Answers for Muckshifter's BLOG

[tjm4fun]

Ok, been following Mucks BLOG, and it's time to make some suggestions.

Spaces in folder names, well it's an annoying problem, but not a showstopper.
put the folder name in quotes 'folder with a space in its name'.
Now a few suggestions:
if you are going to download packages from other sites, I always put them in a seperate folder so I don;t have to hunt for them in the future. you;ll find your my downloads folder gets pretty crowded.
You don't need to burn them to cd. just move the file over to another folder.

************TIP TIP TIP TIP TIP TIP TIP*************
open file manager. (the little house in the bottom toolbar)
Click window, view, split view left/right or top bottom, per your preferences.
for example now,
in the left window, click my downloads to open the folder.
in the right window, right click, Create New, folder. Call it rpms.
click rpms to open it in the right pane.
click in the left pane to move the focus, find your rpm left click on it and drag it to the right. when it prompts, say move, no need for it to be in 2 places.

Now use YAST to install from there.


Next, you've installed programs and now can;t find them. If you used YAST, it should add the program into the menus, look for a mozilla menu item, and it should have the tunderbird email program under it.
Actually, I just looked, and I don;t even have a thnunderbird option in my 9.3 progam list, there is just a mozilla email. Perhaps you are looking for the wrong entry?
For packages like corel, or none Suse specific packages, you need to find it yourself. Before you get too excited here, remember, you can;t expect windows to install a mac os program and run it, so you could have some compatibility issues.
Most of these packages will install into either the /opt , /usr, /usr/bin folders.
unfortunately, not everyone follows a standard here. You could just look in the install script to see where it's going to put it. (leave it alone, editing this can cause alot of heartaches til you understand how programs are installed.)
If you supply a link to the download, I could help ya out there.

Now, I don;t have any light bulbs in my open office, so I can;t suggest how to turn it off. Are you talking about the navigation button between the scroll tabs on the lower right?

Last thing. I asked my coworker who has about 4 copies of 9.3 pro running at home on his wife and kids machines, and his own. There are no floppy drive issues in suse, wherever you read that, they are creating fud. I guess you;re gonna make me hook a floppy up to this laptop to see why you are having so many problems.

 

[muckshifter]

I have NO problems whatsoever,
I have a certificate of release stating,
I'm perfectly 'normal' as anybody here.


​

So that's what that little House is for, I usually click "My Computer" ... OK, I like the 'split' screen, took a little working out but I got the hang of it. I've always liked working in folders. When I'm done with the files I drag them over to the USB HD, yep it works now, so when I re-install I don't have to look for them again.

As for the Floppy disks, forget it, it apparently was issued by Novell themselves in a bug report ... I have had one of the worlds best authorities on Linux working on that one and LadyPcer and I just use a link on the desktop, works fine. Hey, but don't let me stop you from trying.

I mistook Mozilla email to mean Mozilla-Thunderbird, even if I did install both ... and I still cannot find it even Konsole has no idea what I'm on about ... however, I have gotten to like KMail and it will do me dandy ...

linux:/home/mucks # locate mozilla-thunderbird
linux:/home/mucks # locate thunderbird
/opt/kde3/share/icons/crystalsvg/16x16/apps/thunderbird.png
/opt/kde3/share/icons/crystalsvg/32x32/apps/thunderbird.png
linux:/home/mucks # locate mozilla
/home/mucks/Downloads/Azureus_2.3.0.4_linux.GTK/azureus/libswt-mozilla-gtk-3106.so
/home/mucks/Downloads/Azureus_2.3.0.4_linux.GTK/azureus/swt-mozilla.jar
/home/mucks/.mozilla
/home/mucks/.mozilla/appreg
/home/mucks/.mozilla/firefox

... then the list flys off the screen for a mile or two all about Firefox.

Hey! I ain't been sitting around here twiddling my thumbs you know.

remember, you can;t expect windows to install a mac os program and run it, so you could have some compatibility issues.

No, your right, Windows is not that clever, but Linux is ... I can install Windows programs on Linux, even HL2, and Corel PhotoPaint.

YaST is not a problem, especially as I now use Downloads and NOT My Downloads ... why I ever chose that name I don't know ...

YaST will point out any dependencies that you may need so in the case of BitTorrent, where I did not have the 'curses', I just went and got them first, then re-ran the BitTorrent RPM ... neat little program.

I'm learning ... and I have found that if you can understand "Linux Speak" and try and not use "Windows Speak" you get to learn a little quicker.

Did you ever meet Mr Clippy in MS Word, the paperclip thing that used to pop up asking if you wanted help, no? ... well OO has a Lightbulb that does a simular thing, but it's OK 'cos I borrowed my brothers 9mm and when next I see him I'm going to put his light out.

It will be under one of the menus somewhere to turn off, just haven't looked yet.


tjm4fun, thanks for the interest, and help, it is appriciated.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Mucks, gotta say I'm impressed and, I must admit, a little surprised.

I can remember you posting me Mandrake V7.0 or V8.0 and more or less saying 'Good luck'

You had Broadband then and I didn't, remember? hence you posting me the CD's.

