unixman

Nice script, but remember a backup is completely useless unless you can restore from it. One gotcha to bear in mind when backing up with mysqldump, is that table columns are listed "as is" which might cause a problem on restore. For example, if you were to backup your Koha library system with mysqldump, one of the tables is dumped as CREATE TABLE issues ( borrowernumber int(11) NOT NULL default '0', itemnumber int(11) NOT NULL default '0', date_due date default NULL, branchcode char(4) default NULL, issuingbranch char(18) default NULL, returndate date default NULL, lastreneweddate date default NULL, return char(4) default NULL, renewals tinyint(4) default NULL, timestamp timestamp(14) NOT NULL, KEY issuesborridx (borrowernumber), KEY issuesitemidx (itemnumber), KEY bordate (borrowernumber,timestamp) ) TYPE=MyISAM; The line which will cause an error should be `return` char(4) default NULL,

I've experienced freezes with IE7. A change to Firefox and/or Opera cured the problem.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/technology/storage.asp

You can also purchase them from Misco, BT and laptopsdirect.co.uk. BT offer an option half price Symantec Norton 360 (err why) and the price from laptopsdirect is way over the odds.

In 30 years I suspect the PC will be no more. The quantum computer will be the norm but the purchase and operating costs will be beyond the realm of most business. Computers will be centralised; a return to the big iron days. Ken Olsen will be proven right; actually he is right already! Perhaps quote wrongly attributed to Thomas J. Watson will come true too. Individuals will access the centralised systems using a thin client or similar. Access will be provided by companies similar to the current ISP. Man/machine symbiosis will be a contraversal issue in the future. Some will embrace it but the majority will reject it outright. For you wet behind the ear whippersnappers : Ken Olsen (co-founder DEC) famously said "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home." Thomas J. Watson (IBM boss) was reputed to have said "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."

CSVDE will not set passwords, you need dsadd. What I do is setup my csv file on a Unix box, and run it through an awk script to produce a couple of .bat files, which I then transfer to the M$ box and run. Samples lines from each file (there will be one per user). mkuser.bat (the user will logon with gorag07 and password kleys47) dsadd user "CN=Gora George,OU=07,OU=Students,DC=dt,DC=local" -samid gorag07 -ln Gora -fn George -pwd kleys47 -hmdir \\dt-server\gorag07$ -hmdrv H: -loscr student.bat mkhome.bat cd \StudentHomeDirs mkdir gorag07 cacls gorag07 /e /c /g gorag07:f

see page 29 of http://www.formfactors.org/developer%5Cspecs%5CATX12V_1_3dg.pdf

AFAIK there is no regulation which specifies separate data and power, however there is plenty of information available on Electromagnetic Interference (EMI). Point the idiots performed this installation at http://www.lanshack.com/cat5e-tutorial.aspx and http://www.connectworld.net/syscon/support.htm. It is recommended that there is 12" between power and data, unless a busbar trunking systems is employed. EMI can cause chaos on a network. Typical symptoms - Windows shared drives mysteriously vanishing, connections to database servers terminating, networked printers spewing random garbage, huge number of packet collisions (slow response), etc. EMI is a difficult problem to diagnose without specialist equipment. If you know that power and data cabling are in close proximity, such as in the same trunking, and there are network issues, EMI is a safe bet. The wasted space being the trunking is brilliant! I'm also impressed with the lack of space for keyboards, mice and for people to work. Will the base units fit behind the trunking? This might be a way to gain extra space. Ideally you should get it reinstalled and have the trunking installed on the wall behind or under the benching if possible. I'll bet that will happen. I'm guessing that the installation was out of your hands. Anyone that allows such shoddy work should be dismissed instantly.

As an ex-pat be prepared for a very slow pace of life. Sitting on the beach everyday after work all sounds very wonderful, but believe me it gets boring after 10 years. Remember distances are huge; it's quite easy to pop over to Paris for a weekend. It's not that easy in Oz, unless you are prepared to fly every where. When I fly home, and you cross the Northern Australian coast, your first reaction is "Ah nearly there". Nup! You've still got 6 or 7 hours to go. Driving the very long distances is boring and damned uncomfortable. On the plus side, petrol is way cheaper, food is generally of better quality, the sky is higher and the climate brilliant. Depending on where you live, IT jobs are quite sparse. I'd love to go back, but I doubt that I could get a job unless I lived interstate from by home city. If I have to do that, I might just as well work here.

Me too. I also have a few punched cards, including a lace card, and the odd memory dump or two. I have an IBM green card to go with these latter items, but I don't think that I could still decode them. There should be a campaign to bring back "proper" computers and get rid of the junk we have to work on today. If you can't add hex numbers together in your head, you shouldn't be allowed to use a computer. You weren't even allowed to touch the computer when I first started out; you had to be a specially trained operator. Mere programmers like me were hidden away in the back office, with only the punch girls for company. Mind you that did have certain benefits

This line made me guffaw. Surely you don't mean every, single, IP on the network including clients?!? How do you track back user-abuse if all your reports from Bloxx are IP specific unless, as well as static IPs, you have static users which only ever use a specific machine? I'm sure openhgs does mean that he/she knows each and every i/p address on the network. I too have worked on sites with static i/p addresses and I could work out the i/p address of each device, but I did cheat - I had everything labeled clearly. Static users are not uncommon - all of the staff that I work with have been sitting at the same desk for years. Students also tend to occupy the same seats. As to changing your i/p and/or mac address to gain access to the network - why bother? It's just as easy to ask ICT to allow you onto the network. By using static i/ps and not using automatic browser configuration, I'm guessing openhgs can be sure that PCs on the network have appropriate anti-virus, etc.

