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RE: [Alug] Move over windows once and for all ??
by Ricardo Campos 27 Nov '01

27 Nov '01

>just > accepting of the fact that the world is full of dumbed-down users courtesy > of dumbed-down Redmond, users who need eye candy and pain-free installation > to consider switching and RedHat 7.2 is so far the closest to acheiving It's not just "dumbed-down users" (calling people "dumbed-down users" suggests that they are somehow ignorant, stupid or lazy, which may be true, but such statements tend to reinforce "Linux is elitist" views- sorry if I misunderstood your tone, but here I go).... <RANT> Also remember that the majority of users do not consider computers a 'hobby'. They simply want to sit at a computer, turn it on, send e-mails, browse some porn ;), download and print off digital camera pics, play a game etc, then go to the pub, look after the kids, go to work. Computers are now so commonplace that they are just tools. These people make up the majority of the Western World. (Well, Western Europe and North America). For example, I use a car. A car is fairly complex, and it would be a great idea to know how a car works. But I want to get in it, and drive to work. That is all. I do not want to get in it and realise that in fact I have to rebuild the engine because I bought my petrol from Jet not Esso (cos I thought it was the same stuff anyway). I want to use it. If cars interested me, which they do not in any way, I may wish to spend hours tinkering away. In which case I would buy a kit car anyway. Similarly, I do not want to tinker with my washing machine, mobile phone, TV, video, stereo or central heating. Perhaps idealistically I *should*, but come on, there's more interesting things in life. The real problem with the tinkering thing is that if you're using Linux for home use, your time is short (unless you do not have work, have kids, have other hobbies or a social life). That is not to devalue the disabled, or the unemployed, it is just a statement that most people do not have that circumstance, and the desktop market is for 'most people'. </RANT> So here's to easy installations, here's to linux distro's that can handle USB, the new Mega-wonder video cards, play whizz-bang games, all out of the box, and all after the initial installation! Let the people eat cake! (Of course, keep the server market obscure if the wages are higher because of it. I'll tinker away happily 9-5 if I'm getting paid for it!) :) Ricardo -- Get your free email from www.linuxmail.org Powered by Outblaze

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Re: [Alug] Move over windows once and for all ??
by MJ Ray 27 Nov '01

27 Nov '01

> With the really easy install of RH7.2 I wouldn't see a reinstall to upgrade > as a problem. When this machine (or elements of it) becomes my second box > I'd like to try Debian - sounds like even more fun. Indeed, if the install is really that easy (and I'm sceptical given the failed 7.2 upgrade reinstall I did before leaving UEA), it's not a huge impediment, but I'd still rather avoid unnecessary work. -- MJR

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Re: [Alug] Move over windows once and for all ??
by MJ Ray 27 Nov '01

27 Nov '01

> Having spent months getting into the nuts and bolts of Debian (which is > excellent - though not for the newbie - yet) and some 4 years as a linux > user generally, I have to say that with this release RedHat is so difficult > to beat. After half an hour we had a system up and running that I am still > miles away from with my Debian installation after months of messing. > In fact I'm going to dual boot to RedHat 7.2 myself now. > I would recommend to anyone out there considering giving Linux a go, spend > the tenner at cheep linux or get someone to burn you a copy - or even > support Red Hat and buy the boxed version, you too should be gobsmacked!! What are the particular problems that you are having with Debian? I'm quite prepared to set aside a little time to come and trouble-shoot it for you if it helps, or even just explain things by email if I have access to equivalent parts here. I suspect others are too. Debian is quite nice, but it's still (at 2.2r4) a case of knowing the right parts to install, as the preselected combinations aren't quite up there. Where RedHat still falls down, though, is at upgrade time. The lack of useful support systems for rpm (and indeed, I suspect that these are not possible because of the way rpm files are specified, but I don't have hard proof there) means that an upgrade seems to be effectively a reinstall. Debian is a lot harder to install, really, but you only install it once per machine, generally. -- MJR ,---------------------------------------------------- | Q. Do you need a net-based application developing, | or advice and training about web technology? | A. I suggest you try http://www.luminas.co.uk/

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Re: [Alug] Colour printing under Linux
by Edenyard 26 Nov '01

26 Nov '01

On Sun, 25 Nov 2001 11:04:52 +0000, Steve Fosdick wrote: > > I hope this isn't teaching grandmother to suck eggs but when > Oh, NO! Far from it! I need all the tuition on egg-sucking that I can get at the moment, especially with Linux. The points that you mentioned were all things that I hadn't considered, so they were all very much worth mentioning. So please carry on with teaching Grandma.... Regarding my complaint about crippled Turboprint - maybe it's just me being very mean. Perhaps I've been spoilt by the extremely open-handed attitude of all the Linux things I've fiddled with so far. Gerald.

