Hello, i dont know if i am allowed to post 3 questions into 1 thread, but i hope i dont cause any trouble doing it.

1- I am absolutely new to linux, i just downloaded and installed the first 2 disk for mandrake 10.0, i am downloading disc #3 now running on the linux OS, but i cant find a cd burner aplication on my linux system, can i download one, if so ... what, and where can i get it ... please help if you know

2-i need to run a program not available for linux, some one advise me to run it on a emulation window, where can i find that, and if there any kind on manual configure i need to do when i get it... please help

3-I have a creative soundblaster live! 5.1, and linux is able to see what the exact brand and model of my sound card is, but still i cant get no sound on any application,... i checked volume for speakers and master volume on the kmix application(i think that is where volume is controlled)....

Any help on any of these subjects will be highly appreciated..

1. If You are using mandrake, i guess You are using KDE too. To find if You have installed some CD burner go to the KDE menu > Syste, > Archiving > CD Burning ... If this folder does not exists, try to run mandrake control center, then software installation in it, fing K3B and install it from mdk CDs. Now You are surely able to burs CDs under Linux. All You need to have is CD burner ;-)
2. Try installing wine, but it is not so easy to use, if You are "absolutely new to linux"
3. Well, You are not getting any error message from xmms when trying to play some music? If so, try to change volume in kmix, but not only master channel. If You are getting err messgs, try tu run sndconf.

Next time try to separate Your problems, to help other people browsing this forum too, identify whats going on by title of your post.

thank you tano, your reply was very helpful , concerning question #3, no im not getting any error when trying to play music or video with sound files, they just <start playing> but no sound comes out of the speakers,

hmm, then try to turn on all channels in kmix... or check cables from Your soundcard to repros ;-))
If You are using SB Live, there can be a lot of options in Kmix, so make sure you are playing some sound file and try to change them until You finally hear the sound. I have the same coundcard and it works great for me.
It this do not help, try to run mandrake control center and then hardware and try to play with other dirvers for your SB, or under console type sndconf ;-)

ty, i think i forgot to tell something very important I use MSI km4m mainboard, which comes with a sound card, and when the system boots, thats the sound card that it loads... when i open kmix i have the option to choose to either use that sound card or the sblive 5.1, even though that i choose sblive no souond comes out... the volume for all devices on the kmix are at max... i think that if i could get the system to load the sblive when botting, the problem will be solved, but i dont know how

One solution is really easy and quite stupid, so it works perfectly ;-)
Turn Your onboard soundcard off in Your BIOS.
You can surelly do it somewhere in BIOS config.
If it is turned off, Linux cannot detect it, so it will detect only Your SB Live ;-)