From alspnost at gmail.com Sun Nov 1 23:32:55 2009 From: alspnost at gmail.com (Alastair Stevens) Date: Sun, 1 Nov 2009 22:32:55 +0000 Subject: Rant 2: oh dear, it's another Ubuntu x.10 release In-Reply-To: <4536e91b0910250145y28f130b0uef726dbcb8da68df@mail.gmail.com> References: <4AE20458.9030704@altrux.me.uk> <4AE20714.3020902@latter.org> <4536e91b0910231559n39df7497va39e13b0266fb506@mail.gmail.com> <4AE23AC3.3010909@latter.org> <17aa29670910231709x691d2f80lcbf64997b3e42370@mail.gmail.com> <4AE2AE6E.8070409@latter.org> <1256387362.7400.2.camel@wolfgang> <4AE38F88.5000600@mansfield.co.uk> <4536e91b0910250145y28f130b0uef726dbcb8da68df@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4536e91b0911011432s4923018emd7282953b32ea2e9@mail.gmail.com> Just an update - I've given it another spin with the final release of Netbook Remix, and sure enough, this one works. By which I mean it actually boots to a working desktop first time, under default settings, on my Eee901. So there was indeed a fairly major 'issue' with the RC, in terms of graphics drivers. Fair enough then, this is why they have RCs :-) However, having played with it, I don't like the new interface in 9.10, which somehow doesn't look as sweet as 9.04, so I'll be sticking with that anyway and waiting for 10.04! Cheers AL -- ======================================== ALASTAIR STEVENS * Web - www.altrux.me.uk * Blog - www.altrux.me.uk/blog.html From luke at blog-thing.com Tue Nov 3 14:05:25 2009 From: luke at blog-thing.com (Luke) Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 13:05:25 +0000 Subject: This Sunday Message-ID: <17aa29670911030505p4418b987j81f965779c49c836@mail.gmail.com> The CLUG meeting is this Sunday isn't it? Are we going to be meeting at 2:00 again? -- Luke Slater :O) this text is protected by international copyright. it is illegal for anybody apart from the recipient to keep a copy of this text. dieser text wird von internationalem urheberrecht geschuetzt. allen ausser dem/der empfaenger/-in ist untersagt, eine kopie dieses textes zu behalten. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.infowares.com/archive/clug/attachments/20091103/d28e9c4e/attachment.htm From clug at dziewulski.com Thu Nov 5 06:58:03 2009 From: clug at dziewulski.com (Jan M. Dziewulski) Date: Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:58:03 +0000 Subject: 2nd sunday of November Message-ID: <4AF2696B.9080802@dziewulski.com> Anyone joining me at CB2 on Sunday? -- Janek From paul+clug at mansfield.co.uk Fri Nov 6 15:46:29 2009 From: paul+clug at mansfield.co.uk (Paul M) Date: Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:46:29 +0000 Subject: Fwd: My name's X and I'm a sysadmin Message-ID: <4AF436C5.8070609@mansfield.co.uk> social club for sysadmins? http://cambridgenetworksocialnetwork.ning.com/group/software/forum/topic/show?id=2506778%3ATopic%3A16687 From onepoint at starurchin.org Sat Nov 21 13:39:13 2009 From: onepoint at starurchin.org (Jeremy Henty) Date: Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:39:13 +0000 Subject: Recommendations wanted for lightweight, hackable blogging platform Message-ID: <20091121123913.GE12282@omphalos.singularity> I've always put off starting my own blog (despite getting the domain a couple of years ago) but now it's impossible to remain silent[1]. But, being a geek I insist on hosting it myself rather than signing up to blooger or wordsmush, so I'm looking for a blogging platform. It must be small and hackable so I can get my head around it. It must support tags and categories. I don't care about themes and bling. I'd prefer it to be database agnostic and written in Ruby, but neither of those is mandatory. I have root on my own virtual host, so there are no restrictions on what I can do to install it. Any tips? Thanks in advance, Jeremy Henty [1] http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/20/britains-new-interne.html From paul+clug at mansfield.co.uk Thu Nov 26 17:24:47 2009 From: paul+clug at mansfield.co.uk (Paul M) Date: Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:24:47 +0000 Subject: FS: 1U servers, CPUs and memory In-Reply-To: <4AB8CE4A.2000702@mansfield.co.uk> References: <4AB8CE4A.2000702@mansfield.co.uk> Message-ID: <4B0EABCF.8050707@mansfield.co.uk> We're down to the last ten tyan core2duos, and discounting heavily. we'll consider any sensible offers on the items below, particularly if you're buying more than one! the servers are worth buying simply for the CPU and the RAM as you could sell the 1U chassis and motherboard on ebay ;-) On 22/09/09 14:16, Paul M wrote: > > We recently went through a big upgrade cycle as we use java and the > product needed more memory, and I thought CLUG members might be > interested in hardware that's proven to work well with linux, and more > importantly, heavily discounted! > > We're selling comprising servers (complete except for hard drives) and > CPUs and memory left over after various upgrades. > > Please note the prices below *do*not* include VAT at 15%. Offers made > should not include vat. Prices are a starting point, a "buy it now" if > you like. Please make your offer along with the quantity, offers will be > prioritised according to amount, quantity and whether you reply in HTML > email. > > Cleared funds required before collection from Cambridge Science Park. > Can pay cash, BACS or wire transfer, if you pay bu cheque we'd have to > hold the goods until it clears. We don't have packaging unless stated. A > formal VAT invoice will be raised for you by our accounts people. > > All equipment has been used, is sold as seen, some has manufacturer's > warranty left but it would be you as buyer who'd be responsible for > checking. You'd be welcome to check the serial numbers at the time of > purchasing/collection. You'd also be welcome to test the equipment > (e.g. boot servers) except the boxed CPUs, they came from working > system and we are very confident they do work (and I'm pretty sure > they are still in warranty). > > > *** CPUs > > * Intel Xeon L5320 > > ?75+vat each = in full retail packs (box, heatsink/fan) previously > used for L5420, all the same stepping level so you could buy matched > pairs for dual CPU goodness. we have ten. > > > ?60+vat - one by itself without retail pack or box or heatsink/fan. > > > * CPU: Intel core2duo e6700 > > ?70+vat in full retail pack, used (not overclocked), from upgrading a > desktop. these aren't particularly common having a larger cache and > higher clock speed. > > > *** RAM - 2GB DDR2 ECC Reg 667MHz > > Kingston give these a lifetime warranty and we have retail packaging > for pretty much all of them, hence price is relatively high compared > to new. > > Note that being ECC Reg they probably won't work in domestic > computers' motherboards so check compatibility. > > 20 of Kingston KVR667D2D4P5 - http://tinyurl.com/KVR667D2D4P5 > (2GB DDR2 DIMM - dual-rank 667MHz ECC REG/Parity CL5) > > ?8+vat each > > > > > *** servers > > All servers come with rail kit for 19" rack mounting, various random > bracket accessories and an IEC c13-c14 power cable. > > The Tyans have serial port, twin gig e1000 intel, single 10/100m e100 > intel, ps2 > keyboard & mouse, rear and front usb ports, some random video chip > onboard with VGA socket on the back, a PCI-X 64-bit riser, AHCI SATA > non-raid works perfectly with linux. > > They're definitely not sh*t, we've had very very few problems with > them and the motherboards probably still have warranty. We'd probably > keep them if we could fit more memory, but that's what happens when > you have java programmers! > > The M3291 management cards in the Tyans are free because we never made > use of them and we can't provide any technical detail for their use > nor can we even promise they work (although they probably do). > > Photos of a Tyan at http://www.flickr.com/photos/12629882 at N05/tags/tyan/ > > The Tyans came from Sentral, all have Sentral serial numbers apart > from a couple bought as "bare-bones" to be cold spares that got built. > > > The Supermicros were bought from Boston Micros. > > > * Tyan 1U standard server - no hard drives > > twenty-five of these > > ?140+vat > Intel core2duo (E6600) 2.4GHz with 8GB of RAM > built-in CD > quality branded memory > S5191G3NR