VectorLinux5.9-rc3 bugs/annoyances

[Witek Mozga]

I`ve been trying to add a user using vasm from root account. When it comes to 'enter user ID' it displays 1000, when I click 'next', it says 'ERROR, UIDs are numerical only'. It seems vasm treats this value as text not as numerical value; the script (or code) must be fixed.

[M0E-lnx]

Actually, I remember seeing this before on other versions. it may be leftovers from other releases

[Witek Mozga]

I tried installation on a Dell box with i810 video card. When the installer tried to configure X11 my screen went black. I rebooted from HD this time, installer tried once again and failed. I rebooted and got into superuser console. When I replaced driver "intel" with "i810" in xorg.conf then X11 could be started. Anyway X consumes huge amount of CPU when trying to resize or move windows. Probably something`s still wrong with xorg.conf.

[Witek Mozga]

In Thunar clicking on a .zip or .rar archive brings up a message that no suitable archive manager is available.  Other distros do successfully tie Thunar to an archive manager.

agreed, I tried to point this issue several times, vainly 

[rbistolfi]

I have one issue. Trying to save settings to xorg.cong from the nvidia-settings gui ends with a segmentation fault. Editing xorg.conf by hand works good.

[toothandnail]

Actually, from my point of view, vl-hot is very "tidy". It works inside it's own subtree called /mnt/vl-hot. I've been proposing cleaning up /mnt for a long time now. I remove most of those directories after every install.

  Tidier probably wasn't the right word. More complete? What I found a little off-putting was the fact that Vl-hot didn't handle optical media. So any USB mass storage device would be automounted, but I had to go and use something like the Xfce mount applet to mount a CD. HAL handles all removable media, which makes it a bit more seamless.

The only time vl-hot mounts become a bit tedious is when not using a gui desktop with support for the drive icons, so you have to navigate to the innermost mountpoint. I find that a fair trade-off for an organized layout. I did ask for suggestions on this back when I started on vl-hot development, but didn't get much (apart from moving to /media, which is definitely not the right place for external mass storage mounts).

  It looks as though /media is now the norm, at least for things like HAL. I don't much like the idea of splitting mount point up, so maintaining both /mnt and /media seems a bit silly.

I'm also not too fond of the naming used by HAL. I have a Seagate FreeAgent GO USB drive, which always gets mounted as /media/FreeAgent Drive. I really don't like file/directory names with spaces in them...

paul.

[toothandnail]

1.  In Thunar clicking on a .zip or .rar archive brings up a message that no suitable archive manager is available.  Other distros do successfully tie Thunar to an archive manager.

I'm seeing something similar, but here it simply looks as though there is a problem of some sort with default mime info for Thunar. I've manually associated Xarchiver with all the common archives, and that seems to have stuck. Not sure why it wasn't set by default.

2.  VL still doesn't detect that I'm running a Toshiba laptop during install or boot.  I still need to manually add the toshiba module to rc.modules by hand.  No big deal for me but not user friendly for newcomers.

I'm running RC3 on a an IBM Thinkpad. Also not detected - I've had to manually add thinkpad_acpi to /etc/rc.d/rc.modules. It would be nice if it was autodeteced, but not many other distros have done so either, unfortunately.

paul.

[toothandnail]

Now for my dumb question. Where do I put the file? I don't have a floppy drive. I'd have to boot with something, wouldn't I? I have a SystemRescue CD that's bootable. If I put the partition table and MBR backup file on a flash drive, could I boot with SystemRescue, mount the flash drive, and run the reverse to restore?

That would be the simplest option. While I usually use SystemRescueCD to recover broken Windows boxes, it works pretty much the same with Linux.  In fact, it provides a utility you can use to backup the partition table (sfdisk) which would allow you to create a backup of the MBR and a separate backup of the partition table.

That should give you some protection...

paul.

[tab0reqq]

I couldn't wait more I deleted all partitions made with Vista (but with clean win xp). Then i installed again Windows XP @ sda1, second ntfs @ sda2. Extended partitions and sd5,6,7 with swap, raiserfs, raiserfs and of course VECTOR 5.9 rc3.

Actually i work on WiFi - no problem at all. Cable (Broadcom) also without any problem.

