theYinYeti

My son's using a Linux laptop since september at school. He needs it despite being only 6, because he has problems with writing (he's writing too big) because of difficulties with fine motion, because of a lack in "stability" (équilibre), because of a lack of strength in his back... A "fine motion specialist" (ergothérapeute) is working with him at school, and she said to me: there is a problem with the laptop because the caps-lock key doesn't enable numbers, or dot, question-mark, and so on, for that matter. The French keyboard's first and last rows look like this: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ° + & é " ' ( - è _ ç à ) = > W X C V B N ? . / § < w x c v b n ,; : ! This specialist obviously is used to Windows, where caps-lock is NOT actually "Capitals-lock" but rather "Shift-lock", as in old type-writers. In Linux though, caps-lock is only for letters. I'd like to know how the "caps-lock" key works with a French Macintosh. I don't know how I should handle the matter. Let's suppose that macintosh works like Linux, that would make 2 OS out of 3 with this system (not a majority on the market however). On the other hand, given his difficulties, typing on 1 key at a time is easier than 2 keys (shift + number, or shift + dot); so I'm inclined to launch a xmodmap on login to make the keyboard work like it does in Windows (provided it IS possible; I have not checked), but then he would have to adapt when working with other computers at home (100% Linux). What would you advise me? Yves.

I already stored files on ReiserFS that were around 10GB (raw video). As far as I know, only Fat has this limit problem with "normal" file sizes. Yves.

No, sorry...

Is it possible to force the installation mode? I would like my EPIA living-room PC to be configured as a laptop would be, for instance. Yves.

Although I don't have a definitive answer, I highly doubt that Gnumeric can handle Excel macros, since even OpenOffice cannot. Yves.

That is a good initiative. We'll owe them a lot if they achieve their goal. Yves

Thanks arctic :) That's strange for a clean install on a clean laptop with nothing taken from any backup... Still, that was from the RC1 release, even though it has all been updated since then to 2008.0 official. I'll try and do a clean install again, but from the official 2008.0 CDs instead... if my wife let me :D Yves.

I did a clean install of Free RC1 since updated to 2008 official, and an upgrade from Free 2007.1. Clean install: - Install was perfect. - Annoying bug: Open office and metacity don't play together well. Upgrade: - Upgrade went as expected, further update using easy-urpmi as well. - Annoying bug: My Intel graphics chipset doesn't work well with the provided driver. Yves.

Constructing on what speedball2 says (what a great game that was!), you can try this: urpmq --list | wc -l Yves.

My experience with LVM so far is that it works, but is hard to manage. - It is next to impossible to resize most partitions on a live system (without a live CD nor an alternate OS). - There are no reliable and easy-to-use tools for managing LVM (most users don't care that filesystem- and partition-resizing are two different things). - While adding to a LVM is easy, I see no easy way to remove a physical volume (eg: you want to get your old drive back for an empty PC case you have), or shift storage space (eg: you want to add a big drive to LVM, and remove a small drive from LVM, and the data previously maybe on the small drive to remain safe). Yves.

I tried. My kb also doesn't work on the grub/lilo screen.

That's indeed an interesting command, and I'm confident it can be used with Gnome too. However, the problem is with Nautilus "security measures", not with my script. Maybe Nautilus is into some kind of "secure mode" due to the fact that the files are stored on a Samba share, not a local partition... That's what I did in the first place, but I had the forementionned error message; that's why I tried to make my script somehow more "official" by declaring it all over the system... to no avail. I'll try again, though. Maybe the combination of the two can make it. No, the quotes around "$url" are meant just like that, so that the whole $url is seen as a single argument even if the url contains spaces. Yves.

It seems your Ione kb is exactly the same as my Trust one! I'll have to try at home if the kb is known at boot. My first idea is that it is a matter of compatibility. Did you try changing the BIOS setting for "legacy USB support" or "USB keyboard"? Yves

Thanks scarecrow, I'll try Total Commander. And indeed, those LNK files are just binary files intended to be understood only by Windows' Explorer. The reason is such: Our quality plan requires that each document's name starts with 3 letters (type of doc) and 2 digits, going from 01 up to whatever we need. Documents are scattered over many folders, yet our team need to synchronize so that no two documents of the same type have the same number. Thus we created a special directory where we put shortcuts to all our documents as we create them, with a double achievement: - we can be sure that each document is the only one having its number, - we can double-click any shortcut to open any document, wherever it is actually stored. Yves.

