[klug] linux install

[Mark Robinson]

Dean Cooper wrote:
> Ok, downloaded it, clicked  on configure and everything went through ok.
> 
> Now what? how do i run the program? there is no icon anywhere.
> 
> Sorry, but i am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO lame !
> 
> Dean

Hi Dean,

Xandros uses KDE desktop environment. In most KDE installations Alt/F2 will 
bring up a 'Run' box. try typing gtk-gnutella in there. Sometimes you need to 
log out and back in again before programs you have installed will show up in 
the menus.

One of the beauties of linux is that most things can be done from the "command 
line". I'm sorry that I am unfamiliar with Xandros but these concepts at least 
should be general to most linux distributions. Like windows it can often be 
very hard to find information on the basics.

You can jump from the GUI to a 'terminal' using ctrl/alt/F1 through to 
ctrl/alt/F6 (that's all configurable but most systems are like this). From a
'terminal' you can get back to the GUI with ctrl/alt/F7.

Once you have a terminal (and you can have six at a time) you can use many 
commands. Some basics are

	pwd		tells you which directory you are in
	id		tells you who you are logged in as
	su		changes user (changes to the root user by default)
	ls		lists files
	ls -al /	extended information on all files in root directory
	ls --help	shows help on ls
	man ls		shows manpage for ls
	cd		change directory
	mkdir		make directory
	rm		remove file - you want to be a bit careful with this,
			by default it will not ask you 'Are you sure" and
			'rm -rf /' will remove every file on the machine
	ps auxf		displays a list of running processes

Terminals should be available on just about all linux systems, even those that 
do not have a windowing system installed.

Going back to KDE, try running konsole. This should produce an xterm which is a 
bit more user friendly than a straight terminal as you can cut and paste, and 
if you run a GUI program it will find the GUI.

There's a knowledge base of Xandros specific stuff on the Xandros website at 
http://xandros.com/. The Linux Documentation Project at http://tdlp.org is 
often useful and there will be all sorts of documentation hidden away on your 
computer.

	find / -iname '*howto*' | less

(that finds all the files on the computer with howto in their name ignoring 
case and filters the results through less, a paging program which prevents the 
output all whizzing off the screen. Press Q to exit.

ctrl/Pgup lets you scroll up in a terminal or xterm.

It really does help to have one of those old fashioned book things which 
explains the basics and gives examples and which you can flick through in the 
real world when your computer refuses to do anything at all.

must away
Mark