A scheme for fighting with Drake 7.2

[irlandes]

I am still fighting Mandrake 7.2. Now, it seems overall to work good. The problem is, I can't print from Star Office. I installed Drake with the Zip drive on the parallel port and it worked fine, and later when I wanted to use the printer, ran through the defective UPDATE sequence, which meant I had to take a half hour to unselect all the crap I didn't want, instead of simply unselecting packages as UPDATE did on 6.5.

UPDATE runs you through the printer install function. I had removed the Zip and plugged the printer on. When I went to SO, it still wouldn't print. I rebooted and still no printing. I also noticed that Star Office setup does not include a single Canon printer driver listing.

A reminder that Star office did print at one time. Koffice has never printed, only line fed the paper and stopped.

I have a theory or two on this. I want to work at it, instead of reinstalling for the zillionth time.


There may be other solutions. I think, by memory, that my HP scanner has some sort of 'piggyback' cable, and I can run both scanner and printer in the same boot up. Alas, my scanner is 1400 miles away, so I can't look at it to see if it will work on the Zip.

So, I am investigating working with the script files, instead of another stupid install.

I think in linux the installer detects stuff, and sets up script files to use the needed files which it also installs. Unlike Config.sys in Dos, I think most stuff can be added or changed, by loading the correct files, and finding the correct script file and editing it. That's what I think, and it that's wrong, my whole plan is wrong, so I am running it by the forum first before I waste lots and lots of time.

I plan on snooping through my old Redhat manual, and some others, to try to figure out where the script files are that determine which is installed and enabled -- Zip or printer. I will also try to grep stuff; I used grep before, but have forgotten how, so will have to figure that out again.

If I find where Zip is set up, I may cp that script file(s) to DOS partition. Then, unless I can figure out how to set up the script file without installing again, I will re-install for the printer.

Then, I will cp the printer script version to a dummy name, then bring back the Zip script version under another dummy name.

I will then create two executable script files for the Desktop. One will, when clicked on, cp the Zip version to where they go. The other will cp the printer files. Sure, I could edit the script files manually, but why do that if you can have the computer do it for you?

Anyway, that's my wild idea. Any obvious opinions; solutions; hazards; impossibilities; better ideas?

irlandes@attglobal.net

[irlandes]

That printer install in UPDATE turns out to be a command from the terminal or KDE terminal called 'printtool', so we don't have to run update with all its errors to set up a printer.

After I ran it again (I had run it before) my Star Office started printing again, so it may be a glitch in 7.2 like all the others.

I did get an error message after printtool completed:

packdrake : cannot open archive file /lib/modules.czs
rnmod: module parport_probe is not loaded

My zip drive is 1400 miles away, so I can't see if it still works, too.

kword still does not print. I may try to download it again, or something. Since kword is a 3.3K file in /usr/bin, I am guessing it is only a box for major other files that work together for all parts of koffice.

[irlandes]

I tried to download koffice, perhaps a later version. I can find none except for Mandrake 8.0, which means dependencies are for a later kernel. Sounds almost like Microsoft mentality.

I have three CD's. Two were from CheapBytes, one from Wal-Mart a few weeks ago so I could get the apps. To my surprise, when I checked, the Walmart version is not the same as on theCheapbyte CD's. it has 1.99, Cheap has 2.0 So, the original status of Walmart stuff as being shipped too soon is still true. They must have shipped on pickup load, and that's all

It's disgusting to get no support for the older stuff the istant they come out with 8.0 As I said, it's like Microsoft.

What good is an office suite with no print capability. Sure wish I knew if anyone has koffice printing in either 7.2 or 8.0

I do run printtool and it fixes print on Star Office but no help on koffice.

[rattus]

This maybe not all that useful, and for this I apologise in advance ;)

My solution to the problems I had with Drake 7.2: :cool: Debian :cool:

[irlandes]

Originally posted by rattus:
<STRONG>This maybe not all that useful, and for this I apologise in advance ;)

My solution to the problems I had with Drake 7.2: :cool: Debian :cool:</STRONG>

No, to be totally frank, to respond to problems with a statement suggesting another distro is not helpful at all. Perhaps you had not problems at all with Debian; I don't know. However, for every person who has a problem with Drake, there is going to be someone who has problems with Debian, at least porportional to the number of users.

For most of us, part of linux is learning the new OS. I had Drake 6.5 working fine, though it has less apps and bells and whistles than 7.2. But, if I put 6.5 back on, I have learned nothing. And, if I bail and use Debian, I also learn nothing.

