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capture card
by Wes Allen 13 Dec '02

13 Dec '02

Hi all, I'm really toying with the idea of picking up one of those $200 machines from walmart and rolling out my own pvr. If for no other reason than it would be a good hobby. However, I want it to be able to do the one useful thing that I can't do with digital cable, watch one show while taping another. My wife and I have one tv (and one converter box), and often have shows that conflict with one another (we flip coins in the metaphoical "who's there first" way). So, I assume that I need a capture card with the ability to tune digital signals, no problem. Are there any that work with Linux? THAT'S my problem. So, anyone know of a digital tv-capture/tuner card that works with Linux? Wes -- ------ This message may be signed using GPG, for my public key please send me a message with "Key Request" in the subject line.

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Linux/document source control MS Word
by Ritacco, Alan 13 Dec '02

13 Dec '02

Does anyone know of a logical way to allow users of MS Word to access a single document from a linux server that will manage source control on the document? These users are home users for a non-profit sports orginization creating a document for end users. These people will be editing this document via there home pc's. There is currently already a server they use for statistics and such, which is a Linux box. They must us MS Word as they are the most basic of basic users who can barely use PC's. I know there are commerical software(s) available or co-location sites to do this, but I was not sure if anyone had ever run across anything that is specfic to MS Word docs and document/source control management on Linux (or other OS's, Solaris, etc.) Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Al

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Lightweight Linux installer
by Andy Stewart 12 Dec '02

12 Dec '02

HI Everybody, The discussion about old used hardware got me to thinking about a recent experience. I was trying to put SuSE Linux 8.1 on a P90 with 32 MB of memory. SuSE was smart enough to jump into the ncurses installer instead of the fully graphical installer, but the installer was incredibly slow. No, not the part where the packages load slowly due to old, slow I/O devices, but the parts which ask the questions before the installation. This got me to wondering if there are any generic lightweight installers available for vintage hardware such as this. I don't see why I should be limited by a bloated installer when Linux itself works just fine on older hardware. Later, Andy -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org

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Some old stuff hanging around that I'm giving away too
by Simoncini, Matthew 12 Dec '02

12 Dec '02

FYI: I've got a few PC's laying around at home that I'd like to donate to the WLUG raffle or anyone else who thinks they can use one. These are by no means powerful machines, but could probably be used as a firewall or low end mail server. 2 - HP Vectra (I think XM's) Pentium 100 64 mb of memory sound, graphics, NIC one has a hard drive (1GB I think) 4x cd-rom ?? ** These used to be business desktops, but were retired a few years ago. 1 - Compaq Presario mini tower Pentium 75 64 mb of memory sound, graphics, NIC 850MB or 1GB hard drive 8x cd-rom ?? 13 or 14" color monitor All of these at one time or another were going to be re-built by me and donated to schools in my area, but work and my family took priority. I also have some programming and other computer related books that are anyone's for the taking as well. If anyone is interested, I'll can email more specific information after I invertory the stuff. If this sounds like some stuff that can be raffled off at the January meeting, I'd be willing to bring it all down. Matthew

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Re: ipaq
by Dean M. Deaver 12 Dec '02

12 Dec '02

> Message: 1 > From: brad <maitre(a)ccs.neu.edu> > To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > Subject: Re: [Wlug] Meeting Ideas... > Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 12:12:40 -0500 > charset="iso-8859-1" > Reply-To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > > A meeting like so would probably be best suited for January. That would give > me time to get kitchsync working. Also i hope i can i have a ipaq to install > linux on (mine has already been ..... well, exorcized). Wes has been wanting > to do for some time, let's hope he can make it January's meeting. > > Are there any other ipaq owners which would like to have this done? > Speaking of ipaq, I have a 'Shark' Network Appliance that is now gathering dust in my attic as I no longer have the time to fiddle with it. Basically, it's a StrongARM SA-110 based device as described on handhelds.org / platforms . Might be useful for ipaq development. It's up for grabs, for free. Reply if you want it. If I get more than one reply within the next week (i.e. by noon next Thursday), the giveaway will be done by some form of lottery (or it could be done by meeting raffle if wlug still has those). Disclaimer: The last time I tried -- ~ 2 years ago -- it would boot linux via bootp. I also had something of a useful distro (?) "installed", with binaries cribbed from a mix of stuff from handhelds.org and netwinder rpms. But it will probably take some doing to get it up and running since I have no documentation for the current firmware; and, the last time I checked, I wasn't greeted by a 'may I help you' prompt upon powering it up. [I would power it up now but I cannot find the power supply :) ] ...Dean

