I'm not going Linux. I'm lame. But here's the scoop. My company uses Lotus Notes, and they have a Lotus Notes client for Linux, which is good. There is NO sychronization for Lotus Notes under Linux, however. We don't have one. I've posted about it somewhere in the blog, but I don't remember where.
Anyway, if I can't sync my calendar, than I really can't go to Linux. I know it's a petty thing to stop me from doing it, but there it is.
Much like other things in Linux, however, I'm sure time will heal this wound. Sooner or later this will be addressed, and I'll be able to sync under Linux. When that happens, I'll be back.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Hot Swapping [Was: Mounting my DVD-R Drive]
My ultrabay has a DVD multiburner/CDRW that I can put in instead of my hard drive. I can mount the drive, but I can't mount the DVD/CDRW drive.
I've tried
mount -t iso9660 -o ro /dev/cdrom /media/ultra
but I get back an error
special device /dev/cdrom does not exist
I try
mount -t iso9660 -o ro /dev/hdc1 /media/ultra
and I get back
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hdc1,
missing codepage or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so
So, I try
mount -t auto -o ro /dev/hdc1 /media/ultra
and I get back
mount: you must specify the filesystem type
I should say that I have a video dvd in the drive right now. Maybe if I try a data dvd or a data cdrom in there it will be different. But, I do need to be able to watch dvd's on my laptop, too....
Update:
I just tried it with a CDR that I burned under Windows, and shows up under windows, and I get the same results.
Update:
I had rebooted when I was trying this, and it didn't work. I just rebooted now, and it's working. I can eject the disk and put in a new one, and it all works.
I did notice that when I just issue mount, with no parameters, it lists the media in the drive as /dev/hdc, with no number. I tried manually
mount /dev/hdc /media/ultra
and that worked.
I'm not sure why it all worked. I want to try pulling the dvd drive and putting in my hard drive to see what happens.
Update:
As the title change implies, I've decided/figured out that it's a hot swapping issue. If I boot with the hard drive in, I can't use the DVD. If I boot with the DVD, I can't use the hard drive. I have to investigate the hot swapping issue.
I've tried
mount -t iso9660 -o ro /dev/cdrom /media/ultra
but I get back an error
special device /dev/cdrom does not exist
I try
mount -t iso9660 -o ro /dev/hdc1 /media/ultra
and I get back
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hdc1,
missing codepage or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so
So, I try
mount -t auto -o ro /dev/hdc1 /media/ultra
and I get back
mount: you must specify the filesystem type
I should say that I have a video dvd in the drive right now. Maybe if I try a data dvd or a data cdrom in there it will be different. But, I do need to be able to watch dvd's on my laptop, too....
Update:
I just tried it with a CDR that I burned under Windows, and shows up under windows, and I get the same results.
Update:
I had rebooted when I was trying this, and it didn't work. I just rebooted now, and it's working. I can eject the disk and put in a new one, and it all works.
I did notice that when I just issue mount, with no parameters, it lists the media in the drive as /dev/hdc, with no number. I tried manually
mount /dev/hdc /media/ultra
and that worked.
I'm not sure why it all worked. I want to try pulling the dvd drive and putting in my hard drive to see what happens.
Update:
As the title change implies, I've decided/figured out that it's a hot swapping issue. If I boot with the hard drive in, I can't use the DVD. If I boot with the DVD, I can't use the hard drive. I have to investigate the hot swapping issue.
USB Flash Drives -- Closed
Man, that was too easy. Wait, that's what I was complaining about, things not being easy in Linux. Well, here's one thing that was.
I use USB flash drives all the time, so I have to have that in Linux, right. Well, I was expecting to have to do something special to use them, but I didn't. I figured first thing I should do is try to put it in and see what happens.
It mounts the drive, opens the folder, and puts an icon on the desktop for it. I just right click on the icon and choose Umount Volume, and it unmounts it. Couldn't be any easier.
Just too easy!
I use USB flash drives all the time, so I have to have that in Linux, right. Well, I was expecting to have to do something special to use them, but I didn't. I figured first thing I should do is try to put it in and see what happens.
It mounts the drive, opens the folder, and puts an icon on the desktop for it. I just right click on the icon and choose Umount Volume, and it unmounts it. Couldn't be any easier.
Just too easy!
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Mounting My External Hard Drive--Closed
I have a Thinkpad T60, which has an UltraBay Slim adapter that I use for a 100Gig hard drive. I need to mount that under Linux.
So, first I have to figure out where it is. According to this article, it's /dev/hdc. So, with the help of another article, I used fdisk and mkfs to partition it and format it as a FAT32 drive. Well, it's still formatting now.
