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Amarok
by Gary Hanley 23 Feb '07

23 Feb '07

I picked up a Cowon iAudio U3 a few weeks ago after and exhaustive search for a player with a good amount of memory (2GB) and plays ogg and flec files. Anyway, I've been burning my CDs to ogg/vorbis as time allows to build a library for myself and recently burned my old copy of Mike Oldfield's _Amarok_. I honestly never made the connection between the name of the album and my new favorite media player, but when I started playing amarok.ogg in the Amarok player this morning this popped up: "One of Mike Oldfield's best pieces of work, Amarok, inspired the name behind the audio-player you are currently using. Thanks for choosing Amarok! Mark Kretschmann Max Howell Chris Muehlhaeuser The many other people who have helped make Amarok what it is" Cool! Just thought I'd share that. :-) -- Gary

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Dell survey
by Mike Leo 22 Feb '07

22 Feb '07

http://www.dellideastorm.com/ I found this interesting.

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interesting backups problem
by Eric Stein 22 Feb '07

22 Feb '07

Hi all, I've got an interesting issue with disk usage. I have a hard disk image (from dd) stored on a server, and it needs to be compressed it to make room for other data. The image is 160 GB, but I only have 30 GB of free space to work with; the data isn't compressible enough to fit in 30 GB in the meantime. I don't need the image right now and having only a compressed copy is perfectly fine. How can I compress the image while simultaneously deleting the old data? I can think of a way to do it using perl, dd, and some other tools, but I'd much prefer to do it the "right" way if there is one. Eric

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switch distros???
by Bill Mills-Curran 20 Feb '07

20 Feb '07

I have an opportunity to get my wife to consider switching from Windows to linux, but I don't think Fedora is the right distro for her. I'm wondering about Linspire/Freespire (Freespire is to Linspire as Fedora is to RedHat?) or Ubuntu. (I've been using Redhat & Fedora since '98.) I've also been frustrated at some of the compatibility problems (like wireless) with Fedora, so I'm considering switching, too. On the other hand, I like being able to get some of the newest apps, like the newest gnucash, on Fedora. Eric Raymond's recent piece on Slashdot was pretty convincing, too. He argued that it is good for the linux open/free community to get linux in as many places as possible, even if it means mixing the distros with commercial drivers, because linux needs more market share in order to succeed against windows, particularly as 64-bit comes on the scene. The "family license" of Linspire seems pretty attractive, too. A big win would be to get my 17 yr old son off windows. He's forever infecting the windows box with junk from his web surfing. My most-used apps: Open office Tetex/latex ps utils gnucash mutt VPN (compatible with my work, which uses Cisco) wine perl firefox USB devices: scanner, drive, camera code development utils multimedia (not so good on Fedora) gpg My wife would like to use Publisher (windows). She might be able to use Scribus (I haven't used it successfully). Her favorites: AOL (I can't break her loose of this) MS office apps Suggestions? Thanks, Bill

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Update
by Bruce Linnell 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

My wife complained because she couldn't print something from her computer. I checked it out and found the print queue populated with the test pages I had tried to print from the Linux box. So the good news is that the pages are making it to the printer, and the bad news is that they are still not being printed. In fact, I could not cancel the first job. I had to reboot to clear the queue. Which then let my wife print her job. When I again tried to print, the printer made noises like it was going to start, but then just stalled again. Another reboot for me, and an update for the list. Anyone know of a possible fix?

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This 'n that
by Bruce Linnell 18 Feb '07

18 Feb '07

I want to thank everyone at Thursday night's meeting for the warm welcome. What a treat it was to be sitting in a group and being able to use words like "distro", "Gnome", and "YaST" without drawing strange looks. The pizza was good, too. :-) I learned alot, but not as much as I thought I had. When I tried to get my printer functional I must have forgotten or misunderstood the advice that was shared with me. (I will be bringing a notebook with me next meeting.) I've got openSuSE 10.2 and access the net through a wireless router. There are 4 boxes on the LAN and the other 3 are WinXP systems. The printer we use is connected to one of those machines. I can ping the printer host box from my Linux system. Printer sharing is turned on at the host, and the XP machines print fine through the LAN. The CUPS job monitor acts as if the print jobs are being sent, right down to the progress bar and the printer icon going from green to yellow and back to green, with no error messages. But of course, there is no page forthcoming from the printer or this email would have been much shorter. It sounded so simple at the meeting...

