RedHat Linux 9 Pro

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RedHat Linux 9 Pro

2003-10-04 03:14:01

Currently installed redhat linux 9
this is the first time i use linux, so i will be asking stupid question!

Whenever i install windows, i will defrag immediately after installation
How about Linux? do ext3 need DISK DEFRAGMENT or there is no such option?

XMMS cannot play mp3s?

I will miss Nero, are there any CD writer prog that is better X-CD-Roast?
X-CD-Roast is too lousy compared to Nero

EDIT: where to check the "HDD space left & space used" in linux

thanks

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #1 – 2003-10-04 09:22:21

Linux file systems don't get fragmented, AFAIK. Even if they do, it shouldn't matter much anyway. You won't need a defrag tool.

I think you can find the mp3 plugin for XMMS on the XMMS rpm maintainer's home page.

I don't really know about burning CDs. Maybe searching on freshmeat will help you. Oh, if you don't use a SCSI recorder, you'll need to set up your burner with ide-scsi emulation.

The simplest way to get disk usage and disk free space is to run du and df. du has lots of options, which you can read by running du -h. df will show you the free space on all your mounted filesystems, so if you want to check all your partitions for space, mount them before running du.

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #2 – 2003-10-04 10:24:35

freshrpms.net is the no. 1 source for 3rd party RedHat RPMs, you'll get the XMMS MP3 PlugIn and other multimedia related stuff there.

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #3 – 2003-10-04 11:03:42

Disk usage = "du"

RH9 comes without mp3 support due to "legal issues" download/compile the plugin

all the rarewares debian packages should be usable to RPM distros through usage of the program "alien" usage: alien some_file.deb (and will produce an RPM to install with varying degrees of success)

k3b is an excellent GUI burning app comparable to nero.

later

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #4 – 2003-10-04 11:07:27

Quote

The simplest way to get disk usage and disk free space is to run du and df. du has lots of options, which you can read by running du -h. df will show you the free space on all your mounted filesystems, so if you want to check all your partitions for space, mount them before running du.

still don't understand whats du df
Besides i m not allowed to copy any files o this directory, /
"you do not have permission to write to this folder"

RedHat didn't support my nVidia card properly, when running 3d apps, its like only running at 0.5 fps
too slow

then, i download linux driver from nvidia site, and the extension is .run
how am i going to run this *.run file so that i can install the driver into my system

Kaspersky antivirus for linux file server
i found it at Kaspersky.com
Viruses attack linux too ?

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #5 – 2003-10-04 12:46:02

>still don't understand whats du df

You can run du and df through a CLI (command line interpreter; for example BASH). But there should be graphical tools (gnome-system-monitor and others).

>Besides i m not allowed to copy any files o this directory, /

You need to login as user "root" through a CLI and then do the operations, either through CLI commandos or start GUI-Tools.

>then, i download linux driver from nvidia site, and the extension is .run
>how am i going to run this *.run file so that i can install the driver into my system

And again the answer is to start it through a CLI . AFAIK in GNU/Linux you can never start apps with a mouseclick on a executable, at least not unless there is a way to configure your filebrowser to do it.

>Kaspersky antivirus for linux file server
>i found it at Kaspersky.com
>Viruses attack linux too ?

As long as you work as unprivileged user there shouldn't be problems with Viruses, worms etc. For security purposes you can disable all services that you don't need. And, as in any OS, install security updates.

Regards, David

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #6 – 2003-10-04 12:50:38

Quote

>then, i download linux driver from nvidia site, and the extension is .run
>how am i going to run this *.run file so that i can install the driver into my system

And again the answer is to start it through a CLI . AFAIK in GNU/Linux you can never start apps with a mouseclick on a executable, at least not unless there is a way to configure your filebrowser to do it.

I forgot, you start it by typing

Code: [Select]

./filename

in the directory where the file is located.

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #7 – 2003-10-04 15:49:23

Quote

[root@localhost root]# ./NVIDIA.run
bash: ./NVIDIA.run: Permission denied
[root@localhost root]#

run it in terminal of /root
still face permission problems

EDIT: oh i don't know to run rpm also
why double click wont install anything, it just check for headers

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #8 – 2003-10-04 16:22:35

As root, do "chmod a+x ./NVIDIA.run" on it to make it a proper executable, then run it.

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #9 – 2003-10-05 09:21:08

any Linux movie player?
I want good player that is not CPU hungry like QT on Windows?

where is the program files folder in linux?

now i figure out how to install rpms
double clicking it will not install anything
have to go to terminal nad type rpm -i *.rpm

wow its a pain to switch from Windows to Linux, CLI is a must in linux

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #10 – 2003-10-05 10:33:20

> any Linux movie player?
>I want good player that is not CPU hungry like QT on Windows?

MPlayer, VLC, Xine, Ogle. MPlayer can be used in Mozilla through a plugin, this way you can watch embedded videos etc.

>where is the program files folder in linux?

There isn't really one folder where all the programs are located. But you can have a look in /bin, /usr/bin, /opt, /usr/local. Programs located in this directories can be run by simply typing the name of the executable's filename (find, rpm, cp, cdrecord, etc.). Theoretically you can put your apps in any folder you like, but it's in generall a good idea to 1) use the "standard" paths 2) use the packaging system.