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CD Writer Trouble
by Steve Fosdick 26 Nov '01

26 Nov '01

Hi All, I am having trouble with a CD writer, a Yamaha CRW2100S SCSI. Trying to write with this CD writer using cdrdao always aborts with an error at what appears to be the same location on the disk each time (07:52, somewhere in track 6 IIRC) . It does this whether in real write mode or in simulate mode. Trying to write with this CD writer using cdrecord always aborts with an error between track 1 and track 2. I have only tried this in simulate mode. So, the first thing I'd like to know is if people think this is hardware problem, or a compatibility problem between the drivers and the CDR unit? The only driver for cdrdao that seems to do anything useful with this CDR is the mmc-raw driver. When the problem occurs the following output is produced; Starting: cdrdao simulate --remote 7 -v0 --device 1,0,0 --driver generic-mmc-raw:0x0 --buffers 30 /tmp/tocvmhD6b ?: Input/output error. : scsi sendcmd: no error CDB: 2A 00 00 00 8A BC 00 00 1A 00 status: 0x2 (CHECK CONDITION) Sense Bytes: 70 00 06 00 00 00 00 0A 00 00 00 00 29 00 00 00 Sense Key: 0x6 Unit Attention, Segment 0 Sense Code: 0x29 Qual 0x00 (power on, reset, or bus device reset occurred) Fru 0x0 Sense flags: Blk 0 (not valid) cmd finished after 2.879s timeout 20s ERROR: Write data failed. ERROR: Writing failed - buffer under run? ERROR: Simulation failed. And dmesg reports: sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 40x/40x writer cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray VFS: Disk change detected on device sr(11,0) ncr53c810-0:0: ERROR (20:0) (8-28-0) (7/13) @ (script e7c:180008a0). ncr53c810-0: script cmd = 88080000 ncr53c810-0: regdump: da 10 80 13 47 07 00 1f 80 08 80 28 00 00 00 00. ncr53c810-0: have to clear fifos. ncr53c810-0-<0,*>: FAST-10 SCSI 10.0 MB/s (100 ns, offset 7) For cdrecord, cdrecord seems to pick the mmc driver. The error message I get know from it is: cdrecord: Input/output error. read track info: scsi sendcmd: no error CDB: 52 01 00 00 00 FF 00 00 1C 00 status: 0x2 (CHECK CONDITION) Sense Bytes: 70 00 05 00 00 00 00 0A 00 00 00 00 24 00 00 00 Sense Key: 0x5 Illegal Request, Segment 0 Sense Code: 0x24 Qual 0x00 (invalid field in cdb) Fru 0x0 Sense flags: Blk 0 (not valid) cmd finished after 0.000s timeout 240s Steve.

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RE; [Alug] Colour Printing under Linux
by John Seago 25 Nov '01

25 Nov '01

Perhaps the answer may lie in using the Alien Package converter from: http://www.kitenet.net/programs/alien/ which purports to convert packages into acceptable formats for Stampede, Slackware, Debian, or RPM's. Not having used it I can't vouch for it's performance, it seems to be included in Mandrake 8.1 however, so it must work one way at least, or so one would presume. John Seago

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Wireless kit
by Martyn Drake 25 Nov '01

25 Nov '01

Hi folks, Can anybody recommend some cheapo wireless kit for a two machine home network. The "server" is a Red Hat 7.2 box with a USB ADSL modem hooked up with full IP masquerading and iptables firewall in place. The other machine is a laptop running Windows 2000. I'm thinking 3COM, but I'm sure they're going to be an expensive choice. Regards, Martyn

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Re: [Alug] Colour printing under Linux
by MJ Ray 25 Nov '01

25 Nov '01

Steve Fosdick: > On Sat, 24 Nov 2001 18:45:04 Edenyard wrote: > > Have you actually ever installed CUPS? I first of all tried Yes. I didn't like it and removed it. It was far too much of an "all in one and don't ask what goes on inside" solution for me. > [...] When you convert the > rpm to a tgz that isn't going to happen - you'll get the files > installed on the filesystem but no setup done. If the tgz is a slackware package, this isn't true. Of course, there are many differences between RH and slackware that may trip it up, as you correctly note. > It's up to the writer(s) of Turboprint if they give you > the source code or if they demand money to use the software. > It's up to you if you accept their conditions or choose > something else. Something else! Something else! ;-) Actually, if you get the source under a Free licence and it's being a troublesome printer, it may well be worth paying them. -- MJR

