The Linux Questions Thread: a bunch of pitfalls, but technically it's possible

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The Linux Questions Thread: a bunch of pitfalls, but technically it's possible

«‹›1025 »

fatcat: Jun 18, 2004; albert's lookin at you

teapot posted:

Enable Xinerama.

Well that did work, but now X just treats my two screens as one, which introduces some new problems. I guess my real question is, is there any way to get dual screens in Linux to act pretty much identical to dual screens in Windows? It seems like GDM before I enable Xinerama is close, but of course I can't correctly use that configuration in anything but GDM.

My reason for this is because I want to be able to watch fullscreen MLB.tv video on my TV while doing other stuff on my laptop (and the fact that MLB.tv, a subscription service that lets you watch every MLB game and uses WMP functionality, works under VLC in Linux is amazing to me). If Xinerama is the best that you can get, then I guess I'll have to deal with it.

# ? May 9, 2007 05:45

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 24, 2024 21:30

Tracer Tong: Jul 7, 2003; You know, it's hard work to try to love her as best as I can, knowing full well that the decision I made caused her loved one to be in harm's way.

I have a Dell 1501, Turion 64, Ati el-cheapo with shared video ram. I installed Debian Etch after being disapointed with ubuntu. The various function keys worked fine in ubuntu + gnome. Screen brightness, volume control, cd tray eject, etc. In etch they do not. I manually binded a few but there is no way I can figure to control the screen brightness (which randomly sets its level).

How does one control the screen brightness, for christ's sake. I miss the days with analog controls.

# ? May 9, 2007 05:51

Farts: Nov 4, 2005

teapot posted:

So it is visible in Network Manager, but it shows 0% signal in the list, and you can't connect to it?

Or do you use manual configuration of connection (why?) and if so, do you by any chance configure an Ad-Hoc (peer to peer) wireless network instead of Managed (access point-based) one? If everything is working properly, Network Manager should show access point in the list of wireless networks, and you should be able to just select it.

I use manual connection because I don't have DHCP turned on on my router, however, my wireless access point has it turned on, so my two wireless devices are easy to setup. I want the wireless network set up to a static IP address, however, the computer won't even see the wireless network, or connect to it.

When I try to set it up manually, I cannot setup an unsecured wireless network. I can only select that when I setup the wireless to be in roaming mode. Even still, when I try to connect to a wireless network, and I type in my essid, it will not connect, it says I have 0% signal.

I ran iwconfig from the terminal, and I got this

lo no wireless connection
eth0 no wireless conenction
eth1 IEEE 802.11b/g ESSID:off/any Nickname: "Broadcom 4311"
mode:Managed Access Point: Invalid
RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
And then everything else is link quality 0, signal level/noise level -256 and all the rest are 0.

Farts fucked around with this message at 11:57 on May 9, 2007

# ? May 9, 2007 11:47

teapot: Dec 27, 2003; by Fistgrrl

fatcat posted:

Well that did work, but now X just treats my two screens as one, which introduces some new problems. I guess my real question is, is there any way to get dual screens in Linux to act pretty much identical to dual screens in Windows? It seems like GDM before I enable Xinerama is close, but of course I can't correctly use that configuration in anything but GDM.

My reason for this is because I want to be able to watch fullscreen MLB.tv video on my TV while doing other stuff on my laptop (and the fact that MLB.tv, a subscription service that lets you watch every MLB game and uses WMP functionality, works under VLC in Linux is amazing to me). If Xinerama is the best that you can get, then I guess I'll have to deal with it.

When I have to use similar configuration (one screen for most of applications, one screen almost exclusively for media players), I just disable Xinerama and run media player on the second screen. If you want to be able to launch it from the first screen, add a launcher button, and configure your program to run on the second screen. For example,

code:

firefox -P TV --display=:0.1 http://www.youtube.com

runs a separate copy of Firefox on the second monitor in a non-Xinerama configuration, completely separate from the main desktop (you have to configure "TV" profile on the first launch so it will have whatever defaults you want for it, without main desktop affecting it).

Media players can run in a similar way:

GXine:

code:

gxine -f --display=:0.1

Xine (this is a generic way of running X applications):

code:

sh -c "DISPLAY=:0.1 xine -f"

I believe, VLC can use the same command line as Xine, and also uses -f for fullscreen (compiling it now to check)
Edit: I was right, VLC:

code:

sh -c "DISPLAY=:0.1 vlc -f"

Personally I use an even more TV-like setup -- on X session startup I run

code:

xterm -display :0.1 -T Remote -g 25x1-0+130 -e restart-irexec

/usr/bin/restart-irexec (executable) is:

code:

#!/bin/sh
killall irexec 2>/dev/null
exec irexec

/usr/bin/launch-mythtv (also executable) is:

code:

#!/bin/sh
if \
ls -l /proc/[0-9]*/exe 2>/dev/null | grep ' -> ' | sed -r 's/^(.+ +)+\/proc\/[0-9]+\/exe -> //' | \
grep mythfrontend > /dev/null
then
 killall mythfrontend xine >/dev/null 2>/dev/null
# xscreensaver -nosplash 2>/dev/null &
 clear
 echo -n "MythTV frontend: OFF"
else
# xscreensaver-command -deactivate 2>/dev/null
# xscreensaver-command -exit 2>/dev/null
 mythfrontend >/dev/null 2>/dev/null &
 clear
 echo -n "MythTV frontend: ON"
fi

and my .lircrc contains:

code:

begin
        button = Power
        prog = irexec
        repeat = 0
        config = launch-mythtv
end

With MythTV and lirc installed (and .lircrc containing various commands for MythTV and Xine) it allows me to control everything with a remote. Really, there are all kinds of scripting possibilities for a setup like that.

teapot fucked around with this message at 16:59 on May 9, 2007

# ? May 9, 2007 14:34

teapot: Dec 27, 2003; by Fistgrrl

Kantaris posted:

I use manual connection because I don't have DHCP turned on on my router, however, my wireless access point has it turned on, so my two wireless devices are easy to setup. I want the wireless network set up to a static IP address, however, the computer won't even see the wireless network, or connect to it.

When I try to set it up manually, I cannot setup an unsecured wireless network. I can only select that when I setup the wireless to be in roaming mode.

What exactly do you see when you configure it as unsecured (with no WEP key)?

quote:

Even still, when I try to connect to a wireless network, and I type in my essid, it will not connect, it says I have 0% signal.

I ran iwconfig from the terminal, and I got this

lo no wireless connection
eth0 no wireless conenction
eth1 IEEE 802.11b/g ESSID:off/any Nickname: "Broadcom 4311"
mode:Managed Access Point: Invalid
RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
And then everything else is link quality 0, signal level/noise level -256 and all the rest are 0.

Does it work if you say:

code:

sudo iwconfig eth1 essid "whatever-essid-you-have"

on the command line?

# ? May 9, 2007 16:51

Vivian Darkbloom: Jul 14, 2004

Tracer Tong posted:

I have a Dell 1501, Turion 64, Ati el-cheapo with shared video ram. I installed Debian Etch after being disapointed with ubuntu. The various function keys worked fine in ubuntu + gnome. Screen brightness, volume control, cd tray eject, etc. In etch they do not. I manually binded a few but there is no way I can figure to control the screen brightness (which randomly sets its level).

How does one control the screen brightness, for christ's sake. I miss the days with analog controls.

Heh, let me know if you figure this one out. In theory this is abstracted through an ACPI manager program, but I'm having a hell of a time actually getting one of them to do what I want, because Ubuntu apparently controls it all through scripts I can't seem to find.

# ? May 9, 2007 18:28

JoeNotCharles: Mar 3, 2005; Yet beyond each tree there are only more trees.

Twinxor posted:

Heh, let me know if you figure this one out. In theory this is abstracted through an ACPI manager program, but I'm having a hell of a time actually getting one of them to do what I want, because Ubuntu apparently controls it all through scripts I can't seem to find.

