Real simple: how do I see my cd drive?

[Clinton MacDonald]

Mr. Smalbro:

Welcome aboard!

Studio Smalbro wrote:
> I have just installed yellow dog with the Gnome interface on
> my old Imac. I am a real newbie - How do I see whats on a cd?

If you think of the top level of your hard drive as "/" (that's what it 
is called in Linux -- it's not your desktop at the top), a CD-ROM will 
be located at "/dev/cdrom". External devices like hard drives and 
CD-ROMs are located in the "/dev" directory (I know -- it makes no sense 
to me, either). You can go there one of two ways...

> I miss a Finder/Explorer program...

There *is* a Finder-type program called "Nautilus" in Gnome. If you 
click on the desktop icon called (I think -- I am not at my YDL box 
right now) "Home," it will open Nautilus. You can also find your home 
directory in the start menu at the left hand side of the panels bar. 
Within Nautilus, you can go up and down through the directories until 
you reach "/dev/cdrom."

The second way is using the command line console. Type "cd /dev/cdrom" 
and it should take you to your cdrom drive. Type "ls" or "ls -al" to see 
a listing of what is in your CD-ROM. Find out more about the "cd" and 
"ls" commands by typing "man cd" or "man ls."

It sounds as if you need a book or manual to get you started with 
Linux/YDL (don't be shy -- everyone needs such a book). Here is another 
place to get started:

<http://www.sharplabs.com:8668/space/start>
<http://www.sharplabs.com:8668/space/Learning+More/Learning+More+about+Linux>

Good luck!

Best wishes,
Clint

-- 
Dr. Clinton C. MacDonald | <mailto:clint DOT macdonald AT sbcglobal DOT net>