When I checked in System Settings -> Desktop -> Desktop Effects, I saw that “Compositing has been suspended by another application . . .” I clicked the Resume Compositing button, but once again received the message and found that “Compositing is temporarily disabled.”

After a bit of searching, I found a post on the KDE Community Forums where a Kubuntu user had solved this issue by checking Disable functionality checks on the Advanced tab. Figuring it was worth a try, I checked the box and clicked the Apply button.  Oops! My desktop became pale blue nothing!

Using the CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE key combination, I shut down X.  Then, from the shell, I poked around my .kde directory and found the setting in .kde/share/config/kwinrc as “DisableChecks=true.” So, I removed this line from the file and started X once more: still no compositing; no effects, but at least I had usable KDE. (See: there’s a good reason I don’t start the GUI automagically!)

At this point I was mildly frustrated. I couldn’t understand why upgrading Xorg server to 1.7.7 killed compositing. Heck, maybe was it the newly installed kdegraphics-4.4.3!?! Did I really want to fuss with reverting packages until the problem went away? Nope!

I figured it was time to punt, so I downloaded and installed the latest nVidia driver–as much to give my self something to do as in hopes that it would fix the problem. Once the driver was installed, I logged out as root and logged back in as myself.  Now the moment of truth! I typed startx and pressed my well-worn ENTER key. OMG! It worked! I have wobbly windows again!

So, time to check this on the MacBook which uses an nVidia 9400M. Same results: no compositing after the upgrade and upgrading the nVidia driver fixed the issue.

The TL/DR of it all is: If upgrading Slackware kills your nVidia card’s compositing, just update the nVidia driver to 256.44 and life is good!

Happy Hacking!
Stu…

P.S. I was previously using nVidia driver version 256.35.

After learning to use CloneZilla Live to create and restore system images, booting from a customized CD with images on external USB hard drives, I decided to install CloneZilla the USB hard drive and get the CD out of the equation.

I found a very useful page describing the process of installing CloneZilla Live on a hard drive on the CloneZilla site. I used these directions to copy the .zip file into a Linux partition. Alas, the directions for making it boot use grub; Slackware and I still use LILO.

So, armed with these directions, I figured out how to boot the copied CloneZilla live using LILO.

While installing Slackware 12.2 on another partition on the hard drive, I set LILO to boot Slackware, ignoring CloneZilla for now.

Then, I created the directory /live-hd/ on the Slackware partition and copied vmlinuz and initrd.img there.

After much experimenting, reading LILO man pages, and twiddling with Slackware’s /etc/lilo.conf, I ended up with this:

image = /live-hd/vmlinuz
root = /dev/sda1
initrd = /live-hd/initrd.img
vga = 788
addappend = "boot=live union=aufs live-media-path=/live-hd bootfrom=/dev/sda1 toram=filesystem.squashfs"
label = CloneZilla
read-only

So, there you have it! The LILO spell for booting CloneZilla Live from /dev/sda1

Phase II of the project will be turning the “Live” system into a normal Linux system that doesn’t recreate itself each time it boot. Hence: Killing CloneZilla Live!

Enjoy!
Stu…

My first mistake was missing the email containing the domain transfer spells–Transaction ID and Security code–from GoDaddy.com transfers.  The person to whom I am transferring told me that his account showed the transfer still “awaiting approval.”

So, I logged on to Register.com to see what I could see.  This lead to my second mistake and much frustration on my part:

Poking around the domain information, I see: “Transfer of registrant feature is locked for your account. Please see our FAQs or contact Customer Support for more information.”

OK, so I read the FAQ.  It instructs me to download a form, fill it out and fax it back.  So, I did.  I waited an hour and called Register.com tech support to find out how long this will take.  I spoke to a very nice gentleman who took the time to see if the fax had been received. It had, but the poor quality of the fax made it impossible for them to process.

By this point, I’m getting upset.  Why on Earth should I have to fax a photo ID and fill out a form just to transfer a domain. (I didn’t: that was my second mistake! I’ll get to that in a minute.)

The tech support person offered to help expedite the transfer of registrant.  If I would send a readable version of the fax, he would walk it through.  I expressed my frustration as the complexity of this transaction. He remained calm and helpful.

I scanned my drivers’ license at extremely high quality and inserted it into the PDF. I completed the rest of the form, printed it, and faxed it to Regsiter.com. That was enough for one day, so I went on to other things, taking the opportunity to complain to our student workers how difficult they were making a process that I believe should be quite simple.

The following morning, I received an email from Register.com saying that the second fax did not prove that I was the legal entity to whom the domain was registered. I also received an invitation to take a survey about my experience with Register.com support. Oh, goody!

I filled out the survey, answering truthfully that the support person was nice, knowledgeable, and helpful.  Then, under the whatever else you wanna say portion of the survey, I blasted Register.com for making the transfer process so complicated and vowing to tell everyone that would listen to “avoid them like the plague!”

I started work on the third version of the fax, in an attempt to prove to them that I was really me.  Before I could finish scanning and inserting a second photo ID, my phone range. It was Regsiter.com support.

A very nice and helpful woman explained to me that the domain was originally registered to an organization and that I needed to prove that I was a duly appointed representative of that organization. I did not yell.  I attempted to explain how frustrated I was and that the organization to whom the domain was registered was a grant project, and not a legal entity by whom I could be duly authorized. I told her I had registered this domain and it shouldn’t be so complicated to transfer it to another person. She remained cheerful, supportive, and helpful.

After a short while and some excellent questions on her part, she realized that I was trying to change the registrar and not the registrant. Yes, I got confused about the terms and was working on entirely the wrong process! (At this point, you’ll want to imagine me turning red and apologizing profusely.)

She offered to expedite the process once the person to whom I registered the domain finished his end of the transfer.  She waited patiently on the phone while I located the email I had missed the previous day. I thanked her profusely, apologized again, and set about taking responsibility for my confused and rather harsh actions.

The first step was to tell the folks to whom I complained about Register.com that the mistake was mine.  I told them all–all three, that is–as soon as I saw them.

The final step is to write this blog entry, explaining that Register.com has great tech support: they really do! Their support is a toll-free call (at least for my location in the United States).

This morning I find that www.google.com now has a background image that I hate! From what I can tell, the only way to get rid of it is to sign in with a Google account. WTF?!?

Let me think . . . Do I want the company that is in the hot-seat for accidentally collecting WiFi data with the Street-view cars to link all my searches to an account? I think not!

Update: According to Google employee Paul, this celebration will only plague us for one day.  For those who aren’t celebrating, I created a minimal search page on Bovitron.com. Enjoy!

Grrr on companies that think they know what I want better than I do!

Installing VMWare workstation from the bundle worked fine, but it won’t run because the VMWare modules don’t compile.  Running vmware-modconfig –console –install-all gives the cryptic message: “gcc and kernel headers must be installed.”

Um, gcc and the kernel headers are installed!

After a little digging, I found this VMware Fusion 3 on Mac OSX howto posted by Chris Willing at The University of Queensland Visilab: http://www.vislab.uq.edu.au/howto/vmware.html

This gave me my first clue: the files autoconf.h and utsrelease.h have moved from include/linux to include/generated.  As much as I hate to hack my kernel source, I opted to link these files in include/linux.

cd /usr/src/linux/include/linux/
ln -sf ../generated/autoconf.h .
ln -sf ../generated/utsrelease.h .

Now vmware-modconfig –console –install-all runs, but fails on compiling the vmnet stuff:

/tmp/vmware-root/modules/vmnet-only/vnetUserListener.c:240: error: ‘TASK_INTERRUPTIBLE’ undeclared (first use in this function)

To fix this, I found the define for TASK_INTERUPTABLE (in /usr/src/linux/include/linux/sched.h). Now, to tell vnetUserListener.c about it:

cd /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/
cp vmnet.tar was_vmnet.tar
cd ~/tmp
tar xf /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/vmnet.tar
cd vmnet-only

In vnetUserListener,c, add the line:
#include <linux/sched.h>
after
#include "vnetInt.h"

cd ..
tar cf vmnet.tar vmnet-only
mv vmnet.tar /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/

Now vmware-modconfig –console –install-all dies on the vmci stuff.  As Chris Willing noted in the VMware Fusion 3 on Mac OSX (see above), adding a line to pgtbl.h fixes this:

cd /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/
 cp vmci.tar was_vmci.tar
 cd ~/tmp
 tar xf /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/vmci.tar
 cd vmci-only/include

In pgtbl.h, add the line:
 #include <linux/sched.h>
 after
#include "compat_page.h"

cd ../..
tar cf vmci.tar vmci-only
mv vmci.tar /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/

Finally, it all compiles and we have a working VMWare Workstation install!

options snd_hda_intel model=mbp3

Anyway, I decided to upgrade the kernel to 2.6.34 and found that its drivers supported the MacBook’s sound device: HDA NVidia, ALC889A.  Once I removed the line above from /etc/modprobe.d/sound, audio works really well!

I have tried it with the built-in speakers and with headphones.  Changing the Channel Mode from 2 to 6 doesn’t seem to have any effect on the analog outputs.

For good form, I created the file ~/.asoundrc containing:

pcm.card0 {
  type hw
  card 0
}
ctl.card0 {
  type hw
  card 0
}

My guess is that Channel Mode works on the digital output.

Anyway, the MacBook and I are happy with Slackware64!

Peace!
Stu…

I booted to MacOS, inserted the Slackware DVD, selected Foreign OS on SlackDVD in Startup Disk, and clicked the Restart . . . button.  The install went well and quickly.  When installing LILO, I selected the Expert option and placed LILO on the MBR of /dev/sda.

When I rebooted, LILO took over and booted Slackware. After logging in as root, I shut down, using halt: experience has taught me that reboot doesn’t work on the Mac..  To get back to MacOS I had to clear the Mac’s PRAM holding command+option+p+r and wait for the startup chord. This got me back to normal Mac startup and I opened a terminal window and re-blessed rEFIt. (Yeah, I still use rEFIt; I never bothered to learn how BootCamp works -)

Upon rebooting into Slackware, I installed wicd from extra.  I started the wicd daemon, opened wicd and found that I had no wireless driver.  (From this point, I’ll skip all the mistakes I made getting to the solution. Perhaps I’ll blog about those later, though I doubt it!)

For those keeping score, I’m working with one of the unibody MacBooks.  Going to About This Mac and clicking the More info . . . button reveals the Model Identifier MacBook5,1 (whatever that means).

In Linux as root, running lspci -v revealed the wireless adapter:  Broadcom Corporation BCM4322. I recalled that the quick way to get this working was to install the driver the Broadcom web site.  I rebooted to MacOS and after some poking around I finally found the 802.11 Linux STA driver page. I downloaded the 64-bit driver (hybrid-portsrc-x86_64-v5.60.48.36.tar.gz) and saved it to my Mac desktop.

Back in Linux, I mounted the MacOS partion–type hfsplus–and used tar zxf to put the driver in /usr/src/broadcom on my Linux partition. README.txt gave me the very simple build directions: type make in the top-level directory. All went well, and I ended up with the driver wl.ko, which I copied to the /lib/modules/2.6.29.6/kernel/drivers/net directory. All that left was blacklisting b43 and ssb in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf and rebooting.

The driver loaded and when I open wicd, I can see my wireless network.  One click connected me and now I’m up-and-blogging.

May 22, 2010 – Update: I installed Linux kernel version 2.6.34 and, of course, broke the wireless driver.

When I tried to compile the driver using, I got the error:

/usr/src/broadcom/src/include/linuxver.h:23:28: error: linux/autoconf.h: No such file or directory

A little poking around led me to the solution.  It seems that autoconf.h has moved in 2.6.34: it now lives in generated (instead of linux).  In the Broadcom driver source, in the file src/include/linuxver.h, I changed the line:

#include <linux/autoconf.h>

to

#include <generated/autoconf.h>

The module compiled and worked when I loaded it manually.

In order to load it automagically, I created a new /etc/rc.d/rc.netdevice:

#!/bin/sh
modprobe wl

Getting the sound working is another story

The Napster part of the debate is over. Napster has gone legit. Of course, Limewire,  BearShare, Kazaa and others let folks steal music without the slightest trace of worry about intellectual property rights.

That’s right: I said steal! Would you have me use the euphemism “share?” I suppose that does lend a Robin Hood-esque sort of quality: We are stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. (Of course, if you’re too poor to own a computer, you’re S.O.L.) Besides, we’re not actually stealing anything; nothing physical changes hands. Right?

Does that mean it’s OK for me to take any idea you have and represent it as my own? If you invent a new product, then I can share your design with others? If you have an idea that will save your company/organization millions of dollars, then I can share that idea with the boss and get the kudos? Nothing physical is changing hands. Right?

Works created by legal entities are copyrighted to that entity. All one must do is claim that copyright: This is copyright Stuart Reedy 2004-2010: all rights reserved. There. Now it is illegal to copy this or represent it as the work of anyone other than me. If the legal entity–in this case, me–cares to spend some money, this copyright can be registered. This allows the use of the cute little registered symbol: ©. But don’t be fooled, it is a legal copyright whether or not it has been registered.

So, what is a copyright? Well, what does it say? Copy right: The right to copy, eh? So, if someone else holds the copyright on something, only they may copy it. There are some exclusions to this in the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, but those do not include sharing of copyrighted works.

If you really want that song, why not buy the CD or pay for the download and give the artists a little credit? It takes a lot of work to put together even one song. While most artists would be willing to do this for very little money–most of them receive very little–this love of the craft does not preclude their need for food, shelter, clothing, etc. You get paid for what you do, shouldn’t they?

Alternatively, if you really feel that you should be allowed to copy an artist’s work for free, there’s another possibility: write a letter to the copyright holder and ask permission. If you have a legitimate reason to copy the material, they’ll probably let you.

One more little tidbit, and I’ll put away my soapbox for a while.

Let’s suppose you have no reservations about copying someone else’s material. This being the case, you should not be embarrassed by it. I ask, then, that you send me a list of all the songs you’ve copied and I’ll post that list here on, along with your name. No? Gee, wonder why!

NOTE: This blog has been posted online since January 2004 and, as of yet, no one has offered to own up.  I guess people believe it’s only a crime if you get caught.

As you may know, Slackware runs vsftpd (and some other services) from inetd: the internet “super-server.” After a bit of searching and some piddling around, I found a very simple solution: add the following to /etc/vsftpd.conf

listen=NO

FYI, I actually just uncommented the line listen=YES and changed YES to NO.

I post this in hopes that next time I encounter this issue, I’ll have the answer stored!

Happy ‘putering!
Stu…