For the first post of my multi-part Gentoo blog series, I will be discussing the quirks I've encountered, the desired goal of my objectives, and the path to take to get there.
The purpose of the following Gentoo blog posts is to document how I went from the base command-line Gentoo system to a 3D-accelerated environment using the proprietary ATI drivers. Unfortunately, those, mixed with some quirks of my Alienware M17 machine, make for a lot of frustrations and cursing. Something hopefully those who read this blog will avoid, if you are following in these footsteps.
In retrospect, I was quite lucky for things to turn out the way they did.
It all started when I purchased this laptop a year back, in December 2008. The school-based laptops had a ton of resource-consuming Windows apps on them (Anti-virus for example) that severely degraded performance. The screens were poor, small (1200x800, so not that horrible), and they had the most gimped left-shift-key I've witnessed on a computer. Major productivity killers.
So I ordered this baby, with 1920x1200 resolution, dedicated video, but otherwise quite plain. Ever since discovering GNU/Linux in 2005 way back, when Ubuntu 6.10 was out and new, it had been my distro of choice. Well, Kubuntu to be exact, and I had not had experience in anything else but Fedora Core (not a great experience). Upon the laptop's arrival, I installed Ubuntu 8.10, the most recent at the time.
Upon first booting up into the system, I was met with the ugly 'no video driver' resolution desktop. The newest driver at the time, the Catalyst 8.12, provided excellent 3D and all was right with the world when installed. It could be run via command line installer without any additional configuration or patches.
And so I used such a system for about a year until KDE 4.3 came out. For those who have used Kubuntu 8.10, there is no official (stable) kde 4.3. Unless you use a nightly repository or compile from source, chances are you won't get it. Being a fan of the K Desktop Environment, this slowly nagged at me.
Now 3D acceleration is important to me, as it's required to play Warcraft 3, one of the few games I play on a constant basis. This is important, as a few other distributions I tried to get kde 4.3 off of, arch, gentoo, and future ubuntu versions, wouldn't give me 3D, or so I thought.
At this time, it's worth mentioning that there's an issue with either the Alienware M17 hardware, the ATI HD Radeon 3870, or the Catalyst drivers that prevent the desktop from appearing on the laptop screen. It's a strange issue, where plugging in an external monitor will show the desktop, the but the laptop lcd remains black (but lit up). It holds true on Ubuntu 9.10 with Catalyst 9.10/9.12 drivers. The HD Radeon 3870 is part of the R600 series.
So now I'm in the situation where I've been trying to migrate from a working, but old system to a new, no-3D system. It seemed like everytime I would migrate to another distribution, the lack of 3D drivers would force me back to the Kubuntu 8.10 system.
By this time, total hours spent attempting to get a newer working system with 3D has probably reached 30-40 hours (non-continuous, over a year period)
I haven't installed Gentoo by this point, only Ubuntu derivatives and Archlinux. Arch worked fine, but no 3D.
Gentoo was compiled with the core2, -pipe and -O2 optimizations. Once the base system was up and running, X and KDE quickly followed. It took about ~30 hours total including download times to get it set up and compiled with most of my programs.
Even though there was no 3D at this point, it ran deadly fast with the open-source 2D ati drivers.
Things were near-instant opening and closing. Sure, the fan was running constantly because the driver doesn't yet have proper power management, but things worked great.
It was about this time that frustration at not having 3d set in.
After installing Ubuntu 8.10 alongside Gentoo, I went in and began to check all the versions of packages that I felt would affect 3D.
This is the point where I noticed the difference in Xorg versions.
Gentoo had the newest 1.7 series, whereas Ubuntu 8.10 had 1.5.2. In a nutshell, I figured that I'd have to install the same version of packages in order to get the same setup I had in Ubuntu, which theoretically should work fine.
And so concludes the first part of the Gentoo series. This was the first step I took to getting 3D on Gentoo. And to be frank, it was the easiest part.
Stay tuned for the next part, documenting resource and configurations used in getting it setup properly.
It's loads of fun, with a bit of patching, lots of forum scrounging, and lots of compiling.
NP out.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
Windows 7 Versus Vista, an end user's perspective
It has been more than 4 years since last seriously using a Windows environment to do work.
