Hey all,

need some help learning the terminal commands to do otherwise normally simple gui stuff. So here goes my 20question thread.... Not quite but U get the deal.

Using Terminal:
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1. How do i change the root account name?

2. I need to add windows partitions. Is there a table which shows the equevilent of c:\, d:\, e:\ and so on... to hda1, hda2 ?

3. I have no sound but the cd burner is detected and seems to be working, what to do?

Other:
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4. I have a connection to the net using a LAN or is it WAN..... whatever but I cant seem to use a browser to connnect. This is odd because I can connect and send using "mail".

NOTE: I dont understand "mail" barely, "fetchmail" or any terminal news-client at all however I hope to accomplish this today.


OK that will get this thread kicked started and me somewhat on my way.

1) This has been discussed many times and the usual response is "Don't try because you'll break stuff" Try searching about a bit.

2) To see your partition table run:
fdisk -l

3) What do do about what? Do you mean you want to get your sound working? What model is it?

4) Can you browse with IP addresses:
http://64.179.4.149

as david_ross said, don't even try to change "root" - there's no reason to, and trying will cause problems

the cd burner isn't related to the sound - can you play sound using xmms? are you using alsa? do you have a soundcard?

Point taken if its not broken dont blank it up.

grazie, this will be put to use in about five min.s

theres no sound pal thats what I meant to say...


Nope, but I can send mail.. When I pinged the address I recieved a "Network out of range error".


I know but just sitting here thinking of the new possiblities w/ nix and knowing there is some uber/urber(whateves) that has makes me want to push the limits, U know.

lol I know but its was what I was using to play my beats and well there was nothing coming out the speackers...have to place the blame somewhere. Ooh yea your question no i havent tried the other players will do that right after I set my partitions.

....Yes, there is a sound card

It would probably help to know what sound card you have and what distro you're using

// sound card = Sound Blaster; distro = Slackware10.0....Also someone asked if I had tryed the other players and the answer is no I havent. I have checked my system throughlly and I only have one player which is fine by me but theres no sound I have confirmed video is working thought still no sound.

// I could use some guidiance seting up a new account other then "root" using the terminal of course this turned out to be more of a pain then I initially had thought. This is what Im doing

- from terminal "adduser"
- prompt: login name reply: someword
- prompt: userid reply: some#
- prompt: initial group reply: _________ <=what do I do here. have tried a # of things

// I still have no idea as to why I cant connect I have to login to my windows box just to get online. I am getting some Network out of reach error and I on a lan with a router.

// Can anyone tell me where I can find config files like the following:
-am looking for example outlines for any and all files which are configured in this manner so not just mail files

- .mailrc (just finished writing this one will test)
- .forward
- .newsrc

all the default config files are in /etc all YOUR config files are in /home/username/ all roots config files are in /root
If you are adding a user you can bypass some of the fields such as group and uid and go with the defaults for now but it is important to set up an account now and use it otherwise you have the abiliy to damage your system by either deleting important (owned by root) files or starting up software which, when run as root, might open a security hole - ie, dont run as root

also - to your hardware probs, please start by sending us the full output of:

lspci #<--run this as root, otherwise it wont work.

and:

lsmod

also let us know which distribution you are running please. you can put it in your profile if you like.

Heres a quick guide on what the main directories under linux hold :

* /bin This is where basic shell commands such as ls and mv reside. This directory is always in the executable path.
* /boot This is where the Kernel is stored and LILO gets its information from, and where module information is stored. your best bet is to ignore this directory completly as for a normal user, it is dangerous to play with
* /dev This is where your devices, or hardware is contained. Hardware devices can be accessed like files which is cool when you consider that you can echo a dial command to the modem on /dev/modem, and the modem will respond.
* /etc This is like the preferences folder on a Macintosh. Its a location where all programs create files that store their options. Here you can set up your preferences for an Internet connection, for QuakeII, for your eMail even.
* /home This is where your users have their accounts. If you have added any users other than your standard root account, they will show up here. It can also house the directories than your Web Server (Apache) accesses, if you have it installed.
* /lib This is where the basic libraries for booting Linux and running standard programs reside. Do not delete anything in this directory, ever
* /mnt This is the location where you mount your cdrom, zip drives, or dos drives.
* /opt If you have this directory, its probably where Netscape has installed if you have chosen Netscape to be loaded. Red Hat's Applix office suite also installs here.
* /proc Again, Im not too sure what lives in here. It seems to be an area where information is kept on your hardware devices and system board. Id advise against deleting anything in that directory.
* /root This your main account directory. The root user (Ie: you) have this space to keep all your downloads, and anything else you want to keep in there basically
* /sbin Rather like /bin really. The 's' stands for System Binaries, where commands like shutdown, lilo and fdisk are stored.
* /tmp A useless directory, its short for Temporary. When you install Linux first, it creates a file in your /tmp directory with all the details.
* /usr This is an interesting one. When you install programs like the GIMP, and Windowmaker, they need to be accessed by all users, so this is the directory they get installed into. Theres even another library directory for the new programs so that all users can see and access them. Basically, any program that is not automatically installed with the Distribution, and needs to be accessed by all users ends up in this directory
* /var This is where your log files, and printer files are kept. Its again something you shouldnt need to know too much about.

/proc is a pseudo filesystem where you can view, in real time, all processes and hardware information. Browse it sometime, you'll be surprised how much you learn about your computer - the numbered files are your processes and the rest is hardware related. It is safe to read these files but, as paradigim said, dont edit them.
/root should only be used for root preferences, you should not download stuff straight in there by running mozilla as root for instance. Instead, use your home folder. the less you do as root the better as a general rule.