aRTee

I've not had time to set things up (or figure things out) but some time ago before buying a tuner card I had a look to see what's there for linux and tv/video-in capturing. If you have an image in xawtv, I'll assume you have the v4l device (video for linux), check in /dev if v4l exists (as a dir or file). You may want to look into mencoder for the capturing. It is command line based but the quality and performance should be good. It's a relative to mplayer, same developers. Meaning: confusing docs, devvers shouting at you for asking dumb questions but in functionality probably getting the most out of any hardware.... One thing: I don't think you can use the builtin ATI mjpeg encoder, due to ATI's decision not to give necessary info to opensource developers.. or maybe it's just really tough..

Howabout installing 9.1 next to your 9.0 and see how it goes. Make a 4GB partition for it, and you can even have that include a new /home; just mount your old / and /home into something like: /mnt/oldroot and /mnt/oldhome or just plain /oldroot and /oldhome. So that way, you can test drive, and if need be, access your current (old) config files. If you're afraid to mess up your current user, just create a new user and copy the necessary files. (Email etc) You may want to check the use / manpages of: chmod chown chgrp ln and then some. This is how I set things up for beta and RC testing: first create a whole new clean install plus new user. Test drive and config for a week, during which I would put links to the email and webstuff (making backups so I can restore the old situation). Use the new account. See where it takes you. I did this in Jan and in March when the final came out (or was it April) I realised I hadn't used 9.1. I then did a clean install of 9.1 onto my test install. Got everything to work. Was very happy with it, compared to 9.1rc1 and 9.0. Then did a clean install over my previous 9.0 (larger partition) so I would have the test partition free for next beta (cooker) and rc testing. It's not really that much work, and like any dual boot it ensures you your current ways are not lost. Make sure you can boot into both, I did this by not writing lilo to the MBR for the test installs, but just to floppy. No hassle at boot, floppy in: new test system. Floppy out: old stable system. For me, 9.1 was better than 9.0 on all boxes I installed it (4 machines), few of my friends have had problems with it, none of these problems were not there with 9.0. And 9.1 just looks darn good (galaxy).

If he has two drives, just make sure the personal stuff is on one and you install on the other. If you're really insecure about it, disconnect the drive you don't need, set the other up as master if necessary, then you are sure you cannot accidentally delete any info. Why bother with a LAN, dragging computers around etc?

My girlfriend gave it a read and found many things (being a non-informed computer user) that should be improved,... Especially the jargon is unclear to new users, she knows OSS and Open Source, but GNU etcetcetc should also be explained. Anyway, guess I'll have to change quite a bit more than I had hoped... I'll have an update ready asap.

All you need after clean install is to add plf sources and do: urpmi libdvdcss2 (if memory serves, ... if it doesn't work, just do urpmi dvd and see what looks most like libdvdcss2 in the proposed list..) This will enable both mplayer and xine to playback encrypted (standard) dvd's. As to your current problem, sorry, don't know, hope others will help.

Lyx is not a wordprocessor, it is a textprocessor. Don't compare that to OOo or MSWord. It uses Latex as a backend, you may want to google for latex. Looks are deceiving, don't look at lyx, look at the final output. There is no better printed output than that of Latex (which works with a coded language, like html), for which lyx is a nice frontend. It is not (so much) for short letters or so, but if you are making a whole book, you'll be happy if you don't have to babysit the program and tell it every time how you want things. With latex / lyx your document will be consistent and there's no problems with hundreds of pages (unlike in MSWord that gets in trouble after page 10 or so..). And no, I don't really use it, I use OOo writer. But I don't do any large documents. I will (re)do one (55 pages) soon however, and I will definitely use lyx for that. In terms of quality of output, lyx/latex run rings around any other typesetting/document creation program that I know of. Including OOo, MSOffice, CorelOffice and FrameMaker (that I use on a daily basis). (Well, maybe not really 'rings' around FM quality..) Less than 10 page document? Use OOowriter. More? Give lyx+latex a go. Your invested time will be well worth it.

