Why am I wasting my time on this..? This is NUTS!!

[allen.panther 0]

I've installed RedHat 9, and would like to get up to speed with some applications, but...nothing I try to install is working. I've figured out how to provide root permissions for myself in Terminal and the <ctrl+alt+F1> whatever-that-is-page.. ( I've been studying the book The Complete Reference ( ya..uh-huh..suuuure!! ) to Red Hat Linux 6.2 ), but I can install NOTHING without incomprehensible error messages. The ONLY thing that I can say about my experience so-far w/Linux is that it hasn't locked up on me once...

 

I wanted to installl FlashPlayer...bad directions and error meassages...thought the problem was that I was using Mozilla ( which I adore for the soft edges and the pleasing colors ) and I should install Netscape...bad directions and error messages. Where the HELL is the desktop directory ( ya , I know..I figured out it's hidden, but that doesn't help a super-user like me )( lol )...I have years of experience with DOS and Windows but I feel like an absolute idiot.

 

I'm about ready to surrender, give up and pay Mr. Gate$ ' team a few more dollars . This SUCKS!!!

[Dapper Dan 0]

allen.panther, I'm about to show you how to make life with Linux MUCH easier since you are fortunately using RH 9! If you can get apt-get RPM installed, downloading and installing packages will be as easy (or easier) than doing the same in Windows, really!

 

Go here and download the two binary packages.

 

In a terminal as root, "cd" to the directory where the two apt packages were downloaded. Then type:

 

rpm -Uvh apt-0.5.5cnc6-fr1.i386.rpm [enter]

 

After it installs, do the other one:

 

rpm -Uvh apt-devel-0.5.5cnc6-fr1.i386.rpm [enter]

 

Installation of these two should give no problems. Now it's time to start using apt. Type:

 

apt-get update [enter]

 

When it finishes, do the above again.

 

Then type:

 

apt-get install synaptic [enter]

 

after it finishes, type:

 

synaptic [enter]

 

The Synaptic gui should now come up. Look over it and when you feel ready, follow the very intuitive screen for installing packages. Unfortunately, flash player will not be one you can "apt."

 

If you run into any trouble installing apt-get rpm at any stage, or have questions, please let me know and I will do my best to help. Good Luck!

[danleff 0]

Listen to Dapper Dan and give it a try. I use Fedora (the newest version of ReHat) and installed apt. It works great!

 

Installing apt will be the hardest part, the rest is VERY EASY!

 

There is a version of flash player available, but, as Dapper Dan says, not from apt. However, once you are convinced, you can give it a try.

[allen.panther 0]

Fait-accompli... ! !

 

Thanks guys..

( I used 'cut-and-paste', tho'... )

 

..."strange thingsare going on in the world"..!??!

....Tell _me, will'ya... ! ! !

 

 

Whadd'a'"I" do now...?

"Long live and conquer"..?! ?

 

I'll examine the new directories "we've" created......I hope I DON'T have to delete a mess and re-create a "new" hard-drive...you guyz'r on the up-and-up, right?

 

...nowhut

 

-Allen

[Dapper Dan 0]

Quote:

..."strange thingsare going on in the world"..!??!

LOL! Now I know you were successful! Did you get Synaptic up and running?

[allen.panther 0]

"Flashplayer's" a crock'a..

 

Whut I'm REALLY interested in is..? !? "How Do I Get Streaming Musc Playing Under theLinuxOS"..?

 

Screw MessaGate$...

 

-Allen ( and Ps..? I have the synaptic screen open (with LOTS of right arrows and pretty-lookin' letters/directories..ooooooops that's an msn term...I mean 'folders'.) and I -have NO idea where to go from here..( whut is 'synaptic' ..? a nervous condition...?a downloader like MSGetRight..? A desktop..? HEeeeeeeeeElp..!?!?)

 

Fool me once..and I'm twice shy.

 

-Pananoiallen.panther

[Dapper Dan 0]

Synaptic is a frontend for apt-get rpm. If there is a package you want to install, you just type it in that window there in the upper left, click search and it will find it and offer you the option of downloading and installing it. You do not yet have familiarity with Linux packages, but if you stay with it you will! Synaptic will enable you to install RPM packages without all the dependencies and errors you were complaining about before, Just for practice...go to that window and type in:

 

galeon [enter]

 

apt-get will then find the Galeon browser package, let you know what else has to be installed to make it work, and then give you the opportunity of installing it.

 

Galeon is MUCH faster than Mozilla, though it is based on Mozilla. By the way, did you ever get flash working? If you got it working in Mozilla, it will also work with Galeon..

