strange encounters, please help

[andywarhol]

computer: dell inspiron 5100



i just installed fedora core 3, and everything is working fine, except the battery meter.........
when im plugged in, it recognizes that by putting a little outlet plug picture down at the bottom......when i unplug it gives me a red "!" and says "your laptop is running on battery" or something, so that means it recognizes when its not plugged in.....however...........next to these little pictures, is the picture of the battery.....the battery is completely empty, and next to it where the percentage battery left is, it reads "N/A" so how do i fix it so that it tells me how much battery i have left on the bar/percentage thing?

when i right click the battery meter and go to its prefrences, i cant find anythingthat looks like it could fix it........



also:

when im using firefox (i havent tested this 'mishap' on any other browser programs yet) and im on a certain page, sometimes when i accidently put my finger on the touchpad and move it horozonatlly, itll make my browser go back to the previous page....or if i move it to the rright itll go forward a page (like backspace on windows).........i know newer touchpads have this capability, but when i bought this laptop im almost positive it doesnt have this feature, so is this something that comes with firefox, or linux or something? if so how do i get rid of it, its really annoying (this is my second time writing this post cuz of hitting back by accident on touchpad)



ps:
does anyone know any good itune-like applications i can get for fedora-core-3? (something that rips cds, stores them in a library - thats all i care about really)

[gwalters]

Try

cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT1/state

to see the info on your battery. You might have to do that as root. If the above statement doesnt work try changing BAT1 to BAT0 and make sure you have acpi in the kernel.

[LoserWithCause]

take a look at http://www.linux-laptop.net/ and look for help on your specific model. If this dosent help just post back. I seem to remeber putting specific instructions somewhere. I might be able to find them if needed... good luck