≡ Menu

Tutorials
BASH Shell
Troubleshooting
Nginx
Networking
MySQL
Google Cloud Platform
Amazon Cloud Computing
Rackspace Cloud Computing
Linux
CentOS
Debian / Ubuntu
Ubuntu Linux
Suse
RedHat and Friends
Slackware Linux
UNIX
AIX
Mac OS X
FreeBSD
FreeBSD Jails (VPS)
Openbsd
Solaris
See all tutorial topics
Contact us
Linux Scripting Guide
RSS/FEED
Shop

nixCraft
Linux and Unix tutorials for new and seasoned sysadmin.

How to install Linux / UNIX *.tar.gz

tarball files
by Vivek Gite on June 18, 2007

Q. I’m new to Linux. Over few days I found lots software distributed as
.tar.gz file. How do I install tar.gz files under Linux?
A. tar.gz also known as tarball, an archive format for
electronic data and software. Most Linux tarball
contains a source code for software. If you are new to
Linux I recommend using apt-get, rpm and yum
command to install all binary packages.

Tarballs are a group of files in one file. Tarball files

have the extension .tar.gz, .tgz or .tar.bz2. Most open source software use
tarballs to distribute programs/source codes.

# 1: Uncompress tarball

To uncompress them, execute the following command(s) depending on

the extension:
$ tar zxf file.tar.gz
$ tar zxf file.tgz
$ tar jxf file.tar.bz2
$ tar jxf file.tbz2

Now change directory

$ ls
$ cd path-to-software/

# 2: Build and install software

Generally you need to type 3 commands as follows for building and

compiling software:
# ./configure
# make
# make install

Where,

./configure will configure the software to ensure your system has

the necessary functionality and libraries to successfully compile the
package
make will compile all the source files into executable binaries.
Finally, make install will install the binaries and any supporting files
into the appropriate locations.

# 3: Read INSTALL / README file

Each tarball comes with installation and build instructions. Open INSTALL
or README file for more information:
$ vi INSTALL
Tweet itFacebook itGoogle+ itPDF itFound an error/typo on this page?

{ 247 comments… add one }

nick June 25, 2007, 9:28 am

I have also got the same problem not able to installed linux

Reply Link
Deepak John March 15, 2013, 5:59 am

hai frnds,
am newer to linux but am intersted to work with it most of the
softwares i downloaded had this problem that it does’nt
contain ./configure file so it gives”there is no directory
./configure”so i enterd the code ‘make’ i got the same
replay..pls help me out…i was in the same directory that the
files unziped

Reply Link
Trent December 11, 2007, 12:19 am

where do i put this code???????

i hate linux, and i dont want to….
all i see is people saying yeah the command/code to do this is
so&so, but they never say where to put it!!!!
can someone email me, step by step process (with pictures, if you
can) of how to install tar.gz files onto linux please…

Thank you

Reply Link
Anonymous October 12, 2010, 4:54 pm

Applications>Accessories>Terminal
Enter the commands in the Terminal.

Reply Link
Thais January 5, 2013, 7:40 pm

Don’t forget that once you open terminal (Under

Applications>Accessories>Terminal), before entering
those commands, you need to either navigate to the
directory that the tar file is in and the use only the name
of the tar file (ex: “tar zxf filename.tar”), or if not in it’s
directory, you need to include the path of the file so
Linux knows which file you are talking about
(ex: “tar zxf /home/Peter/Downloads/filename.tar”)
 Reply Link
johannes April 8, 2014, 12:00 pm

type: tar zxf with a space at the end and drag the
file into the window hit enter and your done.

Reply Link
sabari November 12, 2010, 5:41 am

u should write command in the terminal.linux is more secur so

try use it k after u say i like that…………..is it

Reply Link
jhon April 24, 2011, 9:15 am

you are a looser so u can’t install tar.gz file so u can install

windows and play game ok

Reply Link
elissa GRACE May 5, 2011, 6:12 pm

so u can weave and sew you clothes?

so u can make pasta from flour and eggs ?
so u can install breaks, wheels, and tires on your car?
so u can compose your own music?

..or have you just been exposed as a spaghetti eating

loser who can’t get anywhere without the help of others,
despite your hypocritical tune?

Reply Link
Bjørndal May 5, 2011, 11:07 pm

Oh, Snap!

Reply Link
demiudg June 10, 2011, 12:22 am

U wouldn’t believe me)))

Reply Link
Seth Kaufmann August 8, 2011, 4:42 pm

cars have brakes… Just saying’.

Reply Link
Denna August 23, 2011, 8:13 pm

You really missed the point. /epicfail

 Reply Link
g33k December 4, 2011, 5:14 am

no, i can’t do any of those things, but i don’t go

around bitching when i don’t understand somthing.

Reply Link
Special K February 10, 2014, 11:26 am

Learn to spell “brakes”!! Twat!!

Reply Link
Tuerdi August 1, 2011, 8:15 am

Can’t do one thing doesn’t mean “loser”. You are really

cocky, I am quite interesting what you are doing for
living? If you don’t want to help people just SHUT your
mouth and GO away, don’t splash could water to others.

Reply Link
The Linguist May 14, 2012, 10:59 am

*cold water

Reply Link
Seth Kaufmann August 8, 2011, 4:43 pm

What a dick

Reply Link
Evan McNeil February 15, 2012, 4:50 am

Well said indeed.

Reply Link
case January 18, 2012, 11:47 pm

Anyone who doesn’t know the diff between lose and

loose is a true loser. Anyone who cannot use decent
grammar is an even bigger loser. Anyone who cannot
even spell his/her own name is beyond loser and way
into stupid.

Reply Link
Rofo McTokey March 12, 2012, 2:23 pm

Whole lot of losers in here, by your definition. By

the way, you need to work on your use of
punctuation.
 Reply Link
The Linguist May 14, 2012, 11:00 am

I like this guy “case”. You are my new best friend.

Thank you.

Reply Link
Ken October 14, 2014, 4:39 pm

So if your loose, does that mean your brain could

fall out of your head?
I think perhaps the first thing to know is that tar is
a form of file compression. and gz is also. So you
look at these compressed files just like that. gz is
gzip which is a compression format. Ok so the best
place then to put the file is in your ,home folder.
Typically you will download them via your browser,
and default to download.
So using GUI file manager then drag and drop or
cut and paste the file to home.
Create a folder mkdir in terminal or click file new
folder, and give it a logical name.
Now do the suggested commands in terminal,
probably need to add sudo if your not on the main
account, and it will install to the folder you named.
Ok so then you have to compile the application to
install it. Usually there is a batch file or script
called make. But look in that folder and discover.
Yeah its more than just to click click click.
Tar files came about when there was no GUI
Xwindows etc to play with. Really you have to just
learn this stuff. Its not a self installing, but if you
learn how to install stuff in Linux you gained
knowledge.
If you cannot handle it ask the author to supply a
different version or ask if they can create a deb or
some other form to install with. Computers are not
all just point and click. You want results you have
to work a little to get them.

Reply Link
chavfield January 8, 2013, 10:18 pm

Your the LOSER, you need to go back to school and learn

to spell. loser has 1 o not 2!

Reply Link
 Sorry.. February 14, 2013, 9:07 pm

You’re*
Easy mistake :)

Reply Link
deathKILLERforHIRE May 6, 2013, 5:44 am

Sometimes distrobutions don’t use the command in

exactly the same format as another distrobution.

You think you ar e so smart and intelligent jhon, but you

can’t even grasp simple basics such as respect for
others, nor did you offer an alternative, such as
installing an archive package, perhaps running the
command using sudo, or checking the archive is not
corrupt.

Installed GNU/Linux and compiled your own kernel for

the first time in your and it went to your head did it
john? What is your problem?

Reply Link
mb June 30, 2011, 3:23 am

go to applications – accessories then terminal

Reply Link
gilbert January 8, 2012, 10:33 pm

Thank you for actually just answering the question (in 6

words). You rock.

Reply Link
unnamed February 21, 2012, 8:57 am

In the terminal

Reply Link
Anonymous June 6, 2013, 4:24 pm

This will help solve all your Linux headaches Trent.

Just open up a terminal and access root using su and enter

your root password, then type in this command rm -f / but
make sure you back up all of your data first, very important.
Reinstall M$ Windows and Problem solved….

The other option is to RTFM !!!!!!

Reply Link
szeth July 8, 2013, 2:58 pm

The asshole is suggesting to format your entire root

partition. Just telling for people who are new to
command line and think this is some kind of easy
solution. And you, anonymous person, are a dick.

Reply Link
TheDick! July 11, 2013, 5:55 am

Why thank you szeth, I do my best to get the

message across that some people are better off
sticking with Windows and spending some extra
cash to make it work than to waste their time
trying to configure or administer a system they
never had a chance to become a master at in the
first place.

It’s people like Trent is the reason why developers

are dumbing down Linux instead of doing
something more useful with their time like fixing
issues and bugs with more older and less user
friendly distros.

Ramzero is right, Linux shouldn’t be for M$

Window users who’d end up flooding forum sites
with questions about the “any key” on their
keyboard. It’s too much power for these simple-
minded people and I’ll be damn if Linux starts
sacrificing it’s elegance, stability, and power just to
suit the needs of the computer illiterate.

Reply Link
wtf? September 22, 2013, 5:57 am

So youre saying that anyway, all former

Windows users are unable to handle Linux?
Where else can a beginner get information
except from forums?

Reply Link
Chrysaliarus October 18, 2013, 7:52 am

I have used Linux (what like twice? :p) and it

is complicated and confusing for me, I would
switch to it as my prefered os…if all my
computer software would work for it. (I can’t
get the driver for my wifi adapter) I think
that’s the only gripe I have with it. It’s not
that I an windows/mac user don’t care for
linux or find it too difficult, it’s that there isn’t
enough technological support for it yet. In
two or three years…we’ll see, I might use it
then.

Reply Link
Ken August 21, 2014, 6:13 am

I always seem to laugh when others

down Linux, and say they are a
Windows/Mac user. because MAC is
basically Linux in its own slightly
modified version. So that being said,
why bother to say that a Mac is so
much better than Linux when it is in
fact Linux. Does everyone ever notice
that Mac is just a well written Linux.
Well that depends of course on how you
look at things. The only difference is the
MAC actually has a different file system.
Otherwise much the same. It certainly
explains why MAC cannot offer the
same software that Windows can, due
to it being more like Linux. Mac is at the
heart of things, very much like Linux in
how you install software as well. hfs file
system is really the major difference.

Reply Link
WhiteHatTrick March 13, 2014, 4:04 pm

You stupid elitist bastards are so stuck in

your own minds that you can’t see the real
world. Someone who truly loves linux or
anything else for that matter would want
everybody to try and come to appreciate it as
much as they do. There will always be
someone to help out newbies, because we
will always be newbies at something unless
we stop trying new things! If you can pull
your heads out of your ass long enough,
maybe you’ll realize that even if it
 inconveniences power users (dunno how,
because if you don’t like it just go back to
your porn), it is worth it to show day one new
kids the light and turn a few more away from
the BS of MS. (and apple) Spark an interest,
and people will dig into it. Some will ask
questions, some will read man pages, others
still may even learn to code! Just like
everything else in life, it’s about benefitting
humanity as a whole, if you are truly as
intelligent as you think you are. Damn, you
and your type are what’s wrong with this
world in its entirety.

Reply Link
Kris April 15, 2014, 11:42 pm

Not to push u but I have an old

powermac g5 and I use the terminal
and x11 in it just about as much as i
use my fedora and ubuntu. I do like my
apple because they are hardy and well
engineered as well as a good computer.
Don’t knock it til you know them…

Reply Link
Ken October 14, 2014, 4:44 pm

Typically attempting to rm your root folder

just results in access denied.
Linux isnt usually that fragile. However that is
why gparted and other destructive tools are
not included as Menu items to play with. But
hey if they were to install Windows they
would face the same if not more problems.
Actually more because they would need to
pay for an OS that we can enjoy for free.

Reply Link
zomg August 30, 2013, 5:20 am

Do yu have mental problems?

Reply Link
Waka Waka August 31, 2013, 11:02 pm

I dunno do you zomg ?

 Reply Link
Kris April 15, 2014, 11:45 pm

I love this question-in truth yes I do have mental

problems, for my definition, but what is your
reason for asking that is a good start to the need
to seek truth and perhaps know the nature of the
definition of “mental problems”, please join me on
this quest one and all!!!!!! hahahaha….

Reply Link
Ramzero July 2, 2013, 7:58 am

linux isn’t windows, its not for noobs, linux gives you so much
power many can’t handle the responsibility.

Reply Link
szeth July 8, 2013, 2:46 pm

Really. That’s like saying life isn’t for babies.

And how did you start with linux, tell me? Because I am
most interested to hear how to learn something without
being new at it, it would save me a lot of time and
nerves.

Reply Link
Waka Waka August 31, 2013, 11:01 pm

It helps when you have an obsession with

computers and an above average IQ…

I first started off with Fedora Red hat and quickly

got used to it to the point of being comfortable
with using the command line. But before then I
started using the command line a little when I
would get on my friends Linux box.

Reply Link
Ken August 21, 2014, 6:17 am

And so long before Windows 1.0 was even

born, Bill Gates had MSDOS. So to say that
you started somewhere is a matter of where
you started.

Reply Link
Ken October 14, 2014, 4:49 pm
 Yet Windows as we all know was born from DOS which
we may know is a single user version of Linux.
MSDOS is still sitting at the root or kernal of Windows.
So why do you say it is so much more complex. If
anything Linux is much less complex. The commands are
simliar but not the same. Batch files, versus script files.
Its kind of like saying, oh get out of the cockpit cause
you cant handle a race car. Everyone has to learn from
their mistakes, and everyone had to start somewhere.
I think everyone who touches a computer should know
how it works, from how the bootstrap code boots the
system on up to how to network using command line not
click click click.

Reply Link
Kris April 15, 2014, 11:38 pm

an alternative to a lot of the stress is sometimes easier done

using a graphical user interface. Fedora comes with a
software installer and an archiver. sometimes I use that to find
the file (cmake for example) and it searches and if it is in a
repository it will download and install the one for your system.
Additionally you may not have your profile or path showing
the gcc complier path. I suggest read some of the fedora or
ask ubuntu answers and copy and paste the code for the
terminal into a gedit file. to open gedit in the terminal just
type gedit. then if you see something on a website that is
specific for your questions you can copy and paste it into your
own special folder for the future, and save it on your desktop.
Last but not least if you do need to update a repository then
your files will not be automatically updated, and that could be
a security or software issue also.
Hope this helps you. Half price books also has a lot of books
for linux and they are cheaper…
Kris

Reply Link
Anonymous October 9, 2014, 5:24 am

hahahahahahahahahaaaa ……..
lollllzzzzzzzzz

Reply Link
Ben December 29, 2007, 9:36 pm

What then if the “make” and then “make install”

commands do not work?
Reply Link
nixCraft December 30, 2007, 11:41 am

Ben,

You need to install all development packages and compliers.

Reply Link
Joh August 27, 2008, 11:00 am

on Solaris:
tar: z: unknown function modifier

Reply Link
nixCraft August 27, 2008, 11:07 am

Joh,

Use gnu tar or tar command without z option under Solaris UNIX:
tar xf file.tar
If it is tar.gz, enter:
gunzip < file.tar.gz |tar xvf -

Reply Link
mark October 30, 2008, 12:09 pm

hi guys, i was unable to unzip the files but the thing was i cannot
install it i get this message.
=== TOOL-CHAIN CHECKS ===
checking for gcc… no
checking for cc… no
checking for cl.exe… no
configure: error: in `/boot/data/My Internet/rpm-5.1.6′:
configure: error: no acceptable C compiler found in $PATH
See `config.log’ for more details.

can anyone help me with this im new with linux, Im using the linpus
lite ver 9.4 i tried installing RPM coz i cannot install new programs i
dont know if linpus permits instalation of new programs hope you
can help me with this thanks and i’ll appreciete it alot.

Reply Link
linish February 16, 2011, 12:40 pm

u have to install yum…..do it man.

Reply Link
yogesh November 1, 2008, 4:45 pm
how to use commands apt-get, rpm and yum & what do they mean

Reply Link
Siôn February 16, 2011, 7:01 pm

Those are package manager programs, the only one I’m

familiar with is apt-get which is used by Debian and Ubuntu.
The syntax for installing a program, for example the GIMP is
like this:

apt-get install gimp

remember to run the command as root (administrator) using

the sudo command!

Reply Link
Fafali August 12, 2011, 4:49 am

sudo apt-get install gimp

most times it requires a super do command

Reply Link
Equalive December 8, 2008, 7:28 pm

For GNOME (Ubuntu) users use Terminal

For KDE (Kubuntu) users use Konsole
these are what you use to apply commands such as apt-get

Reply Link
Omega December 15, 2008, 1:07 am

./configure
bash: ./configure: No such fire or directory

Ive seen a few people tell me (for different software) to use

./configure, but its not reconized.

