[frgeek-michiana] Lab Notes, 4/19/05
- From: Tom Brown <tbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: FreeGeek Michiana <frgeek-michiana@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 10:12:05 -0500
LAB NOTES - 4/19/05
Present: Albert, Jay, Tom, Mike, Krista, John, Ed.
Absent: Tebra
:: Upgrade volunteer
Krista Caldwell, an 8th grader and FB class grad, is volunteering to
upgrade her FB or get a new spec box. She is energetic, motivated and a
fast learner.
:: Copy to floppy issue
Mike solved the floppy copy problem. The floppy device (/dev/fd0) entry in
/etc/fstab needed an adjustment to allow common users to mount the device
and gain read/write access. The same issue will probably arise if a FB
recipient installs a CD-RW drive.
:: Sound card detection
Sound card detection continues to be a problem. Jay was able to get one box
to work after the initial sound setup failed by running the alsa mixer
config utility and rebooting the machine. I believe he had to tweak the
alsa mixer config file by hand in one box. Gateways seem to be a special
problem.
:: CUPS printer system
The VL 4.3 installer offers to load CUPS. John connected an HP5L Laserjet
to a box, installed VL 4.3 and setup CUPS. I steered him wrong on choosing
the printer port. Jay noticed that CUPS had auto-detected the printer on
the parallel port (LPT1:). CUPS printed a test page immediately after we
chose LPT1. Local printer setup is a snap. From personal experience I can
tell you that network printer setup with CUPS isn't much harder.
CUPS is the default printer system in Slackware now. There are a ton of
printer drivers in CUPS including lots of HP laser and inkjets.
:: Networking
VL 4.3 has improved network detection. In particular, XFCE4 will auto
detect Windows and Linux hosts on a LAN. We didn't get to test LAN or
Internet configuration. If any of you have time to play with VL 4.3 before
the next lab, please try to setup a dialup and a high speed Internet
connection.
:: Games and XFCE4 desktop manager
Mike notes that VL 4.3 has some extra games on the CD, but they are not
installed. The games have unresolved library dependencies. He experimented
with adding an icon to the XFCE4 tool bar using the XFCE4 control panel.
Apparently, it was easy.
Mike committed to finding a good enough solution to adding a few games to
the plain vanilla VL 4.3 install by next lab.
:: Streamlining VL 4.3 installs
Albert installed VL 4.3 on a machine several times in an effort to mimic
our normal VL 3.2 install procedure. We install VL 3.2 on hard drives but
don't setup X-Windows until the hard drive is installed in a FreeBox.
Albert couldn't get the installs to boot.
Albert and I explored the last install attempt using a Knoppix 3.1 live CD.
Sure enough, the file system was there, but /etc/lilo.conf didn't exist. I
couldn't find the su console which doesn't require a root password so we
didn't configure lilo. Then we ran out of time.
:: Hard drive partitioning problems
On drives wiped with a security utility like DBAN, fdisk in VL 4.3 cannot
partition the drive. But it can write a partition table containing no
partitions (all free space). Then cfdisk will partition the drive. In VL
3.2, fdisk would partition wiped drives. Hmmm...
:: Full VL 4.3 install
The full install requires twice the hard drive space as VL 3.2. The prior
VL version would install in less than 500 MB. This version requires nearly
1000 MB.
:: Warehouse set up
I was informed that we may have another go at setting up our warehouse area
in two weeks. Next week we will continue to iron out VL 4.3 wrinkles and
prepare FreeBoxes for the April 30 class. The following Tuesday we may work
at the warehouse.
There is a suspicion that we will have few or no pallet racks to set up.
There are some free-standing shelves we can install in our two-room shack.
Someone with a van or truck can run Jay or me out to Grape Road to purchase
some tables and chairs for the interior workspace. We also have some deman
boxes to take to the warehouse. I think we should plan on borrowing the
General Sheet Metal pickup truck.
Tom
To post to the list send email to <frgeek-michiana@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
You may unsubscribe or change your list settings by going to the list website at
<//www.freelists.org/webpage/frgeek-michiana>
Other related posts:
