Re(4): [newbie] Mac OS X versus Linux?!
You trivialise the issue. Drivers are supposed to be written by hardware manufacturers (who actually know what the hardware is about), not by software/OS designers (who must reverse engineer the hardware to know how it works). Yes, you are of course correct in this, but I don't feel that I am trivialising the issue. The reality, for someone like myself, is that we in principle would gladly buy into the Open Source concept, but we want something that will work. Not necessarily out of the box, but something that is not voodoo for 99% percent of newcommers to the OS. You don't do that in the Mac OS and you don't do that in Windows. Manufacturers are reluctant to write Linux drivers, forcing the community to come up with their own. Why is this the case? First and foremost, there is no commercial incentive to support an OS that only has a few percentage points of the desktop market. This problem applies to all but one x86 OS. Secondly, many manufacturers misunderstand how GNU/Linux works, believing it is somehow 'viral' (to use MS terminology). To them, releasing drivers means letting their intellectual property secrets out into the open, which elimiates any competitive edge that company may have had. This is really where the problems start to come to light. Apple, while dependent on 3rd. party companies to provide certain hardware (and software), largely controls both the hardware specs and the UI, making a far more homogenous package. M$ leverages hardware as well due to its large installation base and in some cases has produced or has had hardware produced under the M$ name to M$ specs, sometimes in a duopoly with Intel. This is also where the Linux business model is partially faulty. Linux is too dependent on hardware manufacturers, as well as splitting efforts too often between, similar GUI or programs. A viable OS is not just based on hardware or software, but a combination of both. Linux has not succeeded in leveraging hardware developers to any meaningful extent as far as I am concerned. The reality is somewhat different: Linux (i.e. the kernel) is licensed under a modified GPL which allows proprietary binary-only modules. Companies like Nvidia have taken advantage of this, and have released very capable drivers. 3dfx and Matrox went one step further by openly co-operating with open source hackers to produce open drivers. Why does Windows seemingly have such great hardware support? Because it has over 90% of the desktop OS market, it cannot be ignored by hardware manufacturers. Do you really think that MS write their own hardware drivers? This does not ignore the fact that most Linux advocacy is done in the area of trying to get hardware producers to support open specifications for Linux drivers or to use Linux in the embedded chip market. What prevents a dedicated Linux group from producing a sound card, video card, etc. that is made for the Linux market? The same goes for PDA's. Sharp's new Zaurus prototype using Linux looks great, but who says that others can't build a better mouse trap? Is it maybe because the market isn't there yet? I'm not sure, but Linux advocacy reminds me a lot of the Mac advocacy that I saw some years ago, when Apple kept losing market share. Lastly, coding for Linux projects, whether they are for the kernel or specific software such as drivers or other things can easily be shared on the Internet. If someone drops out or burns out, there is usually someone else that joins the team and helps out. Physical production can't be shared on the Internet for obvious reasons (Beam Me Up Scotty)!, it requires financial investment, etc. Another kind of commitment is required. All of this is obvious to everyone, yet it seems to me that it is here where Linux' weakest link exists. Apple are in a similar situation. They have their own little hardware market, of which they would have about 99% share (with Darwin and GNU/Linux making up much of the remainder). They make their own boxes, giving them ultimate control over the entire platform. Consequently, hardware designed for Macs works exceptionally well (often better than how they work in Windows). In reality, I don't think that we disagree as such, except maybe with regards to how user friendly the Linux experience should be for newbies. This discussion has been fruitful for me, if for no other reason, that I now know that I should look more closely at Nvidia, 3dfx and Matrox video cards ;-) Finally, I think that Mandrake could improve their site for people doing research about what video card/sound card to buy, by providing a text file or PDF that provides a list of all of the drivers for recognized cards that are available at install for each version i.e. what cards are recognized when installing Mandrake 8, 8.1, 8.2, etc. on a new system. While the categories of known and tested hardware are useful, it really doesn't provide the whole picture. Cheers, Brian Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to
Re(6): [newbie] Mac OS X versus Linux?!
Is hardware support really as bad as you seem to make it sound? I've loaded various versions of Mandrake on a variety of different systems, and I've never had any problems that I couldn't easily fix. Hardware support has gotten amazingly good, actually. However, in fifteen to twenty minutes, I can do some research on the net, ask on an e-mail list and ask some friends and come back with a fairly good idea of the main issues that I need to consider if I am going to have a Win PC built. That doesn't mean that I don't need to continue with some more research before I actually willing to balls on go out and tell my tech guy what kind of mainboard, processor, video card and sound card I want, but it is a lot more straight forward than with Linux. Despite this great list, I still have absolutely no idea what kind of video card to get. Installation on complete systems has on the other hand improved dramatically. Is Linux really too dependent on hardware manufacturers? After all, there are open source drivers for most major pieces of hardware, developed independently of the manufacturers. Even ATI and Nvidia video cards have open source drivers (in addition to proprietary ones from the companies themselves). If the Linux community has a difficult time convincing hardware producers to provide specs for those that would like to code drivers or if the companies don't provide them themselves without a massive lobbying effort, or where reverse engineering has to be used to develop a driver, than yes, the Linux community IS too dependent. I'm not sure if I'm understanding you correctly, but are you suggesting that the open source community make their own hardware products from scratch? In most cases, this is far more trouble than it's worth, and we'd be better off simply lobbying manufacturers to support GNU/Linux. There are some products made specifically to run GNU/Linux, like the Zaurus (as you have mentioned). The closest thing to your proposal would be the Simputer (http:// www.simputer.org). It would be economically unfeasible (and unnecessary) for a group of people to join together and decide to produce, say, a sound card. Even if it were possible, they would never reach sufficient economies of scale to make a decent return on the investment. There is more to a company than technical expertise, with or without external funding. It would be much simpler to make GNU/Linux drivers for an ordinary device. Why should I buy a new graphics card simply so I can use GNU/Linux? I want my existing hardware to work, as do most other people (particularly newbies). In many cases, yes it would be economically unfeasible to produce Linux specific products (but not all) and yes, I would like my existing hardware to work on Linux as well. This is a quandary that all small OS's face when dealing with a desktop market dominated by Microsoft and there is no simple solution. Less competition on GUI related apps, despite the historical differences between KDE and GNOME, would free up a lot of resources for other projects and in the long term would create a GUI that had a uniform structure, regardless of app. Things like uniform copy, cut and paste that were the original issues that led to this list discussion. A uniform workstation hardware standard would help as well. Linux has a larger desktop install base than Apple, but is unable to leverage as well. There are few reasons to install Mandrake 8.0 when 8.1 is the latest version. I agree that a downloadable list might be nice, though. There are also plenty of GNU/Linux sites that have lists of supported hardware and descriptions on how to get particular pieces of hardware to work. Again, yes there probably are many sites that have these lists, but if I like Mandrake, why should I have to look any other place than the Mandrake site for info that I need? Maybe this is another of the differences between the Mac and Linux communities. The Mac community is used to using a few sites/e-mail lists that provide 99.9% of the information that they need. Newbies to Linux would benefit from this as well. My Mac experience living abroad has taught me to be resilient and to try to solve hardware and software problems to a large degree by myself. There are large black holes in the world, where you no longer can get Mac support on site, unlike ten years ago. None of this has prepared me for what should be a relatively simple task, trying to find out which video cards on sale in Indonesia, have Linux drivers available. This isn't a rant, just a fact. Maybe others on the list will think that I am just whining, but the fact is that I have visited the first twenty sites, searched Google and am still as much in the dark as I was to start with. This isn't user friendly, not to mention newbie friendly. My 0.02 Euros, Brian Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
[newbie] Linux hardware.
For those of you that want to hear more about the Sharp Zaurus and the Linux kernel running on it, take a peek at the following URL: http://kopsisengineering.com/zaurus_review/zaurus_review.html Cheers, Brian Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re(8): [newbie] Mac OS X versus Linux?!
