August 2009 - WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

Re: [Wlug] Wlug Digest, Vol 70, Issue 17
by Steven Greenberg 20 Aug '09

20 Aug '09

The issue with 60 Hz and the LCD was not flicker. I mentioned visual defects. I meant things like missing pixels. I had to use the analog connection because that was all that was available on the PC that I had just bought. I just looked at the setting now to see if I had really chosen 120 Hz which is still a harmonic of 60Hz. Unfortunately for looking at the setting, I moved three years ago from the house where the office had fluorescent lights. When I set up my computer again in the new house, I must have somehow gone back to the default 60 Hz. There are no fluorescent lights around and there are none of the visual defects I saw in the other house. When I brought my unit back to Fry's electronics they had no such problem in the store from the ceiling lights which were a good 15 or more feet away. They gave me a replacement anyway just to keep me happy. I had not even suspected fluorescent lights at that point. When I got the replacement home, it had the same problem as the first one. I was about to give up on Samsung in disgust when I asked around at work if anybody could figure out the problem. Our computer hardware support person mentioned the fluorescent light idea. I went home, changed the frequency and the problems disappeared. The fluorescent lights in my home office were probably only 4 feet from the LCD. The cause of the problem might have been something completely different, but I cannot come up with another explanation that fits the observations. Maybe I had sympathetic 60 Hz fluctuations from my neighbor's ham radio. Whatever was the cause, getting away from 60Hz seemed to be the solution. /Steve -- Steven Greenberg Email: steve(a)ssgreenberg.name 251 Holland Rd. Phone: (774)241-0095 Fiskdale, Massachusetts 01518-1231 Web: http://www.ssgreenberg.name Other Email: s.greenberg(a)ieee.org ssg(a)alum.mit.edu

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Here I am begging again.
by Ken Jones 20 Aug '09

20 Aug '09

I have not been making the meetings. That does not mean my SUN ULTRA1 running Aurora Linux can no longer create 'interesting' problems. This time the second SUN ULTRA running Gentoo is in cahoots. I have a new SAMSUNG SyncMaster flat screen monitor. I have attached this monitor via a Belkin SUN adapter to my ULTRA1's. It does not work!! The monitor flashes a little square window saying something about "Not optimum mode". It feels that it has not been configured correctly. The buttons on the right of the monitor, which are there to set it up, also do not work with the SUN's is attached. The monitor works fine with PC type machinery. The Belkin worked fine with a regular old tube monitor. (I have not dug out the old monitor to check whether it still works. I suspect it does.) Anybody have any ideas? Ken Jones kjones(a)ziplink.net

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Re: [Wlug] Here I am begging again.
by Steven Greenberg 20 Aug '09

20 Aug '09

I have a Samsung SyncMaster 204B, but it is on a Windows PC. As for the frequency, 60 Hz is not good in close proximity to fluorescent lights. I had a lot of visual defects in two different units, until I changed to 120 Hz(I think). /Steve -- Steven Greenberg Email: steve(a)ssgreenberg.name 251 Holland Rd. Phone: (774)241-0095 Fiskdale, Massachusetts 01518-1231 Web: http://www.ssgreenberg.name Other Email: s.greenberg(a)ieee.org ssg(a)alum.mit.edu

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Book list with names.
by Tim Keller 20 Aug '09

