From unixjavabob at yahoo.com  Tue Sep  8 12:56:07 2009
From: unixjavabob at yahoo.com (Bob Read)
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 12:56:07 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [buug] best way to dd lots of drives (ide, scsi, etc)
Message-ID: <590447.60175.qm@web54108.mail.re2.yahoo.com>

Hi buug,
  file under:  data destruction.
  I need to dd a whole bunch of drives ( ~20/month) of different types (ide, scsi).
  whats the best way to dd them all?
  they're sitting in a stack in the corner.

thanks,
bob


      


From jammer at weak.org  Tue Sep  8 14:01:09 2009
From: jammer at weak.org (Jon McClintock)
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 14:01:09 -0700
Subject: [buug] best way to dd lots of drives (ide, scsi, etc)
In-Reply-To: <590447.60175.qm@web54108.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
References: <590447.60175.qm@web54108.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <20090908210109.GA15017@weak.org>

On Tue, Sep 08, 2009 at 12:56:07PM -0700, Bob Read wrote:
> Hi buug,
>   file under:  data destruction.
>   I need to dd a whole bunch of drives ( ~20/month) of different types (ide, scsi).
>   whats the best way to dd them all?
>   they're sitting in a stack in the corner.

If it's for your employer:

  http://www.google.com/search?q=certified+hard+drive+destruction

If it's for personal drives:

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000IZC28U

-Jon
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: Digital signature
URL: <http://buug.org/pipermail/buug/attachments/20090908/80cf72d8/attachment.sig>

From Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu  Tue Sep  8 19:33:57 2009
From: Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu (Michael Paoli)
Date: Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:33:57 -0700
Subject: [buug] best way to dd lots of drives (ide, scsi, etc)
In-Reply-To: <590447.60175.qm@web54108.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
References: <590447.60175.qm@web54108.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <20090908193357.451040xk3mza7z8k@webmail.rawbw.com>

"best", "dd" and "data destruction" don't all correlate 100%,
so there are tradeoffs, depending upon one's objectives - but
more precise criteria wasn't specified.

If you simply want a one pass overwrite of reasonably accessible data
at maximum speed:
o be sure any BIOS setting or the like which make any part of the disk
   "hidden" are disabled (tends to be a more common issue for laptops and
   "desktop" type systems).
o determine optimal (or near optimal) block size and device (e.g. block
   vs. character device - if applicable for your OS flavor) - once you
   figure that out it typically won't vary much across drive types - at
   least if you're using similar hardware to do the overwrite/"wipe".
o # dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/highest_throughput_disk_path \
   > bs=highest_throughput_block_size
o If your OS flavor doesn't provide /dev/zero, one can use a wee bit of
   code (e.g. C or perl) to produce an infinite output of ASCII null
   bytes, and pipe (|) that into dd (and omit the if=/dev/zero).
o These can be done in parallel (asynchronous &) - but if one does so,
   one may want to take proper care to capture exit/return value and any
   data written to stderr
o The above method is relatively fast, and leaves the drives useable
   (e.g. for resale or donation, etc.).
o Rather than being too redundant, continue with further information
   here:
   http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2008q4/005770.html
   (same basic stuff applies - essential tradeoffs are thoroughness,
   time, reusability, convenience, risk/security, etc.)

Quoting "Bob Read" <unixjavabob at yahoo.com>:

>   file under:  data destruction.
>   I need to dd a whole bunch of drives ( ~20/month) of different
> types (ide, scsi).
>   whats the best way to dd them all?
>   they're sitting in a stack in the corner.




From Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu  Tue Sep  8 22:31:44 2009
From: Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu (Michael Paoli)
Date: Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:31:44 -0700
Subject: [buug] Pearson Education User Group Program: Books & Newsletters
	(1/2)
Message-ID: <20090908223144.1655597m0x26nm88@webmail.rawbw.com>

Pearson Education User Group Program: Books & Newsletters (1/2)

These arrived today - I should be bringing them to the 2009-09-17 BUUG
meeting.  Not sure why it's been so many months since I received the
last such shipment (they used to come approximately monthly - would be
nice if they emailed a shipping confirmation when they're sent - so I'd
know to expect them, and if any shipment(s) went missing).

Official Ubuntu Book, The, 4th Edition
http://www.informit.com/title/0137021208
o By Benjamin Mako Hill, Matthew Helmke, Corey Burger
o Published Jun 29, 2009 by Prentice Hall.
o Copyright 2009
o Dimensions: 7 X 9-1/8
o Pages: 512
o Edition: 4th
o Book: ISBN-10: 0-13-702120-8 ISBN-13: 978-0-13-702120-8
o eBook: ISBN-10: 0-13-704276-0 ISBN-13: 978-0-13-704276-0

Official Ubuntu Server Book, The
http://www.informit.com/title/0137021186
o By Kyle Rankin, Benjamin Mako Hill
o Published Jul 17, 2009 by Prentice Hall.
o Copyright 2010
o Dimensions: 7 X 9-1/8
o Pages: 528
o Edition: 1st
o Book: ISBN-10: 0-13-702118-6 ISBN-13: 978-0-13-702118-5
o eBook: ISBN-10: 0-13-704491-7 ISBN-13: 978-0-13-704491-7

And catching up (in reverse chronological order) on Newsletters (I
figured folks might not be as interested in having all the Newsletters
go out to all the list without so much as a shot at a review copy of a
book for the meetings - anyway, now that books have finally arrived
again ...).

Forwarded (slightly redacted):



----- Forwarded message from usergroups at informit.com -----
     Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 16:26:10 -0400
     From: "InformIT User Groups" <usergroups at informit.com>
Reply-To: "InformIT User Groups" <usergroups at informit.com>
  Subject: Pearson Education User Group Program Newsletter -- September 2009
       To: Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu

Pearson Education User Group Program Newsletter
Issue 20 -- September 2009

Thank you for reading the Pearson Education User Group Program monthly
newsletter for official group members. Please pass this along to your
colleagues and share our news and offers.

== QUICK LINKS ==

   * Monthly User Group Contest: http://www.informit.com/usergroupwelcome
   * InformIT Product Review Team: http://www.informit.com/productreviewteam
   * InformIT Store: http://www.informit.com/store
   * OnPodcast Network: http://www.informit.com/podcasts/index.aspx
   * Twitter and Facebook: http://www.informit.com/socialconnect


== NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS ==

Head "Back to School" for an IT Certification
Hit the books to take the next step in your career -- enter to win one of
three certification study prize packs from the Pearson Education User Group
Program! Also check out new learning tools and products from Pearson.
   http://www.informit.com/promotions/promotion.aspx?promo=137194

Green Data Center Titles Released From Pearson
Cisco Press and Prentice Hall recently announced the release of two
new Green Data Center titles -- "Grow a Greener Data Center," by Douglas
Alger, and "Foundations of Green IT," by Marty Poniatowski -- focusing on
energy  efficiency, eco-friendliness and the necessary improvements to
maximize savings in the IT industry.
   Alger: http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=1587058138
   Poniatowski: http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0137043759

Read the full press release and access exclusive chapter excerpts at
http://bit.ly/HJevZ.

== FEATURED ROUGH CUT ==

Get Behind the Scenes to stay Ahead of the Curve
http://www.informit.com/roughcuts

The D Programming Language
by Andrei Alexandrescu
http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780321659538?portal=informit

Suggested Retail Price: $54.99
Online, PDF, and Print Book Bundle: $74.23
Online and PDF Access: $38.49
Print Book Pre-Order: $38.49

You don't have to be a Safari subscriber to buy Rough Cuts and save.

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

== FEATURED VIDEO ==

3+ Hours Free Video Training for Web Developers
Sharpen your web development skills with instant access to full-length
video labs from selected titles in the LiveLessons series.
   http://www.informit.com/promotions/promotion.aspx?promo=137059

Save an extra 40% when you buy eligible Web Development Video Training
titles! See the list of participating titles, and enter coupon code
LEARNVIDEO during checkout to receive your discount.
   http://www.informit.com/promotions/promotion.aspx?promo=137055

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

== USER GROUPS OF THE MONTH ==

Florida: Tampa Bay Area ASP.NET MVC Developers is a monthly developer
group in Tampa, Florida focusing on building skill and confidence at
developing web applications using the ASP.NET MVC Framework. Learn more at
http://www.tampadev.org


Ohio: North East Ohio Cisco Users Group is comprised of technicians,
experts, network administrators and engineers in the greater Cleveland, Ohio
area. Members have a passion for learning and executing technologies based
around the Cisco principles of networking, IP telephony, Telepresence,
firewalls, switches, and routers. Learn more at
http://neociscoug.blogspot.com

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

== USER GROUP OFFERS ==
http://www.informit.com/usergroupwelcome

Early Bird Pricing Ends Sept. 12 for VTM: iPhone Developers Conference
Use the special User Group Priority Code PHNABCD to save $100 off the Early
Bird Conference Price
    Early Bird Price until Sept. 12: $495
    Regular Price after Sept. 12: $695
    With User Group Priority Code: $395

Mark your calendar now for October 17-18 in Boston! Learn more about
featured speakers at http://www.voicesthatmatter.com/iPhone2009/speakers.aspx.

Listen to interviews with featured conference speakers:

Lee Barney --
   Benefits of hybrid apps
      
http://www.voicesthatmatter.com/content/downloads/iphone2009/Barney_Feature.mp3

   Frameworks and libraries for building hybrid apps
      
http://www.voicesthatmatter.com/content/downloads/iphone2009/Barney_Technical.mp3

August Trometer --
   Optimizing your web site for the iPhone
      
http://www.voicesthatmatter.com/content/downloads/iphone2009/Trometer_part1.mp3

   Using UINavigationController
      
http://www.voicesthatmatter.com/content/downloads/iphone2009/Trometer_part2.mp3

-----------

Save 35% on Python eBooks
Python is a powerful programming language that can be used on all types of
software and web development -- no matter your level of experience. For a
limited  time, save 35% on Python eBooks and video when you buy from
InformIT. See the list of eligible titles and enter the coupon code
PYTHONEBOOK during checkout to receive your discount.
   http://www.informit.com/promotions/promotion.aspx?promo=137138

-----------

Get Our Product Widget
Want to promote your favorite book, eBook, or video to your colleagues and
friends? Now you can quickly add InformIT, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders,
and Safari Books Online links to your sites without managing multiple links.
Our Product Widget lets you feature up to five products, and it's easy to
create and easy to install. Just copy the widget code we provide and paste
it on any blog or Web page that supports JavaScript. Create your widget
today at http://www.informit.com/widget.


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

== IN THE STORE ==

Building Service-Aware Networks: The Next-Generation WAN/MAN
By Muhammad Afaq Khan
http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=1587057883

Citizen Engineer
By David Douglas
http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0137143923

Cocoa Design Patterns
By Erik M. Buck, Donald A. Yacktman
http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0321535022

CompTIA A+ Certification Guide
By Mark Edward Soper, Scott Mueller, David L. Prowse
http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0789740478

Essential Silverlight 3
By Ashraf Michail
http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0321554167

I/O Consolidation in the Data Center
By Silvano Gai, Claudio DeSanti
http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=158705888X

Microsoft Windows 7 on Demand
By Steve Johnson
http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0789742012

Sams Teach Yourself JavaScript and Ajax: Video Learning Starter Kit Bundle
By Sams Publishing
http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0672330903

Be sure you're logged in when shopping and have entered your membership code
to receive your 35% discount! See all titles at http://www.informit.com/store.


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

== AUTHORS & EVENTS: SEPTEMBER ==

September 19 -- Atlanta LinuxFest
http://atlantalinuxfest.org

September 21-23 -- LinuxCon Portland 2009
http://events.linuxfoundation.org/events/linuxcon

September 24 -- Safari Books Online: Grow a Greener Data Center Webcast
http://www.safaribooksonline.com/events/greenerdatacenter.html
Cisco Press author Doug Alger makes the business case for greening data
centers,  and presents technologies, design strategies and operational
approaches  to  help  any  company  improve  the energy efficiency and
"eco-friendliness" of their IT facilities.

