Hi! Thats right, another linux noob...
My questions are fairly simple: is there any default directory to which software should be installed, something corresponding to windows' program files? If not, is there a RECOMMENDED directory i should istall stuff into?
Any help appreciated greatly.
Forgot to add: ive just inst. mandrake 10.0.

if compiling from source, the "suggested" place is /usr/local/.

if you want to try something out, but don't know if you want it to stay on your system, then /opt is a good place ( makes it easier to remove ).

Thanks for the swift response, you lost me in the first sentence though. Compiling from source? (i had a feeling this wouldnt be easy...)
What about the home directory/-ies of the user/-s? Would that be as good a place as the above mentioned?

the home directory of users is usually where you store your files, kind of like window's my documents. That is where you put your pictures, movies, text files, etc. Usually programs get installed to /usr/bin/. So for a noob it might be a good idea to cd (change directory) /usr/bin and do ls (list contents) to see the programs. Then you can do man programname to see what it is all about.

in linux you have several ways to install programs. You can use a package manager to install programs or compile from source. A lot of distros use RPM (Red hat Package Manager) So a program with a .rpm extension can be installed with rpm. (in a terminal type man rpm) to learn more about it. I believe Debian has it way so the files would be programname.deb. (Not too familar with Debian) This is the easier of the two methods but usually the program is packaged with default settings.

to compile from source you download the source code usually as programname.tar.gz or programname.tar.bz2 you need to use tar to decompress these files. doing man tar in a terminal will give you info on that. Along with man gunzip and man bunzip2. his will create a directory usually the program name that you need to change to. then to compile it you would need to do ./configure, make, and then as root make install. during the ./configure stage you can add a bunch of options to configure the program the way you need it to be configured. In the directory of the program do ls can you can usally find text files like README and INSTALL to help you out. just use cat README to view. It is a little daunting at first for someone coming from windows where all you need to do to install is keep clicking next. But once you get used to it it is easy as cake. A lot of beginner linux books go over installing so i'd suggest picking one up or googling it.

by the way all my instuctions refer to doing it from a terminal. But i believe there are GUI (graphical user interface) programs to deal with RPM files. So i hope i am not confusing you too much.

here are some links that you might want to look at:
http://www.linux.ie/newusers/beginners-linux-guide/
http://www.faqs.org/contrib/yal/page7faq.htm

try googling for some more if those don't help. The second link is just basic installing but the first is a good general guide.

Hi guys,
I get many answers for this question. Some say that the default installation directory is /usr/local/, while others say its /usr/bin/ . Can anyone clarify which version is correct?

For software you compile from source its /usr/local. Take a look at FHS for more details.

Thank you reddazz. That information is most helpful. Furthermore, I learnt more of things which I was not aware of! Thanks again!