October 2004 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Re: [wlug] Job Search reqeust
by Lindsay Druett 01 Nov '04

01 Nov '04

> Since a client cancelled a contract I had lined up for summer while > I'm on a break from uni I find myself in need of a job. I thought > there may be someone on this list that needs a willing worker for the > summer (and possibly during semester as well). > I'm a competant programmer, mainly Java but some experience in C and > PHP as well. I've written commercial software (two small business > accounting packages and a customer services database). I have some > SQL experience. Willing to learn new things. Would really > appreciate a job where I can develop SysAdmin or networking skills. Well, it seems like young fellas these days are right into pick and choose. I would have got my ear clipped for this 15-20 years ago. Yep, if there is a young fella who has done an electrical pre-apprenticeship course, or is an electrical apprentice who needs to kill some hours of of his/her apprenticeship, then I could do do with some assistance with fitting off a house that is being built by Habitat For Humanity, it is voluntary work (you will be working for God), but there is an inroad to learning a useful trade. I would also be happy with someone who current holds his/her EST practicing licence. I will be doing the fit off sometime this week.

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Job Search reqeust
by James Pluck 31 Oct '04

31 Oct '04

Since a client cancelled a contract I had lined up for summer while I'm on a break from uni I find myself in need of a job. I thought there may be someone on this list that needs a willing worker for the summer (and possibly during semester as well). I'm a competant programmer, mainly Java but some experience in C and PHP as well. I've written commercial software (two small business accounting packages and a customer services database). I have some SQL experience. Willing to learn new things. Would really appreciate a job where I can develop SysAdmin or networking skills. If anyway has any leads or would like to talk to me please email me or give me a call. James Pluck. papabearnz(a)gmail.com cell: 0-21-236 6900 home: 0-7-858 3338 (Hamilton) Thank you. I now return you to your regularly scheduled list. -- I, on the other hand, am a fully rounded human being with a degree from the university of life, a diploma from the school of hard knocks, and three gold stars from the kindergarten of getting the shit kicked out of me. -- Edmund BlackAdder

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Acceptable use of the WLUG Mailing List
by Meeting Reminder bot 31 Oct '04

31 Oct '04

The WLUG mailing list is the discussion-list extension of the Waikato Linux Users Group. As such, we expect members of this list to adhere to the principals espoused in our official Charter[1], in particular, Rule 6, which covers the activities on this mailing list. While this is an Acceptable Use Policy, the WLUG committee do recognise the need for informal discussion among list members, and draconian administration is not the goal of this policy. Please keep in mind, however, that your comments to this list do represent the WLUG, and while it is good to be seen as an organisation with a sense of humour, some comments may do serious harm to our credibility as a serious advocate of GNU/Linux and all things Free Software/Open Source related. List discussion: * Should not commit slander or libel against any person or organisation * Should not be unprofessional or petty, especially with respect to the names of other software companies * Should not indulge in ad hominem attacks * Should not reproduce copyrighted material without permission from the copyright holder * Should not indulge in marketing or advertising, other than on a private sale basis, or advertising of jobs - which may be announced once only. * Should maintain a reasonable level of spelling and grammar * Should be honest * Should not promote or denigrate political, cultural, or religious views * Should not continue inflammatory or abusive threads * Should accentuate the positive, without hyperbole or blatant misrepresentation Posters who consistently violate these guidelines will be dealt with at the discretion of the List Maintainer. If you feel you have been unfairly dealt with, you have recourse to any member of the WLUG Committee[2]. [1] http://www.wlug.org.nz/WlugCharter [2] http://www.wlug.org.nz/WlugCommittee

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Anyone else noted landscape printing problems?
by Michael McDonald 30 Oct '04

30 Oct '04

Yesterday I had some difficulty trying to address a set of envelopes for an organisation that I belong to. Was using Open Office (using mail merge) running under Fedora Core 2. The envelopes were being printed in landscape mode. The problem was that the addresses did not print at the planned position. Changing margins etc, to try and fix the problem didn't work as sometimes the shift in location didn't match the change! In order to get the job done, I had to use Open Office running under Windows XP. Also, I've noted that sometimes when I specify a custom page size, all I get is a blank sheet! The fix to that problem is to specify A4 and adjust right and bottom margins to suit. Comments, anyone? Michael

