I need some help with Linux

[SiL Eighty]

Well, I finally got linux up and running with the GNOME windows manager.
1st Q: When I restart I get a line that says grub:. I hit tab and looked thru the commands but dont know what to use so I type boot. It than says that it can't load because the kernal is not present. I than insert my boot disk/floppy *whatever* type reboot and it goes thru a system check and loads fine. HOW do I get rid of this so that I dont have to put the floppy in every time I want to start my comp??
2nd Q: I DL'ed FireFox 0.8 for a web browser 'cuz I dont like this one that comes stock. How do I instal it?
3rd Q:

1. Make a .xsession file that calls FVWM
2. Tell GDM-- the login screen-- you want to use your custom .xsession file rather than one of its options

If Red Hat does not come with FVWM, you need to:

1. Unzip the FVWM folder into your Linux partition
2. Run "./configure"
3. Run "make"
4. Become root
5. Run "make install"

and then it will be installed.

HUH?!?!
Where do I make this .xsession file? When I goto unzip the file I only have HOME as a choice to unzip it to.
Also how do I safely remove GNOME and Mozilla from my comp after FVWM and FireFox are installed to free up more disk space?

Thank you all for your help and patients with my |\|ooB!5h butt. I'm sorry if I ask seamingly idiotic q's and again sorry for all the future Q's I will most likely ask.
GOMEN!

[Shii]

Originally Posted by SiL Eighty

1st Q: When I restart I get a line that says grub:. I hit tab and looked thru the commands but dont know what to use so I type boot. It than says that it can't load because the kern[e]l is not present. I than insert my boot disk/floppy *whatever* type reboot and it goes thru a system check and loads fine. HOW do I get rid of this so that I dont have to put the floppy in every time I want to start my comp??

Sounds like you didn't set Grub up correctly. I don't know what the "commands" are that are listed, because when I turn on Grub, it just asks me whether I want to start Linux or Windows without any command list. You could give more details...

2nd Q: I DL'ed FireFox 0.8 for a web browser 'cuz I dont like this one that comes stock. How do I instal it?

You should be able to just unzip it and run the binary called "MozillaFirefox" from the folder it's unzipped in.

Once you've got that figured out, then you can learn how to start configuring the computer

[SiL Eighty]

Originally Posted by ashibaka

You should be able to just unzip it and run the binary called "MozillaFirefox" from the folder it's unzipped in.

Alas.... it doesnt work...... I dont have a binary called Mozilla Firefox. After I unzip the file into /home/name the only binary I have is firefox-bin. When I type in its location in Run it does nothing. I also tried the rpm -ivh /home/name/firefox/*many things* and keep geting the msg saying that it is not an rpm executable. I also got the jsr file that was on the Mozilla site 'cuz it said it needed it. It is in binary form but I cant get it to instal/execute. I've tried this site but nothing seems to work. I've invested to much time into this to back out now so im going to follow thru instead of running back to windows [insert blue screen of death]. If I could just get programs installed in here 1 time I should be alright.
Thanks for the help
5!L 3!9|-|+Y

[Shii]

Originally Posted by SiL Eighty

Alas.... it doesnt work...... I dont have a binary called Mozilla Firefox. After I unzip the file into /home/name the only binary I have is firefox-bin. When I type in its location in Run it does nothing. I also tried the rpm -ivh /home/name/firefox/*many things* and keep geting the msg saying that it is not an rpm executable.

Well, first, you only run RPM on files that end in .rpm...

Try opening up a terminal window, and typing

cd firefox
./firefox
or
./firefox-bin

[lavalyn]

Nobody ever said linux was easy. Heck, Windows wasn't easy the first time.

Take a moment, read up on the documentation available, and probably go grab yourself Mandrake 9.2. I'm not a fan of Mandrake, but as far as Install -> Up and Running complexity goes, Mandrake wins, hands down.

Yes, this is a call to RTFM. Linux users aren't particularly known for their patience in answering documented frequently asked questions.

[SiL Eighty]

Originally Posted by ashibaka

Try opening up a terminal window, and typing

cd firefox
./firefox
or
./firefox-bin

cd firefox = Does nothing. No error msg or anything
./firefox = takes me to the Mozilla website and distorts the hell out of my screen.
./firefox-bin = error msg that looks like this : ./firefox-bin
./firefox-bin: error while loading shared libraries: libxpcom_compat.so: cannot
open shared object file: No such file or directory
*Note* I have it unziped in /home/myname

[Shii]

Originally Posted by SiL Eighty

cd firefox = Does nothing. No error msg or anything

When something does nothing, that usually means it completed successfully.

