Because I am a moron. Basically, I had a PC sitting here, no OS, so I did some research and found Ubuntu. I don't like windows, and "free" screamed out at me , so I loaded this sucker on the computer. I"m using it right now..

But what do I honestly know about linux??Ubuntu?? nothing at all.

I have no idea how to install programs, which is what I'm trying to figure out how to do. For instance, I downloaded Realplayer 10 and the file is on my desktop, but it doesn't install. Remember I'm used to windows...double click on an icon and go.

I have NO KNOWLEDGE on how this works whatsoever. Is there anyone here who can break it down to me in the most simple level possible? By most simple level, I mean "click this, type this in" type deal. I don't even really know acronyms yet.

If I download a program, and it's on my desktop.. what do I have to do to install it??

Any help that anyone can give me will be greatly appreciated, and I apologize for my ignorance. I'm sure this thread will get big once I get answers and end up with more questions...

There is no single easy answer for all your questions, however the sticky at the top of this page will link you to a pretty good howto that covers about everything. It will guide you to fairly simple instructions for downloading and installing programs, including realplayer. After that if you have a more specitfic issue somebody here will be able to help.

Thanks. I saw that before I posted this question, which isn't a good sign. Not good when the "how to" guide reads like chinese to a blind person.

Don't "Download a program and put it on your desktop". Many very knowledgeable people have carefully packaged and tested over 17,000 packages for you to install. Go to Applications --> Add Applications, or go to System --> Administration --> Synaptic Package Management.

From there, you can install most anything.

We can only help you if you're more specific than "I don't know what to do" What do you want to do?

If you really have no idea then looking for some more guides might be a start. Here are some decent ones that I've found:

Linux Online - Getting Started with Linux is the first I found. I think it's really good, though a bit advanced at times.
Linux Newbie Guide is pretty basic, but will get you started at least.

Linux Knowledge Base I haven't had time to really look through yet, though what I have seen seems pretty good.

And the ubuntuguide.org is also a good source. Even if you don't understand all the commands you can paste in most of it. Look through and see what it gives descriptions for and see if there are things you want to do.

I want to invent a cure for this. Not the OP's lack of knowledge---but rather the propensity of some people to try an tell us that they are somehow deficient. To what end.....looking for sympathy? A referral to a surgeon who does brain transplants??

OP: You are WAY ahead of some people--in at least two ways:
1. You got Linux installed
2. You have good writing skills

The only advice I can add to what has already been posted is: PUSH BUTTONS. Poke around in the menus and see what things do---Until you have important data on the machine, you cannot break anything, and it will not bite you. In addition to "poking", take one problem and run it into the ground. The Synaptic Package Manager would be a good place to start. Learn everything you can about how it works.

Good Luck

To answer your question, there are two ways to go about installing RealPlayer 10. The first and recommended way is by using Synaptic. RealPlayer 10 is available from the PLF's (Penguin Liberation Front) Ubuntu repositories. To edit your repository list, run the command Copy the appropriate lines from the linked page and paste them at the end of the file and save it. Then just fire up Synaptic, hit "reload", and search for realplayer.

The second way (if you feel adventurous) is to use the file you actually downloaded, which should be named RealPlayer10GOLD.bin is you got it from the official site. The .bin file suffix indicates a binary, i.e. executable, file. (Disclaimer: not all .bin files are executables and most executables do not end in .bin - or anything at all, for that matter.) All you need to do is change the file permissions to make it executable and then run it. Open up a terminal and change to whatever directory the file is in. To make it executable, run Then you can run it with After that, just follow the prompts.

I'd like to thank everyone who has responded to this, and I apologize if I'm coming across as if I'm looking for sympathy. I'm not, just help, lots of help.

Okay, I would like to really thank the guy that told me to click on Add Applications, because I got a whole lot of programs, including realplayer, installed on this thing. But I still have yet to open up a terminal and actually gotten anything to work that way.

Something that I wanted that wasn't on the list was Limewire, so I went to the stie and downloaded it. Of course, I'm having the same problem, I can't for the life of me figure out how to install it. Can anyone just walk me through how to install that?

See, my point of asking here, is hopefully, if somebody can go "click this" "type this", that I will eventually get to the point where I can do it myself. I looked on the limewire website and I could find anything on how to install this.

Again, I apologize if I come across as begging or if I'm trying to gain sympathy here. It's just that talking to people on message boards, and having my hand held, while probably annoying for all of you, is really the best and only way I learn things like this.

So far, I am in love with this OS...If only I knew what I was doing..lol.

