fun with udev (not)

snarkout · Post by **snarkout** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 2:23 pm

That's exactly why I did the entire upgrade. THere are some bugfixes in kde 3.5.1 I really wanted, and it insisted on installing xorg7. Xorg7 was kind of a pita, but I managed to get it fixed in my spare time over a few days. I wasn't expecting to have these issues with udev/hal/etc though.

snarkout · Post by **snarkout** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 5:59 pm

OK, I've been able to work around the problem (AGAIN!) by using pmount - I've added /dev/sdb2 to /etc/pmount.allow and can now mount it as a normal user, and transfers are back at the correct rate. It's a fucking pain in the ass though. So, the question remains, is it dbus or hal or udev that fucking things up for me right now?

More puzzling is why under /media transfers are ok, and under /mnt they aren't - or rather, why when I use fstab to mount the device transfer speeds suck, but otherwise things progress along just fine.

Another new bug just cropped up though - every other time I reboot or restart X, my fonts are huge. I've removed the 75-dpi fonts, so it shouldn't have anything to to with that. I'm stumped.

Chess · Post by **Chess** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 8:55 pm

Snarkout wrote:Another new bug just cropped up though - every other time I reboot or restart X, my fonts are huge. I've removed the 75-dpi fonts, so it shouldn't have anything to to with that. I'm stumped.

Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to your first questions, but as to this question, I at least have a solution (although not necessarily an answer). If you want to set a specific dpi for your fonts, you can go into /usr/X11R6/bin/startx and add a default dpi as a defaultserverargs. In other words, edit the line:

defaultserverargs=""

so it reads like this:

defaultserverargs="-dpi 96"

or whatever dpi you want. As to the reason your fonts are huge, maybe it has something to do with the xorg7 upgrade. Did you go through the xorg file and make sure your resolution etc. are ok? Anything in .Xauthority or .Xdefaults that might be setting your fonts to a different dpi? I'm spitballin' here...

snarkout · Post by **snarkout** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 1:57 pm

Sweet - thank you!

I've been messing with slackware this weekend some, and will have to spend some time figuring out what I think about it. It certainly uses a LOT of old(er) tech, and doesn't include a lot of stuff I use regularly. Are there any 3rd party repos that are considered "safe?" I've found several mentioned on the linuxpackages site, including vector, dropline and ocsid. I'm assuming that linuxpackages is like Arch's AUR repo, and that vector probably puts out good packages, but is it generally considered "OK" to add these repos to your system? I have no problem compiling, say, kmplayer, but kde with hal/dbus support and both hal and dbus are more than I really want to deal with. I suppose I could go back to the old way, but I really prefer dynamic devices.

Chess · Post by **Chess** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 5:50 pm

Linuxpackages.net is the only third party repository that I have used. There are others, including the ones you mentioned, plus Robby Workman's packages, Eric Hamleers packages (these are Slackware users that contribute code and bug reports to Pat V) -- I can ger you links to those if you need them.

For gnome packages, use freerock or gware, not dropline.

There is no need to recompile KDE for hal/dbus, AFAIK. I believe it's all set up that way. There is a hal package on linuxpackages.net that is intended to be used with KDE.

I generally use xfce/fluxbox/gnome and usually end up installing freerock gnome, and their hal/dbus packages work great.

Chess · Post by **Chess** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 6:00 pm

Just curious: what packages are you looking for that are not included with Slackware or are not available on linuxpackages.net?

snarkout · Post by **snarkout** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 6:17 pm

So far none, but I'm a little worried about installing what I'd consider "system software" from a "very" third party repo. Am I correct in my understanding that linuxpackages is essentially the AUR?

Slackware proper doesn't include amarok, kaffeine, dbus, hal and some other packages I can't think of right now. I don't quite understand why it doesn't include dbus and hal, and I was under the impression that amarok and kaffeine were official kde packages at this point, though I could very likely be wrong.

Also, I have yet to get grub functioning correctly. I installed the "legacy" grub package this time 'round, and while it installed to the mbr, none of the changes I make to menu.lst have any affect on what gets passed to grub at boot time so I'm stuck faffing with it everytime the system reboots. I'm also having a hell of a time getting initrd images created correctly for some reason - the same stuff I've been doing for years doesn't seem to work correctly. I guess I'll just learn to love lilo. I'm a little surprised that Pat doesn't consider grub ready for prime-time - I've found it far more robust and flexible than lilo. Grub isn't quite as kiss I guess - maybe that's his reasoning.

Chess · Post by **Chess** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 6:28 pm

Remember that Pat only includes the most stable and tried and true packages. As you and others can attest to, the current development of udev/hal/dbus is still a little rocky. Pat does include udev but I doubt he will include hal/dbus any time soon. They are just too immature at this point.

The grub pacakge in /testing works perfectly for me. Remember to uninstall lilo first, install grub from /testing, and then run the "grubconfig" script. There is also a grub package on LinuxPackages.net. The initrd should work fine as well, espcially since Pat V. tends to use them. I don't like initrd so I never use 'em. You may want to post that on LQ.

The amarok/kaffeine packages on linuxpackages will work fine. They are not standard KDE packages -- if they were they would be there because Pat V includes a vanilla, base KDE.

I guess you could say LP is like AUR, with the exception that LP is generally for binaries while AUR usually contains the script that will build the binary for you. The SlackBuild scripts are often included with the LP packages, however. Honestly, I have rarely found a problem with the LP packages. Most builders are experienced Slackware users who know what they are doing.

Edit: check out this LQ thread on hal/dbus
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions ... p?t=405601

Edit: grub is in /extra, not /testing.

snarkout · Post by **snarkout** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 6:49 pm

I just wanted to say thanks for all your input. I'd actually read that post already, but it was useful. I'm going to reinstall slack this weekend (with the aid of some very good beer) and really focus on doing things the slack way. I'm sure I'll have more questions then.

One question now: If you aren't using hal or dbus, how do you deal with multiple devices? Do you just bang out a lot of udev rules and fstab rules? I don't have a hell of a lot I plug n to my computer regularly, but when I do, I like to be able to have it "just work" more or less.

Chess · Post by **Chess** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 11:23 pm

Snarkout wrote:I just wanted to say thanks for all your input. I'd actually read that post already, but it was useful. I'm going to reinstall slack this weekend (with the aid of some very good beer) and really focus on doing things the slack way. I'm sure I'll have more questions then.

No problem -- happy to help in any way I can.

One question now: If you aren't using hal or dbus, how do you deal with multiple devices? Do you just bang out a lot of udev rules and fstab rules? I don't have a hell of a lot I plug n to my computer regularly, but when I do, I like to be able to have it "just work" more or less.

Well, I really only have 1 device that I plug in routinely -- my iAudio5 and for that, yes, I just created manual udev and fstab rules. Then I'll just mount and unmount manually, either via CLI or if I am running a DE like KDE/Gnome, I'll create an icon on the desktop that I can click to mount and right click to unmount. Works perfectly and is not subject to hal/dbus' desire to flake out from time to time.

However, I have also played around with Freerock Gnome and their udev/hal/dbus works perfectly. I believe you said that you use KDE, so I don't imagine you'd want to install their entire Gnome DE, but maybe just pulling down their udev/hal/dbus and installing those might work. Have not tried that, though.