- WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

OT: HP9k E-class
by Desdinova May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007

A bit OT, if you can reply off-list, that's fine. I just figure there's probably guys who know about crappy old minis here. I've got an E25 and I'm planning to replace the internal scsi drive, it shouldn't be any big deal, but this *is* HP. Are there any gotchas on drive geometry or size that I should watch for? Take care, des

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Re: [Wlug] Follow-Up to Key Signing Party
by Jamie Guinan May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007

On Thu, 17 May 2007, Eric Martin wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > Thanks to everyone who showed up to tonight's key signing party. Now > that we verified everybody had the correct key info and identification, > we actually have to sign each other's keys. We are using the keyserver > pgp.mit.edu. If that isn't your default, you can set it either in > ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf or at the command line for each command by using the > argument > - --keyserver pgp.mit.edu Is the "hkp://" prefix needed in gpg.conf? keyserver hkp://pgp.mit.edu > Below is an excerpt from the gpg Key Signing Party HowTo that explains > things in detail.(http://www.rubin.ch/pgp/kspa/gpg-party.en.html#ss3.8): > > 3.8 How to sign others' keys > > Step 1: Get a copy of the key > > Normally, you'll be working from a keyserver. However if you are signing > the key that is not available on a keyserver, you can use simply import > the key with gpg --import. If you are working with a keyserver, the > following command will download the key from the keyserver into your > public keyring. > > bash$ gpg --keyserver <keyserver> --recv-keys <Key_ID> > > If you get a read error, it means the keyserver is overloaded. Please, > try again in a few seconds. That worked Ok. > > Step 2: Fingerprint and Verify the key > > bash$ gpg --fingerprint <Key_ID> That too. > GPG will print out the fingerprint of the Key with <Key_ID > (the key > you just downloaded). Check the fingerprint against the checklist that > you where given at the party. Note: Don't check the fingerprint on your > checklist against the fingerprint on the web page as the server may not > send you the same key it displays on the web page. > > Step 3: Sign the key > > bash$ gpg --sign-key <Key_ID> Ok. > > If you have multiple private keys, you can specify which of your private > keys to sign the other persons public key with like this: > > bash$ gpg --default-key <Key_to_use> --sign-key <Key_ID> > > Step 4: Return or Upload the signed key > > If you are working with an entity which does not want their key on a > public keyserver, you should at this point you should return their > signed key back to them by their method of choice - normally encrypted > email. You should not send a public key to a keyserver with out the > permission of the key's owner. Publicizing a public key slightly reduces > the security of a key pair, therefor it is considered rude to make a key > more public than its owner desires. > > Most likely you are working with a keyserver. If that is the case, you > can send the signed key back to the keyserver like this: > > bash$ gpg --keyserver <keyserver> --send-key <Key_ID> > > You should see a success message like this: > > gpg: success sending to `<keyserver>' (status=200) > Congratulations, the signature of the other entity's key is now complete > and your signature has been incorporated into their public key. A trust > path has been established. This looked different for me, $ gpg --send-key A9413B9F gpg: sending key A9413B9F to hkp server pgp.mit.edu $ No affirmative response, it just returned to the prompt. But the exit code was 0. $ echo $? 0 -Jamie [ not yet using gpg for mail ]

