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Thread: wow, linux so difficult!

  1. #1
    Junior Member
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    Unhappy wow, linux so difficult!

    Ugh... linux, the greatest operating system but the downside on my butt is that its too damn hard to understand! I'm posting because I need some help setting this here redhat 9 on my box. The first problem I experienced was that my sound didnt work so I bought a new sound card and it works. I needed to install the new nvidia drivers but I cant because "x" has to be closed. How am I to install it if it wont let me have x open? Wow. I still cant get my drivers to work. Heres what I type and heres what I get:

    a) I type "sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4363.run"

    b) This is what I get:
    "ERROR: You appear to be running an X server; please exit X before
    installing. For further details, please see the section INSTALLING
    THE NVIDIA DRIVER in the README available on the Linux driver
    download page at www.nvidia.com"
    Now surely you dont expect me to waste my precious time and go to the site. Well im not that dumb, I did and it doesnt explain anything else besides close x and stuff. Man I need some help.

    Another problem I have is that I have all my files on my seccond hard drive which has a ntfs partition and it worked fine on windows but on linux, it doesnt seem to read it. Here is the thing where it says all the other things that people would want to know. If you find out what I can do to get my seccond hard drive up, i would be very greatful. Please help me if you know how


    LABEL=/ / ext3 defaults 1 1
    LABEL=/boot /boot ext3 defaults 1 2
    none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
    none /proc proc defaults 0 0
    none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
    /dev/hda5 swap swap defaults 0 0
    /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom udf,iso9660 noauto,owner,kudzu,r
    o 0 0


    I still have more problems like how to get windows games runnin here and how to freakin get my ethernet dsl modem to work on RH9. Its an alcatel speed touch home ethernet. Looks like a square box, if you know how to install, please help.


    ...yeah, runnin red hat 9

  2. #2
    Senior Member
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    oohhhkkkaaayyyy....... this could - will - be long, and require a lot more help than I'll be able to give you right now, but here's a quickie: (sorry if some of this is obvious to you, just saving some trouble)

    1: X server is what runs all the fancy GUI stuff you see (such as KDE and GNOME window managers). The nVidia drivers you are trying to install alter some of X's configuration, therefore X has to be shut down. To do this you run the command init 3 (or runlevel 3) which will put you into a command line screen. There you do the sh ...... .run command you typed earlier. This will do a few things and when it finishes you type init 5 (or runlevel 5, whichever worked before). voila, installed.

    2: linux, at the current moment, does NOT natively support the NTFS file system. You may be able to get some progs to do this, but these may corrupt your windows partition.

    3: Windows games do not run well in linux, and if you have windows installed, the best idea is to run windows programs in windows. If you really want to run windows progs in linux, you will have to do a lot of work and even then, they will run nowhere near as well, if at all. Some games do have linux versions however (search the archive, something about linux games was posted recently)

    4: I can't help at the moment with the modem, but it is possible, and if none of the other excellent users/administrators can help you, I'll see what I can do tomorrow (have to get off really soon, SATs tomorrow)

    Note: I'll also see what can be done about the NTFS support tomorrow. Linux may be difficult to get started with, but its worth it in the long run. Also tell me if it would be to much trouble to try fresh installs from the beginning, and some system specs (such as how much space does linux have). Till tomorrow, good luck.

    EDIT: hmm, I seem to be slightly off today....pay attention to the guy below me, he says much of what I said better (though my warnings still apply, I believe)
    Preliminary operational tests were inconclusive (the dang thing blew up)

    \"Ask not what the kernel can do for you, ask what you can do for the kernel!\"

  3. #3
    Senior Member
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    Don't despair, your problems are easy to solve, everyone had them (or similar) when migrating from windows.

    1. To install the drivers, yes, you will have to kill the X server. If you automatically log into the X server upon boot (X is the windowing system, a gui for the os) then just hit control-alt-backspace and you should get dropped into a command line interface (CLI) From here just type the command you mentioned in your post and it should lead you through in a DOS-looking environment.

    2. To see your windows drive, type the following--mount -t ntfs /dev/hdb1 /mnt/windows
    Mount is a command. -t ntfs is the filesystem type. /dev/hdb1 is the hard drive and partition that windows is stored on (it might be slightly different for you, you should be able to see the two hard drives recognized in the clutter during boot) /mnt/windows is the directory (folder) that you will be placing (mounting) your windows drive in. Be sure you create it (anywhere and any name will do) before you give the command.

    3. To run windows games in linux, you will need a separate program, such as wine. Google for it, it's all over.

    4. The dsl, I don't know. I have cable and haven't run red hat much. Sorry

    Good luck and stick with it. Sooner or later you'll be glad you did.