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linux eye candy / video card recommendation sought
by Andrew Perry 15 Feb '07

15 Feb '07

I heard on the Linux Action Show podcast about the Beryl project, which seems to offer linux users both eye candy and improved functionality through a 3D user interface. They say that Beryl will run acceptably with 256 MB and an ATI Radeon 7500, Geforce 3, or equivalent or better video card (seems like these are all a few years old, which is great for my budget.) Since my linux machine has 512 MB RAM but only on-board video, I found a used $20 Radeon 7500 on ebay and will try Beryl out. [Side note: I bought an "afordable performance pc" for linux from madtux.com for about $200, and am generally satisified but for the power supply which sounds like a snowblower. Very minimalist interior. Space for 6 HDD's, for example.] My question: In case the Radeon 7500 isn't up to the task, or for future expansion, are there any particular low-cost video cards that anyone would recommend which are very well supported under linux ? By "very well supported", I mean that it should work "out of the box" with all of the major distros, at least if this is possible. I'm sure that avid gamers would want only the best in video cards, but there are probably a lot of folks like myself who would like a pretty good video card for linux with no hassles. Thanks in advance. -Dr. Andrew B. Perry Dept. of Mathematics, Springfield College Schoo Hall Room 123 263 Alden St., Springfield MA 01109 Work Phone (413)748-3193

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Linux kernel expert needed
by John Spencer 13 Feb '07

13 Feb '07

Our client in northern MA is looking for a Linux kernel expert for a 6+ mth project. Must have experience with Linux kernel 2.4, any experience with 2.6 is a plus. Also any experience with security and MIPS is a plus as well. If you are interested in more details, please contact me via the phone # or email below. 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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Re: [Wlug] Public net access
by Clint Moyer 13 Feb '07

13 Feb '07

There's Victory Cigar Bar at the end of Shrewsbury St. Comfy couches, but no pool tables. Of course, it may not be the ideal environment if you're afraid of lung cancer. ---- Aaron Haviland <orion(a)parsed.net> wrote: ============= I've been living in the Boston area for a few years, but recently moved back to Webster, and I'm searching to fill an addiction I developed in Somerville. I'm curious to know if there are any good cafe's with free wireless in the southern Worcester county area. Bonus points if they have pool tables and comfy couches. The only cafe I know of is Java Hut (I think it's called), but I haven't had a chance to get up there to check it out. Also, as my laptop has a tendancy to not work (I think it's a bad connection in the video component of the mobo), and I'm relatively broke at the moment, are there any places with public terminals available? -- Aaron Haviland _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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Public net access
by Aaron Haviland 13 Feb '07

13 Feb '07

I've been living in the Boston area for a few years, but recently moved back to Webster, and I'm searching to fill an addiction I developed in Somerville. I'm curious to know if there are any good cafe's with free wireless in the southern Worcester county area. Bonus points if they have pool tables and comfy couches. The only cafe I know of is Java Hut (I think it's called), but I haven't had a chance to get up there to check it out. Also, as my laptop has a tendancy to not work (I think it's a bad connection in the video component of the mobo), and I'm relatively broke at the moment, are there any places with public terminals available? -- Aaron Haviland

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REMINDER: Upcoming Meeting
by Andy Stewart 13 Feb '07

13 Feb '07

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 HI Everybody, Sorry for the earlier test...Comcast was bouncing my emails to the list for some reason. That problem seems to have cleared since my test went through. We're scheduled to have a WLUG meeting on Thursday, February 15th, 2007 at 7:00 PM at WPI in the Access Grid Room. We don't have a definite topic, nor do we have anybody who has volunteered to be the speaker. Any takers? After the meeting, we'll head out for pizza at the Tech Pizza restaurant on Highland Street. Come one, come all, see ya there! Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFF0R5WHl0iXDssISsRAk6PAJ9S5in2mhco530CrcQhvM9PdAFQSACggm2j ejld5TOZECmpNhgr6LC0AaQ= =AqCp -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Test...please delete.
by Andy Stewart 13 Feb '07

