Koba

Hi We still aren't on the same wavelength I am afraid. But I think the answer to my question is "no". If I just type x.jpg in the Terminal nothing will happen unless I specify the program I want to open it with (eg type gimp beforehand). Thats fine (other than the fact I would prefer not to type gimp every single time, especially if I want to open many picture files). So how about this? I am using a program called Blender http://www.blender3d.com. I have downloaded a linux version which I cannot call from the terminal unless I am in the directory where Blender is installed and I type "./blender". This means if I have a .blend file in any other directory, I can't open it from the Terminal. Nautilus on the other hand allows me to double click any .blend file in any folder to open it in Blender as I have associated ".blend" files with "Blender". I was wondering if you could use this association between ".blend" and "Blender" in the Terminal so if I type "x.blend" in the terminal and press enter, the file opens. In nautilus you simply double click a file to open it with a default application. In the Terminal you have to specify the program to open it with. Is this correct? If this is true, from what I have read, I need to set the path to the blender executable so it becomes a recognisable command. Can you help me do this? Maybe a shell script could be made to recognise the file type and send the appropriate command to the terminal? I realise I may not have stated my question clearly enough :x Koba

Hi Thanks for the reply. I've already seen that site with all those commands. Vi is a text editor those so will only open ASCII files. In DOS prompt under XP, I could type "dir <ENTER>" find x.jpg, simply type x.jpg in the terminal and press enter. x.jpg would then open in XP with the program associated to that file type. For example, can I open x.jpg with the default viewer directly from the terminal without giving the path to x.jpg as an argument to some command? Koba.

Hi I can't seem to get any cds to play any music using the cd player even though the cd drive and sound card are working (I can hear all the test sounds and installed Red Hat by cd). I'm running Red Hat 9. The cd player retieves track information correctly but clicking play doesn't result in anything coming out the speakers. Can anyone please help? Koba

Installing and using krusader is easier than falling down the stairs (but significantly more pleasant). I have now got excellent FTP access to my webspace. I'll go and find myself a GNU HTML editor because, frankly, I think you've helped me enough for now. "You learn 10 times more on a bad day with Linux than on a good day with Windows!" I disagree. More like a 100 times more . I haven't learnt anything interesting about Windows in years. Koba

I did it! I'm afraid, your method didn't work for me. I couldn't find the plugin anywhere with synaptic. What I did instead was to find xmms on the web and then installed the rpm manually. The plugin comes as part of xmms I think which I couldn't update with synaptic. After installing, you were exactly right (it still didn't play through the speakers). Changing the setting to "digital" got it going so thanks to you I can type this while listening to the Matrix soundtrack. 8) I got my CD-RW drive working today, compiled the blender source code successfully using scons, figured that you can actually log in as root :x (instead of retyping my password all the time), figured you can use the msn network with amsn AND now have music! Today has been quite a productive! I am never going to go back to windows now. Linux is supperior in every possible way (except perhaps the boot time and those annoying rpms). I am really happy with my system now. I couldn't have done it without your help. Now I will look into compiling the Wacom drivers and getting my scanner working. I also have to look into Wine. None of these things are priorities. Oh. And and do you know of a good GNU FTP uploader I can use? Thanks again. Koba

Hi Thank for your help. Using synaptic, all my xmms stuff seems up-to-date and the repository being used (as far as i can tell) is http://ayo.freshrpms.net/. I am now installing everything that comes up under an xmms search which isn't already installed. I doubt it is going to help (seeing there is no entry for the cd player plugin). How can I get the 1.2.10 version of the plugin if apt-get tells me I have the most recent version? Koba

Hi I feel we are now getting somewhere. What you said sounds about right but it isn't quite enough. x) I oppen XMMS go to options/preferences and configure the CD audio player 1.2.7 plugin (enabled). Thats fine. But I can't find "Play mode" anywhere. I see "Device" (Device/Directory), "Volume setting" (OSS Mixer/ CDROM drive) and then the "CD info" tab with "CDDB" ," CD Index" and "Track names" disabled. I've done a little more investigation: with earphones connected to the stereo socket from the front of my cd drive I can listen to the music. XMMS can pause/play and change the tracks. Thing is I want that coming out my speakers! I also know XMMS can play .wav files perfectly well so it is something to do with the cdrom. If only I could find those options you are talking about.... Koba

