Crashdamage

Too bad Firefox only messes with the fonts, though that's cool in itself. But I wish it had Opera's really cool zoom feature using the + and - keys.

Hmmm...I guess the hostname thing will just have to be one of those unsolved mysteries of Unix/Linux. No big deal, since everything works, but kinda curious. In fact, I've got everything in this new 10.1OE install pretty much working up to snuff now. A couple of minor issues - Fluxbox 0.9.10 is cool, but has some bugs not in v1.14, which was basically bug-free. KDE is functional but all messed up, and I'll have to straighten it out soon for other users on this box. But 10.1 seems quick and stable and has some nice improvements over 8.2. I'm getting off-topic here... Artic - sorry to hear you're feeling down. Just take care of yourself, and thnaks for the help!

Just an update... I finally had some time to mess with this a little more. I setup IP masq and NAT in Shorewall using the Shorewall module in Webmin, and all is well. Both my now-working laptop (the HD was ok after all!) and Win4Lin/Win98 have full 'Net access again. Only thing is, I still don't quite understand why I couldn't save the hostnames as before, or why even though my /etc/HOSTNAME file correctly lists 'localhost.mybox.net', the hostname is not correctly set - it still comes up as 'localhost@cpe-65-30-14-83 tim' in Webmin or 'tim@cpe-65-30-14-83 tim' when I open a terminal. Can anyone explain what the deal is with that?

WTF? I did that before but nothing happened, so I thought there must be some trick to it...oh well changed now, but no difference, still no 'Net connection through Win4Lin. I expected that since I have no NAT, or anything else, configured at the moment. In fact, I not only turned off Shorewall in MCC, but I went to chkconfig and turned off iptables from there (# chkconfig iptables off). I did that for 2 reasons: 1. I urpmi'd firestarter-0.9.3-1mdk, but when I try to run it I get this message: "A proper configuration for Firestarter was not found. If you are running Firestarter from the directory you built it in, run 'make install-data-local' to install a configuration, or simply 'make install' to install the whole program. Firestarter will now close." The Firestarter website docs were no help at all. Google searches turned up no solutions except to "install the latest package". Yeah, right. So I urpme'd Firestarter, disabled iptables and reinstalled, to get everything going from scratch with no prior configs mucking up the works. Still no go with Firestarter. Too bad, looks kinda nice. 2. Since that failed, I thought I'd try setting up Shorewall with Webmin's Shorewall module, since it gives far more options and control than MCC. That requires disabling all prior iptables scripts. But before I started, I thought I'd check for a reply here. So that's where I'm at, ready to start fresh. I'll leave things as is for now and ask kindly if you, artic, or someone could offer some guidance on just how I should set this up, with either Firestarter (I think I'd like it best) or Shorewall, I don't care too much which as long as I get it right this time. Man, I miss Bastille... Thanks for the help so far!

Ok, I have "pump" and "dnsmasq" installed, but I can't find "resolvconfg". But I do have a /etc/resolv.config. It contains: search kc.rr.com nameserver 24.94.163.113 nameserver 24.94.165.25 nameserver 24.94.165.132 But my old pre-upgrade /etc/resolv.config said: search crashdamage.net nameserver 192.168.0.2 I'm not sure what this means or exactly what it *should* say now. I admit to being more than a little lost here. As for the "ipv6" thing, using Firefox as you suggested I found: network.dns.disableIPv6 default boolean false But I can't find how you change this to "true". I think I need some education on this stuff. I'm just not sure where to go from here.

