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1 • On the path of Education that leads to more choice (by Bill Savoie on 2007-09-03 10:51:41 GMT from United States)
Thanks for bringing up the process of fixing our video! The more we know, the easier it is to configure our Linux experience around freedom. It is almost 6 am here in Alabama, and this is a nice way to be up before the sun rises on a new day. Thanks Ladislav
2 • What is a graphical installer? (by KimTjik on 2007-09-03 10:59:17 GMT from Sweden)
"Now, any chance that Slackware might also be persuaded to include a graphical system installer into its next release?"
Isn't it strange how the term "graphical system installer" has become synonymous with a desktop environment installer? Slackware's installer, and other similar ones, looks pretty graphical to me, it's just not based on any real desktop environment.
3 • Point and Click Installer (by Jim Peterson on 2007-09-03 11:15:10 GMT from United States)
It's stuff like this that will enable Linux/FreeBSD to take over Windows' stranglehold on the desktop. The easier it is for Joe Average to use it, the more Joe Averages will adopt it. Thanks for a great resource, Ladislav!
4 • Qu 2 Do you mean there is a difference betw. the installer and the result? (by dbrion on 2007-09-03 11:16:22 GMT from France)
KateOS and Whiteboxe (2003! 2004 versions) have simple text based installers. It is not more difficult than a GUI, and sometimes, as characters are bigger (and perhaps as the distributors are not tempted to add lots of choices), it is more comfortable....
The final result, even with curses based installers, is a system with a fully configured desktop.
What would be very nice, methinks, would be the choice between
* a nice, flashy (but ressource consuming) graphical installer,
and an
* ugly (but install is not that looong w/r to the duration of an OS text based installer....
Rescue CDs work only in text mode (as one does not know in which state the graphical software/cards are)
5 • X config made easy with MEPIS (by CevO on 2007-09-03 11:17:43 GMT from Spain)
Of course, MEPIS has had a very easy way to reconfigure you Xorg for ages:
- boot up the live CD and press F3 to pick the correct resolution (in those rare cases it is not configured automatically)
- use the MEPIS X config tool to copy xorg.conf from CD to the installed version
- reboot and done
Great when you change graphics cards, monitors or when you just bork your xorg configuration.....
6 • 915resolution (by DistRogue on 2007-09-03 11:19:29 GMT from Spain)
I've added the proper screen resolutions to xorg.conf manually a few times, but it never worked. I have an Intel i945 chipset, and the fix for people using Intel chipsets is 915resolution. It's available in most distros' repos, and all it needs is a simple Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to restart X (after being installed, of course). On some distros, like PCLinuxOS, some extra tweakage is needed (via the Control Center), but most of the time, it works fine. Dell laptop users, here's your answer.
915resolution homepage: http://www.geocities.com/stomljen/
7 • qu 3 Where does Joe Average live? (by dbrion on 2007-09-03 11:21:12 GMT from France)
Is (s)he male, old. What is his/her profession?
I do not know whether averaging human being will lead linux to victory over the Redmont Satan, but it might well be like averaging dishes (mix together anything, coming from any restaurant.....)
Anyway, I would like to see a picture of Joe Average.....
8 • xorg screen resoluton (by dutchy at 2007-09-03 11:23:13 GMT from Netherlands)
Thanks for providing the information about fixing screen resolution. I am sure many new users to GNU/Linux will find this information valuable.
However, I'd like to point out, that sidux has no trouble detecting the resoluton on most systems, and if for some strange reason it fails to do so, then a simple "fix-res 1280x1024" command (choose whatever resolution you wish) will most likely fix the problem.
9 • Draco Linux (by Kensai on 2007-09-03 11:26:03 GMT from Puerto Rico)
I find this distribution interesting, I might give it a try for now the download speed of the iso is slow, but it might be my ISP I'm experiencing problems right now with them. But Slackware base and pkgsrc as package manager sounds like the not so user-friendly but yet fun distribution.
10 • Xorg Configuration (by Scodge on 2007-09-03 11:34:57 GMT from United Kingdom)
Thanks for the best, most concise explanation of how to set graphical resolution values!
Any chance of making this a sticky?
11 • RE 4 - I haven't said anything about the result (by KimTjik on 2007-09-03 11:39:30 GMT from Sweden)
I probably misunderstand you comment, but I didn't say anything about results. I don't think we disagree about this feature. I'm simply surprised to see how much focus is put on stylish installers. As you say: the "ugly" ones might even be easier to read.
Some distributions already have what you suggest, both a "ugly" text-GUI as well as a desktop-environment-GUI installer.
I'm not criticizing anyone here: if some automatically feel more at ease because they can use mouse-clicks, so be it. On the other hand I can't even see the point in why Slackware would make their text-GUI installer any different, because if a user can't even handle such an easy, but less fancy, installer I doubt Slackware is a good choice anyway; the same could be said about Arch and others.
If developers of FreeBSD think that a new installer fills a need, they're probably right.
12 • No subject (by Anonymous on 2007-09-03 11:43:14 GMT from Italy)
well,
slackware _HAS_ a graphical installer: it doesn't work via command line, it works via the dialog interface, which _IS_ a graphical front-end.
Maybe you are refferring to an xorg + gtk/qt based installer...
ok, I know: this is only a boring pointing out! :-)
M
13 • distros and vms (by CombatWombat on 2007-09-03 12:15:35 GMT from New Zealand)
Just thought you'd all like to know; you can run that flash new distro in your current one if your machine has enough hamster-power; http://www.virtualbox.org, releases the latest version 1.5. I'm finding the VirtualBox virtual machine (vm) system very handy!
New Zealand: Proud to be OOXML free!
14 • Re: Correcting screen resolutions (by Anonymous Penguin on 2007-09-03 12:19:22 GMT from Italy)
Thanks Ladislav. One of the most annnoying issues installing Linux (but also other operating systems for that matter) is if you have a widescreen monitor. My favorite resolution is 1280x800, but very few distros will have an easy way to setup it. Kanotix has "fix-res" from the command line. YaST sometimes will have the option, but in most cases one will have to use the way you suggest.
15 • xorg.conf tips (by Penguin strangler on 2007-09-03 12:19:57 GMT from Germany)
Modifying xorg.conf is fun and educational (there are lots of big and little things you can do). Thanks for a nice tutorial. A word of caution if you're editing xorg.conf on an installed system (obviously not important on a live cd): be sure to backup the existing xorg.conf, in case anything goes wrong! Before editing, do "cd /etc/X11" followed by "cp xorg.conf xorg.conf.bak" -- if you mess up your graphical system, you can then revert the old settings from a terminal by cd-ing to /etc/X11/ and doing "cp xorg.conf.bak xorg.conf". Also, on Debian-based systems (eg. Ubuntu) you might try the command "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg" to fix faulty X configurations. Good luck.
16 • Debian testing (by Anonymous Penguin on 2007-09-03 12:26:56 GMT from Italy)
There hasn't been a "weekly snapshot" (???) of Debian testing since May 28.
That is unusually long, AFAIK.
What does everybody think?
17 • RE 11 Sorry for _my_ misunderstanding your post. (by dbrion on 2007-09-03 12:30:52 GMT from France)
I did read too fast, Kim Tjik...
I am glad to know there remain some distrs which still offer that choice betw GUIs and text-mode install
(IMO, as it is harder to maintain both installers, the less fashionable will be sacrificed .... and pple with bad eyes wonot be able to install anymore, or they will make strange mistakes....)
18 • Screen resolution (by Anonymous on 2007-09-03 12:40:10 GMT from United States)
On Debian or *buntu (and maybe other Debian derivatives) as root use "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg". That will take you through screen resolution and many other options, and then will change xorg.conf for you.
I think that this should be added as a program with a simple GUI under "System" -> "Administration". I tried to write such a thing, but am short on time, and also came to realize that I don't have the experience to write a program that can mess up my system. It may be more difficult than it appears at first glance.
I wish I knew about something like 'dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg' for Fedora.
19 • The joys of screens (by brodders on 2007-09-03 12:40:33 GMT from United Kingdom)
Hi,
Over the last 6 months I have been using a widescreen 1440x900 TFT display. This can give a beautiful picture... but it has been awful to set up under Linux.
Here I write as a user not a devloper. These are my impressions, gleened from - doing stuff. Trying to make my kit work.
One of the big things that comes out of this is that xorg.conf does not directly control the X server settings. Rather, it offers directions which will be accepted if they pass various checks :) written for 4:3 screens, of course.
The X server uses drivers for the specific graphics card in use. The driver has to work with X, using the settings from xorg.conf. But X regards the driver and what it says as above xorg.conf.
X seems to take on the job of mediating between “what is called for” and “what the card can do” - as the driver reports. Most drivers seem to interrogate the videocard BIOS and ask it what it can do. This does not always agree with what is in xorg.conf :)
If there seems to be an incompatibility between xorg.conf and what the card can do, then X will happily throw away the xorg.conf settings.
What we have here then is a 3 horse race – and on top of this new hardware like widescreen gets thrown in :( thus giving breakage.
Now for the story - what card drivers have I come across and how have they fared? My system has a FX7300 nvidia card running into the 1440x900 TFT – which will do 76Hz
1. Vesa – the OS default.
Seemingly vesa does not know about widescreen at all; what you get is – the usual 4:3 screen, stretched wide. All circles are wide and you get no extra usable desktop space.
vesa has the bad habit of ditching most of what xorg.conf says; you can rant away in xorg.conf and vesa will comment about your stuff (look in the logs!) and ignore you.
I suspect that vesa knows that monitors can be damaged by bad timings and is “aggressively defensive” i.e. only permits what it knows – and it only knows about 4:3 screens.
Seemingly some versions of vesa try “correct” the xorg.conf data (the modelines which define clock timings etc) – and apply the wrong timing! At that point, my monitor refuses to play and goes black with an “Out of Range” message (meaning – bad signal) on screen.
I have never got true widescreen out of vesa.
2. nv – an OS driver for nvidia cards.
This has a trick – you get widescreen, crushed sideways into a 4:3 section.
Here there is a wide, black band down an edge of the display plus a 4:3 shaped working area next to it – containing a full-but-sideways-crushed widescreen desktop. With everything in it very tall and narrow. Quite unusable.
Yet there is some hope – with one vertical sync (75Hz) nv and my screen work!
Suddenly, there is true 1440x900 widescreen (which is what I am using now). This seems quite random, and may not work for all TFTs.
nv offers no desktop acceleration though...
3. nvidia binary driver
Such a mixed bag! Many things arrive with the binary driver-
a) everything works really well – to look at
b) you get desktop acceleration and advanced graphics features
c) OpenGL games, fancy twirly desktops – they work very well
d) but the binary is NOT OS, and worse
e) security maintenance has been poor.
