Hi,
Welcome to the world of Linux!
* Tendril <tendril@shotgunsandwich.net> [2004-01-03 16:14]:
>I was given a thinkpad with debian woody installed (no billyware). It
>boots lovely except for the audio. I get this message at logon:
>
>error while initialising sound driver:
>device /dev/dsp can't be opened (permission denied)
>the sound server will continue, using the null output lines
Logon as normal user? Then you should check the permission of
/dev/dsp, it probably can't be opened. To fix it:
- be root,
- add user to /dev/dsp's group
>my installation won't let me log into an xwindows environment as root
Good thing. That is never necessary.
>I have to do it through a terminal so some easy instructions would be
>very welcome
You can start X Window programs as root, but I have no idea how to
solve the problem with them.
>also how do I browse to my cd rom? It doesn't appear in konquerer and
>I don't remember seing it mounted at boot.
It shouldn't be mounted at boot. Just make an entry like this in
/etc/fstab:
/dev/cdrom /media/cdrom auto ro,noauto,user,exec 0 0
After that, you can mount with
mount /media/cdrom
or use one of the GUI tools. I usually use GKrellM.
>Could someone point me to some easy to understand docs about the file
>system, maybe with a graphical representation, as it seems so different
>to billyware. I am trying to find java so I can get my browsers to run
>applets (I use mozilla and konq).
Use Debian's installer for that. I am not sure about the package name,
but
apt-cache search java
or maybe
apt-cache search java | mozilla
should give you some hints, install is done with
apt-get install <package>
(both as root).
To find the java executable (or any other) use
which java
If you don't find anything, you have to dig deeper.
locate bin/java
should get you at least one hit. If not, try to update the database
first:
su -c updatedb
Try the locate again after that. If that doesn't help, Java is not
installed.
As for the file system in general, Konqueror has a tree view, is that
not enough? What kind of graphical representation do you want?
For basics about GNU/Linux you should read a book, possibly on paper.
>Finally (for now) is there a reason why I can't copy/paste between
>applications? (ie. between advanced editor and mozilla news composer?)
You should use what is called the Primary Selection instead. It take
some time getting used to, but is much faster after that:
- Select the thing you want to transfer
- Middle-click at the place where you want it inserted.
No keys necessary. If you want to put a URL into Mozilla's location
bar, don't bother. Just select the URL and middle-click somewhere in
Mozilla's main window.
Thorsten
--
If you couldn't find any weirdness, maybe we'll just have to make some!
- Calvin
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