- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Help with configuring modem under Ubuntu DD
by James Pluck 22 Dec '06

22 Dec '06

Hi all, A friend of mine is trying to set up dialup internet on his computer under Ubuntu (as a gift for his wife so she can keep in touch with a good friend who's moved back to England - It's a surprise for Christmas). He and I have done our best to get things going but no joy. The modem is reporting as a HCF 56K voice/data/fax but we don't know the make as the computer was bought second hand with no supporting documentation :( Is there anyone out there who is adept at getting modems to work under Ubuntu who could help us get this working? We discovered that the Windows XP (original version - prior even to SP1) that is on the HDD (we installed Ubuntu to dual boot) is a pirated copy so it won't allow us to update the security patches and get things working under windows in the meantime. Any help would be appreciated. James. -- James Pluck PalmOS Ergo Sum

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Help with configuring modem under Ubuntu DD
by Leslie Katz 21 Dec '06

21 Dec '06

My view of these things is, no doubt, tainted, but when I got a used machine with an HCF modem already in it and set it up for a friend, I bought the Linuxant driver as the best way to get the thing going quickly. Upgrading kernels since hasn't presented any problem--the licence is perpetual, it seems, including upgraded drivers. Also, I had some problem, the nature of which I can't now recall, and asked Linuxant for assistance. I got it immediately by email and the problem turned out not to be a driver problem. (Maybe it was a wvdial problem.) However, the tech person, Jonathan, helped me sort it out over a couple more emails, even though I acknowledged to him that I knew he had no obligation to do so. Leslie

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First look at Thunderbird 2 beta
by Ian McDonald 20 Dec '06

20 Dec '06

Interesting article here: http://applications.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/12/19/2151210&from=rss -- Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group

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New Ubuntu release available from Dick Smith Electronics
by Craig Box 18 Dec '06

18 Dec '06

>From http://forums.wlug.org.nz/viewtopic.php?p=246 "I thought to pass on the news that DSE has started stocking the Ubuntu 6.10 Live DVD version. It comes with x86 and AMD64 Live DVD and retails for $9.98, great for those who don't wish to spend their bandwidth downloading it." The forum also has a high-res image of the new cover, which has been changed from DSE blue to a more Ubuntu brown. If you are interested in supporting DSE, ensuring they keep doing things like this, or just don't want to have to download the DVDs yourself, check it out: http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/en/product/XC4046

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Re: [wlug] Giveaway: MIPS teaching boards
by simc＠xtra.co.nz 15 Dec '06

15 Dec '06

---- simc(a)xtra.co.nz wrote: > I have three working boards that were used by the University of Waikato for teaching assembly language (MIPS) in 201. They have been sitting in a lecturers office for several years, the lecturer intended to make them into chip jewelry. I don't have any software or documentation (anyone?). They are all gone now, sorry to those who missed out. Simon Crosby

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Vista and Samba shares
by Ian McDonald 15 Dec '06

15 Dec '06

If you're planning on getting the two working together you might want to read this: http://www.builderau.com.au/blogs/codemonkeybusiness/viewblogpost.htm?p=339… -- Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group

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Giveaway: MIPS teaching boards
by simc＠xtra.co.nz 14 Dec '06

14 Dec '06

I have three working boards that were used by the University of Waikato for teaching assembly language (MIPS) in 201. They have been sitting in a lecturers office for several years, the lecturer intended to make them into chip jewelry. I don't have any software or documentation (anyone?). To get it to work you need a power supply (mine is 12V, 2A) and a 9 pin serial extention cord. Minicom can be used to conect to the boards monitor program. Contact me off list if you are interested. Simon Crosby

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Job hunting in Hamilton
by Bryce Utting 13 Dec '06

