Linux help

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Cyberblade
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Linux help

Post by Cyberblade » Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:53 pm

I know some people here are running Linux, and well I'm now a Linux newbie. I'm running SUSE Linux and need to know how to do some things, and so far all the documentation has been no help. I'll just kinda seperate these things.

For some reason my sound is being total crap. It makes noise, but really low, and not what it should be. I've tried fixing it with what the help and FAQ's say, but to no avail.

I need an instant messenger, or the ability to fix this Kopete program. It won't let me log into MSN, despite my password being correct, and I can't get it to allow me to press enter to send messages. I tried running GAIM already, but it won't install. Help with installing that or something that will work?

I need an image editing program. Very similar to MS Paint would be prefered. I make pixel art, so anything more complex is pretty much worthless.

I've looked around a bit for help, but a lot of it really isn't helping me. Being a Linux newbie; I don't understand much about it yet. So can anybody help me out here?

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Post by HK-47 » Wed Jan 25, 2006 8:04 pm

Gimps a good choice for image editing.
Pixen would be good, but im not sure if there is a linux version.

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Post by Lucretius » Wed Jan 25, 2006 8:08 pm

Couple of things to tell us...

1. What version of SuSE?
2. What's your proccessor speed, type, name..etc...

For image editing, go for GIMP. I hope the installer is already there. For installing, open an .rpm file with Konqueror and click on "install with Yast". Then type in your root password, then hit accept on the bottom right hand side of the big window that comes up and get ready for fun as it installs! Then again, I use SuSE 9.1, not sure what you use, it might be different...
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Cyberblade
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Post by Cyberblade » Wed Jan 25, 2006 8:25 pm

I'm running SUSE 9.1

My processor speed is 1300 mhtz on a pentium 4 processor. I have 128 megs of ram, and a 60 gig harddrive thats been partitioned for Windows and Linux.


Is that enough information?

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Post by Lucretius » Wed Jan 25, 2006 8:26 pm

Yep, try out my method for installing and tell us out it goes.
-Luke

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Post by Skyone » Wed Jan 25, 2006 8:26 pm

GIMP can handle complex art down to pixel art, so GIMP is my preferation.

GAIM should come already installed if you have SUSE 10.0, but maybe you don't have it. You could always download AIM for Linux...? Of course, then you have to install it (WHAT A PAIN!).

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Post by bicostp » Wed Jan 25, 2006 8:36 pm

Well if premade install downloads won't work, it's time to roll up your sleeves and install...


*dum dum dummm*

from source code!

Basically, here's what you do:

1. Download and extract the source tarball
2. Open a root terminal
3. navigate to the folder with the source info and enter "./configure" (without quote marks)
4. Once that's done, enter "make" (again without quotes)
5. Once that is finished, enter "make install" (guess :P yup, no quotes!)

then the program should be working.

You said you tried installing GAIM but it wouldn't install? If installing from source doesn't work, double-check that you have the proper libraries installed.

Bic's list of essential Linux apps:
-The Gnu Image Manipulation Program (GiMP): Image editing
- AbiWord (word processing)
- OpenOffice (office suite)
- Firefox (also applies to Windows and Mac)
- Midnight Commander (you should have it, try typing "mc" (no quotes) into a shell box. It should come up. It's great for handling files from the console.
- WiNE (for running the occasional Win32 app)
- DOSbox (for running DOS games)

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Post by SpongeBuell » Wed Jan 25, 2006 9:05 pm

Sound: make sure the PCM channel is enabled and turned all the way up. Your master volume will have to be turned up fairly high as well, maybe 3/4. It seems like it stays really quiet for the first half of the volume meter, but then gets really sensitive after that.

