ljones

Here's the output of fdisk; Disk /dev/sda: 1023 MB, 1023791104 bytes 16 heads, 32 sectors/track, 3905 cylinders Units = cylinders of 512 * 512 = 262144 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 1 3906 999768+ 6 FAT16 If it helps here's the output of another program called "sfdisk". It seems to find more of a problem than fdisk; Disk /dev/sda: 1007 cylinders, 32 heads, 62 sectors/track Old situation: Warning: The partition table looks like it was made for C/H/S=*/16/32 (instead of 1007/32/62). For this listing I'll assume that geometry. Units = cylinders of 262144 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0 Device Boot Start End #cyls #blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 0+ 3905- 3906- 999768+ 6 FAT16 end: (c,h,s) expected (1023,15,32) found (499,15,32) /dev/sda2 0 - 0 0 0 Empty /dev/sda3 0 - 0 0 0 Empty /dev/sda4 0 - 0 0 0 Empty Input in the following format; absent fields get a default value. <start> <size> <type [E,S,L,X,hex]> <bootable [-,*]> <c,h,s> <c,h,s> Usually you only need to specify <start> and <size> (and perhaps <type>) Only snag is to format the drive correctly I have to use the USB drive's function to do this, and it'll get rid of any partition I put on it! I can format the drive, but then the record functionality of the drive is lost x.x If only I could type somethling like mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/removable CHS=1023,15,32 :) !! ljones

:) thanks for that, I gave it a go but it didn't seem to make any difference, all the lines about SCSI errors in dmesg are still there x.x . ljones

I made a diskovery (getit?) :) :) I have found that if I use the drivers "USBASPI4.SYS" and "DI1000DD.SYS" in freedos, the drive works! I can copy files just fine, so maybe it's down to a drive geometry problem. If that's the case, how do you mount a drive in linux but with a different drive geometery, I know to use mount to mount a drive (e.g. mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/removable) but what if I wanted to mount it with a different geometry? ljones

Additional information: The command sfdisk outputs this: sfdisk -l /dev/sda Disk /dev/sda: 1007 cylinders, 32 heads, 62 sectors/track Warning: The partition table looks like it was made for C/H/S=*/16/32 (instead of 1007/32/62). For this listing I'll assume that geometry. Units = cylinders of 262144 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0 Device Boot Start End #cyls #blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 0+ 3905- 3906- 999768+ 6 FAT16 end: (c,h,s) expected (1023,15,32) found (499,15,32) /dev/sda2 0 - 0 0 0 Empty /dev/sda3 0 - 0 0 0 Empty /dev/sda4 0 - 0 0 0 Empty Maybe the drive geometry detected by linux is wrong? ljones

Yep, tried that - even tried mounting it manually but to no avail. I've even tried downloading a newer kernel but the problem still persists (mind you, maybe there's something I'm still not doing right?). ljones

