griptypethyne

I have put in a lot of effort trying to get compiz working on gnome. After much googling I formed the opinion that it was not possible with Mandriva Free. I therefore decided to try and get beryl going. I did not succeed but quite by chance discovered that agl was working on gnome :unsure: I am not entirely sure how I did it but here is my report. First I installed Mandriva One to confirm that my hardware (Geforce 420) supported agl. I then went back to Mandriva Free and installed the plf 8774 driver. agl worked on kde but not gnome. Reading the various forums this seems to be every one's experience. After installing and trying to run beryl my system locked after logon. After three years with Linux I no longer panic and reinstall the system :D Instead I entered <ctl><alt><backspace> to get back to gdm. Sometimes problems are related to one user so I tried logging on as another user with a gnome session. The logon was successful. I opened a window and then noticed it fade in and out. Excitedly I tried <ctrl><alt> -> and the cube rotated I have since carried out some experiments and this is what I have found: My system freezes if I try and logon to my original user with agl on. If I logon to the user on which agl works, make sure agl is on, create a new user, re-boot and logon to the new user agl/gnome works. My conclusion is the agl on gnome works only if the user is created *after* compiz has been installed and agl turned on. Not sure if that really helps or not. Maybe installing beryl (urpmi) changed a permission and allowed agl to work. Whatever the reason, I can confirm that on Mandriva Free agl does work on gnome. Sorry if someone has posted the definitive solution and I have missed it.

I searched for kde-config files and found one in the kde3.5.4 directory. I ran echo `/opt/kde3.5.4/bin/kde-config --path exe` and the result was /root/.kde/bin/:/opt/kde3.5.4/bin/ I edited the execpath line in startkde to exepath=`/opt/kde3.5.4/bin/kde-config --path exe` However when I re-booted kde3.5.4 started. Ooooppp!!! Sorry. Finger trouble. Last line in previous message should read 3.2 started.

