- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

REMINDER: WLUG meeting tonight!
by Meeting Reminder Bot 25 May '08

25 May '08

There's a WLUG meeting tonight: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- May 26th, 7:30pm MS4.G.02 (http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map?MS4) Graham Lauder will be speaking about the INGOTS (http://theingots.org.nz/index.html) (and OpenOffice.org (http://openoffice.org.nz/) if we have time)

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Microsoft plans to natively support ODF
by Ian McDonald 24 May '08

24 May '08

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080521-office-2007-to-gain-native-od… As I keep saying I think Microsoft is heading down a more open path. Sure they're not there yet but this is a good move. It wasn't that long ago that Sun was a closed source company (think Solaris, Java). -- Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4/ Blog: http://iansblog.jandi.co.nz

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REMINDER: WLUG meeting is on Monday
by Meeting Reminder Bot 22 May '08

22 May '08

There's a Waikato Linux Users Group meeting on Monday: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- May 26th, 7:30pm MS4.G.02 (http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map?MS4) Graham Lauder will be speaking about the INGOTS (http://theingots.org.nz/index.html) (and OpenOffice.org (http://openoffice.org.nz/) if we have time)

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ANNOUNCE: WLUG meeting is one week away
by Meeting Reminder Bot 18 May '08

18 May '08

The Waikato Linux Users Group have a meeting in one week from today: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- May 26th, 7:30pm MS4.G.02 (http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map?MS4) Graham Lauder will be speaking about the INGOTS (http://theingots.org.nz/index.html) (and OpenOffice.org (http://openoffice.org.nz/) if we have time)

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Essay on OLPC
by Ian McDonald 16 May '08

16 May '08

Interesting (long) read: http://radian.org/notebook/sic-transit-gloria-laptopi Found at lwn.net -- Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4/ Blog: http://iansblog.jandi.co.nz

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Re: [wlug] Top 5 tiny distros
by Michael McDonald 15 May '08

15 May '08

2008/5/15 Ian McDonald <ian.mcdonald(a)jandi.co.nz>: > Haven't read yet myself... > > http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/26480 Looks like there's a few interesting distros to try there ... always useful when a friend a needs a computer in a hurry and you've only got old and ancient computers around that are spare. Seems impressed with Puppy ... and I was when I tried it and had no problems connecting to the Internet with an internal fax/modem. (note ... copy to WLUG) Michael

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Upcoming WLUG committee meeting (1 week today)
by Meeting Reminder bot 11 May '08

11 May '08

As per the WLUG charter, please note that there is a WLUG executive committee meeting one week from today. If you wish to get an item on the agenda for this meeting, please email it to secretary(a)wlug.org.nz. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- # Previous Minutes # Treasurers report # Correspondence # Matters -Sign up for SFD, what quantity of supplies do we require? -Contact Canonical and get 8.04 CD order underway. (Bruce has put in an order for 100 freebies from shipit, not sure how many we'll get) - Bryce Utting nominated as 'temporary committee member' to replace Simon, as allowed for in the constitution.. no SGM required (it's a lot of hassle for a minor committee position and also Bruce forgot to announce one..) Approved by email vote, but should probably be recorded in some minutes somewhere. - Fund raising.. bank balance is distressingly low. Bruce intends to remind members to pay fees at next meeting. Is there anything else we could do to raise funds? Trust applications? # Server status # General business

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Good Ubuntu 8.04 review
by Ian McDonald 09 May '08

09 May '08

I didn't post all the other reviews but I think Ars did a great job here: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/hardy-heron-review.ars/1 They took about the good things, the bad things and how to fix some of the bad things... -- Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4/ Blog: http://iansblog.jandi.co.nz

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Open Office 3 beta out now
by Ian McDonald 08 May '08

08 May '08

http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-9938521-12.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=… -- Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4/ Blog: http://iansblog.jandi.co.nz

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Re: [wlug] Upgrading Kubuntu Feisty Fawn to Hardy Heron
by GJB 07 May '08

