[nflug] SimplyMephis Questions

Sam Stern samstern at samstern.net
Thu Apr 12 17:58:58 EDT 2007


Hi All,

So I finally found the time to install SimplyMephis 6.5 and immediately ran
into several rather difficult ui/ux problems. I know how to solve all these
"the Linux way" but would rather not circumvent the rather attractive UI. So
how do I fix these problem from within the ui framework (or via the command
line) that Simply Memphis 6.5 presents:


The ugly:

1) My SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Value edition is not recognized and thus not
supported by Alsa (which oddly lists the sound card by name but the KDE test
yields no sound or midi). Non SM fix: install OSS and be done with it.
2) I make extensive use of NFS on my home network. I need a certain uid, and
several certain gids on my default user. How do I do this with the ui? Non
SM fix: passwd, shadow, groups and gshadow, fstab, and start the rpc and nfs
server(s) at boot. 
3) (point of order) I have a four port nic card. Eth0 - eth2 are
disconnected for sanity and eth3 points to my internal network. Why does SM
not detect that last port and start dhclient3 on it? Well? I mea it got the
first 3 ports! The ui does not even list eth3 altough it's there in
ifconfig. I had to move my wire to eth0 (which gave WinXP a total conniption
fit!). Non SM way of fixing: Never been a problem with Suse or other distro.
4) Gparted would not resize my WinXP partition. It failed with a note to
check the details as to why it failed. No details were forthcoming and
nothing in the logs either. Thankfully I had a cd of System Commander 8.0
standing by :>


The Bad:
1) I have a dual CPU system. The kernel installed is the single cpu system
and Synaptic lists no entry of a smp kernel. None SM Fix: compile own kernel
or install irqbalace and kernel-smp.

The uncomfortable:
1) How do I install the non public ATI drivers so I get full acceleration
and TV-IN on my ATI Radeon 9800 pro all-in-wonder card. Non SM Fix: DL it
myself and install after disabling the Linux framebuffer device.


The minor things in life

1) The package manager lists no uninstalled software. Where are the repos or
sources of other software?

And so you all know it's not all bad (Otherwise I would have not written and
just installed Suse 10.2) but is good:

1) Guard Dog firewall is nice. As professional personal firewall QA person
that's a complement. It could clearly be made simpler but hay, it's the best
Linux iptables front end I've seen in a long time.
2) Clean, clear interface. Not too complex, no overly simple.
3) my NTFS boot and Transfer partition are there, mounted read write and
mounted at a nice mount point with an icon. Pretty!
4) Unlike the 4 hour grueling ordeal that is suse 10.2, SimplyMephis
installed and booted in 20 minutes. Literally.

Things not yet looked at: Setting up hplip, sane, checking what software got
installed etc.

Your Help is appreciated (dmesg available btw),


Sam S.

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