I edited .xinitrc and set it as follows:: #!/bin/sh # © 2000-2002 MandrakeSoft # $Id: xinitrc-xinitrc,v 1.2 2002/09/10 05:53:43 flepied Exp $ # Set a background here because it's not done anymore # in Xsesion for non root users if [ "`whoami`" != root ]; then xsetroot -solid "#21449C" fi #exec /etc/X11/Xsession $* export QTDIR=/opt/kde3.5.4 export KDEDIR=/opt/kde3.5.4 export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/kde3.5.4/lib export PATH=/opt/kde3.5.4/bin:$PATH export KDEHOME=~/.kdetest # Tried startkde and exec startkde for following line. #exec startkde startkde When I booted kde 3.2.3 started. I next looked at startkde (full listing below). I noticed a line exepath=`kde-config --path exe` From a terminal I ran echo `kde-config --path exe` The result was /root/.kde/bin/:/usr/bin/ ----- when su root /home/dad1/.kde/bin/:/usr/bin/ ---- when su <user> which presumably is the location of kde 3.2.3. Maybe I need to modify this line to point to the config file for 3.5? Or may be I set exepath directly? ********* startkde listing ******************************** #!/bin/sh # # DEFAULT KDE STARTUP SCRIPT ( KDE-3.2 ) # # When the X server dies we get a HUP signal from xinit. We must ignore it # because we still need to do some cleanup. trap 'echo GOT SIGHUP' HUP # we have to unset this for Darwin since it will screw up KDE's dynamic-loading unset DYLD_FORCE_FLAT_NAMESPACE # Boot sequence: # # kdeinit is used to fork off processes which improves memory usage # and startup time. # # * kdeinit starts the dcopserver and klauncher first. # * Then kded is started. kded is responsible for keeping the sycoca # database up to date. When an up to date database is present it goes # into the background and the startup continues. # * Then kdeinit starts kcminit. kcminit performs initialisation of # certain devices according to the user's settings # # * Then ksmserver is started which in turn starts # 1) the window manager (kwin) # 2) everything in $KDEDIR/share/autostart (kdesktop, kicker, etc.) # 3) the rest of the session. # The user's personal KDE directory is usually ~/.kde, but this setting # may be overridden by setting KDEHOME. kdehome=$HOME/.kde test -n "$KDEHOME" && kdehome=`echo "$KDEHOME"|sed "s,^~/,$HOME/,"` exepath=`kde-config --path exe` for prefix in `echo "$exepath" | sed -e 's^/bin/^/env/^g;s^:^ ^g'`; do for file in "$prefix"*.sh; do test -r "$file" && . "$file" done done # Activate the kde font directories. # # There are 4 directories that may be used for supplying fonts for KDE. # # There are two system directories. These belong to the administrator. # There are two user directories, where the user may add her own fonts. # # The 'override' versions are for fonts that should come first in the list, # i.e. if you have a font in your 'override' directory, it will be used in # preference to any other. # # The preference order looks like this: # user override, system override, X, user, system # # Where X is the original font database that was set up before this script # runs. usr_odir=$HOME/.fonts/kde-override usr_fdir=$HOME/.fonts # Add any user-installed font directories to the X font path kde_fontpaths=$usr_fdir/fontpaths do_usr_fdir=1 do_usr_odir=1 if test -r "$kde_fontpaths" ; then savifs=$IFS IFS=" " for fpath in `grep -v '^[ ]*#' < "$kde_fontpaths"` ; do rfpath=`echo $fpath | sed "s:^~:$HOME:g"` if test -s "$rfpath"/fonts.dir; then xset fp+ "$rfpath" if test "$rfpath" = "$usr_fdir"; then do_usr_fdir=0 fi if test "$rfpath" = "$usr_odir"; then do_usr_odir=0 fi fi done IFS=$savifs fi if test -n "$KDEDIRS"; then kdedirs_first=`echo "$KDEDIRS"|sed -e 's/:.*//'` sys_odir=$kdedirs_first/share/fonts/override sys_fdir=$kdedirs_first/share/fonts else sys_odir=$KDEDIR/share/fonts/override sys_fdir=$KDEDIR/share/fonts fi # We run mkfontdir on the user's font dirs (if we have permission) to pick # up any new fonts they may have installed. If mkfontdir fails, we still # add the user's dirs to the font path, as they might simply have been made # read-only by the administrator, for whatever reason. # Only do usr_fdir and usr_odir if they are *not* listed in fontpaths test -d "$sys_odir" && xset +fp "$sys_odir" test $do_usr_odir -eq 1 && test -d "$usr_odir" && (mkfontdir "$usr_odir" ; xset +fp "$usr_odir") test $do_usr_fdir -eq 1 && test -d "$usr_fdir" && (mkfontdir "$usr_fdir" ; xset fp+ "$usr_fdir") test -d "$sys_fdir" && xset fp+ "$sys_fdir" # Ask X11 to rebuild its font list. xset fp rehash # if the user has overwritten fonts, the cursor font may be different now # so don't move this up # Set a left cursor instead of the standard X11 "X" cursor, since I've heard # from some users that they're confused and don't know what to do. This is # especially necessary on slow machines, where starting KDE takes one or two # minutes until anything appears on the screen. # # Set the background to plain grey. # The standard X background is nasty, causing moire effects and exploding # people's heads. We use colours from the standard KDE palette for those with # palettised displays. xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr $bkg [ ! -d $kdehome/share/config ] && mkdir -p $kdehome/share/config if [ ! -e /dev/dsp ] && [ ! -e $kdehome/share/config/kcmartsrc ] ; then echo "[Arts]" > $kdehome/share/config/kcmartsrc echo "StartServer=false" >> $kdehome/share/config/kcmartsrc fi magicdev & if [ "`whoami`" = root ] ; then cd /usr/share/mdk/kde/root-interface/ for i in *; do if [ ! -e /root/.kde/share/config/$i ]; then cp -fr $i /root/.kde/share/config/ fi done cd - else #if [ -f ~/.drakfw ] && [ -f $kdehome/share/apps/konqueror/bookmarks.xml ] && [ "$(cat $kdehome/share/apps/konqueror/bookmarks.xml | wc -l| awk '{print $1}')" -eq "2" ] ; then # cp -fv /usr/share/mdk/kde/bookmarks.xml $kdehome/share/apps/konqueror/ # perl -pi -e "/\[KonqMainWindow Toolbar bookmarkToolBar\]/ .. /^\s*$/ and s/Hidden=true/Hidden=false/" $kdehome/share/config/konquerorc #elif [ ! -f $kdehome/share/apps/konqueror/bookmarks.xml ]; then # [ ! -d $kdehome/share/apps/konqueror/ ] && mkdir -p $kdehome/share/apps/konqueror/ # cp -fv /usr/share/mdk/kde/bookmarks.xml $kdehome/share/apps/konqueror/ #fi if [ $(grep "META_CLASS=desktop" /etc/sysconfig/system) ]; then if [ ! -e $kdehome/Autostart/openkmenu.desktop ] && [ ! -e $kdehome/Autostart/.openkmenu ]; then [ ! -d $kdehome/Autostart ] && mkdir -p $kdehome/Autostart cp /usr/share/mdk/kde/openkmenu.desktop $kdehome/Autostart/ && touch $kdehome/Autostart/.openkmenu else rm -f $kdehome/Autostart/openkmenu.desktop fi elif [ -e $kdehome/Autostart/openkmenu.desktop ]; then rm -f $kdehome/Autostart/openkmenu.desktop fi fi if [ ! -e $kdehome/Autostart/alignment-icons.desktop ] && [ ! -e $kdehome/Autostart/.alignment-icons ]; then [ ! -d $kdehome/Autostart ] && mkdir -p $kdehome/Autostart cp /usr/share/mdk/kde/alignment-icons.desktop $kdehome/Autostart/ && touch $kdehome/Autostart/.alignment-icons else rm -f $kdehome/Autostart/alignment-icons.desktop fi export HELP_BROWSER="kfmclient openProfile webbrowsing" export BROWSER="kfmclient openProfile webbrowsing" export DESKTOP="kde" # David - 2.1.1-4mdk - To be able to use the Windows key to open the K menu # laurent kde 2.2-22mdk test windows-key machine_type=$(uname -m) if [ $machine_type != "ppc" ] && [ $machine_type != "sparc" ] && [ $machine_type != "alpha" ] ; then /usr/bin/test-windows-key fi # Get Ghostscript to look into user's KDE fonts dir for additional Fontmap if test -n "$GS_LIB" ; then GS_LIB=$usr_fdir:$GS_LIB export GS_LIB else GS_LIB=$usr_fdir export GS_LIB fi # Link "tmp" resource to directory in /tmp # Creates a directory /tmp/kde-$USER and links $KDEHOME/tmp-$HOSTNAME to it. lnusertemp tmp >/dev/null # Link "socket" resource to directory in /tmp # Creates a directory /tmp/ksocket-$USER and links $KDEHOME/socket-$HOSTNAME to it. lnusertemp socket >/dev/null # Link "cache" resource to directory in /var/tmp # Creates a directory /var/tmp/kdecache-$USER and links $KDEHOME/cache-$HOSTNAME to it. lnusertemp cache >/dev/null # In case of dcop sockets left by a previous session, cleanup dcopserver_shutdown echo 'startkde: Starting up...' 1>&2 # the splashscreen and progress indicator ksplash --nodcop # We set LD_BIND_NOW to increase the efficiency of kdeinit. # kdeinit unsets this variable before loading applications. LD_BIND_NOW=true kdeinit +kcminit +knotify if test $? -ne 0; then # Startup error echo 'startkde: Could not start kdeinit. Check your installation.' 1>&2 xmessage -geometry 500x100 "Could not start kdeinit. Check your installation." fi # finally, give the session control to the session manager # if the KDEWM environment variable has been set, then it will be used as KDE's # window manager instead of kwin. # if KDEWM is not set, ksmserver will ensure kwin is started. # kwrapper is used to reduce startup time and memory usage # kwrapper does not return usefull error codes such as the exit code of ksmserver. # We only check for 255 which means that the ksmserver process could not be # started, any problems thereafter, e.g. ksmserver failing to initialize, # will remain undetected. test -n "$KDEWM" && KDEWM="--windowmanager $KDEWM" kwrapper ksmserver $KDEWM if test $? -eq 255; then # Startup error echo 'startkde: Could not start ksmserver. Check your installation.' 1>&2 xmessage -geometry 500x100 "Could not start ksmserver. Check your installation." fi echo 'startkde: Shutting down...' 1>&2 # Clean up kdeinit_shutdown dcopserver_shutdown artsshell -q terminate echo 'startkde: Running shutdown scripts...' 1>&2 # Run scripts found in $KDEDIRS/shutdown for prefix in `echo "$exepath" | sed -e 's^/bin/^/shutdown/^g;s^:^ ^g'`; do for file in `ls "$prefix" 2> /dev/null | egrep -v '(~|\.bak)$'`; do test -x "$prefix$file" && "$prefix$file" done done echo 'startkde: Done.' 1>&2 I edited .xinitrc and set it as follows:: #!/bin/sh # © 2000-2002 MandrakeSoft # $Id: xinitrc-xinitrc,v 1.2 2002/09/10 05:53:43 flepied Exp $ # Set a background here because it's not done anymore # in Xsesion for non root users if [ "`whoami`" != root ]; then xsetroot -solid "#21449C" fi #exec /etc/X11/Xsession $* export QTDIR=/opt/kde3.5.4 export KDEDIR=/opt/kde3.5.4 export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/kde3.5.4/lib export PATH=/opt/kde3.5.4/bin:$PATH export KDEHOME=~/.kdetest # Tried startkde and exec startkde for following line. #exec startkde startkde When I booted kde 3.2.3 started. I next looked at startkde (full listing below). I noticed a line exepath=`kde-config --path exe` From a terminal I ran echo `kde-config --path exe` The result was /root/.kde/bin/:/usr/bin/ ----- when su root /home/dad1/.kde/bin/:/usr/bin/ ---- when su <user> which presumably is the location of kde 3.2.3. Maybe I need to modify this line to point to the config file for 3.5? Or may be I set exepath directly? ********* startkde listing ******************************** #!/bin/sh # # DEFAULT KDE STARTUP SCRIPT ( KDE-3.2 ) # # When the X server dies we get a HUP signal from xinit. We must ignore it # because we still need to do some cleanup. trap 'echo GOT SIGHUP' HUP # we have to unset this for Darwin since it will screw up KDE's dynamic-loading unset DYLD_FORCE_FLAT_NAMESPACE # Boot sequence: # # kdeinit is used to fork off processes which improves memory usage # and startup time. # # * kdeinit starts the dcopserver and klauncher first. # * Then kded is started. kded is responsible for keeping the sycoca # database up to date. When an up to date database is present it goes # into the background and the startup continues. # * Then kdeinit starts kcminit. kcminit performs initialisation of # certain devices according to the user's settings # # * Then ksmserver is started which in turn starts # 1) the window manager (kwin) # 2) everything in $KDEDIR/share/autostart (kdesktop, kicker, etc.) # 3) the rest of the session. # The user's personal KDE directory is usually ~/.kde, but this setting # may be overridden by setting KDEHOME. kdehome=$HOME/.kde test -n "$KDEHOME" && kdehome=`echo "$KDEHOME"|sed "s,^~/,$HOME/,"` exepath=`kde-config --path exe` for prefix in `echo "$exepath" | sed -e 's^/bin/^/env/^g;s^:^ ^g'`; do for file in "$prefix"*.sh; do test -r "$file" && . "$file" done done # Activate the kde font directories. # # There are 4 directories that may be used for supplying fonts for KDE. # # There are two system directories. These belong to the administrator. # There are two user directories, where the user may add her own fonts. # # The 'override' versions are for fonts that should come first in the list, # i.e. if you have a font in your 'override' directory, it will be used in # preference to any other. # # The preference order looks like this: # user override, system override, X, user, system # # Where X is the original font database that was set up before this script # runs. usr_odir=$HOME/.fonts/kde-override usr_fdir=$HOME/.fonts # Add any user-installed font directories to the X font path kde_fontpaths=$usr_fdir/fontpaths do_usr_fdir=1 do_usr_odir=1 if test -r "$kde_fontpaths" ; then savifs=$IFS IFS=" " for fpath in `grep -v '^[ ]*#' < "$kde_fontpaths"` ; do rfpath=`echo $fpath | sed "s:^~:$HOME:g"` if test -s "$rfpath"/fonts.dir; then xset fp+ "$rfpath" if test "$rfpath" = "$usr_fdir"; then do_usr_fdir=0 fi if test "$rfpath" = "$usr_odir"; then do_usr_odir=0 fi fi done IFS=$savifs fi if test -n "$KDEDIRS"; then kdedirs_first=`echo "$KDEDIRS"|sed -e 's/:.