GNU/Linux hasn't gained the critical mass required to meet this challenge as well as MS. Most components work, though. Most modern video cards are supported, for example. Isn't this the same for any OS? MS rely on hardware manufacturers writing drivers for Windows. True, they don't have to lobby them or reverse engineer their own drivers, but the fact remains that they are at the mercy of hardware manufacturers to provide support. If you notice in the article that I posted to the list: http:// kopsisengineering.com/zaurus_review/zaurus_review.html, the author refers to Sharp (in this case) having to try and leverage the Linux community to get Linux development for their PDA. I don't intend to harp on this issue, but it actually is quite interesting. Does the Linux community have a hard time leveraging hardware manufacturers to develop drivers or provide info so third party drivers can be developed or is it that manufacturers have a hard time leveraging the Linux community to get their products supported, because the Linux community lacks enough focus to support existing hardware? I've heard the if there was only one gui... argument many times, and it always seems to be coming from the people who are trying to apply the methodologies of other, closed source OSs onto GNU/Linux. More focus does not necessarily mean that there should be a one GUI policy as I propose, but for an outsider (newbie) looking in, it is hard not to compare Linux to other OS's, as there seems to be a lack of direction and a doubling of resources that could/should be used in other areas that need extra resources. None of this should be considered a criticism, but rather musings about a totally different world seen (partially) from the outside, looking in, as well as some frustration. What would this entail, seeing that GNU/Linux can run on just about any platform? A hardware standard would be contrary to this, and would not be in the spirit of freedom of choice. The desktop arena is based more on perceptions and marketing more than anything else. AmigaOS, BeOS, MacOS and GNU/Linux are all better than Windows in most cases, but it is Windows with over 90% share. Most of this is due to good PR work, and everything snowballed from there. GNU/Linux can't deliver a good PR campaign to the average consumer because of the multitude of options available. This won't change, but I'm sure that GNU/Linux _will_ gain market share on the desktop (albeit slowly). If you notice, I referred to a desktop hardware standard, not a general hardware standard. these are two very different things. I think it is great that Linux can run on everything from watches and PDA's to IBM mainframes. A desktop hardware standard would help homogenize the desktop platform for Linux and would allow better control over the development of hardware that Linux users use. Apple isn't really a model, but a move in that direction would not hurt. It would not have to be proprietary, just a set standard that could help leverage the platform. Do you know how GSM mobile phones became an international standard? The Nordic countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Finland) agreed on a common standard for mobile phone communications. The Nordic countries don't have the largest populations of any countries in the world, nor are they necessarily the most advanced countries in every area. The only reason that GSM became a standard was through mutual agreement, rather than competition in the mobile phone area. No other country could agree on another standard, because all the different companies' and countries' interests were too divergent. In the states, they have yet to achieve even a nationwide GSM coverage because of all of the competing standards. Talk about a nightmare scenario! Competition can sometimes be a good idea, but in reality a community like the Linux community should realize that the community will only last as long as cooperation exists inside the community, rather than competition. Why, because you are all mutually dependent. Its time to leverage some of the mutual aid that exists in the Linux community and tone down the competition. Perhaps you're not researching the right way? Have you tried asking on this list for some sites to visit? Here are a few: http://lhd.zdnet.com/ http://www.linuxhardware.net/ http://www.linuxhardware.org/ http://www.linuxvoodoo.com/ http://www.linuxtested.com/ http://www.linux.com/enhance/hardware/ You should be looking for _chipsets_, not card brands. I can't think of any major video chipset that isn't supported by GNU/Linux. Thanks for the tip ;-) seen from my viewpoint, I would have thoght that it would be the otherway around. Chipsets are one thing, but then somebody gets the idea to throw all sorts of proprietary crap on the card to make it their card. Cheers, Brian That is logic that even a chicken would understand. - Danish saying. Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to
Re(2): [newbie] Mac OS X versus Linux?!
