I know that Red Hat 7.3 is an obsolete distribution, but I'd like to know if it's possible to use the nano text editor with this distro and if it is how to install it.

Hi and welcome to LQ.

As you are probably aware, it is so very NOT RECOMMENDED to run something as ancient as that. Why don't you install the latest CentOS?

If you still insist on using RH 7.3, you should be able to compile nano from source:
http://www.nano-editor.org/download.php

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Thanks for the reply sycamorex. I have openSUSE 12.2 and 12.3 installed on a laptop, but I'm taking an intro to Linux/unix course at a junior college and this is the distro we must use whether we like it or not. The software came with the textbook and is linked to the server at the school for homework assignments. I loaded openSUSE 12.2 on the laptop, (on my own), because I've found that it is easier to use and much more up to date and does work with the nano editor. Unfortunately, I'm not 'informed' enough yet to know if nano will work with the antiquated RH 7.3

Ok. Not sure if I would want to start my linux education with something so outdated. As I said, try compiling nano from source. Google: compile a program from source in linux

You can install nano on RedHat 7.3 using the following command:

rpm -Uvh ftp://ftp.pbone.net/mirror/norlug.or...4-2mg.i386.rpm

Thanks for the replies to my nano text editor questions. To those who replied, I totally agree with you all...Red Hat 7.3 is ancient and a pretty awfull choice for a junior college to use to teach Linux from, but believe me, it warn't my choice to make!!! Since I have openSUSE 12.2 and 12.3 loaded on another machine, I don't have o worry about the nano issue anymore. I have decided to try some other flavors on an older desktop. I found a Fadora 15 disc in the drawer and tried to install it over the Red Hat distro, but it's asking for a login name and password. I entered 'root' as the login name, but what do I use as a password? No matter what I enter, I just keep getting "Authentication Failure". What should I use as a login and password for the installation?

Is this a KVM install of RH7.3 on OpenSUSE 12.3

KVM or XEN is trivial to install on opensuse12.3
open yast and in a few mouse clicks and a reboot it is installed


if not
i am VERY surprised that it even installed on hardware that is 11 years newer than the OS
RH7.3 was released on May 6, 2002

it was using the linux 2.2 kernel
not many new programs will build on such an old kernel
that 2.2 kernel is also unsupported and retired

Fedora 15 is now 4 versions out of date
fedora 15,16,and 17 are all unsupported

Fedora is currently only supporting 18 and 19


To put nano or vi on rh7
you need to go back into the historical archives and get the code FROM 2002
and build the source code from 2002
or use pbone's archives