I just mount the iso's that I have on my harddrive, this way I can burn the discs on request and install from them whenever I need. mount -t iso9660 /path/to/iso /path/to/make/content/available -o loop for that second path I use whatever is requested by urpmi, when it says: "please enter Mandrake International CD (disc 3) in /mnt/cdrom", I use /mnt/cdrom More than 1 road leads to Rome... ;)

Ixthusdan, thanks for your suggestions, will think about paragraph titles.. Gowator, glad you like it. I like the idea of linking to the latter part, so people interested in the practical side of things can easily skip the first section. I do think (after pondering a bit) that the theory and background should go first, but maybe I should entice a bit more (WIFM- what's in it for me) to go through the whole thing about the background... I will give myself (and all of you ;) ) a couple of days more time to fix it up or give comments; will let you know (and give it a read) when the adapted version is up. For now I'm not forseeing big changes... Thanks for thinking with me on this. :)

1- I don't like html for mail, think it is rude since plenty of people don't use a capable reader, and also since html mail is one gaping hole for viruses etc; maybe more on that other platform, but anyhow... 2- Warning to all: turn off 'download embedded images' in your mailprograms. This is THE WAY for spammers to make sure you have had and read their message, they put in a unique link to an image (this technique is called a 'beacon' if I recall correctly), and then when your mailreader downloads that, they know your address is live, ... it then goes onto the same list that your address goes on if you ever use the 'opt-out' option, namely the list of addresses that are confirmed to be correct. (and can and will therefore be sold for more money -- opting out is the way to get more spam..) Since you didn't opt-out when your mailreader downloaded the image, your email address also stays on their own list, but they can charge more for spamming you, since it was confirmed.... To answer the topicstarters question: I use evolution, my girlfriend uses mozilla mail (used that on win before, easy to switch; I used eudora, esp. the feature to leave messages on server and delete specific messages from the server was really cool; still haven't found that in any linux program, but can live without it now..). I could probably live with any other program as well; I have over time used: elm (unix), pine (unix), eudora, mozilla mail, opera mail, evolution. Pine is the best for text interface mail, esp. over slow connections; for GUI mailprograms I'd say just try and see what you like.

johnnyv, agree completely that it should not get any longer. Ixthusdan, I will think about how to arrange it so that it becomes more interesting and easier to read for newbies with less interest in the background of things but more in the practical side. Would you say the whole first part titled "Open Source community and development" should be pushed to the back? So that it would be: - Troubleshooting, problemsolving - Learning to use your new Linux system - Open Source community and development hmm, I'd have to rewrite some bits to have it make sense, but that can be done. I'm not sure if that would make it really better but I will definitely think about it, any other opinions on that? Or on the whole? Oh and by the way, comments on spelling or grammar errors are also welcome.

I have just more or less completed an article for people new to linux and open source software, please give it a read here: http://www.mandrake.tips.4.free.fr/learninglinux.html and comment on the contents in this topic. I'd like to have your feedback (and adjust the article if necessary) before mailing the link to Linux Today, PCLO, Desktoplinux, etcetc. (anywhere else where I may/should advertise this article?) If you feel that parts of the article could too easily be seen as a flame, please tell me. Any suggestions for additional info/comments are also welcome. Most appreciated are comments that propose an alternative, instead of just saying: this or that is not good... ;)

Tyme, I second Ixthusdan. Please, don't be too hasty though, it's weekend, and the weather looks great!! ;) By the way, one of the articles that got mentioned on PCLO today had some sensible remarks about linux vs windows security.

That's not you, that's windows that's funny about media players... ;) Sorry, couldn't stop myself. BTW xine and mplayer are all I need on linux. As for your idea of accepting a rebuttal, I'll think about it. Thanks for the offer in any case.

Ha! Thanks for the new version; now I can update my link to it, I have one pointing at your old 9.0 article... grip = gnu( ? ) rip, ripping the audio cd. alsa = advanced linux sound architecture gimp = gnu image manipulation program mozilla used to be the codename for netscape,.. in the old days you could do about:mozilla in netscape (instead of the url) and it would give you something from the 'book of mozilla'... nothing to do with linux though. Also, maybe you want to aim your comment not just at linux developers, but Free Software developers....? Loading all into each rpm is called static, and it would make the 2.6GB that you can install from the 3 cd mdk download edition into 10+ GB. Really, don't. Just use urpmi and all your dependency trouble is solved. Even with rpm's that are not known to the system but depend on standard libs (that you may or may not have installed, but that are known to your mdk system), just urpmi [program].rpm and it will read the header and check what it needs to install extra. If the program needs some lib that conflicts with your system, this is a problem. Get another version or get Mdk (vote!) to provide a good rpm. (or compile from source if you can) To add to Tyme's comments about security: linux is more used as a webserver system than windows, therefor it is a more attractive target. But the difficulty in creating an effective virus for that is too big. So all windows viruses are just second choice, because they are doable... Windows is the prime virus platform for 2 reasons: it is the most popular desktop platform, AND it's easy enough to make a virus. Think about it, a VBscript kournikova_naked.jpg.vbs isn't really a virus, it's just exploiting dumb users and a wrong system setup. That first part will happen on linux, the latter won't... There's a whole lot more to argue against your statement, but it's bedtime here.. :) Apart from these small points, nice article. I like your conclusion: winXP isn't bad, MS is. People shouldn't necessarily go for linux for the technical stuff (I feel really limited in Windows, because I can do so much more with linux; windows users don't know about that, so they will only see 'what's missing' when/if they switch to linux), but to avoid supporting MS.

