[ILUG] misc. Linux problems

[John Madden]

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On (11/05/04 13:22), Kelsang Pamting didst pronounce:
> 
> Virus protection... Is it necessary?  someone recommended Bitdefender 
> but seems a bit expensive.
> 
This isn't really necessary. Viruses, in general, are written to exploit
Windows machines. It's a good idea if you'll be checking email on the
machine using Windows clients (eg. if you run it as an internal
mailserver for a small LAN or some such), but otherwise, there's really
no need to worry until VXers decide to write viruses for Linux.

If you're going to use the machine on the internet (who doesn't these
days), it would be a good idea to have a look at IPTables and configure
a firewall to block incoming traffic to services that shouldn't be
accessed from outside.

> My screen definition seems a bit problematic in my browser (Mozilla)and 
> when I increased the font size it lost a bit of clarity.
> 
Don't quite understand what you're asking here. If it's font definition,
it could be that you need trutype or anti-aliased fonts or something.
Someone who knows more about fonts than me can probably follow up on
this one.

> For some reason the browser take a very very long time to access some 
> sites, like Google (which it seems to go to directly when I type another 
> address )  The browser in general seems to be slower than Windows and 
> occasionally hangs up.
> 
Only thing I can think of would be possible DNS problems. Do you use
DHCP on the machine? An idea could be to try using a sniffer (tcpdump or
similar) to check what traffic is coming from / going to the machine
when you're browsing.

> When I shut down now the Linux system hangs up just befor the end of the 
> process ( something to do with  the hotplug deactivation process, I 
> think) so I just have to press the off button and all is well, but I 
> would like to correct whatever I have mis-configured, creating the problem.
> 
What's the last message before the system hangs? 

> My DVD player is not working (Totem Media Player) and I have to switch 
> to Windows....again, perhaps something is misconfigured.
> 
I'm not sure about Totem, but I use mplayer on my laptop for playing
DVDs and it works fine. Xine is quite good aswell. Also, it could be
that the DVD is protected, so you may need to install DeCSS.

> I have a Nokia 6600 mobile with bluetooth and infrared.  Previously I 
> was synchronizing Outlook Contacts and Calendar and using the phone as a 
> modem.  Any ideas about whether this will be possible in Linux?
> 
Try the Gnokii software. It's open source software for talking to Nokia
phones over cable or infra-red. Doesn't support every phone and every
feature, but pretty good all the same.

> I also have an older SonyEricsson T68i which I use for the same purpose 
> at times and I seem to remember reading somewhere that it can be 
> configured for Linux.
> 
No idea on this one, sorry.

> In general how do I activate the infrared port on my laptop?  It has not 
> as yet been recognized by Harddrake?
> 
You need to load the infra-red modules you're looking for. There are
some pretty good IR under Linux tutorials on the web. A quick google
should find one to explain them to you.

> I will be very appreciative of any responses.
> 
Hope this helps.

- -- 
Chat ya later,

John.
- --
BOFH excuse #1: clock speed
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