I am sorely tempted to allow my Windows instinct to take over and do a clean reinstall of linux. I know it’s the wrong impulse. I just don’t know what the alternative is.

My linux desktop continues to lock up, rejecting mouse and keyboard input. This is reproducible. Switching to Ximian hasn’t helped. It’s clearly a software issue because the system responds to ctl-alt-f3, so it’s still getting keyboard input. And the mouse cursor moves; none of the buttons work, however.

So, last night I thought I’d try the kde desktop instead. But I seem to be stuck in a loop. If I use redhat-config-packages and select “kde,” it tells me that I need two “cups” apps. I know Ximian installed cups stuff, and printing to a printer hanging off an XP machine actually works. (Cups has something to do with printing.) If I then deselect kde from the package manager and try to install the cups stuff from the RedHat CD, it fails because it conflicts with the Ximian cups stuff. I suppose I could uninstall the Ximian cups stuff by hand and then hope that cups reinstalls from the CD, but I am just about certain to miss some files and miss some file that keeps track of the files because I Don’t Know What I’m Doing™.So, just starting over seems like a good idea

Someone stop me before I get all windowsy on linux’s ass.

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The Ximian desktop feels better than the Gnome one that came with RedHat. So far I’m finding it easier to find things. Also, it’s done a better job finding my Windows machines on the network. But that good news is balanced by frequent freezes of keyboard and mouse. That may be because I was adjusting the sound properties. But with no mouse and no keyboard, my only input device is the off switch, which is not what I’m looking for in linux.

Another advantage of Ximian is that OpenOffice actually opened. And now that I know how to move files from my XP machines to linux, I could actually open a Word .doc file. Cool. OpenOffice’s word processor looks pretty good. Tempting. Very tempting.

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I’m continuing to poke around linux.

I’m not finding the Gnome desktop I’m using to be very predictable, so I thought I’d install the Ximian version (free, of course, although they sell a pro version for $99) just to see what it’s like. It’s a multi-hundred megabyte download that’s occurring even as I write this.

I’m getting more comfortable with mounting Windows files. Tonight I almost painlessly mounted the My Documents directory of my XP laptop and moved some files over to the linux machine. (Important lesson: Linux expects the name you gave the Windows directory when you first marked it as shared in Windows, not the actual filename. D’oh!)

Meanwhile, linux is still running like a dog on Valium. While looking around the Web for info on how to list processes (PS: it’s “ps” and it likes a nice “-ae” as a parameter), I saw a reference to “top” which dynamically shows the percentage of CPU and memory consuemd by each process. It says that I’ve got nothing very intense going on, yet the system lags even when typing. So, something funny is up. And not funny ha ha.

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I’ve actually written about this before, but I find it so annoying…

I like Dreamweaver. I generally like the improvements made in the new version (MX). I hate how they changed the smallest nit of the preferences dialog.

It used to be that there was a place to choose whether you want the default extension for the Web pages you create to be “.html” or “.htm”. Now if you want to change it, the preferences dialog says “You can change the default extension in the document type XML file.” This is linked to a help page that lists 20 xml pages you can visit. Even if you pick the right one, you are confronted with an uncommented XML file that nowhere has a line that says “default extension.” Instead you have to figure out that you have to change the list of “winfileextension” so that “html” precedes “htm.” Then you have to save, exit and restart Dreamweaver to find out if you guessed right or if you just screwed up your config file.

I would have loved to hear the discussion between Engineering and Product Marketing on this one! I’m no Jakob Nielsen, but I feel a low-graphics confidence when I say: Your users manual should never contain a line that begins, “Simply edit the XML file…”

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My nephew the linux guy has posted instructions that have my linux computer looking at Windows files elsewhere on the network. Cool! I can only do it within a terminal window – Gnome doesn’t think it has GUI access – but it’s pretty satisfying. In fact, I’ve copied over a bunch of MP3s and thus have a new project: finding an mp3 player for linux. The media player that comes with RedHat says that because of a licensing dispute, it won’t play the little sweethearts.

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Continuing my evening attempts to get all linux-y… [Previous entries here: 1 2 3 4 5]

One of the commenters on previous postings said that I really have to get over my Windows-based instinct to reboot whenever I have a problem with linux. But I just switched the monitor over to the linux box for the first time since last night and my screen is frozen. Keyboard and mouse input do nothing. So, I can’t see anything to do but press the Off switch. I can’t say that so far linux has been a never-reboot experience.

This time, GRUB the boot loader showed me two linux installations I could boot from. What’s that about? Is it because I updated the kernel during the previous session? I let it choose whichever it counted as its default.

Tonight I’m going to see if I can make any progress seeing files on the Windows machines on my network. I have instructions from my nephew, who is a serious linux admin, about how to do this. First, I check to see if Samba is installed by going to the services panel under system settings. Nope, it’s not there as “samba” or as “smb.”

I try browsing for more info, but I forgot that last night I unplugged the ethernet cable. I plug it back in. Linux doesn’t recognize that I’ve done so. (XP does.) I know how to force XP to recognize a new connection but I don’t know how with linux. It’s here somewhere but I don’t even know where to look. Aha! Network Device Control. It sees the ethernet. Click to activate. Nope, can’t activate it. I don;t know why. Press configure. Tell it to get the DNS from the server, although it concerns me that that wasn’t the default config I’d been using. Confirm. And, baddabing, I’m back on line.

Now Add/Remove Packages. RedHat is checking which packages are installed. Windows File Server isn’t. Also, it looks System Tools may be needed. I’ll install them off the RedHat disk. RedHat computes the dependencies among the packages; apparently doing this by hand is a major pain in the butt. But the installation program terminates abruptly and then it stops recognizing my mouse. So, I tell it to log me out, but it does a full cold boot. I have to say that I’m doing more reboots than with a normal XP install, although that may be due to Gnome (the desktop GUI) and in no small part is due to Stupid User Syndrome.

Ok, re-do the Add/Remove Packages. It seems to have worked the last time. And I can now see files on my Windows machines. Yeah!

When I try to open an html file on one of the XP machines, the linux apps say they can’t access files at smb locations. Go to System Services and turn on smb…it’s now listed. Still can’t open the files though. On the advice of my nephew, I go to LinuxQuestions.org where there are detailed instructions – not quite detailed enough for the likes of me – on how to do mount a samba share. Hmm. It won’t let me mount the share unless I’m root but it’s rejecting my password as root. Yet it accepts that pwd when I login as root for other admin activities. Odd. I’ve just added myself to the adm group but that did nothing obvious. So, I’m logging in as root. And the mount command seems to have taken; smbfs is listed when I do a “mount.” But when I navigate there through the GUI, I still can’t open the file.

Meanwhile, another window refuses to close. This happened a couple of nights ago, too. I don’t see it listed in the System Monitor. Oops, it’s gone away now. I re-open it – it was the System Settings panel – but now Gnome tells me that Nautilus (its Explorer) has no viewer capable of opening the applets. Funny, they opened before.

Gnome seems really flaky. Far worse than XP. One of the comments to an earlier blog recommended I install a different desktop manager, but even after only a few days I feel like I’ve invested too much in Gnome to switch right now. So, off to bed and still not able to open files on networked XP machines. But the linux workgroup is showing up on the XP machine; it can’t get any further than the workgroup icon, but that’s progress.

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After blogging about the ghosting I was getting with the hardware switch that’s supposed to let me plug two computers into one monitor, and after getting the usual helpful advice from y’all – how exactly did you get to be so smart – I’ve discovered that my monitor has a second set of video inputs. Look, it’s a big-ass monitor that’s angled into a corner and can’t be moved without rollers and mules, ok?

Anyway, there’s one of them 5-input connection sets in the back, which apparently is called BNCx5 or RGBHV (are those two the same?) and after poking around in Google Groups – always an experiment in guessing contexts – it seems that I should be able to get a cable that converts from the usual 15-pin video out into the 5-strand video in that I need. It also seems that the BNC will give slightly better quality at 1600×1200, so I should I attach my Windows machine with the high-end graphics card into it, not my new, minimal linux box.

How wrong am I getting this?

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It’s 8:30pm so I’m back on the Linux machine. Just messing around. And crashing.

Thanks to advice from vthe comment board, I found out that I should be using Samba to enable linux to open files on the XP machines on my network. I got the Samba file easily enough. Unlike in XP, double-clicking on a downloaded file in Opera doesn’t launch the app you need to open it, at least not with compressed files. But doing so in the Gnome equivalent of Windows Explorer does. So, the files unzipped nicely. (I’m creating directories in my tree as if I knew what I were doing; I don’t know what the expectations are for where you put downloaded executables.) But when I doubleclicked on one of the files, I got a segmentation fault from Gnome for nautilus-text-view. At least it didn’t bring down the entire system, but XP handles crashes pretty well, too (in my naive experience).

Now I’m trying to read the pdf doc for samba, but the pdf reader (ghost viewer) is unable to open it. Sigh. But xpdf does fine. Oy veh, it’s an 85 page manual that first wants me to run ./configure in my source directory, but I don’t know how to get to a command line. Aha! Found the terminal. Navigate to the directory. Tab completion works! I’m feeling like a regulah unix hacker here. Run ./configure…and it fails because “no acceptable cc found in $PATH.” I have no idea where a cc is except in an email msg and I somehow doubt that that’s what it’s looking for. So, I’m hosed. No samba for me. Wait, maybe it’s already compiled. There’s a RedHat directory. It doesn’t open with the “text viewer” app on te popup menu, but it does with gedit. The readme says that I can produce the RPMS just by typing “sh makerpms.sh.” I have no idea what an RPMS is, but apparently I want one, so back to ther terminal. And…it can’t find the right directories and it doesn’t like the parameters. Thus ends my Samba adventure for tonight.

My system is running slow for a 1.7mh machine. There’s lag even when typing. I think something isn’t right, but I don’t know where to turn…all part of the discomfort and fun of traveling to lands where you don’t speak the language.

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…or with Linux, or on top of Linux, or under Linux. I’m not sure, but here I am with my gnome desktop on top of RedHat 9. I’ve got everything to learn. Unfortunately, I have to start at the most superficial and least interesting aspect of Linux: the desktop UI. I’m assuming that I’m going to find ways to peer under the desktop at Linux itself. Learning how to find a tool on the desktop that will tell me how much space I have left on my drive isn’t very rewarding. But that’s where I have to start. For example, I just figured out where Gnome hides the connection to my home network; this tells me nothing about Linux but a little about Gnome.

By the way, now that Linux and I are on a first name basis, I’m going to lowercase it.

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[Continued from here.] I’ve gotten to the desktop (GNOME). And things are moving slowly. Very slowly. So slowly that 5-10 seconds pass between the time I click into a field in Mozilla and when the text cursor appears in that field. It’s painting graphics slowly, too. I’ve tried telling it that I have a slightly different graphics card than it thinks I do, but that hasn’t helped. As a rank newbie, I don’t know where to look for diagnostic tools that could help me. I’ll keep poking around.

Meanwhile, I’m trying top open OpenOffice, the free word processor that isn’t MS Word, but it seems to have hung on the splash screen. Am I headed for my first Linux crash and reboot? I think so, but only because I don’t know how to kill a process in Linux on or off the desktop.

The OpenOffice splash screen is still up although clearly nothing’s going on with it. Somehow my random clicking seems to have opened up a view onto my home network. All the computers are visible, although it’s hanging as it tries to see the directories on my main NTFS machine.

Before I reboot, I thought I’d change the desktop image. Might as well focus on the important stuff first. The mouse is laggy, though, and the OpenOffice splash screen insists on being the topmost window, making it a little tough. Logging out…

I put in my old video card (Creative Annihilator – what a terrible product name!) instead of using the on-board video. Starting up again. It’s noticed the hardware change and is installing the drivers. Cool. But now it’s going through the same initial setup steps, asking me to test the sound card, etc. Worrisome. And it just gave me an error while installing the RedHat documentation off the CD; the second time, it works fine.

The system seems more responsive this time. Just for fun, I’m going to download Opera, which I use as my browser on Windows. Unfortunately, the Opera for Linux download screen wants to know which type of Linux I have: deb, rpm or tar.gz. But wait a sec, a tar file is a compressed file, not a type of Linux. I’m confused about my confusion. I’m guessing at the one that says RedHat8.1. Anyway, I seem to have guessed right because it’s installed just fine.

OpenOffice launches this time. Nice. But the system fonts are really and truly ugly. ClearType is a nice thing on XP. The big test for me will be whether it does a better job with tables than Word does. It’s hard to believe how badly Word tables suck given how long tables have been in the project. I frequently have to save my Word document as HTML just so I can regain control of a table. Word tables separate across pages for no known reason, and pity the fool who forgets to leave some empty paragraphs after a table for they can’t be inserted if you forget. The only thing worse than tables in Word are embedded graphics. I’ve been using the product for about 15 years, I count as a power user, and I still can’t figure the little f*ckers out.

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