[Newbie] Simpliftin simultaneous equations with matrix notation

As a retiree, I'm essentially reviewing network theory I 
supposedly learned as a sophomore E.E. but never used in the last 
50 years. At the moment I'm using Maxima primarily as an editor 
which gives easily read equations. Later I'll run system 
simulations in the discrete time domain. [If this sounds like 
reinventing wheels, it is. One goal is understanding "wheels".]

Right now I'm I'm using brute force manual methods to initially 
write the equations and then use simplification functions 
(ratsimp and cousins). I don't always get results formatted to my 
preferences (have already been shown in another forum a sequence 
of operations that gives something close).

Two questions.

1. Given a set of equations, can Maxima present it as a 
"coefficient square matrix" times "column vector of unknowns" 
equal to "column vector of forcing functions"?

2. For many systems, the matrix of coefficients can be simply 
written by inspection. Can Maxima solve the set if given the 
matrix form?

TIA