AltME groups: search

Anton: I'll probably go with Kubuntu. It's based on Debian, it's 
well supported, and it has worked well enough for me in the past. 
I have used Gentoo but it's too much work (you get your own system, 
which is great, but it means you have to compile everything - and 
the config files need to be updated manually). I've never used Slackware... 
so I can't comment on it. I have a dynebolic CD, looks nice in its 
field, not sure as general-purpose.

Shameless plug;  Debian GNU/Linux 4.0
The Debian model is the way to go with Open Source.
Don't release software before it's time.

Regardless of the "It's late! It's late!" yelling and gnashing of 
teeth.
When it comes out, it's ready to come out.


Plus (the shameless part), the more rebols that code on a Debian 
base, the happier I'll be, with scripts that work out of the box. 
 :)

Linux DLL interface question: it looks to me, that if I declare


    settimeofday: make routine! [tv [struct! []] tz [struct! []] return: 
    [integer!]] libc.so "settimeofday"

and


    tv: make struct! [tv_sec [int] tv_usec [int]] reduce [seconds 0]

then

    settimeofday tv null-struct

works, but if I do instead:


    settimeofday make struct! [tv_sec [int] tv_usec [int]] reduce [...] 
    null-struct

, then it doesn't work. Can somebody confirm this?

I tried Ladislav;  I've never purchased a Command license, so have 
zero experience...

What are the defintions of

seconds   and null-struct

and I'll try it here under Debian and 2.7.5.4.2

And I guessed that libc.so  was  libc.so: load/library %/lib/libc.so.6

So far I've tried with

seconds: 0
null-struct: make struct! [secs [integer!] usecs [integer!]] none


All I'm getting back is a return code of -1  for both of your examples 
and remain too new to know what ERRNO is set to.  Plus I'm executing 
the code from a user process... so I did not expect it to work.

Under a root process the first form works...
and the second form works as well...

assuming I am anywhere near "getting it"

just tried it again (Mepis6.5) and there is something strange

A comment by a reader: "...I've grown accustomed to SimplyMEPIS for 
every day, basic desktop needs. I run plain Debian when I want to 
test out tons of software, but I've been sticking with SimplyMEPIS 
when all I'm doing is reading Email, browsing the Web, and listening 
to streaming audio. .."

Gabriele, I just noticed Sabayon, based on Gentoo, but initial install 
is pre-compiled, and they provide a pool of pre-compiled packages.

Anton, all the distros based on Debian package pools have a big problem 
in that, when you start adding the Debian repositories and installing 
software from them, you run a high risk of pulling in dependencies 
that will destroy system packages that were modified from Debian

Building on a major distro seems nice, but this issue means that 
it's really only the major distro itself that is more or less guaranteed 
to work, as far as that's possible with Linux. So that's usually 
Debian and Ubuntu

I found that giving large amounts of text to a CALL, causes a permissions 
requester so big that the buttons to allow the action are put outside 
the window and by resizing it, 1-2 pixels of the buttons can be seen, 
but are unreadable. Anyone spotted this?

yes !   now to see if I can get Rebol/Altme installed and set-broswer-path 
working with it

i'm tempted to install xgl and compiz on kubuntu too... even if i 
know that i shouldn't :)

I start up this script which does a forever [ ] ... and start it 
in my rc3.d/S99local .. and curiously, I get a spinning x appear 
in my root console!

you need -qw in rebol (the spinning x is from a  network access i 
guess) and >/dev/null </dev/null when calling it. (otherwise it won't 
detach)

But there are problems with the current 2.7.5.4.2 beta, and after 
the stack space creeps into code space, Iit may cause any number 
of curious side effects.

Heehee.  I caved, installed Wine to test the site with IE last Thursday. 
 I was moving

some windows around and just noticed the Icon that got installed 
on the KDE desktop.

Heeheehee. The big blue E upside down, spinning down the drain...had 
to chuckle.

Wine with the ies4Linux package (don't know which one did this)

installs the msttcorefont package.  Arial, Courier, I'll forget some, 
Verdana, Times, 

Times New,  Comic Sans, Trebuchet, Impact, Georgia, Webdings, I cheated 
and

looked, Andale.  TT fonts are not redistributable but the package 
pulls them from...
somewhere, I wasn't really watching.