They're in /etc/acpi.d. The ones I looked at (volume up, volume down, mute) just called FAKEKEY or something, I guess to just translate the ACPI "somebody pushed a button" event into a keyboard "somebody pushed a button" event, and then Gnome is set up to read the key codes instead of the ACPI events.

I just replaced the "FAKEKEY" calls with "alsamixer" calls directly, which meant that when I hit a button the volume would go up or down but I wouldn't get any on-screen display, but at least it worked when I wasn't running Gnome. (I'm sure there's a better way involving running a daemon to watch for those keyboard events or something, but whatever.)

So the scripts that control the screen brightness should be in there, but what commands to actually call in those scripts I don't know.

# ? May 9, 2007 22:03

dfn_doe: Apr 12, 2005; I FOR ONE WELCOME OUR NEW STUPID FUCKING CATCHPHRASE OVERLORDS

JoeNotCharles posted:

So the scripts that control the screen brightness should be in there, but what commands to actually call in those scripts I don't know.

should be controlled via acpi on most modern standards compliants laptops...

code:

$ cat /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness
levels:  75 35 10 25 35 50 60 75 90 100
current: 0

you can echo any of the level values into /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness to achieve that brightness level.

# ? May 9, 2007 22:10

GoonyMcGoonface: Sep 11, 2001; Friends don't left friends do ECB; Dinosaur Gum

dfn_doe posted:

should be controlled via acpi on most modern standards compliants laptops...

Some laptops have them actually built into the firmware: My HP Pavilion dv2120US changes the screen brightness without software interaction.

# ? May 9, 2007 22:13

dfn_doe: Apr 12, 2005; I FOR ONE WELCOME OUR NEW STUPID FUCKING CATCHPHRASE OVERLORDS

CaladSigilon posted:

Some laptops have them actually built into the firmware: My HP Pavilion dv2120US changes the screen brightness without software interaction.

You can probably still change them via acpi. Since the acpi standard really serves as an abstraction layer between firmware/bios and kernel/userspace.

# ? May 9, 2007 22:36

Farts: Nov 4, 2005

teapot posted:

What exactly do you see when you configure it as unsecured (with no WEP key)?

Does it work if you say:
code:
sudo iwconfig eth1 essid "whatever-essid-you-have"
on the command line?

interface: Wireless ethernet (eth1)
speed: unknown
driver: bcm43xx

Everything else is listed as 0.0.0.0

When I typed that command in the terminal, iwconfig just lists the same thing as before, but it has an essid in it now. I have DHCP on on my wireless, and I am getting nothinng.

THe wireless works, every other device can connect to it no problem.

actually, my AP has a SSID listed, but not an Essid. I assume they're the same thing?

# ? May 9, 2007 23:16

teapot: Dec 27, 2003; by Fistgrrl

Kantaris posted:

interface: Wireless ethernet (eth1)
speed: unknown
driver: bcm43xx

Everything else is listed as 0.0.0.0

When I typed that command in the terminal, iwconfig just lists the same thing as before, but it has an essid in it now. I have DHCP on on my wireless, and I am getting nothinng.

THe wireless works, every other device can connect to it no problem.

actually, my AP has a SSID listed, but not an Essid. I assume they're the same thing?

They may or may not be the same. Are you sure, your access point is actually in access point mode? And not, say, configured as an ad-hoc wireless network? You can change the mode to ad-hoc, and if it will connect to your network, you have for some reason configured access point to use ad-hoc network.

# ? May 10, 2007 00:21

DirtyDiaperMask: Aug 11, 2003; by Ozmaugh

I have a rather obscure/narrow question:

I have a MythTV box that runs 25' RCA audio cables to a TV, and the output is a bit too low and there's a bit of hum when you turn the TV up to play the quiet parts. I'm looking into using JACK to compress the audio so the quiet parts don't sound like poo poo (tv has auto-volume, but it also increases the hum). So I'm looking for a quick Ubuntu start to simply take my ALSA and put it through jack-rack so I can use the compressor but I'm totally loving lost for the first time since I started using Linux. Documentation, even on the JACK site is severely lacking and the entire software suite seems to have a big learning curve.

