pclinuxos

i installed pc linux os and got my ethernet working pretty easily. my only other problem right now is trying to install my brother-465cn printer. i go into the control center and go to add printer and then i get to the selecting the printer from the dropdown list but they don't have mine in their. anyone know how i can install the printer driver for it to work

 

Are there any other Brother printer drivers available in add printer?

 

yes..but wouddn't those not be compatible drivers? and it also asks me for a username and password when trying to print a test page and i have no idea what to put for that to work, and i'm also looking for how to add/remove apps and programs

 

OK, the reason I asked is because I've been through this before. What worked for me was finding a driver that was in the same class as my printer. This worked for me, but may not work for you. It doesn't hurt to try a few different drivers. Unless Brother puts out Linux drivers, this is the only idea I have for you.

If you haven't tried it yet, I suggest checking out the PCLinuxOS forum, here's the link.

http://www.pclinuxos.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=58

 

For me my printer is cannon ip pixma 3000, however in fedora only ip pixma 4000 was available, I selected it and everything is smooth. So yea try a driver in the same class/series as your printer.

As for the user name and password its asking, they are the administration password you selected when you were installing pclinuxos. It normally shouldn't ask for a user name unless you specified one or is asking for the default which is "root"

To add/remove programs you have to run synaptic package manager

Hope this helped

 

on the printer it will say receiving data but nothing will print..does that mean i have to keep trying different drivers?

 

lol yea yea..well my ethernet setup fine..i just have to get the printer and wireless working? so notebookyoozer seems you are experienced in this can you tell me how to do this?
after going into the control center and looking at hardware it says i have a Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-PCI card..how can i get this workin

 

in all honesty, your best bet is to get off this board and start googling answers. there are MUCH better walkthrus and instructions on the web.

just google your keywords like distro name, hardware name, etc.

 

i have been doing that..guess i'll have to do it some more.
what linux distro do u use?

 

Yes, try other drivers....I liked PClinuxOS but it wasn't compatible with my wireless card in sig....wish I could have used it. But Ubuntu is pretty awesome though, so no worries.

 

i thought ubuntu was harder to use for trying to use stuff..like wireless..printers...

 

Ubuntu is among the best distros for hardware support.

 

True, even more so with the latest 8.04 Alpha 5.

I installed it using wubi so I did not have to create a partition or format my drive just used up some free space like any program installation would do. It detected everything straight away, correct screen resolution, correct printer, correct bluetooth, even my wireless card which is intel 4965, my realtek HD sound which has never worked out of the box till now (I suppose it is due to the pulse audio system instead of alsa).

Codecs are not included by default but whenever you launch a video or music file it will say these codecs are required for it to function, just click on the codecs and it will automatically install and configure them for use.

 

Great post blackbird!

 

Thanks.

Also if you want to have full 3D support for your graphics card even though the resolution and refresh is set right, you just go to System --> Administration --> Hardware Drivers. Over here you can check to enable proprietary driver support, which will make everything video related much smoother and also allow you to play games and run compiz in all their glory .

Speaking of compiz effects, they too are also available, just go to System --> Preferences --> Appearance, and select the Effects tab and click enable and voila. After doing so you will want to run synaptic package manager and search for compiz, and install compiz-settings-manager to be able to adjust every little setting as it is not available by default.

Firefox 3 is a much welcomed addition, firefox is much smoother now in linux then it is in windows. The new widgets are especially welcomed as before firefox would look like this in linux (found this pic on ubuntu forums, not mine but this is how it looked like in previous ubuntu versions and does in any other linux distro unless you add new widgets your self)



now it looks like this

 

Some things are harder in Ubuntu, others are easier. The same is true will all Linux distributions. That having been said, PCLinuxOS is generally one of the easiest to use, like Ubuntu. When your hardware is Linux friendly, PCLinuxOS is a joy to use and gives you a little more power and ease of use when configuring certain things than Ubuntu (like using printers shared by a remote CUPS server).
Doing a quick search reveals that the Brother company is now producing GPL Linux drivers for their printers. I don't know how recent this development is, but from the looks of it, they are likely to be included with Linux by default. For now you can at least download them and install them yourself.

http://solutions.brother.com/linux/en_us/index.html

I think you will have to download the source and compile it, which is really not hard, normally. You will need to have a compiler installed, like gcc or gcc-c++. Once you extract the contents of the archive, it is usually just a matter of going into the extracted folder with a terminal and typing the following commands:

./configure
make
make install

(That last line needs to be entered as root, or with sudo if using Ubuntu.)

Let us know how it goes.

 

yea i had seen that brother page. i had installed pclinuxos and i couldn't get wireless or my printer to work. I was reading about LinuxMint and they now include a driver for my specific built in wireless card (Dell 1390) i'll have to do more looking and see if they include anything for my printer.
well my laptop needs to be sent in now..after a lot of problems..might be the MOBO..anyways
another question- through the Ubunt live cd or a linuxmint live cd even though it goes through that install part does it actually install or can i use it without it affecting anything in Vista without having to partition an extra space. . cause i have the cd..so if this is possible then i will try it on my desktop before making a decision.