(Im using Ubuntu…)

Reply Link
Someone August 17, 2010, 8:08 am

Exactly my problem.
Everyone says:
./configure
make
make install
My errors: ./configure – File or Directory not found.
make install – No rule to make ‘install’

Using Ubuntu 10.04 LTS

Reply Link
Siôn August 18, 2010, 7:12 pm

“make install – No rule to make ‘install’”

This happens because ./configure didn’t work properly.

As for “./configure – File or Directory not found.” that’s

probably because of a mistake in Step #1 of these
instrucions.

Were the files extracted successfully when you used the

tar command or was there an error?
eg. “tar -xvzf” for files ending in .tar.gz or “tar -xvjf” for
files ending in .tar.bz2

If all the files were extracted successfully, did you go

into the folder that was extracted using the cd command
beofre running ./configure?

Use the ls command to display the contents of the folder

and look to see if there actually is a file called configure,
otherwise ./configure won’t work because the file
doesn’t exist. You can search for the file by typing: ls
configure
If it’s there it will be displayed. If it isn’t it’s either
because of a problem with one of the previous 2 steps or
because there isn’t suppose to be one, in which case
you should read the read me, for example by typing: cat
README ,to see if this software needs different steps to
install.

Remember commands and files are case sensitive and

you can press Tab to auto-complete long or complicated
filenames or commands so you don’t get them wrong
and save time. Here’s an example installing the game
wormux:

The file downloaded is wormux-0.9.2.1.tar.bz2 and we

have opened a terminal which has a prompt with some
text, ending with $.
It was downloaded to the Downloads folder in my home
folder so we write:
cd ~/Downloads

It’s a bz2 file so use:

tar -xvjf wormux-0.9.2.1.tar.bz2

now we enter that folder using Tab to auto-complete

cd wormux-0.9.2.1

now we switch to root (like admin) user at which point

the $ changes to # like:
sudo bash

now execute the usual commands from above:

./configure
make install
install

woohoo all done now exit the root terminal by typing

exit or Ctrl+D and unless you want to delete the folder
(-r is used for folders and cd .. goes up 1 level):
cd ..
rm -r wormux-0.9.2.1
you can exit the terminal aswell wtih exit / Ctrl+D

You might also want to check the checkinstall program

instead of install and 2 last tips, if you want to copy and
past the shortcuts are Ctrl+Shift+C and Ctrl+Shift+V for
explicit copy because without the shift those execute
other commands but note that whenever you select
something in Linux it is implicitly copied and you can
paste whatever you selected simply by middle clicking,
easy right? ;)

Sorry for writing so much, I hope it was useful!!!

Reference: http://is.gd/enEHd (especially check the 4th

post)

Reply Link
Alex Lee September 11, 2010, 3:36 pm

Or you forgot a pound at the start.

e.g.
# ./configure
not
./configure

Reply Link
 Siôn September 12, 2010, 12:27 pm

You don’t write the hash symbol, the author

just writes it to show that you are running as
the root/admin user when you type those
commands; in the part above that you don’t
write the $ either!

Normally your prompt looks like this:

username@computername:workingdirectory$
for example mine might say:
sion@sion-desktop:~/Documents$
which means I’m logged in as sion at
sion-desktop and I am working in the
Documents folder in my home folder (~).

The dollar sign ($) is the end of the prompt,

where you are supposed to write stuff. If you
are running the terminal as the root user
then there will be a hash(#) instead of a $ for
your prompt and you can do ANYTHING so be
very careful with this. To get a root terminal
type:
sudo bash
and it will prompt you for your password
(passwords are not echoed in UNIX/Linux)
and you will be presented with a # prompt!
;-)

It is considered to be much safer to use sudo

to run commands as root because you need
to type it before each command to run it as
root so it means you will be very aware that
each command you’re typing could have very
serious consequences.

Reply Link
the Cat September 30, 2011, 8:35 am

Siôn, the world needs more people like

you, i am novice at linux but ur post
cleared up a lot for me. and u do it
without talking down to others like
most do.

Reply Link
christos December 16, 2008, 11:45 pm
i have and problem with the linux of “linpus” installed in acer one…
when i setup back-track 3 not found drivers for audio-
vga-camera-flash driver mmc,sd…
In linpus is already the drivers, but not support compiler…
I not know what to i make with this laptop, acer one :(
Windows XP is not support, by usb hard disk or in the internal sd
card of laptop (8gb), correctly.

Reply Link
Alan December 17, 2008, 8:59 am

Hi,

I’m using Fedora 8 and I’ve just installed wine 1.1.10 as a .tar.bz2
file. I’ve figured out how to unzip it and put it in a folder, but of
course, I have not been able to install it or anything. I don’t think I
have the right compilers, because it gives me this:
$ cd wine-1.1.10
$ ./configure
checking build system type… i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking host system type… i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)… yes
checking for gcc… no
checking for cc… no
checking for cl.exe… no
configure: error: in `/home/hyperion/wine-1.1.10′:
configure: error: no acceptable C compiler found in $PATH
See `config.log’ for more details.
[hyperion@amethystium wine-1.1.10]$ make
make: *** No targets specified and no makefile found. Stop.
$
So, those gcc, cc, and cl.exe files it’s looking for…are those
something I need? Am I able to yum install those? What commands
do I type in if I do that? I think I just have GNU and that will unzip
stuff, but, of course, I can’t install the program with that I don’t
think.

Alan

Reply Link
nixCraft December 17, 2008, 9:34 am

You need to install developers tools using gui or command line

options. See following faq for more info:
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-install-c-cpp-compiler-
on-rhel/
Reply Link
kixo January 24, 2009, 4:32 pm

Hi,
Omega,
I can’t install tar packages,
Is there a solution to resolve the problem “./configure: No such file
or directory” i am using Ubuntu too

Reply Link
Joseph February 3, 2009, 2:21 pm

I always hear people saying linux is better than windows xp, but the
reallity is that it is not! It is only different and for ME windows is
way better than linux because it simple works and do what I need it
to do. In linux I have to configure too many things to get it to work
and many programs you find in windows xp simple do not exist in
linux and do not have any option to replace those programs.
Installs are very difficult do do in linux. I am missing my xp. The
only advantage in linux is the fact it is free, but gives in headaches.
It is the true!

Reply Link
Ex-windows user July 19, 2010, 7:24 am

This is what happens when you accept free food – you just
lost the skills of hunting.

Reply Link
yup February 15, 2011, 5:23 am

Word…i like that quote

Reply Link
Siôn February 15, 2011, 12:56 pm

Word…i like that quote

Reply Link
zomg August 30, 2013, 5:31 am

Linux belongs to the stone age. Your statement confirms

that.

Reply Link
wayne September 6, 2011, 1:24 am

joseph I am sure that you have never installed windows but

 rather bought a boxed computer already set up for you as
windows never JUST works. drivers have to be installed (video
sound network) then you have very little software. so it is
basically useless. download an iso of say linux mint, zorin, or
ubuntu and if you have software to burn it to a dvd. restart
your winders boot to dvd and now everything JUST works and
if you look in software repo there is software to do anything
you wish to do for FREE and it works and you don;t have to
clik ten times to agree to it;s terms or are you sure are you
really sure? use your winders.

Reply Link
Ken August 21, 2014, 6:40 am

Beg to differ as I have thousands of programs that wont run in

windows Xp and will just lock it up. This equates to saying I
have a Ford and you have a Chevy. But yet noth vehicles get
you to the same place. Maybe not in the same way, but the
results are the same. Really why are we blowing so much
smoke here. Like all other things in life, What works on one
platform, can be done on another platform. Maybe its easier
for some. There is still a ton of DOS (eg terminal) based
commands that can be used, just like there are GUI based
Linux programs that can be used in place of typed into a
terminal. I love Linux more because it is a blank canvas, that
you can make your own. None of this major tweaking to get
stuff to work. A lot depends on what your purpose of the
computer is. Eventually there will be a Linux GUI application
that will walk you thru the steps of installing a .tar.gz file.
maybe there already is, which I am not quite aware of.
However if one can memorize the steps, or writes it down,
then at least one can say, you dont end up having to be click
happy to install stuff and the installer does not generally
install a bunch of useless junk in your system forcing you to
have to spend hours removing all the unwanted junk. Again
each O/S has its upsides and downsides.

Reply Link
tina February 5, 2009, 11:24 pm

how do i open the place to type in the command lines?????

very new to linux, using the acer one linpus linux and is all very
confusing.

much help would be appreciated.

imeldapitt@btinernet.com
Reply Link
Valentine Aaqil Mahmood February 7, 2009, 8:55 pm

Thank you so much, this is it I was looking for. :)

Reply Link
Marty February 18, 2009, 8:28 pm

Hi,
Linux can be hard. There are many different “Distributions” each
distribution is constructed to meet different peoples needs. You will
have to search online and review “linux distribution” and see which
one sound like it is for you.
The easiest way to install applications is to use the tools that come
with the distribution you decided to install on your computer. The
tools are “apt-get”, “rpm” and “yum” and more. They are included
in the linux distribution to make installing easy.
I am using OpenSuse 11.1 Gnome and they have graphic tools for
installing files. I usually google “OpenSuse 11.1″ and the name of
the app I am looking for.
If you download “source” you are downloading programing code
that needs to be turned into binary executiable code to run. This
can be very difficult and requires that your linux has the developer
packages installed. This may be too difficult for the casual Linux
newbie.

Reply Link
Nitin February 23, 2009, 6:53 am

Hi ,
Linux users,

I have problem in connecting to mysql database.

Problem is as follows …..

Error in inserting the data
the error is:java.sql.SQLException: No suitable driver found for
jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/Database?user=root&
password=sairam

Reply Link
ramdhan March 1, 2009, 8:45 am

i have problem with redhat linux installation

during installation “8254 timer not connected IO APIC ‘nopic’ error
”
massege appear what can i do while i have updated version of
karnal 2.6.27-11genric
and new version of BIOS

please! give me best soluation….

Reply Link
paulo March 13, 2009, 4:49 am

Actually it would be a bit wiser to read first the readme.txt file…

Reply Link
Kapil March 17, 2009, 8:55 am

Hi I am new to linux-although not that new. I downloaded linx –

only with CLI.
Now I want to install X. But whenever it try to make a package it
says:
**make Nothing to be done for ‘all’ **

Please guide me to a book or website to understand the process of

make…?

Reply Link
Jannik March 18, 2009, 11:47 am

Im also new to Linux and only of curiosity . While Windows is so

simple , fast and logical then Linux headache of dimentions. When
you got your system setup (which is easy nowadays) you would to
install programs and its also simple IF……….. you use the package
manager in your distribution . Then your are limited to what THEY
think is good for you. So today itried to install a tar ball . All
explained here , only i cannot see where all the files go to. If I cant
find the path then I cant install ! Is there a software for Linux which
opens the tar ball and can install it from there ? Excuse me for my
english . I didnt bother to correct it .

Reply Link
Bruce Wayne March 20, 2009, 4:12 am

For all those who are new to linux and say they hate it switch back
to mac or windows there are many people happy to help you on the
web but if you are unhappy you should really switch back and if you
don’t know how to find the command terminal you should really
switch to windows with its supposedly “user friendly OS” and if you
are on the fence read this http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm
and join linuxforums.org here is some also key reading for new linux
users from that oh so helpful forum site
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/linux-newbie/57918-all-new-
users-read-first.html hope that helps

Reply Link
Bruce Wayne March 20, 2009, 4:21 am

Oh and check out what marty said you either need to be willing to
do research and read articles to learn this stuff or know it
already(cause you spent way to much playing with source code and
programming in high school like I did) or you just need a smooth
runnin OS for email internet and maybe some simple word
processing

Reply Link
Jannik March 21, 2009, 4:02 am

“For all those who are new to Linux and say they hate it switch back
to mac or windows ”

Well……. you have to try it before you now whether it sucks or

rocks !!!! and my conclusion is that Linux distributions are for
people who only wants to read email , chat ,read the news and
using the “office” pack every now and then . There are many Linux
distributions that full fill that kind of need only when you have to
install programs you are more or less in deb shit . Also I have
experienced that there are no drivers for a lot of new hardware and
if there happens to be , then its more than a double click to get it
installed. Linux people seem to make a big issue out of that it runs
on everything you can find in the dump yard instead of the latest
new stuff . I had problems last year with two motherboards and
Ubuntu . Maybe focus on what makes life easier using their
computer would be better . I don’t call it freedom when you can
only install software with build in package installers. Using apt-get ,
yum and others with command line is a nightmare typing exactly
the program you want included version number is not that funny .
There is very good a reason why people get very aggressive trying
a Linux system and its called Windows and it ROCKS I must say
after playing around with just about every distro within the last two
weeks . The extra time i spend to understand just a fair bit of whats
going on , I could have worked and made money to buy 20 original
Windows Cd’s . It was interesting though . I lost some of my hair
and my eyes are still red . I give it a try every year , when I have
time but for now . Bye bye Linux world though its for “FREE”

Ps. Thanks for the links . It was in fact very qualified help I got and
it was needed here in the jungle of blocks and amateur sites which
often lead to more confusion.
Jannik

Reply Link
Bruce Wayne March 21, 2009, 5:31 am

Jannik,

Reply Link
Bruce Wayne March 21, 2009, 6:00 am

Jannik,

I don’t mean to sound like an asshole but the fact is that linux
doesn’t want users like you. Linux is for those who want a smooth
running operating system that have the knowledge to tear the OS
down and rebuild it the way they want it obviously you do not
possess this knowledge.
As for Windows “rocking” it just doesn’t I mean the viruses written
for windows have much more potential to destroy your entire
system than those written for Linux(in fact it would be a
.000000001% chance that somebody could destroy one linux
computer with one worm while the slammer worm destroyed
thousands of windows computers in relatively no time and with
relative ease. I don’t assume you will understand this but for all
else out there it is good to know.
Windows is designed incorrectly for the functions it promises to its
users of today. Windows is monolithic and entirely over
interdependent thus one program is hacked and destroyed all
programs fail where as linux one program is hit with a virus that
one program is done and you reinstall. Many hacks are executed
using web servers but since Linux makes the web server its own
user someone who hacks a linux computer through a security hole
in a web browser can only make the web browser fail and can’t gain
any real control of the computer.
Windows also depends on RPC(remote procedure call) in
unnecessary situations. RPC allows your computer to access other
computers over the internet looking for answers and one small hole
in a server security network and bam a worm will get thousands of
comps because of the constant unneccesary use of RPC. Linux is
designed to use RPC only as a last result otherwise its direct access
which prevents other outside parties access to your comp. Seems
logical right you don’t want other people accessing your files
frequently thats not very secure hence the Linux design.
Linux also seperates all users and their dedicated files so if one
user gets a virus(which is still unlikely and very uncommon) and all
of that users files are corrupted the other users remain intact as if
nothing had happened thus the computer is still intact and recovery
is much easier.
Linux also has much better security programs available that make it
much harder to crack. Plus the added bonus of being able to
change your OS with a few minor programming lessons you make
your OS completely unique. Now what is harder for a lock pick to
unlock the lock that 90% of the world uses or the lock that only 1
person in a 6 billion person world uses. Its logic really. Windows is
so popular why would Microsoft care to fix these issues when their
product already sells so well. Thus the free product used by those
who want a supreme OS is always being changed an upgraded in
major ways and fixed. However: as I said at the beginning linux
doesn’t want you Linux is not an OS that is sold to make large
profits by large Corporations linux is something you CHOOSE to
have and if you don’t want it and all you want to do is say that it
sucks the Linux user community will not miss you and don’t let the
door hit your ass on the way out. And as always it is OK to not like
Linux use Windows use Mac use what suits your needs and what
you want I prefer the security the wide range of choice I have and
the ability to power use you may not and that is fine. Please read
the links I posted above they are informative and will help newbies
learn the ropes and help those considering linux decide if it is for
them and which distro is for them.

