scoonma

Ah, it's different then. I thought you had Windows still left on the 80GB disk. I don't think there are broken sectors on it. If there were any, I'm pretty sure "e2fschk" and "badblocks" program would care about those while booting. (also see manpages) During the Mandriva installation process you're asked to create partitions for the linux filesystem. If you don't know or want to know about that, use automatic partitioning. You can also do this manually, of course. If you want the whole disk be fully accessable from linux, I'd suggest using the following ext3 type partitions: /boot (really small size; < = 1GB) /root (small size; <= 2 GB) /usr (medium size; <= 20 GB for main application storage) /tmp (small size, <= 2 GB; optionally clean on booting) /var (small size, about 1GB is enough, but don't make this too small, urpmi and rpm data area can grow by time) /swap (depends on your RAM size; 2 GB should be more than needed in 98%) /home (the rest for your personal pleasure, i.e. user data :-) Some might think this is too many partitions for most people, but it's a very handy configuration in case of data loss or major system problems: different file systems are created for every partition, so in case your even completely loosing one of them, you still have the data on the remaining ones! This is most convenient for your user data, so at least /home shoud have it's own area. Good partitioning always depends on the very purpose you want to use your machine for, but the above should be fine for a usage similar to Win$; i.e. as a home desktop computer for everyday. If you want to be on the safe side, make sure your /boot partition is the first primary one, and the HD is connected as primary master. The /boot partition not being active or bootable could also have been the cause of the error. Do those settings work? If not, I'd try the same procedure with Mandriva One or the actual 2007 beta 3 (which is behaving very well here) before throwing the harddisk away. Using Mandriva One you can also start a working system, do all necessary partitioning, option setting (use cfdisk from terminal window for activating a partition or setting the bootable flag) and HD testing without permanently going through the full install process (and possibly no success). So it's also good to keep your frustration level low. :-) Good luck, scoonma

Hi Timothy, a version mismatch error of this kind is caused by the kernel. ATI drivers which are not derived from the xorg project must match the kernel version *exactly*, i.e. you cannot use driver modules compiled for 2.6.12.16 in kernel 2.6.12.17 and so on. By installing dkms-ati the building and install process of the correct module is done automatically. (You'll probably have to add/update PLF software repositories first - see easyurpmi for this.) Errors can occur within the building process, though. In that case, follow the instruction from error message to remove the faulting condition. In many cases this is quite simple, just invoking few commands to prepare kernel sources for a proper build. If you're unsure or it won't work, please post that output here, adding kernel and driver version. Good luck, scoonma

At least I've found out about the drirc error: The file is has no impact to the rendering engine itself (as I presumed), it's rathermore a configuration file targeted to per-application settings in xml format: http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/ConfigurationInfrastructure The caveats marked as slow by glxgears still persist with actual cooker files. OTOH, 3D desktop and googleearth run quite well yet.

Hi steyrdude, I'm not really sure about it, but suppose your bootloader is unable to find the root partition. Do you use LILO or GRUB? Before trying anything else, I'd switch the bootloader. Maybe there's a limit in terms of size where your root partition has to lie? In the old days of linux the beginning of the root partition had to lie within first 1024 cylinders of a harddrive AFAIRC. I'm not sure wether that limit has fallen completely or wether it's just not a strict nowadays (I'm sure linux has improved a lot here). You'd probably consult the manual of your bootloader on this one (i.e. google for "manpage" plus "grub" / "lilo"). There are some useful HOWTOs for Lilo, too: http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/LILO.html (German translations are also available.) Chapter 2.2 and chapter 5 will probably be interesting to you. The latter describes how to use lilo for booting a SCSI disk, but you could use that method, too, in case any other option fails. Don't worry to ask if you didn't understand any detail. :-) HTH, scoonma

You can install anacron to make sure cronjobs are actually run even if the machine is not working all day. The package info says it's preconfigured for Mandriva, so it's very easy to use. :-) Cheers, scoonma

Hi fahd, you *could* use that method and first download all *.rpm packages you want, then install them using rpm one by one "rpm -i <package>.rpm" or for updates "rpm -U <package>.rpm" but you're unlikely to do this for long. Using urpmi is *much* easieser, especially due to the implemented curl/wget call and for update purpose. If you don't like using the command line, rpmdrake is a good option, too. I'm using rpm only when there's no other suitable way for installing. So it's handy if you want to install singular, rarely used or propietary packages, which do not show up in any of the "normal" collections. Otherwise urpmi is much more comfortable. Cheers, scoonma

Hi Urza, obviously you're looking for the shell command "sed". :-)

Hi weebo, here's a very detailed HOWTO on modems: http://www.linux.com/howtos/Modem-HOWTO.shtml There are two situations mentioned which describe slow connection problems. If you're unable to find out the cause yourself, it would be good to know some data of your config, i.e. modem vendor/type, provider and connection process/config files. Regarding modem speed: For up-to-date devices, 115 kbps is a good selection. This is the speed by which your computer's serial port/component talks to your modem. It's not to be confused with the connection speed of your modem: If you have a 56k modem, this is the hardware speed limit by which it talks to your provider's device. The first number can be greater as the modem does compression on your data before sending them up. Generally, be sure to use correct IRQ/IO settings, they are most important. Check also BIOS options on this. HTH, scoonma

If you don't mind, update to 2007. It's stable enough for me, with the following properties that would be important to you: - K3b working well - USB working well - Best printing support of all Mandrake/Mandriva versions I've tried... :-) Updating from 2006 is no major prob. You can use software repositories for cooker given by easyurpmi.zarb.org, if you don't want to use CDs.(Don't forget to update kernel!)

With urpmi, there are database problems from time to time, but nothing really serious. Just by logging out and in again, then restart urpmi; that's it. Maybe some timing problem?

Don't know, just choose it because of some serious system lockups (even Magic SysRq key seqences didn't work), likely being caused due to dealing with multimedia data. So I gave it a try and it seems more stable than 2.6.17-2. But as I couldn't reproduce the actual faulting condition yet, this is not sure. Version 2.6.7.11 is also marked as the latest stable release at kernel.org, so I'm tending to stick with it.

You shouldn't give up now! :-) Unlike in the Windows world, you're actually able find the reason for errors, and you can fix them by yourself. It's not always easy, but the more you learn, the more you can get out of your system. Regarding bluetooth: This is new to me, too. I've found these pages dealing with similar problems than yours, but they are in german: http://www.unixboard.de/vb3/archive/index.php/t-5902.html http://www.holtmann.org/papers/bluetooth/uptimes2003.html I don't know wether you understand that, so I try to extract obviously important info: It's suggested to check your bluetoth device pin in /etc/bluetooth/pin (presumed you have the following packages installed: "bluez-pin", "bluez-utils"). Oh, just saw that package description of bluez-utils "highly recommends" a change(!) Use "hcitool scan" to find the modem and note BD address (looks like 00:15:30:A2:0F:C7). Do "rfcomm bind <bd-address obtained> 1" As you likely have already installed the modem, you should be able to do networking by using "kinternet" (or newer tool to do a connect?) (Maybe you have to "service network restart" before.) If that method works, you can edit "/etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf" to reflect the changes regarding your device and make them permanent. HTH, scoonma

You're welcome! Did you try the new multimedia-kernel (2.6.7.11-mm) yet? It gave me a fine speed increase here. (The actual one is not modularized, so no need to change boot config.) :-)

Hi Gul, I found out you have to disable Composite Extension for fglrx to get 3D accelleration. Unfortunately, without it some of the new, cool stuff like 3D desktop won't work. So I'd also advise to use ati xorg (deinstall fglrx, then "urpmi x11-driver-video-ati"). glxinfo is part of the "mesa-demos" package.

Hi beatnik, if you want to print out some text a terminal window, you can use the "echo" command within a shell script: Syntax is simple: echo "This is my text"

So next issues to check would be DNS resolution and firewall. Does /etc/resolv.conf contain a valid nameserver entry? Are you able to acces the net with firewall down? (In most cases "service shorewall stop" / "service shorewall clear" being root.)