I third that from Paul. :) Please, invest some time to unlearn some bad habits from others systems and learn the ways of your new system. If you wanted Windows you could have stayed with windows. You didn't, indicating you are open to new things. Please be open to the way things are done in linux. They are done like that for a good reason in many cases. Especially in the use of the system. Linux as a system is mature. Some of the software definitely isn't. This 'issue' is a system issue. Take your time to get used to it, post back if you have problems, check out the tips faqs etc sections here and elsewhere. And don't log on graphically as root. Welcome to the wonderful world of linux and OSS. :P

Firewire is fun as long as the controller you have is well supported in linux. Not all of them are. It seems that firewire has lower cpu load, but technically, usb2 is definitely faster, 480Mb/s vs what, 150?

See specs, my epson usb2 scanner is very fast and using usb2. No problems there. My mouse is also on usb2, obviously just running as usb1.1. But no problems. I have a colleague who has an Asus a7v8x (or so) with a philips jackrabbit 2 external usb2 cdburner, which also works fine in mdk9.1.

I say epson, for their support and quality; have the stylus color 740, quality looks great, speed is ok (for text it's good, photos not really fast, but none are). They made it possible with mtink to check the ink levels in linux. I've had mediocre results with a canon s630, printed fine but no high quality pictures/images (weird ink stripes/effects)... Epson and HP seem to be among the more supporting companies for linux.

In cups the cups controls allow me to stop the printers nicely, I have 3: 1 usb connected inkjet to my machine, 1 laser connected to my girlfriends machine via parallell cable, one network laser printer (1200dpi b/w, sweet). Start- configuration - printing - cups www (or whatever). If it asks to login, use 'root' and the root password. For me this works fine on all cups printers.

It's tough to get going if you're alone in this, but there are some websites that list loads of linux equivalents; check the link section of my site for instance... Google is your friend, try konqueror man:/ to read manpages, and ask here. Read newbie websites (like mine, there are plenty more), come back here if you still can't find it. I don't completely agree with not dual booting; if you know the software )equivalents) you need are there in linux and your hardware is supported, all is fine. But how do you know if you don't know linux? Second reason to dualboot: mandrake has such a nice feature to import the fonts from the windows partition... ;) I dual boot, or: I have a dual boot system. Haven't booted windows this year (not since Nov 02...) and going strong.. :) edit: btw I'm working on an extra page, not specifically for windows switchers but for everyone new to linux (even new to computers), on how to get started,.... have most worked out on paper, unfortunately I'm very busy at the moment.. hope to get round to it sometime next week(s)..

From 1GHz on Durons are the same as Athlons, just with less cache. The slower durons are like the old athlons (T-birds, not tbreds), they lack the intel SSE SIMD instructions, there you need the i586 code, but I agree with DOlson, if you take the i586 it works anyway...

Don't just copy the iso to a cd, check the menus of k3b, one of them says: burn iso. Then point at your iso, and start the burn.

Note that I now have my correct mdk9.1 config and files on my website, plus an explanation on how to set things up on the configuration page. I had to make slight changes (due to XFree 4.3?) to the .imwheelrc file and some others; all are on the spec page of my site, see also my sig.

Could you post your /etc/modules.conf ?

Hey man, zaurus runs linux, that's worth some bucks!! ;) All kidding aside, compiling source? You do that on your pc, then upload the binaries to the zaurus! kde and gnome? Just run that on your desktop, and use vnc to connect to it. Btw, a 100$ palm is no comparison for a zaurus, just compare the hardware. Sure to type and print a letter, a pII 300 is fine, but an athlon xp is nicer... Anyway, I'm still waiting for that new zaurus 7something, with 640x480 screensize, and better batterylife...