Newbie questions

[Wade Smart]

mdovell at comcast.net wrote:
> A long story short I have a laptop I had xp on...1 1/2 years late it has 
> a series of problems so I figure it's really the software than hardware 
> so I switched a half week ago.
> Anyway most things seem to happen well...printer, internet access, 
> wireless internet access....
> 
> In all respects things are OK but I have a few minor issues
> 
> 1) internal  microphone I can't seem to find I use my laptop to record 
> some lectures (they turn out ok) I have recording software but it seems 
> to list more recording options than I really have. I guess I could 
> probably bring a small microphone but that might be more obvious (the 
> professor doesn't know and the cable would look odd etc.
> 
> 2) flash seems to work but only somewhat. Now I have no problem using 
> firefox or opera. I'm starting to think that this is really dependent on 
> the website itself
> 
> 3) Given how easily the printer was recongnized I'm assuming the scanner 
> would be as well as the webcam...would this be a correct assumption?
> 
> 4) Pidgin is a bit iffy. First I could get onto yahoo then I couldn't 
> and now I can. However now I have some sort of issue with QQ. From what 
> I understand this whole thing gets updated and the end of the month. 
> What should I expect.
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> In addition to this I am trying to put the OS on a 5 year old pc (it's 
> old..I figure I want to try this first before I shell out money)
> I tried the 64 bit version but it didn't work. I tried the 32 bit 
> version but it seems to get a blank screen ultimatly
> So I went down a version and went with the 32 bit and I get the beat box 
> but I don't know what to do. I'm OK in using a terminal screen as long 
> as I know what to do.
> 
> All in all I would say this is much easier than I thought it would be. 
> Back around 2000 I tried red hat...it partioned the hard drive but 
> failed to install...
> 
> Thanks for any advice
> 

What is the laptop in question: make & model.

2) I too recently have noticed that some versions of flash are to new on 
some sites and I cant play them. All the normal sites though like 
YouTube and news sites I can access. How did you install flash? And did 
you install FLASH or the open source version of it?

3) I have used HP all-in-ones and the scanner worked great. I used gimp 
to scan but there is also Xsane.

4) Yahoo on pidgin works great and then its down - but that is Yahoo's 
deal - not pidgin.

QQ?? What is that.

Stick to the 32bit version.

You didnt say but, if you arent, use the lately LTS version of Ubuntu.

wade

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Linux since June 2005