From jpschewe at mtu.net Tue Jan 1 10:49:09 2013 From: jpschewe at mtu.net (Jon Schewe) Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2013 10:49:09 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Video card recommendation Message-ID: I have an NVIDIA GeForce 6150 built on my motherboard. I don't do 3D stuff, no gaming, no major graphics. I'm running Ubuntu in Gnome Classic mode without effects. I'm still getting really high CPU load from Xorg doing many things. So I'm looking for an inexpensive PciE graphics card to replace my onboard one. Any suggestions for cards that are well supported by Linux, particularly Ubuntu? Thanks, Jon -- http://mtu.net/~jpschewe -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com Tue Jan 1 11:11:44 2013 From: jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com (Jeremy MountainJohnson) Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2013 11:11:44 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Video card recommendation In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Happy New Year Luggers and Jon, Pretty much all NVIDIA cards do well in Linux with proprietary drivers (getting about middle of the road with open source nouveau), so sticking with a few models later than your 6150 would be helpful. If you want a decent upgrade that isn't high end or too much overkill, the 550 ti has been great for me and I still use it (I game a little with the Linux beta of Steam and a few classic GL games). It may be more than you need (around $100 - $150 online new). Better yet, keep your card, save your money, and switch to a different desktop environment like XFCE or LXDE. I use XFCE with compositing turned off and it does extremely well on all my Linux systems both low and high end GPUs. Gnome3 is trying to squeeze in pretty effects (IMHO failing at being pretty- reminds me of Taylor Swift's hair style last night at Times Square) to run on all hardware and I think the fallback is or has gone away from being supported. Not sure if it's hard to switch to XFCE with Ubuntu since I don't use it- perhaps others on the list have some insight? Good luck. Also, if you go the route of upgrading video cards- perhaps noting the revision of your PCIE slot would also help the list make a better recommendation suited for your system. -- Jeremy MountainJohnson Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com On Tue, Jan 1, 2013 at 10:49 AM, Jon Schewe wrote: > > I have an NVIDIA GeForce 6150 built on my motherboard. I don't do 3D stuff, no gaming, no major graphics. I'm running Ubuntu in Gnome Classic mode without effects. I'm still getting really high CPU load from Xorg doing many things. So I'm looking for an inexpensive PciE graphics card to replace my onboard one. Any suggestions for cards that are well supported by Linux, particularly Ubuntu? > > Thanks, Jon > > > -- > http://mtu.net/~jpschewe > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > From jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com Tue Jan 1 11:14:01 2013 From: jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com (Jeremy MountainJohnson) Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2013 11:14:01 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Video card recommendation In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Forgot to mention, AMD GPU in my experience has been terrible in Linux. I haven't went with them in 10 years because of their Linux support. With my distro you have to stay behind kernel releases just to get the dated AMD proprietary drivers to compile- not sure how the open source has been going though. -- Jeremy MountainJohnson Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com On Tue, Jan 1, 2013 at 11:11 AM, Jeremy MountainJohnson wrote: > Happy New Year Luggers and Jon, > > Pretty much all NVIDIA cards do well in Linux with proprietary > drivers (getting about middle of the road with open source nouveau), > so sticking with a few models later than your 6150 would be helpful. > If you want a decent upgrade that isn't high end or too much overkill, > the 550 ti has been great for me and I still use it (I game a little > with the Linux beta of Steam and a few classic GL games). It may be > more than you need (around $100 - $150 online new). > > Better yet, keep your card, save your money, and switch to a different > desktop environment like XFCE or LXDE. I use XFCE with compositing > turned off and it does extremely well on all my Linux systems both low > and high end GPUs. Gnome3 is trying to squeeze in pretty effects (IMHO > failing at being pretty- reminds me of Taylor Swift's hair style last > night at Times Square) to run on all hardware and I think the fallback > is or has gone away from being supported. Not sure if it's hard to > switch to XFCE with Ubuntu since I don't use it- perhaps others on the > list have some insight? > > Good luck. Also, if you go the route of upgrading video cards- perhaps > noting the revision of your PCIE slot would also help the list make a > better recommendation suited for your system. > > -- > Jeremy MountainJohnson > Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com > > > On Tue, Jan 1, 2013 at 10:49 AM, Jon Schewe wrote: >> >> I have an NVIDIA GeForce 6150 built on my motherboard. I don't do 3D stuff, no gaming, no major graphics. I'm running Ubuntu in Gnome Classic mode without effects. I'm still getting really high CPU load from Xorg doing many things. So I'm looking for an inexpensive PciE graphics card to replace my onboard one. Any suggestions for cards that are well supported by Linux, particularly Ubuntu? >> >> Thanks, Jon >> >> >> -- >> http://mtu.net/~jpschewe >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> From droidjd at gmail.com Tue Jan 1 11:25:33 2013 From: droidjd at gmail.com (Andrew Dahl) Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2013 11:25:33 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Video card recommendation In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: AMD GPU support is pretty good these days, in my experience. The OSS drivers also work well enough for me to forgo the proprietary ones (usually), specifically because using xrandr is easier to me than the ATI Control Center. I have three monitors with a resolution of 4960x1600 with one AMD card on the OSS drivers and can still do 3d pretty well. (Better 3D with the proprietary ones) I'd recommend any newer AMD card with the OSS drivers, else you really can't go wrong with nVidia. On Jan 1, 2013 11:14 AM, "Jeremy MountainJohnson" < jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com> wrote: > Forgot to mention, AMD GPU in my experience has been terrible in > Linux. I haven't went with them in 10 years because of their Linux > support. With my distro you have to stay behind kernel releases just > to get the dated AMD proprietary drivers to compile- not sure how the > open source has been going though. > > -- > Jeremy MountainJohnson > Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com > > > On Tue, Jan 1, 2013 at 11:11 AM, Jeremy MountainJohnson > wrote: > > Happy New Year Luggers and Jon, > > > > Pretty much all NVIDIA cards do well in Linux with proprietary > > drivers (getting about middle of the road with open source nouveau), > > so sticking with a few models later than your 6150 would be helpful. > > If you want a decent upgrade that isn't high end or too much overkill, > > the 550 ti has been great for me and I still use it (I game a little > > with the Linux beta of Steam and a few classic GL games). It may be > > more than you need (around $100 - $150 online new). > > > > Better yet, keep your card, save your money, and switch to a different > > desktop environment like XFCE or LXDE. I use XFCE with compositing > > turned off and it does extremely well on all my Linux systems both low > > and high end GPUs. Gnome3 is trying to squeeze in pretty effects (IMHO > > failing at being pretty- reminds me of Taylor Swift's hair style last > > night at Times Square) to run on all hardware and I think the fallback > > is or has gone away from being supported. Not sure if it's hard to > > switch to XFCE with Ubuntu since I don't use it- perhaps others on the > > list have some insight? > > > > Good luck. Also, if you go the route of upgrading video cards- perhaps > > noting the revision of your PCIE slot would also help the list make a > > better recommendation suited for your system. > > > > -- > > Jeremy MountainJohnson > > Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com > > > > > > On Tue, Jan 1, 2013 at 10:49 AM, Jon Schewe wrote: > >> > >> I have an NVIDIA GeForce 6150 built on my motherboard. I don't do 3D > stuff, no gaming, no major graphics. I'm running Ubuntu in Gnome Classic > mode without effects. I'm still getting really high CPU load from Xorg > doing many things. So I'm looking for an inexpensive PciE graphics card to > replace my onboard one. Any suggestions for cards that are well supported > by Linux, particularly Ubuntu? > >> > >> Thanks, Jon > >> > >> > >> -- > >> http://mtu.net/~jpschewe > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org > >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > >> > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From erik.mitchell at gmail.com Tue Jan 1 11:28:02 2013 From: erik.mitchell at gmail.com (Erik Mitchell) Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2013 11:28:02 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Video card recommendation In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I really can't make sense of the whole video card debate. On the one hand, Linus has blasted Nvidia, but for a long time I thought they were preferred among Linux users. With recent machines that I've purchased I've been less than happy with the NVidia cards, both with open source drivers and the proprietary one. However I haven't heard anything particularly good about ATI/AMD either. For my needs, I'll probably just stick with Intel for the foreseeable future. I've switched from the more resource intensive window managers to using Xmonad and I'm quite happy with it. I remember when Compiz came out -- it completely blew my mind. I used it happily for a year, but then moved to a different machine and couldn't get it to work due to issues with the video card. Now the project seems to be shutting down, and everyone is unhappy with where Ubuntu is going with their window manager. Weird stuff. Seems like a big regression. -Erik On Tue, Jan 1, 2013 at 11:14 AM, Jeremy MountainJohnson wrote: > Forgot to mention, AMD GPU in my experience has been terrible in > Linux. I haven't went with them in 10 years because of their Linux > support. With my distro you have to stay behind kernel releases just > to get the dated AMD proprietary drivers to compile- not sure how the > open source has been going though. > > -- > Jeremy MountainJohnson > Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com > > > On Tue, Jan 1, 2013 at 11:11 AM, Jeremy MountainJohnson > wrote: >> Happy New Year Luggers and Jon, >> >> Pretty much all NVIDIA cards do well in Linux with proprietary >> drivers (getting about middle of the road with open source nouveau), >> so sticking with a few models later than your 6150 would be helpful. >> If you want a decent upgrade that isn't high end or too much overkill, >> the 550 ti has been great for me and I still use it (I game a little >> with the Linux beta of Steam and a few classic GL games). It may be >> more than you need (around $100 - $150 online new). >> >> Better yet, keep your card, save your money, and switch to a different >> desktop environment like XFCE or LXDE. I use XFCE with compositing >> turned off and it does extremely well on all my Linux systems both low >> and high end GPUs. Gnome3 is trying to squeeze in pretty effects (IMHO >> failing at being pretty- reminds me of Taylor Swift's hair style last >> night at Times Square) to run on all hardware and I think the fallback >> is or has gone away from being supported. Not sure if it's hard to >> switch to XFCE with Ubuntu since I don't use it- perhaps others on the >> list have some insight? >> >> Good luck. Also, if you go the route of upgrading video cards- perhaps >> noting the revision of your PCIE slot would also help the list make a >> better recommendation suited for your system. >> >> -- >> Jeremy MountainJohnson >> Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com >> >> >> On Tue, Jan 1, 2013 at 10:49 AM, Jon Schewe wrote: >>> >>> I have an NVIDIA GeForce 6150 built on my motherboard. I don't do 3D stuff, no gaming, no major graphics. I'm running Ubuntu in Gnome Classic mode without effects. I'm still getting really high CPU load from Xorg doing many things. So I'm looking for an inexpensive PciE graphics card to replace my onboard one. Any suggestions for cards that are well supported by Linux, particularly Ubuntu? >>> >>> Thanks, Jon >>> >>> >>> -- >>> http://mtu.net/~jpschewe >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >>> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >>> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >>> > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list -- Erik K. Mitchell erik.mitchell at gmail.com From andyzib at gmail.com Wed Jan 2 11:20:43 2013 From: andyzib at gmail.com (Andrew S. Zbikowski) Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2013 11:20:43 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Video card recommendation In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Before you try a new card, have you tried installing nvidia's Linux drivers? (http://www.nvidia.com/Download or possibly in your distribution's software repository.) It could be your not taking full advantage of your GPU due to driver/configuration issue, and if that's the case a new video card wouldn't fix it. On Tue, Jan 1, 2013 at 11:28 AM, Erik Mitchell wrote: > I really can't make sense of the whole video card debate. On the one > hand, Linus has blasted Nvidia, but for a long time I thought they > were preferred among Linux users. Nvidia hasn't released the technical information needed to create open source drivers, instead releasing their own binary only drivers with varying degrees of stability. Even so, nvidia was still the best option for 3D acceleration under Linux for a long time. -- Andrew Zbikowski http://andy.zibnet.us/ Live every week like it's Shark Week. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tclug at mikerochford.com Wed Jan 2 13:49:40 2013 From: tclug at mikerochford.com (Mike Rochford) Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2013 13:49:40 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] For Sale: 1U rackmount server Message-ID: I am cleaning up a colo I have and no longer need this server. Dell R300 , QuadCore 2.66GHz , 16GB ram, PERC 6/iR SAS controller, 2x73GB 15K SAS drives Dual power supplies. Rail Kit included. Looking for $500/bo From jpschewe at mtu.net Wed Jan 2 18:12:58 2013 From: jpschewe at mtu.net (Jon Schewe) Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2013 18:12:58 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Video card recommendation In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Yep, been there, done that. On Wed, Jan 2, 2013 at 11:20 AM, Andrew S. Zbikowski wrote: > Before you try a new card, have you tried installing nvidia's Linux > drivers? (http://www.nvidia.com/Download or possibly in your > distribution's software repository.) It could be your not taking full > advantage of your GPU due to driver/configuration issue, and if that's the > case a new video card wouldn't fix it. > > > On Tue, Jan 1, 2013 at 11:28 AM, Erik Mitchell wrote: > >> I really can't make sense of the whole video card debate. On the one >> hand, Linus has blasted Nvidia, but for a long time I thought they >> were preferred among Linux users. > > > Nvidia hasn't released the technical information needed to create open > source drivers, instead releasing their own binary only drivers with > varying degrees of stability. Even so, nvidia was still the best option for > 3D acceleration under Linux for a long time. > > -- > Andrew Zbikowski > http://andy.zibnet.us/ > Live every week like it's Shark Week. > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > -- http://mtu.net/~jpschewe -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tclug at freakzilla.com Thu Jan 3 22:40:24 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (tclug at freakzilla.com) Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2013 22:40:24 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Manually loading firmware Message-ID: Hi list-people, Ok, I have a tv capture dongle on my media center. It's a hauppauge xc5000-based device, and requires firmware be loaded for it to work. The problem is it can't seem to find the device four out of five times. So everytime I reboot, I have to reboot five times. I've tried to find a way to manually load firmware, but I haven't found anything. Anyone have any ideas? Below is the dmesg output for an unsuccessful as well as a successful firmware load. Nothing changes at all between these reboots. Unsuccessful: [ 5.978979] xc5000 0-0061: creating new instance [ 5.987502] xc5000: Successfully identified at address 0x61 [ 5.987511] xc5000: Firmware has not been loaded previously [ 5.988291] au8522 0-0047: attaching existing instance [ 5.998760] xc5000 0-0061: attaching existing instance [ 6.003490] xc5000: Device not found at addr 0x61 (0xffff) Successful: [ 5.747649] xc5000 0-0061: creating new instance [ 5.753530] xc5000: Successfully identified at address 0x61 [ 5.753538] xc5000: Firmware has not been loaded previously [ 5.780467] xc5000 0-0061: attaching existing instance [ 5.786412] xc5000: Successfully identified at address 0x61 [ 5.786422] xc5000: Firmware has not been loaded previously [ 9.828553] xc5000: waiting for firmware upload (dvb-fe-xc5000-1.6.114.fw)... [ 9.842687] xc5000: firmware read 12401 bytes. [ 9.842695] xc5000: firmware uploading... [ 16.824059] xc5000: firmware upload complete... -- From tclug1 at whitleymott.net Thu Jan 3 23:38:55 2013 From: tclug1 at whitleymott.net (gregrwm) Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2013 23:38:55 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power Message-ID: 4 machines died on me in the space of 2 months. you and i are still here, but perhaps the machines were mayan? well none of them were exactly new. and then my 9yo daughter looks shocked and says the computer buzzed her. i touch what she touched, floor grate and computer chassis, and buzzo. so perhaps improper grounding might be a factor in mobo deaths? and/or other power faults? what do any of you recommend? a certain test gizmo? city of saint paul electrical inspection? From stuporglue at gmail.com Thu Jan 3 23:43:08 2013 From: stuporglue at gmail.com (Michael Moore) Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2013 23:43:08 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Manually loading firmware In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: > Ok, I have a tv capture dongle on my media center. It's a hauppauge > xc5000-based device, and requires firmware be loaded for it to work. > > The problem is it can't seem to find the device four out of five times. So > everytime I reboot, I have to reboot five times. > > I've tried to find a way to manually load firmware, but I haven't found > anything. Anyone have any ideas? I believe that firmware gets loaded when the associated kernel module gets loaded. If you can figure out which kernel module you need you should be able to use modprobe -r to remove it (if it got inserted initially) and modprobe to insert it. If that works consistently then you could look into adding a file in /etc/modprobe.d or the appropriate configuration place for your distro which would delay inserting that module until the firmware is available. -- Michael More From sfertch at gmail.com Thu Jan 3 23:49:59 2013 From: sfertch at gmail.com (Shawn Fertch) Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2013 23:49:59 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 11:38 PM, gregrwm wrote: > 4 machines died on me in the space of 2 months. you and i are still > here, but perhaps the machines were mayan? well none of them were > exactly new. and then my 9yo daughter looks shocked and says the > computer buzzed her. i touch what she touched, floor grate and > computer chassis, and buzzo. so perhaps improper grounding might be a > factor in mobo deaths? and/or other power faults? what do any of you > recommend? a certain test gizmo? city of saint paul electrical > inspection? > > All of my electrical equipment (computers, DVD/Blue-Ray, TV, etc) are plugged into either an APC SmartUPS with a battery for power conditioning. Or, if they don't require that, an APC SurgeArrest. They have wiring fault indicators on them which is basically a ground test. -- -Shawn -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tclug at freakzilla.com Fri Jan 4 00:03:47 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (tclug at freakzilla.com) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 00:03:47 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Manually loading firmware In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Thu, 3 Jan 2013, Michael Moore wrote: > I believe that firmware gets loaded when the associated kernel module > gets loaded. That would most likely be the xc5000 module (: I'll give that a try next time it happens. -- From tclug1 at whitleymott.net Fri Jan 4 00:21:54 2013 From: tclug1 at whitleymott.net (gregrwm) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 00:21:54 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: plugged in a tripp lite. says "line fault". arrg. poor defenseless mobos. From stuporglue at gmail.com Fri Jan 4 01:08:57 2013 From: stuporglue at gmail.com (Michael Moore) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 01:08:57 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for borrow or sale? Message-ID: Not quite Linux (except that I'd love to be able to use it under Linux) but it seems like something someone on this list might have sitting around. Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for sale or for borrow? My dad has 6,000+ photographic slides that I'd like to digitize so I'm looking for something like a Nikon Coolscan 4000 (or other) with a batch auto-loader, or a Pacific Image PowerSlide 5000, or similar. Ideally it'd be USB or Firewire, but I'd be willing to buy a SCSI card if an old Coolscan were a good deal. Thanks, Michael Moore From bgilbertson at rrt.net Fri Jan 4 06:26:43 2013 From: bgilbertson at rrt.net (Robert Gilbertson) Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2013 06:26:43 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power Message-ID: <50e6ca83.6e66.ae435b70.3e967578@rrt.net> I would get an electrician to check it out. If it is a bad wiring connection in ceiling or wall it may also be getting hot and be a fire hazard. It already is a shock hazard. In my experience, electrical inspectors only get involved if extensive work is done, like replacing a service entrance. A residential electrical contractor is the place to start. On Thursday 03/01/2013 at 11:39 pm, gregrwm wrote: > 4 machines died on me in the space of 2 months. you and i are still > here, but perhaps the machines were mayan? well none of them were > exactly new. and then my 9yo daughter looks shocked and says the > computer buzzed her. i touch what she touched, floor grate and > computer chassis, and buzzo. so perhaps improper grounding might be a > factor in mobo deaths? and/or other power faults? what do any of you > recommend? a certain test gizmo? city of saint paul electrical > inspection? > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tlunde at gmail.com Fri Jan 4 07:10:17 2013 From: tlunde at gmail.com (Thomas Lunde) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 07:10:17 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for borrow or sale? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <2DFBB6F4-E4CB-48F6-9DF5-20A97B29ED61@gmail.com> I tried to do this very same project. The auto loaders jam and it takes forever. Follow Scancafe on twitter and wait for a 1/3 off (or better) sale. I realize that this sounds like an ad, but I'm just a happy customer. I'd been playing with slide scanners on Linux (e.g. a Coolscan LS-30 with Vuescan) since 1998 (!) & finally went the SC route. Wish I had done so years ago. Thomas On Jan 4, 2013, at 1:08 AM, Michael Moore wrote: > Not quite Linux (except that I'd love to be able to use it under > Linux) but it seems like something someone on this list might have > sitting around. > > Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for sale or for borrow? > > My dad has 6,000+ photographic slides that I'd like to digitize so I'm > looking for something like a Nikon Coolscan 4000 (or other) with a > batch auto-loader, or a Pacific Image PowerSlide 5000, or similar. > > Ideally it'd be USB or Firewire, but I'd be willing to buy a SCSI card > if an old Coolscan were a good deal. > > Thanks, > Michael Moore > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Fri Jan 4 09:03:41 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 09:03:41 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: <50e6ca83.6e66.ae435b70.3e967578@rrt.net> References: <50e6ca83.6e66.ae435b70.3e967578@rrt.net> Message-ID: On Fri, 4 Jan 2013, Robert Gilbertson wrote: > I would get an electrician to check it out. > If it is a bad wiring connection in ceiling or wall it may also be getting > hot and be a fire hazard. > It already is a shock hazard. Sometimes animals like mice or squirrels will chew on insulation and cause problems like these. Mike From ecrist at secure-computing.net Fri Jan 4 09:26:48 2013 From: ecrist at secure-computing.net (Eric Crist) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 09:26:48 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: References: <50e6ca83.6e66.ae435b70.3e967578@rrt.net> Message-ID: If you're getting shocks through a floor grate, it sounds like it's just a worn electrical wire, likely due to vibration, as it runs across ductwork in the basement, coupled with poor electrical grounding in your computer case. The problem, alone, isn't in your home's electrical system, but something likely in the power supply, as well. You just won't be shocked if your home's electrical is fixed. Two problems, with a common symptom. ----- Eric F Crist On Jan 4, 2013, at 09:03:41, Mike Miller wrote: > On Fri, 4 Jan 2013, Robert Gilbertson wrote: > >> I would get an electrician to check it out. >> If it is a bad wiring connection in ceiling or wall it may also be getting hot and be a fire hazard. >> It already is a shock hazard. > > Sometimes animals like mice or squirrels will chew on insulation and cause problems like these. > > Mike > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From ryanjcole at me.com Fri Jan 4 08:52:11 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2013 08:52:11 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: <50e6ca83.6e66.ae435b70.3e967578@rrt.net> References: <50e6ca83.6e66.ae435b70.3e967578@rrt.net> Message-ID: <50E6EC9B.5010404@me.com> I agree... you could do a once-over first... turn off the breaker for that room/outlet group and remove the outlet from the wall box... Check to see if there's a loose connection or if the ground is intersecting with the neutral in any way (It's not likely the hot [black] wire that's bad judging by the intermittent nature)... at least then you've looked at all you can physically look at... Return the outlet to the box, making sure you don't have any crosses or other concerns and, once battened down, you can flip your breaker back on. Of course if you have a fear of high voltage don't do the above work... or if you aren't feeling completely confident. There is, of course, the possibility that the wire past the box (in the wall) is the issue and you'll never find it there. In the interim can you plug it into another outlet that is not showing a ground fault on your tripplite? On 1/4/2013 6:26 AM, Robert Gilbertson wrote: > I would get an electrician to check it out. > If it is a bad wiring connection in ceiling or wall it may also be > getting hot and be a fire hazard. > It already is a shock hazard. > In my experience, electrical inspectors only get involved if extensive > work is done, like replacing a service entrance. > A residential electrical contractor is the place to start. > On Thursday 03/01/2013 at 11:39 pm, gregrwm wrote: >> 4 machines died on me in the space of 2 months. you and i are still >> here, but perhaps the machines were mayan? well none of them were >> exactly new. and then my 9yo daughter looks shocked and says the >> computer buzzed her. i touch what she touched, floor grate and >> computer chassis, and buzzo. so perhaps improper grounding might be a >> factor in mobo deaths? and/or other power faults? what do any of you >> recommend? a certain test gizmo? city of saint paul electrical >> inspection? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ecrist at secure-computing.net Fri Jan 4 09:59:15 2013 From: ecrist at secure-computing.net (Eric Crist) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 09:59:15 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: <50E6EC9B.5010404@me.com> References: <50e6ca83.6e66.ae435b70.3e967578@rrt.net> <50E6EC9B.5010404@me.com> Message-ID: <4252AEA8-B5F4-4F4E-BD7C-04FE1D68CFBC@secure-computing.net> This is patently false. The neutral doesn't ever get 'hot.' In fact, if you look in most electrical panels, the neutral and grounds are often tied together on a bus bar. The ONLY way you're getting shocked is if your HOT (black or red, usually) is shorted against the grate itself or another part of the HVAC system. ----- Eric F Crist On Jan 4, 2013, at 08:52:11, Ryan Coleman wrote: > I agree... you could do a once-over first... turn off the breaker for that room/outlet group and remove the outlet from the wall box... Check to see if there's a loose connection or if the ground is intersecting with the neutral in any way (It's not likely the hot [black] wire that's bad judging by the intermittent nature)... at least then you've looked at all you can physically look at... > > Return the outlet to the box, making sure you don't have any crosses or other concerns and, once battened down, you can flip your breaker back on. > > Of course if you have a fear of high voltage don't do the above work... or if you aren't feeling completely confident. There is, of course, the possibility that the wire past the box (in the wall) is the issue and you'll never find it there. > > In the interim can you plug it into another outlet that is not showing a ground fault on your tripplite? From Craig.A.Smith at honeywell.com Fri Jan 4 10:04:39 2013 From: Craig.A.Smith at honeywell.com (Smith, Craig A (MN14)) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 16:04:39 +0000 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <994D9F23C50CD44BA7A8AED87EC114C710E5EE36@de08ex3001.global.ds.honeywell.com> > my 9yo daughter looks shocked and says the computer buzzed her. i touch what she touched, floor grate and computer chassis, and buzzo. so perhaps improper grounding might be a factor in mobo deaths? Many years ago, I got a shock from the metal chassis of my dad's reel-to-reel tape deck. He said "unplug and plug it in the other way" (this was before the days polarized plugs). I tried this and it worked! The explanation was that there was a high-impedance short between the power transformer and the chassis. Plugging it in the other way moved the short closer to neutral (grounded at the fuse-box and the utility pole). Assuming you have a polarized plug, you might check your outlet. You can buy a 3-led tester at the hardware store for less than $5. If you're using a UPS, then that may be at fault. From ryanjcole at me.com Fri Jan 4 10:13:18 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2013 10:13:18 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: <4252AEA8-B5F4-4F4E-BD7C-04FE1D68CFBC@secure-computing.net> References: <50e6ca83.6e66.ae435b70.3e967578@rrt.net> <50E6EC9B.5010404@me.com> <4252AEA8-B5F4-4F4E-BD7C-04FE1D68CFBC@secure-computing.net> Message-ID: <50E6FF9E.7040304@me.com> That is patently OK. people make MISTAKES. Jesus. On 1/4/2013 9:59 AM, Eric Crist wrote: > This is patently false. The neutral doesn't ever get 'hot.' In fact, if you look in most electrical panels, the neutral and grounds are often tied together on a bus bar. The ONLY way you're getting shocked is if your HOT (black or red, usually) is shorted against the grate itself or another part of the HVAC system. > > ----- > Eric F Crist > > > > On Jan 4, 2013, at 08:52:11, Ryan Coleman wrote: > >> I agree... you could do a once-over first... turn off the breaker for that room/outlet group and remove the outlet from the wall box... Check to see if there's a loose connection or if the ground is intersecting with the neutral in any way (It's not likely the hot [black] wire that's bad judging by the intermittent nature)... at least then you've looked at all you can physically look at... >> >> Return the outlet to the box, making sure you don't have any crosses or other concerns and, once battened down, you can flip your breaker back on. >> >> Of course if you have a fear of high voltage don't do the above work... or if you aren't feeling completely confident. There is, of course, the possibility that the wire past the box (in the wall) is the issue and you'll never find it there. >> >> In the interim can you plug it into another outlet that is not showing a ground fault on your tripplite? > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From erik.mitchell at gmail.com Fri Jan 4 10:15:32 2013 From: erik.mitchell at gmail.com (Erik Mitchell) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 10:15:32 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: <50E6FF9E.7040304@me.com> References: <50e6ca83.6e66.ae435b70.3e967578@rrt.net> <50E6EC9B.5010404@me.com> <4252AEA8-B5F4-4F4E-BD7C-04FE1D68CFBC@secure-computing.net> <50E6FF9E.7040304@me.com> Message-ID: I think it's unclear. I checked the patent office and the patent for electricity doesn't say anything about temperature. On Fri, Jan 4, 2013 at 10:13 AM, Ryan Coleman wrote: > That is patently OK. people make MISTAKES. > > Jesus. > > > On 1/4/2013 9:59 AM, Eric Crist wrote: >> >> This is patently false. The neutral doesn't ever get 'hot.' In fact, if >> you look in most electrical panels, the neutral and grounds are often tied >> together on a bus bar. The ONLY way you're getting shocked is if your HOT >> (black or red, usually) is shorted against the grate itself or another part >> of the HVAC system. >> >> ----- >> Eric F Crist >> >> >> >> On Jan 4, 2013, at 08:52:11, Ryan Coleman wrote: >> >>> I agree... you could do a once-over first... turn off the breaker for >>> that room/outlet group and remove the outlet from the wall box... Check to >>> see if there's a loose connection or if the ground is intersecting with the >>> neutral in any way (It's not likely the hot [black] wire that's bad judging >>> by the intermittent nature)... at least then you've looked at all you can >>> physically look at... >>> >>> Return the outlet to the box, making sure you don't have any crosses or >>> other concerns and, once battened down, you can flip your breaker back on. >>> >>> Of course if you have a fear of high voltage don't do the above work... >>> or if you aren't feeling completely confident. There is, of course, the >>> possibility that the wire past the box (in the wall) is the issue and you'll >>> never find it there. >>> >>> In the interim can you plug it into another outlet that is not showing a >>> ground fault on your tripplite? >> >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list -- Erik K. Mitchell erik.mitchell at gmail.com From ryanjcole at me.com Fri Jan 4 10:19:04 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2013 10:19:04 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: <994D9F23C50CD44BA7A8AED87EC114C710E5EE36@de08ex3001.global.ds.honeywell.com> References: <994D9F23C50CD44BA7A8AED87EC114C710E5EE36@de08ex3001.global.ds.honeywell.com> Message-ID: <50E700F8.5080009@me.com> On 1/4/2013 10:04 AM, Smith, Craig A (MN14) wrote: >> my 9yo daughter looks shocked and says the computer buzzed her. i touch what she touched, floor grate and computer chassis, and buzzo. so perhaps improper grounding might be a factor in mobo deaths? > > Many years ago, I got a shock from the metal chassis of my dad's reel-to-reel tape deck. He said "unplug and plug it in the other way" (this was before the days polarized plugs). I tried this and it worked! > > The explanation was that there was a high-impedance short between the power transformer and the chassis. Plugging it in the other way moved the short closer to neutral (grounded at the fuse-box and the utility pole). > > Assuming you have a polarized plug, you might check your outlet. You can buy a 3-led tester at the hardware store for less than $5. > > If you're using a UPS, then that may be at fault. I assumed (shame on me) that by "tripp lite" that mentioned in his next email was a tester of some sort... but I would think that along your thought line there that testing on another outlet would work just as well? Extensions suck but I would recommend that everyone have at least one heavy duty extension cord in their homes of 25-50 feet in length. They are worth every penny (I have four - but two are in my car for my day job). From david.nelsen at slingshot-hci.com Fri Jan 4 10:25:25 2013 From: david.nelsen at slingshot-hci.com (David Nelsen) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 10:25:25 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: <50E700F8.5080009@me.com> References: <994D9F23C50CD44BA7A8AED87EC114C710E5EE36@de08ex3001.global.ds.honeywell.com> <50E700F8.5080009@me.com> Message-ID: I agree- Take a volt meter if you have one and perform a voltage check from ground to hot, ground to neutral then hot to neutral. Neutral is the white wire connected to the left larger vertical prong and hot should be connected to the right smaller vertical prong. (Looking at the outlet) Also you may want to do a voltage check between computer chassis and ground. If you dont have a volt meter I strongly suggest picking up a cheap one or atleast getting a polarity checker from menards or the hardware store. You could have a problem where the outlet is mis wired and hot and neutral are reversed. This can present a transparent problem yet could be dangerous. Good Luck On Fri, Jan 4, 2013 at 10:19 AM, Ryan Coleman wrote: > On 1/4/2013 10:04 AM, Smith, Craig A (MN14) wrote: > >> my 9yo daughter looks shocked and says the computer buzzed her. i touch >>> what she touched, floor grate and computer chassis, and buzzo. so perhaps >>> improper grounding might be a factor in mobo deaths? >>> >> >> Many years ago, I got a shock from the metal chassis of my dad's >> reel-to-reel tape deck. He said "unplug and plug it in the other way" >> (this was before the days polarized plugs). I tried this and it worked! >> >> The explanation was that there was a high-impedance short between the >> power transformer and the chassis. Plugging it in the other way moved the >> short closer to neutral (grounded at the fuse-box and the utility pole). >> >> Assuming you have a polarized plug, you might check your outlet. You can >> buy a 3-led tester at the hardware store for less than $5. >> >> If you're using a UPS, then that may be at fault. >> > > I assumed (shame on me) that by "tripp lite" that mentioned in his next > email was a tester of some sort... but I would think that along your > thought line there that testing on another outlet would work just as well? > Extensions suck but I would recommend that everyone have at least one heavy > duty extension cord in their homes of 25-50 feet in length. They are worth > every penny (I have four - but two are in my car for my day job). > > ______________________________**_________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/**mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ryanjcole at me.com Fri Jan 4 10:37:26 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2013 10:37:26 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: References: <994D9F23C50CD44BA7A8AED87EC114C710E5EE36@de08ex3001.global.ds.honeywell.com> <50E700F8.5080009@me.com> Message-ID: <50E70546.3040508@me.com> On 1/4/2013 10:25 AM, David Nelsen wrote: > I agree- Take a volt meter if you have one and perform a voltage > check from ground to hot, ground to neutral then hot to neutral. > Neutral is the white wire connected to the left larger vertical prong > and hot should be connected to the right smaller vertical prong. > (Looking at the outlet) Also you may want to do a voltage check > between computer chassis and ground. If you dont have a volt meter I > strongly suggest picking up a cheap one or atleast getting a polarity > checker from menards or the hardware store. You could have a problem > where the outlet is mis wired and hot and neutral are reversed. This > can present a transparent problem yet could be dangerous. Good Luck > > > > On Fri, Jan 4, 2013 at 10:19 AM, Ryan Coleman > wrote: > > On 1/4/2013 10:04 AM, Smith, Craig A (MN14) wrote: > > my 9yo daughter looks shocked and says the computer buzzed > her. i touch what she touched, floor grate and computer > chassis, and buzzo. so perhaps improper grounding might > be a factor in mobo deaths? > > > Many years ago, I got a shock from the metal chassis of my > dad's reel-to-reel tape deck. He said "unplug and plug it in > the other way" (this was before the days polarized plugs). I > tried this and it worked! > > The explanation was that there was a high-impedance short > between the power transformer and the chassis. Plugging it in > the other way moved the short closer to neutral (grounded at > the fuse-box and the utility pole). > > Assuming you have a polarized plug, you might check your > outlet. You can buy a 3-led tester at the hardware store for > less than $5. > > If you're using a UPS, then that may be at fault. > > > I assumed (shame on me) that by "tripp lite" that mentioned in his > next email was a tester of some sort... but I would think that > along your thought line there that testing on another outlet would > work just as well? Extensions suck but I would recommend that > everyone have at least one heavy duty extension cord in their > homes of 25-50 feet in length. They are worth every penny (I have > four - but two are in my car for my day job). > This is a really easy test - it allowed me to discover that NONE of the "grounded" outlets in my apartment were, indeed, grounded... which is fine except for the fact that my UPS must have a ground... The landlord - upon learning of this problem - has agreed to get an outlet in each room properly grounded... he doesn't want to deal with my insurance company when I claim the explosion of battery acid from my UPS after a lightning strike (a little over dramatic, I admit, but I was amazed to find that out of 20 wall outlets 0 were actually grounded - and 15 of the plug pairs had a grounding pin... and a few of the outlets are still the cloth insulated wire...) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ryanjcole at me.com Fri Jan 4 10:40:53 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2013 10:40:53 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for borrow or sale? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <50E70615.3070102@me.com> I'd be interested in renting one as well... I used the SuperCoolScan 5000 in my days in the photolab a decade ago and I want to archive my father's 5000-slide collection... I have no problem using bulk loaders - I know they jam but I can have it scan while I'm working and spend a minute or two an hour unjamming the auto-feeder. On 1/4/2013 1:08 AM, Michael Moore wrote: > Not quite Linux (except that I'd love to be able to use it under > Linux) but it seems like something someone on this list might have > sitting around. > > Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for sale or for borrow? > > My dad has 6,000+ photographic slides that I'd like to digitize so I'm > looking for something like a Nikon Coolscan 4000 (or other) with a > batch auto-loader, or a Pacific Image PowerSlide 5000, or similar. > > Ideally it'd be USB or Firewire, but I'd be willing to buy a SCSI card > if an old Coolscan were a good deal. > > Thanks, > Michael Moore > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From ecrist at secure-computing.net Fri Jan 4 10:43:53 2013 From: ecrist at secure-computing.net (Eric Crist) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 10:43:53 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: <50E70546.3040508@me.com> References: <994D9F23C50CD44BA7A8AED87EC114C710E5EE36@de08ex3001.global.ds.honeywell.com> <50E700F8.5080009@me.com> <50E70546.3040508@me.com> Message-ID: <6C8BCF0F-0960-4A5D-8693-C56C2DEDDA97@secure-computing.net> Older structures didn't have grounded outlets. Many installs used metallic conduit which was retrofitted as a ground. Most places, including old apartment complexes, replaced the old two-prong outlets with grounded outlets without grounding them. They did this in most cases because of the complaints from tenants when they could plug in their grounded-cord appliances. This is more common than you might think. It's technically against code, but not something that generally requires an inspection. You're not likely to see the landlord replace the wiring with THHN or romex due to the high cost of labor and materials. ----- Eric F Crist On Jan 4, 2013, at 10:37:26, Ryan Coleman wrote: > This is a really easy test - it allowed me to discover that NONE of the "grounded" outlets in my apartment were, indeed, grounded... which is fine except for the fact that my UPS must have a ground... The landlord - upon learning of this problem - has agreed to get an outlet in each room properly grounded... he doesn't want to deal with my insurance company when I claim the explosion of battery acid from my UPS after a lightning strike (a little over dramatic, I admit, but I was amazed to find that out of 20 wall outlets 0 were actually grounded - and 15 of the plug pairs had a grounding pin... and a few of the outlets are still the cloth insulated wire...) > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From ryanjcole at me.com Fri Jan 4 10:52:38 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2013 10:52:38 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: <6C8BCF0F-0960-4A5D-8693-C56C2DEDDA97@secure-computing.net> References: <994D9F23C50CD44BA7A8AED87EC114C710E5EE36@de08ex3001.global.ds.honeywell.com> <50E700F8.5080009@me.com> <50E70546.3040508@me.com> <6C8BCF0F-0960-4A5D-8693-C56C2DEDDA97@secure-computing.net> Message-ID: <50E708D6.1050005@me.com> True but his alternative is I run 75 feet of grounding copper into a grounding rod outside and drill a hole through the exterior wall - which he would be paying for. I run my server in my apartment - it's going to be done in the spring if he can't stomach the cost of the electrician. On 1/4/2013 10:43 AM, Eric Crist wrote: > Older structures didn't have grounded outlets. Many installs used metallic conduit which was retrofitted as a ground. Most places, including old apartment complexes, replaced the old two-prong outlets with grounded outlets without grounding them. They did this in most cases because of the complaints from tenants when they could plug in their grounded-cord appliances. This is more common than you might think. It's technically against code, but not something that generally requires an inspection. You're not likely to see the landlord replace the wiring with THHN or romex due to the high cost of labor and materials. > > ----- > Eric F Crist > > > > On Jan 4, 2013, at 10:37:26, Ryan Coleman wrote: > >> This is a really easy test - it allowed me to discover that NONE of the "grounded" outlets in my apartment were, indeed, grounded... which is fine except for the fact that my UPS must have a ground... The landlord - upon learning of this problem - has agreed to get an outlet in each room properly grounded... he doesn't want to deal with my insurance company when I claim the explosion of battery acid from my UPS after a lightning strike (a little over dramatic, I admit, but I was amazed to find that out of 20 wall outlets 0 were actually grounded - and 15 of the plug pairs had a grounding pin... and a few of the outlets are still the cloth insulated wire...) >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From ecrist at secure-computing.net Fri Jan 4 10:53:38 2013 From: ecrist at secure-computing.net (Eric Crist) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 10:53:38 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: <50E708D6.1050005@me.com> References: <994D9F23C50CD44BA7A8AED87EC114C710E5EE36@de08ex3001.global.ds.honeywell.com> <50E700F8.5080009@me.com> <50E70546.3040508@me.com> <6C8BCF0F-0960-4A5D-8693-C56C2DEDDA97@secure-computing.net> <50E708D6.1050005@me.com> Message-ID: <3C81696D-9313-4F03-B3EC-5CCB02D7664A@secure-computing.net> I would strongly recommend one of the two of you pay for an electrician. ----- Eric F Crist On Jan 4, 2013, at 10:52:38, Ryan Coleman wrote: > True but his alternative is I run 75 feet of grounding copper into a grounding rod outside and drill a hole through the exterior wall - which he would be paying for. > > I run my server in my apartment - it's going to be done in the spring if he can't stomach the cost of the electrician. > > On 1/4/2013 10:43 AM, Eric Crist wrote: >> Older structures didn't have grounded outlets. Many installs used metallic conduit which was retrofitted as a ground. Most places, including old apartment complexes, replaced the old two-prong outlets with grounded outlets without grounding them. They did this in most cases because of the complaints from tenants when they could plug in their grounded-cord appliances. This is more common than you might think. It's technically against code, but not something that generally requires an inspection. You're not likely to see the landlord replace the wiring with THHN or romex due to the high cost of labor and materials. >> >> ----- >> Eric F Crist >> >> >> >> On Jan 4, 2013, at 10:37:26, Ryan Coleman wrote: >> >>> This is a really easy test - it allowed me to discover that NONE of the "grounded" outlets in my apartment were, indeed, grounded... which is fine except for the fact that my UPS must have a ground... The landlord - upon learning of this problem - has agreed to get an outlet in each room properly grounded... he doesn't want to deal with my insurance company when I claim the explosion of battery acid from my UPS after a lightning strike (a little over dramatic, I admit, but I was amazed to find that out of 20 wall outlets 0 were actually grounded - and 15 of the plug pairs had a grounding pin... and a few of the outlets are still the cloth insulated wire...) >>> _______________________________________________ >>> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >>> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >>> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > From david.nelsen at slingshot-hci.com Fri Jan 4 10:58:58 2013 From: david.nelsen at slingshot-hci.com (David Nelsen) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 10:58:58 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: <3C81696D-9313-4F03-B3EC-5CCB02D7664A@secure-computing.net> References: <994D9F23C50CD44BA7A8AED87EC114C710E5EE36@de08ex3001.global.ds.honeywell.com> <50E700F8.5080009@me.com> <50E70546.3040508@me.com> <6C8BCF0F-0960-4A5D-8693-C56C2DEDDA97@secure-computing.net> <50E708D6.1050005@me.com> <3C81696D-9313-4F03-B3EC-5CCB02D7664A@secure-computing.net> Message-ID: Check the bathroom or kitchen- If there is a GFI in either location it should be grounded. A bathroom water supply pipe will work in a pinch too. Use the cold. On Fri, Jan 4, 2013 at 10:53 AM, Eric Crist wrote: > I would strongly recommend one of the two of you pay for an electrician. > > ----- > Eric F Crist > > > > On Jan 4, 2013, at 10:52:38, Ryan Coleman wrote: > > > True but his alternative is I run 75 feet of grounding copper into a > grounding rod outside and drill a hole through the exterior wall - which he > would be paying for. > > > > I run my server in my apartment - it's going to be done in the spring if > he can't stomach the cost of the electrician. > > > > On 1/4/2013 10:43 AM, Eric Crist wrote: > >> Older structures didn't have grounded outlets. Many installs used > metallic conduit which was retrofitted as a ground. Most places, including > old apartment complexes, replaced the old two-prong outlets with grounded > outlets without grounding them. They did this in most cases because of the > complaints from tenants when they could plug in their grounded-cord > appliances. This is more common than you might think. It's technically > against code, but not something that generally requires an inspection. > You're not likely to see the landlord replace the wiring with THHN or > romex due to the high cost of labor and materials. > >> > >> ----- > >> Eric F Crist > >> > >> > >> > >> On Jan 4, 2013, at 10:37:26, Ryan Coleman wrote: > >> > >>> This is a really easy test - it allowed me to discover that NONE of > the "grounded" outlets in my apartment were, indeed, grounded... which is > fine except for the fact that my UPS must have a ground... The landlord - > upon learning of this problem - has agreed to get an outlet in each room > properly grounded... he doesn't want to deal with my insurance company when > I claim the explosion of battery acid from my UPS after a lightning strike > (a little over dramatic, I admit, but I was amazed to find that out of 20 > wall outlets 0 were actually grounded - and 15 of the plug pairs had a > grounding pin... and a few of the outlets are still the cloth insulated > wire...) > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > >>> tclug-list at mn-linux.org > >>> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > >> _______________________________________________ > >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org > >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From stuporglue at gmail.com Fri Jan 4 11:02:30 2013 From: stuporglue at gmail.com (Michael Moore) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 11:02:30 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for borrow or sale? In-Reply-To: <2DFBB6F4-E4CB-48F6-9DF5-20A97B29ED61@gmail.com> References: <2DFBB6F4-E4CB-48F6-9DF5-20A97B29ED61@gmail.com> Message-ID: On Fri, Jan 4, 2013 at 7:10 AM, Thomas Lunde wrote: > I tried to do this very same project. The auto loaders jam and it takes forever. I have heard that they need some tuning to run smoothly. Most of the slides I've got are in good condition and they're all the same type, so I'm optimistic. > Follow Scancafe on twitter and wait for a 1/3 off (or better) sale. I realize that this sounds like an ad, but I'm just a happy customer. Done. I see I just missed one at the end of 2012. > I'd been playing with slide scanners on Linux (e.g. a Coolscan LS-30 with Vuescan) since 1998 (!) & finally went the SC route. Wish I had done so years ago. From tclug1 at whitleymott.net Fri Jan 4 11:08:28 2013 From: tclug1 at whitleymott.net (gregrwm) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 11:08:28 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: References: <994D9F23C50CD44BA7A8AED87EC114C710E5EE36@de08ex3001.global.ds.honeywell.com> <50E700F8.5080009@me.com> <50E70546.3040508@me.com> <6C8BCF0F-0960-4A5D-8693-C56C2DEDDA97@secure-computing.net> <50E708D6.1050005@me.com> <3C81696D-9313-4F03-B3EC-5CCB02D7664A@secure-computing.net> Message-ID: in this age of plastic pipes, faucets ain't necessarily what they used to be. this here tripp lite says "line fault" at the socket i sadly was using, but says "line ok" and "protection present" at another socket. i'm presuming that means all 3 wires are as they should be, at this outlet, and the tripp lite should have passable surge protection. am i being overly trusting? From ryanjcole at me.com Fri Jan 4 11:11:47 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2013 11:11:47 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: References: <994D9F23C50CD44BA7A8AED87EC114C710E5EE36@de08ex3001.global.ds.honeywell.com> <50E700F8.5080009@me.com> <50E70546.3040508@me.com> <6C8BCF0F-0960-4A5D-8693-C56C2DEDDA97@secure-computing.net> <50E708D6.1050005@me.com> <3C81696D-9313-4F03-B3EC-5CCB02D7664A@secure-computing.net> Message-ID: <50E70D53.7060909@me.com> On 1/4/2013 11:08 AM, gregrwm wrote: > in this age of plastic pipes, faucets ain't necessarily what they used to be. > > this here tripp lite says "line fault" at the socket i sadly was > using, but says "line ok" and "protection present" at another socket. > i'm presuming that means all 3 wires are as they should be, at this > outlet, and the tripp lite should have passable surge protection. am > i being overly trusting? > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list No, I'd suspect that the top outlet in the box is faulty... you could replace it fairly easily with the instructions I gave earlier... Buy a replacement receptacle at a hardware store. Turn the breaker to off. Remove the faulty outlet. Put in the new one (putting the ground, neutral and hot in the right locations) Screw down the receptacle in the box Turn the breaker back on. Test and you should be good. If one outlet works properly and the other doesn't that's (IMHO) all that you need to do. From stuporglue at gmail.com Fri Jan 4 11:15:40 2013 From: stuporglue at gmail.com (Michael Moore) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 11:15:40 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: References: <994D9F23C50CD44BA7A8AED87EC114C710E5EE36@de08ex3001.global.ds.honeywell.com> <50E700F8.5080009@me.com> <50E70546.3040508@me.com> <6C8BCF0F-0960-4A5D-8693-C56C2DEDDA97@secure-computing.net> <50E708D6.1050005@me.com> <3C81696D-9313-4F03-B3EC-5CCB02D7664A@secure-computing.net> Message-ID: On Fri, Jan 4, 2013 at 10:58 AM, David Nelsen wrote: > Check the bathroom or kitchen- If there is a GFI in either location it > should be grounded. A bathroom water supply pipe will work in a pinch too. > Use the cold. If you do this test to make sure the cold is actually grounded. My grandpa had been using cold as ground and then fixed a pipe segment with PVC. Everyone was getting shocks on the faucets until he realized what he'd done. -- Michael From tclug1 at whitleymott.net Fri Jan 4 11:23:49 2013 From: tclug1 at whitleymott.net (gregrwm) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 11:23:49 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] putter lab In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: cycles for change, aka sibley bike shop, has weekly "open shop". i repacked my front bearings for 75? in parts. volunteer advice, shoptime, and tool use all free. i don't suppose there's any computer equivalent. free geek might perhaps have the most potential for cajoling into pondering the prospect, and i still wouldn't expect it. or is there a hidden gem around town for me to discover? From david.nelsen at slingshot-hci.com Fri Jan 4 11:51:27 2013 From: david.nelsen at slingshot-hci.com (David Nelsen) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 11:51:27 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: References: <994D9F23C50CD44BA7A8AED87EC114C710E5EE36@de08ex3001.global.ds.honeywell.com> <50E700F8.5080009@me.com> <50E70546.3040508@me.com> <6C8BCF0F-0960-4A5D-8693-C56C2DEDDA97@secure-computing.net> <50E708D6.1050005@me.com> <3C81696D-9313-4F03-B3EC-5CCB02D7664A@secure-computing.net> Message-ID: If you bond to a metal pipe, ground will conduct through the water regardless if a segment is plastic. In a pinch only- not to code. If the UPS doesn't error on another outlet then it is probably ok but a quick voltage check on the outlet wouldn't hurt. On Fri, Jan 4, 2013 at 11:15 AM, Michael Moore wrote: > On Fri, Jan 4, 2013 at 10:58 AM, David Nelsen > wrote: > > Check the bathroom or kitchen- If there is a GFI in either location it > > should be grounded. A bathroom water supply pipe will work in a pinch > too. > > Use the cold. > > If you do this test to make sure the cold is actually grounded. My > grandpa had been using cold as ground and then fixed a pipe segment > with PVC. Everyone was getting shocks on the faucets until he realized > what he'd done. > > -- > Michael > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From wdtj at yahoo.com Fri Jan 4 12:13:16 2013 From: wdtj at yahoo.com (Wayne Johnson) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 10:13:16 -0800 (PST) Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1357323196.65621.YahooMailNeo@web121504.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Most likely you have a bad ground since you obviously have power.? Grounds are important on PC equipment in that they help remove stray static electricity.? Check the rest of your house and see if you have the same or if it's just that plug. If it's the whole house you have a big safety problem.? House wiring (at least for recent codes) need 3 ground points.? The power companies ground, a copper stake in the ground, and a water pipe.? Loss of any of these is a issue, especially since thieves have been stealing the ground wires off the power poles for the copper. ? --- Wayne Johnson,???????????? | There are two kinds of people: Those 3943 Penn Ave. N.????????? | who say to God, "Thy will be done," Minneapolis, MN 55412-1908 | and those to whom God says, "All right, (612) 522-7003???????????? | then, have it your way." --C.S. Lewis >________________________________ > From: gregrwm >To: tclug-list at mn-linux.org >Sent: Friday, January 4, 2013 12:21 AM >Subject: Re: [tclug-list] power > >plugged in a tripp lite.? says "line fault".? arrg.? poor defenseless mobos. >_______________________________________________ >TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >tclug-list at mn-linux.org >http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ecrist at secure-computing.net Fri Jan 4 12:15:05 2013 From: ecrist at secure-computing.net (Eric Crist) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 12:15:05 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: <1357323196.65621.YahooMailNeo@web121504.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> References: <1357323196.65621.YahooMailNeo@web121504.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <7ED5E1C2-399B-4BEB-B6D0-5BE20864D826@secure-computing.net> Power companies, in my experience, don't provide a ground from the utility. ----- Eric F Crist On Jan 4, 2013, at 12:13:16, Wayne Johnson wrote: > Most likely you have a bad ground since you obviously have power. Grounds are important on PC equipment in that they help remove stray static electricity. Check the rest of your house and see if you have the same or if it's just that plug. > > If it's the whole house you have a big safety problem. House wiring (at least for recent codes) need 3 ground points. The power companies ground, a copper stake in the ground, and a water pipe. Loss of any of these is a issue, especially since thieves have been stealing the ground wires off the power poles for the copper. > > > --- > Wayne Johnson, | There are two kinds of people: Those > 3943 Penn Ave. N. | who say to God, "Thy will be done," > Minneapolis, MN 55412-1908 | and those to whom God says, "All right, > (612) 522-7003 | then, have it your way." --C.S. Lewis > > From: gregrwm > To: tclug-list at mn-linux.org > Sent: Friday, January 4, 2013 12:21 AM > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] power > > plugged in a tripp lite. says "line fault". arrg. poor defenseless mobos. > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From wdtj at yahoo.com Fri Jan 4 12:30:24 2013 From: wdtj at yahoo.com (Wayne Johnson) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 10:30:24 -0800 (PST) Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: <7ED5E1C2-399B-4BEB-B6D0-5BE20864D826@secure-computing.net> References: <1357323196.65621.YahooMailNeo@web121504.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> <7ED5E1C2-399B-4BEB-B6D0-5BE20864D826@secure-computing.net> Message-ID: <1357324224.35546.YahooMailNeo@web121502.