hello,
i am very new to linux, so please be patient. i hope you wont mind two software questions-
first the easy one- is there currently any software for linux(redhat 8.0) that can be used to connect to mp3 file sharing sites?
second, and i'm not sure exactly how to word this- i have downloaded and installed the java runtiime environment, and have it linked to netscape, so i can successfully use java enabled web sites using netscape. is it possible to link mozilla , konqueror,and netscape to one jre so that all browsers are java enabled?, or do i need to install java 3 times?
this is certainly not a critical issue, more curiosity, although it would be nice to sample all browsers equally enabled.
by the way i chose redhat for two reasons- suse 8.0 doesnt like my mouse coming thru my kvm switch, and also because redhat has lots of book documentation,and oh yeah, i find i need to use the command line interface
more often-a good thing, i'm discovering.
hmmm, thats 3 reasons....anyway thanks in advance for any answers.

If it's an actual site, you can use a browser to get it, or wget. If you are talking about filesharing or swapping, I personally love and use DirectConnect. DCGui is the linux client for this protocol:
http://freshmeat.net/redir/dcgui/225...dc.ketelhot.de
As for the java symlink, how did you link it in the first place? You can just symlink it to each browser's plugin directory just as you did for netscape. For mozilla, I use /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins I believe konqueror may also use this directory? Or you can check the preferences and it may have the option to point towards the actual plugin. That way you don't have to install Java 3 times (it's just a symlink to 1 thing, just as it should be for netscape).

Cool

hi masterc, thanks for the responses
i'll try DC(and from what i am seeing in the forum, my next question(s) will involve how to get mp3's to play)

I know i wasnt clear on the jre thing. i followed the instructions that go along with the sun java jre/sdk. so i guess its a symlink to (from?) netscape, cause thats the path i entered. it sounds like you are saying i can set a link to mozilla without replacing or overriding the link to netscape?

Still slightly confused, however here's what normally happens:

There is a plugin directory for netscape. There is a directory also where Java gets installed to. We will call the directory for the netscape plugins /usr/lib/netscape/plugins and Java directory /usr/bin/java

So, the /usr/lib/netscape/plugins directory has a symlink to the /usr/bin/java/plugins directory that actual has the real plugin. You can symlink to that actual plugin in any browser plugins directory.

HTH

Cool

thanks again masterc, i now have two browsers symlinked to java, both wrking fine. going for two more for practice....

You're welcome, and I'm glad you got it working.

Cool