Linux Problems

[MagusWizardo]

Ok, two major questions relating to the fact that I have just recently (read: about 7 hours ago) installed Mandrake Linux 9.0 onto my laptop.

1) The LCD display has a setting in BIOS which stretches the display onto the full physical dimensions of the screen (or close to). Without this, the display area is a tiny little box in the centre that I have trouble working in (even at the highest supported resolution). The problem is, that when I load X it turns this setting off. Always. Is there any easy way to fix this?

2) I want to test my thumbdrive under Linux to see if it will work. Thing is, I don't know how to look at it. In Windows, I would go to 'My Computer', and it would be there. In DOS, I would type E: (which it always has been on the laptop). How do I do something like this in Linux? I cannot find any way to get a drive listing in the GUI, nor can I figure out how to change drives in the command line. I do have one Unix/Linux book here, but it mentions them to support multiple partitions, but not how the user would switch between them, aside from booting.

[Userunfriendly]

1) I can't remember off the top of me head, (its been years since i last played with solaris, i don't use linux)  but a configuration file should be edited...

2) you need to add a mount command...

sorry i am not much help, the only unix flavors i know are solaris and IOS...

[lennon]

1) I can't remember off the top of me head, (its been years since i last played with solaris, i don't use linux)  but a configuration file should be edited...

if using xfree86 as your X implementation, the configuration file should be called XF86Config-4 (my red hat 7.2 file), try

cd /usr; find . -name "XF86Config*" -print

I don't know the name of the utility that amends this.

2) you need to add a mount command...

The mount command will assign a mount point (directory name) to the device, the whole drive letter thing goes away with UNIX. Try

$ man mount

the device needs a device file and kernel drivers etc, I am unsure what the device is and where your stuck, and whether I can help much more.

Disclaimer: I'm not a UNIX expert (anymore) so a different bulletin board maybe more helpfull, I found http://www.linux-laptop.net/ very helpfull when putting Red Hat onto my laptop, but my key resource was a co-worker called Richard.