PCLinuxOS troubleshooting

2007-03-31
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kcontrol is blank ∞

idea two

reinstall kdebase

There’s no way to reinstall, so I uninstalled completely and then reinstalled..

But there’s no kdebase for me to reinstall. Sigh.

idea one
rm -f ~/.kde/share/applnk/Settings
su
cp -a /usr/share/applnk/Settings /home/user/.kde/share/applnk/
chown user:users -R /home/user/.kde/share/applnk/Settings

(maybe also remove /etc/X11/applink if it exists)

Then use kmenuedit to change the name of the Preferences folder to Settings. HOW?! Check the file /usr/share/applnk/Settings/.directory contains X-KDE-BaseGroup=settings

Ugly fonts ∞

In PCLinuxOS 2007, late July 2007 I did an update which obliterated sensible fonts.

Unfortunately there seems to be no solution.

fix freetype2 ∞

apt-get update
apt-get install rpm-build
rpm -ivh freetype2-*.src.rpm
nano /usr/src/rpm/SPECS/freetype2.spec
%define build_plf 0
=>
%define build_plf 1
rpmbuild -bb /usr/src/rpm/SPECS/freetype2.spec
  • Log out of KDE — NOTE, you should copy these remaining notes to /root/notes so you can read them without needing to go back into the GUI.
  • go to a console (Ctrl+Alt+F1)

  • log in as root

init 3
cd /usr/src/rpm/RPMS/i586
rpm -e libfreetype6 --nodeps
rpm -ivh libfreetype6-2*.i586.rpm
init 5

If there are any problems, you can go back with:

init 3
rpm -e libfreetype6 --nodeps
apt-get install libfreetype6
init 5

The fonts look like crap now. They’re all thin and it hurts my eyes to look at the screen.

fix the dpi ∞

  • log into a shell as root

nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

  • Find the section that says Section "Device" and add:

Option "UseEdidDpi" "False"
Option "DPI" "96 x 96"

  • Restart X

I see no difference…

subpixel hinting ∞

OK for people with TFT screens that get a little annoyed that the Subpixel Hinting option in KCC Fonts is greyed out, here is how to get it working (although the option will remain greyed out with a tick)

This is easier that I had thought, bare in mind that this option was greyed out in KDE for locality/legal or some other reason (dont ask me I did not google that far into the whys)

OK there is a file on your desktop ~/.fonts.conf

if you have antialiasing working it will look like this

  <edit mode="assign" name="rgba" >
   <const>none</const>
  </edit>
 </match>
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="hinting" >
   <bool>true</bool>
  </edit>
 </match>
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle" >
   <const>hintfull</const>
  </edit>
 </match>
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="antialias" >
   <bool>true</bool>
  </edit>
 </match>
</fontconfig>

change it to the following:

  <edit mode="assign" name="rgba" >
   <const>rgb</const>
  </edit>
 </match>
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="hinting" >
   <bool>true</bool>
  </edit>
 </match>
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle" >
   <const>hintfull</const>
  </edit>
 </match>
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="antialias" >
   <bool>true</bool>
  </edit>
 </match>
</fontconfig>

its the first section that changes where the ‘none’ changes to ‘rgb’

Getting 3D to work ∞

See also https://web.archive.org/web/20070518054835/http://www.pclinuxonline.com/wiki/SetupAti.. but I don’t know if it’ll work.

One guy says he has never needed any ATI drivers, and does not download anything to get 3d working.. he uses the “native” drivers.

  • XFdrake is for root..

  • beryl-settings doesn’t seem to offer much

old notes ∞

apt-get install ati task-x11 dkms-ati
XFdrake
  • choose Radeon (fglrx)
  • answer questions and quit

  • restart X?

pcc > hardware > set up the graphical server

From the ati package:
Spoiler 
ATI proprietary X.org driver and libraries
ATI proprietary X.org graphics driver, related libraries and
configuration tools for ATI Desktop video cards from Radeon 9500
series cards up to Radeon X1900 series cards, ATI Mobility products
from Mobility Radeon 9500 up to Mobility Radeon X1800, ATI
Workstation FireGL products from FireGL X1-256p up to FireGL V7350,
FireMV 2200, Mobility FireGL T2/V5000 and Radeon Xpress
200/200M/1250.

