[lotuseclat79]

Hi Cathy,

Whichever account you login to in Linux, I think the Desktop is a subdirectory of the user's home account, which "~" refers to in all cases for any one user who is logged on to the Linux OS. That means that if you issue the command, cd ~, it positions you at your home or login directory. A simpler way to do the same thing is to just issue, cd, which does the same thing, or pushd ~ will also do it, but preserve your previous directory in the directory stack which you can see by issuing: dirs -l

So, after you login, then issue the command: ls
to see if Desktop shows up, and then cd Desktop if it does.

-- Tom

[CraftyCathy]

Ok... Will print this out and go see if I can do it... The only password I can remember doing is.. one and I use it to get into Linux. Also some things call for it on adminitrater. I have been in terminal before and used it. So this is why I don't understand why I got that, today.

Thanks a bunch...

[CraftyCathy]

Well..... I think I did as you said for /boot/grub. When the next window came up after typing all that in, at the top, which must be the name of where you are at... said? Craftycathy@: /boot/grub

Then in the window, the curser was at the top. Under which was just a bunch of short looking lines --- about that long and all the way down the screen to the bottom. Then on the bottom line it says: (and in quotes as written) "grub.conf" (spaces) [new filed] (then clear over on the right side) 0,0-1 all

So that was it for grub.

Then for the directories.

When I typed ls:
Desktop examples.ged example.grdb examples

Now I guess this is on desktop along with the genealogy programs. I seen one of them, but not the others. They are probably there and I just have not messed with them. But I think they are in the form of icons or just text like.

cd desktop: no such firles or directory

Dirs -l brings up /home/craftycathy

[lotuseclat79]

Hi Cathy,

From your craftcathy user account when you issued the ls command, you got:
Desktop examples.ged example.grdb examples

Try issuing: cd Desktop
instead of: cd desktop
i.e. Case, as in upper or lower case matters in Linux, not in Windows.

And try out: ls -lta
where you should see more of the details like the size and permissions of the files and directories (which should be in a different color than the files to highlight them). The 'a' in the ls command lets you see the files whose name begins with a '.' and some of them might be a directory rather than a file.

An easy way to see the contents of a .txt file is to issue the command:
cat <filename> as in:
cat readme.txt

The cat command streams the entire file to the screen, so if it is a large .txt file and you just want to see either the top 5 or (by default) lines or the last 5 lines, issue:
head <filename> or
tail <filename>
and if you want to see the first or last 25 lines:
head -25 <filename> or
tail -25 <filename>

After you have used the pushd <new directory> command then the dirs -l command will show you the directory stack. pushd when given with more than one directory in the directory stack will switch the top (most recent) two directories on the stack.

Also, for all commands in Linux that can be given from the command line, the documentation for each command is in its "man page" which you can see, for example, by issuing the man command, like so:
man ls
man cd
man dirs

Some commands are built-in to the command line interpreter that instantiates the commands that you issue and are not documented separately from the command line interpreter, others are not and have their own man page.

-- Tom

[lotuseclat79]

Hi Cathy,

Continuing with response to post #11:

If only I could remember better then I could talk about this stuff better...

I keep a notebook (you know, like a college spiral...) for each of my OSes, in order to remember things like what the default configuration of my firewall is in my AV on Windows if I need to uninstall and reinstall it. Comes in handy, and keeping one can for you to!

-- Tom

[lotuseclat79]

Hi Cathy,

And what on earth are the directories on Linux?
The... I guess they are called commands (?), you listed above. Are they to be done in Terminal?

Directories:Linux::Folders:Windows

Yes, Linux can be run in two different modes. If your Linux boots up into GUI or Graphical User Interface mode then you are probably using either Gnome or KDE GUI environment.

Terminal indeed brings up a window much like the command prompt window in Windows, but there are no DOS commands in Linux, only Linux commands which are processed by a command line interpreter as the other user interface mode.

-- Tom

[lotuseclat79]

Hi Cathy,

Does FTM work on Linux?

Only on Windows systems afaik from http://www.familtreemaker.com/

-- Tom

[lotuseclat79]

Originally Posted by CraftyCathy

I forgot to tell you, I downloaded this scanmodem and the other program onto windows then burnt the CD to use on Linux. Since I am using two harddrives I have to keep shutting down to go from one to the other. Which is real hard when you need Windows open to do things. Which I can't do on Linux. Such as copy and paste stuff like you have above to Linux.

