On Aug 21, 9:36 am, Tony Peardon <rWorldDesi...@yahoo.ca> wrote:
> On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 23:35:08 +0000, AJackson wrote:
>
> Hello again everyone,
>
> Thanks for all the replies...
>
>
>
> > On Jul 21, 6:38 pm, Tony Peardon <rWorldDesi...@yahoo.ca> wrote:
> >> Hi All,
> >> This is my first post to this group, and before I get to the
> >> subject of my troubles, I'd just like to say that Debian really
> >> impressed me. I've got an old computer (Dell Optiplex GX1), and
> >> it use to run very slow on Windows 98, and crash often. Now I
> >> feel like I have a whole new computer, and it's never crashed
> >> once, but I do have some questions, mainly because I'm a total
> >> newbie.
>
> > No problem, we have all been total newbies here. But to help you, you
> > need to help us.
> > So first you need to tell us which sort of problem you want to solve. I
> > think you have done that
> > quite good. Points to you.
> > Then you really need to tell us about your computer. Here you just
> > lost your point
> > Which distribution version do you have (Debian has different version, I
> > would guess you use Debian/Etch which is version 4.0)?
>
> >> First Question: I can't seem to play any 3D games with any
> >> speed at all. I could under Win98, so I suspect that my
> >> graphics card just needs to be configured, but I can't find
> >> where to do this. Anyone who can point me in the right
> >> direction has my appreciation.
>
> > We need to know what hardware you have. A good way is to use the
> > command 'lspci'
> > So open a terminal window, type the command. Mark it with dragging and
> > marking
> > the command and output, and then middle klick in you next replay to
> > this. It will look
> > something like this ("..." means that I removed some text):
>
> > $ lspci
> > 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 915G/P/GV/GL/PL/910GL Express
> > Memory Controller Hub (rev 04)
> > ...
> > 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M24 1P [Radeon
> > Mobility X600]
> > ...
> > $
>
> > The line "VGA compatibel controller..." tells us that I have a ATI
> > graphical card. If you tell use which you have, we should be able to
> > point you where you can find how to install a 3D driver
>
> Ok, I ran lspci in a root terminal, this is what it returned. It seems
> that my onboard graphics controller is a 3D Rage Pro. From the name of the
> card, it sounds like it should do 3d like a pro, but other than running
> prboom (doom clone) in 8bit mode, I still can't seem to play anything 3d.
>
> 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host
....
> 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc 3D Rage Pro AGP 1X/2X (rev 5c)

> If someone could help me set this up so I can play the 3d games, I'd
> really appreciate it. If the onboard rage just wont do 3d graphics in
> linux, could someone suggest an older graphics card that would. I can't
> afford a new graphics card, but a used one...maybe.

It's an old ATI graphical card, and you have to have DRI installed
for X11 to be abel to accell 3D rendering with OpenGL (supported by
mesa software),

I did a Google search on "3D Rage Pro debian dri" and got lots of
hits. Try one of them.

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.p...5a9d fd667241
(this looks like good place to start)

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=145944 (from Ubuntu, with a
link to a blog which installed DRI)
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=395030 (last
post has an sugested search string)
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=465580
(relevant part of /etc/X11/xorg.conf and about some problems)

> >> Next Question: Here at my home, we have three computers, all
> >> online through an old 16 port IBM hub and a telus DSL modem.
> >> I'm running debian, and everone else is running XP. My question
> >> is how do we connect the three computers together so that we
> >> can share files with each other.
>
> > As ray wrote, SAMBA is good way of shareing files and printers with
> > other MS Windows machines.
> > You could also look for SSH or WebDAV (putty or other klient on your MS
> > Windows XP machines works
> > well, webdav need you to set up Apache2 the right way).
>
> > Each user needs an account on your Linux machine to be able to read/
> > write files to it.
>
> Thanks Lots. SAMBA sounds like what we are needing, though the situation
> has changed somewhat, so before I proceed, possibly messing up everything,
> this is what we have in mind. The intension is to run a fourth computer as
> a gateway machine, and then link the other computers to it, and each
> other, through the hub. The gateway machine will have one harddrive that
> is shared with everyone on our local intranet, mainly for shared media
> files. It will also have the printers connected to it, so everyone will
> also need to be able to print through it. The gateway machine will also
> have a dns server and a firewall installed, and will be the first line of
> defence in our little network. Another thing that has changed is that we
> are down to only one XP machine. Ubuntu having been installed on one of
> them. ( It also is not doing 3d graphics like it should, but I'll get to
> that problem later. ) Anyhow, this setup sounds ok to me, but I'm not sure
> if it will work. I am concerned about the ip of the gateway machine. Our
> ip addresses all get changed every night, so how will our computers know
> where to look for their new ip's, or do both ethernet cards in the gateway
> machine have their own ip. I'm not sure how this works, or even if I've
> explained it correctly, so heres a little graphic of sorts,
> ___________
> | DSL Modem |
> _____________ _____|_____ __________________
> |Color Printer| <--| Gateway PC|--> |Dot Matrix Printer|
> ____|____
> | IBM HUB |
> __________| | |_______
> ____|____ ____|____ ___|____
> |Debian PC| |Ubuntu PC| |WinXP PC|
>
> Can anyone see any trouble with that setup, or would something else be
> better? We want to be able play network games, and the XP machine will
> eventually be changed to another linux machine, but only after I learn
> enough to make sure I can get it running right. It's my cousin Lens
> machine, and although it's loaded with malware, and he's constantly
> scanning with this, that, and the other thing, I still haven't been able
> to convince him to switch. He says.. "lets just wait a bit and see what
> happens". He is just scared of linux, which I can understand. After all,
> it took me years to make the change, but now that I have, I have no
> regrets, and I don't miss the spyware one bit.

You want to run a Linux box as firewall/router (you call it gateway
PC). That is ok, but be carfull what services there is on the
"outside".
The interface towards Internet should not run any services (exept
maybe a ssh service).

There are some special distributions that works ok as such a firewall
etc.

> >> Last Question: I want to be able to write internet
> applications
>
> >> with php/mysql, but I can't get any of my php pages to load.
> >> These pages were written on my windows 98 machine, and they all
> >> worked, but now none of them do. Anyone know whats up?
>
> > You need to install Apache2 and PHP, which you find with "synaptics" as
> > ray told you.
> > Then you need to set Apache2 up to use PHP etc. That you do with
> > special commands
> > in debian. Look athttp://www.debian-administrator.org/or use Google
> > to look up pages
> > to "set up" "Apache2" with "PHP" on "Debian" "Etch" . I will give you
> > and every one else, use those marked key words in a google search, It
> > will
> > give you a really good hit in first line
>
> Thanks everyone, but I managed to get this issue sorted out on my own,
> though perhaps not with the greatest solution. I installed LAMPP, now
> XAMPP, from the internet. It works wonderfully, although I don't any way
> to start or stop it, other than opening a root terminal. I'd like it if
> it just started when my machine starts up.
>
> > They have good information about SAMBA too on the same site.
>
> >> Thanks in advance for all replies. Especially the ones that
> >> help
>
> > Your welcome
>
> > Good luck
>
> Again, thanks for all the help and advice guys.
>
> Tony.