Sybella 0 Posted June 6, 2005 I'm new to Linux and having trouble getting my laptop going. I'm completely frustrated, confused and ready to cry. Is anyone willing to hold my hand and walk me through this, please? Share this post Link to post
Sybella 0 Posted June 7, 2005 Thank you kindly!! In order to install from a source file...well, my question is, what is the file extension on a source file? I know it is usually zipped in a gz...is a source file a tar? Share this post Link to post
danleff 0 Posted June 7, 2005 What package (program) are you trying to install? Compressed source files come in a few formats, gz, bz2... They are all tar files underneath. However Mandrake has many packages (programs) on the cd disks that you either downloaded and burned to cd disks (the iso image files), or paid for and have already on a commercial set. You can also get many packages via the web in rpm format that Mandriva can install with ease for you. Let us know what package you are looking to install and we can go from there. You do have Mandriva currently installed OK? Share this post Link to post
Sybella 0 Posted June 7, 2005 Yes, it is installed ok. I bought a magazine to get a full version of Mandrake 10.2 LE2005. It's in DVD format so it's all on one disc. I had tried to install mandrake 10.1 from a burned copy (on 3 discs) but I kept getting error messages. It would cancel itself out of installation because of something-config. While I was downloading an ISO of the first disc to try again, I got a bug to go to the bookstore and hunt down a "real" copy...and I did. LOL! Before I can download any packages for this, I need to get it online. I'm having a Broadcom chip problem and I've been trying to install the right driver for it...hopefully, I've got it now. I just need to put it in the right place. I'll be back with more questions, I'm sure. LOL! Thanks for the support guys...it's really appreciated!! Share this post Link to post
iamroot 0 Posted June 8, 2005 Source files are more commonly packaged as tar.gz however I've seen zipped ones as well. Anyway, it's better for beginners to stick with RPMs or shell installers for installing software. Even many experienced users don't install from source. It's messy and difficult to uninstall. Share this post Link to post
