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What do you think is the most challenging part of learning to drive: parking, roundabouts, or busy roads?
by lucasblake686＠gmail.com 20 Oct '26

20 Oct '26

Learning to drive is an important milestone, and choosing the right driving lessons can make the experience easier. Regular practice helps learners improve their parking, understand road signs, and become more confident when driving in traffic. It is also important to learn at a comfortable pace and develop safe driving habits from the beginning. Before choosing a driving school, compare lesson options and consider your schedule and learning goals. You can explore https://kudosdrivingschool.co.uk/ to learn more about driving lessons and available options.

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failfs - why?
by Peter Ross 20 Oct '26

20 Oct '26

Hi everyone, found this new exciting feature of the Linux kernel: failfs. A FS that always fails. Besides that there were other exciting implementations before, as e.g. NFS, the Nightmare File System, esp. version 3 ;-) What can one do with it? Sorry, just lacking imagination.. Regards Peter

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Flounder Meeting Oct 10th Chromebooks running Debian
by Russell Coker 07 Oct '26

07 Oct '26

https://flounder.linux.org.au/events/flounder-oct-2026-reusing-chromebooks/ Reusing Chromebooks as Debian Lomiri Tablets Ex-school Chromebooks are cheaply available on the second-hand market and many of them have close-to-mainline Linux kernel support and spare parts available making them affordable and effective computing platforms with the right software. Yifei Zhan will describe the process of extending the existing Debian On Mobile framework to build Debian images for Chromebooks based on the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 SoC and converting them into convergent devices with Lomiri. The resulting device can then be deployed in educational environments with Debian Edu. This approach can be applied to many other Chromebook devices. After the Chromebooks lecture there will be general discussion of FOSS stuff probably including a lot of discussion on buying cheap second hand hardware and comparing Chromebooks with laptops. As usual lightning talks are welcome! Meeting will be at http://b.coker.com.au. No need to register just click on the link on the day. Before the meeting you might want to read the Lomiri Wikipedia page and the lomiri.com web site. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lomiri https://lomiri.com/ Meeting officially opens at 1PM Melbourne time (02:00UTC), 10th of Oct. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/

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How Can a Grow Tent Make an Indoor Growing Setup Easier to Manage?
by lucasblake686＠gmail.com 30 Sep '26

30 Sep '26

One thing I find interesting about indoor gardening is how much easier it can become when the growing environment is organized properly. A grow tent can provide a dedicated area where lighting, ventilation, humidity, and plant placement can be managed more consistently. Before choosing one, I would consider the available space and the equipment that will be used inside it. There should be enough room for the plants to develop while still allowing comfortable access for watering, pruning, and maintenance. Good ventilation and suitable lighting are also important parts of planning the setup. I was looking through different options in this https://hydro-land.co.uk/collection/grow-tents/ and thought it could be useful for anyone comparing indoor growing setups. For those who already use grow tents, what setup decision made the biggest difference to your day-to-day maintenance?

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Re: Moving big databases from MySQL 5.5 to MariaDB 10.11
by Russell Coker 28 Sep '26

28 Sep '26

On Monday, 28 September 2026 18:44:39 AEST Peter Ross wrote: > > Can you migrate them one at a time? > > No, unfortunately not. Why not? Can't the same client code talk to both MySQL and MariaDB? > > How are you doing backups now? > > There is a MySQL 5.5 replica set up. > > (And regular snapshots on filesystem underneath, to go 'back in time' if > needed) Could you setup a test version of the database server after copying a snapshot to somewhere with equivalent hardware and run a test dump to find out how long it takes? -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/

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Moving big databases from MySQL 5.5 to MariaDB 10.11
by Peter Ross 28 Sep '26

28 Sep '26

Hi everyone, I am in a project where some bigger MySQL databases (250 GB+) need to be migrated from MySQL 5.5 to MariaDB 10.11. Fun part on top:It's only part of the DB server, it holds databases with nearly 2 TB altogether. A little bit uncertain how to do that. MySQL replication will not work between these versions, I think. I could snapshot the data directory but I don't think the data can be used by MariaDB as it is? Mysqldumps will take very long (I could afford a few hours outage, maybe 3 hours, but that's it).I did not try but I don't think that will finish in time. Some Percona Tools, others? For any ideas thankful Peter P.S. Hello everyone - it's been a while sinceI was here :-)

