I am new to the Linux OS but not to computers. My first one was an Apple II-e running simple DOS long before Windows came about.

I run three Windows 2000 machines on a small home peer-to-peer hard-wired LAN and make a living doing so. Windows 2000 is my last Microsoft OS and I will not upgrade Office 2000. They are just too expensive and intrusive now. Hopefully, I will be able, with your help, to make the transition to Open Source before I die of old age.

When I upgraded my main work machine, I dedicated my old AMD K7-750 machine to Linux. I installed SuSE Linux 9.1 Professional with no problem. I am using it right now. It detected all my hardware (including a SCSI CD, LAN and Cable internet access) and loaded drivers for most of it (I'm still checking that).

For newbies like me it is nice to have a system that does most things automatically on the first boot.

YaST seems fairly intuitive for configuration and setup although I am just now going through the manual on it to see what is there.

I did set up some User accounts and have a question - When the system boots, there is not Log In screen where i can select which profile to enter. It always enters the first User account I set up. How do I fix this so I can log in as root or any other user during startup? I don't want it to just start without someone having to supply a correct password.

I was able to set up the Network Time Client to syncronize system time with the gov Time Server in Colorado with no problem.

I like the KDE desktop and OpenOffice seems OK for word processing so far.

The selection of software that comes with this package blows my mind.

Expect me to be a pest here as I get further into it.

Cordially,
TwoHoot

Hi & welcome,

Enter Yast.

Go to > security & users then open > user and group administration select your user and pick > expert options then > login settings. Inthere you should be able to turn off autologin.

Note that displaying a login screen (vice automatically logging in a default user) and allowing the root user to login from the login screen are not necessarily the same thing. As antiloaded indicates, most distros have a login settings control panel where you enable/disable auto login, and identify the user account for which you want auto login to occur. There may also be a separate control for whether root is allowed to login via the login screen. Ubuntu is one example where this is the case.

Thank you for the prompt replies. antiloaded's concise instructions worked. I would not have changed the Expert Options without specific instructions from somewhere.

So far, I am just going through the hard copy User Guide trying to get a big picture view of how Linux works. I have just opened YaST and the KDE control panel, looked at the options and menus and changed very little. I want to have some idea of what can be done before I change the default setup very much. Someone smarter than I am thought the default was the place to start.

The number of options and applications is overwhelming, but really wonderful. It is like installing Windows, all of Microsoft Office, Photoshop and a hundred other applications in one day and then tying to learn them all at once. Wow!!! - But can't be done with my aging feeble mind.

Kmail came pre-loaded and set up as the default email handler and I successfully set up an email account in it. It seems analogous to Outlook Express. I think I want to use Kontact (which looks like Outlook) for its' PIM functions. Does the Kmail setup automatically become part of the Kontact setup or do I need to set up the email account again?

I am not a big chat messaging fan, but my grandkids are. Also, I notice some of the help sites are offering chat as an alternative to a phone call or email support. I like that. Kopete seems to be the default chat application for the KDE desktop. Is it a good choice? How would I test it? As you can see I don't know much about chatting.

Cordially,
TwoHoot

i use kopete to chat with family;it works well. one thing to consider is that kopete is limited in its range. I have not been able to see and or recieve files on it or use voice functions.