So many unresolved Linux problems

[Flyboy]

I installed Mandrake 8.0 on my PC about 6 months ago. I like it in general, but I still have so many problems to figure out. I'm new at Linux, so my attempts at fixing these issues have failed. Keep in mind that my attempts have been pretty feable because I'm afraid of screwing up my PC. My thesis work is stored on it and I definitely don't want to risk losing it- even if it is backed up on floppy. Here's the problems that I really REALLY want to fix: (BTW, I've been using Gnome)

1. I still can't print to my network printer attached to a Windows 98SE box from my Linux machine. I know it has to do with CUPS drivers...but don't know how to go about setting this up.

2. I can't write to my zip drive. For some reasong I get an I/O error when trying to access my zip drive. The /zip directory is there, so I believe it is mounted properly. Could this be a disk format issue?

3. I am not able to format a 3.5" floppy. I can read/write to it but can't format the disk.

Any takers out there? Thanks in advance.

BTW, I apologize for vanishing for weeks (months?) at a time, but my schoolwork is really keeping me busy



Catheter and Caffeine IV are in place. Let's PLAY.

 

[Guest]

*takes deep breath*

1. it's probably not cups so much as it's samba. you need to have the samba client (as opposed to the server) software on your box. Set up should be a doddle using Mandrake Control Center's printer set up panel.

2. what sort of zip is it, SCSI or IDE? Either way, if you're getting IO errors somethings up :-( It could be a disk format issue. If Linux doesn't know better, it'll probably try to mount it as ext2, not the vfat (if it's a windows disk) you want. Open up the /etc/fstab file and have a look at the file format it's using.

3. What's going wrong, and which tool are you using to format it? Possibly the automounter is getting in the way, but I'll need more info...

 

[Flyboy]

I think your right. I have the Samba server software. And your probably right that it's a problem with SAMBA not CUPS because if I can't see my Win98 box over a network then why would I be able to print to the printer connected to it? I don't have a clue how to set up a network on Linux. I've been playing with the Mandrake Control Center, but no luck so far. Do I have to set up a mapped-drive and mount it in Linux in order to have access to it? How do I actually configure SAMBA? Don't tell me that I have to actually mess with the smb.conf file...

The zip drive is the common Parallel Port 100Mb version. I read the dmesg.txt file and it says that it can't read the DISK CAPACITY and I believe therefore it is not mounting properly. I read the fstab file, the zip is mounted as vfat.

To format it, I tried:
fdisk /dev/sda

and I also tried to use gfloppy, but my zip drive is not one of the options to format. DOOL!

I'm trying to use these HOWTO's and a Linux book that I bought...man this is tough. I saw one link that said I would probably have to rebuild the kernel. Why does this seem like a nontrivial task?

Thanks rjb236!


Catheter and Caffeine IV are in place. Let's PLAY.

 

[Flyboy]

I'm sorry...forgot to tell you that the 3.5" formatter (gfloppy) is working now. I'm not sure if the other disk was defective (it isn't new) or whether it is a Gnome problem. I formatted a different disk in KDE (gfloppy) and it works. So we're down to 3 problems remaining:

1. Printing to my Win98 printer over a network.
2. Accessing/sharing files between Win98 and Linux boxes.
3. Mounting and formatting a zip disk.

Catheter and Caffeine IV are in place. Let's PLAY.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Flyboy on 10/31/01 06:41 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

To mount the Windows share, you need the 'samba-client' package. Setting it all up isn't so bad, but you may need to edit smb.conf for the workgroup. No biggie.

The easiest way to map drives is add an entry into fstab, with the connection details. Something like:
//WINDOWSBOX/SHAREDFOLDER /mnt/windows smbfs user=Flyboy,password=XXXX 0 0

Try mounting it at the command line first to see if you can get the connection... It wants to use TCP/IP btw, so make sure your LAN is using that rather than (or as well as) NetBeui.

If that works, then printing should be easy enough to setup using the control panel.

I'm not real familiar with parallel port zip drives, gfloppy won't work with the zip. fdisk ain't for formatting, it's a partitioning tool. besides, 'cfdisk' is nicer

the fstab line for the zip will be something like this:
/dev/sda4 /zip vfat defaults 0 0

So to format the disk, you need to use 'mkfs.vfat /dev/sda4' I don't know why it's partition 4, but apparently that's just how it is. Once it's formatted, you can mount it by typing 'mount /zip'

There's some more zip disk info here: <A HREF="http://www.torque.net/~campbell/" target="_new">http://www.torque.net/~campbell/</A>





<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by rjb263 on 10/31/01 07:35 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Flyboy]

All right then! I'll give these a try and write back later tonight. It'll probably be VERY late because I'm heading out to help a guy find a deer. Anyway, I look forward to trying your suggestions.

Tanx Beavis!

Catheter and Caffeine IV are in place. Let's PLAY.

 

[Flyboy]

Sorry I haven't been able to work on my Linux troubles. Now my advisor set a deadline for me tomorrow. Looks like I'll have to put this stuff on hold until the weekend. I'll probably just start a new post.

Just thought I'd give you the heads up so you won't think I'm performing another one of my world famous vanishing acts...thus wasting your time.

Will BBASAP!

Catheter and Caffeine IV are in place. Let's PLAY.

 

[Flyboy]

Hey I didn't know about the network configuration tool in Mandrake! Looks like it should make things a lot easier.

I'm really considering starting from scratch with Mandrake 8.1 (I have 8.0 now). I believe I've screwed some things up because it seems to be running more unstable (getting error messages) and slow...

Catheter and Caffeine IV are in place. Let's PLAY.