zenarcher

Considering my recent experiences trying Fedora Core 4, I'd recommend that you might try SUSE, which is what I'm finding to work very well and install easily, or Mandriva, which also seems to install without trying to figure out configuration problems before you even begin the installation. However, I'm sure someone will come up with a resolution for you here. We have some people who are very good with FC4, I know. Regards, zenarcher

Okay danleff, I get a whole string of stuff when I type that command, but the second from the bottom is the 4318, so I'm guessing I'm good. I did go into YAST and try to set up the network card for the wireless, which seemed to go fine. I named it wlan0, during that process. Everything seems fine, but I do not have wireless connect. If I look at the little applet on the taskbar...(I'm using KDE...I see eth0 and wlan0 appearing in the list...with eth0 connected. Right now, with my Linksys BEFW11S4 router, I don't have it configured with any sort of security or anything, while I try to get this all set up and working. I merely have wireless active. But, I don't think this wlan0 is active in the notebook, so I'm not far enough to try to connect to the router, anyway, as of yet. I'm not sure where to go at this point. I went to YAST>Network Devices>Network Card. I clicked the Add button, changed Device type to Wireless. I left Configuration Name at 0. In Kernel Module, I inserted ndiswrapper. At Hardware Configuration Name, I entered wlan0. In the Setup WIFI settings, I set to DHCP, which is what I'm using. From there, I pretty much left everything as Default. I then typed ifstatus wlan0 in a terminal, but get: Interface wlan0 is not available. Right now, I have nothing in the box for ESSID and such, but think perhaps I need those filled in, but don't know where to get the information, or what.. Any help? Regards, zenarcher

Thanks so much for the help, martouf and danleff! I followed your instructions exattly, first removing both the bcmwl5 and the bcmwl5a drivers that I had installed. Next, I ran the Windows Driver disk, which came with the HP notebook and copied the entire WLAN folder into my Home directory. That was all the files, related to the Broadcom. I then ran the ndiswrapper -i command, to my home directory, using the bcmwl5.inf file. Following that, I ran ndiswrapper -l and there it was! The bcmwl5 was shown as installed and working, along with the hardware! Just as it should be! Now, another question and maybe I should leave well enough alone at this point, but I'm sort of comfortable with this ndiswrapper command, after spending all day with it. On that driver disk and in the WLAN folder, there are two different .inf files. I used the bcmwl5.inf, however there is also a bcmwl5a.inf. I'm wondering...what do you think that is? Possibly an updated driver, would be my guess. I'm wondering if I should have installed it, instead of just the bcmwl5.inf? When I did the incorrect install, I tried both and I noted that it did install both, but I just didn't have all the files, as you showed me here to run it. Any thoughts on if I should uninstall the bcmwl5.inf and install the bcmwl5a.inf, or just leave it alone? Anyway, I have a few steps to go in YAST yet to get this Broadcom wireless installed, but wanted to update you. I will let you know, as soon as I make further progress or need further help! Regards, zenarcher

Originally posted by danleff: Quote: Wow, you really did that at Walmart? Good for you! I never would have. This broadcom wireless should run with ndiswrapper. Install that package off the SuSE cds using yast. You then need the Windows XP drivers for it. Yes, I said the Windows XP drivers! I hope drivers came on a cd, but I bet not. If you have the drivers cd, look for the broadcom drivers on it. Let us know if you find them. You will need the .inf and .sys files to compile the driver with ndiswrapper. I wrote an article about it on my web page, but not for this wireless card. Let us know if you have them. If not, you will need to get them from another source. If you have trouble, I will take a look. But...I hate these systems, because often they are legacy cards built for HP and may take some doing to get it going. You bet I got one, danleff! I got there at midnight...was number 2 in line...knowing they had 15 of them. My wife went with me so we could spell each other off for coffee and breaks. They would not sell them until 5 a.m. At 4 a.m. they handed out cards to the first 15 people in line. I was determined to get one! The only drawback is that it only has 256M of RAM. I'll get a 1 GIG RAM card for it, a bit later....that's all it really needs. I can't believe how slow everything is with 256M of RAM, but I'm used to 1 Gig, minimum in the system. Okay, I think you just answered my problem, danleff!! Yes, the drivers came on a disk. Here's what I did. I went to the SUSE Forum, where Andrew has a wireless walkthrough for NDISwrapper. I followed all his instructions and everything went perfectly, just as he said it should...I even removed the old NDISwrapper in the system and installed the latest stable, (version 1.5) from SourceForge....BUT he wasn't clear on one thing, apparently. He ONLY mentioned getting the .inf file off the HP disk! There were two on the disk...bcmwl5.inf and bcmwl5a.inf. So, after doing all, when I run ndiswrapper -l from a terminal, I get: Installed NDIS Drivers...followed by: Invalid Driver. Bet that is why...I don't have the SYS file! I remember seeing it on the disk, too. Now, what do I do, danleff? I have done everything...but don't have the SYS file in the folder. I can get it off the disk....no problem....and put it in the folder with the .inf file. BUT, can I just run ndiswrapper -i /home/zenarcher/broadcom/bcmwl5.inf again, or will I have to remove something I've done first? If you can help me from where I am, I'd sure appreciate it! Also, what would you suggest as to the .inf file? The bcmwl5.inf or the bcmwl5a.inf? If I have to, I can always get a PCMCIA wireless card that will work with SUSE 10.0, as I have a PCMCIA slot, but I'd sure rather use the internal, if I can. Regards, zenarcher

I don't want to start a debate or anything, but I'm just curious as to comparing two systems. My Linux experience is pretty well limited to the last couple of versions of Mandriva and the last couple of versions of SUSE. Currently, I'm using SUSE 10.0. Anyway, I've done some reading on Fedora Core 4 and wondering what the pros and cons might be between FC4 and SUSE. I kind of like some of what I've read about FC4. It appears I can get most any packages I use now in Mandriva for FC4. Also, it appears that setting FC4 up as RAID0 is about as easy as SUSE, which was my primary reason for switching to SUSE in the first place. So, if any FC4 users would like to share some comments and considerations, I'd really be interested in learning. Regards, zenarcher

I just installed a new HP PSC 1401 multifunction printer on my system. The printing is great, but SANE will not recognize the scanner. I've read and done everything I can think of, with no success. I probably won't give all the information necessary here, but this is what I've done. I downloaded and installed the PPD file for the HP 1400 series, since it was not in the YAST install list. All HP software is installed, as well. In YAST, under scanners, I see the printer, but it shows as not configured. When I attempt to configure it, I get an error: Failed to set up the ptal system - failed ptal-init setup-usb. Incidentally, this is a USB printer. Opening a terminal as su, I run usr/sbin/ptal-init setup. Everything looks fine there shown below: Currently defined device names ([*]=default): "mlc:usb:PSC_1400_series" Model is "PSC 1400 series". Serial number is "CN591230QP04GM". Probe for USB-connected devices ([y]/n)? y Probing "/dev/usb/lp0"... Found "PSC 1400 series" with serial number "CN591230QP04GM". This device is already set up as "mlc:usb:PSC_1400_series". Probing "/dev/usblp0"... Found "PSC 1400 series" with serial number "CN591230QP04GM". This device is already set up as "mlc:usb:PSC_1400_series". I then ran /usr/sbin/ptal-init start which stops, then restarts. Then, as su, from a terminal, I ran /usr/sbin/ptal-init setup-usb. Here is the result: Probing "/dev/usb/lp0"... Found "PSC 1400 series" with serial number "CN591230QP04GM". This device is already set up as "mlc:usb:PSC_1400_series". Probing "/dev/usblp0"... Found "PSC 1400 series" with serial number "CN591230QP04GM". This device is already set up as "mlc:usb:PSC_1400_series". Starting the HP OfficeJet Linux driver. mlc:usb:PSC_1400_series Reading the HP driver installation information, I did go to /etc/sane.d/dll.conf and made sure the comment was removed, as advised to do in the HP instructions. I'm pretty new with all this, so any help would really be appreciated. zenarcher

Originally posted by phulshof: Quote: The PSC 1400 series isn't supported until hplip 0.9.5. For the scanner, I installed hplip 0.9.7 from source (not an RPM in sight unfortunately), and after restarting hplip and cups YAST had no problem properly detecting my PSC 1417 as a scanner. I ran a few tests, and everything seems to be working fine. For the printer part I just downloaded the PSC 1400 series PPD file, although I think the PSC 1310 driver will work as well. That's good to know about hplip 0.9.7. I also downloaded and installed the PSC 1400 series PPD file. I heard the PSC 1310 driver would work, as well, but decided to do the download just the same. Thanks for the info! Regards, zenarcher

Well, whatever the problem was....there were a zillion KDE updates this morning and they fixed the problem! zenarcher

Good to hear of your experience, Justbill. I don't know what I was doing wrong in setting up the RAID array, but obviously, something. When it comes to setting up RAID, I have yet to found any distro as friendly as SUSE...period. It does sound like Centos is easier to deal with. I may give that a try one of these days soon. Actually, I have to say that I like SUSE...really haven't had any problems until this issue between SUSE and KDE 3.5 came up, where the sound messes up and KDE says it isn't their bug, but a problem that belongs to SUSE. SUSE has failed to respond with an answer. I just can't figure out why I've created problems with SANE and sync in my Sony PDA with Evolution. Never had those problems before. But, I have a theory on that. Always, I've found that one needs to have beer on hand when installing Linux. The best installations I get are with a beer in one hand and the Linux DVD in the other. This time, I was out of beer and it was too cold to ride the motorcyle to get some. The wife had the car at work, so it was a beerless installation. As much work as it is, I like trying these different distros. I should be trying them on one of the other boxes I have, but mine is the only one with the dual SATA drives. I get a lot of computer customers interested in Linux, after my pitch, so trying to learn all I can so I can help them. Regards, zenarcher Late Note: One problem down. I uninstalled the latest version of SANE and went back one revision. When I did, my SANE icons are now back in the main menu and SANE is working fine! [Edited by zenarcher on 2005-11-23 12:10:44]

A fresh install did not resolve the sound issue with SUSE 10.0 and KDE 3.5. The only way the sound works properly is to not update to KDE 3.5, but rather stay with KDE 3.4. zenarcher

Well, Fedora Core 4 and I did not get along very well! The install would not even begin until I disconnected all USB devices including the internal multi-card reader. Quite unlike Mandriva and SUSE in that respect. Having done that, I attempted to set up my SATA RAID0 array. It seemed very similar to doing so with SUSE 10.0. Not so, apparently. Everything appeared to be right, but when I tried to continue the installation, I kept getting an error about sdb not being mounted, after which the installation would shut down. I tried three different times, after reading the installation instructions, but could not resolve it, so decided to reinstall SUSE 10. Once again, I attempted the KDE 3.5 updates, at which time, my sound system began having issues. In several applications, including YAST, I'd get a KNOTIFY crash. Likewise, with KDE system sounds, the sound was broken and stuttering. Thinking I had done something wrong, I did another clean install, this time up[censored] everything EXCEPT KDE...staying with KDE 34.updates. The sound is now working just fine. I have created a couple of new problems, which I don't understand. I installed SANE, as always, but cannot find it in my menu. Also, I was always able to set up my Sony PDA, with the USB connection so I could sync with Evolution. Not this time! Maybe I don't remember exactly what I did before, but I can't get it to sync. It seems that I had to chmod permissions, but I cannot find anything on /dev/usr/ttyUSB0 or on USB1. I don't know why. Fedora Core 4 would have probably worked fine, if I were not so stubborn about my SATA RAID array, but due to the fact that I could easily set it up with SUSE, was my primary reason for switching to SUSE in the first place. So, that's the update.... Regards, zenarcher

Fedora Core 4 has arrived today. I'll probably start installing shortly and will be pleading for help! zenarcher