20 Aug '09

Please keep the other thread going, I'm going to use this thread so people can see what books have been taken. I went email by email and did it on a first come first serve basis... Here's the list with names: Hacking / Security Books: "Secrets of a super hacker" by The Knightmare. [S. Courtney] "Hackers Challenge: Test Your Incident Response Skills Using 20 Scenarios" (3rd Edition) [S. Courtney] "Hacking Exposed: Network Security Secrets & Solutions" "Web Hacking: Attacks and Defense" Math Books: [Frank Moody] "Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications" by Kenneth H. Rosen [Frank Moody] "Languages and Machines" Thomas A Sudkamp [Alex Haley] "A Primer for Calculus" Misc: [Alex Haley] "Latex" Second edition [Frank Moody] "The Latex Companion" [Frank Moody] "Mips RISC Architecture" "Database Systems" "Creating Web Pages with HTML" (3rd edition) [Frank Moody] "Operating Systems: Design and Implementation": Tanenbaum (includes Minux 2.0 disk!!) [Frank Moody] "PCI System Architecture" (Third Edition) Programming Books: [Alex Haley] "The C Primer" Third edition (this book is a bit dog eared) [Alex Haley] "A First Book of Ansi C" (a bit dog eared but excellent) "Tricks of the Game Programming Gurus" "Practical Programming in Tcl and Tk" "Virtual Reality Playhouse" "Creating Turbo C++ Games" (The disk for this book is long lost) [Keith Wright] "Linux Kernel Programming" (Third Edition) "Using Java 1.1" (Third Edition) "Using JavaBeans" (CD Long gone) [S. Courtney] "Sams' Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days" (Second Edition) "Beginning Fedora 2" (Yeah it's 8 versions behind, but as a beginners guide to red hat linux systems, it's great) "User Interfaces In C++ And Object-Oriented Programming" by Mark Goodwin "Gardens of Imagination: Programming 3d Maze Games in C/C++" (Disk long gone) "NetWarriors In C Programming 3d Multiplaery games" (CD Long gone) [Ryan Pugatch] "Programming perl" (O'Reilly) [Ryan Pugatch] "Learning Perl" (O'Reilly) [Ryan Pugatch] "Perl by Example" (Ellie Quigley) Thanks, Tim. -- I am weary of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".

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Re: [Wlug] Article on UNIX 40th anniverasry
by jbaillie＠netzero.com 20 Aug '09

20 Aug '09

I actually have played pong on a monitor like that back in my DEC daze. What's even more amusing is the paper tape loader to the right of the monitor. It sure relieved you of toggling in the boot loader. We would actually repair some of the paper tapes. jb ---------- Original Message ---------- From: E Johnson <iris.gates(a)gmail.com> To: Worcester Linux Users Group <wlug(a)mail.wlug.org> Subject: [Wlug] Article on UNIX 40th anniverasry Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:59:20 -0400 Good report by the BBC on development of UNIX. Has an interesting photo of a very old round green CRT monitor (in hexagonal case) at a workstation http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8205976.stm Enjoy, Liz J _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug ____________________________________________________________ Just drop it. Click here for free information on weight loss surgery! http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2231/fc/BLSrjnxRbzrvjPpExUGZMIb6GPtO…

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Article on UNIX 40th anniverasry
by E Johnson 20 Aug '09

20 Aug '09

Good report by the BBC on development of UNIX. Has an interesting photo of a very old round green CRT monitor (in hexagonal case) at a workstation http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8205976.stm Enjoy, Liz J

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REMINDER: Meeting Thursday, 7 PM
by Andy Stewart 19 Aug '09

19 Aug '09

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 HI gang, This is the umpteenth reminder about the upcoming WLUG meeting with maddog as our speaker. Please note the different meeting room: Salisbury Labs room 104. Also, for those of you who are interested in music, check this selection, allegedly made only from the sounds available in Windows XP and Windows 98 (at least the OS is good for something): http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1802740 See ya at the meeting! Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group (http://www.wlug.org) Chelmsford Linux Meetup Group (http://linux.meetup.com/393) Amateur Radio: KB1OIQ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFKi27iOjiraCaOTOoRAgQfAKCZ135p2dvbYrlqNaMwj2fKZZ2RxwCg0yqN k+tp+5150cDgkqDHU8Zl0i0= =6WcP -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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PCMCIA to ExpressCard
by dulsi＠identicalsoftware.com 18 Aug '09

