Linux-Hardware Digest #999, Volume #9 Mon, 12 Apr 99 02:13:34 EDT
Contents:
Re: Building a Better Distribution. (WAS: X munges the graphics card? (Re: Windows
2000 Rah! Rah! Session falls flat)) (Todd Ostermeier)
Re: Ricoh RDC-300Z digital Camera - Linux Software (Brian Miller)
Re: kde help (please help) (matt)
Re: Best camera for linux? ("Bradley Yen")
Re: Modems (Allen)
Re: Most effective SCSI setup for Linux (Michael Meissner)
Re: SCSI-cd problem ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: Video card help... please... (Gil)
Re: Newbie help please (Michael Meissner)
Re: Need Sound Card Suggestions ("Ferdinand V. Mendoza")
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Todd Ostermeier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To:
comp.lang.java.advocacy,comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy,comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: Building a Better Distribution. (WAS: X munges the graphics card? (Re:
Windows 2000 Rah! Rah! Session falls flat))
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 00:25:38 -0500
On 12 Apr 1999, Bloody Viking wrote:
: In comp.os.linux.advocacy Todd Ostermeier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
:
: : Perfect for an OEM, perhaps. Perfect for a normal user? Not even close
: : (and remember, your average Joe who builds his own machine can get an OEM
: : copy of Windows for it, rather than buying off-the-shelf). Manufacturers
: : who use the Recovery Disk style of system setup are considered bad, in my
: : book (what happens if an app that came pre-installed needs to be
: : reinstalled, but you only have it in the tarball on the Recovery Disk?).
:
: I did admit it would be excellent for OEMs. It would end up being like a
: Packrat Bell CD.
:
: : You think maybe a choice should be given here? Yes, we all know you hate
: : LILO. However, in an OEM situation, either the hardware will work with
: : Linux and LILO, or the OEM shouldn't be offering Linux. Not to mention
:
: That's a bit elitist with the LILO. Of course, a distribution could be
: made to allow choice of using LILO or Loadlin and install what the user
: chooses to install. Had Red Hat offered the choice of installing LILO or
: not, the disaster would not have happened. With the choice available, you
: could install with LILO (as most Linux fans do) or install with Loadlin
: (as I do).
Point taken. Choice is good. When you limit choice, that is bad. And
wasn't attempting to be elitist, but it is a valid point. If an OEM can't
get LILO to work on their machines, what else won't work?
:
: For an OEM distro, they had better get the LILO right! For a non-OEM
: distro, it would be nice to have the choice of boot methods as part of the
: install. Currently with Red Hat, you have to kill the box come the LILO
: install part.
:
: : the confusion on the user's end when they buy the machine, plug it in,
: : turn it on, and see it boot into DOS. I'm sure a number of clueless users
: : would have some irrate words for whatever OEM went this route (even if
: : they used FreeDOS, and went straight to Linux after booting to DOS, it
: : still boots to DOS first). No, LILO makes a much better boot loader in
: : this area, especially if you're talking about OEM's, as that is a
: : very controlled environment (hey, they built the machine, after all).
:
: I never thought of that for an OEM and LILO! That is a valid argument
: favouring LILO for an OEM.
:
: : While you're at it, why not have the user supply a username/password combo
: : during the setup, so that they need not log in as root (or are you one of
: : those people who does everything as root?).
:
: That would be good for all distributions. Slackware defaults to a
: password-free root! Red Hat makes you specify the root password. Your idea
: would be even better, letting the owner specify a root password AND a
: username of a normal account so he doesn't get into the dangerous habit of
: doing everything as root. BTW, you did guess correctly that I have that
: dangerous habit of doing everything as root.
For what it's worth, the SuSE install gives you the option to create an
"example user", which basically means a non-root user on your machine,
which you can use as your standard login. Also, if you haven't done so
already, make a login for yourself, and stop using root! The few times
that you actually need to be root to do something can be easily taken care
of using su - (and possibly export DISPLAY=:0.0, if you need to use an X
app).
:
: Thanks for the input! The ideal distro for general sale would end up being
: like Red Hat to allow choice of packages but your idea of defining a
: normal account is a good addition. It would also be good to allow choice
: of boot methods for both LILO and Loadlin fans.
:
: I'd like to know how to get to the Red Hat setup proggie on the floppy so
: if I take the source and modify it, I can replace the setup proggie with
: the Loadlin version.
