OK,I'm stumped. Here's what has happened:

My Linux system is built on an old garage-sale Dell,that I upgraded with a new hard drive,keeping the 400MHZ Pentium. This is strictly a hobby/learning system,and I don't keep any sort of important files on the thing.

I was running RH9,and decided to try upgrading to FC1,which went ok,since I did a complete reinstall,and didn't try to save any files or other information.

The problem came when I downloaded Firefox,and JRE. Not sure if this has anything to do with the problem,but I installed JRE in the /usr/local directory.

Then,after downloading,I attempted to install Firefox(1.0.4) in the /usr.local directory as well.

I followed the instructions from the Mozilla website,and since I'd done the same thing with the RH9 O.S.,I thought I was familiar . For whatever it's worth,Firefox worked fine with RH9,at least as far as I could tell,although I made no attempt to link to the java archives.

However,after my first install of Firefox,and an attempt to link to the jre directory,when I attempted to run Firefox by using the "run application" button,I got this error message:

"cannot displaylocation 'file://firefox'(specified location is invalid)"

Switched to the /usr/local/firefox-installer directory from the command line,and attempted to run Firefox by using the ./firefox command. This resulted in an endless stream of "loading the extensions datasource" messages on the terminal window.

Removed(by using the "rm -rf" command)the firefox tar.gz file,and the firefox-installer file(I think that's actually a directory). Got a fresh download,tried installing again-this time in my /home directory,and without attempting to make any sort of link to the java directories.

Results were identical. I noticed that while using Firefox in RH9,the installation process generated a "Firefox" directory after installation. This is NOT happeneing in FC1-the unpackaging results in a "firefox-installer" directory being created,but no "firefox" directory.

Any help,observations,or advice would be greatly appreciated. Linux is a learning experience,but I wish that just once in a while,something would go right the first time...

Also,I don't have any sort of literature on Fedora. My RH9 and RH7 library is fairly complete,but I got the FC1 cd's from an acquaintance,and have no books on the subject. I have no idea if this is being caused by some kind of bug,or my own lack of knowledge...

Your home directory should have a ".mozilla" directory and this where you local fiefox data is kept.
The error "cannot displaylocation 'file://firefox'(specified location is invalid)" indicates that firefox can't find a local file on your system. Did the firfox application come up as web browser?
Do you have a cd burner and broadband connection?

I have a CD burner,but my connection is a dialup. For whatever it's worth,my computer experience and knowledge is somewhere close to nothing. On a Windows system,I can send and receive email,and browse the net,and to date,that's suited me quite well,since I don't really need to do anything else. The Linux system is strictly for trial and (lots of)error learning. In fact,the CD burner doesn't work yet,but that's a problem for another day.

Just ls-la'd my home directory,and there's a mozilla directory there.

Not sure if the installation process was correct. The friend who provided the FC1 system told me that FC1(at least the version he provided) had some sort of bug that prevented installing programs using the rpm method,and that the problem could be fixed by downloading a file from somewhere.

Since I didn't have any idea where to go and look for the file to download,I used binary files to install both Firefox,and jre.

This is interesting,but also very irritating. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Dial-up restricts you capabilities in obtaining a new copy of FC3 or FC4. You have FC1 which is no longer supported by RH/FC. I think the best solution is when you go to a newsagents or a place where you can computer magazines and look for one with a later copy of Linux on it. It should install Firefox for you and they usually affordable but not real cheap. You should still have Konqueror which is fully fledged web browser.
However did you get an entry in any of your menus or submenus showing the firefox web browser.