[Herefordshire] - Reclaiming Partition Space

[Dr Chris Owens]

Matt

    Thanks for this, it is good to know that it is not only me with such
experiences. This one has been a real embarrassment and I am still stuck
despite everyone's efforts.

    I agree with you in this particular instance a utility to fine tune
display driver settings and test the result in a workable way rather than
picking from fixed list aternatives that don't work would be very useful. I
suspect there are ways of doing this but I haven't yet discovered them.

    In fact in a more general sense because I believe the success of LINUX
in the home setting will be very closely related to its ease of installation
I could get quite interested in building up a set of mini tutorials or FAQ's
for dealing with basic installation procedures/hurdles and the mini
'accidents' that occur. In fact one can almost see a useful basis forming as
group members exchange information on the solution of various 'start up'
problems (eg DVD-CDrom installation, Partitioning problems (Michael & Sue))
etc. I certainly could have done with the knowledge that immovable data
clusters in the Windows Partition can in fact be effectively gathered up and
moved by Partition Magic. It would have saved me a lot if time and
heartache.

    I suspect all the distros have their moments during installation yet a
lot of the instructions in articles, help files and on the web assume smooth
progress.  Having had my brain done in over the last years with various
Microsoft products I really want Linux to succeed (especially before the
American Corporates stitch up all the patents and copyright issues) but a
key step for getting home users involved on a large scale must be ease of
getting started and a source of readily accessible and understandable
information for them to use when in difficulty perhaps based largely on
"worked through" cook-book examples could be a tremendous resource.

Best wishes

Chris O


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Matt Rhys-Roberts" <matt.rhys-roberts at q-par.com>
To: "County of Herefordshire Linux Users Group."
<herefordshire at mailman.lug.org.uk>
Sent: Monday, September 20, 2004 9:58 AM
Subject: Re[2]: [Herefordshire] - Reclaiming Partition Space


Hello Chris,

I too have fallen foul of this problem ("can't see the GUI, reinstall
the whole damn thing") in previous releases of Mandrake. I feel there
may be a strong case for including a utility that enables you to tweak
more of the graphics driver's parameters, rather than just pick
between the listed available graphics cards/chips.

I wonder how many other readers think this particular installation
hurdle requires more development, tutorials, FAQs etc?

-- 
Best regards,

Matt Rhys-Roberts
Leominster

mailto:matt.rhys-roberts at q-par.com


Friday, September 17, 2004, 9:00:10 PM, you wrote:

DCO> Hello everyone
DCO>
DCO> Just to say how much I enjoyed my first meeting with the
DCO> group and a big thank you to all of you who helped sort out
DCO> my 'Partition Problems' especially Gary, Mark and Julian. Felt a
DCO> bit of prat bringing along such a dull and time consuming problem
DCO> but I can see now I would never have managed it on my own. Great
DCO> stuff and thanks again.

DCO> Am still a bit stuck in getting the display right. The
DCO> best I have managed is to get a few scattered icons, some on top
DCO> of each other, some that are draggable leaving a trail of ghost
DCO> images, others inactive, lots of grey blue mish/mash which we saw
DCO> last night but now with a readable message "KDE is up and
DCO> running"in amongst it - a small advance but LINUX is still not
DCO> usable from a graphic interface.

DCO> I think I need a path from the grub prompt to the root
DCO> command line and then a way to get into changing the resolution
DCO> and monitor settings in Drakx rather as Mark was doing at the end
DCO> of the evening. This would save having to re-install Mandrake
DCO> 10.0 from scratch in order to get to the post install
DCO> 'Configuration Screen' where I have to date been trying to get
DCO> the right settings. Would I be right and does anyone have any
DCO> ideas. In summary it looks as though everything has installed
DCO> OK but I can't get access to a usable interface to change the
DCO> display settings so that the whole becomes viewable.

DCO> Anyway many thanks to all - a very interesting and
DCO> useful evening and I'm looking forward to helping the group in
DCO> any way I can once I get up and running and can take things in a
DCO> bit better.

DCO> All the best

DCO> Chris O
DCO> Tenbury




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