Dapper Dan

So you are running a cable directly from the ADSL modem into your computer? What type NIC is it connected to? Have you had this connection working with Windows? Are you presently using a router?

Not familiar with your card, but almost anything from Nvidia, as long as it's not too cutting edge, will do. Are you getting anything at all? If you aren't then that limits our remedies. Are you at least getting a prompt for username and password? If so, from the command line, you can run: system-config-display [enter] And look for your video card within the selections provided.

Hi mpcasey and welcome! I don't know specifically about your particular modem but I do know I've never had luck with Linux finding and or configuring any 56k modem in a laptop. Did you try and configure it with kppp? If, after configuring it on /dev/modem in kppp, it says it can't find it then you're SOL. The good news is, you can pick up one of these for almost nothing! On the external drive: Are you looking in /mnt to find it? Also, is it formatted with fat32 or NTFS? FC2 using the 2.6 kernel has great hardware detection, and should pick it up. What is the exact make and model of this unit?

danleff, you know I've installed FC 2 four or five times now, and I swear I can't recall it ever asking to create a boot disk. I did an FC 1 install recently and it does ask. Can anyone here substantiate this, or am I losing it?

Yes, Mepis is a good choice for a new user as well. Hi Jim. Just the other day, I used one of your posts at Mepis to help out someone over at LinuxForums set up a dual boot between Blag and Mepis. It was the one explaining why you can no longer make a Mepis boot disk after RC4. Good to know you're still checking in with us!

matttah makes a good point! I think we all can substantiate that we've learned the most about Linux and computers in general by messing up! LOL! I know that's when I learned the most! I guess the best advice is, BE SURE TO BACK UP YOUR VALUABLE WINDOWS FILES BEFORE PARTITIONING AND INSTALLING LINUX! That way, you can break things and learn from your mistakes. As far as distos go, I would say start off with either SuSE or Ubuntu. I've been playing around with the Ubuntu live CD for a few days now, and it is VERY easy to learn, is sparse and uncomplicated, yet is Debian-Morphix-Knoppix, so you have access to apt-get, which is an extremely easy way to install one of thousands of packages from the Debian repositories. I'd try the Ubuntu live cd first, just to see how you might like Linux. Then if you think it's something you want to install to your hard drive, go with Ubuntu or SuSE. Both are easy and intuitive to install and use.

Hi all. Just saw this from another board I visit, and it is Cedega/Winex I used to get this program running satisfactorily.

Well I just found it and downloaded GSAK. It installed flawlessly under regular Wine, but has serious issues running. They are such that you cannot even terminate the program with xkill. You have to do a Ctrl-Alt-Backspace to start your DE over again. I also tried it with the latest version of Cedega, Transgaming's version of Wine, and had the same results. Using Transgaming's "Point2Play" however, I dropped back to their older Winex3.0, and it seem to work very well! I could even cruise my Linux files with it. I'm not real sure how this program works, but all the options and buttons seemed to work correctly under Winex3.0 Cedega and Winex is available at Transgaming.com but it cost a few dollars a month in "club fees," however the minimum amount of time you have to be a member is only three months.

I've never used Xwine so, I'm not sure how they set up their file structure. That I showed you would be for regular Wine. I've never seen that error before. That was a Wine error or an Xwine error? It alsmost sounds as if it can't find the .exe you downloaded. This often happens when you accidently type it in wrong. Unlike Windows, Linux is case sensitive. If you cd to the directory where the file is downloaded, and do... wine GSAK.exe [enter] It should do at least something. Is it possible you aren't in the same directory where the file resides? zenarcher, give me a link to this program and I'll download it and do some experimenting with it. Between the two of us, we might be able to come up with something that works...

Yes. You now have the right ISOs.

You can download it to anywhere you want, though most browsers by default will download it to your home/zenarcher directory. After downloading say, widget.exe, open a terminal and become root, that is... su [enter] It will ask for password, then enter it. You are now Super User. Just go... wine widget.exe [enter] And wine will likely install widget to .wine/fake_windows/Program\ Files/ or just .wine/fake_windows. Go into the widget directory by going something like: cd .wine/fake_windows/Program\ Files/widget [enter] then... ls [enter] ...to see the contents of the widget directory and look for the corresponding .exe which will run the program. Go... wine widget.exe [enter] And see what wine does with it. If you know the path to the executable you could even go something like... wine ~/.wine/fake_windows/Program\ Files/widget/widget.exe [enter] (By the way, ~/ is just a kind of short way of going /home/zenarcher.) And you should be able to run it that way too. Let's say it runs satisfactorily, and you plan to use it often. You can now create a custom desktop icon by right clicking on your desktop. You'll figure it out after that. then for the command, put in the same as above.

Apt-get RPM is based on the same principle as apt-get for Debian, in that it works out all the depenencies for you when installing packages. To install apt-get on Fedora core 2, download this and this. As root, "cd" to the directory where you downloaded these two RPMs and go: rpm -Uvh apt-0.5.15cnc6-1.1.fc2.fr.i386.rpm apt-devel-0.5.15cnc6-1.1.fc2.fr.i386.rpm [enter] (If using konsole, you can copy and paste the above command, without "[enter]" of course...) Both should install without incident. Next, you must update your machine with apt by going: apt-get update [enter] After it finishes, do apt-get update a second time. When it is through downloading the updates, you will next need the front end for apt which is called "Synaptic." Still as root go: apt-get install synaptic When it is done installing synaptic, just type: synaptic [enter] The Synaptic front end will now come up. It is very intuitive, and you shouldn't have too difficult a time figuring out how to use it.