As someone else posted, at some point in time, it's better to stop re-installing, and struggle to fix what you have.

I have noticed with some interest that one complaint about Windows is the regular issue of new stuff with bugs before the old is fixed. Linux is experiencing the same thing, and I am not sure Drake is the only one that is doing it, based on complaints and requests for help on LNO.

[rattus]

So far, I haven't been able to find anything like a question in the discussion you've been having with yourself.

I apologised _in advance_ for the unhelpful nature of my jest.

And you snarl at me about how Drake is like windows?

Maybe if you were nicer your computer would work properly. Certainly would make you less likely to be gunned down in the street.

Enjoy your Karmic debt.

[irlandes]

Response to above posting deleted after thinking it over.

I finally found where to get koffice for 7.2. It was posted on www.kde.org, (http://www.kde.org,) not on koffice.

It is:
http://ftp.sourceforge.net/pub/mirrors/kde/stable/latest/distribution/rpm/Mandrake /7.2/RPMS/ (http://ftp.sourceforge.net/pub/mirrors/kde/stable/latest/distribution/rpm/Mandrake/7.2/RPMS/)

which has a number of .rpm's for Mandrake 7.2. It was not intuitive that koffice stuff would be located on .kde, not on .koffice.

There are other items, listed on www.kde.org (http://www.kde.org)

Note that I am posting this for others who might come on line looking for help with 7.2, just as I have been reporting what I have learned at every point I will also report for the benefit of anyone else who might be using 7.2 what I find out on any of my problems on an ongoing basis; get used to it.

There was someone recently who installed Red hat 5.1 and loved it. So, the old obsolete stuff is not going away soon.

[ 08 May 2001: Message edited by: irlandes ]

[ 08 May 2001: Message edited by: irlandes ]

[ 09 May 2001: Message edited by: irlandes ]

[bdg1983]

No, to be totally frank, to respond to problems with a statement suggesting another distro is not helpful at all

I certainly agree with that. To suggest changing distros is not helpful at all. Sorta like, my car radio doesn't work, so buy a new car.

Have you configured basic lp/lpd/lpr or whatever first in Mandrake? I've only setup printing through a Novell Netware print queue and have little experience with any other Linux printing (on my todo list though) and I can only suggest you setup the basic first. Have you tried www.linuxprinting.org (http://www.linuxprinting.org) or http://www.mandrakeuser.org/index.php for additional assistance? Sorry I'm not much help.

[irlandes]

Originally posted by mdwatts:
<STRONG>I certainly agree with that. To suggest changing distros is not helpful at all. Sorta like, my car radio doesn't work, so buy a new car.

Have you configured basic lp/lpd/lpr or whatever first in Mandrake? I've only setup printing through a Novell Netware print queue and have little experience with any other Linux printing (on my todo list though) and I can only suggest you setup the basic first. Have you tried www.linuxprinting.org (http://www.linuxprinting.org) or http://www.mandrakeuser.org/index.php for additional assistance? Sorry I'm not much help.</STRONG>

No, I haven't. There are so many places to look for stuff, without someone like you to point at them, I am going to miss a lot.

I will, however, make a note, and dig into them tomorrow.

Also, I have downloaded the latest version of koffice, and am digging for the dependencies, to see if Mandrake got an unstable version. Thanks so much for your advice. I am trying to learn, rather than just keep re-installing. I will attempt to post any results here, because Walmart is still selling 7.2, and a lot of the really smart Mandrake users (no sarcasm intended; LNO has some really smart people) have moved on to 8.0.

[irlandes]

Originally posted by mdwatts:
<STRONG>

Have you configured basic lp/lpd/lpr or whatever first in Mandrake? I've only setup printing through a Novell Netware print queue and have little experience with any other Linux printing (on my todo list though) and I can only suggest you setup the basic first. Have you tried www.linuxprinting.org (http://www.linuxprinting.org) or http://www.mandrakeuser.org/index.php for additional assistance? Sorry I'm not much help.</STRONG>

I don't know if I told you, but I have used printtool which sets up the printer and queues. I might have failed to answer that.

I have checked them out. To my surprise, Mandrake offers almost no help at all. One needs to go to rpmfind.net to load libraries or other packages, and there seems to be no useful support of any other kind on the home page.

