davecs

I have a Microsoft Keyboard (sorry!) which has a key labelled "F-lock". When F-lock is ON, the Function keys operate normally, but when it is OFF, they are labelled as follows: Help, Undo, Redo, New, Open, Close, Reply, Fwd, Send, Spell, Save, Print I have backed up and edited the keymap file at /etc/X11/xkb/symbols/gb and allocated the following values to these keys: Help, Undo, Redo, XF86New, XF86Open, XF86Close, XF86Reply, XF86MailForward, XF86Send, XF86Spell, XF86Save, Print When I run KDE Control Centre, these codes are recognised under Accessibility > Keyboard Shortcuts > Global Shortcuts. However, most of these keys are not much use at Global level, I need to get them to work at Application Level. And that is the problem KDE does not recognise them when I try to allocate them as Application Shortcuts. Is there a workaround for this problem, such as giving them values in the keytable which are recognised for Application Shortcuts... There is another problem in that the Windows key is returned as F13 and cannot be used as a system shift key, which is what I want it to be... Note that in Global Shortcuts I did successfully allocate "XF86Close" to "Kill Application" so why does it work in Global and not in Application? DAVE

That sounds good, having to download the kernel-source. So if you have an nForce motherboard and an ethernet/cable internet connection, and have to download the kernel-source before you can compile the nForce ethernet driver, you're up a gum tree, nest-ce pas? DAVE

Now DVD burners are getting cheaper, I am thinking of getting one. The Pioneer 106 which does ±RW is now available at a fairly attractive price, has anyone got one and does anyone know of any problems with it?

The first version of Linux that I actually managed to install properly adn get working was Mandrake 9.0. Supermount was a pain in the ar5e! If you tried to access an optical drive without a disc in, it was several minutes before you got your machine back! 9.1 has not completely eliminated this problem, but has got the wait to manageable proportions, so, on balance I have kept supermount. If you want to do without it, in KDE at least, you can create icons on your desktop that have, on the context menu, mount/unmount commands. In fact I have created one for my Compact Flash card reader. It's no big deal. Just right click on the desktop, select Create New... CD/DVD Device or Floppy Device and off you go!

Mandrake ASKS that you join the club. You are not forced to. You can link to contrib sites, and other people who do Mandrake rpm builds such as plf and texstar via the Easy Urpmi site. I've got Mplayer, complete with DVD-readability, all the multimedia stuff and the latest KDE and K3B thanks to me following the instructions in this site. As far as I know, this level of independent specialist support does not exist for any other distro.

Can you let us know what you set "USB Device Legacy Support" to? To avoid the same happening to someone else? DAVE

Sorry I have to buy a new mobo myself. Could you tell us what problems you are experiencing?

I have a mobo which needs nForce, the Asus A7N266VM, and it provides 2 USB ports on the back, and two more headers on the mobo to connect 4 more. Internally they are actually 2 blocks of 3 USB ports. One of these blocks (which includes the 2 "default" ports) actually causes the computer to freeze under Mandrake 9.1 when you plug a peripheral into it. It does not freeze under Windows. (Though it is generally unstable under Windows and, to say the least quirky under Linux. And yes, I have updated the BIOS.) Due to this and other niggles with with it (when you have an ethernet internet connection the system regularly freezes for short periods, resulting in sounds breaking up and a staccato movement of the mouse across the screen), my next mobo will NOT have an nForce chipset. On the other hand, I have had no problems with the nVidia graphics modules so I will consider an nVidia video card. On the question of whether you should use a USB mouse, I admit to using the occasional DOS program, which requires a PS/2 or USB mouse for it to work. That is only a small disadvantage of a USB mouse, but I cannot think of any advantage: I would have thought that the answer is therefore obvious.

You need to visit the following site: http://plf.zarb.org/~nanardon Here you will get full instructions for adding alternate sites to your Software Installer, and you will be able to download mplayer (and lots more) from one of these.

Using Mandy9.1 have installed Kino and Cinelerra. Kino captures ok from my DV recorder via IEEE1394, to either AVI or MOV. However when on the editing tab, I can't play it, it just fast-forwards. I can edit bits out, etc, and it does correctly compile the MPEG file, but I am finding the playback problem frustrating, as it means I am having to guess what bits to cut, etc. Cinelerra just does not work. It loads, but that's it. I can open a MOV file, but cannot actually do anything with it. It won't play it or edit it in any way shape or form. Obviously I have something missing. WHAT?