So, it "distorts" your screen? Perhaps there is a conflict with Mozilla... you could ask at http://www.linuxquestions.org/

By the way, it might be easier to use the Red Hat package:

http://rpm.pbone.net/index.php3/stat....i386.rpm.html

[SiL Eighty]

Heh thanks anyway ashibaka i got firefox to run. I just dont go the the mozilla home page 'cuz it distorts the screen. ( I lose my wall paper and the screen gets blanked out w/ a wierd pattern. I have to run the mouse all over and buttons start to magically appear) My biggest set back now is getting Wine to work. This shit is confusing as HELL. I need it for my BitTorrent and BsPlayer. If i cant watch my anime I'll just go back to windows till I make my new comp. (most likely ill make it dual boot) But in the mean time whats a good replacement for Winamp? I saw somewhere about someplayer called Beep but when i looked it up on www.freshmeat.com it said is was for tunning the speakers .

[Shii]

You don't need WINE for BitTorrent and media playing.

Media player: MPlayer... fetch it from any fine Red Hat RPMs website.
BitTorrent: is cross-platform, there are Linux versions for everything except Nova Torrent. Do you use Nova Torrent?
Winamp clone: XMMS, or if you're hardcore, Beep Media Player.

[SiL Eighty]

Originally Posted by ashibaka

You don't need WINE for BitTorrent and media playing.

Media player: MPlayer... fetch it from any fine Red Hat RPMs website.
BitTorrent: is cross-platform, there are Linux versions for everything except Nova Torrent. Do you use Nova Torrent?
Winamp clone: XMMS, or if you're hardcore, Beep Media Player.

SWEET!!! Linux versions of BT woot! I didnt think their where version for it 'cuz at animesuki's main page all the clients there do not have a linux version. MPlayer now... does it require ffdshow or anyother addons to play xvid dvix ac3 or oog?

Thanks again ashibaka

5!L 3!9|-|+Y

[Shii]

MPlayer should work fine by itself.

http://rpm.pbone.net/index.php3/stat....i386.rpm.html

BTW, in the future try:

http://rpm.pbone.net/

[SiL Eighty]

*sigh* I think Im just going to admit defeat for now and run back to Windows...... I've lost my patients trying to install programs and after 5 days of trying to configure this thing I'm tired and i just want my comp to work again....My latest issue was this error trying to install MPlayer. I keep getting this MSG NOKEY, key
ID a109b1ec
and also a shit load of lib files even though i have all the updates.... Beep Media Player wouldnt install either.... Im way to tired for this now... i'll just wait till i have extra room on the comp Im going to build to make dual boot system w/ linux on it so if I have pblms i still have a working comp. Even though it was in vain I'd like to thank everyone that tried to steer me on the correct coarse to get this thing running.

[Shii]

and also a shit load of lib files even though i have all the updates....

And that is why Red Hat sucks.

[nod]

Too bad you had trouble with Linux, although I myself would give up if I had to use Red Hat. But at least now if you have to switch in the future, you will have a bit of experience installing and using it.

[SiL Eighty]

Aww CrAp!!!! Im SCREWED!!!! I tried to use my restore boot disk for windows and it DOESNT WORK!! It wont read the disk tells me theres an error and kicks the disk out.... WTF MAN! Now I cant go back to windows even if i WANT TO! god damnit....... God HAteS ME! ............... Would getting a different version of linux help me? maybe gento or suse? I dont care what i have to do I just want my comp working again..... *tears*
Also whats the differance between i386 and i686 distros?? *I think Im just gunna get Mandrake*

[Shii]

So, what you're saying is your Windows install disk isn't working? That sucks major

Try Debian. It'll be a bit hard at first, but it doesn't have the library problems of Red Hat and Mandrake, which is a lot easier in the long run.

Here's the only disk you need:

http://www.linuxiso.org/download.php...6-binary-1.iso

[ato]

SiL Eighty, if you own a copy of Windows (or rather have purchased a license), it should be perfectly ok to borrow the install CD from a friend. Just use your own CD key and things should be hunky dory!

Ahhhh, the sweet memories of trying to get Linux to work the first time. That was back in the day where there was Slackware or naught - Man, I was stumped! Took me the better part of a week just to get it installed. I was so near to tears it wasn't even funny

The thing called "dependency hell" is a big part of why many people shun RH after their first go. As long as you only need things packaged by RH for the version you are using, everyting is easier than slicing bread... But if you want to go outside for a breath of fresh air things tend to get complicated.

