Linux Noob... Help Me!

OK man, I just installed JackLab Linux on my computer... it recognized all my hardware... found the internet... I'm totally new to Linux and have downloaded the secondlife download, which is now in a tar.bz2 file on my desktop. Dude, I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO EXTRACT AND RUN THIS. I've searched extracting files in linux on google, blah blah... someone help me so I can log back in PLEASE! If you're a chick, I'll give you lots of kisses inworld... hehehe, and if you're a dude, thanks man, I owe ya one...

# tar xjvf filename.tar.bz2


You may have better luck getting support, as a n00b, with a more popular distro like Ubuntu. Just a suggestion.

-Alina

not here to win the popularity contest... just trying to extract a file as a new Linux user... can you tell me what # tar xjvf blah blah is suppose to mean? where do I input that? I have bzip2, but it's not giving me a window to drag the file into, and I can't open the file with bzip2 as an option for some reason... I've found that I'm suppose to extract it using that command, but where from? I tried Konsole, but it said the file SecondLife_i686_blah blah didn't exist... Please help

Sorry, I'm not trying to be rude, it's just that this is the distribution recommended to me as a musician, as it has all the software I need to stream inworld... also, this is an opensuse 10.2 distribution kernel, so it's really relatively high up there on the list of popular and compatible distributions from what I've been told and read, being the ONLY distribution with official support... which is closed atm I just want to log back in to SL... I haven't talked to my friends all day

Since you're running LInux with the intent of using sl, I will assume you are using KDE or Gnome in graphical mode as a window manager. If you're running KDE, most distros build the capability right into Konqueror (KDE's file browser). Simply open Konqeror, browse to the folder with the file you downloaded, right-click on it to bring up a pop-up menu, drag the mouse cursor down the options on the menu to "Extract" and then select "Extract here" from the submenu. That will run the extraction process and unpack the archive into the current folder. You will end up with a folder with the same name as the archive you just unpacked. The script to run sl is located in this folder.

If this option is not available for whatever reason (option not available on your distro, using Gnome or other window manager unknown to me), you will need to either install an archiver (there are several graphical ones available for Linux, they're usually included on the distro's install disk) or, with a console (sometimes called a "terminal," the Linux equivalent of Windows' command processor (cmd)), Use the "cd" comand to get to the folder where the file is located and follow Alina's instructions to use the tar program. That should do the same thing as I described above.

If you can't even get tar to work, perhaps you should upgrade to OpenSUSE 10.3 (my favorite) or Ubuntu (for Gnome), Kubuntu (for KDE), or even Freespire to get that rather basic level of functionality.

Also, if you're not using a window manager and are running Linux in text/command line mode, you will not be able to run the sl client. Your computer must be in graphical mode (runlevel 5).

Adamas

I can give you a few hints :
1. the command to change into a directory is :

cd /dir_name

to go back a level in the directory-structure type cd ..
to go back all the way ( beginning) type cd /

2. unlikely , but possibly, you are root (administrator) and will find it in /root/Desktop
3. the file you want to extract is probably in /home/your_username/Desktop
4. If you are not root you will need sudo ( superuserdo )-command prior to the tar-command. Eg. sudo tar xvjf blah blah as you put it..
5. It is impossible supply you everything you need to know... you need to know a lot when trying to use linux from scratch and ad hoc like you do. Full usage of a distro is not taught in a day or a few lines. You do need to read manuals. Type 'man command' to learn about them.
6. Good luck.. you will need it. No guarantee you will get there. Maybe better go back to a system without Linux when in urgent need and take some time to get used to using a linux-distribution first.

ok, got it extracted, couldn't create the window and I read that that's caused by a graphics card driver issue, so I downloaded driver updates and can't install even in sudo because it gives me the message (don't know how to copy and paste in linux) "you appear to be running an X server, Please exit X before installing" PLEEEEEAAAASE HELP

OK ...I'm using GDM as a logon-manager, so if you do also have that, you can try press ALT+N to exit the x-server. You should then be able to login and install your 'driver'. After installing the driver you can return to your graphical logon-screen by logging out at the commandline ( use 'logout' - command).

I downloaded and installed Ubuntu last night after the ENTIRE LINUX COMMUNITY ragged me for running some unknown distro (unknown to them anyway), and am having the same problems with it as I was with JackLab, the music version of SuSE... just FYI... and no, ALT N at the login screen has no effect I can't even seem to get a damn messenger program on here for lack of having Java and Flash downloaded; and no, I don't have YaST on Ubuntu apparently

You have probably been advised the specific distro as a musician because of the Jack-support ( used for mixing capabilities with equipment using jacked-plugs ).