When that's done, I'll have to add it to fstab, which is new to me. Google is great. Helps you find out all kinds of info you don't know. Like how to add a drive to the fstab file. I couldn't, by the way, use the info in the first article about mounting drives because it wants to permenatly mount it. I don't want to do that as it comes in and out in exchange for my DVD Drive.
Update:
I got my drive mounted no problem. I had to add the following line to my /etc/fstab:
/dev/hdc1 /media/ultra auto rw,noauto,user 0 0
then issue
mount /media/ultra
Works great.
So, first I have to figure out where it is. According to this article, it's /dev/hdc. So, with the help of another article, I used fdisk and mkfs to partition it and format it as a FAT32 drive. Well, it's still formatting now.
When that's done, I'll have to add it to fstab, which is new to me. Google is great. Helps you find out all kinds of info you don't know. Like how to add a drive to the fstab file. I couldn't, by the way, use the info in the first article about mounting drives because it wants to permenatly mount it. I don't want to do that as it comes in and out in exchange for my DVD Drive.
Update:
I got my drive mounted no problem. I had to add the following line to my /etc/fstab:
/dev/hdc1 /media/ultra auto rw,noauto,user 0 0
then issue
mount /media/ultra
Works great.
Gadgets/Widgets
I use Yahoo! widgets under windows, and I want something like that for Linux. I would show you a screenshot of my desktop with the widgets, but I'm running a Windows free weekend, so I can't do that.
This post is a place holder to remind me that I have to get into this aspect as well.
Any hints would be great, but I'll update my efforts later.
Update 8/23 2:00pm
I've found out about Google Gadgets for Linux. I'm following their install directions, but I'm having problems getting all the dependencies right. This is my biggest pet peeve about Linux. Under Windows you get an installer, and it installs with a few clicks. With Linux you have to cofigure, make, and so on. Sometimes they have dependencies you don't have, so you have to download this and that, and hope they don't have dependencies.
I understand that each distro has a different file structure, and everyone's computer might have a different kernel compiled, but it's got to be easier if Linux is to take on the desktop.
Apple's done it with a Unix based system, but they know what the structure will be and what the kernel will contain, so they've got it easy.
Update: 8/23 6:00pm
One of the dependencies was QT 2. I spent over two hours doing the install (watching the computer do the install), and it gobbled up the last 2.2 GIG of my hard drive. I'm running in a very small partition until my new hard drive comes in, so this is an issue. I'm going to install my external hard drive, try to mount it, and use that for my free space. 100 Gigs should be enough, no?
Update 8/24 9:20am
I got it installed last night and this morning, and tried running configure again. Still not installing. It gives me an error:
configure: error: conditional "GTK2_TARGET_X11" was never defined.
I've tried installing a few modules for GTK, some internet searches, and even Seamonkey. Nothing seems to work. I'm going to go to their support site and gripe a bit.
Update 8/25:
I got a response back from Google's mailing list. They said to install the dev packages, and it works. Now, I'm not so sure I like it.
I'm also experimenting with Screenlets. That installed and appears to run, but none of the screenlets show on my screen. I'm on their forum to try and get answers to that one.
This post is a place holder to remind me that I have to get into this aspect as well.
Any hints would be great, but I'll update my efforts later.
Update 8/23 2:00pm
I've found out about Google Gadgets for Linux. I'm following their install directions, but I'm having problems getting all the dependencies right. This is my biggest pet peeve about Linux. Under Windows you get an installer, and it installs with a few clicks. With Linux you have to cofigure, make, and so on. Sometimes they have dependencies you don't have, so you have to download this and that, and hope they don't have dependencies.
I understand that each distro has a different file structure, and everyone's computer might have a different kernel compiled, but it's got to be easier if Linux is to take on the desktop.
Apple's done it with a Unix based system, but they know what the structure will be and what the kernel will contain, so they've got it easy.
Update: 8/23 6:00pm
One of the dependencies was QT 2. I spent over two hours doing the install (watching the computer do the install), and it gobbled up the last 2.2 GIG of my hard drive. I'm running in a very small partition until my new hard drive comes in, so this is an issue. I'm going to install my external hard drive, try to mount it, and use that for my free space. 100 Gigs should be enough, no?
Update 8/24 9:20am
I got it installed last night and this morning, and tried running configure again. Still not installing. It gives me an error:
configure: error: conditional "GTK2_TARGET_X11" was never defined.
I've tried installing a few modules for GTK, some internet searches, and even Seamonkey. Nothing seems to work. I'm going to go to their support site and gripe a bit.
