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Need a little help with Linux/Knoppix Noo B to linux,, anyone care to help

E

eofeapr

Member
Need a little help with Linux/Knoppix

I'm new to Linux and have been reading the help and docs to get up to date, but I'm a little confused.

1 is I see a couple of consoles but don't see what they are for/how they differ

I have an X-console
a shell console
a root shell console

2 I have dual monitors attached to an Nvidia GF4 4200,,, a snap to set up with XP but,, not so with Linux. How do I do it?? I found nothing in Help to show me how to

3 same as above for my printer, I can't get a testpage no matter what I do a/p instructions


anyone ??
 
You will not get both displays working if you are running a "vanilla" KNOPPIX, as it does not include drivers issued by nVidia. Someone over at www.knoppix.net *may* have remastered KNOPPIX to include the nVIdia drivers. If not, you'll have to install KNOPPIX to your hard drive (knx-hdinstall or knx-installer) and then add the drivers per the instructions on the site above.

I have yet to muck with printers while using KNOPPIX.

-SUO
 
Here is what I would recommend for a beginner, get another hard drive and put mandrake or fedora on it you will be much happier.

Bleep
 
Bleep ,,, I got that covered

I have a 40 gig just for linux stuff,, I don't want it near my XP drives till I know what I'm doing...

My original post still stands though,,, I want to know why so many konsoles,, how to add on apps,, how to do the little things like getting my nic card to work...
I have been reading on the subject of Linux but so far I can't get it's mothodolgy
 
In linux you have a veriaty of virtual terminals to use.

When Unix was originally designed it was designed so that many people can use one computer. Unlike windows stuff were you had one person for one computer.

So since Linux is based off of Unix's design it's a multiuser from the ground up. Makes having nice security much easier.

Well back in the mainframe days you had one computer and bunches of terminals, that were essentially just a keyboad and a monitor plugged into the mainfram thru a cable.

Now you have all these virtual terminals. They are just like a terminal but their pretend. The computer handles them pretty much the same way though.

To get to a virtual terminal you hit ctrl+alt+Fn were Fn=F1-F6

Then you have X windows.

X windows is a network protocol, like ftp, or http. But instead of transfering files or hypertext you are transmitting signals that are used to create a GUI internface (Graphical user interface. It has pictures and images to represent stuff)

X Windows use a desktop manager or a window manager like KDE, Gnome, or FLuxbox to control the behavior of the windows and other stuff. X by itself is a nasty looking gray screen with a X for a cursor. Not much use to anybody.

xterms are X terminals. Sort a like virtual terminals, but you don't have to login thru them. You have different programs to do this like kterm, aterm, eterm, xterm, etc etc. They do the same thing, but have different features like font support, colors, and transparency.

I order to get the dual output working on your computer you have to download and install the accelerated drivers from Nvidia's website.

Normally you can use X window's natural ability to do dual windows setup, but nvidia's drivers have their own way called Twinview. Their is a text file with the download and on Nvidia's website that will explain how to do this stuff. Nvidia also has forums to help it's linux users and if you search thru their I am sure that you can find out all sorts of good tips.
 
OK so I boot up and I have just a very basic OS, and I'm at the coomand line,,,

1 what commands do I use to look in my CD rom

2 '' '' do I use to install stuff like KDE or GNOME GUIs

I try doing it myself from help but all that gives is stipped down syntax rules
 
Can I just butt in and suggest that you take a look at Gentoo? It's an extremely easy distro to pickup and learn, especially for n00bies - believe me I know 😉 There is also an excellent tutorial on the site you can download which takes you through each stage of the install process step by step. Knoppix, I believe is much harder to get going as its primary purpose is a live-cd distro hence getting it installed to a hard drive is a feat in itself.
 
Originally posted by: Mitzi
Can I just butt in and suggest that you take a look at Gentoo? It's an extremely easy distro to pickup and learn, especially for n00bies - believe me I know 😉 There is also an excellent tutorial on the site you can download which takes you through each stage of the install process step by step. Knoppix, I believe is much harder to get going as its primary purpose is a live-cd distro hence getting it installed to a hard drive is a feat in itself.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. You might even want to try something even easier than Gentoo, like RedHat or Mandrake. I have no experience with Knoppix, but it appears to be kind of a special application distro. Probably not the best thing to try to install on your HD as a first timer. Gentoo rocks, and is my distro of choice, but I think you will probably enjoy using RedHat or Mandrake more as a first install. RedHat is geared towards the corporate sector, the install is GUI, straight forward, not a lot of gimmicks, but easy to understand. Get your feet wet on something easy and graduate to a more complex and customizable distro.

--

Nitromullet
 
Originally posted by: eofeapr
OK so I boot up and I have just a very basic OS, and I'm at the coomand line,,,

1 what commands do I use to look in my CD rom
You mount to your directory system just like any other file system if it's a data CDROM. The only difference from a harddrive is that it isn't partitioned so you just mount the /dev/hda... It can vary a bit from distro to distro depending on how it's set up. I beleive that knoppix uses SCSI emulation for it's cdroms so that it makes it easier to use them as cd burners.

Try just using the /dev/cdrom. It's a symbolic link that points to your cdrom and is commonly used by most distros.

[q
2 '' '' do I use to install stuff like KDE or GNOME GUIs

I try doing it myself from help but all that gives is stipped down syntax rules
Click to expand...

Try "startx". If that doesn't work then you probably need to configure a XF86Config file.

It also depends on what distro your using. Did you have all that kde and GNome stuff installed when you installed the OS? Are you still using knoppix?

Truthfully though buy using search engines like google.com and The new, but very good Vivisimo you can find answers much quicker then going thru forums like these.

Also check out places like The linux documentaton project. Places like redhat's site have VERY good docs on how to do stuff like what your asking. Plus check out your distro's home page. Most have good pointers and stuff to help out newbs.

The trouble that happens is that you can find good general and good very specific pointers in forums like these (but be sure to double check what people tell you!! Everybody makes mistakes), but when you want general troubleshooting or howtos you end asking a question and people end up asking you a lot of questions and it takes forever and it's all guesswork. Since you know the most about your setup then your going to be the one most likely to figure out the solution using online tools.

Think of google and vivisimo style search engines as your help menu. Good luck!


Also for your printer check out CUPS.
Click to expand...
 
Yeah,,, I saw this coming .. And your right SU it's hard asking the right questions and it will undoubtedly prompt twice as many questions to get to the right answer

but I thank you all for the input. So far I have tried Knoppix, RH, Fedora, and even sent away for Debian
Knoppix runs kinda OK but slow as a cd, installed it to a drive but it froze on me twice so I moved on to RH
RH ran nice, but all of a sudden I lost my net, trid to repair with help files and even tried reinstall, no good
Fedora was a waste of time and CDs, I did everything right burning the ISOs but I never got it to work, probably just a bad download or something
Debian was a 7CD install and in the end all I got was a command line with no GUI, what can a nooB do with that,,, log out and go to bed.

I have'nt lost my desire to get into Linux but damn, it's starting to feel like more work than it's worth...

Oh well,, let me see if that SUSE ftp is done yet. 24 hours, 2 gigs , and still counting...
 
Hehe.

Your just going about it in a very hard way. You don't need all 7CD's to install Debian, for instance. In fact you can do it just with 2 floppies. 🙂

Just relax, Linux is quite a bit different then windows. It takes some time to get used to.

Here's what you do. Just forget about it for now if SuSe doesn't work out for you.

Wait a couple months and then come back to it. Pick a distro you want to use and the stick with it for a long time. As time goes by it only gets easier.

The thing about linux distros is that you they are all pretty much the same operating system. The GNU/Linux operating system.

Redhat/Fedora = Mandrake = Suse = Debian = Slackware.

They all run pretty much the same programs and are compatable with pretty much the same hardware.

The difference come into how the OS is packaged and put together and the intended audiance. But it's not worth getting frustrated and

If you want. Check out and see if their is a linux user's group in your area. Most metropolitan areas have one and if you check out their activity dates. Most of them they have "installfests" were there they get together to help out newbs like yourself get up and running and show them the basics of their OS.
 
Drag,, I think that's the best advice ever,,, finding a users group...

Cause I'm fairly bright I build and repair daily so I guess time to read more is needed in my case and a group sounds great because I can see and do with the added advantage of asking questions on the spot..

thnx SU gonna try and find one right away
thnx to all responders for all your efforts
 
Originally posted by: drag

Pick a distro you want to use and the stick with it for a long time. As time goes by it only gets easier.
Click to expand...

That is really good advice. There is not one magical distribution that will do everything for you, but if you stick with one you will become proficient with it. Also, you probably won't solve all of your issues at once, but this can be kind of nice in a way as well. I have often messed with something, failed, moved on to another issue, and then discovered more information that helped me with my first issue.

Another thing that will make Linux easier is to not install it on the bleedingest edge hardware. Hardware support for Linux is often not provided my the manufacturer, but has to be written by the Linux community (often in their spare time) so it can take a bit longer to be supported than what you are used to under Windows. There are cases where this works the other way around though, for example the Athlon 64's can already be run as a 64-bit chip under Linux. The last I heard, Longhorn wasn't due out for realease until 2005.

Keep at it, be patient, and you will come to appreciate the differences between Linux and Windows.

--

Nitromullet
 
Thnx Nitro,, that driver issue certainly is a pain in the COJONE's for sure.

so I've been looking for user groups, that's gonna B the best bet all around,, I'm pretty busy and reading of volumes of material will take too long, and not having a live body to answer questions makes me LOCO...
this will go alot better for me when I'm able to see and do..


thnx
 
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