 

Now that you're familiar with how it works..type in:

 

realplayer [enter]

 

[Maillion 0]

Ok, I keep hearing about this app. My curiosity is piqued. I use Mandrake as my main Linux. (Red Hat will not install or run on my system!) Mandrake is Red Hat based. Will apt-get work with Mandrake 9.0? I have downloaded the iso's for Fedora, but considering the results I have gotten with Red Hat (at least 10 install attempts, at least three different versions), I am kind of leery of it. I want to learn Linux, but learning to drive by crashing into every object in your path may be effective, but not fun, and this is the way you learn with problematic distros. I am trying to learn shell scripting at the moment, and I need a working system to do so. Mandrake is working, and I am not fond of the idea of installing a host of new problems to figure out, but I'm curious, dammit!

[danleff 0]

Yes, Apt will work with Mandrake. I am using this on the latest Mandrake cooker (testing version) with apt. Do not use the Fedora RPM's, use Mandrake RPM's. Other distro's rpm's are not always compatible.

 

I't a little tricky getting dependencies correct with Mandrake, but once it is set-up, it works.

[Dapper Dan 0]

Quote:

Ok, I keep hearing about this app. My curiosity is piqued. I use Mandrake as my main Linux. (Red Hat will not install or run on my system!) Mandrake is Red Hat based. Will apt-get work with Mandrake 9.0?

Maillion, there was a good repository for Mdk for apt-get, unfortunately it is my understanding that it is not being kept current. Apt is really no longer a viable package management solution for Mdk. Urpmi works really well though!

Quote:

I have downloaded the iso's for Fedora, but considering the results I have gotten with Red Hat (at least 10 install attempts, at least three different versions), I am kind of leery of it.

Hmmm, I wonder what the problem could be? RH has always installed just fine for me. 7.3, 8.0, 9.0 and Fedora have all installed without problems for me.

Quote:

I am trying to learn shell scripting at the moment, and I need a working system to do so.

vi is great isn't it??

Quote:

Mandrake is working, and I am not fond of the idea of installing a host of new problems to figure out, but I'm curious, dammit! :

I understand how frustrating that could be. What type errors were you getting, or what went wrong during your attempts to install RH?

[allen.panther 0]

Second of all, I'll back up a few paces to the beginning of this ms.|t|-adventure...mr.Windows still had me in "his" head-lock of square-box thinking, and I was attempting to re-create that square box and impose it upon Linux' back. With that end not in (under-)min(e)d, I installed Netscape ( 'cause that's all I knew about what to do, from what I've been taught..).

 

First of all, Dapper Dan, I really have to offer a heart-felt "thank you!" to you. You took the time to plant a LOT of seeds, and your plantings seem to have germinated and have now sprouted for me at some sub-conscious level ( I have a few thoughts to share in your efforts to help 'Mallion', as well...molayta ). I've had a great deal of success in the interim.

 

Somehow ( " I was only following orders!" ) , I managed to follow your instructions and get Synaptic installed, tho' I didn't HAVE A CLUE why I was doing it...but it felt right...

 

And then I took a few well-deserved ( " maybe to YOUR way of thinking turkey.panther..!!" " No..really..I was exhausted!! from the war(s)...!! I just fought ON! " ) After I recovered, I decided to change gears, and I installed Libranet Linux into a reserved and empty spare partition , and I found its simplicity delightful. I felt at ease with it, and more free to play a bit ( knowing that it wasn't my main-stay, and if I MESSED UP!!, it wouldn't affect anything in my redhat nor 98SE partitions... )( I'm using PBM on my boot drive ). THAT'S when I discovered how very precious Galeon is. ( "Fast, too!!" )( "Very!and friendly..." )

 

I knew that you were very sincere in your efforts to help me, but I also knew that it was largely up to me. You'd written ;

=============================================

"Now that you're familiar with how it works..type in:

 

realplayer [enter] " ,

=============================================

...and I really didn't understand ( I wasn't at ALL "familiar" with any of what I had just done!! )whether I was supposed to type those keystrokes into 'Terminal', ( that's how confusing it had all become -my wings were flapping and I was changing levels with no or none or very little control at all and no idea of, as The Beates so eloquently put it, "Know where to go!" ), or the <Ctrl><Alt><F1> screen ( the [lower-level] equivalent of DOS, as I conceptualize it ...? ), or a browser window... or ..!?!? maybe there was something I still wasn't yet understanding..?

 

Awright...enter 'Mallion'...