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Not true.? That's the third (bare) wire coming into the house.? It's both ground and neutral.? It is then tied to both the ground and neutral busses in the box.? Usually there is one power pole somewhere on the block that has a wire from this common to a copper grounding rod.? At least that's what I found when I replaced my fusebox (and with the aid of a licensed electrician).? When we had the tornado come through north Minneapolis we had lots of issues with houses that lost their wired grounds and the journyman electricians were getting injured because the power pole grounds were all torn out.? ? --- Wayne Johnson,???????????? | There are two kinds of people: Those 3943 Penn Ave. N.????????? | who say to God, "Thy will be done," Minneapolis, MN 55412-1908 | and those to whom God says, "All right, (612) 522-7003???????????? | then, have it your way." --C.S. Lewis >________________________________ > From: Eric Crist >To: Wayne Johnson ; TCLUG Mailing List >Sent: Friday, January 4, 2013 12:15 PM >Subject: Re: [tclug-list] power > >Power companies, in my experience, don't provide a ground from the utility. >----- >Eric F Crist > > > >On Jan 4, 2013, at 12:13:16, Wayne Johnson wrote: > >> Most likely you have a bad ground since you obviously have power.? Grounds are important on PC equipment in that they help remove stray static electricity.? Check the rest of your house and see if you have the same or if it's just that plug. >> >> If it's the whole house you have a big safety problem.? House wiring (at least for recent codes) need 3 ground points.? The power companies ground, a copper stake in the ground, and a water pipe.? Loss of any of these is a issue, especially since thieves have been stealing the ground wires off the power poles for the copper. >> >>? >> --- >> Wayne Johnson,? ? ? ? ? ? | There are two kinds of people: Those >> 3943 Penn Ave. N.? ? ? ? ? | who say to God, "Thy will be done," >> Minneapolis, MN 55412-1908 | and those to whom God says, "All right, >> (612) 522-7003? ? ? ? ? ? | then, have it your way." --C.S. Lewis >> >> From: gregrwm >> To: tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> Sent: Friday, January 4, 2013 12:21 AM >> Subject: Re: [tclug-list] power >> >> plugged in a tripp lite.? says "line fault".? arrg.? poor defenseless mobos. >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ecrist at secure-computing.net Fri Jan 4 12:32:30 2013 From: ecrist at secure-computing.net (Eric Crist) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 12:32:30 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: <1357324224.35546.YahooMailNeo@web121502.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> References: <1357323196.65621.YahooMailNeo@web121504.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> <7ED5E1C2-399B-4BEB-B6D0-5BE20864D826@secure-computing.net> <1357324224.35546.YahooMailNeo@web121502.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <7706703B-8176-4D4D-8ACB-8D46DA2D63AE@secure-computing.net> Right, it's a neutral, and not considered service-side to be a ground. Neutral is required for the electricity to flow. The ground at the poles isn't for service customers - it's for the power company's own systems and infrastructure. Neutral and ground are bound on two busses inside the electrical panel - but server two distinct purposes. ----- Eric F Crist On Jan 4, 2013, at 12:30:24, Wayne Johnson wrote: > Not true. That's the third (bare) wire coming into the house. It's both ground and neutral. It is then tied to both the ground and neutral busses in the box. Usually there is one power pole somewhere on the block that has a wire from this common to a copper grounding rod. At least that's what I found when I replaced my fusebox (and with the aid of a licensed electrician). > > When we had the tornado come through north Minneapolis we had lots of issues with houses that lost their wired grounds and the journyman electricians were getting injured because the power pole grounds were all torn out. > > --- > Wayne Johnson, | There are two kinds of people: Those > 3943 Penn Ave. N. | who say to God, "Thy will be done," > Minneapolis, MN 55412-1908 | and those to whom God says, "All right, > (612) 522-7003 | then, have it your way." --C.S. Lewis > > From: Eric Crist > To: Wayne Johnson ; TCLUG Mailing List > Sent: Friday, January 4, 2013 12:15 PM > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] power > > Power companies, in my experience, don't provide a ground from the utility. > ----- > Eric F Crist > > > > On Jan 4, 2013, at 12:13:16, Wayne Johnson wrote: > > > Most likely you have a bad ground since you obviously have power. Grounds are important on PC equipment in that they help remove stray static electricity. Check the rest of your house and see if you have the same or if it's just that plug. > > > > If it's the whole house you have a big safety problem. House wiring (at least for recent codes) need 3 ground points. The power companies ground, a copper stake in the ground, and a water pipe. Loss of any of these is a issue, especially since thieves have been stealing the ground wires off the power poles for the copper. > > > > > > --- > > Wayne Johnson, | There are two kinds of people: Those > > 3943 Penn Ave. N. | who say to God, "Thy will be done," > > Minneapolis, MN 55412-1908 | and those to whom God says, "All right, > > (612) 522-7003 | then, have it your way." --C.S. Lewis > > > > From: gregrwm > > To: tclug-list at mn-linux.org > > Sent: Friday, January 4, 2013 12:21 AM > > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] power > > > > plugged in a tripp lite. says "line fault". arrg. poor defenseless mobos. > > _______________________________________________ > > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > > From jus at krytosvirus.com Fri Jan 4 12:55:08 2013 From: jus at krytosvirus.com (Justin Krejci) Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2013 12:55:08 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: <7706703B-8176-4D4D-8ACB-8D46DA2D63AE@secure-computing.net> References: <1357323196.65621.YahooMailNeo@web121504.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> <7ED5E1C2-399B-4BEB-B6D0-5BE20864D826@secure-computing.net> <1357324224.35546.YahooMailNeo@web121502.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> <7706703B-8176-4D4D-8ACB-8D46DA2D63AE@secure-computing.net> Message-ID: <1357325709730-019-01934703.jus.krytosvirus.com@[10.1.0.160]> I have very recent experience on this having just recently built a new house. When getting the physical phone lines run from the pedestal in the street to the house I had a curve ball thrown at me as the phone line HAS to be connected to the house where the power comes in. Where the power comes in there HAS to be a dedicated ground with a provided grounding plate for phone and others to ground to. This is per code according to both the CenturyLink tech and my electrician. So whether the "power company" has to provide the ground directly or "the electrician responsible for the house wiring" has to provide the ground... I don't know, I just know it IS required to be present for code. In my case I had ran all of the low voltage everywhere in the house and having noted that the CenturyLink pedestal is on the north west corner of my property and the north west corner of my house is where I have all of my cables terminated at I thought this was going to be perfect, they can run the phone line up about 20 feet to my house and be done. The curve ball is that the power is on the opposite side of the house (breaker box in the attached garage) so the phone line had to be brought in over there to attach to the power ground. So I had to obviously run a new cable through the garage back over to where my wiring all runs to for DSL. Too bad I didn't know about this myself until after the drywall was all installed. It is so much easier and cleaner to run the cabling inside the walls. Oh well, at least the room where it all runs to is adjacent to the garage so I only had to go through one internal wall. On Fri, 2013-01-04 at 12:32 -0600, Eric Crist wrote: > Right, it's a neutral, and not considered service-side to be a ground. Neutral is required for the electricity to flow. The ground at the poles isn't for service customers - it's for the power company's own systems and infrastructure. Neutral and ground are bound on two busses inside the electrical panel - but server two distinct purposes. > > ----- > Eric F Crist > > > > On Jan 4, 2013, at 12:30:24, Wayne Johnson wrote: > > > Not true. That's the third (bare) wire coming into the house. It's both ground and neutral. It is then tied to both the ground and neutral busses in the box. Usually there is one power pole somewhere on the block that has a wire from this common to a copper grounding rod. At least that's what I found when I replaced my fusebox (and with the aid of a licensed electrician). > > > > When we had the tornado come through north Minneapolis we had lots of issues with houses that lost their wired grounds and the journyman electricians were getting injured because the power pole grounds were all torn out. > > > > --- > > Wayne Johnson, | There are two kinds of people: Those > > 3943 Penn Ave. N. | who say to God, "Thy will be done," > > Minneapolis, MN 55412-1908 | and those to whom God says, "All right, > > (612) 522-7003 | then, have it your way." --C.S. Lewis > > > > From: Eric Crist > > To: Wayne Johnson ; TCLUG Mailing List > > Sent: Friday, January 4, 2013 12:15 PM > > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] power > > > > Power companies, in my experience, don't provide a ground from the utility. > > ----- > > Eric F Crist > > > > > > > > On Jan 4, 2013, at 12:13:16, Wayne Johnson wrote: > > > > > Most likely you have a bad ground since you obviously have power. Grounds are important on PC equipment in that they help remove stray static electricity. Check the rest of your house and see if you have the same or if it's just that plug. > > > > > > If it's the whole house you have a big safety problem. House wiring (at least for recent codes) need 3 ground points. The power companies ground, a copper stake in the ground, and a water pipe. Loss of any of these is a issue, especially since thieves have been stealing the ground wires off the power poles for the copper. > > > > > > > > > --- > > > Wayne Johnson, | There are two kinds of people: Those > > > 3943 Penn Ave. N. | who say to God, "Thy will be done," > > > Minneapolis, MN 55412-1908 | and those to whom God says, "All right, > > > (612) 522-7003 | then, have it your way." --C.S. Lewis > > > > > > From: gregrwm > > > To: tclug-list at mn-linux.org > > > Sent: Friday, January 4, 2013 12:21 AM > > > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] power > > > > > > plugged in a tripp lite. says "line fault". arrg. poor defenseless mobos. > > > _______________________________________________ > > > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > > > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > > > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > > > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > > > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ecrist at secure-computing.net Fri Jan 4 13:03:02 2013 From: ecrist at secure-computing.net (Eric Crist) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 13:03:02 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: <1357325709730-019-01934703.jus.krytosvirus.com@[10.1.0.160]> References: <1357323196.65621.YahooMailNeo@web121504.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> <7ED5E1C2-399B-4BEB-B6D0-5BE20864D826@secure-computing.net> <1357324224.35546.YahooMailNeo@web121502.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> <7706703B-8176-4D4D-8ACB-8D46DA2D63AE@secure-computing.net> <1357325709730-019-01934703.jus.krytosvirus.com@[10.1.0.160]> Message-ID: This is provided by the electrician. The electrical company's liability ends at the meter. Often, they will not provide service until there is a proper ground for the premise. This ground rod is the electrical system ground - my pedantic point here was the ground at the pole isn't designed to ground your home/business, but is for the power company. As far as new homes, there is usually a grounding bar provided at/near the electrical meter, as the system electrical ground needs to be within 20 feet wire length from the point of entry of electrical service. Other electrical systems are required to use this ground (though they don't physically need to be there, they need to run a ground back to this grounding bar. This is considered a common electrical bond. It's all designed to make everything safer. For the purposes of code, every different system, your home network, your telephones, your CATV, etc, is considered a separate "system" and, according to NEC, should be bonded to the common electrical bond. Water pipes, etc, are no longer accepted according to code. ----- Eric F Crist On Jan 4, 2013, at 12:55:08, Justin Krejci wrote: > I have very recent experience on this having just recently built a new house. When getting the physical phone lines run from the pedestal in the street to the house I had a curve ball thrown at me as the phone line HAS to be connected to the house where the power comes in. Where the power comes in there HAS to be a dedicated ground with a provided grounding plate for phone and others to ground to. This is per code according to both the CenturyLink tech and my electrician. So whether the "power company" has to provide the ground directly or "the electrician responsible for the house wiring" has to provide the ground... I don't know, I just know it IS required to be present for code. From n0nas at amsat.org Fri Jan 4 13:26:04 2013 From: n0nas at amsat.org (Douglas H Reed) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 13:26:04 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power Message-ID: Most likely is that electrical outlet has lost its ground connection. This is assuming it is a 3-wire grounded outlet to begin with. If it is only a 2-wire plug, then the problem you are having with shocks would be the expected result. The cause of the problem would not be a fault in the computer, but a problem in the house wiring. You said you plugged in a Triplite power strip and the "line fault" light came on when plugged into one outlet but was OK in another outlet. That indicates there is a bad outlet and it needs to be replaced. This is easily something that you can do yourself if you are CAREFUL and not afraid of a screwdriver. I recommend you plug a radio or lamp into the outlet to be absolutely certain the power is off after you throw the breaker. Don't rely on the labeling in the box. If you are unsure what to do, either pay an electrician, or search online, or buy a "how-to" book at the hardware store, or visit the public library. If you can pump your own gas you should be able to do this. The suggestion to use a water pipe for ground is a possibility, but only if there is no ground already on the outlet string. Above all, DO NOT attempt to rely on the water in the pipe to provide an electrical ground path around your water meter or any plastic pipe in the system. Electrical code requires an actual copper jumper wire across the water meter or across any plastic pipe if the water lines are used for electrical grounds. Yes, water can be a conductor of electricity, but it isn't a very good conductor unless you have a high salt concentration in the water, which you don't. In case you are still unsure, let me mention that water-cooled transmitting tubes were fairly common 20 years ago. They used distilled water to cool high-power transmitting tubes with thousands of volts in the circuit. You absolutely don't want to rely on water for grounding your house. OK, a little more background, more than you wanted to know.... It has been standard practice for many years that computers are required to have RF Interference suppression on all wires leaving the case, including the power wires. This includes capacitors between all three wires of the cord and the chassis of the computer. One result of this is that if the chassis ground wire in the power cord is not hooked to ground at the outlet, the capacitors inside the computer act as a voltage divider and some amount of the 120VAC line voltage will appear on the metal chassis of the computer. Similar bypass capacitors exist in almost all radio and TV equipment going back to well before WW2. (I used to own a WW2 radio that gave me a tingle every time I touched it while barefoot on concrete....) This is not a short or any sort of fault in the equipment, it is just an unintended consequence of the design and NOT having a chassis ground wire on the equipment. I'm also not saying that an electrical fault or short in the computer is impossible, just unlikely, and if the equipment was properly grounded, an actual fault in the equipment would blow the circuit breaker through the chassis ground wire. Back in the early 60's, the electrical code was changed so that all new construction was required to use grounded outlets in the main living area of the house. Some time later this was extended to all wiring in the house, including basements. Eventually it became code that structures had to be upgraded to 3-wire outlets before they could be sold with a mortgage. Because of this it is very uncommon to still find old 2-wire outlets in a home. But that doesn't mean the outlet upgrade was done correctly. To upgrade house wiring, the minimum was to replace the 2-wire outlet with a 3-wire outlet and screw it into a metal outlet box that has metal conduit between the boxes. This is usually sufficient, but if any joints get rusty or loose, the grounding may fail. The best option is to have an actual copper ground wire from the outlet to the metal box and from box to box, all the way back to the electrical panel. This is what I prefer, but I'm a worrier..... In this particular instance, it sounds like you have one bad electrical outlet or the ground connection at the outlet has failed. I recommend you check the other outlets in the room and possibly all the outlets in the house or apartment, since if one failed, you don't know what else might have failed. I'd be most worried if you see the fault light flicker as you plug in a second cord to the outlet, or especially if the fault changes when you plug into a different outlet.... This ground fault is the most likely reason the computers died, especially if you have them connected to any other piece of equipment or to a network. If the computer can't get its ground through the 3-wire power cord as it should, it will try to make a ground through some other piece of equipment. And in most cases those other connections go through the motherboard which isn't designed to be a ground for the equipment. What happens when you put 60 volts into a PC card? POOF goes the mobo... There have been a lot of good replies to the original email and a few less good replies. I'm reasonably certain that anyone who can build their own computers and keep Linux running can locate and replace a bad outlet. There is lots of How-To help online, at YouTube, and in the public library. If you want you can even buy a book at Menards in the electrical department when you buy the replacement outlets..... Good luck! Doug Reed. From n0nas at amsat.org Fri Jan 4 13:49:53 2013 From: n0nas at amsat.org (Douglas H Reed) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 13:49:53 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] tclug-list Digest, Vol 97, Issue 9 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Eric is correct. The neutral wire from the pole and the ground wire in the house serve two distinctly different purposes. The fact that they tie together at the service entrance panel tends to confuse things, but they are for different purposes. The neutral wire (wide blade on the plug) is one-half of the circuit to carry the operating current for the device plugged into the outlet. The ground wire is for SAFETY. It is intended to provide a second layer of protection in case there is a problem with the equipment somewhere in the house. Once upon a time I read a nice article explaining exactly why they used two wires connected to the same point at one end. I couldn't find it for this discussion, but you can find a lot of info on the web if you want to continue the search. Otherwise here is one reference: Doug Reed. From cncole at earthlink.net Fri Jan 4 18:57:50 2013 From: cncole at earthlink.net (Chuck Cole) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 18:57:50 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for borrowor sale? In-Reply-To: <2DFBB6F4-E4CB-48F6-9DF5-20A97B29ED61@gmail.com> References: <2DFBB6F4-E4CB-48F6-9DF5-20A97B29ED61@gmail.com> Message-ID: <9A38FD4AD94E4D8FB06D3B60CD95EA4C@d830a> > -----Original Message----- > From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org > [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Lunde > Sent: Friday, January 04, 2013 7:10 AM > To: TCLUG Mailing List > Cc: TCLUG Mailing List > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide > scanner for borrowor sale? > > I tried to do this very same project. The auto loaders jam > and it takes forever. > > Follow Scancafe on twitter and wait for a 1/3 off (or better) > sale. I realize that this sounds like an ad, but I'm just a > happy customer. > > I'd been playing with slide scanners on Linux (e.g. a > Coolscan LS-30 with Vuescan) since 1998 (!) & finally went > the SC route. Wish I had done so years ago. > > Thomas Have had need for lots of extra time per slide using my scanner due to dust, etc. Just not practical, so SC is very attractive. I don't use Twitter, etc. Is there a more open way to learn of sales? By 1/3 off do you mean 1/3 or more off the $0.22 batch price shown on their site? Ie, less than $0.15 each in batches? I have mostly slides in standard plastic or cardboard mounts. These are usually not flat. Does SC assure media is flat (or compensate - which?) before scanning so all is sharp? Does SC automatically remove dust and scratches at no extra charge, or are those digitized unless extra work is ordered? I did not find clear answers for all these issues on their site: where are these covered? Chuck From tclug1 at whitleymott.net Fri Jan 4 19:37:07 2013 From: tclug1 at whitleymott.net (gregrwm) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 19:37:07 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: > It has been standard practice for many years that computers are > required to have RF Interference suppression on all wires leaving the > case, including the power wires. This includes capacitors between all > three wires of the cord and the chassis of the computer. One result of > this is that if the chassis ground wire in the power cord is not > hooked to ground at the outlet, the capacitors inside the computer act > as a voltage divider and some amount of the 120VAC line voltage will > appear on the metal chassis of the computer. > > Similar bypass capacitors exist in almost all radio and TV equipment > going back to well before WW2. (I used to own a WW2 radio that gave me > a tingle every time I touched it while barefoot on concrete....) This > is not a short or any sort of fault in the equipment, it is just an > unintended consequence of the design and NOT having a chassis ground > wire on the equipment. I'm also not saying that an electrical fault or > short in the computer is impossible, just unlikely, aha, this explains the current and many prior personal experiences. thank you. > and if the > equipment was properly grounded, an actual fault in the equipment > would blow the circuit breaker through the chassis ground wire. > > Back in the early 60's, the electrical code was changed so that all > new construction was required to use grounded outlets in the main > living area of the house. Some time later this was extended to all > wiring in the house, including basements. Eventually it became code > that structures had to be upgraded to 3-wire outlets before they could > be sold with a mortgage. Because of this it is very uncommon to still > find old 2-wire outlets in a home. But that doesn't mean the outlet > upgrade was done correctly. > > To upgrade house wiring, the minimum was to replace the 2-wire outlet > with a 3-wire outlet and screw it into a metal outlet box that has > metal conduit between the boxes. This is usually sufficient, but if > any joints get rusty or loose, the grounding may fail. >... > I'd be most worried if you see the fault > light flicker as you plug in a second cord to the outlet, good point to watch for! > This ground fault is the most likely reason the computers died, guess what, on good power my saddest seeming loss is now so far happily humming. insha'allah perhaps it's former flaky failures are now well explained and history. From cncole at earthlink.net Fri Jan 4 19:39:05 2013 From: cncole at earthlink.net (Chuck Cole) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 19:39:05 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: <4252AEA8-B5F4-4F4E-BD7C-04FE1D68CFBC@secure-computing.net> References: <50e6ca83.6e66.ae435b70.3e967578@rrt.net> <50E6EC9B.5010404@me.com> <4252AEA8-B5F4-4F4E-BD7C-04FE1D68CFBC@secure-computing.net> Message-ID: NO! DIY electricians often do some really dumb wiring for power and phones, etc. > -----Original Message----- > From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org > [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Eric Crist > Sent: Friday, January 04, 2013 9:59 AM > To: TCLUG Mailing List > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] power > > This is patently false. The neutral doesn't ever get 'hot.' > In fact, if you look in most electrical panels, the neutral > and grounds are often tied together on a bus bar. The ONLY > way you're getting shocked is if your HOT (black or red, > usually) is shorted against the grate itself or another part > of the HVAC system. > > ----- > Eric F Crist From ryanjcole at me.com Fri Jan 4 19:39:23 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:39:23 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] power In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <02C5CB1F-87C6-412A-A42C-EB07191B84CA@me.com> Huh? >> guess what, on good power my saddest seeming loss is now so far > happily humming. insha'allah perhaps it's former flaky failures are > now well explained and history. > From cncole at earthlink.net Fri Jan 4 19:56:50 2013 From: cncole at earthlink.net (Chuck Cole) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 19:56:50 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for borrowor sale? In-Reply-To: <50E70615.3070102@me.com> References: <50E70615.3070102@me.com> Message-ID: <13CDE7FD3E6C4ACEA26820098BCE764D@d830a> > -----Original Message----- > From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org > [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Coleman > Sent: Friday, January 04, 2013 10:41 AM > To: TCLUG Mailing List > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide > scanner for borrowor sale? > > I'd be interested in renting one as well... I used the > SuperCoolScan 5000 in my days in the photolab a decade ago > and I want to archive my father's 5000-slide collection... > > I have no problem using bulk loaders - I know they jam but I > can have it scan while I'm working and spend a minute or two > an hour unjamming the auto-feeder. DIY scanning often requires 10-30 minutes extra time PER SLIDE to remove dust and scratches unless there's a batch version of ICE to both speed up and automate this. My scanner doesn't have built-in ICE so it's a very time-consuming process, and very hard for me to eliminate dust here. Still doesn't deal with curved and popped slides in mounts.. Not auto flatten or compensation. Chuck From ryanjcole at me.com Fri Jan 4 18:59:00 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:59:00 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for borrowor sale? In-Reply-To: <9A38FD4AD94E4D8FB06D3B60CD95EA4C@d830a> References: <2DFBB6F4-E4CB-48F6-9DF5-20A97B29ED61@gmail.com> <9A38FD4AD94E4D8FB06D3B60CD95EA4C@d830a> Message-ID: <13DE1FD1-1520-4B3C-8586-BAE162EB3AE5@me.com> Twitter isn't closed. Just "open" your web browser. On Jan 4, 2013, at 18:57, Chuck Cole wrote: > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org >> [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Lunde >> Sent: Friday, January 04, 2013 7:10 AM >> To: TCLUG Mailing List >> Cc: TCLUG Mailing List >> Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide >> scanner for borrowor sale? >> >> I tried to do this very same project. The auto loaders jam >> and it takes forever. >> >> Follow Scancafe on twitter and wait for a 1/3 off (or better) >> sale. I realize that this sounds like an ad, but I'm just a >> happy customer. >> >> I'd been playing with slide scanners on Linux (e.g. a >> Coolscan LS-30 with Vuescan) since 1998 (!) & finally went >> the SC route. Wish I had done so years ago. >> >> Thomas > > Have had need for lots of extra time per slide using my scanner due to dust, > etc. Just not practical, so SC is very attractive. > > I don't use Twitter, etc. Is there a more open way to learn of sales? > By 1/3 off do you mean 1/3 or more off the $0.22 batch price shown on their > site? Ie, less than $0.15 each in batches? > > > I have mostly slides in standard plastic or cardboard mounts. These are > usually not flat. > Does SC assure media is flat (or compensate - which?) before scanning so all > is sharp? > > Does SC automatically remove dust and scratches > at no extra charge, or are those digitized unless extra work is ordered? > > I did not find clear answers for all these issues on their site: where are > these covered? > > > Chuck > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From cncole at earthlink.net Fri Jan 4 20:05:05 2013 From: cncole at earthlink.net (Chuck Cole) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 20:05:05 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for borrowor sale? In-Reply-To: <13DE1FD1-1520-4B3C-8586-BAE162EB3AE5@me.com> References: <2DFBB6F4-E4CB-48F6-9DF5-20A97B29ED61@gmail.com><9A38FD4AD94E4D8FB06D3B60CD95EA4C@d830a> <13DE1FD1-1520-4B3C-8586-BAE162EB3AE5@me.com> Message-ID: You are very mistaken. Closed by requiring membership and recording ID, opening possibilities of identity theft, piracy access, spamming, etc. I don't do promiscuous things like Twitter or Fazebook. > -----Original Message----- > From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org > [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Coleman > Sent: Friday, January 04, 2013 6:59 PM > To: TCLUG Mailing List > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide > scanner for borrowor sale? > > Twitter isn't closed. Just "open" your web browser. > > On Jan 4, 2013, at 18:57, Chuck Cole wrote: > > > > > > >> -----Original Message----- > >> From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org > >> [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Lunde > >> Sent: Friday, January 04, 2013 7:10 AM > >> To: TCLUG Mailing List > >> Cc: TCLUG Mailing List > >> Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide > scanner for > >> borrowor sale? > >> > >> I tried to do this very same project. The auto loaders jam and it > >> takes forever. > >> > >> Follow Scancafe on twitter and wait for a 1/3 off (or > better) sale. I > >> realize that this sounds like an ad, but I'm just a happy customer. > >> > >> I'd been playing with slide scanners on Linux (e.g. a > Coolscan LS-30 > >> with Vuescan) since 1998 (!) & finally went the SC route. > Wish I had > >> done so years ago. > >> > >> Thomas > > > > Have had need for lots of extra time per slide using my > scanner due to > > dust, etc. Just not practical, so SC is very attractive. > > > > I don't use Twitter, etc. Is there a more open way to > learn of sales? > > By 1/3 off do you mean 1/3 or more off the $0.22 batch > price shown on > > their site? Ie, less than $0.15 each in batches? > > > > > > I have mostly slides in standard plastic or cardboard > mounts. These > > are usually not flat. > > Does SC assure media is flat (or compensate - which?) > before scanning > > so all is sharp? > > > > Does SC automatically remove dust and > > scratches at no extra charge, or are those digitized unless > extra work is ordered? > > > > I did not find clear answers for all these issues on their > site: where > > are these covered? > > > > > > Chuck > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > From ryanjcole at me.com Fri Jan 4 20:06:15 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2013 20:06:15 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for borrowor sale? In-Reply-To: References: <2DFBB6F4-E4CB-48F6-9DF5-20A97B29ED61@gmail.com> <9A38FD4AD94E4D8FB06D3B60CD95EA4C@d830a> <13DE1FD1-1520-4B3C-8586-BAE162EB3AE5@me.com> Message-ID: Wrong again. Businesses who WANT MORE CUSTOMERS don't block their profiles. You're close minded and, please, stop. On Jan 4, 2013, at 20:05, Chuck Cole wrote: > You are very mistaken. > > Closed by requiring membership and recording ID, opening possibilities of > identity theft, piracy access, spamming, etc. > > I don't do promiscuous things like Twitter or Fazebook. > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org >> [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Coleman >> Sent: Friday, January 04, 2013 6:59 PM >> To: TCLUG Mailing List >> Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide >> scanner for borrowor sale? >> >> Twitter isn't closed. Just "open" your web browser. >> >> On Jan 4, 2013, at 18:57, Chuck Cole wrote: >> >>> >>> >>>> -----Original Message----- >>>> From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org >>>> [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Lunde >>>> Sent: Friday, January 04, 2013 7:10 AM >>>> To: TCLUG Mailing List >>>> Cc: TCLUG Mailing List >>>> Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide >> scanner for >>>> borrowor sale? >>>> >>>> I tried to do this very same project. The auto loaders jam and it >>>> takes forever. >>>> >>>> Follow Scancafe on twitter and wait for a 1/3 off (or >> better) sale. I >>>> realize that this sounds like an ad, but I'm just a happy customer. >>>> >>>> I'd been playing with slide scanners on Linux (e.g. a >> Coolscan LS-30 >>>> with Vuescan) since 1998 (!) & finally went the SC route. >> Wish I had >>>> done so years ago. >>>> >>>> Thomas >>> >>> Have had need for lots of extra time per slide using my >> scanner due to >>> dust, etc. Just not practical, so SC is very attractive. >>> >>> I don't use Twitter, etc. Is there a more open way to >> learn of sales? >>> By 1/3 off do you mean 1/3 or more off the $0.22 batch >> price shown on >>> their site? Ie, less than $0.15 each in batches? >>> >>> >>> I have mostly slides in standard plastic or cardboard >> mounts. These >>> are usually not flat. >>> Does SC assure media is flat (or compensate - which?) >> before scanning >>> so all is sharp? >>> >>> Does SC automatically remove dust and >>> scratches at no extra charge, or are those digitized unless >> extra work is ordered? >>> >>> I did not find clear answers for all these issues on their >> site: where >>> are these covered? >>> >>> >>> Chuck >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >>> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >>> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From cncole at earthlink.net Sat Jan 5 01:30:17 2013 From: cncole at earthlink.net (Chuck Cole) Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2013 01:30:17 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for borrowor sale? In-Reply-To: References: <2DFBB6F4-E4CB-48F6-9DF5-20A97B29ED61@gmail.com><9A38FD4AD94E4D8FB06D3B60CD95EA4C@d830a><13DE1FD1-1520-4B3C-8586-BAE162EB3AE5@me.com> Message-ID: > -----Original Message----- > From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org > [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Coleman > Sent: Friday, January 04, 2013 8:06 PM > To: TCLUG Mailing List > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide > scanner for borrowor sale? > > Wrong again. > > Businesses who WANT MORE CUSTOMERS don't block their profiles. Promiscuity is just that, business or not. > You're close minded and, please, stop. Only closed to invasive and intrusive things, not all. Toss YOUR prejudices and incorrect presumptions. Chuck From max at bernsteinforpresident.com Sat Jan 5 05:11:27 2013 From: max at bernsteinforpresident.com (Max Shinn) Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2013 05:11:27 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for borrowor sale? In-Reply-To: References: <2DFBB6F4-E4CB-48F6-9DF5-20A97B29ED61@gmail.com> <9A38FD4AD94E4D8FB06D3B60CD95EA4C@d830a> <13DE1FD1-1520-4B3C-8586-BAE162EB3AE5@me.com> Message-ID: >> You're close minded and, please, stop. > > Only closed to invasive and intrusive things, not all. > > Toss YOUR prejudices and incorrect presumptions. Objectively speaking, it is very difficult to get information in a timely manner from Twitter without a Twitter account. There is one account on Twitter I "follow" via RSS, however they are dropping support for this in a few months. I have many reasons for not getting a Twitter account; most of them personal reasons that are irrelevant to this discussion. However, it is difficult to call a company that refuses to even support RSS/Atom feeds "open". Speaking to Facebook, of which I am also not a member for personal reasons, it bothers me when organizations call their Facebook pages their "websites". In most cases, I cannot access additional information about these without being a member of Facebook. I have a hard time understanding how one would call this "open". From kenlynes at usa.net Sun Jan 6 00:30:08 2013 From: kenlynes at usa.net (Kenneth Lynes) Date: Sun, 06 Jan 2013 00:30:08 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] tclug-list Digest, Vol 97, Issue 11 Message-ID: <841RaFgdi2960S02.1357453808@web02.cms.usa.net> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Sun Jan 6 01:47:34 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2013 01:47:34 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for borrowor sale? In-Reply-To: References: <2DFBB6F4-E4CB-48F6-9DF5-20A97B29ED61@gmail.com> <9A38FD4AD94E4D8FB06D3B60CD95EA4C@d830a> <13DE1FD1-1520-4B3C-8586-BAE162EB3AE5@me.com> Message-ID: On Sat, 5 Jan 2013, Max Shinn wrote: >>> You're close minded and, please, stop. >> >> Only closed to invasive and intrusive things, not all. >> >> Toss YOUR prejudices and incorrect presumptions. > > Objectively speaking, it is very difficult to get information in a > timely manner from Twitter without a Twitter account. There is one > account on Twitter I "follow" via RSS, however they are dropping support > for this in a few months. I have many reasons for not getting a Twitter > account; most of them personal reasons that are irrelevant to this > discussion. However, it is difficult to call a company that refuses to > even support RSS/Atom feeds "open". > > Speaking to Facebook, of which I am also not a member for personal > reasons, it bothers me when organizations call their Facebook pages > their "websites". In most cases, I cannot access additional information > about these without being a member of Facebook. I have a hard time > understanding how one would call this "open". Good points, Max. It is a never-ending struggle with these information gathering companies. The other day I saw someone post "If you are concerned about privacy on Facebook, don't post anything private on Facebook," or something like that. But I don't think they understand how data mining works and how much about us can be divined from seemingly irrelevant things. I'm on Facebook anyway. Mike From n0nas at amsat.org Sun Jan 6 10:02:07 2013 From: n0nas at amsat.org (Douglas H Reed) Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2013 10:02:07 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for borrowor sale? Message-ID: I have no interest in using Twitter or Facebook for privacy reasons. Most people don't understand just how pervasive the data mining is. Every time you go to a web page that includes the little "like me" buttons or has a Google search link, or other reference to some other service, it usually means that your browser had to go to that remote web site to retrieve some data, maybe just the logo. But the remote web site can capture your IP address, possibly your MAC address, and anything else it can request from the browser, and put it together with all the other info they can capture, retrieve or deduce, to build a profile of your browsing habits. Maybe they left a cookie on your system from the last time you were there? Depending what sites you frequent, they may be able to link it to you as an individual instead of just a general age bracket and gender. It is pretty much impossible to avoid completely, but I don't have to ask for it by joining Twitter or Facebook. And then of course there are the people who do everything but post their social security number on the web site.... Doug. From ryanjcole at me.com Sun Jan 6 10:24:15 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Sun, 06 Jan 2013 10:24:15 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for borrowor sale? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <50E9A52F.80209@me.com> :) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 734159_392936944132229_137574030_n.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 15885 bytes Desc: not available URL: From max at bernsteinforpresident.com Sun Jan 6 10:37:24 2013 From: max at bernsteinforpresident.com (Max Shinn) Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2013 10:37:24 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for borrowor sale? In-Reply-To: <50E9A52F.80209@me.com> References: <50E9A52F.80209@me.com> Message-ID: Ryan, People aren't "mad at you" for using Facebook. You were previously very hostile towards those who don't use Facebook, and we were defending ourselves. E.g. > Twitter isn't closed. Just "open" your web browser. > You're close minded and, please, stop. We are simply providing justifications to you as to why we choose not to use Facebook and Twitter. We don't want to stop you from using them. Just because you use Facebook, it does not make you smarter or more noble. Similarly, just because I and some people on this list do not use Facebook, it does not make us smarter or more noble either. From ryanjcole at me.com Sun Jan 6 10:51:58 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Sun, 06 Jan 2013 10:51:58 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for borrowor sale? In-Reply-To: References: <50E9A52F.80209@me.com> Message-ID: <27BE2D7D-BE2B-4EF1-9B84-4D7CFD0DFDBA@me.com> Oh sweet Jesus. I didn't make the graphic. I'm out. I don't care. This is WAY off topic now. Goodbye. -- Ryan Coleman ryanjcole at me.com m. 651.373.5015 o. 612.568.2749 On Jan 6, 2013, at 10:37, Max Shinn wrote: > Ryan, > > People aren't "mad at you" for using Facebook. You were previously > very hostile towards those who don't use Facebook, and we were > defending ourselves. E.g. > >> Twitter isn't closed. Just "open" your web browser. > >> You're close minded and, please, stop. > > We are simply providing justifications to you as to why we choose not > to use Facebook and Twitter. We don't want to stop you from using > them. Just because you use Facebook, it does not make you smarter or > more noble. Similarly, just because I and some people on this list do > not use Facebook, it does not make us smarter or more noble either. > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From kelly.black at penguinpackets.com Sun Jan 6 10:50:09 2013 From: kelly.black at penguinpackets.com (kelly) Date: Sun, 06 Jan 2013 10:50:09 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Offtopic: Tracking - was: Does anyone have a batch slide scanner References: Message-ID: <50E9AB41-00052B4C@penguinpackets.com> As to mining (at least in the browser), here is a cute add-on for Firefox that lets you map the data sharing (along with a Ted talk if you are intrested in the subject): http://www.ted.com/talks/gary_kovacs_tracking_the_trackers.html https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/collusion/ Kelly KB0GBJ? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From nesius at gmail.com Sun Jan 6 12:04:39 2013 From: nesius at gmail.com (Robert Nesius) Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2013 12:04:39 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for borrowor sale? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I only visit facebook's site in "private" mode on desktop computers so that they can't follow me around the web, though certainly other services are following me around as well... Oh well. -Rob On Sun, Jan 6, 2013 at 10:02 AM, Douglas H Reed wrote: > I have no interest in using Twitter or Facebook for privacy reasons. > > Most people don't understand just how pervasive the data mining is. > Every time you go to a web page that includes the little "like me" > buttons or has a Google search link, or other reference to some other > service, it usually means that your browser had to go to that remote > web site to retrieve some data, maybe just the logo. But the remote > web site can capture your IP address, possibly your MAC address, and > anything else it can request from the browser, and put it together > with all the other info they can capture, retrieve or deduce, to build > a profile of your browsing habits. Maybe they left a cookie on your > system from the last time you were there? Depending what sites you > frequent, they may be able to link it to you as an individual instead > of just a general age bracket and gender. > > It is pretty much impossible to avoid completely, but I don't have to > ask for it by joining Twitter or Facebook. And then of course there > are the people who do everything but post their social security number > on the web site.... > > Doug. > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From florin at iucha.net Sun Jan 6 13:44:46 2013 From: florin at iucha.net (Florin Iucha) Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2013 13:44:46 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for borrowor sale? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20130106194446.GC1459@signbit.net> On Sun, Jan 06, 2013 at 10:02:07AM -0600, Douglas H Reed wrote: > Most people don't understand just how pervasive the data mining is. > Every time you go to a web page that includes the little "like me" > buttons or has a Google search link, or other reference to some other > service, it usually means that your browser had to go to that remote > web site to retrieve some data, maybe just the logo. But the remote > web site can capture your IP address, possibly your MAC address, and > anything else it can request from the browser, and put it together > with all the other info they can capture, retrieve or deduce, to build > a profile of your browsing habits. Maybe they left a cookie on your > system from the last time you were there? Depending what sites you > frequent, they may be able to link it to you as an individual instead > of just a general age bracket and gender. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/requestpolicy/ It's like a packet filter for outgoing requests. You get to control what web pages can request resources from what other web servers. Cheers, florin -- Beware of software written by optimists! -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 198 bytes Desc: Digital signature URL: From kelly.black at penguinpackets.com Sun Jan 6 21:47:50 2013 From: kelly.black at penguinpackets.com (kelly) Date: Sun, 06 Jan 2013 21:47:50 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Does anyone have a batch slide scanner for borrowor sale? References: <20130106194446.GC1459@signbit.net> Message-ID: <50EA4566-00052B92@penguinpackets.com> ? > Sun Jan 06 2013 01:44:46 PM CST from "Florin Iucha" >https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/requestpolicy >/ > > >It's like a packet filter for outgoing requests. You get to control >what web pages can request resources from what other web servers. > >Cheers, >florin > > Nice one Florin. ?I have added that to my list of keepers. Kelly KB0GBJ? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 205 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: URL: From tclug1 at whitleymott.net Thu Jan 10 09:52:56 2013 From: tclug1 at whitleymott.net (gregrwm) Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2013 09:52:56 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] gnucash/twm/precise Message-ID: natty is eol. i miss her. precise gnucash needs dbus. whatever. so what do i need to launch along with twm to satisfy gnucash's thirst for dbus? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jpschewe at mtu.net Sat Jan 12 08:26:10 2013 From: jpschewe at mtu.net (Jon Schewe) Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2013 08:26:10 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] gnucash/twm/precise In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Thu, Jan 10, 2013 at 9:52 AM, gregrwm wrote: > natty is eol. i miss her. > > precise gnucash needs dbus. whatever. so what do i need to launch along > with twm to satisfy gnucash's thirst for dbus? > Found this to solve my problem with running gnucash from a cron job. It might help your twm woes. env $(dbus-launch) sh -c 'trap "kill $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_PID" EXIT; /usr/bin/gnucash --add-price-quotes ${HOME}/Documents/banking/gnucash/accounts.xac' -- http://mtu.net/~jpschewe -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Sat Jan 12 12:23:44 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2013 12:23:44 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Chrome, Chromebooks, Linux and gcc, etc. Message-ID: I was just looking at the specs for this Google Samsung Chromebook which is selling for $249: http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/education/devices/samsung-chromebook.html#specs 11.6?? (1366x768) display 0.7 inches thin ? 2.42 lbs / 1.1 kg Over 6.5 hours of battery [1] Samsung Exynos 5 Dual Processor 100 GB Google Drive Cloud Storage[2] with 16GB Solid State Drive Built-in dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n VGA Camera 1x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0 HDMI Port Bluetooth 3.0? Compatible [1] Battery life may vary based on usage or other conditions. [2] 100 GB of free storage is valid for 2 years, starting on the date you redeem the Drive offer. It says nothing about memory, but I think it might be 1 GB. The two others, which cost a lot more, have 2 GB and 4 GB. Have any of you worked with Chrome? I'm wondering what it is like as a Linux distro - it is Linux inside, right? If you've used it, what I am most interested in is whether it is difficult to get gcc working, to compile various little things, and which downloadable binaries might work. According to Wikipedia, Chrome OS uses the Gentoo Portage package system: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portage_(software) I've heard some good things about Gentoo's package system. Does this mean that anything available for Gentoo is available to Chrome OS? The one reason why a Chromebook with Chrome OS might work for me is that I do most work by connecting via VNCviewer to the Xvnc desktop on my office computer at the U, but within an SSH tunnel. So the main considerations are that (1) vncviewer and ssh will run on Chrome OS and (2) it has good WiFi reception. It seems that they are claiming to have great WiFi reception, so that would be nice. If I can either get VNCviewer package installation or download a VNC Linux-32 binary, that would solve the other problem. I don't know if that is possible. I'm assuming it can do ssh client out of the box, but let me know if you can confirm or refute that. Thanks in advance! Mike From ubusum at ymail.com Sat Jan 12 13:38:25 2013 From: ubusum at ymail.com (Ubu Sumner) Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2013 11:38:25 -0800 (PST) Subject: [tclug-list] Chrome, Chromebooks, Linux and gcc, etc. In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1358019505.35202.YahooMailNeo@web125303.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> ________________________________ From: Mike Miller Subject: [tclug-list] Chrome, Chromebooks, Linux and gcc, etc. I endorsed this little internet reader for an elderly family member at Best Buy back in December and I've been watching from a distance to limit my involvement. They like it a lot, although the touch pad seems to flip off into new tabs for them without clear reason. They enjoy reading Project Gutenberg books on it and browsing. I thought it would be a good choice for them as it's advertized as virus-protected by Google, but it also seems to come with a Gorilla-like Google presence for tracking and seems difficult to modify. ****I would be very interested to know if this particular Chromebook can be changed to something more open. A developer told me that early on there was a physical switch somewhere they could toggle to install whatever OS they wanted. I haven't checked into this and am not sure I want to mess with it.**** To my mind the Chromebook's main positives are its feather-weight build and instant on response when you open it. Battery life seems substantial with no fan or hdd. It seems like there's good forum support, but quite a number of user issues encountered. Things as basic as no delete key. The Chromebook would not accept a Tomato- 54gl router even after playing around with settings, which I found a little disturbing. With factory firmware on a 54gl it accepted the connection just fine. I've done nothing to test it for distance. ****If anyone knows why the Chromebook rejected Tomato, or cares to speculate, I would be all ears.**** Bruce -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From brian at ropers-huilman.net Sun Jan 13 09:08:30 2013 From: brian at ropers-huilman.net (Brian D. Ropers-Huilman) Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2013 09:08:30 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Chrome, Chromebooks, Linux and gcc, etc. In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Mike, I haven't seen any other answers to your query come in, so I thought I'd take a stab. Google's Chromebooks are _very_ specialized laptops. While the underlying OS is Linux and while it may use a Gentoo packaging system, the user does not have acces to any of it. The machine and the OS are custom designed to _only_ run the Chrome web browser. That's it. Nothing else. So, the concept of getting a shell and compiling other code is out. Having said that, ... there is a built in "terminal" in the browser, so you can ssh to other machines. Last I checked or used it, it didn't support SSH tunnels, but they were working on it. There are also apps that allow VNC connections. So, you might be able to do what you want anyway. The apps I'm talking about, by the way, are Chrome apps. So, a good test to see if a Chromebook is right for you is to sit down at your current Linux box, open Chrome OS, and then see if you can get your work done. You'd need to start by looking at the apps available in the Chrome Web Store: https://chrome.google.com/webstore There's a lot there. These apps run in one of two ways: as a "weblication" that basically takes you to a web site or as an in-browser app that's likely running via Javascript and other HTML5/CSS wizardry. If you can get through a week's worth of day-to-day work using nothing but the Chrome browser and the apps you find, then go get a Chromebook as it will be perfect for you. I'm one such candidate, but I'm a cheap, frugal sort and just haven't ponied up the money to go get one yet. I'd love one! Hope this helps. P.S. Go to a Best Buy and play with one. You should be able to get the store person to take it out of "demo" mode so you can actually log into your own Google account. Doing so will auto-magically load all the "apps" you've installed in your Linux Chrome browser right onto the machine (it's all synced via the Google cloud), so you'll be able to test your real situation on a real Chromebook before you make a purchase decision. -- Brian D. Ropers-Huilman 612.234.7778 (m) From xcorvis at gmail.com Sun Jan 13 09:51:41 2013 From: xcorvis at gmail.com (Adam Nave) Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2013 09:51:41 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Chrome, Chromebooks, Linux and gcc, etc. In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Some details on the internal chrome shell: http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/poking-around-your-chrome-os-device That particular samsung chromebook has a reputation for running Ubuntu with good benchmarks, though I didn't immediately find good instructions on how to make it happen, and I don't know if the full range of drivers are available. Also note that it uses an ARM processor, not x86. --Adam On Sun, Jan 13, 2013 at 9:08 AM, Brian D. Ropers-Huilman < brian at ropers-huilman.net> wrote: > Mike, > > I haven't seen any other answers to your query come in, so I thought > I'd take a stab. > > Google's Chromebooks are _very_ specialized laptops. While the > underlying OS is Linux and while it may use a Gentoo packaging system, > the user does not have acces to any of it. The machine and the OS are > custom designed to _only_ run the Chrome web browser. > > That's it. > > Nothing else. > > So, the concept of getting a shell and compiling other code is out. > > Having said that, ... there is a built in "terminal" in the browser, > so you can ssh to other machines. Last I checked or used it, it didn't > support SSH tunnels, but they were working on it. There are also apps > that allow VNC connections. So, you might be able to do what you want > anyway. > > The apps I'm talking about, by the way, are Chrome apps. So, a good > test to see if a Chromebook is right for you is to sit down at your > current Linux box, open Chrome OS, and then see if you can get your > work done. You'd need to start by looking at the apps available in the > Chrome Web Store: > > https://chrome.google.com/webstore > > There's a lot there. These apps run in one of two ways: as a > "weblication" that basically takes you to a web site or as an > in-browser app that's likely running via Javascript and other > HTML5/CSS wizardry. > > If you can get through a week's worth of day-to-day work using nothing > but the Chrome browser and the apps you find, then go get a Chromebook > as it will be perfect for you. I'm one such candidate, but I'm a > cheap, frugal sort and just haven't ponied up the money to go get one > yet. I'd love one! > > Hope this helps. > > P.S. Go to a Best Buy and play with one. You should be able to get the > store person to take it out of "demo" mode so you can actually log > into your own Google account. Doing so will auto-magically load all > the "apps" you've installed in your Linux Chrome browser right onto > the machine (it's all synced via the Google cloud), so you'll be able > to test your real situation on a real Chromebook before you make a > purchase decision. > > -- > Brian D. Ropers-Huilman > 612.234.7778 (m) > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Sun Jan 13 16:02:41 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2013 16:02:41 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Chrome, Chromebooks, Linux and gcc, etc. In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Thanks, Brian. That was a huge help. There is a lot I don't understand about their system. For SSH, they have a FAQ here: http://goo.gl/m6Nj8 It says this: 211 > Can I use Secure Shell for port forwarding? 