I've never been a Windows expert, but I know enough about computers to do installations and driver updates without too much trouble; A couple years back I installed Windows XP on a laptop using a slipstreamed XP cd (sadly they don't include SATA drivers) so I wasn't expecting much trouble.
Both Windows 7 and Vista are the 32-bit editions, as compatibility seems to be better as such.
On my first install attempt, my current partition setup was like this:
1 Primary Boot Partition (Linux)
1 Primary Root Partition (Linux)
1 Empty NTFS Partition to install Windows on
3 Logical Partitions for Linux mount points.
Now, there is a good reason why forums will suggest installing Windows first, then Linux on top.
The first issues I encountered were:
- Windows cannot install to the desired partition error
- Windows cannot install to an external USB error
I figure it had something to do with the number of primary partitions already set up, in addition to the logical ones. Both Vista and Windows 7 had these issues and would not install on the current configuration; they don't seem to recognize logical partitions at all.
Unsurprisingly, GNU / Linux distributions will install without any hiccup given my partitioning scheme, as I successfully installed Ubuntu 8.10 on top afterwards. But this is irrelevant for this blog topic.
So I eventually caved in and wiped my hard drive of partitions and set up all my primaries using the Windows 7 partitioner. It's installed on the 2nd primary partition and everything worked fine.
My screen resolution is 1920x1200 and I was surprised that it was autodetected and set. Generally drivers are required to get it working. However, that was as good as it got. Not only did Windows 7 feel slower than Vista (based on perception, not on actual benchmarks) as windows started to lag, tasks took longer, etc. As Windows 7 detected the video card, I expected it to detect other components of my laptop. I did not install any drivers on 7, so perhaps the slowness was due to a missing component.
The kicker came when trying to watch videos with speakers plugged into the audio jack. No sound came out through the speakers. Sound kept playing from the laptop as if nothing had been recognized. Plus the sound was quieter than when using Linux or Vista systems.
And so I judged that Windows 7 wasn't ready.
On to Vista:
Like it's newer cousin 7, it would not install when my primary partitions were already in place. I wiped 7 off and began to install Vista on the same partition 7 was previously on.
Everything was the same for installation, except when presented with the desktop, resolution was reduced, blurry, and gross.
As I had the OEM driver install cd with me (a fact that is the reason why Vista was a breeze to install; without it, it would have been exponentially more difficult to work with) and soon had all drivers working.
Now Vista at this point was still working quite slow, as most people have complained about. After using the Windows Update to get all recent updates as well as some optional ones which included optimizations (highly recommended to install for you Vista users), normal desktop usage ran like a breeze.
Warcraft 3, although quite old now, ran extremely fast on full settings. As my laptop is known as a "Gaming Laptop", a moniker I dislike personally, having 512 MB of dedicated video DDR3, it's expected to run fast.
So for the simple task of playing Warcraft 3, Vista is definitely the winner.
Of course, this is purely an end-user perspective. For all the technical jargon and points that could be made (7 is faster, blah blah blah), I prefer Vista.
And the most probable reason for my preference, is the simple fact that Vista has been out longer.
It has had more time for bug reports, updates, and real-world usage. 7 hasn't been out long enough to gain the backing that Vista now has.
And that is one reason why many companies haven't switched yet, for good reason.
Personally, the only real diff I see right now between 7 and Vista is the user interface.
And both pale in comparison to speed I can achieve with linux systems.
XP runs great with 376 MB of ram in a virtual machine with 32MB video. If I need windows apps, I've got that covered.
Lastly, I'd like to give my own personal take on what should have happened after Xp.
Since the UI is so familiar and usable for most people, what Microsoft SHOULD have done, is take the XP interface and completely rebuild Windows in order to use that interface, but with a more secure and functional system and kernel.
Naturally, UI enhancements should be included, users should be given a choice of interfaces to implement. Just like GNU/Linux users can choose Gnome, KDE, fluxbox, Enlightenment just to name a few, and have those look like Mac OS-X, Windows, or just a blank desktop (minimal), Windows too should give users more choice.
