Jimtim

OK, now on to Mandrivsen's manipulation. I did exacly as you said. But when I did the final manip (I used cut 'n' paste) I got a single cursor - which I don't think is a good sign. Here is a screen shot:

Glad you noticed Ivor! I spent my early years in Wales and so I've always looked back on Ivor the Engine with nostalgia for the land of my childhood. Couldn't understand it half the time though 'cause it was often aired in Welsh! Anyway, down to business. When I do "uname -a", I get: Linux localhost 2.6.17-5mdv #1 SMP Wed Sep 13 14:32:31 EDT 2006 i686 Intel® Celeron® CPU 2.60GHz GNU/Linux I usually use URPMI to install programmes where I can (I prefer using the terminal as it's faster but sometimes the MCC is easier through its user-friendliness). But, as I was going to add in the ongoing discussion about URPMI, not all apps can be found there - Java for instance. I couldn't find Katapult in URPMI, and decided to install it as an experiment to see if I could get my head around manual installations - that's the best way to learn! I was thrilled when it worked - and it DID work - very well in fact. It's a cool application - should definitely be on the next Mandriva release. But it has apparently caused a few problems for some people - perhaps because they can't find it in URPMI! I have considered re-installing the OS - but that won't tell us what the problem is! I think that's how Linux advances - through the resolution of this sort of problem However, I haven't ruled that out, and I think I'll do it as a last resort once the Spring edition of Mandriva is officially available. I'd like to be able to find the cause of all this though.

Here's another one for French. English is my mother-language but I've lived in France for ten years now.

Ok, that's all worked out fine. I followed Mandrivsen's instructions and, this time, the password appeared twice when I entered the comand cat /tmp/my-saved-passw. The two are identical. I also tried writing my password in Writer and pasting it in the dialogue box asking for my password. Still incorrect password. I think we can definitely assume that the keyboard set is being properly interpreted.

Mandrivsen, can you clarify something for me? You told me in your last post to write the command chmod 666 /tmp/my-saved-passw in root. Do I then log out of root and enter the command echo "my-passwd" > /tmp/my-saved-passw in the konsole as a user or do I need to stay root to do this?

I'm really impressed with the help that I've had on this forum. Thank you all very much. This is one of the things that motivates me towards migrating to Linux: It isn't just a software but a philosophy. It shows what people can do when they get together and help and co-operate with each other. It's in stark contrast with the tide of the world at the moment, where a handful of super-rich corporations dominate the planet. Anyway, enought of that! Here's the print screen you asked for Silversurfer. This is the dialogue box that refuses my password:

Thanks, Greg, for the correct command. I've hunted the entire computer for anything Katapult and it STILL doesn't work!! Perhaps the problem lies in one of the dependancies. Here is the complete list. Problem is, I can't remember what was already on the computer. Is there anyone out there who can tell me if there are any of these that I shouldn't remove? libc.so.6()(64bit) libkdeui.so.4()(64bit) libICE.so.6()(64bit) libXfixes.so.3()(64bit) libXdmcp.so.6()(64bit) libXext.so.6()(64bit) libqt-mt.so.3()(64bit) libDCOP.so.4()(64bit) libresolv.so.2()(64bit) libmng.so.1()(64bit) libkio.so.4()(64bit) libstdc++.so.6(GLIBCXX_3.4)(64bit) libkwalletclient.so.1()(64bit) libXau.so.6()(64bit) libXft.so.2()(64bit) liblcms.so.1()(64bit) libdl.so.2()(64bit) libfontconfig.so.1()(64bit) libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.2.5)(64bit) libutil.so.1()(64bit) libidn.so.11()(64bit) libSM.so.6()(64bit) libXcursor.so.1()(64bit) libX11.so.6()(64bit) libXrender.so.1()(64bit) /bin/sh libjpeg.so.62()(64bit) libstdc++.so.6()(64bit) libkdesu.so.4()(64bit) libpng12.so.0()(64bit) libart_lgpl_2.so.2()(64bit) rpmlib(PayloadFilesHavePrefix) <= 4.0-1 libkatapult.so.2()(64bit) libpthread.so.0()(64bit) libacl.so.1()(64bit) rpmlib(CompressedFileNames) <= 3.0.4-1 libxml2.so.2()(64bit) libkdecore.so.4()(64bit) libXinerama.so.1()(64bit) libm.so.6()(64bit) libgcc_s.so.1()(64bit) libfam.so.0()(64bit) lib64katapult = 0.3.1.4-1mud2007.0 libkdefx.so.4()(64bit) libXrandr.so.2()(64bit) libz.so.1()(64bit) libfreetype.so.6()(64bit) libattr.so.1()(64bit)

OK, I went round hunting for all references to Katapult. I took out everything in my Home directory and then had a look at the root directory. I found a lot of stuff in usr/lib/kde3. I tried deleting these files one by one with the command "name-of-file -e", but I sometimes got the message Segmentation fault. What does that mean? And besides, the files I thought I deleted seem to still be there. Am I using the correct command? You can see how limited my knowledge of Mandriva shell commands is!!

