Linux Help

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Burnout

Burnout

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Here is my problem. I, personally, know absolutely nothing about linux, aside being able to boot from a live CD. :dopey:

Here is what I need to do. Get a Debian based Linux with the Gnome desktop envioroment. Along with that, I need a couple programs specifically. Those being Emacs and a gcc/g++ compiler. All of this needs to be installed alongside of a Windows XP home, without messing up any of the data on there.

One of my brothers is in an electronics engineering program at a college, and they use Linux for their programming stuffs. He knows nothing about linux, only how to use a little Gnome, and the g++/gcc/emacs stuff. So, he asked me to install it to his girlfriends laptop.

I've found this, I think it would work if I did the HD instillation. Considering I know nothing about Linux, I'd not want to try anything above semi advanced.

The hard part? It has to be done by 1pm EST. It's 8:53AM right now.
 
Assuming you get the hard drive partition resized correctly, I would say that Xandros is the easiest Debian-based system to get working and would have the best hardware compatitiblity.

Google for Xandros OCE.
 
Here's a good question...

How do I install a program? (Figured I'd be ready to go once I get the thing installed)
 
Debian uses an apt package management system.

To find if a program is available from the repository, use "apt-cache search progname".
To install the program, use "apt-get install progname".
For more options/detailed instructions, you can always type "man apt-cache" or "man apt-get", respectively.

To install from source,



  1. Download the source tarball in .tar.gz (also .tgz) or .tar.bz format (also .tbz).
  2. cd to the directory where the tarball is located.
  3. Unpack using tar xvfz filename.tar.gz for gzipped and tar xvfj filename.tar.bz for bzipped.
  4. Change to the newly created directory. (read the installation instructions by typing less INSTALL, wait, never mind, I know you're too cool to read the instrctions ;) )
  5. Run configure by doing ./configure and check for any errors.
  6. Run make and check for errors.
  7. Become root by typing "su", then install by typing make install.
HTH :)
​
 
Hmm.

See, that sounded all sorts of freaky hard, but very understandable. Thanks.

I suppose if I keep messing around with Linux it'd eventually become easy. I'm just so used to Windows, and quite good at it aswell. Linux is really snappy feeling, comparitivly, though. I sorta like it.
 
Maybe apt-chache search gmake then apt-get install gmake? Or, if that fails, locate make to find where it is installed if it is not in your path?

EDIT: actually, that should be make not gmake.
 
I hate compiling stuff in Linux. GCC/make has decided that they should hate me for no reason whatsoever. If it isn't a missing library that's impossible to find, it's another random error.
 
Thanks for your help skip. 👍

I got it all installed and running now. I had some problems with programs, even after installing them from the "apt-cache search prgname" list, eventually I just got frustrated and put in the exact word. That is, I installed GCC/G++ 2.96, 3.0, 3.4, 4.0, none worked. g++ was still invalid. Eventually I just put in "apt-get install g++", and "apt-get install gcc" and it worked. Kinda annoyed me.

Another problem I had was with GNome, for some reason after I updated the apt-cache list the control-center settings daemon malfunctioned and caused GNome not to work. But, Linux being cool, I just logged on with the XTerminal, "apt-get install gnome", which reinstalled Gnome, the newer version, and fixed my problem while keeping my settings, and now all is well.

Linux has gotten much more respect from me over this little ordeal. I don't plan on switching anytime soon, from Windows that is, but I do plan on installing debian/gnome later on tonight on my main computer to play around with.
 
Glad it worked out. 👍 I made $15 distributing copies of Linspire Lindows to my friends on CD-R's. :dopey:
 
Glad to help whenever I can. :)

As to the installation problems you had, I really don't know what to say. I have had limited experience with apt-get, and while the idea is good, I don't think it is the most smoothly designed system--it has it's flaws. RPM is better, in my opinion, even if it is a bit clunky. But working out the dependency tree is a pain for a big install like Gnome. Possibly the best package management system I have seen is Gentoo's "emerge" and FreeBSD's very similar ports collection (but on slower machines precompiled packages are the way to go).
 
sUn
Glad it worked out. 👍 I made $15 distributing copies of Linspire Lindows to my friends on CD-R's. :dopey:
Click to expand...
You'd better be donating that profit to a worthy open source cause. ;)
 
wehy do peoipe make their lives difficult with linux, all it does is do what windows does expcet you have to read like 3000 pages of manuals but the graphics dont work properly and the modem wont connect and the network cant detect and if you just used windows everything would work fine. and you don't have to read anything except whats on the screen. i hate reading
 
Linux is free. You can get good technical support for free on the internet. Most major distributions automatically configure everything at setup. Plus, if you're not willing to read anything to educate yourself, I don't expect you'll go very far in life.
 
240Z
Linux is free.
Click to expand...
👍

That's not why I needed help, though. I was installing it so my brother could use Emacs and the g++ compiler, 'cause it's the same one they have at his college. He likes windows more aswell.
 

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