Hi tech, for regular use, you should create a "www" user/account with less rights than root, but access to /var/www/html. Using a word processor though oversized is possible, of course. Just don't forget to save in plain text format. ;-)

Why not try that? I've done that some times with firefox, user data always was preserved or could be imported later. (To be safe, it's good to make a backup anyhow.) If you do not like it, you still can go back to the old configuration. I'd check dependancies/needed libraries first, though.

Of course! I just meant please make sure you've not plugged your DSL cable into ethernet socket and ethernet cable into DSL socket at your modem. (You can actually spend hours searching for the error if everything else is configured correctly.) Sorry if this was not so clear. Then be sure to be on-line with your provider regarding hardware. Any LED on the modem showing you're connected or data being transferred? This is some annoying msec behaviour: The system tries to secure itself but does not respect actual changes made by the admin. You can care about this in the next step. First edit your resolv.conf, so that it looks like the following: # search no-domain-set.bellcanada nameserver 192.168.2.1 nameserver 209.226.175.223 nameserver 198.235.216.134 nameserver 198.235.216.130 (First two outside ns entries claimed to be sympatico nameservers: http://www.oclug.on.ca/archives/oclug/2004...ary/037573.html ) Then do "chattr /etc/resolv.conf +i". This should prevent the file from being altered. Afterwards you can "service network restart" and check with "ifconfig -a" what has happened. Are you able to successfully "ping 198.235.216.134"? I'd uncheck this, then restart the network. How's it now? Ah - just a moment: I remember some details from my modem times: How do you identify yourself to your provider: Did they give you a login/password combination for your account? In that case ... I have to admit that you do have to use the pppoe option. Then you'd have to configure BOTH eth0 and ppp0; in the following way: In MCC, choose eth0 and NO TCP/IP address at all! No dhcp, nothing. Just leave it as blank as possible. (Rather looks like disabled when trying to change, but still exists.) For ppp0, choose manual DSL configuration for pppoe and enter your data. By that, eth0 will get it's dynamic net address. Never seemed fully logical to me, but it worked here once. In that case, you should make /etc/resolv.conf accessible to the system again by: "chattr -i /etc/resolv.conf". Please excuse any possible confusion!

Actually ... no. But I'd do an update, either to last 1.7 version (was it 1.7.12?) or to the new 2.0 suite called seamonkey. Keeping your browser up to date is a good idea in most cases, being an important (for some people most important) interface to the net. If that doesn't help, please report again. I once had a similar error - but related to improper GNOME setting, so it occurred with file opening requesters from other apps, too. If you're interested what your browser really is doing, try "ps ux", "top" or system-monitor.

Hm, I'd be very careful if such a condition raised and first backup important data if not already done. But make sure the error is "real". Possible causes I can think of: a) The tool displaying displaying hd size is not working properly. Did you actually have more than 107 MB free? What does "df" say? Does it present the same, i.e. negative output? b) If yes, maybe the filesystem has a problem. Then I suppose you're running into trouble. Sometimes the fs can recover, sometimes not. c) It's sort of an exception, triggered by the combination of wine plus install soft. Does the installer use any strange copy protection? (Well, you could argue that some of them if not many are meant to be sort of strange...) If no, maybe it's just broken and only happens to work on Win$ by luck. When you do "wine setup.exe" from command line, any errors showing up?

No greater problem. If you're sure that the modem does act as a full dhcp server, it should work without hostname (check good handbook, i.e. one that's giving you some technical info). But you need DNS. It seems your modem gives your client a working IP, but does not "forward" a (working) nameserver. So if you're not sure, choose a DNS server manually (i.e. make sure it appears in /etc/resolv.conf afterwards). You cannot do much wrong with this. Just adding more namserver entries won't hurt anything. You may also try to disable the default search domain (don't have to delete the entry, just comment it out by inserting "#" at the beginning of the line.) Plese also check hardware connection again: Is the modem's DSL side on-line (LED status)? Sometimes DSL and ethernet cables are simply interchanged when both have RJ45 connectors, too.

