A few (lot?) queries from a neophyte


Subject: A few (lot?) queries from a neophyte
From: Eric D. (liriodendron@mac.com)
Date: Wed Feb 27 2002 - 13:17:13 MST


Hello all, I'm slowly exposing myself to the wonderful [ly frustrating]
world of Linux + YellowDog Linux 2.1.

A few questions:
(1) are there PDF or html users guides for YDL 2.1? e.g. how do I change
resolution, do AppleShare networking, Novell networking, printing, access
HFS+ partitions, etc.?

I have some PDF guides that I d/l from RedHat (e.g. rhl-gsg-en-72.pdf; The
Official Red Hat Linux Getting Started Guide) but I am weary of printing
them off b/c of their length and potential irrelevance. Are they relevant to
YDL on a Mac, and, are there any similar/better docs relevant to YDL 2.1?

(2) How the @$!@# do you change screen resolutions and refresh rates? My
solution at the moment has been to re-install YDL and select a new
resolution. A re-install isn't as bad as it sounds -- the packages don't get
installed. You just get told package xyz is already installed (and you have
to click a million times to dismiss the dialogues).

It's not a perfect solution b/c I haven't been able to get 1152*870 @ 75 Hz
(right now it's at 1024*768 @ 60 Hz (better than 640*480 @ 56 Hz with
virtual KDE desktop) but MUCH worse than 1024*768 @ 70+ Hz).

(3) How can you turn on/off the KDE virtual desktop option (kind of a cool
feature)? Is it simple or does it involve lots of fiddling (can't find it in
KDE's on-line help)?

(4) Are there any good Linux/Unix/BSD/OS X intro sites for relative
neophytes (I have used mach before but only on a terminal and for stuff like
pine, pico and ftp)?

(5) How well does FreeBSD work when compared to YDL 2.1? GUI? Ease of
installation? Ease of configuration (for a CLUI phobic... though, I suppose
with the proliferation of OS X & Linux I ought to learn)?

(6) If I set a Mac OS partition as a startup disk I lose the ability to boot
the Linux partition. How can I reset the Linux parition as a startup
partition (with yaboot... don't quite understand how that works but I
presume it's the boot loader).

(7) If I login without the GUI (e.g. opt-ctrl-F2), how can I activate the
KDE GUI? I thought it was xstart but that doesn't do anything other than
swear)

PS FYI my system: stock Rev 2 B&W G3/450 576 MB/12 GB (partitions in this
order 7.5 GB - HFS+ OS 9.2.2, 1.5 GB - (10 MB boot + 256 MB swamp +
remainder YDL), 3 GB - HFS+ OS X 10.1.3).

I installed YDL 2.1 a little over a week ago and have played with it a
little -- it's cool and fairly stable (had to give it a three-finger salute
twice) (got some good GUI ideas that would be interesting in OS X) & fairly
zippy but I'm running into serious frustration trying to set
hardware/network settings (I haven't found Mac OS/Winblows style Control
Panels that affect stuff like printer, monitor, sounds (for some reason my
B&W G3 doesn't make sound in Linux), networking (then again, Winblows
networking ain't easy either)).

Enough questions for today. I'm sure I've chewed up my allotment for the
week.

L8r, Eric.



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