Re: [PLUG] KVM problem

[King Beowulf]

On Monday, July 18, 2016, Wayne E. Van Loon Sr.  wrote:

> I have a customer (in Texas) that installed a Raloy rf117hd KVM
>  on some
> Slackware 14.1 and Slackware 12.2 systems.
>
> The problem they are having is that the systems will not boot at
> 1920x1080 with the Raloy plugged in. What they have been doing is
> plugging in a 1920x1080 flat panel to boot with, then disconnecting the
> flat panel and plugging in the rf117hd.
>
> Does anybody have any experience with anything like this? I have sent a
> couple notes to Raloy without any response thus far.
>
> Wayne
>
> --
> Sent from my Linux computer
>
>
I've had mixed results over the years with Slackware and KVM switches.  It
comes down to is that X.org server can't "see" the monitor on the other
side and ends up guessing wrong or going with a default VESA mode.  Work
around:

create your x.org settings in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d to over ride the
autodetected settings. you can use

# X -configure

to have X create a xorg.conf with just the monitor plugged in as a starting
point. From there, you can specify horiz and vert sync, screen size (mm),
dpi, specific screen modes to use, and even the EDID file, as needed.

I see from the product description, the KVM drawer has both analog and
digital video.  Depending on your GPU and driver, VGA autodetection can
fail.  Use DVI. Be aware also that many monitors have broken EDID output

check out /var/log/Xorg.0.log for errors.

Note: you don't necessarily need a full xorg.conf, just the bits needed to
specify monitor and/or driver settings in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d

Have Fun!
Ed




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[PLUG] Looking for all-in-one printer-scanner device

[John Bartley K7AAY j...@503bartley.com]

Looking for a printer-scanner, as my brother's Canon has given up the
ghost, and his HP flatbed only scanner has a flourescent tube which is
fading. Sure would like to find one supported by Mint 18 (Ubuntu 16) with
sheet and flatbed feeding to scan, and duplexed printing. What have y'all
got for a resonable price? FreeGeek is out of stock for the forseeable
future, and I would much rather acquire from here than Craigslist.

-- --
73s/Best regards de John Bartley K7AAY  CN85qj   •|||•  tel.
503-BAR-TLEY/503-343-9399
"*Lewis and Clark took 1779-vintage 20-round, magazine-fed, semi-auto
assault rifles cross-country to Oregon with no permits.*"
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[PLUG-ANNOUNCE] TUESDAY: PLUG Advanced Topics: Internet Mirroring Roundtable

[Michael Dexter]

Portland Linux/Unix Group Advanced Topics Meeting Announcement

Who: Moderator Michael Dexter, PLUG Volunteer
What: Internet Mirroring Roundtable
Where: Free Geek, 1731 SE 10th Avenue, Portland
When: Tuesday, July 19th 2016, at 7PM
Why: The pursuit of technology freedom
Stream: http://pdxlinux.org/live

What's in a mirror?

If you've spent any time GNU/Linux distro hopping or testing 
virtualization strategies, you have probably spent a non-trivial amount 
of time in the "nearest" download mirror. Such mirrors vary in speed, 
quality and navigability. The burden for upholding quality in each of 
these respects falls both on the often-volunteer mirror maintainers and 
the often-volunteer project maintainers. Failure from a mirror's 
perspective is obvious: You can't access the materials you want to 
download or what you download is corrupt. In the case of the downloads 
themselves, THIS:

mirror.org/releases/amd64/20160704/livedvd-amd64-multilib-20160704.iso

I was cleaning up my local mirror and came across this path and 
installer ISO and... HAVE NO IDEA WHAT OS IT IS.

This roundtable will discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of such 
mirroring and what to do about it, ideally resulting in a draft proposal 
for a conventions that projects and mirrors could follow.

See you there!

Calagator Page: http://calagator.org/events/1250470283

Many will head to the Lucky Lab at 915 SE Hawthorne Blvd. after the meeting.

Rideshares Available

PLUG Page with information about all PLUG events: http://pdxlinux.org/
Follow PLUG on Twitter: http://twitter.com/pdxlinux

PLUG is open to everyone and does not tolerate abusive behavior on its 
mailing lists or at its meetings.


See you there!

Michael Dexter
PLUG Volunteer
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[PLUG] TUESDAY: PLUG Advanced Topics: Internet Mirroring Roundtable

[Michael Dexter]

Portland Linux/Unix Group Advanced Topics Meeting Announcement

Who: Moderator Michael Dexter, PLUG Volunteer
What: Internet Mirroring Roundtable
Where: Free Geek, 1731 SE 10th Avenue, Portland
When: Tuesday, July 19th 2016, at 7PM
Why: The pursuit of technology freedom
Stream: http://pdxlinux.org/live

What's in a mirror?

