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This is a noticeboard for 1) software, 2) hardware and 3) operational announcements relating to non-site, non-groupware systems, which do not warrant a N&N story. Tip: click on the § to get a link directly to a particular story.
Starting next calendar week users of UNIX workstations − this activity does not apply to MS Windows computers − will have their filesystems automatically cleaned.
This means that an automatic process will weekly delete unnecessary files such as temp files, certain caches, etc, and certain SQLlite databases used internally by programs such as browsers will be optimized, the trash will be emptied certain recent-documents lists will be erased and certain internally generated log files will be deleted.
Also to be deleted will be special files that come from other operating systems. For example: folders copied from Windows machines often have a hidden file called "Thumbs.db" in them which is used by Windows but not UNIX.
For a list of file Names you should avoid using, please see Section 5.2 of "UNIX File-names''.
You will recieve a weekly email about this from the system §
Update! This has been solved and no longer applies.
There is currently a major outgoing internet outage on our Lan. Also Twitter is down too so we couldn't tell you via @vistua our usual channel for such things. Mail will queue normally, etc & Celery's internal services such as sharespace continue normally.
We are experiencing major issues with the WLAN. Connections are dropping at random and cannot be re-raised.
The only solution to this problem is to reboot the router. Please follow these directions:
This activity will cause any connections that haven't dropped, such as wired connections to drop.
Administration is investigating various options relating to replacing the operating system on Frontios. Various Linux distributions are under evaluation. Windows is not an option as the hardware is incompatible.
It seems almost certain that Ubuntu will no longer be used on this computer, or anywhere in this network due to persistent release engineering problems total incompetence.
The KDE desktop has begun crashing at random due to an unknown bug in Plasma, part of the KDE framework. A System PR has been opened regarding this problem which is confirmed to affect only one user at this stage. However, since it is not known what the cause is, it is to be presumed that all other users may develop this problem at any time.
The problem manifests itself as a crash of Plasma (the KDE component responsible for drawing the desktop, panel and widgets) immediately after login, leading to a black screen. It is important to note that all other KDE components are not affected. This is distinct from the Intel Video Regression
No fix currently exists as we are still researching this problem. However as a work-around affected users may return to the login screen by pressing [control][alt]+[backspace], then click on "session" and select "openbox session". This will allow login to a minimal desktop, the menu for this desktop is opened by right-clicking the desktop and minimized windows are accessed by middle clicking it.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
Firefox has begun random crashes which are thought to have been caused by a bug in the plug-in Adobe Flash which tends to be full of those. The crashes are notable for occurring on Youtube and other flash-heavy sites.
We have updated the Flash version and it is hoped that this problem will go away. Please do not file a PR about this problem.
Daylight Savings Time, (DST) is about to end. DST currently begins on the second Sunday in March and ends the first Sunday in November, or November 1, this year.
On November 1, at 2:00 AM. (0200) local time, EDT, VNS computers will automatically reset one hour backwards, I.E. it will become 1 AM EST local time. This will return our time zone to -5 UTC offset. Computers that are off at this time will reset upon next boot.
The Vistua Hub and most other websites use UTC time, accordingly it will be necessary for you to update the settings in your blogging software or else posts and comments will have inaccurate timestamps. Consult your blogging software's documentation for further assistance in this matter. As noted on the standard page footer, all hub page timestamps are in UTC. this will not change and they will not be affected by DST.
The Email/Groupware & Calendar system will also automatically update.
Most mobile phones will sync time with their respective networks, over-the-air. If this does not work: power down and restart your device. Most other hand-held electronic devices are unaware of DST.
There is a very small chance that the DST update will not happen correctly; this has happened once or twice in the past. If this occurs, file a PR and administration will manually fix the system clock.
We are now experiencing video problems relating to resolution. An attempt to change the default resolution has had unintended consequences which have symptoms very similar to the Intel Video Regression. We will shortly reverse the change from backup and expect this problem to go away.
We are now testing DRI/GLX (Direct Rendering Infastructure/(open)GL for X) on frontios. This test could prove disruptive due to the Intel Video Regression.
DRI/GLX would provide "hardware acceleration" for X11, allowing graphics to work faster by removing graphical processing from the general CPU to special purpose chips in the graphics-card.
If this experiment causes problems it will be abandoned.
We are now in the process of converting the music library to the inferior codec/format MP3. Previously, most of the library was in OGG/Vorbis format/codec which—while vastly technologically superior—completely failed to gain traction and is incompatible with virtually all existing music players. The conversion process will take several days as we are converting from the original discs. Files that we do not have the original media for will not be converted but will remain in whatever format they are, often FLAC.
Some may see announcements from KDE that "Intel (ID string) playback has failed, falling back to PulseAudio". Please be assured that these messages are normal. These relate to "Phonon" which is an added layer of complexity that KDE4 heaps upon the UNIX Audio stack.
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