On Mon, 16 Feb 2004 21:54:48 +0000, alex.s wrote:

> I am not sure that this is the correct group for me. If thee is a 'newbie'
> group please tell me.
>
Welcome
> I have just to dedicate my laptop to learning about Linux and to that end I have
> installed Suse 9.0. Yast saw me through a lot of the messy stuff but I have 3
> problems.
>

Theres no such thing as a problem only a learning opportunity :o)

> 1. My desktop appears in a small square in the centre of the screen. Its the
> video settings I think I need to change but have not found them yet.
>
You need to run Sax2 to set the display resolution to that of your laptop.
What make of laptop is it? You need to know the native resolution. Some
laptops (Dell being one) have a 'FONT' function(usually Purple function
key and a 'Fx' key). This will expand the desktop to full screen but if you
have the non native screen resolution set this can make text a but blurry.
e.g. if your screen is 1024.768 and Linux is set to 800 x 600 you can get
it full screen but text is blurred.

> 2. The mouse has a life of its own. The cursor disappears in one part of the
> screen and skips to another. There are areas where I cannot position the
> cursor.

I am guessing here but I suspect you have a Synaptics touchpad in your
laptop. You can get specifc drivers for these that sort out this problem.
I had this after upgrading to 2.6.1 kernel and installing the synaptics
driver and enabling synaptic support in the kernel sorted mine out.Have a
google for synaptics+linux

>
> 3. I have a Thompson Speedtouch 330 broadband modem which was not listed in the
> set-up listing. I can probably get a Linux driver but there appeared to be no
> provision to select a driver from a drive.
>

Again Goggle is your friend. However As you have a laptop which suggests
portability why not get a wireless Access point/modem. I have a Netgear
DG842 which does the ADSL, modem and routing all in one dead easy to set
up box. That way stick a Wifi card in the laptop and surf away wherever.It
may seem like extra expense but you should be able to get a few
quid(dollars whatever) back on the modem on Ebay and the amount of time
you will save is probably well worth it.


> Someone point me in the right direction to get started please.
>
I hoped these answers helped. Feel free to ask if you need additional help.


--
Entwisi