This is really stepping on my last nerve... I believe the network card is causing this freeze (i.e: Everything stops working, my mouse, my keyboard... etc). The wireless network card I have is being detected but when I try to configure it so that I could connect to the internet, it just freezes. Any solutions to this problem?
How are you configuring it? The Network center?
Configure Your Computer > Network & Internet > Set up a new network interface > Wireless Wi-Fi

Then I get two options:
-wlan0: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8185 IEEE 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN Controller (which is my wireless network card)
-Use a Windows driver (with ndiswrapper)

If I choose the first option it ends up freezing in 5 seconds. If I choose the second option it gives me a dialog box saying Please insert the medium named "Main media".

I was thinking maybe I could configure it using the terminal or something... I donno, I have no idea what to do.
@Rahmu, this was an awesome history lesson man! it deserves a thread of its own (Linux does, and this should be the intro or sumthin). oh and just one little thing, the guy's name is Linus i think.

@AymanFarhat haha yep man i was talking about that same mag. last time i got it , it came with U9.1 live DVD, and the whole mag was dedicated to 10 awesome tutorials on programming in c# in monodevelop. the tutorials start from scratch (i.e. setting up ubuntu and the inevitable first 'hello world' in c# :D) and end with a great game tutorial.

@kassem - this is really weird man. what's your wifi card? and anyway what are the general specs for the pc?
@ eurybaric: where do you get the magazine from? Hamra like Ayman does? I really need this magazine... This is my wireless network card: "Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8185 IEEE 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN Controller"
The specs are:
Intel Pentium 4 2.80GHz
1GB DDR
Intel 82865G Integrated Graphics Controller (built-in)
82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller
80GB HHD
@eurybaric, just out of curiosity were do you buy it from? I buy it from a guy who sells mags on the street in Hamra, when I first saw that that mag was really available in Lebanon I was really surprised, that was a year ago, now I am a regular customer :P
Kassem man, I don't know what the problem could be. There are no known issues with your Wireless card, or maybe I am missing them.

What you could try to do is to connect wirely, install all the updates available (there should be plenty) and retry then. What is the version of Mandriva you are using?

@eurybaric: Thank you for the correction, really hard to type long texts without typos. Anyway if you are interested, you should watch a documentary called "Revolution OS" available online (google videos). You could also watch a finnish documentary called "The Code". Right now I am reading a book called "Free Culture" by Lawrence Lessig that adresses the more moral/legal aspect of the sharing community.
kassem: i can't find anything about the issue... weird :... i'd recommend u do what rahmu said, it'd probably get fixed. that's what happened to me when i first installed ubuntu 9.1. network-manager was the problem, and the updates fixed everything.

@Ayman: last time i got it was from Virgin in Geant. You could probably talk to your local bookshop/library so they can get it for you.

@rahmu: np, that was probably too geeky from my part (lol). n I'll definitely check the vidz out, i am interested!
if I'm going to use a wired connection I'll need to find a 5 meters cable, cuz my router is far away from my pc! Is that possible?
Kassem wroteif I'm going to use a wired connection I'll need to find a 5 meters cable, cuz my router is far away from my pc! Is that possible?
Definitely. Just ask your local store. I've had 30m+ cables.
ah nice...

I'll go and check... what's the name of the cable by the way?
Ethernet cable, shouldn't be more complicated than that.
Alright!! Hi from Linux Mandvira :P

I got the cable and SuSe 11.1 as well, thought I'd keep my alternatives available in case the cable didn't do the trick!

1. Do you suggest installing SuSe along with Mandvira?
2. Now what should I do to fix that wireless connection issue?

P.S: This Mandvira distro looks even better than Windows!
Mabrouk and welcome to Linux!

First of all, what is the version of Mandriva you are using?

Second, what Desktop Environment are you using? (If you do not know the answer to this one, can you please show me a screenshot?)

I'd suggest you waited a little bit before installing SuSE, though it shouldn't be too hard to do.

About the wireless: Try to install all the updates available (wait the night to do so), it sometimes magically fix your problem. Worse comes to worse, you could either stick with your ethernet cable (try to hide it in a nice fashion so it's out of your way), or try SuSE as a live CD to check if the wireless works.

