Stupid questions about Linux

[zachj]

First of all, I'd like to say that if the answers to my questions are located in other threads, I'm sorry, but there are so many questions and I did look and never found what I was looking for....

I'm sort of a Linux newbie and sort of not.....I've had it for years, installed it many times, used it a few times and set it up....But I've never done anything exclusively in Linux and never used it for more than an hour.....That leads me to today.....I've decided that from now on, I'd like to work in Linux so that I can figure that sucker out and use it like the pro's. That seems like the best route to go....They say it's easier to get into a pool if you don't test the water first....Just jump right in....But on to the problems.....

The first is rather simple. I know that Linux can access Windows disks, but I can't seem to.....(I'm running Mandrake 8.2 right now). I have one FAT32 disk and one NTFS disk. How do I access these for file sharing (docs etc) between OSs? I think I found where to open it, but it says there are no available drivers for this device or something like that.

The second is about themes. I know this is an unnecessary part of using Linux, but I want something a little more aesthetically pleasing than default blue backgrounds. I really like the look of OSX and there are a few themes on Themes.org, but I don't like any of them. I've seena bunch of screen shots of computers running really high quality themes, but I don't know what they are called or where to get them. If anyone could recommend a good theme or tell me how the heck to go about making one, I'd love it.

The third is much more complex. I really want to learn to use the terminal window as apposed to X Windows because I feel like such a dingus running Linux but having to use a GUI. I don't expect anyone to tell me how to do it in this thread, but I would appreciate some good links on how to use it or a few helpful hints on some of the most common commands and how and when to use them. I don't know if it's possible to run everything from within the terminal without using X Windows, but I can't imagine why it wouldn't be and I'm pretty sure I've seen it done...

The fourth is about getting my TV Wonder VE to work correctly. It's recognised as a booktree something or other and it only gets tv shows in black and white. Since it is neither a booktree nor a black and white only card, I don't like this and was wondering if there was a way to fix it.

The fifth thing is about Wine. I've got a few games that I'd like to be able to play and was wondering if it's worth my time to use Wine to play them. They are Flight Sim 2002, Combat Flight Sim 2, Half Life, and Need for Speed High Stakes. I don't know if these can be played or not, but if they can, is it even worth it? I can easily run Windows to game, so it isn't a big deal.

I know that that is a whole heap to ask and I appologise for making things hard for all of you. You don't have to answer everything. If you know something about one of the questions, post by all means.

Thanks in advance for all of your help

Z

[Titan386]

Alright, I'll answer what I know about, and leave the rest to someone else.

Accessing your windows partitions involves mounting them. You have to tell linux where the partition is, and what filesystem it is in. First, make a directory in the /mnt directory. Call it win or something. Then, to mount, use the following command:
mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /mnt/win
This command mounts the first partition of your primary master hard drive under FAT32 on the /mnt/win mount point. To access the files, simply cd inot /mnt/win. You can replace the vfat with ntfs to mount NTFS (you need support for this in the kernel) and /dev/hda1 should be the partition you want to mount. Do you know the linux partition naming system?

This can get you started on the console:
http://linuxnewbie.org/nhf/Command_Reference
http://linux.dbw.org/linux-simple-command-reference.html
http://www.math.mcgill.ca/new/services/linux_basics.php3
http://www.ucgbook.com/index.php3?page=http%3A//www.ucgbook.com/linux%2520commands%2520list.html

As for wine, I've seen some have lots of success with it. Personally, I've had nothing but headaches.

[zachj]

I don't quite understand your question about the linux partition naming scheme. If you're referring to how each is named hda1 and hdd1 etc, then I know as much as I've typed.....Basically what I know is that in partitioning, Linux creates a few drives, one swap and one usr and one other one which I can't recall. It reads the primary master as hda and the primary slave as hdd right? Then each subsequent partition is given a number....If that wasn't your question, then I don't know. If that was your question and I'm wrong, then I'm sorry.

Z

[Titan386]

Yeah, thats what I was referring to. Just wanted to make sure you knew how the partitions work, cause without that knowledge the mount command won't do you much good.

[Gnufsh]

Okay, I can't help much, as I am new to linux, but to recomend themes, we need to know what we are recomending themes for. KDE? Gnome? WHat Version? Or something like enlightenment, fluxbox, blackbox, WM, and the other window managers?

[zachj]

It really doesn't matter to me which one. I've got KDE, GNOME, IceMX, Elnightenment and a few more I think......I'm running Mandrake 8.2 I think.....

Z

[zachj]

Another question:

Is there any way that I can exten my desktop onto my other monitor instead of having it mirrored/ That's really bugging me a lot.

Z

[zachj]

When I type in the above command to mount the Windows partition, replacing vfat with NTFS, I get "mount: mount point /mnt/win does not exist"

What do I need to do now?

Z

[zachj]

I found the screen shot of the theme I liked so much....

http://images.mandrakesoft.com/img/screenshots/82scr06.jpg

Here is where that screen shot came from...

http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/fscreenshots.php3

[kevmarks]

There are some very good tutorials at IBM.com. you will have to register. But it's free and they don't seem to spam.

[firebird79]

did u create the win directory on /mnt?? if not....use this command:
mkdir /mnt/win

after this, retype the mount command as show in previous!

[zachj]

new questions:

Been playing around only in the terminal window inside GNOME and KDE trying all the key commands I can think of to see which ones work and what they do......I've figured out how to launch an application and how to launch mozilla with the open page the one I want, but once I do this, that terminal window is useless.....if I close it, mozilla closes. Is there a way to do this without killing the window?

Is there a way to keep x from starting at startup? I want to see if I can maneuver around linux without something like x holding my hand....

Thanks for all of your help so far and keep it coming....

Z

[rogerdugans]

I've figured out how to launch an application and how to launch mozilla with the open page the one I want, but once I do this, that terminal window is useless.....if I close it, mozilla closes. Is there a way to do this without killing the window?

One I can answer :D

Type the command and follow it with &

Example ( I use it for starting gkrellm system monitor):
gkrellm &

Then you can use the console window for something else.

[zachj]

Thanks for the help rogerdugans...That makes my life easier...Does that mean now that when I close the terminal window that my apps won't shut down with it?

Now for some aesthetics.....How can I put network and CPU usage/status statistics on my desktop? I see them in pictures, but I can't figure out how to put them there....
Is there a way to put icons on my desktop in Enlightenment? I finally have it set up right, so I plan to stay in that.....If someone could explain to me how I can get my aqua theme to work within Enlightenment, I'd be thrilled....

I figured out how to keep x from autoloading, but I made myself a new problem.....When I do that, I can't start any apps....is that supposed to happen? I tried doing it the same way I was in the terminal window and it didn't do anything....I had to type startx to get to use mozilla and xmms and such....Is there a way around that?

Thanks for all the help....I've asked too many questions, I'm sure.

Z

[Titan386]

Yes, the & detaches the program from the console window. Your programs will no longer close upon the close of that console session.

Many people use the program grekllm to view system stats. If you have it installed, just type grekllm at a console and it will load right up.

Your inability to start X apps outside of X windows is normal. Any program that use the X GUI can't run if X is not running. You will have to startx to use such programs. The only way around it I can think of is to find text only versions of the graphical programs you use. For example, use lynx instead of mozilla (although its a lot uglier).

[moorcito]

if you want themes go here:
themes.freshmeat.net

You can get all the themes you ever wanted, and for any window manager.

[zachj]

The & works great and lets me open more than one program in the console, but when I close the terminal, all of my apps crash anyway....Also, is there a way to open XMMS with the song I want to play in the console like I can specify the web site for Mozilla by typing mozilla www.overclockers.com? Or is that not possible?

[zachj]

bump

[Titan386]

You can check out the xmms man page for all the arguements it accepts, but I didn't see anything exactly like what you want.

I don't think its possible to run programs from the console, then close the console, and have them continue to run. By openning a console window, you are creating another session on the system, similar to as if you telneted in. Just like closing the telnet session would close all programs running from it, closing the console will close all programs started from it.

What the & does allow you to do is use 1 console window for all your running apps.

I'm sure you are aware of this, but starting your programs from the command line is not the only way to start them. You have the menu (whatever its name is) and you have launch buttons, just like you would in a m$ os. Many of the programs you use in X can't be used from a basic command line anyway.

[zachj]

I understand that I can run all of this in X and that that would make it a lot easier. But as I said, my goal is to be able to work my way around using the terminal instead of the mouse....I do run Enlightenment, but there are no icons or task bars on the desktop.....just the terminal and the programs I open.....

So does anyone think I can run FS2002 on Wine or not? I think it should be possible, just wondering what you all think....Don't want to get really upset if and when it doesn't work....

[Titan386]

I tried FS2002 in wine once, and couldn't get it working. It just said something along the lines of 'Not enough free disk space' when I tried to load it. I didn't try very hard to get it working though.

[zachj]

Can I run Office in Wine? Just got it . . . (YAY!! Wordpad really SUCKS). Also, now I need to know if it is possible and how, to access Linux disks in XP . . .I need it for file sharing like I did when I was asking how to see NTFS in Linux :-)

Z

[mayagrafix]

RE running office: have you checked out the Star office suite from SUN Systems? it's real decent AND BESIDES BEIGHN NATIVE TO LINUX THERE IS A WINDOES VERSION YOU CAN PASS ALONG!

[Titan386]

This program lets you view ext2 partitions from windows:
http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/explore2fs.htm
I don't know if works for any other filesystems though.

[mayagrafix]

PS BTW: it's also for FREE if u dont mind the big download at Sun web site

[XWRed1]

OpenOffice is nicer, I think.

And yes, older versions of MS Office run in Wine. People get Office2k to run, I think, but I've never tried it myself.