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Rough upgrade to FC4
by Bill Mills-Curran Jan. 23, 2006

Jan. 23, 2006

I just upgraded to FC4 from FC3 and I had some troubles that should not have happened. My FC3 system was current with updates, and I used downloaded ISO's from fedora. The problem was that many of the FC3 packages were more up to date than the FC4 packages, so the upgrade did not install them. This included the kernel. I felt lucky that I had a workable system. Running up2date did not help -- I was still in an FC3 system (kind of). I manually installed the FC4 kernel and ran up2date again, but it was stuck on many packages, because up2date only wanted to freshen existing rpm's -- it didn't want to add any new ones to solve dependencies. After much arm-wrestling (floundering?), I gave up on the GUI up2date and ran with the command line, feeding it chunks of rpms that needed updating. I feel lucky that I didn't brick my system. What did I do wrong? This must be a common occurance. I have another system that I need to upgrade, but I don't want it to go like this. What's a better way? Thanks, Bill

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Re: Rough upgrade to FC4
by Joshua D. Abraham Jan. 23, 2006

Jan. 23, 2006

On Sun, Jan 22, 2006 at 10:24:43PM -0500, nmeyers(a)javalinux.net wrote: > On Sun, Jan 22, 2006 at 10:13:27PM -0500, Bill Mills-Curran wrote: > > I just upgraded to FC4 from FC3 and I had some troubles that should > > not have happened. My FC3 system was current with updates, and I used > > downloaded ISO's from fedora. The problem was that many of the FC3 > > packages were more up to date than the FC4 packages, so the upgrade > > did not install them. This included the kernel. I felt lucky that I > > had a workable system. > > Sorry to hear things haven't gotten any better since my days as > an RH user (pre-RH9). I never experienced a smooth upgrade; sometimes > had to just rebuild the system. > Agreed. I have been using Redhat since 6.2. I had partitions setup the following way /boot / swap /home /usr/local/ This way I can keep the users data and just install a new system over it. I think that Debian's method of package management is the best of any of the Linux Distro's. I a year ago I switched from FC3 to Ubuntu because Ubuntu has a 6 month release cycle, similar to FC and Ubuntu pays individuals to fix security vulnerabilities. --Josh > I drifted from RH to Mandrake (pre-Mandriva) and then to Gentoo. > Though not without the occasional bump, I've found Gentoo's approach to > package management the least violent of them all. > > Nathan > > > > > Running up2date did not help -- I was still in an FC3 system (kind of). > > > > I manually installed the FC4 kernel and ran up2date again, but it was > > stuck on many packages, because up2date only wanted to freshen > > existing rpm's -- it didn't want to add any new ones to solve > > dependencies. > > > > After much arm-wrestling (floundering?), I gave up on the GUI up2date > > and ran with the command line, feeding it chunks of rpms that needed > > updating. > > > > I feel lucky that I didn't brick my system. What did I do wrong? > > This must be a common occurance. I have another system that I need to > > upgrade, but I don't want it to go like this. What's a better way? > > > > Thanks, > > Bill > > _______________________________________________ > > Discuss mailing list > > Discuss(a)blu.org > > http://olduvai.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > Discuss(a)blu.org > http://olduvai.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss

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Subject: Re: [Wlug] Trial By Fire
by Tom Misilo Jan. 22, 2006

