theYinYeti

I finally found the right combination of settings. First, I disabled any previous /etc/asound.conf of ~/.asoundrc. The ALSA page states that none is needed except for very special needs; that's not my case. Then I changed ESD config (/etc/esound/esd.conf) to make sure it uses ALSA directly and not OSS emulation; here's the current content of this file (I added "-d default" twice): auto_spawn=0 spawn_options=-terminate -nobeeps -as 5 -d default spawn_wait_ms=100 # default options are used in spawned and non-spawned mode default_options=-d default Finally I added an option in /etc/modprobe.d/sound: options snd-pcm-oss nonblock_open=1 That's all. Now applications that need OSS emulation run OK with aoss. The application fore-mentionned (which uses sox as its sound output method) now runs perfect with aoss. As an aside, there are no more weird echoes to the sounds. Thanks nonetheless iphitus; help is always welcome :) Yves.

Some more information: The application I want to run manages its sound through "sox". It is sox that is giving the error message. And I saw on Alsa's web pages that sox is a known trouble-maker where OSS emulation is concerned; something about the fopen() system call... The bug is supposed to be corrected in late releases of alsa/aoss though, and latest Debian (4) surely has a new enough version of those. So I tried something else. I re-enabled the .asoundrc file as described on ALSA pages, and then relaunched esd with the "-d pasymed" parameter. This time, the application (without aoss if I remember correctly) said it could not sync with the /dev/dsp file. I've a total newbie in .asoundrc and ALSA in general. Do you have an idea? Yves.

I run the Gnome desktop on Debian 4 (Etch) with all system config "as is" (I only changed /etc/apt/sources.list), on a new laptop (core2duo, intel hda sound chipset). This laptop is for my son (5y) and I enabled the desk sounds via ESD; I want the system to provide feedback for his actions. Now the problem is I cannot run educative applications that I installed that use /dev/dsp directly, unless I kill ESD, which is not an option. I replaced libesd0 with libesd-alsa0. I tried launching the application with aoss. I tried installing Mandriva's soundwrapper with alien and run the application with soundwrapper. I tried several settings in (otherwise inexistant) /etc/asound.conf file, but all seemed to be ignored. No luck... In case it gives any indication, when I run the same application after killing all pids from "fuser /dev/dsp" and reloading /etc/init.d/alsa, the sound works but there's a kind of "echo" at the end of each sound (the last milliseconds are repeated); this didn't happen with the same installation inside VMWare. Thanks for your help. Yves.

In my experience, FSCK is needed after an unclean reboot, and ReiserFS FSCK is way faster than Ext3 FSCK, so much in fact that you may think there is no FSCK if you don't look at the text on screen. Yves.

Are you sure about the multi-thread thing? Here at work, we run Sun's Java5 JDK on Redhat on a dual-processor dual-core (total: 4 cores). We have a thread pool hence lots of threads, yet one core shows at roughly 80% while other cores are idle. Same on another server with 4 CPUs (total 8 cores). Yet as far as I know, Java is running with native threads and in server mode... On a different subject, is it possible to force both cores to combine power for a single application. I'd be interested in running mencoder at 90% of both cores instead of a single core. Yves.

Look at the devices you have problems with, eg: /dev/sdd1, /dev/dsp, /dev/cdrom... (follow the links of course until you can see the real device file). Those device files should have a specific group to them (writer, audio, disk, usb...); add the users who should get simultaneous access to the appropriate groups. This is for the devices part. There remains the mount part. Indeed, if a block device (accessible by all users) is mounted with options such that only one user has access to the filesystem that is on this block device, this defeats the previous step. To prevent that, depending on the filesystem and device type, you may tweak the /etc/fstab (umask, users...) or the udev rules. Yves.

Thank you for sharing :)

It can mean a lot of different things. Seeing your machine spec (PII 350, just what I still had 2 month ago :)), I'd rather say you use APM, not ACPI. In such case, you can try first to add an "apm" line to your /etc/modprobe.preload file. If that does not work, then try and change your kernel's append line. Add " apm=on apm=power-off" (that should be in /etc/lilo.conf) and run /sbin/lilo -v afterwards as root. In either case you'll have to reboot to see the difference. If neither works, come back and tell us. If I went too fast and you need details, ask and someone's bound to answer :) Anyway, don't worry, your machine is OK. All will be fine. Yves.

In rpmdrake (that's the name of the install GUI), choose the kernel best-suited to your needs (SMP or not, multimedia or not, desktop or laptop), install it, and then reboot. You should see this new kernel in the boot menu (should be Lilo or Grub). Yves.

