Ok im a total Linux newb and got a tad bit upset with my Windows so i decided to throw windows out and switch to Red Hat 9 as i had heard and seen it had a lot of perks in it that i liked and i didnt really play games so that wasnt a big deal. I wanted something better to program with anyways.

Basically this is my problem. One I dont know a SINGLE thing about using Linux at all. and two I cant figure out how to get my Wireless card to work on Red Hat 9. Now this is partly because I dont know how to get to a command prompt to type in the commands to install things like .rpm files and such. I installed Red Hat 9 just with the defaults as I knew nothing else. How do I get to the command prompt and log in as root? I have been to many sites about getting my Wireless Card to work and it seems its going to be a bit of a task to do.

Here is some helpfull info:

Linksys Wireless PCI Card 802.11b Ver.1.2

I downloaded the rpm files and i think the right tar file to get my drivers to work I just do not know how to install them or get to the command promt to begin.

Any help on this would be appreciated as already I like Linux better than Windows as far as the GUI and the stability and programming and really dont want to go back to windows just cause of a silly Wireless card.

Open a console

Type in 'man rpm' (w/o the ')

That will tell you all about the rpm command.

To install you will need to type (in a console):
su
the root password
rpm -ivh <packagename>.rpm
then exit
then exit again

If you are using kde: k-button->'Run Command'->type 'xterm'
If you are using gnome: not sure exactly where it is, try looking around in the menus
Once you run the terminal program, type 'su -'. This will switch to root.

Hi

mm I dont use red hat but in slack the support for the wireless 802.11 prot has to be compiled into the kernel as a module or built in but i dont think that it comes preloaded.

In slack there is a directory /usr/doc/ with a hell of a lot of documentation about all these things but i dunno about red hat. Also a great place for the correct doc is the /user/src/linux2.4.xx/documentation which sort of explains how to do things with the kernel and modules ect.

I know it aint much help but its a start . . .

cheers

Ya I think that is one of the problems I am having, I dont know where the console is. Im not using kde, im pretty sure im using Gnome. Lets just say I have a red hat for my start button lol.

Yup im that new to this and need to resort to sillt pictures to describe what im doing lmao.

This turned up when I googled the Red Hat site:
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/l...ing-xterm.html

Oh dear God..........I hate it when I do stupid things like not look in a user manual for a simple answer. Thanks a lot for the help it was really appreciated. Im sure there will be more from me soon about the Wireless Installation lol.