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cron scripts **BOOM**
by Darryl Moore 10 Jan '19

10 Jan '19

so I have about 100 servers running 16.04 spread over North America. Today it became apparent that the root user cron script was deleted on all 100 of them. The script is at /var/spool/cron/crontab/root and everything I had has been deleted and replaced with # DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE - edit the master and reinstall. # (- installed on Fri Dec 28 08:18:31 2018) # (Cron version -- $Id: crontab.c,v 2.13 1994/01/17 03:20:37 vixie Exp $) crontabs were all originally installed using the crontab executable. when I redo it the same way I get the proper crontab file but with this above header added. This was never the case before. I do not have automatic updates turned on on any of my machines. The date stamp in this header is within a few seconds of the above on all my machines. I also have a few machines running Armbian, and they are exactly the same. This is a major F*up for me and I have no idea how it happened. Has anybody else had similar experiences? I'd love to know. regards, darryl

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another bargain netbook
by D. Hugh Redelmeier 10 Jan '19

10 Jan '19

Canada Computer is blowing out a netbook. It is currently (until January 3) only $200. After that it might go back to $300 or $250 (the previous selling price). <https://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=710_577_367&item_id=…> <http://forums.redflagdeals.com/canada-computers-canada-computers-200-13-3-i…> Points to consider o 13.3" o Celeron N3450 processor (Atom / Apollo Lake family). Low power in two senses: battery consumption and computing power. + no fan + 1920x1080 IPS matte display. A bit dim but OK. + very solid-feeling aluminum body. Thin. + I like the keyboard. US, not the Bilingual Canadian layout. + 4G of RAM. Not wonderful, but enough for most casual use - 32G eMMC "disk". This is too small for Windows and not generous for Linux. Trying to fit both would be difficult. + an unoccupied full-sized m2.SATA socket. Behind an access panel. - likely no support - firmware is a little slap-dash (why must CSM be enabled to boot from something other than the eMMC?) - the touchpad seems OK but not great. Someone thinks there will be improvements in touchpad handling with the just-released kernel, 4.20. - There is a fingerprint reader in the corner of the touchpad. I don't use fingerprint readers so I consider this a lose. I've got one. I installed a 128G m.2 SATA SSD and installed Fedora 29 on it. It seems to work well. There were a few adventures in installing it. A 512G m.2 SATA could be had for $88 this week. Prices for SSD seem to be trending down.

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[GTALUG-Announce] GTALUG Meeting Tomorrow, 7:30pm
by hi＠gtalug.org 07 Jan '19

07 Jan '19

<https://gtalug.org/meeting/2019-01/> # Lightning Talks Lighting Talks nights are your chance to share your experiances or topic of interest in 10min or less. This rounds recommened theme is Linux Distrobutions, but the floor is open to all comers! Got a Lightning talk already in mind, please give us a heads up at speakers(a)gtalug.org! Or sign-up at the meeting, we look forward to hearing from you! ## Location George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre 245 Church Street, Room 203 Ryerson University <https://goo.gl/maps/16oJ2> <https://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: <https://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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Invitation to a Debian Bug Squashing Party in Montreal
by Znoteer 04 Jan '19

04 Jan '19

Hello everyone, I've been lurking on this list since slightly before DebConf17 last year (well, soon two years ago :) to which I wanted to invite you all. I'm back with another invitation. Debian is preparing a major release. There are some release critical bugs. Debian users worldwide are holding Bug Squashing Parties to try and resolve as many of these critical bugs as possible as quickly as possible. We're holding one in Montreal. It's a weekend affair, so we're hoping to see people come from out of town for the 19th and 20th of January. Is there is a Debian community within GTALUG that might consider coming? Maybe you can car pool or get a cheap bus or Via Rail ticket. Maybe even a cheap flight... Don't forget that the Debian Project is willing to reimburse up to the Canadian equivalent of USD $100 of expenses for qualified contributors to attend BSPs. Here are some relevant links for those who might be interested: https://lists.debian.org/debian-dug-nyc/2018/12/msg00000.html https://agendadulibre.qc.ca/events/1942 https://wiki.debian.org/BSP/2019/01/ca/Montreal If any of you are thinking of coming and have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them. Thanks, and maybe see some of you in a couple of weeks! -- Znoteer znoteer(a)mailbox.org

