YDL Install Problems

[Harvey Ussery]

>
> Restarting into the system presented me with "local host login" (What 
> does
> local host mean? I assume this is not the main command prompt?).

>  Again I was presented
> with "local host login". The only command this understands is root.

"Local host" is simply the currently logged in user. That might be 
root--and for many configuration tasks, must be. However, you also have 
the option to log in as the "normal user" you had the opportunity to 
create when you installed. This is the account you should be working in 
most of the time. If you did not create this user account at install, 
you can do so any time using the "useradd" command. Type     man 
useradd      for more info.


> 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 difficult 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.

If you simply type    pico [enter]    at the command prompt, you simply 
open the pico text editor (into a blank page, as it were). If you want 
to edit the     /etc/inittab       file, however, you should type 
 >exactly< this at the command prompt:
		pico /etc/inittab
and then press [enter]  >>Note the space between "pico" and "/etc. . 
."<<
You now have that file open, and can make the changes recommended (in 
this case, changing the run-level). After making the change, press Ctrl 
+ x simultaneously, respond "y" plus [enter] when prompted whether to 
save the changes. Pico then saves the change to the file, and you are 
back at the command prompt. Congratulations!--you have just made your 
first change to a configuration in your system. That's what choosing 
Linux as your OS is all about--having the control to determine how 
 >your< system is configured.

Please note, though, that with that power comes the potential of 
screwing up things pretty fundamentally! If you make a mistake in 
altering a file, it still gets altered, and then processes that depend 
on that file will not function properly.

Keep at it--it gets easier!     Good luck.    --Harvey
>