Mint Linux 64 Bit & Logmein

[babak]

Hello Everyone, As as Windows power user for many years I'm new the world of Linux and decided to give Linux a try and see if this OS can be used as a day to day desktop platform. To make the story short I have setup 4 partitions and been trying out various distros (Fedora, OpenSuse, Debian, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, etc...) Most of the distors didnt last me but a day or so before getting removed due to different difficulties which required much troubleshooting. After all in the world of Desktop for end users we want things just to work without needing to spend 60 hours just to figure out why something simple doesn't work. Anyhow I'm pleased to say that I have Mint installed for the past 3 days and so far it's been the winner compared to the others. I have been able to resolve a few minor glitches but now I'm stuck and need some help:

1. I can not get my Canoscan 8600F scanner working. I'm assuming I'm out of luck since there is no Linux driver for it .
2. My DVD Burner is extremely slow. It burns a rewritable DVD at 0.2x where in Windows I have no problem. I'm using device below:
# hdparm -i /dev/dvd
/dev/dvd:
Model=HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH40L , FwRev=LM02 , SerialNo=684BEE7A70DA
Config={ Fixed Removeable DTR<=5Mbs DTR>10Mbs nonMagnetic }
RawCHS=0/0/0, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=0
BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=0kB, MaxMultSect=0
(maybe): CurCHS=0/0/0, CurSects=0, LBA=yes, LBAsects=0
IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
PIO modes: pio0 pio3 pio4
DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5
AdvancedPM=no
Drive conforms to: unknown: ATA/ATAPI-3,4,5,6,7
3. I can not login to any of my servers using logmein.com website. I have tried it with firefox, Opera and even IE6 from Wine. I have java installed and when try to login it gets all the way to Negotiating and then just dies with "Your Connection to the remote computer has been lost Negotiating SSL..." See attached image. I have no problem from windows which is using the same network on the 1st partition of the same box. I can also use vertualbox from windows which has the 32bit version of Mint and it will also work so I'm wondering if it's a 64bit issue.

FYI: I'm running an Intel quad core with 8GB Ram so that's why I would like to utilize the 64 bit version.

[Husse]

I'm answering unanswered posts right now
This seems to need a bit of reading so I have to come back to you

[babak]

Well I have decided to move to 32 bit Helena and happy to stay that I'm still sticking to Mint. Logmein works fine in the 32bit Linux Environment so I'm happy about that. Also Helena seems to be more responsive but I'm going crazy with this DVD/CD burner issue. It plays DVDs fine, plays CDs fine but burns at a very very very slow speed. Any suggestions? I want to see if I can make Mint my primary boot and kick Microsoft to the curb if possible....
Also is something wrong with the forums notification option. I have it so it should notify me upon a reply but it's not working. And yes I"m sure it's not going in to my spam folder...

[Husse]

There's a 32 bit plugin for Firefox here
The scanner seems to be a hopeless case, but will probably (hopefully) be supported soon
This is about as far as I got before I had to get to work for a few hours
The slow burning problem is really uncommon, I have only seen one or two that is not attributed to faulty disks or the burner being the only IDE among SATA devices so I have no experience to use in this case
It can be something with master / slave on an IDE cable
No recent reports that the notification does not work, but it is essential that it does because it's the same "mail system" that is used for all forum mail

[babak]

Thanks for the reply Husse. The burner is actually SATA and I know it's not the burner itself as it works perfectly in Windows.

[Husse]

I have a SATA DVD burner with no problems in Gloria so at least we know that combination works - I'll have to investigate further

[Husse]

You could try to use another burn program
You could also start the burn program you use from the terminal and see if there are any error messages - if you use Brasero the command is brasero
Starting form the terminal is always a good and simple debug option

[babak]

Going to terminal and typing brasero just executes the same GUI interface as if it would clicking on the Icon on the desktop. I really think it's some sort of driver, firmware issue. Sometimes the drive has a hardtime recognizing the media and getting mouted. I would hate to have to buy new hardware just to use Linux....

Now my other issue that I just discovered is the printer. I have an HP Laserjet 1020 and everytime I bootup linux I have to power cycle it so it will get recognized. HP makes Linux drivers for this model so that part is OK. Man it's just one thing after another

[Husse]

lol
Have you ever tried to install Windows from the ground up
I have installed XP a few times (more than a hundred I suspect) and man what a hassle that can be
Once it's installed - be it Win or Lin it's much easier
I think you printer is supported
Ooops - I see that you've already found the HPLIP page in another post

[babak]

lol, Yes I have installed every shades of Windows from Mobile to Server Advanced many many times and they have their own challenges at times but unfortunately most hardware companies put out drivers for Windows with every release but not for Linux. I hope that changes at some point because I'm happy to say that Debian based Linux have come a long way and I'm enjoying the heck out of it, of course besides the flaky issues....
As far as the Burner issue I ended up plugging my external Lite-On and it works perfect. I guess my LG firmware is not very compatible.
My canoscan 8600F still not working because of no driver.
I hope I dont end up having to replace all my hardware....haha

[Husse]

If I understood it right there will be support for your scanner in the kernel soon, maybe even in Helena (don't remember if you use Gloria)