Linux

[bgast1]

That's one thing I don't understand. Why only create root directory with only 6GB on a HD with nearly 200GB? that's so short sighted by Mandriva. Unless bgast did it, then it's a newbie move

Nope, I didn't do it. Mandriva did it all by itself

I still need to learn how to create directories and move stuff around in Linux. I did do some reading and it looks a lot like DOS, I just need to experiment some.

As far as maintaining the spirit of multi-users, well the only one to possibly use this computer in Linux would be my son, and I don't know if he will be doing anything other than surfing the net. Maybe playing Civ. III.

 

[Padma]

C'mon, kingjoshi. 6GB is plenty for any standard Linux distro. Look at the df output for my system a few posts above. I have a *lot* of crap on my system, much of which I don't even use. I have KDE, Gnome, IceWM, Blackbox, fluxbox, fvwm, and probably other DEs/WMs. I have OpenOffice 1.1.5 *and* OpenOffice 2.0.2. I have a multitude of media apps, and other apps, that I installed just to try, until I decided which I liked best. I make it a point to install everything so it can be used by any user of my machine. And I still only use 5.6GB.

Face it. The real space hog is /home. That's where all your personal stuff goes: the documents you write, the pictures you save, etc.

In Mandriva, for some reason they don't use /opt. They put that stuff under /usr/local. Works the same, but I don't know why they choose to be different. Cedega will install to /usr/local, (at least mine did). All you have to do is double-click the rpm you downloaded, or type "su -c"urpmi ./cedega-whatever-the-full-name-of-the-file-you-downloaded-is", assuming you got an rpm file. When you run it, it creates/uses a ".cedega" directory in /home/<yourname> where it actually installs the games for you.

 

[kingjoshi]

Yeah, Red Hat used to be /usr/local. Mandrake copied. So if you're on a network and using NFS, the network drives with the software will be on one drive. But if particular users on the network need another program, you'd go to that workstation and install in /usr/local. /opt is more recent I believe.

You're right in that 6G is enough for now. But I remember using Red Hat way back when 2G was enough. And then 3G and then 4GB. Right now, I'm using 4.7G. Problem is, Linux doesn't come with a "partition magic" type software that allows the adjusting of partition sizes without losing data (AFAIK).

One of the reasons I chose Debian (and later Ubuntu which is Debian based) is because once you install, you don't have to mess with that stuff ever again. You can just "apt-get dist-upgrade" when they have the next version. So years later, it's still the same HD configuration. I don't want to "administer" my system again in 2 years. I don't want to re-install linux anymore.

On a system with over 80G, having a 10GB root partition allows plenty of space. And it allows plenty of time for people to create an easy "partition magic' on linux.

 

[bgast1]

I went to start my machine this morning and KDE crashed. Tried to repair it. Same problem KDE crashed. Did a re-install and guess what KDE crashed. Must have been a conflict with the packages I had installed (I suppose). Anyway, did a repartition and reformat and reinstalled works just like it did before. Now I have to go back and tweak the display etc as it shows up in 800/600 and that is a little large for my monitor.

How do I know that when I download a file that it is an rpm? Or even better yet, how can I insure that I do download it as an rpm?

Except maybe I ought to leave the resolution as it is for this old guys eyes.

So starting over again, here is what I want on my machine:
Obviously the OS
Something like MS Office, which I guess is already here, but here might be something better?
A good CD Player
A good DVD Player
To be able to burn CD's/DVD's
A good library for my CD's
Possibly Financial software
Ability to play games: Civ III, and the expansion packs, maybe Civ IV (if I decide to buy it)
and later on, as well as now....I want to become an expert at Linux.

Perhaps you all have heard this but an expert is an ex -- is a has been, and a spert -- is a drip under pressure.

 

[Padma]

I went to start my machine this morning and KDE crashed. Tried to repair it. Same problem KDE crashed. Did a re-install and guess what KDE crashed. Must have been a conflict with the packages I had installed (I suppose). Anyway, did a repartition and reformat and reinstalled works just like it did before. Now I have to go back and tweak the display etc as it shows up in 800/600 and that is a little large for my monitor.

Yeah, probably that accidental "install everything" command managed to get some incompatible things out there for you.

