> > Hello folks..I'm so new to Linux you wouldn't believe, so please be
gentle
> > with me!!
Not a problem! You'd be surprised at the varied backgrounds here, I'm sure.
> >
> > I've loaded Madrake in the last couple of days. I'm stumbling my way
around.
> > As I came to PC's pretty late (About 30 months ago), I've never learnt
any
> > dos, so this command line stuff is a bit scary!!
Me too! It's not as tough as it looks though.
> >
> > A couple of questions I'm sure have been asked a zillion times.
> >
> > 1-What is the best way of imstalling programs that don't come on the
> > Mandrake disc-I'm thinking Star Office and Corel Wordperfect mainly?
I've
> > tried it, following the instructions I have, and from the 'Read Me'
files
> > that accompany those programs. Going from a command line, I get
nowhere..so
> > what do I do??
Do you have a graphic interface installed on your Linux machine? (I'm
thinking KDE for example) If not, now would be a good time to install one
if you can. It will make your migration to Linux much easier. Next, there
are some small things that most of those 'README' files assume that you
already know. If you can, you should pick up a couple of books (most
libraries have them, I believe); Unix for dummies and Linux for dummies. I
would also get a copy of Linux Unleashed from your local Barnes and Noble.
That will give you an idea of how permissions, etc. work in this enviroment.
When you install most programs, they require that you do so logged in as
'root', which is the only one on your system that should have complete
control as to what goes on inside your machine. WordPerfect I believe, you
first get into your windows enviroment (startx), then open a terminal window
and type 'su' (without the quotes) and give your root password when it asks,
then cd to /mnt/cdrom or wherever you have your cdrom mounted, and I believe
to install, you type ./install.sh from the command line. It's something
along those lines, if that doesn't work, write back and I'll see if I can
give you more precise instructions.
> >
> > 2-Modems-Do no internal modems work aty all? I've got a pretty good
hardware
> > driven internal one that'll run any flavour of windows.
Yes, quite a few modems do work with Linux, even the newer ones are becoming
available to Linux users. I use a Diamond Multimedia 56k V.90 internal w/
speaker phone on an ISA slot - works great! (No, I haven't tried to use the
speaker phone - don't need it) You will need to manually adjust the jumpers
on the board to fix which comm and irq you want to use (just use the same
ones that windows uses) as there isn't very good plug n pray support in
Linux yet (although it is getting there!)
> >
> > Thanks for bearing with me..If there is any good newbie faq sites
around,
> > I'd appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction.
Go to: www.mandrake.com and look in the upper left corner of the screen,
you'll see a list of some good online places to go for info.
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Andy
> >
> > Manchester, UK
> --
> My new linux web server with Apache
> http://kittypuss.dnydns.org
>
> Sign up for ClickDough and get paid to surf the web.
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>
Good luck!
Michael Holt
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
