kivy : fedora 20 netbook graphics update required

Installing Kivy for some python development/fun with Android and my old netbook;


remember, the netbook is an old
Acer Aspire one D257 , with 1 gig ram and Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N570

I think the netbook is less powerful than most high end Android phones these days!


I found there is a repo that is slightly newer than the online doc (which lists Fedora_18)


Kivy Launcher works great on android, but the netbook, recently updated to Fedora 20 gave the error:

Fatal Python error: (pygame parachute) Segmentation Fault

oh no!

but this is not uncommon, since is listed early in the FAQ for kivy.

but then no details on how to update Fedora!

that took a bit of looking around;  I am running the non standard LXDE spin; so did not have all tools installed;

finally found the link to the Intel graphics driver site:

https://01.org/linuxgraphics/downloads

installed the drivers using the graphical installer for 1.0.6 for 32bit,  rebooted, and now am running.

now can type on netbook and use editors and then send the result to the android device to test!

p.s.
my other machine, running Fedora 20 64 bit 8 gig ram, AMD graphics, did not require any updates, it runs fine out of box.

linux/Raspberry pi SD card compatibility

annoying fact:

Linux on my old netbook only works with some SD cards.

much to my surprise, it seems that some SD cards are not compatible.

for the longest time I assumed it was the kernel and drivers I was using, but then I switched to another brand, and it worked perfectly....

so general advice;  have a variety of different vendor SD cards available when you are trying out the linux support.

a different SD card may work perfectly, on the same setup.

(using Fedora on Acer aspire one D257)

found the same true with the raspberry pi board, could not get it to boot with some SD cards, and others work fine.

pidora minecraft how to

Just downloaded pidora: http://pidora.ca/

and the first thing to check:

Does it run minecraft_pi?

Yes !  but not immediately.

found had to install 2 libraries, and then add permissions to the graphics device;

so, as root:


yum install libpng12.armv6hl SDL.armv6hl

chmod a+rw /dev/vchiq

and then you can unpack and run minecraft_pi !

Notes:

1. the window decorations on the default window manager, do not quite work for me; so the minecraft window "floats" above the border.
2. I know I should look at a better way of handling /dev/vchiq, but above will work
3. the screensaver!  defaults do not understand the minecraft window works, so if you let the default locking screen saver start, you have to "type blind" as the minecraft window likely is sitting on top of the normal re-login screen.  I turned the screen saver off for now.
4. Firewall !!  Fedora has firewall enabled; so was not visible with my android minecraft pe;  had to call up the firewall gui and enable port 4711 ...

Fedora on Raspberry Pi, fedoraspberry? pi-dora?

Tried out one of the Fedora 17 images
I use Fedora on my netbook, so it was familiar

Notes:
The video settings are different than raspbian. Noticed due to running on a SD TV
Pygame was not installed by default, but a quick

 yum install 

enabled it, and could run wormy.

Fedora 17 + acer aspire one SD Card reader fix

my netbook : Acer Aspire One D257-1814

did not recognize the SD card reader with the default Fedora 17 build. Googled and found that a missing "staging" module was required:

having previously installed rpmfusion:

yum install kmod-staging
modprobe keucr

(did reboot)

now inserting my SD card brings up the file dialog!

necessary to rebuild raspberry pi images.

Update: 2014
Fedora 20 "just works"
out of box.
no new mods required.

hide gnome taskbar

https://extensions.gnome.org/local/ very useful link for an older netbook; have the plugin to hid the taskbar installed. hat extra few pixels does make a difference on 1024x600

Fedora 17; Hot Dog!

Quick first impressions.

installed Fedora 17 on an older 1024x600 netbook
stats:

• Acer Aspire 1 (black with the wavy cover)
• dual core hyper-threaded Intel atom N570
• 1 Gig Ram
• Intel integrated graphics Pineview GM, 1024x600
• WiFi recognized without a problem

installed: default gnome, 32 bit version.

OS history:
Previously was running Fedora 16, installed from a live usb stick;
then ran preupgrade to 17.

Process ran without issue; did take a long time:
I'm guessing that it would be faster to just re-install OS, keeping my /home directory.

First impressions:

seems a bit quicker;
new Gnome not too different;

one annoyance/ limitation:
some dialogs do not fit on this older system with the 600 pixel screen... could not see the bottom of some of the setup dialogs.

In a region with too many wifi networks, my VPN is off the bottom (again screen limitation?)

todo:
find a "netbook" skin for gnome; that is designed for the smaller screen.

Further notes:
(this entry will be updated a few times)

Power management
working.   I can suspend and resume, and mouse, wireless, screen all recover.
on this older system, resume is in seconds;  have not measured, would say no more than 5...

two finger mouse
working with this laptop;  tried it briefly;  then turned it off;
I do like and use the "scroll on right side" but I'm not using two finger moves yet.
-I still prefer a mouse, if I have the desk space.

External screen
working.
older laptop has VGA only, fedora picked it up. Tried dual monitor support;
the screen UI picked up both, but only set external to maximum of 1024x768
could not configure for higher...

Sound?
working; is a netbook with small speakers that are not loud.


Video Camera?
this may be an issue;
Skype, and SugarOS did seem to lock on using the Camera a few times;
now seems ok;  I have updated to current levels  kernel: 3.4.0-1.fc17.i686

SugarOS
working great, only the odd lockup with video camera

Chrome XOs?

running Fedora 17 with SugarOS UI on an older netbook.

found I could run google-chrome from the Sugar terminal.

The menu and tabs are not "sugarized", so you can maximize chrome, and it seems like it has taken over the system: