Re: [MandrakeMove] some first experiences with MM

Simon Oosthoek <[email protected]> writes:

> Hi all
> 
> I just tried mandrake move to see what it was like, it was rather unpretty!
> 
> BTW, there was very little documentation online about MM, not even an
> extensive FAQ and only a very small errata page.

Denis, I had asked once about a FAQ, you said you would write it,
is it online?
 
> my machine is a P4 3GHz, 2x SATA, an USB2.0 pendisk (about 3/4 year old),
> nvidia graphics and a NEC LCD monitor (DVI).
> 
> I first tried the public version of MM, which never got beyond the point
> where the X server was started, because it went outside the valid range for
> the monitor.

Well we have nvidia graphics here too, it worked ok (with a CRT
monitor). I can't say for for about LCD but I know that it seems
we don't set correct resolution for laptops and their LCD
monitors.
 
> Then I downloaded the -key version for silver members, this version uses the
> proprietary drivers from nvidia, so it was able to work with my setup
> better, but still it ran at 800x600 by default (probably safe, but not very
> pretty).

This is based on detection of videoram and size of screen, but it
doesn't always work, unfortunately.

> I had a lot of problems getting the pendisk in the right format (it wasn't
> empty, but that shouldn't matter, should it?). Finally I made a backup of

No, it should not. Only requirement is to be VFAT formatted (most
keys come preformatted with VFAT, and the rest will be VFAT
formatted for good performance on any Windows OS).

> it and formatted it (didn't know which format to use). ext2/3 didn't work,
> then I tried vfat. the usbdisk still wasn't detected, so I manually mounted
> it using the options I saw on tty-3. Then it suddenly was detected???? and I
> went on.

We have many problems with some kinds of USB keys. Regis, what
are the progresses with the page dedicated on that matter?
 
> The timezone was set to US and my time shows some strange time about 6 or 7
> hours off :-( this should be rather easy to get right? Somehow I've always
> had problems with getting the time to display right in all mandrake
> products, so I figure that's not a priority to mdksoft (weird!)
> 
> First thing I want to do is set the display to a reasonable resolution
> (1280x1024). mcc takes about 10 minutes to start, plus/minus 2 minutes
> (really!). Then I set the monitor to a close equivalent to mine (it's not

This is really strange. Did you see hardware errors reading from
your CD drive?

> yet in the list, but I reported the settings to cooker already). 
> 
> After setting this, I'm thrown out of X to relogin (still 800x600). mcc
> takes another 10 minutes to start, during which I play some with chromium
> ;-) which fortunately works in fullscreen over the annoying always on top
> splash screen of mcc. Setting the resolution to 1280x1024 takes another
> relogin.

(actually only one delog/relog would be necessary, if you perform
these 2 actions in a raw)

> Now I want networking, connecting to the internet assumes a modem??? weird,
> not an option for a LAN and dhcp, why isn't this even started at boot time
> with a firewall, etc? It's the first thing you'd try I think.

If we detect a solo ethernet adapter, we set it up as a DHCP
client. Afterwards, drakconnect allows you to set up a LAN/dhcp
(clicking Wizard IIRC).

> I figure I need to set the LAN networking in mcc, but that takes another 10
> minutes to start :-( So in the meantime I'm writing this e-mail on another
> machine...

Yes.
 
> I don't know if I am totally different from the typical user, but if I had
> bought the MM package and was of an agressive nature, I'd have thrown the
> package against the wall by now!

:)

-- 
Guillaume Cottenceau - http://people.mandrakesoft.com/~gc/