Management of fonts is still very distro specific.  Progress is being 
made, but, the 

situation is still kinda hairy.  I have to admit, compared to 4 years 
ago, fonts are now

beautiful on Debian, but limited.   And we have no TEXT in DRAW blocks...yet. 
 :(
A lot of the nicer fonts come with installing LaTeX.

I don't know if it's because X fonts have historically sucked...but 
I stick with

Serif, Sans, and Mono.  All very legible nowadays.  With LaTeX, I 
just let it do its
thing and it always looks book quality, so I don't fiddle.

Built a Kubuntu machine for my flatmate. Pretty painless install, 
I have to say. There are some issues with the all-in-one motherboard 
though, like inbuilt audio and ethernet chipsets are not detected, 
apparently. Fixed ethernet by plugging in an old network card.

I would like you to suggest me some Linux distribution:

Current situation:


I run old Fedora Core 1 linux, so it lacks on security updates. The 
server is used for few domains, it runs apache, old mySQL 3.5.x version, 
glftpd, sendmail (I am used to that). Server has 2 hads. Content 
of server is packed each week via script and copied to other disk.

Objectives:


- need some easy distro, graphical mode installation, which even 
monkey can configure, forget somo guru stuff, target hardening, etc.
- need mysql 5.x family, Apache 2. family

- adding new users/developers by some tool, e.g. webmin - ftp, apache 
domain, webmail (squirrel)

- needs to run rebol in cgi mode, eventual sqlite library compatibility 
welcomed

- kind of easy recovery - install from CD in graphical mode, copy 
configs, reboot, or even better - instasll some kind of loader, map 
to second hd, unpack backup, reboot. Maybe this could be automated?


Of course I have some sympathies already - stay with Fedora? Try 
Ubuntu server edition? Any other suggestion?

Thanks.

Obviously, Ubuntu has popular momentum, but if you want to stick 
with a Red Hat based distibution, CentOS is a good choice -- http://www.centos.org/.
According to DistroWatch, "CentOS is 100% compatible rebuild of the 
Red Hat Enterprise Linux, in full compliance with Red Hat's redistribution 
requirements. CentOS is for people who need an enterprise class operating 
system stability without the cost of certification and support."

The SME Server at contribs.org is based on Red Hat and heavily customized 
to run almost all functions you mention with particularly easy user 
management. Don't know how current is is on Apache and MySQL. As 
long as you don't need /View it's OK, because it comes without X11

I looked into CentOS, but I already downloaded Ubuntu server to give 
it a try. This time I will install including X-Windows, and also 
run webmin. My initial idea was to have a small distro, which could 
be recovered very quickly, but I think that I am fine with one day 
off ....

anyway - it would be cool to have really small thingy, which is able 
to do webserving, proxy (eventually), sendmail .... well, as for 
webserving purposes, I can imagine very small distro, with just cheyenne 
and rebol :-)

I don't care about the firewall too much, because I don't want my 
server to do it at all - that is what is router and DMZ for.

Another SME type distro is Clarkconnect (http://www.clarkconnect.com). 
It's RHEL based and has community and paid services. Nice web admin 
tool.

looks interesting. And maybe it is a distro, I once linked to here 
....

Because, for me - I need a server, and I want to have a good sleep! 
:-)

I have old Fedora Core 1 server, my friend moved to Prague and my 
primary hd crashed. It was difficult situation for me. There was 
a cript, which at least packed all content to secondary hw ...

the recovery was not so easy, because he navigated mi vai phone (3 
hours) and I first had to prepare partitions etc. So I look for some 
other "easy", but complete solution ...

there are many good servers imo. It is not problem to actually have 
a server. But disaster recovery scenario is important for me. Because 
I have to be sure, that when I am no business trip and server crashes, 
my brother will be able to recover basic services with few phone 
calls :-)

Yes, generic servers make you do a lot of work for such things. SME 
Server and indeed ClarkConnect are custom-made for the things you 
want. SME Server has more integrated user management, but ClarkConnect 
is easier to put extra software on that is not part of the standard 
distribution

Running extra software will make backup and restoration more difficult, 
thouh

Small and Medium Enterprise

petr, www.rebol.net is running on clarkconnect, and mail.rebol.net 
will probably be moved to it soon.

hummm that might be interesting linux test setup... as it runs hosted 
and takes very little ram :-)

I used YaST on Suse to setup Samba and accepted all the defaults. 
 I see groups, profiles, and users .. but when I try to login, I 
can't authenticate.