 

"Mr. Mallion, Sir? We either have diametrically-opposed CPUs, or we are on opposite sides of the whlrled... "

 

_i_ tried to install Mandrake Linux multiple times with absolutely NO success...nothing but error messages and ( deep feelings[internalized] of inadequacy). HOWEVER..redhat went in so slick and easy I think they actually 'came' in one of my orifices without my even knowing it...maybe they 'love' me. I don't know.

 

Mandrake was like tearing my hair out ( and I've got precious little left [upstairs, anyway] )...maybe its PBM ( Partition Boot Manager? ).

 

There! I've taken all of the points in the order presented..First, number two, and then, secondly number one, followed by number five. Now let's resolve numbers three, four and eleven... I opened 'Symantic' ( which somehow by Dapper Dan [ or goodGod ]'s good graces I managed to installl ) and figured it out...at this very moment I'm watching the 'install' progress of some 69 ( what a wonderful number ) packages that needed to be installed or upgraded...blue bars sliding slick left-to-right and right-to-left .back and forth and forth and back and to and fro ( and in and out ..?!? )( "performing changes" )...when it's over and Ithey've realized themselves, I FULLY intend to see what happens when I type "realplayer<Enter>" into Symantic ( tho' I STILL think it was just a tease on Dapper Dan's part....I don't for a MINUTE believe he REALLY knows what he's talking about...when it 'cums' to streaming media...)

 

Take care, folks ( and good luck...)-allen.panther

 

Mo'layta.. ( that's "...more, later..." for the uninitiated....)

 

And my invisible friend asks me...

"what...?!?"

I respond, "You wouldn't BELIEVE how much I've left OUT!!"

" What do you mean..? What haven't you divulged to this forum..?"

"I left out points 6, 7, 8, 9, 10..and twelve!! ogg and gtoaster, and...Linux goes on for ever!! "

" So...what you are saying is...Linux rocks?"

 

" yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[allen.panther 0]

I now find myself in the position ( rather bent over backwards, I am...with my lips very near my own arse...) of having to re-boot into 98SE to use Outlook Express to gather all of my mail...is there a solutiion in Linux ( I KNOW there is..what should I type into Syamantic to solve this bass-ackwards positon I now find mysel fin..? ) -Allen

[Dapper Dan 0]

Are you still using Outlook because you do not yet have a Linux email program configured? Go to a terminal, and as regular user, not root type:

 

evolution [enter]

 

is it there? if not, now go to Synaptic and install it. Other good email apps you can install and use from heaviest to lightest are:

 

mozilla -mail

kmail

balsa

sylpheed

 

Look them over and see which best suits you.

 

Since you mentioned "streaming audio" earlier, I thought you might want to play around with RP, (which does do streaming audio..)

[Maillion 0]

Dapper:

Quote:

I understand how frustrating that could be. What type errors were you getting, or what went wrong during your attempts to install RH?

 

I'm pretty sure it had to do with my SiS 300 video card - nothing seemed to come up with video... It all matters little these days. I got some bad bootloader problems when I tried to install Fedora Core (the problems are on another thread here...), so I am now having to change hard drives and other stuff...

[Dapper Dan 0]

Are you dual booting with Windows?

[outstream 0]

Quote:

I'm pretty sure it had to do with my SiS 300 video card - nothing seemed to come up with video

did u try searching ur video card vendor`s site for drivers of linux about that particular model? also do u still have the manual of ur monitor? cuz some times Red Hat needs u to put in exact horizontal and vertical frequencies of ur monitor, if it doesnt works with general figures that Red Hat offers. if u dont have that manual, just go to ur monitor vendor`s site and check out the technical specifications of ur monitor. save em . Red Hat keeps those things in /etc/xf86.conf (if i`m not wrong), go there and edit the file, it shuld work

[Dapper Dan 0]

Actually, I think that is in /etc/X11/XF86Config.

One thing that annoys me about RH is that redhat-config-xfree86 will not run if you don't have X, but you can't get X unless you run redhat-config-xfree86! This just happened to me on a machine I'm building for a friend. I wish you could also just run xf86config to get the monitor set up. I never could get it to run and even tried to edit the XF68Config using vi. I finally gave up and did a reinstall with a different monitor!

[outstream 0]

yeah thanks for correcting me Dapper Dan, it is /etc/X11/XF86Config.

heheeh well may be u`ll think i`m crazy or a stupid chap if i tell u when i installed my red hat for first time, it was working fine but still i went on screwing things up myself and edited my xf86.conf just to see what happens if i do that and i changed the horizontal and vertical frequencies there and i ended up with having a display area in half of my screen and half outside it