mandrake 10.1 community - help please!

[CAPTAIN RON]

OK, I am having the same problem with up dating 10.1 ce. I am very new at this in fact this is only my second week with a linux system. I first started out with Ubuntu. It was ok, but I had problems with sound working[finally got it to work] and my cd player[still not working]. So, after checking the forms I decided to switch to Mandrake 10.1 ce. Everything is working so far. YEA!!!

When I get the terminal up, how do I change from user to root??

Also I do not seem to be able to get the "Easy Urpmi" web site to open... even if I did, I am not sure what to do with it after that How ever I will cross that bridge after I get the web site to open. Is anyone else having the same problem and is there any other way to update if that site does not work again????

I do not know where to find MCC as in: "If you go to MCC and click on boot I think the first screen that comes up is to confirm which bootloader you are using then the next screen shows your kernels." and "also urpmi --auto-select does not install the latest kernel by default , but you can do that later in MCC after the upgrade" . Can anyone tell me where to find it?

One last question, when I was down loading it, I was asked which desktop I wanted I chosed Gnome. How would I change it to KDE ?

Thanks Ron

[bvc]

i haven't read the entire thread but...

MCC=Mandrake Control Center. Opening a terminal and running;

mcc

or

drakconf

will start the Mandrake Control Center.

 

to be root, in a terminal type;

su <hit Enter>

<type root password> (you will not see anything) Hit Enter

 

urpmi --auto --auto-select

will always install the latest kernel. Or do;

urpmi kernel

 

It won't if you have it in /etc/urpmi/skip.list like I do though

# Here you can specify the packages that won't be upgraded automatically
kernel
kernel-source
lilo
grub
#xorg-x11
#xorg-x11-server
#gnome-control-center
#gnome-desktop
#gnome-session
#mono

Edited November 20, 2004 by bvc

[CAPTAIN RON]

bvc,

Thanksfor the help. I opened a terminal , typed su <hit Enter>

<type root password> Hit Enter

 

urpmi --auto --auto-select

It said Unknown option: a

 

Do I need to go to "Easy Urpmi" and do something there first? I hope not as it is still down.

 

Also very strange, I just turned on my computer and instead of opening in Gnome like I had checked in the begining it opened KDE. I did it twice and it open KDE each time. I guess that is ok, but how do I switch between the two?? I want to be able to use Gnome because that is what Ubuntu has and I want to switch back to it after I learn how to make my cd player work.

 

Can I use the partioning tool in Mandrake 10.1 ce for dual booting windows ME or XP home and Ubuntu. I have two other puters I want to convert.

 

I would get rid of windows all together if I knew how to down load jpg's from my card reader and resize them so I could put them on ebay or upload them to my web page.

As soon as I learn how to do it , windows is history.

 

I see that you are an Ubuntu fan too. Have you had problems with it ??

Thanks, Ron

[bvc]

urpmi

maybe since all you have is the install cd's as sources, it know it can't do anything????

 

EZ urpmi

can you access the web at all. Other sites?, just not EZ urpmi?

 

Desktop Environments (DE's)

I use startx from init 3 and do not boot graphical. (I'm a control freak :P )

I would suggest using gdm as your display manager instead of either mdk-kdm, or kdm. Since kdm is mandrakes default, mdk-kdm and kdm have a tendency to omitt gnome from the list

gdm usually shows kde as an option to login to, as it knows you'll come back to gnome :P (that's a joke....well,not really)

In the Mandrake Control Center>System>Display Manager you can choose your DM

 

partitioning

yeah you can use diskdrake. I don't and use nothing but partition magic but I have my reasons that others disagree with.....nevermind. Personally, I'd use the graphical parted (qtparted) long before I used diskdrake.

 

ubuntu

I've had a few probs...nothing major, but then I use the devel branch 'Hoary' so prbs are expected.

Edited November 21, 2004 by bvc

[bvc]

oh_p

you got here just when I edited the above post on where the Display Manager is. SEE above

Edited November 21, 2004 by bvc

[CAPTAIN RON]

bvc.

 

urpmi

 

I think you are right.

 

EZ urpmi

 

I have no problem opening other web pages. I can't open it in windows or mandrake or on any other computers I have.

 

Desktop Environments (DE's)

 

 

I would suggest using gdm as your display manager, In the Mandrake Control Center>System>Display Manager you can choose your DM

 

I open it. It gave two choices. One was KDE and the other was XDM. I checked it. It went through a set up and came to Welcome to localhost. It asked for Login and password. It let me type in my user name, but not my password. I believe I have screwed the pooch.

 

Thanks, Ron

[Cannonfodder]

Some more ideas and explanations. BVC has beaten me to most of it though

 

1. URPMI works like this.. (someone correct me if I'm off)

 

It is a terminal command that is used to make modifications to the URPMI database. This RPM (a type of installation protocal) database is used to keep track of what software packages you have installed on your computer. It keeps track of each package and its associated files and where they have been placed. It makes it very easy for someone to uninstall software as well as install it.