In my project, I work with a team of windows users, but I use Linux. And we use (and have to use) so-called shortcut files, that is URL (to web) and LNK (to filesystem) files. Although the LNK format is quite obscure (and I wouldn't be able to create one by script), I am able to read those shortcut files with bash scripts, and thus in theory open them with gnome-open. BUT... I tried and associated my urlHandler.sh script to the .URL and .url extensions, as well as to the application/x-mswinurl mime type: - I created /usr/local/share/applications/urlHandler.desktop: [Desktop Entry] Encoding=UTF-8 Name=MS URL Handler Comment=Microsoft URL file handler Exec=/home/yves/bin/urlHandler.sh %u Icon=mozilla-firefox Terminal=false Type=Application MimeType=application/x-mswinurl; StartupNotify=false - I ran update-mime-database, thus generating the following /usr/share/mime/application/x-mswinurl.xml file: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <mime-type xmlns="http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/shared-mime-info" type="application/x-mswinurl"> <!--Created automatically by update-mime-database. DO NOT EDIT!--> </mime-type> - I created /usr/share/application-registry/my.applications: urlHandler.sh command=/home/yves/bin/urlHandler.sh name=MS URL Handler can_open_multiple_files=false expects_uris=true requires_terminal=false supported_uri_schemes=file,http,ftp mime_types=application/x-mswinurl - I created /usr/share/mime-info/my.keys: application/x-mswinurl - I created /usr/share/mime-info/my.mime: application/x-mswinurl ext: url URL This was all done with gathered info from "random" mime related packages and some info from the web. There should be a GUI hiding all this but I found none on the system, and this is such a basic requirement! In windows since WIN95 !!! (or is it Win3?) :-( Well, the result is not what I expected: - <my URL file> -> right click -> properties -> open with... : says "MS URL Handler" and shows firefox icon. That's OK. - <my URL file> -> double click -> (translated from French) : Impossible to open <my URL file> The name of the file "<my URL file>" indicates a file of type "resource locator". The content of this file indicates a file of type "application/x-mswinurl". Opening this file may prove to be a security risk to your system. Don't open this file unless you created it yourself or received it from a trusted source. To open this file, rename it with an appropriate extension for "application/x-mswinurl", then open it normally. Else use the Open with menu to select a particular application for this file. As if that were not bad enough, I had similar messages on non-windows-specific files ("ini" files, "txt" files...). My script does work on the same files. Nautilus is the problem-here. Here's the script by the way: #!/bin/bash url="$(tr -d '\r' <"$1" | sed -n 's/^URL=//p')" exec gnome-open "$url" I CAN'T STAND the system coming in my way like that :-( I'm mad with it :-( That's one reason, among others, why I don't use Windows. How can they imagine I'll browse the filesystem and rename each and every file of this type, whereas Linux should pay no strict attention to file extensions? Not even speaking of the loss for windows users (imagine if I renamed all shortcuts...). Sorry for the rant, I'm litterally angry at Gnome on this topic, and I'm going to abandon it if there's not a solution. I'm not going to live with this. Never. Yves.

Hello, I manage a team and our files are stored on a Samba share. All use Windows; I'm the only one currently using Linux as my desktop. As things are, I have to be able to create windows shortcuts, which are of two kinds: LNK files (to drives) and URL files (to web). URL files are simple text files, and I could easily create a script that would create such shortcuts. I cannot however create LNK files as easily. After searching the web in vain for a Linux native application, I decided the simplest and easy method would be to create those shortcuts using any filemanager under Wine... How wrong I was! I was unable to find any open-source or even freeware filemanager that can create shortcuts AND runs under Wine! Please help! Yves.

I like the new menus a lot. I also managed with the old one because it was thankfully well organized (except maybe the burners in system...), but the new one is a lot cleaner, a lot easier to use, and in my opinion a lot better. Yves.

Or I think there is a config file for urpmi that tells about packages you don't want to upgrade. This file is used notably for kernels (or used to be; I don't know with the new naming scheme and the -latest thing). Yves.