September 25-27 -- Ohio LinuxFest 2009
http://www.ohiolinux.org

September 25-27 -- Virtual Worlds at Sun Microsystems Author Chat
http://blogs.sun.com/vw/entry/next_author_chat_clara_shih
Join _The Facebook Era_ author Clara Shih in the Sun Second Life Theatre
to discuss the radical business transformation taking place and what sales,
marketers, and professionals must do to thrive in social media.

September 26 -- Houston TechFest
http://houstontechfest.com
Sponsored by the Microsoft .NET Development Series.

Looking Ahead:

October 4-9 -- JAOO 2009
http://jaoo.dk/aarhus-2009
Calling  all  European  User  Groups:  Meet the Rock Stars of software
development  at this year's JAOO 2009! Rub elbows with Pearson authors
speaking on the world's hottest Java, Ruby, .NET, Object-Oriented topics.
Check out the all-star lineup at http://jaoo.dk/aarhus-2009/speakers.

What is JAOO? It's a Developer's event held every year in Aarhus, Denmark.
JAOO  originally  stood  for "Java and Object-Oriented" and focused on
Java-based  technologies.  Today  it  has evolved into a more in-depth
conference  with  a  wider  set of content such as .NET and Ruby-based
technologies along with a focus on the softer side of software development:
process improvement, patterns, and enterprise architecture.

-----------

Have a User Group event in your area? Let us know!
E-mail any event details to usergroups at informit.com for consideration in
next month's newsletter. Please include "User Group Event" in the subject
line.

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

== Questions? ==

Please contact usergroups at informit.com and include your user group name,
relevant topic area, and type of inquiry in the subject line (for example:
"Southern California Cisco Users Group--Networking").

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

== OnPodcasts from InformIT -- Now Available on iTunes ==

   OnSecurity
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=257338614
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=257862312

   OnOpenSource
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=263635056
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=263635862

   OnMicrosoft
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=259884354
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=259884464

   OnSoftware
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=257763157
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=257863029

   OnNetworking
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=263631409
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=263631748

   OnSOA
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=278745478

   OnBizTech
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=278745192

   OnCertification
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=294622719

   OnHome&Office
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=307161017

   Que On Demand
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=307162372

Don't Have iTunes? Download It Here: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/


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

Did someone forward this to you? E-mail usergroups at informit.com with your
name, group name, group topic area, and e-mail address to subscribe.

InformIT, 800 East 96th Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46240
&copy; 2009 Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

<a  
href="http://informit.us1.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?<redacted>">Unsubscribe</a>

----- End forwarded message -----



----- Forwarded message from usergroups at informit.com -----
     Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 16:30:13 -0400
     From: "InformIT User Groups" <usergroups at informit.com>
Reply-To: "InformIT User Groups" <usergroups at informit.com>
  Subject: Pearson Education User Group Program Newsletter -- August 2009
       To: Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu

Pearson Education User Group Program Newsletter
Issue 19 -- August 2009

Thank you for reading the Pearson Education User Group Program monthly
newsletter for official group members. Please pass this along to your
colleagues and share our news and offers.

== QuickLinks ==

   Monthly User Group Contest
   http://www.informit.com/usergroupwelcome

   InformIT Product Review Team
   http://www.informit.com/productreviewteam

   InformIT Store
   http://www.informit.com/store

   OnPodcast Network
   http://www.informit.com/podcasts/index.aspx

   Twitter and Facebook
   http://www.informit.com/socialconnect

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

== News & Announcements ==

Pearson Education Launches New VMware and Virtualization Titles
Pearson Education recently announced the release of new VMware titles under
the Prentice Hall, Pearson Certification, and Cisco Press imprints. Get the
information you need to know for the VCP exam published in formats that
enhance memory retention and study effectiveness.

Read  the  full press release and access exclusive chapter excerpts on
Businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090722005683/en

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

Microsoft Windows 7 Unleashed
Read an excerpt from Paul McFedries' new book, Microsoft Windows 7
Unleashed, and learn how the Registry is key to Windows 7's prodigious
memory.
http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0672330695

Excerpt: Tweaking the Windows Registry
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1378466

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

== New from the OnPodcasts Network ==

Spotlight on LINQ
Mads  Torgersen, C# language spec owner, interviews the co-authors of
Essential LINQ, Charlie Calvert and Dinesh Kulkarni.

   * Evolution of LINQ: Learn about projects that are extending the
     reach of LINQ in interesting ways and how LINQ technology is going to
     help developers beyond its first release.
      
http://www.informit.com/podcasts/episode.aspx?e=1bd14e21-23fd-467f-89c8-55a138cae80d

   * Promise and adoption of LINQ: Calvert and Kulkarni discuss the
     general vision for LINQ and what is the current practice based on the
     adoption  of  various  LINQ-enabled  components inside and outside
     Microsoft.
      
http://www.informit.com/podcasts/episode.aspx?e=f047f519-f7da-42fc-95fd-17b4a3024bea

For more information or to subscribe to this channel, visit
http://www.informit.com/onmicrosoft.

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

== User Groups of the Month ==

Texas: APLN Houston is the Houston chapter of the Agile Project Leadership
Network and is open to anyone and everyone interested in learning about
agile practices. For more information, visit http://www.aplnhouston.org.

Georgia: Atlanta Cisco Study Group is an organization dedicated to helping
network engineers attain their Cisco certifications. ACSG offers hands-on
access to Cisco equipment, weekly study sessions, and forums to discuss
Cisco certifications and technical issues. Learn more at
http://www.internetworkexperts.net/acsg.htm.

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

== User Group Offers ==
http://www.informit.com/usergroupwelcome

CTM: iPhone Developers Conference Priority Code for User Group Members
Reminder -- now through September 12, SAVE $100 off the Early Bird Price when
you register with this special User Group Priority Code: PHNABCD
    Early Bird Price until Sept. 12: $495
    Regular Price after Sept. 12: $695
    With User Group Priority Code: $395

Mark your calendar now for October 17-18 in Boston! Learn more about
featured speakers: http://www.voicesthatmatter.com/iPhone2009/speakers.aspx

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

== In the Store ==

Android Wireless Application Development
By Shane Conder, Lauren Darcey
   http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0321627091

Grow a Greener Data Center
By Douglas Alger
   http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=1587058138

Interconnecting Data Centers Using VPLS
By Nash Darukhanawalla
   http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=1587059924

Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume II
By Jason Busby, Zak Parrish, Jeff Wilson
   http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0672329921

Oracle SQL by Example
By Alice Rischert
   http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0137142838

Sams Teach Yourself LinkedIn in 10 Minutes
By Patrice-Anne Rutledge
   http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0672330857

The Official Ubuntu Book
By Benjamin Mako Hill
Barnes & Noble Special Edition includes a bonus DVD with Ubuntu
Netbook Remix, for use on the new and popular ultralight portable
computers like the Asus Eee PC and the Dell Mini.
   http://bit.ly/2yJpX

The Official Ubuntu Server Book
By Kyle Rankin, Benjamin Mako Hill
Barnes & Noble Special Edition includes an additional Chapter and
Appendix on Ubuntu - 8.04.2 - Server i386 (LTS) CD.
   http://bit.ly/UnGhF

Be sure you're logged in when shopping and have entered your membership code
to receive your 35% discount! See all titles: http://www.informit.com/store

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

== Authors and Events: August ==

August 3-7 -- SIGGRAPH
Now in its 36th year, the SIGGRAPH conference is the premier international
event on computer graphics and interactive techniques. Visit  
informit.com/siggraph09
for more information on Pearson Education titles at the show!
http://www.siggraph.org/s2009


August 4 -- Safari Books Online: The Facebook Era Webcast
The Facebook Era author Clara Shih discusses the business promise of
social networking and transforming that promise into reality with moderator
Eric Eldon, Senior Editor at _VentureBeat_.
http://www.safaribooksonline.com/events/thefacebookera.html

-----------

User Group Events Sponsored by the Microsoft .NET Development Series from
Addison-Wesley

August 13-15 -- Devlink
The devLink Technical Conference was established in 2006 to educate IT
professionals on current and emerging technologies.
http://www.devlink.net

August 29 -- Jax Code Camp
Organized by the Jacksonville and Orlando .NET User Groups, Jax Code Camp is
a  self-proclaimed all-day geek fest focusing on Microsoft and related
technologies with NO marketing fluff.
http://www.jaxcodecamp.com

-----------

Have a User Group event in your area? Let us know!
E-mail any event details to usergroups at informit.com for consideration in
next month's newsletter. Please include "User Group Event" in the subject
line.

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

== Questions? ==

Please contact usergroups at informit.com and include your user group name,
relevant topic area, and type of inquiry in the subject line (for example:
"Southern California Cisco Users Group--Networking").

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

== OnPodcasts from InformIT -- Now Available on iTunes ==

   OnSecurity
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=257338614
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=257862312

   OnOpenSource
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=263635056
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=263635862

   OnMicrosoft
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=259884354
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=259884464

   OnSoftware
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=257763157
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=257863029

   OnNetworking
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=263631409
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=263631748

   OnSOA
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=278745478

   OnBizTech
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=278745192

   OnCertification
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=294622719

   OnHome&Office
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=307161017

   Que On Demand
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=307162372

Don't Have iTunes? Download It Here: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/


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

Did someone forward this to you? E-mail usergroups at informit.com with your
name, group name, group topic area, and e-mail address to subscribe.

InformIT, 800 East 96th Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46240
&copy; 2009 Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

<a  
href="http://informit.us1.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?<redacted>">Unsubscribe</a>

----- End forwarded message -----



(wee bit too big for the list as one message - split onto next message)




From Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu  Tue Sep  8 22:32:09 2009
From: Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu (Michael Paoli)
Date: Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:32:09 -0700
Subject: [buug] Pearson Education User Group Program: Books & Newsletters
	(2/2)
Message-ID: <20090908223209.73566uzzyap3fo08@webmail.rawbw.com>

Pearson Education User Group Program: Books & Newsletters (2/2)

(wee bit too big for the list as one message - continued from pior message)



----- Forwarded message from usergroups at informit.com -----
     Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 14:35:18 -0400
     From: "InformIT User Groups" <usergroups at informit.com>
Reply-To: "InformIT User Groups" <usergroups at informit.com>
  Subject: Pearson Education User Group Program Newsletter -- July 2009
       To: Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu

Pearson Education User Group Program Newsletter
Issue 18 -- July 2009

Thank you for reading the Pearson Education User Group Program monthly
newsletter for official group members. Please pass this along to your
colleagues and share our news and offers.

===============================================================================

QuickLinks:

Monthly User Group Contest: http://www.informit.com/usergroupwelcome
InformIT Product Review Team: http://www.informit.com/productreviewteam
InformIT Store: http://www.informit.com/store
OnPodcast Network: http://www.informit.com/podcasts/index.aspx
Twitter and Facebook: http://www.informit.com/socialconnect

===============================================================================

_News & Announcements_

_Voices That Matter: iPhone Developers Conference_
The Voices That Matter: iPhone Developers Conference is entirely about
developing, testing and distributing applications for the iPhone and the
iTouch! This is a can't-miss conference for experienced Mac developers
looking for a succinct, easy way to get up to speed on the specific skills
needed to build, test and distribute successful applications for the iPhone
and iPod touch. Mark your calendar now for October 17-18, 2009 in Boston!
   http://www.voicesthatmatter.com/iPhone2009

Now  through September 12, SAVE $100 off the Early Bird Price when you
register with this special User Group Priority Code: PHNABCD
    Early Bird Price until Sept. 12: $495
    Regular Price after Sept. 12: $695
    With User Group Priority Code: _$395_


_The Truth About Green Business_
Read  an  excerpt from Gil Friend's new book, The Truth About Green
Business, and learn why the time is right to move your business towards
"green" initiatives.
   Excerpt: Why Go Green Now?
   http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1350505

===============================================================================

_New from the OnPodcasts Network_

_Interested in Drupal?_
Drupal is now the world's #1 open source content management system. Author
Emma Jane Hogbin is well known in the Drupal community and actively involved
in The Linux Documentation Project. The e-book version of her newly
released title, Front End Drupal: Designing, Theming, Scripting, was the
top seller on InformIT last month.
   http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0137136692

Listen to her latest podcasts:
   * Introduction to Drupal
      
http://www.informit.com/podcasts/episode.aspx?e=44753890-d6ea-4c22-a85c-50192b2272aa

   * What is a Themer?
      
http://www.informit.com/podcasts/episode.aspx?e=c0481308-18c7-4d50-b3b8-1ae1c9ab3104

   * The Themer's Toolkit
      
http://www.informit.com/podcasts/episode.aspx?e=b57dd351-a568-48aa-863a-5b7785448964

   * Grids, Base Themes, and the Zen of Theming
      
http://www.informit.com/podcasts/episode.aspx?e=d858232f-01e0-4a63-8289-c41f65362051

For more information or to subscribe to this channel, visit  
www.informit.com/onopensource.

===============================================================================

_Featured Video_

_3 Hours of Free Video Training for Web Developers_
Sharpen your web development skills with free video lessons from select
LiveLessons and Sams Teach Yourself Video Learning titles.

   * Fundamentals of Joomla: How Do I Install Joomla?
     http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1335096

   * Sams  Teach  Yourself  PHP  and MySQL: Video Learning Starter Kit:
     Working with Numbers
     http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1329757

   * Python Fundamentals: Functions
     http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1356857

   * Perl Fundamentals: Subroutines
     http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1356323

   * RailsSpace Ruby on Rails Tutorial: Getting Started
     http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1356325

   * Enterprise Ajax: The XMLHttpRequest Object and Data
     http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1278991

   * JavaScript Fundamentals I and II: Learning Objectives
     http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1356322

   * Sams Teach Yourself JavaScript and Ajax Video Learning: A JavaScript
     Library for Ajax
     http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1329758

   * Sams Teach Yourself HTML and CSS Video Learning: Mapping Images
     http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1359759

===============================================================================

_In the Store_

ASP.NET MVC Framework Unleashed
By Stephen Walther
http://www.informit.com/title/0672329980

Cisco IOS XR Fundamentals
By Mobeen Tahir, Mark Ghattas
http://www.informit.com/title/1587052717

Cisco LAN Switching Configuration Handbook, 2nd Edition
By Steve McQuerry, David Jansen, David Hucaby
http://www.informit.com/title/1587056100

Microsoft Windows 7 Unleashed
By Paul McFedries
http://www.informit.com/title/0672330695

Microsoft Windows 7 Unveiled (eBook only)
By Peter Bruzzese
http://www.informit.com/title/0768694469

Programming in Objective-C 2.0 LiveLessons
By Stephen G. Kochan
http://www.informit.com/title/0321669517

Stand Back and Deliver: Accelerating Business Agility
By Pollyanna Pixton
http://www.informit.com/title/0321572882

The Merb Way
By Foy Savas
http://www.informit.com/title/0321606388

Be sure you're logged in when shopping and have entered your membership code
to receive your 35% discount! See all titles at www.informit.com/store.

===============================================================================

_Authors and Events: July_

July 8 -- Safari Books Online Windows 7 Unveiled Webcast
Author  Peter  Bruzzese  to  discuss the features and functionality of
Microsoft's newest operating system.
   http://www.safaribooksonline.com/events/microsoft7.html

July 20-24 -- OSCON (Open Source Convention)
Now  more  than  ever,  open source technology is the smart choice for
navigating uncertain economic waters. Get the latest information and new
ways to connect with the growing community that is open source.
   http://en.oreilly.com/oscon2009

Looking Ahead:

August 3-7 -- SIGGRAPH 2009, http://www.siggraph.org/s2009
August 24-28 -- Agile 2009, http://agile2009.agilealliance.org

_Have a User Group event in your area? Let us know!_
E-mail any event details to usergroups at informit.com for consideration in
next month's newsletter. Please include "User Group Event" in the subject
line.

===============================================================================

_User Groups of the Month_

Florida: Palm Beach Phoenix Apple User Group facilitates dedicated
discussions and coaching for various Apple products as well as a wide array
of Apple computing related programs and services. For more information,
visit www.pbphoenix.org.

Missouri: Kansas City Cisco User Group is a newly formed community open to
people  interested  in  Cisco technology and networking. Learn more at
www.kccug.com.

===============================================================================

User Group Offers
www.informit.com/usergroupwelcome

_Bestselling Technical Books Available on Kindle_
http://www.informit.com/promotions/promotion.aspx?promo=136738

Hundreds of Kindle eBooks from Addison-Wesley, Cisco Press, Exam Cram, IBM
Press, Prentice Hall, Que and Sams are available today on Amazon.com! With
the Kindle you can:
   * Download new Kindle books through Amazon Whispernet wireless network
   * Bookmark and Annotate your eBooks
   * Search across your Kindle Library

_Connect with your favorite authors and Pearson Team members on Twitter!_
See a complete listing -- join and follow us today!
http://www.informit.com/promotions/promotion.aspx?promo=136978

_Questions?_
Email usergroups at informit.com and include your user group name, relevant
topic area, and type of inquiry in the subject line (for example: "Southern
California Cisco Users Group -- Networking").


_Connect with your favorite authors and Pearson Team members on Twitter_
See a complete listing -- join and follow us today!
http://www.informit.com/promotions/promotion.aspx?promo=136978

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

== OnPodcasts from InformIT -- Now Available on iTunes ==

   OnSecurity
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=257338614
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=257862312

   OnOpenSource
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=263635056
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=263635862

   OnMicrosoft
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=259884354
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=259884464

   OnSoftware
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=257763157
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=257863029

   OnNetworking
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=263631409
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=263631748

   OnSOA
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=278745478

   OnBizTech
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=278745192

   OnCertification
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=294622719

   OnHome&Office
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=307161017

   Que On Demand
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=307162372

Don't Have iTunes? Download It Here: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/


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

Did someone forward this to you? E-mail usergroups at informit.com with your
name, group name, group topic area, and e-mail address to subscribe.

InformIT, 800 East 96th Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46240
&copy; 2009 Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

<a  
href="http://informit.us1.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?<redacted>">Unsubscribe</a>

----- End forwarded message -----



----- Forwarded message from usergroups at informit.com -----
     Date: Mon, 1 Jun 2009 15:33:08 -0400
     From: "InformIT User Groups" <usergroups at informit.com>
Reply-To: "InformIT User Groups" <usergroups at informit.com>
  Subject: Pearson Education User Group Program Newsletter -- June 2009
       To: Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu

Issue 17 -- June 2009

Pearson Education User Group Program Newsletter

Thank you for reading the Pearson Education User Group Program monthly
newsletter for official group members. Please pass this along to your
colleagues and share our news and offers.

== QuickLinks ==

Monthly User Group Contest: http://www.informit.com/usergroupwelcome
InformIT Product Review Team: http://www.informit.com/productreviewteam
InformIT Store: http://www.informit.com/store
OnPodcast Network: http://www.informit.com/podcasts/index.aspx
Twitter and Facebook: http://www.informit.com/socialconnect
User Group Offers

   _________________________________________________________________

== News & Announcements ==

T-shirt Giveaway: Answer Question & Email to Win!
Act  fast -- the  first 5 people to email usergroups at informit.com with
"Tshirt" in the subject line and the correct answer to the following
question win a free Pearson User Group t-shirt!


Which one of the following is not a channel on the InformIT OnPodcast
Network?
      (a) OnOpenSource
      (b) OnNetworking
      (c) OnProgramming
      (d) OnBizTech

Hint: Look for the OnPodcasts graphic on www.informit.com/usergroupwelcome.


LiveLessons Video Sneak Peek.Getting Started in Objective C: Your First
Program
While the rest of the world waits until July 2009 for the world's first
Objective-C video training course, you can get started today with never
before released sneak-peek "beta" from the video training edition of Stephen
Kochan's bestselling book, Programming in Objective-C 2.0, Second
Edition.

Watch Now: Programming in Objective-C 2.0 LiveLessons (Video Training),
by Stephen Kochan. Coming July 2009.
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1351984


Strategies for Staying Afloat as a Technology Consultant in a Difficult
Economic Climate
Read an excerpt from Aaron Erickson's new book, The Nomadic Developer,
and learn specific strategies for keeping your position as a technology
consultant, even when times are bad.

Excerpt: Surviving and Thriving in the World of Technology Consulting
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1345877

   _________________________________________________________________


== Featured Rough Cut ==
Get Behind the Scenes to stay Ahead of the Curve
http://www.informit.com/roughcuts

Start Developing Powerful Mobile Applications with Android Today
Everything You Need, From Design to Deployment

JavaFX Developer's Guide
Suggested Retail Price: $49.99
Online, PDF, and Print Book Bundle $67.48
Online and PDF Access $34.99
Print Book Pre-Order $34.99
http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780321648983?portal=informit

You don't have to be a Safari subscriber to buy Rough Cuts and save.

   _________________________________________________________________

== Authors and Events: June ==

June 2-5 -- JavaOne Conference
Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and around Java
technology! Stop by Pearson Booth #333 to see the newest products and meet
some of our team members.
http://java.sun.com/javaone

Special Offer: Visit www.informit.com/learnjava for a FREE JavaOne
eBook featuring chapters from titles authored by honorees featured on the
Java Rockstar Wall of Fame including Josh Bloch, David Geary, and Brian
Goetz.

June 13 -- Southeast LinuxFest
Learn,  make  new  friends,  network  with business partners, and most
importantly, have fun at this community event.
http://www.southeastlinuxfest.org

June 22-24 -- SharePoint Technology Conference
Participate in full or half-day workshops and more than 60 breakout classes.
http://www.sptechcon.com

June 27-July 7 -- Cisco Live!
Celebrate the 20th anniversary of Cisco Networkers at the year's premiere
education and training event for IT, networking and communications
professionals. http://www.cisco-live.com

Have a User Group event in your area? Let us know!
E-mail details to usergroups at informit.com for consideration in next
month's newsletter. Please include "User Group Event" in the subject line.

   _________________________________________________________________

== In the Store ==

CCNA 640-802 Cert Flash Cards Online
By Stephen Kalman
http://www.informit.com/title/1587202212

Cisco TelePresence Fundamentals
By Tim Szigeti
http://www.informit.com/title/1587055937

CompTIA Network+ N10-004 Exam Prep
By Mike Harwood
http://www.informit.com/title/0789737957

Developing Hybrid Applications for the iPhone
By Lee S. Barney
http://www.informit.com/title/0321604164

Elements of Programming
By Alexander Stepanov, Paul McJones
http://www.informit.com/title/032163537X

JavaFX: Developing Rich Internet Applications
By Jim Clarke, Jim Connors, Eric J. Bruno
http://www.informit.com/title/013701287X

Joomla! 1.5: A User's Guide, 2nd Edition
By Barrie North
http://www.informit.com/title/0137012314

Silverlight 2 Development (Video Training)
By Dan Wahlin
http://www.informit.com/title/0672330830

Web Geek's Guide to Google Chrome
By Jerri Ledford, Yvette Davis
http://www.informit.com/title/0789739739

Be sure you're logged in when shopping and have entered your membership code
to receive your 35% discount!

   _________________________________________________________________

== New from the OnPodcast Network ==

Exploratory Testing with James Whittaker (video)
from the OnSoftware channel
http://www.informit.com/podcasts/episode.aspx?e=a778d7b9-7834-4ed3-b2f1-964a0b8fe609

Author James Whittaker provides an overview of Exploratory Testing.
Learn ways to explore your application with intent, strategy, and tactics
that find bugs and validate functionality.
http://www.informit.com/podcasts/episode.aspx?e=a778d7b9-7834-4ed3-b2f1-964a0b8fe609

For more information or to subscribe to this channel, visit
www.informit.com/onsoftware.

   _________________________________________________________________

== User Groups of the Month ==

Massachusetts: F# User Group of New England provides a community
environment to learn about the joy of functional programming in general, and
F# in particular. For more information, visit http://fsug.org.


Maryland: Cisco Mid-Atlantic User's Group (C-MUG) is a special interest
group that evolved from Cisco University presentations by the Virginia and
Maryland Cisco sales teams at Chesapeake NetCraftsMen User Group meetings.
Learn more at http://www.netcraftsmen.net/cmug/.

   _________________________________________________________________

== User Group Offers ==
www.informit.com/usergroupwelcome


Free Book Offer from Safari Books Online
By signing up for a Safari Books Online trial during the month of June 2009,
you  are  eligible  to receive a free book from InformIT! To make your
selection, go to www.informit.com/safarifreebook. Enter your information and
select one of 10 books that InformIT has made available for this offer. But
hurry, to qualify for this offer you must choose by June 30, 2009. All free
books will be shipped in the first week of July.


