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Hi! At this point, I'm just checking back when asked a question. When my life gets less hectic, I'll start browsing to find questions to answer. But please ask; I will answer within 24 hours.

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i use linux red hat which is an advanced system compared to the microsoft i know so well. i am by no means technologically advanced, but rather a friend of mine installed linux for me. however, he did not install my hp1200 printer, or a sound card. i attempted to install these myself, and failed. it worked fine on microsoft, but very few things are compatible with linux, and i don't know how to properly install the printer and sound card. going back to microsoft is no longer an option, and neither is calling up my friend for more help. thanks!

Hi! Welcome to the wonderful world of open source software. I'm really excited to see a linux question here. In actuality, more hardware is compatible with linux than with windows, as windows drops support for older hardware regularly. However, there is frequently some lag between new hardware being released and it being fully compatible with linux.

I can't really say anything specific about your sound card, because I don't know what you have. I do know that if you type "sndconfig" at the command prompt, red hat should start up a sound card configuration tool. If that doesn't work, ask me again, but let me know what version of red hat and what sound card you have. :)

Now onto the printer. This site says that while your printer will work, there may be some issues with older versions of linux, and/or with red hat.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/showproduct.php?product=677&sort=8&cat=205&page=1

There is also a red hat tool called "printtool" (typing that at the command prompt is the fastest way to start it) that may be able to help you.

I don't know where you've run into problems, or what problems you have, so I can't really offer much direct help. You may want to find a local linux users group (LUG). Some sites that may be of help to you are:

http://www.linuxselfhelp.com/
http://www.linux.org/docs/
http://www.linuxquestions.org/

Good luck, and please don't be afraid to ask. I (and others) will frequently have to request more information, but don't let that intimidate you.

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(Rating: 5) thanks so much!
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