Oh well, I turned it into a PDC and that seems to work now.

When you install suse from cds .. and you need to install other packages, 
it may ask you for the installation cds.  is there a way around this? 
 mount the cds as iso images?

Don't you have net access? In software sources in YAST, you can simply 
activate the remote software repositories, and deactivate the CDs

My Windows 2003 server failed to update to service pack 2.  Either 
I find a way to revert the changes, or I need to reinstall :(

I'm thinking I should setup a Linux server and run my 2003 as vmware 
instead.  Anyone can suggest the "best" or "most" compatible linux 
platform? 

I do have Suse10 on another box and was running vmware server on 
it... but when I did some kernel updates ( I wasn't thinking ), it 
all stopped working and I have to reinstall the Suse10 again :(

I'm guessing that with linux, and vmware, you need to install both 
and never update anything on the host again!

well, ubuntu probably has the best setup for keeping a system and 
software consistent.

My daughter came home with both ubuntu and kubuntu cds .. from university 
...

the ubuntu was is gnome based and uses primarily gnome based software, 
while kubuntu uses kde as the desktop manager and preferences kde 
based software.   the applications can be installed on either, but 
these are the defaults.  i personally use xubuntu which uses the 
lighter weight xfce desktop manager and installs less applications 
by default.  but all the systems use the same base libraries.

Does vmware under linux not compile some modules during installation?
So just call the install script again and see what happens.

Yes, and that's how it can nuke your kernel. Happened to me, although 
newer Ubuntus have it more integrated

I was saved because I had installed an extra kernel optimized for 
my CPU. That one was nuked, but I could switch back to the 386 kernel 
and remove the other kernel

I installed ubuntu, and am trying to set up samba again


http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Edgy#How_to_share_public_folders_with_read.2Fwrite_permissions_.28Authentication.3DNo.29

I rebooted and it works now.  I think Ubuntu comes as default with 
no firewall installed.

as long as there is a router, and you don't run too many services 
as root, Linux is pretty hard to break into.  Not impossible, just 
unlikey if you follow the hardening guidelines.  And now that I've 
said that, I'll get a rootkit in a second or two...I'll watch the 
network lights and wait...  :)

Downloaded Centos x5 cds and installed.  vmware won't install though 
as it can't find the kernel headers to recompile :(  I installed 
them to using the sottware manager.  Is linux this disorganised ??

seems each kernel has its own headers, and vmware does not know how 
to calculate the right path. but tried virtualbox before digging 
more.

followed the instructions to upgrade the kernel ... and then reinstalled 
vmware.  Says it was fine. 

Reboot .. and I've got a "kernel panic" message at the bottom of 
my screen :(

too late .. I've reformmated and going to try ubuntu again!

I installed ubuntu on a dual Xeon ( p III ) box and vmware server 
installed with no hitches

Now I have another box and unbuntu installs with no hitches, except 
it does not recognise  the raid card and sees the two mirrored drives 
as separate drives

Seems they are sometimes out of sync with the kernels. Then they 
need to compile and that does not work.

brrr.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/dmraid/+bug/112402
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FakeRaidDebug

Please try the latest gutsy gibbon livecd and see if that works for 
you.
 That may be an idea.

I hae altme in a directory in my user home directory /home/user/altme 
and if I click on it there it puts all files in that altme directory 
which is what I want, but if I try to link to /home/user/altme/altme 
or start it from the command line it always tries to install again 
and put the files in my user directory /home/user.  Does anyone know 
how to symlink it so it opens in the sub directory?

It's a long-standing bug, and even the current Windows version seems 
to do something similar

finely got Altme working on mandriva using wine,now I can click on 
a link and it opens the browser :)  Altme worked before without wine 
but could never click on a link and open the browser

Newbie to Ubuntu ... how do I install Rebol on Ubuntu s that I can 
double click on a .r file and it to run Rebol ?


I have downloaded the Debian version of View ... if I double click 
on the Rebol executable I getthe desktop .... if I then click on 
the Console the desktop dissapears but I dont get a console.
Any ideas ?

To get .r files to start in REBOL, just rightclick on one, go to 
Properties, then to Open With, add REBOL/View and make that the default

Henrik;  Remember a while back you got a  Killed  message?  I just 
got one, and here is a snippet from the kernel log.
       1 dev kernel: oom-killer: gfp_mask=0x200d2, order=0
...addresses and other cracker info removed...

