Mandrake Linux 8.1 question

[Nickyct]

Just finished installing Mandrake Linux 8.1 (I couldn't believe how easy it was) where it asked me for password and name I left it blank and no password. Now every time I boot up it asks me for login name and password. Since I didn't create one, I have no clue what it is.
Is there a way I can bypass that feauture. I'm the only one using the PC and I don't want to put in a Password everytime I login.

Thanks

 

[Techwhore]

The login name / password it asked you to complete during the install was for your user account. You don't want to operate as root all the time, especially if you don't know linux that well. The root user in linux is more powerful then the admin in NT/2k, and it's never a good idea to operate as admin in windows all the time either.

It shoiuld have asked you for a system or root password, use that password to login to the root account then create a new user, one that u'll use on a regular basis. You can set this new user to auto-login on startup, but it's never a good idea to have root auto login.

The easiest way to create the new user would be to do it through user management in the configuration portion of the X menu. You can do it with the shell by using hte useradd command.

You can have many accounts open at once in unix/linux so switching between users and root is not a hassle at all.

HTH

 

[BreakApart]

Congrats BTW with the Linux install.

During setup Mandrake will ask you to create a root password. Once root is created, then you SHOULD create at least (1) normal user, once that is done-(you click DONE) it will prompt you to set the DEFAULT user and desktop. This should be that normal user and then your choice of desktops. Now anytime the system restarts, reboots, etc it will auto log you in and set the desktop you picked.

If it's not too much trouble, perhaps even a good learning experience reinstall Mandrake, this time through the install setup the root and user correctly, this will save you a ton of headaches later. In the area where you pick the types of programs you want loaded did you notice the "pick individual packages" selection at the bottom of the selection screen? Give it a try, you'll find all kinds of programs that don't get loaded by default, couple fun games don't get picked by default.

Since Mandrake handles the setup of the important stuff-swap file, default programs, many of the needed drivers. The only important thing you really have to do is setup the users. Problem is unless this is setup correctly the system is wide open for problems. I'd rather see you reinstall than make the mistake of using that system under the root user.

If your brave you can add the normal user and setup the auto login without a reinstall, just thought it might be faster and get you using Linux instead of fixing Linux. -bad first impression to leave with a new Linux user.

 

[Nickyct]

I'm totally new to Linux. Since it's so easy to install I will probably do it again tonight. Might go out and get Linux for Dummies and read about it.

Thanks for you help guys. I'm pretty sure there'll be more questions coming from me once I got it running.

 

[BreakApart]

Before getting "linux for dummies" consider getting "Running Linux"by O'Reilly, much better book -IMHO

 

[Nickyct]

Ok. Big problem. How do you re-install Linux ? Well what I did was boot it up from a CD rom then follow the instruction on screen to reintall it but I keep getting swap file needs to be something along those line.

How do I reformat the whole hard drive and reinstall it from scratch. I had Windows 98 on the drive before I installed Linux (It's my old WD 8 gig hard drive) Now it only shows half of the drive capacity,the other half must be for windows.

I want to have the whold hard drive devoted to Linux only. Could someone show me how to format the whole hard drive and re-install it again. Remember I'm pretty new to this. so go easy on the terminology.

Thanks
Apreciated it.

 

[SUOrangeman]

When you boot from the CD, just select Install instead of upgrade (or anything else). With Mandrake, you have the opportunity to lay out your partitions as desired. If it needs to reformat anything, it will let you know.

-SUO

 

[manly]

Since the partitions were laid out the first time you installed Mandrake, just follow the general instructions SUOrangeman mentioned. Make sure you specify that your Linux filesystems are formatted in this new install pass, and the other steps remain the same.

I think unless there's something in particular you want to learn from re-installation, you're better off keeping what you have and manually adding a user account.

The usual way is to (as the root user), open up a shell, and use the command useradd.

Within the shell, use the command "man useradd" to learn about the command. In general, there are man pages that document most of Unix's built-in tools. So in a shell, just type "man <command name>" to learn about any command.

This way, you'll actually learn one facet of user management, rather than rely on the installation GUI to do it for you.

And to reiterate what others have said, don't use the superuser (root) account except for system administration that requires it.

 

[Nickyct]

I did that. I chose where it said to format the whole partition but I keep getting message "swap file needs to be" I have no clue what that means.

 

[SUOrangeman]

By default, you should probably have a separate swap partition for your Linux install. If you only have one partition, then most installs (Mandrake or otherwise) will balk. You can run Linux with dynamic swap files (I'm doing so now), but I have a dedicated swap partition when I installed the distro.

-SUO

 

[thornc]

Why do you need to reinstall??
Just because you don't know the root password???

Either type linux single at the boot menu, and when you get to the command prompt edit /etc/passwd
to take out the root password, or use the install CD to boot and go into rescue mode, mount the linux
root partition and edit that file...

 

[Nickyct]

The drive is only 8 gig and half of it has Windows 98. I want it all for Linux and yes I don't know the password. There's not much I can do to it except looking the Login screen. That's as far as I can go.

 

[BreakApart]

During the reinstall select "use entire disk" this will allow Mandrake to setup both the partition and swap file areas for you. The "partition" option is there to help custom install the system, but then you also have to manage the swap file setup correctly. Since you don't mind destroying the entire disk just select "use entire DISK", this should format and setup everything for you.

 

[thornc]

Yes, but during boot up you can select single user mode, and in this mode you don't need
passwords....you're root.(period)!!

 

[Nickyct]

I'm able to re-installed it again. Finally, but I don't think I use the whole hard drive though. When I was doing the partitioning it show 3.9 gig something like that.

How do I find out how much space I have ?
It detected the sound card. I went and check, but there's no sound.
It installed my HP laser jet 4 L printer but it won't print. It detected my Deskjet though and it printed.

God there's so much to learn, So far I like it. I still can't get over how easy it is to install once you know what you're doing. Windows 98 will not pickup my USB mouse until the driver is installed (I had to use the tab key while installing it) Mandrake picked up the mouse right from the beginning. Very impressive. Wish I know how to use it like Windows. I just picked up Linux book at "Borders".
so much to read. Looks like it's gonna be a busy weekend for me..

Thanks guys for your help and input.

 

[stirling]

How much space...

cfdisk (or fdisk) will show you how your hard drive is partitioned and allow you to wipe out your windows partition.
After that, you'll want to format the partition, create a mount point and mount it somewhere. Relevant commands are
mkfs and mount, relevant file is /etc/fstab. All of which are accessible via man pages (i.e. 'man fstab'), or, hopefully, the book you just bought will explain things more than I care to at the moment.
Sound...
I hear that the volume is turned off by default, although I have never experienced this. I use a little package called umix, which you can surely find at freshmeat.net, to control /dev/mixer. It's also possible that your audio devices aren't created, in which case 'cd /dev && ./MAKEDEV audio' should make them for you.