jeffpugh Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 [quote name='mommas_boy' post='1550306' date='May 31 2008, 01:44 AM']Hi Sacred. Your problem with the desktop effects may have been one of any number of things, but all are unrelated to KDE. My first guess is that you did not have your graphics card drivers properly installed/enabled. After your latest run with reinstall, try opening up a terminal/konsole window. Then, enter "glxgears". Watch for abnormalities in the konsole window; any errors that pop up. Anything at all that mentions "software rendering". Also, try enlarging the glxgears window so that it fills up your screen. See if this affects frame rate at all (slows down the rate that the gears are spinning at). KDE is a very robust desktop environment, and it is what I recommend to Windows converts over Gnome and other interfaces. Linus Torvalds, the guy who invented Linux, also prefers it. Still, Linux is about having a variety of choices, so if a light-weight desktop is what you feel most comfortable with, then by all means continue with it! [/quote] btw yeah, I really should have checked my graphics card settings on Linux before going right in for desktop effects. I was being really stupid turning on the graphics without checking that... oy... I'm noob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommas_boy Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 [quote name='Sacred Music Man' post='1553754' date='Jun 1 2008, 10:35 PM']btw yeah, I really should have checked my graphics card settings on Linux before going right in for desktop effects. I was being really stupid turning on the graphics without checking that... oy... I'm noob.[/quote] Hey, let me tell you what I tell my students: Thomas Edison, the guy who invented the light bulb, went through a couple hundred prototypes before he finally got it right. Legend has it that a reporter asked him, "Mr. Edison; you failed 500 times before finally succeeding. What are your thoughts on this?" To which Edison replied: "Yes, but I know 500 ways NOT to make a light bulb." In another of my posts on this thread, I advised that one of the best ways to learn Linux is to break it, and then to figure out how to fix it. I stand by this statement, as it is how I learned Linux. The more mistakes you make, the better off you are in the long run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lounge Daddy Posted June 2, 2008 Author Share Posted June 2, 2008 [quote name='mommas_boy' post='1554042' date='Jun 2 2008, 12:54 AM']Hey, let me tell you what I tell my students: Thomas Edison, the guy who invented the light bulb, went through a couple hundred prototypes before he finally got it right. Legend has it that a reporter asked him, "Mr. Edison; you failed 500 times before finally succeeding. What are your thoughts on this?" To which Edison replied: "Yes, but I know 500 ways NOT to make a light bulb." In another of my posts on this thread, I advised that one of the best ways to learn Linux is to break it, and then to figure out how to fix it. I stand by this statement, as it is how I learned Linux. The more mistakes you make, the better off you are in the long run.[/quote] Heck ya! That's the best way I seem to learn. Personally, I am one of those people who will say: "what happens if I push this button?" And then I tend to push it repeatedly, and then I stand back and watch. It's the fun way to learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lounge Daddy Posted June 2, 2008 Author Share Posted June 2, 2008 mommas_boy also has good advice about trying a few versions of Linux... and even then, trying a few versions of the "brand" that you like most. I tried the latest Suse and Ubuntu, and settled on Ubuntu--I think it's perfect for me right now... I would even go so far as to say it's freeking awesome. And then I tried Ubuntu and Kubuntu, both on the old Acer desktop and on 12 month old Gateway laptop... and I have come to prefer Ubuntu on both. I really like the straightforward simplicity. However, I do appreciate the slightly more dynamic feel of the KDE version. It is a very rich desktop, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants Linux but enjoys the Microsoft desktop experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommas_boy Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 [quote name='Lounge Daddy' post='1554158' date='Jun 2 2008, 11:13 AM']mommas_boy also has good advice about trying a few versions of Linux... and even then, trying a few versions of the "brand" that you like most. I tried the latest Suse and Ubuntu, and settled on Ubuntu--I think it's perfect for me right now... I would even go so far as to say it's freeking awesome. And then I tried Ubuntu and Kubuntu, both on the old Acer desktop and on 12 month old Gateway laptop... and I have come to prefer Ubuntu on both. I really like the straightforward simplicity. However, I do appreciate the slightly more dynamic feel of the KDE version. It is a very rich desktop, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants Linux but enjoys the Microsoft desktop experience.