Ok I am super new to this so if I don't say something exactly right I apologize.
Here is what is going on.

What I need is:
Wifi working,
install VMWare Player to run non linux apps/programs
install my linux programs.
Not sure but I am thinking it has to do with me running every thing from the external storage drive. :/ Here is the back ground. BTW I did do the update and upgrades.

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Had an Acer, it died. Resuscitated with Back Track 5 for a bit, then total failure.

Nephew gave me his old Dell D600. It was not booting up windows xp, but thought no problem since I was just gonna go with the back track my son had put on the acer.

Inserted the DVD and booted BackTrack 5 and found I could not install it.
The system says there is no hard drive.

ok, again a work around, plug my USB external into the Dell and try to install there. After a few dozen tries I get it to install with out losing years of work already on that drive. *it has 2 partitions, the smaller one 30G was pretty much just there. Empty.*

Now how ever, No wifi.
Every attempt to un pack and install a program such as VMWare Player, skype, Singularity, Apophysis and such fails.
Trying to install from the package manager is also hit and miss. To me it seems arbitrary weather the chosen package installs or not. If it fails I get an error but no reason.

tried to install Singularity tonight and after a myriad of different command lines got nothing.
So, I am running as root, I am running only BT5, since I can't get VMW Player to install, and have no clue what else to try.
I try to check here when I can but I am also on facebook as Sheena Karr.
My profile is public so you can message me there and get ahold of me much faster. If not an answer here... a clue... a bone to start with so I can get working again.


Thanks for any help that can be offered.. be kind please, yes Back Track is advanced medicine, but it's the only one small enough to fit on a 30 G partition. Tried Fedora and it didn't fit or something. :/


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Example:

root@bt:~# bunzip2 Singularity-i686-1.7.2.2956.tar.bz2
bunzip2: Can't open input file Singularity-i686-1.7.2.2956.tar.bz2: No such file or directory.
root@bt:~# ls
Desktop
root@bt:~# bunzip2 file:///root/Desktop/Singularity-i686-1.7.2.2956.tar.bz2
bunzip2: Can't open input file file:///root/Desktop/Singularity-i686-1.7.2.2956.tar.bz2: No such file or directory.
root@bt:~# xvjf Singularity-i686-1.7.2.2956.tar.bz2
xvjf: command not found
root@bt:~# bzip2 -d Singularity-i686-1.7.2.2956.tar.bz2
bzip2: Can't open input file Singularity-i686-1.7.2.2956.tar.bz2: No such file or directory.
root@bt:~# tar xvjf Singularity-i686-1.7.2.2956.tar.bz2
tar: Singularity-i686-1.7.2.2956.tar.bz2: Cannot open: No such file or directory
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
tar: Child returned status 2
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First, don't run as root unless you have to. Locate your download, and then cd into it before untar'ing it.
E.G.
Then read the README file inside the created directory. For most tar ball, you run "configure" to create a Makefile, then run "make" to compile, followed by "sudo make install".
Even for Fedora, if you use a light weight desktop, a 30 G hard drive would be fine. XFCE2 or LDFE for example. I heard of a distro recently called Bohdi Linux, which uses the E-17 desktop.

Thank you. Will try and get back with you.
*not sure why installing Fedora failed. humm*

ok maybe I'm tired.. it's past my beddy by time. lol but this is what I got:

root@bt:~# cd ~/Downloads/
bash: cd: /root/Downloads/: No such file or directory
root@bt:~# cd
root@bt:~# /downloads/
bash: /downloads/: No such file or directory
root@bt:~# tar -xvjf Singularity-i686-1.7.2.2956.tar.bz2
tar: Singularity-i686-1.7.2.2956.tar.bz2: Cannot open: No such file or directory
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors
root@bt:~#


I'll check back after some sleep. Maybe I misplaced a space or letter. Thanks so much.

[QUOTE=jschiwal;4855871]First, don't run as root unless you have to. Locate your download, and then cd into it before untar'ing it.
E.G.


someone on this site is always saying that BT is suppose to be run as root. *sigh* ok in the morning I will try and set up user. I had it that way on the acer and it was fine. I hardly had a need to run root.

I haven't used backtrack, so you may be right about root. That is how puppy Linux is configured. Backtrack is a specialty distro for security pen testers. Many network utilities need root access. Nmap has certain arguments that require root access for example.

If you want to see which directory you are in, type the
"pwd" command. CD by itself returns you to your home directory. Use "ls Singularity*" to check is the file is in the current directory.