*//'` sys_odir=$kdedirs_first/share/fonts/override sys_fdir=$kdedirs_first/share/fonts else sys_odir=$KDEDIR/share/fonts/override sys_fdir=$KDEDIR/share/fonts fi # We run mkfontdir on the user's font dirs (if we have permission) to pick # up any new fonts they may have installed. If mkfontdir fails, we still # add the user's dirs to the font path, as they might simply have been made # read-only by the administrator, for whatever reason. # Only do usr_fdir and usr_odir if they are *not* listed in fontpaths test -d "$sys_odir" && xset +fp "$sys_odir" test $do_usr_odir -eq 1 && test -d "$usr_odir" && (mkfontdir "$usr_odir" ; xset +fp "$usr_odir") test $do_usr_fdir -eq 1 && test -d "$usr_fdir" && (mkfontdir "$usr_fdir" ; xset fp+ "$usr_fdir") test -d "$sys_fdir" && xset fp+ "$sys_fdir" # Ask X11 to rebuild its font list. xset fp rehash # if the user has overwritten fonts, the cursor font may be different now # so don't move this up # Set a left cursor instead of the standard X11 "X" cursor, since I've heard # from some users that they're confused and don't know what to do. This is # especially necessary on slow machines, where starting KDE takes one or two # minutes until anything appears on the screen. # # Set the background to plain grey. # The standard X background is nasty, causing moire effects and exploding # people's heads. We use colours from the standard KDE palette for those with # palettised displays. xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr $bkg [ ! -d $kdehome/share/config ] && mkdir -p $kdehome/share/config if [ ! -e /dev/dsp ] && [ ! -e $kdehome/share/config/kcmartsrc ] ; then echo "[Arts]" > $kdehome/share/config/kcmartsrc echo "StartServer=false" >> $kdehome/share/config/kcmartsrc fi magicdev & if [ "`whoami`" = root ] ; then cd /usr/share/mdk/kde/root-interface/ for i in *; do if [ ! -e /root/.kde/share/config/$i ]; then cp -fr $i /root/.kde/share/config/ fi done cd - else #if [ -f ~/.drakfw ] && [ -f $kdehome/share/apps/konqueror/bookmarks.xml ] && [ "$(cat $kdehome/share/apps/konqueror/bookmarks.xml | wc -l| awk '{print $1}')" -eq "2" ] ; then # cp -fv /usr/share/mdk/kde/bookmarks.xml $kdehome/share/apps/konqueror/ # perl -pi -e "/\[KonqMainWindow Toolbar bookmarkToolBar\]/ .. /^\s*$/ and s/Hidden=true/Hidden=false/" $kdehome/share/config/konquerorc #elif [ ! -f $kdehome/share/apps/konqueror/bookmarks.xml ]; then # [ ! -d $kdehome/share/apps/konqueror/ ] && mkdir -p $kdehome/share/apps/konqueror/ # cp -fv /usr/share/mdk/kde/bookmarks.xml $kdehome/share/apps/konqueror/ #fi if [ $(grep "META_CLASS=desktop" /etc/sysconfig/system) ]; then if [ ! -e $kdehome/Autostart/openkmenu.desktop ] && [ ! -e $kdehome/Autostart/.openkmenu ]; then [ ! -d $kdehome/Autostart ] && mkdir -p $kdehome/Autostart cp /usr/share/mdk/kde/openkmenu.desktop $kdehome/Autostart/ && touch $kdehome/Autostart/.openkmenu else rm -f $kdehome/Autostart/openkmenu.desktop fi elif [ -e $kdehome/Autostart/openkmenu.desktop ]; then rm -f $kdehome/Autostart/openkmenu.desktop fi fi if [ ! -e $kdehome/Autostart/alignment-icons.desktop ] && [ ! -e $kdehome/Autostart/.alignment-icons ]; then [ ! -d $kdehome/Autostart ] && mkdir -p $kdehome/Autostart cp /usr/share/mdk/kde/alignment-icons.desktop $kdehome/Autostart/ && touch $kdehome/Autostart/.alignment-icons else rm -f $kdehome/Autostart/alignment-icons.desktop fi export HELP_BROWSER="kfmclient openProfile webbrowsing" export BROWSER="kfmclient openProfile webbrowsing" export DESKTOP="kde" # David - 2.1.1-4mdk - To be able to use the Windows key to open the K menu # laurent kde 2.2-22mdk test windows-key machine_type=$(uname -m) if [ $machine_type != "ppc" ] && [ $machine_type != "sparc" ] && [ $machine_type != "alpha" ] ; then /usr/bin/test-windows-key fi # Get Ghostscript to look into user's KDE fonts dir for additional Fontmap if test -n "$GS_LIB" ; then GS_LIB=$usr_fdir:$GS_LIB export GS_LIB else GS_LIB=$usr_fdir export GS_LIB fi # Link "tmp" resource to directory in /tmp # Creates a directory /tmp/kde-$USER and links $KDEHOME/tmp-$HOSTNAME to it. lnusertemp tmp >/dev/null # Link "socket" resource to directory in /tmp # Creates a directory /tmp/ksocket-$USER and links $KDEHOME/socket-$HOSTNAME to it. lnusertemp socket >/dev/null # Link "cache" resource to directory in /var/tmp # Creates a directory /var/tmp/kdecache-$USER and links $KDEHOME/cache-$HOSTNAME to it. lnusertemp cache >/dev/null # In case of dcop sockets left by a previous session, cleanup dcopserver_shutdown echo 'startkde: Starting up...' 1>&2 # the splashscreen and progress indicator ksplash --nodcop # We set LD_BIND_NOW to increase the efficiency of kdeinit. # kdeinit unsets this variable before loading applications. LD_BIND_NOW=true kdeinit +kcminit +knotify if test $? -ne 0; then # Startup error echo 'startkde: Could not start kdeinit. Check your installation.' 1>&2 xmessage -geometry 500x100 "Could not start kdeinit. Check your installation." fi # finally, give the session control to the session manager # if the KDEWM environment variable has been set, then it will be used as KDE's # window manager instead of kwin. # if KDEWM is not set, ksmserver will ensure kwin is started. # kwrapper is used to reduce startup time and memory usage # kwrapper does not return usefull error codes such as the exit code of ksmserver. # We only check for 255 which means that the ksmserver process could not be # started, any problems thereafter, e.g. ksmserver failing to initialize, # will remain undetected. test -n "$KDEWM" && KDEWM="--windowmanager $KDEWM" kwrapper ksmserver $KDEWM if test $? -eq 255; then # Startup error echo 'startkde: Could not start ksmserver. Check your installation.' 1>&2 xmessage -geometry 500x100 "Could not start ksmserver. Check your installation." fi echo 'startkde: Shutting down...' 1>&2 # Clean up kdeinit_shutdown dcopserver_shutdown artsshell -q terminate echo 'startkde: Running shutdown scripts...' 1>&2 # Run scripts found in $KDEDIRS/shutdown for prefix in `echo "$exepath" | sed -e 's^/bin/^/shutdown/^g;s^:^ ^g'`; do for file in `ls "$prefix" 2> /dev/null | egrep -v '(~|\.bak)$'`; do test -x "$prefix$file" && "$prefix$file" done done echo 'startkde: Done.' 1>&2