The problem with Mandrake is that it takes control of the menuing system from KDE (and other frontends). So any programs you install from a tar.gz have to be added manually. What you read here represents a general technique for a number of programs. You need to copy the OOo icons into the directory /usr/share/icons You will need to be root to do it. Then you need to use menudrake. To do this, run Mandrake Control Centre > System > Menudrake > System Menu Configure All the programs you need are in the directory /opt/OpenOffice.org1.1.0/program (check - yours could be different) and are scripts starting with 's' They are: sagenda, scalc, sdraw, sfax, simpress, slabel, sletter, smath, smemo, svcard, sweb, swriter So to create a shortcut for OOo Writer, you would use the following entries in the add program dialogue box: Title: OpenOffice.org Writer (or whatever) Command: /opt/OpenOffice.org1.1.0/program/swriter Once you press OK you can add a Long Title and select an Icon. When finished, save. You may need to repeat all this for your personal menu if different. Click on "K">Configuration>Other>MenuDrake to amend your personal menu. There is another, simpler way of going about it, with Mandrake 9.1 Download edition you will need Disc 3. Just use Software Install to install "oooqs". This puts an icon in your system tray. You can right-click on it and select "Configure etc" and in the General tab, set the path to OpenOffice.org as /opt/OpenOffice.org1.1.0/ You can use other Configuration options to select which OOo element runs when you double-left-click on the icon, and if you right click you can select from the menu. Me? I did both. My other gripe with OOo is that it does not correctly uninstall older versions when you upgrade. Once installed, though, it was worth the hassle. Such a great program!

Thanks Boonders. I am more concerned about modifying files already produced by my camcorder than ripping new DVD files. (Thanks to switching to Linux and Open Source software, I can now afford them! :wink: even at UK prices!) However, I will look at the various commands that were downloaded with DVD::RIP. (Quick hint - Use Mandrake Control Centre to remove the file, but don't actually press the button to remove it. You will get a list of files in the right-hand window, and all the programs are those that start with /usr/bin !) I already had Easy Urpmi set up. IMHO that is what lifts Mandrake above the crowd!

I am submitting this tip in the hope that it will save someone a month of agony! I recently bought a DV camcorder and PCI ieee1394 host adaptor. I checked for compatibility at the site: www.linux1394.org If you look at the site there is a load of scary stuff about recompiling the kernel, etc, but with Mandrake 9.1 you don't need to. This is what you need to do: First visit the easy urpmi site (http://plf.zarb.org/~nanardon) and setup you software source manager so you can load up all the programs and libraries recommended by the linux1394 site. I think you can get them all bar one. You'll definitely need libraw1394, libdc1394, testlibraw1394, gscanbus, kino, dvgrab, etc. I seem to remember that I found all of these except one via software source manager except one, I think it was libdc1394, but I found an rpm using a google search. Basically, in the "add software" icon in Mandrake Control Centre, search for 1394 and install everything, plus Kino and Dvgrab. Gscanbus is also worth having to check if everything works. Open a terminal, and, as root, add the following lines to /etc/rc.local (hint type "kate /etc/rc.local"): modprobe video1394 modprobe dv1394 modprobe raw1394 Due to dependencies, ieee1394 and ohci1394 or equivalent will also be loaded. Now add these lines to /etc/modules.conf alias /dev/raw1394* raw1394 alias /dev/dv1394* dv1394 Once saved, reboot. Once back in KDE or gnome, open a terminal, change to root and type in: cd /dev mknod raw1394 c 172 0 mknod dv1394 c 172 0 (don't worry that these lines produce an error that they are already present) chmod 666 raw1394 chmod 666 dv1394 Now programs like Kino should run and recognise the ieee1394 subsystem.

I DID IT!!!! I DID IT!!!! Sorry for shouting, but.... I DID IT!!!! I already had all the modprobe lines added to rc.local and the devices only worked for root. In a terminal I changed to root and typed cd /dev ls I saw that there were some reversed entries (ie highlighted) which did not correspond with directories listed in Konqueror. One was /dev/nvidia. There is a line in /etc/modules.conf which reads alias /dev/nvidia* nvidia . I concluded that they were "virtual" devices and wondered whether I could "chmod" them as if they were real ones. So I added these lines to modules.conf alias /dev/dv1394* dv1394 alias /dev/raw1394* raw1394 and rebooted. I then went back to the /dev folder in a terminal as root and typed: ls dv1394 and raw1394 were now there, highlighted as before! I typed: mknod raw1394 c 172 0 mknod dv1394 c 172 0 Both these lines produced errors, directories already present, but I continued: chmod 666 raw1394 chmod 666 dv1394 Now I ran kino as user from the menu and it ran with full access to the 1394 system. To find out whether the change was permanent, I took a deep breath, rebooted (I nearly suffocated - it takes a while!) and ran kino again, and it worked! Anyway, thanks everyone for trying. I'm about to log off and get the partition image discs out... time for a backup, methinks!

Does anyone know of any Linux software that can put an MPEG-1 header on an MPEG-2 file? The reason for this is that most DVD players, mine included, play VCDs but not SVCDs. VCDs have a res of 352x288, whereas MPEG-2 files have a res of 480 (or 720) x576, resulting in a sharper picture. For some reason, many DVD players which will not play SVCDs, will accept a VCD with files at SVCD resolution, provided the header of the MPEG file was altered prior to creating the VCD. The contents can still be at the higher resolution. Result: a huge increase in picture quality. I can do this in Windows, there is a free program called TMPGenc, is there a similar Linux program that can do this. I have contacted one of the Transcode authors and it does not, nor do there seem to be any plans... Does anyone have any info?