mats

Rather than blow the dust into the air around you, you really want a vacuum cleaner - I rather fancy the handheld Dyson. For small numbers of pcs, a Giottos Rocket (Amazon) works well - outside preferably - and never needs refilling.

No domain joining and ARM instead of X86. No better than a 'droid or iThing. Looks like a desperate push to increase the number shipped - are we getting to the end of a quarter?

No probs. Now go & do something really cool with it!

So, a quick explanation of what happened. When you run "apt-get update" as user pi (your normal login user), apt-get can't write the files it needs to write because it's just a normal user. When you run "sudo apt-get update", it runs the same program as the super-user aka root, who can write where it wants. Normal stuff - use the pi user. Admin stuff - sudo. When you type "sudo bash", it runs bash - the command line interpreter - as the super user, with its almighty powers. HTH, Mat

Capitals matter in Unix-like operating systems. sudo nano /etc/apt/apt.conf < this starts the nano editor on file /etc/apt/apt.conf (some systems work with /etc/apt/conf) Insert this line Acquire::http::Proxy "http://eduproxy.bgfl.org:80"; Press ctrl x and save the file. Try apt-get update again

At the command line - export http_proxy="http://eduproxy.bgfl.org/" You don't need the port number if you're using port 80. That gets wget working. To get apt-get using the proxy, create /etc/apt/conf and add this line Acquire::http::Proxy "http://eduproxy.bgfl.org"; This worked on an ubuntu 12.04 machine - I think the RaspPi is also debian based so you're in with a chance. Failing that, have you tried the pi forums?

It should be noted that there is a project which can connect Scratch to an Arduino which I got working last year. First person to get it into a primary curriculum wins!

Those sub-£4 nanos need an external usb interface. For the money, a complete arduino for £12ish is a steal, all you need is a usb A-B cable - they can also be powered from usb (like a Pi) so you can use a spare phone charger charger. If you're really on a shoestring, cannibalise old kit for leds, motors, transistors, ir tx / rx bits. Arduinos can also program attiny micros - I have a few attiny45 smd's for sale if anybody wants them (hard to get in small numbers).

Are you behind a proxy? If so, you'll need something like 'export http_proxy="http://proxyname:port" and search this forum for apt.conf which will also want a proxy setting which I can't remember off the top of my head.

Lubuntu works well on old hardware. I tried Suse in a vm the other week - very slick and polished but it's red hat based and I know debian much better. Consequently, it also uses RPM and I do love a bit of apt-get magic.

I can confirm that Calibre will work on Linux & W7 and synch between them using dropbox.

Sainsburys still had nooks on display for £30. Stock might be another issue, mind. I've started reading again since I bought mine.

Feedly's interface was too weird for me. It'd use tiny tiny rss if I had a hosting account going spare so it's the Old Reader for now. As above, needs an android client.

Truecrypt whole drive encryption works well for us. No TPM required, not dependent on windows version.

If you just want an e-reader, the Nook is £115 cheaper (after that discount) at the moment. It's not bad either (and it's rootable).

Nautilus stopped auto-starting after I upgraded. Pretty blank desktop until I figured that out.

If you're just pasting loops onto a multi track timeline, Audacity's free and quite capable.

dhicks - you want the AWS forums for that lot I suspect!

Yes but my free usage tier is about to expire. Great if you want a net accessible always on linux box without paying the electricity bill.

Mine arrived from B&N last weds (14th). I quite like it (lovely daylight readable screen) - still reading free ebooks despite its best efforts to shove paid content under my nose.

Do Yahoo / flickr own the rights to your 1Tb of photos though? It's a deal-breaker for me.

I'd investigate why puffinbrowser doesn't work within school and see if I could get a linux box to do something clever on the networking side. Much more elegant.

Interested, but not at that price!

Ah yes, hard / soft saddles. Soft may seem best, but the padding tends to bunch up away from where the pressure is (sit bones) is and press on the softer tissues, making the situation worse. Too much padding is a bad thing. As for wide saddles, just one word. Chafing. Your backside will get used to it, just build the distances up steadily. You only need to do this once ime. PS Brooks saddles rock. I'd have more if it wasn't for their trouser staining abilities.

+1 for mudguards and a rack. Front suspension on a road bike tends to be extra weight to push around for no real benefit. For the same money, I'd suggest something like this.