Hmmm...see my reply here: http://mandrakeusers.org/index.php?showtopic=20818&hl=

I'll try to keep this as short as as I can, but still give complete enough info. I've used this setup for 3 years , but I can't make it work now. I installed Mandrake 10.1OE, then Buchan Milne's Win4lin-enabled kernel and have Win4lin running fine except for internet access. I kept /home, so this is the same Win4lin/Win98 installation, unchanged, not reinstalled. No hardware changes whatosever. Other than KDE being all jacked up (and I don't care) no major problems. The Linux box has 2 nics, eth0 is connected to a Road Runner cable modem via dhcp. This works fine. eth1 is assigned a static IP so it the box can be used as a router to connect either my laptop (unavailable right now, bad HD) via wired ethernet connection or Win4Lin/Win98 internally via vnet ("virtual") networking. Before, I've used Webmin for setup, and even kept printouts of Webmin screens just to be sure I got everything *exactly* as before (except dhcp numbers, of course). Here's the setup: On the Linux box: Network interfaces: eth0: IP: 65.30.14.83 Netmask: 255.255.252.0 (from dhcp) eth1: IP: 162.168.0.1 Netmask: 255.255.255.0 (static) lo: IP: 127.0.0.1 Netmask: 255.0.0.0 Host addresses: 127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost 192.168.0.1 tim.mybox.net tim 198.168.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost DNS client: Hostname: localhost.mybox.net DNS servers: 24.94.163.113 24.94.165.25 24.94.165.132 Search domains: kc.rr.com Routing and gateways: Default router: 65.30.14.83 (from dhcp) Default route device: eth0 Act as router? = yes On the Windows box (from winipcfg on Win4Lin/Win98 box) Hostname: tim.mybox.net DNS enabled = yes DNS servers: 24.94.163.113 24.94.165.25 24.94.165.132 Node type: Broadcast IP address: 192.168.0.2 Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0 Default gateway: 192.168.0.1 But now I can't save this setup. Several things are goofed up: 1. If I enable eth0 as a routing device and apply the setup, I lose eth1. 2. I can't save the hostnames as before. If I set the names as before then apply the setup, I lose eth1. And if I change the hostnames and logout or reboot, they keep reverting to this: Host addresses: 127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost.mybox.net localhost 192.168.0.1 tim.mybox.net tim 198.168.0.1 localhost.localdomain instead of my proper hostname. This never happened before. 3. If I re-install eth1 and apply the configuration, the DNS hostname reverts to: cpe-65-30-14-83.kc.rr.com 4. Along this line, if I open a terminal, I get: [tim@cpe-65-30-14-83 tim]$ instead of my proper hostname. This never happened before. What else I've done: 1. Disabled the firewall (presently Shorewall) - no change, but none expected. 2. Changed security settings, and gone through all of them manually. Can't find anything that seems problematic. 3. Checked /etc/HOSTNAME. Hostname is properly listed as 'localhost.mybox.net', and during boot is listed as set so. And here's the important parts of ipconfig's present output: eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:05:5D:49:73:2C inet addr:65.30.14.83 Bcast:255.255.255.255 Mask:255.255.252.0 inet6 addr: fe80::205:5dff:fe49:732c/64 Scope:Link UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:20:18:89:18:7C inet addr:192.168.0.1 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 inet6 addr: fe80::220:18ff:fe89:187c/64 Scope:Link UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 lo Link encap:Local Loopback inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0 inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1 The whole hostname thing kinda throws me. I know a little basic networking, but I'm not cool enough to figure out just what's wrong here. Anyway, I figure this all fails because I must not have NAT or IP masq enabled in Shorewall, but from some Googling on that subject it seems to be a real bear to setup. Any help there would be much appreciated. I always used Bastille before and that makes it a snap, but no can use Bastille now. Bastille is sooo good...maybe try setting this up with Firestarter?... I need a 'net-enabled Win4Lin installation pretty badly because I use it mostly for work, connecting to my office workstation via pcAnywhere. I can do most stuff with VNC, but it doesn't do file transfers or remote printing like pcAnywhere. HELP!!!

You're probably on the right track thinking it has to do with Xorg, but I'm can't tell you how to fix it. I'd post this question to the Fluxbox help forum at: http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=110771 Somebody there should be able to help. As for me, I installed the rpm 'fluxbox-0.9.10-2mdk' and it's working pretty well except I have the same logout problem. I've been getting around that by just restating X instead, a-la ctrl-alt-backspace. No biggie. It will do the transparent menus and stuff, but it's maybe not quite as perfected as v1.14 was. Still, I intend to stay with the newer 0.9x versions 'cause 1.14 is no longer maintained.

