Why Two Home Folders?
 

well..........4 days ago I finally made the switch.no more ms for me.I do feel like I'm in an alien world though.I have run into a few pitfalls though.first of all I seem to have somehow gotten two home folders open when I first boot up.my second problem is that I downloaded the updated kernel(I'm running fedora core 1 by the way)and now when the comp boots up it gives me an option to choose either one?is this normal?please remember I'm from the land of windows.my last question is that I can't seem to figure out for the life of me how to remove programs that I've installed.

dont know about the first two questions but can answer the third

Linux installs packages in a number of ways, source, rpm, dep, bin, run etc etc

Fedora mainly uses rpm files. The difference between source and rpm files is that rpm files are placed into a logical database where you can perform queries, uninstalls, installs, upgrades etc.

type man rpm for all the options

to remove rpm use
rpm -e thePackageName (do not put the .rpm on the end when using this option)

to view all packages
rpm -qa

to install package
rpm -ivh packageName

upgrade
rpm -Uvh packageName



Source code installs such as those usually with a .tar.gz, tar.bz2 etc, do not have this sort of functionality.

to install these you normally have to do a
./configure
make
make install

and to uninstall you have to use the uninstall script created by the source code which can be a multitude of names. Read the INSTALL file for details

I will probably get negative feedback from this comment but I believe that .rpm files are much better than source installs becuase you have the ability to query, upgrade etc and you dont need to keep the source code (eating up your disk space), just in case you want to uninstall the program.

You should install synaptic because this is a GUI front end to rpm packages on you system, much like Add/remove programs in linux.

You can find rpms by going to

http://rpm.pbone.net/

yes it's normal to have a choice between installed kernels if more than is present

i've not seen fedora,
but most other distros have either a software manager or rpm manager which should allow the removal of selected packages

the rpm command can also remove installed rpm packages

type
man rpm
in a terminal

THANKS .a question for those more knowledgeable than me....what would you sugest as a good source for me to start learning how to deal with fedora in code.I like to live by the old saying of give a man a fish feed him for a day ,teach a man to fish feed him for a life time.

Can you please explain about how you think you got two home folders ?

I never heard of that before :).

And what do you mean by dealing with fedora in code ?????

sorry about the vaugeness of my question.when my desktop starts the folder labeled "marks home" is already opened....twice! I'm not sure why it opens on start-up and why it does it twice. as to my next question,forgive me if I phrased that wrong.what I should have asked was if anyone could recomend the best book or web site introduces me to typing comands to the comp.I'm very greatfull to the people above for explaining how to fix my problems however I would like to learn how to solve them for myself in time.most material I've seen starts off simple enough(switching folders /programs and such)but then seems to take a left turn and become infinatly confusing .I'm sure at some point it'll all magically click in and the light bulb will come on(remember I'm only on day 5 here)I was just curious if someone went through the same thing as me and what they recomend.thanks

Get a good reference manual of UNIX commands.
The majority of the vital system commands are located in /usr/bin and /usr/sbin

so you can go into this directory and have a look at the commands using

man commandname

when you want more information.

You should however get a quick reference manual on command shells.

-jack

where i'd start (bear in mind that i'm just a noob myself - no guarantees!):

you could try looking in your home dir at a file called .xinitrc if it exists, and commenting (#) out two lines (probably one after the other) that involve opening your file manager (or xterm if by "folders" you mean terminals, which you probably don't)

if that messes something up, just uncomment the lines you changed and restart X.

ahh, that's probably about as clear as mud. sorry. ;o)

caid

thanks for the opinion jax8.I'm able to fumble my way through the desktop/apps. (most of the time), its this command line deal that's got me stumped.but then again,i guess that's the real reason I switched ,A CURIOUS MIND AND A NEED TO TINKER(brother right now I'm in heaven,lol).the stability/saftey issues are just a favorable by-product.but honestly,thank you,you've been very helpfull.and caid,as clear as mud you say?the only way to find where a path leads is to walk it.thanks for showing me a path to try