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gentoo cds
by Stephen Pearce 26 Oct '04

26 Oct '04

Hi Has anyone downloaded the gentoo live universal cd and the packages cd (86 architectecture). I tried recently and the internet connection choked... If so would you be able to send me copies for media and postage? Thanks Stephen

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[Fwd: Fake RedHat - Fedora Security Patch / Trojan Source Code & Analysis]
by Greig McGill 26 Oct '04

26 Oct '04

You probably all read slashdot, but here is the security advisory anyway. Be careful out there, boys and girls! Your friendly neighbourhood FIST OF DOOM!

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WLUG Meeting is tonight
by Meeting Reminder bot 24 Oct '04

24 Oct '04

The WLUG meeting is this evening ---------------------------------------------------------------------- !!Live fixup demonstration Monday 25 October (Labour Day) - taking advantage of the holiday, we will start at 4pm, look over a few peoples problems, and run a presentation at 5pm with an introduction on how to find answers to Linux questions online (especially Google and the Wiki), 10 min Q&A and then go over fixing some problems live on a big screen. This one is a great opportunity for new and inexperienced users! Please bring machines. 4pm, 25 October%%% University of Waikato%%% Room: LitB.G.02 Park in Gate 1, Knighton Rd * http://www.waikato.ac.nz/perl-bin/map/tt-map.pl?term=litb * http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map.pdf

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Re: [wlug] Re Wiki Gentoo notes
by jaytee＠clear.net.nz 23 Oct '04

23 Oct '04

Buggar!!!! Thanks ----- Original Message Follows ----- > On Sat, 2004-10-23 at 21:03 +1300, jaytee(a)clear.net.nz > > wrote: I did the boot from install disk and made the > > changes I thought needed, everything went pretty well > > until I: "make dep && make bzImage modules > > modules_install" <enter> There was a fair bit of > > activety then a report "make: no rule to make target > > bzImages". Stop regards John > > There is no bzImages. Just bzImage. Did you typo? > > G. > > _______________________________________________ > wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > Unsubscribe: > http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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Re: [wlug] Re Wiki Gentoo notes
by jaytee＠clear.net.nz 23 Oct '04

23 Oct '04

----- Original Message Follows ----- > One of the (many) great things about gentoo is that it > doesn't force you into a pre-defined install pattern. > > > What you should do, is boot from the install disk like > your starting from scratch - then just mount your disks > (mount /dev/hda3 /mnt/gentoo > mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/gentoo/boot > swapon /dev/hda2 etc.) > then enter the chroot enviroment > (chroot /mnt/gentoo > env-update > source /etc/profile etc.) > > then you can just correct what is wrong - ie by running > genkernel I did the boot from install disk and made the changes I thought needed, everything went pretty well until I: "make dep && make bzImage modules modules_install" <enter> There was a fair bit of activety then a report "make: no rule to make target bzImages". Stop regards John

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Fwd: Re: [wlug] Re Wiki Gentoo notes
by jaytee＠clear.net.nz 23 Oct '04

23 Oct '04

----- Message Forwarded on Fri 22/10/2004 ----- From: "" <jaytee(a)clear.net.nz> To: Felix <ferina(a)xtra.co.nz> Subject: Re: [wlug] Re Wiki Gentoo notes Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 20:37:50 +1300 ----- Original Message Follows ----- > ^G = Get Help > ^O = Write File > ^X = Exit, > If modified it will ask "Save modified buffer ..." > Y(es)/N(o)/^C(ancel) Felix. I did not get these options,, it is a very minimal bash script in Grub edit. I can make changes but not keep them for next boot time.. All I made a major error in compiling the kernel so am going to reinstall from scratch for two reasons. One: I am not sure if the error is recoverable Two: I am becoming a bit less scared of the command environment. There is one thing that is are a bit of a problem, Capital o and zero are a bit of a guess, is there a rule whe it should be a 0 (zero) and when it should be a O (o) Regards John...

