Fresh SUSE 10.0 Install, Odd Issues
 

Hey everybody,

I'm new to SUSE but somewhat familiar to Linux. I just installed SUSE 10.0 on a second SATA hard drive (my primary SATA drive has XP Pro). Installation is perfect for the most part with a few problems.

- Dual booting: SUSE automatically set-up the dual boot option, where my PC asks what I want to boot, XP or SUSE. My question is this: is it possible to make any changes to this boot screen? Right now, the dual boot is set to boot SUSE if there is no user response. I want it to default to XP. Here's the other interesting thing: apperently this boot selection screen doesn't accept USB keyboards. I don't know if anybody else has this problem, but my keyboard is USB and it will not let me select any of the options. Any ideas there?

-Sound: I've seen a lot of posts on here about sound problems but I didn't really see anything for what I'm having problems with. SUSE recognized my integrated sound and installed drivers fine, but for some odd reason I still get no sound when I try to use the CD player for CD audio. I can play MP3 files fine if I use the Real Player linux ver. I still can't get Amarok to play MP3s, it just stutters for a second and says "playlist complete" and never plays any audio. I'm sure that is user error there, I just don't know the software well enough. I do get sounds if I go into my sound card hardware configurations and do the test tone, but still no audio from CD. It looks like YAST setup my CD-RW drive alright. Any ideas there?

Thanks,
Ryan

Re: Fresh SUSE 10.0 Install, Odd Issues
 

For this, you need to edit the /boot/grub/menu.lst file and change the section that defines the default option.

If you'd rather use the GUI, you can do this with YaST by opening YaST > System > Boot Loader, chighlighting the option you want to be default, and clicking "Set as Default."

OnEdit: The previous came off the top of my head. I had to find a link before mentioning this and was having trouble at the time doing so.

I've never had to troubleshoot a problem with MP3s or other media formats, I guess because after I do an install and before I really do anything I go through the process of installing everything necessary to get DVDs to play, installing MPlayer and its associated browser plugin, getting my graphics card to work, etc. Somewhere in there I'm enabling support for MP3 decoding, but I've forgotten exactly where.

Try the advice here:

http://www.thejemreport.com/mambo/content/view/178/42/

I'd also suggest this thread for expanded MP3 support in kb3:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=373373

Also, if you cannot make a selection with your USB keyboard, its probably an issue with your BIOS settings. Usually there's a setting for USB keyboards. You may want to check there. The boot loader is barebones and relies more on the BIOS than anything else.

If that doesnt work, I can suggest doing a repair or reinstall and when you hit the screen for showing you the install options, you can go to the advanced tab and scroll down to boot loader and change your default settings... (instead of modifying it after the install, which is what BDHamp suggested).

For your sound issues, its probably an issue with the appropriate sound engine in use. I had that issue with a prior Suse installation and ended up figuring out I had both going... meaning the OS was using one and Amarok was using a different one.
I would check into it. Maybe even try some command line options to play the MP3s or other types of sound files.

Hope this helps :)

Hey thanks for the help/info. I got the grub loader edited fine. I'll have to mess with my audio later.

That's the weird thing about the USB keyboard thing . . . it does work to get into my BIOS, but it won't work on the boat loader . . . weirdness eh?

1) The USB keyboard issue is with the BIOS, not the keyboard. Ensure you have "Legacy USB support" enabled, if you have such an option. You'll need to use the USB->PS/2 convertor. Machines from 18 months ago here had issues with the USB keyboards, and the BIOS, even if we enabled "Legacy USB support". We run newer systems with USB keyboards and mice, all plugged into an IOGEAR KVMP switch.
2) XMMS does not work correctly for me either "out of the box" with a SuSE 10.0 DVD install. Use Amarok, that works fine for me.
3) Sound in general, ensure that all of your audio levels are at the correct level in kmix. You can go to the KDE control panel and select sound, and say "save as default" and "load on startup" or something like that.

Yeah I got the USB keyboard figured out, and the CD-ROM issue. Apperently I can't figure out how to change settings in Linux so that it will accept a CD-ROM drive audio only though the IDE to Mobo, but it will work fine with the seperate cable from CD-ROM to sound card, lol.

I still can't get MP3s to play. Has anybody else had this problem? It works okay in the Real Player, but in Amarok or XMMS I click on play a file, and it flashes for an instant and then stops. Any ideas/suggestions?

Thanks
Ryan

You can get xmms to play mp3's if you add A Packman repository to your YaST setup, I use packman.unixheads.com/suse/10.0 You can also download the file needed to play mp3's and install it via rpm (rpm -ivh package.rpm. You would be looking for xmms-lib-mad. Since I installed that, xmms plays mp3 perfectly, and Packman's site has a xine-ui replacement that let's you play encrypted(commercial) dvd's with the addition of the libdvdcss2 algorithm from Videolan's site. If you need any more help, I'll be back later. :p