Other Help Topics :: damnsmall bootsup but i cannot do anything with it



excuse my ignorance of the OS.
i see command prompt 2 3 places.
where am i to command like ls cfdsk and all
whats the balck box at lefthand bottom corner doing nothing happens if i click there
tty i remember to have seen in unix system.
give me a little more push i think i can try and keep the momentum and start own my own
:) :(
Command prompt:

You can either boot into text mode with "dsl 2" boot command
or you can exit the windowmanager while in xwindows.
Or you can choose Xshells -> Rxvt dark   from the fluxbox menu (Right click menu).

The black box is called a Pager.

To understand how a pager works, you need to understand the concept of a "workspace".

In MS Windows, your entire workspace is displayed on your computer screen. It is your desktop.

In many Linux Window managers, like the Fluxbox one that comes with DSL, you are defaulted to 3 (or sometimes even more than 3) workspaces.

This means that you can have 3 screenfuls of "stuff" that is displayed on your computer screen.  So, for example, you can load up a web browser on one workspace and have the window fill up the entire screen.  You can then move over to workspace #2 and load up an e-mail program and have it take over the entire screen.  And you can load up a game on workspace #3.

The little arrows on the left side of your bottom taskbar allow you to toggle back and forth between workspace #1, #2, and #3.

Now how does this relate to the black pager window in the lower left corner?

The pager window lets you see a tiny screencapture of each workspace.  This is why it appears like it is divided into thirds.

So in my example above, a tiny picture of your web browser would appear in the lefthand pager window, a tiny picture of your email program would appear inside the middle pager window and a tiny picture of your game would appear inside the righ hand window.
thats a very presice explanation.thanks.
i also found sites expalining linux commands and what they do
still i dont get an idea how to prepare a partition for installing dsl on my hdd partition which is already there formatted with win98 on the other partition
how dsl detects hdd and how they r addressed to mount?
i am sorry i have to have to come back here for aome more helps
ramaswamy :p
i have made some more progress
i can now cfdisk hda
i have 2 hdd inmy comp
cfdisk  doesnot show my secondary master hdd1
how can i access that drive 8gb size
win98se is on that drive i want to install dsl there in a partition
i want avoid switching connectors inside comp at this time
is there a way to access it
like fdisk cfdisk does not have change drive option
ramaswamy:(
Your secondary master should be hdc1.

Here is my understanding of linux IDE device names and terminology:

First (Primary) IDE controller, Master Drive IDE0 = hda
First (Primary) IDE controller, Slave Drive IDE1 = hdb

Second IDE controller, Master Drive IDE0 = hdc
Second IDE controller, Slave Drive IDE1 = hdd

For most prebuilt PCs, the factory installed hard drive is Primary Master (hda) and the factory installed CDROM / CDRW / DVD drive is Secondary Master (hdc).
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