem. I left it a while and then booted it up again, and the display was back to normal. I was chuffed but still suspicious. However, I carried on using the machine for extended periods through the week without any noticeable problems. This weekend, the problems have started again. This time the machine boots, I can see BIOS and grub loading, but it is split six ways across the screen and corrupted. I've even had it once where it booted with a good screen to the Ubuntu splash-screen, but then got a totally dark screen (albeit powered as it's slightly giving out light). So the problem seems to be intermittent. However, this time the machine doesn't seem to connect to the network, as I can't ssh in to it and it doesn't appear on my ADSL router as a client. I've tried plugging in a VDU but that reports that no signal is being received. What are the options with dodgy GPUs? Can they be replaced? I've never had any dealings with repairing laptops before (like I said 2 years have been uneventful so far). Or is it time I bought a new one (which I'm very reluctant to do). Thanks in advance Adam -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] OT: pop3 and domain hosting
Hi, The low end Linux hosting packages from Supanames have always been good value and should give everything you need. I've got one of their Premier packages and used to haveone of the Mids too. They've always delivered on their promises to me. Cheers, Paul. --Original Message-- From: Keith Edmunds Sender: hampshire-boun...@mailman.lug.org.uk To: Hampshire LUG Mailing List ReplyTo: Hampshire LUG Mailing List Subject: [Hampshire] OT: pop3 and domain hosting Sent: 25 Sep 2009 09:02 A friend of mine wants to park a domain he owns and set up about 5 pop3 mailboxes on it. Can anyone recommend a site that offers that? Thanks, Keith -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Tag editors
Hi, Does ID3 tagging support multiple tags of the same type? I don't think I've ever seen it and I'm not sure it can be done. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Leo li...@fractal.me.uk Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:45:55 To: Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: Re: [Hampshire] Tag editors Sean Gibbins wrote: Hi Leo Please could you give examples of them? I think you may be missing something with regard to all of them, but without a specific example to work through it's difficult to be sure. With the first one I have not experienced issues with 'various artists' scenarios - i.e. soundtracks and the like. What I mean is I want to tag a song with multiple artists/genres. E.g. I want to tag a song with the genre Rock and the genre Indie Rock. Or if say a song was by a band, but they had a guest vocalist, then I'd want two artist tags, one for the band and one for the guest vocalist. Not sure about the custom tags point - what sort of thing do you mean? E.g. I want to tag a song with the tag Live set to the value 1. With the last point I can see and edit the ogg, mp3 and flac files I have just copied to a test directory. They all play and the edits are apparent in the information displayed in the media player. Oh yes, they work; the problem I have is e.g. in ex falso you can't sort by file-type. So if you just want to edit the flac files you have to control click every other song, rather than just shift clicking the first and last. Leo -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Installing 3 mobile broadband app
Hi, Thanks for that. I'll give it a look. The only problem is I don't have NM on my machine (I removed it and replaced it with WICD because I was having terrible trouble with wireless on my IPW4965agn and it also didn't play nicely with Vodafone Mobile Connect from Betavine for our work dongles. It also SEGVd when trying to connect to Vodafone before I installed VMC) The work dongles aren't really a problem but I would need to resolve the Intel issue What do I need to put back to get NM running and put the taskbar apps back on Gnome and KDE please? Thanks, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Matthew Daubney m...@daubers.co.uk Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:27:20 To: Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: Re: [Hampshire] Installing 3 mobile broadband app On Mon, 2009-09-14 at 17:05 +0100, Paul Stimpson wrote: Hi, I just got an almost-free Three USB mobile broadband dongle (a ZTE MF627). I was very pleasantly surprised to find a folder in its zerocd partition (it appears as a USB drive containing the drivers when first installed) called Linux Software. In that was a tar.gz file and inside that loads of stuff and an install script. Now the instructions are non-existent and the script doesn't actually work on Ubuntu 9.04 but at least the existence of the software is progress :) The script has a number of flaws, the first being that it tests for the existence of /usr/share/gnome/ubuntu (which doesn't actually exist in a default 9.04 install) to decide whether the distro is DEB or RPM-based! Enough of the software builds that the modem can get online but none of the configuration tools work. When I run the build script it fails in the following ways: snip I've installed the sources for my running kernel and the libftdi1 (and its -dev partner) packages as Googling seemed to suggest they might help but to no avail. From what I've seen I believe one problem is that struct usb_serial_port is undefined and this is throwing lots of the errors. I believe this struct is defined in usb-serial.h but I've seen some arguments as to where, or even if, this should be included with the kernel source because its placement in the source tree doesn't lend to it being packaged correctly. I've not had any success finding out which package might provide it. Does anybody know how I might get it onto my machine cleanly please? I also note that the script has failed to find udevcontrol. I've got both the udev and udev-extras packages installed. Do you know how to fix this one too please? Thanks, Paul. Hi Paul, I got one of these the other day and there is an easier way than this! Read here http://www.greenhughes.com/content/zte-mf627-easy-way and use that ppa (at the bottom). Then network manager will do it all for you! -Matt Daubney -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
