and even more newbie questions....plz

[ekz13]

ok prob been beat to death.. but I am truly interested in the experienced advice.. I'm running red hat 6.2 (and finally got it right after trying installs and saying forget it for about 2 years.)

- which linux is the best for learning to do things, installing, formating, general linux stuff.. I don't know why I went with red hat, just happened to be the first copy I got, and first name I heard.

- I just finally got my desktop resized, but can't get the modem working (I'm working that one, with little sucess so far, sm56 motarolla) How can I get files (.rpms etc..) from my d/l'd windows side to my linux side, with out using a floppy disk.

- what's up with winlinux 2001.. it seems good that you can have full linux functionality on a win formated system but is it really that good, if it is wouldn't that start becoming the standard...

thanks for any and/or all answers

ekz13

[Choozo]

If you have a fairly recent hardware setup (Pentium class PC, 64 Megs or more RAM (preferrably 128)), go for Mandrake 8.1.
Mandrake is a good newbie distro, and it will set up most of your hardware at installation time (if your modem is a winmodem, you may be out of luck on that one). You will also have access to your Win partition through Linux.

In general, stay away from distros which run in a FAT partition, as a lot of people have troubles with those. Do the real thing instead :)

Good luck, and Welcome! :)

[scanez]

Originally posted by ekz13:
<STRONG>- which linux is the best for learning to do things, installing, formating, general linux stuff.. I don't know why I went with red hat, just happened to be the first copy I got, and first name I heard.</STRONG>
Depends on what you want to do. If you want to start learning just the basic of linux and getting used to the command line and X, then Mandrake or RedHat would probably be good to start with. However, if you want to dive into the inner workings of linux (configuring things manually, learning more about hardware, compiling software-some that is) then you'd be better off with Slackware or Debian. Both can be intimidating but they really force you to learn linux quickly.
<STRONG>- I just finally got my desktop resized, but can't get the modem working (I'm working that one, with little sucess so far, sm56 motarolla) How can I get files (.rpms etc..) from my d/l'd windows side to my linux side, with out using a floppy disk.</STRONG>
Is your modem ISA or PCI? Is it a winmodem? Check www.linmodems.org. (http://www.linmodems.org.) If all is clear, come back and we can give more help details. You can mount a FAT (aka windows) partition in linux. What does your /etc/fstab file look like? What partition is windows on (most likely hda1.
<STRONG>- what's up with winlinux 2001.. it seems good that you can have full linux functionality on a win formated system but is it really that good, if it is wouldn't that start becoming the standard...</STRONG>
NO! It is not good at all. Runs extremely slow and doesn't give you the same flexibility as a real linux distro. One of the points of linux is to MOVE AWAY from a windows (or FAT) environment so no way in hell it would ever become the standard. If you want real linux, forget about WinLinux (you could try it out as a first intro to linux without worrying about partitioning but it's not the same experience. When I say slow above I mean SLOW!)

Hope this helped
SC

[ 02 October 2001: Message edited by: scanez ]

[ekz13]

Originally posted by scanez:
<STRONG>[QUOTE]What does your /etc/fstab file look like? What partition is windows on (most likely hda1.
[ 02 October 2001: Message edited by: scanez ]</STRONG>

and this sounded like ... waa, waaah, waah, waaah, waa? ( picture charlie brown) I didn't understand the question, I know how to find the dir your referencing (I modified my desktop through the file) I just haven't looked at it (will when I get home) and have no idea what it does..

my modem is a motorolla (think thats spelled right) SM56 PCI which I found the drivers for just have to update my kernal in order to install it.

I guess my feeling on this is, windows has become too idiot proof, point click, point click... I want to feel like I'm learning something, do a little coding (used to do VB) later, and .. well I'm sure you all felt the same way..

The red hat I installed had a decent installer (compared to 3.1) but I don't think that I'm anywhere near compiling and updating the kernal yet.. I wouldn't even know how to mess with it.

do you have to upgrade the software to update the kernal (ie go from Red Hat 6.2-7.1 just to update the kernal from 2.2-2.2.4)?

oh, my machine is athalon 750/128meg, etc...

[ 02 October 2001: Message edited by: ekz13 ]

[Choozo]

Originally posted by ekz13:
<STRONG>do you have to upgrade the software to update the kernal (ie go from Red Hat 6.2-7.1 just to update the kernal from 2.2-2.2.4)?

oh, my machine is athalon 750/128meg, etc...

</STRONG>

If you want to upgrade RH 6.2 -&gt; 7.1 piece-by-piece, you certainly have a lot of work to do (and would learn *a lot*). Just upgrading the 2.2.16? kernel in RH 6.2 to the 2.4.x used in RH 7.1 means that you *first* will have to upgrade a lot of programs/libraries before even attempting to compile a new kernel.

Doing a fresh install of RH 7.1 will thus save you a lot of time, but the learning experience would be minimal.

Cheers :)

[ekz13]

ok. so this is the talley so far

- upgrade the whole system to 7.1, done, now I just need a disk, can anyone burn one for me, the download is too massive for my little 56k. ( I will provide the disks and pay for postage)

- win based linux sux, that was my thoughts, but I needed it confirmed, thanks

- my modem will prob work once I upgrade to red hat 7.1

- should I switch to mandrake 8.1 or stay with redhat (I'm thinking stay) also, would you go with gnome or kde, does it matter, what is the difference?

