Thank you for your reply madworm.
A repair of the win OS using the installation disk has been performed, but has not rectified the problem. A complete reinstall is technically easy, but I would like to avoid this unless there is just no other way. Initially configuring the OS to my specs is very time consuming.
I did read the start-up guide for fedora. The part I'm running into difficulty with the section "RXTX fixup -- Link the proper files". Notably the command "find ~ -name librxtxSerial.so
-o -name RXTXcomm.jar | grep -v Download"
I am trying to learn linux as best I can, but fully understanding how things work will take time and experience. I know some basic terminal commands, but not enough to be literate with them. Specifically, when the "find" command is used, I am returned to the shell prompt (with no information printed). A situation such as mine would be a good stepping stone to learning, but I cannot locate a good reference on the fundamentals.
pixilize