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Follow-Up to Key Signing Party
by Eric Martin May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Thanks to everyone who showed up to tonight's key signing party. Now that we verified everybody had the correct key info and identification, we actually have to sign each other's keys. We are using the keyserver pgp.mit.edu. If that isn't your default, you can set it either in ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf or at the command line for each command by using the argument - --keyserver pgp.mit.edu Below is an excerpt from the gpg Key Signing Party HowTo that explains things in detail.(http://www.rubin.ch/pgp/kspa/gpg-party.en.html#ss3.8): 3.8 How to sign others' keys Step 1: Get a copy of the key Normally, you'll be working from a keyserver. However if you are signing the key that is not available on a keyserver, you can use simply import the key with gpg --import. If you are working with a keyserver, the following command will download the key from the keyserver into your public keyring. bash$ gpg --keyserver <keyserver> --recv-keys <Key_ID> If you get a read error, it means the keyserver is overloaded. Please, try again in a few seconds. Step 2: Fingerprint and Verify the key bash$ gpg --fingerprint <Key_ID> GPG will print out the fingerprint of the Key with <Key_ID > (the key you just downloaded). Check the fingerprint against the checklist that you where given at the party. Note: Don't check the fingerprint on your checklist against the fingerprint on the web page as the server may not send you the same key it displays on the web page. Step 3: Sign the key bash$ gpg --sign-key <Key_ID> If you have multiple private keys, you can specify which of your private keys to sign the other persons public key with like this: bash$ gpg --default-key <Key_to_use> --sign-key <Key_ID> Step 4: Return or Upload the signed key If you are working with an entity which does not want their key on a public keyserver, you should at this point you should return their signed key back to them by their method of choice - normally encrypted email. You should not send a public key to a keyserver with out the permission of the key's owner. Publicizing a public key slightly reduces the security of a key pair, therefor it is considered rude to make a key more public than its owner desires. Most likely you are working with a keyserver. If that is the case, you can send the signed key back to the keyserver like this: bash$ gpg --keyserver <keyserver> --send-key <Key_ID> You should see a success message like this: gpg: success sending to `<keyserver>' (status=200) Congratulations, the signature of the other entity's key is now complete and your signature has been incorporated into their public key. A trust path has been established. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFGS+VsaiVxdKlBO58RAs3xAJ0W7SyjfbQtwHwDaHeWG5EgeWWXzgCfQ8pT W40gnhPVnkQ3u7E1jbXALvU= =GM/c -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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PGP Key Signing Party
by Eric Martin May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Just a reminder that we are having a PGP Key Signing Party tomorrow for WLUG. If you're name isn't listed below, I do not have your info (and you should get it to me if you want to be on the list). I know Andy said noon tomorrow but I'll take stuff until 4pm. Don't forget your two forms of ID and I'll see you tomorrow. Eric Martin Gregory M. Avedissian Walt Sawyer Alexander Pennace Doug Mildram Keith Wright Alex Weiss Andrew M. Stewart James Philip Gray - -Eric -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFGSj+vaiVxdKlBO58RAmxgAJ0QaQlNCSrw58e80VeQjjGL/GKsOwCdErcn vMjPw9eiQD4zXEzjNWPBKa4= =KiW+ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Last-Minute Emergency, Unable to Attend
by Terry S May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007

Hello, I had a phone call at 6:07 that required me to go out for a while, and did not have time to email. (I'm the one with the camera.) Hopefully, someone else just "happened" to have one, but I can take pictures at our next meeting if needed. How did the key-signing go? Terry

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large file performance on linux
by brad noyes May 16, 2007

May 16, 2007

Hello All, I am seeing some really slow performance regarding large files on linux. I write a lot of data points from a light sensor. The stream is about 53 Mb/s and i need to keep this rate for 7 minutes, that's a total of about 22Gb. I can sustain 53Mb/s pretty well until the file grows to over 1Gb or so, then things hit the wall and the writes to the filesystem can't keep up. The writes go from 20ms in duration to 500ms. I assume the filesystem/operating system is caching writes. Do you have any suggestions on how to speed up performance on these writes, filesystem options, kernel options, other strategies, etc? Things I have tried: - I have tried this on a ext3 file system as well as an xfs filesystem with the same result. - I have also tried spooling over several files (a la multiple volumes) but i see no difference in performance. In fact, i think this actually hinders performance a bit. - I keep my own giant memory buffer where all the data is stored and then it is written to disk in a background thread. This helps, but i run out of space in the buffer before i finish taking data. Thanks, -- Brad

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Meeting tomight
by freak4uxxx＠gmail.com May 16, 2007

May 16, 2007

I might be slightly delayed tonight, small family thing that needs to be taken care of. I shouldn't be late but I just wanted to let people know. -Eric

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Reminder: Upcoming PGP Key Signing Party
by Andy Stewart May 16, 2007

