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Re: [Wlug] How to (not) Damage a FLASH Storage Device

by John Stoffel

>>>>> "Chuck" == Chuck Anderson <cra(a)WPI.EDU> writes: Chuck> I found this article enlightening: Chuck> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/How_to_Damage_a_FLASH_Storage_Device Interesting. Doesn't talk about environmental effects all, so I'd probably re-title it to say "Poor disk layout format can kill your SSD". Or something like that. I'm curious how well ext2/3/4 and btrfs would work on an SSD formated properly? Also, don't alot of SSDs actually do wear levelling at their firmware level, to get around alot of these issues? Seeing some test results of identical SSDs being formatted in good and bad ways and then written to until dead would be interesting. John

Feb. 6, 2009

Re: [Wlug] How to (not) Damage a FLASH Storage Device

by Richard Klein

On Thu, Feb 5, 2009 at 9:50 PM, Chuck Anderson <cra(a)wpi.edu> wrote: > I found this article enlightening: > > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/How_to_Damage_a_FLASH_Storage_Device The article is incomplete. I didn't see any mention of leaving your flash device in the passenger footwell of a car with a leaking sunroof for a few days. -- Rich

Feb. 6, 2009

How to (not) Damage a FLASH Storage Device

by Chuck Anderson

I found this article enlightening: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/How_to_Damage_a_FLASH_Storage_Device

Feb. 6, 2009

Re: [Wlug] Any ruby hackers?

by Randy Cole

Hi John, I am learning Ruby right now. You can also ask your question on the bostonrb.org mailing list: http://groups.google.com/group/boston-rubygroup John Stoffel wrote: > Guys, > > I'm looking for some help with a Ruby script which uses the 'Drb' and > 'Slave' libraries. Basically, I'm doing a recursive readdir() on a > directory, but with parallel processes (since Ruby Threads aren't > really parallel, sigh...) and I'm running into some problems. > > I'm happy to post the code here, before I start begging for help on > the http://www.ruby-forum.com site. > > Thanks, > John > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

Feb. 6, 2009

Any ruby hackers?

by John Stoffel

Guys, I'm looking for some help with a Ruby script which uses the 'Drb' and 'Slave' libraries. Basically, I'm doing a recursive readdir() on a directory, but with parallel processes (since Ruby Threads aren't really parallel, sigh...) and I'm running into some problems. I'm happy to post the code here, before I start begging for help on the http://www.ruby-forum.com site. Thanks, John

Feb. 5, 2009

Re: [Wlug] reaching college students with linux

by Aljerin Butler,Jr.

I don't know how much this would help in your efforts, but I put up a website to advocate and encourage students and other people alike to use Linux and Free/Open Source software. Please take a look at http://customlinux.tripod.com/. BTW, if you think there are any subjects that should be included or links not included in the subjects given, I would like to hear from you. Thanks, Al Butler --- On Wed, 2/4/09, wlug-request(a)mail.wlug.org <wlug-request(a)mail.wlug.org> wrote: From: wlug-request(a)mail.wlug.org <wlug-request(a)mail.wlug.org> Subject: Wlug Digest, Vol 64, Issue 3 To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org Date: Wednesday, February 4, 2009, 11:40 PM Send Wlug mailing list submissions to wlug(a)mail.wlug.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to wlug-request(a)mail.wlug.org You can reach the person managing the list at wlug-owner(a)mail.wlug.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Wlug digest..." Today's Topics: 1. System 76: computers with Ubuntu pre-installed (Richard Klein) 2. Re: RH Enterprise 5.0 Question (Chuck Anderson) 3. FOSS Gaming Survey (Joseph Guarino) 4. Re: reaching college students with linux (Sean Corbett) 5. Re: RH Enterprise 5.0 Question (William Smith) 6. Re: reaching college students with linux (Gregory Avedissian) 7. Linux at 35,000 feet (Michael Long) 8. Re: Linux at 35,000 feet (John Stoffel) _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

Feb. 5, 2009

Re: [Wlug] Linux at 35,000 feet

by John Stoffel

Man, what a bummer they don't go worcester to charlotte. That would be excellent!

Feb. 5, 2009

Linux at 35,000 feet

by Michael Long

Hi All, I took a trip on DirectAir to Florida this past weekend. I flew out of Worcester on a direct flight to Punta Gorda, Fl. I wish I could say it was for pleasure but that would not be true :( Anyway the airline is a public charter owned by Virgin America and operated by Jet Blue. What does this have to do with Linux? Each seat had a monitor with a gaming remote control. The passengers had the choice of watching TV or movies. They could also listen to many different radio stations or select by artist. I found it refreshing to put on some Jimmy Hendricks and Frank Zappa. The last, or was it first, option available were games. Our friend Tux appeared in two of the games and the rest were available on all modern distributions of Linux. I spent a fair amount of time playing Doom. When you board the plane it feels very modern. There is a pleasant blue glow to the cabin. First and second class is separated by clear Plexiglas so the cabin feels very open. The mandatory speech about safety is done by video and is appropriately smart-alecky. All in all it was a great experience. Look them up if you need to travel on the east coast. Oh yeah, tickets were $99 each way. Happy Travels, Mike

