I am using a Compaq Presario 2500, and I have Fedora Core 2 running. The
problem is my screen keeps shrinking, but I don't know what
is causing it. What do you suggest I do?
—
Anonymous
CC04002@STD.KUKTEM.EDU.MY
There are reports of some problems, as you describe,
with ATI RADEON video cards, such as the one
your Presario 2500 probably has. One thing worth
trying is to comment out the Load dri line in
the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, and then restart your
X session or your computer. You may get unexpected
results on your specific machine, though.
—
Felipe Barousse Boué
fbarousse@piensa.com
I have an ASUS L8400B laptop, with a 700MHz P-III. I recently installed Fedora Core 2 with kernel 2.6.5. This kernel uses ACPI instead of the APM used by the 2.4 series of kernels, and suspending the laptop works differently and confusingly.
With APM, I used the apm command to go into sleep or standby mode. The first, as far as I could tell, kept everything in memory; the second, I think, would save state to disk and then go to sleep. In either case, all I had to do to wake up the laptop was press any key on the keyboard.
With ACPI, I see this in /sys/power/state:
standby mem disk
Echoing disk into /sys/power/state does nothing. Echoing either of the other terms into it suspends the laptop. But, it won't wake up when I bang on the keyboard. If I use the power switch, the laptop does wake up. However, the system also notices that I pressed the power switch, and it starts an immediate shutdown.
Googling has brought me little satisfaction, and the ACPI FAQ seems to be around three years old. So, direct questions are 1) Is suspend to disk supported? If so, how do I make it work? 2) What is the correct way to wake up the laptop? 3) What else do I need to know? I'm a big novice at ACPI.
I would prefer to avoid updating kernels and the like, but I will if
doing so would make a difference.
—
Arnold Robbins
arnold@skeeve.com
Suspend to disk on that laptop is a BIOS feature. If you destroyed your suspend partition when you installed Linux, you may need to re-create it. Here's another ASUS owner with some helpful advice: linux.seindal.dk/item20.html.
If you're interested in customizing your ACPI setup,
it's easier to debug if you shut down acpid by running
the appropriate init script with the stop argument,
then run acpid in the foreground with the -d option.
You can see what ACPI events are being generated and modify the
appropriate scripts.
—
Don Marti
info@linuxjournal.com
Why do most manufacturers of devices choose the
Microsoft model over the Linux model? Why not develop
for both? Specifically, a large manufacturer of LED
signs, Daktronics, uses all Microsoft products in the
development kit it produces. The company does have
a protocol guide but offers no support for the Linux
shared library model. I am developing for these signs
based on the Linux model, but that work soon will be
tanked in favor of Microsoft development. What can
we do to get manufacturers to create libraries to
speed up development under Linux? I will continue to
develop for this project on my own, as I feel
there might be a use in the Open Source community
for device drivers for signs such as these. If you
can point me toward anyone or a group interested in
the same issue, please do so.
—
Chuck Smith
chucksmith@viawest.net
Although advocacy groups certainly are available, such as the OSDL, most
vendors respond only to one thing—customer pressure. Add your voice to
the chorus, and contact every representative of the company you can to
voice your desire for them to embrace Linux. Most manufacturers already
are seeing the light in this area, but many find the addition of support
for a new operating system challenging, and they need strong encouragement
to do so. Patience and consistency are the keys in voicing your concerns.
Take heart; over the next two years, it will become increasingly rare for
a vendor to disregard Linux.
—
Chad Robinson
chad@lucubration.com
It's great that you want to work on a project,
but if you're bound by the license agreement of the
proprietary development kit, you may be prohibited
from releasing your own open-source code with similar
functionality. Check with a knowledgeable law firm
such as rosenlaw.com—you're probably better off
working on projects in an area where you've never
clicked a nasty “I Agree” button.
—
Don Marti
info@linuxjournal.com
I'm hoping this question can be answered; I've looked everywhere for
a solution and found just about nothing. We're currently trying to do a
roll-out of Java Desktop Systems, but we have found that Evolution doesn't
support MS Exchange calendaring and such. To get this working, we found a
solution in Ximian Connector, but it doesn't work on Exchange 5.5.
Surely, more than only Ximian is out there. Being fairly new to the *nix
field, I'm completely clueless as to what else can be used. Do you know of
any other software that connects Evolution e-mail clients to an MS Exchange
server?
—
Monique Marais
monique.marais@alindigo.com
You have an old version of Exchange, one apparently receiving no further
support even from Microsoft. There are plenty of solutions for calendaring
and e-mail on Linux; some are free and some proprietary. Take a look at
www.calendarhome.com/clink/web-calendar.html for a list of this
type of software.
—
Felipe Barousse Boué
fbarousse@piensa.com
You're going to have to upgrade that old version
of Microsoft Exchange sooner or later, so consider
buying time by installing a VNC client on the new
Linux systems, and a VNC server on the Microsoft
side, to give users access to your old applications.
See the discussion at www.linuxmafia.com/faq/Legacy_Microsoft/vnc-and-similar.html.
—
Don Marti
info@linuxjournal.com
I am looking for a good POS system to run a small
salon with three employees. I am using Red Hat 9 and
would like free projects or low-cost ones.
—
Randy Freer
freers@charter.net
I have evaluated several nice POS systems that may suit your needs. Take a look at www.linux-pos.org, a site that specializes in Linux applications for the retail industry. This page has a large list of free software available for business applications, including POS.
Keep in mind that, depending on your company's needs,
you might have to integrate a lot of things, including
cash drawers, barcode technologies, ticket printers
and so on. Therefore, for practical reasons, comparing
the total cost of ownership—including your time or
hiring third parties—with a commercial solution,
even Linux or open-source ones, is a wise
exercise. With a commercial solution, you receive
support and a turn-key working solution instead of
having to integrate, build and support everything
by yourself.
—
Felipe Barousse Boué
fbarousse@piensa.com
In reply to Walter's August 2004 Best of Technical Support question:
I solved this problem quite a long time ago, see
www.trestle.com/linux/trestlemail/bye-trestlemail.html.
However, now that I have Postfix handling all my mail, I have no need
for TrestleMail. I totally agree with Felipe's answer: as long as
you're using multidrop mail, you suffer from mishandled boundary
cases (mailing list mail, bccs and so on). There's no way around it.
On the other hand, the simple stuff is totally reliable, and you have
full control over all mail delivery. You might find that Trestlemail
does exactly what you need.
Let me know if you have any questions.
—
Scott Bronson
bronson@rinspin.com