Thanks for the link to MondoRescue. It does seem interesting. It is not the same kind of backup however. Backed-up data is not available as easily, but is usually available longer. As I see it (and as I use it at work), both methods are complementary (right word?). You can benefit from using both. Eg: I have one week worth of data backup up as I wrote above, and one month worth of data backup up on tape (using tar). Yves. NOTE: I forgot to say: in the above script, don't use the -a ALTERNATEPREFIX option. I tested the whole script except this part; it is an evolution I plan (testing/debugging remains to be done) so that the first weekly backup can be built upon the latest daily one, and the first monthly backup built upon the latest weekly one, and thus to save disk space. NOTE 2: -a ALTERNATEPREFIX is now tested and all is now OK. I've edited the previous post (the script itself) for convenience.

You may be interested in this post I just wrote: https://mandrivausers.org/index.php?s=&...st&p=315575 As for SATA hds, I don't know. All I can tell is that I recently bougt a SATA DVD writer and it just works :) Device is /dev/sr0, I don't know if that is SATA1 or SATA2. Anyway, your motherboard has to support SATA. There are adapters between MOLEX 4-pin power-supply, and SATA 4-pin power-supply, but I highly doubt there is any such adaptor for the data bus part... Yves.

Said and done B) And tested by the way :) #!/bin/bash # # Usage: rsyncSave.sh [-r ROOT] [-p PREFIX] [-n NUMBER] # [-a ALTERNATE_PREFIX] # [-o LOGBASENAME] [-v|-l|-q] [-h] # # Creates a snapshot named "ROOT/PREFIX`date +%F_%H.%M`" and # check there are no more than NUMBER directories named that way. # The snapshot is made from files and directories (recursive) # taken from places linked to (symbolic) in the directory named "ROOT/PREFIX". # ROOT: Directory containing all the snapshots. # PREFIX: Prefix ("daily=", "weekly:", "monthly-"...). # NUMBER: Number of snapshots allowed of this kind (prefix + date). # Default values: -r /var -p 'daily-' -n 7 # # Operations are logged into "ROOT/PREFIX`date +%F_%H.%M`/LOGBASENAME". # LOGBASENAME: Name of the logfile inside the new snapshot directory. # -v: Verbose log: rsync -v, and most steps are logged. # -l: Normal log: normal rsync, and other steps are not logged. # -q: Quiet log: rsync -q, and other steps are not logged. # Default values: -l -o snapshot.log # Errors are always printed. # # A new snapshot is created by first hard-linking files from the previous # snapshot from the same prefix. If no such snapshot is found but an # ALTERNATE_PREFIX is provided, then the same is attempted using the last # snapshot from this alternate prefix. # Whatever source is used, the prepared snapshot is then updated using # rsync. # # This help is printed with -h, or in case of an error. # # (c) Yves GABLIN - 2007. # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by # the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or # (at your option) any later version. # # This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of # MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the # GNU General Public License for more details. # DEFAULT_ROOT=/var DEFAULT_PFX=daily- DEFAULT_NB=7 DEFAULT_LOG=snapshot.log DEFAULT_LOGLVL=1 # sensitive commands (avoid aliases) LS=/bin/ls RM=/bin/rm CP=/bin/cp MKDIR=/bin/mkdir ECHO=/bin/echo function help() { sed -n '2,/^$/ s/^#//p' "$0" exit ${1:-0} } while getopts r:p:n:a:o:vlqh opt; do case $opt in r) root="$OPTARG";; p) pfx="${OPTARG##*/}";; n) nb="$OPTARG";; a) altpfx="${OPTARG##*/}";; o) log="${OPTARG##*/}";; v) loglvl=2;; l) loglvl=1;; q) loglvl=0;; h) help;; esac; done root="${root:-$DEFAULT_ROOT}" pfx="${pfx:-$DEFAULT_PFX}" nb="${nb:-$DEFAULT_NB}" log="${log:-$DEFAULT_LOG}" loglvl="${loglvl:-$DEFAULT_LOGLVL}" now=$(date +%F_%H.%M) dir="${pfx}${now}" # $1: error code; $2...: message function error() { exitCode=$1 shift $ECHO "$@" >&2 help $exitCode >&2 } # $1...: message function debug() { [ $loglvl -gt 1 ] && $ECHO -e "$@" } # $1: root directory; $2: prefix function listSnapshots() { pushd "$1" &>/dev/null $LS -1d "$2"[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]-[0-1][0-9]-[0-3][0-9]_[0-2][0-9].