This would be the name of the server giving your local machine it's IP number, 192.168.2.13 in your last case. Is there a reasonable output of "host 192.168.2.1"? If yes, you should add that name here. Not every device capable of providing DHCP service must have a hostname, but it's worth a try (my DSL-Router/Modem has www.routerlogin.com). If not, just leave it blank.

Hi shemz, I'm not sure your modem is actually conected, showing your last output. The reason is, that it displays a destination in "private" Internet area, ie. for local networks (cf. http://www.iana.org/faqs/abuse-faq.htm ) pppd normally connects your net interface to an adress which is not residing in that area, but in "outer internet". Are you sure you've entered correct values for the following data (should have been given you by your provider)? a) login b) password c) Point-to-Point Server Otherwise your output would not look that bad, and I'd add a default route (how is this done permanently for ppp0? - I'm not using modems for some time - anyone else?) AFAIRC the default route should point to your P-t-P remote station, i.e. a providers IP giving you modem access (you can see it by "ifconfig -a") Or am we cross-talking and your modem is DSL? (In that case you maybe need pppoe.) I must admit being confused about the term "bluetooth modem". Which device is receiving the data? If you have a private network on your own, that you're dialling in, then yes, you'd probably need a gateway entry with the IP address of your local receiving device. (But this would make little sense from a technical point of view, as you owned both devices, so no need to dial in?) HTH, scoonma P.S.: Traditionally modems are used to transmit data on long range distances, and bluetooth is for very short ones.

Howdy folks, even with actual ATI drivers and xorg-server this is not what it meant to be - at least compared to the proprietary drivers: $ glxinfo name of display: :0.0 libGL warning: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x4b display: :0 screen: 0 direct rendering: Yes server glx vendor string: SGI server glx version string: 1.2 server glx extensions: GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap, GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_SGI_make_current_read, GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_hyperpipe, GLX_SGIX_swap_barrier, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig, GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer client glx vendor string: SGI client glx version string: 1.4 client glx extensions: GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_MESA_allocate_memory, GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer, GLX_MESA_swap_control, GLX_MESA_swap_frame_usage, GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_OML_sync_control, GLX_SGI_make_current_read, GLX_SGI_swap_control, GLX_SGI_video_sync, GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig, GLX_SGIX_pbuffer, GLX_SGIX_visual_select_group, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap GLX version: 1.2 GLX extensions: GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer, GLX_MESA_swap_control, GLX_MESA_swap_frame_usage, GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_SGI_video_sync, GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig OpenGL vendor string: Tungsten Graphics, Inc. OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI R300 20040924 AGP 8x x86/MMX+/3DNow!+/SSE TCL OpenGL version string: 1.3 Mesa 6.5 [...] glu extensions: GLU_EXT_nurbs_tessellator, GLU_EXT_object_space_tess visual x bf lv rg d st colorbuffer ax dp st accumbuffer ms cav id dep cl sp sz l ci b ro r g b a bf th cl r g b a ns b eat ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 0x23 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None 0x24 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None 0x25 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow 0x26 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow 0x27 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None 0x28 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None 0x29 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow 0x2a 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow 0x2b 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None 0x2c 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None 0x2d 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow 0x2e 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow 0x2f 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None 0x30 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None 0x31 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow 0x32 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow 0x4b 32 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ncon I did a $ LIBGL_DEBUG=verbose glxinfo to find out why; obviously the driver looks for a config file: libGL error: Can't open configuration file /etc/drirc: No such file or directory. Unfortunately, there's no such file available (no results on "urpmf /etc/drirc"). I don't want to fall back on the proprietary drivers, as they are still unable to do load composite extension with acceleration enabled. ;-) Video card is ATI Radeon 9600 SE AQ (RV 350). There are also multiple warnings in Xorg.0.log containing warnings of the form "AIGLX: 3d driver claims not to support visual 0x.." Any ideas please? scoonma