Search results for "meeting" - WLUG

Re: WLUG MEETING TONIGHT!

by Evan White

> It all went too fast for me. I thought 'git' was for multi-programmer > group projects. Do you use it just to keep track of versions of > your own project? I have used git for solo projects or those in a group or organization. Jujutsu effectively extended the capabilities of Git to allow me to handcraft the recent version history, for the sake of better organization for myself, or making it easier for others to review. This is especially important now that algorithms (Claude, etc.) are writing a lot of my revisions. I need to be able to, e.g. combine a messy log of changes made in separate revisions during experimentation, and split it up into a clean and well-reviewed series of revisions. Once some revisions get pushed to the trunk, they become 'immutable' in Jujutsu, so nobody can go rewriting the history of the trunk. All of this was already possible in Git, and many Git power users suffered the roundabout way of doing these things. Jujutsu made it straightforward by removing the working tree and staging area of git, such that you are always editing a revision that is synchronized continuously with the filesystem, and allowing arbitrary revisions to be directly operated on with a rich set of tools. > Now I ask: Can I get a root shell? > Is Linux just hidden, or is it broken and forbidden? In Android, there are third-party facilities to give root access to apps, and one of those apps could be a terminal. Termux is one such app that is like a container without root which uses Debian packaging in it (Android is not natively capable of it). Termux can elevate to root access over all of Android if your installation allows it. The Android ecosystem, its graphical shell, and its application paradigm are generally much different from the free & open Linux ecosystem. Most vendors (smartphone manufacturers, etc.) default install of Android do not allow root access to apps, and you usually need third-party modifications to access root, or an unlocked bootloader to install an open version of Android for that platform if one even exists. > Would it be easier to install Debian on an Android machine than a Windows machine? > Are BIOS passwords a problem? That's a big issue, and it's even worse than a BIOS password; it's usually a fully locked bootloader. As far as I can tell, the smartphone ecosystem upon which Android is built was never really designed to be open and standardized like PCs were, and it was more profitable or "secure" for this to be the status quo. Since Windows machines are x86 PCs without locked bootloaders (at least for now), it will be much easier to install Debian with root on them. Android can permit you to use a Debian-like environment in a container app like Termux. Some manufacturers are making Linux-friendly smartphones, but if you're weighing the options between Android and Windows, I assume you are looking at small laptops. ________________________________ From: Keith Wright via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2025 10:32 PM To: Worcester Linux Users' Group General Discussion <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> Cc: Keith Wright <kwright(a)keithdiane.us> Subject: [WLUG] WLUG MEETING TONIGHT! >>Join the signal chat for more details. >> Thanks, Tim.A steve--- via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes: > how does one join the signal chat? I was about to ask the same question, but I thought I didn't need to, since somebody had already asked it. John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes: > Yeah, I don't know either for some reason. And is it private to WLUG > only or can we put details onto the web page? But now two people have asked and nobody answered. So: How is it done? Is this the same "signal" that the Secretary of Undeclared War got in trouble for using? ---------- Evan White via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes: > We had a great discussion mostly about Jujutsu, and the philosophy of > Git commit organization, ... , etc. It all went too fast for me. I thought 'git' was for multi-programmer group projects. Do you use it just to keep track of versions of your own project? ---------- Tim Keller via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes: > Topic: National Right to Repair day > Speaker: Jack Frimet from PIRG. > > Jack Frimet from PIRG reached out to me and asked that he speak at this meeting. PIRG > is an organization that among many other causes is advocating at the national level for > the right to repair. As we are all aware, with Win10 reaching EOL, this is causing a > tsunami of e-waste as people are forced to upgrade to run Win11. I was not clear if they are expecting people to bring old computers to have Linux installed, or if I can just give cash and get an old computer. Also I asked whether Android was Linux hidden behind a "user interface". People seemed to agree that that was about right. Now I ask: Can I get a root shell? Is Linux just hidden, or is it broken and forbidden? I am looking for a extra "back-up" laptop. Would it be easier to install Debian on an Android machine than a Windows machine? Are BIOS passwords a problem? -- Keith _______________________________________________ WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ Web Forum/Archive: https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/QGC2Z…

Dec. 24, 2025

Re: DECStation 3100 on a RPi2040...