Update 8/25:
I got a response back from Google's mailing list. They said to install the dev packages, and it works. Now, I'm not so sure I like it.
I'm also experimenting with Screenlets. That installed and appears to run, but none of the screenlets show on my screen. I'm on their forum to try and get answers to that one.
Scrolling with the Track Point -- Closed
Man, this is a pain. I'm trying to get the trackpoint to scroll, as mentioned in my first post. I found an article on thinkwiki, but i can't seem to get it to work. I have to admit that I'm a bit on the tired side, and that Spongebob Squarepants is a little distracting. Plus, I have about 10 minutes before I have to leave for Karate.
I'm going to try again later.
Update:
I tried something, and it caused X to stop working. This article details some stuff to do, but it all failed.
Update:
Just strange. I rebooted, and now it scrolls in Thunderbird, but just in Thunderbird. Not in anything else.
Update:
I found another link. I managed to install the gsynaptics program, and I was able to disable to trackpad, which I hate. But I still can't scroll. The middle mouse button still does the paste what's highlighted thing.
Update:
I've gone to my company's internal group for help. See what they say.
Update:
I got the help I needed for the scrolling thing. Here's my final configuration in xorg.conf:
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
# InputDevice "Synaptics" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad" "AlwaysCore"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
Option "EmulateWheel" "on"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
# Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
# Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
# Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
# Option "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
Option "TouchPadOff" "1"
EndSection
Works just the way I want it to. Hope this helps some other poor soul who's having the same problems.
I'm going to try again later.
Update:
I tried something, and it caused X to stop working. This article details some stuff to do, but it all failed.
Update:
Just strange. I rebooted, and now it scrolls in Thunderbird, but just in Thunderbird. Not in anything else.
Update:
I found another link. I managed to install the gsynaptics program, and I was able to disable to trackpad, which I hate. But I still can't scroll. The middle mouse button still does the paste what's highlighted thing.
Update:
I've gone to my company's internal group for help. See what they say.
Update:
I got the help I needed for the scrolling thing. Here's my final configuration in xorg.conf:
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
# InputDevice "Synaptics" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad" "AlwaysCore"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
Option "EmulateWheel" "on"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
# Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
# Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
# Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
# Option "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
Option "TouchPadOff" "1"
EndSection
Works just the way I want it to. Hope this helps some other poor soul who's having the same problems.
Windows free weekend! -- Over
Everything I need to run my normal life online is The Web, Email and IM. I do more, but that's 99% of it. I have all of this on my Linux partition already, so I'm going Windows free this weekend. No booting into Windows. No booting Windows in a Virtual Machine. No Windows on my laptop.
Wish me luck.
Update:
Still Windows Free, but I just ran into my first issue without Windows. NBC's online Olympic coverage only supports WIndows (IE/Firefox) and Mac OX (Safari). I tried adding the User Agent Switching plugin, and that got me past the message that said I wasn't supported. I still couldn't watch the video, however. So, no on line Olympic coverage for me today.
Update:
It's over. I'm back to Windows for work. My Linux partition isn't large enough for me to migrate my work stuff over yet, so I'm still in Windows for email and what not. I can't wait for my hard drive to come.
I do have to admit that I had to reboot my laptop, and forgot that unattended it boots to Windows, so I did boot into Windows over the weekend. I didn't log in, though. I just hit the shutdown button on the login window, and off I went, back to Linux.
I'm a little frustrated with the state of affairs in Linux right now. Things are much more difficult than they are in Windows. I still like the idea of LInux, but I'm leaning more towards going back to Windows. There, I said it. I'm not giving up yet, but I'm leaning that way now.
Wish me luck.
Update:
Still Windows Free, but I just ran into my first issue without Windows. NBC's online Olympic coverage only supports WIndows (IE/Firefox) and Mac OX (Safari). I tried adding the User Agent Switching plugin, and that got me past the message that said I wasn't supported. I still couldn't watch the video, however. So, no on line Olympic coverage for me today.
Update:
It's over. I'm back to Windows for work. My Linux partition isn't large enough for me to migrate my work stuff over yet, so I'm still in Windows for email and what not. I can't wait for my hard drive to come.
I do have to admit that I had to reboot my laptop, and forgot that unattended it boots to Windows, so I did boot into Windows over the weekend. I didn't log in, though. I just hit the shutdown button on the login window, and off I went, back to Linux.
I'm a little frustrated with the state of affairs in Linux right now. Things are much more difficult than they are in Windows. I still like the idea of LInux, but I'm leaning more towards going back to Windows. There, I said it. I'm not giving up yet, but I'm leaning that way now.
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