So if you install a program by hand you can install it to /usr/local/appname/ or /opt/appname. Or simply use a folder in your home directory -> /home/kortrim/appname/ or /home/kortrim/program files/appname/

>wow its a pain to switch from Windows to Linux, CLI is a must in linux

It depends on what tools you use. There are graphical tools for most tasks. You may want to have a look at freshmeat.org (or .net) and freshrpms.net. For example you could use synaptic as a graphical tool to install packages on Debian instead of apt-get and dpkg. For easier handling of packages on Red Hat you can inform yourself about apt4rpm (But it's CLI too; maybe you can use synaptic on Red Hat?).

Regards, David

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #11 – 2003-10-08 10:11:23

"chmod a+x ./NVIDIA.run"
nothing hapen

any rpm package that accelerate nvidia video card

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #12 – 2003-10-08 11:56:51

Some things about rpm:

I recommend you use rpm -ivh. That way, rpm will print extra information while installing.

In most cases, it's better to use rpm -Uvh. With the -U switch, Red Hat will first check if a previous version is already installed, and upgrade the package. If a previous version isn't found, it will simply install the rpm. You can check if a package is installed by using rpm -q <package name>. Note that you have to omit version information from the package name, so don't enter "rpm -q mplayer-common-1.0pre2-1.i386.rpm", but enter "rpm -q mplayer-common".

"man rpm" is your friend.

About the nVidia driver: try entering "sh NVIDIA.run". Make sure you're logged in as user root when doing this.

Important: please read the included README carefully. You probably won't be able to succesfully install and use the driver if you don't. You can also read it online, here. At the very least, read sections 2 ("INSTALLING THE NVIDIA DRIVER") and 3 ("EDITING YOUR XF86CONFIG FILE").

<rant>Hey nVidia, why the hell does the driver still not modify the XF86Config file automatically ? It would make the installation process a lot easier for newbies.</rant>

Also, if you have a TFT monitor, connected to the DVI port of your graphics card, you will need to do some extra modifications to your XF86Config file. I'm not going to bore you with the details if it's not necessary: if you do have this configuration, please confirm it and I will post the extra instructions.

And yes, if you're starting with Linux without any previous *nix experience, it will require some patience and dedication in the beginning (lots of things to learn).

Good luck.

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #13 – 2003-10-08 16:37:00

Here are my tips... Some of these answers might be redundant with others':

I don't know why the rpms weren't working when you double click on them - I can't believe Redhat doesn't set that up to work by default. I think there is some sort of GUI for RPM, but I don't use Redhat, so I'm not familiar with it.

As far as 'du' and 'df' - 'du' counts up file usage for a specific directory (the current one by default). You probably want 'df', or better 'df -h' for "human readable". I love using the command line in Linux because it's very fast to do exactly what you want, but if you're not familiar with *nix commands, or you aren't careful, it can be an utter nightmare. There are gui tools for most tasks though, it's usually a matter of finding out what they are.

Redhat elected to not include mp3 support in protest of licensing issues. Of course, that just makes it a pain to use Redhat. Also, for some reason, Nvidia doesn't distribute RPMs for their video drivers (which Redhat decided not to include or could not include for some reason). For audio, xmms is a nice Winamp equivalent (I think it's actually better than Winamp). I use both vlc and mplayer for video. Mplayer plays _EVERYTHING_. It has much wider format/codec support than any player for any OS, even if the interface is crappy. VLC is nicer in some ways (I prefer it for playing streaming stuff).

Defragging shouldn't be necessary. That's really true of all modern filesystems (even NTFS) on today's large hard drives. People continue to do it in Windows though because they either still have FAT or don't know better. It's a shame that Redhat doesn't let you use reiserfs in the GUI installer - reiser is FRIGGIN AWESOME. EXT3 is very slow.

As far as virus scanners go, there's been like two actual viruses for Linux, neither of which ever was widespread (I think there were a couple apache worms too, but they never had a very large impact even though apache is the most common web server on the net.) Most virus scanners for linux are actually for servers (they scan e-Mail, samba shares, etc. for Windows viruses). Linux/Unix has been multi-user from day one, unlike Windows, so unless you log in as root, it's pretty hard to mess things up too badly.

Be sure to run up2date regularly. Unlike windowsupdate, it should very very rarely require a reboot. If you update something GUI related, you might have to restart X (usually logging out lets you do this), but you won't have to restart the computer unless you install a kernel update (rarely required).

For people new to Linux, I usually recommend KDE over Gnome for your desktop, but Redhat favors Gnome for some reason. It's a bit more work to get into an easy-to-use state.

There are definately some things in Linux that are harder than they need to be. Many things though, are just harder because they're different. It's hard to get used to Kmail or Evolution, but they are better mail clients than exist for Windows. And if you don't like them, you can try lots of others (syphleed-claws, mutt, pine, elm...) Likewise, you've got a choice of several excellent web browsers (Opera, Konquerer, Mozilla, Firebird, Galeon), all of which are superior to IE. OpenOffice is nearly as good as MS Office and opens MS Office files correctly most of the time. Unfortunately, some programs don't match their Windows equivalents (Gimp isn't close to Photoshop, there's no good vector drawing program). I can't recommend a CD burning program because I use cdrecord from the command line (most gui CD burners in linux are really wrappers for making cdrecord less of a pain in the butt).