How do I know that when I download a file that it is an rpm? Or even better yet, how can I insure that I do download it as an rpm?

The easiest way is to look at the filename extension. Rpm files usually end with ".rpm".

So starting over again, here is what I want on my machine:
Obviously the OS

Something like MS Office, which I guess is already here, but here might be something better?

OpenOffice is arguably the best tool out there, right now.

A good CD Player

KSCD seems functional. I use amaroK for virtually all my music-playing needs. (I use KAudioCreator to rip the CDs to ogg or mp3 format, though.)

A good DVD Player

I usually just use Kaffeine. I think it uses xine as its backend. Either xine or mplayer make good dvd-players. Whatever you use, be sure to get the decss library from the PLF, and get the win32 codecs package from mplayer.org.

To be able to burn CD's/DVD's

K3b is, without a doubt, the best CD/DVD burning program I have ever used, including when I ran Windows.

A good library for my CD's

If you mean your ripped CDs, amaroK has a good built-in tool. If you mean something else ...

Possibly Financial software

I believe gnucash is the "Quicken" of the Linux world, at the moment.

Ability to play games: Civ III, and the expansion packs, maybe Civ IV (if I decide to buy it)

Cedega is the best bet to play Windows games. But there is really a rich world of Linux games out there, too. (But I know -- nothing beats Civ ... )

and later on, as well as now....I want to become an expert at Linux.

Perhaps you all have heard this but an expert is an ex -- is a has been, and a spert -- is a drip under pressure.

From one has-been drip to another.

 

[bgast1]

Warning: Long diatribe follows

My Linux experience is beginning to become unpleasant, but I refuse to give up. That has been my problem my entire life. To get started on a project and then give it up when the going gets tough. I am determined to conquer the Linux/computer project I have started.

At this point, I am willing to admit that I don't know as much as I think I know, but I know enough to make be dangerous.

Here's what I know. I have a successful installation of Mandriva Discovery/LX on and incorrectly configured computer that nevertheless works. Is that a problem? Can it be fixed in BIOS, or do I have to redo the connections on the devices and possibly change the jumpers? OR -- do I just go along with the old adage that if it ain't broke, don't fix it?

I have more questions than answers. I know absolutely nothing about the internet and configuring the computer to work on the internet. So far everything has been done for me by the OS. So I was wondering if you could tell me how to determine my IP address in the event that we are ever able to hook up remotely. (I work such a crazy schedule) I will then give it to you. Heck, chances are I didn't configure that right when I reinstalled Windows. But then again, it works.

Again, I am back to reading the Documentation and attempting to figure out stuff myself. (and I am learning, just not as fast as I would like), but I'm bothered by this problem I seem to be having downloading and installing programs. If I am understanding what I read correctly .rpm does it automatically, but for some reason I have yet to see a program (application) downloaded in this format. I attempted to get what I hoped was a later version of OpenOffice, but when I finished downloading it and wanted to open it, something called "Ark" opened it up with a lot of lines of code? in it's window. I didn't know what to do from there. Now it doesn't even show up in "Downloads" or "My Downloads" in my Home directory.

When I had downloaded Cedega Time Demo previously and tried to install it, it showed up in a "Kate"? window(shell) with an error message something to the effect that it was a binary file and saving it would result in a corrupt file.

At this point, I have a bit of a handle on a lot of the GUI stuff. I am able to issue commands successfully at the Konsole that you and other have given me. I have printed up a Command Reference from work. (My printer at home needs a cartridge which I need to get paid before I can replace it, and I don't have a driver for it in Linux) I understand a little bit (maybe a lot) about file systems, I know how to install and partition a hard drive and understand that each partition is in effect a different drive. But this new language that comes with Linux is really throwing me for a loop. Urpmi, RPM -- I now know these words but a lot of stuff is still confusing.

To make things easier, is there a way for me to capture my screen and paste it here, so that in the future I can explain what is actually going on?

Also, I want to pick and choose what I install so that I don't have anymore accidents, like what crashed my system. If I had to guess, it was probably an incompatible Nvidia driver.

And last but not least thanks again for all the help/

 

[kingjoshi]

bgast1 in bold

I am determined to conquer the Linux/computer project I have started.
Good luck and I hope the community can help.

