Newbies questions about FreeBSD + Music & e17 !

[robbak]

who told you that you need Windows to update that BIOS? I just grabbed the bios update from http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers...k/as_3610.html (first link in a google search), and the BIOS updating script, although needlessly overcomplicated, claims to work in DOS. That said, there is not much in the updates - 1.08 changed the logo and the way the logo was shown, 1.09 rolls back 1.08 and just changed the logo.

As for acpi juggling: I'll leave that for someone else. I have never done much of that myself.

[J65nko]

You could try the FreeBSD 7.1BETA2 from ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/re...SO-IMAGES/7.1/

If you still get those ACPI errors with that 7.1 BETA, you could post the complete dmesg to the freebsd-acpi mailing list and ask for advice.

[richardpl]

ACPI Exception (evregion-0529): AE_NO_HARDWARE_RESPONSE, Returned by Handler for [EmbeddedControl] [20070320]
ACPI Error (psparse-0626): Method parse/execution failed [\\_SB_.PCI0.LPCB.EC0_.BAT0._STA] (Node 0xc3ff4cc0), AE_NO_HARDWARE_RESPONSE
ACPI Error (uteval-0309): Method execution failed [\\_SB_.PCI0.LPCB.EC0_.BAT0._STA] (Node 0xc3ff4cc0), AE_NO_HARDWARE_RESPONSE
acpi_ec0: EcRead: failed waiting to get data

Looks like that something is wrong with BIOS. Can you get any information with "acpiconf -i 0", Also do you have only one battery?

This messages can be ignored if they do not cause any other problems.

You could dump acpi tables and ASL with acpidump(8) and explore what are on lines that kernel is reporting. Also it is explained in Handbook.
In my similar (but more nasty) problem I got every now and then various bogus messages that _CRT on tz2 is absurd(256C) and because it is absurd ignored. I fixed it modifing ACPI ASL - the source of problem was that value was wrong, meanwhile I also found one typo (but this one did not cause any problem - it was related to current LCD brightness).

You could also found than various BIOS think that world is full of various Windows versions ...
There was problem when one BIOS vendor did check for Linux - but instaed to providing correct information it was giving wrong one, causing laptop malfunction when powered by Linux.

[nico_h]

Hi and thanks to all of you for helpful and quick answers !

So, I also checked the log change of the BIOS from acer website and indeed, flashing the BIOS doesn't seem to bring anything better since they only changed the logo between 7 and 8 and again between 8 and 9. So I think I can forget this solution. (But I still don't understand how I can bring a batch file or *.exe files to work under FreeBSD - do you mean using wine or anything alike ?? Anyway it's not really important now).

I also tried acpiconf and I am *totally confused* :

[nico@tezcatlipoca /usr/home/nico]$ acpiconf -i 0
Design capacity:        2000 mAh
Last full capacity:     1758 mAh
Technology:             secondary (rechargeable)
Design voltage:         14800 mV
Capacity (warn):        85 mAh
Capacity (low):         51 mAh
Low/warn granularity:   34 mAh
Warn/full granularity:  1673 mAh
Model number:           Bat 4Cell
Serial number:           4878
Type:                   LION
OEM info:               Acer
State:                  discharging
Remaining capacity:     83%
Remaining time:         1:09
Present rate:           18662 mA
Voltage:                15489 mV
[nico@tezcatlipoca /usr/home/nico]$

...because it seems to display the right informations about discharging/charging information, remaining time etc.

So it seems to work although I was sure from the contrary.

I don't know where I have seen that the temperature given by acpi was 0 C, in my own previous post it's written :

hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature: 49,0C

And I spent the whole Sunday afternoon on that problem and didn't find out that it works ! I was sure it didn't before I decided to post. I'm totally ashamed !

Well..........

So now I have to find where I can let the current temperature display (and remaining time) but that are window-manager related things so it should be OK.

I think I'll try to test the 7.1 beta from a virtual box to check if these error messages are away or not.

There's something else I don't understand : shutdown/reboot the computer is only possible when logged in as root in a terminal for instance and typing the command (shutdown -h now). There are no choices in the graphic menus, which could be practical. Do you have any hint on where to find a solution for that ?

And a last question : I found how to set a French keyboard with accents in rc.conf (keymap knob). But there's one kind of keyboard which is not the available keyboards listed in /usr/share/syscons/keymaps

I would like to edit a kbd file to add some keys but I don't know if it is possible in such a simple way (to add a new keyboard layout). I would like to have the "ß" symbol when striking altgr and b together, for instance, instead of getting it with altgr and s. Also liked to have some maths symbols I use quite often (divide, multiply etc.).

What's the link between the rc.conf keymap knob and the setxkbmap command ? This last one uses rules that can be found here : /usr/local/share/X11/xkb/. What's the relation between these files and the /usr/share/syscons/keymaps ones ?

I also modified the /etc/login.conf (and did the cap_mkdb /etc/login.conf) and attributed the login class "french" to my user "nico". This class is defined this way :

#
## French users
#
french:\
        :charset=fr_FR.UTF-8:\
        :lang=fr_FR.UTF-8:\
        :tc=default:

I prefer using utf8, it works properly with the ext3 partition I want to read. (The accents are correct).

But when using this login class, eg modifying the charset, modifies the keyboard layout. If I don't use this login class along with the right keymap in rc.conf, I don't get the same result. For instance, the € symbol works with these two settings (using altgr and e), not without the charset set to fr_FR.UTF-8

So questions are :

1°) If anyone can tell me more about these different keyboard settings that seem to interact with each other ?
2°) If it is possible to create a new kbd file (modifying an existing kbd file to add some things) ? And where is it possible to find documentation about the way it should be written, because everything is not clear in a kbd file ! (I especially don't find the altgr version of the keys ; there's a column for base, shift, cntrl, shift cntrl, alt cntrl etc. but nothing for altgr)

[richardpl]

Originally Posted by nico_h

I think I'll try to test the 7.1 beta from a virtual box to check if these error messages are away or not.

virtual box emulates BIOS

Originally Posted by nico_h

There's something else I don't understand : shutdown/reboot the computer is only possible when logged in as root in a terminal for instance and typing the command (shutdown -h now). There are no choices in the graphic menus, which could be practical. Do you have any hint on where to find a solution for that ?

What graphic menus, if there is no such menus, create them (PC-BSD is much more user friendly)

Originally Posted by nico_h

I found how to set a French keyboard with accents in rc.conf (keymap knob). But there's one kind of keyboard which is not the available keyboards listed in /usr/share/syscons/keymaps

I would like to edit a kbd file to add some keys but I don't know if it is possible in such a simple way (to add a new keyboard layout). I would like to have the "ss" symbol when striking altgr and b together, for instance, instead of getting it with altgr and s. Also liked to have some maths symbols I use quite often (divide, multiply etc.).

in syscons, the FreeBSD virtual console emulator, it is done via kbdmap/vidfont there are source code and explanation how to create new keymap files - but if you dont use FreeBSD console at all just ignore it. X11 is another story - the same files are on any other unix,linux OS.

Originally Posted by nico_h

What's the link between the rc.conf keymap knob and the setxkbmap command ? This last one uses rules that can be found here : /usr/local/share/X11/xkb/. What's the relation between these files and the /usr/share/syscons/keymaps ones ?

rc.conf is completly unrelated to X11(setxkbmap) eg. syscons have its own settings and X11 its own.

[nico_h]

Hi,

I finally installed FreeBSD as main OS but still have lots of problems to solve.

A really really strange thing happened that I must report : the account of my user disappeared suddenly although I was logged in... I'm sure I did not delete it myself !! And then the root account had no password ! It was empty ! It's just... like, is it possible that my computer has already been hacked ??? Before I just have time enough to upgrade properly ?

Cheers !

EDIT: That looks normal, doesn't it ?

xochipilli# sockstat -4
USER     COMMAND    PID   FD PROTO  LOCAL ADDRESS         FOREIGN ADDRESS      
root     Xorg       957   3  tcp4   *:6000                *:*
root     sendmail   829   3  tcp4   127.0.0.1:25          *:*
root     lpd        759   7  tcp4   *:515                 *:*
root     syslogd    680   7  udp4   *:514                 *:*
xochipilli#

EDIT2 : when the account of the normal user disappeared, its uid was 1000. I noticed that FreeBSD proposed 1001 as first default uid when creating an account. I did use 1000 instead to have less problems with the linux in dual boot on the same disk. But is this uid of 1000 not usable in FreeBSD ? Could the problem come from here ??

[nico_h]

PROBLEM number 2 :

Something else : some ext2fs partitions don't mount. Only one does.
The FAT32 partition on my external disk drive mounts perfectly well. All /media subdirectories do exist (studio, disk-0, disk-1, disk-2).

Here are the shell commands for the experiences :
1°) trying to mount a linux partition of the hard disk drive (this one works but is not interesting, it's only the / ; the /home folder is on another slice). I don't understand why during my first try of FreeBSD, it did mount well. No clue.
2°) trying to mount another linux partition of the hard disk drive
3°) fdisk result on ad0
4°) trying to mount the two partitions of the external disk drive

I think the answer for the linux partition on the hard disk drive is here :
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2000...ns.html?page=1
So when I have time I'll try it.

For the external disk drive, I don't know. I've found this :
http://forums.techguy.org/unix-linux...x-freebsd.html
& read throughout but I can't test this solution (page 3) since there's no MAKEDEV script in /dev and I don't know where to find one. In Google, everything about MAKEDEV & FreeBSD seems related to previous releases.

[root@xochipilli ~]# cd /dev
[root@xochipilli /dev]# ls ad*
ad0     ad0s1   ad0s2   ad0s3   ad0s4   ad0s4a  ad0s4b  ad0s4c  ad0s4d  ad0s4e  ad0s4f
[root@xochipilli /dev]# mount -t ext2fs ad0s1 /media/studio
[root@xochipilli /dev]# ls /media/studio/
.rnd            cdrom           home            lib             mnt             root            sys             var
bin             dev             initrd          lost+found      opt             sbin            tmp             vmlinuz
boot            etc             initrd.img      media           proc            srv             usr
[root@xochipilli /dev]# umount /media/studio
[root@xochipilli /dev]# mount -t ext2fs ad0s3 /media/studio/
mount: ad0s3 : Operation not permitted
[root@xochipilli /dev]# fdisk ad0
******* Working on device ad0 *******
parameters extracted from in-core disklabel are:
cylinders=116280 heads=16 sectors/track=63 (1008 blks/cyl)

Figures below won't work with BIOS for partitions not in cyl 1
parameters to be used for BIOS calculations are:
cylinders=116280 heads=16 sectors/track=63 (1008 blks/cyl)

Media sector size is 512
Warning: BIOS sector numbering starts with sector 1
Information from DOS bootblock is:
The data for partition 1 is:
sysid 131 (0x83),(Linux native)
    start 63, size 11711322 (5718 Meg), flag 0
        beg: cyl 0/ head 1/ sector 1;
        end: cyl 728/ head 254/ sector 63
The data for partition 2 is:
sysid 130 (0x82),(Linux swap or Solaris x86)
    start 11711385, size 1959930 (956 Meg), flag 0
        beg: cyl 729/ head 0/ sector 1;
        end: cyl 850/ head 254/ sector 63
The data for partition 3 is:
sysid 131 (0x83),(Linux native)
    start 13671315, size 19535040 (9538 Meg), flag 0
        beg: cyl 851/ head 0/ sector 1;
        end: cyl 1023/ head 254/ sector 63
The data for partition 4 is:
sysid 165 (0xa5),(FreeBSD/NetBSD/386BSD)
    start 33206355, size 84003885 (41017 Meg), flag 80 (active)
        beg: cyl 1023/ head 255/ sector 63;
        end: cyl 1023/ head 254/ sector 63
[root@xochipilli /dev]# ls da*
da0     da0s1   da0s2
[root@xochipilli /dev]# fdisk da0  
******* Working on device da0 *******
parameters extracted from in-core disklabel are:
cylinders=38913 heads=255 sectors/track=63 (16065 blks/cyl)

Figures below won't work with BIOS for partitions not in cyl 1
parameters to be used for BIOS calculations are:
cylinders=38913 heads=255 sectors/track=63 (16065 blks/cyl)

