[gentoo-user] new scanner : any advice ?

2015-06-21 Thread Philip Webb
My trusty 12-year-old scanner is starting to show signs of age :

Epson Perfection 1260
  1200 x 2400 dpi ; 48-bit color
  Speed : 1200 dpi hi-speed : Monochrome + Color 32 ms/line
  Optical Resolution : 1200 dpi
  Max Document Size : 8.5 x 11.7

I'm inclined to get another Epson, but would consider something else.
The local store (Canada Computers, College St) offers the following :

Epson Perfection V370 Photo Scanner -- $ 150 -- in stock 1
  Item Code: SNES000478  Part Number: B11B207221
  4800 x 9600 dpi ; 48-bit Color 
  Speed : Monochrome A4 300 dpi 11 s , Color A4 300 dpi 14 s
  Optical Resolution : 12,8 K dpi
  Max Document Size : 8.5 x 11.7

Epson Perfection V550 Photo Flatbed Scanner -- $ 230 -- in stock 2
  Item Code: SNES000509  Part Number: B11B210201
  6400 x 9600 dpi ; 48-bit color
  Speed : 6400 dpi hi-speed : Monochrome + Color 21 ms/line
  Maximum Resolution : 12,8 K dpi
  Photo Restoration , 35mm Medium Format Scanning
  USB 2.0 Hi-Speed

Epson Perfection V600 Photo Flatbed Scanner -- $ 276 -- in stock 3
  Item Code: SNES000346  Part Number: B11B198022
  6400 x 9600 dpi ; 48-bit Color
  Speed : 21 ms/line (Color + monochrome)
  Max Document Size : 8.5 x 11.7

All have Linux drivers, according to Epson's I/net site.

V370 has lower resolution  probably slower,
but it's not clear what justifies the extra cost of V600 over V550.

Does anyone have experience with these or have any advice to offer ?

-- 
,,
SUPPORT ___//___,   Philip Webb
ELECTRIC   /] [] [] [] [] []|   Cities Centre, University of Toronto
TRANSIT`-O--O---'   purslowatchassdotutorontodotca




Re: [gentoo-user] new scanner : any advice ?

2015-06-21 Thread Bruce Hill
On Sun, Jun 21, 2015 at 07:02:39AM -0400, Philip Webb wrote:
 My trusty 12-year-old scanner is starting to show signs of age :
 
 Epson Perfection 1260
   1200 x 2400 dpi ; 48-bit color
   Speed : 1200 dpi hi-speed : Monochrome + Color 32 ms/line
   Optical Resolution : 1200 dpi
   Max Document Size : 8.5 x 11.7
 
 I'm inclined to get another Epson, but would consider something else.
 The local store (Canada Computers, College St) offers the following :

snip

 Does anyone have experience with these or have any advice to offer ?

HP is the only desktop printer/scanner/etc that I've used in years, because
their Linux support is great. My home use HP Officejet Pro 8600 N911g has an
embedded web server so I only need enter it's IP in a web browser and scanning
is drop dead easy. You might need more, but in the past all my Linux
experience with Epson hardware/drivers was negative.

Check the LinuxQuestions.org HCL: http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/



[gentoo-user] Re: Profile listings

2015-06-21 Thread James
Jonathan Callen jcallen at gentoo.org writes:


 The list of all profiles that can be chosen (for all architectures)
 can be found in ${PORTDIR}/profiles/profiles.desc .  There are other
 profile-like directories under ${PORTDIR}/profiles, but these are
 only used as parents for a complete profile, as would be listed in
 profiles.desc.  Most profiles do not change much, if anything, in the
  at system set.  The  at system set contains much more than you would
 probably need for a dedicated, embedded device.


OK.

So I want to build and embedded gentoo system on an amd64:

model name  : AMD FX(tm)-8350 Eight-Core Processor  

What this the embedded profile? (show me the syntax for this?).


I only need busybox (looking at the other embedded profiles). If I choose to
install iptables, as the only package, after busybox, the dependancy-tree
will pull in what else I need. Then just mod the kernel and I have embedded
gentoo on an amd64 system with iptables.  

This will work, right? Isn't this what you are implying, or is the
profile system incomplete?



James







Re: [gentoo-user] new scanner : any advice ?

2015-06-21 Thread Bruce Hill
On Sun, Jun 21, 2015 at 04:51:39PM +0100, Peter Humphrey wrote:
 
 I have an HP inkjet which insists on starting itself up every time the power 
 is restored, despite the presence of a perfectly good on/off button. When I 
 complained, they said they thought it was more helpful that way.
 
 Not my idea of good support.

Mine seems to start when the power fails, and I like that. No need to go push
the power button when I'm nowhere near the thing and it was turned off.

My idea of a good feature. :)/

 ')
 ( \
  ^^



[gentoo-user] Qt Creator on start up - Welcome Mode Load Error

2015-06-21 Thread Andrew Lowe
Hi all,
I've got the latest portage available, V3.4.1, Qt Creator installed.
When I go to start up creator, I get a full screen window frame popping
up, some menu and icon bars around the edge and then, instead of the
text edit pane, I get a clear window, I can see the screens wallpaper,
and three dialogues popping up. These dialogues are titled Welcome Mode
Load Error and look like the top paragraph of the dialogue shown here:
http://tinyurl.com/o9ax8ml - yes I know this is for a windows bug, but
the dialogue is the same.

