Knoppix

[Mau]

I heard the Linux client works much better than the Window's one so I figured I'd give it a try. Now, I've never touched a Linux machine, but I have played around in MSDOS and I know enough vocabulary/lingo/etc that I think I might be able to get started with Linux.

I downloaded Knoppix (http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html) because I heard it worked well from a friend, and it could boot from the CD.

I'm having trouble actually getting it to start up (Perhaps because half of it is in German). It boots from the CD fine, then I get a DOS screen that rambles on for a few minutes (Goes to fast so I can't read it).

What should I type to launch the Knoppix boot? The file thats on my bootable cd is an ISO image. I'm just missing that command that starts up.

(Sorry if this isn't Linux client support, but I don't know anyone else who's a Linux geek :D)

[Pardok]

I've never used Knoppix before, so I'm not quite sure if I can zero in on what you're asking.

Are you getting a command prompt?

However, if you get what you call a DOS screen, and lots of stuff being listed, you could very well be booting into the Knoppix environment. I'm not sure what windows managers are included with Knoppix....you may want to try typing "startx" at a command prompt.

I use Gentoo http://www.gentoo.org which is a really nice flavor of Linux. Fully customizable.

But not for the Linux newb.

Mandrake (http://www.mandrake.com) has a great Live CD that you can use to test out Linux programs. Much easier in my opinion.

Just a note, *nix commands are much different than DOS. It took me a while to grasp them when changing to Linux.

[Guido]

Knoppix if you just press enter will do its best to autodetect your hardware and should boot into KDE (Kool Desktop Environment, hence the K in Knoppix).

If you have a login prompt which you shouldn't, then you need a user try 'root' and the empty password.

You are probably describing the boot prompt, where you can specify features such as keyboard type, screen res and others (? or help might give you a list of commands). The boot prompt is either grub or lilo cannot remember which one Knoppix uses though. (might be lilo, grub tends to go with Gnome but it is not a law).

[Pardok]

Hey Guido, I have a question for you.

Do you know how to install PyKDE on a system running KDE 3.2?

I've been trying and emerge gives a make error.

[Mau]

I'll look into those Pardok. I'm trying Knoppix, well, because its free :D

I think thats the boot prompt for what I'm talking about. I wish I could take a screenshot.

Here's waht I can make out (and that would probably be useful):


Starting Calder Dr-DOS
[Whole bunch of lines go down real fast here]
Cache size: 7678 KB
Copyright Oak Software etc
Using DPMS DOS
Proected Mode Services
Then there's a box like this:


-------------------------------------------------------------
| Current Options: |
| /MLX Program load... |
| /BL=10 (I think it said that, hard to read my scribbles |
| /ND=on (same as above) |
| /delny=off |
--------------------------------------------------------------
The prompt is:
[DR-DOS] A:\>

I still can't figure out what my 3 third drive is. I only have a the harddrive and CD set up. Yet, when I ask for the files in A, it lists a few.

When I launch one that I think is "WWMBU.exe" it gives me a screen filled with German.

I think thats for partitioning, and has something to do with freeware.

Thanks!

Edit - Guido, I think that will helpful when I run into my stumper, but I can't get Knoppix to boot up (I think it cant)


Just thought of something else, when I downloaded Knoppix (it took 3 hours :mad: ), I burned the ISO image to a CD with Nero and made it a bootable CD. The exact file name on the CD is: "KNOPPIX_V3.4-2004-05-17-EN.iso", but when I look at in that prompt, it says 'knoppix_" and a ISO file. Could that be a problem?

[Guido]

You are running it in DOS?

The ISO file is normally bootable, but only on a bootstrapping system i.e. you cannot just run it straight through the window os.

You can run linux as a thread in Windows (this is a bit experimental though), but I think you need to boot from the CD.

Go into the BIOS normally on del or f2 as the machine is powering up, then flip the boot order to CD first. Be careful in there and if you change something else, then quit with no changes.

Edit: if you want to run ATITD Knoppix is not the best thing to use, you will have to set aside some swap space and space on the harddrive for program files. Knoppix is most often used as a rescue disk, a productivity tool when compiling Gentoo, or as a demo disk to show off Linux to people, a games disk it is not though.

Pardok:

Python just went to 2.3.4 that might be causing a problem, emerge sync to make sure you have the latest details, then you might have to use the version flag in the filename in emerge e.g.

emerge -pv ="pykde-3.7.4-r2" substitute the version for one that works.

Make sure /etc/make.conf has python in the use flag

If you want to make GUI apps, then wxpython using glade is good for cross platform and of course Tk is the standard.

[Pardok]

Heh, thanks Guido. I'll give it a try.

I'm not making any apps. I'm trying to use Superkaramba and slickbar. PyKDE is one of the dependencies. But, apparently, the script breaks because the ebuild is utilizing a version of PyKDE that doesn't support Kde 3.2.

I'll give it a go though.


And Mau, Mandrake is free. All flavors of Linux are basically free (except for the horrible Lindows and Red Hat...but even Red Hat forked off it's DS and created the Fedora project).

You can download Discover Mandrake off of the website.

I've found Mandrake to be the most user friendly when it comes to hardware detection and install. However, some people like SuSe and others like Debian.

You can't run Linux within Windows. I know there are some programs out there that act as a seperate partition within an OS's environment (VirtualDesktop comes to mind), but they're usually really buggy and eat up tons of resources.

If you still have the ISO of Knoppix on your drive, I would suggest reburning it through Nero. Except, don't select "Make a bootable CD" Just burn the image (I believe it's the last option on the Nero Wizard menu).

Then you have to set up your BIOS to boot from CD. You should enter the Knoppix environment then.....I think the problem you're having now is that it's trying to run on a VFAT32 or NTFS file system. Linux uses EXT2, EXT3, and ReiserFs as it's filesystem......so it makes sense that Knoppix is crashing on you.

[Mau]

Hmm... ok, I'll take another look Pardok. (I bet the Buy Now everywhere was referring to shipping a CD) Edit - It looks like you have to pay for it? http://www.mandrakesoft.com/products/10/discovery unless thats the wrong product.

I went into my BIOS (I have the most colorful and user-friendly bios I've seen :eek: ) and boot "priority" was already set to CD first then HD, which I thought was a little odd.

I'm pretty sure it's booting from the CD, whenever I issue a command, my CD spins and the LCD saying its accessing the CD drive lights up.

I'll try re-burning the CD as my last hope. I'm going to be probably switching to Linux (atleast try it out this summer), so its not that important I get this to work. I figured I'd just try Knoppix out first.


I'm a little unsure what you mean by running Linux within Windows? I plan to partition my HD to have Windows on one, and Linux on the other (I read that they both worked happily together). When I tried to start Knoppix, I completely restarted my computer with the CD in the drive.

Thanks!

[Guido]

I had a quick look for pykde problems, and yeah the ebuild is out of sync with kde 3.2, it has been for a few months now so hopefully due an update.

You could compile from source, if you were so inclined, that might work.

Not sure if just flipping the version in the ebuild might solve it, you can ask on freenode #gentoo-dev they might know.

The best bit of advice was from Pardok and not setting the cd to bootable, I suspect that would make a windows bootable cd, worth looking into the help on that option so you know what it really does.

Edit: looking over your posts I do think it is the boot option now, as it looks like it has placed a small command.sys file on the boot sector of the drive. You will probably have to reburn.

Linux can read NTFS and FAT32, there are drivers in the kernel.

[Pardok]

Wow. You're right.

Mandrake used to let you download its distro........apparently they moved away from that.

However, I am a Silver Club member with Mandrake.....but no longer use it. If you'd like to download the distro (along with the Powerpack), you could utilize my account.

I'm not sure if that's ethical or not. I paid for it, but am no longer running it. Don't see how it could be a problem.

Guido:

Yeah, I know that Linux can read (and write to) Fat32 and NTFS.........I was talking about running it on a Fat32 file system. That is, opening up a command prompt while Windows is running.

I'm sure it would bork.

I download the 3.11 alpha from bugs.gentoo.org and am compiling now. I had to flip the KDE version in the ebuild....it wanted to downgrade my KDE Libs. I don't feel like recompiling KDE and all for this....so just filled <=KDE-3.2 to >=Kde-3.2

Hopefully it doesn't get angry with me.

[Mau]

Well, it works!! :D:):D:)

I never knew so much could fit in a 700 MB CD.

Everything worked fine (except I couldn't configure the internet for some reason, will have to look into that). I really enjoyed watching what Knoppix was actually doing, instead of the little cute green bar Window's has. Everything impressed me.

Pardok, that sounds like a good idea to me, as long as it doesn't hurt you in any way. I'm going to look into partitioning my HD (which I'd need to do to have 2 OS's right?)

Thanks soo much guys! I'm hooked on Linux now :D

[Guido]

To have a dual boot, you need to partition an existing drive or install another drive.

Partition magic (which is commercial) or Parted (linux program) can help, mandrake probably has something as well.

If you opt to reinstall windows to get around the re partioning make sure you install windows first (it fights with the boot loader needed for linux), then install linux.

You will then be able to access window or linux using either grub or lilo.

[aoife]

Just to avoid confusion...Knoppix is a cd only version of linux. You boot from a cd, and it loads the kernel and other stuff and you're good to go. It doesn't install anything on your hard drive and isn't intended to work that way. If you want to have a dual boot system in the traditional sense, you'll need to get a regular distribution, and like Guido says, partition your drive--which will mean backing up your stuff and reinstalling Windows as well.