motherboard: > http://www.tyan.com/product_board_detail.aspx?pid=343 > GT20 1U chassis with 4 hotswap SATA bays: > http://www.tyan.com/archive/products/html/kgt20-500.html > IEC mains, rail kit > comes with FREE remote management card > > > * Supermicro PDSMI+ 1U servers - no hard drives > > we never found out why but these sometimes lock up when you reboot > them, they run perfectly when power-cycled though. for this reason the > price is sweeter than an equivalent Tyan. we have all the > accessories that came with them - the plastic drive bay inserts and > various rail adaptors and cable wotsits that I never found a use for! > > ?120+vat > Intel core2duo (E6600) 2.4GHz with 4GB memory > built-in CD > generic/cheap memory > PDSMI+ motherboard > http://tinyurl.com/pdsmiplus > Supermicro 1U chassis (as link, but black) > http://tinyurl.com/qh46ce > > > * Dell 1U server SC1425 - no hard drives > > just one of these > > ?80+v > single 3.2GHz Xeon (Pentium D type?) > type SC1425 (two internal drive bays, two CPU slots one empty) > build-in DVD > 1GB RAM From dom at latter.org Fri Nov 27 16:15:56 2009 From: dom at latter.org (dom at latter.org) Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:15:56 +0100 Subject: Arch linux anyone? Distro choices blah blah. Message-ID: <4B0FED2C.5040905@latter.org> Anyone using Arch? I've been using Ubuntu for a few years [0] but I've just tried using the live version of 9.10 and if I boot the laptop with the big external display attached, I get an utterly unusable flickering console. FWIW I've installed Ubuntu 9.10 on the "kitchen radio" [1] laptop which is just about minimum spec and it works reasonably well. I've switched from Gnome to LXDE on that machine to conserve RAM. Only weirdness was that it would not install properly if I made my /boot partition an ext2 filesystem. Worked fine with ext4. So I'm thinking of dumping Ubuntu - I've been waiting for it because the 9.04 kernel has a bug in the intel video driver that makes video performance suck the big one... and it appears it's still buggy. Besides, the requirements of Ubuntu do creep up and the laptop's not getting any faster. So I'm currently looking at Arch and Frugalware, both of which claim to be lightweight and for the experienced Linux user. Anyone used either of these? [0] Mandrake before that; and before that on the work fileserver, SuSE, and before that I think it was Red Hat on a 486SX/33... [1] Main job is, indeed, living in the kitchen and providing me with Radio 4. From dom at latter.org Sun Nov 29 11:06:03 2009 From: dom at latter.org (Dom Latter) Date: Sun, 29 Nov 2009 11:06:03 +0100 Subject: Ping! Message-ID: <4B12478B.6070906@latter.org> Is this thing on? A recent post neither appeared nor was bounced. From alspnost at gmail.com Sun Nov 1 23:32:55 2009 From: alspnost at gmail.com (Alastair Stevens) Date: Sun, 1 Nov 2009 22:32:55 +0000 Subject: Rant 2: oh dear, it's another Ubuntu x.10 release In-Reply-To: <4536e91b0910250145y28f130b0uef726dbcb8da68df@mail.gmail.com> References: <4AE20458.9030704@altrux.me.uk> <4AE20714.3020902@latter.org> <4536e91b0910231559n39df7497va39e13b0266fb506@mail.gmail.com> <4AE23AC3.3010909@latter.org> <17aa29670910231709x691d2f80lcbf64997b3e42370@mail.gmail.com> <4AE2AE6E.8070409@latter.org> <1256387362.7400.2.camel@wolfgang> <4AE38F88.5000600@mansfield.co.uk> <4536e91b0910250145y28f130b0uef726dbcb8da68df@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4536e91b0911011432s4923018emd7282953b32ea2e9@mail.gmail.com> Just an update - I've given it another spin with the final release of Netbook Remix, and sure enough, this one works. By which I mean it actually boots to a working desktop first time, under default settings, on my Eee901. So there was indeed a fairly major 'issue' with the RC, in terms of graphics drivers. Fair enough then, this is why they have RCs :-) However, having played with it, I don't like the new interface in 9.10, which somehow doesn't look as sweet as 9.04, so I'll be sticking with that anyway and waiting for 10.04! Cheers AL -- ======================================== ALASTAIR STEVENS * Web - www.altrux.me.uk * Blog - www.altrux.me.uk/blog.html From luke at blog-thing.com Tue Nov 3 14:05:25 2009 From: luke at blog-thing.com (Luke) Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 13:05:25 +0000 Subject: This Sunday Message-ID: <17aa29670911030505p4418b987j81f965779c49c836@mail.gmail.com> The CLUG meeting is this Sunday isn't it? Are we going to be meeting at 2:00 again? -- Luke Slater :O) this text is protected by international copyright. it is illegal for anybody apart from the recipient to keep a copy of this text. dieser text wird von internationalem urheberrecht geschuetzt. allen ausser dem/der empfaenger/-in ist untersagt, eine kopie dieses textes zu behalten. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.infowares.com/archive/clug/attachments/20091103/d28e9c4e/attachment-0001.htm From clug at dziewulski.com Thu Nov 5 06:58:03 2009 From: clug at dziewulski.com (Jan M. Dziewulski) Date: Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:58:03 +0000 Subject: 2nd sunday of November Message-ID: <4AF2696B.9080802@dziewulski.com> Anyone joining me at CB2 on Sunday? -- Janek From paul+clug at mansfield.co.uk Fri Nov 6 15:46:29 2009 From: paul+clug at mansfield.co.uk (Paul M) Date: Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:46:29 +0000 Subject: Fwd: My name's X and I'm a sysadmin Message-ID: <4AF436C5.8070609@mansfield.co.uk> social club for sysadmins? http://cambridgenetworksocialnetwork.ning.com/group/software/forum/topic/show?id=2506778%3ATopic%3A16687 From onepoint at starurchin.org Sat Nov 21 13:39:13 2009 From: onepoint at starurchin.org (Jeremy Henty) Date: Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:39:13 +0000 Subject: Recommendations wanted for lightweight, hackable blogging platform Message-ID: <20091121123913.GE12282@omphalos.singularity> I've always put off starting my own blog (despite getting the domain a couple of years ago) but now it's impossible to remain silent[1]. But, being a geek I insist on hosting it myself rather than signing up to blooger or wordsmush, so I'm looking for a blogging platform. It must be small and hackable so I can get my head around it. It must support tags and categories. I don't care about themes and bling. I'd prefer it to be database agnostic and written in Ruby, but neither of those is mandatory. I have root on my own virtual host, so there are no restrictions on what I can do to install it. Any tips? Thanks in advance, Jeremy Henty [1] http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/20/britains-new-interne.html From paul+clug at mansfield.co.uk Thu Nov 26 17:24:47 2009 From: paul+clug at mansfield.co.uk (Paul M) Date: Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:24:47 +0000 Subject: FS: 1U servers, CPUs and memory In-Reply-To: <4AB8CE4A.2000702@mansfield.co.uk> References: <4AB8CE4A.2000702@mansfield.co.uk> Message-ID: <4B0EABCF.8050707@mansfield.co.uk> We're down to the last ten tyan core2duos, and discounting heavily. we'll consider any sensible offers on the items below, particularly if you're buying more than one! the servers are worth buying simply for the CPU and the RAM as you could sell the 1U chassis and motherboard on ebay ;-) On 22/09/09 14:16, Paul M wrote: > > We recently went through a big upgrade cycle as we use java and the > product needed more memory, and I thought CLUG members might be > interested in hardware that's proven to work well with linux, and more > importantly, heavily discounted! > > We're selling comprising servers (complete except for hard drives) and > CPUs and memory left over after various upgrades. > > Please note the prices below *do*not* include VAT at 15%. Offers made > should not include vat. Prices are a starting point, a "buy it now" if > you like. Please make your offer along with the quantity, offers will be > prioritised according to amount, quantity and whether you reply in HTML > email. > > Cleared funds required before collection from Cambridge Science Park. > Can pay cash, BACS or wire transfer, if you pay bu cheque we'd have to > hold the goods until it clears. We don't have packaging unless stated. A > formal VAT invoice will be