Ok...

I installed Debian over my mandrake install trying to get different distros to work on the machine to see which one I like the most.

So I wiped the HD clean and started again with Debian.

Toshiba (not sure of model name or number)
PII 333 MHz
8 mb ATI
320 mb RAM
10gig HD

Install went as it should. Just installed the desktop envioronment only.

After install Debian I got an X error on the mouse for my laptop. The laptop has a one of those touch screen mice. When I run xf86config, I got threw all the motions to change the mouse drive or module and then it goes to save the file in the /usr/*, but it appears that the file that is actually being used to open these drivers is in /etc/*. Not to mention the file that Debian uses is XF86Config-4, and not the XF86Config. So I guess I need to know a couple of things...

One, being someone unused to not using a XGUI for file modifications, is there a site that will give me the basic view/copy/rename/edit

Two, being a way to get this to work. I have search but I couldnt find anything that would answer this question. If I am wrong and someone can link me to that post that would be great.

Thank you

If you can find exact model of the Toshiba, you may be able to look at tuxmobil or linux on laptops to see what others have done. As for editing configuration files in console, you could use vi for this. Click this link for a tutorial.