Jan. 22, 2006

for all mozilla packages visit their project dir heres a link for thunderbird http://suse.cs.utah.edu/projects/mozilla/thunderbird/1.5/ for all the mozilla stuff http://suse.cs.utah.edu/projects/mozilla/ Tom > On 1/21/06, Marie MacDonald <mimsresearch(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > Do downloadable software packages for Linux come with intallers? > > It depends. Many do but some require a few more steps. If you stick > with installing SW via yast, you'll have the easiest time. > > > Can anyone help with advice for YaSt? Is my issue with the Thunderbird > > 1.5 package perhaps? > > Perhaps the recent Novell distro is different, but I've never seen > Thunderbird in the Yast repository (I'm still using SuSE 9.3). > Anytime I want Firefox or Thunderbird, I go direct to > http://www.mozilla.com and download it there. What you download there > has an installer built in. > > > Quite frankly if it's this hard (frustrating!) to install software, I'm > > not gonna be a happy gal. I still have other things I want to add to > > this snappy little computer (i.e. my Palm) but darn there's gotta be an > > easier way. Spring semester starts 26 January and I need this up and > > running. > > You sound determined and that's probably the most important trait for > someone trying to stick with Linux. Stick with YaST as much as > possible and post here for other specific questions--we'll get you > through. > > BR

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Perl Unicode question
by Skip Gaede Jan. 22, 2006

Jan. 22, 2006

Folks, I'm trying to understand how Unicode works in Perl 5.8.7, and things are not working the way they're described in perluniintro. In particular, I have a file encoded in UTF-8 from Perl, that I want to convert to Windows Unicode (UCS-16LE). The intro provides this snippet for converting from one character set to another: open(my $nihongo, '<:encoding(iso2022-jp)', 'text.jis'); open(my $unicode, '>:utf8', 'text.utf8'); while (<$nihongo>) { print $unicode } When I try that, substituting UTF-8 and ':encoding(UTF-16LE)', I get no warnings, but the output has twice as many characters as it should have and they are all NULLs. I can supply a my UTF-8 file if anyone wants to have a try. In particular, I think the fact that I have embedded apostrophes (0x27) encoded as RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK (0x2019) may be part of the problem. Thanks, Skip

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Trial By Fire
by Marie MacDonald Jan. 21, 2006

Jan. 21, 2006

Greetings All! You may recall a while back I was asking questions about Linux laptops and video capture and editing software for Linux As luck would have it, I was given a shiny new (well, slightly used) Linux desktop compuer. It is running the Novell distro (see I'm learning!!) and I'm loving it. As fate would have it, my laptop died two days ago and this Linux system is all I have left. I no longer have the luxury of time to fiddle and learn. I am working my way through that Novell Linux Desktop free online training, but for some reason that's not allowing me to log in. That's not my question though. No matter how hard I try, I can't install software. I have read the manual and I know how to log in to the root system and activate YaST. I was trying to install Thunderbird 1.5. But I'm enjoying using Evolution, so perhaps I'll forgo Thunderbird for now. I just could not get YaST to recognize or "see" the Thunderbird package. I even figured out "change source of installation", all to no avail. Do downloadable software packages for Linux come with intallers? Can anyone help with advice for YaSt? Is my issue with the Thunderbird 1.5 package perhaps? Quite frankly if it's this hard (frustrating!) to install software, I'm not gonna be a happy gal. I still have other things I want to add to this snappy little computer (i.e. my Palm) but darn there's gotta be an easier way. Spring semester starts 26 January and I need this up and running. Thanks for any advice, support, shoulders to cry on Marie mimsresearch(a)gmail.com

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For Sale: Alpha PWS 600AU
by Phillip G Deneault Jan. 19, 2006

Jan. 19, 2006

600mhz Alpha with 384megs of ram. On board sound and LAN. This is a REAL AU model, with the qlogic SCSI card and the powerstorm video card(in case you wanted to run OpenVMS). I would recommend using a different video card or using the serial console for anything BSD or Linux. I believe it has a 9 gig SCSI disk in it, but I've suplemented it with a 50gig IDE drive on the IDE chain. I've also replaced the IDE CD-ROM with an 68-pin SCSI CD-ROM(yes, thats right, 68-pin). I also have all the original docs with it. I was running FreeBSD 5.3 on it until a week ago when I upgraded the machine. Nice little hobby system. $200 bucks or best offer. If anyone has any questions, or wishes to haggle, please reply to me(and not the list, they hate that). Thanks, Phil