Yes, that's me too! Can you enlighten me as to what the key does?

Yes, when you look around problems with Katapult pop up all over the place. But now I've remembered something that didn't seem important at the time. When I installed Katapult I got this message: The following packages have bad signatures: /home/james/Download/katapult-0.3.1.4-1mud2007.0.i586.rpm: Invalid signature (NOT OK (no key): /home/james/Download/katapult-0.3.1.4-1mud2007.0.i586.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID b29840a4) Do you want to continue installation ? Could this be significant?

Here's an interesting development. I uninstalled Katapult to see if that would make a difference. It didn't, of course. However, when I double-clicked the rpm folder to re-install it, I was prompted for my root password in a GUI window and...it was accepted! It's not the same type of window, though, and my password still isn't accepted by the other type, ie the one that appears when you start the MCC etc.

Hmm, guess what? That doesn't work either!! Same problem: I can launch applications from a terminal using the new password but when I'm prompted for my password for GUI applications my password is deemed incorrect! Have I done something here or is it just another bug in Mandriva 2007??

Yes, that's all correct. I logged in as a normal user and my problem only concerns my root password when I need to enter it in a GUI application. Having said that, I use auto-login, but with my previous attempts to see what happens when this is disabled I had no trouble logging in as a normal user. Your point is a good one, Silver Surfer: if it was a problem of keyboard translation I wouldn't be able to do this.

OK, I've followed these steps precisely as laid out (thanks for the clear step-by-step instructions!) When I type echo "my password" > /tmp/my-saved-password in a konsole in gui I get the message "permission denied" When I type echo "my password" >> /tmp/my saved-passw in text mode I get a prompt and then when I do cat /tmp/my-saved-passw I my password is displayed. So, is the fact that I get "permission denied" when I'm in GUI a sign that something's wrong? Also, forgive me for being a little slow, but I don't understand how the first step will tell me something about why my password doesn't work in GUI as I'm doing the commands in a console and not in GUI itself.

Yes, this is exactly what I was wondering - could the two environments be interpreting the character set differently? Can you run through the procedure step by step? I tried entering my password, typing the script you suggested and then looking in the temp files but I saw nothing. I also tried the other way round, ie writing the script and then typing the password. Perhaps I could disable the masking feature so that I can see in real time what's going on when I type a password in gui? If so, how?

Yes, of course! Why didn't I think of that?! That's that problem sorted out. Thanks a lot for your help!

The keyboard looks normal. However, I would like to be able to actually see what the characters are when I type a password in gui. Who knows, maybe the keyboard becomes mysteriously un-configured then. Is this possible? Also, I tried following your hunch by switching off Katapult - still no joy.

My security level is standard. I did try taking off the auto login but nothing happens.

Thanks for your reply. But how do I do this? I've tried looking for something to do just that but I haven't found it yet. Can you take me through the procedure? I've only been using Mandriva for a few months and I know diddley squat! Thanks

Does anyone know how to move the screen to horizontally? My screen is very slightly too far to the left, which means that I can't see any buttons that are one the far left. I'm using Mandriva 2007 and my screen is a Philips 170c Thanks in advance

Yes, that's all correct: I can work in a console but I can't put my password in anyhting gui. Yes, I do use auto login.

When I say that the password doesn't work in kde, I do indeed mean that it doesn't work for the gui stuff. Sorry if I'm a bit vague - I'm still pretty new at this game. I opened the hidden files in my user folder and changed .kde to .kde.back, but to no avail. However, after I did this I noticed another file named .kde. When I compare them, they don't have the same content (or rather one has considerably more content than the other): The .kde I renamed has the following folders: Autostart, cache-localhost, cache-main.lan, DESKTOP_Entry, env, share, shutdown, socket-localhost, socket-main.lan, tmp-localhost, tmp-main.lan. The other .kde contains the following files: cache-localhost, share, socket-localhost. This file looks like a partial copy of the previous one to me, but I'm not sure. I'm sure it isn't terribly important not being able to put my password in gui when I can do it in the terminal, but I don't like not knowing what's going on. Perhaps this is a symptom of another, underlying problem?

No, I mean that when I want to do something that requires root privileges, configuring the computer for instance, my root password isn't accepted and I get the message "password incorrect". I have been using this password for a while now and so I am careful about the usual points: caps lock, etc. I have been looking at forums and I have seen that Mandriva can prompt users to change their root password after a few months. I have had no warning of this and, besides, it continues to work in the terminal.

Hi I'm a bit of a newbie to Mandriva - and this is the first time I've ever posted something on a forum. The problem I have now is that my root password is no longer accepted by KDE. My password still works in a terminal, and I can run the MCC that way. Yesterday I installed Katapult and all the programmes it needs. Could one of these have changed the configuration of KDE? The problem seems to date from yesterday. Thank you very much