212 213 Yes. Enter your port forwarding options in the "SSH Arguments" field of 214 the connect dialog. The port forward will be active for the duration of 215 the Secure Shell session. So I guess it will do it, now, but this section about the config file threw me off for a minute: 171 See for more 172 information about the ssh configuration syntax. Keep in mind that any 173 directives that would require access outside of the NaCl sandbox will not 174 function properly. This includes (but is not limited to) X11 forwarding, 175 syslog functionality, and anything that requires a domain socket. But that is only about the config file. Next I have to find out about VNC -- there are a few options in the Store. Then I just might give it a try (meaning that I'd actually buy one of the cheapest Chromebooks). I'll let you know. Mike On Sun, 13 Jan 2013, Brian D. Ropers-Huilman wrote: > Mike, > > I haven't seen any other answers to your query come in, so I thought > I'd take a stab. > > Google's Chromebooks are _very_ specialized laptops. While the > underlying OS is Linux and while it may use a Gentoo packaging system, > the user does not have acces to any of it. The machine and the OS are > custom designed to _only_ run the Chrome web browser. > > That's it. > > Nothing else. > > So, the concept of getting a shell and compiling other code is out. > > Having said that, ... there is a built in "terminal" in the browser, > so you can ssh to other machines. Last I checked or used it, it didn't > support SSH tunnels, but they were working on it. There are also apps > that allow VNC connections. So, you might be able to do what you want > anyway. > > The apps I'm talking about, by the way, are Chrome apps. So, a good > test to see if a Chromebook is right for you is to sit down at your > current Linux box, open Chrome OS, and then see if you can get your > work done. You'd need to start by looking at the apps available in the > Chrome Web Store: > > https://chrome.google.com/webstore > > There's a lot there. These apps run in one of two ways: as a > "weblication" that basically takes you to a web site or as an > in-browser app that's likely running via Javascript and other > HTML5/CSS wizardry. > > If you can get through a week's worth of day-to-day work using nothing > but the Chrome browser and the apps you find, then go get a Chromebook > as it will be perfect for you. I'm one such candidate, but I'm a > cheap, frugal sort and just haven't ponied up the money to go get one > yet. I'd love one! > > Hope this helps. > > P.S. Go to a Best Buy and play with one. You should be able to get the > store person to take it out of "demo" mode so you can actually log > into your own Google account. Doing so will auto-magically load all > the "apps" you've installed in your Linux Chrome browser right onto > the machine (it's all synced via the Google cloud), so you'll be able > to test your real situation on a real Chromebook before you make a > purchase decision. > > -- > Brian D. Ropers-Huilman > 612.234.7778 (m) > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Sun Jan 13 16:13:37 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2013 16:13:37 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Chrome, Chromebooks, Linux and gcc, etc. In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Sun, 13 Jan 2013, Adam Nave wrote: > Some details on the internal chrome shell: > > http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/poking-around-your-chrome-os-device > > That particular samsung chromebook has a reputation for running Ubuntu > with good benchmarks, though I didn't immediately find good instructions > on how to make it happen, and I don't know if the full range of drivers > are available. Also note that it uses an ARM processor, not x86. Thanks for the tips! That's a good point about the ARM processor. Mike From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Mon Jan 14 00:13:47 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 00:13:47 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Aaron Swartz Message-ID: This is terribly sad news. I'm sure there will be hell to pay for the way he was abused by the prosecutor. I have the impression that the bullying was motivated partly by Swartz's association with Assange. A genuine martyr is likely to motivate the movement, not stop it. Aaron Swartz, Internet Pioneer, Found Dead Amid Prosecutor 'Bullying' In Unconventional Case http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/12/aaron-swartz_n_2463726.html Best, Mike From ron at ron-l-j.com Mon Jan 14 03:44:46 2013 From: ron at ron-l-j.com (ron at ron-l-j.com) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 02:44:46 -0700 Subject: [tclug-list] Ubuntu Phone Message-ID: <006b5c61cd88aead085607541c67cc36.squirrel@ron-l-j.com> I think this is may be my next phone, what do you thInk? I do like the docking for a real computer option. A bluetooth keyboard and mouse would make it just about right to use as a desktop. From tclug at freakzilla.com Mon Jan 14 03:54:58 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (Yaron) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 03:54:58 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: <006b5c61cd88aead085607541c67cc36.squirrel@ron-l-j.com> References: <006b5c61cd88aead085607541c67cc36.squirrel@ron-l-j.com> Message-ID: I have this firmly in the "I'll Believe It When I See It" category. Plus, to be honest, I'm fairly happy with Android on my phones. Heck, I can install sshd and login to the thing if I want to. I don't feel the need to be running Alpine or compiling code on a mobile device with a small screen. Now on my tablets, that may be a different story. On Mon, 14 Jan 2013, ron at ron-l-j.com wrote: > I think this is may be my next phone, what do you thInk? I do like the > docking for a real computer option. A bluetooth keyboard and mouse would > make it just about right to use as a desktop. > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- From jeruvin at gmail.com Mon Jan 14 10:27:18 2013 From: jeruvin at gmail.com (jason reynolds) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 10:27:18 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <006b5c61cd88aead085607541c67cc36.squirrel@ron-l-j.com> Message-ID: I'm looking forward to trying the phone once it's released. I don't have high hopes of it beating out my Android phone. Remember Openmoko (I think it was them) and their phone to be that never was. Just feels like it'll happen again. If they put one out for a descent price I'll give it a go. On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 3:54 AM, Yaron wrote: > I have this firmly in the "I'll Believe It When I See It" category. Plus, > to be honest, I'm fairly happy with Android on my phones. Heck, I can > install sshd and login to the thing if I want to. I don't feel the need to > be running Alpine or compiling code on a mobile device with a small screen. > > Now on my tablets, that may be a different story. > > > On Mon, 14 Jan 2013, ron at ron-l-j.com wrote: > > I think this is may be my next phone, what do you thInk? I do like the >> docking for a real computer option. A bluetooth keyboard and mouse would >> make it just about right to use as a desktop. >> >> ______________________________**_________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/**mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> >> > > > -- > > ______________________________**_________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/**mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- jason -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tompoe at meltel.net Mon Jan 14 12:02:43 2013 From: tompoe at meltel.net (Tom Poe) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 12:02:43 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Aaron Swartz on DemocracyNow! Message-ID: <50F44843.4040506@meltel.net> democracynow.org has a nice, hour long tribute to Aaron Swartz. Worth viewing. Tom From trieff at greencaremankato.com Mon Jan 14 12:03:47 2013 From: trieff at greencaremankato.com (Thomas Rieff) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 12:03:47 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Rebuilding Raid 1 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <2084946199.214289.1358186627992.JavaMail.root@greencaremankato.com> TCLUG, I have an Ubuntu 12.04 server that one of the drives in the Raid 1 configuration has failed. How do I replace that drive and rebuild it??? Tom Thomas Rieff GreenCare 1717 3rd Avenue Mankato, MN 56001 (507) 344-8314 Office (507) 344-8316 Fax (507) 381-0660 Cell From ryanjcole at me.com Mon Jan 14 12:18:19 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 12:18:19 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Rebuilding Raid 1 In-Reply-To: <2084946199.214289.1358186627992.JavaMail.root@greencaremankato.com> References: <2084946199.214289.1358186627992.JavaMail.root@greencaremankato.com> Message-ID: <50F44BEB.1010409@me.com> On 1/14/2013 12:03 PM, Thomas Rieff wrote: > TCLUG, > I have an Ubuntu 12.04 server that one of the drives in the Raid 1 configuration has failed. > How do I replace that drive and rebuild it??? > Tom > > Thomas Rieff > GreenCare > 1717 3rd Avenue > Mankato, MN 56001 > (507) 344-8314 Office > (507) 344-8316 Fax > (507) 381-0660 Cell > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list Is it a hardware or software RAID? From tclug at beitsahour.net Mon Jan 14 12:39:17 2013 From: tclug at beitsahour.net (Munir Nassar) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 12:39:17 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Rebuilding Raid 1 In-Reply-To: <2084946199.214289.1358186627992.JavaMail.root@greencaremankato.com> References: <2084946199.214289.1358186627992.JavaMail.root@greencaremankato.com> Message-ID: You need to plug in a new drive of equal or greater size, create on this new drive a partition for each raided partitions(if you RAIDed the partitions rather than the whole disk) that is at least the same size as the original partitions, at it simplest you can try something like: sfdisk -d /dev/sda | sfdisk /dev/sdb now you can add the new disk partitions to the raid array: mdadm --add /dev/ /dev/ mdadm --detail /dev/md0(or whatever) will give you more information about the raid array, which will help you determine which partition will go into which array. for hardware raid, that is dependent on the raid controller. On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 12:03 PM, Thomas Rieff wrote: > TCLUG, > I have an Ubuntu 12.04 server that one of the drives in the Raid 1 > configuration has failed. > How do I replace that drive and rebuild it??? > Tom > > Thomas Rieff > GreenCare > 1717 3rd Avenue > Mankato, MN 56001 > (507) 344-8314 Office > (507) 344-8316 Fax > (507) 381-0660 Cell > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From trieff at greencaremankato.com Mon Jan 14 13:28:34 2013 From: trieff at greencaremankato.com (Thomas Rieff) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 13:28:34 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Rebuilding Raid 1 In-Reply-To: <50F44BEB.1010409@me.com> References: <2084946199.214289.1358186627992.JavaMail.root@greencaremankato.com> <50F44BEB.1010409@me.com> Message-ID: <1486030907.220918.1358191714393.JavaMail.root@greencaremankato.com> TCLUG, ...The question asked by Ryan... Is it a hardware or software RAID? Good question...the answer is software Raid 1. I have 2-500 gig SATA drives and on each drive is... 1-2 gig partition for swap. 1-488 gig partition for /. Do I just swap/replace the drive??? Or do I partition and format the new drive and then add it??? Tom Thomas Rieff GreenCare 1717 3rd Avenue Mankato, MN 56001 (507) 344-8314 Office (507) 344-8316 Fax (507) 381-0660 Cell ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ryan Coleman" To: "TCLUG Mailing List" Cc: "Thomas Rieff" Sent: Monday, January 14, 2013 12:18:19 PM Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Rebuilding Raid 1 On 1/14/2013 12:03 PM, Thomas Rieff wrote: > TCLUG, > I have an Ubuntu 12.04 server that one of the drives in the Raid 1 configuration has failed. > How do I replace that drive and rebuild it??? > Tom > > Thomas Rieff > GreenCare > 1717 3rd Avenue > Mankato, MN 56001 > (507) 344-8314 Office > (507) 344-8316 Fax > (507) 381-0660 Cell > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list Is it a hardware or software RAID? From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Mon Jan 14 16:02:32 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 16:02:32 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <006b5c61cd88aead085607541c67cc36.squirrel@ron-l-j.com> Message-ID: On Mon, 14 Jan 2013, jason reynolds wrote: > I'm looking forward to trying the phone once it's released. I don't have > high hopes of it beating out my Android phone. > > Remember Openmoko (I think it was them) and their phone to be that never > was. Just feels like it'll happen again. If they put one out for a > descent price I'll give it a go. I use Ubuntu all the time but I had only heard of one of these projects before today: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Mobile (defunct) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Phone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_for_Android http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_TV Interesting. I had heard of the Ubuntu for Android scheme and it sounds like a great idea. It is so appealing that I have to think it will take over someday as phones become more powerful and any bugs are worked out. Mike From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Mon Jan 14 17:41:02 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 17:41:02 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <006b5c61cd88aead085607541c67cc36.squirrel@ron-l-j.com> Message-ID: On Mon, 14 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: > I have this firmly in the "I'll Believe It When I See It" category. > Plus, to be honest, I'm fairly happy with Android on my phones. Heck, I > can install sshd and login to the thing if I want to. I don't feel the > need to be running Alpine or compiling code on a mobile device with a > small screen. I don't know much about what's been going on lately in the smart phone world. I've had a Palm Pre since it came out and it has not gone well. I'm thinking of either dumping the phone service altogether (using Google Voice, plus my wife's cell on weekends is probably good enough), or maybe trying an Android phone. The Nexus 4 sounds really cool. They say they'll have some at the T-Mobile store next week. It is a lot of money with a two-year contract, but then I'd be staying with the modern world where everyone has a cell phone. Is that really worth $2/day? I'm trying to decide. Google seems to sell an unlocked contract-free Nexus 4, but they are currently sold out: https://play.google.com/store/devices/details/Nexus_4_16GB?id=nexus_4_16gb Maybe I should be waiting for that. Does anyone know if the Ubuntu for Android should work on the Nexus 4, if it ever comes out? Maybe it's supposed to work on any Android system, regardless of the processor type, because it will use the Android kernel, but maybe that isn't even possible and different Ubuntu-for-Android systems will have to be released for different processors. > Now on my tablets, that may be a different story. Coincidentally, I just ran across this: The LINUX TABLET IS THE FUTURE - and it always will be The Penguin Xmas present that'll never be in the present http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/26/year_of_the_linux_tablet/ Mike From tclug at freakzilla.com Mon Jan 14 17:47:05 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (Yaron) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 17:47:05 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <006b5c61cd88aead085607541c67cc36.squirrel@ron-l-j.com> Message-ID: At this point, I'd wait for the next Nexus. I've had Nexus phones since the Nexus One - but since the Galaxy Nexus (which I have now) I believe that I (and by extension, other geeks/nerds) are no longer the target audience for the Nexus line. They're no longer the absoutely Top Of The Line phone, for one, and the cardinal sin is that they don't have expandable memory. The Nexus 4 is limited to 16GB of internal storage, with no way to expand. This makes me sad as I've already filled up the 16GB on my Galaxy Nexus. That said, the Nexus 4 /was/ a lot cheaper off-contract than anything even remotely comperable. On Mon, 14 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: > On Mon, 14 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: > >> I have this firmly in the "I'll Believe It When I See It" category. Plus, >> to be honest, I'm fairly happy with Android on my phones. Heck, I can >> install sshd and login to the thing if I want to. I don't feel the need to >> be running Alpine or compiling code on a mobile device with a small screen. > > I don't know much about what's been going on lately in the smart phone world. > I've had a Palm Pre since it came out and it has not gone well. I'm thinking > of either dumping the phone service altogether (using Google Voice, plus my > wife's cell on weekends is probably good enough), or maybe trying an Android > phone. > > The Nexus 4 sounds really cool. They say they'll have some at the T-Mobile > store next week. It is a lot of money with a two-year contract, but then I'd > be staying with the modern world where everyone has a cell phone. Is that > really worth $2/day? I'm trying to decide. > > Google seems to sell an unlocked contract-free Nexus 4, but they are > currently sold out: > > https://play.google.com/store/devices/details/Nexus_4_16GB?id=nexus_4_16gb > > Maybe I should be waiting for that. > > Does anyone know if the Ubuntu for Android should work on the Nexus 4, if it > ever comes out? Maybe it's supposed to work on any Android system, > regardless of the processor type, because it will use the Android kernel, but > maybe that isn't even possible and different Ubuntu-for-Android systems will > have to be released for different processors. > > >> Now on my tablets, that may be a different story. > > Coincidentally, I just ran across this: > > The LINUX TABLET IS THE FUTURE - and it always will be > The Penguin Xmas present that'll never be in the present > http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/26/year_of_the_linux_tablet/ > > Mike > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- From nesius at gmail.com Mon Jan 14 18:14:35 2013 From: nesius at gmail.com (Robert Nesius) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:14:35 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Aaron Swartz In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I liked Greenwald's article the most, of the ones I read. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/12/aaron-swartz-heroism-suicide1 -Rob On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 12:13 AM, Mike Miller wrote: > This is terribly sad news. I'm sure there will be hell to pay for the way > he was abused by the prosecutor. I have the impression that the bullying > was motivated partly by Swartz's association with Assange. A genuine > martyr is likely to motivate the movement, not stop it. > > > Aaron Swartz, Internet Pioneer, Found Dead Amid Prosecutor 'Bullying' In > Unconventional Case > > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/**2013/01/12/aaron-swartz_n_**2463726.html > > > Best, > > Mike > ______________________________**_________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/**mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com Mon Jan 14 18:21:58 2013 From: jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com (Jeremy MountainJohnson) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:21:58 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Aaron Swartz In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: For those interested in creating more awareness and hopefully obtain some semblance of justice regarding the prosecutor involved there is a petition on the White House site: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/remove-united-states-district-attorney-carmen-ortiz-office-overreach-case-aaron-swartz/RQNrG1Ck The petition is picking up a lot of steam, I encourage people to read the articles noted in the petition and make an educated choice on the matter. May Aaron rest in peace and his case be made known for the clear injustice it was heading for. -- Jeremy MountainJohnson Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 12:13 AM, Mike Miller wrote: > This is terribly sad news. I'm sure there will be hell to pay for the way > he was abused by the prosecutor. I have the impression that the bullying > was motivated partly by Swartz's association with Assange. A genuine martyr > is likely to motivate the movement, not stop it. > > > Aaron Swartz, Internet Pioneer, Found Dead Amid Prosecutor 'Bullying' In > Unconventional Case > > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/12/aaron-swartz_n_2463726.html > > > Best, > > Mike > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From tclug at freakzilla.com Mon Jan 14 18:40:51 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (tclug at freakzilla.com) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:40:51 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Speaking of Android devices... Message-ID: ...anyone want a Kindle Fire that's been unlocked, rooted and has CyanogenMod 10.1 (which is Android 4.2.1) on it? Yours for $80! -- From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Mon Jan 14 18:42:49 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:42:49 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <006b5c61cd88aead085607541c67cc36.squirrel@ron-l-j.com> Message-ID: On Mon, 14 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: > At this point, I'd wait for the next Nexus. How long of a wait is that? > I've had Nexus phones since the Nexus One - but since the Galaxy Nexus > (which I have now) I believe that I (and by extension, other > geeks/nerds) are no longer the target audience for the Nexus line. > > They're no longer the absoutely Top Of The Line phone, for one, Good to know, but what is the absolute top of the line? > and the cardinal sin is that they don't have expandable memory. The > Nexus 4 is limited to 16GB of internal storage, with no way to expand. > This makes me sad as I've already filled up the 16GB on my Galaxy Nexus. They did that with the Palm Pre, too. I wondered why. Is it because they want to push us into using "cloud" storage? I think so, but that doesn't work when you don't have a good internet connection. > That said, the Nexus 4 /was/ a lot cheaper off-contract than anything > even remotely comperable. I'll have to think about that, too. I'm not in much of a hurry, though, so I can take some time to see what develops. Mike From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Mon Jan 14 18:47:43 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:47:43 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Speaking of Android devices... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Mon, 14 Jan 2013, tclug at freakzilla.com wrote: > ...anyone want a Kindle Fire that's been unlocked, rooted and has > CyanogenMod 10.1 (which is Android 4.2.1) on it? Yours for $80! I'll take it. Where are you? I'm at E Lake and 41st Ave S, Minneapolis. Mike From eric.schultz at mchsi.com Mon Jan 14 18:54:15 2013 From: eric.schultz at mchsi.com (Eric Schultz) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:54:15 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Speaking of Android devices... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: If mike didn't get it, I would take it. You didn't like it or did it not root properly. Sent from my iPad On Jan 14, 2013, at 6:40 PM, tclug at freakzilla.com wrote: > ...anyone want a Kindle Fire that's been unlocked, rooted and has CyanogenMod 10.1 (which is Android 4.2.1) on it? Yours for $80! > > > > -- > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From tclug at freakzilla.com Mon Jan 14 18:54:53 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (Yaron) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:54:53 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <006b5c61cd88aead085607541c67cc36.squirrel@ron-l-j.com> Message-ID: On Mon, 14 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: > On Mon, 14 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: > >> At this point, I'd wait for the next Nexus. > > How long of a wait is that? Rumours are LG stopped making the Nexus 4 because they're working on the next one. I kinda wish HTC would make them again... > Good to know, but what is the absolute top of the line? Well, the Nexus 4 /is/ amazing, hardware-wise. The Samsung Galaxy S3 is pretty good too. The HTC Droid DNA has an amazing screen.... it's all about what you want. I'd be all over the HTC One X+ if it didn't have phsyical buttons. Also, for me, a requirement is a CyanogenMod port. > They did that with the Palm Pre, too. I wondered why. Is it because they > want to push us into using "cloud" storage? I think so, but that doesn't > work when you don't have a good internet connection. Their story is that having external storage "confuses" people. I can kinda see that - this is why I say the Nexus 4 is more geared towards people like my mom than people like me. Don't get me wrong, my mom got a Samsung Galaxy S3 and /despite/ my advice, she unlocked, rooted and put CyanogenMod on it on her own. But having separate internal storage and external storage does confuse her a bit sometimes and makes it more difficult for her to find where exactly things are. >> That said, the Nexus 4 /was/ a lot cheaper off-contract than anything even >> remotely comperable. > I'll have to think about that, too. I'm not in much of a hurry, though, so I > can take some time to see what develops. Won't T-Mobile sell it off-contract? I thought they were doing that now. I've been with T-Mobile for almost a decade, but I never buy my phones from them. -- From tclug at freakzilla.com Mon Jan 14 18:56:44 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (Yaron) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:56:44 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Speaking of Android devices... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I'm A) In Shoreview, and B) In no condition to drive any kind of distance for the next few days. Drop me an email off-list if you want it. Note that it does NOT have the Kindle software on it - you can still put the Kindle app on and read Kindle books, but you can't use the Amazon Prime instant video stuff. On Mon, 14 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: > On Mon, 14 Jan 2013, tclug at freakzilla.com wrote: > >> ...anyone want a Kindle Fire that's been unlocked, rooted and has >> CyanogenMod 10.1 (which is Android 4.2.1) on it? Yours for $80! > > I'll take it. Where are you? > > I'm at E Lake and 41st Ave S, Minneapolis. > > Mike > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- From tclug at freakzilla.com Mon Jan 14 19:03:39 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (Yaron) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 19:03:39 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Speaking of Android devices... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I'll let you know if Mike doesn't want it, but just for general info, it work just fine running CyanogenMod, and before that it was running AOKP, and before that a CM10 kang, and before that I just rooted the Kindle version (: I got it for fairly cheap (which is why I don't mind selling it for cheap) and I really only got it because my mom kept asking me questions about HER Kindle Fire and I wanted a common frame of reference. I used it for a bit, especially after my Touchpad died, but frankly the 7" tablet size just doesn't work for me. I have my 4+" phone for handheld, and I have a Nexus 10 for 'real' tablet. Basically, since it's running a regular (though modded) Android version, you can't use it for the Amazon Prime free crap. But you /can/ install the Kindle app on it. On Mon, 14 Jan 2013, Eric Schultz wrote: > If mike didn't get it, I would take it. You didn't like it or did it not root properly. > > Sent from my iPad > > On Jan 14, 2013, at 6:40 PM, tclug at freakzilla.com wrote: > >> ...anyone want a Kindle Fire that's been unlocked, rooted and has CyanogenMod 10.1 (which is Android 4.2.1) on it? Yours for $80! >> >> >> >> -- >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- From woodbrian77 at gmail.com Tue Jan 15 11:16:29 2013 From: woodbrian77 at gmail.com (Brian Wood) Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2013 12:16:29 -0500 Subject: [tclug-list] Speaking of Android devices... Message-ID: From: Mike Miller > I'll take it. Where are you? > > I'm at E Lake and 41st Ave S, Minneapolis. Hmm. Didn't you say you were going to be in Ecuador for a year or two. -- Brian Wood Ebenezer Enterprises -- making programming fun again. http://webEbenezer.net (651) 251-9384 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From james007wjs at gmail.com Tue Jan 15 16:42:58 2013 From: james007wjs at gmail.com (wes smith) Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:42:58 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Aaron Swartz Message-ID: Be sure to also check out https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/01/aaron-swartz-fix-draconian-computer-crime-law https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/reform-computer-fraud-and-abuse-act-reflect-realities-computing-and-networks-2013/qMvdwVNw Don't know if updating the cfaa will make it better or worse. > For those interested in creating more awareness and hopefully obtain > some semblance of justice regarding the prosecutor involved there is a > petition on the White House site: > > https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/remove-united-states-district-attorney-carmen-ortiz-office-overreach-case-aaron-swartz/RQNrG1Ck > > The petition is picking up a lot of steam, I encourage people to read > the articles noted in the petition and make an educated choice on the > matter. > > May Aaron rest in peace and his case be made known for the clear > injustice it was heading for. > > -- > Jeremy MountainJohnson > Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com > > > On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 12:13 AM, Mike Miller > wrote: > > This is terribly sad news. I'm sure there will be hell to pay for the > way > > he was abused by the prosecutor. I have the impression that the bullying > > was motivated partly by Swartz's association with Assange. A genuine > martyr > > is likely to motivate the movement, not stop it. > > > > > > Aaron Swartz, Internet Pioneer, Found Dead Amid Prosecutor 'Bullying' In > > Unconventional Case > > > > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/12/aaron-swartz_n_2463726.html > > > > > > Best, > > > > Mike > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kcbnac at gmail.com Tue Jan 15 22:54:11 2013 From: kcbnac at gmail.com (Keith Bachman) Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2013 21:54:11 -0700 Subject: [tclug-list] Chrome, Chromebooks, Linux and gcc, etc. In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I haven't been following him lately, but this is one of the ChromeOS developers, talking about getting Ubuntu on the Samsung Chromebook: https://plus.google.com/109993695638569781190/posts/b2fazijJppZ He has newer posts linking to others with success as well. So you CAN boot Ubuntu. (I was pondering one, and throwing in an SDHC/SDXC card with Ubuntu on it, but keeping the 'Chrome' install on the internal SSD; as a lightweight portable machine but Woot put a Thinkpad X130e up for $300 just before Christmas...) On Sun, Jan 13, 2013 at 3:13 PM, Mike Miller wrote: > On Sun, 13 Jan 2013, Adam Nave wrote: > >> Some details on the internal chrome shell: >> >> http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/poking-around-your-chrome-os-device >> >> That particular samsung chromebook has a reputation for running Ubuntu >> with good benchmarks, though I didn't immediately find good instructions on >> how to make it happen, and I don't know if the full range of drivers are >> available. Also note that it uses an ARM processor, not x86. > > > Thanks for the tips! That's a good point about the ARM processor. > > Mike > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 02:09:49 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 02:09:49 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Speaking of Android devices... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Tue, 15 Jan 2013, Brian Wood wrote: > From: Mike Miller > >> I'll take it. Where are you? >> >> I'm at E Lake and 41st Ave S, Minneapolis. > > Hmm. Didn't you say you were going to be in Ecuador for a year or two. No, but I probably said that I wouldn't be back in Ecuador for a year or two. I was just there for 23 days and I arrived at MSP on Thursday night. I did pick up the Kindle today. Mike From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 02:22:13 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 02:22:13 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <006b5c61cd88aead085607541c67cc36.squirrel@ron-l-j.com> Message-ID: I ended up buying the Nexus 4 today, but it looks like T-Mobile charged me $500 for it even though I was signing a 2-year contract. I probably should have said "no" to that "deal," which in retrospect makes no sense. If Google sells an unlocked Nexus 4 with 16GB memory for $350, how can I be paying $500 *and* signing a 2-year contract? Isn't the contract supposed to bring the price down? I might just return it, on principal, pay their $50 restocking fee, and live without a phone for awhile to see if I really need one. Mike From tclug at freakzilla.com Wed Jan 16 02:25:16 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (Yaron) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 02:25:16 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <006b5c61cd88aead085607541c67cc36.squirrel@ron-l-j.com> Message-ID: I would definitely go over to t-mobile and give them some crap for that because, yeah, that makes ZERO sense. On Wed, 16 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: > I ended up buying the Nexus 4 today, but it looks like T-Mobile charged me > $500 for it even though I was signing a 2-year contract. I probably should > have said "no" to that "deal," which in retrospect makes no sense. If Google > sells an unlocked Nexus 4 with 16GB memory for $350, how can I be paying $500 > *and* signing a 2-year contract? Isn't the contract supposed to bring the > price down? I might just return it, on principal, pay their $50 restocking > fee, and live without a phone for awhile to see if I really need one. > > Mike > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- From jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 07:44:27 2013 From: jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com (Jeremy MountainJohnson) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 07:44:27 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <006b5c61cd88aead085607541c67cc36.squirrel@ron-l-j.com> Message-ID: You got hosed. IMHO unless you have money to burn I would return it. -- Jeremy MountainJohnson Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 2:22 AM, Mike Miller wrote: > I ended up buying the Nexus 4 today, but it looks like T-Mobile charged me > $500 for it even though I was signing a 2-year contract. I probably should > have said "no" to that "deal," which in retrospect makes no sense. If Google > sells an unlocked Nexus 4 with 16GB memory for $350, how can I be paying > $500 *and* signing a 2-year contract? Isn't the contract supposed to bring > the price down? I might just return it, on principal, pay their $50 > restocking fee, and live without a phone for awhile to see if I really need > one. > > Mike > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From stuporglue at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 12:14:34 2013 From: stuporglue at gmail.com (Michael Moore) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 12:14:34 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Thinkpad W530 external VGA? Message-ID: Has anyone gotten external VGA to work on a Thinkpad W530 or similar? I'm running Debian and have the latest version of bumblebee installed, which is working just fine. Pressing fn-F7 (the key with the projector icon on it) causes the screen to blink for a moment, then come back with no changes. The Monitor Preferences list only one screen (I'm using MATE as my desktop). I've tried using xrandr, but VGA1 still says its disconnected. michael at speed:~$ xrandr --addmode VGA1 1024x768 michael at speed:~$ xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1024x768 --right-of LVDS1 michael at speed:~$ xrandr Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2944 x 1080, maximum 8192 x 8192 LVDS1 connected 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 193mm 1920x1080 60.0*+ 59.9 50.0 1680x1050 60.0 59.9 1600x1024 60.2 1400x1050 60.0 1280x1024 60.0 1440x900 59.9 1280x960 60.0 1360x768 59.8 60.0 1152x864 60.0 1024x768 60.0 800x600 60.3 56.2 640x480 59.9 VGA1 disconnected 1024x768+1920+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm 1024x768 60.0* The monitor is on and plugged in. If I can, I'd like to have my cake and eat it too. If not, I can switch to the nouveau drivers, or even just use the Intel card if that's what it takes. Thanks, Michael Moore -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gregday28 at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 12:52:17 2013 From: gregday28 at gmail.com (Greg Day) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 12:52:17 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Thinkpad W530 external VGA? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: You must enable it from the BIOS first, then it works just fine in mirror mode, dual screen mode, etc. I've run an external monitor using Gnome and Xmonad without issue. Greg On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 12:14 PM, Michael Moore wrote: > Has anyone gotten external VGA to work on a Thinkpad W530 or similar? > > I'm running Debian and have the latest version of bumblebee installed, which > is working just fine. Pressing fn-F7 (the key with the projector icon on it) > causes the screen to blink for a moment, then come back with no changes. > > The Monitor Preferences list only one screen (I'm using MATE as my desktop). > > > I've tried using xrandr, but VGA1 still says its disconnected. > > > michael at speed:~$ xrandr --addmode VGA1 1024x768 > michael at speed:~$ xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1024x768 --right-of LVDS1 > michael at speed:~$ xrandr > Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2944 x 1080, maximum 8192 x 8192 > LVDS1 connected 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) > 344mm x 193mm > 1920x1080 60.0*+ 59.9 50.0 > 1680x1050 60.0 59.9 > 1600x1024 60.2 > 1400x1050 60.0 > 1280x1024 60.0 > 1440x900 59.9 > 1280x960 60.0 > 1360x768 59.8 60.0 > 1152x864 60.0 > 1024x768 60.0 > 800x600 60.3 56.2 > 640x480 59.9 > VGA1 disconnected 1024x768+1920+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) > 0mm x 0mm > 1024x768 60.0* > > The monitor is on and plugged in. > > If I can, I'd like to have my cake and eat it too. If not, I can switch to > the nouveau drivers, or even just use the Intel card if that's what it > takes. > > > Thanks, > Michael Moore > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > From erik.mitchell at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 13:01:14 2013 From: erik.mitchell at gmail.com (Erik Mitchell) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 13:01:14 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Thinkpad W530 external VGA? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On this topic, I figure I should mention Arandr if you're not aware of it (http://christian.amsuess.com/tools/arandr/). Very handy and simple tool to generate scripts (saved in ~/.screenlayout) to call xrandr for you. Only took me a minute to create a dual.sh and laptop.sh, which contain the appropriate xrandr commands to display on two screens and just on the laptop screen, respectively. Mapped those to key bindings in xmonad.hs and now I have a very simple and reliable way of switching modes. I've always been frustrated by this, not just in Linux. I've found Apple does a good job in OS X, and now I'm just as happy with my setup in Linux :) -Erik On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 12:52 PM, Greg Day wrote: > You must enable it from the BIOS first, then it works just fine in > mirror mode, dual screen mode, etc. I've run an external monitor > using Gnome and Xmonad without issue. > > Greg > > On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 12:14 PM, Michael Moore wrote: >> Has anyone gotten external VGA to work on a Thinkpad W530 or similar? >> >> I'm running Debian and have the latest version of bumblebee installed, which >> is working just fine. Pressing fn-F7 (the key with the projector icon on it) >> causes the screen to blink for a moment, then come back with no changes. >> >> The Monitor Preferences list only one screen (I'm using MATE as my desktop). >> >> >> I've tried using xrandr, but VGA1 still says its disconnected. >> >> >> michael at speed:~$ xrandr --addmode VGA1 1024x768 >> michael at speed:~$ xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1024x768 --right-of LVDS1 >> michael at speed:~$ xrandr >> Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2944 x 1080, maximum 8192 x 8192 >> LVDS1 connected 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) >> 344mm x 193mm >> 1920x1080 60.0*+ 59.9 50.0 >> 1680x1050 60.0 59.9 >> 1600x1024 60.2 >> 1400x1050 60.0 >> 1280x1024 60.0 >> 1440x900 59.9 >> 1280x960 60.0 >> 1360x768 59.8 60.0 >> 1152x864 60.0 >> 1024x768 60.0 >> 800x600 60.3 56.2 >> 640x480 59.9 >> VGA1 disconnected 1024x768+1920+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) >> 0mm x 0mm >> 1024x768 60.0* >> >> The monitor is on and plugged in. >> >> If I can, I'd like to have my cake and eat it too. If not, I can switch to >> the nouveau drivers, or even just use the Intel card if that's what it >> takes. >> >> >> Thanks, >> Michael Moore >> >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list -- Erik K. Mitchell erik.mitchell at gmail.com From stuporglue at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 13:07:16 2013 From: stuporglue at gmail.com (Michael Moore) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 13:07:16 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Thinkpad W530 external VGA? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 12:52 PM, Greg Day wrote: > You must enable it from the BIOS first, then it works just fine in > mirror mode, dual screen mode, etc. I've run an external monitor > using Gnome and Xmonad without issue. > I don't see an option for it in BIOS. Under Config->Display I have Boot Display Device [ThinkPad LCD] (only option) Graphics Device [NVIDIA Optimus] (or Integrated Graphics or Discrete Graphics) OS Detection for NVIDIA Optimus [DISABLED] (or Enabled) Am I looking in the wrong place? Thanks, Michael -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From stuporglue at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 13:08:43 2013 From: stuporglue at gmail.com (Michael Moore) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 13:08:43 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Thinkpad W530 external VGA? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 1:01 PM, Erik Mitchell wrote: > On this topic, I figure I should mention Arandr if you're not aware of > it (http://christian.amsuess.com/tools/arandr/). Very handy and simple > tool to generate scripts (saved in ~/.screenlayout) to call xrandr for > you. > Very nice. I've written my own xrandr scripts before, but allowing for more than just left-of/right-of sounds like a good feature. -- Michael Moore -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gregday28 at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 13:56:47 2013 From: gregday28 at gmail.com (Greg Day) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 13:56:47 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Thinkpad W530 external VGA? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Can't remember exactly where it is and can't look right now. By default, the external VGA is turned off in BIOS. Maybe it is boot options, or devices, but somewhere you can choose that both are initialized and which order they boot. LVDS then external VGA. I had the same problem, it isn't clear why it won't work until you switch it on in the BIOS. On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 1:07 PM, Michael Moore wrote: > On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 12:52 PM, Greg Day wrote: >> >> You must enable it from the BIOS first, then it works just fine in >> mirror mode, dual screen mode, etc. I've run an external monitor >> using Gnome and Xmonad without issue. > > > I don't see an option for it in BIOS. Under Config->Display I have > > Boot Display Device [ThinkPad LCD] (only option) > Graphics Device [NVIDIA Optimus] (or Integrated Graphics or Discrete > Graphics) > OS Detection for NVIDIA Optimus [DISABLED] (or Enabled) > > Am I looking in the wrong place? > > Thanks, > Michael > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > From susan.dawn.stewart at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 14:50:06 2013 From: susan.dawn.stewart at gmail.com (Susan) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 14:50:06 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Clear 4G & Ubuntu Message-ID: Hi! I was planning to reimage my kids' PCs to Ubuntu but just got Clear 4G for Internet, it's paid up for 15-months so that will be my Internet for awhile, switching to Comcast therefore isn't an option. (PCsforPeople, a non-profit in St.Paul on Marshall Ave, offers Clear 4G for $170 for 15months with the purchase of their modem/router if your family qualifies for low-income.) I'll admit I only did a quick Google search, but it seems Clear 4G only works with Windows/MAC :( Does anyone know of a hack? I'll do more searching when I have time, but thought I'd through the question out there on this list... Susan Stewart Unisys Technical Services Field Technician Dell Certified Systems Expert From mattwj2002 at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 17:26:02 2013 From: mattwj2002 at gmail.com (Matthew Junk) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 17:26:02 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Clear 4G & Ubuntu In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Susan, Do you have a wireless router? They are dirt cheap if you don't. If you are tech savvy, try shutting off the the wireless on the clear 4g modem and connect the wireless router's WAN to the ethernet port on the clear 4g wireless modem. Then anything you connect to the wireless router should work. Ubuntu, mac os x, or Windows. Please only attempt that if you know a bit about networking. Just an idea. Thanks, Matt On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 2:50 PM, Susan wrote: > Hi! I was planning to reimage my kids' PCs to Ubuntu but just got Clear 4G for Internet, it's paid up for 15-months so that will be my Internet for awhile, switching to Comcast therefore isn't an option. > > (PCsforPeople, a non-profit in St.Paul on Marshall Ave, offers Clear 4G for $170 for 15months with the purchase of their modem/router if your family qualifies for low-income.) > > I'll admit I only did a quick Google search, but it seems Clear 4G only works with Windows/MAC :( > > Does anyone know of a hack? I'll do more searching when I have time, but thought I'd through the question out there on this list... > > Susan Stewart > Unisys Technical Services Field Technician > Dell Certified Systems Expert > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From tclug at freakzilla.com Wed Jan 16 17:27:56 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (Yaron) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 17:27:56 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Clear 4G & Ubuntu In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Not knowing anything about how exactly Clear works... Is it... I mean, what kind of device do you get? Do you get a router/modem, or a WiFi hotspot, or a USB stick or something? Not sure what they use... if it's something that generates a local hotspot, you should be fine. What I'd do would be try an Ubuntu live CD and see if you can get online with that. If that works, no worries. On Wed, 16 Jan 2013, Susan wrote: > Hi! I was planning to reimage my kids' PCs to Ubuntu but just got Clear 4G for Internet, it's paid up for 15-months so that will be my Internet for awhile, switching to Comcast therefore isn't an option. > > (PCsforPeople, a non-profit in St.Paul on Marshall Ave, offers Clear 4G for $170 for 15months with the purchase of their modem/router if your family qualifies for low-income.) > > I'll admit I only did a quick Google search, but it seems Clear 4G only works with Windows/MAC :( > > Does anyone know of a hack? I'll do more searching when I have time, but thought I'd through the question out there on this list... > > Susan Stewart > Unisys Technical Services Field Technician > Dell Certified Systems Expert > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- From susan.dawn.stewart at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 17:53:16 2013 From: susan.dawn.stewart at gmail.com (Susan) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 17:53:16 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Clear 4G & Ubuntu In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <50884DB2-FCD1-4F51-9F5D-63209CAF05D4@gmail.com> *throw NOT through - ha! ;) Susan Stewart On Jan 16, 2013, at 2:50 PM, Susan wrote: > Hi! I was planning to reimage my kids' PCs to Ubuntu but just got Clear 4G for Internet, it's paid up for 15-months so that will be my Internet for awhile, switching to Comcast therefore isn't an option. > > (PCsforPeople, a non-profit in St.Paul on Marshall Ave, offers Clear 4G for $170 for 15months with the purchase of their modem/router if your family qualifies for low-income.) > > I'll admit I only did a quick Google search, but it seems Clear 4G only works with Windows/MAC :( > > Does anyone know of a hack? I'll do more searching when I have time, but thought I'd through the question out there on this list... > > Susan Stewart > Unisys Technical Services Field Technician > Dell Certified Systems Expert From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 18:01:25 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 18:01:25 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] smart watches Message-ID: You gadget-lovers probably know a few things about this kind of device. It runs Android, which has a Linux kernel, so it isn't even off-topic, maybe. I just read this review and was disappointed: http://gizmodo.com/5926728/sony-smartwatch-review-maybe-the-worst-thing-sony-has-ever-made I was disappointed because I was thinking of buying one. But if it's really *terrible*, I'm not going to buy it. The idea is very cool. I feel that the Gizmodo critic is expecting it to do things that it doesn't promise to do, but it also sounds like it doesn't do what one would expect. For me, if the watch could just be a watch when out of contact with the Bluetooth phone, and hold contact when the phone is within 5 feet, that would be enough. I'm not sure how well the battery holds up. If it can't do a full 24 hours without recharging, I wouldn't be very happy with it. I think there will be a smart watch in my future, though. It makes sense. Even if only to see who's calling without pulling the phone out of my pocket -- that would be awesome. Mike From susan.dawn.stewart at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 18:47:35 2013 From: susan.dawn.stewart at gmail.com (Susan) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 18:47:35 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Clear 4G & Ubuntu In-Reply-To: <50884DB2-FCD1-4F51-9F5D-63209CAF05D4@gmail.com> References: <50884DB2-FCD1-4F51-9F5D-63209CAF05D4@gmail.com> Message-ID: <6B4E1B80-F559-4277-965F-8B243EAF1763@gmail.com> Okay... I found this, so perhaps there's a way to accomplish this... I'll have to try it... Although I work in I.T., I strictly do hardware break/fix, Dell Warranty Repairs in my professional role. Anything I do on the software end of things, well, I hack my way through with the help of my friend "Google." Susan Stewart On Jan 16, 2013, at 5:53 PM, Susan wrote: > *throw NOT through - ha! ;) > > Susan Stewart > > On Jan 16, 2013, at 2:50 PM, Susan wrote: > >> Hi! I was planning to reimage my kids' PCs to Ubuntu but just got Clear 4G for Internet, it's paid up for 15-months so that will be my Internet for awhile, switching to Comcast therefore isn't an option. >> >> (PCsforPeople, a non-profit in St.Paul on Marshall Ave, offers Clear 4G for $170 for 15months with the purchase of their modem/router if your family qualifies for low-income.) >> >> I'll admit I only did a quick Google search, but it seems Clear 4G only works with Windows/MAC :( >> >> Does anyone know of a hack? I'll do more searching when I have time, but thought I'd through the question out there on this list... >> >> Susan Stewart >> Unisys Technical Services Field Technician >> Dell Certified Systems Expert From bradyh at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 20:07:43 2013 From: bradyh at gmail.com (Brady Hegberg) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 20:07:43 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Clear 4G & Ubuntu In-Reply-To: <6B4E1B80-F559-4277-965F-8B243EAF1763@gmail.com> References: <50884DB2-FCD1-4F51-9F5D-63209CAF05D4@gmail.com> <6B4E1B80-F559-4277-965F-8B243EAF1763@gmail.com> Message-ID: <098EE042-8114-4D88-BBE7-07DCA1FC6413@gmail.com> I have Clear...I connected it to my Ubuntu USB and it just said "Network connected" and I had Internet. Completely automatic. -Brady On Jan 16, 2013, at 6:47 PM, Susan wrote: > Okay... > > I found this, so perhaps there's a way to accomplish this... I'll have to try it... > > Although I work in I.T., I strictly do hardware break/fix, Dell Warranty Repairs in my professional role. Anything I do on the software end of things, well, I hack my way through with the help of my friend "Google." > > Susan Stewart > > On Jan 16, 2013, at 5:53 PM, Susan wrote: > >> *throw NOT through - ha! ;) >> >> Susan Stewart >> >> On Jan 16, 2013, at 2:50 PM, Susan wrote: >> >>> Hi! I was planning to reimage my kids' PCs to Ubuntu but just got Clear 4G for Internet, it's paid up for 15-months so that will be my Internet for awhile, switching to Comcast therefore isn't an option. >>> >>> (PCsforPeople, a non-profit in St.Paul on Marshall Ave, offers Clear 4G for $170 for 15months with the purchase of their modem/router if your family qualifies for low-income.) >>> >>> I'll admit I only did a quick Google search, but it seems Clear 4G only works with Windows/MAC :( >>> >>> Does anyone know of a hack? I'll do more searching when I have time, but thought I'd through the question out there on this list... >>> >>> Susan Stewart >>> Unisys Technical Services Field Technician >>> Dell Certified Systems Expert > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From susan.dawn.stewart at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 20:57:14 2013 From: susan.dawn.stewart at gmail.com (Susan) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 20:57:14 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] tclug-list Digest, Vol 97, Issue 26 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1332AFBC-B47A-496D-834F-7D6AD21129F1@gmail.com> Thank you to everyone who responded! 0k, I'll reimage to Ubuntu this weekend... Hopefully it'll "just work," if not I'll connect my wireless router to the NIC port on my Clear Device... I'll report back my results.. My Clear router/modem has two physical ports + operates wirelessly. Both of their PCs will be hardwired to the Clear device. And central long located in the house. They've been using my laptop & hiding out in their rod w/it... Time to put an end that! My son is 14 and his sister is nearly 13. I haven't set up their computers since we moved into this house, which was a year ago... (Gulp!) As for my networking knowledge, ummmm... I have owned Mike Meyer's Network+ book for 5+ years, & I've read it + referenced it... along with Google... but I haven't taken the Net+ certification exam &, to be honest, I would need to invest some significant time into studying before I'll be ready for that... I'd also probably need to get some new, updated, study materials for that... But getting certifications in place is in my short-term plans... A+, Net+ and then??? Either Linux+ or Microsoft... I think I know which direction this list would steer me! ;) - or maybe not? My goal is to get away from hardware break/fix within the next 18mos, so a M$ Win7 and/or office cert may serve me well for moving into a desktop support position... My kids' PCs have XP on them now, which despite my instructions, they didn't maintain with regard to the junk they download, while playing online games & such. They have been using my laptop & my son, especially, gunks up the system! I'm hoping having them use Ubuntu will result in systems with a longer half-life before they hose their OSs - ha! Maybe, maybe not! This is an experiment. They already use open office for school work, so Ubuntu should be just fine for their needs...) As for me... I have used Ubuntu in the past & I'll dual boot my system to that w/Windows the next time I reimage it... The website where I submit my work mileage & expenses only works in IE, so for that & to stay on top of things, I need to maintain a Windows 7 environment. Thanks again! Susan From susan.dawn.stewart at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 21:02:24 2013 From: susan.dawn.stewart at gmail.com (Susan) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 21:02:24 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] tclug-list Digest, Vol 97, Issue 26 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Oops... This is the link I found & meant to send... http://askubuntu.com/questions/163856/how-do-i-get-clear-wireless-to-work-on-ubuntu-is-there-a-solution But I'll try the suggestions from list members here first... :) Susan From jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 22:03:39 2013 From: jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com (Jeremy MountainJohnson) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 22:03:39 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Clear 4G & Ubuntu In-Reply-To: <098EE042-8114-4D88-BBE7-07DCA1FC6413@gmail.com> References: <50884DB2-FCD1-4F51-9F5D-63209CAF05D4@gmail.com> <6B4E1B80-F559-4277-965F-8B243EAF1763@gmail.com> <098EE042-8114-4D88-BBE7-07DCA1FC6413@gmail.com> Message-ID: A lot of devices and services claim to only support Windows or Windows / Mac because Linux isn't often considered a household name for personal computing. Fortunately this does not mean it won't work. And, I don't believe you will need a hack to get Clear on Linux. You should have a modem with a wireless router built in, or a USB stick as your point of connection to Clear. The built-in wireless router will work well with Ubuntu assuming the laptop has wireless capabilities (which could also be added cheaply if needed). Most people on this mailing list could help out if this is the case. One of the USB sticks (I'm guessing this is the one Brady has), advertises support for Linux and Android - http://www.clear.com/devices/details/id/devatlas/name/CLEAR-Stick-Atlas. If you are going the solo connection route with the USB stick and have a choice, go for that one since Linux support appears to be good (my guess is the Ubuntu kernel has drivers built in for common wimax devices so you shouldn't need to compile or toy with drivers). The other dongle looks to be tethered to some weird proprietary connection manager and does not claim Linux support (may work, but may require some hacking). Good luck. Clear should also be able to assist with basic setup in Linux since they advertise support for it with some of their devices. Another thing to keep in mind, Clear is not doing so well and hasn't for awhile- a useful tool to leverage as a consumer to get deals and good support for tempting them with a loyal customer carrot. -- Jeremy MountainJohnson Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 8:07 PM, Brady Hegberg wrote: > I have Clear...I connected it to my Ubuntu USB and it just said "Network connected" and I had Internet. Completely automatic. > > -Brady > > On Jan 16, 2013, at 6:47 PM, Susan wrote: > >> Okay... >> >> I found this, so perhaps there's a way to accomplish this... I'll have to try it... >> >> Although I work in I.T., I strictly do hardware break/fix, Dell Warranty Repairs in my professional role. Anything I do on the software end of things, well, I hack my way through with the help of my friend "Google." >> >> Susan Stewart >> >> On Jan 16, 2013, at 5:53 PM, Susan wrote: >> >>> *throw NOT through - ha! ;) >>> >>> Susan Stewart >>> >>> On Jan 16, 2013, at 2:50 PM, Susan wrote: >>> >>>> Hi! I was planning to reimage my kids' PCs to Ubuntu but just got Clear 4G for Internet, it's paid up for 15-months so that will be my Internet for awhile, switching to Comcast therefore isn't an option. >>>> >>>> (PCsforPeople, a non-profit in St.Paul on Marshall Ave, offers Clear 4G for $170 for 15months with the purchase of their modem/router if your family qualifies for low-income.) >>>> >>>> I'll admit I only did a quick Google search, but it seems Clear 4G only works with Windows/MAC :( >>>> >>>> Does anyone know of a hack? I'll do more searching when I have time, but thought I'd through the question out there on this list... >>>> >>>> Susan Stewart >>>> Unisys Technical Services Field Technician >>>> Dell Certified Systems Expert >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 22:13:46 2013 From: jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com (Jeremy MountainJohnson) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 22:13:46 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] smart watches In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Mike, How about a Nano watch? Not sure if it scratches the tell me who is causing my phone to vibrate in my pocket itch, but they do make cool watches (screensaver can be sit as couple of different clocks), and charging should be acceptable for your parameters if you're not using the Nano too much. Buy a Nano and a strap (or pay more for someone who put the two together): http://www.amazon.com/Wrist-Jockey-Casual-Grid-watch/dp/B004B7FXHI/ref=cm_lmf_tit_4/179-7700472-3546960 -- Jeremy MountainJohnson Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 6:01 PM, Mike Miller wrote: > You gadget-lovers probably know a few things about this kind of device. It > runs Android, which has a Linux kernel, so it isn't even off-topic, maybe. > I just read this review and was disappointed: > > http://gizmodo.com/5926728/sony-smartwatch-review-maybe-the-worst-thing-sony-has-ever-made > > I was disappointed because I was thinking of buying one. But if it's really > *terrible*, I'm not going to buy it. > > The idea is very cool. I feel that the Gizmodo critic is expecting it to do > things that it doesn't promise to do, but it also sounds like it doesn't do > what one would expect. > > For me, if the watch could just be a watch when out of contact with the > Bluetooth phone, and hold contact when the phone is within 5 feet, that > would be enough. > > I'm not sure how well the battery holds up. If it can't do a full 24 hours > without recharging, I wouldn't be very happy with it. > > I think there will be a smart watch in my future, though. It makes sense. > Even if only to see who's calling without pulling the phone out of my pocket > -- that would be awesome. > > Mike > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Thu Jan 17 00:30:49 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 00:30:49 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] smart watches In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Wed, 16 Jan 2013, Jeremy MountainJohnson wrote: > How about a Nano watch? Not sure if it scratches the tell me who is > causing my phone to vibrate in my pocket itch, but they do make cool > watches (screensaver can be sit as couple of different clocks), and > charging should be acceptable for your parameters if you're not using > the Nano too much. > > Buy a Nano and a strap (or pay more for someone who put the two together): > http://www.amazon.com/Wrist-Jockey-Casual-Grid-watch/dp/B004B7FXHI/ref=cm_lmf_tit_4/179-7700472-3546960 It looks like a better device than the Sony Smartwatch - much better resolution and similar dimensions. It can do Bluetooth, but I don't know what it can do with it. It looks like a fun thing to play with. Mike From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Thu Jan 17 00:37:18 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 00:37:18 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] using virtual keyboards Message-ID: I was just messing around with the virtual keyboard on an Android device. I'm used to using lots of ctrl and alt keys. I'm not sure I can do that with this kind of keyboard. What do you think? Is there an easy way to get that to work. For example, I tried this command: ping my.host And it started pinging one per second. So far, so good, but I always stop that process with Ctrl-C. I couldn't figure out how to do Ctrl-C, so I ended up killing the terminal to deal with it!! ;-) From tclug at freakzilla.com Thu Jan 17 00:38:10 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (Yaron) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 00:38:10 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] using virtual keyboards In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Look for Hacker's Keyboard on the Play store. It will solve all your problems. On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: > I was just messing around with the virtual keyboard on an Android device. I'm > used to using lots of ctrl and alt keys. I'm not sure I can do that with > this kind of keyboard. What do you think? Is there an easy way to get that > to work. > > For example, I tried this command: > > ping my.host > > And it started pinging one per second. So far, so good, but I always stop > that process with Ctrl-C. I couldn't figure out how to do Ctrl-C, so I ended > up killing the terminal to deal with it!! ;-) > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Thu Jan 17 00:55:31 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 00:55:31 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] using virtual keyboards In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: > Look for Hacker's Keyboard on the Play store. It will solve all your > problems. Perfect. Thanks! Mike From tclug at freakzilla.com Thu Jan 17 01:15:58 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (Yaron) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 01:15:58 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] using virtual keyboards In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Although really most keyboards have a method for control characters. Sometimes it's like Volume-Up+Key for Ctrl, etc. On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: > On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: > >> Look for Hacker's Keyboard on the Play store. It will solve all your >> problems. > > Perfect. Thanks! > > Mike > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Thu Jan 17 09:51:58 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 09:51:58 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] using virtual keyboards In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: > Although really most keyboards have a method for control characters. > Sometimes it's like Volume-Up+Key for Ctrl, etc. I was using the Cyanogenmod Kindle Fire and it was saying Vol-Dn, but I couldn't find a volume button. Does it have volume buttons? Mike From tclug at freakzilla.com Thu Jan 17 11:03:57 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (Yaron) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 11:03:57 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] using virtual keyboards In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Haha. You're right. The KF doesn't really have any buttons except power... There are many alternative keyboards for Android. I like Swype for phones and Swiftkey Tablet for tablets. Sadly Swiftkey is not free and Swype is a bit of a procedure (you can't just get it from the store). Although I think the default keyboard now has swype-like features. On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: > On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: > >> Although really most keyboards have a method for control characters. >> Sometimes it's like Volume-Up+Key for Ctrl, etc. > > > I was using the Cyanogenmod Kindle Fire and it was saying Vol-Dn, but I > couldn't find a volume button. Does it have volume buttons? > > Mike > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Thu Jan 17 11:47:43 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 11:47:43 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] using USI Wireless in Minneapolis Message-ID: I have CenturyLink service, again. It was down for awhile and it was not easy to get service when I had to deal with their call center in the Philippines. They seemed like really nice people and they spoke great English, but when they ordered a service for me, it never happened. They'd give me a tracking number, but the system would still have no record of my order and no record of the tracking number! Anyway, while I had no CenturyLink, I used the USI Wireless internet system. They charge $10 for one day, which is ridiculous, but they charge $18 for a week and $25 for a month, or $20 for monthly recurring. I had huge problems with lots of disconnects and dropped packets, but I was grateful that I could get something while my CenturyLink was down. When I first signed up, I chose this WiFi connection... City of Minneapolis Public WiFi ...opened the web browser, got a username/password for login and ordered a week of service. After a few days, I realized that I had other options like these: usiw_secure usiw_secure_S06N139T1 USI Wireless usiw_secure_S01N129T1 I used usiw_secure with the username/password established above, and that made things work a *lot* better. I had been getting highly variable ping times to my office machine, lots of dropped packets, lots of stalling of VNC connection, but now I was getting 30 ms pings, good consistency, no dropped packets, smooth operation of VNC -- everything better. Now it could be some confounder like the time of day, but I'm pretty convinced that the usiw_secure just worked tons better. A speed test showed 1 Mbps both up and down. Another thing -- I tried to figure out where in my home I had the best reception. So I started pinging my office machine, once per second (the USI WiFi router didn't respond to ping) and I walked around the house looking for patterns. It seemed best toward the southwest of my house. Is there a better way to test signal strength? Is there a better way to improve reception? Anyway, thought I'd put that out there in case it helps anyone, but I also wanted to hear if anyone has any ideas on how to deal better with some of these issues. Thanks. Mike From erik.mitchell at gmail.com Thu Jan 17 11:56:48 2013 From: erik.mitchell at gmail.com (Erik Mitchell) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 11:56:48 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] using USI Wireless in Minneapolis In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I used USI Wireless at my old house and was very happy with it. I had one of their "modems" with an external antenna, and always had strong signal strength. I had clear line of site to a node, however, and placed my antenna in a window so there was nothing obstructing the signal. One thing they mentioned at some point was that laptops typically are not transmitting as strong a signal as their stations, and this can lead to problems. Your laptop can receive their signal just fine, but sending packets is a different story, and your signal strength indicator doesn't show this. -Erik On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 11:47 AM, Mike Miller wrote: > I have CenturyLink service, again. It was down for awhile and it was not > easy to get service when I had to deal with their call center in the > Philippines. They seemed like really nice people and they spoke great > English, but when they ordered a service for me, it never happened. They'd > give me a tracking number, but the system would still have no record of my > order and no record of the tracking number! > > Anyway, while I had no CenturyLink, I used the USI Wireless internet system. > They charge $10 for one day, which is ridiculous, but they charge $18 for a > week and $25 for a month, or $20 for monthly recurring. > > I had huge problems with lots of disconnects and dropped packets, but I was > grateful that I could get something while my CenturyLink was down. When I > first signed up, I chose this WiFi connection... > > City of Minneapolis Public WiFi > > ...opened the web browser, got a username/password for login and ordered a > week of service. After a few days, I realized that I had other options like > these: > > usiw_secure > usiw_secure_S06N139T1 > USI Wireless > usiw_secure_S01N129T1 > > I used usiw_secure with the username/password established above, and that > made things work a *lot* better. I had been getting highly variable ping > times to my office machine, lots of dropped packets, lots of stalling of VNC > connection, but now I was getting 30 ms pings, good consistency, no dropped > packets, smooth operation of VNC -- everything better. Now it could be some > confounder like the time of day, but I'm pretty convinced that the > usiw_secure just worked tons better. A speed test showed 1 Mbps both up and > down. > > Another thing -- I tried to figure out where in my home I had the best > reception. So I started pinging my office machine, once per second (the USI > WiFi router didn't respond to ping) and I walked around the house looking > for patterns. It seemed best toward the southwest of my house. Is there a > better way to test signal strength? Is there a better way to improve > reception? > > Anyway, thought I'd put that out there in case it helps anyone, but I also > wanted to hear if anyone has any ideas on how to deal better with some of > these issues. Thanks. > > Mike > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list -- Erik K. Mitchell erik.mitchell at gmail.com From ryanjcole at me.com Thu Jan 17 12:11:33 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 12:11:33 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] using USI Wireless in Minneapolis In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <50F83ED5.9030601@me.com> If anyone here needs help setting up and finding good spots or fixing dead zones with their USI service please feel free to let me know. I can swing by, if you wish, to see what can be done. My day job involves doing a lot of PTP, PTPP, Mesh, AP/CPE (which is what the USI configuration is - CPE = customer premise equipment or your transceiver), etc. Thanks, Ryan On 1/17/2013 11:56 AM, Erik Mitchell wrote: > I used USI Wireless at my old house and was very happy with it. I had > one of their "modems" with an external antenna, and always had strong > signal strength. I had clear line of site to a node, however, and > placed my antenna in a window so there was nothing obstructing the > signal. > > One thing they mentioned at some point was that laptops typically are > not transmitting as strong a signal as their stations, and this can > lead to problems. Your laptop can receive their signal just fine, but > sending packets is a different story, and your signal strength > indicator doesn't show this. > > -Erik > > On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 11:47 AM, Mike Miller wrote: >> I have CenturyLink service, again. It was down for awhile and it was not >> easy to get service when I had to deal with their call center in the >> Philippines. They seemed like really nice people and they spoke great >> English, but when they ordered a service for me, it never happened. They'd >> give me a tracking number, but the system would still have no record of my >> order and no record of the tracking number! >> >> Anyway, while I had no CenturyLink, I used the USI Wireless internet system. >> They charge $10 for one day, which is ridiculous, but they charge $18 for a >> week and $25 for a month, or $20 for monthly recurring. >> >> I had huge problems with lots of disconnects and dropped packets, but I was >> grateful that I could get something while my CenturyLink was down. When I >> first signed up, I chose this WiFi connection... >> >> City of Minneapolis Public WiFi >> >> ...opened the web browser, got a username/password for login and ordered a >> week of service. After a few days, I realized that I had other options like >> these: >> >> usiw_secure >> usiw_secure_S06N139T1 >> USI Wireless >> usiw_secure_S01N129T1 >> >> I used usiw_secure with the username/password established above, and that >> made things work a *lot* better. I had been getting highly variable ping >> times to my office machine, lots of dropped packets, lots of stalling of VNC >> connection, but now I was getting 30 ms pings, good consistency, no dropped >> packets, smooth operation of VNC -- everything better. Now it could be some >> confounder like the time of day, but I'm pretty convinced that the >> usiw_secure just worked tons better. A speed test showed 1 Mbps both up and >> down. >> >> Another thing -- I tried to figure out where in my home I had the best >> reception. So I started pinging my office machine, once per second (the USI >> WiFi router didn't respond to ping) and I walked around the house looking >> for patterns. It seemed best toward the southwest of my house. Is there a >> better way to test signal strength? Is there a better way to improve >> reception? >> >> Anyway, thought I'd put that out there in case it helps anyone, but I also >> wanted to hear if anyone has any ideas on how to deal better with some of >> these issues. Thanks. >> >> Mike >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > From wdtj at yahoo.com Thu Jan 17 12:39:46 2013 From: wdtj at yahoo.com (Wayne Johnson) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 10:39:46 -0800 (PST) Subject: [tclug-list] using USI Wireless in Minneapolis In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1358447986.17133.YahooMailNeo@web121503.