[0-6][0-9] 2>/dev/null local ret=$? popd &>/dev/null return $ret } if [ ! -d "$root" ] || [ ! -w "$root" ]; then error 1 "$root is not a writable directory." fi if [ ! -d "${root}/${pfx}" ] || [ ! -r "${root}/${pfx}" ]; then error 2 "${root}/${pfx} is not a readable directory." fi if [ -e "${root}/${dir}" ]; then error 3 "$dir already exists." fi if [ -n "${nb//[0-9]}" ] || [ $nb -eq 0 ]; then error 4 "$nb is not a valid number (strictly positive integer)." fi cd "$root" if [ $(find "$pfx" -maxdepth 1 -type l -print | wc -l) -eq 0 ]; then debug "NOTHING TO SAVE (${root}/${pfx}). EXIT." exit 0 fi # prepare new snapshot if listSnapshots . "$pfx" >/dev/null; then $CP -al "$(listSnapshots . "$pfx" | tail --lines=1)" "$dir" [ -e "${dir}/${log}" ] && rm -f "${dir}/${log}" debug "CP PREVIOUS SNAPSHOT ($(date))" | tee "${dir}/${log}" elif [ -n "$altpfx" ] && listSnapshots . "$altpfx" >/dev/null; then $CP -al "$(listSnapshots . "$altpfx" | tail --lines=1)" "$dir" [ -e "${dir}/${log}" ] && rm -f "${dir}/${log}" debug "CP ALTERNATE SNAPSHOT ($(date))" | tee "${dir}/${log}" else $MKDIR "$dir" debug "CREATE EMPTY SNAPSHOT ($(date))" | tee "${dir}/${log}" fi pushd "$dir" &>/dev/null nodes="$($LS -1ad .* *)" debug "PREVIOUS NODES:\n$nodes" | tee -a "$log" while read node; do if [ ! -e "../${pfx}/${node}" ] && [ "$node" != "$log" ]; then $RM -rf "$node" debug "DELETED: $node" | tee -a "$log" fi done <<<"$nodes" debug "REMAINING NODES:\n$(ls -1ad .* *)" | tee -a "$log" popd &>/dev/null # enforce $nb if [ $(listSnapshots . "$pfx" | wc -l) -gt $nb ]; then $RM -rf "$(listSnapshots . "$pfx" | head --lines=1)" debug "(OLDEST SNAPSHOT DELETED)" | tee -a "${dir}/${log}" fi # update new snapshot case $loglvl in 0) rsyncOpts=("-q" "-a" "--delete");; 1) rsyncOpts=("-a" "--delete");; 2) rsyncOpts=("-v" "-a" "--delete");; esac pushd "$pfx" &>/dev/null saveIFS="$IFS" IFS=/ find . -maxdepth 1 -type l -printf "%f/%l\n" | while read dest src; do IFS="$saveIFS" src="${src%/}" [ -d "$src" ] && src="${src}/" debug RSYNC "${rsyncOpts[@]}" "$src" "../${dir}/${dest}" | tee -a "../${dir}/${log}" rsync "${rsyncOpts[@]}" "$src" "../${dir}/${dest}" 2>&1 | tee -a "../${dir}/${log}" IFS=/ done IFS="$saveIFS" debug "DISK USAGE ($(date)):\n$(df -h)" | tee -a "../${dir}/${log}" popd &>/dev/null If help (-h) does not help enough (English is not my mother-tongue), don't hesitate to ask for further information. Basically, you choose a directory (I created /backup on my home computer): this is the "ROOT" of all backups. Then you choose a prefix, eg: "daily-", then you create a directory for this prefix (/backup/daily-) and make symbolic links inside this dir to all things you want to backup. Then you fire crontab -e (or any GUI) and make the script run daily with the right parameters (at my home, this is: -r /backup -p daily- -n 5). I decided, since I created this, I could well use it at work as well, and behold the power of hard links: [root@ausy_serveur .backup]# for day in jour\=*; do du -ks $day; done; du -ks . 1 jour= 53856 jour=2007-05-16_20.30 53855 jour=2007-05-17_20.30 568603 jour=2007-05-18_20.30 530293 jour=2007-05-21_20.30 530876 jour=2007-05-22_20.30 724699 . As you see, the space used by the whole backup (.) is WAY less than the sum of all days ;) Yves.

I use Postfix and Bincimap for mail. Bincimap you just install, and that's all :) It works, mail is stored in your home's Maildir directory. Postfix relevant configuration line (main.cf file) is: home_mailbox = Maildir/ All else is your standard Postfix configuration. See here for more information on my config: https://mandrivausers.org/index.php?showtopic=33734 Yves.

mencoder is hardly a tool to be explained in a few words. There are GUI front-ends, but none can provide all the options. But then, who has the knowledge to use all options? I certainly don't. My mencoder bible is: http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/ My tools of choice are mencoder, dvdauthor, subtitleripper... but to tell the truth, maybe I tend to use the command-line too much :lol: There are in fact plenty of GUI tools for those tools. Yves.

In Europe, there is an equivalent to USA's "fair use". Yet the Big Media companies managed to make themselves heard in Europe through the backdoor: it seems there's an European directive prompting European countries to adapt their law in such a fashion that "intellectual property" protection measures cannot be broken. It is just a directive though, hence the "most of" in my previous post. In France, the infamous "DADVSI" law was voted last year in application of the European directive. It is said to go even further than the directive, but it is actually so far from "real world realities" that many points are in fact unenforceable, and this law is bound to be reworked sooner or later... As for mencoder, no it cannot do a bit-perfect copy of the whole DVD. It can only handle audio/video files/chapters; this it can do bit-perfect :) So you can for example author your own copy of the DVD based on a bit-perfect copy of the movie. If you're patient, you can even grab the menu videos and buttons (subtitles). I mean you can copy the DVD content but not the layout with mencoder. Yves.

While the above is interesting for reference, and may indeed provide the user with more features, the Linux+ article author's claim is false. With mencoder, it is actually quite easy to get the video from a protected DVD, and encode it to whatever you like in 1, or 2, or 3 pass. That's all assuming that this operation is allowed where you live, of course; in the USA and most of Europe, it is not. Yves.

See you later then :) Just remember that such issues don't stem from Linux, but from hardware manufacturers who write drivers for Windows only... Meanwhile, you may want to try and get familiar with Linux in a virtual machine on Windows (eg: qemu); the day you'll have hardware that works ok with Linux, you'll be full ready ;) Yves.

Sure! Follow neddie advice. What I wrote does work, but it is not a good way of doing things, and it was only meant as a way to let your system "breathe" a little until you made the situation clearer :) Yves. BTW: ++ for Filelight: it's an excellent tool. You have to understand what you see, though... Basically, it helps to know the basics of the Unix-like filesystem structure.

Wow, your "/" partition is indeed in bad shape! If you don't want to reinstall, I suggest you do the following; it is a "bad trick" but it works and can save you for the time being (do this as root): # mkdir /home/.sys # chmod 755 /home/.sys # mv /opt /home/.sys/opt # ln -s /home/.sys/opt /opt # mv /usr/local /home/.sys/usr_local # ln -s /home/.sys/usr_local /usr/local # mv /usr/share/doc /home/.sys/usr_share_doc # ln -s /home/.sys/usr_share_doc /usr/share/doc # mv /usr/src /home/.sys/usr_src # ln -s /home/.sys/usr_src /usr/src # mv /var/cache/urpmi/rpms /home/.sys/var_cache_urpmi_rpms # ln -s /home/.sys/var_cache_urpmi_rpms /var/cache/urpmi/rpms # mv /var/log /home/.sys/var_log # ln -s /home/.sys/var_log /var/log This transparently moves some big directories from one partition to the other. You'll have to make things straight again eventually though. In case you do reinstall your OS, you may want to use LVM, which allows you to later resize partitions using any LVM-aware LiveCD, without having to move data around or reinstall. Yves.

I don't know about Java (I didn't try yet), but for disk usage, could you give us the output of "df -h"? Yves.

Update!! :D As you know, Metisse uses a second X server for its tricks. So you have Xorg, AND Xmetisse running. So I tried this in a console while logged on in Metisse: $ miniracer <<your usual "Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":1.0"" garbage>> $ echo $DISPLAY :1.0 $ DISPLAY=:0 miniracer Guess what? it runs :) That's a nice trick for fullscreen apps, but not for windowed ones however, because: Xorg (GLX enabled) runs "bare" Xmetisse (no GLX) runs "on top" of Xorg fvwmi (window manager) runs on top of Xmetisse Conclusion: there's no window manager on the Xorg display! And indeed a "hatari" launch without the DISPLAY trick displayed a running Hatari "rectangle" on the top left of the screen, but without any window decorations. I've yet to try and run a second window manager on display 0.0... It may succed, and confuse Gnome :lol: Yves.

This article is very well written and quite objective: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/for...5/28/100033867/ I actually find this situation a little fearfull, although software patents still don't hold in Europe... so far... Yves.

May I know what those showstoppers are? I'd be interested. I didn't try Bery/Compiz; for Metisse, AFAIC, I see two problems: - there is no "reset" action (*-rotation=0, scale=100%...) on windows, - 3D does not work (astronomy, games...) Yves.

Yes, I had a similar experience: change from - PentiumII 350MHz, external rage128 GC, 320MB RAM to - Core2Duo4300 1.6GHz, integrated intel950, 2GB RAM dual channel All went fine :) Yves.

Thank you :) Re-reading your posts, I think my problem actually is the 256MB. IMO, this keeps me from using nice apps like Myth... As a RAM upgrade is not in my near-future plans, and Gnome+Xine does well for DVDs without the need of XvMC, I'll just keep things as they are for now. Yves.