by David Glaser

>> The implementation was kept so secret that it caught Dave Cutler, >> then working on DEC's next-generation operating system and chips, by >> surprise when it debuted at a Board Meeting in Maynard, >> Massachusetts. Shortly after that board meeting Mr. Cutler left >> Digital and moved (with some of his team) to Microsoft. > Do you think that was just the straw that broke the camel's back? > Actually, Cutler was already in trouble with management because of the Prism project. Prism was the first try at building a RISC machine (this was in the 1985-1986 time frame) and it was managed by Dave Cutler. Unfortunately, Dave was not a good administrator. He was doing a very bad job of managing the project and doing a very bad job of keeping management up to date on what was going on. Finally, management cancelled Prism and that is when they decided to go with the MIPS architecture. Dave was trying to rehabilitate himself but the DECStation 3100 basically yanked the rug from under him -- among other things. The adoption of the MIPS architecture caused a lot of grumbling and unhappiness with the troops because of the NIH factor. This in turn allowed Bob Palmer and others to push for a new try at a RISC architecture and thus the Alpha was born. Unfortunately, Alpha took up a lot of resources (hardware design, software, semiconductor) that should have been used elsewhere - e.g., Concentrate of MIPS for high end and intel or motorola for the low end, Ultrix instead of OSF, etc. The Hudson facility (along with disk drives) was a real money sink. Bob Palmer came from the manufacturing side and I think he loathed dismantling DECs vertical integration. When the board of directors told him to preserve shareholder equity, he then started to sell off pieces of the company which started dismantling the vertical integration. But then it was too late. -David

July 6, 2024

Re: [Wlug] Wednesday's WLUG - noob question on XML editor

by douglas.r.aker＠verizon.com

Hi Doug, My efforts with XML have involved XML generation (using perl programs) and XML transformations (using xsltproc). I haven't had much experience with a manually operated XML editor. I did like the free pspad program a lot though: www.pspad.com. Also, on Suse Linux there's the KXML editor. Doug "d.maly(a)ieee.org" <d_maly(a)charter.net> Sent by: wlug-bounces(a)mail.wlug.org 10/07/2006 12:41 PM Please respond to "Worcester Linux Users Group" <wlug(a)mail.wlug.org> To wlug(a)mail.wlug.org cc Subject Re: [Wlug] Wednesday's WLUG - noob question on XML editor This stuff is new to me, so wanted to dabble a bit before the meeting. My question is: what's your favorite editor for XML? My past experience with HTML has been with Mozilla editors in Windows, and I find them to be adequate (and free). Thanks, Doug Maly > Hi All: > > Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm working hard to make my preso at > this Wednesday's WLUG meeting (October 11) interesting, informative, > innovative. Something different, without being annoying. > > Bring any of your friends that might be interested in data visualization, > web design, XML, SVG, etc. > > During the preso, interrupt me with questions as much as you want, and > make a mental note where my presentation isn't clear or drags. I'm hoping > to get as much feedback as possible so that the next time I present this > topic it will be better. > > Thanks, > Doug > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: http://mail.wlug.org/pipermail/wlug/attachments/20061006/0cbce3e5/attachmen… > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > > > End of Wlug Digest, Vol 36, Issue 2 > *********************************** > > _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

Oct. 9, 2006

Re: We've got meeting on the 8th of August!

by Keith Wright

John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes: > So it might be a really good thing for us to show some of this, along > with some of the basic apps. > > - web browser > - inkscape > - gimp > - libre office > > Basic productivity which most people would want to use. I guess what counts as productivity depends upon what you want to produce. I need a web browser (Firefox) to learn about stuff and get it. Is there any reason to prefer one over another? I didn't know what inkscape is. Googled it (with browser). It looks like it might be fun to play with, but is it "productivity"? I have used gimp years ago, mostly to make party invitations with logo and map. I might have used inkscape if I knew about it at the time. Office, I have heard, can read Microsoft Office documents, which is something I refuse to do. Years ago I filtered out a lot of stupid spam by setting the SMTP server to reject anything with an attached MS-Word file. I think it still does that, but nobody sends them anymore. I'm hoping it follows Adobe shockwave flash web pages into oblivion. Besides the browser, my "productivity apps" are: -- emacs. There may be other ASCII editors, but how can one produce _anything_ without _some_ editor? -- gcc. I am interested in the Scheme programming language, but I need a C compiler (and make) to make the Scheme interpreter, and everything else. -- evince. A *.pdf reader. If I download a journal article, it's a PDF. -- TeX, LaTeX. To make my own article.pdf. -- Postfix, Apache. That's the way I roll. Others might think Facebook is a good substitute. Phltt! This conversation started with a link to a Video. How do you make a video? You get the raw material from a video camera/"phone", but what software should I use to cut and paste, maybe enlarge and crop? -- Keith

