Bristol and Bath Linux: Juni 2015

Selasa, 30 Juni 2015

Bristol Digest, Vol 607, Issue 2

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Today's Topics:

1. DNS and DNS Server setup on Arch linux - Help! (David Fear)
2. Re: DNS and DNS Server setup on Arch linux - Help! (Steve King)
3. Re: DNS and DNS Server setup on Arch linux - Help! (Amias Channer)
4. Re: DNS and DNS Server setup on Arch linux - Help! (Alex Butcher)
5. Re: DNS and DNS Server setup on Arch linux - Help! (Alex Butcher)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2015 01:51:19 +0100
From: David Fear <david@dfear.co.uk>
To: Bristol & Bath lug <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: [bristol] DNS and DNS Server setup on Arch linux - Help!
Message-ID: <5591E807.5040600@dfear.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"; Format="flowed"

Hi

I need help figuring out why I am having dns problems on my local.

I am having issues connecting to certain domains/ip's.

I have checked on my Nexus 5 (using 3G) and using isup.me. They both
tell me the websites are working on the internet and the problem is on
my network.

I used to use dnsmasq (on DDWRT) as a local dns server for my net work.
I wanted more control, so I disabled dnsmasq on DDWRT and tried to setup
BIND on an Arch Linux box.

I can nslookup and tracepath/traceroute the problem websites below, but
CANNOT ping them or connect to them in a web browser on either my ubuntu
desktop (14.04 64-bit) or my Nexus 5.

Problem websites:
pickle-it.co.uk
pickledpepperdesigns.co.uk
cloud04.smarthosting.co.uk

I have attached named.conf, resolv.conf, resolvconf.conf, and
/etc/netctl/eth0 files from my Arch Linux box.

Please someone, tell what I have done wrong, and why.

Network details:
192.168.12.0/24
255.255.255.0

router: 192.168.12.1
UbuntuBox: 192.168.12.22
ArchBox: 192.168.12.40 and 192.168.12.2

ArchBox uses netctl to configure 2 ip address for one ethernet
interface. BIND is the dns server.

DHCP server on DDWRT router is confiqured to send out 192.168.12.2 to
dhcp clients as the ip address of DNS server address to be used.

Regards

-----------------------------------
Dave Fear :: david@dfear.co.uk

Order your free giffgaff SIM card through my page and get 5 pounds free
credit http://t.co/z1KJF5y
-------------- next part --------------
# Generated by resolvconf
nameserver 127.0.0.1
-------------- next part --------------
# Configuration for resolvconf(8)
# See resolvconf.conf(5) for details

resolv_conf=/etc/resolv.conf
# If you run a local name server, you should uncomment the below line and
# configure your subscribers configuration files below.
#name_servers=127.0.0.1
#append_nameservers=208.67.222.222
#name_servers=127.0.0.1
-------------- next part --------------
#Description='A basic dhcp ethernet connection'
#Interface=eth0
#Connection=ethernet
#IP=dhcp
### for DHCPv6
##IP6=dhcp
### for IPv6 autoconfiguration
##IP6=stateless

#ExecUpPost='/usr/bin/ntpd -gq || true'
#DhcpcdOptions='-A'

Description='A basic static ethernet connection'
Interface=eth0
Connection=ethernet
IP=static
Address=('192.168.12.2/24' '192.168.12.40/24')
#Routes=('192.168.0.0/24 via 192.168.1.2')
Gateway=('192.168.12.1')
#DNS=('127.0.0.1' '208.67.222.222' '208.67.220.220' '8.8.8.8' '8.8.4.4')
DNS=('127.0.0.1')
#DNS=('8.8.8.8' '8.8.4.4')

## For IPv6 autoconfiguration
#IP6=stateless

## For IPv6 static address configuration
#IP6=static
#Address6=('1234:5678:9abc:def::1/64' '1234:3456::123/96')
#Routes6=('abcd::1234')
#Gateway6='1234:0:123::abcd'

ExecUpPost='/usr/bin/ntpd -gq || true'
-------------- next part --------------
// vim:set ts=4 sw=4 et:
acl goodclients {
192.168.12.0/24;
localhost;
localnets;
};

options {
directory "/var/named";
pid-file "/run/named/named.pid";

// Uncomment these to enable IPv6 connections support
// IPv4 will still work:
//listen-on-v6 { any; };
// Add this for no IPv4:
// listen-on { none; };
listen-on { 192.168.12.2; 127.0.0.1;};

