OK, now I am getting scared.

nz

regarding your problem
most distributions come a gcc packages and environment
u surely have missed those from your installtion
i think you try installing those packages form a CD ,and if u have space go for a full install,untill you are a newbie

regards

anindyanuri...I think alot of folks want things here and now....instant gratification.You know them...the types who quick join a forum and post a HElP!$%#@@ topic....dont understand the answer and get frustrated.The types who just dont want to look up info or go through the motions to make things work.I cant really speak on why they do this but it has something to do with the type of people we are.

Me...for example....was an A tech in the automobile industry in 12th grade of highschool.We were taught from day one of being a good mechanic it takes the knowledge of knowing what is our best and most needed tools.That tool...is and always will be reference books/pc's....read read read.I was taught to look things up....find what I need anyway I can.I only have been useing pc's for 4yrs...maybe 5.I taught myself.........how?
Reading.
Google led me to great articals and great forums.I joined forums,read...and soon participated...then became a helpful member.
My early years consisted of how to research.....what I mean is,I made other peoples forums topic's a game.If I had no clue what they were asking,needing,talking about I headed to google and searched,read and figured out there needed answers.Sometimes I lost the game but in the long run it made me learn things.
Learning things is what made me switch to linux.I got bored of mickysoft.I mastered windows ME and xp (for my needs anyway) and tweaking and secureing I said I wanted something better....a challange.So here I am....still a newb but definately a few years experiance.

Some people just are not analytical,they dont have that ..."figure things out mentality".

Newbs forget how hard it was to learn windows.
How hard it was to keep windows.
How hard it was to keep up with the updates and why they were even added to the windows update site.

Some folks just dont want to think,look,read,figure,or anything harder than..."wow,it did it for me!" Like windows.If a newb can learn windows....linux can be learned as well.

I was asked what I was running at home while at a party and I said Linux and next thing I know I was like a star......everyone was amazed and had lots of questions and acted liked I just skiied mnt(no pun intended) Mnt. Everest or closer to you...the Himalayan's.

Ironwalker makes a number of good points. Learning is the key to enjoying what you are doing and how you do it. I've been using computers for over ten years and learning the ins and outs of linux is a real experience.

I go back to the time when everything was done from the DOS command line and the challenge was learning to write batch files to help automate some of what you were doing. you can equate that to learning BASH in linux.

Sometimes when I am having problems, or trying to help others with problems, I've found google to be an invaluable source. You can type in just about any problem or error message and get a good list of places to look and things to try. If this doesn't work and I'm feeling like I'm just butting my head against the wall, then as a last resort I go to the forums seeking answers which I've never failed in getting responses. Unlike the other world, the linux community is always ready and willing to help one another. Linux users don't have their hand out for payment, in exchange for their help they just expect you to help someone else in return if you can.

Couldn't, wouldn't be happy having to go back to the other world. Just wish I could get the rest of the family to give up window$ so I could concentrate on linux rather than protecting that precious ......

KEEP ON TRUCKIN' and I'll get off the ol' soapbox for now.

Hello!

In my opinion linux is the best thing that has happend to me.
I hate windows. I´ve had linux for two months. Under that time my windows computer has hanged it self fro about 50 times. And my linux computer has been working flawless! I´m realy suprised over the fact that you dont even have too reboot it!

And the thing i like most with linux is that there is a solution to every problem. You don´t have to reinstall you´re OS every time somethings go wrong.
And the thing that made me NOT to give up is Google. It´s the best think out there.

ironwalker just said the right words, which I was thinking also but I am fortunate enough that he told it before mine. It is because he established his opinion in a very good and strong manner. Thank you ironwalker for your hearty comments.
It is actually that I am working on DOS and Windows since 1994 i.e. I have an experience of handling DOS and Win for long 11 years. But I have installed Linux just a couple of months back. So, it is obvious that I have to suffer the problems in Linux, which actually I have felt in last 11 years for DOS/Win also. You cannot ignore these long experience over DOS/Win. Practice makes a man perfect if the quote is true, I have experienced a lot of practice in DOS/Win. In case of Linux a couple of months experience is nothing, I think. You should take a long time to be familiar with the operating system that works totally in different manner. Though I am getting fun using the bash terminal of Linux. I think newbies like me is also getting fun in Linux..........Hey, aren't you?
So in my opinion before give up Linux you should ask yourself about how many careful times you have spend to understand the OS? If after that you still decide to give up.......it is up to you......but I am in doubt............is it possible to you to give up linux? Waiting for those people who wants to give up.........

Ah, shove it! I'm gonna jump in the deep end and install Slackware!!! That way I'll be able to learn how to deal with all these problems!

I note a number of people responding to this thread that state their background is Windows.

