[ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu 9.04 Performance Issue

2009-04-29 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I'm new to this forum and fairly new to Ubuntu. I've been running 8.10 under Wubi since about Christmas and have been really impressed with the OS and many of the applications. Unfortunately I can't abandon Windows completely yet as I have a large investment in MS Access applications which

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu 9.04 Performance Issue

2009-04-30 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Folks Following on from my earlier query about poor OOO 3.0 performance under Ubuntu 9.04 Wubi, I decided to conduct an experiment. One of the great joys of Wubi is that it can be uninstalled in a few minutes without having a fundamental impact on the rest of your computer. I uninstalled

[ubuntu-uk] Xubuntu 8.10/9.04 Upgrade Issue

2009-07-23 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Guys I'm running Xubuntu 8.10 and am considering upgrading to 9.04. However, I removed the OpenOffice.org 2.4 that originally came with the distro and replaced it with v3.1. Will an upgrade remove v3.1 and replace it with the standard v3.0, or attempt to install v3.0 alongside? I'd

[ubuntu-uk] Xubuntu 8.10/9.04 Upgrade Issue

2009-07-25 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Guys Thanks for the suggestions about the best way to safeguard my OpenOffice 3.1 installation when upgrading from 8.10 to 9.04. For the record and, possibly, of interest for anybody else contemplating an upgrade, I carried out the upgrade this afternoon in about 2 hours. All my

[ubuntu-uk] Problem With USB Pen Drives/SD Cards - Xubuntu 9.10

2009-11-10 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I have installed Xubuntu 9.10 on both my Acer 1410 laptop and my Compaq desktop. When I copy files to a USB drive or an SD card they usually arrive on the target drive as 0 bytes. This does not seem to be dependent on the file type or size. The fact that it doesn't happen every single

[ubuntu-uk] Xubuntu Cosmetic Issue

2009-11-25 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I upgraded my desktop from Xubuntu 9.04 to 9.10, and did a clean install of Xubuntu 9.10 on my laptop. I find that the notifications on my laptop have the new appearance; white on black with blurring text as the notication fades. My desktop, however, still has the older style

[ubuntu-uk] Monitor Resolution Question

2009-12-06 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I run a Compaq desktop which dual boots Xubuntu 9.10 and XP. For both operating systems the maximum available monitor resolution is 1024 x 768. I would like to replace the current monitor with something more up to date, using a 16:9 format. Is the current resolution likely to represent the

[ubuntu-uk] Installing Open Office 3.1 into 9.04

2009-12-16 Thread Nigel Verity
There is indeed a deb file available on the OpenOffice.org site. I've noticed, though, that when you install it on some hardware you have to apply scaling down to the minimum 80% setting to get menu text that's not ridiculously large. I don't understand why. The installation itself should be

[ubuntu-uk] Lucid Marketing

2010-01-31 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi It's got to be a good thing to spread the word about Ubuntu 10.4 as far and wide as is possible, especially since it is an LTS version. I do think, however, that the message needs to be targeted. I often go to meetings where I am the only self-employed contractor in attendance, which

[ubuntu-uk] Xubuntu Notifications

2010-02-25 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Guys I have two computers running Xubuntu 9.10. My laptop, which was a clean install from an ISO image, has the new style black notifications. My desktop, which was upgraded from 9.04 using the on-line updates facility, still has the old style notifications. I prefer the new style. Is

Re: [ubuntu-uk] ubuntu-uk Digest, Vol 59, Issue 15

2010-03-13 Thread Nigel Verity
Re: Laptop I run Xubuntu 9.10 on an Acer Aspire AS1410. It's a small laptop (as opposed to a netbook) with an 11.2 inch screen, 250 Gb disk, 3 x USB, a card reader and 2Gb RAM, and it supports HD video. Absolutely no problems; no lock-ups, no crashes. When I absolutely have to use XP I just

