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Helmut

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Posts posted by Helmut

  1. It seems to be similar here in Germany.

    I bought a DVD of the free version from one of the many CD/DVD services that save you the time and effort of downloading.

    I think it was from ISO4YOU.

    I know Mandriva recently added an address in Germany to their list.

    But I have NEVER seen Mandriva in any store at all! Regardless of what country, and I do a lot of travelling in many countries.

    If they do not put forth a product in a store near us, how can they expect to sell anything?

     

    Helmut

  2. Hi Arak,

    Mandriva is a bit different from MEPIS. It is not Debian based and thus uses different tools. Actually, a good part of Mandrivas popularity comes from these advanced graphical tools!

     

    See: Applications / System / Configuration / Configure your Computer. You will be asked for the administrator(root) password.

    The tool that opens is the MCC, the Mandriva Control Centre. Probably you will find what you are looking for right there.

     

    Also take time to look at the user-manaul(s). Thats time well invested.

    See: Applications / More Applications / Documentation / Mandriva Linux User Manual...

    You could also look at the FAQ's on this web site.

     

    Cheers,

    Helmut.

  3. Hi folks,

    it seems my posting a long way back was like poking a stick into a wasps nest!

    Some folks obviously feel very strongly about running the GUI as root or not. Unfortunately, that proceedure seems unavoidable for termal-ignorants like me trying to setup their Mandriva 2007 system. Hopefully that will be resolved, but thats not the issue!

     

    The main point remains:

    Not every user understands using a terminal and that fact that will remain so, if we like it or not! Beginners certainly don't understand terminals, and many others just don't want to either. But in spite of this those users must be capable of configuring and using their system to full 100% extent without using any terminal at all! If the software doesn't let or support them, then there is something awfully wrong with it, but not with the user! If Linux can not resolve this issue, Microsoft has little to worry about, and for very good reason.

     

     

    Mandrake became so popular, because for the first time in Linux so many graphical tools replaced the need of doing almost everthing from a terminal. Other Linux'es still required a terminal for the most basic things, but Mandrake was different and became popular for exactly that reason. But if a beginner needs a terminal for even the most basic stuff, why should beginners turn to linux? Would a beginner want to plague himself with cryptical mysteries on a horribly configured, hardly working system? Hell no, unless we were all masochists! Otherwise, perhaps we might be wrestling with Darwin, or some other OS that most of us will never understand no matter how much we try.

     

    In the light of that, it should be possible to say if Mandriva continues being the leader in terms of excellent graphical tools replacing terminals, Mandriva's popularity is nothing we should worry about.

     

    On the other hand, if certain things can not be done any more without a terminal, the reason for Mandriva's popularity would have vanished! Remember, Mandriva 2007 is the first that does not allow users to log in as root. While this is no issue for those using terminals, it remains to be seen as an insurmountable obstacle for beginners.

     

     

    After having said that, let me clarify this:

     

    If you want to discuss running the desktop as root, well so be it.

    As far as I am concerned, I practically never run my desktop as root. It was only once and only for one specific reason that it seemed unavoidable. For users like me ignorant about terminals, we need to operate and configure our system without terminals. Then and only then is when I was logged in as root. If it does not remain possible, Mandriva 2007 can not be the correct choice for us any more. This creates unnecessary installation woes and avoidable grief. Period!

     

    Cheers,

    Helmut

  4. Allright riseringseeker, and Gowator

    I do not want to exclude myself from using a terminal, its just that I have problems using it.

    My problem is this: The way my mind works, I can not remember the syntax needed and confuse everything. Therefore I prefer using the MCC and whatever other graphical tools are available. Mandriva has the best graphical tools of all the distros I've tested since about mid 2003, and thats why i am using it.

     

    I really don't want to elaborate this or get in any argument, but let me you give a more specific example:

    You are logged in as "username" on a Gnome desktop. You have added a drive or partition to your box in FAT32. You want to create a link to that drive or partition on your desktop. You have trouble using a Terminal, and you can not log into the desktop as root. But you can log in as "username" and open the MCC with the root password.

     

    To create that link, you would probably

    - first unmount it, probably using the partitioning tool through the MCC.

    - change ownership of the drive, maybe change permissions.

    - create the link and put it on the desktop.

     

    Logged in as "username" you can call up the MCC entering the root password, but what could you do then? Would you expect an average user to be successful at creating the link? I don't think so, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

    Cheers,

    Helmut

  5. Hi risering seeker,

    I get your point, just as Gowater's point.

    Actually I'm quite familiar using the MCC in the "basic" graphical mode. Its a fantasic tool I do not want to miss. Mandriva's graphical tools and in particular the MCC is why I prefer Mandriva.

    The mouse was made to work using the MCC in the "basic" graphical mode. It was not working right after install, because it was not recognized correctly.