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Numerous Linux job opportunities
by Andy Stewart Jan. 18, 2006

Jan. 18, 2006

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 HI everybody, I'm posting these job opportunities on behalf of John Spencer (jspencer(a)optimaleng.com) Please contact John directly if you have any interest in these opportunities. Andy =====start===== Multiple Linux Contract openings in MA ********************************************************** 1) 6 Months+ in the Wilmington, MA area Responsibilities: As a senior member of the core routing platform group you will be responsible for developing forwarding engine device drivers for next generation enterprise products. Drivers will be developed in C on a Linux platform running on MAC and Layer 1 & 2 chipsets. Required Skills & Experiences: * Strong device driver development experience in C/Linux environments * Solid Ethernet and Layer 2 and Layer 3 protocol experience * Experience with either MAC or other Layer 1 & 2 chipsets highly desired - --------------------------------------------------------------- 2) 2 months+, Billerica MA area Our client needs a contractor for 1-3 months. Responsibilities include: development of new code, bug fixing and maintenance of existing code, porting and integration of new drivers Skills sets required: Expert level proficiency of writing code in C/C++, embedded Linux OS (MontaVista), kernel internals, device drivers, system integration, debugging Technologies: Networking protocols, data communications, embedded SNMP agent, wireless protocols (madWiFi) Experience: minimum 10 years - -------------------------------- 3) 6 months, Acton, MA Area (2 positions) Our customer is looking for 2 software Linux Development Engineers to work in conjunction with the hardware design team to build an interface to their backplane. Will be working closely with development team in Taiwan who is doing most of the work. Ability to speak mandarin a plus but not required. 1st opening: Must have experience with Linux Device driver kernel, C programming, ability to write device driver to interface to the FPGA, knowledgeable about performance issues, Ethernet knowledge important. 6-8 months. 2nd opening: Linux Driver Systems software experience; responsible for device driver and user space Unix daemons that need modifications to run on this board. For this position, person must have FW BIOS (they are hoping the ODM will do this work but this person may need to work closely with them). Both of these positions need consultant to be flexible, willing to participate with ODM conference calls in Taiwan and their is a 13 hr. time difference. This is part of a large development effort for a new blade for their x-services product which is being mainly developed through Taiwan. - --------------------------------- 4) 3 months+, Marlboro, MA area Our client needs a strong C++ coder who is comfortable on Linux systems within the application space. to do a mix of sustaining and new development for disk to disk storage. Strong familiarity with Distributed systems highly desirable. Storage or back-up experience required. - ---------------------------------- 5) 6 months+, Waltham, MA area This is a Linux low level (close to the hardware) drivers req. Scope of Responsibilities/Expectations Mid/Senior level software developer responsible for design and development of user mode device drivers and system utilities of Broadcom or Sigma Designs chips (little Indian MIPs based) platforms based on the Linux operating system. * Candidate is expected to have a history of design and implementation of Linux device-drivers and system utilities in a fast paced environment * Knowledge of Digital STBs, especially experience with Cable Card development is desirable Specifics: * 5+ years experience with C, C++ or assembly-language programming for Linux and/or Unix targets. * 3+ years experience designing, developing and implementing Linux and/or Unix device drivers. * The candidate must be adaptable, flexible and willing to take on new challenges. * The candidate must be a team player, and must be able to work with multiple engineering and cross-functional teams. Additional Desirable Skills * Experienced in developing software for MIPS targets. * Experienced with Multi-media processing - including MPEG2, MP3 and JPEG * Experienced with hardware features such as CPU/memory architectures, DMA engines, Boot loaders, I2C, PCI, Ethernet, USB, IEEE-1394, RS-232, etc. Experienced in developing software to interface Cable Cards into digital STBs - ----------------------------------- 6) 6 months+, Westford MA *Position:* Senior Embedded Software engineer for 6 months, temp. to perm. likelihood *Essential Responsibilities and Duties:* Responsible for architecting, designing, and developing protocols and system software for customer's Optical and Cable broadband access products. Customer is bringing up a brand new board and for that effort they need someone that can write Linux hardware drivers (currently using v2.6) for a variety of different devices. *Required skills, knowledge and abilities*: Experience with C/C++ in an embedded development environment for networking equipment (routers, switches) is required. Experience with VxWorks, and Embedded Linux RTOS is preferred. Must have current experience writing Linux hardware drivers. Networking Industry experience spanning the breadth and depth of Layer Two to Layer Four - from VLAN, Bridging, Switching, DHCP, IP, TCP, UDP, and Multicast applications. Experience developing data-path for communication protocols and NPUs is a plus but not required - ------------------------------------- 7) 6 months+, Bedford, MA area Immediate need for Linux expert to write drivers at OS level for a Service processor. Lots of work going on in this group. The current tasks on the Linux based Service Processor that a contractor would concentrate are ; implementing CLI commands and API functions which maybe transparent calls to Linux OS functions. Other functions that need to be implemented are; supporting networking status and configuration, sensor monitoring, log collection/protection/storage, and field escalation/service mode features. If you are interested and qualified in any of these openings, please forward your confidential resume to jspencer(a)optimaleng.com Please note, your resume will not go anywhere without your prior approval. Regards, John Spencer jspencer(a)optimaleng.com =====end===== - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFDzZYvHl0iXDssISsRAhOrAJ9IslSUPlOjzguhTHlFvlCnNeHVYwCcDBfV CYxMc3jp5HPP/Rt0zssOtCs= =TyQA -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: [Wlug] google video...
by Clint Moyer Jan. 16, 2006

