Recently tested distro

All of them in Virtualbox or VMware.
Sidux Gaia
Debian Sid, KDE, very recent Kernel, nice tools for TV and nice scripts and customization scripts.
Menu is confused, too many applications.
Nice way to approach a "pure" debian.
Also 64bit.


Klikit alpha
Very nice look, needs at least 192MB RAM in the virtualbox and it's still slow.
Kubuntu Feisty based, KDE, one-clik install, kooldock, to be tested deeper, but it's very promising and user friendly.
Too much "Ubuntu", though.
Still I prefer PCLOS, which is very easy to use for the beginner but also powerful and complete.
I'll keep a close eye on it.

SAM
PCLinuxOS, XFCE with Beryl, nice, cool, light and complete.


Wolvix 1.1.0
Slackware, XFCE, very light but complete.
Very nice for a light vitual linux.

64Studio
Gnome, very, very good distro for music. It introduced me to Rosegarden and Jack.
Yet it's pretty simple (as a distribution, software is tough!). Much better than the other distros I've tried in this field (ubuntu studio, dynabolic. musix still to test) and its pure 64bit. A i686 version is available too.

Dreamlinux and Vectorlinux
Only opened in VMware (which is too slow on my pc) thanks to bagside and his appliances.
Not liked much. Nothing distinctive at my quick look.

LinuxMint Cassandra
Ubuntu Feisty, Gnome, very nice look (much much better than Ubuntu).
Ready to use and simple. Most of the missing things in Ubuntu are readily available here. Not only the proprietary/closed source stuff (maybe philosophically not acceptable, but often very useful) but also amarok, among others.
Should I reinstall an Ubuntu-like gnome distro I might really consider to install Mint instead of the "original" Ubuntu.
Even more appealing is the KDE version, which I'll test soon.
With PCLOS (and klikit), Mint is to me the "best" distro for beginners or ex-windows users.


My Preferred Distro
Still, so far, my top distro depending on the environment:
KDE: PCLinuxOS 2007
Gnome: LinuxMint Cassandra
XFCE: Wolvix and SAM
USB drive: DamnSmallLinux, Puppy 2.15, Slax Killbill (depending on available size)

USB speakers

On PCLinuxOS I can't let the USB speakers work.
I think it might be a missing feature in KDE, more than a pclos issue.
The USB speakers are recognized as a different sound card.
In Gnome there's a nice setting were you just declare which soundcard is your default.
On boot it tries that card, if not present it falls back to the other card.
This works nicely with the USB speakers, just declearing those as the default card.
There are some annoyances when switching the speakers on and off, but it generally works.
Same feature is in Rhythmbox, if I'm not mistaken.
No way to find this in KDE or Amarok, though.

I've found an interesting post for Kubuntu, but should work on pclos as well.

Re: switching between USB speakers and PCI sound card

---

Here is a fix for ya; although not a GUI one perhaps - but it is clickable.

open a shell and type

Quote:

asoundconf list

Then make a note of the sound cards you have.
In my case, I have
CK8S
UART
Headset

Since I know that CK8S is my on-board sound card and the headset is - A HEADSET, then I can create switches for each:

First new text file, write:

#! /bin/sh -f
sudo asoundconf set-default-card (your main soundcard - no brackets)

so mine looks like this:

Quote:

#! /bin/sh -f sudo asoundconf set-default-card CK8S

OK, save this and then create one just like it for your headset.

Congrats, now you have two cool looking icons (Ubuntu Dapper) that do
nothing whatsoever! Just kidding, go ahead and right click on each of
them. Goto properties and then permissions. Under owner, check off the
Execute option. Then click the close button at the bottom.

OK, are you ready? Click on the one for your headset - boom, it will
ask you how you wish to run this. Choose "in the terminal" and then
enter the password - you just changed the default sound card without
needing to hack the .conf file manually.

From here on out, just click as you wish to toggle between the two. You
may not have to enter the password each time, it's a timed sort of
deal.

If using to toggle media in a browser, you will need to close the
browser with each new toggle. With on the desktop media files however,
you will need to close whatever program you were using for the same
affect.



In addition, this also seems to clean up sound issues that are assigned
in Skype. In short, once assigned the settings in Skype are not staying
set.

__________________

---

Last edited by ctsdownloads : January 3rd, 2007 at 09:27 AM.

