BlG_B0SS

I installed Mandriva 2008.0 on my Dell Inspiron 4000 laptop just yesterday and can't figure out how to get online. I went to the control center, went under hardware, and saw that the system recognizes the ethernet controller. I do have a docking station (where the ethernet port is; I don't have an ethernet port in the the laptop itself), and checked to make sure that the system recognizes the docking station; so I plugged in a usb mouse into the docking station and it started working fine - so the docking station IS recognized by the system. To try and set up an internet connection, I went to control center, Network, and clicked on "Start new connection" and went through the steps, keeping all options at whatever default they were. Then at the end it says "installing packages" and then gives me an error message saying the packages did not install. Can someone please help me with this? I'm completely new to linux so if I have to go through any Konsole command prompt steps, could you please give me baby steps on what to do. Thank you.

hehe... It seems there was little tension caused by the posts I made. You'll have to excuse my impatience I didn't mean to create a disturbance in the community. It's just that I'm used to other forums where a post comes up literally less than a minute after you post. Plus I was kinda boiling after the screen on my brand new Vaio went poof. Again I apoligize for it. I'll try to be more polite. Oh, and about the live CD requiring 256mb ram - does installing Mandriva onto the hard drive require that much too? This creates a little doubt in my mind about putting linux on my computer. I know that linux is more stable than windows, but WinXP only requires 128 ram. This leads to the ultimate question: Should I stick with XP or should I still go with linux? Oh, and I need the version of linux to be as close to Windows as possible - the person who is actually using that laptop doesn't know anything about computers and won't be able to make any major adjustment to a new operating system. All she needs it for is Word, Excel, PowerPoint, the internet (I know that OpenOffice and FireFox covers those categories) and being able to navigate through folders and documents easily, hence my interest in Mandriva (and a GUI over a CPI). I figured that putting linux on it would make it faster than the current XP. I may possibly be able to get more ram for my laptop. So if doing that will sway your decision, let me know. Also, I did find out where to get the 3 cd set for Madriva Free, but when I tried burning the first cd, I got an error. I think I'm doing it wrong. Do you think you could help me with making the 3 cd set? So, let me repeat what I have and my question: 128mb ram, Celeron 700 mhz, 10 gb hard drive, 8 mb vram. 1) Windows XP or Mandriva Free? 2) How do I correctly burn the 3 CD Mandriva Free set? And this time I promise to be more patient when waiting for a response. ;)

nevermind I found where to get the 3 CD set. Thank you again. now I just hope someone answers my other post :mellow:

thank you sooooo much for replying. finally someone spoke lol. i just tried to install that 1 CD that I have - it said "fatal system error. exited abnormally." so, that just proves that 1 CD isn't it... How do I get the 3 CD's?

In the mean time while waiting for people to respond to my first post... Is Mandriva Free supposed to fit on one CD or does it have to be on one DVD? I read somewhere it's either 1 DVD or 3 CD's... I just tried to burn a copy and it said "finished" after I burned only one CD... Do I have everything on this one CD? I don't have a DVD drive btw

I'll give an intro to my situation, if you don't want to read it just skip to my questions: OK... I'm completely new to linux. I've been reading up on it because I'm interested in installing it on my old laptop (128mb ram, 700 mhz intel celeron, 8 mb vram, 10 gb hard drive). Right now I have WinXP on it and it runs pretty slow. I found the mandriva site of where to get mandriva one, and burned a copy. At the time I did this, I didn't know what a "live cd" was. It took about 2 hours for Mandriva to boot up on my laptop, and when it finally did, it was EXTREMELY slow. I also noticed that the cd drive was constantly reading the boot cd (I could hear it)...this caught my attention and figured that mandriva didn't actually install onto my computer. So I restarted my computer and took out the cd - and saw that windows was still there. So I did a little more homework and realized that there are two versions - Mandriva One LiveCD and Mandriva Free. LiveCD is supposed to have an option on the desktop to download it onto the hard disk - I did not see anything on the desktop other than a DNA spiral made of blue people (the background). Also, under the description of Free, it says "does not contain any proprietary drivers or software" - I noticed that live cd had firefox and openoffice already on the disc. It seems that Free is not a complete package. So I really wanted the LiveCD version. After learning that I can boot the cd on a computer and not change anything on that computer, I tried putting the LiveCD into my new laptop -- to my demise it killed my laptop screen. I'm not really sure how (maybe it messed with the driver or something???), but I called Sony and they're going to fix it for me (it'll probably take a long time though). Anyways after going through all that and killing my day, I decided enough linux for me. But today the interest recurred, hence my being here. I tried doing some more homework on the subject, which is how I found this website. So I got an account about ten minutes ago. I guess now you want me to shut up and ask my questions lol. Here is what I need help doing: 1) Reformat the hard drive of my laptop to wipe it completely clean and put Mandriva 2008 on it. 2) LiveCD vs Free - what am I losing if I pick Free. Or is there a way to get the Live version since I don't see the "install on hard disk" option on the desktop. 3) If by any chance, does anyone know how to fix the screen of my new laptop? I'm able to hook up an external monitor to it and work off of it like that, but I really need to use it for my work asap (instead of waiting a week for the Sony technician to arrive). It's kinda funny how linux did that to it, especially since it's just a live cd which isn't supposed to do anything to you computer. Thanks in advance! :)