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> I had USI Wireless for a while.? The secure connection is the way to go.? The public connections are for their limited free access. I used a laptop and monitored the signal strength to find the best location.? Never found anything strong enough to keep a good connection. After I dropped their service, they called and highly recommended their $49 professional installation to solve my signal strength problem.? According to others I talked to, this included mounting an external antenna etc.? Those other users highly recommended their installation. By the time USIW called, I had already switched to Comcast Business Class broadband and have had 0 problems.? Much better that USIW or Qwest DSL.? YMMV. ? --- Wayne Johnson,???????????? | There are two kinds of people: Those 3943 Penn Ave. N.????????? | who say to God, "Thy will be done," Minneapolis, MN 55412-1908 | and those to whom God says, "All right, (612) 522-7003???????????? | then, have it your way." --C.S. Lewis >________________________________ > From: Mike Miller >To: TCLUG List >Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2013 11:47 AM >Subject: [tclug-list] using USI Wireless in Minneapolis > >I have CenturyLink service, again.? It was down for awhile and it was not easy to get service when I had to deal with their call center in the Philippines.? They seemed like really nice people and they spoke great English, but when they ordered a service for me, it never happened. They'd give me a tracking number, but the system would still have no record of my order and no record of the tracking number! > >Anyway, while I had no CenturyLink, I used the USI Wireless internet system.? They charge $10 for one day, which is ridiculous, but they charge $18 for a week and $25 for a month, or $20 for monthly recurring. > >I had huge problems with lots of disconnects and dropped packets, but I was grateful that I could get something while my CenturyLink was down. When I first signed up, I chose this WiFi connection... > >City of Minneapolis Public WiFi > >...opened the web browser, got a username/password for login and ordered a week of service.? After a few days, I realized that I had other options like these: > >usiw_secure >usiw_secure_S06N139T1 >USI Wireless >usiw_secure_S01N129T1 > >I used usiw_secure with the username/password established above, and that made things work a *lot* better.? I had been getting highly variable ping times to my office machine, lots of dropped packets, lots of stalling of VNC connection, but now I was getting 30 ms pings, good consistency, no dropped packets, smooth operation of VNC -- everything better.? Now it could be some confounder like the time of day, but I'm pretty convinced that the usiw_secure just worked tons better.? A speed test showed 1 Mbps both up and down. > >Another thing -- I tried to figure out where in my home I had the best reception.? So I started pinging my office machine, once per second (the USI WiFi router didn't respond to ping) and I walked around the house looking for patterns.? It seemed best toward the southwest of my house. Is there a better way to test signal strength?? Is there a better way to improve reception? > >Anyway, thought I'd put that out there in case it helps anyone, but I also wanted to hear if anyone has any ideas on how to deal better with some of these issues.? Thanks. > >Mike >_______________________________________________ >TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >tclug-list at mn-linux.org >http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Thu Jan 17 12:56:35 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 12:56:35 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] using USI Wireless in Minneapolis In-Reply-To: <1358447986.17133.YahooMailNeo@web121503.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> References: <1358447986.17133.YahooMailNeo@web121503.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Wayne Johnson wrote: > I had USI Wireless for a while.? The secure connection is the way to > go.? The public connections are for their limited free access. I'm glad to hear a confirmation of what I thought I was seeing. Their web pages didn't tell me to drop the public and switch to the secure after paying, but they should have told me. It would have saved a lot of trouble. > I used a laptop and monitored the signal strength to find the best > location.? Never found anything strong enough to keep a good connection. How do you monitor signal strength? Does that just mean looking at the icon to see how many bars or wave lines you have? Or is there a way to get numbers? > After I dropped their service, they called and highly recommended their > $49 professional installation to solve my signal strength problem.? > According to others I talked to, this included mounting an external > antenna etc.? Those other users highly recommended their installation. I'll bet it provides a consistent service, but I wonder how fast it is. Do you know anything about that? Is it always 1 Mbps both ways? > By the time USIW called, I had already switched to Comcast Business > Class broadband and have had 0 problems.? Much better that USIW or Qwest > DSL.? YMMV. I dropped Century last month because they had failed to reconnect the wire to my house after a truck had taken it down, and I was pretty fed up with their bad service. But, when I called Comcast, I wasn't at all happy with the guy I talked to and their price was higher for the bandwidth promised. With CenturyLink I'm promised 40 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up, a speakeasy.net speed test (Chicago) is showing 39.3 Mbps down and 15.7 Mbps up with an ethernet connection to the router. They want $30/mo first 6 months, then $75/mo as a normal price, no contract. I don't think Comcast could match that or better it. What did you find? They finally did get a guy out here last night, and he went to the trouble of raising the wire high enough in the alley that a truck will probably never take it down. So I think I'm going to be happy now. Best, Mike From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Thu Jan 17 13:00:41 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 13:00:41 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] x2go (versus NX, Neatx and VNCs) Message-ID: Is anyone using x2go? I was just reading about it: Ubuntu discussion (2010-2011): http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1493336 Blog post (11/2010): http://foss-boss.blogspot.com/2010/11/show-off-ubuntu-desktop-on-cloud.html X2go site: http://www.x2go.org/ I'd be interested to hear about your experiences, if any. Thanks. Mike From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Thu Jan 17 13:06:52 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 13:06:52 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] x2go (versus NX, Neatx and VNCs) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I intended that message for the VNC list, but I am interested in your opinions, too. There are Free Software VNCs and Neatx is the Google version of NX under GPL2. x2go is also GPL. On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: > Is anyone using x2go? I was just reading about it: > > Ubuntu discussion (2010-2011): > http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1493336 > > Blog post (11/2010): > http://foss-boss.blogspot.com/2010/11/show-off-ubuntu-desktop-on-cloud.html > > X2go site: > http://www.x2go.org/ > > I'd be interested to hear about your experiences, if any. > > Thanks. > > Mike From tclug at freakzilla.com Thu Jan 17 13:31:42 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (Yaron) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 13:31:42 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] x2go (versus NX, Neatx and VNCs) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Wait, there's a VNC group? On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: > I intended that message for the VNC list, but I am interested in your > opinions, too. There are Free Software VNCs and Neatx is the Google version > of NX under GPL2. x2go is also GPL. > > > On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: > >> Is anyone using x2go? I was just reading about it: >> >> Ubuntu discussion (2010-2011): >> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1493336 >> >> Blog post (11/2010): >> http://foss-boss.blogspot.com/2010/11/show-off-ubuntu-desktop-on-cloud.html >> >> X2go site: >> http://www.x2go.org/ >> >> I'd be interested to hear about your experiences, if any. >> >> Thanks. >> >> Mike > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- From ryanjcole at me.com Thu Jan 17 13:45:41 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 13:45:41 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] using USI Wireless in Minneapolis In-Reply-To: References: <1358447986.17133.YahooMailNeo@web121503.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <50F854E5.4020205@me.com> Not with business class service... if you want no contract you get no frills, no deals and you pay more. Sucks but if you move out of their service area there is no termination fee (a definite plus). And if you move they will just "re-up" with your new account. On 1/17/2013 12:56 PM, Mike Miller wrote: > I dropped Century last month because they had failed to reconnect the > wire to my house after a truck had taken it down, and I was pretty fed > up with their bad service. But, when I called Comcast, I wasn't at > all happy with the guy I talked to and their price was higher for the > bandwidth promised. With CenturyLink I'm promised 40 Mbps down and 20 > Mbps up, a speakeasy.net speed test (Chicago) is showing 39.3 Mbps > down and 15.7 Mbps up with an ethernet connection to the router. They > want $30/mo first 6 months, then $75/mo as a normal price, no > contract. I don't think Comcast could match that or better it. What > did you find? > > They finally did get a guy out here last night, and he went to the > trouble of raising the wire high enough in the alley that a truck will > probably never take it down. So I think I'm going to be happy now. From wdtj at yahoo.com Thu Jan 17 14:02:25 2013 From: wdtj at yahoo.com (Wayne Johnson) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 12:02:25 -0800 (PST) Subject: [tclug-list] using USI Wireless in Minneapolis In-Reply-To: References: <1358447986.17133.YahooMailNeo@web121503.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1358452945.46948.YahooMailNeo@web121506.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> > From: Mike Miller >To: TCLUG Mailing List >Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2013 12:56 PM >Subject: Re: [tclug-list] using USI Wireless in Minneapolis > >On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Wayne Johnson wrote: >> I used a laptop and monitored the signal strength to find the best location.? Never found anything strong enough to keep a good connection. > >How do you monitor signal strength?? Does that just mean looking at the icon to see how many bars or wave lines you have?? Or is there a way to get numbers? My wifi card has a utility that shows more than what Windows will show you.? It actually (as I remember) showed # Db.? >> After I dropped their service, they called and highly recommended their $49 professional installation to solve my signal strength problem.? According to others I talked to, this included mounting an external antenna etc.? Those other users highly recommended their installation. > >I'll bet it provides a consistent service, but I wonder how fast it is. Do you know anything about that?? Is it always 1 Mbps both ways? I believe they also have faster levels (for greater price).? But with all providers, they can't guarantee anything other the maximum cap.? Like I said YMMV.? With cable, your sharing bandwidth with any of your neighbors on that wire.? With DSL, you have a private pipe up to the CO and then share whatever bandwidth that exits there.? USIW uses a mesh network which forwards your data from transmitter to transmitter until it hits the network interface.? USIW had lots of fun locating their transmitters in areas where they could see the upstream transmitter.? Some of them are hung out on street light arms in the middle of the street to see around trees. >I dropped Century last month because they had failed to reconnect the wire to my house after a truck had taken it down, and I was pretty fed up with their bad service.? But, when I called Comcast, I wasn't at all happy with the guy I talked to and their price was higher for the bandwidth promised. With CenturyLink I'm promised 40 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up, a speakeasy.net speed test (Chicago) is showing 39.3 Mbps down and 15.7 Mbps up with an ethernet connection to the router.? They want $30/mo first 6 months, then $75/mo as a normal price, no contract.? I don't think Comcast could match that or better it.? What did you find? I originally had been promised and I was paying for 4Gb at one point.? Apparently they found my lines couldn't handle 4Gb and snuck it down (and didn't tell me).? That's why I dropped them as a provider. From jus at krytosvirus.com Thu Jan 17 14:46:29 2013 From: jus at krytosvirus.com (Justin Krejci) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:46:29 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] using USI Wireless in Minneapolis In-Reply-To: References: <1358447986.17133.YahooMailNeo@web121503.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1358455589.2238.41.camel@sysadmin3a> On Thu, 2013-01-17 at 12:56 -0600, Mike Miller wrote: > On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Wayne Johnson wrote: > > > I had USI Wireless for a while. The secure connection is the way to > > go. The public connections are for their limited free access. > > I'm glad to hear a confirmation of what I thought I was seeing. Their web > pages didn't tell me to drop the public and switch to the secure after > paying, but they should have told me. It would have saved a lot of > trouble. Using the usiw_secure SSID is preferential for encryption/privacy reasons as well. When you sign up for regular service and get the modem, it will be set to associate onto usiw_secure as well. > > > > I used a laptop and monitored the signal strength to find the best > > location. Never found anything strong enough to keep a good connection. > > How do you monitor signal strength? Does that just mean looking at the > icon to see how many bars or wave lines you have? Or is there a way to > get numbers? On my ubuntu powered laptop I use the following command "iwconfig wlan0" It will give you some good info like signal strength in dBm (numbers), modulation rate, and other info. I would bet there are other graphical tools that could be used as well. I found a decent free tool for my android phone too called "wifi analyzer" The limitation with any of these 802.11 tests/analyzers compared to a true spectrum analyzer is they don't really have a way to show you non-802.11 RF noise from other things that produce radio waves in the relevant frequencies. > > > > After I dropped their service, they called and highly recommended their > > $49 professional installation to solve my signal strength problem. > > According to others I talked to, this included mounting an external > > antenna etc. Those other users highly recommended their installation. > > I'll bet it provides a consistent service, but I wonder how fast it is. > Do you know anything about that? Is it always 1 Mbps both ways? Upload is always 1 meg. Download there are 1, 3 and 6 meg options. Typically 6meg option will require an outside mounted antenna. > > > > By the time USIW called, I had already switched to Comcast Business > > Class broadband and have had 0 problems. Much better that USIW or Qwest > > DSL. YMMV. > > I dropped Century last month because they had failed to reconnect the wire > to my house after a truck had taken it down, and I was pretty fed up with > their bad service. But, when I called Comcast, I wasn't at all happy with > the guy I talked to and their price was higher for the bandwidth promised. > With CenturyLink I'm promised 40 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up, a speakeasy.net > speed test (Chicago) is showing 39.3 Mbps down and 15.7 Mbps up with an > ethernet connection to the router. They want $30/mo first 6 months, then > $75/mo as a normal price, no contract. I don't think Comcast could match > that or better it. What did you find? > > They finally did get a guy out here last night, and he went to the trouble > of raising the wire high enough in the alley that a truck will probably > never take it down. So I think I'm going to be happy now. > > Best, > Mike I wish I lived in a area where FTTH is available. http://fiber.usinternet.com From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Thu Jan 17 16:40:49 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:40:49 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] x2go (versus NX, Neatx and VNCs) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: > Wait, there's a VNC group? It's a distribution list that goes way back. I joined it in about 1997. VNC List Mike From florin at iucha.net Thu Jan 17 18:46:16 2013 From: florin at iucha.net (Florin Iucha) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:46:16 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] using USI Wireless in Minneapolis In-Reply-To: References: <1358447986.17133.YahooMailNeo@web121503.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <20130118004615.GL32332@signbit.net> On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 12:56:35PM -0600, Mike Miller wrote: > How do you monitor signal strength? Does that just mean looking at > the icon to see how many bars or wave lines you have? Or is there a > way to get numbers? InSSIDer is the way to go, if you have Windows. Cheers, florin -- Beware of software written by optimists! -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 198 bytes Desc: Digital signature URL: From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Thu Jan 17 19:00:23 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:00:23 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] using USI Wireless in Minneapolis In-Reply-To: <20130118004615.GL32332@signbit.net> References: <1358447986.17133.YahooMailNeo@web121503.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> <20130118004615.GL32332@signbit.net> Message-ID: On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Florin Iucha wrote: > On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 12:56:35PM -0600, Mike Miller wrote: > >> How do you monitor signal strength? Does that just mean looking at the >> icon to see how many bars or wave lines you have? Or is there a way to >> get numbers? > > InSSIDer is the way to go, if you have Windows. I do have one Windows laptop -- my daughter's -- so I could use that. However, I just discovered Wifi Analyzer for Android, which I put on my Nexus 4 and my Kindle Fire Cyanogenmod. It definitely seems to work and it's nice to have it on a small, portable device. Has anyone compared Wifi Analyzer with InSSIDer? Mike From stuporglue at gmail.com Thu Jan 17 19:38:39 2013 From: stuporglue at gmail.com (Michael Moore) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:38:39 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] using USI Wireless in Minneapolis In-Reply-To: References: <1358447986.17133.YahooMailNeo@web121503.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> <20130118004615.GL32332@signbit.net> Message-ID: > > How do you monitor signal strength? Does that just mean looking at the > icon to see how many bars or wave lines you have? Or is there a way to get > numbers? > I usually just use the icon to see how many bars. If you want something for Linux though, you should check out kismet. It's ncurses based, but it gives you signal strength, shows hidden SSIDs, and lots of other fun stuff. -- Michael -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Thu Jan 17 19:48:14 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:48:14 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] using USI Wireless in Minneapolis In-Reply-To: References: <1358447986.17133.YahooMailNeo@web121503.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> <20130118004615.GL32332@signbit.net> Message-ID: On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: > However, I just discovered Wifi Analyzer for Android, which I put on my > Nexus 4 and my Kindle Fire Cyanogenmod. It definitely seems to work and > it's nice to have it on a small, portable device. I should mention that it shows wifi channels for all the access points. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a wifi channel. There are a lot of nearby access points on my channel. My clever neighbor, a computer pro, has a channel that is shared by no one. Now I want to figure out how to change the channel on my router. Maybe it's in the admin setup at http://192.168.0.1/. Yep. It was under Wireless settings, Radio settings. Very simple. After changing the channel, the Wifi Analyzer showed the shift to the new channel and I think it showed a higher signal strength. Maybe it's actually a signal/noise ratio, so moving to an unused channel decreased the noise level. Mike From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Thu Jan 17 19:49:07 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:49:07 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] using USI Wireless in Minneapolis In-Reply-To: References: <1358447986.17133.YahooMailNeo@web121503.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> <20130118004615.GL32332@signbit.net> Message-ID: On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Michael Moore wrote: >> How do you monitor signal strength? Does that just mean looking at the >> icon to see how many bars or wave lines you have? Or is there a way to >> get numbers? >> > > I usually just use the icon to see how many bars. > > If you want something for Linux though, you should check out kismet. > > It's ncurses based, but it gives you signal strength, shows hidden > SSIDs, and lots of other fun stuff. Thanks. Sounds like a good one. Mike From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Thu Jan 17 23:49:00 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 23:49:00 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <006b5c61cd88aead085607541c67cc36.squirrel@ron-l-j.com> Message-ID: I was just looking at their web site. Check this out: http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/Cell-Phone-Detail.aspx?cell-phone=Nexus-4 Suggested retail: $549.99 Instant discount: -$300.00 Mail-in rebate card: -$50.00 Free Shipping $0.00 $199.99 They did give me the $50 rebate card. But it's hard to understand how Google is promising to sell it unlocked for $350, but T-Mobile has a "suggested retail" price of $550. Harder still to understand is how they would charge me the $300 instead of giving me the instant discount. Is it just incompetence? I called T-Mobile and talked to a rep -- just got off the phone. They say that the price I was charged is correct. I told them I would return the phone. They said OK. The problem is incompetent and poorly-trained staff, I believe, and probably a really crazy and foolish team planning their discount schemes. Just weird. They might feel like they have me because I transferred my old Sprint number, killed my Sprint account and now I'll have no cell phone. But I have no real need for a cell phone. I mostly use Google Voice numbers that will ring in my home or office, so I get calls, and if I miss them, Google Voice will show me the message on my computer, or tablet, or whatever, so I'll get it. Mike On Wed, 16 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: > I would definitely go over to t-mobile and give them some crap for that > because, yeah, that makes ZERO sense. > > On Wed, 16 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: > >> I ended up buying the Nexus 4 today, but it looks like T-Mobile charged >> me $500 for it even though I was signing a 2-year contract. I probably >> should have said "no" to that "deal," which in retrospect makes no >> sense. If Google sells an unlocked Nexus 4 with 16GB memory for $350, >> how can I be paying $500 *and* signing a 2-year contract? Isn't the >> contract supposed to bring the price down? I might just return it, on >> principal, pay their $50 restocking fee, and live without a phone for >> awhile to see if I really need one. >> >> Mike From tclug at freakzilla.com Fri Jan 18 00:01:36 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (Yaron) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 00:01:36 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <006b5c61cd88aead085607541c67cc36.squirrel@ron-l-j.com> Message-ID: A lot of times those discounts are for new customers only, or people who qualify, or something like that. "Suggested Retail" is marketing speak for "We made it up." On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: > I was just looking at their web site. Check this out: > > http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/Cell-Phone-Detail.aspx?cell-phone=Nexus-4 > > Suggested retail: $549.99 > Instant discount: -$300.00 > Mail-in rebate card: -$50.00 > Free Shipping $0.00 > $199.99 > > They did give me the $50 rebate card. But it's hard to understand how Google > is promising to sell it unlocked for $350, but T-Mobile has a "suggested > retail" price of $550. > > Harder still to understand is how they would charge me the $300 instead of > giving me the instant discount. Is it just incompetence? > > I called T-Mobile and talked to a rep -- just got off the phone. They say > that the price I was charged is correct. I told them I would return the > phone. They said OK. The problem is incompetent and poorly-trained staff, I > believe, and probably a really crazy and foolish team planning their discount > schemes. Just weird. > > They might feel like they have me because I transferred my old Sprint number, > killed my Sprint account and now I'll have no cell phone. But I have no real > need for a cell phone. I mostly use Google Voice numbers that will ring in > my home or office, so I get calls, and if I miss them, Google Voice will show > me the message on my computer, or tablet, or whatever, so I'll get it. > > Mike > > > On Wed, 16 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: > >> I would definitely go over to t-mobile and give them some crap for that >> because, yeah, that makes ZERO sense. >> >> On Wed, 16 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: >> >>> I ended up buying the Nexus 4 today, but it looks like T-Mobile charged me >>> $500 for it even though I was signing a 2-year contract. I probably >>> should have said "no" to that "deal," which in retrospect makes no sense. >>> If Google sells an unlocked Nexus 4 with 16GB memory for $350, how can I >>> be paying $500 *and* signing a 2-year contract? Isn't the contract >>> supposed to bring the price down? I might just return it, on principal, >>> pay their $50 restocking fee, and live without a phone for awhile to see >>> if I really need one. >>> >>> Mike > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Fri Jan 18 00:24:43 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 00:24:43 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <006b5c61cd88aead085607541c67cc36.squirrel@ron-l-j.com> Message-ID: That price seems to be for anyone who goes to that web page. I am a new customer, switching from Sprint to T-Mobile, and I am signing a 2-year contract. I can cancel within 14 days, so I will do that if they don't give me my $300. Then I'll wait, and wait, and someday I'll get something, probably. I'd rather live without a cell phone than be treated like that. Mike On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: > A lot of times those discounts are for new customers only, or people who > qualify, or something like that. > > "Suggested Retail" is marketing speak for "We made it up." > > On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: > >> I was just looking at their web site. Check this out: >> >> http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/Cell-Phone-Detail.aspx?cell-phone=Nexus-4 >> >> Suggested retail: $549.99 >> Instant discount: -$300.00 >> Mail-in rebate card: -$50.00 >> Free Shipping $0.00 >> $199.99 >> >> They did give me the $50 rebate card. But it's hard to understand how >> Google is promising to sell it unlocked for $350, but T-Mobile has a >> "suggested retail" price of $550. >> >> Harder still to understand is how they would charge me the $300 instead of >> giving me the instant discount. Is it just incompetence? >> >> I called T-Mobile and talked to a rep -- just got off the phone. They say >> that the price I was charged is correct. I told them I would return the >> phone. They said OK. The problem is incompetent and poorly-trained staff, >> I believe, and probably a really crazy and foolish team planning their >> discount schemes. Just weird. >> >> They might feel like they have me because I transferred my old Sprint >> number, killed my Sprint account and now I'll have no cell phone. But I >> have no real need for a cell phone. I mostly use Google Voice numbers that >> will ring in my home or office, so I get calls, and if I miss them, Google >> Voice will show me the message on my computer, or tablet, or whatever, so >> I'll get it. >> >> Mike >> >> >> On Wed, 16 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: >> >>> I would definitely go over to t-mobile and give them some crap for that >>> because, yeah, that makes ZERO sense. >>> >>> On Wed, 16 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: >>> >>>> I ended up buying the Nexus 4 today, but it looks like T-Mobile charged >>>> me $500 for it even though I was signing a 2-year contract. I probably >>>> should have said "no" to that "deal," which in retrospect makes no sense. >>>> If Google sells an unlocked Nexus 4 with 16GB memory for $350, how can I >>>> be paying $500 *and* signing a 2-year contract? Isn't the contract >>>> supposed to bring the price down? I might just return it, on principal, >>>> pay their $50 restocking fee, and live without a phone for awhile to see >>>> if I really need one. >>>> >>>> Mike >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> > > > > -- > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > From tclug at freakzilla.com Fri Jan 18 00:29:06 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (Yaron) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 00:29:06 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <006b5c61cd88aead085607541c67cc36.squirrel@ron-l-j.com> Message-ID: I'd go to the store, with that text in hand, and complain. On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: > That price seems to be for anyone who goes to that web page. I am a new > customer, switching from Sprint to T-Mobile, and I am signing a 2-year > contract. I can cancel within 14 days, so I will do that if they don't give > me my $300. Then I'll wait, and wait, and someday I'll get something, > probably. I'd rather live without a cell phone than be treated like that. > > Mike > > > On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: > >> A lot of times those discounts are for new customers only, or people who >> qualify, or something like that. >> >> "Suggested Retail" is marketing speak for "We made it up." >> >> On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: >> >>> I was just looking at their web site. Check this out: >>> >>> http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/Cell-Phone-Detail.aspx?cell-phone=Nexus-4 >>> >>> Suggested retail: $549.99 >>> Instant discount: -$300.00 >>> Mail-in rebate card: -$50.00 >>> Free Shipping $0.00 >>> $199.99 >>> >>> They did give me the $50 rebate card. But it's hard to understand how >>> Google is promising to sell it unlocked for $350, but T-Mobile has a >>> "suggested retail" price of $550. >>> >>> Harder still to understand is how they would charge me the $300 instead of >>> giving me the instant discount. Is it just incompetence? >>> >>> I called T-Mobile and talked to a rep -- just got off the phone. They say >>> that the price I was charged is correct. I told them I would return the >>> phone. They said OK. The problem is incompetent and poorly-trained >>> staff, I believe, and probably a really crazy and foolish team planning >>> their discount schemes. Just weird. >>> >>> They might feel like they have me because I transferred my old Sprint >>> number, killed my Sprint account and now I'll have no cell phone. But I >>> have no real need for a cell phone. I mostly use Google Voice numbers >>> that will ring in my home or office, so I get calls, and if I miss them, >>> Google Voice will show me the message on my computer, or tablet, or >>> whatever, so I'll get it. >>> >>> Mike >>> >>> >>> On Wed, 16 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: >>> >>>> I would definitely go over to t-mobile and give them some crap for that >>>> because, yeah, that makes ZERO sense. >>>> >>>> On Wed, 16 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: >>>> >>>>> I ended up buying the Nexus 4 today, but it looks like T-Mobile charged >>>>> me $500 for it even though I was signing a 2-year contract. I probably >>>>> should have said "no" to that "deal," which in retrospect makes no >>>>> sense. If Google sells an unlocked Nexus 4 with 16GB memory for $350, >>>>> how can I be paying $500 *and* signing a 2-year contract? Isn't the >>>>> contract supposed to bring the price down? I might just return it, on >>>>> principal, pay their $50 restocking fee, and live without a phone for >>>>> awhile to see if I really need one. >>>>> >>>>> Mike >>> _______________________________________________ >>> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >>> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >>> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Fri Jan 18 00:54:14 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 00:54:14 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <006b5c61cd88aead085607541c67cc36.squirrel@ron-l-j.com> Message-ID: I had an email address from the sales worker in the store. I wrote just now to tell her that Google has a price of $350, the T-mobile price on the web is $250, and they charged me $550. I suggest that this was an error and they should give me the $300 discount. I'll let you know what happens next. Mike On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: > I'd go to the store, with that text in hand, and complain. > > On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: > >> That price seems to be for anyone who goes to that web page. I am a new >> customer, switching from Sprint to T-Mobile, and I am signing a 2-year >> contract. I can cancel within 14 days, so I will do that if they don't >> give me my $300. Then I'll wait, and wait, and someday I'll get something, >> probably. I'd rather live without a cell phone than be treated like that. >> >> Mike >> >> >> On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: >> >>> A lot of times those discounts are for new customers only, or people who >>> qualify, or something like that. >>> >>> "Suggested Retail" is marketing speak for "We made it up." >>> >>> On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: >>> >>>> I was just looking at their web site. Check this out: >>>> >>>> http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/Cell-Phone-Detail.aspx?cell-phone=Nexus-4 >>>> >>>> Suggested retail: $549.99 >>>> Instant discount: -$300.00 >>>> Mail-in rebate card: -$50.00 >>>> Free Shipping $0.00 >>>> $199.99 >>>> >>>> They did give me the $50 rebate card. But it's hard to understand how >>>> Google is promising to sell it unlocked for $350, but T-Mobile has a >>>> "suggested retail" price of $550. >>>> >>>> Harder still to understand is how they would charge me the $300 instead >>>> of giving me the instant discount. Is it just incompetence? >>>> >>>> I called T-Mobile and talked to a rep -- just got off the phone. They >>>> say that the price I was charged is correct. I told them I would return >>>> the phone. They said OK. The problem is incompetent and poorly-trained >>>> staff, I believe, and probably a really crazy and foolish team planning >>>> their discount schemes. Just weird. >>>> >>>> They might feel like they have me because I transferred my old Sprint >>>> number, killed my Sprint account and now I'll have no cell phone. But I >>>> have no real need for a cell phone. I mostly use Google Voice numbers >>>> that will ring in my home or office, so I get calls, and if I miss them, >>>> Google Voice will show me the message on my computer, or tablet, or >>>> whatever, so I'll get it. >>>> >>>> Mike >>>> >>>> >>>> On Wed, 16 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: >>>> >>>>> I would definitely go over to t-mobile and give them some crap for that >>>>> because, yeah, that makes ZERO sense. >>>>> >>>>> On Wed, 16 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> I ended up buying the Nexus 4 today, but it looks like T-Mobile charged >>>>>> me $500 for it even though I was signing a 2-year contract. I probably >>>>>> should have said "no" to that "deal," which in retrospect makes no >>>>>> sense. If Google sells an unlocked Nexus 4 with 16GB memory for $350, >>>>>> how can I be paying $500 *and* signing a 2-year contract? Isn't the >>>>>> contract supposed to bring the price down? I might just return it, on >>>>>> principal, pay their $50 restocking fee, and live without a phone for >>>>>> awhile to see if I really need one. >>>>>> >>>>>> Mike >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >>>> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >>>> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> _______________________________________________ >>> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >>> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >>> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> > > > > -- > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > From jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com Fri Jan 18 08:47:13 2013 From: jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com (Jeremy MountainJohnson) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 08:47:13 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <006b5c61cd88aead085607541c67cc36.squirrel@ron-l-j.com> Message-ID: I'd encourage you to escalate rather than all of the waiting you're suggesting. The retail sales people are about volume of sales and less concerned with making you happy, whereas managers are usually willing to go the extra mile if it means you won't cancel the two year contract during the 14 day period. -- Jeremy MountainJohnson Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 12:54 AM, Mike Miller wrote: > I had an email address from the sales worker in the store. I wrote just now > to tell her that Google has a price of $350, the T-mobile price on the web > is $250, and they charged me $550. I suggest that this was an error and > they should give me the $300 discount. I'll let you know what happens next. > > > Mike > > > On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: > >> I'd go to the store, with that text in hand, and complain. >> >> On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: >> >>> That price seems to be for anyone who goes to that web page. I am a new >>> customer, switching from Sprint to T-Mobile, and I am signing a 2-year >>> contract. I can cancel within 14 days, so I will do that if they don't give >>> me my $300. Then I'll wait, and wait, and someday I'll get something, >>> probably. I'd rather live without a cell phone than be treated like that. >>> >>> Mike >>> >>> >>> On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: >>> >>>> A lot of times those discounts are for new customers only, or people who >>>> qualify, or something like that. >>>> >>>> "Suggested Retail" is marketing speak for "We made it up." >>>> >>>> On Thu, 17 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: >>>> >>>>> I was just looking at their web site. Check this out: >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/Cell-Phone-Detail.aspx?cell-phone=Nexus-4 >>>>> >>>>> Suggested retail: $549.99 >>>>> Instant discount: -$300.00 >>>>> Mail-in rebate card: -$50.00 >>>>> Free Shipping $0.00 >>>>> $199.99 >>>>> >>>>> They did give me the $50 rebate card. But it's hard to understand how >>>>> Google is promising to sell it unlocked for $350, but T-Mobile has a >>>>> "suggested retail" price of $550. >>>>> >>>>> Harder still to understand is how they would charge me the $300 instead >>>>> of giving me the instant discount. Is it just incompetence? >>>>> >>>>> I called T-Mobile and talked to a rep -- just got off the phone. They >>>>> say that the price I was charged is correct. I told them I would return the >>>>> phone. They said OK. The problem is incompetent and poorly-trained staff, >>>>> I believe, and probably a really crazy and foolish team planning their >>>>> discount schemes. Just weird. >>>>> >>>>> They might feel like they have me because I transferred my old Sprint >>>>> number, killed my Sprint account and now I'll have no cell phone. But I >>>>> have no real need for a cell phone. I mostly use Google Voice numbers that >>>>> will ring in my home or office, so I get calls, and if I miss them, Google >>>>> Voice will show me the message on my computer, or tablet, or whatever, so >>>>> I'll get it. >>>>> >>>>> Mike >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Wed, 16 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> I would definitely go over to t-mobile and give them some crap for >>>>>> that because, yeah, that makes ZERO sense. >>>>>> >>>>>> On Wed, 16 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> I ended up buying the Nexus 4 today, but it looks like T-Mobile >>>>>>> charged me $500 for it even though I was signing a 2-year contract. I >>>>>>> probably should have said "no" to that "deal," which in retrospect makes no >>>>>>> sense. If Google sells an unlocked Nexus 4 with 16GB memory for $350, how >>>>>>> can I be paying $500 *and* signing a 2-year contract? Isn't the contract >>>>>>> supposed to bring the price down? I might just return it, on principal, pay >>>>>>> their $50 restocking fee, and live without a phone for awhile to see if I >>>>>>> really need one. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Mike >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >>>>> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >>>>> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >>>> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >>>> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >>>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >>> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >>> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com Fri Jan 18 13:20:54 2013 From: jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com (Jeremy MountainJohnson) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 13:20:54 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] ISP shopping- USI Wireless, CenturyLink? Message-ID: Good afternoon, I was on a promo for Comcast (30 MB down, known as Blast), and called to get service downgraded since my promo ended and the price nearly doubled. The guy wanted to charge me a fee to downgrade (I have no contracts with them)- I pushed back but he wouldn't wave it so I plan on speaking to a manager later. I have been putting off shopping for Internet providers since I last tried Qwest DSL in 2008 (it was no where near the speed they advertised when I was living near downtown, so I stayed with Comcast). The audacity for Comcast to charge for downgrading service, combined with their already high prices has pumped some motivation into me to look at broadband providers again. Is anyone using Century Link or USI Wireless? I don't believe we have any other options in Minneapolis for broadband (Clear doesn't appear to be an option for my usage). Unfortunately I'm on the wrong side of 35W for USI fiber to be option. I don't do video streaming (aside from short news stories) but may pick this up again in the future at some point. I occasionally work from home over VPN, which makes me a little nervous with USI and the reviews I've read. At our house we mostly do a lot of intensive web browsing and publishing, ssh (inbound and outbound), and a small amount of RDP traffic outbound, light gaming (Steam), and occasional large downloads (mostly Linux iso's / packages, and Steam games). I do use CrashPlan in Linux for frequent backups, so anything capped low (like Clear 4G) could present a problem- no worry about longer upload backup times, it runs as a service in the background and I can throttle it. How has USI been recently? Is it worth even trying? I'm in south Minneapolis and the nearest node is two blocks away, which is another potential drawback. Does anyone have Century Link that could provide some feedback about it? Someone also mentioned Clear 4G recently. My concern with that (and the other providers) is capping bandwidth, which everyone does to some extent, but Clear seems really low (40 GB), which might be a problem with CrashPlan. Thanks in advance for any suggestions / feedback. -- Jeremy MountainJohnson Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com From droidjd at gmail.com Fri Jan 18 13:39:06 2013 From: droidjd at gmail.com (Andrew Dahl) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 13:39:06 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] ISP shopping- USI Wireless, CenturyLink? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I recall my sister and her husband trying CenturyLink and it being unbearable, although we live in Woodbury where the highest rate you can get is 1.5Meg. Maybe their 7Meg offering would be better, if it's available for you. Comcast recently hit me with that same increase (same promotion that ended even) -- If you do end up being able to successfully haggle with Comcast, you should let me know! :-) I attempted it the other day with no success, unfortunately. Good luck with your search! -Andrew On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 1:20 PM, Jeremy MountainJohnson wrote: > Good afternoon, > > I was on a promo for Comcast (30 MB down, known as Blast), and called > to get service downgraded since my promo ended and the price nearly > doubled. The guy wanted to charge me a fee to downgrade (I have no > contracts with them)- I pushed back but he wouldn't wave it so I plan > on speaking to a manager later. I have been putting off shopping for > Internet providers since I last tried Qwest DSL in 2008 (it was no > where near the speed they advertised when I was living near downtown, > so I stayed with Comcast). The audacity for Comcast to charge for > downgrading service, combined with their already high prices has > pumped some motivation into me to look at broadband providers again. > > Is anyone using Century Link or USI Wireless? I don't believe we have > any other options in Minneapolis for broadband (Clear doesn't appear > to be an option for my usage). Unfortunately I'm on the wrong side of > 35W for USI fiber to be option. I don't do video streaming (aside from > short news stories) but may pick this up again in the future at some > point. I occasionally work from home over VPN, which makes me a > little nervous with USI and the reviews I've read. At our house we > mostly do a lot of intensive web browsing and publishing, ssh (inbound > and outbound), and a small amount of RDP traffic outbound, light > gaming (Steam), and occasional large downloads (mostly Linux iso's / > packages, and Steam games). I do use CrashPlan in Linux for frequent > backups, so anything capped low (like Clear 4G) could present a > problem- no worry about longer upload backup times, it runs as a > service in the background and I can throttle it. > > How has USI been recently? Is it worth even trying? I'm in south > Minneapolis and the nearest node is two blocks away, which is another > potential drawback. Does anyone have Century Link that could provide > some feedback about it? > > Someone also mentioned Clear 4G recently. My concern with that (and > the other providers) is capping bandwidth, which everyone does to some > extent, but Clear seems really low (40 GB), which might be a problem > with CrashPlan. > > Thanks in advance for any suggestions / feedback. > > -- > Jeremy MountainJohnson > Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From woodbrian77 at gmail.com Fri Jan 18 13:46:35 2013 From: woodbrian77 at gmail.com (Brian Wood) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:46:35 -0500 Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone Message-ID: From: Mike Miller > That price seems to be for anyone who goes to that web page. I am a new > customer, switching from Sprint to T-Mobile, and I am signing a 2-year > contract. I can cancel within 14 days, so I will do that if they don't > give me my $300. Then I'll wait, and wait, and someday I'll get > something, probably. I'd rather live without a cell phone than be treated > like that. There are tracfones. http://www.tracfone.com/ I think mine is around $12/month. Dr. Laura http://www.drlaura.com -- turned me on to them years ago. -- Brian Wood Ebenezer Enterprises http://webEbenezer.net (651) 251-9384 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tclug at freakzilla.com Fri Jan 18 14:11:25 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (Yaron) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:11:25 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Brian Wood wrote: > There are tracfones. > http://www.tracfone.com/ > I think mine is around $12/month.? Dr. Laura > http://www.drlaura.com -- turned me on to them Wow. Dr. Laura. Giving tech advice. My mind is officially blown. Tracfone is not an alternative for us heavy data users. It's fine for people who think of a cellphone as a, well, phone. To me, it's not. It's a mobile computer which fits in my pocket and has a constant internet connection. It's the friggin hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. It's the kind of decide that's been the realm of fantasy since I was a kid. I very, very, VERY rarely make phone calls on it. Mike was complaining about the service from T-Mobile - they clearly overcharged him for a phone that Google were selling directly for $350, and ignoring their OWN advertisement. He wasn't complaiing about the quality of the experience he was having with the device itself, and for this kind of device you need unlimited -- and fast -- data. Now, if you want an alternative to T-Mobile (or other providers) and you have an unlocked GSM phone (which I do, and which a Nexus 4 should be especially if you get it directly from Google) I'd recommend Simple Mobile. They're a pay-as-you-go no-contract cellular provider, and for $50 a month you get unlimited voice and data. They just sell you the SIM card, and you refill it how ever often you want to. For us heavy data users, that's a fantastic deal. Oh they're happy to sell you a phone too if you need one. -- From jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com Fri Jan 18 15:02:22 2013 From: jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com (Jeremy MountainJohnson) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 15:02:22 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] ISP shopping- USI Wireless, CenturyLink? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Comcast historically doesn't bend much, but occasionally you get a caring customer service rep or manager who can wiggle a little bit of consumer respect ;-) The fee thing is new to me. What infuriates me is that I don't want to pay to decrease service- it's not much granted, more the principal of it. Also, I have of all of Century Link's DSL tiers available where I am at. The phone line to the modem may need to be upgraded, which is something I could do relatively easily. -- Jeremy MountainJohnson Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 1:39 PM, Andrew Dahl wrote: > I recall my sister and her husband trying CenturyLink and it being > unbearable, although we live in Woodbury where the highest rate you > can get is 1.5Meg. Maybe their 7Meg offering would be better, if it's > available for you. > > Comcast recently hit me with that same increase (same promotion that > ended even) -- If you do end up being able to successfully haggle with > Comcast, you should let me know! :-) I attempted it the other day > with no success, unfortunately. > > Good luck with your search! > > -Andrew > > > On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 1:20 PM, Jeremy MountainJohnson > wrote: >> Good afternoon, >> >> I was on a promo for Comcast (30 MB down, known as Blast), and called >> to get service downgraded since my promo ended and the price nearly >> doubled. The guy wanted to charge me a fee to downgrade (I have no >> contracts with them)- I pushed back but he wouldn't wave it so I plan >> on speaking to a manager later. I have been putting off shopping for >> Internet providers since I last tried Qwest DSL in 2008 (it was no >> where near the speed they advertised when I was living near downtown, >> so I stayed with Comcast). The audacity for Comcast to charge for >> downgrading service, combined with their already high prices has >> pumped some motivation into me to look at broadband providers again. >> >> Is anyone using Century Link or USI Wireless? I don't believe we have >> any other options in Minneapolis for broadband (Clear doesn't appear >> to be an option for my usage). Unfortunately I'm on the wrong side of >> 35W for USI fiber to be option. I don't do video streaming (aside from >> short news stories) but may pick this up again in the future at some >> point. I occasionally work from home over VPN, which makes me a >> little nervous with USI and the reviews I've read. At our house we >> mostly do a lot of intensive web browsing and publishing, ssh (inbound >> and outbound), and a small amount of RDP traffic outbound, light >> gaming (Steam), and occasional large downloads (mostly Linux iso's / >> packages, and Steam games). I do use CrashPlan in Linux for frequent >> backups, so anything capped low (like Clear 4G) could present a >> problem- no worry about longer upload backup times, it runs as a >> service in the background and I can throttle it. >> >> How has USI been recently? Is it worth even trying? I'm in south >> Minneapolis and the nearest node is two blocks away, which is another >> potential drawback. Does anyone have Century Link that could provide >> some feedback about it? >> >> Someone also mentioned Clear 4G recently. My concern with that (and >> the other providers) is capping bandwidth, which everyone does to some >> extent, but Clear seems really low (40 GB), which might be a problem >> with CrashPlan. >> >> Thanks in advance for any suggestions / feedback. >> >> -- >> Jeremy MountainJohnson >> Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From tlunde at gmail.com Fri Jan 18 16:01:07 2013 From: tlunde at gmail.com (Thomas Lunde) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:01:07 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] ISP shopping- USI Wireless, CenturyLink? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <7CC85EB7-223E-4B94-A73B-2886ED27A3EC@gmail.com> I have CenturyLink & probably live near you, since I have all the tiers & am in south Minneapolis & on the same side of 35W. The CO is at 24th Ave & 33rd st. I'm about 3 blocks from there & am very happy with the speed. I do have to power cycle their modem (it was offered to buy or rent, so I bought it) every few weeks. If I don't, the connection will degrade or drop. I've been temped to use a UPS & cron to automate it but haven't bothered. Otis reliable & fast. I used to have 40/20 & have since dropped to 7/5 (down/up) as I sensed that I was mostly bound by the remote server rather than the local connection. I wish I had a static address but dyndns is good enough. Thomas On Jan 18, 2013, at 3:02 PM, Jeremy MountainJohnson wrote: > Comcast historically doesn't bend much, but occasionally you get a > caring customer service rep or manager who can wiggle a little bit of > consumer respect ;-) The fee thing is new to me. What infuriates me is > that I don't want to pay to decrease service- it's not much granted, > more the principal of it. > > Also, I have of all of Century Link's DSL tiers available where I am > at. The phone line to the modem may need to be upgraded, which is > something I could do relatively easily. > > -- > Jeremy MountainJohnson > Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com > > > On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 1:39 PM, Andrew Dahl wrote: >> I recall my sister and her husband trying CenturyLink and it being >> unbearable, although we live in Woodbury where the highest rate you >> can get is 1.5Meg. Maybe their 7Meg offering would be better, if it's >> available for you. >> >> Comcast recently hit me with that same increase (same promotion that >> ended even) -- If you do end up being able to successfully haggle with >> Comcast, you should let me know! :-) I attempted it the other day >> with no success, unfortunately. >> >> Good luck with your search! >> >> -Andrew >> >> >> On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 1:20 PM, Jeremy MountainJohnson >> wrote: >>> Good afternoon, >>> >>> I was on a promo for Comcast (30 MB down, known as Blast), and called >>> to get service downgraded since my promo ended and the price nearly >>> doubled. The guy wanted to charge me a fee to downgrade (I have no >>> contracts with them)- I pushed back but he wouldn't wave it so I plan >>> on speaking to a manager later. I have been putting off shopping for >>> Internet providers since I last tried Qwest DSL in 2008 (it was no >>> where near the speed they advertised when I was living near downtown, >>> so I stayed with Comcast). The audacity for Comcast to charge for >>> downgrading service, combined with their already high prices has >>> pumped some motivation into me to look at broadband providers again. >>> >>> Is anyone using Century Link or USI Wireless? I don't believe we have >>> any other options in Minneapolis for broadband (Clear doesn't appear >>> to be an option for my usage). Unfortunately I'm on the wrong side of >>> 35W for USI fiber to be option. I don't do video streaming (aside from >>> short news stories) but may pick this up again in the future at some >>> point. I occasionally work from home over VPN, which makes me a >>> little nervous with USI and the reviews I've read. At our house we >>> mostly do a lot of intensive web browsing and publishing, ssh (inbound >>> and outbound), and a small amount of RDP traffic outbound, light >>> gaming (Steam), and occasional large downloads (mostly Linux iso's / >>> packages, and Steam games). I do use CrashPlan in Linux for frequent >>> backups, so anything capped low (like Clear 4G) could present a >>> problem- no worry about longer upload backup times, it runs as a >>> service in the background and I can throttle it. >>> >>> How has USI been recently? Is it worth even trying? I'm in south >>> Minneapolis and the nearest node is two blocks away, which is another >>> potential drawback. Does anyone have Century Link that could provide >>> some feedback about it? >>> >>> Someone also mentioned Clear 4G recently. My concern with that (and >>> the other providers) is capping bandwidth, which everyone does to some >>> extent, but Clear seems really low (40 GB), which might be a problem >>> with CrashPlan. >>> >>> Thanks in advance for any suggestions / feedback. >>> >>> -- >>> Jeremy MountainJohnson >>> Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com >>> _______________________________________________ >>> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >>> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >>> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From cncole at earthlink.net Fri Jan 18 16:38:29 2013 From: cncole at earthlink.net (Chuck Cole) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:38:29 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] using USI Wireless in Minneapolis In-Reply-To: <20130118004615.GL32332@signbit.net> References: <1358447986.17133.YahooMailNeo@web121503.