       1 dev kernel: Out of Memory: Kill process 6448 (bash) score 95256 
       and children.
       1 dev kernel: Out of memory: Killed process 6469 (orebol).

I'm guessing you had the same scenario.

I think the main thing that a lot of linux developers won't see, 
is that in the long run an "evolution" approach to development (code 
something and see if it'll float or sink), doesn't work as well as 
the "intelligent design" approach. I could see that in a discussion 
recently on OSNews.

I'm seeing Linux kernel development as this big mountain of clay 
and 100s of people are throwing pieces of clay on it to make it bigger. 
:-)

the thing is, one thing is to do it generally, because you don't 
have the energy for design, but another thing is to actually defend 
it as a good development method. that is why I think also that Linux 
as a desktop won't move forward. Perhaps now the best parts of Linux 
is actually what came out in the beginning, with the original GNU 
tools and not new tools being developed today.

I'm of a different opinion.  GNU/Linux will make it to the desktop. 
 It IS my desktop.  Vista is buried under the GRUB and that's were 
it stays.  Buried.  Many many people are working on the Desktop issues 
right now....like right now...3:15pm eastern standard time.  Con's 
experience may just be a matter of bad-timing.  The first brave front 
runners get cut down, then the masses have a way of getting to the 
goal.  His efforts will not go unnoticed, but he may feel nothing 
but pain and misery for it.  Human nature.

Sounds like Con wrote excellent clay and was thrown out by the cathedral-designers. 
Not the other way around. Seems linux-kernel lost its bazaar-abilities.

BTW a similar scheduler was written by a hig priest and was quickly 
included. quite unfair. and the article is about kernel, not desktop, 
as con mentions in comments

and the problems interest-problems stem from interest of the developers, 
which are enterprise-driven today.

rebols have to worry about the same disenfranchisement imho.  Somedays 
it seems the lure of wxPython or Tcl/Tk, or D, or LUA, or even frick'n 
Windows ... would be an easier long term road to get and keep happy 
customers.  That feeling passes with the next little nugget of knowledge 
(and a little stubborness).  REBOL WILL get RIF, REBin, LNS, Rebcode, 
formatted strings and all the cool stuff that seems just around the 
corner.  AND it will all run on Debian GNU/Linux and I'll be able 
to dump Wine for once and for all, and then slowly convince people 
to move away from the darkside.  :)


Can you tell I'm a little s and t of cleaning off people's PC's just 
to watch them click up IE and Outlook and MSN AGAIN.

Volker:  You must also remember that everyone is human - I think 
that's what most people forget.  How he presented his code to the 
developers could easily have been the reason they didn't include 
it.  I haven't seen the kernel mailing list myself, so I can't say 
for sure, but - he said it's a very unfriendly place, and so likely 
positioned himself accordingly, defensively.  He said himself that 
defended his work as much as possible - without budging.  That's 
the kind of person I hate working with, and the kind of person I 
actively ignore.

And, I agree with btiffin - the Linux desktop is getting there, slowly 
but surely.  Especially Ubuntu, which my *mom* wants me to install 
when she gets her laptop, after having checked out mine a couple 
of times.  I only use Windows for video games that don't run well 
under WINE.

enterprise versus joe sixpack is a big problem. I can understand 
the enterprise model to get into the Fortune 500 but then they have 
to have the joe model for the workers/users. For the Linix office 
worker, a browser/oo/few games/email/ is about all they need at work. 
At home add more games/Gimp/irc/torrent client/media apps and most 
will be happy. It's true those distros are out there but for joe 
sixpack, they are hard to find and most joes only know the big Linux 
names

To be honest, I'm kinda of pro/con with open source in the fortune 
500 server room.  If they kick back some of the savings into funding 
some developers....yeehah.  If they use OSS simply to increase the 
bottom line and only train their elites in it's use ... then boohiss. 
 It is the small, in their own basement  developers and the rare 
business tycoon that supports them that this issue teeters on.  Can 
freedom reach a critical mass, or are we doomed?  Today I'd bet on 
doomed, but will rail against it the whole way down.


And while I'm here, preaching to the choir, I'll cheerlead for those 
brave souls that will buck the trends at their own risk and expense. 
 Go Doc Go.   Give me an A, give me an l, a t, an M and and e.  Ashley, 
Sunanda and all the rest...GO REBOL.  All rebols and gnubies reading 
this, pat yourself on the back for the remarkable achievement of 
seeing the light through the glare.  And other stuff.