Or you can simplify even more and just install the Acrobat rpm. v5.0.9 is included on the 10.1 discs or can just download it seperately and install it. Better to always install rpms anyway, so your rpm database stays correct..

pmpatrick... Nah, nice try, but that won't work. Firefox 0.10 is compiled with gcc3.2 and so has to have a gcc3.2-compatible plug-in. So it must be linked to /ns610-gcc32. Jeez...I don't know what I was thinking before, trying to aim Opera at the plugin directory. Opera wants a directory location for an *executable* - Firefox wants a link to a *plugin*. Ahhrgg - too tired, I guess, or maybe just plain stupid. Anyway, it sure would be nice if Firefox worked this like Opera. Seems much more straightforward to me to just run the Java executable.

That pathway worked! Thanks! A check at: http://www.java.com/en/download/help/testvm.jsp confirmed Opera is now running j2re-1.4.2_05 instead of j2re-1.3.1 with no problems. So the new Java install itself *seems* OK, and I went ahead and removed the old version since nothing was using it anymore. I'm getting a little closer...but I still can't get Firefox going with it... I still have a funny feeling it's because even though Java j2re-1.4.2 itself runs OK, the *plugin* used by Firefox I created symlinks to will not, probably due to the requirement for 'libgcc_s.so.1', which though it is installed, my installed version might be too old, like I said in my 1st post in this thread. For grins and to kinda sort this out, I downloaded 'libgcc1-3.2-1mdk.i586.rpm' to get a version of 'libgcc_s.so.1" compiled with gcc3.2 instead of gcc3.0 like mine, and ran a test install. Sure enough, it stopped at: # rpm -ivh --test libgcc1-3.2-1mdk.i586.rpm Preparing... ########################################### [100%] file /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 from install of libgcc1-3.2-1mdk conflicts with file from package libgcc3.0-3.0.4-2mdk I didn't think it a bright thing to do to try and force that. I might try extracting it from the rpm and do a rename-the-old-file-add-new and see what, if anythng, breaks. If nothing does, I think maybe that would fix it. Possible?? :unsure: Somehow, this all seems like it shouldn't be necessary...I mean, I installed a rpm of the newest Firefox version, but for RH 7.3, which also has gcc3.0 instead of gcc3.2. So how did they get it tested and all working with j2re-1.4.2 on a RH 7.3 machine?

Thanks for the answer... 1. No, no old java plugins in /us/lib/firefox/plugins, /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins or /usr/lib/netscape/plugins. 2. I thought you might have something there. I couldn't remember for sure, but it was a definite possibility that I did have Firefox open when I created the symlinks. So I deleted and re-created them. No good. 3. It should be quite possible to have more than one java installed. I do even on Windoze boxes. Anyway, I don't want to remove j2re1.3.1 yet 'cause Opera's using it and it works fine. 'Til I sort out Firefox at least, I still need Opera fully functional. Also, and this is kinda strange, if I open Opera's preferences and try to set the java pathway to: usr/lib/firefox/plugins or /usr/lib/netscape/plugins, directories where I made the symlinks, then click the "Validate Java path" button, i get an error: "Could not find a valid Java installation. Enter another directory and try again." In fact, I can't find any path it likes. So, the obvious question is, what pathway are you using for j2re-1.4.2_05 with Opera? I want to see if I can get Opera to use j2re1.4.2. I have the feeling something isn't right with the new java installation, not with Firefox.