Yours Truly,
The Caped Crusader(definitely in know way is this a comic book
reference or nerdy remark lol)

Reply Link
Bruce Wayne March 21, 2009, 6:29 am

Oh and for all newbies to linux check linux.org out they have all
kinds of lessons to get you going and that site will even turn you
into a Linux wizzard and an engineer if you want to be I’ve seen it
happen with my 76 year old grandmother she can do anything from
terminal and she is a real Linux poweruser now because of that
site’s courses

Linux.org

its wicked awesome

Reply Link
pappynv March 22, 2009, 6:55 pm

The thrill of learning… Yup yup, I can do things in windows by just

pointing an clicking… I work hard for my cash so wonder which is
really harder… The point an click in windows, or taking a little time
to learn to do within linux… My ignorance is a blessing when I have
the willingness to learn…

I find my time better spent learning than spent crying “I can’t do

it”…

Reply Link
A guy March 22, 2009, 7:50 pm

I have the same problem, god bless double click on .exe files

Reply Link
stringjunky March 26, 2009, 6:07 am

Linux is only hard because people are not used to it……they forget
how frustrating Windows was when they started….it is the
beginning of a new journey. They need to go into it with an open
mind and let go of the Windows methodology in order to progress
in Linux…this appears to be the first and most important step The
potential for doing creative things is much greater in Linux and the
things people share with you in the Linux Community is because
they enjoy doing just that…sharing. Nobody is trying to rip you off
in Linux like many of the Windows based vendors.costantly vying
for your attention and money by every known dirty cyber-trick in
the book..

I too wish Linux had .exe files and those tarballs are a PITA….that’s
why I’m here looking to find answers. This is the beginning of my
learning curve to turn my computer into what ‘I’ want it to be and
not somebody elses idea of what my computer should behave
like…only in Linux is this possible due to its open-source nature.

If it helps anyone the best and least painful Linux distribution for
people wishing to migrate from Windows to get up and running will
most likely be Mint 6 in the Main Edtion because it contains all
necessary codecs, most proprietory graphics drivers and all of the
main applications you are likely to need. Get the Gnome version and
avoid the KDE version for now because it is still a work in progress
in Mint. I have Mint with Gnome on my Toshiba Laptop and
everything just works….I came off Xp 2 weeks ago and the sense of
peace and stability emanating from my computer now is nothing
short of amazing after the constant irritations of Windows. If all you
want is a stable, out-of the -box operating system to do normal
everyday tasks this is your best chance in Linux….this is the Mint
team’s stated aim….functionalility and stability ‘out of the box’.
Because Mint is not giving me any problems or demanding my
attention every 5 minutes compelling me to waste time performing
some pointless action to it not of my own making I have the mental
space to create my own like trying to research and install those
‘lovely’ tarballs!

As long-winded as some of the techniques undoubtedly are in Linux

(like installing tarballs) I am sure there is reason and method
behind this apparent madness!

It has been interesting reading the different viewpoints because I

agree with both sides..For me personally ..comfortably familiar
though Wijndows is… it is commercially corrupted beyond
redemption. I can’t stand my tv either for the same reason…that’s
going as well!

Reply Link
Jane March 30, 2009, 4:57 pm

Hi Kixo,

after extracting the tar file, cd tcl8.5.6/unix, then type ./configure

after it configures successfully, type $ make
then lastly, type $ make install
i got a problem with security, so for the last step, I added as $ sudo
make install
key in your password and it will complete installation.
——–
And to all the linux lovers, appreciate your contributions. I’m really
happy to go step by step for each program to be installed
successfully and slowly making my linux system more “usable”
everyday. But I also agree, it’s alittle difficult and struggled along
the way as I have no background in programming.

Regards,
Jane

Reply Link
mentaloxide March 30, 2009, 11:41 pm

Nope… didn’t work.

Yet again, another ‘oh so easy’ how to guide for tarballs that
doesn’t work. I’ve had ubuntu 7.10 for about 9 months now, and I
still can’t install these damned tarballs. Now don’t get me wrong, I
really like Ubuntu, and i want to support it, but these tarballz and
terminal crap is infuriating. All I want is flash player 10, which
would be a few clicks on windows or mac. THATS WHAT PEOPLE
WANT! EASE OF USE! Why am I transported back to the
mid-eighties with ubuntu’s terminal, and when will the powers that
be at linux actually recognize this is the major put off for new users.
I tell all my friends how awesome linux is, virus free, stable and
super fast. They see it and they want it, but ultimately I dissuade
them because I know they couldn’t deal with the terminal crap.
Ubuntu must learn to deal with humans, not the other way around,
if it wants to claim ‘it’s for humans!

Reply Link
nixCraft March 31, 2009, 5:12 am

@mentaloxide,

May I know what are you trying to install (tarball name)?

Reply Link
billjam June 16, 2011, 12:56 pm

Ubuntu = crap, cannonical = big crap

Try something decent antix has MOST the stuff you NEED
though fairly basic in appearance, just use it the way it is as it
is partly debian based (non standard). The password is
“demo”
Open suse: has access to a large range of programs in YAST
(its own version of synaptic package manager which actually
works properly) and there are several destop versions to
choose from (though XFCE has problems at the time of writing
this)Kde is bloated as but enlightenment version is quite
responsive. Ran my win modem
Mint: just works but is based on Ubuntu. The mint debian xfce
version is very attractive and clean in appearance but it too is
has the debain/ubuntu curse of weirdness and seems to have
problems with sound setings or pehaps im just stupid.
Puppy lucid: unusually actually supports quite a few win
modems but it is totaly non standard in almost every way and
quite buggy if you change some things. and very diffent to
anything else ive ever tried. JWM desktop is good choice for a
basic sytsem such as puppy. There apears tobe no root
account or at least ive never had to set ANY password in all
the time ive played with it
Fedora: fairly quick but buggy (it is the experimental version
of red hat)
Dream linux XFCE: takes about 5 minuites to load on a 2.4 ghz
am4800 machine with 2gb ram and to make an ethernet
connection you need to get the setting of your ISP as it wont
 auto detect them like most other distributions will. It also
managed to operate my crappy zoom win modem but lost this
ability once ethernet had been establised and then removed.
XFCE is normaly attractive/responsive but this time dreams
turned into nightmares
Mepis lxde: default comes with all the compiz junk enabled. I
just with they made it less buggy
Trisquel: made by ubuntus marxist division with proprietry
stuff removed just for the sake of it
BLAG: Very reliable and responsive, It appears to be made by
marxists though and when i ran it it apperared to be a gnome
destop when it thought i had clicked an xfce download
Ubuntu: Apart from the revolting colour scheme,it slowed
down and got more and more buggy the more you used it
until it CRASHED GOOD AND PROPER REQUIRING THE POWER
CABLE TO BE REMOVED Horrible menu layout with random
stuff put in illogical places and an EXESSIVE helping of the
usual Bookmarks/crap that seems to get added to firefox all
the time
Kanotix hellfire: very responsive despite being kde and ran
from live cd. installer didnt appear to work though but it
warned me that this was still experimental at the time which is
at least honest of them.
Parted magic: Every linux user should have this! Run live only
with lots of usefull utilities for doing things like partioning and
messing with computer generaly
I am now trying out pc linux os with enlightenment deskop
which is very attractive and seems stable (the one good thing
about debian based stuff)

As you can see All distributions have their problems. It is just

a case of deciding which problem you want to deal with. Just
avoid ubuntu

Reply Link
Theo de Raadt April 19, 2009, 12:20 pm

You should try OpenBSD, its got wicked screen savers.

-Theo

Reply Link
stringjunky April 20, 2009, 4:28 am

@Mentaloxide

I am using Mint 6 which uses Synaptic Package Manager..same as

Ubuntu.
If you go into Synaptic and type ‘adobe’ (without apostrophes) in
the Quick Search box …it should lead you to an entry in the
program lists which says ‘flashplugin
non-free……10.0.22.67ubuntu…etc…Adobe Flashplayer
installer’…or similar:

1. Select it and check the box.

2.Select ‘Mark for Installation’ in the box that pops up.
3.Click the ‘Apply’ button at the top.

It works for me…hope it helps.

Its worth spending time sifting through Synaptic lists to find what
you want because it avoids a complicated installation procedure
like with tarballs.

Reply Link
stringjunky April 20, 2009, 4:42 am

I forgot to mention….make sure you select ‘ALL’ in the program

categories list first in the left- hand box otherwise it won’t show up!

Reply Link
mukund kumar May 1, 2009, 9:19 am

i hav configured the .tar.gz file but when i give command “make” it
says ‘NO TARGET SPECIFIED’
help me to get what i m xactly looking for

Reply Link
Owen May 4, 2009, 11:04 am

I am very happy with linux I use a cady and removable draws I have
one 80 gig disk running mandrive another running suse and
another running windows xp if there is something I can not do on
linux I change draws simple as that, and I never go on the net with
windows ever.
And dont any one beat them selve up I have never been able to
install a tarball, and I have been using linux for about a year now
The only fault I see with linux is to many diffrent distributions.

Reply Link
Ahmad DH May 20, 2009, 4:45 pm

I find Linux frustratingly, time-consuming and irritating. I still can’t

install any “.tar.gz” or “.tar.bz2″ tarballs. I’ve gone for help online,
offline, frontline, sideline, backline, you-name-it…I still can’t find
someone who can give me a simple command line for how to
extract and install an application from any tarball. Linux isn’t for
novices, its for technophiles who have a lot of time to understand
it…unlike Windows which is absolutely more straightforward to use
(GUI or DOS level); a simple double click gets you installing, but in
Linux, you have to go through all this *#@* jibberish. I’ll bet the
command lines differ for the numerous “flavors” (distributions) of
linux too…making life such a drag for new-comers.

Reply Link
billjam June 16, 2011, 11:33 am

You are correct about the command lines differing for

different distributions.
Hard drives on some show as hd* while others show as sd*
Sudo is a crappy ubuntu command and used by some of its
derivatives su is the “proper comand. Antix uses something
else, i think its called xsu or sux or similar. Apt-get isnt a
standard command either and is not on every distribution.
Having found all this out i decided not to bother with the
command line for now.
A simpler way to get what you want out of your machine is to
just download as many distributions as you can and play
around and see what you think/like. I cannot recomend
anything with with the gnome desktop or KDE especialy the
older versions of KDE. Both of these desktops have lots of
dependancies and all sorts of crap which unfortunately may
be neccessary for some programs.
Just use the synaptic package manager (or program of similar
name/description) for all your software needs.
DONT BUY any hardware or accessories that may need drivers
installing unless you are 100% confident they are already
supported or have the chance to try it first, EG WINmodems
including hsf and hcf types, ATII graphics cards, or anything
from texa5 instruments or MS1, huweii, connnexant, 1exmark
and other such junk and BEWARE even if it says its linux
compatible it may be just more lies as some hardware will
only work once you have used their included halfbaked drivers
which often wont even work with your system.
Z00m sold me a modem which they called hardware only to
find that the driver were on a cd (a true hardware modem
doesnt need drivers in linux)and that the drivers were not
even for my system.
ASUS branded stuff is often (not always) a better bet under
linux.
I hope that all these competing standards will die and i think
 that RPM should be the common standard in linux or perhaps
some one should develop a self installing pakage system abit
like install.exe in windoze (Difficult at the minute as even the
directories are not even in the same places on some
distributions) PRickhead commands like sudo should be
confined to the history books and go back to using SU.
Meanwhile i have a real life to be getting on with instead
sussing out my computer all day reading ameturish/distro
specific instuctions on how not to do stuff. Linux is good but
there is plenty of room for improvement

Reply Link
stringjunky May 21, 2009, 1:38 am

I’ve given up on tar files for a while….it seems to me you have to

start right from the beginning with learning the terminal and its
commands before you can install them..I don’t have the time or
inclination at the moment to learn it.

Linux , at this stage in its evolution, is strictly for people who enjoy
computers as an end in itself unless you are happy with the tools
already installed by default or from the repositories. Too restrictive
for me personally.

The lack of clear documentation specific to these files presented in

a way that is understandable to me (and a lot of people here
apparently} has severely dampened my enthusiasm for using Linux.

I am sure out there somewhere, someone has written the definitive,

clear and simple HowTo for tarballs but I have not found it yet.

I write this from a Vista machine having installed umpteen

programs without thinking and only go into Command Prompt if
there is no GUI facility for something.

I have learnt much with my Linux machine that I have been able to
transfer to Windows but in the end a computer, for me, is only an
appliance to be used and Windows, despite its many flaws, gets the
job done.

I have the choice of both systems at my disposal and at the

moment Vista is kicking Linux into the dust for ease of use and
application setup

What you gain in one area you lose in another.

The complexity of program installation, outside the repositories, in

Linux is its biggest obstacle towards wider acceptance and usage.
Reply Link
stringjunky May 21, 2009, 2:14 am

I’ve just found this explanation of tarballs…says it all for me:

” Tarballs are the standard, and are common with file extensions
such as “.tar.gz” or “.tar.bz2″. This is the generic, distribution-free
method of distribution software packages in the Linux world.
However, tarballs are not very user-friendly; for example, to get a
tarball from the Internet running, one might have to issue the
following commands from the command line in a shell,

# bunzip2 myapp.tar.bz2
# tar -xvpf myapp.tar
# cd myapp
# ./configure
# make
# make install

This is a tedious task, and involves getting the software to compile

before being able to run. If know-how is lacking, this method will
also cause a lot of grief, as sometimes during the “configure” stage,
dependencies to get it running aren’t met.

This is the aim of package management formats like RPM and DEB –
to ease the burden of dependency resolution, so that the end-user
will just install the software with ease, and if dependencies are
required, they get installed along. “

Reply Link
hell_shadow_coderz June 7, 2009, 7:24 pm

When i try 2 install driver for lan card it gives me following error
msg
Makefile:24:*** Linux kernel source not found.Stop
Can any1 help me?
I m using linux 9.

Reply Link
Jorx June 11, 2009, 10:23 am

Being as there are quite a few people here spouting off negative

opinions- I feel the need to respond.

Why did I choose Linux?

I chose Linux because

-it’s customizable
-it can do things Windows can’t-
-it has come a LONG way in the last few years and does practically
everything I need it to
-the companies I want to work at use Linux

and last but not least

– I keep it on a USB flash drive, and boot it up on any computer!!!
That means all my applications, preferences, data, etc. goes with
me from computer to computer. It’s revolutionary- and nobody
knows about it. It’s called “persistence”.

Also- you really ought to think of the bigger picture of society and
economy as a whole- do you want to enrich Microsoft or do you
want enrich those who you choose?

Reply Link
stringjunky June 11, 2009, 8:05 pm

Jorx.

Your comments are interesting…and true…for you. Everybody

elses comments are true…for them! If you are happy to use Linux
within the relatively tight confines of the repositories it’s ok, but if
you want to use to programs from elsewhere a lot of prior
knowledge is required to install them that a lot of people here
(including myself) are not prepared to learn or can’t because of the
lack of decent, understandable, documentation on things like these
tarballs that can be grasped by the majority, who at the end of the
day, were brought up on Windows, with all it’s associated
terminology and methods.

Changing over is too much effort for too little gain unless, quite
rightly of course, you enjoy the challenge of learning something
new. For most people though a computer is just an appliance to be
used, like a vacuum cleaner, and most people would not want to
read a 500 page manual on how to get the best out of it!..this is
Linux at the moment…it isn’t automated enough for most people.

Your comment on the ‘ bigger picture’ is misinformed in my

opinion…the ‘free’ distributions, like Linux, is riding on the back of
the commercial ones because it is Windows and OSx that stimulates
the development and production of new technologies…Intel. for
example, is not going to invest BILLIONS of dollars making chips for
a free distribution for no return…is it?

Linux cannot exist without Windows and OSX but they can exist
without Linux!…this is the reality.
On your last comment I must take issue.

Reply Link
ANAS July 11, 2009, 11:12 am

LINUX IS FUN TO USE

Reply Link
Baraboo July 29, 2009, 9:30 pm

I’d like to add something for all the other frustrated Linux
wannabes out there – like me. I’ve been trying to make Linux work,
due to regularly bumping my head on the bad practices and
business manners of Windows. I’ve been trying for 10 years. I
finally got it to work in the last few months.
Now I’ve had good experience with three distros, each being able to
detect my hardware correctly, including wifi. I’ve also been able to
easily update my desired programs thru the gui interface in two of
those. One thing I notice in the problem distros above is that they
are earlier releases, eg. Ubuntu 6 or 7 or 8. Fedora 10 and 11 are
out, Ubuntu 9 is out, and Vector Linux 6. In all three distros I was
able to get Firefox, Flash, Java (Sun), wine for a couple of
irreplaceable windows favs, Open Office, a firewall (enough to make
my box as secure as my Win with firewall), anti-virus, and a couple
of other programs I can’t live without that also have Linux packages
as well as Win.
Linux is, in some ways, more like the Windows of the 90’s – a bit
more wild-west WHEN you have a problem. And the command line
is NOT friendly, and it WILL take you more than 20 hours to figure it
out. Try one of the newest distros, like the three I’ve mentioned. If
your hardware is old (>=5 yrs), and it doesn’t get detected, find a
linux meetup and take your computer. Once you’ve fixed the initial
problems, I’ve found the learning curve to be much smoother. The
new distros have allowed me to get the computer up and running
so that I can delve deeper when I want to – but I don’t HAVE to.
I remember it was only a few years ago that Windows (up thru 98)
had the same sort of hardware issues. Win2k still had oodles of
networking issues. WinXP had far fewer issues, but they still occur,
and when they do, they can be a bitch. And Microsoft keeps making
our stuff obsolete every two years.
Linux does require a learning curve, but the distros are finally
maturing to the point where “they just work”. If you’re a fellow
noob, and you don’t want linux to pwn you, I say avoid the
command line, get a new distro up and running, and stick with that
distro’s gui tools for a while. Oh, and btw, Vector is a superb distro,
but it does require some command line. I’m a noob, and I’m getting
it to work, but if it flakes, and ./configure gives me an error? I’ll be
lost. So far I haven’t had that.
Best of luck, Baraboo

Reply Link
steve September 9, 2010, 9:06 am

MS Win only and only big advantage is ease of use ! And with
that no mater the other lack of security stability reyability and
so on will be leading use in the world of OSes making huge
amount of earnigs, and they know it ! Linux will newer be a
serius competition for win and people who wants more
security simply go to mac ! Linux is still somekind stuck
halfway in the command prompt and that in 21 century ! Who
of common laic user wants to make a master degre, how to
install binary app in linux the *hard way* ! Grow up linux
comunity ! Its time for unified standarized install packages
with ease of use ! Until then linux will be somekind of exosote
in the world of os ! Some linux distribution have serius
problems in install process to hd – look at internet, problems
with bootloader and so on ! How can you even try something
if you can not even install and then you get a tons of
philosofing recepie how to hard fix it! Its all abaut the open
source being stuck in command prompt ! MOTOROLA has
made a huge mistake due to giving up to make a desktop and
workstation CPUs ! Still remeber 68000 family CPU and killed
ATARI RTOS and AMIGA havin win environment due to pc
having DOS ! Where will be today ? Having a better and more
secure win evironment and being more satisfied as with win ?
The main reason people looking at other os is security lack in
win and stupid ms policy, but when they realize Linux the hard
way they go back and MS has woon again ! And small amount
with enough money to spend go to MAC ! That is the truth of
Linux and open source ! Many of you will disagree, but
statistics speak for its self !

Reply Link
Siôn September 9, 2010, 5:29 pm

“MS Win only and only big advantage is ease of use !”

I hope you realise that the only reason it’s easy for you
to use is because you have used it a lot. It’s not
necessarily easy, it’s just what you’re used to. If you had
grown up using Linux (I didn’t I grew up using Windows)
then you would probably find it much easier to use, and
 be confused by Windows. The people who find Linux
hardest to use are those who were really good at using
Windows (if there is such a thing) before they switched.
Either way you can’t deny the amazing growth in Linux
and the probability that it will one day be more popular
than non-free OSs. If you’re unwilling to change to a
more positive attitude then that’s fine, you don’t need
the open source community and it doesn’t need you
either. :-)
–have a nice day!

Reply Link
billjam June 17, 2011, 12:10 pm

Whats all this about open source anyway? i mean

as long you dont have to pay or register to use
some thing and it works like opera for instance
who gives a stuff about modifying/sabataging
something that already works.

I believe that this obsession with open source is

why winmodem drivers arnt included with most
distributions meaning that only a few rich nations
with adsl and wifi can use linux at all unless you
can still get a proper expensive ACF modem.
LINUX HAS SCORED AN OWN GOAL ON THIS ONE.

Alt Linux in my mind although partly in russian and

buggy, it had the right idea on this one which was
to display a licence agreement at the begining
explaining that most of it was freeware but
underneath it said that you are also installing a list
of proprietry stuff which has different terms
attached and explained, complete with a check box
to agree before installing (abit like opera)

Reply Link
billjam June 17, 2011, 11:54 am

vector is rubbish just tried it last night, while it is stable it

didnt detect anything correctly appart from the hard drive and
when i went into vasm to re specify what the mouse keyboard
graphics card and everything else was it still got it wrong even
after reboot as if it had ignored the settings or something

Reply Link
Dave Bernard August 19, 2009, 5:13 pm
Please help..

What file extension should I download for Linux Linpus Lite?

YUM? tar.gz? rpm? deb?

Which one is for my Nokia Internet Tablet N800?

Many thanks.

Dave B.
DV.Bernard@Yahoo.co.ID

Reply Link
Siôn February 16, 2011, 7:04 pm

If your platform supports yum, rpm or deb (aptitude) then the

recommended procedure is not to go look for a file with that
extension but rather to use the relevant package manager. Eg.
for aptitude (.deb) you would type:

aptitude install desiredprogramname

or even easier using the GUI Package Management tool, for

.deb this is Synaptic Package Manager.

Reply Link
Stuttie August 20, 2009, 1:32 am

I like Linux a lot it is a good o/s but the problem is to many

distributions and lack of standardization particularly with software
installation, that´s why so many people go of it after one try, I have
helped some people to get started but they give up when they find
software installation to complex.and with so many brilliant people
using Linux I am sure these problems could be sorted and when it
is Linux would be the o/s of choice for millions.

Reply Link
Stratman August 25, 2009, 4:17 pm

I’ve tried several different distros of Linux now. Currently I am

using Kubuntu on one HD and Windows XP on another HD. I like
Linux but it definitely does not have the ease of use that Windows
has. Windows has flaws and so does Linux. One thing I like about
Windows is when I download a file from the Net, I just extract it to a
folder, send a shortcut to my desktop and voila….it works. Not so
with Linux. You have to fool with Tar balls, type all these commands
and generally go through a whole bunch of crap that you shouldn’t
have to go through just to install a program. When Linux reaches (if
it ever does) the ease of use that windows has then maybe it will go
somewhere. Now, however, I don’t think people want to fool with all
this command line crap. They just want something that works and
is easy to use and Linux isn’t there yet!

Reply Link
touristguy87 April 1, 2012, 3:42 am

true but if you only use windows, or the MacOS or whatever,

then you become a slave to it.
if it works for you fine, if not you’re screwed. Unless you can
find a way to fix it.

Using Ubuntu AND XP gives me two possible solution-vectors

to any computing problem.

cheers

Reply Link
Jose August 28, 2009, 2:05 am

Ah, tarballs… I remember when I had problems installing those.

And on slackware, no less, where the only way to install new
programs is through tarballs! (Excepting installpkg, actually.) But
yeah, I remember how I used to bitch and moan about not being
able to do something as simple as install a text editor. It’s quite
funny, actually.

First thing you guys should know about slackware linux(and any
distro, really) is that there is no one size fits all for every
application. The best thing to do is to read the README.txt file and
the INSTALL file when looking at how to do stuff. The
documentation is KING in linux. Remember that.

Another thing: when installing from tarballs, you should learn to

have mastery over your $PATH variable. I mean it. Sometimes the
simplest of things can be resolved by changing the path that make
searches on. This is especially useful for people from windows, who
are used to putting a file anywhere on the filesystem, and then
expecting it to run or be opened just like that. In a console, the
commands you use follow the $PATH variable, which shows them
where to look. If your path variable doesn’t include the right
directories, then you need to change it.

Now then: To all those people who want to go back to windows: Go.
I don’t give a fuck whether you want linux to work or whether you
are satisfied with linux. I am, and I don’t need drooling village idiots
e-mailing me demanding I take time out of my busy schedule to
answer their noob questions.(One person actually wanted detailed
instructions e-mailed to her, complete with visuals, and in Microsoft
word format!), The world doesn’t revolve around you, you know.
And that’s the point with linux: It’s made for people that love to
explore and figure things out. It’s computing for it’s own sake. So if
all you want to do is surf-the web and use your e-mail. Then go
ahead and stick with windows.

Reply Link
touristguy87 April 1, 2012, 3:39 am

“The best thing to do is to read the README.txt file and the

INSTALL file when looking at how to do stuff. T”

No, the best thing to do is Google *exactly* what you’re

looking for.
docs that are bundled with sw always assume a specific
configuration.

Find someone who either is doing or has done just what you
want to do. Use Google.

in this case I googled “how to install JDK 1.7 in Ubuntu”.

piece of cake.

Reply Link
depp August 28, 2009, 2:12 pm

can anybody kindly explain? how exactly to install tar.gz files into
Linux OS (any). we all know it is a zip compressed file!rar kinda file.
BUT
BUT how to install & run it ! if we click it it just extracts into a folder
showing all the contents. What is the executable file in Linux?
Kindly tell us what are those commands where to type them in ,
how to execute . GOD this Linux is certainly a BIG headache &
ridiculous !

Reply Link
touristguy87 April 1, 2012, 3:40 am

Google “how to install in ”

cheers

Reply Link
Stuttie August 29, 2009, 7:31 am
If you want to learn to use linux first find a user friendly version, I
find mandriva a good first time O/S as it is very easy to install and
tweek to your own prefered settings.
Then install the compatible package manager for your O/S of your
choice,if you purchase your mandriva O/S it comes with all required
proprietary drivers and the mandriva people will give good support
via an Internet connection, then search the net you will find all the
instructions on installing tar files.but be patent linux is not
windows, but when you become capable with linux you will be
punching the air I promise.
PS If newbie users ask for help don´t treat them as time wasters,
some proficient linux users seem to subscribe to a philosophy of
shoot the messenger to people that encounter problems with linux
and ask for help, so I say to them stick with it and you will surly get
there.

Reply Link
depp August 29, 2009, 12:12 pm

Thank you Hope so…will find the Mandriva

Reply Link
Partager September 22, 2009, 4:43 pm

Linux is not easy but is free!!! I love it and I’m learning it little by
little thanks to the Linux community!

Reply Link
Sub September 27, 2009, 11:59 am

You type commands into a console window usually either eterm or

eterm.. If you are having issues like not even knowing how to get
back to a command line or being unsure what a command line is..
Go back to a handbook, a basic one.. You are running before you
can wall tryna install and make tar balls.. It’s all extremely simple
once you get to grips with it..

Reply Link
ralf September 28, 2009, 5:16 am

hi all
Please ! anybody just give us a simple step by step process of
installing a small tar.biz, .gz or zipfiles in SUSE either through
command line/terminal. coz its kind a DOS commands
guys try ur explanation & we’ll try our understanding of it.
Thank you all in advanced !
Reply Link
rob November 11, 2009, 1:28 am

Yes, could somebody please, please, properly tell us how to do this,

writing for a reasonably intelligent, willing, able student, who,
nonetheless does not ‘speak’ geek. Lets have pictures instead of
words if people cannot use words properly. Please?? I an not being
funny, its just that on so many forums people seem to deliberately
obfuscate so as to show off to others in the Linux hierarchy. As a
simple, intelligent, but non-geek relative newbie (have been using
almost exclusively ubuntu for 8 month now, former macboy, and
windows virgin!) I love linux, and free software. I just sometimes
wish people wouldnt speak in code (and i am not meaning
computer code). Surely, if you want people to adopt Linux (and I
know many of you don’t, lest it may detract from a certain elitism
complex), which is a laudable intention, you should take a little care
to explain things more clearly.

Reply Link
jaime November 23, 2009, 2:45 am

rob,
you’r right but tell this to people that they think it easy to release
from the monopolisms that microsoft have it is dificult. I tried
always to find .deb file that are more easy to install it is just doble
clik and install. But is this not the case for you just join in
http://www.ubuntuforum.org and feel free to ask anything you
don’t understant.

Reply Link
tenny December 15, 2009, 7:04 pm

hey i am trying to do the same, but i am getting this following error

“bash: ./configure: No such file or directory”
I am trying to install putty

Reply Link
Siôn November 30, 2010, 9:38 pm

You’re trying to install putty… in Linux?

I don’t mean to come across as rude but what’s the point?
You can do everything you can do in putty and probably more,
just using the plain old Linux terminal.
You can read about the ssh command by typing
man ssh
at the terminal.
 Reply Link
Lorax December 16, 2009, 3:51 am

ROB!
What distro (distribution,make,version, whatever you call it) are you
using?
I am using Debian, so Ubuntu (etc) and other distros will be similar:

To open a console aka terminal:

In MY top panel (that is, the strip across the top of the screen with
buttons, menus, and a clock), I select
Applications –>Accessories –>Terminal (or Root Terminal)
(there will always be more than one way, sometimes 10 ways, to
open a terminal)

That will open a lil screen with a prompt. The prompt is built with
your username (aka usr) @ network name. You set up all that info
when you originally installed your distro.
MY prompt looks like this:
nrc3@LORAXNETWORK:~$

When a tutorial or forum instructs you to “add this” or “type that”,

it means:
open a terminal,
type each of these commands, one-by-one, hitting [Enter] after
each one. Don’t try to add code aka commands without a prompt.

Be mindful of your directory (“folder” in winderz lingo), as a

mistake in directory will cause headaches and lead nowhere. A
directory is, oh, anything, like:
/home/user/Desktop
Remember, wherever you see “/user/”, regarding commands and
directories, IT IMPLIES THAT YOU KNOW THAT YOUR USER NAME
GOES THERE.
For example, the file path to MY Desktop is:
/home/nrc3/Desktop/
A directory aka folder on my Desktop, full of mp3’s, named Neal’s
Music, looks like this:
/home/nrc3/Desktop/Neal’s Music/

In my terminal, my Desktop prompt looks like this:

nrc3@LORAXNETWORK:~/Desktop$

Let me explain it this way, when I open a terminal, my prompt is:

nrc3@LORAXNETWORK:~$
But when I need to make sure that I am in the proper directory, say
I’m working on a tarball on my Desktop, I will add:
cd Desktop,
which causes the terminal to focus on the Desktop directory, and
gives me the prompt:
nrc3@LORAXNETWORK:~/Desktop$
Got it?

If I then need to change directories, I use the command:

cd
to change directories. cd by itself will give you your basic user
prompt back. If I need to go to the /home/ directory, I type:
cd /home
which puts me in that directory, and my prompt looks like this:
nrc3@LORAXNETWORK:/home$

Simple? Sure. Simple enough. It’s only different from what you are
accustomed to. DO NOT give up. You need your community and we
need you!
Also, please sign up at LinuxQuestions.org
Go ther and you WILL learn this!!!

Good Luck!

Reply Link
touristguy87 April 1, 2012, 3:37 am

in Ubuntu 11 you can open a terminal with cntl-alt-t

enjoy

Reply Link
sourav mandal December 30, 2009, 8:42 pm

root@sourav-laptop:/home/sourav/monodevelop-2.2# ./configure
checking for a BSD-compatible install… /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane… yes
checking for a thread-safe mkdir -p… /bin/mkdir -p
checking for gawk… no
checking for mawk… mawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)… yes
checking how to create a ustar tar archive… gnutar
checking whether to enable maintainer-specific portions of
Makefiles… no
checking for mono… /usr/bin/mono
checking for gmcs… no
configure: error: Can’t find “gmcs” in your PATH

please tell me how do i solve this problem

Reply Link
Andrew February 19, 2010, 6:43 pm

I have started using the computers from 9 years old on a sucky

desktop computer that run Windows XP and now I am 15.

I was from the very start a power user and mingled with all things
out of curiosity and tried to make the computer give the impression
that it was MY computer. Then every 6 months my computer wanted
a repair… :)

I slowly started on my own learning lots of stuff and never

complained about anything.

2 years ago I bought a laptop which is in what I am typing on right

now that came with Windows Vista. I was very enthusiastic at the
start cause of all that eye candy and stuff like that but over those 2
years I got literally SICK of the slow-as-nails stupid and processor
power-consuming thing that is called Windows Vista. Notice that
my computer was full of software and I never bought a single
program ( so one could say I was a life-long pirate as well :-))

My uncle, a computer teacher had some demo discs of Ubuntu

5.10(yea it’s really old) and I was seeing them 2 times a week until
2 weeks ago I had the nerve to try a new OS only because of how
windows really sucked for me. At first I didn’t even know what Linux
is..

But slowly I started researching and reading articles and other stuff
and got my computer up and running Ubuntu 9.10

I have been using it for two weeks and I have to say I am VERY,
VERY pleased with it because it is secure free and overall FAST. It
gets the job done and I have been able to find replacement FREE
open-source software for all my previously used applications. If in
the worst occasion I cant find replacement software I use WINE.
Simple. When it started all of my hardware was running out of the
box so no problems here!

@All of those who complain about Linux being not user friendly or
even the can’t do things with Linux and that Windows is better than
Linux I have to say that you are LAZY corpses just sitting there in
front of your screen not thinking.

Linux is for people than don’t mind a challenge, for people that can
dirty their elbows a little and for people who love their computer.

If you are not one of these people please go back to your “I paid for
this and I will demand your freaking technical assistance NOW” OS
that is called Windows.

