Using Axis Interface from Livecd not installed

Hi,
Firstly as its my first post ,go easy on my simple noob question, and just thank all the moderators and contributors
for providing this forum and yes i have spent a numerous hours reading/researching this before posting.
Anyways call me any names you want but can you answer this ?can you use the Axis interface buttons under the
Manual control F3 tab ie axis X,Y,Z . + - continuous ,home axis as they appear greyed using Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron livecd ,not installed to hard drive. I have tried running the stepconfwizard and running its Test this Axis both Z and X and both appear to be responding (lathe motors move ok)after changing various parallel port pins and parameters and saving ,then running the associated generated launch stepconf shortcut on desktop to the Axis interface. I have disabled all pins accept the step and dirn for these two axis and have tried other combinations so I have spent a fair bit of time on it so any help would be appreciated as i am beginning to think the Sim > lathe mode that i chose in one of my attempts means no Manual control of these buttons.