Prelude76 Posted May 21, 2003 Share Posted May 21, 2003 Been running SuSE for over a week, getting better at it. Here's a slew of tech questions (probably newbie-level) that are puzzling me.Q1: Instead of command line RPM or TAR, i simply doubleclick or copy/extract .RPM and .TAR.BZ2 files from Konqueror. Is there any difference between that?Q2: I have lots of trouble getting RPMs from RedHat and Mandrake loaded thru SuSE's YAST installer. Are RPMs specific to each distro? The problem I had was getting a full featured MPlayer loaded (SuSE's is crippled due to media rights). After several failed RPM install attempts, I had to resort to getting the Source file and compiling it (but its good, because I could fine tune Mplayer to play realplayer, TV and Quicktime).Q3: I tried Bruno's tip for installing TAR.BZ2 files thru Midnight Commander. I selected the file, hit F2, but then, nothing. there was no install option. Is it just me? I used the MC that came with SuSE's distro.Q4: I have trouble accessing /usr/ anything when I am logged in as a user. I always have to log in as root to install programs into /usr/ . just asking if its normal, or if i'm set up wrong.Q5: I can access all my FAT32 and NTFS partitions, but do not have access to write to them or delete them, except if i'm logged in as root. is there a way to allow a user to have full access to those partitions too?thanks, folks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prelude76 Posted May 21, 2003 Author Share Posted May 21, 2003 ok, i think i'm stupid i think i answered MOST of my questions regarding installation. for some reason, i thought i didnt need CC and GCC compilers and had them uninstalled from my system. sheesh.... no comment .... somebody slap me... hehe... too much beer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zox Posted May 21, 2003 Share Posted May 21, 2003 Slap!! <me slaps Prelude76> :)A1> I thinks there is no difference except specificaly in Suse due to use of "Linker Cache", you might be even better double clicking RPM and clicking on button "Install with YAST". I am not 100 % sure though.A2>RPM's are indeed specific for different distros and that is where most of the problems are with RPM.If you are using RPM, make sure it is built for your distro, in this case Suse.If you don't have specific RPM for your distro, make sure you at least have source RPM, these are usually placed in same folder and just have added nick -src-RPM or similar.For Mplayer, check other thread where I posted these source RPM's that should work with any distro that use RPM.http://www.scotsnewsletter.com/forums/inde...=ST&f=14&t=1012A3> dunno, Bruno might knowA4>I think that is correct, that is the beauty of Linux and it's security.A5>If you edit your /etc/fstab in those options for NTFS drives add "user" or "users" without quotes, also make sure you delete "ro" from options as this is what tells your system to mount it "Read Only".I hope I helped you although I am newbie too (I purposly did it since Bruno hate "N.. word) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted May 21, 2003 Share Posted May 21, 2003 Sounds like zox answered for the other things, but here are the answers to Q3 and Q4 from what I have experienced on Mandrake and RedHat.A3> In Midnight Commander (mc) when doing RPMs, just hit enter and wait for the listing to come up (it will then show you the *Install and *Upgrade options in green). Then just hit enter on the *Install and it will install it, unless there are dependency issues. If it fails, exit mc and the commandline screen will show what it failed on. You go get that and install that first, and try again, etc.A4> You definitely will want and probably need to be root to install packages (which generally will install in /usr, usually /usr/bin. (I think that is what you are asking right?)Hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted May 21, 2003 Share Posted May 21, 2003 Hi PreludeThere is not much left for me to put my teeth in ! But, let me add just a few comments: Writing to NTFS formatted partitions seems to have its limits ( anyway that´s what I read about it in the reviews. I have no personal experience there. ), but they are working on it. Like you said yourself you do need the gcc compiler to be able to compile/install programs from source. That is why I always advice to install the development packages as you put a new disto on your machine.If any user could install any program on your system, that would not make your computer very safe ( a virus is also a little program ).Very positive that you have so many questions, it just means that you´re seriously playing with your new OS ! Bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borst Posted May 21, 2003 Share Posted May 21, 2003 ok, i think i'm stupid i think i answered MOST of my questions regarding installation. for some reason, i thought i didnt need CC and GCC compilers and had them uninstalled from my system. sheesh.... no comment .... somebody slap me... hehe... too much beer Thanks for helping me Prelude! I was having the same problem with tarballs as you were. I did not know I needed gcc and cc compilers. Once I read your post, I was able to get the compilers installed and ultimately some tarballs. Thanks kindly for your help.Borst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prelude76 Posted May 21, 2003 Author Share Posted May 21, 2003 A2>RPM's are indeed specific for different distros and that is where most of the problems are with RPM.If you are using RPM, make sure it is built for your distro, in this case Suse.If you don't have specific RPM for your distro, make sure you at least have source RPM, these are usually placed in same folder and just have added nick -src-RPM or similar.ok, i'm downloading the src-rpm file. it's extremely slow from the link you gave, coming in at just 0.7kb/s!!! is there any other links to that file?also, what is a src-rpm? I tried a redhat rpm file, but it didnt work (probably since i'm in SuSE). I then tried a tar.bz2 file. I extracted the files and put it into a new SRC folder. I then did ./configure, and got error message 'missing gcc', then i slapped myself, and loaded up all default compiler from SuSE. i re-ran ./configure, and it worked ok, showed all settings, and found my win32 lib too. i then type 'make' and it took like 5 to 10 minutes, lots of lots of text flew by me, some had error this, error that. then i did make install. mplayer shows up in /usr folders, but doesnt run is src-rpm better than going to tar.bz2 route?what i'm trying to do is to get mplayer to play divx 3,4,5, quicktime, realplayer, and xvid codecs. sheesh...im confident i'll 'hack' my way thru this problem, but 2 thoughts arise:1. why aren't those codecs in SuSE's install but they work in mandrake/red hat? is it an anti-german thing? 2. why doesnt the linux community get together and get a standardized installation system that's easy to use? i still love my linux box and will do my best to get thru this problem, but didn't really want to jump into compiling code just so i can watch movies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prelude76 Posted May 21, 2003 Author Share Posted May 21, 2003 ok, i think i'm stupid i think i answered MOST of my questions regarding installation. for some reason, i thought i didnt need CC and GCC compilers and had them uninstalled from my system. sheesh.... no comment .... somebody slap me... hehe... too much beer Thanks for helping me Prelude! I was having the same problem with tarballs as you were. I did not know I needed gcc and cc compilers. Once I read your post, I was able to get the compilers installed and ultimately some tarballs. Thanks kindly for your help.Borst newbies helping each other thru stupid mistakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GolfProRM Posted May 21, 2003 Share Posted May 21, 2003 Hey... sometimes the best way to learn is from someone else who's learning at the same time. The problem/solution can usually be explained in "plain English" that way. And it's surely fun to know that you were able to help someone else out because you ran into a problem and came up with a solution! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted May 21, 2003 Share Posted May 21, 2003 ok, i'm downloading the src-rpm file. it's extremely slow from the link you gave, coming in at just 0.7kb/s!!! is there any other links to that file?also, what is a src-rpm? I tried a redhat rpm file, but it didnt work (probably since i'm in SuSE). I then tried a tar.bz2 file. I extracted the files and put it into a new SRC folder. I then did ./configure, and got error message 'missing gcc', then i slapped myself, and loaded up all default compiler from SuSE. i re-ran ./configure, and it worked ok, showed all settings, and found my win32 lib too. i then type 'make' and it took like 5 to 10 minutes, lots of lots of text flew by me, some had error this, error that. then i did make install. mplayer shows up in /usr folders, but doesnt run is src-rpm better than going to tar.bz2 route?what i'm trying to do is to get mplayer to play divx 3,4,5, quicktime, realplayer, and xvid codecs. sheesh...im confident i'll 'hack' my way thru this problem, but 2 thoughts arise:1. why aren't those codecs in SuSE's install but they work in mandrake/red hat? is it an anti-german thing? 2. why doesnt the linux community get together and get a standardized installation system that's easy to use? i still love my linux box and will do my best to get thru this problem, but didn't really want to jump into compiling code just so i can watch movies. RPMs were designed as a way to package pre-compiled binaries for Red Hat systems (including Mandrake). Source RPMs are the source and header packages for the app in question. These you would use if you want to compile and make the app yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted May 21, 2003 Share Posted May 21, 2003 So I guess I can finaly take a back-seat and let you all run around free on the Linux-farm !Nice job guys ! Bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent007 Posted May 21, 2003 Share Posted May 21, 2003 Hello Prelude, Q2: I have lots of trouble getting RPMs from RedHat and Mandrake loaded thru SuSE's YAST installer. Are RPMs specific to each distro?This is perfectly normal as RPMS (Redhat Package Manager) work perfectly well on RedHat and are not made for other distros. You should have installed RH 9 or 8. When I installed mplayer, I had to dl about 4 RPMS and installation took less than 1 min..Its for this very reason that I've stuck to RedHat all along...2. why doesnt the linux community get together and get a standardized installation system that's easy to use? i still love my linux box and will do my best to get thru this problem, but didn't really want to jump into compiling code just so i can watch movies.Compiling code is really a pain at times...Thank god for RPMS. I dont remember the last time I compiled code..007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prelude76 Posted May 21, 2003 Author Share Posted May 21, 2003 I found something of use. Here is a list of SuSE-compiled RPMs (site is in german, but still readable). Search for Mplayer, and they have a compiled RPM for SuSE that includes all codecs needed. Now THATS what i'm talking about. i'll try these tonite and post results.http://packman.links2linux.de/index.php4?action=128p.s. i'm really dumbed-down since the weekend.. hehehe... anyways, click on the british flag and site is in english.. sheesh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prelude76 Posted May 21, 2003 Author Share Posted May 21, 2003 Unofficial SuSE FAQfound another good site for SuSE newbies. <-- bruno, why do u hate this word? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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