Newbie basic advice needed

[ellen]

I ran Knoppix from CD for a couple of days, then installed it to HD today. My USRobotics external faxmodem was detected from CD but not from HD.

I can't find any info about installing modems, scanner, NIC and other hardware anywhere, apart from obscure commands that baffle me. Where do I type them in anyway? Coming from Windows, it's all completely different, so I need some basic help to get me started. Where can I find it?

Also: Is there anyway to make the text in KDE keep inside the scroll bars instead of having to keep scrolling right and left?

[ellen]

OK, plenty have looked but no one has replied yet. I have read all the FAQs but I still haven't been able to solve my particular problems. I have found some good helpful guides, however, that other Linux or Debian newbies will find useful:

Linux basics at: http://www.aboutdebian.com/linux.htm
The Linux Documentation Project at: http://tldp.org/docs.html[/url]

[almala]

Hi ellen, sorry my reply isn't going to be immediately very helpful---I generally stumble my way through using advice trawled off the web plus a few books.

If you plan on hanging in there with Knoppix/Debian, and Linux in general, I'm sure you won't be disappointed. You'll probably find 'The Linux Cookbook' by Michael Stutz a goldmine of info for every day tasks, but not very relevant for behind the scenes technical stuff. Be that as it may I would thoroughly reccomend it.

'The Debian GNU/Linux Bible' by Steve Hunger could do with a new addition but still has plenty of basic technical help, while something like 'Running Linux' by Welsh, Dalheimer, & Kaufman digs a bit deeper. I'm sorry you've not had any really useful replies so far to your post, generally folks are very helpful.

Your modem problem sounds a bit unusual if it's a serial modem. USB can be problematic. If you stick with it, keep asking around, experimenting... I'm sure you'll get something sorted.

Regards, almala :)

[ellen]

Thanks, Almala, I'll try and get hold of the Linux Cookbook especially as I've seen it recommended elsewhere.

My serial modem problem is still not sorted. There's a thread on the Debian forum if anyone's interested:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?threadid=111183&goto=newpost

I've had nothing but problems with computers so am hoping Linux will provide me with a stable system so I can use it instead of fixing it all the time. Is this possible, I wonder?!