Subject: Re: Newbie in need of serious help
From: philippe tapon (ptapon@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Oct 28 2000 - 17:25:35 MDT
hello
> Ok. I got the dog out and running after many many failed installations and
> then a bunch of boot errors. I am currently in my Mac OS, as Linux is not
> quite functional.
>
> A list of things that I need some help fixing.
>
> Video. I have an iMac DV/SE 1999. I tried it with video first, and all I got
> was a very messed up screen. So I tried the no-video as stated in the
> manual. In a way, this is worse. I am getting 640x480 I think, in 8 bit
> colour. And no accelleration. The system is slow, and dragging windows make
> the system halt for about 10 seconds, and then I can see a line by line
> redraw. How do I fix this? I have not found any monitors control panel or
> what ever the equivelent is in Linux. No option to change the colour,
> nothing to change resolution, and no way of altering video settings.
heh. a gnubee. =] I managed to install YellowDog CS 1.2.1 on my iMac
DV SE (also from 1999). (after almost a dozen attempts.) I posted a
Newbie Help File, which you can find at
http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/mac/yellowdog_champion_server.html
(welcome to the bleeding edge. . . .) Video acceleration for the iMac
DV SE
is handled by the Rage 128 card. Unfortunately, the version of X Window
that comes with YDL CS 1.2.1 doesn't handle the acceleration provided by
that card. Nonetheless even without acceleration it should run fairly
spiffily; your case is, er, unusual. I don't have a satisfactory
answer, I'm afraid, except to say that my own system works, so it *is*
possible. (But I suspect the *last* thing you
want to do is reinstall. . . .)
Down the line, in order to get every bit of work out of that card
you'll need to
upgrade X Window to 4.01, but this is a slightly major mission, as I've
found out. Even under X 3.3.6, if it's working correctly, you should
get a speedee display. On the other hand, the 8-bit color problem has
me stumped as well. . . . .
The mac's monitor point and click contorol panel doesn't (yet?) have a
counterpart in linux. Instead, changes to XF86Config, a file located in
/etc, control how the monitor appears. More control: less easy.
> Internet. Linux refuses to see that I have a modem in my iMac. It just says
> something like, device not found or supported, or something like that.
> However, I have do desire to use my 56k connection and grow old quickly. I
> have a 2 meg DSL line I want to get working. I have no idea how to do this.
> The service is with Bellsouth.net fast acess. The DSL modem is connected
> directly to my iMacs ethernet port. I have to use to a dial out software
> when ever I boot the machine to initialize the modem. There are linux
> drivers on the CD rom that came with it, but I can not seem to get them to
> do anything but give me errors.
Once I got X and KDE working, I found the Red Hat Configuration Tool
(main menu:YallerDawg:Internet:RH etc.) found my modem without too much
pain.
> Sound. There is no sound at all. How do I change this?
There is a fix (one which will require you to restart the kernel) at
http://www.yellowdoglinux.com/support/faq_solutions.shtml
This will enable the sound and with the 2.2.17 gerbil (the one that came
with the distro) the OS will recognize when external speakers are
plugged in, when the headphones are plugged in, etc. The XMMS player
included will play MP3s. CD Audio, on the other hand, is still being
hacked at. The closest I've gotten is the alsaplayer
(http://www.alsaplayer.org <- you may have to compile it) which
recognizes
scraps of sounds only. Hé oui.
> Date and time. There is no way to set the day and time that I have found. It
> says Jan 1 1900 every time I start linux. (Y2K bug?)
Hm. That's evil. That battery has years of life in it, or should. In
a console you can issue (as root) some permutation of the command
bash$ date
and you can set it. Or should be able to. Good luck.
> Adding new users. I know about the usr commands. When ever I add a user and
> create a password, and then log out and then try to loggon as a new usr, I
> get the same message. Usrs password has expired, or is unable to be found,
> or some message along those lines.
I wonder if this has to do with the no-time problem.
> Final question for now. How do I shut linux down? i mean I know how to shut
> down, but, it fails to do anything. It just goes to a promt and hangs there,
> doing nothing, and I am unable to type anything in. I have to hit the main
> power switch to kill the machine.
Hm. Again, this sounds like something's screwy. Issuing bash$ halt or
bash$ shutdown -h now should bring the machine down as effectively as
choosing "shut down" from the Finder menu. Could something have become
corrupt . . . ? (or perhaps you are new to the console. . . .? heh.)
> Any and all advice would be wonderfull, and I would be very thankful. Very
> much looking for the day when I no longer need to boot into Mac OS to do
> daily chores.
>
> <dr_s_douglass@mac.com>
>
> Also, how do I change the boot level or what ever that is called..
runlevel. I will let someone more experienced than I tackle this (I've
only been at this a month.)
peace
philippe
PS. The version of MOL you have will work, I think, but
http://www.maconlinux.com has a new version, 9.52 or something like
that, which runs a little better. Until the 8-bit problem is solved (I
think) the video is a little screwy if you run it in an X window--when
MOL has the focus, the rest of the X Environment gets haight-ashbury
colors. If you run it full-screen it's very convincing.
Ctrl-Command-F7 switches you to the X environment,
Ctrl-Command-F1thru6and8 give you consoles.
--# # # #
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