Also, there are a lot of flavours of linux that are free. They won't come with any support or manuals...but you can download them from the 'net for nothing. Mandrake hides its free download well, but it lives here: http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/ftp.php3

a

[Mau]

Thanks Guido. I don't see myself adding another drive to a laptop (external takes away the lap part).

aoife: Yeah, I wanted to try out Knoppix just as a fun project, but it turned into something much more.

I'll be looking into Linux soon :)

[aoife]

aoife: Yeah, I wanted to try out Knoppix just as a fun project, but it turned into something much more.

I'll be looking into Linux soon :)

yay! welcome to the club then. your membership card and directions for the secret handshake will be on their way soon ;)

if you do switch. remember to thank Pluribus for the linux client. he rocks!

[Pardok]

Yowza! Right on Mau! Welcome to the wonderful world of Linux. Here's your card.

Once you find out how much control and power you have over your system, you'll never go back to Windows.

As to not connecting to the internet, I'm wondering if you're using Knoppix on a laptop (I think you said this). And, if so, if you're connecting with a wireless PCMIA card. I know there are some issues concerning modules loaded into the kernel with these cards.

Your problem is probably that the correct module isn't being loaded. I don't think you can compile your own kernel on Knoppix, but you may be able to load the module into the kernel once you've started up.

Easier than it sounds. But I don't know what kind of network card you have. If it's a built-in, integrated card, the module is *typically* (I could be wrong; Guido will yell at me) is "tulip.o"

Just open up a terminal and type "modprobe tulip" and "insmod tulip"

If all goes well, you'll have your card installed. Of course, Guido will probably have better and more detailed advice. :D

[Mau]

Yowza! Right on Mau! Welcome to the wonderful world of Linux. Here's your card.

Once you find out how much control and power you have over your system, you'll never go back to Windows.

As to not connecting to the internet, I'm wondering if you're using Knoppix on a laptop (I think you said this). And, if so, if you're connecting with a wireless PCMIA card. I know there are some issues concerning modules loaded into the kernel with these cards.

Your problem is probably that the correct module isn't being loaded. I don't think you can compile your own kernel on Knoppix, but you may be able to load the module into the kernel once you've started up.

Easier than it sounds. But I don't know what kind of network card you have. If it's a built-in, integrated card, the module is *typically* (I could be wrong; Guido will yell at me) is "tulip.o"

Just open up a terminal and type "modprobe tulip" and "insmod tulip"

If all goes well, you'll have your card installed. Of course, Guido will probably have better and more detailed advice. :D
Thanks Pardok, I have a wireless built in A+B+G+ thats built into the laptop. But because that only works when I'm right next to the router, I bought a Linksys "Wireless-G Portable USB Adapter" which plugs into my USB port. I thinking thats the problem.

Thanks!!

[Guido]

The hotplug (autodetect) on Knoppix is one of the best around, I would guess your card is there and found. The problem Pardok mentions is a common one but that was a bit of time back and people have solved it pretty much.

You need to configure it for the network, I am not sure if DHCP is on by default, or if your lan is using DHCP. If not then you have to configure the network yourself.

for DHCP:

# dhcpcd eth0

For manual:

Assign an IP number
Assign broadcast
Assign a netmask

# ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.5 broadcast 192.168.0.255 netmask 255.255.255.0 up

Assign the gateway

# route add default gw 192.168.0.1

The numbers are specific to your network but they will often work with default setups.

The eth0 might be eth1 in your setup, the number refers to the card, I don't think there is any difference with USB but I could be wrong. From the Kbutton go to System->InfoCenter you should get a list of all the hardware that has been detected.

You will also need to tell it about the nameservers (sometime DHCP can do this as well though), /etc/resolv.conf is the file where you place the IP numbers.

nameserver anIpNumberGivenToYouByYourIsp

[Pardok]

Uh, what Guido said. :D

I use Mandrake on my Laptop. I use a DLink PCMIA wireless card. I had to basically create my own module for this card to be detected (yes, even with Hotplug) and be initialized by the kernel.

That's why I mentioned it.

And Guidos, I had a bit of trouble using the new Gentoo Live CD release (2004.1)....it wouldn't detect my network card even WITH hotplug. In fact, tulip.o was never built with this live cd.

It wasn't too much of a problem, and I got it resolved, but it was strange.

[leghk]

... partition your drive--which will mean backing up your stuff and reinstalling Windows as well.
I just have to point out that Partition Magic, although a little pricey for "just a drive partitioner", is invaluable for these kind of things. It will let you change your partitions without losing the data in them, as long as there is enough free space available to do what you're asking, and as long as it recognizes the partition type.

The last version I have (9.0) knew about ext2 (Linux) partitions, FAT, FAT32 and I think NTFS although I haven't needed that. When an NTFS is going away here, it's because I'm tired of the XP-dependant games ;)

Well worth the price, I keep a version on hand at all times.

[Guido]

I use to get that problem with SuSE on a dell laptop, and at that time it would crash the system on boot if pcmcia had been enabled (it had to be disabled and then re-enabled later).

The tulip solution is a good one as you will get about 80% of the cards that way.

I tend not to use the Gentoo Live CD, last laptop install was using Knoppix, whilst I compiled Gentoo, no problems.

Gentoo is focused on the ebuilds and a custom kernel (genkernel is a walking minefield).

Knoppix is focused on making a working install on nearly any hardware that is sort of their mission, that's not to say there are not any problems but I find Knoppix works with nearly anything.

[Mau]

Well, I tried to configure the internet, but I ended up getting my soundcard to work instead :D

I found a wizard that did the same thing as you described Guido (except only did eth0). DHCP didn't work. I'm unsure of where to find all the addresses for my network, but I can get about half.

After a short break with the built-in mini games (Wow, there's a lot), I went to the InfoCenter. It seemed to only find the mouse. So thats probably why it wont work.

I don't want to work to hard on getting the net up, as everything resets when I shut down.

I have a feeling I'm going to be having a lot of questions, does anyone know a Linux forum? Thanks again guys! :)

[Pardok]

Mau:

http://www.justlinux.com/

I learned a lot from this page.

Depending on which Distro you choose, you'll have a specific forum. Through my experience, Gentoo has the best forum out there.

It all depends on what you're trying to do and how you install things. Do you compile from source? RPM? DEB?

Each has its own certain quirks.

Guidos:

I couldn't understand how to install Gentoo through Knoppix. I just went with the Stage 1 install and genkernel.

It seems to work out ok for me. I'm not sure I want to go mucking about with it right now. The old axiom rings true: "If it's not broke, don't fix it."

[Mau]

I do mainly web-design and web-programming (PHP/ASP/JavaScript/DB's). I know some C/C++ (once I take a look at some source, everything will come back to me) and could probably easily learn another language very easily.

I'm also interested in setting up a server, instead of FTPing in. But that might be a while.

Right now I'm just looking something that wouldn't be THAT advanced, but not something to easy. Once I get the partitioning figured out and how I'll do it, I'll probably try out many different "flavors" :)

[Pardok]

I do mainly web-design and web-programming (PHP/ASP/JavaScript/DB's). I know some C/C++ (once I take a look at some source, everything will come back to me) and could probably easily learn another language very easily.

I'm also interested in setting up a server, instead of FTPing in. But that might be a while.

Right now I'm just looking something that wouldn't be THAT advanced, but not something to easy. Once I get the partitioning figured out and how I'll do it, I'll probably try out many different "flavors" :)

Actually, setting up a webserver is not hard at all. I thought it would be an extremely hard task and was just shocked at how easy it was. If you use Apache2 (and I reccommend it), you can basically use plug-ins to do whatever you want. PHP, XML, Realaudio streaming, XML, Perl, etc. Just download the plugin, put that little bugger in a folder aptly named plug-ins, add a line to your config file, and bam...you're on the web.

If you're looking to use your box as a mini-webserver, here are two great services that allow you to have a domain name for free. DynDNS (http://www.dyndns.com)
and
NoIP (http://www.no-ip.com)

No more typing in your IP address!

[Mau]

Actually, setting up a webserver is not hard at all. I thought it would be an extremely hard task and was just shocked at how easy it was. If you use Apache2 (and I reccommend it), you can basically use plug-ins to do whatever you want. PHP, XML, Realaudio streaming, XML, Perl, etc. Just download the plugin, put that little bugger in a folder aptly named plug-ins, add a line to your config file, and bam...you're on the web.

If you're looking to use your box as a mini-webserver, here are two great services that allow you to have a domain name for free. DynDNS (http://www.dyndns.com)
and
NoIP (http://www.no-ip.com)

No more typing in your IP address!
Thanks Pardok.

Once I get Partition Magic, set up the linux partition, I'll try out many different "flavors"

Thanks everyone for all the help!

[aoife]

I just have to point out that Partition Magic, although a little pricey for "just a drive partitioner", is invaluable for these kind of things.


Thinks like Partition Magic scare the pants off of me. I know they work *most* of the time....but afaik, you should still be backing up beforehand (and for that matter backing up regularly in general) and Windows often benefits from a fresh install anyway. So, it's easy enough to do the whole thing at once.

