Mandrake 9.0 questions...

Guys,

Mandrake 9.0 is driving me crazy!!! I have installed and reinstalled it with installations "recomended", "expert", and different ways inside these 2 choices and created only 1 user (for me to test) but i still have problems.

1) When i log as the user i have many restrictions. I can't install mozilla 1.3 because it says something like "choose another directory, you have not permission to install Mozilla in this directory (user/local) or something like that), so i logged as root, went to linuxconf, changed my user privileges and permissions to maximum (i think because i choosed all i could) but i still can't install it. I had installed it from root session, the installation was ok, rebooted the PC, but when i go to Mozilla (in the "about Mozilla" section) it still says Mozilla 1.1. and no 1.3. One more thing, when i choose the permissions from root session for me as user and save them, it always says that there has been some erros, but i know my CD's are OK so the installation of Mandrake is OK too because i didn't receive error messages during the instalation.

2) I can't initiate adsl as user (i could as root), i write adsl-start but it says command not found. Is there a way to initiate the adsl connection to Internet from graphic mode and not from the consoles (or terms)?. Why can't i initiate it as normal user?

3) If i install Mandrake 9.0 as "recomended installation" all is OK, but if i installed as "expert" and choose to start windows with KDE (or any) it doesn't do this and always boot in console mode and if i write "X" (and hit enter) it tries to go to graphic mode but only the mouse cross appears in a whole black screen, i can move the mouse but the graphic mode never loads (i mean the desktop, etc).

Is there a way to add more permissions to a user?

Do some of you had these errors?

I hope yuo can help me, thanks.

I haven't had the problems you have described. Have a look at these two links, they will take you to Boards that are crammed packed with information specific to Linux Mandrake from installation to Tips and Tricks, along with software/hardware problems and solutions.

http://www.club-nihil.net/mub/index.php
http://www.mandrakeusers.org/index.php

I'm no Linux expert and I hope I didn't miss something when I read your question, but all your installations are supposed to be done as root, unless you install something like StarOffice 5.2 where it installs it to your home directory. You don't want to give your regular user root privileges if you're gonna use him for every day stuff like surfing the web and chat (especially IRC). If your regular user has root permissions and it's taken over, then you're system is toast and you need to reinstall. It's a security issue. If I read it wrong, my mistake. I'd suggest also going to #mandrake on freenode.net on irc. Read their FAQ cuz they have their way of helping people. Hope this helps.

Joe

Only one I think I might be able to help you with, I say might cause it's so simple you probably already tried it, but number three in your questions, have you taken a look at your xinit file?? Might not have 'startkde' or 'startgome' or whatever you want it to start. For number one, you just might have to uninstall Mozilla 1.1 as root and reinstall the 1.3 package, I dunno if this helps or not. . .

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1) When i log as the user i have many restrictions. I can't install mozilla 1.3 because it says something like "choose another directory, you have not permission to install Mozilla in this directory (user/local) or something like that), so i logged as root, went to linuxconf, changed my user privileges and permissions to maximum (i think because i choosed all i could) but i still can't install it. I had installed it from root session, the installation was ok, rebooted the PC, but when i go to Mozilla (in the "about Mozilla" section) it still says Mozilla 1.1. and no 1.3.

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Log in as root and I think mozilla on mandrake 9 is in /usr/bin/mozilla . Have you try download Mozilla 1.3 on different directory? lets say downloading mozilla 1.3 to /usr/bin/mozilla2
And then cp /usr/bin/mozillla2 /usr/bin/mozilla
After that edit /usr/bin/mozilla using your favorite editor...mm..let's say usiing vi /usr/bin/mozillla
You will see mozilla 1.1 <<<<edit any of this to mozilla 1.3 and then save exit. and then reboot

Hope this helps..I don't know if this one works for you

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3) If i install Mandrake 9.0 as "recomended installation" all is OK, but if i installed as "expert" and choose to start windows with KDE (or any) it doesn't do this and always boot in console mode and if i write "X" (and hit enter) it tries to go to graphic mode but only the mouse cross appears in a whole black screen, i can move the mouse but the graphic mode never loads (i mean the desktop, etc).