May 16, 2007

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 HI Everybody, At our next WLUG meeting on Wednesday, May 16th, we will have a PGP Key Signing Party hosted by Chuck Anderson and Eric Martin. Eric has previously sent out instructions, so please be sure to follow them, and direct any questions to Eric or Chuck. I have posted those instructions on the WLUG home page (see description for May WLUG Meeting). I suggest a cutoff of noon on Wednesday, May 16th, for sending your information to Eric. This will give Eric time to collect the necessary information prior to the meeting. Dust off those passports - you'll need them! Later, 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 iD8DBQFGQmjGHl0iXDssISsRAr1rAJ91nX/DNXHjRie+dDYyVjrq8ePq2wCeN8DC Q+SoklLvcW6MfOaCGuvwKwU= =kUPV -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: [Wlug] large file performance on linux
by Jamie Guinan May 16, 2007

May 16, 2007

On Wed, 16 May 2007, brad noyes wrote: > Hello All, > > I am seeing some really slow performance regarding large files on linux. I > write a lot of data points from a light sensor. The stream is about 53 Mb/s and > i need to keep this rate for 7 minutes, that's a total of about 22Gb. I > can sustain 53Mb/s pretty well until the file grows to over 1Gb or so, then > things hit the wall and the writes to the filesystem can't keep up. The writes > go from 20ms in duration to 500ms. I assume the filesystem/operating system > is caching writes. Do you have any suggestions on how to speed up performance > on these writes, filesystem options, kernel options, other strategies, etc? > > Things I have tried: > - I have tried this on a ext3 file system as well as an xfs filesystem > with the same result. > > - I have also tried spooling over several files (a la multiple volumes) > but i see no difference in performance. In fact, i think this actually > hinders performance a bit. > > - I keep my own giant memory buffer where all the data is stored and > then it is written to disk in a background thread. This helps, but > i run out of space in the buffer before i finish taking data. Hi, Do you mean MB/s as in MegaBytes/second? Lower-case "b" implies "bits" to me, but I suspect you meant bytes. :) Anyway, if you know your total data set is going to exceed your system memory, which will largely get used as page cache, you might as well open the output with O_SYNC and write straight out. Then the big buffer in the writer thread can go away, and you can just queue chunks between the input and writer. A good experiment would be to run the writer thread with dummy input data and see what kind of throughput you get. You could try ext2 (no journalling), or tweaking some of the journalling options in ext3 (data=journal/ordered/writeback, see "man mount"). If you have enough CPU bandwidth, and your input stream has enough redundancy, you could gzip it before writing, which might reduce your output bandwidth requirements. Hope this helps, keep us posted. -Jamie > > Thanks, > -- Brad > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

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SUN Ultra1 booting (still, sorry)
by ken jones May 8, 2007

May 8, 2007

I used genkernel to compile my 2.6.20-gentoo-r5 kernel. After much thrashing I got it to boot. All looked good until the very end when it claimed that it "Failed to set the user font" announced the name of my machine and gave me the login prompt. It would not respond to any keyboard input. After a minute or two it printed a line about "disabled for 5 minutes" and went permanently dead. See below. Any ideas? ---------------snip from almost successful boot--------------- * Starting lo [ !! * Bringing up lo * 127.0.0.1/8 * Adding routes [ ok * 127.0.0.0/8 ... * Initializing random number generator ... [ ok NIT: Entering runlevel: 3 [ ok * Setting user font ... putfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented putfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented putfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented putfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented putfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented putfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented putfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented putfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented putfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented putfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented putfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented * Failed to set user font * Mounting network filesystems ... [ !! * Starting local ... [ ok [ ok This is kjones-sun2.unknown_domain (Linux sparc64 2.6.20-gentoo-r5) 21:42:42 kjones-sun2 login: INIT: Id "s0" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes

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[OT] ethics
by Mark Richards May 2, 2007