To begin, I will simply state that I have programmed computers, built computers, designed computers and major systems using computers, and specified computer systems for more than 30 years. I have worked on and with all the major operating systems that have been available in that period of time, and on a substantial number of the minor and niche operating systems that have existed in that time (anyone here ever hear of VRTX?).

People coming from Windows may have a relatively hard time making the transition because Windows does a couple of important things very badly, and those whose sole experience is Windows/DOS lack the background to quickly grasp what the *Nix world does right that Windows does wrong. I refer specifically to logical devices - as depicted by mountpoints - and I refer to symlinks, and user management. Windows does not do logical devices at all; you refer to the actual hardware in all cases (C:, D:, etc) and Windows linking capability is crude and primitive ("shortcuts").

Of course, we all know how nightmarish Windows is with user management; there are positive incentives with Windows to always log in as an administrator, and this is the single most important reason why the whole internet is inundated with spyware, trojans, and viruses.

Furthermore, Windows makes a deliberate effort to hide the details from the user. This is manifested in that gawd-awful registry, in the poor documentation of just about everything, and in the minor role played by the command line window.

In all these cases, the *Nix world stands well above Windows, and does things the way they should be done. But the consequence is that this world looks very different to the Windows user. It is far more versatile and flexible. When it has been learned, it is actually easier than Windows for most things just because of the flexibility, the versatility, and the visibility.

But there is a substantial conceptual gap that Windows users have to overcome to understand how to effectively use Linux or any other *Nix - including Mac OSX.

To those trying to migrate from Windows, I counsel "patience". You need to change your focus, and you need to understand that Windows has taught you some very bad habits. In the Linux world, you will be encouraged to think about things differently, and you will also be encouraged to ditch those bad habits.

Now, one of the major shortcomings of Linux at present is a lack of uniformity in things like package management. This causes a lot of grief (much of it justifiable) for the person making the move from Windows. To deal with this problem most effectively, when you install your Linux distro, install EVERYTHING. Don't say; "I don't need these development tools because I am not a programmer"; install ALL of them. Install all services, all libraries, all options. Don't run services you don't need, but have them available on the system.

This will give you a very big system, but so what? Hard drive space is dirt cheap these days, and having all the packages on your system will make your life much, much easier going forward.

Also, learn to use the command line. This may seem intimidating at first, and indeed the capability of the *Nix shell totally dwarfs the capability of the Windows shell, but think of it as having a dialog with your computer. You are talking to the machine - having a dialog with it - and it talks back. When you view it this way, you will find that it is a very sensible way to do a lot of things. As you become familiar with the language of the computer, and you can do this in easy stages, you will be amazed at all the things you can do with your computer that you could never consider doing in Windows.

Of course, if you don't want to do this, then using one of the more complete distros such as Mandrake will make it possible for you to merely point and click your way through life, much as you do with Windows, but in order to do this, remember to INSTALL THE WHOLE SHOOTING MATCH when you first install your distro.

Beyond that, just be patient. Don't give up, and don't hesitate to ask questions. Just remember; you have been badly educated by Windows, and you need to get rid of all those bad habits.

O'Reilly's sells a great book called the Linux Pocket Guide that costs about $3 and has pretty much every shell command that could ever be practically used. Best $3 I ever spent.

I totally agree that the Unix command line is the way to go. I've been starting to learn it myself and the power it provides is simply incredible.

I was going to say that Linux and Windows are just as bad - that their advantages and disadvantages cancelled out...
See http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=292052
...but then jimi8 reminded me of the Unix command line, which solves almost every problem you might have with Windows or Linux.

And if programmers do their programming correctly, then compiling things from scratch with the command line is never a bad thing; if you have all the dependencies, as jimi8 also suggests, it's unlikely to fail. The non-standard binary package systems have problems probably because of this. The trouble is that you also have to keep your system up to date, which I must admit is very difficult with source compilation, with the possible exception of Gentoo's package system, which is a kind of combination.

But my word isn't gospel: I'm still a newbie.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=292758

that is exactly why i am sticking it out with the learning curve with linux. at 1:13am i started a debian install on that system to get the dualboot up and running... in 25min exactly i was running apt-get upgrade on my system. at roughly 2:20am i am currently downloading kde via apt-get after already installing xserver-common and kdm so i should have my GUI up and running in about 15 more min.

from that point it should be much simpler to get OO, Firefox, Thunderbird, and a few other apps over time to have my debian box up and running 100%. just hopping i dont run into issues with my trackball. have had problems with it in the past even with Knoppix.

over all i like the power, scalability, stability, and some can say ease of linux vs windows. not to mention no more spyware, no more viruses, no more reboots every time i want to look at it, etc...

