I have been a user of Suse KDE Linux now for about 18 hours. I have the OS installed and I have made some cosmetic changes. Now I am attempting to install a few programs that I use. First thing I am trying is Firefox 1.5 and RealVNC. Both give me a .gz file. I have found software management under YaST2, and I am trying to install the gz file for firefox which is located in my user folder. I can't seem to get it to work. What am I doing wrong?

gz is a type of compressing like a zip. You need to extrat it. In kde you just right click on the file and in the list is one called Extract. Selct Extract here option. Then once extracted there is usually a readme or install file or some kind of file that explains how to install. As for Firefox it is ready to go on 32 bit systems. Just run the firefox command in that directory or follow the instructions on setting it to be available to all users on your system. A guess on RealVNC. More than likely the instructions say extract it, run ' ./configure ', ' make ' , and then ' make install ' as root. Not all installs use the ./configure.

I would search here on installing apps and reading many of the files in each extracted file.

Hope this helps
Brian1

It's hard at the beggining, but soon you'll get the hang of it. I think I saw a sticky about software installation in Linux-Software...?

Well still lost, can't find anything at all under Kcontrol that would suggest a way to install. I have extracted the file into my personal folder and clicked on every executable in the folder with no result. I read and re read the instructions for linux to install this file, which are as follows:

Extract the tarball in the directory where you want to install Firefox:

tar -xzvf firefox-1.5.tar.gz

This will create a firefox subdirectory of that directory.

The only place I can extract these files is to my user personal folder, but I wouldn't know where it goes anyway. What is linux equivalent to program files folder?

I have logged in as root and still haven't been able to make any headway.

Please help

Linux puts application files basically all over the place---as the user, you can put them anywhere you want to!!

One common option is /opt. Move the .tar.gz file there, and extract it. Open the folder that it creates, and run the install script.

ok, closed everything, logged in as root. Opened Konquerer and downloaded firefox 1.5 to the /opt folder. Extracted it. Then went into the firefox folder, and double clicked on all the executable files as well as the 2 shell script files. Basically had the same result with the exception that the firefox.sh shell file opened a working copy of firefox 1.5. However, 2 problems, cant figure out how to create a desktop shortcut, also firefox 1.07 (the one that came with suse 10) is still there and is still working. How do I get rid of the old one? Another question is, did I actually install it? I mean I didn't go through any kind of setup like I am use to when I install a program in windows. Am I suppose to?

I think you could just give it a different picture, by right-clicking, then selecting one of the options along those lines. (After you drag it to desktop).
And yeah, from what i've experienced, there isn't any or very little windows-like installation.
And as for removing it, it might have an option to in the menu. Not too sure about that, though.

I just linked the file that started the program in the /opt/firefox folder. However on the desktop it opens in kwrite. Also the link for the older version is still there and still works. Has anyone here installed firefox 1.5? am I doing something majorly wrong? Shouldn't the new version replace the older version?

Several ways to do it.

If you want a shortcut on the Desktop then do this.
Right click on the desktop anywhere
In the list select Create New > Link to Application
On the first page type a name of the app like FireFox
Right click on the icon there and change to a firefox icon. Which is in your extracted firefox directory.
Then select the Application tab and enter the location of the firefox app on the command line.
Hit OK

If you have a firefox 1.0.7 at the bottom in the task bar you can change it link location by hitting the right mouse key over the Start Menu Icon.
Select Menu Editor
Goto Internet and expand it.
Find the firefox link
Click on it and change the command line to point to firefox-1.5 location.

To make a new then do the same as above except when you get to the Internet and expanded. Hit File > New Item
Create a link there.

Save and exit
If you want to the new link in the taskbar then right click and select Add Application to Panel. Rest is easy to understand.

I would not bother deleting the old since it is more than likely only about 15 meg. It does not hurt to have and older version installed. I do not know where SUSE installs firefox-1.0.7. Best guess it is in /usr/share/firefox-1.0.7

Success!!! Firefox is now working as I wanted it to. I also tried to install VNC but can't seem to locate where the file to start it is. I found a file under /usr but it doesn't have any start scripts. Any guesses?

Also it seems that I installed a lot more things that are on the start menu. How do I access those programs?

VNC is a service that is started from the /etc/init.d and there is a startup script called vnserver. Not sure the way SUSE works. In Redhat distro I use the command ' service vncserver start '. I would say in one of the menus there is one called services and will more than likely ask for root's password. Once there and vncserver is installed then all that you need to do is check mark to startup, I guess.

Another way is to copy the ' cp /etc/init.d/vncserver /etc/rc5.d/S98vncserver '. Reboot
This starts vncserver in runlevel 5 which is where the gui is enishated. You can search the net or here for more info on runlevels and the init command.

Brian1

KDE, GNOME, and Xfce all come with an "appfinder" program that should be in your main menu. I apparently don't have it installed or I would give you its location

sorry, but what did you do to actually install firefox 1.5? it appears to me that there are no install scripts around.

For most distros, there are good utilities to install and upgrade software. Debian based systems use apt-get, fedora core uses yum (as well as apt-get), gentoo uses portage, arch uses pacman, etc.

It's a good idea to familarize yourself with the console (which is where most programs like apt-get use.... although there are some great gui's that use apt, as in synaptic). YaST, I beleve, has a software update portion, and I beleive you might also be able to download and install software through their repostiories.

I always recommend installing something through whatever distro package management system you use (you don't have to chase dependencies, and it makes it much easier to remove software once you need to)

thanks. I know apt-get (and also like using synaptic) but that installs an old version. however, I just extracted and started using FF1.5.0.1 without bothering to "install" - works fine.
I hope the updater won't hate me for that though.