Dear friends:
I spent last night doing reinstalling LM 7.1 twice, first with Xfree86
4.0, then back to 3.3.6.
In installed 7.1 using Custom, Install, then, after setting up XWindows
(KDE), went back and selected Expert, Upgrade. I was then offered the
option of trying out Xfree86 4.0, which I did.
Installation seemed perfect. I went into KDE, checked system info:
X-server was clearly listed as XFree86 4.0 with patch or something like
that. The resolution, in any case, was and remains 1024 x 768.
However, I quickly found that Xfree86 4.0 was causing me more problems
than it was worth. Perhaps because I could only run Xfree86 4.0 with
16-bit, 65,000 colors or perhaps because 4.0 is still in development and
perhaps not quite perfectly stable yet. Whatever the reason, the
problems became quickly apparent: the icons in KDE worked very slowly or
not at all or spawned other icons which appeared superimposed over each
other. The biggest problem, however, was in getting into KDE in the
first place. When I typed "startx" and then hit Enter, it just sat there
interminably until I hit Cnt C and finally got into KDE, and then the
other problems I mentioned above would start.
I quickly got the impression (of course, since I don't understand what's
going on under the hood, I might well be wrong) that Xfree86 4.0 was not
right for my system. My chip set clearly would not allow more than
16-bit 65,000 colors. I recaall you mentioned that I needed more color
depth, 24-bit or something like that.
Well, instead of fighting a losing battle, and since I was quite pleased
with Xfree86 3.3.6, anyway, I decided to go back and do a fresh install
of 7.1 in hda (/). With 1024 x 768 resolution I could get anti-aliasing
of my fonts, which is what I really wanted. Xfree86 4.0, I've been told
adds hardware acceleration, but I can do without it if necessary.
Well, I did that, installed LM 7.1 (Custom, Normal) by FTP using a
floppy (with "network.img" on it) and the installation went perfectly:
under two hours from metalab.unc.edu:
(directory: pub/linux/distributions/mandrake)
I then went into KDE and everything seemed perfect. I made a few
standard configuration modifications (to lilo, to hosts.deny and allow,
etc, to fstab -- to add hdb5), the usual ones I do ever installation. I
can do them in my sleep by now (but still I do them with care).
But when I logged out of KDE and rebooted and tried to get back into
KDE, I got the following error message:
"timeout in locking authority file in /home/sher/.Xauthority"
Yet, shortly thereafter, it went into KDE, anyway, but I immediately saw
a pale blue screen (not my theme) and a completely blank screen: no
icons, no panel, nothing with the error message:
"Could not create ~/kde/share/apps/kfm/magic"
I have no idea what this is all about. When I first went into KDE, right
after installation, everything was fine. Now I am up the creek without a
paddle and I have no idea what to do, and, since I don't understand
what's going on, I especially do not want to do ANYTHING without
someone's expert advice.
Would really appreciate your help.
Thanks so much.
Benjamin
--
Benjamin and Anna Sher
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sher's Russian Web
http://www.websher.net