13 Feb '07

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFF0RcCHl0iXDssISsRAppgAJ4nrZ0JNLs7wKynVpDN2clZJmKT0wCeNMxN R+iL563pO42NONYscmKucCo= =P1t2 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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JOB: Avici Systems
by Andy Stewart 09 Feb '07

09 Feb '07

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Avici Systems is advertising several Linux programming jobs. If interested, send me email and I'll send you the PDF file. Later, Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFFy6h5Hl0iXDssISsRArGMAJ9FWsOYH+tdTX4kbta6ACUeBexRVwCcDIsY 8BN4XKDgplmSsu+y+WwWG+Q= =UTGv -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Test - please ignore
by David Glaser 26 Jan '07

26 Jan '07

Test - please ignore

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Topic for future meeting.
by Brian Waite 16 Jan '07

16 Jan '07

Hi all, I wanted to intorduce myself. I have been on the LUG list now for over a year, but 2 kids 22 mo and 5 mo old have kept me away from metings. I am by no means a speaker although I have given a presentation at conferences and a LUG. I know there is a constant call for topics. I was wondering if anyone was interested in one of the following 3 topics: 1) Linux Development on the Nokia 770. I have had one for a few months now and know quite a bit about it and the state of affairs. 2) Hacking NAS storage with the Kurobox (www.kurobox.com) An very interesting device with a sordid history 3) VERY tentitive. Developing Robotic applications on Linux for the iRobot Create. I should be able to get my hands on one of these along with some example code and show the capabilities of the iRobot Create (http://www.irobot.com/create) I could also combine 1 and 2 and talk of the general aspects of embedded Linux development. I have been active in this field for about 6 years now. Any takers? Thanks Brian

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FYI: Meeting Announcement
by AlReinhart 14 Jan '07

14 Jan '07

FYI: The attached meeting announcement may be of interest to those interested in TV/video and such things as news production, HDTV, film and advanced web-streaming, etc. "A unique opportunity to see some of the most sophisticated editing, effects, animation, compositing and streaming systems on the market." I do not know anything about the group or the meeting, it just sounds like it may be of interest to some WLUG members. ---------------------------------- Al Reinhart Phone: (508) 869-6417 DisCom Systems eMail: Reinhart(a)DisCom.com www.DisCom.com

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Broadcast Radio Engineer (or facsimilie thereof!)
by Mims Research 14 Jan '07

14 Jan '07

Hello all, Not sure if I've made my request on this list or not. Sorry if it's a repeat. Is there someone here who can help a non-profit organization work on a non-commercial full power radio license project? I am on the BOD of a non-profit that is considering an application for such and we could use a bit of help. Replies off list are fine. TIA, Marie email: mimsresearch(a)gmail.com

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Charcoal grilling with liquid oxygen.
by joel d 12 Jan '07

12 Jan '07

At pizza we were talking about other web videos of people doing entertaining and dangerous things. The Mythbusters' disappearing cement truck is hard to top. Here was my favorite example, this guy uses 3 to 5 gallons of liquid oxygen to start your charcoal grill. He does it in shirt sleeves with a 5 gal bucket. Don't try this at home. http://www.doeblitz.net/ghg/ Joel

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Possible sendmail attack?
by Dick Goodman 12 Jan '07

12 Jan '07

I have four servers on 3 different DSL lines running RedHat 7.3 with sendmail 8.11.6 I was on vacation at the time, but mid-day (13:00) on January 9th all of them started behaving wierdly. Instead of the occassional email, perhaps 95% of all incoming emails now show in the log as follows: Jan 9 09:41:17 bach sendmail[25179]: NOQUEUE: mail5.schaeffer.com [24.106.95.27] did not issue MAIL/EXPN/VRFY/ETRN during connection to MTA Jan 11 00:02:12 bach sendmail[14018]: NOQUEUE: h11009.upc-h.chello.nl [62.194.11.9] did not issue MAIL/EXPN/VRFY/ETRN during connection to MTA Jan 11 00:10:44 bach sendmail[14127]: NOQUEUE: bay0-omc2-s35.bay0.hotmail.com [65.54.246.171] did not issue MAIL/EXPN/VRFY/ETRN during connection to MTA Jan 11 00:13:23 bach sendmail[14148]: NOQUEUE: root@localhost did not issue MAIL/EXPN/VRFY/ETRN during connection to MTA Jan 11 00:13:50 bach sendmail[14151]: NOQUEUE: 84.95.106.53.cable.012.net.il [84.95.106.53] did notissue MAIL/EXPN/VRFY/ETRN during connection to MTA The first one is legitimate mail, the others appear to be spam Much of the 50K pieces/month of spam I get are being trapped at the server in this manner before even getting to my spam filters (a good thing), but while some legitimate email is getting through, some is being rejected with this kind of message. Does anyone (a) have any idea what's happening here (b) have any idea how to fix it. Need more info? Just ask. Dick