[ubuntu-uk] File Transfers

2010-03-16 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Guys I've recently discovered scp and sftp as a means of transferring files between computers. I have a desktop and a laptop, both running Xubuntu 9.10. They are connected to a common router; the desktop via ethernet cable and the laptop via wi-fi. Whilst I know how to use these protocols

[ubuntu-uk] OpenOffice 3.2 on 9.10

2010-03-30 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Guys Regarding the installation and GUI problems reported using 9.10, I've done 3 installs on Xubuntu. All have been problem-free at install time and runtime. Like others, I suspect it is a Gnome or Compiz issue. Users should be aware that the version of OO in the Ubuntu repository is not

[ubuntu-uk] Audio Conversion: WAV to WMA

2010-04-14 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Guys I'm a bit of an audiophile, and have a large collection of music stored in WAV format to preserve the sound quality. Clearly it's not possible to copy many of these huge files to a portable player, so they need to be compressed. After much experimentation I've concluded that OGG and

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Audio Conversion: WAV to WMA

2010-04-14 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Guys All the advice is very much appreciated, and the views expressed about the merits of different audio formats and players are of great interest too. Like everyone else on this forum, I'm not happy about resorting to a Microsoft audio format. However, when funds are tight, upgrading

[ubuntu-uk] Dell Inspiron 1750 Problems

2010-05-03 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi i have just bought a Dell Inspiron 1750 laptop, and installed Xubuntu on it. I have 2 problems: 1) I cannot get it to detect any wi-fi network connection. It has a Broadcom 4312 wi-fi adaptor. 2) I can find no way of disabling the intensely annoying touchpad. There is no option in the

[ubuntu-uk] Linux On Dell

2010-05-22 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Re: Dianne Reuby's news that Dell say the use of any OS other than Windows will invalidate the hardware guarantee. While this might be Dell's opening gambit, I can't see they would pursue it all the way to court. The cost of demonstrating that a particular feature of an OS puts an

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Is Ubuntu Getting Too Bloated?

2010-05-29 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I am inclinded to sympathise with Roachy's view. Apart from a very brief flirtation with Fedora I have nothing to compare Ubuntu with. However, I feel that the ideal approach for any distro should be to install the OS and management utilities from the live CD, then leave the rest to the

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu UK Site Rebranding

2010-06-03 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Guys Mockup 1 is in a different league to the rest. Far, far better. I am inclined to agree that the London skyline does suggest big business, because that kind of image has been used many times before to promote big city corporations. The balance is to look professional, but without

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Windows XP CD

2010-06-05 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Guys I would caution that just because Microsoft (or any other software supplier for that matter) says that a particular action constitutes a copyright infringement does not necessarily make it legally true. For the time being at least, the law of the land ultimately overrides a EULA.

Re: [ubuntu-uk] ubuntu-uk Digest, Vol 63, Issue 34 - Non Technical Events

2010-07-19 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Guys I suspect that there are vast numbers of people to whom the philosophical and financial aspects of free/open source software would be very attractive. Trouble is, they've probably never heard of it. Where do we go to talk about FLOSS? OggCamp, LUGs and the like. Great and enjoyable as

[ubuntu-uk] Renaming The Home Folder

2010-07-27 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Guys Some advice please In order to minimise the differences between working at home and away, my desktop and laptop have very similar folder structures. This has proven to be a little counter-productive since, when I'm transferring files between them using Filezilla or Nautilus, it

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Renaming The Home Folder

2010-07-27 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Guys Thanks for all the helpful advice. I believe you have saved me from screwing up my system!! Regards Nige -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/

[ubuntu-uk] OOO Base vs MS Access

2010-09-18 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Folks I was interested to read Glen Mehn's comments about OOO Base; effectively, brilliant but who uses it? I used to be an MS Access developer and was quite a big fan. Now I've moved over to Linux I've been experimenting with just what can be done with Base, to see if it is a good open

[ubuntu-uk] Network Manager Problem (Xubuntu 10.4)

