Hello,
i recently loaded mandriva6 dist on a spare hard drive and am impressed with it,having dabbled with linux years ago and given it up as hard work when compared to xp. I quite like it now and so will continue to use it. There are loads of free software packages with the 3 CD dist that i got but I am a bit puzzled when it comes to installing new software. I have my root acc and my user acc. I downloaded skype for linux and was promted to click ok to install. This i did but i cant find it in the programs /software menu?. I also have a copy of it on the desktop but clicking on that just says already installed. If its installed,where is it?

thanks

joe

can u run the program by opening a terminal/console and typing 'skype' [enter] ?

Hey,yes !,thanks for the quick reply BTW...so i need to do something to get it on my menu?

no prob.

open a terminal window again and type 'whereis skype'

if it returns something like '/usr/skype/skype' then browse to the following folder (for this example) with a GUI (ie konqueror): /usr/skype/
check that folder for a script or a file that looks like it would 'launch' or 'start' skype.. ie 'start_skype.sh'.
if one exists, then u can add that file to your KDE menu; its pretty logical and straightforward to do so i wont explain... now try just clicking that new icon u added to the menu.

if something like that doesnt exist, then still, try and add an 'application' (or whatever term they use) to the KDE menu. and browse to and select the file from the original 'whereis skype' output.

hope that isnt confusing (the way i typed it)

ok well i got the terminal window up and found the location as /usr/bin/skype but i lost my way when i launched konq becuase i wasnt sure what format to enter this location in the search bar. I'm used to the C:\ type thing ! so when i entered /usr/bin/skype on the top line it just asked me if i wanted to launch the application whereas i really want a directory list or something that i can search?. I take it the concept of searching hard drives in the windows mode of c:\ doesnt exist in linux?

Thanks

joe

No c:\ doesn't exist in linux, closest to that would be smth like this /mnt/hda5/

Startup a terminal and type this:
$cd: ~/Desktop
$ln -s `which skype` link_to_skype

Now you should have a link on your Desktop to skype

/usr/bin/skype is reffering to the program, if it was windows it would be /usr/bin/skype.exe

For the directoty listing just type "cd /usr/bin; ls"

as skype is n /usr/bin

You can test this by typing:
$file file_or_dir_you_want_chekout

This command will tell you if it is a image, text file, directory, or something else.

A bit more
Configure your Computer->Put in root p/w->System->MenuLayout
Follow here find program and add it

OK i did that and it worked fine,,thanks all for your patience !

joe