Linux academy: Part five - Get more from Linux

The 3D desktop can be awkward to set up. To check if a system is compatible, open the Mandriva Control Centre, go to the KMenu and choose System then Configuration then Configure Your Computer.

Choose Hardware and then click Configure 3D Desktop effects. If it reports ‘Your system does not support 3D desktop effects’, you are out of luck.

Otherwise, select ‘Full 3D desktop effects (compiz)’. Then click ‘Run compiz configuration tool’ to inspect or amend the available features, and log out and back in to enable the changes.

Even if the 3D desktop is not immediately available, there may still be hope. A common problem is that the free driver for Nvidia graphics cards, including the Geforce range, does not support 3D acceleration. This can be fixed by installing the proprietary Nvidia driver. This is not supplied with Mandriva Free, though it is part of Mandriva One and all the paid-for versions of Mandriva. More advanced users can obtain it by configuring software management to include the plf (Penguin Liberation Front) packages (see http://plf.zarb.org for further information) and installing it from there. You can also obtain it directly from Nvidia’s website.

We found the proprietary Nvidia driver did not always install successfully and we were unable to start the KDE desktop. The solution is to reboot to the command-line console, then run the XFdrake utility with root permissions. Choose the non-proprietary driver and Mandriva will revert to the old non-3D version.

Scanning with Mandriva Linux
Installing a scanner in Mandriva Linux is pretty straightforward. Connect the scanner to the computer in the same way you would for Windows, usually with a USB cable. Turn the scanner on. Next, open up the Mandriva Control Centre. Click Hardware in the left-hand menu and then the Set up scanner icon. Your scanner may have been detected and installed, but if not, click Search for new scanners. Mandriva will find and install the necessary drivers. If your model is not supported, try the vendor’s website and online Linux support groups for information and advice.

The standard Linux scanner software is Sane (Scanner Access Now Easy). Users usually interact with Sane through a graphical application called XSane. Both of these are likely to be installed by default, but if not, they can be added via the Mandriva Control Centre. Start XSane from the KMenu, choosing Multimedia then Graphics then XSane.

Some applications, including Picasa and Open Office, have scanning options built in. Although this is convenient, we found XSane more reliable and flexible. After scanning an image into XSane, it can easily be saved and inserted into a document.

When XSane opens, display the Preview window if it is not already showing, by choosing Show Preview from the Window menu. Set up your scanner with the image you want to copy. Next, click Acquire Preview in the XSane Preview window.