The Birmingham LEA web filtering policy is bizarre. If you google "beer" or "vodka" a message tells you "Inappropriate content blocked alcohol", yet "cider" and "brandy" are OK. Google groups is banned because the discussion is unmoderated yet there are hundreds of other unmoderated forums that you can access. They will tell you schools internet link is provided for educational purposes, yet they allow access to http://www.avfc.co.uk, http://www.manutd.com, etc - sites with no educational value at all. The educational site http://www.faqs.org is banned yet the anarchists cookbook is allowed. You can try pointing out the many inconsistencies to no avail.

Try make clean and ./configure

You've been one of the privileged few for almost as long as me. I started SCO/Unix in 1989. I didn't touch Mickeysoft until Windows 2000 and I'm still amazed at how primitive it is. Where are the multiple desktops? the virtual consoles? the shell? commands to manipulate the process table? commands to rejig partitions on the fly? choice of file system? the ability to drop the gui? Oh hang on I forgot. Windows is only a single user operating system. It was never designed with server processing in mind. As you correctly pointed out elsewhere, Windows just makes money for Bill Gates and the other shareholders. How many well-known programmers work for Microsoft? The only one I know of is Alexey Pajitnov, which is a fine pointer to the kind of company they are. Well-known programmers who have contributed to Linux? Julianne Haugh and Andrew Morton to name but two, both having made important contributions to other systems.

Great website; it won't load saying I need flash 8 (I have flash 9), so here's a link to the story http://news.zdnet.co.uk/emergingtech/0,1000000183,39287279,00.htm in case anyone else is in the same boat.

7. Because the Superman we see on the screen is only an actor. 21. Square boxes are easier to pack. Do crabs think we walk sideways? What does cheese say when it has its photo taken? Is the Hokey-Cokey really what its all about? If somebody vanishes without a trace, how do you know they are missing? Why is the wife of a king a queen, but the husband of a queen a prince? And now for two that have verifiable answers... How many Three Stooges where there? What is the Loan Rangers mask made from?

more interesting even more interesting good news Novell fights on

This is all well and good, provided we can get to what we need. I really need access to the google groups archive. The answer to all system admin problems are in there (somewhere) but the LEA say we can't have it, as it contains information on how to hack systems, and the pupils might read it. These are the same pupils, who come up to me and say "There's an error on my screen". I say, "What does it say?" and they reply "Dunno, I didn't read it", to which I reply "So, how do you know it's an error?". The pupils can't be bothered to read what is immediately in front of them, so they aren't going to read reams and reams of text which might reveal to them how to infiltrate a system. What we don't need is access to http://www.manutd.com, http://www.avfc.co.uk, etc but the LEA provide those, even though they say that internet access is for educational purposes only. I maintain the pupils can learn a lot of useful stuff from google groups but nothing useful from a football clubs web site, but there would be a riot if they took them away. When a new user logs on to our system, they get a warning message indicating that the system can't access your speakers. Hardly surprising as the thin clients have no sound card. Part of the message has a tick box which says "Never show this message again". I estimate 75% of our users click on the X for message window whenever they logon - they've never read it and so they've never noticed the check box.

Ditto. I used to have a brilliant job in industry until the "night of the long knives". Working in a school was the only job I could get and if I could another job in the real world, I would. I do keep looking. Schools are great places to work during the holidays; it's the only time we can actually get anything productive done.

It installed perfectly for me today, just as it did when I last tried it about 18 months ago. If I ever get some free time, I'd like to try and get some applications running under it. It's an interesting project, one of the many that I monitor to keep my finger on the pulse. Thanks for heads-up.

The course will instruct you in Microsoft best practice, which will be in the exam. Well that's what I found when I did the 2151-2154 courses. In my experience, this "best practice" does not relate to what happens at the coal face, for a whole variety of very good reasons.

I really must get one of these http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/looflirpa/igrill.shtml

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/11012007/221/microsoft-wins-extension-uk-schools-contract.html I wonder if this extension has been granted so that BECTA can say in a years time "Schools, Vista it is now OK to use". Gartner have said that users should stay away from Vista until 2008 at the earliest, so Becta can wait until next year.

Section 32 of Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 covers education. Subsection 2 says: "(2) Copyright in a sound recording, film, broadcast or cable programme is not infringed by its being copied by making a film or film sound-track in the course of instruction, or of preparation for instruction, in the making of films or film sound-tracks, provided the copying is done by a person giving or receiving instruction." I'm no lawyer but to me it looks as though if a teacher or student copies the video for educational purposes, then it's OK, but if a techie copies it, then it isn't OK as we aren't giving or receiving instruction. For your bedtime reading, the act can be found at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1988/Ukpga_19880048_en_1.htm

Couldn't you put your own proxy/filter in, which points to your eduproxy.bgfl.org box, and point all your work stations at your proxy? You should then be in full control of your filtering and, if you use a decent proxy, see as much history as you like. You haven't bypassed your LEAs filtering, in fact your web access is now double filtered for extra purity.