2010-10-10 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Guys I'm running Xubuntu 10.4. A couple of days ago I downloaded a routine update which required a reboot to complete. After that I had no wireless connectivity and no Network Manager applet (nm-applet) icon in the notification area. Following much experimentation I discovered I could get

[ubuntu-uk] 10.10 System Freeze Problem

2010-10-16 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Guys Since clean-installing Xubuntu 10.10 on an Acer 1410 laptop, the system is freezing up once or twice during a daily 8 hour session. The mouse and keyboard become inoperative and, if I disconnect the mouse then reconnect it, the mouse does not light up, suggesting that no power is

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Unity And Gnome Shell

2010-10-27 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Guys I would recommend to Les that he looks seriously at Xubuntu. You get the benefits of Ubuntu but with the Xfce desktop instead of Gnome. It's considerably more lightweight than Gnome but it still gives you a lot of options to tailor the layout and appearance. Yes, there is always the

[ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu Version Downgrading

2010-11-13 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi All A bit of advice please. I've installed Xubuntu 10.10 on my two laptops (Acer and Dell). Both display problems with programs crashing that I never encountered on 10.4, though they're not the same problems on each. I'm tempted to revert to 10.4 LTS. I got from 10.4 to 10.10 using

[ubuntu-uk] BIOS Upgrades

2010-11-23 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Guys I bought an Acer Aspire One 521 netbook last week and, of course, immediately got rid of Windows 7 and put Xubuntu 10.10 on instead. Unfortunately I cannot get the headphone socket to work, no matter what I try. Since the netbook's main role will be as a media player, this is

[ubuntu-uk] OOO Base - Recent Poor Performance

2010-12-09 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Guys I use OOO Base to provide a user interface to a MySQL database. Until a couple of weeks ago the performance was excellent then, last weekend, I noticed it started taking best part of a minute to populate a simple list of around 200 entries. I tried it on my other laptop. Same thing.

Re: [ubuntu-uk] OOO Base - Recent Poor Performance

2010-12-10 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi In response to Paul Sladen's enquiry, both my laptops run Xubuntu. One is on 10.04 and the other is running 10.10. On both I run OOO 3.2.1 from the OOO mirror rather than the Ubuntu repository. However, by way of experiment, I also downloaded the Go-OO version from the repository, but it

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Research Required

2010-12-28 Thread Nigel Verity
Dear All This question has been raised at an opportune moment. Literally yesterday I answered a cry for help from a friend whose 1 month-old HP desktop had been completely trashed by viruses which had taken over all administrator rights and installed massive amounts of malware. Having come

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Research Required

2011-01-02 Thread Nigel Verity
Dear All It's been very interesting to read comments about my description of setting up Ubuntu for a non-techie Windows user. It's very hard to disagree with any of the points raised, both for and against. My overall view, reflected in the approach I

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Herefordshire Open Source Day

2011-03-26 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Following Sarah Chard's posting of 23rd March, I attended the event in Hereford today. The LUG members were all extremely enthusiastic and did an excellent job of explaining the merits and benefits of FLOSS. In my view there were two important aspects of the event which the

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Please help with research

2011-04-12 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Barry I think this is an excellent idea but it will, in some cases, result in getting Ubuntu tested by users who have not specifically identified a need to change from Windows/Mac. There must be quite a lot of us who have already successfully encouraged somebody to migrate. As long as

[ubuntu-uk] Good News For Acer Aspire One 521 Users

2011-04-29 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I bought an Acer Aspire One 521 a few months ago to use as a media player. Unfortunately, with each of the last 4 versions of Ubuntu installed, the headphone jack was completely dead. The same situation applied with numerous other Linux distros. The only one to show any improvement was

[ubuntu-uk] Broadcom Wi-Fi Problem Caused By Recent Update

2011-05-17 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Guys I'm running 11.04 on 3 machines; a Dell laptop, an Acer laptop and an Acer netbook. The Dell and the netbook both use the Broadcom STA wireless driver. Today I performed a routine system update, via Update Manager, and now I have no wi-fi on the machines running the Broadcom driver.