As for what to do next, I'd suggest moving around Mandriva for a while. Getting a feel for the OS. Use as many apps as you can. You will notice that even though they look similar (Desktop, icons, Panels, menus, ...) Windows and Mandriva have different GUIs.

Try to install a program of your choice. (Tip: You cannot do it like you do in Windows, so don't bother going to the constructor's website to donwload a 'Setup.exe', it won't work).

Try to watch a video on Youtube. It probably won't work. You have to install a Flash codec. Learn to do that.
Try to listen to mp3s. Watch a video. Fix the problems when it won't work.

There are reasons why you cannot use Flash, mp3, mpeg, avi ... natively. The linux world is filled with politics. I'll be glad to teach you why.

Try to install Skype and if you do not use it, learn to "uninstall" it.

Change the theme a little bit.

Set up a LAN network with your laptop. It should be easy as fuck if you have some TCP/IP knowledge.

Mandriva has a very intuitive GUIs. If you try hard enough, by the end of the week end you should be able to do all this stuff.

And when you feel ready, learn how to use the command line. As you will probably notice, it is definitely not necessary to do so anymore. However I'd still recommend you do it because it will give you a power far greater in computing. I wise man once said on this forum, that Linux is "a gem for the worthy". Learn to be one of them. I found this tutorial here that should be a good start.

After that there are limitless tasks you can do. You are a web developer. Learn to set up Apache web server on Mandriva. You will see how well it integrates with Linux.

Learn to use a real text editor like VI or emacs.

Learn to connect remotely to other machines with ssh.

Learn to dual boot with SuSE or Windows, as well as advanced partition systems. (Dual booting means having multiple OS on your machine. You choose the one you want to run at start. In case you do not know).

As you can see, there are a lot you could do and this is just the beginning. More importantly you will notice how fun it is to do them. I have been in the linux world full-time since 2008, and I'm loving every second of it.
Learn to sudo shutdown -r now and boot to windows.

*giggle*
xterm wroteLearn to sudo shutdown -r now and boot to windows.

*giggle*
Arrrgh xterm. Here again, teaching your dark ways of the proprietary front! I won't let you do this. I will stand in
your way. Resistance shall not be futile. The One true OS shall prevail.

Long live the teachings of Stallman, Raymonds and Torvalds. Long live the freedome.

We will stop sucking at the Gates/Ballmer teat. We will not get lost in the (dot)net of your 'Visual' lure. We will use vim, gcc and lynx to bring you down.

By the power of the GPL, I send you back to the darkness of Redmond. Vade Retro Satanas!

:-P

PS Ultimately, I will convert you.
rahmu wrotePS Ultimately, I will convert you.
I've done my share love, as you're doing yours :-)
@rahmu: Look at him go! He's so excited :)
ok I'm using Mandriva Powerpack 2010 with GNOME as my desktop environment.

I used the terminal to get the packages/media for Easy URPMI and now I'm using Mandriva's Software Management Tool to install Vim.

Actually, the Flash Player plugin and Skype came with the distro so I do not need to install them. I was using Empathy for chatting but I didn't like it much, I'll try aMsn or Pidgin.

Now I'll have to install Apache and try to do a LAN network with my laptop, not a bad idea actually. But I still do not know how to update my wireless network card driver to see if that would fix the problem...

So far so good, and don't worry rahmu, I won't listen to xterm's evil plans :P
Congrats man! good to see you've worked it out! now i think mandriva by default ships with KDE. If its true for ur case, KDE is nice and all but you ought to try gnome later, as IMO I feel its much more consistent and is much less cluttered, and so I feel more productive w it (thats just me though).

Anyway what you should try to do next time you install linux (if you reinstall OpenSuse later) is to create a seperate partition for your home and system, cuz then you'll never loose your settings and documents no matter how many times you reinstall and even if you change os. Anyhow keep that for later and for now discover and enjoy, and try to tweak stuff here and there to get the hang of it like rahmu said.

Cheerz!