July 31, 2024

Re: [Wlug] Uninstall Suse Linux 8.0

by philrmcss＠netscape.net

Andy Stewart <andystewart(a)comcast.net> wrote: >On Sunday 06 March 2005 7:20 pm, philrmcss(a)netscape.net wrote: >> I have installed Suse Linux Home Edition 8.0 on my machine. Something went >> wrong when it installed, and it won't see my mouse. Hence, I can't >> navigate within it. Can anyone tell me how to uninstall it, and restore my >> hard drive to its original configuration, until I can install another >> version? >> >> Thanks >> >> Phil > >Hi Phil, > >If you give us more info, we might be able to help you fix the mouse. What >type of mouse do you have? Is it a PS/2 mouse, a USB interface, or is it >perhaps a serial mouse? Feel free to describe the connector if you're >unsure. > >Later, > >Andy > >-- >Andy Stewart, Founder >Worcester Linux Users' Group >Worcester, MA USA >http://www.wlug.org > Andy: Just because I can, I have 3 mouses (mice?) connected to my machine: a PS-2 2-button track-ball wannabe, a USB microsoft thumb-driven trackball, and a USB optical (as opposed to the little ball in the bottom) 3-button mouse. In windows, they all control the cursor quite well. When I try to log in to Linux, the moment that I touch a mouse (even if I only have one -- any one -- mouse connected, my cursor moves extremely rapidly to the top of the screen, and out of sight. My next move is to re-boot and go into Gates-ville. When's the next meeting? Where? I attended a meeting over a year ago, and you'd just moved into that multi-media room. Thanks. Phil __________________________________________________________________ Switch to Netscape Internet Service. As low as $9.95 a month -- Sign up today at http://isp.netscape.com/register Netscape. Just the Net You Need. New! Netscape Toolbar for Internet Explorer Search from anywhere on the Web and block those annoying pop-ups. Download now at http://channels.netscape.com/ns/search/install.jsp

March 7, 2005

Re: Wlug meeting on Thurs. Dec 10th 2020 @7pm.

by Tim Keller

I've got a fair amount of centos in production... this sucks... guess I'm going to Debian now... On Wed, Dec 9, 2020 at 9:10 AM Frank Sweetser via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > And for anyone looking to contribute to Greg's efforts: > > https://github.com/hpcng/rocky > > On Tue, Dec 8, 2020 at 11:23 PM Chuck Anderson via WLUG < > wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > >> On Tue, Dec 08, 2020 at 10:35:24PM -0500, Frank Sweetser via WLUG wrote: >> > Well, there's plenty talk about for CentOS users, like what you're >> going to >> > switch to now that CentOS is becoming something completely different: >> > >> > https://blog.centos.org/2020/12/future-is-centos-stream/ >> >> My favorite comment on that post: >> >> "Gregory Kurtzer says: >> December 8, 2020 at 4:27 pm >> >> I am considering creating another rebuild of RHEL and may even be able >> to hire some people for this effort. If you are interested in helping, >> please join the HPCng slack (link on the website hpcng.org) >> >> Greg >> (original founder of CentOS)" >> _______________________________________________ >> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >> Change Settings: >> https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >> Web Forum/Archive: >> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/ON4X3… >> > > > -- > - Frank > _______________________________________________ > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > Change Settings: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > Web Forum/Archive: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/PSPQY… > -- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".

