Hi All,

I'm a Linux newbie (converted Windoze user) and have recently installed Red Hat 9.0, I've been very surprised at the ease of which I'm finding Linux and have managed to grasp mounting filesystems, command lines, permissions etc.
However I seem to have hit the wall with Package installation, Red Hat's seemed easy but when I download one from the net and attempt to install, I'm not sure where it has installed it, whether it has installed and how to run it when installed. I tried Synaptic and APT but had file dependency problems, does anyone know where I can find an "Idiot's Guide" to Linux Package Installation or some straightforward tutorials?
Just from looking thru this forum I can see that I'm not the first to have had this problem!

Tom (all help much appreciated!)

search for rpm howto
on google.
and
man rpm

Try this link. It's the best I've found.

http://www.rpm.org/max-rpm/

Ironically, I'm running apt and synaptic on SuSE without a spot of trouble.

I have a simalar problem. I am installing rpm/packages via add/remove applications in Gnome(redhat 9).

However once installed, openoffice for example, I dont knwo where to find it to run it.

read the documentation before installing/using any software. this goes for linux and any other OS. and also there should be a command line for every program which you can run and load the program as well as kill it (obviously). where particularly are you getting these RPM packages from?

Maybe this is also a misunderstanding from ex-Windows users (no slights intended ). Installing under Linux does not mean, that you get an icon on your desktop and a corresponding entry into the appropriate menu, it just adapts paths and places to store the binaries etc. You have to add icons and menu entries by yourself.

It would be a nice thing, if programmers of the make-install scripts would add options or even an interactive sequence to achieve just that. After all, interactivity can also be done with the command line ... .