//allow-recursion { 192.168.12.0/24; 127.0.0.1; };
allow-query { goodclients; };
allow-recursion { goodclients; };
allow-transfer { none; };
allow-update { none; };
forwarders { 8.8.8.8; 8.8.4.4; };

version none;
hostname none;
server-id none;
};

zone "localhost" IN {
type master;
file "localhost.zone";
};

zone "0.0.127.in-addr.arpa" IN {
type master;
file "127.0.0.zone";
};

zone "1.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.ip6.arpa" {
type master;
file "localhost.ip6.zone";
};

zone "255.in-addr.arpa" IN {
type master;
file "empty.zone";
};

zone "0.in-addr.arpa" IN {
type master;
file "empty.zone";
};

zone "." IN {
type hint;
file "root.hint";
};

zone "lan" IN {
type master;
file "lan.zone";
allow-update { none; };
notify no;
};

//zone "example.org" IN {
// type slave;
// file "example.zone";
// masters {
// 192.168.1.100;
// };
// allow-query { any; };
// allow-transfer { any; };
//};

//logging {
// channel xfer-log {
// file "/var/log/named.log";
// print-category yes;
// print-severity yes;
// severity info;
// };
// category xfer-in { xfer-log; };
// category xfer-out { xfer-log; };
// category notify { xfer-log; };
//};

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2015 09:17:39 +0100
From: "Steve King" <debian@invux.com>
To: "Bristol and Bath Linux User Group" <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [bristol] DNS and DNS Server setup on Arch linux - Help!
Message-ID:
<b95472ce6a76c970e8ed653a11d3f725.squirrel@dazzle.invux.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1

>
> Problem websites:
> pickle-it.co.uk
> pickledpepperdesigns.co.uk
> cloud04.smarthosting.co.uk
>
>

All three of those hosts resolve to the same IP address.
31.216.48.16

That would suggest that your problem was down to a server outage.

I was able to connect to the first two, the second one is obviously a
generic name so gave me a generic page, but it all worked.

Is it still not working for you?

--
Steve

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2015 10:41:14 +0100
From: Amias Channer <me@amias.net>
To: debian@invux.com, Bristol and Bath Linux User Group
<bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [bristol] DNS and DNS Server setup on Arch linux - Help!
Message-ID:
<CAMgU7XX5j=yEvQN+-wVDPDXv_YovsPYwYooVVoEh2wXK=PVn4A@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

On 30 June 2015 at 09:17, Steve King <debian@invux.com> wrote:
> That would suggest that your problem was down to a server outage.

or incorrect /etc/hosts entries possibly.

works from here (virgin broadband)

Cheers
Amias

------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2015 11:08:34 +0100 (BST)
From: Alex Butcher <lug@assursys.co.uk>
To: Bristol and Bath Linux User Group <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [bristol] DNS and DNS Server setup on Arch linux - Help!
Message-ID:
<alpine.LRH.2.11.1506300956250.2380@zlgugi.of5.nffheflf.cev>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII

On Tue, 30 Jun 2015, David Fear wrote:

> I need help figuring out why I am having dns problems on my local.
>
> I am having issues connecting to certain domains/ip's.
>
> I have checked on my Nexus 5 (using 3G) and using isup.me. They both tell me
> the websites are working on the internet and the problem is on my network.
>
> I used to use dnsmasq (on DDWRT) as a local dns server for my net work. I
> wanted more control, so I disabled dnsmasq on DDWRT and tried to setup BIND
> on an Arch Linux box.

Personally, I think BIND is overkill for small sites (e.g. home). But it is
the standard, and being able to drive it is a useful skill to have.
Personally, I use pdnsd.

> I can nslookup

If you're able to resolve their names using nslookup then DNS (or at least,
DNS as being served by the nameserver that nslookup is using, anyway) is not
the problem. Try different servers to test explicitly:

> pickle-it.co.uk
Server: 192.168.xxx.xxx
Address: 192.168.xxx.xxx#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: pickle-it.co.uk
Address: 31.216.48.16
> server 8.8.8.8
Default server: 8.8.8.8
Address: 8.8.8.8#53
> pickle-it.co.uk
Server: 8.8.8.8
Address: 8.8.8.8#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: pickle-it.co.uk
Address: 31.216.48.16
> server 208.67.222.222
Default server: 208.67.222.222
Address: 208.67.222.222#53
> pickle-it.co.uk
Server: 208.67.222.222
Address: 208.67.222.222#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: pickle-it.co.uk
Address: 31.216.48.16

8.8.8.8 is one of Google's Public DNS servers
(<https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/>) and 208.67.222.22 is one
of OpenDNS's
(<https://www.opendns.com/home-internet-security/opendns-ip-addresses/>).
Incidentally, if you're using BIND, it might be worthwhile configuring it to
use at least both of those sources in addition to your ISP's nameservers as
upstream sources (I see that Google's DNS are in named.conf as forwarders).