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> <20130118004615.GL32332@signbit.net> Message-ID: <34F2406B0A1347AD9C9A776425D9D608@d830a> > -----Original Message----- > From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org > [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Florin Iucha > > On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 12:56:35PM -0600, Mike Miller wrote: > > How do you monitor signal strength? Does that just mean looking at > > the icon to see how many bars or wave lines you have? Or > is there a > > way to get numbers? > > InSSIDer is the way to go, if you have Windows. Had not heard of that one. Will look. Netstumbler is a good "old standby" and gives all the techie data dB, SNR, etc Chuck From cncole at earthlink.net Fri Jan 18 16:59:25 2013 From: cncole at earthlink.net (Chuck Cole) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:59:25 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <006b5c61cd88aead085607541c67cc36.squirrel@ron-l-j.com> Message-ID: <46075EA6171949668F2626BDD70F560B@d830a> > -----Original Message----- > From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org > [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Mike Miller > Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2013 11:49 PM > > Harder still to understand is how they would charge me the > $300 instead of giving me the instant discount. Is it just > incompetence? Worse: I think they are truly crooks. They would not allow a friend to upgrade in a highly advertized upgrade plan. Said that would invoke an early termination fee for her existing nearly expired plan in order to select a more expensive phone and plan. YUKKK! Sprint paid about half that fee when she switched carriers, she got a free Android phone, far better plan terms, and lower monthly rate. Essentially the same for two other friends. > I called T-Mobile and talked to a rep -- just got off the > phone. They say that the price I was charged is correct. I > told them I would return the phone. They said OK. The > problem is incompetent and poorly-trained staff, I believe, > and probably a really crazy and foolish team planning their > discount schemes. Just weird. 100% of my personal friends who had or have T-Mobile have been screwed one way or another... Data limits, time limits, upgrade limits, holes in coverage, etc. AT&T isn't much better. Sprint's totally unlimited plan with unlimited any cell to any cell is good for me, and there's still a loophole that permits use as a PC internet connection.. Unlimited and unrecorded, but not supported, so high usage of the loophole might get noticed. Verizon (same company now) may be the same. I have low prime-time land line minutes to get lowest rate, but they go unlimited at 7pm or weekends, etc Sprint is very generous at giving employer discounts on the monthly bill (25% typ) even if you haven't worked for that company in ten years.. Be sure to compares plan specs and discount possibilities very carefully! Chuck From cncole at earthlink.net Fri Jan 18 17:04:29 2013 From: cncole at earthlink.net (Chuck Cole) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:04:29 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a> > -----Original Message----- > From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org > [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Yaron > Sent: Friday, January 18, 2013 2:11 PM > To: TCLUG > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone > > Mike was complaining about the service from T-Mobile - they > clearly overcharged him for a phone that Google were selling > directly for $350, and ignoring their OWN advertisement. He > wasn't complaiing about the quality of the experience he was > having with the device itself, and for this kind of device > you need unlimited -- and fast -- data. I've used Sprint's policy to allow a subscriber to provide his own compatible phone from anywhere, and bought used phones off ebay. Just phone in the the new hardware's ID number and it's the one on the plan within about 1/2 hour on the national net. Sprint has no limit on such changes per day or whatever. My substitutions have always been in "my plan" even when different brands of hardware. Mike might be able to get aphone from wherever and just activate it. Chuck From tclug at freakzilla.com Fri Jan 18 17:38:57 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (Yaron) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:38:57 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a> References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a> Message-ID: On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: > I've used Sprint's policy to allow a subscriber to provide his own > compatible phone from anywhere, "Compatible" being the keyword here. You can only use Sprint phones. The nice thing about GSM is you can move move to any other GSM provider. The sad thing is only two of the US providers use GSM... -- From cncole at earthlink.net Fri Jan 18 19:01:52 2013 From: cncole at earthlink.net (Chuck Cole) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 19:01:52 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a> Message-ID: > -----Original Message----- > From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org > [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Yaron > Sent: Friday, January 18, 2013 5:39 PM > To: TCLUG > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone > > On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: > > > > I've used Sprint's policy to allow a subscriber to provide his own > > compatible phone from anywhere, > > "Compatible" being the keyword here. You can only use Sprint > phones. The nice thing about GSM is you can move move to any > other GSM provider. No, it's the spec that must be compatible, not just the brand. There are other brands of CDMA spec phones. There are some conditions of compatibility for each system to swap carriers, according to eBay ads. The GSM phone I had was the worst service and hardware I ever had. Don't miss it. T-mobile is a really bad provider, with various limits and extra charges, and "screw the customer" plans. AT&T isn't much better. Ref: Five of the top seven carriers in the U.S. use CDMA: Verizon Wireless, Sprint, MetroPCS, Cricket, and U.S. Cellular. AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM. > The sad thing is only two of the US providers use GSM... The fact that 5 of 7 providers don't use GSM is a significant comparison, IMHO. We speak English here also: Esperanto never got major market share. Some choices are just practical, regardless of other opinions. Chuck From woodbrian77 at gmail.com Fri Jan 18 19:19:39 2013 From: woodbrian77 at gmail.com (Brian Wood) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 20:19:39 -0500 Subject: [tclug-list] ISP shopping- USI Wireless, CenturyLink? Message-ID: Andrew Dahl: > Comcast recently hit me with that same increase > (same promotion that ended even) -- If you do end up > being able to successfully haggle with Comcast, > you should let me know! :-) I attempted it the other day > with no success, unfortunately Has anyone been able to get Comcast to extend their promotions? They have one for 6 months that I'd take if they made it 9 months. -- Brian Wood Ebenezer Enterprises http://webEbenezer.net (651) 251-9384 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From stuporglue at gmail.com Fri Jan 18 20:11:57 2013 From: stuporglue at gmail.com (Michael Moore) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 20:11:57 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] ISP shopping- USI Wireless, CenturyLink? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 7:19 PM, Brian Wood wrote: > Has anyone been able to get Comcast to extend their > promotions? > I did once, sort of. When I signed up, there was a 6 month offer. They didn't show up on the day they were scheduled to, so I got on their chat support to complain and they said they would extend their offer to 1 year for the inconvenience. After 6 months my bill went up, and I had to call and say "hey, what about my 1 year?". At first they said they never would've offered such a thing, then they reviewed their chat logs, said I was correct, and gave me the 12 months on the promotion. I know Comcast gets a lot of complaints, but they've been pretty good to me here in Fridley (minus the setup issue mentioned above). I check every months or so, and the only real alternative is DSL, and that ends up being more expensive for similar packages. -- Michael -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tclug at beitsahour.net Fri Jan 18 21:02:50 2013 From: tclug at beitsahour.net (Munir Nassar) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:02:50 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] ISP shopping- USI Wireless, CenturyLink? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 1:39 PM, Andrew Dahl wrote: > > I recall my sister and her husband trying CenturyLink and it being > unbearable, although we live in Woodbury where the highest rate you > can get is 1.5Meg. Maybe their 7Meg offering would be better, if it's > available for you. > > Comcast recently hit me with that same increase (same promotion that > ended even) -- If you do end up being able to successfully haggle with > Comcast, you should let me know! :-) I attempted it the other day > with no success, unfortunately. that sounds legally questionable to me, even if such a fee was disclosed but IANAL. Call and give them the choice of downgrading the service or canceling the service altogether, of course that means that you have to actually cancel when it comes to it, but i have a feeling you will get a call from the service retention department very soon afterwards. Back in the Qworst days the trick to making them not suck was invoking the PUC, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, which does monitor and apparently fine the utilities for infractions. You can also call the State Attorney Generals' office to make a complaint. Mentioning either of these options should make them more cooperative. That said, i have been with USWest/Qwest/CenturyLink for close to ten years now, some ups and some downs... mostly depending on service area. i have the 7Meg service with Real-Time as my ISP and i have not had problems since moving to this house. unfortunately i cannot get the faster ADSL+ service without ditching Real-Time. From tclug at freakzilla.com Fri Jan 18 21:10:05 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (Yaron) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:10:05 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a> Message-ID: On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: > No, it's the spec that must be compatible, not just the brand. There are > other brands of CDMA spec phones. Phones belonging to one network in the US are not, are 100% NOT compatible with other providers. You CANNOT switch a phone from Sprint to Verizon for love nor money. Now perhaps there are phones that work on multiple systems, but this is not the norm. However, if I unlock a GSM phone, I can switch it between AT&T and T-Mobile quite easily, and unlocked GSM phones are readily available, because... > The fact that 5 of 7 providers don't use GSM is a significant comparison, > IMHO. But go look at the rest of the world. Virtually everyone uses GSM. The US and Japan are rare exceptions. This is why unlocked GSM phones are standard and readily available. I can take my phone and use it in practically any other county using a local SIM card. This is how cellphones work just about everywhere in the world - you buy a phone and you can take it with you between providers because they all use the same (global) standard. In the US, carriers tend to subsidise the phones, and therefor lock them to their own serivce. Even if the systems are compatible it's a pain to transfer over. Though GSM makes this significantly easier. -- From tclug at beitsahour.net Fri Jan 18 21:15:44 2013 From: tclug at beitsahour.net (Munir Nassar) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:15:44 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] ISP shopping- USI Wireless, CenturyLink? In-Reply-To: <7CC85EB7-223E-4B94-A73B-2886ED27A3EC@gmail.com> References: <7CC85EB7-223E-4B94-A73B-2886ED27A3EC@gmail.com> Message-ID: On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 4:01 PM, Thomas Lunde wrote: > I have CenturyLink & probably live near you, since I have all the tiers & am in south Minneapolis & on the same side of 35W. > > The CO is at 24th Ave & 33rd st. I'm about 3 blocks from there & am very happy with the speed. > > I do have to power cycle their modem (it was offered to buy or rent, so I bought it) every few weeks. If I don't, the connection will degrade or drop. I've been temped to use a UPS & cron to automate it but haven't bothered. Otis reliable & fast. The problem is likely with the modem, not with the service. Offloading PPPoE to your firewall should perform much better. From cncole at earthlink.net Fri Jan 18 21:59:50 2013 From: cncole at earthlink.net (Chuck Cole) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:59:50 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a> Message-ID: <7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a> > -----Original Message----- > From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org > [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Yaron > Sent: Friday, January 18, 2013 9:10 PM > To: TCLUG > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone > > On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: > > However, if I unlock a GSM phone, I can switch it between > AT&T and T-Mobile quite easily, and unlocked GSM phones are > readily available, because... > > > The fact that 5 of 7 providers don't use GSM is a significant > > comparison, IMHO. > > But go look at the rest of the world. Virtually everyone uses > GSM. The US and Japan are rare exceptions. I live in the USA. Have little need to look at the rest of the world, especially now. I can get good used CDMA phones easily. Had only terribly bad experiences from carriers using GSM, so try to avoid them, and don't need the minority GSM from a really bad provider. My VOIP provider software works from a computer anywhere in the world when I have an internet connection, and is the same as my home phone. My CDMA works in many places and via WiFi in others. Don't need GSM headaches again. Your liking the "minority spec" doesn't make it a great choice for everybody else. Chuck From tclug at freakzilla.com Fri Jan 18 22:16:44 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (Yaron) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 22:16:44 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: <7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a> References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a> <7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a> Message-ID: On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: > I live in the USA. Have little need to look at the rest of the world, ... > Your liking the "minority spec" doesn't make it a great choice for everybody > else. Wow. Again, CDMA is by FAR the "minority" spec, worldwide. Most US carriers never bothered upgrading their infrastructure, although they ARE working on it. And when they switch, you'll be the one who has to change phones. Either way, though, most cell carriers in the US treat people fairly horribly. The aforementioned phone-locking, for one. Charging for incomming SMS/MMS and phonecalls is also something that doesn't happen other places. I'm glad you're happy with your phone and service, and I'm not at all trying to get you to switch or anything. Nowhere in the conversation was anything like that mentioned. But when you say GSM is the minority and that you can switch CDMA phones between providers, sorry but that's just not true. -- From cncole at earthlink.net Fri Jan 18 23:02:42 2013 From: cncole at earthlink.net (Chuck Cole) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 23:02:42 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a><7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a> Message-ID: <5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> > -----Original Message----- > From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org > [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Yaron > Sent: Friday, January 18, 2013 10:17 PM > To: TCLUG > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone > > On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: > > > I live in the USA. Have little need to look at the rest of > the world, > ... > > Your liking the "minority spec" doesn't make it a great choice for > > everybody else. > > Wow. Again, CDMA is by FAR the "minority" spec, worldwide. > Most US carriers never bothered upgrading their > infrastructure, although they ARE working on it. And when > they switch, you'll be the one who has to change phones. > > Either way, though, most cell carriers in the US treat people > fairly horribly. The aforementioned phone-locking, for one. > Charging for incomming SMS/MMS and phonecalls is also > something that doesn't happen other places. > > I'm glad you're happy with your phone and service, and I'm > not at all trying to get you to switch or anything. Nowhere > in the conversation was anything like that mentioned. But > when you say GSM is the minority and that you can switch CDMA > phones between providers, sorry but that's just not true. The fact that 5 of 7 US providers use CDMA is indeed true, and THAT defines a kind of majority, as I stated before... As I also stated, worldwide doesn't matter much for citizens and services here. That's all I stated about majority. Nuf sed. Enjoy your whatever. Chuck From kenlynes at usa.net Sat Jan 19 21:26:16 2013 From: kenlynes at usa.net (Kenneth Lynes) Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2013 21:26:16 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] tclug-list Digest, Vol 97, Issue 35 Message-ID: <239RaTDZP3200S06.1358652376@web06.cms.usa.net> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tclug at freakzilla.com Sat Jan 19 22:50:15 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (Yaron) Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2013 22:50:15 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] tclug-list Digest, Vol 97, Issue 35 In-Reply-To: <239RaTDZP3200S06.1358652376@web06.cms.usa.net> References: <239RaTDZP3200S06.1358652376@web06.cms.usa.net> Message-ID: On Sat, 19 Jan 2013, Kenneth Lynes wrote: > Well, Chuck I agree with you. I think technically you're agreeing with me (: -- From kenlynes at usa.net Sun Jan 20 08:53:30 2013 From: kenlynes at usa.net (Kenneth Lynes) Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2013 08:53:30 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] tclug-list Digest, Vol 97, Issue 35 Message-ID: <853RaTo1E1216S04.1358693610@web04.cms.usa.net> I am re-sending this in reply to Chuck's observations about phones. I have tried to simply make a reply before but now I sent a new message in hopes it will go through. It seems that when I reply to the message like I would usually do, it goes back as some sort of html and I do not have that checked here in the reply. Perhaps someone can help me so I can comment. Gosh I really didn't think I was that computer illiterate! I have been unsuccessful in trying to state something here. I wonder what I am doing wrong. Being a bit inept at this sort of thing I assume th at when it says in my subject line that I am replying to tclug-list Digest, Vol 97, Issue 35 that it is enough. I want to respond to Chuck's statements and will do so now Well, Chuck I agree with you. I think we in the USA have been getting screwed over by the various cell phone providers for years. I went to Germany in 2005 and had an eye-opening experience. My friend there told me that ALL incoming calls on a cell phone are paid for by the caller with no exceptions. It costs a lot to make those calls and consequently they get virtually NO spam calls or calls from charities or people trying to sell them windows for their houses. I thought that it was a great concept for the caller to pay for the call and too bad we don t do that as well. My experience with cell phones over-seas was that I knew my own phone from the USA would not work there at all and I was a bit confused by trying to use the phone system there as I was really unfamiliar with the system. Perhaps next time I am there, but I still wont bring my own phone. We are totally incompatible with their systems I think. You talk about the GSM phones and I think you are correct that most of the rest of the world uses that system. Why don't we also? So that our phone carriers can have their way with us and bend us over as much as they want! Competition is a myth really. I come from a time (1950's) when all local calls were free within my area code and I didn't even know anyone outside of it. We never had to figure out what a area code was unless we wanted to call out of state to some relative or were in the military and making a call home and then had to find out what our local area code was while sitting at a pay phone in NYC. LOL I also wanted to comment once about USI Wireless. I have used them as a way cheaper and better alternative to cable in Mpls and Quest or whatever they call themselves now. I am 73 and dropped my land line over 5 years ago. I had DSL which was not too bad when I first had it with USFamily Net but got worse when I moved over to Qwest at the same address and the same physical line being used. I went to USI because it was cheaper and no contract required. If I would only save up a bit I could save by paying by the year and get my service for about $18.95/mo instead of $24.95. I will try to do it this year. I have had few issues since they installed an outside antenna for me as I am blessed with trees and high houses on all sides of me. It is rarely down now since they upgraded things about 10 months ago. It can be an issue if you have a lot of trees or obstacles, so keep that in mind if you are considering it. Ken From jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com Sun Jan 20 10:22:33 2013 From: jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com (Jeremy MountainJohnson) Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2013 10:22:33 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] tclug-list Digest, Vol 97, Issue 35 In-Reply-To: <239RaTDZP3200S06.1358652376@web06.cms.usa.net> References: <239RaTDZP3200S06.1358652376@web06.cms.usa.net> Message-ID: Thanks Ken. I'll try prepay option and see how the VPN works with them. The more I like about CenturyLink the more I want to either go with USI or stay with Comcast (would be unfortunate). Thanks to everyone else for the input on ISPs- this list is always quick and full of opinions :-) -- Jeremy MountainJohnson Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com On Sat, Jan 19, 2013 at 9:26 PM, Kenneth Lynes wrote: > > I have been unsuccessful in trying to state something here. I wonder what I > am doing wrong. Being a bit inept at this sort of thing I assume that when > it says in my subject line that I am replying to tclug-list Digest, Vol 97, > Issue 35 that it is enough. > I want to respond to Chuck's statements and will do so now > > Well, Chuck I agree with you. I think we in the USA have been getting > screwed over by the various cell phone providers for years. I went to > Germany in 2005 and had an eye-opening experience. My friend there told me > that ALL incoming calls on a cell phone are paid for by the caller with no > exceptions. It costs a lot to make those calls and consequently they get > virtually NO spam calls or calls from charities or people trying to sell > them windows for their houses. I thought that it was a great concept for the > caller to pay for the call and too bad we dont do that as well. > My experience with cell phones over-seas was that I knew my own phone from > the USA would not work there at all and I was a bit confused by trying to > use the phone system there as I was really unfamiliar with the system. > Perhaps next time I am there, but I still wont bring my own phone. We are > totally incompatible with their systems I think. > You talk about the GSM phones and I think you are correct that most of the > rest of the world uses that system. Why dont we also? So that our phone > carriers can have their way with us and bend us over as much as they want. > Competition is a myth really. I come from a time (1950's) when all local > calls were free within my area code and I didnt even know anyone outside of > it. We never had to figure out what a area code was unless we wanted to call > out of state to some relative or were in the military and making a call home > and then had to find out what our local area code was while sitting at a pay > phone in NYC. LOL > > I also wanted to comment once about USI Wireless. I have used them as a way > cheaper and better alternative to cable in Mpls and Quest or whatever they > call themselves now. I am 73 and dropped my land line over 5 years ago. I > had DSL which was not too bad when I first had it with USFamily Net but got > worse when I moved over to Qwest at the same address and the same physical > line used. I went to USI because it was cheaper and no contract required. If > I would only save up a bit I could save by paying by the year and get my > service for about $18.95/mo instead of $24.95. I will try to do it this > year. > I have had few issues since they installed an outside antenna for me as I am > blessed with trees and high houses on all sides of me. It is rarely down now > since they upgraded things about 10 months ago. > It can be an issue if you have a lot of trees or obstacles, so keep that in > mind if you are considering it. > > Ken > > > ------ Original Message ------ > Received: Sat, 19 Jan 2013 12:00:21 PM CST > From: tclug-list-request at mn-linux.org > To: tclug-list at mn-linux.org > Subject: tclug-list Digest, Vol 97, Issue 35 > > > Send tclug-list mailing list submissions to > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > tclug-list-request at mn-linux.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > tclug-list-owner at mn-linux.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of tclug-list digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: ISP shopping- USI Wireless, CenturyLink? (Munir Nassar) > 2. Re: Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone (Yaron) > 3. Re: ISP shopping- USI Wireless, CenturyLink? (Munir Nassar) > 4. Re: Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone (Chuck Cole) > 5. Re: Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone (Yaron) > 6. Re: Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone (Chuck Cole) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:02:50 -0600 > From: Munir Nassar > To: TCLUG Mailing List > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] ISP shopping- USI Wireless, CenturyLink? > Message-ID: > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 1:39 PM, Andrew Dahl wrote: >> >> I recall my sister and her husband trying CenturyLink and it being >> unbearable, although we live in Woodbury where the highest rate you >> can get is 1.5Meg. Maybe their 7Meg offering would be better, if it's >> available for you. >> >> Comcast recently hit me with that same increase (same promotion that >> ended even) -- If you do end up being able to successfully haggle with >> Comcast, you should let me know! :-) I attempted it the other day >> with no success, unfortunately. > > that sounds legally questionable to me, even if such a fee was > disclosed but IANAL. Call and give them the choice of downgrading the > service or canceling the service altogether, of course that means that > you have to actually cancel when it comes to it, but i have a feeling > you will get a call from the service retention department very soon > afterwards. > > Back in the Qworst days the trick to making them not suck was invoking > the PUC, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, which does monitor > and apparently fine the utilities for infractions. You can also call > the State Attorney Generals' office to make a complaint. Mentioning > either of these options should make them more cooperative. > > That said, i have been with USWest/Qwest/CenturyLink for close to ten > years now, some ups and some downs... mostly depending on service > area. i have the 7Meg service with Real-Time as my ISP and i have not > had problems since moving to this house. unfortunately i cannot get > the faster ADSL+ service without ditching Real-Time. > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:10:05 -0600 (CST) > From: Yaron > To: TCLUG > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone > Message-ID: > Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed > > On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: > >> No, it's the spec that must be compatible, not just the brand. There are >> other brands of CDMA spec phones. > > Phones belonging to one network in the US are not, are 100% NOT compatible > with other providers. You CANNOT switch a phone from Sprint to Verizon for > love nor money. Now perhaps there are phones that work on multiple > systems, but this is not the norm. > > However, if I unlock a GSM phone, I can switch it between AT&T and > T-Mobile quite easily, and unlocked GSM phones are readily available, > because... > >> The fact that 5 of 7 providers don't use GSM is a significant comparison, >> IMHO. > > But go look at the rest of the world. Virtually everyone uses GSM. The US > and Japan are rare exceptions. > > This is why unlocked GSM phones are standard and readily available. I can > take my phone and use it in practically any other county using a local SIM > card. This is how cellphones work just about everywhere in the world - you > buy a phone and you can take it with you between providers because they > all use the same (global) standard. In the US, carriers tend to subsidise > the phones, and therefor lock them to their own serivce. Even if the > systems are compatible it's a pain to transfer over. Though GSM makes this > significantly easier. > > > > -- > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:15:44 -0600 > From: Munir Nassar > To: TCLUG Mailing List > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] ISP shopping- USI Wireless, CenturyLink? > Message-ID: > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 4:01 PM, Thomas Lunde wrote: >> I have CenturyLink & probably live near you, since I have all the tiers & >> am in south Minneapolis & on the same side of 35W. >> >> The CO is at 24th Ave & 33rd st. I'm about 3 blocks from there & am very >> happy with the speed. >> >> I do have to power cycle their modem (it was offered to buy or rent, so I >> bought it) every few weeks. If I don't, the connection will degrade or drop. >> I've been temped to use a UPS & cron to automate it but haven't bothered. >> Otis reliable & fast. > > The problem is likely with the modem, not with the service. Offloading > PPPoE to your firewall should perform much better. > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 4 > Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:59:50 -0600 > From: "Chuck Cole" > To: "'TCLUG Mailing List'" > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone > Message-ID: <7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8 at d830a> > > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org >> [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Yaron >> Sent: Friday, January 18, 2013 9:10 PM >> To: TCLUG >> Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone >> >> On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: >> >> However, if I unlock a GSM phone, I can switch it between >> AT&T and T-Mobile quite easily, and unlocked GSM phones are >> readily available, because... >> >> > The fact that 5 of 7 providers don't use GSM is a significant >> > comparison, IMHO. >> >> But go look at the rest of the world. Virtually everyone uses >> GSM. The US and Japan are rare exceptions. > > I live in the USA. Have little need to look at the rest of the world, > especially now. I can get good used CDMA phones easily. Had only terribly > bad experiences from carriers using GSM, so try to avoid them, and don't > need the minority GSM from a really bad provider. My VOIP provider software > works from a computer anywhere in the world when I have an internet > connection, and is the same as my home phone. My CDMA works in many places > and via WiFi in others. Don't need GSM headaches again. > > Your liking the "minority spec" doesn't make it a great choice for everybody > else. > > > Chuck > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 5 > Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 22:16:44 -0600 (CST) > From: Yaron > To: TCLUG > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone > Message-ID: > Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed > > On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: > >> I live in the USA. Have little need to look at the rest of the world, > ... >> Your liking the "minority spec" doesn't make it a great choice for >> everybody >> else. > > Wow. Again, CDMA is by FAR the "minority" spec, worldwide. Most US > carriers never bothered upgrading their infrastructure, although they ARE > working on it. And when they switch, you'll be the one who has to change > phones. > > Either way, though, most cell carriers in the US treat people fairly > horribly. The aforementioned phone-locking, for one. Charging for > incomming SMS/MMS and phonecalls is also something that doesn't happen > other places. > > I'm glad you're happy with your phone and service, and I'm not at all > trying to get you to switch or anything. Nowhere in the conversation was > anything like that mentioned. But when you say GSM is the minority and > that you can switch CDMA phones between providers, sorry but that's just > not true. > > > -- > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 6 > Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 23:02:42 -0600 > From: "Chuck Cole" > To: "'TCLUG Mailing List'" > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone > Message-ID: <5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3 at d830a> > > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org >> [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Yaron >> Sent: Friday, January 18, 2013 10:17 PM >> To: TCLUG >> Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone >> >> On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: >> >> > I live in the USA. Have little need to look at the rest of >> the world, >> ... >> > Your liking the "minority spec" doesn't make it a great choice for >> > everybody else. >> >> Wow. Again, CDMA is by FAR the "minority" spec, worldwide. >> Most US carriers never bothered upgrading their >> infrastructure, although they ARE working on it. And when >> they switch, you'll be the one who has to change phones. >> >> Either way, though, most cell carriers in the US treat people >> fairly horribly. The aforementioned phone-locking, for one. >> Charging for incomming SMS/MMS and phonecalls is also >> something that doesn't happen other places. >> >> I'm glad you're happy with your phone and service, and I'm >> not at all trying to get you to switch or anything. Nowhere >> in the conversation was anything like that mentioned. But >> when you say GSM is the minority and that you can switch CDMA >> phones between providers, sorry but that's just not true. > > The fact that 5 of 7 US providers use CDMA is indeed true, and THAT defines > a kind of majority, as I stated before... As I also stated, worldwide > doesn't matter much for citizens and services here. That's all I stated > about majority. > > Nuf sed. Enjoy your whatever. > > > Chuck > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > End of tclug-list Digest, Vol 97, Issue 35 > ****************************************** > > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > From erik.mitchell at gmail.com Sun Jan 20 10:29:54 2013 From: erik.mitchell at gmail.com (Erik Mitchell) Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2013 10:29:54 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] tclug-list Digest, Vol 97, Issue 35 In-Reply-To: <239RaTDZP3200S06.1358652376@web06.cms.usa.net> References: <239RaTDZP3200S06.1358652376@web06.cms.usa.net> Message-ID: Ken, You might prefer to switch away from receiving digest emails. There aren't too many emails on this list, so getting them one by one is manageable. A benefit is that you can reply to individual emails more precisely. To modify your options enter your email address in the field at the bottom of this page, http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list You'll need to provide your password, or use the password reminder thing, and walk through that whole jazz. Good luck, -Erik On Sat, Jan 19, 2013 at 9:26 PM, Kenneth Lynes wrote: > > I have been unsuccessful in trying to state something here. I wonder what I > am doing wrong. Being a bit inept at this sort of thing I assume that when > it says in my subject line that I am replying to tclug-list Digest, Vol 97, > Issue 35 that it is enough. > I want to respond to Chuck's statements and will do so now > > Well, Chuck I agree with you. I think we in the USA have been getting > screwed over by the various cell phone providers for years. I went to > Germany in 2005 and had an eye-opening experience. My friend there told me > that ALL incoming calls on a cell phone are paid for by the caller with no > exceptions. It costs a lot to make those calls and consequently they get > virtually NO spam calls or calls from charities or people trying to sell > them windows for their houses. I thought that it was a great concept for the > caller to pay for the call and too bad we dont do that as well. > My experience with cell phones over-seas was that I knew my own phone from > the USA would not work there at all and I was a bit confused by trying to > use the phone system there as I was really unfamiliar with the system. > Perhaps next time I am there, but I still wont bring my own phone. We are > totally incompatible with their systems I think. > You talk about the GSM phones and I think you are correct that most of the > rest of the world uses that system. Why dont we also? So that our phone > carriers can have their way with us and bend us over as much as they want. > Competition is a myth really. I come from a time (1950's) when all local > calls were free within my area code and I didnt even know anyone outside of > it. We never had to figure out what a area code was unless we wanted to call > out of state to some relative or were in the military and making a call home > and then had to find out what our local area code was while sitting at a pay > phone in NYC. LOL > > I also wanted to comment once about USI Wireless. I have used them as a way > cheaper and better alternative to cable in Mpls and Quest or whatever they > call themselves now. I am 73 and dropped my land line over 5 years ago. I > had DSL which was not too bad when I first had it with USFamily Net but got > worse when I moved over to Qwest at the same address and the same physical > line used. I went to USI because it was cheaper and no contract required. If > I would only save up a bit I could save by paying by the year and get my > service for about $18.95/mo instead of $24.95. I will try to do it this > year. > I have had few issues since they installed an outside antenna for me as I am > blessed with trees and high houses on all sides of me. It is rarely down now > since they upgraded things about 10 months ago. > It can be an issue if you have a lot of trees or obstacles, so keep that in > mind if you are considering it. > > Ken > > > ------ Original Message ------ > Received: Sat, 19 Jan 2013 12:00:21 PM CST > From: tclug-list-request at mn-linux.org > To: tclug-list at mn-linux.org > Subject: tclug-list Digest, Vol 97, Issue 35 > > > Send tclug-list mailing list submissions to > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > tclug-list-request at mn-linux.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > tclug-list-owner at mn-linux.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of tclug-list digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: ISP shopping- USI Wireless, CenturyLink? (Munir Nassar) > 2. Re: Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone (Yaron) > 3. Re: ISP shopping- USI Wireless, CenturyLink? (Munir Nassar) > 4. Re: Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone (Chuck Cole) > 5. Re: Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone (Yaron) > 6. Re: Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone (Chuck Cole) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:02:50 -0600 > From: Munir Nassar > To: TCLUG Mailing List > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] ISP shopping- USI Wireless, CenturyLink? > Message-ID: > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 1:39 PM, Andrew Dahl wrote: >> >> I recall my sister and her husband trying CenturyLink and it being >> unbearable, although we live in Woodbury where the highest rate you >> can get is 1.5Meg. Maybe their 7Meg offering would be better, if it's >> available for you. >> >> Comcast recently hit me with that same increase (same promotion that >> ended even) -- If you do end up being able to successfully haggle with >> Comcast, you should let me know! :-) I attempted it the other day >> with no success, unfortunately. > > that sounds legally questionable to me, even if such a fee was > disclosed but IANAL. Call and give them the choice of downgrading the > service or canceling the service altogether, of course that means that > you have to actually cancel when it comes to it, but i have a feeling > you will get a call from the service retention department very soon > afterwards. > > Back in the Qworst days the trick to making them not suck was invoking > the PUC, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, which does monitor > and apparently fine the utilities for infractions. You can also call > the State Attorney Generals' office to make a complaint. Mentioning > either of these options should make them more cooperative. > > That said, i have been with USWest/Qwest/CenturyLink for close to ten > years now, some ups and some downs... mostly depending on service > area. i have the 7Meg service with Real-Time as my ISP and i have not > had problems since moving to this house. unfortunately i cannot get > the faster ADSL+ service without ditching Real-Time. > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:10:05 -0600 (CST) > From: Yaron > To: TCLUG > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone > Message-ID: > Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed > > On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: > >> No, it's the spec that must be compatible, not just the brand. There are >> other brands of CDMA spec phones. > > Phones belonging to one network in the US are not, are 100% NOT compatible > with other providers. You CANNOT switch a phone from Sprint to Verizon for > love nor money. Now perhaps there are phones that work on multiple > systems, but this is not the norm. > > However, if I unlock a GSM phone, I can switch it between AT&T and > T-Mobile quite easily, and unlocked GSM phones are readily available, > because... > >> The fact that 5 of 7 providers don't use GSM is a significant comparison, >> IMHO. > > But go look at the rest of the world. Virtually everyone uses GSM. The US > and Japan are rare exceptions. > > This is why unlocked GSM phones are standard and readily available. I can > take my phone and use it in practically any other county using a local SIM > card. This is how cellphones work just about everywhere in the world - you > buy a phone and you can take it with you between providers because they > all use the same (global) standard. In the US, carriers tend to subsidise > the phones, and therefor lock them to their own serivce. Even if the > systems are compatible it's a pain to transfer over. Though GSM makes this > significantly easier. > > > > -- > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:15:44 -0600 > From: Munir Nassar > To: TCLUG Mailing List > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] ISP shopping- USI Wireless, CenturyLink? > Message-ID: > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 4:01 PM, Thomas Lunde wrote: >> I have CenturyLink & probably live near you, since I have all the tiers & >> am in south Minneapolis & on the same side of 35W. >> >> The CO is at 24th Ave & 33rd st. I'm about 3 blocks from there & am very >> happy with the speed. >> >> I do have to power cycle their modem (it was offered to buy or rent, so I >> bought it) every few weeks. If I don't, the connection will degrade or drop. >> I've been temped to use a UPS & cron to automate it but haven't bothered. >> Otis reliable & fast. > > The problem is likely with the modem, not with the service. Offloading > PPPoE to your firewall should perform much better. > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 4 > Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:59:50 -0600 > From: "Chuck Cole" > To: "'TCLUG Mailing List'" > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone > Message-ID: <7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8 at d830a> > > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org >> [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Yaron >> Sent: Friday, January 18, 2013 9:10 PM >> To: TCLUG >> Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone >> >> On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: >> >> However, if I unlock a GSM phone, I can switch it between >> AT&T and T-Mobile quite easily, and unlocked GSM phones are >> readily available, because... >> >> > The fact that 5 of 7 providers don't use GSM is a significant >> > comparison, IMHO. >> >> But go look at the rest of the world. Virtually everyone uses >> GSM. The US and Japan are rare exceptions. > > I live in the USA. Have little need to look at the rest of the world, > especially now. I can get good used CDMA phones easily. Had only terribly > bad experiences from carriers using GSM, so try to avoid them, and don't > need the minority GSM from a really bad provider. My VOIP provider software > works from a computer anywhere in the world when I have an internet > connection, and is the same as my home phone. My CDMA works in many places > and via WiFi in others. Don't need GSM headaches again. > > Your liking the "minority spec" doesn't make it a great choice for everybody > else. > > > Chuck > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 5 > Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 22:16:44 -0600 (CST) > From: Yaron > To: TCLUG > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone > Message-ID: > Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed > > On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: > >> I live in the USA. Have little need to look at the rest of the world, > ... >> Your liking the "minority spec" doesn't make it a great choice for >> everybody >> else. > > Wow. Again, CDMA is by FAR the "minority" spec, worldwide. Most US > carriers never bothered upgrading their infrastructure, although they ARE > working on it. And when they switch, you'll be the one who has to change > phones. > > Either way, though, most cell carriers in the US treat people fairly > horribly. The aforementioned phone-locking, for one. Charging for > incomming SMS/MMS and phonecalls is also something that doesn't happen > other places. > > I'm glad you're happy with your phone and service, and I'm not at all > trying to get you to switch or anything. Nowhere in the conversation was > anything like that mentioned. But when you say GSM is the minority and > that you can switch CDMA phones between providers, sorry but that's just > not true. > > > -- > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 6 > Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 23:02:42 -0600 > From: "Chuck Cole" > To: "'TCLUG Mailing List'" > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone > Message-ID: <5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3 at d830a> > > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org >> [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Yaron >> Sent: Friday, January 18, 2013 10:17 PM >> To: TCLUG >> Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone >> >> On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: >> >> > I live in the USA. Have little need to look at the rest of >> the world, >> ... >> > Your liking the "minority spec" doesn't make it a great choice for >> > everybody else. >> >> Wow. Again, CDMA is by FAR the "minority" spec, worldwide. >> Most US carriers never bothered upgrading their >> infrastructure, although they ARE working on it. And when >> they switch, you'll be the one who has to change phones. >> >> Either way, though, most cell carriers in the US treat people >> fairly horribly. The aforementioned phone-locking, for one. >> Charging for incomming SMS/MMS and phonecalls is also >> something that doesn't happen other places. >> >> I'm glad you're happy with your phone and service, and I'm >> not at all trying to get you to switch or anything. Nowhere >> in the conversation was anything like that mentioned. But >> when you say GSM is the minority and that you can switch CDMA >> phones between providers, sorry but that's just not true. > > The fact that 5 of 7 US providers use CDMA is indeed true, and THAT defines > a kind of majority, as I stated before... As I also stated, worldwide > doesn't matter much for citizens and services here. That's all I stated > about majority. > > Nuf sed. Enjoy your whatever. > > > Chuck > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > End of tclug-list Digest, Vol 97, Issue 35 > ****************************************** > > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- Erik K. Mitchell erik.mitchell at gmail.com From marc at e-skinner.net Sun Jan 20 13:58:50 2013 From: marc at e-skinner.net (Marc Skinner) Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2013 13:58:50 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] For Sale: AMD X2 motherboard/CPU/memory Message-ID: <50FC4C7A.5000907@e-skinner.net> I have quantity 2 of the following Motherboard/CPU/memory combos: AMD X2 4000+, w/ stock AMD cooler fan ECS-GeoForce6100SM-M2 (HT2000) motherboard 2 x 2Gb Patriot GSeries DDR2 800Mhz memory Links for more product info: CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103774 Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135074 Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220409 These each ran file servers for a number of years. Never overclocked and in a room that never got above 70 degrees. Looking for $25 each. Recently replaced them with AMD Phenom II X4, 16GB, MSI MB setup. Thanks! From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Mon Jan 21 01:24:21 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2013 01:24:21 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] tclug-list Digest, Vol 97, Issue 35 In-Reply-To: References: <239RaTDZP3200S06.1358652376@web06.cms.usa.net> Message-ID: Regarding digests -- I have subscribed to digests (not here) and was able to receive MIME digests and reply to an individual message (e.g., using [al]pine). That's nice. But if people can't do that, or cope with individual messages (I use procmail filtering), then they really ought to do this: (1) change the subject of your reply to match the subject of the message you are replying to. Otherwise the subject (like this one) tells us nothing. (2) Please, please, do not leave the entire digest dangling below your message (or sitting above it, if bottom posting). That's just rude and wrong and it makes a mess of the archive and of web searches. Just trim your reply to leave only the relevant part. We should all do this, always. Mike On Sun, 20 Jan 2013, Erik Mitchell wrote: > You might prefer to switch away from receiving digest emails. There > aren't too many emails on this list, so getting them one by one is > manageable. A benefit is that you can reply to individual emails more > precisely. > > To modify your options enter your email address in the field at the > bottom of this page, > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > You'll need to provide your password, or use the password reminder > thing, and walk through that whole jazz. From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Mon Jan 21 13:40:02 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2013 13:40:02 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: <5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a><7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a> <5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> Message-ID: This got a little longer than intended -- it's mostly a comparison of Sprint CDMA service with T-Mobile GSM service in the Twin Cities and along I-94 between here and Madison. T-Mobile lies about coverage, and other things, so I can't use their service. Much more below... I had a Sprint CDMA phone for almost 10 years. Before that I had a T-Mobile GSM phone, but that was only until about 2003 or 2004 -- it didn't last long because I thought the coverage was really poor. So now I'm switching back to T-Mobile from Sprint and I'm hoping that T-Mobile has improved, but as you will see below, it hasn't improved enough. I think Chuck and Yaron both make excellent points, and though they disagree on which system (GSM or CDMA) they'd choose, I see little disagreement about the facts, just a disagreement about preferences. I have been aware of the things they are talking about and the issues are major considerations in my choice of carrier. CDMA is most common in the USA, but it is rare elsewhere, while GSM is all over most of the rest of the world. Sometimes I go to Ecuador or to Europe and both are GSM-only. It would be really cool if I could swap out a SIM card in Europe or Ecuador and keep on using my phone, but I'm not there very often and I've always gotten by without my phone. Meanwhile, the other 97% of the time I'm here in the USA, and about 93% of the time in the Twin Cities, and I'm trying to get things done here. Thus, how the phone works in the USA, and especially in the Twin Cities, is much more important to me than how it works in other nations. I do want to help promote GSM, but if the service is bad here, I'm not going to use GSM. Now that I've had the T-Mobile phone for a few days, I can tell you this... I drove to Madison and back this weekend. Along the way, I checked every few miles and I found that there was no point between the Twin Cities and Madison (on I-94) where I could get an internet connection with my T-Mobile Nexus 4 -- nothing, ever. In Madison, I had no internet connection -- no G4, no G3, no G-anything, no internet service at all. The phone service seemed to be working at most points along the way, but not always, and it went to roaming at many points. My wife was with me and she used her Sprint (CDMA) iPhone often and with great success. She had G3 service most of the way and was doing things like streaming Curious George videos from PBS Kids, uninterrupted,, full shows, no problem, while I had *no* *internet* at all on my T-Mobile GSM supposedly-G4 Nexus 4 phone. It was totally worthless. The service within my home also matters to me. Sprint phone service in my home works very poorly. Because of that, we bought a cordless phone and a NetTalk Duo, and that works well. I also have CenturyLink internet service, which should nearly always work, so we can cope with poor cellular phone service in the home. It is nice to see that T-Mobile works all over the house, even in the back of the basement, while Sprint drops calls almost everywhere in the house except for next to one south window. But, strangely, I can get the internet on the Sprint phone to work in the house, which has been very helpful when the CenturyLink wire has been torn down by trucks passing in the alley (I think they have raised the wire high enough this time that it won't come down), and I cannot get the T-Mobile internet service to work in my home -- phone, but no internet. I was surprised that T-Mobile gives no internet in Madison, nor at any point between the Twin Cities and Madison along I-94. I thought service along major highways was a priority. The phone mostly worked along I-94, but not the internet service. Sprint worked *much* better. So how do I decide what I want? Here are the issues: (1) phone service in the Twin Cities - possibly a tie, but not thoroughly tested (2) internet service in the Twin Cities - Sprint is ahead, but not thoroughly tested (3) phone service in my home -- T-Mobile wins by a wide margin (4) phone service between here and Madison -- Sprint seems to win (5) internet service between here and Madison -- Sprint by a landslide (6) internet service in my home -- Sprint wins, nothing for T-Mobile (7) phone service in Ecuador -- T-Mobile (GSM) wins (8) phone service in other parts of the USA -- not sure. (9) internet service in other parts of the USA -- not sure. So I'm not liking T-Mobile service very much. I will probably try another carrier, maybe Verizon, to see how that works for me. T-Mobile blew it first by overcharging me by $300 for the Nexus 4 phone. Their next problem was having *nothing* for internet between here and Madison, and nothing in Madison. Pretty lame. The T-Mobile coverage maps are a scam and a lie. Check this out: http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/pcc.aspx/ Zoom to a level where you can see the Twin Cities on one side and Madison on the other, look at the 3G/4G map. It shows "excellent" coverage the entire way along I-94. Now zoom in two levels and you will see that the "excellent" coverage magically disappears and is replaced by 2G, at best, most of the way. However, my phone never reported any 2G service, anywhere, and it gave me no internet at all and no web apps worked at all. In other words, T-Mobile has been lying to me and ripping me off and I'm done with them. Mike On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org >> [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Yaron >> Sent: Friday, January 18, 2013 10:17 PM >> To: TCLUG >> Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone >> >> On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: >> >>> I live in the USA. Have little need to look at the rest of >> the world, >> ... >>> Your liking the "minority spec" doesn't make it a great choice for >>> everybody else. >> >> Wow. Again, CDMA is by FAR the "minority" spec, worldwide. >> Most US carriers never bothered upgrading their >> infrastructure, although they ARE working on it. And when >> they switch, you'll be the one who has to change phones. >> >> Either way, though, most cell carriers in the US treat people >> fairly horribly. The aforementioned phone-locking, for one. >> Charging for incomming SMS/MMS and phonecalls is also >> something that doesn't happen other places. >> >> I'm glad you're happy with your phone and service, and I'm >> not at all trying to get you to switch or anything. Nowhere >> in the conversation was anything like that mentioned. But >> when you say GSM is the minority and that you can switch CDMA >> phones between providers, sorry but that's just not true. > > The fact that 5 of 7 US providers use CDMA is indeed true, and THAT defines > a kind of majority, as I stated before... As I also stated, worldwide > doesn't matter much for citizens and services here. That's all I stated > about majority. > > Nuf sed. Enjoy your whatever. > > > Chuck > > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > From cncole at earthlink.net Mon Jan 21 15:56:23 2013 From: cncole at earthlink.net (Chuck Cole) Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:56:23 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone - tales of CDMA vs GSM In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a><7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a><5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> Message-ID: > -----Original Message----- > From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org > [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Mike Miller > Sent: Monday, January 21, 2013 1:40 PM > To: TCLUG Mailing List > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone - tales of CDMA vs GSM Thanks for sharing your experiences with us! > I think Chuck and Yaron both make excellent points, and > though they disagree on which system (GSM or CDMA) they'd > choose, I see little disagreement about the facts, just a > disagreement about preferences. Almost true, but Yaron didn't believe CDMA is a majority of carriers and likely also in users in the USA. I cannot get the provider features with GSM that I have and use with Sprint's CDMA. Sprint is truly unlimited, while GSM doesn't seem to have that, and T-Mobile really sucks. I was screwed by GSM (carrier lied about major coverage gaps. I got out w/o early termination by eagerly suggesting we take the issue to court). Everyone I know who uses GSM has significant problems of one sort or another: my preferences are clear. Don't have a technical issue with either GSM or other Esperanto-like fetishes some folks have :-) Not previouly mentioned, but Nokia (inventor and major supplier of GSM) was going bankrupt last I heard. Did they recover? > CDMA is most common in the USA, but it is rare elsewhere, > while GSM is all over most of the rest of the world. > Sometimes I go to Ecuador or to Europe and both are GSM-only. > It would be really cool if I could swap out a SIM card in > Europe or Ecuador and keep on using my phone, but I'm not > there very often and I've always gotten by without my phone. POINT of THIS POST: I recall seeing some phones that do BOTH and almost interchangeably. Must have two RF chips..Not sure what that means at data level or provider levels. > The service within my home also matters to me. Sprint phone > service in my home works very poorly. Because of that, we > bought a cordless phone and a NetTalk Duo, and that works > well. There are boosters by Wilson for about $145 that have outside antenna, RF amp, and inside antenna. I think these are all/only RF and not modulation-dependent, so would help both GSM and CDMA... IIRC. My Sprint signal is good inside most of my house, but weak in my basement where my office is. WiFi seems to fix this 4G weakness pretty well. Chuck From mgreenly at gmail.com Mon Jan 21 16:02:24 2013 From: mgreenly at gmail.com (Michael Greenly) Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2013 16:02:24 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a> <7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a> <5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> Message-ID: If you zoom in on the coverage map you'll notice the entire distance on 94 is 2G (edge) only. I wonder if the phone was having problems falling back go 2G? Not that it really matters because edge speeds are next to worthless for anything other than im or email. On Mon, Jan 21, 2013 at 1:40 PM, Mike Miller wrote: > This got a little longer than intended -- it's mostly a comparison of > Sprint CDMA service with T-Mobile GSM service in the Twin Cities and along > I-94 between here and Madison. T-Mobile lies about coverage, and other > things, so I can't use their service. Much more below... > > I had a Sprint CDMA phone for almost 10 years. Before that I had a > T-Mobile GSM phone, but that was only until about 2003 or 2004 -- it didn't > last long because I thought the coverage was really poor. So now I'm > switching back to T-Mobile from Sprint and I'm hoping that T-Mobile has > improved, but as you will see below, it hasn't improved enough. > > I think Chuck and Yaron both make excellent points, and though they > disagree on which system (GSM or CDMA) they'd choose, I see little > disagreement about the facts, just a disagreement about preferences. I > have been aware of the things they are talking about and the issues are > major considerations in my choice of carrier. > > CDMA is most common in the USA, but it is rare elsewhere, while GSM is all > over most of the rest of the world. Sometimes I go to Ecuador or to Europe > and both are GSM-only. It would be really cool if I could swap out a SIM > card in Europe or Ecuador and keep on using my phone, but I'm not there > very often and I've always gotten by without my phone. > > Meanwhile, the other 97% of the time I'm here in the USA, and about 93% of > the time in the Twin Cities, and I'm trying to get things done here. Thus, > how the phone works in the USA, and especially in the Twin Cities, is much > more important to me than how it works in other nations. I do want to help > promote GSM, but if the service is bad here, I'm not going to use GSM. Now > that I've had the T-Mobile phone for a few days, I can tell you this... > > I drove to Madison and back this weekend. Along the way, I checked every > few miles and I found that there was no point between the Twin Cities and > Madison (on I-94) where I could get an internet connection with my T-Mobile > Nexus 4 -- nothing, ever. In Madison, I had no internet connection -- no > G4, no G3, no G-anything, no internet service at all. The phone service > seemed to be working at most points along the way, but not always, and it > went to roaming at many points. My wife was with me and she used her > Sprint (CDMA) iPhone often and with great success. She had G3 service most > of the way and was doing things like streaming Curious George videos from > PBS Kids, uninterrupted,, full shows, no problem, while I had *no* > *internet* at all on my T-Mobile GSM supposedly-G4 Nexus 4 phone. It was > totally worthless. > > The service within my home also matters to me. Sprint phone service in my > home works very poorly. Because of that, we bought a cordless phone and a > NetTalk Duo, and that works well. I also have CenturyLink internet > service, which should nearly always work, so we can cope with poor cellular > phone service in the home. It is nice to see that T-Mobile works all over > the house, even in the back of the basement, while Sprint drops calls > almost everywhere in the house except for next to one south window. But, > strangely, I can get the internet on the Sprint phone to work in the house, > which has been very helpful when the CenturyLink wire has been torn down by > trucks passing in the alley (I think they have raised the wire high enough > this time that it won't come down), and I cannot get the T-Mobile internet > service to work in my home -- phone, but no internet. > > I was surprised that T-Mobile gives no internet in Madison, nor at any > point between the Twin Cities and Madison along I-94. I thought service > along major highways was a priority. The phone mostly worked along I-94, > but not the internet service. Sprint worked *much* better. > > So how do I decide what I want? Here are the issues: > > (1) phone service in the Twin Cities - possibly a tie, but not thoroughly > tested > > (2) internet service in the Twin Cities - Sprint is ahead, but not > thoroughly tested > > (3) phone service in my home -- T-Mobile wins by a wide margin > > (4) phone service between here and Madison -- Sprint seems to win > > (5) internet service between here and Madison -- Sprint by a landslide > > (6) internet service in my home -- Sprint wins, nothing for T-Mobile > > (7) phone service in Ecuador -- T-Mobile (GSM) wins > > (8) phone service in other parts of the USA -- not sure. > > (9) internet service in other parts of the USA -- not sure. > > So I'm not liking T-Mobile service very much. I will probably try another > carrier, maybe Verizon, to see how that works for me. T-Mobile blew it > first by overcharging me by $300 for the Nexus 4 phone. Their next problem > was having *nothing* for internet between here and Madison, and nothing in > Madison. Pretty lame. > > The T-Mobile coverage maps are a scam and a lie. Check this out: > > http://www.t-mobile.com/**coverage/pcc.aspx/ > > Zoom to a level where you can see the Twin Cities on one side and Madison > on the other, look at the 3G/4G map. It shows "excellent" coverage the > entire way along I-94. Now zoom in two levels and you will see that the > "excellent" coverage magically disappears and is replaced by 2G, at best, > most of the way. However, my phone never reported any 2G service, > anywhere, and it gave me no internet at all and no web apps worked at all. > > In other words, T-Mobile has been lying to me and ripping me off and I'm > done with them. > > Mike > > > > On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: > > >> >> -----Original Message----- >>> From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.