OK, I just got SuSE, after trying Debian and Gentoo, but since I don't have the bandwidth to download everything, I went with SuSE. I've mounted my XP NTFS drive in both Debian and Gentoo, but something odd is going on. Here's what I did:

su root
mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows -t ntfs

Then I su back to my regular account. Loading up Konqueror, Nautilus, MC, doesn't matter, I don't have permission. Wait, I just got it working through KDE, but I'd rather be able to mount it properly from the command line, since I do prefer to be able to access it from a virtual console, if I need to. What permissions do I need to change?

From the man page for mount, the NTFS-specific mount options section:

uid=value, gid=value and umask=value
Set the file permission on the filesystem. By default, the files are owned by root and not readable by somebody else.

I've decided to give Linux yet another chance. THis time, now that I am retired, I can sit at the computer all day long if necessary and try to figure things out.

I've been playing with all kinds of Linux since around 1994. I still have some original Redhat floppies around in the garage. I have one BeOS Box still running; My OS/2 box went away several years ago. I've experiemented with SuSE, Debian, Redhat, Fedora, Mandrake, Corel (Yikes!) .... since first seeing Linux used when I was working with a guy from the Cypherpunks Organization. He had Linux with X on a laptop and it was awesome -- that was, what? 1992 or 93 .... he was one of those Rochester college guys ... Rennsey .....

I really really like this FC3 installation ... it is very solid so far. Only one total system freeze and that was when I was running the Mozilla newsreader at the same time as Firefox.

My box is home brew, of course. Athlon 750 Mhz; 1GB RAM; 1x 20GB HDA1 (Windows XP); 1x 200 GB HDB (FC3); 1x CDROM 48x No Name; 1x DVDRW No Name; 500watt PS.

My favorite magazine WAS "Maximum Linux" and I will never forgive them for folding it. "Maximum PC" is my next favorite.

I ran Firefox on my Windows XP system and liked it very much. Also ran Opera .. I even paid for them. I believe in supporting the developers. I like to drop some bucks on various developers, especially if they have a Paypal link on their sites. Even if it is only $25, it adds up for the guys and gals who are doing Linux and BeOS.

OK, on with the story!

I loaded up Fedora Core 3 on a big 200 GB drive. Told Anaconda to install "everything" -- lots of experience with failed and unobtainable stuff the last time I tried LInux. Then I started Yum and did almost 4 hours of downloading.

Everything looks cool. I have the desktop "just right". This .... is .... Sweet!

Electric Light Orchestra is playing loud on the sound system. I am wishing that I could get to the Firewire drive with my over 3,500 ripped MP3's ...

I did SU to root and did this:

Attached devices:
Host: scsi0 Channel: 00 Id: 01 Lun: 00
Vendor: Maxtor Model: OneTouch Rev: 0200
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 06

Well now, that's nice! Firewire automagically recognized. Yeah!

Next, I says OK, time to scoop out the Windows stuff on HDA1 and then try to set up the Firewire Drive: I Did this to make some mount points, etc.:

[root@localhost dave]# su root
[root@localhost dave]# mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows -t ntfs
mount: mount point /mnt/windows does not exist
[root@localhost dave]# cd /mnt
[root@localhost mnt]# mkdir windows
[root@localhost mnt]# mkdir firewire
[root@localhost mnt]# mkdir cdrom
[root@localhost mnt]# mkdir dvd
[root@localhost mnt]# mkdir miscellaneous
[root@localhost mnt]# dir
cdrom dvd firewire miscellaneous windows
[root@localhost mnt]# su root
[root@localhost mnt]# mount /dev/hdamount /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows -t ntfs
[root@localhost mnt]# mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows -t nfts
mount: fs type nfts not supported by kernel

Well, well .... the NTFS problem is STILL not fixed.

Ages ago here, "Sewer Monkey" gave this guidance to someone:

uid=value, gid=value and umask=value
Set the file permission on the filesystem. By default, the files are owned by root and not readable by somebody else.

I am not too sure how to do this and what values to place into those "value" places.

My "vision" is to mount the Firewire drive in /mnt/firewire; the windows drive in /mnt/windows; the CDRW unit in /mnt/cdrom and the DVD player in /mnt/dvd

Here are some requests for help --- I have some coordination difficulties and medical problems which make it somewhat hard to get things "right the first time", so please bear with me ...

1. I want to set me up so that user dave can see the NTFS drives (HDA1 and SCSI0) and access them permanently;

2. Once I get that set I will make icons for the desktop to click on files.

3. Find a newsreader application with Yenc capability. I d/l lots of binaries (no not Pr@n Airplanes and stuff from from alt.binaries.military; You all know probably that Agent and XNews runnin gunder Windows does all of the image work automatically, you just click on a file in the newsgroup and it d/ls and then is displayed.

4. Find an MP3 sorting and cataloging app .... I have used a couple under Windows and suppose that I could continue using the one under WINE since it is already all organized neat and pretty.

5. Set up WINE so that I can place an Icon in the desktop of a Windows app and have it execute using WINE.

If you have any recommendations please let me know .. I really appreciate any advice you can give me.

Cheers,

Dave

not to go too far offtopic here, but you will need to:
-recompile your kernel to support ntfs
-add your partitions to your /etc/fstab and make either /mnt/hda1 readable by all, or just the group dave is in
-i havent found nothing as good as xnews, knode is okay and pan is okay
-i dont catalog my mp3's, i cant help you here
-when you make a link on the desktop, just append the command with wine, you may need to use some arguments
-dmesg should show you where your firewire was mounted, try dmesg | grep sda or dmesg | grep sdb etc....