Extreme n00b: So many questions....
 

:newbie:
I decided to try out Phlak V 0.2, and it's my first Linux experience. I run it off a CD on my Windows 2000 professional, but I'm such a n00b...I have a lot of questions, and I feel as if it would be better to consolidate all of them into this one post, rather than constantly flooding this newbie forum and risking permanent ban.

Anyway, here are my questions:

1. How exactly do I access my hard drive?

2. Why is my sound not working?

3. What are some essential commands I should know while using Linux?

4. I've noticed that there's an option to install Phlak Linux into my hard drive. If I were to do that, how could I access it? Is there a list when I boot up the computer? Would I have to reformat and partition my 10GB hard drive?

5. What is the difference between core Linux, RedHat, Phlak, etc.? I'm assuming that they all use GUIs; are they any different? I mean, they are all Linux, so do they use the same commands?

6. Why do I get the feeling that, when I become proficient in Linux, it will be the most kick-ass OS I have ever used? I have an odd feeling of happiness when I use it that I can't get from Windows or Macs, desipite my lack of experience.

Well, that's all the questions that I can remember. Thank you very much for using your time and answering a total n00b's questions.

Have you try Knoppix? I think Knoppix configures everything for you, even the sound. It runs off the CD as well and has a very user friend GUI.

1) to access your hard drive, you will first need to mount it to a directory. See man mount in command line for info on this.

2) cant help you with this. Others might, but you will need to give more information, sound card etc

3) I mostly us su - switch to super user, cd - change directory, and ls - list. Really depends on what you use the command line mostly for.

4) if you install, first look around this site and google for information on how to. Basically, you would need to partition your drive first, install linux second. When you re-boot, you will first see either lilo or grub which will ask if you want to boot to 2000 or linux.

5) Linux has the kernel, which is the heart of the system. I believe the options for this are all the same with a particular distro. After that, each distro can have a slightly different file system and different software packages on their cds.

6) because it is true. But get used to the newbie feeling.

welcome and have fun with linux