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pbpersson

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Everything posted by pbpersson

  1. I have been investigating Linux off and on for years now. I still consider myself somewhat of a newbie, but I'm learning. One of the things that frustrates me about Linux is that it doesn't just work "out of the box". In other words, when I fire up Windows, everything is there - Microsoft has made all the choices for me and it all works. Now I think I am starting to understand. I am recalling a story from many years ago when people would defect from the Soviet Union to the United States and they just couldn't handle it. They said where we live, the government decides where we are to live, what we do for a living, what groceries we can buy....how can you Americans deal with all the decisions you are making every day.....and how do you know they are the right decisions? I"m reminded of a scene in "Moscow on the Hudson" where the Robin Williams character has a panic attack in the grocery store because he's just overwhelmed by all the choices he has before him. I'm now installing applications on Mandrake 10.1 using URPMI and I'm faced with the same problem. I mean, it tells me that this HIJKL program which I have never heard of does great things and I really need it but I have this Berkeley version and this UCLA version and this Dr. Wizard version and they all sound great and I have no idea. It's just too overwhelming. I don't want to make a mistake so I want to install every version of everything and now I need a bigger hard drive, I just ran out of room. Anyway, maybe this is one reason why Windows people have such a difficult time - Linux is all about freedom and choices and in Windows everything is decided for you and it just works? :unsure: Phil
  2. It is my impression that everything is easier in Windows. For instance, I go to a web site and it says I need flash and click here to download it - done! I go to a web site and it says I need Adobe Acrobat, click here to download it - done! I go to a web site using Linux and it says I need something and click here to get it and CRASH! So.....now I am scratching my head. What type of file do I need, what software usually reads it, and how do I load it for Linux? Then I need to go out to the web and read articles, then I need to search the URPMI stuff to see what it is called in Linux.....several times for each file type. Even with all that I think I was not able to get all the quicktime stuff working.....and then someone suggested I use a Windows emulator in Linux. That's just silly. But I digress..... Anyway, here is another fine example - last year I installed a scanner on my Linux machine. Now, in Windows when you install a scanner you go to the start menu and there is a section called "HP Scanning Software" or something useful like that. No such luck in Linux. Again, the user is totally left out in the cold with no clue. I had to spend hours on the web doing research to discover that the Linux scanning software was called SANE but that was worthless information because that is just the engine - the KDE frontend is called KOOKA and somehow I was just supposed to automatically know that. Now....once you know all the funny names for all the funny things in Linuc you MIGHT be productive. I wouldn't know, I have been learning this gradually for years and I'm still amazed at the steepness of the learning curve here. But when I start complaining bitterly about this I'm reminded that my CD burning software in Windows is called Nero and why do I so readily accept the logic of that strange name? :unsure: Maybe it's because it said NERO in big letters on the box so I had some clue as to what it was called. Anyway, my experiences with Linux have given me the impression - rather deserved or not - that it still has a long journey ahead of it if the goal is for Linux to be the desktop of the 21st century. Even after I had downloaded all the Quicktime, Flash, Java, and Mplayer stuff I could get my hands on, it still would not work with about twenty percent of the web sites I use and I could not open multimedia attachments from friends. Linux just told me it had no idea what they were. I had to view the emails on Windows in order for them to work. If I have a Linux machine here fully configured with all the trimmings and I must go to my Windows machine to see some web sites and read some emails then I think something is terribly wrong - after spending weeks fighting with Linux to get it working as well as a Windows machine does after one day of setup. I'm just wondering if Mandrake is still the closest distro when it comes to being as "user-friendly" as Windows is. Phil
  3. That is broken in the 10.1 version. There are even web sites that tell people not to use 10.1 if they are lefties but with someone's help I was able to get it working.
  4. Yves - THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I put the command in some input shell script in that profile folder and it works great! After all that work, I discovered that when I installed Linux on this machine months ago I never installed any games. Oh, well.....that should be an easy task tomorrow. I think the difficult part is over. I have Mandrake 10.1 working with a left-handed mouse! Thanks again! Phil
  5. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> UMM.....I read that article as well, but the "other problems" they experienced in Gnome has me concerned. Thanks to the help I have received I almost have this working now. Say....I have always wondered.....if I finally learn what utilities to run in KDE like Kaffeine and KOOKA and Koffee and KopperKettle and whatever else....do I need to learn an entirely new set of utilities that all start with "G" in the Gnome world? I tried Gnome once and it all looked so strange I came running right back to KDE. :D Phil
  6. Actually, I have some rather unrealistic expectations for Linux. First of all, I want it to include all the "stuff" I need for what I am doing. On a Windows machine this is easier - if I go to a web site that needs Shockwave or Quicktime or Javascript then it just downloads it and installs it on my Windows machine. These web sites don't work with Linux - if you say "give me what I need to make it work" the entire thing crashes when it finds you are on Linux - it's not designed to handle it. Linux can't include all these things out of the box reportedly because of some licensing nonsense. I joined the Mandrake Club so I could download the "official PowerPack" version thinking I would finally have a full-featured version of Linux but that was a disappointment as well. For instance, out of the box the web browser was Konqueror which was a joke - there are several things I could not get to work with it. Then I installed Mozilla because it is so "standard" and everything should work with it but then I was supposed to somehow "know" that I should install MOZPlugger so it would work with web sites.....I thought it was DESIGNED to work with web sites??? I don't think I ever did get Quicktime movies to work on Mandrake - most of this work I did last year. Now I am discovering that in order to use Mandrake 10.1 with my left hand I need to run XModMap but before I can run that I need to run XEV which is embedded in something called X11R6-contrib which I need to get through URPMI but then I get curl errors. I am now updating my FTP URPMI sites to fix that little issue. So....I guess what I want is a distribution where I can install it and just do my work without spending days or weeks trying to get everything working on the machine. Is there a distro like that? Is Mandrake the wrong one? Please don't recommend Lindows because I heard everything runs under root and that's just plain stupid. Phil
  7. Thanks.....I did turn the Linux machine off but then I found an article that said to download and install something called X11R6-contrib to get XEV but then I was getting curl errors (???) because my URPMI FTP sites were so old. It's been months since I have dealt with all this, I had forgotten how it all worked.... We will see what happens. :D Phil
  8. I read your article. When I go out to a terminal session in Mandrake 10.1 and type XEV it says there is no such command. When I do a "man XEV" it says there is no man page for it, when I type "help xev" it says there is no help for it. From the root folder of the machine I did a search for all files called *xev*.* and there is no such file on my machine. So.....I am still stuck. I am turning the Linux machine off for the evening as I still can't play my games. Phil
  9. Every so often I get on here and post something like this. Usually it is a topic like "What is the future of Linux" or "Why can't Linux be more like Windows?" However, let us approach this from a different point of view - What is the point of Linux? Now....let's say I was buying a car. I go into the dealership, I find a car that looks nice, and I drive it off the lot - simple. Sure, someone else decided for me how the dashboard is laid out, what color the body is....but, whatever - I just want something that will get me where I'm going. If cars were designed like Linux is designed, some people would suggest that going into the showroom and looking at a bare chassis with an engine sitting on it would be a good thing. They say that in an ideal world you should choose the seats, dashboard, and body to be what YOU want them to be. Look, I just want something that will work. So, they give me KDE in Mandrake 10.1 which is supposed to work. However, I can't surf on half the web sites because I don't have the correct software hooked up to the correct browsers, and the music players don't work, and the video players don't work. I think the first music player in the KDE list just crashed, the second one the music sounded all muffled, the third one had very limited functionality.... Someone said to use XMMS or something like that. I think it should be the first on the list if it is the best. The best music player should be called AA - Best music player, the best video player should be called AA - Best Video Player, etc. That way the first impressions a Linux explorer has won't be negative ones. Now, when it comes to how the OS works, I expect it to find all my hardware, surf all the web sites, and it should just work. If I want to use my mouse left-handed then I should be able to click "left-handed" in the mouse control panel and it should do it. I get on here and I'm told that I should KNOW how things work and you type xmode -xvs ./werer/were/wetterweerewr/ee*^%#$ and then maybe it will work. So....is using Linux like driving a car where you need to be a car mechanic to use it? That is the impression I get after looking at Linux for years - you need to be constantly under the hood "teaking" and re-building things to keep it running. Is that what Linux wants to be? Is that the goal? It is supposed to be an OS for people who like to tinker inside the OS? I was hoping it was like a Jeep - I just get in and drive and it will work for me without a great deal of work. This is sort of like Windows has been for me. Sure, I didn't design the dash board or the steering wheel or the seats but it gets me from point A to point B and I don't need to be a programmer to use it. Oh....and how is the new Mandriva 2006 for those of us who want an OS that will just work? I just read a review that said if you don't want to know the inner workings of the OS and how everything is programmed don't bother trying to install it because it is too difficult. :unsure: I'm asking this because quite often I have heard that Linux would like to be the desktop OS for the masses and I'm wondering if that is still the goal. Phil
