melon2003

hi there! On Toshiba Satellite with Mandrake 10.1 (and some newer rpms from plf and thac) I have following problem: Whole acpi system works, so I have things like Toshiba LCD brightness control, suspend to disk (aka hibernate, which takes long time, especially when a lot of software is running on and takes memory) AND I ALMOST have suspend to ram (aka standby) working (which would be much quicker than suspend to disk). Just one thing that makes this last mode unusable is that laptop immediately shuts down (goes to init 0, I guess?) after wakening up. It seems like everything goes correctly, I can use mouse, see desktop, but after second or two whole system shuts down (showing normal shutdown procedure screen). This happens when I'm using Klaptop (with acpi options enabled) and also when I'm trying put some numbers to /proc/acpi/sleep (numbers 3 and 4 stands for standby and suspend) as root. My kernel (2.6.8.1-20) has following options: acpi=on noapic resume=/dev/hda6 splash=silent and no apmd module is loaded. thank you in advance for your time and help.

I was about to think out something like that. But wanted to be sure. Thanks.

I am sorry to be such ignorant in english language - I'm just forced to use it because of lack of information in my native language. What is FUD (from 'get the FUD')?

I noticed it's hard (i possible at all) to find any of m$ pages - especially those mentioned in this topic - where it would be possible to place some kind of 'users' comment' or 'your opinion about this article'. Wonder why... For our good - most links to that pages comes from places like this forum - and already well commented ;)

What administrator would ever switch from linux/GNU to windows? I can understand some desktop users, they just wanted to try, dislike it or had no balls to understand and configure (or miss some games?) BUT ADMINISTRATION?? Does anyone knows examples of switching from Linux to Windows on network servers??? I don't. Gosh, what the hell is m$ thinking? In case some businessman would like to force me to use windows server I would rather use Linux and _tell_ the man that THIS IS NEWEST WINDOWS VERSION. Much more stable, secure and cheap (well, actually I can get some extra many that way B) )

well I managed it in some... er, obvious (but maybe unsafe?) way. I wrote very simple gcc program (I called hibernate) which writes 4 into /proc/acpi/sleep. It has set suid bit (and it's owner is root) so it can be run by any user and works with root privileges. Now I could - for example - set klaptop acpi hibernate command to... hibernate and it works! Of course there probably no need to write gcc program, just a shell script and set privilege (this suid bit). It should work as a charm ;) About batteries - it's quite complicated, because depends of many parameters, some of them are not obvious. Just find out how and what works from /proc/acpi. Setting lcd brightness to 1 will help, setting fan to auto will help, not sure what else. Theres plenty of documentation of acpi under linux. just google around :) I'm not sure what's wrong with your cd/floppy access but maybe they are already mounted? :D Try rightclick on desktop and New->Devices->Floppy shortcut (and same with cd-rom). I hope that will help, but I'm not mandrake guru :unsure: by the way: do you have suspend mode (echo 3 >/proc/acpi/sleep) working as well?

I recompiled kernel with toshiba extras (for laptop) as module and it DIDN'T show up in /proc/acpi. After recompiling with toshiba extras compiled in I can see (and use) /proc/acpi/toshiba. Plenty of settings (lcd, video, cpu performance...) there.

but PLEEEEEASE, WHAT A CRAP!!! Friend of mine is running a small business - just as I do. We are not at the same market, but both we use Internet servers, running small local nets. For some reason, every time we meet he makes a long, boring talk about how wonderful windows servers are, how stable windows desktop is. He's always very exited about another new m$ promotion, letting him run server and ten desktops for _whole one year_ longer for such _small cost_ like my whole server's hardware (for many years). For chrissakes - are THOSE PEOPLE BLIND??? Or is this me that missing something? Obviously not the fact, that my friend's net and server is buggy and insecure, causing him non-stop problems. But he is still seems to be happy! The other fact is, he is not programmer, not computer engineer. He's just a guy who like to click a mouse and call it 'administrating server'. Sad.

well, to be honest, I haven't seen nor try any of desktops mentioned in article - except KDE and Gnome of course.... Am I not a aware of something? What JDS and Novell/Suse/Ximian desktops is author writing about?

Oh, theres one other thing. If you don't want (like, can) use acpi, some laptop features works fine with apm. All you have to do is to set things like lcd brightness, power consumption in BIOS. If you switch to apm instead of acpi - even suspend works fine when you close lid. It's not comfortable for one reason - you cannot switch settings without rebooting (and getting to BIOS). But it's easier because no need to recompile kernel (it worked fine with standard 2.4.22 from rpm from mandrake) Alway remember when switching apm<->acpi or acpi<->apm: 1) go to MandrakeControl , go to System, click Services and turn ON acpi and acpid (and set them to run at system boot) AND TURN OFF APM (and off at boot). If you want to switch to apm do opposite. 2) go to boot control (at MandrakeControl) and check if acpi options while booting are on (off) with those two set properly next time you boot system you should see info that acpi, acpid OR apm is running.

with kernel 2.60 - which I've recompiled with toshiba latptop extras (not as module, but compiled in) and with software suspend and suspend to disk (hibernate) I finally have all acpi extras working. Right now I can easily read and set may parameters like, fan on/auto, , lcd brightness, processor power consumption profile and many others. Also setting video output (lcd, crt, tv) works (I've not connected it to tv or crt but acpi setting shows everything according to real state so I believe it works). As for now, all those settings - plus hibernate (suspend to disk) can be set from console : it's very easy to find what is what - just look at /proc/acpi , there should be a lot of files and directories which are responsible for setting hardware. For example: hibernate: echo 4 > /proc/acpi/sleep (as root) suspend (computer does NOT need ANY power supply as stores all data on swap partition (harddisk)): echo 3 > /proc/acpi/sleep (as root) Quicker to awake than hibernate, still need some minimal power supply (battery). Unfortunately, for some reason my toshiba goes to suspend but cant properly wake up. I can see console and switch to other consoles, but no responding to keystrokes :( echo x > /proc/acpi/toshiba/lcd (as root) where x is 1 to 7 levels of lcd brightness and so on ... it's easy to find out what can be set, just do 'more <filename>' to files in /proc/acpi Hibernate to disk works fine - BUT yesterday for some reason I could not properly get computer back from hibernate state - with 'noresume' options (given at lilo when booting up) I can still run system but swap partition cannot be mounted :( Had no time to work it out. with all this stuff it's now time to write some simple 'akpi like' software which could set computer state automatically or with easy kde interface.

Does 'suspend' and powersaving features work as well? What exactly is fast? Whole system or just 3D acceleration or booting proces? Could you give details about speed differences like where it's noticeable ie. is it faster than mdk 9.2 with 2.6 kernel? I'm asking because I've never tried Suse distro - and man is alway curious about alternatives (but reinstalling whole system for no differences is not what I want:)

after installing new 2.6 (stable) kernel (from cooker) on toshiba satellite (1400-503) I've noticed that apm is not working anymore :( with 2.4 kernel (lastest from urpmi) I had no problems using apm power manager - after setting in bios everything worked fine - computer was switching to sleep mode after closing lid, also display was set to switch off after few minutes to save batteries. acpi was always just 'not working' - just showing proper parameters of hardware, temperatures and so on. after installing new kernel when going to sleep mode (it's not suspend to disk just _sleep_ mode) screen becomes full of garbages (lines and dots) and whole computer freezes (which is not often with linux;) anyway, does anyone of you use acpi or apm on 2.6 kernel?

aRTee: kewl! :) At this moment I have some people thinking about installing Linux as second operating system. They need help and they have asked me already to help installing. Idea of distribute mdk cds is really fine, but eer.. vision of configuring - let's say - twenty computers is a bit frightening :))) Still, I will consider that - maybe it's real chance to get some extra money? (and - yes - PAY MANDRAKE CLUB at last! :) :)

Opera default settings is set to identify as IE (which - I agree - is wrong idea). Right now it's set to ID as Opera :) and seems still to work stable. Can anyone actually GIVE EXAMPLES of pages which behave different when browser ID is set something else than IE? At this moment I have general conclusion that there are two types of pages: - one that works - sometimes with slight problems, sometimes only in one of three browsers we're talking about (Konqueror, Mozilla, Opera) - one that don't work and probably won't work - no matter what browser, browser's ID or else is used. Most of them are lame on-line games (xpi applets?). If one want to play it - he/she switches to different (better) site offering same game or... switch computer. I'm not even sure if plugin emulation would work here (winex programmers have disigned some). Showing proprer id may indeed give a happy idea to site designers to make things right. Amen.

At first I've picked Opera to put shortcut on the kde desktop (in place where winusers look for ie). Opera by default identifies itself as ms ie, most of java, flash ie. pages opens and runs properly. BUT few days later I decide to show the freedom of choice to our fresh Linux users - so I've put also shortcuts to Mozilla (which is good at least for reasons Darkelve mentioned) and Konqueror (it behaves as almost perfect kde programm letting easily find desktop and devices). Scoopy, thank for advice - that should make Konqueror even more compatible with modern pages. Btw. its compatibility is not bad - seems to work with most java applets, shows flash properly (except sound is delayed like in other browsers). Sometimes Konqueror has problems with new opened window size and it show all content in ONE line. (?) All you have to do is resize window a little bit ... Scoopy: country is Poland, it's perfect timing for showing Linux to audience here - as we attempt to join Europe (like we earlier weren't there?) some smart guys from ms SPONSOR police antipirate actions. So they go even to private houses to check if one have original winblows. Almost none of my friends (and their friends) can't (don't want?) afford windows. If they're not using Linux - they start to look around for alternatives. Good for us, good work ms ! :D