Sorry, I did not frame my question very well. I have not gone beyond building kde. I have not edited any system files because it is not clear to me what changes need to be made. ISTM that startx -> initrc -> xsession xsession runs icewm by default. That suggests to me that the xsession script first tries to run the gui specified by the user. I assume that that is where I should call the new script. I have not yet determined where that is. Once I have been pointed in the right direction I can begin experimenting again ;)

I am running mdk10.1. I have just finished building kde 3.5.4 using konstruct. My problem is that I cannot start the new version of kde. Folowing the konstruct README I created a shell script #! /bin/sh export QTDIR=/opt/kde3.5.4 export KDEDIR=/opt/kde3.5.4 export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/kde3.5.4/lib export PATH=/opt/kde3.5.4/bin:$PATH export KDEHOME=~/.kdetest startkde I assume that I must now edit one of the initialisation scripts to run the new script, but this is where the instructions get vague and googling does not help. So, please, what do I do next? Please do not suggest that I upgrade to Mandriva 2006 :D . I am running the latest versions of gimp, digikam and other packages. Installing 2006 would mean not only downloading three isos but rercompiling all of my applications.

Nearly there but I need some more help. Running digikam-hotplug from a terminal (logged on as user) works. The problem is that usbcam does not call digikam-hotplug. Th usbcam script fails because the $ACTION and $DEVICE variables have not been set. I have asdded ACTION="add" to the script but am having problems determining the device name. proc/bus/usb/devices lists the camera. lsusb gives Bus 002 Device 015: ID 04a9:3073 Canon, Inc. Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 If I go to /dev/usb there is a character device lp15. If I add DEVICE="lp15" I get a "Device Not Found" message. I am sure that I have seen HOWTOs on this subject but at the moment cannot seem to enter the correct combination of keywords into Google.

I am now making progress. Until a few hours ago I had seen the name dcop but did not know what it was. Now, after entering dcop --help from a terminal (no man oage) and googling "dcop tutorial" things are starting to become clearer. I entered dcop --user $USER and it gave me a list of applications using dcop - including digikam. I then ran dcop --user $USER digikam-3604 and it listed the available functions for digikam process 3604. Finally I tried dcop --list-sessions --user $USER and it told me I had one session. My next step will be to try and control digikam fom a terminal using dcop. If that works that will prove that the problem is not with digikam or dcop but is in the usbcam or digikam-hotplug scripts. I will not bore you with any more details but will post a message when I have solved the problem B)

My ISP has just upgraded my DSL to 2 megs so downloading the 2006 ISOs is not really a problem ... except that I have only 1GB so it would take three months :D I am waiting for my local electronics retailer to sell 2006 packages. He sold 9.1 & 10.1 so I assume that 2006 will appear eventually. Then I will buy a new hard drive and do a clean install. Back to 10.1... Some googling revealed that if I run dcop from a terminal it will give me a list of applications that use dcop. I tried this and the error message was ERROR: Couldn't attach to DCOP server! When I started this thread I was stuck. At least I now have a lead to follow.

I have compiled the latest nightly (0.8.2). Before that I had the same problem with 0.8.0 and 0.8.1. I cannot remember evergetting hotplugging to work with digikam. I do not think that it worked with 0.7. I have done some more digging around and this is what I get: usbcam correctly determines the current user so it must have found an active kde session. usbcam calls digikam-hotplug. I ran digikam-hotplug from a terminal. I received the message: ERROR: No active KDE sessions! If you are sure there is one, please set the $DCOPSERVER variable manually before calling dcop. I searched both usbcam and digikam-hotplug and could not find any reference to %DCOPSERVER. Also, I could not find this error message in digikam-hotplug. Maybe the problem is with dcop. I ran pkg-config --list-all but there was no reference to dcop. I tried dcop-config --version with no success. I also went into rpmdrake and searched for "dcop" in both the install and remove screens and there was no mention of it. Is dcop part of another package (kde?).