P.S. I was born and raised in Cyprus and in my 15 years I know

more English than somebodies in here :P

Reply Link
touristguy87 April 1, 2012, 3:36 am

whatever

Reply Link
rob February 19, 2010, 11:45 pm

Andrew – love your post, its brilliant, and you are right in all that
you say. I love linux, and yes, as my post about tarballs a few
comments up demonstrates, I can sometimes find it challenging –
but all the better for that!

I used to be a Mac fanboy, and I started using linux about a year

ago, when I got an Acer Aspire One. I did’nt like the bundled distro,
‘Linpus Lite’, and I wanted Ubuntu. Not having a CD drive, I followed
the instructions of the Ubuntu website on how to burn a bootable
usb drive. I did this via the terminal on my aging Apple eMac,
having downloaded the Ubuntu Netbook Remix ISO. I was amazed
when I booted the stick on the netbook – amazed that I could
operate a BIOS in the first place, and amazed that I had follwed the
instructions to produce the OS I now beheld.

Since the day i installed UNR, I have not looked back; I am happily
running Karmic Koala now, and the one thing I missed from the
Mac, I now have – a Dock, via the ‘Docky’ theme in Gnome-Do. I
have also experimented with Moblin, and Linux Mint – both of which
are excellent distros- I have a portable mint system installed to a
4gb usb stick.

All in all, I am grateful to Mr Torvalds, Mr Shuttleworth, and the

myriad of true geniuses, whose work has liberated us from the
power of paid-for OSes. I was never beguiled by the works of
Micro$h!t and all her detestable enormities, and I am grateful for
my apple background, simply because it freed my mind from ever
assuming ‘Microsoft=Computers’. Every Fanboy knows that
Microsoft is not the first or last word, unlike so many poor,
benighted souls, but Linux is a truly life transforming, paradigm
shifting, epiphany of seismological and indeed pentecostal
proportions.
Big up freedom. Computer users of the world, unite!, you have only
your bugs to lose, and a whole world to win! Vote Linux, the Free
person’s choice!!!

Reply Link
Andrew February 20, 2010, 5:13 pm

First of all thanks rob for supporting my opinions.

I too have been raised up thinking computer=M$ and the blame for
that is on my country’s culture and the way the government
machine works. Everybody when they say computer they mean
windows, in school you are taught about M$ Office and VB6(not
that I have anything against VB6 because I started programming
this year and I have to say it’s great for beginning programmers).
During the private lessons in the evening(everybody goes ,even the
stupidest of all) you learn Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access
etc…(you get the point).

What I felt when I switched to Ubuntu was a total sense of

FREEDOM and CREATIVITY and believe me the switch wasn’t at all
that difficult like some people want you to think! My DVD drive was
kinda broken so I got a utility that burned my bootable ISO Ubuntu
image on my 4gb USB. So a restart ,F12 and 5 minutes later I was
freed at last!

And to confirm all that I tried to boot into Vista today(yes I have
kept the little thingy for me to dual-boot) and you know what I get
for a reward?

A BSOD!
-.-
go figure…

Reply Link
Andrew February 20, 2010, 5:21 pm

BTW rob email me and I can help you with some of your ubuntu
issues or even translate some articles from “geek speak” to
“normal speak” because I kinda understand the “geek” language.

dragonblader44@gmail.com

Everybody else who emails me for not a good reason will get
blocked. Sorry “PLZ PLZ HELP ME I’M A NOOB”-dudes

Reply Link
Wilson March 8, 2010, 11:58 am
Please can anybody help me out. I’m new to linux. I’m useing
Ubuntu 9.10(Karmic)
I can install the tarball files. each time i try to install i get this.

configure: error: no math library found (libm)

wizzy@wizzy:~/Downloads/mp3blaster-3.2.3$ make
make: *** No targets specified and no makefile found. Stop.

after useing the tar zxf *****.tar.gz

and the ./configure command.
there is always an error and it never finds any target. I cant play
music and videos with ubuntu. Someone please help.

Reply Link
Rameez April 24, 2010, 1:35 pm

hi every1….
m new to Linux….i’ve recently installed Fedora 12
m trying to install tar file, but everytime it generates sm error…
i tried to install wine ..but it ended up with following errors:
as i typed “./configure”
“[Rameex@cpu wine-1.1.43]$ ./configure
checking build system type… i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking host system type… i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)… yes
checking for gcc… no
checking for cc… no
checking for cl.exe… no
configure: error: in `/home/Rameex/src/wine-1.1.43′:
configure: error: no acceptable C compiler found in $PATH”

another problem i faced was when installing a display driver….1st

of all it doesnt have any README file type thingy…..so m
completelty blocked over here…
please help me

Reply Link
sreejith May 3, 2010, 6:29 am

root@sreejith-desktop:/home/sreejith/Desktop/Transformers
/prozilla-2.0.4# ./configure
checking for a BSD-compatible install… /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane… yes
checking for gawk… gawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)… yes
checking for style of include used by make… GNU
checking for g++… g++
checking for C++ compiler default output file name… a.out
checking whether the C++ compiler works… yes
checking whether we are cross compiling… no
checking for suffix of executables…
checking for suffix of object files… o
checking whether we are using the GNU C++ compiler… yes
checking whether g++ accepts -g… yes
checking dependency style of g++… gcc3
checking for strerror in -lcposix… no
checking build system type… i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking host system type… i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking for gcc… gcc
checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler… yes
checking whether gcc accepts -g… yes
checking for gcc option to accept ANSI C… none needed
checking dependency style of gcc… gcc3
checking whether we are using the GNU C++ compiler… (cached)
yes
checking whether g++ accepts -g… (cached) yes
checking dependency style of g++… (cached) gcc3
checking how to run the C preprocessor… gcc -E
checking for a BSD-compatible install… /usr/bin/install -c
checking for uname… uname
checking for a sed that does not truncate output… /bin/sed
checking for egrep… grep -E
checking for ld used by gcc… /usr/bin/ld
checking if the linker (/usr/bin/ld) is GNU ld… yes
checking for /usr/bin/ld option to reload object files… -r
checking for BSD-compatible nm… /usr/bin/nm -B
checking whether ln -s works… yes
checking how to recognise dependent libraries… pass_all
checking for ANSI C header files… no
checking for sys/types.h… yes
checking for sys/stat.h… yes
checking for stdlib.h… yes
checking for string.h… yes
checking for memory.h… yes
checking for strings.h… yes
checking for inttypes.h… yes
checking for stdint.h… yes
checking for unistd.h… yes
checking dlfcn.h usability… yes
checking dlfcn.h presence… no
configure: WARNING: dlfcn.h: accepted by the compiler, rejected by
the preprocessor!
configure: WARNING: dlfcn.h: proceeding with the compiler’s result
checking for dlfcn.h… yes
checking how to run the C++ preprocessor… g++ -E
checking for g77… no
checking for f77… no
checking for xlf… no
checking for frt… no
checking for pgf77… no
checking for fort77… no
checking for fl32… no
checking for af77… no
checking for f90… no
checking for xlf90… no
checking for pgf90… no
checking for epcf90… no
checking for f95… f95
checking whether we are using the GNU Fortran 77 compiler… yes
checking whether f95 accepts -g… yes
checking the maximum length of command line arguments…
32768
checking command to parse /usr/bin/nm -B output from gcc
object… ok
checking for objdir… .libs
checking for ar… ar
checking for ranlib… ranlib
checking for strip… strip
checking for correct ltmain.sh version… yes
checking if gcc supports -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions… no
checking for gcc option to produce PIC… -fPIC
checking if gcc PIC flag -fPIC works… yes
checking if gcc static flag -static works… yes
checking if gcc supports -c -o file.o… yes
checking whether the gcc linker (/usr/bin/ld) supports shared
libraries… yes
checking whether -lc should be explicitly linked in… no
checking dynamic linker characteristics… GNU/Linux ld.so
checking how to hardcode library paths into programs… immediate
checking whether stripping libraries is possible… yes
checking if libtool supports shared libraries… yes
checking whether to build shared libraries… yes
checking whether to build static libraries… yes
configure: creating libtool
appending configuration tag “CXX” to libtool
checking for ld used by g++… /usr/bin/ld
checking if the linker (/usr/bin/ld) is GNU ld… yes
checking whether the g++ linker (/usr/bin/ld) supports shared
libraries… yes
checking for g++ option to produce PIC… -fPIC
checking if g++ PIC flag -fPIC works… yes
checking if g++ static flag -static works… yes
checking if g++ supports -c -o file.o… yes
checking whether the g++ linker (/usr/bin/ld) supports shared
libraries… yes
checking dynamic linker characteristics… GNU/Linux ld.so
checking how to hardcode library paths into programs… immediate
appending configuration tag “F77″ to libtool
checking if libtool supports shared libraries… yes
checking whether to build shared libraries… yes
checking whether to build static libraries… yes
checking for f95 option to produce PIC… -fPIC
checking if f95 PIC flag -fPIC works… yes
checking if f95 static flag -static works… yes
checking if f95 supports -c -o file.o… yes
checking whether the f95 linker (/usr/bin/ld) supports shared
libraries… yes
checking dynamic linker characteristics… GNU/Linux ld.so
checking how to hardcode library paths into programs… immediate
checking for ranlib… (cached) ranlib
checking for an ANSI C-conforming const… yes
checking for inline… inline
checking for off_t… yes
checking for size_t… yes
checking for working alloca.h… yes
checking for alloca… yes
checking for stdlib.h… (cached) yes
checking for unistd.h… (cached) yes
checking for getpagesize… yes
checking for working mmap… yes
checking whether we are using the GNU C Library 2.1 or newer…
yes
checking argz.h usability… yes
checking argz.h presence… yes
checking for argz.h… yes
checking limits.h usability… yes
checking limits.h presence… yes
checking for limits.h… yes
checking locale.h usability… yes
checking locale.h presence… yes
checking for locale.h… yes
checking nl_types.h usability… yes
checking nl_types.h presence… yes
checking for nl_types.h… yes
checking malloc.h usability… yes
checking malloc.h presence… yes
checking for malloc.h… yes
checking stddef.h usability… yes
checking stddef.h presence… yes
checking for stddef.h… yes
checking for stdlib.h… (cached) yes
checking for string.h… (cached) yes
checking for unistd.h… (cached) yes
checking sys/param.h usability… yes
checking sys/param.h presence… yes
checking for sys/param.h… yes
checking for feof_unlocked… yes
checking for fgets_unlocked… yes
checking for getcwd… yes
checking for getegid… yes
checking for geteuid… yes
checking for getgid… yes
checking for getuid… yes
checking for mempcpy… yes
checking for munmap… yes
checking for putenv… yes
checking for setenv… yes
checking for setlocale… yes
checking for stpcpy… yes
checking for strchr… yes
checking for strcasecmp… yes
checking for strdup… yes
checking for strtoul… yes
checking for tsearch… yes
checking for __argz_count… yes
checking for __argz_stringify… yes
checking for __argz_next… yes
checking for iconv… yes
checking for iconv declaration…
extern size_t iconv (iconv_t cd, char * *inbuf, size_t *inbytesleft,
char * *outbuf, size_t *outbytesleft);
checking for nl_langinfo and CODESET… yes
checking for LC_MESSAGES… yes
checking whether NLS is requested… yes
checking whether included gettext is requested… no
checking libintl.h usability… yes
checking libintl.h presence… yes
checking for libintl.h… yes
checking for GNU gettext in libc… yes
checking for dcgettext… yes
checking for msgfmt… /usr/bin/msgfmt
checking for gmsgfmt… /usr/bin/msgfmt
checking for xgettext… /usr/bin/xgettext
checking for bison… no
checking for catalogs to be installed… pt_BR nl ro it fr
checking for an ANSI C-conforming const… (cached) yes
checking whether time.h and sys/time.h may both be included…
yes
checking whether struct tm is in sys/time.h or time.h… time.h
checking for ANSI C header files… (cached) no
checking ncurses.h usability… no
checking ncurses.h presence… no
checking for ncurses.h… no
checking curses.h usability… no
checking curses.h presence… no
checking for curses.h… no
checking for string.h… (cached) yes
checking sys/time.h usability… yes
checking sys/time.h presence… yes
checking for sys/time.h… yes
checking for sys/types.h… (cached) yes
checking for unistd.h… (cached) yes
checking for initscr in -lncurses… no
checking for initscr in -lcurses… no
configure: error: **A (n)curses library was not found. The program
needs ncurses to run, Ncurses is freely available at :
ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu **
root@sreejith-desktop:/home/sreejith/Desktop/Transformers
/prozilla-2.0.4#

“make” shows some error

root@sreejith-desktop:/home/sreejith/Desktop/Transformers
/prozilla-2.0.4# make
make: *** No targets specified and no makefile found. Stop.
root@sreejith-desktop:/home/sreejith/Desktop/Transformers
/prozilla-2.0.4#

please tell me what’s the real problem

Reply Link
Kaine May 24, 2010, 8:37 am
Does this work with ubuntu running off a usb coz i can’t friggen
install crap and i don’t have internet on the computer either but i
do have accsess to a computer with internet

Reply Link
Siôn June 15, 2010, 2:39 pm

Yes, it will work with ubuntu running off a usb; extract and

install the software on your usb and everything will work fine.
I just want to point out since Ubuntu is Debian based it’s
usually easier to install programs using .deb files and only use
.tar.gz as a last resort, when no .deb package is available. You
can download the .deb’s on the computer that has internet,
copy them to usb/cd and then install them with a simple
double-click while running Ubuntu from your usb.

easy-peasy ;) linux

Reply Link
Siôn June 15, 2010, 2:43 pm

One last thing, if you do have access to a computer with

internet then why not plug the Ubunu USB into it and just
install programs the normal way, from the Ubuntu Software
Centre or even the Synpatic Package Manager, using that
computer’s internet connection (which is usually connected
and set up automatically by Ubuntu, no messing about with
connection settings)? It’s much easier than fiddling about
with tarballs, use those as a last resort, i.e. when the software
is not available in the repositories for some reason and you
could not find a .deb (Debian package).

I hope this was helpful to you, good luck!

Reply Link
hamed July 6, 2010, 11:29 am

thanks for your functional tutorial

Reply Link
Dominic August 14, 2010, 12:14 pm

This was so helpful to me when installing CUPS. Thanks so much.

Reply Link
Roman August 18, 2010, 1:54 am

In order for you to extract tar.gz files, you must go into the
terminal.
It will appear on the start menu as a Computer monitor with an
almost black screen.
From there type in the commands instructed in this tutorial.

Reply Link
vinodhkumar August 19, 2010, 3:54 pm

hie….

i need to extract the files in the root directory ..i mean to say in a
folder in that directory so how can i do it………….

and plz do tel the procedure for the installing and uninstalling the
files through CLI …nt using the
sudo apt-get install XXXX

Reply Link
Siôn August 20, 2010, 11:17 pm

You can extract files using the tar command explained above
at step # 1: Uncompress tarball, or zip if it’s a zip file. To
extract them into a folder that is only accessible to the root
user, like the folder called “root” you will need to become the
root user, using the sudo command. Any command (in the
terminal) that follows the sudo command will be executed as
if it was run by the root user. So to extract the files to that
folder you will type: sudo tar
If you don’t feel comfortable using the command line to work
with files you can open a file browser as the root user by
typing: sudo nautilus
(nautilus is the default file manager in Ubuntu, your OS might
use a different one, just substitute the name). In GNOME you
can press Alt+F2 to bring up an entry box where you can type
a program name to be run. If you type gksu before the name
of the program it will be run as root. So Alt+F2 and then gksu
nautilus will open the nautilus file manager as the root user,
then you can use that to double click the compressed file and
extract the contents to the root folder or a folder in it.

As for the rest of your question, I don’t really understand

what you’re trying to say.
apt (eg. apt-get install) is the recommended method to install
software packages on systems that use apt (like Debian &
Ubuntu). Other Linux systems like Slackware that has it’s own
package manager or those that use RPM (Redhat Package
Manager) have different methods, but if you don’t want to use
 apt and you don’t want to use the synaptic package manager
(has a graphical interface) or the Ubuntu Software Centre
(very simple and easy to use) if you are using Ubuntu then
you can always just download the .deb files and double click
them or the tar.gz files (source code) and install them using
the method described on this page.

Did this answer your questions?

Reply Link
vinodhkumar August 21, 2010, 9:30 am

thanks a lot !!!!!!!!! i wil try with it…………….

i gt a file with extensions .tar.bz2

and it should be extraceted in the home directory …

i.e http://ftp.k-team.com/KorebotII/software/common
/libkorebot-1.11-kb1.tar.bz2

and im in home directory and

vinodh@ubuntu:/home$ tar -xjf

development_k2_v1.0.tar.bz2

but its showing error…for …and i need help abt

this…..can u do help me

@ im newbie to linux :D

Reply Link
Jonathan July 29, 2012, 2:35 pm

same error. solved

tar.bz2 needs to use jxf instead of zxf

Reply Link
vinodhkumar August 21, 2010, 9:43 am

im sorry fr the above post…………………..the *.tar file is in

desktop…and im using the home directory path …sorry fr that….