Interesting fact about complete newbies. People come to Internet Club for few reasons. One of them may be fact, that they don't know much about computers but they want to improve they knowledge (sometimes from level zero ;) ) This kind of people is most open for 'experimental Linux Box'. Once they experience flexibility of 'eyecandy' kde desktop - they seem to be unhappy if their favorite computer is occupied by someone else. Complete newbies are Linux friends. Some of not very advanced users are disappointed with newest ms product. It's not so stable as producer claims. I try to convince they to try much more stable Linux box. Most of them want to check if it's really better. And after few questions they realize that it really is :) If they have questions - most of them comes from loggical mistakes in 'non pure kde' applications (like "how save page on floppy, or desktop?" in opera or mozilla). Generally - most of disappointed windows users are Linux friends. Advanced users like computer science students or businessmen - only if they like to experience something new - they give a chance to Linux. Some of them are so much used to look'n'feel from windows, that they don't really want to switch to another operating system. But again - most of them are disappointed with stability, flexibility and secure problems in ms product - they just want to try something different. Our LinuxBox is meant to be well configured - with multimedia, burning cd, office, 3D acceleration software and so on... - so right from first contact even experienced users have possibility to try rather advanced software. If advanced user is open to new technologies and ideas - almost surely he/she will became Linux friends in half an hour :) There are also people which are using console and beggin' for admin password ;) Those are Linux friends for some time I guess ;)

The 'experiment' brings just more positive conclusions so far. After few day we have some customers that DEMAND to use our LinuxBox. I'm actually shocked with that fact :D I'm aware of disadvantages: poor compatibility with windows software some people would like to download and try, some 'modern' sites with 'only windows' services (most of them are microsoft;) BUT I was afraid that this would come out just from beginning - and this was a mistake - so far so good - no one complained about it. Great! So - for poor windows compatibility win4lin would be a cure, for 'sophisticated plugins' there's some winex software. I would cost a little bit more - if someone would REALLY need it - I probably buy it. It still would be way cheaper and - what's more important (Darkelve mentioned it) - administration and control over software is much, much - but really much better. I still have most of computers with windows (98,xp) and believe me - there's no other solution than refreshing WHOLE SYSTEM PARTIOTION, few times a week.

I tried to install Linux at Internet Club few year ago. I was disaster :( Almost none of my guest in Club liked it, some people would rather wait for another computer than use linux-box. After few years I decided to give a second chance to Linux Mandrake at public place. I big surprize, it works! :D So many things has changed during those years, linux looks better and works much smoother. I already run Mandrake on my private laptop for a long time, so I KNOW all it's good sides but - again - I was very sceptic about how people would react on 'somethnig different that my stolen windows at home'. EVEN COMPLETE NEWBIES USE IT WITH A PLEASURE. The only trick (which is advantage after all) is that has to be preconfigured first by a 'pro' (that is - me;) ). This makes me feel really great, at last I can do something for Linux - for so long it has been doing good work for me. Maybe this will convince some more people that there's a lot better operating system than winblows! One of my employee is shocked how nice it looks and how great it works :) Let's hope one day I'll install great Linux distribution as Mandrake is on most (if not all). Now I'll continue to trying how well Linux behave with my guest and how well they are feeling using Linux - I'll give it, say a month - then I'm finally going to 'join the club' and pay some money to Mandrake guys. It's worthy, a last it's worthy!

o yeah, that's lame, isn't it? still, some software on their page is for linux and mac - better this than saying that the page is NOT COMPATIBILE with anything else than windows while it's working (like on games.yahoo). For years I've been trying to install linux box at my internet cafe, this kind of things are killing me. Some day I'll probably surrender :( - People can accept the fact, that things are 'clicked in different way' but they won't use something that is not working or is claimed not to work. Money is an evil invention.

I think they actually SHOULD sue microsoft for acting like this. This all, once again, works badly against any mac or unix/linux user. I would even move one step further and sue (or somehow act against) games.yahoo site (and other sites offering incompatible java/flash/shockwave software). Apps in java or flash SHOULD be used with compatibility in mind - why force anyone to install/use windows (even win4lin, as I do) with programs which (as I believe) can be VERY EASILY written (converted?) to work on every platform. Is it really so hard to write it properly? Do you, by any chance, know sites with nice, well written java/flash games? :D

games.yahoo.com. they offer a lot of free games for a web browser. They claim it's not unix nore macintosh compatibile, but I've found it different under Konqueror (i586 and sun java). well, It's actually DOES work, so my question is: why someone writes some shockwave, java or flash software which is NOT platform idenpendent? It's designed to be that way, still some lame programers don't care to code properly. Or DO THEY, just in a different sense? :unsure:

I have something very similar on toshiba satellite with combo cd-rw-dvd. After updating from 9.1 it has "found" new hardware - new cd devices. In Control Center -> Mount points I've got SEVEN different cd devices. Wow.

after some time I noticed that menu items for old user (melon) are dissapearing. Luckily - this time update-menus command worked (as suggested by anna) as well for root as for user melon. Right now everything works fine. Assuming: - I had to reinstall / partition instead of upgrading old 9.1 version - I had to overwrite old user settings with new user created after reinstalation (thanks for suggestion to aRTee) - I had to update-menu for root menu and old user (from /home partition which was not formatted) Probably some of those steps are overdone but that's the way I've managed to get menus working. Hmm...

so it may be question of setting some buffer for arts? if only I wouldn't be such a newbie I would know how to do this ;)