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Owen can't make Sundays meeting
by Adam Bower 25 Nov '01

25 Nov '01

Hi people, I spoke to Owen briefly yesterday afternoon and he has asked me to tell the list that he will not be able to make the meeting on Sunday and therefore there will be no talk on IPC. He has told me that he will do the talk sometime in the future, the reason that he can't come is because of some personal commitments. As for my talk on Debian, I don't currently have either a phoneline or computer in my current home in London so any chance of doing anything Debian related is not so easy. I am hoping to move out soon and get to a broadband serviced area though so things will (hopefully) be resolved then and I will then work on getting a talk together for next year. The reason above BTW is why I have not been active on list for some time as I can't get ssh out and don't have a linux box yet (I got the goahead on Friday for a linux firewall/ipmasq/fileserver/mailserver/whatever... box) so should be back on list soon. Adam -- Adam "a funny thing about regret is, that it's better to regret something you have done, than to regret something you haven't done"

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Re: [Alug] Colour printing under Linux
by Edenyard 25 Nov '01

25 Nov '01

On Fri, 23 Nov 2001 11:51:01 +0000, MJ Ray wrote: > Yep. Use gimp-print drivers for CUPS, ghostscript or the GIMP if your > printer is supported. I hear the latest debians have the ghostscript > drivers as standard. > Have you actually ever installed CUPS? I first of all tried using the version that came with the cover CD on Linux-Format mag. That installed and ran, but it only had a selection of about a dozen drivers, which (I gather from reading the documentation) were only intended as 'sample' drivers. When I went through the ghastly experience of installing Mandrake 8, I noticed that this had CUPS installed also, but had stacks and stacks of drivers, including something called 'DJ930C foomatic+stp-4.1.5(GIMP-Print)', which seemed to give better results than anything else with my 930C printer. Since I managed to find the relevant .ppd file buried in Mandrake, I thought that it would be a simple matter to copy the ppd file over to Slack and the Linux-Format version of CUPS. No such luck. The file was there in the index (once I'd restarted CUPS) but it wouldn't print at all. Then I removed that version of CUPS from Slack and tried installing the Mandrake .rpms (having converted them to .tgz) but that was a complete disaster. Sure, lots and lots of drivers now listed, but NONE of them would produce a test print. I'm quite happy to accept that my intelligence is below normal for this sort of thing, but I've found the whole CUPS experience frustrating in the extreme so far. Today I found Turboprint after a search on Google.com. I didn't hold out a lot of hope, given my success to date, but I've managed to get it to work with the standard lpr that comes with Slackware and the colour photos that I've been getting today from it are as good as any I've had thus far. Best of all, I'm now free of Mandrake! The only down-side to Turboprint is that it's crippled shareware, i.e., it prints a big 'this is turboprint' sort of banner across the colour pictures. I didn't think that that sort of thing was acceptable under Linux? I'd be very interested to hear how other people have got on with this kind of thing. Gerald.

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suse5.2!!!!!
by tom potts 24 Nov '01

24 Nov '01

Sorry if I've asked this before: Does anyone have the Suse 5.2 CD that came on the cover of PC World (I think?). Its the only one I've been able to get to load on 4 meg 386 machines and I though it would be fun to try with the Linux Terminal Server thats coming up. Tom __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Everything you'll ever need on one web page from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts http://uk.my.yahoo.com

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problem when running perl...
by Simon Parkes 24 Nov '01

24 Nov '01

Hi again, I'm getting a strange problem whenever I run perl, I get this output :- perl: warning: Setting locale failed. perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings: LANGUAGE = (unset), LC_ALL = (unset), LANG = "en_GB" are supported and installed on your system. perl: warning: Falling back to the standard locale ("C"). I know (or think) it's something to do with the file /etc/sysconfig/i18n but I can't figure out how to setup the rest, are there defaults that these variables should be set to? TIA Simon

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more on network card
by Jenny_Hopkins＠toby-churchill.com 23 Nov '01

23 Nov '01

I think what is happening is that when the machine is rebooting, it is losing its eth0 settings, and so the wins server hasn't a clue what it is, and can't resolve any requests made for trx850 when requests are made. I then have to do insmod rtl8139 and bring up the network address with ifconfig. These settings are then lost again when i reboot. I can't find why the routing stuff is being lost. But I feel if it wasn't my problem would be solved. Sorry about this. Jen.

