[Dorset] participation in the Europe-wide Linux Presentation Day

[Hauke Laging]

Hello,

one year ago the Berlin Linux User Group (BeLUG, a non-commercial association) 
started a new regular event which is supposed to bring new kinds of (private) 
computer users in contact with Linux: the Linux Presentation Day (LPD)

http://www.linux-presentation-day.org/

The LPD has quickly spread across Europe:

May 2015: Berlin only
November 2015: 72 cities in 3 countries
April 2016: 110 cities in 10 countries
October, 22nd 2016: 15+ countries expected

The LPD is a non-commercial event and (usually) free of charge for the 
visitors.

The main idea is that being part of a huge international event should both 
increase the motivation of potential hosting organisations and make it easier 
to get media coverage. Furthermore the event organising becomes a lot easier, 
of course.

There are recommendations but no strict rules what an LPD event shall look 
like. An important part of the concept is that it usually does not require a 
budget and can be done with very little effort. In the most simple case there 
are a few computers with different Linux desktop environments and a staff 
member for each of them so that the visitors can ask questions, let the staff 
show to them how things are done unser Linux and give it a try.

Two small Linux user groups in the UK have participated in LPD 2016.1 but it 
is not clear yet whether they will participate in the next event, too, and 
thus we are looking for both more hosting organisations and someone who 
coordinates the activities there (national web site, mailing lists, contact to 
national media). The hosting organisations in Germany currently include 
associations (mainly Linux user groups and hackerspaces), informal groups 
(small Linux user groups), companies (IT service), adult education centres, 
universities, and schools.


If

a) you as an organisation are interested in participating

b) some members / employees have a personal, private interest

c) you have an idea which other organisations might be interested

then I would be glad to hear from you.


Best regards,

(Mr.) Hauke Laging
BeLUG board and central LPD organiser
-- 
http://www.linux-presentation-day.org/

International phone contact for the Linux Presentation Day:
 tel:+49-30-55579620 (13:00–23:00, German and English)

XMPP (Chat with OTR): linux-presentation-...@jabber.ccc.de
   OTR: 91626899 1C06F2BD 75EC2441 35C696CE 38F75997


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Re: [Dorset] OT: No Signal from Graphics Card on Newly Built PC

[Patrick Wigmore]

On Wednesday 13 Jul 2016, at 21:40:29, Andrew wrote:
> Assuming the OS is going to be Linux-based, install it on the
> hard disk using another machine (Possibly using a USB to SATA
> adapter), then plug the hard disk into the 'real' computer. If
> you install an SSH server you might find you can connect using
> that even if there's no working video, then at least you can
> see if the machine works.

You could also just try booting a live USB or CD. If you get the 
expected pattern of read activity on the USB/CD drive (after 
inputting any keystrokes or waiting for any menu timeout required 
by the live system's bootloader) then I think that's pretty good 
evidence that the machine has at least run the bootloader and 
live OS. (One situation where the slowness and noisiness of non-
sequential reads from optical media might be useful!)

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Re: [Dorset] OT: No Signal from Graphics Card on Newly Built PC

[Andrew]

On 13/07/16 19:23, Terry Coles wrote:

We get three beeps with no memory.


That proves that the CPU is running and it has at least loaded some of 
the RAM-init code from the flash chip.


To add a couple of suggestions you've probably thought of:

Try another graphics card in that computer.

Try that graphics card in another computer.

Assuming the OS is going to be Linux-based, install it on the hard disk 
using another machine (Possibly using a USB to SATA adapter), then plug 
the hard disk into the 'real' computer. If you install an SSH server you 
might find you can connect using that even if there's no working video, 
then at least you can see if the machine works.


--

Andrew.


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Re: [Dorset] OT: No Signal from Graphics Card on Newly Built PC

[Terry Coles]

On Wednesday, 13 July 2016 18:56:21 BST Neil Stone wrote:
> Will it fire up without gfx card in?

Yes.

> If so, does it beep?

No.

> Try attaching a set of speakers (May sound odd but this has provided
> audible feedback in the past) and booting with them live.

Not a peep.

> Remove the cpu... try booting..