The nvidia driver has been known for exploits and warnings have been issued not to use on security grounds. Run Linux behind a firewall and feel safe? Well, if you use nvidia binary driver you may not be. One of the few linux-targeting exploits can go via web pages and through the nvidia driver onto your machine. The firewall will not stop this (as it allows through things you have requested – like web pages / graphics / flash etc).
Now on to distros.
Mandrake and openSuSE worked out of the box, as do most of the many accelerated desktops on live CDs (any which offer beryl, compis etc) which typically use non-OS binaries. Sabayon is an example.
Vesa seems dead in the water for widescreen – yet most distros will come with a non-vesa, non-binary blob driver like nv.
I recommend using these – and playing with the refresh speed.
If you must play games (and there are some very good ones now for Linux) then I suggest you run from a LiveCD. Installing the binary nvidia driver is just asking for trouble at some point.
Expect your mileage to vary enormously!
This whole are needs expert attention - can a driver write please comment on my experience and musings?
20 • X org configuration (by Ambivalent regarding penguins on 2007-09-03 12:45:04 GMT from Ireland)
(a) Surprised there was no mention of 'bullet-proof' X in this article, but that said, thanks for an excellent and helpful reference
(b) Seeing as many people use Linux in a dual boot configuration with windows, shouldn't it be possible to detect the current windows monitor and video card settings and present these as an option when configuring X?
21 • Another annoynace (by Mike Kaye on 2007-09-03 13:26:13 GMT from United States)
I have experienced another problem I have run into from time to time,graphical but probably not "X". I am a distro hopper, and at the moment I have Win98, Sidux, Wolfix, and Vector SOHO on my desktop. Whenever I boot "Vector" and then one of the others, my H-Phase of my monitor is jacked about 10 notches to the right. I've seen this happen before with other distros but not 3 out of 4. After resetting the horizontal on Win,Sidux, and Wolfix they stay put and they're all fine until I run Vector again. I thought that at least the Slackware guys would stick together. Well, I'm not going to say anything about Windows hanging in there with a couple of Linux distros (but, I was shocked). Ubuntu, Knoppix, and sometimes Zenwalk have done this before, but long ago.
Thanks for the news every week, Mondays are easier.
If you tell a Frenchman that something is the "best thing since sliced bread", he'd have no idea what you were talking about.
22 • 20 (by Anonymous on 2007-09-03 14:02:43 GMT from United States)
Regarding (b), I recently read something about a program that does something similar. You insert the CD that comes with the monitor, it will pull out the information about your monitor. It then sets up xorg.conf appropriately. Unfortunately I can't find info about that or even the name right now. Maybe someone else knows.
I'm not a big fan of this kind of thing being enabled by default. My experience is that those programs pull a Microsoft: the program assumes the user is uninformed (insert your favorite joke about Windows users) so it is almost impossible to manually change things.
23 • Screen resolution easy with Mint (by gringotts on 2007-09-03 14:03:14 GMT from Belgium)
While installing, Mint, a Debian/Ubuntu derivative, did the nice job of configuring correctly the 1280x800 screen of my laptop (with graphic i910/915 chipset).
Mint also include a Restricted Drivers Manager. From its menu, I choosed the proprietary fglrx driver for a desktop machine with an ATI RX1950 board. The driver was installed and worked at the next reboot.
24 • X configuration rocks! (by David Whitbeck on 2007-09-03 14:08:33 GMT from United States)
First I want to say that it's cool when someone rights up tips, tricks and guides. All of my linux configuration I learned from online guides.
But secondly, I wanted to say thumbs way up for X's autoconfiguration tools.
I replaced my CRT monitor this weekend with a widescreen LCD. I have never owned such a monitor (I only had CRT before), so I was very nervous about reconfiguring X because I don't know what I should be changing in xorg.conf.
Well I used Xorg -config and X -configure and it did it for me perfectly, I couldn't believe how easy it was. It actually was much easier than changing the settings in Windows!
I've heard (maybe from this site) that the new X doesn't even have a configuration file, is that true?
25 • RE 21 (by dbrion on 2007-09-03 14:13:30 GMT from France)
s! Another annoynace ! Another annoyance !
Et dans votre langue maternelle....
<<
If you tell a Frenchman that something is the "best thing since sliced bread", he'd have no idea what you were talking about.
<<
If you tell anyone (regardless of origin) with >=two neurons that something is the "best thing since sliced bread",
he will
check out whether this is true and is not an unthought credo....
26 • Congratulations to FreeBSD team !!!!! (by dmery on 2007-09-03 14:24:21 GMT from United States)
Great news,
FreeBSD team has developed an installer, is very good for all the people that want to use the FreeBSD advantages and find so complicate to install it by the traditional way. Congratulations to FreeBSD team !!!!!! is a great step to rule the OS Universe
regards,
dmery
27 • ALT Linux 4.0 Personal Desktop (by Sandman on 2007-09-03 15:04:55 GMT from Pakistan)
The screenshot of ALT Linux 4.0 Desktop on DW is in Russian language, while ALT Linux supports English along with Russian language .
The ALT Linux Desktop 4.0 offers KDE 3.5.7 in the base system & Gnome 2.16, Ice WM 1.2.30 in contrib .
It has CD & DVD ISO files available and can be ran live from both and with an install option from same CD or DVD.
Read further details on
http://saleem-khan.blogspot.com/2007/08/alt-linux-40-personal-desktop.html ( the release notes translated from Russian to English )
28 • #6 - intel graphics settings (by ray carter at 2007-09-03 15:19:22 GMT from United States)
I feel your pain! A year and a half ago I bought a used Gateway M305 laptop. It has an Intel graphics chipset which does not work as it should. I tried the 915resolution and all other fixes I could find. None worked. My penultimate solution was a proprietary driver from Xi Graphics. With the latest round of the xorg-server-intel driver, I've been able to throw that away and enjoy the full 1024x768 resolution (could only get 800x600 without the above drivers) with no muss and no fuss. Well, almost no fuss, the xorg-server-intel driver does not come installed by default, so you have to install it and restart X, but that's it. First found this on Mandrive Spring and lately on Ubuntu 7.04 - though other distros have it available by now. That is the ultimate salvation.
29 • @20 && 24 (by john frey on 2007-09-03 15:38:59 GMT from Canada)
Regarding b). That would require Linux to read a Windows configuration. Unlike Linux, Windows configuration is not done largely with text files (crazy, I know). It is highly unlikely that Linux could read the necessary data as it would not be available unless Windows was running. If you're dual booting Windows won't be running when you boot Linux. (QED)
@24 Well you beat me to mentioning xorgconfig. I used that when it was still called xf86config. That requires more knowledge about your hardware than the apocryphal Joe Average would have but does allow fixing things like mouse issues, keyboard language and more.
30 • Fixing Screen Resolution (by Chris on 2007-09-03 16:29:04 GMT from United States)
Frequently, you need to change the monitor frequency ranges also.
For the monitor that I am using now, ADI A701,
I googled
ADI A701 sync
and the first hit,
www.ciao.co.uk
showed 'Max Sync Rate (VxH): 75 Hz x 79 kHz'
I changed the Monitor section of xorg.conf to
Section "Monitor"
HorizSync 30 - 79
VertRefresh 56 - 75
EndSection
I'm using sidux now,
which has a simple xorg.conf editing utility,
accessed through the main menu,
sidux>Utilities>Change Screen Resolution (change-res)
Use 'Screen Size' to set desired resolution
Use 'Scanning Frequenz' to set HorizSync.
The utility sets VertRefresh to 60,
which worked fine for me.
31 • Modifying xorg.conf (by TJ Hoye on 2007-09-03 16:35:00 GMT from United States)
Nice article.
I agree with Comment 15, however.
I suggest you make step 3, cp xorg.conf xorg.conf.orig, just in case,
32 • 29 (by Anonymous on 2007-09-03 16:36:22 GMT from United States)
One way to accomplish that, though, would be to run Windows, use a program to generate the appropriate information for the xorg.conf file, then upon reboot make the necessary changes to xorg.conf.
Unfortunately this is way beyond my programming expertise. It is also an ugly hack (requiring the installation of a program in Windows, running the program in Windows, and then having the Linux distro make changes on reboot). It's something that could be done, but usually would not be worth the bother. The advantage that I can see is that it should lead to very accurate identification of hardware. If nothing else works, this is a last resort.
I have thought about this from the perspective of identifying all hardware for a while now. I have a TV Tuner card that I could not get to work under Linux even though it worked fine in Windows. The problem was that the Linux kernel was incorrectly identifying my hardware. If there had been a way to pull the necessary information from Windows, I could have gotten 3 more months of use from my card. (Incidentally, because Linux supports the card automagically, it is much easier to use than on Windows, where drivers have to be installed. TV Time also for some reason gives better quality than the proprietary Windows software. That's beside the point though.)
Reading from a driver CD should be the first choice, then reading from a running Windows installation.
33 • ALT 4.0 English support no longer? (by IMQ on 2007-09-03 16:46:56 GMT from United States)
I downloaded and tried to install it but there was no English option for the installer.
ALT used to have English support in the installer. At least when I tested ALT 2.2 and 2.4 many moons ago.
34 • Debian gets GoPlay! (by hoopla on 2007-09-03 16:52:26 GMT from Finland)
Hey, I just noticed that Debian is about to get a new GUI tool for searching the games available in Debian. It's called GoPlay! It uses DebTags as the backend and it also shows the popularity of each game based on the PopCon database -- a good reason to enable the popularity-contest package if you haven't done it already ("dpkg-reconfigure popularity-contest").
Thanks to Debian developers Miriam Ruiz and Enrico Zini for this very cool idea! In due time it will also appear in Ubuntu, I believe.
http://www.miriamruiz.es/weblog/?p=101
http://popcon.debian.org/
35 • Resolutions, Drivers, Linux Taking a Leap Forward (by Landor on 2007-09-03 17:11:14 GMT from Canada)
Although I am not a developer by any real means, I cannot understand the complete difficulty in a nix based system utilizing the drivers build for a Redmond OS.
The reason for this is simple, ndiswrapper already does this for nic's. Why can't a developer find a similar approach?
Am I missing something here in the differences in the hardware?
Is it because Linux and it's developers would rather chew off their own arm than use something built for the Redmond OS?
Anyone have any info about this?
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
36 • RE: 33 • ALT 4.0 English support no longer? (by Sandman on 2007-09-03 17:32:02 GMT from Pakistan)
It does offer English Language support, you have to press F2 during boot and select English language .
The rest is all simple in easy English language as like any other distro.