Hi all, I've just recently bought a EM633X1G MP3 player and recorder (USB), it's a small device which can both quite unusually not only play back but record to mp3 as well. I am having problems using the device under linux, however. The distro I'm using is Mandrake 2005LE Whenever I try to use the device, the filesystem (FAT32) on the USB device always seems to be corrupt in some fashion. For example, I can record onto the MP3 player and play back ok on it ,but when I try to copy the file I made on the MP3 player, linux refuses to copy the file giving up with an I/O Error. BTW, the only other USB device I had plugged in was a netgear MA111 USB wlan, which I'm using for the internet (working fine). The device looks just like any other mp3 player that you can buy, it connects to the USB port via a cable. Here's the output of dmesg: [aaaaa@localhost ~]$ dmesg request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 73 end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 100 SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 101 SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 102 SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 103 SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 104 SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 105 SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 106 SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 107 SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 108 SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 109 SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 110 SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 111 SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 112 SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 113 SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 114 SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 115 SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 116 SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 117 SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 118 usb 1-2: USB disconnect, address 3 usb 1-2: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 4 scsi1 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices usb-storage: device found at 4 usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning Vendor: EM633X Model: MP3 Player Rev: 1.00 Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 00 SCSI device sdb: 1999592 512-byte hdwr sectors (1024 MB) sdb: Write Protect is off sdb: Mode Sense: 00 c0 00 00 sdb: assuming drive cache: write through ioctl_internal_command: <1 0 0 0> return code = 8000002 : Current: sense key: No Sense Additional sense: No additional sense information Info fld=0x0 SCSI device sdb: 1999592 512-byte hdwr sectors (1024 MB) sdb: Write Protect is off sdb: Mode Sense: 00 c0 00 00 sdb: assuming drive cache: write through /dev/scsi/host1/bus0/target0/lun0: p1 ioctl_internal_command: <1 0 0 0> return code = 8000002 : Current: sense key: No Sense Additional sense: No additional sense information Info fld=0x0 Attached scsi removable disk sdb at scsi1, channel 0, id 0, lun 0 usb-storage: device scan complete ioctl_internal_command: <1 0 0 0> return code = 8000002 : Current: sense key: No Sense Additional sense: No additional sense information Info fld=0x0 ioctl_internal_command: <1 0 0 0> return code = 8000002 : Current: sense key: No Sense Additional sense: No additional sense information Info fld=0x0 ioctl_internal_command: <1 0 0 0> return code = 8000002 : Current: sense key: No Sense Additional sense: No additional sense information Info fld=0x0 ioctl_internal_command: <1 0 0 0> return code = 8000002 : Current: sense key: No Sense Additional sense: No additional sense information Info fld=0x0 ioctl_internal_command: <1 0 0 0> return code = 8000002 : Current: sense key: No Sense Additional sense: No additional sense information Info fld=0x0 SCSI error : <1 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0 SCSI error : <1 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 118 ioctl_internal_command: <1 0 0 0> return code = 8000002 : Current: sense key: No Sense Additional sense: No additional sense information Info fld=0x0 ioctl_internal_command: <1 0 0 0> return code = 8000002 : Current: sense key: No Sense Additional sense: No additional sense information Info fld=0x0 Output of /var/log/messages: Apr 27 22:11:39 localhost kernel: : Current: sense key: No Sense Apr 27 22:11:39 localhost kernel: Additional sense: No additional sense information Apr 27 22:11:39 localhost kernel: Info fld=0x0 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: SCSI error : <1 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 55 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: printk: 2 messages suppressed. Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 0 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: SCSI error : <1 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 56 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 1 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: SCSI error : <1 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 57 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 2 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: SCSI error : <1 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 58 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 3 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: SCSI error : <1 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 59 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 4 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: SCSI error : <1 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 60 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 5 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: SCSI error : <1 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 61 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 6 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: SCSI error : <1 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 62 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 7 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: SCSI error : <1 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 63 Apr 27 22:11:40 localhost kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 8 Apr 27 22:11:41 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 116 Apr 27 22:11:41 localhost kernel: SCSI error : <1 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 Apr 27 22:11:41 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 117 Apr 27 22:11:41 localhost kernel: SCSI error : <1 0 0 0> return code = 0x10070000 Apr 27 22:11:41 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 118 Apr 27 22:11:41 localhost kernel: ioctl_internal_command: <1 0 0 0> return code= 8000002 Apr 27 22:11:41 localhost kernel: : Current: sense key: No Sense Apr 27 22:11:41 localhost kernel: Additional sense: No additional sense information Apr 27 22:11:41 localhost kernel: Info fld=0x0 Apr 27 22:11:41 localhost kernel: ioctl_internal_command: <1 0 0 0> return code= 8000002 Apr 27 22:11:41 localhost kernel: : Current: sense key: No Sense Apr 27 22:11:41 localhost kernel: Additional sense: No additional sense information Apr 27 22:11:41 localhost kernel: Info fld=0x0 Apr 27 22:13:11 localhost gconfd (root-9308): starting (version 2.8.1), pid 9308 user 'root' Apr 27 22:13:11 localhost gconfd (root-9308): Resolved address "xml:readonly:/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.mandatory" to a read-only configuration source at position 0 Apr 27 22:13:11 localhost gconfd (root-9308): Resolved address "xml:readwrite:/root/.gconf" to a writable configuration source at position 1 Apr 27 22:13:11 localhost gconfd (root-9308): Resolved address "xml:readonly:/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.defaults" to a read-only configuration source at position 2 Apr 27 22:19:33 localhost su(pam_unix)[11147]: session opened for user root by aaaaa(uid=500) Output of lsusb: Bus 003 Device 003: ID 0846:6a00 NetGear, Inc. Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0419:aa0a Samsung Info. Systems America, Inc. Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Output of lsusb -v: Bus 003 Device 003: ID 0846:6a00 NetGear, Inc Device Descriptor: bLength 18 bDescriptorType 1 bcdUSB 2.00 bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level) bDeviceSubClass 0 bDeviceProtocol 0 bMaxPacketSize0 64 idVendor 0x0846 NetGear, Inc. idProduct 0x6a00 bcdDevice 1.00 iManufacturer 1 iProduct 2 iSerial 3 bNumConfigurations 1 Configuration Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 2 wTotalLength 39 bNumInterfaces 1 bConfigurationValue 1 iConfiguration 4 bmAttributes 0x80 MaxPower 500mA Interface Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 4 bInterfaceNumber 0 bAlternateSetting 0 bNumEndpoints 3 bInterfaceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level) bInterfaceSubClass 0 bInterfaceProtocol 0 iInterface 5 Bulk-IN,Bulk-OUT,Bulk-OUT Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN bmAttributes 2 Transfer Type Bulk Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes bInterval 0 Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x02 EP 2 OUT bmAttributes 2 Transfer Type Bulk Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes bInterval 0 Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x03 EP 3 OUT bmAttributes 2 Transfer Type Bulk Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes bInterval 0 Device Qualifier (for other device speed): bLength 10 bDescriptorType 6 bcdUSB 2.00 bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level) bDeviceSubClass 0 bDeviceProtocol 0 bMaxPacketSize0 64 bNumConfigurations 1 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Device Descriptor: bLength 18 bDescriptorType 1 bcdUSB 2.00 bDeviceClass 9 Hub bDeviceSubClass 0 Unused bDeviceProtocol 1 Single TT bMaxPacketSize0 8 idVendor 0x0000 idProduct 0x0000 bcdDevice 2.06 iManufacturer 3 Linux 2.6.11-6mdk ehci_hcd iProduct 2 EHCI Host Controller iSerial 1 0000:00:13.2 bNumConfigurations 1 Configuration Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 2 wTotalLength 25 bNumInterfaces 1 bConfigurationValue 1 iConfiguration 0 bmAttributes 0xc0 Self Powered MaxPower 0mA Interface Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 4 bInterfaceNumber 0 bAlternateSetting 0 bNumEndpoints 1 bInterfaceClass 9 Hub bInterfaceSubClass 0 Unused bInterfaceProtocol 0 iInterface 0 Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN bmAttributes 3 Transfer Type Interrupt Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0002 1x 2 bytes bInterval 12 Hub Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 41 nNbrPorts 6 wHubCharacteristic 0x0008 Ganged power switching Per-port overcurrent protection TT think time 8 FS bits bPwrOn2PwrGood 10 * 2 milli seconds bHubContrCurrent 0 milli Ampere DeviceRemovable 0xb7 PortPwrCtrlMask 0xc0 Hub Port Status: Port 1: 0000.0100 power Port 2: 0001.0000 C_CONNECT Port 3: 0000.0503 highspeed power enable connect Port 4: 0000.0100 power Port 5: 0000.0100 power Port 6: 0000.0100 power Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Device Descriptor: bLength 18 bDescriptorType 1 bcdUSB 1.10 bDeviceClass 9 Hub bDeviceSubClass 0 Unused bDeviceProtocol 0 bMaxPacketSize0 8 idVendor 0x0000 idProduct 0x0000 bcdDevice 2.06 iManufacturer 3 Linux 2.6.11-6mdk ohci_hcd iProduct 2 OHCI Host Controller iSerial 1 0000:00:13.1 bNumConfigurations 1 Configuration Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 2 wTotalLength 25 bNumInterfaces 1 bConfigurationValue 1 iConfiguration 0 bmAttributes 0xc0 Self Powered MaxPower 0mA Interface Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 4 bInterfaceNumber 0 bAlternateSetting 0 bNumEndpoints 1 bInterfaceClass 9 Hub bInterfaceSubClass 0 Unused bInterfaceProtocol 0 iInterface 0 Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN bmAttributes 3 Transfer Type Interrupt Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0002 1x 2 bytes bInterval 255 Hub Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 41 nNbrPorts 3 wHubCharacteristic 0x0002 No power switching (usb 1.0) Ganged overcurrent protection bPwrOn2PwrGood 2 * 2 milli seconds bHubContrCurrent 0 milli Ampere DeviceRemovable 0xb7 PortPwrCtrlMask 0xc0 Hub Port Status: Port 1: 0000.0100 power Port 2: 0000.0100 power Port 3: 0000.0100 power Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0419:aa0a Samsung Info. Systems America, Inc. Device Descriptor: bLength 18 bDescriptorType 1 bcdUSB 1.10 bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level) bDeviceSubClass 0 bDeviceProtocol 0 bMaxPacketSize0 16 idVendor 0x0419 Samsung Info. Systems America, Inc. idProduct 0xaa0a bcdDevice 1.00 iManufacturer 0 iProduct 0 iSerial 0 bNumConfigurations 1 Configuration Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 2 wTotalLength 39 bNumInterfaces 1 bConfigurationValue 1 iConfiguration 1 SEMINIX Co., Ltd. bmAttributes 0xc0 Self Powered MaxPower 100mA Interface Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 4 bInterfaceNumber 0 bAlternateSetting 0 bNumEndpoints 3 bInterfaceClass 8 Mass Storage bInterfaceSubClass 6 SCSI bInterfaceProtocol 80 Bulk (Zip) iInterface 0 Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x82 EP 2 IN bmAttributes 2 Transfer Type Bulk Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0040 1x 64 bytes bInterval 0 Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x03 EP 3 OUT bmAttributes 2 Transfer Type Bulk Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0040 1x 64 bytes bInterval 0 Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN bmAttributes 3 Transfer Type Interrupt Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0008 1x 8 bytes bInterval 255 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Device Descriptor: bLength 18 bDescriptorType 1 bcdUSB 1.10 bDeviceClass 9 Hub bDeviceSubClass 0 Unused bDeviceProtocol 0 bMaxPacketSize0 8 idVendor 0x0000 idProduct 0x0000 bcdDevice 2.06 iManufacturer 3 Linux 2.6.11-6mdk ohci_hcd iProduct 2 OHCI Host Controller iSerial 1 0000:00:13.0 bNumConfigurations 1 Configuration Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 2 wTotalLength 25 bNumInterfaces 1 bConfigurationValue 1 iConfiguration 0 bmAttributes 0xc0 Self Powered MaxPower 0mA Interface Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 4 bInterfaceNumber 0 bAlternateSetting 0 bNumEndpoints 1 bInterfaceClass 9 Hub bInterfaceSubClass 0 Unused bInterfaceProtocol 0 iInterface 0 Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN bmAttributes 3 Transfer Type Interrupt Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0002 1x 2 bytes bInterval 255 Hub Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 41 nNbrPorts 3 wHubCharacteristic 0x0002 No power switching (usb 1.0) Ganged overcurrent protection bPwrOn2PwrGood 2 * 2 milli seconds bHubContrCurrent 0 milli Ampere DeviceRemovable 0xb7 PortPwrCtrlMask 0xc0 Hub Port Status: Port 1: 0000.0100 power Port 2: 0000.0103 power enable connect Port 3: 0000.0100 power Can anyone think why the filesystem on this USB device would be corrupt? Or is it encrypted in some way, am I looking at a windows only device? x.x BTW Mandrake 2005LE mounts this device, giving it the odd name of "----------" ! I've tried reformatting the drive btw, which didn't work. :( thanks ljones

