On Wed, 9 Oct 2002, Tom Georgoulias wrote: > Richard wrote: > > > On top of that in the stock configuration of the applet wouldn't bring the > > connection up/down. > > > > I had to add the /sbin prefix to the commands to get it working I had to do the same, *and* change the name of the lockfile referenced in the applet's preferences, as mentioned by another poster. > Weird, mine works fine with just ifup/ifdown.. So, maybe some people changed their PATH in their non-root accounts to coincidentally include /sbin? Or not? Or what? > This may seem like a strange question, but have any other modem users > seen nautilus freeze or crash when ppp is running and other apps like > mozilla, evolution, etc are in use? I know that seems like a weird > combination, but I've got a problem I'm trying to figure out where > nautilus crashes when I double click my home icon and I can't replicate > it unless ppp is running.... I can't run KDE reliably. This on an OOB custom install, not an upgrade, where all I did was select packages. This is on a 450 MHz Intel, 384 MB, 8G machine-that-ran-7.3-just-peachy-thankyouverymuch. During the install there were no dependency problems flagged. I haven't been able to narrow it down, but it seems that if I have PPP up, and maybe mozilla or maybe evolution, or both, or neither I'm not sure, KDE just freezes. No access to taskbar, icon zooming is dead, can't use the keyboard to get the hat-menu up, can't alt-F2 at all, it's like I have a post-modern art exhibit sitting behind my keyboard. So I have to press the Big Orange Switch. On *Linux* fer galdurned sakes! I *expect* that from Windows, but never Linux. And there's the minor irritations, like, I can't find any reasonable app or applet that gives me click access to ppp in KDE. KPPP works, but you have to be root for that. OK, you can change that but why should you have to? The device control thing (I'm in Windows now, forgot what it's called) from the system menu, or is it the system tools menu, let's me do it, but that's a configuration tool isn't it? And besides, you don't get to see any blinky lights telling you that stuff's happening. I finally ended up using alt-F2 and ifup/ifdown, but no blinkies of course. I might have muddled through and figured out what's sensible, except for that pesky freezes-the-machine-when-connected-to-PPP sometimes. Thank gawd for ext3, eh? So I'm down to using Gnome, which I seem to remember from years ago used to be much more configurable (and I'm not talking background colors). There's that gconf thing, but I feel really great when I see a warning that it might bugger my machine. Why should I have to change the path to ifup/ifdown (or change my PATH) in the modemlights applet? No one at Red Hat apparently actually used this, or they would have noticed it. For a "great desktop Linux," don't you think things like desktop apps and applets should work OOB? And speaking of not actually using things, has anyone noticed that Evolution, and either Kmail or Balsa (forget which now) hate it when you leave them running after you take ppp down? I'm accustomed to leaving my mail client up no matter what, to access old messages. And what happened to the gnome interface monitor? It was usable in kde and gnome, and that's what I used to use succesfully to control modem/ppp. Did I mention that KDE freezes? Which pisses me, 'cause that's the one I like. And despite the new cosmetic similarity, the two are different. Now, I'm whining about relatively trivial stuff. But think about this. Bluecurve was billed, or implied, as a great UI for desktop users. But there's all these irritating little zots (and BTW, KDE freezes). Yes, it's pretty, and the install is a bit nicer and easier, especially package selection, but this really is a .0 product. Which surprises me, considering the apparent amount of care Red Hat has historically put into making sure that packages actually play nice together. But, I guess they're new at taking major responsibility for the UI, as opposed to leaving it mostly to KDE and Gnome (notwithstanding the dev work RH does on both). They might consider going back to that model. This is all from memory, and not nicely documented, and sorry about that, but Tom's message set me off. And, btw, Red Hat Linux kicks butt, and I'll have my Dad beat up anyone else's Dad who says different. I appreciate the work, and skill, of all the folks who put it together, even those working near the UI issues that I'm bitching about. 'K? -- Aaron aaron@justaaron.com
