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by penguintutor
Fri Jul 19, 2013 8:42 pm
Forum: Beginners
Topic: I have no idea what I need. Some advice?
Replies: 3
Views: 865

Re: I have no idea what I need. Some advice?

To share files across a network then I'd recommend Samba as that will work with both Linux and Windows computers. To install use sudo apt-get install samba The configuration is in /etc/samba/smb.conf It's a long configuration document, but well documented. For a remote desktop onto a Pi then I sugge...
by penguintutor
Thu Jul 18, 2013 2:18 pm
Forum: Other projects
Topic: Powering the Pi from my doorbell.
Replies: 6
Views: 2775

Re: Powering the Pi from my doorbell.

I would be unhappy about using a "bell transformer" in this situation. Generally, it would be designed to sit for hours un-loaded, with only the occasional spike of current taken. That is a good point. It depends upon the transformer as some are designed for "permanent loads" vs short period loads....
by penguintutor
Thu Jul 18, 2013 1:23 pm
Forum: Beginners
Topic: Proxy Exceptions
Replies: 3
Views: 2375

Re: Proxy Exceptions

Was not sure if it would be set system wide or just the browser. It's actually both, the following are the most common system variables that are used to set which proxies are used (or which networks are excluded from the proxy requests in the case of no_proxy). http_proxy https_proxy ftp_proxy no_p...
by penguintutor
Wed Jul 17, 2013 10:44 pm
Forum: Networking and servers
Topic: Installing Wordpress
Replies: 1
Views: 816

Re: Installing Wordpress

Have you unzipped the files - they are normally gz files - so you need to run gunzip against the file. Also you say you are trying to run setup-mysql -n wordpress localhost - with a space before the '-n' But the error says 'setup-mysql-n' - without a space before the -n You need to cd /usr/share/doc...
by penguintutor
Wed Jul 17, 2013 10:34 pm
Forum: Beginners
Topic: Proxy Exceptions
Replies: 3
Views: 2375

Re: Proxy Exceptions

This appears to be a limitation within Midori. It's causing me a bit of a problem as well. You can install another browser instead which does have the ability to bypass proxies for certain address ranges - eg. chromium or firefox. Unfortunately the other browsers tend to be a little more demanding o...
by penguintutor
Wed Jul 17, 2013 10:15 pm
Forum: Other projects
Topic: Powering the Pi from my doorbell.
Replies: 6
Views: 2775

Re: Powering the Pi from my doorbell.

With a bridge rectifier you'll normally lose about 1.2 v (0.6 v across each diode). I'd recommend taking the 12v supply through a bridge rectifier (some capacitors for smoothing) and a 5v voltage regulator such as a L7805. This assumes that the transformer is able to supply at least 750mA in additio...
by penguintutor
Wed Jul 17, 2013 9:37 pm
Forum: Beginners
Topic: Early Years PI
Replies: 7
Views: 4785

Re: Early Years PI

I've been teaching my 7 year old (almost 8) on a Raspberry Pi http://www.penguintutor.com/news/raspberrypi/programming-child . We've progressed since that last post, but I'll be providing an update in future. We looked at Scratch on the Laptop before getting the Pi, but the Pi helped to focus a bit ...
by penguintutor
Wed Jul 17, 2013 9:34 am
Forum: Beginners
Topic: basic necessities
Replies: 6
Views: 1889

Re: basic necessities

I am glad ... the Raspberry Pi Education Manual is key to getting programmers going. I am glad you reminded me of http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/2965 because I had lost track of where I found my copy down in the archives. I think it would be good to have a link to say the education manual on o...
by penguintutor
Tue Jul 16, 2013 10:44 pm
Forum: Automation, sensing and robotics
Topic: Power the Pi from a SINGLE AA battery
Replies: 5
Views: 2327

Re: Power the Pi from a SINGLE AA battery

easy enough to calculate how long it would last. Current draw of the pi * any inefficieny in the 1.2 > 5v conversion / amp hours of the battery (usually only 1-2) Whilst those are the main variables in how much energy you can get from the battery it doesn't actually provide an answer to at which po...
by penguintutor
Tue Jul 16, 2013 10:25 pm
Forum: Raspberry Pi OS
Topic: Is X-Windows present on the Raspberry Pi (Raspbian)
Replies: 9
Views: 22123

Re: Is X-Windows present on the Raspberry Pi (Raspbian)

Raspbian uses X.org as standard. There is talk of moving to Wayland/Weston in future, but even then there will probably be a way of still running X.org as the relevant packages are on the repositories. To find out more about X.org type man xorg If you need to install the development libraries then I...
by penguintutor
Tue Jul 16, 2013 10:17 pm
Forum: Beginners
Topic: Raspbian vs Wheezy
Replies: 2
Views: 2468

Re: Raspbian vs Wheezy

As far as I'm aware they are both at the same version.

If not then:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade 
should ensure you have the latest version whether it's from the NOOBS or the standard Raspbian image.
by penguintutor
Tue Jul 16, 2013 10:09 pm
Forum: Beginners
Topic: basic necessities
Replies: 6
Views: 1889

Re: basic necessities

there needs to be a good programming guide right here on the pi site. Have I missed this? Not sure exactly what you want. There is a guide to getting up and running (as you would get with any computer), but it's then down to what you want to do with it. There is such a wide scope of things that you...
by penguintutor
Tue Jul 16, 2013 10:42 am
Forum: Beginners
Topic: Web page display rotator?
Replies: 2
Views: 6250

Re: Web page display rotator?