That's true. I'm sure free software will get there; it'll just take some time :) Apps may get there, but drivers for video cards, sound cards, etc. is a friggin nightmare without end! Here you have some very nice and technically skilled programmers that are trying to play catch up with commercial products. On sites like http://dri.sourceforge.net/, they openly state not to ask about when there will be driver support for x or xx card! This unfortunately will not change in the foreseeable future, as far as I am concerned, unless the business model for Linux changes drastically. Difficulty in finding a videocard on the local market that has Linux drivers is close to what we in the old days on the Mac OS called SCSI Voodoo. I am so fed up with this Linux Driver Voodoo that I am regretting having started on my Linux box project at all! As I haven't purchased any hardware yet, maybe I will just buy one of those new Luxor iMacs and be done with it! Cheers, Brian Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] LinuxMandrake on a Mac
Is there a LinuxMandrake for a MAc computer I have a Mac LC3 that was given to me and I would like to load Linux on it I dont know much about but it does work Can any one help There is a Mandrake Linux for PPC, as well as Yellow Dog Linux. Unfortunately, they are all for New World machines, i.e. iMac, iBook, g3 tower, etc. Mandrake Linux is the only one that has shown an interest in backward compatibility, but they are only trying to support PPC machines NuBus and older are out in the cold. There was an MkLinux that project that Apple was supporting, but I think that Apple has closed the project since Jobs came back. IMHO, this is an area that is unfortunately neglected by Linux developers. There are a lot of frustrated Apple owners out there that no longer have an upgrade path since Jobs returned. This includes clone owners, like myself (UMAX Pulsar - Euro S900). In the Intel world, you can get Linux running on something as old as a 386 with no problems, as there are a plethora of various Linux flavors. END RANT ;-) I hope you have some luck, but to frank, I doubt it. That is why I am migrating to Linux on a new PC system! Cheers, Brian Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
[newbie] Video Card Support. (Was build PC)
I am thinking about purchasing an ATI Radeon 8500 DV video card, but am unsure. I have looked on the Mandrake site, where there is a lot of known hardware listed. Radeon cards seem to be supported in the kernel, so is it correct to assume that there are no drivers necessary for Radeon cards in general?? While there is a long list of known video cards for both Mandrake 8.0 and 8.1, there does not seem to be a list of video cards as seen at installation time??? Lastly, I am concerned as to whether the TV tuner on the Radeon 8500 DV card is supported in some way in Linux. Does anyone know??? Cheers, Brian Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
[newbie] Building a PC (3).
Ok, I am getting closer to my goal, but still have a few questions: 1) For those on the list using the Soyo Dragon+. I see that there is a sound card built into the motherboard (C-Media 6 Channel Sound Card). Any problems with Mandrake recognition of the card or performance problems with Mandrake? Should I disable the C-Media card and go for the Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Platinum? 2) My tech guy can't seem to get an ATI Radeon AIW 32mg nearby. The other possibilities are a PixelView GeForce3 T200 64MB or one of the new (new here anyway) Radeon 8500 cards. Any advice or comments? My obvious concern is getting everything in the box to work with the Mandrake install and not to have to niggle too much with post install configuration to get the box up and running. Cheers, Brian Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re(4): [newbie] Building a PC (2).
The Soyo Dragon+ is reputed to ge a great MB. I'm looking at one myself, for an upcoming project. Just my 206 rupiah worth. ;) Unfortunately, my tech states that there is no reliable supplier for the Soyo here in Indonesia 8-( Cheers, Brian Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re(2): [newbie] Frozen RPMDrake
You could try rebuilding the rpm database. # rpm --rebuilddb I experienced the freeze as well, when I had just installed on an IBM Aptiva. I believe this is a known issue in Mandrake 8??? Try logging in as root and running RPMDrake from there. BTW, it should be done from the console. Ya wouldn't think that you would need to rebuild the RPM database, if just installed, or what??? Cheers, Brian Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
[newbie] Thanks!
I would like to thank all that responded to my posting. I am amazed at the overwhelming response. There is a lot of info to chew through, but it is always better to be an informed buyer than to go in blindfolded ;-) Cheers, Brian Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
[newbie] Building a PC.
Hi again, I am in the process of getting a PC built and would like some comments from the list as to the proposed configuration vis a vis Mandrake 8 Power Pack: Hardware: - Pentium IV 1.6GHz - Mainboard Intel D845BG - Memory 256MB DDR Ram - Harddisk 40GB 7200Rpm IDE - VGA Geforce2MX-200 64MB - FDD 1.44MB - Casing ATX P4 300Watt - Sound Onboard - FireWire Card 3 ports - USB 2.0 (4 ports built in) - Zip Internal 250MB As I am moving away from the Mac hardware/software platform, I was thinking of using my Apple Multiple Scan 15AV Display and a monitor switch to switch between my UMAX Pulsar (Mac OS 9) and the PC to start with. According to the manual, the monitor supports VGA mode a 640 X 480 resolution at 60 Hz and SVGA mode at 800 X 600 (60 Hz), 800 X 600 (72 Hz) 1024 X 768 (60 Hz) and 1024 X 768 (70 Hz). It uses a 15-pin miniature D- type connector. I also already have an Iomega Zip 650 (USB 1) CDRW, so I thought that I would wait getting anything fancy in this area for now as I have only tried to burn one CDR so far (and that was not successful). I also already have an MS Natural Keyboard Pro and an MS IntelliMouse Pro that I intend to use with this system, so I don't need anything for now in that area (although I could use some advise about Linux drivers for these items, besides the generic drivers). Another issue of interest is regarding my printer. It is an Apple Personal LaserWriter NT. Laser printers don't come cheap and if there is a way to connect the computer via an adapter, either Apple serial to PC parallel (or serial), Apple serial to USB or Apple serial to FireWire, this would be a definite advantage. The question in the end however, comes down to whether Linux has drivers for the printer and the monitor. Software: I would prefer for this to be a pure Mandrake box, but there are some issues that I have problems with. Hopefully someone on the list can advise me. I work in GUI and do not do much command line stuff, so the following will all be related to GUI programs: 1) I have a Handspring Visor Platinum. From what I have seen, none of the available Palm OS interfaces (JPilot, KPilot, Gnome Pilot, etc.) have impressed me with regards to what they can do. What about Documents to Go, Desktop to Go, a REAL Palm Desktop for Linux, etc. there doesn't seem to be anything close in Linux as of yet, is there? 2) I do a lot of my work through text, whether it is e-mail or text documents. As I write, but am not a native speaker of Danish and Russian, decent spell checking is also a concern for both e-mail and text. Likewise, as I both use IMAP and POP accounts, I am looking for something that does both. KMail does IMAP and POP, but lacks Danish spell check, which is what I use the most. KOffice however, has an excellent Danish spell check via iSpell, but lacks something in Russian. BTW, why can't KMail figure out to use iSpell like KOffice??? Another alternative is Evolution, which I am leaning towards, it has good PIM capabilities and apparently can connect to Palm OS devices, but as far as I can see totally lacks spell check. 3) Then there are the issues of KOI-8 support for e-mail and text, as well as a virtual pop-up Russian keyboard reference, as I am using a Danish keyboard. Well, this e-mail has gotten kind of long, so I guess I better stop here. All advice is appreciated. Cheers, Brian Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re(2): [newbie] Building a PC.
Hi Shane, My comments follow: a few cents of worth... go AMD, get more speed, pay less. Any suggestions as to an AMD configuration, motherboard, etc? I am new at this 8-) you can never have enough RAM, spend the money saved above here. ;-) OK check that chip, i always have trouble with onboard anything.. This would also fall under an AMD configuration. Suggestions ayone??? why the zip? just curious, i find my cd rewritable much more useful than i ever found the zip to be, but that is just me. Zip is just easy for me at this point, plus it is a small capacity media that I view more as an alternative to a floppy than competition for CDRW or a DVD configuration. One of these days (hopefully) I will learn how to burn CD's. well depends on what you want, but my only problem with the handspring is that kpilot is not yet USB. Well, a lot of this has to do with third party conduits. I sometimes use the Visor as an alternative to a laptop. Therefore, I am dependent on the e-mail programs in the Palm OS that have conduits that can transfer existing e-mails gathered on the road, that I need to sync via a conduit to my desktop. The same goes for creating text, psreadsheets, etc. Maybe when the Sharp Zarus or another Linux PDA gains mass popularity, this will not be as much of a problem for me, but at this time it is. Cheers, Brian Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
[newbie] Building a PC (2).
Hi again, Thanks for all the help so far from Roger, Paul and Shane. To save some money, I was thinking of using my Iomega ZipCD 650 CDRW with this configuration. Does anyone have any experience using a CDRW USB 1 with Mandrake 8? Any problems. By the way, the main caveats for my configuration are as follows: 1) As little legacy stuff as possible. No ISA ports and a minimum of serial and paralel ports. 2) This is a $US 1,000 box so while a Soundblaster Live! 5.1 Platinum w/ Live! sound card and a ATI Radeon AIW 32mg video card sound great, I am not sure that I can squeeze those into my budget. The point about CPU slowdown with onboard sound is well taken however, and I will try to find a dooable alternative. Here is a reminder of the original configuration with the extra RAM added, which I understand is a must: - Pentium IV 1.6GHz - Mainboard Intel D845BG - Memory 512MB DDR Ram - Harddisk 40GB 7200Rpm IDE - VGA Geforce2MX-200 64MB - FDD 1.44MB - Casing ATX P4 300Watt - Sound Onboard - Speaker Active - FireWire Card 3 ports - USB 4 ports (support 2.0) - NIC Ethernet 10/100 Mbps - Zip Internal 250MB - 17 Viewsonic E70 Cheers, Brian Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
[newbie] Sound card recommendation for IBM Aptiva 2168 using Mandrake 8.