     

    But no, thats not the point! A challenge: Try to set up a system that is just a little complexer than the average system without using a terminal and without being able to log in as root, and you will see what I mean. It just is not possible!

     

    No, I do not run the system logged in as root, and I do not want to wreck it either. I just want to be able to set it up so it works as I want, it recognizes some additional vfat drives, and maybe this or that else. Nothing big, then after it is installed I will probably never need to login as root again. Thats all!

    I wonder how many people are stumped by this and in the end finally give up installing Mandriva! For people who actually do know how to do the stuff with a terminal, this problem probably never shows up. Because it does not show up to those folks, they will fail to understand how this becomes an insolvable problem for others.

     

     

    Those wondering what all the fuss is about, just try to install a complex system without being able to log in as root, and 100% without using a terminal! You will see where the problems arrise, why it does not work, and you will also see there is simply no other solution than setting it up without least once logging in as root. Before declaring this all nonsense, try it for yourself and see!!

     

    Greets,

    Helmut

  6. There are plenty of places you can get a DVD for almost free. All you pay are handling charges. For about two quid the DVD reaches your letterbox. You could try ISO4YOU, or lookup Distrowatch, or look at the ads in a Linux-Format magazine. There are plenty of ways to get a DVD without the hassle of downloading. Another advantage: The DVD stays with you for future use. Better than downloading any day!

    Cheers,

    Helmut

  7. Sounds strange!

    I had problems too, but at least the tools were working. I would try another install, and this time do not choose "individual package selection". It seems there are some hiccups in the packet managers of recent distros. Maybe there's just too much software making stuff to complex?

    Cheers

    Helmut.

  8. What new distro are you using that is working????

    I'm using SUSE 10.1 now. It works fine, but the packet mgr seems so slow and apparently has a few similar hiccups like mdk2007, and it also boots much slower than mdk. And of course, if you are used to mdk it seems sooooo bloated and sooo slow. But then again, SUSE is not too much different from Fedora, it seems. Anyhow, main thing Linux! You can always adjust any Linux distro to make it suit your needs I suppose.

     

    Cheers,

    Helmut

  9. Thanks, Gowater,

    You were totally right again! Once the vfat partitions/drives were unmounted, the "ownership" could be changed as root, and then I could login (without rebooting) as the user. Then with the unmounted partitions, a link between them and the desktop could be made. After rebooting the shown ownership goes back to "root" automatically, but the links work and the files are totally accessable.

     

    While understanding your point about not logging in as root perfectly well, for someone totally ignorant to operating a terminal, the MCC logged in as root often remains the only other way to do certain things. I need it only very seldom, but there is simply no graphical replacement that comes to mind. Thats why I can not do without it, no matter how seldom it is needed. For that reason I am now using a different distro, but I hope to find time to switch back later - of course after I see a solution for the "no login as root" problem. I have tried very long with consoles and their commands, and that is not an option for me. If it were, maybe I would be running BSD, who knows...

    Greets,

    Helmut

  10. I use linux because of two reasons:

    1) It works very good (with the occaisional exception of premature releases).

    2) I do not want to contribute to ripp-offs. I want to be able to look in the mirror without thinking "there is someone contributing to a racket".

    Helmut

  11. Thanks DarkFoss, John, Gowator!

     

    At the moment there still remains a minor problem about creating a desktop-link to my numerous hard drives. They are mostly in vfat and contain documents, pics, and you name it.

     

    There are all mounted as:

    /local/drivename

    While on KDE opened a Konsole and typed "kdesu konqueror" and looked at the permissions. These are

    for /local:

    Ownership: me

    Group: users

    Access permissions are 777 (and no special bits set.)

     

    for /local/drivedrivename (for all drive names) they are:

    Ownership root

    Group: root

    Access permissions 777 (and no special bits set.)

     

    When trying to change ownership to me in Konqueror as root, a warning pops up "Warning Could not modify ownership for /local/drivedrivename because you have insufficient access to perform change"

     

    Also, as root I made a link on the root desktop to /local This link can not be removed. When trying to do so, it says "can not ...on a different file system"

     

    Any ideas?

    Cheers,

    Helmut

  12. Hi folks, and thanks!

     

    Its amazing how good these live CD's work! I'm actually using the Conference-DVD from the last Linuxtag 2006 a Kubuntu live. It came with another DVD, a collection of BSD's. Also, my daughter has a SUSE 10.1 DVD

    I'll give them a trynow and see what happens. I'll add a post then. Btw, no XGL activated.

    Cheers,

    Helmut

  13. Thanks, arctic.

    I will not mess with the installed software after installation, unless there is a really good reason to do so!

    However this is now the 8th installation, and it is riddled with problems. I can hardly see what I am writing, the sound does not work, I can not acces my files, etc etc.

    I will now logout now and continue trying. If this box doesn't work within the next hours, I will wipe out the linux partitions and put something else on, whatever the local gas station stocks in their magazine stand.

    regards,

    Helmut

  14. Thanks Gowator,

     

    You know I highly respect your opinion and am always thankful for your comments. I am quite sure you know what you are talking about.

     

    I'll give it another go and hope it works. The described problems are only the worst being encountered. At the moment I can hardly see what I am writing because the cursor is being improperly shown. It remains as a mark at every spot where it has been, and where it is now is not shown.

    If I can't get it working halfway right, I shall go back to 2005 which is the youngest version that will. But maybe I should rather install something more modern.

     

    By the way, one point about security: if you are alone in the house and need to visit the bathroom, you probably wouldn't lock the door behind you. Likewise I don't have to be locked out from adjusting my box they way I need it. I have performed very many installations and administrate lots of boxes, but this has me stumped.

    regards,

    Helmut

  15. Hi Folks, I have used mdk for years, but the "2007.0 Official" has me totally beaten and stumped!

    To start with: Why I use Mandriva in the first place, is because of the excellent graphical tools. Using the MCC loged in as "root" makes the konsole just about superflous. I just can not remember all that cryptical stuff needed to get my computer working through a console. I mean I am not legasthenic, I do have a B Sc, M Sc and a Ph D in Engineering /Digital Technology, but I just can't remember all the syntax needed to get my system working properly via the console. The MCC is fantastic, and as root using the MCC you can make your box work exactly as you need it. This and only this is the reason why I prefer and use Mandriva! With 2007 it is all a very different story:

     

    To date, I spent two entire days(!) and a total of seven installs trying try to make it more or less work, but it does not really. To say it is limping would be flattering. (And yes, I did read the errata first!) But here's some of the stuff what happened:

    First try, the mouse didn't work at all. So I pressed [Alt+F2] and put in

    kdesu "kwrite /etc/X11/xorg.conf" .

    Then scrolled down to "devices" and changed the line "/dev/mouse" to "/dev/input/mouse0". But still no (PS2) mouse. Tried "/device/dev/mouse" , tried "/dev/psmouse" but still no mouse. So I struck up a console and called up the MCC in its most basic graphical form. After editing/correcting the mouse entry, it worked. Hooray for the MCC!

     

    Now, there was very much software installed, much more than I had ever expected. Too much for me. Now I did mark what I wanted during install, I certainly did, and chose "individual packages" too, but very much other stuff was installed, and I certainly do not think it was just a matter of dependancies. So I called up the new software tool (within the mcc) in an attempt to get rid of the unwanted stuff it had installed without being asked to. Stuff installed without being marked during installation.

    The new software manager within the MCC did not behave anything like what was expected, and it does not even have a legend for explaining what those funny-looking marks in front of the listed packages mean. But the missing legend was not the problem. Anyway, software being "uninstalled" as the popup exactly said while doing so, was actually being installed, and vice versa. Numerous tries made it all worse. In the end it was a total mess and there was lots of stuff not working. This called for a few re-installs.

    After the fourth (!) re-installation I decided to leave the software just as it was after install, and continue anyway.

    Now, I did not mention yet that every time the system boots up anew, a popup opens "Wait installing", and then a second one also opens "Please wait installing packages", then a third popup opens "ERROR Could not install the CUPS printing system". But I just ignore that and continue anyway, after all, the printer (hp psc1100) works fine.

     

    The next surpise: The theme "Canyon" being a redish-brown that doesnt strain your eyes, was not included. Only loads of blueish stuff, nothing for me or my eyes. Well, but you can't have it all. So I decided to address that later on, maybe get it from GNOME.org.

     

    The next surprise: "Root Logins not allowed"! No, this is not a sick joke, and I'm not kidding, no root logins allowed!

    Remember, the reason for me having Mandriva is because I just can not remember the syntax needed on a Konsole, and Mandriva/Mandrake always had the best graphical tools that make consoles just about superflous. But with 2007, I cannot login as root, and some of the consequences are pretty harsh, like these:

     

    -I now can not change permissions! I do not use the default "home" directory. My dual-boot system has numerous common drives and partitions in vfat, each with a few dozen parent files (letters, pics) with countless other files within. I can not access these any more. I need to put out a CV but can't get at it, at least not from Mandriva 2007...

     

    -I now can not make a link on the desktop leading to my common partitions or common files. As I do not own the permissions any more to my own files, and can not change them graphically any more, no permission is granted to make any links to them...

     

    To say it plainly, I am absolutely and totally fed up!

