Talk:Build tips

email from Martin, 4/05

Don't know if this is up to date, but there's some useful info here. --Pete 15:11, 1 Jan 2006 (PST)

hey builders,

just some notes on common problems these new freekboxen have been having and how to fix them.

• pci modems:

these little buggers often need us to make a /dev/ entry for them, which we do by:

 su
 cd /dev/
 ./MAKEDEV ttyS14

• riva128 video cards:

these won't work at a color depth of 16, so we have to set it to 15. this means editing the /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file to have a DefaultDepth of 15 (just search around for 16 and you'll find)

• nvidia video cards:

magix sets these up to use the 'nvidia' driver, which is not open source, so we need to set /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 to use the 'nv' driver instead.

• artsd:

the kde window manager uses artsd to control its sound output, for all those anoying beeps and pings and such. for some sound cards, even though they work just fine under basiccheck, kde starts up with an error message about how the sound isn't working. this is only in the case where basiccheck sound works, as well as cd sound, but kde still has the error message. when this is true, the soundcard won't work, and we should just sell it in the store and replace it in the box with a different one.

meow,

- martin, your friendly neighborhood build co-coordinator