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Newer page: version 21 Last edited on Friday, September 22, 2006 9:26:30 am by BruceKingsbury Revert
Older page: version 19 Last edited on Saturday, September 16, 2006 9:28:41 pm by DavidHallett Revert
@@ -125,22 +125,22 @@
 Reformulation: How do I setup new hardware (in particular USB)? Is it possibly to do this automatically when the device is plugged in? 
  
 A lot of supported hardware just 'appears' when you plug it in, eg cameras, scanners, cd writers. Run the appropriate application and you might find the device is already configured. 
  
-Printers tend not to be as simple . If you use RedHat, try running the printer config (System settings / Printing). It might be automatically detected, and a lot of printers are already supported. 
+In Ubuntu, "System > Preferences > Removeable Drives and Media" has an option to run programs automatically when various devices are connected, although this is more than most users need. Printers are configured under "System > Administration > Printing" and the correct port and printer type is usually autodetected for you. Most scanners are detected on the fly by xsane, although some types (like parallel port scanners) need a slight configuration change first .  
+  
+ If you use RedHat, try running the printer config (System settings / Printing). It might be automatically detected, and a lot of printers are already supported.  
+  
  
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 Q: I go too the scanner / printer / modem / whatever web site and there are no drivers for linux, so where do I find them? 
  
 Reformulation: How do I work with various types of hardware? Do I need special software from the manufacturer? 
  
-A: A lot of hardware is -already- supported under linux. Aditionally, Linux drivers tend to be written based on the chipset rather than for individual devices, so if you find some cheap tiwanese card based on a de4x5 chip Linux will use it right away, while Windows is likely to expect specific drivers that can only be found on some obscure .tw website.  
-  
-For example the BT848/BT878 video capture chipset is very well supported, and I have a number of cards here based on this chip. Under Windows each different card needs to have drivers installed. I only have the driver CD for one, and many of the older cards only have drivers for 95/98. Not all of them appear as a 'standard' video capture device I can use with Helix, coffeecup Webcam, and other applications, and each comes with it's own viewer application that only seem to work for that card.  
-  
-Under RedHat Linux all but the oldest one of these cards are automatically detected and supported by the 'bttv' driver. And although they support varying features they all work basically the same way with streamer, xawtv, etc.
+A: Linux drivers tend to be written based on the chipset rather than for individual devices, so if you find some cheap tiwanese card based on a de4x5 chip Linux will use it right away, while Windows is likely to expect specific drivers that can only be found on some obscure .tw website. 
  
+Many common chipsets are well supported under Linux, and with any mainstream distro the hardware will start working as soon as you plug it in.  
  
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 Q: Where is my scanners TWAIN driver? 
@@ -175,18 +175,17 @@
 A: During the install, it identified your windows partition. If you're using FAT32 and thought ahead, you might have assigned that a mount point such as /mnt/windows so you'd be able to access it from Linux. 
  
 If you forgot to do that, or if you're running a 'marginally supported' filesystem like NTFS it's still not too late but it's a bit harder to set up. Bring the box along to a meeting and ask for help. 
  
-Alternatively; go ask some Windows people how you can access an etx3 partition from in Windows. That should be good for a laugh ... or you could try using [Google] to search for it ([search results |http://www.google.co.nz/search?q=ext3 %20windows])  
-  
+You can also access your Linux partitions from the windows side with a number of third-party tools . Google [ext3+linux|http://www .google .co.nz/search?q=ext3%20windows] or [reiserfs+linux |http://www.google.co.nz/search?q=reiserfs %20windows].  
  
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 Q: Where is my print queue? 
  
 Reformulation: How do I manage printing? 
  
-RedHat has a very windows-like print manager. You should be able to figure it out. 
+RedHat has a very windows-like print manager. So does Ubuntu . You should be able to figure it out. 
  
  
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@@ -196,8 +195,9 @@
  
 A: This depends on your distribution, for debian you usually use apt(8) 
 For redhat, you run 'System settings / Packages' and get a package manager remarkably like windows' add/remove programs. 
  
+In Ubuntu there's an "Add/Remove programs" option at the bottom of the main menu.  
  
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 Q: I have jetstream with an internal modem, where is the PPPoA in Linux? How do I configure Linux for PPPoA? 
@@ -209,9 +209,9 @@
 Q: I have Win2K / XP installed and the setup program warns me it does not support NTFS? 
  
 Reformulation: Are there any problems with reading NTFS file systems? And how do I do it? 
  
-A: Since NTFS is a closed standard, it's hard to write support for it. Linux can read NTFS fairly well, but writing it is still very risky. If you really need to share files between Windows and Linux, set up a fat32 partition they can both read. Or ask your friendly Windows gurus if it can read ext3 .. 
+A: Since NTFS is a closed standard, it's hard to write support for it. Linux can read NTFS fairly well, but writing it is still very risky. If you really need to share files between Windows and Linux set up a fat32 partition they can both read. Or transfer all your files to a genuinely open and properly documented filesystem which [both OS's|http://www .google.co.nz/search?q=ext3%20windows] can share
  
  
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@@ -219,8 +219,11 @@
  
 A: Instead of treating your hard disk is one large chunk of data, you usually segment it up into smaller sections (called [Partitions|Partition]). Usually an OperatingSystem will require at least one Partition. Linux usually uses at least one extra for swap as well. See PartitioningSuggestions. 
  
 Partitions are managed using fdisk.exe under windows, fdisk(8) or cfdisk(8) under Linux. 
+  
+You can set up Windows to use different partitions for the system and user data if you want, most experienced users do. You can also run Linux on a single root partition with a swapfile, the way Windows is typically set up by default.  
+  
  
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 Q: What the hell is /usr/var/....? 
@@ -243,8 +246,10 @@
  
 Reformulation: How do I burn CDs? 
  
 Try k3b, xcdroast, GnomeToaster, koncd, or any of the several other GUI tools. 
+  
+In Ubuntu, insert a blank disk and it will ask if you want to write a data CD or an audio CD. It couldn't be easier!  
  
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 Q: What is all the crap that scrolls as Linux is starting, is it error messages? 
@@ -255,8 +260,10 @@
  
 Q: What the hell is a bad super block? 
  
 A: The first block of a partition is the "super block". this contains information about what kind of filesystem it is amongst other things. Without this a filesystem is pretty useless. Never fear, there are backup superblocks. Talk to an advanced user about repairing your (very) broken filesystem. 
+  
+And if your NTFS partition was this badly corrupted, you would likely see a windows "stop screen" on boot which is even less informative.  
  
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 Q: How do I back-up my files? 
@@ -281,7 +288,11 @@
  
 Reformulation: I can't get things working, where do I go for help? 
  
 A: Hey, thats why we have the LUG right? Try reading around the wiki, we may have already answered your question somewhere here. Try emailing the wlug mailing list (wlug@list.waikato.ac.nz) asking for help, or try asking us on [IRC] irc://irc.undernet.org/%23wlug 
+  
+Most of the options are the same (IP address, DNS, gateway, and so on.) and in very similar places, particularly with Ubuntu, so often times the best option is to just not tell them you use Linux. Or if you dual-boot, copy the working settings from Windows to the corresponding places in Linux.  
+  
+  
  
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 CategoryBeginners