Re: [ubuntu-uk] What's In A Name?

2011-06-12 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Guys It's been very interesting to read all the different takes on the Ubuntu name. Whatever the wisdom of its original selection, everyone's familiar with it, and to change now would probably be a retrograde step. However, the individual release names must seem a bit odd to non-Linux

[ubuntu-uk] Video/Audio Sync Problems

2011-07-02 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Over the last week or so I've noticed that, when playing any kind of video files, the audio track seems to lag around 0.25 - 0.5 seconds behind the video. It's the same whether I'm reading from a DVD, a file on my hard disk or a file on a USB memory stick. There never used to be a problem,

[ubuntu-uk] Remote Use Of Filezilla

2011-08-26 Thread Nigel Verity
I use Filezilla on a regular basis to transfer files between devices via my home router. It's a great utility which I would highly recommend. From time to time it would be useful to access files on devices located at home when I am away. Could anyone suggest how to do this? I use an ordinary

[ubuntu-uk] Grub Problem

2011-09-15 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I'd be very grateful for a bit of advice regarding a Grub issue, please. I have a dual boot desktop, running 10.04 LTS and Windows XP. I recently made the mistake of running a free Windows disk management tool in the XP partition which appeared to corrupt the MBR. The result was that when I

Re: [ubuntu-uk] What should be done for 12.04

2011-09-26 Thread Nigel Verity
How about a really simple menu editor for Gnome and Xfce? Regards Nige -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/

[ubuntu-uk] Xubuntu 11.10 Problems

2011-10-16 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I'd be interested to learn the experiences of anybody installing Xubuntu 11.10 from scratch or upgrading from 11.04. I've tried both today and had some real problems. The online upgrade crashed, the system recovery option on the LiveCD didn't work and the full install has resulted in a

[ubuntu-uk] Exploiting A Nautilus Server Connection

2011-11-04 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi A bit of programming advice, please. I routinely use Nautilus to copy files between machines and to manipulate remote file structures. Once I've connected to a remote server in Nautilus, can I then exploit that connection in a program to open files on that server, such as in an fopen()

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Help contact a French group near Nice?

2011-11-10 Thread Nigel Verity
There is a huge science and technology park called Sophia Antipolis just inland from Antibes, which is near Nice. It's several years since I was last there, but all the local universities had satellite campuses there. I'd be amazed if there are not some Linux groups in the area. The following

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu - Wrong Direction?

2011-12-01 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I am one of, seemingly, many users who does not like Unity or Gnome3. If that were the end of the story then I would be looking for another distro too. However, one of the strengths of Ubuntu is its variety of flavours. If you like Gnome 2, take a look at Xubuntu. Xfce is now a lot like

[ubuntu-uk] Christmas Revelation

2011-12-25 Thread Nigel Verity
Dear All Santa brought my daughter her first laptop for Christmas. In common with most 11-year olds she appears to never listen to a word I say, but almost her first comment after opening the box was has it already got Linux on it?. There is hope for the future! Regards Nige

[ubuntu-uk] Filezilla Issue

2012-01-04 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I use Filezilla to transfer files around my home network. Normally, when setting up a transfer, I can identify each target device in the Server Name field by its host name. However I've recently acquired a new PC and, when running Filezilla on it, can only identify the target device by its

[ubuntu-uk] Xfce Menus

2012-02-15 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi For anybody who is not keen on the Unity or Gnome3 GUI I strongly recommend Xfce. The standard Xfce project screenshots don't do justice to the visual effects you can create using the compositor and desktop colour gradients, plus a little tweaking of a file called .gtkrc-2.0. However, there

[ubuntu-uk] Networking Problem

2012-03-01 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I use a Linksys X2000 router which has a tendency to drop its internet connection once or twice a day, although connections between the router and clients stay active. This is, apparently, a common problem, but with no hard and fast solution that I can ascertain. The internet connection is

[ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu Plans

2012-03-07 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi It's been interesting to read about Canonical's ideas for the future of Ubuntu; in particular its use as an OS for tablets and other mobile devices. It strikes me that some of this vision is undermined by the implications of the Secure Boot functionality being specified by Microsoft on ARM

[ubuntu-uk] Partitioning Question

2012-03-10 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi A bit of advice on partitioning, please. I currently dual-boot Xubuntu and Windows 7. I've now got to the happy situation where I no longer need any Windows applications. Consequently I'd like to delete Windows and reclaim the 80 Gb of disk space it

[ubuntu-uk] Upgrading to 12.04

2012-04-30 Thread Nigel Verity
I think the suggestion by kpb for a direct LTS - LTS upgrade path is inspired. I have successfully encouraged a number of low tech users to move from Windows and always put them onto the current LTS for the sake of stability, with excellent results. It would be very good for the image of

Re: [ubuntu-uk] heads up - Secure Boot Problems for Linux Users Are Here Already

2012-06-02 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi All If anybody can get a key from Verisign for $99 that makes a mockery of having secure boot in the first place. We can take it as read that there are long term plans by Microsoft to tighten up the secure boot spec in the future in their favour. To my mind, this first pass is just to

Re: [ubuntu-uk] File sharing website

2012-06-10 Thread Nigel Verity
Dear All I've been using Minus for about a year now. Considering it's free, it's not bad. The upload performance can sometimes be a bit hit and miss. You may have to wait 2 or 3 minutes before anything happens but it usually works out fine. My files are typically in the 100 - 200Mb region.

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Richard Stallman Event

2012-06-12 Thread Nigel Verity
might be interested. Also, Richard Stallman is looking for a place to stay while he's in London. If you know anyone who might be interested in putting him up on a sofa for a night or two, please put them in touch with me. Many thanks Jon Neale On 12 June 2012 09:55, Nigel Verity nigelver

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open office python as an Ms office alternative.

2012-08-07 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I used to be a fairly serious Access developer and faced much the same issue when I made the move to Linux. In my view OpenOffice/LibreOffice Base is by far the weakest part of the otherwise excellent office suite. Its native HSQL database is slow and the form designer is very limited in

[ubuntu-uk] Xfce Desktop

2012-09-12 Thread Nigel Verity
I have discovered a trick which may be of interest to Xfce/Xubuntu users with a large number of desktop icons. For reasons which I've never understood, Xfce does not provide a means of sorting desktop icons into alphabetical order (or any other order, for that matter). A quick workaround is as

[ubuntu-uk] USB Memory Stick Problem

2012-09-18 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I've been having trouble with a 32Mb USB memory stick. Whenever I copy large volumes of data in one go the job crashes with an Error Splicing File message. This occurs both with the stick formatted as ext4 and also as fat32. Since formatting it to ext3 as a last resort, so far the problem

[ubuntu-uk] Installing GIMP 2.8

2012-10-07 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I'm trying to install GIMP 2.8 into Ubuntu 12.04, where the default version is 2.6.1. All the advice I can find seems to be essentially the same, namely: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimpsudo apt-get updatesudo apt-get install gimp Each time I try this I just get 2.6.1

[ubuntu-uk] USB Pen Drive Problem

2012-11-01 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I use a 32Gb USB pen drive for daily backups of my main PC (#1). Each time I plug it into PC #1 it takes only seconds to mount. However, if I plug it into my other PC (#2) it can take 10-15 minutes to mount. If I subsequently write data to the drive from PC #2 it will then also take 10-15

[ubuntu-uk] 64-bit vs 32-bit

2012-11-14 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I'm thinking about upgrading to Xubuntu 12.10. It will be a fresh install. So far I've always gone for the 32-bit version and had next to no problems, either with the OS or applications. Conscious of the need to keep up with the times, I'm considering 64-bit next time. Are there any real

[ubuntu-uk] Default Kernel Issue

2012-12-05 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I have just installed Xubuntu 12.10 on an HP laptop. It worked fine until I succumbed to the invitation to perform the 100+ updates in the queue. This included a new kernel version. After completion and rebooting, the screen remained blank after the Grub menu had disappeared, although disk

