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Speaker for next meeting
by albutler33＠netscape.net Aug. 1, 2004

Aug. 1, 2004

I'm in. I'd be interested in hearing a talk on SELinux. Al Butler __________________________________________________________________ Switch to Netscape Internet Service. As low as $9.95 a month -- Sign up today at http://isp.netscape.com/register Netscape. Just the Net You Need. New! Netscape Toolbar for Internet Explorer Search from anywhere on the Web and block those annoying pop-ups. Download now at http://channels.netscape.com/ns/search/install.jsp

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Re: August Speaker Proposal
by Phil H July 30, 2004

July 30, 2004

On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 12:00:11 -0400, wlug-request(a)mail.wlug.org <wlug-request(a)mail.wlug.org> wrote: > Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2004 10:10:49 -0400 > From: Jeff Moyer <jmoyer(a)redhat.com> > Subject: [Wlug] August Speaker proposal > To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > Cc: dwalsh(a)redhat.com > Message-ID: <16647.46057.757622.844343(a)segfault.boston.redhat.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > Hello, > > If there is interest, Dan Walsh is willing to give a presentation on > SELinux for the next meeting. Takers? > > -Jeff I'd be interested in hearing it, but I'll be out of the country. Next meeting, I guess. Will the slides (if any) be made available online for those who can't make it? Phil

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RE: [Wlug] Partition table blues
by Martin, Eric July 30, 2004

July 30, 2004

All fdisk /mbr does is replace your mbr with windows info...the most it would screw up is grub / lilo (what ever is in your mbr). That can be replaced with any livecd and a quick command from grub or lilo. -----Original Message----- From: Gregory Avedissian [mailto:gma2004@verizon.net] Sent: Sunday, July 25, 2004 11:43 AM To: douglas.waud(a)umassmed.edu; Worcester Linux Users Group Subject: Re: [Wlug] Partition table blues Hi Doug, I haven't tried fdisk /mbr because I don't really fully understand what it does and have never seen a good explanation of how it will affect linux partitions. This morning, I read that it shouldn't be used on disks that have more than four partitions. I have five partitions and some unclaimed space. I might try it later today. Beside that, anything of value is on the linux side of the disk. (That's not a microsoft slur, it's just where I have my files.) So, while I would like to be able to get the whole thing back to its original working order as a learning exercise, I'm more motivated to get to the linux partitions. Thanks again, Greg doug waud wrote: > Hi again > > This time, let's try focussing on one thing to try. > > I don't see that you have ever tried the standard way to restore the > MBR > for Windows --- boot a Windows floppy with fdisk on it and type > fdisk /mbr > and, if you still cannot boot windows, add a > sys c: > > It is not clear from here why you did not try this. > > doug > > > Gregory Avedissian wrote: > >> doug waud wrote: >> >>> Hi again Greg >>> >>> Gregory Avedissian wrote: >>> >>>> There were three backups of the mbr. One made under dos with >>>> debug.exe, and the others made with linux as, >>>> >>>> dd if=/dev/hda of=/boot/boot.MBR bs=512 count=1 >>>> dd if=/dev/hda of=/boot/boot.446.MBR bs=446 count=1 >>>> >>>> I restored with: >>>> >>>> dd if=/boot/boot.MBR of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1 >>>> I think maybe I picked the wrong one. >> >> >> >> > I admit I would have used the second, safer (since it does not >> touch the >> > partition table), but I don't see why the 512 bs variant would not >> have >> > worked unless you had changed the partition table since making that >> > boot.MBR file. >> >> No, I didn't change the partition table. I made these backups within >> days of installing, so that I would have copies of a new, working mbr. >> >>> >>> It is hard to tell what went wrong until you tell us what you were >>> doing just before the system no longer would boot. (Those two lines >>> creating the boot.xyz files would only read from the first 512 or 446 >>> bytes not do any writing there so they cannot be the cause of your >>> troubles.) >>> >>> >>> Why don't you boot from a bootable floppy? Alternatively, start the >>> SuSE recovery mechanism which includes "boot an installed system" as >>> an option. If all that is screwed up it the MBR, you could then >>> simply run LILO to refresh it. >>> >> >> I had a new win98 installation working ok, then I installed suse8.2 >> and set it up so that it would boot with GRUB from floppy. I don't >> recall if I ever tried to boot from the harddrive to get into windows >> after I installed suse, but I know I could get there from the floppy. >> >> When I did try to boot off the hard drive two days ago, it hung with >> the message, "Disk boot failure. Insert system disk." >> >> I could still boot to win or linux from the grub floppy at this >> point. >> I tried restoring the mbr in dos with debug.exe, and that didn't help. >> I could still boot to linux with the floppy, and I can't remember if I >> could still boot to windows. Then I tried restoring with >> dd if=/boot/boot.MBR of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1 >> >> After that, I couldn't boot from the grub floppy anymore. Trying to >> boot the installed system from the rescue disk also failed. I then >> booted to the rescue system. Output of sfdisk -l looked like this: >> >> Disk /dev/hda: 3737 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track >> /dev/hda: unrecognized partition >> No partitions found >> >> Repeating the restore procedure with debug.exe didn't help, either. >> >> >> Thanks, >> Greg >> > > _______________________________________________ > 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] Partition table blues
by Keller, Tim July 29, 2004