Jan. 16, 2006

Oh god! I thought that had finally died... ---- "Keller wrote: > Last night I had mentioned the Christmas light display. > Open Browser > Goto google video and search for "Christmas Lights" it'll be the first > result returned. > > Tim. > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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Re: [Wlug] encrypted files
by Stephen C. Daukas Jan. 14, 2006

Jan. 14, 2006

Chuck hit the nail on the head... The general question that is best to begin with is 'what do you want to protect and what is it worth?' The common metaphor used in security is 'how much does it cost to build the wall versus the value of what the wall protects.' In other words, long keys and the time to encrypt/decrypt, etc., etc., is probably not what you want for your everyday files. It this really is required for everyday files, you are into a model similar to what government agencies do (google "Orange Book" - the nickname for the US standards for computing security - at least when I was into this stuff - but the concepts remain the same). If there are a few things that are really vital, then compartmentalize them and apply lots of security to them (i.e., don't keep them on a hard drive that is on a network - physical security - or encrypt them on removable media - soft and physical security). Depending on what the value is, you can start getting into all kinds of systems that are a real pain to use (and that is another reason why they are more secure). There are lots of other ways to make security easier and still useful. Another approach is "something you have and something you know" - that is how ATMs work. You could put your rings on a thumb drive (like the ATM card) that you unlock with a simple key (pin) that gets you to the next step - using the ring for the encryption you were after to begin with. Retinal and finger print scanners (biometrics in general) are essentially this model. If you loose either piece of the system, the other is no longer useful. Another approach is a so-called "smart card" - these are used in Europe for money, but variations are also used to turn the "key" into something approaching a "one time pad"... The card calculates a decay sequence of some sort (a non-linear countdown with a seed you select) that is also calculated on the system you want access to. You type in the calculated value as *part* of the password (valid for say 5 seconds to allow for boundary conditions) and if the system has the same pattern - your are in. I personally think encrypting entire file systems is far less secure than you might think - it is better to protect several areas with several different methods so that compromise of the entire system with one successful attempt doesn't happen. To be honest with you, my bias is towards physical security - I use a thumb drive and then only parts of it are encrypted. Steve Chuck Anderson wrote: >On Wed, Jan 11, 2006 at 06:22:53PM -0500, Bill Mills-Curran wrote: > > >>Symmetric? (gpg -c) This seems the most secure and flexible, but I'm >>getting tired of typing the key so often. >> >>Public/private? This seems enticing, because encryption is done >>without needing to type a password. However, the keyring is on the >>same system as the encrypted file, and thus is vulnerable. >> >> > >Symmetric keys may be more secure with a caveat: you have to pick a >very good key. This is harder than it seems, since it should be long >and have lots of entropy. English text doesn't have much entropy per >character. So in practice, using a passphrase to unlock a good, long, >randomly generated key that you would never remember is better. You >can always store the keyring on a removable device, like a USB flash >drive and keep that in your safe... >_______________________________________________ >Wlug mailing list >Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org >http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > > > >

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encrypted files
by Bill Mills-Curran Jan. 14, 2006

Jan. 14, 2006

I have a question about using gpg to encrypt private files on my system. Which encryption is the preferred for file storage? Symmetric? (gpg -c) This seems the most secure and flexible, but I'm getting tired of typing the key so often. Public/private? This seems enticing, because encryption is done without needing to type a password. However, the keyring is on the same system as the encrypted file, and thus is vulnerable. Thanks, Bill

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google video...
by Keller, Tim Jan. 13, 2006

Jan. 13, 2006

Last night I had mentioned the Christmas light display. Open Browser Goto google video and search for "Christmas Lights" it'll be the first result returned. Tim.

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server outage
by Frank Sweetser Jan. 12, 2006

Jan. 12, 2006

In case anyone noticed any problems with the mailing list, the server hosting it ate yet another hard drive. It's been restored from backups, though (which I may do as a meeting topic one month, if there's interest) and everything should be back up now. -- Frank Sweetser fs at wpi.edu | For every problem, there is a solution that WPI Network Engineer | is simple, elegant, and wrong. - HL Mencken GPG fingerprint = 6174 1257 129E 0D21 D8D4 E8A3 8E39 29E3 E2E8 8CEC

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reminder: meeting thursday january 12 2006 7:00 pm
by Andy Stewart Jan. 11, 2006

Jan. 11, 2006

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 HI Everybody, We'll be having a WLUG meeting this coming Thursday evening, at 7:00 PM, on January 12, 2006 in the Access Grid room on the WPI campus in Worcester, MA USA. At this meeting, there is currently no single scheduled topic, so this means that ALL topics are freely available for discussion (thanks, Walt). Bring along your questions and maybe somebody in the room will have answers. Bring up any Linux related topic and we can discuss it as a group. Here are some topics we might discuss: Nokia 770 - http://www.nokia.com/770 Linux World Conference and Expo coming to Boston in April 2006 Richard Stallman will speak at WPI on January 13th Xen in the Linux kernel (see also Xenoppix) Next month (Feb 2006), I'll probably put together a presentation discussing my experience using a Routerboard 532 and making a firewall out of it using GPL software which I pieced together. Stay tuned. After the meeting, we'll go out for pizza and soda at our favorite pizza place (Tech Piza) on Highland Street. We always have lively and interesting discussions there. Come one, come all, and bring your friends, too! Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFDxF0+Hl0iXDssISsRAvLOAJ9fl9cSwJxVJ9sRZElNA8OZRm0mRgCdHFrM kCin6TULv47cw6RhqOq6zok= =0lzd -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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RE: [Wlug] Stallman at WPI, 1/13 @ 11am
by James Gray Jan. 10, 2006

