TTI Ghana FabLab Web Blog
So here is a web blog for Ghana Fab lab. What does it do? How to use
it? Simple.. Rather than writing emails to one person or many, just
type your queries, questions, problems right here. That way everybody can read this and respond back here itself. So just look back for an
answer at the same link. Slowly we will move all the relevant old
emails sent to fabfolk at media dot mit dot edu here. You can also
update everybody with the progress in your latest project, put a small
thumbnail here as a teaser and what not. We will add a search tool
here if the tool gets used enough.
So get Blogging. Follow this format while creating your blogs.
Date:13 April 2005
From:Manu
This is the first blog of the site. Try making more blogs here just to
see if you have gotten used to the site tool. To get started, go to
http://fab.cba.mit.edu and the site link. It will ask you for a passwd
which you all already know. Now a shell appears and you can browse
just like in a linux shell. Go to the right directory and use edit
xyz.html to create a new file. You can write up your html file in the
editor and hit save. Click on "save with link for editing" if you want
to put a "edit" link on the page itself for easy modification of the
page by others.
Date:13 April 2005
From:Manu
In the last tech support call, Mr. Fynn mentioned a problem with the
X server on several machines crashing. Sometimes the knoppix
machines do not boot up in the graphical mode, instead they show
a text version. What to do next, where to go?
So what has most likely happened is that a X-server on your machine
just crashed. Try to see if you can go to another login window by
pressing cntl+alt+Fx where x is either 1,2,3,4,5,6.. A text mode
login screen should appear. Login as root (remeber, you only login
as root to fix problem, and always respect the privacy of others).
Now type startx. Two things can happen, either it will mention about
a lock file that needs to be removed or it will start your x-server.
For removing the lock file; use rm /tmp/exact location of your lock
file as shown in command prompt.
If the problem is seen often enough on a particular machine, a more
detailed diagnostic needs to be done.
Date:13 April 2005
From:Manu
For future refrences, if the Dell machines have hardware problems
I am listing all the dell phone numbers at a single place. Some times
these technical calls can be extremely useful to pin out what is
excatly wrong with your computer. Have your service Tag number
ready if you do plan to call
Dell Tech support Call List :
Gold Tech support : 1-866-876-3355
Sales : 1-800- 274-7799
Upgrade : 1-800-357-3355
Date:14 April 2005
From:Manu
From:Hard diak install of knoppix on dell machines
Most likely, you have already done a hard diak install on tiny dell
machines atleast once by know. The amount of system admin that needs
to be done on these machines requires to nuke the system once every
two-three months. Here is a very good link that talks about doing a
hard diak install of knoppix step by step, setting engligh as the user
language.
Knoppix hard disk install.
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