currently the only thing that windows does better then linux is games. that and it will not, even with crossover office, run PageMaker. i need that program for all of my flyers that i hand out at my school.

so i am using my HOWTO guide i put together when i built my first debian system that is now my media box at the house.

http://www.sunstatemartialarts.com/debian_media.html

check it, read it, comment on it.

well - speaking as a returnee to this board who is a newbie I never have given up - I just had to take a break from Linux to do some work (and corporate standards dictate that is under M$ OS)

I shall give you some idea how "keen" I remain on my return, because I have sufffered an "Unmountable boot volume" BSOD problem on my primary boot disk for my dual boot machine - as a result I lost the ability to boot to my SUSE distro - well I am going to wipe the disc and reinstall (yeah, I know some of you will tell me to go another way, but I would quite like to learn again and then MAYBE I'll pick up the dual monitor configurtion eithout having to work quite so hard to frig it in later - also my network has changed so I believe a reinstall will "automagiclly" fix that)

Anyway - the point is I am still trying and hungry to try - some newbies will give up - but they are like others that give up on anything - they just want to get to the apps, I guess - maybe they would use MAcs if they could afford to? I dunno - but they are a breed apart from regular Linux users - that much I do know - so maybe they should not be called Linux Newbies, but rather Linux otherwise abled? Or something?

I'm having difficulty making sense of your message and make the assumption that Engish is not your first language, but if I read your post correctly are you asking that newbies give their views? Or are you saying newbies should keep their comments to themselves?

To some people like myself who have difficulty understanding the finer aspects of Linux, it is similar to learning new languages. Whilst some people take time to pick new words, up until they become compitant enough to go it alone we rely on others to take us by the hand and guide us through what to others would be a simple task.

If we come up against a problem it may take several attempts before we grasp something. But if the people with the knowledge give up on helping someone, that is due to the inability of that person to teach others and not down to the person trying to learn. We all learn in different ways and at different speeds.

If any of you old hats sitting in front of your system reading requests for help stop for a second and think can I help this person? Do I have the time, patience, and ability to help this person and stick in there for the long ride. If you answer no to any of those questions then is it fair too the new linux student to provide an answer if you are not prepared to stick around to support if problems occur? I am not saying don't give advice as your advice could be all that is needed but please be prepared to stick around.

When I first decided on installing and running Linux I asked the same questions as everyone else, What Distro? Help I have this or that problem and what I found comforting was that a friendly stranger was comming to my rescue

Imagine how frustrated I became when I came up against a problem and no one was prepared to stick in there with me???? If I wasn't so stuburn I would have given up long ago, but through my own hard work and logical thinking I found that initially my OS was the problem ( Corruptions with different iso's)

Now I am using Suse 9.1 and looking to upgrade to
Suse server 9????? ( but not sure )

My main problem now is understanding tag, bzip2 compiling etc so am forced to download RPM after RPM and go it mostly alone.

I am greatfull to anyone who offers help but I wish people with the supposed knowledge would stick with me.

I would welcome an area in this forum where us newbies could go and ask a question and then deal with (one person ) who is willing to put the time in to help and not give up at the first hurdle.

So to tie everything together I would say be patient with us, don't dismiss us as a neusence or thick ( we all started somewhere) think before deciding if you want to help and above all be constructive.

I've been curious about linux probably since I got my computer, because I like to try out new things, or more specifically different things. But I'd never got round to it, mainly due to bad information. I thought it was unlikely to work with my hardware, that I'd struggle to do the things I liked doing under windows, etc.

However the turning point for me was having a 64 bit chip inside my computer and not being able to use it's full potential. I decided to give linux a bash, and after settling on SuSE 9.2 Pro I took the plunge and created a dual booting system.

I'll admit it's been tough since then, but some of what I've learned in the past week or two has been tremendous. I've gone from a stiffled system to finally getting my wireless card working, and getting 3d acceleration on my ati card. Next I'm going to try and get my webcam installed, and then I'll be looking at my mp3 player, and my digital camera. The sheer sense of satisfaction I get once things work properly under linux is such a buzz. I feel as if I'm getting intimate with my computer, and that's how I like it.

I've tried to do things on the command line mostly. YaST was handy to begin with, but I'm learning more by compiling from source when installing. And in an odd way the command line reminds me of my early computing years with my beloved speccy 48k

I'm so glad I've stuck with it now. I was only booting to windows to play games, but tonight I played UT2004 under linux in 64 bit, and I'd say that I can see a day coming when I remove windows completely... maybe.

I would have to convert my family into using Linux before I got rid of windows, but the chances of doing that are as likely as hell freezing over.

I am learning but it appears that I am not as gifted as you for being able to pick up the finer points as quick but hopefully if a professor Linux want's to be my long suffering tutor then hey lets go for it....