I can't move the computer closer to the TV since the outlet over there isn't grounded.

# ? May 10, 2007 00:34

Farts: Nov 4, 2005

teapot posted:

They may or may not be the same. Are you sure, your access point is actually in access point mode? And not, say, configured as an ad-hoc wireless network? You can change the mode to ad-hoc, and if it will connect to your network, you have for some reason configured access point to use ad-hoc network.

The access point is setup to be an access point.

# ? May 10, 2007 01:52

thenameseli: Sep 6, 2006

JoeNotCharles posted:

They're in /etc/acpi.d. The ones I looked at (volume up, volume down, mute) just called FAKEKEY or something, I guess to just translate the ACPI "somebody pushed a button" event into a keyboard "somebody pushed a button" event, and then Gnome is set up to read the key codes instead of the ACPI events.

I just replaced the "FAKEKEY" calls with "alsamixer" calls directly, which meant that when I hit a button the volume would go up or down but I wouldn't get any on-screen display, but at least it worked when I wasn't running Gnome. (I'm sure there's a better way involving running a daemon to watch for those keyboard events or something, but whatever.)

You can set up acpid to execute scripts on acpi events. Run 'acpi-listen' when acpid is on and try pressing the different hardware keys (sleep, volume?, screen close, etc) to see if any of them work through acpi. You can then use their key ids to run arbitrary commands.

# ? May 10, 2007 02:33

Tracer Tong: Jul 7, 2003; You know, it's hard work to try to love her as best as I can, knowing full well that the decision I made caused her loved one to be in harm's way.

thenameseli posted:

You can set up acpid to execute scripts on acpi events. Run 'acpi-listen' when acpid is on and try pressing the different hardware keys (sleep, volume?, screen close, etc) to see if any of them work through acpi. You can then use their key ids to run arbitrary commands.

I would run acpid, but I recieve this message:

code:

acpid: can't open /proc/acpi/event: Device or resource busy

And thanks everyone - I have learned through the prior help that my Dell 1501 monitor is a Toshiba monitor. Oh Debian.

EDIT: I attempted to run:

code:

/etc/acpi/toshbright.sh up

Result:

code:

grep: /proc/acpi/toshiba/lcd: No such file or directory
grep: /proc/acpi/toshiba/lcd: No such file or directory
Unknown argument up

Here's toshbright.sh:

code:

#!/bin/sh

BRIGHTNESS=$(( `grep brightness: /proc/acpi/toshiba/lcd | cut -d: -f2` + 0 ))
MAXBRIGHT=$(( `grep brightness_levels: /proc/acpi/toshiba/lcd | cut -d: -f2` - 1 ))

if [ "x$1" = "x" ]; then
   echo $BRIGHTNESS / $MAXBRIGHT
elif [ "x$1" = "xdown" ]; then
   if [ "x$BRIGHTNESS" != "x0" ]; then
      BRIGHTNESS=$(( $BRIGHTNESS - 1 ))
      echo 'brightness : '$BRIGHTNESS > /proc/acpi/toshiba/lcd
   fi
elif [ "x$1" = "xup" ]; then
   if [ "x$BRIGHTNESS" != "x$MAXBRIGHT" ]; then
      BRIGHTNESS=$(( $BRIGHTNESS + 1 ))
      echo 'brightness : '$BRIGHTNESS > /proc/acpi/toshiba/lcd
   fi
else
   echo >&2 Unknown argument $1
fi

I forgot how I came to the conclusion that I have a 'Toshiba' LCD, but if it 's a worthless assumption then...how would one figure out where this display falls on Debians lists?

EDIT2:

code:

dana:/etc/acpi# chmod -x toshbright.sh
:/etc/acpi# ./toshbright.sh
: ./toshbright.sh: Permission denied
:/etc/acpi# sh toshbright.sh
grep: /proc/acpi/toshiba/lcd: No such file or directory
grep: /proc/acpi/toshiba/lcd: No such file or directory
0 / -1

Tracer Tong fucked around with this message at 03:05 on May 10, 2007

# ? May 10, 2007 02:43

Your HILARIOUS: Mar 15, 2003

Anyone know a program like eXtreme movie manager but that I can run in Ubuntu?

# ? May 10, 2007 03:02

teapot: Dec 27, 2003; by Fistgrrl

Kantaris posted:

The access point is setup to be an access point.

Does it, by any chance, have an access lists limiting the set of MACs that can access it?

# ? May 10, 2007 03:34

DeathChill: Feb 28, 2005; I play by my own rules, baby.

I want to set up what will be a specialized project running on Linux. This means that I want the most bare bones setup possible.

I was curious as to the exact components I need for my project, which I'll explain now. The project is actually a set of applications that will work in unison to create the appearance of an operating system separate of Linux. I have no interest in installing a lot of dependancies that are unimportant, I basically want the kernel and any other NECESSARY pieces as well as the appropriate hardware drivers.

However, forms and windows and images will have to be placed on the screen, so I assume X11/Xorg will also be necessary and for anything advanced would require Beryl or Compiz? I won't be developing the applications (thank God), but I'd rather be able to put together the necessary pieces right now so the developer I hire can simply roll out the image I provide and get it going.

# ? May 10, 2007 04:16

teapot: Dec 27, 2003; by Fistgrrl

DeathChill posted:

I want to set up what will be a specialized project running on Linux. This means that I want the most bare bones setup possible.

I was curious as to the exact components I need for my project, which I'll explain now. The project is actually a set of applications that will work in unison to create the appearance of an operating system separate of Linux. I have no interest in installing a lot of dependancies that are unimportant, I basically want the kernel and any other NECESSARY pieces as well as the appropriate hardware drivers.

However, forms and windows and images will have to be placed on the screen, so I assume X11/Xorg

Install a "server" configuration of Debian without actual servers, plus X11.

quote:

will also be necessary and for anything advanced would require Beryl or Compiz?

Compiz and Beryl are the MOST COMPLEX AND DEMANDING pieces of desktop environment made for X. If you want a minimalistic configuration, you probably need Window Maker or similar window manager. Even Xfce will be an overkill.

# ? May 10, 2007 04:56

dfn_doe: Apr 12, 2005; I FOR ONE WELCOME OUR NEW STUPID FUCKING CATCHPHRASE OVERLORDS

DeathChill posted:

I want to set up what will be a specialized project running on Linux. This means that I want the most bare bones setup possible.

I was curious as to the exact components I need for my project, which I'll explain now. The project is actually a set of applications that will work in unison to create the appearance of an operating system separate of Linux. I have no interest in installing a lot of dependancies that are unimportant, I basically want the kernel and any other NECESSARY pieces as well as the appropriate hardware drivers.

However, forms and windows and images will have to be placed on the screen, so I assume X11/Xorg will also be necessary and for anything advanced would require Beryl or Compiz? I won't be developing the applications (thank God), but I'd rather be able to put together the necessary pieces right now so the developer I hire can simply roll out the image I provide and get it going.

uhm, honestly... from your description of requirements and your limited knowledge of what you want I'd say you are WAY over your head....

start small... think big.

# ? May 10, 2007 06:35

fletcher: Jun 27, 2003; ken park is my favorite movie; Cybernetic Crumb

I'm trying to move a large directory of files to a new server

I tar'd the folder using tar cvf uploads.tar uploads (figured I didn't need the compression since they're all jpg's anyways)

Then on the new server I ftp in with ncftp to grab the tar, but it keeps going over 100%

ncftp /httpdocs > get uploads.tar
uploads.tar: ETA: 0:00 4.30/ 4.07 GB 5.75 MB/s

And when I untar it I get an error a few minutes into about corrupt headers. What's going on here. I don't get any errors when I create the tar.

quote:

tar: Skipping to next header
tar: Archive contains obsolescent base-64 headers
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors

md5's don't match either.

fletcher fucked around with this message at 07:23 on May 10, 2007

# ? May 10, 2007 06:41

Smackbilly: Jan 3, 2001; What kind of a name is Pizza Organ! anyway?

Minor minicom question:

I have a computer running headless that I am connecting to via a null-modem cable using minicom. The connection establishes perfectly, but this happens:

code:

Welcome to minicom 2.1

OPTIONS: History Buffer, F-key Macros, Search History Buffer, I18n
Compiled on Jul 26 2006, 06:38:12.

Press CTRL-A Z for help on special keys


Fedora Core release 6 (Zod)
Kernel 2.6.20-1.2948.fc6 on an i686

reakk login: AT S7=45 S0=0 L1 V1 X4 &c1 E1 Q0
Password:

i.e. the printable part of the minicom modem init string is being entered as the username. Now obviously I can press enter and log in on the second try, but that's annoying and I'd like to make it stop if possible. The solution is not so simple as to make the init string empty in the minicom options - if I do that, it doesn't connect at all.

Anyone have a clue how to fix this?

# ? May 10, 2007 07:31

teapot: Dec 27, 2003; by Fistgrrl

fletcher posted:

I'm trying to move a large directory of files to a new server

I tar'd the folder using tar cvf uploads.tar uploads (figured I didn't need the compression since they're all jpg's anyways)

Then on the new server I ftp in with ncftp to grab the tar, but it keeps going over 100%

ncftp /httpdocs > get uploads.tar
uploads.tar: ETA: 0:00 4.30/ 4.07 GB 5.75 MB/s

And when I untar it I get an error a few minutes into about corrupt headers. What's going on here. I don't get any errors when I create the tar.

md5's don't match either.

Switch to the binary mode before requesting the file. By default FTP is in text mode.

And what happened to ssh? My usual directory transfer procedure is

code:

cd /somedir && ssh otherhost '(cd /someotherdir && tar cz . )' | tar xvz

# ? May 10, 2007 07:39

teapot: Dec 27, 2003; by Fistgrrl

Smackbilly posted:

Minor minicom question:

I have a computer running headless that I am connecting to via a null-modem cable using minicom. The connection establishes perfectly, but this happens:
code:
Welcome to minicom 2.1

OPTIONS: History Buffer, F-key Macros, Search History Buffer, I18n
Compiled on Jul 26 2006, 06:38:12.

Press CTRL-A Z for help on special keys


Fedora Core release 6 (Zod)
Kernel 2.6.20-1.2948.fc6 on an i686

reakk login: AT S7=45 S0=0 L1 V1 X4 &c1 E1 Q0
Password:
i.e. the printable part of the minicom modem init string is being entered as the username. Now obviously I can press enter and log in on the second try, but that's annoying and I'd like to make it stop if possible. The solution is not so simple as to make the init string empty in the minicom options - if I do that, it doesn't connect at all.

Anyone have a clue how to fix this?

What do you mean, does not connect at all? It will connect, but since it didn't send anything, you will see empty screen until you type something.

# ? May 10, 2007 07:48

Smackbilly: Jan 3, 2001; What kind of a name is Pizza Organ! anyway?

teapot posted:

What do you mean, does not connect at all? It will connect, but since it didn't send anything, you will see empty screen until you type something.

Ah, you're right. The issue was I didn't see "login:", so I didn't think it was expecting input. I figured out that if I replace the init string with a ^L, it shows the "login:", but doesn't enter anything. Thanks.

# ? May 10, 2007 08:05

Smackbilly: Jan 3, 2001; What kind of a name is Pizza Organ! anyway?

teapot posted:

And what happened to ssh? My usual directory transfer procedure is
code:
cd /somedir && ssh otherhost '(cd /someotherdir && tar cz . )' | tar xvz

Is there any advantage to this over scp with the -r and -C options?

# ? May 10, 2007 08:08

teapot: Dec 27, 2003; by Fistgrrl

Smackbilly posted:

Is there any advantage to this over scp with the -r and -C options?