I installed Firefox 0.10 to play around, see what the hype is about and hopefully find out if would work better with some sites that Opera doesn't. Hate having to use Internet Excuse...anyway, so far I've: Installed firefox-0.10-0.1.0.rh7.dag (RH 7.3 rpm) went fine, no problem at all. Installed j2re-1.4.2_05 (alongside j2re-1.3.1_02, used by Opera 7.50), from j2re-1_4_2_05-linux-i586.rpm, downloaded from Sun's website. created a symlink in /usr/lib/firefox/plugins (and just to be sure and for other uses, also in /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins and /usr/lib/netscape/plugins) with the command: #ln -s /usr/java/j2re1.4.2_05/plugin/i386/ns610-gcc32/libjavaplugin_oji.so I saw the warnings about j2re-1.4.2 needing libgcc_s.so.1, and it is installed, in /lib/libgcc_s.so.1, from the package libgcc3.0. Everything seems right. But loading a java applet from any site still crashes Firefox. Bummer, 'cause while it's still lacking some things in Opera, Firefox does show some promise. I could get used to it if it works with certain sites, but I gotta have java going to find out. BTW, this is on my main Mdk 8.2 box. Anyone got any idea where to go from here? I'm stumped again...the only thing I can think of is that maybe the installed libgcc_s.so.1 is too old a version??

I've used a Sandisk CF card reader in Linux for years now, but never had this problem. I just bought a new 1G CF card. But when I try to mount it I get this: $ mount /mnt/sda1 mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda1, or too many mounted file systems I have several other CF cards, all 128MB or less, and all work fine. All the cards, including the new 1G card, work fine under Windoze. So I tried formatting the new 1G card, using Windoze. No good. Hmmm...so I Googled around some and found some entries indicating that adding 'sync' in the appropriate /etc/fstab line sometimes helps with large volumes, so I add that. Still no good. Here's where it really gets strange. On a hunch that maybe Linux wasn't picking up on the newly added 'sync' option in fstab, I go ahead and try to fix it a-la Windoze - reboot, with the new 1G card still in the reader. Note here that I've rebooted before with my other CF cards in the reader and had no problems. A-HA! Now the new 1G card will mount, read/write and everything fine. BUT, now if I try to mount any of my other CF cards, I get the same error message above! Only the 1G card mounts properly now. All the cards still work perfectly under Windoze. I haven't tried, but I'd bet that if I rebooted with one of my smaller cards in the reader, the situation would reverse itself again and the 1G card would fail to mount. I can't figure this one out. I have /dev/sda1setup for mounting/umounting as a user, but trying as root makes no difference anyway. Here's the line in my etc/fstab, which I've used unchanged for 3 years with no trouble (except for the newly added 'sync' entry): /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1 vfat user,uid+501,gid=501,iocharset=iso8859-1,umask=0,sync,codepage=850 0 0 Any ideas?

