First of all, I am a Linux n00b. I am, however, an accomplished power user in any Windows environment. Not that that matters to anyone here, but I just wanted to state the fact that I'm not completely computer illiterate.

Anyway, I am using Slackware Linux v10.2 on an older HP Vectra with an Intel Pentium 2 CPU at 450 MHz, 256MB PC100 system RAM, an ATI Radeon 7000 64MB PCI video card, a 40GB Maxtor HDD, and a Creative SoundBlaster PCI512. There is also an integrated Matrox G200 AGP video card that is currently not in use because it doesn't support any kind of hardware 3D, this is why I popped in the Radeon 7000. I have a dual boot on this box with Windows 98 and Slackware. I have multiple issues under this configuration that I have struggled with for quite some time now...

My mouse wheel on my Logitech USB Mini Optical Mouse doesn't work. I can't use it to scroll web pages in Firefox or file lists in Konqueror.

I can't get the Samba server to work properly. The client works fine and I have been able to browse my Windows boxes from Linux without any troubles. The server, however, has been giving me troubles. The linux box can see itself through the network browser, but when I open it to view its shares it says its not accessable. I can't see the Linux box at all from any of my Windows machines.

I don't have a very good driver loaded for my Radeon 7000. I can only go up to 1024x768 resolution when I prefer to use 1280x1024 and I know that the card is capable of at least that resolution. Also video playback is slow and with many dropped frames which leads me to believe that it is not making use of hardware video acceleration. Also hardware 3D doesn't work at all as GLGears gets a very poor framerate. I have already gone to ATI's website and they don't support this card in Linux. Their site gives a link to the DRI Project which I have already visited and downloaded a package that is supposed to work with my video card, but I have no idea how to install it.

I would appreciate any help anyone can give me with any or all of these issues. My goal is to be able to get my desktop to 1280x1024 resolution, be able to play Quake 3 Arena, be able to watch DivX and MPEG video, be able to share files from my Linux box with my Windows machines, and be able to scroll with my mouse wheel. Thanks!

BIGJohnMP

Dear BigJohn,

The only thing I can help you with is the mouse. I had the same problem with my Logitech USB cordless. Guess it's a little too tricky for the Slackware installer to detect mice with scroller functionality.

edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file as root (administrator).

To activate scrolling you have to add this line in the file where the mouse options are located.
Option "Buttons" "5"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

I can understand your frustration coming from the Windows world where everything is made to work out of the box, but once you get used to Linux, the better performance IMHO outweighs the convenience.

Good luck!

Microsoft Networking requires some way to resolve host names into IP addresses. This is the area most people have problems with. There are basically four ways to accomplish name resolution.

1. Use "hosts" file to define names
2. NetBIOS over TCP/IP broadcasts
3. Domain Name Service (DNS)
4. Windows Internet Name Service (WINS)

Most people don't have a DNS server, or a WINS server running on their home network. That leaves either the "hosts" file or NetBIOS broadcasts over TCP/IP. If you are having problems, I recommend starting by defining the computer names and IP addresses in the "hosts" file on both computers.

If you can get that working, then the next step is to use NetBIOS broadcasts instead of the "hosts" file. Remove or comment out the computer names in the hosts file to test NetBIOS name resolution.

There is a setting in the Windows LAN Connection TCP/IP properties to enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP. The setting is on the "WINS" page in the settings you get by clicking the "Advanced" button. If you don't have NetBIOS over TCP/IP enabled, then computers cannot use NetBIOS broadcasts to resolve names.

If NetBIOS is not working properly on Linux, you also may have problems. I'm not sure how to configure or test NetBIOS on Linux.

Some routers or other devices may block broadcasts. That can interfere with NetBIOS name resolution.

You can use a Domain Name Server to resolve addresses for Microsoft Networking, but you have to make sure all the computers register their names with the Domain Name Server. Either that, or you have to enter the information in the name server database manually.

I'm not sure if Linux supports WINS, and there is really no point in using it instead of DNS unless you have older versions of Windows. You also need a Windows server to support WINS.

Samba can be configured to run as a WINS server. I would suggest you set it up to run like that. Then point your Windows boxes to there. You need to add a samba user and a local user to you Linux box then set the local permissons for the shared directory.

Try running xorgsetup on a console, as root. Then tweak the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file to get the mouse wheel working. You may also have to change to Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2" too.

The Z-Axis method mentioned in the first reply works great.

Regarding your graphics card, for the resolution part it sounds like your screen isn't properly configured. You're going to need to edit your xorg.conf file, first and foremost. Later, you may have to edit some other things so it knows what sort of videocard you have an all that. But for starters, edit xorg.conf. Since you're new to this stuff, this is how I recommend you do it: first, make a backup of xorg.conf (cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf-backup). Now, run xorgsetup as mentioned above (if it isn't in your default root path, type /usr/X11R6/bin/xorgsetup to run it). This will attempt to auto-detect all of your settings, but it may not work perfectly. If you feel that you know enough about your hardware, instead run /usr/X11R6/bin/xorgcfg and answer all of the questions it poses to you. For your resolution, the horizontal and vertical sync stuff is very important, because without it you can not choose the proper resolution. It should also let you choose which resolutions you want available, but if it doesn't you can directly edit xorg.conf and put in your desired modes (the first one listed is default).

As far as your video problems, the xorgcfg program should let you select your exact card as well. But check the kernel modules, as well (if you don't know how to do that, just say so).

Hope that helps!

Just as an fyi, the 3rd thing xorgsetup does is backup your existing xorg.conf as xorg.conf.backup (after checking that 1: you're root, and 2: that you have X installed).

Thanks for your help everyone! My mouse now works properly and I am running at 1280x1024 resolution!

MPEG video seems to play better, but I'm still having problems with DivX video playback. The audio plays without stuttering, but the video is so slow that its unwatchable. Maybe I need to configure a codec of some sort instead of it being a video card issue?

I still have no hardware 3D support. I would appreciate any assistance in getting a DRI Project driver installed or maybe even using OpenGL drivers already within the system.

I'm still having issues with the Samba server. I haven't tried all of the suggested remedies yet, but I'm working on it.

Also, I would like to change the KDE desktop default of only clicking once on an icon to double clicking like Windows, but I can't seem to find the setting.

Everyone's help is greatly appreciated!

BIGJohnMP

for your video card (if you havent already) look in xorg.conf for driver "vesa" and change it to radeon - that little git had me for an hours worth of choppy play back till a google sorted me out (even dvd playback is smooth now)

divx (the above should help) grab http://download.divx.com/divx/divx4l...0030428.tar.gz

as root just do ./install.sh - and it will install the code for you (still on divx5 altho everyone else is on 6)

KDE Control Center - Peripherals - Mouse - General tab - Icons

In my xorg.conf there is no "vesa" maybe because xorgconfig changed it to "radeon" already. There is a "vga", however.
I noticed that there is a section for loading DRI Project drivers and GLX drivers in xorg.conf. Maybe this is the key to getting my hardware 3D accelleration working?

to get my card working on my laptop (mobility radeon 7500) i have to

addthis to xorg.conf

#This loads the dri module
Load "dri"

and under under moitor refresh add

Option "dpms"

and change driver from vesa to radeon

Oh yeah, forgot all about that...


Change from "vga" to "radeon" instead then, and it should work... I think.

You guys have been great! However, I'm still having problems...

I've tried all of your suggestions and I still can't get DivX video to play properly, or 3D acceleration to run properly. And I've also pretty much given up on Samba server. At least the client works fine...

In fact, when I go to run Quake 3 now while X is running it kills my system and sends it back to POST! I try to run it through pure console and it says "Couldn't load OpenGL subsystem" or something to that effect. Usually in Windows this error means that your videocard doesn't support OpenGL or you don't have OpenGL drivers installed.

I think the key is getting DRI Project driver modules installed and loaded, but I have no idea how to do this, and the DRI Project website isn't very helpful.

i know its not my hardware because when I boot into Windows 98 everything works flawlessly! I've even run Windows XP on this system before and it ran quite zippy even with all the extra visual crud turned on and Norton Anti-Virus 2005 real-time scan running in the background!

I will keep plugging away! Thanks so much for all of your suggestions fellas!

BIGJohnMP

I still can't fix these last few problems I'm having. Does anyone around here know the answers? There's got to be some sort of guru amongst this community...