hello i am new to linux .
i recently install RH 8.0
first i had installed mandrake 9.1 then xandros.
the main purpose of installing RH 8.0 was to be able to install other linux software that i have and to able to install my win modem
also the system work's very slow then other linux/GNU i have used before.
could U give me some advise on speeding up(i am the sole user)
my cursor hand's while using more apps.
i also have following Question & problem

1:-is it possible to use Xandros 2.0 form RH 8.0 the way i use to switch between KDE & GNOME how do i configure xandros 2.0 from the lilo bot menu of RH 8.0

2:- is there any software available on RH 8.0 using which i can easily install other software in graphical mode.
i read about red carpet in an magazine

3:- i have a mercury scroll mouse.
the movement of the pointer ,right & left button is O.K. but i unable to use the scroll .the mouse specified is PS/2.
i have try to experiment with PS/2 & PS /3 but still the scroll don't work's

4:- is it possible to use application installed in xandros 2.0 on red hat 8.0 OR vise versa

5:- i would like to known how to i backup my system against any accidental damage

6:- what is window-maker & it is of what use.

7:-if using following command i install a software (let say notepad.rpm)
rpm -i notepad.rpm
after that where does the files get installed & how do i run the application

also the system work's very slow then other linux/GNU i have used before.

RedHat uses i386 instructions, so you might expect it to be about 15% slower than Mandrake.

my cursor hand's while using more apps.
If you get freezing, it is usually a configuration problem. How much RAM do you have and how much SWAP? Open a terminal or commandline session and type

free
To check your usage of memory.


1:-is it possible to use Xandros 2.0 form RH 8.0 the way i use to switch between KDE & GNOME how do i configure xandros 2.0 from the lilo bot menu of RH 8.0

No. KDE and GNOME are two application environments that run under the same OS. There are ways to run one OS under another but you likely waste resources that way.

2:- is there any software available on RH 8.0 using which i can easily install other software in graphical mode.
i read about red carpet in an magazine
RedHat uses RedHat packages. It is very simple and efficient to use RPM. For automatically satisfying dependencies, you could try apt-get, yum or urpmi


4:- is it possible to use application installed in xandros 2.0 on red hat 8.0 OR vise versa
In binary packages they may use different, incompatible libraries. Sometime you can get a binary package that is statically linked to all necessary binaries. Opera browser does that. Otherwise you must install from source.

5:- i would like to known how to i backup my system against any accidental damage
It helps to use a journalling filesystem, and RAID to make filesystems more robust, but backing up is essential. Since you likely have the installation CDs, you may not need to backup everything, just the software you have installed and user files or databases. Typically, one uses the tar command to merge a filestructure into a single file which is copied to multiple harddrives or systems. It can also be burned to CD or DVD.
tar czfbackupdile.tgz file1 file2 file3 will create a backup of specific files or directories.
See man tar for details
tar xzf backupfile.tgz gets them back.

You can use options like -p or -P to preserve absolute paths and permissions.


7:-if using following command i install a software (let say notepad.rpm)
rpm -i notepad.rpm
after that where does the files get installed & how do i run the application
rpm installs the files where the .rpm package tells it. To find out,
rpm -q --filesbypkg -p packagename.rpm will list all the files. You usually run programmes from /usr/bin
After installing man programme may give information.
For files that go into /usr/bin, they are already in your path so typing
programname at the commandline will run it. You can make links on your desktop, too. Put the full path to be sure.

thank's for your help (i need it again)
hi! again
i tried to install my double clicking the files but it didn't worked
so i tried the following command in terminal
sh files_name
after that the KPPP was able to detect the modem but ,while connecting the Internet it simplying hang's
also after rebooting it doesn't detect's the modem & the first command has to be repeated
how can i make the modem install permanently & why does it hang's the PC while connecting
also how do i install a software in *.deb format

I am sorry, I have never used a modem with Linux, so I have no clue about KPPP. Hanging usually means waiting for something. Does your ISP provide IP addresses or use fixed IP addresses? That could be the matter, or the login sequence involves some handshaking that you have not set up.
ifconfig should show the status of interfaces. Does it show ppp0?

apt-get install debianpackage gets a .deb and installs it.

man apt-get shows all the options...