computer problems

James · **Posted:** Sat Jun 28, 2008 7:55 am

second from left seems to have same hd errors sometimes ...
so we decided the HD cables might be the problem and we should get new ones.
Is someone going to do that?

ChaoticReality · **Posted:** Wed Dec 10, 2008 7:13 am

Did anything ever get done about this?

M

milk · **Posted:** Wed Dec 10, 2008 8:08 am

something happened and it hasn't died again yet, iirc.

however, the far left computer won't boot fully. it somes up with a 640*480 res screen, gives an error about graphics settings then sticks on a plain default ubuntu background coloured screen for ever. i was going to bring in a blank cd-r and download an ubuntu live cd so folks could access files on it and see if anything obvious error wise comes up. i have no faith that i'll be able to fix the problem however

ChaoticReality · **Posted:** Wed Dec 10, 2008 8:15 am

I've got a livecd sat right here and will be heading to forest for opening, so I'll have a look if you want.

ChaoticReality · **Posted:** Wed Dec 10, 2008 8:18 am

Thinking about it, it was halfway through an Ubuntu install the other day and whoever I was in the action room with said it was being left for someone to come in and finish it (can't remember who, in either case).

If it's still like that, should I finish the install?

milk · **Posted:** Wed Dec 10, 2008 8:52 am

yes, would be great if you could. some of them were still on 7.10 as of last week so i try trying to level them up to at least 8.04. i /think/ i got them all....

ChaoticReality · **Posted:** Wed Dec 10, 2008 8:54 am

My livecd is 8.10 but I have an 8.04 kicking around.

8.10 has been fantastic for me. Little/no issues with upgrades from 8.04 on all 4 of my machines and it seems to run a lot faster/smoother/less RAM usage than 8.04.

Is it worth doing that, or should we stick to 8.04?

milk · **Posted:** Wed Dec 10, 2008 9:04 am

i would say 8.10. martinm suggested sticking with 8.04 due to LTS, but imo it's not like we're gonna upgrade and have geeks around to sort problems anyway..

ChaoticReality · **Posted:** Wed Dec 10, 2008 9:13 am

8.10 has support until 2010, by which point, there'll be a new LTS version out.

I'll see about starting upgrades today.

martinmckenna · **Posted:** Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:05 am

is there any pressing reason to upgrade ? i think if the computers are working then leave them .

milk · **Posted:** Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:22 am

probably not pressing, but i think it'd be hard to deny 8.10 is an improvement over 8.04 so why not? afraid of change?

ChaoticReality · **Posted:** Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:34 am

I was planning to have a look at the jukebox machine today as well.

Got here and then realised I have no idea what any of the logins are! Could some nice person send me a message and let me know what user/pass combo I need to be able to get a root shell (anything with sudo access, really). If you could let me know logins for the machines in the action room, that would be even better!

Best,
M

martinmckenna · **Posted:** Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:48 am

Am not afraid of change , but the majority of users find it difficult , like the upgrade to 8.04 , gimp no longer used gutenberg print which cause a few people a lot of hassel and me , as i had to try and sort it out . so again is it really essential when most people just want to print something out . I think stablity it more important than shiny new things .

martin

ChaoticReality · **Posted:** Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:58 am

I'll defer the upgrade on the action room machines, then. I'll still have a look at the broken one to see if I can work out what is wrong with it.

I'll still go ahead with looking at the jukebox machine once I have a user/pass combo for it, as a lot of the KMs have been asking me about it and when it will be fixed.

martinmckenna · **Posted:** Wed Dec 10, 2008 11:39 am

thanks mike ,

its been my understanding that the releases after the LTS tend to be a bit edgy . and point by point becoming more stable . it would be good to have a consensuses on how we apply this in future . the most important things apart form being able to log on is for these computers to access the net , and being able to print stuff out which is a constant problem .

8.10 also has gimp 2.6 , which is less than great , whist a great step forward towards the goal of cmky support , but currently a pain in the ass , and i would give it a miss for daily use .

martin

ChaoticReality · **Posted:** Wed Dec 10, 2008 11:47 am

My upgrades from 8.04 to 8.10 were certainly less painful than 7.10 to 8.04 but yeah, I agree with you on the "keep them usable" front.

Any chance you can let me know login details anyway as I need them for the jukebox machine and the broken machine in the action room.

Cheers,
M

martinmckenna · **Posted:** Wed Dec 10, 2008 11:55 am

i have pm'ed you

martin

ChaoticReality · **Posted:** Wed Dec 10, 2008 12:11 pm

Rec'd, cheers.

milk · **Posted:** Mon Dec 15, 2008 5:21 pm

ChaoticReality wrote:

Thinking about it, it was halfway through an Ubuntu install the other day and whoever I was in the action room with said it was being left for someone to come in and finish it (can't remember who, in either case).

turns out that this wasn't the upgrade to 8.04 i was thinking about but instead had been infoseed's jay coming in and reinstalling ubuntu from a live cd. this formatted the drive, wiping all the documents and other such files in the process. the install had only been half completed which was why there was a black screen with a grub error code rather than a 640*480 screen with a msg about the gfx drivers. mike saw the install waiting for some input to continue but didn't touch it as he was unsure what the situation with the machine was. so after a format and a fresh ubuntu install, there's no real luck of getting anything back from before, sorry peeps who had things on there. does anyone know why jay had been in? i mean, yes, he's computer knowledgeable, but he didn't think to guess if there was any content on the hard drive that was wanting gotten at.

mike is planning to go through the reinstall process to complete a fresh install of 8.04 tomorrow when he has time.

James · **Posted:** Mon Dec 15, 2008 6:49 pm

I don't think jay meant it to be wiped, i think he said he just left the disk in and he was worried someone else would - he asked me to take the disk out and I did, but I guess not quick enought :-(

lets make this a lesson and talk abut proper file storage solutions very soon

milk · **Posted:** Mon Dec 15, 2008 7:02 pm

ah yes, you did mention that earlier, sorry, i think i remembered the wrong end of the stick.

when will the appropriate budget be able to afford a hard drive for a file server?

Duncan · **Joined:** Sun Apr 10, 2005 7:22 pm **Posts:** 405

Gah, I don't know jay, but what a fuckwit. Hate this sort of thing.
It's time the forest got a set of stocks to put the incompetents in.

How big a drive would we need for the server ? Could always use the 160gig from bluey.
What else would it need ? I've got still decent power supply that's notionally free shop bound.

ChaoticReality · **Posted:** Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:12 am

In other news, yesterday I fixed up the two computers on the right hand side of the action room.

Furthest right: Was already running 8.04 but severely out of date and not using proper graphics card drivers. This has now been fully updated and the drivers installed, configured and tested. Now the screen is running at 75hz, so you can actually use it without the flickering killing your eyes :wink:

Second in: Was still running 7.10 and wouldn't upgrade using the upgrade manager "Could not download release notes". Running a forced upgrade from the command line said there was no new version of Ubuntu available :roll:

so with a bit of hacking, I managed to point it to repositories it could access. This machine is now fully updated on 8.04 and has also had the graphics card drivers sorted so it is running at a non eye-bleeding resolution/refresh.

I will be in most of the day today as well and plan to fix up the two left hand side machines. Furthest left needs reinstalling from scratch to 8.04 and the other one needs the graphics issue sorted.

Cheers,
Mike

Duncan · **Joined:** Sun Apr 10, 2005 7:22 pm **Posts:** 405

Nice one.

ChaoticReality · **Posted:** Tue Dec 16, 2008 1:28 pm

Willow is now working with nice drivers in non eye-bleed mode

Baoboa is currently running updates after a fresh install and will be sorted soon

martinmckenna · **Posted:** Tue Dec 16, 2008 2:30 pm

sounds good!

martin

ChaoticReality · **Posted:** Tue Dec 16, 2008 2:31 pm

And Baoboa is back up and working with thanks to Sara who dropped in to help me out.

milk · **Posted:** Tue Dec 16, 2008 8:35 pm

winwinwin! thanks mike + sara

ChaoticReality · **Posted:** Mon Jan 05, 2009 12:18 pm

Just been round the action room and updated all the machines.

I am making an effort to do this once a week, as keeping up-to-date is good for security/non-breakyness/stressfree computing!

The desktops on all the machines are a mess! I would like to instigate a clean-up and organisation of files prior to trying to move to a server-based setup. Is anyone willing to help with this as it needs more than one person?

Cheers,
M

milk · **Posted:** Tue Jan 06, 2009 12:06 am

i wouldn't mind helping, though there's no real point until a server plan is organised and instigated else there'd be no real reason for people to help with their own desktop crap or change their behaviour.

so..

do we have the components for a server machine? i'm not too hot on what's around/available right now..

ChaoticReality · **Posted:** Wed Jan 07, 2009 10:27 am

milk wrote:

so..

do we have the components for a server machine? i'm not too hot on what's around/available right now..

Me neither, I'm afraid. There's a crapload of stuff in the back of the crafty room.

Forest BB

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