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Belated heads-up: MLUG tonight (in-person & online)]
by Duncan Roe 28 Sep '26

28 Sep '26

Hi everyone, The next MLUG meeting is tonight, 6pm for talks to start at 7:30pm. This is a hybrid meeting, online and on jit.si. Location: 644 Rathdowne St (corner of Pigdon St), Carlton North VIC 3054 Online: https://meet.jit.si/mlug-au More details on the MLUG website https://mlug-au.org/ Cheers ... Duncan.

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Internet speed
by Russell Coker 12 Sep '26

12 Sep '26

https://www.speedtest.net/ According to the above site my home Internet connection gets 530.46Mbps download and 45.87Mbps upload. When watching YouTube at 1080p resolution at 2* speed with Google-Chrome as the browser I get timeouts. What could be the cause of this? How would I go about diagnosing a problem of Internet speed that doesn't show up in speedtest.net? Is there any FOSS software for checking link quality, something I could run on one of my servers and look for packet loss on high speed data transfers? What are good ISPs nowadays? I'm paying $95/month for Internode (now TPG) NBN. Having IPv6 is very important to me and I am willing to pay extra for that (options of saving money while not having IPv6 are not interesting to me). If I could pay less for the same level of service then that would be good. If I could pay the same to another ISP and get better reliability on Youtube then that would be good. Any suggestions? -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/

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Fwd: New Contact Us Form: Linux Users of Victoria
by Phil'll Fix IT Mobile Computer Services 31 Aug '26