[Hampshire] Installing 3 mobile broadband app
Hi, I just got an almost-free Three USB mobile broadband dongle (a ZTE MF627). I was very pleasantly surprised to find a folder in its zerocd partition (it appears as a USB drive containing the drivers when first installed) called Linux Software. In that was a tar.gz file and inside that loads of stuff and an install script. Now the instructions are non-existent and the script doesn't actually work on Ubuntu 9.04 but at least the existence of the software is progress :) The script has a number of flaws, the first being that it tests for the existence of /usr/share/gnome/ubuntu (which doesn't actually exist in a default 9.04 install) to decide whether the distro is DEB or RPM-based! Enough of the software builds that the modem can get online but none of the configuration tools work. When I run the build script it fails in the following ways: ..start install. installing driver make -C /lib/modules/2.6.28-15-generic/build M=/opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver modules make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.28-15-generic' CC [M] /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.o /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:219: error: unknown field ‘num_interrupt_in’ specified in initialiser /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:219: error: ‘NUM_DONT_CARE’ undeclared here (not in a function) /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:220: error: unknown field ‘num_bulk_in’ specified in initialiser /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:221: error: unknown field ‘num_bulk_out’ specified in initialiser /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:223: warning: initialisation from incompatible pointer type /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:224: warning: initialisation from incompatible pointer type /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:225: warning: initialisation from incompatible pointer type /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:226: warning: initialisation from incompatible pointer type /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:227: warning: initialisation from incompatible pointer type /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:228: warning: initialisation from incompatible pointer type /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:229: warning: initialisation from incompatible pointer type /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:230: warning: initialisation from incompatible pointer type /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:231: warning: initialisation from incompatible pointer type /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:232: warning: initialisation from incompatible pointer type /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:233: warning: initialisation from incompatible pointer type /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:234: warning: initialisation from incompatible pointer type /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c: In function ‘zte_indat_callback’: /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:459: error: ‘struct usb_serial_port’ has no member named ‘tty’ /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:469: error: ‘struct usb_serial_port’ has no member named ‘open_count’ /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c: In function ‘zte_instat_callback’: /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:523: error: ‘struct usb_serial_port’ has no member named ‘tty’ /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:523: error: ‘struct usb_serial_port’ has no member named ‘tty’ /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:525: error: ‘struct usb_serial_port’ has no member named ‘tty’ /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c: In function ‘zte_open’: /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:630: error: ‘struct usb_serial_port’ has no member named ‘tty’ /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c: In function ‘zte_close’: /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:664: error: ‘struct usb_serial_port’ has no member named ‘tty’ /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c: In function ‘zte_send_setup’: /opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.c:732: error: ‘struct usb_serial_port’ has no member named ‘tty’ make[2]: *** [/opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver/zte.o] Error 1 make[1]: *** [_module_/opt/3UK/bin/linuxdriver] Error 2 make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.28-15-generic' make: *** [modules] Error 2 cp: cannot stat `zte.ko': No such file or directory rm -rf *.o *~ core .depend .*.cmd *.ko *.mod.c .tmp_versions rm: cannot remove `Module.symvers': No such file or directory Driver install complete!! ./install.sh: line 191: udevcontrol: command not found ./install.sh: line 208: cd: /home/paul/Documents/download/three/Linux: No such file or directory ./install.sh: line 212: cd: /home/paul/Documents/download/three/Linux: No such file or directory ..install completed!!!.. ./install.sh: line 227: cd: /home/paul/Documents/download/three/Linux: No such file or directory I've installed the sources for my running kernel and the libftdi1 (and its -dev partner) packages as Googling seemed to suggest they might help but to no avail. From what I've seen I believe one problem is that struct usb_serial_port is undefined and this is throwing lots of the errors. I believe this struct is defined
Re: [Hampshire] What a load of old cobblers!
Hi, Dr A. J. Trickett wrote: On Wed, 09 Sep 2009 at 09:03:08AM +0100, Sean Gibbins wrote: Could this be more shallow? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8244644.stm I saw this and indeed thought it shallow to the point of being worthless. What do you expect from Bill's Broadcasting Company? No mention of Linux at all, sadly, but hardly surprising I guess. If reinstalling Windows was serious switching to Linux wouldn't ever get a look in? The odd bit of valid advice about backups and easily adding memory and disk, granted, but given that it is meant to address the business of making best use of old hardware (as opposed to binning it and upgrading), the piece is a massive FAIL* in my opinion! Like most British journalism it's shallow and worthless, why bother working when you waffle and no one will notice or care...! and yes I am bitter and cynical but that does not make me wrong...! My experience is that large numbers of journos aren't any better than the average person in the street with computers. Other than technology journalists I find the average production person is overworked and stressed and that they think of their computer as a tool. Most of them have neither the time nor inclination to learn how to fix it. It's really no different than their telly in their eyes. I often find they are worse than average because they have a deadline to finish their work so at best the computer is a tool and at worst it is an impediment to getting their job done. They don't have time to learn how it works. When a computer is not working or is spyware infected the user will soldier on until it really isn't usable then either bring it to work and dump it on the engineer's desk expecting it to be fixed as a favour or they will reinstall Windows. One of the saddest testaments to the poor quality of Redmond's products is that the average Windows user expects their machine to get infected and/or to break and consider a reinstall to be the only remedy within their power to perform and that doing so is something that is normal with computers. They don't know any different. As someone discovered on one of the LUG mailing lists when someone he'd installed Linux for asked him to remove it when his son who knows about computers said he should use Windows foind out, most users won't install anything their mate (whom then dump all their computer problems on) can't fix. The average journo works on different stories every day. They write what is their perception of the truth as far as they have been able to ascertain with the time at their disposal. I don't like it but I do understand why they can't be experts in everything they write about. Cheers, Paul. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Printers
Leo wrote: I'm thinking of getting a printer and was just wondering if anyone could recommend a make that works easily and well with Linux (Ubuntu). Thanks, Leo Hi, I've used the following: * HP Laserjet 4000n * HP Laserjet 4200n * HP Laserjet 4300n * HP Deskjet 895Cxi * HP 1310 multifunction ** * HP Color Laserjet 2820 ** * HP Color Laserjet 5500 * HP Color Laserjet 8550 * Samsung ML1750 * Xerox Workcentre Pro 40 *** * Xerox Workcentre 7345 ** I have also successfully scanned with these. *** No driver for it but the Pro 128 driver seemed to work fine. The Linux driver can't control the finisher so the stapler doesn't work. All of these printers have worked out the box. The guy down in our print room (an employee of Xerox on contract) says that he considers the build quality of the small Xeroxes to be comparable to the big ones and that he would buy them for home even though he doesn't get employee discount. He commented that HP running costs are much higher than Xerox per page. I always regard HP as a safe bet. Epson are very much in with the OSS community too. I was going to suggest looking into the new Kodak ESP series printers (cheap ink that doesn't fade) but an initial Google seems to suggest that they're boat-anchors when it comes to Linux. Cheers, Paul. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Memory up for grabs, first come first served
Hi Tim, Are these desktop DIMM memory or laptop SO-DIMMs please? Thanks, Paul. --Original Message-- From: Tim Sender: hampshire-boun...@mailman.lug.org.uk To: Hampshire LUG Mailing List ReplyTo: Hampshire LUG Mailing List Subject: [Hampshire] Memory up for grabs, first come first served Sent: 20 Aug 2009 17:51 Several years ago a kind lug member offered 2 x 512mb PC2100 memory modules on this list FOC which I grabbed willingly with both hands. Having just upgraded the memory in my PC today I would be amiss not to offer the same afore mentioned memory modules to another lug member FOC. So if anybody wants them drop me a mail of list please. The memory came from a server is I remember correctly and is labelled Twin Mos And before you ask I won't be at the next lug meeting, sorry Tim -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] OpenVPN + TrueCrypt
Hi, Like Keith, I'm a little confused as to what problem you're trying to solve by using the USB keys. The location of the various keys is set in whichever configuration file you're using for the client. You should find that in /etc/openvpn. If you can make a usb key always mount in the same place then you should be able to reference a key on it. You can make the keys openvpn uses require a passphrase. That way the keys are encrypted and not usable without the passphrase. If the key is presented to the server then server can be certain the user has the passphrase. The advantage of this approach is that if the user walks away and leaves an unlocked machine the key can be copied but the copy can't be used without the passphrase. With an encrypted stick the key can be copied and will automatically be decrypted so the copied key could be used by anyone. Cheers, Paul. --Original Message-- From: Keith Edmunds Sender: hampshire-boun...@mailman.lug.org.uk To: Hampshire LUG Mailing List ReplyTo: Hampshire LUG Mailing List Subject: Re: [Hampshire] OpenVPN + TrueCrypt Sent: 14 Aug 2009 07:46 On Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:42:07 +0100, sanel...@gmail.com said: I'm wondering how the openvpn client knows where to find the keys? From the configuration file (the ca, cert and key lines). am considering enhancing the security by having the users keep their keys on an encrypted USB stick. It's not clear to me what problem you are attempting to solve - could you elucidate? Keith -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- . Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Citrix Xen
Hi, One of my customers runs Metaframe and had a similar problem. It was great fun. All you had to do was visit the studio after a show and you'd find reconnect prompts on 80% of the terminals. I once found the Executive Producer's login like that. The fun we could have had with that one if we were so inclined... They solved the problem by editing the code of the logout/reconnect page and putting a timeout in it. When it displayed a piece of code in the HTML started that counted a couple of minutes and if the user hadn't pressed one of the buttons it performed the logout action. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: James Courtier-Dutton james.dut...@gmail.com Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:13:11 To: Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: [Hampshire] Citrix Xen Hi, I have a problem with using Citrix Xen. The user opens firefox and selects the citrix server to link to. This gives the user a web based login prompt for username, password, domain. Once entered, the user then sees their Windows XP desktop. The Citrix is in passthrough mode, so the user does not have to type their password in again and they are automatically logged in using the username, password, domain they entered at the web screen. The problem is: When they select start-logout and logout in the normal way, they return to a web page that says something along the lines of Click reconnect to reconnect, Click logout to logout. So, to truly log out, the user has to click logout. So, the problem is that although the user has single signon, they still have double signoff. Is there any way to force the web interface to return to the web based login screen instead of the reconnect or logout web based screen? Oh, if you are wondering why I post this to a Linux group, it is because the user's machines are Linux desktops in kiosk mode, and I am responsible for the Linux bit. Kind Regards James -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] IPV4 : 700 days and counting ?
Hi, I'd been wondering about IPv6. I'm in the middle of setting up a mega-vpn bringing together lots of disparate address spaces. What do I need to do if I want to run IPv6 internally? What do I need to do when I need to talk to real (IP v4) addresses? If I'm talking to an IPv4 machine that doesn't understand IPv6 how does it talk back? Looks like a need a serious how-to... Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Stephen Davies stephen.dav...@ultraconsulting.co.uk Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 07:17:44 To: Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: [Hampshire] IPV4 : 700 days and counting ? This announcement by Roaring Penguin http://linuxpr.com/releases/11567.html had a bit that got me thinking. It states that the IPV4 address base will be exhausted in 700 days and that we should (by default) move to IPV6 That is all well and good but how many people reading this are actively using IPV6 (not just leaving if on by default but configuring things like ip6tables.conf, dhcp etc) How many are using an ISP that provided an IPV6 enabled connection? If so what ADSL modem do you use? If you don't use IPV6 then what are your plans to move to it (at least for external connections)? I visited a pretty 'with it' company yesterday and I was surprised that they have just about ditched IPV4 internally. They have one subnet left for those 'old' devices (HP Printers plus the odd Windows system). Everything else uses IPV6. Stephen D -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [OT] Armoured network cable supplier?
Hi, I've never seen armoured cable per-se (would have thought it would have been too difficult to stick the connectors on and plug it in. I've used exterior grade cable and found it good. If I wanted to do that I'd probably put it in conduit. I would look at millsltd.com or wadsworth.co.uk in the first instance. Other options would be a wireless bridge with directional antennas or (if the two buildings share a mains) an ethernet-over-mains solution. What kind of data rates do they need? Cheers, Paul. --Original Message-- From: Chris Dennis Sender: hampshire-boun...@mailman.lug.org.uk To: Hampshire LUG Mailing List ReplyTo: Hampshire LUG Mailing List Subject: [Hampshire] [OT] Armoured network cable supplier? Sent: 4 Aug 2009 12:00 Hello folks Can anyone recommend a supplier and/or installer of armoured ethernet cable? My client (www.lotusflowertrust.org) needs a network connection to their outside office about 30m from the main house. cheers Chris -- Chris Dennis cgden...@btinternet.com Fordingbridge, Hampshire, UK -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [OT] Armoured network cable supplier?
Hi again, When we do that we lay two parallel pipes and thread a pull rope down one and back down the other. The rope is then tied in a continuous loop for loss-free pulling :) We usually use 4 plastic pipe as it's not tight and should make pulling easy. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Chris Dennis cgden...@btinternet.com Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:24:31 To: Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: Re: [Hampshire] [OT] Armoured network cable supplier? Victor Churchill wrote: I have done DIY installations of outside cables in the past by laying PVC water pipes in a trench and then threading the cable though those. You can either bend the pipe or make joints for changes of direction depending on how sharp they are. Not quite what you are after, but a possible alternative. Thanks for the replies. I did the cable-in-a-pipe thing once in the past, but I wasn't convinced that the result would last, and it involved a lot of hassle getting the wires down the pipe. Maybe I'll reconsider wifi solutions. cheers Chris -- Chris Dennis cgden...@btinternet.com Fordingbridge, Hampshire, UK -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Ultimate Linux Media PC?
Hi, I would try some of the alternatives mentioned here but if you can't find one that works for her and she likes XBMC have you considered XBMC on an xbox again? Second hand Xbox 1.6 crystal £50 Chip / getting it chipped £30-50 Big hard drive £60 XBMC software £free from xbins Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Web site help please
Hi, I'm thinking back to the dim, distant past when I was with VM (before I ditched them over the Phorm thing and my poor connection). I seem to recall having suspected that VM's DNS don't respect the TTL of records and do their own thing. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Softphone
Hi, The Cisco phones we use at work use Cisco Call Manager to control them and the SCCP skinny call protocol. They are 7900-series phones and the only two options (selected by which firmware binary the phone picks up by TFTP when it boots) I'm aware of are SCCP and SIP. If you have a Cisco download centre account you should be able to download both sets of binaries. We have a Cisco softphone app too (don't know if there is a Linux version). Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Vic l...@beer.org.uk Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:57:45 To: hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: Re: [Hampshire] Softphone Disclosure: I am now a vendor of phone systems... We are using CISCO IP phones in the office here, and I was wondering if there was any good linux softphones anyone knew of that I could use straight on my laptop? There are a bazillion good softphones available - but we need to check your needs first to see if there are any that will work for you... I believe the protocol they are using is MGCP. Are you *sure* about this? MGCP is a Gateway Control Protocol (as the acronym tells you). It can encapsulate SDP and RTP, but it's more aimed at the link between a VoIP network and PSTN. That's not to say that you haven't got MGCP to the phones - but a cursory search didn't turn up any phones that do that... If, on the other hand, you have SIP phones (which Cisco have been selling for donkeys' years), your life will be very much simpler. Im not massively hot on IP telephony as you might be able to tell, but any help would be very much appreciated. Can you find out which model of phone you use (any example off any desk will do), and if possible, what your VoIP installation is? Vic. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] PC powers itself off after grub.. any ideas?
Hi, Have you looked in /var/log/messages to see if something went bang and left a suicide note? Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Stephen Rowles step...@rowles.org.uk Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:41:23 To: Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: Re: [Hampshire] PC powers itself off after grub.. any ideas? On Tue, 2009-06-30 at 17:34 +0100, Stephen Rowles wrote: Hi all, Slightly OT, except for the fact that the machine is running Fedora 10. My machine powers on and boots into grub just fine, however as soon as I select the kernel to boot the machine continues to a blinking cursor before the whole machine simple shuts down. I'm wondering if it might be a faulty PSU? Depends. If you can leave it running at the Grub menu (which spins the CPU) indefinitely, then it's probably not a power problem. Does any other operating system work? Any other suggestions? I'm going to try booting from my Fedora install image on usb stick but I've never seen this sort of behavior before. It behaves the same regardless of which kernel I select so I don't think it is related to any updates, typical to get a hardware failure on the PC that runs the telly during Wimbledon week! Try booting with acpi=off and see if this helps. James. I'm 99% certain it is a PSU fault. With the machine plugged only into the monitor and keyboard I can boot quite happily and run all the apps I like. When I reconnect network, USB TV stick etc. etc. the machine only gets part way through boot before losing power. Temperatures are OK, having managed to boot it I was able to scan /var/log/messages where I record CPU and HDD temperatures every hour through a cron job. It shows it died for no good reason last night round about 10:00pm with the temperatures looking just fine so I don't think it is an overheat issue. ebuyer have a good looking more powerful PSU for only £30 next day delivery so I'll order that, has a nice 120mm fan so should be quieter than my current one too, also has more power than the current 300 watt one I'm running. Normally I'd want to try more things but as this is our only way of recording TV, and contains all our email archives, I want to get it up and running again asap :) Thanks for all your suggestions, I just hope this doesn't turn into a piece by piece replacement of the whole box! -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Upgrading Ubuntu
Hi Chris, If you boot from the Ubuntu 9 CD and use the try it out option does it work? If it does then the distro works and it's the upgrade that's gone wrong. If that is the case then I would run off the CD, connect an external USB drive, backup all my documents then do a clean install from the 9 CD rather than an upgrade. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Chris. Aubrey-Smith cas...@gmail.com Date: Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:25:38 To: Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: [Hampshire] Upgrading Ubuntu -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] PXE booting problem
Hi, Can you fix the speeds and duplex settings on the switch port and machine? We've had problems at work with our Dells on Cisco switches. They both negotiate in opposite directions and end up agreeing on something that doesn't always work. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Mat Grove m...@grove.me.uk Date: Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:03:40 To: Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: [Hampshire] PXE booting problem Hi guys, We are having trouble with PXE booting our servers that are running Debian Squeeze/Sid. The servers have AMD Opteron 1218 on a supermicro H8SMU motherboard using the nVidia MCP55 Pro chipset. Debian Squeeze/Sid is fully up to date on these machines. The problem we are running into is that after Squeeze/Sid has been installed, on reboots of the machine, the nVidia PXE bootloader fails to start, giving the error message: PXE-E61: Media test failure check cable. Going into the BIOS screen on boot and clearing the NVRAM or changing a setting and saving will correct the problem for the next boot. However, on a subsequent reboot the same error occurs. Also, rebooting after the PXE failure at the GRUB screen will also cause PXE booting to happen normally until Debian Squeeze/Sid fully boots up. The netbooting error does not occur with Debian 4.0, Debian 5.0, nor many other linux distributions. Anyone got any ideas how to make this work? We are raising it as a bug but in the mean time any work around would be handy. Cheers, Mat -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Mouse not working
Silly thought. On my Dell there's a FN-key combination that disables the trackpad to prevent accidental operation. Nobody's hit that by accidentn have they? Cheers, Paul. --Original Message-- From: Scott Robinson Sender: hampshire-boun...@mailman.lug.org.uk To: Hampshire LUG Mailing List ReplyTo: Hampshire LUG Mailing List Subject: [Hampshire] Mouse not working Sent: 25 Jun 2009 21:04 Hi guys, My trackpad stopped working :( Dell XPS M1530 so ive had to restort to using a usb mouse! I was following this guide https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CWiiD to setup a wii remote. Also ran a yum update then restarted then it just failed! Searched on the web to and didnt find that much info to help me out! I noticed there was no mouse config in /etc/X11/xorg.conf so i added one but still no luck! What do you reckon? Regards, -- Scott Robinson eMail/MSN: sc...@srobinson.net Mobile: 07704900554 -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] 3 Mobile broadband
Hi Tim, From the empty ATD command it looks like your software isn't dialling a number. Try putting *99# in as the number and see if that makes a difference. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Tim xendis...@gmx.com Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:34:06 To: Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: [Hampshire] 3 Mobile broadband I have a 3 network USB broadband mobile dongle, according to the packaging it is a Huawei E156G, if I plug it in and do a lsusb it comes up with the following: Bus 001 Device 003: ID 12d1: 1003 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd E220 HSDPA Modem / E270 HSDPA/HSUPA modem It one of those which has a built USB storage device for the drivers etc. under windows\mac I have followed these instructions[1] but when I try to connect I get the following in the login script window: ATZ OK ATM1L3 OK ATDT ERROR AT the bottom of the Login script window it say Expecting :OK The connection box just say dialing Using kppp I have set the modem to ttyusb0 and if I use the query modem button in kppp it seems to talk to the modem I am using Mepis 8 (Debian lenny base) and have tried the same setup in kbuntu 9.04 on the same laptop Any suggestion ? Tim [1] http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php/Aircard -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Ergo Microlite xl 1.4Ghz
Hi, Making sure the BIOS was up to date was going to be my next suggestion. If the machine is locking at boot then it could well be BIOS related and I was hoping they might have fixed it. Did you run the memory tester on the Ubuntu boot menu just to check your RAM is OK? Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Computer monitor strange behaviour
Hi, Sounds like the green gun or the drive to it is going and that whatever the monitor does when it changes scan rate (the terminal and desktop probably use different modes) looks like it's causing the drive to the green to come back. I'd say it was probably time for a nice new flat screen. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] O.T.- W/XP..... Help!
Hi Chris, I'd go along with Andy on this one. From personal experience I can say if you touch this one it it highly likely to come and bite you in the repeatedly. I know you want to help but if you're not familiar with what you're installing (in this case) how to keep it free from virii and malware you are storing up a world of pain for yourself. The user will never be happy with it and every time something goes wrong with it you will get a phone call (and the blame). I've seen people fall out with friends over things like this and if it goes wrong and you are perceived as being no good with computers then you will never get the chance to Linux her up. I would gently explain that you use Linux and not Windows so you don't have current Windows knowledge. I'd tell her I'd happily install Linux for her but if she wants Windows she would be better asking someone that uses Windows. You wouldn't ask someone that only drove a car to teach you to ride a motorcycle. Good luck, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] RAID and LVM boot disks
Hi, We have Ironkey encrypted flash drives at work and the menu they pop when inserted has a mount read-only option. They are very expensive and the company won't buy them for contractors so I haven't tried them with Linux. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: James Courtier-Dutton james.dut...@gmail.com Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2009 12:04:54 To: Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: Re: [Hampshire] RAID and LVM boot disks 2009/6/2 Andy Smith a...@strugglers.net: Hi Alan, On Tue, Jun 02, 2009 at 06:39:59PM +0100, Alan Pope wrote: You can turn an Ubuntu Live CD into a bootable modifiable USB stick easily with unetbootin. It's in the repo and is cross platform. Would love to see a demo of this at a meeting.. Would make a great datacentre tool. Cheers, Andy Has anyone worked out how to make a bootable USB stick read only? One nice feature of the CD is that it is read only so one can take it from one PC to another and know that it has not caught a virus or such like. I have looked, but I cannot find a USB stick with a Read/Write switch on it like the old 3.5 inch floppy disks or MiniDV tapes. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Fw: ADSL Line problems
Hi, An ADSL signal isn't one signal. It's a large number of different-frequency slow signals (about 2000) called tones that get joined together to look like one fast signal. On most lines some of the tones won't be usable because of the condition of the line or interference. For example I get about half the tones on mine so I get 4MBPS out of the up to 8 ADSL Max gives. If too many tones suffer errors suddenly the modem will lose synchronisation and have to connect again. ADSL has a thing called DLM (Dynamic Line Management). DLM counts the number of disconnections and knocks out groups of tones that are making it fail. If the quality of your line has improved (as is indicated by the much higher speed) and you're getting lots of disconnections it looks like DLM has detected the new usable signals and cranked the speed up a bit too far. There is a lag built in so temporary things like interference from a car with a bad ignition outside don't force a change in your speed. It may take a week for DLM to go through and find the right settings so your line stabilises so I'd wait til next weekend before risking a £169 callout fee for getting BT in if there's nothing wrong. I would recommend a filtered faceplate and pro modem cable from ADSLNation.co.uk as these are better than normal ADSL filters and may well help things settle down. Is there new firmware available for your router from the manufacturer's support site? If so it may improve things. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] Fw: ADSL Line problems
I would definitely check the maker's site for a firmware upgrade if it is reacting badly to the line conditions. If the line is relearning now I would give it a week before doing anything except an ADSL nation filter. When this was fixed did you plug anything else into the phone line? New phone? DECT? Sky box? Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
Re: [Hampshire] [OT] Trouble with Paypal
There is nothing preventing you from logging into the Vodafone mobile email management portal and editing or removing the signature. I just haven't chosen to do so. Cheers, Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Victor Churchill victorchurch...@gmail.com Date: Thu, 21 May 2009 10:48:24 To: Hampshire LUG Discussion Listhampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: Re: [Hampshire] [OT] Trouble with Paypal 2009/5/20 Graham Bleach gra...@darkskills.org.uk: On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 03:33:51PM +, Paul Stimpson wrote: Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device Glad to hear it. -- Sent from my Bleach® immobile device ;-) Those 'sent from my boysenberry' footers have always irritated me in the same way as the badges on the backs of cars did when they used to tell the world how many valves and overhead camshafts a particular model had. Or (going back a bit) services that gave you 'free' internet, or 'free' SMS messages, if you carried a little marketing slogan on your emails/messages. That's one reason I never got into using those, and do not have a blueberry, and if I were to have one (and I freely admit I do covet some of the new gadgets) I would immediately want to dive in and fiddle with it to rip off the labels. Have always thought that being an advertisement for someone's product is something they should pay you for, not vice versa. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk -- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --
