Serious newbie problems

I just started out on my first try with linux. Borrowed an openSUSE 10.2 DVD and installed it. And everything looks real good, but I can’t find a how-to/tutorial on how to install a program! The program I’m trying to install is Thunderbird and maybe is a very complicated program to install? (no problem configuring it) Anyway … it not really a problem to install, but to make sure different users have access to it. I install Thunderbird in administrator/root profile – and when I log in as a normal user, I can’t find it.

Anyway … just wanted to hear if anybody knew a really newbie step-by-step thing, on how to install programs in opensuse. Preferably about Thunderbird.

Regards Lars.

I think it comes with the installation media. So you can open YaST (find it via the search field in the menu), which will ask for the root password, and in its software section you'll find an option to install/remove software. Select that and type "thunderbird" in the search field, this should display the available packages on the right.

An installation via YaST will make Thunderbird available to all users. Maybe you also want to have a look at http://www.novell.com/documentation/opensuse102/

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Ok – great. I finally got it installed. Thank you.

Somehow the setup is different in my setup: ‘Control center’ -> ‘Yast’ -> ‘Software’/’Online updates’ and in a seach box I was able to find Thunderbird. Very nice.

I noticed that most help pages/tutorials use a desktop/menus which looks fifferent from mine setup. It’s because I use ‘Gnome’? Is there some way to change to the other desktop type – I think it is KDE?

Thank you for the link.

Regards, Lars.

Right, I forgot that Gnome is SUSE's default now.

To install KDE, open YaSt and, instead of using the search, switch the "Filter" combobox to the first entry (it's called "Schemata" in German, so "Schemes" might be the English term). There you can choose to install KDE, and after that you should be able to select KDE on the login screen.

Once again: Thank you for your help. Your instructions worked without a glitch.

Regards, Lars.