Fully working, now for fine tuning. (SOLVED)

Linux Support
1

Hi All,

I now have a fully working dual-boot system (Linux Mint 13 Cinammon/Windows XP64 Pro) and for this I must thank all those who have offered advice and assistance. I feel I must particularly mention Mark Greaves who, I feel, has gone ‘above and beyond’ as the saying goes.

Now to the fine tuning. I have set the Linux disk as first in the priority list and this gives me a boot option list which includes: Linux Mint, Linux Mint recovery, memory test, and 2 Widows XP options. The reason it gives me 2 options is that I have one hard drive with the Win XP OS on it, and a second, separate, drive with XP generated files thereon but no OS. This is my work and personal storage area.

Which is the Linux file that I edit (sudo gedit?) to delete this latter disk from the boot options?

Now to a more tricky question: -

Is there a good source of driver files that have been written for Linux?

I am thinking of: -

  1. Kodak ESP3250 printer/scanner, which prints O.K. from Linux, but a hell of a lot slower than in Windows. I haven’t yet checked its scanning capabilities.

  2. ATI Radeon HD 5750 Graphics Card, which Linux managed to default straight to the optimum 1920 x 1080 resolution - clever!, but I haven’t yet tested it with a graphic program.

  3. Logitech M100 wheel mouse. I like to set the ‘wheel click’ to ‘double click’ and haven’t found how to do this in Linux.

I don’t think, please correct me if I am wrong, that I need to worry about USB connected devices as they all seem to function O.K.

The only other things, at the moment, are system maintenance and firewall/anti-virus protection. I currently use, under Windows, “Winzip System Utilities Suite” for maintenance, e.g. updating of drivers, registry optimization etc., “Avast Internet Security” for protection and “Rapport” to protect sites where I am using passwords and/or moving money. The first 2 are both ‘annual subscription’ software, as I have always felt that my smooth running and protection are features too important to left to the tender mercies of ‘freebie’ offerings, and the 3rd is supplied free by the banking system.

What do Linux users recommend for these functions?

I also use “Acronis Disk Director” on the rare occasions I need to manipulate partitions.

What is the equivalent in Linux?

Is there a site from which I can download a ‘how to’ manual for Linux?

Looking back over this, and previous, diatribes I feel I am probably overstaying my welcome, but I am so pleased with the way Linux behaves that I am really trying to shift to using it as my ‘first choice’ OS, so would really appreciate any help that can be offered.

Tony N

2

Hi Tony … thanks for the kind words:)

Which is the Linux file that I edit (sudo gedit?) to delete this latter disk from the boot options?

My guess is that the second drive has at some point had Windows installed, and the boot files are still present, so GRUB thinks it’s a bootable drive and adds it t the boot menu … can you open a terminal and send the output from:

sudo fdisk -l
Is there a good source of driver files that have been written for Linux?

Linux has by far the majority of drivers included in the kernel which is why most things work out-of-the-box … obviously it doesn’t contain “proprietary” drivers, that would be illegal … there ARE proprietary drivers available for some devices, but this is down to whether the device manufacturer provides Linux drivers … so there’s normally no need to download drivers, and in the cases where you can, they’ll be on the device manufacturers website (if available).

1) Kodak ESP3250 printer/scanner, which prints O.K. from Linux, but a hell of a lot slower than in Windows. I haven't yet checked its scanning capabilities.

I’ll come back to this one … I need to do some homework :slight_smile:

2) ATI Radeon HD 5750 Graphics Card, which Linux managed to default straight to the optimum 1920 x 1080 resolution - clever!, but I haven't yet tested it with a graphic program.

Linux will probably have loaded the open source “radeon” driver, but there is highly likely to be a “proprietary” driver available … let’s see which driver it’s currently using … can you post the output from:

sudo lshw -C display

Can you also go to Preferences>Additional Ddrivers and see if any other drivers are being offered … then tell us what they are.

3) Logitech M100 wheel mouse. I like to set the 'wheel click' to 'double click' and haven't found how to do this in Linux.

I’ll have to come back to this too, as I’m currently not sat at a PC with Gnome (the default Mint Cinnamon desktop environment).