On the bright side is that RH packages (or at least used to package) XMMS, MPlayer/Xine, Gaim, Mozilla and all the other stuff you are likely to be using on a day-to-day basis. So the easiest way of getting a working system is probably to reinstall RH and having a look on all those discs for rpms that contain what you need.

I hope you get your system up an running again soon! Gamatte kudasai!

[Forse]

Originally Posted by SiL Eighty

Also whats the differance between i386 and i686 distros?? *I think Im just gunna get Mandrake*

I can answer that. i386 destributions are optimized for i386 so it means that basicly it will work on 386 (but usually they can't due to lack of power and what else). Usually i686 binaries are optimized using flag -march=i686 or -mcpu=i686. -mcpu=<cpu-type> means optimize code for the particular type of CPU without breaking compatibility with other CPUs and -march=<cpu-type> means to take full advantage of the ABI and instructions for the particular CPU; this will break compatibility with older CPUs.

It is recommended to use i686 if you use modern CPU, but if you have some old comp you want to make a router then i386 is for you. Being a gcc junkie for some time now I have tested all the settings possible to speed up my own server and desktop. Most speed up you can get is about 10% (REALLY RARE) and if done in a wrong way u may brake binaries. It's something you shouldn't worry about if your just starting linux. Best thing to do when compiling from source is to use your cpu supported functions like -msse and 3dnow. If you can, get i686 (RH uses those now by default). Debian uses i586, but I am not sure since I only follow devel of FreeBSD and Gentoo. Sorry to get so much on geeky side...

As for your issue with hdd. Just boot up to knoppix and use cfdisk and delete all partitions and commit changes. Then boot up from windows CD (get one from friend or net) and install it.

P.S. Linux is not only option. Consider *BSD as it's license is WAY better then GPL and it's been longer around. Also it's closer to Unix....oh well maybe you can try it later. I just get upset when everyone talks about Linux and how l33t it is

[Shii]

Originally Posted by ato

SiL Eighty, if you own a copy of Windows (or rather have purchased a license), it should be perfectly ok to borrow the install CD from a friend. Just use your own CD key and things should be hunky dory!

Well, usually Windows comes with your computer, so when she said "restore disk" I assume that means the computer's "flatten and reinstall" disk that formats the partition and resets it to default.

In that case, they don't supply you with a CD key, right?

[lavalyn]

Originally Posted by Forse

It is recommended to use i686 if you use modern CPU, but if you have some old comp you want to make a router then i386 is for you. Being a gcc junkie for some time now I have tested all the settings possible to speed up my own server and desktop. Most speed up you can get is about 10% (REALLY RARE) and if done in a wrong way u may brake binaries. It's something you shouldn't worry about if your just starting linux. Best thing to do when compiling from source is to use your cpu supported functions like -msse and 3dnow. If you can, get i686 (RH uses those now by default). Debian uses i586, but I am not sure since I only follow devel of FreeBSD and Gentoo. Sorry to get so much on geeky side...

Let's clarify something here. Debian uses -mcpu=i586, which is not the same as -march=i586. The programs compiled with these are scheduled for the two ALU pipelines and such for the Pentium Classic, but do not contain instructions outside i386/7 proper. Mandrake uses -march=i586 and -mcpu=i586, so it can in theory incorporate whatever extra instructions it feels like and not be compatible with 486s and below. Gentoo, well you can set it to whatever, I suggest -Os -fomit-frame-pointer -march=<your machine type>

Originally Posted by Forse

P.S. Linux is not only option. Consider *BSD as it's license is WAY better then GPL and it's been longer around. Also it's closer to Unix....oh well maybe you can try it later. I just get upset when everyone talks about Linux and how l33t it is

Linux is just as POSIX and UNIX as BSD, except for the source code pedigree. And the GPL vs BSD is a programmer's jihad in and of itself - if you're not a developer it really doesn't matter. That said, if you don't understand what I said in this post, using either will not make you l33t.

[SiL Eighty]

Yes Debian is i568 and it works a hell of a lot better than Red Hat. Took an hour to setup but I havent really had any problems w/ it accept I now cant mount my zip drive -.-''. *I swear if its not one thing than its another* Also my windows disk is a restore disk. When I poped it in the 1st time I told it to reformat and reinstal. It froze instead. Than I told it do fdisk. I thought that it did it but when i restarted w/ out the disk everything was still there. I dont know I dont care, i'll work w/ debian for now. I just have a bunch of lil problems. Zip wont mount, scroll button on mouse doesnt work, In KDE Korquerer crashes alot, In GNOME no sound for flash. -.-'' ok maybe i got big problems......