Just out of curiosity though: does Partition Magic work with ext3 (no one's really using ext2 anymore) or ReiserFS? Reiser is awesome.


a

[Pardok]

aoife,

I had Partition Magic 8.....and it had options of ext2 and 3....but no reiser.

I'm not so sure about 9 though. I manually partition my drive now, but when I first started messing with Linux, Partition Magic was invaluable. Plus, I'd suggest, when first messing around with Linux (you ARE going to reformat your Linux partition many times.....when trying new flavors and such), you stick with Ext3. Reiser is very, very cool........but you have to mess around with your fstab and install some boot tools for it.

If you know what you're doing, this is very easy. But first starting out, it can be a headache.

[Mau]

Oh don't worry... I'll be backing up 5 times over :D I've already had to much data loss.

Any software can corrupt your data. Notepad could go on some wild tangant replacing all your files with the random characters. (Yeah, ok, Notepad is to dumb to know how to do that)

BTW, isn't the latest version 8? for partition magic?

Something I don't get yet. If I pay the $70 bucks to buy PartitionMagic, and the system requirements are for Windows, there isn't a way to use this while I'm in Linux? From reading there pages, I would boot up into Windows, then select to reboot with Linux, and do this everytime I start up the computer?

Doing this fresh install sounds better to me overall, but not as safe. I've never delt with partitions much. (Plus I'd have to find my Windows CD and I wouldn't want to buy it all over again)

[aoife]

Something I don't get yet. If I pay the $70 bucks to buy PartitionMagic, and the system requirements are for Windows, there isn't a way to use this while I'm in Linux? From reading there pages, I would boot up into Windows, then select to reboot with Linux, and do this everytime I start up the computer?

Doing this fresh install sounds better to me overall, but not as safe. I've never delt with partitions much. (Plus I'd have to find my Windows CD and I wouldn't want to buy it all over again)

Other than the annoyance with reinstalling Windows, it's *much* safer to do a clean reformat and reinstall of everything. Partitioning your drive on the fly while trying to preserve pre-existing data is still a dodgy technology, as far as I'm concerned. This doesn't mean that you'll have to partition *by hand.* Most Linux distros come with a nice graphical tool for partitioning that you can ask to set up your partitions automatically if you're uncomfortable doing it yourself.

If you use Partition Magic, you'll use it to set up your drive partitions once under Windows (you might have to change the settings a few times, but in the ideal case, you partition once and never have to change this again unless you get a new drive, decide to kill Window altogether, whatever).

Booting is a different matter. When you boot, you'll want to use Lilo or Grub (both should come with most versions of Linux) to handle your boot process. Essentially, what will happen is after your memory check, you'll get a screen that asks whether you'd like to boot to Linux or Windows this time. You'll then pick whatever you want at the moment. If you want to switch, you'll just restart and pick the other OS. You don't need to boot all the way into Windows to get to Linux.

a

[Guido]

Most people get their companies to buy partition magic, it is a useful tool to have floating about, and all the reports of it are good, I wouldn't worry too much.

You use it to make the existing windows partition smaller to free up drivespace so you will need spare capacity. It works like a defrag, so if you are scared of defrag then I suppose you can be scared of partition magic (it does edit the FAT as well, so a little more drama).

After you have the space, you can use whatever linux tools to partition the drives with whatever File System you desire.

Do be prepared to get down and dirty with linux to get a decent system up and running and well maintained, the number of GUI admin tools is lacking as the CLI tools are just better (and easily scriptable).

Pardok:

Genkernel and gentoo, I would keep that quiet :). You will find building your own kernel not too hard (especially after setting up your own domain named host), it takes a couple of goes and the trick is

# make mrproper

(which works better than # make clean)

after that it is wadding through the kernel itself

#make xconfig

is quite good nowadays (a lot of the docs do appear), there is also the docs directory in /usr/src/linux/Documentation which a lot of people miss.

[aoife]

aoife,

I had Partition Magic 8.....and it had options of ext2 and 3....but no reiser.

I'm not so sure about 9 though. I manually partition my drive now, but when I first started messing with Linux, Partition Magic was invaluable. Plus, I'd suggest, when first messing around with Linux (you ARE going to reformat your Linux partition many times.....when trying new flavors and such), you stick with Ext3. Reiser is very, very cool........but you have to mess around with your fstab and install some boot tools for it.

If you know what you're doing, this is very easy. But first starting out, it can be a headache.


Hrm. I've not had any problems or extra setup issues with ReiserFS at all, and I use Debian, which is one of the most user-surly distros from the installation point of view. But, I agree, Ext3 is perfectly good.

a

[Guido]

There is nothing extra to do with reiserfs, you edit the /etc/fstab file in the same way.

Only problem with reiserfs is the spelling and the actual stability of the file system (on some odd occasions is gives up the ghost, which is a little disconcerting but it is the odd occasion), ext3 is rock solid lacks a little of the general speed of reiserfs but more peace of mind.

[Mau]

Ok, I get it. Making more sense every day.

I don't have a company to buy PartitionMagic (I'm still in school) so I'll start looking up how to do this. I probably just have the dreaded "user fear" to doing something new.

Also, if and when I wipe off Windows, how exactly would I get it back? I found my "Recovery CD" and "Master CD", but I wouldn't think those would contain the complete Windows installation.

I would, if I could, just remove Windows now and put Linux on after playing with wine in Knoppix. But I'd imagine its always good to have Windows on your computer, plus I'll need it for testing purposes of websites.

You guys know so much. :D

[Guido]

Well, if you are at school I am sure a friendly admin might lend you a copy of partition magic for educational purposes.

There is parted which is free, runs under linux though:

http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/parted.html

it is under GNU so it works, but not as cosy as Partition magic.

If you have word documents and excel sheets, check you can read them, sooner than later. That is the hardest part of a switch over for a normal user.

wine for IE is cool, a little tinkering normally gets that working (but don't rely on wine for anything else for a while, there is a company that is basing an OSS OS around wine so watch for better compatibility in the near future).

FireFox is gaining ground on IE nowadays so good to know that Linux supports that well and the windows version is a port.

Your window's disk should be able to reinstall the system, but I always have treble checked with the supplier in the past about this, if you have a Product ID number, be sure to record that down before wiping the system at the very least.

I think windows for personal use comes on one disk (it is for marketing reasons), NT had service packs but yet again one disk for the initial install.

[Mau]

Well, if you are at school I am sure a friendly admin might lend you a copy of partition magic for educational purposes.

There is parted which is free, runs under linux though:

http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/parted.html

it is under GNU so it works, but not as cosy as Partition magic.

If you have word documents and excel sheets, check you can read them, sooner than later. That is the hardest part of a switch over for a normal user.

wine for IE is cool, a little tinkering normally gets that working (but don't rely on wine for anything else for a while, there is a company that is basing an OSS OS around wine so watch for better compatibility in the near future).

FireFox is gaining ground on IE nowadays so good to know that Linux supports that well and the windows version is a port.

Your window's disk should be able to reinstall the system, but I always have treble checked with the supplier in the past about this, if you have a Product ID number, be sure to record that down before wiping the system at the very least.

I think windows for personal use comes on one disk (it is for marketing reasons), NT had service packs but yet again one disk for the initial install.
Thanks Guido.

Well, I don't really have an admin to talk to, as I'll be starting high-school next year. http://atitd.info/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif

All my important files are .php / .asp / .html / .png / .txt / (and a few MS Access DB's, but moving to MySQL slowly). I'd consider those to be pretty much universal.

I read somewhere that OpenOffice goes by the exact same format as Microsoft Office, so I could save something in MS Word, edit it in OpenOffice and then print it in MS Word with no problems at all?

I'm not to concerned about my files, I back up every month (which reminds me, May is now over). More making sure Windows will still work, so if I really need to, I can read these files off of Windows. As a last resort, I can use another computer to view these files.

Glad to hear Mozilla is gaining ground, I'd never use IE in my life again. http://atitd.info/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

I'm on XP Home and I'll check to see if I really do have a copy of Windows.

[Pardok]

Mau,

I used to use OpenOffice......and it is very nice (if bloated). It can open all Microsoft formats.

However, the actual formatting of the document is pretty bad. I typed up a resume on OpenOffice and sent it out only to find out that when opened in Word, some of the line spacing/tabs/etc were horribly screwed up.

I just discovered ABIword.....which is almost a MSWord clone. I like it very much...it's not as bloated as OO and formats text almost to MSWord.

However, it is only a wordprocessing program. You'll need OO if you want Excel/DB stuff.

And Guidos:

I tried compiling my own kernel....but for some reason, it would never detect my USB mouse. IT was such a pain (I know I was missing something in the config). So I just went with genkernel......even though it built everything.

I'd like to compile my own kernel though.....

[Mau]

Mau,

I used to use OpenOffice......and it is very nice (if bloated). It can open all Microsoft formats.

However, the actual formatting of the document is pretty bad. I typed up a resume on OpenOffice and sent it out only to find out that when opened in Word, some of the line spacing/tabs/etc were horribly screwed up.

I just discovered ABIword.....which is almost a MSWord clone. I like it very much...it's not as bloated as OO and formats text almost to MSWord.

However, it is only a wordprocessing program. You'll need OO if you want Excel/DB stuff.
Great! I'll keep that in mind when sending a document digitally.