37 • No subject (by Anonymous on 2007-09-03 17:42:17 GMT from Canada)
If X-Org has been distro supplied, it includes their own configuration # wizard
> namely #orgconfig
The majority of releases correctly detect and set resolutions
Likely the greatest offender of a non-useable CFG is to have 24bit depth set as the default -
WHEN the proprietary vid chipset drivers have not been loaded -
I.E. a (generic) driver is used instead
Examples. "nv" "x-vesa" "frame-buffer"
Next temporary glitch - the monitor > Esp. if non-standard display sizings , such as on laptops_
It pays to have YOUR hardware Specs on hand before any installs !
Now-days, with the excellence of utilities such as Kudzu, used with many LiveCD's -
when tips/tricks (such as those in this lead article) fails;
It may help to boot a liveCD that correcty detects - then write down the settings
X-vesa http://www.pps.jussieu.fr/~jch/software/kdrive.html
Uses the generic Vesa settings that have been an ISO standard for many years,
work on all ISO compliant vid chipsets
GUI installers vs text mode > if they work, all hide what is actually happening behind the scenes
Handy as that is - all wizardy hinders learning if/when a manual approach is needed.
Even asking in the distro specific forums often results in contradictory advice
A bit of pre-install reading always helps - if for no other reason -
it may prepare you for what happens when the install screen/s seems confusing
Lacking a solution there - don't blindly trust subjective opinions,
visit the (official maintainers) sites of any major supplier
Sites such as the X-Org home pages
For generic information on the hidden processes./system events
> http://www.comptechdoc.org/os/linux/howlinuxworks/linux_hlxwindows.html
Amazing how many people have convinced themselves they can control any vehicle,
but only if it uses an automatic transmission -
and yet to master how to shift if confronted with a clutch & stick shift !
BTW - there are many handy utilities to aid GUI configs -
GTF, Xrandr, etc etc
When it "just works" we can all be greatful - when it doesn't:
Time to use why Linux was even tried - for the strengths of FOSS -
IOW > take back control of YOUR own computers O/System !
38 • RE: 33 • ALT 4.0 English support no longer? (by raorn on 2007-09-03 17:43:59 GMT from Russian Federation)
Is DOES support English, but translators somehow translated ALL installer messages, even those, that supposed to be untranslated, like language choosers ;-) Don't blame them ;-)
39 • I really appreciated that the existence of the log was reminded (by dbrion on 2007-09-03 17:57:12 GMT from France)
during X reconguration (attempts).
However, I had noticed with great pleasure that WhiteBox (2003/2004 version) kept a [partial] log of the installation (which is bigger than X, and disasters can be greater,then). I feel /fear it may be very useful for support/troubleshooting without ambiguities (cf post 37) and I do not understand why it was the first (and last) time I saw installations (partially) logged...
40 • What to do at monitor-message "Out of range" ? (by Jan O on 2007-09-03 18:13:28 GMT from Netherlands)
I have had several distros which stopped the booting of the live/install CD with the message "Out of range" or "Sync out of range" (or something like that).
The 2006 version of Ark had this, the latest version works normally. Now the new Wolvix has this, the former versions did not have this.
I have tried to review Xorg.... , however could not find anything wrong. Nor cheatcodes did anything. So I could not get these distros to work for me.
Can someone advise how to solve this boot-problem?
Best regards
Jan O
41 • What is a graphical installer? (no. 2) (by Claus Futtrup on 2007-09-03 18:19:21 GMT from Denmark)
A GUI = Graphical User Interface can in my opinion be bade in text mode, and is opposite to a CLI = Command Line Interface. Still I fail to convince most people that Slackware (and derivatives like Zenwalk) use a perfectly logical and graphical installer (at best they can accept it as being pseudo-graphical). Most people find that a piece of software running in text mode cannot be graphical. Something graphical must take advantage of computer graphics (although this is strictly not true). Maybe it is a matter of changes in the language - a language has a tendency to adapt to its users..
Best regards,
Claus
(a Zenwalker)
42 • RE: # 19 (by Anonymous Penguin on 2007-09-03 18:53:13 GMT from Italy)
Hi brodders,
Thanks for a great post. It explains a lot and confirms some of my suspicions (xorg.conf will be ignored in some cases).
43 • No subject (by Anonymous on 2007-09-03 18:55:50 GMT from Canada)
At bootup, if screen events watched - "dmesg" shows what is probed/found/loaded - gets logged in/var/log folders
/var/log is the Linux default folder of system events
A file exists that also shows on-going system events
> may be viewed in entirety or "tail" -ed" for x_many last lines
Code: (dmesg | less)
Conversely: tail /var/log/messages
Xorg has own (up ot five) session logs there - it records Ea. boot session
Errors have own logs
/tmp often still retains info RE install events/files (unless cleaned out periodically by users Cron scripts)
If the x-server config file is browsed - it tells which are "info only"
versus warnings or errors:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Example:
Current Operating System: Linux localhost 2.6.16-gentoo-r9 #3 Mon Oct 16 21:02:09 PDT 2006 i686
Build Date: 12 June 2006
Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.X.Org
to make sure that you have the latest version.
Module Loader present
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Mon Sep 3 04:33:46 2007
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
(==) ServerLayout "X.org Configured"
(**) |-->Screen "Screen0" (0)
(**) | |-->Monitor "Monitor0"
(**) | |-->Device "Card0"
(**) |-->Input Device "Mouse0"
(**) |-->Input Device "Keyboard0"
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(**) FontPath set to
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proprietary Drivers (I.E. Nvidia) often have their own install logs - very handy for troubleshooting
The only "ambiguity" is in the PITA need to wade through TOO MUCH data when trying to solve latest glitches !
There is no right vs wrong -
All depends on own patience - it's either a fun learning experience or.....
a "hint" to use something more to users own tastes
44 • Out of Range (by Steve on 2007-09-03 19:13:51 GMT from United Kingdom)
If you get OOR message or similar (well, any wrong screen) try telling X to drop to a smaller X Y resolution.
This is usually Ctrl- Alt- - (minus on the keypad)
This sometimes helps. Next, try booting with whatever cheatcode will reduce the screen res- something like
res=1024x768
- or perhaps forcing a specific driver like
xdriver=nv
Do realise that unless you are using mainstream everything - YOU might be the first person to ever try this-
resolution at this refresh rate, on this (say 10 x 5 varients)
monitor with this (say 100 manufacterors with 10 monitors each)
graphics card, with this (say 3 manufacturors with 20 cards each)
driver, with this (say 3 viable drivers)
Xorg / XFree86 version, with this (say 5 versions)
.conf file (say 10 sensible versions)
distro (say 6 derivative versions)
That's um 50 x 1,000 x 60 x 3 x 5 x 10 x 6 = 2.7 billion variations
- of which the developers have tested say 20 and a few laptops. It's no joke to suggest that YOU are the first person to try something - and the odds are, it won't work. In the way you want it - something sort of, well yes. Ish.
Those numbers are of course guesstimates; a billion or so out either way is likely.
My recommendation with Linux is to find out the hardware the developer uses - and buy the same. That should work.
Good job this is only a game, huh?
45 • RE: 36, 38 (by IMQ on 2007-09-03 19:39:19 GMT from United States)
RE: 36
I don't recall seeing English as as option when pressing F2 key. I saw other language options...
RE: 38
If I understood your comment, there is an English option on pressing F2 key but it got translated to something not so English obviously?
Or did you mean English is still supported after it is installed?
46 • FreeBSD LiveCD (by ikke on 2007-09-03 19:45:50 GMT from Belgium)
Thank you for news about 'freebsd7-finstall-alpha.iso' Nice piece of work at first sight but still very 'alpha'. Crashes all the time. However looking forward to beta version.
What happened to the other FreeBSD livecds? Is TrueBSD dead? Frenzy dying? Would like to learn more about FreeBSD without installing ...
47 • No subject (by Anonymous on 2007-09-03 19:54:35 GMT from France)
Actually I just got into an Xorg pb trying to install Pardus, apparently connected with my having Intel 845G Chipset:
http://worldforum.pardus-linux.nl/index.php/topic,1172.0.html
Jan O, doesn't this solve your pb ?
http://www.sharpened.net/helpcenter/answer.php?15
Currently using ArchLinux, I found the documentation especially good:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xorg
Unfortunately even with equally good help for fonts:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/XOrg_Font_Configuration
I still find it very difficult to handle fonts... maybe a next subject in DW ?
48 • UN health agency warns: GUI-installing may pose same risk as cigarettes (by Pau Amaro Seoane on 2007-09-03 20:11:46 GMT from Germany)
Somebody should sue the guy who invented the GUIs to install OS's. Who was it? Do you know him?
49 • screen resolution is not the biggest annoyance! (by zipidachimp on 2007-09-03 20:41:15 GMT from Canada)
NUMLOCK! Why in hell can't 'numlock on' be the default condition?
this is a true annoyance. and no one cares!
50 • No subject (by Anonymous on 2007-09-03 20:55:10 GMT from Canada)
Re # Driver writers - Some articles seem to imply "sounds EZ - in practice > not so much !
In reality ~ many have fits just trying to enable an existing proven driver to work ?
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/drivers_linux
Re #19 Nvidia's "well known security flaws"
You are likely referring to Ziff Davis FUDD:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=347&tag=nl.e539
Beit known- those vulnerabliites have always existed, many still do
for most low level drivers - that access DMA directly:
As argument AGAINST use of micokernel design
http://people.fluidsignal.com/~luferbu/misc/Linus_vs_Tanenbaum.html
Moreover, there are kernel conditions that have been tested ~ to Theoretically
confirm exploits are possible > Racing - looping - bypassing error event handlers
However > none are easy to employ - all carry great risk of detection long before
any rootkit is installed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote:
Moreover, the exploits for kernel-mode drivers that do exist have proven to be very unstable because of the challenge of writing code at that level. "You can't stray very far from the path of what needs to happen within the kernel, or you're going to end up crashing the system rather than being able to gain access to it," Schulhoff said.
Now on News.com
Because driver coding is complicated and tedious, there have not been many attacks on it, said Ivan Macalintal, senior threat analyst and researcher at Trend Micro. "We haven't seen much of that because device driver coding is not in the line of the script kiddies--unlike the usual worm codes that have been exposed publicly,"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Indeed, there is far more likihood of own mis-guided usages:
MIS _configuration of a firewall
Bad habits of use: Dwnlding from unverified sites
Default enabling of Java/Javascript
Installing every multimedia addin feature they find
Thankfully - Linux's server_client_user model limits damages - to usually only the users own files
Leaving the system itself safe from - corruption/becoming rooted
Hint: Chkrootkit ~ Rkhunter ~ Pro-Police ~ honey-pots
AFAIK there still have been no viruses "in_the_wild" found in Linux
With freedom of choice (not limited to computers) - comes power & responsibilty for all own use
51 • Re. 44+47 Monitor 'Out-of-range' (by Jan O on 2007-09-03 21:12:49 GMT from Netherlands)
Tanks for your advises.
I will try them. Some of them I already have tried, without result.
Until now the only solution for this occasional problem, in my situation (Matrox M G400 + LG1919S), proved to be the new version of a distro.
Best Regards
Jan O
52 • Promoting Vista (by rglk on 2007-09-03 22:11:18 GMT from United States)
If you want to embellish your email messages or forum signatures with a curt graphical statement, here's something appropriate to download and distribute:
http://www.gnu.org/graphics/badvista-trash.png
53 • finstall and other graphical installers (by phersotty on 2007-09-03 22:20:27 GMT from United States)
Today I am installing Kubuntu and Sabayonlinux on two different computers. Both of these distros, like others, have graphical installers and full desktop functionality from the liveCD. I really do enjoy liveCDs and graphical installers, but sometimes I am puzzled why many distros put so many packages in their liveCD which don't really run well without a harddrive install. In my opinion every desktop distro should use a liveCD to let users go for a test drive. There should be an icon on the desktop for a graphical installer. Once the install settings are made there should also be icons for an internet browser and lots of minimal resource games like supertux, gtkballs, mahjongg, tetris, etc. Waiting for a text based installer to do its thing is so inefficient and boring to say the least. The distro install should happen in the background while the user does something else like playing games or surfing the Internet. Sort of like how I am posting this comment while I wait for Kubuntu to finish installing. Oh look its done. It didn't seem that long at all since I was able to keep busy surfing the net. :-)
54 • Nice DWW this week... (by UZ64 on 2007-09-04 00:30:36 GMT from United States)
On Xubuntu: Yeah, this is something that bothered me from the beginning. Xubuntu started with some good goals, but quickly strayed away from them, leaving me to abandon the distro even for consideration. It's now just as bloated as its big brother(s), yet it has the "lighter" desktop environment. Its selection of software is also heavyweight--not good, and certainly not in line with its original goals. And from the looks of it, you might as well be running Gnome. IMO, if I want to run Gnome, I would probably use Ubuntu itself or Debian, or various others that get it right. If I want to use Xfce, there's always KateOS, Zenwalk, and the Debian Xfce version pulls off the DE quite nicely IMO. Xubuntu really needs to quit making Xfce what it's not meant to be.
As for graphical installers: I won't get to far into this, because as far as I'm concerned--GUI or no GUI--if the installer works well, it's perfectly fine in my opinion. The only installers I'm not a fan of are those like Ubuntu's, which literally have you load an entire desktop environment to start the installer, and allow you to mess around online and around the OS... slowing down install, and even causing problems/failures with the installation itself. However, I will say that choice is good, and having the choice between two excellent installers (one GUI, one ncurses) is always a good thing.
Also, ALT Linux and Slackel look quite nice.
55 • config X (by JimK on 2007-09-04 00:52:46 GMT from United States)
I just installed Scientific Linux 5 (based on RHEL), and I can't get 1680x1050 res working no matter what I do. The setup tool detects my Dell monitor and via onboard video fine, but no matter how I tweak xorg.conf, I can't get 1680x1050 or any other widescreen res. I'm thinking about buying a new video card, but they're expensive and I'm not even sure it would help.
56 • 55 (by Anonymous on 2007-09-04 01:47:40 GMT from United States)
My first question: does it work with Windows or other distros? I once had bad documentation, giving the wrong specs, so at least try out some other distros. That might give you a hint as to what is going on, as well.
57 • Open Solaris is Borrowed Novell IP. (by Distrowatch Teader on 2007-09-04 01:53:54 GMT from United States)
I just love the bull and fud that opensolaris claims on http://www.opensolaris.org/jive/thread.jspa?threadID=37176&tstart=0
Matthew
>
>
> >
> > The SCO suit caused a havoc, b/c the authorship (&
> > thus the copyright ownership) is a big mess in Linux.
> > Linus never bothered to keep track of who owned
> > what, and/or verify whether the whats are
> > legitimate. Solaris is on a very different boat.
> > This actually also explains why IBM is moving
> > toward Solaris.
>
>
> This message posted from opensolaris.org
They claim Sun paid so much they must have gotten something.
Just like SCO.
Payback is fun
Sun knew what they were doing when they supported Sco against Gnu/Linux.
Aix and Solaris are both Commercial Unix, Competing against each other.
Open Solaris is Novells "borrowed" IP
Should it be called Suse Unix.
Suns dream is a Solaris kernel running GNU/Software.
All Sun needs it to borrow from others like Mickey$oft.
Gee I thought IBM supported Aix, and Gnu/Linux on IBM hardware.
58 • Refreshing Experience With Linux: xvidtune (by glr on 2007-09-04 02:22:49 GMT from United States)
Good timing for a monitor article. I purchased last week an Optiplex Q20WB. It's optimum resolution happens at 60 Hz for 1680 x 1050. I run 2 Linux boxes with a two port KVM switch to share the monitor, keyboard and mouse. On my heavily modified old HP VL420 (with an ATI Radeon PCI card) hit the resolution on OpenSuse 10.2 with YaST but ... not the correct aspect. The correct is 16:10. I entered the horizontal and vertical rates under a “generic” or a.k.a. user defined monitor. The other box [home brew] has PCLinuxOS .92 and it would give nothing over 1440 x 900 again with a 4:3 not 1the optimum 6:10 aspect ratio.
I studied the docs again and noted the optimum vertical refresh is 60 Hz for 1680 x 1050. Both PCLinuxOS and OpenSuSE had refresh rates applied at 75 HZ. The monitor can go to 75 but that wasn't optimal. Well my idea worked. I went to Yast and entered only 60 HZ for the vertical and not a RANGE ! Whoa ... I had 1680 x 1050 beautiful wide screen and with the correct aspect. Now to do the other box that had an 32 MG ATI Rage Pro AGP card. I remembered an utility called xvidtune (here's the man page: http://cgi.sover.net/cgi-bin/bsdi-man?proto=1.1&query=xvidtune&msection=1&apropos=0 ) Well I ran this utility on the OpenSuse box to get the modeline line information that I was going to duplicate into the PCLinuxOS box's xorg.conf file. Bingo. it worked. The key here was getting a close combination of the pixel clock, horizontal and single vertical frequency. This monitor is simply beautiful with PCLinuxOS and OpenSuse 10.2. Razor sharp even to the tiny fonts.
Xvidtune is handly to also test various tweaks in the modeline entry of xorg.conf such as for centering or width/height adjustments that may be on the fringe of your monitor's range.
It's worth a try if you're willing to spend a few minutes with some trial and error.
59 • Re 56 (by JimK on 2007-09-04 03:00:38 GMT from United States)
It does *not* work with windows, but it *does* work with PCLinuxOS. Can't get it to work with Ubuntu/Debian based distros or Fedora. Haven't tried Suse yet, but that will be my next attempt, after the 3-day download.
60 • could you list the vga boot resolutions? (by shawn on 2007-09-04 03:11:04 GMT from United States)
I know 791 is 1024x768 X 16bit and 792 is 1024x768 x 24bit but what are the wide screen numbers? i need to know what the numbers are for like 1680x1050 16 and 24bit.
If you know could you send them to me thank you
I looked and couldn't find this information on the internet.
Shawn
echotalonmail@yahoo.com
61 • @46, live CD FreeBSD (by klu9 on 2007-09-04 03:16:42 GMT from Mexico)
other liveCD FreeBSDs available include: FreeSBIE, RoFreesBIE, The Dark Star
62 • Advice for Potential FreeBSD Users (by Ian B Gibson on 2007-09-04 03:22:03 GMT from United States)
Whilst I have no objections to FreeBSD getting a GUI installer, I would like to point out that if someone is having trouble making it through the current FreeBSD curses-based installer, they're not going to have much success with the rest of the OS.
63 • Widescreen problem (by Anonymous on 2007-09-04 03:24:37 GMT from Australia)
I'm running Kubunu 6.06 and 7.10, both with NVidea cards.
I have an LG 206WTQ-WF 20.1 inch Widescreen LCD Monitor which is runing at the default res of 1680 x 1050 with the nv driver as a "Plug and Play" device.
on intial run the DEsktop is about 1 1/2 inches to the right ( ie 1 1/2 inch black strip on left of monitor). Using the monitors controls/menu I moved the display as far to the left as possible, but this still leaves about 1/8 to 1/4 inch black strip at left, and almost excludes full-screen prorograms ( ie browsers etc) right side task bar from the screen.
Anybody else have this problem and hopefully a "Fix"?
Thanks
64 • Hmm... (by 1c3d0g on 2007-09-04 03:49:58 GMT from Aruba)
@ #63: you're damn right, I've had that same annoying problem with *buntu-based distros for ages. Unfortunately I don't know how to fix it, but there's something fundamentally wrong with how these distros set up widescreen displays. Sometimes, my monitor (a Dell 2405 FPW) doesn't even get recognized at all and I'm stuck at 1024x768 or some crap resolution like that. Free drivers, proprietary drivers, none of them work, and everyone who tried to help me, *everyone* failed to figure it out. TBH that's why I've left (at least temporarily) GNU/Linux for Vista, which amazingly DOES work out of the box. Sure, I have to put up with some less-than-optimal situations caused by the partly inferior O.S., but at least I get my widescreen monitor back and working properly instead of some distro which decides to play games with me.
65 • No subject (by Shawn on 2007-09-04 04:07:15 GMT from United States)
#64 I have Vista Ultimate Retail and also use Linux as well but... I just bought a new wide screen monitor and i;m now afraid to boot into my PCLinuxOS install from Grub for fear that the 85HZ refresh rate that I have set on the previous monitor will blow out my new monitor that can only handle 60hz.. :-D
I know, i could boot a live CD and monkey with the xorg.conf file on my drive but.. ehh... it doesn't look like people are having to much success anyhow....? I have a GeForce 8600GT and a New Soyo Topaz S 24" Monitor that i got from Office max for like $300 :-) its a pretty nice monitor for the $ good bang for the buck if you will.
Full disclosure, i have 0 stock in office max or microsoft. ;-) LOL
66 • Re 64 Vista (by JimK on 2007-09-04 05:21:52 GMT from United States)
I have a Dell 2007FPW, and for me Vista does not work out of the box with it (at least not with my via onboard video, even after downloading the latest driver). I can't remember what res it uses, but it's in the 11xx by 7xx range, and it appears stretched and distorted. The only OS I can get to work with it is PCLinuxOS, which works perfectly at the monitor's native 1680x1050. I thought for sure Vista would. Lucky I just tried a free 30 day eval version. Now I can save my $$. The only time I ever need windows is when I have to talk to the phone company's DSL help desk. They don't know anything about Linux, and they have to follow their windows scripts in order to restore service.
67 • JimK reguarding Vista64 (by Shawn on 2007-09-04 05:35:46 GMT from United States)
JimK With my New Soyo Wide Screen 24" LCD in Vista 32bit using an Nvidia Geforce 8600GT Its just using a "Generic PNP Driver" for the monitor... so... look on your box or in your manual and see if your monitor supports plug&play settings(it probably does) also see if it has
Meeting Windows 9X/me/2000/XP plug&play specifications
Plug & Play: Meeting VESA standard, and supporting DDC2B specifications.
thats what my manual says and it seems to work fine..
now remember, scaling is what you need to look at check and see what your OSD of your monitor is currently set at... IF your monitor for some reason is set at 4:3 you may be getting some weird results.. make sure
in the actual buttons on your monitor that if it has settings for different aspect ratios that you choose 16:10
What your problem sounds like obviously is the video card driver NOT the monitor driver because that would be supplied by the OS as a P&P device check some forums and see if maybe you can find a beta driver for your video card... or maybe get a cheap 8500GT :-)
68 • MagDriva International (by wobo on 2007-09-04 07:41:50 GMT from Germany)
I want to say thank you for mentioning our first international mag in the weekly. Depending on the feedback we get for this issue we will try to establish a regular release schedule and to improve and extend the magazine.
69 • RE: 45 • RE: 36, 38 ALT 4.0 English support no longer? (by Sandman on 2007-09-04 08:58:15 GMT from Pakistan)
Well it does offer english as an option to choose language and then your system is installed in english and stays in english,
My ALT Linux 4.0 is in English as I know ZERO of Russian myself :)
70 • re: 63 (by David Whitbeck on 2007-09-04 10:39:14 GMT from United States)
Try using the proprietary nvidia driver (from synaptic it's nvidia-glx). I just know that it worked for me.
71 • qu 68 : What is the redactionnal line of your magazine? (by dbrion on 2007-09-04 10:58:12 GMT from France)
Is it intended on giving a quick overview of anything in the Mandriva word, or are more serious "papers" welcome?
In the 1st case, the article on virtualization (p 17) is good, as it shows nice logos.
In the 2nd case ... perhaps some timing trials (compiling ImageMagic, say, on a virtual system; then converting many images and timing all this stuff) or links to wikipedia or to "vendor" independant sites could be useful for a curious reader wishing to choose a virtualizer (and convince him "it works")....
72 • FreeBSD GUI Installer (by Faust-C on 2007-09-04 11:14:52 GMT from United States)
Well its nice that they are making one but i feel there is nothing wrong w/ the current text based one. Maybe they are looking to get novice users to try it out but atm i feel that the text was the fastest and easiest.
73 • re: 68 (by wobo on 2007-09-04 12:07:31 GMT from Germany)
It differs. From local community news to persons of the community to program reviews - sometimes only an overview like the one on virtualization, sometimes more in-depth. In the german mag we have regular columns like "Pearls of the Web", an article on German law related to IT issues, a column by the press relations manager of the FSFE, etc.
In short: anything goes. We try to cater to all kinds of users, where the main focus is - like the distribution - on the not-so-expert user.
You are very welcome to write a letter to the editor, giving the facts you are missing. The letter will be published in the next issue.
74 • re 68 Thanks for your answer... (by dbrion on 2007-09-04 12:28:27 GMT from France)
If you have no homogeneity exigence (why not : it gives more freedom) my protesting with a subject I think somewhat superficially treated (but other pple can be happy with it) would be useless -and curious readers may google search with interesting (more in depth than "does it work? is it slow?"; those questions being however less superficial than "they exist and have a logo") results....-
75 • PCLinuxOS (by Coffee on 2007-09-04 13:00:29 GMT from France)
PCLinuxOS seems only days away from overtaking Ubuntu in Distrowatch's 6-months page hit ranking. Wow! Although I'm not a big fan of the KDE desktop and of KDE applications, many of which never seem to get past their beta stage, I have to admit that PCLinuxOS really is a great distro with great look & feel to it. There's a lot Ubuntu can learn from this project. Still, for the time being I'm sticking to Xubuntu, hoping that at least some of its annoyances will disappear with 7.10 in October.
76 • RE: 69 • ...ALT 4.0 English support no longer? (by IMQ on 2007-09-04 13:55:37 GMT from United States)
Sandman,
You are correct that ALT support English.
However, when running the installer and pressing F2 key to choose language option, English is not listed in, well, English.
I took the tip from raorn (RE:38) and tried each option until the installer switch to English. From there I could install and test drive ALT 4.0 in English. :)
So for anyone who wants to try out ALT 4.0, press F2 for language option, then select the 3rd option from the top.
As a matter of fact, I post this message from freshly installed ALT 4.0 Desktop.
77 • Re: 50 re: 19 (by brodders on 2007-09-04 15:35:44 GMT from United Kingdom)
Hi,
http://kerneltrap.org/node/7228
"Linux: NVIDIA Binary Graphics Driver Exploit" over on Kernel Trap is what I meant.
78 • Re: 74 (by wobo on 2007-09-04 16:56:34 GMT from Germany)
I would not see such a letter to the editor as "protesting", I'd see it rather as a suggestion or extension to the article. We are waiting for such feedback which tells us a bit more than that we are great - that we know already! :-)
79 • Hits do not lie (LFS incredible "success") (by dbrion on 2007-09-04 17:05:05 GMT from France)
I was sure someone would remind of theincredible ascent of PCloss in the clicli race... and I discovered, while looking at the 7-days DW HR (I choose 7 days, to have a clearer vision of the incoming trend) :
LFS was in the 12th position (before 360 distrs, among others xUBU.
LFS is a 250 pages book, explaining how (and why one chooses configuration options) to build, from the old fashioned command-line, in the traditional way (which I thought was used only for maintenance/ upgrading/installing what was forgotten),
a text-mode only Linux from sources .... For a desktop mode, one has to wait BLFS (to day, a 1000 pages book, which will be sometime upgraded, pages > 500 of BLFS being dedicated to the building of a desktop)..
Having a purely text-mode (ressource sober) linux is not that strange, as nice softwares (antiword,...) can function with few ressources and can be used to consult documents...
80 • Re # 79 (by Anonymous on 2007-09-04 17:20:55 GMT from Canada)
Buffer overflows may be satisfactorily addressed by the user -
> See Pro Police for one method
Stack overflows are to be found in MANY Apps !
But regardless, it remains - trying to escalate those vulnerablites are BEYOND the skills of the vast majority of automated Bots
available to script-kiddies
In that manner, merely referring to such as that URL - Esp without making self fully aware of potential to risks
> Is unintentionlally spreading FUDD (fear uncertainty - doubt)
Conversely, people give lip service to security ~ yet don't inform themselves of full disclosures _
Nor take basic daily useage precautions.
Rather than promote fears - any user will do better to use dedicated utilities to circumvent:
Or at very least > see security sites that offer aid & trustworthy data
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/101892/155/
If wishing to USE some of availabe utilities:
There are many excellent dedicated penetration analysis LiveCDs
I.E. http://darksat.x47.net/topic/391.0.html
Take some comfort in knowing, it's not your private data at risk -
What the script-kiddies are after, much easier targets (Win_xx boxen)
To use as jump-off proxies for DDOS attacks.
OTOH _ if Lans containing extemely valuable data are finger-printed/targeted -
by those with sufficient skills & willing to risk the high possiblitiy of detection :
95% of Sys Admins = will be not be ujp the task of denying entry - & then are at riskto being rooted.
Do YOU verify embedded graphical URLz b4 clicking ?
That is only one simplistic elemental vulnerability to all O/Systems
DW itself has questionable usage - it requires Browser I.D. to access.
Indiscriminate mandatory use of Cookies at any site - are another
The WEBb is faceless - any who blindly trusts are gambling on odds
81 • No subject (by Anonymous on 2007-09-04 17:28:00 GMT from United States)
>> There's a lot Ubuntu can learn from this project. <<
Well, there's a lot each distro can learn from the rest, so that's why it's good we have so many distros.
Of course, as always, we have to keep in mind that a hits per day ranking is just that - a ranking of hits per day. There are many reasons for hits, the least of which is that people are using that distro (otherwise why would you go to that page to find out information?)
I believe the numbers are accurate, more or less, but that they only reflect the fact that most Linux users didn't know about PCLinuxOS before, not that PCLinuxOS is suddenly being used more than Ubuntu or Debian or Opensuse.
82 • re: #81 (by wobo on 2007-09-04 17:50:35 GMT from Germany)
We all know what these statistics are worth, Ladislav has written it many times. Some points:
- a distro is very visible in the net, producing news, making itself mentioned here and there. So people come here and click to get a quick overview.
- a vast user community is pushing "their" distribution because they like to see it on top of some lists. Ubuntu is such an example.
- a distro has a chaotic website where you never find what you are looking for. So people come to DW to look for news about it. Mandriva is a good example for this point.
But I haven't found any site on the net, where you can find any figures about how many people use this or that distro, I mean figures I could take seriously. There is no such site.
For me this list does only one thing: it starts discussions about itself.
83 • RE 78 (by dbrion on 2007-09-04 17:59:56 GMT from France)
<>
I agree that I have no great diplomatic talents (and that I was somewhat unfair with the links). What is more, my criticizing is biased because I am accustomed to
paper correcting on another domain than Linux(paper is meant to last for a long time and to be read comfortably) and
not to IT writing (as screens are numerous and tiring, texts should be shorter, meseems...).
I have however the impression that virtualizers can help in training to installing OSes (I use it before installing Mandrivas for friends... and we remain friends), many tests, and many applications I ignore... But perhaps it has been yet published many many times on the Net..
BTW, I believe A Wilkinson wrote a very good tutorial on virtualisation....
84 • Re: #64 by Shawn (by davecs on 2007-09-04 19:04:03 GMT from United Kingdom)
Shawn wrote:
I just bought a new wide screen monitor and i;m now afraid to boot into my PCLinuxOS install from Grub for fear that the 85HZ refresh rate that I have set on the previous monitor will blow out my new monitor that can only handle 60hz.. :-D
===========================================================
The solution is too easy. Boot up your computer, select the PCLinuxOS line on the opening Grub screen, but don't press Enter. Instead type "3" (without the quotes) before pressing Enter.
You will boot up into a text screen. Type root, Enter, then the root password. Once logged in in text mode, type "video" followed by Enter.
You get a program running in Text mode with a Curses-type interface that you can navigate with Tab, Space etc. Change the monitor settings at least to a lower Hz. You may or may not be able to select the perfect settings for your new monitor, but at least it will be safe.
When you quit, the new settings will be saved. On the command line, type in "init 5" followed by Enter. The graphics screen will now use your new settings and you can download any necessary software or use the Control Centre to finish the job.
85 • 64, 84 (by Anonymous on 2007-09-04 19:38:30 GMT from United States)
Is it really the case that you would blow out your monitor? I wasn't aware that this was still a possibility on new monitors. On my Dell system, for instance, it will just give me a black screen with a message in the middle.
86 • thanks davecs maybe i'll give it a shot... (by Shawn on 2007-09-04 19:46:04 GMT from United States)
sounds a little complicated.. I think that I'm just going to a re-install though...
i like using linux and windows vista... both are good i like both, thanks for the help. ;-)
, Shawn
ps. I hope PSLOS has the wide screen support figured out in the next release! ;-)
PCLOS and Mepis are the best distros IMHO. :)
GO Bill!
GO Texstar!
GO Warren!
lol's ;-)
87 • reply to #85 (by Shawn on 2007-09-04 19:50:30 GMT from United States)
Original Coment
"85 • 64, 84 (by Anonymous on 2007-09-04 19:38:30 GMT from United States)
Is it really the case that you would blow out your monitor? I wasn't aware that this was still a possibility on new monitors. On my Dell system, for instance, it will just give me a black screen with a message in the middle."
---------------------------
I do not know for sure, but I don't want to that the risk, like i said I just purchased this monitor and I wouldn't want to break it right away. ;-)
Well, maybe I should...
I guess it should have some kind of warranty of it right? LOL
88 • Re: 86 (by davecs on 2007-09-04 20:50:40 GMT from United Kingdom)
Shawn, what I described takes about 2 minutes over a normal bootup! The curses interface is basically text laid out graphically. They keys you use in GUIs (TAB, space, enter, arrow up/down etc) are the same as when you decide not to use the mouse in a Graphical Interface generally in both Windows and KDE Linux. I think re-installing would be like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
I also doubt whether your monitor will blow. More likely is that it will run at a lower res which CAN take 85Hz... at worse you just won't get a display. But I still reckon that the method I outlined earlier is worth doing because if your monitor is not recognised automatically on re-install, and you get a black screen, it's the way of setting it up manually from the live CD. Good practice in other words.
89 • re: #88 Thank you davecs (by Shawn on 2007-09-04 21:41:16 GMT from United States)
davecs, I did what you said and PCLinuxOS does work perfectly with my wide screen monitor and i did not have to re-install...
Thank you.
Doing what you said it gave me an option I am using 1280x800 24bit 16:10 aspect ratio, which is fine with me they had other resolutions but this is fine...
looks very good... You are da linux master. ;-) Now we just need them to incorporate the wide screen support into the live CD's at boot up and such or for nerds like me that have these things(also for people with newer laptops lots of them have wide screens as well)
anyhow thanks again.
, Shawn
90 • BulletProofX (by Andyvan on 2007-09-05 03:42:01 GMT from United States)
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this feature that last I heard is planned for Gutsy.
Think of it as a Fail-Safe for X problems.
<https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BulletProofX>
There's also a nice writeup on Ars Technica, and it hit the front page of Slashdot on September 1.
-- Andyvan
91 • LG WideScreen Monitor (by Anonymous on 2007-09-05 06:42:38 GMT from Australia)
RE my post above (# 63), I've determined that the apparent problem is that my LG Widescreen monitors Aspect Ratio is 16:10, whereas Kubuntu sets it to 16:9 with no apparent ( to me) way to change it.
LinuxMint Cassandra 3.0 (mini - KDE) and Sabayon 3.3b Mini do not "fix" the widescreen problem.
Any advice/help appreciated.
92 • growing xubuntu (by agrest on 2007-09-05 07:29:26 GMT from Poland)
Xubuntu is more and more resources hungry. It seems to be time for changing distribution.
For example the latest edition of Zenwalk replaced its login manager from GDM to SLIM. It can be done with Xubuntu [here's article http://uel.jogger.pl/2007/08/26/slim-alternatywny-menadzer-logowania/ - in Polish] But there're update problems...
93 • FIXED - Widescreen problem (by Anonymous on 2007-09-05 08:59:05 GMT from Australia)
Re my posts # 63 and # 91
I've fixed my WideScreen problem on Kubuntu 6.06.
I downloaded ( via Synaptic) xvidtune, ran it as root, selected "Auto", applied the settings and then Quit.
Screen is now correct width and both ends of Panel are visible.
Hope that this helps others.
94 • No subject (by Anonymous on 2007-09-05 16:10:29 GMT from United States)
I just installed Fedora 7. After giving some simple information (as in any distro install) I told it to install.
It took TWO MINUTES! I thought surely there must have been a problem. No, it booted up just fine.
What the heck is going on when you can install a full-featured Linux distro in two minutes? My computer is new, but I seriously doubt that had much to do with it.
95 • xorg -monitors, resolutions and refresh rates (by marco71 on 2007-09-05 16:13:24 GMT from Romania)
Worths to mention "Modeline" directive for xorg.conf because it can save you for some monitors if prefer a certain refresh rate (72Hz and higher are ergonomics); for example, if you want 72Hz for an ancient 14" or 15" monitor with a resolution higher than 800x600 for safe browsing purposes and the monitor has only 54kHz sync horizontal freq. what can you do?
Normally, most 14" and older 15" CRT monitors support maximum 1024x768@60Hz or 800x600@75Hz and if a higher resolution/refresh is set, than a higher sync freq. is required from monitor, and if the monitor is not capable of that, the "out of sync" message occur. But if your video card supports some of non-standard resolutions like 896x672, 928x696, 960x720, you can use one of this with your ancient monitor without stress your eyes (set refresh at 72Hz with a specific Modeline setting).
Concrete example: on my 15" CRT noname monitor, any sync freq. higher than 54kHz generates "out of sync" and I wasn't able to use the resolution 1024x768 at 72Hz (only at 60Hz works), so I searched for an alternate display mode between 800x600 and 1024x768 for use it with the 72Hz refresh rate and with my ATI Rage video card. I found many modeline generator tools (just googleit for modeline) and now I'm able to browse distrowatch ;) with 928x696 resolution at 72Hz thanks to "Modeline"; my xorg.conf specifics are:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "MyMon"
HorizSync 31.5-54
VertRefresh 50-75
UseModes "Modes[0]"
EndSection
Section "Modes"
Identifier "Modes[0]"
#Custom modes
Modeline "928x696" 65.39 928 992 1088 1224 696 697 700 742
# 65.39 MHz, 53.42kHz, 72.00Hz
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "ATI"
Monitor "MyMon"
DefaultDepth 16
Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "928x696"
EndSubsection
EndSection
...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think those Tips are helpful also for 17" TFT monitors (or some 15.4" display laptops) in order to use 75Hz or 85Hz as refresh rate with the TFT native resolution (1024x768, 1280x1024 or 1280x800 wide).
96 • Re: 49 Numlock (by Andy Axnot on 2007-09-05 21:47:09 GMT from United States)
If it's any consolation, I agree with you that Num Lock off as default is a major annoyance. But such is life :-)
97 • Sun gets sued MORE LAWSUITS to follow Non-technical people can stop reading now. (by Distrowatch Reader on 2007-09-06 02:11:20 GMT from United States)
Who said Sun could release other peoples property as open source.
Are they (SUN) trying to destroy open source----YES!
It’s complicated, but the basic idea is that Sun claims we infringe their patents, so we are requesting a trial to show that’s not true. In essence, a declaratory judgment calls their bluff. It allows us to force a legal conclusion, rather than leaving this threat hanging over our heads. The second part is a complaint against Sun for infringing several WAFL patents with ZFS.
This case is especially sensitive, because Sun has released ZFS as open source.
Who said Sun could release other peoples property as open source
http://www.netapp.com/go/ipsuit/
But it doesn’t help the open source movement to give away code that is encumbered with someone else’s patent rights. The sooner we determine the true status of ZFS, the better it will be for everyone. NetApp certainly doesn’t believe that we can somehow erase every copy of ZFS that has been downloaded. (Impossible!) This lawsuit isn’t about downloads for personal or non-commercial use; it is about what Sun is doing.
It is important to me that technical readers not confuse NetApp with SCO, so in our lawsuit, we provided a starting point for people who want to dig deeper. This is not an exhaustive analysis of our case. We simply highlight one particular patent and one particular aspect of ZFS to help people see that this case of infringement is real.
Here’s how the ZFS designers describe filesystem consistency:
The best way to avoid file system corruption due to system panic or power loss is to keep the data on the disk self-consistent at all times, as WAFL does. To do so, the file system needs a simple way to transition from one consistent on-disk state to another without any window of time when the system could crash and leave the on-disk data in an inconsistent state.
In the ZFS paper, search for uberblock, and compare its role in filesystem consistency with the role of the root inode and file system information structure in our patent 5,819,292. Read claim 4 and its descendents, which describe our tree-of-blocks consistency technique. Claim 8 and its descendents describe efficient snapshot creation based on the tree-of-blocks.
A pdf file
http://www.netapp.com/go/ipsuit/spider-complaint.pdf
Gee Do you suppose Novell might also want the Money that Sun paid SCO. or the stolen IP.
98 • Question about partition numbering (by mikkh on 2007-09-06 02:14:45 GMT from United Kingdom)
I usually have most of my hard drives set up as C, D, swap, Linux1, Linux 2, Linux 3 etc
Obviously Windows is on C (hda1) D is always hda5, swap = hda6, Linux 1 = hda7 etc
My question is where did hda2, 3 and 4 go ?
I believe hda2 could be the extended partition as a whole ?, but I have no idea what 3 and 4 are. Although when I've got just a pure Linux box, the numbers seem to be in proper logical order - hda1 (primary) hda2 (swap) hda3 (home) etc
Anyone know, or know a link that explains it?
99 • Re question above (by mikkh on 2007-09-06 02:32:21 GMT from United Kingdom)
I think I've sussed it lol
hda1 -4 would be reserved for the primary partitions ?
can someone confirm this please
and if that's true, why does a pure Linux hard drive seem to ignore this?
100 • Re 99 : Partitions/booting (by Anonymous on 2007-09-06 03:24:51 GMT from Canada)
It doesn't:
Legacy :
Hard drive partitions may be up to four
Only one of which may be an extended partition
To use The extended partition - it must be sub-divided into "logical" portions ("partitions")
Logical partition numbering sequences start @ number five
Numbering sequences do not necessarily reflect true physical location order
Esp if any later "shuffling" of low-level formatting is done
Windows - First hard drive, first partition FOUND by BIOS
(must be used) for the essential kernel boot system files at least
Linux may happily reside most anywhere - primary or logical,
master or slave - loaded from MBR or chain-loaded via a boot Mgr.
Legacy -
On older BIOS - there was a 1024 cyl limit for the boot sector
In which case, linnear (LBA) addressing may be used as an 'append' kernel parameter in loader
BSD (& others) "see" partitions diferently
Physical drive layout itself may be addressed for BIOS in different ways
Please see man cfdisk/sfdisk
Initrd is NOT needed to locate/boot Linux kernel
Only for initial (Ram image booted) install support
Remote booting (I.E. PXE) is possible
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=pxe+boot&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
Any good search engine such as Google would have explained all
HTH
101 • Re 99 (by mikkh on 2007-09-06 07:53:37 GMT from United Kingdom)
Well thanks for replying and you've sort of confirmed what I already said.
I do know about physical layout and drive geometry's as I'm a PC technician - who like most tech's earn their living from the M$ flavoured majority. I just dabble in Linux for my own amusement and further education.
I have used google and trawled through pages and pages of dry 'howto's' but all seem to assume you have a Linux only setup or just have one windows partition. I haven't seen anywhere where it states in plain english that a windows second partition will always be hda5 because....
102 • fedora 7 (or any fedora) (by Nonny Moose on 2007-09-06 12:25:42 GMT from United States)
"..full-featured Linux distro.."
LOL. Just try viewing www.foxnews.com or www.cnn.com or www.cbsnews.com or .. heck, any site with java, flash and or
streaming video, etc.
YOU are the one who will have to make fedora "full featured." :)
103 • Try Out the new Mandriva 2008!! (by killer on 2007-09-06 15:21:35 GMT from Italy)
here you can find all the infoabout it: http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/Releases/Mandriva/2008.0
and here the techincal spech:
http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/Development/Ideas/Technical_specs_2008
new draknetcenter, compiz fusion, automount of partitions, even nfts (also in RW mode), new kernel, krandr for auto adjust monitor and so on.. great!!
104 • RE # 101 (by Anonymous on 2007-09-06 16:48:29 GMT from Canada)
Linux is the platform that uses "HD_xx" terminology for some devices
"Hda5" wil be the first logical partition - may contain anything
-except the bootable part for Win_xx
If the drive was partitioned using primaries only containing whatever_
There wouldn't be any "5" or above
If only one primary - no "3 or 4" will exist
As a Win techie - you know why it's better to sub-divide any larger
hard drive (cluster sizes)
Linux may also be formatted to use alternate block sizings
The reserved 512byte boot sector is not partitioned
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record
Mbr tables for Win_xx stored there -dependent on version-
may not start at first byte _(Linux does)
When Linux uses the Mbr - it moves Win_xx original data - which may be restored by Win_xx utilities
Or manipulated by Linux etc, using I.E. CLI "dd" tools
Dry - maybe ~ until you desparately need it !
105 • 102 (by Anonymous on 2007-09-06 17:10:57 GMT from United States)
OK, I should have said a Linux distro that offers as much functionality as a new Windows installation (not from an OEM restore disk).
Well, that's a low standard. Maybe "Linux distro filling a CD" is a better description.
106 • What? (post:105) (by Nonny Moose on 2007-09-06 18:10:40 GMT from United States)
No Windows OEMs allowed when comparing to Linux distros?
Good, because then my Windows Vista and its true full functionality
can't be counted because it came preinstalled on my new Acer
notebook.
Fedora is about as stable as they come, but you do have to go
to a site like http://www.mjmwired.net/resources/mjm-fedora-f7.html
to get it fully up and running for all the internet has to offer. And
that's ok, I've done it and enjoyed not only the functions but also
the education I received by tweaking things.
107 • KDE4 - Will minimal install still be possible? (by afs on 2007-09-06 23:04:22 GMT from United States)
One of the things I like about KDE3 is that one can install a usable base system of arts, kdelibs, and kdebase. Konqueror serves as the browser and file manager. (That is, assuming the distribution permits the choice of which components to install.)
I have read that there will be a new, separate, file manager in KDE4 ... but what about the rest of it? Is it going to succumb to obligatory bloat?
108 • RE: 107 KDE4 & Bloat (by Landor on 2007-09-07 03:32:32 GMT from Canada)
This is from the Gentoo KDE Split-Ebuilds How-To
"We still provide monolithic ebuilds for 3.5 and they are cleanly interoperable with the split ones. However, the split ebuilds are the new default, and there will be no monolithic ebuilds for KDE 4.0. "
That explains to me that KDE themselves are removing monolithic ebuilds.
I can't say that KDE4 will go back to being Monolithic, but it's a safe bet they won't be based on Gentoo still having it as split ebuilds.
I wonder if other Distros will start making base KDE CD's. One could only hope.
I hope they don't. I love pulling specific apps for KDE tailored to my likes. As I said though, most likely they will stay as per Gentoo's How-To.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
109 • xORG (by Stephen Hardy on 2007-09-07 05:53:10 GMT from Australia)
xorg is a joke, not a funny one but one of broken promises! Why it wont default to a std VESA resolution for configeration if it detects a fault (or as a GRAPHICAL grub option) like its evil nemisis W$ has for years is a cruel joke on linux newbies who then give up! Cant blame them, its a problem who's time has come & gone without a fix that just works. One day i hear you say, well i hope...
110 • Re: 96 and 49 Numlock (by davecs on 2007-09-07 10:23:45 GMT from United Kingdom)
It would be better if Numlock defaulted to the BIOS setting, not automatically on or off. Numlock on would cause more problems on laptops than Numlock off causes on desktops!!
Just ask anyone who has tested a prerelease distro on a laptop where someone left numlock set on...
111 • Re #109 joke or choke ! (by Anonymous on 2007-09-07 10:51:41 GMT from Canada)
X-Org is the fork from XFree86
http://lwn.net/Articles/79302/
Does not have own drivers
Does incude the utility "wizard" xorgconfig
Code:
which xorgconfig
man xorgconfig
Attempts to use any existing X-libraries
If any fault from bad probe (DISTRO supplied script detections) - should default to text mode & document use of interactive configuration
If you wish to "diss" anyone - contact your distro developers
> for not enabling the fail-safe fallback to a vesa modeline
Which many distros DO
112 • No subject (by Anonymous on 2007-09-07 15:54:31 GMT from Canada)
As helpful as this weeks "tips" article is - it suffers from same inadvertant flaws as many
A failure to check all data prior to publishing.
The article was to promote discussions - in that manner may I offer:
:
Nano should be invoked as (nano -w)
ESP if 'cut & paste' of CLI syntax is employed
If any distro default boots as root_
it will be evident by use of the prompt (#) rather than (user = $)
If unsure, 1st try to just hit "enter key"
'Su' is NOT the same permissions as a default logon -
(code) su -l
(man) su
Quote:
The optional argument (- ) may be used to provide an environment similar to
what the user would expect had the user logged in directly.
Colour depth 24 - is more dependent on vid chipset capability
#Modelines (supported #resolutions) to use are those supported by the monitor
If vid driver is capable & monitor is 'forced' to try to accept -
it most often just refuses to internally switch - reverts to black screen
- the thing to be aware of - any garbled colours
LCD monitors have only one native resolution - all others are 'simulated'
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/03/20/how_crt_and_lcd_monitors_work/3
As before noted - 'default 24' * incorrect refresh rates > are leading cause of desktop load failures @ installs
ESP on older iron/laptops
GTF utility will show VESA standards - which are not necessarily laptop sizings
Those standards are NOT enhanced proprietary driver accelerations
X-ORG does NOT include drivers !
> It enables support for dependency x-libraries & any modules (included) with the O/Sys platform
Generic drivers for any x-server Cfg are (nv, fb, vesa, vga, etc etc)
Frame-buffer options (not the frame-buffer x-server 'driver') is for text mode tty's - not Gui desktops
I.E. vesafb-tng nvfb etc etc
If the supplied list was consulted _ ATI is ONE optional driver for that OEM
Radeon the most common for older cards
Btw DRI ( direct rendering infrastructure) & older 'mesa' standards are used primarily for ATI chipsets
Once mesa is enabled ~ AFAIK, it cannot be altered without a reboot
Any reconfig of X-servers - should be done in text mode_
NO desktop running
Distro supplied GUI 'wizards' I.E auto-logon menus (DM's) such as Jwm/Gdm/Kdm
> may not (as distro scripted) revert back to CLI text mode
They are 'Window Mgs' ~ as distinct from 'desktop Mgrs' (I.E. KDE/Gnome/Fluxbox/IceWM/XFce4)
> To 'hot-key' from a text tty, back to a running desktop - use Alt+F7/8/_xx
The 'Ctrl' modifier is for shelling to another tty or GUI desktop
(Use of Ctrl+Alt+F_whatever from an alternate (text mode tty) ~ is OK, just redundant)
F7 is default first desktop - other concurrent full desktops use F8 & up
(Code) startx -- :2,3,4 (ad infinitum - not needed in numerical sequence)
References:
http://www.pps.jussieu.fr/~jch/software/kdrive.html
http://www.comptechdoc.org/os/linux/howlinuxworks/linux_hlxwindows.html
HTH
113 • Missing plug-ins (by Frustrated Linu newbie on 2007-09-07 18:02:29 GMT from United Kingdom)
Please forgive me for not understanding, but possibly the most annoying feature of 99% of distros is that in the download version, they won't display
multimedia files from the internet. If they are able to discover the default internet connection ( and some I've tried this week can't even do that!) they give a laconic "missing plug-in" message when you try to watch news videos from your local channel, or streaming web cams which are available on mant websites.
Windows IE may have many faults, but at least it's authors have made multimedia display a priority without needing to fiddle about with nonsensical sounding words to make a video playable.
I have contacted several Linux authors, all of who say they buy a car to get their hands dirty. REALLY? I buy a car that works.
114 • re:#113 Missing Browser Plugins Linux noob (by Shawn on 2007-09-07 19:04:05 GMT from United States)
try PCLinuxOS 2007 that should fix you up, it has flash and Java and Mplayer... so.. also you can install all the other "things" from the package manager IF you want them for like dvd playback "libdvdcss2" for dvd playback etc.. Also, Linux Mint is another Distro that you could try, but i can confirm that PCLinux 2007 does indeed work because i;m using it right now, I can watch YouTube, Comedy Central, etc.
115 • Re #113 .> 99% ? (by Anonymous on 2007-09-07 19:31:47 GMT from Canada)
That wasn't even true in the case of Win_xx not very long ago !
If vehicle similies are preferred - would you buy a car that didn't have an A/conditioner - IF that was most improtant feature for you ?.
Then when using it - your mileage suffers ~
When not in use - that 'essential accessory' is so much dead weight
Some people use dedicated electronics for MM -such as a TV or stereo
Just because a computer CAN be multi-purpose- doesn't qualify it as the BEST tool for many uses.
While engrossed in watching/listening - is that computer chair a
comfy recliner - the tuner remote controlled ?
Ea to own -but many mighI contend > to deride O/Systems over such as that -
is not a valid assumption - even IF those firgures were accurate
Whether or not - anyone is capable of tuning/adding accesories - or repair own car or computer
116 • antiX (by anticapitalista on 2007-09-07 23:02:39 GMT from Greece)
For those that want a lite debian livcd, check out my antiX.
http://antix.mepis.com/index.php/Main_Page
Not getting much publicity here on the comments forum, nor is Mepisbeta3 BTW.
Anyhow, give them both a shot.
117 • re #115 (by Frustrated Linu newbie on 2007-09-08 00:51:55 GMT from United Kingdom)
My original was written in case any Authors of distros were reading. It was a subtle hint that should someone feel like it, there's a gap in what is available. If they were to produce an easy to set up distro that had the capabilities inbuilt to access media, they might tempt more newbies over from the M$ camp.
I appreciate that many of you enjoy tinkering and tweaking your distros and I no way want to stop that, but to a novice all those strange command line terms are very difficult.
So, anyone fancy a shot at it?
PS - Thanks for the tip about PCLOS, there is one other I've since discovered that has the drivers inbuilt, Freespire, but that has a different fault. When you run the Live CD, the default option is to install it on your hard drive, rather than what it should be, to run from the CD. Also by default, it runs in Root.
118 • No subject (by Anonymous on 2007-09-08 02:19:52 GMT from United States)
@Frustrated: Your problems are normal and understandable, although you are still thinking in the Windows way: you need to find good forums and good documentation, and your problems will be solved. It would be like that if you were learning Windows, just without the help. The difference is that you already know Windows. You may find ultimately that the switching cost is not worth it to you.
@106: Vista? LOL! Not to get into the Windows bashing thing, but I have lots of fun with our Vista laptop. The printer that doesn't work but installs with a few clicks in any Linux distro. The software incompatibilities for programs that worked in XP. And the slowwwness (boot into Fedora and it's unbelievable the difference in speed).
I was just using Windows XP, and boy are the default fonts so much better on Linux. I just can't understand why people think Windows has better fonts (yes, I know, it's subjective).
119 • Re:#113 (by Beatnik on 2007-09-08 11:20:59 GMT from Panama)
Frustrated? Why?
I downloaded Sabayon Linux 3.26 DVD in february of this 2007, and Wow, it included all my multimedia needed codecs, you name it, and you have it here.
File Types played out of the box: mp3, .avi, .mpeg, flash videos (like those of you tube). Oh, and also includes Compiz 3D out of the box.
PLEASE, do yourself a favor and Download the new Sabayon 3.4F DVD.
Other alternatives to Sabayon:
- PC Linux 2007 (all you need in just one CD of 700MB): This is a very good distro. A bit easier than Sabayon, and better than Ubuntu (this is my opinion)
- Sam Linux
- Mint Linux
Please READ, and Search, and visit the Distros web and their forums.
120 • Qu 113 "How can one get hands dirty with a keyboard? (by dbrion on 2007-09-08 16:05:23 GMT from France)
"
I have contacted several Linux authors, all of who say they buy a car to get their hands dirty. REALLY? I buy a car that works.
"
Do Linux authors _sell_ Linux?
Is your computer's keyboard dusty?
Is your mouse greasy?
How can one then get one's hands dirty with some occasional maintenance? (even CLI programming (bash, C, Fortran) can be done at 75% with copy and pastes, if one has an exotic / full of coffee keyboard).
I am glad to live in a country where one can find light weight electronic stuff which can play music or display video: as they are cheap, too, one can carry them in the train/tube without fearing them being broken/stolen. I know PC can play music (during 1% of the time they are living) but who woud dare to carry a laptop/desktop in the train?
OTOH, thousands of pple who wanted to travel from Northern Africa to West Africa (or far souther) were quite happy to _pay_ to learn how to fix their car (i.e rebuild an engine) in the 70s-80s (no GPS, no garage, no water, no cell phones). In the Free Open Software "world", you can find many (sometimes even good) e-books and tutorials...
121 • Rolling up your sleeves... (by Landor on 2007-09-08 17:01:52 GMT from Canada)
I would imagine that most developers have been involved in Linux for a long time and for a long time, answering questions, justifying why this option is here, and the other (ones) are not.
Due to this it would be understandable (for someone willing to be open enough to learn) that a developer would say, you need to get your hands dirty, you need to pop the hood and install that K&N filter to get a bit more horsepower out of it. We've given you the engine, now you need....aftermarket....
Did you take things apart as a kid? Did you explore all the facets of how something was created, conceived? A lot do, myself being one of them. It becomes a natural by-product of such experimentation to do that with all things. Once you do look under the hood, the casing, shell....you find a whole new world to explore...
Linux is no different......Don't take anything for granted and you won't ever be disappointed...
Keep your stick on the ice...
Landor
122 • re#121 (by Anonymous on 2007-09-08 22:54:47 GMT from Canada)
@Landor
Count me in that group. I've been tinkering with mechanical/electronic/electrical and other neat stuff for as long as i can remember. Spent a good many years installing, repairing and maintaining industrial and mobile machinery. Always fixed my own car etc etc.
I bought an atari 400 in '82, then a c64 in '84. Both of these had command interfaces
Which meant you had to type (horror of horrors) "commands". I bought GEOS (in retrospect, an amazing 8 bit os and suite of programs) for the c64 in '87 and that introduced me to guis.
This led to an amiga purchase, still, in my opinion one of the most elegant interfaces i've seen. The one feature, for me, that stood out was how you could have a shell open on your desktop while still having gui things available and/or running. By this time i had spent some time on dos and various dos programs and software suites and compared to what the amiga did and could do, there was absolutely no comparison!
I picked up linux in oct '95. Makes some of the kvetching i read and hear about linux command lines and X configuration rather laughable when i think back to my first dozen or so (re)installs. Back in the day ...yada, yada!
Upshot is I learned a looonnnng time ago that if i want something fixed and fixed right it probably behooves me to learn how to do it. If you want to refrain from learning anything command line(ish) on the computer than you severely limit your own ability to learn the system. Conversely, eschewing the gui, and going command(o?) line only proscribes the functionality (in my opinion) that you can only really get with a gui
Seems to me that this world is full of choice. Platform, hardware, os, distro, editor, command line, gui and on and on. I know what i choose to use. What other others use is up to them. Who cares! Just be aware that we can all make choices that limit options.
And i always have at least two or three konsole tabs open with at least one midnight commander session runniing. Now of course this really fscks with my head 'cause mc isn't really command line and it certainly isn't gui. Its what ...... visual?
cheers
123 • Re Sabayon (by Frustrated Linu newbie on 2007-09-09 00:13:34 GMT from United Kingdom)
I tried many ways to d/l Sabayon but it was as slow on broadband (to d/l) as dial up so in the end I didn't bother. Actually writing this from PCLinuxOS which is the best distro I've tried (and I've tried most of the top twenty).
To paraphrase one of the crooners, "Regrets, I've got a few, but then again, too few to mention. " Canon drivers - gggrrrrhhh!
Oh, and is there a way of making every page I visit online, readable without constantly going to View/ Text Size/ Increase for every page? I have less than perfect eyesight.
124 • 123 Frustated Linux newbie (by dubigrasu on 2007-09-09 05:46:23 GMT from Romania)
Try this: Press ctrl and + at the same time
125 • Re #122 What is MC? (by rglk on 2007-09-09 06:01:05 GMT from United States)
I'd say it's a cligui ...
126 • Poll: What Linux distribution would you most like to see supported on a ThinkPad (by FYI on 2007-09-09 11:37:33 GMT from Australia)
http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=98
127 • RE 122 : there are comfortable functionalities in a GUI (by dbrion on 2007-09-09 15:15:33 GMT from France)
If it is well designed (else, it is ressource consuming, tiring). Half the guis who were designed in the 90s disappeared (they were too tiring: RAM ressources are no more such an issue).
The most obvious example I know is grass (developped in 1988) : for almost 20yrs, nobody knew whether it was buggy or antiergonomic (that was a pity because it is interesting for its contents : but the user interactions are horrible) => it seems that is is being fixed (these fixes began in 2002....).
There is another aspect : as maintaining two user interfaces is time consuming, the most trendy will be kept.... the consequences being that more complicated interactions will be designed, but this will make installation impossible for those with bad eyes....
OTH SystemRescue CD has a user interface designed for blind pple (or those who broke their screen, or who put their PC in a sunny place and therefore cannot read a menu during day....). There remains some common sense....
128 • Less than perfect eyesight re 123 (by Frustrated Linu newbie) (by Fractalguy on 2007-09-09 21:50:28 GMT from United States)
"Oh, and is there a way of making every page I visit online, readable without constantly going to View/ Text Size/ Increase for every page? I have less than perfect eyesight."
In Firefox: Edit -> Preferences -> Content -> Default font size
Try 18 or something larger than you have now. Try a few. :)
Be aware that too large will break some sites - over lap etc.
Tell you a secret, set up the bookmark tool bar with a view text button. Then mark the text part of a site that you want to read (example, long passage between two ad panels) and select the button. This opens a new window with only your selected text where you can set your font (another button for that) and get font as large as needed. A little work, but if you spend 30 minutes reading a long passage (example, a Groklaw.net posting) it is worth it.
Links:
https://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/pagedata.html#view_selection
Follow instructions about drag button to your bookmark tool bar. I use a special button to set the font live on a site:
http://www.squarefree.com/userstyles/make-bookmarklet.html
where I inserted this CSS to make my special button:
*{font-family: FreeSerif,serif!important; line-height:2.2ex!important;}
for serif and a little vertical spreading- easier on my eyes.
129 • Re: 123 (by davecs on 2007-09-10 07:33:29 GMT from United Kingdom)
It won't be long now before compiz-fusion hits the PCLinuxOS repos (currently under testing). If your computer runs this, you can set it up to zoom in on the screen, this has helped me with one or two sites.
Alternatively, install Opera. This has a function where the whole site view (as opposed to just the text size) can be expanded.
Number of Comments: 129
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ChaletOS was a beginner-friendly Linux distribution based on Xubuntu and featuring the Xfce desktop. It provides a simple and intuitive desktop interface, modest hardware requirements and five years of security support. The name ChaletOS was derived from Swiss mountain houses whose concepts of simplicity, beauty and recognisability inspired the creation and design of ChaletOS.
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