 

In conjunction with published sources (which you can link too), you can also build a list of "possible" packages that you can install. This is where Easy URPMI comes in. It is a web site containing a list of sources. You can select a source, and then it will build a text command that you can type into the terminal. The command will add the source to the system and also build a database based on that source. Actually, its nice because you don't have to type the command, just copy it from the browser window and then paste it into the command terminal window (select with mouse and then switch to terminal window and hit middle button).

 

2. Regarding images, check out Image Magick. Go to google and look for it or go to www.sourceforge.org or www.freshmeat.org (both open source project web sites).

 

3. If you have any issues with command syntax, you can do the following..

 

a. In a command terminal window, you can type part of the command and then hit the TAB button. The rest will fill in. If there is more than one possibility they will be listed.

 

b. Type

 

man <whatever command>

 

This brings up the manual for that command. You can leave the manual by hitting escape or Q or (maybe Z).

 

c. Google! Always a help.. just type

 

linux <whatever command>

 

They have all been around forever..

 

d. Regarding display managers. If you want to continuously try different ones with out switching, you can just make more than one user account until you settle on one. One account can be KDE another Gnome so on... I personally prefer Gnome..

 

e. Partitioning.. If you dual boot on the same hard drive, you want to avoid using Window's Disk Manager afterwards. Just use mandrake's diskdrak instead. Or risk losing everything.. If on separate hard drives, just use the disk manager for the OS you have installed. Reason is that Window's doesn't recognize some of the partition table formats that Linux will write..

 

 

Hope that helps!

 

:woot_jump: :woot_jump:

[ChrisM]

Hi Captain Ron

 

OK to summarise this thread in order to upgrade 10.1CE. Big thanks to durvish for this, he's the dood

 

Your current sources will most likely be from your CDs - check out MCC>Software Management>RPM Media Manger this will list your sources for installing/removing software. When you update, your sources list will appear here.

 

To upgrade you will need to update your sources through urpmi. Go to the Easy urpmi site here (when writing this, it seems the site is down, check later, maybe in a day or 2).

 

To understand a little more about urpmi (and it will make your life with Mandrake so much easier) check out this urpmi FAQ from this BB. Also, see this.

 

To update/upgrade:

 

Go to easy urpmi, select 10.1 Official for your sources.

 

Open a terminal as [su] and copy the text given at easy urpmi into the command line and hit your Enter key. Your sources will now be set up.

 

When this has finished, type (still as [su]) 'urpmi urpmi' without apostrophes, to update urpmi. Hit enter.

 

The next step is to type 'init 3' again without apostrophes.

 

Then as root [su] type, without apostrophes 'urpmi --auto-select' which will update your CE to the latest updates/upgrades. This will download tons of updates and software.

 

Be aware, you may get a warning that some packages contain bad signatures, it will ask if you want to continue downloading. As this is from a trusted source, you can say yes.

 

Once this has completed, you're done :D .

[CAPTAIN RON]

Wen all has finish, How do I get out and back into the desktop? Thanks, Ron

[ChrisM]

Exit out of your terminal should be all you need to do.

[durvish]

If you updated your kernel you need to reboot.

[CAPTAIN RON]

I spoked too soon. Just when I thought I had it all done. Adelphia cable went out. I was right at the end too. Oh well

 

I have started all over again. I need to anyway as I only had 5 GB set aside. It now has 10 Gb. That should be plenty for now.

 

I have another question. At Easy Urpmi [ I thought it was a mystical web site for so long, because I could not get it to open ] I clicked on :Penguin Liberation Front, and jpackage. Was I supposed to add them too???

 

Also what does this mean and what am I suppose to put in the box or do I leave it blank??: Prefix to be added to each media name (optional): ??

 

And am I supposed to checke this box?? :

Use compressed index, much smaller than normal, with less informations.

 

OK After I did all of this. It said Installation Failed.some files are missing, then the mirror sites I used followed by you may want to up date your urpmi database.

 

I thought I had done this??? ALSO tHE FIRST TIME IT DID IT, I WENT BACK TO easy urpmi AND CHANGED MIRROR SITES, BUT GOT THE SAME MESSAGE.

 

 

Have I done something wrong??? Thanks, Ron

Edited November 23, 2004 by CAPTAIN RON

[adamw]

It shouldn't need to download everything again - urpmi used to, but it's much more sane now. It generally downloads small clumps of packages and installs them (up to around 10.0 it would download *everything* then install them all in one big lump, which was fun when updating from one version to another via urpmi, or when Cooker had just had a perl update, or something) and if for some reason it downloads a package and can't install it it keeps it in /var/cache/urpmi/rpms and reads it from there next time instead of attempting to download it again. Partial downloads are also saved.

 

there's nothing wrong with adding jpackage and plf, you'll probably find them useful. jpackage contains open-source Java software (which isn't put into main or contrib as most of it needs the non-free JRE to work). plf contains open source software with some kind of legal problem; patent infringement, or DMCA / EUCD infringement, or whatever. Officially, it's an unofficial source. Unofficially, it's an official source. Got it? :)

[durvish]

make sure to ---urpmi urpmi--- first before you urpmi --auto-select

[adamw]

durvish: since 10.0 this isn't needed either, urpmi does it automatically. If there are updated versions of perl-URPM or urpmi packages, those (plus anything that depnds on them, like rpmdrake) are installed first, then the --auto-select operation is restarted.