07 May '08

If you upgrade turn off the lock screen on Xscreensaver (if you use it). If the screen locks during the upgrade the system will not let you back in even with your own password, it does something screwy with PAM modules and locks everybody out whilst waiting for reply to numerous .config replace confirmation prompts. You'll probably have to re-install anyway. Wasn't there just a discussion that it screws around with sudo also ... probably same thing as with PAM module frigging around? > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Re: [wlug] Upgrading Kubuntu Feisty Fawn to Hardy Heron > From: "David Hallett" <david(a)pulsar.net.nz> > Date: Wed, May 07, 2008 11:05 pm > To: "Waikato Linux Users Group" <wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz> > > On Wed, May 7, 2008 at 11:51 AM, Glyn Webster <glyn(a)wave.co.nz> wrote: > > > I'm thinking of upgrading the Kubuntu on my PC from Feisty Fawn to Hardy > > Heron, is there anything special I have to consider? > > > You need to read this: > https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/UpgradeFromOldVersion > > -- > David Hallett, BSc, MNZCS, MNZSA > Pulsar Computer Solutions Ltd > P.O. Box 15-516 > Hamilton, New Zealand > > Mob: +64-21-802 256 > Email: david(a)pulsar.net.nz<hr>_______________________________________________ > wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > Unsubscribe: http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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Upgrading Kubuntu Feisty Fawn to Hardy Heron
by Glyn Webster 07 May '08

07 May '08

I'm thinking of upgrading the Kubuntu on my PC from Feisty Fawn to Hardy Heron, is there anything special I have to consider? -- Glyn Webster.

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Undersized DVD-ROMs?
by Glyn Webster 07 May '08

07 May '08

I've bought 10 Dick Smith DVD-R's, and they only have 1,852,960 blocks available on them, not the full 2,298,496 (3.5GiB of data, not 4.4GiB). At least that's what K3B and GnomeBaker both claim. It might be my DVD burner at fault, I haven't tried other disks yet. I can't find any explanation of what's going on here, does anyone know? This is K3B's debugging output: System ----------------------- K3b Version: 1.0 KDE Version: 3.5.6 QT Version: 3.3.7 Kernel: 2.6.20-16-generic Devices ----------------------- HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-4160B A300 (/dev/hdd, ) [CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD+R DL] [DVD-ROM, DVD-R Sequential, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW Restricted Overwrite, DVD-RW Sequential, DVD+RW, DVD+R, DVD+R Dual Layer, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW] [SAO, TAO, RAW, SAO/R96P, SAO/R96R, RAW/R16, RAW/R96P, RAW/R96R, Restricted Overwrite] Burned media ----------------------- DVD-R Sequential K3bIsoImager ----------------------- mkisofs print size result: 2267770 (4644392960 bytes) Pipe throughput: 20480 bytes read, 0 bytes written. Used versions ----------------------- mkisofs: 1.1.2 growisofs: 7.0.1 growisofs ----------------------- Executing 'builtin_dd if=/dev/fd/0 of=/dev/hdd obs=32k seek=0' :-( /dev/hdd: 1852960 blocks are free, 2267770 to be written! growisofs command: ----------------------- /usr/bin/growisofs -Z /dev/hdd=/dev/fd/0 -use-the-force-luke=notray -use-the-force-luke=tty -use-the-force-luke=tracksize:2267770 -dvd-compat -speed=4 -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m mkisofs ----------------------- 2267770 I: -input-charset not specified, using utf-8 (detected in locale settings) Using HOOTING_YARD_ON_THE_AIR_000.MP3;1 for HootingYard/Hooting_Yard_On_the_Air_-_November_8th_2007_fixed.mp3 (Hooting_Yard_On_the_Air_-_November_8th_2007.mp3) [snip] Using HOOTING_YARD___OCTOBER_6000.MP3;1 for HootingYard/Hooting_Yard_-_October_6th_2007.mp3 (Hooting_Yard_-_October_6th_04.mp3) mkisofs calculate size command: ----------------------- /usr/bin/genisoimage -gui -graft-points -print-size -quiet -volid HootingYard -volset -appid K3B THE CD KREATOR (C) 1998-2006 SEBASTIAN TRUEG AND THE K3B TEAM -publisher -preparer -sysid LINUX -volset-size 1 -volset-seqno 1 -sort /tmp/kde-glyn/k3bfCW2Fb.tmp -rational-rock -hide-list /tmp/kde-glyn/k3bzHHBec.tmp -joliet -joliet-long -hide-joliet-list /tmp/kde-glyn/k3brwA0uc.tmp -no-cache-inodes -full-iso9660-filenames -iso-level 2 -path-list /tmp/kde-glyn/k3bveJ6fa.tmp mkisofs command: ----------------------- /usr/bin/genisoimage -gui -graft-points -volid HootingYard -volset -appid K3B THE CD KREATOR (C) 1998-2006 SEBASTIAN TRUEG AND THE K3B TEAM -publisher -preparer -sysid LINUX -volset-size 1 -volset-seqno 1 -sort /tmp/kde-glyn/k3bzbwN7a.tmp -rational-rock -hide-list /tmp/kde-glyn/k3b0quX9a.tmp -joliet -joliet-long -hide-joliet-list /tmp/kde-glyn/k3bNHqsoa.tmp -no-cache-inodes -full-iso9660-filenames -iso-level 2 -path-list /tmp/kde-glyn/k3bhKcH7b.tmp