All bugs reported at last. Except the "Install from DVD" bit, because I don't know how to write it down into a bug, except as "It doesn't work"... which is not suitable: no hard facts. Unfortunately, it is my wife's laptop and she's using it for work 24h/24 except when sleeping and eating these days, so I had no chance of checking things again or updating packages before entering the bugs. I relied on my memory and some observations on my 2007.1 install (Before going to sleep, I could get hold of the laptop a few moments for the ACPI bug). In this context, I thank adamw very much for dispatching those bugs so fast and efficiently. I'll do my best to answer them. The laptop updated itself while we were sleeping, and hopefully, I'll answer the NEEDINFO, and DUPLICATE, and so on, this evening. Yves.

Thank you for your input. I'll report the bugs then. I already asked my wife to check the "repeat-ability" of the Open-Office bug. I'll input them this evening, if possible. Yves.

I usually don't have time to get involved with Mandriva betas and RCs. This time, things change, though. I've just bought a new laptop (DELL Inspiron 1501), and given some important changes from 2007.1 to 2008 (modular IDE, no xfs service, new wifi stack, more freedesktop.org standards...), I thought it would be easier and cleaner to keep up to date daily for one month, than install 2007.1, and then upgrade to 2008 in one month from now. So I did install 2008 RC1 from CDs and updated all, based on cooker. I have a few problems. Should I report them, or is it too late in the pre-release process? Here they are: - The laptop freezes at boot if ACPI is enabled, about problems with IRQ7 and IRQ8 if I remember correctly. Unfortunately, no ACPI means: no suspend-to-ram, no battery status, and most annoying no auto-switch-off after the "system halted" message. The boot screen suggests "pci=routeirq" and the web suggests "pci=nomsi" but neither works. - Open Office's cursor disappears (not just graphically, keyboard doesn't act too) when it comes to a list-item line. One mouse click and all's fine, but it is unnerving when you are working at typing text. - X config test fails because it checks for the presence of xfs before accepting to run. xfs is not there anymore so I had to edit a file (from memory: /usr/lib/.../X.../test.pm line 42 or near) and comment out the test for xfs presence. - Auto-login does not work as expected simply because the .dmrc file is created with the wrong permissions: 664 instead of 644. - Fresh install from DVD did not work, and never worked for me with any version (>=2007.0) on any PC: it freezes at a random step, from DVD recognition by the BIOS to Mandriva first install screen... - The Gnome panels lack their background bitmap file, and thus appear plain gray. Aside from that, I have some trouble with my bcm43xx wifi, but that's probably due to my inexperience with wifi, and Mystified's recent posts should help. Yves.

Thank you iphitus ! I value your advice a lot, and so I'll now be looking for an HP :) Yves.

Although I have to admit my former Epson Stylus Color 900 was excellent on the technical side, it brought way too much trouble: - At first, it wasn't compatible with Linux (that was in 1999); now it is, but in early days I had to compile ghostscript, and the then-new gimp-print project. - I don't print enough. As a result, half my ink went into head cleaning, as the heads got cluttered (English for "bouchées"?). - In its last years of service, even head-cleaning wasn't enough, and I got yellow, or magenta, or cyan, prints... When one color was clear at last, another disappeared. - Finally, now nothing ever comes out of the heads, save draft-like black and an occasional dot of color... My wife and I decided to never again live such an experience, and long for the day when all will be as simple as it used to be with my former Canon BJ10e. So we're looking for: - A Linux-compatible color printer. - With prints heads included on the cartridges, so that they get changed alongside the ink. (as it was on the BJ10e) The first item is easy, thanks to OpenPrinting. I have trouble with the second item. Some (relatives, commercial, or from the web) say to me that "all Canon" are like this; some others say that "all HP" are like this; some say "all Lexmark" are such printers... A good amount of search on Google gave me no definitive answers, except that such broad statements are simply false. Looking only at recent models, all manufacturers sell color printers where the heads are separate from the ink cartridges. Now an important "detail": I wish I could find my printer among those with one cartridge per color, not two cartridges only (BW and colors). So do you know of good resources showing me what cartridges have the heads included, or what printers use such cartridges? If need be, I much prefer to only have two cartridges, than having once again the heads separated from the ink cartridges. Thanks for your attention, and hopefully for any information you'll be able to provide. Yves.

Thank you both :) I'll manage now I think. Changing the WM is a good idea. Yves.

Sorry I had not seen the "Abc " part. The command would then be: cat Abc\ Def.wmv.* >Abc\ Def.wmv Yves.