hey, I am very new with linux. I am looking for a good place to find software.

If anybody knows specific things to get for some of this stuff, please let me know.

I need:
Something to read windows drives
a plugin to reprogram the buttons on my mouse
something to play my music (preferably like winamp)
a system monitor (would be great if it would cover my wireless network)

I just recently decided that I hate microsoft, and I don't want to use them anymore, so any help with this stuff is appreciated

The normal in-kernel drivers can read fat[12/16/32] and ntfs. XMMS is a winamp clone capable of playing your music for you. gkrellm2 is a common system monitor program.

is there some special way to find the ntfs drive? I have fiddled around with it, but no luck...thanks for the suggestions so far!

No problem. To see a listing of all the partitions on the system, run 'fdisk -l' as root.

whoa...you totally lost me there. sorry to be needy, but I will need you to 'stupid it up' for me a little.

What part of ATL are you from? I lived in many places north of 285 when I was younger

Mepis has all of this stuff out-of-the-box. Windows partitions just show up on the desktop. When you click on them, they mount and open up. You can reprogram your mouse from the KDE control center. AmaroK and XMMS are good media players (XMMS is almost exactly like WinAmp). And a system monitor is already in the panel.

In fact, if Mepis can be faulted for anything, it's including too much. Whereas with a fresh Ubuntu install I have to install a lot of stuff, with a fresh Mepis install, I often find myself uninstalling programs (KWeather, for example, I find useless).

Check Mepis out, though. It may be your cup of tea. It's a live CD that's also an installer CD. You boot it up live, and if you like it, you just click the "Install Me" icon on the desktop, and it'll install.

I'm from the Dunwoody area, which is included in north of 285

To see the listing of partitions, open up a console and type 'su -', then provide the root password. Then run 'fdisk -l'. This will show you a list of all partitions and their types on the system.

ok....I have found it, how do I access it? FD4 won't let me open it.

You'll need to mount it, just like any other partition. You can add a line into /etc/fstab to mount that partition.

What's FD4? Is that Fedora?
Well, if you absolutely refuse to use Mepis, this will probably help you, but honestly... with your needs Mepis is probably the best choice--you don't have to fiddle around. It does everything you want out-of-the-box.

ok...I am learning a lot, but this is way over my head...can you be any more specific on how to mount it?

Check out the NTFS FAQs. They provide more help than I ever could without just copy and pasting from them.

Again, what is this FD4?
If all these commands are over your head, download the Mepis ISO and pop the CD in.
It starts out as a live CD--it will not damage or in any way modify your hard drive.
Your Windows partitions will automatically appear on the desktop.
You click on the partition, and it mounts and opens for browsing as a folder.

No commands.
No complicated editing of config files or installing of NTFS support.

thanks a ton for the help...I am going to fiddle around some more, then call it quits for the night. If I have any more trouble, I'll get back with you.

I don't know anything about Mepis...I have spent the last 4 days trying to get Fedora working right, I am going to work with it for a while, and learn what I can about this whole linux thing..I'll look into Mepis as soon as I feel like I know what I'm doing.

How do these comments help the OP get his NTFS partition working? If it takes installing a different distribution, then even I, with my 7 years of linux experience, would be willing to admit defeat to Microsoft. Every one of your posts here has been an attempt to push Mepis.

I'm all for distribution allegience, but this is about helping users in the most straightforward way possible.