A few newbie questions.

[Ouguiya]

Hello everyone!

First, as a complete newbie, I'd like to introduce myself first. Up till now, I have more or less always been with Windows. Since windows really, really ruined my day once, I decided to go to linux.

After taking a quick look at some screenshots, I decided to go for KDE for a first try, but installed gnome alongside it, just to be sure that I could switch any time.

Now, I don't know if it's because of me, or because of my computer architecture, or my installation or god knows what, but KDE 4.0 makes more problems than it solves on my computer. So, I decided to switch gnome, which up till now has made me perfectly happy.

However, there is one small feature, which I just would have loved to see in Gnome, and yes that is the cute bouncing application symbols when that application is loading.
Is there anyway to use this feature in Gnome?

The second question, I first saw this in a youtube movie, and that is this awesome rotating cube, for the 4 desktops.

Now, I think I have found where to activate it, which is "System / Look and Feel / Desktop effects"

but when I say "ACTIVATE DESKTOPEFFECTS", my screen makes a quick jump (by that I mean just a quick getting black, and then returning, like when you change the resolution), the application calculates for a certain time, then the screen makes another jump, and it tells me "Desktop effects could not be enabled".

Does anyone know what this is? and how to fix it?

These are the two main little questions which came to my mind. Thanks to anyone who can answer them.

Yours,

Ouguiya

Edit: I almost forgot, there is a third one, which is the following: I have this linux (Fedora 9) installed on a vaio laptop, and of course, the main speakers are directly in the laptop.
However, since I am often in situations where listening to loud music would be quite annoying (trains, airplanes, etc.), I need to use the sound plug, which almost any laptop has.

The only problem is that when I plug something in there, the sound continues to come from the laptop speakers. I tried to change the audio device already, but this yielded no results.

Similarily, the laptop has a built-in microphone, but using it until now has been impossible for me. When I record something, the only thing which comes out is either some hissing, or simply nothing.

I don't know if the problems are related, but if anyone has a solution, please tell me.

Yours, Ouguiya

[coopstah13]

you need to make sure you are using proprietary driver if your computer has ati/nvidia graphics in order to enable desktop effects

what is output of

lspci | grep -i vga
cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf | grep -i driver

I don't think that bouncing kde feature can be enabled for gnome, but i'm not sure

[devils casper]

Hi and Welcome !

Now, I don't know if it's because of me, or because of my computer architecture, or my installation or god knows what, but KDE 4.0 makes more problems than it solves on my computer.

Its KDE 4.0 only, not your PC or installation. Which distro are you using?

However, there is one small feature, which I just would have loved to see in Gnome, and yes that is the cute bouncing application symbols when that application is loading.
Is there anyway to use this feature in Gnome?

I am not a Gnome User and I have to check it.

The second question, I first saw this in a youtube movie, and that is this awesome rotating cube, for the 4 desktops.

Now, I think I have found where to activate it, which is "System / Look and Feel / Desktop effects"

but when I say "ACTIVATE DESKTOPEFFECTS", my screen makes a quick jump (by that I mean just a quick getting black, and then returning, like when you change the resolution), the application calculates for a certain time, then the screen makes another jump, and it tells me "Desktop effects could not be enabled".

Does anyone know what this is? and how to fix it?

Which Graphics Card do you have? Nvidia and ATI Cards support that feature but one has install driver to enable those effects.
Open Terminal and execute this

sudo lspci | grep -i vga
grep -i driver /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Post output here.

[Ouguiya]

Hello again!

Thank you everyone for the friendly and quick replies,

to answer the questions:

I am currently using Fedora. I originally wanted to use Debian, since I have heard a lot of good things about it, sadly Debian doesn't work on this notebook (it seems to be too new actually, and every linux distro older than around 8 months won't work on it...).

I also tried kubuntu, just to see if KDE has the same problems there, and it does.

As to those console commands, I typed them in, and got the following outputs:


sudo lspci | grep -i vga

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller. nVidia Corporation Geforce 8400M GS (rev a1)

grep -i driver /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Driver "kbd"
Driver "nv"


Thanks again for the replies. I hope this aids in the solution a bit.

With kind regards,

Ouguiya

[netstrider]

I have a limited amount of time and could give insight to some other of your questions but let's tackle the 3d effects first. You need to install nVidia graphic drivers.

I've gone and found a site that explains step-by-step exactly how to do this on Fedora 9.

NOTE: I really tested and using these things in my laptop currently, things should work for others too. THIS METHOD IS COMPLETELY UNSUPPORTED BY FEDORA FOLKS, BUT WORKS.

Naresh: Fedora 9 Rawhide and Latest Nvidia 173.08 Driver

Give it a shot, it's basic. Am not a Fedora user myself but it's good to learn along with you.

EDIT:

The above method should NOT be used. I read on on that article only to find that this is 2D driver that yet lacks 3D support.

Few Gotchas:

1. Currently only 2D works, NVIDIA is working on getting 3D as soon as x.org 1.5 version is released.

2. None of the 3d commands work glxinfo,glxgears, all because of lack of 3d support.

3. Now i am able to play the movies in mplayer when i've replaced the nvidia's libwfb.so with libwfb.so the xorg itself has.

-- last updated (Fri April 18 200

[devils casper]

I am currently using Fedora. I originally wanted to use Debian, since I have heard a lot of good things about it, sadly Debian doesn't work on this notebook (it seems to be too new actually, and every linux distro older than around 8 months won't work on it...).

I also tried kubuntu, just to see if KDE has the same problems there, and it does.

KDE4 has a few problems right now. Developers are working on it and hopefully all bugs will be fixed soon.

For Nvidia Driver installation, execute this

su -
rpm -Uhv http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-9.rpm
yum -y install kmod-nvidia
init 3
nvidia-config-display enable

You machine must have internet access.

[Ouguiya]

Hello all again!

First of all thanks, it actually worked

Now all that remains is this rather annoying problem with the built in microphone which is not working, and the built-in speaker which cannot be turned off, sadly.

Thanks again for all the help, the desktop effects now really rule

Edit: Actually, a small new problem has arisen.
To work faster and with a larger screen, I like to plug in a large screen to my laptop, so I can work from there, instead of trying to decipher everything on the tiny notebook.

However, since I installed the nvidia driver, the Gnome application "Change screen resultion", which up till now allowed me to switch the screen, won't recognise the screens any more.
I think this is probably because of nvidia, as in windows too they have their own control center who takes over such jobs. My only problem is that I don'T really know if and where there is an nvidia controlpanel.


Yours,

Ouguiya

[coopstah13]

there is an nvidia control panel
run

nvidia-settings

from terminal, in order for settings to be saved, you have to run that command as root

[Ouguiya]

Hello again! Yes thank you, this time it all worked out

Thx again for all the help. Should anyone find out about this sound problem, please tell me about it, because the sound input / output control is something I really need for my studies.

Thanks again for the help with all the graphic problems.

Yours,

Ouguiya