Hi,
I installed mandrake 9.0 and when installing I set a modem setting wrong, I put com1 instead of com4 so i cant connect the net. I am taking guesses and I guess 'netconf' is what will let me change that?. Whether it is or isn't, it said 'must be logged in as root'. I dont know how to do this, and I didn't set any password when I installed. If anyone can help with this i would be grateful, also if anyone knows of any massive FAQ's that spell it all out as dumbly as a windows user needs it that would be cool too.

Thanks,
Rob.

From shell you can do
$ su -
<password><blank in your case>

This will take you to root login.

I'm a Mandrake 10 n00b myself, and it took me a WHILE to get a straight answer on this. Actually, I never did, I kinda figured it out on my own. Apparently it's a dangerous thing to get into the full GUI as root, but I don't know the console well enough to really edit configurations and stuff. But if you do what the other guy said in the console
su
password "blank"
then you'll be root IN THE CONSOLE ONLY!
You have to start any apps you want to be root in from the console. In most cases, it's Mandrake Control Center, so type
mcc
from the console and it pops up in GUI form and bam! THAT window has you as root. I think. I've only used it in KWrite to edit configuration files manually, never to actually use wizards and MCC and stuff. Should be the same concept, though.

my modem doesnt even appear to be in the device list... how can i install that when all i have is a windows cd for it?.

Does a FAQ exist that would show the most common things people would do in windows and say how to do the equivelant in linux?
It's pretty sad to be stalled by not knowing how to install a simple modem driver :P

As far as I know, there are two options. One involves getting in your case, the other doesn't. The bad news is getting in your case is the easier option. You could either switch the hard drives and reinstall a Windows and then install the modem and use Device Manager to find out what model it is, then download the Linux driver and install it. Or just format, Windoze then format and go back to Linux. That's the hard way. The much easier way it to pop the top off your case, pull your modem out and write down ALL the numbers and ALL the letters on it. I'm saying if there's ANYTHING that RESEMBLES English on that card, write it down. Better yet, if you have a photocopier, just put the card on the plate and zap a copy, then do the other side. ;-) Then Google the most likely numbers to be a model number and see if there's a Linux driver available. You might even get lucky and find an rpm to install, those you can just urpmi from the console. I think. I'm not entirely certain if you can urpmi drivers. But that shouldn't be hard to find out. Anyway, put it on a floppy or a CD and you SHOULD have it.

And don't be discouraged by a modem in Linux. Here's why. Especially if it's a Compaq or a "built for Windows" type machine from a mass producer. You might have a Winmodem. It's not really a modem just an adapter from your CPU to the phone line. The processing is done in SOFTWARE to data and it can be VERY hard to find drivers for that because the "modem" hardware relies on the WINDOWS SOFTWARE. Not easy to write Linux drivers for. But they are out there for some. And I think modems are the only hardware (at least that I know of) that has such a huge software dependency. Hope this helps. Toy around with it and see what stuff happens when you do stuff. So far Linux seems pretty smart about stuff like that. The people here are for two things: When toying around doesn't work out like you think it should. and 2. When toying around royally fuxxors something up.

Hey hey, watch it....

No need to reinstall windows to find out what mdoem you have.

Just do an lspci (or /sbin/lspci), that should tell you what modem you have.

Yeah, I figured as much. The reinstall Windows was intended to be about as serious as photocopying your modem. Guess my humor is a little...well, bad, I guess. But hey, if there's a COMMAND to identify stuff if it's not showing up, use that. If that wouldn't have existed, MY next course of action would have been to pull the modem out. Hardware junkie. Also, it should be kept in mind that my linux box doesn't even HAVE a modem, and it recognized all my hardware during the initial install. You should take an experts advice.