issues with compal HGL30 and PCLinuxOS 2007

Just so you know, I have maybe 5 hours experience in Linux. I am trying very hard to understand it, as I do not want to shell out $250+ for a beta OS(i.e. vista).

I am having an issue with setting up the fancy beryl effects and the like. When I go to enable the 3d effects for the desktop, the option to do so is greyed out. My video card is a nvidia Go 7600 w 256 ram. What would cause this? I have JUST installed PClinuxOS 2007, and am using the stock drivers it gave me when I installed it, since I haven't a clue how to install drivers (at all)

As well, I am also having an issue with my wireless card under linux (Intel Pro wireless 3945 abg). It gets much poorer connection quality vs windows. Does linux use wireless A or B? In windows, it sets itself to B and I get great reception. In linux, it gets a reception similar to if I were to have it set to wireless G. How to I 'force' it to wireless B?

More than anything I am wondering if other HGL30 owners have had similar issues. Please, if you know the solution, make your answer as basic as possible, as I do not know much about linux. I would rate myself as an advanced windows and DOS user.

Thanks a lot for your help!

 

I don't have exact answers to your problems, but I can offer you some resources as I have gotten my touchpad, wireless, and Beryl all running under Kubuntu. Maybe with that much troubleshooting experience I can at least supply you with some links!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=108889

- a thread on installing Beryl

http://wiki.beryl-project.org/index.php/Install/Ubuntu/Edgy/AiGLX

- a wiki article on the installation of Beryl on Ubuntu Edgy using AIGLX.

My gut feeling is that you are missing packages. Check your Adept repositories and make sure that you have the following archives added according to the link I have listed above:
http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org
http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org

With regards to your wireless, Linux will switch your wireless device's broadcast frequency (a/b/g) according to the broadcast frequency of your router. If your computer is communicating with your router, then the issue is not the broadcast frequency. But you haven't made the issue clear enough; you're saying that the internet connection is slow, or that the connection is being dropped frequently?

 

The connection quality is very low on linux (2-1 bars) and in Windows its 4-5 bars. It drops every so often, or goes quite slow (not from internet speed). I do not have any wireless phones on, or cell phones etc.

Thanks for the links I am a slow learner, and need all the linux help I can get

 

You need to install the proprietary drivers for your nvidia card. Fortunately there are detailed instructions for this on the PCLinuxOS forums:

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php?topic=15174.0

Make sure you follow the directions EXACTLY...read them fully and carefully before proceeding.

There's also a few directions you need to follow for setting up Beryl/Compiz:

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php?topic=15167.0

 

I haven't use PCLinuxOS, so you'd have to check on their site for instructions. A little bit of clicking on their site revealed this.

Linux uses A, B or G. It's what your card supports. I don't know if PCLinuxOS has the same administration tools as Ubuntu does, but you should be able to set that from the network manager, or from the wireless tools from the command line (iwconfig --help should give you a list of what you can do manually). Look here for what they say about wireless. You might also just force your WAP to use only B mode, so that the devices connecting to it only select B mode.

I haven't had that many issues with Beryl and Kubuntu 6.10 with my HGL-30. Check through the wiki for PCLinuxOS for solutions to your problems, and if you can't find them, you might consider trying Ubuntu.

 

haha i guess i need to brush up on my browsin' skills. thanks alot guys, was able to figure it out with your help. beryl is damn sexy.