Did You Miss Tech Ed 2009? We're extending our show benefits to you!
Now through June 30th, enjoy FREE access to _Essential Silverlight 3_ and
_Dynamics CRM Integration Unleashed_ before they publish via our Rough Cuts
service through Safari Books Online. Visit www.informit.com/usergroupwelcome
and click on each chapter link to get started!


Interested in our international sites?
Click any of the following countries to be directed to a regional Pearson
site.

    Canada: http://www.pearsontechnology.ca
    France: http://www.pearsoneducation.fr
    Germany: http://www.pearson-education.de
    Switzerland: http://www.pearson.ch
    Italy: http://hpe.pearsoned.it
    Spain: http://www.pearsoneducacion.com
    South Africa: http://www.pearsoned.co.za
    Asia: http://www.pearsonedasia.com
    India: http://www.pearsoned.co.in
    Latin America: http://www.pearsoneducacion.net
    Brazil: http://www.pearson.com.br
    Benelux: http://www.pearsoneducation.nl
    UK, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa:  
http://www.pearsoned.co.uk


Connect with your favorite authors and Pearson Team members on Twitter!
See a complete listing -- join and follow us today!
http://www.informit.com/promotions/promotion.aspx?promo=136978


Questions?
Email usergroups at informit.com and include your user group name, relevant
topic area, and type of inquiry in the subject line (for example: "Southern
California Cisco Users Group -- Networking").

   _________________________________________________________________

== OnPodcasts from InformIT -- Now Available on iTunes ==

   OnSecurity
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=257338614
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=257862312

   OnOpenSource
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=263635056
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=263635862

   OnMicrosoft
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=259884354
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=259884464

   OnSoftware
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=257763157
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=257863029

   OnNetworking
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=263631409
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=263631748

   OnSOA
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=278745478

   OnBizTech
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=278745192

   OnCertification
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=294622719

   OnHome&Office
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=307161017

   Que On Demand
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=307162372

Don't Have iTunes? Download It Here: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/


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

Did someone forward this to you? E-mail usergroups at informit.com with your
name, group name, group topic area, and e-mail address to subscribe.

InformIT, 800 East 96th Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46240
&copy; 2009 Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

<a  
href="http://informit.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?<redacted>">Unsubscribe</a>

----- End forwarded message -----



----- Forwarded message from usergroups at informit.com -----
     Date: Tue, 5 May 2009 13:31:05 -0400
     From: "InformIT User Groups" <usergroups at informit.com>
Reply-To: "InformIT User Groups" <usergroups at informit.com>
  Subject: Pearson Education User Group Program Newsletter -- May 2009
       To: Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu

Pearson Education User Group Program Newsletter
Issue 16 -- May 2009

Thank you for reading the Pearson Education User Group Program monthly
newsletter for official group members. Please pass this along to your
colleagues and share our news and offers.


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


== QuickLinks ==

Monthly User Group Contest: http://www.informit.com/usergroupwelcome
InformIT Product Review Team: http://www.informit.com/productreviewteam
InformIT Store: http://www.informit.com/store
OnPodcast Network: http://www.informit.com/podcasts/index.aspx
Twitter and Facebook: http://www.informit.com/socialconnect


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


== News & Announcements ==

Attn: TechEd 2009 attendees: Are you part of the IT crowd?
Stop by booth #335 and pick-up your exclusive Pearson Education User
Group Program t-shirt throughout the show. We'll also be sponsoring
giveaways at each Birds-of-a-Feather session in conjunction with Culminis
and INETA. See the Tech Ed day-by-day schedule here:
http://www.msteched.com/teched/agenda.aspx

Culminis is an international not-for-profit organization devoted to
the development and growth of the IT community. Learn more about
their mission of supporting IT Professionals and Students here:
http://new.culminisconnections.com/default.aspx

INETA provides structured, peer-based organizational, educational,
and promotional support to the growing worldwide community of Microsoft
.NET user groups. Visit http://www.ineta.org/ for more information.


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

== Featured Rough Cut ==

Get Behind the Scenes to stay Ahead of the Curve
www.informit.com/roughcuts

Android Wireless Application Development
http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780321619686?portal=informit

Start Developing Powerful Mobile Applications with Android Today
Everything You Need, From Design to Deployment

   Suggested Retail Price: $44.99
   Online, PDF, and Print Book Bundle $60.73
   Online and PDF Access $31.49
   Print Book Pre-Order $31.49

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


== In the Store ==

Active Directory Domain Services 2008 How-To
John Policelli
http://www.informit.com/title/0672330458

CCNA Wireless 640-721 Cert Flash Cards Online
By William G. Daniel
http://www.informit.com/title/0789742063

Enterprise Web 2.0 Fundamentals
By Krishna Sankar, Susan A. Bouchard
http://www.informit.com/title/1587057638

Joomla! 1.5: A User's Guide: Building a Successful Joomla! Powered Website
By Barrie North
http://www.informit.com/title/0136135609

Professional Excel Development
By Rob Bovey
http://www.informit.com/title/0321508793

Salesforce.com Secrets of Success
By David Taber
http://www.informit.com/title/0137140762

SharePoint 2007 How-To
By Ishai Sagi
http://www.informit.com/title/0672330504

The Greening of IT
By John Lamb
http://www.informit.com/title/0137150830

The Nomadic Developer
By Aaron Erickson
http://www.informit.com/title/0321606396

The Truth About Green Business
By Gil Friend
http://www.informit.com/title/0789739402

Be sure you're logged in when shopping and have entered your membership
code to receive your 35% discount! See all titles:
http://www.informit.com/store


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

== User Groups of the Month ==

Texas: Dallas XNA User Group is a community of game development enthusiasts
who are working to better understand, utilize, and employ the Microsoft XNA
Framework in games and interactive media. For more information, visit
http://www.dallasxna.com/.

Florida: Tampa Bay Cisco Users Group is open to all IT professionals
interested in learning about Cisco communications and networking. Join
the TBCUG conversation in their Yahoo! Group at http://bit.ly/GQWEC.


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

== Authors and Events: May ==

May 5, 7, 13 -- Clara Shih
Clara Shih, author of The Facebook Era, will be making several appearances
during April -- don't miss out!
The Facebook Era: http://www.informit.com/title/0137152221

> 5/5: Social networking panel -- SIIA Netgain Conference, San Francisco,
http://www.siia.net/netgain/

> 5/7: Speaking -- Endeavor.org Nonprofit Conference, Miami,
http://www.endeavor.org/

> 5/13: Speaking -- Webcom, Montreal,
http://www.webcom-montreal.com/index.php?language=en_US


May 4-7 -- RailsConf
RailsConf is the official event for the Ruby on Rails community. If
you're passionate about Rails and what it helps you achieve -- or are
curious about how Rails can help you create web frameworks better and
faster -- RailsConf is the place to be.
http://en.oreilly.com/rails2009/public/content/home


May 14 -- Colorado Springs Cisco User Group
Cisco Press author Brandon Carroll will be speaking at the May CSCUG
meeting. Visit http://www.cos-cug.org/ for more information.


Have a User Group event in your area? Let us know!
E-mail details to usergroups at informit.com for consideration in next
month's newsletter. Please include "User Group Event" in the subject line.

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


== User Group Offers ==
http://www.informit.com/usergroupwelcome

Free SOA eBook: Sample Chapters from 8 Industry Leaders
This 280-page eBook begins with an introduction to basic concepts by SOA
luminary Thomas Erl and concludes with an insightful chapter from expert
Sandy Carter on helping companies create a plan for their SOA journey. In
between, you'll find the latest thoughts on the hottest SOA topics including
mashup patterns, governance, SOA design patterns, web service contracts,
service modeling, and more. Download your FREE copy today at
http://www.informit.com/LearnSOA.


Learn More and Spend Less with Safari Books Online
You'll find 7600+ tech books, videos, and certification guides for less
than a penny each at Safari Books Online. Get 15 days FREE + 15% off at
http://www.safaribooksonline.com/informit/library/.


Extended Earth Day Savings!
To celebrate Earth Day, we are offering a 40% discount on the list price
of all our eBooks, plus Cert Flash Cards Online, throughout the month of May.
Browse the eligible titles, then enter promo code EARTHDAY during checkout
to receive your savings. Offer valid through 5/31/2009.
http://www.informit.com/earthday


Connect with your favorite authors and Pearson Team members on Twitter
See a complete listing -- join and follow us today!
http://www.informit.com/promotions/promotion.aspx?promo=136978


Questions?
Please contact usergroups at informit.com and include your user group name,
relevant topic area, and type of inquiry in the subject line (for example:
"Southern California Cisco Users Group--Networking").


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

== OnPodcasts from InformIT -- Now Available on iTunes ==

   OnSecurity
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=257338614
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=257862312

   OnOpenSource
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=263635056
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=263635862

   OnMicrosoft
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=259884354
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=259884464

   OnSoftware
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=257763157
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=257863029

   OnNetworking
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=263631409
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=263631748

   OnSOA
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=278745478

   OnBizTech
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=278745192

   OnCertification
   Audio: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=294622719

   OnHome&Office
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=307161017

   Que On Demand
   Video: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=307162372

Don't Have iTunes? Download It Here: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/


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

Did someone forward this to you? E-mail usergroups at informit.com with your
name, group name, group topic area, and e-mail address to subscribe.

InformIT, 800 East 96th Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46240
&copy; 2009 Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Click the link below or enter it into your browser to unsubscribe:
http://informit.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?<redacted>

----- End forwarded message -----




From Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu  Thu Sep 10 07:33:04 2009
From: Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu (Michael Paoli)
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 07:33:04 -0700
Subject: [buug] BALUG: Tu 2009-09-15 Christian Einfeldt on: Linux in
	schools: Help	yourself by helping the underdog
Message-ID: <20090910073304.10841teryda1x7pc@webmail.rawbw.com>

BALUG: Tu 2009-09-15 Christian Einfeldt on: Linux in schools: Help  
yourself by helping the underdog

BALUG: Tu 2009-09-15 Christian Einfeldt on: Linux in schools:
        Help yourself by helping the underdog

Bay Area Linux User Group (BALUG)
Tuesday 6:30 P.M. 2009-09-15

Please RSVP if you're planning to come (see further below).

For our 2009-09-15 BALUG meeting, we're excited to present:

Christian Einfeldt on: Linux in schools:
Help yourself by helping the underdog
Schools and Linux should really fit together hand-in-hand.  Schools
need robust, low cost infrastructure, and the Linux community needs
more widespread adoption to avoid marginalization on the desktop.
Schools offer the potential to become channels for distribution and
socialization for Linux.  Christian Einfeldt is a community organizer
who has worked for more than 5 years to bring Linux to two local public
schools, and will draw on this experience to talk about what schools
need to go further with Linux, and how schools can help create greater
mindshare for Linux.

Christian Einfeldt has been using GNU-Linux in his law practice since
late 2000.  Einfeldt is a relatively simple end user who runs whichever
distro is favored by the guru helping him.  Currently, that means
regular old brown Ubuntu (GNOME), but in the past has included openSUSE
(KDE).  Einfeldt is also fond of Xubuntu, as it runs quite well and
installs easily on dead badgers and other odd ball legacy hardware that
he and others are adminning at two local school FOSS projects supported
by Bay Area GNUsters and Penguinistas.  You know who you are.

So, if you'd like to join us please RSVP:

           rsvp at balug.org

**Why RSVP??**

Well, don't worry we won't turn you away, but the RSVPs really help the
Four Seas Restaurant plan the meal and they help ensure that we'll be
able to eat upstairs in the private banquet room.

Meeting Details...

           6:30pm
           Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 2009-09-15

           Four Seas Restaurant http://www.fourseasr.com/
           731 Grant Ave.
           San Francisco, CA 94108
           Easy PARKING:
           Portsmouth Square Garage at 733 Kearny http://www.sfpsg.com/

Cost: The meetings are always free, but dinner is $13

Feedback on our publicity/announcements (e.g. contacts or lists where we
should get our information out that we're not presently reaching, or
things we should do differently): publicity-feedback at balug.org

http://www.balug.org/




From jdeslip at gmail.com  Sun Sep 13 10:28:31 2009
From: jdeslip at gmail.com (Jack Deslippe)
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 10:28:31 -0700
Subject: [buug] Solano Stroll Booth
Message-ID: <11eb8a5c0909131028y651b201eva3c687ae75477170@mail.gmail.com>

Come check out our linux booth 1174 Solano ave all day today.

Jack
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://buug.org/pipermail/buug/attachments/20090913/b28cd136/attachment.html>

From pewterbot9 at gmail.com  Sun Sep 13 21:42:42 2009
From: pewterbot9 at gmail.com (Pewter Bot)
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:42:42 -0700
Subject: [buug] Solano Stroll Booth
Message-ID: <a86954420909132142xe989b4ra8218400fe03269@mail.gmail.com>

Jack DeSlippe posted:

{{ Come check out our linux booth 1174 Solano ave all day today. }}

Glad the weather cooled off, else I wouldn't have even dreamt of
showing up (I'm a cold weather kinda kind, and don't care if I never
see the sun again). As it turned out, I had an excellent day. Thanks,
Michael, for recommending that bicycle path from North Berkeley BART,
it was fantastic, and I learned, has a name: "Ohlone Green Way". Would
love to live in one of those cottages or apartments with back yard
facing the path, how idyllic! I will make a point of frequenting that
bicycle path, and ride it further than I did today.

I was flummoxed at how *huge* this Solano Stroll Fair was...it was
*huge*! The BerkeleyLUG booth has many interested visitor...Jack's
idea was a hit! Got to me some very nice folks there, both the
volunteers and the stoppers-by.

Then--as if the day weren't already nice enough--a light rain fell
towards the end of the fair, and I love the rain, riding my bike
through the cool wetness was a blissful experience. I decided to stop
by Au Coquelot, to use their convenient restroom...and (lo an behold)
what sign did I see stuck to their back door?

"Free wifi".

Yay, that's the cherry on the cupcake of my day. So I lingered over a
tall glass of iced tea, and enjoyed the public wifi. Only there's a
hitch: apparantly, they using one of those routers that doesn't work
so well with my Asus netbook's atheros chipset. Further exploration
has pointed the culprit to be the lower cost routers, such as NetGear.
Until recently, I was able to get around this, by disabling the
internal wifi, and using instead an external USB wifi that is not an
Atheros. But this doesn't work now, since I upgraded Eeebuntu from 2.0
to 3.0.

Ironically, my newer and smaller 7" screen netbook, works great in
those places wjre my 10" one doesn't. Basically, I can't to streaming
video or downloading. So I have to adjust my priorities, and bring my
701 to the BUUG meetings, instead of my larger 1000H. In general,
though, this problem only occurs in about one out of seven public
wifi's I use.

Well, now we have wifi at the BUUG, and I suppose I'll be the only one
actually using it. I like to download Youtube videos on various
topics, and watch them when I'm home...where I still have my humble
dialup connection.

Congratulations, Joe, on a most successful Linux promotion. And as I
said to you before departing: you may have to rent a hall for the next
meeting, so many interested people showed up at your booth!

-- 
Zeke K.


From pewterbot9 at gmail.com  Sun Sep 13 21:48:48 2009
From: pewterbot9 at gmail.com (Pewter Bot)
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:48:48 -0700
Subject: [buug] Solano Stroll Booth
In-Reply-To: <a86954420909132142xe989b4ra8218400fe03269@mail.gmail.com>
References: <a86954420909132142xe989b4ra8218400fe03269@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <a86954420909132148q1e756f39jfc4e11df13166ba1@mail.gmail.com>

'Scuse all my typos! Just got back from Berkeley, exhausted and hungry
and thirsty. (Rode my bike from Rockridge BART to the Solano Fair;
then rode all the way back to Rockridge. Nice workout.) I'm thinking
about founding another social group for *nix users: "Nerd
Cyclists"...we'd tool around Berkeley on our bicycles once or twice a
week, to take a break from our computes, and get some friendly
exercise in a town that's ideal for riding a bike.


From itz at buug.org  Mon Sep 14 07:19:25 2009
From: itz at buug.org (Ian Zimmerman)
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 07:19:25 -0700
Subject: [buug] Solano Stroll Booth
In-Reply-To: <a86954420909132142xe989b4ra8218400fe03269@mail.gmail.com>
	(Pewter Bot's message of "Sun\, 13 Sep 2009 21\:42\:42 -0700")
References: <11eb8a5c0909131028y651b201eva3c687ae75477170@mail.gmail.com>
	<a86954420909132142xe989b4ra8218400fe03269@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <877hw17gnm.fsf@matica.localdomain>

>>>>> "Zeke" == Pewter Bot <pewterbot9 at gmail.com> writes:

Zeke> Jack DeSlippe posted: {{ Come check out our linux booth 1174
Zeke> Solano ave all day today. }}

Zeke> Glad the weather cooled off, else I wouldn't have even dreamt of
Zeke> showing up (I'm a cold weather kinda kind, and don't care if I
Zeke> never see the sun again). As it turned out, I had an excellent
Zeke> day. Thanks, Michael, for recommending that bicycle path from
Zeke> North Berkeley BART, it was fantastic, and I learned, has a name:
Zeke> "Ohlone Green Way". Would love to live in one of those cottages or
Zeke> apartments with back yard facing the path, how idyllic! I will
Zeke> make a point of frequenting that bicycle path, and ride it further
Zeke> than I did today.

When I was a poor student (and then, an unemployed programmer), I used
to walk the entire length of the greenway from El Cerrito Plaza to
downtown Berkeley.  The BART trains got noisier since then, though.

Zeke> Yay, that's the cherry on the cupcake of my day. So I lingered
Zeke> over a tall glass of iced tea, and enjoyed the public wifi. Only
Zeke> there's a hitch: apparantly, they using one of those routers that
Zeke> doesn't work so well with my Asus netbook's atheros
Zeke> chipset. Further exploration has pointed the culprit to be the
Zeke> lower cost routers, such as NetGear.  Until recently, I was able
Zeke> to get around this, by disabling the internal wifi, and using
Zeke> instead an external USB wifi that is not an Atheros. But this
Zeke> doesn't work now, since I upgraded Eeebuntu from 2.0 to 3.0.

Disabling the internal wifi interface on any Linux system should be easy,
even if there's no GUI for it.  That's what I do with my bastardized
thinkpad.  Find out the name of the driver, I'm going to assume it is
a5k.ko for the sake of example.  Then, as root, do this shell command:

echo 'blacklist a5k' >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-local

Reboot, and voila, that stupid atheros interface is as good as dead.

-- 
Ian Zimmerman <itz at buug.org>
gpg public key: 1024D/C6FF61AD 
fingerprint: 66DC D68F 5C1B 4D71 2EE5  BD03 8A00 786C C6FF 61AD
Ham is for reading, not for eating.


From pewterbot9 at gmail.com  Mon Sep 14 16:01:10 2009
From: pewterbot9 at gmail.com (Pewter Bot)
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:01:10 -0700
Subject: [buug] Disabling atheros wifi in Eeebuntu
Message-ID: <a86954420909141601q3f6bb53dg1568344acb3dddce@mail.gmail.com>

On Mon, 14 Sep 2009 Ian Zimmerman <itz at buug.org> posted:

{{ Disabling the internal wifi interface on any Linux system should be easy, }}

Well, it should...and I have no idea why disabling wlan via BIOS no
longer works. It did in Eeebuntu 2.0, but not now in 3.0!

{{ as root, do this shell command:

echo 'blacklist a5k' >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-local

Reboot, and voila, that stupid atheros interface is as good as dead. }}

Yes, it works, thanks! Just FYI, the atheros wifi label is "ath5k".
Lsmod revealed that tidbit, 'cause that's what I suspected was the
problem when my first attempt at editing  blacklist-local didn't do a
derned thing. So the command should read:

echo 'blacklist ath5k' >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-local

So now, I'm back to being able to bypass the internal wifi, whenever
it's better to use my USB wireless. Yay!

At least, until the next subtle change or glitch crops up in some
future Linux, Ubuntu, or Eeebuntu update. One of the great things
about Linux (and by extension, its myriad distros) is that I can
resolve any problem in a very short time...unlike that *other*
operating system.

Whose name eludes me. Ooops, gotta cut this missive short, as I'm in
the middle of washing my

dirty windoze.


From bill.honeycutt at gmail.com  Tue Sep 15 12:13:02 2009
From: bill.honeycutt at gmail.com (Wm. F. Honeycutt)
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:13:02 -0700
Subject: [buug] Symfony framework
Message-ID: <87acd5770909151213u55cf8e2died6501f0590452@mail.gmail.com>

Hello,

Has anyone evaluated the Symfony framework as far as security is concerned?
I'm really jittery about allowing files with 0777 perms inside the web root,
but this seems to be required for the 'cache' and 'log' paths :-/

Convence me that I'm wrong (so I'll sleep better at night).

Thanks in advance!
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://buug.org/pipermail/buug/attachments/20090915/943e3c50/attachment.html>

From Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu  Fri Sep 18 00:04:00 2009
From: Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu (Michael Paoli)
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:04:00 -0700
Subject: [buug] Linux: mouse/pointer with text (gpm) & X
Message-ID: <20090918000400.130053uchacb2bcw@webmail.rawbw.com>

Question was asked at meeting about gpm and X configuration to
have them both simultaneously use mouse/pointer device (at least
on any active virtual terminal, and without changing configuration
when going between text and X virtual terminals).

Some slightly ancient configuration bits, but essentially as I
understand/recall it, key bits are - for the gpm configuration:
repeat_type=raw
and for X (XFree86 --> X.org):
Section "InputDevice"
         ...
         Driver          "mouse"
         Option          "CorePointer"
         Option          "Device"                "/dev/gpmdata"
         ...
EndSection

Also, once in a great while, I'd sometimes find after a reboot that
mouse behavior wasn't correct - but a restart of gpm would correct it -
that may have been from some initialization timing issues between gpm
and X.

Configurations, e.g.:
$ grep '^[^#]' /etc/gpm.conf
device=/dev/psaux
responsiveness=
repeat_type=raw
type=autops2
append=''
sample_rate=
$ sed -ne '/^Section[   ]/,/^EndSection[        ]*$/{;/^Section[        
  ]/h;/^Section[  ]/!H;/^EndSection[      ]*$/{x;/gpmdata/p;d;};};'  
/etc/X11/XF86Config-4
Section "InputDevice"
     Identifier  "IBM ThinkPad T40p TYPE 2373-G1U TrackPoint via gpm"
     Driver      "mouse"
     Option      "CorePointer"
     Option      "Device"        "/dev/gpmdata"
     Option      "Protocol"      "PS/2"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
     Identifier  "Configured Mouse"
     Driver      "mouse"
     Option      "CorePointer"
     Option      "Device"        "/dev/gpmdata"
     Option      "Protocol"      "PS/2"
EndSection




From john_re at fastmail.us  Fri Sep 18 01:31:07 2009
From: john_re at fastmail.us (john_re)
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:31:07 -0700
Subject: [buug] Sunday 20th Global Linux Mtg via VOIP - BerkeleyTIP - for
	forwarding
Message-ID: <1253262667.12218.1335452281@webmail.messagingengine.com>

Get a VOIP headset, Install VOIP client SW, & join the global GNU(Linux) meeting this
Sunday Sept 20, 12N-3P Pacific Daylight Savings Time (UTC-8),
 3P-6P Eastern, (7P-10P UTC?)
http://sites.google.com/site/berkeleytip/remote-attendance

Or, come to the physical meeting at the UCBerkeley Free Speech Cafe.

Lots of great, exciting new things for Linux users,
as we start Year 2 of the Global FSW GNU(Linux)/BSD,
Free HW, Free Culture, TIP meetings:
TIP = Talks, Installfest, Project/Programing Party.
Educational, Productive, Social.

Join with the meeting from your home via VOIP,
or create a local meeting at your local college wifi cafe.


=====
Quick announcement.  We're starting up BTIP year 2, for the 2009-10 school year.
http://sites.google.com/site/berkeleytip/home

September Videos: Puppet language, Python mystery talks, CampKDE
http://sites.google.com/site/berkeleytip/talk-videos

This year 2 we'll be focusing on 
1) Inviting UC Berkeley students via poster/flyers
2) Getting local meetings going at California colleges
3) Getting invitations out to more American countries
4) Getting topic groups (OLPC, Python, KDE & GNOME, Ubuntu, etc) having simultaneous meetings.
5) Improving our VOIP server, perhaps upgrading to FreeSwitch.

==
Come join the Sept 20 Sunday meeting, get on voip, chat, discuss the videos, work on your own projects & share them with others, help educate students, & help work on the group projects.

Join #berkeleytip on irc.freenode.net, & we'll help you get your VOIP HW & SW working. :)

Join the mailing lists & say hi, tell us what you are interested in.
http://groups.google.com/group/BerkTIPGlobal/?pli=1

You are invited to forward this message anywhere it would be welcomed. :)


From tracy at media-alliance.org  Fri Sep 18 15:10:35 2009
From: tracy at media-alliance.org (Tracy Rosenberg)
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:10:35 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [buug] One Web Day Comes to UC-Berkeley
Message-ID: <7910b268528ddfbce55837205f0bdb9e.squirrel@npomail.electricembers.net>


ONE WEB DAY COMES TO UC BERKELEY
Join Media Alliance and the Berkeley Center for New Media on One Web Day
to discuss our Internet future.

The Berkeley Center for New Media Commons
340 Moffit Library ? Next to the Free Speech Movement Cafe
University of California at Berkeley
ON
OneWebDay
September 22, 2009, Noon-1pm

With Mitchell Kapor ? Co-Founder of Electronic Frontier Foundation
Professor Steven Weber ? Author of The Success of Open Source
Shel Waggener ? UC- Berkeley Chief Information Officer
Jay Walsh ? Head of Communications, Wikimedia Foundation
Professor Nicholas de Monchaux  - College of Environmental Design
David Glover- Director, Oakland Citizens Committee for Urban Renewal (OCCUR)
Tracy Rosenberg ? Executive Director of Media Alliance

OneWebDay (http:www.onewebday.org) was envisioned by Obama Technology
advisor and open technology advocate Susan Crawford as the Internet?s
?Earth Day? ? a celebration of all things web with a serious purpose ? to
protect a free and democratic Internet.  The goal of celebrating OneWebDay
each year is to make visible a global constituency that cares about the
future of the Internet.

According to Ms. Crawford, ?Earth Day was the model when I founded
OneWebDay in 2006. In 1969, one man asked the people to do what their
elected representatives would not: take the future of the environment into
their own hands. Peoples? lives now are as dependent on the Internet as
they are on roads, energy supplies and running water. We can no longer
take that for granted, and we must advocate for the Internet politically
and support its vitality personally.?

Now chaired by Elecronic Frontier Foundation co-founder Mitchell Kapor,
OneWebDay is in its fourth year and marked by volunteer-driven efforts in
over 35 cities across the country and across the globe. This event marks
the inaugural OneWebDay activity on the UC Berkeley campus.

Join the Center for New Media and Media Alliance to hear about the growing
phenomenon of OneWebDay, celebrate the power of the Web for positive
change, and how to take action to protect what is precious about it.

This event will feature the release of  the Media and Democracy
Coalition?s position paper ?A Public Interest Internet Agenda?, 
www.media-democracy.net/node/510
###



-- 
Tracy Rosenberg
Executive Director
Media Alliance
1904 Franklin Street # 500
Oakland CA 94612
www.media-alliance.org
510-832-9000 x303
510-684-6853 Cell
tracy at media-alliance.org
>>




From jim at well.com  Wed Sep 23 18:49:54 2009
From: jim at well.com (jim)
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:49:54 -0700
Subject: [buug] BayPIGgies meeting Thursday September 24, 2009: Parrot VM
Message-ID: <1253756994.6445.33.camel@jim-laptop>


BayPIGgies meeting Thursday September 24, 2009: Parrot VM 


Tonight's talk is 
* Parrot VM 
by Allison Randal 


Meetings start with a Newbie Nugget, a short discussion of an 
essential Python feature, specially for those new to Python. 
Tonight's Newbie Nugget: List Comprehension 

LOCATION 
Symantec Corporation
Symantec Vcafe
350 Ellis Street
Mountain View, CA 94043
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&fb=1&split=1&gl=us&ei=w6i_Sfr6MZmQsQOzlv0v&hl=en&t=h&msa=0&msid=116202735295394761637.00046550c09ff3d96bff1&ll=37.397693,-122.053707&spn=0.002902,0.004828&z=18

BayPIGgies meeting information is available at 
http://baypiggies.net/new/plone



------------------------ Agenda ------------------------
 
..... 7:30 PM ...........................
General hubbub, inventory end-of-meeting announcements, any 
first-minute announcements. 


..... 7:35 PM to 7:45 PM ................

Newbie Nugget: List Comprehension 


..... 7:45 PM to 8:45 PM ................

Title: Parrot VM 
by Allison Randal 

The Parrot virtual machine hit 1.0 in March of this year, with 
a second production release (1.4) in July. A virtual machine 
like no other, Parrot targets dynamic languages like Python. It 
hosts a powerful suite of compiler tools tailored to dynamic 
languages and a next generation regular expression engine. This 
talk explores Pynie, an implementation of Python 3 on Parrot, 
with a brief explanation of the overall architecture of Parrot.


..... 8:45 PM to 9:20 PM  ................
Mapping and Random Access

Mapping is a rapid-fire audience announcement of topics that 
the announcers are interested in. 

Random Access follows immediately to allow follow up individually 
on the announcements and other topics of interest.




From pewterbot9 at gmail.com  Mon Sep 28 00:48:27 2009
From: pewterbot9 at gmail.com (Pewter Bot)
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:48:27 -0700
Subject: [buug] Using swap on an SSD...or not.
Message-ID: <a86954420909280048n3ee5f125vd05ed73db87dbb78@mail.gmail.com>

I read recently, that Windoze netbook users of systems with a solid
state drive (SSD) have been advised to disable swapping. This is
because SSD chips wear out sooner from frequent rewrites, of which
swapping is the major offender.



So I'm thinking about doing something similar in Ubuntu Linux. Only
(instead of eliminating it) I'd make the swap partition reside on an
SDHC card that I'd keep permanently in its slot. My system has 500M
RAM...I could partition, say, 1/4 to 1/2G on an 8G card, using the
rest for data storage and transfer. Is this a workable solution to
prolong the life of my netbook's SSD (also 8G)?



(My 8G SDHC card is a lowly class 2. Should I upgrade to a class 6, or
is this overkill?)



TIA.

-- 
Think Google's kewl? Think again:
http://www.google-watch.org/


From rick at linuxmafia.com  Mon Sep 28 09:31:58 2009
From: rick at linuxmafia.com (Rick Moen)
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:31:58 -0700
Subject: [buug] Using swap on an SSD...or not.
In-Reply-To: <a86954420909280048n3ee5f125vd05ed73db87dbb78@mail.gmail.com>
References: <a86954420909280048n3ee5f125vd05ed73db87dbb78@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <20090928163158.GC31333@linuxmafia.com>

Quoting Zeke Krahlin (pewterbot9 at gmail.com):

> So I'm thinking about doing something similar in Ubuntu Linux. Only
> (instead of eliminating it) I'd make the swap partition reside on an
> SDHC card that I'd keep permanently in its slot. My system has 500M
> RAM...I could partition, say, 1/4 to 1/2G on an 8G card, using the
> rest for data storage and transfer. Is this a workable solution to
> prolong the life of my netbook's SSD (also 8G)?

If you're worried about your SSD wearing out from swap activity, doesn't
the same concern apply to your SDHC card?  Both are based on NAND flash, 
you know.

If your netbook has enough RAM for it, maybe you should try turning off
swap.




From jammer at weak.org  Mon Sep 28 10:15:58 2009
From: jammer at weak.org (Jon McClintock)
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:15:58 -0700
Subject: [buug] Using swap on an SSD...or not.
In-Reply-To: <a86954420909280048n3ee5f125vd05ed73db87dbb78@mail.gmail.com>
References: <a86954420909280048n3ee5f125vd05ed73db87dbb78@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <20090928171558.GD2065@weak.org>

On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 12:48:27AM -0700, Pewter Bot wrote:
> So I'm thinking about doing something similar in Ubuntu Linux. Only
> (instead of eliminating it) I'd make the swap partition reside on an
> SDHC card that I'd keep permanently in its slot. My system has 500M
> RAM...I could partition, say, 1/4 to 1/2G on an 8G card, using the
> rest for data storage and transfer. Is this a workable solution to
> prolong the life of my netbook's SSD (also 8G)?

Try running without any swap at all. You may not notice any performance
difference.

-Jon
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: Digital signature
URL: <http://buug.org/pipermail/buug/attachments/20090928/8a4c7a9a/attachment.sig>

From jammer at weak.org  Mon Sep 28 10:16:57 2009
From: jammer at weak.org (Jon McClintock)
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:16:57 -0700
Subject: [buug] Using swap on an SSD...or not.
In-Reply-To: <20090928163158.GC31333@linuxmafia.com>
References: <a86954420909280048n3ee5f125vd05ed73db87dbb78@mail.gmail.com>
	<20090928163158.GC31333@linuxmafia.com>
Message-ID: <20090928171657.GE2065@weak.org>

On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 09:31:58AM -0700, Rick Moen wrote:
> If you're worried about your SSD wearing out from swap activity, doesn't
> the same concern apply to your SDHC card?  Both are based on NAND flash, 
> you know.

Yes. But it's far easier to eject the SDHC card and put in a new one
than to disassemble the device, (potentially) desolder the SSD, 
install a new one, and then reassemble the device...

-Jon
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: Digital signature
URL: <http://buug.org/pipermail/buug/attachments/20090928/f76982dd/attachment.sig>

From rick at linuxmafia.com  Mon Sep 28 11:33:46 2009
From: rick at linuxmafia.com (Rick Moen)
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:33:46 -0700
Subject: [buug] Using swap on an SSD...or not.
In-Reply-To: <20090928171657.GE2065@weak.org>
References: <a86954420909280048n3ee5f125vd05ed73db87dbb78@mail.gmail.com>
	<20090928163158.GC31333@linuxmafia.com>
	<20090928171657.GE2065@weak.org>
Message-ID: <20090928183346.GE31333@linuxmafia.com>

Quoting Jon McClintock (jammer at weak.org):

> Yes. But it's far easier to eject the SDHC card and put in a new one
> than to disassemble the device, (potentially) desolder the SSD, 
> install a new one, and then reassemble the device...

Easier still is to just make sure you have enough RAM to not need swap
on flash media.  ;->


From jammer at weak.org  Mon Sep 28 14:14:51 2009
From: jammer at weak.org (Jon McClintock)
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:14:51 -0700
Subject: [buug] Using swap on an SSD...or not.
In-Reply-To: <20090928183346.GE31333@linuxmafia.com>
References: <a86954420909280048n3ee5f125vd05ed73db87dbb78@mail.gmail.com>
	<20090928163158.GC31333@linuxmafia.com>
	<20090928171657.GE2065@weak.org>
	<20090928183346.GE31333@linuxmafia.com>
Message-ID: <20090928211451.GH2065@weak.org>

On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 11:33:46AM -0700, Rick Moen wrote:
> Quoting Jon McClintock (jammer at weak.org):
> 
> > Yes. But it's far easier to eject the SDHC card and put in a new one
> > than to disassemble the device, (potentially) desolder the SSD, 
> > install a new one, and then reassemble the device...
> 
> Easier still is to just make sure you have enough RAM to not need swap
> on flash media.  ;->

Apparently there's also a dependency on a swap partition to enable 
hibernation.

-Jon
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: Digital signature
URL: <http://buug.org/pipermail/buug/attachments/20090928/4b781944/attachment.sig>

From rick at linuxmafia.com  Mon Sep 28 14:44:56 2009
From: rick at linuxmafia.com (Rick Moen)
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:44:56 -0700
Subject: [buug] Using swap on an SSD...or not.
In-Reply-To: <20090928211451.GH2065@weak.org>
References: <a86954420909280048n3ee5f125vd05ed73db87dbb78@mail.gmail.com>
	<20090928163158.GC31333@linuxmafia.com>
	<20090928171657.GE2065@weak.org>
	<20090928183346.GE31333@linuxmafia.com>
	<20090928211451.GH2065@weak.org>
Message-ID: <20090928214456.GG31333@linuxmafia.com>

Quoting Jon McClintock (jammer at weak.org):

> Apparently there's also a dependency on a swap partition to enable 
> hibernation.

