kmack

Thanks for posting this! Very nice! I hope my household shipment arrives soon and I can get my desktop up and running using this. :D

Despite bad press to the contrary, most any ISP will work. TCP is TCP whether it is Mac, PC, Linux OS. So as long as you setup properly any ISP will do... Exceptions might be AOL or Compuserve that use their own software which is not available for Linux. But I bet you can even find a work around for that. Enjoy!

You can use pgp or gpg to sign your emails, but 99% of the people out there do not even know what the little certificate/envelope icon is in their windoze email software is, and since they do not have the pgp installed, it is not functional. In Kmail if you do not setup the plugin you get a nifty yellow warning screen showing that it does not recognize the signature. :P I've used pgp and gpg for last 9-10 yrs and it is pretty easy now compared to the cli days past, but still is too much for most end users. If you are doing developing, financial transactions, etc then it makes sense to have a digital signature. You can do that with a digital certificate from a verified source. A google search of "digital signature" will show you lots of options on that if you want to try it out. It is a good learning experience, but don't be surprised if some people people get a bit upset by the "attachments" you will be sending them. Since windoze is so virus prone, these days some are touchy about emails having attachments or strange code at the bottom. Here's a basic tutorial link to start with: American Bar Association TUTORIAL on Dig Sigs

If time allows I'll get back to you on this later. I'm moving from Indonesia back to the USA this week, so will be pretty hectic here. :D 1. PGP and gpg are pretty compatible. I use KGpg as GUI frontend. Not bad. I can easily work in either windows or linux using pgp or gpg. Evolution does NOT work properly with PGP don't waste time trying. It uses non-standard settings. IMHO PGP is a dying thing. I frankly would not recommend it as most users are too lazy to go through the extra steps it requires. PGP filled a gap when we did not have SSL / SMIME emails and disc encryption like we have now. VPN has filled the commercial need. 2. PGP has a built in help system that is extensive. You should not need anything else. Either use PGP or PGPi (international) and www.pgp.com or www.pgpi.org should work for you. Gpg is www.gnupg.org and there are plenty of links there to help you. Kgpg package has some helpful info. Gnome has a similar frontend, but I forget the name. Seahorse???? The Linux Documentation project has a how to on encrypted loop stuff and Mandrake has a nice package called Drakloop that makes it easy to use. I tried bestcrypt but did not like it. Again, I do not suggest you waste much time on it as most users do not have keys or plugins. Better to learn to protect your hard drive and realize email is not secure. If you need to send something confidential, use ssl or vpn (both users must have it though) or get your receipients to use pgp for those situations. Hope it helps a bit.

I'd suggest you take a look at Acer. I have been very happy with all my Acer products and have many friends that I recommended Acer too and they are pleased too. Acer gives great value for the money. I am ordering a new Acer TM 803LCi and should have it in about 2 weeks when I return to the US. B)

Chris, Thanks again! At least for now it has held together for a couple weeks. :P My path is the same. There is a discrepancy in the directory that Mdk kde uses that causes it to be a bit wierd, but that should not be the problem. Hantu be gone... I just hate loose ends and always am trying to figure out how to fix them. It makes it fun, right?

Chris, Thanks that is a good thought. Thing is that it only does it now and then. I'll go a month and all is well, then suddenly the OOo menus are gone! That's what is freaky. We call that "hantu" here... ghosts! :unsure:

Haven't had a need until now, and realized I don't have a clue about faxing in Mandrake. What are others using and recommending? I know about efax, but I would like a nice simple gui interface that I can use without hitting man pages each time I need to send or receive a fax.

Thanks for input Scoopy! I'm still on 9.1 with lots of texstar stuff and non-mdk rpms. Not sure what was causing the loss of the menus but happened three times. I reset them as above and they are still holding. I did a user install since I am the only user on this machine. Next time I'll do the net install, but more than likely I will put PCLinuxOS on my harddrive and use it as my main distro. It is kind of fun to play with it. :D

I think I would stick with Mandrake for now. I'm a big fan and am beta testing PCLinuxOS, but until the final version comes out, I'd suggest newbies use Mandrake. There is a lot more documentation and community for Mdk at the moment and it is easier to get help and learn. After a few months of hands on experience, then the switch to a beta product might make more sense. I think PClinuxOS will grow very quickly, and we have some non-tech office workers using it now without major problems, but for the first experience, I'd go with the more stable option so your friend doesn't hit problems and get discouraged.