13 Dec '06

Hi all, Sorry about the WLUG-wide post, but hunting and chasing contacts and watching the agencies for over a year so far hasn't turned up anything yet. 'Tis a one-off message, I promise. Living in Pukekohe is just too much of a cost, so I'm trying to find a job back home in Hamilton. I've been working as an IT manager (JOAT: Windows, BSD, Samba, Apache, Perl, Postfix, etc) since 2001 and was a VB developer for a couple of years before that. The gotcha is that for health reasons I have to limit my work hours to 20 a week, which is why no-one's taken me up so far. (Yes, the university frequently job-shares, but their pay scales would mean a pay cut I can't afford.) Half-time jobs very rarely get listed, and my experience is that they only become available when an employer realises (a) they have a desperate need for someone with experience, but (b) they can't free up $80-$100K. If anyone knows of someone who's quietly despairing of finding someone they can afford but could work with those hours, I'd dearly love to hear about it. Address is as per header, CV available on request. I'd prefer to avoid short-term work if at all possible. And, yes, I'm fully resigned to many more months of searching. Sigh. Thanks all, and merry messy kweznuz! Bryce -- I am very new to programming drivers so if I sound un-knowledgeable then it's because I am. -- first4internet's Ceri Coburn on writing Sony's DRM rootkit http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~butting

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Fwd: [nzlug] OpenMedia formally release their Web based Virtual Remote add on for MythTV
by Ian McDonald 11 Dec '06

11 Dec '06

I know some people here are keen on Myth TV so forwarding. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Steven Ellis <mail_lists(a)stevencherie.net> Date: Dec 12, 2006 9:54 AM Subject: [nzlug] OpenMedia formally release their Web based Virtual Remote add on for MythTV To: aucklug(a)linux.net.nz, nzlug(a)linux.net.nz The primary aim for this was to assist customers with disabilities or access issues that would prevent them from using a conventional remote control to use their MythTV units. We have worked very closely with a customer who has Cerebral Palsy to come up with a layout that was both simple and obvious. As part of OpenMedia's commitment to the Open Source community all of this development is being released back to the MythTV team under standard Open Source Licenses. The initial release is now available on-line, and you can find more details at http://www.mythtv.co.nz/mythtv/?p=29 Steve. -- Steven Ellis - Technical Director OpenMedia Limited email - steven(a)openmedia.co.nz sales - sales(a)openmedia.co.nz support - support(a)openmedia.co.nz website - http://www.openmedia.co.nz _______________________________________________ NZLUG mailing list NZLUG(a)linux.net.nz http://www.linux.net.nz/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nzlug -- Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group

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REMINDER: WLUG meeting tonight!
by Meeting Reminder Bot 10 Dec '06

10 Dec '06

There's a WLUG meeting tonight: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- JamesPluck's house. This is at 31 Aberfoyle Street, Dinsdale. (http://zoomin.co.nz/nz/hamilton/nawton/aberfoyle+street/31/) Make sure you turn off Ellicot Road as the two ends of Aberfoyle Street do not connect! BYO meat and drinks, http://www.wlug.org.nz/WLUG will supply things like bread, salads, tables, BBQ.

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Java problem
by Leslie Katz 09 Dec '06

09 Dec '06

I posted a message a short time ago and don't know how to edit it, assuming that's possible, so I send this follow-on message. I kept looking for an answer to my problem after sending my original post and just found it. I record it, just in case it should be of use to someone who searches the archive later with a similar problem. As root, I did: mv /usr/bin/java /usr/bin/java.old ln -s /usr/java/jre1.5.0_09/bin/java /usr/bin/java Now, all works. Apologies for troubling people unnecessarily. Leslie

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Government overhauls copyright law.
by Ian McDonald 08 Dec '06

08 Dec '06

Folks, Here is a major announcement from the government: http://www.beehive.govt.nz/ViewDocument.aspx?DocumentID=28024 and the actual proposed legislation is here: http://www.parliament.nz/NR/rdonlyres/5A88D15B-C4A1-42C2-AE75-9200DD87F738/… Some quick highlights as I read the act: (Note I am not a lawyer) - Reverse engineering IS allowed under some circumstances - basically for interoperability - format shifting is allowed but only initially for 2 years, this can be extended though (or not) - time shifting is allowed provided you don't keep it and it's not available on demand - ISPs are basically not liable (provided they follow take down notices) - allowed to alter commercial software if the vendor doesn't fix problems in reasonable time - anti-TPM (DRM via another name) is prohibited for sale or for producing (seems to cover open source). Fines of $150K or 5 years jail. Doesn't seem to prohibit if you have a copy but you can't write it yourself, sell it or tell others about it. Does make it an offence if you use it to copy copyrighted material. But you are allowed to use anti-TPM for "interoperability of software" so conceivably you could use software to play Itunes or DVDs on Linux. But this only applies if you have asked vendor for a copy you can use and they don't supply in a reasonable time. Overall this seems to be much better than DMCA of the USA but not perfect. It is probably better than people could have hoped for. Ian -- Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group