Oh and another thing is, I have a Lexmark Z611 printer connected to a USB slot on my PC, but it won't print anything. Of course, I haven't configured anything(keep in mind I'm used to Windows 2000 and XP), so I don't know if I'm missing something.

Oh and one more thing.. What is Synaptic and how do I use it?

Synaptic is similar to the add applications. I think it has a bit more functionality, though I've heard some people saying they like the add applications in Breezy better. It's actually pretty intuitive, just start it up and see what you can figure out. One thing is that you'll want to add some more repositories if you haven't already. Actually that's one thing that is different from ubuntuguide.org which is designed for the last version, but it's very similar. A good guide for sources is here.

For the printer I'm not real sure but you might need to still install the drivers. I use xubunu now, so I'm not real sure exactly how it's done in gnome, but I think there's something like in system->administration->printer and it should be an option.

For limewire it looks like you just need to run the file you download in the terminal. Do this by changing to the folder where it is, most like your home directory (type cd ~) or your desktop (cd ~/desktop). Then type ./LimeWireLinux.bin A shortcut is to use tab to complete the file name once you have it partially entered. It may say you don't have enough permissions, if so then use sudo ./LimeWireLinux.bin I don't know if the binary comes with the permissions already set to be executable, check it executable by right clicking then going to properties, make sure executable is checked in the permissions tab.

djackson 75
You are doing well so far obviously you are trying to get multimedia working so lets do it the easy way.
If you are using Ubunto open terminal and enter wget http://beerorkid.com/automatix/autom...4.2-1_i386.deb
If using Kbuntu enter wget http://beerorkid.com/automatix/autom...1.4-1_i386.deb
After this has finished If using Ubunto we now enter sudo dpkg -i automatix-ubuntu_4.2-1_i386.deb
For Kbuntu sudo dpkg -i automatix-kubuntu_1.4-1_i386.deb.
But Wait Perhaps we Are getting ahead of ourselves here lets update the system first.

If you havent already done so we need to set some sources for apt. In a terminal enter sudu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list and uncomment all the lines that look like this
# deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu breezy-security main restricted uncomment by deleting the # in the start of the line.
Save the file.
In a terminal enter sudo apt-get update this may take a while when finished you can update your system with sudo apt-get upgrade.

After you have installed automatix goto system > graphical installer script and select what you need and this will download and install selected.

Best of luck
Regards
Sharke

In regards to your printing problem. Lexmarks tend to be a pain in the butt but after 20 minutes of googling I found this for you. Good luck.

http://finebushpeople.net/index.php?...f8341aa975eb64

Oh and in regards to limewire , I have read reports that they have ported thier spyware to linux.

Thanks Daniel, i needed this as well

You can't imagine how confused and frustrated I am. I tried doing what you said above but nothing works.

Let me start from the beginning... I go to the limewire website
, click on get it now, then click get basic.. then I choose that I won't violate copyright laws... click continue.. then I chose other... because I heard that rpm files are for redhat linux..

I download the file to my desktop. The name of the file is limewireother.zip.

from there, I open up a terminal, this is what is on the screeen:

dorian@ubuntu:~$

dorian is my usnername obviously.

so then I type in "dorian@ubuntu:~$ cd`dorian/desktop/
"
then I get the ">" symbol.

from there...what do I do?? am I even right in getting there? honestly, I reallp appreciate everything, but I'm lost, especially when it comes to what is written here that I quoted.

Okay
Your command is wrong should be cd /home/dorian/Desktop
Lets creaate a folder for downloading programs to
Goto >Home Folder >right click >new >create folder >name folder downloads now we need to tell your web browser where to download to.
For Firefox in browser goto >Edit >preferences >Downloads under Download folder select save all files to this folder type in /home/dorian/downloads
Now we can move your limewire from the desktop to the download folder goto open Home left click limeware drag to your download folder.
now you can extract to folder.

It looks like the directions I gave you before were from an outdated part of the Limewire website, so sharkee's directions are better than what I said before. When you extract the downloaded file it looks like it's just a compressed version of everything you need. You need to install java separately though, which can be done from here.

Then to run it you can type ~/Downloads/LimeWire/runLime.sh

If you want to be consistent with some linux standards you could also move the folder to /opt or /usr/share and runLime.sh to /usr/bin though this isn't totally necessary. Maybe move runLime.sh so you can run it by just typing the name instead of having the full path. Doing this will need root privlidges, so it's easiest to do in the terminal. (This would be a good lesson of how to do something like this for when you need to). Type:

sudo mv ~/Downloads/LimeWire/runlime.sh /usr/bin

You might notice I've been using ~ a bit, this is a shortcut for typing /home/[your user name]