Hi
First up thanks so much for this excellent OS. After playing around with a number of Linx distros (first timer) this is the only one that comes close to having everything working perfectly for my aging Toshiba Tecra 8100 P3700mhz 256mB ram S3 Savage 8mB video card.
I have done a full install of 4.1.2, and like I said everything works fine (actually GREAT) except for video playback. When watching DVD's, ripped DVD's from the HDD or youtube (tried Seamonkey, Opera 9.63, Opera 10 and settled on Firepup as best browser for me - all the same video performance more or less), the video is unwatchable, seeming to display about one frame per second, so that watching is like seeing the video through a slow strobe. The ripped DVD from hard is best, but only marginally better.
I have tried Xorg and Xvesa and no obvious difference. I tried mplayer but that wouldn't work at all (locked up the OS when I tried to fire it up) and also tried xfmedia, but that wouldn't play dvd's (couldn't work out how to add to playlist or otherwise access the movie files), and I didn't try a ripped version.
Video playback was quite acceptable using Win98 with (forgotten the names) several freeware media players. Any suggestions? I'm not Linux savvy, but not scared to give anything a go with some detailed instructions.
Thanks in advance.
Slow clunky video on Toshiba Tecra 8100
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peter_jammo
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Thu 26 Mar 2009, 16:03
Little more info. I found another version of Mplayer linked from another thread, and tried that.
It works, but somewhat bizarrly seems to play at about half speed with fractured audio. Clicking on fast forward plays it close to normally with good audio for a little before (I assume) the FF times out.
Also and perhaps related, realised I hadn't tried playing an audio CD. Gxine plays normally for a few seconds, then fractures before audio dies leaving the graphic starting and stopping.
Pmusic fails to find any tracks on the CD, XFreeCD has trouble finding the CD then finds it for a couple of seconds before reverting to "no disc". I tried ripping the CD with RipOff, which found all tracks but no info. I tried ripping one track but it was ripping at 0.1X and estimated one track ripped in about 45 mins so I gave up.
Audio is fine playing from the net, ie youtube, ABC au news audio feeds etc.
Hope this helps.
It works, but somewhat bizarrly seems to play at about half speed with fractured audio. Clicking on fast forward plays it close to normally with good audio for a little before (I assume) the FF times out.
Also and perhaps related, realised I hadn't tried playing an audio CD. Gxine plays normally for a few seconds, then fractures before audio dies leaving the graphic starting and stopping.
Pmusic fails to find any tracks on the CD, XFreeCD has trouble finding the CD then finds it for a couple of seconds before reverting to "no disc". I tried ripping the CD with RipOff, which found all tracks but no info. I tried ripping one track but it was ripping at 0.1X and estimated one track ripped in about 45 mins so I gave up.
Audio is fine playing from the net, ie youtube, ABC au news audio feeds etc.
Hope this helps.
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peter_jammo
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Thu 26 Mar 2009, 16:03
Whilst an answer would be good for my peace of mind, it probably won't help now as my trusty old Tosh died this morning - won't boot at all - black screen and no HDD action.
On the offchance, anybody know Toshiba Tecra 8100 beep codes? I'm getting one long followed by 29 short most times I turn it off.
On the offchance, anybody know Toshiba Tecra 8100 beep codes? I'm getting one long followed by 29 short most times I turn it off.
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Béèm
- Posts: 11763
- Joined: Wed 22 Nov 2006, 00:47
- Location: Brussels IBM Thinkpad R40, 256MB, 20GB, WiFi ipw2100. Frugal Lin'N'Win
I don't know those beeps, but google might help you.
Maybe it's that little battery for the config, which takes care of the clock also. Just a wild guess.
Maybe it's that little battery for the config, which takes care of the clock also. Just a wild guess.
Time savers:
Find packages in a snap and install using Puppy Package Manager (Menu).
[url=http://puppylinux.org/wikka/HomePage]Consult Wikka[/url]
Use peppyy's [url=http://wellminded.com/puppy/pupsearch.html]puppysearch[/url]
Find packages in a snap and install using Puppy Package Manager (Menu).
[url=http://puppylinux.org/wikka/HomePage]Consult Wikka[/url]
Use peppyy's [url=http://wellminded.com/puppy/pupsearch.html]puppysearch[/url]
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peter_jammo
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Thu 26 Mar 2009, 16:03
Thanks for the idea, unfortunately it didn't work. Extensive googling has only found folk posting requests for the same code with no answers, and folk cursing Toshiba for refusing to release the beep codes. I've tried all the usual hardware removals/reseats to no avail.
I'm not sure whether I'll give up with it or just do the same as I did 2 years ago when my last one died - buy an incomplete one off ebay for £20 or so and make one out of two. If I do and the video/audio prob is still there I'll post again.
Meantime I'm having a play with Puppy on my daughters Acer 3613. Everything working great inc wireless, and wow does it fly compared to its XP persona. Hopefully I'll be able to talk her into letting me at least set it up to dual boot.
I'm not sure whether I'll give up with it or just do the same as I did 2 years ago when my last one died - buy an incomplete one off ebay for £20 or so and make one out of two. If I do and the video/audio prob is still there I'll post again.
