• TroubleShooting

DynebolicFaq : [http://dynebolic.org/ dyne:bolic homepage]

Why can't I boot dyne:bolic 1.2 on my laptop?

Probably this has to do with the APIC extension of the new 2.4.22 kernel. Please type Linux noapic at boot prompt, that should fix it (until it gets done!); Otherwise try typing Linux acpi=off or Linux ide0=ata66 ide1=ata66 (which fixes booting on some Toshiba with Transmeta CPU). Or try a combination of these (it shouldn't hurt!). Or you can try and change the resolution dyne:bolic boots with; just read the following FAQ...

Oh and by the way read the [http://www.ibiblio.org/mdw/HOWTO/BootPrompt-HOWTO.html BootPrompt-HOWTO] which is a very good reference for Linux boot options.

How can I change the booting resolution?

You only have to type the following on dyne:bolics' boot prompt: Linux vga=zzz ...where zzz is a decimal number corresponding to the following colour scheme:

How can I use dyne:bolic with a beamer? I want to use it in multimedia training...

If dyne:bolic hardware recognition fails with the beamer connected to your PC, there may help a workaround I found out for myself (it still needs to be tested further): Boot first Knoppix or Kanotix with the PC where dyne:bolic is installed and the beamer connected to. Once you reach the GUI and the beamer is working (may be you have to downscale the resolution to 1024x768), save /etc/X11/XF86config-4 to a memory stick (or another device you will reach afterwards). Now you can boot dyne:bolic as usual. Once you reach the GUI of dyne:bolic, copy XF86config-4 to /etc/XF86config (of course, you have to substitute the existing XF86config). Now you can restart the GUI, using the menu option "EXIT / restarting X-Server" - and you should have working both GUI and beamer. (If Knoppix or Kanotix has recognized a higher solution than your beamer is capable, then you have to downscale again to the resolution or try to modify the saved XF86config, erasing the solutions that are not fitting - this is what worked fine in may case). Unfortunately you have to repeat that workaround (i.e. copying the saved XF86config-4 to /etc/XF86config) after each reboot as the nesting method is still not saving the XF86config.

I've got an on-board soundcard and a PCI one, but cannot make it (PCI) work. What's wrong?

Maybe you have to disable your on-board soundcard. You can do this through the BIOS setup.

Another trick got mentioned on the mailing list, by jaromil:

The /dev/dsp device configured by default in dyne:bolic sound applications is a symbolic link (see 'man ln') to the real soundcard, and as such it can be linked to a different soundcard.

A list of the soundcard devices is given by the command:

ls /dev/snd/dsp*

which basically prints out all files starting by 'dsp' in the /dev/sound directory.So you can easily change it with:

ln -sf /dev/snd/dspN /dev/dsp

where N is the number of the soundcard you want, normally the onboard is the first.This way you will change the default soundcard pointed by the /dev/dsp device in dyne:bolic.

About the volume: it starts to a default value on the first soundcard, all other soundcards are muted. most simple soundcards can be setted using the 'audio levels mixer' from the menu, but multichannel soundcards need alsamixer (command from the XTERM) to change volumes on their channels.

How can I use my usb webcam on dyne:bolic?

You have to activate the camera loading its kernel module, depending on the webcam you've got:

• for logitech/dexxa quickcams the module is mod_quickcam and is installed by typing, at terminal:

  modprobe mod_quickcam

• for philips webcams the module is pwc:

  modprobe pwc

• for other webcams, please refer to the [http://www.linux-usb.org linux-usb] site (!! not very clear at the moment : anybody knows a good website for easy webcaming on linux??? !!).

Please note that hasciicam and freej do not support philips webcams.

Once the module is loaded, you will get a device called /dev/v4l/video0

For convenience, you could also make a link to it:

ln -sf /dev/v4l/video0 /dev/video

How can I enable my "Alt"-Key as Meta-Key in xemacs?

Open an xterm and type the following command:

xmodmap -e "clear mod4"

How can I change the rate and delay of autorepeat of my keyboard when typing?

Open an xterm and use xset. For example:

xset r rate 400 11

The first value after "rate" is the time in milliseconds before autorepeat starts and the second value is the number of repeats per second.

Jackd will not start. What can I do ? Dyne:bolic 1.4.1

I tried to start jack from the menu and it came up with a error message like this:

ALSA lib pcm.c:1962:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM /dev/dsp jackd: pcm.c:690: snd_pcm_nonblock: Assertion `pcm' failed. 23:44:09.273 JACK was stopped successfully. 23:44:11.471 Could not connect to JACK server as client.

This could be remedied by opening a xterm (rightclick/xterm) and then write:

#jackd -dalsa -dhw:0

Then jackd will probably start and you can work with ardour and other jack enabled programs.

How do I find out which soundcard is detected by dyne:bolic 1.4.1

Start an xterm; write:

$ aplay -l <enter>

or

$ cat /proc/asound/cards <enter>

Both should tell which soundcard is located by dyne:bolic.

My soundcard is correctly detected but I get no sound when playing something; dyne:bolic 1.4.1

start fx xmms and let it play a song. This xterm command will do that:

#xmms somesong.mp3 &

or type one of the following lines:

# cat /dev/urandom > /dev/dsp

# cat /dev/urandom > /dev/sound/dsp

(will produce noice)

In the xterm then write: #alsamixer <enter> here you can with the left/right arrow on the keyboard choose different output possibilities. With uparrow turn up one after the other each output until you get which output the card is using. When the correct one is found - turn down the others. (for me the correct one was <DAC>

How can I manually configure my soundcard on dyne:bolic 1.4.1

Start an xterm - write:

alsaconf

and go through the questions asked.

How can I autostart commands everytime I restart my dyne:bolic system?

Do Docking : [http://lab.dyne.org/Docking]

Then, add the commands (one per line) to the file

/home/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/autostart

If using commands that will take long to execude, add a space and a & after the command, for example

kphone &

You can test if it works by restarting WindowMaker from the right-click menu under the option "EXIT".

DynebolicFaq : [http://dynebolic.org/ dyne:bolic homepage]

Created on 22-04-2004 by Tommy Drum for the community; please update, correct and contribute!