- Roundtable - muug.ca

MUUG Board Elections - FINAL CALL for Nominations
by Gilbert E. Detillieux 22 Sep '09

22 Sep '09

Hear ye, hear ye! This is FINAL CALL for nominees to participate in the election for the MUUG board. Those elected will serve from October 2009 until October 2010. The deadline to nominate yourself, or someone else, is September 29, 2009. Instructions follow. The MUUG board is charged with coordinating the meetings and other events by the group. It's fun, and you get a role in guiding the group. All are encouraged to apply. ------------------------ MUUG Board Elections - Call for Nominations Every October the Manitoba Unix User Group holds its Annual Meeting, the main goals of which are to elect a new Board of Directors and to pass any special resolutions. (Aside from that, it is a regular meeting) Any MUUG member in good standing can be nominated to run for a position on the Board. As of this writing, the following members of the current Board have let their names stand for re-election: Sean Cody Senior System Admin. Prime Focus VFX Services Gilbert Detillieux Systems Analyst University of Manitoba Michael Doob Professor University of Manitoba Kevin McGregor Network Analyst City of Winnipeg Montana Quiring Systems Administrator University of Manitoba Doug Shewfelt Systems Specialist City of Winnipeg Adam Thompson Consultant athompso.net Of course, this list is just a starting point. Any member in good standing of the group can be nominated simply by getting the support of one other member. If you feel you would like to contribute to the group by running for a board position, please don't hesitate to do so. (In fact, we'd like to see the number of board members increase.) If you want to be nominated, or to nominate someone else, send a letter to the group's postal box or deliver it in person to a current board member. The letter must contain the name, title, and employer of the nominee, along with a short (100 word or so) biography, and must contain the signatures of the nominee and one other member. The letter must be received no later than September 29, 2009, which is 14 days prior to the October 13 meeting. Although the by-laws require that the nominations be done in writing, with signatures, you can speed up the process by sending e-mail to <election(a)muug.mb.ca>, with the above information, and sending the signed paper copy later. In this case, please include the e-mail address of both the nominee and the supporter on the CC: list of the message, so that all parties concerned have a record of the communication. Nominees should familiarize themselves with the MUUG bylaws, found here: http://www.muug.mb.ca/pub/bylaws/ If you have any questions about the election or the nomination process, please contact Gilbert Detillieux, either by phone (474-8161) during business hours, or by e-mail to <election(a)muug.mb.ca> anytime. Gilbert Detillieux Election Committee Chair ------------------------ -- Gilbert E. Detillieux E-mail: <gedetil(a)muug.mb.ca> Manitoba UNIX User Group Web: http://www.muug.mb.ca/ PO Box 130 St-Boniface Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg MB CANADA R2H 3B4 Fax: (204)474-7609

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Watching servers?
by Kevin McGregor 18 Sep '09

18 Sep '09

Hey all, Not actually UNIX related, but since a lot of you are network admins you might have some suggestions. I'd like to keep an eye on a bunch of servers (~20) but all I need to know is which ones are up or down, and if they're down, when they were last "seen". Does anyone know of a simple, free tool that will do that? I don't want details like number of packets lost or any such. Mostly I want to know which machines shut down and in what order. Thanks in advance, Kevin

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Jumpy mice
by Daniel J. Salomon 15 Sep '09

15 Sep '09

At the last meeting I reported my problems with jumpy optical mice. I had similar problems with five mice made by Logitech, Microsoft, and a generic manufacturer. Every few minutes, the mice would cause the cursor to jump unpredictably to the top or bottom of the screen. The cursor would then have to be dragged back to the working area. An old fashioned ball mouse had no such problems although ball mice have their own annoying deficiencies. On the advice of one of the members, I tried a laser mouse. I bought a Logitech MX400 Performance Laser Mouse for about $50. It solved my problems. It gives smooth and reliable response. I had previously thought that the word "laser" in mouse descriptions was just advertising hype and provided no actual advantage over an optical mouse. Thank you to whoever it was that made that suggestion. Daniel Salomon

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Fwd: Copyright legislation input
by Gilbert E. Detillieux 08 Sep '09

