[Scottish] time spent on Linux stuff...

[babaguy]

 Dear Mr. Ben and all, I think my problems have just been a series of unfortunate events...When I've tried to use the <tab> key to complete a file name in order to find/install it, the computer simply beeps at me - this may be a key mapping issue, I realise...

Even when using Synaptic last night to download & install back ports to Breezy, it downloaded them all right, but when it came to installing them I got an error message that another program like apt-get was also running (it wasn't) - I closed my terminal window, tried again and still got the same message...

I suspect that I just got a duff copy of Breezy (but the price was right! ) -  and I can't change the boot sequence in my BIOS to allow it to go from CD-ROM first - the options are there but there doesn't seem to be any way to enable them - so I can't load a new OS/distro....

Since I *could* boot from CD-ROM when I loaded Breezy, I suspect that something in Breezy has disabled or frozen my BIOS settings, meaning I must simply donate my computer to the Electron Club in Glasgow and find another.......

Once again, thank you all for your cogent, patient help. I appreciate it! 

- Paul 

--- On Thu 03/01, Ben Thorp < THORPB at uk.ibm.com > wrote:

From: Ben Thorp [mailto: THORPB at uk.ibm.com]To: scottish at mailman.lug.org.ukDate: Thu, 1 Mar 2007 08:52:09 +0000Subject: Re: moRe: [Scottish] time spent on Linux stuff...> J. R. Seago wrote:> Why Ubuntu? If you're going to use Debian, why not install Debian, and not > an imitation? If you're going to use an imitation, no matter how good, then > why not Knoppix? This is one of my pet hates, so sorry if this comes out harsh. The answer to a newcomers question is _never_ "why don't you try this distro instead". Solve the problem _first_ and then (and only in a small number of circumstances) it may be worth making a suggestion for an alternative. Secondly, Ubuntu is not an "imitation" - it is based on a Debian core, but a huge amount of work has gone into making it a top quality, user-friendly, desktop distribution. Lastly, Knoppix (IMHO) is designed primarily as a livecd distribution and not for installation as your main distribution - I know you _can_, but I still 
don't think it's the best idea in the long term.> babaguy wrote:> I realise that newly downloaded applications *ought* to simply open by clicking > on the icon, but the trouble is there *are* (mostly) no discernable icons, and > when there *is* an icon on the desktop, there's nothing in it!Ubuntu is not a fan of icons on the desktop, hence the reason that there are none when you install. Applications should be found in the menus. If you find that an application _has_ put an icon on the desktop, then it's most likely not one that's come from the official repositories - thus see my previous comments on this.mrben     

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