I just finished installing Mepis 3.3.1 on a new partition on my hard disk, so I have dual-boot system (along with winxp).

Mepis found and configured my wireless card, which ubuntu had been unable to do. The box is 200 feet from an ethernet drop, so I'm very pleased about that.

Now, I need to start doing some learning, and while I don't expect to get every question answered in this forum, I'm hoping to get pointed in the right direction...

1. It seems as though the Synaptics Package Manager is the way to go in keeping up with programs that are installed on the computer. I've looked for, but been unable to find, a decent tutorial on this tool. Does one exist? My understanding, which could certainly be incorrect, is that some programs are distributed as packages, which basically means somebody has else has figured out what other files are necessary to make it work and wrapped all that together into something that a package manager can download and install. This is a beautiful thing, but I'm not sure where to go with it, or if the package manager can handle other things. The test case I want to use is the installation of the ms frontpage server extensions (I am attempting to build a development web server on linux, which is why I started this in the first place). These files are available for download with filenames that end in either tar.Z or tar.gz, and I guess I get to pick. Which should I pick, and is there a way to let the package manager to do the dirty work?

2. When the system boots, it tells me that it has been passed an invalid parameter for the video, and asks me to tell it what screen resolution (it expresses it in rows by columns) to use. I suppose this means it doesn't recognize my video card, but it seems that I should be able to answer this once and have it remember the next, no?

3. Also during boot, Mepis is the default o/s and will get booted if I don't do anything. I would like to be able to change the default o/s to winxp, or maybe I should say I would like to know how to do it if I ever want to do it. Is there an application I should look for (grub?) that I can run that will let me configure this?

Now, a really stupid question. I know at some point I'm going to have figure out how to install programs without the package manager and even compile them first. The instructions I see for various program tell the user to put the program in different directories, so my question is this: Does it really matter what directory I put program in when I install them or when I compile them? If I put everything in, say, /usr/bin am I asking for trouble?

Thanks,

rmorgan1016-

Welcome to Mepis!!

1) The packagae manager (Synaptic, which is a grapical front-end to apt-get) is able to handle the dependency issues. It checks what extra packages are required in order for your desired on e to install, and will select them for install as well. The packages you will install with it are pre-compiled, and ready to install. There is another facet of it called apt-build, which does essentially the same thing, except with source packages. Most opt for using just the precompiled packages.
What you are downloading are known as tarballs, and can be extracted and compiled. Generally there is a README & INSTALL

Welcome to Mepis. This was my first love in the Linux world. I can honestly say if it weren't for Mepis, I wouldn't be using Linux today. Now, after a few months, I've moved on to Ubuntu, but that's a different story.

The closest I can come to a "tutorial" is Synaptic's own home page. Honestly, you're making it harder than it is. You Reload, search for software, mark it for installation (you can mark as many packages as you have room for on your hard drive), then click Apply. That's it.

I'd start by letting Synaptic Package Manager do the "dirty work." Later on, when you're more familiar with folder structures and such, you may want to compile from source. I'm not currently in my Mepis now, but in Ubuntu, I did a simple search for "frontpage" in Description and Name, and the software you're talking about popped up. Odds are that 90% of the software you want will be available via Synaptic--you won't have to hunt down .tar.gz files. You may also want to enable more repositories (more sources for packages) by going to Settings > Repositories, then checking all the unchecked boxes (except non-us ones--those have been discontinued). Remember to click "Reload" after you've enabled more repositories.

Just press space bar or wait 30 seconds.

Do you see something in your KMenu called File Manager --Super User Mode? Click that. It'll ask for your root password. Then, browse to /boot/grub/menu.lst. Copy that file and name it menu.lst_backup. Then, open menu.lst and you'll see something that says "default 0." Change that to "default 1."

rmorgan1016-

Welcome to Mepis!!

1) The package manager (Synaptic, which is a grapical front-end to apt-get) is able to handle the dependency issues. It checks what extra packages are required in order for your desired one to install, and will select them for install as well. The packages you will install with it are pre-compiled, and ready to install. There is another facet of it called apt-build, which does essentially the same thing, except with source packages. Most opt for using just the precompiled packages.
What you are downloading are known as tarballs, and can be extracted and compiled. Generally there is a README & INSTALL files included to help you get the thing running. There are some tutorials for apt-get, Synaptic, and other things, as well as the forums, over on mepislovers.org.

2) I've seen this error on a few machines myself, and have successfully booted afterwards. Not exactly sure what causes it though.

3) I have had to change this myself on a couple installs where people aren't familiar with bootmanagers. You can open up the File Manager - Super User Mode from the panel, navigate to /boot/grub/menu.lst, right click and select "open with" kwrite, kedit, or kate. I use kedit, but that's personal preference. Copy & Paste the Windows entry to above the first Mepis entry, then erase the old Windows entry. This will put XP back at the top of the list. BTW, always make a backup of any critical system file like this first, before doing anything to it. I usually tag mine with a .orig extension on the end.
Last question: you will likely get a few different answers on this, but here's what I do. I put anything that can be extracted & run directly (like thunderbird) in /usr/local. Generally, if you compile a program from source, the install script will put the files in the correct directories.

Hope this helps, and thanks for trying Mepis!!


ave

In synaptic go to preferances and change prefered version to testing, unless you need something in unstable.

For video modes try changing the refresh rates to something different that your monitor/video card can handle, start with 800x600.

If the default option in menu.lst don't work just make the first entry the one you want to default to. You have to be root though, type "kdesu kate" in the "Run Command" on the menu.

May I add my Welcome to MEPIS. It will never cease to amaze you. There is an apt-get how to. Click on the Mepis Docs Wiki on the link below. Also you might want to look at the Important Topics section of Newbie help, there are some potential problems that this post might help you avoid. Mepis comes with apache and php already installed and configured for your web development. Check the Servers section of the wiki for more.
here

Oops! Sorry about the double posting guys! Hit Enter instead of the " key. It was one of "those" days...


ave

Thanks for all the hints! I'm in the middle of trying it all out, and I'm sure I'll have more questions, but I wanted to let you know I'm reading and appeciating all the help!

One, well two, things to add:

I find KPackage a much more pleasant GUI front end to apt-get than Synaptic. It should be in the "System" sub-menu of the the "K" menu. Or, open a "Run Command" dialog w/ <Alt-F2> and type 'kpackage'.

Been using GNU/Linux for almost 4 years & haven't compiled anything yet (did too much of that in the 70's). You may find that everything you'll ever need is available as a .deb. It I were you, I would eventually learn apt-get from the command line (terminal). BTW, you can also execute 'su -' in a regular terminal to get the necessary root privileges.

Hi

You can sort this problem by editing as root /boot/grub/menu.lst

Example original

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.8-2-686
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8-2-686 root=/dev/hda1 ro
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8-2-686
savedefault
boot

To sort your problem add the following to end of kernel line

Example

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.8-2-686
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8-2-686 root=/dev/hda1 ro vga=771
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8-2-686
savedefault
boot

Sls