July 29, 2004

Well, if your only keeping your windows partition around to watch DVD's, that's something that you've been able todo in linux for a long time. Check out mplayer / Xine and Ogle. Tim. -----Original Message----- From: Gregory Avedissian [mailto:gma2004@verizon.net] Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2004 2:13 PM To: Worcester Linux Users Group Subject: Re: [Wlug] Partition table blues Here's the update: Went into BIOS and set the disk to LBA. This resulted in sfdisk -l showing the same geometry as the kernel (CHS 3737/255/63) This put the start and end of the first partition at 0 and 1023. Somewhere along the line, my windows partition grew by 2GB. Is it possible that it's reading a previous partition table? Win98 was still showing c: to be 5.8GB, and dos fdisk was still showing it as 8.2 GB. So, I took Doug's advice and said a prayer, then went at it. Set the win partition back to 6GB with dos (win98) fdisk (with the drive hooked up as master.) This made windows unbootable, and fdisk /mbr didn't correct it. That's ok. I did have it working again until then, and I could have retrieved my data if I'd had any on that partition. Connected the drive as slave and put another drive I had with a non-critical linux installation on as hda (in case I screwed up and partitioned the wrong drive). Booted into linux and repartitioned with sfdisk /dev/hdb, putting in parameters for <start cylinder> <size in cylinders> <type> for each partition when promted: /dev/hdb1 0 765 c * /dev/hdb2 765 130 82 /dev/hdb3 896 1044 (L for linux is the default) /dev/hdb4 1941 1795 (tried both 85 for linux extended and 5 for win extended) /dev/hdb5 1941 1305 L /dev/hdb6 - it insisted on setting up hdb6, so I just hit enter, and let it take the rest of the disk. This was originally unpartitioned space. I then was able to mount /dev/hdb3 and access my root filesystem. I was not able to mount /dev/hdb5 to access my /home partition. Error message from mount was "wrong filesystem type or too many mounted filesystems). Unless someone knows the secret code to to mount a recovered logical partition, I'll assume that there's no easy way to do it and finish this project (i.e. wipe the disk and start over, without putting windows on this drive.) No more extended partitions for this boy. On a brighter note, I learned how to get windows98 to boot from the SECOND hard drive, and that gives me great satisfaction. It was way easier than I thought, and if anyone's interested, I'll give details. This means that when I figure out how to watch movies on dvd in linux, I can get rid of windows by simply removing the second drive. Thanks to all for your help with this. Greg Charles R. Anderson wrote: > On Mon, Jul 26, 2004 at 02:27:01PM -0400, Gregory Avedissian wrote: > >>>What does the kernel think the disk size is on bootup? >> >>hdb: 60036480 sectors (30739 MB) w/1916KiB Cache, CHS=3737/255/63, UDMA(100) > > >>>What does the BIOS say in the CMOS setup screen for the disk geometry? >> >>capacity 30740 MB >>cylinder 59560 >>head 16 >>precomp 0 >>landing zone 59559 >>sector 63 > > > The BIOS and kernel agree on the size of the disk. 59560/(255/16) = > 3737 cylinders. I would however make sure the BIOS is set to LBA mode > if it isn't, which should cause the heads to become 255. > > >>>What does the disk say on the label for the geometry? >> >>Model: DTLA-307030 >>Capacity: 30.7 GB >>LBA 60.036.480 sectors >>CHS: 16383/16/63 >>MLC: F80033 > > > Strange. That doesn't add up at all. Ah, here it is: > > "There is an industry convention to give C/H/S=16383/16/63 for disks > larger than 8.4 GB" [1] > > >>And here's more: >>DOS fdisk reports the partition as being 8032 MB. >>Win98 reports it (C:) as 5.8 GB. > > > Interesting. > > >>gnu parted reports it as: (note that the drive is temporarily connected as >>hdb for convenience) >>hdb: 60036480 sectors (30739 MB) w/1916KiB Cache, CHS=3737/255/63, UDMA(100) > > > Agrees with the kernel above. > > >>sfdisk -l >>Disk /dev/hdb: 1123 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track >>Units = cylinders of 8225280 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0 > > > Here is the problem. sfdisk is seeing the wrong number geometry. I > would attempt to fix the C/H/S values in the partition table with > sfdisk. First I would read [1] in it's entirety--it goes into all the > gory details of geometry and size limits. > > Here are some useful documents on geometry and partitioning: > > [1] http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Large-Disk-HOWTO.html > > [2] http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/reskit/en-us/default.asp?url=/ windows2000/techinfo/reskit/en-us/prork/prcb_dis_qxql.asp > > [3] http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us /Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prkd_t ro_kyrr.asp > _______________________________________________ > 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] Partition table blues
by Gregory Avedissian July 29, 2004

