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Re: [Wlug] Resurrecting old computers with Linux...
by Jon "maddog" Hall March 31, 2018

March 31, 2018

>The trouble with the old machines is the >eventual death of irreplacable hardware -- Pentium-MMX CPU Fans, PATA >disks and the like. Emulators and virtual machines.....allow old copies of the OS to live forever. I am, however, waiting for the "virtual car", for the time that people can no longer get the little embedded systems that allow modern-day cars to run. The era of "fixing up an old car" which both trained you in auto mechanics and "gave you wheels" is coming to a close. md On Sat, Mar 31, 2018 at 9:04 AM, Michael Voorhis <mvoorhis(a)cs.wpi.edu> wrote: > On 03/30/2018 10:43 PM, Robert Schwein wrote: > > http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/apps/linux-puppy-der- > turbo-fuer-uralt-computer-a-1194437.html> Interesting use of Linux. > > Any OS that can be used with embedded systems will work well on > mid-to-late 1990s PCs. The trouble with the old machines is the > eventual death of irreplacable hardware -- Pentium-MMX CPU Fans, PATA > disks and the like. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > >

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Re: [Wlug] Resurrecting old computers with Linux...
by Michael Voorhis March 31, 2018

March 31, 2018

On 03/30/2018 10:43 PM, Robert Schwein wrote: > http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/apps/linux-puppy-der-turbo-fuer-uralt-comput…> Interesting use of Linux. Any OS that can be used with embedded systems will work well on mid-to-late 1990s PCs. The trouble with the old machines is the eventual death of irreplacable hardware -- Pentium-MMX CPU Fans, PATA disks and the like.

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Resurrecting old computers with Linux...
by Robert Schwein March 31, 2018

March 31, 2018

http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/apps/linux-puppy-der-turbo-fuer-uralt-comput… Interesting use of Linux. Bob

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Next WLUG meeting! April 12th, 2018! Location: WPI Student Center, Rm 331. Topic: Secure Linux Distributions
by Tim Keller March 29, 2018

March 29, 2018

Hey Gang, Our next meeting is April 12th, 2018! Would people be interested in talking about security oriented versions of Linux? We all know about Tails, and in consideration of the issues that Richard ran into with getting stuff installed on Kali, it might be interesting to compare / contrast the different options out there. What do people think? I'm thinking this would work best as having a couple of people each showing off a particular distribution. Thanks, Tim. -- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".

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Re: [Wlug] RFID reader/writer
by Dennis Payne March 28, 2018

March 28, 2018

On Mon, 2018-03-26 at 21:47 -0400, John Stoffel wrote: > Adafruit.com has some stuff like this for sale. They're not always > the cheapest, but they have great tutorials and example code. Found a LWN article on NFC: https://lwn.net/Articles/645843/ He used a "PN532 NFC/RFID controller breakout board" and "FTDI Serial TTL-232 USB Cable" to connect via USB. It is supported by libnfc. His article talks about the Linux NFC being a better design and the future of NFC for linux. I haven't looked to see if it has progressed enough since his article to replace libnfc. > Looks like a good start. Probably cost you about $50 total to get > started, if you dont' have a raspberry Pi kicking around. (Still haven't got a raspberry Pi. I consider myself a software guy and not as interested in "raw" hardware. I got the PocketCHIP from kickstarter because it was a finished product. However I seem to be descending into hardware. I purchased TinyCircuit's TinyScreen Video Game Kit and they sent me a TinyArcade to port my Pac-Man clone to.) > This could be a really fun thing for the cubs to do! Especially if > you could then sign their figures so that when they hit the reader, > it knows it's them. Or something like that. Ask the kids for ideas! Definitely plan to ask the kids for ideas. Just plan to test enough that I feel confident it is doable before asking them. Yesterday I took pictures of Skylanders to see at what scale they still look good. At 64 pixels wide they are a little grainy. 128 pixels wide looks pretty good. Skylanders apparently has catch phrases for characters so I would like to get each kid to record a catch phrase for their character.