If you've spent any time GNU/Linux distro hopping or testing 
virtualization strategies, you have probably spent a non-trivial amount 
of time in the "nearest" download mirror. Such mirrors vary in speed, 
quality and navigability. The burden for upholding quality in each of 
these respects falls both on the often-volunteer mirror maintainers and 
the often-volunteer project maintainers. Failure from a mirror's 
perspective is obvious: You can't access the materials you want to 
download or what you download is corrupt. In the case of the downloads 
themselves, THIS:

mirror.org/releases/amd64/20160704/livedvd-amd64-multilib-20160704.iso

I was cleaning up my local mirror and came across this path and 
installer ISO and... HAVE NO IDEA WHAT OS IT IS.

This roundtable will discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of such 
mirroring and what to do about it, ideally resulting in a draft proposal 
for a conventions that projects and mirrors could follow.

See you there!

Calagator Page: http://calagator.org/events/1250470283

Many will head to the Lucky Lab at 915 SE Hawthorne Blvd. after the meeting.

Rideshares Available

PLUG Page with information about all PLUG events: http://pdxlinux.org/
Follow PLUG on Twitter: http://twitter.com/pdxlinux

PLUG is open to everyone and does not tolerate abusive behavior on its 
mailing lists or at its meetings.


See you there!

Michael Dexter
PLUG Volunteer
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Re: [PLUG] Wifi Compatibilty and Linux Distro's

[Tomas Kuchta]

I apologize for multiple posts ...

Here is good write on signing kernel modules and installing your signing key
to EFI DB. Please check your distro specifics.
https://www.suse.com/documentation/sled11/book_sle_admin/data/sec_uefi_secboot
.html

T

On Mon, 2016-07-18 at 14:14 -0700, Tomas Kuchta wrote:
> I forgot to mention one issue id you are using newer distribution such as
> Ubuntu 16.04 - they will not load unsigned kernel modules.
> 
> You have two options to load it (sorted by "betterness" not by ease of use)
> 1. Sign the compiled kernel module before installing it and add your signing
> key to EFI fimware. This is correct way as it will not open your PC to
> loading
> unsigned kernel modules.
>Please google signing kernel modules up for your distribution of choice.
> 2. Disable EFI secure boot and hope for the best.
> 
> Best regards, T
> 
> On Mon, 2016-07-18 at 14:00 -0700, Tomas Kuchta wrote:
> > For some reason, current driver is not pushed to the kernel. So the
> > distributions do not contain it and keep using old dysfunctional version.
> > 
> > Anyway, Here is what you need to do to compile it for yourself:
> > 1. Instal kernel sources and kernel development package - this should
> > contain
> > gcc and the appropriate libraries.
> > 2. Download the driver source (kernel module) for the WiFi from here:
> > https://github.com/lwfinger/rtlwifi_new
> > There is Clone or Download button on the top right of the page; you
> > download
> > the ZIP file.
> > 3. Unzip the zip file:
> >unzip rtlwifi_new-master.zip
> > 4. Compile the kernel modules:
> >cd rtlwifi_new-master
> >make
> >if you installed kernel development package (containing kernel sources,
> > libraries and gcc), you should see no errors
> > 5. Install the kernel module:
> >sudo make install
> > 6. Reboot
> > 
> > 7. Repeat 4-6 this every time you update kernel. Usually, this is not very
> > often just watch your updates.
> > 
> > I hope it helps, Tomas
> > 
> > On Mon, 2016-07-18 at 11:27 -0700, Charles Hill wrote:
> > > I’ve been distro jumping the last few months, Xubuntu, Linux Mint, Linux
> > > Mate, “Ubuntu 16.04” just to name a few and I constantly run into Wi-Fi
> > > connectivity issues. Disconnects, low signal, etc. I’m using a Lenovo
> > > laptop G50 with the dreaded Realtek RL8723BE wireless card.
> > > 
> > > What wireless card works well “most” of the time with various distro’s?
> > > So
> > > far I know Realtek and Broadcom cards basically suck without mods and
> > > hacks.
> > > 
> > > Thanks,
> > > CRH
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Re: [PLUG] Wifi Compatibilty and Linux Distro's

[Tomas Kuchta]

I forgot to mention one issue id you are using newer distribution such as
Ubuntu 16.04 - they will not load unsigned kernel modules.

You have two options to load it (sorted by "betterness" not by ease of use)
1. Sign the compiled kernel module before installing it and add your signing
key to EFI fimware. This is correct way as it will not open your PC to loading
unsigned kernel modules.
   Please google signing kernel modules up for your distribution of choice.
2. Disable EFI secure boot and hope for the best.

