Linux n00b, plz help me!


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I think that anyone who wants to try Linux, but has no concept of hda1, hdb3 and mount points could really use a bit of one-on-one tutoring. I am predicting that this Linux experiment is going to be doomed to failure (and be all the fault of Linux, of course!). I have seen this before...

Kalizar, if you could find someone locally (try looking for a Linux Users Group, or LUG) to teach you some of the basics, then you could read the man pages and understand a LOT more.

Here is an example of how I mount a Windows share from my wife's PC:

mount -t smbfs -o,rw //vaio/D /mnt/viao_d/

Now, this connects (mounts) a filetype (-t) of SMB [windows' protocol] filesystem (smbfs) with the option (-o) of read/write (rw) from my wife's PC (//vaio) and shared folder name (/D) to the standard place Linux mounts drives (/mnt) and to a directory that I created there (/vaio_d)

A bit of research, and you can mount your windows drive to /mnt/win_c (or whatever you want to call it).

You can then make a symbolic link (read up using the man ln command) like thusly:

ln -s /mnt/viao_d/ foldername , and the foldername that you used will magically appear when you open up your home directory in Konquorer or whatever you use. :D

Hope this helps, and please try hard to learn Linux, rather than just assume you can rush through things. Again, I highly recommend a friend, or a LUG member to sit down with you. Most Linux users are extremely happy to help people who want to learn, but much less so when the person makes little effort to learn.[/font]

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Don't worry.... I am quite a noob.. :blush:

But, I find that actively participating in these forums helps me learn new things! :)

Oh, and I forgot to address the "automatically mounting" thing. That is in /etc/fstab. Just remember that fstab is global, so all users will have those drives mounted. If you want only your ID to be mounted, I would recommend a shell script with the mount and ln commands in there to be run when you login. There may be a more elegant way than that... :pinch:

Oh, come to think of it... I am pretty sure that you would not need to put the ln command in the shell script. Once created the link will stay there until removed. Forget I said that. It makes me look stupid... :whistle:

Oh, PS... I would so NOT recommend writing to NTFS drives in Linux! :no:

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I use Linux's ability to read & write to FAT drives for file exchange at work. Also mount -t smbfs for files that I "map" to in Windows Explorer. Writing to NTFS is not supported, as Linux dev people have to try to decode what Microsoft does in its file systems to be able to use them. Reading is safe. Writing takes a chance.

Also, I hear in news at The Register, and here at ZDNet where (amazingly enough) they make it sound like it will be GREAT the Microsoft will have everyone pay to use the FAT file system. Digital cameras often use FAT. Linux uses FAT (but only for WIndows compatability). I think that Microsoft is using this as a jab at Linux ("Look! Another Intellectual Property issue with those pirating scoundrels at Linux!"). I don't think that Microsoft really needs a few hundred thousand that badly. :angry:

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I know its off topic, but I just had to comment on that link in your sig, El_Cu_Guy...
Fine
It says that Bill Gates isnt a genius, he was just at the right place at the right time and that anyone could do that.

Actually quite the contrary. The author makes quite the effort to distance himself

from that BS.

But the point is, nobody else did.
Yes they did. Obviously you need to read about all the products that came well before Microsoft even bothered with them. I seriously think you need to re-read it. It was created and marketed extremely well. The under-handed tactic are the main point of the article.

Underhanded:

MS argued that Internet and Explorer were generic terms and therefore Internet Explorer was too generic to trademark (SyNet had been using the name since 1994 and filed for a federal trademark a month before MSIE was released in 1995). Microsoft lost and bought the rights to the trademark when SyNet could not pay its kegal expenses due to MS dragging out the case with numerous delays.

Microsoft offered a pitiful settlement of $75.000 that would be withdrawn if the case went to trial. Microsoft also asked if they could share the trademark which would dilute the mark and prevent SyNet from cashing in on any future infringments. Microsoft could the attempt to purchase the rights to the mark on the cheap.

And let's not forget how much of IBM's $$$ meant for development of OS/2 was used to develop WindowsNT. Just some examples to think about.

Let's not forget:

Sun Microsystem -- first to create a popular and consumer viable Unix solution (SunOS)

Apple -- first to offer a PC that went beyond the simple tricks of the Altair.

He was smart enough to cash in on everything, thats why he owns the largest software company in the world. I just think the writer is jealous..

Comedic genius.

Edited by El_Cu_Guy
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Well, I'm glad some of your beliefs are well-founded, as opposed to the "M$ IS TEH GHEY!!1" person I thought you to be :)

Actually quite the contrary.  The author makes quite the effort to distance himself

from that BS.

He tries to, but he ends up going the same route as every other author of the same nature.
Obviously you need to read about all the products that came well before Microsoft even bothered with them.  I seriously think you need to re-read it.  It was created and marketed extremely well.  The under-handed tactic are the main point of the article.

Indeed, I read about all those, and it seems none of those products were able to do what MS ended up doing, eh?

Microsoft lost and bought the rights to the trademark when SyNet could not pay its kegal expenses due to MS dragging out the case with numerous delays.
I completely agree that the tactic was low. But, the point is, its genius. Survival of the fittest--it isn't Microsoft's fault that SyNet didnt make enough to pay their lawyers while Microsoft did. The business world isnt where you be nice and smiley, it's a world where you take every opportunity you get. Gates saw that, and he took this opportunity. If you owned Microsoft, would you have been nice and payed some millions of dollars for the trademark as opposed to $75k?
And let's not forget how much of IBM's $$$ meant for development of OS/2 was used to develop WindowsNT.  Just some examples to think about.

Obviously, it was a fair investment. Where is OS/2 today as compared to Windows NT and its successors?

Sun Microsystem -- first to create a popular and consumer viable Unix solution (SunOS)

Apple --  first to offer a PC that went beyond the simple tricks of the Altair.

Oh geez, that just kills your argument right there. Apple has less than 5% of the market share, most of which ends up being schools and other educational institutes. And Sun? It's damn near dead. Linux has left Solaris in the dust, and very, very few servers actually use Solaris 9 any more. Their new Mad-Hatter project isn't generating the hype they expected either.

On the other hand, developers and consumers hang off of every word Bill Gates says about Longhorn. MCSE certified workers are worth a lot more than Sun Certified professionals these days, and clearly Microsoft is making a lot more money than either of those companies.

Sure, "back-in-the-day" those companies did well. And back then, Microsoft was the underdog. But as far as today's market is concerned, Microsoft clearly owns it and it didn't get up there with just luck.

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Yes, better than with NTFS too. You can write to FAT32 without worrying.

What about symbolic links? You won't be able to make them on FAT32 to the best of my knowledge, and many apps need them to function correctly. Correct me if I'm wrong :cool:

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My advice is to only use NTFS or FAT partitions as minimally as possible, and for the purpose intended: to access data on a MS drive. If you want some of the advanced features available on ext or xfs or reiser or other Linux partitions, you should put that data on a Linux drive, I think...

I found that dual-booting actually prevented me from learning Linux like I should, so I dumped Windows almost a whole year ago.

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If you want your partitions to be accessable from windows and linux, you only really have 2 choices. FAT(32) or ext2/3. Wait, that's 3 choices. FAT is the one everyone is familiar with since it's really easy to access it from linux. ext2/3 on the other hand is rarely used. This is because people for some reason don't like/know about windows drivers for ext2/3. I personally use ntfs since I originally installed and configured windows that way. I use ntfs for winxp, ntfs for data and ext3 for linux. I can read/write the linux partition from windows and I can read the ntfs partitions from linux. If I need to move around files, I can use windows. If I kill linux, I can still recover my data and maybe even fix the problem.

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