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gpt and grub
by James Harper 10 Apr '13

10 Apr '13

I have a server that had 4 x 1.5TB disks installed in a RAID5 configuration (except /boot is a 'RAID1' across all 4 disks). One of the disks failed recently and so was replaced with a 3TB disk, and the goal is to replace the remaining 3 disks with 3TB disks to get more storage (holds Bacula backups so more storage = more online backup history). Being a 3TB disk I had to make it a GUID Partition Table, and aside from a clean install I did once where Debian installer just did everything for me, I've never used gpt before. I believe I'm supposed to make a partition called the BIOS boot partition... can I store data on here or is it separate to my existing /boot partition? I created such a partition and did grub-install /dev/sda but then on boot from that disk all I get is "GRUB _" (where _ is the flashing cursor). Any hints or links to good online resources would be appreciated. I've googled and can find a bunch of information about it but it's not working for me so I'm missing something somewhere... Thanks James

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bind9 pain with Debian squeeze.
by Andrew Spiers 09 Apr '13

09 Apr '13

Something seems to have gone wrong with my bind installation. There was an upgrade to this: Version: 1:9.7.3.dfsg-1~squeeze10 when the upgrade ran, the owner on /etc/bind/rndc.key got changed to bind:bind. The service can't start until I change it to root:bind, as discussed in Debian Bug 386791. However the package then sits at partially installed (because it couldn't start). Any time I try to install other software, this post-install script runs, changes the ownership on rndc.key again, and bind fails to start. I've tried tinkering with what I think is the postinstall script: /var/lib/dpkg/info/bind9.postinst but I can't much debug output. and it seems if I try to install the latest bind with dpkg, my edited version of that script gets overwritten. What is the right approach to solving this? Regards, Andrew.

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google calendar notifications
by John Wilson 07 Apr '13

07 Apr '13

I am trying to set up sms notifications for a shared gmail account. My wife and I both subscribe to a calendar on this account. I am trying to set it up so that we both get sms notifications about appointments but it doesn't seem to work for both of us. We have 3 gmail accounts, mine, hers and an additional account for "other" appointments. Any help would be appreciated. John Wilson

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Best way to copy a large directory tree
by Aryan Ameri 07 Apr '13

07 Apr '13

What's the best way to copy a large directory tree (around 3TB in total) with a combination of large and small files? The files currently reside on my NAS which is on my LAN (connected via gigabit ethernet) and are mounted on my system as a NFS share. I would like to copy all files/directories to an external hard disk connected via USB. I care about speed, but I also care about reliability, making sure that every file is copied, that all metadata is preserved and that errors are handled gracefully. I've done some research and currently, I am thinking of using tar or rsync, or a combination of the two. Something like: tar --ignore-failed-read -C $SRC -cpf - . | tar --ignore-failed-read -C $DEST -xpvf - to copy everything initially, and then rsync -ahSD --ignore-errors --force --delete --stats $SRC/ $DIR/ To check everything with rsync. What do you guys think about this? Am I missing something? Are there better tools for this? Or other useful options for tar and rsync that I am missing? Cheers -- Aryan

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Re: Transferring music to MTP devices
by Toby Corkindale 06 Apr '13

06 Apr '13

On 02/04/13 12:22, Brendon Oliver wrote: > On Tue, Apr 2, 2013 at 10:15 AM, Toby Corkindale > <toby.corkindale(a)strategicdata.com.au > <mailto:toby.corkindale@strategicdata.com.au>> wrote: > > Recent Android devices that run official firmware versions will only > support MTP for file transfers. > > > Can the community suggest an alternative music manager that supports MTP > devices that works cleanly? > > > I gave up wrestling with MTP to copy files to my Galaxy S3. Ended up > installing SSHdroid on it and now just scp stuff over by hand. I found > it seems to copy a a bit faster too than, eg, if I boot into windows to > drag & drop files within explorer (but that's probably subjective). Thanks for the suggestion. I could also use mtpfs, or adb push. However I'm specifically after an easy-to-use solution appropriate for someone who uses desktop environments. Cheers, Toby

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Wordpress anti-spam
by Russell Coker 03 Apr '13

03 Apr '13

Currently I'm using block spam by math (forcing commenters to solve a simple addition) and Akismet to stop Wordpress spam. This works reasonably well, now I get about a dozen comments in my spam folder a day (much less than it used to be). Does anyone have any other anti-spam systems that they can recommend? One thing I'd like is a plugin which only permits one pending or spam folder comment per IP address. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/