31 Aug '26

Hi Phil, I have not heard from anyone from the Linux Users Victoria group. Did you end up sending anything out to them? However, I have been ploddiing along exploring for myself. Thanks for the tip on Ubuntu. I have installed it on my old MacBook Pro myself after having first looked at Mint Mate and Mint Cinnamon and Zorin OS from the boot USB and then I decided to install Ubuntu and totally wipe MacOS. Then I installed elementary OS wiping Ubuntu completely because the Ubuntu Help App was totally unreadable (some kind of graphics problem but the graphics in Ubuntu elsewhere and all the Apps were fine so just a integrated Help App problem) and the integrated Help App was important to me. But couldn't find drivers (looking specifically for Thunderbolt 2 which is what my Mac uses) and discovered in the Ubuntu community that Linux doesn't have a driver for thunderbolt 2. So reinstalled Ubuntu completely wiping out elementary OS. Thant got rid of the Ubuntu sign-in problem I had the first time (didn't realise I had to use all lower case). Ordered a lot of Linux bistro books from Amazon and have sent back quite a few already, because the marketing doesn't line up with the contents of the books. Now I suspect that all the distros based on Ubuntu have the ability to change the desk top to copy the way MacOS behaves if one is prepared to spend a lot of time and use Terminal commands. Can even do it on Linux Mint Cinnamon which looks like Windows. But time consuming and I have no desire to reinvent the wheel my age. _Zorin OS claims to let you click a button and swap to a setup that behaves like MacOS instantly. That is very appealing to me. _ It also seems to be the case that most issues I might have will be answered by Ubuntu documentation and community anyway because it is only the superficial desktop layer that is altered to behave like MacOS and I can always return that to the default settings without losing any data of mine if I get stuck. _I also need to spend quite a bit of time getting more familiar with Firefox because I stubbornly stay with Safari because it's imbedded in my subconscious. _ My plan is to keep doing iCloud mail on my 2019 MacBook Pro until and unless I get everything transitioned to Proton Mail or the new Thunderbird mail accounts that will be available next year on the thunderbird client. But I want to do my internet searching and online shopping on Firefox on Linux to get away from all the tracking etc. _So will need someone to help with the best way for me to move browser, email & contacts data._ _And most importantly, love that I don't even have to install wifi on Ubuntu and all the other ubuntu dependent distros._ After just having updated software on an iPhone 8 and MacBook Air 2013 and having to use wifi for an hour, love that I don't hav to use wifi at all on Ubuntu distros. So, I need one of two things. _Ideally someone in Melbourne, who can solve any problems that aren't immediately easily solved by me or are time consuming._ e..g can someone use Terminal to get into the MacBook thunderbolt 2 driver on one of my 2 Macbook Airs before I destroy the MacOS on both of them and copy the code to creat a Linux driver for thunderbolt 2 and instal it in whichever Linux distro I end up staying with? And less exciting, help with the transition of contacts, email, browser data etc. Also, reduce my learning curve with Firefox and whatever I use in place of Pages by changing the new Apps to suit my Safari and Pages habits. So the Melbourne person am looking for would be someone with experience in Intel Macs 2013 to 2019 especially those with thunderbolt 2, including use of their terminal commands, and experience with at least one Senior/Beginner friendly Ubuntu based distro (not the IT geek versions) and extensive and creative use of Linux Terminal Commands and willingness to educate themselves on Zorin OS and Ubuntu OS and the full range of customisation options for Firefox and whatever App I use in place of Pages. _If a suitable person in Melbourne does not materialise, the second option is: can some of this, especially the essential bits, be done over the phone with someone not in Melbourne?_ I admit to conversations with my friend's husband Les in Sydney. He has been keep for me to install Mint. He has used Mint Mate for 15 years. But he's a windows man. And I don't like Windows. It's too cluttered. But he did put Mint Mate & Mint Cinnamon and Zorin OS on a boot USB after testing it worked on an old Macbook he bought at a market and then mailed it to me and guided me over the phone initially in looking at them live from the USB without destroying MacOS. And he did tell me that I could add an ISO file for elementary OS to his Ventor USB which I did. But he's my age with the long list of health problems we have at our age and clearly wants to stick with Mint Mate. So I need someone younger and preferably enthusiastic about what I am trying to do. I actually surprised myself that I managed to install these Linux OS's myself. _But I do want someone who takes the role of AppleCare and tells me what to do when I get stuck._ _ And someone in Melbourne for things like printer problems_. Men seem to be better at that kind of thing. Women are too scared of breaking things. One reason I have achieved what I have to my surprise is because it was an old Mac so it didn't matter if I broke it. All my important files are on the 2019 Mac anyway and its time machine backups. Oh, that's another thing. I want to replicate time machine backups as much as possible and I gather I have to use a combination of Timeshift for the OS and Deja Dup for my user files. So that is an early priority. So did you put out something to the Linux Users group? What do you suggest from here? Thanks Linda > On 4 Aug 2026, at 6:38 