tux99

I don't know why you can't ping your local network anymore, that shouldn't be the case. Check the routing table (route -n) to see if you still have the route for the local network and check your firewall rules if you use one. To enable shared internet you need to activete masquerading for your local network, this will do it: /sbin/iptables -t nat -F /sbin/iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s 192.168.0.0/24 -o ppp0 -j MASQUERADE replace "192.168.0.0/24" with the network address of your local network. You also need to enable IP forwarding. echo 1 >/proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward (or add 'net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1' into /etc/sysctl.conf, at least on Redhat/Suse/Mandriva systems). All this can be done with a GUI on some distros too, for example on Mandriva in the MCC (configure your computer), in the 'Network & Internet' section there is 'Share the Internet connection with other local machines'.

For anyone looking to build a Linux HTPC (home theater PC) I have written an in-depth article available here: LinuxTECH.NET: Best Linux HTPC Motherboards If you are wondering what software to use with it, apart from MythTV (available as RPM from the Mandriva repos), there is XBMC which is stunning (I know of several Windows people that chose Linux for their HTPC because of XBMC, as the Windows version of XMBC doesn't support hardware assisted video play-back :P ). Sadly XBMC is not available as RPM for Mandriva yet (only for Ubuntu) but it compiles fine from source on Mandriva too. There is a proposal to get it included in Mandriva 2010: http://ideas.mandriva.com/en/idees/show.php?id=86

I agree with your experience, I have guided some friends, living in different countries than me, over the phone (complete noobs with regards to computers, they just about knew how to use Windows) installing Mandriva (from CD/DVD) as dual-boot with their existing Windows install and it went smoothly without any real problems, I would never dare do that with any other Linux distro. One now uses Mandriva almost exclusively and the other one about 50% of the time (mostly for Internet browsing, as he had bad virus/malware experiences with Windows).

You are welcome! So you have a 05R/W too? I have had mine for 15 years now and I'm still in love with it's sounds! :woops: Soft-synths are no replacement for proper hardware synths! You will find that Rosegarden is quite powerful (not equal to Cubase but still very useable), it's not always very intuitive, but there is good documentation on the Rosegarden web site. Despite hundreds of downloads of the Handbrake package, I have had little feedback so far, I assume that means the package works fine for everyone, still it would be nice to have that confirmed too.

Oh nooo, my web site (or rather this article about Linux laptops) has been slashdotted! :huh: B) http://linux.slashdot.org/story/09/07/25/2036227/Linux-Notebooks-Selling-Well-On-Amazon-Germany?art_pos=7

Thanks for making me aware of that, I have fixed that now.

Shuttles are usually expensive for what you get, the only exceptions are the K45 (I have one, it's great but it lacks DVI, the newest K45SE with front USB+audio and a slim DVD writer is better than the plain K45) or the K48 (has DVI, but is slightly taller, and can take a standard DVD/BD drive too, but lacks a PCI/PCIe slot). A K45/K48 with 2x1GB RAM and an Intel E5300 cpu makes a great cheap little PC, almost unbeatable for value for money. Mine is overclocked to 3.01GHz, absolutely stable and doesn't get hot at all (max 56C), even after many hours of running at 100% load (when using Handbrake). You can still find 19" 1280x1024 (5:4) or bigger 1600x1200 (4:3) desktop screens, but not a lot of choice anymore. I don't get this widescreen mania either, widescreen TVs are great, but computer monitors should ideally be square or taller than wide!

There is a general RSS feed already available, you can find the button on the main page on the right hand column. Here is the direct link: http://www.linuxtech.net/home-linuxtech-net-rss.xml The feed is for any updates to the web site, not just downloads.