Jan. 10, 2006

I think my message got lost the first time around. I contacted WPI and got a response that sounded like the event would be open to the public. -----Original Message----- From: wlug-bounces(a)mail.wlug.org on behalf of Jared Greenwald Sent: Mon 1/9/2006 11:51 PM To: Worcester Linux Users Group Subject: Re: [Wlug] Stallman at WPI, 1/13 @ 11am Yea, I can imagine this would bring a packed house... -Jared On 1/9/06, Mike Leo <mleo963(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > any wpi'rs here? > > Do we need tickets? Can the wlug get us "in"? Is > anyone welcome? > > thanks > mike > > --- Theo Van Dinter <felicity(a)kluge.net> wrote: > > > I happened to be poking around and found this off > > the main WPI page. I don't > > remember it coming by here yet, so ... > > > > > http://www.cs.wpi.edu/News/Colloquium/20056/stallman.html > > > > -- > > Randomly Generated Tagline: > > "Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and > > character. > > But if you must be without one, be without > > strategy." > > - General H. Norman Schwarzkopf > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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] Stallman at WPI, 1/13 @ 11am
by James Gray Jan. 10, 2006

Jan. 10, 2006

I found a contact address for events @ wpi and recieved this response, good news. >From Michael C Voorhis <mvoorhis(a)cs.wpi.edu>: I'm not aware of any restrictions on the audience. The event description doesn't imply any restrictions (I just looked) and I would believe RMS to be opposed to any restrictions in any case. James Gray writes: > Hi, is the Stallman event open to the public or are only WPI > students/faculty allowed? I am part of the campus GNU/Linux users > group if that makes any difference. Thanks! On 1/9/06, Mike Leo <mleo963(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > any wpi'rs here? > > Do we need tickets? Can the wlug get us "in"? Is > anyone welcome? > > thanks > mike >

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Stallman at WPI, 1/13 @ 11am
by Theo Van Dinter Jan. 10, 2006

Jan. 10, 2006

I happened to be poking around and found this off the main WPI page. I don't remember it coming by here yet, so ... http://www.cs.wpi.edu/News/Colloquium/20056/stallman.html -- Randomly Generated Tagline: "Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without strategy." - General H. Norman Schwarzkopf

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vcalendar client program
by Chuck Anderson Jan. 7, 2006

Jan. 7, 2006

I've been using KOrganizer from the kdepim package for a couple years now to store my appointments and todo lists, but I've recently been having issues with the timezone not being applied, causing all appointment times to be shifted into the future. The Configure Time & Date option does nothing at all, and the Configure KOrganizer dialog is an Empty Page (it literally says "Empty Page" on it!). Since I'd rather not be without my calendar for long, does anyone have any recommendations for a replacement program that can read the files made by KOrganizer? I gather that it uses a standard file format called "vcalendar".

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Job Openings in Maynard MA
by Evans, Robert Jan. 5, 2006

Jan. 5, 2006

Stratus Technologies has several openings in the Linux development group in Maynard MA. One job is already posted on www.stratus.com. The other two should be on the web site within a week. We develop and support a fault tolerant version of Linux on Stratus' fault tolerant Intel architecture hardware. This work involves PCI hot-plug support (surprise removal of devices), bug fixing and hardening of Linux drivers to make them fault tolerant, and additions to Stratus' user mode monitoring and diagnosis capabilities. Robert N. Evans Software Engineer Stratus Technologies Maynard, MA 01754

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DVD writer...
by Keller, Tim Jan. 5, 2006

Jan. 5, 2006

I'm in the market to buy a DVD writer. Anybody have any recommendations for drives to look for or avoid? Thanks, Tim.

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RE: [Wlug] DVD writer...
by Keller, Tim Jan. 3, 2006

Jan. 3, 2006

Now, who here has tested a dual layer writer + media on linux? Tim. -----Original Message----- From: wlug-bounces(a)mail.wlug.org [mailto:wlug-bounces@mail.wlug.org] On Behalf Of Mike Frysinger Sent: Monday, January 02, 2006 1:49 PM To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org Subject: Re: [Wlug] DVD writer... On Monday 02 January 2006 08:52, Keller, Tim wrote: > I'm in the market to buy a DVD writer. > > Anybody have any recommendations for drives to look for or avoid? ive always had good luck with Plextor drives, and atm i have two: Plextor DVDR PX-708A work great with k3b / dvd+rw-tools -mike _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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suse-9.3 ...32 or 64?
by Gregory Avedissian Dec. 30, 2005