Feb. 5, 2009

Re: [Wlug] reaching college students with linux

by Gregory Avedissian

Sean makes good sense. Most people won't be interested in switching to another operating system. But I think an exercise in the durability of documents based on their file format might be useful. Pass out some old documents in various formats, and see which ones they can open properly. Remind them that to them, ten years is half a lifetime, but somewhere down the road, they might need to access a file that they made five or ten years before. Get them receptive to the idea with some practical examples, and then make a pitch for open standards and open source software. Even if they're not interested in Linux, they can hear about what's available for Windows, and the ideas should make sense to them. Greg Sean Corbett wrote: > To be honest, I think the overwhelming majority of non-technical > students will not want to get involved with Linux, even with Ubuntu... > even some of my fellow computer science majors will only use Linux for > coursework and refuse to touch it otherwise, mainly because they don't > want to have to worry about "learning new software" or dealing with the > fact that, in some cases, there aren't enough drivers to support all > their software. Even Ubuntu can be a real pain in terms of > out-of-the-box hardware compatibility, especially with laptops (which > for most students serve as their main machine of use). I'm sort of sad > to admit that many of the kids I go to school with are, in almost all > cases, looking for the easiest means to accomplish anything; anything > that requires too much effort is bound to be ignored by the majority. I > picked up Linux out of genuine interest, and because I knew it served as > a very good platform for development (and thus a worthwhile thing to > use), and especially because of it's compliance with my (mild) disdain > of proprietary software. Also, because I look up to Linus Torvalds, and > Richard Stallman, and all those great guys... but, I don't know anyone > else at my school who shares my enthusiasm. Perhaps its a bit better at > a purely technical school (like WPI)... > In short, if students aren't pursuing Linux out of their own interest > (or at least out of necessity), I wouldn't try much beyond what you've > already attempted in order to get kids more interested... I don't mean > to be discouraging or pessimistic, but I really think your efforts are > better spent aiding students who've developed an interest in running > Linux on their own, as opposed to trying to turn them on to it. > > Hope this helps, > -Sean C. >> Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2009 13:31:19 -0800 (PST) >> From: Andrew Perry <perryand(a)yahoo.com> >> Subject: [Wlug] successful upgrade to openoffice.org 3.0 ; ubiquity of >> .docx; reaching college students with linux >> To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org >> Cc: Andrew Perry <perryand(a)gmail.com> >> Message-ID: <377215.4592.qm(a)web35208.mail.mud.yahoo.com> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii >> >> >> Hi Everyone, >> >> (1) Thanks a million for all of the help, especially the link to the fantastic tutorial, posted by James Gray, I think. I am in the process of installing hardy updates, and it appears that openoffice.org 3.0 is part of what's being installed, so it looks like everything is working perfectly. >> >> (2) To Greg: yes, I could ask students to submit all of their assignments in .doc or .rtf format (or even open office format), but they most wouldn't listen. Many can't figure out how to save to any format but .docx. It's a perpetual hassle to nag them. Besides that, I get many files from colleagues, professors at my college and other colleges and universities, as well as the Mass. Dept. of Education, and increasingly, most are in Office 2007 formats. It's hard to convert the whole world to linux. >> >> (3) Here is a new issue for everyone who is interested in commenting. I am a mathematician but besides math ,I also teach a computer literacy course each semester. You would all be proud: I do my best every semester to convert students to the linux religion, or at least to make them aware of linux and the evils of Microsoft. However, for every student who finds my linux modules interesting (about 2 hours of a 45-hour course on average), there are a dozen who get annoyed and find the material boring and irrelevant. >> >> Once I brought in a PC running compiz and they found that mildly intriguing. >> >> They absolutely hate the movie "revolution os". If I pass out ubuntu cds, I doubt they get used. >> >> Can anyone suggest teaching resources (videos, for example) that would be likely to make an impact for non-technically minded college students ? >> >> >> Thanks, >> Andrew >> >> -Dr. Andrew B. Perry >> Dept. of Mathematics, Springfield College >> Schoo Hall Room 123 >> 263 Alden St., Springfield MA 01109 >> Work Phone (413)748-3193 >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

Feb. 5, 2009

Re: [Wlug] RH Enterprise 5.0 Question

by William Smith

You're right on that one... I've got Fedora 10 installed on a desktop. Running /usr/sbin/sysreport as root gets this: # sysreport WARNING: sysreport is deprecated, please use sosreport instead. ...and seems to move on into sosreport v1.8. So.... :) Bill Smith Fall River, MA Charter Member of LOPSA On Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 6:01 PM, Chuck Anderson <cra(a)wpi.edu> wrote: > On Wed, Feb 04, 2009 at 11:27:27AM -0500, McDonald, Melissa wrote: >> I need to determine the hardware configuration of a RH 5.0 Linux server. >> Is there a command that will probe the hardware configuration and send >> the output to the screen? > > I hear "sysreport" is what RH support asks for when you open a > ticket. > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

Feb. 5, 2009