Installing Gnome On Mepis 3.4-3
 

Hi guys,

I am a complete newcomer to Linux, and I love Mepis 3.4-3 because it includes all the MP3 and video codecs that I can't download on my 28.8kbps dial up connection!

I prefer the Gnome desktop to KDE; I've got a copy of Gnome 2.14 from the Linux Format coverdisc, but as I said I am an absolute newbie when it comes to Linux and I have no idea at all how to install it.

Could anybody please give me some idiot-proof advice on how to install Gnome on Mepis; is it beyond the abilities of someone new to Linux? Are there any websites that would offer me *really* easy instructions?

Thankyou all very much in advance for any help or advice...

Hi,

The version you have from a coverdisc is probably in the tar.gz format (or tar.bz2), and you will need to install it that way. However, you will probably run into some dependency problems (gdk files, I would expect, that won't be present in the default Mepis since KDE is the default desktop.) That is why apt-get is the preferable way to get it installed at that would take care of all the dependencies. However, that, I believe, is about a 400mb download and at your connections speed that is prohibative.

You can try to install it from the disk, but you will have to do it from a command line from runlevel 3 (I don't believe you can install it while X is running). If you do get stalled because of failed dependencies, make a note of what they are, and check if they are on the disk as well (Linux Format is pretty good at including many of the dependencies for major installations like Gnome.)

If you get stuck, post here for help.

Hope this helps,

Bob