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ALSA hanging (Gentoo AMD64)
by Eric Stein 18 May '07

18 May '07

Hi all, I have a very strange problem. Last night I updated all my packages and rebooted. On boot, alsasound started (boot runlevel), but while trying to restore mixer levels, it hung. I had to boot to a livecd and remove alsasound from boot to even start my system. I tried removing the old state file (in case the format changed and it was breaking because of that), but it wouldn't start without it. glamdring ~ # /etc/init.d/alsasound start * One of the files in /etc/{conf.d,init.d} or /etc/rc.conf * has a modification time in the future! * Loading ALSA modules ... [ ok ] * Restoring Mixer Levels ... * No mixer config in /var/lib/alsa/asound.state, you have to unmute your card! [ ok ] glamdring ~ # cd /var/lib/alsa/ glamdring alsa # l total 9 drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 152 May 17 16:26 ./ drwxr-xr-x 23 root root 568 May 17 03:17 ../ -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 May 17 16:26 .keep_media-sound_alsa-utils-0.9 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8073 May 17 12:50 asound.state.old drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 144 May 17 12:50 oss/ glamdring alsa # mv asound.state.old asound.state glamdring alsa # cd glamdring ~ # /etc/init.d/alsasound zap * Manually resetting alsasound to stopped state. glamdring ~ # /etc/init.d/alsasound start * Loading ALSA modules ... [ ok ] * Restoring Mixer Levels ... Which is where it hangs. Other alsa programs like alsaconf and alsamixer hang on startup, along with programs that attempt to use ALSA to output sound. I've tried reinstalling ALSA, I've tried revdep-rebuild, I've done modules-rebuild, and I'm at my wit's end. None of it seems to make sense, and Gnome isn't very happy about not having a sound output, so half of my GUI is missing. If anyone has some idea why this could be happening to me, please let me know. Eric

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OT: HP9k E-class
by Desdinova 17 May '07

17 May '07

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 17 May '07

17 May '07

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 17 May '07

17 May '07

-----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 17 May '07

17 May '07

-----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 17 May '07

17 May '07

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 16 May '07

16 May '07

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 16 May '07

16 May '07

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 16 May '07

16 May '07

-----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 16 May '07

16 May '07

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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