Options To get Working

David Fletcher kubuntu-users at thefletchers.net
Fri Jan 4 10:56:14 UTC 2008


At 14:52 03/01/2008, you wrote:

>Read the mail list.

This is VERY important. Even if they don't seem relevant to you 
personally at the time, try to take a glance at all the threads.

For instance, a couple of months or maybe longer ago there was one 
about the keyboard setting in xorg.conf being changed by installing 
an nvidia driver. This was of no relevance to me at the time but a 
few weeks ago I built a new dual core Athlon PC with an nvidia 
graphics card. I didn't want to buy an nvidia card, but chose that 
card because it has no fan so it is silent, it plugs into a PCI-E x16 
socket, it has a DVI connector and a reviewer on ebuyer stated that 
it works with his Linux setup. Given this specification the choice of 
models is rather limited.

Running it with the analog connector was never a problem but when I 
decided to move all my work over to this new machine during the 
Christmas break, and use the DVI connector instead, the damn thing 
just would not configure to use my 20 inch 1600x1200 TFT monitor 
properly. The only way I could get it to work properly was by 
installing the nvidia driver.

Then came the interesting part. I always use kgpg to do symmetrical 
encryption on my backups because I keep copies all over the place, 
including the car glove box (off site storage!). When I needed to 
decrypt my backup on the new machine, kgpg insisted the password was 
wrong. I couldn't recover my backup. Damn Blast and everything else. 
Then remembered the posting about the nvidia driver. AHA! Fired up a 
text editor and tried some shifted number keys. The keyboard mapping 
was changed to the US settings! Tried all the keys to find out which 
ones produced the non-alpha numeric codes I used in the password, 
substituted these in the kgpg decryption dialog and PHEW this time it worked.

It was a simple matter to then open xorg.conf with vim or joe, change 
"us" keyboard back to "gb" keyboard, reboot and everything was 
working properly.

Yes, I could have plugged the old machine back in to do a non 
encrypted backup but that would have been a PITA, more time consuming 
and not half as much fun as finding out what was wrong.

So,

1) Never wipe your old hard drive until you're up and running on the 
new one - just in case

2) If you encrypt your backups always use the symmetrical encryption 
option - your gpg keys will be inside the encrypted backup file 
therefore not available to you :'(

3) READ THE LIST

Dave





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