Dec. 30, 2005

I just put together a new machine for a friend. Sempron 3100 on ASUS K8V-MX. It was a rush job, because the computer she was using died. (Same one I wrote about recently that was having lockup problems - pretty sure now that it was the power supply. The last time she tried to turn it on, a big spark came out the back, and that was the end of it. Memory and vid card still test good.) So now that she has a shiny new 64-bit system, I'm wondering whether to go with 64-bit OS or stick to 32. I haven't had much time to research it, but I understand that there are some problems with Macromedia Flash and Java, which she needs. Some of the reading I've done suggests that you can install the 32-bit version of Firefox with the plugins to get around this. Anyone know if it's really as easy as that? Are there any problems with running 32-bit software on a 64-bit OS? Any particular bugginess with 64 that I should know about in advance? She runs KDE desktop and uses Gimp a lot. Oh, one other glitch I ran into - I tried to do the network install, but the boot cd doesn't have the kernel modules for the LAN chip. I was instructed to go to the install cd and make a "modules 3" floppy. There is no modules 3 image on the cd or on the ftp site, but there are images for "bootdisk1, bootdisk2, etc." Do I have to make the whole set and install from floppy, or is there a way to find out which disk has the right module and just use that with the cd? Or could I just put an older card in it for the install and then change the network card setup afterward? I'm thinking the latter would be easier than finding five or six blank floppy disks to use. Thanks, Greg

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Re: [Wlug] suse-9.3 ...32 or 64?
by howard＠howardwhite.net Dec. 30, 2005

Dec. 30, 2005

With specific respect to compiling, some apps I regularly compile -- especially Scribus -- require that in the ./configure stage you include --enable-libsuffix=64. In this particular case, it's because the Qt libraries are sensitive to the bit-ness. The BUILDING file should indicate such requirements. HW

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FC2 and FC3 to FC4 ... ?
by Theo Van Dinter Dec. 30, 2005

Dec. 30, 2005

Hey folks, I have an FC2 and FC3 machine which I want to get upgraded to FC4. In the past, I used to spend an hour or two doing this type of thing manually which was a pain but generally got the job done ... This time around I was thinking of either using yum or burning some CDs and doing the upgrade method (which the Fedora guys recommended to me). Anyone have suggestions about what method works best? Any gotchas I should worry about, etc? Thanks in advance! :) -- Randomly Generated Tagline: "If you lend someone $20, and never see that person again, it was probably worth it." - Zen Musings

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Busybox / mips / embedded Linux question
by Andy Stewart Dec. 30, 2005

Dec. 30, 2005

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 HI gang, I am playing with a single board computer (SBC) in an attempt to make a diskless, fanless, silent firewall. Specifically, its the RouterBoard 532 (http://www.routerboard.com) The processor is MIPS based (4Kc). I've been using the buildroot software (nice!) which made creating the cross compiler enviroment considerably easier than my previous (failed) attempts at doing this by hand. My cross compiler environment is now working quite nicely. I have created an environment where I have loaded software onto a compact flash card and booted Linux 2.4.30 on this box. I have logged in and gotten the box talking on the net. All 3 ethernet ports function, as well as ssh and dhcp. Sweet! My next step is to take the SuSE firewall scripts (they are GPL) and run them on this box. However, I'm hitting a wall that I don't think I should be hitting. Within busybox, command substitution and pipes don't work on this MIPS box (but they do work on my x86_64). command substitution example: echo `cat /etc/hostname` pipes: ls -l | grep foo With neither of these working, real scripts don't work too well. :-( I've traced the source code (gotta love free software!) and the code fails whenever it calls the function dup2(). I'm not sure why dup2() fails, but it does, returning EBADF (bad file descriptor). I tried installing bash and noticed exactly the same thing. dup2() seems to be implemented as a system call into the kernel, but that's where I get lost. I've been scouring the net and cannot find an answer. I must be doing something wrong, but I know not what. Does anybody have any helpful hints? Thanks! Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFDtGZXHl0iXDssISsRAjuLAKCFg/zGddsXpVH8rIe/m4n2I/OSTACaAoQf BDkJ30y7RJ634XazzPgGAWY= =w+LK -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: Wlug Digest, Vol 26, Issue 19
by Carlton C. Stedman II Dec. 29, 2005