For instance, some people in China have taken Ubuntu and made it into an XP clone, pixel for pixel. Link below.
http://www.thevarguy.com/2010/01/05/ubuntu-linux-clone-looks-like-windows-xp/
Is it so hard to make Windows modular so people can build their own Windows system?
Perhaps. At least there is KDE - On - Windows for those that want functionality on their windows desktop.
http://windows.kde.org/
So many opinions, so little time.
I hope this post hasn't exasperated you readers. ( lol as if anyone reads this blog =p )
And for the record, Ubuntu and popular distributions in general install in about 20 minutes. Vista and 7 in about 30 or 40.
Windows still uses a filesystem that's 9+ years old (NTFS) and support for things like FAT, FAT16/32/64.
Honestly guys, make a better filesystem.
I've never been a Windows expert, but I know enough about computers to do installations and driver updates without too much trouble; A couple years back I installed Windows XP on a laptop using a slipstreamed XP cd (sadly they don't include SATA drivers) so I wasn't expecting much trouble.
Both Windows 7 and Vista are the 32-bit editions, as compatibility seems to be better as such.
On my first install attempt, my current partition setup was like this:
1 Primary Boot Partition (Linux)
1 Primary Root Partition (Linux)
1 Empty NTFS Partition to install Windows on
3 Logical Partitions for Linux mount points.
Now, there is a good reason why forums will suggest installing Windows first, then Linux on top.
The first issues I encountered were:
- Windows cannot install to the desired partition error
- Windows cannot install to an external USB error
I figure it had something to do with the number of primary partitions already set up, in addition to the logical ones. Both Vista and Windows 7 had these issues and would not install on the current configuration; they don't seem to recognize logical partitions at all.
Unsurprisingly, GNU / Linux distributions will install without any hiccup given my partitioning scheme, as I successfully installed Ubuntu 8.10 on top afterwards. But this is irrelevant for this blog topic.
So I eventually caved in and wiped my hard drive of partitions and set up all my primaries using the Windows 7 partitioner. It's installed on the 2nd primary partition and everything worked fine.
My screen resolution is 1920x1200 and I was surprised that it was autodetected and set. Generally drivers are required to get it working. However, that was as good as it got. Not only did Windows 7 feel slower than Vista (based on perception, not on actual benchmarks) as windows started to lag, tasks took longer, etc. As Windows 7 detected the video card, I expected it to detect other components of my laptop. I did not install any drivers on 7, so perhaps the slowness was due to a missing component.
The kicker came when trying to watch videos with speakers plugged into the audio jack. No sound came out through the speakers. Sound kept playing from the laptop as if nothing had been recognized. Plus the sound was quieter than when using Linux or Vista systems.
And so I judged that Windows 7 wasn't ready.
On to Vista:
Like it's newer cousin 7, it would not install when my primary partitions were already in place. I wiped 7 off and began to install Vista on the same partition 7 was previously on.
Everything was the same for installation, except when presented with the desktop, resolution was reduced, blurry, and gross.
As I had the OEM driver install cd with me (a fact that is the reason why Vista was a breeze to install; without it, it would have been exponentially more difficult to work with) and soon had all drivers working.
Now Vista at this point was still working quite slow, as most people have complained about. After using the Windows Update to get all recent updates as well as some optional ones which included optimizations (highly recommended to install for you Vista users), normal desktop usage ran like a breeze.
Warcraft 3, although quite old now, ran extremely fast on full settings. As my laptop is known as a "Gaming Laptop", a moniker I dislike personally, having 512 MB of dedicated video DDR3, it's expected to run fast.
So for the simple task of playing Warcraft 3, Vista is definitely the winner.
Of course, this is purely an end-user perspective. For all the technical jargon and points that could be made (7 is faster, blah blah blah), I prefer Vista.
And the most probable reason for my preference, is the simple fact that Vista has been out longer.
It has had more time for bug reports, updates, and real-world usage. 7 hasn't been out long enough to gain the backing that Vista now has.
And that is one reason why many companies haven't switched yet, for good reason.
Personally, the only real diff I see right now between 7 and Vista is the user interface.
And both pale in comparison to speed I can achieve with linux systems.
XP runs great with 376 MB of ram in a virtual machine with 32MB video. If I need windows apps, I've got that covered.