 

Be sure and post back once you get this resolved, and tell how you did it, it may be helpful to other users.

 

That's a feature of Wubi, which is packaged with 8.04. Since it's still in alpha, it's not going to be completely stable, so it wouldn't be wise to play with it on any machine that has data you care about. If you are looking for a solid solution and you're set on that, it would probably be best to wait until the end of April when it is officially released. Better safe than sorry, after all.

ars technica has a review of 8.04 Alpha 5 here, and you can find out more about Wubi here.

 

how about the 7.10 version of ubuntu or the Linux Mint 4.0 Daryna Main edition under downloads in linuxmint.com?

 

well i'm not going to worry about pclinuxos..but i'm going more toward ubuntu and linuxmint..i'm gonna do some more research on both and see how easy it is to get my specific printer and wireless card working in each one. good idea though..

 

OK, let us know how it all works out then.

 

Ubuntu 7.10 is just like older versions in that it has a LiveCD component so it can be run without installing anything by using the RAM (as I'm sure you already know). In order to install it you can shrink the Windows partition and use the rest of the space to make a dual-boot system, or you can just wipe it and start from scratch; but you can't install it inside of Windows like you can with Wubi.

That said, if you still want to install it with Wubi you can make a backup of all of your important data. You have to realize that since it is in Alpha there are no guarantees that it will work perfectly. There is always the slim (or not so slim) chance that you may lose data. Many people have it work perfectly fine for them while others don't fare so well.

There's no harm in researching everything until your eyes fall out.

 

yup thats what i've been doing..i have most of my data saved..i just have to put some of my music on my jump drive yet...just in case i decide to go ahead and boot the live cd..
so i have to make a little partition then for using the livecd when it installs? is that what your'e saying?
and what is wubi and how do you use it if i just want to try ubuntu or linuxmint before actually creating a partition and installing..or if i find everything works i would just use that as my main OS.
thanks for the reponses so far hawk

*Edit- looked up wubi for myself.. thanks..so then its safe to use this way to install w/o having to create a partition..i can just use this even with vista installed ..i mean with backing up my stuff first of course..just in case

 

I'm using wubi 8.04 alpha rev431 which installs Ubuntu 8.04 alpha 5.
So far very pleased, no problems and everything is working as it should, even my Intel hda sound thanks to the pulse audio sound system.

I too also have vista on a 160 GB HDD which prior to vista install I partitioned into two, C drive for Vista and programs and E drive for my music, games and anything personal.

Before installing usinb wubi there are some prerequisites which need to be done in current OS

1). Start --> Run --> type in "cmd". Now in the command box type in "chkdsk /f X:" (replace X with the drive letter you are wishing to install Ubuntu on to using wubi). If the drive which has the current OS on it then it will ask if you would like to do this procedure upon reboot, select yes, reboot and let it do its thing.

2). Defragment the drive you ran chkdsk/f on in step 1.

3). Recommended, once you download wubi, right click the icon and create a shortcut. Edit the shortcut properties and add " --32bit" at the end of the target making it look like ".exe --32bit" so that it will download the 32 bit iso not 64 bit (which it does if your processor supports it). 64 bit iso is less stable so not recommended.

4). Optional but I would recommend, repeat steps 1 and 2 for any other drives you may have.

My E drive had 50 GB free space on it so I just downloaded wubi, ran it and it just asked me which partition to install to, I selected E, selected that i want it to use 15 GB, created user name and password and hit ok. It will then start downloading the iso and do what it has to do, once done it will prompt to restart, do so and then you will be greeted with a choice of booting into vista or Ubuntu, by default if you don't make a decision in 10 seconds vista will be booted into.

Now I have a dual boot setup without having to partition anything, the install just created a 15 GB folder called Ubuntu on the E drive thats all.

There are some issues with wubi though, hibernation/suspend is not supported, the disk read/write speed is a bit slower but hardly noticeable.

Hope this helped

 

cool..thanks blackbird.

 

No probs, let us know how it went if you decide to follow through

 

Here's some proproganda, but I don't disagree with it: http://www.ubuntu.com/news/MostUserFriendlyAward

 

what's your reason for disagreeing?
some people have really good experiences with ubuntu right off the bat..and some don't..i guess it depends

 

I'm using Ubuntu, see sig. I said I DON'T disagree

 

I thought it was talking about how user friendly ubuntu was..sorry i guess i'm confused...lol

 

just got the wubi ubuntu version installed. ethernet of course worked right off the bat..took a little time to find the right drivers for my printer on the brother site but it was easier than it seems..for me anyways..i will be doing more stuff tomorrow..working on downloading nvidia drivers and the such. so far so good!
woohoo

 

good to hear, you know ubuntu can automatically download the correct proprietary driver for nvidia and ati cards. you just have to go to system, restricted devices or something and enable the driver.