May 2, 2007

Hi Matt. Matt Shields wrote: > I haven't checked out CPSR, so I don't know what they are, but you > can't enforce your beliefs on others. This comes down to personal > choice and where you want to work, or maybe working for the government > is the only available choice at the time. Some people have no problem I agree. What I was suggesting is the possibility for one or more people to make a statement as to where they choose to allow the fruit of their work to go, and/or how it is to be used. That's not about enforcing beliefs, but about sharing (and refining) them. The problem I have with open source licensing as it applies to this discussion I raised is that it does not discriminate as to use. I had once posed the possibility of creating a modified license that would prohibit (any) government from using a certain work, but this is both way too complicated and of course begs the question as to exactly what in a project can be legally restricted in this manner. After all, any project (including the one I am working on now) is comprised of a host of others, all bringing in license terms that do not have such a restriction. Attorneys will be needed to figure out if the idea of a more restrictive version of a GPL is even possible. > working for the government. If you want to change how the government > works because you don't like what they're doing, you elect officials > to change policy and petition those officials to change things. You Well, I think that the effectiveness of the system itself is a whole other debate that would go way off topic here. :) I do find the idea of a national referendum on important issues like blowing up other nations a pretty good idea. Has immediacy. But again, swaying way off here. > don't come up with a society that boycotts working for the government > because there's plenty of other people willing to take the job. There are plenty of people. But, as in organizations like Union of Concerned Scientists (the "concerned", I think, puts the intensity of the overall problem mildly), people have come together and made quite a difference. If they hadn't tried then the issues they raise may well have remained in obscurity while scientists of conscience masked their understanding and "concern" with lots of rolaids. /m

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Re: [Wlug] JOBS: Seeking a summer intern in Linux administration
by Clint Moyer May 2, 2007

May 2, 2007

At least that's only the job listing. If you _apply_ for a unix job with a MS Word resume, you get auto-deleted. ---- Jared Greenwald <greenwaldjared(a)gmail.com> wrote: ============= Nothing says Linux like a Word doc... On 5/1/07, Andy Stewart <andystewart(a)comcast.net> wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > > HI Everybody, > > If you have an interest in this position, please reply directly to the > recruiter: > > Mischke, Ali <Ali.Mischke(a)ironmountain.com> > > Please note: when I forward email such as this, I'll be putting "JOBS:" > or "JOB:" at the beginning of the subject. You may thus filter at will. > > Thanks, > > Andy > > === > > Does WLUG have a student forum? I am the Engineering Internship > Coordinator at Iron Mountain Digital in Southborough, MA, and am trying > to get the word out about a paid internship we have for this summer. We > are looking for a student (junior, senior or graduate student) with > strong Linux skills to help administer an Engineering lab of 125-175 > Linux servers. I have attached the job description and would appreciate > if you could help get the word out to any student members of your > organization. > > Thanks in advance! > > Ali Mischke > Senior Manager, Analysis and Design > Iron Mountain Digital > > 120 Turnpike Road > Southborough, MA 01772 > Phone: (508) 808-7347 > ali.mischke(a)ironmountain.com > > === > > > - -- > 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 > > iD8DBQFGN7l3Hl0iXDssISsRAiGVAJ9PcqnYps7gc+2SZLc9cfXAz6mhWwCcCW4Y > 7c062GdyqG5Rw5nDEwT009I= > =0Jq9 > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > > _______________________________________________ > 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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JOBS: Seeking a summer intern in Linux administration
by Andy Stewart May 2, 2007

May 2, 2007

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 HI Everybody, If you have an interest in this position, please reply directly to the recruiter: Mischke, Ali <Ali.Mischke(a)ironmountain.com> Please note: when I forward email such as this, I'll be putting "JOBS:" or "JOB:" at the beginning of the subject. You may thus filter at will. Thanks, Andy === Does WLUG have a student forum? I am the Engineering Internship Coordinator at Iron Mountain Digital in Southborough, MA, and am trying to get the word out about a paid internship we have for this summer. We are looking for a student (junior, senior or graduate student) with strong Linux skills to help administer an Engineering lab of 125-175 Linux servers. I have attached the job description and would appreciate if you could help get the word out to any student members of your organization. Thanks in advance! Ali Mischke Senior Manager, Analysis and Design Iron Mountain Digital 120 Turnpike Road Southborough, MA 01772 Phone: (508) 808-7347 ali.mischke(a)ironmountain.com === - -- 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 iD8DBQFGN7l3Hl0iXDssISsRAiGVAJ9PcqnYps7gc+2SZLc9cfXAz6mhWwCcCW4Y 7c062GdyqG5Rw5nDEwT009I= =0Jq9 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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MySQL Server Hardware
by John Westcott, IV April 30, 2007

