SuSE goes free

[Mercutio]

Some pop and imap servers store it in odd places. Many mail programs move mail to your home directory.

 

[Adcadet]

Anyone remember BeOS? I installed it, loved it, but found very little to do with it back in the day (1998-2000-ish). Looks like it's back...sortof.
BeOS rises from the grave, takes the name ZETA

 

[CityK]

- mouse support (MS Intellimouse Explorer) is so-so. I poked and prodded and got my scroll wheel to work, but my forward/back buttons remain non-functional.

That's what has always most pissed me off when I've tried any Linux distro. My logitech mices have never had functional fwd/back buttons. That's the most annoying missing feature of Linux.

After some google sleuthing I've finally got my mouse's back button to work, and strongly suspect you guys can get your mouse working too:

First off, I'm using one of the original Logitech cordless optical k/b & mice combos - the Cordless Freedom Optical seen here; which really just means models M-RR63 (mouse) and Y-RE20 (K/B). The mouse, obviously, just has the one extra thumb key which I love for its "back" functionality.

Anyway, like this guy rants, it appears that a Suse install does have a "pitifully short list of mice to choose from", though, unlike that guy, my scroll wheel worked fine from the start -- just the thumb button was inactive ....(or so I thought).

So, here's what google found for me that looks like it would cover a lot of cases:
- old usenet thread that provides some background
- A slightly more recent usenet thread (very helpful!)
- Very recent info <-- I haven't really gone over its contents yet, but it looks to imply loading another driver.

So, from the second link I discovered the following

Does your thumb button generate anything to be
read with the command 'cat /dev/psaux | od -t x1 -w4'?

You'll have to be su to use it, but it did indeed reveal that there was life in my thumb button after all !!

Next, (as root) I simply changed the relevant entry in the xorg.conf file (in /etc/X11) to

Option          "ZAxisMapping"          "5 6"
Option          "Buttons"               "6"

After rebooting ( though I probably could have just logged out and restarted X .... whatever) the thumb button did indeed work, albeit, things were a bit messy with the button mappings --> the thumb performed the scroll up action , using scroll down with the scroll wheel actually performed the scroll up function, and using the scroll up with the scroll wheel seemed to do nothing (however in Sax it showed it as performing the scroll down function).

I reasoned out what was happening and confirmed it according too:

Check with 'xev' (comes with X) what the buttons are sending: execute xev from a terminal emulation. Xev opens a small window, position the mouse cursor in it and press the buttons. See in the terminal if the buttons send events.

Heeding that same posters prior comment that:

Now the buttons work, also the thumb one, but the mouse events will be misplaced for normal use.

To reallign the logical events, execute:

xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 2 3 6 4 5"

and Voila! Everything works the way it should !! Hurray for me.

...Now, if only I could get my k/b straighened out a bit (I think LinEAK might not be configured right, as my cursur keys aren't working properly...although I've found work arounds involving the num lock and keypad, but its just not as convinent i.e things aren't the way they should be)

 

[Adcadet]

CityK - thanks for the info! I mucked around a bit, and it's now working perfectly! I too will start playing with my keyboard and linaEAK.

 

[Adcadet]

hmm...the xmodmap -e command doesn't stick between sessions. Any idea how to get it to run each time at bootup?

 

[CityK]

hmm...the xmodmap -e command doesn't stick between sessions.

he he ... just got back in and found that out myself ... interestingly though, the scroll wheel isn't mucked up like last time...just the thumb "back" button is inactive again .... applying the xmodmap command and things are backed to being mucked up (mouse wheel scroll up is now the back function) .... taking a look at the xorg.conf file and I see ZAxisMapping has reverted back to "4 5"

Any idea how to get it to run each time at bootup?

Not yet...will have to figure out what configuration file ... I'm going to take a look at the third link see if it gives clues.

 

[CityK]

Andy, I've got it going now.

I would love to tell you exactly what I did, but I'm a little fuzzy on what exactly it was that actually got the job done. Nonetheless, what I did do was:

- log in as root and edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf again so that the "5 6" values for Z axis. Rebooted, and as user checked to see that they had "stuck"

- From the info in section 5, I tried to find ~/.Xmodmap or ~/.xinit , but neither file seemed to exist. Anyways, I tried (as user this time and NOT su) both

echo -e "pointer = 1 2 3 6 4 5\n" > ~/.Xmodmap
and 
xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 3 2 6 4 5"

Logging out and back in again confirmed that it stuck! Rebooted and it stuck!

I then took a peak and noticed that I now have a ~/.Xmodmap file too (which simply contains "pointer = 1 2 3 6 4 5").

So, I'm guessing that it was the "echo -e "pointer = 1 2 3 6 4 5\n" > ~/.Xmodmap" that did it.

I also wonder if what I did earlier didn't work/stick because I was issuing the commands as the su as opposed to the user (which is how that last link says to issue them). So, I wonder if what was done earlier was applied just to the root account but not the user account. I don't know, I'm just a village idiot taking swings in the dark.

Anyways, one thing I made notice of when I was logged in as root was that the keyboard was not messed up (cursur keys worked properly), but the multimedia keys didn't....so it looks like the LinEAK is only working on my user account (which makes sense) but that it is not properly configured (which is what I suspected all along, and hence why some of the key mappings are somewhat disfunctional - i.e work in some apps but not in others).

 

[Adcadet]

Thought I'd post my settings which work for me in SuSE 10 and my MS Intellimouse Explorer:

My xorg.conf (in /etc/X11) mouse section looks like this:
Section "InputDevice"

# Identifier and driver

Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Buttons" "7"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Name" "ExplorerPS/2 on USB"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "Vendor" "USB-Mouse"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "6 7"

# Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
# Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"

And the command to re-align the buttons is:
xmod -e "pointer = 1 2 3 6 7 4 5"

 

[Adcadet]

- From the info in section 5, I tried to find ~/.Xmodmap or ~/.xinit , but neither file seemed to exist. Anyways, I tried (as user this time and NOT su) both

echo -e "pointer = 1 2 3 6 4 5\n" > ~/.Xmodmap
and 
xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 3 2 6 4 5"

I ran those two command as well, rebooted, and it stuck for me too. Not sure what exactly did it, but I'm not complaining!

 

[Buck]

I just installed Suse 10/Gnome and I really like the combination. I've even gone ahead and installed Opera, which was easier than I had expected. I just downloaded the rpm file, double-clicked, and YaST2 finished the rest. Nice. I like the Gnome GUI.

 

[Buck]

So much for liking the GUI. I tried to watch a DVD, and it wouldn't work with Totem or Realplay 10. Something about x-nautilus-desktop not being available. So, I downloaded and installed the rpms for Ogle, that didn't work either. :arge:

 

[Mercutio]

http://www.thejemreport.com/mambo/content/view/178/42/

 

[Gilbo]

Ironically, Gentoo may be one of the few Free distributions that supports DVD playback auto-magically.

P.S. I don't mean to be a crusader or anything, but if you have the time, don't forget to write a letter to your Senator/politician. The whole situation is ridiculous. Not in Canada, but in much of the apparently free world.

 

[Buck]

Wow, great link Merc! Thanks for the tip.

 

[Mercutio]

No problem. That one link inspired a couple days worth of lecture for my Linux class.

Gilbo, you've been on fire with the informative posts here, but you really do have to give SuSE credit for newbie user experience, dvd support or not. If gentoo builds in libdecss, it's gotta be the only major distro that does.

 

[Gilbo]

you really do have to give SuSE credit for newbie user experience, dvd support or not. If gentoo builds in libdecss, it's gotta be the only major distro that does.

Absolutely. I've been thinking quite seriously about installing SuSE as the main OS on my laptop. And DVD support is indeed one of those annoying things that no one can conveniently get around thanks to the politicians, the lawyers, the DMCA, and the entertainment industry lobby --may they all burn in an especially unpleasant corner of hell...

Gentoo doesn't automatically build support in --I think that's just illegal in many countries. I think even linking to the source code is illegal in the U.S. You have to add 'dvdread' to your USE flags, but that's all. Once that's done, if you ever install a package that can use the DeCSS library, then it's automatically built against it.

The whole situation with the DMCA is just a travesty...

 

[Buck]

Thanks again Merc. The instructions work, although it is slightly different in reality than when he describes. Interestingly, Totem still doesn't work, but MPlayer does and I like the MPlayer UI. Some of the other packages that he recommends installing, such as Acroread and Realplayer are installed by default with SuSE 10.

 

[Mercutio]

The instructions might've been adapted from other instructions that were from some older version of SuSE. Doesn't matter, when one follows the steps, one ends up with the ability to play back almost any media file.

I really, really think that SuSE is a ready-for-prime-time desktop at this point. I managed to get five full-time switchers out of a class of 15 - a couple guys I wouldn't call the sharpest tacks in the box took it up. Maybe it's only as polished as Windows 95 or 98, but it's more than good enough for most people's needs.

I will say, though, that I recommend WINE for dealing with almost all things DVD. PowerDVD and DVDShrink both seem to be better options than native Linux options for the same tasks.

 

[Buck]

Gnome shows that the WINE package is installed. How do I get it to work with a Windows application?

 

[Gilbo]

So far I've been using vobcopy, a command line DVD ripper. I just create a decssed mirror of the CD on the hard drive. Command line tools are nice because they let me simply shove the disc in a fileserver, ssh in, fire & forget. I typically avoid burdening my desktop with IO tasks.

I haven't bothered compressing the DVDs yet, I suppose that eventually I'll either run out of disk space and take the time to learn how to do it on the command line and get the settings done right, or I'll just buy more disk space.

Ogle, while not fancy, has been excellent to me. DVD Menu support for hard-drive mirrors of discs is a must for me at the moment. I've found many players will only play through the vobs if they're on a hard disk --no menu just because it's in a directory instead of a DVD drive. Ogle couldn't care less. Good Ogle.

I've never used Wine, but from the sounds of it Merc will know everything you need Buck.

 

[Mercutio]

WineTools tends to make life much more pleasant for the novice Wine user. It's a menu for getting the important stuff in place. I think it does a better job of configuring windows apps on Linux than the defaults that SuSE ships with. DVDshrink is one of the apps it'll install for you, but in a post-wintools environment I've gotten PowerDVD and even City of Heroes to install and run under Linux.

 

[sechs]

Open source controversies aside, do you have any experience with Cedega?

 

[Mercutio]

I don't, but a couple of my students got it up and running to play World of Warcraft. I'm under the impression that there's not much to it once you get the binary-only drivers from ATI or nvidia that support 3D.

 

[Buck]

My father requested a computer for his garage. He has a nice system in his den, but would like something to play cards or surf the web with in the garage. So, after tinkering around with SuSE 10 for a few days, I figured that's the OS he gets in the garage. I'll couple SuSE 10 with a VC820 based system and 256 MB of RDRAM (yes, I know, but it was sitting around collecting dust); add a Kenwood CD-ROM, a WD102BA, and a smoking PII 400. I think this will be plenty for the odd occasion that he fires it up. Usually when he's in the garage he works on something -- either a car or the house. He does really well for being in his 70s. Let's see how he does with SuSE.

 

[Buck]

The VC820 gave me too many problems, so the whole she-bang was moved onto a 440 BX board -- much better. This will also allow me to double the RAM.

 

[Buck]

I decided to burn another SuSE 10 installation DVD, but this time I made it from within SuSE10/Gnome. I right-clicked the ISO file, picked the 'write' option, and the DVD was done in less than 10 minutes -- very nice! The same DVD (same media) burned on the exact same system, but running Windows 2000 and Roxio, took twice as long. :dunno: I like the very unassuming, anti-eye-candy, nature of Gnome's built-in burning software.