Mandrake 10.1 Help for a newbie

[miotch]

Yep. I'm very new at this linux thing. I'm a windows 98 FE kid who recently flattened to move to Mandrake 10.1. I was told that this is a fairly good flavor and I would enjoy how it just plain worked. I installed it, and when I boot and log-in, I'm stuck at the CLI. I know a bit of CL commands from using MS-DOS. Could anyone help me with things like sound configuration, and getting to the GUI?

-Mitch

[soulbrothax831]

For sound, you can try typing in alsaconf and then alsamixer and unmute anything that is muted by pressing "m" on the keyboard as well as adjusting any necessary volume levels by using the up and down arrow keys. And for the GUI or X, type in startx and see what it gives you.

Hope this helps.

[itz2000]

Yep. I'm very new at this linux thing. I'm a windows 98 FE kid who recently flattened to move to Mandrake 10.1. I was told that this is a fairly good flavor and I would enjoy how it just plain worked. I installed it, and when I boot and log-in, I'm stuck at the CLI. I know a bit of CL commands from using MS-DOS. Could anyone help me with things like sound configuration, and getting to the GUI?

-Mitch

to start K.D.E from Terminal (like MS-DOS) just type

startx

BTW some good things in Terminal you should know


Getting root access - "su -"
Directory files - "ls '/directory' " if you want to see for example hidden files you add -a and if the folder is mnt it will be like this "ls -a '/mnt'"
To see file sizes N=number : "du --max-depth=N '/directory/directory/.../directory'"
to open a *.run file type : "./filename" in that folder
make sure it's case sensitive casue in that case Filename is not = filename cause of diffrent F,f.
You can recomplete the name by writing *, for i.e : "./Filenam*" if there's only 1 file who starts with Filenam... it will be activated :]
to install rpm file, type "rpm -i filename.rpm"
to open a text file and to edit it in terminal type "vi filename"
after you log in to that text editor press I to edit, then if you want to quit without saving changes type ESC then ":q!" without the " " offcourse.
if you want to save changes type ESC then "!".
those should be enough for now, have fun good luck.

[miotch]

After I login, I'm put at the CLI. I type "startx" amd it gives me the error message"execve failed for etc/x11/x (errno2)"

then after what I assume are many attempts i get:

"giving up
xinit: connection refused (errno 111): unable to connect to x server
xinit: no such process (errno 3)
server error"

When I first got this copy, the person told me it could be run live, so I put the CD in (labeled "Mandrake 1") and started it up. It gave me boot options, and I chose the first with the graphics, labeled "Linux". In doing so, I receive an error message on a screen that pops up over the Linux screen that reads "Could not mount compressed loopback " When I click the "OK" button, another message pops up tell ing me that there was a "Fatal Error Finishing Initialization". THen there's a message that tells me that It has exited abnormally, and then sends the kill commands to everything.

Please HELP! Do I need to flatten again? If so, I think I'll have to use my 98SE or my XP machine. I really don't want to.

[soulbrothax831]

I've never ran it myself, but try running as root: XFdrake.

su
<enter root password>
XFdrake &#40;or /usr/sbin/XFdrake if the first one doesn't work&#41;

As far as Mandrake 10.1 being a live CD, I'm not so sure about that. I've never heard of a live Mandrake CD, but then I've never really looked. So are you running it live or have you installed Mandrake onto your PC?

Hope this helps.

[miotch]

I have it installed, but figured trying it live wouldn't hurt. When I get home, I;ll try it

[jacosteyn]

Try to use the browser in the GUI to go into WEBMIN. goto https://localhost:10000

You might find something there.

[miotch]

thanks for all of your help. I've finally got the GUI up, thanks to XFdrake, but I still can't get the NIC or the sound card to work. Any configuration suggestions?

[soulbrothax831]

For your sound, have tried running "alsaconf" and then "alsamixer" from a terminal/command line? When running "alsamixer", you'll want to adjust your volume levels and unmute anything that is muted by pressing the "m" key on your keyboard.

For the NIC, I believe you can try setting that up throught the MCC (Mandrake Control Center). That can be found in your KMenu/Start Menu - System - Configuration - Configure Your Computer (I think that's right).

Hope you get everything working.