a request to all newbies...
 

please please please state which distro of linux you are using when you ask for help

it makes answering MUCH easier

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And title your threads with the issue clearly stated rather than 'HELP!!!'

And refer to any relevant hardware. 'My monitor's display looks warped and I have a Whizbang monitor with an Eyeblaster and 6 gigs of video memory' rather than 'My screen's all black and stuff!' But there's no need to say you've got a serial-toaster plugged in if that's not likely to be part of the problem.

And always, always, refer to any gotchas. If you've got some funky hardware or you're dual-booting with XP or you have a scsi-slidrule plugged in through a sonic-screwdriver-adaptor, let others know it.

And try to copy and paste as much as possible. Precise diagnostic output, precise error messages, precise commands you typed in. Maybe all it is is a typo screwing you up but if you say 'I issued the command to copy the files' all we can do is believe you or guess that you might have typed 'c[' or 'copy' instead of 'cp'. If you paste the info, people can see typos or bad syntax.

Flipside, if you're utterly lost and don't know what to do, post anyway. :) But *try* to make the posts clear and on target.

One word: DETAILS!

And on another note, we need these details as no members here are psychic and cannot guess what you have, what the problem may be and what the solution is unless you provide as much details as possible.

"I can't connect to the Internet? Any ideas?" <-- Bad Question

"I just installed Redhat 9 and I cannot connect to the internet. I use a cable modem and ethernet card to connect. Can anyone help me?" <-- Getting Better

"I just installed Redhat 9 and I cannot connect to the internet. During installation it never prompted me to configure my network. I am on a cable modem connected to my 3com 3c509TX ethernet card. Any ideas on how to get this connected?" <-- Best as it gives good enough details on Distro, Connection type and the hardware used to get you connected which is pointed out clearly.

My two cents.

One of the more important things is that you make sure that your primary distro shows under your name (to the left of your posts) so we can easily identify the distro your familiar with. Otherwise just make sure you put as much information as you can pertaining to your situation in your post.

One of my pet peeves is when someone asks a question and you try to help them and they don't say in their post what distro they are having problems on and their profile shows a distro other than the one they are having a problem on.

rberry88

And don't put "URGENT!" in your title!

:D