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Passwords and SSH
by Perry Lorier 22 Oct '04

22 Oct '04

I have had several people talk to me over the last few days about having their machine compromised. The infection vector appears to be weak ssh passwords. The compromise appears to based on people scanning for open ssh ports then brute forcing passwords before installing a Trojan that connects to IRC and accept commands from a channel (such as .ddos <ip>). Please, make sure you're using a secure password. If passwd warns you that a password is insecure, CHANGE IT. http://www.wlug.org.nz/ChoosingPasswords provides a couple of methods on how to choose a good password. Make sure everything is up to date on your system: for debian: apt-get update apt-get dist-upgrade -u for fedora core click on the blinking red (!) in the corner to get it to do the updates. If you don't use ssh (or don't know what it is) DISABLE IT, or just uninstall it. If you do use ssh, consider using tcpwrappers to lock it to something like "*.nz". See http://www.wlug.org.nz/AdvancedSecurityNotes. To check if you've been compromised, try "locate emech". If it shows up any files (particularly in /tmp or /var/tmp) then you have been compromised. Bugger. If you have, and need help, email me off list and we'll talk about what you can do.

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WLUG Meeting is on monday
by Meeting Reminder bot 21 Oct '04

21 Oct '04

The WLUG meeting is on monday ---------------------------------------------------------------------- !!Live fixup demonstration Monday 25 October (Labour Day) - taking advantage of the holiday, we will start at 4pm, look over a few peoples problems, and run a presentation at 5pm with an introduction on how to find answers to Linux questions online (especially Google and the Wiki), 10 min Q&A and then go over fixing some problems live on a big screen. This one is a great opportunity for new and inexperienced users! Please bring machines. 4pm, 25 October%%% University of Waikato%%% Room: LitB.G.02 Park in Gate 1, Knighton Rd * http://www.waikato.ac.nz/perl-bin/map/tt-map.pl?term=litb * http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map.pdf

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Re: [wlug] Re Wiki Gentoo notes
by jaytee＠clear.net.nz 21 Oct '04

21 Oct '04

(EDIT) ..have NOT figured out a way to save.. blush: > Regards John.....

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Re: [wlug] Re Wiki Gentoo notes
by jaytee＠clear.net.nz 21 Oct '04

21 Oct '04

Hi All, I have just installed Gentoo On my desktop. I did however, make a few errors on the way to boot time (I can see the surprised looks :-) ) When I created (in Nano)/boot/grub/grub.conf I made an entry of: kernel /kernel-2.4226-gentoo-r6. the correct entry is: kernel /kernel-2.4.26-gentoo-r6. I am able to correct this in grub but I have figured out a way to save the change. ^X does not do it and I am loathe to hit keys at random as I have already had some undesirable results due to this. There are more errors but I thought I would try doing one thing at a time for a change. I think some of my newbiness might have worn off in the last week or so hee hee. Regards John.....

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October committee meeting minutes available
by Craig Box 20 Oct '04

20 Oct '04

Hi everyone, WLUG committee met last night - as usual, our minutes are available on the Wiki, this time at http://www.wlug.org.nz/CommitteeMeetingTopics.2004-10-20. Please remember the upcoming WLUG meeting on Monday is at 4pm and that there will be a presentation at 5pm. Bring things that need fixing! Regards, Craig

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RE: [wlug] MacOS X....
by Matthew Browne (DSL HN) 20 Oct '04