Dec. 9, 2020

Re: [Wlug] Meeting topics

by Jeff Moyer

"John Stoffel" <john(a)stoffel.org> writes: >>>>>> "Jeff" == Jeff Moyer <jmoyer(a)redhat.com> writes: > Jeff> I've seen many claims that SSDs are more reliable than > Jeff> traditional HDDs, but I haven't seen data to back up those > Jeff> claims. > > Some of the arguements I've read on SSD reliability are quite > interesting. If you do the math on how much data you need to write to > destroy an SSD with proper (note!) wear levelling, it's really quite > high. But I think the real key is to write data to them in blocks of > 512 bytes as much as possible, and to not write smaller amounts if at > all possible. Did you mean to say 512KB? You can't write smaller than the exported block size (which will be either 512 bytes or 4k). Perhaps what you meant to say was that you should try to issue writes that are aligned on and multiples of the erase block size. > Jeff> My main concern is that SSDs are still young, so they haven't > Jeff> had much soak time. Whether or not the flash is reliable is > Jeff> only a small part of the battle. Buggy firmware is a much more > Jeff> likely problem at this stage in the game. No single point of > Jeff> failure is a good design point when dealing with your data. ;-) > > I think this is a key issue, the firmware and controllers, not the > flash chips themselves. > > Jeff> I remain cautiously optimistic (though I've already bricked one > Jeff> drive). > > Details? During TRIM testing, we managed to get an OCZ Vertex to spew I/O errors, and then finally fail to be recognized by the BIOS upon reboot. Note that this isn't a normal workload (the drive is being pounded on) and TRIM is still very new. So, I am not saying that the drives are not reliable in general. I simply don't know. Cheers, Jeff

March 2, 2010

Re: Software to write books

by Keith Wright

hammerron via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes: > Probably a couple years back, I think Tim might have mentioned a > software program that was used by many people to write and edit books It depends on what kind of "book". If you want to get it published or accepted as a dissertation, the deciding factor is what the publisher or school wants. If you just mean you want to write many pages and get them bound for personal use, I have gone to Park/Print in Worcester (very near my house) with a *.pdf file containing a math book, a Scheme report, or my own notes. They print it two sided 8.5x11 and bind it in a soft plastic cover and "comb" binding for short money. https://www.parkprintonline.com/ I have also gotten hard cover binding with title on the spine (back). I did this twice, once for my dissertation, once for some of my grandmother's writing. They cut it to the size you want. There was a place in Newton that did that, I don't know if they are still there. Chuck Anderson via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes: > Maybe you are thinking of LaTeX (pronounced La-Tech)? In my bombastic opinion, if you need to write mathematics, you would be crazy to use anything else. I use emacs, LaTeX, and evince every day. Last meeting I tried the share-screen feature of jit.si and it worked. Tim asked "What's an idempotent monad?" or something like that. (It was in the title of the document on my screen.) I was not prepared to summarize a decade of grad school in a few seconds, and so did not answer. But if you promise not to ask too much about what it means, I could put together a few slides and demonstrations to show what it can do and how I use it. I would not want to take up the whole meeting, but maybe a few other people could do the same with their own favorite document production systems. -- Keith

Oct. 24, 2024

Re: [Wlug] Topic for the next meeting: ownCloud

by Frank Sweetser

http://xkcd.com/320/ Frank Sweetser fs at wpi.edu | For every problem, there is a solution that Manager of Network Operations | is simple, elegant, and wrong. Worcester Polytechnic Institute | - HL Mencken On 10/27/2015 10:49 AM, thinkbrown(a)gmail.com wrote: > A way to kick this whole "sleeping" habit would be nice :P > > Logan > > On Oct 27, 2015 10:42 AM, "Tim Keller" <turbofx(a)gmail.com > <mailto:turbofx@gmail.com>> wrote: > > Thanks Logan! > > Let me know if you need anything. > > Thanks, > Tim. > > On Mon, Oct 26, 2015 at 4:38 PM, thinkbrown(a)gmail.com > <mailto:thinkbrown@gmail.com> <thinkbrown(a)gmail.com > <mailto:thinkbrown@gmail.com>> wrote: > > I'd be happy to present. > > Logan > > On Oct 26, 2015 16:35, "Tim Keller" <turbofx(a)gmail.com > <mailto:turbofx@gmail.com>> wrote: > > Hey Gang, > > So thinking it over, with the holidays coming up, I know I'm going > to be taking an outrageous number of pictures. In lieu of > spending money so I have expanded storage on Google, the next > logical step is to set up my ownCloud. > > Logan, do you want to do this presentation / demo? > > Thanks, > Tim. > > -- > I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to > their constituents as "consumers". > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org <mailto:Wlug@mail.wlug.org> > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org <mailto:Wlug@mail.wlug.org> > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > > > > > -- > I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their > constituents as "consumers". > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org <mailto:Wlug@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 >

