Holidays/Video

[tncanuck]

First off, thanks all for your support and answers. I have the bad habit of reading the answers, trying it and moving on to something else.

I have a question that I can't put to rest so far even after reading the forum posts. I have looked at OpenPrinting web site and came to the conclusion that HP is the most Linux friendly brand out there. With the holidays around the corner, I was at Office D... today, salivating in front of a new all-in-one printer/scanner/fax thing. I probably can't buy spare cartridges for the price of a new one. What are the odds of getting the whole "shabang" working with VL5.9 STD? Are there HP models that will be paperweights, or do they all work? Anyone has recent experience going thru this process, or should I just "donate to science" a new printer in the name of Linux?

I also installed an nVidia GeForce2 video card in my box. Works great, finally I can try some games. I searched the forum, but decided to re-install VL5.9STD to enable the driver. I learned doing so that I cannot unselect any "optional" packages under main packages. They are needed to recompile the kernel and get the driver to work. Is there a way to avoid the re-installation?

Thanks

tncanuck

[wcs]

First, make sure you have both the vlnvidia package and the kernel sources installed.
If not, you can install vlnvidia using gslapt, and the kernel sources by downloading this package:
http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-5.9/packages/kernel/kernel-src-2.6.22.14-i586-1vl59.tlz
(do installpkg to install it)

After that, running "vxconf" as root (or navigating to the X configuration in "vasm) should get you to the dialogue that allows you to install the nvidia drivers.
If you're in a graphical environment, you should do that after running "init 2" (as root) to take you to textmode.

You should probably choose "Expert install" when it asks you about the nvidia drivers and choose the right version.
I'm guessing the latest version wouldn't support the Geforce2, so you might have to take a look at the supported cards for the different versions in the nvidia website.
Or you can just go with whatever vxconf chooses for you: it might get it right.

[jklslvch]

You dont have to reinstall VL just because you didn't choose to install all the packages when you first installed.. all the packages are still on the cd you dont have to do extra downloading just pop in the cd and look around for the files that end in .tlz (or something like that)
once you've found the folder that has the packages you want, open a console and cd to that location (konsole>cd /mnt/cd_or_something/folder_with_packages/) and to install a packages as root... enter: installpkg *the_package.tlz*

After that do what the prev. post says about switching to single user and so on

[stretchedthin]

Are there HP models that will be paperweights, or do they all work?

You will be able to find the answer to that question when you dig a little further into openprinting.org.

From this page...http://openprinting.org/printer_list.cgi search out the printer by make and model using the drop down menu.
If it is not listed then the odds are not in your favor it will work.  If it is listed then it may work either "perfectly", "mostly", "partially" or it may still be a paperweight.  You have to click the "show" button to find out.

I have found Brother is offering strong Linux support on it's more recent models.  I work at a Staples and was helping a Ubuntu user find a laser printer that would work.  None of the HP current lineup was rated as working "Perfectly" but several of the Brothers were.