What's wrong with you all here? :unsure: ;) This story is one of the most read and talked about Linux news stories of the day, but here on mandrivausers no one seems to take notice... www.bmighty.com www.linuxtoday.com It's even causing a offended reaction among snobbish Apple fanbois... ;) www.reddit.com

"A look at the current (23rd July 2009) Amazon Germany Laptop/Notebook bestsellers list will be a nice surprise for any desktop Linux advocate and possibly a worry for Microsoft and Apple sales executives. At the time of writing there are two Laptops with pre-installed Linux in the top ten bestsellers, both in front of the first bestselling Apple Laptop." Read more at www.linuxtech.net. Is this just a fad, or is it a sign that Microsoft's OS stranglehold is slowly eroding?

check with alsamixer (command line) that all volumes are set to maximum and that none are muted.

I have a K45 too and it plays sound fine both with mandriva Linux 2008.1 and 2009.1. What Linux version did you install? Do you have Pulseaudio enabled or disabled? What programs did you try to test sound with?

Here is a great value laptop for a Linux user: Acer Extensa 15" Linux Notebook

Mandriva Flash 2009 Spring is available now for €49.90 ($59.90, £42.90). The USB unit comes with one month of web support through Mandriva Expert, and support for English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Finnish, Dutch, Portuguese, and Swedish. More at The Register.

I always knew Pulseaudio is evil, I'm quite surprised though, that it can trigger a kernel vulnerability as it's running in userland AFAIK. Edit: apparently it's related to some SUID binaries (of pulseaudio I imagine).

That's a sweeping statement, I have never used kopete, but for everything I need KDE3 works great in 2009.1. Is your camera working with other programs in 2009.1 at all?

Not me, my rock stable fully functional KDE 3.5 desktop serves me perfectly well, my slogan is "if it ain't broken, don't fix it"... B)

Google's influence might actually get us device drivers for new hardware earlier, so it works both ways. And it's perfectly fine to use GPL licensed software for profit (loads of businesses do that), as long as they abide to the GPL license conditions. Fortunately the GPL license makes that impossible, they cannot change the license terms and GPL forces them to release the source code of any derived work.

I agree, or even better mail software manufacturers of windows software you can't do without and for which there is no suitable Linux alternative and let them know you would really like to see a Linux version of it. Smaller software companies won't ignore your requests, they will consider it once the requests keep coming in. (just to clarify: I'm not talking about asking them to opensource their software, that would almost certainly lead nowhere, just to release it as commercial binary-only software for Linux)

I would miss Adblock plus too much!

Maybe the question should be the other way round. What products of google are actually useful to the point that there is no better/equal alternative? Personally the only google product I find very useful and have used regularly is the google search engine (including it's maps section), but since I discovered Ixquick I'm using google search much less. Other than that there is youtube which I occasionally use to watch something, but I wouldn't post videos onto it (there are many alternatives). So you need to be more specific, which google products are so essential for you that you don't know any better/equal alternatives? I don't know any, google is far from being irreplaceable, many google products (google-analytics, google-ads) are actually mainly a NUISANCE! Also, quality of life is relative, you might find that short term convenience leads to unexpected long term hassle and/or serious problems... (not just with internet 'products'...)

Agreed, my previous comment was based on the false impression that it would be a 'proper' Linux distro. As it is, it seems like a completely useless OS, it's only purpose appears to be to increase google's all-knowing database of every bit of information about as many people as possible. The logo of Chrome OS reminds me of the lens of a camera or an eye... very telling of it's true purpose... What I'm concerned about is if google starts contributing code to the kernel, this needs to closely scrutinized. Their influence on Firefox is bad enough, if you type 'about:config' in the URL field of Firefox and look at the config parameters you will already find several occassions where Firefox with the default config contacts google automatically without the user knowing about it (e.g. to check if a website is marked as 'dangerous'). This can be deactivated but how many people know about it? That's one of the reasons why I use Seamonkey which is not as google infested yet.

What's the point?! For those who absolutely MUST HAVE Windows compatibility, there is Windows, for everyone else there are several better OSes available!

Given google's 'big brother' track record (also with their Chrome browser) I wouldn't touch their Chrome OS, but I guess if it help to introduce more people to Linux it could be a good thing. We'll see...

You could try use Handbrake to do that, a readily installable Mandriva package is available on my website: http://www.linuxtech.net/downloads/handbra...ndriva_rpm.html Handbrake does ogg video and vorbis audio (among other formats).