liquidzoo

I can only speak for one half of your question as I only have Nvidia cards.

Yes, if you buy one copy, it will work with both Windows and Linux. Bonus is that you get the Linux installer on the CD. You do have to update it in order to play single player in Linux (I did at least) but it works great for me in both OS's

Ok, got the wireless stuff, here's how it went:

I bought a Siemens SpeedStream 1021 Wireless PCMCIA Card and a Netgear ME102 Wireless Access point. The access point was pretty easy to set up, I did have to use Windows, though. I wonder if the USB config interface will work under Linux.

I bought the Siemens card because it said on the box that it was compatible with Linux (although their site said they do not use the card with Linux)

When I first started up, I got a kernel message saying that an unsupported card was in the PCMCIA slot. No problem, I thought.

I followed the instructions http://www.mandrakeusers.org/viewtopic.php...1573&highlight= here and from the siemens knowledge base here: http://www.speedstream.com/support/1021main.html

After I got everything all set up, I rebooted and entered the Mandrake Control Center. I looked at the hardware list, and my card was there under eth1! I ran the config tool and within moments, I was online. This worked out easier than I thought.

For my next trick, I am going to see if I can get the "Dell buttons" on the laptop working. Specifically, the ones that turn the builtin speakers up and down. Anyone had luck trying to do this? Also, anyone know where I can go to turn the alert speaker down/off?

I was actually in the process of doing that when you wrote that response. I made sure to install everything you had (since it's working for you) and it works now! Fantastic!

Now, if I can get the wireless card working tomorrow; I'll be all set.

One more question, though; not related to the laptop (I don't think)

When I start X after boot, I have 2 copies of gkrellm running. I only need/want 1. Any ideas on how I can get just 1 starting and not 2?

Ok, I run the same commands and I get the following:

[liquidzoo@localhost liquidzoo]$ rpm -qa |grep xine

xinetd-2.3.7-3mdk

xine-ui-0.9.13-2mdk

xine-aa-1-0.beta0.1plf

xine-d5d-0.2.7-2plf

xine-dxr3-1-0.beta0.1plf

xine-plugins-0.9.13-3mdk

xine-oss-0.9.13-3mdk

libxine0-0.9.13-8plf

libxine0-docs-0.9.13-8plf

xine-alsa-1-0.beta0.1plf

xine_d4d_plugin-0.3.2-2plf

xine-divx4-0.9.13-8plf

libxine1-1-0.beta0.1plf

xine-esd-1-0.beta0.1plf

libxine0-devel-0.9.13-8plf

xine-arts-1-0.beta0.1plf

xine_dmd_plugin-1.0.7-1plf

xine-ui-aa-0.9.15-2mdk

xine-xvid-0.9.13-8plf

[liquidzoo@localhost liquidzoo]$ rpm -qa |grep dvd

libdvdcss-ogle0-0.0.3-9plf

libdvdcss2-devel-1.2.4-1plf

libdvdread2-0.9.3-3mdk

libdvdread-utils-0.9.3-3mdk

libdvdcss2-1.2.4-1plf

libdvdread2-devel-0.9.3-3mdk

[liquidzoo@localhost liquidzoo]$

I can see that you have a couple of things installed that I don't; namely the xine-plugins-1-0.beta0.1plf and it's libraries. I try to install it, and I get the message that xine-plugins == 0.9.13 is needed, but I can see that it is installed. I try to urpmi it, and it tells me that everything is already installed. I can't install the other 3 things that you have and I don't without that plugin file, but I'm not sure how to go about installing it. Any ideas?

setup is correct and the simlink for /dev/dvd points to the right place (I think, it points to the same place that the link for the cdrom does)

When I try to play a dvd, I get this error:

There is no plugin available to handle

'dvd://VIDEO_TS.VOB'

Maybe MRL syntax is wrong or file/stream source doesn't exist

I've seen at lease one other with this error, but I never did see a resolution for it.

That's not the problem, when I run hdparm -v /dev/hda it shows that dma is enabled for the drive.

I tried to install xine 1.0 beta from plf, but it says that I need xine 0.93. When I try to install xine 0.93 it says that it's already installed. I'm not sure where to go from here.

I already have the d5d plugin installed and it Still doesn't work.

Glitz - I'm not sure about the modem, I have a cable connection, so I don't use it.

Some of the background on this thread comes from here: http://www.mandrakeusers.org/viewtopic.php?t=1705 I said I would post how my install went on my Inspiron 8200. Since it arived today (2 days before they told me it would ship, how's that for fast) here is the promised thread.

Let's start out with the specs of the machine:

P4 1.7GHz

15" SXGA+ display (capable of 1400x1050 max resolution)

32 MB GeForce4Go

40 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive

8x DVD

256 MB RAM

Modular Floppy

This particular machine came with Windows XP Home pre loaded and included all the rescue disks. To start off, I installed Partition Magic and took the Window partition down from 40 GB to just under 10, I left the rest unpartitioned for the time being. I then put the Mandrake 9 install disk in and rebooted.

I had to press F12 after the Dell splash screen to tell it to boot to the cd, but after that, I started the Mandrake 9.0 install. I chose to go with KDE for this particular installation. It was something I was familar with, after some time, I may choose to change to a different X manager. I really like the way the new Enlightenment looks.

Then I got to the point that I needed to test the X configuration (I selected the 1400x1050 Generic Flat Panel display). All it displayed was a garbled image. I had done some searching before my install, and thanks to this discussion http://www.club-nihil.net/mub/viewtopic.ph...&highlight=8200 I was ready for that. I accepted the configuration and continued on with the installation. Everything installed beautifully, no surprises at all.

