October 2016 - Talk - lists.gtalug.org

[GTALUG-Announce] Meeting on 8 Nov at 7:30pm
by hi＠gtalug.org 25 Oct '16

25 Oct '16

<https://gtalug.org/meeting/2016-12/> # Thirteen Hours of Go with David Collier-Brown Trying out a new language by: - writing things based on cool or elegant stuff in it, - rewriting something you know in it, and - writing something that was hard elsewhere in it. And yes, it's indeed a cool language. Presentation File: <https://gtalug.org/static/uploads/meetings/2016-11/thirteen-talk.odp> ## Location George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre 245 Church Street, Room 203 Ryerson University <http://goo.gl/maps/16oJ2> <http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/23447525> ## Schedule * 6:00 pm - Please discuss on the general mailing list (i.e. <talk(a)gtalug.org>) where you want to go for dinner. * 7:30 pm - Meeting and presentation. * 9:00 pm - After each meeting, a group of GTALUGers move to The Imperial Pub (54 Dundas St East) for refreshments and more socialising. # Code of Conduct We want a productive happy community that can welcome new ideas, improve every process every year, and foster collaboration between individuals with differing needs, interests and skills. We gain strength from diversity, and actively seek participation from those who enhance it. This code of conduct exists to ensure that diverse groups collaborate to mutual advantage and enjoyment. We will challenge prejudice that could jeopardise the participation of any person in the community. The Code of Conduct governs how we behave in public or in private whenever the Linux community will be judged by our actions. We expect it to be honoured by everyone who represents the community officially or informally, claims affiliation or participates directly. It applies to activities online or offline. We invite anybody to participate. Our community is open. Please read more about the GTALUG Code of Conduct here: <http://gtalug.org/about/code-of-conduct/>. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about the GTALUG Code of Conduct please contact the GTALUG Board @ <board(a)gtalug.org>. --- GTALUG Announce mailing list announce(a)gtalug.org https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

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desktop search in GNOME
by Matt Price 24 Oct '16

24 Oct '16

I've been using GNOME for a long time and am used to it, but the desktop search functionality is pretty limited. In my current installation it doesn't seem like tracker is integrated into the "windows" key search -- but from what I read it's supposed to be. I'm about to get a new computer and am planning to do an incremental migration where I try to fix some of hte problems in my current setup. I wondered -- does anyone have tips for getting search set up in an effective way? Thanks so much as usual, Matt

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An Open Source Auto Time Tracker
by Myles Braithwaite 👾 24 Oct '16

24 Oct '16

tl;dr Looking for an open source alternative to RescueTime and WakaTime. I'm currently using RescueTime and WakaTime to track what I do and how long I do it on my computer. As an example RescueTime will tell me how many hours I have watched YouTube last month (8h 56m) and WakaTime tracks how long I have worked on a project in a text editor or IDE (i.e. I worked on my Ansible talk I did at GTALUG last month for 6h 3m). I use multiple computers and having that data in a convenient web dashboard and sent to me in a weekly email is really beneficial to my productivity. The issue with WakaTime and RescueTime is they are proprietary software and services. I haven't been able to find a good Open Source project that replicates their core functionality (i.e. a central place to store the data and a good auto time tracker). I was wondering if there is a good open source alternative?

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Re: [GTALUG] FPD-Link adapter kits -Success
by Russell Reiter 23 Oct '16

23 Oct '16

Top posting again. It all works. The recycled laptop screen is connected to the Pi through the M.NT68676.2A display adapter. The provisional instructions said to make sure the ground on the LVDS cable was connected to the adapter correctly or damage to the screen would result. The original Toshiba cable was tabbed on top so it could only connect in the correct orientation. In fact the pin offset on the connection ensures that the cable only fits one way, if gentle pressure is used. Other than that, easy as Pi, although xrandr can't report the correct gamma size of this adapter. The OSD works fine and so I'm happy enough. Now to check a the old screens, hopefully there a few LG in the lot and close enough to this modle to be able to use this cable. Russell Sent from mobile. > > > On Oct 4, 2016 3:54 PM, "Russell Reiter" <rreiter91(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> >> On Aug 24, 2016 10:46 AM, "Russell Reiter" <rreiter91(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> > >> > On Aug 23, 2016 10:52 AM, "D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk" < talk(a)gtalug.org> wrote: >> > > >> > > | From: Russell Reiter via talk <talk(a)gtalug.org> >> > > >> > > | Has anyone tried out the LCD adapter kits like this one on ebay. >> <snip previous> >> >> I went with this product as it has a number of signal inputs. Also available on the net is a usb EPROM flash tool, but I'm hoping to override/modify EDID data in X in order to test several closely related LCDs with the same cable. >> >> M.NT68676.2A(HDMI+DVI+VGA+Audio) LCD/LED Screen Controller Board Diy Monitor Kit >> >> The cost was $61, and some change. It took about six weeks to ship. I got the full kit with power adapter rather than trying to recycle the PS and backlight inverter from the tickle trunk. >> >> Time to dig out the multimeter. >> >> The general instructions are to power test the inverter first, then test that the cable ground from screen to adapter is correct. >> >> Here's a shot of the package contents as delivered to my standard apartment sized mailbox. >> >> Very nice braid on the FPDL cable, I couldn't do that without a lot of practice. There is no spec sheet with the package so I'm going to turn to the net to figure out the EDID pairs. >> >> Success or failure some time soon, but It wouldn't be the the first time I toasted my pet project. >> >> Russell >> Sent from mobile. >> >> >> On Aug 24, 2016 10:46 AM, "Russell Reiter" <rreiter91(a)gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>> On Aug 23, 2016 10:52 AM, "D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk" <talk(a)gtalug.org> wrote: >>> > >>> > | From: Russell Reiter via talk <talk(a)gtalug.org> >>> > >>> > | Has anyone tried out the LCD adapter kits like this one on ebay. >>> > | >>> > | http://m.ebay.com/itm/121124750917?_mwBanner=1 >>> > >>> > Not me. But thanks for posting this. I'm mildly interested because of >>> > two projects that I never get around to. >>> >>> Here's a slightly cheaper one with VGA input only. This place drop ships from Flushing NY, although they say add 30 days for international delivery, most of them sellers I've viewed say that somewhere. >>> >>> These pre assembled device matched units all seem to come from the same manufacturing campus in China. >>> >>> http://m.ebay.com/itm/RTD2270-Universal-LCD-Controller-Board-Kit-VGA-to-LVD… >>> >>> I'm currently thinking of this one. >>> >>> http://www.chalk-elec.com/?page_id=1280#!/HDMI-to-LVDS-converter/p/14647633… >>> >>> You have to make/repurpose your own LVDS cable. However, there is a ink to step by step instructions and a they provide their own utility for loading EDID. This would be good for me considering where I'm starting from. However, in my case I may be wrong in my assumption these Toshiba's are all using LG. >>> >>> There is also this; as well as the native Linux EDID tools you can use to tinker Xorg. >>> >>> http://developer.amd.com/tools-and-sdks/graphics-development/amd-edid-utili… >>> >>> From what I have read so far, it is possible that if any of the adapters sold now is hooked up correctly ie. voltages and pin assignments are correct, you will get some sort of output. >>> >>> This guy has blogged his RE adventure. >>> >>> https://hackaday.io/project/4177/logs >>> >>> <snip> >>> > >>> > (Isn't it sad that the quality and resolution of the 15.6" notebook >>> > ($400) is so much less that of the 7" tablet ($40).) >>> >>> I see this as a transport issue related to supply side economics. You can invest in better technology for smaller items because your risk of damage or loss is spread out over a larger lot per container. The larger the display, the more fragile it becomes and shipping time and distance becomes more problematic. >>> >>> > --- >>> > Talk Mailing List >>> > talk(a)gtalug.org >>> > https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk >>> >>> Russell >>> Sent from mobile. > >

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Ubuntu/Canonical livepatch
by Jamon Camisso 21 Oct '16

21 Oct '16

So this just got announced: https://www.ubuntu.com/server/livepatch >From this write up it sounds like a pretty clean implementation of kpatch: http://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2016/10/canonical-livepatch.html Free for up to 3 machines beats any of the Suse, RHEL, or Oracle offerings. I've got it running, so far no changes, but hopefully there'll be an update for CVE-2016-5195 soon: sudo canonical-livepatch status --verbose machine-id: <snip> last-check: 2016-10-20T11:35:01.408858488+01:00 boot-time: 2016-10-20T11:28:11+01:00 uptime: 10h48m6s status: - kernel: 4.8.0-25.27-generic running: false livepatch: state: nothing-to-apply version: "" fixes: "" - kernel: 4.4.0-36.55-generic running: true livepatch: state: nothing-to-apply version: "" fixes: ""