April 30, 2007

Howdy All, I work in a place that has traditionally used Sun Sparc hardware running Solaris to host a production MySQL environment. We are going to be replacing our database servers this year and I am trying to determine if I want to maintain the norm or if I want to try to change. I am interested to see what other people use for hardware/OS for a production MySQL installation that requires a high amount of uptime. Thanks in advance for any replies. -John Westcott

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I'd like to see Windows do this....
by Tal Cohen April 30, 2007

April 30, 2007

Hi Folks, I recently ran across an interesting situation that I wanted to share this group. A customer of ours called us, letting us know that our server in their data center was beeping. We tried to ssh into the box, but kept getting connection refused. I asked the customer to hook up a monitor and keyboard to the box, and try a simple TTY. Sure enough, he was unable to log in. It turns out that the hard drive that holds the OS (Crux Linux) failed. Now, that in and of itself is not very interesting. What is interesting is that our software kept running even without the OS drive functioning. Our software resides on a separate drive. Since it was already loaded into memory and almost never needs to touch the OS drive, it just kept going.and going..and going.. Tal

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PGP Key Signing Party
by Eric Martin April 29, 2007

April 29, 2007

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 This upcoming meeting we are going to have a PGP Key Signing Party. For those of you who don't know what PGP is, allow me to briefly explain. This is all base off of the GPG Key Signing HOWTO (http://www.rubin.ch/pgp/kspa/gpg-party.en.html) which I suggest for further reading. Those who do know can feel free to skip down to the next paragraph. PGP stands for Pretty Good Privacy, and is a Public Key Infrastructure that allows us to communicate securely and deal with data in a secure fashion. There is a public key that one would typically upload to a server and a private key that you hold on to. With the private key you can decrypt / sign, and with the public key you can encrypt / verify emails and documents. Key signatures come into play when you validate that a specific key belongs to a specific person and extend the web of trust. Here's what needs to be done BEFORE the meeting on your computer, or on a secure terminal (e.g. not in a computer lab on your campus). I'll post directions both for GPG (Gnu Privacy Guard) and Kgpg (the KDE front - -end to gpg for all of those who like GUIs). 1. Generate a Key Pair / Verify your key won't expire soon gpg --gen-key (Default values of DSA/Elgamal is fine and the default of 2048 is good.) I recommend 3 - 5 years for a key lifespan (how long the key will be good for) 1a) for those of you wishing to use Kgpg, goto Keys -> Generate Key Pair and fill in the dialog box Once you create the New key pair, check the Save As box under _Revocation Certificate_ to save a Revocation Certificate (see 2) 1c) For those of you who already have a key, make sure yours isn't about to expire (like mine did). If it has expired, you can extend the life by $ gpg --edit-key <key-id> and typing expire at the command prompt next, generate a new key-pair and sign your new key with your old key so anyone who trusted your old one will trust the new one. 2) Generate a revocation certificate Revocation certificates are for situations where you forget your passphrase, the key becomes comprised, etc you can revoke your key. $ gpg --output revoke.asc --gen-revoke <key-id> Save this in multiple places, print a copy etc in case you need it. 2GUI) If you didn't create a revocation cert in Kgpg, just right click on your new key and select Revoke Key. when the box pops up only check Save As 3) Upload your key to the Designated server for this party (pgp.mit.edu) $ gpg --send-key --keyserver=pgp.mit.edu <key-id> 3GUI) Right Click on the Key, select Export Public Keys, select Default Key Server (make sure it's pgp.mit.edu under Settings) 4) Email me your key's fingerprint so I can add it to the list $ gpg --fingerprint <key-id> Copy and Paste that into an email to the coordinator (me, Eric Martin). 5) print out a copy of that same output and bring it to the meeting. I'll make up a check list and bring them to the meeting for everyone to use. Example output from Step 4: pub 1024D/A9413B9F 2007-04-09 [expires: 2010-04-08] Key fingerprint = D1C4 086E DBB5 C18E 6FDA B215 6A25 7174 A941 3B9F uid Eric J. Martin <eric.joshua.martin(a)gmail.com> uid Eric J. Martin <freak4uxxx(a)gmail.com> sub 2048g/01F81B8E 2007-04-09 [expires: 2010-04-08] my <key-id> is A9413B9F (which is always the same as my last 8 hex digits of my fingerprint). If like me you don't always remember your key-id you can use your email address and it will still work. My full key information is: Key ID: A9413B9F Key Type: DSA Hex Fingerprint: D1C4 086E DBB5 C18E 6FDA B215 6A25 7174 A941 3B9F Key Size: 1024 (The DSA key is always 1024 bits. The ElGamal Encryption key is 2048 bits in my case, but isn't needed for the keysigning party.) What you should bring to this party 1. Yourself, no exceptions 2. Two forms of positive photo ID - driver's license and passport are good 3. Key Id, Key Type, Hex Fingerprint and Key size info ***Please print out your own copy of your info to compare against mine when you arrive *** 4. Pen / Pencil What you Should Not Bring 1. Computer I want to thank Chuck Anderson for helping me out. If you have any questions please let me know. Eric -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFGMBvKaiVxdKlBO58RAsCVAJ9cA488l+SybdxD+rgqNWGi/U9tUQCeMvH8 UAhMTFVRG5SbVVn5jqbVwqg= =BSzn -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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MySQL Server Hardware
by joel d April 27, 2007

