[Wylug-help] Problems recognising CDRW

[Anne Wilson]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On Tuesday 24 Aug 2004 11:44, C.Mackins at Bradford.ac.uk wrote:
> Anne, thanks so much for getting back with this information.  If you are
> able, I've given some feedback to your last response - i'm very new to
> this, and feel as if I've fallen at the first hurdle!  If you are able to
> respond, it would be very much appreciated.  Thanks again for all your
> support.
>
Don't worry about it.  The first hurdles are often the highest.  I'll help
where I can, and where I can't I'll ask those that know more than I do.

>
> Yes I can confirm that a prompt appeared after hitting Enter. I then typed
> 'exit' to get out.  However, from the previous script,

Good.  It's a good habit to get, exiting from the root console when you've
done what you need to do.

> it wasn't obvious
> (to me)  what had occured - had the updates occured? However, the initial
> problem remains, that I lose icon and menu programmes.
>
I think it may have to be done for both user and root menus, which is possibly
what the OP was referring to.

> > Have you or your friend installed any non-Mandrake packages?
>
> All I have done is a clean install from MDK 9.2 official CDs.  There have
> been no additional installs of any software packages.
>
OK - nothing to add complications, then.

> I'm new to this and a little confused here - how do I log out of X-Windows
> and update as root.

I never found this as easy as it sounds - the key combinations recommended
always seem to land me back at a graphical login, so instead, when I need to
do something like this I reboot, then when the lilo screen appears hit Esc
which takes you to a console screen with a list of your boot options.  I
think the default is probably just 'linux' - if so, type 'linux 3' which will
give you a console screen where you can log in as root.

> I'm presuming this means not loading the desktop and
> go stright into a Konsole - how am I able to do this?  Assuming I'm able to
> upload from root, would I expect to see the same/similar script as
> previous; would I get any confirmation available updates (e.g.in MCC you
> get a list of updates and dependencies); how would I install any updates
> from root?
>
I think he just meant to run the update-menus -v.  When you've done that you
could log out and log in as user then use 'startx' to get you back to a gui.
However, if you do that, logging out from there will take you back to
console.  If you don't want that to happen, reboot - IIRC the command best
liked from there is 'reboot now' - the old 'shutdown -r now' seems to work in
some circumstances but not others.

> > As for the loss of access to the menus, if you right click on the
> > desktop, you
> > should get a contextual menu, with the ´Run Command... item´. Just type
> > konsole in there, or mozilla-firefox or whatever else is in your PATH...
>
It's not on my desktop context menu either (by context menu he just means the
one you get from a right-click - it changes according to the context).  If
you want/need the Run command it is available from the K-menu (start-menu).

> > If your friend hasn´t had KDE installed for very long, you might also try
> > mv-ing the ~/.kde directory to .kdeorg/, again being out of X-Windows at
> > the time, then relaunching KDE and seeing if your menus don´t come back.
>
> Not sure how to do this operation (new newbie) but would have had a go from
> 'Home', however, even this has become inaccesible.
>
Try my suggestions above and see whether that is cured.  As for removing
~/.kde, you are correct - it is a hidden directory in your home directory.
(Don't forget the ~ is relative - it refers to the home directory of whoever
is logged in at the time).  I always prefer to rename rather delete
something, as it can be restored, or config files can be rescued from it that
way should it become necessary.

> My feelings are - to overcome and understand the uploads from root.  If I
> can get my head around this, I'll be happier.  If I can upload (and know
> what I've uploaded/installed) then if the problem isn't overcome, I can do
> a clean install, and then instead of updating from MCC, I can instead
> update from root.
>
The problem is that you have too many things to worry about at once.  That
panic feeling will pass.  I confess I did a couple of reinstalls when I first
started.  With a little more experience almost anything can be recovered
from, given a little help, but in the early stages sometimes things go so
wrong that it's easier to start again.  I don't think you have hit this stage
yet, though.

> Ah, I was so pleased at the w/e - after months of trying to connect with a
> speedtouch modem, I managed to get a network live, up and running.  Now I
> feel like I've just been put back in my place!  I refuse to give up.'

Good.  In my experience a healthy dose of bulldog tenacity is what is needed
<g>  Let us know what happens.

Anne
- --
Registered Linux User No.293302
Have you visited http://twiki.mdklinuxfaq.org yet?
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFBKzilkFAvMr/nNX8RAtQpAJ4gHih6I1srTWBJZdsYkHfvQO6hLACfaF6W
ClqTLKrxdZhv81ZJHSaM9lM=
=5+jv
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----