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Re: [Alug] new netowrk card
by Jenny_Hopkins＠toby-churchill.com 23 Nov '01

23 Nov '01

Ricardo wrote: >>How do the windoze boxes connect to it? via a URL or a windoze style \\intranet\index.html method? Has the IP >address changed at all? If your windoze boxes use a Hosts file, that will have to be updated if the IP has changed. No, I changed nothing else. IP stayed the same. The only thing is that the card uses UTP rather than BNC, but as the card is talking on the network this can't be a problem. Connect via samba shares (working ok) then trying to connect to the apache server (not working ok). I *think* I've now narrowed the problem down to the WINS server not detecting the linux box on the network anymore. Why I don't know though. Thanks, Jenny.

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Re: [Alug] new netowrk card
by Jenny_Hopkins＠toby-churchill.com 23 Nov '01

23 Nov '01

No, I did restart samba and apache, also have checked all through /etc/network and ifconfig. Ifconfig is showing the card as there and raring to go. Log files: apache/error.log shows nothing abnormal, even though i've been trying to access webpages from windows machine on network and failing. apache/access.log doesn't recognise that the machine has been trying to reach the pages. I thought there may be a method for checking the settings for a network card, similar to the config program I ran on the 3c509. Thanks. Jen.

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Re: [Alug] new netowrk card
by MJ Ray 23 Nov '01

23 Nov '01

Chris: > I don't know what distro you're using, but the service command works with > Redhat and Mandrake. The word "debian" should be a clue. The general Unix equivalents are: /etc/init.d/samba restart /etc/init.d/apache restart I don't think that's the problem though. Jenny: > > no longer appearing in the windows network neighbourhood, and the inranet > > site served up from linuxbox won't display over the network (it will > > display using lynx on itself). > > Is there a file in debian where I can check the settings for a card, eg > > check it is configured to use TCP/IP (I think ping is UDP)? ping is ICMP. TCP/IP is quite core to GNU/Linux, so using ifconfig -a should show that the card is configured. Other files to look at include the contents of /etc/network and your log files. HTH -- MJR

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new netowrk card
by Jenny_Hopkins＠toby-churchill.com 23 Nov '01

23 Nov '01

Hi all! I've just replaced the 3com 10mb on my work box with a realtek 8139 100mb. The card is working, I can ping other machines on the network, telnet in to linuxbox from my windows machine, use my samba share, BUT the linux box is no longer appearing in the windows network neighbourhood, and the inranet site served up from linuxbox won't display over the network (it will display using lynx on itself). Is there a file in debian where I can check the settings for a card, eg check it is configured to use TCP/IP (I think ping is UDP)? Thanks, Jenny.

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Which CPU?
by Edenyard 23 Nov '01

23 Nov '01

I have a choice of 2 CPUs for my ex-skip Linux box: Intel P166-MMX (166MHz) or ST 6x86-166+ (133MHz). According to Norton SI under DOS, the MMX scores 580, whilst the 6x scores nearly 800, although both are reported as being a 486. However, when Linux boots, it reports 330 bogomips for the MMX but only about 160 for the 6x. I have two versions of the kernel 2.4.9, one optimised for the MMX and the other for the 6x. So the question is: which CPU will make Linux run faster? And will I notice the difference? Other system specs are RAM 64Mb, PCI bus, 256k PBSRAM cache. Gerald.

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Re: [Alug] Colour printing under Linux
by MJ Ray 23 Nov '01

23 Nov '01

Edenyard wrote: > Does anyone have any thoughts about colour (=photograph) printing > under Linux? [...] Yep. Use gimp-print drivers for CUPS, ghostscript or the GIMP if your printer is supported. I hear the latest debians have the ghostscript drivers as standard. -- MJR

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Re: [Alug] Big disks and BIOS
by Edenyard 23 Nov '01

23 Nov '01

Thanks for all the hints on these large disks, chaps! Seems like I'll go and open the wallet any day now. Look out for low-flying moths.... Gerald.

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Colour printing under Linux
by Edenyard 23 Nov '01

23 Nov '01

Does anyone have any thoughts about colour (=photograph) printing under Linux? Everything I've researched starts off by talking about 'The Linux Printing Problem'. I have an HP DJ930C and it seems to work on Mandrake 8.0 using a combination of CUPS and Kview. I really want it to work under my favourite Slackware, since Mandrake seems to run like a snail through treacle for me. I started off reading the Printing-HOWTO (several times) but, unlike most of the Linux HOWTOs that I've read, the printing one seems a complete muddle and I fear I'm none the wiser. I don't seem to be able to collect the right parts together to make Slackware do this thing so I was wondering whether anyone else has? Thanks for any pointers! Gerald.

