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.