Hello All,

I have installed Mandrake 9 Powerpack, without any hitch. The problem is I am not very sure about the other things it installed. For example how to install the supplementary CD etc. The install software tells me everything already installed, like say mplayer, but there is nothing in the menu! I am not sure where to find the installed apps and which apps are already installed and how to find an entry for them in the menu.

I am a total newbie in this place...could some please help?
Thnx in advance.

Ok, to find things really well, Mandy needs to scan the HD(s) you used to stick data on. This could take a while, depending on how much data you use.

Essentially, making it build its database goes like this:

su - root
(root password)
cd /
slocate -u
(wait)

after that (it will give you a prompt twhen done, just like the one you started it with, by typing in Konsole or an CTRL-ALT-F2 console) you can do things like

slocate <name>

Examples:
slocate netscape
slocate .netscape
slocate gmplayer
slocate kscd
etc....

and it will show you where directories and files that are named <name> are.

typically, you can execute\run things that are in /usr/bin or /opt/ or in some cases /var/ and in LOTS of cases the user setups (records of configs for apps) are in /home/

The execute tab of a shortcut (one of those on a desktop is called an icon in Linux, while the word shortcut means a set of keys you press to call something or do something).

John.

Did you mean "The execute tab or a shortcut" ?

...just wanted to UN-confuse things for the other poster. I make typos all the time with my fat fingers.

The other CD's are mostly just full of RPM's so that you can install some common programs without having to go through the trouble of downloading them.

You can browse them several ways; the first way (above) is somewhat time consuming but it's nice to be able to do it that way.

Another way is to simply place the CD in your CD Player and browse it like you would in Windows with the File Explorer.

If you see something you want, I believe that simply clicking on it will start up the Package Manager to install it for you.

If you are on 56K v.90 it's nice to have the programs _on hand_ that are supposed to work with your version/distro.

A lot of the RPM's online (never use a Cooker RPM) need "dependencies", or are for other distros, and that's something you don't want to get into just yet.

The PowerPack is nice to have because it assures you (for the most part) that you will always have the right versions of programs on hand for your distro.

No, I did not mean or, no I did not NOT mean Execute tab. What a Windows user can very often call a shortcut is what Linux users talk of as desktop icons. What a Windows app calls quick-keys or what Windows trainers call hotkeys are what Linux admins call shortcuts -- with Linux, shortcuts are keyboard keystrokes, but to many Widnows users they are iconized pointers to apps.

So, I was starting out by speaking in terms a very much newbie might understand-- Windows sense of shortcut, ie the icon on the desktop with code associated with it that calls a program (which is what Linux users call an icon). Then, I was saying that in the Linux world that is called an icon.

Similarly, when you drag onto a desktop in KDE a menu entry and then when you drop you a menu that says copy here or move here, and you tell it copy, you have just created what in windows terms is a shortcut and in Linux terms is a linked icon or icon for short. If you make from scratch a link to an application and put it on a desktop, Linux would call teh result a linked icon if the link is right and works, and an unlinked icon if the link does not work.

In my case, to make an ICON, (what Windows users would call a shortcut), I rigth click on desktop (and since I have played and that responds the way I programmed it, this could be the middle or left click response) and get a menu that starts with Creat New. I click that, and then click the Execute tab and browse for the application I want to run. When I find it I proceed to click on it. Then I click OK. At that point, the link maker fills in a path for me. I tell it ok, so I can test it (I ignore the icon for the moment). At that point it sticks a KDE gear on the desktop that I can click to see if the link works-- if the link works, I right-click my icon after closing the application, then I choose an icon after the link setup reappears by double clicking on the gear picture (the actual pictograph that is the real icon) and picking out an icon. Click icon chosen and then OK. Then type in the label over the "link to application" words in text box to right of chosen icon, then OK again. Icon can be moved around to suit, or you can sort them from one of the desktop click context menus. Mandrake 9.0, stock installed, uses KDE by default. Therefore, example is in KDE.

John.

Hey, thanx guys...it's really great....I'll try them all. Thanks again.

Ok, good luck.

John.