Yep. I like watching the show and try to lean people that run small 
businesses toward watching.

I read that Con Kolivas interview, and I don't want to sound repetitive, 
but the answer is right there in front of everybody. Or right here, 
in this case

I've been playing with Kubuntu on and off for a month or so. Sometimes, 
after updates to the system, something breaks.

I would like to know what is the best way of backing up and restoring 
the system.
I think the best way might be to copy partitions back and forth.
I have a few LiveCDs like the System Rescue CD.
What do you guys do ?

When you do a new installation, it's good to put your /home directory 
on a different partition. That way, you can backup just your data, 
or wipe the root partition and re-install the system withoug loosing 
your data and settings

Use Debian  :)  My Dev system has been auto-updating since Potato 
(2.2), I rarely use Unstable packages, but Dev lives in Testing and 
I've not had any problems.  Spike and Chester stay with Stable sources.list 
and I trust the Debian development model (not released on any time 
schedules, but only releasesd when the DD's have finished bashing 
each other around).  I hope they fight the urge to go with release 
dates, even Ian Murdoch is pushing for release shedules :(  but he's 
at Sun now, so I hope that pressure subsides.


To be more to the point.  I keep all my work (and user accounts) 
rsynced on three different machines, backed up to CD and USB memory 
stick on a semi-irregular basis.  I plan for system restore from 
the boot disks, the list from apt-show-versions and a documented 
list of manual steps for things like the Linksys, /etc/hosts, /etc/ssh/sshd_config 
et al and Cheyenne config if anything does eventually go sideways. 
 It might be a (much) longer restore cycle, but I trust that more 
than backup/restore mirroring.  I've avoided the VM model, but that 
seems to be getting some good press now-a-days.

kubuntu and updating without problems here, but, i've seen that happen 
in the past. i always managed to fix stuff though.

Much like R3...I'd prefer disappointment in "missed" dates than any 
guaranteed release schedule.  Patience is a virtue...release code 
when it's ready. not before, and never under the urging of some project 
manager (the common case).

Well, we have had a lot of success with Syllable by releasing early 
and often

Once again.  Schedules are a technical mistake in my opinion.  But 
reality is, this has to be balanced with predictable business planning 
and the more cerebral "keeping up interest by staying fresh".  My 
business is being built on what I feel is techincal merit, not full 
colour glossy.  peoplecards.ca is currently a three person business 
and the technical decisions are currently mine without management 
influence.  That may change as the business grows, but I'll rail 
against it if schedules begin to outweigh technical soak times and 
truthful developer confidence in their products.  One of the beauties 
of GNU/Linux, there is usually an option that is not schedule or 
market driven.

Well, that and the fact I'm a stubborn REBOL solution first kind 
of techie  :)

We rely on incremental development. It's not hard to release early 
and often that way, which is essential to get people's attention 
and contributions. And actually, it's also essential to keep the 
system stable

Sounds like you've got things well in hand.  One of the things that 
Debian and Ubuntu, at some 18,000 plus packages may have a tougher 
time with.  I prefer the Debian wait, over the 6 month deadline of 
Unbuntu still.

I can run Magic! under Apache 1.5 on my machine; I don't have Apache 
2 installed.


I have magic.cgi installed in the cgi-bin directory (equivalent of 
your cgi-script) and access the .rhtml pages from another directory. 
This is my setup:

In the httpd.conf file:

AddHandler magic .rhtml          
    Action magic /cgi-bin/magic.cgi

in the URL/cgi-bin folder 
 magci.cgi

in the URL/magic folder
 test.rhtml

page accessed via http://URL/Magic/test.rhtml

Hope this helps

I have a sendmail question: I have some users with crowded mailboxes, 
as the marked such mails as keep-on-the-server. And I now want to 
get rid of them. How can I empty a users mailbox?

connect via rebol and "clear" them, but you would have to know their 
passwords  of course ...

if in console, I would do the same using some console tool. Or simply 
delete mailbox and create empty file of particular name and attributes. 
But I never tried it :-)

I can't send mail from rebol via Ubuntu. I've configured it correctly, 
and it sends and says that everything is ok, but nothing happens 
on the receiver end. Ideas?

sometimes it helps to logout and back in again a few times

Fact is there's python, scheme and a beautiful lua runtime

Maybe, but Carl is so busy, and I don't think it's a priority for 
him