20 Oct '04

> From: Oliver Jones [mailto:oliver(a)deeper.co.nz] > > http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/ooo-osx_downloads.html > <http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/ooo-osx_downloads.html> > > > Hmm. Same place I was looking before. Lots of the mirrors > report 404 errors. I managed to get a copy from one of the > mirrors in the end though. After installing X11 and OOo I > fired it up and it's about as good as you could expect for a > Unix app on a Mac. Ie, not very good. It would do for a > geek like me. I could put up with it being completely > different to everything else. But on reflection I think I > need a more "MacOS" like app for my mother. So I downloaded > the MS Office:Mac 30 day trial. I will give that a going > over and see if it is worth the $700+ it costs.... I don't know much about Mac Office software, I never need anything like that, but from what I hear, many Mac users don't like either of MS Office or Open Office. If word processing is all your mother needs, it might be worth checking out some of these instead... Nisus Writer http://www.nisus.com/Express/ Abiword http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/abiword/ NeoOffice/J (Open Office with Java UI) http://www.planamesa.com/neojava/en/index.php If you're after any other software, it might be worth having a look through the categories here: http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/ And http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/

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ICS control
by Jared Wigmore 19 Oct '04

19 Oct '04

I'm using Internet Connection Sharing to access the (family) Windows computer's Internet connection from my Linux box. How could it be controlled (eg connect/disconnect) from Linux? ===== -- JaredWigmore -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.12 GCM/CS/S d? s+++:-- a? C++++ UL++ P--- L++ E>+++ W++ N>+ o? K- w--- O? M-- V-- PS-- Y-- PGP- t+++ 5? X R* tv b++ DI D G e- h! !r z- ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------ http://www.wlug.org.nz/JaredWigmore http://AnswersInGenisis.org/ http://www.againsttcpa.com/ ---------------------------------------- Find local movie times and trailers on Yahoo! Movies. http://au.movies.yahoo.com

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WLUG Meeting is one week away
by Meeting Reminder bot 18 Oct '04

18 Oct '04

The Waikato Linux Users Group have a meeting in one week today. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- !!Live fixup demonstration Monday 25 October (Labour Day) - taking advantage of the holiday, we will start at 4pm, look over a few peoples problems, and run a presentation at 5pm with an introduction on how to find answers to Linux questions online (especially Google and the Wiki), 10 min Q&A and then go over fixing some problems live on a big screen. This one is a great opportunity for new and inexperienced users! Please bring machines. 4pm, 25 October%%% University of Waikato%%% Room: LitB.G.02 Park in Gate 1, Knighton Rd * http://www.waikato.ac.nz/perl-bin/map/tt-map.pl?term=litb * http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map.pdf

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Re Wiki Gentoo notes
by jaytee＠clear.net.nz 18 Oct '04

18 Oct '04

Hi All I thought I saw some one demonstrate a really easy way of getting files downloaded and installed in the Gentoo distro. As root # up <name_of_package> Computer then searches for and reports back: "I would install Files <name> to <name> If the user was satisfied with the report then the "p" is deleted <enter> and the update goes ahead. I did not put this in the wiki In case I was totally wrong, it did happen once :-) Regards John

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Removing FC2
by Gun Caundle 14 Oct '04

14 Oct '04

I have FC2 on a box that I want to put Windows on. How do I uninstall FC2? Any help would be appreciated.

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SuSE boot challenge
by Gun Caundle 14 Oct '04

14 Oct '04

I have just installled SuSE Standard Server 8 on a AMD 1200 with 384 RAM. The installation told me it was successful. I previously had FC2 on this PC. I booted normally and go a black screen immediately after: "Starting httpd PERL SSL" Using 'Ctl-Alt-F1' I logged in and in text mode was able to shut down OK. I tried another video card and Yast detected it along with the onboard card (S3 Pro Savage DDR-K) I used originally. I checked out the SuSE Hardware database and the onboard card is fully supported. I removed the temporary card, plugged into the onboard card and this time SuSE booted into KDE! For about a week I booted into KDE and played around with the network settings but then one morning it went back to the black screen immediately after: "Starting httpd PERL SSL". Every time I boot, this is as far as it will go. Any help would be appreciated

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StartCom Linux
by Gavin Denby 13 Oct '04

