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-   -   First timer with several questions (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/first-timer-with-several-questions-233467/)

William Zellman 09-21-2004 02:16 PM

First timer with several questions
 
I've wanted to try Linux for awhile, now, but was intimidated by the alphabet soup that seemed to be necessary to do anything. I came across a book called "Linux for non-geeks" that seemed to be the answer; step-by step installation and exercises in an enclosed Fedora Core 1 installation. Unfortunately, for some reason the customized distro accompanying the book wouldn't install on my system.

So, I got a four-disk set of Fedora Core 2, hoping it would be similar enough to use the book's step-by-step instructions. For the most part it worked. I've got it installed in a dual-boot setup with Windows 2k Pro (Fat 32, not NTFS). It runs, and even found my modem, so I can access the internet! Neat! :D

But there have been some problems. How much is my fault and how much is due to incompatibilities with the book, I don't know. But, here goes:

First, My sound card doesn't work. It's an old Aureal Vortex 8810. The system identifies it, and asks if I can hear the test sound (I can't!) If it can detect it, and identify it, doesn't that mean there's a driver installed? If not, how can I install it? If so, why isn't it working?

Second, The book talks you through an exercise in which you download a couple of rpms, and install them. My install, though, doesn't know what to do with the rpms. It gives me a box asking what program to use ot run them. I guess I didn't install something. Anyone know what? and how to install it?

Third, Why do I have to log in as root to run the KPPP dialer? Oh, I can do it, but it's an irritation.

Finally, How can I change the screen resolution? The installation defaulted to 1024x768, but after running it for awhile, I'd really rather have 800x600.

Oh, yes, one more thing. I mentioned I got the four-CD set, but my installation only called for the first two disks. I assume the others contain additional programs, but is there some way to browse the programs and rpm's?

tonan 09-21-2004 02:40 PM

Well dear friend, your one step solution is that you use RED HAT 9.0 it will solve all your above mentioned problem, because i also had this problem of chosing the correct version for me, although no offence to all other flavours, but you can use this and it will solve all your problems.

As for browsing the cd-rom, just pop in the cd in the cd-rom...

it should auto-mount and display an icon on your desktop, but if does not just type this command in your command line...

$ mount /mnt/cdrom

you can now browse by providing this same path in your gui browser...

to install any application i.e rpm you have to use
$ rpm -ivh <name>.rpm

to unmount or eject the cd.. simply write

$ eject cdrom

if you have a cd-rom and cd-writer like i do then the names shall be cdrom1, cdrom

i hope this shall solve some of your questions :)

Peacedog 09-21-2004 02:48 PM

The sound card issue wasn't addressed, so I'll take a shot. First try running a mixer and unmuting sound. If that doesn't work, download the latest alsa packages here.

http://www.alsa-project.org/

Card specific info you can find here.

http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc...&module=au8810

The alsa solution should work. I'm using an au8820, it works great. Uninstall the current alsa packages before installing the new ones if you infact have them installed.
good luck.

ram007 09-21-2004 03:39 PM

Sound card
 
I'm new at this also.

I'm also running Fedora Core 2.

I have a Sound Blaster Card. Went through the same thing as you.

How many outputs does your card have?

Mine has 2

In windows, I had the speakers plugged into the speaker output.

But in Fedora I had to change it to the other output jack (Digital out I think it is)

See if you have second output jack, if so, switch them and then run your sound detection again.

Also, right click on the little sound icon on your taskbar

Make sure you check all tabs and turn everything up that will let you.

some of the sliders will not move (don't worry) obviously they're not meant to.

William Zellman 09-21-2004 08:58 PM

Thanks all.

Tonan, I appreciate the advice. It worked fine.

Peacedog, Thanks a lot. I went to the ALSA site, and downloaded the driver. Do I need to download any of the other packages? I also printed off the card-specific instructions. I think they may assume too much, though. One of the first things it says, in italics no less, is "you must turn on the sound support soundcore module. This is in the kernel. Look in the sound drivers directory and it should be the first option." Is it possible this might be the whole problem?

This may sound dumb, but I have no idea where the kernel is located, much less the sound drivers directory! Suggestions gratefully accepted!

RAM007, Thanks for the idea. I tried them, but no joy.

Peacedog 09-22-2004 06:42 AM

Please issue the following command from konsole.

lsmod

Post the output here. This should show a sound driver, which is the sound core support you're asking about. For the other packages, yes, you'll need the libs package, util package, you may want to get the oss compatibility package. Most likely sound core is enabled by default. Hope that helps.
good luck.

justin_p 09-22-2004 07:31 AM

william, go to see another convert. I use FC2 myself. works great. I know that you mentioned package installation. The easiest things to do (and I know the command line is kinda a pain but works well in so many situations) is use yum. This is the update program that fedora has tailored itself toward. The syntax is simple enough: yum install packagename. Go to www.fedorafaq.org. They have sample config files for yum (/etc/yum.conf) and explain it's use. It's fairly straight forward and there are always forums to help you out.

Also, removing and reinstalling alsa would be a snap with yum,

su
yum remove alsa*
yum install alsa*

MartinN 09-22-2004 07:44 AM

Hi William!

Good to see that you get a lot of help. You should be able to install RPM packages by simply double-clicking on them in Nautilus (the file explorer). Unfortunately, Fedora Core 2 is mis-configured. Follow the procedure here:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...01#post1177101
and everything should work. I found out this myself just a week ago.

Martin

William Zellman 09-25-2004 08:01 PM

After several hectic days, I finally got back to trying to make Fedora core 2 work.

Peacedog, I entered lsmod from the console, got the following: BASH: lsmod: command not found. Any suggestions?
I was going to use yum to install the ALSA files you recommended. See below for more on that!

Justin P, I downloaded yum OK. The first time I tried to extract it, there was a problem. Tried again, and I guess it worked. At least I didn't get any error messages! Then I went into konsole and typed /etc/yum.conf I got an error message saying permission was denied. So, I did an su, and logged in as root. I typed the same thing, and still got the same error message. I thought root had access to everything?

MartinN, Thanks! I followed your instructions, and now rpms install. At least I think they do. Following instructions in this book I bought, I downloaded a game called frozen bubble, and a file called perl-SDL that was supposed to be the dependencies required for the game. when I tried to install the perl-SDL file first, as the book instructed, I got the "Packages not found" message. So, I'm lost in dependency hell, but I couldn't even get that far before!

So, Peacedog, I'm going back to the ALSA page to download the other files. Wish me luck installing them!

Biased turkey 09-25-2004 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by William Zellman
After several hectic days, I finally got back to trying to make Fedora core 2 work.

Peacedog, I entered lsmod from the console, got the following: BASH: lsmod: command not found. Any suggestions?

In order to use the lsmod command , you must have root ( administrator ) privileges:
1) open a terminal windows
2) type" su - " ( that means: I want to run commands as an administrator )
3) enter your root ( administrator ) password
4) type "lsmod"
5) You should now have all the installed module listed.

Peacedog 09-26-2004 05:26 PM

Quote:

So, Peacedog, I'm going back to the ALSA page to download the other files. Wish me luck installing them!
Good luck. You may be interested in checkinstall, it will allow you to create an rpm that you can install rather than source. Makes life a little easier if you ever need to uninstall the packages. You can find it here.

http://proyectos.glo.org.mx/checkinstall/


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