25 Jan 2005

Dumb Question: Mounting of floppy disks or CD's is done automatically in M$ and most newbies are looking for something just as easy. However, very little information is found in any of the literature or technical guides on this subject. Perhaps I'm the exception rather than the rule, but it took me 4 weeks to learn how. I finally decided to overcome the embarrassment and ask the question of one more experienced than I. A simple little thing. I'm 67 years old.

Answer: For SUSE

SUSE has a desktop Icon for accessing what is called removable media. This includes floppies, CD-ROMs, and Burners, DVDs, Hard Drives that are not mounted at start up, and Networked drives. For the newbie, probably only floppies and CD-ROMs are important and this answer deals with accessing them, copying files, and installing new software from a CD.

Clicking this icon starts the file manager, and shows the various removable media on your system.

This is KDE.

This is GNOME.

Insert a floppy into the drive, and click the Floppy icon in the window. I'll stick to KDE as my desktop has been setup under this window manager, but the general operation are the same.

This is the KDE file manager window after clicking the Floppy icon.

Konqueror has a nice feature that is very helpful for newbies and experienced users as well. In the Window drop down menu, you can split the window into two panes. Then drag and drop files from one pane to the other.

This is the two panes view with the floppy in one and my home in the other. Whichever pane is active is shown in the Location bar.

When you have finished, close the file manager and take out the floppy.

To use the CD-ROM to install some new software is just as easy. This is the file manager looking at an inserted CD.

Click on the RPM file to install it. Information about the package will be shown with an Install button.

This one is for a different piece of software as the ltris one was pretty boring.

As only the super user can install software, this window pops up when you click the install button, asking for your root password.

Supply the password and the package manager starts.

Sometimes this may take a little while to happen as the packages configuration files have to be read.

This is the package install window. When it closes the package will be installed.

In the file information window, click on the Files tab to get this view.

This shows you where the program is installed, and a bit further down where as suitable icon file might be. We can use this information to put a launch icon onto the desktop. Right click in an empty space on the desktop and choose these options.

In the properties window General tab, fill in the name and click on the Application tab.

Fill in the Description and the path to the application which you can get from the package file information window, or by browsing for it.

Next, scroll down the package file window to find a suitable icon file. Click the General tab in the Properties window and click on the icon. Select Other Icons and the Browse button.

This is the Browse window in the application share folder. Change the filter in this case to *.bmp and hit Enter.

I have selected logo.bmp. Click Open.

Click OK in the Properties window. This is the new icon on the screen. Click it to make the application run.

This Newbie answer has covered: