VeeDubb

You can also buy the mandrake DVD, with all the powerpack goodness for $9.00 over at http://www.cheapbytes.com I did, just finished installing, and I can honestly say, it was the best system instalation experience I've ever had, and having all the rpms on one DVD is a God send. If you have any hesitations, forget them. It's worth it.

Average write speed 603.9x. I think this may be part of the problem. I would assume you didn't actualy set your burner to burn at that speed, but you mighgt try setting the speed realy low, like 10x asnd then doing some test burns up from there to see what speed it fails at. Since you're having the same or similar problems with two different versions of mandrake, running two different kernels and two different revisions of k3b, all of which have work flawlessly for most of the people here, we can seriously narrow down the possabilities. That realisticaly narrows the problem down to ONLY three things: 1. Bad hardware. 2. Bad media. 3. Opperater error. #1 is pretty uinlikely since a serious hardware problem might prevent you from mounting disks and would almost certainly present itself in onother way, especialy if the problem was your MoBo and not the drive. You'd have system instabilty like WindowsMe and your burnwer would be the least of your concerns. It is 'possible' though, so if you have access to another burner, even borrowed from a friend, you might try it. #2 Isn't real likely either since we're talking about multiple attempts here. #3 is pretty much all that's left. This is an explanation of your error, and How to fix it. You can skip to the end if you trust me and either already know all about it, or don't want to know.: The data that your burner writes to the disks, does not go directly from your hard drive to the burner. It goes through several places on your motherboard, including your ram in most configurations, and is then sent to a small cache on the burner. From there, it is sent nice and evenly to the disk. It is done this way, so that the data reaches the disk at a consistent rate, so the disk can spin at a constant/nearly constant speed. Otherwise, writing on a spinning disk becomes a rediculously complicated procedure. Idealy, that buffer should spend the whole time, up till the last few seconds, between 90 and 100% full. It will normaly go up and down, but you want it mostly full. The reason for this is that the data comes from you hdd at an irregular rate, and when your hard drive lags for a moment, you want there to be enough data in the buffer that writing never stops, because when it does, you get an underrun error. But why are you getting one? Simple. A 72x burner (or whatever speed you have) can only write at the rated speed under PERFECT conditions. That means that your HDD must be fast enough to dish out those speeds, the busses on your motherboard must be fast enough to handle the data rates, your ram must be fast enough to ship it all through, your CPU must be fast enough to process the commands being sent to the drive (not usualy a problem) and your system resources must be available enough to let it happen. When all is said and done, my 54x CD burner, only writes consistanly at speeds up to 18x, faster than that and I start making coasters. Average write speed 603.9x. I think this may be part of the problem. I would assume you didn't actualy set your burner to burn at that speed, but you mighgt try setting the speed realy low, like 10x asnd then doing some test burns up from there to see what speed it fails at. In my experience, the "auto" speed mode in most burning software, including k3b, sucks.

Witha dirty isntall like that, I could be enarly anything. what I would sugest is going into the kde control center and choosing a different icon set. It could be that your setting from the old install are still there and you have selected an icon set that isn't in mandy 10.1 That's the only idea that comes to mind. As for the duplicate antries, I find it easier to use the menu editor than the comand line.

Have yo noticed this happening with any other programs or at certain sites (like mayber some site you go to runs some script Opera doesn't like) Also, and I know this is a long shot, I have had issues in the past, where a particular nvidia driver and a particular program simply didn't play nice. The example that comes to mind is the version of mozilla that came out with mandrake 9.2, and whatever version of the nvidia driver was newest when that came out. Once they gt updated, I had no more problems. I don't have any explanation for that, and very few people have reported similar experiences, but you never know. So, you might want to try rolling back your nvidia driver to an older version, or updating it to a newer version if there is one.

Thanks Chriss. That seems to have solved the problem. Doesn't seem like that should cause trouble, but it's fixed now I guess.... I've had to make so scripts to put in my kde autostart folder to run things that were previously only ran each boot beacuse I always left them reunning, but that's not a big deal, and making those scripts once is far less inconvenient than having to manualy choose which program to open stuff with or do every stinkin thing through the console.