Good point.  Actually, of the two hibernation implementations, I believe
only uswsusp needs an active swap partition to write out RAM contents
to.  The other implementation, suspend2, can save to a file on the HD,
instead, which you can programmatically delete when not being needed 
for hibernation, and create programmatically as needed.

And, just now found, here's one suggested way to do the same thing with
the default uswusp implementation:
http://superuser.com/questions/21020/can-i-hibernate-linux-without-a-swap-partition

(Untested, as I don't have a system where I've had to solve this
problem.)  

A completely different approach might be to allocate a regular swap
partition, but set the kernel's swappiness parameters such that it
doesn't get used for VM despite being known to the swap manager.



From pewterbot9 at gmail.com  Mon Sep 28 23:38:47 2009
From: pewterbot9 at gmail.com (Pewter Bot)
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:38:47 -0700
Subject: [buug] Using swap on an SSD...or not.
Message-ID: <a86954420909282338q240329aelae88ead98c1aa7ef@mail.gmail.com>

On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> posted:

{{ If you're worried about your SSD wearing out from swap activity,
doesn't the same concern apply to your SDHC card?  Both are based on
NAND flash, you know. }}

What Jon said (he beat me to the punch). I'd like my SSD netbook to
last as long as possible, w/o mucking with the innards. Much easier to
replace the SDHC card.

{{ If your netbook has enough RAM for it, maybe you should try turning
off swap. }}

Well, I stated my RAM to be 500M...and that may be fine for my
stand-alone, single-user system. Or, it may not...this may be a
borderline situation. Tomorrow, I'll run my little Eee PC 701SD
w/Firefox and a few other programs while wifi connected...and see just
how much memory is used.

But I certainly don't use hibernation; it never works right anyway.
And that seems to be the only reason why *some* Linux users claim that
swap is necessary, don't get rid of it. They don't always say why, so
I wasn't sure they were thinking about hibernation mode.

Thanks for your thoughtful replies, Rick and Jon. I have removed swap,
and will see how things go.

-- 
Think Google's kewl? Think again:
http://www.google-watch.org/


From rick at linuxmafia.com  Tue Sep 29 15:19:08 2009
From: rick at linuxmafia.com (Rick Moen)
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:19:08 -0700
Subject: [buug] Using swap on an SSD...or not.
In-Reply-To: <a86954420909282338q240329aelae88ead98c1aa7ef@mail.gmail.com>
References: <a86954420909282338q240329aelae88ead98c1aa7ef@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <20090929221908.GM31333@linuxmafia.com>

Quoting Zeke Krahlin (pewterbot9 at gmail.com):

> Well, I stated my RAM to be 500M...and that may be fine for my
> stand-alone, single-user system.

That would depend entirely on what you choose to run on it.  My old
iBook 2.2 PowerPC laptop has only 256 MB RAM, and runs Debian
without hitting swap, running my usual mix of xterms and a Web
browser.[1]  (Actually, it's OK in that department even with Xubuntu.)

But Your Mileage May Differ<tm>.  Suggest you get to be buddies with ps,
top, vmstat, etc., to see how much RAM you really use.

> Tomorrow, I'll run my little Eee PC 701SD w/Firefox and a few other
> programs while wifi connected...and see just how much memory is used.

No offence intended, but do you know how to do that?

"vmstat 1" will do a report on swap activity every second, until you
Ctrl-C out of it.  The "si" and "so" columns reports data swapped in and
swapped out -- in kilobytes by default, I think.  On _my_ system in
front of me, it registers zeroes all the time, because I'm not hitting
swap.

Be aware:  Even a system that's not actually needing swap will touch it
a _little_ from time to time, if it's available and switched on.  You'll
know the difference (watching vmstat) when you add an additional process
and it starts hitting swap for real.

[1] I like my process table (ps auxw | more) to be clean and not chewing up
RAM and other system resources running junk that _I_ didn't decide to
run, which is why I tend to eschew "desktop environment" suites that
spawn off a forest of obscure processes, and instead run a simple
minimalist window manager.



From itz at buug.org  Tue Sep 29 21:14:56 2009
From: itz at buug.org (Ian Zimmerman)
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:14:56 -0700
Subject: [buug] Using swap on an SSD...or not.
In-Reply-To: <20090929221908.GM31333@linuxmafia.com> (Rick Moen's message of
	"Tue\, 29 Sep 2009 15\:19\:08 -0700")
References: <a86954420909282338q240329aelae88ead98c1aa7ef@mail.gmail.com>
	<20090929221908.GM31333@linuxmafia.com>
Message-ID: <87my4dxe4f.fsf@matica.localdomain>


Rick> [1] I like my process table (ps auxw | more) to be clean and not
Rick> chewing up RAM and other system resources running junk that _I_
Rick> didn't decide to run, which is why I tend to eschew "desktop
Rick> environment" suites that spawn off a forest of obscure processes,
Rick> and instead run a simple minimalist window manager.

Hear hear :-)

My machines are not particularly resource-starved nowadays, so I could
put up with the [gk]* _libraries_.  But it turns out that these libraries,
in their initialization code, start _daemons_.  I draw the line at that.
And of course all the libraries on either side are circularly dependent,
so you can't cherrypick.

-- 
Ian Zimmerman <itz at buug.org>
gpg public key: 1024D/C6FF61AD 
fingerprint: 66DC D68F 5C1B 4D71 2EE5  BD03 8A00 786C C6FF 61AD
Ham is for reading, not for eating.


From rick at linuxmafia.com  Tue Sep 29 22:47:57 2009
From: rick at linuxmafia.com (Rick Moen)
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:47:57 -0700
Subject: [buug] Using swap on an SSD...or not.
In-Reply-To: <87my4dxe4f.fsf@matica.localdomain>
References: <a86954420909282338q240329aelae88ead98c1aa7ef@mail.gmail.com>
	<20090929221908.GM31333@linuxmafia.com>
	<87my4dxe4f.fsf@matica.localdomain>
Message-ID: <20090930054757.GO31333@linuxmafia.com>

Quoting Ian Zimmerman (itz at buug.org):

> My machines are not particularly resource-starved nowadays, so I could
> put up with the [gk]* _libraries_.  But it turns out that these libraries,
> in their initialization code, start _daemons_.  I draw the line at that.
> And of course all the libraries on either side are circularly dependent,
> so you can't cherrypick.

You know what's really annoying is that Firefox checks at startup to 
verify that the GNOME gconfd-2 configuration daemon is running -- even
though _Firefox doesn't need gconf_, and isn't supposed to depend on
GNOME in any event (which I haven't installed, this being a sparse
Debian configuration with Window Maker).  If gconfd-2 isn't running, it
tries to start the damned thing -- and I can't find any way to turn off
that behaviour.

I tried replacing /usr/lib/libgconf2-4/gconfd-2 with a zero-length file,
but then Firefox issues an _error_ at startup complaining that gconf
isn't working -- and, again, there's no way to disable that behaviour.

After getting tired of seeing that error message, I've put
/usr/lib/libgconf2-4/gconfd-2 back and let the damned thing run -- but
I'm not happy about it.  Shouldn't have to.



From nick at zork.net  Tue Sep 29 23:48:25 2009
From: nick at zork.net (Nick Moffitt)
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:48:25 +0100
Subject: [buug] Using swap on an SSD...or not.
In-Reply-To: <20090930054757.GO31333@linuxmafia.com>
References: <a86954420909282338q240329aelae88ead98c1aa7ef@mail.gmail.com>
	<20090929221908.GM31333@linuxmafia.com>
	<87my4dxe4f.fsf@matica.localdomain>
	<20090930054757.GO31333@linuxmafia.com>
Message-ID: <20090930064821.GP14107@zork.net>

Rick Moen:
> I tried replacing /usr/lib/libgconf2-4/gconfd-2 with a zero-length
> file, but then Firefox issues an _error_ at startup complaining that
> gconf isn't working -- and, again, there's no way to disable that
> behaviour.

Have you tried symlinking it to /bin/true?

-- 
"If, as they say, God spanked the town
for being over frisky,
why did He burn the churches down
and save Hotaling's whisky?" -- 1906 SF Earthquake rhyme


From rick at linuxmafia.com  Wed Sep 30 01:24:32 2009
From: rick at linuxmafia.com (Rick Moen)
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:24:32 -0700
Subject: [buug] Using swap on an SSD...or not.
In-Reply-To: <20090930064821.GP14107@zork.net>
References: <a86954420909282338q240329aelae88ead98c1aa7ef@mail.gmail.com>
	<20090929221908.GM31333@linuxmafia.com>
	<87my4dxe4f.fsf@matica.localdomain>
	<20090930054757.GO31333@linuxmafia.com>
	<20090930064821.GP14107@zork.net>
Message-ID: <20090930082432.GS31333@linuxmafia.com>

Quoting Nick Moffitt (nick at zork.net):
> Rick Moen:
> > I tried replacing /usr/lib/libgconf2-4/gconfd-2 with a zero-length
> > file, but then Firefox issues an _error_ at startup complaining that
> > gconf isn't working -- and, again, there's no way to disable that
> > behaviour.
> 
> Have you tried symlinking it to /bin/true?

Worth a shot, thanks.  I'll give that a try, next time I restart
Iceweasel (Firefox).



From pewterbot9 at gmail.com  Wed Sep 30 15:54:13 2009
From: pewterbot9 at gmail.com (Pewter Bot)
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:54:13 -0700
Subject: [buug] Using swap on an SSD...or not.
In-Reply-To: <20090930082432.GS31333@linuxmafia.com>
References: <a86954420909282338q240329aelae88ead98c1aa7ef@mail.gmail.com>
	<20090929221908.GM31333@linuxmafia.com>
	<87my4dxe4f.fsf@matica.localdomain>
	<20090930054757.GO31333@linuxmafia.com>
	<20090930064821.GP14107@zork.net>
	<20090930082432.GS31333@linuxmafia.com>
Message-ID: <a86954420909301554p52dcbd6taa2276b8d3f0912@mail.gmail.com>

On Sept. 28 Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> posted:

{{ Easier still is to just make sure you have enough RAM to not need
swap on flash media.  ;-> }}

Not an option in my situation. It is *not* easier to upgrade ram on my
Asus EeePC 701SD netbook.  Nor do I care to, nor see any need to. If I
must resort to swap, so be it.

On Sept. 30 Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> posted:

{{ Suggest you get to be buddies with ps, top, vmstat, etc., to see
how much RAM you really use. }}

Very good, thanks!

> Tomorrow, I'll run my little Eee PC 701SD
> w/Firefox and a few other programs while
> wifi connected...and see just how much
> memory is used.

{{ No offence intended, but do you know how to do that? }}

I already know about TOP, and...

There is a nice gnome GUI equivalent for TOP, called "System Monitor".
It will show you how much swap, if any, you're using in a very clear
graph and pie chart...same for actual RAM used. Of course, you can
also see a list of all processes, with their memory and CPU usage.

{{ "vmstat 1" will do a report on swap activity every second, until
you Ctrl-C out of it. }}

Very nice!

{{ Even a system that's not actually needing swap will touch it a
_little_ from time to time, if it's available and switched on. }}

I have already noticed that sometimes a small piece of swap being
used, even when plenty of RAM was still avialable. And yesterday,
after having removed swap, Firefox wouldn't load, nor would Synaptic
Package Manager or Update Manager. So I created a swap partition on
the SDHC card...and will test it out tomorrow. (I have two netbooks,
and I'm not running the one in question today. This one doesn't use an
SSD for the hard drive.)

I assume--and perhaps wrongly--that Linux will automatically find the
swap partition. (If not, I haven't located any references yet that
explain how to point the OS to the swap location...my hunch is fstab.)

{{ I like my process table (ps auxw | more) to be clean and not
chewing up RAM and other system resources running junk that _I_ didn't
decide to run, which is why I tend to eschew "desktop environment"
suites that spawn off a forest of obscure processes, and instead run a
simple minimalist window manager. }}

I am slowly working towards that...have already eliminated certain
daemons I know I don't need...such as the one for bluetooth. As I
learned what each  of these running processes are, I can continue to
eliminate more...as well as uninstall what applications I don't need.
Sort of a reverse engineering method.