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VirtualBox Guest Additions in Ubuntu VM doesn't work
by William Park 20 Oct '16

20 Oct '16

Question for Ubuntu users... VirtualBox Guest Additions installed by default on Ubuntu/Kubuntu VM is 5.0.18, ie. modinfo vboxsf Now, when I try to upgrade to latest 5.1.8, the install script (VBoxLinuxAdditions.run inside VBoxGuestAdditions.iso) finishes OK, but the version is still 5.0.18. Looking at kernel drivers, it seems that I have 2 versions of drivers: kernel/ubuntu/vbox/... --> from Ubuntu kernel misc/... --> newly compiled When I removed the default kernel drivers, then it uses the newly compiled 5.1.8 drivers. (which is what I want) What is Ubuntu-way of removing kernel drivers, or specifying which driver should be loaded? -- William

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Hiring Someone to do a Custom Ubuntu Spins
by Marcus Brubaker 18 Oct '16

18 Oct '16

Hi, I'm involved in a start-up which has developed software to run on Ubuntu Linux [1]. We're currently looking to sell "appliance" servers with the software pre-installed. We want to streamline the installation process by building a custom install ISO which uses our required partitioning scheme and installs some additional drivers and software that are not available on the base image. We'd like to hire someone on a contract basis to do this for us. Primarily, we just need someone who can work through the steps here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallCDCustomization based on our requirements. Minimal requirements include having the installer: - Partition drives in a particular configuration - Install specific required packages - Install NVIDIA and CUDA drivers - Create a special user and execution of a scripts to install software as that user. If you're interested or have any questions feel free to send me an email with your CV and some idea of what your rates might be. Cheers, Marcus

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Kernel Mode Set & EDID links
by Russell Reiter 17 Oct '16

17 Oct '16

I haven't tested the display adapter I ordered yet but I thought the links here might be of general interest. No pun intended, but it's always nice to be able to have a default resolution for a display problem. https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Docume… https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/driver… I came across these while looking for more info on HDMI. With so many different display connection types and so many different Flat Panel Displays, it's good to know where and how to take control, without resorting to turning off kernel modeset at runtime. Russell Sent from mobile.

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Ubuntu 4.4.0-43 kernel update issue
by Tim Tisdall 17 Oct '16

17 Oct '16

On the off chance anyone else is using Ubuntu 16.04 ... This morning I found my computer barely usable because of a kernel update yesterday. My screen resolution was reduced to the minimum, mouse and track pad didn't work, and no wifi. After some searching online, I found that the issue was the update failed to install the "extra" package. You can check if this is your problem by running ` dpkg --list "*4.4.0-43*" ` and seeing if you're missing the "linux-image-extra" package. If so, then you can run "sudo apt-get install linux-image-extra-4.4.0-43-generic" to fix it.

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Screen Resolution Problem with Ubuntu
by Stephen 16 Oct '16

16 Oct '16

I have an H97M-E MB with on board Intel video chips. I have a high def ASUS monitor. I connect through a KVM switch, the video being VGA For a long time I have had no trouble with 1920x1080 resolution. Things started getting flaky in the spring. An OS update prevented Ubuntu system tools from recognizing the monitor and the highest res was 1024x768. I decided to upgrade from 14.04 to 16.04 hoping that would fix. It did not and there was a lot of pain in the upgrade. I finally found I could fix using xrandr. Last week Ubuntu issued another OS update and it again caused the monitor to not be recognized and the max resolution to be 1024x768. I ensured the full update was performed as discussed in recent email to this group. I upgraded to 16.10. No pain but no joy. I explored further with xrandr: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/xrandr I used cvt I got: Modeline "1920x1080_60.00" 173.00 1920 2048 2248 2576 1080 1083 1088 1120 -hsync +vsync xrandr --newmode "1920x1080_60.00" 173.00 1920 2048 2248 2576 1080 1083 1088 1120 -hsync +vsync xrandr --addmode 1920x1080_60.00 After the last commend, my screen resolution was reduced to something like 640x480 and an error window popped up. I could not read the full error message because it was off the screen. It started with "Could not set" I had to do a system reset. So still no joy. Still stuck at 1024x768. I posted to the Ubuntu forums. No response yet. Any and all suggestions welcome and appreciated. -- Stephen

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