YDL Install Problems

[Alan Waterfall]

Dear all,

I am entirely new to Linux. I have been trying to install a Linux
distribution on a 7600/132 with 15" Multiscan monitor for several days.
Mandrake got almost nowhere. With Debian I could never get to a GUI. Yellow
Dog has been better, in that,  I have seen a GUI, BUT  I have several
difficulties that I have spent considerable time on. As a Mac user who has
never heard of a command prompt before, I am very frustrated by the level of
knowledge required just to install a system. As we all know, you just drag a
System Folder to the hard drive with Mac OS, anything else is too boring!
All I want to do is evaluate Linux software, not spend all this time going
nowhere. would be grateful for any help.
 
1.I cannot get the system to start and present a GUI to log into.

During the install I never got to the X11 configuration as depicted in the
install instuctions (p8). The complete install stalled towards the end on CD
3 at KDE Additional Artwork,the error window said there was a bug, hitting
any of the prompts on the error window (I have got to this stage more than
once) exited the install to a text screen.

Restarting into the system presented me with "local host login" (What does
local host mean? I assume this is not the main command prompt?).I followed
the Xautoconfig and got to the GUI and altered the Display settings (more of
this later) to the correct monitor. I did not alter the video card setting
as I have no idea what card is in the 7600 nor can I find any info on the
Apple website. I logged out and in again as instucted. Again I was presented
with "local host login". The only command this understands is root. I do not
understand the next stage in the instructions on p 11, "pico/etc/inittab",
Where do I type this and isthis the exact instruction? Please bear with me
on this, as a long time Mac user the text line freaks me out -I have never
come across this before and it is appallingly dificult to interact with. I
could open the pico editor by typing "pico" at the root prompt but at read
file the response was no such file when I typed in etc/inittab.

2. I could not get a very useful desktop either before or after altering the
display settings. The icons are enormous. There is insufficient room on the
screem for the programme windows, part ofthe window is missing off the
bottom. When I altered from 640 x 480 to 800 x 600 the only change was a
larger desktop that was off monitor which could be seen if I moved the mouse
to the extremes of the screen. Is this usual. I would very much like to get
to the sort of screen I see with this higher setting on the Mac. How do I do
this. Can I use the GUI to achieve it?

3. As the install stopped before completion, Office is not present in the
Office folder. How do I install or copy this onto the hard drive? Why can't
I just drag it across from the CD-not that I can see the CD !

Thanks,

Alan