Frequently Asked Questions

Support Centre

The following section contains frequently asked questions for Debian GNU/Linux distribution system applying to products supplied by Linuxvillage Inc in Canada. Although these information are specific to our systems, it may also work for other Linux distribution systems.

The disclosure here is made in the spirit of Free Software so that users can help themselves and their neighbours. All material presented are licensed under The GNU Free Documentation License.

  1. Printer Problems
  2. Doom3 or Quake4 Sound Problem
  3. DOS Emulation Won't Start
  4. How Do I Launch Firestarter Automatically In My Session.
  5. Bootable DOS CD for BIOS update
  6. Public Key Not Available
  7. Bootsplash Progress Bar Don't work
  8. diNovo Edge Keyboard Touchpad

  1. Doom3 or Quake4 Sound Problem

    Question:

    Doom3 or Quake4 no sounds or terrible, metalic sounding.

    Answer

    In Doom3 or Quake4 switch the sound to stereo in system settings. Use OSS rather than ALSA. Start up doom3 or quake4 with the following parameter +set s_driver oss, the oss setting will be saved for next time. 

    $ doom3 +set s_driver oss

    Updated: 2007-04-04

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  2. DOS Emulator Won't Start

    Qustion:

    Tried running dos from GNOME menu but it won't start.

    Answer

    Start Applications->Accessories->Terminal, then enter xdosemu. When prompted for license acceptance type yes and press enter. Type exit when finished. Try again from GNOME menu. 

    $ xdosemu

    For additional information, check out freedos.org.

    Updated: 2007-04-04

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  3. How Do I Launch Firestarter Automatically In My Session.

    Question:

    I want Firestarter firewall to launch automatically when I login to my session, how do I do that?

    Answer

    1. Select Applications->Accessories->Terminal to get a terminal session. Then switch user to root and create a group call firestarter, add users to the group. e.g. 
      $ su
# addgroup firestarter
# adduser johnny firestarter
    2. Add the group into sudoers file using visudo. First type visudo. 
      # visudo
      Then append the file with the following line and press Ctrl-x to exit visudo. Type exit again to leave the terminal session. 
      %firestarter	ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/firestarter
    3. Lastly, select Desktop->Preferences->Sessions and press the Startup Programs tab. Press the <+Add> button and insert the following command. Press <Close> when finished, logout and login to test. 
      sudo /usr/sbin/firestarter
      Add firestarter to Session Startup

    Updated: 2007-04-23

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  4. Bootable DOS CD for BIOS update

    Question:

    How do I update the BIOS without a floppy disk or MS Windows?

    Answer

    The following instruction will create a bootable DOS CD with bios flash tool and image for updating. The draw back of this method vs. a floppy disk is the inability to save the current BIOS image prior to updating.

    Warning Warning: BIOS update is a risky procedure and may render your machine unusable. Make sure you have the correct BIOS version for your machine. Use with Care.

    Prerequisite: BIOS update tool for DOS and BIOS image from manufacturer website., CD writer, loop back device support in kernel module and FDOEM.144.gz.

    Download FDOEM.144.gz from FREEDOS Ripcord BootDisk and uncompress into working directory.

    $ gunzip FDOEM.144.gz

    Go into the Root Terminal and create a temporary directory in /mnt. Load the loopback module and mount the dos file system in /mnt/temp.

    # mkdir /mnt/temp
# modprobe loop
# mount -o loop -t vfat FDOEM.144 /mnt/temp

    Copy the BIOS Flash tools and new BIOS image into /mnt/temp

    # cp ...

    Finally, umount the image and write to a blank CD.

    # umount /mnt/temp
# mkisofs -o Bootable-CD-image.iso -b FDOEM.144 FDOEM.144

    Please read references for further details.

    References

    Updated: 2007-04-04

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  5. Public Key Not Available

    Question:

    While reloading in Synaptic Package Manager a message appears: W: GPG error: http://... Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 946AA6E18722E71E.

    Answer

    1. First verify that the http address is valid,
    2. to force the adding of the public key into the root keyring select Application->Accessories->Root Terminal from the desktop menu and login as root.
    3. get the last 8 digit from the key in question. eg. 8722e71e
    4. run getpubkey.sh form the terminal with the last 8 digit of the pubkey as parameter like below: 
      # getpubkey.sh 8722e71e
      Make sure to replace the 8 digit pubkey from your message.
    5. A response similar to the following should appear. 
      gpg: directory `/root/.gnupg' created
...
gpg: requesting key 8722E71E from hkp server pgp.mit.edu
gpg: key 8722E71E: duplicated user ID detected - merged
gpg: /root/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg: trustdb created
gpg: key 8722E71E: public key "Christian Marillat " imported
gpg: no ultimately trusted keys found
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:               imported: 1
OK
    6. Type exit to leave terminal. Restart Synaptic Package Manger and reload to check.

    note: getpubkey.sh is hack from linuxvillage and is available from the download section.

    Updated: 2007-04-04

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  6. Bootsplash Progress Bar Don't work

    Question:

    Bootsplash Progress Bar won't work, how do I fix it?

    Answer:

    1. Download the rc.patch from the Downloads section of the website,
    2. From a root terminal, type the following to test. If there are no errors, repeat without the --dry-run. 
      # cat rc.patch | patch -p0 /etc/init.d/rc --dry-run

    note: this patch depends on sysv-rc, the applied patch can be overwritten by an update in sysv-rc and the user may have to re-apply the patch subsequently.

    Updated: 2007-05-30

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  7. diNovo Edge Keyboard Touchpad

    Question:

    Logitech's diNovo Edge keyboard touchpad don't work in Debian Etch, how do I fix it?

    Answer:

    1. Download the diff files from the Downloads section of the website into the /usr/src directory,
    2. Download the latest kernel source from debian repository.
    3. Read through the instructions on Compiling a Custom Debian GNU/Linux Kernel.
    4. Prior to compiling...do the following to patch the usb device drivers. Type the following to test. If there are no errors, repeat the patch statements without the --dry-run. 
      $ cd /usr/src/linux/drivers/usb/input
$ cat /usr/src/hid.h.diff | patch -p0 --dry-run
$ cat /usr/src/hid-input.c.diff | patch -p0 --dry-run
$ cat /usr/src/hid-core.c.diff | patch -p0 --dry-run

    credit: skylark in linux-usb-users.

    Updated: 2008-01-01

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