I've tried to track down on the Qt site what the minimal Qt
requirements for Creator are but that was useless - can't find it
anywhere. I then had a look at the Creator ebuild and it says:

# minimum Qt version required
38  QT_PV=5.3.2:5

This is where it gets interesting. I have not made the jump to Qt 5, but
I can remember a large Qt update recently that had 5 bobbing past
occasionally during the compile process. It was something that I meant
to follow up but haven't. Doing an eix qt | grep Installed reveals
that I have a mix of 4.8.7 and 5.4.2. Doing emerge --info | grep qt
reveals only qt3support and qt4. No mention of qt5.

As this is to do with OpenGl, but I actually suspect this mismatch of
Qt, eselect opengl list says nvidia is selected. Re-emerging
nvidia-drivers also says:

***

*  SetUID: [chmod go-r] /opt/bin/nvidia-modprobe ...[ ok ]
Switching to nvidia OpenGL interface... done
 * Removing x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-352.21 from moduledb.
Switching to nvidia OpenGL interface... done
 * Updating module dependencies for 4.0.5-gentoo ...[ ok ]
 * Adding module to moduledb.
Switching to nvidia OpenGL interface... done
Switching to nvidia OpenCL interface... done
 * USE=tools controls whether the nvidia-settings application
 * is installed. If you would like to use it, enable that
 * flag and re-emerge this ebuild. Optionally you can install
 * media-video/nvidia-settings

***
So it appears OpenGl is good to go.

Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can get back to a pure Qt4
setup? I've just had a look in /usr/portage/profiles/use.desc and there
is a qt5 in there. Should I do a -qt5 in make.conf and a new emerge
-NuD world?

Regards,
Andrew

p.s. Whoever looks after the wiki,

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook:X86/Working/USE

the section What USE flags exist has two links to supposedly online
description - no they don't.




Re: [gentoo-user] new scanner : any advice ?

2015-06-21 Thread Peter Humphrey
On Sunday 21 Jun 2015 10:05:02 Bruce Hill wrote:

 HP is the only desktop printer/scanner/etc that I've used in years, because
 their Linux support is great.

I have an HP inkjet which insists on starting itself up every time the power 
is restored, despite the presence of a perfectly good on/off button. When I 
complained, they said they thought it was more helpful that way.

Not my idea of good support.

-- 
Rgds
Peter




Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Profile listings

2015-06-21 Thread Neil Bothwick
On Sun, 21 Jun 2015 16:09:53 + (UTC), James wrote:

 Interestingly, you used var instead of usr. From earlier, Martin
 used
 
 PORTAGE_PROFILE=/usr/portage/profiles/$PROFILE eix -c --system

I have PORTDIR at /var/portage.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Experience is directly proportional to the value of equipment destroyed.


pgpvzHOaFXLlE.pgp
Description: OpenPGP digital signature


[gentoo-user] Re: Profile listings

2015-06-21 Thread James
Neil Bothwick neil at digimed.co.uk writes:


 % PORTAGE_PROFILE=/var/portage/profiles/default/linux/arm/13.0/armv7a eix
-c --system
 [snip]
 Found 42 matches.
 
 The nil return before was caused by search in one of the arch
 directories, which are not complete profiles but data to be used by
 profiles. It is a little confusing, but if you stick to profiles under
 default/linux you should get useful information.


Interestingly, you used var instead of usr. From earlier, Martin used

PORTAGE_PROFILE=/usr/portage/profiles/$PROFILE eix -c --system


Granted $PROFILE needed expansion, but he put /usr and now
you have it working with /var at the head of the path-string.

Interestingly enough, /var/portage is not even a dir, yet the 
path-string you used does work.

' PORTAGE_PROFILE=/var/portage/profiles/default/linux/arm/13.0/armv7a eix -c
--system'

Which does work nicely.


Care to explain? 


James






[gentoo-user] PPPoE ADSL modem choice

2015-06-21 Thread Peter Humphrey
Hello list,

Not long ago I bought an Asus DSL-N14U and I've been impressed by its 
abilities, especially since it's quite cheap. One feature I particularly like 
is its guest networks (I have a lady of advanced years* next-door), of which 
it can establish three. But its logging feature is woefully limited, whether 
remote or local: I get lots of empty or incomplete log entries, which Asus 
says it can't improve. It has a few other minor bugs too.

Does anyone here know of a professional version of this modem, or an 
equivalent? I mean one that does the whole job, not just what it needs to do 
to get past the marketing department**. I'd like proper logs, and finer 
control over what traffic is allowed between wired and wireless LANs, and 
to/from the WAN of course. Even suitable Google search terms would be good.

PPPoA is not used here in the UK as far as I know.

* Even more advanced than mine, and maybe even Walt's, and she suffers from 
some other effects of age too (don't we all who are past Alec's tender 
years?).

** [OT] I once saw an entire company destroyed by its marketing department. 
Trust me, my boy, they said. They knew that all customers require ad-hoc 
additions and alterations during the course of the project, which when added 
up made them a profit. Wrong! We had a water-tight functional spec, complete 
with minimum acceptable response times, and we insisted on a director-level 
change-control board. Bad, bad news for them. They could see the writing on 
the wall but they thought they knew better. How stupid can anyone be? Anyone 
heard of Empros?

-- 
Rgds
Peter




Re: [gentoo-user] new scanner : any advice ?