I can remember all your comments about how you were never ever gonna go Linux.

And now you have. Quite amazing, lol. And good for you, you seem to be getting your head round it slowly but surely.

I've dabbled with a few Distros but frankly I'm scared of it, cos I just ain't got control.

Perhaps I haven't got the patience.

I've been following your progress, so don't lock your blog.

You're asking exactly the same questions I think I would, it's quite refreshing to see somebody just out and out ask, without any fear of havig the p**s taken out of them, lol

But I still have to ask - what the hell possessed you, hehe

All power to you Mucks, you're doing well, from what I can see.

Inspirational

 

[tjm4fun]

I have NO problems whatsoever,
I have a certificate of release stating,
I'm perfectly 'normal' as anybody here.

tjm4fun, thanks for the interest, and help, it is appriciated. ​

You're quite welcome, if I had more time, i would get you more answers.

As for your quote, well, normal? you? a certificate??????
well, I'd agree your certifiable!!!

Yes, I know "clippy", annoys the shyte outta me, so he got melted down. As for the one in open office, I haven't seen that in mine here, only tried some xls spreadsheets ad a few word docs, and fortunately, no light bulbs blinding me, so the glock can remain sheathed.

I would install the mozilla client, but I left my cd's at work. You realize, of course, that in the start menu there is a find files and folders that will give you a scrollable window
when searching for files. no need for a console search, and scrolling lines.

you're doin pretty good for someone who just did a complete paradigm shift from the windows world, so just be patient. Soon you'll get the equivalent terminology sorted out, and you'll find life much easier.

I installed 9.3 to see if there was any differences from 9.2, but I don't plan on customizing it fully due to 10.0 due out momentarily.

I would say that doing an everything install is a bit much, it will take almost 5 hours to install, depending on the speed of the cd/dvd drive. there are alot of duplicated functions in there, and alot of things that you really will generally not need, ie apache webserver, ftp servers, a couple dozen text editors, educational programs, etc.

Anyway, time for a cocktail (or 2) (or 3) (oh hell, a ****load!!!!)​

 

[muckshifter]

But I still have to ask - what the hell possessed you ...

Time ... I have too much time on my hands ... I need to keep my mind busy, I need to fill the day out with something or I'll really will loose it.

Yes I remember,
Fortunately Linux has come on and is maturing for the home market ... you and I don't have a choice of which BT company we go with, they still use your BT line and in some cases you still get a bill off BT for the 'line rental'.

Vesta is still a long way off, and if we really do need a 'super computer' to run it, well then by that time I'll be teaching you all how to run HL2 on a Linux box, with no fear of any crashing. Linux can run quite a few Windows programs.

My setbacks in Linux have been down really to my own frustrations ... it can get you down, to spend a whole day 12-14 hours, and find, its a reported bug with your particular Distro.

There is a Linux community out there that are very willing to put up with you and offer genuine help ... although I did see one Forum where a person asked about RPMs and was told to RTFM, he only made the one post ... but the majority are very helpful, and you don't need to sign-up to read the posts.

There is also a lot more independent sites with absolutely tons of well written 'How To' although a lot do assume you have learnt the "Linux Speak" first, just as many are not so presumptuous and will talk in laymen's terms and even Windows terms.

All in all I'm quite enjoying it ... the system has not 'crashed' despite what I may have thought and as I have also learned there is more than one way to 'kill' a running process ... the more I get my hands dirty, the more I like.

Downloaded Suse 10 DVD last night ... wonder if it has the 'upgrade' path that 9.3 has.

 

[muckshifter]

You realize, of course, that in the start menu there is a find files and folders that will give you a scrollable window
when searching for files.

Yep, been through that one too, took me a few mins to realise I needed to start at root folder level, but it too found nothing ... even using wildcards. Finds Firefox alright, as I keep using that as a test, 'cos I know where it is.

I have updated the database too from Konsole, and Suse's own mozilla mail should have shown itself on the KMenu, I bet it's under another name, maybe I should put a K in front of it.

I would say that doing an everything install is a bit much, it will take almost 5 hours to install, depending on the speed of the cd/dvd drive. there are alot of duplicated functions in there, and alot of things that you really will generally not need, ie apache webserver, ftp servers, a couple dozen text editors, educational programs, etc.

Yeah, I have been looking ... and all free. Heck, them games are good too.

Got my Suse 10 DVD here now ... may well pop it in tomorrow and have a laugh.

Have a drink on me ... TTFN

 

[tjm4fun]

Just one note, most times you are better off doing a clean install with a new release. The upgrade option often leaves some programs broken, at least this has been a past issue. noting the levels of the programs you use all the time is a good thing, if you create an extra data partition, you can save the hidden folders in your home folder, and after the re-install, if the version is the same, you can copy over your old settings. Or you can be brave and test the upgrade option, I will likely do that this time, as I have little customized yet in 9.3. if it fails, no big deal, just do a re-install.

Oh I see I told you something without detail. ooops my bad.
If you turn on show hidden files in your file manager, you will see folders with a '.' as the first character of the folder name. these are hidden from normal view. these folders usually contain the specific settings and customizations for each program. do not copy these over if the versions are differrent, results can be catastophic, especially for kde.

