- Talk - lists.gtalug.org

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

Fwd: Bell Fibe -- thoughts?
by Alex Beamish 24 Aug '16

24 Aug '16

Hi All, I've had a persistent salesman at my door promoting Bell Fibe, so I thought I'd better canvass TLUG members to find out if anyone's using it, and what their feedback is. I'm currently on ADSL through TekSavvy, and that's been working fine for the last year -- it's about half the cost of Sympatico, gives me lots more bandwidth, and has a 300G monthly cap compared to Bell's 60G. Bell Fibe is unlimited (sic). Thanks for your feedback .. -- Alex Beamish VP Membership, Toronto Northern Lights, 2013 Champions / www.northernlightschorus.com Certified Contest Administrator, Barbershop Harmony Society / www.barbershop.org Cast member, The Music Man! / Opens Nov 3 / www.facebook.com/scarboroughmusictheatre

6 6

Wireless router -- which one?
by William Park 22 Aug '16

22 Aug '16

Short version: What dual-band router has QoS to deal with "buffer bloat" problem? I think queuing algorithm is called "fq_codel" or something. Long version: My current router is Asus RT-N66U. I didn't have problem with stock firmware. But, after upgrading to the latest firmware this weekend, I'm experiencing "bufferbloat" problem. When I download a large file (eg. ISO file), I can't browse or send emails or anything, until the download is finished or terminated. Right now, I'm using my previous router TP-LINK TL-WDR4300 with DD-WRT. But, its 5GHz band is flaky, and it needs frequent reboot. The very reason why I replaced it in the first place. So, it's time for a new router. I'm looking at Asus or Linksys. Any recommendation based on what you have or what you've heard? -- William

5 11

better than average article on why the federal payroll system is a mess
by D. Hugh Redelmeier 22 Aug '16

22 Aug '16

There have been a bunch of headlines about the new federal payroll system "Phoenix" is screwing up a lot. This article does a reasonable job of describing how the problems happened. <http://www.itworldcanada.com/blog/phoenix-payroll-report-by-michael-wernick…>

9 12

mysterious restarts
by D. Hugh Redelmeier 19 Aug '16

19 Aug '16

We have a computer that started doing random and frequent restarts on the weekend. We don't know why. Any suggestions? It looks as if the power dips momentarily and the computer reboots, with no message that we have observe. But it could just as easily be a crash of some other kind that leaves no trace. The system is an HP Compaq Pro 6300 Small Form Factor PC running Fedora 20. The crash seems to be at different points (i.e. not one consistent software activity). The crashes don't seem correlated with heavy workloads (eg. it crashed a couple of times while I was staring at log files to see if there was any hint of the problem). Hypothesis: a Fedora 20 bug. But the software has not been changed in months. Updates have not been appled this year. Since the behaviour has changed without the software changing, I don't think that Fedora is to blame. Hypothesis: it might be heat-related (the room it is in gets warm). I vacuumed out the interior and defuzzed the heat sinks. This did not improve the uptime. Hypothesis: it might be contact-related. So I disconnected and reconnected most internal connectors and reseated the memory. This did not seem to improve the uptime. Hypothesis: it might be the power supply. Normally, I'd swap power supplies to test this hypothesis but this Small Form Factor computer has a unique (and probably expensive) power supply. I opted to move the disk to a Dell OptiPlex 990 Small Form Factor computer and use that. The Dell, with the HP's disk, seems stable. No rebooting. This is in the same warm room, but the weather has changed. In the original HP box, I installed a disk that I had laying around (a 60G drive from a discarded laptop), installed Ubuntu 16.04, and have been running four CPU-bound processes for 24 hours. No crash. I admit that this is in a cooler room. The heat and power load of a laptop drive is less than that of a 3.5" HDD, but I would not think that that is significant. The computer is a couple of years old but still has a year of warranty. There are confidential files on the disk drive so I'd like to narrow down the problem before calling in HP support. Asking for a particular replacement part is more convenient that shipping the computer back to HP.

21 110