new to ubuntu; have a few questions

[Henk Koster]

On Wed, 08 Nov 2006 23:25:46 -0600, Dwain Alford wrote:

> greetings from upper alabama,
> 
> i switched from windows 2000 to ubuntu 6.06.1 lts yesterday.  i like the
> feel, but i've got a few of questions.

...and you've already found a great resource: this news group; even
more help in the Ubuntu forums.

> 
> 1. when i ran the live cd i received the message "unable to locate
> rsdp". the os seemed to function ok; i really can't say properly,
> because i don't know what properly is at this time.

A hardware issue, as far as I know: the motherboard of your computer does
not handle all of ACPI properly. As you already noticed, the kernel runs
fine without it. You could also use the kernel option "acpi=off" to get
rid of the RSDP message.

> 2. during start up with the lice cd i also received the message mount:
> function not implemented.
> 
> the cd i imaged verified, but after install on the hdd i still get the 2
> messages.

Hard to say, need more information on the precise context of this message.

> 3. i have another hdd installed where i will keep data.  i formatted it
> to extended 3.  the drive will not mount.  i get the following error
> messages: error: device /dev/hdb1 is not removable error: could not
> execute pmount

Mmm, pmount does indeed relate to removable media, like a floppy disk.
You could check whether there is an entry in the /etc/fstab file for
/dev/hdb1, it should read something like

/dev/hdb1  /media/data   ext3    defaults    0      1

where /media/data is the mount point, a directory that you must first
create by typing "sudo mkdir /media/data" in a terminal (choose your own
name instead of data).

> 4. how do i allow myself full access to the computer to make changes,
> add and delete, move files, copy from one place to another and etc.?
> this is a tad bit frustrating, but i welcome the linux plunge.

Open a terminal (Applications/Accessories/Terminal), then issue the
command with the prefix "sudo" (without the quotes). This gets you
administrative (or root) privileges for that command only; requires giving
your password. 

> 5. is there an open source pdf editor akin to acrobat (full version) and
> nitro pdf?  i need more than a viewer.

The standard pdf-viewer is Evince, which you can open by right-clicking
on a pdf-file. I don't know whether it has all the features you want, but
then you can also install Acrobat Reader (package acroread). You may have
to uncomment some repository lines in /etc/apt/sources.list (remove the
# token at the start of the line). 

Some of the above suggestions require firing up an editor, like 
"sudo nano -w /etc/fstab" to add or change a line in a file.

The boot option "acpi=off" can be made permanent by editing
"sudo nano -w /boot/grub/menu.list" or by checking out the update-grub
function (use the "man update-grub" command).

> finally, i have many more questions. would someone be so kind as to
> point me to online references and book suggestions as i begin a new
> computer chapter with linux?

The Ubuntu Wiki would be a good place to start.

> cheers,
> dwain
> <div id="mb_0">greetings from upper alabama,<br><br>i switched from
> windows 2000 to ubuntu 6.06.1 lts yesterday.  i like the feel, but
> i've got a few of questions.<br><br>1. when i ran the live cd i received
> the message "unable to locate rsdp".  the os seemed to
> function ok; i really can't say properly, because i don't  know
> what properly is at this time. <br><br>2. during start up with the lice
> cd i also received the message mount: function not
> implemented.<br><br>the cd i imaged verified, but after install on the
> hdd i still get the 2 messages.<br><br>3. i have another hdd installed
> where i will keep data.  i formatted it to extended 3.  the
> drive will not mount.  i get the following error
> messages:<br>error: device /dev/hdb1 is not removable <br>error: could
> not execute pmount<br><br>4. how do i allow myself full access to the
> computer to make changes, add and delete, move files, copy from one
> place to another and etc.?  this is a tad bit frustrating, but i
> welcome the linux plunge. <br><br>5. is there an open source pdf editor
> akin to acrobat (full version) and nitro pdf?  i need more than a
> viewer.<br><br>finally, i have many more questions.  would someone
> be so kind as to point me to online references and book suggestions as i
> begin a new computer chapter with linux? <br><span
> class="sg"><br>cheers,<br>dwain<br>
> 
> </span></div>