October 2014 - Roundtable

IBM "clicky" keyboards
by Adam Thompson 13 Oct '16

13 Oct '16

Enough people have wondered/asked/complained to me about this that I'm posting this now as a public service. IBM Model "M" keyboards are still available, *NEW*, today. They are expensive, but they are the original design that you can use as a melee weapon. The catch is that they don't say "IBM" or even "Lexmark" on them. They are available for purchase from the manufacturer, Unicomp, who can be found online at http://www.pckeyboard.com/. You can also find some vintage NIB units from time to time at http://www.clickykeyboards.com/. There are also a number of other manufacturers now making similar, but not quite as good, keyboards. - CVT Inc., the maker of the Avant Stellar (I own two of them), which is the direct descendant of the Northgate Omnikey, seems to have restructured and no trace of their keyboard manufacturing operation can be found online. However, Northgate keyboards are still available new-in-box from (this is a horrible site, beware) http://www.northgate-keyboard-repair.com/. - The Happy Hacking keyboard (now owned by Fujitsu, apparently) is equally comforting to some people despite having a totally different feel. They, and many others, can be had from http://www.elitekeyboards.com/ - Das Keyboard - Anything using Cherry MX Green, Blue, or White keyswitches. The "green" switches apparently are the closest anyone's come yet to emulating the IBM/Lexmark/Unicomp switches... and they can be had in MUCH cheaper keyboards, like the Rosewill RK-9000 (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823201040 and http://techreport.com/review/23405/rosewill-rk-9000-series-mechanical-ke yboards-reviewed). - And there are an increasing number (yes, again, after the big die-off ca. 2009) of speciality manufacturers of "ergonomic" keyboards that are making clicky keyswitches available as an option. One of the better ones is a tiny shop in Ontario, but I can't find the name right now. References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_M_keyboard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicomp http://deskthority.net/wiki/Cherry_MX -Adam Thompson athompso(a)athompso.net

7 12

SpamAssassin false positives on DATE_IN_FUTURE_96_Q?
by Gilbert E. Detillieux 23 Feb '16

23 Feb '16

I mentioned this problem at the last round-table session, but didn't get a solution, so I thought I'd post it here, just in case anyone has any suggestions to offer. I'm still seeing a whole bunch of false positives in SpamAssassin, since an update was installed in mid-September on a CentOS 5.7 system, for a rule called DATE_IN_FUTURE_96_Q, which is only supposed to be triggered when the "Date:" header has a date that is 4 days to 4 month ahead of the date in the "Received" header that has the _smallest_ difference in date. Here are the headers from the latest e-mail I've received with this false-positive. (I've stripped out irrelevant headers, for the sake of clarity and simplicity.) From topfivestories(a)messagent.itworldcanada.com Mon Nov 14 07:50:13 2011 Received: from mail.messagent.itworldcanada.com (mail.messagent.itworldcanada.com [207.112.10.80]) by palladium.cs.umanitoba.ca (8.13.8/8.13.8) with SMTP id pAEDoAxV028594 for <gedetil(a)cs.umanitoba.ca>; Mon, 14 Nov 2011 07:50:12 -0600 Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2011 08:50:13 -0500 X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,DATE_IN_FUTURE_96_Q, HTML_MESSAGE,RP_MATCHES_RCVD autolearn=no version=3.3.1 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.3.1 (2010-03-16) on palladium.cs.umanitoba.ca Note that I'm calling spamd via the spamass-milter on a system running sendmail. Note also, that in the above example, the only "Received" header was the one generated by my own server. (I've had other false positives, however, with multiple "Received" headers, all of which were within seconds of the time in the "Date" header.) Any ideas? -- Gilbert E. Detillieux E-mail: <gedetil(a)muug.mb.ca> Manitoba UNIX User Group Web: http://www.muug.mb.ca/ PO Box 130 St-Boniface Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg MB CANADA R2H 3B4 Fax: (204)474-7609

6 11

big scanner
by Trevor Cordes 27 May '15

27 May '15

Does anyone have big (like tabloid or bigger) scanner they want to sell? Even an ancient SCSI or parallel one might be ok. I just want *big*. Do they even make scanners bigger than legal or tabloid?