08 Sep '09

FYI... ------------------------------------ Subject: Copyright legislation input From: Bill <bill3(a)uniserve.com> Date: Sun, 06 Sep 2009 00:48:10 -0700 Hello, I wonder if you would re-post this email to your groups mailing list? It's self explanatory and should be of concern to many technical folks. Thank you. Bill Hi, I'm Bill McGrath. I write software, am a Director of the Vancouver Linux User Group and am a founding member of the Vancouver Fair Copyright Coalition. I'm writing today with respect the ongoing consultation on copyright in Canada. The federal government intends to introduce new legislation early next year and is presently soliciting input from ordinary Canadians. This process will end on Sunday, September 13, 2009, so there is about one week left for you to contribute your voice to the chorus of Canadians who are deeply concerned about the changes that lobbyists for transnational conglomerates are demanding to copyright law. When Bill C-61 was tabled in the House of Commons there was widespread outrage at such a ham-fisted attempt to deal with complex and sensitive issues. Fortunately, it was dropped when Parliament was porogued. One of the strongest criticisms of Bill C-61 was that government had not consulted the people. But now we have our chance. Government has decided to listen. I'm sure you've all heard of the DMCA and it's downside. We definitely don't want this in Canada. We need you to send an email to government. Of course, most people aren't experts. They don't know what to say. So we've put together a submission guideline that hits the main general points and a number of specific points of special concern to technical folk - programmers, administrators, technicians and so on. Sending an email will take as little as ten minutes. I'm sure you can find time in the next week to voice your concerns. Numbers matter, so each and every email counts. Our 4 Step Submission Guideline for technical folk contains all you need to know to put together an email. It includes examples, a glossary of terms and links to more information. It lives at: http://faircopy.ca/participate Please find the time, before Sunday, September 13th to express your concerns to the government. Invite your friends and cross post this email where it will help to get the word out. Thank you for your time and your contribution. Democracy will prevail. Bill

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MUUG Meeting, Sept 8, 7:30pm -- Connecting your Computer
by gedetil＠cs.umanitoba.ca 01 Sep '09

01 Sep '09

The Manitoba UNIX User Group (MUUG) will be holding its next monthly meeting on Tuesday, September 8. The meeting topic for this month is as follows: Connecting your Computer to the Real World This month, Adam Thompson will be covering the dizzying array of I/O ports and technologies available for making connections to (or from) your computer. There's at least three ways to hook up a monitor; at least three ways to connect a keyboard and mouse; at least five ways to hook up a printer or scanner... Do you actually know what all those ports on the back do? What plugs into where? Does UNIX support them all equally? Which one is best (in any given circumstance)? We'll attempt to answer these questions for you. The group holds its general meetings at 7:30pm on the second Tuesday of every month from September to June. (There are no meetings in July and August.) Meetings are open to the general public; you don't have to be a MUUG member to attend. ********************************************************************** Please note our meeting location: The IBM offices, at 400 Ellice Ave. (between Edmonton and Kennedy). When you arrive, you will have to sign in at the reception desk, and then wait for someone to take you (in groups) to the meeting room. Please try to arrive by about 7:15pm, so the meeting can start promptly at 7:30pm. Don't be late, or you may not get in. (But don't come too early either, since security may not be there to let you in before 7:15 or so.) Non-members may be required to show photo ID at the security desk. Limited parking is available for free on the street, either on Ellice Ave. or on some of the intersecting streets. Indoor parking is also available nearby, at Portage Place, for $5.00 for the evening. Bicycle parking is available in a bike rack under video surveillance located behind the building on Webb Place. ********************************************************************** For more information about MUUG, and its monthly meetings, check out their Web server: http://www.muug.mb.ca/ Help us promote this month's meeting, by putting this poster up on your workplace bulletin board or other suitable public message board: http://www.muug.mb.ca/meetings/MUUGmeeting.pdf -- Gilbert E. Detillieux E-mail: <gedetil(a)muug.mb.ca> Manitoba UNIX User Group Web: http://www.muug.mb.ca/ PO Box 130 St-Boniface Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg MB CANADA R2H 3B4 Fax: (204)474-7609

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Tips for using grub?
by John Lange 31 Aug '09

31 Aug '09

Just wondering if anyone has any tips on using grub? The grub command that writes the MBR is "setup (hdX)". The problem is figuring out which drive is the "root" drive. In a situation where you are trying to write the MBR on a drive that isn't the one you booted from, this turns out to be non-trivial. You can use grub's "find" command to look for a file like "find /boot/grub/grub.conf", but if several attached drives have the same file than this doesn't help much. Even worse, if the system is multipathed, the same device will be returned several times. I have a system here that I'm testing with and it has 4 paths to each device. The "find" command returns 4 results for every attached device. Anyone have a tip for how to figure out which one is the one I want? BTW, I'm trying to document this for a recovery procedure so it would be common to have several attached devices with almost identical file systems. --- John Lange www.johnlange.ca

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New Linux Maemo Device
by Montana Quiring 28 Aug '09

28 Aug '09

Hello, I know there's more then a few of us that are interested in and excited about this announcement! http://cli.gs/n900announce -- -Montana

