I installed Xandros the other day with no problems at all, overwritting my Windows installation. Linux has been great so far! I was wanting to try GNOME (and Enlightenment), but there only seems to be a customized version of KDE. Am I missing something, or do I need to install it myself? How do I install GNOME, or for that matter, any random software. For instance I want to get Azureus running, but they have four different versions for Linux. How do I choose? I have dived in headfirst with virtually no experience in Linux. I will say that Xandros Update is pretty sweet, but it doesn't have all the software available that I want.

While I'm posting, does anybody know of a media player similar to iTunes or Windows Media Player? I suppose what I'm most looking for is a library managment system. Oh and how can I play *.wmv files? Do I need a codec? Thank you!

I have many more questions to come.

Provided that you have installed the proper development tools, you can install GNOME from source. Just go to http://www.gnome.org/ .

I hear that Rhythmbox is similar to iTunes, so that might work for you (you will probably need some GNOME libraries for this to work, if you don't install GNOME).

As far as playing *.wmv files, yes you do need a codec. You can find it here.

Ii am also running Xandros OCEalong with Slackware and XP. UI haven't tried it, but I have seen many posts telling you how to do this in teh forums on teh Xandros web site.

How do I find out what development kit I need or if I have it already. I think I did a complete install with the Xandros Open Circulation disk. Thanks for the help; I really do appreciate it!

A few questions, if I may...

01) How can I get my windows or window borders to be transparent? That looks so cool, but I didn't find it as an option in the KDE Control Panel. Perhaps I overlooked it?
02) Is it possible to program my mouse buttons? I am using a generic two-button trackball with a scroll wheel and a Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer.
03) Does anyone have a suggestion for a free anti-virus application?
04) I tried to download Azureus <http://azureus.sourceforge.net/download.php>, but the download page has four choices. The Xandros website said I should try to install .deb packages or at least .rpm, but those aren't listed. Any suggestions?
05) I have a bunch of .tar.bz2 files from MPlayer. What exactly do I do with these?

I think that (along with my previous set of questions from earlier) about does it. At least for now. I know I'm asking some basic question, which I'm sure will garner a fair amount of snickering. That's ok. I'm having the time of my life with Linux. I feel so liberated! I found this great quote somewhere on this site:Thank you all in advance!

Well I have rendered Xandros Networks inoperable! I tried to add a new source to the list, and when it was taking too long, I closed it. When I restarted XM, I received three lovely errors. I think I'll try installing Fedora Core 4. I won't be loosing any data. Before I do, is there an easy to use installer/upgrader that comes with Fedora?

Also all of my personal files are on an NTFS drive. I hear Yoper Linux can write to NTFS. Is that true? If so then why don't more distros support such a feature?

thomasfingram,

1. For transparency, this should get you started.

2. For your Intellimouse, this link might work.

3. Try this.

4. Look here.

5. Untar the files using the following command:

Hello,

You are currently using Xandros...unless you have wiped it already. You will learn (if you install another distro) that Xandros is very slick out of the box compared to every other distro out there. MP3s work out of the box, MPEG, AVI, etc....all work. Better yet, you get out of the box video card drivers installed (at least for nvidia), and unmatched samba implementation. With popular distros like Fedora and Ubuntu, you will have to set this all manually.

HOWEVER, both of those (Fedora and Ubuntu) have the best user documentation I have ever seen. So if you choose to install anything other that Xandros....make it one of those to and bookmark these two sites:

Fedora: http://www.fedorafaq.org/

Ubuntu: http://ubuntuguide.org/

*Both of those will tell you EVERYTHING you need.


One last note: If you want to merely fix your Xandros Networks, do this:

1. Open a command line and type 'su -', then enter root password.
2. Type this: 'vi /etc/apt/sources.list'
3. Make this file look like this:

deb http://xnv3.xandros.com/3.0/pkg xandros3.0-xn main contrib non-free
deb http://xnv3.xandros.com/3.0/pkg unsupported3.0-xn main contrib non-free

4. This is the default, so it should work. remove any additional lines by moving the cursor to the beginning of the line and type 'dd' to delete the whole line.

5. Hit escape and type ':wq' to save it. Then try to fire up Xandros Networks again.

Hopefully you get something out of that rant....my first contribution to a linux forum.