Reply Link
Siôn September 11, 2010, 6:49 pm

Hey, I’m sorry I didn’t reply before, you can move the file to
the home directory using
mv Desktop/filename ~/
 or you can navigate to the Desktop and operate on it there
using
cd Desktop
I tried to install the program myself and installation is fairly
straight forward following these steps except that you have to
get the dependencies for it. When you run the configure script
without them it will fail and and tell you that it needs a certain
a file installed to continue. You must download that file and
install it and try again. If it fails again you must again
download and install that file and till all of the dependencies
are satisfied (there shouldn’t be too many & you can install
them exactly the same way as any other tar.gz file) and when
all are satisfied and teh ./configure completes successfully
you can run the make and make install.

Good luck! :)

Reply Link
Chelsea August 23, 2010, 7:56 am

I am only at primary school and I have been introduced to linux by

my grand dad and I am getting better but I have not managed to
install a tarball yet

Reply Link
Kaine-Da-Nerd August 27, 2010, 7:16 am

is there an easyer way coz i dont wanna do all this shit!

Reply Link
Cycron September 10, 2010, 11:09 pm

Yes, there is an easier way, there is a nautilus script for it too.

you can google it… there should be one on gnome-look.org.
If you’re on KDE or a different DE I don’t know what you’d do.

Reply Link
stuttie September 9, 2010, 12:27 pm

An open appeal to all linux gurus please stop hatching up more

linux distributions as I think this will eventuly cause linux to wither
on the vine instead use your talent to improve and tweek a small
number of the excellent versions that already have traction and we
will all benifite.

Reply Link
Siôn September 26, 2010, 5:21 pm
There different distros for different people and for different
purposes, that’s the beauty of it.

Reply Link
stuttie October 8, 2010, 3:53 am

Yes and they all do basicly the same thing and ad to

linux being rejected by so many good people who would
gain many benefits if they could get started with a more
user friendly versions

Reply Link
Siôn October 8, 2010, 7:06 pm

Well cutlery all does basically the same thing; you

eat with it. But you wouldn’t eat your breakfast
cereal with a fork or cut your steak with a spoon
would you? Same goes for Linux distros. You
wouldn’t use Alpine Linux (meant for firewalls and
routing) for an office/home computer, and you
wouldn’t recommend Slackware to a novice
computer user or anyone who’s not willing to fiddle
and break stuff to learn.

The distribution that’s become vastly popular

recently is Ubuntu, check it out, I find it quite easy
to use, although if you’re very used to Windows’s
interface you might want to try Kubuntu, they’re
both pretty good for Linux beginners, I’d never
used Linux before when my Windows 7 hard disk
committed suicide, the first Linux distribution I
tried was Ubuntu, at recommendation from a
family member and I found it really easy to use on
the surface but full of very powerful features
underneath once I was ready to learn them! :)

Reply Link
stuttie October 19, 2010, 11:55 am

Yes
And ice cream is still ice cream no matter
how many flavours it comes in.

Reply Link
Siôn October 19, 2010, 12:05 pm

You don’t use ice cream though, you eat

 it, so that’s not a very good analogy.

Reply Link
stuttie December 30, 2012, 12:43 pm

defending the indefensible

Reply Link
FakoMasT3r September 24, 2010, 7:43 pm

how do i change from zip file to tar.gz file

Reply Link
Siôn October 8, 2010, 7:09 pm

I’m sorry I could have sworn I replied to this already, guess I

forget to click ‘send’, here’s what I wrote:

You would extract the contents of the zip and repack it into a
tar.gz

I’ll do an example, if you had a file called myshizzle.zip and

you wanted it to be myshizzle.tar.gz

First make a folder to store the contents of the zip file:

mkdir myshizzle

Then extract the contents of the zip into the folder:

unzip myshizzle.zip -d myshizzle

-d is used to specify a folder to extract a file to using unzip.

Then you enter the folder:

cd myshizzle

Then tar + gzip the files:

tar -czvf ../myshizzle.tar.gz *

The options used with tar are -c (create) -z (compress with

gzip) -v (verbose; tell me what files are being added) and -f
(file). This is followed by the desired name for the archive. The
../ means that it should be created in the parent directory. The
* means that any file should be added.
then leave the folder:

cd ..
 and remove it:

rm -r myshizzle

and now you have a file called myshizzle.tar.gz in the same

folder as myshizzle.zip :)

This is work in the terminal, but all this can be done

graphically if your distribution has a graphical user interface.
eg. in GNOME:
•righ-click>Create Folder
•double-click zip file
•select everything in the file
•drag it onto the New Folder
•double-click the New Folder
•select everything in the folder
•right-click>compess…
•type a name
•select tar.gz from the drop down box
•click Create

Reply Link
Anonymous October 6, 2010, 4:45 am

use sudo before them. they are packages which install stuff

Reply Link
Siôn October 8, 2010, 11:38 pm

Ok, I’m not sure who you’re saying that to but if you’re saying it to
the original poster, the # before the command instead of $ already
implies root privelages, so sudo is not needed.

Reply Link
Anonymous November 13, 2010, 8:22 pm

I’m just using alien or INSTALL-files. (or .deb files)

sudo apt-get install alien

Reply Link
Siôn November 15, 2010, 1:23 pm

Alien is for installing files not from your native package

management system, eg. rpm if you’re using debs or deb if
you’re using rpm and so on

Reply Link
lara November 28, 2010, 6:28 pm

please,i need help to install iw.tar.bz2. i understood the above steps

but i cant get started because i dont even know how to open a
terminal that starts with $ when i open a terminal it always starts
with #.i need simple instructions because im a beginner on linux
and im lost

Reply Link
Siôn November 29, 2010, 3:44 pm

You can type it at a terminal that starts with #, it’s ok, it’s just
not recommended that you use it unless you are performing
administrative tasks. What distribution of Linux are you using
then I can give you directions to the $ terminal for more
general usage.

Reply Link
lara November 30, 2010, 11:40 am

well,here’s the story from the beginning. a friend gave me a cd with

backtrack three on it and he didn’t even tell ma how to use so i
downloaded a video from the net on how to use it to crack networks
and when i followed the steps i got:(error….download and install
iw.tar.bz2 )so i downloaded the file but i dont know how to install it
and i googled to find a way but all the ways aren’t working,maybe
im doing something wrong.you asked me to tell you which
distribution of linux im working on.well i dont know and i dont know
how to find out .i hope that u can help me .

Reply Link
Siôn November 30, 2010, 1:42 pm

When someone asks what Linux distro you have, the answer in
your case is: Backtrack 3.

I’ll install Backtrack and see if it’s any different but you should
be able to follow these steps on your terminal that ends with
#:
*go to the directory (folder) of the file eg.:
cd Downloads
*extract the file, it is a tar archive compressed with bzip2 so
use this:
tar -xvjf iw.tar.bz2
*enter the folder that was created when the files were
extracted:
cd iw
 *install it:
./configure
make
make install

Reply Link
Rocket September 14, 2012, 1:36 am

Knoppix 7:

# ./congifure
bash no such command

$ ./configure
no such command

# ./configure
bash no such command

# make
bash no such command

# make install
bash no such command

# ls
1 directory, 1 .tgz file, 1 tar.gz file 2 files extracted

Whats up with no such command? when I type help,

sure enough there is no ./configure command.
Ideas?

Reply Link
lara November 30, 2010, 12:27 pm

i was told to type the command uname -a and it gave me the

following
Linux bt 2.6.21.5 #4 SMP Thu Apr 10 04:23:56 GMT 2008 i686
Intel(R) Pentium(R) D ual CPU T2310 @ 1.46GHz GenuineIntel
GNU/Linux
i dont know if this is helpful

Reply Link
lara November 30, 2010, 7:43 pm

thnx a lot for your help

i tried this method,
bt ~ # cd Downloads
-bash: cd: Downloads: No such file or directory

Reply Link
Siôn November 30, 2010, 9:35 pm

well the Downloads folder was an example, I don’t know

where the actual iw.tar.bz2 file is saved in, basically just go to
that folder. Type “cd” (without quotes) followed by the name
of the folder. If it isn’t in one or you’re already there then just
skip that step. Does it make sense?

Reply Link
lara December 1, 2010, 12:31 pm

bt ~ # tar -xvjf iw.tar.bz2

COPYING
info.c
interface.c
iw.c
iw.h
Makefile
mpath.c
nl80211.h
station.c
util.c
bt ~ # cd iw
-bash: cd: iw: No such file or directory
bt ~ #

Reply Link
lara December 1, 2010, 5:38 pm

that’s what i got when i tried the last time

Reply Link
Siôn December 1, 2010, 10:48 pm

I don’t mean this in a bad way but ur a n00b, srsly!

What it’s saying is that the folder iw doesn’t exist. Maybe no

such folder was created when the files were extracted.

Type:
ls
to list all the files in the current directory.

If you want you can share your email and I can help you more
because by the looks of it, you really need a lot of help.
 Reply Link
lara December 2, 2010, 1:07 pm

i didn’t claim that im an expert.i have been trying to work on linux

for a week or two only and just for a couple of hours
everyday.here’s my email (lara_mj111@hotmail.com)but if you are
disturbed in anyway by my emails please just ignore them

Reply Link
Siôn December 2, 2010, 8:39 pm

sure, I only want to help

Reply Link
James December 4, 2010, 10:57 pm

I’ve had enough I’m afraid. The scorn that some people have on
here, just because people ask reasonable questions regarding how
one opens a file is sickening.

First of all I quite like Linux. It’s free, and there is a distro for ever
pc. Apart from Mepis, DSL and PCLinux I haven’t had any grief. Oh
and the pure grief of getting my wireless card to function (got there
in the end). However opening .gz files and the like is pretty
impossible for a relative newbie like me, and I don’t have a year to
learn. I’m gonna keep trying, but I think a reinstall of my bootleg
copy of XP is looking increasingly likely. I’m a busy guy and I don’t
have ten minutes to devote to open each and every file that I save.
Shame really, if it wasn’t for the complications of tar files I wouldn’t
even bother thinking about changing back.

Reply Link
Siôn December 5, 2010, 9:50 am

Hi, I’m not sure what you’re talking about. I can’t identify with
the scorn or the complications you’re talking about. In my
experience the Linux community has always been very nice
and helpful towards me since I was a new user. As for the
‘complications’ have a read here
http://blogs.computerworld.com/15402
/you_dont_need_to_know_linux_to_use_linuxit's very true. I
don’t see how you can struggle to open a tar file, these days
all you have to do is… double click it and it’s open. Drag the
files to your desktop to extract it’s contents and that’s it.
What’s so complicated about that? If you’re used to Windows
this should be no problem for you. It isn’t really necessary to
use the command line, only useful.
 Reply Link
Vibhas December 14, 2010, 4:10 pm

Can anyone tell me how to clear off those dependencies easily

without using internet ?
Plz !! I luv linux but i am still a lot new to it.
Thanks !!

Reply Link
Siôn December 15, 2010, 1:44 pm

What do you mean by “clear off those dependencies”?

Reply Link
Linux is Crap January 24, 2011, 9:31 pm

Linux is crap. 2 hours to install an application. Windows, double

click, job done.

No wonder no normal human being uses this operating system.

Doing everything in command like it’s 1970 still! Come back
Microsoft.

Reply Link
Stuttie January 25, 2011, 1:39 pm

There are advantages to linux that windows do not have like

security and convertibility and if your patent eventually it gets
much easier it is constantly being improved every year, it will
only get better and easier over time,

Reply Link
lara January 25, 2011, 12:33 am

i have a question and i hope that someone can help me.i cracked a
network of wep encryption and after i got the password i used it to
connect my laptop to the network and it was connected but
although the signal was very strong i kept getting no internet
access.no matter howmany times i try or how close i get to it i got
the same result: connected but no internet access .so if anyone can
help me i’ll be thankful

Reply Link
Owen February 4, 2011, 11:34 pm

How to get bluetooth to work on mandriva linux

Reply Link
 Siôn February 10, 2011, 2:41 pm

You might get better responses if you asked in a bluetooth

related thread but I suggest you try installing bluez or
blueman and reading the man pages or finding a HOWTO
online for how to use them.

Reply Link
Margaret February 14, 2011, 1:29 am

I came across a word game for Linux that I wanted to try and I
downloaded it. It was zipped – OK, I can handle that; there’s an
“expand” option at the top of the window when I open the folder.
But then what? It’s a “tar” file. After it was expanded I found a text
file with installation instructions, but they made no sense to me. So
I did a Google search for “how to install .tar file in linux” and found
this page – with more incomprehensible instructions. I’ve been
using Linux for about 2 months now, and I’m really beginning to
think about going to back to Windows – where an installation
process is simple. (“Simple” – does Linux even know what that
word means?)

OK, I’m done ventilating. Moving on to the next likely candidate in

the search results…

Reply Link
Siôn February 14, 2011, 7:12 am

Installing new programs in Linux is easier than in Windows

when you do it the right way. Usually you think of something
you want, ask Linux to install it and the package manager
finds and installs it for you. Doesn’t that sound much easier
than searching the web, downloading an .exe, double-clicking
it, and following the “next, next, next, install” installation
steps? I recommend you try installing your word game the
easy way, what Linux Distribution do you use?

Since you’ve already downloaded the tarball (that’s what we

call a compressed tar file) all you have to do is follow the
instructions at the top of this page. You’ve already managed
to uncompress/extract the contents so you can skip the first
step. Now you should open a terminal and navigate to the
folder you extracted the files to using the ‘cd’ command, eg:

cd Downloads/wordgame

now type “sudo -i” and enter your password when prompted
 (this lets you perform administrative tasks) and follow the
steps at the top of this page under # 2: Build and install
software

If it doesn’t work there will be a file called README which will

tell you if the installation steps are different from normal.
Good luck and if you have any questions feel free to ask!

Reply Link
pam April 11, 2011, 6:53 am

Rubbish nothing is easy with linux and some of the answers

are worse than the problem

Reply Link
owen March 29, 2011, 10:23 am

Help can anyone please tell me which driver works with.

creative sound blaster 5.1 vx I have tried so many about to give up
Regards

Reply Link
ragui April 4, 2011, 9:10 am

Describe the unix commands you would use to install the package
package.tar.gz using the shell.

Reply Link
David April 16, 2011, 4:43 pm

I have tried many different linuxes over the years. Red Hat, Fedora,
Knoppix, Open Suse, Puppy. I have spent many hours on each
installing except Puppy which was easy and quick. Also many hours
trying to install and run programs–tar.gz, yum, rpm, etc. with very
little success. So many types of instructions. They make work for
two or three steps and then fail. I like the idea of linux but hate this
problem. Have had many books–Linux Bible, Fedora for Dummies,
checked out library books. Looked at many sites on the internet.
Here are just two examples of instructions neither of which worked:

To install the SLFonts onto your Linux computer, read and follow
these steps:
(Note: You must have installed a TrueType font server on your Linux
PC and know the path to the ttf font directory in order to use these
fonts.)

1. Select the SLFont you need and download it into a directory on

your Linux PC.
2. Change to the directory where you downloaded it and issue the
command “tar -zxvf SLFonts.tar.gz”.
3. Next issue the command “mv *.ttf /path-to-ttf-fonts-dir/”,
inserting the correct path to where your .ttf files reside.
4. Change to the directory where your fonts reside and issue the
command “ttmkfdir > fonts.scale” (This will recreate the fonts.scale
file).
5. Issue the command “mkfontdir” (This will recreate the fonts.dir
file).
6. Restart your TrueType font server and X server (or you can issue
the command “reboot” to simply reboot).

Compiling and Installing software from source

Some software is distributed in “Source form”. This means you
download a file containing all the source code for the application
you want to install, unpack it, and compile it on your system.
Compiling is the process of turning the source code into an
executable binary. The common myth and newbie assumption is
that this is very hard todo, or it is only for programmers. Wrong. It
is a fairly straight forward process, and you will find that a lot of
software you install will need to be built from source.

Typically applications you must compile from source will come as a

“.tar.gz”, “.tar.bz2″, or “.zip” file.

For organisational purposes, I like to save my source zip file to

/usr/local/src/, but this is totally up to you. For the rest of this
section we will assume you have downloaded your zip file to
/usr/local/src/. If you do not have a /usr/local/src directory, you
can create it with the following “mkdir” (make directory) command:

Code:

mkdir /usr/local/src/

So, we have our source package in /usr/local/src/.