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MUUG Board Elections - Call for Nominations
by Gilbert E. Detillieux 21 Aug '09

21 Aug '09

Hear ye, hear ye! This is a preliminary call for nominees to participate in the election for the MUUG board. Those elected will serve from October 2009 until October 2010. The deadline to nominate yourself, or someone else, is September 29, 2009. Instructions follow. The MUUG board is charged with coordinating the meetings and other events by the group. It's fun, and you get a role in guiding the group. All are encouraged to apply. ------------------------ MUUG Board Elections - Call for Nominations Every October the Manitoba Unix User Group holds its Annual Meeting, the main goals of which are to elect a new Board of Directors and to pass any special resolutions. (Aside from that, it is a regular meeting) Any MUUG member in good standing can be nominated to run for a position on the Board. As of this writing, the following members of the current Board have let their names stand for re-election: Sean Cody Senior System Admin. Prime Focus VFX Services Gilbert Detillieux Systems Analyst University of Manitoba Michael Doob Professor University of Manitoba Kevin McGregor Network Analyst City of Winnipeg Montana Quiring Systems Administrator University of Manitoba Doug Shewfelt Systems Specialist City of Winnipeg Adam Thompson Consultant athompso.net Of course, this list is just a starting point. Any member in good standing of the group can be nominated simply by getting the support of one other member. If you feel you would like to contribute to the group by running for a board position, please don't hesitate to do so. (In fact, we'd like to see the number of board members increase.) If you want to be nominated, or to nominate someone else, send a letter to the group's postal box or deliver it in person to a current board member. The letter must contain the name, title, and employer of the nominee, along with a short (100 word or so) biography, and must contain the signatures of the nominee and one other member. The letter must be received no later than September 29, 2009, which is 14 days prior to the October 13 meeting. Although the by-laws require that the nominations be done in writing, with signatures, you can speed up the process by sending e-mail to <election(a)muug.mb.ca>, with the above information, and sending the signed paper copy later. In this case, please include the e-mail address of both the nominee and the supporter on the CC: list of the message, so that all parties concerned have a record of the communication. Nominees should familiarize themselves with the MUUG bylaws, found here: http://www.muug.mb.ca/pub/bylaws/ If you have any questions about the election or the nomination process, please contact Gilbert Detillieux, either by phone (474-8161) during business hours, or by e-mail to <election(a)muug.mb.ca> anytime. Gilbert Detillieux Election Committee Chair ------------------------ -- Gilbert E. Detillieux E-mail: <gedetil(a)muug.mb.ca> Manitoba UNIX User Group Web: http://www.muug.mb.ca/ PO Box 130 St-Boniface Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg MB CANADA R2H 3B4 Fax: (204)474-7609

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Fwd: USENIX SustainIT '10 Call For Papers Now Available
by Gilbert E. Detillieux 20 Aug '09

20 Aug '09

FYI... -------- Original Message -------- Subject: USENIX SustainIT '10 Call For Papers Now Available Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:32:15 -0700 From: Lionel Garth Jones <lgj(a)usenix.org> The Program Committee for the the First USENIX Workshop on Sustainable Information Technology (SustainIT '10) invites you to submit your papers. Increasingly, designers of computer systems ranging from small mobile devices to massive datacenters are concerned with sustainable design, including both power and life-cycle costs; these costs should include manufacturing, operation, and disposal of IT systems. We seek papers that evaluate energy-related issues and their aforementioned trade-offs, present novel new ideas, challenge and/or debunk past and present practices, and more. We especially encourage papers that discuss not just energy issues but also how they interact with other dimensions in a sustainable manner. The scope of this workshop is broad, covering research, theory, hardware, software, applications, techniques, etc.--all related to making computing systems greener. Topics of interest related to energy-sustainable computing include but are not limited to: * Energy vs. performance, cost, reliability, usability, security, etc. * Evaluations of long-term total costs of ownership (TCOs, e-waste, growth rates, recycling, etc.) * Total Impact of Ownership (TIO) in the long run (even decades-long) * Workload reduction techniques (e.g., compression, dedup) * Application of virtualization, cloud computing, clustering, and workload management * Hardware-based techniques (e.g., new electronics, clock-gating, disaggregation) * Firmware-based techniques (e.g., APM, ACPI) * Right-sizing techniques (e.g., DVFS, DRPM) * Use of FLASH and other novel storage media * Impact of storage hardware and software stacks * Application-optimization techniques (e.g., compiler-based) * Theory, algorithms, and simulated results * Energy and energy-related metrics (e.g., $$$, Energy-Delay, PUE) * IT services and techniques to manage energy and reduce costs * Sustainability and life-cycle analysis * Practical energy technologies for the developing world * Datacenter techniques (e.g., blade servers, low-power CPUs) * Software-based techniques at all levels, from OS/kernel to applications * Evaluation and modification of business processes to reduce the environmental impact * Economics of energy-efficienct software and hardware design * New datacenter cooling and energy-management issues and designs, including use of renewable energy sources * Thermal and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models for software and hardware co-design Please submit your work by November 9, 2009. More information and submission guidelines are available at http://www.usenix.org/sustainit10/cfpa SustainIT '10 will take place February 22, 2010, in San Jose, CA. It will be co-located with the 8th USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies (FAST '10), which will take place February 23-26, 2010. We look forward to receiving your submissions! Sincerely, Ethan L. Miller, University of California, Santa Cruz Erez Zadok, Stony Brook University SustainIT '10 Program Co-Chairs sustainit10chairs(a)usenix.org

