On Saturday 22 January 2005 17:12, dave needham wrote: > hi all,hopeing some one can help me please.im a new user to linux migrating > from winxp and i will not be going back.im using the official mandrake > linux 10.0. i need to learn the best way to dwnload soft ware to my pc.i > mean where is the easiest place on the pc to put them and i also whant to > learn how to extract them to a directory and be able to get them to work. > this should keep some one buisy to explain. > thanks to all that helps.... > dave.............
Welcome to Mandrake ! Nope, not going to be busy :-)) .....it's pretty well already been done for you - depends really what sort of software you are wanting. Mandrake uses the rpm format for packages, and there are 2 ways of getting these packages which are self-extracting/installing. 1) If it's on a Mandrake mirror urpmi will download it and install it for you urpmi being Mandrake's package installer, have a look here for an in depth explanation :- http://mandrake.vmlinuz.ca/bin/view/Main/UsingUrpmi no, I'm not telling you to RTFM, the wiki has been written by members of these lists for the benefit of other members so it is easily understood and will explain the subject much more comprehensively that an e mail response will. 2) It's preferable IMHO, to use rpms built for Mandrake, they should install without problem but some non-Mandrake rpms will also give you no trouble. If you do need non-Mandrake rpms, make sure you download them from trusted sources, save them wherever you like, I made/use a directory called, imaginatively, downloads for this purpose, when you've got them click on them, you will be asked for the root password and they will install, if they need (depend) on other packages that are not installed you will be told, so them grab any dependent packages that it asks for, install them and go back to the package you first started with and try again. Observant readers will note that I haven't mentioned installing from source, the reason for this is that, again IMHO, for a newbie it can be daunting, when you are familiar with Linux come and ask us about it, if you need to that is, you will probably do a little reading and figure it out for yourself. As a general note, google is very much your friend in most Linux matters, go to http://www.google.com/linux, type in the keyword you are looking for and you will usually find pages of information - try it for example by putting install software in the search box - you'll be reading for weeks :-)) Have fun John
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