Computer Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread

[lndm]

For the men, it can have... effects.

Faptop????

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Faptop????

More like nofaptop

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Is there any way that I can get icons from .exe files and save them somewhere else?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

There is an icon editor I used to use that could do it. Hold on, gimme a few minutes and I'll try to find it.

EDIT: I'm still looking, but this may be your thing -- Icons from File.
ANOTHER EDIT: A few extractors here.
STILL ANOTHER EDIT: Didn't find it, though it's on a CD around somewhere. If you're interested, I'll look it up, although the features you could probably get anywhere.

 

[Macha]

Is there any way that I can get icons from .exe files and save them somewhere else?

Usually there is a .ico file nearby, probably with the same name as the .exe.

e.g. Someprogram.exe will have a file called Someprogram.ico

 

[Atticus]

I'm trying to make my uncle's old PC decent for mild use, so I installed old Red Hat in it. It seems to operate pretty fine, but the lack of hard disk space is a big downside (It has two HDs, 800 MB and 500 MB). So I thought of buying 6 or 10 GB HD for it.

I know practically nothing about Linux or computers in general, so there's few problems:
Installation guide said that I should make at least three sections*: /swap for virtual memory, /boot for kernel and root: /.
1. Is root used for programs and files?
2. I tried to use both hard disks for root directory, but it didn't work. Instead I put /usr in other disk. What the hell is /usr for?
3. After installation I started to suspect that Linux doesn't make differences between hard disks, only with directories. Is that even approximately true?

Now you probably are wondering why I'm even installing Linux if I know so little about it, but I thought it would be the most efficient way to learn. Also I once used Red Hat in my work for a year without knowing anything of it and had only little trouble (allthough I could have used something else than pico to write my thesis...). I thought my uncle could use it too without deeper knowledge of it.

Now if I'm buying that extra hard disk, I thought I'd use another of those smaller ones too. Would it be a good idea to put /swap and /boot on the smaller one and root on the bigger one? If so, which one should be master, and which one slave? Or does it matter at all?




* I'm not sure what the English terms are, since the book I'm using is Finnsih.

 

[Turner]

Partition is the technical term, but section works.

How old is this machine?

 

[Atticus]

I suppose it's from 98 or 99. It has AMD K6-III processor and 160 MB memory. It previously ran Windows 98, but was a bit slow with that (one reason was probably that it wasn't taken good care though). The Red Hat I installed was from 2001.

 

[GVBN]

Separate /boot partition isn't really needed

Root is kinda like C:\ in Windows. It's the topmost parent node, under which all other files and folders are located

/usr is mainly for binaries, usually found in /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin. Core system binaries are in /bin. It's not a user folder, that's in /home/(username)

edit: and yeah, Linux uses mount points instead of hard drives

 

[Atticus]

Ok, thanks. I automatically thought that usr would be user

What about the idea of putting /boot and /swap in 800 MB disk and root in 6GB disk? This might be stupid question (and probably is because I know so little about these things), but I thought if the /swap and /boot are in the master disk, it might slow down programs operating from root (which is in slave disk), and vice versa.

 

[Padma]

You don't *need* /boot. If you are using only the one copy of Linux, let it stay in /. You want at least a 320M swap partition, so, IMHO, use the 500M (or the 800M) drive for swap, and put everything else in a single (/) partition on the new 6G drive.

With a 6GB drive, and the rest of your system, you should actually be able to run a fairly modern distro without too much slowdown. Especially if you opt for lightweight programs.

 

[Atticus]

You don't *need* /boot.

Ok, when GVBN said it, I understood that it isn't absolutely necessary, but it might be a good thing to have own partition for it. I shall do what you adviced.

The master/slave-thing doesn't have any notable effect, does it?

you should actually be able to run a fairly modern distro without too much slowdown.

I thought before I begun this whole thing that the computer was much worse than it was. So I just loaned from library some Linux installation guide which was published around year 2000 and hoped it wouldn't be too heavy to run.

It isn't the best possible way to install, but my attention span is too short to find out much about Linux before trying it myself. The computer itself had already been abandoned, so I thought it would be fun to spend christmas trying to put it in use, and if it wouldn't succeed, nothing would be lost. (First day I of course spend taking off everything which didn't require force to remove, and the second day trying to guess where to connect things )

I'm not sure who is going to use the computer when it's ready, but my goal is to make it quick and smooth to use for the basic applications. Thus I don't mind if the distro is old, if it runs properly.

 

[Padma]

Master/slave shouldn't have any effect, since you tell the bootloader where to find things, anyway.

I'm not sure who is going to use the computer when it's ready, but my goal is to make it quick and smooth to use for the basic applications. Thus I don't mind if the distro is old, if it runs properly.

An old RedHat will be moderately difficult to install, may not recognize all the hardware, and won't get security updates.

My suggestion would be to install Puppy Linux, D@mn Small Linux, or, my favorite light distro, Tiny-Me, a remaster of PCLinuxOS.

 

[lndm]

Ok, thanks. I automatically thought that usr would be user

It is! but it's files for the user, not by the user.

What about the idea of putting /boot and /swap

Unless you have a special reason (and I'm sure you don't at the moment ) you will either need boot or you won't. If it works, then you don't.

With regards to swap, if you have enough RAM, you shouldn't need it. When I can supply enough RAM, I don't use swap memory (no "I use Photoshop" type replies, please , I've been doing this for long enough)

 

[Padma]

With regards to swap, if you have enough RAM, you shouldn't need it. When I can supply enough RAM, I don't use swap memory (no "I use Photoshop" type replies, please , I've been doing this for long enough)

With a mere 160M of RAM, he will *need* swap.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I have an older game (SimTown) that doesn't seem to recognize my RAM. I needed to adjust the swap file for it.

 

[lndm]

With a mere 160M of RAM, he will *need* swap.

OK, I'll go along with that. I'll just note that with the 2001 version of RH (v5 or 6 IIRC?) I doubt I was using more than 128MB (IIRC).

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Here's a question -- when my CPU usage is high, the light on the front of the computer comes on and the computer makes noises. However, right now my CPU is at 0-15% yet the light's coming on & computer makes noises. What else could it be?

 

[Zelig]

Here's a question -- when my CPU usage is high, the light on the front of the computer comes on and the computer makes noises. However, right now my CPU is at 0-15% yet the light's coming on & computer makes noises. What else could it be?

It's a HDD activity light, no relation to CPU use.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Okay, thanks. But why does it flash when the CPU is high usage?