2015-06-21 Thread Adam Carter
Here's HP's recommended list if you choose to go that way

http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/recommended.html

And for supported:
http://www.hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/supported_devices/index.html


Re: [gentoo-user] new scanner : any advice ?

2015-06-21 Thread Philip Webb
150621 Bruce Hill wrote:
 On Sun, Jun 21, 2015 at 07:02:39AM -0400, Philip Webb wrote:
 My trusty 12-year-old scanner is starting to show signs of age :
 I'm inclined to get another Epson, but would consider something else.
 Does anyone have experience with these or have any advice to offer ?
 HP is the only desktop printer/scanner/etc that I've used in years,
 because their Linux support is great.
 My home use HP Officejet Pro 8600 N911g has an embedded web server,
 so I only need enter it's IP in a web browser and scanning is easy.

The local store, whose hardware has been very reliable for  15 yr ,
doesn't have any HP scanners in stock in my price-range,
whereas it has  6  Epsons at present.

 You might need more, but in the past all my Linux experience
 with Epson hardware/drivers was negative.

There's a problem with the driver of my present scanner
(sometimes it gets confused  makes the R-half of the image darker),
but that's quickly solved by restarting Xsane.
It's done an excellent job with documents, photo prints, negatives + slides,
by now in the many thousands of images altogether.

 Check the LinuxQuestions.org HCL: http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/

Most of these are long out-of-date, perhaps indicating
that most users now expect equipment to be problem-free with Linux.

Any other advice wb very welcome.  Thanks for all the replies so far.

-- 
,,
SUPPORT ___//___,   Philip Webb
ELECTRIC   /] [] [] [] [] []|   Cities Centre, University of Toronto
TRANSIT`-O--O---'   purslowatchassdotutorontodotca




Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Profile listings

2015-06-21 Thread Peter Humphrey
On Sunday 21 Jun 2015 22:02:02 Alan McKinnon wrote:
 portage for a long long time went in /usr/portage because that's where
 FreeBSD put it, and drobbins was mightily enthralled by FreeBSD.
 
 But it's a stupid place for it to go on Linux and most of the sane
 technical Gentoo world agrees it really is a better fit in /var/portage.
 However, due to a highly unlikely confluence of the phases of the moon
 and an oddly-painted bikeshed (aquamarine with ochre polka dots), no-one
 seems to have ever gotten around to actually fixing it once and for all
 everywhere.
 
 Bottom line: folks will see both in real life.
 Procedure: If you have the one, and see the other, then just change the
 top-level dir in what you see.

Or, as I do, put it in its own partition and you can mount it wherever you 
like. Just point make.conf and repos.conf/gentoo.conf at it.

Actually, using LVM on RAID-1 I have portage, packages and distfiles all in 
their own partitions; just three of 15 under /dev/vg7.

-- 
Rgds
Peter




Re: [gentoo-user] new scanner : any advice ?

2015-06-21 Thread Philip Webb
150622 Adam Carter wrote:
 Here's HP's recommended list if you choose to go that way
 http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/recommended.html
 And for supported:
 http://www.hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/supported_devices/index.html

Thanks for trying, but those are printers.
My small HP printer is capable of scanning too,
but there's no Linux driver to do that.

-- 
,,
SUPPORT ___//___,   Philip Webb
ELECTRIC   /] [] [] [] [] []|   Cities Centre, University of Toronto
TRANSIT`-O--O---'   purslowatchassdotutorontodotca




Re: [gentoo-user] Re: purchasing a dell laptop

2015-06-21 Thread Alan McKinnon
On 22/06/2015 01:43, walt wrote:
 On 06/21/2015 12:30 PM, Alan McKinnon wrote:
 I've used nothing bur Dell laptops for 10 years (currently on #5), and
 I've yet to run into any hardware support issues.
 
 Did you replace them because they broke?  You wanted the latest trendy
 color?  What's the real story here?  You know you want to tell us :)
 
 BTW, what happened to the old ones?
 
 


#1 belonged to SYbase where I worked at the time, and I moved on
#2 belonged to LSD where I worked at the time, and I moved on
#3 was mine, an M1540. Lovely machine but had one of those faulty nVidia
cards from 7 years ago where the chip separates from it's substrate. I
still have it, breaks my heart to throw it away :-)
#4 was an M4600, developed a weird fault that Dell had never heard of,
so they replaced it under warranty with
#5 is the current M4800, still going strong

The wife got an M4600 same time I did (we worked at the same place) and
she's since upgraded to a ThinkPad courtesy of the company scheme. I
have plans for that machine but she made me promise to tidy up my study
and do something with the hundreds of books lying around before I can
get my mitts on it :-(((

-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckin...@gmail.com




[gentoo-user] Re: purchasing a dell laptop

2015-06-21 Thread walt
On 06/21/2015 12:30 PM, Alan McKinnon wrote:
 I've used nothing bur Dell laptops for 10 years (currently on #5), and
 I've yet to run into any hardware support issues.

Did you replace them because they broke?  You wanted the latest trendy
color?  What's the real story here?  You know you want to tell us :)

BTW, what happened to the old ones?




