64-bit VL

[wcs]

So, I just installed the 64 bit alpha 2.

First impressions: Looks great, and most of it seems to be working.

A few problems, though.

1. Even though I chose to install the NVIDIA source, when I tried to install the driver, it went directly to the X configuration without compiling the driver. After the reboot, the driver in the xorg,conf file was "vesa".

2. Kdm wouldn't start, so I had to start X by issuing startx from the terminal. When I chose "nv" as the driver in xorg.conf, and on the second reboot, kdm now starts.

4. Gnumeric doesn't launch and complains about missing libgnomeui

5. Gslapt doesn't start; complains about not being able to create /home/ftp/...

6. Print dialog and print manager don't launch. Hitting the print button in Seamonkey leads to it getting blocked and needs to be killed. Maybe because I don't have a printer installed yet?

7. A few issues with the mplayer plugin. After the second reboot it seemed to be working fine, but on the first attempt, I couldn't play a lot of the files in the "plugger testing ground" or the "linspire file types" pages. It seemed to hang after buffering.

8. The same ifconfig missing message at boot that others have reported. Although internet access is working fine.

Other than that, the bits I've tested seem to be working as they should... although I only played with it for 10 minutes, it felt gooood.

Thanks a lot for the great work.

[uelsk8s]

thanks for the report wcs.
I have uploaded a new alpha 3 iso.
it should fix the ifconfig and nvidia isues. I will look into the others you have mentioned.
the ISO is here: http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/Uelsk8s/old-pkgs/VL64-5.9-STD-A3.iso
Thanks,
Uelsk8s

[TonyH9904]

I wanted to try that A3 iso but firefox won't dl it for me. Is there a ftp solution? thks
TonyH9904

[uelsk8s]

yes here is ftp:  ftp://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/pub/vectorlinux/Uelsk8s/old-pkgs/VL64-5.9-STD-A3.iso
also you could try wget from CL it works better for me

[TonyH9904]

Thanks! Since I ended up witha 64 AMD I think I should try it out, help on it if I can.
tonyh9904

[wcs]

This one (alpha 3) is very promising! Installation was very clear and fast, nvidia driver installed with no problems, kdm shows up nicely after rebot. For the first time ever, I didn't have to change anything in xorg.conf after installing VL, and was greeted by a perfect display.  Xfce compositing seems to be working fine as well.

Most of the problems I referred to above are solved. Except for gslapt and gnumeric that do not launch (either from root or normal user).

Also, there seems to be that problem with the mplayer plugin. I could play most formats, but sometimes they don't play. For instance, with the avi divx file in the "plugger testing grounds" I had to try it 3 times, and the file showed up only after the 3rd refresh, then it stopped working again the 4th time. In all tries, the buffering completes but there's only a white square where the movie is supposed to show up. Clicking (or right-clicking) on it doesn't change anything nor does the context menu show up.

Just guessing, but maybe this is a npwrapper issue. Would it be possible for this version to ship with a native 64-bit mplayer plugin?

By the way, npwrapper with the flash plugin seems to be working fine with youtube videos.

Great work! Thanks again.

[TonyH9904]

Hello,  Installed the newest alpha , and so far it looks great, and what I've tested works well. The Nvidia installer , which I've not ever messed with before, was awesome, automatic, and did what it was supposed to do. I can't get cups to start , for some reason, so far, so I can configure printer. There is no firewall running that I can find, so it must be something else. Tried to install my favorite old game Lbreakout2 but when I run configure, I get "C compiler cannot create executables." It's been about 2 ys since I messed with installing frm source, I forget how to fix this.
 I did install by the package manager, the penguin game, PPL?, and it complains about wrong LibSDL, I can prob find the right one someplace.
   Overall it looks great, it configured the onboard lan card (without any onscreen feedback though -had me worried)
which works fine , internet is up and good. Havent checked browser plugins yet. Bootmessages have a lot of complaint lines about no basic support for this, that and the other, but mustn't hamper anything, CDs mount and umount perfectly, sound system is super. I'll check mplayer later. Other than crappy fonts on the yahoo pages in FF, I like this version!     I can email any log files that might help, pm me.  Here's equipt I have now: Asus M2R32-MVP , no fancy INtel crossfire cards in it though, 2 GB ram , old 40gb ide HD . & cheap video card GeForce 5500. AMD64  X2 dual-core 4200+   
TonyH9904
Edit> The fault may be in /sbin/vcupsweb, line 75........this is where it 'faults' when I run the cups config from VASM----Can anyone tell me how its supposed to read???  here's the way it is now:
yesnobox "Hmmm ... CUPS is not running.\nLaunch it, shall we ?"
    [ $? != 0 ] && clean_exit
    clear
    service cups start
the last line is line 75. Browser won't open, cups wont start , can't config printer. THANKS

[GrannyGeek]

I installed 64-bit alpha 3 on my laptop. It's the first version of 5.9 (32- or 64-bit) that installed the default kernel. On all others I had to keep trying until I found a kernel that wouldn't stall early into the installation.

The NVIDIA proprietary driver installed easily and auto picked up my 1280x800 resolution.

Now for the bad parts:
*  Like every other distro, version of VL, and LiveCD I've tried, sound won't work. Everything looks good, alsaconfig brings up the mixer for STAC9200 (correct), but--no sound.

*  I can't get wlan0 to come up. I'm using ndiswrapper with a Win XP driver for Realtek 8185. I made the necessary changes with /etc/modprobe.conf and /etc/ifplugd/ifplugd.conf. If I do ifconfig wlan0 or ifconfig wlan0 192.168.2.12 I get this:
wlan0: error fetching interface information: Device not found

So....
Dead in the water. I can't continue with testing until I can get a wireless connection.
--GrannyGeek

[TonyH9904]

  That would be a stopper, GrannyG. I had good luck with this until I tried to do a printer. At first it would not open up a browser to do the cups config, just saying unable to start cups at this time. Then I figured out it had a glitch in a script, so I replaced that vcupsweb file with one from Soho5.1.1, (same old file they used) Now it opens browser and says it can't connect. I hate running down these cups problems more than anything else! I may find it yet though, I've lost some of my debugging skills in the last 2yrs though, lol.
   This 64 version found my sound on this new MB with no problem and configured it, same with onboard lan. It installed the nvidia drivers perfectly. It has potential, this new version.

[saulgoode]

*  Like every other distro, version of VL, and LiveCD I've tried, sound won't work. Everything looks good, alsaconfig brings up the mixer for STAC9200 (correct), but--no sound.

I recall reading -- though I was unable to locate it in the ChangeLog -- that kernel 2.6.24 has some bugfixes for Intel HD sound. You may wish to look into that.

[The Headacher]

I recall reading -- though I was unable to locate it in the ChangeLog -- that kernel 2.6.24 has some bugfixes for Intel HD sound. You may wish to look into that.

try searching for hda-codec .

There HAS been a fix for stac9200. It looks like it's a fix in alsa-1.0.15 though, so getting a new alsa might be easier.

[GrannyGeek]

There HAS been a fix for stac9200. It looks like it's a fix in alsa-1.0.15 though, so getting a new alsa might be easier.

I did try alsa-1.0.15 on an earlier beta (or maybe it was on 5.8 Standard) I compiled all alsa files for 1.0.15. I still couldn't get sound out of the speakers.

If I can get a reliable wireless connection on this laptop, I'll do more experimenting with sound. I'm hoping that a newer alsa and newer kernel might do it
--GrannyGeek

[nubcnubdo]

Bluewhite64 is an unofficial port of Slackware Linux to x86_64 processor architectures.
http://www.bluewhite64.com/news.php

[alec]

Bluewhite64 is an unofficial port of Slackware Linux to x86_64 processor architectures.
http://www.bluewhite64.com/news.php

Do you think they could have some packages we can use? I mean, slacky and linuxpackages are out of question (?) with 64-bit.
Or is there a way to use 32bit packages in 64-bit? Whats this ia32-emulation about?

[uelsk8s]

We are already using some of there packages
the latest version of VL64 is here: http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/Uelsk8s/iso-test/VL64-5.9-STD-A7.iso
you can use 32bit packages as long as you have all the 32bit libs on the system.
DO NOT use installpkg to install 32bit packages without making sure they do not install anything into /lib or /usr/lib.