Hi I've disable GNOME cd from running when the cd is mounted and I've got XMMS installed. I've tried opening "track4.cda" (for example) and it looks like it is trying to play. No sound comes out the speaker though. I find this real strange as when I do the sound card detection test, I hear wonderful guitar strumming in stereo! I've also got sound events enabled and they work fine. Editing libcdaudio.so in XMMS didn't work either. The thing is the cd drive is working and reading data! Please help! Koba

Hi I wish it was that easy. I've raised all the bars in the volume control of the "Sound & Video" tool in the Red Hat menu. That hasn't fixed the problem. Maybe there is another volume control elsewhere? Koba

Hi A couple of months ago I decided I had had enough of Windows and wanted to progress onto Linux. I have since downloaded RedHat9 and today I finally installed it. The installation process went smoothly and when I saw all the GNU packages I regularly use under Cygwin installed automatically, I realised that I should have installed linux years ago.:x The problem I have is my inability to establish an internet connection. It could be wrong settings for my ISP but the fact Linux didn't detect my modem and I get no dialtone suggests it is the modem. I am using a dell 4500 pc and the modem is Conexant HSF V92 RTAD Speakerphone PCI Modem. It also runs on Windows default drivers. I have no idea what settings to apply to the generic modem settings in RedHat. I had to reinstall windows to submit this post and I would be really gutted I have to revert permanently just for an internet connection. Could anyone please, please help me? Thank you Koba P.S> I've just realise this should be under hardware (I found a post relating to dell 4500 pcs off google and pressed "Post Topic".) I apologise for any inconveniance caused.

I've just bought the full drivers. I am quite happy with them as now I can use the internet at full speed. Koba

Thank you SO much!!! Needless to say I've got it working and needless to say I am now typing in Mozilla on Red Hat! The connection speed for browsing seems quite acceptable for the moment but I think I will purchase the complete drivers so I can start really working on linux. I don't think I will feel like going back to windows for a long long time. The level of support I have got here has been incredible. I think I've just become a real fan of this site. Thanks guys! Now to sort out some Wacom drivers, my scanner and some music (can't seem to be able to play any music though the cd drive and sound card seem to be working... :x ) Should I start a new thread for these new queries? Koba

Partial success I reinstalled linux and tried to install the modem drivers correctly first time round. It seems to have worked: there didn't seem to be any errors to me. Even better, the modem is no listed in the hardware browser and has drivers associated with it. The problem is if I try to establish an internet connection, the modem still isn't found. I'm working with the "network configuration" panel. Any ideas? This is the most hopeful I have been in a while. Koba

Typical ;( Its the chicken and the egg situation again. I'll reinstall linux to try one last time. Maybe someone would be kind enough to guide me to some documentation about compiling the generic drivers. It would also be nice if someone could help me find out how to access windows data from linux. You can just send me to the documentation: you guys have helped me out quite enough already. Koba

Hi This is all good advice to get me started by my primary concern is establishing an internet connection with my current modem (if at all possible). I support all GNU projects on principle that most software should be free (moneywise and in terms of source code) and that open-source projects result in communities developing software quickly with the end-users in mind for the benefit of everyone eg http://www.blender.org. To me spending money for Linux software seems to miss the point (apart from cases were there is a clear, unavoidable, legal reason such as patenting for the software not to be free as with the Linuxant drivers). This is why I will be downloading Wine and not CrossoverOffice (which appears to be a paying product). I am starting to use the GIMP more now anyway and if I can get it to work with the linux Wacom drivers, then I won't need Photoshop. If I can get the internet to work with Linux, then I can start downloading my favorite applications and really start using Red Hat. Till then I can't do anything and will be stuck with Windows. If I can't get an internet connection going, a common data drive (or accessing windows data from linux) and/or a multi-boot system with quick switching between windows and linux would be great. I tried installing apt-get but got the following error: [root@localhost luke]# apt-get install synaptic Reading Package Lists... Done Building Dependency Tree... Done E: Couldn't find package synaptic [root@localhost luke]# synaptic bash: synaptic: command not found Can you help? I really appreciate your help but first things first please Thanks Koba

