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New to linux, and need some help


Guest Brodie_337
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Guest Brodie_337

Hello everybody, my name is Brodie, and I'm new to Linux. I was given a copy of Mandriva by the IT admin at school under the recommendation that it was the easiest distro to install, and true to his word, less than half an hour later, here I am.

 

However, I've run into a few issues.

 

The first is that when I try to install the NVidia drivers foor my 7900GS, I am presented with the error:

 

ERROR: Unable to find the system utility `ld`; please make sure you have the package 'binutils' installed. If you do have binutils installed, then please check that `ld` is in your PATH.

 

I, being a complete newbie to Linux, have no idea what that means, much less what to do about it. A step by ste guide for a complete newbie would be very much appreciated.

 

The othe proble that I've run into is that the back and forward buttons on my Logitech LX7 mouse don't work. Could someone direct me to a fix for this?

 

Thanks alot for your time, I'm sure you have better things to than put up with my stupid questions.

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How are you going about installing the nvidia drivers? Download from their website?

 

I would recommend going through the Mandriva Control Center, under Software Management -> Install Software and searching nvidia. You may already have it installed. Then go into your Hardware (also via Mandriva Control Center) and ensure that the video card is set to use the "proprietary driver".

 

I'm not sure of any easy way to configure the logitech. last time i had to setup back/foward buttons on a mouse, it required editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf - someone else may have an easier way.

 

p.s. - welcome to the forum :)

Edited by tyme
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Welcome aboard. :)

 

Follow tymes advice. If you install the modules from the software repositories in the Mandriva Control Center (MCC, aka Configure your computer), make sure to visit easyurpmi first ( http://www.mandrivausers.org/easyurpmi/index.php ) and enable the PLF-Software mirrors. They contain the nvidia modules that you need.

 

About the mouse: no clue if there is an easy way to configure your logitech mouse (I use very simple mice at work..). Have you googled for a solution already? I bet that there is some howto down the web.

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Hello Brodie. Welcome to MUB and the world of Linux/Mandriva. :thumbs:

 

A simple thing you can try is to open MCC (Mandriva Control Centre), go into Hardware then look for Set up the Graphical Server and click on it. Double click on the top line. It will result in a message at the top saying that it has found a driver and would you like to install it , click OK or whatever and let it do its thing. When done you will have to log out and then back in again for it to take effect.

 

Regarding the thumb buttons you can use a routine suggested by our good friend AdamW from Mandriva, and which I use.

First make sure that the imwheel package is installed.

 

Open a console such as Konsole. Type in su and press enter then type your root password. and press enter again.

 

Type in the following line (or copy and paste it in).. /usr/bin/imwheel -k --rc /etc/X11/imwheel/imwheelrc.MX1000

Press enter again and you should have thumb button operation.

 

Keep in mind that anytime you reboot you will need to do this routine again unfortunately. However when you have completed your root password entry, just click the up arrow once or twice and you should see that /usr/bin etc line again. When you do then just click enter and you are away again. A bit of a pain but pretty simple and Quick.

 

By the way does anyone have an answer as to how this can be made permanent so it doesn't have to be redone after every reboot ???.

 

Cheers. John.

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Sorry Jim, I put in the whole line as you suggested ( /usr/bin/imwheel -k --rc /etc/X11/imwheel/imwheelrc.MX1000 )but it made no difference. Unless you intended that only some part of the line be used, and if so what part.

 

Cheers. John.

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Sorry, I hadn't thought carefully enough. X needs to be running when that command is executed. Since it has to be executed as root, I'm not certain of how to do this automatically. Since that command seems to change the imwheel configuration file being used, it should be possible to make that change permanent, but how exactly to do that is beyond my expertise.

Jim

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Edit /etc/X11/imwheel/startup.conf and make the appropriate change there.

 

If you need to do this, please send me the USB ID of your mouse - it can be added to the list so it's handled in this way automatically for future releases. 'lsusb' will give you the USB ID.

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Hello Adam.

 

Here is the result as requested.......

 

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 046d:c315 Logitech, Inc.

 

 

By the way, the thumb buttons work perfectly in 2009 and has not needed any fiddling with so they obviously have the necessary info there. I would have thought that in would then have been made available for 2008-Spring.

 

Thanks just the same Jim for trying to help. :thumbs:

 

Adam, I will try your suggestion and let you know how I make out.

 

Cheers. John.

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Guest Brodie_337

OK, thaks alot.

 

I've got the NVidia drivers going, and I can live without the mouse button, but heres the next hitch:

My delete key dosent do anything, but I can still use it in shortcuts with ctrl and alt and what have you. I looke arounds, and a user by the name of "Patkos Csaba" solved it, but didnt say how.

 

Like him, this is what xde gives me:

 

KeymapNotify event, serial 30, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
keys:  2   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
	   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0

 

I'm using a Logitech LX710 keyboard.

 

Thanks again

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john: ah, I guess I asked you and added it already before. Adding it to 2008.1 would require an official update for ldetect-lst which I am frankly too lazy to go through all the requesting rigmarole just to fix a single mouse model, plus it wouldn't kick in unless you updated ldetect-lst and then re-configured your mouse, after installing 2008.1. Plus there isn't even an ldetect-lst updates branch for 2008.1 yet so I'd have to create that too.

 

Beer is a wonderful substance that makes me much less lazy when it is provided to me for free, entirely by-the-by. ;)

 

brodie: that's not one I'm familiar with, but you could possibly try selecting different keyboard models in drakkeyboard - try all the Logitech ones? The change should take effect on-the-fly, I don't think you have to log out / log in or reboot for it to kick in.

Edited by adamw
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Guest Brodie_337

Well, Ive tried not only all of the logitech keyboard layouts, but all of them...

 

I'll PM Patkos Csaba and see what he has to say about it...

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Hello Adam.

 

In fairness to you I will not pretend that I had sent you that ID info earlier because I had not, so there is nothing at all wrong with your memory.

 

The Idetect-lst reference will explain why my making your suggested change to /etc/X11/imwheel/startup.conf made no difference. I even tried copy/pasting the one from 2009 but it made no difference, so there obviously had to be something more.

 

Cheers. John.

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aussie: all the ldetect-lst entry does is cause that to get done to startup.conf automatically. So, let me get this straight: you have the correct stuff in startup.conf , but it doesn't actually kick in? The buttons only start working if you manually run imwheel after X is done starting?

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