March 2023 - Talk - lists.gtalug.org

[GTALUG-Announce] Membership Dues
by Warren McPherson 13 Nov '23

13 Nov '23

With the agm coming up, now is a great time to renew membership and make a small twenty dollar contribution to the organization. For those looking forward to the chance to wind their way through the Interac E-Transfer process again here is my summary of how it works. (Actually I forget each time so the novelty never wears off -- luckily it is easy.) Log in to your bank and look for "Interac e-Transfers" you may need to go to the "Transfers" page and then you will see this option. Select "email method" and use the email address: membership(a)gtalug.org Putting your name in the message can be helpful as the notification I get can sometimes be a touch obtuse. Thank you to those who have already contributed! (I know who you are. Ha ha) Thank you, Warren --- GTALUG Announce mailing list announce(a)gtalug.org https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

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Update borked my system
by Evan Leibovitch 30 Mar '23

30 Mar '23

Hi all. Wondering if anyone can help with this. A power glitch happened while I was updating a KDE Neon system and on reboot all sorts of things are wonky. KDE starts up fine on bootup but there are no window toolbars. All apps load at the upper right of the screen and can't be moved because there is nothing to drag and no keyboard shortcuts will work. An attempt to complete the upgrade using `pkcon update` (the KDE Neon version of `apt dist-upgrade`) spits out a slew of errors (attached). The database is not corrupt (`pkcon repair` reports no problems) but there seem to be major pieces either refusing to install or "held back". Is there a command that can let me just force everything to the current stable release without me having to go through the whole install-from-usb-stick thing? There's nothing critical on that installation so a fresh instrall is more of a PITA than critical problem. Still, it took me a lot of time to set up my apps Thanks for any help. I like KDE Neon, it's a like "Kubuntu without snaps but with the newest KDE". Evan Leibovitch, Toronto Canada @evanleibovitch / @el56

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Modems – does it matter?
by Yoshua Wakeham 27 Mar '23

27 Mar '23

Hi all! My toddler spilled a cup of water on our TekSavvy modem (Technicolor TC4350), and now we need a new modem. Welp. TekSavvy sent us the list of compatible modems. My question is – are there any important considerations for this decision other than price and (immediate!) availability? I don't think I've ever actually had to choose my modem, so I don't know what I don't know. Here are the options, all opinions welcome: - Technicolor CGA4234DGW WiFi - Firmware must be CGA4234-P15-13-CA902-c0200r181-191007 - Hitron CODA-4680 WiFi - Firmware must be 7.1.1.2.2b9 - Teksavvy sells for $199.95 or $16.66/month for 12 months + $10 shipping. We also rent for the cost of $8 per month. - Hitron CODA-45 - Firmware must be 7.2.4.3.1b3 - Teksavvy sells for $139.95 or $11.66/month for 12 months + $10 shipping. We also rent for the cost of $6 per month. (Not recommended to be acquired outside Teksavvy due to firmware) - Technicolor TC4400 - Firmware must be SR701343-190628-D - (Usually available at Canada Computers) - Compal Broadband Networks Inc. (CBN) CD8000 - Firmware must be 7.13.198.12 - (Usually available at Canada Computers) - Sercomm DM1000 - Firmware must be V1.12.03.011 - Compal Broadband Networks Inc. (CBN) CH8568 WiFi- Firmware must be CH8568-7.13.198.53-NOSH Thanks! Yosh -- *Yoshua Wakeham* yoshwakeham(a)gmail.com

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Not all kernel fixes backported to CentOS
by Giles Orr 26 Mar '23

26 Mar '23

I think we have a few CentOS users on this list, so this may be a bit alarming: https://www.neowin.net/news/google-discloses-centos-linux-kernel-vulnerabil… Here are a couple of the important chunks: "As detailed in the technical document here, Google Project Zero's security researcher Jann Horn learned that kernel fixes made to stable trees are not backported to many enterprise versions of Linux. To validate this hypothesis, Horn compared the CentOS Stream 9 kernel to the stable linux-5.15.y stable tree. For those unaware, CentOS is a Linux distro closest to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and its version 9 is based on the linux-5.14 release." "As expected, it turned out that several kernel fixes have not been made deployed in older, but supported versions of CentOS Stream/RHEL. Horn further noted that for this case, Project Zero is giving a 90-day deadline to release a fix, but in the future, it may allot even stricter deadlines for missing backports ..." -- Giles https://www.gilesorr.com/ gilesorr(a)gmail.com

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Re: [GTALUG] analog land line phone service in Toronto?
by Steve Petrie 25 Mar '23

25 Mar '23

Karen, I use Bell Fibe service for which Bell provided a Sagemcom HomeHub 4000 modem, a large white plastic tower device. (I got the Bell technician wall mount my Home Hub 4000 modem). On thes back of the Home Hub 4000 are two (2) green-coloured jacks marked as TEL 1 and TEL 2 (with embossed legend not easy to read). I have an ancient Northern Telecom "Jazz" analog (land line compatible) phone plugged in to the TEL 1 jack on the Home Hub 4000 modem. This ancient analog phone works fine but sometimes it takes a few seconds for the dial tone audio hum to start, when I pick up the phone's handset. You mentioned that "Bell no longer offering analog, only fiberactic which seems to interact with the specialty phone I use due to disability." Two (2) questions occur to me: Q#1: Do you have your specialty phone plugged into the TEL1 jack on a Bell Fibe Home Hub 4000 modem ?? Q#2: Does Bell Canada tech support explain why your specialty phone is not working properly through your Bell Fibe service ?? Steve Petrie apetrie(a)aspetrie.net

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analog land line phone service in Toronto?
by Karen Lewellen 20 Mar '23

20 Mar '23

Hi folks, Any carrier still provide this as an option? I have moved, with Bell no longer offering analog, only fiberactic which seems to interact with the specialty phone I use due to disability. Thoughts? Karen

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distro: Amazon Linux 2023
by D. Hugh Redelmeier 17 Mar '23

17 Mar '23

Does anyone use this? It seems to be based on Fedora but with a longer support cycle. [interesting] Does it only work on AWS? Mostly. [too bad] https://docs.aws.amazon.com/linux/al2023/ug/what-is-amazon-linux.html https://twitter.com/stewartsmith/status/1636378983909687309 https://docs.aws.amazon.com/linux/al2023/ug/release-cadence.html >From https://aws.amazon.com/linux/amazon-linux-2023/faqs/ Q: Can I use AL2023 outside of AWS? A: AL2023 images can be used outside of AWS, however, these images are not covered by AWS Support Plans when used outside of AWS. When Amazon Linux 2023 becomes Generally Available, it will be provided as a virtual machine image for on-premises use, enabling you to easily develop, test, and certify applications from a local development environment. This option is not available during the preview.

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Reminder: General Meeting - Tuesday, March 14th at 7:30 PM
by Alan Heighway 13 Mar '23

13 Mar '23

NFTs: seizing the memes of production <https://gtalug.org/meeting/2023-03/> with Warren McPherson <https://gtalug.org/> 14 March, 2023 at 7:30 PM Warren will lead a discussion about NFTs. We're going to use Big BLue Button for this meeting: https://blue.lpi.org/b/eva-zjc-gjy-kgl *Time:* March 14, 2023 7:30 PM Eastern Time *Join us on Big Blue Button:* https://blue.lpi.org/b/eva-zjc-gjy-kgl. *A*lan *H*eighway <http://heighway.ca/> heighway.ca VA3WAH / VA3YKZ [image: Please consider the environment before printing]

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New WiFi router?
by William Park 09 Mar '23

09 Mar '23

Hi all, I was upgraded (by my ISP) from Cable 75 (75M/10M) to Cable 100 (100M/30M). It turns out my router (Asus RT-N66U) maxes out at 85M/30M. Connecting directly to the modem, I get full 100M/30M. So, it's time for a new router. It's been long time since I shopped for a router. Which one do you recommend?

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reminder: "Hack, Learn, and Share on Raspberry Pi" tonight
by D. Hugh Redelmeier 09 Mar '23

09 Mar '23

The local meetup group about Raspberry Pi is meeting virtually tonight at 19:00. <https://www.meetup.com/Raspberry-Pi/events/289953517/> Several GTALUGers also attend these meetups.

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