Hi Cathy,

Here is what I do to mount my WinXP Pro SP2 system onto Linux, which allows me to read my NTFS WinXP file system:
1) First I downloaded the NTFS driver from sourceforge.com, installed it per instructions on their website. It only supports reading at this point, however, you may have NTFS support in the Daper Drake Ubuntu 6.0.6 because it uses a kernel (OS internals) greater than version 2.6.14 - I think 2.6.16 if I am not mistaken - so, you may be all set in this regard.

2) On bootup, my root account login executes my .bash_profile from the root user account's home directory, i.e. /root. My files looks something like this, where I have typed in comments that begin: <-- Cathy:...
# .bash_profile

# Get the aliases and functions
if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
. ~/.bashrc
fi

# Must be done manually, i.e. not default in Linux
ln -s /dev/ttyS0 /dev/modem <-- Cathy: recommend you do this

# User specific environment and startup programs
# load ntfs driver into kernel
/sbin/modprobe ntfs <-- Cathy: you probably don't need to do this

# mount ntfs volume read only
#mount -t ntfs /dev/sda1 /mnt/WinXPPro -r -o umask=0222
# mount ntfs volume read/write
mount -t ntfs /dev/sda1 /mnt/WinXPPro -w -o umask=0122 <-- Cathy: you can probably do the same thing on your computer if you change /dev/sda1 to the device name for your hard disk partition containing Ubuntu, and here's how to find out what that is:
# fdisk -l
[Note: do not mess up on this command, so read the man page first, i.e. man fdisk]:
# man fdisk [and pay attention to the parameter -l, i.e. lower case 'L']. Note: when you see the output of the (fdisk -l) command, the Linux partition is not the Linux swap partition or the smallest Linux partition, but the largest Linux partition which contains your Linux OS.
So, if the output looks like the following (as on my machine):
Disk /dev/hde: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hde1 * 5 4865 39045982+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hde2 1 4 32098+ 83 Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/hdf: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdf1 * 1 33 265041 82 Linux swap
/dev/hdf2 34 4865 38813040 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 9728 78140128+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 14 9538 76509562+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb3 9539 9729 1534207+ 82 Linux swap

My Windows partition is: /dev/sda1 and
My Linux partition is: /dev/sdb2
[end comment to Cathy]

PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin

export PATH
unset USERNAME

Natually, if I want to read a file on my WinXP system while I am logged into Linux, I do:
# pushd /mnt/WinXPPro
in order to get to the mounted WinXP file system from Linux, and then I issue the ls command and may use the find command in Linux to locate a file I am interested in finding. Later when I am done, I issue the command: popd
in order to get back to the previous directory on the directory stack that I was located at before I issued the above pushd command.

Here is how I use the find command to locate a file from Linux in the WinXP filesystem:
# find . -name "<filename>" -print
where <filename> is the name of a file whose name I already know, just not where it is.

If I am not sure of the filename, I use wildcards "*" in the name specification, like this:
# find . -name "*.txt" -print
or
# find . -name "*Loc*" -print

The '.' specifies the current directory where you issue the command and find recursively searches all of the subdirectories from there, so if you locate to the '/' directory in Linux you can find a Linux file and ignore the mounted filesystems (Windows) like this:
# cd /
# find . -xdev -name "<filename" -print
where -xdev directs the find command to ignore other filesystems from the one you are on.

-- Tom

[lotuseclat79]

Hi Cathy,

Here are the contents of my .bashrc file which will give you a prompt that will keep track of the number of commands you use when logged into your Linux accounts (i.e. PS1 at end):
# .bashrc

# User specific aliases and functions

alias rm='rm -i'
alias cp='cp -i'
alias mv='mv -i'

# Source global definitions
if [ -f /etc/bashrc ]; then
. /etc/bashrc
fi

PS1="[\u@\h \W:\!] "

-- Tom

[CraftyCathy]

Tom.. I have WinME not WinXP. I don't have a disk for ME, all I have is the recovery CD from HP.

I don't know why, but I am not really understanding much of what you say. I have not yet learned much. So most things I just don't know what your talking about. I read it over and over. I read things that are suppose to explain to me this stuff and yet, I don't get it.

There isn't any easier way to do this stuff? Do you always have to put in these commands? Or line entries? Doesn't anything just install or install by clicking a few button? I thought Dapper Drake was suppose to be easy.

As WinMe gets more and more messed up to where it don't want to work right, the drive is more to get Linux going so I can just use it for the most part. But if I can't prgram Linux, then I am stuck!

I will keep going over your posts, hopefully I will understand at some point.

Cathy

[CraftyCathy]

Let me see... I have a question, but not sure how to ask it... I am not sure if you have told me this or not.. Remember I am "thick"!

Is there a way to type something into Terminal so I can see what is on Linux? I don't know what is there.

Ok, for example on Windows I go to: Desktop/My Computer. Then I can open the drop down menu there and see... Desktop, My Documents, My Computer, A drive, C drive, M drive, N drive, Then Icons and a couple of other things on Desktop.

I am feeling like I am lost in Linux. I don't know what is on it and don't know what to look for and if I seen it when typing in something, I would not recognize it, cause I don't know what it is.

In other words... Linux does not have the same names for all the things like Windows do. Ok.. it has Desktop. I recognize this name and know what it is. But that is as far as it goes.

Is there something equelevent to C: drive? Is there other's? Yes, I can go look, but would I know what I seen, if I seen anything else? I have been in there lots of times and yet to find C: drive.

And what are those little boxes for on the bottom right toll bar. They say work stations or work places? There is 4 of them. I had another window open when I was on desktop and clicked on them. The only thing I seen different on the other 3, the window I had opened was not in any of them. What is the purpose of them? This could not be like different drives?

One thing I know for sure, all that you are telling me, one day I will know exactly what your saying. So I totally value every thing you write here. As I learn I can keep going back to it, being able to do what you say... some day... Just did not want you to think all your telling me is a waste of your time.

Cathy

[CraftyCathy]

Tom... I did it.. Well I got into Desktop. And it is with a "D" instead of a "d"... I seen Down Loads, the file folder I made for scanmodem. But then I did not know what to do next. And I did not even know why I was doing this... Oh how soon we forget... hehehe...

Still I don't know how to make a program work from a CD... I am going back over to Linux to read what it says in scanmodem again. Now maybe it will make more since to me..

Also I did the man thing... man ls works but man cd and dirs says, No manual entry.

I looked through man ls. But did not see anything I had been looking for. Is there a man for basic commands? If so, what would that be called?

Also I tried to print it. There is not any print any where I can find. So I was going to highlight and copy to ?? something.. Some word processor. Well it only highlights the screen and does not scroll down any. I did not want to do all of this copy, paste, scroll... etc.. right then. I know how to get back into it, so will do it later. Thought this would be good to have on hard copy to look at when I go into Terminal, maybe...

Why do I need this?

"Here are the contents of my .bashrc file which will give you a prompt that will keep track of the number of commands you use when logged into your Linux accounts (i.e. PS1 at end):"

Oh yes and this number sign.. #.. do you put it there for me to type into Terminal? Well it don't work when I use it.

[CraftyCathy]

Tom, I thought I had finally did it.. But didn't... I just kept changing the directory till I got into the Downloads folder, then Linux folder... Then I opened up, I guess it would be the readme file in Linux Folder. Which the close to the top it says...

download scanModem.gz . Within a Linux partition
gunzip scanModem.gz
To make it exutable:
chmod +x scanModem
Run diagnostics with:
./scanModem

to start with when it says to make it excutable: chmod +x scanModem, kept getting no such file. So I added .gz to the end of it. Then it just went to a prompt, no error or anything, just a prompt. So then I typed in ./scanModem to excute it... all I could get was, No such file or directory. Seems I got so close but yet still was not able to do it. Also tried that last entry with.gz. Didn't work. But then not sure if any of it worked with even putting the .gz on the 1st. other then didn't get an error and went to a prompt. So I thought that made it work. There is not any more instructions. There is lots of things on the readme file, but nothing I understood. Nothing that said to do anything else to the program to make it work or I don't think so.

Well I am getting a new external modem, so it don't really matter if I run the scanmodem for it. But would like to know how to make it work anyway. If I don't know how to make this program work, now am I going to make any other one work??

