Mandrake 10.1

[Notquiteanewbie]

Newb Question:

I just installed Mandrake 10.1 and I just can't figure out how to install programs. I know its probably something easy but I don't understand where programs reside and how things are organized..i'm new to linux so please bear with me

so far i downloaded firefox and flashplayer they are in tar.gz format which seems to be something similar to a zip file

filenames are:
firefox-1.0PR-i686-linux-gtk2+xft-installer.tar.gz
install_flash_player_7_linux.tar.gz

they are on my desktop
under the current user..not root

please lead me through the install of these programs..

i did some searching and i found the following instructions for installing firefox but i don't understand what this means or how to use it

Linux/GTK2


Extract the tarball and run the installer like so:


tar -xzvf firefox-1.0PR-i686-linux-gtk2+xft.tar.gz
cd firefox-1.0PR-i686-linux-gtk2+xft/
./firefox-installer


please help

 

[spectrum]

Pretty simple really, you have the commands needed to install it
Open up a console, and type

cd

to get to your home directory.
Next step would be to find where the actual files are located. Try this

ls -al|more

You are looking for .Desktop If it exists (you see it in the list it spits out) try this

ls .Desktop/ | grep fire

If you see the firefox installer your almost there. Just

cd .Desktop

Now just follow the instructions you have

 

[Notquiteanewbie]

i'm having some problems with your instructions

1. I can't seem to make the vertical line you used in
ls -al|more

2. i tried ls-all
and i see .desktop* which is under root
also there is Desktop/ under the current user

i tried changing to that directory and I get
no such file or directory


i was also messing around and i extracted the tar.gz file and it created a folder with an installer much similar to windows...could i also do that...
i just don't know which directory to install it into

newbie in need of serious help....sorry if i frustrate anyone

 

[Ion Silverbolt]

Those files you have should be extractable from the GUI if you're not comfortable with the command line yet. Right click on the tar.gz file you want and select "Actions-->Extract to" Then specify where you want them installed . Somewhere in your home folder is good.

Now, goto the firefox-installer folder. Clicking on firefox-installer should do the trick. Or typing sh firefox-installer at the command prompt in a console.


If possible, the best install files for your system are RPM package files. They do all the work for you. The best way to get them is to use urpmi. You need root access to use and install rpm's. So at a console, type:

$su
:<Enter root password>
#

From there, installing programs is easy. urpmi helps resolve dependancy issues as it installs the packages you need. For example:

#urpmi fluxbox

The above would automatically install the fluxbox window manager and all it's dependancies. By default, urpmi only has the CD's as a source of RPMS but you can add online locations to it's search which greatly increases your available packages. Here's a great website for setting up urpmi. Makes it super easy.

http://easyurpmi.zarb.org/

After urpmi is setup, you can also access and browse the extra rpm files from the GUI . Goto System--->Configuration-->Packaging and the new available rpm's should show up.

 

[Notquiteanewbie]

thank you

 

[ameoba]

On a system with package management, such as Mandrake, you should avoid installing from source if you can find the package.