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Re: [Wlug] RFID reader/writer
by John Stoffel March 27, 2018

March 27, 2018

Dennis> Does anyone have a recommendation for a RFID reader/writer for Dennis> Linux (and Windows if possible)? I'm looking for a relatively Dennis> inexpensive solution. Adafruit.com has some stuff like this for sale. They're not always the cheapest, but they have great tutorials and example code. https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-nfc-rfid-on-raspberry-pi/overview?gclid… Looks like a good start. Probably cost you about $50 total to get started, if you dont' have a raspberry Pi kicking around. Dennis> My kids just got Skylanders Imaginators. I found some code to Dennis> read the characters. I started thinking about the Game Design Dennis> merit badge for Cub Scout Webelos. I'm wondering about the Dennis> viability of building a "portal" device and having the kids Dennis> make clay figures with rfids inside the base. Obviously the Dennis> game would be as complex as Skylanders. I'm thinking 2D using Dennis> pictures of the models. This could be a really fun thing for the cubs to do! Especially if you could then sign their figures so that when they hit the reader, it knows it's them. Or something like that. Ask the kids for ideas!

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RFID reader/writer
by Dennis Payne March 27, 2018

March 27, 2018

Does anyone have a recommendation for a RFID reader/writer for Linux (and Windows if possible)? I'm looking for a relatively inexpensive solution. My kids just got Skylanders Imaginators. I found some code to read the characters. I started thinking about the Game Design merit badge for Cub Scout Webelos. I'm wondering about the viability of building a "portal" device and having the kids make clay figures with rfids inside the base. Obviously the game would be as complex as Skylanders. I'm thinking 2D using pictures of the models.

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Re: [Wlug] Kali Linux/GDM3 display manager
by Richard Klein March 26, 2018

March 26, 2018

I'll try that Xorg.wrap work-around, in any case. On Sun, Mar 25, 2018 at 9:26 PM, Krichevsky, Nicholas Jacob < njkrichevsky(a)wpi.edu> wrote: > o_O I don't know enough about how X interacts with the hardware, but not > being able to open the frame buffer doesn't sound good... Take a look at > this. <https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/149987/233297> >

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Re: [Wlug] Kali Linux/GDM3 display manager
by Richard Klein March 26, 2018

March 26, 2018

I'm pretty sure it does manage to open the framebuffer; I get the mouse cursor at what looks to be the monitor's native resolution. It probably throws that error before it tries a different method, but obviously I don't know. On Sun, Mar 25, 2018 at 9:26 PM, Krichevsky, Nicholas Jacob < njkrichevsky(a)wpi.edu> wrote: > o_O I don't know enough about how X interacts with the hardware, but not > being able to open the frame buffer doesn't sound good... Take a look at > this. <https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/149987/233297> > ------------------------------ > *From:* wlug-bounces(a)mail.wlug.org <wlug-bounces(a)mail.wlug.org> on behalf > of Richard Klein <rich(a)richardklein.org> > *Sent:* Sunday, March 25, 2018 7:14:35 PM > *To:* Worcester Linux Users Group > *Subject:* Re: [Wlug] Kali Linux/GDM3 display manager > > Creating a new user didn't clear anything up. I was able to log into the > GUI session with the new user, but, again, there was nothing there but a > solid background and the mouse cursor. > > I didn't find .xsession-errors or .gconf in my home directories (for my > existing account nor for the new account), but I did find > $home/.local/share/xorg/Xorg.1.log. There were a couple warnings for > fonts it couldn't find and drivers it couldn't use, but in all cases it was > able to fall back to something else. There was one error: > (EE) open /dev/fb0: permission denied > That was it. > > -- > Rich > > On Tue, Mar 20, 2018 at 8:45 AM, Bradley Noyes <bkn(a)ithryn.net> wrote: > > Richard, > > I’d bet that your packages are fine (but i’m not a betting man). It sounds > too me like there is something awry w/ your X environment. Perhaps the > upgraded packages don’t recognize a config buried somewhere. Here’s a > couple things i would try. > > - Often times there a file in your home directory called > .xsession-errors. I’d see if that file exists, and it may offer you some > hints as to why your window manager is not starting. I recall launching X > from a Graphical Login Window to be finicky in linux and error output is > difficult to understand. the .xsession-errors file is where i’d look first. > > - Other idea is to create a new user, then login to the GUI with that > user to make sure the GUI starts from a fresh environment. > > - The last idea i have. It sounds like you’re running gnome from the fact > that your using GDM3, I believe the gnome environment files are in .gconf > in your home directory. try renaming your .gconf to something like > .gconf.backup. You may also want to try the same for .local, although many > other applications beyond gnome apps use .local for environment settings. > > > - b > > > > On Mar 18, 2018, at 11:13, Richard Klein <rich(a)richardklein.org> wrote: > > > > I'm running Kali, which is based on Debian. Recently, after some > updates, the computer would only boot to a text prompt; no GUI. I found > that, somehow, I had a more recent version of a Gstreamer-plugins library > than GDM3 could run on. I removed the library, then re-installed GDM3, > letting it choose whatever libraries it depended on. That worked, to a > point. It boots to the GUI now, and gives me a login prompt. I enter my > username and password successfully, but then I get a solid-color > background, a mouse cursor, and nothing else; no icons, no status bars, no > menus, no apparent response to mouse clicks. > > > > My guess is I still need to re-install something else that runs on top > of the display manager, but I don't know what. Any ideas? > > _______________________________________________ > > Wlug mailing list > > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > > > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > >

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Re: [Wlug] Kali Linux/GDM3 display manager
by Krichevsky, Nicholas Jacob March 26, 2018

March 26, 2018

o_O I don't know enough about how X interacts with the hardware, but not being able to open the frame buffer doesn't sound good... Take a look at this.<https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/149987/233297> ________________________________ From: wlug-bounces(a)mail.wlug.org <wlug-bounces(a)mail.wlug.org> on behalf of Richard Klein <rich(a)richardklein.org> Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2018 7:14:35 PM To: Worcester Linux Users Group Subject: Re: [Wlug] Kali Linux/GDM3 display manager Creating a new user didn't clear anything up. I was able to log into the GUI session with the new user, but, again, there was nothing there but a solid background and the mouse cursor. I didn't find .xsession-errors or .gconf in my home directories (for my existing account nor for the new account), but I did find $home/.local/share/xorg/Xorg.1.log. There were a couple warnings for fonts it couldn't find and drivers it couldn't use, but in all cases it was able to fall back to something else. There was one error: (EE) open /dev/fb0: permission denied That was it. -- Rich On Tue, Mar 20, 2018 at 8:45 AM, Bradley Noyes <bkn(a)ithryn.net<mailto:bkn@ithryn.net>> wrote: Richard, I’d bet that your packages are fine (but i’m not a betting man). It sounds too me like there is something awry w/ your X environment. Perhaps the upgraded packages don’t recognize a config buried somewhere. Here’s a couple things i would try. - Often times there a file in your home directory called .xsession-errors. I’d see if that file exists, and it may offer you some hints as to why your window manager is not starting. I recall launching X from a Graphical Login Window to be finicky in linux and error output is difficult to understand. the .xsession-errors file is where i’d look first. - Other idea is to create a new user, then login to the GUI with that user to make sure the GUI starts from a fresh environment. - The last idea i have. It sounds like you’re running gnome from the fact that your using GDM3, I believe the gnome environment files are in .gconf in your home directory. try renaming your .gconf to something like .gconf.backup. You may also want to try the same for .local, although many other applications beyond gnome apps use .local for environment settings. - b > On Mar 18, 2018, at 11:13, Richard Klein <rich(a)richardklein.org<mailto:rich@richardklein.org>> wrote: > > I'm running Kali, which is based on Debian. Recently, after some updates, the computer would only boot to a text prompt; no GUI. I found that, somehow, I had a more recent version of a Gstreamer-plugins library than GDM3 could run on. I removed the library, then re-installed GDM3, letting it choose whatever libraries it depended on. That worked, to a point. It boots to the GUI now, and gives me a login prompt. I enter my username and password successfully, but then I get a solid-color background, a mouse cursor, and nothing else; no icons, no status bars, no menus, no apparent response to mouse clicks. > > My guess is I still need to re-install something else that runs on top of the display manager, but I don't know what. Any ideas? > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org<mailto:Wlug@mail.wlug.org> > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org<mailto:Wlug@mail.wlug.org> http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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