From Ubuntu to Debian - I have two strange issues...

[nightwing]

Hello.
Greeting to all debian users

I just moved from ubuntu to debian. My first impression is, that is not so "bloated", runs faster on my thinkpad x60.
Ok, I have to configure much more on my own, but that's ok! I can individualize my system much more, that ubuntu
let me do.

I go into the internet via dial-up (umts). Normally, I would do so via gnome-ppp. But in lenny, I can't do so as normal
user. Not enough rights...
"usr/sbin/pppd is owned by root user"
the /etc/ppp/chap-secrets can't be modified

Ok, I've read some threads about this and found out, that I have to set the user as member in the groups
dialout and dip. But I do not have groups with that name! In /etc/groups there is no such group and a manual command
"adduser <user> dip" says that this group does not exist! So till now I can only dialup via root.
Can someone give me a hint please?

The second problem is the gnome-panel. When I move the icons for data/time, logout etc. to a special position and
mark them as "fixed" and restart, they are thrown completely in a chaos. None of them is on the position, I've set it
to. The tag "fixed" is still marked, but they aren't fixed anymore.
I have a thinkpad x60 with an intel i950 graphics chip.

Hope, I do not get a "rtfm"...
Yes, of course, I use(d) google and the forum search. But the hints, I've found, I alread tried about the gnome-ppp - Problem.
About gnome-applet - Issue, I do not find anything at all.

Regards
nightwing

[Absent Minded]

Welcome to the Debian Users Forum,
I use KDE so I am not going to be much help with Gnome trouble but I did look at my system groups and yes there should be both a "Dialout and a Dip" group(s). If need be you can change permissions on your device files to allow for a normal user to use them once you have added them to he aproperate groups.
AM

[nightwing]

Hi.
Thanks for your welcome
I've searched in the "users and groups" applet in gnome, but there are also no "dip" and "dialout" groups.
I thought to find them there. Also, I've tried to give the user enough rights to /dev/ttyUSB0, which is
used to dial out. But this also helps till the next reboot. After this, the problems are still there and
gnome-ppp again lets me dial out only as root.
Strange.

I've compared the rights on /dev/ttyUSB0 and
/etc/ppp/chap-secrets and /etc/ppp/pap-secrets
with the rights, this files/devices have in ubuntu on a second pc. They have the same rights granted, so I think, it's
really a "membership" problem of the user.
Is it possible, that some installations of debian do have (caused maybe by an error) no dialup and dip - groups?
And if this would be so, which group ids should they have, when I try to create these groups? Would these manually
created groups be recognized and checked, when I reboot debian or do I have to make lenny "see" these groups to
check the users included in them?

[Absent Minded]

Does your Gnome users panel show any groups under 1000? Dialout is GID 20 and Dip is GID 30. They "should" be there. It has been too long since I have had to add a user to a group from the cli but I will do a search to see what I can come up with.

[Absent Minded]

This looks promising: http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-linu ... -to-group/

[nightwing]

Great!
I'll try this after work and give feedback. Thank you!

[nightwing]

I tested this last evening. The groups exist now and the user is member of it - but the problem remains the same
Seems to be another reason. Will have to search further...

[saulgoode]

I tested this last evening. The groups exist now and the user is member of it - but the problem remains the same
Seems to be another reason. Will have to search further...

First, make sure you log out and log back in before expecting changes to groups to be recognized.

After that, check that the group for pppd is 'dialout' and that permissions authorize members of the group to execute the program. Likewise make sure that /etc/ppp/chap-secrets belongs to the 'dialup' group and that the permissions allow group members to write to the file.

Caveat: I don't use Debian but this approach is typical for Unix-based systems.

[nightwing]

Hi..
I've checked that. But I am sorry to say, that these points are not the reason - would prefer, if it would be so.

[nightwing]

Ok. Back here.

I've found my personal solution for the gnome-ppp - problem:
I updated the network-manager to version 0.7 with the lenny-backports. Run's safe, reliable and smart.

The second problem I can work against with making a backup with
su
gconftool-2 --dump / > /home/<user>/backup.xml

and if the error occures gconftool2 --load=/home/<user>/backup.xml to restore it.

Since, I updated to kernel 2.6.30 from the backports, I did not have this problem at all. Maybe got rid of it... (*hope*)



The only problem, I still have in lenny, is, that I do not get the *damned* hdadsp working.