 

Even for mobile GPUs?

 

yep since im running it on my laptop using wubi, my gfx is 8600M GT and the restricted driver works flawlessly

 

thanks blackbird..another thing i want to do is get my mp3s from vista over to ubuntu? is there any way to do this or are the already in some folder somewhere
the only thing i've noticed is that after going into vista after installing ubuntu and using it took away from my vista appearance. like the start button ..the way things look..is this normal? is there any way to fix it? its not that big of a deal i would just like to know if there's a way

 

Well if you open places --> computer. You should have your windows drives, they wont be named as they are in windows but rather by size. You just have to right click on it and select mount, it will then ask for your password (ubuntu one) and then you can access it like any other drive.

I don't understand what you are saying about the appearance, did it take away your vista theme or revert it back to something else? Nothing like that happened to me, but maybe you should set the appearance like it was before and then see if it reverts back again, it shouldn't hopefully.

 

yea like i said its not that big of a deal..i just like having the new vista look..like the lil startmenu button..but anyways..i installed winehq using the terminal..pretty easy it unpacked everything from the terminal and then at the end of everything i get Setting up Wine (0.9.33-0ubuntu1) and then it goes back to my kmartin@(my ip adress) and then host :~$..how do i know or look if it installed correctly?

 

i downloaded winehq..downloaded the necessary dll to install the game..and now i don't have enough space on my drive..what can i safely delete in ubuntu that will give me 1,517MB or more to install the game...

 

so say when you launch the terminal you are greeted with something like

XXXXXX:

replace X for whatever

you then enter "sudo install wine" and it will go about its stuff, after installing it will return to

XXXXXX:

which means its done doing the previous commands given, ie wine is installed unless it gives you errors after you type sudo install wine.



as for gaming, I have no idea what to remove, im not to familiar with it. maybe you could try installing the game onto an external HD or your windows partition ?

 

well wine is there..i'm going through the add/remove programs in ubuntu..removing apps or games i don't need. hope that will help.
i know for games people use wine or cedega..and some people have really good usage with wine and others cedega..after installing the game i will get back to ya'll and let ya know how Halo 1 worked. hopefully wine works..yea cedega is only 5 bucks but i'd rather save that 5 bucks a month..buy my lil man cute lil toys..lol

 

halo should run fine with wine. I personally find wine much better compared to cedega. Also if your getting serious about gaming in linux.....you already have windows so no need for cedega.


this could help you

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=486986

also have a look at this site, contains lots of useful hints tips and how to's such as how to get orange box working in linux, and many other useful tricks.

www.fsckin.com

 

i meant if i just want to install Ubuntu on my computer..no vista..
now seems i'm using the wubi beta version of ubuntu and if i install ubuntu 7.10 using will my printer and hardware install with the same steps i had used with this wubi version. like are all the version of ubuntu the same with the steps in installing stuff..like printer/hardware

 

pretty much yea, some slight differences but nothing major.

 

okay cool. i still can't get enough disk space to install Halo on..all i used for wubi was my C: drive and there is still 5.3GB left to use from the 7GB i used to install ubuntu (using wubi)
could there be anything else i'm doing wrong?

anyways..im sure halo will install fine if installing ubuntu as my main OS

i have been trying to work on getting my webcam (microsoft lifecam vx-3000) to work and my camera (kodak easyshare C813) haven't been able to find much. well with the webcam i found a driver but i can't get it to work..i'll just keep working. let me know if ya'll have any ideas/advice

 

I love to use Ubuntu really, but I wish I could sync my blackberry without jumping through so many hoops. Hardware drivers are the major reason most people don't use it 100% of the time. But, you can 'buy' for linux in the first place.

 

alright..was working on my webcam..decided to plug in my camera..detected it right away!! woohoo..

printer working
camera working
not enough space for halo..which was weird..but i'm sure it would install

still trying to find out how to get webcam working under ubuntu..

so far pretty darn good experience with ubuntu..still have stuff to go through though..

edit*- okay not going to worry about webcam..will use it on laptop when i get it back from compaq with vista...
there was a driver but i couldn't get it to work right..

music player in linux is working well with mp3s
for napster i just do the member sign in at their site.can play music that way..not going to worry about downloading software seems i don't really need to
detected my rca pearl and napster mp3 players right away
detected my toshiba jump drive right away

i am working on installing airport tycoon 3 from ebgames. will edit and write back

 

Glad to hear it's working out well for you.

 

also..how do i make another partition to run halo on?
gparted and qtparted won't let me do anything because i'm not logged in as root.
anybody know any other free software i can use to make another partition for ubuntu?

 

Nothing you can get will let you create a partition unless your either root, or not running linux. Why not just log in as root?