April 27, 2007

I'll take a stab at this one. At work our MySQL database contains product info and indexing data. The reasoning for designing and taking this outside of the business application is the business app. doesn't do web communication well (limited functionality and at times spotty app reliability). The business app doesn't matter (and I bet no one has heard of it anyway). Our design spec was hearty at a HP DL 385 with dual AMD CPUs (dual core I think) 5GB of RAM and around 7 internal 15k drives in RAID 5. Every bit of hardware is HP/Compaq. Without starting a distro thread we picked Red Hat AS V4. This combo has served us well and I am sure *many* other distros would do this at least as well. For us our biggest corporate reason for R.H. was most of our application vendors suported R.H in one way or another (a vote for getting good at only one skillset/distro). During application & DB development we considered uptime and ordered a second identical box mainly for a total server failure of any sort. They run very well as MySQL master and slave. In the year it has been up we are very happy with this combination. Feel free to forward any specific questions (direct or via the group). Hope this helps, Joel ============================= Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2007 14:59:55 -0400 From: "John Westcott, IV" <John.Westcott(a)tufts.edu> Subject: [Wlug] MySQL Server Hardware To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org Message-ID: <20070424145955.3hftuclhdwg0ck4s(a)webmail.tufts.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format="flowed" Howdy All, I work in a place that has traditionally used Sun Sparc hardware running Solaris to host a production MySQL environment. We are going to be replacing our database servers this year and I am trying to determine if I want to maintain the norm or if I want to try to change. I am interested to see what other people use for hardware/OS for a production MySQL installation that requires a high amount of uptime. Thanks in advance for any replies. -John Westcott

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2 things
by Mike Leo April 24, 2007

April 24, 2007

We talked about this at one point: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070422-child-porn-case-shows-that-an… also.....wlug.org is down?