Preserves all attributes, copies all special files correctly.

# ? May 10, 2007 08:17

fletcher: Jun 27, 2003; ken park is my favorite movie; Cybernetic Crumb

teapot posted:

Switch to the binary mode before requesting the file. By default FTP is in text mode.

And what happened to ssh? My usual directory transfer procedure is
code:
cd /somedir && ssh otherhost '(cd /someotherdir && tar cz . )' | tar xvz

Ahhh, thank you.

And drat that line is slick, I'm such a newb on linux, I'm using that from now on!

# ? May 10, 2007 08:32

teapot: Dec 27, 2003; by Fistgrrl

fletcher posted:

Ahhh, thank you.

And drat that line is slick, I'm such a newb on linux, I'm using that from now on!

Forgot: that line doesn't need parentheses:

code:

cd /somedir && ssh otherhost 'cd /someotherdir && tar cz .' | tar xvz

# ? May 10, 2007 09:35

Farts: Nov 4, 2005

teapot posted:

Does it, by any chance, have an access lists limiting the set of MACs that can access it?

No, other than the SSID not being broadcasted, it is a totally unsecured wireless connection. The laptop can't see any other wireless networks either. I know there are some other ones in my neighborhood if I run a scan for them.

# ? May 10, 2007 11:48

teapot: Dec 27, 2003; by Fistgrrl

Smackbilly posted:

Ah, you're right. The issue was I didn't see "login:", so I didn't think it was expecting input. I figured out that if I replace the init string with a ^L, it shows the "login:", but doesn't enter anything. Thanks.

Ctrl-L is a "screen redraw" only for applications that use [n]curses, slang or readline libraries. Login prompt is displayed by login application, and it is designed to be compatible with all imaginable terminal types (starting with a serial-console typewriter), so it doesn't make any assumptions beyond very basic terminal capabilities. You can test this by trying to login with a username in all uppercase -- terminal will switch into the uppercase-only mode, assuming that you use some ancient console.

# ? May 10, 2007 19:54

teapot: Dec 27, 2003; by Fistgrrl

Kantaris posted:

No, other than the SSID not being broadcasted, it is a totally unsecured wireless connection. The laptop can't see any other wireless networks either. I know there are some other ones in my neighborhood if I run a scan for them.

Then this is a driver bug -- there are many reports of bcm43xx driver not working while ndiswrapper and a Windows driver for the same card work without problems. So disable bcm43xx and install ndsiwrapper.

You will need to install ndiswrapper, ndiswrapper-utils and ndisgtk packages (using Synaptic, Aptitude or apt-get), and use a Windows driver (from installation CD ot manufacturer's web site). Before configuring ndiswrapper, disable bcm43xx driver:

code:

sudo sh -c "(echo; echo \#Broadcom driver does not work; echo blacklist bcm43xx) >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist"
sudo ifconfig wlan0 down
sudo rmmod bcm43xx

See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/Ndiswrapper for details about ndiswrapper drivers configuration, use "feisty" in place of "dapper" or other older versions names' if you need to download the packages manually.

teapot fucked around with this message at 20:17 on May 10, 2007

# ? May 10, 2007 20:12

Sir Bobert Fishbone: Jan 16, 2006; Beebort

Running a Dell Inspiron 9300 with Ubuntu Feisty. How do I set up TV-out through S-Video? Fn-F8 does nothing

EDIT: Never mind, I figured out xorg.conf edits.

Sir Bobert Fishbone fucked around with this message at 04:50 on May 11, 2007

# ? May 11, 2007 01:09

DeathChill: Feb 28, 2005; I play by my own rules, baby.

teapot posted:

Install a "server" configuration of Debian without actual servers, plus X11.

Compiz and Beryl are the MOST COMPLEX AND DEMANDING pieces of desktop environment made for X. If you want a minimalistic configuration, you probably need Window Maker or similar window manager. Even Xfce will be an overkill.