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synce, is a wonderful thing
by Wesley Allen 12 Dec '02

12 Dec '02

Hi all, I've actually managed to get my iPAQ connected to my linux laptop using my usb cable....and I've even gotten some files off it and opened them up with OOo. All-in-all, I'm happy. But I would like to back up the address files and convert them into something Linux can use. What files does pocket-pc use to keep their addressbook data in? Wes

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REMINDER: WLUG Meeting
by Andy Stewart 11 Dec '02

11 Dec '02

HI everybody, The next WLUG meeting will be held on Thursday, Dec. 12th at 7:00 PM in Kinnicutt Hall on the WPI campus in Worcester. At this meeting, we'll informally discuss the Linux news and events which took place over the year 2002. Let's take a look at how far Linux has come in the past year, and muse over where it will head during the next year. Look back through your old magazines, e-mails, and newsgroups and let's see how many different things we can remember about this past year and Linux. We will also hold a brainstorming session to get more details about upcoming WLUG meetings for the year 2003. After the meeting, we'll make our monthly pilgrimage to the Boynton Restaurant for some pizza and beer as we celebrate Linux and the holidays together. See ya later! Andy -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org

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Upcoming meetings
by Andy Stewart 11 Dec '02

11 Dec '02

HI everybody, I like the idea of having a handhelds night, be they Zaurus, IPAQ, Palm, etc. I also would agree that January might be a good time for such a meeting. There seems to be a general consensus on this, so I'd like to propose that the January meeting will be the "Handhelds and Linux" meeting. I'll volunteer to bring my Palm IIIx and show how to sync it with Linux. Admittedly, that's not as cool as running Linux on the handheld itself, but hey, its one more thing to keep me away from Windows! I would like to hear from other volunteers who plan to bring their handheld devices so I can pencil you in. When I announce the meeting, I'd like to be able to say what types of devices will be discussed and demonstrated. That type of detail will draw people to the meeting. Note that Jon 'Maddog' Hall is scheduled to be our speaker at the February meeting. Maddog has come to WLUG meetings in the past and is an awesome speaker. You definitely do NOT want to miss this meeting! If we advertise this around the WPI campus and on the net, I don't see why we couldn't have a big crowd for this meeting. With regard to a possible LAN party, its not clear to me that we can pull it together just a few days before the meeting date (or am I wrong?), so should we plan on this for the March meeting? I propose that with all of the network gear and people's computers, we could accomodate the computer gamers as well as those who want security checks (nessus and the like), or even those who have never configured networking before and would like to give it a try. Given all of the above, that still leaves our December meeting open. What do folks think we can pull together in the next few days? Later, Andy -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org

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badblocks on ext3 fs
by Bill Mills-Curran 10 Dec '02

10 Dec '02

I've located the cause of weekly SCSI errors that I asked about a little while ago -- a backup program reads a file (not an important one) which has bad blocks. The file is on an ext3 file systems. My question is, do I use "e2fsck -c" to fix the problem? I'm under the impression that ext3 filesystems are just ext2 with journalling added, so that ext2 tools are the right ones to use. TIA, Bill

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Question on making a CD from a VHS...
by Stephen C. Daukas 10 Dec '02

10 Dec '02

Never having before played with music, etc., on a computer, I'm womndering if anyone hasd done this sort of thing before... I'm looking to take the music from a VHS tape and produce a CD for my wife for Christmas. Also, making a DVD of the VHS would be handy too. The issue here is that the VHS player isn't going to last forever, nor is the tape, and the DVD isn't available (nor is the soundtrack). Any suggestions for doing this? Steve

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