July 29, 2004

Hi Doug, I tried fdisk /mbr and it worked easily. As expected, I only have a windows partition (verified by fdisk). I suspect that I'm less than halfway there. > >> This morning, I read that it shouldn't be used on disks that have more >> than four partitions. I have five partitions and some unclaimed space. >> I might try it later today. > > > I don't know where that came from. It came from ms. Maybe they're just playin' with our heads. > > However, once that is working, you can boot into your linux system (by > one of the ways I mentioned in an earlier post, and run LILO which is > smart enough to leave the Windows part working and simply add the stuff > for other things you want to boot (as specified in lilo.conf --- which > I assume is OK if it was working earlier and you have not edited it). No, there's no lilo.conf and never was one on that installation. There is (was) a grub/menu.lst, which serves the same function, but as far as I understand it, the partition table needs to contain information about linux partitions for either of these to work. I went ahead and booted the rescue system and tried a grub-install /dev/hda, and it returned a message saying that no /dev/root was found. Maybe I'll try parted again, now that I can find where hda1 ends. Thanks, Greg

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Fwd: Announcing the First Annual VMware User Conference
by Andy Stewart July 28, 2004

July 28, 2004

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 - ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Subject: Announcing the First Annual VMware User Conference Date: Wednesday 28 July 2004 7:13 pm From: "VMworld Conference Committee" <VMworld(a)vmware.com> To: andystewart(a)comcast.net Announcing the First Annual VMware User Conference VMworld 2004 Join The Virtual Evolution ONE OF THE YEAR'S MOST IMPORTANT IT EVENTS **************************************************** Come hear industry leaders, technology visionaries, and VMware executives explain why virtual infrastructure is one of the hottest innovations in IT today. WHERE: Manchester Grand Hyatt in beautiful San Diego, California WHEN: Wednesday, October 27 - Friday, October 29, 2004 ========================================= Register by August 15, 2004 and save $500! REGISTER ONLINE AT <http://www.vmworld2004.com> ========================================= HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL LEARN **************************************************** * New strategies and tools for implementing virtual infrastructure technology * The latest thinking on industry developments and trends * Timesaving tips from people who know -- including VMware developers * New products & feature updates HEAR AND BE HEARD ******************** * Meet with leading experts * Network with the VMware customer and partner community * Share your views and feedback with VMware product development A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY ********************* * Hands-on demos and labs * Keynote addresses by industry leaders * Informative breakout sessions * Exciting solutions expo * Unforgettable social events ************************* 80% OF FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES ARE SAYING THAT VIRTUAL INFRASTRUCTURE IS A CRITICAL CORE IT TECHNOLOGY. ************************** Don't wait. For more information and registration, Visit the VMworld 2004 website at www.VMworld2004.com <http://www.VMworld2004.com>. Click here <http://www.vmworld2004.com/invitation> to download a PDF overview of the conference. Conference Information ******************* Register online at: www.VMworld2004.com <http://www.VMworld2004.com> Phone Domestic: 1-866-VMWARE1 Phone International: 1-415-621-8022 VMworld 2004 Conference Committee VMworld(a)vmware.com <mailto:VMworld@vmware.com> VMware, Inc. 3145 Porter Drive Palo Alto, CA 94304 To UNSUBSCRIBE from -all- incidental VMware communications, including the VMware Newsletter, Discount Offers, Seminar invitations, etc., go to http://www.vmware.com/optout - ------------------------------------------------------- - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFBCEI7Hl0iXDssISsRAus0AKCHWkzgk4GpwEpZttrLaWQyS4V7WwCeKCoh 1/s2hr2nVAZJdI/au1zvFwo= =btgq -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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August Speaker proposal
