Accessing appliactions in openSuse 10.2

Lord_Drist · 08-27-2007, 04:03 PM

Hello:

Four months ago I decided to try Linux. After reading and doing some researching. I choose openSuSE 10.2.

So far my impression has being extremely good. I'm looking foward to the day I leave Windows behind.

One of the strength I had read of Linux it is huge number applications included in each distribution, but I am having problem locating them.

I need help in the steps I have to take to find these applications.

Thanks

rtspitz · 08-27-2007, 04:34 PM

In case you don't know what you're looking for I suggest to start YAST as root, click on software install button and use the search function.

nan0meter · 08-27-2007, 05:34 PM

Maybe a useless comment but erm, your installed applications are in your applications menu if you use gnome or in your K menu if you use KDE. So erm, the button on the left bottom side of your screen!

rtspitz · 08-28-2007, 04:08 AM

Maybe a useless comment too... hmmm ?

Don't you think people are smart enough to look for analogies to windows start menu and behave as such ? If you don't know what kind of knowledge is there, any comment can be helpful.

I suggest you quit making derogatory comments.

Lord_Drist · 08-28-2007, 09:13 AM

Thanks for the replies, I feel that I did not explain the to the extend that it should. I know how to access applications from the K menu. I want to know if how to access the applications that do not appear in the K-menu. Since there so many that comes include in any distribution.

Again, thaks

rtspitz · 08-28-2007, 10:26 AM

So if I understand, you like to know:

a) what applications are installed on your system right now
b) what applications you can install in addition (from the cd or other sources)

Possilbe solutions:

a1) open a console window and type "rpm -qa | less" (without quotation marks)
this will give you a list of all software packages installed

a2 + b) open a console window, switch to the root account and type "yast2 sw_single"
this will open the suse package management system and lets you search/browse for applications that are available from your installation source.

If you run this in X-Windows you'll get a nice graphical front-end, without X there will be some text-based menu-system. Use the tab-key to navigate around.

example: say you want to know if Firefox is installed, and how to run it

a1)

Code:

"rpm -qa  | grep -i firefox"

if it was found you'll get something like this:

Code:

MozillaFirefox-translations-2.0.0.5-1.2
MozillaFirefox-2.0.0.5-1.2

Now to find which executable you have to run to start it you can type

Code:

 "rpm -ql MozillaFirefox-2.0.0.5-1.2 | less"

to see all the files in that package. In this example you would get a list like this:

Code:

/etc/opt/gnome/gconf/schemas/firefox.schemas
/opt/gnome/share/icons/hicolor
/opt/gnome/share/icons/hicolor/48x48
/opt/gnome/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps
/opt/gnome/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/firefox.png
/usr/bin/firefox
...

/usr/bin/firefox is the "exe" file to run to start firefox.
So from a console window (running X-Windows) you just type "firefox".

This procedure will work with any application installed on your system.

a2 + b )

type this to enter the search menu:

Code:

yast2 sw_single

in text-mode press:

Code:

ALT+F then ALT+S

type:

Code:

firefox

in text-mode type:

Code:

ALT+O

Now you'll see a list with everything directly related to firefox. If firefox itself is installed you'll notice the "i" in the left column (text mode) or some checkbox in graphical mode.

The filelist from example a1) can be obtained by pressing: ALT+I and then ALT+F
Use the TAB and ARROW keys to navigate around.

If you get the graphical front end, just use your mouse instead of the ALT+something shortcuts

nan0meter · 08-29-2007, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rtspitz

Maybe a useless comment too... hmmm ?

Don't you think people are smart enough to look for analogies to windows start menu and behave as such ? If you don't know what kind of knowledge is there, any comment can be helpful.

I suggest you quit making derogatory comments.

Haha, sorry!

pixellany · 08-29-2007, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord_Drist

Thanks for the replies, I feel that I did not explain the to the extend that it should. I know how to access applications from the K menu. I want to know if how to access the applications that do not appear in the K-menu. Since there so many that comes include in any distribution.

Again, thaks

Package Manager......Most (all??) distros have a package management scheme using "repositories" on the net. It is accessible in the command line--as already described. But it is also in your menus---usually called something like "install software" or "install applications"

When using the package manager, you can designate your installation CD or DVD as one of the sources.

nan0meter · 08-30-2007, 06:57 AM

Well i assume you have found your applications now using YaST. In case you didn't know, you can do a lot more with YaST. When you installed SuSE 10.2 you used YaST as wizzard to let you choose packages and configure your system. Now after you installed your system YaST serves as your "control panel" like in windows, you can configure your hardware and software as well as managing users and security.

For more packages like mp3 support visit this site: http://packman.links2linux.org/. It has a repository for YaST so you can view and install the packages directly through YaST and keep them up to date.

For mp3 support under SuSE 10.2 install the package gstreamer-plugins-bad and optionally gstreamer-plugins-ugly.

Sorry if this was a bit off-topic.