Hello everyone!!
My problem is I am unable to upgrade to latest version of Firefox in linux. I am very new to this OS and I dont know what my linux version is. I have googled for several solutions but in vain.
Here is what I did:
1)downloaded the latest firefox verison: firefox-23.0.1.tar.bz2
2)Extracted it to "/opt"
3)tried to run it from terminal # cd /opt/firefox/firefox(nothing happeing at this point)
4)when I open manually from the icon present on the top it still starts the older version of firefox.


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Which Linux distribution are you using? When starting out it is usually wisest to use whichever version of Firefox, or any other software, comes with your distribution rather than trying to download and install from a .tar file. Is there a reason you can't use the default for your distribution?
If you must use Firefox directly from Mozilla the usual way to do it is uninstall the package from your distro, then something like drop the firefox directory into either your home or into /opt then create a link in /usr/bin to the firefox executable which is usually /opt/firefox/firefox. You may well need to set up "preferred applications" for your desktop environment also so that Firefox is used as the default browser. You would also have to manually add links to Firefox in menus and the like as you see fit.

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To find out which Linux distribution you are running please post the output of

First of all thank you for your response. Yes I am repetedly asked by the browser itself to upgrade to latest version for speed and security purpose. And I guess its the most outdated one, I also feel difficulty in using it. One more reason is I think I cannot install flash player because of this version of browser.

What exactly the word "distro" means?

I've tried replacing the new FF directory(extracted one) to the old one in /usr/lib/firefox-1.5.0.12

I have only one browser installed here. So there is no point in setting FF as default.
I've dropped the new FF directory to the said locations but still the old one starts. And I dont know how to create the link between the said locations.

Here is what I get when I hit the command you said for:

root@localhost ~]# cat /etc/*release
Enterprise Linux Enterprise Linux AS release 4 (October Update 6)
Enterprise Linux Enterprise Linux AS release 4 (October Update 6)


Plz bare me as I am very unfamiliar to this OS.

Edit: I need to learn to read.
Judging by your output of "cat /etc/*release" you're using a version of Red Hat - if you didn't pay for it then might I suggest you use something newer and not paid for?

[root@localhost ~]# cat /etc/*release
Enterprise Linux Enterprise Linux AS release 4 (October Update 6)
Enterprise Linux Enterprise Linux AS release 4 (October Update 6)

My apologies, I didn't read carefully. Please see my previous now edited post.

I have got this OS from an institute and I guess Its Oracle enterprise linux.
You mean to say this OS is not paid one? Sorry I didn't get you at that point.

It appears to me that you have a paid-for version of Linux. Either way your first recourse is to ask the people who provided your version of Linux for newer packages.
You really ought to confirm, for your own peace of mind, which version of Linux you have though. Did the institute tell you how to keep it up to date?

You are currently using a rather outdated version of Enterprise Linux. This is something that, for example, a networking professional might come across while trying to troubleshoot an old fileserver. If you are looking for a general-purpose OS for tasks such as surfing the web, word processing, listening to music, watching videos, playing games, etc. then you will be disappointed.

If you are very new to Linux then I recommend using a user-friendly distribution (or "distro") such as Linux Mint for your home/personal/educational usage.

Here is a nice overview of the Top 10 distributions: http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

Hello!
Thanks for your response. Actually I am trying to install Oracle 10g over the Enterprise edition. Is there any flavor of linux apart from the enterprise edition which supports the oracle installation?
Simultaneously I am trying to watch oracel videos on youtube for practice.

Thanks in advance.

Hello.
Thank you for your response. No the institution didn't ask me to keep it up to date. As I am trying to practice oracle 10g over it, there is no need to update it. I want to update it for my convenience to watch youtube videos for practice.
Is there any other updated flavor or linux which supports oracle installation ?

Thanks in advance.

I would say you can either run an old distribution and do without things like Adobe Flash or you can install a newer distribution. You can't have it both ways -- an older distribution just won't support newer software.
Again though, the institution that gave you this Linux distribution should have given you some guidelines as to what software you could and could not use and how to get it. Have you asked them whether you can use Firefox and which version?
If you just want a free Linux Distribution you can use to learn then, perhaps, try CentOS or Scientific Linux as typical enterprise-style distributions.

I am not an Oracle expert so I will let another user weigh in on that.

I recommend you watch your Youtube videos on a machine that is configured for web surfing with a modern OS.

well you are going to have all kinds of unsolvable problems with RHEL4.6
"Enterprise Linux Enterprise Linux AS release 4 (October Update 6)"

4.6 is SO OLD that redhat no longer even supports it
the only version that redhat still supports is RHEL 4.9
and that is ONLY if you pay redhat EXTRA cash

RHEL4.9 is in EXTRA extended life support
and you have to pay extra for that

it came with firefox 1.5
there is NO WAY it can run the current firefox 23
the operating system is just WAY TOO OLD

it would be like trying to get Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 to run on " Windows 98 "

now the also very old and very dead firefox3 might run on rhel4( with some hacking and some non standard libs) , but not the current 23