Bear in mind that there are also local DNS resolver caches, so you may need
to restart nscd if you're using it. The resolver also only reads
/etc/resolv.conf at process startup, so if you change it, you probably need
to restart the process to test accurately.

> and tracepath/traceroute the problem websites below

Tracepath uses UDP.

UNIX traceroute also uses UDP probes by default and receives ICMP replies,
but Windows tracert uses ICMP Echo Request probes. UNIX traceroute can also
use ICMP probes if you pass the -I option.

>, but
> CANNOT ping them or connect to them in a web browser on either my ubuntu
> desktop (14.04 64-bit) or my Nexus 5.

ping uses ICMP Echo Request probes and http(s) connections use TCP (to ports
80 and 443 respectively, as standard). That would suggest that a firewall
somewhere along your path is failing to forward or allow those protocols. If
you want to eliminate DNS, find the IP address, then try telnet'ing to port
80:

$ telnet 31.216.48.16 80
Trying 31.216.48.16...
Connected to 31.216.48.16.
Escape character is '^]'.
HEAD / HTTP/1.0

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2015 09:54:58 GMT
Server: Apache
Last-Modified: Sun, 14 Jun 2015 16:45:36 GMT
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Content-Length: 111
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/html

Connection closed by foreign host.

If you can't get that, it's a firewall problem, or the host is down (as
Steve mentioned).

As you have a smartphone, presumably with a 3G/4G-enabled account, you can
also use that to test and thereby eliminate your WLAN and LAN infrastructure
and your ISP.

Finally, it's worth summarizing the stages of TCP connection setup from
start to finish:

1) If specified server is not an IP address, resolve name using cache,
/etc/hosts, DNS, usually in that order unless configured otherwise

2) Determine if server IP address is on local network by masking it with
subnet mask and comparing with masked local IP addresses

3) If local, use ARP cache (which will in turn use ARP across the network,
if it's not present from an earlier connection) to determine MAC address.
If remote, we need to pass packets to the appropriate gateway, using the
default gateway (pointed towards the Internet) as our gateway of last
resort. Use routing table to determine most appropriate gateway and
determine its MAC address.

4) Client sends TCP SYN packet to server's IP address, with MAC address set
appropriately depending on whether it's a local or remote host.

5) Server sends SYN-ACK back to client

6) Client responds with ACK and connection is established.

> Dave Fear :: david@dfear.co.uk

Hopefully that helps.

Best Regards,
Alex

------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2015 11:10:08 +0100 (BST)
From: Alex Butcher <lug@assursys.co.uk>
To: Bristol and Bath Linux User Group <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [bristol] DNS and DNS Server setup on Arch linux - Help!
Message-ID:
<alpine.LRH.2.11.1506301109180.2380@zlgugi.of5.nffheflf.cev>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

On Tue, 30 Jun 2015, Alex Butcher wrote:

> Finally, it's worth summarizing the stages of TCP connection setup from
> start to finish:

I forgot to mention that
<https://web.archive.org/web/20030619152346/http://www.theinternetbook.net/>
(written by a former colleague) is worth reading for more details.

Best Regards,
Alex

------------------------------

Subject: Digest Footer

_______________________________________________
Bristol mailing list
Bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk
https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/bristol

------------------------------

End of Bristol Digest, Vol 607, Issue 2
***************************************

Senin, 29 Juni 2015

Bristol Digest, Vol 607, Issue 1

Minggu, 28 Juni 2015

Bristol Digest, Vol 606, Issue 4

Sabtu, 27 Juni 2015

Bristol Digest, Vol 606, Issue 3

Jumat, 26 Juni 2015

Bristol Digest, Vol 606, Issue 2

Send Bristol mailing list submissions to
bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/bristol
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
bristol-request@mailman.lug.org.uk

You can reach the person managing the list at
bristol-owner@mailman.lug.org.uk

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Bristol digest..."

Today's Topics:

1. Debugging Slow Shutdown (systemd Fedora 20) (Peter Hemmings)
2. Re: Debugging Slow Shutdown (systemd Fedora 20) (Amias Channer)
3. Re: Debugging Slow Shutdown (systemd Fedora 20) (Peter Hemmings)
4. Re: Introduction for Usergroup Meeting on Saturday (Sebastian)
5. UEFI LUG Meeting Help this Saturday? 27/0615 (Sebastian)
6. Re: UEFI LUG Meeting Help this Saturday? 27/0615 (eddie smith)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2015 15:16:21 +0100
From: Peter Hemmings <peter@hemmings.eclipse.co.uk>
To: Bristol and Bath Linux User Group <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: [bristol] Debugging Slow Shutdown (systemd Fedora 20)
Message-ID: <558D5EB5.4020309@hemmings.eclipse.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed

Hi,

I am havinrg a problem on slow shutdown and trying to see exactly what
is causing it by using this info (Shutdown Completes Eventually):

http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/Debugging/#shutdowncompleteseventually

It involves booting in debug mode and running script to log the shutdown
to see what is timed out, but unfortunately I do not have a:

/usr/lib/systemd/shutdown folder to put the script into!

Where should I put my script, I do have a "system-shutdown" folder
under systemd!!?

Regards

--
Peter H

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2015 15:33:51 +0100
From: Amias Channer <me@amias.net>
To: Bristol and Bath Linux User Group <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [bristol] Debugging Slow Shutdown (systemd Fedora 20)
Message-ID:
<CAMgU7XXE9HQUf4kQ2f-+xdtJWK=cFFpKzC3C5zQL6JjnsTULtQ@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

Hello Peter,

surely you can just make the folder with mkdir

Cheers
Amias

On 26 June 2015 at 15:16, Peter Hemmings <peter@hemmings.eclipse.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am havinrg a problem on slow shutdown and trying to see exactly what is
> causing it by using this info (Shutdown Completes Eventually):
>
>
> http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/Debugging/#shutdowncompleteseventually
>
> It involves booting in debug mode and running script to log the shutdown to
> see what is timed out, but unfortunately I do not have a:
>
> /usr/lib/systemd/shutdown folder to put the script into!
>
> Where should I put my script, I do have a "system-shutdown" folder under
> systemd!!?
>
> Regards
>
>
> --
> Peter H
>
> _______________________________________________
> Bristol mailing list
> Bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk
> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/bristol

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2015 17:31:50 +0100
From: Peter Hemmings <peter@hemmings.eclipse.co.uk>
To: Bristol and Bath Linux User Group <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [bristol] Debugging Slow Shutdown (systemd Fedora 20)
Message-ID: <558D7E76.7080905@hemmings.eclipse.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed

On 26/06/15 15:33, Amias Channer wrote:
> Hello Peter,
>
> surely you can just make the folder with mkdir

yep, but I am not sure how these things work together!

I do not know if systemctl journald work the same on all distributions
ie they are all configured to look in the came folders or if some
distros are configured differently!

If systemctl works exactly the same for fc20 then I will try but I was
not sure, do you know if systemctl is not distro specific?

>
> Cheers
> Amias
>
> On 26 June 2015 at 15:16, Peter Hemmings <peter@hemmings.eclipse.co.uk> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I am havinrg a problem on slow shutdown and trying to see exactly what is
>> causing it by using this info (Shutdown Completes Eventually):
>>
>>
>> http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/Debugging/#shutdowncompleteseventually
>>
>> It involves booting in debug mode and running script to log the shutdown to
>> see what is timed out, but unfortunately I do not have a:
>>
>> /usr/lib/systemd/shutdown folder to put the script into!
>>
>> Where should I put my script, I do have a "system-shutdown" folder under
>> systemd!!?
>>
>> Regards
>>
>>
>> --
>> Peter H
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Bristol mailing list
>> Bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk
>> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/bristol
>
> _______________________________________________
> Bristol mailing list
> Bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk
> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/bristol
>

--
Peter H

------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2015 21:39:57 +0100
From: Sebastian <sebsebseb_mageia@gmx.com>
To: Bristol and Bath Linux User Group <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Cc: "sebsebseb_mageia@gmx.com" <sebsebseb_mageia@gmx.com>
Subject: Re: [bristol] Introduction for Usergroup Meeting on Saturday
Message-ID: <9880C211-E293-4C54-83FD-76769A0EE211@gmx.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

> On 25 Jun 2015, at 20:47, Peter Hemmings <peter@hemmings.eclipse.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Rico,
>
> Welcome to the list, in case you have not seen it, details of the group are here:
> http://www.bristol.lug.org.uk/
Yes welcome and I am about to email something about tomorrows meeting :).
>
> It is a bit out of date as our Linuxlive was 15 months ago!
>
> (Marc could you get it removed please!?)
>
>
>> On 25/06/15 17:40, Rico Kuehlewind wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> my name is Rico, I?m a student at the University of Bristol. If possible I
>> would like to attend the user group meeting next(?) saturday. I?m
>> interested in email encryption and anonymisation as well as python
>> scripting, my experience level is rather low though. Looking forward to
>> meeting you!
>>
>> Cheers, Rico
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Bristol mailing list
>> Bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk
>> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/bristol
>>
>
> FYI most people arrive between 13-00 and 14-00Hrs and depart anytime but usually before 17-00Hrs!
> I hope to be there about 14-00Hrs but we seem to be into the "silly season"when not many turn up!
>
> Anyone else likely to be there?
>
> I know we have over 200 on the list and some live in Sweden (and London) but surely there are some more "locals" who could get to the KT for an hour or two even though I agree it has been a bit noisy of late. If members do not like the KT then suggest another!
>
> Regards
>
> --
> Peter H
>
> _______________________________________________
> Bristol mailing list
> Bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk
> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/bristol

