December 2005 - WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

Re: [Wlug] Reliable Linux Laptop Vendor

by Jared Greenwald

Are you asking about a linux ditro that's well suited to a laptop or a laptop vendor that offers laptops with linux pre-installed? -Jared On 12/17/05, Mims Research <mimsresearch(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Hello, > > I'm very new to Linux and I'm not a technical person. But I've learned > enough about Linux to know it rocks (thanks Bob!) and to know I want a > new Linux laptop. Can anyone recommend a reliable vendor? Replies off > list are welcomed. > > Thanks! > Marie > mimsresearch(a)gmail.com > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

Dec. 17, 2005

Reliable Linux Laptop Vendor

by Mims Research

Hello, I'm very new to Linux and I'm not a technical person. But I've learned enough about Linux to know it rocks (thanks Bob!) and to know I want a new Linux laptop. Can anyone recommend a reliable vendor? Replies off list are welcomed. Thanks! Marie mimsresearch(a)gmail.com

Dec. 17, 2005

Re: [Wlug] logging level in syslog

by Andy Stewart

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Gregory Avedissian wrote: > How do I increase the amount of information that gets logged in > /var/log/messages in suse 9.3? From what I can gather, I need to edit > /etc/sysconfig-ng/sysconfig-ng.conf.in. > > Is it just a matter of changing this line - > filter f_warn { level(warn, err, crit) and not filter(f_iptables); }; > > > To this? > filter f_warn { level(debug, info, notice, warn, err, crit) and not > filter(f_iptables); }; > > > Or would I edit /etc/sysconfig/syslog? > # Default loglevel for klogd > # > KERNEL_LOGLEVEL=1 > > If so, what number should replace "1"? > > Or something else? > > The reason I want to do this is to help a friend diagnose a problem with > lockups. Sometimes one program locks up, and sometimes the whole computer > locks up, and the reset button is the only way out. It happens when she > gets a lot of stuff running (e.g. several firefox tabs, several gedit > tabs, konqueror, and gimp-with many edits on the same file.) There's > nothing useful in the system log right before this happens. > > Thanks, > Greg > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > HI Greg, In my system (SuSE 9.2), in /etc/sysconfig/syslog, it mentions the log level for klogd. The man page for klogd describes the log level setting. The man page mentions "KERN_ERR", which I didn't know what that was, so I grepped for "KERN_ERR" in the Linux source code. I found it in linux-<ver>/include/linux/kernel.h (and if I had read the whole man page, I'd have learned this without grepping for it). #define KERN_EMERG "<0>" /* system is unusable */ #define KERN_ALERT "<1>" /* action must be taken immediately */ #define KERN_CRIT "<2>" /* critical conditions */ #define KERN_ERR "<3>" /* error conditions */ #define KERN_WARNING "<4>" /* warning conditions */ #define KERN_NOTICE "<5>" /* normal but significant condition */ #define KERN_INFO "<6>" /* informational */ #define KERN_DEBUG "<7>" /* debug-level messages */ Now, with regard to debugging lockups, I have had (unfortunately) some small experience with this. Here are some things to initially check: 1) run memtest for 24 hours and make sure the memory isn't flaky 2) make sure the motherboard has the most recent BIOS 3) setup a serial console to some other machine 4) enable more logging (you're trying to do that now...) 5) pray to $DEITY that the problem just goes away...forever! 6) make sure your hardware is properly cooled (CPU, video card, hard drives, etc) I hope this helps, Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFDo18cHl0iXDssISsRAvxLAJsGFEzXNbUzMhBY9rSpuNsTv/8FHACePUwT jtBPDJBUMd4STQVfAQHICeY= =OxbA -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Dec. 17, 2005

logging level in syslog

by Gregory Avedissian

How do I increase the amount of information that gets logged in /var/log/messages in suse 9.3? From what I can gather, I need to edit /etc/sysconfig-ng/sysconfig-ng.conf.in. Is it just a matter of changing this line - filter f_warn { level(warn, err, crit) and not filter(f_iptables); }; To this? filter f_warn { level(debug, info, notice, warn, err, crit) and not filter(f_iptables); }; Or would I edit /etc/sysconfig/syslog? # Default loglevel for klogd # KERNEL_LOGLEVEL=1 If so, what number should replace "1"? Or something else? The reason I want to do this is to help a friend diagnose a problem with lockups. Sometimes one program locks up, and sometimes the whole computer locks up, and the reset button is the only way out. It happens when she gets a lot of stuff running (e.g. several firefox tabs, several gedit tabs, konqueror, and gimp-with many edits on the same file.) There's nothing useful in the system log right before this happens. Thanks, Greg

