hi frnds
what is the mean of rpm and want to know how linux rpm can be installed?Whether there are softwares to install other than something.rpm?
if so than how we will install it?what is the difference between skins and engines(for mplayer there is skin and engine both are available)?

See this for a description of RPM. As for installing RPMs, you can use the rpm command. Read its man page for information on how to use it. For software in other formats, well, obviously how you install it depends on what format it's in.

With regards to skins and engines, skins are used to change the appearance of MPlayer (and other programs, obviously) whereas engines are used to do the "work". Totem, for example can use xine or GStreamer as its engines and there may be advantages of using either one for specific purposes.

To best answer your question - you need to tell us which distribution of linux you are using.

In general:
Linux uses a modular system for software - so that many programs can be built from a collection of components. Different programs get to use each other's components, which saves re-inventing the wheel.

Proprietary programs do not share, as a rule. They keep all their bit to themselves, often combining them into one big program file. This means that there will be many of the same bit installed on the computer.

The advantages should be clear. The disadvantage of the modular approach is that there is considerable overhead in keeping track of what components are needed by which programs. i.e. Uninstalling a program risks removing components needed by other programs, or leaving unused components behind.

To solve this, a type of program called a "package manager" was created. Program components are broken into "packages" which are managed in a database. The most common of these managers are:

Debian Package Manager or dpkg which handles .deb files and,
Redhat Package Manager or rpm which handles .rpm files.

Large numbers of these are still hard to manage, so an additional layer is added in the form of an advanced package manager - and most people use these instead. Examples are:

apt, apt-get and aptitude - for .deb files.
yum, up2date, and YaST - for .rpm files

There are many others, these are the main ones.

GNU/Linux distributions are described as "debian" or "redhat" based depending on what kind of packages it's programs are stored as. So openSUSE in redhat based, and Ubuntu is debian based. The distro you use will have the correct package manager for what you need already.

Skins and Engines:
Consider a FPS like Quake or Doom... what you look like, what the game looks like, is the "skin". What makes the game work is the "engine". In the case of quake - player appearance is considered a skin while what the game looks like is a "map"... but a map is just a special skin for the game.

MPlayer is, itself, a text-only program that works from the commandline. That's the engine. The gui version, gmplayer, has been created in such a way that it's appearance can be configures seperately. The file used to create the appearance is called a skin.

Right: having gone through all that... it helps to have an example.

Which program would you like to install, and which distro do you use?

Hello,
here i am, another newB to LINUX....i m using Fedora 8 distro,and i thought of installing s/w,but i found 2 major extensions .rpm OR .tar.gz and anotherone like this...how do i install these? yum install filename???did'nt much worked out for me....can v somehow change the mode of windows s/w and use them in linux?

Welcome to the forum. You've had 14 posts (at the time of writing), so I feel you should know that you will get the best responses by making literate posts. I know there are places where they appreciate 1337 and so on: this is not one of them. Consider: if you cannot be bothered even to use the shift key, why should we be bothered to help you?

If English is not your first language, then being careful to be literate is even more important. If it is not, you should realize that there are many here, very skilled and helpful, who will find your posts hopelessly incoherent. Your threads are supposed to hang about, so your problems and experiences can help others weeks, even years, later. If they cannot understand what you write, how are they to benefit? If you don't care if your writing helps anyone else, why should anyone else help you?

But what can really help, too, is if you edit your profile to show where you are from, as well as your distro. Help us to help you.

Double-click their icons.

.tar.gz is an archive like zip, called a "tarball", double-clicking it will open the archive in the "file roller" which is like winzip. The archive usually contains a plain text file called "README" or something similar. Read it, it has some instructions.

.rpm is a special archive used by the program "rpm" for "redhat packet manager". Double-clicking that will start the rpm program in graphical mode. It will attempt to install the program.

However, you should not be using these methods in general. Almost everything you want is in the menus under "add/remove programs". Have a look in there.

You should also look at the FAQ:
http://www.fedorafaq.org
... and re-read my earlier replies in this thread. I explain the package management system in some detail.

I'm not sure I understand this, but I think you are asking if you can somehow alter Windows programs to run in linux.

If so, then the answer is "yes". Altering a program to run on an OS it isn't designed for is called "porting". This usually requires access to the source code for the program, and the appropriate development tools. The second part is easy - fedora has them - the first part is hard as Windows programs are normally "closed source" programs. That is, the owner dosn't want to give you the source code.

However, it is possible to run some Windows programs via another program called "wine" (yum install wine). WINE = WINE Is Not an Emulator, implements the Windows API for Linux. However, installing software with WINE is usually more problematical than installing Linux software.

Fortunately, there is a Free Software alternative to almost all Windows programs. You are far far better using the linux software. Part of the point of Linux is that you no longer need to run restrictive software, after all.

So: what software would you like to install?

Thankyou Mr Simon,please accept my appologies and i'll definately take care of what i am posting from now on.I will try to post more literate posts from now on.
Can I install those s/w which have extension .deb on Fedora 8??Is this a debian extension?

Pleased to see.

Read post #3.
.deb is a special archive called a "debian package". It is used by "Debian-based" systems. yours is a redhat based system. It won't work. Use add/remove programs. Use yum. Read the FAQ.

(Technically, there are programs to get around this - but it's best to use the native package formats).

You can install anything in the fedora yum repositories. Any fedora 8 rpm file. And anything that arrives as source code in a tarball. To use yum, you need an internet connection and the correct configuration... the FAQ will tell you what to do.

Not all rpm files are for fedora 8. Some, for eg. are for SUSE.

Hmmm... Bhopal is a similar size to Auckland City, where I live. We have more volcanoes and fewer lakes. Isn't there supposed to be a space research facility or something there?

I did read post#3,but i was just asking if i could install those s/w in fedora somehow.Now its clear.
It seems that you already know a lot about Bhopal,how come? Google earth/internet Or other sources??? Well no such space research till now but yes ISRO has almost finished its work to start with the research centre in our university!

One more thing,i alread asked one of the member about this but the book he told me is not available here.I wanted to learn linux from the scratch,which tutorial OR book OR sites i should refer where i could learn Linux sequentially along with continuity in learning from step by step??

ak_k80 my friend...

Try this link.

It is a very good site and will take you through "step by step" instructions on using Linux.

Hope this helps.

Tim.