Re: [ubuntu-uk] sound not working in xubuntu (javadayaz)

2012-12-11 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Javad Whenever I have encountered strange audio problems I have usually found a solution by installing the Pulse Audio Volume Control (pavucontrol in Synaptic) and playing around with the settings for input and output devices. Nige --

[ubuntu-uk] Running Ubuntu In Live Mode

2013-02-07 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Having got my fingers burnt a couple of times in the past, I now never install a new version of Ubuntu, or any other distro, without running it first as a live CD or, more recently, from a USB stick. It seems fairly inevitable that my next laptop will have UEFI embodied. Does anybody know

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Toshiba NB100-11r netbooks

2013-02-25 Thread Nigel Verity
I would echo the advice to go for 12.04 using one of the lighter variants e.g Lubuntu or Xubuntu. As a tip based on my own experience, when you advertise the netbooks don't specify which OS they are running. Anything other than Windows is likely to put some people off following it up, but if

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Dixons/PC World response

2013-05-01 Thread Nigel Verity
When I last mentioned Linux in PC World it was quite obvious that the assistant had never heard of it. Now that most PC World shops are integrated with Currys, there are staff with apparently little experience on the PC side. They may know a lot about fridges and hoovers but not IT. Maybe that

[ubuntu-uk] USB Scanner Issue

2013-05-03 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I'm running 12.04 and use an HP 3070 printer/scanner connected by USB. If I boot with the device already connected and powered up, my scanner software always detects the device but returns an I/O error when I try to perform a document scan. If I boot with the device powered up but NOT

Re: [ubuntu-uk] DSL Provider

2013-05-07 Thread Nigel Verity
Talk Talk get a a lot of stick but I still think they are worth considering. The customer service can be a bit frustrating but, from a technical standpoint, I've never had an issue of any kind with them since I first signed up some years ago. They admit to shaping peer-to-peer at peak hours

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Packard Bell, what wonderful support!

2013-05-09 Thread Nigel Verity
Gareth While I think that Liam Proven's robust manner does him no credit, his advice is largely valid. If you don't allow Packard Bell, or any company acting on their behalf, access to the computer in its original physical configuration then you are not enabling them to comply with the terms

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Public library OS choice

2013-06-11 Thread Nigel Verity
Dear All In more than 10 years of working with public sector organisations I have never found any appetite to change from Microsoft products, no matter how the case for open source alternatives is made. Partly it is because many public/civil servants have not the faintest awareness of any

[ubuntu-uk] SSH/Filezilla Problem

2013-06-17 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I use Filezilla a lot to transfer data between a desktop and a netbook, via a wireless router. Sometimes these files are big ( 300 MB). With small files there are no problems regardless of which direction the transfer goes, or whether I am pushing or pulling. With large files, however, the

[ubuntu-uk] Linux GUI Development

2013-07-19 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I write all the software to support my business activities using Gambas 3. If you've used Visual Basic you can use Gambas. The two are remarkably similar. You can connect to an SQLite database with 3 lines of code, and then you have a very close equivalent to Access as well. While I would

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Has anybody seen this and what do you think

2013-07-31 Thread Nigel Verity
On the face of it the use of a GNU/Linux-based OS in place of Windows ought to be attractive. Unfortunately, things are not quite so simple. The amount the government (national and local) pays to Microsoft per seat, for both OS and applications, is minisule, compared to what you or I would

[ubuntu-uk] OpenSSH Problems

2013-08-21 Thread Nigel Verity
I am on the lookout for a bit of advice on using SSH/SFTP to transfer large files between devices on my home network. I use Filezilla as my SFTP client and, in principle, it works a treat. If I transfer files between devices connected to the router by ethernet cable there are never any

Re: [ubuntu-uk] OT - secure email?

