how to install software or applications in linux
 

Hello frnds,
I started my linux journey(as some of you suggested by installing desired os) with fedora17(gnome).Though
i understood few concepts about linux things are still foggy in my head.
so to start with, After i installed my OS(fedora17,i installed it as vm using vmware on vista-32 as host) the very first thing i tried was to play a music file, so i copied a song(.mp3)from host to guest os and tried to play it in rythembox,got a error message missing pluggin mpeg layer--- missing basically codec to decode mp3 file and i could not figure how to install these plugins, with the error message rythmbox also gave an option to search for plugin i clicked that button but it ws unable to find that.
i searched net and saw a command "yum install 'name of software you want'". i tried to VLC. it got installed but i still cannot figure out the inner things, so my questions are
1)how can i play music file with rythmbox itself?
2)if the command i mention above work for all software then how to know about the exact software i need to download eg. i want to download and install the missing plugins for my rythmbox .how will i know it exact name (coz i tried yum install .mp3 plugin and few more, nothing happen )
3) if we can download, install, update through terminal using caommands from repository on net,plz tell me how to install the software we get in free dvd's in IT magzines or and application in our system itself(as we have .exe file in window is their any such executable file in linux also which install software with a single click).
4)As in windows we as soon we click the executble file a setup starts and ask us all option like where we want this application to get installed ,where we want its icons etc etc.....dont we have these options in linux.

i know the thread got really long and have quite a few questions but they all some how seems related, I'd be glad if u guys can help me through it.
Thanx

1) load the application, add folders, play music. I understand it's very similar to iTunes and the likes, so very generic really.

2) you can use a command like "yum search mp3" to search the database. Outside of that, general common sense usage of any computer system.. the same way you'd find out about what to install in windows...search the web etc.

3) dont bother. Anything you'll get on a magazine DVD will be available online in a repository. I've never used one of those DVD's so I'm not sure how or what they'll distribute. but in your case, installing a manual rpm is easy enough:

rpm -Uvh /media/dvd/where/ever/something.rpm

will install it, as will:

yum install /media/dvd/where/ever/something.rpm

4) you don't. Isn't it liberating not having to care about that sort of thing? In the main files from packages go in certain locations because of what they are, not what package they came from. the executables go in /usr/bin, the manpages go in /usr/share/man etc... so there is rarely a single location to put things.

the latter version having the benefit of also sorting out any dependencies, repos permitting.

Fedora ships only "free" software, and the mp3 codec is considered "nonfree" under software patent law in many countries.

Your best option in my opinion is the RPM Fusion repo.

I believe the package you are looking for is called gstreamer-plugins-bad-nonfree.

You could also read the fine documentation on the topic available at the Fedora website.

thanx for quick reply to both of you, solved few problem :-)

Might want to add yum install gstreamer-plugins-bad gstreamer-plugins-ugly also.

The only real issue I had with Fedora was Samba client didn't seem to work out of the box.

So i understand yum is a utility that we call on terminal to install,update and modify ,so does this mean i can use or see it in GUI mode and use it there. also does fedora i installed already had yum installed in it cause i explored the GUI and saw applications and utility their but dint see anything like "YUM".And in case if one does not have yum installed in his OS How to install it through terminal then.

Thanx for that i learnt about after you referred it RPMfusion,2 things i need to ask
1)As i use the command "yum install VLC" to install vlc ,it downloaded it and installed it,but as you can see nowhere in command i used anything named like RPMfusion or RPM so how does my system came to know that vlc i want to download is in this repository.
2)As RPM fusion is for Fedora,RHEL,CentOS...........what is the repository for Ubuntu,Kubuntu...etc.
Thanx

vlc is in the official Fedora repository, not rpmfusion. That is why you were able to install it.

What you need from rpmfusion is the mp3 codec, right?

Ubuntu has a completely different system, using "apt" instead of "yum." Never mix repositories/tutorials/how-to's for Fedora and Ubuntu.