KNOW-HOW Ask Klaus! ASK KLAUS!

mount it opens a window with a prog- Now for the solution, we need to ex- ress bar. The window’s heading is clude interrupt 3 from the list of free in- mounting /dev/ hde1 (using source terrupts available to pcmcia. /mnt/ hde1). However, the progress bar For 16-bit cards (such as your PCMCIA Klaus Knopper is the creator of doesn’t change and remains at 0% adapter), this is a cardmgr or pcmciautils Knoppix and co-founder of the throughout the mounting process. config option. After another 5-10 minutes, the drive Do a cat /proc/interrupts to find inter- LinuxTag expo. He currently is mounted (indicated by the green rupts that are already in use and exclude arrow on the icon). Clicking the icon in- them in /etc/pcmcia/config.opts or /usr/ works as a teacher, program- vokes Konqueror, but this takes another lib/pcmciautils/config.opts (depending mer, and consultant. If you have 15 minutes or so to display the contents on which pcmcia subsystem you use) of the Microdrive (hde1). like this: a configuration problem, or if The stages described above take simi- lar lengths of time when I issue the you just want to learn more exclude irq 3 equivalent commands via a terminal about how Linux works, send window at the command line. Afterwards, you'll need to reload the Any ideas what the problem is? pcmcia subsystem: your questions to: Should I be entering any cheat codes at boot-up to aid PCMCIA access/ configu- Listing 1: dmesg output klaus@linux-magazine. com ration, or editing specific scripts? I’ve 01 Probing IDE interface ide2... noted that Knoppix starts the cardmgr 02 hde: IBM-DSCM-10512, at start-up and also adds an entry for CFA DISK drive hde1 to the /etc/ fstab file. IBM Microdrive 03 ide2 at 0x100-0x107,0x10e I’m running Knoppix 5.1.1 (CD See Listing 1 for your dmesg on irq 3 version) on an IBM ThinkPad output. While the flash disk 04 hde: max request size: 128KiB 600e laptop (192MB RAM; 400 adapter was detected (hde: IBM- 05 hde: 1052352 sectors (538 MB) MHz CPU). Everything boots up okay, DSCM-10512, CFA DISK drive, ide2 at w/60KiB Cache, CHS=1044/16/63 but I have to use nodma cheat code. I’m 0x100-0x107,0x10e on irq 3, hde: 06 hde:<4>hde: lost interrupt trying to access an IBM Microdrive 1052352 sectors (538 MB) w/ 60KiB (512MB) through the PCMCIA slot using Cache, CHS=1044/ 16/ 63), it seems that 07 hde: lost interrupt a PCMCIA adapter. While I can eventu- the pcmcia subsystem has assigned a 08 hde: lost interrupt ally access the drive and the files that it bad interrupt to that controller. IRQ 3 is 09 hde: lost interrupt contains, the process takes a long time – usually used for serial devices, and if 10 hde1 so much so that it really isn’t usable. your notebook still has some of these, 11 ide-cs: hde: Vpp = 0.0 Once Knoppix has booted up, I insert interrupt 3 is already allocated and now the PCMCIA adapter containing the Mi- used twice. Although this would work 12 hde: lost interrupt crodrive; there are no beeps to indicate for PCI devices, it just doesn’t in the case 13 hde: lost interrupt that it has been recognized and config- of IDE controllers. 14 hde: lost interrupt ured correctly. After about 5-10 minutes, The dmesg output helped in identify- 15 hde: lost interrupt a “PCMCIA disk [hde1]” icon appears on ing the problem – most people would the desktop. Clicking on the icon to have given up waiting after two minutes. 16 hde: lost interrupt