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[GTALUG-Announce] GTALUG Meeting on Tuesday 8 Jan @ 7:30pm
by hi＠gtalug.org 02 Jan '19

02 Jan '19

<https://gtalug.org/meeting/2019-01/> # Lightning Talks Lighting Talks nights are your chance to share your experiances or topic of interest in 10min or less. This rounds recommened theme is Linux Distrobutions, but the floor is open to all comers! Got a Lightning talk already in mind, please give us a heads up at speakers(a)gtalug.org! Or sign-up at the meeting, we look forward to hearing from you! ## Location George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre 245 Church Street, Room 203 Ryerson University <https://goo.gl/maps/16oJ2> <https://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: <https://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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December 2017 meeting video
by Alex Volkov 19 Dec '18

19 Dec '18

Hello everyone, December 2018 meeting, Getting to know VDO with Aaren de Jong is available on youtube. https://youtu.be/5UfdX3pEemw Cheers, Alex.

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Looking for Lighting Talks for January's meeting on Linux Distros!
by Myles Braithwaite 👾 18 Dec '18

18 Dec '18

GTALUG is having another Lighting Talks night for the 8th January meeting. If you are interested in giving a talk about your favorite Linux Distribution (or what ever you want to talk about), send an email to speakers(a)gtalug.org!

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[GTALUG-Announce] GTALUG Meeting Tonight
by hi＠gtalug.org 11 Dec '18

11 Dec '18

<https://gtalug.org/meeting/2018-12/> # VDO for CentOS, RHEL and beyond w/ Aaren deJong VDO is the new storage layer from Red Hat for block level compression, deduplication and zero-block omission. It's not just for RHEL and it's likely the start of something bigger for open-source storage. Those familiar with (open)ZFS might find this familiar and/or interesting. ## Location George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre 245 Church Street, Room 203 Ryerson University <https://goo.gl/maps/16oJ2> <https://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: <https://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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Linux on ppc64 (G5) - distro support
by Stewart Russell 10 Dec '18

10 Dec '18

Hey - so I picked up a couple of very pretty but backbreakingly-heavy Apple G5s - one dual-core, the other dual-processor single core. I know these are old machines (2005) and vastly inefficient compared to modern machines: there are faster ARM SBCs. G5s make amazing room heaters when they are busy. Distro support seems to have completely dropped away for these machines. ppc64el is alive and well on IBM servers, but PowerMacs are big-endian. Anyone using ppc64 here? What distro would you recommend? Debian used to have ppc64 support, but its last release is in LTS with no future releases planned. Cheers Stewart

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war story: reviving an old computer
by D. Hugh Redelmeier 10 Dec '18

10 Dec '18

I had an old computer in storage for a couple of years. Separate from its disk drive (SSD). After I reinstalled the drive, it would not show many signs of life. Not even a POST screen. I plugged and unplugged everything from the motherboard (except the processor). Then it would limpingly sort-of boot. The problem looked like disk errors. I tested power-supply voltages with a cheap tester designed for that purpose. OK. I tested the SSD on another machine using a SATA to USB 3 dock. The disk looked OK and I was able to fsck the appropriate partitions. Still booting was a bit wonky. I replaced the SATA cable for the drive. It booted fine. ==== The system is quite old. It seems to have some oddball limitations on booting: - no UEFI support - the firmware cannot boot from a Fedora 29 Live USB stick. It can be selected as a boot source, but the boot doesn't happen - but two OSes (CentOS 5.11 and Fedora 20) do see the USB stick and contents - the firmware cannot boot from the SATA Bluray / DVD / CD drive. Probably the firmware can only boot from ATAPI optical drives. - Fedora sees exactly the expected bytes when it reads from the SATA optical drive (the contents are the Fedora 29 Live image)

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