Sorry for the noobish question .. i am having a brain dead episode .. besides it is late and caffiene is not working .. i need help ..

How do i auto mount my windows hard drive and cd/dvd/burners in to my mandrake 10.1 ..

So sorry but i know it is easy .. as i said before - i am having a brain dead moment .. any assistance is appreciated

For automounting your windows partitions, you need to add those to /etc/fstab. I believe there is a tool in Mandrake Control Center (or whatever it is called these days) for doing this.

For automounting CDs, etc. you will need to look at HAL (Hardware Bstraction Layer) and dbus - I think these are installed by defualt on Mandrake/Mandriva anyway. Are you doing a custom install?

Ultimately, i want to be running a linux dristro and have windows programs able to be run. In doing this i will be able to provide a full cost saving analysis for my superiors.

It is my understanding that the possibilities of running windows applications has improved to about 95%.

I am completely new at linux, i am prepared to learn at a excelerated rate. If there is a book or something i can download and study offline would be a generous help.



If there is a distro that will make this more easy then please let me know. I also know that there is windows emulators for linux, so the question is ( which one is most effective )

Wine can be used to run most basic windows programs, and support for Office, DreamWeaver, etc. is avilable for it. Additionaly, as long as you don't need any DirectX capabilities, you can use VMware - search in Google for it.

Be aware that running native apps is usually better for performance and stability than emulated ones (especially if it requires specific operating system features, like DirectX), not to mention you may be using new software soon that isn't supported under the emulator.

When submitting your analysis i would include some native Linux apps to compare to the windows ones you require. Also a test box running these apps gives a good visual reference for your employers.

If you state what Software you require, we could suggest alternatives (or search the forums, its full of that sort of thing).

Wine is the only 'emulator' i know off (stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator though)- http://www.winehq.com/.

It supports a fair few apps, or there is cross over office as well - http://www.codeweavers.com/