Hi again, Does anyone recommend a PCI sound card for an IBM Aptiva 2168 using Mandrake 8?? I know that Linux in theory supports many sound cards, but I would like to find a card that is easily recognized by Mandrake 8, as I am a newbie to Linux and would like to avoid the worst difficulties, including trying to return a card that I can't get to work with Mandrake. I realize there are a large number of cards listed on the Mandrake site, but I am interested in personal experiences/recommendations. Cheers, Brian Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
[newbie] Fujitsu/Siemens Celvin EasyPC Mandrake 8 Install (2).
Hi again, Out of curiosity, I tried installing Red Hat 7 on the Celvin. Red Hat also called the SiS 530 video for a SiS 620, but interestingly, both the 530 and the 630 configurations worked with the IBM P50 monitor. Red Hat has a setting for adjusting what I assume is video card memory during video card configuration. The default setting was 8192k, which was also what worked correctly. I am however, only interested in getting Mandrake 8 to work on this machine, so... the question is whether there is a way to adjust the video card memory settings when I select the video card, during the Mandrake install procedure? Was this something I missed?? BTW, I found out that to serve Apple Talk I need to get netatalk server software. I don't think netatalk is on the Mandrake 8 Power Pack version CD's, is it? Cheers, Brian That is logic that even a chicken could understand! - Popular Danish witticism. Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
[newbie] Newbie Problems with Fujitsu/Siemens Celvin EasyPC Mandrake 8Install, Apple Talk and More Problems.
Hi again, It is good to be back on the list again after an involuntary absence of over five months, due to a certain unnamed moving company %$#!* that couldn't figure out to deliver my families things, including our computers. I have tried to do a dual install (Win98 SE (UK)/Mandrake) on my daughter's Fujitsu/Siemens Celvin EasyPC (legacy free). The EasyPC has no serial or parallel ports. Everything, including floppy drive, keyboard, etc. is USB based. All went fine until monitor and video card config (expert mode). Mandrake reported the card as an SiS 620, while in Win it is listed as a SiS 530. The monitor is an IBM P50. No configuration of monitor worked correctly with either video card setting. Everything else worked amazingly well, including access to an HP DeskJet 660 C over a USB/parallel adapter and Wacom Tablet (USB) drivers. Looked in the archives and found no mention of Celvin, EasyPC or legacy free. Any ideas or advice? The second issue is that I would like the Celvin to serve Apple Talk, but I don't believe that the macutils in the Mandrake 8 Power Pack is enough to do this. I seem to remember that I need to install some sort of Apple Talk server, but I don't believe it is on the CD's Help anyone? The third and following issue is OT, but has relevance for all on the list trying to understand how X and Linux works: I have a question about entering monitor resolutions in advanced mode in Yellow Dog Linux version 2.0 on a UMAX Pulsar, which is a Macintosh computer clone. I am determined to get this to work, and yes I know that the Pulsar isn't supported. However, everything seems to work fine in the install, but I keep getting hung up on monitor resolution. There is no test mode as in many Linux flavors and something doesn't work right with the video card (Matrox Millennium) and monitor (Apple Multiple Scan 15AV Display) combination. In Mac OS 9.1, the monitor resolution is usually set at 832x624 resolution at 75Hz, but settings show that I also could set the monitor at 832x624 resolution at 85Hz, 800x600 resolution at 85Hz, 1024x768 resolution at 60, 67, 74.9 or 85Hz or at 640x480 resolution at 60 or 85Hz. I have the alternative of creating monitor prefs in YDL in advanced mode, but I admit that I don't fully understand it. In advanced mode, I am required to fill in a cluster of numbers, four for horizontal resolution and a cluster of four numbers for vertical resolution. If we take my default resolution in OS 9.1, this would look like this: Horizontal resolution: 832 000 000 000 (they can also be 4 digit #'s) Vertical resolution:624 000 000 000 The first number is the resolution in pixels, where as the second and third represent sync pulse. The fourth represents frame length or border width. I may also need to know the dot clock resolution and refresh rate (requires X dot clocks). According to the manual, the Apple Multiple Scan 15AV Display has a resolution range of 640 x 480 to 1024 x 768 and with a 0.28 mm dot pitch, but is dot pitch the same as dot clock? The problem is that I do not know where to get the information I need to fill in the other numbers for horizontal and vertical rez, as well as dot clock (should I need it) for an Apple Multiple Scan 15AV Display. Help, please! I have been working off and on with this issue for months now! Cheers, Brian Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
[newbie] Applixware Office 5.
