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08-21-2003, 02:06 PM
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#1
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Aug 2003
Posts: 19
Rep:
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Just a Newbie stuck
ok now this might be crazy and you ppl will start flaming me. but one who asks is a idiot of r five minutes and one who doesnt remains one.
a little bit of my background.
i have worked with windows all my life starting from windows 3.1 to 2003 and i am an expert int hat feild lets say. got CCNA and MCSE doing CCNP and CCIE
Any way to my problem.
i installed mandrake 9.2 beta ( as some ppl told me its good and easy)
i finished the instalation. (standard mode) and there was a part that asked me if i wanted to let linux make a user enter to by defualt and i chose yes.
now that i am done with the instalation. this is what i get when i boot.
login: root
password:XXXXXX
now that i am loged in i get
(root@localhost)$: something like this
and i am stuck .. .i dont know wat to do next ....
can any one help me ? wasnt i supposed to get desktop or something similar?
should i work with the command line interface all my life if i want to use LInux ?
well i have no clue wats going on .... i can ping my router from there (if thats any help )

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08-21-2003, 02:07 PM
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#2
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Aug 2003
Posts: 19
Original Poster
Rep:
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ps if some one can give me a breif idea wats KDE and wats Gnome i ll be happy since i hear alot of that
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08-21-2003, 02:11 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
Registered: May 2003
Location: Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada
Distribution: slackware
Posts: 4,185
Rep:
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well if you installed X (this is the gui) then if you type:
startx
at the prompt you should be in the graphical environment...
if that does work for you then when you post back, we'll then move on to tell you how to make a normal user for you won't run as root all the time (this is bad  ) and we'll also show you how to make it start automatically if you'd like
so just try tryping startx and tell us if that works.
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08-21-2003, 02:13 PM
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#4
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Aug 2003
Location: NJ
Distribution: Fedora
Posts: 17
Rep:
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type:
(root@localhost)$: startx
and it should bring up your default GUI.
KDE and Gnome are just 2 of the many kinds of GUIs you can use with Linux.
If you really want to become proficient with Linux (or any sort of Unix), it would greatly help if you learned enough to be comfortable using the CLI - even if it's just to make some initial system configs when you do an install.
Cheers,
Joe
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08-21-2003, 02:15 PM
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#5
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Senior Member
Registered: Apr 2003
Location: Lancaster, England
Distribution: Debian Etch, OS X 10.4
Posts: 1,263
Rep:
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i am not familiar with mandrake but if X(the gui) doesnt start automatically it can be started by the command startx entered at a prompt. also you shouldnt log in as root unless you have some need to which you dont at the moment.
gnome and kde are two different 'desktop environments', they are more than just a window manager, or a file browser, they are the whole lot bundled into one thing. hence the word environment
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08-21-2003, 02:16 PM
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#6
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Member
Registered: Dec 2002
Location: San Luis Obispo, CA
Distribution: Fedora Core 3
Posts: 618
Rep:
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Welcome to the bash shell!!
If you really want to learn Linux, I recommend you become very familiar with using the command prompt. Buy an O'Reilly book on the bash shell. That should get you started.
If you want to start a graphical "Windows" type environment, try typing startx, startkde, or X. One of those should work.
Kde and Gnome are both window managers. A detailed explanation would be extremely long.
For more info go here:
http://www.kde.org
http://www.gnome.org
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08-21-2003, 02:22 PM
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#7
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Senior Member
Registered: Aug 2003
Location: Upstate
Distribution: Debian, Mint, Mythbuntu
Posts: 1,249
Rep: 
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You are getting the login prompt probably because X (basically your display) is not configured properly. When you get the prompt, type "root" for username, then enter password. Type "drakconf" at the open window. Use the arrow keys to select "display configuration". Hit the tab key to highlight the "OK" button. You then need to properly set up your graphics card, monitor, and resolution. You also have an option to test the configuration. If the test works, you will see a button saying "Is the the correct setting?".
You can also start the graphical system after you log on at the console, by typing "startx". However, Mandrake probably already tried to automatically "startx" for you, but found something wasn't right, so you were dumped to the console.
After you set up the display correctly using drakconf, you should automatically be logged into a graphical system upon reboot. You can try it by enetring the command "reboot" after you exit drakconf. Good luck.
P.S. You should probably use 9.1 instead of the beta version if you want a stable system.
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08-21-2003, 02:41 PM
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#8
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Senior Member
Registered: Aug 2003
Location: Portland, Oregon
Distribution: Arch
Posts: 1,374
Rep:
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yes and no..
there is the gui (xfree86) and it is great, but all it really does is allow you to load multiple terminals at once, and also things like intant messengers and web browsers are graphical, you need x for those (when someone says x they mean the gui mode)
basically unless you are a very simple/basic person you will need to become very familiar with the console. you have lots of certs, and no offence meant twords you but I know many idiots and morons who have certs but no skill (not accusing you) so ignore your certs, they tell you about windows/cisco./whatever problems that are in the book, they do not teach you problems that are not in the book, and they do not teach you intelligence. the best way to learn linux is to set a goal (I want to check e-mail, or make music work) then go for it and reach that goal, then move to next, don't install it and expect it to do something on it's own :-P
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