You should install this package if you want to enable the ATI
proprietary X.org driver for those cards.

After installation you can reconfigure X to use the this driver
automatically (this is usually not necessary if you're upgrading):
1. Run XFdrake as root.
2. Go to the Graphics Card list.
3. Select the "Radeon (fglrx)" (it is usually already autoselected).
4. Answer any questions asked and then quit.

See /usr/share/doc/ati-xorg-8.34.8/README.install
for details.

I dunno..

aticonfig --initial

Cannot compile software from source ∞

bash: ./configure: No such file or directory

See configure

No Screen Savers are listed ∞

Seen in .93ATI and .93

Ctrl-Alt-l does not black the screen when it locks the system down.

The naughty way:
rm -rf ~/.kde/share/applnk-mdk
The nice way:
mv ~/.kde/share/applnk-mdk/.hidden/ScreenSavers ~/.kde/share/applnk-mdk/Configuration/KDE/

Root has sound, but users don’t ∞

su
usermod -g audio -U user

restart X / log out of your user to see the changes.

later notes ∞

Reproduction:

xterm, logged in with a user

play /usr/share/sounds/pop.wav
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:3985:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2202:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
play stio: Failed writing default: cannot open audio device
su
play /usr/share/sounds/pop.wav 
# (works fine)

# (still root)
adduser testing -g testing
su - testing
play /usr/share/sounds/pop.wav
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:3985:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2202:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
play stio: Failed writing default: cannot open audio device
exit
# (now I'm root)
usermod -g audio -U testing
su - testing
play /usr/share/sounds/pop.wav 
# (now it works)

Ok, so this confirms that it’s a permissions issue. Now I try to apply this to my regular user:

exit
# (now I'm root)
usermod -g audio -U user
play /usr/share/sounds/pop.wav 
# (now it works)

But exiting once more to my user xterm, play won’t work!

Solution: Restart X so it sees the permissions change.

earlier notes ∞

2009-04-10 ∞

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.0.7) Gecko/2009031421 PCLinuxOS/1.9.0.7-1pclos2007 (2007) Firefox/3.0.8

PCLinuxOS 2007, but it’s updated so it ought to work like 2009.

This does not work:

artsdsp firefox

Adobe Flash still only uses OSS.

The packagers updated things..

flash-player-plugin libalsa-data libalsa2 (and more)

But no success.

apt-get install libflashsupport pulseaudio pulseaudio-esound-support

Nope.

It’s not /dev/mixer permissions..

Firefox doesn’t play flash sounds ∞

See Ancient Firefox Linux troubleshooting notes

Firefox crashes on YouTube ∞

See Ancient Firefox Linux troubleshooting notes

Playing DVDs ∞

.92ATI / .93a

apt-get install libdvdcss2

DVD playing mysteriously doesn’t work. To get xine to work, set its media to /dev/something_else and then back to /dev/dvd .. it works. Go figure. Other wacky issues may happen for no particular reason. Install and uninstall and reinstall libdvdcss2 if you need to.

If kaffeine give a “The source can't be read.” error, sacrifice an albino goat; this issue is caused for no particular reason. Even when all settings are correct, all permissions are correct, the proper drive is there and accessible and all that.. this problem will persist.

You may experience intermittent issues with DVD play working and not working, where the stuff that plays is the non-encrypted content and the stuff that isn’t playing is encrypted. Installing libdvdcss2 may break things differently.

As of right now I’ve been through bunches of hell, and without having made any setting changes aside from installing, removing and installing libdvdcss, kaffeine still gives me “The source can't be read.” but now I can play dvds using xine by running:

xine dvd://

Footnotes

^ 1 no archive was found

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