Cathy

[lotuseclat79]

Hi Cathy,

I decided to try and find scanModem, and downloaded it from here to my Desktop:
http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/packages/scanModem.gz

On my Linux FC3 Desktop, I first created a ScanModem folder (directory in Linux speak) and put the downloaded file into it [Note: I use the '#' character as the prompt]:
# mkdir ScanModem
# mv scanModem.gz ScanModem
# cd ScanModem

[Note: cd is short for chdir, so try the command "# man chdir" to see the man page for cd]

# gunzip scanModem.gz
# chmod +x scanModem
# ./scanModem

# cd Modem
# ls -lt

In the Modem subdirectory, you should see the files:
1stRead.txt ModemData.txt Testing.txt
DriverCompiling.txt Rational.txt UNSUBSCRIBE.txt
InfoGeneral.txt SoftModem.txt YourSystem.txt

Since you are getting the USR external modem, use the information in the Modem subdirectory (folder) for informational purposes only, e.g do not attempt to recompile your Unbuntu 6.0.6 kernel driver(s) with the information in DriverCompiling.txt. Its ok to refer back to it if you ever get to the level where you are compiling OS internals, otherwise, forgetaboutit - capish! That way you won't damage your Linux system.

The scanModem script appears not to have detected that my system does have the gcc compiler installed (which all Linux platforms should have by default) - so, while it does put out a lot of information (which you probably won't understand), it still needs some work on it.

Later,

-- Tom

[Bartender]

Cathy -
You're a brave one, I'll give you that. Most people woulda given up and gone back to Windows by now. I'm also running Ubuntu 6.06, but on a spare PC so that if everything goes horribly wrong it's not a crisis.
You mentioned folders, and not knowing where to go. I sympathize. In Windows you'd go to C: Drive, etc. etc. Linux gives you one folder, your home folder. It's best to leave all the other folders alone. You can make more folders inside your home folder for music or documents or whatever. Once you get used to the concept it's easier than that other OS.
I've got a book to recommend. Keir Thomas, Beginning Ubuntu Linux
http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Ubun.../dp/1590596277
I don't know about you, but trying to learn online is too disjointed. Before I know it I've got links and bookmarks spread all over the place. With a book, the author has already thought about how to lay out the information in a manner that you can follow, and you can flip back & forth as need be.
Modems are somewhat of a nightmare with Ubuntu. The OS is so reliant on broadband for updating and such that I feel it's almost pointless if you're stuck with a modem. I've lugged my Linux PC into work, where broadband was available, and downloaded TONS of data. Have you heard of Automatix? It's a script that you download and then start. It goes online and downloads a bunch of programs to make Ubuntu work better with music, DVD's etc. My PC was busy wolfing down data for an hour. It woulda taken a week on dial-up, if it worked at all!
If you have a friend who has broadband, I'd encourage you to take your PC over to their house, plug into their ethernet connection, then start your PC. You may have to go into - um - Administration, Networking, enable eth01, apply, then restart. Somethign like that. The important thing is have the ethernet plugged in before starting. I know squat about networking, but at work my Linux PC goes online immediately. No muss no fuss.
Anyway, most modems are winmodems, which means they rely on the Windows operating system to work. Of course, that means they won't work in Linux without a lot of tweaking. An external US Robotics is a way to bypass all the hassle. I did the exact same thing you did. Bought a couple of USR Sportsters on ebay. Problem is my ISP (Juno) uses Windows-reliant software to dial, so I was still unable to connect. However, the Sportster did try. It dialed, but Juno wouldn't cooperate.
If you use a Sportster, you don't need to screw around with scanmodem. Just use wvdial, or the Modem Monitor program in Dapper. The Sportster has a bunch of little dipswitches underneath. I don't understand how those should be set. Mine appeared to work as it was so I didn't mess with them.
The terminal is scary at first but i encourage you to play with it. Thomas' book eases you into terminal by starting out with baby steps. I put a shortcut to the terminal right on the desktop. For instance, bring up a terminal, and just type "top". Without the quote marks of course. Top is a fun little utility that tells you what processes are running in the order of CPU usage. You can keep the top window open, then start something else like OpenOffice, and watch what happens.
Sometimes you need to type in "sudo" before the terminal command, and sometimes you don't. Ubuntu will demand sudo (and password) for any sort of command that might entail making any changes to the system. Part of the security that's built into Linux. All you can do is practice and it will start to come to you. The "top" command doesn't allow system changes so you don't need sudo.
I hang around the Ubuntu Forums a lot, just trying to absorb knowledge. Search usually brings up just about anything you'd want to delve into because a lot of people are posting there.
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/index.php

As far as your password problems go, I wish I could be more help. Are you sure you're typing it in just like when you log on? Ubuntu is case-sensitive. Cat is not the same as cat.