Ok…Uber Noob here:

I have several questions and Im not sure if there are simple answers, so far I have configured and accessed Red hat 8 in my old Frankenstenian machine ( AMD k6-200 mhz, 128mb Ram, 8 mb voodoo2 video card 2 hard drives of 3.2 gb and 2.4 GB respectively, 1 Cd rom drive and 1 CDRW 2x drive)

I will appreciate if somebody can help me in the following issues:
( I have 3 CDs of RPMs but the names of the programs sound like chinese to me….)

1-How do I save files or “packages” on the second hard drive?

2-how do I configure my modem and how can I connect it with my ISP, Im using MSN dialup on my primary computer ( runs windou$$98) but I have no clue if it is SMP or POP…is there any way to “set up” the modem and/or browser to dial up and access the account ?

3- I don’t know the name of the package of any decent Media player, to play JPG, GIF, WMV, MP3
Divx, etcetera, any names of a good one?…also Codecs would be a plus ( where do I save them?)

4- I have 2 Video cards on board, one is a generic S3 virge 2 mb, connected in cascade with a Voodoo2 of 8 mb….would be nice to make use of the 10 MB available but red hat only allows me to use the generic S3…..need nice input on this one.

5- I need a graphics editor, to compile and render small movies into JPG,Mpeg, VCD or any other popular format, normally I would use Vegas 4 but now wife wants me and my hobbies go elsewhere in the basement

6- any simple to use CD ripper into MP3?

7- any easy to use CD burner?…for data, CD copy, and as a removable rewritable data CD?

8- I need a printer driver to print from Openoffice into PDF files, I use PDF factory on windooze but I don’t know where to get it for Linux….Or a PDF writer/editor/distiller for Linux.

9- I have a M$ “wheel” type mouse, I grew fond of the little wheel for scrolling up and down…which type of mice should I select from the menu?….

10- my modem has an integrated sound card ( I believe is a soundblaster ) Red hat sound card configuration tells me there is not a sound card…eh…what can be done?

many thanks in advance for any answer to my long list of questions..

3)Use xime/mplayer
6)Grip
7)k3b
8)OpenOffice.org 1.1 has a built-in PDF function. Just press the button in the toolbar to export as pdf.

I will try to help you with some questions, but I don't know the answers to all of them. Also, I am assuming RH8 is similar to RH9.

1. At setup, you should have partitioned your drives. They should now all be "mounted" under / If you set aside some space on the second hard drive for /home, the directory /home is physically on the second hard drive, but all directories are shown as a heirachical list.

2. I assume you have an external modem, as internal modems tend to not be supported. Go to the "start menu" - System Tools - Internet Config Wizard and you should be able to set it up from there.

3. Graphics can be edited using the GIMP. You probably installed it already.
XMMS can be used to play audio - you will need to download and install this plugin to play mp3s. Simply download it, and type "rpm -ivh xmms-mpg123-1.2.7-21.i386.rpm" and it will install.
Try mplayer for movies. Read their website for details.

6. Try "grip". It should be on the cds. It will rip audio tracks into ogg format, which is similar to mp3. These can be played using XMMS

7. Donload k3b. It is an easy to use burner program, similar to Windows apps.

8. OpenOffice has a PDF converter built in. Go to "file - print" and select "PDF convreter press." This will create PDF files that can be used with acrobat or whatever.

9. My wheel mouse works very well as a "3 Button Generic USB" - select one from the list and see if it works. If not try another. The wheel should work.

That's all I can help you with for now - If any answers dont work, post more details of the problem.

On another note, RedHat includes lots of documentation on the cds, such as getting started guides. I suggest you get aquainted with it, as well as man pages and
Google

--Ian

OK - you've had the generic help, I'll probably just echo much of what the others have told you. A good general clue tho... try the man and info commands on any program you have trouble with.

Check how your drives are partitioned. If you used the default partition, you've probably got the problem I had with my first install - namely that you can only use one drive!

Normally you'll have root, boot, and swap partitions installed. I have a similar system to yours and I stuck root and swap at opposite ends of hda and used the entire hdb for root. This gives me the middle of hda *unformatted*. The default setup had boot at the beginning of hda with root occupying the rest and the swap partition occupied the start of hdb, leaving huge oceans of empty, unformatted, drive! Not good.

If you find you have a similar trouble, you'll find that you can format your second drive and mount it as a directory off root, then you can use it in a manner similar to the windows d:\ drive.

Configuring the modem is a tricky excersize for folk used to windows doing everything for you. You need to talk to your ISP to find out what protocols they support and if they have automatic domain stuff. They will usually be happy to supply more information than you need. (Try asking if they support your distro of Linux, some do and will supply a daemon to configure your modem for you!)

You need to know where your modem is plugged in - it will be /dev/ttyS0 or /dev/ttyS1 depending on if it is COM1 or COM2. (If you have an internal modem then it is a Win modem and it is not directly supported. There is a Lin Modem project (look it up on google) which may help, but resign yourself to buying an external serial modem for a stress-free life.)

here is a daemon which lets you enter everything or use minicom (type minicom in terminal).

If you have ever used DOS comm programs, you'll find minicom intuitive.

JPG & GIF, Eye of Gnome, (and many many others) Use the GIMP - you'll find it on the desktop or under graphics in the main menue. Alternatively, right-click the image you want to look at and select "open with" and you'll see The Gimp right there The Gimp is unbelievably powerful. (try "man gimp" in terminal)

I don't know if you can play windows media files in Linux - this is a proprietary format. Use windows to convert them to a more generic format before expunging from your system. (multimedia players like mplayer and xine will play windows formats - you need to download the proprietary codecs package as well... see mplayerhq for a comprehensive list.)

Audio is normally handled via xmms or real player - you'll most likely have xmms installed by default. (man xmms) and real player can be downloaded from it's website. xmms has a plugin to handle proprietary audio formats.

Video is handled through mplayer, also from a website if man mplayer or man gmplayer dosn't work.

Pass - put a special message under hardware, first reading the first thread there since it tells you how to post. I think Voodoo has a special driver under linux. Have you tried removing the generic soundcard and rebooting? (Later: yep - this is for s completely seperate thread. Check lspci to see what linux thinks your card is ... then google for the driver. Fedora just autodetected the first vga compatable card available.)

There are many solutions out there - do a search for the file format in any forum here, you'll come up with problems on many of the most popular tools. Note their names and skim the kinds of trouble then go get the ones which seem most relevant to you. This is one of the best ways of using this site.

man grip

generally you should be ripping to ogg/vorbis format. Use open formats wherever possible, that way you own the right to open the file.

man cdrecord

K3B, gtoaster etc are front-ends for this commandline program.
Most modern distros will autodetect the insertion of a blank CD and open a burner window for you. Copy the files you want to copy over to the window and click "burn".

As the others have said, Open Office has a PDF writer as a printer option. Alternatively, write documents in TEX and use PDFLatex. The default pdf reader is called xpdf. (or evince)

Note: export to pdf is something MS word has yet to add - you need to buy an expensive plugin.

My version of RH9 has a driver for the "MS Weelmouse" as well as many others. It may be possible to get a driver from somewhere - google hunt. Or you could try installing it as a three-button mouse.

note: Kudzu automatically detects the ps2 wheelmouse. 2.6 kernel linuxes hotplug usb mice happily.

We-ell, this suggests you have an *internal* modem. Look up the linmodems project and see if there is a driver for your brand. I doupt you'll find one.

Soundblaster is supported but your modem is not. Buy a new modem and a new soundcard?

lspci - how is your card detected?

Does this help?
Simon

Hey Loco-S? How you getting on?