I have been trying to load the latest version of koffice, and am currently hung up on a dependency libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.2)

rpmfind.net does not list it separately from earlier versions of libc.so.6, so I am not even sure which library to download to get it. And when I try to download one source for libc.so.6, which is glibc_2.2.2-5mdk.i586.rpm, a 6MB package, it stalls for up to five minutes, as if they are giving priority to the DSL and satellite guys, then it is disconnecting. I did get the other needed files, so this response is not the usual. I will try again this evening, I guess.

It is a bit frustrating. The usually helpful people on this forum are not even able to report koffice has printed in 7.2. I am contemplating pulling the plug on the forum. I thought it was appropriate to keep reporting what I was learning, for the benefit of others who might have the same problem, even though no one is willing or able to help, but that seems to be offensive to some. Thanks for the suggestions.

It does seem wrong to just dump it and wait for 8.0 in hopes they didn't botch it up as badly. We can't learn if we constantly run from distro to distro, and don't try to work our way through the problems as we encounter them.

[irlandes]

Note to readers. I got flamed a while back for daring to post my experiences when I got no major responses. If you are not interested in 7.2, don't read this and get mad; skip to something important. I am sure there are 7.2 victims who are reading this.

I hate to say this, but Drake 7.2, while a great concept, really sucks. I fought all week, determined to fix the koffice print problem. I spent hours downloading dependencies, trying a later version of koffice. Believe it or not, I got a version of kadmin and kdelibs which both required each other as dependencies.

So, of course, I installed them both with --nodeps, the obvious solution. As always happens when I install a later version of kdelibs, KDE crashes, and I had to -U --force the original packages to flush them out.

At one point, a file not involved, something like libfont.so.1, got wiped out, and I had to reinstall XFree86-server-common to get KDE working.

Well, enough is enough. So, last night, I reinstalled 7.2 with a printer connected, based on my theory that 7.2 cannot, in spite of all the claims, install printer or zip after the install.

Sure enough, now koffice will print. Alas, it does not print what it's supposed to. It prints 2.5 pages of printer gobbledy-gook, all sorts of random words and font names. When I try to print in Star Office 5.2, I get 6.5 pages of that junk.

Kups gave error messages "module parport_probe not loaded" and packdrake: cannot open archive file /lib/modules.cz2" Neither item is listed in wwww.rpmfind.net so I can't fix it by any known method. I may build up a mess of data on available packages in my CD, and see if they are listed or something.

Also, cups needed me to give it CD#1 so it could load cups-drivers.

The good news, sort of, is that 8.0 is in the mail.

I realize that the random nature of the install means a few guys are getting usable systems. And, some others do not use something which is broke, so do not notice it.

But, overall, Drake 7.2 sucks.

Based on the questions I see on ZDNET, it looks like 8.0 has many of the same problems I have seen in 7.2

I will keep playing with 7.2 until I get back to Texas and get 8.0. But, frankly, any newbid who tries one of these, and runs into these problems is going to swear off linux completely.

I do still have the option of putting 6.5 back on, since it worked great. Sure, it has less goodies, but a lesser system which works sure beats a great onee that is broke. This is like having an old Beetle that runs, and a new Rolls that doesn't run.

[irlandes]

Latest saga. I discovered an uninstalled package called lpr

It runs from the terminal, and will send any file to the desired printer.

koffice will send the text to a file, so I told it to send it to /printtest and it did that. When I told it to lpr /printtest which should send it to the default printer, it line fed the printer and no printing.

Also, I discovered kups says there is no parallel port on my computer.

So, I think we are close to the problem. Stupid distro can't find a parallel port.

it is a laptop, but 6.5 works fine

I do have 8.0 in the mail, and I note Wal-mart has the $25 8.0 package. it won't be long before I find out if 8.0 is any better.

I do feel like a loser giving up on an entire distro, but nothing has worked, and no one seems to have had any problem with this, which is amazing.

I did not try Star Office yet. In a few days, I will have my binary version.

I had figured I was going to be stuck in Texas, since I was called for jury duty on June 4th. I just called the Hidalago county court, and have been excused, so I will be in Mexico City, probably on Wednesday.

[irlandes]

AUUUGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Drake 8.0 has the same koffice won't print problem. If I save to a file, with .txt prefix, I can print it via lpr or kups. But, koffice will not print any .kwd file.

I am not a real newbie, but this has been tying me in knots for several weeks, and two versions, and two computers.

Star Office provides its own printer stuff, and prints okay.

End of this thread. I will be going to other forums to see if anyone can help on this problem.