Hello Becky! Welcome to the "club." :0)
Well here goes my crack a your issue.
Somebody already answered saying that it's best to go with a full
install, and I'm going to have to agree. I have NOT run an upgrade
from lower version # of the OS to the "Latest & Greatest." I've
always backed up some files on the Internet, installed the new OS
and then restored via my backed up files.
I'm currently running 7.2, and I upgraded to that from 7.1. 7.2
comes with KDE2 and some other Windows Managers. There are others
on the CD that you can install since they do not come standard with
the Recommended install. (i.e. Enlightenment, XFce, FVWM2, and I'm
sure others I don't know about.)
Once you download, purchase, or borrow a copy from a friend, all
that's need is to put the CD in your CD-ROM drive and boot up. Most
machines will boot from the CD, if not you will have to go into your
BIOS to set that up, but you shouldn't have to do that.
It will then go through the install. And it's pretty cut & dry install
honestly. Asks you for what it wants, and at the bottom, there's the
Penguin giving you some more information about what it's doing and the
like.
Since you seem very new to Mandrake, I would suggest buying a copy of
the OS. 7.2 Deluxe, which I'm honestly not sure at how much it is, but
it comes with TONS of software to install, and I do believe two "manuals."
I'd also suggest you visiting www.orielly.com. Look for a book called
Linux in a Nutshell. I believe they are at their 3rd edition of the
book. I have the 2nd edition, and it's very helpful. Goes over just about
all the commands, and does a very good job of explaining this.
As for installing RPMs. You're going to use the rpm command. Do a "man rpm"
at a prompt on your machine. You should get something like this
rpm(8) Red Hat Linux rpm(8)
NAME
rpm - Red Hat Package Manager
SYNOPSIS
rpm [options]
I won't include the whole man file here since it's rather lengthy. But
it will show you other parameters that can be used with the command.
So su to root:
[timh@yoda ~]$ su
Password: <YOUR_ROOT_PASSWD_HERE>
[root@yoda timh]#
So now that you're the root user you can install using the rpm command.
It will show that you're logged in as root, on what machine, and in
what directory. My machine at home is named YODA, and it's in the timh
directory.
One of the most common commands used for installing RPMs goes as following:
rpm -ivh <INSTALLFILE.rpm>
The -i parameter is for install.
The -v parameter is for verbose
The -h parameter is for hash.
I'd install something real quick just to give you an example of some output
but I don't have anything to install right now.
But hopefully that will give you an idea. There are a lot of other parameters
for rpm, like rpm -Uvh <RPM_FILE.rpm> and the -U is for update/upgrade. So
if you have something to install, but you're upgrading installing it
that'd be the route to go.
Well I hope that was helpful. Let us know! Good luck Becky.
tdh
--
T. Holmes
Unixtechs.org
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.unixtechs.org/
"Real Men use Vi."
* Becky Could <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [001210 02:29]:
> Am Very New! The manual describes certain "should see this next" type steps-
> None of which work. I have not seen KDE at all. I have 2 screens come up
> where I can type at the prompt either as root or a user and I have accessed
> the Internet by typing "netscape" fine.
>
> I have 2 Cd's with Mandrake 7.0- one from a boxed version and another from
> the back of the book. I see that version 7.2 is available in various
> locations on the Net. I do not know how to install an RPM.
>
> Would a kind soul explain Installation of UPGRADE to Mandrake 7.2 which
> RPM(s) should I download and how to install it.
>
> OR-
>
> Installing an RPM downloaded from the WWW.
>
> OR-
>
> Properly installing a Fresh Install on an Emachine Posing as a Linux Box.
>
>
>
>
>
> Ultimately I will be setting up a server as host with a solid install.
> Thanks for your help
> Becky
>
--
T. Holmes
Unixtechs.org
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.unixtechs.org/
"Real Men use Vi."