  10. Thank you for the article. I will need to return to this when I have the time. I was hoping for something not quite as involved. If I posted my file on here and you saw it, would you be able to tell me what to change? I just reconfigured the mouse so all the bottons and even the wheel work fine, I just want the buttons reversed. :D Phil
  11. I have been here before......I have about 60 posts I have done over time. Yes, I am a displaced Windows person. I like Windows because it always works the way I want it to work. When I install it on a machine, it finds all the hardware, installs the appropriate hardware, and it just works. If I go to a web site, I am prompted to download any software that is needed and it just works. Since the world (hardware, web sites) is made for Windows, Linux has a tough road ahead of it. You LinuxHeads think that Linux has arrived and is the greatest thing since sliced bread. You need people like me to get on here and scream every once in a while to jolt you back to reality. At least that is my opinion. :P See.....I am the type who picks up a camera, pushes the button, and expects it to take a picture. I don't want to fool around with light settings or focus or digging around in the manual for information because by that time, life has moved on and the moment I wanted to capture is gone. Likewise, when I get in the car I expect to press down on the gas pedal and go. I'm not going to fool around with a clutch, or gear shift, or choke - that's old technology. I just want to drive. By the same token, if Linux is the OS of the future as some people believe, it should work out of the box, it should detect my hardware, install the needed software, and I should be able to surf the web - no fuss, no muss, just like Windows (I know some people will take exception to that point of view but that's okay). Back when I spent months trying to get my Mandrake machine to work there were still some web sites that would not work because I couldn't get the correct movie players in Linux. Then people say I should use a Windows emulator with IE. NO, NO, NO! I think that defeats the entire purpose of the exercise! Are we going to leave Windows behind in our dust, or what? Let's make Linux do everything and forget about Windows (words from a prospective future Linux developer). Oh...and by the way.....I usually don't stop and smell the flowers, I usually run over them because they're in my way. :D Phil
  12. No, I was lead to believe by one of the previous posters that Mandrake 10.1 PowerPack cannot be used by left-handed people and although the OS has been out for a year now, there is no fix for this problem. The only reason why this is critical for me - both my wrists have started bothering me so at work I do all right-handed mouse stuff and at home I do all left-handed mouse stuff. People tell me I spend too much time on computers and I should live a more balanced life and that was the answer I arrived at to address their concerns. :D Phil
  13. In his post he says he can select that, and from my research there seems to be some issue w/it in 10.1. Not sure why <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Sorry about the /home/user/....whatever thing, but I had already turned the Linux machine off at that point since I could not use it. My point is that I have been fooling with Linux off and on for years now and the SIMPLEST thing seems to be so darned difficult in Linux. Things that we take for granted in Windows are broken in Linux and have been for years. So.....it seems more than a little strange. I think I give Linux a whirl every few years to see if it has gotten friendly enough to really use on an everyday basis and so far it seems we are not yet there - by my own yardstick. I guess when I fire up a computer I expect to get some work done and be productive. It seems that when I fire up Linux and expect to get some work done I spend hours on something silly like changing the mouse buttons instead of something more productive.....like playing some games. Okay, my example might not be a good one, but my reference to trying to run a business using this OS is a valid point. How often I have heard these stories about Mr. Geek who runs the whole corporation on Linux and everything is free and support is free and things always work in Linux and the user community will get you answers in minutes. I don't know if I believe all that. I remember I had to spend days just getting the Ethernet card working when I installed MDK 10.1. So.....I'm just venting because of my experiences. Many people have told me that I do not automatically suceed in Linux because I am not in "tune" with the environment or don't automatically know the places to look for answers as I do in the Windows world. However my view whether right or wrong, deserved or not, is that Linux still has some distance to travel before it can work as well as Windows. Sorry if I sounded frustrated.....but I was! Phil :D
  14. Well....they say that with Linux you don't need support because you can get on the Internet, ask a question, and get an immediate response. I have been waiting 5 hours with a useless machine and have not gotten any response. Fortunately, all I wanted to do was play some games. Thank goodness I'm not trying to run my business using Linux! Anyway, this is what I did based on my research, I located the following file: /home/user/root/.kde/share/config/kcminputrc and I changed that to lefthanded then I copied that file to /home/user/phil/.kde/share/config/kcminputrc then I re-installed my mouse driver and rebooted - no luck. I can't believe this. For all the hype about Linux being the OS of the 21st century, I still think it has a long, long way to go. I have spent the last several months learning all about the .NET framework in Windows and was hoping to start a software development firm and produce software that will run on Windows and Linux. However, I have this nagging suspicion that my helpdesk people will spend most of their time fielding stupid Linux questions - "Can you tell me how I change my mouse buttons? I can't figure it out!" Anyway, I have turned off my Linux machine, I can't spend any more time on it this weekend. This just seems SO sad! Phil
  15. Okay.....I have been away from Mandrake for months. I fired up the Mandrake 10.1 Powerpack machine today and wanted to switch the mouse buttons to left-handed. I cannot figure this out. Once again, Linux has me stuck. In Windows, I go to the control panel, go to the mouse, and I'm done - presto chango! In Linux.....well, I just don't know. I did figure out how to get into a terminal session as root and then run KControl - I was able to bring up the mouse control panel but the place where you can change the mouse to left-handed is grayed out. So....if root can't do it then I'm totally stuck HELP!!! Phil