Re: [gentoo-user] SSDs with TRIM issues

2015-06-21 Thread Bruce Hill
On Wed, Jun 17, 2015 at 12:24:55PM +1000, Adam Carter wrote:
 /* devices that don't properly handle queued TRIM commands */
 Micron_M500*
 Crucial_CT*M500*
 Micron_M5[15]0*
 Crucial_CT*M550*
 Crucial_CT*MX100*
 Samsung SSD 8*
 
 from drivers/ata/libata-core.c

Then read further:

 * Whitelist drives that are known to reliably return zeroes
 * after TRIM.

 * The intel 510 drive has buggy DRAT/RZAT. Explicitly exclude
 * that model before whitelisting all other intel SSDs.
 */
{ INTEL*SSDSC2MH*,NULL,   0, },

{ Micron*,NULL,   ATA_HORKAGE_ZERO_AFTER_TRIM, },
{ Crucial*,   NULL,   ATA_HORKAGE_ZERO_AFTER_TRIM, },
{ INTEL*SSD*, NULL,   ATA_HORKAGE_ZERO_AFTER_TRIM, },
{ SSD*INTEL*, NULL,   ATA_HORKAGE_ZERO_AFTER_TRIM, },
{ Samsung*SSD*,   NULL,   ATA_HORKAGE_ZERO_AFTER_TRIM, },
{ SAMSUNG*SSD*,   NULL,   ATA_HORKAGE_ZERO_AFTER_TRIM, },
{ ST[1248][0248]0[FH]*,   NULL,   ATA_HORKAGE_ZERO_AFTER_TRIM, }

 More info:
 http://linux.slashdot.org/story/15/06/16/201217/trim-and-linux-tread-cautiously-and-keep-backups-handy
 
 Also, my samsung 840 is slow (multisect is off and cant be enabled with
 hdparm). Tried update the bios but the boot cd crashed on my machine (AMD
 chipset related) so i will have to put it in another machine and try
 again...
 
 Samsung EVOs also have a firmware bug that causes them to slow down.

I chose long ago not to use queued TRIM (when OCZs were the rage).

From a cursory read this sounds like *only* ext4 fs. I have XFS on all my
SSDs. Two are Samsung 840 Pro Series, and 850 Pro Series. The 840 I've had
over a year and it is golden. The 850 I've had only a couple of months, and
due to work requirements it is running Windows atm. Still, there is nothing
like what I read in this article happening with either.

I also have a Micron C400 RealSSD mSATA 32GB -- no problems with it, either.
It's running Funtoo atm with VFAT /boot for UEFI, swap, all other XFS.



Re: [gentoo-user] SSDs with TRIM issues

2015-06-21 Thread Bruce Hill
On Wed, Jun 17, 2015 at 03:16:16PM -0400, Rich Freeman wrote:
 
 Also, I don't know which stable kernels have the blacklist.  It
 doesn't look like this list is in 3.18.14 which is the most recent
 longterm in Gentoo (3.18.15 is out but not yet in gentoo-sources).  I
 went ahead and disabled fstrim and discard in the meantime.

mingdao@headache ~ $ uname -a
Linux headache 4.0.5 #1 SMP Mon Jun 15 17:36:18 CDT 2015 x86_64 Intel(R) 
Core(TM) i7-4712HQ CPU @ 2.30GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

This one has the blacklist, but all my kernel source comes from kernel.org



Re: [gentoo-user] new scanner : any advice ?

2015-06-21 Thread Adam Carter
On Mon, Jun 22, 2015 at 3:09 PM, Philip Webb purs...@ca.inter.net wrote:

 150622 Adam Carter wrote:
  Here's HP's recommended list if you choose to go that way
  http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/recommended.html
  And for supported:
  http://www.hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/supported_devices/index.html

 Thanks for trying, but those are printers.

HP Linux Imaging and Printing, then you have to join the dots.


 My small HP printer is capable of scanning too,
 but there's no Linux driver to do that.


So depending on your needs and requirements, you may be interested in
selecting a printer with a tick in the Scan column.


Re: [gentoo-user] purchasing a dell laptop

2015-06-21 Thread Alan McKinnon
On 21/06/2015 21:16, gottl...@nyu.edu wrote:
 I am seriously thinking of updating my dell 6430s laptop purchased 3
 years ago.  NYU has an arrangement with dell so that is the only maker
 I am considering.  This machine will be essentially gentoo only (I
 configure my computers to dual boot some version of windows for ease
 in dealing with dell support).
 
 The hardest decision is size vs performance, but I know you can't help
 with that.  I have pretty much decided on the dell 7450.  My questions
 concern three options: Graphics, Wireless, Screen.  But would appreciate
 any other advice you have.

I've used nothing bur Dell laptops for 10 years (currently on #5), and
I've yet to run into any hardware support issues.

 
 I will definitely get
   * 16GB ram (2 x 8GB)
   * 512GB solid state disk
   * most powerful CPU compatible with the options chosen
 
 1. Graphics.
 I can afford a high-end graphics co-processor, but prefer the
 software/administrative simplicity of intel graphics.  I do not
 play high speed games or otherwise run graphics intensive
 applications. Am I correct in believing that Linux (the kernel)
 supports (the dell option)
Intel Core i7-5600U Processor, UMA graphics, Smart Card
 directly with no extra gentoo package needed?

All intel cards I've ever seen are supported. My current machine has an
AMD co-card, the one before a Nvidia co-card. Both times I just used the
Intel hardware, it does eveything I need

 
 2. Wireless.
 
 My current home router/wireless-access-point (linksys WRT54G)
 supports 10/100 wired and 802.11bg wireless.  I have no problems
 with this device or our home network, but I could upgrade to a
 1-gigabit version if deemed important.
 
 Currently I must install net-wireless/broadcom-sta.  This has caused
 no problems to date, but a wireless chip supported directly by linux
 would be preferable.

Hmm, broadcom. Lots of effort, IMNSHO not worth the effort.
 
 I would appreciate help choosing among the following dell options
 (the prices are about the same).
 a. Intel Tri Band Wireless-AC 17265 802.11AC
Wi-Fi + Wi-Gig + BT 4.0 LE Wireless Card
 b. Dell Wireless 1707 802.11n Single Band
Wi-Fi + BT 4.0LE Wireless Card
 c. Dell Wireless 1560 (802.11ac 2x2, WiFi  BT)
 d. Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265 802.11AC
Wi-Fi + BT 4.0 LE Wireless Card (2X2)

Dell branded wireless is pot luck what it might actually be under the
covers. My current one (class n) is actually a broadcom and needs
broadcom-sta (which I can't get to work). Intel wifi cards OTH, seem to
Just Work. I recommend you go with an intel card, or swap it out later
(they are fairly cheap)

  
 3. Screen
I am only considering 1920x1080 (best available) with a camera.
a. Touch is available for $160.
   Are touch screens supported on gentoo/gnome?

No idea, never used one. I have a tablet and a phone for Touch, and if I
*really* want to swipe, I guess there's always that latest Windows

b. Some screens (including touch) are WiGig capable.
   This requires option 2a above (Tri Band Wireless-AC).
 Is WiGig valuable and is it easy to administer?

Never heard of it :-)



So on the whole, my experience with higher-end Dell is that hardware is
pretty much well-supported across the boards with very few gotchas. The
only two exceptions would be wifi cards (cheap to fix) and maybe GPU
co-processor (if you are unlucky to get an unsupported cutting edge one
and need to wait a bit for Linux support to catch up).

-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckin...@gmail.com




[gentoo-user] Re: Qt Creator on start up - Welcome Mode Load Error

2015-06-21 Thread walt
On 06/21/2015 07:38 AM, Andrew Lowe wrote:
 I then had a look at the Creator ebuild and it says:
 
 # minimum Qt version required
 38QT_PV=5.3.2:5

Only qt-creator-3.4.1 requires qt5, so your fix would be to install one of
the earlier versions of qt-creator.

Are you trying to mix stable and unstable packages, maybe?  (I do this all
the time knowing that I will have problems like the one you describe but I
do it anyway.  No fool like and old fool, etc.




Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Profile listings

2015-06-21 Thread Alan McKinnon
On 21/06/2015 19:49, Neil Bothwick wrote:
 On Sun, 21 Jun 2015 16:09:53 + (UTC), James wrote:
 
 Interestingly, you used var instead of usr. From earlier, Martin
 used

 PORTAGE_PROFILE=/usr/portage/profiles/$PROFILE eix -c --system
 
 I have PORTDIR at /var/portage.
 
 


portage for a long long time went in /usr/portage because that's where
FreeBSD put it, and drobbins was mightily enthralled by FreeBSD.

But it's a stupid place for it to go on Linux and most of the sane
technical Gentoo world agrees it really is a better fit in /var/portage.
However, due to a highly unlikely confluence of the phases of the moon
and an oddly-painted bikeshed (aquamarine with ochre polka dots), no-one
seems to have ever gotten around to actually fixing it once and for all
everywhere.

Bottom line: folks will see both in real life.
Procedure: If you have the one, and see the other, then just change the
top-level dir in what you see.

-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckin...@gmail.com




[gentoo-user] Re: purchasing a dell laptop

2015-06-21 Thread James
Alan McKinnon alan.mckinnon at gmail.com writes:


  The hardest decision is size vs performance, but I know you can't help

Maybe, maybe not.

  I will definitely get
* 16GB ram (2 x 8GB)
* 512GB solid state disk
* most powerful CPU compatible with the options chosen

  1. Graphics.
  I can afford a high-end graphics co-processor, but prefer the
  software/administrative simplicity of intel graphics.  I do not
  play high speed games or otherwise run graphics intensive
  applications. Am I correct in believing that Linux (the kernel)
  supports (the dell option)
 Intel Core i7-5600U Processor, UMA graphics, Smart Card
  directly with no extra gentoo package needed?

Cuda on nvidia is well seasoned, but expensive. Gentoo distros such as
Pentoo, use cuda for smokin fast passwd cracking. Many/most apps
will benefit, in the near future, with the deployment of GCC-5.x as RDMA via
gcc% will allow for using that smoking GPU (a simd processor) and the DDR5
ram as if it was part of the CPU/ram resources.  If you read up on all the
advances with GCC 5 you will  see most gpu (amd, Intel etc) will/should be
supported. How long for stabilization, is unknown, at this time. But
for very few dollars it's the biggest thing to hit hardware, since the FPU
was integrated onto the same die, imho. YMMV.


 All Intel cards I've ever seen are supported. My current machine has an
 AMD co-card, the one before a Nvidia co-card. Both times I just used the
 Intel hardware, it does everything I need. 

Check whatever GPU you select for the amount of its own (discrete) DDR5
memory on the GPU (card).

