hi - after years of not using an unix/linux system, i've downloaded mandrake linux 9.1 and got it running great. i wasnt so sure about my mouse during installation, it's a wireless microsoft intellipoint blue mouse, so i set it to standard ps/2 mouse. (had the usb cable connected to a ps/2 adapter in XP because i wanted to save my 2 usb ports for other things) it worked fine, but i couldn't use the wheel. so i set it to intellimouse. it worked fine. no wheel. so i was resizing my desktop, had to restart... and no mouse - set it to all different brands, even took the adapter off and plugged it into the usb port... nothing works! read thru some other peoples posts... tried to run mousedrake - did nothing. had it in usb, ran modprobe usbmouse, nothing. i cannot seem to save the settings in /etc/X11/XF86Config as others have told others to do so - i can't figure out how to save it.

also 2 other things - seems to be my monitor had these flickers... like, horizional lines appearing and disappearing, never happened in xp, tried some settings... gave up on THAT when i had mouse probs, and it went away. any ideas what this was? and also, my fiancee's computer is running windows XP. we are both connected to a router, our apt. has hi-speed internet access. the printer is connected to her computer, and the scanner to mine... i havent set up the scanner yet, but i tried some different settings on the printer - it wont print.

any help would REALLY be appreciated!

Whew, that's a lotta questions up front. I am certainly no expert but I will try to address the issues that stuck out at me. I'll let the gurus handle the rest.

What are you using to edit the XF86Config file with? You have to be root to save configuration files. I would install Pine from the installation CDs so you can use Pico to edit files. It's a nice little editor for those of us who are not programmers. It's simple and easy to use. Then open a terminal. Type "su" and hit enter. Enter your password. Type "pico /etc/X11/XF86Config." Edit the config file how you want and hit CTRL+O and hit enter to save the file. In Linux you do not have to reboot to make changes take effect; there is no registry. You just need to restart the X server. You do this by logging out and back in or hitting CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE.

If your monitor is flickering you may need to get the right driver for your video card.

What printer are you using? The easiest way I have found to set up a printer is my using CUPS. Open a browser and in the address bar type "http://localhost:631." This will allow you to configure your printers.

Hope this helps,
Ted.

i think i used kwrite... mind you, i am at my fiancee's parents house, and far far away from my computer so this is all from memory. i will be home tonite and reunited with linux at last! heh. kwrite kept saying i couldnt save it because of a read/write thing, i forgot exactly what its message was... i went into super konsole, in which mousedrake works, but doesnt do anything, and modprobe usbmouse works but didnt do anything... i entered edit /etc/X11/XF86Config, cause i recall being able to use edit on this old unix platform that a friend's dad who used to work for AT&T let me borrow for almost a year... i dont recall seeing pico, so i'll have to look for that.

funny thing about the monitor - it didnt flicker after my mouse died. it worked great in XP. i thought maybe that it had to do with the amount of colors - i chose 16 million.

HP Deskjet 930C. i used CUPS, but the thing is - in XP, i had the network wizard find the printer for me. in linux, it didnt find the printer for me... so how would i locate it?

another question... is a network, sharing files, possibe with 2 computers, 1 running XP, and the other Linux?

ok, im home... i went into super konsole, did a kedit to /etc/X11/XF86Config and -4. mouse works - however the wheel still doesnt work.

the flickering has stopped. but the printer... its attached to my fiancee's computer running XP. still need help on this.