Every year or two I try linux again....... so here I am trying to make the effort to switch to Linux yet again and I downloaded and installed Mandrake 9.2 and am dual booting it with windows xp. The installation went fine since I used a partition on my 2nd hard drive to install it into (good job here mandrake - even better than the last time I tried which was ver 7.2). Had several minor problems but those were resolved - had to get a cheap SB sound card since my old aureal based one would not work - I think it was toast anyway

Biggest issues so far:

-cannot get linux to recognize my ms optical wheel mouse to use the scroll wheel or button and have tried every option (I think). It is currently set up going into my ps/2 port although it can use a usb port too.

-konqueror has no plugins for basic web stuff like flash or shockwave, etc. Is it better to drop this or simply add a different one like mozilla? this is a real big issue for me as more than half of what I do is internet related in some way or another. or am i just missing the way to install these plugins?

-how the heck due you play movies? I installed xmms thinking that would do it since it so winamp like but no go there. what is the windows movie maker equivalent?

-what app do you use for FTP access to my web sites? I tried Konqueror but it will not connect to any of them after I give the username and password. I really like using my WS_FTP pro now - is there something comparable or better out there?

-is it really necessary to join the "clubs" they have to get access to the newest and best apps for linux? and these don't seem to be cheap either ($60/yr, etc). I realize you can get most of them downloaded for free if you look around but I am sure I'll need access to some kind of support for them.

regards,

yau

p.s. when or when will a universal installer be developed for all linux platforms instead of having to compile everything

I believe I can answer some of your questions. For your scroll mouse the best option is probably generic wheel mouse. In order to actually activate it you many need to click the wheel button a few times and scroll up and down. There is fine print that says to do this on the install which is usually over looked (I'm guilty as well).
Whether you use Konqueror or Mozilla you may have to download the flash/shockwave plugins. It is not that flash is unsupported simply requires it to be installed. This is simple to do and with cookies enables macromedia will usually direct you to the version of flash/shockwave needed for your browser of choice. Mozill is Netscape based so this will be the flash/shockwave plugin used. These can be acquired through www.macromedia.com.
Movies can be played through xine. Mandrake includes this program I do not recall if it is automatically installed though. If it is not installed it can be easily added by using the Mandrake control center and adding new software packages.
All the apps that Mandrake comes with (ie mozilla, xine, konqueror, etc) can be downloaded for free at their respective sites. If you need support for these programs it can be recieved through their own forums and through forums such as this one.

Hope I was of some help,
javpra

Looks like javpra answered most of your issues, but i think at the mouse thing something needs to be added...
you should choose the generic mouse ( not necessarly generic WHEEL mouse ... couse from what i saw that doesn't have any effect ), and after you should edit the XF86Config, scroll to the mouse options, and add the following line: Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" - this is for making your mouse wheel work. I hope you'll figure it out where to put the line , it should be added just after the other OPTION lines, you'll notice them, i think the last is something about the mouse device ( ie. /dev/mouse ). Hopefully you understand what i mean to say.

B.T.W. you should choose the mouse on IMPS/2 port :P

-Cheers-

thanks for the help guys.

I am embarrassed to admit I now know why I don't have some of these apps installed I was asking about. CD2 and CD3 are both coasters although CD1 burned fine. I thought it simply didn't need those those two CD's because of the configuration I chose during installation....when in fact they were bad CD's.

Now I see people all over these and other forums having trouble with CD2/3 as well. So I am trying to burn those CD's one more time (I tried again earlier with the same result...no go).

If it fails again I will be looking for help on simply downloading those CD's contents in RPM form and installing them manually - I am tired of making all these coasters and wasting time with this part of the install/config.

yau

UPDATE: the burning of CD's 2 and 3 have failed again. To recap I have downloaded the iso's from two different ftp sites, tried burning them with two different apps (nero and ezcd), tried burning them on two different computers - and each time they fail - although they say successful when done. The CD's just spin and spin when you put them in and then appear empty. This is enough coasters for one distro and apparently others are having the same problem.

Since I am on a cable connection getting RPM's is no problem. Can't I just set that up in the package manager and download only the packages I want to add?

Or - since I still have all three CD's from Mandrake 9.0 can I just use those 2 and 3 CD's for the apps I need?

thanks again,
yau

I'm having the same problems with CD#2 and CD#3. I went back to Mandrake 9.1 .

i dedcided to just stay with the 9.2 install since CD1 was okay and I do have it up and running. i just set up the software media manager to go to different sites to get the latest RPMS and since yesterday have been able to get all the apps I was missing installed.

yau