356 lines
5.8 KiB
HTML
356 lines
5.8 KiB
HTML
<HTML
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><HEAD
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><TITLE
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>Tips and Suggestions</TITLE
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><META
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NAME="GENERATOR"
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CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.63
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"><LINK
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REL="HOME"
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TITLE="Linux Installation Strategies mini-HOWTO"
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HREF="index.html"><LINK
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REL="PREVIOUS"
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TITLE="XFree 4.01"
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HREF="x445.html"><LINK
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REL="NEXT"
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TITLE="The State of Linux – What to Expect"
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HREF="x514.html"></HEAD
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><BODY
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CLASS="SECT1"
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BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"
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TEXT="#000000"
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LINK="#0000FF"
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VLINK="#840084"
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ALINK="#0000FF"
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><DIV
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CLASS="NAVHEADER"
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><TABLE
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WIDTH="100%"
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BORDER="0"
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CELLPADDING="0"
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CELLSPACING="0"
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><TR
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><TH
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COLSPAN="3"
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ALIGN="center"
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>Linux Installation Strategies mini-HOWTO</TH
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></TR
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="x445.html"
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>Prev</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="80%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="x514.html"
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>Next</A
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></TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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><HR
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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WIDTH="100%"></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><H1
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><A
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NAME="AEN457"
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>14. Tips and Suggestions</A
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></H1
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><P
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> <P
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></P
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><UL
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><LI
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><P
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>Whatever soundcard you have Alsa drivers will deliver
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better performance and if like me you have the Yamaha 724 the Alsa
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drivers are nearly as good as those provided by Yamaha for
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Windows. You will of course have to compile them for your system but
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don't let that deter you. Its a simple matter of three commands. The
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alsa drivers are available at
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<A
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HREF="http://www.alsa-project.org/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>http://www.alsa-project.org/</A
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>
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>Those used to scrolling with their mouse wheel/s will
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not like Linux if they can't scroll. The good news is you can but it is
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not set up by default. Add the following line to your
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<TT
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CLASS="FILENAME"
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>XF86Config</TT
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> file in
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<TT
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CLASS="FILENAME"
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>/etc/X11/</TT
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> in the mouse
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section <TT
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CLASS="USERINPUT"
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><B
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>"ZAxisMapping 4 5"</B
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></TT
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>
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(obviously without the quotes though in
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Xfree 4.01</SPAN
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> you would have to
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enclose the numerical values in quotes) If this doesn't work visit the
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Linux scroll wheel homepage at
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<A
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HREF="http://www.inria.fr/koala/colas/mouse-wheel-scroll/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>http://www.inria.fr/koala/colas/mouse-wheel-scroll/</A
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>
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set up by a curiously named fellow called Colas Nahaboo.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>By default the hard disk is not configured to perform
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at its optimum and in most cases the difference can be dramatic.
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<SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>DMA</SPAN
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>, 32<33>bit <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>IO</SPAN
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> and
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multiple sector transfers are disabled by default and you
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should enable them at the earliest this is of course presuming you have
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a relatively new hard disk that support these features. As a test you
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should benchmark your <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>hdd</SPAN
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> before and after you
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change the settings just to see the difference tweaking can do to
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your system. The utility to change the settings is
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>hdparm</SPAN
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> and you can run it from an
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>xterm</SPAN
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> or the console but for a permanent
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solution append the command to your <TT
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CLASS="FILENAME"
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>rc.d</TT
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> local
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file in <TT
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CLASS="FILENAME"
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>/etc/rcd</TT
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>. Before you
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use <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>hdparm</SPAN
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> read the documentation
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carefully. Its a powerful utility and misusing it can trash your
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disk. First run <B
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CLASS="COMMAND"
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>hdparm</B
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> with the
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<TT
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CLASS="OPTION"
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>-i</TT
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> option to get the
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info on your <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>hdd</SPAN
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>, then benchmark it without the
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changes by running
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<B
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CLASS="COMMAND"
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>hdparm <TT
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CLASS="OPTION"
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>-Tt</TT
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> /dev/hda</B
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>. Then run
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<B
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CLASS="COMMAND"
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>hdparm <TT
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CLASS="OPTION"
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>-c 1</TT
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> <TT
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CLASS="OPTION"
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>-d 1</TT
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>
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<TT
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CLASS="OPTION"
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>-m16</TT
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> <TT
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CLASS="OPTION"
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>-k 1</TT
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> /dev/hda</B
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>
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</P
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><P
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><B
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CLASS="COMMAND"
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>hdparm <TT
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CLASS="OPTION"
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>-d 1</TT
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></B
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> (sets
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<TT
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CLASS="VARNAME"
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>dma</TT
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> to <TT
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CLASS="CONSTANT"
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>on</TT
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>)
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<TT
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CLASS="OPTION"
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>-m<TT
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CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
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><I
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>x</I
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></TT
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></TT
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>(this sets
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multiple transfers where <TT
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CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
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><I
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>x</I
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></TT
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> represents the
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maximum (in my case <TT
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CLASS="LITERAL"
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>16</TT
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>) that your
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<SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>hdd</SPAN
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> allows – running
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<B
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CLASS="COMMAND"
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>hdparm</B
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> with the <TT
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CLASS="OPTION"
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>-i</TT
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> option gives
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you the maximum that your <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>hdd</SPAN
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> allows )
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<TT
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CLASS="OPTION"
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>-c 1</TT
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> (sets 32<33>bit <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>io</SPAN
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>) and
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<TT
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CLASS="OPTION"
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>-k 1</TT
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> keeps the setting. In my case the data
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transfer shotup from a mere <TT
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CLASS="LITERAL"
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>3.16</TT
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> to
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<TT
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CLASS="LITERAL"
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>16.8</TT
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><EFBFBD>Mb/sec!</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>A file system driver for the
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<SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>ext2</SPAN
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> filesystem for Windows,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="SYSTEMITEM"
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>ext2fs</SPAN
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> is available from its homepage
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<A
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HREF="http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/</A
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>
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giving you the added convienience of reading your Linux partitions from
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within Windows.</P
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></LI
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></UL
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>
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
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><HR
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||
ALIGN="LEFT"
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||
WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
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||
WIDTH="100%"
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||
BORDER="0"
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||
CELLPADDING="0"
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CELLSPACING="0"
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||
><TR
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||
><TD
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||
WIDTH="33%"
|
||
ALIGN="left"
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||
VALIGN="top"
|
||
><A
|
||
HREF="x445.html"
|
||
>Prev</A
|
||
></TD
|
||
><TD
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||
WIDTH="34%"
|
||
ALIGN="center"
|
||
VALIGN="top"
|
||
><A
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HREF="index.html"
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>Home</A
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||
></TD
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||
><TD
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||
WIDTH="33%"
|
||
ALIGN="right"
|
||
VALIGN="top"
|
||
><A
|
||
HREF="x514.html"
|
||
>Next</A
|
||
></TD
|
||
></TR
|
||
><TR
|
||
><TD
|
||
WIDTH="33%"
|
||
ALIGN="left"
|
||
VALIGN="top"
|
||
><SPAN
|
||
CLASS="APPLICATION"
|
||
>XFree 4.01</SPAN
|
||
></TD
|
||
><TD
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||
WIDTH="34%"
|
||
ALIGN="center"
|
||
VALIGN="top"
|
||
> </TD
|
||
><TD
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||
WIDTH="33%"
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||
ALIGN="right"
|
||
VALIGN="top"
|
||
>The State of Linux – What to Expect</TD
|
||
></TR
|
||
></TABLE
|
||
></DIV
|
||
></BODY
|
||
></HTML
|
||
> |