peckinpah

My suggestion may not work in Mandriva (which I'm not running ATM). However, I had the same (or a similar) problem in Suse 10.2. What I did was right click on the task bar button and choose "switch to KDE menu style". That got rid of the ridiculously large and useless menu.

During installation, did you reply "yes" to the question of whether you wanted the installer to configure your x-server settings? If so, which card did it select? Whichever one should be the correct one. If you did not get that question during install, try uninstalling, then run the installer again with "-e" at the end. That will allow you to confirm each step of the install process.

OK, sounds good, will do. Thanks again for your help!

So, 17 posts later, the solution is to do what?

My goal was to prevent a regular user from accessing Windows partitions, and if that was not possible to block all access from any account. I guess I will not be posting this in tips and tricks. Thanks for all your help.

OK Here it is: NO DOWNLOADING ACTITY: Active Internet connections (only servers) Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State PID/Program name tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:2208 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 1942/hpiod tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:10026 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 2970/master tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:111 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 2498/portmap tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:6000 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 2808/X tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:34097 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 2071/python tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:631 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 2776/cupsd tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:25 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 2970/master tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:33147 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 2654/rpc.statd tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:7741 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 3011/lisa tcp 0 0 :::6000 :::* LISTEN 2808/X tcp 0 0 :::631 :::* LISTEN 2776/cupsd udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:32768 0.0.0.0:* 2657/avahi-daemon: udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:32770 0.0.0.0:* 2654/rpc.statd udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:7741 0.0.0.0:* 3011/lisa udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:710 0.0.0.0:* 2654/rpc.statd udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:5353 0.0.0.0:* 2657/avahi-daemon: udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:111 0.0.0.0:* 2498/portmap udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:631 0.0.0.0:* 2776/cupsd udp 0 0 :::32769 :::* 2657/avahi-daemon: DURING DOWNLOAD ACTIVITY Active Internet connections (only servers) Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State PID/Program name tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:2208 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 1892/hpiod tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:33700 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 2124/python tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:10026 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 2970/master tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:111 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 2452/portmap tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:6000 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 2825/X tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:631 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 2823/cupsd tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:25 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 2970/master tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:7741 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 3011/lisa tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:44541 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 2594/rpc.statd tcp 0 0 :::6000 :::* LISTEN 2825/X tcp 0 0 :::631 :::* LISTEN 2823/cupsd udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:32768 0.0.0.0:* 2639/avahi-daemon: udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:32770 0.0.0.0:* 2594/rpc.statd udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:650 0.0.0.0:* 2594/rpc.statd udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:7741 0.0.0.0:* 3011/lisa udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:5353 0.0.0.0:* 2639/avahi-daemon: udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:111 0.0.0.0:* 2452/portmap udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:631 0.0.0.0:* I suspect the Firefox Quality Assurance Application may have something to do with it. The activity came back and the Firefox Quality thing came up several minutes later.

Sure, here it is: /dev/hda6 / ext3 defaults 1 1 /dev/hdc /mnt/cdrom auto umask=0,users,iocharset=utf8,noauto,ro,exec 0 0 /dev/hdd /mnt/cdrom2 auto umask=0,users,iocharset=utf8,noauto,ro,exec 0 0 /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows ntfs nls=utf8,noexec 0 0 none /proc proc defaults 0 0 /dev/hda8 /usr ext3 defaults 1 2 /dev/hda7 swap swap defaults 0 0

Just installed the latest ATI Linux driver 8.35.5 released a few days ago. I'm pretty impressed so far. Install was a breeze, as easy as with the NVidia driver. No black screens. And my biggest gripe has been fixed, which was blurry, muddy-looking fonts on my notebook's 15.4" screen. Previous drivers always gave be problems with that. Now finally I have clear readable type. I admit I have not tried any 3D stuff yet, but considering some of their previous drivers, this is a huge step forward just to be able to install them in under 5 minutes and actually have them work. I encourage people who might have given up on ATI to try these drivers and see what you think. BTW, I downloaded the driver to my desktop and then installed from init 3 in command line. EDIT: I tried the new driver on my desktop system with an X800 Pro, and it pretty much hosed it. The X-Server won't start and when I type in the command to uninstall the ATI driver, it says "file not found". Oh well, maybe half a cheer for ATI. I guess I will be reinstalling Mandriva this weekend. Sorry for the enthusiasm, it was all a terrible mistake. EDIT #2: So I reinstalled Mandriva, but I this time installed both kernel source and libstd++5 first, since I saw an error message saying something about the installer being unable to find libstd. This time it worked, and I have a working ATI Catalyst Control Center applet. However, when I try to run "glxgears" it does not work, so there may still be a problem somewhere. EDIT #3: I installed UT 2003 on the X800 system. Game would not run due to an open GL error. So there is definitely a problem. Out of fairness, I should also mention that the notebook on which I installed the ATI driver successfully is running SUSE 10.2 not Mandriva. Sorry if my advice caused anyone to wreck their system, though it does not appear that this thread is generating much interest anyway.