Change to the /usr/local/src/ directory with the “cd” (change

directory) command like so:

Code:

cd /usr/local/src/

Use the “ls” (list directory contents) command, to see the file is
present:

Code:
ls

We now need to unzip the zipped file, this is done differently

depending on the file extension.

for files ending in .tar.gz, use:

Code:

tar -zxvf

(replacing with the name of the file).

Reply Link
Milo May 12, 2011, 3:49 am

A friend suggested I try linux because it is more secure than

windows I loaded mandriva and then tried to use the linux system,
and also install which one would have to learn a computer sceience
degree first to do with any success.
So I say linux may be free but if you had to pay for an operating
system that is as hard and complex to use as linux you would ask
for your money back next day.

Reply Link
Max June 16, 2011, 12:54 pm

Firefox doesn’t know how to open this address, because the

protocol (apt) isn’t associated with any programme to load adobe
flash player and this is all I get can anyone help me to work out
how to associate apt this is my first time with Kubuntu

Reply Link
last-zero June 24, 2011, 9:20 am

Check this app, It installs the common packages of linux, its easy
and very simply.
Its growing and starting being developed, but it’s very good!!!
supports:
.tar.gz
.tar.bz2
.tar
.tgz
.deb
.rpm
.bin
Its name is “EPI installer” (EasyPackageInstaller)
google “EPI installer” or follow this link to download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/epiinstaller/files

Recommended, if you prefer clicking than writing, download it!,

sure it solves your problems

Reply Link
Meh July 6, 2011, 10:32 am

Synaptic works wonders!

Reply Link
carlo August 8, 2011, 1:59 pm

If just one of the main linux distributions would compose a simple

standard methoid of installing software the rest of the linux
distributions would loose traction so fast and then linux would
blume

Reply Link
nithin August 13, 2011, 10:05 am

i will be thank full if send me the information about instaling .bin

and .sh files in linux

i am using fedora in my system. i am not able to install the

softwares in it.
please send me the steps,how to install .bin and .sh files .
thank you

Reply Link
Kipling September 20, 2011, 10:22 am

Just a suggestion:
Step #3 must be step #2 and vice-versa. The content of a tarball
may have another installation method than make (i.e. copy the
content to a system folder), and in those cases the step #2 is
useless. This is usually clearly expressed in the README or INSTALL
file.

Reply Link
Vicente October 3, 2011, 7:33 am

This do not seem to work for me !! I’m running Kubuntu 10.10 and I
have been tring to Install avg antivirus but nothing seems to work
Either the installation with the tar.gz one or the other with the .deb
and .rpm or .sh so if there is anyone willing to help with this please
do !!!
Reply Link
Ra. October 12, 2011, 4:36 am

Ouch! That hurt. I concur with you, though.

Reply Link
Sameer November 1, 2011, 7:49 pm

How to install driver on linux?

Reply Link
janardhan November 11, 2011, 1:11 pm

yum install kernel-devel Kernel-headers

Loaded plugins: aliases, changelog, downloadonly, kabi, presto,
protect-packages, refresh-packagekit, rhnplugin, security, tmprepo,
verify, versionlock
Config Error: File contains no section headers.
file: file://///etc/yum.repos.d/rhel-beta.repo, line: 1
‘me=Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6Server Beta – i386\n’

But i have already installed plugins, what have to do

Reply Link
Tharindu November 15, 2011, 9:49 am

When I try to install “name.tar.gz” file, it appears as follows;

harshitha@ubuntu:~$ tar zxf

icta_sinhala_tamil_installer_ubuntu_0.2.tar.gz
tar (child): icta_sinhala_tamil_installer_ubuntu_0.2.tar.gz: Cannot
open: No such file or directory
tar (child): Error is not recoverable: exiting now
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
harshitha@ubuntu:~$

So, I couldn’t install that software. I’m using Ubuntu 10.10 version.
I’m new to Ubuntu.
Please help me…!!
Thank you…

Reply Link
MIke November 24, 2011, 7:29 pm

Ok. Uncompress. Great. Easy.

Next instruction “cd path-to-software”

And I know that, how? I uncompress the file, no errors. Nothing in
that directory — where did it go? eh?

So what’s the second step, really?

Reply Link
satish December 29, 2011, 7:22 am

I’m new to Linux. How do I install tar.gz2 compressed files under

RHEL5?

Reply Link
Borellianio January 15, 2012, 3:48 am

I have been using Linux for the past six years. Of the seven billion
people on this earth, how many do you think give a shit?

Reply Link
Praveenraj March 2, 2012, 1:06 am

root@azeem-Latitude-D630:/home/azeem# tar zxf file.tar.gz

tar (child): file.tar.gz: Cannot open: No such file or directory
tar (child): Error is not recoverable: exiting now
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now

am getting these comments while installing so please help me out

to install tar on my ubuntu…

Reply Link
iwannalearnlinux March 12, 2012, 6:28 am

Please am asking for help because i do not know how to am very

new to linux heard about it but I’ve being confused every time i
think about the word linux am not sure why but it just happen now
am worried wondering if something might be wrong with me
mentally because every body else seems to understand the
questions i wanna ask are
how did you begin your first Linux experience how did you learn to
attach files
What are the important things you had to figure out before going
forward with linux
how did you learn the different commands like this one.. cd/linux/.
am not sure what are the commands but i hope you understand
what am talking about example, yum.
how did you install and tar.gz file after installing Linux on then
through ssh how did you make install, i downloaded a folder that i
wanna install from a company but it is in this format tar.gz how do i
get it to work on a linux install like archlinux or freedsb/ ubuntu.
please assist with all the help you can if you don’t understand my
writing please email me and i’ll be here to explain thank you for
reading and i hope that i will be welcomed with some answers best
regards respect to everyone. IWANNALEARNLINUX

Reply Link
Steve April 9, 2012, 1:05 pm

My advice is leave it be ! Troubles with Linux will began immediately

after even first step is to make ! Linux tendency is to stopping user
on every step and then unfortunately one is stuck for good ! There
is no easy Linux and sooner or later one is overwhelmed with tasks
that can not solve or are not easy to solve ! If you want to learn
Linux go and study it on University with people that know what they
are doing ! Internet is full of crap and Linux Community what so
ever is very arrogant — look we can and you don’t – showing off –
thinking maybe someone will employ me for being paid to showing
off ! With win one is far more better off despite crappy system ! It’s
ease of use that has make Win successful and MS know it !!! If one
want to use more secure system then i recommend MAC runs on PC
hardware too and huge software support not so in Linux ! Various
no compatible distros non compatible packages (dependency hell)
on some is even impossible to install from binary that developer
post as new software package missing app in software respositories
that leads to more than one distro to use and with that twice as
much troubles or even more ! Still no convinced go ahead and try
for your self ! Lately some smack has posted Slitaz 4.0 without
installer and then claimed hot to install it to hd ! People are going
crazy these days or someone think that we normal people are
stupid or what ! Once bad experience with Linux … one can think
what follows !!! To efficiently use Linux one must be at least
programmer/developer and that can be achieved only if one study
it intensively ! And Linux is not standardized that means that one
distro is to configure much different that other and that leads to
serious stops down !!! Normal people like me and others common
laic user in linux can not perform even basic os operation on some
distros and as that it is useless as we do not have time to making
master degree on it as we must work for living ! Seems to me that
developer of linux do not understand that ! They have learned
commnad prompt and they force command prompt ! Although
today were possible to install software with few mouse cliks but
lacking standarized installer this one is mission impossible ! I beet
that i make PhD in FluidMehanic and HeatTransfer sooner as this
would be possible in Linux !!!
Reply Link
Morris May 14, 2012, 4:31 am

I came here for the knowledge but stayed for the comments LOL.
Thanks guys

Reply Link
steve May 17, 2012, 2:39 pm

Ok i will go deeply on it ! For all newbies in Linux and laic

users that have plenty time to spare and nerves too ! Basic
steps to be done in Linux in general and in very short term !
No need being offensive i have only pointed to weaknesses in
Linux and what may stop you in using it !
1st what distro one may use – different packages for different
distro to install – do the job and read manual of OS for basics
– may be time intensive and then ask reasonable question
2nd procedure for install packaged are also distro dependable
– sometimes developers even changes procedure call’s for
installing packages on upgrade or even new release of same
distro that makes things confusing for newbie which is trying
out more than one different distro and want to install the
same software on it
3rd for particular/similar distro’s one may have software
respository compatible – packages – what that mean’s – it
means that package.deb is mean to be installed on debian
based linux distros. package.rpm for fedora red hat based
linux distros and similar and so on. There are numerous linux
distros. Theoretically any developed Linux distro can have its
own software respository and package manager – Slitaz have
package.tazpkg – if one desire to instal app that is not in its
own respository or can not be found it must convert it from
other existed packages or even from binary – package.deb or
supported and so on – (dependency hell – google it) Debian
has largest software respository well described, but even as
such do not have the latest releases published software app
due the all linux software releases are programmed from the
source/binary and published on various web sites as binarry
packages – package.bin that can not be so installed in various
linux distros ! Not for newbie and not for common laic user !
The only distro i know that have support for installing such
packages from binary is Sabayon Linux based on Gentoo
Linux and uses packages named tarballs. If one desires to
install some eksotic new software releases have little choices
to choose from ! Some of distros have support for gui package
managers like synaptic and some others but this is far from
 being useful for major distro releases – only successfully if
implemented by developer in os – may work ! I have tried to
install such gui package manager in SaxenOS but ended up in
crippled system so i do not install it on distro that has none
may ending up in disaster! That’s i mean not standarized
installers ! It would be far more better to implement gui
installer for binary packages this way no conversions needed
and installing on all distros the same package just like in win
are exe and msi executable ! But as Linux develops in various
and different ways and no real standard this will newer
happen ! The best way to use linux is to begin to use some
easy distros Like Ubuntu and derivates. I have make may 1st
experince with Mandrake today Mandrriva Linux and
Slackware Linux but i’m no fan of over sized OS’ses so i use
some tiny distros for being fast and only installed what i rely
use ! I strongly suggest that one may install and test various
Linux distros under VirtualBox so one can explore distro to
see if it can manage from install configuration and
customization for basic tasks that are needed to perform such
as display resolution file manger – where is what stored and
desired software packages to install before ruins the native
installed system ! One must achieve basic practical use of OS
– if stopped here, there will be nothing but troubles, drop
downs and stops ! That i have mean with stopping user on
every step ! There is no easy way to learn Linux due to it’s
how its build and mean to use ! Sooner or later one must go
to command line ! And there are so manz different distros with
different catch’s and some are missing some features and one
is not pointed to it ! So only realy experience is needed to se if
particular distro suits one needs or not !

Reply Link
justzilla June 3, 2012, 1:07 pm

DUde this did not help at all.

Reply Link
No June 6, 2012, 5:25 am

Still don’t fucking understand. Fuck Linux.

Reply Link
owen October 19, 2012, 12:44 pm

two many distros no standard soft ware instalation need to

spend lot of time learning how to install programe then find it
wont work on diferent distro dont love windows but linux is a
 lot of frustration.

Reply Link
cathode July 2, 2012, 6:47 pm

I have been using xp, ubuntu, win7 and suse 12 for awhile now. I
have had problems with all of them to one degree or another. It may
be said that in general windows is easier to use out of the box. Xp
just worked with little problem. Not everyone is that fortunate i
know. Setting up win7 for home networking has been a problem. It
still doesn’t work that well but i don’t need it that often so its not a
big deal.Other wise win7 ran pretty much out of the box. I really
only use the network occasionally. I also have fewer computers so
the network thing is less of an issue.
Networking between computers is not that easy in linux if you want
to use Samba,
I had it working at one time but crashed a computer and could not
get the etc\config file edited to work again. i realize i have spent a
bit of time with networking but it has been a hobby of mine for
awhile now.
That said i was like a lot of people. Windows was introduced at work
15-20 years ago and Dos 6.22 and win 3.1 were all new. A lot of
people had classes at work on how to use windows, No charge
since the company paid for classes. We have to learn linux on our
own if we want to know anything about it.
OK about linux distros.
I don’t like libre office that came with suse 12. is not as intuitive to
me as was Open Office. More to the point i use the word processor
and not much else. Truth is I’ve used ms word more so its just more
familiar, hence “easier” . But i have used open office in ubuntu
enough that i am kinda used to it so its ok for some things. I’d use
ms word for resume’s and more labor intensive jobs cause i’m a big
chicken and don’t want to loose my work by being unfamiliar with
the program i’m using. i just got ms office 2010. tried to use ms
word like always. Just open and paste what i need and save. Not so
fast. They changed stuff and its not as simple. It may be no big
thing but is different enough it took extra time just to save a simple
word doc.
Even Open Office is not as intuitive as MS Word was. But intuitive
can be a common sense thing or maybe just a habit that we have
formed and are now less conscience of.
I am not a gamer so that much I can’t speak to. I don’t use
Cad/cam or do high end graphics. Nor do i do any web site or
software development. I mainly use a computer for communication,
writing and research on various articles and topics about current
events.
The main things i like about linux are that I’m not dependent on
M.S.for a resolution to a problem. i am also less confined to what
M.S. wants to give me and that it.
Case in point. I don’t like evolution e-mail. I prefer Thunderbird. So
i removed evolution and installed Thunderbird. Took all of about 10
minuets. Longer to do the address books. But that’s with any of
them.
This applies to Firefox only. Want to change the way it behaves?
Type about:config in the address bar and see all the changes you
can make to the way Firefox operates. I don’t know if I.E. will let
you do that or not. I.E. is proprietary so maybe not. Its just so
much more open in what you can do with it, Windows is more “take
what you get”. I should mention that linux is resistant to a LOT of
viruses.
I have run a linux machine barefoot on the net for months with no
problem. No antivirus. I do have an antivirus running now because
an ounce of prevention is worth pounds of cure. But in the past i
have never had a problem But my surfing is restricted to pretty
much known safe sites, although i use a LOT of sites for research. I
do get e-mails tho. I DO have firewalls. But Linux needs permissions
for most everything by default anyway. I know what i want on my
machines and any requests for a root user access are denied right
away. i use linux for net surfing and e-mail for these reasons.
Its just a matter of spending enough time with a new os to get used
to it.
I have hopes that i will be MS free in the future. It all depends on
how willing i am to apply myself. Its either time or money.
i would suggest finding a LUG. Linux Users Group. Most larger cities
have one or more. It does take some intestinal fortitude to walk in
cold with out knowing anyone. But its worth it and i’ve found that
most people will respond to an honest desire for knowledge. Thats
been my experience.

Reply Link
sanjay August 10, 2012, 10:19 am

very good

Reply Link
'Sup Bro September 17, 2012, 7:15 pm

When I try to use ./configure, this happens:

checking for a BSD-compatible install… /usr/bin/install

-c
checking whether build environment is sane… yes
 checking for a thread-safe mkdir -p… /bin/mkdir -p
checking for gawk… gawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)… yes
checking whether make supports nested variables… yes
checking for style of include used by make… GNU
checking for gcc… no
checking for cc… no
checking for cl.exe… no
configure: error: in `/home/ted/Downloads/geany-
1.22′:
configure: error: no acceptable C compiler found in
$PATH
See `config.log’ for more details

What do?

Reply Link
lkspüadf October 3, 2012, 3:41 pm

Description didn’t help me at all. No references, no full command

explanation.

Thanx 4 nothin’.

Reply Link
Charlie Snow October 17, 2012, 11:30 pm

I’ ve read most if not all these entries (post) by you all and it was
very, very funny all of it specialy the harddrive that killed it self , I;
was lol for so,so long, thank you all.
Now about Linux (I;m kinda new to it myself) and I hate to learn but
I’ let them (yes them), let them make all the distros they want, what
we (yes we) should do is… but wait (who are we), (we are not
windows haters), but we will/ don’t know how, but we will embrace
linux, mainly cuz ubuntu with unity (yes with unity) is easy to use,
Mint (hate the gray color) is even more like windows and what
about Zorin. OK pick a fav, i recomend mint with mate, i choose
ubuntu with the dvd codecs but for newbies mint is best zorin not
as good as mint, only use the sudo apt-get install on terminal and
the software center for most of your software and also keep
windows so you have to use when linux gets boring but never let it
go, you must force yourself to use it just don’t try finding the best
one. I’ m telling you its mint maya with mate never, never use KDE
it;s only for very diehard linux users and thats ok 2 but we non
windows hateders must stick to gnome and such. I’ can bearly spell
my native language must less english, so sorry for the spelling. I
hate tarballs but as luck would have it I don’t think I need it; what
we really need a way to put all our linux software in one cd so we
can install and reinstall without keys, we all know thats what we
deslike about MS and paying and paying and paying, so linux its for
me and just keep one or two distros cuz I’ play with everything.
What I’ play in windows now I’ play with it on linux I play with music
and videos and writing and photos all in linux, plus many things I
do on the web itself so I’ know that I’ don’ need windows to get on
the net right… so there my two cents…

Reply Link
Pankaj October 18, 2012, 11:12 am

After #make install

Nothing is happening :(

Reply Link
Patrick Burwell October 26, 2012, 5:32 pm

When i run make or make install as root I get this;

make: *** No rule to make target `install’. Stop.