Well, I want to take advantage of some nice features and effects, the minimal aspect is in terms of the low level stuff (like the kernel). I'm not worried about the graphical aspect getting too complex, I'm just more interesting in allowing the applications to use some nice effects. I have the hardware to make it all work, but the most important part is the imaging aspect beyond the kernel.

As well, I'm not sure that I'm in over my head, I'm just learning the aspects that I'm not familiar with.

So, Compiz and Beryl, they're actually window managers and desktops and not just imaging tools (like Aqua).

# ? May 11, 2007 03:26

Smackbilly: Jan 3, 2001; What kind of a name is Pizza Organ! anyway?

DeathChill posted:

So, Compiz and Beryl, they're actually window managers and desktops and not just imaging tools (like Aqua).

They're window managers only. If you want a desktop environment, you will also need to install one of those, such as KDE, Gnome, Xfce, etc.

# ? May 11, 2007 04:33

thenameseli: Sep 6, 2006

fletcher posted:

Ahhh, thank you.

And drat that line is slick, I'm such a newb on linux, I'm using that from now on!

Beware that ssh has some overhead compared to other, unencrypted protocols, so if you are on your own network I would recommend something simpler. I use nc (netcat). It just opens up plain tcp connections which you can pipe arbitrary data through.

FWIW, ssh gets ~8 MBps over my 100 mbps ethernet network, and nc gets ~11.

# ? May 11, 2007 05:21

teapot: Dec 27, 2003; by Fistgrrl

DeathChill posted:

Well, I want to take advantage of some nice features and effects, the minimal aspect is in terms of the low level stuff (like the kernel). I'm not worried about the graphical aspect getting too complex, I'm just more interesting in allowing the applications to use some nice effects. I have the hardware to make it all work, but the most important part is the imaging aspect beyond the kernel.

All hardware-dependent graphics functionality is implemented in X server, its modules and extentions, so for 3D graphics, distortion and alpha blending within an application you will only need X server with GLX, and OpenGL library for the client.

Graphics libraries such as SDL are used to provide 2D graphics handling and interface to OpenGL for 3D graphics, typical for games.

Widget libraries such as GTK+ and Qt provide traditional GUI interface with menus, buttons, input fields, checkboxes, listboxes, lists, etc. typical for most of non-game applications.

quote:

As well, I'm not sure that I'm in over my head, I'm just learning the aspects that I'm not familiar with.

So, Compiz and Beryl, they're actually window managers and desktops and not just imaging tools (like Aqua).

They are window managers with functionality that allows them to handle applications' windows as surfaces in 3D, and in their turn they can be integrated into desktop environments such as GNOME and KDE. If you have applications with complex interface within them but without a need to arrange windows of multiple applications on spinning cubes and similar effects, you can use a much more simple (and less resource-hungry) window manager.

# ? May 11, 2007 06:17

Evil Robot: May 20, 2001; Universally hated.; Grimey Drawer

A couple of GNOME related questions:

In Evolution, how can I import Outlook 2003 Calendar/Contact/Task/Note information? CSV will not import properly (attempts to import everything as contacts).

Also in Evolution, how can I get it to become a status icon when I don't want to see it in my task bar (like Pidgin)? Can I get it to put a little "New mail" icon in my task bar like Thunderbird when I get new mail? Can I disable it from popping up the stupid "Warning: Mailbox is 96% full!" message and overriding priority on all my other windows?

If it was possible, I'd also like to make Audacious into a status icon.

Other than that, I think I've imported the majority of my application data (still need to get pidgin-otr and my contacts working) into Ubuntu and am pretty pleased. I still have some game and Beryl/Compiz issues to work out until I'm really happy though.

# ? May 11, 2007 06:31

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 24, 2024 21:30

mo-: Apr 21, 2007; by Fistgrrl

How do I connect to an enterprise wireless connection? Meaning, there is no key just a username and password.

EDIT: I should note that my wireless card is fully configured.

mo- fucked around with this message at 18:04 on May 11, 2007

# ? May 11, 2007 18:00

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The Linux Questions Thread: a bunch of pitfalls, but technically it's possible

«‹›1025 »