YaST is an installation utility by SuSE / Novell . Ubuntu however is a distro based on Debian. You can might try to use Adept for that. If it is not installed try :

sudo apt-get install adept

in a terminal ( Konsole).

It doesn't matter what I try to sudo apt-get... it can never find the file... furthermore, I try to init 1 to get out of X server and cd desktop doesn't appear, so I can't find the video driver file which was downloaded onto my desktop

Last advices from me :

- don't know which graphics card you have , but if it's a nvidia there might be pre-configured packages there.
- you can search on availiable packages ( software ) with 'apt-get search appname/keyword' e.g. apt-get search nvidia
- Henceforth I refer to point 6 in my first reply to you. Don't try to mold hot steel with your bare ha(n)d(s).
___________________________
Boroondas ... wow.. purrfect !

Welcome to the growing mass of Linux users. Here are some tips. While writing, this got a bit long, so only read what you think is relevant to you

Linux is case sensitive
The folder you look for is most probably named "Desktop", not "desktop". Linux, as other UNIX like systems, is case sensitive when it comes to commands, filenames and paths.

auto completion
If you're not sure about the spelling of a path or command, just write the beginning, then press the [tab]-key. If there's only one possibility to continue it will be inserted, if there are several possibilities they will be displayed (on some terminals you might have to press [tab] twice for that). If you don't provide the beginning of a word, all possibilities will be displayed (except hidden ones, i.e. files or paths starting with a period (".").

This is also useful to see what files/command are available at all.

useful shell commands
cd /some/path change current working dir to /some/path
ls show content of current working dir (except hidden files)
ls -a also show hidden files
man somecommand show manual page for command somecommand
for more, see http://www.google.com/search?q=unix+commands

Stopping X
instead of using init 1 to stop and init 2 to start the X-Server I recommend to do the following:

1. Log out of the graphical interface, if you're logged in
2. If you're at the login screen of the graphical interface, press [crtl][alt][F1] to get to the first text console
3. log in
4. If you're using KDE's desktop manager run:
/etc/init.d/kdm stop
If you're using GNOME's desktop manager run:
/etc/init.d/gdm stop
If you're using XDM, run:
/etc/init.d/xdm stop
5. do whatever you need to do with X stopped
6. same as 4, only with "start" instead of "stop", e.g.
/etc/init.d/kdm start
7. if you're not automatically sent back to the graphical interface, press [crtl][F5], which will bring you to the 5th console, where the graphical interface will reside on most systems. If it isn't there, try on the 7th console by pressing [crtl][F7]. If it ain't there, either, try the other consoles by pressing [crtl] and their corresponding function key.

package manager
For linux distributions that come with a package manager [like YaST (SuSE, JackLab, ...), APT (debian, ubuntu, kanotix, knoppix, ...) or portage (gentoo, ...)] try to make you convenient with its usage. Whenever you install something, see if it isn't available via the package manager first. The package manager will take care of dependencies (some packages will require the presence or absence of other packages) as well of integrating the software into your system. It will therefore save you a lot of time, as well as avoid your system being messed up by faulty (or just incompatible) installers.

For software that isn't available via the package manager (e.g. Second Life), install it into a subdirectory of your homedir, not into the system, if possible. Some software (like drivers etc.) however, will have to be installed into the system, even if they aren't available via the package manager.

Video drivers
Second Life will often require to have the "original" (proprietary) drivers for your graphic card installed. For an NVidia card on Ubuntu, see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/Nvidia

For Ubuntu with another card, see:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto

For other combinations, try to google for your card's manufacturer together with your distribution's name. Maybe add "proprietary" or "restricted" to the search terms.

Really, you can forget all the comands posted for now.

If you want to open a tar.bz2 file in KDE all you have to do is double click the file. It will open in Ark and you can uncompress the file from there, just like you would do in something like winzip in windows. (I haven't use Gnome in a long time but I'm sure it will have it's own program)

To install programs just use Synaptic to find/download/and install the programs.

Linux is ready for you noobs.... Just don't make it so complicated in your head. I got my 60 yo mom running linux and she will never go back to windows. if she can do it anyone can

Better just stick Boroondas post. Best answer there was...

The answers were correct in boroondas post...

But so were mine TYVM.