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[installfest] Hard Disk Repartitioning
by Matt Brown 18 Apr '04

18 Apr '04

In light of the recent frenzy of discussion regarding hard disk partitioning and the InstallFest I would like to clarify what the official position of the WLUG Committee on this issue is. WLUG (and it's representatives) will not be responsible for repartitioning or backing up hard disks at the InstallFest. All data backup and disk preparation tasks (such as ensuring there is sufficient unpartitioned space) are the responsibility of the owner of the computer and should be completed before attending the InstallFest. The minimum requirements that we have specified for hard disks for the install fest are either a) You are willing to wipe the entire disk (which is at least 5GB in size) and have Linux installed. OR b) There is at least 5GB of UNPARTITIONED space available on the disk. The rationale behind this position can be found on the InstallFest wiki page at http://www.wlug.org.nz/InstallFest along with other information related to hardware requirements. If people have further general comments on Free hard disk partitioning tools that are available for use in Linux then you are most welcome to post them to the list, however I would suggest that any disk partitioning issues related solely to the InstallFest have already been well and truly flogged and any more discussion would be counter productive. Questions or concerns about any aspect of the position stated above can be directed to myself or any other member of the committee. Regards -- Matt Brown Email: matt(a)mattb.net.nz GSM : 021 611 544

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Re: [wlug] Install fest
by Wayne Rooney 17 Apr '04

17 Apr '04

>Also, to Wayne, who decided that because a process "works for him" it's >infallible, and 100% safe for all, I've seen plenty of PM partitioning >problems in my time, and it's the benchmark. I didn't say it was infallible. I said it was designed to fail safe. qtparted resizes NTFS partitions with ntfsresize. Part of "man ntfsresize" says: KNOWN ISSUES No reliability problems are known or has been reported. If you need help please try the ntfsresize FAQ first (see below) and if you dont find your answer then send your question, comment or bug report to <linux-ntfs-dev(a)lists.sourceforge.net>. No subscription is needed but the mailing list is moderated and it can take some time to approve your post. There are some very rarely met limitations at present: filesystems having bad sectors, highly fragmented Master File Table (MFT), relocation of the first MFT extent and resizing in the middle of some metadata in some cases arent supported yet. These cases are detected and resizing is refused, restricted to a safe size or the closest safe size is displayed. --------- I like the words "no reliability problems are known" The fact that you've seen problems with OTHER software doesn't mean that THIS software is no good, does it? If you've had problems with qtparted then do share them so we know what to look out for. >So forgive me if I don't >really want to see the WLUG put its balls on the block guaranteeing the >safety of the user's data. That's why you get them to sign a waiver. Why would you want to guarantee somebodys data? That's asking for trouble. An installfest should be all care and no responsibility. Check out this waiver: http://www.acm.uiuc.edu/sigunix/installfest/waiver.shtml Wayne

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Re: [wlug] Install fest
by Wayne Rooney 17 Apr '04

17 Apr '04

>No backups necessary then? > >Cool, so it can predict a power outage? Wow! :-) Smartarse ;-P Yes, actually, it takes a reading from /dev/crystalball and uses KStars to get an alignment of the planets and only resizes partitions if there are no power outages in the near future. Wayne

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Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
by Oliver Jones 16 Apr '04

16 Apr '04

I'm about to put the Game Return to Castle Wolfenstein on TradeMe. RTCW is a great first person shooter and as a bonus works in Linux as a native app! A rare thing with Loki games now gone. http://www.trademe.co.nz/structure/auction_detail.asp?id=10582307 If you're interested place a bid. I'd get a kick out of seeing another Linux gamer enjoy this game. Regards -- Oliver Jones » Director » oliver.jones(a)deeperdesign.com » +64 (21) 41 2238 Deeper Design Limited » +64 (7) 377 3328 » www.deeperdesign.com

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Re: [wlug] Install fest
by Wayne Rooney 16 Apr '04

16 Apr '04

>You do not need to install it as it will run from a boot disk, or in my >case a boot CD. Read your licence agreement again carefully, Doctor. Then perhaps visit http://www.linuxmafia.com/faq/Filesystems/ntfs.html from which comes the following quote: "Partition Magic is one solution -- except that Linux user groups cannot lawfully keep a copy on hand to use on visitors' machines, even if they're willing to spend the money. Advising them to buy a copy and come back is lawful, but not very appealing." Wayne

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Issues with BIND
by Craig Box 15 Apr '04

15 Apr '04

(Passing on the message from Drew. Note to everyone, messages you send from unsubscribed addresses get dropped! -- Craig) I am having issues with a SINGLE domain "corrupt.co.nz", every other domain is fine! Here's the deal: Bind logs return nothing like they usually would saying there was an error with the domain. I can dig to ALL of my AUTH NS servers, and get the records returned no problemo. I can use XTRA, DTS (and a few others have used their own DNS servers) and get returned results without any SERVFAIL errors. I try to dig anything to the PARADISE NS servers (203.96.152{4,12}) and I get mixed results. I get www.corrupt.co.nz and corrupt.co.nz, but none of my overly important records (home.corrupt.co.nz, mail.corrupt.co.nz) It returns SERVFAIL id:2 whenever I try to request anything other then www.corrupt.co.nz / corrupt.co.nz via PARADISES NS Servers Any ideas? I have contacted soa(a)paradise.net.nz but god knows how long that will take to be processed. - Drew

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RE: [wlug] Prefered Mail Client
by David Nicholls 15 Apr '04

15 Apr '04

> Strip back the FUD; apply the standard "there are security holes in Linux applications > fixed all the time, but Gartner Group rarely complains about them, and if they do, it > gets written off as anti-MS propaganda"... One interesting point I think people offten tend to miss when the Gartner Group or other such company is counting bugs/security warnings/year in linux versus windows codebases is that for linux they never differentiate between the O/S itself and the apps that are included with the distros. They like to lump them all in together to get the most number of bugs possible. My suspicion is, if they only looked at the O/S itself they would have a much harder time finding problems. Cheers... david

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Re: [wlug] Install fest
by Wayne Rooney 15 Apr '04

15 Apr '04

>Resizing is a very risky option; the very LAST thing we want is people >who say "I tried to install Linux once, and lost all my data because if >it.". Especially if we were helping them at the time. No, no, no. Resizing is very easy and safe. Boot computer off Knoppix cd. Open an x-term. Type "sudo su <enter>" Type "qtparted <enter>" Click on the edge of the partition you want to resize and drag it to the new size you want. Click "ok" And you're done. And it handles NTFS partitions. And it fails safe, that is, if something is going to go wrong (which it never has for me) it throws up an error message and quits BEFORE making changes to the hard drive. Try it. You'll like it. Wayne

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Upcoming committee meeting
by Craig Box 15 Apr '04

15 Apr '04

Per the WLUG charter, we'd like to inform you that there is an WLUG committee meeting to be held next Wednesday, 21 April. Tentative Agenda 1. Minutes from previous meeting 2. Treasurer's Report 3. Correspondence 4. Committee Mailing List - effectiveness & policy regarding posting 5. Committee - Purpose, Direction, Relationship to WLUG 6. Resignation, Greig McGill 7. General Business If you want to have an item added to this agenda, please contact me at secretary(a)wlug.org.nz. Craig, Secretary

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installing new kernel from rh9
by Stephen Pearce 14 Apr '04

14 Apr '04

I recently tried to compile and install the 2.6.5 kernel on a rh 9 system (dell i8500) .. it installed ok as a grub boot option but hangs trying to load the directory structure .. I have compiled and installed modules .. what else do I have to do to get the new kernel to boot? Thanks Stephen

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