4 6

Fwd: [Board] Rockstor: A Linux and BTRFS based NAS solution
by Adam Thompson 31 Oct '14

31 Oct '14

The board received this recently, and we're forwarding it for your information. MUUG makes no assertion or comment on this project whatsoever... maybe someone would like to evaluate it and do a short presentation about it? -Adam -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: [Board] Rockstor: A Linux and BTRFS based NAS solution Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 07:13:45 -0700 From: Suman Chakravartula <suman(a)rockstor.com> To: volunteers(a)lists.svlug.org, bellevuelinux(a)gmail.com, linux(a)oclug.on.ca, linux(a)lists.oregonstate.edu, lalugs(a)yahoogroups.com, oclug-owner(a)oclug.org, brian(a)zimage.com, sfvlug(a)sfvlug.org, svglug(a)svglug.net, sblug-announce(a)lists.sblug.com, officers(a)linux.ucla.edu, vclug(a)lists.actusa.net, webmaster(a)lalugs.org, officers(a)lists.svlug.org, general(a)brlug.net, joey(a)joeykelly.net, officers(a)blu.org, gaf(a)blu.org, lkvam(a)venix.com, dlslug-announce(a)borlaug.bfccomputing.com, gnhlug-announce(a)mail.gnhlugNoSpam.org, nylug-announce(a)nylug.org, cowlug(a)cowlug.org, info(a)nanlug.org, vanlug(a)robomod.net, pres(a)vlug.org, vp(a)vlug.org, secretary(a)vlug.org, treasurer(a)vlug.org, program(a)muug.mb.ca, sig(a)muug.mb.ca, monctonlug-general(a)lists.sourceforge.net, nslug(a)nslug.ns.ca, barrielug(a)bluglists.barrielug.org, group(a)bglug.ca, ottawa-gosling(a)list.goslingcommunity.org, announce(a)gtalug.org, dmitton(a)klug.on.ca, kwlug-announce(a)kwlug.org, oclug-announce(a)lists.oclug.on.ca, westtlug(a)yahoogroups.ca Hi, I'd like to introduce a project/product of mine called Rockstor. It is a Linux and BTRFS based open source NAS solution that runs on commodity hardware and provides enterprise level features with easy to use management interface and much more. Rockstor is suited for advanced home users/offices and businesses with Storage needs looking for enterprise class open source alternatives. I hope members of your LUG find Rockstor interesting and useful. Please spread the word. I'd love to have other Linux fans like me join Rockstor community, benefit from it's value and help make it better. For a live demo, download, blog and more information about Rockstor, please go to: http://rockstor.com Please contact me if you have any questions. Thanks -- Suman Chakravartula Rockstor, Inc. _______________________________________________ Board mailing list Board(a)muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/board -- -Adam Thompson athompso(a)athompso.net Cell: +1 204 291-7950 Fax: +1 204 489-6515

2 1

weird ssd image issue
by Trevor Cordes 31 Oct '14

31 Oct '14

I made a drive image of an SSD using dd a while back. I had to go back to the image to do a repair, and something is wrong with the image. When put back on the SSD and a boot is attempted, Windows7 won't boot. I check it with linux and it says the main NTFS FS is corrupted. I run fixes on it and I can mount it and look at many files, but every 50 or so files generates an I/O error when listing the directory entry, let alone trying to read the file. I do these types of images all the time and consider myself an expert at it, and never have these types of problems (even on source disks that are already dying). One of the only things I could come up with is I noticed while doing this image restore that the customer (who built it themselves) had used a SATA2 cable on a 6Gb/s SATA3 port (and the SSD is 6Gb/s). Could this have caused corruption of data "on the wire"? Is that even possible? Would wire-caused errors be detected by the mobo, or is it just the drive that does checksums? Do 6G mobos and drives detect when a 3G cable is used and downshift to 3G? The system seemed to run fine for a year setup this way, so perhaps the errors are very infrequent but doing the image at full-blast reading the whole 120GB in a few mins caused this problem? The SSD died (actually, is dying) 3 weeks after the image was made, so there is also a chance the drive was just screwing up already and giving me back bad data. However, the customer had no problems with Windows during the 3 weeks until I/O started showing up in Windows. Lastly, can a mis-wiring like this kill an SSD? This is an OCZ Vertex 420 drive (a brand I don't sell, but they bought elsewhere) and we already have RMA'd the drive once, and it definitely is dead a 2nd time now. Either OCZ SSDs suck bad, or perhaps something else is going on? Perhaps a mis-wiring can cause the SSD to detect errors and request re-dos from the OS causing a multiplication of writes? Just guessing here. Most likely the OCZ just sucks rocks. I read some other people on the net having real big problems with dying OCZ SSDs.

