Hello,
I have, more or less, recently switched to linux. i have played with alot of different distros for a while but never really got anywhere with them. All the distros that I have tried were liveCDs so that i wouldn't have to install it to my hard drive. but the problem arose that i couldn't access my Hard drive and that i couldn't access it because i was using LiveCDs (At least I thought that this was the problem, even now I still don't really know). So, after many Live CD's, I decided to install it to my hard drive (only because i snatched a 30GB from an old comp). my first install was Debian. I screwed that up and after a few days of trying to fix my problem by looking through countless forums, tutorials and HOWTOs, i decided that debian wasn't worth it. My response to defeat was to just install a new Distro to take the place of debian. My Choice was Kubuntu. The Kubuntu install ran like a gazelle. I am, as of Right now, Running Kubuntu(Installed on a 38GB Hardrive(not a partition) and XP on a 80GB HD). Actually, I am writing this Thread while under Kubuntu. I am glad (and surprised) i have gotten this far, but have a few questions that i would be obliged if you could help me out with. They are as Follows:

1) I have been using Xp and my 80GB Hard-drive for my computer use. with this said, it should be known that my stuff on that hard drive would be nice to have while using linux (ie. Music). Linux acknowledges that there is a 65GB and 16GB media Hard-Disk but when i try to click on them it gives me an error message that reads:
Could not mount device.
The reported error was:
mount: can't find /dev/hda5 in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab

and for the 16GB hadDisk it says:
Could not mount device.
The reported error was:
mount: can't find /dev/hda1 in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab

I know that these hardisks are the partitions that are the XP Hardrive. /Hda
I also know that the hardisk that i installed linux on (/Hdb5) is accessible.
*My Question is, How Can i access these valuable partitions?

2) I would like to know the extreme basics on how to install an application that i have downloaded off of the net. I am still under the impression of the windows way of install. (download->Click->Open->Install) I would just like a basic rundown of this. And When i say Basic i mean Extreme Basic.

Those are the most important ones. (High Priority)

These are Extra that i would just like to put out there. (when I get around to it)

1) I have 2 monitors. I could Run both as an extended desktop (2 monitors 1 big desktop) in windows. but when i installed linux all i get is a clone copy of the primary screen. The only real reason i would see myself using this type of clone setup is if I was going to do a presentation or something (not likely). My set up is an ATI Radeon 9600 (1). My monitors are plugged in Via (1) VGA and (1) DVI both on the (1) ATI Radeon 9600. Multi monitor support is a great thing to have, and with out it,after having it, can be very frustrating. Please Help me get My second monitor up in running.

2) I know that it is possible to run games on a linux system, but i don't really know much about it. What i know about it so far is that it is called WineX and got the name changed to cedega and is at transgaming.org. that is about all i know about this. Please help me figure this whole shmeele out although it's not that big of a deal as i already have a dual boot system and can just use XP for games.

If there is any information that i did not state here please feel free to ask and i will gladly comply if i know how.

Thank you in advanced for the help.

There is a file called /etc/fstab which describes the filesystems that can be mounted. Look at the documentation-file man fstab.

Let's look at some of my file: First of all, notice that Linux uses ordinary text files, found in particular places. There is no "registry."

The various columns in this file include the following (as the man page will tell you):

• The name of the physical device.
• The "mount point," which must be the name of a directory. (When the device is unmounted, the directory will be empty; when mounted, it's full of files.)
• The filesystem type. The main drives are ext3, the USB disk is assumed to be vfat (MS-DOS), and the CD-ROM gets to figure it out for itself.
• Options. For example, the USB device and the CD-ROM don't get automatically mounted at boot-time, can be mounted by ordinary users, do allow executables, and so-on.
• Two numbers that control the sequence in which devices are mounted.

To add support for your Windows drives, you'll add entries to /etc/fstab and you'll create directories to serve as mount-points. Then you can save the file and just issue the mount command. Then look to see if files appear.

When you are finished, you should un-mount the drive with umount.

Consider carefully the ro option, which is read-only. You may wish to mount Windows partitions read-only "just in case," i.e. if you have no reason to intentionally write to them. Some filesystem-drivers, at this point, may require or may impose ro.

"Installation," in a Linux environment, can vary considerably. Some applications ship with a complete installer, just like Windows uses.

Other applications are shipped in more-or-less source-code form, and they are usually installed like this:

• The directory /usr/local is often used to store "anything local to this machine." I suggest that you set up a user-id strictly for system maintenance, one that is not root, and that you add it to a group (let's call it sysmaint, group wheel, that will give it read/write access to /usr/local.
• Go to a console terminal window.
• su sysmaint. Enter password. Now you're running as sysmaint.
• newgrp wheel. Now you've got access.
• cd /usr/local/src Make a directory for the product.
• Download the file, or cheat and use root .. ... to mv the archive directly into /usr/local/src/productname.
• Expand the archive. It's usually a .tar.gz file. Issue the command: tar xzvf filename. (If it's a .tar.bz2 file, use tar xjvf... (Aww, I can do it in my sleep...)
• A new directory will have been created. cd into it. Now the fun stuff begins.
• Type the command: ./configure. Notice :tsk: the leading "."!
• When all the humming and purring stops, enter the command: make install. The product will compile and install itself.
• Sometimes a product must be installed when logged-in as root. In that case you first do make, then su root and make install. But most programs won't require that.
• The product files will probably wind up in /usr/local/bin and/or /usr/local/lib. Those should already be visible in your path so that if you now say which executablename, you should "see" the file and you should be able to execute it simply by typing its name.
• But first, exit system-maintenance by typing logout (or exit). This ends the previous su command and returns you to your normal self.

For an increasing number of programs, especially "end-user" programs, an installer is becoming de rigeur, and I think that's a pretty good trend.

Thank you for the response and help, but i am still a bit hazy when it comes to adding support for the windows drives. and when you say finished what do you mean. finished with the computer like shutdown or finished using the drive, or what? And also, doing this will let me access the data that is allready on my existing Hard disk?

(by the way, could you help with any of the other questions i have posted? if not that is ok you have been a great help as is.)

How do i set up a system user-id strictly for system maintenance that is not root and add it to a group?

how do I see the difference between a complete installer and a source-code form?

Because Kubuntu is based on Ubuntu which itself is based on Debian, I believe it uses this dpkg system to install programs. A file with the extension ".deb" is almost always a debian install file, so you can download this file and click on it to install it. Incase this doesn't work, you can easily install from the command line.


su
(type your root password)
dpkg -i filename.deb


Here, you use the su command to become root, i.e. the super user. Then, you invoke dpkg to install filename.deb by using the -i option.

Another way to install programs is to use apt-get. This is an excelent way to install programs, as it resolves any dependancy (when a program requires another program or lib to run). To use this, again you need to be root.

You will have to update the database that apt-get uses to install programs to get the latest version of the programs. To do this type:

apt-get update

To search for programs, use:

apt-cache search [name]

[name] can be a name of a program, such as firefox, or a type of application, such as editor. You will get an output like this:

openoffice.org - high-quality office productivity suite

The first name is the name of the package, then after the "-" is a short description of the package. To get a more full description of the package, use apt-cache show:

apt-cache show openoffice.org

Now, to install packages:

apt-get install openoffice.org

This may ask you if you are sure you want to install this, in the case that other packages have to be installed/upgraded/removed. Type y [enter] to accept, and n [enter] to decline.

You can remove packages by typing:

apt-get remove openoffice.org

You can check for available upgrades by typing:

apt-get upgrade

Usualy you need to update the database first before doing this, so you can type:

apt-get update; apt-get upgrade

Thats pretty much all I can think of for the moment. There are apt-get GUI tools like synaptic. There is someone on this forum who has wrote a brilliant tutorial on synaptic, I will post it here if I find it. If any one knows of a good synaptic tutorial please post it! (or any other gui front end for apt-get that is).

Thanks to both of you for all the help i will try to do all of your suggestions soon. I can only do 1 at a time. I'm still doing the hard drive thing as of right now so after that i will try installing apps. thanks alot guys.

(by the way, When editing the fstab what should it look like so far i have got this

<file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/hdb1 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/hdb5 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/hdd /media/cdrom1 udf,iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/hda5

I am trying to mount hda5 could i get some help finishing?

http://www.psychocats.net/essays/winuxinstall.php

From the user's aysiu site... (Hope you don't mind aysiu, but it's very good )

I think for /dev/hda5 you need something like:

To see this change work without a reboot type:
as root. This won't allow you to write to the device... I am waiting for my friend to boot into linux to get this info for you, but I think it's something like umask=000

To see this change work without a reboot type:
do i type this code into a terminal? im guessing terminal.

(this reply might be useless)

(probably)


EDIT: I have the in fstab now what? I haven't done anything but copy/paste the above code. i have not saved or anything. havent Exited Fstab, nothing.


EDIT-X2: this is what i have in fstab as of right now.

Ok, save and exit the file. If it say's you don't have the correct privileges to write to this file then you will have to open the file as root. You can do this by pressing alt+f2 (in KDE this is) and type kate (or kwrite, or gedit, choose your favourite), and then press options and tick "Run as a different user" and type in your password into the box.

Yes, you do type mount -a into a terminal, and this is going to have to be done as root too.

ok so I did what you said and when I typed in mount -a into a terminal I get this message:


(Do I really need to mount it with ???)

Caution: Since your files are on an XP partition you, most probably, need to specify -t ntfs rather than -t vfat. "vfat" is for FAT and FAT32 partitions. (Which you might have, but the XP default is NTFS.)

Re your "mount point does not exist" message, use mkdir /mnt/win (as root) to create the mount point. (And finish the line with a "Return" before saving it when editing fstab.)

(In response to PTrenholme):

Yeah, when i read vfat i was thinking that ntfs that wasnt my file system that that it is ntfs.

(also, when i type in mount -a i get the same message as before even after changing it to nfts.)