Hi, Here's my "wishlist" for mandriva 2007 (btw, I'm still on MDK 2005). 1. Fix cdrom drive mounting! I've had trouble of this right from the days of MDK 9.0, and on different hardware. It's all too easy to upset cd drive mounting by having a task die, then you have to go and chase and kill it with lsof at the command line. I know there's a graphical tool, but (at least to a beginner) it's not that user friendly. How's about just a very simple "list of tasks", so if that a program/task does go funny, then you can just choose it (as opposed from choosing from a long list of other running programs a newbie might accientally kill) and kill it. 2. Fix the current bugs - Last time I tried mandriva 2006, I noted 2 problems; 1) KDE had an annoying bug whereby sometimes buttons got 'stuck'; 2) ndiswrapper (it didn't seem to work at all). My atmel-based wlan device which works fine in 2005LE (all I have to do is to plug it in, less configuration); in 2006, I had to continually stop and start it with "ifup" and "ifdown", a la MDK 10.0 :( 3. It's been mentioned before but yes some newbie help too; how's about just something even really simple - e.g. a menu option in the star menu called "Mandriva library". It could be something just as simple as a directory on the hard drive containing some of the normal text-based HOWTOs found on the net. 4. Please reinstate Kpackage! 5. Tell newbie users "what to do next", i.e. a user might download an RPM (e.g. wotsit_mdk_10.rpm) and install it, but then have no clue as how to start it running. How's about a little message (which could be disabled so as not to appear for more advanced users) saying "You have to type 'wotsit' at the command line to make it work', or 'look in the star menu under games'. Some programs are non-obvious as how to start them, esp. if they don't appear in the star menu. 6. This last one is for the long tern, but some better way of installing software - end RPM dependency hell (I've found urpmi often *dosen't* have newer RPMs/programs/etc in some cases). ljones