2 2

Ubuntu -> Kubuntu
by Kevin McGregor 28 Oct '14

28 Oct '14

I just installed Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS, and I was wondering what Kubuntu would be like on the same system. Is it as easy as apt-get install kubuntu-desktop and logging out/in (or rebooting)? Are there any gotchas to look out for? I've installed a couple of apps, specifically VMware Workstation and Google Chrome. Will they continue to work transparently? That is, I don't need to re-install them, do I?

3 2

Re: [RndTbl] Roundtable Digest, Vol 118, Issue 9
by Michael Doob 27 Oct '14

27 Oct '14

Why not just install kubuntu? Cheers, MichaelOn 14-10-27 12:00 PM, roundtable-request(a)muug.mb.ca wrote: > Send Roundtable mailing list submissions to > roundtable(a)muug.mb.ca > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > roundtable-request(a)muug.mb.ca > > You can reach the person managing the list at > roundtable-owner(a)muug.mb.ca > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Roundtable digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Ubuntu -> Kubuntu (Kevin McGregor) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 10:07:46 -0500 > From: Kevin McGregor <kevin.a.mcgregor(a)gmail.com> > To: Continuation of Round Table discussion <roundtable(a)muug.mb.ca> > Subject: [RndTbl] Ubuntu -> Kubuntu > Message-ID: > <CACBFUzipkNLYUiPueQvcDOzmioyi28EF5-uS_Se03c=6iNHvcg(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > I just installed Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS, and I was wondering what Kubuntu would > be like on the same system. > > Is it as easy as > apt-get install kubuntu-desktop > and logging out/in (or rebooting)? Are there any gotchas to look out for? > I've installed a couple of apps, specifically VMware Workstation and Google > Chrome. Will they continue to work transparently? That is, I don't need to > re-install them, do I? >

2 1

wanted: Seagate 2TB
by Trevor Cordes 10 Oct '14

10 Oct '14

Do you own a Seagate ST2000DM001 2TB drive? That's their cheap desktop line of which they have sold zillions. For a project, I need a close match to an existing drive. If you have one of these drives that matches what I need, I would be willing to trade you your old drive for a brand new 3TB ST3000DM001 drive! You can't lose! So check if your drive (the sticker on the top) matches: PN must be 1CH164-575 date code should be very close to 13493, preferably one that starts with "13" (the year) and maybe between 1320 and 1350 (year plus week). As a bonus, if you have a way to weigh the drive, that would really help out also (though not required). If you think you have a match, email me all the numbers on the sticker, or a pic of the sticker. Only the first close drive someone offers to me will get the deal, sorry! Thanks!

4 5

[Muug] MUUG Meeting, Oct 14, 7:30pm -- Network Hosting - 100% UNIX
by Gilbert E. Detillieux 07 Oct '14

07 Oct '14

The Manitoba UNIX User Group (MUUG) will be holding its next monthly meeting on Tuesday, October 14. The meeting topic for this month is as follows: Network Hosting - 100% UNIX This month, Adam Thompson will talk about setting up a 100% UNIX- and Linux-based network and hosting environment from scratch. Adam will give a high-level overview of each major component, including Routing with BGP, Firewalling, VM Hosting, DNS, Mail, Monitoring with SNMP and more. Check out the web site for further updates, including this month's RTFM topic. The group holds its general meetings at 7:30pm on the second Tuesday of every month from September to June. (There are no meetings in July and August.) Meetings are open to the general public; you don't have to be a MUUG member to attend. ***************************************************************** Please note our *NEW* meeting location for this month: Room 1L08, Lockhart Hall, University of Winnipeg, entrance on Ellice Ave. between Spence St. and Balmoral St. Parking is available on the surrounding streets and in the lots on nearby streets. Look for signage once you're at the building, or ask a security guard. ***************************************************************** For more information about MUUG, and its monthly meetings, check out their Web server: http://www.muug.mb.ca/ Help us promote this month's meeting, by putting this poster up on your workplace bulletin board or other suitable public message board: http://www.muug.mb.ca/meetings/MUUGmeeting.pdf -- Gilbert E. Detillieux E-mail: <gedetil(a)muug.mb.ca> Manitoba UNIX User Group Web: http://www.muug.mb.ca/ PO Box 130 St-Boniface Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg MB CANADA R2H 3B4 Fax: (204)474-7609

1 0

World Record Attempt
by Robert Keizer 05 Oct '14

05 Oct '14

Hey. So I'm making a world record attempt starting Monday. Specifically the longest journey by car inside a single country [1]. I've got a live map up [2] where you can track my progress while I've got data on my cell phone. [1] http://goo.gl/TAQs5P [2] http://canada2014.ca

3 2