Re: Talked into installing Red Hat 8.0

[Steve & Patti Getzinger <psatg bluemarble net>]

Luke wrote:

> ...and I am frustrated as all get out.  I do tech support for internet 
> service, and have worked with windows and macs for the past 5 years or 
> so, so I am not a complete idiot in those areas, but when it comes to 
> Red Hat I don't mind admitting that I am pretty close to a complete 
> moron, so your help here would be GREATLY appreciated.
>  
> A friend I work with kept going on about how great linux is, and that 
> I should really try red hat, so he got me some CD's.  Well, I very 
> much enjoy what works of it (ie - GIMP - I love doing graphics for 
> webpages, also the desktop switcher thing is great, plus there are 
> lots of other features that I look forward to using) but there is 
> quite a bit wrong with my install too (most likely my fault! :grin:.)
>  
> Lets see, where to start?  I'll give you a condensed list here first:
> -------
> 1:  Getting my dialup working (possible modem driver install issues?)
> 2:  Accessing seperate (data) partitions on my hard drive (one of 
> which is in the NTFS format)
> 3:  XMMS won't load MP3 Files
> 4:  Audio configuration test (the little guitar lick) works, but while 
> audio CD's load and appear to be playing in the CD player app, there 
> is no sound.  (already checked volume controls).  Have not been able 
> to test out digital music files (see problem #3)
> ------
> If you guys need the brands of the devices, I am guessing here (will 
> write it down next time at home), but I think the CDROM drive is 
> Intel, and the dialup modem is 3Com
>  
> The computer is one I got from gateway, and my crappy little system as 
> a 15GIG hard drive, 500 MHZ celeron processor, and 128MB ram, if you 
> guys need that info.
>  
> -------------
> problem number 1:
> -------------
> Setting up my Dial Up access.  After I started it up, I went to the 
> Network Configuration window, and tried to get the Dialup Access 
> going.  I figured if I could get internet access and get onto the 
> support sites, I might be ok.  Well...no luck there.
>  
> I recieved one message about how a modem was not found (It is there, 
> believe me! :grin:).   Somehow, I managed to get the ppp0 thing into 
> the network configuration window, and I entered in the dialup number 
> and user/pass, but than I went through hell trying to activate it.  I 
> still don't know if it is right.  (I am not even sure if it really 
> found the modem and the drivers for it are installed correctly.)  I 
> deactivated it, and it said it couldn't deactivate it, but than the 
> listing switched to "deactivated".  I tried to activate it, but when I 
> left my house after 10 minutes of waiting, it was still trying.  So I 
> left it going.  My ethernet card was found and activated with no 
> problems, which is nice and all, but since I don't have my cable modem 
> service hooked up at the moment.....
>  
> What am I doing wrong here?  Is it just that my modem isn't really 
> installed? (it says generic modem on the drop down box to select your 
> modem).  What can I do to fix this?
>  
> -------------
> problem number 2:
> -------------
> Before I did this, I had my hard drive partitioned off.  One was for 
> the OS, another was a 10Gig partition for my music/movie files, and 
> the other was a 886MB partition that I used at random.  (the last two 
> were just data partitions, and were formatted in the NTFS format)
>  
> When I did the install, I used the 886MB partition as a swap drive (no 
> longer NTFS format - I allowed it to format ut during the install)
>  
> Now I cannot get into either partition.  Searching through a few help 
> files, I was able to verify that both the partitions are still there 
> (using sfdisk -l), and are still the same sizes, but I for the life of 
> me cannot figure out how to access my media files on one of the 
> partitions, and I am assuming that the partition I setup for the swap 
> I wont' be able to use.
>  
> How can I get access to those partitions, or at least the one with all 
> my media files on it? (It is listed as hda5)
>  
> -------------
> problem number 3:
> -------------
> Ok, so I couldn't access my mp3's or movies on the partitions, but 
> luckily I had a bunch of mp3s on Cd that I tried using to test out the 
> Winamp-style media player. 
>  
> Well, first I tried copying one of the music files from the CD to the 
> desktop, and tried playing the mp3. 
>  
> I cannot, for the life of me, get the mp3 to go into the playlist to 
> start playing.  I tried using the "add->file" function, the "add->dir" 
> option, the "Open" option, and dragging the file onto the playlist.  
> None of those worked.  So I tried moving the mp3 file to the folder on 
> the desktop labled "<yourusername> home" - the one originally on the 
> desktop - and tried repeating - still nothing.  I also tried all those 
> things on files still on the CD - no dice there. 
>  
> How can I get these files to load into that so I can play them.  From 
> what I hear, ogg is the way to go, but I just want to be able to hear 
> my music, and watch the movies I have!
>  
> -------------
> problem number 4:
> -------------
> Sound card issues.  Even if I had gotten the mp3 files to load, I 
> still don't know if I would have heard anything.  I ran the sound card 
> test, and at first, it didn't want to play the little guitar licks for 
> me.  I started up chromium, and I heard music (though the game froze 
> on a black screen), so I closed out of that, and opened up the sound 
> card testing app, and that time I heard the guitar chime.  I opened up 
> Maelstrom though, and I had no sound.  I could still hear the guitar 
> lick on the testing though. 
>  
> So I pop a CD in, and it starts playing (according to the CD player 
> app), but I hear nothing.  So I try a different CD - same thing.  I 
> checked the volume control, and everything there seems ok, nothing is 
> muted, and the sliders are all at least halfway up.  And yes, my 
> speakers were on :grin:.
>  
> What can I do to get it to play audio CD's so that I can hear them?  
> Will the mp3 media player work once I get MP3 files to load?
>  
> -----------
> I think that about covers the main issues.  I beg of you, please, 
> PLEASE help me with this.  I like red hat, and I don't mind learning 
> how to work the system, but these things I would like to have going 
> ASAP.  I am burning the Manuals onto a CD in all the different formats 
> to have when I get back to my computer, but if you guys have 
> experienced this before, or know how to fix it, please chime in with 
> some help.
>  
> I appreciate the time it took to read this, and thanks in advance for 
> your help!
>  
> -Luke

Start with a book on Linux like an Unleashed. Starting with modem. 
Internal/External? Sounds like you have network issues if you are having 
problems upping and downing net interfaces. What do you have listed as 
domain name? localhost.localdomain? Start there. Next rid yourself of 
any entries you have referencing your failed modem attempts. Simple GUI 
to use is the Internet Configuration Wizard under System Tools. That 
should get you rolling with an Internet connection. Bring it up and down 
using System Settings -> Network you can get fancy after you have it 
working. If it is a WinModem I say throw it out and get a modem. That 
should get ya online and able to access help files.

Hope that helps,
Steve