[Techtalk] hello, anyone out there

[Malcolm-Rannirl]

On Friday 02 August 2002 11:52 am, Jenn Vesperman wrote:

> > I just installed my first version of Linux Mandrake 8.0 and have a very
> > uncomfortable feeling like I am a complete dummy.

8.1 was a significant improvement (IMO), 8.2 was variable depending on what 
your hardware is and 9.0 is due out soon (but probably worth waiting for a 
while so they work out the kinks, as 9.0 has KDE3.1 and gcc3.2).

> > 3) I am pretty concerned with privacy because people are always trying to
> > hack into my computer (for several reasons), what is a good firewall
> > software to install for Linux.
> It's pre-installed. I forget whether it's IPtables or IPchains that's
> the current tool, but whichever it is is already there. It will need

IPtables.
Mandrake also comes with Bastille, which is a little script that helps you 
set up a basic set of firewall rules and other simple precautions (and 
explains why it's doing everything too!)

> > 4) I don't know how to install anything! The look and feel that I picked
> > for Linux mandrake does not include Netscape but some other junk browser,
> > how do I actually install the Netscape browser.

If you did a default install of Mandrake (download or commercial edition?) 
then it has Netscape and it -should- be in the menus somewhere. (They changed 
the layout slightly since 8.0 so I'm not entirely sure where).

> Galeon, Konquerer and Opera are all good browsers. However, Netscape is
> available.

Opera only comes with the commercial version though I believe (despite it 
being the freeware version). Konquerer on the 8.0 release was not great (I 
forget which version of KDE that had, but it's improved drastically since 
then). 8.0 is about a year old now I think, a lot changed in that time.

> I believe that if you look in your menus, you should find either GnoRPM
> or KPackage. These are installation tools, and you can probably find
> Netscape listed - if not, all you need to do is download the Netscape
> RPM and tell your packager where to find the package.
>
> Someone who knows Mandrake .. please confirm that I've mentioned the
> right tools, and tell her how? :)

Those exist, but aren't always called by name on the menus (my 8.2 menu just 
says "software manager", under "Configuration->Packaging").

> > 5)I need some good "office type" software that will be somewhat
> > compatible with word, etc.. what do I do?
>
> There's probably some already installed. Check your menus for any of the
> following:
> AbiWord
> StarOffice
> OpenOffice
> KWord
> KOffice (I think)

StarOffice isn't on 8.0 and only on the commercial recent ones.
KWord on 8.0 is mostly useless (it ranks with wordpad, not word), though the 
version on 8.2 reads some Word documents, and much has improved since then.
Abiword works well (at least for me).


I hope that helps.
(I'd definitely recommend getting at least 8.1 if you can though).


-- 
Be careful what you want.
It might want you.
- 'the Dragon' Elvendrums

<<------------------------------------------------------------------>>
<<  This email is monitored by the US government under the auspice  >>
<< of the USA act. For private communication, ask me for my PGP key >>
<< ----- PGP: envelopes for email - www.pgp.com www.gnupg.org ----- >>