OK, let's see if I can get all my problems sorted at once...
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ok, well if you want sound to work I can help you do so and am 95% sure we can make it work.. but it won't be a simple d-load this and boom, I don't do that, I don't give a man a fish, I teahc him to fish. I would step you through compiling your own kernel (learn this and you will not have any hardware problems with exception of external devices and bleeding edge) and it is not nearly as hard as people make it out to be, after that I would help you source-compile alsa. (easy type the same thing in 4 directories) give you commands to use to configure it, and have you add 3-4 lines to /etc/rc.d/rc.local.. I have already helped 3 othjers in this way in past week alone peopelk who had started on linxu the day I started to help.
lol, just said in the other thread I would help if yo uasked, I will take this as a yes, I am at work right now and can't type for long, so when I get home (hou ro r2) I will reply again.
OK, well, my access is limited to 13:00 - 0:00 every day, so by the time you get back home, I may not be online, but post your first step anyway and I'll pick it up from there tomorrow.
ok, well I was going to write out a beginign to end quick tutorial that would make it easy so that you could do it without me.. but I rented two towers instead when I saw there was one rental left... so here is the first step, more will come:
first go to www.kernel.org and d-load kernel 2.4.22 you will need the full thing, not the patch
notes: 2.4.22 just came out like 2 days ago, I have not used it and do not know hoe stable it is, if you got 2.4.21 I could help and vouch for its stability.
2.6.0-test4 is also out, I do not recommnd this until you are very comfortable compiling the 2.4 kernels (once you have done it once for test, then 2 or 3 times to get it perfect for you, once you have it perfect you usually can make it perfect every time after once learned it is not easily forgotten) besides 2.6.0-test4 has broken sound drivers, so it is a very bad idea. (Yes I have used it)
now then once you have the source go to a terminal:
cd /usr/src
mkdir old
mv ./linu* ./old/ -r
^that moves the old kernel stuff (if any) to an old dir encase you need it later (you will likely not need it, and you can't brake your system moving it, however there is an rpm or RPMS or something directory here that you should not move.)
now extract the source into the /usr/src directory, it should create a linux-2.4.xx directory
ln /usr/src/linux-2.4.xx /usr/src/linux -s
cd /usr/src/linux
now then the source is there, you now need to configure your kernel, the first step when compiling the kernel source fresh from the tarball is:
make mrproper
now then you have 3 choices for choosing what should be in the kernel, read all 3 and note at bottom before choosing:
make config - will step you through a list and ask if you want it (DO NOT TRY! THOUSANDS OF OPTIONS AND NO GO BACK FEATURE!!)
make menuconfig - will bring up an ncurses menu )like a dos menu program) you go through selecting y to include, m to make a module you can load anytime, or n to not use. you use arrow keys to navigate and eneter for sub menu, when you exit it will ask if you want to save, say yes unless you want to do it over
make xconfig - open a gui configuration menu, it is not very nice looking if you are into eye candy. I recommend you use this or menuconfig in this you can see options that you can't select for one reason or another, but you can only use mouse to configure things and it can take forever. with menuconfig you use keyboard and it can go faster (In xconfig it takes me about 1 hour to choose verything I want from point/click, in menuconfig I can run through everything in 5-10 minuts but I have also done this once a month for the past 4 years because I like trying new features/drivers/experiments.
notes on choosing options:
the options selected by default are generally safe for any system, however they are not always optimised, and sound/video drivers are also not selected by default. I recommend you go through the list, anything you are 90-100% sure of select, anything you wonder about use the options help (99% of the drivers in kernel have a description and general use inside config mode) if you have no clue even after reading help leave at default. also when you come to the sound section you have a choice, in the kernel is abaic sound driver for many cards, it will likely work fine, however it is only basic volume and audio, nothing special, if you want full control, real speed and full card functionality enable sound suppot and make the driver a module, then you can load it if you need to, however I for full everything I recommend also, but it will only work if the card is disabled or module. some drivers you will not always need, for example if you have nothing on your printer port, make it a module, you do have it so you want the driver, but you don't use it much so you don't want to slow the system down loading it anyway on boot. and final note: select your cpu, if you have athlon use athlon with p4 use p4, if your cpu is not listed do general i386, i486, i586, i686 whitchever is closest, if you choose a cpu that is better than yours it won't boot, choose one less it might choose a genral i-whatever it should work. if you cpu is an option use it to speed system up in extream ways. also I recommend you enable the first option, experimental/untested options support otherwise you will not have a hole lot to choose from, they may be experimental or untested but 95% work
no then, go throughthe list and select the options (I recommend doing only what you need and nothing you use sometimes. the first compile is not to make the best kernel you can, it is to learn tomake one that works, you can then do more to it later
---when done selecting options---
now comes the compiling, this can take a while on slow systems, on my p4 2.2 1gbram and raid for hd it takes about 5 minuts for a 5mb kernel, in all liklyness yours will only be about 1-2mb if even.
first type: make dep
when that finishes type: make clean
those 2 command you will not ned to run again using this source unless you change a majior option like memory cpu, power managment or something else big
this you type now and al the next times you change options
make bzImage <-- there are actually a few things that can go here, there is zImage for small kernels (doubt you have) then one for a floppy boot etc. bzImage is generally what you want
then type this:
make modules
make modules_install
this will make the modules and install themso you can load them when you need them.
next step is installing kernel, I need to ask you before I tell you what to do next to tell me the following:
do you use lilo or grub?
if yo use lilo post the /etc/lilo.conf file's contents
if you use grubpost the /etc/grub.conf files contents.
we will need to modify these files as well as copy some files from the source directory.. until I reply I recommend you play around with the kernel a lot. check or double check stuff. in all likelyhood you will not get it correct or even bootable the first time, we will make a backup of old kernel to choose from so that you will not need to get it correct the first time. however in general your first 2 times are most you will get wrong, after that you will probably never have trouble again unless the kernel guys make a mistake.
#----------------end of lilo.conf------------------
now then, we install the kernel:
type:
cp /boot/vmlinuz /boot/vmlinuz-old
cp /boot/System.map /boot/system.map-old
cat /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage > /boot/vmlinuz
cp /usr/src/linux/System.map /boot/System.map
when you have finished that type:
lilo
it should run through a list puting an "*" next to linux
if there is an error do not restart your comp, instead post the error here, if there is no error you can restart, select "linux" to try the new kernel
if the new kernel has a problem like no init found or tried to kill init or if you have no video yo can restart and select linux-old to boot the old kernel.
grub vs lilo:
lilo you need to type lilo every time you change the kernel stuff, also it has no features, it will boot any image you list in config file andyou kan enter kernel params, but it has been around for a long time and works well, very stable.
grub is still in beta/testing stages version 0.9x
howver you do not need to type grub every time you change kernel stuff or configs. as well it has a ton of stuff, it is almost liek a small os in itself you can look at hard drives and so on. it has hundred of features it did to loaders what emacs did to text editors (make it large full of features and very complicated)
--------------------------------------------------
emacs: a 2+/-gb text editor that nobody knows how to use and acts almost as though it is it's own os.
OK, well, the new kernel compiled and installed without errors, but I can't log in using my normal user account now. I'm logged in as root at the moment.
On the plus side, USB seems to be working as my scanner and printer burst into life on reboot.
it should not have effected users at all. that is actually funny to hear knwoing what I know cause it shouldn't happen... unless: I noticed you had devfs stuff in your lilo.conf I think that means you are using devfs afterall, but not with the devfsd. I will actually talk you through that one in a bit, first off now that you have a bootable kernel you know wha works. now go in and optimise it make it exactly what yo want, also, enable devfs in the filesystems and also enable the use/mount at boot.
for devfs you need to compile the kernel, and install the newest devfsd (devfsd is optional, but it is required to save permissions and changes to the /dev/structure
in the kernel you need to go to the filesystems section, enabledevfs and enable/mount/whicheveritis at boot sub-option
if you don't want to read it here is a brief on the brief of the not-so-long document
enable the affor mentioned kernel stuff
download the latest devfsd tarball
extract the devfsd sources
go to the directory they made
type ./configure; make && make
#./configure may not exist I can't remember so if you get a file not found error ignore it, the ; means it will move to make anyway
once that is done copy the devfsd.conf file from the source directory to /etc/devfsd.conf
cp ./devfsd.conf /etc/devfsd.conf
once that is done and you have compiled and installed the new kernel with devfsd stuff
(each time you recompile you need to copy the bzImage to /boot/vmlinuz and the System.map to /boot as well then run lilo before rebooting)
now a quote from docs:
"Now edit your main system boot script so that devfsd is started at the very beginning (before any filesystem checks). /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit is often the main boot script on systems with SysV-style boot scripts. On systems with BSD-style boot scripts it is often /etc/rc. Also check /sbin/rc.
NOTE that the line you put into the boot script should be exactly:
/sbin/devfsd /dev
DO NOT use some special daemon-launching programme, otherwise the boot script may not wait for devfsd to finish initialising."
one devfs is under filesystems, might be in a pseudo filesystems sub-category
two if your home directory is gone than I am guessing it is eather ona secondary ide controller, or you did not enable the correct ide controller in the kernel config (both?)
if you do not enable you ide controller(s) the drives will be inaccessible, do:
dmesg | grep hd
that will show you hard drives recognised, see if the one for your homes is recognised, as well having devfs then not having it a time later (like now) can potentially do it to, but do not worry, your home dirs are intact.
also... I am suddenly thinking devfs may not come included with kernel 2.4.x, look for it, but if you absolutely can't find it you will need to d-load the latest 2.4.x kernel patch from the devfs sit eI gave you.
to patch a kernel do this:
if patch came in .bz2 or .gz extract it with bunzip2 or gunzip
go to /usr/src/linux
type:
patch -p 1 -b < /path/to/path/file.patch or file.diff, or whatever it was called
it will run through stuff
recompiel kernel starting with make mrproper and doa make dep as well.
Well, good news is that I can confirm that the USB is back up and running again, I managed to run the printer nozzle check through the printer management software, so therer's data going through the USB ports.
Last edited by flapjackboy; 08-28-2003 at 01:10 PM.
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