[aoife]

Mau,

I used to use OpenOffice......and it is very nice (if bloated). It can open all Microsoft formats.

However, the actual formatting of the document is pretty bad. I typed up a resume on OpenOffice and sent it out only to find out that when opened in Word, some of the line spacing/tabs/etc were horribly screwed up.

I think the more recent OpenOffice versions have fixed these issues. Unless, of course, you used one of Word's resume templates, in which case, nothing can preserve formatting on it. I actually went the other way. I used to use AbiWord and have switched to OpenOffice because I find it both more stable and better at handling foreign document types of all sorts.

Of course, the nice thing about both is that they're free and easily downloadable, so it's super easy to try out both. ;)

Mau, just a quick tip on the order in which to do things if you decide to wipe Windows entirely and reinstall from scratch. I find it's best to 1) partition the drives (usually with whatever linux tool is on the install cd for the distribution you're going to use) 2) back out of your linux install and install windows 3) go back and install linux. The reason for this is that a good linux installer will detect your windows partition and automatically set up Lilo or Grub to double boot for you. While Windows, on the other hand, will simply want to overwrite your MBR and make impossible fo you to access your linux partitions unless you boot from a floppy. Of course, there are ways to do this stuff in any order, but from a newbie perspective, this is probably waht you want.

a

[Guido]

I think openoffice has been fixed, though I have not bothered download it again and won't untill I start see lots of praise for it (initially it was memory hungry, slow and a monster of a download).

The problem is MS loves to change the format of word and they don't release the encoding (it has to be reverse engineered).

You can look into PDFs, I think that nut has been cracked, and it is a better format for the transmission of documents.

Pardok:

/usr/src/linux/Documentation/usb/hotplug.txt

http://www.linux-usb.org/USB-guide/x194.html

[leghk]

Thinks like Partition Magic scare the pants off of me. I know they work *most* of the time....but afaik, you should still be backing up beforehand (and for that matter backing up regularly in general) and Windows often benefits from a fresh install anyway. So, it's easy enough to do the whole thing at once.

Just out of curiosity though: does Partition Magic work with ext3 (no one's really using ext2 anymore) or ReiserFS? Reiser is awesome.


a
At this point, my version of PM is over a year old, but I've used it successfully with ext3 partitions too. I understand that they're just ext2 plus journalling, and as long as you've shut down cleanly there shouldn't be any unsaved data in the journal anyway. I don't think that it works with ReiserFS yet, or any of the other "interesting" filesystems (Coda, JFS, XFS... so many toys! :))

And you're absolutely right on all your other points - even with these tools, back up your important data before playing with partitions, and yes Windows does benefit from a nice fresh install now & again.

[Mau]

Ok, so after reading an article on LinuxPlanet, I have a better understanding. ( http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/4269/1/ )

I understand what swap is for now, and it should be twice as much as my ram (I have 1 GB).

Boot should be small, and the first partition. I don't grasp what actually goes in that partition.

So, my HD would be partitioned up like the following? (in order)

1. Boot - 1GB
2. Swap - 2GB
3. Windows - 20GB
4. Mandrake - 32GB

I'd be doing this without PartitionMagic.

I think I'm pretty set to do this, just need to understand how to set up these partitions correctly.

[Guido]

swap is generally said to be twice your ram, but this little rule of thumb came about before the 1GB main memory. Swap is used to create virtual ram i.e. the harddrive acts as main memory but with obviously longer access times, I would go 1GB swap unless you are doing media (graphics, music etc) really intensely every so often or you don't care about the harddrive space.

I ran without swap for a while and nothing really happens if you have a lot of main memory.

The boot partition holds the kernel(s), grub, a bootsplash etc. so yeah about 10MB can get eaten up, err on the side of safety and set it to about 100MB, note ext3 takes up more space than ext2.

You can further partition your harddrive for a number of reasons:

1. Stability - if one partition goes it does not affect the others.
2. Performance - slight increase in speed of access as less hard drive to cover (negligible though and really only happens in certain circumstances).
3. Encrypted file system, a separate partition will be needed.
4. Security, slightly more secure to keep programs on a separate partition, maxing system partition and tripwiring it will make it harder to backdoor the system.

Most people end up with a root and swap partition, and perhaps a boot. I would recommend the three partitions for a standard desktop, laptop install.

If you do have a shed load of free space sometimes it makes sense to partition for a media partition.

But, if you do partition more you loose flexibility as you might find you will max a partition and then be left linking things around the file system.

[Pardok]

What Guido said (and I sent you a PM Mau)

Essentially, you're going to have 4 partitions on your only disk. This disk is called HDA by your computer. The partitions are then numbered. So, HDA1 is the first partition on disk HDA:

HDA1) Boot (where your bootloader and kernels go)
HDA2) Swap (what guido said)
HDA3) Root (mandrake system)
HDA4) Windows.

I believe Mandrake wants you to install its system before Windows (before it location wise, not time wise. That is, your Mandrake system is on the partition before Windows. Install Windows first though.)

Good luck Mau. We're here crossing our fingers and pulling out the ol' manuals to help you out. :D

[Mau]

Ok, makes more sense everyday. My last question then I can do this.

I know I install Mandrake to the root, and Windows to the "other". What do I put in swap or boot? Is that set up automaticly?

[Pardok]

Boot and Swap are set up automatically by the Mandrake installer.

[Mau]

Ok, here goes nothing. :D

Hopefully I'll come back without changing my keyboard keycodes. ;)

[Mau]

Well, its installing now on another computer, but its just been sitting at "Can't write CTR while closing KBD" for about 15 minutes. I also don't think it picked up my touchpad, and at first couldn't find my harddrive :eek:

BTW, I did this before formatting my HD, because I didn't want to try to find a way to restart in DOS mode in XP. (I think the Mandrake installer lets you format/partition)

How long should I wait?

Thanks for the 24/7 support. :D

[Pardok]

Hmmm........

I did a google search on this and it seems to be a problem with keyboard/usb in the 2.6 kernel.

First, when do you get this error? Do you get it while installing or while starting the installer up?

Second, do you have any USB devices plugged in? I know with the Mandrake installer, I couldn't install my USB printer until AFTER the entire system had been installed.

Mandrake installs Hotplug automatically (kind of a USB PNP system) and thus you can simply plug in any USB devices after the install.

I'm kind of stuck on what to suggest here until I get a bit more info. Is there also a USB cable #{whatever} is broke message?

Perhaps Guido has further insight.......I've never encountered this error, even on a Laptop.

Edit: Just found what KBD refers too. Your Keyboard is either not being detected or is somehow causing an error within the kernel. So it's no wonder your touchpad is also not being detected. KBD has something to do with Fonts and keyboard layout.

What install feature did you choose when installing Mandrake? Typical or Custom?

[Mau]

I decided to restart, as it wasn't moving at all. Now its stuck at a point further back. :rolleyes:

I popped the CD in, and shut down the computer. I then booted up and the Mandrake screen came up:

Press F1 for more options
Press enter to Install or Upgrade

I press Enter, and see this:

The Mandrake logo followed by:

PCI->APIC IRQ transform (BO,19,PO) ->41
PCI->APIC IRQ transform (BO,I9,PO) -> 41
PCI->APIC IRQ transform (BO,I11,PO) -> 41
PCI->APIC IRQ transofm (B1, iO, PO) -> 40
vesafb: framebuffer at 0xd00000000, mapped to 0xf8800000, size 16284K
vesafb: mode is 800x600x16, linelength=1600, pages-135
vesafb: protected mode interface info at c000:554b
vesafb: scrolling: redraw
vesafb: directcolor: size=0:5:6:5:, shift=0:11:5:0
fb0: VESA VGA frame buffer device
Initializing Cryptographic API
bootsplash: scanning last 2MB of initrd for signature
bootsplash: 3.1.4-2004/02/19: looking for picture... no good signature found
Consolue: switching to colour frame buffer device 100x37
Serial: 8250/16550 driver $Revision: 1.90 $ 8 ports, IRQ sharing enabled
ttySO at I/O 0x3f8 (irq=4) is NS16550A
RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 128000K size 1024 blocksize
Uniform Multi-PLatform E-IDE driver Revision: 7.00alpha2
ide: Assuming 33Mhz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx (I have a 3.2 GHz Hybrid system)
SIS5513: IDE controller at PCI slot 0000:00:02.5
SIS5513: chipset revision 0
SIS5513: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
SIS5513: SiS 062/963 MuTIOL IDE UDMA133 controller
ide0: BM-DMA at 0xffa0-0xffa6, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb: DMA
ide1: DM-DMA at 0xffa8-0xffaf, BIOS settings: hda: DMA, hdb: DMA
hda: HTS726060M9AT00, ATA DISK drive
Using antipatory io scheduler
ide0 at 0x1f0-0x3f6 on irq 14
hdc: QSI CD-RW/DVD-ROM SBW242U, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15
hda: max request size: 1024KiB
Thats where it's stalled right now. IT used to be able to get further than this, and it was unregistering a lot of ports.

I only have 2 things plugged into the computer. 1 wireless USB Linksys Adapter and 1 wireless mouse.

When I was reading through posts on other forums from Google, I read that Mandrake 9 likes CDs to be burned at 4x speed. I burned them at 24x.

My system is very new, about 3-4 months old.

--

Just saw your edit.

I'd guess I picked typical. I didn't do the "more options" route.

--

Another edit.

I bet its freezing. The little underscore (_) doesn't blink, and I thought I saw it blink for a second, then stopped.

[Pardok]

I decided to restart, as it wasn't moving at all. Now its stuck at a point further back. :rolleyes:

I popped the CD in, and shut down the computer. I then booted up and the Mandrake screen came up:

Press F1 for more options
Press enter to Install or Upgrade


Mau, try this. When you boot up the Mandrake CD, choose F1
Then type

noapic

That might be your problem. I had similar things happen when I first started messing around with Mandrake, and that seemed to clear it up.

However, I do think it has something to do with your USB devices. You may want to disconnect both when booting up and then when you get to install, plug them back in.

Edit: Burn speed doesn't matter. The 4 speed stuff about Mandrake 9 was a red herring. People were getting corrupted ISO's and such.

Also, I just noticed you had a Linksys Wireless adapter. I am assuming this is PCMIA....the little credit-card shaped thing. Take that out before installing. You have to insert a 3rd party module into the Kernel for Linksys PCMIA...otherwise, it won't be detected or will cause problems.

Go to the linksys site and do a search for Linux. There's probably a FAQ or something.

[Mau]

Thanks Pardok!

I have everything unplugged right now.

When I type "noapic" it tells me:

Could not find kernal image: noapic

Then, if I wait a few seconds, it boots up on itself. Tells me the exact same thing as before, but now the cursor blinks! As I type, it's saying (starting off from the bottom of my last quote)


hda: lost interrupt
hda: lost interrupt
hda: 11721024 sectors (600011MB) w/ 7877Ki Cache, CHS=16383/255/63, UDMA(33)
hda: lost interrupt
hda:_ (which changes to: hda:<4>hda: dma_timer_expirery: dma status == 0x64
hda: DMA interrupt recovery
hda: lost interrupt
hda1
mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
i8042.c: Detected active multiplexing controller, rev 1.0.
serio: i8042 AUX0 port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
serio: i8042 AUX1 port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
input: PS/2 Logitech Mouse on isa0060/serio2
serio: i8042 AUX2 port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
serio: i8042 AUX3 port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
serio: i8042 KBD port at 0x60,0x64 irq 1
i9042.c: Can't write CTR while closing KBD
NET: Registered protocol family 2

Then it freezes.

[Pardok]

Thanks Pardok!

I have everything unplugged right now.

When I type "noapic" it tells me:

Could not find kernal image: noapic

Then, if I wait a few seconds, it boots up on itself. Tells me the exact same thing as before, but now the cursor blinks! As I type, it's saying (starting off from the bottom of my last quote)


Then it freezes.

GAH! I knew I forgot something. You need to type this after pressing f1:

linux noapic pci=biosirq

This might solve your problem, but I'm not sure.

Try again.

[Mau]

Pardok! You da man! :D ;)

Resizing my Window's partition now. I liked the parnoid security level :D

[Mau]

Ok, almost there now. I'm creating the partitions, but the first time I did it, I aborted Mandrake install and tried to install Windows, but it said it wasn't compatiable. (I tried doing FAT32 for that partition, and mounted it in /tmn/windows I think)

What file system should the boot partition be? EXT3?

I can smell the taste of Linux.

(BTW the Linux installer is more user-friendly than Windows :eek: )

[Pardok]

I haven't used the Mandrake partitioner in a long time. I used Partition Magic at first and then went straight to FDISK.

However, if I remember correctly, you want to install Windows first on the ENTIRE harddisk. No partitions or anything. Just let Windows do its thing.

THen, once you have Windows installed, you move on to the Mandrake install. There is a selection in the partitioning tool that states "use remaining space on current disk" or something. This will actually create the partitions for you and not touch Windows.

And Boot is typically EXT3 or EXT2 (EXT2 is all but phased out) so EXT3 is a good choice.

Glad to see it worked Mau. :D Good luck! Soon you'll be up and running.

[Guido]

I don't think you have to partition the window space just leave space for it, windows will hopefully do the rest.

If you install windows second, then you will have to run grub or lilo again to reclaim the boot sector (different from the boot partition).

ext2 or ext3 is fine (nowadays I do ext3 and add a little extra space for it).

A lot of people think that Mandrake's and SuSE's installer is better than windows, it is easier to install Linux than it is Windows on a fresh machine nowadays.

When setting your configuration do spend a few mins working out what it is asking.

One way is to install a minimal KDE system then add other programs once the install looks stable, this way you invest less time if an error does crop up or you want to change a configuration in install.

[Mau]

Well, I'm now an official Linux user!!! :) :) :)

Now, I can't get the net to work yet on that (probably same as Knoppix) nor on Windows (well, I haven't tried, but I know it doesn't work)

Also, my screen resolution is a little whacky (same for Windows + Mandrake)

The height of the resolution is soo big, that I have to move my mouse down and the screen scrolls. New experiece for me, but I'd like to have it the way it was before. Its the same resolution (from what I can remember) and it acts the same way as Windows.

Mandrake install went very smooth! Now time to go experiment!

THANKS! :)

[Pardok]

Well, I'm now an official Linux user!!! :) :) :)

Now, I can't get the net to work yet on that (probably same as Knoppix) nor on Windows (well, I haven't tried, but I know it doesn't work)

Also, my screen resolution is a little whacky (same for Windows + Mandrake)

The height of the resolution is soo big, that I have to move my mouse down and the screen scrolls. New experiece for me, but I'd like to have it the way it was before. Its the same resolution (from what I can remember) and it acts the same way as Windows.

Mandrake install went very smooth! Now time to go experiment!

THANKS! :)

Mau, Mandrake makes it EXTREMElY easy to change your resolution.

Here's the nitty-gritty of what's going on. You are running a service called XFree. This is an X-Server. X is the graphical display units for Linux, allowing you to run GUI's and such.

Now, you are running a windows manager called KDE (I think KDE, unless you chose Gnome or Ice or something)..... This is what runs on top of X. Your settings for X (display depth, color depth, etc) is in a file called /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 (look for yourself).

However, Mandrake lets you customize this file without getting into the confusing code and such. Basically, you should find DrakeManager (it should be a pop-up window when you first start). Inside there are many selections. You're going to want to find one called Manage my Hardware.....or something. Once you find it, you'll be given a screen with many selections. You're going to want to choose "Change my display options."

From there it's pretty self-explanitory.

My thoughts as to your internet connection is that the driver for your network card hasn't been installed, either in Windows or Linux.

Go to the Linksys site and look up the information. I'm sure they'll have one for Windows right away. For Linux, I think you're going to have to insert a module into your kernel. There should be an easy How-To for this on the LinkSys site.

Edit: You also want to make sure that you're passing the "noapic" and "pci=biosirq" options to your kernel during boot.

Once again, go to DrakeManager and click on "Configure Bootloader." Not quite sure what the options are, but essentially you're going to want to edit your bootloader (I believe the option is advanced). You want to look for the line Append: and a box to enter stuff in. Make sure the option noapic and pci=biosirq are in that box. If they're not, add them.

You don't want to have the same problems again. :D

[Mau]

Ok, managed to get the drivers up for Windows.

I think I might be having a graphic problem with Linux, as any of the 3D games or screensavers built in run very slow and refresh rate is terrible in Windows.

Getting that resolution fixed was easy once I knew to look under hardware! Doh! :)

I have http://linksys.com/products/product.asp?action=zoom&prid=612&scid=36 as my internet card. Throughout searching the entire website for the drivers, I could only find that Linksys fully supports Linux, but thats about all.

Thanks for all the help, my very last question then I think I'm set: What are the 5 other boot options in Lilo (I think thats the one I installed)?

[Pardok]

Ok, managed to get the drivers up for Windows.

I think I might be having a graphic problem with Linux, as any of the 3D games or screensavers built in run very slow and refresh rate is terrible in Windows.


Mau, what kind of video card do you have? You may have to enable GLX in your XF86Config file.

What's probably happening is that your loading the Vesa driver for your videocard. You're getting the BASIC....not enhanced.

The first thing you can do is open up your XF86Config file and load GLX. To do this, log in as root (through console: su [enter] root password)
then navigate to:

/etc/X11/

once there, open up the XF86Config file in an editor. I'm not sure which one you have or are using. So try these:

kedit XF86Config-4
edit XF86Config-4
vi XF86Config-4
nano -w XF86Config-4

You should be able to see your configuration file.

Mandrake places the modules section early in the file. So look for a section titled, aptly enough, Modules.

In this section you should see a line that says "Load GLX." This may be commented out (with a #). Uncomment this line.

Also look for a line that says "Load DRI" You want to remove or comment out this line.

Then save your XF86Config-4 file and restart X.

This loads up OpenGL and will vastly improve your 3D speeds.

However, you have to take care of your video-cards driver too. But I don't know how to tell you to do this without knowing what kind you have.

I noticed that your wireless card is USB. Heh.....silly me and my assumptions. Basically, you should plug it in once KDE loads. Then, go to DrakeConfigure and (I believe it's under Hardware again) find the Network Configuration options.

Mandrake sets this up very well. You'll just have to explore.

As to the 5 options for Lilo.....I'm not quite sure what you're asking......are you referring to the Linux-non-fb, failsafe, etc. selections in Lilo?