Hi again. Has anyone tried to install Applixware Office 5 on Mandrake 8 and gotten the following error: Applixware error: Gdk-CRITICAL **: file gdkgc.c: line 484 (gdk_gc_set_font): assertion `font != NULL' failed. Koffice fonts start looking odd as well. I tried SmartBeak.Com which is supposed to be a kind of support arm for Applixware, but have heard nothing yet. Cheers, Brian --
[newbie] XF86Config Issue.
Hi again, I have a question about entering monitor resolutions in advanced mode in another Linux flavor and PPC hardware, but as far as I understand, the principle should be one of the few universal elements in all Linux distros. I am trying to install Yellow Dog Linux on a UMAX Pulsar (Mac clone) but keep getting hung up on monitor resolution. There is not test mode as in Mandrake. An advanced mode example would be a monitor that can do 1280x1024 resolution at 85Hz, where the option for horizontal monitor sync would be 31.5 - 95.0. There must be someone out there with experience in this area. For anyone wishing to make snide wrong list remarks, I have tried the right list and no help was available. I also at the same time made a point out complaining that there was no test possibility during the install procedure like in my favorite distro - Mandrake. I am using a Matrox card and monitor resolution is usually set at 832x624 resolution at 75Hz, but settings show that I also could set it at 832x624 resolution at 85Hz, 800x600 resolution at 85Hz, 1024x768 resolution at 60, 67, 74.9 or 85Hz or at 640x480 resolution at 60 or 85Hz. What would the option for horizontal monitor sync be? How do I determine the vertical monitor sync? The monitor is an Apple Multiple Scan 15AV Display. According to the manual it is multiple scan, resolution range 640 x 480 to 1024 x 768 and with a 0.28 mm dot pitch. Cheers, Brian --
Re: [newbie] Soundcard for Mandrake Linux.
On 12/7/01 17:03, Tim Holmes at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: / den 12/7/01 17:03 skrev Tim Holmes fra [EMAIL PROTECTED] følgende: For the most part, any SoundBlaster card will work, and not cause many problems. I think SoundBlaster 16 PCI is still the most common and most stable. However I'm running a SoundBlaster 128 in my machine, and I've heard the 512 does the job as well. Check out the Mandrake's supported hardware list. They give a decently detailed list on the web page. On 12/7/01 14:46, Frans Ketelaars at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: / den 12/7/01 14:46 skrev Frans Ketelaars fra [EMAIL PROTECTED] følgende: As you can see here: http://www.alsa-project.org/~goemon/ there are many supported soundcards if you use the ALSA drivers. Most are also supported by the OSS/free drivers. Thanks for the responses on getting a soundcard that is supported by Mandrake. While it can be an irritant, I always find it better to ask on a list first about hardware issues, because you often get personal responses about something listed as working, but it turns out that it only works under specific conditions, or you need PCI cards in a specific order, or you need to fiddle with this or that before you can get the specific hardware to work, or an example of what not to try, because of x or y. Unfortunately, this information is often neglected in compatibility lists. Cheers, Brian --
[newbie] Switch between LAN and Modem Connection (2)?