As I said earlier, I'm unable to edit my fstab file. Can't do it as a regular user due to lack of permissions, and I can't do it as root because no program that runs under the X-Server will let me access it. And finally, I can't access the file in command line because I don't know the command to "edit" a file from the terminal. I did find a way to limit access to the Windows partitions. Go into Control Center/Mount Points/Create Delete, and Resize Hard Disk Partitions. Then click on the Windows partition, and toggle to Expert Mode and click Options Uncheck the box that says, "mount the file system in read only" and also check the box that says "Do not allow execution of any binaries on the mounted file system." I also unmounted the Windows partiton, just to be safe. After I did these three things, I was unable to access the Windows partitions as a regular user. Thanks for all the help. I'm not used to people even responding to my questions, so thanks for your time and let me know if you see anything wrong with what I did. If it looks OK, I will go ahead and post the info in the Tips and Tricks section.

I could play around with it and experiment. I'm guessing you just change the value to a number between like 1 and 5, right? How would I access the file though? When logged into the X-Server as root, I don't see an option to open and modify system files. I know there is a way to bring up and edit files through the CLI, but I can't remember it offhand.I used to use it to change my X86 Config file when installing the Nvidia driver. Once I figure this out, I will post it in the tips and tricks section, in case anyone else needs it.

/dev/hda6 / ext3 defaults 1 1 /dev/hdc /mnt/cdrom auto umask=0,users,iocharset=utf8,noauto,ro,exec 0 0 /dev/hdd /mnt/cdrom2 auto umask=0,users,iocharset=utf8,noauto,ro,exec 0 0 /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows ntfs umask=0,nls=utf8,ro 0 0 none /proc proc defaults 0 0 /dev/hda8 /usr ext3 defaults 1 2 /dev/hda7 swap swap defaults 0 0 [root@localhost ltd]# OK there it is, thanks in advance!

Thanks! Will do.

Should I run the command when I get the downloading activity? Or do you think it would be helpful to run the command when the activity is absent? I'm not having any downloading activity at the moment. Maybe I could run it once now, and then again while I'm having the problem, and post both outputs.

Well, the phantom downloads continue. After about an hour online, I can't load web pages anymore because all my 3.5 kbs bandwidth is used up by this still-unidentified downloading process. I don't feel too good about this, and so I guess I will probably be ditching this distro if I can't figure out a way to control my system's download activity. It's kind of sad since the people who designed Mandriva did a lot of things to make it secure, but apparently this problem was not one of their priorities.

I ran the command /etc/fstab from the terminal as su and got "permission denied". I would not have known what to do from there anyway. In Suse, I just log in as root, then right click on the Windows partition and choose properties, then set permissions as "forbidden" for the 3 types of access to the partition. I know it's irrelevant, but just thought I'd show off my tiny bit of "knowledge". Couldn't resist. Thanks for the help though. I'll play around a little more (armed with your assistance) and try to figure out a way.

Is there a way to block regular non-root user access to Windows partitions? I have not been able to find a way to do this. In fact, when I log into the X-Server while in root, I don't even see a way to access Windows partitions at all, except by doing a search. Which is kinda backwards since as a regular user they are right there on the desktop under "Devices". [moved from Software by spinynorman]

Yes, I see some writing that's on the screen that appears for about 1/10th of a second just as I boot from the DVD, but I have no idea how to pause it.

Done and done. Thanks for the help, much appreciated!

OK, I finally was able to run the "netstat" command while the downloading was occurring. I did not know that it took a minute or so to generate all the info (I assumed the system had froze or not recognized the command). I x'ed out my own IP address in the left hand column. Hopefully this will allow a diagnosis. Thanks in advance!

I have been having the same problem on my A64 N-Force 4 system, but just assumed it was a just bad ISO. Is there a command to force installation of 32 bit version? I saw no option for it during setup, which seemed kinda dumb considering the 32 bit version works as good or better than 64 bit on 64 bit systems (at least with SUSE). Thanks in advance and congrats on figuring out the problem. I suspected this might be the problem but don't know how to force 32 bit.

Pretty much any modem that connects to the serial port of your PC should be automatically detected and configured. US Robotics ones work well, and there are lots of generic ones that work good as well I was going to give you a link to the $20 generic one I use, but since you are in the UK, I don't think the site (Newegg.com) would do you much good. If you don't have a serial port, it gets more complicated, but there are adapters that allow a serial port to be converted to USB.

Thanks Greg, that's EXACTLY the info I was looking for. Nvidia-settings brought up the Nvidia X-Server applet that I was trying to find. Card is correctly identified there. Glxinfo also properly identified the card, and "glxgears" ran a neat little benchmark for me. I guess I'm good to go, thanks again!

My monitor's built in menu tells me it's working at 1024 x 768 @85hz, but recommends a resolution of 1280 x 1024 @85 hz. I will do that and see how it goes. I was just curious why the Nvidia applet is not working, and if there is a way I can confirm I have 3d support.

I recently ran the Nvidia video driver installer for my 6200 AGP. When I booted into the x-server I got the Nvidia splash screen, and I also had to move the monitor image position over about 1/2 inch. So I assumed that the driver was working, but now I'm beginning to wonder. 1.) When I go into HardDrake it says the Nvidia 6800 series module is being used. Xorg.conf also identifies the card as a 6800. When I run the config tool, it does not have an option to set the card as a 6200. 2.) The Nvidia control panel applet is not loading. When I install the driver in Suse, there is an applet that appears in the System menu that allows anti aliasing and other settings to be adjusted. 3.) When it drag a window across he screen it appears very jittery, as if there is no 3d acceleration at all. 4.) 3d desktop effects, while turned on don't seem to work. Here is my Xorg file, thanks in advance for any help offered! # nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig # nvidia-xconfig: version 1.0 (buildmeister@builder3) Fri Dec 15 10:12:14 PST 2006 # File generated by XFdrake (rev 57713) # ********************************************************************** # Refer to the xorg.conf man page for details about the format of # this file. # ********************************************************************** Section "ServerLayout" Identifier "layout1" Screen "screen1" 0 0 InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard" InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer" EndSection Section "Files" # font server independent of the X server to render fonts. # minimal fonts to allow X to run without xfs FontPath "unix/:-1" FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/misc:unscaled" EndSection Section "Module" Load "dbe" # Double-Buffering Extension Load "v4l" # Video for Linux Load "extmod" Load "type1" Load "freetype" Load "glx" # 3D layer EndSection Section "ServerFlags" #DontZap # disable <Crtl><Alt><BS> (server abort) # allows the server to start up even if the mouse does not work #DontZoom # disable <Crtl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> (resolution switching) Option "allowmouseopenfail" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Keyboard1" Driver "kbd" Option "XkbModel" "pc105" Option "XkbLayout" "us" Option "XkbOptions" "compose:rwin" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Mouse1" Driver "mouse" Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2" Option "Device" "/dev/mouse" EndSection Section "Monitor" # TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output. # 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync Identifier "monitor1" VendorName "Plug'n Play" ModelName "DELL P991" HorizSync 30.0 - 107.0 VertRefresh 48.0 - 120.0 ModeLine "768x576" 50.0 768 832 846 1000 576 590 595 630 ModeLine "768x576" 63.1 768 800 960 1024 576 578 590 616 EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "device1" Driver "nvidia" VendorName "nVidia Corp." BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce 6800 (generic)" EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "screen1" Device "device1" Monitor "monitor1" DefaultDepth 24 Option "DPMS" SubSection "Display" Depth 8 Modes "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "480x360" "320x240" EndSubSection SubSection "Display" Depth 15 Modes "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "480x360" "320x240" EndSubSection SubSection "Display" Depth 16 Modes "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "480x360" "320x240" EndSubSection SubSection "Display" Depth 24 Modes "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "480x360" "320x240" EndSubSection EndSection Section "Extensions" Option "Composite" EndSection

Thanks, I will try this when it happens again. So far it has not, but when it does, it's usually early in the morning when I'm checking my mail, etc.