ITWombat

Eh? But I though you were nix man Chris. Why aren't you using one the packages Ric has suggested.

I tried the suggested methods with a copy of DSL live CD. The network cable was removed and only reinserted after the desktop had appeared. No dhcpclient command. ifconfig down then up didn't work. It appears that DSL uses the pump command for automated host configuration. I thought this became deprecated a few years back. Oh well.

I don't think it's the memory because the machine POSTs OK and all other software works fine. It's not hard disk related because it happens with Live CD distros As graphic card drivers, the funny thing is it happens with the more update distros which should have more recent drivers. I'm not really not going to spend any on fixing the box. I just though there might be a workaround I could use when I need to run Java software. I tried switching off ACPI as a boot option but that didn't work,

To be honest it's a machine specific problem. The same software runs fine on other boxes. I just wondered what the JRE did to cause trigger the fault.

I think you might be right. The strange thing is that the world has been given execute permission to these files so what's the point of taking them out of the normal path. As a guest user I wouldn't be able to make any changes anyway as on other distros. Still no whois command though :/

You don't need to turn DHCP off just make sure thtat all allowed MACs get reserved addresses and that there is no free pool of addresses. As Geoff implies this merely security through obscurity. A knowledgeable person won't be stopped from connecting just slightly inconvenienced.

One thing MS Windows appears to have over most Linux distros I have tried is the ease with which you can restart the dhcp client after a break in network connection. If you plug in a network cable to the back of the PC windows will start acquiring an address. If that's too easy then you can also do IPCONFIG /RENEW. With Linux, in many cases you have to either have to have the cable plugged in before booting or try to find some gui tool to force address acquisition. Now from what I read you should be able to use ipconfig up to give the dhcp client a fillip but that doesn't seem to work. The one counter example I found is Puppy Linux with dhcpcd. For other distros life is not so simple or maybe it is and I am the simple one

I have an old PC which I have has an ISA NE2000 NIC to save on PCI slots. I have generally found that most Linux distros will recognise most network cards and go through DHCP at boot time. Not this time. I tried Xubuntu and Puppy Linux and both didn't load and start the relevant [driver] module. I had to manually modprobe and then dhcpcd. In the end I was reduced to putting the above commands in rc.local Is there no other way of forcing linux to load particular drivers? modprobe.conf appears to say how modules should be processed but not which modules should be processed

Something very curios happens with my PC and Linux. It can run fine for hours on end but if run a Java app it turns the screen off. In the end I have to turn the power off and cold boot. I remember somebody mentioning a similar problem with a duff BIOS and ACPI but why Java? It doesn't matter what distro I run it seems to have a problem with Java 1.5 and later.

I've been trying out the PCLinuxOS 2007 live CD/DVD. Generally it has very nice interface but occasionally I like to nip down to the command line to get some extra info. Imagine my surprise. There doesn't to appear to be any of the normal commands from the net tools package found in most distros. Now call me old fashioned but I don't really consider ifconfig to be bloatware exactly. Oh tell a lie they kept ping. Maybe I can find out my IP by pinging the hostname but wouldn't you know it the name is localhost. Traceroue is in but not route. No whois either. It's not exactly a l33t tool. So what's going on? Do the missing commands appear after a full harddisk install?

LOL Spoken like a 'real' tech It shows you're human, I suppose.

Doesn't RIPA say that mail stored on an organisations computers can be monitored so long as staff are warned in advance. Data protection is more about the accuracy and security reuired of organisations keeping information about an individual. As what has been discussed here is prinicaply email archiving presumably, you would have access to your own mailbox The above discussion seems to give the impression that only email matters but what about home directories or shared areas? How should the contents be recorded? just what's on backup at key points or milestone documents such as annual and interim reports, LEA/DfES returns, departmental reviews, development plans etc.?

LIfe was simple I just had a laser jet 4k and that was that. Who needs colour anyway. Then it happened. I had to attach an MFP to an Ubuntu box. In the end I had to do a err... tatical retreat. Do you use a colour injket with your *nix box?

@Openhgs - What advantage is there to running Redhat if you're not corporate? @Ric_ why Debian on a laptop? For a mission critical server then sure Debian is good choice if you want a known quantity. Is your resistance against Ubuntu just your way of being contrary

Yes and no. You still need a means of importing the PRF file into HKCU. It won't matter about the erver value used in the file but the PRF has be there in the first place. @SimonC Have a look at this thread In particular look at the link to Rich Profile Creator recommended by Pooley and the Outlook command options mentioned by Kiran.

It could've been worse. You weren't offering your services as an ICT Co-ordinator

What happened to you Geoff? Didn't you use to run Gentoo or something

I was expecting that they would go for one of the big RPM ditstros Red Hat or Novell which has a bigger presence in consumer space (uggh did I really say that). If this realy takes off then Ubuntu will distort Debian development even more. It could become the standard apt distro.

You'll probably have to do the driver install with sysprep.ini in a similar way way as to unattended setup.

Eh??? and you're still employed?

It's a bit old but this may raise a smile. Apologies to COBOL ops past and present

Ha ha (at this point I tried to think of something funny to say that linked Dvorak and Keyboard - but my brain stopped) Do you feel like you have entered a New World?

@rav I suppose it'll weed out those who can't I'm not sure how relevant it will be when a teacher has been teaching for 10 years or more.

and don't forget that it has be simple enough for teachers to understand "....and in summary, don't take the mick."

OK Donna. I think it's safe to come back now