December 2014 - luv-main

Re: [luv-talk] Firefox OS phone at JB Hifi
by Rohan McLeod 18 Dec '14

18 Dec '14

Peter Ross wrote: > From: dan062(a)yahoo.com.au >> From ZTE au website, JB HiFi selling Firefox OS phones. >> (http://www.zte.com.au/devices/Firefox_OpenC.htm) Not sure why this was on luv-talk; "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_OS"; would suggest it is a perfectly respectable topic for luv-main ? regards Rohan McLeod

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Android 3g signal
by Russell Coker 15 Dec '14

15 Dec '14

Is there a good app for displaying 3G signal levels on Android? When signal is poor my Note3 displays a circle with cross symbol where the signal bars usually are while still allowing 3G to work. In that situation I'd like to have a good measure of signal strength (preferably better than a 1-5 rating) so I can find the best location available. Any suggestions? -- Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with K-9 Mail.

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du and btrfs
by James Harper 15 Dec '14

15 Dec '14

Just a curiousity... I'm nc-ing a disk image from a laptop, like: gzip </dev/sda | nc target 4242 and on the target computer: nc -l -p 4242 | gunzip | dd bs=4k conv=sparse of=laptop-xp.img and on the target computer I am also impatiently doing: du -sk --apparent-size laptop-xp.img && du -sk laptop-xp.img and the output is a bit strange. The two values obviously differ a bit, and I'd expect them to differ more once it hits the empty part of the disk, but I'm getting outputs like: # du -sk --apparent-size laptop-xp.img && du -sk laptop-xp.img 834016 laptop-xp.img 831992 laptop-xp.img # du -sk --apparent-size laptop-xp.img && du -sk laptop-xp.img 841088 laptop-xp.img 672500 laptop-xp.img # du -sk --apparent-size laptop-xp.img && du -sk laptop-xp.img 844224 laptop-xp.img 752876 laptop-xp.img # du -sk --apparent-size laptop-xp.img && du -sk laptop-xp.img 851168 laptop-xp.img 849144 laptop-xp.img # du -sk --apparent-size laptop-xp.img && du -sk laptop-xp.img 855200 laptop-xp.img 853176 laptop-xp.img The size reported by du actually goes down periodically then up again. What's with that? The filesystem is btrfs but I don't know that that's anything to do with it. Just curious... James

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Need help: How do I boot Acer Aspire CX-603 off DVD and NOT Win 8.1 Hard Disk?
by James Sinnamon 15 Dec '14

15 Dec '14

Dear Linux users, I recently bought, from Harvey Norman, for around $390, an Acer Aspire XC-603 desktop computer. It was pre-installed with "Windows 8.1 with Bing". I was going to repartition the hard disk drive in order to make the computer a dual boot Linux/Windows computer. To do this, of course, I needed to boot off the Linux DVD (or Gparted). However, I was not able to force the computer to boot off the DVD drive. In the past it was possible to do this by pressing either Esc key or the F2 key during the boot-up process. However, nothing I did during the boot-up of this computer prevented the computer from booting Windows 8.1 off the hard drive. Can anyone tell me if it is possible to boot off the DVD and, if so, how to do it? Thanks in anticipation, James Sinnamon

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ssd on pcie
by James Harper 14 Dec '14

14 Dec '14

It seems that I can get msata ssd card these days, and a dual or quad pcie msata card (msata card mounts on the pcie card), and save myself a bunch of existing sata ports and other server real estate. I have a server that doesn't have a lot of disk bays and I want to start using bcache again, but not with just a single ssd (want to do writeback so need raid1), so this seems like a reasonable option. Are there any better options for a similar price? Thanks James

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CGI formmail
by Russell Coker 12 Dec '14

12 Dec '14

What's a good cgi-bin formmail script? I want to do basic sending of email with the option of adding extra parameters (IE having a drop-down or check-box on the web page). Also I want to specify the recipient in the script or a configuration file (not like some of those older script that made your web site into a spam bot). Finally it would be really good if it didn't require any special Perl modules etc, or at least nothing aprt from the modules that are packaged for Debian. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/

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Re: Need help: How do I boot Acer Aspire CX-603 off DVD and NOT Win 8.1 Hard Disk?
by Michele Bert 12 Dec '14

12 Dec '14

2014-12-11 13:26 GMT+01:00 James Sinnamon <james.sinnamon(a)gmail.com>: > I thought I had changed the boot order so that the first boot device is the > DVD. > However, it will still only boot Windows 8.1 off the hard disk drive. As I was afraid of: the secure boot! > > At the moment, I am allowing Windows to boot and install, but have first > disconnected the computer from the network. (If it won't install Windows > off-line, then i consider that a warranty issue.) I'm afraid I don't get the point (relationship between off-line install and warranty). However the key is disabling secure boot protection. If you google it, you'll probably find lots of information and guides to do it, likely related to your specific model (and linux distribution). My advice was just a sketch. -- Mick

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Re: Need help: How do I boot Acer Aspire CX-603 off DVD and NOT Win 8.1 Hard Disk?
by Michele Bert 11 Dec '14

11 Dec '14

2014-12-11 12:33 GMT+01:00 James Sinnamon <james.sinnamon(a)gmail.com>: >> >> Basically, to have dual boot machine, the procedure should be: >> 1. disable secure boot >> 2. re-install windows >> 3. install your linux distribution > > Hope I can avoid having to reinstall Windows 8.1 . It's not on a separate DVD. I hope too, for you! > > However, I do have my own Microsoft Win Pro 7 that I think I was given during a single University C# programming unit I studied in 2011. May be a solution. Anyway try the keys you have found before. Maybe the secure boot was already disabled at the time original windows copy was installed. -- Mick

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PCIe SATA controller
by Tim Hamilton 11 Dec '14

11 Dec '14

I'm in need of a PCIe SATA controller that works well under linux and supports BTRFS / ZFS raid arrays to be used in a home NAS I'm building and am no sure what I'm looking for. >From what I can see, Astrotek have a reasonably priced ($32) CPES6 and Highpoint make a more expensive Rocket R640L ($99).[1] Aside from the obvious number of ports, is anyone able to tell me the difference between these two cards, or recommend an alternative that's known to work under linux. My current need is only for a single additional SATA port but my preference is for a card that will support future expansion, I'm just not sure 2 more ports are worth the almost 3 fold price differential. Tim [1] http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=210_385

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The most awesome personal organiser ever
by Scott Junner 10 Dec '14

10 Dec '14

I'm looking for suggestions, if you have them. I want a personal organiser that is organised. Go figure. The problem it seems is that thus far we have viewed personal organisation in parts. An application for tasks. An application for a calendar. An application for contacts. Perhaps an application for projects. All of these for iPoofs, another set for Windows, another set for penguins. Blah Blah Blah But this seems to suggest that my calendar exists separately from my tasks separate from my projects separate from my contacts. But all of it is intertwined all the time. It's at work, at home, on vacation, stationary, moving, eating, sleeping, humping. It's all interconnected. So I may have to write this one myself. But I'd prefer not to if anyone knows of it's existence or at least close to it. I want a personal organiser that interconnects all parts of personal organisation across all platforms. All of them! I want the same application to work on my linux desktop, windows desktop, apple laptop, android phone. And my fax machine god damn it. And I want it all Nimbostratus. Full cloud coverage. I type something into my desktop and it immediately syncs across everything. And if the cloud evaporates, I can still sync the devices by taking the phone and plugging it into my computer etc etc. And I want my contacts, notes, tasks, calendar, events, projects all interconnected and cross referenced with the ability to link to bloody anything else. Does this already exist? Or do I have to write the damn thing? Stay Frosty Scott

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