Hi Thanks again for your reply. Again, it might not have been through my own stupid fault. I assumed I was using i386 seeing that the names of the cds set by the downloaded iso files are along the lines of "Red Hat Linux_i3". I assumed i3 meant I was using i386 and so downloaded the corresponding drivers. Just now I booted up and noticed something rather important: "Lernel 2.4.20-8 on an i686". That is a very good reason for the drivers not working so far. That's what learning curves are about I guess. . Time for another go. Anyway, I'm running Windows XP Home edition at the moment. The windows applications that are most important to me are Adobe Photoshop (out of habit more than not wanting to learn how to use the GIMP ), MSN messenger and Skype (so I can talk to my family while at university). I am happy running any pc games as well as Microsoft Office on windows. Could you please tell me how to access my windows data partition from Linux? I don't mind not being able to do it the other way round. I haven't downloaded apt-get yet but I will do soon, even if I successfully install the correct rpm this time. Thanks Koba

Still no luck. There was an original error message upon installation but I can't replicate it. Now all I get is what I would call a contradiction . [luke@localhost luke]$ su Password: [root@localhost luke]# rpm -e hsfmodem-6.03.00lnxt04051300full_k2.4.20_8-1rh.i386.rpm error: package hsfmodem-6.03.00lnxt04051300full_k2.4.20_8-1rh.i386.rpm is not installed [root@localhost luke]# rpm -i hsfmodem-6.03.00lnxt04051300full_k2.4.20_8-1rh.i386.rpm warning: hsfmodem-6.03.00lnxt04051300full_k2.4.20_8-1rh.i386.rpm: V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 5dfbf7dc package hsfmodem-6.03.00lnxt04051300full_k2.4.20_8-1rh is already installed. Koba.

Hi Here is the error from the Terminal: [luke@localhost luke]$ rpm -i hsfmodem-6.03.00lnxt04051300full_k2.4.20_8-1rh.i386.rpm warning: hsfmodem-6.03.00lnxt04051300full_k2.4.20_8-1rh.i386.rpm: V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 5dfbf7dc error: cannot get exclusive lock on /var/lib/rpm/Packages error: cannot open Packages index using db3 - Operation not permitted (1) error: cannot open Packages database in /var/lib/rpm Any ideas of what is going wrong? Koba

Hoorah for Linux! I knew all those reinstallations were unneccessary when I first saw the GRUB. I was not thinking straight and was messing up all my partitions. When I got my head together, I used Windows to delete all existing partitions and formated half my hard drive leaving the rest as unpartitioned space. I installed Windows in the partition I created and then installed linux in the unpartitioned space. I now have a dual boot system! I hope that doing this without any help shows I'm not too much of an idiot! I'm afraid getting a new modem is out the question for now. I will be saving up for a laptop when I got to uni in a couple of months time so upgrading the modem on my home pc would be a bit of a waste. As I said before, when I buy a laptop, I want it 100% linux compatible. I know Linux is great and having completely self-taught myself computers I know things will go wrong and require a lot of patience to fix. I can already see that Linux is designed for efficient, uncluttered working and is an excellent GNU development environment. Due to the nature of my interests (3DCG) most of my tools will run on linux (Blender, Wings, yafray etc) but I will still need windows to run everything else. Is there a windows emulator on linux? My aim in any case is to get a multi-boot system. Any suggestions? I'll have another go with those drivers. If I can't get it to work, I'll have to look into having a multi-boot system with a single common data partiton. If I can download on windows and quickly switch to Linux, I'll be happy. I found some information on multiboot systems here:http://www.trombettworks.com/multi-boot.htm#desired . Is this of any use? You guys have been incredibly helpful. There is no way I would have got this level of support from Microsoft! Looking forward to your reply. Koba

Hi Thank you so much for your reply. Over the past two days I've been constantly installing and reinstalling Linux and Windows. I first had to install linux, find the kernel version, reinstall windows, download the driver version I thought was correct, reinstall linux, only to find I lost the floppy disk! (God knows where),then reinstalled windows, redownload the package, went back to linux (only to find the rpm doesn't work)and now I am back on windows! I think my hard drive has had quite enough but it isn't finished yet. I understand my Red Hat kernel version is 2.4.20-8 but the nearest linuxant package is for 2.4.20-8-1. Maybe I have done something wrong but I think this means the package for my kernel is unavailable. I'll be going back to linux for a second attempt tonight along with the generic drivers. This involves compiling source so I am not overly optimistic. The alternative is to update my Red Hat kernel (surely I don't need to download all of Red Hat again??!!). As far as I can tell I need the HSF drivers for Red Hat i386 kernel 2.4.20-8 (if any of this is wrong I am simply going to get nowhere). Thank you for your reply. I am willing to buy the full driver (they aren't too expensive) and I will make sure the laptop I am saving for is 100% linux compatible! Any more advice please? Koba