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/etc/init.d/pcmcia reload standing why GNU/ Linux is not de- In general, I usually recommend signed as a replacement for anything. buying a video card that does or “Put in the installation DVD and fol- not require proprietary drivers, low the instructions,” would be the easy especially since these can greatly influ- /etc/init.d/pcmciautils reload answer to your question, but I would not ence your systems stability. be happy with such an answer. I like to Beryl and its successor compiz-fusion If there are really no interrupts left know what’s going on when working work well with 3D acceleration on older because other notebook components with software. ATI/ Radeon cards and new intel on- have already claimed them, a work- board chipsets. (I also like graphics around could be to use a USB2 card Video Card for Beryl cards that do not require a noisy fan or reader instead of the pcmcia adapter. I have a Fedora Core 6 system. heatsink.) But on request, I have also The details as revealed with the installed the NVIDIA driver for NVIDIA Replacing Windows uname command are as follows: cards a couple of times. OK, I am a boring old “Git” who Usually, I do not install vendor-spe- has reached his three score uname --all cific RPMs, but use the original installa- years and ten, and who started Linux Linux 2.6.20-1.2962.fc6 U tion package from NVIDIA’s Linux driver with DOS in the ‘80s and is still using #1 SMP Tue Jun 19 18:24:12 U website. The installation goes smoothly Windows XP. What I want to know is EDT 2007 i686 and automatically compiles and installs how to set up and use Linux in one of its athlon i386 GNU/Linux the correct kernel module, provided that many forms (i.e., SUSE, Ubuntu, Mand- the kernel sources of your running ker- riva, whatever) to augment or to replace I originally installed the system with a nel are installed correctly. Also, it does Windows. I have tried on a number of 16Mb NVIDIA TNT video card as I in- the necessary changes to your /etc/ X11/ occasions to get started by loading vari- tended to review Linux in place of my xorg.conf. The drawback is that you have ous Linux distros, but to date I cannot Windows XP system. to rerun the installation each time you replicate a set-up that I can use to re- Now I have converted over to Fedora update the kernel, but you would have place Windows. and already upgraded the memory, and to install or even rebuild the distribu- Issues like loading devices such as now I’d like to upgrade my video card tion-specific NVIDIA kernel module printer, etc., and getting online using a and use the Beryl interface. I have pur- packages in that case as well, so there is router rather than a modem are what I chased a NVIDIA 7600 GS card with not much difference. need most help with. 256Mb on an AGP interface. I have in- If you install rpm packages instead of What I want is an “Idiots Guide” (i.e., stalled the card and all seems good as far using NVIDIA’s installer, which of the you put the 1 there and the 2 there.) as the system is concerned; however, it packages to use depends on your kernel Someone must have produced such a looks like I need to install a later driver version. Yum or rpm should fail with an guide by now. Where is it? Someone for the NVIDIA card. These are: appropriate error message (instead of in- help me – I have only ten to twenty stalling a non-working version) if you try years left to do it. kmod-nvidia-100.14.11-1.U to install the wrong module. Check your 2.6.20_1.2962.fc6.i686.rpm kernel version (uname -a may be suffi- Sorry, but I’m probably not the xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-100.14.11U cient). If your version is a kernel com- best person to answer this. If -1.lvn6.2.i386.rpm piled for i585, then you will have to use you want to replace Windows, the i585 NVIDIA kernel module; and if it which you seem to know very well, by I got these off the Fedora site following a is i686, then use the i686 type. In all something that works like Windows and recommendation that I use the prepared other cases, running the original NVIDIA looks like Windows, please just keep rpm packages rather than the Linux installer will most likely succeed, unless using Windows. Linux is not a “replace- download straight from the NVIDIA site. it is an unsupported card type. ment” – it is a different operating system I could have used rpm -ivh to install with different applications and different but opted to use a howto that suggested Wireless Card ways of doing things, and it offers a lot yum. I am now confused about what I have an Intel Pro/ Wireless of choice to do things in different ways level NVIDIA I should install – i585 or 3945 in a LG M1 Express Dual instead of a single recipe that may work i686 – and what steps I should take next. notebook, and I cannot activate or fail. the card. Can you help me? I personally believe that GNU/ Linux is way easier The IPW3945 driver is not yet to install and use than Win- part of the official kernel, but dows, but that’s just my you can get it online [5]. Note own experience. that, apart from the kernel module, you There is an online article also need a “regulatory userspace dae- called “Linux is NOT win- mon” and the firmware, all of which are dows” [4], which may be a available with instructions on the same good starting point for under- page. When the daemon some day be-

DECEMBER 2007 ISSUE 85 63 KNOW-HOW Ask Klaus!

able at boot time. Note that you don’t GNU/ need the “auto” keyword in the options Linux list, as it is the default. itself is If you add “user” in the options list, surely not hard to you don’t have to be root to mount use, but some applica- /media/nfs. tions are complex and If the nfs mount does not work on comes have a pretty big learning boot, the bg option will make sure it is obsolete curve. MythTV is supposed to retried later. (hopefully), be easy to use, but configuring Please also check that there is an init chances are it can be quite painful, especially script that actually does network that the driver will make it since not all hardware-vendors are mounts. It may be the case for your into the official kernel. Linux-friendly. setup that there is /etc/init.d/mountall. The thing with DVB cards is that sh, but nfs is explicitly excluded in there. Remote Control (sometimes) parts of the chipset are Then, depending on the distribution, I have been experimenting with well-supported, and others aren’t. Some- there should be a ../init.d/mountnfs.sh the advice and knowledge from times vendors sell the same card with script that is started later after the net- Linux Magazine and I am a bit the exact same version and product work has been set up correctly. confused. Following the advice about number, but with different chipsets in- For Samba, the /etc/fstab entry would MythTV, I dared to configure it on my side – you only find out when looking look like computer, an AMD Athlon 64 (model into the output of lspci -n and lspci -v. A 3800, Socket AM2) with 1GB DDR2 and DVB card contains several components //192.168.0.1/sharename U an XFX graphic card with an NVIDIA that require different kernel modules to /media/sharename smbfs U GeForce 8500 processor. support them (i.e. you may get a picture, credentials=/etc/U The TV card is a Hauppauge WinTV but are unable to switch channels if only sharename.credentials 0 0 NOVA T-500 PCI, with two TV tuners for the controller chipset is supported, but Terrestrial Digital TV. the tuner isn’t.) where sharename is the share defined in I installed Ubuntu from scratch, down- The best description of your card that /etc/ samba/ smb.conf on the server run- loaded the driver for NVIDIA and, fol- I could find is in the mythtv.org wiki [1]. ning at 192.168.0.1, and /etc/sharename. lowing the instructions on the MythTV Since the card already works except for credentials contains these two lines: page, installed the drivers for the the remote control, I believe that you are Hauppauge card. Later, using synaptic, not a victim of the “diversit chipset” that username=username_onU I installed all the MythTV packages and is warned about on that page. There also _samba_server … it worked! Everything is perfect, ex- is a section in the wiki about configuring password=usernames_passwordU cept for one thing: The remote control the remote control under Ubuntu, which _on_samba_server doesn’t work! I’ve looked in a thousand contains the right settings for all keys on places and I am unable to get it working. the remote. of course, /etc/sharename.credentials I was wondering if you could help me Regarding your network drive: This should not be readable for anyone but configure it. would be a /etc/ fstab line for mounting root on the client. Instead of smbfs, you The other small problem is that I have an NFS network drive (server IP may want to use cifs, which is a much- music and videos stored in a network 192.168.0.1) automatically at boot: extended version of the Samba client hard disk and I have configured MythTV filesystem [2]. ■ to access this disk, but Ubuntu doesn’t 192.168.0.1:/data U load it automatically when booting. /media/nfs U INFO Ubuntu waits for me to access the disk nfs bg,rsize=8192,U [1] Hauppauge_WinTV_Nova-T_500_PCI first, for example, when clicking on the wsize=8192,hard,U card: http:// www. mythtv. org/ wiki/ disk in Nautilus, and then mounts it nfsvers=3 0 0 index. php/ Hauppauge_WinTV_ without any problems. If I don’t access Nova-T_500_PCI the disk first, it doesn’t mount. In fstab, /media/nfs must exist, and at least port- [2] Server Message Block: I have it configured as “auto”. What am map must have started locally prior to http:// en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ Server_ I doing wrong? mount accessing this nfs drive. Message_Block I love Linux and Linux Magazine. We are using nfs version 3 here, with [3] Dual-booting howto: http:// www. Thank you for helping us see that Linux some read/ write optimization and safe go2linux. org/ dual-boot-two-linux- isn’t that hard. data transfer (option hard always retries distros-debian-and-mandriva until a transaction is complete, while soft [4] “Linux is NOT Windows”: http:// linux. would time out if the network is down oneandoneis2. org/ LNW. htm Send your Linux questions to for some time), bg is used to keep up [5] IPW3945 driver: trying to mount in background even if klaus@linux-magazine. com. http:// ipw3945. sourceforge. net/ the server is unavailable or not reach-

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