some beginner Qs

Hi everybody,

i should point out firstly that I'm new to Mandriva, or any Linux platform for that matter and trying to get to know the techy side it when all I'm used to is windows.

a few questions:
1. how do i update device drivers?
2. how do i exit the terminal program once i'm in it? (i tried typing 'exit' but it just starts the terminal up again new)
3. How do i view/edit a file in the terminal program?
4. In which directory are the system files or main OS files (like C:\Windows)

Thanks very much :D

1) Unless you had to do something special, you don't need to worry about this. They are part of the kernel and when you upgrade that (automatically via your distro) they will be upgraded.

2) That is odd, it should work. Mandriva most be doing something special....

3) There are a million ways to do it. Assuming this is a text file, nano is the most simple (it may or may not be installed). But there are tons of programs you can use depending on what you want or need (vi, vim, emacs, etc...). So for example nano file.text

4) For a better understanding of the *nix structure take a look at http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/lin...-overview.html

Welcome to the wonderful world of nix and linuxforums.org!

After you get the hang of some of the commands, I would also play with Gentoo and manually compile everythign from scratch so that you can get a better understanding for how a nix system works. Of course, there is a guide on the website to help you along your way. That's how I learned a lot when I began and I wouldn't have done it any other way.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Freedom

After you get the hang of some of the commands, I would also play with Gentoo and manually compile everythign from scratch so that you can get a better understanding for how a nix system works.

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Actually, I would not recommend this. The way a Gentoo system works is completely different than the way any other Linux or UNIX system works, at least in regards to its package management system. Portage is more like FreeBSD's ports system than anything, but even then it's still a different skill set.

If you get particularly skilled at using Gentoo, you will only be able to translate the basics (general command line file and system manipulation). I would recommend a more mainstream Linux distribution to learn the ropes, so to speak.

Now that I think about it, I definitely agree with you. Portage is indeed much different. I guess I just adapted years ago to where I migrated very well :P Who knows.

thanks for the help guys and for the link, I didn't notice that how-to section