Newbie needs help with Mandrake Linux 9.0

[lck092580]

Hey.. I've installed Mandrake's Linux for a day and luv it. I've been having some annoying problems tho.. just wanted t oknow if anyone could help.

1. Mouse. I'm using Microsoft's IntelliMouse Explorer (the silver one) and it stops working once I open the Control Center. So what I did was put the PS/2 converter in and the problem has since gone away. However, I find that whenever I restart Linux, it seems to forget all the settings I've had previously. It goes back to the "Generic two mouse button" and it's getting annoying cuz the cursor slows down. I find myself having to go into control center to switch it back to MS IntelliMouse. Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this?

2. Internet Connection. I have two NIC's on my PC. One's 192.168.0.2 and the other is 192.168.0.5. I use the .2 to connect to my router while the .5 is just there (too lazy to yank it out). My internet connection doesn't work when the .5 is activated so I deactivate it since I've first installed the OS. Now, everytime I restart linux it seems to forget that and I'll have to go and DEACTIVATE it whenever i restart. Any ideas on this one?

3. Java executable not found. I dunno why but the licq app that comes with mandrake doesn't d/l my icq list. So i tried running the icq applet provided on go.icq.com. At first, i get an error msg saying interpreter disabled. I fixed it by turning it back on but now I"m getting a "java executable not found." Any ideas on this one? Sorry for the long post. I'm very excited with this new O/S. I'm still d/l-ing Red Hat.. (very slow).. will try that one soon. Thanks in advance.

T

 

[tanderso]

[ol][li]Use "generic wheel mouse" for your IntelliMouse.[/li]
[li]Pull the NIC[/li]
[li]Download it from

http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.1/download.html

[/li][/ol]
That should solve your immediate problems. But it sounds like you have some sort of underlying problem where your settings are not being saved to your HDD. Are you running in a RAMdisk? Do you have permissions set appropriately? Do you run your config programs/editors as root?
Sincerely,

Tom Anderson
CEO, Order amid Chaos, Inc.

http://www.oac-design.com

 

[lck092580]

Thanks for the reply tanderso.

I don't think I'm running RAMdisk.. in fact, I am unsure of what it is. I just installed linux on my old cleaned out hard drive

Permissions.. I've tried logging into root to change the mouse settings but don't remember trying it for the NICs. I thought this wasn't necessary since it asks me for the root password whenever i try accessing the control center.

Sorry if I sound dumb Still a newbie trying to learn.

Really appreciate your help.

T

 

[tanderso]

I don't know why your settings aren't being saved. The Control Center should do it correctly. It works for me. Some distributions run in a RAMdisk by default, but Mandrake isn't one of them. Also, you should be able to run two NICs simultaneously. You need that if you use your computer as a router which is a common linux usage. Hopefully someone else can lend some assistance.
Sincerely,

Tom Anderson
CEO, Order amid Chaos, Inc.

http://www.oac-design.com

 

[lck092580]

Yeah that's what I thought (the two NicS). But the problem seems to be that linux is trying to connect with the first NIC (which works).. then it goes onto the second NIC (which doesn't work).. then fails. :-(

Thanks for the help.

T

 

[flugh]

I apologize for the rambling (mostly just alternative ways to do what's already been suggested). The caffeine is wearing off...

You can fire up "linuxconf" (works in text-mode or gui), go to the network section, deactivate the device you don't want (the .5 one), and uncheck the "Activate at boot time" option. Call me an old fart, but I like to know what's going on under the hood. So if you go to /etc/sysconfig/network (something like that), do a 'grep eth0 *', and maybe change it to 'grep -r' to get the subdirs. Eventually you'll find a couple of config files that look something like this:

DEV=eth0
BOOT=YES

Change the YES to NO. You can then test it by doing '/etc/init.d/network restart' (no reboot required).

As for ICQ, you can find FAQs on the 'net (probably on icq.com) on installing ICQ on Linux. Your problem probably requires some kind of "JAVA_PATH=/some/path/to/java/stuff" in your .bashrc so programs know where to find it. Just a thought, I've learned to love 'gaim'. It supports ICQ, AIM, and MSN protocols (maybe others, but those are the ones I use) all in one interface.

The settings not being saved? Weird. Maybe you have a small / partition, and it's mounted read-only? That usually shows up via broken syslog, but if you have a seperate (writeable) /var, you may not notice...

Sorry the details are sketchy. Did a 16 hour night at work, got to go back in a few hours --
JR

 

[lck092580]

Thanks for the tips flugh. I can't wait to head home and try it out (I'm @ work right now). Yep.. the details weren't too detailed but enough for me to understand.

Hmm.. what I meant by "settings not being saved" is regarding the hardware problems i had --> Mouse and NIC. The good news is that the settings I've done to the browser is working.

Can't wait to play on the O/S when I get home tonight.. I'm feel so bored when I boot into windows 2k now.

After all this is figured out.. i can finally take sometime to figure out how to stack the four v desktop icons like this:

http://www.kde-look.org/content/preview.php?file=3018-1.png

Thanks again.. and get some sleep tonight..

T