I haven't tried it, but it may be worth investigating the Midori -e options. If you run midori --help-execute it provides a list of ways that you can interact with the browser from the command line. It includes: going to a specific location; moving tabs backwards and forwards; reloading a page and s...
by penguintutor
Mon Jul 15, 2013 2:05 pm
Forum: Beginners
Topic: SSH Reboot and launch XBMC
Replies: 2
Views: 1958

Re: SSH Reboot and launch XBMC

Difficult to see how you would achieve this from a PC batch file - other than perhaps adding a time delay between issuing a reboot and running xbmc. I would recommend instead learning some basic shell programming to achieve this on the Pi. Difficultly is how to communicate with the Pi during the reb...
by penguintutor
Mon Jul 15, 2013 1:26 pm
Forum: Beginners
Topic: Auto open LXTerminal on login
Replies: 3
Views: 3380

Re: Auto open LXTerminal on login

You need to create a .desktop file in ~/.config/autostart
using Exec=lxterminal

For more details see:

http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewt ... 53#p187153
by penguintutor
Mon Jul 15, 2013 1:20 pm
Forum: Beginners
Topic: run program at startup questions
Replies: 2
Views: 714

Re: run program at startup questions

- Do scripts usually have the suffix .sh? It's common, but not a requirement. Linux doesn't normally use the extension (although some applications / file managers may look at the extension), but instead uses "magic tests" by examining the start of the file to see what type it is. You can see what k...
by penguintutor
Wed Jun 12, 2013 10:00 am
Forum: Beginners
Topic: Partitioning Help Please...
Replies: 16
Views: 2922

Re: Partitioning Help Please...

Yes unfortunately NOOBS does require user intervention. I suggested it as a way of having a recovery option, but obviously not needing that is preferable. There is a typo in the url you posted; it should be: http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/169/how-can-i-extend-the-life-of-my-sd-card T...
by penguintutor
Tue Jun 11, 2013 3:56 pm
Forum: Beginners
Topic: Corrupt SD card?
Replies: 8
Views: 1335

Re: Corrupt SD card?

If it's 1200mA then that should be OK, but poor quality cables can still result in a drop in voltage by the time it reaches the Pi, so still worth trying a different power supply and/or cable. If not then try following the troubleshooting page on the wiki as suggested by rpdom http://elinux.org/R-Pi...
by penguintutor
Mon Jun 10, 2013 11:35 am
Forum: Beginners
Topic: Does Linux overwrite existing files?
Replies: 8
Views: 2538

Re: Does Linux overwrite existing files?

It depends upon the software, but as a general rule command line programs will often overwrite, whereas GUI apps often prompt. That is not always the case though. On the command line you can add a bash option to prevent overwriting files when using pipes / redirection (set -o noclobber), but it does...
by penguintutor
Mon Jun 10, 2013 10:49 am
Forum: Beginners
Topic: Can't install lighttpd. Please help
Replies: 2
Views: 2010

Re: Can't install lighttpd. Please help

To run apt-get through a proxy then you need to update the http_proxy shell variable Use: export http_proxy=http://proxyipaddress:port or with a username and password if required: export http_proxy=http://username:password@proxyipaddress:port/ You can add the appropriate entry to the /etc/bash.bashr...
by penguintutor
Mon Jun 10, 2013 10:38 am
Forum: Beginners
Topic: HDMI TO VGA CABLE ADAPTER
Replies: 6
Views: 2247

Re: HDMI TO VGA CABLE ADAPTER

Depends upon what you have got. The cheaper converters do work but may need a bit of tweaking in the config.txt file. If you just have a passive cable with no converter chip then that won't work. As a quick price comparison using Amazon: £2 to £5 - almost certainly passive cable that won't work £10 ...
by penguintutor
Mon Jun 10, 2013 10:20 am
Forum: Beginners
Topic: Corrupt SD card?
Replies: 8
Views: 1335

Re: Corrupt SD card?

Have you tried a different power supply?

A lot of problems with the Pi not working are due to having a power supply that is not able to provide the 700mA or that cannot provide the minimum voltage under that load.
by penguintutor
Sun Jun 09, 2013 10:38 pm
Forum: Beginners
Topic: Partitioning Help Please...
Replies: 16
Views: 2922

Re: Partitioning Help Please...

Did you know you cannot just pull the power plug on the Pi without risking corrupting your SD card? Forgive me if you already know this, but the best way to turn off your pi is to... I have a similar issue with a project I'm working on. Obviously a safe shutdown is always preferable, but sometimes ...
by penguintutor
Thu Jun 06, 2013 11:02 am
Forum: Beginners
Topic: How to set up your Pi as your web server
Replies: 69
Views: 29072

Re: How to set up your Pi as your web server

I mostly use lighttpd on the Pi as it has lower resource requirements than apache, but I do run apache on other Linux servers. exception of getting the webalizer secure using .htaccess & .htpasswd. I never get a request for user/pw. .htaccess support depends upon the following two settings apache2.c...
by penguintutor
Thu Jun 06, 2013 10:38 am
Forum: Beginners
Topic: Share disk between machines raspbian
Replies: 6
Views: 2874

Re: Share disk between machines raspbian

My vote would be for samba too. I use that on my home network even though it is almost exclusively Linux (a couple of laptops have dual boot with Windows, but they are only really used for the kids to play games so don't really use the network shares). You can also access a samba server when using a...

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