Various Linux questions

[ss1]

Ok I have RedHat Linux 7.2 installed but I have a few questions:

1. How do I change my mouse and keyboard configuartion - The mouse has been set to a two button mouse (When its a three button) and the Keyboard has been set to a US keyboard layout rather than a UK one.


2. Is the Java 1.3 or 1.4 SDK installed on Linux my default and if not is it availble from Sun.

3. When Installed RH7.2 it dected my graphics card correctly as a TNT2 Vanta 16mb but should I go download the latest drivers from Nvidia?

4. Does VNC server work on Linux so I can remoltey control the box from my Windows machine?


Thats all I think at the momment .


Cheers,


ss1.

 

[ss1]

Wait!

One more question:

5. Is there a better text editor for writing Java code than emacs. Hopefully one which supports the various colours of the Java syntaxes.



ss1.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Originally posted by ss1
1. How do I change my mouse and keyboard configuartion - The mouse has been set to a two button mouse (When its a three button) and the Keyboard has been set to a US keyboard layout rather than a UK one.

Try Xconfigurator (or edit /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 manually )

2. Is the Java 1.3 or 1.4 SDK installed on Linux my default and if not is it availble from Sun.

http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4/download.html

3. When Installed RH7.2 it dected my graphics card correctly as a TNT2 Vanta 16mb but should I go download the latest drivers from Nvidia?

I think you should. You'll get accelerated features & OpenGL, possibly TV-out support as well among other things.

4. Does VNC server work on Linux so I can remoltey control the box from my Windows machine?

Yes, it does.

 

[lokem]

Originally posted by ss1
Wait!
One more question:
5. Is there a better text editor for writing Java code than emacs. Hopefully one which supports the various colours of the Java syntaxes.

Since Mictlantecuhtli has answered the prev questions, I'll answer this one

If you're familiar with vi, you can try vim. It has syntax highlighting. Turn it on by pressing ESC, then type:

:syntax on

If you're leaning more towards the GUI type, you can try www.jext.org. It's a full featured editor written in Java.

Hope that helps.

 

[Phantasm66]

Originally posted by ss1
Ok I have RedHat Linux 7.2 installed but I have a few questions:

1. How do I change my mouse and keyboard configuartion - The mouse has been set to a two button mouse (When its a three button) and the Keyboard has been set to a US keyboard layout rather than a UK one.

As root,

mouseconfig

outside X windows or do it in X windows and then restart....

 

[Phantasm66]

Originally posted by ss1
3. When Installed RH7.2 it dected my graphics card correctly as a TNT2 Vanta 16mb but should I go download the latest drivers from Nvidia?

You can download the drivers from their website and follow the installation instructions which involve editing a script and compiling the drivers.....

 

[ss1]

Just another question.

In DOS you can go back a directory by using the cd.. command. What is the equivlant in Linux?


ss1.

 

[lokem]

In DOS you can go back a directory by using the cd.. command. What is the equivlant in Linux?

cd ..

Note the space btw cd and ..

 

[ss1]

I installed the Nvidia Linux drivers but now I have a big problem. Xserver doesn't seem to start at all so I can't get to the GUI login screen. Xconfiguartor showsme the log and the only warning messages I could see in the log are:

(WW) Warning couldn't open module GLcore
(EE) Failed to load module 'GLcore' module does not exist, 0)

and the bottom of the log:

Fatal server error:
Caught singal error 4. Server aborting.


Any ideas? Hopefully I won't have to re-install Linux .



ss1.

 

[ss1]

I think I know why I messed up on my driver installations. These are the proper instructions:

rpm -iv NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2313.rh72up.i686.rpm
rpm -iv NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-2313.rh72up.i686.rpm
Go to /etc/X11. Edit XF86Config-4:

In section "Module", comment out (with "#")
Load "GLcore"
Load "dri"
In section "Device", comment out
Driver "nv" (in case your card was detected as such)
Add
Driver "nvidia"
there.
Now you could try if X works. If not, you can kill it (usually) with CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE.
Check /var/log/XFree86.0.log for errors (lines that begin with (EE)).



Out of that I only did:
rpm -iv NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2313.rh72up.i686.rpm
rpm -iv NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-2313.rh72up.i386.rpm


Notice that I accenditlenly installed the GLX i386 moudle instead of the i686 one. Would that also cause any problems???


ss1.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

It shouldn't. The GLX module just won't use Pentium instructions, so it might be a bit slower. I think I made a typo there, I'm not sure if there is GLX version for i686. But then again, it could be compiled from source with CFLAGS="-O3 -march=i686".
Edit: It won't help as GLX installer just copies files. It could affect NVIDIA_kernel module, however.

 

[ss1]

Go to /etc/X11. Edit XF86Config-4:

How do I edit the XF86Config-4 in bash? In dos I could use the edit command but whats the eqvilant in Linux?



ss1.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

IMHO the best command-line file manager & editor is Midnight Commander, invoked by mc.
Alternatively, you can edit it with, say, vi, though it might not be the easiest to use. Hit "insert" to edit text, "ESC" to exit editing mode, type :w to save the file and :q to quit.

 

[ss1]

Ok.

I made the neccessary changes to the XF86Config-4 as stated above but I now have the following error messages:


(EE) Nvidia(0): Failed to intialize NVdriver kernel module!
(EE) Nvidia(0): ***Aborting***
(II) Unloading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/libvgahw.a
(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a useable configuration.


Fatal error
No Screen found.


Any ideas on helping me crack this problem?

Thxs for your help!


ss1.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

NVIDIA_kernel driver needs to be properly installed. How did you install it?

 

[ss1]

I ran these commands in bash with Xserver terminated which went ok:

rpm -iv NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2313.rh72up.i686.rpm
rpm -iv NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-2313.rh72up.i386.rpm


and then later I edited my XF86Config-4 file as stated above.

Am I missing somthing


ss1.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Hmm.. try insmod NVdriver. Oh, you're using 2313 - did you notice that there's a new version out?
In every case, I recommend installing the driver from source packages. It's not as difficult as it may sound. These RPM packages are for specific distributions with specific kernels, so it might not be installed correctly after all. Sure you have Red Hat 7.2, uniprocessor machine? i686?
Edit: Ok, I read your sig

 

[ss1]

The 2313 is just a copy and paste mistake . I did download the latest version. I tried added the line in my Modules.conf file:

alias dev/nvidia* NVdriver


but still the same problem.

How do I insmod NVdriver? Do I type in the console?

cheers .


ss1.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Originally posted by ss1
How do I insmod NVdriver? Do I type in the console?

Yes(, but I have a feeling that it won't help in this case). Are you sure /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 is correct?

 

[ss1]

I reformated an re-installed . I think installing from the RPMS was a bad idea. After doing some research I think I hashed out the correct installation procedure:


Firstly you need two files:

1. GLX tar file (Ignore the RPMS)
2. Kernel tar file (Its right at the bottom)

From here:

http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=linux

Ok now do the following:

1. Shut down X (Usally by logging out and then pressing Alt-Ctrl-F1)
2. Go to the directory where you downloaded the files
3. un-tar both files:

tar -zxvf NVIDIA_blabla-version.i386.tar.gz

4. Get into each of the new folders that have been created (Kernel first, GLX last) and type:

make install

5. edit /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 with the following things:

- Comment out:

Load "GLcore"
Load "dri"

-In section "Device" replace Driver "nv" with Driver "nvidia"

5. Restart X


ss1.

 

[lokem]

Glad you successfully installed the driver.

Do you know what improvements you get from the nVidia drivers compared to those that come with X?

 

[Phantasm66]

Well, essentially its the same difference as having the Detonator XP drivers under Windows installed instead of the stock drivers that come with XP.

These are essentially the Detonator XP drivers for Linux.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Another cool thing (which might not work with every motherboard) is that with source files, you can enable AGP Fast Writes & Side Band Addressing by editing os_registry.c.
..but don't blame me if it locks up your machine!

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Originally posted by lokem
Do you know what improvements you get from the nVidia drivers compared to those that come with X?

I think I mentioned some already. In addition to those, FSAA & VSYNC control, anisotropic filtering,..
I'll check for more next time I boot to Linux..

 

[lokem]

Thanks for the info guys. Didn't know nVidia supports Linux so well

BTW, how much slower/faster is Q3A in Linux compared to Windows?