I'm running a dualboot windows xp machine and redhat 9.

I have a few major issues with my linux, any help is appreciated.

A) I'd like to get the MSN clone AMSN running, but I cannot figure out how to compile the source.

B) I have been trying to initialize my wireless card for my HP Pavilion ze2000, the wireless card is "Broadband 802.11b/gWLAN.

C) I'm trying to use the "xstart" command to start X11, I have had no luck with that.

D) and the sound card on my machine seems to not be configured as I have yet to hear anything.

E) I'm running XAMPP for my linux machine and I'm trying to understand how to tweak my apache, and start my mySQL db. I have tried a number of different commands on my terminal, but no luck yet.

Thank you very much if anyone can help me with these problems, I have many more, but at the moment these are pressing.

First, welcome to the wonderful world of linux!

a) use gaim, it's a great clone for msn. should be included in your install if you do a full install with fedora core 4, just open a console and type "gaim".

compile under linux usually goes like this:
1.download the tarball from net, and untar it using
tar xvf wat-ever-pkg-name.tar.gz
2.cd into the dir, type
./configure
3.type:
make
4.enter super user mode by su, and type:
make install

b) There's a wireless setup somewhere in GNOME menu. I remember when I used to use mandrake, there's a program you can use to load windows driver for your wireless card. Can't remember the name though.

c) the correct command is "startx"
or you can try: alias 'xstart=startx' && xstart

d)& e) sorry I have no idea about zat cuz I am a newbi too. (unlike you, I am forced to use linux because my xp keeps on having blue screen of death after 2 days of fresh install)

Thanks very much again for your help. GAIM is a clone of aim, I need to try and get AMSN compiled. I know this is silly, but I'm still rather new, is there anyway to system restore in case I mess up, or is there any sort of data rcovery on linux?

Hey, I checked out amsn this morning, it looks pretty good with those skins on. So I decided to install it.

I went to download the amsn rpm package for fc4. The install it, they told me I need 2 things:

tk => 8.3
and
wish

I checked redhat rpm, it comes with tcl, but not tk. So i guess in order to build amsn you have to install tk first. Go search for something like tcl/tk

Thanks Diego, I actually got as far as d/l tcl/tk but after i untarred em' and tried to run AMSN it said it had some error, I actually forget the exact error i recieved.

My kids use MSN via Gaim.

I found that out just recently, but I've heard AMSN is a pretty good clone of msn. Plus the GAIM doesn't seem to want to run AMSN, it says it has an issue connecting to the server.

If I remember right, I had to download the MSN plugin for them separately, but they never complain about it so it must work pretty good.

Your problems with gaim are a result of running an old distro. Redhat 9 has an old version of gaim that does not work with the new MSN protocols. There are Redhat 9 rpms for new versions of gaim at gaim.sourceforge.net/.

What I am confused about now is whether I should migrate from red hat to a more modern flavor of linux, if so which would anyone recommend?

I figured out amsn 5 mins ago. I am using fedora core 4

First, I removed any packages about tcl/tk on my system. Use
rpm -qa | grep tcl
rpm -qa | grep tk
this will list all tcl/tk rpms installed

then use
rpm -e what-ever-pkg-name
to remove them.

then, dl tcl and tk 8.4, untar them.
first, cd into tcl dir
./configure && make && make install
this will install tcl8.4
then, cd into tk dir
./configure && make && make install
I remember before remove tcl rpms I got an error when trying to make, so make sure you do that

after these steps are done, it's now time to install amsn.
dl amsn tar ball, untar, cd into dir
./configure
if this give you error saying cannot find tcl or tcl-dev, then try
./configure --with-tcl=/usr/local/lib
as amsn cannot locate where your tcl libs are
if ./configure goes without errors, just
make && make install

then type amsn to run.

However, I strongly agree with rickh that you should use gaim, as my amsn crashed 5 times in 4 mins, and I used the last min to delete it.

If you are thinking more modern linux distro, then I recommand fedora core. This is the best distro I ever use as I can pretty much compile every thing with out errors. I was never able to compile stuff before with Mandrake, but dont take it wrong, mandrake is great too, especially the new Mandriva 2006 is great for laptop.

Okay, this is the longest reply I ever written in my life lol. Finally I feel like doing some contrubution to this forum after asking numerous questions here :-D (I feel good, dadadadada)

redhat 9 is a very old distribution (4 years). the newest community redhat release is called Fedora Core 5 (fedora.redhat.com).

however, ubuntu (www.ubuntu.com) is a more technically sound, secure, user-friendly, and better overall gnu/linux distribution. i suggest that you start with that instead of redhat.

mike

As a definite newbie, i just want to say thanks to diego_cn for the concise explanation of the compilation and installation of a tarball.

I loaded Linux (SuSE V10.0) last week as a lark to see if I'm too old to learn new software. I was beginning to think I might be when I couldn't figure out what to do with gkrellm-2.2.8.tar.gz, but after I read the instructions, I was able to mimic my way through the process (it did install, and it ran) and I now have at least a glimmer of an idea what to do in the future!

Thanks diego_cn!

Stevemcb263

hi...
D) at the root jus say #gnome-volume-control
a window 'll pop up & check whether your system's volume is LOCKED or UNLOCKED.....jus disable that n try again
# system(or redhat)-config-soundcard
u test sound button will come up click on it n hear the sound !! hearing??

Yes, Visitashu, It's working great!

Thanks