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

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

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 23:12

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

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.

Update on the 1501 Dell Acpi crap - I just wacked it and am going to use Ubuntu. Edgy seemed to pre-configure everything perfectly...except the screen brightness! I have to randomly tap the up and down function keys combos to get it to randomly change from 70% to 100%. I have to keep doing it until I can stop right on time.

I wish they could make this work better. I don't mind configuring things to any end (I learned Linux on Slackware...so I've learned to bitch less and just take it like a man)- but I have no idea how to fix it.

# ¿ May 11, 2007 21:02

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.

desy posted:

I can't set up my speedtouch 121g in ubuntu I've tried doing the following:
http://network.wiki.xs4all.nl/index.php?title=Linux_/_Ubuntu:_ST121G_wireless_adapter
It won't show up as a device, but instead of:
nab@nab-laptop:~$ sudo ndiswrapper -l
Installed drivers:
bt4501g driver installed, hardware present
nab@nab-laptop:~$

it instead says "driver present, hardware present" so is there a way i can install the driver further? There is the command to do so with ndiswrapper which i think is -d, but it wanted a USBID? How do i find this? (in the format XXXX:XXX or something)

when performing the sudo dmesg | tail I get a similar response, but with some error messages, and a wlan0 is not created.

Any suggestions? tia

Did you run...

code:

ndiswrapper -m
modprobe ndiswrapper

Perhaps try restarting and re-modprobing it?

Many times I've found that completely removing ndiswrapper, restarting, and reinstalling randomly works for no apparent reason I can surmise.

# ¿ May 12, 2007 00:35

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.

desy posted:

I will try this again when I boot back into ubuntu, but when i tried earlier the error changed to:

sudo dmesg | tail
USB 1-5: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
USB 1-5: USB disconnect address 5
USB 1-6: New high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 6
USB 1-6: USB disconnect address 6
USB 1-5: New high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 7
USB 1-5: USB disconnect address 7
USB 1-6: New high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 8
USB 1-6: USB disconnect address 8

I'll be waiting until you return with your results then! Like someone before said, it seems you are either furiously adding new USB devices or it's reconnectiong...or something.

Try running lspci as well and post that as well (if my previous tip did not result in molten sex flowing forth from your computer).

# ¿ May 17, 2007 09:54

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 23:12

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 recently (last few months) purchased a Dell Inspiron 1501 for notes in class and general tomfoolery. Just after said purchase, Dell announced cooperation with Canonical's Ubuntu, and are now offering it as an OS for some of their products. While they do not offer Linux as an option for my particular item, I was wondering if anyone knew if such support would be available in the future (Dell native support for the various keyboard func keys and perhaps not having to use ndiswrapper).

Thanks!

# ¿ Jun 21, 2007 19:56

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