 So on the whole, my experience with higher-end Dell is that hardware is
 pretty much well-supported across the boards with very few gotchas. The
 only two exceptions would be wifi cards (cheap to fix) and maybe GPU
 co-processor (if you are unlucky to get an unsupported cutting edge one
 and need to wait a bit for Linux support to catch up).

I'd check around on the precise details of the GPU before purchase.
Some GPU use the general system ram, and that is a severe (buss-bandwidth)
bottleneck that really dampens performance on many softwares. The looming
gcc-5 is a game changer on using video resources, as general system resources...

hth,
James






[gentoo-user] purchasing a dell laptop

2015-06-21 Thread gottlieb
I am seriously thinking of updating my dell 6430s laptop purchased 3
years ago.  NYU has an arrangement with dell so that is the only maker
I am considering.  This machine will be essentially gentoo only (I
configure my computers to dual boot some version of windows for ease
in dealing with dell support).

The hardest decision is size vs performance, but I know you can't help
with that.  I have pretty much decided on the dell 7450.  My questions
concern three options: Graphics, Wireless, Screen.  But would appreciate
any other advice you have.

I will definitely get
  * 16GB ram (2 x 8GB)
  * 512GB solid state disk
  * most powerful CPU compatible with the options chosen

1. Graphics.
I can afford a high-end graphics co-processor, but prefer the
software/administrative simplicity of intel graphics.  I do not
play high speed games or otherwise run graphics intensive
applications. Am I correct in believing that Linux (the kernel)
supports (the dell option)
   Intel Core i7-5600U Processor, UMA graphics, Smart Card
directly with no extra gentoo package needed?

2. Wireless.

My current home router/wireless-access-point (linksys WRT54G)
supports 10/100 wired and 802.11bg wireless.  I have no problems
with this device or our home network, but I could upgrade to a
1-gigabit version if deemed important.

Currently I must install net-wireless/broadcom-sta.  This has caused
no problems to date, but a wireless chip supported directly by linux
would be preferable.

I would appreciate help choosing among the following dell options
(the prices are about the same).
a. Intel Tri Band Wireless-AC 17265 802.11AC
   Wi-Fi + Wi-Gig + BT 4.0 LE Wireless Card
b. Dell Wireless 1707 802.11n Single Band
   Wi-Fi + BT 4.0LE Wireless Card
c. Dell Wireless 1560 (802.11ac 2x2, WiFi  BT)
d. Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265 802.11AC
   Wi-Fi + BT 4.0 LE Wireless Card (2X2)
 
3. Screen
   I am only considering 1920x1080 (best available) with a camera.
   a. Touch is available for $160.
  Are touch screens supported on gentoo/gnome?
   b. Some screens (including touch) are WiGig capable.
  This requires option 2a above (Tri Band Wireless-AC).
  Is WiGig valuable and is it easy to administer?

Thanks in advance,
allan




[gentoo-user] Mysterious library access...

2015-06-21 Thread Meino . Cramer
Hi,

After trying to play a flac-file with mpv I got this error message:
Playing: Track_01.flac
(+) Audio --aid=1 (flac)
File tags:
Artist: Unknown
Album: Unknown Disc
Genre: Alternative
Title: Track 01
Track: 1
ALSA lib 
/var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm_dmix.c:1024:(snd_pcm_dmix_open)
 unable to open slave
[ao/alsa] Playback open error: Device or resource busy
connect(2) call to /dev/shm/jack-0/default/jack_0 failed (err=No such file 
or directory)
attempt to connect to server failed
[ao/jack] cannot open server
ALSA lib 
/var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm_dmix.c:1024:(snd_pcm_dmix_open)
 unable to open slave
Could not open/initialize audio device - no sound.
Audio: no audio
: 00:00:00 / 00:05:56 (0%)

I reinstalled alsa-lib and mpv but the problem remains:
Why does alsa tries to load a library which is meant to be found under 
/var/tmp/portage?

Best regards,
Meino







Re: [gentoo-user] Blank screen after hibernation with radeon driver

2015-06-21 Thread Matti Nykyri
 On Jun 21, 2015, at 2:16, Fernando Rodriguez 
 frodriguez.develo...@outlook.com wrote:
 
 On Saturday, June 20, 2015 10:15:37 AM Matti Nykyri wrote:
 On Jun 20, 2015, at 5:16, Fernando Rodriguez
 frodriguez.develo...@outlook.com wrote:
 
 Hello,
 
 After switching from fglrx to the radeon driver I get a blank screen after 
 resuming from hibernation. I can ssh in but I can't restart xorg. This
 happens 
 with pm-utils and also with systemd. Suspend works fine with both.
 
 My video card is:
 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Kabini 
 [Radeon HD 8210]
 
 Any suggestions?
 
 Ssh in and run commands:
 
 export DISPLAY=:0
 xrandr 
 Or
 xrandr --output --mode etc with right arguments
 
 If that doesn't help, use top and perf top to see what is going on. Does
 restarting X fix te issue?
 
