What am I doing wrong?

[Big Jock]

Whenever I try to install something, ie Java, Frostwire etc, I follow the instructions to the letter but nothing works. Frostwire is installed but doesnt work, and Java refuses to install. Its not recognised or something.
(I used the self-extracting rpm file.)
I tried Bittorrent too which is supposedly installed but cant be found anywhere not even in the install list.
Is there an easy way for us newbs to do this? I spent months scraping the money together to build my first pc and cant get it to work the way I want.

p.s is there a Linux alternative to Pawsofts Fass for making canned speeches?

[netstrider]

I recommend installing Java the manual way with the "self-extracting" (non-rpm) file. These are the instructions you need to follow to install it, it has never failed me.

As bittorrent is concerned I don't know, actually it had happened to me that my package manager updated bittorrent by (or I probably did it, I was still very new), but anyway since then when I tried opening it it didn't work.

Question, is there any advantages to running Frostwire instead of Limewire? If I'm not mistaken Frostwire is based on Limewire. I know there's a certain package of Limewire which includes an exectutable .exe and a runLime.sh, once Java is installed you can just runLime.sh...not too sure about how Frostwire works though. Typically it searches for java under /usr/java or /opt/java etc.

[fingal]

Question, is there any advantages to running Frostwire instead of Limewire?

Limewire has an annoying 'nag screen' which kicks in every time you start it. Frostwire leaves this out. Both are open source, but Frostwire claims to have many of the features of a complete 'added value' version of Limewire (which you pay for).

To be honest I could never get Frostwire to connect up, but I think that's a firewall issue. Limewire seems better at configuring itself without my help.

[Big Jock]

Thanks for the replies. Somehow Ive got everything working just fine now. Im not sure how, maybe Im getting the hang of this?
The one downside is, I have two Java versions now, 1.5 and 1.6. Limewire works with 1.5 and Im not sure to uninstall 1.6 as its the latest, and Ive no idea which one my browser is using.