I installed Linux, what now?

T

The Bryophyte

Gawd
Joined
Jun 24, 2001
Messages
974
I decided to try out Linux for the first time, so I am now dual-booting windows xp and mandrake (because I heard it was easy Linux). The problem I'm running into is the fact that I have no idea what I am doing at all. I keep trying to install .rpm files, which should load a program if I'm not being stupid, but I can never find the program after I have successfully executed the file.

Does anyone have good links to Linux resources or would they like to share with me a book title or even a little info on where the hell my programs are going to?
 
I am using kde and I can not find anything new listed in there. Also, I have searched for some programs, such as aim, and found what looks to be an executable. Unfortunately, none of them do a damn thing as far as I can tell.

Any book suggestions guys? I am looking for something comprehensive and most of the sites I've found aren't doing it for me.
 
Hit Alt + F2 and type in the name of the program you want to use. But first keep in mind that you are NOT using windows so you have to keep an open mind and try things out.

A262
 
An RPM file is kind of like a MSI file in Windows. Its just a text based installer..

Not all programs will add themselves into the "hat menu".. Some you'll need to find the command line for it and manually create a shortcut.

Also some new additions don't show up until you log out and log back in..

Trying to get a specific program running? Maybe we could help..
 
The file that has confused me the most is a video driver. I downloaded the official driver from ATI's website and followed the installation instructions. Initially, the command that it instructs me to enter is rejected, it does not recognize "-force" as a valid command/parameter. "-force" is explicitly specified in the driver's installation instructions.

When I omit the problematic command it tells me that I need to install some other packages to satisfy dependencies and it proceeds to error out after installing those packages and attempting to load the driver. I do not have the name of the specific file that it disliked, but it said something about a conflict with existing files.

If you think it will be helpful, I can dig up all the names that the various messages refer to.
 
What type of file was the driver you downloaded? .rpm, .sh, etc..

Yup, do you have net access from in linux? Just copy and paste up the output..
 
Okay, I try install the driver (named fglrx-4.3.0-3.14.6.i386.rpm) I am doing this from KDE right now, if that makes a difference. When I double-click on the file to install it, it says "to satisfy dependencies the following packages are going to be installed "fglrx-4.3.0-3.14.6.i386", which is just the file name.

I hit "Ok" and it starts to go through an installation routine which quickly errors out with this message:

"Installation failed:
file /usr/X11R6/lib/libGL.so.1.2 from install of fglrx-4.3.0-3.14.6 conflicts with file from package libxfree86-4.3-30mdk"

I am fairly lost here...as I'm sure is obvious.
 
The Bryophyte said:
"Installation failed:
file /usr/X11R6/lib/libGL.so.1.2 from install of fglrx-4.3.0-3.14.6 conflicts with file from package libxfree86-4.3-30mdk"
Click to expand...

Try using the commandline

Code: 
rpm -Uvh fglrx-4.3.0-3.14.6.i386.rpm

the -U tells it to upgrade any existing files. By default it will just install and not overwrite older versions like your error complains about.

the -v tells rpm to be more verbose and give us more info on whats going on.

the -h tells rpm to print a progress bar of how far the installation has gone..

Let us know how it goes
 
I think at this point it is important to realize that you aren't using windows anymore. You shouldn't expect it to work like windows at all, and you need to have an open mind as to what's going on.

As for your question (finding some good resources), why not check out mandrake's website? I'm sure they have some great documentation. Also there is plenty of documentation on things in your system, /usr/share/docs (/doc? it's been a while) and /usr/docs (/doc? been a while).
 
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