**org >>> [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-**linux.org] >>> On Behalf Of Yaron >>> Sent: Friday, January 18, 2013 10:17 PM >>> To: TCLUG >>> Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone >>> >>> On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: >>> >>> I live in the USA. Have little need to look at the rest of >>>> >>> the world, >>> ... >>> >>>> Your liking the "minority spec" doesn't make it a great choice for >>>> everybody else. >>>> >>> >>> Wow. Again, CDMA is by FAR the "minority" spec, worldwide. >>> Most US carriers never bothered upgrading their >>> infrastructure, although they ARE working on it. And when >>> they switch, you'll be the one who has to change phones. >>> >>> Either way, though, most cell carriers in the US treat people >>> fairly horribly. The aforementioned phone-locking, for one. >>> Charging for incomming SMS/MMS and phonecalls is also >>> something that doesn't happen other places. >>> >>> I'm glad you're happy with your phone and service, and I'm >>> not at all trying to get you to switch or anything. Nowhere >>> in the conversation was anything like that mentioned. But >>> when you say GSM is the minority and that you can switch CDMA >>> phones between providers, sorry but that's just not true. >>> >> >> The fact that 5 of 7 US providers use CDMA is indeed true, and THAT >> defines >> a kind of majority, as I stated before... As I also stated, worldwide >> doesn't matter much for citizens and services here. That's all I stated >> about majority. >> >> Nuf sed. Enjoy your whatever. >> >> >> Chuck >> >> >> >> ______________________________**_________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/**mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> >> ______________________________**_________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/**mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- Michael Greenly http://logic-refinery.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tclug at freakzilla.com Mon Jan 21 16:35:44 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (Yaron) Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2013 16:35:44 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone - tales of CDMA vs GSM In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a><7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a><5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> Message-ID: On Mon, 21 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: > Almost true, but Yaron didn't believe CDMA is a majority of carriers and > likely also in users in the USA. Oh for goodness sake. I NEVER SAID THAT. I said GSM is undoubtebly the most popular system GLOBALLY. I /specifically/ said that the US is LAGGING BEHIND most of the world BECAUSE CDMA is the most popular system here. > POINT of THIS POST: I recall seeing some phones that do BOTH and almost > interchangeably. Must have two RF chips..Not sure what that means at data > level or provider levels. There are what are called "World Phones" that have both CDMA and GSM. These are few and far between, though, and while they can hop btween GSM networks with zero problems, they still have trouble hopping around CDMA networks. We're getting WAY the heck off topic here, but I'll say this. CDMA is an old, old, old and outdated technology. It is missing alot of features GSM does, notably that you can't use voice and data at the same time with CDMA. Furthermore, CDMA is a lot better for locking users into a specific carrier. It is virtually unknown of to be able to take a CDMA phone to a different provider - try taking a Verizon phone to Sprint, for example. Good luck with that. If you buy an 'unlocked' CDMA phone you're still at the mercy of your provider. Contrast this with an unlocked GSM phone. First, since GSM /is/ in use globally, unlocked GSM phones are readily available. Google has been directly selling unlocked GSM Nexus phones for ages, for example, and you can get an unlocked GSM phone, not tied to any provider, on Amazon. Easily. Once you have this phone, you can use it on any GSM network. In the world. Without asking the provider for permission. You just put the SIM card in. I have three unlocked GSM phones at home. If my primary phone breaks, I can easily move my SIM to a backup phone. If I don't like my provider, I have many more options to switch without having to buy a new phone than if I was on a CDMA network. Now as for the quality of SERVICE, that's a completely different matter. I've been using T-Mobile for a loooong time, and I can tell you that the quality of their service AND their customer service has gone downhill a looong way. When Mike said he can't get data service in his home I was sadly not surprised. I have a hrd time with that, too, as do some other t-mobile people I know. This just started happening out of the blue a few years back, and t-mobile claims it's "impossible". And don't get me started on their customer service which used to be fantastic (it used to be the #1 rated customer satisfaction provider! Not anymore...) This has nothing at all to do with underlying technology and, Chuck, I think you misunderstood me completely if you thought that's what I'm saying. By all means, use whatever network is best for you. I'd never advise you to do otherwise. -- From woodbrian77 at gmail.com Mon Jan 21 18:26:00 2013 From: woodbrian77 at gmail.com (Brian Wood) Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2013 19:26:00 -0500 Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone Message-ID: Mike Miller: > So I'm not liking T-Mobile service very much. I will probably try another > carrier, maybe Verizon, to see how that works for me. > > In other words, T-Mobile has been lying to me and ripping me off and I'm > done with them. Beware of Verizon Wireless. I had a similarly nasty experience with them about 6 years ago. This reminds me of Lance Armstrong. I heard he got about 30 million from the USPS. Now they are going to take it back and a lot more. -- Brian Wood Ebenezer Enterprises -- In G-d we trust. http://webEbenezer.net (651) 251-9384 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From stuporglue at gmail.com Mon Jan 21 20:54:25 2013 From: stuporglue at gmail.com (Michael Moore) Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2013 20:54:25 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a> <7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a> <5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> Message-ID: > > I drove to Madison and back this weekend. Along the way, I checked every > few miles and I found that there was no point between the Twin Cities and > Madison (on I-94) where I could get an internet connection with my T-Mobile > Nexus 4 -- nothing, ever. In Madison, I had no internet connection -- no > G4, no G3, no G-anything, no internet service at all. The phone service > seemed to be working at most points along the way, but not always, and it > went to roaming at many points. > -- > I was surprised that T-Mobile gives no internet in Madison, nor at any > point between the Twin Cities and Madison along I-94. I thought service > along major highways was a priority. The phone mostly worked along I-94, > but not the internet service. Sprint worked *much* better. > As an additional statistical point, and for voice only, ATT gets the best (only?) coverage in upper-Michigan and Nothern Wisconsin (specifically the Ironwood/Hurley area). There's limited 2G coverage in town. I ended up getting T-Mobile because I go up there regularly, roaming on ATT's towers doesn't cost extra, and T-Mobile was cheaper than AT&T for my usage. -- Michael -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Mon Jan 21 21:07:37 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2013 21:07:37 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone - tales of CDMA vs GSM In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a><7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a><5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> Message-ID: On Mon, 21 Jan 2013, Yaron wrote: > On Mon, 21 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: > >> Almost true, but Yaron didn't believe CDMA is a majority of carriers >> and likely also in users in the USA. > > Oh for goodness sake. I NEVER SAID THAT. I said GSM is undoubtebly the > most popular system GLOBALLY. I /specifically/ said that the US is > LAGGING BEHIND most of the world BECAUSE CDMA is the most popular system > here. That's what I was seeing -- Yaron did say that. The one point that I thought you actually were disagreeing about was whether a Sprint CDMA phone could be used on another CDMA network. Yaron said that it could not, and I think he was right. > We're getting WAY the heck off topic here, but I'll say this. I don't know -- we are interested in using Linux systems, like Android on phones that give us internet access. How we can get that access for our Linux devices is pretty important and I think worthy of our attention. This will be even more true in a few years. > CDMA is an old, old, old and outdated technology. It is missing alot of > features GSM does, notably that you can't use voice and data at the same > time with CDMA. Interesting that I didn't notice that during the 9 years or so that I was using my Sprint phones. I would have sworn that the old Treo 600 was able to do it, though that was pre-EVDO and I'm not sure what it had. I guess current Sprint can do voice and WiFi at the same time, though, which might be why I didn't notice it. > Furthermore, CDMA is a lot better for locking users into a specific > carrier. It is virtually unknown of to be able to take a CDMA phone to a > different provider - try taking a Verizon phone to Sprint, for example. > Good luck with that. If you buy an 'unlocked' CDMA phone you're still at > the mercy of your provider. > > Contrast this with an unlocked GSM phone. First, since GSM /is/ in use > globally, unlocked GSM phones are readily available. Google has been > directly selling unlocked GSM Nexus phones for ages, for example, and > you can get an unlocked GSM phone, not tied to any provider, on Amazon. > Easily. > > Once you have this phone, you can use it on any GSM network. In the > world. Without asking the provider for permission. You just put the SIM > card in. > > I have three unlocked GSM phones at home. If my primary phone breaks, I > can easily move my SIM to a backup phone. If I don't like my provider, I > have many more options to switch without having to buy a new phone than > if I was on a CDMA network. That's another good argument for the superiority of GSM technology to CDMA technology, but... > Now as for the quality of SERVICE, that's a completely different matter. > > I've been using T-Mobile for a loooong time, and I can tell you that the > quality of their service AND their customer service has gone downhill a > looong way. When Mike said he can't get data service in his home I was sadly > not surprised. I have a hrd time with that, too, as do some other t-mobile > people I know. This just started happening out of the blue a few years back, > and t-mobile claims it's "impossible". And don't get me started on their > customer service which used to be fantastic (it used to be the #1 rated > customer satisfaction provider! Not anymore...) > > This has nothing at all to do with underlying technology and, Chuck, I think > you misunderstood me completely if you thought that's what I'm saying. By all > means, use whatever network is best for you. I'd never advise you to do > otherwise. Now I'm looking at the AT&T coverage maps and they seem to be claiming better coverage than T-Mobile. Maybe that's accurate. They say they have 4G in Madison and all over the Twin Cities. It looks like they go to a partner between Eau Claire County and Wisconsin Dells, both for voice and data, and data drops to 2G, but I could live with that. http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/#?type=data&lat=44.05586242675781&lon=-91.80553436279297&sci=4 It looks like their policy is that if you use 6MB or more of data from a partner in two consecutive months, AT&T reserves the right to terminate your service. That's weird. I guess that means they aren't charging for roaming. Mike From jmore at starmind.org Mon Jan 21 21:00:50 2013 From: jmore at starmind.org (Josh More) Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2013 21:00:50 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a> <7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a> <5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> Message-ID: The same, at least a few months ago, was mostly true for the Sprint network. I'm on Verizon today due in no small part to that particular drive. -Josh More On Mon, Jan 21, 2013 at 8:54 PM, Michael Moore wrote: > I drove to Madison and back this weekend. Along the way, I checked every >> few miles and I found that there was no point between the Twin Cities and >> Madison (on I-94) where I could get an internet connection with my T-Mobile >> Nexus 4 -- nothing, ever. In Madison, I had no internet connection -- no >> G4, no G3, no G-anything, no internet service at all. The phone service >> seemed to be working at most points along the way, but not always, and it >> went to roaming at many points. >> > -- > >> I was surprised that T-Mobile gives no internet in Madison, nor at any >> point between the Twin Cities and Madison along I-94. I thought service >> along major highways was a priority. The phone mostly worked along I-94, >> but not the internet service. Sprint worked *much* better. >> > > As an additional statistical point, and for voice only, ATT gets the best > (only?) coverage in upper-Michigan and Nothern Wisconsin (specifically the > Ironwood/Hurley area). There's limited 2G coverage in town. I ended up > getting T-Mobile because I go up there regularly, roaming on ATT's towers > doesn't cost extra, and T-Mobile was cheaper than AT&T for my usage. > -- > Michael > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Mon Jan 21 21:41:39 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2013 21:41:39 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a> <7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a> <5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> Message-ID: On Mon, 21 Jan 2013, Michael Greenly wrote: > If you zoom in on the coverage map you'll notice the entire distance on > 94 is 2G (edge) only. Yes, I said that, too, but there is a problem when a map at a certain level shows 4G, but then when you zoom a step it says 2G, then you go to that place in the real world and there is *nothing*. I call that "lying" but it is at least a disconcerting inaccuracy. > I wonder if the phone was having problems falling back go 2G? That's possible. The phone could be bad. It's a new Nexus 4. I'm sure I have all the settings right, though. The other thing is I get no data service in my home, not even 2G. > Not that it really matters because edge speeds are next to worthless for > anything other than im or email. Well, we used to think 100 Kbps was fast and we'd pay a lot of money to get it (e.g., ISDN service). These days web pages are bigger, I'm sure, but it would be nice to have in a pinch -- way better than nothing! Mike From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Mon Jan 21 21:50:23 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2013 21:50:23 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Mon, 21 Jan 2013, Brian Wood wrote: > Beware of Verizon Wireless. I had a similarly nasty experience with > them about 6 years ago. I've had a few warnings about Verizon, but I think they have good coverage. I haven't been warned yet against AT&T. I was hearing a lot of bad things about AT&T a few years ago, probably because the iPhone caused so many new users on their network, but I think they might have fixed that. Any ideas? OT part that we shouldn't continue on this list... > This reminds me of Lance Armstrong. I heard he got about 30 million from > the USPS. Now they are going to take it back and a lot more. Worse -- USPS bought insurance against the possibility the team would win and they'd have to pay out millions, so the insurance company made the payments, and they take cheating very seriously. They had sued him before, but they lost because they didn't have sufficient evidence of cheating, according to the courts. That has changed. Mike From cncole at earthlink.net Mon Jan 21 22:18:26 2013 From: cncole at earthlink.net (Chuck Cole) Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2013 22:18:26 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone - tales of CDMA vs GSM In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a><7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a><5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> Message-ID: > -----Original Message----- > From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org > [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Yaron > Sent: Monday, January 21, 2013 4:36 PM > > > Almost true, but Yaron didn't believe CDMA is a majority of > carriers > > and likely also in users in the USA. > > Oh for goodness sake. I NEVER SAID THAT. I said GSM is > undoubtedly the most popular system GLOBALLY. I didn't see you state it that way, but no matter now. That's an opinion that the US lags anybody in technology. That's why we are copied and plagiarized so much. > > POINT of THIS POST: I recall seeing some phones that do BOTH and > > almost interchangeably. Must have two RF chips. Not sure what that > > means at data level or provider levels. > > There are what are called "World Phones" that have both CDMA and GSM. > These are few and far between, though, and while they can hop > between GSM networks with zero problems, they still have > trouble hopping around CDMA networks. > We're getting WAY the heck off topic here, but I'll say this. > > CDMA is an old, old, old and outdated technology. It is > missing a lot of features GSM does, notably that you can't use > voice and data at the same time with CDMA. I haven't checked, but I have seen claims that CDMA can do both. The modulation and coding schemes are so complex and sophisticated, that there are options to do both by various means, including code-division. > Furthermore, CDMA is a lot better for locking users into a > specific carrier. It is virtually unknown of to be able to > take a CDMA phone to a different provider - try taking a > Verizon phone to Sprint, for example. > Good luck with that. If you buy an 'unlocked' CDMA phone > you're still at the mercy of your provider. Likely true, but irrelevant for me. Never has been an issue for me. I can get used compatible phones easily enough. > Contrast this with an unlocked GSM phone. First, since GSM > /is/ in use globally, unlocked GSM phones are readily > available. Google has been directly selling unlocked GSM > Nexus phones for ages, for example, and you can get an > unlocked GSM phone, not tied to any provider, on Amazon. > Easily. But I cannot get any acceptable GSM provider, and don't need a dead technology necklace for my costume :-) > Once you have this phone, you can use it on any GSM network. > In the world. So what? I have zero interest or use for that. I have no interest in using the worst providers in the US either. GSM is a poor return on investment by any and all criteria - for me. > I have three unlocked GSM phones at home. If my primary phone > breaks, I can easily move my SIM to a backup phone. I have backup phones also. An easy call to Sprint swaps my online hardware at no cost no matter how many times I may do it per day. Takes less than 1/2 hr to fully register the phone in their national networks. I have some unusable old phones also, but they do measure in-band signal strength in dbm in their diagnostic mode so I haven't tossed them yet. > I've been using T-Mobile for a loooong time, and I can tell > you that the quality of their service AND their customer > service has gone downhill a looong way. Have never heard that it was acceptably good. > This has nothing at all to do with underlying technology and, > Chuck, I think you misunderstood me completely if you thought > that's what I'm saying. Nearly everything you say seems to say you do believe it is a technology matter and not the pragmatic one of good or best US service. Note that I greatly respect your views even when I don't share them. This is not a personal squabble at all. Some folks may benefit from seeing these different views presented... But time to quit this topic :-) Chuck From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Tue Jan 22 00:30:34 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 00:30:34 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone - tales of CDMA vs GSM In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a><7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a><5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> Message-ID: On Mon, 21 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: > Note that I greatly respect your views even when I don't share them. > This is not a personal squabble at all. Some folks may benefit from > seeing these different views presented... But time to quit this topic I think it was a good review of the differences. Clearly, GSM is the best choice for people who need to use their phone in other nations. Otherwise, most of the differences between types of service and specific carriers will affect different users in different ways depending on how we travel, whether we can get service at home, etc. Sometimes I think people feel like other people should use the carrier they use, and if other people don't want it, they feel slighted -- their choice was rejected by the other person. It's worse when someone asks your opinion, you give it, and they dismiss it, or at least don't follow your advice. But I think with phone service, a feature that is very important to one person might mean nothing to another person, so we aren't going to rank our preferences in the same ways. I would still like to hear if people are having good luck with the AT&T data service around the Twin Cities (which should mean 4G service). Mike From goeko at Goecke-Dolan.com Tue Jan 22 03:10:13 2013 From: goeko at Goecke-Dolan.com (Brian Dolan-Goecke) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 03:10:13 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Penguins Unbound Meeting January 26th 2013! Message-ID: <50FE5775.3080705@Goecke-Dolan.com> This months PenguinsUnbound.com meeting will be Saturday January 26th at TIES, 1667 Snelling Ave. N., St. Paul, MN 55108 from 10:00am to 12:00pm (See the web site http://www.penguinsunbound.com for directions and more info.) This months Penguins Unbound Meeting will be an Open Q&A ! Bring your question, and we will find some answers! A couple questions I have, Should continue to have "Install Fests" ? or release Parties ? Would people be interested in a Pi-Day ? A day full of Rasberry Pi Hacking! We would start out the the basics, with you and your Pi. Then have specific topics. You would bring your Pi and get time to hack, to allow you to learn and ask questions... (is someone who is associated with the a local hacker space able to attend so we could work together ?) Hope to see you at the meeting! *** Note: This months meeting will be in a different location, the 4th floor Board Room. You should use the front Doors (the ones at the corner of Snelling and Larpenteur), and take the elevator to the 4th floor, then straight out the elevator to the board room. ** Please try to be there before 10:00 am, because the front doors will lock after 10:15. Thanks. ==>brian. From cncole at earthlink.net Tue Jan 22 04:17:07 2013 From: cncole at earthlink.net (Chuck Cole) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 04:17:07 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone - tales of CDMA vs GSM In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a><7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a><5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> Message-ID: > -----Original Message----- > From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org > [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Mike Miller > Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2013 12:31 AM > > I would still like to hear if people are having good luck > with the AT&T data service around the Twin Cities (which > should mean 4G service). I hear it works fine but has data volume limits of several kinds. Some providers (both AT&T, T-Mobile, no contract plans .. et al?) have weasel wording about "data service included" but hide that it's capped. A friend has AT&T with an expensive unlimited voice plan, but gets extra charges for exceeding their basic quotas for data and texting. Chuck From kris.browne at gmail.com Tue Jan 22 05:05:14 2013 From: kris.browne at gmail.com (Kris Browne) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 05:05:14 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone - tales of CDMA vs GSM In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a> <7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a> <5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> Message-ID: I am using an iPad with at&t LTE as my main device, and across the twin cities I haven't had any issues with coverage unless I've been in been in old bomb shelter basements (my sons elementary school) where it falls to 3G. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?. Kristopher Browne ?? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?. kris.browne at gmail.com ?Happy? ? ? ? ? ?. ??Holidays!? ? ?? _?_? ? ? ? ? ? ? /____?/ ??? ? ? ? l??? |?| ? ? ? ? ? On Jan 22, 2013, at 0:30, Mike Miller wrote: > On Mon, 21 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: > >> Note that I greatly respect your views even when I don't share them. This is not a personal squabble at all. Some folks may benefit from seeing these different views presented... But time to quit this topic > > > > I think it was a good review of the differences. Clearly, GSM is the best choice for people who need to use their phone in other nations. Otherwise, most of the differences between types of service and specific carriers will affect different users in different ways depending on how we travel, whether we can get service at home, etc. > > Sometimes I think people feel like other people should use the carrier they use, and if other people don't want it, they feel slighted -- their choice was rejected by the other person. It's worse when someone asks your opinion, you give it, and they dismiss it, or at least don't follow your advice. But I think with phone service, a feature that is very important to one person might mean nothing to another person, so we aren't going to rank our preferences in the same ways. > > > I would still like to hear if people are having good luck with the AT&T data service around the Twin Cities (which should mean 4G service). > > Mike > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From susan.dawn.stewart at gmail.com Tue Jan 22 05:32:58 2013 From: susan.dawn.stewart at gmail.com (Susan) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 05:32:58 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] AT&T Data Service In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: For Mike, who asked this ?: +++ I would still like to hear if people are having good luck with the AT&T data service around the Twin Cities (which should mean 4G service). +++ I have been using AT&T since May, for work,I access my company's ticket system via the web. I travel all over the Twin Cities & other than when I'm in a building downtown or somewhere the building is at fault, I only lost service, including data, a couple times, when I was in very remote areas. For example, Hamel, MN comes to mind... My customer on that call said he has a landline because NO wireless carriers cover that area well. I don't know about 4G, my phone is the iPhone 3GS. Susan Stewart On Jan 22, 2013, at 5:05 AM, tclug-list-request at mn-linux.org wrote: > > I would still like to hear if people are having good luck with the AT&T > data service around the Twin Cities (which should mean 4G service). From jima at beer.tclug.org Tue Jan 22 07:53:11 2013 From: jima at beer.tclug.org (Jima) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 06:53:11 -0700 Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: <5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a><7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a> <5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> Message-ID: <50FE99C7.6060607@beer.tclug.org> On 2013-01-18 22:02, Chuck Cole wrote: > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org >> [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Yaron >> Sent: Friday, January 18, 2013 10:17 PM >> To: TCLUG >> Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone >> >> On Fri, 18 Jan 2013, Chuck Cole wrote: >> >>> I live in the USA. Have little need to look at the rest of >> the world, >> ... >>> Your liking the "minority spec" doesn't make it a great choice for >>> everybody else. >> >> Wow. Again, CDMA is by FAR the "minority" spec, worldwide. >> Most US carriers never bothered upgrading their >> infrastructure, although they ARE working on it. And when >> they switch, you'll be the one who has to change phones. >> >> Either way, though, most cell carriers in the US treat people >> fairly horribly. The aforementioned phone-locking, for one. >> Charging for incomming SMS/MMS and phonecalls is also >> something that doesn't happen other places. >> >> I'm glad you're happy with your phone and service, and I'm >> not at all trying to get you to switch or anything. Nowhere >> in the conversation was anything like that mentioned. But >> when you say GSM is the minority and that you can switch CDMA >> phones between providers, sorry but that's just not true. > > The fact that 5 of 7 US providers use CDMA is indeed true, and THAT defines > a kind of majority, as I stated before... As I also stated, worldwide > doesn't matter much for citizens and services here. That's all I stated > about majority. > > Nuf sed. Enjoy your whatever. Chuck, it's pretty intellectually dishonest to dumb down this conversation to CDMA vs. GSM. Sprint's first foray into 4G was using WiMAX, a path they've since abandoned. They're now re-deploying their 4G as LTE, just as Verizon did well before everyone else. (I also find Verizon's commercials touting the largest 4G LTE network similarly dishonest -- yes, their 4G LTE network is the biggest, because everyone else's first "4G" deployment used other technologies.) Let's see, who in the United States is moving to LTE? AT&T Cricket Wireless MetroPCS Sprint Nextel US Cellular Verizon Wireless Curiously, five of those carriers you put squarely in the CDMA column. How invested are they in CDMA going forward, exactly? Citation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks#Americas -- yes, it's Wikipedia, but your citation for CDMA vs. GSM was PC Magazine, and seems out of date for 2012. I'll take my chances with at least a joke of peer review. Jima From hpenner at gmail.com Tue Jan 22 09:06:57 2013 From: hpenner at gmail.com (Harry Penner) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 09:06:57 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone - tales of CDMA vs GSM In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a> <7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a> <5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> Message-ID: <-2288249444057866220@unknownmsgid> I use AT&T with several iPhones (kids!) and their speed has gotten noticeably better over the past 2 years or so. They have also rolled out a "mobileshare" plan where you pay for shared volume, up to 12GB/mo I think... I mention this because with the new plan their strategy seems to be data-centric. They've changed from focusing on voice and penalizing data usage (e.g. per-phone plans that only go to 2 or 3GB, throttling on "unlimited" plans, high surcharge for tethering) to throwing in the voice & text and charging based almost solely on data usage -- and encouraging data usage by including "hotspot" tethering and using a clearer pay-for-usage-level model. To me that implies they're a lot more confident in their data capacity than before. Experience seems to be bearing that out so far. AT&T's mobileshare plans are pretty pricey, though, especially if you aren't spreading the cost over multiple phones. Their coverage is very good in my experience but you pay a lot for it. We seem to keep our connections pretty well on our annual trip east on I-94, FWIW. -Harry On Jan 22, 2013, at 4:17, Chuck Cole wrote: > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org >> [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Mike Miller >> Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2013 12:31 AM >> >> I would still like to hear if people are having good luck >> with the AT&T data service around the Twin Cities (which >> should mean 4G service). > > I hear it works fine but has data volume limits of several kinds. Some > providers (both AT&T, T-Mobile, no contract plans .. et al?) have weasel > wording about "data service included" but hide that it's capped. A friend > has AT&T with an expensive unlimited voice plan, but gets extra charges for > exceeding their basic quotas for data and texting. > > > > Chuck > > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Tue Jan 22 10:49:12 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 10:49:12 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] T-Mobile data failure (was "Ubuntu Phone") In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a> <7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a> <5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> Message-ID: On Mon, 21 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: > On Mon, 21 Jan 2013, Michael Greenly wrote: > >> I wonder if the phone was having problems falling back go 2G? > > That's possible. The phone could be bad. It's a new Nexus 4. I'm sure > I have all the settings right, though. > > The other thing is I get no data service in my home, not even 2G. Someone else wrote off-list to tell me that he had data service in Madison back in October. He wonders if there might be something wrong with my phone. There could be something wrong with the phone (Nexus 4). It definitely had working data service when I bought it, and at least on that first day I used it to navigate around town a little bit (actually to go pick up that $80 Kindle Fire). The settings are correct -- so I don't have data turned off. I agree that it is worse than expected. I can't explain it. I'll definitely drive around a little and see what it does before I return it. If WiFi is on, and there is no WiFi signal, it should fall back to 4G/3G/2G data connection, right? I assume I don't have to turn off WiFi to get that to work. I also had no data yesterday in the Cub Foods at E. Lake and 25th Ave S., so I couldn't Google a Red Box movie to see if I might like it. Things like that shouldn't happen in a city of this size. Mike From tclug1 at whitleymott.net Tue Jan 22 11:35:57 2013 From: tclug1 at whitleymott.net (gregrwm) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 11:35:57 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] T-Mobile data failure (was "Ubuntu Phone") In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a> <7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a> <5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> Message-ID: > If WiFi is on, and there is no WiFi signal, it should fall back to 4G/3G/2G data connection, right? I assume I don't have to turn off WiFi to get that to work. > > I also had no data yesterday in the Cub Foods at E. Lake and 25th Ave S., so I couldn't Google a Red Box movie to see if I might like it. Things like that shouldn't happen in a city of this size. if you wander into a wifi that your phone remembers that requires your to press a submit button in your browser, other apps, like maps, will be stuck meanwhile. and there are definitely dead spots aplenty around town, especially inside metallic structures.. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From florin at iucha.net Tue Jan 22 11:43:40 2013 From: florin at iucha.net (Florin Iucha) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 11:43:40 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a> <7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a> <5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> Message-ID: <20130122174340.GE11214@signbit.net> On Mon, Jan 21, 2013 at 01:40:02PM -0600, Mike Miller wrote: > I drove to Madison and back this weekend. Along the way, I checked > every few miles and I found that there was no point between the Twin > Cities and Madison (on I-94) where I could get an internet > connection with my T-Mobile Nexus 4 -- nothing, ever. In Madison, I > had no internet connection -- no G4, no G3, no G-anything, no > internet service at all. While not trying to refute your experience, I would like to note that we passed through downtown Madison two summers ago, and we also spent a night in a hotel close to I-94 in Madison last summer and we had Internet access on our T-Mobile G2 phones (HTC-made). I don't remember the 4G/3G availability, but I believe I noted Edge (2G) only once. I know we had reasonable Internet access because we navigated using the Google Maps/Navigation app. Just another data point near your poly-line, I know. Cheers, florin -- Beware of software written by optimists! -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 198 bytes Desc: Digital signature URL: From ryanjcole at me.com Tue Jan 22 11:47:58 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 11:47:58 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] T-Mobile data failure (was "Ubuntu Phone") In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a> <7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a> <5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> Message-ID: <50FED0CE.2060608@me.com> On 1/22/2013 11:35 AM, gregrwm wrote: > > > If WiFi is on, and there is no WiFi signal, it should fall back to > 4G/3G/2G data connection, right? I assume I don't have to turn off > WiFi to get that to work. > > > > I also had no data yesterday in the Cub Foods at E. Lake and 25th > Ave S., so I couldn't Google a Red Box movie to see if I might like > it. Things like that shouldn't happen in a city of this size. > > if you wander into a wifi that your phone remembers that requires your > to press a submit button in your browser, other apps, like maps, will > be stuck meanwhile. and there are definitely dead spots aplenty > around town, especially inside metallic structures.. > I'd bet that he's really just in possession of a bad phone. If no WiFi it will go to Mobile - unless it has teamed up with an SSID. It's not going to multi-home you to the net. That's a massive battery draw. From cncole at earthlink.net Tue Jan 22 14:07:45 2013 From: cncole at earthlink.net (Chuck Cole) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 14:07:45 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone In-Reply-To: <50FE99C7.6060607@beer.tclug.org> References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a><7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a><5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> <50FE99C7.6060607@beer.tclug.org> Message-ID: <22CEB8C8F8904A06AD47AA6DD3A100FE@d830a> > -----Original Message----- > From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org > [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Jima > Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2013 7:53 AM > Chuck, it's pretty intellectually dishonest to dumb down > this conversation to CDMA vs. GSM. Not intellectually engaged in this opinion difference. The reference I found stated the 5 of seven difference. Enjoy your research, but this is not my hobby. This topic was only about CDMA and GSM in present end-user products. Chuck From trieff at greencaremankato.com Tue Jan 22 15:50:46 2013 From: trieff at greencaremankato.com (Thomas Rieff) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 15:50:46 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Lost Raid Drive...Now Grub??? In-Reply-To: <1769212557.85170.1358890887880.JavaMail.root@greencaremankato.com> Message-ID: <1735474430.85905.1358891446094.JavaMail.root@greencaremankato.com> TCLUG, I had a drive fail in a server that is setup with Ubuntu Software Raid 1. Replaced the drive, partioned and reformatted. Plugged it in and it seemed to rebuild. I have 2 partitions on each. ! for / and one for swap. The swap would not add back in to the raid configuration. Said size to small. So went back in to resize the partiion and wiped out the boot record and now will not boot up. Using a Live CD was able to get a boot info script. Tried to re-add grub, said OK but now wants grub rescue??? Did I say this was an interesting learning experience :-) The drives are the same type and size. The partitions by number of blocks are still not exactly the same size. Could wipe it out and start over, but what fun is that. Any thoughts??? Tom Thomas Rieff GreenCare 1717 3rd Avenue Mankato, MN 56001 (507) 344-8314 Office (507) 344-8316 Fax (507) 381-0660 Cell -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From woodbrian77 at gmail.com Tue Jan 22 21:21:40 2013 From: woodbrian77 at gmail.com (Brian Wood) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:21:40 -0500 Subject: [tclug-list] Subject: Re: Ubuntu Phone Message-ID: Mike Miller: > I've had a few warnings about Verizon, but I think they have good > coverage. I haven't been warned yet against AT&T. I was hearing a lot of > bad things about AT&T a few years ago, probably because the iPhone caused > so many new users on their network, but I think they might have fixed > that. Any ideas? Well for me with the tracfone I couldn't have duckduckgo'd (www.duckduckgo.com) at the store. I'd have had to wait till I was back home. That's fine. Sometimes more careful research from home pays off and I avoid a mistake. I liked this story http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_22373187/small-school-basketball-phenom-anders-broman-makes-his?IADID=Search-www.twincities.com-www.twincities.com This quote was inspiring: "I'm not a natural scorer," a sweat-stained Broman said after a recent shooting workout. "I don't believe anything in life comes easy." -- Brian Wood Ebenezer Enterprises http://webEbenezer.net (651) 251-9384 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mastercactapus at gmail.com Tue Jan 22 22:55:35 2013 From: mastercactapus at gmail.com (Nathan Caza) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:55:35 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Penguins Unbound Meeting January 26th 2013! In-Reply-To: <50FE5775.3080705@Goecke-Dolan.com> References: <50FE5775.3080705@Goecke-Dolan.com> Message-ID: +1 for Pi-Day! also, for those that were not aware, at time of writing this contest is still going on: http://freemrpi.shardme.com/ On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 3:10 AM, Brian Dolan-Goecke wrote: > This months PenguinsUnbound.com meeting will be > Saturday January 26th at TIES, > 1667 Snelling Ave. N., St. Paul, MN 55108 > from 10:00am to 12:00pm > (See the web site http://www.penguinsunbound.com for directions and more > info.) > > This months Penguins Unbound Meeting will be an Open Q&A ! > > Bring your question, and we will find some answers! > > A couple questions I have, > Should continue to have "Install Fests" ? or release Parties ? > > Would people be interested in a Pi-Day ? A day full of Rasberry Pi > Hacking! We would start out the the basics, with you and your Pi. Then have > specific topics. You would bring your Pi and get time to hack, to allow you > to learn and ask questions... (is someone who is associated with the a > local hacker space able to attend so we could work together ?) > > Hope to see you at the meeting! > > *** Note: This months meeting will be in a different location, the 4th > floor Board Room. You should use the front Doors (the ones at the corner > of Snelling and Larpenteur), and take the elevator to the 4th floor, then > straight out the elevator to the board room. ** Please try to be there > before 10:00 am, because the front doors will lock after 10:15. Thanks. > > ==>brian. > ______________________________**_________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/**mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hmeyers4 at comcast.net Tue Jan 22 23:11:00 2013 From: hmeyers4 at comcast.net (Hal Meyers) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 23:11:00 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Penguins Unbound Meeting January 26th 2013! In-Reply-To: <50FE5775.3080705@Goecke-Dolan.com> References: <50FE5775.3080705@Goecke-Dolan.com> Message-ID: <000c01cdf928$0917b890$1b4729b0$@net> +1 again for Pi-Day. I just received mine this week. -----Original Message----- From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Brian Dolan-Goecke Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2013 3:10 AM To: tclug-list Subject: [tclug-list] Penguins Unbound Meeting January 26th 2013! This months PenguinsUnbound.com meeting will be Saturday January 26th at TIES, 1667 Snelling Ave. N., St. Paul, MN 55108 from 10:00am to 12:00pm (See the web site http://www.penguinsunbound.com for directions and more info.) This months Penguins Unbound Meeting will be an Open Q&A ! Bring your question, and we will find some answers! A couple questions I have, Should continue to have "Install Fests" ? or release Parties ? Would people be interested in a Pi-Day ? A day full of Rasberry Pi Hacking! We would start out the the basics, with you and your Pi. Then have specific topics. You would bring your Pi and get time to hack, to allow you to learn and ask questions... (is someone who is associated with the a local hacker space able to attend so we could work together ?) Hope to see you at the meeting! *** Note: This months meeting will be in a different location, the 4th floor Board Room. You should use the front Doors (the ones at the corner of Snelling and Larpenteur), and take the elevator to the 4th floor, then straight out the elevator to the board room. ** Please try to be there before 10:00 am, because the front doors will lock after 10:15. Thanks. ==>brian. _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota tclug-list at mn-linux.org http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Tue Jan 22 23:49:38 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 23:49:38 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] T-Mobile data failure (was "Ubuntu Phone") In-Reply-To: <50FED0CE.2060608@me.com> References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a> <7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a> <5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> <50FED0CE.2060608@me.com> Message-ID: On Tue, 22 Jan 2013, Ryan Coleman wrote: > I'd bet that he's really just in possession of a bad phone. > > If no WiFi it will go to Mobile - unless it has teamed up with an SSID. > It's not going to multi-home you to the net. That's a massive battery > draw. Thanks to those of you who persisted in accusing my phone of causing the problem. You were right. I wondered what would happen if I were to reboot the phone. It doesn't seem to have a reboot option, but it can be powered off and turned back on, so that's what I did. When it came back on, I had 3G in my house. Before restarting, I had no data service in my house (unless I used my WiFi). I wonder how often the phone needs to be restarted. It wasn't giving me any data service in my home on the day I bought it. I had no internet with my home wifi at that time. I bought it one week ago today, so from a few hours after I bought it, until now, it was not working properly. Now I can do speed tests at home. The result is excellent. I downloaded the speedtest.net app for Android and used that. On the ground floor of my home, I see either 3G or H (I assume H is T-Mobile's HSPA+); it flips from one to the other. These are the median results of three speed tests: 3G or H: ping: 700 ms download: 11.5 Mbps upload: 1.5 Mbps That is very fast. I even have some data service in the basement, but I see only "E" instead of 3G. E seems to stand for EDGE. This is what I get for speed: E: ping: 600 ms download: 100 Kbps upload: 50 Kbps Using the terminal window, with the 3G service, I tested the ping time to the server in my office, because that's the main ping time that will matter to me -- it showed a mean ping of 483 ms with 0% packet loss. That's not so great, but I probably won't be doing a lot of ssh to the office, so it might not matter. The throughput is more important. Surprisingly, the 3G gives a faster download time than my WiFi which has a very fast internet connection. My laptop gets 35 Mbps to the internet on my WiFi, but this is what I see on the Nexus 4 phone: WiFi: ping: 100 ms download: 10.0 Mbps upload: 14.8 Mbps So the WiFi download speed is about 10% slower than 3G, but the WiFi upload speed is about 10 times faster than 3G and equal to what I see on my laptop. I wonder why I don't see a faster download time with WiFi on the Nexus 4. My guess is that its WiFi hardware just won't go faster than about 10. One more thing -- I can use the Nexus 4 as a WiFi access point for my Ubuntu laptop. Using 3G on the Nexus 4, I connect with the laptop and do pings and speed tests from the laptop. I see basically the same as I saw with the 3G tests -- about 10 Mbps down and about 1.5 Mbps up. That's a really cool feature, to say the least. I also tried using VNC over an SSH tunnel on the laptop via the Android access point over 3G and it was quite comfortable to use, so the 500 ms pings weren't a big issue. Obviously, this means that my opinion of T-Mobile just increased by leaps and bounds. I'm still not going to pay $300 extra for the Nexus 4 -- they overcharged me -- but I probably will try to stick with this Nexus 4 device and T-Mobile carrier. Many thanks to all of you for your help with this! Mike From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Wed Jan 23 02:04:13 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 02:04:13 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] T-Mobile data failure (was "Ubuntu Phone") In-Reply-To: References: <482EBCE5E9F441B99969C50DBCEFECDD@d830a> <7E930D947FFA4470BC20B95C712A54A8@d830a> <5D7F99E081B344CE8697A2A8244325F3@d830a> <50FED0CE.2060608@me.com> Message-ID: On Tue, 22 Jan 2013, Mike Miller wrote: > One more thing -- I can use the Nexus 4 as a WiFi access point for my > Ubuntu laptop. Using 3G on the Nexus 4, I connect with the laptop and > do pings and speed tests from the laptop. I see basically the same as I > saw with the 3G tests -- about 10 Mbps down and about 1.5 Mbps up. > That's a really cool feature, to say the least. After that I tried using a Windows 7 machine with it. It worked too, so I now had two laptops connected to the Android 3G access point. Then I made a 100 MB file on the Linux laptop and used pscp.exe to copy the file over to the Windows laptop. That worked great and I was getting a little more than 18 Mbps throughput in the scp transfer, which should be fast enough to stream DVD ISOs, for example. I'm sure the battery was being used pretty fast when the phone was acting as an access point. Maybe it was using something like 20% of the battery per hour. I will usually have it plugged in when I use it that way, probably in my car. Mike From erik.mitchell at gmail.com Wed Jan 23 08:53:07 2013 From: erik.mitchell at gmail.com (Erik Mitchell) Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 08:53:07 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Linux Pros making more money Message-ID: Thought people might be interested in this one. https://www.pcworld.com/article/2025924/linux-pros-saw-a-giant-salary-leap-in-2012-dice.html -Erik -- Erik K. Mitchell erik.mitchell at gmail.com From jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com Wed Jan 23 09:02:24 2013 From: jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com (Jeremy MountainJohnson) Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 09:02:24 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Linux Pros making more money In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Nice to see. The draw back is we typically work harder- most of my colleagues in an enterprise environment won't touch Linux with a 10 foot pole, so that means I'm called or paged for Unix related problems even if it isn't tied to my primary IT Security role. I'll be sure to bring up this article at review time ;-) -- Jeremy MountainJohnson Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 8:53 AM, Erik Mitchell wrote: > Thought people might be interested in this one. > > https://www.pcworld.com/article/2025924/linux-pros-saw-a-giant-salary-leap-in-2012-dice.html > > -Erik > > -- > Erik K. Mitchell > erik.mitchell at gmail.com > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Wed Jan 23 09:13:29 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 09:13:29 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Linux Pros making more money In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Wed, 23 Jan 2013, Jeremy MountainJohnson wrote: > On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 8:53 AM, Erik Mitchell wrote: >> Thought people might be interested in this one. >> >> https://www.pcworld.com/article/2025924/linux-pros-saw-a-giant-salary-leap-in-2012-dice.html > > Nice to see. > > The draw back is we typically work harder- most of my colleagues in an > enterprise environment won't touch Linux with a 10 foot pole ... What are they using instead? I'm wondering why the pay is increasing. Maybe it's just because business is growing again and there is increasing demand for all sorts of computer workers. Or are more companies starting to use Linux systems and Linux on the desktop? If I were starting a company, I'd want it to be all Linux throughout. Anyone who uses Windows our OS X can learn the Unity or Gnome, or whatever, environment in about two minutes. Add one good Linux pro to keep it all running, and you're golden. Mike From ubusum at ymail.com Wed Jan 23 10:01:22 2013 From: ubusum at ymail.com (Ubu Sumner) Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 08:01:22 -0800 (PST) Subject: [tclug-list] Penguins Unbound Meeting January 26th 2013! In-Reply-To: <000c01cdf928$0917b890$1b4729b0$@net> References: <50FE5775.3080705@Goecke-Dolan.com> <000c01cdf928$0917b890$1b4729b0$@net> Message-ID: <1358956882.583.YahooMailNeo@web125302.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Where are you all getting your PIs? Or were you on the very delayed wait list all along?? (I briefly saw them bundled on the MicroCenter website before Christmas but didn't bite.) It would be helpful to me to read short project previews of what people intend to bring in on their PIs, or short previews of what you intend to work on at the meeting. If I had a PI it might even be nice to download and try code before the meeting... PI-less, so I guess I don't have any say though. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bradyh at gmail.com Wed Jan 23 10:34:52 2013 From: bradyh at gmail.com (Brady Hegberg) Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 10:34:52 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Linux Pros making more money In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: My current job is very conservative about software and hardware but it's just accepted practice here that any non-production non-desktop machines are Linux. I'm happy that things have gotten to this point. I think the desktop is a fragmenting issue. Example: I don't know what kind of OS my Bluetooth player uses (good chance it's Linux)...I know that I have to reboot the damn thing all the time but that's not the operating system's fault. -Brady On Jan 23, 2013, at 9:02 AM, Jeremy MountainJohnson wrote: > Nice to see. > > The draw back is we typically work harder- most of my colleagues in an > enterprise environment won't touch Linux with a 10 foot pole, so that > means I'm called or paged for Unix related problems even if it isn't > tied to my primary IT Security role. > > I'll be sure to bring up this article at review time ;-) > > -- > Jeremy MountainJohnson > Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com > > > On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 8:53 AM, Erik Mitchell wrote: >> Thought people might be interested in this one. >> >> https://www.pcworld.com/article/2025924/linux-pros-saw-a-giant-salary-leap-in-2012-dice.html >> >> -Erik >> >> -- >> Erik K. Mitchell >> erik.mitchell at gmail.com >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From erik.mitchell at gmail.com Wed Jan 23 10:44:07 2013 From: erik.mitchell at gmail.com (Erik Mitchell) Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 10:44:07 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Linux Pros making more money In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: > > I'm wondering why the pay is increasing. I really don't think Linux on the desktop is a factor. Maybe it's just me, but I haven't encountered any large managed IT environment that has Linux as a supported desktop OS. Obviously the University is an exception. But as an enterprise server platform, it's become an absolute standard. I've been doing web development in large enterprise environments for a few years now. When you add up application servers, database servers, web servers, in multiple stages (dev, integration, test, staging, prod), you start talking about a lot of hosts. Especially now considering we've moved to cloud computing and virtualization, you start getting a lot of hosts. Somebody's got to be able to manage all of those, especially when you're conducting millions to billions of dollars of business on them. Linux hosts are easy to multiply, but Linux operators are not :) So, if you've got skills to effectively, reliably, and securely manage a large number of hosts, you are a valuable commodity, because a lot of business is taking place on this platform, and it's not going away any time soon. -Erik -- Erik K. Mitchell erik.mitchell at gmail.com From hmeyers4 at comcast.net Wed Jan 23 18:26:10 2013 From: hmeyers4 at comcast.net (Hal Meyers) Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 18:26:10 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Penguins Unbound Meeting January 26th 2013! In-Reply-To: <1358956882.583.YahooMailNeo@web125302.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> References: <50FE5775.3080705@Goecke-Dolan.com> <000c01cdf928$0917b890$1b4729b0$@net> <1358956882.583.YahooMailNeo@web125302.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <003d01cdf9c9$690fac70$3b2f0550$@net> I ordered mine from Lady Ada ( http://www.adafruit.com/category/105 ). I just checked they still have stock. They are out of starter kits but you can buy most of the components individually. If you buy the board, all you get is a Raspberry Pi board. I also bought a Adafruit Pi T-Cobbler breakout kit and a board edge mounting kit. I've just started playing with so it's a bit unclear to me what to suggest for the meeting. From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Ubu Sumner Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 10:01 AM To: TCLUG Mailing List Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Penguins Unbound Meeting January 26th 2013! Where are you all getting your PIs? Or were you on the very delayed wait list all along?? (I briefly saw them bundled on the MicroCenter website before Christmas but didn't bite.) It would be helpful to me to read short project previews of what people intend to bring in on their PIs, or short previews of what you intend to work on at the meeting. If I had a PI it might even be nice to download and try code before the meeting... PI-less, so I guess I don't have any say though. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From goeko at Goecke-Dolan.com Wed Jan 23 23:46:27 2013 From: goeko at Goecke-Dolan.com (Brian Dolan-Goecke) Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 23:46:27 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Penguins Unbound Meeting January 26th 2013! In-Reply-To: <003d01cdf9c9$690fac70$3b2f0550$@net> References: <50FE5775.3080705@Goecke-Dolan.com> <000c01cdf928$0917b890$1b4729b0$@net> <1358956882.583.YahooMailNeo@web125302.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> <003d01cdf9c9$690fac70$3b2f0550$@net> Message-ID: <5100CAB3.2090107@Goecke-Dolan.com> I plan to give people enough warning before Pi-Day so they can get a Pi to bring along and work with it. I don't expect to have Pi-Day before the April meeting... so that should give people a few months to get one. Once I have speakers arranged I will be sure to let me know the topics. Hopefully I can get a few with different topics and different types of projects. That is my plan. ==>brian. On 01/23/2013 06:26 PM, Hal Meyers wrote: > I ordered mine from Lady Ada ( http://www.adafruit.com/category/105 ). I > just checked they still have stock. They are out of starter kits but you > can buy most of the components individually. If you buy the board, all > you get is a Raspberry Pi board. I also bought a Adafruit Pi T-Cobbler > breakout kit and a board edge mounting kit. I've just started playing > with so it's a bit unclear to me what to suggest for the meeting. > > *From:*tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org > [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] *On Behalf Of *Ubu Sumner > *Sent:* Wednesday, January 23, 2013 10:01 AM > *To:* TCLUG Mailing List > *Subject:* Re: [tclug-list] Penguins Unbound Meeting January 26th 2013! > > Where are you all getting your PIs? Or were you on the very delayed wait > list all along?? (I briefly saw them bundled on the MicroCenter website > before Christmas but didn't bite.) > > It would be helpful to me to read short project previews of what people > intend to bring in on their PIs, or short previews of what you intend to > work on at the meeting. If I had a PI it might even be nice to download > and try code before the meeting... > > PI-less, so I guess I don't have any say though. > > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From jhsu802701 at jasonhsu.com Thu Jan 24 14:37:37 2013 From: jhsu802701 at jasonhsu.com (Jason Hsu) Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2013 14:37:37 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Recent innovation in Linux Message-ID: <20130124143737.db60598636b1e94a6f1c06f5@jasonhsu.com> I'm amazed by the amount of innovation going on in the Linux world. The Linux Mint team breathed new life into the once-flagging MATE project (a continuation of GNOME 2). MATE has since spread into many other distros. The Linux Mint team started the Cinnamon project to give GNOME 3 the look and feel of GNOME 2. Cinnamon has since spread to competing distros. Cinnarch uses Cinnamon as its default DE. Mageia (forked from Mandriva) is the second distro to eclipse Ubuntu on Distrowatch. Only Linux Mint ranks higher. Several Arch Linux derivatives have popped up lately. Just a year or so ago, I was wondering why there weren't Arch Linux derivatives. Perhaps one of these Arch derivatives can be the Ubuntu or Mint of Arch Linux. There is a new distro called ArchPup, which is Puppy Linux built from Arch Linux packages. This is a sign of success for both Puppy Linux and Arch Linux. All is not lost for Ubuntu, as people are still creating Ubuntu derivatives. However, the controversial Unity interface still isn't gaining traction among desktop users. Unlike MATE and Cinnamon, Unity hasn't been spreading to Ubuntu's competitors. -- Jason Hsu From joel.longanecker at gmail.com Thu Jan 24 14:47:11 2013 From: joel.longanecker at gmail.com (Joel Longanecker) Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2013 14:47:11 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Recent innovation in Linux In-Reply-To: <20130124143737.db60598636b1e94a6f1c06f5@jasonhsu.com> References: <20130124143737.db60598636b1e94a6f1c06f5@jasonhsu.com> Message-ID: On the other hand, you have Fedora 18... What were they thinking ditching Anaconda? On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 2:37 PM, Jason Hsu wrote: > I'm amazed by the amount of innovation going on in the Linux world. > > The Linux Mint team breathed new life into the once-flagging MATE project > (a continuation of GNOME 2). MATE has since spread into many other distros. > > The Linux Mint team started the Cinnamon project to give GNOME 3 the look > and feel of GNOME 2. Cinnamon has since spread to competing distros. > Cinnarch uses Cinnamon as its default DE. > > Mageia (forked from Mandriva) is the second distro to eclipse Ubuntu on > Distrowatch. Only Linux Mint ranks higher. > > Several Arch Linux derivatives have popped up lately. Just a year or so > ago, I was wondering why there weren't Arch Linux derivatives. Perhaps one > of these Arch derivatives can be the Ubuntu or Mint of Arch Linux. > > There is a new distro called ArchPup, which is Puppy Linux built from Arch > Linux packages. This is a sign of success for both Puppy Linux and Arch > Linux. > > All is not lost for Ubuntu, as people are still creating Ubuntu > derivatives. However, the controversial Unity interface still isn't > gaining traction among desktop users. Unlike MATE and Cinnamon, Unity > hasn't been spreading to Ubuntu's competitors. > > -- > Jason Hsu > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com Thu Jan 24 15:17:46 2013 From: jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com (Jeremy MountainJohnson) Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:17:46 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Recent innovation in Linux In-Reply-To: <20130124143737.db60598636b1e94a6f1c06f5@jasonhsu.com> References: <20130124143737.db60598636b1e94a6f1c06f5@jasonhsu.com> Message-ID: Mate project is still going? It's been falling behind in Arch, I've stuck with XFCE and will probably stay there. Speaking of Arch variants, Manjaro is still going on too - manjaro.org. -- Jeremy MountainJohnson Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 2:37 PM, Jason Hsu wrote: > I'm amazed by the amount of innovation going on in the Linux world. > > The Linux Mint team breathed new life into the once-flagging MATE project (a continuation of GNOME 2). MATE has since spread into many other distros. > > The Linux Mint team started the Cinnamon project to give GNOME 3 the look and feel of GNOME 2. Cinnamon has since spread to competing distros. Cinnarch uses Cinnamon as its default DE. > > Mageia (forked from Mandriva) is the second distro to eclipse Ubuntu on Distrowatch. Only Linux Mint ranks higher. > > Several Arch Linux derivatives have popped up lately. Just a year or so ago, I was wondering why there weren't Arch Linux derivatives. Perhaps one of these Arch derivatives can be the Ubuntu or Mint of Arch Linux. > > There is a new distro called ArchPup, which is Puppy Linux built from Arch Linux packages. This is a sign of success for both Puppy Linux and Arch Linux. > > All is not lost for Ubuntu, as people are still creating Ubuntu derivatives. However, the controversial Unity interface still isn't gaining traction among desktop users. Unlike MATE and Cinnamon, Unity hasn't been spreading to Ubuntu's competitors. > > -- > Jason Hsu > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From droidjd at gmail.com Thu Jan 24 15:18:23 2013 From: droidjd at gmail.com (Andrew Dahl) Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:18:23 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Recent innovation in Linux In-Reply-To: References: <20130124143737.db60598636b1e94a6f1c06f5@jasonhsu.com> Message-ID: It's still "Anaconda", actually. Just a totally new version they redesigned from the ground up. :-P Which reminds me that I need to go check it out... I usually just upgrade my Fedora through yum, but with this new introduction, I think I'll need to do a fresh install. Reading the design documents last week, it sounded pretty nice. Hopefully it resolves all the things that bothered me over the years about Anaconda. -Andrew On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 2:47 PM, Joel Longanecker < joel.longanecker at gmail.com> wrote: > On the other hand, you have Fedora 18... What were they thinking ditching > Anaconda? > > > On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 2:37 PM, Jason Hsu wrote: > >> I'm amazed by the amount of innovation going on in the Linux world. >> >> The Linux Mint team breathed new life into the once-flagging MATE project >> (a continuation of GNOME 2). MATE has since spread into many other distros. >> >> The Linux Mint team started the Cinnamon project to give GNOME 3 the look >> and feel of GNOME 2. Cinnamon has since spread to competing distros. >> Cinnarch uses Cinnamon as its default DE. >> >> Mageia (forked from Mandriva) is the second distro to eclipse Ubuntu on >> Distrowatch. Only Linux Mint ranks higher. >> >> Several Arch Linux derivatives have popped up lately. Just a year or so >> ago, I was wondering why there weren't Arch Linux derivatives. Perhaps one >> of these Arch derivatives can be the Ubuntu or Mint of Arch Linux. >> >> There is a new distro called ArchPup, which is Puppy Linux built from >> Arch Linux packages. This is a sign of success for both Puppy Linux and >> Arch Linux. >> >> All is not lost for Ubuntu, as people are still creating Ubuntu >> derivatives. However, the controversial Unity interface still isn't >> gaining traction among desktop users. Unlike MATE and Cinnamon, Unity >> hasn't been spreading to Ubuntu's competitors. >> >> -- >> Jason Hsu >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From stuporglue at gmail.com Thu Jan 24 15:29:58 2013 From: stuporglue at gmail.com (Michael Moore) Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:29:58 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Recent innovation in Linux In-Reply-To: References: <20130124143737.db60598636b1e94a6f1c06f5@jasonhsu.com> Message-ID: On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 3:17 PM, Jeremy MountainJohnson < jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com> wrote: > Mate project is still going? It's been falling behind in Arch, I've > stuck with XFCE and will probably stay there. > Mate is going well enough that I installed it when I did a Debian install in late December. The only thing that's not working for me is that the music-applet is nowhere to be found (to control Rhythmbox from the panel). I'll probably keep using it until it gets too crufty and difficult to install. -- Michael Moore -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kjh at flyballdogs.com Thu Jan 24 16:52:32 2013 From: kjh at flyballdogs.com (Kathryn Hogg) Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2013 16:52:32 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Recent innovation in Linux In-Reply-To: References: <20130124143737.db60598636b1e94a6f1c06f5@jasonhsu.com> Message-ID: <59d750f1ed9454346e5c533af43839ce@flyballdogs.com> On 2013-01-24 15:18, Andrew Dahl wrote: > It's still "Anaconda", actually. Just a totally new version they redesigned from the ground up. :-P > > Which reminds me that I need to go check it out... I usually just upgrade my Fedora through yum, but with this new introduction, I think I'll need to do a fresh install. Reading the design documents last week, it sounded pretty nice. Hopefully it resolves all the things that bothered me over the years about Anaconda. preuprade has been replaced by fedup. install fedup via yum in f17, then run fedup --network 18, and reboot. It worked great on two machines I used it on including one that is a remote server that I don't have console access to. -- Kathryn Hogg http://womensfooty.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From droidjd at gmail.com Thu Jan 24 17:11:36 2013 From: droidjd at gmail.com (Andrew Dahl) Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2013 17:11:36 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Recent innovation in Linux In-Reply-To: <59d750f1ed9454346e5c533af43839ce@flyballdogs.com> References: <20130124143737.db60598636b1e94a6f1c06f5@jasonhsu.com> <59d750f1ed9454346e5c533af43839ce@flyballdogs.com> Message-ID: Oh nice! I used to forgo preupgrade and just manually do it through yum. (point to new repos, install the latest release, yum, rpm, and then do a yum update... wait an eternity and reboot.) I only used preupgrade... maybe twice (~3 years ago) and wasn't satisfied with it. Sounds like fedup fixes what dissatisfied me though. I think I'll go ahead with fedup tonight on my work laptop to check it out. Thanks for the tip, Kathryn! -Andrew On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 4:52 PM, Kathryn Hogg wrote: > ** > > On 2013-01-24 15:18, Andrew Dahl wrote: > > It's still "Anaconda", actually. Just a totally new version they > redesigned from the ground up. :-P > > Which reminds me that I need to go check it out... I usually just upgrade > my Fedora through yum, but with this new introduction, I think I'll need to > do a fresh install. Reading the design documents last week, it sounded > pretty nice. Hopefully it resolves all the things that bothered me over > the years about Anaconda. > > preuprade has been replaced by fedup. install fedup via yum in f17, then run fedup --network 18, and reboot. > > It worked great on two machines I used it on including one that is a remote server that I don't have console access to. > > -- > Kathryn Hogghttp://womensfooty.com > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From florin at iucha.net Thu Jan 24 17:24:00 2013 From: florin at iucha.net (Florin Iucha) Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2013 17:24:00 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Recent innovation in Linux In-Reply-To: References: <20130124143737.db60598636b1e94a6f1c06f5@jasonhsu.com> Message-ID: <20130124232400.GB19402@signbit.net> On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 03:18:23PM -0600, Andrew Dahl wrote: > It's still "Anaconda", actually. Just a totally new version they > redesigned from the ground up. :-P http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html "Before Borland's new spreadsheet for Windows shipped, Philippe Kahn, the colorful founder of Borland, was quoted a lot in the press bragging about how Quattro Pro would be much better than Microsoft Excel, because it was written from scratch. All new source code! As if source code rusted." Cheers, florin -- Beware of software written by optimists! -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 198 bytes Desc: Digital signature URL: From eng at pinenet.com Thu Jan 24 17:38:49 2013 From: eng at pinenet.com (Rick Engebretson) Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2013 17:38:49 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Recent innovation in Linux In-Reply-To: <20130124232400.GB19402@signbit.net> References: <20130124143737.db60598636b1e94a6f1c06f5@jasonhsu.com> <20130124232400.GB19402@signbit.net> Message-ID: <5101C609.1000109@pinenet.com> I agree that change is not always good. Using opensuse 11.3 with the repositories discs from osdisc.com I'm re-discovering IBM's Visualization Data Explorer (opendx.org) for the N'th time in over a decade. The incredible graphic analysis tool takes a long time to learn. Thankfully, Motif is now open source and OpenDx runs beautifully on IceWM with modern displays. When they switched from StarOffice5.2 to the fragmented OpenOffice it messed up my efforts to learn StarBasic, but they have really put that back together. As for Borland, I'm still taken with FreePascal that has wisely grown around the Borland TurboPascal core. A truly great programming language, among the many others on Linux. Linux has some incredible tools that are not toys. An operating system like this should not compete with a simple stereo CD player, or movie DVD player. I placed a new order to OSDiscs.com, this time for the 7 DVD opensuse 12.2 set. At 60 years old I'll be 70 before I test it out and need an upgrade. Florin Iucha wrote: > On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 03:18:23PM -0600, Andrew Dahl wrote: >> It's still "Anaconda", actually. Just a totally new version they >> redesigned from the ground up. :-P > > http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html > > "Before Borland's new spreadsheet for Windows shipped, Philippe > Kahn, the colorful founder of Borland, was quoted a lot in the > press bragging about how Quattro Pro would be much better than > Microsoft Excel, because it was written from scratch. All new > source code! As if source code rusted." > > Cheers, > florin > > > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From mr.chew.baka at gmail.com Thu Jan 24 14:22:38 2013 From: mr.chew.baka at gmail.com (Mr. B-o-B) Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2013 14:22:38 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Recent innovation in Linux In-Reply-To: <20130124232400.GB19402@signbit.net> References: <20130124143737.db60598636b1e94a6f1c06f5@jasonhsu.com> <20130124232400.GB19402@signbit.net> Message-ID: Florin Iucha cried from the depths of the abyss... > > "Before Borland's new spreadsheet for Windows shipped, Philippe > Kahn, the colorful founder of Borland, was quoted a lot in the > press bragging about how Quattro Pro would be much better than > Microsoft Excel, because it was written from scratch. All new > source code! As if source code rusted." Sounds like a case of rewriteitis. From goeko at Goecke-Dolan.com Fri Jan 25 00:39:25 2013 From: goeko at Goecke-Dolan.com (Brian) Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:39:25 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] *Saturday* Penguins Unbound Meeting January 26th 2013! Message-ID: <5102289D.7010105@Goecke-Dolan.com> This months PenguinsUnbound.com meeting will be Saturday January 26th at TIES, 1667 Snelling Ave. N., St. Paul, MN 55108 from 10:00am to 12:00pm (See the web site http://www.penguinsunbound.com for directions and more info.) This months Penguins Unbound Meeting will be an Open Q&A ! Bring your question, and we will find some answers! A couple questions I have, Should continue to have "Install Fests" ? or release Parties ? Would people be interested in a Pi-Day ? A day full of Rasberry Pi Hacking! We would start out the the basics, with you and your Pi. Then have specific topics. You would bring your Pi and get time to hack, to allow you to learn and ask questions... (is someone who is associated with the a local hacker space able to attend so we could work together ?) Hope to see you at the meeting! *** Note: This months meeting will be in a different location, the 4th floor Board Room. You should use the front Doors (the ones at the corner of Snelling and Larpenteur), and take the elevator to the 4th floor, then straight out the elevator to the board room. ** Please try to be there before 10:00 am, because the front doors will lock after 10:15. Thanks. ==>brian. From chrome at real-time.com Fri Jan 25 08:08:47 2013 From: chrome at real-time.com (Carl Wilhelm Soderstrom) Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2013 09:08:47 -0500 Subject: [tclug-list] Recent innovation in Linux In-Reply-To: <20130124232400.GB19402@signbit.net> References: <20130124143737.db60598636b1e94a6f1c06f5@jasonhsu.com> <20130124232400.GB19402@signbit.net> Message-ID: <20130125140847.GO71720@real-time.com> On 01/24 05:24 , Florin Iucha wrote: > On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 03:18:23PM -0600, Andrew Dahl wrote: > http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html Thanks for posting this Florin, there's some good wisdom in there. I haven't read it since it was originally posted way back in 2000. It's a sort of grim nostalgia to think of the days of Netscape 6 (and what crap it was). -- Carl Soderstrom Systems Administrator Real-Time Enterprises www.real-time.com From woodbrian77 at gmail.com Sat Jan 26 12:51:06 2013 From: woodbrian77 at gmail.com (Brian Wood) Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2013 13:51:06 -0500 Subject: [tclug-list] Recent innovation in Linux Message-ID: Andrew Dahl: > Oh nice! > > I used to forgo preupgrade and just manually do it through yum. (point > to > new repos, install the latest release, yum, rpm, and then do a yum > update... wait an eternity and reboot.) I only used preupgrade... maybe > twice (~3 years ago) and wasn't satisfied with it. Sounds like fedup > fixes what dissatisfied me though. > > I think I'll go ahead with fedup tonight on my work laptop to check it out. > Thanks for the tip, Kathryn! Thanks for the tip also. I used fedup on two machines now. The biggest thing that tripped me up was that they are using something called firewalld in Fedora 18. That took me hours to figure out unfortunately. I also lost my firefox bookmarks. Not a big deal, but would be nice if that didn't happen. -- Brian Wood Ebenezer Enterprises -- so far G-d has helped us. http://webEbenezer.net (651) 251-9384 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From woodbrian77 at gmail.com Sat Jan 26 13:33:31 2013 From: woodbrian77 at gmail.com (Brian Wood) Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2013 14:33:31 -0500 Subject: [tclug-list] Recent innovation in Linux In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Sat, Jan 26, 2013 at 1:51 PM, Brian Wood wrote: > > I also lost my firefox bookmarks. Not a big deal, but would > be nice if that didn't happen. > > I guess I didn't lose the bookmarks. I had an xfce configuration problem of some sort. I removed the .config/xfce4 subdirectory and now things are working. I forgot to mention that I had to use yum to remove and reinstall apache after running fedup. The problem seemed to be an out-of-date httpd.conf. > -- Brian Wood Ebenezer Enterprises -- making programming fun again. http://webEbenezer.net (651) 251-9384 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tclug at mikerochford.com Sun Jan 27 14:07:55 2013 From: tclug at mikerochford.com (Mike Rochford) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2013 14:07:55 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] For Sale: Cisco Aironet 1200 series Wireless Access Point Message-ID: All, I have a Cisco Aironet 1200 series Wireless access point for sale. Looking to get 35 bucks for it. Please let me know if you are interested. Supports 2.4 b+g Comes with the WAP + power supply + cisco console cable. http://tinyurl.com/b3v5pyv Thanks, -Mike From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Sun Jan 27 15:12:30 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2013 15:12:30 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] For Sale: Cisco Aironet 1200 series Wireless Access Point In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Sun, 27 Jan 2013, Mike Rochford wrote: > I have a Cisco Aironet 1200 series Wireless access point for sale. > > Looking to get 35 bucks for it. Please let me know if you are > interested. > > Supports 2.4 b+g > > Comes with the WAP + power supply + cisco console cable. > > http://tinyurl.com/b3v5pyv For my edification -- I know nothing really about the different wireless router brands... What makes this router better than, say, the D-Link wireless N router I bought in December at Micro Center for $30 (and left in Ecuador). Is it the range? It doesn't do 802.11n, right? Is it faster than 300 Mbps? I thought maybe it had to do with the 2.4, but that means 2.4 GHz, right? And doesn't everything run at 2.4 GHz? This article says 'yes': http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/09/wireless-explainer/ Mike From erikerik at gmail.com Sun Jan 27 15:46:38 2013 From: erikerik at gmail.com (Erik Anderson) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2013 15:46:38 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] For Sale: Cisco Aironet 1200 series Wireless Access Point In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 3:12 PM, Mike Miller wrote: > What makes this router better than, say, the D-Link wireless N router I > bought in December at Micro Center for $30 (and left in Ecuador). Is it the > range? It doesn't do 802.11n, right? Is it faster than 300 Mbps? For home use, there likely wouldn't be any difference at all, aside from the Cisco being more complicated to configure. For business/enterprise use, though, the Cisco offers *much* more flexibility and *much* better performance than consumer-grade equipment. Hardware-wise, it'll have more RAM, a faster processor, and better radios. Software-wise, the Cisco will offer many more features that are essential in larger deployments (central management via a wireless controller, 802.1q support, QoS, radius/802.1x, SNMP, config via ssh, greater stability and performance under load, etc.). Regarding range, you need to remember that wireless is a two-way street. While it may be possible to turn up the TX power on the AP side, that doesn't help the signal from the client get back to the AP. Several third-party AP firmwares allow you to turn up the TX power (DD-WRT, Tomato, etc.), but this is generally ill-advised except in a few limited circumstances. In addition to the client range issue, turning up transmit power can not only reduce the linearity of of the finals, introducing distortion into the RF signal, but also can push the SWR[1] up over what the finals can handle, putting them at risk of burning out. -Erik [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_wave_ratio From kc0iog at gmail.com Sun Jan 27 15:47:20 2013 From: kc0iog at gmail.com (Brian Wall) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2013 15:47:20 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] For Sale: Cisco Aironet 1200 series Wireless Access Point In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: > For my edification -- I know nothing really about the different wireless > router brands... > > What makes this router better than, say, the D-Link wireless N router I > bought in December at Micro Center for $30 (and left in Ecuador). Is it the > range? It doesn't do 802.11n, right? Is it faster than 300 Mbps? It's a B/G only, but the key is that it's an enterprise class AP with enterprise class features. I have a 1231 that I use specifically because it handles VLAN trunking in a much better manner than a Walmart type AP running dd-wrt. The hardware is designed to properly segregate out layer 2 etc. If you like buying Cisco licenses, you can even deploy a wireless controller and manage your fleet of Cisco APs as one contiguous wifi fabric. The Cisco AP is just that, an AP. It is not a router. It doesn't not have a built in switch. It won't hand out DHCP and DNS settings to your clients. It's just an AP. But a darn good one. > I thought maybe it had to do with the 2.4, but that means 2.4 GHz, right? > And doesn't everything run at 2.4 GHz? This article says 'yes': B and G run at 2.4 Ghz, yes. There's an allotment of the spectrum to allow consumer devices to run in a specific range of 2.4 Ghz frequencies. 802.11 gear has an interesting property though, it is allowed to run outside of the consumer band. Channels 11 and higher are actually borrowed form the ham bands, which means that cordless phones and other problem devices can't interfere (well, sorta... it's not as bad anyway). N runs at 5.something Ghz, which IIRC is another "consumer" allotted space. Generally speaking, the higher the frequency, the more bandwidth available for a given carrier signal. A carrier at 5 Ghz has significantly more bandwidth than a 2.4 Ghz carrier, meaning potentially faster transmission speeds. In the end, all APs have to run at the same frequencies, otherwise how would your wifi card work at all? A Cisco AP and a Linksys AP have to run at the same frequencies for your Dlink wifi card to use them both. So if you have an existing network infrastructure and you want a solid, manageable AP, this is a good one to get. If the Router/firewall/AP you bought from Best Buy IS your infrastructure, well... maybe this isn't going to help you a lot. Pick the right tool for the job. Brian From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Sun Jan 27 17:20:32 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2013 17:20:32 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] laptop/netbook wireless signal strength (was "For Sale: Cisco Aironet 1200 series Wireless Access Point") In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Thanks to everyone for the explanations. The note about two-way communication is very important and something I haven't been thinking about enough -- it isn't just that the computer can "hear" the wireless router, but it also has to have the power to be heard by it effectively. This reminds me that I wanted to ask what you know about the wireless capabilities of various laptops and netbooks. It seems to me that my recently-purchased HP Pavilion g7-2022us does nowhere near as well as my Asus Eee 1005HA at maintaining a connection to a wireless router. If the signal seems weak, the the HP is having trouble, I can use the Asus. Is that because of reception or transmission? Has this been measured for various machines with results posted to the web? It is a very important aspect of performance, but I have never read specs on this and I can't find any now. I'm disappointed that the HP performs so poorly compared to the much cheaper and older Asus. I remember that Negroponte's XO (OLPC) laptop was supposed to do perform well with a weak signal (despite its low price). I saw him say on a TV interview that this good performance was "because of the ears" (also known as wifi antennas). Here are the ears: http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/bsp/hi/image_maps/07/1179000000/1179824483/img/navigation2_416.gif This led me to ask myself an obvious question: Where are my ears? None of my laptop/netbooks have external ears. How good are their internal ears and how do they compare with those of the OLPC XO-1+ machines? I want numbers! ;-) Mike From erikerik at gmail.com Sun Jan 27 17:57:46 2013 From: erikerik at gmail.com (Erik Anderson) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2013 17:57:46 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] laptop/netbook wireless signal strength (was "For Sale: Cisco Aironet 1200 series Wireless Access Point") In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 5:20 PM, Mike Miller wrote: > > This reminds me that I wanted to ask what you know about the wireless > capabilities of various laptops and netbooks. It seems to me that my > recently-purchased HP Pavilion g7-2022us does nowhere near as well as my > Asus Eee 1005HA at maintaining a connection to a wireless router. If the > signal seems weak, the the HP is having trouble, I can use the Asus. Is > that because of reception or transmission? Has this been measured for > various machines with results posted to the web? It is a very important > aspect of performance, but I have never read specs on this and I can't find > any now. I'm disappointed that the HP performs so poorly compared to the > much cheaper and older Asus. This sort of thing is quite hard to pin down. The performance discrepancy could be caused by any one (or multiple) of the following: - radio hardware - antenna design - antenna placement - internal RF interference within the laptop body - Wifi chipset firmware issues - sub-par OS WLAN drivers - etc. etc. > This led me to ask myself an obvious question: Where are my ears? None of > my laptop/netbooks have external ears. How good are their internal ears and > how do they compare with those of the OLPC XO-1+ machines? I want numbers! > ;-) In most situations, the presence or absence of external antennas is neither here nor there. At 2.4 and 5GHz, antennas do not need to be all that long. The wavelength of 2.4GHz signals is around 125mm and 5GHz, about 60mm. Figure a half or quarter-wave antenna, and you don't need all that much space. Frequently laptop manufactures will route wifi antennas to the top of the display panel. In Apple's case, I believe they put the Wifi and bluetooth antennas in the hinge area of the body, as that's the only non-metal (read: RF transparent) part of the laptop. -Erik From ryanjcole at me.com Sun Jan 27 19:39:14 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2013 19:39:14 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Explaining 802.11n and interference In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <5105D6C2.6020201@me.com> On 1/27/2013 3:47 PM, Brian Wall wrote: > N runs at 5.something Ghz, which IIRC is another "consumer" allotted > space. N runs in 2.4 and 5.0-6.1GHz. Why? That's a long story but the small 2.4 range is shared with air conditioners, motors, microwaves, bluetooth, etc. RFI is very common right now. 5.0-6.1? Why so big? The channels are wider (20MHz and 40MHz for bonded channels) but right smack freaking dab in the middle of that range is the FAA's RADAR reporting array. How conventient. Channels (off the top of my head here) 48-150 are in that range and if a blip comes in on it the AP is required to open that frequency up for 30 minutes. It happens a lot and is VERY annoying. I could explain more but I would recommend, for reading purposes, you find Xirrus' explanations because they have managed to make this more down to earth and understandable. I have dual-band routers all over my apartment. I run my computers on 5.0 and my devices on 2.4. They are all 802.11n. Interference sucks. -- Ryan Coleman Wireless Internet Deployment guy for a small cabling company - MN State Fair is my largest customer (we have 24 radios in the Grandstand, 16 at the Coliseum, and a few security-based APs around the property). From mr.chew.baka at gmail.com Sun Jan 27 19:56:04 2013 From: mr.chew.baka at gmail.com (B-o-B De Mars) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2013 19:56:04 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Explaining 802.11n and interference In-Reply-To: <5105D6C2.6020201@me.com> References: <5105D6C2.6020201@me.com> Message-ID: <5105DAB4.10903@gmail.com> On 1/27/2013 7:39 PM, Ryan Coleman wrote:: > On 1/27/2013 3:47 PM, Brian Wall wrote: >> N runs at 5.something Ghz, which IIRC is another "consumer" allotted >> space. > N runs in 2.4 and 5.0-6.1GHz. Why? That's a long story but the small 2.4 > range is shared with air conditioners, motors, microwaves, bluetooth, > etc. RFI is very common right now. > > 5.0-6.1? Why so big? The channels are wider (20MHz and 40MHz for bonded > channels) but right smack freaking dab in the middle of that range is > the FAA's RADAR reporting array. How conventient. Channels (off the top > of my head here) 48-150 are in that range and if a blip comes in on it > the AP is required to open that frequency up for 30 minutes. It happens > a lot and is VERY annoying. > > I could explain more but I would recommend, for reading purposes, you > find Xirrus' explanations because they have managed to make this more > down to earth and understandable. > > I have dual-band routers all over my apartment. I run my computers on > 5.0 and my devices on 2.4. They are all 802.11n. > > Interference sucks. > I feel it's worth mentioning that the 5.0Ghz have several advantages over the 2.4Ghz, but has a more limited range. This can be a deal breaker depending on your situation. From ryanjcole at me.com Sun Jan 27 20:09:01 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2013 20:09:01 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Explaining 802.11n and interference In-Reply-To: <5105DAB4.10903@gmail.com> References: <5105D6C2.6020201@me.com> <5105DAB4.10903@gmail.com> Message-ID: <3A5D92E4-228B-4E9B-AEC2-FDD3E5099667@me.com> So can microwaves and refrigerators and buildings built before 1950. -- Ryan Coleman ryanjcole at me.com m. 651.373.5015 o. 612.568.2749 On Jan 27, 2013, at 19:56, B-o-B De Mars wrote: > On 1/27/2013 7:39 PM, Ryan Coleman wrote:: >> On 1/27/2013 3:47 PM, Brian Wall wrote: >>> N runs at 5.something Ghz, which IIRC is another "consumer" allotted >>> space. >> N runs in 2.4 and 5.0-6.1GHz. Why? That's a long story but the small 2.4 >> range is shared with air conditioners, motors, microwaves, bluetooth, >> etc. RFI is very common right now. >> >> 5.0-6.1? Why so big? The channels are wider (20MHz and 40MHz for bonded >> channels) but right smack freaking dab in the middle of that range is >> the FAA's RADAR reporting array. How conventient. Channels (off the top >> of my head here) 48-150 are in that range and if a blip comes in on it >> the AP is required to open that frequency up for 30 minutes. It happens >> a lot and is VERY annoying. >> >> I could explain more but I would recommend, for reading purposes, you >> find Xirrus' explanations because they have managed to make this more >> down to earth and understandable. >> >> I have dual-band routers all over my apartment. I run my computers on >> 5.0 and my devices on 2.4. They are all 802.11n. >> >> Interference sucks. > > I feel it's worth mentioning that the 5.0Ghz have several advantages over the 2.4Ghz, but has a more limited range. This can be a deal breaker depending on your situation. > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From jhsu802701 at jasonhsu.com Sun Jan 27 20:54:12 2013 From: jhsu802701 at jasonhsu.com (Jason Hsu) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2013 20:54:12 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Finally tried Windows 8 Message-ID: <20130127205412.e62ea5caa24e73b4e1be999f@jasonhsu.com> I looked at the computers at Office Max yesterday and got to see Windows 8. It's rubbish! How are you supposed to do anything? As a Linux user, I've been so spoiled by the user-friendliness of Linux Mint, Puppy Linux, and antiX Linux. Windows 8 is even worse than Unity. I felt completely out to sea. There were some Windows 7 computers there as well, and Windows 7 (at least in the configuration I saw) didn't look that different from Windows XP, the last Windows OS I have significant experience with. I can't imagine how anyone who likes Windows XP or 7 will like Windows 8. Anyone who objects to Unity will hate Windows 8 even more. Microsoft today reminds me of General Motors during the Malaise Era. Windows Vista was Microsoft's Chevy Vega. I expect Windows 8 to go down in history as Microsoft's Chevy Citation, Cadillac Cimarron, or Oldsmobile diesel engine. -- Jason Hsu From ryanjcole at me.com Sun Jan 27 20:55:40 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2013 20:55:40 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Finally tried Windows 8 In-Reply-To: <20130127205412.e62ea5caa24e73b4e1be999f@jasonhsu.com> References: <20130127205412.e62ea5caa24e73b4e1be999f@jasonhsu.com> Message-ID: <5105E8AC.6010100@me.com> On 1/27/2013 8:54 PM, Jason Hsu wrote: > I looked at the computers at Office Max yesterday and got to see Windows 8. It's rubbish! How are you supposed to do anything? I am NOT surprised that's all you really had to say about Windows 8. I will say this: I haven't used it. I have a tablet for work (using it right now) but it will never run 8. But I won't call it rubbish. Did you actually say anything useful, Jason? It doesn't look like it. From erikerik at gmail.com Sun Jan 27 21:41:59 2013 From: erikerik at gmail.com (Erik Anderson) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2013 21:41:59 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Finally tried Windows 8 In-Reply-To: <20130127205412.e62ea5caa24e73b4e1be999f@jasonhsu.com> References: <20130127205412.e62ea5caa24e73b4e1be999f@jasonhsu.com> Message-ID: On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 8:54 PM, Jason Hsu wrote: > As a Linux user, I've been so spoiled by the user-friendliness of Linux Mint, Puppy Linux, > and antiX Linux. Windows 8 is even worse than Unity. I felt completely out to sea. I posit that you (nor 95% of TCLUG list members) may not be Microsoft's target market for Windows 8. > There were some Windows 7 computers there as well, and Windows 7 (at least in the > configuration I saw) didn't look that different from Windows XP, the last Windows OS > I have significant experience with. I can't imagine how anyone who likes Windows XP > or 7 will like Windows 8. Anyone who objects to Unity will hate Windows 8 even more. The "blocky" Metro UI seems to be the main point of consternation, and from what I understand, that is fairly easy to disable. I'd imagine that most corporate IT departments will just disable Metro via a Group Policy. As for home users, well, they have a remarkable ability to figure things out. The vast majority of "laypeople" deal with major OS UI changes each time they buy a new computer anyway, so while the Win8 UI is quite different, it's not insurmountably so for most of Microsoft's customers. Look, Microsoft isn't stupid. They have many *very* smart people working for them, some of which contributed in a significant way to the Windows 8 UI changes. Some say that MS overreached with their changes, but IMHO a year or two from now, we'll all look back on this as a small blip on an tech radar that's cluttered with many other more interesting things to discuss and marvel about. UI aside, I must complement Microsoft for the progress they've made with regards to security and stability over the last couple OS releases. I've been fortunate in my career to be charged with maintaining significant numbers of both Windows and Linux servers, so I've gotten to see the good, the bad, and the ugly of both, and believe me, *both* Linux and Windows have provided each their fair share of security vulnerabilities, instability, and headaches through the years. -Erik From nesius at gmail.com Sun Jan 27 21:45:57 2013 From: nesius at gmail.com (Robert Nesius) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2013 21:45:57 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Finally tried Windows 8 In-Reply-To: <20130127205412.e62ea5caa24e73b4e1be999f@jasonhsu.com> References: <20130127205412.e62ea5caa24e73b4e1be999f@jasonhsu.com> Message-ID: Nice timing, Jason. I just dove into Windows 8 this weekend myself. I'm in the process of building out a new desktop gaming system. My old system had an OEM version of Win 7 Pro - which means I'm technically not allowed to move the environment so that it's running on a new motherboard. Technical legalese aside - I'm not sure I could have transplanted that environment into 2+ generations new hardware anyway. I went to Best But to get a new version of Win 7 Pro to install and discovered that M$ has completely swept Win 7 under the rug - all retail outlets have Windows 8 now. Bummer. BUT - it's on sale at a steep discount through the end of January. Honestly - anyone who might update to Win 8 later might want to snag a copy of Windows 8 now while the prices are low and keep it stashed away. Having heard little good about Windows 8 I walked back out to my car without buying it. My thought was to try another PC store that could well have Windows 7 in stock. But then I decided "time moves forward - windows 7 will one day die. Maybe I should read up on Windows 8." So I pulled out my walled-garden iPhone (ha!) and started searching for reviews of Windows 8 (yay for irony!). I read about four reviews. At first my focus was on gaming, and it turns out that Windows 8 will deliver a 1-2% increase in performance for gaming. So that's a wash. BUT - they memory allocation unit in the OS now allocates memory randomly, which apparently thwarts most of the attacks against device drivers and such that previous versions of windows were susceptible too. This apparently is pointing to a brighter future for online gaming in terms of making it harder for people to cheat. I then found a review on Toms Hardware for Windows 8 - it was a 20-page technical review. I read the whole thing on my tiny iPhone screen and then walked into Best Buy and picked up a copy of Win 8 Pro. That review did a great job of conceptually explaining the design of the Windows 8 UI. And while that start-screen is dramatically different, it turns out everything you had in previous versions is really still there. Except often the changes are for the better. Probably the biggest thing to remember is that the "classic desktop" is just an app. However, you can get to it any-time by chording "Windows-D". So - if you're in an app and want to jump back to the desk top - there you go. My biggest hurdle was finding the power management options so I could configure the system to not go to sleep. I actually had to google that one, but the fix was easy. At the start window, just right-click, and then choose "view all". The start window will expand to show all of the things you could possibly care about - including the classic control-panel, which apparently is the only way to get to the power management options. Once I figured that out, I've been able to find my way to every knob I could want to turn. The Tom Hardware reviewer started out his review with a bearish view of Windows 8, and at the end of his thorough examination was left with grudging appreciation and gave it a "Recommended Buy" rating. Having played around with it now for a few days I'm getting comfortable with it, and I'm finding I'm actually enjoying it. Obviously M$ is going in the direction of Apple. There's an App store, Adobe Reader opens as a full-screen app (I actually prefer that), etc... Also, as key individuals at Valve have noted Windows is becoming "less open". But none-the-less, as I get increasingly comfortable with it I'm finding I rather like it. In response to your last paragraph, Jason, I'll note that I saw a lot of people online poo-poohing Windows 8 simply from the standpoint that M$'s pattern for OS releases is "awful-good-awful-good," and that win7 was good, so Win 8 is obviously awful. It's different, but not awful. It's the biggest thing to happen to Windows since... Windows. But it's not quite the paradigm shift I feared it would be. It's obviously still an non-posix OS and for software development is probably not a place I want to live - I much prefer Linux/Mac OS X... but it's not an Oldsmobile Diesel. :) -Rob On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 8:54 PM, Jason Hsu wrote: > I looked at the computers at Office Max yesterday and got to see Windows > 8. It's rubbish! How are you supposed to do anything? > > As a Linux user, I've been so spoiled by the user-friendliness of Linux > Mint, Puppy Linux, and antiX Linux. Windows 8 is even worse than Unity. I > felt completely out to sea. There were some Windows 7 computers there as > well, and Windows 7 (at least in the configuration I saw) didn't look that > different from Windows XP, the last Windows OS I have significant > experience with. I can't imagine how anyone who likes Windows XP or 7 will > like Windows 8. Anyone who objects to Unity will hate Windows 8 even more. > > Microsoft today reminds me of General Motors during the Malaise Era. > Windows Vista was Microsoft's Chevy Vega. I expect Windows 8 to go down > in history as Microsoft's Chevy Citation, Cadillac Cimarron, or Oldsmobile > diesel engine. > > -- > Jason Hsu > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ryanjcole at me.com Sun Jan 27 21:47:28 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2013 21:47:28 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Finally tried Windows 8 In-Reply-To: References: <20130127205412.e62ea5caa24e73b4e1be999f@jasonhsu.com> Message-ID: <85232757-4DD3-40AA-BC8C-4E1FB43D1BCF@me.com> Microcenter had win 7 as of three weeks ago. Love the misinformation. -- Ryan Coleman On Jan 27, 2013, at 21:45, Robert Nesius wrote: > > Nice timing, Jason. I just dove into Windows 8 this weekend myself. I'm in the process of building out a new desktop gaming system. My old system had an OEM version of Win 7 Pro - which means I'm technically not allowed to move the environment so that it's running on a new motherboard. Technical legalese aside - I'm not sure I could have transplanted that environment into 2+ generations new hardware anyway. I went to Best But to get a new version of Win 7 Pro to install and discovered that M$ has completely swept Win 7 under the rug - all retail outlets have Windows 8 now. Bummer. BUT - it's on sale at a steep discount through the end of January. Honestly - anyone who might update to Win 8 later might want to snag a copy of Windows 8 now while the prices are low and keep it stashed away. > > Having heard little good about Windows 8 I walked back out to my car without buying it. My thought was to try another PC store that could well have Windows 7 in stock. But then I decided "time moves forward - windows 7 will one day die. Maybe I should read up on Windows 8." So I pulled out my walled-garden iPhone (ha!) and started searching for reviews of Windows 8 (yay for irony!). I read about four reviews. At first my focus was on gaming, and it turns out that Windows 8 will deliver a 1-2% increase in performance for gaming. So that's a wash. BUT - they memory allocation unit in the OS now allocates memory randomly, which apparently thwarts most of the attacks against device drivers and such that previous versions of windows were susceptible too. This apparently is pointing to a brighter future for online gaming in terms of making it harder for people to cheat. > > I then found a review on Toms Hardware for Windows 8 - it was a 20-page technical review. I read the whole thing on my tiny iPhone screen and then walked into Best Buy and picked up a copy of Win 8 Pro. That review did a great job of conceptually explaining the design of the Windows 8 UI. And while that start-screen is dramatically different, it turns out everything you had in previous versions is really still there. Except often the changes are for the better. Probably the biggest thing to remember is that the "classic desktop" is just an app. However, you can get to it any-time by chording "Windows-D". So - if you're in an app and want to jump back to the desk top - there you go. > > My biggest hurdle was finding the power management options so I could configure the system to not go to sleep. I actually had to google that one, but the fix was easy. At the start window, just right-click, and then choose "view all". The start window will expand to show all of the things you could possibly care about - including the classic control-panel, which apparently is the only way to get to the power management options. Once I figured that out, I've been able to find my way to every knob I could want to turn. > > The Tom Hardware reviewer started out his review with a bearish view of Windows 8, and at the end of his thorough examination was left with grudging appreciation and gave it a "Recommended Buy" rating. Having played around with it now for a few days I'm getting comfortable with it, and I'm finding I'm actually enjoying it. Obviously M$ is going in the direction of Apple. There's an App store, Adobe Reader opens as a full-screen app (I actually prefer that), etc... Also, as key individuals at Valve have noted Windows is becoming "less open". But none-the-less, as I get increasingly comfortable with it I'm finding I rather like it. > > In response to your last paragraph, Jason, I'll note that I saw a lot of people online poo-poohing Windows 8 simply from the standpoint that M$'s pattern for OS releases is "awful-good-awful-good," and that win7 was good, so Win 8 is obviously awful. It's different, but not awful. It's the biggest thing to happen to Windows since... Windows. But it's not quite the paradigm shift I feared it would be. It's obviously still an non-posix OS and for software development is probably not a place I want to live - I much prefer Linux/Mac OS X... but it's not an Oldsmobile Diesel. :) > > -Rob > > On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 8:54 PM, Jason Hsu wrote: >> I looked at the computers at Office Max yesterday and got to see Windows 8. It's rubbish! How are you supposed to do anything? >> >> As a Linux user, I've been so spoiled by the user-friendliness of Linux Mint, Puppy Linux, and antiX Linux. Windows 8 is even worse than Unity. I felt completely out to sea. There were some Windows 7 computers there as well, and Windows 7 (at least in the configuration I saw) didn't look that different from Windows XP, the last Windows OS I have significant experience with. I can't imagine how anyone who likes Windows XP or 7 will like Windows 8. Anyone who objects to Unity will hate Windows 8 even more. >> >> Microsoft today reminds me of General Motors during the Malaise Era. Windows Vista was Microsoft's Chevy Vega. I expect Windows 8 to go down in history as Microsoft's Chevy Citation, Cadillac Cimarron, or Oldsmobile diesel engine. >> >> -- >> Jason Hsu >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bradyh at gmail.com Sun Jan 27 23:04:47 2013 From: bradyh at gmail.com (Brady Hegberg) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2013 23:04:47 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Finally tried Windows 8 In-Reply-To: <20130127205412.e62ea5caa24e73b4e1be999f@jasonhsu.com> References: <20130127205412.e62ea5caa24e73b4e1be999f@jasonhsu.com> Message-ID: <8A6ECD2C-44BB-4CCF-8178-D25EACD814A2@gmail.com> On the one hand...yeah, bleah...though Windows 8 isn't all that different from setting up icons on your desktop to run commonly used programs. Also, hit the windows button on your keyboard and bam you're back in the familiar (Windows 7) territory...which is more than I can say for Gnome 3. :-/ On Jan 27, 2013, at 8:54 PM, Jason Hsu wrote: > I looked at the computers at Office Max yesterday and got to see Windows 8. It's rubbish! How are you supposed to do anything? > > As a Linux user, I've been so spoiled by the user-friendliness of Linux Mint, Puppy Linux, and antiX Linux. Windows 8 is even worse than Unity. I felt completely out to sea. There were some Windows 7 computers there as well, and Windows 7 (at least in the configuration I saw) didn't look that different from Windows XP, the last Windows OS I have significant experience with. I can't imagine how anyone who likes Windows XP or 7 will like Windows 8. Anyone who objects to Unity will hate Windows 8 even more. > > Microsoft today reminds me of General Motors during the Malaise Era. Windows Vista was Microsoft's Chevy Vega. I expect Windows 8 to go down in history as Microsoft's Chevy Citation, Cadillac Cimarron, or Oldsmobile diesel engine. > > -- > Jason Hsu > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From erik.mitchell at gmail.com Sun Jan 27 23:47:23 2013 From: erik.mitchell at gmail.com (Erik Mitchell) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2013 23:47:23 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Finally tried Windows 8 In-Reply-To: <8A6ECD2C-44BB-4CCF-8178-D25EACD814A2@gmail.com> References: <20130127205412.e62ea5caa24e73b4e1be999f@jasonhsu.com> <8A6ECD2C-44BB-4CCF-8178-D25EACD814A2@gmail.com> Message-ID: This discussion reminds me of a project called Litestep (http://www.litestep.net/), which you could use to replace the Windows Explorer shell on top of Windows XP. I used it for a couple of months, and it was fun because I was using WindowMaker at the time at home, so my work computer and home computer had similar interfaces. There's more to an OS than just the window manager / shell. In fact, you could argue that isn't even part of the OS. Of course, in the Windows world, it's always been tightly coupled, so we rate an OS based on the UI. Anyway, Jason, I appreciate your interest in the landscape of distributions -- I'm aware of more of them than I would be because of you. I checked out Windows 8 for a few minutes at Micro Center yesterday. I figured out how to get past the flashy new tile thingy, and saw that the old desktop and task bar looked pretty much the same. Found the multiple desktop thing on the left side. I think it's an improvement for people who use Windows. I don't anticipate I'll need to use it for anything other than testing IE on my web development work. -Erik On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 11:04 PM, Brady Hegberg wrote: > On the one hand...yeah, bleah...though Windows 8 isn't all that different from setting up icons on your desktop to run commonly used programs. Also, hit the windows button on your keyboard and bam you're back in the familiar (Windows 7) territory...which is more than I can say for Gnome 3. :-/ > > On Jan 27, 2013, at 8:54 PM, Jason Hsu wrote: > >> I looked at the computers at Office Max yesterday and got to see Windows 8. It's rubbish! How are you supposed to do anything? >> >> As a Linux user, I've been so spoiled by the user-friendliness of Linux Mint, Puppy Linux, and antiX Linux. Windows 8 is even worse than Unity. I felt completely out to sea. There were some Windows 7 computers there as well, and Windows 7 (at least in the configuration I saw) didn't look that different from Windows XP, the last Windows OS I have significant experience with. I can't imagine how anyone who likes Windows XP or 7 will like Windows 8. Anyone who objects to Unity will hate Windows 8 even more. >> >> Microsoft today reminds me of General Motors during the Malaise Era. Windows Vista was Microsoft's Chevy Vega. I expect Windows 8 to go down in history as Microsoft's Chevy Citation, Cadillac Cimarron, or Oldsmobile diesel engine. >> >> -- >> Jason Hsu >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list -- Erik K. Mitchell erik.mitchell at gmail.com From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Mon Jan 28 00:45:19 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 00:45:19 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Finally tried Windows 8 In-Reply-To: <85232757-4DD3-40AA-BC8C-4E1FB43D1BCF@me.com> References: <20130127205412.e62ea5caa24e73b4e1be999f@jasonhsu.com> <85232757-4DD3-40AA-BC8C-4E1FB43D1BCF@me.com> Message-ID: On Sun, 27 Jan 2013, Ryan Coleman wrote: > Microcenter had win 7 as of three weeks ago. I bought a factory refurb laptop there just before Christmas. The "problem" with the refurb laptop was that it would come with Win7 instead of Win8. No problem for me -- I installed Ubuntu and deleted all of it. I'm not sure that was the best plan, but maybe. I could have made it a dual-boot machine. The SD drive and HDMI aren't working in Ubuntu, but I'll bet they would have worked in Win7. I'll want to fix those issues one of these days. I bought an Acer laptop for my daughter, it runs Win7 and everything works, including HDMI and SD. (That was the best deal I've ever found on a laptop -- 14 months ago for $250 with 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, HDMI, VGA, SD, three USB 2.0, but no DVD drive.) I use nothing but Linux for work, but in the Windows world where I sometimes must venture for various reasons (a couple of programs won't run in Linux), Win7 has looked pretty good to me. Compared to earlier Windows versions, I have found nothing that was worse and a lot that was better. I'm disappointed to hear that Win8 is possibly worse than Win7, but it's hard for me to tell from the initial note if Jason just couldn't figure it out quickly enough for his satisfaction, or if it really is hard to use. I found it hard to figure out what the screen resolution was on Win8 laptops on display. It took a little while to get the hang of it, but then I was able to do it quickly. Mike From david.nelsen at slingshot-hci.com Mon Jan 28 06:50:17 2013 From: david.nelsen at slingshot-hci.com (David Nelsen) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 06:50:17 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] laptop/netbook wireless signal strength (was "For Sale: Cisco Aironet 1200 series Wireless Access Point") In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I agree with Erik- Like so many other key specs we look are tuned into with consumer electronics each vendor will often publish there specifications in a different unit of measure. Laptop batteries are a perfect example. Vendors will post their numbers as miliamp/hours, watt/hours, amp/hours, number of cells, etc. Having said that I am sure there is some report somewhere where wifi has been scientifically analyzed Outside of that I have heard of people having success of purchasing a usb hi Gain antenna . I purchased one for a laptop to help with a similar aforementioned signal problem. I even went to the extent of getting a short usb extension cable so I could mount it high on the screen bezel. After all that work i did not note any increase in performance. I think there are other brands where people have had good success. David Nelsen, BoTG Healthcare Technical Analyst Slingshot Healthcare Informatics Office 651.472.5678 Skype: slingshot.hci On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 5:57 PM, Erik Anderson wrote: > On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 5:20 PM, Mike Miller wrote: > > > > This reminds me that I wanted to ask what you know about the wireless > > capabilities of various laptops and netbooks. It seems to me that my > > recently-purchased HP Pavilion g7-2022us does nowhere near as well as my > > Asus Eee 1005HA at maintaining a connection to a wireless router. If the > > signal seems weak, the the HP is having trouble, I can use the Asus. Is > > that because of reception or transmission? Has this been measured for > > various machines with results posted to the web? It is a very important > > aspect of performance, but I have never read specs on this and I can't > find > > any now. I'm disappointed that the HP performs so poorly compared to the > > much cheaper and older Asus. > > This sort of thing is quite hard to pin down. The performance > discrepancy could be caused by any one (or multiple) of the following: > > - radio hardware > - antenna design > - antenna placement > - internal RF interference within the laptop body > - Wifi chipset firmware issues > - sub-par OS WLAN drivers > - etc. etc. > > > This led me to ask myself an obvious question: Where are my ears? None > of > > my laptop/netbooks have external ears. How good are their internal ears > and > > how do they compare with those of the OLPC XO-1+ machines? I want > numbers! > > ;-) > > In most situations, the presence or absence of external antennas is > neither here nor there. At 2.4 and 5GHz, antennas do not need to be > all that long. The wavelength of 2.4GHz signals is around 125mm and > 5GHz, about 60mm. Figure a half or quarter-wave antenna, and you don't > need all that much space. Frequently laptop manufactures will route > wifi antennas to the top of the display panel. In Apple's case, I > believe they put the Wifi and bluetooth antennas in the hinge area of > the body, as that's the only non-metal (read: RF transparent) part of > the laptop. > > -Erik > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From woodbrian77 at gmail.com Mon Jan 28 10:36:07 2013 From: woodbrian77 at gmail.com (Brian Wood) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 10:36:07 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Recent innovation in Linux In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Sat, Jan 26, 2013 at 12:51 PM, Brian Wood wrote: > Andrew Dahl: > > > Oh nice! > > > > I used to forgo preupgrade and just manually do it through yum. (point > > to > > new repos, install the latest release, yum, rpm, and then do a yum > > update... wait an eternity and reboot.) I only used preupgrade... maybe > > twice (~3 years ago) and wasn't satisfied with it. Sounds like fedup > > fixes what dissatisfied me though. > > > > I think I'll go ahead with fedup tonight on my work laptop to check it > out. > > Thanks for the tip, Kathryn! > > I wound up getting a number of kernel panics on a server that I had used fedup on. I tried a few things like yum distro-sync to remedy things, but they didn't help. So I ended up doing a fresh install of Fedora 18 and that has lasted longer now without a crash than the version with fedup. I wouldn't recommend fedup at this point. Brian Wood Ebenezer Enterprises -- we write code and we write code good. http://webEbenezer.net 651 251-9384 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From droidjd at gmail.com Mon Jan 28 12:46:03 2013 From: droidjd at gmail.com (Andrew Dahl) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 12:46:03 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Recent innovation in Linux In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: That's unfortunate to hear. =[ I just used fedup last night and all went well (for the most part). The only two real issues I ran into (that were easily resolved) involved a shared library missing that my Cisco AnyConnect client used. Resolved that with a yum provides and installed the missing package. Then, Google Chrome wasn't launching due to a missing shared library... fixed that with a yum reinstall. Since then, it's been running without any issue. Oh, and the nVidia drivers took a bit to install due to nouveau being loaded, but again... no big deal. I'd recommend fedup, but I'd also recommend allocating extra time to resolve issues that arise. (Which, imo that should be assumed when doing any upgrade.) Better luck next time, if such a thing exists. :-) -Andrew On Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 10:36 AM, Brian Wood wrote: > > > On Sat, Jan 26, 2013 at 12:51 PM, Brian Wood wrote: > >> Andrew Dahl: >> >> > Oh nice! >> > >> > I used to forgo preupgrade and just manually do it through yum. (point >> > to >> > new repos, install the latest release, yum, rpm, and then do a yum >> > update... wait an eternity and reboot.) I only used preupgrade... maybe >> > twice (~3 years ago) and wasn't satisfied with it. Sounds like fedup >> > fixes what dissatisfied me though. >> > >> > I think I'll go ahead with fedup tonight on my work laptop to check it >> out. >> > Thanks for the tip, Kathryn! >> >> > > I wound up getting a number of kernel panics on a server that > I had used fedup on. I tried a few things like yum distro-sync > to remedy things, but they didn't help. So I ended up doing a > fresh install of Fedora 18 and that has lasted longer now > without a crash than the version with fedup. I wouldn't > recommend fedup at this point. > > > Brian Wood > Ebenezer Enterprises -- we write code and we write code good. > http://webEbenezer.net 651 251-9384 > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ryan.c.dunlop at gmail.com Mon Jan 28 13:14:42 2013 From: ryan.c.dunlop at gmail.com (Ryan Dunlop) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:14:42 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Finally tried Windows 8 In-Reply-To: References: <20130127205412.e62ea5caa24e73b4e1be999f@jasonhsu.com> Message-ID: * * *"BUT - they memory allocation unit in the OS now allocates memory randomly, which apparently thwarts most of the attacks against device drivers and such that previous versions of windows were susceptible too. This apparently is pointing to a brighter future for online gaming in terms of making it harder for people to cheat." * http://kingcope.