Sorry I never got back here. More info: I know how to correctly associate file extensions with programs. I have done it through the KDE control center AND by using the 'right click'/'open with' dialog and checking the "remember application association for this type of file box." In both case, it works great, and double clicking a file on my desktop or in konqueror will open up the desired application. The trouble comes after I reboot. When I reboot, virtualy all media file associations revert to Xine, and a few to mplayer (notice I wrote 'mplayer, NOT gmplayer) PDF's revert to nothing, since kghostview has been removed from my system. All of my other file associations are as default.

This is a realy annoying though non-serious problem. I have found that many types of media file associations in kde simply sill not stick after a reboot. Examples: I want all digital video files to be played through Mplayer GUI. (gmplayer) and I don't want xine to do ANYTHING except play DVD's. doesn't matter why, it's just the way i like it. However, no mater what i seem to do, if i reboot, and then try to open a media file by double clicking, they ALL open in Xine. It's realy annoying. Also, I can't get kde to remember that I want he commercial version of Acrobat reader to be the default reader for pdf's. I tried uninstalling ALL of the other pdf readers and all other softwarecapable of reading a pdf, but now it simply asks what to do with the file. If anyone can shed some light on this, I'd realy appreciate it. Also, if anyone can absolutely confirm that this is a mandrake 10.0 problem that is fixed in 10.1 I'll upgrade. I had planned to stick steadfast to 10.0 untill I could buy a powerpack of 10.2 Official, but if installing 10.1 from cheapbytes will solve it for certain, i'll switch. Thanks guys.

in addition to the great tips you've allready gotten, my advice is this: Break it. The best way to learn how to use a new system is to repeatedly do stuff you're told not to do, break the system, and fix it. Do this over and over and over. I'm really serious here. Play with beta software and try to compile a kernel following the faq mentioned above and skip the steps that don't sound important. Of course, it won't work, but you'll learn a lot in the process. Try to delete files that should be important. Go into the directory /etc and just start reading. It's full of all the files that controll the settings for most of you system and some of those files are REALY well commented and can teach you a lot. When you find something in /etc that you don't understand, try to change it, and when your computer won't boot into linux anymore, try to fix it. And break all the common sense rules. Run realy stupid commands as root just to see what they do. May favorite is rm -rfv / It will remove your entire file structure, it's almost as good as formatting, and best of all, it will list off every file while it goes. Then, when you've broken it so badly you can't fix it any more, format your harddrive, re-install and do it again. I know it probably sounds like I'm being a smart-ass, but I'm not. There are a couple of things you will need though. The first thing you'll need, is a lot of people who are willing to help, who know more about linux than you. Wlcome to the MandrakeUsers Board. The second thing you will need is a back-up of anything that isn't easily replaced. Since you just mved from windows to linux, I'm guessing you already did this. So far you're two for two. The Third thing, which you probably don't have, is a back-up OS. A way to get to the web to get help when you realy screw things up good. For this you should take a loot into 'live' linux distributions. Basicaly a Live distro is one that will run entirely from a CD, and give you all the basic software you might need to fix things and access the web. A few to look into are Knoppix (Based on Debian linux), PCLinuxOS (Based on mandrake by a third party) and mandrake move (actualy made by mandrake). If yo want to spend moeny on a commercial version, go with mandrake move since the commercial version plays nice with a USB key so you can actualy have place to store a /home directory. Of the others I prefer knoppix. This is one of those thingsthat nobody should be without. The last thing you need, in spades, is patients. It can be very frustrating learning a new system, especialy the hard way, but the rewards are great.

LOL. I know it's realy hard to get used to. When I switched from MS to linux it took me a long time to get over the fealing that i was way overdue for a defrag. When I ran windows, I used t defrag weekly, and every 6 months I would alternate between re-installing windows and completely re-formatting my harddrive and re-installing windows. Of course, at first I screwed linux up beyond my ability to fix it way more often than that (like every other week) because i was trying to learn the system the hard way, and boy was it worth it. My computer has been running now since I re-formatted after buying a new motherboard probaly 6 months ago. Not only has it not slowed down as windows would have, but because i have put some effort into configuring it the way i want it, it is in fact much faster than when installed. If you get realy crazy about it, I here there's mpeg's you can download that if played in full screen 'look' like the windows defragmenter running. It might help ease the withdrawl pains.

Sent a pm day before yesterday, still interested?

The graphics are 1990, but it's a lot of fun. There's actualy an rpm either on the CD's or on the contrib mirror. If you decide you realy like it let me know and we'll get a game going.

I used to play crimson fields on my old pocket PC a couple of years ago, and I just rediscovered it for linux. I have also just discovered that you can play the game via email, sort of like mailing chess moves back and forth with a pen-pal. You select a password and after your turn is finished, it tells you where the file you need to email is. Then we just pass back and forth the attatchments. I was wondering if anyone was interested in starting a game via email. If enough people are interested, we could set up several games, maybe a ladder.

I know this isn't the most helpful response, but for now, it's all I've got. some of this I'm sure you've heard before, some might be new. 1. You should REALY consider getting a new hardware controlled modem. Winmodems can be a nightmare to install and configure and even when properly configured do NOT EVER work as well as a good hardware controlled modem. Some folks will dissagree, but I've tested a lot of modems, and I'm sure. 2. Personaly i reccomend the Creative Labs MODEMBLASTER External Serial modem. It's $50 to $60 last I checked, maybe less now, and it's fantastic. as plus, it can be set up with just some pointing and clicking. 3. Don't get discouraged if you find help with your modem a litle sparse. These days, fewer and fewer people (especialy linux users) are using dial-up. the majority of us use some sort of broadband. 4. I stopped using dial-up shortly after installing mandrake 10.0Community edition, and while I don't remember a lot of specifics, I can tell you that i found it to be an extremely flaky distro when it came to dial-up. 9.2 on the other hand worked like a dream with MSN dial-up. Good luck

More than what distro 'to' use, I would suggest what 'not' to use. I think you should NOT use any mandrake newer than 8.0 or any redhat newer than 7 or any version of Gentoo at all. We are after all talking about a laptop that is in the neighborhood of 4 years old, so using a distro that is any newer than 3 years ago, is probably making things harder than they need to be. With each passing year, Linux get's bigger and beefier to take advantage af all the latest technological advances, but your laptop is still 4 years old.

I think that pretty much says it. The wide variety of DM's available for linux is both blessing and curse. Most apps could care less, but dm specific apps, like kscd and ksirc and so on, don't play well with other DM's, because much like integrated components in Windows, they assume certain constants about the environment, so when you run them (or try to run them) in a different DM, they don't know how to cope. The best advice i can give you is to either switch to kde or find gnome specific apps to do the same things.

If you've been thinking about a multi-function device, you should REALLY check out the HP psc1210. it's only $100 and it does everything the home user could want, including playing very nicely with most versions of linux. And, if you happen to install an incompatible version of linux, manualy installing proper drivers is realy not hard. I'm using mine with manrake 10.0 right now. i have used it for some time now, and i have sold several other people on them, and everyone I've talked to has been thouroughly pleased with theirs.

Just in case anyone reads this thread and is thinking about buying the retail version, I thought I'd mention what I think of it. Worth every penny. It's a realy great game and it installed for me without a hitch. like most large commercial programs, I found the install went more smoothely withOUT KDE running, but no big deal. I find that it is stable and performs very well.

that's rely odd. The only thing I can think of to suggest is that you go find the newest source for hpijs and hpoj (hpoj is what runs the scaning portion of an HP psc) I think you can find it at linuxprinting.org I had to do that to get my psc1210 working in some older versions of mandrake, like 9.0 and 9.1 let me know how it goes for you.

A little clarification, there are two versions of cedega. The first is the source code you can get from the CVS mirrors for transgamin, which is free. However, since that version is free, it does NOT have many of the commercial libraries that it needs to function properly. While about 1/3 of the games i've tried with the commercial version have worked, I've never gotten anything running with the free version. Occasionaly people will download the free source and compile and package it, though these are not any better and are of questionable legality anyway. The second version is the member version and it includes all the goodies that make it work. You can only get it by registering at http://www.transgaming.com for $5.00/month. Once you have downloaded it, you can use it forever without continuing to subscribe, but only active subscribers can download. That applies to updates as well, and they have minor version updates every 4-6 weeks. 4.0.1 (updated from 4.0) just came out a cpouple weeks ago. Occassionaly you can find some very dishonest person who will let you downlaod the commercial version for free using their account (or one they hacked) but I don't kow any such people and would tell anyone if I did. There is a minimum 3 month subscription, so to download you need to pay $15.00, but as i said, you can cancel as soon as you're done downloading and use it forever. As an added bonus subscribers can downlaod Point2play which is a graphical front end to cedega that some folks realy love. Personaly I think it sucks eggs. Also, you can download the MicroSoft Core fonts installer which does just what it sounds like. You can actualy find and install all those fonts yourself, but this makes it easy. Hope that's all the info you need. p.s. I've been a subscriber for a while, I think it's worth every penny and if you renew your $15 for ever update, you spend just as much as staying active.