Best regards, T

On Mon, 2016-07-18 at 14:00 -0700, Tomas Kuchta wrote:
> For some reason, current driver is not pushed to the kernel. So the
> distributions do not contain it and keep using old dysfunctional version.
> 
> Anyway, Here is what you need to do to compile it for yourself:
> 1. Instal kernel sources and kernel development package - this should
> contain
> gcc and the appropriate libraries.
> 2. Download the driver source (kernel module) for the WiFi from here:
> https://github.com/lwfinger/rtlwifi_new
> There is Clone or Download button on the top right of the page; you download
> the ZIP file.
> 3. Unzip the zip file:
>unzip rtlwifi_new-master.zip
> 4. Compile the kernel modules:
>cd rtlwifi_new-master
>make
>if you installed kernel development package (containing kernel sources,
> libraries and gcc), you should see no errors
> 5. Install the kernel module:
>sudo make install
> 6. Reboot
> 
> 7. Repeat 4-6 this every time you update kernel. Usually, this is not very
> often just watch your updates.
> 
> I hope it helps, Tomas
> 
> On Mon, 2016-07-18 at 11:27 -0700, Charles Hill wrote:
> > I’ve been distro jumping the last few months, Xubuntu, Linux Mint, Linux
> > Mate, “Ubuntu 16.04” just to name a few and I constantly run into Wi-Fi
> > connectivity issues. Disconnects, low signal, etc. I’m using a Lenovo
> > laptop G50 with the dreaded Realtek RL8723BE wireless card.
> > 
> > What wireless card works well “most” of the time with various distro’s? So
> > far I know Realtek and Broadcom cards basically suck without mods and
> > hacks.
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > CRH
> > ___
> > PLUG mailing list
> > PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org
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Re: [PLUG] Wifi Compatibilty and Linux Distro's

[Russell Senior]

> "Charles" == Charles Hill  writes:

Charles> I’ve been distro jumping the last few months, Xubuntu, Linux
Charles> Mint, Linux Mate, “Ubuntu 16.04” just to name a few and I
Charles> constantly run into Wi-Fi connectivity issues. Disconnects, low
Charles> signal, etc. I’m using a Lenovo laptop G50 with the dreaded
Charles> Realtek RL8723BE wireless card.

Charles> What wireless card works well “most” of the time with various
Charles> distro’s? So far I know Realtek and Broadcom cards basically
Charles> suck without mods and hacks.

Atheros (or QCA) and Intel radios generally have the best driver support
for client devices.  Atheros/QCA can do most operational modes
(including AP-mode), while Intel generally can't afaik.  In a laptop,
this probably isn't an important distinction, but it's something I
notice.

Replacing a radio in a laptop, particularly in a Lenovo laptop might not
be a straightforward operation.  The vendor BIOS often "locks" the
hardware to certain radio models, for FCC compliance reasons.  At least,
they have in the past.  It might just work, and/or there may be
workarounds, but be prepared for the laptop to not boot if you have
swapped out radios.


-- 
Russell Senior, President
russ...@personaltelco.net
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Re: [PLUG] Wifi Compatibilty and Linux Distro's

[Tomas Kuchta]

For some reason, current driver is not pushed to the kernel. So the
distributions do not contain it and keep using old dysfunctional version.

Anyway, Here is what you need to do to compile it for yourself:
1. Instal kernel sources and kernel development package - this should contain
gcc and the appropriate libraries.
2. Download the driver source (kernel module) for the WiFi from here:
https://github.com/lwfinger/rtlwifi_new
There is Clone or Download button on the top right of the page; you download
the ZIP file.
3. Unzip the zip file:
   unzip rtlwifi_new-master.zip
4. Compile the kernel modules:
   cd rtlwifi_new-master
   make
   if you installed kernel development package (containing kernel sources,
libraries and gcc), you should see no errors
5. Install the kernel module:
   sudo make install
6. Reboot

7. Repeat 4-6 this every time you update kernel. Usually, this is not very
often just watch your updates.

I hope it helps, Tomas

On Mon, 2016-07-18 at 11:27 -0700, Charles Hill wrote:
> I’ve been distro jumping the last few months, Xubuntu, Linux Mint, Linux
> Mate, “Ubuntu 16.04” just to name a few and I constantly run into Wi-Fi
> connectivity issues. Disconnects, low signal, etc. I’m using a Lenovo
> laptop G50 with the dreaded Realtek RL8723BE wireless card.
> 
> What wireless card works well “most” of the time with various distro’s? So
> far I know Realtek and Broadcom cards basically suck without mods and hacks.
> 
> Thanks,
> CRH
> ___
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> PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org
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[PLUG] Wifi Compatibilty and Linux Distro's

[Mike C.]

>
> What wireless card works well ?most? of the time with various distro?s?
>
> That's a really difficult question to answer as after doing wireless
network support for the past year I learned that there are many variables
to good wireless connectivity.

I've been running Debian on IBM / Lenovo laptops for almost a decade now
and the only wireless problems I ever had were fixed by changing the
driver. Which I did more of back the early part of the decade than I've
done in the past few years.

Have you tried a non-Ubuntu based distro such as Slackware, Debian, Fedora
or OpenSuse?

Also, what are you AP are you connecting to?

Lastly, what research have you done on this?  A quick Google netted this,
*Realtek RTL8723BE chipset*3. For a Realtek RTL8723BE chipset you should be
able to improve the stability and quality of your wireless connection, by
disabling power management for the wireless chipset.

Cheers,

MIke
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[PLUG] KVM problem

[Wayne E. Van Loon Sr.]

I have a customer (in Texas) that installed a Raloy rf117hd KVM 
 on some 
Slackware 14.1 and Slackware 12.2 systems.

The problem they are having is that the systems will not boot at 
1920x1080 with the Raloy plugged in. What they have been doing is 
plugging in a 1920x1080 flat panel to boot with, then disconnecting the 
flat panel and plugging in the rf117hd.

Does anybody have any experience with anything like this? I have sent a 
couple notes to Raloy without any response thus far.

Wayne

-- 
Sent from my Linux computer

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Re: [PLUG] Wifi Compatibilty and Linux Distro's

[Matt McKenzie]

On Mon, Jul 18, 2016 at 11:27 AM, Charles Hill  wrote:

> I’ve been distro jumping the last few months, Xubuntu, Linux Mint, Linux
> Mate, “Ubuntu 16.04” just to name a few and I constantly run into Wi-Fi
> connectivity issues. Disconnects, low signal, etc. I’m using a Lenovo
> laptop G50 with the dreaded Realtek RL8723BE wireless card.
>
> What wireless card works well “most” of the time with various distro’s? So
> far I know Realtek and Broadcom cards basically suck without mods and
> hacks.
>
> Thanks,
> CRH
> ___
>


FWIW, these distros you have listed here, assuming Linux Mate = Linux Mint,
MATE edition, are all essentially slightly different flavors of the same
base distro- Ubuntu (and thus all based on Debian).

Ubuntu and its relatives are usually fairly good with hardware
compatibility, but for a more different take on things you might try a
distro or few that is not based on Ubuntu (or Debian).

One example as given by Rich in this thread, is Slackware, although it is
mainly geared for more advanced users- so if that isn't you, keep looking.

Some other examples: Fedora, which is the community supported distro that
is based on RedHat, is good for newer users, but also can be tuned for
experts.  It tends to be more cutting edge with the software they track
(including the kernel).
SuSE, which is is another of the big families, might be another good one to
try.
Manjaro, which is a fork of the now defunct Mandrake, another of the big
families of distros from way back when...
All of these (except Slackware) are RPM based, which started with RedHat.
Debian and Ubuntu and its relatives are all DEB based.

Then there are some others, such as Arch, and Gentoo, which are source
based, and definitely not for the faint-of-heart, but are very
customizeable and once setup, can make for a powerful workstation that is
finely tuned to your hardware.

You don't have to install all of them to test it out either, put one or
more of those on a live USB and give em a whirl (one at a time), see if any
of them have better luck with your wifi.

Good luck!


Matt M.
LinuxKnight
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Re: [PLUG] Wifi Compatibilty and Linux Distro's

[Rich Shepard]

On Mon, 18 Jul 2016, Charles Hill wrote:

> What wireless card works well “most” of the time with various distro’s? So
> far I know Realtek and Broadcom cards basically suck without mods and
> hacks.

Charles,

   For what it's worth, I've had few, if any, issues with Realtek or Broadcom
radios in laptops running Slackware. I've found that a more powerful radio
in the Wireless Access Point is always a Good Thing, and when I've had
connectivity issues while traveling they're almost always caused by poorly
configured or mis-configured WAPs and servers running some flavor of M$'s
windows. In several cases (Melbourne, AU, comes to mind) the hotel's servers
just would not recognize anything coming from a linux system. (The tech was
quite helpful but was a puzzled as I was.)

Rich
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[PLUG] Wifi Compatibilty and Linux Distro's

[Charles Hill]

I’ve been distro jumping the last few months, Xubuntu, Linux Mint, Linux
Mate, “Ubuntu 16.04” just to name a few and I constantly run into Wi-Fi
connectivity issues. Disconnects, low signal, etc. I’m using a Lenovo
laptop G50 with the dreaded Realtek RL8723BE wireless card.

What wireless card works well “most” of the time with various distro’s? So
far I know Realtek and Broadcom cards basically suck without mods and hacks.

Thanks,
CRH
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