Is there a manual or website that shows you how to install things like RPMS and how to exeucte them in linux? As well as Tar.gz files? This is one of things i get frustrated with in linux, everything else seems to be going fine so far from my learning experience.
Thank you for your time on this matter.

RPM and tar.gz files are like .zip files in windows

type man rpm to learn about how to install RPM based files

and for tar.gz files type tar -zxvf filename.tar.gz to extract the files from inside which you will need to compile inorder for the application to run
you can also type man tar to learn about the diffrent options


hope this helps, GL

hi,
have a look at http://gnulinuxclub.org ...........
its a website hosted by my friend....look in the "Help Docs"....for elementry things in linux.
regards

Here is a guide to compiling from source, from the LQ Tutorials section.

Are you sure you need to compile from source? If you're using Fedora, you can use Yum to install software. In SuSE, you can use YaST.

If you have a Debian-based distro, you can use apt-get.

The suggestions I gave all use "package managers" to install software--it's a totally different way of installing stuff from Windows. Here's the difference:

If I'm using Ubuntu, which I do, it's a Debian-based distro, so open up Synaptic Package Manager. Then, I click Reload. What that does is take a look at places (websites, essentially) in my repositories list and say what the newest software (and newest versions) is that's on those sites. Then, I search for software I want to install (say, OpenOffice or Bluefish). I check the software I want, Synaptic checks the dependencies. Then, when I'm done searching for all the software I want, I click "Apply," and it all gets downloaded and installed without me doing anything else.

Yum and YaST are similar to apt-get/Synaptic, too.

In Windows, you search on the general web (there are no repositories--you just have Google around). Eventually, you find an installer file, download it, then double-click it to install it. The installer walks you through a wizard, and when you finish, you reboot.

I find Synaptic Package Manager to be a much easier way to install software than downloading a file and then trying to install it. First of all, I know when I do a search, it will search only the latest versions and only trusted repositories and only for software. In Windows, if I'm searching for software on Google, I could be getting an old version, I could be getting it from a sketchy website, and I have to really poke around because if I'm searching for "blender," I could get 3D animation software, or I could get a blender for my kitchen, or I could get Blender magazine.

Also, I can select multiple packages to install at once. If I were to install ten programs in Windows, I'd have to find ten separate installers and launch each one separately. If I install ten programs with Synaptic Package Manager, I just search for each of the ten, double-click them, and hit Apply once, and all ten will install after that.

The great thing, too, about Synaptic (and I'd imagine this is true for Yum and YaST, too), is that you can upgrade your software easily, too. In Windows, you update each program individually or download an entirely new installer and go through the setup wizard again. In Synaptic, I just click "Mark all upgrades" and "Apply," and all the software I have installed will be upgraded to the latest version.

The only downside to the Package Manager/repositories model is that sometimes, even if you enable more repositories, you can't find a particular package (keep in mind, repositories usually have literally thousands of packages). Then, you should download a .tar.gz, but that's rare. The only .tar.gz file I ever had to download for software was for the Opera web browser, and that was a dead-easy set-up.