  16. I didn't do any fiddling with the BIOS, not that I can remember.
  17. My other Linux machine is an eMachine. It was the one I first used to learn about Mandrake. It is an etower 566i2 and the front label says it has integrated Intel direct AGP graphics. Mandrake 10.0 and 10.1 both work great on it. Go for it! Phil
  18. Here is how I see it.....either I have a GUI where I can drag an icon from where it does not belong to where it does belong.....or click on "enable this feature" or whatever. That I will remember. For instance, let's say that to enable my network interface I go to the network interfaces window, find the network interface I want to enable, click on options, and then click on enable......simple. Or, I could instead type sfgfrg/efrd-xffers$%#/hhfttrr/hhgfe-ffd-4435/!!!! Now....which of these methods will I really remember the next time I need to enable a network interface? That is how I compare GUI vs. command line. :D Phil
  19. Okay, I am NOT a Linux or Mandrake expert but here is my gut reaction: 1. Do some searches on here for messages relating to your hardware, especially your sound card. For instance, if you have the XYZABC sound card try doing a search on XYZABC to see if anyone else has experienced similar problems and how they solved them. 2. As silly as it sounds, try removing the sound card from the PC, uninstalling it from Mandrake, and then see if Linux runs normally. Don't ask me why I keep picking on your sound card, like I said it's just my gut feeling. 3. Have you looked at Start--->System--->Montoring--->KDE System Guard and then clicked on the process table to determine what is sucking up all the CPU cycles while the PC is making you wait for things? Anyway, these were my immediate thoughts. At least these are some things I would look at. You probably want to keep option number 2 as a last resort. I just get wild when I'm troubleshooting. :D Phil
  20. The Easy-URPMI gives you an RPM package specifically designed for the Mandrake system. You can't get that directly from Mozilla. In Mandrake, if you go into the Mandrake Control Center (MCC) and then go to software management there is a place where you can with one mouse click get the latest updates for all the packages installed on your system. If you try that in a few months you will probably get a more updated version. Phil
  21. By all means, try before you buy. Give it a good test run and make sure you are happy. That is one of the nice things about Linux. If you discover you hate it then all you have spent is some time.....and time well spent at that. I you have any questions or problems be sure to let us know. Phil
  22. I would think that the exact version of the Java runtime that you can use would depend upon the version of Mandrake you are using, the libraries you have in place, etc. I am using Mandrake version 10.1 and the version of the runtime I am using is as follows: Name: j2re Version: 1.4.2_05-2mdk .....and it seems to work fine. Or were you not talking about the runtime library? I searched in RPM for the word "java" and about 30 matches appeared so I might be answering the wrong question. Probably the one on the Java website is the most recent however I suggest always going with an RPM package install if you can. Phil
  23. pbpersson

    Mplayer

    I have it installed and running.....and I didn't add it to menudrake myself. At least I don't think I did. Anyway, the command in there to run it is as follows: /usr/bin/gmplayer -quiet -nofs Phil
  24. I don't know if this will apply, but I had the exact same problem with Mandrake 10.1 when I installed it on a new computer I built. I tried three different network cards, different network cables, different ports.... If I configured the network cards as DHCP it would fail to start the card during boot-up. If I configured the network cards as static they would seem to start and I could ping myself but could not ping my gateway. Incidentally, my sound card also did not work but I didn't know it was related. I found a thread where someone was having the same problem. They went into the LILO boot settings and did "force no apic". I tried the same thing and suddenly the network cards and sound card started working. It's just a long shot but it's worth a try...... Phil
  25. I just went through this whole thing with an HP 750PSC. First I had to get the PPD file from HP for the 750, although later I think I found I didn't need to. Then I went into the Mandrake Control Console (MCC), went into printers, and imported the PPD for the printer. I told it to share the printer. Now, the Samba setup is in the MCC under the special "servers" icon but they don't tell you in the manual that you need to use RPM to install DrakWizard or something like that in order to get the silly icon to appear. Even with setting up the sharing in both the Samba and CUPS I still had to go into etc/samba/smb.conf and manually set some stuff. Then on the Windows side I linked to the printer and used the built-in Windows drivers for the printer. OH - you will also need to type smbpasswd -a username from the terminal command line in Mandrake to setup the new users for samba. They don't tell you that anywhere, not really. There was a message about using smbpasswd but they never mentioned that the "-a" adds a new user into samba, I thought samba already knew about the users in Mandrake. It's another example of how you need to read four different manuals and spend a day in Google researching just to do something fairly simple. (My pet peeve :D ) Phil
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