On Jul 21, 6:38 pm, Tony Peardon <rWorldDesi...@yahoo.ca> wrote:
> Hi All,
> This is my first post to this group, and before I get to the subject of
> my troubles, I'd just like to say that Debian really impressed me. I've
> got an old computer (Dell Optiplex GX1), and it use to run very slow on
> Windows 98, and crash often. Now I feel like I have a whole new computer,
> and it's never crashed once, but I do have some questions, mainly because
> I'm a total newbie.

No problem, we have all been total newbies here. But to help you, you
need to help us.
So first you need to tell us which sort of problem you want to solve.
I think you have done that
quite good. Points to you.
Then you really need to tell us about your computer. Here you just
lost your point
Which distribution version do you have (Debian has different version,
I would guess you use Debian/Etch which is version 4.0)?

> First Question: I can't seem to play any 3D games with any speed at all.
> I could under Win98, so I suspect that my graphics card just needs to be
> configured, but I can't find where to do this. Anyone who can point me
> in the right direction has my appreciation.

We need to know what hardware you have. A good way is to use the
command 'lspci'
So open a terminal window, type the command. Mark it with dragging
and marking
the command and output, and then middle klick in you next replay to
this. It will look
something like this ("..." means that I removed some text):

$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 915G/P/GV/GL/PL/910GL Express
Memory Controller Hub (rev 04)
....
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M24 1P [Radeon
Mobility X600]
....
$

The line "VGA compatibel controller..." tells us that I have a ATI
graphical card. If you tell use which
you have, we should be able to point you where you can find how to
install a 3D driver

> Next Question: Here at my home, we have three computers, all online
> through an old 16 port IBM hub and a telus DSL modem. I'm running debian,
> and everone else is running XP. My question is how do we connect the
> three computers together so that we can share files with each other.

As ray wrote, SAMBA is good way of shareing files and printers with
other MS Windows machines.
You could also look for SSH or WebDAV (putty or other klient on your
MS Windows XP machines works
well, webdav need you to set up Apache2 the right way).

Each user needs an account on your Linux machine to be able to read/
write files to it.

> Last Question: I want to be able to write internet applications with
> php/mysql, but I can't get any of my php pages to load. These pages were
> written on my windows 98 machine, and they all worked, but now none of
> them do. Anyone know whats up?

You need to install Apache2 and PHP, which you find with "synaptics"
as ray told you.
Then you need to set Apache2 up to use PHP etc. That you do with
special commands
in debian. Look at http://www.debian-administrator.org/ or use Google
to look up pages
to "set up" "Apache2" with "PHP" on "Debian" "Etch" .
I will give you and every one else, use those marked key words in a
google search, It will
give you a really good hit in first line

They have good information about SAMBA too on the same site.

> Thanks in advance for all replies. Especially the ones that help

Your welcome

Good luck