We'll try that later.  My son is not keen to disturb the CPU until we've 
exhausted every other solution and has a batch of thermal paste and cleaner so 
that it can be put back properly.

> If you get no error beeps without cpu something is well and truly screwed.
> If nothing without graphics similar.

We get three beeps with no memory.  This motherboard may not worry too much if 
there is no graphics card because it supports CPUs with integrated graphics.  
Having it beep for no graphics card would preclude people using that feature.

> Providing there is enough power to the motherboard and attached devices it
> should at least try... try and fail perhaps, but at least try...

I'm not sure what you mean by 'try'.  Apart from the beeps, the fans running 
and the BIOS LED lighting up, there is nothing to indicated what is happening.
 
> Failing that it may be that you have a duff motherboard (or a short
> underneath it?)

That's the next step, if we can't discover anything else.


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Re: [Dorset] OT: No Signal from Graphics Card on Newly Built PC

[Neil Stone]

OK

Will it fire up without gfx card in?
If so, does it beep?
Try attaching a set of speakers (May sound odd but this has provided
audible feedback in the past) and booting with them live.
Remove the cpu... try booting..

If you get no error beeps without cpu something is well and truly screwed.
If nothing without graphics similar.

Providing there is enough power to the motherboard and attached devices it
should at least try... try and fail perhaps, but at least try...

Failing that it may be that you have a duff motherboard (or a short
underneath it?)
On 13 Jul 2016 18:51, "Terry Coles"  wrote:

> On Wednesday, 13 July 2016 10:31:53 BST Neil Stone wrote:
> > It should beep one short beep on successful POST.
> >
> > Did you try the CMOS clear I suggested? I may have missed it in an
> earlier
> > post if you mentioned this.
>
> We have now.  That didn't work either.
>
> --
>
>
>
> Terry Coles
>
> --
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Re: [Dorset] OT: No Signal from Graphics Card on Newly Built PC

[Terry Coles]

On Wednesday, 13 July 2016 10:31:53 BST Neil Stone wrote:
> It should beep one short beep on successful POST.
> 
> Did you try the CMOS clear I suggested? I may have missed it in an earlier
> post if you mentioned this.

We have now.  That didn't work either.

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Re: [Dorset] OT: No Signal from Graphics Card on Newly Built PC

[Terry Coles]

On Tuesday, 12 July 2016 18:13:03 BST Terry Coles wrote:
> On Tuesday, 12 July 2016 17:49:45 BST Tim wrote:
> > I have a couple of graphics card that are low power basic type if you
> > want to have a test (I am in Kinson)

Tim,

Thanks for the loan.  Unfortunately, neither worked.

All,

(Clutching at straws.)

Both of Tim's cards are PCIe 16 V2.0 and the motherboard has PCIe 16 V3.0 
slots.  I have found pages on the Internet that state that PCIe has 'backwards 
compatibility' insofar as a motherboard with a PCIe V2.0 slot can support a 
V3.0 card (albeit at lower performance).  What I can't find on the Internet is 
confirmation that it works the other way round, with a V2.0 card in a V3.0 
slot.

Anyone know?

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Re: [Dorset] Fwd: Re: OT: No Signal from Graphics Card on Newly Built PC

[Ralph Corderoy]

Hi Terry,

> The list server seems have treated the forwarded part as an
> attachment.  

In MIME terms, it kind of is.  If I forward an email then the new email
says it's a multipart/mixed content type, and the first part is my
text/plain email with my new text and then the message/rfc822 content
type part follows with the original email.

> Not according to the MSI forums.  No beeps mean OK; any beeps signify
> a problem.
>
> My Optiplex doesn't beep when I boot up.

Seems a bit of a bizarre way around.  A single beep would indicate some
BIOS machine code is managing to run.  Silence could also be forgetting
to turn it on at the wall.

Cheers, Ralph.