  4. #4
    Senior Member
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    I have RH9 too, so I took a quick look around. For your DSL go to K menu > System Tools > internet configuration wizard. Haven't used it, but it may be what you're looking for.
    Preliminary operational tests were inconclusive (the dang thing blew up)

    \"Ask not what the kernel can do for you, ask what you can do for the kernel!\"

  5. #5
    Just a Virtualized Geek MrLinus's Avatar
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    If I may comment on the Windows game in Linux. There is a way to make them run fairly decently (or so a student tells me). Check out WineX. There is a $5/month subscription fee but apparently it runs the games quite well and he said it was worth paying (this from one of my poorer students).

    For the DSL, start with the DSL HowTo. I helped a friend a few years ago with this (about 3!) and have a foggy memory of it being fairly straightfoward.

    Lastly, Linux may seem difficult now but have patience. There is a learning curve to it and it requires a little more attention than Windows does but it does pay off in the end.

    Hope this all helps.
    Goodbye, Mittens (1992-2008). My pillow will be cold without your purring beside my head
    Extra! Extra! Get your FREE copy of Insight Newsletter||MsMittens' HomePage

  6. #6
    Senior Member
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    The Alcatel Speedtouch (USB) is a very common device here in the UK - I know several people who have it working with Linux.

    Unfortunately it's not straightforward, as there are (I believe) three *different* Linux drivers for the device (one from Alcatel and two third party ones) - but they all work. To make matters worse, this device has to have software downloaded into it, which is made by Alcatel and copyrighted and shipped with their driver. Hence the third party drivers still need the Alcatel package just to extract the embedded software.

    If you want an easy option, SuSE supports this device out of the box, I know one person who's got it working.

  7. #7
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    Originally posted here by slarty
    The Alcatel Speedtouch (USB) is a very common device here in the UK - I know several people who have it working with Linux.

    Unfortunately it's not straightforward, as there are (I believe) three *different* Linux drivers for the device (one from Alcatel and two third party ones) - but they all work. To make matters worse, this device has to have software downloaded into it, which is made by Alcatel and copyrighted and shipped with their driver. Hence the third party drivers still need the Alcatel package just to extract the embedded software.

    If you want an easy option, SuSE supports this device out of the box, I know one person who's got it working.

    Finally someone says try SuSE.

    Yes SuSE supports alot of hardware right out of the box, My soundcard and NIC were supported and configured themselves after the first boot. Also 8.2 professional says something about supporting NTFS so thats another home run. Also, there are DSL tools and if you install it with picking witch packages you want you can search (yea you actually can search for software during the install and make sure its there, and also you can make it list every program on the DVDs or CDs and make sure everything you want is on there)

    Also, when i updated my Nvidia drivers, i did it with X running and when i was done its the only update you have to reboot for, after it downloads and installs while X is running you reboot and its done. I didnt have to even reboot after a KDE update. Which the SuSE updater grabbed itsself.

    http://www.suse.com

    take your hat off, hang it on the hook, and get a pet lizard

  8. #8
    er0k
    Guest
    its alright man, you are on the right track, just remember: Unix is a relavitvely simple operating system, you just have to be a genius to understand the simplicity

  9. #9
    "I still have more problems like how to get windows games runnin
    here and how to freakin get my ethernet dsl modem to work on RH9."

    Hi

    If you want to run all of your Windows stuff word processor/ your games/
    Quicken/Outlook Express hassle free allow me to suggest you purchase a
    copy of vmware www.vmware.com it's not free about $100 but it will save you
    alot of grief and pain it can run the entire windows os within a linux or
    unix window you don't have to reboot the computer just click on your
    Windows desktop in Linux run your favorite app and voila no rebooting
    to other partition required I run it on my BSD desktop works great.


    Doc

  10. #10
    Doc d00dz Attackin's Avatar
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    bleh... most people dont understand that my dsl modem is not the usb version. I clearly said I had the Speed touch home ethernet modem, and incase you were looking in their website and happend to see the picture of it, I mentioned square type looking box. I know what the usb version looks like, I had it untill I gave it to my friend. anotherthing, wine is up and running but i still cant run exe's or my windows games. In fact i dont even know how to work wine or how to use it. I dont know what im doing! lol. Im getting pretty use to linux and its becoming my favorite now but if only I had suse. When I tried it, I had no problems and linux was all that was on my mind those days until I found out that I couldnt install or do anything on the trial version =\. KeyserSoze you were a great help with the hard drive part but... I had no idea what you told me to do. Incase you reply, keep in mind that its a seccond hard drive which has the ntfs partition but no windows installation. (I started the installation but I lost my cd key! hehe, another windows flaw.) If anyone can help me get that hard drive working, I dont know what I would do, i'd scream! lol j/p. Yeah well suse is a great os that i want and if anyone knows an ftp where i can get the latest versions on iso then please reply. ty.

    WTF!!!!!!!!! neolithium got my password (I was at he's house yesterday and I logged under my name and it save) I will let him know this was happened, It is suppose to be neolithium's question sorry to confuse you
    First you listen, then you do, finally you teach.
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