Hi Everyone: Please let me apologize to everyone if my tone appeared to be VERY demanding in my last email. I have learned over the years that, since one can't see body language in an email, it is very easy to misconstrue the tone of an email. In any case, I fully appreciate that all CLUG members have busy lives and I am not expecting anyone to respond if they don't have the time to spare. I don't take support forgranted. I tried to be succinct so as to convey as much information in as little space as possible and that may seem abrupt, which is not what I intended. I think I need to use Internet smilies more. :>)
I am committed to eventually knowing the command line commands and options. I have 3 books which I plan to read thoroughly and I expect that I will eventually be more comfortable with them. I was discussing ALSA troubleshooting with Aaron after the last CLUG meeting and Aaron very kindly explained to me what the recommended troubleshooting commands are actually telling me. I find the acronyms (like GREP) not very easy to remember and when one command is piped into another it seems very confusing. I had to make exact notes of what Aaron was saying so I wouldn't forget how to do what was needed. I think my point was that I would get totally lost somewhere along the way if I didn't have the exact commands and options - that is a statement of my inadequacy, not intended to be viewed as demanding. I find myself in agreement with Aaron that I should learn to do things not in the way Microsoft wants us to do things, whenever possible. I have re-examined some of the programs supplied with KDE 3.2 rather than trying to find Linux equivalents of Windows programs, for that reason. I often assist people who approach me on the Windows side of computing and I find that I have to be quite specific at times because I can see where some people don't appreciate the underlying issues involved, so I try to explain what it is that they don't understand. I like what Aaron had to say about the "steep learning curve" that Linux appears to me to be. He said that it is not a steep learning curve, rather that it is a very flat but long learning curve. I like that way of putting it. I hope I quoted you correctly on that, Aaron? :>) Thanks for your comments, Jarrod. As far as the CS######-A Shaw thing goes, you are correct. They did need that in the past. However, when I was running Mandrake 9.2 recently, that was not the issue, so I don't think that it is the case here in Mandrake 10 either. But I will give it a try to be sure. In the case of the Alphashield device, it too was not a problem with Mandrake 9.2. As far as documentation is concerned, I specifically looked through each item on a complete line-by-line basis during the install and update processes. I was very careful during the whole process and I have installed Mandrake 10 at least 6 times just to be sure I didn't miss anything. I too am learning from my mistakes. :>) Again, many thanks for whatever advice any of you may wish to share with me. John Marshall -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Jarrod Major Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2004 9:53 PM To: CLUG General Subject: [clug-talk] Re: Mandrake 10 Woes -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Thursday 10 June 2004 8:52 pm, John Marshall wrote: > Hello Everyone: Hey John > I am hoping you can help me with a number of Mandrake 10 Official Linux > problems. Note: I had none of these problems with Mandrake 9.2. Wherever > possible, please use the KDE menu method of changing whatever needs > changing (I am still uncomfortable using command line commands). If > something really does need to be done at the command line, then please be > specific about commands and options: I cannot speak to Mandrake specific problems but I will try to answer your questions. I would like to say first off that the tone of your email is VERY demanding. The people that are subscribed to this list, myself included could take offence at this. Any aid that anyone on this list receives is by the good graces of those offering it, please don't ever take that for granted. We are all busy people and any time we give to CLUG is on a voluntary basis. The French word for volunteer is benevol�, which bears more than a visual resemblance to benevolent or someone who is characterized by or suggestive of doing good. Linux is tough for new folks. That is what this LUG is about, at least part of it. Helping people deal with Linux. I do not profess to know it all but I am trying to learn and ask the right questions when I need help. Something that has been bandied about this list a great deal is Eric S. Raymond's "How To Ask Questions The Smart Way" http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html > Internet Connection > ============== > > I cannot connect to the Internet! > > -----> Internet Access: > ------------------------------- > ----------> Connection type: lan > ----------> Status: not connected > ----------> Parameters: > ---------------> Host Name (optional): (blank) > ---------------> First DNS Server (optional): 64.59.135.133 > ---------------> Second DNS Server (optional): 64.59.135.135 > ---------------> Third DNS Server (optional): (blank) Way back when I was on Shaw, they used to have a 'Network Address' mine looked like CS######-A, this would be your computer's hostname. Shaw used to be really fussy about having this set even if they use DHCP. I'm not sure if this is still an issue but it's something for you to try. You mention a firewall later, I'm wondering if the firewall is where your problem lies. Your network settings should reflect what your firewall is set up as. I use IPCop and my Internal network settings bear little resemblance to those that my ISP has given me. The only common denominator is the DNS addresses. > Documentation > =========== > Even with all security updates, bug fixes and all optional updates, when I > click on the Welcome screen "Documentation" link, it says it can't find it > at the specified location. It's possible that you didn't install the documentation. The Welcome screen is there by default but the documentation may not be. > Root User GUI > =========== > Mandrake indicates that using a GUI at "root" level is hazardous. Aaron, > in KDE 3.3, can we make a GUI at "root" level safe? Or if not, what things > can I do safely by KDE and what things can't I do safely? Here is a common question. Linux was designed to be secure. Running as root is dangerous because that user has ALL the privileges to change ANYTHING. You have to get out of the Windows mindframe and into a more UNIX-like mindframe. That is to say that you only use root to make changes to your system as you need to do them. For all other things the user you login as most often (any non-root user) should be just fine. This is where learning command line stuff is important. You can flip to root to do something, and logout of the sessions bag to your normal user. It's not as painful as it sounds, you just have to try. > Alphashield > ========= > I use the Vancouver-based "AlphaShield" to protect my computer. It is a > sort of hardware-based firewall. After 15 minutes of no access to the > Internet, it blocks the Internet and I have to press a button on it to > activate the Internet when using Windows XP. I notice that under Linux, it > never times out. Why? Not familiar with this one but see my comments above with regards to your networking. > Thanks for your assistance while I make the transition from Windows to > Linux. You're welcome. I know that this probably didn't help you much but it's a start. I fought with Mandrake for months before I got comfortable with it and how things work in Linux in general. This also included several re-installs to fix some things that I had broken because of my ignorance. Don't be expecting to do anything really productive for a while. Take the time to play and learn. You are on the right track. - -- Jarrod Major GPG Fingerprint: FA4A 1EA3 A0EE A842 07BB 804C 0090 14F6 BE6E DE3D Registered Linux User: #224211 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.2-rc1-SuSE (GNU/Linux) iQCVAwUBQMksrwCQFPa+bt49AQIzCwP/fsqn/DoTjpR9iX7eX9f3bjRq+Fz48nro EqW8RY3anTfUPoyOaVmMU6lEuCbR6E6Vx/vC06219VW2j8TL9vxNQ/ymkEX6ZUwj zfkxbceuzwkM6GZm0gHWOq22motFUdJ5wo5fZPZk1kqNwj8PDlpfpqLg62WxyWnc ypozUAyqiX8= =JbDc -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca
