im not a computer dumb, its just that i have used microsft OS all my life , i installed mandrake 8.2 on dual boot with windows XP, but i cant get either of my mouse to work, i have a ps/2 and a usb generic mouse.

I was wondering if it is normal that my last 2 threads had no replies, and where can i get a kind of "linux newbiest newbies guide" like to learn what is necessary to get that mouse working, i think its worth saying that i manage to get to the "control panel" with my keyboard, which by the way is usb and works perfect, and found that linux does recognize my usb mouse, with its brand and model and everything. it says its on usb-uhci hop 1, but still dont work

it maybe useful to say that i got an error when my system starts, that says

Initialiazing usb device (usb-ohci) -----{failed }

Any help with either getting me a good guide link, or helping me get the mouse to work will be great, and deeply appreciate it

Sorry if I'm not of much help but you're trying to use a really old version. I think the newest version is 10.1 and I often hear it recognizes almost anything.

Looking in these forums is a good start. Try to google for a dual booting guide and go something newer, like mandrake 10.1. You will see the results.

It may be that your hardware is too new for your version of Mandrake. There are a number of books out there for Linux - O'Reilly publish stacks of them (check our Book Review Section. A more recent distro will probably solve your problem.

As far as your other questions go, while we do try to answer all questions, the sad fact is that some questions just can't be answered by our members. This may be because no one has come across it before or because your threads may have been "lost" among the other threads. Alternatively, the question may have been asked and answered so many times that our members assume you will have Searched LQ or Google Linux for it and gotten the answer. The best way to draw attention to your post is to (after around 24 hours has passed) answer your own post with further relevant details: your hardware, other software, error messages, searches you have tried, etc.

Check out http://www.tldp.org/