Installing Linux for the first time (& dual boot)

Alright guys, IT WORKS!

I downloaded and installed the video drivers and made the changes to the XF86Config-4 file that Mictlantechtli suggested. I typed startx and voila!. This nice little Nvidia screen popped up and then it booted into the OS. I still have to play around with the resolutions because it looks like crap but atleast it runs! Thanks alot guys for all the help thus far.

Btw, Im typing this from Linux. Everything seems to be working fine except for my video resolution issue. Im going to play around with it now. Any suggestions on bumping it up to 1024x768?

Alright, everything is working great. I have my resoution set to 1024x768 and my color depth is set at 16 bit. I dont know how I did this but in Xconfigurator I chose a Gateway EV700 monitor with a 70hz refresh and voila!. In the XFConfig86-4 file I made some changes, saved and rebooted until I got it right. Im getting no errors and it is running very fast and smooth.

My next question is this. At 1024x768, the text is very small at all the websites I visit. 3DS's homepage new is barely readable. Although, I am typing this and it is fine. I can read it and it is very comfortable.

I thought it was a setting in the Appearance page of the NEtscape preferences tab no matter what character I set it at, the text stays small. Not a huge deal but it would be nice to fix this.

Thanks..

Yeah, this is the same issue I had with Opera on Win Me. All my fonts look great except for the web text. I'll play around with it. Im thinking thought that it is a Netscape setting but I havent used Netscape for years so it may take me some time to find it.

Up to this far, I have only logged in with my root account. I cant see logging in any other way.

btw, I am dloading Ximian now. I live in Boston and I am downloading from a Boston site and Im averaging 10kb per/sec. It is taking all day. Thats alright though..Looks very cool.

Well, Ximian is installed and it is awesome. Great pick Phantasm...Im gonna play around with the Red Carpet.

BTW, with Mozilla my browser is perfect. There are no text issues now. It may have been a Netscape issue.

Its 2 am in the morning, at the end of a long evening's working with Linux and the terminal. I'm typing command after command, sipping that nearly cold cup of coffee by my side.... Suddenly I spy a few old files that I want to delete in /tmp. Ok:

rm -fr *

Only, OH NO! What's this..? I am not in the directory I thought I was. Ooops, I have just deleted the contents of /etc recursively. With so many terminal windows open, I have typed the command into the wrong one, where /etc was my pwd, thereby utterly ruining my finely polish, patched and fixed Linux installation. Now that's not funny.

"Ooops," is perhaps not the word I would be using. I would probably get a TOS from Uncleel for the real word I am going to use.

What made this more likely to happen? Well, for a start, I was logging in as root all the time, habitually.

As we both know, UNIX has some VERY powerful commands, and if you are root, the operating system will just let you do them. Not matter how silly or stupid they might be.

In an iconic interface, I would have to be hallucinating to go into my /etc folder and drag the whole lot into the recycle bin. But on the command prompt, mistakes are more easily made of that nature, especially when you are doing something extremely complex or are tired, etc.

Now, I make extensive backups of ALL of my data, including images of all of the operating systems I have installed. But having to wait that 30 mins whilst by Red Hat Linux image is restored byte after byte because I typed something careless is not very good when I had planned to be spending that time posting to 3DS or playing a game on the net.

Furthermore, by running programs as root, you've disabled all the protections that make Linux less vulnerable to viruses than other operating systems. You opened the door for havok.

Running programs as a normal user limits their damage if they have intentional or unintentional security holes, in addition. And as I am sure that many here know, there are LOTS of programs with security holes, in Linux and in all operating systems.

I like to think of the root account as a "magic hat" that you only put on when you are ready to do some system maintenance or administration. Its different in other operating systems like Windows NT where logging on with admin rights or logging on without them is probably going to induce exactly the same level of damage in the event of something malicious.

I like to go on IRC a lot and I've heard of some unpleasant people doing all kinds of untold damage to the machines of others who had logged in as root. In my opinion its a fundamental axiom of UNIX security that certain accounts are not allowed to do certain things; why strip myself of that protection??

You asked what can't I do when I log in as a normal user. Well, apart from changing system configuration (installing software, editing system scripts, etc) pretty much nothing else. I had a bit of a problem writing CDs in Linux with a non-root account until I did some editing here and there.

Actually, I believe the title of one of the chapters I read in a very good UNIX book was "Why you should not log in as root."

But as I've said many times on the forums, different people have different ways of doing things, especially on the computer. If you are working one way and finding it good for you, then basically that's fine.

Incidently, I am pretty sure that you are not aware of this, but I thought that the tone of your post was mildly patronising. I am very sure that this was not what you intended, however I thought it was worth pointing out. No offence taken here, of course. After all, we're all friends here. From a karma perspective, I find it on near enough the same level as someone accidentially bumping into me in the street and saying "sorry" and then walking on, so its completely nothing to worry about.

P.S. I much prefer Mozilla in Linux than the Netscape that's shiped. You get Netscape 6 for Linux but I had probs using it on anything other than 2.2 kernel.

What I like in Mozilla is that you can hit CTRL and + together and it will enlarge the fonts, and CTRL and - shrinks them again. Its useful for certain web sites.

"Tell your sister... You were right.... You were right about me..."- Anakin Skywalker

Commonly used Unix commands

http://www.nmt.edu/tcc/help/unix/unix_cmd.html

Read all of this if possible.

This was what I found I had to do. The rpms didn't work on my system for some reason, and I had to download the source and compile the drivers myself.

That's good to know.

Actually, I am happy with compiling the source code. Generally speaking, I have had a lot more luck with compiling source code myself than working with rpms, which is strange because you would think that the rpms would be easier. One of the reasons that I like Red Carpet is it makes working with the rpms easier.

Mictlantecuhtli I have a question that perhaps you know the answer to.

The drivers install fine, but atter my first reboot I get an "unresolved symbols" error in the new nvidia driver during the module loading stage until I rebooted again, and now the error is gone.... Do you have any idea why??

Okay, try this:

open /etc/lilo.conf in a text editor, as root, using your favourate text editor:

pico /etc/lilo.conf

your lilo.conf file reads like this:

prompt
timeout=20
default=linux
boot=/dev/hda6
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
message=/boot/message


image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.7-10
label=linux
initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.7-10.img
read-only
root=/dev/hda6



change it to read like this:

prompt
timeout=20
default=linux
boot=/dev/hda6
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
message=/boot/message
lba32

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.7-10
label=linux
initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.7-10.img
read-only
root=/dev/hda6

so that the lba32 bit is in. now reinstall lilo like this:

/sbin/lilo

and now remake your bootsect.lin file again with the dd command and recopy the new bootsect.lin file to c:\. There is no need to edit anything in boot.ini this time.

Good luck.

Don't worry I am ESPECIALLY dumb the first time round.

The dd bit comes from if you followed the bit of the instructions I made that refers to adding Linux to windows xp's bootloader. If you are happy using a boot disk (why?) or if you are just booting linux on its own, then you don't need to do this.

Are you dual booting with xp??