AFAIK, you can change resolution in X by pressing Ctrl+Alt and + or - depending on whether you want the resolution to be lower or higher. It might be Ctrl+Shift, unfortunately I can't remember as I'm in Win XP
Hardware Hell. That's the really big problem with alternative OSes, not including Macs. It's especially frustrating for newbies when they like Distro A but it doesn't support a thingamajig they can't afford to replace (and I'd like to add that it seems like the developers forget that some of us are *poor* since the typical response one gets is go buy such-and-such), but Distro B does support it, even though Distro B is older than Distro A. I believe hardware issues are the real problem for Linux users. The kicker is, there often is a driver for a piece of hardware for your system, but then you have to find it and figure out how to install it (sometimes that's fairly easy and sometimes it's not; Debian/Knoppix supports my ethernet card, fortunately, but in the manual for it are instructions for getting it to run with Mandrake and RH - I've no idea what language that's in, perhaps some scientific code from the 24th century).
What we need is an add-on to apt (or up2date, or whatever) that updates and searches specifically for drivers. Obviously, a list would need to be kept on in your configuration file for the hardware that was detected during setup. This would be convenient even if all of your hardware is supported, as it would get you the latest drivers easily.
Whaddya think?
Another little thing that bugs me. Why is it so difficult to adjust your screen size with most distros? Linux treats 1024 as the default (and is that really a good idea? A lot of us have small monitors and/or not-so-good eyesight) and as I understand it, you have to edit a config file to change it if you didn't specify 800x600 during the install. Windows 98, a 6 year old OS, can change your screen settings easier than that. I know it's a little thing, but it annoys me, mostly because I have a small monitor and a TV out card; I don't want 800x600 on a 24" TV screen, but my regular monitor is so small that I can't see anything with a 1024 setting. And it seems rather primitive, doesn't it?
Other than those two things, I think Linux is perfect. Sure, maybe Wine doesn't work so great without a lot of fiddling with it, but I'm sure it'll get better. People used to complain about installing Linux, and a few distros are still difficult to install, but more are as brian-dead easy as Windows now, as long as you know something about what hardware you have and where you are.
AFAIK, you can change resolution in X by pressing Ctrl+Alt and + or - depending on whether you want the resolution to be lower or higher. It might be Ctrl+Shift, unfortunately I can't remember as I'm in Win XP
It's Ctrl+Alt and + or -Originally Posted by TyphoonMentat
But at least in Mozilla Ctrl+Shift and + or - changes the font size so that might also be useful when you are surfing and hit a web page you are having trouble reading.
Thanks! No matter how much I fiddle with Linux, there's always these little tips and shortcuts I hadn't heard of yet, and that's another one.
I just tried the live eval cd of SuSe 9.0 and it has a driver update function of the Yast 2 module in the control center! Why can't soemone tell me these things *before* I make myself look like an idiot with a display of total ignorance?!Originally Posted by Mistshadow
Hey Mistshadow,
Welcome to the club [giggle]
I've been using Win98 since it came out, I never "followed" the bandwagon to any of the new OS's by M$, and was content with staying "back in the middle ages" with Win98.
But, ever since seeing, and installing, Knoppix/Linux, first with 3.2, and now with 3.3, I am a mere child. I am CONSTANTLY learning new things about this OS. I've not been using it for very long, maybe about a month now, but, heck, I can remember when I was starting out on this journey, and not knowing how to get a Root password change. Shesh, I've commited that command to memory, I can tell you that.
Now I'm setting up new users, adding new hardware, running updates and upgrades left and right, adding new software, and I am STILL learning.
You know, I guess Linux is good for one thing, and I just realized it, keeping ones mind nimble by daily having to learn new things about it. [giggle]
Cuddles
Well, as long as we're playing wishful thinking, I wish we had something on the order of wine only for drivers. I'm thinking of something on the order of a wrapper that would encompass the M$ driver to make it suitable for Linux. Then we could all just sit back, relax, and whenever that hot new hardware gizmo came out with corresponding M$ driver, then we'd just apply our wrapper, stick the hardware onto our Linux box, and away we'd go.
Turbine, I've heard they're working on somthing just like that, and so far it's worked great on networking hardware. No kidding. I don't have any links, but maybe you can google it. I'm eagerly waiting for the day they can get that working good on all hardware drivers.
Cuddles, you're right, it definitely keeps that little hamster spinning the wheel in one's head, doesn't it? Not only that, but many distros are quite different; some have this or that feature that others don't. I didn't know what to do when I tried Slack and it said "pppoeconf" was an invalid command. Turns out the equivalent on Slack is "adsl-setup". There's always more to learn, and with Linux there always will be, because it's being constantly improved. Compare that to Windows 98 and the disaster that was ME.
Wow! Mistshadow, that would really give this Linux effort the boost that it needs.
Running binary-only, often buggy, device drivers through some wrapper is not always a good thing. It reduces the interest in writing a native driver. I don't think Linux NEEDS it, in the short run it might increase popularity somewhat (at the expense of stability) but once M$ monopoly starts to fall apart the hardware vendors will have to support something else too.Originally Posted by turbine
Dell PowerEdge R730 Intel Xeon 2x E5-2650v4 12C 2.20GHz 128GB 600GB H730 iDrac8
$600.00
Dell PowerEdge R720XD Xeon E5-2680 V2 2.8GHz 20 Cores 256GB RAM 12x4TB
$510.00
DELL PowerEdge R730 Server 2x E5-2690v3 2.6GHz =24 Cores 32GB H730 4xRJ45
$275.00
Dell PowerEdge R730XD 28 Core Server 2X Xeon E5-2680 V4 H730 128GB RAM No HDD
$389.99
Dell PowerEdge R620 Server 2x Xeon E5-2620 @ 2.0GHz 64GB RAM NO HDDs
$108.96
Dell PowerEdge R730, 2 sinks, SystemBoard, 8 trays,H330,Idrac 8 exp, 2x750w Psu
$135.00
Dell R730xd 26 Port SFF 2x E5-2697v4 36-Cores H730 128GB Server 2x SFP 10G ENT
$490.00
Dell PowerEdge R730xd 12LFF 2xE5-2660v4=28Core 64/128GB 6x 2TB/4TB Flex 1.2TB HD
$439.99
Dell PowerEdge R430 3.5 1U 2x E5-2690 v3 2.6ghz 24-Cores 256gb 4x Trays 2x 550w
$289.99
DELL PowerEdge R630 8SFF Server 2x E5-2690v4 2.6GHz =28 Cores 128GB H730 4xRJ45
$444.00