Oct. 27, 2015

Re: Ideas for the next WLUG meeting

by Joshua Stone

Tim, I'm glad you feel that way about it! The /sysroot upgrading process is one of my favorite features about Silverblue, as you gain some of thebenefits of COW snapshots without relying on a particular filesystem(example: https://github.com/openSUSE/snapper) GRUB is also enhanced where instead of selectinga different kernel, you're booting into an entirely different /sysroot complete with kernel, libc, drivers,firmware, etc. all of which are tagged under one discrete OS version string. This design shouldmake bug fixing a lot easier as a user may only need to attach the OS version string when filing a bugreport, and a developer could boot up that particular version inside a VM. This update model should alsoeliminate variance between "not updated" and "fully updated" like we see with traditional packagemanagement where a package mirror might not have synced all of the latest packages. The rollback mechanism is also quite innovative, which Silverblue can get for free by designing updatesthat perform the equivalent of `git checkout ${BRANCH}`. I'm sure there will be much to discuss when we get to have a demo. -Josh On Mon, 2019-11-18 at 13:45 -0500, Tim Keller wrote: > Josh, > I think this would be an awesome talk. I'm particularly interested in > the /sysroot upgrading process. > I like the idea of having an immutable root that you can unwind > things if they go horribly wrong. > > I'm game for having this as our Dec. topic! > > Thanks, > Tim. > > On Sat, Nov 16, 2019 at 12:03 PM Joshua Stone via WLUG < > wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > > Hey everyone, > > > > > > > > I'd just like to say I had a fun time at Thursday's meeting! I'm > > > > already looking forward to the next meeting as I'm sure there are > > > > plenty of interesting topics we could discuss. > > > > > > > > As mentioned before, I think we could examine technologies that'd > > be > > > > beneficial to Linux on the desktop, like comparing packaging > > > > technologies including Flatpak, Snap, and AppImage. > > > > > > > > I think we could also look into the future of containers on the > > desktop > > > > as a whole with projects like Flatpak, toolbox, podman, and > > Silverblue. > > > > > > > > My workflow over the past few years has been using these upcoming > > > > technologies as daily drivers as they lead to saner development. > > For > > > > example, my laptop runs Silverblue ( > > > > https://fedoramagazine.org/what-is-silverblue/) which is a Fedora > > > > variant designed around immutability where a new system image is > > > > committed as the new /sysroot without affecting the state of the > > > > running system. This is reminiscent of Android A/B updates, > > although > > > > the update backend -- ostree -- has elements of a version control > > > > system like git. > > > > > > > > Toolbox ( > > > > https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora-silverblue/toolbox/) is > > > > also interesting as it lets you switch into an unprivileged > > development > > > > environment that can be built up and torn down without affecting > > the > > > > host as tools are installed inside a container. For example, I can > > > > build and install duc inside a toolbox without actually installing > > to > > > > the host /usr: > > > > > > > > [jstone@jstone-laptop ~]$ toolbox create --release 31 --container > > duc- > > > > test > > > > [jstone@jstone-laptop ~]$ toolbox enter --container duc-test > > > > ⬢[jstone@toolbox ~]$ git clone https://github.com/zevv/duc > > > > ⬢[jstone@toolbox ~]$ cd duc > > > > ⬢[jstone@toolbox duc]$ sudo dnf --assumeyes install gcc make > > autoconf > > > > automake pango-devel cairo-devel tokyocabinet-devel ncurses-devel > > > > ⬢[jstone@toolbox duc]$ autoreconf --install > > > > ⬢[jstone@toolbox duc]$ ./configure > > > > ⬢[jstone@toolbox duc]$ make > > > > ⬢[jstone@toolbox duc]$ sudo make install # no password needed > > > > ⬢[jstone@toolbox duc]$ mkdir ~/.cache/duc > > > > ⬢[jstone@toolbox duc]$ tcbmgr create ~/.cache/duc/duc.db > > > > ⬢[jstone@toolbox duc]$ duc index ~ > > > > ⬢[jstone@toolbox duc]$ duc gui > > > > > > > > Finally, I've been installing most of my apps as Flatpaks, which > > uses > > > > the same file storage backend as Silverblue to manage apps and > > shared > > > > runtimes. This app distribution technology allows you to decouple > > apps > > > > and operating systems as everything is built and run inside a > > sandbox, > > > > making upgrades easier. Compare needing only one version of an app > > to > > > > package as a flatpak, versus packaging for different versions of > > > > distros: > > > > > > > > https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.clementine_player.Clementine > > > > https://www.clementine-player.org/downloads > > > > > > > > I'd be glad to hear what everyone has to say! > > > > > > > > -Josh > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > > > > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > > > >

Nov. 20, 2019

WLUG search results for query "meeting"