On Mon, 13 Mar 2000, you wrote:
> You know you hear so much of the fact that if you have problems with Linux
> that there is a large group of people who are willing to help. Just be
> willing to do a little homework first and try to find the answer somewhere
> in all the how to's and other documentation. If you can't find anything that
> related to your problem just post your question in a newsgroup etc... and
> someone who possibly overcame the problem will help with a reply. Well for
> this newbie that has not been the case. I am not stupid, just inexperienced
> with Linux. I have posted questions in several newsgroups, and in this
> newbie list and all I have gotten is a resounding wall of silence. Maybe my
> questions aren't interesting enough or maybe not technical enough for you to
> show the world that you are the smartest Linux guru on the planet. My
> girlfriend suggests that I post questions in her name and maybe that would
> stroke enough male ego's out there to get a response. So one last time
> before I just reformat the drive and just go back to windows, maybe one
> person who has been there will take a few minutes and write a reply .
>
> 1) I have a 3Com 3c509b nic. I cannot get this card to install. I have been
> told that this card needs to have the PnP feature disabled to work properly.
> The machine that I am using for my Linux installation is the family computer
> and windows has to be on it for the rest of the family. What will disabling
> the PnP feature do to the windows side??
>
> 2) I also cannot get Draxconf to work. From a post to this list I found that
> you must install the RPM and then it would work. After installing (I think I
> did, there was nothing that told me that it was installed) and when I click
> on the icon nothing happens. Maybe that's another reason I can't get my nic
> to work. I can't configure anything.
>
> 3) Lastly, this may seem like a very stupid question but how do I turn off
> my x server and just use the bash shell? I mistakenly answered yes to the
> question to start the x server on startup when I was installing Mandrake. I
> am using KDE and the only exit I can find is the option that will shut the
> machine down.
>
> Please someone help. I know that Linux has a steep learning curve and from
> using it so far I like it a lot and would like to use it exclusively. I just
> have to get over these newbie problems. Thanks for listening
> Art
Hiya,
I'll do the best that I can..........I'm no guru.
1) If you know the settings that Windows uses for your nic, then use the
utility that came with your card to disable pnp and set it manually. This will
not disable it in Windows, but should bring it to life in Linux. This is what
I had to do and all is well. You will have to add the i/o and irq numbers to
whatever setup program you will use in Linux. I am more familiar with SuSE, so
I guess it's Lothar(?) in Mandrake.
2) As far as Drakeconf goes, if it is not installed, install it logged in
as root . Installing the .rpm SHOULD do the trick...... You can poke around
kpackage to see if it is indeed installed. Sorry, not a lot of help here.
3) As root, you will have to edit the inittab file ( /etc/inittab). One
of the first lines in the file has something that looks like this: id: 5 :
etc, etc. Change the 5 to a 3 change nothing else! Save and exit. You will
no longer be in graphic mode. You could also leave all alone and type
Ctrl-Alt-F1 orF2 or F3, etc. to get to console mode without messing with
inittab.
Hope this helps. I know the frustration you have been feeling. ;-) Tom