------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2015 22:47:41 +0100
From: Sebastian <sebsebseb_mageia@gmx.com>
To: "bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk" <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Cc: "sebsebseb_mageia@gmx.com" <sebsebseb_mageia@gmx.com>
Subject: [bristol] UEFI LUG Meeting Help this Saturday? 27/0615
Message-ID: <AE0E3C58-F06C-4704-8935-E302B845E3EC@gmx.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Hi

I expect to be at the Knights Templar pub at about 2pm to about 5:30pm/6pm this Saturday, and I am hoping to get some help with the UEFI on my new lap top whilst there.

As expected UEFI probably wasn't going to be as simple as just disabling UEFI secure boot and installing the Linux distribution on there. I tried with a USB I made for Ubuntu 15.04, but it wouldn't let me install it into the free space I had set up for Linux distros. Yes first lap top with UEFI for me, but soon there will be another one to that I'll be attempting to get dual booted with Windows for someone else.

On my lap top I would like to multi boot with Windows 8.1 (soon to be upgraded to 10), Ubuntu for Unity, Fedora possibly, and Mageia, I also intend to start using virtual machines again soon :).

I don't like Unity 7 much at all, but may as well have it with the specs the lap top has, such as a touch screen. Unity 8 is quite nice in Ubuntu Touch in my experience though on a Ubuntu Phone.

Going back to the LUG meeting itself: For anyone new we sit on the lower level when entering the pub at the back of it, in the left hand side corner with the plugs, or near there instead if someone is already there, and it's just a general informal meeting, that can even be used to show interesting tech related things or give them away.

I hope meet some UEFI experts there tomorrow, and new people etc.

Regards

Sebastian

------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2015 23:19:43 +0100
From: eddie smith <lug@eddiesmith.net>
To: Bristol and Bath Linux User Group <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [bristol] UEFI LUG Meeting Help this Saturday? 27/0615
Message-ID:
<CAGFc5Q2Bix++Sg0Tz3Oo-F6wm3vnQROVGBbdLwLwWmry-YU1rQ@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Hi Seb

What's the make and model? We do this all the time at UWE with staff
laptops, mostly HP.

You often need to take one or more of these steps:

- set a boot password
- disable secure boot
- choose legacy boot

Even then it sometimes doesn't work. I've known laptops refuse to
recognise a USB stick, and we have had to use a USB CD drive to boot from..

Hope that helps

Eddie

On Fri, Jun 26, 2015 at 10:47 PM, Sebastian <sebsebseb_mageia@gmx.com>
wrote:

> Hi
>
> I expect to be at the Knights Templar pub at about 2pm to about 5:30pm/6pm
> this Saturday, and I am hoping to get some help with the UEFI on my new
> lap top whilst there.
>
> As expected UEFI probably wasn't going to be as simple as just disabling
> UEFI secure boot and installing the Linux distribution on there. I tried
> with a USB I made for Ubuntu 15.04, but it wouldn't let me install it into
> the free space I had set up for Linux distros. Yes first lap top with UEFI
> for me, but soon there will be another one to that I'll be attempting to
> get dual booted with Windows for someone else.
>
> On my lap top I would like to multi boot with Windows 8.1 (soon to be
> upgraded to 10), Ubuntu for Unity, Fedora possibly, and Mageia, I also
> intend to start using virtual machines again soon :).
>
> I don't like Unity 7 much at all, but may as well have it with the specs
> the lap top has, such as a touch screen. Unity 8 is quite nice in Ubuntu
> Touch in my experience though on a Ubuntu Phone.
>
> Going back to the LUG meeting itself: For anyone new we sit on the lower
> level when entering the pub at the back of it, in the left hand side corner
> with the plugs, or near there instead if someone is already there, and it's
> just a general informal meeting, that can even be used to show interesting
> tech related things or give them away.
>
> I hope meet some UEFI experts there tomorrow, and new people etc.
>
> Regards
>
> Sebastian
> _______________________________________________
> Bristol mailing list
> Bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk
> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/bristol
>
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Today's Topics:

1. Re: The Perfect WiFi setup? (Allen Coates)
2. Re: squashfs help! (Chris)
3. Re: The Perfect WiFi setup? (Chris)
4. Re: The Perfect WiFi setup? (Steve Netting)
5. Re: The Perfect WiFi setup? (Peter Hemmings)
6. Re: OT Online Photo Printing!? (Peter Hemmings)
7. Re: The Perfect WiFi setup? (Colin M. Strickland)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2015 01:27:13 +0100
From: Allen Coates <lug-7@cidercounty.org.uk>
To: Bristol and Bath Linux User Group <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [bristol] The Perfect WiFi setup?
Message-ID: <5580BEE1.2060606@cidercounty.org.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

1 No
1a RV220W with dish aerial to illuminate the house and not outside

2 Standard firmware, nondescript SSID, WPA2 with *LONG* key, MAC
address filtering, WPS disabled.

In my case I typically see 6-8 networks from my armchair, and 35-40 from
the front gate. I am lucky if I get more than a 40 meg connection.

My dish aerial is in the stairwell, pointing (almost) vertically
downwards. "My" signal is about 20dB better than the others...

Allen C

On 16/06/15 18:41, David Fear wrote:
> Hi folks
>
> Just looking for some quick advice.
>
> 1) Do people on this list use the wireless router supplied by their ISP?
>
> 1a) If no, what do you use and why?
>
> 2) If you use a non-ISP supplied wireless router, do you use an
> alternate firmware? and what did you choose and why?
>
> 3) Any suggestions on software to test wireless network setup and
> performance?
>
> 4) For those of you on the list who live in older (i.e.
> Victorian/Edwardian) properties; do you use more than 1 access point /
> router provide coverage throughout your house.
>
> 4a) if yes, do you use powerline adapters with built in wireless point
> to extend coverage?
>
> 4b) if no, where do you place your router? and did you change the
> antennas or alter settings to improve speed and/or coverage?
>
>
> Thanks for the info.
>

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2015 07:36:18 +0100
From: Chris <cshorler@googlemail.com>
To: Bristol and Bath Linux User Group <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>,
David Fear <david@dfear.co.uk>, Bristol & Bath lug
<bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [bristol] squashfs help!
Message-ID: <ACFC21D0-77AC-4336-AC76-C7CAB5E3EBA5@googlemail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

On 16 June 2015 20:49:39 BST, David Fear <david@dfear.co.uk> wrote:
>Hi
>
><Backstory> As some of you may remember, I was one of the organisers of
>
>the LinuxLive event last year and was responsible for remastering two
>of
>the distros we gave away at the the event.
>
>I used UCK (Ubuntu Customisation Kit) to remaster both Ubuntu and
>Linuxmint. I wrote a script as a wrapper around the uck-remaster
>command. </Backstory>
>
>Recently I wanted to create a custom version of UbuntuGnome, so I made
>a
>copy of the build script and UCK remaster profile and altered them to
>suit the current build requirements (i.e. iso used, iso name, packages
>to install/remove, etc).
>
>When I was remastering Ubuntu/Mint for the event, a build would take
>45mins to 1 hour (approx.)
>
>This lead to my current predicament....
>
>When I try and do a build now, it is still not finished after 12 hours.
>
>I left the script going for approx 12 hours and mksquashfs was only 67%
>
>complete when I decided to kill the script. I calculated that the
>script
>would need approx. 18 hours to do a full run.
>
>For the event I was remastering Ubuntu 13.10 32-bit on Ubuntu 13.10
>32-bit. Now I am remastering UbuntuGnome 15.04 64-bit on Ubuntu 14.04
>64-bit.
>
>I have the same RAM, CPU and hard drive as when I was remastering for
>the event.
>
>Also I have checked the the compression used by mksquashfs. Both then
>and now, mksquashfs is using XZ compression.
>
>In order to benchmark the speed of mksquashfs using different
>compression methods, I download the test script from:
>https://jonathancarter.org/2015/04/06/squashfs-performance-testing/
>
>My results are attached.
>
>I've linked 1 file to this email:
>* results.pdf (34.4 kB) hosted on hubiC by OVH: http://ovh.to/AHaRRhM
>
>I believe the uncompressed filesystem size is about 3.5-4.5 GB and
>should compress down to about 1.2-1.4 GB based on the results from the
>test script.
>
>I used filesystem.squashfs from LL2014_Ubuntu-13.10-32.iso with test
>script.
>
>Anyone help???

I think I would look for a change in the version of squashfs and/or libxz (if that's the name of the library for compression).

Perhaps there's squashfs documentation to know what size your test files need to be.

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2015 08:00:38 +0100
From: Chris <cshorler@googlemail.com>
To: Bristol and Bath Linux User Group <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>,
David Fear <david@dfear.co.uk>, Bristol & Bath lug
<bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [bristol] The Perfect WiFi setup?
Message-ID: <DFF03FF9-C3B1-4FD6-8C94-461FBB8FDEFE@googlemail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

On 16 June 2015 18:41:40 BST, David Fear <david@dfear.co.uk> wrote:
>Hi folks
>
>Just looking for some quick advice.
>
>1) Do people on this list use the wireless router supplied by their
>ISP?
No

>
>1a) If no, what do you use and why?

