August 2016 - Talk - lists.gtalug.org

FSOSS 2016 registration is now open
by Stewart C. Russell 29 Sep '16

29 Sep '16

As Scott mentioned at Tuesday's meeting: What ==== The 16th Free Software and Open Source Symposium http://cdot.fsoss.ca/ Where ===== Seneca@York Campus 70 The Pond Rd, North York, ON M3J 3M6 http://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=43.77151&mlon=-79.50007#map=18/43.77151/… geo:43.772,-79.5 When ===== 2016-10-27 – 2016-10-28 (Last Thursday & Friday in October) How much ======== $75 early bird until beginning of October How === http://fsoss2016.strikingly.com/#register-for-fsoss (or go through the main http://cdot.fsoss.ca/ link) Why === I enjoyed this a lot the last time I went. Price seems to have gone up a bit, but it goes up a *lot* if you miss the early bird. Easy to get to by transit, kinda expensive to park. ISTR a somewhat stodgy pizza lunch is thrown in, but the campus is about a 10 minute stroll to Bamiyan Kabob, a truly epic Afghani restaurant. cheers, Stewart (oh, and in same location *tonight* is the Raspberry Pi meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Raspberry-Pi/events/229466291/ )

2 1

Setting up a VM host
by Giles Orr 06 Sep '16

06 Sep '16

If I wanted to set up a host for a bunch of headless VMs, what's the OS/Hypervisor to run these days? I'm doing this out of curiosity and for testing purposes. I don't exactly have appropriate hardware - an i5 with 16GB of memory - but it should be sufficient to run 5-10 VMs for my very limited purposes (private network, none of the VMs will be public-facing). QEMU/KVM looks like the best choice for a FOSS advocate? Other recommendations? I could particularly use a good HOWTO or tutorial if anyone knows of one. Thanks. -- Giles http://www.gilesorr.com/ gilesorr(a)gmail.com

11 33

anyone running linux on a new dell xps 9550
by Dave Cramer 06 Sep '16

06 Sep '16

incredibly cheap powerful machine, a bit too new. Anyone here have any real world experience? Dave Cramer

7 7

Netgear 5-port Gigabit switch -- $10 ?
by William Park 05 Sep '16

05 Sep '16

Canada Computer is selling - Netgear GS105E ProSafe Plus Switch, 5-Port Gigabit Ethernet - 5 Ports - 5 x RJ-45 - 10/100/1000Base-T - Wall Mountable - http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=355&item_id=077172&ut… for $10. Any comment on the item? -- William

8 29

Re: [GTALUG] overengineering: hostnamectl
by Alvin Starr 29 Aug '16

29 Aug '16

On 08/29/2016 09:19 AM, ac via talk wrote: > On Sun, 28 Aug 2016 21:33:29 -0500 > o1bigtenor via talk <talk(a)gtalug.org> wrote: >> On Sun, Aug 28, 2016 at 8:41 PM, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk >> <talk(a)gtalug.org> wrote: >>> How do you set the hostname of a Linux machine? It used to be you >>> just put it in the file /etc/hostname. >>> snip >>> To be honest, what bothers me is that there seem to be several >>> different models of what a hostname is. It would be nice if we >>> actually could delete some of these interfaces, and merge some >>> others, leaving behind only one model. Maybe the SystemD model is >>> that one. >> Hmmmmmm - - - as it was explained to me systemd wants to be ALL things >> to all systems, covering every background detail - - - - that sounds >> like a recipe for disaster to me!!! > my take is that the subject line says exactly what the problem is, > that and that there is a "highlander" thing ongoing... > When you say "highlander" do you mean the car, the movie, the TV show, or the games? -- Alvin Starr || voice: (905)513-7688 Netvel Inc. || Cell: (416)806-0133 alvin(a)netvel.net ||

2 1

overengineering: hostnamectl
by D. Hugh Redelmeier 29 Aug '16

29 Aug '16

How do you set the hostname of a Linux machine? It used to be you just put it in the file /etc/hostname. Now, at least on CentOS, the SystemD way is to use the hostnamectl command. There are other ways (GUI and TUI) but I think hostnamectl is the real way. This lets you set the real, pretty, and transient name of the host. I didn't know those existed. In fact, there are lots of other options. The text space of the hostnamectld is 272K (40% larger than the text editor I use and 2.5 times the size of the hostname command). You can even change the hostname of other machines and hostnamectl will use ssh to accomplish this. I don't see why it is hostnamectl's job to know how to ssh. I will admit that the good old days were not that wonderful. The hostname(1) manpage lists: hostname - show or set the system's host name domainname - show or set the system's NIS/YP domain name ypdomainname - show or set the system's NIS/YP domain name nisdomainname - show or set the system's NIS/YP domain name dnsdomainname - show the system's DNS domain name and a lot of flags. And there's uname -n. I remember uuname but that is no longer standard -- you'd have to install uucp to get that. Every ethernet interface can have one or more DNS names. And plenty more that I don't remember. Kerberos? SMB? Hesiod? To be honest, what bothers me is that there seem to be several different models of what a hostname is. It would be nice if we actually could delete some of these interfaces, and merge some others, leaving behind only one model. Maybe the SystemD model is that one.

4 3

LinuxCon North America, FSF request
by Aruna Hewapathirane 28 Aug '16

28 Aug '16

Hello Would anyone be interested in helping run the FSF's table at LinuxCon North America which is taking place in Toronto from August 21st to August 24th. More info on the event here: https://events.linuxfoundation.org/events/ linuxcon-north-america If anyone is interested in volunteering to run the FSF's table, please email me and I'll let the FSF membership coordinator know to get in touch with you. Thank you. Aruna

4 3

Voting with our Dollars on Computing Future that Respects our Freedom.
by Scott Sullivan 28 Aug '16

28 Aug '16

There is a common refrain on this list, "Vote with your Dollars". We'll I'm going to put my money where my mouth is. The EOMA-68 effort is something I've spoken on before. It's a real earnest attempt to put together a hardware project that meets the ideals of the free software community. It's matter of principle, much like recycling is matter or principle (recycling is not cheaper then new materials). https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop I've been watching Luke, the project lead, fail and succeed in various ways for nearly 5 years now. He's had hardware prototypes built, small productions runs of the A20 card done. This is a early adopter scenario, it's going to be rough around the edges, and it's not going to be the fastest hardware. But it's got the heart. Spend sometime reading into the details. https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop/updates/fsf-ryf-background In Five years, I've not seen Luke give up. He's finally found a partner company with a good track record (Think Penguin). And the design is done and tested. It just has to be built in mass. I'm not asking that folks go for the laptop. But maybe just a Card, and a Cable Set for Standalone Operation. The costs of Hardware won't come down until we show that we are willing to put a down payment on future we've been asking for. I'm backing this project, not because its the cheapest, or the fastest. But because I want to see more projects like in the future that will be faster and possibly cost competitive in the market. -- Scott Sullivan

8 10

Neighboring LUGs and Other Computing User Groups in Toronto
by Myles Braithwaite 27 Aug '16

27 Aug '16

I'm trying to compile a list[0][1] of neighboring linux user groups and other computing user group in the Toronto area for the GTALUG website. Does anyone know of any user groups that should be added to this list? [0]: <https://gtalug.org/other-groups/> [1]: <https://github.com/gtalug/website/blob/master/pages/other-groups.markdown>

7 9

FPD-Link adapter kits
by Russell Reiter 24 Aug '16

24 Aug '16

Has anyone tried out the LCD adapter kits like this one on ebay. http://m.ebay.com/itm/121124750917?_mwBanner=1 My friend surprised the heck out of himself when he bought a raspberry pi and was able to get it working on his own. HDMI works fine for connecting to his TV. He just needed a little help with a RTC setup. I have a couple of old LCD screens and thought this might be an interesting breakout project. These suppliers all ask for the LCD model and say they will provide the proper cable and firmware. My feeling is that the cable may be pin adapted for their board but a bit of modification is also necessary for the firmware to display correctly. I have three others from the same manufacturer which is Toshiba. Actually two are the ones Peter put up on the list for tinkering some time ago. All over heaters. The oldest is stripped bare and boots SOAS from a flash drive. It is the only on which will run without a battery. The other plan for refloating the MB was kiboshed by my SO, so no joy, except that I salvaged the CD and LCD, perhaps for this project. I have the data sheet for that LCD. LG LP156WH1 tl c2 Thanks, Russell Sent from mobile.

3 4