To sum up: my advice is to stick with it. It can be hard, but once you've gotten used to the differences, you'll find it hard to go back. Then you can learn a scripting language (bash, perl or python are all good) and wonder how you ever got anything done computer without one.

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #14 – 2003-10-10 11:47:23

how to add/remove program?
the Add/Remove in the start menu cannot uninstall anyhting that is not installed form RedHat CD

And do you know any CD ripper for Lnux?

And finally, a Canon printer driver

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #15 – 2003-10-10 13:44:21

Quote

how to add/remove program?
the Add/Remove in the start menu cannot uninstall anyhting that is not installed form RedHat CD

As I mentioned before, "man rpm" is your friend. You can remove a package by using:
rpm -e <package-name>

Quote

And do you know any CD ripper for Lnux?

GRIP should be included in the default install. Look for it somewhere in the "Sound and Video" program group (or something like that, I don't have access to my RedHat system ATM).

Quote

And finally, a Canon printer driver

Can you give Gimp-Print a try ?

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #16 – 2003-10-11 09:01:54

Quote

As I mentioned before, "man rpm" is your friend. You can remove a package by using:
rpm -e <package-name>

Actually i wanted to remove Mplayer
Mplayer is the worst player I've ever seen
The audio is a few second slower than the video
I think i will use Xine

i used this string
rpm -e mplayer-XXX.rpm

it didn't hellp to remove mplayer!

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #17 – 2003-10-11 16:00:35

what? mplayer is EXCELLENT

but it needs to be optimized for your cpu abilities (i.e. self-compiled, or luck throws at you exactly what you want), and yes, xine-based players do a better job with slower computers.

remove it? don't... but to do... don't add the XXX.rpm, just the package name

later

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #18 – 2003-10-13 09:09:17

"Before beginning the driver installation, you should exit the X server.
In addition you should set your default run level so you will boot to a
vga console and not boot directly into X (please consult the documentation
that came with your Linux distribution if you are unsure how to do this;
this is normally done by modifying your /etc/inittab file). This will
make it easier to recover if there is a problem during the installation.
After installing the driver you must edit your XF86Config file before
the newly installed driver will be used. See the section below entitled
EDITING YOUR XF86CONFIG FILE."

That's the problem
How to exit X server?
and boot the "VGA console"

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #19 – 2003-10-14 19:24:02

Quote

"Before beginning the driver installation, you should exit the X server.
In addition you should set your default run level so you will boot to a
vga console and not boot directly into X (please consult the documentation
that came with your Linux distribution if you are unsure how to do this;
this is normally done by modifying your /etc/inittab file). This will
make it easier to recover if there is a problem during the installation.
After installing the driver you must edit your XF86Config file before
the newly installed driver will be used. See the section below entitled
EDITING YOUR XF86CONFIG FILE."

That's the problem
How to exit X server?
and boot the "VGA console"

Edit file named inittab in "/etc/inittab". Then change the the runlevel to 3 in line

# The default runlevel is defined here
id:5:initdefault:

Reboot your computer and log in to root, then install your driver. After finished, change the runlevel back to 5, reboot again. You're finish.

edit: don't forget to change XF86Config after finish installing the driver and before rebooting.

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #20 – 2003-10-26 15:13:25

Still dont really understand how to do it, very risky
Linux is not newbie friendly, very hard to learn
Windows's UI is much much easier to understand.

U can't live with Linux without some command line knowledge, but u can wiith Windows!

Linux is very stable though, so far so good, no blue screen!

Is it true that even Linux is widely used, Linux will not suffer from worms like on Windows if u dont log in to root accout?

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #21 – 2003-10-26 21:43:10

Redhat != Linux

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #22 – 2003-10-26 22:50:45

To close X (forcefully) press ctrl-shift-backspace (be sure to close all other programs before).

Also try
rc-update del gdm
or
rc-update del kdm
or
rc-update del xdm

Then X shouldn't automatically go up on startup on whatever runlevel you are.
If you want it to go up automatically, try:
rc-update add ?dm default

To configure graphics you can try:
xf86cfg
It is easy to use, but be sure to fetch monitor frequencies.
To use your standard wheel mouse, you should choose
/dev/psaux
and
IntelliMouse PS/2

To add wheel support modify /etc/XF86Config.
1. Find a line with /dev/psaux
2. Add this below:
Option "Buttons" "5"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

RedHat Linux 9 Pro

Reply #23 – 2003-10-27 03:28:54

Quote

Redhat != Linux

I know there are others like Mandrake and Suse
they have the same kernel?
I've seen the screenshot, they were almost identical

whats the difference, i thought they are also Linux?

DEPENDENCIES?

??
any download manger, i am on 56 k modem

try prozilla, depency?
caitoo, need XXX.so, XXX.so

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