ok heres a list of questions sorry if they have been answerd before, my searches are well crap.

How do i login as root, i know how to get the root consol. but i accidently tried to unmount a file:/ and it told me only root can do that, i installed peng (which took alot of effort like 12 tried X) so that i could dial up on aol and i couldn't access the files only root could my current solution was to chmod the files and directory.
so i could edit the conf file.

how do i get my install to place the KERNAL_DIR varible + source onto my hd or whatever it is(sorry not even got hte lingo yet)

any sites that explain the tar and the command flags?

Links to sites with linux apps?

there will be more but i forgot like what i want to say as i got lost in a post about writing a docs/tutorials about linux security at a 4 yo's understanding : o)

also is slackware newbie bad o_O ok would it be hard to use slackware, i see its been rated as the best. and well seeing as i have 56k i'll need to nag a friend to download and post it to me. : o)


thanx for your help : o)

Damnation

Logging into your system as root is a bad idea. Too easy to wreck the system.

If you need access to root, in a shell type:
su this means you want to become temporary root
root password

now you have access to root priviledges while in this shell.

For your kernel source, I know Mandrake includes the source on the install cds (at least they used to, been a while since I've looked at them). You simply use Makdrake's package manager to install the kernel source. That way you know for sure the source actually matches the kernel you're using.

Using tar files is fairly straight forward. They are just acrchived files, much like zip files. To learn more about using tar, in a shell type: man tar
This will bring up the manual pages for the archiver.

There are literally hundreds of sites with Linux apps on the net. As a newbie, I'd suggest you stick with your Mandrake package manager for now, and learn your system better. Most anything you might like can be located that way and the RPM will be installed automagically for you.

Read up on the package manager that came with your system and learn how to use it effectively, and then start exploring other means of installing packages such as compiling them yourself.

I wouldn't recommend Slack or Gentoo or Arch or LFS for a Linux newbie. You'll likely get in over your head and become very frustrated. Take your time with what you have, learn how to configure and use it correctly, and then start exploring other options.

While Mandrake isn't the top of the list of distros, and not one of my personal favorites, it's a fairly decent distro for a newbie to learn with. I used mandrake for about a year before exploring other options.

aha i remembered some.

1, i have a 1 gb usb mass storage device a gismo cruical
i plug it into my usb ports and thats it the kernal/kde i dunno which one breaks but i cannot go into the files or folders. cdroms nothing they just stat something like konquerer loading or somthing.

i used partition magic to format my windows hd, i had the linux install do the linux hd i have windows on 1 hd and linux on another

120gb western digital x 2

problem is how the hell do i get grub to show windows?
i tried this menu thing i found when configuring your system the boot thing sorry if i am vague i have used linux so little and have to be on windows to get on the net this is taping the mind here : oP

i added windows
hdb1 which would be hd 2 partition 1? which would be my C

i have linux on the primary ide and windows on the master right now to switch between the 2 i have to open up my pc and change the jumpers so one is master and the other is slave. master being the one i want to boot into.

i tried a boot manager called gag but that just sucked, showed like 9 different mandrake installs and one which was linux but didn't have all the fields filled in i tried that one hoping that it might be windows, but it just said no mbr record or somthing

so any help please i told it to use lilo and then i tried grub but i get hte same menu even if i add values via a gui in boot manager nothing shows up just hte 3 linux boots.


thanx.

thank you masonm i will take your advice.

unfortunatly until i can get my modem installed i cannot get online i am however thinking of ditchin my bcm modem and getting a new 56k modem.

i hear intel support linux drivers.

can anyone give me an idea of the best 56k modem for linux?
the one i got for my mum ages ago netodragon of somthing drivers suck wait 5 mins for dial tone. then 6 dial attempts before on and this bcm one well everything is instant.


thanx for all the support

Post your /boot/grub/grub.conf file. Let's see what you have there.

As for modems, any hardware modem will likely work. Winmodems depend on windoze and have limited Linux support. Just ask for a hardware modem. Before I got DSL I used a Best Data v.92 modem and it worked just fine.

As for the external drive, did you try mounting it?

i'll post my grub stuff later not on linux at mo currently on windows obviously.

i saw a link that recommended this modem : http://rzr.online.fr/jump/redir.php?...design/modems/

unfortunatly i cannot find a modem with that chipset

i ran your modem through dabs and got:
http://www.dabs.com/uk/Search2/Produ...%20Data%20v.92

and thats one evil price : oX

going to keep looking will proberly boot to linux later. but first i'll explain how i installed it all

first i had windows running quite happily. on hd1 i shut down and booted from mandrake cd and installed linux to hd2.

computer installs all then boots then i get a screen filled with L070707070707070707
so i am like balls, so next i open up parition magic and vola my windows partition is empty proberly my fault my hd1 & hd2 partitons where exactly alike and at first partitioned by windows so i could tell the difference between them so i killed windows

reinstalled windows them linux again same screen. this time windows was intact but still couldn't boot to it, so ok i thought i opened my computer and disabled my linux hd and changed the jumpers

installed windows everything was fine. i then did the same with linux and disabled the windows hd.
booted and ran linux fine.

tried the boot programs none worked that i tried
so no left to changing jumpers to boot different os's.

thanx for the replies

no i didn't try mounting it sorry just hit me, but i did see and note the mounting of windows partitons so ima try that method, altho i couldn't mount my windows parititons some wierd error about to many or somthing anyway. off to hunt for a modem!

: o) thanx i found the package manager and installed my kernals source.

[root@localhost BCMSM-3.4.19]# make install KERNEL_DIR=/usr/src/linux-2.4.27-0.pre2.1mdk
touch LastRPMBuildInfo
Building Linux Kernel Version Independent layer for this system..
lkvi.c: In function `lkvi_spin_lock_irqsave':
lkvi.c:3881: warning: use of cast expressions as lvalues is deprecated
Building INF to C Converter..
gcc -O2 -o INF2C INF2C.c
Compiling hardware information..
Linking BCMSM.o modem module..
Installing BCMSM.o to /lib/modules/2.6.8.1-12mdk/misc/BCMSM.o..
Rebuilding module dependencies..
Installing BCMSM-init-redhat to /etc/rc.d/init.d/BCMSM
/bin/sh: -c: line 2: syntax error: unexpected end of file
make: *** [install] Error 2
[root@localhost BCMSM-3.4.19]#

now i can't remember what file told me to install it like that (sorry gf had a panic attack so i got distracted) but i tar'd the file
i think the error maybe because its for redhat i don't know but you can get it [HERE] (i am hosting on my temp host.) if somone is able to fix i'd be so greatful. this is the source released by dell afaik


another error, usb stick, it was already mounted as soon as i plugged it in i clicked on home and got "konqueror: home starting" and nothing else i have to start a new session to be able to access folders. not sure why it does that i even did umount to turn the usb stick off but still no access to folders.


got the wrong grub info but this is my menu thingy

timeout 10
default 0

title linux
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda1 acpi=ht resume=/dev/hda5 splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.img

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda1 acpi=ht resume=/dev/hda5
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda1 failsafe acpi=ht resume=/dev/hda5
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.img

title windows
root (hd1,0)
map (0x81) (0x80)
map (0x80) (0x81)
makeactive
chainloader +1

i'll get the conf when i switch back to linux soon.

Some internal PCI modems - described as hardware - *still* don't work under Linux.
Your best bet is to buy an external serial modem, they're virtually guaranteed to work. You can get one for GBP20 or less.

According to your grub.conf posted here, you have Linux on HDD1 and windoze on HDD2 which is the exact opposite of what you said you have. Which is it?

I'd suggest that you're trying to tackle too many problems at the same time. Take them one at a time, fix them and then move on to the next one. You'll get more done faster that way.

The modem should be a HARDWARE modem, not a winmodem. That's very important. As sugegsted, a good external serial modem would work fine.

ok, i have like 30 mins on my comp then gf wants her attention. can't ignore her all day i guess hehe.

ok yes sorry i did switch it, linux is on my primary ide and windows on seconary it was on primary but i switched them over.

i'll look for an external modem tomorrow from www.dabs.com

right now i am going to try to fix the grub boot issue it is some a pain in the ass to open my pc each time just to change a few jumpers.


thank you for your help and advice so far. hopefully in time i will be able to give back to the community.

Damnation

Modem

thats the modem i'm going to get i couldn't believe that dabs.com didn't have one for anything under £40

thats the cheapest one that i could find.

i'm off to go look for a grub tut. and get my boot loader working
gotta wait till bills paid before mum & gf give me the money to get the modem > :> damn i'm spolit by my ladies hehe : oX (don't jynx it now)

It's still worth trying to find out if anyone has had any problems with this before forking the cash.
(I did say "*virtually* guaranteed )

in the reviews for it, somone used it on mandrake linux 9.1 fine so i am assuming that it'll work on mandrake linux 10.1 fine or i hope so
my lil grub install messed up i ended up nuking windows and linux, o well, going to look for another one hehe.

ok i switched jumpers and got into linux again. (obviously switched back but i was a mong head and put the jumper on backwards that was a pain to get off)

grub is working before it must have been lilo because grub my code its an ugly dos sorta thing menu thingg yeah!

windows is there now because i have set linux to master linux thinks its hd0 and windows hd1

i checked menu.lst and windows boot thing was at (hd1,1)
that didn't work so i thought ok how about (hd1,0) still didn't work

does anyone know how to setup grub?

i have 2 hd's

1 with windows on the other with mandrake.

i will wipe all of the second hd at any point mandrake/hd is expendable no data well apart from mandrake.

windows otherwise there is a 9.x gb partition with windows installed the rest is shares and programs ( i don't installed to C: so i can track what craps spy where and windows crap one day i will uninstall all of windows shit like "movemaker")

now i really want dual boot to work. tomorrow i order my new external modem. so will be here the day after tomorrow i think thats wednesday i can't remember : oX

so working on linux will be easier when i can get online hopefully i can get pengaol to work (aol ain't a bad isp for 56k in uk, no 2 hr d/c i can be connected for days : o) )

and i will be able to get online and work from there.
i managed to mount my ntfs drivers i used the command

su
password

mount -a -t msdos

i found it in a web tutorial or somthing i'll post the link later when i find it again.

anyways, help a poor MS user who wants off and onto Linux!
(only need MS for college otherwise bye bye and maybe some games)


(seriously i love linux its so much faster at access that moofing windows anyways more hunting to do)