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If you can install with "recomended installation" OK why you have to do in "expert" way? I meant ..right now using "recomended instalation" first cause you don't have problem with that, and next time maybe you can try "expert way"

Most of what you are running up against can be summed up as the principle of least privilege, which is one of the things that makes a *nix OS easier to secure than Windows. A lot of learning Linux involves unlearning bad things that you have picked up from Microsoft.

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I can't install mozilla 1.3

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First of all, how are you installing it? It sounds like you are installing it alongside the Mandrake version and your system is getting confused about which one to use. First you need to ununstall the old one that came with Mdk with "rpm -e mozilla." However, you will break a ton of dependencies, like Galeon and other things that depend on Mozilla and are compiled against that version. I don't recommend doing it unless you know what you're doing.

You need to find an RPM of it that is designed for Mdk. Look at www.pclinuxonline.com and see what you can find. Texstar is really good about putting up his home-brewed RPMs pretty quickly.

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i logged as root, went to linuxconf, changed my user privileges and permissions to maximum

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No, no, no..... ;) The whole point of having a root account is so the user accounts don't need access to these things. Always work as a regular user with regular permissions, and then when you need to do something that needs administrator privilege, use the "su" command to become root, do what you need to do, and then exit. Do not work as root and do not work as a user with root-equivalent privileges.

Another possibility is to use sudo for tasks that normally require root privilege but you want regular users to be able to perform. Make sure that sudo is installed and then edit your /etc/sudoers file to reflect the privilege you want to bestow.

However, if you wanted to create a user with the same privileges as root, the way you did it would not work. You would edit /etc/groups and add your username to the root group. But this is a BAD IDEA so DON'T DO IT. ;)

I strongly encourage you to read all of my Linux tutorials listed in my profile, but pay particular attention to the one on Linux file permissions.

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I can't initiate adsl as user

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The reason root can find it and the user can't is because root and users have different paths in their profiles. This is another thing that is considered an administrative function, and users therefore not allowed to do it. If you want the connection to start automatically at boot, there is an option in the graphical drakconf utility. Or you can add the command to your /etc/rc.local file. Or you can create a group for ADSL and add your user to the group like I outlined in my tutorial using cdrecord.

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if i write "X" (and hit enter) it tries to go to graphic mode but only the mouse cross appears

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Use startx instead of X.

upps forgot BTW you need to unzip/untar mozilla 1.3 before ..cp /usr/bin/mozilla2 /usr/bin/mozilla

OK guys, thanks all for your help. It's a bit confussing but i'm glad i am learning at last.

So, OK, NO user privileges, OK... but,

1) How can i start the adsl connection when logging as a normal user then?

2) Why, after installing Mozilla 1.3 logged as root, when i open Mozilla logged as root is OK and says version 1.3 but when i open Mozilla as normal user it still says version 1.1? Does this means that i have Mozilla 1.3 as root and Mozilla 1.1 as normal user?

Thanks.

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How can i start the adsl connection when logging as a normal user then?

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Create a group called "adsl" with groupadd, change the permissions on the adsl-start and adsl-stop binaries so that they are owned by the adsl group, and add your user to the group with usermod. Like so:

groupadd adsl
chown root.adsl /usr/bin/adsl-start
chown root.adsl /usr/bin/adsl-stop
chmod o-x /usr/bin/adsl-start
chmod o-x /usr/bin/adsl-stop
usermod -G users,games,video,adsl,cdwriter, etc myusername

Check the man pages for more info on each of those commands. I haven't seen a Mandrake box in a while, so that may not be precisely correct.

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Does this means that i have Mozilla 1.3 as root and Mozilla 1.1 as normal user?

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That's exactly what it means. Root and users have different paths to executables in their profiles. Your root path is finding 1.3 first, and your user path is finding 1.1 first. Uninstall the old one as I described above.