FW: [CS-FSLUG] Add-on to my previous message

[Ruth Marlene Friesen]

>A good way to learn Linux, and especially Mandrake Linux, is to read the 
>documentation. Read the Getting Started manual, the User's Guide, and 
>when you feel really adventurous, the Command Line Guide.
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>

>I suspect you don't have these; look at /usr/share/doc/ and see there 
>whether you have the docs installed. If not, you can get them online in 
>both PDF and HTML format. They are extremely useful, and if you take 
>your time to study them carefully, then your efforts will be rewarded.
>
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>
Thanks, Eduardo, I'm making myself a note to look for them this week.

> No problem at all, my sister. I didn't see a silly question, and,
>
>besides, yours were mostly the same kind I've always asked myself some 
>time ago. That time, some kind folks --and among those a lot of people 
>here on this list-- helped me along the way, and I'm just passing the 
>voice, as many of us are doing it here.
>
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Great. I hope I can help others some day too. :)

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>>After my session yesterday in 
>>the "other computer"  I have some new questions.
>>1. How do I format or get to use my CD drives to copy files for 
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>another
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>>computer?
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>That implies the ability to burn CDs. If you want to delve into it, 
>there is a whole FAQ devoted to the subject (list, help me, I'm offline 
>and on dialup now!), not precisely with "technical" or "advanced" 
>question, but only with those sensible question one might think to ask 
>of this. Here's a primer:
>
>1. You need adequate equipment: a CD Burner. A CD Reader won't do, 
>obviously.
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Check. got that.

>2. You need adequate supplies, of which there are two main categories: 
>CD-R and CD-RW.
>
>* CD-R: Stands for "CD-Recordable". You record (or "burn") the CD, and 
>that's it. You cannot erase or re-record it. 
>
>* CD-RW: Stands for "CD Recordable and Writable". It's a CD which can be 
>burned, then erased, and then burned, and then... well, you get the 
>idea.
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Check. Got both, and the donated computer has a DVD drive, and a Zip 
drive too!

>Notice that CD Recording is a write-once activity. You cannot --save in 
>some very sophisticated procedures-- write part of a CD, then write in 
>another part, or erase "just that file while keeping the others". 
>Before the "burning", you select carefully your material. The CD 
>Recording software then assemble it into an "image", which is then 
>burned to the disk.
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I have been able to put my backups on a CD-R in Win98, as long as I 
don't exit so it closes the CD for good.

>3. You need adequate software. 
>
>* First of all, you need two programs named "cdrdao" and "cdrecord". 
>There might be others, but these are the standards. You can check if 
>you have these installed by typing in a console window:
>
>rpm -qa | grep cdr
>
>* Now, these programs are command-line only, and very difficult to 
>operate intuitively. So what you usually would do is to use them 
>through a graphical "frontend". The gold standard of these is a program 
>named "k3b". Others include:
>
>* xcdroast
>* gcombust
>* eroaster
>
>in KDE, you can press ALT+F2 and type each of these names, and see if a 
>window opens.
>
>My recommendation is, obviously, k3b. It has a setup assistant, 
>k3bsetup2, which helps you in the configuration steps.
>
>I hope these is at least a starting point for an answer.
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>
That's great. I'll look for these things too. I was only trying to copy 
some files onto a CD from that computer,  but couldn't.

>>2. for that matter, my printer doesn't seem to catch on to commands 
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>well there either.
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>Now, how is that? would you elaborate, please?
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Well, I have an HP LaserJet 1100, and when I gave it print commands from 
within Open Office, I got long delays or plainly ignored. Then when I 
was back in Windows and wanted to print something, it would first spit 
out some pages of gibberish as if finishing off the print job from in OO 
from the day before. There's a number of printer programs and I explored 
some, but it all looked rather complicated. I wonder if my 3 drives, 
CD-Rom, CD-Writer, and DVD need to be initialized or something?

>>3. In Jan. another man on our Board at the mission, gave me his 
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>computer,
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>>(he said he knew I'd put it to good use!) I installed Mandrake on it 
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>too,
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>>but made Gnome  the main desktop there to be able to compare it to 
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>KDE.
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>>Whenever I go to open that computer I get this big warning message 
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>that my
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>>/var is too small, but when I go into the Mandrake Control center, and 
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>want
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>>to adjust it, I get lost. The partitioning windows come up fine, but I 
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>don't
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>>know how to set it. Fortunately, I haven't built up any files of my 
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>own
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>>there except for a few I was hoping to print out, so I CAN re-install 
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>if I
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>>need to. What's my move here?
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>
>Hmmm. Usually /var is used by logs and temporary files. So, it *usually* 
>is not THAT important for desktop users. Now, about your problem: my 
>suspicion is that you installed Mandrake using automatic partitioning. 
>Right? That's because auto partitioning in Mandrake splits your hard 
>disk into four or five partitions.
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Yes, I think I did. Because I decided to wipe out Windows and use only 
Linux on that one.
I did make notes in case I had to retrace my steps. ... umm, yes, I 
found it.
on 3/13/04 on newer 10 GB computer,
created a small HFS "bootstrap" partion of at least 1 MB on 50 MB. 
for use by yaboot loader.
Partitioning.
Linux Boot section: mount/boot hda1. Linux (oops, can't make out my 
handwriting -native?) 1 GB.
Swap section: hda5 743 MB
Root section: Journalized FS? 3 /753 MB
Home section; hda7 Journalized FS  407 MB.
USR section: hda8 Linux Native 3.5 GB
Var section: hda9 Linux Native 109 MB
Tmp section: hda10 Jornalized FS-on3 635 MB
/mnt/windows section: hda11 FAT 32  2.8GB

I admit I was stumbling around, and loosely following the advice in an 
online article, but that man was setting up Debian as he explained what 
he was doing. Actually, I probably did go with auto-partitioning on this 
one.

>I don't like that approach. Even though it is somewhat less bulletproof, 
>I have only a small /boot partition and the rest in a large, big, root 
>(/) partition (besides swap, obviously). If you want to be able to 
>specify your own partition sizes at install time (I am not aware 
>whether you can resize partitions on an already installed Linux 
>system), you must check the DiskDrake tool that is part of the DrakX 
>Installer of Madrake and of the Mandrake Control Center.
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Well, that screen comes up again in DiskDrake, but... nothing happens 
when I try to give /var more space.

>I don't remember anymore how DiskDrake is used; but I know there are 
>very good instructions about its use in the Mandrake docs. Therefore I 
>encourage you to read the relevant section.
>
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Okay, that's what I need to look for next. Thanks. Like I said, if I get 
a free evening, I may just do the install over again, and make sure /var 
gets the share it seems to want.
Every time I boot up I get this big pause and then this strong message 
that I have a failure there, and it should have more space. Once I get 
past that, no problem.

>Hope to be of help.
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You've been a great help. Thanks so much!

Blessings,
Ruth