18 Aug '09

Well, I purchased a Rosewill RC-608 ExpressCard to CardBus Adapter but apparently linux doesn't support it. When I plug it in with the slimscsi card I get: Aug 18 16:15:44 mars kernel: pciehp 0000:00:1c.1:pcie02: Card present on Slot(0-1) Aug 18 16:15:44 mars kernel: pci 0000:03:00.0: disabling ASPM on pre-1.1 PCIe device. You can enable it with 'pcie_aspm=force' Aug 18 16:15:44 mars kernel: pci 0000:03:00.0: PCI bridge, secondary bus 0000:04 Aug 18 16:15:44 mars kernel: pci 0000:03:00.0: IO window: disabled Aug 18 16:15:44 mars kernel: pci 0000:03:00.0: MEM window: disabled Aug 18 16:15:44 mars kernel: pci 0000:03:00.0: PREFETCH window: disabled Aug 18 16:15:44 mars kernel: pciehp: Could not get hotplug parameters Aug 18 16:15:44 mars kernel: pci 0000:03:00.0: PCI bridge, secondary bus 0000:04 Aug 18 16:15:44 mars kernel: pci 0000:03:00.0: IO window: disabled Aug 18 16:15:44 mars kernel: pci 0000:03:00.0: MEM window: disabled Aug 18 16:15:44 mars kernel: pci 0000:03:00.0: PREFETCH window: disabled I'm assuming "pciehp: Could not get hotplug parameters" means it is not supported. If anyone has suggestions on how to get it to work let me know. Dennis Payne dulsi(a)identicalsoftware.com

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Fedora 11 and mingw32
by dulsi＠identicalsoftware.com 16 Aug '09

16 Aug '09

I installed fedora 11 on my old laptop and turned back on glitch free audio. It almost works perfectly. Sufficient that I probably wouldn't bother turning it off now. I think the hard drive is starting to fail so I decided to purchase a new laptop. Since I'd like some 3D functionality now I decided to go with the Intel GMA X4500. Unfortunately Fedora 11 stumbled here. I thought the picture quality wasn't very good and found it was using the vesa drivers not the intel drivers. Searching found that others had the same issue but it worked on Fedora 10. Tried a Fedora 10 live CD and the display was nice and sharp. Modified the xorg.conf to use the intel drivers and Fedora 11 also became nice and sharp. Anyway onto my question, has anyone played with the mingw32 cross compiler on Fedora 11? I've created a simple hello world app and cmake file (since I hate autotools). I've got it compiling by creating a Toolchain file but it seems like that is something that should be provided with the mingw32. Is there a standard Toolchain file somewhere and I just haven't found it?

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(no subject)
by Brian McLinden 15 Aug '09

15 Aug '09

Hi all, Thanks for your helpful postings. I'm coming back to ask further help in sharpening issues before me.. I see four now: 1. Understanding the machine Wanting a more general perspective that will help me anticipate and navigate OS issues as they arise. Just ordered http://www.amazon.com/Write-Great-Code-Understanding-Machine/dp/1593270038/… Anyone have reading (book, online) suggestions geared at accessible intro level? More intermediate level? 2. Getting a machine Freedom of choice in the component market is overwhelming. A curse, actually. I'd be losing significant time just learning how to spec a system. In the Worcester area, is there anyone I can pay to put together a machine for me with some bit of craftsmanship and reliability? That way I can have substantially more control over machine quality. Do any of you have a favorite components list? I'd be most interested in a machine designed for silence, and I'm quite willing to study up on that issue.. fan noise drives me nuts when I'm coding. What do you think about this workaround -- http://www.inatux.com/order These are FSF/FOSS people. I can't see a need for a super fast system yet, as I can't say yet where my project interests will gravitate. In light of that, since optimality makes no sense, what machine specs do you think would be “good enough”? Desirable packages to install? And, for cable broadband and live streaming of audio and video, what combination or package(s) of HW ad SW should I ask for. Wired case? Wireless case? 3. YOUR advice for a would be hacker? I wonder how folks in this forum might vary from the following position. Would you prioritize or sequence things differently? “Start out by learning bash, then set up your own Unix environment. This is a biggie. PC-BSD works fine. Learn to use it for your everyday tasks, learn how to administrate it and keep it up to date and secure. Then, when you've done that, start in with Python. Solve the Project Euler problems in whatever language you're learning. Learn which languages are better suited for particular problems. Learn about security in programs, vulnerabilities and how to exploit them. Read other people's code and post your own. Learn the low-level stuff later.” 4. What Linux distribution would you pair with Unix? And, what will I learn from one that I don't learn from the other? Thanks, in advance, for thoughts, reactions, give and take! Brian

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