2013-09-04 Thread Nigel Verity
I think that The Nice Guy and Liam Proven make excellent points which illustrate both ends of the security/interception issue. Most people are not involved in radical politics, crime or anything else which could prove, at the very least, embarrassing if made public. For them the notion you

[ubuntu-uk] Heads-Up For Spotify Users

2013-09-18 Thread Nigel Verity
I've been a Spotify user for the last 2 or 3 years; ever since its library overtook Napster's in terms of depth and coverage. Officially the only desktop clients are for Windows and Mac. However, there is also a preview version of a Linux client which has never been formally released. It's

[ubuntu-uk] Xfce Appearance

2013-10-28 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I am a long-time Xfce user, on both Xubuntu and other distros. The only thing about it which has always disappointed me is purely cosmetic, but annoying all the same. All the stock Xfce applications look modern and easy on the eye - curved button corners, bevelled surfaces, etc. However

[ubuntu-uk] User Specific Desktop Defaults

2013-11-05 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I have a machine with both Xfce and LXDE installed. The system default is Xfce, though the user has the option to select LXDE instead at the point of logging in. Is there any way to make profile A always log in using Xfce by default and profile B using LXDE? Thanks Nige

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Building Ubuntu for the Raspberry Pi, on the Raspberry Pi

2013-11-06 Thread Nigel Verity
Alan I'm all for maximising the choice of OS that can be run on a Pi, but your Indigogo pitch doesn't make clear what advantages Ubuntu server with no desktop will bring, compared to the existing Debian derivative which already provides LXDE. The pitch also gives the impression that if it does

[ubuntu-uk] Dual-Boot Issue

2014-01-02 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I dual boot Xubuntu with Windows 7, but use the Windows partition mainly as additional storage. I am generally running out of disk space on both Linux and Windows partitions. I do have occasional need for Windows, so giving that partition entirely over to Linux is not an option. Does

[ubuntu-uk] FLV Video Problem

2014-01-06 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I'm running Xubuntu 12.04 and have recently lost the ability to play FLV video files, regardless of their source. The files themselves play perfectly when I copy them to another machine with the same version of the OS, so it's not a corruption problem. Clearly I have somehow deleted or

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open formats in UK gov?

2014-01-29 Thread Nigel Verity
I think that standardising on open formats is a significant step but it is a long, long way from seeing the likes of LibreOffice running on the typical civil servant's desktop. Without exception, the big UK government FM contracts for IT provision and support are all let to companies with a

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open formats in UK gov?

2014-01-30 Thread Nigel Verity
; ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com On 29 de enero de 2014 23:24:16 GMT, Nigel Verity nigelver...@hotmail.com wrote: I think that standardising on open formats is a significant step but it is a long, long way from seeing the likes of LibreOffice running on the typical civil servant's desktop

[ubuntu-uk] Online Office Apps

2014-02-21 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I have to maintain a Windows 7 partition solely to run MS Word. I work on all my documents in LibreOffice but my customers invariably require DOCX format. I need Word to double-check the formatting of the end-product as the LO implementation of DOCX is still not 100%. Does anybody know if

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Should ubuntu play DVDs gratis?

2014-03-02 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi The implementation of the law in the UK is already a laughing stock. I think it would move into another league if an attempt were ever made to prosecute somebody for using libdvdcss2. I would just install and be damned. Nige --

[ubuntu-uk] Ending Dual-Boot

2014-03-09 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi The big day has arrived. I'm in a position to finish with all this dual-boot nonsense and give my Dell laptop entirely over to Xubuntu. If I use GParted to delete the 2 partitions used by Windows 7, and then resize the Linux partition, it strikes me that Grub might get into a mess. I'm sure

[ubuntu-uk] Strange Wireless Behaviour

2014-05-09 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I have an Acer netbook on which I have recently replaced PCLinuxOS with Xubuntu 14.04. Using PCLOS the netbook would detect and lock on to the wi-fi signal anywhere in the house. Now it is running Xubuntu it detects the signal but won't connect unless I move the device to within a few yards

[ubuntu-uk] WMA Audio / GStreamer Problem

2014-05-13 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I am running Xubuntu 14.04. All my audio and video files play perfectly in VLC and Parole. Clementine plays Ogg and mp3 files but will not play Windows Media Audio (wma) format files. A message is displayed stating Your GStreamer installation is missing a plug-in but it doesn't go into any

[ubuntu-uk] Video Redirection

2014-10-01 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I have a Raspberry Pi with which I use my TV as a monitor, or at least I did until I trod on the HDMI cable and damaged the socket on the back of the TV. The only other inputs the TV has are a SCART and VGA. My laptop running Xubuntu 13.10 has both an HDMI socket and a VGA output. I know I

Re: [ubuntu-uk] UK Team Reboot (Alan Pope)

2014-12-04 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Popey I think you are right that some new initiatives wouldn't go amiss. I've nothing but praise for this list, though. I've posted quite a lot of pleas for advice over the last 3 or 4 years and only ever drawn a blank on one occasion. Advocacy is a great idea, but the few events I've

[ubuntu-uk] AV to USB conversion

2015-01-03 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Santa gave me a night-vision device for Christmas. It's a great piece of kit but the image will be much better if viewed using an external monitor rather than through the relatively low resolution viewfinder. My netbook (running Xubuntu 14.04) would be ideal due to its portability. It has 2

[ubuntu-uk] USB 3.0 HDD Problem

2015-03-08 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I've just discovered that Ubuntu Mate 14.10 appears unable to mount a USB 3.0 HDD (through a USB 2 port). It can mount a USB 2 HDD no problem. Both are formatted as ext4. I've repeated the installation/test on 2 different machines with the same result, and the USB 3.0 drive in question

[ubuntu-uk] Local IP Address Allocation

2015-03-29 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi Just a minor question about local networking I routinely have a number of different devices connected to my home network such as Ubuntu laptops, iPad, Android phone, Kindle, RPi and so on. The router allocates local IP addresses to them as and when they connect. Although those IP

[ubuntu-uk] Minor SSH Issue

2015-03-02 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I've just set up a laptop with Ubuntu MATE and I'm having a minor problem with SSH. I can access any device on my home network by IP address but for some reason the host names are not recognised. Using other Ubuntu flavours and Mint I've always been able to access devices by hostname

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Minor SSH Issue

2015-03-03 Thread Nigel Verity
Thanks for all the suggestions about getting Ubuntu MATE to recognise other nodes on my network using the .local hostname as well as just the IP address. A number of Avahi-related packages are missing from Ubuntu MATE (14.10) compared with other flavours in which .local hostnames are recognised

[ubuntu-uk] Implications Of Secure Boot Lockout

2015-04-06 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I have been reading recently that Microsoft are removing the requirement for hardware manufacturers to provide a secure boot off switch, in order to gain Windows 10 accreditation. If this comes to pass it will place Linux distros entirely at the mercy of Microsoft to sign their

[ubuntu-uk] Gnome Color Chooser

2015-06-23 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I'm so impressed with Ubuntu MATE that I've finally abandoned Xubuntu as my go-to distribution. The MATE desktop has tools for tailoring the colours so you have a high level of control over its appearance. However some objects, such as certain toolbars, seem immune to these tools. I've been

Re: [ubuntu-uk] Audio Question

2015-08-19 Thread Nigel Verity
From: Dave Morley davm...@davmor2.co.uk To: ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com Subject: Re: [ubuntu-uk] Audio Question Message-ID: 20150818155851.736c3678@stryder Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii On Tue, 18 Aug 2015 15:54:12 +0100 Nigel Verity nigelver...@hotmail.com wrote: Hi

[ubuntu-uk] Audio Question

2015-08-18 Thread Nigel Verity
Hi I have a requirement to provide some amplification for a speech. I have a good USB microphone and a small performance amplifier. So far so good. The amplifier has a standard input jack but as far as I can see it is not possible to buy a simple adaptor to allow a USB mike to be used. Since

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