[plug] plug Digest, Vol 225, Issue 5

Sat Apr 1 21:25:05 AWST 2023

Hi Richard,

Definitely bring along the Teclasts so we can have a poke. I'll be
demonstrating some easy wins (Acer, Lenovo etc.) then go through the
problems that can happen with the not-so-easy wins (Broadcom driver,
MacBook, soft WiFi switch stuck off etc.). At which time it would be a
perfect opportunity to discuss your issues with the Teclasts, so that
participants can have a taste of what is in store when they have a go.

Hope to see you there!

DD

On Fri, 31 Mar 2023 at 12:01, <plug-request at plug.org.au> wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. Re: Tapes (Brad Campbell)
>    2. Linux workshop for noobs (Didi Mudigdo)
>    3. Re: Linux workshop for noobs (Richard Jones)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2023 17:36:11 +0800
> From: Brad Campbell <brad at fnarfbargle.com>
> To: plug at plug.org.au
> Subject: Re: [plug] Tapes
> Message-ID: <80f5d4da-ed51-dd7f-4424-6c365b231202 at fnarfbargle.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
>
> On 15/3/23 13:01, Brad Campbell wrote:
>  > I've started using a combination of tar and pbzip2 for archiving, but
> I'm going to have to put a cheap 2TB SSD into the box with the tape drive
> to stage to, as I can't feed it fast enough (seeing ~130MB/s write speeds).
> > As it's an internal drive, my biggest issue has been cooling. Lot of
> blocking case holes with gaffa tape and re-arranging fans to get the
> airflow required to keep it cool during a write.
>
> Having had a play for a week or so, I've found pigz -i compresses nearly
> as well as lbzip2 and 3 times faster. Admittedly the CPU is an old AMD
> FX-8350, so it's not exactly a screamer.
> I'm using a 996GB source directory of 28 rsync backups from various
> machines ranging from ~250M to ~590G. I tar and compress these to the
> staging drive before writing them to tape.
>
> tar through lbzip2 gets them down to 753G in 5 hours 23 minutes. That is
> limited by compression.
> tar through pigz -i gets them down to 763G in 1 hour 50 minutes. That's
> not limited by compression, rather tar reading the data from the "super
> cheap and nasty budget SSD" I chose to play with.
> I bought a Crucial MX500 for the staging/spool drive, and then I thought
> I'd try my luck with the cheapest 2TB SSD I could buy as a source. An SP
> Data A55, and it's pretty bad.
>
> I have also tested recovery of several archives by blowing holes in them,
> and the archives created with pigz -i recover as well as the various bzip2
> incarnations.
>
> > While this is working adequately, I've ordered a proper external
> enclosure with the right cooling.
>
> I ordered an "untested" Dell external LTO-5 SAS drive on E-bay ($240
> delivered) because that was about half the price of an empty enclosure. I
> figured the drive would be a bust but I'd get a good external SAS enclosure
> out of it.
> Turns out the "untested" drive has no issues, and has done less work than
> the internal HP I bought first. By the logs it looks like someone bought it
> to read LTO3 and LTO4 tapes and it's only done about 50 tape reads.
>
> About time I had a win.
>
> I have a nice little script that generates an index file from the staging
> directory, then sequentially writes each tarball to tape. Bulk restore just
> reads the whole tape, or for selective I dump the index, mt fsf to the one
> I want as listed in the index, and just restore from there.
>
> Drive encryption works well and easy to set up using stenc. No issues with
> read/write compatibility between either drive, so looks like I'm off to the
> races.
>
> Appreciate all the pointers.
>
> Regards,
> Brad
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2023 18:06:27 +0800
> From: Didi Mudigdo <didi at didi.com.au>
> To: plug at plug.org.au
> Subject: [plug] Linux workshop for noobs
> Message-ID:
>         <
> CA+Mbd-rbFPuNFMi8zBkdwh6cbeuo-f4hWvcSciPLjxbfRHiLiQ at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Hi there,
>
> I'll be running a 1-hour workshop 1 pm Wed 12th April @ South Perth
> Learning Centre on installing Linux on your old computer, please spread the
> word if you know some noobs who would be interested in this:
>
> "Don't throw out your old laptop just yet, most of the time you just need
> to give it an alternative operating system! Replace your Windows OS/Mac OS
> with Linux, a modern community-driven operating system that can run on very
> low hardware resources (e.g. a mere 1 GB RAM, with a 16 GB hard drive), and
> bring your old laptop back to life. Come to this 1-hour workshop to see
> Linux in action, rejuvenating computers up to 15 years old. If you bring
> your old laptop you can follow along as we also demonstrate step-by-step
> the process of installing Linux."
>
> Sign up:
>
> https://classmanager.com.au/cbin/admin.php?Action=courses&single_course_id=1927&organisation_name=splc&from=org_home
>
> Thank you!
>
> Didi
>
> PS: I've installed various Linux distros on various computers since 2011,
> but this will be my first time running this workshop, so any tips/pointers
> from your experience on showing noobs how to install/use Linux will be most
> appreciated :)
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2023 18:13:27 +0800
> From: Richard Jones <bwl at vivaldi.net>
> To: plug at plug.org.au
> Subject: Re: [plug] Linux workshop for noobs
> Message-ID: <1e42eab9-731b-aa96-981d-a7ec41723e47 at vivaldi.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
>
> I've been installing linux on my gear for >20 years but I have a couple
> of things where I'm stumped (Teclast laptop and tablet). Is this
> suitable to bring along as a challenge or would that undermine the
> exercise?
>
> Richard
>
> On 30/3/23 18:06, Didi Mudigdo wrote:
> > Hi there,
> >
> > I'll be running a 1-hour workshop 1 pm Wed 12th April @ South Perth
> > Learning Centre on installing Linux on your old computer, please spread
> > the word if you know some noobs who would be interested in this:
> >
> > "Don't throw out your old laptop just yet, most of the time you just
> > need to give it an alternative operating system! Replace your Windows
> > OS/Mac OS with Linux, a modern community-driven operating system that
> > can run on very low hardware resources (e.g. a mere 1 GB RAM, with a 16
> > GB hard drive), and bring your old laptop back to life. Come to this
> > 1-hour workshop to see Linux in action, rejuvenating computers up to 15
> > years old. If you bring your old laptop you can follow along as we also
> > demonstrate step-by-step the process of installing Linux."
> >
> > Sign up:
> >
> https://classmanager.com.au/cbin/admin.php?Action=courses&single_course_id=1927&organisation_name=splc&from=org_home
> <
> https://classmanager.com.au/cbin/admin.php?Action=courses&single_course_id=1927&organisation_name=splc&from=org_home
> >
> >
> > Thank you!
> >
> > Didi
> >
> > PS: I've installed various Linux distros on various computers since
> > 2011, but this will be my first time running this workshop, so any
> > tips/pointers from your experience on showing noobs how to install/use
> > Linux will be most appreciated :)
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > PLUG discussion list: plug at plug.org.au
> > http://lists.plug.org.au/mailman/listinfo/plug
> > Committee e-mail: committee at plug.org.au
> > PLUG Membership: http://www.plug.org.au/membership
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> End of plug Digest, Vol 225, Issue 5
> ************************************
>
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