Have had Linksys, and now TP-Link W8960N for several years. I bought the latter because of they made available their source code and I thought it might be a project to port to openwrt. As it turns out, it's not clear how easy that would be because of the wireless chipset support. Firmware updates have not been seen for several years, I plan to replace - unless I can get some pointers on porting openwrt (as I said though, I'm not sure of the practicality of that, even after reading the wiki)

I don't consider the device secure, and think it may have been compromised several times. I reloaded firmware on each occasion.

It also is prone to lose ADSL 2 connectivity, so I use it in ADSL 1 mode. This could be to do with dodgy telephone wiring in my flat. Wireless connectivity drops out at least every 3 hours (the comes back on with nothing on the device log).

You can telnet or SSH into the device. And it has an extensive web admin interface.

>
>2) If you use a non-ISP supplied wireless router, do you use an
>alternate firmware? and what did you choose and why?
>

Would like to, can't yet.

>3) Any suggestions on software to test wireless network setup and
>performance?
>

I use WiFi analyser on Android to ensure no one else is near my WiFi channel (all 7 neighbours are either fixed to other channels). This seems to improve wireless reliability. I also decrease the strength of the signal - I assume this improves things, but can only guess as to the cause (too many radio waves bouncing around my n-walls, superposition... Not a RF engineer)

>4) For those of you on the list who live in older (i.e.
>Victorian/Edwardian) properties; do you use more than 1 access point /
>router provide coverage throughout your house.
>
10 years old, NA... Although I wonder about the effect of galvanised steel frames in the walls and ceilings and a metallic roof above that.

>4a) if yes, do you use powerline adapters with built in wireless point
>to extend coverage?
>

>4b) if no, where do you place your router? and did you change the
>antennas or alter settings to improve speed and/or coverage?
>
I moved it from the main socket at the front of the flat to the living room at the rear. To improve wireless coverage.

>
>Thanks for the info.

------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2015 09:07:01 +0100
From: Steve Netting <steve@track3.org.uk>
To: bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk
Subject: Re: [bristol] The Perfect WiFi setup?
Message-ID: <1434528421.3111.9.camel@track3.org.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

> 4a) if yes, do you use powerline adapters with built in wireless point
> to extend coverage?

I find it hard to believe people are still a) using and b) recommending
these devices to others. They completely trash much of the HF spectrum,
sometimes well into VHF and UHF (effecting DAB radio, reducing ADSL
speeds due to increase in noise floor etc).

Even if they don't cause you problems, they're likely to cause problems
for your neighbours. Mains wiring is not designed to carry RF so
radiates in unpredictable patterns. The problems with PLA devices are
well publicised.

Steve

------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2015 09:23:53 +0100
From: Peter Hemmings <peter@hemmings.eclipse.co.uk>
To: Bristol and Bath Linux User Group <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [bristol] The Perfect WiFi setup?
Message-ID: <55812E99.6030604@hemmings.eclipse.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed

I am not an RF engineer but have a bit of experience/training in years
gone by!

In case it helps others, here are a couple of points.

On 17/06/15 08:00, Chris wrote:
> On 16 June 2015 18:41:40 BST, David Fear <david@dfear.co.uk> wrote:
>> Hi folks
>>
>> Just looking for some quick advice.
>>
>> 1) Do people on this list use the wireless router supplied by
>> their ISP?
> No
>
>>
>> 1a) If no, what do you use and why?
>
> Have had Linksys, and now TP-Link W8960N for several years. I bought
> the latter because of they made available their source code and I
> thought it might be a project to port to openwrt. As it turns out,
> it's not clear how easy that would be because of the wireless chipset
> support. Firmware updates have not been seen for several years, I
> plan to replace - unless I can get some pointers on porting openwrt
> (as I said though, I'm not sure of the practicality of that, even
> after reading the wiki)
>
> I don't consider the device secure, and think it may have been
> compromised several times. I reloaded firmware on each occasion.
>
> It also is prone to lose ADSL 2 connectivity, so I use it in ADSL 1
> mode. This could be to do with dodgy telephone wiring in my flat.
> Wireless connectivity drops out at least every 3 hours (the comes
> back on with nothing on the device log).
>
> You can telnet or SSH into the device. And it has an extensive web
> admin interface.
>
>>
>> 2) If you use a non-ISP supplied wireless router, do you use an
>> alternate firmware? and what did you choose and why?
>>
>
> Would like to, can't yet.
>
>> 3) Any suggestions on software to test wireless network setup and
>> performance?
>>
>
> I use WiFi analyser on Android to ensure no one else is near my WiFi
> channel (all 7 neighbours are either fixed to other channels).