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Transferring music to MTP devices
by Toby Corkindale 03 Apr '13

03 Apr '13

Recent Android devices that run official firmware versions will only support MTP for file transfers. (I am aware Cyanogenmod et al support USB mass storage. I run CM myself. However replacing the device firmware as out of scope for this discussion) When transferring music from Rhythmbox to a Nexus 7 device, this error is repeated for *every song* that is transferred: LIBMTP_Send_Representative_Sample(): could not get object info. The songs are actually transferred successfully.. it's just that you will develop RSI from clicking "Close" on dialog box windows by the time your whole collection has transferred. Bug reports date back to 2010 on the GNOME bug tracker, and there's a couple on Launchpad too from years ago. The issue appears to exist for many Android devices. Can the community suggest an alternative music manager that supports MTP devices that works cleanly? -Toby (Every few years I think "Surely Linux on the desktop is good enough for non-hackers", then the moment you give it to someone who isn't a hacker, it falls apart. Transferring music is a simple task, and works perfectly under Apple and Microsoft host operating systems.)

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Virtualbox on SuSeLinux 12.3 (latest)
by Andrew Greig 02 Apr '13

02 Apr '13

Hi All, I have loaded Virtual Box under Gnome on a SuSe 12.3 64 bit system. On trying to add a VM, I get this error : Could not add the VM. This parameter must be a string or Unicode object. I have added myself to the vboxusers group. Are there any other gotchas? That I need to fix to get this to work? Andrew Greig

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Migrating Evolution setup from old PC to a fresh install
by Mark Trickett 30 Mar '13

30 Mar '13

Hello everyone, I have been using an IBM Thinkpad, and continue to do so for this message, with Ubuntu, currently upgraded to 8.04. There are aheap of updates not applied as there is a hiccup with an earlier kernel marked for uninstall, that fails as the relevant modules package is already gone, and not retrievable. Since the processor is a PentiumIII at 700Mhz, it is time to move on, and I am doing so, and may consider reworking this Thinkpad for a lighter distro and playing around. I have chosen to install Debian (6.0) on the fresh desktop PC, and on a later Acer laptop. I invoked the Evolution backup on this laptop, then restored on the desktop, never having set up Evolution prior. It now will not recognise the analog modem ppp connection. I expect to have to edit config files and get ppp to set up as the default routing, but also in backing up and restoring Evolution, there are some settings that came over and are inappropriate, not least the old hostname. I would appreciate comments and suggestions from others who have made such a transition as that. I am expecting that the networking was also where the fault lies with updating Synaptic. I tried to use Google+, only to be told that the default Iceweasle was not recent enough. I could have taken the link on the webpage for Firefox, but I would prefer to have everything logged through apt/synaptic rather than trying to hand install and then maintain and keep up to date. That is a big part of why I have chosen Debian, and the administrative tools associated with Debian. At the moment, major updating will be done by taking the complete box and peripherals with me to visit a friend with ADSL that I can "borrow", but smaller matters can come in via analog modem now that it will dial out and run ppp. Having the necessary .debs on a disk or USB stick is also very useful. Mark Trickett

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Debian install on a Gigabyte X79-UD5 MB
by zlinw＠mcmedia.com.au 28 Mar '13

28 Mar '13

The following is just for the sake of information......... I just did an install of Debian testing from a snapshot done around 4 months ago. The new system consisted of an Gigabyte X79-UD5 MB, all new drives a combinataion of HD and SSD'S. System is a dual boot with WindowsXP. Partitioning was done with GParted live cd around 5 months old. This went OK. On the install of debian, install cd booted OK but on reboot on the finish of the install system failed to start. Console locking up not long after the drive subsystem is initailised. A mass of error messages asociated with APIC being printed. A search on the net showed this was a known issue as the Linux kernel does not currently support APCI 5.0 found on current MB's, which should _NOT_ have prevented the kernel starting. An attempt to turn off APCI support on the boot command line did not suceed. So I compiled and installed a new kernel via Debians rescue mode, using Linux 3.7.9 sources, with APIC disabled. Everything worked well after that. If the APIC disabling was the cure is unknown, the kernel config these days being __very__ complex (mind you it always was). The config I use being one of long standing with only the facilities I require. The config of course being modified as required using " make oldconfig" as new facilties come along with newer kernel versions. Using Linux for 20 years, Lindsay

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