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Hauppauge 500 woes
by Mike April 22, 2007

April 22, 2007

I've been working on setting up a MythTV box with a Hauppauge 500. The reception I am getting is a bit grainy. I read that it could be the firmware, too high of a signal, or too low of a signal. I took care of the firmware last night by following the directions on their wiki. The picture is still a bit grainy. Before I go out an buy a signal booster I was wondering if anyone had any ideas or experience with the 500. ~Mike -- They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security --Ben Franklin

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New ULTRA1 - one step forward, two steps backward....
by ken jones April 20, 2007

April 20, 2007

Folks, When the box failed to boot, you might remember, it complained that the kernel was "too old". I remade the box using the newer kernel 2.6.20. I apparently configured the correct silo.conf (there are five of them in there when using the livecd). It looked like it was going to BOOT!! :-) See below..... Trouble is this is as far as it got. I printed and used as reference the Gentoo Linux 2006.1 SPARC Handbook, the Using UTF08 with Gentoo document and the Gentoo Upgrading Guide. Nevertheless I had a very difficult time with manual configuration of the kernel. I had not the faintest idea which modules I could ignore and which I needed to modularize Question: is there a log somewhere? I did emerge syslog-ng. Another question: Where is the detailed documentation on all the modules? Final question: How do I get a hint at what I did wrong? Ken ----------------snip of hyperterminal watching SUN ULTRA boot.------------ Sun Ultra 1 UPA/SBus (UltraSPARC 200MHz), No Keyboard OpenBoot 3.11, 192 MB memory installed, Serial #9633364. Ethernet address 8:0:20:92:fe:54, Host ID: 8092fe54. Initializing Memory \ Initializing Memory \ Initializing Memory \ Initializing Memory - Initializing Memory - Boot device: disk File and args: SILO Version 1.4.13 boot: Allocated 8 Megs of memory at 0x40000000 for kernel Loaded kernel version 2.6.20 Remapping the kernel... done. Booting Linux... -----------------------------------end snip-----------------------------

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3D support
by dulsi＠identicalsoftware.com April 19, 2007

April 19, 2007

I started looking for a new laptop. I'd like one that can play Neverwinter Nights with open source drivers. Obviously that is a problem since 3D support without the binary drivers is not great. I figured since the game is rather old a good cpu (or two for the duo) and a well supported open source driver (I remember hearing Intel having released an open source driver) that it could run reasonably. I asked some linux laptop vendors and everyone told me that I would need the binary drivers. Are they right and we still can't run a 5 year old game? Am I stuck waiting for nouveau? Dennis Payne dulsi(a)identicalsoftware.com

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JOBS - Several Linux roles Embedded and Kernel projects
by John Spencer April 16, 2007

April 16, 2007

We have 2 clients in MA and one in NH that are looking for Linux experts for various consulting projects. Our Client in MA (6+ mths.) is a leading provider of comprehensive compliance and content control solutions. They offer comprehensive network and desktop solutions that provide comprehensive visibility and control of inappropriate activity and information leakage across all channels of communications. Linux systems, real time processing, networking, C++/C Developer (Principal Level) to work on a Second generation of product from scratch. Will leverage existing pieces from their current product but begin with a new scalable and modular architecture. Heavy LINUX systems exp. with Windows OR Heavy WINDOWS with Linux systems. Strong C++/C, Real-time processing. Agile Development- " High Quality/ Fast Paced". Using Eclipse and Subversion. Low-level programming with File Systems, etc. NO Java needed. They are using RedHat Linux 2.6 kernel. MUST HAVE: Have been part of a team that has shipped a product and/or built a product that was shipped. Experience getting a product through its life-cycle and gotten it to market. STRONG Communication Skills, Highly Collaborative, Results driven, No hand-holding, Strong Development. ************************************************************************ ** Consultant needed as part of a small team (in MA 6 mths temp to perm possible) to produce high quality functional specifications, design specifications, product code, unit tests, and build scripts as needed. You must also be able to rapidly and effectively troubleshoot, diagnose, and resolve defects in an existing code base. You must be comfortable selecting and maintaining an appropriate focus in your daily work that will range from broad and abstract system architecture issues to detailed and concrete implementation issues. Responsibilities: - Provide software support and integration for new hardware features as they get added to the platform - Provide Linux support to upgrade Linux distribution as well as associated build environment - Work on low level features such as Software Upgrade - Instrument code and help analyze resource utilization - Maintain code repository - Address operational issues - Work with team on code releases Requirements - BS or MS in Computer Science, or equivalent experience - Either Real-Time OS or DSP experience - Experience in Linux, C, C++, Perl - Innovation and attention to detail - Ability to work independently but to know to get direction when you need it - Ability to work well with others on a small focused team - Excellent written and oral skills - Ability to obtain security clearance ************************************************************************ ********************************************** Principal Software Engineer (6+ mths in southern NH) Our client is looking for a Sr. C++ developer to replace current functionality on their embedded cards with edge nodes Linux based servers. They are currently running 1500 streams/card and want to run 2500 streams/edge node. Must have experience at the Linux kernel, driver and file systems level. This is mostly new development with some porting of the existing functionality from the embedded card. Must have either SMP or experience writing code in a multiprocessor environment. If you are interested and qualified, please send your confidential resume to jspencer(a)optimaleng.com Regards, John John Spencer (978) 256-1113 ext 7608 jspencer(a)optimaleng.com OPTIMAL ENGINEERING PARTNERS "Your Optimal partner for full-lifecycle engineering services in embedded and real-time, systems and application development" www.optimalengineering.com <http://www.optimalengineering.com/>