Lastly, I'd like to give my own personal take on what should have happened after Xp.
Since the UI is so familiar and usable for most people, what Microsoft SHOULD have done, is take the XP interface and completely rebuild Windows in order to use that interface, but with a more secure and functional system and kernel.
Naturally, UI enhancements should be included, users should be given a choice of interfaces to implement. Just like GNU/Linux users can choose Gnome, KDE, fluxbox, Enlightenment just to name a few, and have those look like Mac OS-X, Windows, or just a blank desktop (minimal), Windows too should give users more choice.
For instance, some people in China have taken Ubuntu and made it into an XP clone, pixel for pixel. Link below.
http://www.thevarguy.com/2010/01/05/ubuntu-linux-clone-looks-like-windows-xp/
Is it so hard to make Windows modular so people can build their own Windows system?
Perhaps. At least there is KDE - On - Windows for those that want functionality on their windows desktop.
http://windows.kde.org/
So many opinions, so little time.
I hope this post hasn't exasperated you readers. ( lol as if anyone reads this blog =p )
And for the record, Ubuntu and popular distributions in general install in about 20 minutes. Vista and 7 in about 30 or 40.
Windows still uses a filesystem that's 9+ years old (NTFS) and support for things like FAT, FAT16/32/64.
Honestly guys, make a better filesystem.
Christmas Break Update
It's been quite a while since my last rant, er, post.
I realize that Microsoft is not completely at fault for the issues I encountered though I still can't help but feel like they are underperforming in their OS.
Anyway, during the Christmas break I've spent copious amounts of time working on my laptop and learning the ropes of Gentoo GNU/Linux. There's obviously not enough room in one post to fill up what I have to say, so the following posts will be part of a series.
I will be writing a short review on Windows Vista versus Windows 7. I haven't had a great deal of experience in either, so it will be more of an end user perspective, not a technological expert's opinion. (Although it shouldn't take one to make an accurate judgement.)
Next on my list is a write-up non-comprehensive tutorial on setting up Gentoo on an Alienware M17 with a nice KDE 4 install with the latest and greatest QT / KDE packages.
It will cover issues that are found with the xorg server -- from experience it seems only the older 1.5.3-r6 version will work with the ATI Catalyst drivers (meaning 3D acceleration)
I'll be uploading my configuration files, kernel, and the driver that works for this machine.
As well, I've tested out the lasted xorg with the opensource ati drivers.
What is lacking in 3D makes up greatly with blazing fast 2D.
More to come.
I realize that Microsoft is not completely at fault for the issues I encountered though I still can't help but feel like they are underperforming in their OS.
Anyway, during the Christmas break I've spent copious amounts of time working on my laptop and learning the ropes of Gentoo GNU/Linux. There's obviously not enough room in one post to fill up what I have to say, so the following posts will be part of a series.
I will be writing a short review on Windows Vista versus Windows 7. I haven't had a great deal of experience in either, so it will be more of an end user perspective, not a technological expert's opinion. (Although it shouldn't take one to make an accurate judgement.)
Next on my list is a write-up non-comprehensive tutorial on setting up Gentoo on an Alienware M17 with a nice KDE 4 install with the latest and greatest QT / KDE packages.
It will cover issues that are found with the xorg server -- from experience it seems only the older 1.5.3-r6 version will work with the ATI Catalyst drivers (meaning 3D acceleration)
I'll be uploading my configuration files, kernel, and the driver that works for this machine.
As well, I've tested out the lasted xorg with the opensource ati drivers.
What is lacking in 3D makes up greatly with blazing fast 2D.
More to come.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
The failure that is windows
In this case, it's windows server 2008. I can't even be bothered to capitalize that horrendous bowl of crap.
Of course, it must be said that the server platform wasn't meant for everyday use, especially when it comes to programming and development. But with that said, it's not like any other "good" operating systems have trouble performing more than one function.
If it isn't clear yet, I am in a bad mood.
I have an assignment due tomorrow requiring an apache/mysql/php server (LAMP in this case) to host a website. Now, I was reluctant to use ms server 2008 because I know that it's going to piss me off, bad. Little did I know I would encounter the following issues:
Issue #1: Update won't install.
