Sound reduced volume issue, upgrading firefox, atx poweroff problem

deggial · 03-26-2006, 06:52 AM

Hi!

I had noatun running while searching through the web, where I opened one mp3 which started playing with xine. after that my volume in slack is greatly reduced. volume levels for alsamixer and noatun remained the same. what is it all about?

I want to upgrade firefox to the latest version and to save my bookmarks. how can it be done? what in configuration files should be changed after such an upgrade? i have new firefox already unzipped and untarred in other folder.

atx doesn´t switches off after poweroff command. it unloads all the system and on the black screen I see ¨power down¨. nevertheless I have to push the button on my atx.
somewhere i found that i should open /etc/rc.d/rc.modules file and delete the comment sign ¨#¨ in the line /sbin/modprobe apm, but it didn´t work.

Please help!

Bruce Hill · 03-27-2006, 12:14 AM

Don't use noatun.

Slackware-current has Firefox-1.5.0.1

You could easily issue this from a terminal

Code:

cd /tmp && wget ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-current/slackware/xap/mozilla-firefox-1.5.0.1-i686-1.tgz && su -c "installpkg mozilla-firefox-1.5.0.1-i686-1.tgz"

and have Firefox updated. It will keep all your preferences in the same place.

After you uncommented the apm module did you issue "modprobe apm"? If not, you're not using that module until you reboot.

deggial · 03-27-2006, 06:53 AM

thanks,

concerning /sbin/modprobe apm,
when i start my os now (i always shut down with command poweroff),
it opens the same programs every time,
and when kde is loading it says - restoring kde
in rc.modules it is written that

Code:

# APM is a BIOS specification for saving power using several different
# techniques. This is mostly useful for battery powered laptops.

is it a kind of hibernate for linux?

Bruce Hill · 03-27-2006, 07:24 AM

No, it's old power management.

What type of system do you have? If it's not older than a couple years, and maybe even if it is, it should run ACPI.

Look in your /etc/rc.d/rc.M file for this:

Code:

# Start APM or ACPI daemon.
# If APM is enabled in the kernel, start apmd:
if [ -e /proc/apm ]; then
  if [ -x /usr/sbin/apmd ]; then
    echo "Starting APM daemon:  /usr/sbin/apmd"
    /usr/sbin/apmd
  fi
elif [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.acpid ]; then # otherwise, start acpid:
  . /etc/rc.d/rc.acpid start
fi

I think that's the default, and if you haven't commented it, there's no reason APM shouldn't shut down your box.

Here's a link to the ##slackware FAQ about using APM to power off.

Here's a couple of LQ Wiki articles on ACPI and APM.

deggial · 03-27-2006, 08:58 AM

thanks, it´s working, just needed to check my configuration more thoroughly

i still have this restoring session..:-(
how can i can rid of it?

Bruce Hill · 03-27-2006, 09:07 AM

What about your sound and Firefox issues?

My first post was probably not worded well.
Should have read "I don't use noatun." The
only time I ran it, the app wouldn't stop.
I had to kill it's pid.

For playing music I'm using XMMS.

You can do much more with ACPI than with APM,
if you're interested in pursuing it further.

deggial · 03-27-2006, 09:41 AM

sound is still low.
when i open xine (probably that program caused sound reduction) all the menus are shown in such "П" signs, so i can´t check it´s configuration or play the file. (I have installed international support and copied winfonts - all the programs i opened before showed perfectly any other languages) as i mentioned sound levels in alsamixer and noatun remained the same

concerning firefox, i used shilo´s guide (http://shilo.is-a-geek.com/slack/kernel14.html) concerning kernel install to upgrade firefox, the issues concerning shortcut´s, it worked. unfortunately i wasn´t able to create shortcut in KDE (at least it´s not obvious for me how to do this) so i renamed my firefox-1.5.0.1 folder to firefox-1.0.6, moved old version to my home directory and copied the new renamed version to /usr/lib, so the destination for firefox shortcut remained the same.

concerning already mentioned kde restore, every boot ends in starting the same applications for every startup

concerning ACPI/APM, a appreciate any information, concerning optimization of my system,
i´m new to linux (my knowledge is poor at the moment) so i started with the rute tutorial (http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz)
if you can recommend any informative and detailed source concerning acpi/apm i will be grateful

thank you for trying to help me :-)

Bruce Hill · 03-27-2006, 10:46 AM

To configure Xine open a terminal and issue "xine-check" as a normal user.

Nothing personal, but Shilo's kernel guide there isn't even correct. If you want to know the proper way to install a new kernel, Linus Torvald's has instructions in the kernel source at ./linux-x.x.x.x/README. Please read Linus' Jul 27 2000 post where he states:

Quote:

I would suggest that people who compile new kernels should:

- NOT do so in /usr/src. Leave whatever kernel (probably only the
header files) that the distribution came with there, but don't touch
it.

- compile the kernel in their own home directory, as their very own
selves. No need to be root to compile the kernel. You need to be root
to _install_ the kernel, but that's different.

- not have a single symbolic link in sight (except the one that the
kernel build itself sets up, namely the "linux/include/asm" symlink
that is only used for the internal kernel compile itself)

And yes, this is what I do. My /usr/src/linux still has the old 2.2.13
header files, even though I haven't run a 2.2.13 kernel in a _loong_
time. But those headers were what glibc was compiled against, so those
headers are what matches the library object files.

Some people still seem to think they know better than Linus Torvalds.

I don't understand why you would apply that information to upgrading Firefox? Pat Volkerding compiled the Firefox that was installed on your computer, and if you had followed my instructions, you would have updated it without any problems. Heck, you wouldn't even have known what did happen until you launched Firefox and clicked on Help > About Mozilla Firefox. You would not have needed to create any shortcuts, or false directories at all.

KDE has given me problems EVERY TIME I've tried to use it. Especially sound. KDE changes system settings without letting the user know. It's a resource hog, and quite buggy. Just do a search for KDE and see what you come up with. Why are KDE users always wanting a new version? Same as Windoze users --- to get rid of the old bugs.

You can Google for more information on ACPI (APM is basically deprecated). You'll need to know about your hardware, and recompile your kernel for ACPI support. Or, you can install one of Pat's bareacpi.i kernels and see how that works. If you really want a good ACPI read, perhaps Len Brown'sThe State of ACPI in the Linux Kernel presentation from Linux Symposium 2004. (right-click and choose Save Link As... -- that's a file)

That Rute tutorial is (a) about 4 years old, and (b) quite RedHat specific. If you're going to run Slackware, these resources would be better for you:

Introduction to Linux: A Hands on Guide
(start there ^ no matter which distro you use)

Eric Hameleers's Wiki
(best in it's class, and still growing)

Slackware Linux Basics
(few have done as good a job as Daniël de Kok documenting Slackware stuff)

Slackware Linux Essentials
(The official guide to Slackware Linux)

The Slackware Linux Project
(might as well go to the source)

Human Readable - A Slackware Desktop Enhancement Guide
(help people overcome some of the common usability hurdles infamously associated with Slackware)

Those guides and this forum should just about get you to "Slacker" status.

deggial · 03-27-2006, 01:51 PM

thanks a lot, gonna dive into these materials