A good review, and I've just finished installing and I've been using Mandriva 2006 for a little while. Unfortunatly, I'll only be using 2006 for a little while as I've decided to go back to LE2005! From time to time it seems that mandrake (now mandriva) releases "bad" versions of mandrake linux, i.e. versions of linux which seem to have been rushed out and that have bugs. For example, Mandrake 9.1 was actually quite good and worked well, but 9.2 felt really slow (slower than 9.1) and had broken KDE menus. 10.2 was good too, but 10.1 also had problems. 10 itself was ok though, and was faster than 9.2 (might be round the other way). Maandriva 2006 unfortunatly comes under this "bad list" too -- problems to date I've found are; * If you use konqueror, you can use it to go onto the web, as it's a web-browser. I found that if konqueror puts up a box to ask you something (usually it has Ok and Cancel buttons) you can press enter to choose (say) ok. Under 2006, the button seems to get "jammed" if you use the keyboard,and then you have to click on it. * Ndiswrapper seemed to be completely broken x.x and complained after install that it couldn't find the ndiswrapper interface. LE 2005 worked fine with no problems. * The atmel AT76C503 seems to not to be supported any more. The 2006 install put up a little message about where to get drivers, but installing these didn't work at all. Eventually I got something to work by using the old 2005LE drivers, but the AT76C503 (it's a USB wlan) card just displayed as "unknown: atmel at76c503" in mandriva's installer program and it *refused* to configure it properly. In the end, I had to use the command line, and had to use ifup and ifdown to start and stop the wlan! All in all, I'm thinking I should wait for Mandriva 2006.1 . ljones

Hasn't this all happened at least once in the past? What about the "kerbeous" protocol (no, I can't spell that). Didn't microsoft mis-use some open source protocol and then try to call it their own and then threaten everyone? :( . ljones

Hi, Up until very recently I've been using realencoder ("helixencoder") to record (sometimes) video into realfiles so as to keep the files small (and most people can read realvideos, either on linux,mac or windows). Just recently though and in an effort to try to get better quality at a similar filesize I've moved onto using mpeg4 and using mencoder to encode video. But I'm finding that even with mpeg4 at its worst quality the filesizes are still noticably larger than realvideo files. Right now I'm doing something like this; (this is an extract from a script I wrote); <---- mencoder -tv input=1:driver=v4l:width=768:height=576 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=$quality:vhq:vqmax=31:keyint=300 -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:br=$aquality -vf scale=$size -sws 1 -o $name1 tv:// ----> My question is this though -- is there any direct equivilent to realmedia that is cross platform and that can output *small* files like realencoder (helixencoder) does? To date, I've only come across mpeg4 for video, I've not found any direct replacement for realmedia. (Maybe there isn't any?!). ljones

Ooops, sorry aRTee(!). I guess that'll teach me not to try to put up posts at nearly 3AM in the morning or some other stupid-o-clock time :) . But I was thinking the other day about a couple of things about stuff that would be good to have in a future version of linux. And one of the ideas was some sort of RPM "repair" tool; it's all too easy to add in a wrong RPM somehow and cause all kinds of problems (in fact I'm getting this right now :( ) ! And I like trees too ;) hehe! ljones

Thank you aTree, for that! I guess I might be using or viewing urpmi in the wrong way. I always treated it as a program to simply download RPMs(!). On kino, I completely forgot about it !! On the linux games, I can't name a specific game off the top of my head, but I can name a website: I was thinking of http://www.happypenguin.org/ . What I was meaning was not just the actual config. of linux for 3D it was the configuration of the games themselves which can be a nightmare. Anyway I am getting OT here (sorry) x.x; Back to the future of linux (is there a film somewhere that line? hehe!). I'm not sure that the old line "Nobody knows about linux" is completely true any more. It probably is for Mr and Mrs Joe Bloggs who have the family PC in their living room which the two kids play on - but for at least some online I think they are well aware of linux. By and large they're tied to windows as my friends are -- to date, I have only managed to get one person to at least stick with linux and give it a go (I forget exactly what they were trying to do though!). Most though ask "Can I run x program or game on linux", and when I say "no, not directly" they turn right off :( . Helping the future of linux is breaking that, but without the software it's going to be a very tough fight. Some of the things linux will need for the (short-term) future are just smaller minor things. For example I'm using mandrake 10 here and it is very good at messing up the mounting of CDs and even floppy drives. I can quite quickly mess up mandrake's system by not closing an open cdrom file window, ejecting the cd and putting in another one. That just shouldn't happen -- there should be no need for me to go to a command line, log in as root and type "lsof | grep cdrom". It can be very frustrating to have this happen! Another thing that might be useful to have on a future linux is more GUI tools to aide text-file configuration. Unless something exists already(!) it would be useful to have something to ease the editing of xf86-config's, /etc/fstab's and soforth. Long term though we are looking at things such as 3D desktops (maybe even one day VR?) and better software and drivers. How well that comes to pass is dependent on the willingness of hardware manufacturers though, and not having microsoft hanging around our necks like a 10-ton lead weight :( . How well linux does in the future though will be intresting to see -- how well will linux stand up against such laws as trusted computing and other over-restricted laws. I just hope linux comes through :) . ljones