The problem with the Wacom Tablet is actualy a well known and easily fixed problem, and in fact, your suggestion is NOT the best solution. all you need to do is update your kernel. The latest kernel on the update mirors for mandrake 10.0 is 2.6.3-16, while the one you have the problem with is 2.6.3-7 There were the better part of a dozen threads o the topic right after mandrake came out, including at least two where I posted this, proper, solution. For the record, My WACOM Graphire2 works just ducky with the current kernel. Enjoy. Oh, don't know anything about the SDL, never had an SDL problem, though if it's fixed in cooker, I'd imagiune that simply doing all your updates would solve the problem, and avoid beta software.

LOL, you couldn't be more right. Everybody always acts like cedega is this horrible thing because it 'discourages ports' which as I said, is a grossly illogical conclusion based on a false premis. Nobody every says "damn those guys at codeweavers! They realy discourage microsoft from releaseing MS office for Linux." Nobody ever says, "damn, if only there was no wine......" Look guys, the only thing cedega discourages is dual booting. If you think that there is more than a tenth of enough linux users for anyone to take linux seriously as a platofrm for gaming then you are fooling yourself. I love linux. I realy do, but I'm a huge geek and so is everyone I've ever met in person who used linux as their everyday home opperating system. Game companies don't care about us. Well, game companies don't care about anyone realy, but that another topic. To companies like Vivendi, we are nothing. We are no more interesting than mac users. In fact, because our open source format is differnt from what they have always used, they fear it. We are like a biting fly. Small, impotent, and good to avoid. Even if cedega does discourage ports, it is a nothingth of the discouragement that the very nature of linux provides.

WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG That statement is based on totaly faulty logic and if you think it thourgh makes absolutely no sense. Okay, now that we've coverd that, let me explain why. As you yourself said, only an estimated 3% of the pc owning population runs Linux as a primary OS, and realy, they are not a very 'gaming' group of people on average. Where your logic first falls apart is in terms of time scale. It would be true that cedega did not encourage porting if we were talking about a very short amount of time, say, a year. But at the best we're talking about 5 or 10 years or more, because the linux revolution, if it ever happens, will happen slowly. With that time scale, software like cedega encourages people who are a litle less geeky than I am to give linux a try. For that matter, it encouraged ME to give linux a try. When I first started using linux I played a lot of PC games and if I hadn't been able to get a least a few of them running in winex, I'd have never uninstalled windows. I am not alone. For the general masses to ever transition to linux, we need transitional software. Software that bridges the gap between Windows and linux, thereby, brining that laughable 3% up. And that's the other place the logic behind your statement falls apart. Game companies choose not to port to linux for one of two reasons.Either: a. They've dne the research and they dont' feal that there are enough linux users to make a profit on a linux port. or b. They've never ehard of linux or didn't know you 'could' port games to it. The fact that some percentage of users will get rudementary functionality out of a small percentage of games is totaly irrelevent. Once linux has a 10% market share, those problems will go away. Then the linux revolution will hapen. But as I said, for that to happen, programs like cedega, wine, crossover office, win4lin and so on are criticaly important. So, not only does cedega encourage ports in the long run, it encourages the entire linux movement. not attacking you, but I've heard that a lot, and it bugs the hell out of me.

I understand, I'll gie my old TI-resource CD a whirl and see if I can get it going, and if I can, I'll let y0ou know what I did.

A long time ago, Winex3.0 or so, I tried to get a demo of derive working with winex and had very similar results, and never did get anything going. The best advice I can give you, as someone with most of a bachelor's degree in mathematics, is that there are better programs than derive anyway. And in fact, there are native linux versions of Maple and Mathematica, which are undoubtedly the two best. Maple is exacly like it is in windows, except that they added a command line version for calculations without graphics, (the graphical version is there too of course) and the mouse scroll wheel actualy works in the linux version where in the windows version it only works some times. Mathematica is probably overkill for you, and it's quite expensive, but if you go to the wolfram research website you can order a demo CD. I have the 4.2 demo, but ultiately decided to stick with maple.

Yes, you can deffinately connect your ti-83 to your linux box, I did it once a long time ago. Sadly, I don't remember much of anything about it. You might try googleing for ti-83 and linux