I have read several "how to" but they lack a little. I am a big time noob in linux. So when i read

"You'll probably want to operate from inside your home directory. If your user is (for example) username, your home directory will be /home/username/. For the rest of this section we will assume you have downloaded your zip file to /home/username/src. If you do not have a src directory, you can create it with the following "mkdir" (make directory) command:"

where do the commands go? I cant make it work in terminal. how do i get back to "home" from where i am now? example /home/mydesktop/. i am working in mydesktop.

I have downloaded some packages that pkcon search will not find, but when i try to install them using "synaptic" it cant find the packages i dl. so i found this tutorial

"So, we have our source package in /home/username/src/.

Change to the /home/username/src/ directory with the "cd" (change directory) command like so: cd /home/username/src/

but I dont know where to write the commands. Can someone help?

Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

'How to Ask Questions the Smart Way' would be a start to formulate a query that will aid us in helping you.

Loads of help available here on LQ and Google via your search engine.

I'll give you some seed links;

Linux Documentation Project
Rute Tutorial & Exposition
Linux Command Guide
Utimate Linux Newbie Guide
LinuxSelfHelp
Getting Started with Linux
Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide
Linux Home Networking


The above links and others can be found at 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

Fedora uses something called .rpms to install software.
When you use the package-manager like that, your software is installed autmmatically.
If you downloaded a package online, it probably saved to your downloads folder.
Open that and double-click on the .rpm file to install the software.

The other method is compiling from source, which is a bit different. This requires you to extract the package, and then use the command line to 'cd' into the newly extracted folder. After that, you type /.configure && make, then, after that, you become super user (su -) and type in make install. Then your software is installed.

You will always want to find an .rpm first before compiling from source as they handle depedencies (software required for other software to run) and is easier to manage and uninstall.

Also try the Linux newbie guide link in my signature.

Welcome to LQ, and check out onebuck's links

Thanks guys I have learned alot here. 1 thing I cant figure out is where to type my commands. Is it in system tools/terminal ? Some things I can get to work there but some I can not.

Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal

There are 2 ways to get a terminal:
In the menus
ctrl-alt-F1 (or maybe F2 or F3)

When working in a terminal, you sometimes have to switch to root (full admin privileges). Enter "su" and then the root password.

With different desktop flavors, you can get a terminal from different places in the menu. Usually, it is in sub-menu like Accessories or System Tools. After opening a terminal, you can see a cursor (sometimes flashing) in it. And you can input commands there.

To go to your home directory, just enter command alone. Then you can enter to see your files and sub-directories under your home directory. If there is a directory named src, you can enter command to go into it.

Hi,

Depending on the WM/DE you may find a terminal icon on the bar or even desktop menu.