Now I know this rather silly considering it doesn't affect my work, but it's a start to pave the way to frustration.
Windows Update does not update. Upon trying to update (because I like my OS secure and up-to-date), I am informed that my 4.1 Mb update failed. Reason? Even microsoft doesn't know.
Their help page starts off with the ever-so-helpful "0 results for WindowsUpdate_blahblahblah". The error code is 80070490 if you want to know.
Yes, I am connected to the internet. The update is already downloaded!
Are you saying I can't even use an up-to-date server? This has been happening for over a week now! It won't update! Useless!
Issue #2: Taskbar hell.
For some odd reason, everytime I click on a taskbar program, it greets me with the flashing grey and blue, but it does not appear on my desktop as it should. When I click it again, it de-selects itself still flashing grey and blue. What?! I click it again and FINALLY it opens up like it should.
So basically I have to work 3 times as hard to do 1x the work. And you know in windows, you have to do a lot of clicking. I guess Redmond can't be bothered to include global shortcuts that seem to be so prevalent in other Operating Systems. Alt-Tab works as expected though.
Issue #3: And here's where the sh-- goes down.
I am a programmer, developer, whatever you wish to call it. When programming in php and using html/css, you use a lot of <, >, and / characters.
AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT, while in the middle of using Programmer's Notepad to do my work, something happens that I cannot explain (a certain key combination maybe) and I no longer can type those 3 characters! In one fell swoop, my productivity falls to absolute zero. What happened? I check the locale, keyboard setup, sticky keys, and pnotepad for any options that could have affected my typing. But nope, there doesn't seem to be any particular reason for what just happened.
By now, I'm practically screaming at my lcd, wanting to throw my fist through it.
As I'm thinking about it, there are a few possibilities. Since the characters for < > and / were changed to ., `, and some accented capital E character, it was probably an english/french keyboard language exchange of some sort. The kicker is, that I was able to type the < > and / characters in firefox so it was probably an application error; as the reader of this post, you are probably wondering "so what? it's not like you can't restart and continue on."
And you'd be right, I did reboot and everything works again.
But this just goes to show something more sinister at work. Why in hell should an application be able to have the power to change what characters are typed on a keyboard a) without any consent of the user, b) without any warning (the screen flashed once when it changed), and c) with no apparent way to undo or revert the changes?
I was working as the Administrator, so I'm partly to blame. But why would an application even ATTEMPT to change something like that? If I was French, I'd have a French keyboard layout and negate the need for the application to worry about it. And that's the point of an OS, to perform required operations without nagging the user on tasks that are not relevant to the job at hand.
Which is why windows fails on so many levels.
+ nags you to reboot after certain updates, every 15 minutes on XP I believe.
+ nags you with the UAC. If it was actually helpful, I could understand, such as GNU/Linux asking for root or sudo passwords.
+ have to use the mouse for almost everything. Because arthritis is for the cool kids.
I'd also like to mention that as I was working in a VMWare machine, for some reason my screen would flicker every so often. Virtualbox may have it's quirks, but it doesn't piss me off by attempting to inflict a seizure.
So my boiling point has been reached. My opinion of windows and microsoft, however low it was before, has gone south.
I'm contemplating refusing employment if it requires work on a windows machine, for my own safety.
The last thing I need are glass shards in my fist.
Of course, it must be said that the server platform wasn't meant for everyday use, especially when it comes to programming and development. But with that said, it's not like any other "good" operating systems have trouble performing more than one function.
If it isn't clear yet, I am in a bad mood.
I have an assignment due tomorrow requiring an apache/mysql/php server (LAMP in this case) to host a website. Now, I was reluctant to use ms server 2008 because I know that it's going to piss me off, bad. Little did I know I would encounter the following issues:
Issue #1: Update won't install.
Now I know this rather silly considering it doesn't affect my work, but it's a start to pave the way to frustration.
Windows Update does not update. Upon trying to update (because I like my OS secure and up-to-date), I am informed that my 4.1 Mb update failed. Reason? Even microsoft doesn't know.
Their help page starts off with the ever-so-helpful "0 results for WindowsUpdate_blahblahblah". The error code is 80070490 if you want to know.
Yes, I am connected to the internet. The update is already downloaded!
Are you saying I can't even use an up-to-date server? This has been happening for over a week now! It won't update! Useless!
Issue #2: Taskbar hell.
For some odd reason, everytime I click on a taskbar program, it greets me with the flashing grey and blue, but it does not appear on my desktop as it should. When I click it again, it de-selects itself still flashing grey and blue. What?! I click it again and FINALLY it opens up like it should.
So basically I have to work 3 times as hard to do 1x the work. And you know in windows, you have to do a lot of clicking. I guess Redmond can't be bothered to include global shortcuts that seem to be so prevalent in other Operating Systems. Alt-Tab works as expected though.
Issue #3: And here's where the sh-- goes down.
I am a programmer, developer, whatever you wish to call it. When programming in php and using html/css, you use a lot of <, >, and / characters.
AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT, while in the middle of using Programmer's Notepad to do my work, something happens that I cannot explain (a certain key combination maybe) and I no longer can type those 3 characters! In one fell swoop, my productivity falls to absolute zero. What happened? I check the locale, keyboard setup, sticky keys, and pnotepad for any options that could have affected my typing. But nope, there doesn't seem to be any particular reason for what just happened.
By now, I'm practically screaming at my lcd, wanting to throw my fist through it.
As I'm thinking about it, there are a few possibilities. Since the characters for < > and / were changed to ., `, and some accented capital E character, it was probably an english/french keyboard language exchange of some sort. The kicker is, that I was able to type the < > and / characters in firefox so it was probably an application error; as the reader of this post, you are probably wondering "so what? it's not like you can't restart and continue on."
And you'd be right, I did reboot and everything works again.
But this just goes to show something more sinister at work. Why in hell should an application be able to have the power to change what characters are typed on a keyboard a) without any consent of the user, b) without any warning (the screen flashed once when it changed), and c) with no apparent way to undo or revert the changes?
I was working as the Administrator, so I'm partly to blame. But why would an application even ATTEMPT to change something like that? If I was French, I'd have a French keyboard layout and negate the need for the application to worry about it. And that's the point of an OS, to perform required operations without nagging the user on tasks that are not relevant to the job at hand.
Which is why windows fails on so many levels.
+ nags you to reboot after certain updates, every 15 minutes on XP I believe.
+ nags you with the UAC. If it was actually helpful, I could understand, such as GNU/Linux asking for root or sudo passwords.
+ have to use the mouse for almost everything. Because arthritis is for the cool kids.
I'd also like to mention that as I was working in a VMWare machine, for some reason my screen would flicker every so often. Virtualbox may have it's quirks, but it doesn't piss me off by attempting to inflict a seizure.
So my boiling point has been reached. My opinion of windows and microsoft, however low it was before, has gone south.
I'm contemplating refusing employment if it requires work on a windows machine, for my own safety.
The last thing I need are glass shards in my fist.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Akonadi D-Bus error and fix
After re-installing Kubuntu 8.10, the only distribution I've tried that works with my ATI Radeon 3870 HD card (using old catalyst drivers: 8.12), I've been looking into optimizing my OS since upgrading is oh so frustrating. However, this brings its own issues.
I sped up the boot time by about 5 seconds or so by disabling and blacklisting some unneeded modules, but I've also been attempting to transfer internal sqlite databases to a faster MySQL database.
Attempting to convert akonadi has led to some frustrations. Here's what happened.
Went to the system settings for kde -> then Akonadi.
Created the mysql database and user for it to use (referenced the amarok wiki, as it's basically the same procedure with different names.) and then restarted.
This will output annoying errors like:
akonadi "Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket ... mysql.socket"
and
Akonadi server process not registered at D-Bus
Needless to say, if you're switching or modifying akonadi and it starts blitzing out on you, a smart solution is to
a) delete all the configurations that it uses (/home/$USER/.config/akonadi/*) and
b) do an "apt-get install --reinstall akonadi-server akonadi-kde"
do a "dpkg-reconfigure akonadi-server akonadi-kde" for good measure.
I rebooted first, then attempted to load it. Finally it worked.
I should also mention that I did the following, mentioned from the akonadi section in the KDE.org wiki.
Apparmor
...
And so, akonadi works so far. I haven't thoroughly tested it, so we'll see how things go.
I sped up the boot time by about 5 seconds or so by disabling and blacklisting some unneeded modules, but I've also been attempting to transfer internal sqlite databases to a faster MySQL database.
Attempting to convert akonadi has led to some frustrations. Here's what happened.
Went to the system settings for kde -> then Akonadi.
Created the mysql database and user for it to use (referenced the amarok wiki, as it's basically the same procedure with different names.) and then restarted.
This will output annoying errors like:
akonadi "Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket ... mysql.socket"
and
Akonadi server process not registered at D-Bus
Needless to say, if you're switching or modifying akonadi and it starts blitzing out on you, a smart solution is to
a) delete all the configurations that it uses (/home/$USER/.config/akonadi/*) and
b) do an "apt-get install --reinstall akonadi-server akonadi-kde"
do a "dpkg-reconfigure akonadi-server akonadi-kde" for good measure.
I rebooted first, then attempted to load it. Finally it worked.
I should also mention that I did the following, mentioned from the akonadi section in the KDE.org wiki.
Apparmor
...
Note that you might be using Apparmor even if it does not show up in the process list.
Also note that some distributions ship an additional mysqld binary called mysqld-akonadi which has AppArmor set up correctly. If that's the case on your system and you see this problem nevertheless, there are two possible reasons:
* Akonadi still uses mysqld instead of mysqld-akonadi. You can change that in Systemsettings -> Advanced -> Akonadi -> Server configuration.
* AppArmor is not setup correctly for mysqld-akonadi either. Try running the aa-complain command noted above with mysqld-akonadi instead of mysqld.
---
You will also experience this problem if you are running an encrypted home directory using encryptfs combined with AppArmor as the Akonadi apparmor profile currently does not account for an ecrypted home (common with Ubuntu Jaunty users). Error messages with include:
* dmesg produces:
ecryptfs_do_create: Failure to create dentry in lower fs; rc = [-13]
ecryptfs_create: Failed to create file inlower filesystem
* Akonadi will list the following errors:
Akonadi server process not registered at D-Bus
The fix is to edit the following file "/etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld-akonadi". Below the line:
@{HOME}/.local/share/akonadi/** rwk,
Add a new line:
@{HOME}/.Private/** rwk,
Restart apparmor and restart akonadi.
And so, akonadi works so far. I haven't thoroughly tested it, so we'll see how things go.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
[PDFLaTeX] finished with exit code 70
I recently got an error compiling a pdf in the LaTeX editor, Kile.
As per the title, it mentioned an exit code of 70. What happened with this error is that I attempted to compile my document and the console mentioned that there were: 0 errors, x warnings and y badboxes, etc. However, upon trying to view the document a 'no pdf found'-like message appeared. Odd... I had just added 25 pdfs as graphics into the document, so perhaps I had overloaded it?
Actually, the reason for this errors is because one pdf file I had imported was misspelled, so it couldn't add it and spat out the exit code 70. The strange thing was that it erased my pdf output and only after scrolling up in my console was the error message visible. Until I had scrolled up, there was no indication an error had occurred aside from not being able to view the pdf.
If anyone gets this error, check your spelling first!
As per the title, it mentioned an exit code of 70. What happened with this error is that I attempted to compile my document and the console mentioned that there were: 0 errors, x warnings and y badboxes, etc. However, upon trying to view the document a 'no pdf found'-like message appeared. Odd... I had just added 25 pdfs as graphics into the document, so perhaps I had overloaded it?
Actually, the reason for this errors is because one pdf file I had imported was misspelled, so it couldn't add it and spat out the exit code 70. The strange thing was that it erased my pdf output and only after scrolling up in my console was the error message visible. Until I had scrolled up, there was no indication an error had occurred aside from not being able to view the pdf.
If anyone gets this error, check your spelling first!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Arch, Gentoo, and *buntu
Hey all. As I have been recently working on setting up an Arch system on my alienware, I'd like to point all you enthusiasts to a resource that has been invaluable for me.
http://archux.com/
On the right hand side of the page, there are links to the different arch tutorials. That, and the archwiki, are detailed and helpful. Even though I'm mainly a Kubuntu guy, I find the Arch community to be very intelligent and independent compared to many other communities. I've tried a bit of Gentoo in my spare time and found it to be exciting, but difficult. The tutorials and forums tend to be less 'simple' and straightforward, which is why arch is so attractive to me.
Hopefully I'll have a fully configured system in a few days. I've spent about a week on this already.
In other GNU/Linux news, I'm really impressed with the Kubuntu 9.10 RC. Really Impressed.
On a school laptop (which takes 2+ min to cold boot to XP with all the school services enabled, ~1 min with Kubuntu 8.10) with 2 Ghz Dual Core Intel Centrino, 2 GB DDR2 ram, integrated Intel graphics, it loads in approximately 20 seconds.
"sudo shutdown -h now" will shutdown in about 5 seconds. Sadly, this is the only way to shut down as the KMenu driven shutdown will not work. It gets hung up on some process so it won't shut down.
That, and the amarok blog I mentioned before make the experience a little less pristine.
But it's by far the best *buntu release to date, faster than any Windows OS on the equivalent hardware, more stable, and less prone to malware. Firefox and OpenOffice look much better with the QT/KDE theming and firefox runs like a dream, unlike the 3.5.3 beta I was using on 8.10.
The shutdown issue as far as I can see is the only show stopper, and it's not even the official release yet. Since shutdown is so darned fast using sudo, I can really see the potential here.
Now if only ATI and nVidia would get their drivers in order. Supposedly 20-40% worldwide uses GNU/Linux, I'm surprised they haven't taken more action. But the goings on of corporations is beyond me currently, and they have done many beneficial things for the open and free software communities.
Maybe with Windows 7, they will finally see Linux as a driving force they can get behind.
It seems Redmond has gone a little overboard with the whole 'Rebooting will solve all your problems' Windows concept.
Trolling for google results provides these links:
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7install/thread/0275d4ac-a6ca-4992-b6e5-dc128cc5f86c
http://archux.com/
On the right hand side of the page, there are links to the different arch tutorials. That, and the archwiki, are detailed and helpful. Even though I'm mainly a Kubuntu guy, I find the Arch community to be very intelligent and independent compared to many other communities. I've tried a bit of Gentoo in my spare time and found it to be exciting, but difficult. The tutorials and forums tend to be less 'simple' and straightforward, which is why arch is so attractive to me.
Hopefully I'll have a fully configured system in a few days. I've spent about a week on this already.
In other GNU/Linux news, I'm really impressed with the Kubuntu 9.10 RC. Really Impressed.
On a school laptop (which takes 2+ min to cold boot to XP with all the school services enabled, ~1 min with Kubuntu 8.10) with 2 Ghz Dual Core Intel Centrino, 2 GB DDR2 ram, integrated Intel graphics, it loads in approximately 20 seconds.
"sudo shutdown -h now" will shutdown in about 5 seconds. Sadly, this is the only way to shut down as the KMenu driven shutdown will not work. It gets hung up on some process so it won't shut down.
That, and the amarok blog I mentioned before make the experience a little less pristine.
But it's by far the best *buntu release to date, faster than any Windows OS on the equivalent hardware, more stable, and less prone to malware. Firefox and OpenOffice look much better with the QT/KDE theming and firefox runs like a dream, unlike the 3.5.3 beta I was using on 8.10.
The shutdown issue as far as I can see is the only show stopper, and it's not even the official release yet. Since shutdown is so darned fast using sudo, I can really see the potential here.
Now if only ATI and nVidia would get their drivers in order. Supposedly 20-40% worldwide uses GNU/Linux, I'm surprised they haven't taken more action. But the goings on of corporations is beyond me currently, and they have done many beneficial things for the open and free software communities.
Maybe with Windows 7, they will finally see Linux as a driving force they can get behind.
It seems Redmond has gone a little overboard with the whole 'Rebooting will solve all your problems' Windows concept.
Trolling for google results provides these links:
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7install/thread/0275d4ac-a6ca-4992-b6e5-dc128cc5f86c
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