There is also the matter of turning on more people to Linux...for
which a generic (and  large) package is unavoidable. That is, if one
takes seriously the desire to assist Windoze users to become former
Windoze users. Even so, a Linux package such as Ubuntu's is far more
preferable than a Micro$oft package, for pretty much the same reasons
as your preference to start minimally.

And should a convert decide to scale down his OS, and have more
control over it, Linux is superb for precisely that use. Not to
mention the extraordinary community of support that is both global and
ubiquitous. I'd say that's a win-win situation for newbies and wizards
alike.

At this point in my learning curve,  I certainly appreciate the good
sense of the minimalist approach, and building from there. Which
preference shall some day be my own.

{{ I'll give that a try, next time I restart Iceweasel (Firefox). }}

--Of course I had to look up "Iceweasel" on Wikepedia:

"Iceweasel" redirects here. For the GNU browser formerly known as
IceWeasel, see GNU IceCat.

In 2006, a branding issue developed when Mike Connor, representing the
Mozilla Corporation, requested that the Debian Project comply with
Mozilla standards for use of the Thunderbird trademark when
redistributing the Thunderbird software.[1][2] At issue were
modifications not approved by the Mozilla Foundation, when the name
for the software remained the same.

In 2006 the Debian Project subsequently rebranded the Mozilla Firefox
program,[3] and other software released by Mozilla, so that Debian
could continue to distribute the software with modifications
permitted, without being bound by the use of trademark requirements
that the Mozilla Foundation had required. The new names established by
Debian were Iceweasel for Mozilla Firefox, Icedove for Mozilla
Thunderbird, and Iceape for SeaMonkey. These changes were implemented
in the subsequent version of Debian (Etch). In July 2007, Iceowl, a
rebranded version of Mozilla Sunbird, was added to the unstable branch
of Debian.[4]...

Mozilla Foundation owns the trademark "Firefox"[5] and claims the
right to deny the use of the name and other trademarks to unofficial
builds.[6] Unless distributions use the binaries supplied by Mozilla
or else have special permission, they must compile the Firefox source
with an option enabled which gives Firefox the codename of the release
version of Firefox on which it is based, and which doesn't use the
official logo or other artwork.[6] The Debian Free Software Guidelines
are used by the Debian project to determine whether a license is a
free license, which in turn is used to determine whether something can
be included in Debian. As the logo does not meet these requirements,
it could not be used by software which was to be included in Debian.
This effect of the Mozilla trademark policy led to a long debate
within the Debian Project in 2004 and 2005. During this debate, the
name "Iceweasel" was coined to refer to rebranded versions of Firefox.
The first known use of the name in this context is by Nathanael
Nerode[7], in reply to Eric Dorland's suggestion of "Icerabbit".[8] It
was intended as a parody of "Firefox".[9] "Iceweasel" was subsequently
used as the example name for a rebranded Firefox in the Mozilla
Trademark Policy[6], and became the most commonly used name for a
hypothetical rebranded version of Firefox. By January 1, 2005,
rebranding was being referred to as the "Iceweasel route".[10]

--end excerpt

And it goes on. Interesting to note that IceWeasel, IceCat, IceDove
and IceApe do not appear in the Package Manager (though SeaMonkey
does). But here is the home page for Gnuzilla and IceCat:

http://www.gnu.org/software/gnuzilla/



The "kewlness" factor of Linux keeps growing as I learn! Thanks, Rick,
once more. I'll play a bit with my SSD netbook tonight...but I can
only do so much w/dialup. Tomorrow, with public wifi, will be the Big
Test.

-- 
Think Google's kewl? Think again:
http://www.google-watch.org/


From rick at linuxmafia.com  Wed Sep 30 16:52:33 2009
From: rick at linuxmafia.com (Rick Moen)
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:52:33 -0700
Subject: [buug] Using swap on an SSD...or not.
In-Reply-To: <a86954420909301554p52dcbd6taa2276b8d3f0912@mail.gmail.com>
References: <a86954420909282338q240329aelae88ead98c1aa7ef@mail.gmail.com>
	<20090929221908.GM31333@linuxmafia.com>
	<87my4dxe4f.fsf@matica.localdomain>
	<20090930054757.GO31333@linuxmafia.com>
	<20090930064821.GP14107@zork.net>
	<20090930082432.GS31333@linuxmafia.com>
	<a86954420909301554p52dcbd6taa2276b8d3f0912@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <20090930235233.GX31333@linuxmafia.com>

Quoting Zeke Krahlin (pewterbot9 at gmail.com):

> Not an option in my situation. It is *not* easier to upgrade ram on my
> Asus EeePC 701SD netbook.  

You would seem qualified to say so, since you have such a machine in
front of you and I don't think I've even seen one.  

However, FWIW, this other gentleman claims to _also_ have a 701SD, and
his view seems to contradict yours:

    i have a 701sd, i put my 1gb ram stick from my dell 1737 laptop into
    my 701sd and it works fine.  [...]

http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=57841

Whatever.  I don't care.  I'd just be a bit astonished if upgrading RAM
on most netbooks is somehow fearfully difficult, though I'm sure there 
are exceptions, e.g., cheapo units where RAM is soldered in and there
are no accessible slots.


> Nor do I care to, nor see any need to.

Now, _that_ is a different matter.  Obviously, when I was outlining your
alternatives, I had no present knowledge of either how much RAM you use
or even how much physical RAM you had.  Therefore, all I said was that 
_if_ you were hitting swap, then it's easier to make sure you have
enough RAM to not need swap on flash media.


> If I must resort to swap, so be it.

If I understand correctly, your next step should be to determine the
answer to that question of fact, rather than assume it.


>> No offence intended, but do you know how to do that? }}
> 
> I already know about TOP, and...

You still _do_ know how to correctly interpret what top -- or
pointy-clicky variants thereof that suffer from undetermined reliability
and lack of freedom from dependency issues -- tells you.

Anyway, sure, top is one relevant tool.  The Debian box in front of me 
has this, for example:

Mem:   2074864k total,  1194224k used,   880640k free,   168352k buffers
Swap:  1951888k total,       88k used,  1951800k free,   196864k cached

Point is, swap isn't actually within a country mile of being "used" in 
any real sense, despite that "88k" thing, which really amounts to the
swapper thread tapping gently on the swap partition to ensure that it's
still there.

> I have already noticed that sometimes a small piece of swap being
> used, even when plenty of RAM was still avialable. And yesterday,
> after having removed swap, Firefox wouldn't load, nor would Synaptic
> Package Manager or Update Manager. So I created a swap partition on
> the SDHC card...and will test it out tomorrow.

Well, if you ever get tired of wasting RAM and having to chew up SDHC
cards pointlessly, consider losing the GNOME bloat.

Or, if you don't want to lose the bloat, get some more RAM already.

 
> I assume--and perhaps wrongly--that Linux will automatically find the
> swap partition. 

You'll want to look at your fstab .

$ grep swap /etc/fstab 
/dev/sda2       none            swap    sw              0       0


> (If not, I haven't located any references yet that
> explain how to point the OS to the swap location...my hunch is fstab.)

Hey, it's almost like you bothered to look.  ;->


> I am slowly working towards that...have already eliminated certain
> daemons I know I don't need...such as the one for bluetooth. As I
> learned what each  of these running processes are, I can continue to
> eliminate more...as well as uninstall what applications I don't need.
> Sort of a reverse engineering method.

Here's a general method.

1.  Run "ps auxw > /tmp/processes".
2.  Look at each process snapshotting in /tmp/processes.  For each
    one, consider whether you know why you're running it.  If you're
    not sure, or you know you do _not_ want to run it, figure out
    how to turn it off.
3.  Turn such processes off.  By a functional test, if you don't 
    miss them, then you didn't need them.  This assumes you 
    are aware enough, and curious enough, about the functioning of
    your system that you'll be able to determine that particular
    things might be needed for general machine welfare, even if
    the lack of them doesn't steal your personal lunch, e.g., the
    cron daemon.
4.  If a given process proves by a functional measure to be not
    needed, figure out separately how to disable its re-launching 
    at subsequent boot times.
5.  Iterate until you've gone through all the processes.

Clue:  The more baroque the environment you're running when you conduct
this exercise, the more involved and time-consuming it becomes to track
down what all those obscure processes are.  (Thus, in part, earlier
point about some advantages to losing GNOME bloat.)  You might
eventually decide that an environment that autolaunches a huge number of
obscure processes you have no interest in running is not your friend,
and that there are other ways to run a system.

As a minor example of points #3 and 4, consider those six or so "getty"
processes in the "ps" output.  Upon researching them, you'll find that
they're virtual consoles #1 through 6.  Scratch your head and ask
yourself how often you've needed even as many as two virtual text
consoles.  On recent Ubuntu releases, this would be controlled at boot
time by /etc/event.d/ttyN startup file (N=1 to 6).  See:
http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/125977

On more-traditional *ixes including most Linuxes, they would be lines in
/etc/inittab.


> There is also the matter of turning on more people to Linux.

Really?  I thought this conversation was about your 701SD and dealing
with its possible swap issue.  If this is going to turn into a
discussion about OS-advocacy, let me know so I can ignore the thread.
(Sorry, but OS-advocacy by Linux users remains kinda dumb.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/12/26/1040511127721.html )


[big snip]

> --end excerpt
> 
> And it goes on.

Me, I'd not have done a text dump on it.  Summary might have been
interesting.



From Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu  Wed Sep 30 23:48:03 2009
From: Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu (Michael Paoli)
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:48:03 -0700
Subject: [buug] BALUG: Tu 2009-10-20 Understanding the Power of Hybrid
	Hosting:	Dedicated Plus Clouds by Paul Lancaster of GoGrid/ServePath
Message-ID: <20090930234803.213418xnl996jp9c@webmail.rawbw.com>

BALUG: Tu 2009-10-20 Understanding the Power of Hybrid Hosting:
Dedicated Plus Clouds by Paul Lancaster of GoGrid/ServePath

Bay Area Linux User Group (BALUG)
Tuesday 6:30 P.M. 2009-10-20

Please RSVP if you're planning to come (see further below).

For our 2009-10-20 BALUG meeting, we're excited to present:

Understanding the Power of Hybrid Hosting: Dedicated Plus Clouds by
Paul Lancaster of GoGrid[1]/ServePath[2]

Cloud Computing isn't for everyone, neither is leasing dedicated server
environments. However, when you combine the two, the end result is a
hosting solution that will make your business successful. We call it
Hybrid Hosting. Capitalizing on the dynamic, scalability of GoGrid's
Cloud Hosting and the robust, high I/O throughput of dedicated
infrastructure, Hybrid Hosting is a way to manage complex,
high-availability infrastructures that meet demand, performance and
cost concerns.

Paul Lancaster is one of the founding employees of ServePath/GoGrid and
leads Business Development. Paul has been in the Internet industry for
the past 15 years working for software and services companies in
technical and business roles. Paul enjoys playing guitar when he is not
at his keyboard or spending time with his 6 year old daughter.

GoGrid[1]: Blog[3] Wiki[4] Twitter[5]

1. http://www.gogrid.com/
2. http://www.servepath.com/
3. http://blog.gogrid.com/
4. http://wiki.gogrid.com/
5. http://twitter.com/gogrid

So, if you'd like to join us please RSVP:

            rsvp at balug.org

**Why RSVP??**

Well, don't worry we won't turn you away, but the RSVPs really help the
Four Seas Restaurant plan the meal and they help ensure that we'll be
able to eat upstairs in the private banquet room.

Meeting Details...

            6:30pm
            Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 2009-10-20

            Four Seas Restaurant http://www.fourseasr.com/
            731 Grant Ave.
            San Francisco, CA 94108
            Easy PARKING:
            Portsmouth Square Garage at 733 Kearny http://www.sfpsg.com/

Cost: The meetings are always free, but dinner is $13

Feedback on our publicity/announcements (e.g. contacts or lists where we
should get our information out that we're not presently reaching, or
things we should do differently): publicity-feedback at balug.org

http://www.balug.org/