[/quote] Heh. The Libertarian is getting the idea. Linux is all about freedom of choice, but in a good way that doesn't impede on others' right to live. Check out www.distrowatch.com to get the scoop on many of the distributions or distros (what we call Linux versions) that are available. Also, if you're feeling more adventurous, you may want to check out the BSDs. BSD is not Linux, but is a Unix. Unix is a large family of operating systems that includes Linux and BSD both. Links to the three main BSDs are listed below, in the order in which I recommend them: www.freebsd.org www.netbsd.org www.openbsd.org Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scardella Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 My rule of thumb is ALWAYS check hardware compatibility lists beforehand. It can be awful to get some of the semi-supported stuff working. I haven't had much luck w/ the ndis-wrapper for wireless cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffpugh Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 [quote name='mommas_boy' post='1554042' date='Jun 2 2008, 12:54 AM']Hey, let me tell you what I tell my students: Thomas Edison, the guy who invented the light bulb, went through a couple hundred prototypes before he finally got it right. Legend has it that a reporter asked him, "Mr. Edison; you failed 500 times before finally succeeding. What are your thoughts on this?" To which Edison replied: "Yes, but I know 500 ways NOT to make a light bulb." In another of my posts on this thread, I advised that one of the best ways to learn Linux is to break it, and then to figure out how to fix it. I stand by this statement, as it is how I learned Linux. The more mistakes you make, the better off you are in the long run.[/quote] True. I guess I could have kept my KDE... but instead I killed it, then broke linux some more... now, my problem seems to be on the install now. It won't format my second hard drive (sdb) to ext3 format. It hangs at 5% then says it wont work and tells me to "finish" the partition/formatting back at step 4. I set up the drive again, as usual... a large chunk of my 20GB as xt3 memory, and around 500mb or more for swap memory. Try again, and it fails again. Btw, I had to reset my MBR after I deleted the other linux. It said that it might damage some partition tables... could my second hard drive's partition table be broken? How do I fix it? To penguins like pie? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Autumn Dusk Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 any more ideas on how to make my windows swish when closing them "advanced desktop effects settings" dosn't seem to work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffpugh Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 check your graphic card settings? uhh... install beryl? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lounge Daddy Posted June 3, 2008 Author Share Posted June 3, 2008 [quote name='Sacred Music Man' post='1556059' date='Jun 3 2008, 01:06 PM']True. I guess I could have kept my KDE... but instead I killed it, then broke linux some more... now, my problem seems to be on the install now. It won't format my second hard drive (sdb) to ext3 format. It hangs at 5% then says it wont work and tells me to "finish" the partition/formatting back at step 4. I set up the drive again, as usual... a large chunk of my 20GB as xt3 memory, and around 500mb or more for swap memory. Try again, and it fails again. Btw, I had to reset my MBR after I deleted the other linux. It said that it might damage some partition tables... could my second hard drive's partition table be broken? How do I fix it? To penguins like pie?[/quote] Holy cow! That's kinda what happens to me when I try to "fix" the plumbing in the house. What is supposed to be a very simple job ends up being a lengthy and complicated chore. And for me, it's usually because I can't leave well-enough alone. hehe Btw, try Partition Magic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lounge Daddy Posted June 3, 2008 Author Share Posted June 3, 2008 [quote name='mommas_boy' post='1554176' date='Jun 2 2008, 11:29 AM']Check out www.distrowatch.com to get the scoop on many of the distributions ... Links to the three main BSDs are listed below, in the order in which I recommend them: www.freebsd.org www.netbsd.org www.openbsd.org[/quote] Ya, I did happen upon DistroWatch a few days ago and had bookmarked it. It looked like a great source and I was actually going to ask you about it. Thanks! I am so going to check out those BSDs. I'll be sure and let you know if I install any for a trial run. Are they easier or more challenging to use than Gentoo? If they are more challenging, then I'll try Gentoo at some point in the future first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffpugh Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 [quote name='Lounge Daddy' post='1556232' date='Jun 3 2008, 04:14 PM']Holy cow! That's kinda what happens to me when I try to "fix" the plumbing in the house. What is supposed to be a very simple job ends up being a lengthy and complicated chore. And for me, it's usually because I can't leave well-enough alone. hehe Btw, try Partition Magic?[/quote] lawl. I figured out the problem. My hard drive wore out. Apparently if it's formatted so much, it just goes splat. it's an old one anyways. Actually, I'm running Linux (Ubuntu flavour) on a really old 4Gig hard drive right now Now to carefully tread on making upgrades, making my NVIDIA card work, etc. I just gotta say, this is an easy job when the hardware works for you... but I reccomend searching forums I suppose, if there are any problems. I had to reinstall Linux again after I got it working cause I went to do the automatic updates, and there was an error on the updates... then I tried to fix the error, and I broke it some more. I = fail... but at least I'm w/ resources now... like working Firefox 3 (it's pretty cool, so far). and Pidgin so I can whine at my Linux Savvy friends God bless all I'm going to bask in this Linux bliss... like this cool font I'm looking at for instance. (I love the Linux fonts ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lounge Daddy Posted June 5, 2008 Author Share Posted June 5, 2008 [quote name='Sacred Music Man' post='1558441' date='Jun 4 2008, 09:21 PM']lawl. I figured out the problem. ...[/quote] 4 gig hard drive, how old school is that! Those were huge just a decade ago. Hmmm... I really didn't know that you can format a hard drive to death. I'll have to keep that in mind. I wonder if that is one reason that the first hard drive failed on the old Acer--it was a 3 gig. That would explain quite a bit. hehe I am digging on the new Firefox too. Also, I have tried out Seamonkey, a new Mozilla project. I don't know if I like Seamonkey though. Maybe if it had more to offer... But I haven't checked out any fonts. Perhaps I should get on that, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lounge Daddy Posted June 5, 2008 Author Share Posted June 5, 2008 Oh, by the way Sacred. You'll have to let us know how ubuntustudio works out for you. It looks pretty boss! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffpugh Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 [quote name='Lounge Daddy' post='1559073' date='Jun 5 2008, 12:15 AM']4 gig hard drive, how old school is that! Those were huge just a decade ago. Hmmm... I really didn't know that you can format a hard drive to death. I'll have to keep that in mind. I wonder if that is one reason that the first hard drive failed on the old Acer--it was a 3 gig. That would explain quite a bit. hehe I am digging on the new Firefox too. Also, I have tried out Seamonkey, a new Mozilla project. I don't know if I like Seamonkey though. Maybe if it had more to offer... But I haven't checked out any fonts. Perhaps I should get on that, eh?[/quote] Yeah... a friend told me that some people format their hard drives to death before the warranties run out Don't think there is anything against that unless you find that a moral problem. As for fonts, I'm just using default one for now. It's just so smooth and... awesome Maybe I should print screen my desktop (as soon as I fix some font colours... Taskbars are transparent w/ blank font... semi fail w/ my Papa Benedict wallpaper, ala Innocent & KnightofChrist) [quote name='Lounge Daddy' post='1559086' date='Jun 5 2008, 12:18 AM']Oh, by the way Sacred. You'll have to let us know how ubuntustudio works out for you. It looks pretty boss! [/quote] Werd. I'll install it tomorrow I guess. Got some questions with the install w/ Heron... read for yourself... [url="http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/hardy/release/"]http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/rel.../hardy/release/[/url] (derrives from this page: [url="http://ubuntustudio.org/downloads"]http://ubuntustudio.org/downloads[/url] ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now