Linux.....help!

[chcr]

Heck, it's been so long since I set up a modem in Linux I forgot all about it (It used to be a huge pain in the ass to get one that wasn't on the hardware list to work). I know that the last few releases of slackware and redhat have even supported winmodems though. Also the USB cable modems are pretty well supported now. One of the advantages of having a million geeks all over the world constantly improving your OS is that bugs usually get fixed very quickly.

 

[tommyj27]

winmodems, IMHO, are not worth the trouble. get a good hardware-based / serial-external modem and setup is a snap. pretty cheap to pick up used on ebay or elsewhere on the net.

 

[Raven]

winmodems, IMHO, are not worth the trouble. get a good hardware-based / serial-external modem and setup is a snap. pretty cheap to pick up used on ebay or elsewhere on the net.

Slight problem with that. My modem is connected to the wall with a piece of cable that cannot be detached

Ah well.....

I have decided to appease Linux with it's own brand spanking new 120 gig HDD and another 256 megs of RAM.....hope it loves me in return

 

[HomeLAN]

So, I just inherited a P2 266, and I think I'm gonna install Linux on it to play around with. I already d/l'd and burned Mandrake 10.0.

Get ready for the stupid newbie questions, folks!

 

[PT]

I think you'll be amazed at how, er, "windowslike" it really is Homey. The only difficult part I've found is when you need to install some drivers or something like that. There isn't any installshield wizard for Linux.

 

[ClaireBear]

Get ready for the stupid newbie questions, folks!

Hey! I've worked my ass off round here to earn that title Mister... don't be stealing my thunder!

 

[Raven]

Guess its not too bad, just find the correct directories to put the files in?

[edit]Claire, get Linux then you may have the title back

 

[PT]

Putting the files in directories isn't too bad, but for instance with video drivers. You have to change the runlevel, reboot. install the driver, change the name of the driver in another file, change the runlevel back, reboot again. doesn't sound too hard until you realize that you need to know the command line to edit a file. And you've booted in command line. And you can't access the internet. And you can't boot to gui until you edit that file. But you don't know the command.

 

[Raven]

That would be a fuckup and a half huh?

Thats one of the main reasons I wanna dual boot actually, so if I fuck up I have a working 'stable' (as far as XP goes) OS to access the net for info.

 

[HomeLAN]

Oh, yeah, all 3 of my main rigs will be untouched. No problem to find an online resource.

Mainly, I want to learn some of those command line operators, and I want to see what programs will and won't work with it. I can still foresee a day when Linux becomes a more mainstream OS, and I don't want to be stuck with my thumb up my rear when that day comes.

 

[PT]

Yep, very good idea. I didn't do that and had to quickly get another computer up and running to find the info. Vi is the answer, by the way. vi is basically the same thing as edit on a dos system.

 

[Kawaii]

In the terminal, use the 'man <command>'(as in manual) command if you're unsure of what a command does. Try using man to check the following commands:
ls
cd
mv
rm
rmdir
mkdir
touch
tar
cat
ps
netstat
gcc
make
nano(or vi/vim/pico/nedit/emacs/whatever)
apt-get(under Debian)
apt-cache(same)

 

[HomeLAN]

K. Some of these I already know, since our main database runs in a Unix environment. vi, ls, rmdir, mkdir, for example, I'm familiar with. I just need to shift my thinking to that mode when I fire it up.

 

[chcr]

Putting the files in directories isn't too bad, but for instance with video drivers. You have to change the runlevel, reboot. install the driver, change the name of the driver in another file, change the runlevel back, reboot again. doesn't sound too hard until you realize that you need to know the command line to edit a file. And you've booted in command line. And you can't access the internet. And you can't boot to gui until you edit that file. But you don't know the command.

You're making it harder than it is. Just open a terminal window and log in as su (superuser). Password will be your root password. Now you can do everything you could do as root from the command line interface, plus you have a graphical interface available if you want to check what you've done graphically. Plus, you can keep a browser open on one of your other desktops for emergency fuck-up repair instructions. (not that I know anything about that)

 

[PT]

And moving around directories is very dos-like. cd.. cd/ dir etc, they all work pretty well the same.

 

[HomeLAN]

Yeah, I'm enough of a dinosaur to have fairly extensive DOS experience. That can be a drawback, too, though. The commands are just different enough....

 

[chcr]

Yeah, I'm enough of a dinosaur to have fairly extensive DOS experience. That can be a drawback, too, though. The commands are just different enough....

I ran into a lot of that.

 

[chcr]

PS, PT. You shouldn't have to reboot after installing video drivers, just restart X.

 

[PT]

PS, PT. You shouldn't have to reboot after installing video drivers, just restart X.

I didn't know how to do that either....

 

[chcr]

I didn't know how to do that either....

Ctrl>Alt>Backspace.