13 Oct '04

Based on my search for desktop targeted linuxes, and the WLUG's commitment to Redhat/Fedora I wondered if anyone has any experience with StartCom Linux It looks promising but seems based on RHEL rather than fedora, but since it used up2date it may need only to have the source lists changed to get to fedora core upgrades, but without the long task of reinstalling all the "extra's" that are missing in fedora core. I wonder if this could be a distro we could use for new users that everyone could also support as it seems to cover most bases. I will download and try it, but it will take me the best part of a week to get all the cd's down and burnt. so If anyone has any experiences to share, I would appreciate them. the basic specs for the new multimedia version is : Based on the stability, reliability and security of it's Enterprise brother for it's system functionality, ML-3.0.3 offers the demanding home user a operating system he can rely on and trust: * Most stable Linux 2.4 kernel * Complete Desktop environment * Administrative Management Tools * Complete Office Suite * Peer-To-Peer Tools * Secure Multi User Environment * Enhanced Device Capabilities * SMB (Windows) File sharing * Mozilla Web Browser * Firefox Web Browser * Wine - Windows API implementation (Runs Windows and DOS programs) * Xine MultiMedia Center * DVD / CD Burning Tools * Various P2P Tools (aMule, Fasttrack, gNutella (Kazaa)) * OpenOffice Suite * Various Sound Players for MP3, VOG etc. * Desklets Enhancements * Various Chat, Speech and Video Conferencing * Various Graphic Manipulation Tools * Games -- "Engineering is the art of modeling materials we do not wholly understand, into shapes we cannot precisely analyse so as to withstand forces we cannot properly assess in such a way that the public has no reason to suspect the extent of our ignorance." Dr A R Dykes.

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python can't find distutils
by Glenn Ramsey 13 Oct '04

13 Oct '04

Hi, I'm having some trouble trying to install a python app, driconf, on a mandrake 10 system: # python setup.py install 'import site' failed; use -v for traceback Traceback (most recent call last): File "setup.py", line 1, in ? from distutils.core import setup ImportError: No module named distutils.core Python and distutils appear to be installed: # rpm -q python python-2.3.3-2mdk # ls /usr/lib/python2.3/distutils/ archive_util.py debug.pyo fancy_getopt.pyo spawn.pyc ... I have looked on Google but found that other instances of this problem happen on Debian systems when the python-dev package, which contains distutils, isn't installed. On Mandrake however I think the distutils is part of the main python package. I haven't changed any of the relevant configuration so it should be whatever the package set it up as. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to make it work? Thanks g -- Glenn Ramsey <glenn(a)componic.co.nz> 07 8627077 http://www.componic.co.nz

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Fwd: Re: [wlug] NewbieNetworkNiggles
by jaytee＠clear.net.nz 10 Oct '04

10 Oct '04

----- Message Forwarded on Mon 11/10/2004 ----- From: "" <jaytee(a)clear.net.nz> To: Daniel Lawson <daniel(a)meta.net.nz> Subject: Re: [wlug] NewbieNetworkNiggles Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2004 00:46:19 +1300 Hi For some reason it is not possible to boot from the C/D it says "loading the Kernel" then locks solid at 30% loaded claiming there has been a boot error or a I/O error. I am able to use the C/D to start in a failsafe mode and can log on as root but it is text only that is login.... password..... Then a black screen with white txt Maybe it would be worth while trying. Are you able to give me some instructions to try please? Regards John > > DCOP is part of the KDE infrastructure if I recall > correctly. Can you log in to a console as root? You > could delete and re-add your user, which would save a > reinstall. > > > If you boot off the install CD again, you can just install > over the top of your existing linux install (As long as > you are installing the same version you installed > beforehand). > > Daniel >

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Re: [wlug] NewbieNetworkNiggles
by jaytee＠clear.net.nz 10 Oct '04

10 Oct '04

Hi Again. I think I am going to miss out on my break and the chocolate fish, I just totally broke itchy :-( Must be pretty serious as I cannot start KDE. It appears that some durned fool has been messing around with my network settings destroying my home directory and a thing called Dcon (Dcop?) in the process. Does any one have a rm commannd that will remove linux entirely and leave windows intact? I wish to reinstall the programme and start the exercise again with virgin settings. Regards John..

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