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/attacking-the-windows-78-address-space-randomization/ Quoting the site: "Though in many cases it is possible to completely bypass Windows 7 and especially Windows 8 ASLR by using the techniques." "Testcases have shown that Windows 8 behaves more vulnerable to the method than Windows 7. In Windows 8 the DLL will be loaded at the very low address 0x10000 and more reliable than in Windows 7." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From nesius at gmail.com Mon Jan 28 14:55:43 2013 From: nesius at gmail.com (Robert Nesius) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:55:43 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Finally tried Windows 8 In-Reply-To: References: <20130127205412.e62ea5caa24e73b4e1be999f@jasonhsu.com> Message-ID: Interesting read! Thanks Ryan! At least they tried? :) -Rob On Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 1:14 PM, Ryan Dunlop wrote: > * > > * > *"BUT - they memory allocation unit in the OS now allocates memory > randomly, which apparently thwarts most of the attacks against device > drivers and such that previous versions of windows were susceptible too. > This apparently is pointing to a brighter future for online gaming in > terms of making it harder for people to cheat." * > > > http://kingcope.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/attacking-the-windows-78-address-space-randomization/ > > Quoting the site: > > "Though in many cases it is possible to completely bypass Windows 7 and especially Windows 8 ASLR by using the > techniques." > > "Testcases have shown that Windows 8 behaves more vulnerable to the method than > Windows 7. In Windows 8 the DLL will be loaded at the very low address 0x10000 > and more reliable than in Windows 7." > > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From susan.dawn.stewart at gmail.com Mon Jan 28 20:03:55 2013 From: susan.dawn.stewart at gmail.com (Susan) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:03:55 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Windows 8 & M$/Dell In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <0E1D215B-B606-42A6-B23F-EEB1F68B3CE8@gmail.com> I'll be interested to see whether or not businesses convert to Win8. I still see XP regularly, primarily in the financial industry, it seems to me, because they are often running legacy software. As a Field Technician doing break/fix repairs the training I received regarding Win8 was there will be no COA stickers & the product key number is "injected" into the motherboard. The M$ product key needs to be programmed in when a mobo is replaced, this is sometimes done automatically. When I was onsite at a major software company recently my customer said his company will not be putting Win8 on any of their computers, he said it's "totally incompatible with a corporate environment due to the touch-screen interface." I've repaired units running Win8 but haven't played with it... I appreciate any input here... On another note... here's an interesting article on Dell's move to go private & Microsoft's offer to "help"... http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jan/28/dell-microsoft-buyout-monday-note Hmmm... Dell currently offers the Ubuntu option on some of their systems, I wonder if M$ will insist upon Dell squashing that "testing of the waters?" Susan From ryanjcole at me.com Mon Jan 28 20:05:38 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:05:38 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Windows 8 & M$/Dell In-Reply-To: <0E1D215B-B606-42A6-B23F-EEB1F68B3CE8@gmail.com> References: <0E1D215B-B606-42A6-B23F-EEB1F68B3CE8@gmail.com> Message-ID: Dells COA is just a formality anyway. -- Ryan Coleman ryanjcole at me.com m. 651.373.5015 o. 612.568.2749 On Jan 28, 2013, at 20:03, Susan wrote: > I'll be interested to see whether or not businesses convert to Win8. I still see XP regularly, primarily in the financial industry, it seems to me, because they are often running legacy software. > > As a Field Technician doing break/fix repairs the training I received regarding Win8 was there will be no COA stickers & the product key number is "injected" into the motherboard. The M$ product key needs to be programmed in when a mobo is replaced, this is sometimes done automatically. > > When I was onsite at a major software company recently my customer said his company will not be putting Win8 on any of their computers, he said it's "totally incompatible with a corporate environment due to the touch-screen interface." > > I've repaired units running Win8 but haven't played with it... I appreciate any input here... > > On another note... here's an interesting article on Dell's move to go private & Microsoft's offer to "help"... > > http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jan/28/dell-microsoft-buyout-monday-note > > Hmmm... Dell currently offers the Ubuntu option on some of their systems, I wonder if M$ will insist upon Dell squashing that "testing of the waters?" > > Susan > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From kjh at flyballdogs.com Mon Jan 28 20:09:57 2013 From: kjh at flyballdogs.com (Kathryn Hogg) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:09:57 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Windows 8 & M$/Dell In-Reply-To: <0E1D215B-B606-42A6-B23F-EEB1F68B3CE8@gmail.com> References: <0E1D215B-B606-42A6-B23F-EEB1F68B3CE8@gmail.com> Message-ID: <9688b6d05e0443130e46fde45f64dcfe@flyballdogs.com> On 2013-01-28 20:03, Susan wrote: > I'll be interested to see whether or not businesses convert to Win8. > I still see XP regularly, primarily in the financial industry, it > seems to me, because they are often running legacy software. I just got Windows 7 on a work laptop (replaced with Fedora 18) in November. We replace developer computers every 3 years which means XP was still the standard 3 years ago. -- Kathryn Hogg http://womensfooty.com From erikerik at gmail.com Mon Jan 28 20:10:20 2013 From: erikerik at gmail.com (Erik Anderson) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:10:20 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Windows 8 & M$/Dell In-Reply-To: <0E1D215B-B606-42A6-B23F-EEB1F68B3CE8@gmail.com> References: <0E1D215B-B606-42A6-B23F-EEB1F68B3CE8@gmail.com> Message-ID: On Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 8:03 PM, Susan wrote: > When I was onsite at a major software company recently my customer said his company will not be putting Win8 on any of their computers, he said it's "totally incompatible > with a corporate environment due to the touch-screen interface." FUD, FUD, FUD. It seems there are a *lot* of people making rash judgements about Windows 8 based off of a few sensationalist "reviews", and before they've had a chance to try it out for themselves. Do you actually think Microsoft would release an OS that is "totally incompatible with a corporate environment"? Really? Didn't think so. Corporate IT is Microsoft's bread and butter - it's where they have their largest market share, and where they make the vast majority of their money. -Erik From nesius at gmail.com Mon Jan 28 20:22:59 2013 From: nesius at gmail.com (Robert Nesius) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:22:59 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Windows 8 & M$/Dell In-Reply-To: References: <0E1D215B-B606-42A6-B23F-EEB1F68B3CE8@gmail.com> Message-ID: On Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 8:10 PM, Erik Anderson wrote: > On Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 8:03 PM, Susan > wrote: > > When I was onsite at a major software company recently my customer said > his company will not be putting Win8 on any of their computers, he said > it's "totally incompatible > > with a corporate environment due to the touch-screen interface." > > It seems there are a *lot* of people making rash judgements about > Windows 8 based off of a few sensationalist "reviews", and before > they've had a chance to try it out for themselves. Do you actually > think Microsoft would release an OS that is "totally incompatible with > a corporate environment"? Really? Didn't think so. Corporate IT is > Microsoft's bread and butter - it's where they have their largest > market share, and where they make the vast majority of their money. > Aside from the "Start Menu" becoming the "Start Screen" - it feels like a slightly improved version of windows 7. The underlying OS technology is largely the same. I haven't run into a single compatibility issue yet. -Rob -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Mon Jan 28 21:05:46 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:05:46 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Windows 8 & M$/Dell In-Reply-To: References: <0E1D215B-B606-42A6-B23F-EEB1F68B3CE8@gmail.com> Message-ID: On Mon, 28 Jan 2013, Erik Anderson wrote: > On Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 8:03 PM, Susan wrote: > >> When I was onsite at a major software company recently my customer said >> his company will not be putting Win8 on any of their computers, he said >> it's "totally incompatible with a corporate environment due to the >> touch-screen interface." > > FUD, FUD, FUD. > > It seems there are a *lot* of people making rash judgements about > Windows 8 based off of a few sensationalist "reviews", and before > they've had a chance to try it out for themselves. Do you actually think > Microsoft would release an OS that is "totally incompatible with a > corporate environment"? Really? Microsoft's pointy-haired bosses are fully capable of releasing an OS that has enormous problems. They'll sell it and take the money. They'll fight the inevitable law suits. Does this work for them? I'm not sure, but they've done it anyway. You probably know that I'm talking about Vista. Here's a story about a guy named Mike (not me)... "Mike buys a laptop that has a reassuring ?Windows Vista Capable? logo affixed. He thinks that he will be able to run Vista in all of its glory, as well as favorite Microsoft programs like Movie Maker. His report: ?I personally got burned.? His new laptop ? logo or no logo ? lacks the necessary graphics chip and can run neither his favorite video-editing software nor anything but a hobbled version of Vista. ?I now have a $2,100 e-mail machine,? he says. "It turns out that Mike is clearly not a na?f. He?s Mike Nash, a Microsoft vice president who oversees Windows product management." That story and two other similar ones can be read here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/business/09digi.html The original memos revealed in court: http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2008/02/27/full-text-microsoft-execs-on-vista-problems/ Mike From ryanjcole at me.com Mon Jan 28 21:06:53 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:06:53 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Windows 8 & M$/Dell In-Reply-To: References: <0E1D215B-B606-42A6-B23F-EEB1F68B3CE8@gmail.com> Message-ID: <51073CCD.5000503@me.com> On 1/28/2013 9:05 PM, Mike Miller wrote: > On Mon, 28 Jan 2013, Erik Anderson wrote: >> It seems there are a *lot* of people making rash judgements about >> Windows 8 based off of a few sensationalist "reviews", and before >> they've had a chance to try it out for themselves. Do you actually >> think Microsoft would release an OS that is "totally incompatible >> with a corporate environment"? Really? > > Microsoft's pointy-haired bosses are fully capable of releasing an OS > that has enormous problems. They'll sell it and take the money. That's every developer, Mike. From tclug at freakzilla.com Mon Jan 28 21:44:00 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (Yaron) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:44:00 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Windows 8 & M$/Dell In-Reply-To: References: <0E1D215B-B606-42A6-B23F-EEB1F68B3CE8@gmail.com> Message-ID: On Mon, 28 Jan 2013, Erik Anderson wrote: > It seems there are a *lot* of people making rash judgements about Windows 8 > based off of a few sensationalist "reviews", and before they've had a > chance to try it out for themselves. Do you actually think Microsoft would > release an OS that is "totally incompatible with a corporate environment"? > Really? Yes. It was called Windows Vista. I work for a very, very large corporate environment. Most desktop PCs still run XP. We are only now -- now, in 2013 -- starting to move to Windows 7. -- From mr.chew.baka at gmail.com Mon Jan 28 21:50:35 2013 From: mr.chew.baka at gmail.com (Mr. B-o-B) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:50:35 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Windows 8 & M$/Dell In-Reply-To: <0E1D215B-B606-42A6-B23F-EEB1F68B3CE8@gmail.com> References: <0E1D215B-B606-42A6-B23F-EEB1F68B3CE8@gmail.com> Message-ID: Susan cried from the depths of the abyss... > I'll be interested to see whether or not businesses convert to Win8. I still see XP regularly, primarily in the financial industry, it seems to me, because they are often running legacy software. Small shops might move to win8, but I don't forsee Win7 going away anytime soon. Much like XP was with 2003, Win7 & 2008r2 play nice togeather. I feel this pair will be around the enterprise area many years to come. I would imagine those XP machines you see out in the wild will soon be Win7 and not Win8. > I've repaired units running Win8 but haven't played with it... I appreciate any input here... I ordered a copy of Win8 the first day it was released. I have been running it as a VM on my office PC eversince. Once I figured out the whole desktop mode thing it wasn't too bad. I don't have a touch screen to use so I can't comment on that part, but the OS itself isn't to bad. Win8 is all amped up for the "Cloud", and that doesn't interest me at all. For work purposes I still like win7 over win8 myself. I have no plans of moving our PC's at work to win8. From mr.chew.baka at gmail.com Mon Jan 28 22:15:22 2013 From: mr.chew.baka at gmail.com (Mr. B-o-B) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 22:15:22 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Recomendation - Wifi N card for Pen Testing Message-ID: I was curious if anyone could recommend a good N wifi card for penetration testing that they have actually used for capture & injection. I've been using an Alfa AWUS036H usb for my pen testing, and it is fantastic. It is however only B/G capable. Looking to expand my range into the N world, and hoping to find a success story to help me in my selection process. Thanks! Mr. B-o-B From ryanjcole at me.com Mon Jan 28 22:16:26 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 22:16:26 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Recomendation - Wifi N card for Pen Testing In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <89C9C499-C92F-42D5-9C23-1755EF75E05B@me.com> You want dual band not just simply N and I'd look at 3x3 MIMO while you're at it. -- Ryan Coleman ryanjcole at me.com On Jan 28, 2013, at 22:15, "Mr. B-o-B" wrote: > I was curious if anyone could recommend a good N wifi card for penetration testing that they have actually used for capture & injection. > > I've been using an Alfa AWUS036H usb for my pen testing, and it is fantastic. It is however only B/G capable. > > Looking to expand my range into the N world, and hoping to find a success story to help me in my selection process. > > Thanks! > > Mr. B-o-B > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From mr.chew.baka at gmail.com Mon Jan 28 22:38:39 2013 From: mr.chew.baka at gmail.com (Mr. B-o-B) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 22:38:39 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Recomendation - Wifi N card for Pen Testing In-Reply-To: <89C9C499-C92F-42D5-9C23-1755EF75E05B@me.com> References: <89C9C499-C92F-42D5-9C23-1755EF75E05B@me.com> Message-ID: Ryan Coleman cried from the depths of the abyss... > You want dual band not just simply N and I'd look at 3x3 MIMO while you're at it. > Yes. Forgive me for being generic in my post. I was thinking dual-band ;) Thanks for the 3x3 MIMO tip. From ryanjcole at me.com Mon Jan 28 22:39:58 2013 From: ryanjcole at me.com (Ryan Coleman) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 22:39:58 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Recomendation - Wifi N card for Pen Testing In-Reply-To: References: <89C9C499-C92F-42D5-9C23-1755EF75E05B@me.com> Message-ID: <119F7EB2-1366-4A95-842E-5E5E8FF1874F@me.com> You're welcome You might want to save your money and buy an 802.11ac compatible card instead... Just a thought. -- Ryan Coleman ryanjcole at me.com On Jan 28, 2013, at 22:38, "Mr. B-o-B" wrote: > Ryan Coleman cried from the depths of the abyss... > >> You want dual band not just simply N and I'd look at 3x3 MIMO while you're at it. >> > > Yes. Forgive me for being generic in my post. I was thinking dual-band ;) Thanks for the 3x3 MIMO tip. > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list From tclug at freakzilla.com Tue Jan 29 12:44:00 2013 From: tclug at freakzilla.com (tclug at freakzilla.com) Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:44:00 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Nexus 4 Message-ID: In case anyone's interested (and didn't know yet) the Nexus 4 is back on sale through the Google Play store at $350 for the expensive model. -- From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Tue Jan 29 16:35:12 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:35:12 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Nexus 4 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Tue, 29 Jan 2013, tclug at freakzilla.com wrote: > In case anyone's interested (and didn't know yet) the Nexus 4 is back on > sale through the Google Play store at $350 for the expensive model. Thanks. It's here: https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_4_16gb This is T-Mobile's price: http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/Cell-Phone-Detail.aspx?cell-phone=Nexus-4 But I have had trouble understanding their plans and which plan I have. They tell me that I am paying full price for the phone ($500 after the $50 rebate, which I will receive) but my plan is saving me $20/month compared to the "classic" plan I could have had with the $300 discount on the phone. Obviously, in the long run I am better off paying $20/mo less. They say that this model works well for them because they get more money up front, then when someone might switch plans, it's hard to find a lower price than theirs. I agree, that makes sense. So I guess I'm keeping my phone. The Nexus 4 is a quite awesome thing, I should say. It's not as if I have compared it to everything, but it is a huge leap forward from my Palm Pre, but no keypad, only virtual. One thing -- you might have to restart it occasionally. After the first day or so of use I lost all data service and thought I had bad service, but it was the phone (thanks to those of you who helped me figure that out), and a reboot fixed it. It might be that installing a bunch of stuff mucked it up a bit. No problems in the week since. Mike From jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com Tue Jan 29 19:15:46 2013 From: jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com (Jeremy MountainJohnson) Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 19:15:46 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Finally tried Windows 8 In-Reply-To: <20130127205412.e62ea5caa24e73b4e1be999f@jasonhsu.com> References: <20130127205412.e62ea5caa24e73b4e1be999f@jasonhsu.com> Message-ID: I ended up with Windows 8 for a recent home build since it was cheaper at the time. Regretted it for about a month, now I'm near Window 7 annoyance with it (which is a good thing). There is a Classic Shell program (open source), which brings back a much better computing interface and it practically looks like Windows 7 in every way. Add in some minor tweaks and it's like I never left Windows 7. I will say it makes very little sense to upgrade from 7 to 8 for most users. -- Jeremy MountainJohnson Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 8:54 PM, Jason Hsu wrote: > I looked at the computers at Office Max yesterday and got to see Windows > 8. It's rubbish! How are you supposed to do anything? > > As a Linux user, I've been so spoiled by the user-friendliness of Linux > Mint, Puppy Linux, and antiX Linux. Windows 8 is even worse than Unity. I > felt completely out to sea. There were some Windows 7 computers there as > well, and Windows 7 (at least in the configuration I saw) didn't look that > different from Windows XP, the last Windows OS I have significant > experience with. I can't imagine how anyone who likes Windows XP or 7 will > like Windows 8. Anyone who objects to Unity will hate Windows 8 even more. > > Microsoft today reminds me of General Motors during the Malaise Era. > Windows Vista was Microsoft's Chevy Vega. I expect Windows 8 to go down > in history as Microsoft's Chevy Citation, Cadillac Cimarron, or Oldsmobile > diesel engine. > > -- > Jason Hsu > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From woodbrian77 at gmail.com Tue Jan 29 20:36:40 2013 From: woodbrian77 at gmail.com (Brian Wood) Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 20:36:40 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] For sale: HP pavilion a810n and HP pavilion f1730 monitor Message-ID: http://www.amazon.com/HP-Pavilion-Desktop-Athlon-Processor/dp/B0006VHV64 It is like the one there, but has 1GB of memory. It has a fresh install of 32bit Fedora 18 on it. I haven't had much luck putting a 64 bit OS on it. The monitor is a 17 inch flat screen. $100 obo -- Brian Wood Ebenezer Enterprises -- Johnny Cash's Remember the Alamo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i79X9jTAfEM http://webEbenezer.net (651) 251-9384 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From david.nelsen at slingshot-hci.com Tue Jan 29 23:39:52 2013 From: david.nelsen at slingshot-hci.com (David Nelsen) Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 23:39:52 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] How was the January meeting? Message-ID: I am new to tclug- I really wanted to attend the January meeting but could not fit it in. Had to leave for out of town the following day. How was it ? How many attended? Looking forward to getting involved. David Nelsen, BoTG Healthcare Technical Analyst Slingshot Healthcare Informatics -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 08:30:34 2013 From: jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com (Jeremy MountainJohnson) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 08:30:34 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Good USB3 hub for Linux, forensicating Message-ID: Hello, I'm searching for a good USB 3 hub for Linux for use at work. I know just about everything will be compatible with Linux (the first native USB3 driver OS) which I use frequently at home with enough built-in ports without a hitch. I am curious if anyone has had better success with some USB 3 hubs over others? My primary goal is high, maintained speed and throughput. I do a lot of forensic imaging (drive to drive copying over USB 3), so four ports would be sufficient, and a separate power hub is a no brainer. I use dc3dd, guymager + libewf, and ftkimager, the latter two being threaded and very fast for compression and encryption. I know ideally I should be using eSATA for this, but there are other reasons for not doing it that way. Price isn't too much of a sticking point since it's covered by work, but I don't want to go all out with a pink rhinestone $200 4 port USB 3 hub either ;-) I noticed Micro Center has some options (am open to online locations as well): http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?N=0&NTX=&NTT=usb+3+hub&NTK=all&sortby=rating Any suggestions (general experience, benchmarks, etc) are greatly appreciated, -- Jeremy MountainJohnson Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From florin at iucha.net Wed Jan 30 08:49:07 2013 From: florin at iucha.net (Florin Iucha) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 08:49:07 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Good USB3 hub for Linux, forensicating In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20130130144907.GA30994@signbit.net> On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 08:30:34AM -0600, Jeremy MountainJohnson wrote: > I noticed Micro Center has some options (am open to online locations as > well): > http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?N=0&NTX=&NTT=usb+3+hub&NTK=all&sortby=rating > > Any suggestions (general experience, benchmarks, etc) are greatly > appreciated, I don't have a hub, the four port PCIe card is enough for me. However, based on prior experiences with their hardware, I can recommend IOGear, followed at some distance by Trendnet. For USB 2.0, the best hubs were made by D-Link (they worked best with some finicky embedded hardware we have around). Cheers, florin -- Beware of software written by optimists! -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 198 bytes Desc: Digital signature URL: From tlunde at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 09:34:24 2013 From: tlunde at gmail.com (Thomas Lunde) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 09:34:24 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Good USB3 hub for Linux, forensicating In-Reply-To: <20130130144907.GA30994@signbit.net> References: <20130130144907.GA30994@signbit.net> Message-ID: Look for Plugable products on Amazon. Not super-cheap but reasonable and with very, very good support. I read their blog. For example: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B008ZGKWQI They're extremely Linux-friendly, too. Thomas On Jan 30, 2013, at 8:49 AM, Florin Iucha wrote: > On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 08:30:34AM -0600, Jeremy MountainJohnson wrote: >> I noticed Micro Center has some options (am open to online locations as >> well): >> http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?N=0&NTX=&NTT=usb+3+hub&NTK=all&sortby=rating >> >> Any suggestions (general experience, benchmarks, etc) are greatly >> appreciated, > > I don't have a hub, the four port PCIe card is enough for me. > > However, based on prior experiences with their hardware, I can > recommend IOGear, followed at some distance by Trendnet. > > For USB 2.0, the best hubs were made by D-Link (they worked best > with some finicky embedded hardware we have around). > > Cheers, > florin > > -- > Beware of software written by optimists! > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 10:04:24 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 10:04:24 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] The Forked Amazon Kindle Fire Is The Most Popular Brand of Android Tablet Message-ID: I just ran across this article... 59% Of All Android Tablet Usage Comes From The U.S., And The Forked Amazon Kindle Fire Is The Most Popular Brand http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/27/59-of-all-android-tablet-usage-comes-from-the-u-s-where-amazons-kindle-fire-leads-the-pack/ ...but the article claims, "Because Fire is built on a 'forked' version of Android, the Google Play app storefront doesn?t appear on it." That is not true of the Kindle Fire I bought from Yaron (he advertised it here). It does have Google Play. I don't know if he had to do something special to get it on there. I do know that it is very important because it is how I installed loads of software on the device, all for free (mostly free as in freedom, too). Mike From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 10:12:48 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 10:12:48 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] Good USB3 hub for Linux, forensicating In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Wed, 30 Jan 2013, Jeremy MountainJohnson wrote: > Any suggestions (general experience, benchmarks, etc) are greatly > appreciated, I haven't used a hub, but I was happily surprised at how fast the USB 3 was with my Seagate 3TB external drive. This is not systematic benchmarking, but ... The first time I tried it, I measured how quickly it copied a file from the external drive to my laptop's internal hard drive. The file was 2.9 GB and it copied it in 17 seconds. A file that size was taking about 2 minutes by USB 2. Now I want to add USB 3 to my other machines, so I am also interested in the hubs. Mike From stuporglue at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 10:22:13 2013 From: stuporglue at gmail.com (Michael Moore) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 10:22:13 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] How to debug an intermittent super hard freeze? Message-ID: Every couple of days my computer freezes hard and I'm not sure how to debug it. When it freezes Mouse and keyboard don't work, and I can't SSH in. There's no disk activity either. The screen continues to display whatever it was showing. In the past, when I got freezes I could do a SysRq-REISUB safe reboot, but even that fails this time. I ran a full memtest86 test and everything passed. I don't know how to force it to occur. I usually have Firefox, some terminals and pidgin open. Sometimes Thunderbird and VirtualBox are also open, but not always. I'm running Debian Wheezy, 64 bit on a Thinkpad W530 I'd really like to avoid a reinstall if I can. Thanks, Michael -- Support the digitization of the Iron County Miner newspaper archives Like this project on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digitizeicm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From erik.mitchell at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 10:27:38 2013 From: erik.mitchell at gmail.com (Erik Mitchell) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 10:27:38 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] USB reset? Message-ID: I've run into this problem a few times. When I plug in a USB mass storage device, such as my Kindle or my iPhone 4, it will show up as a device and I can mount it, and everything is great. However, if I unmount it and unplug it, and then plug it in again, it isn't detected by the USB system. I have tried different cables to no avail. I've tried to modprobe -r modules like usb_common and usb_core but am not able to because they're in use. I imagine I would need to track down all of the USB activity on my system and remove all of the various modules being used in sequence, and then re-add them again. Is there an easier way to reset my USB drivers without rebooting my machine? -Erik -- Erik K. Mitchell erik.mitchell at gmail.com From max at bernsteinforpresident.com Wed Jan 30 11:11:16 2013 From: max at bernsteinforpresident.com (Max Shinn) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:11:16 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] USB reset? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On 1/30/13, Erik Mitchell wrote: > I've run into this problem a few times. When I plug in a USB mass > storage device, such as my Kindle or my iPhone 4, it will show up as a > device and I can mount it, and everything is great. > > However, if I unmount it and unplug it, and then plug it in again, it > isn't detected by the USB system. I have tried different cables to no > avail. Does the same thing happen for normal flash drives, or just with devices? I know my Maemo phone likes to do this every now and then for no apparent reason. -Max From jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 11:18:29 2013 From: jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com (Jeremy MountainJohnson) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:18:29 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Good USB3 hub for Linux, forensicating In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Interesting, I had my sight set on the Pluggable one on Amazon before reading your e-mail :-) Seven ports is probably overkill but the price and reviews are good. The main reason for the hub is primarily for laptops with USB 3 ports (they usually only have two). I run Linux on a USB 3 stick so that doesn't leave much room for a target and source disk each connected via USB 3. I suppose a plus to seven ports is that I can queue up multiple imaging jobs and let it percolate. Thanks for the suggestions- I'll research a little more however the Pluggable one looks like it will fit the bill. -- Jeremy MountainJohnson Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 10:12 AM, Mike Miller wrote: > On Wed, 30 Jan 2013, Jeremy MountainJohnson wrote: > > Any suggestions (general experience, benchmarks, etc) are greatly >> appreciated, >> > > I haven't used a hub, but I was happily surprised at how fast the USB 3 > was with my Seagate 3TB external drive. This is not systematic > benchmarking, but ... The first time I tried it, I measured how quickly it > copied a file from the external drive to my laptop's internal hard drive. > The file was 2.9 GB and it copied it in 17 seconds. A file that size was > taking about 2 minutes by USB 2. Now I want to add USB 3 to my other > machines, so I am also interested in the hubs. > > Mike > > ______________________________**_________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/**mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From erik.mitchell at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 11:19:23 2013 From: erik.mitchell at gmail.com (Erik Mitchell) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:19:23 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] USB reset? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I haven't done a very comprehensive test, but I don't think I've noticed it with normal flash drives. On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 11:11 AM, Max Shinn wrote: > On 1/30/13, Erik Mitchell wrote: >> I've run into this problem a few times. When I plug in a USB mass >> storage device, such as my Kindle or my iPhone 4, it will show up as a >> device and I can mount it, and everything is great. >> >> However, if I unmount it and unplug it, and then plug it in again, it >> isn't detected by the USB system. I have tried different cables to no >> avail. > > Does the same thing happen for normal flash drives, or just with > devices? I know my Maemo phone likes to do this every now and then > for no apparent reason. > > -Max > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list -- Erik K. Mitchell erik.mitchell at gmail.com From stuporglue at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 11:22:09 2013 From: stuporglue at gmail.com (Michael Moore) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:22:09 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] USB reset? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 11:11 AM, Max Shinn wrote: > On 1/30/13, Erik Mitchell wrote: > > I've run into this problem a few times. When I plug in a USB mass > > storage device, such as my Kindle or my iPhone 4, it will show up as a > > device and I can mount it, and everything is great. > > > > However, if I unmount it and unplug it, and then plug it in again, it > > isn't detected by the USB system. I have tried different cables to no > > avail. > Do you actually unmount it? I've had this problem with regular USB devices when I've just pulled the device without unmounting. When you insert it again does dmesg tell you that the device has been detected? If it does, can you mount it manually (with the mount command)? -- Michael -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From erik.mitchell at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 11:25:00 2013 From: erik.mitchell at gmail.com (Erik Mitchell) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:25:00 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] USB reset? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I am unmounting it. When I insert it again dmesg does not show any new information at all. On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 11:22 AM, Michael Moore wrote: > > On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 11:11 AM, Max Shinn > wrote: >> >> On 1/30/13, Erik Mitchell wrote: >> > I've run into this problem a few times. When I plug in a USB mass >> > storage device, such as my Kindle or my iPhone 4, it will show up as a >> > device and I can mount it, and everything is great. >> > >> > However, if I unmount it and unplug it, and then plug it in again, it >> > isn't detected by the USB system. I have tried different cables to no >> > avail. > > > Do you actually unmount it? I've had this problem with regular USB devices > when I've just pulled the device without unmounting. > > When you insert it again does dmesg tell you that the device has been > detected? If it does, can you mount it manually (with the mount command)? > -- > Michael > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- Erik K. Mitchell erik.mitchell at gmail.com From tlunde at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 11:24:44 2013 From: tlunde at gmail.com (Thomas Lunde) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:24:44 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] Good USB3 hub for Linux, forensicating In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <6207CAC8-172D-40DD-91B2-420E673B250C@gmail.com> There's a four port option, too. On Jan 30, 2013, at 11:18 AM, Jeremy MountainJohnson wrote: > Interesting, I had my sight set on the Pluggable one on Amazon before reading your e-mail :-) Seven ports is probably overkill but the price and reviews are good. > > The main reason for the hub is primarily for laptops with USB 3 ports (they usually only have two). I run Linux on a USB 3 stick so that doesn't leave much room for a target and source disk each connected via USB 3. I suppose a plus to seven ports is that I can queue up multiple imaging jobs and let it percolate. > > Thanks for the suggestions- I'll research a little more however the Pluggable one looks like it will fit the bill. > > -- > Jeremy MountainJohnson > Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com > > > On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 10:12 AM, Mike Miller wrote: >> On Wed, 30 Jan 2013, Jeremy MountainJohnson wrote: >> >>> Any suggestions (general experience, benchmarks, etc) are greatly appreciated, >> >> I haven't used a hub, but I was happily surprised at how fast the USB 3 was with my Seagate 3TB external drive. This is not systematic benchmarking, but ... The first time I tried it, I measured how quickly it copied a file from the external drive to my laptop's internal hard drive. The file was 2.9 GB and it copied it in 17 seconds. A file that size was taking about 2 minutes by USB 2. Now I want to add USB 3 to my other machines, so I am also interested in the hubs. >> >> Mike >> >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 11:26:18 2013 From: jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com (Jeremy MountainJohnson) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:26:18 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] USB reset? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: libusb should offer a means of reset. I maintain a package for ArchLinux called restmsmice (http://sourceforge.net/projects/resetmsmice) based on libusb, that does essentially that, reset the usb port, albeit just of a specific input device in this case a mouse, so the device will work properly if dual booting with Windows. Source code could be helpful. What distro / kernel are you using? Could also be a driver problem with your USB ports since you are unmounting it. -- Jeremy MountainJohnson Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 11:11 AM, Max Shinn wrote: > On 1/30/13, Erik Mitchell wrote: > > I've run into this problem a few times. When I plug in a USB mass > > storage device, such as my Kindle or my iPhone 4, it will show up as a > > device and I can mount it, and everything is great. > > > > However, if I unmount it and unplug it, and then plug it in again, it > > isn't detected by the USB system. I have tried different cables to no > > avail. > > Does the same thing happen for normal flash drives, or just with > devices? I know my Maemo phone likes to do this every now and then > for no apparent reason. > > -Max > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From erik.mitchell at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 11:29:03 2013 From: erik.mitchell at gmail.com (Erik Mitchell) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:29:03 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] USB reset? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Distro is Debian. I believe I'm wheezy but I'd have to check. Also would need to check to get exact kernel version, but it's fairly current. On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 11:26 AM, Jeremy MountainJohnson wrote: > libusb should offer a means of reset. I maintain a package for ArchLinux > called restmsmice (http://sourceforge.net/projects/resetmsmice) based on > libusb, that does essentially that, reset the usb port, albeit just of a > specific input device in this case a mouse, so the device will work properly > if dual booting with Windows. Source code could be helpful. > > What distro / kernel are you using? Could also be a driver problem with your > USB ports since you are unmounting it. > > -- > Jeremy MountainJohnson > Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com > > > On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 11:11 AM, Max Shinn > wrote: >> >> On 1/30/13, Erik Mitchell wrote: >> > I've run into this problem a few times. When I plug in a USB mass >> > storage device, such as my Kindle or my iPhone 4, it will show up as a >> > device and I can mount it, and everything is great. >> > >> > However, if I unmount it and unplug it, and then plug it in again, it >> > isn't detected by the USB system. I have tried different cables to no >> > avail. >> >> Does the same thing happen for normal flash drives, or just with >> devices? I know my Maemo phone likes to do this every now and then >> for no apparent reason. >> >> -Max >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- Erik K. Mitchell erik.mitchell at gmail.com From jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 11:30:35 2013 From: jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com (Jeremy MountainJohnson) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:30:35 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] How to debug an intermittent super hard freeze? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Do you use Flash with Firefox? That was a common cause of some hefty lockups for me in Linux. Only difference is I could usually still ssh in, kill flash, and recover without a reboot. The plugin container would be eating up proc utilization and I think there was (maybe still is) a memory leak with the no longer maintained Linux plugin. -- Jeremy MountainJohnson Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 10:22 AM, Michael Moore wrote: > Every couple of days my computer freezes hard and I'm not sure how to > debug it. > > When it freezes Mouse and keyboard don't work, and I can't SSH in. There's > no disk activity either. The screen continues to display whatever it was > showing. > > In the past, when I got freezes I could do a SysRq-REISUB safe reboot, > but even that fails this time. > > I ran a full memtest86 test and everything passed. > > I don't know how to force it to occur. I usually have Firefox, some > terminals and pidgin open. Sometimes Thunderbird and VirtualBox are also > open, but not always. > > I'm running Debian Wheezy, 64 bit on a Thinkpad W530 > > I'd really like to avoid a reinstall if I can. > > Thanks, > Michael > -- > Support the digitization of the Iron County Miner newspaper archives > Like this project on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digitizeicm > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From stuporglue at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 11:31:41 2013 From: stuporglue at gmail.com (Michael Moore) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:31:41 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] USB reset? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 11:25 AM, Erik Mitchell wrote: > I am unmounting it. > > When I insert it again dmesg does not show any new information at all. > Does dmesg notice that the device is gone? When the device is removed are the /dev/disk/by-{id|label|path|uuid} links still there for the device? If you re-insert the device and try to manually mount by the previous /dev/ path (/dev/sdb or /dev/disk/by-whatever) does it work? -- Michael -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From stuporglue at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 11:36:39 2013 From: stuporglue at gmail.com (Michael Moore) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:36:39 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] How to debug an intermittent super hard freeze? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 11:30 AM, Jeremy MountainJohnson < jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com> wrote: > Do you use Flash with Firefox? That was a common cause of some hefty > lockups for me in Linux. Only difference is I could usually still ssh in, > kill flash, and recover without a reboot. The plugin container would be > eating up proc utilization and I think there was (maybe still is) a memory > leak with the no longer maintained Linux plugin. > I did. I just un-installed it. I've had flash crash the browser in the past but nothing that a "killall firefox-bin" wouldn't fix. I guess we'll see if that helps it or not. Thanks, Michael -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From sfertch at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 12:06:27 2013 From: sfertch at gmail.com (Shawn Fertch) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 12:06:27 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] How to debug an intermittent super hard freeze? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Have you setup kernel dumps to see if something can be captured? On Jan 30, 2013 11:37 AM, "Michael Moore" wrote: > On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 11:30 AM, Jeremy MountainJohnson < > jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com> wrote: > >> Do you use Flash with Firefox? That was a common cause of some hefty >> lockups for me in Linux. Only difference is I could usually still ssh in, >> kill flash, and recover without a reboot. The plugin container would be >> eating up proc utilization and I think there was (maybe still is) a memory >> leak with the no longer maintained Linux plugin. >> > > I did. I just un-installed it. I've had flash crash the browser in the > past but nothing that a "killall firefox-bin" wouldn't fix. I guess we'll > see if that helps it or not. > > Thanks, > Michael > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From stuporglue at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 12:26:07 2013 From: stuporglue at gmail.com (Michael Moore) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 12:26:07 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] How to debug an intermittent super hard freeze? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I have not. I'll set that up tonight when I get home from work. On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 12:06 PM, Shawn Fertch wrote: > Have you setup kernel dumps to see if something can be captured? > On Jan 30, 2013 11:37 AM, "Michael Moore" wrote: > >> On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 11:30 AM, Jeremy MountainJohnson < >> jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> Do you use Flash with Firefox? That was a common cause of some hefty >>> lockups for me in Linux. Only difference is I could usually still ssh in, >>> kill flash, and recover without a reboot. The plugin container would be >>> eating up proc utilization and I think there was (maybe still is) a memory >>> leak with the no longer maintained Linux plugin. >>> >> >> I did. I just un-installed it. I've had flash crash the browser in the >> past but nothing that a "killall firefox-bin" wouldn't fix. I guess we'll >> see if that helps it or not. >> >> Thanks, >> Michael >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> >> > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > -- Support the digitization of the Iron County Miner newspaper archives Like this project on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digitizeicm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From j at packetgod.com Wed Jan 30 13:31:23 2013 From: j at packetgod.com (J Cruit) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:31:23 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] The Forked Amazon Kindle Fire Is The Most Popular Brand of Android Tablet In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: That us what I use, great platform and they do have the latest android Roms for it. I'm on ics but will be upgrading shortly. I would never use the the Amazon Android as it fully locks you in to them. I do enjoy reading my nook books on a fire :) --j On Wednesday, January 30, 2013, Mike Miller wrote: > I just ran across this article... > > 59% Of All Android Tablet Usage Comes From The U.S., > And The Forked Amazon Kindle Fire Is The Most Popular Brand > > http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/**27/59-of-all-android-tablet-** > usage-comes-from-the-u-s-**where-amazons-kindle-fire-**leads-the-pack/ > > > ...but the article claims, "Because Fire is built on a 'forked' version of > Android, the Google Play app storefront doesn?t appear on it." That is not > true of the Kindle Fire I bought from Yaron (he advertised it here). It > does have Google Play. I don't know if he had to do something special to > get it on there. I do know that it is very important because it is how I > installed loads of software on the device, all for free (mostly free as in > freedom, too). > > Mike -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 16:33:14 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:33:14 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] How to debug an intermittent super hard freeze? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Wed, 30 Jan 2013, Michael Moore wrote: > On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 12:06 PM, Shawn Fertch wrote: > >> Have you setup kernel dumps to see if something can be captured? > > I have not. I'll set that up tonight when I get home from work. Have you looked at what is in /var/log/messages or /var/log/dmesg? I'm not sure those are the right log files to check, but someone else will know which are best to look at. Mike From mbmiller+l at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 16:36:21 2013 From: mbmiller+l at gmail.com (Mike Miller) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:36:21 -0600 (CST) Subject: [tclug-list] USB reset? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Wed, 30 Jan 2013, Michael Moore wrote: > On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 11:11 AM, Max Shinn > wrote: > >> On 1/30/13, Erik Mitchell wrote: >> >>> I've run into this problem a few times. When I plug in a USB mass >>> storage device, such as my Kindle or my iPhone 4, it will show up as a >>> device and I can mount it, and everything is great. >>> >>> However, if I unmount it and unplug it, and then plug it in again, it >>> isn't detected by the USB system. I have tried different cables to no >>> avail. >> > > Do you actually unmount it? I've had this problem with regular USB > devices when I've just pulled the device without unmounting. > > When you insert it again does dmesg tell you that the device has been > detected? If it does, can you mount it manually (with the mount > command)? If you plug it into a Windows machine, does it work there? Then, after that, if you go back to Linux, does it then work there again? Mike From stuporglue at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 16:44:44 2013 From: stuporglue at gmail.com (Michael Moore) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:44:44 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] How to debug an intermittent super hard freeze? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I have, but didn't see anything. Since I had to reboot to an accessible system I think the logs to look at would be /var/log/dmesg.0 /var/log/messages.1 etc. I think they get rotated on boot. It could be that the Flash thing was the problem. I had two hard crashes this morning (but none for the last 3 or so days). Since I removed flash I haven't had any problems. I'll still set up kernel dumps tonight though, just in case. -- Michael Michael On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 4:33 PM, Mike Miller wrote: > On Wed, 30 Jan 2013, Michael Moore wrote: > > On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 12:06 PM, Shawn Fertch wrote: >> >> Have you setup kernel dumps to see if something can be captured? >>> >> >> I have not. I'll set that up tonight when I get home from work. >> > > Have you looked at what is in /var/log/messages or /var/log/dmesg? I'm > not sure those are the right log files to check, but someone else will know > which are best to look at. > > Mike > > ______________________________**_________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/**mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- Support the digitization of the Iron County Miner newspaper archives Like this project on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digitizeicm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From sfertch at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 16:55:12 2013 From: sfertch at gmail.com (Shawn Fertch) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:55:12 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] How to debug an intermittent super hard freeze? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: One other item is if you recently updated you system and have old firmware. Or, vice versa On Jan 30, 2013 4:45 PM, "Michael Moore" wrote: > I have, but didn't see anything. > > Since I had to reboot to an accessible system I think the logs to look at > would be > > /var/log/dmesg.0 > /var/log/messages.1 > etc. > > I think they get rotated on boot. > > > It could be that the Flash thing was the problem. I had two hard crashes > this morning (but none for the last 3 or so days). Since I removed flash I > haven't had any problems. I'll still set up kernel dumps tonight though, > just in case. > > -- Michael > Michael > > > > On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 4:33 PM, Mike Miller wrote: > >> On Wed, 30 Jan 2013, Michael Moore wrote: >> >> On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 12:06 PM, Shawn Fertch >>> wrote: >>> >>> Have you setup kernel dumps to see if something can be captured? >>>> >>> >>> I have not. I'll set that up tonight when I get home from work. >>> >> >> Have you looked at what is in /var/log/messages or /var/log/dmesg? I'm >> not sure those are the right log files to check, but someone else will know >> which are best to look at. >> >> Mike >> >> ______________________________**_________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/**mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> > > > > -- > Support the digitization of the Iron County Miner newspaper archives > Like this project on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digitizeicm > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tclug at beitsahour.net Thu Jan 31 09:37:52 2013 From: tclug at beitsahour.net (Munir Nassar) Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:37:52 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] How to debug an intermittent super hard freeze? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 4:33 PM, Mike Miller wrote: > On Wed, 30 Jan 2013, Michael Moore wrote: > >> On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 12:06 PM, Shawn Fertch wrote: >> >>> Have you setup kernel dumps to see if something can be captured? >> >> >> I have not. I'll set that up tonight when I get home from work. > > > Have you looked at what is in /var/log/messages or /var/log/dmesg? I'm not > sure those are the right log files to check, but someone else will know > which are best to look at. If linux crashed hard, it may not have had the ability to write to disk. sometimes it is preceeded by oopses or non-fatal panics, but in my experience not often enough. If that machine has a serial port i would recommend setting up a serial console, (for example: http://www.debuntu.org/how-to-set-up-a-serial-console-on-debian/) this will allow you to capture kernel messages that would otherwise be masked by X or bootsplash. All you need is another machine with a serial port to record what is happening. If you can reproduce the problem at will then you can keep an eye on it as it happens. There is an alternative to the serial console, the netconsole module. Unfortunately i have had only marginal success with this one, but it is worth a try. the syntax is something like: modprobe netconsole netconsole=@/eth0,515 at syslogserver/ but you can just setup a netcat listener on any port on another machine if you do not have a syslog server( nc -l 1515 ) From erikerik at gmail.com Thu Jan 31 14:00:24 2013 From: erikerik at gmail.com (Erik Anderson) Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:00:24 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] How to debug an intermittent super hard freeze? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Thu, Jan 31, 2013 at 9:37 AM, Munir Nassar wrote: > If linux crashed hard, it may not have had the ability to write to > disk. sometimes it is preceeded by oopses or non-fatal panics, but in > my experience not often enough. > This reminded me of something interesting I discovered accidentally a couple years ago. My employer at that time had a fibre channel fabric, connecting all of our headless servers to their storage. I was performing some maintenance on the switch fabric, the nature of which I can't remember at the moment, but regardless, it required me to disconnect a couple fiber patch cables. I pulled out one of the cables and then got distracted for a couple minutes by something else. During that time I started getting pages about a system being inaccessible. I started looking into the situation and quickly discovered that instead of disconnecting the cable I had intended to, I accidentally pulled the cable connecting this server to our FC network, effectively pulling its storage subsystem out from under its feet. I re-patched that cable, then pulled up this server's console, fully expecting to see a kernel panic. Instead of seeing that, I saw what appeared to be a completely functional system. Not believing what I was seeing, I checked the system's uptime and sure enough, it indeed had not rebooted, but rather just picked up right where it left off before. Armed with this information, I started playing around with a test system to see how long the kernel would stay alive with *no* storage connected, and was able to stretch things out well past the 15 minute mark with no ill effects. This all was a revelation to me, as I had always assumed that, absent a working root partition, the system would immediately crash. I now know that's not the case. Now, in this situation, the disks were connected via fibre, so there were no electrical/grounding ramifications to disconnecting while in use. I certainly would not advocate trying this on non-hotplug, electrically-connected hardware, as I'm sure you'd release the magic smoke from *some* component. :) -Erik -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com Thu Jan 31 14:52:38 2013 From: jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com (Jeremy MountainJohnson) Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:52:38 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] How to debug an intermittent super hard freeze? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Interesting. I had a guy at a previous job who was using a bootable Linux thumb drive (not live, drive and ram were the primary storage) I had made with some preset tools. He kept complaining the file system was corrupting- turns out when he was done he would take out the thumb drive (his idea of a shut down). I've also accidentally pulled a thumb drive running Linux out before- usually panics in about 30 seconds, and plugging it in quickly when remembering it's the system drive doesn't help ;-) -- Jeremy MountainJohnson Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com On Thu, Jan 31, 2013 at 2:00 PM, Erik Anderson wrote: > > On Thu, Jan 31, 2013 at 9:37 AM, Munir Nassar wrote: >> >> If linux crashed hard, it may not have had the ability to write to >> disk. sometimes it is preceeded by oopses or non-fatal panics, but in >> my experience not often enough. > > > This reminded me of something interesting I discovered accidentally a couple years ago. My employer at that time had a fibre channel fabric, connecting all of our headless servers to their storage. > > I was performing some maintenance on the switch fabric, the nature of which I can't remember at the moment, but regardless, it required me to disconnect a couple fiber patch cables. I pulled out one of the cables and then got distracted for a couple minutes by something else. During that time I started getting pages about a system being inaccessible. I started looking into the situation and quickly discovered that instead of disconnecting the cable I had intended to, I accidentally pulled the cable connecting this server to our FC network, effectively pulling its storage subsystem out from under its feet. > > I re-patched that cable, then pulled up this server's console, fully expecting to see a kernel panic. Instead of seeing that, I saw what appeared to be a completely functional system. Not believing what I was seeing, I checked the system's uptime and sure enough, it indeed had not rebooted, but rather just picked up right where it left off before. > > Armed with this information, I started playing around with a test system to see how long the kernel would stay alive with *no* storage connected, and was able to stretch things out well past the 15 minute mark with no ill effects. > > This all was a revelation to me, as I had always assumed that, absent a working root partition, the system would immediately crash. I now know that's not the case. > > Now, in this situation, the disks were connected via fibre, so there were no electrical/grounding ramifications to disconnecting while in use. I certainly would not advocate trying this on non-hotplug, electrically-connected hardware, as I'm sure you'd release the magic smoke from *some* component. :) > > -Erik > > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > From erikerik at gmail.com Thu Jan 31 14:59:16 2013 From: erikerik at gmail.com (Erik Anderson) Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:59:16 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] How to debug an intermittent super hard freeze? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Thu, Jan 31, 2013 at 2:52 PM, Jeremy MountainJohnson < jeremy.mountainjohnson at gmail.com> wrote: > I've also accidentally pulled a thumb > drive running Linux out before- usually panics in about 30 seconds, > and plugging it in quickly when remembering it's the system drive > doesn't help ;-) > I'm guessing the difference there lies in the fact that when you pull the thumbdrive, the USB subsystem removes the device node, which needless to say, messes things up. In the case of fibre channel, the device node is still there (the PCIe HBA), so the kernel still sees the device. It just thinks accessing the storage itself is *really* slow. :) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mr.chew.baka at gmail.com Thu Jan 31 15:39:25 2013 From: mr.chew.baka at gmail.com (B-o-B De Mars) Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:39:25 -0600 Subject: [tclug-list] *Saturday* Penguins Unbound Meeting January 26th 2013! In-Reply-To: <5102289D.7010105@Goecke-Dolan.com> References: <5102289D.7010105@Goecke-Dolan.com> Message-ID: <510AE48D.9060305@gmail.com> On 1/25/2013 12:39 AM, Brian wrote:: > > Would people be interested in a Pi-Day ? A day full of Rasberry Pi > Hacking! Here is a pretty slick video about some guys who built a super computer out of 64 PI's. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq5nrHz9I94 The gory details: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~sjc/raspberrypi/pi_supercomputer_southampton.htm?et_cid=22268265&et_rid=3671923&Linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.southampton.ac.uk%2f~sjc%2fraspberrypi%2fpi_supercomputer_southampton.htm&CMP=EMC-22268265