 I can't restart X, it hangs when I try, xrandr also hangs. Even kill -9 
 doesn't kill it. The logs sometimes don't show anything at all but today it's 
 show this consistently:
 
 un 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: [drm:cik_ring_test] *ERROR* radeon: ring 1 test 
 failed (scratch(0x3010C)=0xCAFEDEAD)
 Jun 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: ata1: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 
 SControl 
 300)
 Jun 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133
 Jun 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: [drm:cik_ring_test] *ERROR* radeon: ring 2 test 
 failed (scratch(0x3010C)=0xCAFEDEAD)
 Jun 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: [drm] ring test on 3 succeeded in 4 usecs
 Jun 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: [drm] ring test on 4 succeeded in 4 usecs
 Jun 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: [drm] ring test on 5 succeeded in 1 usecs
 Jun 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: [drm] UVD initialized successfully.
 Jun 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: [drm] ring test on 6 succeeded in 812 usecs
 Jun 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: [drm] ring test on 7 succeeded in 3 usecs
 Jun 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: [drm] VCE initialized successfully.
 Jun 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 0 succeeded in 0 usecs
 Jun 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 3 succeeded in 0 usecs
 Jun 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 4 succeeded in 0 usecs
 Jun 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 5 succeeded
 Jun 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 6 succeeded
 Jun 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 7 succeeded
 Jun 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: [drm:radeon_dp_link_train_cr] *ERROR* 
 displayport 
 link status failed
 Jun 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: [drm:radeon_dp_link_train_cr] *ERROR* clock 
 recovery failed
 Jun 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: [drm:radeon_dp_link_train_cr] *ERROR* 
 displayport 
 link status failed
 Jun 20 18:19:08 navi kernel: [drm:radeon_dp_link_train_cr] *ERROR* clock 
 recovery failed
 
 
 
 On one occassion there where about 20 backtraces on the log. That log is gone 
 but it had a message basically saying (I don't remember the exact words) that 
 something went wrong and the kernel recovered but a reboot was still needed. 
 I'll post if it comes up again.
 
 Also relevant that I've been getting this and similar errors on my logs for a 
 few days (probably since I switched to the radeon driver), all the i2c 
 devices 
 are on the video card:
 
 Jun 20 16:46:30 navi kernel: i2c i2c-7: sendbytes: error -110
 Jun 20 16:46:41 navi kernel: i2c i2c-7: sendbytes: error -110
 Jun 20 16:47:01 navi kernel: i2c i2c-7: sendbytes: error -110
 Jun 20 16:47:11 navi kernel: i2c i2c-7: sendbytes: error -110
 Jun 20 16:47:31 navi kernel: i2c i2c-7: sendbytes: error -110

What is the output of:

perf top

Do you have kernel debugging symbols compiled in? If then do kernel function 
trace.

See what an strace to X shows.

-- 
-Matti


RE: [gentoo-user] Mysterious library access...

2015-06-21 Thread Franz Fellner
Meino.Cramer@ wrote:
 Hi,
 
 After trying to play a flac-file with mpv I got this error message:
 Playing: Track_01.flac
 (+) Audio --aid=1 (flac)
 File tags:
 Artist: Unknown
 Album: Unknown Disc
 Genre: Alternative
 Title: Track 01
 Track: 1
 ALSA lib 
 /var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm_dmix.c:1024:(snd_pcm_dmix_open)
  unable to open slave

That's just debug output. In order to make dev's live easier alsa-lib uses 
__FILE__ and __LINE__ macros to point to the exact place where the debug output 
happened. As portage compiles in /var/tmp/portage/... the debug output mentions 
that file (note the .c suffix - not .so so it's not a library ;))

To fix your actual problem (no audio) we need to know how you configured audio 
(pure alsa/pulseaudio/...) and which USE-Flags you have enabled for mpv and 
ffmpeg.

 [ao/alsa] Playback open error: Device or resource busy
 connect(2) call to /dev/shm/jack-0/default/jack_0 failed (err=No such 
 file or directory)
 attempt to connect to server failed
 [ao/jack] cannot open server
 ALSA lib 
 /var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm_dmix.c:1024:(snd_pcm_dmix_open)
  unable to open slave
 Could not open/initialize audio device - no sound.
 Audio: no audio
 : 00:00:00 / 00:05:56 (0%)
 
 I reinstalled alsa-lib and mpv but the problem remains:
 Why does alsa tries to load a library which is meant to be found under 
 /var/tmp/portage?
 
 Best regards,
 Meino
 
 
 
 
 





Re: [gentoo-user] Mysterious library access...

2015-06-21 Thread bitlord
On Sun, 21 Jun 2015 10:27:33 +0200
meino.cra...@gmx.de wrote:

 Hi,
 
 After trying to play a flac-file with mpv I got this error message:
 Playing: Track_01.flac
 (+) Audio --aid=1 (flac)
 File tags:
 Artist: Unknown
 Album: Unknown Disc
 Genre: Alternative
 Title: Track 01
 Track: 1
 ALSA
 lib 
 /var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm_dmix.c:1024:(snd_pcm_dmix_open)
 unable to open slave [ao/alsa] Playback open error: Device or
 resource busy connect(2) call to /dev/shm/jack-0/default/jack_0
 failed (err=No such file or directory) attempt to connect to server
 failed [ao/jack] cannot open server ALSA
 lib 
 /var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm_dmix.c:1024:(snd_pcm_dmix_open)
 unable to open slave Could not open/initialize audio device - no
 sound. Audio: no audio : 00:00:00 / 00:05:56 (0%)
 
 I reinstalled alsa-lib and mpv but the problem remains:
 Why does alsa tries to load a library which is meant to be found
 under /var/tmp/portage?
 