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Re: [Wlug] GIMP Question
by Mike Leo 12 Jan '07

12 Jan '07

when anyone asks for help with pictures, i always mention image magic http://www.imagemagick.org/script/index.php if the two parts are different enough, i'm sure imagemagick can seperate them for you. ----- Original Message ---- From: "dulsi(a)identicalsoftware.com" <dulsi(a)identicalsoftware.com> To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 10:33:38 PM Subject: [Wlug] GIMP Question Any GIMP experts here? Is there a way to extract the differences between two images? I have an image of just a background and an image of item on said background. I'd like to get the image of just the item. It wouldn't be hard to write a program to do it but I figured gimp might already have it. Dennis Payne dulsi(a)identicalsoftware.com _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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GIMP Question
by dulsi＠identicalsoftware.com 11 Jan '07

11 Jan '07

Any GIMP experts here? Is there a way to extract the differences between two images? I have an image of just a background and an image of item on said background. I'd like to get the image of just the item. It wouldn't be hard to write a program to do it but I figured gimp might already have it. Dennis Payne dulsi(a)identicalsoftware.com

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Topic for next Thursday
by Mike Perry 09 Jan '07

09 Jan '07

So what's the topic? ~Mike

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REMINDER: Upcoming Meeting Thurs Jan 7, 2007
by Andy Stewart 09 Jan '07

09 Jan '07

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 HI Everybody, This is your monthly reminder (hand generated) regarding our upcoming WLUG meeting, to be held on Thursday, January 7th, 2007, at 7:00 PM in the Access Grid Room on the WPI campus in Worcester, MA USA. Many of you have suggested some good topics in our recent email threads. I propose that this meeting be a round table discussion of those and any other topics of interest. I'll bring my new laptop for discussion as well. It is a Linux Certified LC2464T running Kubuntu. However, I hope somebody has a DVI-SVGA adapter which I can borrow for the meeting, since I don't yet have one. Since this is my first experience with a Debian type of distribution, I could offer my first impressions. More info here: http://www.linuxcertified.com/linux-laptop-lc2464t.html If the discussion runs dry, ask me if I passed my Amateur Radio technician exam (which I'm taking on Wednesday). I'm curious to see what I can do with this and Linux. I can also give an update on the kernel device driver that I'm writing for the Delcom USB I/O demo board. I am planning to do a full presentation on this sometime soon, after I get more stuff working. A couple of simple features are working right now. Perhaps I'll do this for either the February or March meeting. More info here: http://www.delcom-eng.com/productdetails.asp?productnum=802004 As always, we'll adjourn to the Tech Pizza Restaurant on Highland Street for some discussion afterwards. All are welcome to attend! See ya later, and Happy New Year! Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFFowvsHl0iXDssISsRArxgAJoCdu40R3NGK/cVkRPAomzSSZJcCQCfZ7Sx JYMDiYEQjmETv2GfHbbbDqY= =iIYN -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: [Wlug] Topic idea for future meeting
by Mike Leo 07 Jan '07

07 Jan '07

Yup....and I know Andy is as well.. I love talking about VMWare so i don't mind at all. ----- Original Message ---- From: Doug Chamberlin <dougchamberlin(a)earthlink.net> To: Worcester Linux Users Group <wlug(a)mail.wlug.org> Cc: Worcester Linux Users Group <wlug(a)mail.wlug.org> Sent: Sunday, January 7, 2007 4:01:46 PM Subject: [Wlug] Topic idea for future meeting Anyone using VMWare Workstation hosted on Linux? I'd be interested in an installation how-to with tips and tricks. _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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Topic idea for future meeting
by Doug Chamberlin 07 Jan '07

07 Jan '07

Anyone using VMWare Workstation hosted on Linux? I'd be interested in an installation how-to with tips and tricks.

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