am, Phil'll Fix IT Mobile Computer Services > <phil(a)philfixit.com.au> wrote: > > > Morning Linda, > > Yes there has been a couple of issues with the group splintering into > 2, we are in the process of putting it all back together again :) > > Call me when you have a minute and we'll have a chat about what we can > do to help > > Cheers Phil in Sunny Mildura > > -- > "The trouble with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if > they are genuine. Abraham Lincoln" > > Regards, > Phil Steel-Wilson > Phil'll Fix IT Mobile Computer Services > [+61](0)447 64 55 34 > https://philfixit.com.au > Linux user no: #564977 > SHOP MAGIK | APRA No: #867466 > > Over 25 years experience in the IT industry. > > If you are happy with my service and rates, > please recommend me to your family and friends. > Boring stuff follows . . . > Treat all email communication as confidential. > It is for the intended recipient only. > If you have received this email and, > you are not the intended recipient please contact, > abuse(a)philfixit.com.au > > > On 3/08/2026 8:20 pm, AG wrote: >> HI Phil, >> >> Thanks for getting back to me. >> >> I didn't expect it because just after I sent the message, I >> discovered the your last newsletters were 2 years old, so assumed the >> Linux Users Group of Victoria had folded due to too many members >> leaving Victoria due to the political situation here or dying during >> the pandemic. Many other groups have folded for these reasons and >> AUSOM seems to be struggling with a shortage of members. >> >> I won't call you tonight. Need to get dinner. >> >> But will call you soon. >> >> Linda >> >> >> >> >>> On 1 Aug 2026, at 7:03 am, Phil'll Fix IT Mobile Computer Services >>> <phil(a)philfixit.com.au> wrote: >>> >>> >>> Hi Linda, >>> >>> And thanks for reaching out, i am very pleased to hear from you. >>> >>> I would love to have a chat with you about your computing needs to >>> ensure we do the right thing :) >>> >>> Feel free to call me or email back to this address. >>> >>> I am a sysadmin with Linux Users Victoria and we have an absolute >>> wealth of knowledge throughout the group. >>> >>> There is nothing we cant sort out :) >>> >>> -- >>> "The trouble with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell >>> if they are genuine. Abraham Lincoln" >>> >>> Regards, >>> Phil Steel-Wilson >>> Phil'll Fix IT Mobile Computer Services >>> [+61](0)447 64 55 34 >>> https://philfixit.com.au >>> Linux user no: #564977 >>> SHOP MAGIK | APRA No: #867466 >>> >>> Over 25 years experience in the IT industry. >>> >>> If you are happy with my service and rates, >>> please recommend me to your family and friends. >>> Boring stuff follows . . . >>> Treat all email communication as confidential. >>> It is for the intended recipient only. >>> If you have received this email and, >>> you are not the intended recipient please contact, >>> abuse(a)philfixit.com.au >>> >>> >>> On 31/07/2026 5:22 pm, Linux Users of Victoria wrote: >>>> --- Name --- >>>> >>>> Linda >>>> >>>> --- Email --- >>>> >>>> ag.t1(a)icloud.com >>>> >>>> --- Comment or Message --- >>>> >>>> HI, I have been a MacOS user for 12 years (loved it at the >>>> beginning) & at 81 yo & health issues, haven't got the time to >>>> continue pushed upgrades of software & hardware & total control & >>>> continually having to learn new stuff. and cyber security. >>>> >>>> I accept that it is hard to live in this world without IT, but >>>> with little life left, I want to minimise it. >>>> >>>> Wondering if you have any members who have a lot of experience with >>>> MacOS various vintages and hardware, who would like to earn a bit >>>> of money installing & maintaining the most suitable Linux >>>> distribution on one of my od MacBook Pro & MacBook Airs (all top >>>> of the range for their era - 2013-2014 vintage with thunderbolt 2 >>>> ports and requiring everything permanently cabled: keyboard, mouse, >>>> superdrive, USB-A & USB-C, 2 time machine backup external 4TB >>>> drives, Brother & HP Lazer printers, sound system, iPhone sync >>>> cable due to my EMF hypersensitivity which prevents me from using >>>> bluetooth & wifi). >>>> >>>> Whatever distribution it is, needs to have the briefest learning >>>> curve because although I was an IT expert 50 years ago, I have >>>> significant health problems & brain fog now so want something >>>> simple safe and reliable which does all the necessary computing to >>>> participate in this world, ie. communicate with my home care >>>> package provider (SAH now) and my friends, family, health >>>> professionals, regular support workers, buy all my food & other >>>> needs online, do all my banking & listen to my favourite music. >>>> Have also fpiund it difficult to buy a Linux book that doesn't just >>>> pay lip service to Mac Users - they are all highly windows user >>>> focused. If you know of some that is for the layman, not compute >>>> geeks, that woudl help me, I'd love to know. Linda >>>> >

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MLUG on Monday and LUV on Tuesday
by Alexar Pendashteh 30 Aug '26

30 Aug '26

Stars are aligned and the two local lug meetings this month are back to back. Both hybrid; join on-line or in person. --- MLUG on Monday, 31 August, from 7:30pm Venue: The Great Northern Hotel 644 Rathdowne St (corner of Pigdon St), Carlton North VIC 3054 Join online: https://meet.jit.si/mlug-au More info: https://mlug-au.org/ --- LUV on Tuesday, 1 September, from 7:30pm Venue: Kathleen Syme Library 251 Faraday St, Carlton VIC 3053 Join online: https://electronworkshop.com.au/goto/venue More info: https://linuxvictoria.org/events/2026-09-01_town-hall-meeting-september/ --- There's gonna be a lot of Linux in Carlton next week lol + Alexar

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