Any help with the following hotplugging problem would be appreciated. Mandrake 10.1 kernel 2.6.8.1 digikam 0.8.2 gphoto2 2.1.4 gphoto2 detects my camera. Using digikam I can download photos from the camera. However, hotplugging does not work. /var/log/messages indicates that when I plug the camera in it is detected and the script usbcam is run. usbcam correctly detects the user. usbcam then sends a message saying that it is starting digikam-hotplug. I have not been able to find evidence that digikam-hotplug actually starts - I may be looking in the wrong log file. digikam-hotplug is executable. usbcam then seems to go into a loop checking the state of a lock. The last few lines from dmesg are: usb 2-2: USB disconnect, address 8 usb 2-2: new full speed USB device using address 9 via_audio: ignoring drain playback error -11 usb 2-2: USB disconnect, address 9 The above usb messages occur when I switch the camera on and off so this part of the system appears to be working correctly. Here is an extract from the messages log: Apr 15 12:05:58 localhost kernel: usb 2-2: new full speed USB device using address 9 Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): ps -ef |grep kdeinit..kdesktop: dad 5915 1 0 Apr12 ? 00:00: 13 kdeinit: kdesktop ! Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): Started for dad, action: add Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [2] usbcam (0.3.2): /tmp/usbcam.lock detected, checking age of file! Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [2] usbcam (0.3.2): /tmp/usbcam.lock is 5506 seconds old; removing it. Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): Creating lockfile /tmp/usbcam.lock. Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): USB device /proc/bus/usb/002/009 found trying to start /etc/hotplug/usb/digik am-hotplug. Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): Starting digikam-hotplug for dad. Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost su(pam_unix)[21521]: session opened for user dad by (uid=0) Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost su(pam_unix)[21521]: session closed for user dad Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): ps -ef |grep kdeinit..kdesktop: dad 5915 1 0 Apr12 ? 00:00: 13 kdeinit: kdesktop ! Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): Started for dad, action: add Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [2] usbcam (0.3.2): /tmp/usbcam.lock detected, checking age of file! Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [2] usbcam (0.3.2): /tmp/usbcam.lock is 0 seconds old; exiting. Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): ps -ef |grep kdeinit..kdesktop: dad 5915 1 0 Apr12 ? 00:00: 13 kdeinit: kdesktop root 21594 21592 0 12:06 ? 00:00:00 grep kdeinit..kdesktop! Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): Started for dad, action: add Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [2] usbcam (0.3.2): /tmp/usbcam.lock detected, checking age of file! Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [2] usbcam (0.3.2): /tmp/usbcam.lock is 0 seconds old; exiting. Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): ps -ef |grep kdeinit..kdesktop: dad 5915 1 0 Apr12 ? 00:00: 13 kdeinit: kdesktop root 21624 21622 0 12:06 ? 00:00:00 grep kdeinit..kdesktop! Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): Started for dad, action: add Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [2] usbcam (0.3.2): /tmp/usbcam.lock detected, checking age of file! Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [2] usbcam (0.3.2): /tmp/usbcam.lock is 0 seconds old; exiting. Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): ps -ef |grep kdeinit..kdesktop: dad 5915 1 0 Apr12 ? 00:00: 13 kdeinit: kdesktop ! Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): Started for dad, action: add Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [2] usbcam (0.3.2): /tmp/usbcam.lock detected, checking age of file! Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [2] usbcam (0.3.2): /tmp/usbcam.lock is 0 seconds old; exiting. Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): ps -ef |grep kdeinit..kdesktop: dad 5915 1 0 Apr12 ? 00:00: 13 kdeinit: kdesktop ! Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): Started for dad, action: add Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [2] usbcam (0.3.2): /tmp/usbcam.lock detected, checking age of file! Apr 15 12:05:59 localhost [2] usbcam (0.3.2): /tmp/usbcam.lock is 0 seconds old; exiting. Apr 15 12:06:00 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): ps -ef |grep kdeinit..kdesktop: dad 5915 1 0 Apr12 ? 00:00 3 kdeinit: kdesktop root 21709 21707 0 12:06 ? 00:00:00 grep kdeinit..kdesktop! Apr 15 12:06:00 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): Started for dad, action: add Apr 15 12:06:00 localhost [2] usbcam (0.3.2): /tmp/usbcam.lock detected, checking age of file! Apr 15 12:06:00 localhost [2] usbcam (0.3.2): /tmp/usbcam.lock is 1 seconds old; exiting. Apr 15 12:06:00 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): ps -ef |grep kdeinit..kdesktop: dad 5915 1 0 Apr12 ? 00:00: 13 kdeinit: kdesktop ! Apr 15 12:06:00 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): Started for dad, action: add Apr 15 12:06:00 localhost [2] usbcam (0.3.2): /tmp/usbcam.lock detected, checking age of file! Apr 15 12:06:00 localhost [2] usbcam (0.3.2): /tmp/usbcam.lock is 1 seconds old; exiting. Apr 15 12:06:00 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): ps -ef |grep kdeinit..kdesktop: dad 5915 1 0 Apr12 ? 00:00: 13 kdeinit: kdesktop ! Apr 15 12:06:00 localhost [3] usbcam (0.3.2): Started for dad, action: add Apr 15 12:06:00 localhost [2] usbcam (0.3.2): /tmp/usbcam.lock detected, checking age of file! Apr 15 12:06:00 localhost [2] usbcam (0.3.2): /tmp/usbcam.lock is 1 seconds old; exiting. Apr 15 12:06:56 localhost dhclient: DHCPREQUEST on eth0 to 10.1.1.1 port 67 Apr 15 12:06:56 localhost dhclient: DHCPACK from 10.1.1.1 Apr 15 12:06:56 localhost dhclient: bound to 10.1.1.3 -- renewal in 122 seconds.

