January 2008 - KCLUG

KDE 4.0 Gallery
by Julie 15 Jan '08

15 Jan '08

Here's a look if you haven't already seen it: http://content.zdnet.com/2346-9595_22-183063.html Enjoy! Julie @};-- --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

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Re: Are there tools to probe flash controllers for usage history?
by Oren Beck 15 Jan '08

15 Jan '08

On Jan 14, 2008 3:15 PM, Monty J. Harder <mjharder(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > On Jan 14, 2008 11:09 AM, Oren Beck <orenbeck(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > Accumulate write counts to a buffer in session ram- and write to flash > > only as part of unmount, or shutdown where unmount was not explicit but > > presumed. > > > That shouldn't be necessary. Internally, flash drives save information > along with each data block that isn't presented via the USBMSD interface. > When I write Sector X of a filesystem to the flash drive, it doesn't always > write the same physical location. Instead, it writes the new version of > that sector to another location, and has some way of knowing which version > is current. I don't know the internals, but it's probably using some kind > of serial number that increments with each write. > > At least that's how I would implement something like that. The device > should be able to non-destructively determine how many sector writes it has > performed, and how many sectors are nearing the expected lifetime. > > That was part of my original concept- that such data was "present" merely needing to be accessed and externally readable. The open queries are 2. 1. IS a device with 80% of it's estimated "life" used still "Stable" for archive use? Defined as whatever data is the "Last Writes" remaining stable for the same # of years as a written to "less" device or not. With qualifiers on confidence levels and non-obvious issues. 2. Agreement on flag or bit to declare a flash device "Archive" . -- Oren Beck 816.729.3645

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RE: How best to get an old BIOS to see the full size of a big
by Greg Brooks 15 Jan '08

15 Jan '08

Well, the command (thanks, guys!) shows a sufficiently large disk (see below). So it's simply a resizing issue? # Disk /dev/sdb: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes # 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders # Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes # Disk identifier: 0x0f800000 # # Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System # /dev/sdb1 1 30401 244196001 83 Linux # # Disk /dev/sdb1: 250.0 GB, 250056705024 bytes # 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30400 cylinders # Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes # Disk identifier: 0x00000000 # # Disk /dev/sdb1 doesn't contain a valid partition table

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101 Great Computer Programming Quotes
by Steven Hildreth 14 Jan '08

14 Jan '08

Greetings, I saw this: http://www.devtopics.com/101-great-computer-programming-quotesand from it gleamed a few prime cuts (a few of many), in my opinion; "The question of whether computers can think is like the question of whether submarines can swim." (Edsger W. Dijkstra) "There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies." (C.A.R. Hoare) "There's an old story about the person who wished his computer were as easy to use as his telephone. That wish has come true, since I no longer know how to use my telephone." (Bjarne Stroustrup) "Computer science education cannot make anybody an expert programmer any more than studying brushes and pigment can make somebody an expert painter." (Eric Raymond) "C++ : Where friends have access to your private members." (Gavin Russell Baker)" "The best thing about a boolean is even if you are wrong, you are only off by a bit." (Anonymous) and my favorite; "Software is like sex: It's better when it's free." *(Linus Torvalds)* Enjoy! Regards, Steven

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Are there tools to probe flash controllers for usage history?
by Oren Beck 14 Jan '08

14 Jan '08

Many of us seem to be building up piles of flash devices. And the concept of "bit rot" or wear out by any other name is accepted, Which raises 3 questions about handling the issue. 1. Are there utilities that can report the history or other metric data on future life span? 2. Is it possible to somehow log write to device events as a file entry? Since many devices have a Write indicator, some way of probing that indicator to increment a counter, then some estimation of drive wear would be captured as a human readable numerical. So the device could be reassigned from rewritable to archive if that is viable, or replaced as pre-emptive risk reduction. 3. Is there evidence to support a flash device used for say-70% of it's estimated "Write Cycles" being still permanently stable as Read Only for archiving? -- Oren Beck 816.729.3645