I use that and check if other have changed channel or moved into the area.

This
> seems to improve wireless reliability.

My experience also

I also decrease the strength
> of the signal - I assume this improves things, but can only guess as
> to the cause (too many radio waves bouncing around my n-walls,
> superposition... Not a RF engineer)

Assuming router/receivers have AGC (automatic gain control) then these
are wide band and if there is a much larger signal on another channel
anywhere across the specified bandwidth then the gain will be reduced!
A practical example of this is my 20db attenuator I had to insert in my
strong welsh TV signal to enable me to get my local west TV signal. My
local signal was overpowering the TV's input amplifier and reducing its
gain (welsh 10kW local 100w). Equalized the signals and the local
channels improved!

I did do "aerials" at college and still think it can be a bit of a
"black art"!!

Metallic structures will all affect signals in different ways. If a new
apartment has wire strengthening mesh in walls it would have the
potential to block out all signals at a particular frequency depending
on the mesh size!

>
>> 4) For those of you on the list who live in older (i.e.
>> Victorian/Edwardian) properties; do you use more than 1 access
>> point / router provide coverage throughout your house.
>>
> 10 years old, NA... Although I wonder about the effect of galvanised
> steel frames in the walls and ceilings and a metallic roof above
> that.

>
>> 4a) if yes, do you use powerline adapters with built in wireless
>> point to extend coverage?
>>
>
>> 4b) if no, where do you place your router? and did you change the
>> antennas or alter settings to improve speed and/or coverage?
>>
> I moved it from the main socket at the front of the flat to the
> living room at the rear. To improve wireless coverage.
>
>
>>
>> Thanks for the info.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________ Bristol mailing list
> Bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk
> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/bristol
>

--
Peter H

------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2015 09:33:13 +0100
From: Peter Hemmings <peter@hemmings.eclipse.co.uk>
To: Bristol and Bath Linux User Group <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [bristol] OT Online Photo Printing!?
Message-ID: <558130C9.6080403@hemmings.eclipse.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed

On 16/06/15 19:57, Peter Hemmings wrote:
> On 16/06/15 14:00, Adrian Portway wrote:
>> I second Alex's suggestion to add the dates yourself however I'd suggest
>> using Phatch ( Photo batch editor -http://photobatch.stani.be/ ) as a
>> simpler GUI method, it's likely in your repo.
>
> It was and I installed it!
> Had a little "play" and I need to learn how to use it!
>
> I did an action selected an image but could not seem to find how to
> actually make the conversion. I suppose I will have to RTFM!!
>

Have managed to do what I wanted and will look at the large amount of
options before getting my photos printed.

Thanks for pointing me towards this useful S/w.

--
Peter H

------------------------------

Message: 7
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2015 10:06:57 +0100
From: "Colin M. Strickland" <cms@beatworm.co.uk>
To: "Bristol and Bath Linux User Group" <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [bristol] The Perfect WiFi setup?
Message-ID: <975FD025-03AA-448A-96F1-E71DD4D1DFD7@beatworm.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

On 17 Jun 2015, at 9:07, Steve Netting wrote:

> I find it hard to believe people are still a) using and b)
> recommending
> these devices to others. They completely trash much of the HF
> spectrum,
> sometimes well into VHF and UHF (effecting DAB radio, reducing ADSL
> speeds due to increase in noise floor etc).
>
> Even if they don't cause you problems, they're likely to cause
> problems
> for your neighbours. Mains wiring is not designed to carry RF so
> radiates in unpredictable patterns. The problems with PLA devices are
> well publicised.

Well, I don't know about recommending, but it's obvious why people
continue to use them - they're cheap, and convenient, and mostly seem to
work for the use case people buy them for, and they either don't mind or
notice the negatives you mention.

I've got a couple deployed, FWIW, and whilst I don't particularly *like*
them, I am slightly surprised by how well they've worked. My slightly
unusual use case gets me a rather tall house, where the (cable-only)
internet feed comes in on the top floor, which is four floors away from
where all the computers live. When I moved in, I quickly bunged in the
powerline to get bootstrapped. I *intend* to wire ethernet at some
point, this involves tricky cable routing and runs probably in excess of
100M. So that was four years ago... meanwhile the powerline reliably
gives me a ~250Mb backbone between the router attached to the cable
modem, and the router that sits in the machine rack.

The only way I guess to stop people like myself from being able to
carelessly do this kind of thing is through stronger regulations, I
guess. Probably start by getting in touch with your MEP/MP, and see what
the options are for lobbying for better legislation?

--
Regards,
Colin M. Strickland, cms, 'that guy'.

------------------------------

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End of Bristol Digest, Vol 605, Issue 6
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