@robcitizen
Welcome to the world of Linux, and LQ.
You will need to learn new things if you plan on switching your operating system from Windows to Linux, in the same way a person has to learn new things if they're switching to Mac from Windows.
The Linux community is constantly getting new users with issues. We are all volunteers here. We will help you if we can, but we also recommend above anything, teaching your self.
If you have a problem, you are very likely someone has already encounted the same problem in the past, which is why before making a new thread, you should always search your problem at a search engine like Google or Duckduckgo.
If you can't resolve your issue that way then feel free to start a new thread.
When making a new thread to resolve an issue, you must remember that Linux is made up of lots of things that could impact the situation, so always remember to be as detailed as possible and provide any relevant information. Relevant information is stuff like, what Gnu/Linux distribution you're running, and what version it is, ect. Sometimes, we will need more information, this is fine, we will give you the relevant commands to do this if there is one.
You will have to use commands in the command line eventually, it ay not be a dayly thing, but you should definitely not resist it.
Don't forget the manual. A good way to help your learning improve is always use the manual when you use a new command. for example if someone tells you to run 'cat /etc/apt/sources.list'. '/etc/apt/sources.list' is just the location; it's where the command is going to be run. 'cat' is the actual command.
You can use the manual, to find out what it does by running 'man cat'. 'man' is the command to look through the manual.
You might like to take a look at this.
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way
You won't be able to see it if the driver is not installed, this is no different to Windows, so don't start spewing it's an advantage of Windows. If Windows has any advantage in this situation, it is that it has the highest userbase, so the driver installers are built into the machine for Windows to satisfye maximum users; and the other is that Windows has a poor user and permission setup which allows for them drivers to be installed automatically. This makes things easy, but it has a down side of making your Windows system more vulnerable to malware.
So anyway. A program is not installed on Linux the same way a program is installed on Windows, in fact usually it's a lot easier and safer on Linux. This time it isn't going to be as easy as usual though.
To install those drivers which erik2282 has linked to, (and i'm assuming they're the right ones, i really don't know, that's your responsibility to check that) you will need to download the .deb files, if you are running Linux Mint. A .deb file is a package. A package is a part of a program. Sometimes a whole program is only one package; drivers are usually like this.
a .deb package is used in a Gnu/Linux distro which uses the apt package manager. Linux Mint uses apt. apt has two main parts, dpkg and apt-get. We won't be using apt-get here.
Once the .deb file is downloaded, open up your terminal, and type the following command.
Code:
sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/*.deb
Make sure that the only .deb files you have in your downloads folder is the driver you downloaded.
You will have to enter your password after doing that command, and then press enter.
I'm going to explain the above command for you, although don't hesitate to use man like i described earlier.
'sudo' is a way for you to gain admin rights on your computer. You will need to run sudo while doing some things. Sudo should NOT be used all the time. That is abusing sudo, and a way to destroy your system and open it up to vulnerabilities.
'dpkg' is the command. dpkg is the low level package manager used in an apt system. You will not have to use dpkg often.
'-i' is an option given to dpkg. Dpkg can do many things, but it needs to be told which one to do. -i tell dpkg to install a file.
'~/Downloads/*.deb' is the directory your driver would likely have been downloaded to. the '~/' is a shortcut in the command line for the directory '/home/<your username>' 'Downloads' is a likely folder you have in your home folder. '*.deb' means every file that ends with '.deb'.
In other words, that command will install every .deb file you have in your Downloads folder; that's why it's important to make sure the driver is the only one there.
Good luck Rob, just let us know if you have any more problems.
Knightron
Linux Mint 13 Tutorial Please New to Linux Don't understand a thing about it. Assista