It looks like I was too optimistic. I am still having problems with both LAN and modem based Internet connections. The modem has the priority at the moment. It is a US Robotics Sportster 56 Kbps modem. The modem worked fine under a Red Hat Linux 7.0 quick diagnostic install to see if it worked properly. With Mandrake back in place, it seems to respond both under /dev/modem and /dev/ttyS0 the later being where the modem resided under Red Hat. I am dialing into a pulse (not tone) telephone system, but under Red Hat, the modem worked fine regardless of whether the use tone button was active or not. I have tried changing the dial init from ATDT to ATDP, but am unsure as to whether this is the correct command. Isn't there an easier way of doing this? Cheers, Brian --
Re: [newbie] Linux app for MSN Messenger.
On 10/7/01 21:54, TezcatlipocA at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: / den 10/7/01 21:54 skrev TezcatlipocA fra [EMAIL PROTECTED] følgende: IMICI Messenger is much better than Everybuddy! Everybuddy has had some problems connecting to msn contacts. I use IMICI and it is very effective. I lets you have all your acounts in one app like your MSN, Yahoo, AOL adn ICQ. If you use it don't forget to type all of your hotmail address as your account, otherwise it will not connect to your account. eg. ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) You can get it @ http://www.imici.com Thanks again to all for the informative and varied answers for a solution to my daughter's wishes. Cheers, Brian --
[newbie] Linux Flavor for PowerBook 1400?
Hi again, Does anyone out there know if there is a Linux version that will run on a PowerBook 1400? The 1400, unlike the 2400 and the 3400 has a NuBus system, I believe. Cheers, Brian --
Re: [newbie] Linux app for MSN Messenger.
On 9/7/01 13:46, Florian Struck at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: / den 9/7/01 13:46 skrev Florian Struck fra [EMAIL PROTECTED] følgende: Try everybuddy or gabber . About gabber im not sure but everybuddy supports all instant messanger formats also aol and icq as well as yahoo and msn. On 9/7/01 14:13, steve campbell at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: / den 9/7/01 14:13 skrev steve campbell fra [EMAIL PROTECTED] følgende: on your cd's...gabber and everybuddy ( everybuddy has trouble with the msn server, i belive it's address is out of date) there is also imici which i use in windows and linux. Thanks for the quick response from list members! Cheers, Brian --
[newbie] WinGate, Mandrake Linux and Russian tech problem.
Some months ago, I used some local Russian techs to help me setting up a home LAN. During the 6-8 weeks that this went on, the local company provided two sets of two techs to set up the LAN and lastly, a third set came along and told me that Win 98 SE (UK) and all the programs, drivers, etc. need to be reinstalled on the WinGate machine. The problem turned out to be that the third group hadn't a clue what the password was for the WinGate app and therefore needed to do a complete reinstall, but was trying to stick me with a bill for their incompetence. However, this also means that I do not have the password and can make no changes to the network. At this time however, the network is functioning fine, but I am planning on taking everything over to Mandrake at a later point. Now I have a new problem. I have recently installed Mandrake Linux on a IBM machine. I want to access the Internet through my home LAN, but am unsure how to connect to the machine with WinGate installed. I remember that the last time the techs were here, they set up something that works with WinGate for my UMAX Pulsar (Mac clone), but that they also said that they had set something else up for the Wintel client machine that I have, running Win 98 SE (UK) with a 98lite install. What this is, I haven't a clue. I have looked at the network adapter properties on the Wintel client and haven't found anything that looks like something that I can use. Mandrake Linux does not recognize the IP address for the UMAX and I believe that the Mandrake machine does have a connection to the network, though I am not certain. What should I look for on the WinGate machine (or the Wintel client) and what can I do from the Mandrake machine? Thanks in advance for the patience it took to read this saga. Cheers, Brian --
[newbie] Newbie and Siemens Celvin EasyPC.
Hi, I am new to the list and to Mandrake. I would like to do a dual install (Win 98 SE (UK)/Mandrake) on my daughter's Fujitsu/Siemens Celvin EasyPC. I have Partition/Boot Magic, so this shouldn't be a problem in theory. It is however, unclear to me as to whether the EasyPC (legacy free) standard is supported. EasyPC has no serial or parallel ports. Everything, including floppy drive, keyboard, etc. is USB based. Looked in the archives and found no mention of Celvin, EasyPC or legacy free. Any ideas or advice? Cheers, Brian --