by Jeff Moyer July 28, 2004

July 28, 2004

Hello, If there is interest, Dan Walsh is willing to give a presentation on SELinux for the next meeting. Takers? -Jeff

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Partition table blues
by Gregory Avedissian July 25, 2004

July 25, 2004

Yup. I blew it away. I had win98 and suse 8.2 on the same hard drive, booting linux from floppy. Noticed that I could no longer boot windows from the hard drive, so I attemted to restore the mbr that I'd saved earlier. That didn't work, my partition table is gone, and I can't get there from here. Parted has a function called something like 'Guess at partition near START and END'. I assume it's looking for cylindar numbers. Is there a way to get those if I didn't write them down when I partitioned the drive? I do have the sizes of the partitions, to the nearest 0.1 GB. Looking for a free solution here. I did find a $90 solution that runs in windows and teases me by showing the files but not letting me copy or view them. Thanks, Greg

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Problem with mount command
by Andy Stewart July 24, 2004

July 24, 2004

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 HI Everybody, I have a problem with 'mount' between versions 2.11x and 2.12. Under 2.11x, this command worked just fine: mount -o port=3049,intr localhost:/null /crypt However, with the 2.12 version of mount, the command hangs and never returns. I have to kill the mount process to recover. Strace reports that the process is hanging at the "mount" call. Also, under 2.12, I do see entries in /var/log/messages indicating that a successful request was made to export /null: Jul 24 18:51:58 tux mountd[1843]: NFS mount of /null attempted from 127.0.0.1 Jul 24 18:51:58 tux mountd[1843]: /null has been mounted by 127.0.0.1 However, in another window, the "mount" command by itself does not show the NFS mount. All other NFS exporting/importing operations work just fine. The difference seems to be the two versions of mount and the use of the "port" option. I've downloaded the util-linux sources but so far cannot find a change that would effect this behavior. In case you are wondering what brought all of this about, I am trying to get my cryptographic file system (CFS by Matt Blaze) working under SuSE 9.1. I found a version of /bin/mount from another Linux system, and using that, I can access my files, but I really want to know why version 2.12 of util-linux broke/changed things. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks! Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFBAwW9Hl0iXDssISsRAiB6AJ0fLoy8/P0GXccouoAvJA5PhclAVACcCv2J 13io+TWed0PHS0xYQpZV7fE= =Dufw -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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nice use of graphics in a web page
by doug waud July 22, 2004

July 22, 2004

Hi all I suppose this is a non-rant. I usually bitch about unecessary complexity in web sites. A friend showed me this one (he is a decendant of one of the kids kidnapped there by the French and Indians) and I thought the picture of the change with time of the area was very well done. http://1704.deerfield.history.museum/ doug

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