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I am getting discouraged with Gentoo on ULTRA1
by ken jones April 16, 2007

April 16, 2007

For those of you who are kind enough to care....sigh. On my Ultra1 I succeeded in following the directions in <http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-sparc.xml> to the letter, or so I thought. I "emerge'd" successfully. I compiled successfully. I chroot'd successfully. I removed the CD from its drive. I boot'd and I got the following. yadda yadda yadda.... VFs: Mounted root(ext3 filesystem) readonly Mounted devfs on /dev FATAL: kernel too old Unimplemented SPARC system call 188 Kernel panic: Attempted to kill init! Press Li-A to return to the boot prom I compiled kernel-2.4.34. I chose 2.4 over 2.6 because the handbook hinted I should.. Now I do not even know what questions to ask myself. I checked Google on the "kernel too old" message and the "Attempted to kill" message. I could not understand the few matches that it found. My bet is that I need bigger SCSI hard drives. I'll also be glad to shut up if this is getting boring. Ken

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New ULTRA1 success - almost
by ken jones April 15, 2007

April 15, 2007

I have succeeded in compiling Gentoo Linux-2.4.34-sparc kernel on my new ULTRA1. This machine-toy has kept me off the streets and out of trouble for the last couple days. (The weather has been cooperative toward the same end.) I have a question. The Gentoo instructions <http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-sparc.xml?part=1&chap=7#comp…> tell me that if my kernel is too big that it might not boot. "If the (uncompressed) size is bigger than 2.5 MB (for Sparc32) or 3.5 MB (for Sparc64), reconfigure your kernel until it doesn't exceed these limits. One way of accomplishing this is by having most kernel drivers compiled as modules. Ignoring this can lead to a non-booting kernel." My kernel after a strip command is still 3.7M. -----------snip from command line after a strip command----------- (chroot) livecd linux # strip -R .comment -R .note vmlinux (chroot) livecd linux # ls -lh vmlinux -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3.7M Apr 13 06:03 vmlinux --------------end snip---------------- Should I take this warning seriously? How do I figure out which drivers to deselect from menuconfig? lspci gives me no response. I am not sure what is in my machine. Ken Jones

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Funny Coincidence
by Eric Martin April 14, 2007

April 14, 2007

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 For those of you who like funny coincidences, I just want to point out that last year we had this exact same conversation about recycling comptuers (I sent an email on April 9th, 2006). http://mail.wlug.org/pipermail/wlug/2006-April/005287.html Must be the whole 'Spring Cleaning' thing. Just thought some of you would find it interesting. Eric -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD4DBQFGIDxVaiVxdKlBO58RAn7lAJ9lNH/LeLtQM26PkEGCImuvgDr3QgCYpBNo ypatPpWtwOEQK+D48pDWFA== =lxe8 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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