Firmware, permissions and partition compatibility

[Varsity]

I have just downloaded Mandrake 9.2, and successfully installed it to a partition. There are a few immediate problems: firstly, my modem needs a firmware update. It's a Speedtouch 330...my question is if I update the firmware, will the modem still work when I boot XP home? And even if I do manage that, my entire usr/ dir is read-only despite there only being one user and no passwords anywhere on the machine. What can I do to open it up? Related again is the read-only mnt/windows/. Why can't I write to this from Linux, and why can't Windows see Linux at all? Are NTFS and Ext2 not compatible?

[AlienThree]

I can answer your permissions questions. Normal users don't have read/write permission to the /usr directory.

This normally requires root access. To give all users read/write permissions to the directory, the command line is:

chmod uog+rw -R /usr

(Note: This is an insecure implementation.)

Writing to an NTFS partition with linux is not recommended nor safe, and a FAT32 partition should be used to write files

from Linux to Windows.

[markwolfe Veteran]

Wow. Lots of questions! LOL

my modem needs a firmware update. if I update the firmware, will the modem still work when I boot XP home?

Yes. If you are able to run this WinModem in Linux, and need to make adjustements in Linux, it will still work in Windows. A WinModem is basic modem hardware, but missing the normal modem firmware to make it run. Microsoft convinced many manufacturers to make modems this way. The makers get to make cheaper modems, and Microsoft gets to lock out every other OS that wants to use a modem, because you are really buying hardware that does not work on its own. Just remember... Linux plays well with Microsoft, and Microsoft does not play well with anyone else.

my entire usr/ dir is read-only despite there only being one user and no passwords anywhere on the machine.

Your user data is stored in the /home directory. For example, /home/mark/ for my computer. Also is is NOT a good idea to have no passwords! Well, as long as root has a password, and you don't use root as a normal login, it probably isn't too bad to not have a password for a single-user machine.

Related again is the read-only mnt/windows/. Why can't I write to this from Linux?

If it is being mounted, and you can read it, then it is probably because it is an NTFS partition. Microsoft has not released the specs to NTFS, so only Microsoft is sure how it works, exactly. This is perfectly within their rights, but it does make it difficult to even figure out how to READ that format. Write is not supported by Linux. That means, you can enable it and you can write to NTFS is tou really want to... But it is quite likely to cause PERMANENT DAMAGE! If you want to share information between the two on a local machine's hard drive, you will need to set up a small FAT partition. Linux can read/write to FAT easily! :yes:

why can't Windows see Linux at all? Are NTFS and Ext2 not compatible?

Microsoft doesn't WANT to play with others. There is a third-party application that allows you to read Linux "ext" partitions. I am not sure what it is called. Perhaps a google for it will show you some results that will link you to the program.

Hope this helps.

Mark

[Varsity]

If you are able to run this WinModem in Linux, and need to make adjustements in Linux, it will still work in Windows. A WinModem is basic modem hardware, but missing the normal modem firmware to make it run.

Actually, it's external. That shoudn't make a difference should it?

I'm going to reboot and try the chmod uog+rw -R /usr command now.

[Varsity]

Right. Alien, chmod gives me an error after every filename. "Access not permitted" or words to that effect. Looking at the help for chmod it would seem to only affect files too, and not folders.

After a little right-clicking I found the permissions set-up, and I have atached a screen instead of typing it all out. It's like that for every folder under usr/ and I can only seem to change it by being logged in as 'user'. But surely that is where I am already?

[Garry]

Do

sudo chmod uog+rw -R /usr

That should work.

[markwolfe Veteran]

/usr/ is normally writeable only by root.

To chmod (change modes) or chown (change owner), you will need to be root to make it happen.

root can do anything. normal users cannot (by design). It makes it MUCH harder for anything running by normal users to affect the system adversely.

If you really want to change these, do a su to root, first. Then you can do anything you want.

[Varsity]

Bump. I have the modem drivers installed, the micronode is in place and there are no error messages. Why, then, can't I connect? The username/pass aren't saved when I press OK and clicking the connect button seems to do nothing at all. How do you connect through the console?

[markwolfe Veteran]

:( I'm sorry... I have always had broadband, so never needed to set up a modem.

However, being external is a good thing. It is a real modem.

[kongit]

there are too many things to accurately get help in a matter like this. I had a hell of a time getting my ethernet card to work, and even once I followed the step that many people had or had given me it still wouldn't work. There are just to many things dependant on each other. . What happened fro me was I tried to use a driver that came with my distro, In doing that I changed the modules loaded at startup. I then went back to windows and got the right driver from the company that makes the ethernet card. I installed it and went through every step in the readme and still no go. I was really mad. Finally I figured out that I hadn't gotten rid of the old driver out of the modules loaded at startup. Once I did that I was on the net.

Its probably a little problem. the trick is to find it.