[CLUG] A Linux Newbie.

[Donncha O Caoimh]

Paul wrote:
> 
> Hi there,
> I hope there is someone who can help a Linux newbie.

You made the most unfortunate mistake any newcomer to the Linux scene
can make: you posted in HTML! Since you're using Outlook Express look
for an option to turn off "Rich Text" or "HTML emails" - many people use
mail clients which can't interpret HTML, and besides, the html morethan
doubles the size of the email sometimes!

> I have been interested in Linux for some time and I went to the LAID
> day in UCC I found some of it interesting and got my hands on a
> version of RedHat Linux.
> 
> I found some problems installing Linux, when using the custom install
> partitioning or what partitions to set-up could someone tell me what
> partitions I should use for linux and how they should be mounted and
> the size I should make each one I'm using a 2gig hdd partition for
> Linux.
> example:
> /boot       Linux native
>               Linux swap
> /             Linux native
> /usr        Linux native

You may have noticed I just created two partitions during the Demo Hour. 
I first created a 64MB swap partition, and then allowed disk druid to
fill in the rest of the HD as one big Linux native partition which was
mounted on /.
Makes things much easier, and for a home system is adequate.

> I had no problem setting up Linux with the Workstation install and
> have both Linux and Win98 running on the same hardisk, but because
> it's a new os system to me It's very slow going to get used to it and
> I've some other questions for a linux power user out there.
> When in Linux I can mount my win or dos hdd or partition without any
> problems by running mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /mnt/Hardisk from the
> terminal and I can mount my cdrom by running mount -t auto /dev/cdrom
> /mnt/cdrom but when I logout or restart I have remount them is there a
> way to permanently mount to save me having to remount them every time
> I restart.
Edit a file called /etc/fstab and put the following line in there:
/dev/hda1 /mnt/Hardisk vfat defaults 0,0
Change the noauto on the cdrom line to auto and it'll mount the next
time you reboot which is generally not what you want when using
removable media.

> I also have a second hdd and a Iomega zipdisk how do I mount or find
> them  in Linux.
> I read a text file I got on the net about mounting the Zipdrive but it
> did not work, it said to mount it as mount -t vfat /dev/sda4
> /mnt/zipdrive but it could not find sda4.

That's harder. You have to recompile the kernel with generic scsi
support, scsi-ide support, and iomega drivers. I realise that's asking a
lot of you but I don't have the time to go into it here. Maybe someone
can pint you at a document that explains it. (/usr/doc/HOWTO/mini/ has a
ZIP disk file)

> 
> I have read most of the documentation I got with Redhat Linux and a
> lot of info I got of the net.
> I'm also looking for help setting up my modem.
> I thank anyone who helps me and I will be able to help other's with
> the knowledge I gain.
> 

If your modem is a real modem, type modemtool in X and select which com
port your modem is on! :)

Donncha.