New VASM is AMAZING !!!!!! That what i always wanted to have. Adding partitions to FSTAB with VASM was very easy. All worked without Google ;p

My X stared also without any problems. Now i need to know: do i have to install additional Intel 945GM drivers for my integrated GMA950? Actually graphic works but... UT2004 demo on Windows was easy to play. On Linux i have 2-10FPS instad of 40++.

Since Vector 5.8 i have problems with keymap during installation. On beginning i chose Polish (PL). Then i start installation. After all setups at end "vector" ask me if i want to save keyboard layout (en-US). Dam no! I changed it at beginning and i still have to do this second time. Is it a bug or do i miss something?

Another question: how to enable OSD volume up/down on my HP nx7300 laptop? I can easy rise and lower brightness (but without OSD info - ubuntu has it). And I CAN'T lower/rise volume with hardware button on my laptop. Mute works (also hardware button) but volume control no.

Question bout HDD on battery: do i need to change smth on ACPI to avoid hdd problems while i work on battery?

How works speedstep on laptop? On windows i had NHC Notebook Hardware Control with 2 most important switches: max battery and max performance. Does Vector makes it automatically? I never used laptop with Linux thats why i ask.

HINTS?

[DrCR]

To make a backup of your MBR and partition table:
dd if=/dev/sda of=/mnt/sdb1/sdaMBRandPartitionTableBackupFile bs=512 count=1

If you wanted to make a backup of your MBR but not your partition table:
dd if=/dev/sda of=/mnt/sdb1/sdaMBRBackupFile bs=446 count=1

To restore just do the opposite:
dd if=/mnt/sdb1/sdaMBRandPartitionTableBackupFile of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1

Now for my dumb question. Where do I put the file? I don't have a floppy drive. I'd have to boot with something, wouldn't I? I have a SystemRescue CD that's bootable. If I put the partition table and MBR backup file on a flash drive, could I boot with SystemRescue, mount the flash drive, and run the reverse to restore?
--GrannyGeek

I would be afraid I would loose a flash drive, but sure, that would work. I personally would use a LiveCD (SystemRescueCD should indeed do the trick), save it whereever, say to / or the LiveCD's user home directory, and then email it to myself. Then all I need to restore the MBR is any LiveCD and an internet connection.

By all means shoot me a PM for other questions or start a thread and PM me the link.

DrCR

[GrannyGeek]

Thanks for answering my questions about where to save the backed up MBR and partition table. Never fear, I'll have the file stashed in multiple locations.
--GrannyGeek

[Masta]

Since Vector 5.8 i have problems with keymap during installation. On beginning i chose Polish (PL). Then i start installation. After all setups at end "vector" ask me if i want to save keyboard layout (en-US). Dam no! I changed it at beginning and i still have to do this second time. Is it a bug or do i miss something?

During the boot up, you chose PL, which is so that the system (CD) will begin to boot and your keyboard will be usable during installation. It's not actually part of the installation, it's just running from the CD at this point.
 The second time, (when you are prompted to keep the us layout or not) is because the installation is preset to use the us key map, and now you must tell the installed settings to use the PL, just like you told the CD to do, this sets up the HD install to use the PL when it begins to boot up.

In other words, 1st time, tells the "CD" to use the PL. 2nd time tells the "HD Installed" to use the PL.

I hope this gives you an idea of what's going on there, and hopefully it makes sense too 

[uelsk8s]

I`ve been trying to add a user using vasm from root account. When it comes to 'enter user ID' it displays 1000, when I click 'next', it says 'ERROR, UIDs are numerical only'. It seems vasm treats this value as text not as numerical value; the script (or code) must be fixed.

is this from vasmCC or vasm?

[Pita]

Hello Uelsk,

to the fluxbox menu I have added nice icons. To me it looks good and if you think it will be a good idea let me know how to send the file to you.

Under Menu Office I have added xpdf.

Regards

[uelsk8s]

Hello Uelsk,

to the fluxbox menu I have added nice icons. To me it looks good and if you think it will be a good idea let me know how to send the file to you.

Under Menu Office I have added xpdf.

Regards

Pita, send it over. 

did you happen to check memory usage before and after adding the icons?

Thanks,
Uelsk8s