If so, these are simply bloat. The Linux-nonfb means that you won't get a splash screen when starting up. You'll get a black screen and then various prompts telling you what's loading etc. It's like pressing F2 during the normal startup.

Failsafe....well.......I've never used it and I don't understand why it's there. It has no purpose. The others are pretty pointless too. Basically, you can keep them there if you want, or remove them. It won't harm anything. But keep your Windows selection and your Linux selection.

OH, and an edit: To test your 3d capabilities and speed, type this in a console as a normal user:

glxgears

You should have a window pop up with rotating gears. After a few seconds, your FPS will be reported in the console. This is a good way to test your card drivers and GLX.


Ok, another edit. I had a thought that Hotplug may not be loading at boot. You should probably check this. Once again, go to DrakeConfigure and look for the an option called Services. It's a sub-menu in one of the main configuration selections, but I don't know which one. Once you open Services, you'll get a long list of all services that are running and boxes to select for them to start at boot.

Scroll down and look for Hotplug. Make sure the box for "start at boot" is X'd. If it's not, check it and then restart your box.

This could be the problem with your Net connection.

[Mau]

Thanks Pardok, I'll explore around.

My graphic card is a "Radeon Mobility 9600 (M10) NP (AGP)"... taken right from Mandrake Control Center. :)

I already had load "glx" uncommented, and when I tried out gears, I got 624 FPS at high and 144 at low. Those are pretty good imho :D

I was unable to edit that file, but I could read it.

In the Mandrakelunix Control Center, there's an option for Network & Internet. I picked New Connection, but then it wants to know what driver it should try, and lists 50. I tried a few of the non-jiberish ones (and the 2 that start with USB).

Thanks Pardok!

Edit - When I make the glxgears full, I'm getting 11-13 FPS.

[Pardok]

Thanks Pardok, I'll explore around.

My graphic card is a "Radeon Mobility 9600 (M10) NP (AGP)"... taken right from Mandrake Control Center. :)

I already had load "glx" uncommented, and when I tried out gears, I got 624 FPS at high and 144 at low. Those are pretty good imho :D

I was unable to edit that file, but I could read it.

In the Mandrakelunix Control Center, there's an option for Network & Internet. I picked New Connection, but then it wants to know what driver it should try, and lists 50. I tried a few of the non-jiberish ones (and the 2 that start with USB).

Thanks Pardok!

Edit - When I make the glxgears full, I'm getting 11-13 FPS.


/me mumbles It had to be an ATI card......#$^^#^

I know nothing about installing ATI drivers. I know there were some issues with this before but I never paid attention. What I suggest for you to do is open up your Software management section. Do a search for ATI and for GLX.

You'll probably get a list of RPM's you can install. Look on the ATI site, or search the web, to see which RPM package you should install for your card. Also, check out the Mandrake Forums. Do a search for your specific card. There will most likely be a How-To.

Someone out there probably has the same problem as you and has found a way to fix it.

Guido or Aoife will probably be more help than me here. I know *nothing* about ATI cards......sorry. :( However, here's what *I* would do.

Go to www.mandrakeclub.com. Sign in as me. Select Downloads, then select the first choice, RPM's. Do a search for ATI. You'll get a testing package for ATI drivers for the kernel, XFree, and such. Download that and install it. That's what I would do. But I'm afraid I'm stuck with ATI cards.

As for your Network card.....I don't know. My only thought was Hotplug. I searched all over for a Linux driver for your type of network card but couldn't find one. Perhaps Guido has a better idea. :(

Sorry Mau.

[Mau]

/me mumbles It had to be an ATI card......#$^^#^

I know nothing about installing ATI drivers. I know there were some issues with this before but I never paid attention. What I suggest for you to do is open up your Software management section. Do a search for ATI and for GLX.

You'll probably get a list of RPM's you can install. Look on the ATI site, or search the web, to see which RPM package you should install for your card. Also, check out the Mandrake Forums. Do a search for your specific card. There will most likely be a How-To.

Someone out there probably has the same problem as you and has found a way to fix it.

Guido or Aoife will probably be more help than me here. I know *nothing* about ATI cards......sorry. :( However, here's what *I* would do.

Go to www.mandrakeclub.com (http://www.mandrakeclub.com). Sign in as me. Select Downloads, then select the first choice, RPM's. Do a search for ATI. You'll get a testing package for ATI drivers for the kernel, XFree, and such. Download that and install it. That's what I would do. But I'm afraid I'm stuck with ATI cards.

As for your Network card.....I don't know. My only thought was Hotplug. I searched all over for a Linux driver for your type of network card but couldn't find one. Perhaps Guido has a better idea. :(

Sorry Mau. Thanks Pardok, you've been a great help so far. :)

I'll try it out tomorrow.

[Mau]

Something else that I thought of.

I also have an intergrated wireless card built into my laptop, but bought the Linksys one instead, because the signal strength was poor when right next to my router (Router works fine, other computers with wireless PCI card has excellent throughout the house).

Could this be a conflict? The two would fight in Window's XP, so I had to disable the intergrated one.

Thanks! :)

Edit - I found a few different RPM's, but I didn't like the warning:
Since it was engineered without access to the Radeon documents, it may as well
break your hardware.
USE RADEONTOOL AT YOUR OWN RISK

I've never heard of software physically breaking something. I suppose you could fry your processor by overclocking it, but... :confused:

It would only let me search for one term only, and the summeries it gave is: Enable/disable ATI Radeon external display/backlight.

Nevermind that, I searched for Radeon. When I did ATI I got back this: ATI kernel and XFree86 4.3.0 modules for ATI Architecture support.

No warnings what so ever. I'll try it out. Edit #6 billion: When trying out the link Mandrake gave me, it mentioned it for lots of cards, but not Radeon Mobility 9600. I've learned the hard way never to install drivers that aren't for the right card, even if its the same series.

(What would I do without Zip disks :D )

[Pardok]

Something else that I thought of.

I also have an intergrated wireless card built into my laptop, but bought the Linksys one instead, because the signal strength was poor when right next to my router (Router works fine, other computers with wireless PCI card has excellent throughout the house).

Could this be a conflict? The two would fight in Window's XP, so I had to disable the intergrated one.

Thanks! :)

Edit - I found a few different RPM's, but I didn't like the warning:
Since it was engineered without access to the Radeon documents, it may as well
break your hardware.
USE RADEONTOOL AT YOUR OWN RISK

I've never heard of software physically breaking something. I suppose you could fry your processor by overclocking it, but... :confused:

It would only let me search for one term only, and the summeries it gave is: Enable/disable ATI Radeon external display/backlight.

Nevermind that, I searched for Radeon. When I did ATI I got back this: ATI kernel and XFree86 4.3.0 modules for ATI Architecture support.

No warnings what so ever. I'll try it out. Edit #6 billion: When trying out the link Mandrake gave me, it mentioned it for lots of cards, but not Radeon Mobility 9600. I've learned the hard way never to install drivers that aren't for the right card, even if its the same series.

(What would I do without Zip disks :D )


Mau, I'm still looking into your Radeon issue. I'm really familiar with Nvidia cards, so all of my knowledge is in that area. So I'm slowly learning about ATI. I'll see if someone has some info on the Gentoo forums.

As for your Network card, you may very well be having conflicts between the integrated and the USB. Essentially, you're not getting an IP address from your router, which is why you're not getting online. Perhaps Mandrake is attempting to use your integrated card.

I need more info from you though. In the Network section of DrakConfigure, what device(s) is/are listed? Is it showing 2 network cards or just 1? Do you have eth0 or eth0/eth1/etc.

I'm kind of confused here. I'm going to reinstall Mandrake on my laptop tonight and see if I can walk through your problem........

Guido, Pluribus, any other Linux weirdo......any ideas?

Edit: Mau! Found this site describing exactly what you need to do for your video card.

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/readme0370.txt

[Mau]

Ok, when I goto "Manage Connections" it lists the card:
eth0: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS]|SiS900 10/100 Ethernet

and none other with the adapter plugged in.

You're theory on No IP is correct, in the IP field, it lists the IP "No Ip" and netmask "No Mask"

In Hardware -> Hardware, for Ethernet cards it lists:

SiS900 10/100 Ethernet
AR5213 802.11a/b/g Wireless Adapter (I think this is the USB)

Also I noticed it says I have 2 processors which are both at 3.2 GHz... I only have 1 proccessor, which is the hybrid at 3.2

Under USB controllers, it lists 8 different options.

In other/unkown, it lists 3 things.
SiS7013 56K modem
and two null's.

One of the nulls has a bus at PCI and the other at USB.

I also thought this could be a security related problem, or the fact that the "HomePortal" (as 2Wire likes to call it) will remain XP. I also disabled the firewall for the time being.

I'll read that graphic's document over tonight, 24 pages :eek:


This is amazing... I get more help on a gaming forum than my others I visit. :rolleyes: ;)

[Pardok]

Ok, when I goto "Manage Connections" it lists the card:
eth0: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS]|SiS900 10/100 Ethernet

and none other with the adapter plugged in.

You're theory on No IP is correct, in the IP field, it lists the IP "No Ip" and netmask "No Mask"

In Hardware -> Hardware, for Ethernet cards it lists:

SiS900 10/100 Ethernet
AR5213 802.11a/b/g Wireless Adapter (I think this is the USB)

Also I noticed it says I have 2 processors which are both at 3.2 GHz... I only have 1 proccessor, which is the hybrid at 3.2

Under USB controllers, it lists 8 different options.

