Numerous Questions
 

Hi, Im a newbie at the whole linux thing. Recently, I installed Fedora Core 2.6 into a partition on the same hdd as xp. I have encountered a few problems.

1. On startup, the boot selector (GRUB) shows 2 OSs. One is Fedora Core 2.6 and the other is called just 'other'. I know this to be Windows XP. This is mainly an appearance issue, but is there any way of changing 'other' to Windows xp after install?

2. Upon starting Fedora, the loading screen appears with an image of a computer. Between this loading screen and the logon one, more advanced details about the loading process appear. A process meant to be loaded (smartd) apparently fails. Does this mean anything is wrong? Is there a means of rectifying this issue without a clean install?

3. After attempting to connect to the internet, I find that my Lucent Winmodem is not suitable for Linux OSs. So, I have downloaded an RPM binary code. Is this the right way to go about fixing the problem without buying a new modem? If so please read the next questions.

4. Being a newbie to Linux, I have no idea how to install and compile RMP or tar source code, a concept I stumbled across during the process of installing the modem code. How do I install these files? and is there a wizard or an easier way to go about doing so without having to use the terminal?

Im competent in Windows XP so understand basic terminology and OS structure.
Any (simple) help asap would be appreciated, even if you can only answer one.

(: thnx.

1. Edit the file /boot/grub/grub.conf
Change the line that says "Label other" to "Label whatever you want"

2. smartd is a tool to monitor the life of your ide hard drives. You have not givin any info for us to help troubleshoot this, but I assure you, unless you really, really, REALLY screw something up, a clean install is very rarely needed, and is a particularily shortsighted/hasty remedy only practiced by those without the patience to troubleshoot the problem.

3. Never tried a winmodem. Heard they suck, but I also heard you can get 'em to work...

4. RPM is a binary package. Tarballs are source code. To install an rpm:
There is also a gui for installing rpm's. Don't know what it's called. Someone running FC can tell you. I'd stay away from source code for now...especially if you're already asking for a wizard, as it can be quite tricky for a noob to build something from source. That's not to say I don't think you should learn anyway ;)

EDIT: sorry, that grub line above should of courswe be:
Change the line that says "title other" to "title whatever you want"

I'll get the simple ones anyway.

1. Yes you can. I don't know what kind a tools fedora might have to help you, but the setting is stored in /boot/grub/menu.lst (sometimes called /boot/grub/grub.conf). You need to edit this file and look for the line that says
title Other
It should be easy to find. You can change "Other" into anything you want.

Just guessing at a method because I don't know what tools you have on hand. Open up a console and type "su -". The next line will ask for your root password. Then type "mcedit /boot/grub/menu.lst" (that's lower case 'L', not a 1). You might not have mc installed. If you don't ask around and find an easy text editor to use. Edit the line click on save, then exit.

There are other ways to do this. Ideally you would use whatever tool came with Red Hat. I'm trying to think of the easiest way to get a gui text editor open as root. Are you useing KDE or Gnome?

3. I could be wrong, but I think Lucent modems are currently well supported. You do need the right modules (drivers) for any piece of hardware though.

4. RPM's (Red Hat Package Manager) is designed to take almost all the hassle out of installing software. It has worked well for me, though admittedly some will be laughing out loud by this point. I think things have gotten better. Source installs are usually done from tarballs (.tar) and involve the command line.

To install an RPM, I would use either KPackage or whatever Redhat ships with. The command line command is "rpm -i MyStuff.rpm".

Dang. bulliver answered as I typed.

I may not have been as clear as he was in some things. I also don't recommend cutting your teeth with source installs unless you like messing with files and stuff. If you plan on sticking with linux for a long time you'll get there eventually. (I avoid it whenever possible for now. I still need to grow into it.)

I believe that most systems that have KDE will have Kpackage on them. I also would be surprised if Red Hat didn't also have a gui program that I don't know about (I use SuSE personally).

Run this command as root...

chkconfig smartd off

That will get rid of the failed service on boot. Your hardware probably does not support it.

I got the same thing with RHEL AS on a virtual machine.



I would say never reinstall the same thing or your just going to end up with the same thing again.

and for your modem you could take a look at : http://www.linmodems.org/

not all models are supported, but for some you can find rpm's.

egag

Thanks for your help.