hugerobot

When I reboot my computer I have to jump thru some hoops to get my TV card and scanner working again. I'm running MDK 10.0, the TV card is a Hauppage BT878, and the scanner is an Acer 4300u. (Uses snapscan) First the TV Card: Every time I boot, I have to change the permissions of /dev/v4l/vbi0 and /dev/v4l/video0. I dont know what they should be, and I dont know how to get them to be the permissions I want on boot, so I just chmod 777 /dev/v4l/* Then I must run 'scantv -o ~/.xawtv'.. even though ~/.xawtv exists. Maybe something gets jogged or some config gets set.. dont know. Next the scanner: The scanner worked great when I installed Mandrake 10.0, but then when I rebooted, it didnt detect it. Now, in order to get my scanner to work, I must remove, and then re-install all of the sane packages, unplug, and plug in the scanner, then it works. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks Rob

Glad we could help! :)

It may be worthwhile to identify what is kicking off aplay. Try running a 'ps -ef fw' and see what's running aplay, and maybe what's running that. If it's something stupid, maybe you can stop it from happening, and prevent the problem.

Java has an installer similar to Install Shield. Never used it, but it does exist... I know he doesn't want to use Java.... I just like to try to convert everyone. But hey, if someone doesn't want to code in the most elegant, intuitive, innovative language of our time, I understand. Everyone has the choice to program in subpar lanugages... I am just kidding!!!! LOL!

Really, if I had to make a serious guess, I would have thought 5....because of the word krell being part of it. I know what a krell is... I don't know what a krellm is. And I'm not just arguing because you edited my post!!! :) No matter what it is, its a stupid name... Kinda on/off topic, but I've often thought that the program names in linux are part of the problem with adoption? have you noticed that apps like Open Office are very popular, while apps like gnucash and gaim (and gkrellm) are known but not as popular, possibly because people dont know how to say it. While I'm at it, I'm assuming gnucash is pronounced GUH-NOO-CASH and gaim is pronounced GAME (like video game) Yes? No? A rose by any other name would still be pronounced X-KGNUROSE if it ran on Linux!

Ok... how do you pronounce Gkrellm? is it 1. GEE-KAY-RELL-EM 2. GEE-KAY-RELLM 3. GUH-KRELLM 4. GEE-KRELLM 5. GEE-KRELL-EM or (My personal choice:) 6. HOWTHAF*CKDOYOUSAYTHAT edited by tyme

Actually, I may have said C++, but I'd write it in Java. I know you said no to Java (too bloated?!?) but that probably means that you've never written a full blown application in it. I am a professional Java developer. No, Java apps wont outperform binary applications, but they can be as powerful, stable, and with the IDE's available for Java (Netbeans), just as easy to create, and will have the consistent look and feel you desire not only accross DE's but platforms. Two reasons to consider writing in Java are: 1. The upcoming 1.5 release, and 2. The recent Sun/Red Hat discussions about open source java. 1.5 has some pretty significant language and performance improvements, but really, the idea that java may become open source means that the performance could become MUCH better. You see, Sun's JVM isn't really a production JVM. IBM has a production JVM geared toward J2EE, that is significantly faster than Sun's. Open source could open the doors to blazing JVMs specific to their intended application. I am a Java evangelist. I can't help myself. I had to throw it out there as an option. Consider it. If you choose to do it, I would happily help you get started. I love turning people on to Java.

C++

I hope Sid Meier doesn't get wind of Freeciv! Maybe they'll be next! Probably shouldn't even joke about it! LOL

Let's just say that I've been taught this lesson before, I just didn't seem to learn from it! My fingers are crossed.

Gulp.... I'll keep my fingers crossed. Losing my hard drive would really bite. I don't have a recent back up.

You mean the battery that powers the clock? I don't know how that would matter. I guess I could try it. As for the wires from the on/off switch to the board, and the board to the power supply, everything is snug and connected. I've had it all apart, and back together. Nothing. I really think if I got another power supply it would work fine. I just used it as an opportunity to upgrade a bit!

I am not a snobbish Linux elitist. On the contrary. I am on this site, and others, ALL THE TIME looking for answers to problems I am having. It would be safe to say that I know next to nothing. But by taking the position that I think I'm an l33t h4x0r you miss the point of what I'm saying. I have tried to get friends to move to Linux. I've told them I'd help them with the installation, and help them get up and running. But they look at what I have and say things like 'man... thats hardcore!.' They're looking at KDE!!! What's hardcore about that?! I remember trying to convert my brother, and showed him the most basic command line stuff. I think I did an 'ls -lsa' and his comment was something like 'Whoa, I'm not trying to program the matrix!' To the guy that called me an elitist snob, -------(edited by Ixthusdan). Anyone who knows me knows I'm the furthest thing from it. If anything, I'm a Linux evangalist. But my efforts are usually met with blank stares. (edited by Ixthusdan)Linux isn't ready for people like my friend, or my brother. I can say this because I've already tried to convert them! Not exactly elitist behavior.

I have no idea. I have a UPS power supply thats fully charged, everything else plugged into it is on and working fine. I just checked my email on that computer last night before I went to bed, and I woke up this morning and sat down in front of it, and it was off. I was surprised because I never turn it off, and the UPS alarm didn't sound in the middle of the night, but I wasn't too concerned until I hit the power button and it didn't turn on. I took it apart and looked it over, and everything looks fine. I have tried new power cords, different outlets, and everything I can think of. The power supply looks fine, all the wires look in tact. It's just dead. :( I'm not interested in troubleshooting it any more than I have. I've already bought replacement stuff. I just hope my hard drive is ok.

That article about 'Why you wont be getting a Linux PC' was great. It didn't really say anything damaging. I mean, really, has anyone seen those $200.00 Lindows machines? They are terrible!!! If they are the computer that's supposed to get people to switch to Linux, then Linux is doomed. But the gist of the article is right on. I used to do tech support for friends and family. I stopped. Most people are not technical. Most of them are hopeless. Linux is not an option for them. My friend is a carpenter. He has two 12 year old twin daughters. The whole family uses the one computer. It has 4 versions of AOL on it, Kazaa has completely infested his computer with viruses. He gets disk errors when he boots it up. There's about 10 splash screens at startup for crap that he doesn't even recognize. Not to mention the crap his daughters have downloaded onto it. In fact, the reason I was asked to look at it was because AIM wasn't working and the girls like to chat on line. It's a mess. Unfortunately, he seems to be more the normal type of user. I call them the "Should I click it?" crowd. They just keep asking, "Should I click it?", and then they click it, and hope that it works, but it doesn't, and they call me. The writer of that article was part of this crowd, no doubt. You think anyone can expect them to go to a command line, type dmesg and troubleshoot a USB problem? Or install the lastest mplayer tarball? Give me a break. And good. I don't want them using Linux, and then having it turn into an OS for the lowest common denominator. Linux for the common man does have a way to go. But I expect it will mature. OS X (Which I'm using as I write this article) has come a long way to getting there in a short amount of time. And as good as OS X looks, as far as candy coated desktop environments go, I like KDE on Linux better. I suspect the woman who wrote that article thinks she's pretty neat, and that she's got her finger on the pulse of the Windows/Linux competition. Again, that's good. I am truly frightened of what someone like that could do to a linux box, given what I've seen someone like that do to a windows box. I wouldn't want to do her tech support.