    Mandriva 2006 would not install on my box because of x11 problems (only psychedelic stripes on the screen, no console or anything at all possible exept pulling the plug), and 2007 seems to be a serious candidate for continueing that tradition of improperly working software released. If a release candidate doesn't work properly yet, it should be kept as Cooker until it does. What a shame really, I wished this didn't happen to Mandriva again...

     

    By the way, Mandriva 2007 has no proper AC97 sound driver (2005 SE did!), and the nvidia 3D driver seems to be missing too. Good I don't need 3D, one thing less to worry about.

     

    I do need a Computer that works, but with this software I can't get it working right. In that respect, it seems to have very little in common with old Mandrake versions. It is easier and a lot quicker getting XP to work, including all those patches, SP's, extras, add-ons, virus-scanners, and the like. If Mandriva 2007 is just a cooker version let loose on the community, I would expect Mandriva to label it as cooker. But what was installed is called "2007 official" and should be expected to have been tested. My old installation (2005SE) has been replaced, and the replaceing 2007 doesn't do the job yet. I think it could have gotten some more cooking before being let loose on the unsuspecting public...

     

    I think I might go back to 2005SE because it does actually work. But I really should switch to something more modern. Perhaps Fedora, Suse, or something like that, or are there be some revolutionary fixes expected really soon?

    regards,

    Helmut

  16. Maybe here's another tip about a similar topic:

     

    My daughter had mdk 2005 and Windsblow XP on her dual boot box. She wanted to play an old MS-DOS version of "Simon The Sorcerer", but that won't work with XP. So she additionally needed W95 for the existing XP and mdk installation.

     

    She then asked a friend for an ancient 3GB hard drive. Removed the existing IDE1 drive from her box and put the ancient one in its place, and installed Win95 on that ancient drive. When all was done, she reconnected the original drive having XP and mdk2005 on it, onto connector IDE1. Then put the ancient drive with the fresh install of Win95 onto the IDE 2 connector. Then reconfigured the mdk bootloader to list: 1) XP, 2) mdk2005, 3) Win95

    Nowthere was a new problem: Everything seemed fine except W95 would not boot. If she selected W95 from the boot-screen, the screen turned black and nothing further happened. She tried rearranging the drives on the IDE connectors, no help.

    The solution: After trying to boot W95 and looking on the screen that just turned blank, she pressed "escape" twice. Now W95 booted. It now reliably boots W95 every time, if only she pushes "escape" twice after choosing W95 from the bootloader menu. If she chooses one of the other OS's from her bootloader, everything works fine, just as on every other computer. So she now effectively has a triple-boot box: XP + W95 + mdk.

    Helmut

  17. Thanks Gowater.

    I worked a lot as a user with video rendering, and later as an engineer building simulators, such as airport-tower simulators used for flight-engineer training. Every movement on the airport was visualized seemlessly on the (fake) tower-windows, and imagine all the acoustics on top of that. Never understood much of what was going on inside the boxes though, just calculated and built the horizons (rear projections) with mirrors and beamers, etc. Now I understand more of what was going on. Thanks!

    We also saw modified NVIDIA drivers being used to process the video being beamed onto cylindrical, conical, or-what-else surfaces. The video does not just have to be pre-distorted to look correct on whatever shape it is beamed onto, but also has to be modified so that the focus is correct. If you look at huge projections onto statues, tall buildings, cylinders, cones, spheres, footballs, etc., you know what I mean... Anyway, thanks for the insight!

    Helmut

  18. 13 months later:

    Just spent another entire week trying to getting the Yahoo messenger working on mdk. Installing the Yahoo messenger for rh9 on the mdk2005 box caused numerous unexpexted problems, even kppp would not work any more. In the end, all personal data had to be extracted with Knoppix and it needed a complete fresh install including formatting the entire drive. In what followed I also tried out other distro's, but nothing seemed to work with Yahoo messenger.

    Finally I installed Xandros OCE 3.01 and it worked right out of the box with their built-in (probably modified) version of Kopete! So, thirteen months later my friend's box finally has a working Yahoo messenger, and best of all it now runs in Linux. But then, why for crying out aloud, why doesn't it work in Mandriva???

     

    So, problem finally solved after 13 months, but frankly I don't want to see the Yahoo messenger any more in my entire life! (At least not not at this point...)

     

    Helmut

  19. As to your "Quick Question". Presuming you are in Gnome:

    Open the "Computer" icon (similar to My Computer in Windows) on the desktop. Double-click on "file system". You will be in " / " which is the highest possible position in linux. Click on "mnt" , it will open and you will see "windows" (= the windows partition) or your common (FAT32) partition. If you only have one single windows partition, and if that is in NTFS, well, thats tough luck. If it is in FAT32 you will be able to access it.

    Most folks with dual-boot systems have at least one common FAT32 partition, because both Linux and Windows can read and write it.

    Helmut

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