please excuse what may be a very simple question but i am a ture newbie to Linux and no windows expert to boot.

I have just loaded mandrake 9.2 from a cd and everything seems to work just fine. Now I am trying to install software for a DSL connection. I inserted the cd and can see all the files on it in konquerer but do not know how to start/load the programs and set up my connection. please help. The CD works perfect on a windows machine.

thanks

What software is it? Unfortunately, if the software doesn't say on the box that it supports Linux, it probably won't work

You will probably want to find an alternative, usually free, that works in Linux.

Here are some examples:
Photoshop (Windows) ---> GIMP (Linux)
MS Office ---> OpenOffice
CuteFTP / WSFTP --> gFTP
MS Outlook --> Evolution
DC++ --> DCGUI
MSN Messenger --> aMSN
AIM --> GAIM / Kopete
Winamp / Windows Media Player / Realplayer --> MPlayer / Xine
Netmeeting --> Gnomemeeting
Nero / DirectCD --> K3B
Partition Magic --> QTParted
Winzip --> File-roller / Ark
MS Publisher --> Scribus

If you must run certain Windows applications, there are 3 classes of products you can try:

WINE (free): This will run the most basic Windows programs and more complicated ones like Office if you are lucky.

Codeweaver's "Crossover" (not free): this is a commercially-supported version of WINE that lets you run a much greater variety of Windows programs than the community version. Plus you get tech support.

Transgaming's "WineX" (not free): allows many Windows games to run in Linux.

Okay so the cd may not work. any tips on how to configure my internet connection/dsl modem. or tips on where to look for info

It all seems to be working now. I'm not sure what I did but..... thanks for your help.

no problem. So the CD worked? What CD was it?