Welcome to the board! I'm certainly no laptop linux expert, but looks like your model is not the easiest one to get going under ACPI. Make sure that APM is shut off as you cannot run APM and ACPI at once. You can check it in MCC under systems section and DRAKXSERVICES. There are a couple similar machines listed at www.linux-laptop.net and one that has a solution to at least part of the ACPI problem and links to some kernel patches. Presario 700 ACPI LINK Maybe someone else can provide more info, but this might get you started. Hope it helps!

I had some wierd problems when I got my modem going too. I couldn't hit the DNS server I had setup because it was plugged into my home network and getting an IP from the router. If I unplugged from the network I could connect via modem. Since I normally run via cable modem and router setup, I didn't take time to reset the network settings, but you might check if you are having same problem. The second thing is I didn't take time to set the country settings properly and it wouldn't work right until I did. So you might check that too. Sounds like you have checked the logical things otherwise. Hope someone else has an idea if mine don't help.

I imagine Dragonmage and some others will be more helpful with the real nitty gritty tech stuff than I am, plus I am moving back to US in two weeks and things are a bit hectic here and my time online is a bit limited. I have a Satellite 2805-S402 and have not done an install on it as I needed a modem for backup and could not get the installed one to work. I normally use a cable modem and connect via the ethernet which seems to work fine. I have been using PCLinuxOS live CD and it works but the latest preview I have to boot using "no usb" due to a conflict. With Mandrake Move it works pretty well, but the Firewire, modem and smartcard are not detected. Knoppix runs pretty fair too. Think I'd suggest bumping up to 256MB RAM or better as soon as you can as running kde might be pretty slow with only 128MB. I have 384MB and it runs fair, but doesn't compare to my desktop running 512MB when I am using KDE desktop. I also notice that my DVD/ROM sometimes is quirky when reading CD's and that caused me problems when I did try to install 8.2 way back when. It sits there and spins and grunts a lot but seems to have problems reading some cd's. I can get around it sometimes by changing brand of cd media so that might be part of the problem you are having too. It might help to do a text install to speed things up and make the load lighter too. Once you get a basic install done you can go back and add what you wanted using the GUI install software in MCC. I had to do that on my wife's old PII 266 desktop when I got similar errors to what you are reporting. Not sure this will help, but I do think you can get it working except for the modem. From all I've seen that is a dead end, but maybe someone has developed a new driver that I have not found. Hope so! You probably already checked it but here are a couple links of successful installs on your model. Looks like your modem may work as it is different from mine. LINK ONE CLICK ME LINK TWO CLICK HERE Good luck... :)

That is slick! Thank you for sharing that find! That is the kind of thing that is really helpful to know! :D

Brads, Hang in there and keep asking questions and trying things. Takes a few months to learn the differences and find your way around, but it is really worth it. You'll learn to love the amount of control you can use in linux products. Enjoy! :D

Check it in a console with "locate kppp" and see what you get. The console (terminal window) is the the little monitor icon with a sea shell in the lower left corner. Click that to open and type $ locate kppp (Do not type the $ sign part, just the locate kppp) It will list the directory where any file named kppp is located so you'll know where it is. Probably KPPP executable is in /usr/bin directory if it is installed. If you cannot find a menu link to it you can use MENU DRAKE in Mandrake Control Center (Under SYSTEM) to make one or use kmenuedit (from konsole type "kmenuedit" to open it (do not type quotes) if you are the only user on the computer. If on the other hand you do not have KPPP installed, then we'll have to go a different direction because you are not using KPPP but another modem driver interface.

It looks really good, but have not had a chance to try it. In middle of moving across the pacific and my desktop will be in a container for a month or so! :-) THanks for sharing it and did you ever get the local sources added to it? I like to download to a directory and install from local source and then keep cd's of the patches, etc so I can reinstall if I need to do so w/o re-downloading.