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How best to get an old BIOS to see the full size of a big drive
by Greg Brooks 14 Jan '08

14 Jan '08

Hi all. quick "from the idiot's gallery" question here. Got an extra machine with two 250 GB drives in it. Drive 1 has the OS (Ubuntu server) and not much else. Drive 2 has a single partition (/media) that holds subdirectories with a bazillion files I want occasional access to via Samba. Drive 1 seems to be showing up as the right size, but drive 2 looks to be missing a solid 120GB. My question: Any way to resize/repartition/re-something drive 2 without losing all the data that's on there? Df -h output below: #df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/mapper/plattsburg-root 228G 1.3G 215G 1% / varrun 252M 2.0M 250M 1% /var/run varlock 252M 0 252M 0% /var/lock udev 252M 64K 252M 1% /dev devshm 252M 0 252M 0% /dev/shm /dev/sda1 236M 24M 200M 11% /boot /dev/sdb1 126G 46G 75G 39% /media Many thanks, Greg

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Flash Hard Drives
by Earle Beason 14 Jan '08

14 Jan '08

There are several companies that make solid state hard drives, I was able to play around the samples, they seem to respond quicker then the disc hard drives. I had a concern on the sustainability of memory over the lifespan of the device, most flash chips I am aware of have a read/write life span of 100,000 cycles. I am just wondering how long will it actually last before their is a failure I notice that that if I had something programed on to the flash hard drive to perform a specific function at a certain time every day, then deleted the program. It some how remained in the memory and continued to execute the specific function. Anybody have a clue on what might cause it? Bear in mind, the program is no longer visible the "LS" command

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Re: CF to boot Linux
by Arthur Pemberton 12 Jan '08

12 Jan '08

On Jan 11, 2008 12:25 PM, feba thatl <febaen(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > I was going down that road once myself, then I started checking the > > transfer rates between IDE/SATA magnetic drives and Flash cards via > > IDE/SATA -- the harddrives seem all around faster. > > I'm pretty sure that transfer speeds are usually much higher than the > actual speed that data can be retrieved from the disk. So you're saying you find it faster to copy files from your harddrive<-->flash to harddrive<-->harddrive? -- Fedora 7 : sipping some of that moonshine ( www.pembo13.com )

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Raid card, for backup/entertainment system
by lerninlinux＠comcast.net 12 Jan '08

12 Jan '08

Besides the norrmal surfing/email, etc type stuff, I mostly use the computer to listen to my music (rather then swapping cd's). So I have been looking at the Low Power gOS motherboard (like in the Walmart gOS pc), as a low power music/backup system. Since it is low power, and my plan is to leave it on, I have been wanting to make it my NAS/Backup box, but I need to find either a SATA (preferable), or PATA, pci raid card. Any suggestions? Thanks Randal

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NUI KC Meeting - Wed. 1/16 @ 11:30am-1:00 - Olathe Medical
by Alex Monteiro 12 Jan '08

12 Jan '08

KC LUG members are welcome to join us for another Novell Users Intl. meeting - we hope you can make it! ============================================ NUI Kansas City Meeting - Kick off 2008. When: Wednesday, January 16th. 11:30am to 1:00pm (Pizza will be served) Where: Olathe Medical Center - The Doctors Building room 302. - 20333 West 151st Street, Olathe, KS. 66061 (Exit 215 on I-35) Why: Kick off new NUI Kansas City meeting in 2008 RSVP: Email alexm(a)kiscc.com Come join us for our first meeting of 2008. A lot of changes have happened at Novell and the dust is still settling. Also, a brand-new NUI organization is now in place with more support for our local group. Agenda: - Changes at Novell and how it effects you - New NUI organization outline - NUI officers - Brainshare 2008 plans - Future speakers/vendors for NUI meetings ============================================ -- Alex Monteiro Business Development Manager KIS Computer Center - Kansas City o. 816-373-9900 (vmail ext. 7554) f. 816-373-9912 m. 650-279-1909 www.kiscc.com - alexm(a)kiscc.com

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