On Tue, 30 Mar 1999, you wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I just signed up to this list yesterday, and if what I am reading is
> from "newbies", I am in trouble. I don't know what anyone was saying.
> Of course I did just get my Linux disk in yesterday. So far I haven't
> got a clue as to how to install this thing. Is there a site I can go
> to that gives me a 1 - 2 extremely detailed how to on what I need to
> do? I want to install it on a 1.2 gig HD all by it's lonesome. I am
> running Win98 on my 5 gig but I'm just going to disconnect it to setup
> the other one. I got a Mandrake Linux 5.3 CD.
>
> Thanks in advance
> Russ
>
> Boy is this different than DOS
Russ,
I noticed in the reply to your mail that no one mentioned what info you need
to know before you even start to install Linux.
1. You need all the info on your monitor, and video card. ( ie.. the refresh
rates and such)
2. Write down all your sound card settings from windows ( ie.. the irq, and
dma settings)
3. Know where your modem is ( ie.. com ports, be aware that win modems by
what i read tend to have trouble with linux)
4. Know all the info about your isp. (..the dns numbers, u will need them)
I also notice you said you would be removing the windows drive for this
install. You really should look into the dual boot which is most common with
with , and old Linux users. You may find yourself in a catch 22 . You might
have a problem that you could fix if you could get online, but you can't get
online without putting the windows drive back in. Since i installed Mandrake i
spend 95% of my time on the puter in Linux , only booting to windows when i
have to run a certain app that wine can't run, or that i haven't found a clone
for in linux.
Here's a few commands that you may not know of that are nice to do when you
first start linux.
Logged in as root
1. useradd :adds a new user
2. passwd ( username ) : lets you set the password for that user
3. /etc/cron.daily/updatedb.cron : This indexes the files on your system after
it's done you can type locate (filename) and it will list every file by that
name and where it is on your system.
4. shutdown now -r : reboots the system leave the -r off to just shut it down
5. startx : this will start the kde interface
6. mount /mnt/cdrom : mounts the cdrom drive
7. ls : list the files in the dir. add -a to show all files in the dir
8. pico : In the workstation install this is included as a simple text editor
you can use in the shell, or xterm . ( the command line) to edit a file type in
pico ( and the file name) like pico .bashrc ( don't forget the . if there is
one in front of the file name, or that it's case sensitive.)
9. adding color to the shell : The first time you use ls or ls -a you see file
names all one color. To make it easier to know what your looking linux has a
color coding built in. To turn it on.
As root
type in pico .bashrc
add the line
alias ls='ls --color=auto'
save it and log out ctrl + the d key.
log in again and type ls -a colors, blue is folders, green ( don't quote me)
are exe, rpm, or some other type.
I hope this helps some. There are alot of folks here that are not only willing
to help but very good at it. Ask if you run into trouble.
There is also a newsgroup alt.os.linux.mandrake
that was born from this mailing list where u can also post questions.
I'm going to read over the rest of the replies and see if i can add anything.
Steven G
