Hi Guys

Just got Amigo running and am having a b*tch of a time figuring out how to install anything (I'm a Windows/Macromedia freak - so it's gonna be tricky, I already know this). The thing that keeps stumping me is most installation instructions assume I have a clue how to get to a command prompt. I don't. If it's just an XTerm thing, then ***maybe*** I'll figure this out, but need to install all sorts of complicated goodies (OoO, FreeWRL, some kind of audio for surfing [a Crescendo for Linux would be hot, but I doubt one exists], and some kind of download helper, though the one in Opera appears to allow resuming after download breaks.

Any and all help muchly appreciated.

Mike (pacranch)

You can safely install most packages from within an xterm, with X running. (You can get to the real command line easily by pressing CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE at once. Then type 'startx' (without quotes) to restart the X windows system.)

To install packages, just download then to where they are accesible, then browse to the directory where they are using the ROX-Filer. Then, right click and choose 'xterm here'. Then, in the xterm window type:
installpkg packagename.tgz
( 'installpkg *.tgz' will install all packages in that directory.)

If you want to set Amigo-2.0 up to run 'fancy' software, start by installing any packages not already installed from the /a and /l package directories, plus perhaps from /ap. You may want more fonts from /x and X-based applications from /xap.
All the above are the Slackware package-group directories, which you'll find on any Slackware download mirror.
Always use the official Slackware packages for Slackware 9.1, when available.
You'll find lots of Slack-compatible packages(packagename.tgz) for extra software at linuxpackages.net also.

Open Office, Opera, RealPlayer and many other programs come precompiled with a generic installer for use on nearly any Linux system. These packages usually come as tar.gz files. and are easily installed by following the directions inside.
tar.bz2 files are usually source-code packages which must be compiled.

Stick to the slackware and linuxpackages.net stuff at first -that'
s about 1,000 packages.

Hi Gnashley

Thanks for the quick reply. Most of the stuff isn't a tgz, it's a tar.gz - and they don't install easy. Tips appreciated. Also, "If you want to set Amigo-2.0 up to run 'fancy' software, start by installing any packages not already installed from the /a and /l package directories, plus perhaps from /ap. You may want more fonts from /x and X-based applications from /xap." - need more of the directory structure to find those. I've yet to find anything called a, l, ap, x or xap.

Thanks,

Mike (pacranch)

Go to http://slackware.com/getslack/ and choose a mirror close to you, such as:
http://ftp.scarlet.be/pub/slackware/
There you'll see subfolders for each version. Go into the /slackware-9.1 directory (for Amigo-2.0). There you'll see subfolders such as /pasture, /source, /extras and another one called /slackware. Go inside this last one and you'll see the standard Slackware package subdirectories:
/a (base packages)
/ap (useful command line and system apps
/d (development programs -compilers, etc.)
/l (system libraries)
/n (networking progs)
/x (X11 system)
/xap (X11-based progs)
There are other subdirectories also, but these are the main ones, unless you want KDE or GNOME.

Sometimes source-code comes as tar.gz. Unpack the archive with:
tar -xzvf filename.tar.gz
or:
tar -xjvf filename.tar.bz2

A tar.gz archive is exactly the same as a .tgz. And a tar.bz2 is the same as a .tbz2.

Slackware packages are delivered as .tgz archives, but don't think thta ll .tgz's are slack packages.

Always read the README inside the archive, and the INSTALL file. If you see a file called Makefile inside, then you have source-code package and will need to install the compiler and a few other things, and learn to compile. But much of what you want is available pre-compiled by looking around.
Take the programs one at time and ask for help here, or on the slackware forum.