raised for you by our accounts people. > > All equipment has been used, is sold as seen, some has manufacturer's > warranty left but it would be you as buyer who'd be responsible for > checking. You'd be welcome to check the serial numbers at the time of > purchasing/collection. You'd also be welcome to test the equipment > (e.g. boot servers) except the boxed CPUs, they came from working > system and we are very confident they do work (and I'm pretty sure > they are still in warranty). > > > *** CPUs > > * Intel Xeon L5320 > > ?75+vat each = in full retail packs (box, heatsink/fan) previously > used for L5420, all the same stepping level so you could buy matched > pairs for dual CPU goodness. we have ten. > > > ?60+vat - one by itself without retail pack or box or heatsink/fan. > > > * CPU: Intel core2duo e6700 > > ?70+vat in full retail pack, used (not overclocked), from upgrading a > desktop. these aren't particularly common having a larger cache and > higher clock speed. > > > *** RAM - 2GB DDR2 ECC Reg 667MHz > > Kingston give these a lifetime warranty and we have retail packaging > for pretty much all of them, hence price is relatively high compared > to new. > > Note that being ECC Reg they probably won't work in domestic > computers' motherboards so check compatibility. > > 20 of Kingston KVR667D2D4P5 - http://tinyurl.com/KVR667D2D4P5 > (2GB DDR2 DIMM - dual-rank 667MHz ECC REG/Parity CL5) > > ?8+vat each > > > > > *** servers > > All servers come with rail kit for 19" rack mounting, various random > bracket accessories and an IEC c13-c14 power cable. > > The Tyans have serial port, twin gig e1000 intel, single 10/100m e100 > intel, ps2 > keyboard & mouse, rear and front usb ports, some random video chip > onboard with VGA socket on the back, a PCI-X 64-bit riser, AHCI SATA > non-raid works perfectly with linux. > > They're definitely not sh*t, we've had very very few problems with > them and the motherboards probably still have warranty. We'd probably > keep them if we could fit more memory, but that's what happens when > you have java programmers! > > The M3291 management cards in the Tyans are free because we never made > use of them and we can't provide any technical detail for their use > nor can we even promise they work (although they probably do). > > Photos of a Tyan at http://www.flickr.com/photos/12629882 at N05/tags/tyan/ > > The Tyans came from Sentral, all have Sentral serial numbers apart > from a couple bought as "bare-bones" to be cold spares that got built. > > > The Supermicros were bought from Boston Micros. > > > * Tyan 1U standard server - no hard drives > > twenty-five of these > > ?140+vat > Intel core2duo (E6600) 2.4GHz with 8GB of RAM > built-in CD > quality branded memory > S5191G3NR motherboard: > http://www.tyan.com/product_board_detail.aspx?pid=343 > GT20 1U chassis with 4 hotswap SATA bays: > http://www.tyan.com/archive/products/html/kgt20-500.html > IEC mains, rail kit > comes with FREE remote management card > > > * Supermicro PDSMI+ 1U servers - no hard drives > > we never found out why but these sometimes lock up when you reboot > them, they run perfectly when power-cycled though. for this reason the > price is sweeter than an equivalent Tyan. we have all the > accessories that came with them - the plastic drive bay inserts and > various rail adaptors and cable wotsits that I never found a use for! > > ?120+vat > Intel core2duo (E6600) 2.4GHz with 4GB memory > built-in CD > generic/cheap memory > PDSMI+ motherboard > http://tinyurl.com/pdsmiplus > Supermicro 1U chassis (as link, but black) > http://tinyurl.com/qh46ce > > > * Dell 1U server SC1425 - no hard drives > > just one of these > > ?80+v > single 3.2GHz Xeon (Pentium D type?) > type SC1425 (two internal drive bays, two CPU slots one empty) > build-in DVD > 1GB RAM From dom at latter.org Fri Nov 27 16:15:56 2009 From: dom at latter.org (dom at latter.org) Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:15:56 +0100 Subject: Arch linux anyone? Distro choices blah blah. Message-ID: <4B0FED2C.5040905@latter.org> Anyone using Arch? I've been using Ubuntu for a few years [0] but I've just tried using the live version of 9.10 and if I boot the laptop with the big external display attached, I get an utterly unusable flickering console. FWIW I've installed Ubuntu 9.10 on the "kitchen radio" [1] laptop which is just about minimum spec and it works reasonably well. I've switched from Gnome to LXDE on that machine to conserve RAM. Only weirdness was that it would not install properly if I made my /boot partition an ext2 filesystem. Worked fine with ext4. So I'm thinking of dumping Ubuntu - I've been waiting for it because the 9.04 kernel has a bug in the intel video driver that makes video performance suck the big one... and it appears it's still buggy. Besides, the requirements of Ubuntu do creep up and the laptop's not getting any faster. So I'm currently looking at Arch and Frugalware, both of which claim to be lightweight and for the experienced Linux user. Anyone used either of these? [0] Mandrake before that; and before that on the work fileserver, SuSE, and before that I think it was Red Hat on a 486SX/33... [1] Main job is, indeed, living in the kitchen and providing me with Radio 4. From dom at latter.org Sun Nov 29 11:06:03 2009 From: dom at latter.org (Dom Latter) Date: Sun, 29 Nov 2009 11:06:03 +0100 Subject: Ping! Message-ID: <4B12478B.6070906@latter.org> Is this thing on? A recent post neither appeared nor was bounced. From alspnost at gmail.com Sun Nov 1 23:32:55 2009 From: alspnost at gmail.com (Alastair Stevens) Date: Sun, 1 Nov 2009 22:32:55 +0000 Subject: Rant 2: oh dear, it's another Ubuntu x.10 release In-Reply-To: <4536e91b0910250145y28f130b0uef726dbcb8da68df@mail.gmail.com> References: <4AE20458.9030704@altrux.me.uk> <4AE20714.3020902@latter.org> <4536e91b0910231559n39df7497va39e13b0266fb506@mail.gmail.com> <4AE23AC3.3010909@latter.org> <17aa29670910231709x691d2f80lcbf64997b3e42370@mail.gmail.com> <4AE2AE6E.8070409@latter.org> <1256387362.7400.2.camel@wolfgang> <4AE38F88.5000600@mansfield.co.uk> <4536e91b0910250145y28f130b0uef726dbcb8da68df@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4536e91b0911011432s4923018emd7282953b32ea2e9@mail.gmail.com> Just an update - I've given it another spin with the final release of Netbook Remix, and sure enough, this one works. By which I mean it actually boots to a working desktop first time, under default settings, on my Eee901. So there was indeed a fairly major 'issue' with the RC, in terms of graphics drivers. Fair enough then, this is why they have RCs :-) However, having played with it, I don't like the new interface in 9.10, which somehow doesn't look as sweet as 9.04, so I'll be sticking with that anyway and waiting for 10.04! Cheers AL -- ======================================== ALASTAIR STEVENS * Web - www.altrux.me.uk * Blog - www.altrux.me.uk/blog.html From luke at blog-thing.com Tue Nov 3 14:05:25 2009 From: luke at blog-thing.com (Luke) Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 13:05:25 +0000 Subject: This Sunday Message-ID: <17aa29670911030505p4418b987j81f965779c49c836@mail.gmail.com> The CLUG meeting is this Sunday isn't it? Are we going to be meeting at 2:00 again? -- Luke Slater :O) this text is protected by international copyright. it is illegal for anybody apart from the recipient to keep a copy of this text. dieser text wird von internationalem urheberrecht geschuetzt. allen ausser dem/der empfaenger/-in ist untersagt, eine kopie dieses textes zu behalten. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.infowares.com/archive/clug/attachments/20091103/d28e9c4e/attachment-0002.htm From clug at dziewulski.com Thu Nov 5 06:58:03 2009 From: clug at dziewulski.com (Jan M. Dziewulski) Date: Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:58:03 +0000 Subject: 2nd sunday of November Message-ID: <4AF2696B.9080802@dziewulski.com> Anyone joining me at CB2 on Sunday? -- Janek From paul+clug at mansfield.co.uk Fri Nov 6 15:46:29 2009 From: paul+clug at mansfield.co.uk (Paul M) Date: Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:46:29 +0000 Subject: Fwd: My name's X and I'm a sysadmin Message-ID: <4AF436C5.8070609@mansfield.co.uk> social club for sysadmins? http://cambridgenetworksocialnetwork.ning.com/group/software/forum/topic/show?id=2506778%3ATopic%3A16687 From onepoint at starurchin.org Sat Nov 21 13:39:13 2009 From: onepoint at starurchin.org (Jeremy Henty) Date: Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:39:13 +0000 Subject: Recommendations wanted for lightweight, hackable blogging platform Message-ID: <20091121123913.GE12282@omphalos.singularity> I've always put off starting my own blog (despite getting the domain a couple of years ago) but now it's impossible to remain silent[1]. But, being a geek I insist on hosting it myself rather than signing up to blooger or wordsmush, so I'm looking for a blogging platform. It must be small and hackable so I can get my head around it. It must support tags and categories. I don't care about themes and bling. I'd prefer it to be database agnostic and written in Ruby, but neither of those is mandatory. I have root on my own virtual host, so there are no restrictions on what I can do to install it. Any tips? Thanks in advance, Jeremy Henty [1] http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/20/britains-new-interne.html From paul+clug at mansfield.co.uk Thu Nov 26 17:24:47 2009 From: paul+clug at mansfield.co.uk (Paul M) Date: Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:24:47 +0000 Subject: FS: 1U servers, CPUs and memory In-Reply-To: <4AB8CE4A.2000702@mansfield.co.uk> References: <4AB8CE4A.2000702@mansfield.co.uk> Message-ID: <4B0EABCF.8050707@mansfield.co.uk> We're down to the last ten tyan core2duos, and discounting heavily. we'll consider any sensible offers on the items below, particularly if you're buying more than one! the servers are worth buying simply for the CPU and the RAM as you could sell the 1U chassis and motherboard on ebay ;-) On 22/09/09 14:16, Paul M wrote: > > We recently went through a big upgrade cycle as we use java and the > product needed more memory, and I thought CLUG members might be > interested in hardware that's proven to work well with linux, and more > importantly, heavily discounted! > > We're selling comprising servers (complete except for hard drives) and > CPUs and memory left over after various upgrades. > > Please note the prices below *do*not* include VAT at 15%. Offers made > should not include vat. Prices are a starting point, a "buy it now" if > you like. Please make your offer along with the quantity, offers will be > prioritised according to amount, quantity and whether you reply in HTML > email. > > Cleared funds required before collection from Cambridge Science Park. > Can pay cash, BACS or wire transfer, if you pay bu cheque we'd have to > hold the goods until it clears. We don't have packaging unless stated. A > formal VAT invoice will be raised for you by our accounts people. > > All equipment has been used, is sold as seen, some has manufacturer's > warranty left but it would be you as buyer who'd be responsible for > checking. You'd be welcome to check the serial numbers at the time of > purchasing/collection. You'd also be welcome to test the equipment > (e.g. boot servers) except the boxed CPUs, they came from working > system and we are very confident they do work (and I'm pretty sure > they are still in warranty). > > > *** CPUs > > * Intel Xeon L5320 > > ?75+vat each = in full retail packs (box, heatsink/fan) previously > used for L5420, all the same stepping level so you could buy matched > pairs for dual CPU goodness. we have ten. > > > ?60+vat - one by itself without retail pack or box or heatsink/fan. > > > * CPU: Intel core2duo e6700 > > ?70+vat in full retail pack, used (not overclocked), from upgrading a > desktop. these aren't particularly common having a larger cache and > higher clock speed. > > > *** RAM - 2GB DDR2 ECC Reg 667MHz > > Kingston give these a lifetime warranty and we have retail packaging > for pretty much all of them, hence price is relatively high compared > to new. > > Note that being ECC Reg they probably won't work in domestic > computers' motherboards so check compatibility. > > 20 of Kingston KVR667D2D4P5 - http://tinyurl.com/KVR667D2D4P5 > (2GB DDR2 DIMM - dual-rank 667MHz ECC REG/Parity CL5) > > ?8+vat each > > > > > *** servers > > All servers come with rail kit for 19" rack mounting, various random > bracket accessories and an IEC c13-c14 power cable. > > The Tyans have serial port, twin gig e1000 intel, single 10/100m e100 > intel, ps2 > keyboard & mouse, rear and front usb ports, some random video chip > onboard with VGA socket on the back, a PCI-X 64-bit riser, AHCI SATA > non-raid works perfectly with linux. > > They're definitely not sh*t, we've had very very few problems with > them and the motherboards probably still have warranty. We'd probably > keep them if we could fit more memory, but that's what happens when > you have java programmers! > > The M3291 management cards in the Tyans are free because we never made > use of them and we can't provide any technical detail for their use > nor can we even promise they work (although they probably do). > > Photos of a Tyan at http://www.flickr.com/photos/12629882 at N05/tags/tyan/ > > The Tyans came from Sentral, all have Sentral serial numbers apart > from a couple bought as "bare-bones" to be cold spares that got built. > > > The Supermicros were bought from Boston Micros. > > > * Tyan 1U standard server - no hard drives > > twenty-five of these > > ?140+vat > Intel core2duo (E6600) 2.4GHz with 8GB of RAM > built-in CD > quality branded memory > S5191G3NR motherboard: > http://www.tyan.com/product_board_detail.aspx?pid=343 > GT20 1U chassis with 4 hotswap SATA bays: > http://www.tyan.com/archive/products/html/kgt20-500.html > IEC mains, rail kit > comes with FREE remote management card > > > * Supermicro PDSMI+ 1U servers - no hard drives > > we never found out why but these sometimes lock up when you reboot > them, they run perfectly when power-cycled though. for this reason the > price is sweeter than an equivalent Tyan. we have all the > accessories that came with them - the plastic drive bay inserts and > various rail adaptors and cable wotsits that I never found a use for! > > ?120+vat > Intel core2duo (E6600) 2.4GHz with 4GB memory > built-in CD > generic/cheap memory > PDSMI+ motherboard > http://tinyurl.com/pdsmiplus > Supermicro 1U chassis (as link, but black) > http://tinyurl.com/qh46ce > > > * Dell 1U server SC1425 - no hard drives > > just one of these > > ?80+v > single 3.2GHz Xeon (Pentium D type?) > type SC1425 (two internal drive bays, two CPU slots one empty) > build-in DVD > 1GB RAM From dom at latter.org Fri Nov 27 16:15:56 2009 From: dom at latter.org (dom at latter.org) Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:15:56 +0100 Subject: Arch linux anyone? Distro choices blah blah. Message-ID: <4B0FED2C.5040905@latter.org> Anyone using Arch? I've been using Ubuntu for a few years [0] but I've just tried using the live version of 9.10 and if I boot the laptop with the big external display attached, I get an utterly unusable flickering console. FWIW I've installed Ubuntu 9.10 on the "kitchen radio" [1] laptop which is just about minimum spec and it works reasonably well. I've switched from Gnome to LXDE on that machine to conserve RAM. Only weirdness was that it would not install properly if I made my /boot partition an ext2 filesystem. Worked fine with ext4. So I'm thinking of dumping Ubuntu - I've been waiting for it because the 9.04 kernel has a bug in the intel video driver that makes video performance suck the big one... and it appears it's still buggy. Besides, the requirements of Ubuntu do creep up and the laptop's not getting any faster. So I'm currently looking at Arch and Frugalware, both of which claim to be lightweight and for the experienced Linux user. Anyone used either of these? [0] Mandrake before that; and before that on the work fileserver, SuSE, and before that I think it was Red Hat on a 486SX/33... [1] Main job is, indeed, living in the kitchen and providing me with Radio 4. From dom at latter.org Sun Nov 29 11:06:03 2009 From: dom at latter.org (Dom Latter) Date: Sun, 29 Nov 2009 11:06:03 +0100 Subject: Ping! Message-ID: <4B12478B.6070906@latter.org> Is this thing on? A recent post neither appeared nor was bounced.