Here's a little tutorial I wrote and post on Usenet sometimes...there's also help in Tips & Tricks, on Mandrake's website, Google, etc, etc. Basic urpmi: By using Mandrake you have a terrific utility for installing RPMs that other distros don't: urpmi - the Mandrake package handler. It will easily and automagically take care of finding, downloading and installing software and its dependencies. The "Software Installer" in Mandrake Control Center is a GUI frontend for urpmi, but it's very easy to use urpmi from the command line. To easily make the best use of urpmi, whether by the GUI installer or urpmi from the command line, first go here: http://easyurpmi.zarb.org/ Follow the easy directions to setup your online package sources. Choose them carefully, staying with sources for your particular Mandrake version. You'll want to add the main sources for your version, the Contributors sources, the PLF repositories, and maybe a few others. Warning: Add the Cooker sources at your own risk. Cooker is beta stuff still in testing for the next release and may or may not cause you problems. When you've finished setting up your source mirrors you can start using the real power of urpmi. You can install/uninstall a package by simply using the GUI installer, or in a terminal, 'su' to root, then: # urpmi -v <packagename> ('-v' for verbose output is optional, but I like the extra info it provides) where <packagename> is normally just the 'simple' version, i.e. using the email client Mutt for example, instead of: # urpmi -v mutt-1.4i-4mdk.i586.rpm Use: # urpmi -v mutt Then urpmi will automagically go to the 'Net sources you choose, find and download the latest available Mutt RPM for your version of Mandrake, grab any other packages needed to resolve all dependencies and install everything in the correct order. If urpmi can't complete the install, either because all the required software isn't available on the source mirrors you choose or possibly some other conflict(s), it will stop the install process before actual changes are made and give you some info about the problem. Similarly, for packages you've downloaded and saved, just navigate to the directory where you saved them: # cd /mysaved/rpm/ishere Then (for this, you may need to use the full packagename): # urpmi -v <packagename> Uninstalling a package is simply 'urpme' instead of 'urpmi'. Be aware that while using RPMs compiled for other versions of Mandrake or for other distros sometimes will work fine, they may not and the possibility for problems exists. So always try to use RPMs for your distro and version whenever possible, which in the case of Mandrake is almost always. If you must use a RedHat or other distro RPM, it's best to try a test install first, as in: # urpmi -v --test <packagename> This does a "dry run" to check if the package(s) can be sucessfully installed but without actually changing anything on the system. If all is well, remove the '--test' switch to install normally. It's important to always install RPMs, not from tarballs, when using any rpm-based distro like RedHat, Suse or Mandrake. Why? Because if you always install RPMs, then Mandrake's urpmi (or Suse's YAST, or whatever) is able to keep track of everything installed on your system and so keep everything correctly configured - no reinstalling the OS due to screwed up system files from incorrect or conflicting library versions, etc. But if you install packages from source tarballs, then urpmi cannot keep things straight since it has no info about the installed tarballs or their contents. Obviously, this could easily lead to trouble. Sometimes a particular piece or a newer version of software may only be available as a source tarball. No problem - it's still very easy make your own RPMs from source with a handy utility called checkinstall, included on the Mandrake CDs. I won't go into more detail about checkinstall here. Google for more info about it. This should be enough to get you going. For more info, open a terminal and type 'man urpmi" or do some Googling. Lotsa info available.

Netraverse always does extensive testing on Mandrake, and Win4Lin WILL run fine on 10.1. Sounds like you installed maually and something went badly. From your post I'm not sure exactly what, though it's clear DOS would not install due to no working mki-adapter. For whatever reason, it's not loading. You may simply not be booting into the Win4Lin-enabled kernel, but...nah, couldn't be that easy... To avoid problems from an install gone bad, I'd uninstall the kernel and Win4Lin rpm and start over rather than troubleshoot. If you don't want to use a generic Win4Lin-enabled kernel, first download and install Buchan Milne's 2.6.8.1-10mdk Win4Lin-enabled kernel from Contrib (sounds like you did that). He has run this kernel successfully with 10.1CE. Then just run the GUI installer and let it do the work. It should recognize the enabled kernel and go. Click-click easy and reliable. If you still feel the need to install manually, be sure to follow the instructions on Netraverse's website carefully. If you still have problems, try posting your question to the Netraverse mailing list at: win4lin-users@netraverse.com There is excellent help there not only from other users (including Buchan Milne, who does not check in here) but from the developers themselves. You should have an answer pretty quickly.

