Simple Mandrake Linux Questions 1

[CaKiwi]

I have just loaded Mandrake Linux 8.1 onto my PC. It went remarkably smoothly, but I have the following questions.
(1) It could not read the second installation cd and the commercial applications cd. I had trouble doing a direct cd copy of these when I made them so I copied the files onto my hardrive then copied them to the cd. Is this the cause of the problem?
(2)How do I make Windows 98 rather than Linux my default OS when booting?
(3)I made a wrong choice during installation and the time is display as GMT. How do I display local time?
(4)When I access the cd drives, do I have to mount them manually every time or can this be automated?
(5)I get a buzz on my speakers when I play a cd that I don't get under windows. What is causing this?
(6) How can I create cd's on my HP 9500 cd writer?

Any help gratefully received. CaKiwi

 

[garethmitchell]

Answers:
1. CD's need to be ISO format not FAT (as they will be on the Hard Disk) I think you probably need to burn the CD as a bootable disk (with a bootstrap). I've no idea how you do this though because I have always done a disk copy with the burning software to copy disks (but I've only done it on Windows).

2. To boot into Windows change the default in /etc/lilo.conf. The easiest way yo do this I have found is to make the Windows stanza the first one in the list in the lilo.conf file. Once you've saved the file run lilo from a console window. If it's worked you should see:
Adding Windows *
Adding Linux

The * tells you which is the default OS after the timeout.

3. Mandrake has a control Centre which allows you to change system settings in the same way as Windows

4. CD's can be mounted automatically using supermount but it really isn't that much hassle to control the mount and umount from the CDROM icons in KDE.

5. No idea why you've got sound problems, check your sound server is the right one (control centre again).

6. CD buring can be done using X-CD-Roast or using the command line. Go to

http://www.linux.org

and seek out the CDWriting HOWTO documents for detailed info.

 

[CaKiwi]

Thank you Gareth, I'll try your suggestions tonight. CaKiwi

 

[CaKiwi]

Update -

(1) I made direct copies of the CD's and installation could now read them but hung in the middle of the second CD. I installed from the orignals without error. I can read the CD's fine once I have booted up. Very strange. Anyone have any suggestions?

(2)There was another line in the lilo.conf file I had to change to set the default OS. I also stumbled across the way to do it from the control centre.

(3) I'm not sure if I have finally cracked the time problem. I'll see when I boot up tonight.

(4)I'm cool with mounting CD's manually now.

(5) The buzz in my speakers starts as soon as Gnome comes up. It varies as I move the mouse and gives a little hiccup when a program starts up. Any suggestions gratefully accepted.

(6) Got Xcdroast, haven't tried it.
CaKiwi

 

[WoodLark]

I don't know if this will help, but I have noticed that, regardless of OS, large white areas on the screen will cause buzzing if the speakers are close to the monitor. Is your Gnome background white (or very light)?

 

[CaKiwi]

Further update:-

(3) Time problem fixed after several rounds of "cockpit" error.

(5) The buzz in my speakers went away as soon as I brought up Gnome help screen and hasn't returned even after several reboots. Very mysterious.

Woodlark - Thanks for the response. My Gnome background is a medium to light blue so it doesn't seem as though that is the problem. CaKiwi