From: adam@address.invalid
Moe Trin wrote:
> On Thu, 19 Jul 2012, in the Usenet newsgroup alt.os.linux.mandriva, in
article
> , Adam wrote:
[DNS]
>> Copying /etc/hosts is easy.
>
> As long as the stupid helper programs aren't overwriting it.
At least one of Mageia's does.
> And don't
> forget that some applications (mainly web browsers) know more about
"Know more about" or "think they know more about"? Could you name a few
programs?
> networking than the kernel authors, and do their own resolving (which
> often ignores the hosts file).
Which I gather is usually not a good thing.
> you've essentially got the DNS server running on stolid [...] I'd
> look at having eris look there - but I'm a network guy.
I'll see whether I'm using eris while stolid is down. Meanwhile there
are lots of decent free DNSs out there besides my ISP's. I don't think
that's all that important, except maybe for the distros I'm going to do
any productive work with.
>> For now I'm using Fedora's GRUB2, since it automatically finds every
>> other distro installed and adds them to its menu.
>
> Fedora's GRUB, or Fedora's helper tool? I suspect the latter, but
> Fedora is far to cutting edge for me.
I believe Fedora's helper tool, which seems to check each distro's
/etc/*release and /etc/*version.
I didn't think Fedora was "cutting edge", but then again I'm trying a
variety of distros, many of which I'll eventually decide don't suit me.
[configuring AIDE]
> A main problem you have to work around is system updates. You've
> got to run aide BEFORE and AFTER any updates or additions/deletions
> or be plagued by false alarms.
I noticed. I just upgraded my kernel from 2.6.39 to 3.0.37 and of
course AIDE reported nearly 4000 added files. OTOH by now I can
recognize "false alarms" like that one pretty easily. I don't think the
default aide.config will need too many changes.
[X stopped working on eris under Mandriva 2010.0]
>>>> (EE) Failed to load module "v4l" (module does not exist, 0)
>>>> (EE) Failed to load module "intel" (module does not exist, 0)
>
>> Fixed. I reinstalled those two from the install DVD.
>
> OK - any idea how they managed to go AWOL?
Either I removed them by mistake (maybe a wildcard included them), or
maybe an overenthusiastic "urpme --auto-orphans". After 2 1/2 years the
package management has gotten somewhat messed up there.
> Minor curiosity, what are they from? They aren't on my systems.
x11-driver-video-v4l-0.2.0-4mdv2010.0
x11-driver-video-intel-2.9.1-1mdv2010.0
both on the install DVD.
>>> you could try running 'rpm -Va > /tmp/rpm.package.check' as root
[...]
> A good part of
> the run-time is computing the md5sum on all of the files
I thought md5 was on its way out because someone discovered it could be
easily spoofed (gotta look up how).
>> I'll have to look at the output files and figure out which changes
>> are acceptable. It actually reported a lot more missing files than
>> found ones, but most of those were fonts.
>
> Even slower, but
>
> while read FILE ; do
> rpm -qf $FILE
> done < /tmp/rpm.package.check > /tmp/missing.owner
Didn't work, partly because rpm.package.check had those flags on every
line before the filename, and mostly because "rpm -qf $FILE" won't
process cases when $FILE is missing, at least not Mandriva 2010.0.
> It sounds as if you "rm'ed" probably unneeded files, rather than using
> "rpm -e" to remove the package.
Likely. When numerous files that looked like they were from the same
package were reported missing, I uninstalled the package (unless I
really needed it) and that took care of a lot of files being reported as
"missing". Also, eventually Mandriva 2010.0, missing files and all, is
going to be wiped and replaced by a clean install of some new distro to
play with.
[wireless]
All the other SSIDs use channels 1, 6, and 11, except one which always
uses channel 4. I'd guess that person, or whoever set it up, knows a
little about Wi-Fi. BTW I seem to be the only one who's always on;
apparently all the other neighbors disable Wi-Fi (or equivalent) when
not at their computers.
>> I'm permanently on channel 9 (I can change this, but AFAIK am
>> restricted to one channel).
>
> Disadvantage of 9, both 6 and 11 step on it {and vice-versa).
It sounds like there's no getting around that. Now channels 8 and 9 are
the only ones that at least aren't adjacent to a popular channel.
> Multiple networks can use the same channel at the same time
I figured that had to be possible, as hot spots can handle more than 11
users at a time.
> The busier traffic means bits may get stepped on more
> often and (the equivalent of an Ethernet packet) have to be
> retransmitted which means slower transfers.
In my situation, I don't see anything better than using channels 8 or 9,
unless I want to be illegal and use channels not allowed in the U.S. ;-)
OTOH my DSL limits me to 3m/768k anyway, unless I'm transferring a
file between the two computers (close to 54 mbps?).
>>> Signal strength is an EXTREMELY crude estimate
[...]
> A more accurate measure would be the Bit Error Rate which might show
> up indirectly as the "errors:" counts in /sbin/ifconfig.
Or on one of the router's info screens, since I only have the one
wireless connection.
>> Related questions: the 8 cm. antenna on eris's wireless card
[...]
>> happens to be next to a window facing the parking area, which 30+
>> apartments also are facing... would that make much difference one
>> way or the other?
>
> When people are trying
> to improve signal strength in ONE direction, they can try placing a
> metal reflector (often spoken of as a pie-plate - same idea) "behind"
> the antenna (ideally, 1/2 wavelength behind) to act like the reflector
> in a flashlight and "focus" the energy in a desired direction.The
> same concept can be used to block an interfering signal (a metallic
> window screen would significantly reduce the signal coming through
> the window
But would that increase transfer speed in my case? It might reduce the
signal going out my window, but I'm not sure whether that would be an
advantage for me either.
How is Marg settling in?
Adam
--
Registered Linux User #536473
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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