I rebooted and installed the Nvidia drivers (I burned them to a cd) from the console, I always boot to init 3, made the necessary changes to my XF86Config-4 file and rebooted 1 more time. After logging in, I typed startx and everything came up the way it should have. I am typing this right now from my new laptop.

One thing I have noticed that is bad, I can't seem to get the DVD player working in Xine. I will install Ogle and give that a try. Other than that, it was a flawless install.

If anyone is looking to get a laptop, I definitely recommend the 8200 from Dell. Everything works great. My next project will be to add Wireless internet access for it. I will let everyone know how it goes. If anyone has any ideas about the DVD playback, I would love to hear them. That's the only thing I still need to get working.

I have a usb printer myself (HP, though, not Cannon) and it is connected at /dev/usb/lp0, if this is a choice in Turboprint, give it a try. I have never used it myself, but it may help. Also, try Ixthusdan's recommendation and type http://localhost:631 in your browser and let us know what cups is seeing there.

I mean real ports, not Transgaming or warez. Something tangible, native, and most importantly; legal.

But enough about that. I do agree with you that Linux gaming is not as big as it could be, but it's come a long way in a relatively short period of time. Hopefully it will keep going.

try going to codeweavers ( http://wine.codeweavers.com ) and sownloading the latest rpm of wine. Install that as root and see if it works for you. The last time I had wine working on my machine, I was also running Win2K, so I don't think it's that.

If none of the games that are out there have sold more than 20K copies, then how can we be even be considered as a market?

I'd like to see figures, if they're available, on who bought UT2003 because it had a Linux installer. You're right, though; but I don't see major companies just giving up on Linux as a gaming platform. There will come a time that Bill Gates does something so outlandish that people will start looking for alternatives. Those people will still want their games, and hopefully game companies will stand up and take notice of that.

That said, I'm not waiting until Christmas for Doom 3 either, I'm buying it from Tuxgames as soon as it's available.

I have also noticed a lot of negativity on the NWN forums towards the Linux port. I hope it doesn't turn them off from the Linux community as a whole. I also hope that other game companies aren't relying solely on the negative users in the NWN forums and putting off or canceling ports of their own. As you said DOlsen, there is a viable Linux gaming community out here, and we would hate for something like this to tarnish other companies views of us as a whole.

did something change with 3.1RC5 that the method you listed won't work? I was not aware of the change, but I haven't tried 3.1 yet either.

It would be nice if they do, but hopefully they won't run into as many problems as they have with Neverwinter Nights

The above info will work for the k-menu, unless you have applied a theme that replaces the k-menu icon, but it is the right place to look for the default home icon, change it there and you should be good to go.

have you run the winesetup file already? I think you just have to type "winesetup" without the quotes, it will set everything up for you. I think you have to do this as a user and not as root. It's been a while since I've installed wine on my system, so I'm sorry I can't be more helpful. I don't remember the exact commands for it.

in the terminal window at the command prompt, you have to type something like this:

wine /path/to/your/windows/somefile.exe

If it is installed correctly, the program will start, sometimes. Try it first with a relatively easy program like sol.exe or notepad.exe, most people seem to have luck running those as a test.

right click on it and go to properties, from there click on the icon and you can change it to whatever you want.

Welcome to the Mandrake family! The tutorial you're looking for can be found at http://mdkxp.by-a.com The site appears to be down right now, but I'm sure it will be back up soon. There are a lot of useful tutorials there.

In case the site doesn't come back up as soon as you'd like, are you trying to install from source? src.rpm? .rpm? I know how to do the latter 2, but I'm not sure on the first. I'll assume .src.rpm and give you a quick run through:

Bring up a console window, or starting before X is started, at the command prompt

cd to the folder you downloaded the files to.

switch to root (su <enter> root password <enter>) and type

rpm --rebuild NVIDIA_kernel-yourversion.src.rpm <enter>

rpm --rebuild NVIDIA_GLX-yourversion.src.rpm <enter>

This will build the rpms for your system, if you just got the .rpm files, install them one at a time, kernel first with

rpm -ivh NVIDIA_kernel-yourversion.rpm

repeat for the GLX file.

if you rebuilt the source, cd (still as root) to /usr/src/RPM/RPMS/ii586 (this is on my system, there will be a message at the end of the rebuild telling you exactly where the file was written) and install the rpm's with the method listed above.

now comes the file editing. I will assume you're already in X for the entire install process for these instructions.

cd to /etc/X11as root. issue the following command

kate XF86Config-4

If you're not already in X, open the file in the editor of choice (emacs, vi, whatever)

This will open the XF86Config file in a text editor. scroll through until you see the following section:

Section "Device"

   Identifier "device1"

   BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce4 (generic)"

   Driver "nv"

   Option "DPMS"

EndSection

Change the "nv" to "nvidia" Save, Reboot and enjoy. You'll know you got it right when the NVidia logo comes up as X starts. Hope this helps.

I'm still going to get the 8200, I think it looks like a good, stable laptop. I agree that it would be better with the 64 MB GeForce 4, but I'm ok with the 32 MB version. I have no experience with ATI cards, I've only owned nvidia chips so I don't think I'll go that way.

I have noticed, maybe it's just me, if you right click anywhere on the screen that the control panel will come up. Is this what you're looking for?

That I did not know, thanks for the tip.

Thanks bvc, I found a thread there that was really helpful.

I am thinking about buying a Dell Inspiron 8200 laptop soon, I was wondering if anyone has had luck installing Mandrake on this particular laptop. I have checked www.linux-laptop.net but I only find info on the Inspiron 8100. Does anyone have 9.0 up and running on this laptop? If so, is there anything I need to watch out for?

edited to fix the link