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Computer Manufactures push for open source compatiable hardware
by Ian McDonald 03 May '08

03 May '08

http://www.linux.com/feature/134125 -- Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4/ Blog: http://iansblog.jandi.co.nz

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Microsoft working on opensource management tools
by Ian McDonald 03 May '08

03 May '08

http://lwn.net/Articles/280495/rss -- Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4/ Blog: http://iansblog.jandi.co.nz

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Meeting Video
by Shannon Skinner 03 May '08

03 May '08

Now that the meetings are started to be video'ed, where will they end up? Will there be an announcement to the list when they're ready?

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workshop
by Bruce Kingsbury 02 May '08

02 May '08

Hello, where is everybody?

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WLUG Fixit Meeting is today!
by Meeting Reminder bot 02 May '08

02 May '08

A reminder, the WLUG Fixit Meeting is today. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday May 3rd, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm We will be holding our SaturdayWorkshop at Te Whanau Pūtahi (http://zoomin.co.nz/nz/hamilton/enderley/-te+whanau+ptahi/?place/full_map) the community church at the end of Oxford Street. We'll have the usual tables, power, various ISO's, Internet, coffee and light lunch, etc. This is BruceKingsbury's birthday, so there could also be birthday cake.

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WLUG Fixit Meeting tomorrow
by Meeting Reminder bot 01 May '08

01 May '08

A reminder; the WLUG Fixit Meeting is tomorrow. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday May 3rd, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm We will be holding our SaturdayWorkshop at Te Whanau Pūtahi (http://zoomin.co.nz/nz/hamilton/enderley/-te+whanau+ptahi/?place/full_map) the community church at the end of Oxford Street. We'll have the usual tables, power, various ISO's, Internet, coffee and light lunch, etc. This is BruceKingsbury's birthday, so there could also be birthday cake.

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sudo broken after upgrade from gutsy to hairy^Whardy
by Glenn Ramsey 01 May '08

01 May '08

I just upgraded a spare box, to see if it's safe to upgrade my main machine, and the upgrade has broken sudo. When I try to use sudo it says: sudo: unable to resolve host calc calc being the hostname of this machine. How do I fix this? I guess adding the hostname to /etc/hosts would fix it but I can't do that because sudo is broken. Also I haven't set up a root account on this machine. Aside from booting from a rescue disk is there any other way to fix this? Glenn -- Glenn Ramsey <glenn(a)componic.co.nz> 07 8627077 http://www.componic.co.nz

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Re: [wlug] sudo broken after upgrade from gutsy to hairy^Whardy
by GJB 30 Apr '08

30 Apr '08

Aren't we whistling past the graveyard here? Why the hell should a system upgrade cause a sudo failure?? Or am I an idiot for wondering why the adminsitrator should be locked out of his system because he was bold enough to upgrade? Has any one bugged this? Or asked why even? > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Re: [wlug] sudo broken after upgrade from gutsy to > hairy^Whardy > From: "James Pluck" <papabearnz(a)gmail.com> > Date: Wed, April 30, 2008 3:12 pm > To: "Waikato Linux Users Group" <wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz> > > On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 2:48 PM, Bruce Kingsbury <zcat(a)zcat.geek.nz> wrote: > > > > > > > 2008/4/30 James Pluck <papabearnz(a)gmail.com>: > > > > > > > > > > > On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 2:26 PM, Bruce Kingsbury <zcat(a)zcat.geek.nz> > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > *brain-break* Shouldn't that be 127.0.0.1? > > > > > > > > > > > > > Nope. 127.0.1.1 > > > > > > > > Why is Localhost 1.1 in Ubuntu instead of 0.1 as is the norm? > > > > > > Enquiring minds and all that :) > > > > > > > localhost is still 127.0.0.1, the name of the machine is 127.0.1.1 > > > > Ahh! I wasn't aware of that. I learned something today *grin* > > And I have no idea why. Googling only comes up with problems caused by it.. > > no explanation of why they set things up this way. > > > > Hmmm - interesting. > > > -- > James Pluck > PalmOS Ergo Sum > "Dear IRS: I would like to cancel my subscription. > Please remove my name from your mailing list..."<hr>_______________________________________________ > wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > Unsubscribe: http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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Video card fun
by Bryce Utting 29 Apr '08

