~n00b~ USB Devices, Windows, and Media files..
 

!*#Newbie Alert#*!

OK Im a BRAND NEWBIE to the world of linux...Windows, never more except for minimal usage...

I have Mandrake 10.1 running KDE. (Maybe not the greatest distro but its a start)

Several Probs though, trying to navigate my way through this new world.

1) USB Devices, mainly Flash Drives (Thumb Drives). How to I access the files stored on them, and how to I transfer files to them? I have read many forums and tutorials on this topic and no response helped. I keep running into erros...Any and All help will be adored..

2) DVD, .Mpeg's etc. Files will not play in Kaffein. An error pops up saying plugin required. Fine I understand that, but where to I aquire the plugin.

3)Lets say I have mp3's,.jpeg's etc. stored in WindowsXP, can I access them in the Linux OS, if so..How?? I do not think storing them on both the Windows and Linux partitions would be suitable as it takes up double the HD space..

Yeah Im knew to it all, but Im enjoying it alot better than Windows so far, especially from a programming view..

Any and all help will be appreciated.


:newbie:

Hi Spooky31!

Welcome to LQ.org. Not quite the answers you'd expect, but I hope it helps :)

1-)I've no idea, sorry. However, all USB devices I have (two: scanner and joypad) I had to load the modules in order for them to work, for example, typing these at the terminal, as root:

modprobe joydev for the joypadand modprobe scanner for the scanner did the trick. Perhaps that would help you too... dunno, really...

2-)I had the same problem with SuSE. That's sad, really, they give us a player without codecs and don't provide a descent link or doc about it. I've tried installed mplayer codecs but still no go. What I could recommend here is a descent media player, called mplayer. It's really fast, can run both from command line or gui and it's extremally portable. There's even a Xbox version of it :). Plays everything too, from .mp3 to DVD's and VCD's. The only draw back is that most likely, your DVD's "menu" won't work as it should, but it's no big deal, really.

3-)I'll take that you are dual-booting your system and that you have those files in a Windows Partition right? That's easily done by editing your /etc/fstab. Here is an example of "mounting" a Windows Partition in FAT32 in Linux with full write and read permissions for all users:

/dev/hda1 /win98 vfat uid=500,gid=500,umask=000,exec,dev,suid,rw 1 0

Adding that line at your /etc/fstab will mount the first slice of your drive (like C:\) at /win98 in Linux. You need to be root to alter that file.

Good luck!

Thanks so far...

1) Where could I obtain the names of the modules I need for my USB devices? I have a multicard reader so I see the list all for USB slots under dmesg. Only there is no mudule listing..

2) mplayers cool thanks will try it when I can figure out how to get files off my USB.

3) Ok I understand adding the line the fstab file..But when I edit it I get the response "Check that you have write access to this file or that enough disc space is available" So how to I get write access to edit this file..(Did I do something wrong installing this?) And once I add that line to fstab..what next does an icon just appear that gives me access to my winxp partition??

Appreciate your help so far..

To edit fstab you need root permissions, if i'm not mistaken... (I'm a newbie as well.)

Have a look at this one... maybe it helps you! Report please :-)

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...icle&artid=115

Greetings, Sascha

Hello Spooky31,

OK, in answer to your questions (or, the best I can offer!!) -

1) USB Flash drives, etc. Hmm, I've been struggling with this a bit myself. My father's got a USB card reader built into the machine. As I understand it, what should happen with Mandrake is that when you insert a card (Compact Flash, Memory Stick, etc) the OS should recognise it and pop an icon on the desktop... This doesn't seem to occur; however, if the machine is booted with the card in place, it'll be recognised and you'll get an icon on your desktop which takes you to the files - so give that a try. I'm still trying to work this out myself...

As for digital cameras, etc; it depends on the model, but in most cases it should be supported. If it's a 'Mass Storage' type camera, when you plug it in, an icon should appear on your desktop. Other types of camera should invoke the photo program 'FLPhoto' when they're plugged in - check that you've got FLPhoto installed, otherwise the system will just sit there and do nothing...

2) DVDs etc.. OK, Mandrake, in common with every other commercial distribution, cannot ship the product with any means of playing most DVDs. This is because Kaffeine, MPlayer, Xine, etc, all require the 'libdvdcss' plugin to de-encrypt scrambled disks. Unfortunately, the legal status of the plugin is questionable, particularly in the USA (Windows is OK because you actually pay for software to do the same job). For plugins and extensions to Xine, Kaffeine, etc, try the Penguin Liberation Front website, which provides easy to use RPMs for Mandrake. My advice to you would be to remove your existing multimedia players and reinstall from PLF's website - add PLF to your URPMI sources list and use RPMDrake to install & take care of dependencies for you - PLF provide instructions for you.
Please do be aware though, and to reiterate, the use of DVD descrambling may be illegal in your locality.