Well, I'm not sure if RedHat has opened the source to the setup app, but
I'd be surprised if they didn't. I'd check the redhat web page, and see
what you can find. The source may be on one of the CD's (assuming you
have the "Official" version, it should be on one of the supp. CD's). If
you can get it to work, or even if you can't, I'd definitely send off an
e-mail to RedHat asking them to give the option to use LILO (IIRC, my last
install of RH (4.2) installed Loadlin into root's home dir, with
instructions on how to use it, instead).
Just from reading your other posts, it sounds like you have some definite
problems with Redhat. There's more to Linux than Redhat or Slackware.
I'd suggest you try a different distribution. SuSE is very RedHat-like,
in that it's fairly user-friendly (moreso than Slack, IMHO). I hear
Debian is nice, too. I'd stay away from Caldera or Mandrake, as they're
RH derivatives, though. I'd suggest SuSE (you have full control of nearly
everything during setup, and if you want to skip the LILO part, you can,
though it's still a good idea to make a LILO boot floppy).
________________________________
Todd Ostermeier
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.ews.uiuc.edu/~ostermer/index.html
ICQ UIN: 2253928
A-723
________________________________
------------------------------
From: Brian Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Ricoh RDC-300Z digital Camera - Linux Software
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 15:24:37 +1000
Trister wrote:
>
> I wanted to know if anyone know any software that will dump the images out of
> a ricoh RDC-300Z camera. Cause i hate going into windows to dump images then
> rebooting back into linux. Wine Can't support Serial I/O support so i have to
> wait. Email me back.
>
> --
> -= What you need to know is what i can't tell ya but if you =-
> -= Tell me what i need to know i'll leave you alone!! =-
Take a look at
http://www.gphoto.org
It's there.
Brian
--
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Brian Miller Telstra
CDN Product Group 30/242 Exhibition Street
ITG Communication Network Platforms Melbourne, VIC 3000
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Australia
Tel: +61-3-9632-3883 FAX: +61-3-9632-3884
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
------------------------------
From: matt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: kde help (please help)
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 04:33:18 +0000
Mogul 55 wrote:
>
> ok i downloaded all the needed .rpm files for installing kde. It installation
> directions tell me to install the kdesupport rpm first. When i do it tells me
> that
>
> qt >= 1.42 is needed
> qt-egcs-10x is needed
>
> i got the qt 1.42 i got to the point of using gunzip and tar. i have all the
> files extracted and i am following the directions that came with the package.
> It tells me to add lines to my (.profile) file in my home directory. i created
> the file and called it test.profile and put it in /home. Now the problem is
^------The file needs to be named .profile
with nothing in front of the dot. This will be a hidden file.
you can find rpm's of the qt files you need at
ftp://ftp.rge.com/pub/systems/linux/redhat/contrib/libc6/i386/
get both qt and qt-devel rpm files. I think this will supply what you
need...
------------------------------
From: "Bradley Yen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Best camera for linux?
Date: Sun, 11 Apr 1999 22:39:46 -0700
I think the original poster is looking for a conferencing video camera - not
a still picture camera.
Anyone know if the Logitech Quickcam Pro will work under Linux?
http://www.logitech.com/ca/cameras/ca28_100.html
It reports to have a higher resolution than most quickcams out currently.
Just wondering if they're any good. I've seen the Quickcam Home in action
(in Windows envioroment), and it seems reasonable - don't know whether it
works under Linux or not. The Home version is seems to be fairly
inexpensive ($149 Canadian at Future Shop) and I've seen the Pro under $200.
Also read a comment that the ViCAM was better than the Logitech cameras.
>From the pictures on the site, it looks like it is, but they don't list any
Canadian dealers.
http://www.vistaimaging.com/
--
Bradley Yen / [EMAIL PROTECTED] / ICQ# 804442
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Corner/9375/
Ed Wilts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> David Murray wrote:
> >
> > What is the best digital camera to use with Linux? I have an old
grayscale
> > Quickcam, which works fantastic under Linux.. but I'd like to get a
color
> > camera with higher resolution. What could I get that works well with
Linux
> > and has an excellent picture?
>
> The Sony Mavica line is great. They write their output to a floppy
> using a standard FAT filesystem. This easily mounts under Linux and
> your pictures are in jpeg format. Works like a charm for me.