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Fwd: UG News: O'Reilly Radar Global Issues Webcast Series
by Gilbert E. Detillieux 20 Aug '09

20 Aug '09

FYI... -------- Original Message -------- Subject: UG News: O'Reilly Radar Global Issues Webcast Series Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:07:23 -0700 If you would like to view this information in your browser, click here <http://post.oreilly.com/rd/9z1zgrtai99elpk7g5fajao722hbdembjm7lsllcqng>. O'Reilly <http://post.oreilly.com/rd/9z1zg9qm7a3b74os1oadg0r8mbgoqhelm58nmc406b0> Forward this announcement <http://post.oreilly.com/f2f/9z1ziumlclj99n0un5k3fosmkgq0324l56is02b8548> Hi there, Can you share this announcement with your group members if you think they'll be interested? We've just launched a new webcast series focusing on issues and concerns that transcend national boundaries. The O'Reilly Radar Global Issues Webcast Series will feature scientists, technologists, and other thought leaders seeking to inform and engage O'Reilly's audience about the most pressing issues of the day, including energy, climate, the environment, and globalization. The series, offered free of charge, is designed to educate as well as involve the audience in an ongoing discussion about these topics. Kicking off the series is *Energy Literacy* <http://post.oreilly.com/rd/9z1zgi5ai20j2tmr3ddecoqdd63fgh3csdcnsced74o> presented by Dr. Saul Griffith, on Wednesday, August 26 at 10am PT. Griffith has multiple degrees in materials science and mechanical engineering, and is the co-founder of numerous companies, including WattzOn <http://post.oreilly.com/rd/9z1zq2d2bvjrah43m8e35ger12m0olmaqp48kebae80>, a free online tool to quantify, track, compare and understand the total amount of energy needed to support all of the facets of your lifestyle. Registration is required in advance. On September 3, Prof. Per F. Peterson, chair of the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, will present *Nuclear Energy: Future Directions* <http://post.oreilly.com/rd/9z1z2qmgh9v4lvficv4vfesv351cbaei38jbvrbn5jo>. Peterson's talk will cover the current status of nuclear energy, and review the potential directions the technology may go in the future. Other speakers in the series include Dr. S. Pete Worden, NASA Ames Research Center Director and Sameer Padania, Hub Manager for Witness.org. Rather than offering a passive experience, webcasts provide the opportunity for audience participation. Attendees view the live presentations via their computers and are encouraged to share comments, questions, and resources through the event chat room while the event takes place. "Our webcasts typically attract a global audience. It's not unusual to host participants from thirty countries or more," says Allen Noren, O'Reilly's vice president of online initiatives. "Each webcast generates an explosion of creative participation, much like our conferences. We fully expect that attendees of this series will be informed, and we fully expect to see solutions offered." For more information about the O'Reilly Radar Global Issues Webcast Series and other O'Reilly webcasts, see: *oreilly.com/webcasts* <http://post.oreilly.com/rd/9z1z7f9vq233eua5ttu7uqcd3vusuf6klfupgf8gj58> Thanks-- Marsee Henon <http://post.oreilly.com/rd/9z1z7r8qorh1kj4mfce66k1jjkd7f35blflfpi2aqt0> Spreading the knowledge of innovators <http://post.oreilly.com/rd/9z1z93lemtj5ssf6gj86l7qri9qat644drpt3k39i70>oreilly.com <http://post.oreilly.com/rd/9z1z1jbs72seb4k8amonkiiudr0phf77btq1vbgi1jg> You are receiving this email because you are a User Group contact with O'Reilly Media. Forward this announcement <http://post.oreilly.com/f2f/9z1ziumlclj99n0un5k3fosmkgq0324l56is02b8548>. O'Reilly Media, Inc. 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472 (707) 827-7000

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