As for installing stuff, there are 2 methods I prefer:
1. Installing from a premade RPM: go to rpm.pbone.net, search for what you want, and make sure it's for SuSE (use an advanced search) After that, follow Luc's instuctions

2. Installing via FTP through YaST: Easiest method yet! Follow this tutorial here, substituting 9.2 for 9.1 where applicable. Once you're done with that, open YaST, and open the install/remove programs part of it. Then, search for what you want, and your possiblilities are much more up to date (and has a better variety) Trust me, it's worth the 10 minutes spent setting it up :)
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Post by madc0w » Thu Jan 26, 2006 2:11 pm

i got some questions too, i just installed slackware 10.2 on my laptop (dell dimension something or whatever, ill figure out when i get home)
1. My sound doesnt work cause it cant find the driver or something, anyone know how to fix it?
2. im going to need to get a wireless card, does anyone know which ones are compatible?
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Post by Sparkfist » Thu Jan 26, 2006 2:31 pm

If you have any questions about hardware check the hcl on linuxquestions.org. Bar non they have the largest hlc list I've seen for linux.
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Post by Cyberblade » Thu Jan 26, 2006 8:03 pm

I'm trying to install Firefox so I can get GAIM installed, but it's asking me to do something and I can't figure out what the heck it means.
Extract the tarball in the directory where you want to install Firefox:

tar -xzvf firefox-1.5.tar.gz

This will create a firefox subdirectory of that directory.
What the heck do I do here?

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Post by bicostp » Thu Jan 26, 2006 8:05 pm

That's a lot like unzipping a .zip file.

If you wanted to you could probably do that from KDE.

the letters basically tell it to show you what it unzips as it unzips.

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Post by x24 » Thu Jan 26, 2006 8:11 pm

Im actually trying out DSL (Damn Small Linux for those who dont know) right now (the embedded/emulated version, damn slow) and I'm loving it.. I really want to switch to a decent distro as soon as possible but have concerns about afew things I was hoping u guys could help me with..

I'd just like to know if theres anything that could be used to:
DL Torrents (I only found one program while looking)
Burn DVDs (Havent heard anything about this at all)
Video Editing (I do this often and havent looked into this yet for some reason)
and I have a few things like a windows optical mouse.. xp kinda recognizes those things automatically.. would linux do something similar?

any help would be appreciated..

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Post by bicostp » Thu Jan 26, 2006 8:26 pm

x24 wrote:Im actually trying out DSL (Damn Small Linux for those who dont know) right now (the embedded/emulated version, damn slow) and I'm loving it.. I really want to switch to a decent distro as soon as possible but have concerns about afew things I was hoping u guys could help me with..

I'd just like to know if theres anything that could be used to:
DL Torrents (I only found one program while looking)
Burn DVDs (Havent heard anything about this at all)
Video Editing (I do this often and havent looked into this yet for some reason)
and I have a few things like a windows optical mouse.. xp kinda recognizes those things automatically.. would linux do something similar?

any help would be appreciated..
Download the DSL live CD, burn it onto a cheap CD-R and boot from it. At the boot: prompt, enter

Code: Select all

dsl toram
This will load the entire contents of the CD to memory. You'll be amazed at how fast your PC will be!

You can also run Slax from RAM if you have at least 256 MB. Just enter

Code: Select all

slax copy2ram
at the boot prompt.

If you have a fairly recent PC with at the very least 1 gig of RAM, you can run Knoppix from RAM. (Knoppix comes with a poopload of programs and features) With sucha PC you may even be able to run SUSE from RAM.

As far as programs go, try Knoppix first; as I said there's tons of stuff that comes with it so you may find what you're looking for.

If that doesn't work, check http://www.linux.org 's applications section. There's a whole ton of programs in there. Or just use good ol' google. :wink:

And yes, your mouse and other hardware should work properly. If it doesn't, search around and see if there's a modprobe command that can get it to work.

I'm running DSL on a Toshiba Tecra 550CDT:
64 MB RAM
600 MB HD
total of 500 MB of extra storage from PC card storage devices
It runs pretty well, does what I need it to do. Plus I can show people at school that old hardware still has some life in it. :lol:

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Cyberblade
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Post by Cyberblade » Thu Jan 26, 2006 8:31 pm

Ah alright. Well, I found another way around it so I guess that worked out. XD Anyways, now that I have the necessary software you listed to install GAIM, it says I need some GTKspell thing. I found this and tried to install it and it says I need a PSPspell thing. >_> What else do I need?

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