I don't think, please correct me if I am wrong, that I need to worry about USB connected devices as they all seem to function O.K.

Yup, most USB devices will just work (drivers in the kernel, remember) … but again you may come across the odd piece of kit that requires a little work to get it working.

The only other things, at the moment, are system maintenance and firewall/anti-virus protection. I currently use, under Windows, "Winzip System Utilities Suite" for maintenance, e.g. updating of drivers, registry optimization etc., "Avast Internet Security" for protection and "Rapport" to protect sites where I am using passwords and/or moving money. The first 2 are both 'annual subscription' software, as I have always felt that my smooth running and protection are features too important to left to the tender mercies of 'freebie' offerings, and the 3rd is supplied free by the banking system.

OK, system maiintainance … as most drivers are contained in the kernel, these will be updated by any kernel updates, and the ATI drivers are contained in the default software repositories, so will be automagically updated by the Mint Updater … software and (most) driver updates are taken care of automagically in Linux.

Anti virus/firewall/anti malware … there is no need for anti-virus software in Linux … there is no need for a software firewall if you are behind a NAT router, and ufw (universal firewall) is installed anyway, though you can install the GUI front end for it if you wish … anti malware, same deal as anti virus.

Rapport … OK, I had to look up what that was.

Peace of mind – Rapport tells you that you really are connected to your bank, and not a fraudulent website 
Protect your passwords – shut out criminals spying on your online banking details

Safeguard your identity – identity theft is one of the fastest-growing threats in the UK

Well proven - Rapport was developed by the online security experts at Trusteer</blockquote>

It doesn’t appear to be a “requirement” … and Linux will (by default) protect you MUCH better than Windows with Rapport … the only thing Linux can’t do that Rapport does is tell “you that you really are connected to your bank, and not a fraudulent website”, but as this kind of browser redirection would generally require modification of your hosts file, Linux security would not make that possible without root permission which would require your password.

Linux will protect your online banking better than ANY other OS … and it will do it without third party software.

NatWest don’t seem to exclude Linux … Nationwide on the other hand, specifically exclude Linux from their “online fraud protection scheme” which may mean you aren’t guaranteed to recieve a refund if you are the target of online fraud … this IS NOT because Linux is less secure (it’s universally accepted too be BY FAR the most secure OS) it’s because Nationwide are too lazy to test Linux with their online banking setup.

Nationwide may have changed their policy since I last looked … but if you use Nationwide it may be best to check with them.

If you want further info on Linux security, just ask and I’ll post some links that will explain “why” Linux is so secure :slight_smile:

I also use "Acronis Disk Director" on the rare occasions I need to manipulate partitions.

GParted or Disk Utility … you CAN install GParted either through your package manager (Software Manager), or with:

sudo apt-get install gparted

But considering you cannot manipulate “mounted” partitions … it’s usually better to do this whilst booted to a LiveCD/LiveUSB, and the Mint LiveCD/LiveUSB will already have GParted installed by default.

Is there a site from which I can download a 'how to' manual for Linux?

There is a Linux Mint User Guide here:
http://www.linuxmint.com/documentation/user-guide/english_13.0.pdf

If you’re after something more in depth, let us know … though anything more in depth won’t be Mint specific.

Looking back over this, and previous, diatribes I feel I am probably overstaying my welcome, but I am so pleased with the way Linux behaves that I am really trying to shift to using it as my 'first choice' OS

Unless you misbehave you will NEVER outstay your welcome :slight_smile: … we are here to help, so feel free at ANY time to ask ANYTHING :wink:

3

Just posting this as a possible printer fix … more so I don’t forget it :slight_smile:

I’m NOT telling you to get this yet … I’m still researching it.

Let me know if your scanner works.

4

Hi Mark,

Quote

“My guess is that the second drive has at some point had Windows installed, and the boot files are still present…”. (haven’t worked out yet how to ‘quote’ the way you and the other Linux users do) :-[

Yes I guess you must be right about that. Funny thing though, the <boot.ini> file, don’t know where that came from although I possibly may have stored a copy there so I could always revert to my original, on my 80GB “WORKINGDISK” (/dev/sdc) includes the line (c\wubildr.mbr=“Linux Mint”), whereas the <boot.ini> on my Win XP bootdisk “WINXP64bSP2” (/dev/sda), doesn’t have any reference to Linux.

Here follow the results of “sudo fdisk -l”: -

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160040803840 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312579695 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000204fb

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 63 312560639 156280288+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 312560640 312576704 8032+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 312560703 312576704 8001 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/sdb: 40.0 GB, 40019582464 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders, total 78163247 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0005d6c2

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 2048 61388799 30693376 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 61390846 78161919 8385537 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 61390848 78161919 8385536 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdc: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders, total 156301488 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xb4b3b4b3

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc2 * 16065 156296384 78140160 5 Extended
/dev/sdc5 16135 20482874 10233370 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sdc6 20482939 156296384 67906723 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

“sudo lshw -C display” came up with: -

*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: Juniper [Radeon HD 5700 Series]
vendor: Hynix Semiconductor (Hyundai Electronics)
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
version: 00
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm pciexpress msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
configuration: driver=fglrx_pci latency=0
resources: irq:43 memory:d0000000-dfffffff memory:fdfc0000-fdfdffff ioport:ee00(size=256) memory:fdf00000-fdf1ffff

Quote

“there is no need for a software firewall if you are behind a NAT router”

Sorry, but what is an NAT router? I connect to the internet via a hardwired (Ethernet) connection to the wireless router supplied by Virgin when I went 60Mbps. It describes itself as a “Virgin Super Hub”, and is manufactured by Netgear.

As a “by the way” I consistently get 58 to 60+ (sometimes as high as 65 Mbps) from this setup whereas my younger daughter and her partner are only getting about 20Mbps from an alleged 100Mbps setup, but they are wirelessly connecting. As for my elder daughter’s Sky broadband ?*!@, enough said. I trust cables, 'cos you can see them!

Quote

“NatWest don’t seem to exclude Linux”

Justifies my decision to stick with them since the days when they were National Provincial. Probably showing my age here!

I think, for safety’s sake, I’ll leave the partitions alone for the time being, particularly as Linux does, as you said, seem to have created it’s own swap partition: -

/dev/sdb2 61390846 78161919 8385537 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 61390848 78161919 8385536 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Is /dev/sdb2 the partition, and /dev/sdb5 what is contained within it?

Thanks for everything Mark. I will download the pdf ‘how to’ file you suggested. I reckon I’m getting there, slowly.

Tony N

5

A quickie comment,

Just read through all 51 pages of the ‘how to’ pdf.

Left click and highlight to copy, middle click to paste is bloody magic!

Tony N

6

Does “Additional Drivers” (in the menus somewhere) offer you any other drivers ? and which does it say are activated ?

You ARE behind a NAT router … a NAT router can modify the IP addresses in packet headers on the fly, effectively hiding your PC’s internal IP addresses from the internet (it also allows you to have multiple PC’s using the single external IP address of your router).

Your Virgin Superhub should also contain a Firewall of its own … but I have read that occasionally they haven’t enabled it by default … it may be a good idea to log into your router, and check the firewall is enabled :wink:

And YES all 3 drives have a boot flag set, which is why GRUB is picking it up as bootable, ← do you want to remove the boot files and flag, then update grub ?

Let me know if you want some more in depth reading … but it won’t be Mint specific.

In answer to your earlier question -

/dev/sdb2 61390846 78161919 8385537 5 Extended /dev/sdb5 61390848 78161919 8385536 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Is /dev/sdb2 the partition, and /dev/sdb5 what is contained within it?

Kind of … they are both “partitions” but different types … think of an Extended partition is a container for “Logical” partitions.

So if you have a look at the starting and ending block numbers you’ll see the swap partition is “inside” the logical partition … so it must be a logical partition.

You can AFAIK (in Linux) have 93 logical partitions in an extended partition … but you can only have 4 “primary” partitions on one drive … an extended partition counts as a primary partition.

FYI, Windows can only have a maximum of 25 logical partitions and 1 primary … it needs a primary partition to boot, then as it uses drive “lettering” (C: D: E:, etc.) after 25 logical partitions you run out of letters in the alphabet ::slight_smile:

7

Hi Mark,

thanks for all the info on partitions and security.

Only 2 additional drivers: -

“ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver” which I have installed and shows as “Activated and in use”,
and “ATI/AMD etc… driver(post-release updates)”.

The latter, when I attempt to install it, renders “installation failed…see log”.

Far too much info in this logfile to insert here, but one line caught my eye: -

“Warning: No support for locale: en_GB.utf8”.

Not sure that matters much as I have the full range of resolutions available and colour, contrast etc are adjustable on the monitor. One odd thing, ‘Displays’ shows my only monitor, ProLite E2409HDS, as being a Laptop. Still works O.K. though.

No, thank you Mark, I won’t do that at the moment as I don’t want to risk upsetting my ability to boot to XP and thence my CAD program.

Haven’t quite got hold of the “Quote” thing as, even if I highlight the part I want to quote, I get the whole message quoted.

Cheers

Tony N

8

It looks like you have the correct graphics driver anyway :slight_smile:

What’s left in this topic that needs work ?

Printer/Scanner ? … does it scan ?

9

Printer prints, but very slowly. ‘Simple Scan’ reports “No scanner detected”.

Is there a Linux equivalent to the XP “Add hardware” ? My guess is not, as Linux seems intelligent enough to detect any hardware with which it is compatible.

Tony N

10
Is there a Linux equivalent to the XP "Add hardware" ?

Kind of, and no at the same time … helpful eh :wink: …

Kind of = “Additional Drivers” (jockey) … if Mint detects there are any proprietary drivers available (after scanning your hardware at boot) it will offer them

No = Linux scans your hardware each boot, and loads the drivers for hardware it’s aware of, which are usually contained in the kernel (one of the reasons the kernel is updated so often, to add drivers for new hardware)
Also why you can move the hard drive to another PC and Linux will just work on that PC too … and why LiveCD’s work.

Anyway … printer … can you send the output from this command:

dpkg -l | grep c2esp
11

Hi again Mark,

this is the result: -

ii printer-driver-c2esp 23-1
printer driver for Kodak ESP AiO color inkjet Series

Doesn’t mean much to me, except that it is referring to the right series of printer, but not the specific type, “ESP 3250”.

Cheers

Tony N

12

What’s the output from:

sudo scanimage -L

and

sudo sane-find-scanner
13

Hi Mark,

here are the results of your suggestions: -

sudo scanimage -L

No scanners were identified. If you were expecting something different,
check that the scanner is plugged in, turned on and detected by the
sane-find-scanner tool (if appropriate). Please read the documentation
which came with this software (README, FAQ, manpages).

sudo sane-find-scanner

[i] # sane-find-scanner will now attempt to detect your scanner. If the

result is different from what you expected, first make sure your

scanner is powered up and properly connected to your computer.

No SCSI scanners found. If you expected something different, make sure that

you have loaded a kernel SCSI driver for your SCSI adapter.

found USB scanner (vendor=0x040a [Eastman Kodak Company], product=0x4043 [KODAK ESP 3200 Series AiO]) at libusb:001:006

Your USB scanner was (probably) detected. It may or may not be supported by

SANE. Try scanimage -L and read the backend’s manpage.

Not checking for parallel port scanners.

Most Scanners connected to the parallel port or other proprietary ports

can’t be detected by this program.[/i]

I repeated the ‘scanimage -L’ after this last, and got the same result as the first time.

Linux seems to me to be saying, "yeah, I know its there, but I can’t drive it.

I’ve been on the Kodak sites and whilst they do loads of drivers for Windows and Mac they don’t do any for Linux.

Cheers

Tony N

14

For the ATI/AMD graphics drivers (unusually for me) I always recommend the proprietary driver for the ATI/AMD graphics cards. It is one of the few Closed Source companies that have actually done something right for the Linux community.

If you find you get better results with the Open Source drivers though let me know as I haven’t tried them in about 6 months now.

That’s my thoughts on the matter. Good luck with your ‘fine tuning’ :slight_smile:

15

OK, first let’s install XSane and see if that can see your printer … it’s better than simple-scan anyway:

sudo apt-get install xsane

Now look for XSane in your menu’s and fire it up … does it work with your scanner ?

Can you send the output from:

ls -a /etc/sane.d | grep kod*

Later we’ll try removing the default printer-driver-c2esp (version 23-1) and replace it with the latest version (25 I think) … but first tell me if XSane can find your scanner.

16

Hi Mark

[quote
Now look for XSane in your menu’s and fire it up … does it work with your scanner ?

ls -a /etc/sane.d | grep kod*

Installed “XSane” O.K. but when I ran it I got “no devices available”. Clicking on [Help] yields 6 possible reasons: -

  1. There really is no device that is supported by SANE - possibly so, in the case of the Kodak ESP3250
  2. Supported devices are busy - not applicable, it was on but not in use.
  3. The permissions for the device file do not allow you to use it - try as root - Doh!
  4. The backend is not loaded by SANE (man sane-dll) - "
  5. The backend is not configured correctly (man sane-“backendname”) - "
  6. Possibly there is more than one SANE version installed - quite possible, as I haven’t removed SANE, but can’t find it in the menus

[quote

Can you send the output from:

ls -a /etc/sane.d | grep kod*

[/quote]
Tried this and got the response “grep.kod*: command not found”

Did I enter it correctly?

I entered “ls_-a_/etc/sane.d_|_grep.kod*”, (the underscores represent spaces).

Verbal translation: - (all alpha characters lower case) “LS space minussign A space /ETC/SANE.D space pipe space GREP.KOD*”.

Cheers

Tony N

17

nearly … that’s a space between grep and kod (not a “.”)

Wouldn’t it be easier to just copy the commands from this page, then paste them into the terminal ?

ls -a /etc/sane.d | grep kod*
18

You do have to be careful in DOS, sorry, “terminal” don’t you. Whilst we’re on the subject, where can I find a listing of all the terminal commands?

Second attempt, I left out the space between “ls” and “-”, however, when I finally got it right I got the message: -

“kodak.conf”. (The colour change is deliberate. That’s how it was reported)

What does that tell me?

Tony N

19

OK, Kodak are one of those printer manufacturers that seem to be ignoring Linux >:(

Anywho … let’s download/compile/install the sane backend (for your printer kodakaio) … open a terminal and run these commands in sequence:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic build-essential libsane-dev libusb-dev libcups2-dev libcupsimage2-dev libcupsdriver1-dev git-core

then:

mkdir ~/kodak-temp

then:

cd ~/kodak-temp

then:

git clone git://git.debian.org/sane/sane-backends.git

then:

cd ~/kodak-temp/sane-backends

then

./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var --disable-latex BACKENDS=kodakaio

then:

make

then:

sudo make install

OK, that’s the sane backend intalled … now we need to see if kodakaio is in /etc/sane.d/dll.conf … so back in the terminal run:

sudo gedit /etc/sane.d/dll.conf

and check there’s a line that reads

kodakaio

If not, add it, and SAVE the file.

now back in the terminal, make sure your scanner is detected by all 3 of these commands:

sane-find-scanner

and:

sudo scanimage -L

and:

scanimage -L

If “sudo scanimage -L” works, but “scanimage -L” doesn’t, let me know as there may be a permission problem that needs fixing.

and next time, get an HP All-In-One :wink:

Probably best to copy/paste the above commands :slight_smile:

I’ll post sommat about commands once we’ve sorted this.

20

Hi Mark,

Quote

OK, Kodak are one of those printer manufacturers that seem to be ignoring Linux

not only that, they say their drivers are not compatible with XP64, although they do work.

“sane-find-scanner” (relevant section) = found USB scanner (vendor=0x040a, product=0x4043) at libusb:001:006
# Your USB scanner was (probably) detected. It may or may not be supported by
# SANE. Try scanimage -L and read the backend’s manpage.

“sudo scanimage -L”: - device `kodakaio:libusb:001:006’ is a Kodak KODAK ESP 3200 Series AiO flatbed scanner

“scanimage -L” = No scanners were identified etc…

rather what you were half expecting, I guess.

Quote

and next time, get an HP All-In-One :wink:

Yeah, I did notice there were quite a few HP drivers in the ddl.conf file.

Cheers

Tony N