Beginner troubles, advice please

[peeleo]

Hey,

I just installed Mint yesterday, from the cover disk on linux format, first linux install ever btw, looking to move into server admin at some point in the future so figured linux would be a good way for me to get familiar with unix.

Very impressed with the speed and feel to it but i've decided to keep vista on my machine for now and dual boot, mainly b/c i play a lot of online poker and don't think that my tracking software is supported, or indeed the poker client, but anyways, i'm glad i did actually as i've hit a little stumbling block already re: my Huawei E169 mobile broadband dongle, can't remember the exact text but it says something like Mount error code 32, i've googled it and there seems to be answers out there but i am a complete linux noob and all the answers i've seen go straight over my head.

Was just wondering if there's anybody out there who could;

a) help me out with this problem and put it into beginner language for me

and

b) point me in the direction of a kinda beginners guide to linux, literally a complete beginners guide, this is the file system it uses, this is how you install programs etc etc.

Thanks for any help you could give me on this

[Oscar799]

peeleo,
Welcome to Linux Mint forum.
This might help with your wireless issue http://www.linuxmint.com/wiki/index.php/MintWifi
If that doesn't fix it,search existing forum posts first,and then,if necessary,start a new thread with a detailed question of your own.
As for Linux beginners guides/free books,there are lots out there,Google "free linux books" or "linux beginners guide" or something similar.
Linux has a leaning curve,but its a lot of fun.

[peeleo]

Thanks,

Googled free linux books and there is indeed loads lol, plenty for me to get stuck into, inbetween reading my ComptiaA+ book whilst im on my course!

I done a far bit of googling last night, usb-modeswitch seems like it could be the solution but i am a complete noob so have no idea how to install or run it lol.

[peeleo]

I'm not sure that link is the same kind of problem, my internal wireless card is working fine (i think thats what the article is about) it is picking up wireless networks around me, will test it at home on my home broadband but im hopeful that its gonna work. My problem stems from a USB wireless modem, which i have to use when i'm away from home, which i think is being seen as a storage device.

[Oscar799]

peeleo,
I'm far from an expert on wireless issues,but if a mobile dongle is being seen as a storage device it's worth a try plugging it in first,then switching the computer on.
That often fixes the problem.

[viking777]

Certainly what oscar799 says is worth a try it has been known to work, but if your device is being recognised as a storage device then you probably need to use usb-modeswitch or the command line. Given your stated level of ability then I suggest you try the former.

Open the package manager from the start menu and search for usb-modeswitch. Installing it is simply a matter of ticking the box and then pressing the 'Apply' button at the top of the app.

When this has finished you might find that it works straight away (after a reboot), but on the other hand it may need some configuration first. Get it installed anyway then we will take it from there.

If you want to read up about the configuration then read this post:
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 48#p209495

But please note that these instructions are not for your modem you will have to adapt them to suit your situation (it is only a question of selecting the correct section in the .conf file).

[cjam]

Okay, I just installed Mint 8 and then tried to install Emerald Viewer(Linux Version)for Second Life. It seems to be in the archive. The problem is I don't know how to get it to work. On Windows it provides and icon and you just click the icon and it runs...here, I seem to have a bunch of files in an archive and I am not sure which one is supposed to activate it? Am I supposed to move it somewhere else, click on Open and then what, I am Lost on what to do next?

[cjam]

I should add that ...no , I didn't use the repository...I am not sure it even exists there from what I can tell...I downloaded straight from Emerald Viewers site(modularsystems.com) ...and I use this program(emerald viewer) on a daily basis. So far I like what I have seen with Mint 8, but it would be nice to know how to download from non-mint repositories and then have Mint 8 install the software ?

[viking777]

cjam, if your two posts have anything to do with this thread then it is not at all obvious to me. Perhaps you could elaborate on what this has to do with the Huawei E169 mobile broadband dongle or else start your own thread about Emerald Viewer.

Thanks.

[cjam]

ah, alright, i thought this was Beginner troubles, advice please....no problem..thank you for the insight.

[peeleo]

Hey viking,

Not been able to get on and check this thread til now so sorry for the late reply,
I have just installed usbmodeswitch through the package manager like you said to, rebooted, and still nothing, it seems to be being recognised as a CD drive??
So i guess i'll be going down the configuration route then, if you could help me with this it would be much appreciated,

Thanks so far anyways!

[peeleo]

I've had a look at the config file and removed the semi-colons as per my model, the E169, but still nothing, the next part says to remove the colons from a "message" type string but there isn't one for my modem type, don't really know what to do now

[viking777]

OK well first lets look and see if you have any kind of modem detected. Plug in the device then open a terminal and run

Code: Select all

ls /dev/ttyU*

If you get results from this command then like /dev/ttyUSB0 etc etc then the modem is detected. If you get something like 'not found' then it isn't. I need to know which it is before I can offer any more advice.

[peeleo]

ok, so i've ran that command in a terminal and it returns

/dev/ttyUSB0 /dev/ttyUSB2

has this found my modem then??

[peeleo]

Just one question there, i typed in "ls /dev/ttyU*" and it said not found, yet when i copy and paste the line from your post it displays what i said in my previous post, i think its something to do with the end character, is that a * ??

[viking777]

Just one question there, i typed in "ls /dev/ttyU*" and it said not found, yet when i copy and paste the line from your post it displays what i said in my previous post, i think its something to do with the end character, is that a * ??

Yes the end character is a * but I don't think that is the problem. Open Nautilus with the 'Places' section open in the left hand pane, then plug in your modem and just sit and watch what happens for at least 2 minutes - do not do anything else on the machine, just watch. What I think you will find happening is that every minute or so a Cdrom icon will appear in 'places' for just a few seconds and then it will disappear again. The reason I think this? I have the same thing happening with my Huawei E220. The reason you get differing results with the command I gave you is that it just depends at what stage you run the command. If you run it shortly after plugging in the modem you will get the result that your modem is detected. If you run it a few seconds after the cdrom icon appears you will get the 'not found' answer.

If this is the case (please let me know) then I have bad news for you - you are not going to get it working, you have two choices - a new modem or a new distro. Or rather an old distro because this is a problem with the current version of Mint and Ubuntu (and a lot of others) but if you go back to Mint 7 it doesn't happen.

If this is not the case then I am sure we can get you a connection somehow.

[peeleo]

Hey,

thanks for all of that, i'm not going to check as i was getting the feeling that was happening, with the command working sometimes and then being 'not found'

Luckily i am finished in the army in about 8 weeks and after that i won't be using my dongle at all pretty much, been at home this weekend and my plumbed in broadband at home works fine through linux, so i'll just have to go online through vista when i'm on camp during the week.

I'm very impressed by linux atm though, despite the dongle issues, discovered osalt.com and sourceforge this weekend and was amazed at all of the open source software out there, add that to the welcome i've had from the community here with your help and JamesFox emailing me a link to a really good book online and i'm sure that linux is for me. I might even go as far as saying that i can see myself ditching windows altogether at some point in the future, just gotta find a way to use postgresSQL and a few poker clients for my online poker (thinking i may have to use some sort of VMware purely for poker)