Well, whatever, point taken. Glad it's been trouble-free for you. You're no doubt right that the huge majority of problems with PM8 are due to operator error. And you're right when you stick a finger in my chest about trashing something I haven't used. I haven't used anything but the DOS version of PM8 myself. But many other *much* more experienced users than I don't trust PM. Just do a Google search. Now I've not had any trouble using the simple DOS version on floppies (or heard of anyone who has), it's certainly been perfectly reliable for simple partitioning of blank drives. But runnning PM from within Windows seems problematic for many people, for whatever reason. Our corporate IT guy, who should be abe to use it blindfolded by now, is disgusted with PM8, just won't use it anymore except for the DOS version. He was saying recently that he was gonna spring for a paid version of Acronis Partition Expert. He tried and liked my free trial version much better and has been using it now when he sets up new servers. But the free version won't do what I need here, so hence my original question about using the DOS PM8 floppies. Anyway, I've never had a problem with Diskdrake or other Linux tools, but then I've always made basic Fat32/NTFS partitions first with the PM8 floppies or Partion Expert and then just let the installer do Linux partitions from there. I figure it makes simple sense to use Windoze tools for Windoze partitions and Linux tools for Linux partitions. I've never used PM or Diskdrake to split a HD with an existing Windoze install - well, except the very 1st time I installed Linux, Mandrake 8.0, I let Disdrake do all the work on an existing Win98 system. IOW, I've kept it real simple, never tried to do anything tricky like this XP-notebook thing with either PM or Diskdrake (or whatever Linux tools in a given distro). Seems I"ll get my chance now. Hey, anyone know how to make a bootable CD from the 2 PM8 DOS floppies so I can use it without a floppy drive, either from a Linux burner or Nero? I tried making a bootable image but I can't get it to work.

Well, I've heard (and seen) some rear horror stories with Partiton Magic. I never use it for anything but very simple tasks. This chore is really pushing the limits of what I'd try to do with it. I don't trust it as far as I could throw the floppies, much less to 'fix' errors. More like create 'em... What Pierre said sound about right, XPee sticks a 'pagefile.sys' file at the end, and I've heard of doing what he described somewhere else. Just didn't really believe it 'til now. But if I can get PM8 to move everything towards the front without trashing things, it should work. I'll leave XP on a 5-6G NTFS partition, about 1G Fat32 for shared data, and 5-6G for the Linux install. But where did you get the idea I was trying to install Linux before WinXP? I'm not crazy yet. A dim bulb,yeah, but not crazy.

Thanks Pierre. Believe me, I have no intention of letting Partion Muck-up fool with anything except creating a FAT32 partition. I'll let the Mandrake installer take care of creating the Linux partitions. I'll probably wait to do this 'til 10.1 Official is released, but I am gonna give it a try. Too bad, but my broadband wireless modem (which I'm posting with now) is sure to not be supported yet.

Got a used Toshiba Tecra 8000 laptop with WinXP Pro SP2 loaded (aaack!) and some good software installed. Has a 13G HD but only using just over 3G, so there's enough room to setup a dual-boot XP/10.1 system. But friggin' XP has files scattered over about the 1st 2/3 of the disk. What I'd like to do is shove everything to the front to maximize available space for 10.1 and a FAT32 data partition. Defragging of course doesn't do that completely, and Google searches have turned up various conflicting opinions on whether or not it can even be done. When in doubt, I trust the people here, so... I do have DOS version of Partition Magic 8 (ugh) on 2 floppy discs. Maybe that would be of some use - I hear PM will move files for repartitioning, but the Mandrake installer will not. I don't want to take chances with the XP installation as some of the installed software I can't reload. Is there a safe way to do this or not?

Ya got me...but that's easy to do. These are all long shots, but you might check: 1. Are you sure it's not actually the webpage *address* you go to, but how large the webpages are - IOW, maybe it really is slow all the time, but only noticeable on large pages. A reach I know, but... 2. Release your DHCP and grab a fresh lease. 3. Security settings, setup of anything like firewalls or Portsentry you have installed and running - something might be getting in the way? 4. CPU usage while loading a slow page. A bug? 5. Ping a slow page address from the Linux box - OS shouldn't matter, TCIP is TCIP, but ya never know, might give a hint. 5. Pretend it's a Winshaft box and reboot. When that fails to fix it, call tech support, get charged major $$$ and be told to reinstall the OS.

Jeez...I think that's one of the BEST things about Flubox, IceWM, etc. I hate desktop icons. The keyboard shortcuts I setup in Fluxbox are much faster and no friggin' icons makes for a really clean look. I've struggled to do something similar with Winshaft2000/LiteStep but with no luck. Just curious...what does she need to do in OO that Abiword won't do?