Dec. 16, 2005

Re: [Wlug] Success, almost, with GNOME

by Andy Stewart

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Walt Sawyer wrote: > After last nights meeting, I figured that I'd use KDE. I've used KDE on > other machines and I liked it. Unfortunately, some stuff doesn't seem > to work. For instance, on my gnome desktop, when I plug in my external > USB hard drive, it shows up on the gnome desktop, but not on my KDE > desktop. While I could've gotten around that, it also cannot be found > in Konquerer, or even from a command line! That's the only thing I've > found so far. I did notice that some apps were there and working when > they didn't exist or didn't work on gnome. So I will keep using gnome > on my Fedora Core 4 laptop, until I find a better one. > Walt HI Walt, I'm not quite sure *how* to make it work, but I do remember having the functionality that you described in KDE. In fact, I remember turning it off(!) because I didn't care for it - gotta love the choices in Linux. ;-) However, I can't remember how I disabled it, either. My guess would be that this has something to do with hotplug and /etc/fstab for starters. I'm not quite sure about the KDE hook. Later, Andy > > > > > On Thu, 2005-12-15 at 16:09 -0500, Keith Wright wrote: > >>>From: Ken Jones <jonesj(a)ziplink.net> >>> >>>Per the suggestion of Chuck Anderson I logged in under a new >>>account. GNOME desktop worked just as it should. So I removed >>>all of the /home/kjones/.gconf directory and logged in again as >>>myself. >>> >>>Still it did not work correctly. In particular the right click >>>on empty space did not work. >>> >>>I did a "diff -r" on the two (now default versions I suppose) .gconf >>>directories. They seemed the same save for unique identifiers. Where >>>do I look to find the differences? >> >>Calls to xmodmap in your .bash*, .xinitrc, or startx setup files? >>If the buttons don't work in the program, maybe the >>program is fine, but somebody moved the buttons. >> >>This is just a random guess, of course. I have never seen >>an empty space on any desktop of mine. >> >> --Keith >>_______________________________________________ >>Wlug mailing list >>Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org >>http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >> - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFDohcFHl0iXDssISsRAnerAJ4qMDqYC02Ps/yli2wQwXnOjSwPeACfQLN5 IXwjx3KnCK3j4LwYa47ALHk= =tR9B -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Dec. 16, 2005

Re: [Wlug] Success, almost, with GNOME

by Walt Sawyer

After last nights meeting, I figured that I'd use KDE. I've used KDE on other machines and I liked it. Unfortunately, some stuff doesn't seem to work. For instance, on my gnome desktop, when I plug in my external USB hard drive, it shows up on the gnome desktop, but not on my KDE desktop. While I could've gotten around that, it also cannot be found in Konquerer, or even from a command line! That's the only thing I've found so far. I did notice that some apps were there and working when they didn't exist or didn't work on gnome. So I will keep using gnome on my Fedora Core 4 laptop, until I find a better one. Walt On Thu, 2005-12-15 at 16:09 -0500, Keith Wright wrote: > > From: Ken Jones <jonesj(a)ziplink.net> > > > > Per the suggestion of Chuck Anderson I logged in under a new > > account. GNOME desktop worked just as it should. So I removed > > all of the /home/kjones/.gconf directory and logged in again as > > myself. > > > > Still it did not work correctly. In particular the right click > > on empty space did not work. > > > > I did a "diff -r" on the two (now default versions I suppose) .gconf > > directories. They seemed the same save for unique identifiers. Where > > do I look to find the differences? > > Calls to xmodmap in your .bash*, .xinitrc, or startx setup files? > If the buttons don't work in the program, maybe the > program is fine, but somebody moved the buttons. > > This is just a random guess, of course. I have never seen > an empty space on any desktop of mine. > > --Keith > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > -- See http://www.goldmark.org/netrants/no-word/attach.html

Dec. 16, 2005

Re: [Wlug] Success, almost, with GNOME

by Keith Wright

> From: Ken Jones <jonesj(a)ziplink.net> > > Per the suggestion of Chuck Anderson I logged in under a new > account. GNOME desktop worked just as it should. So I removed > all of the /home/kjones/.gconf directory and logged in again as > myself. > > Still it did not work correctly. In particular the right click > on empty space did not work. > > I did a "diff -r" on the two (now default versions I suppose) .gconf > directories. They seemed the same save for unique identifiers. Where > do I look to find the differences? Calls to xmodmap in your .bash*, .xinitrc, or startx setup files? If the buttons don't work in the program, maybe the program is fine, but somebody moved the buttons. This is just a random guess, of course. I have never seen an empty space on any desktop of mine. --Keith

Dec. 15, 2005

Re: [Wlug] Re: Success, almost, with GNOME

by Jared Greenwald

Though normally I'm a supporter of Gentoo, it can be a little complex to install and keep up to date... You might want to check out edubuntu. (http://www.edubuntu.org/) Its actually specifically designed as a Linux distro for use with kids. -Jared On 12/15/05, Ken Jones <kjones(a)ziplink.net> wrote: > Thanks everyone. I am a KDE fan also. I went to GNOME as an > experiment. I have a memory leak problem with CORE 3 such that every > week or so I need to reboot. (soxview shows SWAP free space slowly > getting smaller and smaller) It turned out that this behavior is > independent of windows manager. > > A question. Whom do I contact at Red Hat to propose that they help the > Fitchburg Public School District migrate to LINUX server based "best > office practices"? > > Ken Jones > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

Dec. 15, 2005

Re: Success, almost, with GNOME

by Ken Jones

Thanks everyone. I am a KDE fan also. I went to GNOME as an experiment. I have a memory leak problem with CORE 3 such that every week or so I need to reboot. (soxview shows SWAP free space slowly getting smaller and smaller) It turned out that this behavior is independent of windows manager. A question. Whom do I contact at Red Hat to propose that they help the Fitchburg Public School District migrate to LINUX server based "best office practices"? Ken Jones

Dec. 15, 2005

RE: [Wlug] Success, almost, with GNOME

by Gary Hanley

On Thu, 15 Dec 2005, Keller, Tim wrote: > Personally, I've moved away from gnome and I've been using xfce and I've > never been happier. I've just finished moving off of Gnome too. I didn't look into xfce but I'm happier with KDE than I was with Gnome. -- Gary

Dec. 15, 2005