PCLinuxOS 2007 installation

PCLinuxOS 2007 installation
jul 09, 2007

tot install time ~20min
tot personalization so far <2h00

The notebook:
IBM ThinkPad T40
CPU intel pentium M 1300MHz
RAM 512MB
HF fujitsu 100GB
Sound max integrated digital audio from Analog Devices
video: ATI mobility radeon 7500 (32MB shared memory)
modem: agere system AC'97
infrared, LAN, 2 USB 1.1, docking station

BASE INSTALL

partitioning scheme:
hda1 (/winXP not automounted, ntfs) (85GB)
hda2 /boot ext3 (100MB)
hda3 /media/scambio fat32 (2GB)
hda5 /media/important ext3 (1GB)
hda6 / ext3 (11GB)
hda5 swap (1GB)

Keyboard: UK
Time zone: Europe/Rome


after base install: ~2.5GB used space
TV card Dazzle not recognized, wireless PCMCIA Belkin Mimo not recognized

kernel: 2.6.18-8 (i586)

Feeling after first install:
It's very nice and very fast, compared to all other distros I've tested (including different flavours of Ubuntu, Sabayon, Mandriva...). I like the way of organizing the start menu, very clean and essential, even though it might be tricky to find something such as the Beryl manager which is very well hidden in the hyerarchy...
I've loved the search area seen firstly in Sabayon, also present now in Ubuntu, Mint and some others. I'd like to see it here as well. I'll install Kerry, maybe there's some option there to add it in the start menu.
mp3 audio works out of the box.
ntfs can be read with no hassle and fat32 partition can be written --> no need to play around with fstab, first time in my decade-long linux experience.
a very useful menu in ubuntu is the places menu, with all the mounted partitions immediately visible. I prefer this way then going through the places/storage group. the menu way is faster and cleaner. I'd like to see tha same in pclos.
Beryl doesn't start immediatly or doesn't ask to start. that's a pity, for a new user might not know that beryl/compiz does exist and will be left with the impression that pclos does not support all the beautiful desktop effects.
the way sabayon manages this is very nice: at the first boot (also in the live CD) the user is prompt with the question of wich (if any) acceleration is preferred: AIGLX, XGL, nothing. pclos can do the same and ask for beryl, compiz or nothing and suggest where to find the beryl manager application in the menus.

PERSONALIZATION

WiFi: setup through control center/wireless/ndiswrapper.
inf file used: netani.inf from netgear wpnt511 driver
--> network working very fine and fast (WEP-WPA not tested)
No connection status icon found --> added to panel by adding the network applet.
This in turn has started the usual monitor with the link strength and net switch possibility.
In the preferences of this monitor I've selected "start on startup".

Installed through synaptics (in different sessions):
note: no need to change or add respositories, everything works as it is.

1. gramps, kerry, libdvdcss2
2. aspell-it, locales-it, mozilla-firefox-it, mozilla-thunderbird-it, myspell-it_IT, myspell-thes-it_IT, openoffice.org-l10n-it (with OOo upgrade to 2.2.1-1)
3. timidity++, easytag, gcompris, gcompris-sounds-it, rosegarden
4. googleearth, kdegames-suite, ksudoku, skype, wesnoth
5. mercurial
6. lib-dvb

Fonts:
msttcorefonts is not in the repository.
peering through the pclos control panel, I found an "install fonts" application, which includes an "import windows fonts" button. this retrievs the fonts from the existing windows installation (should be mounted). in 10min I have a full set of true type fonts to increase compatibility with microsoft applications.
btw, starting OOo (writer, in my test) takes some time, but not too long. the second time it starts, though, it's really fast, much faster than I've seen in other distributions. I don't know what made the trick, maybe that package openoffice.org-ooqstart that I've seen during the upgrade of OOo

Beryl:
started through the Beryl manager icon hidden in the menus.
beryl works very fine, fast and really really smooth.
I've switched to compiz, but this has some small imperfections, such as the top border of the window is completely transparent.
also, there was no way to switch from compiz to anything else (beryl or kde).
I had to restart the X server (CTRL+backspace) to exit compiz.
porbably the switching among window managers should be more carefully checked by the developers/testers.
another plus for pclos: I've been used to switch off beryl when trying to watch a video or even sometimes when opening OOo document. instead pclos lets me watch video (or dvd) and open documents without switching off beryl and with no apparent performance loss.