Just so everything's clear... 1. Slowness is only a problem with Mozilla/Firefox, or with any browser? 2. Is it slow only when loading webpages, or is everything slow - ftp downloads, emails w/attachments...? 4. Same question as above, but how is it in Windows (if you have it)? 3. Your cable connection is DHCP, right? If everything seems slow regardless of OS, try pinging Yahoo or something and post the results. 15-20 hops is plenty. I'd like to see just how fast/slow the hops are.

Maybe you just need need a fresh start, sorta... 1st, before you tried to urpmi -v Skype, did you cd to the directory you saved it to? (see error "no package named skype") 2nd, find out what version of libqt you actually installed so to be sure it's a version new enough (libqt3 >= 3.2 i.e. equal to or newer than version libqt3.2). Do: $ rpm -q libqt Probably you have installed the wrong version of libqt. You may have to unistall the present libqt first to make everything work. If so, urpmi should tell you, but that might be a little much to ask. It's very good, but not perfect - yet. 3rd, if you have installed a version of libqt that's too old (<3.2) check the sources you setup for urpmi. You may have choosen sources that don't have a version new enough. The Skype rpm you have is a Mandrake one so it should install with urpmi. If you cd to the directory Skype is saved to and urpmi it from there, and have choosen your urpmi sources carefully, urpmi should find, download and install libqt3 >=3.2 and all other dependencies for you. When you think you have everything set so it should work, try installing with the '--test' swtich first, so you don't install lotsa useless stuff for nothing.

Use urpmi instead of the old outdated rpm commands. After proper setup Mandrake's urpmi will easily and automagically take care of finding, downloading and installing software and its dependencies. The "Software Installer" in Mandrake Control Center is a GUI frontend for urpmi, but it's very easy to use urpmi from the command line. Basic urpmi usage tutorial, stuff that you probably already know, but, just in case... To easily make the best use of urpmi, whether you use the GUI installer or urpmi from the command line, first go here: http://plf.zarb.org/~nanardon/ Follow the easy directions to setup your online package sources. Choose them carefully, staying with sources for your particular Mandrake version. You'll want to add the main sources for your version, the 'contrib' mirror, the PLF repositories, maybe a few others. Warning: Add the 'Cooker' sources at your own risk. Cooker is the stuff still in testing for the next release and may or may not cause problems. When finished with setting up your source mirrors, you can start using the real power of urpmi. You can install/uninstall a package by simply using the GUI installer, or in a terminal, 'su' to root, then: # urpmi -v <packagename> ('-v' for verbose output is optional, but I like the extra info it provides) where <packagename> is normally just the "simple" version, i.e. using the email client Mutt for example, instead of: # urpmi -v mutt-1.4i-4mdk.i586.rpm Use: # urpmi -v mutt Then urpmi will automagically go to the 'Net sources you choose, find and download the latest available Mutt RPM for your version of Mandrake, grab any other packages needed to resolve all dependencies and install everything in the correct order. If urpmi can't complete the install, either because all the required software isn't available on the mirrors you choose or possibly some other conflict(s), it will stop the install process before actual changes are made and give you some info about the problem. Similarly, for packages you've downloaded and saved, just navigate to the directory where you saved them: # cd /mysaved/rpm/ishere Then (for this, you may need to use the full packagename): # urpmi -v <packagename> Uninstalling a package is simply 'urpme' instead of 'urpmi'. Be aware that while using RPMs compiled for other versions of Mandrake or for other distros sometimes will work fine, they may not and the possibility for problems exists. Always try to use RPMs for your distro and version whenever possible, which in the case of Mandrake is almost always. If you must use a RedHat or other distro RPM, it's best to try a test install first, as in: # urpmi -v --test <packagename> This does a "dry run" to check if the package(s) can be sucessfully installed but without actually changing anything on the system. If all is well, remove the '--test' switch to install normally. This should be enough to get you going. For more info, open a terminal and type 'man urpmi" or do some Googling. Lotsa info available.