Plug and Play Linux

I'm a newbie that just installed Redhat Linux 6.1 onto a Toshiba Laptop I had sitting around.

Skip this paragraph if you don't want to hear about how exciting it was to install. I start with computers back in the early 80's and watching the text install run and seeing the Ansi colors for the first time in over ten years brought back the butterflys to my stomach when I would boot up a BBS for the first time.

Now I have it installed, I can see the screen and I'm bumbling through just playing right now, excited to have thrown off the chain's of Billy Bob's opression ALA 1984. (Ok, melodramatic, but close to the truth).

I installed both gnome and then reinstalled with KDE. So far I like KDE better. How can I change my screen resolution? How do I get to command line? Does this thing have plug and play?

I wish I had more time to read the nooks and crannies of this thing, but it's a side project I've wanted to do for a long time and am squeezing it in during coffee breaks and sleepless nights, so pointers in the right direction would be greatly appreciated!

~Matt

screen resolution: XFSetup (probably redhat comes with its own, more comfortable tool, but i don´t know it )

console: between ctrl-alt-f1 and ctrl-alt-f10 you should find several consoles to work with. One of them is your X-Windows, so this is also the way to return.

some cool linux stuff: you can run any program that runs on a console also inside an xterm. (look for "Terminal" or "Shell" in the KDE menu - if i remember correctly, kde has a shell symbol in the quick-start bar on the bottom.)
yes, windows can run a dos window too, but when i said any program, i mean any program, not just most programs!

some more cool console stuff? since you asked (???):
"program </dev/tty1 >/dev/tty1 2>/dev/tty1 &"
lets you start a program anywhere / on any console/xterm, but it "runs" on console 1 (disable the default login/getty before to make it run more smoothly: edit /etc/inittab, make a remark-sign (#) before the line with /sbin/getty tty1 (or similar) - or maybe you have unused consoles already?)

plug and play: yes and no
plug and play hardware works (some hardware claims to be plug and play but in reality is not ), pcmcia stuff works like you are used to from windows, i don´t know anything about usb though. this leads to my final, but imho most important tip for you:

get a newer version. redhat is up in the 7´s (i think 7.3, but not sure since i am SuSE user).
you´ll have a more secure machine, more stable kde, more / better applications and support for a much wider range of hardware, eg USB(!), firewire, graphics cards...

besides this: Have a lot of fun!

Thanks for the info, I will play with it this weekend.

Are you saying that I can run a windows program in these "consoles"?

At the bottom of my screen is a window that is divided four times, are those four windows four consoles?

Thanks for the info, I'm really enjoying computers again!

This is great to hear, linux is A LOT of fun, if you like to tinker and figure things out.

I'd suggest bumping up to a newer redhat, I use 7.2 for servers and workstations and it's fabulous.

X configuration- Check out Xconfigurator, I think that's redhat's thing. Make sure you're in console mode and logged in as root.

The KDE terminal is "konsole", and it looks like a little black computer monitor in the lower left-hand corner.

And the "control-alt f1-12" thing is great- been using linux for 4 years, and I didn't know about it within X. That's the trouble with being an autodidact, you miss some basic stuff if you're not reading all the time.

you cannot run windows programs in these consoles. open one and see. you´ll understand what they are.

the 4 rectangular buttons in your taskbar are virtual desktops. helps in organizing windows if you have only one graphics card+monitor