first of all...
1.most of the files i download are gz or tar.... how do i install thos and how do i run this....
2.anyone knows a good mp3 player?(for linux ofcourse)
3.is there a way of running programs without turning the terminal on and leaving it on?
4.how do i check my mail?(do i need a proggy for that?)

by the way i got linux RedHat 9.2 ......

10x in advance

1. These are more often than not source packages which you have to compile in order to make it an executable program. Refer to this post by Jeremy in the LinuxAnswers section of this site. You will need a fully functional development environment including the gcc compiler and related utilities and libraries.

2. Xmms is excellent and can use Winamp 2.x skins. Xmms comes with most, if not all, distributions.

3. Start the application by typing its name followed by an ampersand character, like this: firefox &, then type exit in the terminal or simply hit Ctrl+D (handy shortcut available on most default installations).

4. Use any mail client you like. I like pine for the terminal (it's actually very powerful and you quickly learn it) and Evolution or Mozilla Thunderbird for GUI mail clients.


Håkan

1) for tar files you need a tar-program to untar them, and for gz you need gunzip they're packages, just like in windows you had winzip and .zip -packs etc. I guess your RH already has these apps so (this is terminal-based, you might also have an application for this that's graphical...something like kpackage was back in the days?)

so, in terminal, to extract a .tar -archive, simply do (don't write the dollar-sign, $, that's here just to indicate the shell prompt)

$ tar -xf packagename.tar

and for .gz package,

$ gunzip packagename.gz

or, if you happen to gave a package with a .tar.gz simply do

$ tar -xzf packagename.tar.gz

and you have the package unarchived then just cd into the dir, or open it by any way you just can, and use what's inside. if there are some shell scripts, you can run them like this (if you're in the dir)

$ sh shellscriptname.sh
-OR THEN-
$ ./filename.run.or.what.ever

or if it's a normal way compileable app, then usually it's just

$ ./configure
$ make
-IF YOU NEED TO BE ROOT, THEN DO THIS OTHERWISE JUMP THE NEXT 2 LINES-
$ su
$ <write the root password>
$ make install

so the "su" and password are only needed if you can't do it without

2) XMMS is quite a good one, I've liked it always. just like winamp, but better (hehe ok, just like winamp)

3) I guess, if you need to run apps from the terminal but want to keep the apps open and close the terminal, then you might want to try using nohup ("nohup - run a command immune to hangups, with output to a non-tty")

$ nohup program_name

or just run them without terminal, like from KDE/Gnome/Fluxbox menu, icons, or something if you happen to have them but I guess you asked for the one I told above.. (I never use it myself because I like to keep terminal window open, I just run them with & sign at the end of the command so that I can use the same terminal for many apps)

4) yes, you need an app for that, somekind of application at least. I use Mozilla's Thunderbird, and have used many others too...the "smallest" mailchecker I can remember I've used was called "fetchmail" - I got bored to sendmail-type thingies though so I gave up of it later...

forgot to mention, Xmms and stuff related to it (skins, plugins etc.) can be found at www.xmms.org - obvilus, isn't it

the problem with the terminal in X is that when you hit the x at the corner of the terminal, and it shuts down, all the other apps you've started from it often go down too :/ the nohup thing should prevent this, if nothing else..

i have unpacked BitchX-1.0c16-Linux-glibc2-alpha.tar.gz
and it came up with some files..... i have no idea what to do next
it unpacked 3 binary programs
and one of them named: BitchX
the one i think i should exec some way... but how?

Suggestion:

cd to the dir and type ./Bitchx

You have got the Alpha version. This is fine if you run Linux on a DEC Alpha-based computer, as opposed to an Intel- or AMD-based system. If you use a regular PC (Intel/AMD) you should probably get something called -x86, -i386 or something to that effect.

Håkan

i tryed it before... doesnt work
it sais:
./BitchX: cannot execute binary file