I'm waiting for my Slack subscription to arrive. I'm on dialup, so if a lot of stuff is broken I won't be able to download big programs like KDE to fix it.

1. Has anybody successfully changed the screen resolution to 1280x1024 after installing? Some people are having font rendering problems and it "might" be related to a default 1024x768 resolution. They can't seem to set it any higher. I know my fonts look like c**p at 1024x768, and if that's the best I'll be able to achieve, I won't try the new v.10...

2. Is the Alsa version that comes in the default installation compatible with the 2.4.26 kernel? If I try the 2.6 kernel, will I need to download a different Alsa package?

3. I have a / partition on /hda, and a separate /home partition for users on /hdb. Will /home be rendered useless when I upgrade from KDE 3.1.4 to the new 3.2.* version? I've heard of people having to delete their .kde config file and losing all their data. I can't afford to do that...

I'd appreciate hearing from people about these things. Thanks!

Siri Amrit

I'm using a resolution of 1400x1050 and my fonts look great..

Also ALSA works fine here.. so.. hope that helps.

What kernel are you using?

2.6.7

Gawd, that was fast! Thanks!

I'm running in 1152x864 and my fonts look fine.

Yep. 2.4.26 is the default kernel in Slack 10, and the default ALSA package is compiled for it. It works fine for me.

Yes. It's in /testing/packages/linux-2.6.7 , along with the 2.6.7 kernel itself, and the appropriate modules and headers.

My screen resolution is 1280*1024 and my fonts are okay. Even alsa is working for me using a 2.6.7 kernel and a Soundblaster live value. I didn't download any alsa package.

Thanks, y'all. Now, can you tell me if you tried upgrading KDE for an existing /home partition?

Hi!

1. I have 1280x1024 after running xorgconfig. Default is 1024x768 as this is the maximum for frame buffer. Which is used as it is generic, meaning that it works just on just about every hardware you might think of. Frame buffer is the default in many Linuces, nowadays, because it gives you a desktop on just about any system, without having to go through the X config process. If you want good performance, higher resolutions, or 3D, you'll have to replace the frame buffer based default X configuration with a specific configuration for your hardware.

2. Default kernel is 2.4.26. It comes with ALSA libs and modules. In /testing there is kernel 2.6.7, also with pre-compiled ALSA binaries. The first one works great on my old P120 classic laptop, with the latter I experienced a couple of problems due to the fact that I have onboard sound and a PCI soundcard, as well, in my desktop system. With onboard sound it works mostly ok, while configuration for the soundcard go lost when there is no sound for a few minutes. ALSA then switches to onboard sound and forgets about the configuration of the soundcard, it seems. No big problem, as I now just use onboard sound, but definitely a bug. Kernel 2.6.7 is accompanied by pre-compiled ALSA binaries in /testing. No need to download anything.

3. KDE upgrade. In fact it can go wrong when there are conflicts between new and old configuration files. Identify what config files you need from .kde and other hidden directories. Candidates for backup certainly are .kde/share/config. But I think that configuration can easily be redone in KDE. More important, IMO, are the data in apps. KOrganizer saves your appointments there, and you don't want to miss a date, do you? ;-)
I'd rename .kde to something like .kde_sav, look for other files and dirs (visible or hidden), then do the upgrade, and finally restore config and app data from .kde_sav.

Have fun!

gargamel

You should save your current xorg.conf or XF86Config file and it'll work exactly the same as before.

Hosing your .kde directory will only cost you most of your kde preferences, rather than any actual data -- apart from say your appointments, noted above.

Alsa works great for me, but I rolled my own 2.6.7

--Shade

thanks, gargamel (again).
I'll try to backup everything I can.

Shade wrote:
" Hosing your .kde directory will only cost you most of your kde preferences, rather than any actual data -- apart from say your appointments, noted above."

Would I lose bookmarks, address book, etc? Settings are easy enough to put back, but I have a TON of bookmarks and not exactly sure where they are to save them.

Your bookmarks are kept in .kde/share/apps/konqueror/bookmarks.xml


--Shade

Why do you need to upgrade Alsa? I don't doubt you but I did a fresh install fo Slack 10 last night and immediately upgraded to 2.6.7 from Kernel.org. Sound is working fine without any further updates.

ALSA is included in the 2.6 kernel tree. When configuring the kernel, you'll be able to compile in (optionally as modules) ALSA support for your sound card. In 2.4 this had to be done by compiling modules not in the 2.4 kernel tree.

If you install the generic 2.6.7 kernel in /testing, you'll have to use the alsa-driver package in the same directory because Pat separated the ALSA modules from the other modules for whatever reason.

If you compile the 2.6 kernel from the source at kernel.org though, just select the right options during compile time and you don't need to worry about any alsa-driver package.

Thank you. This is most helpful.

Siri Amrit