Very good and very appropriate response, danleff. zenarcher

Justbill, thanks for the Centos information. I'll sure keep that in mind! Also, thanks for the info on your experiences. Danleff, thanks also for sharing your experiences. I'm wondering if FC4 is going to deal with my HP printer in a more friendly way. It's possible, I suppose, as Mandriva handled it just fine. Good deal on the SATA drive. As you know, I'm running a pair of 80GB WD hard drives in SATA RAID0 array. Yeah, I know, I've heard nothing but bad about RAID on every forum. Especially RAID0. "What if a hard drive crashes...you lose your data?" Well, with one IDE drive, my question is: "What happens to your data if your single IDE drive dies?" Same thing. Bottom line is, with either setup, I keep a backup of anything that's important. My experience with the SATA RAID0 array....IMHO it's faster. I don't think it's my imagination. Also, I like the tiny cables used with the SATA drives, as I think they help with cooling restriction in the box. I use a full tower case, as it is, since I believe I get better cooling in the case. Also, six case fans. I live with the noise...it's part of my environment and my hearing isn't as good as it used to be, anyway, so not that annoying. Danleff, setting up SATA RAID with SUSE is a snap. Even I figured it out in about five minutes. During the initial install, you merely do a custom partitioning. The instructions for defining the arrays are step by step in the SUSE manual, but I think most of it could be figured out even without reading. The ONLY thing you have to keep in mind is that the boot sector CANNOT be part of the RAID array, or it won't boot! If you try to set it up in RAID, SUSE warns you that you're making a big mistake! I merely set something like 15MB aside as boot, then let SUSE create the RAID array out of what's left of the drives. Not a single problem! With Mandriva, you have to figure out how to set them up with mdadm and I found that impossible. You have to totally understand all the quirks of the particular distro, to do so. Not the case with SUSE. If I'm reading FC4 information correctly, it sets up the RAID array exactly in the same way as SUSE...again, very simple. If you have problems, that I can help with! I'll probably be driving everyone crazy for help with FC4 once I have it and install it. The use of YUM and sources for additional packages will be a challenge for me, since I really only understand the SUSE method. Regards, zenarcher

Hey Justbill, Thanks for the information and opinions on FC4. I really appreciate that! One of the things I noticed was that FC4 would easily allow the SATA RAID0 array setup, which is impossible with Mandriva, unless you have a PhD in programming. I do like that about SUSE and think it will be about the same with FC4. I have plenty of room on my hard drive, as I run a pair of 80Gig SATA drives, so in RAID0 array, it's something around 150GB of hard drive space. I'm running 1Gig of RAM, so no problem there, either. I should have the FC4 here in about a week, which is fine. I'm in the middle of incoming parts for a computer I'm building for a customer, so really want to get that out of the way first, anyway. I remember you were trying SUSE and encountering some problems. I've had no problems with SUSE, except a bit more complex getting my HP multifunction printer to work right. It worked without any problems with Mandriva. I'll keep you posted when I get the FC4 and get it installed. Thanks again, zenarcher

Well, I just ordered FC4, so I guess I'll see what it's about, firsthand! zenarcher

Thanks for the info, danleff. I did write the script and put it in my home directory, but couldn't figure out how to make it work. I'll probably just stay with doing the process through the terminal, as I understand that and it works quite easily. Great on the combo unit working for you! The HP OfficeJet T-45 worked fine both printing and scanning through XSANE with Mandriva for me...the problem only exists with SUSE...both in 9.3 and 10.0. I think it's a tradeoff, of some sort. Mandriva was impossible for setting up my SATA RAID0 array. No way to do that except using mdadm and not even the guy who maintains that could explain how to actually do so. With SUSE, it takes about two minutes or less, during the installation, and you have SATA RAID0 up and running exactly as it should. As such, I'll stay with the SUSE and put up with the minor annoyance for scanning with SANE. Since it worked fine with Mandriva and probably Fedora, I'd have to guess that it's something SUSE could fix, if they so desired to do so. Regards, zenarcher

Originally posted by Dapper Dan: Quote: Those names would be fine. It really doesn't matter what editor you use. Kate, Gedit will do. You will have to run as root so you could put, kdesu before the command so it will ask for root password. Okay Dan, I'm having another dumb moment. I'm not real sure as to where I would put kdesu. I know you said before the command, but could you please clarify for me? Would that be the very first line, or would it be right before the /usr/sbin/ptal-init start | Regards, zenarcher

I'm experiencing a problem with a HP T-45 printer I've connected to the parallel port on one of my Linux computers. Here's hoping someone has a suggestion. As for history on this, I had a different parallel port printer hooked to this box with SUSE 9.3, which worked. I have since reformatted and installed SUSE 10.0. During the install, I did not have a printer connected to the box. I removed the T-45 from another identical box, where it was working fine (same printer and cable) and connected it to the second box, to which I wanted it installed. I was surprised when I rebooted the box that the printer was not detected by SUSE 10.0, but went into YAST to attempt an install of the T-45. I installed the T-45 through YAST. If I look under "Printers" in SUSE, I can see the T-45. If I open OpenOffice or any other program to print, I see the T-45 printer shown, but I cannot print. I see the print job queued from the T-45 but it never prints. I have to eventually delete the print job. I checked in BIOS and the parallel port is set to ECC, as it should be. Same as on the other system, where the T-45 worked with the same motherboard. As I say, everything appears to work, but there is no print. It seems like the parallel port and the printer are not communicating. Anyone have any ideas what I can do? (I don't need this one to scan or anything....although it is multi-function. Just need it to print.) Regards, zenarcher

Well, I managed to get this one fixed. It turns out, the problem was related to the numerous and conflicting HP drivers, associated with many of these HP printers. Again, I completely removed the printer from the system, including removal by running /usr/sbin/ptal-inst setup. I reinstalled, using the old style HP driver, then once again ran ptal-inst setup. I removed the comment in front of hpoj in /etc/sane.d/dll.conf. I can now print and scan with the HP OfficeJet T-45. Just as with the HP PSC 1401, I must run /usr/sbin/ptal-inst start before I can scan. Then, I must run /usr/sbin/ptal-inst stop before I can print again. Of course, those must be run as "su" from a terminal. Regards, zenarcher

Originally posted by Dapper Dan: Quote: I don't know what it is, but I'm sure there is a way to include code into what I posted above to shutdown ptal-init and xsane when you exit out of, "scannerstart." If you were going to create another shell script to shut it down, you would leave off the xsane part. Sure whish I knew more about shell scripts. I never seem to be able to find the time to study up on it though... Dapper Okay....I think I understand that part pretty well. The commands I use in a terminal, as su, are: /usr/sbin/ptal-init start (that makes the scanner usable) /usr/sbin/ptal-init stop (that stops the scanner and makes the printer usable again) Now, what I'm not sure about. I know how to use vi to edit something...but I'm not real sure what I use to create the scripts, as you mention. Perhaps you could clarify that for me. Also, I'm figuring I would "Save As," when I finish them, putting them in the Home Directory. I guess "ScannerStart" and "ScannerStop" would be good names? Regards, zenarcher

Originally posted by danleff: Quote: That should work. Yes, another script to stop the service, just as Dan noted. I just bought an HP Officejet 6210 this am. I am going to try the HP drivers with it and post my results. Ahh...you probably have one of the units that is totally compatible, danleff. I sure hope so. For some reason, I vaguely recall that the 6000 series was quite compatible. Regards, zenarcher

Originally posted by Dapper Dan: Quote: I'm certainly no shell script guru, but maybe something like this would work... #!/bin/bash /usr/sbin/ptal-init start | xsane You could put it in your home directory and call it scannerstart. Make an icon on your desktop with the command: [code]sh scannerstart. ...or some such thing. Just an idea... Dan, I sort of understand what you're saying with the shell script, but I have one other question. How would I then turn it off, after I finished scanning, so I could print again? Thanks, zenarcher Afterthought: I may have just been having a dumb moment here, Dan....I would probably create another one with "Stop" instead of "Start." Would that be correct? zenarcher

Well, I guess it's not all that big of a hassle and I'm not adept enough with Linux to know about shell scripts, danleff. I used to have a separate scanner and printer, but that was quite a long time ago. I went this way with the combo unit about six or seven years ago, trying to clear some desk space. One of the same reasons I went with the flat LCD monitor. I have a huge "L" shaped desk, but I still manage to clutter it up and most free space left on it ends up being occupied by our three black cats, who sleep on top of printers, computers and any other flat surface. It just seems strange to me, especially since HP is fairly well supported with Linux, that the problem has not been addressed. It seems that the problem does not exist with high end HP units. It seems to me that these lower priced units would be the ones most often purchased by the average person. For example, this PSC 1401 is one of the "Wal-Mart Sales Items," right now. Wal-Mart is selling them for $49.95...you couldn't even buy two new print cartridges for that price, so I know a lot of them must sell. They are stacked to the ceiling in the local Wal-Mart and have been selling like mad. Due to the popularity of this and other similar models, it would really be nice to see an effort made for compatibility. Regards, zenarcher

That's my thought as well, Dan. I can live with that, considering I am able to both print and scan, now. It's not all that often that I have to scan something, but nice to be able to do so. That's one of the reasons I got the printer, as I liked the flatbed scanner, rather than the one I had with the HP T-45. Regards, zenarcher