I'm finally warming up to linux, althogh to be honest i don't feel as comfortable with it as with windowz. It is a bit of a culture shock to go from beign able to do anything in one OS to being a helpless ass in another. One of the things i'm feeling like an ass is the mouse. KDE wasn't working right once so i just switched to a s---y mouse setting. The problem is now i have no middle button (apperantly fairly important) i can't really count on wheel support either. The mouse is a Microsoft Ps/2 one. if i try going to the serial PS/2 three button option the mouse just skrews up and there is no using it. Any suggestions? Also where are my executable (binarys in linux jargon?) files? Everynow and then i open a file and program in my computer that rocks opens it. Its that PS/PDF viewer which i like more then xpdf. Problem is I can't find it for the life of me! Is there a search word/command i could use to find executables considering linux doesn't use extensions? You know a sort of linux equivalent of windowz' search *.exe function. thnx in advance linux_newbie

Go to a bash prompt, type 'man which' and read up on the 'which' command. You will find this useful. You might also read up on 'man type'.

Sorry about the culture shock, but welcome to Linux. I guess I'm old-fashioned, as I only use a 2 button mouse without scroll wheels/etc. What do you mean by "apperantly fairly important" with regards to the middle mouse button? I've been using Linux for over 5 years and have not found a middle mouse button necessary. I've always only needed "mouseconfig" from a command prompt to set up my mouse, aside from response settings (set up in Gnome/KDE). By the way, I'm using a Microsoft PS/2 serial mouse, as well, running on Redhat 8. The executable Linux programs are those with the "x" permission set. Enter "ls -al" at any directory prompt and the files with "x" on the left are executable for that particular group (user, group, other). To look for a particular file, there are a number of ways of doing this, such as "locate" and "find". For instance, at a command prompt: # find / -name "filename" (Searching from the root (/) for the filename "filename") You could also use "rpm" with Redhat, such as: # rpm -qal|grep "filename" (List all files in all packages, looking for "filename") The easiest way for a newbie to find apps in the gui is just to look through the menus. You could also look through all the packages, by entering this: # rpm -qa|more Then, when you think you have found the right package, you can enter this: # rpm -ql packagename (don't enter the version number, just the packagename, such as "xpdf", not "xpdf-1.01-8". This will show all files in the package. The executable ought to be in there.) Enter "man rpm" for further info. The other "pdf" viewer I use is Adobe's Acrobat Reader, which is downloadable from their site. Good luck.

You can also use locate to find files. $ locate filename Locate refers to database which needs to be updated with # updatedb You can find a quick and dirty list of binaries with: $ locate bin | less Most programs will be installed under /bin, /usr/bin, /usr/local/bin etc FYI you can find out what sort of file something is with the "file" command without having to rely on extensions: $ file /path/to/filename To get your middle mouse button working, check your /etc/X11/XF86Config(-4) file and make sure that emulate3buttons is not enabled (pressing both buttons at once is the same as middle mouse click). If you have a wheel mouse, make sure that the protocol you are using is IMPS2 and not just PS2 and also ZAxisMapping is set to 4 & 5. C_Legend....I'm surprised you don't use the middle mouse button....it's an easy way to paste text.

Thnx for all your help. culutre shock or not i'm not going back to Microsoft. Destryoing the cookie cutter is the price of freedom in any situation. Linux_newbie

3Dave - I suppose the biggest reason I haven't used the middle mouse button is that I don't have a mouse with more than 2 buttons, and have never even tried using the "emulate 3 buttons" thing. So, maybe I'll never know how handy it could be to paste text. :-) linux_newbie - I certainly appreciate your attitude. I wish you both the best of luck.

C_Legend I take it you know how to use the emulate3buttons if set in your XF86Config file? Pressing both buttons at the same time is the same as middle clicking.