Glitz

The should be a GATOS package on the CDs (if not you can find it on the web). This will allow you to access the tuner and video in on the ATI AIW pro card. Browse through the installable software packages to find it. I don't know if hardware acceleration for graphics is supported in XFree 4.3 or not but you can get it with XFree 3.3.6 if you need that. It's probably not worth it to switch if you don't need it though. Glitz.

KDE has had antialiasing since at least 2.2.1. The first thing you want to do to make the desktop look nice is use some half decent fonts. There are two types of fonts. Bitmapped and scalable. Bitmapped fonts do not scale well or look good when antialiased. My advice is DO NOT USE THESE FONTS. The default helvetica font is one of these so you'll want to change it. These are changed in control center under fonts. You'll find the antialiasing checkbox there too. Note that you have to restart KDE if you change the antialiasing status. Second, the 75dpi fonts are a left over relic from the time when screens were 14" and had resolutions of 640x480. It is a real shame that in this day and age they are the default font size. What you really want is 100dpi fonts for any monitor 17" or larger and a resolution of 1280x1024 or more. It is a bit trickier to change this since you will have to change to root and put a line in your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file in order to do this. You have to add a line similar to the following in your 'Section "Monitor"': DisplaySize 320 240 But replace 320 with the horizontal size of the visible portion of your screen in mm and replace 240 with the vertical size of the visible portion of your screen in mm. Whatever values you choose, make sure that it amounts to >= 100dpi in the final analysis. DPI=size in pixels / size in inches By the way, X11 seems to use the default resolution (the one that first comes up) as the "size in pixels". Even if your screen is not quite 100dpi then fudge the size so that it is. They still look better than the 75dpi fonts. Once you make this change you will have to change all the fonts in control center since they will now point to an awful font called A.D. Mono. Now back to the subject of picking fonts. You can tell if a font is scalable or not by selecting it (the choose button) and then scaling the example font in the choose window to a large number like 24 or 32. If the example text is perfectly smooth then it is a scalable font. If the edges have visible pixelation then they are bitmapped. Only use the scalable fonts with antialiasing turned on. I use the following fonts: General: ArmNet Helvetica 12 iso8859-1 (regular) Fixed width: Courier 10 iso8859-1 (regular) Taskbar: ArmNet Helvetica 11 iso8859-1 (regular) All the rest: ArmNet Helvetica 12 iso8859-1 (regular) This is a good starting point but you will want to experiment. Good luck! Glitz.

Nice to see you back! Glitz.

I don't know which situation originated first but here's a link to information that two Polish companies will sue the SCO group if they don't stop their propaganda war without proof. http://lwn.net/Articles/35558/ http://7thguard.net/news.php?id=3148&secret=preview Glitz. PS. It still remains to be seen where the code in question originated and who actually owns it.

I may be completely wrong but I thought I saw a setting a while back (either for XF86Config-4 or from the KDE control panel) that disables killing the X server with CTRL + ALT + <- Glitz.

Yes, the 75dpi fonts are a joke, I always use the 100dpi fonts (17" monitors and up have a physical resolution of greater than 100dpi). Here are the physical dimensions of my 17" monitor that I use in XF86Config-4 file: # ViewSonic P775 DisplaySize 320 240 Note that this is my actual physical viewing area and doesn't include the black borders of the tube. Also note that now if I zoom to 100% in a document in staroffice, that the ruller will just about match a physical ruler that I hold up to the screen (my screen measurements are not that precise). One word of caution is in order. After you make the switch, all your fonts may default to A.D. Mono (A truly horrible looking font) since the 75dpi font settings are no longer valid and that is the first font on the list. You will have to reselect all your fonts if this happens. Glitz.

That's doubtful since obviously it worked before with the same swap size. Adding more memory to the system will reduce how much swap is used to run the same size program. Glitz.

Maybe a good starting point would be to open up the networking screen on windows and write down all the TCP/IP settings. That should tell you if DHCP is used or not and any automatic/manual gateway and DNS settings. Glitz.

This is a bit of a long shot but it has fixed this sort of problem twice in the past. The contacts in the connectors tend to stick if they aren't used frequently. The process of inserting a new memory module pushes the contacts apart but some don't spring back fully. This causes intermittent contact with the memory. Removing and re-inserting the memory module does not fix this problem. What you need to do is wiggle the memory module forward and backward after inserting it. It only takes a gentle wiggle (a few millimeters in each direction) and if you hear crackling/clicking noises this is the contacts springing back into position. Wiggle the memory until you don't hear these noises anymore. A second possibility is dirt on the fingers of the memory modules. You can take a pencil eraser and gently rub the gold fingers (front and back side) to remove any dirt. Glitz.

I don't know if they ship to Australia but you can check out: http://www.emperorlinux.com/ They take dell computers, install linux on them, and sell them. They have drivers for all peripherals on the laptops they sell as well as support. Glitz.

I'm not sure but try the power management section in the control center. Glitz.

