I am an experienced Windows and DOS user dating back to DOS 3.0 and have a good understanding of windows file systems, the registry, virtual memory, swap files, networking protocols...etc. But...I am a dummy when it comes to LINUX.
I have been wanting to try LINUX for years. I have three different distributions of linux. I finally bit the bullet about three days ago. I decided to devote my laptop exclusively to LINUX familiarization. I wiped out WindowsXP Pro and did a clean install. I managed to load mandrake-linux 9.1 on my compaq presario 1400 laptop.I was pretty happy about managing that. My laptop has 256MB RAM and a 5GB HD w/USB support.
I configured wireless internet acess using my orinoco gold pcmia card through my wireless siemens access point. I loaded the drivers for my Z25 color printer (it has USB-only interface capabilities). The printer will print a test page but will not print documents I send to it. I was able to configure email on the default mail clients.
I am having quite a hard time loading third party software since I have no idea on accessing cd-rom files through gnome console in superuser mode. Because of that, I cannot load wordperfect8. Any suggestions other than reverting back to windows? :

do you mean when you open terminal you just want to navigate to the cdrom ?
su -
then type in root password
mount /mnt/cdrom
cd /mnt/cdrom
from what i understand you saying, i think thats all you want?

oh and if thats a z25 lexmark, can you post a link to a page or whatever you referenced to get it working to the point that you did, thx