In other/unkown, it lists 3 things.
SiS7013 56K modem
and two null's.

One of the nulls has a bus at PCI and the other at USB.

I also thought this could be a security related problem, or the fact that the "HomePortal" (as 2Wire likes to call it) will remain XP. I also disabled the firewall for the time being.

I'll read that graphic's document over tonight, 24 pages :eek:


This is amazing... I get more help on a gaming forum than my others I visit. :rolleyes: ;)

AR5213 802.11a/b/g Wireless Adapter is definitely your USB connection. Now we're getting somewhere.

It seems that Mandrake is showing your internal network card AS eth0....the one to connect to a network. And is showing your USB adapter as simply a USB connection.

Or, your Wireless adapter is being called eth1.

Here's what I'd like you to do. First, open up a console and sign in as root. Then, type "ifconfig"

Post your results. I want to see if Mandrake is seeing your USB adapter at all (there probably won't be any IP addresses or anything).

I want to see if your wireless connection is being assigned eth1. If it is, this might be easy to fix.

Also, what you want to do is, while still in console, type "/usr/sbin/iwconfig eth1 essid {the name of your network}" This could fix the problem right away (if eth1 is your USB connector). Also, if you have a WEP key with your wireless network, you can assign it to your adapter with this command:

"/usr/sbin/iwconfig eth1 key {whatever your WEP key is}"

If iwconfig cannot be found, this means you don't have the Wireless configuration package installed. Go back to Mandrakeclub and do a search for the RPM.

I *hope* this works. Otherwise, we may have to go do some kernel mumbojumbo.....and I'm not sure how comfortable you are with that at the moment.

Also, do this for me:

in console, as root, type

kedit (or whatever editor you like) /etc/conf.d/net

Post whatever is in there. We may have to manually add eth1.

Just a note: Some wireless cards have the device name "wlan0" instead of "eth0" or "eth1" Look for this too.

[Mau]

Ok, Pardok... here it goes:

ifconfig
lo link encap:local loopback
inet addr: 127.0.0.1 Mask: 255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope: Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric: 1
RX packets: 1221 errors: 0 dropped:0 overruns: 0 frame: 0
TX packets: 1221 errors: 0 dropped:0 overruns: 0 carrier: 0
collisions:0 tqqueuelen:0
RX bytes: 79043 (77.1 KB) TX bytes: 79043

kedit
Gives me:
bash: kedit: command not found (?? I'm sure I have kedit)

usr/sbin/iwconfig
I couldn't find/remember my network name... I believe it might just be "compaq"
This gave me "No such file or directory" so I guess that never got installed.


I've never editted a kernal before, but I have a VERY broad understanding of what it does. I have nothing to lose (I hope ;))


Edit - For RPM's (what does that stand before anyhow), I would search under iwconfig?

[Pardok]

Ok, Pardok... here it goes:

ifconfig
lo link encap:local loopback
inet addr: 127.0.0.1 Mask: 255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope: Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric: 1
RX packets: 1221 errors: 0 dropped:0 overruns: 0 frame: 0
TX packets: 1221 errors: 0 dropped:0 overruns: 0 carrier: 0
collisions:0 tqqueuelen:0
RX bytes: 79043 (77.1 KB) TX bytes: 79043

kedit
Gives me:
bash: kedit: command not found (?? I'm sure I have kedit)

usr/sbin/iwconfig
I couldn't find/remember my network name... I believe it might just be "compaq"
This gave me "No such file or directory" so I guess that never got installed.


I've never editted a kernal before, but I have a VERY broad understanding of what it does. I have nothing to lose (I hope ;))


Edit - For RPM's (what does that stand before anyhow), I would search under iwconfig?


Ok, first....eth1 or eth0 is not being configured. So that answers that.

You may not have kedit.....I only say that because I used to use it with Mandrake. Replace kedit with "edit" "vi" or "nano."

I'm not quite sure what RPM's stand for (Rapid Package Management?) but go to Mandrakeclub, go to Download, in the RPM repository, and do a search for wireless.

Here's another thing you can do. Open up a console, login as root, and type "updatedb"

Your computer will chug along and, when its done, you'll be able to locate any file with the command "locate {file}" So, if you KNEW you had iwconfig installed, but it couldn't be found, you'd do "locate iwconfig" and then type in the path to its location.

Edit:

When issuing the command "iwconfig" you have to make SURE that the trailing slash is there. "/usr/sbin/iwconfig" not "usr/sbin/iwconfig"

You may want to just try issueing the command "iwconfig" with no path.

[Mau]

Hmmm.. I couldn't get any of the file editors to work, so I may be doing it wrong. My prompt is root@localhost

As for the iwconfig... I searched for those in RPMs, (Sorry, I ask a lot of questions) but which one should I take? I decided to get the one that look to be the newest version, worked with Mandrake 10, and didn't display any critical warnings. Brought me here: http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/ftp/contrib/

I'm guessing I should d/l wireless_tools.26.tar.gz, and extract it in Linux?

Thanks again.

Edit - Manged to find some editors I had... GEdit (First non-K prefix application I've seen), KWrite, and a few others. I'll try out GEdit.

When logged in as root, I type command: gedit /etc/conf.d/net and get "The file blah does not exisit... would you like to create it?"

[Guido]

A couple of quick tips:

Not all the /etc/ files are the same for all distros, Mandrake probably comes with a GUI net config, you are probably better off with that.

I think you made Gnome your default IDE, better off with KDE to begin with (check if the graphical login allows you to change window managers).

Learn Vim, I haven't see another text editor (probably emacs does it but I don't use that) that allows you to insert on column Ctrl + v highlight column I and Esc, very useful.

Be careful with new software (better to get the version with the latest patch than the new version that is untested).

# tar xzvf somefile.tar.gz will extract a file for you.

I suspect that mandrake has found the card, you need to setup networking on your machine, go for a direct cable link to begin with if possible.

Are you using DHCP?

Do you have the IP numbers of your nameservers?

Try to introduce the wireless card to the GUI net installer, Add if you can.

[Pardok]

I'm so used to Gentoo that I've forgotten a lot of the Mandrake options.

Mau, instead of searching the net and such for the wireless package, do this:

Go to this site http://urpmi.org/easyurpmi/index.php

Follow the instructions on how to add package services.

Then open up Drak Configure and go to software management. You'll see an option for "Install new software" or something. Click on that and it will open up a box with all the packages.

You can then search for the wireless configuration packages there.

This is really important. I forgot about this.....stupid me.

As to all the editing and such I told you about, forget it. Guido is right. Try to get it working with the GUI editors.......

Bah....I have gentoo on the brain.

[Mau]

I found what I needed in the installer, installed it along with the "required feature".

I did this before using Easy Urpmi, as I wouldn't have been able to download anything off the net without internet access. :)

Now when I go to add a new connection, I don't see anything new for Wireless. Should there be something new?

I'm trying to find my PCI card in my boxes, so hopefully I'll find it soon. :)

[Mau]

Ok, back with more info.

I typed ipconfig with the switch of "all" in the command prompt in XP.

I got back a readout, that says DHCP is enabled and gave the DHCP address.

I tried using GNOME, and the others, but found KDE to be the best one for me at this time.

Now, I'm using another Linksys card that goes in the PCI slot, and its not picking up that. This is just a regular card network card, so I'd think this would work. It's still wireless, as doing a direct connection would require installing software, which probably wouldn't work with Linux. (Edit, found the problem, the power light isn't coming on in the card.

Thanks... you're so helpful guys. :)

[Mau]

After more searching, I learned that my USB adapter doesn't have working drivers yet for Linux. So I started to look into getting my WPC11 ver 3 working.

I found the drivers here http://www.linux-wlan.com/linux-wlan/index.html

After I got the config script to work, it started prompting me for questions which I answered. Then it asks for the location of the linux source, and I just tried the default. It then told me the tree was missing or incomplete, so I started to look for this tree, but I couldn't find anything since I didn't know what I was looking for. Any idea what this would be? I'm just missing this step, and then the instructions say it should be "fully configured and operational" :)

[Guido]

It is looking for /usr/src/linux/

This directory contains the library files that are created from the compile.

This directory is normally symlinked to another directory (your actual linux src directory),

so,

# cd /usr/src

ls -al --color

and see what you have there.

what is going on is, the drivers needs to see what version of linux kernel you have to ensure it can work with it.

It could get more complex, if it is looking for something in /usr/lib.

If you still have problems mention the directory that it wants to use as default that should give some clues.

[Mau]

The default value is just that, /usr/src/linux.

When I opened up the /usr/src before, I just got a folder called "RPM" and inside contained 5 more folders: Build, RPMS, Sources, Specs, SPRMS.

I decided just to try /user and I got something new in the console.

make[2]: ***No rule to make target 'Makefile', Stop
make[1]: *** [get_options] error 2
./configure: line 240: scripts/makeopts: no such file or dir
The kernal source tree is version
kernal 2.5/26 support is highly experimental
WARNING: the current running kernal is actually version 2.6.3-7mdk-p3-smp-64GB
kernal build date os Wed Mar 17 2004
Alternate target install root directory on host []: [prompt here]

I just skipped that (pressed enter) and the configuration was successful! :)

Now that the drivers are installed, shouldn't the power light turn on?

