Hi there,

I'm looking for some guidance on downloading and installing programs. I just installed Mandrake 8.1 yesterday, so I'm pretty fresh to this stuff.

When I go to download a program, is it usually only one file, or do I need to get a whole bunch of files? For instance, check out this link. It shows there being a whole swack of rpm files, and a couple of tarballs. Okay, that's the first question. Secondly, once I know what I'm supposed to download, where do people typically save their files? I thought it would be best to make a sub-directory in my /home dir, install the package, and then remove the sub-directory. Thirdly, is it common for a package to install, but not put an icon on your kde desktop, or in the start programs section of kde? I read elsewhere that I can create my own desktop icon as a link, so that shouldn't be a problem. However, where do the files usually get installed to? For instance, if a package doesn't get an icon made, where would I find the program file? Are they usually put inside /bin?

Whew, I think that about does it for now...

thanks,
sluggo

well looking at that page for that link.. if you were to install using tarball, there is that top download link for the latest package.
the rpm's you see, looks like they have the dependencies there for download that would be required to run the program. probably most of these you already have installed. best thing to do when installing software is always read the INSTALL and README files... or their online documentation for installing.
most programs will install to the /usr directory..
you can make a subdirectory for the package.. but like tarballs, the tar.gz files.. when unpacking them, they will automatically do this for you...
yes, not all programs will create a icon for you unlike windows.. you can create your own as most programs come with icons to even use when creating them.

hope this helps you out some.

So Trickykid...are you saying that one of the tar files is actually an install proggy that will autounzip the rest of the tar files AND install the program into its own folder?
by the way...what is the difference between a taz file and and rpm? Are they different methods to install the same proggy? Or all part of the same install?
What if the game or app is a loser..how do you uninstall?
Iv'e got 2 cd's full of games and apps that came with my RH but I have absolutely no idea what steps to take to install. I have read and read and it makes not a lick of sense..yet anyway. I know that once I do just one..ill be on track for life! lol

Cliff

ok,

first a tar.gz file is a package that contains all the files for the program. when installing it, you are installing from source.
when you run the command tar xzvf filename.tar.gz you are unzipping sort of say all those files for the program.
then from there, you run the commands to install the program usually in this order on most tar.gz packages:
./configure
make
make install

then your usually done. some are that basic, some are different, always read the INSTALL and README files for accurate instructions to install it though.

I am not expert on RPM based packages but it stands for Redhat Package Management. It's, lets say a different way to install from compiling the source like a tar.gz, eliminating the commands needed to install, and when you do, it keeps the record sort of say in a RPM database on your machine.

Usually you can install a rpm type file with a command like this: rpm -i filename.rpm

When uninstalling, it can vary, usually the README and INSTALL files will tell you a correct way to do this.

Ahh! Things are becoming clearer now. I'll give it a shot in the morning!

Do you think that SuSE or Peanut would be a better linux OS for a beginner to start on?

It would be nice if there was a linux website that functioned as a
hands on practical lab for newbies which covered some basic stuff.
Sort of a virtual practice if you know what I mean. I've seen some windows websites like that the last year or so that covered stuff like W2K server, etc. where the user had to correctly enter in information to go to the next step.

Anyway...thanks for the help. You are much appreciated.
Tell your bartender to put the next round on my tab.

Cliff

I would say you made a right choice regarding Mandy it is very user friendly and easy to mantain with rpm packages, but sometimes when you install a proggy from rpm there are bunch of dependencies for this proggy that you should meet, sometimes it is easy sometimes it is vicious circles (like the package A requires package B, which in its turn requires package C and D, and D requires something else), so unless you are installing something weird the process of adding packages is straight forward
rpm -ihv package_downloded.rpm
The Mandy as well RedHat are usually installing newly progs executables into
/usr/local/bin
and the packages' executables that were installed during setup of OS are usually kept in
/usr/bin
there is a handfull of sites about using linux and tuning it to your best needs.
See my previous post



here