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Java problem
by Leslie Katz 08 Dec '06

08 Dec '06

When I test my Java Virtual Machine at www.java.com, I'm congratulated (no less), told I have the latest version, 1.5.0_09, and told that the JRE is functioning correctly. However, when, in a terminal, I issue the command "java -version", I get the following message: Error occurred during initialization of VM java/lang/NoClassDefFoundError: java/lang/Object I've tried to figure out how to resolve the contradiction in favour of the former statement, but it's beyond me. A snippet I've perhaps understood seems to suggest that rt.jar has the class file for java.lang.Object. I looked for rt.jar on my system and found I had two of them: /usr/lib/jre/lib/rt.jar; and /usr/java/jre1.5.0_09/lib/rt.jar. Why I have two, I don't know. The first one is smaller and seems to be older. I tried renaming it to rt.jar.old and then issuing the java -version command again. That had no positive effect, so I renamed it rt.jar again. Another snippet suggested that the problem might be that rt.jar was not included in the boot class path. I'm not sure if that's the same thing as not having the correct entry for JAVA_HOME, but I saw it suggested that, if there was no entry identifying Java's "home directory" Java might fail to identify its home directory. I found an entry about JAVA_HOME in /etc/profile.d/java.sh. It was: export JAVA_HOME=/usr/bin/java. Well, /usr/bin/java bears no resemblance to either of the two directories where I found the two rt.jar files. I did try substituting export JAVA_HOME=/usr/java/jre1.5.0_09/ for the original entry, but that didn't work. If anyone has any further suggestions, I'd be grateful. Leslie PS Maybe I should add that when I run Firefox 2.0 and get a list of plugins, the java plugin is there. It seems to be working properly.

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REMINDER: WLUG meeting is on Sunday
by Meeting Reminder Bot 07 Dec '06

07 Dec '06

There's a Waikato Linux Users Group meeting on Sunday: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- JamesPluck's house. This is at 31 Aberfoyle Street, Dinsdale. (http://zoomin.co.nz/nz/hamilton/nawton/aberfoyle+street/31/) Make sure you turn off Ellicot Road as the two ends of Aberfoyle Street do not connect! BYO meat and drinks, http://www.wlug.org.nz/WLUG will supply things like bread, salads, tables, BBQ.

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Re: [wlug] I've seen the light
by elroy 06 Dec '06

06 Dec '06

My story: I have a requirement for a reliable, semi-up-to-date PC, that would keep my data reasonably safe if a HDD went South [1]. I would also like to be able to play the occasional Win32 game on it. Also, being faster than a Celeron-400 would be a bonus. I decided to get an IBM Netfinity 5100 (IBM x230?) - currently it has Dual-P-3-733s/1.2GB RAM/36GB RAID-5 Ultra160 SCSI/1x 10KRPM 36GB SCSI, with DVD-RW. Being slightly wary of Linux, I went about installing and using Win2k on it. Whether this is actually supported on this hardware would be interesting to find out - I'm guessing not, due to the USB issues I had... anything USB, and BSOD. Joy. I had a spare machine (Celeron-400), with USB stick that needed files from BenQ old digital camera copied to it. The Netfinity wouldn't budge, and ended up being unable to get past the boot prompt. Chucked an old copy of Ubuntu (5.04? Live CD) I was given at one of the WLUG meetings I attended, into the Celeron machine, it fired up, I connected the USB stick, it auto-mounted it, and I could see and access my files. Thought that was pretty cool, so connected the camera - same thing happened... I was impressed. I got the job done. I gave the Ubuntu CD a quick whirl on the Netfinity - and haven't looked back :-) Currently have an Intel SRCS14L plus 2x 320GB SATA to go into the Netfinity as RAID-1. Currently trying to figure out best way to get data transferred from Netfinity==>Celeron; remove SCSI RAID gear (insufficient capacity), install Intel RAID controller, setup, then move data from Celeron==>Netfinity again. Questions: Any reference pointers to NFS for noobs would be appreciated - having issues with identifying where exactly it is/isn't working... :-) Am learning a reasonable amount, however. Failing NFS, any Samba info would be appreciated - D/L'ing Samba packages plus docs at the moment... Recommendations for partitioning scheme please? Current Idea: Out of ~300GB: =GRUB= ===500MB /boot=B== ====4GB Linux Swap==== =====4GB Windows Swap===== ???? PROFIT! ======60GB Windows NTFS===B=== =======60GB Linux Business===B==== ========60GB Linux Play/Testing===B===== =========60GB Data1 FAT32=========== ==========60GB Data2 FAT32=========== Any help appreciated :-) Elroy. [1] A regular backup plan is also on the agenda... :P

