Debian - Libranet help

[LiNuts]

I have just installed Libranet 1.9.1 (Thanks Rod) and have a few questions.

1. How do i mount my windows partition, when i was using Drake8.0 it picked the windows partition up and all i had to do was "cd /mnt/win_c2" to get to the files on it.

When i installed Libranet i did not install samba or any other networking package, do i need to ?.

2. I choose the simple option when installing my monitor, and now the screen keeps flickering when i have an application open. ( i have a 15 inch monitor).I think it is the refresh rate, In drake i selected svga at 72Hz and a resolution of 800x600,

3. Is there i tutorial (on line) that i can read to help me get to know debian better.

4. can you point me in a direction for using apt-get.
Cheers
LiNuts

[crazyox2]

1)

justin@AMD700:~$ su
Password:
AMD700:/home/justin# mount /dev/hda1 -t vfat /hda
AMD700:/home/justin#

/dev/hda1 is the partition id of your windows partition. If you installed windows first on your primary drive, it's most likely hda1. -t [option] tells what type of file system is being mounted: vfat for windows. /hda is the mount point. You could very well make a new directory /windows on your root partition, although I think /windows is very ugly for a root partition. :D

[crazyox2]

2)

Use xf86config, and enter your monitor refresh rates in manually. Or you could edit your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 (assuming you are using X 4; if not, you should be, it's very stable now :) ) and edit the values that way, although it isn't very verbose. I suggest using the xf86config program.

[crazyox2]

3)
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/debian/chapter/index.html

[crazyox2]

4)

/etc/apt is where your sources.list file is stored (atleast it is on Debian; I must admit, I've never used libranet before). sources.list is a file that points to different servers that store software on them. The software is packaged in the .deb format (as opposed to .rpm of Red Hat or .tgz of Slackware packages). He who must not be named keeps a very large sources.list file here: http://www.bsu-hog.org/sources.list . But just for basic usage, one such as this will provide you with the basics:
AMD700:/home/justin# more /etc/apt/sources.list
deb ftp://ftp.eecs.umich.edu/debian/ testing main non-free contrib
deb-src ftp://ftp.eecs.umich.edu/debian/ testing main non-free contrib
deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US testing/non-US main contrib non-free
deb-src http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US testing/non-US main contrib non-free
AMD700:/home/justin#

That is the testing version of software. Note: Using this will in essense turn your libranet distribution into a Debian distibution. :D

Use apt-get update before you use apt-get install or apt-get upgrade. It updates which packages are available for installation by consulting the servers listed in your sources.list file.

"apt-get upgrade" will upgrade every piece of software on your computer that has an update available.

"apt-get dist-upgrade" will upgrade the core OS components; use wisely

"apt-get remove [software package name]" will remove a piece of software

"apt-get install [software package name]" will install a piece of software

"apt-cache search [any search term]" will search for a package name. It is convienent if you know the basic name of a software package, but you are unfamiliar with it's exact name, such as libgtk1.2 or task-x-window-system.

That should get you on your merrily apt-getting way. :)

[LiNuts]

Thanks crazyox2, i'll give it a try, Can i add that in my /etc/fstab, as there is no mention of /dev/hda1 in it ?.

I fixed the refresh rate, its o.k. now.

My next question is, I tried to configure my soundcard its a cmi8338, but i didn't understand what i had to put in, to the following.

wss i/o port
8 bit DMA
max 8 bit DMA size in Kbs
and the same for 16 bit.

I checked in windows and have the following soundcard config.
IRQ 5 and 10
i/o F700 - F7FF
DMA 1 and DMA 5

I tried entering those values in the ALSA config, using xadminmenu, but i still get no sound.
Cheers
LiNuts

[crazyox2]

Hello Linuts.

You will be pleased to know that kernel 2.4.X (I checked in 2.4.5) has kernel-level support for your cmi8338 soundcard! That is very good news indeed.

I assume you know how to recompile your kernel (very easy, very easy indeed. Indeed is a good word, indeed. It's very late indeed, and I think I'm drunk off of cookies)? When you set up your .config file using make xconfig, go under the "Sound" section and make sure that the "C-Media PCI (CMI8338/8378)" has the Y checked. That's all there is to it! Then make sure you chmod 777 /dev/dsp as root. That makes your sound card available to everyone. The kernel defaults to /dev/dsp as your soundcard when it is kernel-level configured.

Yes indeed, you can indeed add that to your /etc/fstab. Just put this line in:

/dev/hda1 /MOUNTPOINT vfat user,exec,umask=0, 0 0

Obviously replace /MOUNTPOINT with your mount point of choice. And /dev/hda1 should be whatever you know it to be. I have no idea what the umask option does, I just copied that from my own fstab that I made a while ago and can't remember why I put that in.

Have fun recompiling your kernel! I love doing it! I've done it about 6 times today alone! Indeed! I still have to do it some more times, because I haven't gotten my printer working yet. :mad:

To be serious, recompiling your kernel is no prob bob at all, if you have never done it before. I can walk you through it if you need help.

[ 30 June 2001: Message edited by: crazyox2 ]

[crazyox2]

I forgot to mention to forget the irq and io range crap. It pretty much never helps. :D

[LiNuts]

Crazyox2, i re-compiled the kernel (what a breeze compared to Mandrake) selected the cmi8338 soundcard and compiled it as a module (i got rid of all the others while i was in there), then did the chmod 777 /dev/dsp as you said, but it did'nt work, still no sound.(bummer).

should i compile it into the kernel, it's just that in Mandrake i compiled it as a module.
Thanks for the help so far,
Cheers
LiNuts.

BTW: I still cannot access my windows drive, i did as you said, but no go.

If you want a good laugh, ( at my stupidity ) go over to Linuxjunior.org and have a look at my post in the linux distributions forum.

[ 30 June 2001: Message edited by: LiNuts ]

[LiNuts]

Well it's getting a bit better, i can now access my windows drive,

But i still cannot get any sound, I recompiled the kernel 3 times, trying to get the sound to work, is there another way of setting up my soundcard besides that xadminmenu utility, in drake i ran sndconfig, and that was it soundcard was installed.
Cheers
LiNuts

[LiNuts]

I took a peek at my syslog and found this.

kernel: snd: cmi8330 pnp no device
kernel: snd: cmi8330 not found or device busy.

I am guessing, that at the moment my soundcard is not supported by Libranet 1.9.1

When i ran the sound config tool, the only reference was to a cmi8330-based chip, which i think is an isa one.

Mine is a pci cmi8338 card.

Does anyone know if there is a driver for my soundcard, that will work in Libranet?.

Cheers
LiNuts