To get an idea of the quality of latex output you can preview the tutorial or manual. Doing the tutorial is a really great way to get the hang of it. I used StarOffice 5.2 to write my master's thesis (185 pages and 58MB) and towards the end it started becoming a nightmare. It did manage to do the job finally but it took a lot of coaxing. Mind you I did do everything "by the book". I used style sheets to set it up. I created a master document with each chapter in its own file. DO NOT USE THIS FEATURE...IT DOESN'T WORK PROPERLY!!! And I set it up to automatically generate the indexes. I found that in master document mode it gets confused easily and often will crosslink your links (ie. mix up references to equation numbers or figures) not to mention totally messing up the formatting of any pages with large figures in them. The bibliographic database did work well, however, and it generated the correct table of contents, list of figures, list of tables, and references. The trick there is to generate them first, then go through every page to make sure the formatting is correct, and finally generate the indexes again. I did help a friend write her thesis using MSWord. It was a shorter document but no less painful to write. She forgot to group the elements of her diagrams together and they tended to "explode" all throughout her document. It's particularly bad if you can't find and remove all the pieces and then discover them later on embedded in the middle of a paragraph 13 pages from where the diagram once was. And try sticking half decent equation numbering in there. Heck, even wordperfect for DOS could do that. All-in-all, it was just as hard as using StarOffice only the problems were in different areas. Glitz.

Try the following changes: Load "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions/libglx.so" Driver "nvidia" Glitz.

For a more mature BASIC IDE check out: http://xbasic.sourceforge.net/ Some very good documentation is also available on the original author's web site: http://www.maxreason.com/software/xbasic/xbasic.html Glitz.

Thanks for all the comments. Please keep them coming. :) If I decide to go with LM9.1 I will place it on my experimental partitions and then migrate my software to it over time. One of the main reasons I asked this question is because I would probably just buy the LM9.1 powerpack and save myself the trouble of downloading and burning it. I do want to know, however, if it's worth it before I shell out the money, or if I should maybe hold out for LM9.2. Does anyone know what useful packages come with the powerpack? I already have SO6.0 and installing acrobat reader is not too difficult. Is there anything else on there worth paying extra for? Glitz.

I'm debating whether or not to upgrade from LM8.1 to LM9.1. I've heard the horror stories about installation but I want to know how that version works once it is actually installed. Is the rest of the system just as buggy? Things that can be fixed by changing some minor setting don't bother me. It's the constantly crashing desktop or configuration tools that bother me the most. The main reason I want to switch is the difficulty in compiling and installing all the required packages to bring LM8.1 to the level required for installing some recent software I want to try out. I'd really appreciate any comments/suggestions. Glitz.

This is a generic warning message that appears by default anytime you don't save in OOs native format. Glitz.

I use Star Office 5.2 and 6.0. They're pretty good as long as you don't use the master document feature (too many bugs) and you don't have too many full page diagrams or pictures (it can't seem to properly format the text around the images). I've also had problems with references (for automatically numbered formulas and automatically generated indexes) but this may only be in master document mode. For far simpler documents I've never had any problems. I guess I'll vote for OO then. Glitz.

Wow! That modinfo is a useful little tool. How come I've never come across any mention of it before? Glitz.

Thanks cybrjackle! Glitz.

The only problem I foresee is if a newer version of the Nvidia driver is buggy and therefore you need to use an older driver. Is there any way to install a previous version of the driver with it? Or at least a way to download everything required to install a version of the driver without internet access? Glitz.

I use LM8.1 and this is what I have as my CD, CDRW, and DVD setup in fstab: /dev/scd0 /mnt/cdrom udf,iso9660 user,iocharset=iso8859-1,umask=0,exec,ro,noauto 0 0 /dev/scd1 /mnt/cdrom2 udf,iso9660 user,iocharset=iso8859-1,umask=0,exec,ro,noauto 0 0 /dev/hdd /mnt/dvd udf,iso9660 user,iocharset=iso8859-1,umask=0,exec,ro,noauto 0 0 For obvious reasons I don't use supermount under LM8.1 but I specify the filesystems to look for on these devices as UDF first and ISO9660 second. This allows CDRW's written with packet writing software (eg. DIRECTCD) to be detected properly and forces the UDF track to be mounted as opposed to the ISO9660 bridge track (the one with the UDF reader software that installs under windows). The auto option will detect this bridge track first and mount it instead of the UDF track on CDRWs (at least for LM8.1). All the codepage= parameters were removed due to a bug in the mount program that would not detect and mount UDF partitions if this was present (It may be fixed now, I don't know). Besides, the codepage= parameter is not valid for ISO9660 or UDF anyway and is ignored (except for the bug mentioned above). I have no idea what -- is. Maybe it's just a placeholder that is ignored? Glitz.

They want to make sure that their formats and protocols get into embedded devices so that they can keep their grip on the market. And collecting a few extra royaly payments doesn't hurt either. Glitz.

I haven't even bothered trying 9.1 (still using 8.1). But from what I've been reading, this is going to leave a bad taste in people's mouths again. I feel sorry for Mandrake. They just keep digging themselves a deeper and deeper hole. I guess maybe if they can hang in there long enough, then one day everyone will have fast broadband access and getting updates wont be an issue anymore. Glitz.

I suggest mounting them manually when you stick them in the machine. Maybe put a mount icon on the desktop for each one. Glitz.