29 Apr '08

Hi all, Recently purchased a Gigabyte nVidia from PB Tech, hit problems with it (google "8800gt black screen" if interested), and have effectively been told by them to sod off. So, three questions: 1. Anyone got a spare 550W+ ATX supply I could borrow for a few days for last-ditch troubleshooting? (nothing on the web suggests it'll make a difference, but it doesn't hurt to demonstrate that, yes, I've done -everything- to narrow it down to the card.) 2. Once a letter quoting the Consumer Guarantees Act has obtained a refund -- any recommendations on anyone to buy from who -isn't- a thorough fscktard? 3. Thoughts on reasonably-priced preferably non-nVidia cards suitable for gaming? (PCIe, 512MB, etc. the 8800GT was.... -ouch-... $380) ('tis a Windows box -- sigh -- so driver support is a low priority.) ta, Bryce -- http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~butting

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REMINDER: WLUG meeting tonight!
by Meeting Reminder Bot 27 Apr '08

27 Apr '08

There's a WLUG meeting tonight: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 7:30pm MS4.G.02 (http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map?MS4) Robert O'Callahan (http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/roc/) will talk about Firefox 3 development FOXHOLES: News From The Front Line Of The Browser Wars Web browsers have become a primary application platform, arguably more important than traditional client operating systems. They are also a key security frontier, a vigorously competitive market, and a crucial front in the battle for free software and open standards. For these and other reasons, browser development is both extremely challenging and extremely important. As a core Firefox developer, I will discuss challenges facing our project: competition from Internet Explorer and other browsers; changes to fundamental assumptions about code-level security vulnerabilities; sustaining and evolving a complex and fragile codebase; and the successes and failures of our tools and processes as one of the world's flagship open source projects. Looking forward, I will discuss our efforts to keep the Web vital, in concert with like-minded browser vendors and standards organizations, by enhancing the Web platform with vector and 3D graphics, offline Web applications, accessibility, ric her typography and layout, enhancements to the Javascript language, efforts to improve cross-browser compatibility, and more. I will talk about why everyone should care and what people can do to help --- which includes joining Mozilla to hack on Gecko with my team!

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The Heron has landed: Ubuntu 8.04 officially released
by Peter Reutemann 25 Apr '08

25 Apr '08

Probably old news to most of you, but I'll post it anyway (while I'm downloading the CD images)... http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080424-the-heron-has-landed-ubuntu-8… I'm especially intrigued by the new sound architecture and kernel. Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ +64 (7) 838-4466 Ext. 5174

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REMINDER: WLUG meeting is on Monday
by Meeting Reminder Bot 24 Apr '08

24 Apr '08

There's a Waikato Linux Users Group meeting on Monday: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 7:30pm MS4.G.02 (http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map?MS4) Robert O'Callahan (http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/roc/) will talk about Firefox 3 development FOXHOLES: News From The Front Line Of The Browser Wars Web browsers have become a primary application platform, arguably more important than traditional client operating systems. They are also a key security frontier, a vigorously competitive market, and a crucial front in the battle for free software and open standards. For these and other reasons, browser development is both extremely challenging and extremely important. As a core Firefox developer, I will discuss challenges facing our project: competition from Internet Explorer and other browsers; changes to fundamental assumptions about code-level security vulnerabilities; sustaining and evolving a complex and fragile codebase; and the successes and failures of our tools and processes as one of the world's flagship open source projects. Looking forward, I will discuss our efforts to keep the Web vital, in concert with like-minded browser vendors and standards organizations, by enhancing the Web platform with vector and 3D graphics, offline Web applications, accessibility, ric her typography and layout, enhancements to the Javascript language, efforts to improve cross-browser compatibility, and more. I will talk about why everyone should care and what people can do to help --- which includes joining Mozilla to hack on Gecko with my team!

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linkies
by Bruce Kingsbury 24 Apr '08

24 Apr '08

Good News; http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080421091129596 "Word documents generated by today's version of Microsoft Office 2007 do not conform to ISO/IEC 29500," said Brown in a blog post recounting the process of testing a document against the "strict" and "transitional" schema defined in the standard. Let's all make sure governments mandating 'software that conforms to ISO standards' are aware of this, mmmk? Bad news; http://opensource.org/node/328 OLPC to use Windows XP instead of Linux? WTF? Epic fail! "I have no idea what pressures Negroponte is under. I have no idea what failures of leadership, vision, or courage have occurred, are occurring, or are at risk of occurring at the OLPC project today. It would be irresponsible to jump to too many conclusions based on a single article. But if OLPC abandons its open source roots, then I do not see the project accomplishing any of its goals."

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