I'm going to keep playing with this this weekend.

Thanks Guido.

[Guido]

hmmm,

linux -> linux-2.6.5-gentoo-r1/
linux-2.4.22-gentoo-r5/
linux-2.6.5-gentoo-r1/

ok, that is my /usr/src

linux is pointing to the 2.6.5 kernel.

But I have an old kernel in there as well (my backup :)), so if I wanted to I could point the /usr/src/linux to the 2.4.22 kernel.

/usr/src/linux is being used as a convenience so other applications know which is my current kernel.

I am glad to hear it reported a success but I suspect you got there though it failing to find the correct directory and using some in built default, it might also have reported the success in error, i.e. by going down the forced default it avoids some error checking and just reports success.

I would be tempted to re run this, or perhaps check if they have an RPM for this. I have had a quick look and it seems they are just setup for the people who compile their own kernel at the moment (probably because they are in experimental).

Well, you could compile your own kernel ;) and it has to be done at some point, how amusing this is an example where Gentoo is actually easier for other things.

[Mau]

I think I'm going to try this, but when they say fitted, what do they mean?

http://www.linuxcompatible.org/thread.php?id=193

[Guido]

Fitted means plugged in, physically connected so a current can flow.

[Mau]

Still no go. I've been playing with this almost all day.

I reformatted my HD today too, because I installed some driver which completely killed my system. I also thought it would be good to clear anything I did.

I might just want to go and buy a new card that I know will work. Any cheap ideas? PCI or USB... I don't care. After more reading, getting the WPC11 ver 3 to working seems to be a unique problem for every person.

[Guido]

http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Hardware-HOWTO/nic.html#AEN5487

have a look through there,

good idea to check on hardware before purchase when runing Linux, vendors are not too good about producing drivers for the platform (though this is geting better as more people adopt Linux).

You might have been able to get the system working if you had compiled your own kernel, or got mandrake to compile the driver sources for their kernel.

If you are feeling up for a challenge then you can go down the gentoo route, but do expect to spend sometime compiling your system and going through the docs. Depends how much of a computer nut you want to be, if it is a lot, jump in now and go gentoo, debian or slack.

If you just want to get up and runing then check out Suse, Fedora and Mandrake websites for any issues you have had so far, and see which one offers more support for your problems.

[Mau]

Well... very happy to say I got the power light to turn on for the WPC11!!! Woohoo!! Progress. :D

I was messing around in the boot section of my control panel, and when I rebooted I got a kernal panic over and over again. So instead of using failsafe, I decided to re-install Mandrake (for the 3rd time) but this time with my card plugged in (by mistake!). Now that I have the power light to turn on, I might be able to get the drivers to work correctly!!!

Thanks for that link Guido.

I want to first use something that's pretty easy for a few months, then I'll probably switch to one of the more advanced ones... and then off to make my own distribution :D ;)

That link was very helpful. I'll study the wireless ones if I still can't get this to work.

[Mau]

I'm still working on WPC11, as the only "working" wireless card retail stores for me are in Sante Fe Springs (whereever that is). I'm in the Bay Area. (For California)

I read in the Mandrake knowledge base that the kernel source should be in /usr/src/linux, and then said if it wasn't to look at the x file in that same directory to see where to get it. Yet... /usr/src/linux doesn't exist for me.

How can I figure out what my current kernel version is, then where do I get the source for that version? I'm pretty sure I'm 2.6.x, but I dont want to download the wrong source.

Edit - Making progress and found the kernel source and installed it. Heres my terminal log. Any idea how to correct the errors?

[carl@localhost carl]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost carl]# cd /home/carl/Desktop/Wlan/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1-pre19
[root@localhost linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1-pre19]# make config

-------------- Linux WLAN Configuration Script -------------

The default responses are correct for most users.

Build Prism2.x PCMCIA Card Services (_cs) driver? (y/n) [y]: y
Build Prism2 PLX9052 based PCI (_plx) adapter driver? (y/n) [n]: y
Build Prism2.5 native PCI (_pci) driver? (y/n) [n]: y
Build Prism2.5 USB (_usb) driver? (y/n) [n]: y

Linux source directory [/usr/src/linux]:

The kernel source tree is version 2.6.3-7mdk-p3-smp-64GB.
Kernel 2.5/2.6 support is highly experimental.
The current kernel build date is Wed Mar 17 15:34:39 2004.

Alternate target install root directory on host []:
PCMCIA script directory [/etc/pcmcia]:
Module install directory [/lib/modules/2.6.3-7mdk-p3-smp-64GB]:

It looks like you have a System V init file setup.


Prefix for build host compiler? (rarely needed) []:

Build for debugging (see doc/config.debug) (y/n) [n]: n


Configuration successful.

[root@localhost linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1-pre19]# make all
set -e; for d in src doc man etc; do make -C $d ; done
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/carl/Desktop/Wlan/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1-pre19/src'
set -e; for d in mkmeta p80211 prism2 shared wlanctl wland nwepgen wlancfg; do make -C $d ; done
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/carl/Desktop/Wlan/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1-pre19/src/mkmeta'
gcc -E -M -I../include -I/usr/src/linux/include -D__LINUX_WLAN__ ../shared/p80211types.c ../shared/p80211metamsg.c ../shared/p80211metamib.c ../shared/p80211meta.c mkmetadef.c ../shared/p80211types.c ../shared/p80211metamsg.c ../shared/p80211metamib.c ../shared/p80211meta.c mkmetastruct.c > .depend
mkdir -p obj
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/carl/Desktop/Wlan/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1-pre19/src/mkmeta'
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/carl/Desktop/Wlan/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1-pre19/src/p80211'
if test ! -d /home/carl/Desktop/Wlan/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1-pre19/src/p80211/../.tmp_versions; then \
cp -rf /usr/src/linux/.tmp_versions /home/carl/Desktop/Wlan/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1-pre19/src/p80211/../ ; \
fi
cp: cannot stat `/usr/src/linux/.tmp_versions': No such file or directory
make[2]: *** [default] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/carl/Desktop/Wlan/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1-pre19/src/p80211'
make[1]: *** [all] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/carl/Desktop/Wlan/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1-pre19/src'
make: *** [all] Error 2
[root@localhost linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1-pre19]# make install
find . -name .depend -exec rm {} \;
set -e; for d in src doc man etc; do make -C $d install ; done
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/carl/Desktop/Wlan/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1-pre19/src'
set -e; for d in p80211 prism2 shared wlanctl wland nwepgen mkmeta wlancfg; do make -C $d install ; done
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/carl/Desktop/Wlan/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1-pre19/src/p80211'
mkdir -p /lib/modules/2.6.3-7mdk-p3-smp-64GB/kernel/drivers/net
cp p80211.ko /lib/modules/2.6.3-7mdk-p3-smp-64GB/kernel/drivers/net
cp: cannot stat `p80211.ko': No such file or directory
make[2]: *** [install] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/carl/Desktop/Wlan/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1-pre19/src/p80211'
make[1]: *** [install] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/carl/Desktop/Wlan/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1-pre19/src'
make: *** [install] Error 2
[root@localhost linux-wlan-ng-0.2.1-pre19]#

[Guido]

I think it centers around /usr/src/linux

You get the configured ok for the make file configuration i.e. you didn't error but that doesn't mean garbage didn't go in, I think in this instance /usr/src/linux needs to be setup.

do:

# cd /usr/src
# ls -l
# cd /usr/src/linux
# ls -l

and tell us the output.

To find your kernel version:

$ uname -r

you need to get the sources that were compiled for that kernel (as opposed to pristine sources of that kernel), the compilation changes files in the /usr/src/linux/ directory which is what this wirelan driver needs to know about.

[Mau]

I installed the source that was on one of my install CD's... hopefully that was the correct one.

Here's my output (as root)

For /usr/src
linux@
linux-2.6.3mdk/
RPM/

for /usr/src/linux
3rdparty/
arch/
COPYING
CREDITS
crypto/
Documentation/
drivers/
fs/
include/
init/
ipc/
kdb/
kernel/
lib/
MAINTAINERS
Makefile
mm/
net/
README
REPORINT-BUGS
scripts/
security/
sound/
usr/

and uname -r gives me: 2.6.3-7mdk-p3-64GB

Someone on LinuxQuestions.org told me Mandrake already had the drivers installed for this. http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=193804

[Guido]

do a ls -al in /usr/src/linux and see if you have a .config file.

If you do make a copy of it # cp .config ~/config.bak

You can then go # make xconfig

in /usr/src/linux and have a poke around the kernel configuration (don't do anything else apart from have a look around and try and see if anything has been set to different values), this will help in determining if the source is pristine or has been used for compile as well as showing you what you have in the kernel.

[Mau]

do a ls -al in /usr/src/linux and see if you have a .config file.

If you do make a copy of it # cp .config ~/config.bak

You can then go # make xconfig

in /usr/src/linux and have a poke around the kernel configuration (don't do anything else apart from have a look around and try and see if anything has been set to different values), this will help in determining if the source is pristine or has been used for compile as well as showing you what you have in the kernel.
I think I already have the drivers for this.. this installs the PRISM2, Oncirco (sp?) and Helemes drivers? If so I already have them.