You're actually right about the fake Windows area. After you install the program using wine, look in your /home directory, (..that is, your own directory that resides in /home.), and find .wine. From the command line, go: ls -a [enter] You can also "see" .wine with konqueror or nautilus file browsers. As with Windows, there is an option you will have to enable in order to see it. In Linux, a file with a dot before it is hidden. So since you know its there, you could from the command line go: konqueror ~/.wine/fake_windows/Program\ Files/ Look for your programs there. That's where wine will likely install them to. Once you're in the same directory where your program's corresponding .exe file is located, attempt running it by: wine nameofprogram.exe, Wine will surprise you! Some programs you'd think that would run without problems won't work satisfactorily, and others you give no chance of working will work flawlessly!

LOL! ReFoRMaT, it sounds like you're a member of the N.R.A. like I am. ...cold dead fingers...! LOL! Just tonight, I convinced a long time friend to let me nuke and pave his HD and install Linux. If you have good friends you care about who do nothing more than surf, Email and write and occasional letter, then convincing them to let you install Linux on their box is a wonderful gift! Freinds don't let friends use Windows... I've put Linux on four such boxes for friends and family and everyone of them loves it and is grateful they no longer get "illegal operations", trojans, browser hijackings, viruses, and all the rest of that Microslop hogwash...

Hi zenarcher, and welcome! You'll want to first open a terminal, If you're using Mdk 10, konsole is good. You'll need to get into the directory where this Windows program is located. Likely it is in your /home directory. If so, you're already there when opening a terminal. If not, you'll have to get into the directory where it is located. Let's also say as an example you downloaded the file into "Documents." From the command line go: cd Documents [enter] Now you are in the Documents file or folder or directory. Remember, "cd" means change directory. The program you are wanting to run is likely in a folder of its own. Let's say it's in, "GSAK." Go.. cd GSAK [enter] Then... ls [enter] ls is the command that lists what is in the directory where you are. Keep doing cd into directories and doing ls to see what is in those directories until you find the executable or .exe which will start the program. Once you find it, go: wine theprogram'sname.exe [enter] Ad see if wine opens it.

Hi adamvjackson! Sure wish I had a few fingers of good ol' Asheville "shine" right about now! Anyway, thanks for posting the solution!

Is there any reason you can't install Fedora Core 2 from CDs created from the ISOs? That I know will work. Also, if I'm understanding your partition scheme correctly, you have a swap then Linux EXT3 then Fat32, and there is Windows on this Fat32 partition? Theoretically I suppose it is possible to have your Windows OS somewhere else on the HD, but Windows will be MUCH happier if it is on the first partition on your HD, followed by Linux. As an example... hda1 - fat32 - Windows hda* - EXT3 - / hda* - swap - swap hda* - EXT3 - /home

Open source is inconsequential to Microsoft right now, but they take the future threat of open source to their monopoly very seriously. Microsoft has always done, and will continue to do whatever they can to stop open source, namely Linux. In the near future, probably at the release of Longhorn, they will implement, "security measures," which will in essence force consumers to use their operating systems and software. As a for instance, in the name of "security," a document created in MSword will be unreadable with other word processing software. The explanation Steve and Bill will give us is that these encryption measures will "protect" consumers from virus ridden documents winding up on their computers as attachments. This is how it will be sold. The real motive is to force consumers into using MSWord, which Microsoft will be glad to sell them, and to force the use of the Microsoft OS. What then will Linux users do when we receive one of these new "secure" documents? Microsoft will not port to Linux, and it is unlikely the new MSWord will work under wine. Oh well, I guess we'll all have to go back to using Microsoft, which is exactly their intent. This is but one of the myriad ways Microsoft plans to eliminate all other threats to their monopoly. The government broke up Standard Oil, Ma Bell, and At&T. They won't break up Microsoft.

I just installed Suse 9.1 Professional on this laptop, only to discover there is a huge 2 inch black margin around the desktop image. I have found out there is no fix for this, and the makers of the screen will not support Linux. If the person I'm doing this for decides against having a postage stamp version of Suse, how can I restore it to its original Windows only state? I can eliminate the Linux partitions, and resize Windows back to cover the entire disk, but I'm uncertain as to how to wipe out grub from the MBR and have it boot to Windows only. Ant help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I've not found a similar utility. Maybe there's still hope I can fix this. Any other ideas?

Did you not create a seperate partition for your home directory? If not, why not do an upgrade to your RH 9 with Fedora Core 2? I don't think an upgrade will overwrite your /home directory, even if it isn't on a seperate partition. Someone else please correct me if I'm wrong about that. The Fedora Core 2 upgrade, will likely give you the oppotunity to re-enter your root password. If not, you can use your install cd to mount your existing install and change your password back to "0." so you can get in and re-do it. If you've lost your root password, how have you been installing packages and running the RH utilities that require root access??

Hi jarves. If I'm understanding your enquiry, you are asking if a USB device can be mounted if it has been formatted NTFS? Most all I've seen are vfat and, of course are mountable. I don't really know the answer, but my hunch is yes. How to do it though will have to be relayed by someone else. I'm interested in finding out!

Many Debian based distros come with QTParted, a kind of Partition Magic clone, though it doesn't work nearly as well. Look for it in your menu. For this particular job, I think QIParted will do nicely.

danleff, I've never even heard of "skipstone!" As you know, I use IceWM, and other than the sudden crashing I told you about, Firefox works perfectly. The Firefox installer on their website is a breeze. Have you considered links-graphic? Links is smokingly fast, and will run circles around Firefox, but doesn't have all the bells and whistles.

If Kudzu is finding and configuring your card, and nothing at all shows up when you run system-config-network, then I'm not sure how to advise you... UPDATE: I just spent some time researching your problem and I believe I've found a solution. Read this and it's follow up posts. If you need help implementing this solution, let me know and I'll be happy to show you how.