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Re: [Dorset] OT: No Signal from Graphics Card on Newly Built PC

[Simon Avery]

On 13 July 2016 at 10:27, Terry Coles  wrote:

> > Obvious stuff; Ensure any additional power leads are connected (molex 4,
> or
> > 6 or even 8-way leads are not uncommon and need plugging in too)
>
> That's the bit I'm not sure about.  My son's PSU came with standard power
> leads
> designated 'VGA' each of which had a four-pin connector at the remote end.
> Unfortunately, the graphics card doesn't have that kind of connector, but
> it does have
> multi-way 'fingers' to take an edge connector of some kind.  I have no
> idea what those
> pins are for.
>

That's probably for another graphics card - SLI is the Nvidia method - so
you can have two working together for more speed, and it should function
perfectly well without that ever being connected to anything.

Any power connector will be proper moulded plastic. It may not have any if
it's a budget one! The leads you describe sound like 2x 4-ways like this
one on the left, and the card I have in my desktop PC would need both
connecting before it boots up.

http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/pcie6.jpg

> Not seated properly, or in an incompatible slot.
> AFAIK this is not an issue.  The board clicks home OK and the card and the
> slot are both
> PCIe 16.  However, the card is PCIe V2.0 and the recommended slot on the
> motherboard is
> V3.0.  This is stated to be OK on Wikipedia (
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
> PCI_Express#PCI_Express_3.0[1] ), unless I've misinterpreted the words.
>


Afraid I've not encountered that situation myself, but may be an issue. (I
did upgrade my card two years ago and ended up buying a whole new
motherboard, cpu and memory as a result - these things happen to all of us!)


> > Could easily be bad mobo instead of graphics card, or the memory is
> > incompatible/not seated preventing POST.
> Hopefully the motherboard is OK; time will tell I guess, once we've tried
> it with the target
> graphics card we'll know more.  Tim has offered the loan of a more modern
> card, so that may help to eliminate the card.
>

Smashing, that should help.


> > PSU doesn't have enough power?
> It's a whacking great gaming PSU; an EVGA SuperNova P2 which provides 850
> W.
>

Ok, not that then! (Especially not if the gpu isn't taking any of it other
than via PCI)


> > Replace monitor lead.
> Works on his laptop.
>

Not that, then.


> Thanks for the suggestions.
>

You're welcome, I hope it starts working soon.
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Re: [Dorset] Fwd: Re: OT: No Signal from Graphics Card on Newly Built PC

[Terry Coles]

On Wednesday, 13 July 2016 10:39:13 BST Terry Coles wrote:
> Fowarded message.  When I replied to Neil it only went to his address and
> not to the list, which he'd CCd.

Hmm.  The list server seems have treated the forwarded part as an attachment.  
Here it is inline:

On Wednesday, 13 July 2016 10:31:53 BST you wrote:
> It should beep one short beep on successful POST.

Not according to the MSI forums.  No beeps mean OK; any beeps signify a 
problem.

My Optiplex doesn't beep when I boot up.

> Did you try the CMOS clear I suggested? I may have missed it in an earlier
> post if you mentioned this.

Forgot to mention, he's going to try it later today.


-- 



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[Dorset] Fwd: Re: OT: No Signal from Graphics Card on Newly Built PC

[Terry Coles]

Fowarded message.  When I replied to Neil it only went to his address and not 
to the list, which he'd CCd.

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Terry Coles
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Re: [Dorset] OT: No Signal from Graphics Card on Newly Built PC

[Neil Stone]

It should beep one short beep on successful POST.

Did you try the CMOS clear I suggested? I may have missed it in an earlier
post if you mentioned this.
On 13 Jul 2016 10:27, "Terry Coles"  wrote:

> On Tuesday, 12 July 2016 23:35:01 BST Simon Avery wrote:
> > Obvious stuff; Ensure any additional power leads are connected (molex 4,
> or
> > 6 or even 8-way leads are not uncommon and need plugging in too)
>
> That's the bit I'm not sure about.  My son's PSU came with standard power
> leads
> designated 'VGA' each of which had a four-pin connector at the remote end.
> Unfortunately, the graphics card doesn't have that kind of connector, but
> it does have
> multi-way 'fingers' to take an edge connector of some kind.  I have no
> idea what those
> pins are for.
>
> > Google for card compatibility with the motherboard.
>
> Unfortunately, we get very few hits and none that mention compatibility
> either way.
>
> > Not seated properly, or in an incompatible slot.
>
> AFAIK this is not an issue.  The board clicks home OK and the card and the
> slot are both
> PCIe 16.  However, the card is PCIe V2.0 and the recommended slot on the
> motherboard is
> V3.0.  This is stated to be OK on Wikipedia (
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
> PCI_Express#PCI_Express_3.0[1] ), unless I've misinterpreted the words.
>
> > Could easily be bad mobo instead of graphics card, or the memory is
> > incompatible/not seated preventing POST.
>
> Hopefully the motherboard is OK; time will tell I guess, once we've tried
> it with the target
> graphics card we'll know more.  Tim has offered the loan of a more modern
> card, so that
> may help to eliminate the card.
>
> > PSU doesn't have enough power?
>
> It's a whacking great gaming PSU; an EVGA SuperNova P2 which provides 850
> W.
>
> > Ensure monitor is compatible. (Most modern stuff will tell you if it's
> > outside supported resolutions)
>
> The message from the monitor is 'No Signal' so it can't even measure the
> resolution.
>
> > Replace monitor lead.
>
> Works on his laptop.
>
> > Could be the motherboard is shorting out against the case (one too many
> > stand-offs for the number of aligned holes?)
>
> Will check for that if we have to disassemble, (eg the graphics theory
> turns out to be
> wrong).
>
> > Generally take it apart and try again - checking motherboard positioning
> > carefully, only connecting cpu, one stick of ram and pgs card to see if
> you
> > can get it to POST. If not, the fun game of switching components until
> you
> > see life begins...
>
> Ditto above.
>
> With 1-4 sticks we get no beeps.  With no sticks we get three beeps, so I
> think it *is*
> booting; we just can't see it.
>
> Thanks for the suggestions.
>
> --
>
>
>
> Terry Coles
>
> 
> [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#PCI_Express_3.0
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Re: [Dorset] OT: No Signal from Graphics Card on Newly Built PC

[Terry Coles]

On Tuesday, 12 July 2016 23:35:01 BST Simon Avery wrote:
> Obvious stuff; Ensure any additional power leads are connected (molex 4, or
> 6 or even 8-way leads are not uncommon and need plugging in too)

That's the bit I'm not sure about.  My son's PSU came with standard power leads 
designated 'VGA' each of which had a four-pin connector at the remote end.  
Unfortunately, the graphics card doesn't have that kind of connector, but it 
does have 
multi-way 'fingers' to take an edge connector of some kind.  I have no idea 
what those 
pins are for.

> Google for card compatibility with the motherboard.

Unfortunately, we get very few hits and none that mention compatibility either 
way.

> Not seated properly, or in an incompatible slot.

AFAIK this is not an issue.  The board clicks home OK and the card and the slot 
are both 
PCIe 16.  However, the card is PCIe V2.0 and the recommended slot on the 
motherboard is 
V3.0.  This is stated to be OK on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
PCI_Express#PCI_Express_3.0[1] ), unless I've misinterpreted the words.

> Could easily be bad mobo instead of graphics card, or the memory is
> incompatible/not seated preventing POST.

Hopefully the motherboard is OK; time will tell I guess, once we've tried it 
with the target 
graphics card we'll know more.  Tim has offered the loan of a more modern card, 
so that 
may help to eliminate the card.

> PSU doesn't have enough power?

It's a whacking great gaming PSU; an EVGA SuperNova P2 which provides 850 W.

> Ensure monitor is compatible. (Most modern stuff will tell you if it's
> outside supported resolutions)

The message from the monitor is 'No Signal' so it can't even measure the 
resolution.
 
> Replace monitor lead.

Works on his laptop.

> Could be the motherboard is shorting out against the case (one too many
> stand-offs for the number of aligned holes?)

Will check for that if we have to disassemble, (eg the graphics theory turns 
out to be 
wrong).
 
> Generally take it apart and try again - checking motherboard positioning
> carefully, only connecting cpu, one stick of ram and pgs card to see if you
> can get it to POST. If not, the fun game of switching components until you
> see life begins...

Ditto above.

With 1-4 sticks we get no beeps.  With no sticks we get three beeps, so I think 
it *is* 
booting; we just can't see it.

Thanks for the suggestions.

-- 



Terry Coles


[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#PCI_Express_3.0
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