Media sector size is 512
Warning: BIOS sector numbering starts with sector 1
Information from DOS bootblock is:
The data for partition 1 is:
sysid 131 (0x83),(Linux native)
    start 63, size 512007552 (250003 Meg), flag 0
        beg: cyl 0/ head 1/ sector 1;
        end: cyl 1023/ head 254/ sector 63
The data for partition 2 is:
sysid 11 (0x0b),(DOS or Windows 95 with 32 bit FAT)
    start 512007615, size 113129730 (55239 Meg), flag 0
        beg: cyl 1023/ head 254/ sector 63;
        end: cyl 1023/ head 254/ sector 63
The data for partition 3 is:
<UNUSED>
The data for partition 4 is:
<UNUSED>
[root@xochipilli /dev]# mount -t ext2fs da0s1 /media/disk-1/
mount: da0s1 : Invalid argument
[root@xochipilli /dev]# mount -t msdosfs da0s2 /media/disk-2/
[root@xochipilli /dev]# ls /media/disk-2/
.Trash-nico                     andere Studien          schlaganfall     anfall                          innere                          stage               backup_partiel                  radio.rtf
aktuelledaten                   hanhbefragungtest.sav           radioneu
[root@xochipilli /dev]#

Thanks for any useful clue about it...

[Carpetsmoker]

mount_ext2fs(8) doesn't work?
i.e.
# mount_ext2fs -o ro /dev/ad0s1 /mnt/ad0s1

From MAKEDEV(8):

     MAKEDEV -- old script for creating device nodes

DESCRIPTION
     The MAKEDEV script was deprecated by devfs(5) and removed from FreeBSD
     after devfs(5) became mandatory.

In short, devfs means all /dev/ entries are created automagiclly and you don't need to worry about it.

[nico_h]

well it's a shame again, I finally fixed the problem (apparently) 2 minutes after posting (and I'm on it since monday...)

I finally started the linux OS to test the solution from big scary daemons. And linux complained about unclean shutdown and repaired exactly the hard disk drive partition that I couldn't mount.


So the problem didn't come from FreeBSD.


PS mount_ext2fs isn't installed, but ext2fs seem to mount well (from the console at least)

PPS thanks about MAKEDEV, i just didn't think to man !

[nico_h]

but if anyone has any clue about the root disappearing password, then let me know !

[J65nko]

Can you set a new root password with passwd(1)?

[nico_h]

i did it at once, it was possible. i just wonder how is it possible that the user account could have disappeared (while logged in !) and the root account could have lost his password. the only operation i was doing was portupgrade -a... => ?

EDIT:
EDIT:

i do have another question : when portupgrading (-a), there's a port that doesn't upgrade and the reason is that it is marked as broken (doesn't compile). this is xf86-video-i810-1.7.4_1 . on freshports, i checked that this was indicated as well, so it doesn't come from my installation. but this prevents FreeBSD from upgrading some other ports (like xorg related ones). is there any fix, or should I just wait till the port isn't broken anymore ?
Another port has problem, this is totem. when i try to make install clean it, it ends with :

checking for EXTRA_GNOME... configure: error: Package requirements (glib-2.0 >= 2.13.4 gtk+-2.0 >= 2.12.6 libgnomeui-2.0 >= 2.3.3 gnome-vfs-2.0 >= 2.16.0 gnome-vfs-module-2.0 >= 2.16.0 libgnome-2.0 >= 2.14.0  gnome-icon-theme >= 2.15.90 gmodule-2.0 totem-plparser >= 2.21.90 iso-codes gstreamer-0.10 >= 0.10.12 gstreamer-base-0.10 >= 0.10.12 gstreamer-plugins-base-0.10 >= 0.10.12 gconf-2.0) were not met:

Requested 'totem-plparser >= 2.21.90' but version of totem-plparser is 2.20.1

plus some advices (about environment variables and running gnomalyser or something like that). But before I do anything, it's quite clear that the problem can be solved by installing totem-plparser. Problem is, there's no where to find it in the ports. Neither make search name= nor a port search on freebsd web site nor on freshports gives anything related to totem-plparser. google doesn't help (leads to rpm stuff... or to http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/f...ry/018949.html which is related to a pre release... (problem hasn't been fixed yet ?)).