Dec. 29, 2005

The situation you describe about the removable drives mounting in /media suggests it is using udev, hal, d-bus and ivman. Your home system should be using udev, but not sure if it has hal or d-bus; even if, doesn't sound like it has ivman. I'm not so sure about how to do this in FC, I'm a gentoo guy, but you'd need to have all of those installed and set up. This might be of some help: http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_ivman. You need udev and d-bus for hal, and then just need to start the hal daemon (hald). Then start ivman, and it should autodetect devices plugged in and put them into /media. For example, /media/usbdisk0 would be the first partion of the first usb disk plugged in (I do believe). It'll add new devices to your /etc/fstab. You can, however, have a bit more control over this, setting up a udev rule to make your disk use a specific device file, for example /dev/mydrive and then put a listing in /etc/fstab to mount /dev/mydrive at /media/mydrive. Then, when plugged in, udev will create the /dev/mydrive device file and ivman will detect it's creation and readiness and mount it at /media/mydrive. Spiffy stuff. For more information on writing udev rules: http://gentoo-wiki.com/UDEV_Overview#Writing_custom_udev_rules. Bill Mills-Curran <bill(a)mills-curran.net> wrote... > Subject: [Wlug] usb drive -- hotplug/automount > To: Worcester Linux Users Group <wlug(a)wlug.org> > Message-ID: <20051227205055.GA6082(a)bday.mills.curran> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > I have a question about hotplugging & USB and some differences I see > between 2 different FC3 systems (home & work). > > **** Home > > Initially, I configured my drive at home. I did NOT have the menu > item: > > Preferences -> Removable Storage > > set to "Mount removable drives when hot-plugged". Without realizing > that this was an option, I used manual entries in fstab: > > # usb drive > LABEL=usblinux /mnt/usb/linux auto defaults,user 0 0 > /dev/sde2 /mnt/usb/windows auto defaults,user 0 0 > /dev/sde1 /mnt/usb/camera auto defaults,user 0 0 > > This worked well & good. I was happy to be able to mount the > partitions as a user. Note that the linux partition has a label > "usblinux". > > Then, I moved the drive to my work machine. > > **** Work > > I plugged the drive in and was surprised to find that both partitions > automatically mounted in /media: > > /media/usbdisk > /media/usblinux > > I also saw that entries were added to /etc/fstab, reflecting the mount > points and device names. > > I recognized this as better action. > > Returning home... > > **** Home > > Plugging the drive in, I confirmed that nothing was happening in > /media. I found the entry to automount the drive in: > > Preferences -> Removable Storage > > and enabled it. I unplugged and plugged the drive, and it mounted > with this from df: > > Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on > <snip> > /dev/sde1 72801276 1704196 67398920 3% /mnt/usb/camera > /dev/sde2 4176756 96 4176660 1% /mnt/usb/windows > > This is not what I wanted. It used my fstab entries, and it picked > the "camera" entry over the labeled entry. > > OK, so I deleted the fstab entries & tried again. This time nothing > mounted. > > **** What I'd like to happen. > > 1. Mount when plugged in. > > 2. Don't specify the device -- after all, some other (new) usb device > could disturb the device name. > > How do I get there? > > TIA, > Bill > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > > > End of Wlug Digest, Vol 26, Issue 19 > ************************************ > -- Carlton C. Stedman II, sageman(a)wpi.edu "To iterate is human, to recurse, divine." -- L. Peter Deutch

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