Hope this helps!

In response to< theonebeyond> the link provided:

$su
password:(enter root password here)
#cd /usr/src/linux
#make menuconfig

Returns.

bash: cd: /usr/src/linux: No such file or directory

I think I tried this before you showed it to me and still the same..

<kevinatkins>

As far as plugging like Memory Stick in or even a Flash Drive for that matter, and botting with them plugged in does nothing different...Same same...

Make menuconfig won't work unless you've the kernel sources installed. Compiling the kernel can be difficult for newbies, mind you. But following that link would work.

The kernel source is a package (not shipped with Mandrake on your disks) which can be acquired from a Mandrake FTP.

Never too late to start learning it, granted it might be a pain in the "rear" process.

I have nothing but time, and love experimenting so if you have the time to help cool, if not then can you direct me to a link that may help..

Keep in mind my linux box isnt connected to the internet. As the network here only allows WinXp machines on it. So I would have to transfer all files from windows to Mandrake...

"At first I thought I was a n00b, now I know the truth"

Acessing Windows files
 

To address # 3, Windows Xp (by default) uses the NT file system, NTFS for short. First you need to see if you have the NTFS driver kernel module, this is simple, just type this into the console.

<type>
cat /proc/filesystems |grep ntfs
</type>

Excludeing the "type" tags :-)
If it outputs "ntfs" then your ready to mount the file system. Type the following commands (if it doesn't skip to the end)

<type>
/sbin/fdisk -l
</type>

Be sure to note which drive has windows on it e.g. /dev/hda4

<type>
mkdir /mnt/windows/
mount /dev/[the harddrive/partion /w windows on it]
</type>

Then you can veiw your windows files in /mnt/windows/, if this works (you see your windows drive) then you might wont to consider have linux automatically mount the drive at boot time. try adding a line like this to /etc/fstab

/dev/[the harddrive/partion /w windows on it] /mnt/windows ntfs defaults 0 0

So you don't have a ntfs driver, no problem, just go here the have great instructions on how to install one
http://linux-ntfs.sourceforge.net/

Good luck

about mass storage devices, i'm trying to do the same thing. this is all i've found so far http://www.linux-usb.org/USB-guide/x498.html
but i remember reading about a program which loads them automatically....unfortunately when i read the article, MSDs weren't on my list of things to do so i forgot what its called. all i know is it starts with Project :) and for some reason planets spring to mind when i try remember the rest.

Fine n Dandy..Will give it a whirl when I get off as I do not have my PC here with me today..

Just a quick oppinion though. I've done some research on P2P programs for Mandrake, and I come to the conclusion that Limewire seems to be the most popular..Any oppinions on a better one or is that the one to go for..

I occasionally use Limewire and I like it. There are others - I tried gtk-gnutella and didn't get on so well with it, but I guess with some things it's down to personal taste... perhaps worth giving a few clients a spin, see which is best for you.

I will give LimeWire a whirl when I get a internet connection.
But heres a problem I ran into today..

I got my partition with WinXP to show, and I can view anything and everything that is contained within the original files. ONly heres the catch say I add some pictures to the My Pictures, but I can only see the sample pictures that come when you install WinXp. I cant see any new files added.(Im attempting to voew them in Mandrake of course..)
Any clue on what I did wrong, and is there a way I can give myself root permissions besides being in command line, i.e using the gui. Because when I try to edit fstab in Emacs it says I do not have root permission..

And when you right click on the screen and go to "new" you get a list with 'folder', 'device'..etc..when you choose new device you can associate and hde with that icon on your desktop. Whats to stop me from adding a USB device, except for the fact I do not see that option on the list..

Writeing to an ntfs filesystem in linux is not advised, because ntfs is a proprietary system linux developers have to reserse engineer it, because of this theres lots of bugs, if you want to read files from linux with windows then i would suggest either useing a utilitie like explore2fs http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/explore2fs.htm or setting up a seperate vfat filesystem which both os'es can read and write to. But if your hell bent on the idea of writeing to a ntfs partition try

<code>
mount -remount,rw /mnt/[the name of the partition]
</code>

but if you do that, good luck! :-)