DVD play:
with the libdvdcss installed, dvd plays well with the default player, though mplayer gives better results as for rendering and smoothness. mplayer should be the default for DVD play.
I haven't checked, but I believe DMA is automatically enabled on the DVD, for it spins fast and the video is smooth.

TV tuner "Dazzle TV Hybrid Stick":
followed the french howto at http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/pctv_hybrid_pro_stick.
"build-essentials" and "linux-headers" are not present in the repositories.
Nevermind, though: I've seen that gcc is already installed and also the headers. (note: this is very unusual but very welcome. most of the users do not need to compile anything, but it's always annoying that headers and compilers are not installed as default).
I had to install mercurial with synaptics.
dvb-utils and libxine-extracodecs are also not present.
don't know what dvb-utils does, so I've installed lib-dvb, hoping it's the same with a different name. xine codecs seem to be already installed as well.
(note: sudo does not work, I had to use su instead. I'll need to check how to enable sudo).
I've used firmware_v3.
the directory "/lib/firmware/`uname -r` " does not exist in pclos. I've unpacked the file in /lib/firmware/ instead.
after restarting the machine, the modprobe commands did succeed but em2880-dvb. don't know why.
dmesg did show the correct info.
still need to add the modules to modprobe.preload (not to /etc/modules): I want to understand the em2880-dvb first.

TV tuner testing:
the hardware installer in the control panel still did not found anything (maybe I need a reboot with automatic load of the modules at boot?).
tvtime also didn't show anything (but I don't know this software, first-time user...).
kaffeine instead not only did find the TV stick, but also completed the channel scan, found loads of channels and played very well, fast and smooth the dvb channels. (so, what does the -dvb module do?).
to me seems faster and better than the original pinnacle software for winxp bundled to the stick.
overall, it took much lower effort and gave better results the installation on pclos than on winXP (need to get the XP2...).
I didn't succed with sabayon on the same task. I haven't tested ubuntu with the stick, anyway, I was delighted with the results on pclos.

next:
I need to test most of the SW I've installed so far, especially gcompris, rosegarden, wesnoth, skype and OOo/win compatibility.
openwengo is not available in the rep. need to find it.

copiare gruppi di appartenenza utente

Understanding /etc/group file

cdrom:x:24:vivek,student13,raj


molto interessante anche questo:

migrate user accounts

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

da feisty su virtualbox: utente std base appartiene a questi gruppi:


$ cat /etc/group | grep zagor



adm:x:4:zagor

dialout:x:20:cupsys,zagor

cdrom:x:24:haldaemon,zagor

floppy:x:25:haldaemon,zagor

audio:x:29:zagor

dip:x:30:zagor

video:x:44:zagor

plugdev:x:46:haldaemon,zagor

lpadmin:x:109:zagor

scanner:x:111:cupsys,hplip,zagor

zagor:x:1000:

admin:x:114:zagor

in definitiva quindi, basta aprire il file /etc/group con distro live e editarlo assegnando l'utente davide ai gruppi std, cosi' dovrebbe tornare a posto, senza toccare /etc/sudoers.

controllare anche che lpadmin sia espressamente dichiarato per davide, altrimenti siamo punto e a capo con cupsadmin

ho distrutto sudo!

Nel seguire la guida http://www.cups.org/articles.php?L237 con troppa fretta ho lanciato

usermod -G printadmin davide

questo ha cancellato tutti i gruppi di appartenenza dell'utente e quindi sudo non funziona piu'.

root non e' abilitato e non ho altri utenti sul sitema.

che fare?


idea: avvio con una live, accedo al file etc/sudoers e aggiungo l'utente "davide" ai sudoers.

poi, se funziona sudo, dovrei poter aggiungere tutti gli altri gruppi del default.

speriamo in bene...


http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Feisty#How_to_allow_more_sudoers

How to allow more sudoers

• Read #General Notes
  

EDITOR=gedit sudo visudo

(nota: visudo e' un comando che edita il file /etc/sudoers in modo sicuro,
bloccando il file con un lock /etc/sudoers.tmp e controllando la sintassi
prima di salvare. la definizione della variabile EDITOR e' perche' di base
visudo apre il file con vi)

• Append the following line at the end of file
  

system_username ALL=(ALL) ALL

• Save the edited file
  

OR since everyone in the admin group can use sudo:

sudo adduser a_username admin

This appends the admin group to the user's supplementary group list. They will now have sudo access.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

How to set/change/enable root user password

• Read #General Notes
  

sudo passwd root

installare XP al posto di vista

Dell Solution Network: risoluzione guidata dei problemi

OPERAZIONE: Install the hardware drivers on the portable computer.