That probably means some debug message from alsa-lib where for example
pcm_dmix.c:1024  is a source file 'pcm_dmix.c' and :1024 is a line
where the falling function call is.
It probably tries to open '/dev/shm/jack-0/default/jack_0' 
maybe your alsa configuration is a problem, or missing some kernel
functionallity (just guessing). Using 'jack-audio-connection-kit'?




Re: [gentoo-user] Mysterious library access...

2015-06-21 Thread Meino . Cramer
bitlord bitlord0...@gmail.com [15-06-21 10:48]:
 On Sun, 21 Jun 2015 10:27:33 +0200
 meino.cra...@gmx.de wrote:
 
  Hi,
  
  After trying to play a flac-file with mpv I got this error message:
  Playing: Track_01.flac
  (+) Audio --aid=1 (flac)
  File tags:
  Artist: Unknown
  Album: Unknown Disc
  Genre: Alternative
  Title: Track 01
  Track: 1
  ALSA
  lib 
  /var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm_dmix.c:1024:(snd_pcm_dmix_open)
  unable to open slave [ao/alsa] Playback open error: Device or
  resource busy connect(2) call to /dev/shm/jack-0/default/jack_0
  failed (err=No such file or directory) attempt to connect to server
  failed [ao/jack] cannot open server ALSA
  lib 
  /var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm_dmix.c:1024:(snd_pcm_dmix_open)
  unable to open slave Could not open/initialize audio device - no
  sound. Audio: no audio : 00:00:00 / 00:05:56 (0%)
  
  I reinstalled alsa-lib and mpv but the problem remains:
  Why does alsa tries to load a library which is meant to be found
  under /var/tmp/portage?
  
 
 That probably means some debug message from alsa-lib where for example
 pcm_dmix.c:1024  is a source file 'pcm_dmix.c' and :1024 is a line
 where the falling function call is.
 It probably tries to open '/dev/shm/jack-0/default/jack_0' 
 maybe your alsa configuration is a problem, or missing some kernel
 functionallity (just guessing). Using 'jack-audio-connection-kit'?
 
 

Hi,

Ah!Oh! Yes...I see...sorry for my blurred view to this problem.

Yes, I am trying to use jackd with mpv, whcih leads to this 
error.

My setup is: 
jackd,
alsa
mpv

After stopping jackd I can play the track with mpv...so alsa
as such seem to be well and up running.

Enabling jackd again shows this (this time I will post
the whole thing ... so nothing is censored by me... ;)

File tags:
 Artist: Unknown
 Album: Unknown Disc
 Genre: Alternative
 Title: Track 02
 Track: 2
ALSA lib 
/var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm_dmix.c:1024:(snd_pcm_dmix_open)
 unable to open slave
[ao/alsa] Playback open error: Device or resource busy
AO: [jack] 48000Hz stereo 2ch floatp
A: 00:00:09 / 00:11:54 (1%)

BUT it plays this time...
Do I have kill jackd, play something with alsa, restart jackd and it
works ... ?
Sounds silly...but at least it sounds.
What's going on here?

Best regards,
Meino







Re: [gentoo-user] Mysterious library access...

2015-06-21 Thread Meino . Cramer
bitlord bitlord0...@gmail.com [15-06-21 10:48]:
 On Sun, 21 Jun 2015 10:27:33 +0200
 meino.cra...@gmx.de wrote:
 
  Hi,
  
  After trying to play a flac-file with mpv I got this error message:
  Playing: Track_01.flac
  (+) Audio --aid=1 (flac)
  File tags:
  Artist: Unknown
  Album: Unknown Disc
  Genre: Alternative
  Title: Track 01
  Track: 1
  ALSA
  lib 
  /var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm_dmix.c:1024:(snd_pcm_dmix_open)
  unable to open slave [ao/alsa] Playback open error: Device or
  resource busy connect(2) call to /dev/shm/jack-0/default/jack_0
  failed (err=No such file or directory) attempt to connect to server
  failed [ao/jack] cannot open server ALSA
  lib 
  /var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm_dmix.c:1024:(snd_pcm_dmix_open)
  unable to open slave Could not open/initialize audio device - no
  sound. Audio: no audio : 00:00:00 / 00:05:56 (0%)
  
  I reinstalled alsa-lib and mpv but the problem remains:
  Why does alsa tries to load a library which is meant to be found
  under /var/tmp/portage?
  
 
 That probably means some debug message from alsa-lib where for example
 pcm_dmix.c:1024  is a source file 'pcm_dmix.c' and :1024 is a line
 where the falling function call is.
 It probably tries to open '/dev/shm/jack-0/default/jack_0' 
 maybe your alsa configuration is a problem, or missing some kernel
 functionallity (just guessing). Using 'jack-audio-connection-kit'?
 
 

sorry...

This happens before:
Exiting... (Errors when loading file)
[1]23147 exit 2 mpv -ao jack Track_01.flac
solfire:mccramer/Unknown_Discsudo mpv -ao jack Track_01.flac
Playing: Track_01.flac
 (+) Audio --aid=1 (flac)
File tags:
 Artist: Unknown
 Album: Unknown Disc
 Genre: Alternative
 Title: Track 01
 Track: 1
connect(2) call to /dev/shm/jack-0/default/jack_0 failed (err=No such file or 
directory)
attempt to connect to server failed
[ao/jack] cannot open server
[ao] Failed to initialize audio driver 'jack'
Could not open/initialize audio device - no sound.
Audio: no audio


(work with any track...)

Best regards,
Meino