 

[ChrisIMRIE]

Ah i've jumped into the boat of Linux.

Running CentOS 4.1 i386 on my laptop now, seems to be working fine except the fonts are completely messed up and i have no idea how to install a new font collection onto Linux.

Any ideas mucks?

 

[tjm4fun]

Look in their forums/faqs. All distro's work differently. If you use the KDE desktop, there are some options to add fonts in the kde control panel. You can add all the fonts from a windows install in with that tool. The fine tuning and making them work however, seems to vary greatly between distro's. Also some just never seem to work right, best to hunt around for people who use that specific distro for pointers.

 

[muckshifter]

Ah i've jumped into the boat of Linux.

Running CentOS 4.1 i386 on my laptop now, seems to be working fine except the fonts are completely messed up and i have no idea how to install a new font collection onto Linux.

Any ideas mucks?

Yes, & no ... sorry but I'm a "new Linux user" also, I found it easy in Suse and, two ways of doing it.

Suse has YaST, it is an easy to use 'updater' and found via YaST the offer to install TrueType Fonts. Now these used to be free but as MS just loves to squeeze the little guy you have to be careful about their EUL. With Suse you just say yes to the EUL and there you go.

Another way is to use the ones you have got already in Windows ... if your Dual-booting then you should be able to 'import' them.

I also have installed a free fonts pack, I'll look for the site later but google can help there, called VeraFamily. This pack contains some good fonts to replace/use in Firefox.

Again, in Suse it is best, for the beginner, to find RPMs of anything you wish to install. Suse is based on RedHat and so to is CentOS, but I do not know if CentOS has an installer like YaST.

One can always use the Konsole or Terminal to do anything you like, as all Linux packages have a command line and issuing the right commands will/should always work.

Your first line of attack should be to look at CentOS's website, see if they can help, If not we need to try and use the command line ... and as a blind man leading the blind I don't think we'll get very far.

A Note Here;
The one thing I found with any 'Distro' was the fact that a lot of the Fonts were really crap ... always seem to be bigger than there point size suggest and some were just diabolical ... even now at 1280x1024, they are large ... everything seems larger than it should, and no, I do not have a problem with my monitor or screen rez ... it just seems to me to be a common 'fault' with Linux ... heck, I'm used to 1024 and it looks 1024.

 

[ladypcer]

Last thing. I asked my coworker who has about 4 copies of 9.3 pro running at home on his wife and kids machines, and his own. There are no floppy drive issues in suse, wherever you read that, they are creating fud.

I read that too and I believe it was on SuSeForums. I don't know why they would post something unfounded?

SuSe 9.3 Pro is the retail, boxed version, right?

Afaik, both Mucks and I have the free version from OpenSuse, so maybe there is a bug that they haven't bothered to fix in it?
I know that for me the floppy wouldn't mount due to a permissions/ownership issue and the easy fix that I found (also on SuSeForums) worked.

Anyway, I'm ready to install SuSe 10 and see how it does.

 

[tjm4fun]

That is something that hadn't crossed my mind.... we both get our copies from an internal corp server, and is the equivalent of the retail boxed version. As far as I know, the open SuSe is the same version, tho you don't get all the paper docs with it. one way would be to compare the md5sums, cause they don;t lie. any differrence in md5's would indicate a differrence, if the dates on the files are the same. I've had this copy since announcement date. opensuse came out a few months later, so I think there may be some differrence in release levels.

 

[muckshifter]

Yep, they take a scalpel and cut your ....

I've just been trying to 'play' a DVD ... oh boy, well, I aint waisting any more time, but the shop is either going to have to "un-encrypt" them or else give me a FREE ... TV, TV licence AND a DVD player.



mumble mumble ... where are the men in their little white coats, there coming to take me away haha, there coming to take me awaaaay.

 

[muckshifter]

hahahaha ... got you.

Flipping people.

http://www.plainfaqs.org/linux/dvdplay/

 

[tjm4fun]

see, ya found it without anyhelp. Ver few distro's include libdvdcss due to that same legal reason, but it is easily installed in them cause of the demand.
FWIW, I prefer to play dvd's in native xine, without the frontends like kaffeene. There is a xine gui that is very nice, simple and easy to use. Try just alt f2 and type in xine, and see if it works. if not look for the xine gui in yast.

 

[muckshifter]

shhh, I'm trying to watch the movie here ... back row jobs. sheesh.



Yep using xine, way head of you my friend ... Coffee is a bit quiet, but xine has loads of volume ... can't figure out why MPlayer won't work but 3 out of 4 aint bad.

 

[tjm4fun]

Mplayer is a finicky thing. last I tried it, it doesn;t work in Yoper, PClinuxos, or suse very well. sound and video were out of sync, and I never could get it right. However, using the dvdrip frontend,(for mplayer) it has sucessfully ripped dvd's to disk for me. go figure.
Well enjoy your movie, and don;t eat too much popcorn!

 

[muckshifter]

Good Film, good film ... that made a nice change.

No popcorn, beef stew my friend, lovely ...

Naw, I'll practice un-installing by using MPlayer as the bait.