Hi, On the future of linux, it will be very intresting to see what direction it takes. There are all sorts of things going on - some positive, such as lots of distros and activity and some negative such as some countries signing into restrictive laws. Me personnaly, I quite like linux. I have been using Mandrake linux since 9.0 when I used to dual-boot it with windows. Once I upgraded (and all my hadware was supported) in 9.1, windows was removed permanently. Once I decided to not install windows, I also decided never to install it again. Today, I simply do not want to use windows, in fact I really don't have much intrest in windows at all. Maybe that's the easiest way to defeat microsoft: to ignore them? :) Right now I'm using Mandrake 10.0 official which works just fine with me -- only a small amount of hardware that I own won't work (such the video capture side of the matrox G400TV video card which is *very* complex to get to work unless you are running a 2.4 kernel; to date I've never got it to work with a 2.6 one). However there are some things linux lacks. By and large there are two things linux lacks -- music/video software and games. There is a distinct lack of either music/audio or video software to run under linux. Most apps are still quite simple (e.g. audacity) or only "mid-range" (e.g. ardour). To date, there isn't any high-end linux audio/music software avaliable. I have a friend who right now is trying to put together a PC as he is a musician; the software which I forget the name of now :( costs thousands of dollars --- one component of it is MIDI, but it is not the normal midi quality most are used to; in this software (which is windows only) evey note of each instrument has been sampled, for example. Also the software includes special composition/editing software too. This sort of thing just dosen't exist in linux and would not work under wine or would be too slow with an emulator (e.g. qemu). My friend says he would love to get away from the windows world, but that he is tied by these problems. Video editing is a problem too -- drivers can be a problem (such as the G400TV I mentioned earlier) and some of the software dosen't exist yet either. Programs such as kdenlive are really only just starting out; Mainactor (though it's propietary) is expensive and won't open many video formats. Finally there is cinelerra, which is certianly an impressive job, but the GUI is non-intuitive, making it hard to learn. Having said that what there is (e.g. command line programs) such as mencoder even though the command line options are hard to learn actually do a very good job. On the system I am using now (which is an ancient athlon 700) at best I was, while doing video capture with a bt848 card would only manage anything under 320x200, and even then it was jerky. Mencoder not only encodes with modern codecs, but on this system is good to 512x384, no jerkiness or framedropping. I think though one thing that would help out - at least a little - would be to sort out the RPM/software install problems. RPMs are one of those things that are great when they work, but when they don't they are a nightmare. How many times have you thought "I'd like to download that program", you download it as an RPM, but find it requires another RPM, which needs another, and another? Or worse: you download a program as an RPM which complains that it depends on another, but you download the other RPM and it depends on the first! So how could you have ever installed it?! Urpmi is not an answer too I think unless it is better managed. I have used urpmi, but almost always find either the urpmi sites don't have the software in their archives - or if they do, it is some ancient version many versions down the line. Also sometimes urpmi will get things wrong too and complain it cannot do one thing or another :( . I find linux games to be the worst on this count too. To date (apart from drivers) linux games are some of the hardest to install programs on linux. Confusion about what 3d driver you need, rendering engine, will it work on X or only from a console, compiling errors, unknown libraries you need, etc. How many of us have seen a linux 3D game only to download it and find it requires a whole raft of missing libraries - half of which when you do a search on you can't find and even when you do get them all sorted it won't run because you have to edit a 5 page configuration file - either that or it just crashes :( . I have tried to install some 3D linux games in the past, and to date not one of them worked and were hard to install. All most windows users have to do is to drop in a cd and click "next" a few times. Programs such as wine or qemu might be an answer I guess for a few - but it is a very tiny few! For example, my younger brother says he can't switch to linux because there is absolutely no way he can run windows games on linux. Unfortunatly it's true too -- neither wine nor winex are capable of running that much unfortunatly, and qemu is just too slow. You can run some games, but you're never going to get full performance. Neither wine/winex or qemu can run the latest games adequately; in fact they barely run older windows games properly :( . Games then might be at least one key to linux's future. Games have often sold a computer - it's happened in the past. For example if I go into a car-boot sale (I am in the UK) I can still find several old Amiga 500s with mountains of floppy disks - all containing games all starting from almost 20 years ago -- a testiment to how popular the amiga was once because of the sheer amount of games for it. Though I'd be wrong to say games were the be-all and end-all of success. One reason why microsoft windows has got where it has isn't because it is any good(!) it's also down to a lot of other things such as accidents in (recent computer) history and the fact MS realised that a little bit of piracy = free advertising (ever wondered why win9x CDs aren't copy protected, or why it was so easy to just DISKCOPY A: A: win3.11)?. And then finally there is 3D (again). Noone really knows precisely what will be in the next version of windows (though I've heard rumors that it might use some 3d). But could this be bad news for windows - not neccerially microsoft using 3d in their oses, but a whole combination of things: propietary drivers, hard to install 3d in linux, companies not wanting to/ignoring linux or locked into microsoft. Could linux miss the 3D boat? :( I hope linux has a good future :) !!! ljones