I was hoping that someone out there can help a Linux noobie out.

I have figured out how to uncompress a .tar.gz file which creates a directory but what do I do from here? In the directory there is a bunch of stuff and I was wondering if there is any way of finding out directions on how to install the package.

Thanks

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...threadid=45094
is a starting point ... also there's commonly a
README file in the directory you got from the
tarball.


Cheers,
Tink

there's usually a readme or install.txt file in the directory with instructions

Once you uncommpressed the package all you need to do it [cd] to it. For Example [cd /home/linuxfan/newpackage] without the []'s once you are in the directory type [ls] to see which files are inside. There should be a file like readme or instructions then just type [less readme].

Thanks a lot for all the info on .tar.gz files!

I have a new problem now

I am trying to install a new web-browser called Deer Park and this is the installations instructions on their webpage:

"Extract the tarball and run the installer like so:

tar -xzvf deerpark-alpha1.installer.tar.gz
cd firefox-installer
./firefox-installer "


This is what happens:

"[root@Linux firefox-installer]# ls
config.ini firefox-installer-bin install.ini watermark.png
firefox-installer header.png license.txt xpi
[root@Linux firefox-installer]# ./firefox-installer

(firefox-installer-bin:2398): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display:
[root@Linux firefox-installer]#"


Does anyone have any ideas on this one?

Thanks again!

I'm no expert, make no mistake, especially when it comes to GUIs. However, GTK is a library containing code for windowing purposes, if I'm not mistaken, and it looks like it's trying to create a window or other GUI element and is failing. Do you have X/Gnome/KDE or any other GUI running at this point, or are you just running all of this from a raw text console? If you're on a text console outside of any GUI, it's unlikely that GTK is going to have anywere to put the installer's window.

Ummmmm well,

I have Fedora 3 booted up running in KDE mode right now. I was using putty/ssh from my windows box when I tried to run the "./firefox-installer " command. When I get home tonight I will try to just use the GUI interface and run the file.

That's probably your problem. You were connected via PuTTY and PuTTY doesn't have a way of supplying GTK with a display context in which to fashion its installer window. If you need to connect to your box securely and use a graphical interface, you can use a combination of PuTTY and VNC, as described at these pages:

http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~andrews/vnc_ssh/
http://www.maths.utas.edu.au/People/Hill/vnc/vnc.html
http://pigtail.net/LRP/vnc/