Install the appropriate hardware drivers. Locate the Drivers and Utilities CD you received with your computer.&nbsp;

For the system to function properly, you must install your hardware drivers in the following order:

1. Desktop System Software or Notebook System Software
2. Chipset or SMBus driver
3. Processor Driver (if applicable)
4. Video
5. Audio (sound)
6. Input Drivers (keyboard/mouse)
7. Modem (Desktop computers have a separate CD for the modem)
8. Network Card

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



istruzioni per reinstallare e scaricare i driver



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cose da scaricare sicuramente:



Dell Notebook System Software



Dell QuickSet



Dell Support 3.4

NOTE:

To install Dell Support, you must install Microsoft.Net Framework first. Click this Microsoft .NET Framework Version 1.1 Redistributable Package link. Click Download, and follow the instructions to install the program.

mythTV e dazzle hybrid TV

http://mcentral.de/wiki/index.php/Em2880#Installation
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-4074690.html?sid=cfa6e502d15f032e1db15b3c1d3d744d
http://www.sabayonlinux.org/wiki/index.php?title=Setup_Mythtv
http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/pctv_hybrid_pro_stick
http://eduard.caliu.cat/
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/em28xx

dmesg
2917.188000] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[ 2917.251000] em28xx v4l2 driver version 0.0.1 loaded
[ 2917.251000] usbcore: registered new interface driver em28xx
[ 3276.384000] usb 1-3: USB disconnect, address 4
[ 3280.123000] usb 1-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 5
[ 3280.241000] usb 1-3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice

zagor@akira ~ $ sudo lsusb
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 1241:1122 Belkin
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 005: ID eb1a:2881 eMPIA Technology, Inc.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

Code:
sudo modprobe em28xx

zagor@akira ~ $ lsmod | grep em28
em28xx 45224 0
compat_ioctl32 2432 1 em28xx
ir_common 31108 1 em28xx
videodev 26624 1 em28xx
v4l2_common 23936 2 em28xx,videodev
v4l1_compat 13572 2 em28xx,videodev
tveeprom 15248 1 em28xx
i2c_core 21760 6 em28xx,tveeprom,i2c_i801,radeonfb,fb_ddc,i2c_algo_bit



/var/tmp/portage/media-tv/v4l-dvb-hg-0.1-r2/temp/build.log:

* Determining the location of the kernel source code
* Found kernel source directory:
* /usr/src/linux
* Found kernel object directory:
* /lib/modules/2.6.20-sabayon-r3/build
* Found sources for kernel version:
* 2.6.20-sabayon-r3
>>> Unpacking source...
* hg clone http://linuxtv.org/hg/v4l-dvb ...
abort: error: Name or service not known
 [ !! ]

!!! ERROR: media-tv/v4l-dvb-hg-0.1-r2 failed.
Call stack:
ebuild.sh, line 1614: Called dyn_unpack
ebuild.sh, line 751: Called qa_call 'src_unpack'
environment, line 4110: Called src_unpack
v4l-dvb-hg-0.1-r2.ebuild, line 47: Called mercurial_src_unpack
mercurial.eclass, line 77: Called mercurial_fetch
mercurial.eclass, line 54: Called die

!!! (no error message)
!!! If you need support, post the topmost build error, and the call stack if relevant.
!!! A complete build log is located at '/var/tmp/portage/media-tv/v4l-dvb-hg-0.1-r2/temp/build.log'.



EDIT: this link possibly best: 2nrds.com.
Card should be same as Pinnacle PCTV Hybrid Pro Stick (320e) (USB ID=eb1a:2881).
Card option could be (link for kernel 2.6.29):

53 -> Pinnacle Hybrid Pro
1 -> Unknown EM2750/28xx video grabber
52 -> DNT DA2 Hybrid

EDIT2: the latter link seems to work up to Hardy, maybe not on Intrepid http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=956353
EDIT3: with kernel >2.6.24 see this article on HTPCpoint (in Italian)

EDIT4: from Pinnacle web page:


PCTV Hybrid Pro Stick (320e)






Dazzle*TV Hybrid Stick (320e)



EDIT5: latest resources found on installation:
OpenLinux (in Italian)