Reply Link
lekshmi December 5, 2012, 9:43 am

Hai,

I tried to install R- software package using the commands

mentioned.But after configuring it’s mentioned some libraries are
not found .So Is there any way to install without reinstalling the
linux os as such?

Reply Link
Dom December 18, 2012, 4:06 am

hey guys, i cant find out how to make the pound sign (#) into the
money sign ($) someone please help, lol

Reply Link
James January 2, 2013, 1:05 pm

What a joke the Linux program install is if you are not a Alien-
language speaking geek with no life to live other than in Linux-
World. I have been using Linux 3 years and still do not get ‘basic’
instructions such as …. (and I quote)…

INSTALLATION FROM A SOURCE-CODE TARBALL

o If what I downloaded from the net is a Linux source code in the

form of a compressed tarball (*.tar.gz or *.tgz), the installation
procedure is longer and more troublesome than with the
binary-only rpm. I typically install the program as root.
First, I change my current working directory to /usr/local :

cd /usr/local

Second, I decompress the tarball that I downloaded from the net:

tar -xvzf /home/the_dir_where_the_tarball_is/my_tarball.tar.gz

This extracts (option “x”) the contents of the *.tar.gz (or *.tgz)
tarball, unzips it (option “z”), while talking to me more than usual
(option “v” = verbose). Please note that the option “f” means “file”,
so the filename must immediately follow the letter “f”. The contents
of the tarball are extracted into a subdirectory which tar creates
under my current working directory, which in the typical case is
/usr/local/ . The tarball knows what the new subdirectory should
be called.

If the tarball is not compressed (e.g., *.tar), I may use:

tar -xvf /home/the_dir_where_the_tarball_is/my_tarball.tar

Third, I have to figure how the new directory is called, then I cd into
it:

dir
cd the_new_program_subdir

Since some of the directories have long names, I use the great
autocompletion option to save on typing–I just type the first few
letters and then press .

Fourth, most programs are compiled by executing these three

commands:

./configure
make
make install

The above commands can take some time to complete (1 min? 0.5
h?). If any of them fail, it might be an idea to read the README or
INSTALL or whatever info is provided with the new program. Some
programs may require customization of the environment (e.g.
definition of their path) or installation of an additional library, or yet
something else. It can sometimes be a pain. Very simple programs
might not need the “./configure” or/and “make install” step, in
which case “make” alone will do.

Fifth, if everything goes well, I find the new executable which I just
compiled. The names of executables display in green when running
this command:

ls –color

Now, I can run the executable, for example:

./the_executable

Some programs automatically install the executable to

/usr/local/bin, so I may want to try:

/usr/local/bin/the_executable

Sixth, if I plan to run the program more often, I create a symbolic

link to the executable from the directory /usr/local/bin :
cd /usr/local/bin
ln -s /usr/local/the_new_program_subdir/the_executable .

This way, the executable (actually, a symbolic link to it) is on my

PATH and it can be run by simply typing its name (no need to type
the full path to the executable any more). Some programs will
install the executable (or a link to it) in a “bin” directory in which
case you skip the last step.

What a joke. (only an entire page of unclear instructions just to

insatll an app!!!!) If I had no life then I could give it to Linux, but
unfortunately that is NOT the case.

What do I do? Well simply I do not use the program. I use only the
programmes that I find with ‘sudo apt-get install’

The Linux people SERIOUSLY need to sort their SH*%t out if they
don’t wish to be left dead in the water.

Thanks Linux for -ONCE AGAIN- totally ruining my day, and pissing
me off!!!

Reply Link
Darryl February 25, 2013, 3:36 am

I had a lot of trouble when I ditched AppleDOS for PCDOS back in

’86. The syntax used by the different operating system just blew my
mind. I’m having the same problem now as I wish to ditch Windows
XP for Linux Puppy. Learning the syntax should be fairly easy once I
come understand the basics.
Would somebody please give an example using variables, no big
deal, of how to change directories. I would normally just type cd
c:\path with Windows. What syntax do I use with Linux?

Reply Link
saif April 15, 2013, 7:36 am

Can’t see the intalled software..

Reply Link
Saerio May 4, 2013, 10:32 am

Linux People
Stop making more new distros and make the shit that is out there
work !!!

Reply Link
Steve June 6, 2013, 9:00 am

First of all standirize the app GUIvinstaller for all Linuxes and use
mouse ! What for we do have mouse then ? To show of cmd or what
? Second im very pissed of about Linux Bootloader. Who in the hell
have told to the developers that every user has to tamper
bootloader ? This should work flawlesly as win bootloader (the onlz
thing that work under win as it should work) ! User is stopped at
weary beginning ! Linux is still far from being user friendly. And
there is there linux packages ! Someone should setup Linux
packages transformation app server for all there packages formats.
Regardless of what distro one may use all app are available ! Reality
– Linux is strong purpose OS as that it was developed and not for
majority of masses ! Until ease of use as we know from win is not
assured until Linux will not take over ! I will rather switch to OSX as
using Win8 and running win app under diferent OS ! I will use Linux
only if i can run all portable win app under it, or even better i will
run win under hypervisor on my new shiny performance hardware
!!!

Reply Link
Ted July 22, 2013, 9:18 pm

Extracted a tarball, cd to directory into which it was extracted, type

./configure into terminal as super user, I get “no such file or
directory.”

Count me among those who would like to leave Windows behind for
good, but tire of being told, type “A” and you’ll see “B” only to type
“A” and see nothing of the sort.
Reply Link
linux zZzz September 29, 2013, 5:37 am

Linux had been around for several years that you would think these
smart people created an auto extract and auto install.

Why can’t you smartest and brightest people just create a .exe file
same as windows has?

ZzzzZZ

Reply Link
Anna November 16, 2013, 9:51 am

I would like to get a partition program so I can try Linux can

anyone
recommend the best one and it must be user friendly
Anna

Reply Link
unker cecil February 11, 2014, 4:09 pm

…keep at it “Trent”, you’ll get better! We all start from the

beginning and Unix-Linux is certainly worth staying with. Anything
Microsoft is pure GARBAGE so keep on with Unix-Linux. I’ve been
with it for 26 years and I’m still having difficulty with it. That’s the
joy of Unix-Linux, (there’s more to learn).

Reply Link
unker cecil February 12, 2014, 10:36 am

to KIXO, after you do one of the following in a shell (without the “$”
sign) and (a shell is also called a terminal window);
$ tar zxf file.tar.gz
$ tar zxf file.tgz
$ tar jxf file.tar.bz2
$ tar jxf file.tbz2
you type “ls” (without the quotation marks) and then click the
‘Enter’ key on your keyboard, then, you should see a newly created
folder that will probably have a name that is similar to the name of
the tar file that you just previously uncompressed with one of the
four commands listed above, then, look in THAT newly created
folder to see if there is a file named “comfigure” (without the
quotation marks). If there is not a file in there named “configure”
(without the quotation marks), it’s because some packages install a
different way than using ./configure >> make>> make install. For
example, I use a Debian-Knoppix operating system and I previously
uncompressed a .tar.gz file named
LibreOffice_4.2.0_Linux_x86_deb.tar.gz and when I looked into the
newly created folder, there was NO file named ‘configure’ in there,
but there WAS a FOLDER in there named ‘DEBS’ and when I looked
in that folder named ‘DEBS’,
I noticed that it contained about 51 files, and all of those 51 files
had different names that ended with the extention of .deb so I STAY
in the ‘DEBS’ folder and type:
“sudo dpkg -i *.deb” (without the quotation marks) and all 51 of
those .deb files install successfully WITHOUT me having to type in
each individual name of each individual file of all of those 51 files
(wow, that wildcard symbol “*” [without the quotation marks] sure
is helpful in this situation!!) So, now, I STAY in the ‘DEBS’ folder and
type:
libreoffice (all lower case letters) and then click the “Enter” key on
my keyboard and the LibreOffice program begins to open, and so I
can use LibreOffice without having to previously type: ./configure
>> make >> make install (because the “configure” file and the
“make” file and the “make install” file were NOT included in the
installation files whatsoever when I originally looked in the newly
created folder after I uncompressed the LibreOffice file that had a
.tar.gz extention! This is just an example that shows that all files
ending in .tar.gz may or may not include the ‘configure’ and the
‘make’ and the ‘make install’ files in the newly created folder that
will appear after uncompressing a .tar.gz file. But if you research
further into the newly created folder, you WILL discover how to
install the .tar.gz file without using >> configure >> make >> make
install.
…..I had previously learned how to install only individual files that
have the extention of .deb; for example, if I wanted to install a file
named “flashplugin-nonfree_3.4_i386.deb” then I would go into the
folder where this particular file is located (I may have had to
download this file previously and save it in a folder) and type: sudo
dpkg -i flashplugin-nonfree_3.4_i386.deb and then click the “Enter”
key on my keyboard and the file would get installed but sometimes
.deb files require other .deb files to be installed previously; the
installer calls these OTHER .deb files “Dependency Files” and if this
happens after I type: sudo dpkg -i flashplugin-
nonfree_3.4_i386.deb and then click the “Enter” key on my
keyboard, the installer will complain and print on the screen the
names of the dependency files that I need to install before I can
install the file named ‘flashplugin-nonfree_3.4_i386.deb’ so I
proceed to install those .deb files that the installer is complaining
about.
Stay with Unix-Linux, it’s very much worth the effort.
See: http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm
Sincerely,
Uncle Cecil

Reply Link
Unker Cecil February 13, 2014, 2:17 pm

to Bruce Wayne, concerning his March 21, 2009 reply to “Jannik” at

6:00 am.
Hi Bruce! I appreciate your reply. May I help with a small amount of
punctuation editing without adding ANY of my words whatsoever to
your complete reply; I loved everything that you said!!! Punctuation
editing can make it easier for English readers to comprehend and
“everyone” certainly needs to know exactly what you have to say!
With all due respect, Bruce, I have only good intentions here. May I
proceed:
“I don’t mean to sound like an asshole but the fact is that linux
doesn’t want users like you. Linux is for those who want a smooth
running operating system and for those that have the knowledge to
tear the OS down and rebuild it the way they want it; obviously you
do not possess this knowledge.
As for Windows “rocking”, it just doesn’t! I mean, the viruses
written for windows have much more potential to destroy your
entire system than those written for Linux (in fact it would be a
.000000001% chance that somebody could destroy one linux
computer with one worm while the “slammer” worm destroyed
thousands of windows computers in relatively no time–and with
relative ease. I don’t assume you will understand this but for
everyone else out there, it is good to know!
Windows is “purposely” designed “incorrectly” for the functions it
promises to its users of today. Windows is monolithic and entirely
over interdependent, thus, if one program is hacked and destroyed,
all programs fail; whereas, in Linux, if one program is hit with a
virus, that one program is done and you reinstall. Many hacks are
executed using web servers, but since Linux makes the web server
its own user, someone who hacks a linux computer through a
security hole in a web browser can only make the web browser fail
and can’t gain any real control of the computer.
Windows also depends on RPC (remote procedure call) in
unnecessary situations! RPC allows your computer to access other
computers over the internet, looking for answers, but if there is one
small hole in a server security network, it’s “Bam” time, and a worm
can get thousands of comps because of the constant unneccesary
use of RPC. Linux is designed to use RPC only as a last result
because its direct access prevents other outside parties access to
your comp. Seems logical, right? You don’t want other people
accessing your files frequently–thats not very secure. Hence, the
superior Linux design.
Linux also seperates all users and their dedicated files so that if one
user gets a virus (which is still unlikely and very uncommon) and all
of that users files get corrupted, the other user’s files remain
intact–as if nothing had happened–so, thus, the computer is still
intact and recovery is much easier!
Linux also has much better security programs available that make it
much harder to crack. Plus, the added bonus of being able to
change your OS with a few minor programming commands (and
lessons), you make your OS completely unique. Now, which one is
harder for a lock picker, to unlock the lock that 90% of the world
uses or to unlock the lock that only 1 person in a 6 billion person
world uses? It’s logic really. Windows is so popular, why would
Microsoft care to fix these issues when their product already sells
so well and is SO defective!? Thus, the free product (Linux) used by
those who want a “supreme” OS is always being changed and
upgraded in major ways and fixed. However, as I said at the
beginning, Linux doesn’t want you! Linux is not an OS that is sold to
make large profits for large Corporations. Linux is something you
CHOOSE to have, and if you don’t want it–and all you want to do is
say that it sucks, the Linux user community will not miss you–don’t
let the door hit your ass on the way out. And, as always, it is OK to
NOT like Linux–just use Windows or use Mac or use what suits your
needs, but I prefer the security and the wide range of choice I have
with Linux, plus, the ability to power-use! You may not, and that is
fine. Please read the links I posted above, they are informative and
will help newbies learn the ropes and help those considering Linux
to decide if it is for them and which distro is for them.

Yours Truly,
The Caped Crusader(definitely in know way is this a comic book
reference or nerdy remark lol)

Reply Link
Unker Cecil February 14, 2014, 11:40 am

to Ted….some tar files do not have the “configure” nor the “make”
nor the “make install” files included after being uncompressed but
don’t despair!!! There IS a way to install these files that have no
configure or make or make install files! When you look further into
the newly created folder that was created when you uncompressed
a file with:
‘tar zxf file.tar.gz’ or the ‘tar zxf file.tgz’ or the ‘tar jxf file.tar.bz2′ or
the ‘tar jxf file.tbz2′
you will discover that there IS a way to install these files and if you
would please tell us the name of the file that you are trying to
install, we can help you install it, guaranteed, we can help you
install it! It’s frustrating at first, sometimes, when a person is
starting to learn about Unix-Linux, but after you use it for awhile,
you will discover that the so called frustration of using Linux will
turn into a learing experience and actually be fun instead of
frustrating! Please see: http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

Reply Link
sam April 16, 2014, 12:48 am

New to linux Can anyone please tell me the latest version of

mandriva I can not find a disk after 2011 help would be much
apreciated .
regards Sam

Reply Link
Collin May 15, 2014, 12:22 pm

Linux is people by a bunch of smart asses who believe that they are
so cleaver that they can not stop
looking in the mirror and telling themselves how cleaver they are
and they can not stoop to help us dumbos.

Reply Link
Atreya January 11, 2015, 5:46 am

A little helpful tip(preparation) I think should have been included to

make the tarball tackling a bit more possible. If you’re in a
Ubuntu-based Linux OS, I would recommend doing the following
installs and commands before you get to installing the tarball:

sudo apt-get install build-essential checkinstall

sudo apt-get install subversion git-core mercurial
sudo chown $USER /usr/local/src
sudo chmod u+rwx /usr/local/src
sudo apt-get install apt-file
sudo apt-file update

Now your computer will be ready for it.

Reply Link
Face January 18, 2015, 9:00 pm

How to tarball

1. sudo apt-get install alien

2. Navigate to the path where tarball is (e.g. cd /home/foo/bar)
 3. Run this command: fakeroot alien # -c

Octothorpe will be either of these parameters, depending on distro

Debian = -d
Red Hat = -r
Stampede = –to slp
LSB = -l
Slackware = -t

Reply Link

Leave a Comment

Name *

Email *

Website

Comment

Submit

Next post: Star / Stop FTP server on FreeBSD / OpenBSD

Previous post: Linux Firewall: Display Status and Rules of Iptables

Firewall

To search, type and hit enter

Featured Articles:

30 Cool Open Source Software I Discovered in 2013

30 Handy Bash Shell Aliases For Linux / Unix / Mac OS X
Top 30 Nmap Command Examples For Sys/Network Admins
25 PHP Security Best Practices For Sys Admins
20 Linux System Monitoring Tools Every SysAdmin Should Know
20 Linux Server Hardening Security Tips
Linux: 20 Iptables Examples For New SysAdmins
Top 20 OpenSSH Server Best Security Practices
Top 20 Nginx WebServer Best Security Practices
20 Examples: Make Sure Unix / Linux Configuration Files Are Free
From Syntax Errors
15 Greatest Open Source Terminal Applications Of 2012
My 10 UNIX Command Line Mistakes
Top 10 Open Source Web-Based Project Management Software
 Top 5 Email Client For Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows Users
The Novice Guide To Buying A Linux Laptop

©2000-2015 nixCraft. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy - Terms of

Service - Questions or Comments
The content is copyrighted to nixCraft and may not be reproduced on
other websites.