I am working on my XF86Config file.

I have the new beta driver for the matrox mga g400 card required for the dual display to work properly. I saved it (mgadriver-4.1.tar.gc) to a foppy since I downloaded it on my win os.

I've been looking through the shell using help, and info to try and find a way to run tar from my floppy. I figure it's something simple.

So far I have found a basic explination on how to extract the tar file and install it.

a tar.gz package
download your tar ball to somewhere like a /home/me/downloads directory so you can find things again.
open a terminal (konsole)
change to the download directory
cd /home/me/downloads
list the files
ls
(check that it is there)
now untar the archive
tar zxvf foo.1.2.3-4.tar.gz
change now to directory foo
cd foo
configure the package
./configure
(you may get errors and need more help)
build the package
./make
install the package
change to root user
su

./make install

At this time I cannot boot into the GUI with the init 5 command.
I'm using mandrive 10.2

Because I am very unaware to the file structure I am confused to were tar extracts the files.

tar zxvf foo.1.2.3-4.tar.gz

This explination shows that after the tar is executed to go to foo. Is the directory the foo part of the file name ?

Since my tar file name is mgadriver-4.1.tar.gz would the mgadriver be the directory created ?

Once I get this installed I can move on to writing my XF86Config file. I have 6 monitor's on 2 mil, 1 mil II, 1 mys, and a duel head g400 (all Matrox). I am feeling confident about giving it a go. I have printed up several XF86Config examples and am getting the idea.

I know this is a real easy problem but I cannot seem to find the answer.

The directory created and archive name are not directly related. Just everyone does compresses directory with the files instead of the files alone (it's good, because you get a directory when unpacking instead of a bunch o files).

Tar.gz format is very similar to .zip. You can compress a directory in a zip file, right? That's exactly the same.

The directory name in the archive is usually something like (examples from your file) 'mgadriver' or 'mgadriver-4.1'. It's up to the person creating it. 'mgadriver' form is more common.

When you unpack the file, you can run 'ls' command to see a list of files (and directories). You will have the name of your new directory among other ones.

Ok, so I did have the right idea to how it creates the directory.

Thank you for confirming that.

What should I do to tell tar to grab the file from A: floppy

I'm tired and have been going all day without finding this simple solution. I think it might be something like tar -zxvf mgadriver-4.1.tar.gz A:/

Then why don't you try it you say, because I have switched back to my win os and am burning the FC4 right now.

Also is it a good place to create the directory in the root or is there a better place to go to before running tar?


Thank you for helping the ignorant one.

Ok I think I found what I was looking for.

I have another question about mounting more then one floppy.

what I found say's to create a linux floppy (ext2) or a windows floppy (vfat) using either

mount -t ext2 /dev/fd0/floppy and for windows,

mount -t vfat /dev/fd0/floppy


I have two questions now.

1. I think that I'm using a nfts format for my win2k. Should I use nfts or should I assume that vfat is for all windows formats?

2. Can I create a mount for both linux and windows ?

mount -t vfat /dev/fd0/floppyVFat

mount -t ext2 /dev/fd0/floppyExt2


If you can answer my questions before I find them I would appreciate it.

Ok those were stupid questions because they were answered on the next page that I was on.

If you're unsure which filesystem to specify with -t option, you can use 'auto'. It then tries to mount it as differnet filesystems. When there's success it stops Or stops with a long error message when the filesystem used is not supported.

Ok I have re-installed mandriva 10.2 and I only configured one video card this time. This got me into the GUI.

I went to the matrox site and downloaded the drivers to /home/username/downloads

The problem I am having now is in accessing that directory.

I start the terminal (konsole) and I can only get as far as /home

When I try and type my username directory in it tells me that it's a unknown directory.

I tried this in super user and in regular mode.


I don't understand why this is happening. I read up about file permission but this does not change anything.


I stuck.

Files and directories in Linux are case sensitive, so for example Username and username are two different directories.
Also when you open konsole try the command "pwd" which will show what your current directory is, if /home/username is your home dir konsole may start there anyway.