Here's what I know. I have a successful installation of Mandriva Discovery/LX on and incorrectly configured computer that nevertheless works. Is that a problem?
What's incorrectly configured? Just the screen/monitor or more? If the screen setup is messed up, let us know. You should be able to configure that using the GUI, but I can help you if you need to change file configuration settings.

So I was wondering if you could tell me how to determine my IP address
in the konsole: ifconfig
I'm sure there are GUI apps for this.

If I am understanding what I read correctly .rpm does it automatically, but for some reason I have yet to see a program (application) downloaded in this format. I attempted to get what I hoped was a later version of OpenOffice, but when I finished downloading it and wanted to open it, something called "Ark" opened it up with a lot of lines of code?
RPM is one type of format where multiple files are saved together with embedded instructions on how to install. But not all Linux programs come in RPM. Some have RPM as one of many options and some don't offer RPM at all.

Some come as a '.bin' file which must be executed. RPMs are not executable themselves, but are packages. And RPM package managers can open and install an RPM.

Some software needs a "script file" to be run for installation. The script file is just a text file but with shell commands for the OS. Check the file properties to make sure they're configured to be executable (right-click and choose properties in Konqueror). To execute the script, in a shell console, go to the directory and then type the filename. If that doesn't work because it says file cannot be found, do './filename'.

Sometimes the current directory is not in the 'path'. The path is the list of directories the OS looks through for commands. Adding the "./" resolves that issue.

But this new language that comes with Linux is really throwing me for a loop. Urpmi, RPM -- I now know these words but a lot of stuff is still confusing.

As I said, the RPM is a package. But sometimes, packages 'depend' on other packages to work. This can cause "dependency hell". To resolve that issue, many places have package repositories. So all packages that you'll need will be in that repository. Now, a good package manager doesn't even need you to have RPMs on your computer. You just type you want a program installed and it'll automatically go to the repository and download all the rpms needed and install them. From my understanding, "urpmi" is Mandriva's method. Other companies use alternate programs and respositories but the same concept is at work.

To make things easier, is there a way for me to capture my screen and paste it here, so that in the future I can explain what is actually going on?

For me, on Ubuntu, I just hit "Alt + Print Screen" and it takes a screenshot. It even brings up a dialog box asking me where I want to save the picture. I assume Mandriva has something similar. At least it would copy the image to the clipboard and allow you to paste the image into an image program.

Also, I want to pick and choose what I install so that I don't have anymore accidents, like what crashed my system. If I had to guess, it was probably an incompatible Nvidia driver.

I don't know Mandriva's program for this. Padma should know.

 

[bgast1]

Kingjoshi
Thanks much for the reply.

[BWhat's incorrectly configured?[/B]
Well, apparently when I altered my box from the way it came. I disconnected a DVD-rom and installed a second hard drive, apparently BIOS and Linux are reporting that the remaining DVD-RW is master, and my hard drives are slave. You can see this a few threads above, plus a further explanation.

So, it is normal that not everything will download as an .rpm. Good, that clears up some questions, but makes some but I will have to attempt to utilize your thread above to enlighten me. (I am at work, and on windows until 8:00 tomorrow morning).

I just read some instructions for installing Cedega's time demo. Does this make sense.

chmod + x cedega_time_demo_installer
./cedega_timedemo_installer

then follow the instructions.

That's all for right now. I am just reading some stuff here and there tonight. Like mandrivausers.org and linuxquestions.org, as well as the Mandriva Club that I belong to for some 24 more days.

Thanks again.....Bob

 

[Padma]

As for your "odd" setup, I would say just go with it. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." It is not set up incorrectly, just unusual.

As for rpm's My advice to new Linux users is always: "Use your package manager". There is virtually no need to go anywhere on the internet and download "strange" rpms (or tarballs, or source code) and try to install them. Mandriva has one of the best repository systems around. I think only debian has larger repositories. Granted, the version s in the repositories may not be "bleeding edge", but do you really need that? Even I, with over 20 years experience as a professional computer geek, and able to compile source code in my sleep, look to the repositories before I even consider going elsewhere for something.

Maybe it's something to do with the Lycoris desktop used in Discover/LX. On my 2006 system, rpm files are automatically associated with rpmdrake - the gui rpm manager. But if you do have problems with it opening in "ark" (an archiving program, similar to winzip), justy go to the command line, and as root, enter "urpmi <filename>". For instance, I downloaded the latest version of OpenOffice (2.0.2) this weekend, inrpom form. I first had to open the tarball, but once the files were extracted, I simply "cd"ed to that directory, and types "urpmi ./*.rpm". About 5 minutes later, it was all done. (I still have to link it into the menu system, but what the heck. It's installed, and I can run it from the command line.)

Those Cedega instructions make perfect sense. The "chmod" command will add "execute" permissions to the installer file. Then, to execute (run) that file, youe enter the command "./cedega_timedemo_installer". And follow the on-screen instructions.

MandrivaUsers.org is a very good place, as is LQ.org. And of course, we're always happy to help, here.

 

[kingjoshi]

Well, apparently when I altered my box from the way it came. I disconnected a DVD-rom and installed a second hard drive, apparently BIOS and Linux are reporting that the remaining DVD-RW is master, and my hard drives are slave.
It's not very important whether the hard drive is slave or master. one thing is, you'd prefer faster drives to share a cable and slower drivers to share another one. but beyond that, no biggie. Any OS can install on a slave drive.

So, it is normal that not everything will download as an .rpm. Good, that clears up some questions, but makes some but I will have to attempt to utilize your thread above to enlighten me. (I am at work, and on windows until 8:00 tomorrow morning).
Reading is good. But obviously, doing helps you learn much faster.

chmod + x cedega_time_demo_installer
./cedega_timedemo_installer
The first line changes the properties of the file cedega_time_demo_installer by allow it to be executable
the second command tells the shell to run the script and start the installation
Just like I would expect. But soon, Linux will get away from all console installations.

That's all for right now. I am just reading some stuff here and there tonight. Like mandrivausers.org and linuxquestions.org, as well as the Mandriva Club that I belong to for some 24 more days.
I've been using Linux for 8+ years and I still go searching the web for stuff. But Linux is getting much easier. It's not as easy as it should be, yet. Ubuntu is very close. I guess maybe Mandriva is close too, but I don't know.

Thanks much for the reply.
My pleasure.

EDIT: okay, I'm the slower typer.

 

[bgast1]

Padma
Would I be better off going and downloading the free version of Mandriva, then going to urpmi site that you cited in an earlier post, or am I "ok" with the installation I currently have?

Oh, and non Linux or computer related, where did you get that avatar? It reminds me of my old dog "Sam", we had for some 11 years. He was a Basset mix, don't know what he was mixed with because he stood a bit higher than most Bassetts. But other than that he was all Bassett. Typical hound dog, sleeping and fartin' all the time. I loved that dog and I miss him a lot. Now we have this minature toy poodle which is a good pet, but hard to call a dog.

Kingjoshi
Are you saying that Linux is going to be doing away with the console? Shoot, I might miss that. I enjoyed the days when I would write very simple programs in dbaseIII+, and the DOS days.

When I am able to get onto my own computer, I will try and take some screen shots, if necessary and then I will probably get a better understanding of what to do.

 

[kingjoshi]

Are you saying that Linux is going to be doing away with the console?

NEVER!

But, almost everything that can be done on the console will have a GUI representation and newbies won't have to touch it if they don't want to.

 

[bgast1]

Regardless of whether I download the free version of Mandriva 10, should I still go by the earlier postings and download and install Opera and also go to http://easyurpmi.zarb.org. Only this time try not to intall any packages that I don't need. I think for the most part I am interested in amarok, Cedega, and Opera. I don't know of anything else that I really need. I also want to get the latest version of OpenOffice. Oh yeah, the codecs to play DVD's and media players. I might need realplayer in the near future as well, there is some streaming stuff that I listen to that requires real player.

 

[kingjoshi]

Why doesn't Mandriva have all that in their repositories?

If you bought Mandriva, it should have everything AND MORE then the free version. If you are going to download anything, try Ubuntu.

Opera is superfluous. Firefox is plenty.

I just checked and it seems OpenOffice.org comes in a gzipped tarred file. gzip is a method of compression. tar is a program/format for combining multiple files into one. Ark is a program that can uncompress and untar files. The OpenOffice.org file has the extension .tar.gz and once that's uncompressed and untarred, it'll create all these folders and files. It'll have an installation file you can run.