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Re: [Alug] Debain installation crash]
by Steve Fosdick 22 Nov '01

22 Nov '01

On Thu, 22 Nov 2001 22:26:56 Ian Douglas wrote: > I brought myself a copy of "Debian GNU/Linux Bible" today and > tried installing Debian Potato on my PC from the CD bundled with > the book. I used fips to create some space on my Windows hard > disk, used rawrite to create the Rescue and Root floppies (my PC > cannot boot from CDs), reset the PC with the Rescue floppy and > CD inserted, watched loads of lines of text scroll past as the > PC booted then finally received a message telling me to remove > the Rescue disk insert the Root disk and press return. I put > the Root disk in, hit return, a line of text appears briefly > then my screen goes black and about a second later my PC resets > (consistently). Anyone any idea what is causing the installation > to crash? > > In frustration I have (successfully) installed SuSE Linux on > another hard disk which I can use in the PC to carry out tests > (if anyone can suggest any worth doing) to help determine the > cause of the Debian installation problem as I would like to be > able to install and experiment with Debian Linux if possible. A couple of possibilities spring to mind: corrupt floppies or a driver build into the default debian kernel conflicting with a different piece of hardware in your PC. To deal with the corrupt floppies issue you use your SuSE distribution to compare the debian floppies against the image of these from the Debian CD: cmp /dev/fd0 /cdrom/whereever-the-floppy-image-is for each disk changing the right hand of the two paths to match the images you actually used from the Debian CD. Please also bear in mind that not all magazine cover disks have the correct versions of everything including the floppy images. Regarding the kernel drivers problem, and official Debian CD set ships with a choice of boot floppy images containing various different kernels to suit different hardware. If you have that choice from your CD it may be worth trying on of the other ones. If these aren't on your CD you can find them on the Debian FTP site. Start with this directory: ftp:://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/dists/potato/main/disks-i386/2.2.26-2001-06… And then check the sub-directories safe udma66 idepci compact each of which contains a slightly different build of the kernel. Hope this helps. Steve.

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Debain installation crash
by Ian Douglas 22 Nov '01

22 Nov '01

I brought myself a copy of "Debian GNU/Linux Bible" today and tried installing Debian Potato on my PC from the CD bundled with the book. I used fips to create some space on my Windows hard disk, used rawrite to create the Rescue and Root floppies (my PC cannot boot from CDs), reset the PC with the Rescue floppy and CD inserted, watched loads of lines of text scroll past as the PC booted then finally received a message telling me to remove the Rescue disk insert the Root disk and press return. I put the Root disk in, hit return, a line of text appears briefly then my screen goes black and about a second later my PC resets (consistently). Anyone any idea what is causing the installation to crash? In frustration I have (successfully) installed SuSE Linux on another hard disk which I can use in the PC to carry out tests (if anyone can suggest any worth doing) to help determine the cause of the Debian installation problem as I would like to be able to install and experiment with Debian Linux if possible. Ian.

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Question about Background Processes
by Peter Bassill 22 Nov '01

22 Nov '01

Hi all Hoping some-one can help me. I have run a process and put it into the background. I have then logged off and then logged back on later but i can not get the process to come back to the foreground. Does anyone know how to do it? Any help would be extremely gratefully received. Pete Bassill

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Xine (& rpm's oh dear oh dear)
by Ricardo Campos 22 Nov '01

22 Nov '01

OK. I've got Xine 0.9.1 up and running, but it's now up to release 0.9.4, and DVD nav just doesn't work at all in 0.9.1, in fact it's done something weird with the UI. (has anyone had any luck with dvdnav?) If I try and $rpm -e xine-lib-0.9.1*.rpm then it says that it isn't installed If I $rpm -Uvh xine-lib-0.9.1*.rpm then it says it's already installed! grrrrr.... My only worry is that I was never able to get 0.9.2 to work, or 0.9.4., so if I install the new rpm's with the -ivh flag, I might not be able to uninstall it and revert to a working, if flawed installation. Anyone know why rpm thinks packages that *are* installed aren't? or any way that I could preserve and older installation? would the --force option do the same, if I used the older rpms? Ricardito -- Get your free email from www.linuxmail.org Powered by Outblaze

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