Rosemary,
Okay - first up:
during the install, I selected the partitions that Mandrake preselected - which is what I was advised to do, probably at linuxquestions or another forum, or possibly on the installation process itself.
These were: hda5 (5.8Gb, /, ext) hda6 (368Mb, /mnt, ext3) hda9 (11Gb, /home, ext 3)
If this was incorrect, then so be it - I was simply doing what I thought I had been advised to do. There was also swap there somewhere.
I seriously wonder if all this questioning is worth it - your time, and my limited knowledge. I simply want a system that works. If I have made a mistake, okay, then fix it if can be fixed simply, or reinstall. It seems the fix is not simple, and I believe it is time to reinstall.
I am sorry if this disappoints you ... and I am sorry if I have wasted your time. I acknowledge that I probably stuffed up when I attempted to install the mouse, however, there were always problems with stalling, even at the first install attempt. I see on other forums that Mandrake is reputed to have problems with USB devices. That may be disputed here - I don't know.
I do know that I need to have a system that works, and if i don't fully understand why it didn't, then I can live with that. I hope you can see my point. I read recently - on the local LUG mailing list I think - "that some prefer to wrestle with linux, than actually use their system" I *don't* fall into that category.
I really am deeply appreciative of your efforts to help, and of other listers - but am beginning to wonder if it is going anywhere.
Regards Rosemary
While I would love to take this through to the end, in this case, you are probably right about a re-install being the best fix. If I were sitting in front of your box, I could probably get everything sorted out in less time then it would take to install. But doing it over the list, it will probably take at least a few days. I would enjoy the chalange, but it is probably not in your best interest. If you had more Linux experence, and wanted to learn system repair, that would be different.
Now, when you re-install, you will want to save your /home partition, (hda9) and probably your extra data partition (hda6).
One thing I would do different - you will want hda6 to mount on /data or /mnt/data. You do NOT want it on /mnt. If you want, you can just tell the installer to leave it alone, and we can help you create a mount point for it later.
Mikkel --
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!
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