>
> The Mavica has the added benefit of superb quality for its resolution
> since Sony really has good optics. My camera, an FD-7, has a 10x
> optical zoom, and although its resolution is only 640x480, the quality
> is better than many higher-resolution cameras (it's also not Sony's
> latest model - mine is over a year old).
>
> .../Ed
>
> --
> Ed Wilts, Mounds View, MN, USA
> mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Allen)
Crossposted-To: linux.redhat.misc
Subject: Re: Modems
Date: 12 Apr 1999 05:51:54 GMT
Q: Do you have to shop there? (Either of those places) Or can you consider
shopping elsewhere? There are many places to get a modem from, and you may be
better served by shopping from the web? I know that the retail version of the
Best Data modems list on the outside of the box if they are "Controller based",
but the other brands are probably not so forthcoming with anything but
misleading info. Also, any modem you can get over-the-counter at either of
those places is likely to cost $20 more that buying the same model online, and
the only ones that I saw on their shelves that I was sure would work under Linux
were the really expensive ones... Even worse, most of the staff, including the
techs, just don't have a clue about any non M$ support. (There ARE a few
exceptions I've found, but not many...)
On Sun, 04 Apr 1999 21:46:29 -0400, Doug Olson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>So far my Winmodem is the only piece of hardware that Red Hat 5.2
>rejects on my system. I went to Best Buy and asked if they had any
>Linux-compatible modems and the person at the peripherals counter
>directed me to the technicians, who said "read the boxes." I didn't see
>ANY boxes that specifically said the modem was Linux-compatible and most
>specified "Windows 95/98/NT" even if they didn't say they were
>Winmodems.
>
>Could someone direct to a list of compatible modems, preferably
>internal, that I'm likely to find at my local Best Buy or CompUSA BTW,
>I own an Aptiva 2140, if that's an issue.
>
>
Allen
(email addy; user ID portion has a numeral one in place of word
onespoiler, and of course, delete the bogus secondary domain of nospam.)
PC/hardware Guru, and Linux Newbie
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Most effective SCSI setup for Linux
From: Michael Meissner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 12 Apr 1999 01:54:18 -0400
Shimpei Yamashita <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> Michael Meissner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> >Once you get enough memory that you are not swapping heavily, then the thing to
> >do about optimizing compiler performance is a faster CPU. Note, even though it
> >is counterintutive, having a FPU in your computer will help GCC compiler
> >performance (the reason is, that floating point is used to hold the register
> >quality numbers that the compiler sorts to pick which pseudo register to
> >allocate to a hard register first, and if you don't have a floating point unit,
> >the kernel will have to emulate each floating point instruction).
>
> I'm not about to argue gcc issues with an egcs guru, but how is he going
> to get his hands on a CPU that runs on a Pentium motherboard that *doesn't*
> have an FPU? AFAIK, all the pin-compatible Pentium clones do have FPUs,
> although FP operations tend to be significantly slower than Intel's.
Yeah, I was tending to think of the low end 386/486 chips that didn't have a
FPU, which was still an issue back when I was the x86 GCC maintainer. But hey
since I haven't done much to the x86 port in 4+ years (as compared to other GCC
ports), I couldn't remember if there were low end Pentiums without the floating
point unit.
--
Michael Meissner, Cygnus Solutions
PO Box 98, Ayer Massachusetts, USA 01432-0098
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: SCSI-cd problem
Date: 11 Apr 1999 21:09:13 GMT
Tonny Sejr Kromann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
: [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
:> Could be a defective cd, did you try different ones?
: Now I did. My original InfoMagic Linux cd copies witout problems.
Perfect!
: At the moment however, I disabled termination in scsi-bios and the speed on the id
: where the cd is has been set to 10MB/s. This Plextor drive is the only scsi-device
: on the chain and it's termination is set to on. Hope this is correct.
: Or should I set scsi-bios's termination to on?
The termination should be set to on in the asus-bios, the ez-scsi
termination options are not supposed to make any difference, but I set
them to on for clarity. Sorry, if this was not clear in my previous posting.
: Now I'll try making a new image and see if the thing burns.
Don't blame me when it fails, I told you to set all scsi termination options
to on. The utrawide/narrow termination in asus-bios should only be disabled
when you're using both connectors at the same time. The ultra2 connector
is separated by the other scsi chip and should always be on in asus-bios
(I can't think of a reason to set it to off).
