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**Swordsman** · Feb 26, 2007, 08:22 AM

Re: need help with epson printer, nvidia and all other linux things.

I'll try to help where I can

Originally posted by niuniek

Firs - I've been expecting the whole thing to be different than mswin, but I do not grasp it at all. Each file I try to open opens in ?Kate?, in a text editor. Are there any executables or anything like this? What extention should I look for when I want to run something, or do I have to do everything in terminal?

There are no .exe files in Linux, it all works off of the package systems in Adept or Synaptic. I'm not sure why things might open in Kate. Whats the file extension you are trying to open?

Second - I have nVidia Geforce 7300 on my laptop which has 512 MB of memory (256+256 via intel chip), how do I install drivers for this thing? Just nVidia or nVidai and intel drivers?

I have an nVidia card and as far as I am aware, the drivers are pre-installed. I've played games ranging from Football Manager 07 to FPS and haven't had any problems.

I've installed (at least I hope I did) "Envy", however I have no idea where I can find this program now. If it has been installed is there any menu where I can find it? Anyway, once I get to know how to run things I may actually find it

Thats a little bug bear I have. To see the programs, you have to log out and in. You don't have to fully restart your system like in Windows, just End Current Session and log back in and they should show up in your 'start menu'.

P.S. Please do not think that I'm just another #&%$head who cannot look for himself or read books. Please understand that I'm doing two degrees at two universities and work 20h a week and there is little time for me to do anything else, however I'm reading a pocket guide to linux and another publication sits on the shelf, but it's all time consuming and can't usually read while in front of computer.

Tell me about it

Thing that I have noticed is that you do really have to put in a bit of effort to get used to the way things work when coming from a Windows environment. No books should be needed, just a search of this forum for any problems should help out when you're in trouble

And one last thing:

When there are drivers for linux there is no (K)ubuntu specified, should I choose Debian as my platform wen downloading drivers from such sites ??

Kubuntu is built on to Debian IIRC but I'm not too sure about the .deb files. I usually just download things from the package systems or use ./configure, make, build from the command line.

Sorry if this doesn't help or is misinformation :P

**fdv** · Feb 26, 2007, 10:45 PM

Re: need help with epson printer, nvidia and all other linux things.

I am a fellow n00b answering because sometimes answers from the Linux black belts aren't always clear to us white belts.

Firs - I've been expecting the whole thing to be different than mswin, but I do not grasp it at all.

(Agrees with you) It's like Japanese and English. They are both languages and that's where the similarity ends.

Each file I try to open opens in ?Kate?, in a text editor.

Ah! The Everything Opens With Kate Bug. I can't help here but I just reinstalled to make this go away. Kate opened EVERYTHING. You can right click ona file, select Open With, and make things open with the app that they should, but why this happens in the first place is something I have not been able to get anyone to answer.

Are there any executables or anything like this?

In Win, EXE files can be installers or they can be programs. Not so in Linux. Think of DEB files as EXE installers. Think of everything in /usr/bin as EXE programs. A lot of programs in Linux simply do not have extensions. Kate, which we happen to be talking about, doesn't. It's in /usr/bin and is simply called "Kate".

What extention should I look for when I want to run something, or do I have to do everything in terminal?

Use icons. Use K menu, Run Command. You do not have to use the terminal (in Kubuntu this is called the Konsole as well, so when someone refers to that, or the "console," it's ALL the same thing).

Wonderful: Linux has a GUI.
Problem: Damn near every tutorial site gives you code to copy and paste into the console.

This leads to the (false) impression that you have to use the console all the time. You don't. In many cases it's just easier or faster. I know, I know, I shook my head too when someone here told me that earlier this month, but now I launch stuff all the time from the console <laughs>

nVidia Geforce, Envy

Envy is an installer. Not a thing you ever need to run more than once. It installs your video card drivers. Your nVidia drivers should be insalled once you run Envy correctly.

In general, Linux seems to have more of these "download an installer to download and install something" programs than Windows did, BTW. Let's not mince words, Linux is difficult. Linux experts thankfully make things easier for us by writing scripts to do messy work. Envy is one such script.

Third - How in hell do I set up 1280:800 resolution on a laptop?

The nVidia drivers might not be installed, then. Perhaps Envy did not actually do it's thing. I will defer to the experts here.

So where do I find the equivalend of boot.ini??

boot.ini is a Windows config file. Grub is a whole program unto itself. The equivalent is actually a config file of Grub, not Linux! I know, I know :P

Fourth - Could someone help me with editing Grub? I want windows to be my default option so I will not have to be present each time my system boots. I'm still a win user and at least for the time being I would rather have win as default.

It surprises me that I know this, but here it is:
Click K Menu
Click System
Click Konsole Terminal Program
Type
kdesu kate /boot/grub/menu.lst

BTW. Make a note of this and commit it to memory. CTRL C and CTRL V work in Linux as Copy and Paste. They DO NOT COPY AND PASTE IN THE CONSOLE HOWEVER. You HAVE to use the Edit menu at the top of the console/Konsole/terminal. The reason is technical and will make you roll your eyes, so I will skip it. Also, when you open the konsole you will get a few device errors. Ignore them. Again, the reason is technical and will make you roll your eyes, because the reason is actually incredibly stupid.

P.S. Please do not think that I'm just another #&%$head who cannot look for himself or read books.

Ok look. Here's the thing. Linux experts will berate you for "not using Google." People here in the forums generally won't. Why is that? Well, you're short on time, but here's a secret that I discover all the time the hard way: you can start Googling a problem on Friday and still not have it solved by midnight sunday. Maybe some long dead thread on some long archived forum on some defunct site describes your problem in a roundabout way, and after 29 posts, the original poster has puzzled out a solution, and you can try the same and hope for the best. Documentation on contingencies is NOT one of the strong points in the open source world. They'll tell you how to do a lot, but when odd things happen, sometimes you're on your own, and I think many here in the Kubuntu forums appreciate that.

When there are drivers for linux there is no (K)ubuntu specified, should I choose Debian as my platform wen downloading drivers from such sites ??

Yes. Deb is for us. (Well, you can use the others, but that's a seperate issue entirely).

**niuniek** · Feb 27, 2007, 06:41 AM

Re: need help with epson printer, nvidia and all other linux things.

A big thanks for helping me out. I have some time today so I will fight my way with nvidia. I also found out that .rpm files are not for kubuntu and that there is some alien program to convert them to .deb files here. Please correct me if I'm wrong or if there is any better way of doing that. I will post my new questions here

Take care and once more, Thank you!

**darkwings** · Mar 07, 2007, 06:08 PM

Re: need help with epson printer(.rpm?), nvidia and all other linux things.

I'm not going to be much help except for you nVidia. I used automatix2 to get my nVid card working properly. As well as a bunch of stuff.

I've copied the Konsole/Terminal commands you need to use from my Howto.
when you open your konsole, click on "session" on the top left, then choose "new root shell". It will prompt you for your root password. which should be your user password.
then copy and pasted each of the steps and let them run one at a time.

It should get things going for you.

Good luck.

Automatix is a script installer. works sort of like the "install wizard" of windoze. except that only programs supported by the automatix team are listed in the installer.

First step:

echo "deb http://www.getautomatix.com/apt edgy main" | sudo tee -a
/etc/apt/sources.list

Second Step:

wget http://www.getautomatix.com/apt/key.gpg.asc

Third Step:

gpg --import key.gpg.asc

Fourth Step:

gpg --export --armor 521A9C7C | sudo apt-key add -

Fifth Step:

sudo apt-get update

Sixth Step:

sudo apt-get install automatix2

Now Automatix will be listed in your "K" menu under "system".

watch for the liscence agreement prompt.

**cowboy77** · Mar 08, 2007, 09:20 AM

Re: need help with epson printer(.rpm?), nvidia and all other linux things.

For the printer, Kubuntu uses cupsys. If you will add the printer using the Printers icon in System Settings you will find that there is a huge array of printer manufacturers and models already available without having to try to find or download.

**niuniek** · Mar 09, 2007, 05:24 AM

Re: need help with epson printer(.rpm?), nvidia and all other linux things.

Thank you "darkwings", I will try it as soon as I reinstall kubuntu as I just broke it during my last weekend's attemt to make nvidia work...

As for my printer, thanks "cowboy777", I got that far, but my printer is an Epson Stylus DX4050, which is a new version of some other printer (there isn't even a cartridge resetter or ink refiller for those yet) and it's not on the list. I've d-loaded .rpm package with drivers, converted it to .deb run it and not much has happend...actually nothing has happened (I mean it was "installed" but my printer still doesn't work)

Will try again after a fresh install.

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need help with epson printer(.rpm?), nvidia and all other linux things.

need help with epson printer(.rpm?), nvidia and all other linux things.

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