Sorry to keep replying to my own question but it helps me think. Also, now that I have raised this issue it is important (IMHO) that I give the solution when I find it. I extended the tests described above. Here is a summary of the results: Booted XP (so I could use dial-up). Zone Alarm on. Ran ShieldsUp test. DSL -ports 0 & 135 (RPC) are stealth; rest are closed. Dial-up - all ports are stealth. Turned off Zone Alarm. Ran ShieldsUp test. Using DSL – ports 0 & 135 (RPC) are stealth; rest are closed. (1) Dial up – The two stealth ports (in 1 above) change to open; other ports remain closed. This suggests that the modem is doing more than just passing packets through. The DSL-302G has NAT so I searched on "NAT router" and found the following two paragraphs: "Security: Basic NAT is not a real firewall? Basic NAT devices are not real firewalls, but they are usually considered ‘good enough’ for most home networks. By not forwarding requests or probes that originate from the internet to your LAN, a NAT device blocks most mischief. A simple NAT device can not keep hackers from running DOS (Denial Of Service) attacks on you, but individuals rarely get attacked like that. It will keep out people looking for file shares, rogue mail servers and web servers, and most port based exploits. Most also protect against SMURF and WinNuke atatcks. With a NAT device and a good anti-virus program, you should be safe from the most common kinds of internet attacks." "What If I want to host a server? Most NAT devices allow you to create maps between the internet and your computer network - this is called port forwarding. Example: A request on port 80 from the Internet (looking for a web server on your IP address) would normally be turned away by a NAT device. A special mapping can be set up to send that request from the internet to a specific computer on your network." This explains the behaviour I have observed. It follows that under Linux if I connect to the internet only via the DSL-302G I do not need iptables. If I use dial-up then I must install iptables. Under XP ZoneAlarm is desirable at all times because it can drop outgoing packets based on program. There is one matter still to be resolved but I am not in a hurry to solve it - unless someone can post the answer. From the tests I carried out it seems that some ports are closed by the OS. How?

Problem probably solved :D I booted XP [1] and ran ShieldsUp. The test failed. I then set up a dial-up connection and repeated the test. My box was completely invisible! The remaining question is this - is my DSL modem returning the connection closed packet or is it a problem with local/internet zones in guarddog? With a dial-up connection iptables deals with the real internet address and so can (presumably) distinguish between local and internet. With the DSL modem I have a simple local network with addresses 10.1.1.3 (PC) and 10.1.1.32 (modem) - maybe iptables sees both of theses as local? [1] Easier than installing the win modem driver and running the test under Linux.

I carried out some more tests but am even more confused (-; I have a DSL-303G modem on eth0. I ran dmesg and looked at the last few messages (unfortunately not time-stamped). I then ran the ShieldsUp test and confirmed that additional messages had been added to the log. Most messages were of the form DROPPED IN= OUT=eth0 SRC=10.1.1.3 DST=10.255.255.255 L.................. with a few ABORTED IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:40:f............................. All DROPPED messages were for OUT packets rather than IN. There were no REJECT packets, although ShieldUP can detect the ports. I am beginning to wonder if my modem is the culprit. However, AFAIK the DSL-302G is a basic modem with NAT but no built in firewall functionality.

I am running MDK10.1, iptables 1.2.9 and guarddog 2.4.0. I can confirm that guardog is running by clearing the DNS check box and attempting to load a web page, which of course fails. When I tick the box I can connect. In the "local serves internet " zone I leave all boxes cleared. This means that all incoming requests for connections should be dropped rather than rejected. However, Steve Gibson's ShieldsUp test detects all ports and says that they are closed, rather than saying that they do not exist. Thinking I may have become a little bit confused I put an X in a box and re-ran the test. No change. I am not too concerned about this as ipchains is refusing connections, but it would be better if I could make my box invisible. I am probably overlooking something obvious - can anyone suggest a reason why I cannot put my box into stealth mode?

I have made progress, but not how I planned. I discovered a file called libvc1-1.0.tar.gz. It seems that the SMPTE vc1 protocol is the same as/similar(?) to wma. I downloaded libvc1 but when I tried to compile it found that the source was missing. After some more googling I discovered that I had to locate and download a second file, then copy the source from that file to libvc1. I formed the impression that the second file was not in the public domain, which is probably why it was so hard to find. The whole issue of wma support in Linux is confusing. The vlc site openly states that vlc supports wma. The vlc developers are unlikely to state this unless the wma support is legal. On the other hand, wma is proprietry so the only legal approach seems to be to use the win32 dlls (assuming there is a legal copy of msw on the PC). I decided to go down a different path. I discovered that kplayer is a front end for mplayer. I compiled mplayer. I then went to rpm.pbone.net ( my fallback if urpmi is unsuccessful) and downloaded a kplayer binary. I made sure that the win32 dlls were in /usr/lib/codecs ( or /usr/local/lib/codecs - cannot remember which) and I can now listen to streaming radio that uses wma or mp3 formats. I can also play ra and ram but not rm files. When I wanted a program to create gif files it did not take me long to learn about the patent issues and why I should use png instead. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a site that explains in simple terms the issues relating to streaming protocols. There probably is one - I just have not found it yet (-;