: Thanks for your time
Well I hope someone that sees my problem again in another context replys.
--
Kind regards,
Dennis Bijwaard (remove antispam to reply)
------------------------------
From: Gil <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: alt.fan.linux,alt.linux,alt.os.linux,comp.os.linux.help
Subject: Re: Video card help... please...
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 10:03:05 +0400
Try to go to www.matroxusers.com and get X drivers.
Hope this helps.
Bigits
Groman wrote:
> I just installed RedHat Linux 5.2.
> And I have trouble configuring my XServer...
> I have Matrox Millenium G200 card, which is only supported in XFree86 3.3.3,
> and I have 3.3.2
> Is there any way to upgrade the video card list, without downloading the
> whole 3.3.2 to 3.3.3 patch(which is huge, and there are no instructions on
> what to download).
> I tried selecting Generic VGA or Unsupported VGA, but it doesn't work.
>
> Thanks in advance...
> Groman.
> P.S. Please e-mail your answers to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Newbie help please
From: Michael Meissner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 12 Apr 1999 02:04:53 -0400
"Jim Bailey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> I'm soooo close to getting running I can taste it - still some problems
> though... I'm new to Linux (and pretty hardware ignorant) but a windows
> developer.
>
> AMD K6-2 350 - 128 MB
> ATI Expert98 - 8MB Rage Pro Chipset - AGP
> Hitachi 21" multiscan
> Intellimouse Pro
>
> RH 5.2 Workstation installation worked fine. I startx and it works ! I
> guess I'm looking at 'fvwm' which, for the most part works too. I can
> change mouse pointers, start editors etc.
> Where my problem begins is if I click any where on the Control Panel
> Application - the application won't repaint, the mouse will no longer scroll
> on a scroll bar - and, when I exit fvwm, I get one of two symptoms: either
> the system hangs completely while "shutting down gpm" or, it shuts down and
> gets me back to the prompt, but I don't dare move the mouse because it puts
> garbage all over the screen until I reboot.
Two guesses: 1) You selected the wrong mouse type for X windows, including the
proper setting for ChordMiddle and Emulate3Buttons (you might want to play
around with these and turn each of them on/off and restart the server); or 2)
gpm is interfering with your mouse.
The file in question to edit for #1 is usually /etc/X11/XF86Config. To kill
gpm, you might want to delete the /usr/rc.d/rc*/S*gpm files (gpm is a utility
that allows you to use limited mouse capabilities in text mode, if you don't
use text mode, then it is useless).
Note, there are special mouse types for Intellimouse mice (IMPS/2 for PS/2
mice which has a round connector the same size as modern keyboard connectors,
or Intellimouse for serial mice which typically uses a 9 pin connector).
The following site goes over how to add the wheel functionality to Linux:
http://www.inria.fr/koala/colas/mouse-wheel-scroll/
--
Michael Meissner, Cygnus Solutions
PO Box 98, Ayer Massachusetts, USA 01432-0098
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: "Ferdinand V. Mendoza" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To:
comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.setup,redhat.general
Subject: Re: Need Sound Card Suggestions
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 10:11:34 +0400
Hi,
Mine is SoundBlaster AWE 64. It works great
with Linux_Mandrake. No pain in setting up.
Bud
David Fox wrote:
> How is the sound quality? I think I tried one of those and it sounded
> like an AM radio.
>
> "Derek Miller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
> > I use the creative ensoniq AudioPCI es1371 and it only cost around 30 bucks
> > with rebate and had absolutley no prob setting it up.
> > Steve Orosz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> > news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> > >Hi,
> > > I am going to buy a new sound card for my computer and I would like
> > >to get one that supports Linux and Windows. So far the only card that
> > >I've liked so far is the SoundBlaster 128PCI. However I'm not sure if
> > >it is supported in Linux. If anyone can help me in choosing a good
> > >soundcard for my computer. So if anyone has any suggestions for a PCI
> > >soundcard PLEASE let me know. I would prefer a PCI sound card but if
> > >there are some good ISA soundcards also tell me about them.
> --
> David Fox http://hci.ucsd.edu/dsf xoF divaD
> UCSD HCI Lab baL ICH DSCU
------------------------------
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