Meantime I'm having a play with Puppy on my daughters Acer 3613. Everything working great inc wireless, and wow does it fly compared to its XP persona. Hopefully I'll be able to talk her into letting me at least set it up to dual boot.
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peter_jammo
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Thu 26 Mar 2009, 16:03
Hi folks,
decided to go for the next version of FrankenTosh and bought a couple more ill 8100's off ebay. Now have one working machine made from parts of 4.
This has fixed the video problem with DVD's, but curiously not the CD audio one. Strangely, the dodgy hacksawed CD drive that came with the "new" parts plays CD's better (just a little skipping, none of the stalling), but not the "good" DVD drive!
Anyhow, the main issue is now a fan control problem with the acpi module unloadable. I suspect that the fan wasn't working in the last incarnation either and that cooked it. I'm chasing answers for this in another thread http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=31753 If anybody has any suggestions please don't hesitate to weigh in.
decided to go for the next version of FrankenTosh and bought a couple more ill 8100's off ebay. Now have one working machine made from parts of 4.
This has fixed the video problem with DVD's, but curiously not the CD audio one. Strangely, the dodgy hacksawed CD drive that came with the "new" parts plays CD's better (just a little skipping, none of the stalling), but not the "good" DVD drive!
Anyhow, the main issue is now a fan control problem with the acpi module unloadable. I suspect that the fan wasn't working in the last incarnation either and that cooked it. I'm chasing answers for this in another thread http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=31753 If anybody has any suggestions please don't hesitate to weigh in.
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peter_jammo
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Thu 26 Mar 2009, 16:03
Just in case anybody else ever looks at this for assistance, a quick round up.
Video problem reappeared after returning BIOS settings to default. It turned out that this included the most conservative cpu frequency scaling for battery use, but that with the so far unsoluble acpi problem (bodged by running the fan off the ps2 port), that this was being applied all the time and the CPU was running at half speed. Set it to always high, and the video works fine on gxine, but not at all on Mplayer. Gxine is OK by me though.
Audio - still a problem in that CD's are unplayable - play fine for about 6 second chunks followed by 2 sec pause - any suggestions greatfully received.
Video problem reappeared after returning BIOS settings to default. It turned out that this included the most conservative cpu frequency scaling for battery use, but that with the so far unsoluble acpi problem (bodged by running the fan off the ps2 port), that this was being applied all the time and the CPU was running at half speed. Set it to always high, and the video works fine on gxine, but not at all on Mplayer. Gxine is OK by me though.
Audio - still a problem in that CD's are unplayable - play fine for about 6 second chunks followed by 2 sec pause - any suggestions greatfully received.
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Dougal
- Posts: 2502
- Joined: Wed 19 Oct 2005, 13:06
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I never managed to understand where/what your acpi problem is... is it a purely HW/BIOS problem, or with the Linux kernel?peter_jammo wrote:J but that with the so far unsoluble acpi problem (bodged by running the fan off the ps2 port)
What's the ugliest part of your body?
Some say your nose
Some say your toes
But I think it's your mind
Some say your nose
Some say your toes
But I think it's your mind
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peter_jammo
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Thu 26 Mar 2009, 16:03
As far as I can make out (based on googling) the only successful method to make the fan work on a Tecra 8100 is to use the toshiba_acpi module. On mine though, that refuses to load. Others (not puppy though) claim to have successfully loaded it on their 8100's. The Toshiba BIOS update notes lists versions newer than mine which address "issues with acpi OS". It's my assumption that it is the bios that is the issue, but I have no way to prove that without flashing mine, and as I said I don't fancy doing that at present.
Still happy to try other suggestions if anybody has any, and if anybody has a bulletproof and more importantly idiot proof method of flashing the bios from Puppy, I might even be persuaded to.....
Still happy to try other suggestions if anybody has any, and if anybody has a bulletproof and more importantly idiot proof method of flashing the bios from Puppy, I might even be persuaded to.....
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peter_jammo
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Thu 26 Mar 2009, 16:03
Audio CD update.
After trying every .pet audio player I can find I finally found that Xfree works perfectly, once you find the CD volume function in sgmixer (right click the speaker icon in the tray) which is defaulted to off.
None of the other audio players I found could play CD's, gxine found them OK but played badly, stalling every few seconds, and the others that seemed to support CD's couldn't recognise that there was a CD in the drive. A couple I tried from the official repository - Gplayed and one other seem to have missing dependancies, and wouldn't launch.
All of the players I actually managed to launch worked fine with ripped CD's, but as the ripper programmes I've tried take between 5 and 15 minutes to rip one track, I think I'll be happy to stick to Xfree and CD's.
After trying every .pet audio player I can find I finally found that Xfree works perfectly, once you find the CD volume function in sgmixer (right click the speaker icon in the tray) which is defaulted to off.
None of the other audio players I found could play CD's, gxine found them OK but played badly, stalling every few seconds, and the others that seemed to support CD's couldn't recognise that there was a CD in the drive. A couple I tried from the official repository - Gplayed and one other seem to have missing dependancies, and wouldn't launch.
All of the players I actually managed to launch worked fine with ripped CD's, but as the ripper programmes I've tried take between 5 and 15 minutes to rip one track, I think I'll be happy to stick to Xfree and CD's.