h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Like to be a member. also I need to know alot about Linux as I've only been on if for 2 weeks, I've got it to dule boot (win98) but I still can't get a nuber of things to work, do you think you could help?

a) Sound card, Aztec Card (?)
b) Devices, Floppy Disks won't mount
c) kde, I have a user (apart from root) and It goes into a difrent X-Server
d) Modem, I know I need Kernel 2.2.14 but it's too big to fit on disk and with out it I can't get my modem to work.
e) Memory, I have 32Mb of mem and yet it's hogging it all, it won't load gimp of anything.

please help...

Thanks

-- DoctorMO --

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by all the questions. Can I ask for some clarifying information? It's irritating, because without knowing the terminology, it's hard for new users to describe their problems... but I learned the terminology as my personal Linux Guru was fixing my problems for me.

Firstly, what distribution and version of it are you running? What kernel version do you have now? It can also help to say what version of XFree86 and KDE you have. You should be able to find these out without too much trouble - your distribution's package manager might be able to help, assuming it has one that is.

With 32MB of RAM I would definitely advise against running KDE. It's just too memory-intensive. Also, running Gimp is bound to cause problems as it uses the GTK+ toolkit for its widgets, whereas KDE doesn't - therefore there's no memory overlap between them, and the memory requirements go up even more. Also, Gimp's not much good for complex images in that much RAM. Try a leaner window manager like AfterStep, OLVWM, Blackbox, IceWM or maybe even the venerable TWM. They're not as friendly as KDE or Sawfish/GNOME or Enlightenment/GNOME desktops, but they're definitely lighter on the computer.

Personally, I don't have any problems running Sawfish/GNOME on 32MB. (I have about 200MB of swap space, though)

On the sound issue, you will probably have to recompile the kernel. This will involve the following steps (as root):

cd /usr/src/linux
make xconfig

Now search through the menus and include support for sound and the particular sort of sound card you have. Then:

make dep
make bzImage
make modules
make modules_install
mv /boot/vmlinuz /boot/vmlinuz.old
cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz

For devices, are you explicitly mounting them? You have to type "mount /mnt/floppy" before you can use a disk. If this is what is causing problems, take a look at /etc/fstab(.) There should be a line saying:

/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner 0 0

This means that "Drive A" (DOS name) is mounted on /mnt/floppy with automatic filesystem detection, doesn't get mounted on boot and can be altered by anyone. I'm not sure exactly what the zeroes mean, but they have to be there. If this line isn't there, add it.

Sawfish/GNOME may be fine on 32MB, but KDE and Gimp together? That's pushing it, you have to admit, especially if it's KDE2.

Floppy mounting varies according to your distribution.

Also, recompiling the kernel like that may not work as most distros I've encountered either don't install the kernel source unless you explicitly say so, or they don't supply a source tree that matches their kernel configuration, so you'll have to go through every single screen in the configuration system and select all the appropriate options for your system.

Your thinking way too simply,

Q1, Can I be a member?

Anwser this first please!

Other Information...

SuSE 6.1 Kernel 2.0 KDE 1.??

The Aztech sound system isn't suported in the kernel options
and the Sound Blaster drivers don't work for it, even though the card will work with them.

If not even KDE will work with Linux I may as well make my own GUI in Assembler it seems much easyer and hell it might even be faster,

perhaps if some of the code was writen in assembler not C or C++ they would't have the memory problems! don't forget that Unix will work on 386s and thats with it being the server, so whats wrong with linux and why doesn't it configure the memory in the way memory should be configured, I know microsofts Memory system is a laugh but a least they have shared components so that once a dll is loaded it can be used by all aplications.

-- DoctorMO --

your problem with kde and 32mb of memory is due to the fact that kde belongs to the kitchen sink school of programming, where you shoehorn every little feature that you can think of into one big program. Microsoft are notorious for this, and it is not the fault of linux that the bunch at kde are using the same assumptions.

Gnome is a perfectly good ide if you must have one, or you can use a window manager without any ide. the gimp should still work just as well.

Sorry about not mentioning it, but I have added you to the page as a member.

KDE does use shared libraries - lots of them! The thing is, that not all applications on Linux use the same shared libraries to provide themselves with windows, buttons, labels and other fancy bits that are sort of necessary for interacting with them. Also, KDE suffers somewhat from code bloat, so it's a bit of a memory hog. There are plenty of other window managers available that use a lot less memory which you could try. They'll run faster too.

Others have made some good comments about KDE and other window managers. There are lots out there, try a few and see which you like (best not start an I like window manager * thing here I think ).
The sound card thing. What sort of aztech sound card is it? Is it PCI or ISA? Would it work if you booted from windows to linux using loadlin (to allow windows to set any parameters up on it)? What is the part number of the main chip on the card?
I know it's a load more questions but we are trying to help

Also, it's possible you'll need to pass parameters to the kernel to get the card working right if it's not a plug-and-play one - IRC, DMA and so forth. SoundBlaster modules for non PnP cards do need this if you're using a 2.4.x kernel.

Sound Card, I know all the DMAs and have set them but still, I'm woundring if getting the new Suse would be a good idea also, because at the moment I would very much like for me to talk to you guys from home, then I could check out all your questions in real time, but nether windows or linux seems to care.

Aztech BSS ISA 16bit (DMTFTISBWIIAEBS!)

I havn't switched on my PC in 2 weeks because of linux, I've just had my laptop set up instead, so any solutions to linux fustration (perhaps Yoga?)

-- DoctorMO --

As I can't find anything about what you posted as the soundcard, I'm going to suggest trying it as a microsoft/windows sound system card. Might work.
If you think getting a newer version of SuSE (or other distro) will help in getting your modem to work, go for it! What sort of modem is it?

One of the other questions in your first post was about getting a newer kernel but it not fitting on disk, what do you mean by that? Does the source not fit on your hard drive? can you not get it to the hard drive cos you've no way of transfering it there? is the compiled image too big to fit on a boot floppy?

Questions, questions, questions, what you want is answers. Ask the right questions and the answers will be given

right when I had a look at the ftp it was 15meg thats too big I need somthing thats 1.44 or less, I could use my laptop but thats not posable, you see if I could get my modem to work I could just download it, but I can't so...

Modem is a EuroViva 56k Modem HSF Conexant Chipset, but when I try and find EuroViva they say they never made sutch a modem!
DAMB!

the new Conexant Drivers for HSF modems don't work because it's now SoftKFlex and only for secific modems. not mine. why can't I find an old driver?

-- DoctorMO --

If you can connect with your laptop, you could download it onto that then transfer the file in various ways;
1, connect the two machines as a network - either with network cards and cables or
2, use a serial or parallel cable to connect the machines
3, use winzip or other archiving programme to span the big file over lots of floppies and then use that programm to put it back together on the other box.

Just a few more ideas that may work.

nope. no internet access atall, unfortatly this is my last day in college so from now on I will be mute (unless I can get on another coarse or I get my modem to work)

I wouldn't mind but it won't even work under windows, if somone could find an old HSF driver I'd be happy because I know it would work!

-- DoctorMO --

But how would you get it if you have no access?

I'm going to 'borrow' the net from the libary, and hope that my new mother board and PII 333, I hope this will "Help" windows pick up my modem and/or make the stupid driver work, no garentee but it's better that nothing.

-- DoctorMO --