[Choozo]

You should find some online stores where you can get the CDs at bargain prices, www.cheapbytes.com (http://www.cheapbytes.com) is one of those - or you may find one in germany?

As for the Desktop Environment, install them both and run each for a week or two - then decide for yourself which you prefer :)
KDE is a bit more taxing on your resources than Gnome, but with 128MB RAM you should be fine anyways.

Cheers :)

[ekz13]

I've found someone who's going to help me out with that (the cd) but (one more question)

How do I map a windows drive in linux.

[Balamut]

How do I map a windows drive in linux.1. Do you have linuxconf? Type "locate linuxconf" what it says?
2. Type "su" it says "Password:" type root password there you`ll get # as a prompt
Type "cat /etc/fstab" copy and past output here.
How many FAT partitions do you have, how many HDDs, master/slave?

[ekz13]

ooooooh, that's what the /etc/fstab is..

ok-

1 hdd
c:/d: drives (partitioned, both FAT)
as master

[Choozo]

When you get around to install RedHat 7.1, your Windows partition should be detected during install, and a entry in /etc/fstab (file system table) will be made.
Most likely the Win partition will be mounted on /mnt/windows so you can access Windows from Linux in /mnt/windows/Document/somefile.txt.
(/mnt/windows will be mapped to C:\)

A word of CAUTION though; Do read the documentation for RedHat *prior* to installing. There have been folks here who wondered where their Windows installation went after they opted for a Server type of RedHat install. (I believe the Server type of installation in RedHat 7.x wipes your entire harddrive clean before starting the install.)

Cheers :)

[lilrabbit129]

I used Rh 7.1 for almost a year before switching to Drake 8.1.

In RH 7.1, you have to manually edit you /etc/fstab in order to see your win drives.

There's a great NHF on this site with step by step instructions on doing it.

Good LUCK!

[Choozo]

Originally posted by lilrabbit129:
<STRONG>I used Rh 7.1 for almost a year before switching to Drake 8.1.</STRONG>

Hmmmmm ... I could have sworn that RH7.1 was just a couple of months old (I don't really count the beta period of 7.1) :confused:

[ekz13]

ok I checked etc/fstab and here's what it looks like


/dev/hda7 /
/dev/hda6 /boot
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
/dev/cdrom1 /mnt/cdrom1
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
none /proc
none /dev/pts
/dev/hda8 swap


from my understanding so far. and I tried the LILO boot to dos is from /dev/hda1 but aparently I have no idea how to create the link to it from linux. I went into Linuxconf (typed it from xterm) it popped open the software (ran in xwindows) then I looked to access nfs device or link to access local drive, I think I was close but I don't know, I manually entered the info in, but didn't know what to put in for mount point.

how bad did I screw this up.. I had a c:\
(my guess at mount point) under the /root, I think I un did it right. When it asked for the install I could have selected a folder on hda1 but I had already made a linux partition and linux swap file. can I still access the windows crap on my drive. particulary my MP3s..etc...

[Choozo]

This line should be added to your '/etc/fstab' file:/dev/hda1 /mnt/windows vfat user,exec,umask=0 0 0
Then, create a directory called 'windows' in the '/mnt' directory:
# mkdir /mnt/windows
Finally, mount the windows partition:
$ mount -a
(This will re-read the /etc/fstab file)

or you could just mount the windows partition by typing mount /mnt/windows which only mounts that partition without re-reading the whole /etc/fstab file.


Cheers :)

[ 03 October 2001: Message edited by: Choozo ]

[ekz13]

see, you guys are great... If you were around many years ago, it might not have taken so long for me to get this, and I would have learned it sooner.. I will try this when I go home tonight, and let you know how it goes.. thanks

ekz13

[Balamut]

Think it http://sunsite.dk/linux-newbie/Linux_drives.htm#mount_floppy_zipdrive will help you

[ekz13]

great.. I know this is basic stuff.. but in 16 posts I learned more than I thought would come out of these questions.. thanks.. just a gee wiz question though... why don't they take a whole disk (w/ file structures) and zip it up and put it on their FTP to download. that really is a pain trying to d/l a new cd

[subnet_rx]

and you really don't have to edit anything at Red Hat. At installation, when your naming your other partitions, you can just name your windows partition along with everything else. And it's automatically added and accessible when you boot up. No mounting required

[ekz13]

sweet... I managed to access my windows dir.. very nice.. thanks for the help everyone.


I installed FreeAmp, and lost it.. how do I access the program. I think it installed to

/usr/bin/freeamp but it's not there

as for running it..

run /somethin'/somethin'

is the linux for dummies book good (I think I need it)

[ 04 October 2001: Message edited by: ekz13 ]

[bdg1983]

If the freeamp executable is in your path (echo $PATH to find out), then just type 'freeamp'. If it isn't, the cd /to/the/directory and type ./freeamp

Personally I wouldn't bother with Linux for Dummies and would spend my money on a book such as QUE's Special Edition Running Linux or one of the other recommended in the Linuxnewbie Bookshelf (from the LNO Homepage).