Swiss

Hi All, Since I start learning Linux I have always installed from the CD's, which has served me fine to date. However I've got to the point where I want things to be more efficiant and organised. When Installing from the cd's it always installs various things that i either never use or just dont need now. Im looking for either advice or good documention on the kerel. I have found more documentation on the kernel than i know what to do with and most of it is custom to other versions of linux which i dont have. All I want to do is compile a kernel that... 1) Acctully loads (This would be a nice start) 2) Loads the required support for motherboard, cpu, memory, hdd, video & keyboard. 3) loads a shell. I know this isn't very hard to do, I found docs all over the place telling me it fairly simple, however in a month I haven't managed to do it once. I'm either missing something fundamentaly stupid, or the docs i've been trying to follow don't mach what im trying to do. I susspect its the first one. Im currently using mandrake 9.1. Swiss.

Hi All, I've been playing around with Mandrake for a while now and I've got my head round most things, once we got passed the Windows to Linux issues. I've over come most issues by trial and error and by reading vast amounts of documentation However there are three problems I am stuck on, mainly becase I can't find good documentation on them, or there is so much documentation on it, that I don't know where to begin. I wish to setup a nfs or ftp server on my network to allow my to install Mandrake over my network rather than from the CD's. I have three reasons for this. 1) There's only so many time you can change cd's before you start going a bit mad. Lazy I know, but why do it when you don't have to !!!. 2) I frequentlly have to re-install. This is mainly because I am still learning and therefor have an uncanny ability to screw everything up to the point that nothing works. 3) The most important reason is updated and additional RPM's. Because I bought Mandrake 9.1 and can't yet afford to purchaes the latest version there are alot of updates avalible most of which I now have (Or at least the ones I need). Every time I re-install from cd i spend a considerable amount of time updateing packages. If I can install over my network I beleive I can update the packages at the source and save myself considerable time. If I can't do it this way, could somebody let me know and I'll stop trying. My setup is as follows. I have a couple of Windows machines (I Know, I'm Sorry. When I learn how to make windows games run on a linux platform I'll get rid of them, but not until then). I have two working linux servers provideing DHCP, Samba, Apache, MySQL, FTP, QMail (POP3, SMTP, SSL-IMAP, Send, FetchMail), Routing and Firewall (Kinda, IP Tables are still confussing me). I have two diskless node servers providing DNS and NTP services. And yes I was stunned when I got these working, a big smile and quite a few beers. I also have two machines for learning on. Once I've learnt how something works properly and I've over come install, setup, configuration and security issues I then install it to one of my two servers. A process which has served me well to date. I can boot-up and connect to both nfs and ftp servers but then it starts going wrong. I'm fairly sure that my problem is down to the directory and file structure on the server, because my installations always fail due to not being able to find files. Could somebody either explain to me how to take my asortment if install cds and copy them to my server, correctly, so that installations can find all the files start to finish. OR. Can somebody point me in the right direction for documentation that relates specificlly to this issue using Mandrake 9.1. I have found some documention for Red Hat but not much. My other two problems are kernel and install related so I'll post them in the appropriate places. Swiss.

Thanx SoulSE, great place to start. I now have working Master & Slave DNS Servers, but I can't find anything there to explain how to set my DHCP Server to update my dns records. I found these entries on another site :- ddns-updates on; ddns-domainname "swiss.intranet"; ddns-rev-domainname "in-addr.arpa"; And I've edited the obvious bit, but I don't kow what to do in my DNS settings. This isn't a major requirement for my network, but I know it can be done and its bugging the hell out of me cause I can't find out how !!!!!!!!!! :x Can anybody point me in the right direction plz. Any give any possible problems with this issue. Swiss P.S. Is this what they call Dynamic DNS (DDNS) ??? proberbly good to find out the name of what im doing :lol:

Right then, It looks like lots of bedtime reading!! I've got no problem helping others as soon as I feel competent enough. Most of what I've got working so far has been through luck more than judgement. Recompileing the kernel..........Ermmmmmmmmmm..........Think I'll leave that for a little bit. Thx so far......... I'm of to start reading. I will return. Swiss

I have been using windows for more years than I care to think about. I have just bought myself a copy of ProSuite 9.1, Installed It and ermmmmmmmmm :D DAMN!!! After a few initial problems like ... Getting from runlevel 3 to runlevel 5... I know bloody easy really Getting out of VI once your in it I'm starting to find my way around. I've spent about a week playing around, re-installing (cause that was not the way to do it) and I've now got an understanding of the basics. I've mastered DHCP Server, Samba Server (Kinda), NTP Server, Mounting, Users (Although Not To Sure About Groups Yet), Permissions etc.... What I'm looking for is a good place to start learning the more advanced stuff so I don't have to bug you lot with 500 post a day 24/7. Please remember that I've been corrupted by microsoft for over 10 years so please be gentle !!!! I appologise for not trying Mandrake sooner, but I think its safe to say that once I've got my head around it i wont be going back. Swiss