How to check compatible hardware for Puppy Wary 5.3?

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VictorVictor5
Posts: 131
Joined: Thu 24 May 2012, 02:52

How to check compatible hardware for Puppy Wary 5.3?

#1 Post by VictorVictor5 »

Greetings everyone,

I know it has been quite some time since I posted due to semester commitments.

I was going to see if anyone can point me into the direction (or how to check) if Puppy supports a Dell AIO 962 printer and a Cisco Aironet 802.11a/b/g Wireless Cardbus PC Card ( AIR-CB21AG-A-K9 ).

I've conducted a web search - the wireless card works for Ubuntu, so I guess it works for Puppy?

The AIO 962 is trickier.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!
VV5

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Monsie
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Location: Kamloops BC Canada

How to check compatible hardware for Puppy Wary 5.3?

#2 Post by Monsie »

Hi VictorVictor5,

I don't know off-hand whether your wireless cardbus card will work in Wary or not. I looked at this thread here but didn't see it listed. The first thing I would try is to simply boot Wary Puppy off the CD and run it in live mode to see if the hardware is auto detected or not. If it is, it may work out of the box but if not, then you might need to look elsewhere for a driver.

As for your all in one, it is basically a re-branded Lexmark Printer.
There is a driver for it which you can find over here. The driver is in .rpm format which you should be able to extract with XArchive. That said, I'm not sure whether you need to put the extracted file(s) in a specific location or whether it is enough to simply extract the download to a given location and then use the CUPS Printer Wizard to guide you the rest of the way... Send a PM to rcrsn51 if you need further help with the Printer driver...

Hope this helps,
Monsie
My [u]username[/u] is pronounced: "mun-see". Derived from my surname, it was my nickname throughout high school.

VictorVictor5
Posts: 131
Joined: Thu 24 May 2012, 02:52

#3 Post by VictorVictor5 »

Monsie,

Thanks for the reply but I have a question since I'm still new at Linux. I followed the links you provided for the printer, and I am using SeaMonkey as my browser at this time (didn't get a chance to configure Firefox yet, but it is on the list!).

One of the problems I see (and this goes back to trying to install an anti-virus), when I try and download anything via SeaMonkey, it pulls up a "mplayer plugin" and it attempts to "play the file" which doesn't make a lick of sense, and I cannot find the file in download manager to try and do anything with.

Can you please help?

Thanks!
VV5

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rcrsn51
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Location: Stratford, Ontario

#4 Post by rcrsn51 »

VictorVictor5 wrote: One of the problems I see (and this goes back to trying to install an anti-virus), when I try and download anything via SeaMonkey, it pulls up a "mplayer plugin" and it attempts to "play the file" which doesn't make a lick of sense
This is because the server has an incorrect mime-type for the file, so Puppy thinks that it is a media file and launches a player.

To download the file, use a right-click-save-as procedure. Or you may have to download it from the command line using wget.

Regarding your Dell AIO: There does not appear to be a Linux driver for it, either under the Dell label or as a Lexmark X7170.

VictorVictor5
Posts: 131
Joined: Thu 24 May 2012, 02:52

#5 Post by VictorVictor5 »

rcrsn51,

Well that sucks, Thanks for the post back - just three more quick questions on this printer.

1.) When CUPS pulled up, it did recognize the Dell printer in the USB socket - does that mean anything?

2.) The link that Monsie provided - my question is (again new to Linux here) if one driver works in one distro of Linux, it doesn't necessarily mean it'll work in another distro, correct?

3.) Even though I am a noob, are there any developers out there that develop drivers for these types of things? If so, how do we noobs reach out to them?

Thanks!
VV5

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rcrsn51
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Location: Stratford, Ontario

#6 Post by rcrsn51 »

VictorVictor5 wrote:1.) When CUPS pulled up, it did recognize the Dell printer in the USB socket - does that mean anything?
Yes. It detected the printer as a hardware device. But it doesn't guarantee that there is a valid Linux software driver for it.
2.) The link that Monsie provided - my question is (again new to Linux here) if one driver works in one distro of Linux, it doesn't necessarily mean it'll work in another distro, correct?
Quite often, a driver made for one Linux distro can be modified for another. Most of the printer drivers here are modified versions of other sources. But there is nothing of value in the links that Monsie provided.
3.) Even though I am a noob, are there any developers out there that develop drivers for these types of things? If so, how do we noobs reach out to them?
Google. If someone had a Linux driver for your Dell AIO 962, it would be out there.

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vicmz
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#7 Post by vicmz »

Hello VictorVictor5 :D
Regarding video and sound files in SeaMonkey, go to Tools > Addons Manager > Plugins and disable the Gecko Media Player plugin, that plugin calls Mplayer to play the video/sound, but once disabled you get a download dialog directly.
[url=http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=76948]Puppy Linux en español[/url]

VictorVictor5
Posts: 131
Joined: Thu 24 May 2012, 02:52

#8 Post by VictorVictor5 »

Hey vicmz,

I went to the plugin you told me about, but I didn't see a Gecko one. I do see a mplayer-plugin - maybe that's it?

Thanks!
VV5

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Monsie
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Location: Kamloops BC Canada

How to check compatible hardware for Puppy Wary 5.3

#9 Post by Monsie »

Hi VictorVictor5,

Yikes... Well I am guilty of doing some quick research in attempt to help you out, and as it turns out, the link to what I thought was a driver for your all in one is apparently a Linux developers kit instead. So, I will offer you my sincerest apology... I am usually much more thorough in my research, and generally my track record is a very good one when it comes to problem solving, finding solutions to help others. :oops:

Since then, I've looked more carefully for any drivers for your AIO 962, and the best I was able to find was a driver for the scanner only... so I tend to agree with rcrsn51:
Regarding your Dell AIO: There does not appear to be a Linux driver for it, either under the Dell label or as a Lexmark X7170.
Unfortunately, Dell has a rather limited record of providing support for linux based operating systems. For your device to work, developers must either write a set of drivers for it, or (slightly more promising) write a kind of wrapper framework that would allow the Windows or Mac based drivers to work within the Linux environment. It's possible that this could happen in the near future since Dell (in the U.S.) is once again getting involved with Ubuntu, but unlikely that it would include support for much older hardware if any.

In the meantime, I have had quite good success with some Epson and Hewlett Packard Printers and Scanners working in various Linux based distros, so my suggestion at this point is to give that some consideration.

Monsie
My [u]username[/u] is pronounced: "mun-see". Derived from my surname, it was my nickname throughout high school.

VictorVictor5
Posts: 131
Joined: Thu 24 May 2012, 02:52

#10 Post by VictorVictor5 »

Monsie,

It's all good. I appreciate the time you take to help out a noob. I have some other printers laying around, but I'm honestly suprised my Dell has lasted this long! 8) It can actually run on Windoze 7 with Vista drivers, so I can squeeze more out of it on one of my Windoze machines.

Since I'm responding to you - can you check out my Firefox topic when you can?

Thanks!
VV5

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