I've never tried Cedega so I can't help you on that.

I don't know how Mandriva handles amarok, the media codecs and players. They really should be in the repositories. It should be easy to install them. Mandriva should have some program that does installation and removals in its base install.

RealPlayer can be downloaded from their site. But for Ubuntu, they have it in their repository. RP has a .bin file that you can run from the console and it asks where you want to install it. I haven't used it in a while though.

 

[bgast1]

I bought a version of Mandriva called Discovery/LX. I guess it is for newbies like me. With that came a 30 day membership to the Mandriva Club. I believe that I can get all of their repositories there, with urpmi, but they have to be downloaded. The Firefox I have in my install is Firefox lite.

If you don't know Cedega, then I take it you are running on a Windows machine?

 

[kingjoshi]

I'm running on Ubuntu. I have Windows as well, but I haven't played cIV in over a month. I just have to kick the forum habit and maybe I can be productive again

Well, all the repositories are online. So basically you tell it (urpmi or whatever program) to install an application and it'll download everything it needs and do the rest. If you have internet connection in Linux, everything should be fine.

 

[Padma]

Pretty much everything is in the repositories. If it's proprietary or commercial, though, it is only available in the special Club repositories. But so little fits that desscription in Linux that that isn't much of a loss.

amaroK is in the standard repositories. Cedega is commercial, and only available from transgaming.com. Opera has a free Mandriva-compatible rpm file available to download. (I think it says Mandriva 10.1, but it works with all versions of Mandriva.)

As for dropping the Discovery/LX in favor of a free version -- I hate to see somebody "waste" the money they spent. I would try to muddle along for a few more weeks. At least you could say you gave it your best shot! Of course, one of the best things about Linux (and something its detractors consider a negative) is the vast number of distros available. Not everybody likes the same thing. I have come to really like Mandriva, but many people don't. I find Ubuntu to be a mediocre distro, at best, while others swear by it. It's all personal preference! I keep a 10G partition available just for trying distributions. Over the last year, I have played with Fedora, Suse, PCLOS, Debian, and Ubuntu. So far, nothing has made me want to dump Mandriva, yet.

[off topic]My avatar is just a tweaked picture of a Bassett I found online a few years ago. It reminds me of my old Toby. I have had four bassetts over the years, all "rescued" from going to the pound.[/off topic]

 

[kingjoshi]

When I had Mandrake, it used to be my favorite distro, so I don't think there should be any problems with it.

I do think Ubunut simplifies the interface and makes several things easier for newbies. But I haven't seen the latest Mandriva to compare it to.

I don't have free space on my laptop and I don't know if I'd want to have the hassel (pleasure?) of installing new distros again. Maybe in the future.

 

[bgast1]

From the Mandriva Club I executed the following statements, and they worked:

urpmi.addmedia "club.commercial_x86-32_2006" https://bgast1@hotmail.com:PASSWORD@dl.mandriva.com/rpm/comm/2006.0/i586/ with hdlist.cz

urpmi.addmedia "club.club_x86-32_2006" https://bgast1@hotmail.com:PASSWORD@dl.mandriva.com/rpm/club/2006.0/i586/ with hdlist.cz

Let me guess what I did. I game myself access to all of Mandriva's Club proprietary and Open Source urpmi's. Not the actual packages but the ability to install them. Is that correct? But I had better install them before my membership is up in 24 days, if I want any of them? (At least the proprietary ones) That is why Padma gave me the http://easyurpmi.zarb.org?

Obviously I won't want all of these. But if there are other desktop managers in there like Gnome. I might like to look at them. If the latest OpenOffice is in there I would like to get that. I would like to try amarok. If there is a database manager in there I would like to get that. But what else might be cool?

 

[kingjoshi]

MySQL or PostGres are both fine databases. MySQLcc is a GUI to manage the mySQL DB.

But you should be able to browse through categories and just see what catches your eye.

I prefer KDE to Gnome, but definitely try both. There are other window managers and some prefer the smaller lighterweights. The only reason I use Gnome is because my sound doesn't work as consistently with KDE for some reason. They use a different audio layer

With KDE you can explore the Control Panel and customize to your heart's content