Mandrake secure has a nice tutorial on ssh with examples that might help. MDK SECURE SSH TUTORIAL

I am having a problem with my OpenOffice menu items disappearing from the kde menus. Not sure what is causing it. I am running 1.1 installed from the tar.gz file and have done both manual KDE menu entries and Menudrake System entries and they work for a few days/weeks then disappear! Not sure what can change things like that? (msec?) One problem that I think is part of it is that Mandrake is a bit different in its links to icons and .desktop files than RH or other distros. So the normal OO install does not place the files in the Mdk-Kde menu directory properly. Anyone had any luck getting the OO menu items and icons to stay put? p.s. Also how do I get the OO icons to show up as choices in Menudrake? I got it going once but after a restart it did not work again. Wierd. p.p.s. Another update. I copied the appropriate .desktop files (i.e. writer.desktop) from the /opt/OpenOffice.org1.1.0/share/kde/net directory to the appropriate directories in /usr/share/applnk-mdk/Office and the menu items all work and have icons. Even lasted through a shutdown and later a restart. But this has been done before and then it mysteriously disappears. I think something is resetting to the menudrake saved config or something.

Hi Mark and welcome to the board! Many laptops (esp. HP and Compaq) use a proprietary partition for settings and restore functions. It may turn out that the data you are seeing is the restore and it is normally "hidden" in setups. I think a third party partitioning software is the answer unfortunately. I'd check the mfg website for info on any hidden partitions for restore.

Good question! I never realized there is no export secret key menu item. But I suggest you use command line to do it rather than waste time figuring it out. I think $ gpg --export-secret-keys [names] will do it. If you cannot remember you secret key name, you can find it from cli with $ gpg --list-secret-keys I think. Check man:gpg for the definitive answer. That should get you going. You can also copy the key file if you can locate it. Hope this helps. :) p.s. did a bit more checking and here's a more complete instruction: From GPG Cheatsheet webpage

I couldn't find the MandrakeMOve support list either... bummer... From what I have learned, not all brands of USB flash drive/Keys will work with Move... on the Mkcdlive list there have been lots of reports on this. Apparently the problem is no real standard exists so some drives seem to work well and others don't get initialized by harddrake. Apacer seems to work though one report it did not... kind of messy. Same thing so far in beta tests with PCLinuxOS. My Nexus drive doesn't work. I bought an Apacer and it worked for about 3 min before it had a hardware failure and died. The shop did not have a replacement so I traded and got the Nexus instead and it won't work. But, if you buy the Mandrake version you get a 512MB key that works. So that may be the way to go to avoid hassles.

I figured you had tried that one. Shucks... I'm guessing it is hardware that it cannot identify, but it is hard to say. I tried with the USB key and it hangs big time, but it did write some info to the key before it hung. If I think of anything I will be sure and let you know. I think they have a MandrakeMove maillist but not sure where to find it. They had a cooker maillist for it so that maybe a place to ask for some more expert help. Suggest you try PCLinuxOS too. It is faster. A new release (preview 5) with lots of fixes is coming out in next few days. PCLINUXOS DOWNLOAD LINK

I have the final release version which is not much different and it runs on my Satellite 2805-S402 Try "noauto" at the boot prompt an see if it will get past the hangup.

Some of the profs at my univ use Mac's and most of the students use PC's. Since I am the class geek, I usually get asked to help figure out how to transfer files, etc. I have used USB flash drives and USB card readers of several types. If you have one with enough capacity, that works well too. I think you can do a USB to USB with one of those cables designed for that, but I have never tried it Mac to PC so I'm not sure. The Mac OS X is very *nix like and many of the same cli commands work great. You can run sftp, etc right from the Mac. p.s. your mobo does have onboard NIC so you can do that too. I think you need a crossover cable, not a regular ethernet cable though. Don't take my word for it, as I have not done it, but I am pretty sure you'd need a crossover type cable for a two computer setup. Not sure how it works on Mac either. pps. I looked up your mobo and shazam! It has Firewire and that is a Mac innovation so it should be available to use too. It is fast and built for file transfer use. Now the key is if your mdk recognizes the NIC and firewire options. Bet Win 2K sees them if you get in a pinch. :) p.p. s. s. Ok, you got my curiousity up... I did some looking and I think you are right, the USB cable is the way to go. See this: PC to MAC data transfer Cable CLICK HERE