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A flight simulator for Linux
by Ian McDonald 04 Dec '06

04 Dec '06

Good write up on flight gear at linux.com: http://applications.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/11/20/0533247&from=rss -- Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group

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ANNOUNCE: WLUG meeting is one week away
by Meeting Reminder Bot 02 Dec '06

02 Dec '06

The Waikato Linux Users Group have a meeting in one week from today: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- JamesPluck's house. This is at 31 Aberfoyle Street, Dinsdale. (http://zoomin.co.nz/nz/hamilton/nawton/aberfoyle+street/31/) Make sure you turn off Ellicot Road as the two ends of Aberfoyle Street do not connect! BYO meat and drinks, http://www.wlug.org.nz/WLUG will supply things like bread, salads, tables, BBQ.

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ANNOUNCE: WLUG meeting is one week away
by Meeting Reminder Bot 01 Dec '06

01 Dec '06

The Waikato Linux Users Group have a meeting in one week from today: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- End of year BBQ has been moved to 10th.

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Novell CEO gives interview about Microsoft deal
by Ian McDonald 29 Nov '06

29 Nov '06

Some more interesting background: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&art… -- Ian McDonald Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group Department of Computer Science University of Waikato New Zealand

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Good summary of PDF support in Linux
by Ian McDonald 28 Nov '06

28 Nov '06

http://applications.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/11/20/1933239&from=rss I agree with them that kpdf is nice - i use it a lot. -- Ian McDonald Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group Department of Computer Science University of Waikato New Zealand

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REMINDER: WLUG meeting tonight!
by Meeting Reminder Bot 26 Nov '06

26 Nov '06

There's a WLUG meeting tonight: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 7:30pm, TW.2.07 (http://www.wlug.org.nz/TW) as usual. A presentation on the SlackWare distribution by DeniseBates

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Java to be licensed under the GPL and become open source
by Chris O'Halloran 23 Nov '06

23 Nov '06

http://www.sun.com/software/opensource/java/getinvolved.jsp http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000125 http://www.redmonk.com/sogrady/archives/002516.html

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REMINDER: WLUG meeting is on Monday
by Meeting Reminder Bot 23 Nov '06

23 Nov '06

There's a Waikato Linux Users Group meeting on Monday: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 7:30pm, TW.2.07 (http://www.wlug.org.nz/TW) as usual. A presentation on the SlackWare distribution by DeniseBates

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Article about Debian release management
by Ian McDonald 23 Nov '06

23 Nov '06

Interesting reading for Debian fans: http://distrocenter.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/11/21/1552223&from=rss -- Ian McDonald Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group Department of Computer Science University of Waikato New Zealand

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Date for Xmas bbq - 9th or 10th?
by Ian McDonald 22 Nov '06

22 Nov '06

Folks, We were going to have the BBQ on Saturday the 9th because of the Santa Parade on the 10th. However at least one person can't make it on the 9th because of other commitments. The santa parade is likely to be finished by early afternoon but I understand that people with families mightn't want to be going out all day to events. Can anybody who can't make it on the 9th or 10th please email me so that we can find the date that affects the least number of people. Thanks, Ian -- Ian McDonald Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group Department of Computer Science University of Waikato New Zealand

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