Installing programs in Linux

You will get an error if you are not installing it as root.

Make sure to "su" before executing the installation.

Usually, if you see a # at the prompt you are logged as root, and if you see a $ you are any user.
 
OK, it took me a while to figure it all out but I've finally successfully installed Realplayer plugin, flashplayer plugin and Acrobat reader last night. I found the rpm for realplayer. I've also finally worked out how to navigate through the operating system files.

I don't understand what you mean by tabbing though, I've been writing the full path to files. I also discovered you have to use upper and lower case as it's written. :( If there is an easier simpler way of doing things I would love to know!

I've also been searching for help on the internet and now have a basic command reference and basic console commands. I wanted to remove the installation directory for flashplayer but when I tried "Deleting" access was denied and when I used "rmdir" as root I was told the "directory is not empty".

Can anyone recommend a really good beginners manual which takes you right from the basics? I could really do with one.
 
the equivalent to deltree under linux is

rm -r -f *
(i think)

And the tabbing stuff works kinda like this

let's pretend you are at /
to change directory to /home
you will usually type
cd home

but if you type
cd h
and then press tab it will complete til it matches all of the possibilities in that directory, most likely it will complete it right and next you'll see will be
cd home/

just press enter and you're done, you just saved 3 keystrokes :D
Same for files, when executing just type
./ and the first character of the file, unless there are several matches in which case you will have to add extra characters and press tab again.
 
I didn't know it worked for ./ as well!:eek3:
Well, you live and you learn (if you're lucky).
 
Thanks - I shall have to try it out later... I'm being hassled by my daughter who wants to go shopping! :rolleyes:
 
chcr said:
I didn't know it worked for ./ as well!:eek3:
Well, you live and you learn (if you're lucky).
Click to expand...

It works for any file/path, it even works if the program is in the PATH just start typing a command and press tab it will present the list of all matches or if it is over 200 elements it'll ask you.
 
i'm going to just enter some things that may or may not have been cleared up already

absolute vs. relative paths
when you use a leading forward slash in a path it is interpreted from the root of the disk, if you leave it off the path is relative to your current directory, for example:
kraus@darkstar:~$ cd documents/pr0n/
kraus@darkstar:~/documents/pr0n$ echo is the same as entering
is the same as entering
kraus@darkstar:~/documents/pr0n$ cd /home/kraus/documents/pr0n/
Click to expand...

and scripts
kraus@darkstar:~/documents/pr0n$ echo running scripts depends of the script
running scripts depends of the script
kraus@darkstar:~/documents/pr0n$ cd ~/tmp
Click to expand...
btw ~/ is a shortcut to your home directory when used in a path, type cd w/o any arguments to go there too.
kraus@darkstar:~/tmp$ ls -l bgbuddy
-rwxr-xr-x 1 kraus kraus 3795 Apr 14 06:23 bgbuddy*
Click to expand...
if you look at the permissions -rwxr-xr-x you see that this script is set as executable. this is generally the case. you can call executable files like so
kraus@darkstar:~/tmp$ ./bgbuddy -fb -st /home/kraus/documents/wallpaper/
kraus@darkstar:~/tmp$ /home/kraus/tmp/bgbuddy -fb -st /home/kraus/documents/wallpaper/
Click to expand...
both of these formats do the same thing. you can use ./ when the script you want to run is in your current (working) directory. calling a script using the full path allows you to run the script from any working directory. keep in mind that running a script from a different directory may cause problems, especially if the script depends on files in it's directory (that may be confusing). one more thing about scripts, they can also be called using the interpreter they are written in. for example, a script written in perl can be called with perl script.PL. bash scripts are quite common and can be called with sh script.sh. This is probably a lot more than you wanted to know but i'm really fucking bored. :D
 
Thanks tommy, I've downloaded the file to my documents folder so I can read it any time I like. :)

I just accessed my windows partition by going /mnt/windows and transferred some mp3s over.
 
Noatun is a multimedia player - it sits in the system tray while it's playing. I also have Kaboodle, XMMs and KsCD amongst about 14 different types of programs. Once I've tried them all I'll decide which ones to keep and remove the rest. :)
 
xmms and xine do everything i need. i never really watch movies so getting xine to work again wasn't been very high on my priority list.
 
I can't figure out how to add tracks to the playlist in xmms. Also I can't get any sound from my cd-rom for some reason at this point. :(

I've tried playing a cd in KsCD and Grip, but while they seem to do everything else, there's just no sound.
 
I can't figure out how to add tracks to the playlist in xmms
Click to expand...
open the playlist, at the bottom is a +file button, just like winamp if you're familiar with that( see pic)

as for your cdrom, is it playing the disc (rom led flashing) or not playing at all?
 
Yes, but I can't seem to do anything in the window that opens. I cna't seem to do anything in gimp either. I'm feeling frustrated. :(

Well it's late over here and I'm going cross-eyed so I'm going to shutdown, relax and think about it tomorrow.
 
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